US08332223B2
In one aspect, a method for determining validity of an identity asserted by a speaker using a voice print associated with a user whose identity the speaker is asserting, the voice print obtained from characteristic features of at least one first voice signal obtained from the user uttering at least one enrollment utterance including at least one enrollment word is provided. The method comprises acts of obtaining a second voice signal of the speaker uttering at least one challenge utterance, wherein the at least one challenge utterance includes at least one word that was not in the at least one enrollment utterance, obtaining at least one characteristic feature from the second voice signal, comparing the at least one characteristic feature with at least a portion of the voice print to determine a similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print, and determining whether the speaker is the user based, at least in part, on the similarity between the at least one characteristic feature and the at least a portion of the voice print.
US08332221B2
The invention relates to a method, a computer program product, a segmentation system and a user interface for structuring an unstructured text by making use of statistical models trained on annotated training data. The method performs text segmentation into text sections and assigns labels to text sections as section headings. The performed segmentation and assignment is provided to a user for general review. Additionally, alternative segmentations and label assignments are provided to the user being capable to select alternative segmentations and alternative labels as well as to enter a user defined segmentation and user defined label. In response to the modifications introduced by the user, a plurality of different actions are initiated incorporating the re-segmentation and re-labeling of successive parts of the document or the entire document.
US08332220B2
Differential dynamic content delivery including providing a session document for a presentation, wherein the session document includes a session grammar and a session structured document; selecting from the session structured document a classified structural element in dependence upon user classifications of a user participant in the presentation; presenting the selected structural element to the user; streaming presentation speech to the user including individual speech from at least one user participating in the presentation; converting the presentation speech to text; detecting whether the presentation speech contains simultaneous individual speech from two or more users; and displaying the text if the presentation speech contains simultaneous individual speech from two or more users.
US08332219B2
A speech detection method is presented, which includes the following steps. A first voice captured device samples a first signal and a second voice captured device samples a second signal. The first voice captured device is closer to a speech signal source than the second voice captured device. A first energy corresponding to the first signal within an interval is calculated, a second energy corresponding to the second signal within the interval is calculated, and a first ratio is calculated according to the first energy and the second energy. The first ratio is transformed into a second ratio. A threshold value is set. It is determined whether the speech signal source is detected by comparing the second ratio and the threshold value.
US08332204B2
A computer-readable medium encoded with an instruction check program for making a computer to check a status of execution of an instruction by an I/O simulator that performs an operation simulation according to a structure of an I/O area of a microcomputer, the instruction check program when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method including obtaining specification information of the microcomputer describing an input and an output condition of a hardware resource in the I/O area, detecting a simulation of a reference instruction to the hardware resource executed by the I/O simulator, determining correctness of the reference instruction by comparing a content of the simulation of the reference instruction detected by the detecting with the input and output condition of the hardware resource included in the obtained specification information, and outputting an error signal when it is determined that the reference instruction is incorrect.
US08332203B1
A system and methods emulate an application executing in real time in a mobile device. The mobile device is emulated in real time using a model running on a processor extrinsic to the mobile device. The model is based on characteristics indicative of performance of the mobile device. The application is executed in real time within the model and the application executing in the model is monitored to determine resource utilization information by the application for the mobile device. The resource utilization information for the mobile device is displayed.
US08332202B2
A technique for enhancing the execution efficiency of simulation of a hybrid system. A continuous system simulator receives a request for evaluation of an event generating conditional expression for an event to be processed by a discrete system simulator, from the discrete system simulator. The event generating conditional expression is evaluated by referring to the value of a first variable describing a continuous system. Until evaluation of the event generating conditional expression indicates true, the continuous system simulator repeats simulation of advancing the current time by a step time interval and evaluation of the event generating conditional expression. When evaluation of the event generating conditional expression indicates true, the continuous system simulator sends current time data and the value of a second variable describing the continuous system which is referred to by the discrete simulator, to the discrete simulator.
US08332201B1
A circuit verification method for a logic circuit is presented. The method includes developing a first hardware description language (HDL) code representative of the logic circuit and, for an embedded portion of the logic circuit, developing a second HDL code representative of the embedded portion. The second HDL code includes a process of forcing inputs of the embedded portion to one or more known values. The method further includes operating a processing device in conjunction with the first and second HDL codes and verifying operation of the embedded portion in response to forcing the inputs to the logic circuit.
US08332193B2
A method and system for automatically generating simulations for a distributed control system is disclosed herein. A programmed process model generator automatically incorporates a variety of process model data from pre-defined model libraries into descriptions of process equipment including control devices to render simulation models of various degrees of fidelity.
US08332190B2
Characteristics of a circuit element are predicted accurately by taking account not only of the temperature variation due to self-heating of the element but also of temperature variation due to heat transmission from an adjoining heater element. With reference to an electric network supplied from an electric network input unit (2) and a heat network supplied from a heat network input unit (3), a simulation unit (4) determines a first heat generation temperature resulting from the amount of self-heat generation of that element and a second heat generating temperature resulting from the amount of heat flowing into that element from other elements, respectively, for a plurality of elements which make up a semiconductor integrated circuit, calculates the element temperature of that element based on the first and second heat generation temperatures, and then calculates the voltage value and the current value in the element at that element temperature based on previously provided data indicative of temperature dependency of that element.
US08332187B2
A controller of a cantilever evaluation system calculates a stream function value ψz(x, y; t+1) and vorticity ωz(x, y; t+1) at a subsequent time step t+1 using boundary conditions according to displacement h(z; t) of a cantilever and velocity ∂h/∂t(z; t), a stream function value φz(x, y; t) and vorticity ωz(x, y; t) in two-dimensional planes. The controller uses the calculated stream function value φz(x, y) and vorticity ωz(x, y) to calculate a fluid drag force acting on the cantilever. The controller substitutes the calculated fluid drag force into a displacement calculation equation to calculate the displacement h(z; t+1) of the one-dimensional beam at the subsequent time step t+1. The controller repeats such calculation for each grid point and further repeats it at each time step.
US08332184B2
This invention relates to techniques for processing potential field measurement data from airborne surveys such as gravity surveys, and to methods, apparatus and computer program code for such techniques. The method comprises: inputting measured potential field data comprising data defining a plurality of potential field measurements each with an associated measurement position and measurement time; and determining a set of field mapping parameters using a model comprising a combination of a spatial part representing a spatial variation of a potential field and a temporal part representing time domain noise in the measured potential field data.
US08332180B2
An orientation-determining system determines a person's compass orientation from data generated by one or more sensors embedded within a portable device transported by the person. In some scenarios, the system uses the person's initial orientation to calculate an initial orientation delta describing a difference between the person's initial orientation and an initial orientation of the device. In other scenarios, the system calculates the person's current orientation based on an initial orientation of the device and a known or assumed orientation delta. The system can apply the orientation delta to the device's current orientation to determine the person's current orientation. The system can update the orientation delta based on any changes to the orientation of the person or the device.
US08332178B2
A number of methods for testing an HVAC system for a building structure from a remote location outside of the building structure are disclosed. Generally, the HVAC system has a primarily active component and a primarily dormant component. The method includes the steps of transmitting a test request to the HVAC system from the remote location, performing a test on the primarily dormant component of the HVAC system in response to the test request, and producing a test result. The test result can then be transmitted to a location outside of the building structure.
US08332176B2
What is disclosed is a novel system and method for detecting and correcting for In-Line-Spectrophotometer (ILS) measurements of constant value patches in the presence of banding in multi-function document reproduction systems. The present system analyzes the ILS data stream to identify structured noise components due to banding. An FFT is performed on each L*a*b* component in the ILS stream for a single test page. The peak frequencies from the FFT of the L* a* and b* channels are compared. Common frequencies in all 3 channels indicate a banding component. Once the banding frequencies and the banding wavelength are known, the color patch target can be adjusted to ensure the color patches are synchronized to the banding wavelength. By running a series of synchronized patches and averaging results, structured noise can be eliminated. In such a manner, a reduction of banding effects on color calibration can be effectuated.
US08332169B2
An apparatus estimates SOH of a battery based on a battery voltage variation pattern. A data storing unit obtains and stores battery voltage, current and temperature data from sensors, at each SOH estimation. A first SOC estimating unit estimates first SOC by current integration using the battery current data. A second SOC estimating unit estimates open-circuit voltage from the voltage variation pattern, and calculates and stores second SOC corresponding to the open-circuit voltage and temperature using correlations between the open-circuit voltage/temperature and SOC. A weighted mean convergence calculating unit calculates and stores convergence value for weighted mean value of ratio of the second SOC variation to the first SOC variation. A SOH estimating unit estimates capacity corresponding to the weighted mean convergence value using correlation between the weighted mean convergence value and the capacity, estimates relative ratio of the estimated capacity to an initial capacity, and stores it as SOH.
US08332166B2
An ultrasound machine processes ultrasonic data according to acoustoelastic properties of the materials to obtain strain information without specific assumptions with respect to the material properties of the measured material or a variety of different material properties normally not obtained by ultrasound machines.
US08332163B2
Methods of determining a quantity of rotor slots in an induction motor are disclosed. An approximate slip is calculated according to an approximate slip function. A fundamental frequency is calculated from a representation of the voltage signal. A saliency frequency is calculated from a representation of the current signal. For each rotor slots index in a set of rotor slots indices, a slip estimate is calculated according to a slip estimation function. A slip estimation error signal is calculated. A rotor slots performance surface representative of an aggregate of the slip estimation error signals is calculated. A rotor slots quantity equal to the rotor slots index corresponding to a minimum of the rotor slots performance surface over at least a portion of the set of the rotor slots indices is defined.
US08332161B2
In a method for detecting a level of contamination of a particle sensor provided with two electrodes situated on an insulator material for generating an electrical field, the insulator material is heated to above a limiting temperature of the insulator material at which the insulator material begins to become conductive. The insulator material is modulated by heating or cooling, the modulation being carried out at a lower temperature and an upper temperature which are each above the limiting temperature. The variation over time of a measuring signal which may be picked up between electrodes is measured during the modulation. The measured variation over time of the measuring signal is compensated using a theoretical variation over time of the measuring signal in a contamination-free state of the particle sensor in order to obtain a variation over time of a differential signal.
US08332155B2
A system and computer-implemented method for characterizing hydrocarbon gas net pay zones in a subterranean reservoir including determining a sweet zone indicator from well log data, determining rock properties from well log data, and identifying one or more classes of net pay zones from the sweet zone indicator and rock properties. The sweet zone indicator may be determined by computing neutron-density separation and using the neutron-density separation and the well log data. The rock properties determined from the well log data may include total water saturation, adsorbed gas saturation, total gas content, porosity, propensity for hydraulic fracturing, uncertainty level of the total water saturation, uncertainty level of the total gas content, and baselines for the porosity and total gas content. Using the sweet zone indicator and rock properties, one or more classes of net pay zones can be identified.
US08332150B2
To monitor storm activity in real time, ELF signals generated in an Earth-ionosphere resonator are received via two active magnetic induction antennas, recorded, and sent to an electronic data processing unit for spectral analysis. The resulting power spectra are matched with resonance curves to parametrize the power spectra by a set of observation parameters that are based on ELF field resonance propagation models in the Earth-ionosphere resonator and that depend on distance and intensity of electrical spark discharges of storm cells. The observation parameters are compared with base parameters of a model parameter database. The base parameters that best approximate the observation parameters are used for developing a map of location and intensity of the electrical spark discharges.
US08332149B2
Devices, methods, and programs correct an estimated path found by dead reckoning navigation. A point correlation value s is calculated based on a distance to a reliability circle whose radius is a speculative maximum error e that indicates a distance of an error range with respect to a GPS position. A correlation value Sp of an estimated path and a correlation value Sq of a candidate path are calculated from cumulative values of the point correlation values s. A correction that moves the estimated path is not performed if the correlation value Sq of the candidate path becomes worse than the correlation value Sp of the estimated path, and the correction of the estimated path is performed if the correlation value Sq of the candidate path does not become worse than the correlation value Sp of the estimated path. Thus, false matching can be further reduced, and the travel path can be suitably corrected.
US08332142B2
A position display apparatus for own position and a position of an outside apparatus has: a position acquiring part adapted to acquire a first information indicative of the own position; a wireless communication part adapted to receive a second information indicative of the position of the outside apparatus; a map display adapted to display the own position and the position of the outside apparatus on a common map in response to the first information and the second information; and a controller adapted to control the map display in response to the first information and the second information so that the common map covers both the own position and the position of the outside apparatus on the map display.
US08332141B2
A computer system and media for delivering routing information are provided. The computer system includes a routing engine, a database, and routing network that are employed to respond to routing requests and user modifications of routing information received in response to the routing requests. The routing engine receives the routing requests and generates routing information that illustrates a route and metadata for directions that guides a user when navigating the route. A user that is dissatisfied with the routing information may use route modification tools to alter the route in a manner that is consistent with the user's understanding of alternate routes that may supplement the routing information provided by the routing engine. The computer system receives the user modifications, stores the user modifications, and updates the routing network to learn the alternate route provided in the user modifications.
US08332133B2
A method for processing a request message received in an aircraft, from air control, via a data transmission system, includes the identification of a type of request contained in the received message and the extraction of parameters associated with the type of request identified. The method further includes steps of determining flight characteristics to be calculated according to the type of request identified and the said associated parameters; selecting at least one calculation module, from among a predetermined set of calculation modules, according to the determined flight characteristics to be calculated; calculating flight characteristics with at least one selected calculation module, and obtaining calculation results; and creating a draft for response to the said request from the calculation results obtained.
US08332122B2
A control apparatus for a vehicle drive unit including a control structure of a hierarchical type having a demand generation level, a mediation level, and a control variable setting level and a signal is transmitted in one direction from a higher level of hierarchy to a lower level of hierarchy. The demand generation level includes demand output elements for each capability. The mediation level includes mediation elements, each corresponding to a classified category of demands. Each of the mediation elements collects demand values of the category of which the mediation elements are in charge and performs mediation according to a rule to arrive at a single demand value. The control variable setting level includes an adjuster portion adjusting each of the mediated demand values based on a relationship between each other and control variable calculation elements calculating a control variable of each of a plurality of actuators based on the adjusted demand value.
US08332118B2
A control request arbitration apparatus of a vehicle includes respective sections for selecting one of a plurality of position control requests generated by control request apparatuses, for converting the selected position control request to a converted speed control request, for selecting one of a plurality of speed control requests including the converted speed control request, for converting the selected speed control request to a converted acceleration control request, and for selecting one of a plurality of acceleration control requests including the converted acceleration control request. Since position/acceleration and speed/acceleration conversion sections become unnecessary in control request apparatuses, the total of these sections becomes independent of the number of control request apparatuses.
US08332116B2
A reaction force apparatus incorporated in a vehicle includes a reaction force controller for setting an acceleration intention boundary threshold value, which comprises a threshold value with respect to a rate of depression of an accelerator pedal, and which determines whether the driver of the vehicle intends to accelerate the vehicle quickly or gradually. The reaction force controller reduces the reaction force when the rate of depression exceeds the acceleration intention boundary threshold value, whereas the reaction force controller maintains the reaction force when the rate of depression is less than the acceleration intention boundary threshold value.
US08332114B2
A braking system (1) for an aircraft which includes a by-pass control system (9) for activation when undemanded braking or loss of braking is detected. The braking system (1) comprises: a brake pedal transducer (2) for generating a brake pedal actuation signal when a brake pedal (3) is applied; brake actuation means (5) for activating a brake (6) on receipt of a braking signal; braking pressure transducer means (7) for generating a braking output signal related to the braking force applied to the brake (6); primary processing means (4) in electrical communication with the brake pedal transducer (2) and the brake actuation means (5) and adapted to generate a braking signal on receipt of a brake pedal actuation signal; secondary processing means (8) adapted to receive the brake pedal actuation signal and braking output signal; and a bypass braking control system (9) adapted to receive the brake pedal actuation signal from the brake pedal transducer (2) and generate a braking signal in response to the brake pedal actuation signal. The secondary processing means (8) is adapted to disable the primary processing means (4) and enable the bypass braking control system (9) on detection of undemanded braking or loss of braking from the brake pedal actuation signal and braking output signal.
US08332113B2
A brake control apparatus for a vehicle includes four wheel braking apparatuses, a first hydraulic pressure generating apparatus, a front-wheel hydraulic circuit connecting the hydraulic pressure generating apparatus to the two of the wheel braking apparatuses, a rear-wheel hydraulic circuit connecting the hydraulic pressure generating apparatus to the other two of the wheel braking apparatuses, a second hydraulic pressure generating apparatus generating an auxiliary pressure, a braking operation variable detecting means, a reference amount determining means for determining a reference amount of auxiliary hydraulic pressure, an obtaining means for obtaining at least one of state quantities indicating a load condition, a driving condition and slipperiness of wheel, a target amount determining means determining a target amount of auxiliary hydraulic pressure of each hydraulic circuit to be equal to or greater than the corresponding reference amount of auxiliary hydraulic pressure, and a pressure regulating means for regulating the auxiliary hydraulic pressure.
US08332110B2
A method of detecting axial wear and a counterforce gradient of a multiple disc switching element (1) with position-controlled actuation with an electric motor (2), a spur gear stage (3) and a ball ramp (4) by one of a hydraulic pressure actuator and an electromagnetic actuator. The method comprises the step of determining, when a vehicle is at a standstill, the axial wear (J) and the counterforce gradient or the rigidity of the system by an overrun adaptation.
US08332085B2
The particle swarm-based micro air launch vehicle trajectory optimization method is carried out by formulating a parameter optimization problem, which is solved using a particle swarm optimization procedure. The optimization problem is formulated using a single objective function having the explicit objective to maximize the payload mass. Constraints on terminal conditions are imposed.
US08332081B2
A method for controlling a boom (11) for in-flight refueling for increasing the damping of its displacement by means of a movement of control surfaces (16) related to its angular velocity, that comprises the following steps: a) At least two sensors (32, 33) are arranged in two sections of the boom (11) positioned on opposite sides of the valley (41) of the dominant flexible mode (40) for any length of its telescopic extension (12) and the moduli (D1, D2) of the angular deformations of the dominant flexible mode (40) are determined in them; b) The angular velocities (Q1, Q2) are obtained from the data supplied by said sensors (32, 33); c) The angular velocity Q unaffected by the resonance of the dominant flexible mode (40) is obtained as a function of said angular velocities (Q1, Q2) and said moduli (D1, D2), which eliminates the component of the elastic movement of the dominant flexible mode (40). The invention also relates to a control system and a computer program for executing said method.
US08332076B2
A wind farm with plural wind turbines which are connectible to a farm grid that is in turn connectible to an electricity supply mains via a connection point, wherein the wind farm features the following: a central control system, which determines a correction value for a local desired value for one or plural wind turbines by way of a first regulator, depending on an actual value of an electric variable before or after the connection point, and a turbine control for at least one wind turbine, which determines a local desired value for an electric variable to be generated by the wind turbine by way of a second regulator, depending on an actual value of an electric variable measured in the farm grid, wherein the turbine control determines the sum of the local desired value and the correction value as the total desired value for the electric variable of the wind turbine to be generated.
US08332073B2
A library apparatus includes a robot which transports a transportable medium, an objective unit including a light receptor of the objective unit and a light emitter of the objective unit which emits light to the outside of the objective unit when light is received by the light receptor of the objective unit. The robot includes a light emitter of the robot opposite to the light receptor of the objective unit that emits light to the light receptor of the objective unit at the time of positioning of the robot at the objective unit, and a light receptor of the robot opposite to the light emitter of the objective unit that receives light from the light emitter of the objective unit at the time of positioning of the robot at the objective unit.
US08332069B2
An apparatus for performing fault tolerance against a failure occurring during driving robot software components includes: a component executor for executing the robot software components, which are assigned with one thread from an operating system and have a same priority and cycle, by using the assigned thread; and an executor monitor for periodically monitoring the operation of the component executor and determining whether or not there is a failure in the robot software components executed by the component executor. The apparatus further includes: an executor manager for generating the component executor which is assigned with the robot software components having the same priority and cycle and, when the executor monitor determines that there is a failure in the execution of the robot software components, generating a new component executor.
US08332068B2
A system and method is disclosed for controlling a robot having at least two legs that is falling down from an upright posture. An allowable stepping zone where the robot is able to step while falling is determined. The allowable stepping zone may be determined based on leg Jacobians of the robot and maximum joint velocities of the robot. A stepping location within the allowable stepping zone for avoiding an object is determined. The determined stepping location maximizes an avoidance angle comprising an angle formed by the object to be avoided, a center of pressure of the robot upon stepping to the stepping location, and a reference point of the robot upon stepping to the stepping location. The reference point, which may be a capture point of the robot, indicates the direction of fall of the robot. The robot is controlled to take a step toward the stepping location.
US08332041B2
In general, the disclosure relates to the delivery of therapy according to a detected posture state of a patient. The disclosure contemplates a variety of techniques for managing therapy delivered to a patent, including patient and clinician interaction with a medical device configured to deliver therapy according to posture state. In one example, the disclosure relates to a technique including receiving an indication from a user indicating that at least one aspect of therapy delivered to a patient from a medical device should be suspended, wherein the at least one aspect of the therapy is delivered from the medical device to the patient according to a detected posture state of the patient; and suspending the at least one aspect of the therapy delivered from the medical device in response to receipt of the indication.
US08332032B2
A cardiac medical device and associated method control delivery of anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) in response to detecting tachycardia. In one embodiment, an initial set of single chamber pacing pulses are delivered in a single one of the atrium and the ventricle, the other one of the atrium and the ventricle being a non-paced chamber during the initial set of single chamber pacing pulses. The device detects simultaneity between a sensed event in the non-paced chamber and one of the single chamber pacing pulses and delivers ATP in both the atrium and the ventricle in response to detecting the simultaneity.
US08332026B2
A method of analyzing a composition of a human body having a plurality of body segments is disclosed. The method can include applying a current signal to a body. The method can further include simultaneously measuring a plurality of voltage signals from a plurality of measuring positions of the body during a predetermined period, and processing at least two of the plurality of voltage signals to determine a composition parameter of a body segment so as to assess or analyze composition of the body.
US08332023B2
An ECG measuring device and a magnetic resonance scanner to permit reliable detection of R-waves in ECG signals. The R-waves are identified by: measuring at least one reference ECG signal by an ECG measuring device, identifying an R-wave in the reference ECG signal, determining from the reference ECG signal at least one reference quantity which the reference ECG signal assumes in a time interval that starts before the R-wave of the ECG signal and lasts at a maximum up to the occurrence of the R-wave, generating at least one comparison rule on the basis of the at least one reference quantity, measuring ECG signals in which R-waves are to be identified, comparing the measured ECG signals with at least one reference quantity on the basis of the at least one comparison rule and outputting a trigger signal on the basis of at least one positive result of the comparison.
US08332016B2
The present invention improves projection displays of volume data. Using the Minimum Intensity Projection (MinIP), fluid filled regions or other regions of hyporeflective tissue are displayed. By limiting the projection to partial volumes within the volume, differences in the scattering intensity within specific regions are isolated. In this way, hyperreflectivity of weakly scattering tissue can be assessed.
US08332015B2
The invention relates to a method for detecting properties or alterations in at least one semitransparent layer of a body of a tooth by applying light escaping from at least one light guide via the front thereof to the body, as well as for recording at least one area of the body by means of a camera and subsequently assessing the image determined by the sensor. In order to be able to detect alterations or properties with high accuracy and a high image quality, it is proposed to place the front of the light guide on the body in order to subject the body to the light of the light guide.
US08332013B2
Method for delivering a stent coupled with a catheter, to a selected position within a lumen of the body of a patient, the method includes the procedures of: selecting a single image of the lumen, among a plurality of images of an image sequence of the lumen, receiving a position input associated with the selected image and respective of the selected position, the position input is defined in a coordinate system respective of a medical positioning system (MPS), detecting the current position of the stent in the coordinate system, according to position data acquired by an MPS sensor attached to the catheter in the vicinity of the stent, superimposing on at least one maneuvering associated image of the lumen, at least one stent representation respective of the current position, and at least one marking representation respective of the position input, according to a real-time organ timing signal of an inspected organ of the body, maneuvering the catheter through the lumen, toward the selected position, according to the current position relative to the position input, and producing an output when the current position substantially matches the selected position.
US08332012B2
A computer assisted surgery system is described for assisting a surgeon in aligning a drill with the interlocking holes of an implanted intramedullary (IM) rod used for fixation of long bone fractures. With the IM rod inserted, a localizing device measures the pose of a tracked adapter attached to the rod's exposed end. Approximate AP and lateral fluoroscopic x-ray images are acquired of the end of the rod with the interlocking holes. Image processing algorithms determine the actual position of the rod and calculate an adjustment to the pose of the tracked adapter and IM rod. Using the adjusted pose information, the system displays, in three roughly orthogonal views, a representation of the drill trajectory relative to the images of the IM rod and relative to a graphic representation of the IM rod.
US08332009B2
A two-part sensor (1) comprising a first part comprising a sensing device (3) which senses information, a second part comprising a receiving device (5) which receives a measure of the information, and a connector (7) comprising at least one first portion (21) which is magnetic and is attached to one of the sensing device and the receiving device, and at least one second portion (23) which is magnetizable and is attached to an other of the sensing device and the receiving device, wherein the first portion and the second portion are connectable and disconnectable to connect and disconnect the sensing device and the receiving device.
US08332005B2
A superconducting electrical cable is specified, which is surrounded by a cryostat (3), which comprises two concentric metallic tubes (4, 5) which enclose thermal insulation between them and is used to carry a cooling medium. The cable has at least one superconductor (1), which is composed of superconducting material, as well as a normal electrical conductor (7), which is composed of normally conductive material and is electrically conductively connected to the superconductor. The normal conductor (7) is arranged outside of but resting on the cryostat (3).
US08331993B2
Disclosed herein is a mobile terminal and an operation control method thereof in which a delay time of the screen lock execution is controlled according to the type of application, thereby improving the inconvenience of a user interface and effectively managing a battery according to an interrupt when required to continuously receive an input from the user or continuously provide visual information to the user. For this purpose, a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include an input unit configured to receive a user input; an execution controller configured to execute screen lock if the user input is not received for a predetermined time; and a change controller configured to change the predetermined time based on a type of application.
US08331989B2
Apparatuses and methods for field programming a private security key into a mobile station are described herein. The methods may include a server initially accepting in a wireless network a connection from a mobile station that is without a factory programmed subscriber identification module (SIM). The server may then collaborate with the mobile station to field program the mobile station with an international mobile subscriber identification (IMSI) and a private security key (Ki).
US08331987B2
Systems and methods are provided for interfacing wireless communications between two devices such that a device devoid of a relatively long-range communications protocol can access that protocol. This may be accomplished by providing a host device having relatively short-range communications circuitry integrated therein, which circuitry may be operative to communicate with relatively short-range communications circuitry of a multi-protocol or long-range communications device that also includes relatively long-range communications circuitry.
US08331984B1
The communication device comprising a voice communication implementer, a calculation implementer, a bold formatting implementer, an italic formatting implementer, a font formatting implementer, a stereo audio data output implementer, a multiple language implementer, a caller's information displaying implementer, and an icon displaying implementer.
US08331983B1
The communication device comprising a voice communicating implementer, a video game implementer, an auto time adjusting implementer, a moving picture replaying implementer, a calculation implementer, a bold formatting implementer, a stereo audio output implementer, a photo quality setting implementer, a multiple language implementer, and a caller's information displaying implementer.
US08331982B2
A mobile terminal and a method for controlling broadcast in a mobile terminal are provided. The mobile terminal extracts broadcast guide receiving associated information for receiving broadcast guide information corresponding to a specific data type selected by a user from broadcast guide receiving associated information and receives broadcast guide information corresponding to the selected specific data type by using the extracted broadcast guide receiving associated information.
US08331978B2
A wireless communication device includes a component operating in a single frequency mode. The component includes a first differential branch that includes first input nodes and first output nodes. The first output nodes are coupled to ground. A second differential branch includes second input nodes, second output nodes, and a first planar inductor coupling a first terminal and a second terminal to ground. A third differential branch includes third input nodes, third output nodes, and a second planar inductor. The second planar inductor is formed within the first planar inductor of the second differential branch and couples a third terminal and a fourth terminal to ground. The third and fourth terminals are electrically independent from the first planar inductor and the first and second terminals. The second and third differential branches form a dual inductor circuit.
US08331977B2
A search algorithm to find a globally optimal radio plan for a wireless network, including assignments of frequency and transmission power to multiple access points. Two different evaluation metrics are used in order to provide an optimal solution in a reasonable time period. Frequency searches are performed using a special rapid evaluation metric. Transmission powers are selected using a more refined metric that estimates data throughput. The search results are deterministic and execution time is also substantially deterministic.
US08331969B2
Methods and apparatus for service acquisition in a broadcast system. In an aspect, a method includes detecting whether a loss of service has occurred, and initiating acquisition attempts during an aggressive acquisition phase if a loss of service has occurred, wherein a backoff time interval between successive acquisition attempts is constant or increased, and wherein the aggressive acquisition phase ends when service acquisition is achieved or a selected number of acquisition attempts have been performed. An apparatus includes interface logic configured to detect whether a loss of service has occurred, and processing logic configured to initiate acquisition attempts during an aggressive acquisition phase if a loss of service has occurred, wherein a backoff time interval between successive acquisition attempts is constant or increased, and wherein the aggressive acquisition phase ends when service acquisition is achieved or a selected number of acquisition attempts have been performed.
US08331968B2
An antenna switching method in a wireless access system is disclosed. A method of transmitting antenna information according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of receiving an uplink request message for closed-loop antenna switching from a mobile station, transmitting a reference field including prescribed modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information to the mobile station, and transmitting a differential field including the antenna information to the mobile station. In this case, the antenna information can contain a selected antenna index.
US08331957B2
A mobile terminal that executes an application using context information in a plurality of environments in which determined context information is different. A storage stores an environment ID indicating environment in which a user is located and corresponding context information indicating user's context in association with an application ID; a receiver receives one environment ID and one condition determination result information from a context management server assigned in each environment, for delivering one environment ID indicating the environment and one condition determination result information indicating the user's context in the environment; a determining mechanism determines the application ID stored in the storage based on one environment ID and one condition determination result information received by the receiver means; and an execution mechanism executes the application corresponding to the application ID determined by the determining mechanism.
US08331949B2
Improved serving sector selection mechanisms are provided which convey sector load information to a wireless communicator. The wireless communicator can use carrier-to-interference (C/I) ratio measurements and sector load information for each of its Active Set (AS) sectors (or all sectors in its Active Set (AS)) to determine the best serving sector.
US08331947B2
A method for allocating resources for transmission of an uplink Acknowledgement (ACK)/Negative ACK (NACK) used for indicating success/failure in reception of downlink transmission data by a base station in a mobile communication system. The resource allocation method includes determining a mapping rule between control channel elements constituting a downlink control channel and resources for ACK/NACK transmission; transmitting, to at least one User Equipment (UE), control information used for indicating to acquire the determined mapping rule and resources for ACK/NACK transmission allocated using the mapping rule; transmitting a downlink data channel though a predetermined scheduling operation; and transmitting the downlink control channel to the UE.
US08331940B2
A method and device for providing reference information for starting scanning a different radio access network to a terminal in a boundary area is provided. A receiver supporting a plurality of access systems includes a receiving circuit for receiving a scanning threshold from a transmitter, a first measuring module for measuring channel quality of a serving cell, and a second measuring module for starting scanning a neighboring cell that is a different radio access network when channel quality of the serving cell is less than the channel quality threshold. The receiver may further include a handover module for performing handover to the neighboring cell when the channel quality of the neighboring cell measured by the second measuring module is greater than that of the serving cell.
US08331936B2
A method and apparatus are provided for use in a cellular radio communication system for adjusting a handover parameter. Information is collected regarding actual handovers that have occurred between one or more pairs of cells as well as handover failures. The collected handover information is processed to determine a handover oscillation rate or a handover cost associated with the cell pair. If the handover performance is determined to be acceptable, the determined handover oscillation rate or the determined handover cost is compared with a predetermined target handover oscillation rate or a predetermined target handover cost, respectively. One or more handover parameters associated with at least one of the cells in the cell pair is adjusted based on the comparison.
US08331933B2
The present invention relates to a method for performing a ranging operation according to the priority order in a mobile communication system using a BWA (Broadcast Wireless Access) scheme. The method according to the invention for performing a range operation by a subscriber terminal in a mobile communication system using the BWA (Broadcast Wireless Access) scheme comprises steps of: receiving backoff domains having the start and end values of the backoff corresponding to each ranging operation, the backoff domains being determined from a base station according to the priority order of the ranging operations between the base station and subscriber terminals; performing a ranging operation and, if it is determined that the step of performing the ranging operation fails, selecting backoff domains among the received backoff domains according to the priority order of the performed ranging operations; and, re-performing the ranging operation according to the selected backoff domains.
US08331932B2
A mobile station used in a mobile communication system which accepts location registrations from mobile stations in order to perform mobile station location management, the mobile station being comprising a detection means which detects that it is in an overlap region of hierarchical location registration areas; and a delay means which delays location registration when the detection has been made.
US08331925B1
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for assessing call integrity of calls communicated via a mobile device. In particular, physical aspects of the mobile device that are related to call integrity are identified. The physical condition of the mobile device is then monitored based on the identified physical aspects. The data retrieved from monitoring the physical aspects of the mobile device is then provided to a physical condition assessment component that determines an assessed physical condition of the mobile device. Based on the assessed physical condition of the mobile device, call integrity of calls communicated via the mobile device is determined.
US08331924B1
A wireless communication device is configured to respond to a call initiation instruction from a user with a two dimensional array of pictures or diagrams that each represent a potential call destination. The user can scroll (left, right, up, down) to select the image representing the desired call destination and upon selection from the user the wireless communication device places a call (voice or data) to the selected call destination or allows editing of the corresponding contact record. The pictures or diagrams presented to the user may be from a dynamic (e.g., most frequent contacts) or persistent (e.g., My favorites) predetermined list.
US08331922B2
A device may include a communication module that is arranged and configured to establish a wireless connection with a remote device and a remote mode module that is arranged and configured to receive and process an enabling command that places the device in a host controller interface (HCI) remote control mode, where the HCI remote control mode enables the device to be controlled by the remote device using one or more HCI commands over the wireless connection.
US08331921B2
In embodiments of managing subscribers on a cellular network, a service provider tracks subscriber devices that are connected for voice communication via a network. The service provider can estimate an increased service load on the network by combining a number of the subscriber devices estimated to still be connected at an appointed time with a number of additional subscriber devices estimated to request connection at or within a predetermined range of the appointed time. The service provider can then cause a number of inactive subscriber devices to be disconnected for at least a predetermined period of time in anticipation of the increased service load.
US08331912B1
A method, system, and medium are provided for dynamically updating a message communicated in telecommunications protocol. Typically, the updatable message is configured to include at least updateable attributes including an identifier that identifies the message as capable of being updated and a set of variables associated with selectable options. Upon receiving the message, a notification may be communicated to one or more mobile devices within a group, where the one or more devices are configured to present representations of the selectable options, status attribute, and content at a user interface. In embodiments, the change indication may be provided by a member of a group, where the indication triggers a messaging-network provider to automatically modify the content of the message. Concomitantly, information may be communicated to one or more mobile devices to alert the user without generating a separate message.
US08331910B2
An access authority changing method in a cellular system including terminals, a core network apparatus, and base stations included in a cell connectable to a terminal permitted to make access, the core network apparatus storing a first list listing cells accessible by the terminals and the terminals storing a second list listing cells the terminals can access. The base station notifies the core network apparatus that the base station permits access of the terminal; the core network apparatus, receiving the notification, adds a cell of the base station to the first list and transmits the first list added with the cell to the base station; the base station broadcasts the received first list to the cell; and the terminal adds, based on contents of the received first list, a cell of the base station to the second list, accesses the cell, and starts communication with the core network apparatus.
US08331908B2
Technologies are described herein for controlling components associated with a room using a mobile phone. A gateway is configured to receive a command from a mobile phone. Upon receiving the command, the gateway determines whether the command is a room command or a presentation command. If the command is a room command, the gateway causes the room component to respond to the room component. If the command received is a presentation command, the gateway causes the presentation component to respond to the presentation command. A user may input commands to the mobile phone by making gestures with or on a screen of the mobile phone, by utilizing phone keys of the mobile phone, or by interacting with user interface controls displayed on the mobile phone.
US08331902B2
The invention of present provides for a real-time authentication and billing gateway for WLAN traffic. Notably, the improved method for implementing a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) gateway system enables telecommunications network operators (and like entities) to rate and bill for services accessed by the wireless user. The logic of the invention supports and furthers the art in regards to advanced real-time rating/billing in addition to providing for a variety of replenishment mechanisms for casual users via pre-paid vouchers and credit cards.
US08331898B2
An electronic circuit includes a receiver circuit (BSP) operable to perform coherent summations having a coherent summations time interval, and a power control circuit (2130) coupled to said receiver circuit (BSP) and operable to impress a power controlling duty cycle (TON, TOFF) on the receiver circuit (BSP) inside the coherent summations time interval. Other circuits, devices, systems, methods of operation and processes of manufacture are also disclosed.
US08331896B2
A passive implementation of an image reject mixer (IRM), capable of operating at very high frequency, is operative according to the disclosed method. The IRM comprises a quad MOS multiplier and a lumped-element hybrid, resulting in a passive IRM. Operative at a radio frequency (RF) of tens of GHz with an intermediate frequency (IF) of several GHz. The RF+ and RF− signals are provided to two quad MOS multipliers. A local oscillator signal (LO) is used to provide LO+ and LO− signals to one of the multipliers and by providing the LO to a phase shifter, generated are a ninety degree shifted LO+ and LO− signals provided to the other multiplier. Providing the hybrids with the outputs of both multipliers and selecting an appropriate IF signal from each of the hybrids ensures the proper operation of the passive IRM.
US08331895B2
A receiving circuit is provided for performing reception of a plurality of band signals and suppression of blockers that remain in the plurality of band signals being received and converted in frequency. The receiving circuit includes a first low-pass filter that has a first pole position to suppress blockers remaining in a received signal by the first pole position, and a second low-pass filter that has a second pole position to suppress blockers remaining in a signal that has passed through said first low-pass filter by the second pole position. A switch that switches on/off an input-output path including the filters so that the received signal passes through said first filter without passing through the second filter when receiving a first band signal, while the received signal passes through both filters when receiving a second band signal different from the first band signal.
US08331890B2
A FM receiver comprises an IF filter, a demodulator and a decoder. The IF filter generates an RSSI and a FM modulated signal in response to a FM signal. The demodulator comprises a duty-to-voltage amplifier for amplifying a peak of a MPX signal. The duty-to-voltage amplifier comprises a current source, a switch and a current splitter. The current source generates a current. The switch controls a flow of the first current in response to a PWM signal. The current splitter splits the flow of the current into a sub-flow in response to the RSSI. The peak of the MPX signal is proportional to the sub-flow. The decoder receives the MPX signal to generate an audio signal to play sound.
US08331887B2
In an embodiment, a tuner circuit includes an inter-chip receiver circuit configurable to couple to a first inter-chip communication link to receive a first data stream and includes an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert a radio frequency signal into a digital version of the radio frequency signal. The tuner circuit further includes a digital signal processor coupled to the inter-chip receiver circuit and the analog-to-digital converter. The digital signal processor is configurable to generate an output signal related to at least one of the first data stream and the digital version of the radio frequency signal based on a selected operating mode.
US08331885B1
A method in a mobile communication terminal includes accepting a data payload at a known input rate for transmission by baseband circuitry having a known wake-up delay. Based on the known input rate and the known wake-up delay, a point in time is predicted, at which the data payload will have been only partially accepted for transmission, such that activation of the baseband circuitry at the predicted point in time will cause the baseband circuitry to be active upon complete arrival of the data payload. The baseband circuitry is activated to process the data payload at the predicted point in time.
US08331876B2
Disclosed is a method and system for initiating a Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC) session between PoC clients supporting various types of media. A PoC client performing Open Mobile Alliance-type multimedia communication service supports a plurality of media types and makes it possible to independently and more conveniently initiate a session irrespective of answer modes set according to media types when the answer modes according to the media types are not equal to each other.
US08331868B2
A method of power management of an electronic device, the method including the steps of: sending periodically at least one signal by the microcontroller to a radio equipment in order to control an incoming radio frequency transmission after an inactivity time of the radio equipment, returning in standby mode of the microcontroller, initiating by the radio equipment of a power up sequence, powering up one by one the different functional blocks of the radio equipment, determining of a measurement of a received power of the incoming radio frequency transmission once a RSSI detection functional block is powered and determining a state mode of power consumption to apply to all the functional blocks of the radio equipment and the microcontroller functions of the comparison of the measurement to a reference threshold.
US08331855B2
A control network carries information between nodes in a control system. For example, in one aspect of the invention, a control network includes first and second nodes, each of which is associated with at least one device in a control system, such as a controller, actuator, sensor, or otherwise. The first node is configured to wirelessly transmit information for simultaneous, or substantially simultaneous, transfer to the second node over at least two pathways. Those pathways can be made up of one or more network segments that interconnect nodes in the control network. In some cases, at least one of the at least two pathways is through a third and/or further nodes. Further, the first node can employ different radio channels, e.g., using different frequencies from one another, over at least one of the at least two pathways to transmit information to the second node.
US08331851B2
An exemplary device samples a converter signal (e.g., input to a block up converter or output from a low noise block) at a very small aperture terminal site and identifies, as between a site converter and a site modem, a more likely faulty component to aid site diagnosis and repair.
US08331837B2
An image-forming device comprising: an image-carrier belt that carries an image; a belt-driving roller that causes the image-carrier belt to move, the image-carrier belt being engaged around the belt-driving roller; a tension roller that applies a tension to the image-carrier belt, the image-carrier belt being engaged around the tension roller; a transfer roller having a concaved portion and a gripper, the transfer roller coming into contact with the tension roller interposed by the image-carrier belt, and transferring the image that is carried by the image-carrier belt onto the transfer material; a contacting/diverging part that causes the tension roller to move and that causes the transfer roller and the image-carrier belt to come into contact with or diverge from one another; a delivery part that delivers the transfer material that is gripped by the gripper; and a support member that pivotally supports the transfer roller and supports the delivery part.
US08331833B2
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus, which makes it possible to remove the resistance reduced carriers included in the developer without abandoning normal carriers whose resistances have not reduced, even in mid-course of implementing the image forming operation. The image forming apparatus includes: a carrier adhering roller to make at least a part of carriers, included in the developer, shift and adhere onto a carrier adhering roller in response to an electric field generated between the developer conveyance member and the carrier adhering roller, a recollection roller, rotatably disposed in such a manner that the recollection roller and the carrier adhering roller oppose to each other with a gap between them, to attract carriers, currently adhered onto the carrier adhering roller, onto a circumferential surface of the recollection roller; and a scraping member, contacting the recollection roller, to scrape the adhered carriers off the circumferential surface of the recollection roller.
US08331832B2
A developing device includes: a first-developer-holding-member facing a surface of a rotating latent image carrier, it rotating such that a moving direction thereof is opposite to that of the carrier at a portion where they face; a second-developer-holding-member provided at a downstream-side of the first-developer-holding-member in a direction in which the carrier rotates, and facing the surface of the carrier, it rotating such that a moving direction thereof is the same as that of the carrier at a portion where they face; a ratio of circumferential speeds of the first-developer-holding-member and the second-developer-holding-member being variable; a splitting member that splits a developer for the first-developer-holding-member and the second-developer-holding-member by hitting against the developer located between the first-developer-holding-member and the second-developer-holding-member; a moving unit that moves the splitting member; and a control unit that controls the moving unit to move the splitting member to vary split ratio of the developer.
US08331831B2
An end portion of a top side of a package container is tapered. Although a developer container package body may be stood up with a bottom side at the bottom, it cannot be stood up with the top side at the bottom. The bottom side serves as a switching lid of the package container. When the switching lid is opened, an opening which is a taking-out hole appears and a developer container can be taken out of the opening.
US08331821B2
A fixing device which can prevent deterioration and breakage of each member, and an image forming apparatus having the fixing device are provided. A separation/contact mechanism carries out separation/contact operation of an external heating section with respect to a fixing roller by turning the whole external heating section using a central axis of a rotation supporting roller out of a pair of rotation supporting rollers, as a rotation axis. This constitution can decrease impact force generated at the time of pressure-contact, and can prevent deterioration and breakage of the external heating belt and the fixing roller. Furthermore, when a heater lamp is provided in only the rotation supporting roller, positional deviation and damage of the heater lamp can be prevented.
US08331816B2
An image printing system configured to minimize two-dimensional image quality non-uniformities on printed documents is provided. The image printing system includes a marking engine, a linear array sensor, an image analyzer, and a controller. The marking engine is constructed to print toner images on an image bearing surface moving in a process direction. The marking engine comprising of a toner development system. The linear array sensor is adjacent the image bearing surface and is extending in a cross-process direction. The linear array sensor is configured to scan the toner image on the image bearing surface. The image analyzer is configured to detect a two-dimensional non-uniformity in the toner image. The controller is configured to control at least one control parameter of the toner development system based on the two-dimensional image quality non-uniformity in the toner image that is detected by the linear array sensor.
US08331809B2
A method monitors an electric current supplied to an electrostatic brush within a printing device. The electrostatic brush contacts and cleans a photoreceptor surface within the printing device. The method records a current spike pattern of when the electric current exceeds a first current threshold during the monitoring; however, the method will stop operations of the printing device if the electric current exceeds a second current threshold that is greater than the first current threshold. Further, the method can determine whether a scratch is present on the photoreceptor surface based on the current spike pattern.
US08331806B2
An image forming apparatus comprises a controller that stores instructions, which cause the image forming apparatus to determine a characteristic measurement in response to a toner cartridge being partially inserted into the image forming apparatus. A pair of spaced apart sensors included on the image forming apparatus each contact an outer cross-sectional surface of a film on a delivery aperture of the toner cartridge. The image forming apparatus further includes an auger having at least one sensor for conducting a characteristic measurement on the film. The characteristic measurement corresponds to criteria programmed in the image forming apparatus for determining if the toner cartridge has a full toner level or a partially full (or low) toner level.
US08331781B2
Optical access network, remote unit, optical communication method, and optical communication program
The present invention is to provide an optical access network in which a remote unit receives an optical burst signal. A central unit (OLT) transmits a DC-balanced optical continuous signal including packets having identification information for identifying each remote unit (ONU) to an optical switching module (OSM). The optical switching module (OSM) receives the DC-balanced optical continuous signal from the central unit (OLT), optically switches the packets based on the identification information, and transmits a DC-balanced optical burst signal including the packets to the remote unit (ONU). The remote unit (ONU) receives the DC-balanced optical burst signal and acquires the packets transmitted to the remote unit (ONU).
US08331780B2
An apparatus has a plurality of transmitters for transmitting optical packet signals having wavelengths; a multiplexer for multiplexing the optical packet signals transmitted by the plurality of transmitters; a packet scheduler controlling a timing at which each of the transmitters transmits the optical packet signal; and an assister for controlling power of assist light in accordance with a signal from the packet scheduler and causing the assist light to be wavelength-multiplexed with the wavelength multiplexed light such that a total sum of power of the wavelength multiplexed light and the power of the assist light is held constant under a predetermined condition.
US08331778B2
A WDM transmission apparatus to receive or relay WDM light in a WDM transmission system, includes a measuring unit configured to measure an optical level of each channel transmitted by the WDM light; an adjusting unit configured to adjust a resolution of the measuring unit; and a processing unit configured to obtain, for each channel, optical level information which represents an optical level respectively measured with a resolution corresponding to a bit rate of a transmission signal of each channel.
US08331776B2
An external photographic wireless communication device for connection to a camera body having a hot shoe connector for connecting to the camera body and a hot shoe connector for connecting to one or more accessory devices. Each of the hot shoe connectors includes a plurality of contacts. The device includes a switching element for selectively disconnecting one or more of the plurality of contacts in one hot shoe connector from a corresponding respective one of the other hot shoe connector.
US08331775B2
Embodiments relate to methods and systems for gathering, archiving, transmitting, and processing forensic and latent fingerprints. An integrated forensic fingerprint scanning system is provided that includes a number of features for use with forensic-quality fingerprinting. One set of features of embodiments of the portable forensic fingerprint scanning system provides real-time feedback for accurate fingerprinting and training, including visual and/or audio feedback. Another set of features provides cadence-based functionality for improving fingerprinting results. Another set of features provides cryptographic-based approaches to secure highly sensitive collected fingerprint information against loss, theft, or surreptitious modification or tampering. Yet another set of features provides latent fingerprint collections and processing. Still another set of features provides various databasing functions, including centralized storage, data sharing, secure networking, etc. And another set of features provides compatibility with a large variety of jurisdiction-specific inputs and/or outputs, including linguistic interactivity, alerts, print cards, etc.
US08331755B2
A multi-axial light guide module comprises a light guide, a light-emitting unit, a display unit and a light-guiding unit. The light guide has a light-emitting portion connects to a curved portion, wherein the light-emitting portion has at least two axial light-emitting planes to generate at least two axial light-emitting effects; the display unit has a first axial display layer corresponding to a first axial light-emitting plane, and a second axial display layer corresponding to a second axial light-emitting plane; the light-guiding unit is disposed on the light emitting portion, so as to enhance the light-emitting efficiency of the light-emitting portion; and, through the display unit and the light-guiding unit, the light-emitting and display effects of the multi-axial light-emitting plane on the light-emitting portion can be improved. Thereby, users may conveniently see the light-emitting display from different axial planes, in order to achieve the purposes of message prompt and indication.
US08331751B2
An apparatus for illuminating a sample includes a planar waveguide. The planar waveguide includes a first substrate, including a first outer surface and a first inner surface, and a second substrate, including a second outer surface and a second inner surface. The first and second inner surfaces of the first and second substrates, respectively, are spaced apart from each other and partly define a volume for confining the sample therein. The apparatus also includes a light source for providing light directed toward the planar waveguide, such that the light is optically coupled to and contained within the planar waveguide between the outer surfaces of the first and second substrates, while illuminating at least a portion of the sample confined within the volume.
US08331741B2
An acoustic sensor includes at least one photonic crystal structure and an optical fiber in optical communication with the at least one photonic crystal structure. The at least one photonic crystal structure has at least one optical resonance with a resonance frequency and a resonance lineshape, wherein at least one of the resonance frequency and the resonance lineshape is responsive to acoustic waves incident upon the acoustic sensor. The acoustic sensor further includes an optical fiber in optical communication with the at least one photonic crystal structure. The optical fiber is configured to transmit light which impinges the at least one photonic crystal structure and to receive at least a portion of the light which impinges the at least one photonic crystal structure.
US08331737B2
The present invention relates to machine vision computing environments, and more specifically relates to a system and method for selectively accelerating the execution of image processing applications using a multi-core processor system. To this extent, a multi-core processor system is generally defined as one that is multi-platform, and potentially distributed via a network or other connection. The invention provides a machine vision system and method for executing image processing applications referred to herein as an image co-processor that comprises (among other things) a plurality of multi-core processors (MCPs) that work to process multiple images in an accelerated fashion.
US08331722B2
Methods, apparatuses and systems for storing approximations of multiple spatial pixel value adjustment surfaces for use in pixel value correction. The adjustment surfaces may be used for positional gain adjustment. A representation of the multiple adjustment surfaces is stored as coefficients representing a multi-dimensional solid of two-dimensional adjustment surfaces. The stored coefficients are used to determine a plurality of additional sets of coefficients which sets are then in turn used to determine pixel correction values of adjustment surfaces.
US08331721B2
An arrangement is provided for automatically correcting a digital image by first examining the image to determine the class or type of correction that is needed to produce a more accurate rendition. The classes or types of corrections may include such items as exposure, color, depth of field, sharpness, distortion, and combinations thereof. The type of correction that is needed by any particular digital image is determined from an analysis of the image itself. Instead of presenting the user with a single corrected image, the user is typically presented with different renditions of the image. Each rendition corrects for the particular type of correction that has been identified, but in different ways from one another.
US08331720B2
It is possible to provide an image processing device, a method, and a program which can prevent image degradation which occurs when modifying the image magnification. The image processing device includes: an image input unit (10) which performs an image input; an edge direction calculation unit (24) which detects the edge direction contained in an image inputted by the image input unit (10); and an interpolation position decision unit (26), an interpolation object pixel decision unit (28), a first direction interpolation unit (30), and a second direction interpolation unit (32) which perform an interpolation process in the edge direction detected by the edge direction calculation unit (24) on the image inputted by the image input unit (10).
US08331717B2
Block noises at block boundaries are removed, but when a contour line in the original image matches a block boundary, the degree of block noise removal is adjusted and image quality is improved. An adaptive filter has a step of calculating the weight of pixels near the block boundary by a high-pass filter, and a step of determining an adjusted value for the pixels near the block boundary based on the weight. The pixel values near the block boundary are adjusted and block noises are removed. A low-pass filter is applied to pixels near the block boundary to determine a filtered value. The adjusted values of the pixels near the block boundary are determined by obtaining a weighted sum of the original pixel value and the filtered value. Because the high-pass filter recognizes the definition of pixels near the block boundary, and the low-pass filter reduces the difference between pixels near the block boundary, the adaptive filter outputs the adjusted value, and this value removes block noise while retaining image definition.
US08331716B2
The invention discloses a noise reduction method for reducing noises of an image frame, wherein the image frame consists of a plurality of data rows. The method of the invention includes following step of selectively performing a one-dimensional median algorithm at least twice and a slope algorithm at least once. Accordingly, the noises of the image frame can be reduced effectively.
US08331707B2
An electrical-device-implemented image coding method includes: a raw block is obtained from an image. There are a max pixel value and a min pixel value among the raw pixel values of the image. A first difference sum, which is sum of differences between the raw pixel values and the max pixel value respectively, are calculated. A second difference sum, which is sum of differences between the raw pixel values and the min pixel value respectively, are calculated. If the first difference sum is not smaller than the second difference sum, each of the residue values is calculated by subtracting the min pixel value from the corresponding raw pixel value. Otherwise, each of the residue values is calculated by subtracting the corresponding raw pixel value from the max pixel value. Each of the residue values is encoded into a compressed codeword. A bit stream is generated according to the compressed codewords.
US08331706B2
A first aspect of the invention relates to a method for creating a binary mask image from an a inputted digital image of a scanned document, comprising the steps of creating a binarized image by binarizing the inputted digital image, detecting first text regions representing light text on a dark background, and inverting the first text regions, such that the inverted first text regions are interpretable in the same way as dark text on a light background. A second aspect of the invention relates to a method for comparing in a binary image a first pixel blob with a second pixel blob to determine whether they represent matching symbols, comprising the steps of detecting a line in one blob not present in the other and/or determining if one of the blobs represents an italicized symbol where the other does not.
US08331703B2
An image encoding apparatus is configured to encode image data comprising a sequence of unencoded blocks of pixels into a sequence of encoded blocks of pixels in a predetermined image encoding format. Each encoded block of pixels has a characteristic encoding value representative of its corresponding unencoded block of pixels, and a plurality of dependently encoded blocks of pixels each have a dependent characteristic encoding value which is defined with reference to the characteristic encoding value for a preceding encoded block of pixels. The image encoding apparatus comprises a first encoding unit configured to perform an encoding process on a first group of the unencoded blocks of pixels and a second encoding unit configured to perform the encoding process on a second group of the unencoded blocks of pixels, wherein the encoding process generates an encoded block of pixels in the predetermined image encoding format, and wherein the second group immediately follows the first group and a first block of the second group is comprised in the plurality of dependently encoded blocks of pixels. The first encoding unit and the second encoding unit are configured to perform the encoding process in parallel on respective unencoded blocks of pixels in the first group and in the second group on a block-by-block basis. The image encoding apparatus is configured to perform a characteristic encoding value determination operation to determine the characteristic encoding value for a last block of pixels in the first group, before determining the dependent characteristic encoding value for the first block of the second group.
US08331691B2
An image-data processing apparatus. The image-data processing apparatus includes: an imaging section capturing an image of a subject and generating image data; a feature-extraction processing section extracting a visual feature from the generated image data; a feature-comparison processing section comparing a visual feature, having been extracted from recorded image data in a recording medium and related to the recorded image data, with the visual feature extracted by the feature-extraction processing section; and a control section reading image data having the visual feature extracted by the feature-extraction processing section from the recording medium on the basis of the comparison result.
US08331689B2
Systems and methods for detecting a border region in an image. A blank border in a video picture is determined by summing luminance or other pixel measures in a direction parallel to the border and looking for the maximum gradient of those summed measures in a direction perpendicular to the border. Sensitivity can be enhanced by increasing (relative to other pixels) the gain of pixels around the present pixel value of the border. The location of the maximum gradient may be weighted by other measures before a decision on border location is taken.
US08331687B2
An image processing device includes a detecting unit configured to detect an external light reflection region from an input image, and a determining unit configured to determine the glossiness of said external light reflection region, and determines whether or not the reflection of the external reflection region is specular reflection, and extracts a gloss region based on the determination result.
US08331686B2
A method of extracting line segments from a subject image includes calculating a gradient image and a direction image of respective edge pixels in a canny edge image obtained from the subject image, calculating a primary line passing arbitrary two pixels selected among the edge pixels, selecting candidate line segment pixels through performing an incremental pixel extension from a midpoint of the two pixels forming the primary line, and extracting the line segments by checking whether the candidate line segment pixels are connected to each another.
US08331680B2
A novel and useful method of using Incremental Connected Components to segment and isolate individual characters in a gray-scale or color image. For each pixel intensity of pixels in the image, a plurality of pixel groups are created comprising contiguous pixels of intensity equal to or less than the current pixel intensity. The pixel groups are then input to a character classifier which returns an identified character and a confidence value. Non-overlapping pixel groups (i.e. segmentation) of identified characters having the highest confidence values are then selected.
US08331674B2
An occlusion detection system and method include a decomposer configured to decompose an image into a set of hierarchical parts. A hierarchy of classifiers is employed to detect features in the image and the hierarchical parts. A logical operation is configured to logically combine a classification result from at least two of the classifiers to detect an occlusion state of the image.
US08331673B1
Disclosed is a method for determining the absence or presence of one or more instances of a predetermined pattern in an image, and for determining the location of each found instance within a multidimensional space. A model represents the pattern to be found, the model including a plurality of probes. Each probe represents a relative position at which a test is performed in an image at a given pose, each such test contributing evidence that the pattern exists at the pose. The method further includes a comparison of the model with a run-time image at each of a plurality of poses. A match score is computed at each pose to provide a match score surface. Then, the match score is compared with an accept threshold, and used to provide the location any instances of the pattern in the image.
US08331669B2
A method for processing image data for segmentation includes receiving image data. One or more seed points are identified within the image data. Intensity and texture features are computer based on the received image data and the seed points. The image data is represented as a graph wherein each pixel of the image data is represented as a node and edges connect nodes representative of proximate pixels of the image data and establishing edge weights for the edges of the graph using a classifier that takes as input, one or more of the computed image features. Graph-based segmentation such as segmentation using the random walker approach may then be performed based on the graph representing the image data.
US08331667B2
Provided are an apparatus and method of extracting a discriminative color feature, and an image forming system including: a photographing device to photograph an image of an object; a color feature extracting device receiving the image from the photographing device, extracting a discriminative color feature from the image, generating a final color model of the object, extracting a color blob of the object based on the final color model, performing blob analysis on the extracted color blob, and generating parameters to control a posturing of the photographing device according to the blob analysis; a control device receiving from the color feature extracting device the parameters to control the posturing of the photographing device, and controlling the posturing of the photographing device; a storage device storing the photographed image of the object; and a display device displaying the photographed image of the object.
US08331663B2
A method of encoding receives an image and tiles the image into a set of tiles. Each tile includes a set of pixels. The method selects a first tile and determines a first set of values for the pixels in the first tile. The method separates the determined values of each pixel in the first tile into several streams. For a first stream, the method determines a bias value, and subtracts the bias value from each value within the stream, thereby generating a set of subtracted values. Typically, the subtracted values have one or more leading zeros, and the method preferably removes one or more of the leading zeros, thereby reducing the number of bits required to represent the subtracted values within the first stream. Thus, one or more of the values within the first stream is advantageously represented with fewer bits. Additional embodiments include an encoder for encoding data by using a reduced number of bits, and a system, and decoder, for transmission, reception, display, storage and/or retrieval.
US08331662B2
A model-based method and apparatus for characterizing the performance of a printing device comprising printing a target set of patches with the device and measuring device response when the target is set; compiling a LUT from the target set and measured response; and representing the LUT as a tensor. Tensor decomposition/parallel factor analysis is employed for compacting the tensor representation of the LUT.
US08331656B2
A computer-implemented pattern recognition method, system and program product, the method comprising in one embodiment: creating electronically a linkage between a plurality of models within a classifier module within a pattern recognition system such that any one of said plurality of models may be selected as an active model in a recognition process; creating electronically a null hypothesis between at least one model of said plurality of linked models and at least a second model among said plurality of linked models; accumulating electronically evidence to accept or reject said null hypothesis until sufficient evidence is accumulated to reject said null hypothesis in favor of one of said plurality of linked models or until a stopping criterion is met; and transmitting at least a portion of the electronically accumulated evidence or a summary thereof to accept or reject said null hypothesis to a pattern classifier module.
US08331653B2
An object position area is calculated according to a position in the space of a detected truck. A template corresponding to the object position area recorded at the previous time is then called. The template is moved to a position on a reference image Ib where the similarity is highest. Overlap rate of the object position area and the template is calculated. A decision is made whether the object is identical to that detected in the past by using the overlap rate.
US08331652B2
A simultaneous localization and map building (SLAM) method and medium for a moving robot is disclosed. The SLAM method includes extracting a horizontal line from an omni-directional image photographed at every position where the mobile robot reaches during a movement of the mobile robot, correcting the extracted horizontal line, to create a horizontal line image, and simultaneously executing a localization of the mobile robot and building a map for the mobile robot, using the created horizontal line image and a previously-created horizontal line image.
US08331650B2
Aspects of the present invention are related to systems, methods and apparatus for image-based automatic defect detection.
US08331649B2
There is provided an LED testing apparatus. An LED testing apparatus according to an aspect of the invention may include: a first lighting unit generating first light and irradiating the first light onto an LED having an encapsulant including a fluorescent material excited by the first light to emit light having a longer wavelength than the first light; a second lighting unit generating second light having a longer wavelength than the first light to irradiate the second light onto the LED; an image acquisition unit receiving the light emitted from the fluorescent material and the second light reflected off the LED to acquire images of the LED; and an LED state determination unit determining whether the LED is acceptable or defective using the images of the LED acquired by the image acquisition unit.
US08331644B2
According to one embodiment, a document handling apparatus includes an image detection unit including a plurality of light sources to irradiate a surface of a paper sheet as an inspection target with light from two different directions, and a light receiving unit configured to receive reflected light from the surface of the paper sheet, and configured to detect an image on the surface of the paper sheet, and a detected information processing unit configured process detected information from the image detection unit and determine a defacement degree of the paper sheet. The detected information processing unit is configured to detect gray contamination of the paper sheet from an image detected by simultaneously turning on the plurality of light sources and to detect wrinkles or folds of the paper sheet from an image detected by turning on one of the plurality of light sources.
US08331635B2
The present invention is a three dimensional Cartesian coordinate system for the human body, having three perpendicular and intersecting planes. The present invention is based upon the use of the three cardinal planes, in the universally recognized orientations. The cardinal planes in accordance with the present invention are: Sagittal: midsagittal plane, Transverse: upper-most extent of the iliac crests, and Coronal: anterior-most aspect of the vertebral canal. The point at which these planes intersect defines the 0,0,0 location in the human body.
US08331610B2
A system of measuring the bare belt signature of a surface that does not require the use of extra print jobs, or extra belt cycles, during the printing of the actual print job. Instead, the inter-document zone and other “toner-free” areas within the test job itself are used to extract an estimate of the bare belt signature. More specifically, prior knowledge of the job content and of the location of the area between image pitches is used to identify areas of the belt that should be toner-free. These areas are then treated as “bare belt” segments, and the sensor signal for these areas are extracted, aligned according to their spatial location along the belt, and then averaged to produce a final estimate of the bare belt signature.
US08331600B2
A narrow directional microphone includes: a microphone unit; an acoustic tube having an opening on a peripheral wall along an axial direction and incorporating the microphone unit; and, an acoustic resistor that covers the opening of the acoustic tube. The acoustic tube is overlapped with an air-shutoff sheet having a plurality of openings which have various lengths in the axial direction of the acoustic tube. The openings of the air-shutoff sheet overlap the opening of the acoustic tube so that a size of the opening of the acoustic tube is limited.
US08331599B2
A speaker device for use in a mobile terminal includes a speaker frame with a speaker unit mounted therein, and a frame cover provided at the rear side of the speaker frame to form a resonance space between the speaker frame and the frame cover. Sound that is output in a forward direction of the speaker unit is emitted to a front space of the speaker frame, and sound that isoutput to the rear of the speaker unit is emitted through the resonance space. The speaker device provides the resonance space at the rear side of the speaker frame to reinforce the output of midrange and bass tones, thereby reproducing the original sound as accurately as possible. The speaker device enables a user to enjoy vivid sound when reproducing a multimedia file or viewing a digital, multimedia broadcast (DMB) program on a small-sized device, such as a mobile terminal.
US08331594B2
A hearing aid device is described. The device including a housing having a plurality of sides, the housing also having a first color. At least one electrical component is held within the housing. A clip removably attachable to the housing is provided. The clip has a second color. The clip covers at least a portion of the plurality of sides of the housing.
US08331593B2
The present invention relates to a new type of hearing aid with a housing that is adapted for positioning in the ear canal of a user and attached to an elongate member that is adapted for positioning in the pinna outside the ear canal of the user. The elongate member is adapted for removable interconnection with the hearing aid the housing of which is adapted for positioning in the ear canal of a user and accommodates a signal processor for processing an audio signal into an audio signal compensating a hearing loss and a receiver that is connected to an output of the signal processor for converting the processed compensated audio signal into a sound signal.
US08331582B2
The invention relates to adaptive directional systems, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for producing adaptive directional signals. The invention may be applied to the provision of audio frequency adaptive directional microphone systems for devices such as hearing aids and mobile telephones. The method involves constructing the adaptive directional signal (46) from a weighted sum of a first signal (42A) having an omni-directional polar pattern and a second signal (42B) having a bi-directional polar pattern, wherein the weights are calculated to give the combined signal a constant gain in a predetermined direction and to minimize the power of the combined signal. The method has particular application in producing signals in digital hearing aids, the predetermined direction being in the forward direction with respect to the wearer.
US08331580B2
An engine sound generation device adapted to an electric vehicle includes an engine speed calculation unit which calculates the virtual engine speed based on the motor revolution speed, vehicle speed, and acceleration opening. The engine speed calculation unit calculates the virtual engine speed with reference to the vehicle-dependent engine speed memory on the condition that the virtual engine speed is deemed proportional to the vehicle speed. In addition, the engine speed calculation unit calculates the virtual engine speed with reference to the vehicle-nondependent engine speed memory on the condition that the virtual engine speed is not deemed proportional to the vehicle speed, thus generating the common engine sound matching the behavior of an engine in a prescribed event such as the startup of the electric vehicle and the semi-engagement of a clutch.
US08331576B2
The invention regards a method for programming a hearing aid wherein the hearing aid user is initially tested by subjecting the user to air borne sound and/or to bone transmitted vibrations, and based on the test results a bone conducting hearing threshold of a bone integrated bone conducting hearing aid is calculated, and further a bone conducting hearing aid is chosen and applied to a skin penetrating abutment which is firmly attached to a bone integrated fixture in the skull bone of the hearing aid user. According to the invention the vibrator in the chosen hearing aid is caused to vibrate at different frequencies and vibration levels and feed-back from the hearing aid user is obtained in order to obtain knowledge of the hearing aid users experienced hearing threshold with the attached hearing aid and finally the experienced hearing threshold is used to fine tune this same hearing aid for future wearing by the user.
US08331575B2
Calculation is performed for sound paths 112-1, 114-1 along which sounds emitted from a sound emitting point 104 in an acoustic space 102 are reflected and delivered to a sound receiving point 106. By the calculation, entering angles eR1, eR2 by which the sound paths enter the front side 106a of the sound receiving point 106 are obtained. Calculation is then performed to obtain angles by which respective speakers 52C, 52L, 52R, 52SR, 52SL of a 5.1 surround system are arranged in a listening room, with the front side 106a of the sound receiving point 106 centered thereon. Audio signals on the respective sound paths are distributed among channels for any two speakers. Consequently, sharp localization of sound images is achieved, requiring less calculation in simulating acoustic characteristics of the acoustic space 102 in which the sound emitting point 104 for emitting sounds and the sound receiving point 106 for receiving the sounds are placed.
US08331573B2
A method and apparatus for attenuating applause from a satellite radio signal, including, a spectrum analyzer and comparator having an internal memory for obtaining a spectral signature of different sounds in the radio signal, a detector automatically detecting whether the sounds contain applause, an attenuator attenuating the sounds containing applause; and a digital to analog converter converting the attenuated sounds for audio listening. A comparator compares applause in the radio signal to a threshold level and disables the attenuator when the applause abates below the threshold level.
US08331572B2
In summary, this application describes a psycho-acoustically motivated, parametric description of the spatial attributes of multichannel audio signals. This parametric description allows strong bitrate reductions in audio coders, since only one monaural signal has to be transmitted, combined with (quantized) parameters which describe the spatial properties of the signal. The decoder can form the original amount of audio channels by applying the spatial parameters. For near-CD-quality stereo audio, a bitrate associated with these spatial parameters of 10 kbit/s or less seems sufficient to reproduce the correct spatial impression at the receiving end.
US08331570B2
The quality of music output from audio systems is improved by simulating the effect of low frequency signals in the human ear. This thus allows listeners to perceive the lower frequency signals, even though the speakers may be incapable of providing such low frequency outputs. Method and systems provided for processing enhancing bass effect in audio signals. Said method and systems result in the bass enhancement being computationally less intensive. The bass effect enhancement techniques described are based on the response of sine and cosine transfer functions and on the directional independence of low frequency components. The human ear is unable to resolve directions from low frequency components. The bass effect enhancement technique alternatively is based on response of an exponential transfer function.
US08331562B2
An image forming apparatus comprises: an output part that outputs variable information varying in a time-dependent manner in the image forming apparatus; a first encrypt part that encrypts the variable information outputted from the output part using a first encrypt key read out from a memory; a second encrypt key create part that creates a second encrypt key according to the variable information outputted from the output part; a second encrypt part that encrypts inherent information for specifying the image forming apparatus using the second encrypt key created by the second encrypt key create part; a generate part that generates code data according to the variable information encrypted in the first encrypt part and the inherent information encrypted in the second encrypt part; and an image form part that forms on a recording member a code image based on the code data generated in the generate part.
US08331559B2
The present invention discloses a diffused data encryption/decryption processing method, which comprises a plaintext, being at least a 2D matrix; and a password, being at least a 2D matrix; such that the password determines the starting point of the diffusion, the length of the diffusion, the cycle of diffusion, the number of encrypted diffusions and the number of decrypted diffusions to perform the diffusion computation of the plaintext as to achieve the purpose of processing the encryption and decryption.
US08331547B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus (10) for handling telephone calls which comprises: means for configuring the operation of the apparatus based on user preferences relating to the handling of calls from particular callers, means for storing the user preferences, means for processing incoming calls based on the user preferences, and means for receiving updates to the user preferences in dependence on changes to a preference database for storing the preferences of at least one user. The invention also relates to a telecommunications system, and to an associated server.
US08331544B2
A method of remotely operating a door lock. The method includes transmitting a first signal from a remote device to a router via a network; transmitting the signal from the router to a mesh network gateway; translating the signal from a network protocol to a mesh network protocol to produce a second signal; transmitting the second signal from the mesh network gateway to the door lock using radio frequency signaling over the mesh network; receiving the second signal at the door lock; and performing an operation at the door lock in response to the second signal being received by the door lock.
US08331542B2
A computer system (a method) for exchanging information such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL) or a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) over a communication channel in general and over a telephone communications channel in particular in a unified communications system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system comprises a phone URL exchange unit configured to receive a phone URL exchange request from a first endpoint, to determine the URL to be sent and URL encoding method based on the request, to encode the URL into audio data or as a part of the communications control signals using the URL encoding method and to send the encoded data to a second endpoint over the telephone communications channel. The phone URL exchange unit is further configured to receive audio data or the communications control signals embedded with a URL and to decode the received data to reveal the URL.
US08331541B1
Instant messaging (IM) is provided between a TDD/TTY user and an entity. The user may use a TDD device to initiate a call with the entity. One or more converters may convert a TDD message from the user's device to IM, which is then provided to a recipient of the call, such as a representative of a company. The converter(s) may also convert IM from the representative into a TDD message that may then be provided to the user on the TDD device.
US08331537B2
A method and system for managing a line topology is provided by the embodiments of the disclosure. The method for managing a line topology includes obtaining an actual transfer function of the line according to the actual transfer function of the line and a transfer function of the bridge tap model, estimating a diameter and length of the bridge tap of the line and a diameter and length of the trunk line of the line according to the estimated diameter and length of the bridge tap and the diameter and length of the trunk line, obtaining a transfer function of the line model that includes the location parameter of the bridge tap by comparing the error between the actual transfer function and the transfer function of the line model which includes the location parameter of the bridge tap, estimating the position of the bridge tap according to the estimated diameter and length of the trunk line and the diameter and length of the bridge tap and the location of the bridge tap, and generating a topology of the line. By applying the embodiment of the disclosure to maintain and manage the line topology, the location of the bridge tap can be estimated effectively, and the line topology can be obtained.
US08331531B2
The present invention provides a radiotherapy treatment apparatus that includes a treatment beam, a magnetic field disposed parallel collinear to the treatment beam, and a target that is disposed along the treatment beam. The treatment beam can be a charged particle beam, a proton beam, an electron beam, or a linear accelerator (Linac) beam. The magnetic field is from a magnetic resonance imager (MRI), a megavolt x-ray imager, or a kilovolt x-ray imager and is disposed to operate in coordination with operation of the treatment beam and to narrow the beam. The tumor is disposed to rotate with respect to the treatment beam and the magnetic field, or the treatment beam and the magnetic field are disposed to rotate up to 360° with respect to the target when mounted to a ring gantry. The apparatus can include a rotation angle dependent shim disposed to account for Earth's magnetic field.
US08331530B2
In one embodiment, an X-ray system includes a handheld X-ray interface device. The handheld X-ray interface device includes a wireless interface for communicating with an imaging system and a user-viewable screen configured to display patient data and to receive user input.
US08331525B2
A homemade explosives (HME) detection system provides a coded-source, x-ray computed laminography imaging system which detects material composition by the ratio of the transmitted characteristic X-rays within a coded x-ray beam. Motion-free 3-Dimensional geometrical details are obtained through computed laminography imaging techniques.
US08331516B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for requesting uplink Bandwidth (BW) over a BW Request (REQ) channel in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication system. A BW REQ indicator is transmitted with a BW REQ message over the BW REQ channel from a Mobile Station (MS) to a Base Station (BS) to request an uplink resource for uplink traffic of a delay sensitive service. A grant of the requested uplink resource is received from the BS in accordance with the transmitted BW REQ indicator and the BW REQ message. The uplink traffic is transmitted from the MS to the BS using the granted uplink resource.
US08331512B2
A circuit for performing clock recovery according to a received digital signal (30). The circuit includes at least an edge sampler (105) and a data sampler (145) for sampling the digital signal, and a clock signal supply circuit. The clock signal supply circuit provides edge clock (25) and data clock (20) signals offset in phase from one another to the respective clock inputs of the edge sampler (105) and the data sampler (145). The clock signal supply circuit is operable to selectively vary a phase offset between the edge and data clock signals.
US08331510B2
A receiver and method are described herein that address inter-symbol interference in a received signal by using a two-stage equalizer which includes a first demodulation stage that processes the received signal and produces initial symbol decisions, and a non-linear equalization second stage that uses the received signal to perform a sequential search in an attempt to improve upon the initial symbol decisions where if able to improve upon the initial symbol decisions then an output sequence is obtained from the sequential search and if not able to improve upon the sequence metric threshold then the output sequence is the initial symbol decisions.
US08331509B2
A method and a device for cancelling transmitter interference in a transceiver, and a transceiver are provided. The method includes: coupling a part of radio frequency signals output from a transmitter, performing amplification, frequency conversion, analog-digital conversion, and digital filtration on the coupled signal by an interference receiver, and outputting a digital signal; performing adaptive equalization on the digital signal output from the interference receiver, and delaying predetermined time of the digital signal output from a receiver, and subtracting the equalized digital signal from the delayed digital signal.
US08331507B2
A device processes signals from a plurality of signal channels that are received in parallel. A channel processing circuit (12a,b, 14a,b), applies a series of filtering operations selectively to the signal from a first one of the signal channels. A filter management circuit (18) detects a reception condition from reception of a signal in a second one of the signal channels. The filter management circuit (18) controls application of at least a part of said filtering operations to the signal from the first one the signal channels by the channel processing circuit (12a,b, 14a,b), dependent on the detected reception condition. Selected filter operations may be enabled or disabled. Thus, power consumption may be reduced. In an embodiment, the detected reception condition is determined as a by-product of functional reception of another channel. Thus power consumption for the detection of the reception condition is also reduced. From reception of specific types of channels, for example, it may be detected whether the device is indoors or outdoors and filtering of other channels may be adapted accordingly.
US08331505B2
Systems and methods for symbol detection using sub-constellations are provided. In one aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a processing unit configured to process received chips into received symbols for a plurality of users, a first detection unit configured to detect first components of user symbols for the plurality of users based on the received symbols and a computation unit configured to compute a portion of the received symbols due to the first components of the user symbols. The apparatus further comprises a second detection unit configured to detect second components of the user symbols based on the received symbols with the computed portion removed and a combining unit configured to detect the user symbols by combining the first components of the user symbols with the respective second components of the user symbols.
US08331503B2
A receiving level control apparatus includes an amplifier to receive a signal and to amplify the signal based on a gain control signal, a memory to store an accumulated level of the amplified signal at every sampling period, and a gain control section to judge whether or not the accumulated level, which has been accumulated from a first time instant, exceeds a first reference value at a predetermined timing, and to control the gain control signal for the amplifier in response to a length of a time period defined from the first time instant up to a second time instant in a case that the accumulated level exceeds the first reference value, the second time instant defined as a time instant when the gain control section judges that the accumulated level exceeds the first reference value.
US08331502B1
A method and apparatus for estimating a frequency response of a channel. The method includes adjusting phase components of estimates of the frequency response to provide phase-adjusted estimates; performing a smoothing operation on the phase-adjusted estimates to provide smoothed phase-adjusted estimates; and generating an output of a reverse phase adjustment, wherein the reverse phase adjustment is performed on the smoothed phase-adjusted estimates.
US08331497B2
A joint synchronizer and decoder that implements two decision aided processes, which are referred to as “decision aided candidate selection” and “decision aided synchronization and decoding.” Decision aided candidate selection may be used to select a carrier frequency offset by selecting among a number of candidates for this parameter based on an indication of decoding success. Decision aided synchronization and decoding may be used for phase tracking based on an indication of decoding success. Although these joint synchronizing and decoding techniques may be implemented together, they may also be implemented independently. The joint synchronizer and decoder may be implemented within a return channel receiver in a DVB-RCS system using turbo coding and quadrature phase shift key (QPSK) data modulation.
US08331493B2
A method for compensating the bias in estimates by utilizing the configured channel estimation filter bank. The method comprises selecting a filter from a predefined set of filters based on channel parameters, and producing at least one radio channel coefficient by applying the selected filter. An input to the filter comprises raw channel estimates, and an output of the filter comprises at least one biased channel coefficient after filtering. The method further comprises producing a radio link quality based on the at least one biased channel coefficient and/or the selected filter. During the estimation, the method comprises removing bias based on the selected filter and/or a filter configuration.
US08331490B2
Methods and apparatus for conditioning communications signals based on detection of high-frequency in the polar domain. High-frequency events detected in a phase-difference component of a complex baseband signal in the polar domain are detected and used as a basis for performing hole-blowing on the complex baseband signal in the quadrature domain and/or nonlinear filtering either or both the magnitude and phase-difference components in the polar domain. Alternatively, high-frequency events detected in the phase-difference signal that correlate in time with low-magnitude events detected in a magnitude component of the complex baseband signal are used as a basis for performing hole-blowing on the complex baseband signal in the quadrature domain and/or nonlinear filtering either or both the magnitude and phase-difference components in the polar domain.
US08331489B2
A method of generating a codebook for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is provided. The codebook generation method includes: assigning a single-polarized precoding matrix to diagonal blocks among a plurality of blocks arranged in a block diagonal format in which a number of diagonal blocks corresponds to a number of polarization directions of transmitting antennas; and assigning a zero matrix to remaining blocks excluding the diagonal blocks.
US08331485B2
A method for reducing spurs within a transmit signal is disclosed. A cancelling tone is determined. The cancelling tone is added to a baseband transmit signal in the digital domain to obtain a baseband transmit signal with cancelling tone. A spur in the transmit signal is reduced using the cancelling tone. The transmit signal with the reduced spur is transmitted using an antenna.
US08331476B2
A user terminal, a communication network, a computer readable medium and a method for selecting at the user terminal a reception and decoding of a transmission mode used by a base station, the user terminal receiving communicated information from the base station, which has multiple antennas, via plural channels, the plural channels including a primary broadcast channel and at least one control channel. The method includes receiving at the user terminal initiating data from the base station via the primary broadcast channel, detecting from the received initiating data whether a first or a second transmission mode is used by the base station for the primary broadcast channel, the first transmission mode indicating that a first number of antennas are used by the base station and the second transmission mode indicating that a second number, different than the first number, of antennas are used by the base station to communicate with the user terminal, and using the detected first or second transmission mode of the primary broadcast channel to decode the at least one control channel.
US08331475B1
Systems and methods for detecting data in a multiple input/multiple output signal. The method includes receiving a first signal associated with a first data value and a second signal associated with a second data value. A distance value between the received second signal and each possible second data value is calculated. Coordinates for a hypothetical first signal in light of a first possible second data value are calculated, and the first coordinate value is quantized to a nearest constellation point. A distance value between the received second signal and each possible second data value is calculated using the calculated constellation points. A determination is made of a log-likelihood ratio based on the determined distance values.
US08331471B1
Low bit-rate feedback wireless communication systems with reduced computational complexity is described. A first set of information is obtained and mapped to a set of regions. Each region of the set of regions has at least one portion with a zero value. The at least one portion is selected from a group consisting of an imaginary portion and a real portion. A second set of information is provided responsive to the mapping and stored for access by at least one component of the wireless communication system.
US08331470B2
A communication system that performs encoding and decoding for communication includes a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus. The transmitting apparatus includes a turbo encoding unit including a first encoding unit that encodes an input signal and generates a first parity bit by bit-based encoding and n (n=1, 2, 3, . . . ) second encoding units that encode the input signal and generate second parity bits by bit-based encoding, and a symbol mapping unit that maps an output from the turbo encoding unit to a symbol by bit-based mapping operation and modulates the output. And the receiving apparatus includes a demodulating unit that demodulates a transmission signal, and a turbo decoding unit that performs turbo decoding on the demodulated signal by bit-based decoding.
US08331466B2
A method and system adaptively reduce a peak-to-average power ratio in a communication system. Energy is clipped from at least one peak of a modulated signal. The modulated signal includes a plurality of sub-carriers. At least one data sub-carrier is adaptively selected for peak-to-average power ratio reduction use based on known scheduling information. The clipped energy is distributed among at least one data sub-carrier.
US08331453B2
A method and an apparatus of decoding a video signal are provided. The present invention includes the steps of parsing first coding information indicating whether a residual data of an image block in the enhanced layer is predicted from a corresponding block in the base layer, from the bitstream of the enhanced layer, and decoding the video signal based on the first coding information. And, the step of parsing includes the step of performing modeling the first coding information based on second coding information indicating whether prediction information of the corresponding block in the base layer is used to decode the image block in the enhanced layer. Accordingly, the present invention raises efficiency of video signal processing by enabling a decoder to derive information on a prediction mode of a current block in a decoder instead of transferring the information to the decoder.
US08331450B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for ordering, communicating and applying pixel intra-prediction modes.
US08331440B2
A method of encoding moving pictures using a plurality of quantization matrices. The method involves selecting one of the plurality of quantization matrices in consideration of an at least one characteristics of an input image; transforming the input image; and quantizing the transformed input image using the selected quantization matrix.
US08331438B2
Techniques and tools for adaptive selection of picture quantization parameters (“QPs”) for predicted pictures are described. For example, a video encoder adaptively selects a delta QP for a B-picture based on spatial complexity, temporal complexity, whether differential quantization is active, whether the B-picture is available as a reference picture, or some combination or subset of these or other factors. The delta QP can then be used to adjust the picture QP for the B-picture (e.g., to reduce bit rate for the B-picture without appreciably reducing the perceived quality of a video sequence.
US08331427B2
A universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter module that includes a sampling controller that assigns a variable number of active edges in a clock signal to respective bits in a serial data signal. A serial data reception path derives a bit from the serial data signal on the basis of the variable number of active edges that the sampling controller has assigned to the bit.
US08331420B2
Embodiments of methods and apparatus for wirelessly communicating signals include one or more transmitters configured to generate a plurality of wireless signal for transmission. Each of the wireless signals includes a plurality of pilot signals represented in a plurality of unevenly spaced, in-band subcarriers. Pilot signals of each wireless signal are positioned at subcarriers that are orthogonal in frequency with subcarriers at which pilot signals of all other wireless signals are positioned. According to an embodiment, subcarrier indices each the plurality of pilot signals are determined using a third order or higher order polynomial parameterization of pilot subcarriers in conjunction with a convex optimization algorithm to produce pilot signals having near-optimal channel estimate mean square error (MSE) performance. The wireless signals are simultaneously radiated over a wireless communication channel using a plurality of co-located or distributed antennas.
US08331415B2
A laser light source device includes a pump light source which emits transverse-multimode light; a plurality of resonator mirrors which define a resonator, at least part of the resonator mirrors outputting light to the outside, where the output light having plural wavelengths; a laser medium arranged in the resonator, the laser medium being pumped with the transverse-multimode light emitted from the pump light source; and a wavelength conversion element arranged in the resonator, the wavelength conversion element being irradiated with a transverse-multimode line beam of fundamental wave obtained by oscillation at the laser medium and outputting a line beam of converted wave.
US08331413B2
The invention includes a single chip having multiple different devices integrated thereon for a common purpose. The chip includes a substrate having a peripheral area, a mid-chip area, and a central area. A plurality of FETs are formed in the peripheral area with each FET having a layer of single crystal rare earth material in at least one of a conductive channel, a gate insulator, or a gate stack. A plurality of photonic devices including light emitting diodes or vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are formed in the mid-chip area with each photonic device having an active layer of single crystal rare earth material. A plurality of photo detectors are formed in the central area.
US08331412B2
The present invention includes a vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser diode having a resonator with a first distributed Bragg reflector, an active zone which has a p-n junction and is embedded into a semiconductor layer sequence, and a second distributed Bragg reflector. The semiconductor laser diode has an emission wavelength λ, wherein a periodic structure is arranged within the resonator as an optical grating made of semiconductive material and dielectric material, the main plane of extension of which is arranged substantially perpendicularly to the direction of emission of the semiconductor laser diode. The periodic structure is in direct contact with at least one of the semiconductor layers embedding the active zone and with at least one of the two distributed Bragg reflectors.
US08331404B2
The occurrence of false positives and the post-processing of digital streams subjected to examination by a deterministic finite state machine for character strings are reduced by combining location-based pattern matching, e.g. on packet headers, and content-based pattern matching, e.g. on payloads of packets. One scheme allows automatic transition from a header match state into an initial state of a content matching machine. Another scheme is based on a rules graph defining strings of match states and the examination of a list of match states (rather than characters) which have been previously determined, for example by means of header matching and content matching. The latter is also capable of comparing offset and depth values associated with the match states with offset and depth criteria.
US08331402B2
A first header-attaching unit attaches to data of a low speed bit rate A, a header of the bit rate A. A second header-attaching unit attaches the header of the bit rate A to data of a high speed bit rate B. A combining unit combines outputs of the first and the second header-attaching units. A low speed scrambling unit performs a scrambling process on combined data by using a clock corresponding to the bit rate A. A high speed scrambling unit performs a scrambling process on the data of the bit rate B by using a clock corresponding to the bit rate B. During a timing corresponding to the bit rate A in the frame, a selector selects an output of the low speed scrambling unit. During a timing corresponding to the bit rate B in the frame, the selector selects an output of the high speed scrambling unit.
US08331382B2
A gateway device includes a SIP server and a media converter. The SIP server uses media communication control data output from communication terminal devices (CTDs) to discriminate the communication media standards adopted by the CTDs, based on a call control, to call-control the CTDs. The media converter uses the communication media standards discriminated and acquired to convert media data, delivered from the CTDs, involved in communication, to a signal of a relevant communication media standard. The SIP server causes the communication media standard and information used for communication to be stored in an information memory. The media converter includes input/output interfaces, a controller, a media converter circuit and a data switcher. The interfaces verify whether or not the received data is media data, the media converter circuit converts the communication media standard of received media data received from the source CTD to a communication media standard of the destination CTD.
US08331377B2
Embodiments disclosed here relate to scheduling packet transmission in a multi-carrier communication system. In an embodiment, a master scheduler having at least one processor and at least one memory operably connected to the at least one processor is adapted to execute instructions stored in the at least one memory, the instructions comprising selecting a packet with a highest packet metric from among candidate packets from one carrier of a plurality of carriers, whereby expedited forwarding flows do not have a higher metric on another carrier.
US08331365B2
The present invention relates to a method for filtering a multiplexed packet stream in a network entity of the core network or the radio access network of a mobile communication system. The multiplexed packet stream provides a multicast or broadcast service and is delivered from a service center via the network entity to a mobile terminal. Further, the network entity comprises a service manager providing a quality-of-service management function. The invention further relates to a network entity provided with filtering capabilities, as well as to a communication system comprising the network entity. To provide an adaptive multimedia broadcast/multicast service QoS architecture that is scalable to a great number of users the invention suggests providing the service in form of a multiplexed packet stream via a single bearer service an equipping nodes within the distribution tree of the service filter capability allowing to filter the multiplexed stream based on the downlink quality-of-service constraints obtained from a service manager.
US08331353B2
A voice Internet transmission system which enables a person to have a conversation via the Internet without having to use a computer at either end of the conversation, and without incurring long distance telephone charges regardless of the distance between those having the conversation. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus consists of two non-Internet capable devices being enabled to connect to the Internet and either in duplex or simplex mode transmit packets of Internet formatted data comprising digitized, compressed and encrypted conversation between the devices. In other words, a person can pick up an ordinary telephone and converse with another person, regardless of the distance between them, without incurring long distance telephone charges. No special telephone is required, nor is a computer running special software. The apparatus which makes this possible is a system of Internet access nodes or VoiceEngines. These local Internet VoiceEngines provide digitized, compressed, and encrypted duplex or simplex Internet voice/sound communication services.
US08331349B2
A telephone system comprising a plurality of telephone terminals is provided. The telephone system includes a switching device connected to the telephone terminals via a communication network, and a server device connected to the communication network. The switching device includes a transfer section for transferring a call to a telephone terminal in which a transfer function is set therein to a telephone terminal at a transfer destination. Also, the server device includes a monitor section for monitoring a log-in/log-out state of a user for each of the plurality of telephone terminals. The server also includes a releasing section for releasing the setting of the transfer function on the basis of the result of the monitoring when an operation to the telephone terminal with the transfer function set therein by a log-in user satisfies a defined condition.
US08331337B2
Session management means holds session information concerning sessions for fixed terminals and sessions for mobile terminals including type information indicating a terminal type and status information indicating the status of communication. Session clear-out means disconnects a session the type information for which indicates a mobile terminal and in which communication has not been performed for a time period longer than or equal to a first monitoring time period, on the basis of the session information held in the session management means.
US08331336B2
A radio communications apparatus includes a network position detector for detecting information on the position of the communication device on a radio telecommunications network, a network connection detector for detecting the disengagement of the device from the network, and a controller for controlling the transmission timing of join signals. The controller is adapted to vary a transmission timeout period, upon expiring of which a join signal is sent out, depending on the information about the positions on the network. The radio communications device is thus able to decrease the probability of occurrence of collision to thereby reduce the time taken for reestablishing the network.
US08331327B1
What is disclosed is a method of operating a wireless access node, where the wireless access node provides a wireless communication service to wireless communication devices after registration. The method includes monitoring a wireless access channel of the wireless access node for registration attempts of the wireless communication devices during a first time period and detecting a threshold amount of noise occurring on the wireless access channel after the first time period. The method also includes, in response to detecting the threshold amount of noise, processing the first time period and data related to the threshold amount of noise to determine a second time period. The method also includes, in response to determining the second time period, monitoring the access channel for additional registration attempts of the wireless communication devices during the second time period.
US08331325B2
A data processing method is provided for forwarding data in the case of handover between heterogeneous networks. The data processing method includes: when a user equipment (UE) is handed over from an originating network to a target network, receiving, by the originating network, a data forwarding address obtained by the target network; creating a data forwarding tunnel between an originating network gateway and a target network gateway according to the data forwarding address; and forwarding data to the target network through the data forwarding tunnel. A data processing device is also provided. The lossless data processing solution can overcome the problem of data loss in the case of handover between heterogeneous networks in the existing technology, reduces the time of user service interruption and enhances the user experience.
US08331309B2
A configuration for downlink signals in a wireless communication system, methods of configuring the downlink signals, apparatus for generating the downlink signals, and apparatus for receiving and processing the downlink signals are described herein. Downlink signals in a wireless communication system are reconfigured in series of frames, with each frame carrying a preamble that provides fast cell search and system acquisition. In particular, the preamble includes a primary preamble and a secondary preamble, where the primary preamble is common to all sectors in a base station and all base stations in a system and the secondary preamble is effectively unique to each base station, and may be further distinguished based on a sector basis. In addition, pilot signals are aligned with base stations to occur at the same time within a frame and the PN sequence values of the pilot signals are based on a cell identification an antenna identification, thereby enabling prediction of pilots transmitted by interferers or neighboring base stations from acquisition of secondary preambles. Also, the pilot bits are selectively assigned from a center of an operating band outward. Due to the pilot placement and pilot modulation, the scheme enables interference mitigation and channel estimation without knowing the frequency bandwidth, which is especially advantageous in broadcast channel systems.
US08331294B2
A user's request via a portable or handheld wireless communication device (HWCD) to process data may result in discovery of one or more networked resources capable of handling the processing. One or more communication routes may be established between one or more discovered network resources and one or more of the HWCD and a networked terminating device. The portable HWCD may be configured as a gateway. The user's identity may be determined and the user's personal networking preferences may be acquired. Based user's preferences, a route may be established between discovered networked resources and one or more of the HWCD and the networked terminating device. The user's identity may be authenticated. Data may undergo rate and/or format conversion. The data may be protected by secure operations. One or more of the HWCD and the networked terminating device may consume or render the requested data.
US08331293B2
Embodiments of apparatuses, articles, methods, and systems for negotiating quality of service resources in wireless networks are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08331289B1
According to one embodiment, an apparatus comprises an antenna; a wireless local-area network (WLAN) transceiver; a Bluetooth transceiver; a switch controller adapted to provide switch control signals; and a switch module adapted to selectively electrically couple the WLAN transceiver and the Bluetooth transceiver to the antenna in accordance with the switch control signals.
US08331288B2
A method for delivering location based information in wireless zone is disclosed. All the location based information is stored in the access point itself thus eliminating the need for backend server. Access point has the intelligence to deliver information in customized to each requesting device's display capability. To provide seamless access to local information the user will get a default web page once the device connects to access point and tries to access internet. This web page will act as a gateway to all the location based information available in the access point. Along with location based information advertisements can also be delivered to the end user in a very cost effective and targeted manner.
US08331283B2
A resource allocation method in a wireless communication system for providing a communication service in a given system frequency band to access terminals (ATs) within a broad-band service area around an access point (AP) and to ATs within a narrow-band service area having a radius larger than the radius of the broad-band service area. In the resource allocation method, the system frequency band is divided into a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) interval and a Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) interval in time, and the TDD interval and the FDD interval are defined as TDD resources and FDD resources, respectively. The TDD resources are allocated to an AT within the broad-band service area, and the FDD resources are allocated to an AT within the narrow-band service area.
US08331281B2
A method, computer program product, and system are provided for computing link supportability in a WCDMA communications system. For example, the method can be used to calculate link supportability of a transponder in satellite communications system (e.g. MUOS) in a user-to-base direction. This method can include expressing a carrier signal to noise ratio spectral density for a communication link of interest in terms of a transponder input power of the communication link of interest, a spectral overlap factor representative of one or more interfering communication links, and a transponder input power of the one or more interfering communication links. Assumptions and approximations can be made to simplify the spectral density expression in order to reduce a dimensionality of terms used in the computation of the expression. As such, in reducing dimensionality, the expression becomes a manageable computation for WCDMA communication systems to evaluate.
US08331272B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, multiple frames or sub-frames on an uplink channel may be aggregated into one logical unit for demodulation and decoding to allow one data packet to span over multiple frames. Multi-frame aggregation is enabled by modifying the uplink resource allocation messages transmitted to the user terminals. The multi-frame resource allocation message includes a BEGIN FLAG field indicating whether a corresponding frame is the first frame in a multi-frame allocation and a REMAINING RESOURCES field to indicate the number of units (e.g., slots or frames) remaining in the multi-frame allocation.
US08331268B2
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for providing an event alert. According to embodiments, a method for providing an event alert is provided. According to the method, an incoming communication from a first device is detected. An initiating party associated with the first device is identified. Whether the initiating party associated with the first device is further associated with an alert tag is determined. The alert tag may include an identifying alert identifying the initiating party associated with the first device. In response to determining that the initiating party associated with the first device is associated with the alert tag, the identifying alert is provided as the event alert on a second device.
US08331245B2
A method and a system for Internet Protocol (IP) session keepalive monitoring, a home gateway and a network device are provided. The method includes: receiving, by a User Equipment (UE) or an IP edge node, a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) message sent by a Home Gateway (HGW), in which a first discriminator field value included in the BFD message is a difference between an IP address prefix of the UE and an IP address prefix of the HGW; and monitoring, by the UE or the IP edge node, whether an IP session between the IP edge node and the UE is keepalive according to the first discriminator field value in the BFD message. “Multihop BFD” is used as a keepalive monitoring mechanism of a “Multihop IPv6 Session”, thereby realizing keepalive monitoring of the “Multiple hop IPv6 Session”.
US08331244B1
A communication system for propagating time division multiplexing (TDM) fault notifications has a first interworking function (IWF) of a packet network and a second IWF of the packet network. The second IWF detects a TDM fault of a TDM network and transmits continuity check messages (CCMs) to the first IWF. Further, the second IWF controls the CCMs in response to a detection of the TDM fault such that a TDM fault notification is propagated from the second IWF to the first IWF based on the CCMs, and the first IWF propagates the TDM fault notification to a second TDM node via a TDM signal.
US08331233B2
In a packet transfer network node, the receiving ratio of first packets transmitted from its adjacent node is calculated to represent a proportion of the number of the first packets received from each adjacent node to the total number of those packets received from all adjacent nodes. Based on the receiving ratio calculated for a combination of a source and a destination corresponding to the destination and source of the second packets, respectively, the transmitting ratio of second packets is calculated for each adjacent node to define a proportion in which the second packets transmitted from a source corresponding to the destination of the first packets and meant for a destination corresponding to the source of the first packets are to be transmitted to an adjacent communication node. Based upon the transmitting ratios thus calculated, an adjacent node is selected to which a second packet is to be transmitted.
US08331226B2
A radio communication apparatus including: a receiver receiving a traffic evaluation index value of a contention node as a connection node one layer below a self node with a root node of a radio network set as the top layer; parameter determining unit determining a parameter related to priority control of the contention node or a priority for determining the parameter, based on the traffic evaluation index value of the contention node, so that a traffic congestion is prevented and cleared; and a transmitter transmitting the parameter related to the priority control of the contention node or the priority to the contention node.
US08331224B2
A device estimates a load on the device based on static and dynamic load information associated with the device, provides the estimated load to the other devices in a pool of devices, and estimates, based on the estimated load, a weight of the device in the pool. The device also detects a load imbalance in the pool based on the estimated weight and weights associated with the other devices in the pool, and determines, based on the estimated load, a number of subscribers to offload from the device. The device further determines, based on the estimated weight and the weights associated with the other devices, to which of the other devices to offload the determined number of subscribers, and offloads, to address the load imbalance, the determined number of subscribers to the determined other devices in the pool.
US08331223B2
A method and system for controlling network traffic with different tags within the same connection by applying policies for each tag are disclosed. A method is disclosed in which incoming traffic is received. A traffic class is assigned to the traffic class. Outgoing traffic is controlled based on the assigned policy for the incoming traffic.
US08331222B2
A link fault handling method and a data forwarding apparatus are provided herein. The method includes: A first data forwarding apparatus keeps a neighboring relation with a second data forwarding apparatus after a link between the first data forwarding apparatus and the second data forwarding apparatus fails intermittently. The link between the first data forwarding apparatus and the second data forwarding apparatus fails intermittently in this way: A first fault detecting module in the first data forwarding apparatus receives no fault detection message from the second data forwarding apparatus at a preset time of receiving the message, but receives the fault detection message from the second data forwarding apparatus in an intermittency period after the preset time of receiving the message. The embodiments of the present invention shorten the convergence time of the upper-layer application module, improve the convergence performance, save CPU resources of the data forwarding apparatus, and improve working performance of the data forwarding apparatus.
US08331212B2
According to one embodiment, a MEMS memory microprobe includes a probe tip, a lever, and a base. The probe tip is arranged to oppose a recording medium and is brought into contact with the recording medium to perform recording or reproduction of information when a current or voltage is applied between them. In the probe tip, a plurality of electrodes used in the recording or reproduction and a plurality of support portions which form the probe tip together with the electrodes are alternately arranged, and the electrodes and the support portions form a single plane which opposes the recording medium.
US08331206B1
In an apparatus for conditioning a signal from an optical pickup unit (OPU), a single-ended channel includes a first signal processing block to calibrate a dark level of a single-ended signal corresponding to a single-ended output of the OPU, if any, and to center the single-ended signal. A dual-ended channel includes a second signal processing block to calibrate a dark level of a dual-ended signal corresponding to a dual-ended output of the OPU, if any, and to center the dual-ended signal. A multiplexer selects one of the single-ended channel and the dual-ended channel, and outputs a selected signal. A digital signal processing stage converts the selected signal to a digital signal.
US08331192B2
The technologies described herein include systems and methods for performing a first seismic survey and performing a second seismic survey after a predetermined amount of time has lapsed between the first seismic survey and the second seismic survey. The shot times and the shot positions of the second seismic survey may be substantially the same as the shot times and the shot positions of the first seismic survey. After performing the seismic surveys, seismic data generated by the first seismic survey may be processed to generate a first image, and seismic data generated by the second seismic survey may be processed to generate a second image. After generating the first and second images, a difference between the first image and the second image may be computed to generate a time lapse difference image.
US08331188B2
A semiconductor storage device includes a plurality of memory macros including a plurality of memory cell arrays; a low-potential power supply boosting circuit coupling the low-potential power supply to the ground in a normal mode and coupling the low-potential power supply to a voltage higher than a ground voltage in a sleep mode; a virtual power control circuits including a plurality of switches which is turned on when switching from the sleep mode to the normal mode and is turned off when switching from the normal mode to the sleep mode; and a sleep cancellation detecting circuit outputting, when the mode control signal supplied to the plurality of switches in one of the plurality of memory macros indicates to switch form the sleep mode to the normal mode, the mode control signal to a subsequent memory macro subsequent to the one of the plurality of memory macros.
US08331186B2
A program circuit generates first and second currents to program the fuse. The second current is higher than the first current. A control circuit controls generating the first and second currents in succession.
US08331153B2
In a nonvolatile memory apparatus, a system bus receives address, command, and/or control signals. Memory cells store bits of data by shifting a threshold voltage to one of plural ranges. In writing a first page, the threshold voltage of a first memory cell remains in a first range or shifts into a second range. In writing a second page, the threshold voltage remains in the first or second voltages, or shifts into a third range from the first range or into a fourth range from the second range. Before writing the second page, the memory reads data from the first memory cell for generating the second page writing data. A shifting direction of the threshold voltage from the first to the second range is the same as a shifting direction from the first to the third range.
US08331146B2
A flash memory according to a present embodiment includes a memory cell array. The memory cell array includes a plurality of memory cells. Each of the memory cells can store n-bit data (n is an integer equal to or larger than 2). A plurality of word line are connected to gate terminals of the memory cells. A plurality of bit lines are connected to the memory cells. Sense amplifiers are configured to detect data stored in the memory cells via the bit lines. A data latch circuit of m×n bits can store n-bit data stored in each of m memory cells (m is an integer equal to or larger than 2) connected to one of the word lines. A multi-level interface can simultaneously transfer data of two or more bits between the data latch circuit and outside.
US08331139B2
Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices and techniques for use thereof are provided. In one aspect, a magnetic memory cell is provided. The magnetic memory cell comprises at least one fixed magnetic layer; at least one first free magnetic layer separated from the fixed magnetic layer by at least one barrier layer; at least one second free magnetic layer separated from the first free magnetic layer by at least one spacer layer; and at least one capping layer over a side of the second free magnetic layer opposite the spacer layer. One or more of the first free magnetic layer and the second free magnetic layer comprise at least one rare earth element, such that the at least one rare earth element makes up between about one percent and about 10 percent of one or more of the first free magnetic layer and the second free magnetic layer.
US08331129B2
A memory array with write feedback includes a number of row lines intersecting a number of column lines, a memory element connected between one of the row lines and one of the column lines, an electrical condition supply to be selectively applied to one of the row lines; and a feedback control loop to control an electrical condition supplied by the electrical condition supply. A method for setting the state of a memory element within a memory array includes applying an electrical condition to the memory element within the memory array, sensing a resistive state of the memory element, and controlling the electrical condition based on the sensed resistive state to cause the memory element to reach a target resistance.
US08331123B2
A nonvolatile storage device adapted for use with computers, workstations and other processing apparatuses. The storage device includes a printed circuit board, a nonvolatile memory array comprising at least two sub-arrays that contain nonvolatile solid-state memory devices, and control circuitry for interfacing with the processing apparatus. The control circuitry includes an abstraction layer and at least two memory control units configured to communicate data, address and control signals with the sub-arrays of the memory devices. A bus connects each memory control unit to a corresponding one of the sub-arrays. The control circuitry further includes a crossbar switch that functionally connects each memory control unit to the abstraction layer. The storage device is capable of overcoming limitations of current SSD designs by enabling independent read and write transfers (accesses) to the memory devices of the storage device, including concurrent read and write accesses.
US08331118B2
The invention relates to a direct-current high-voltage generator that comprises: current unidirectional switches (74, 76); a driver unit (130) capable of controlling the switching operation from an on-state to an off-state of a switch (74) only when a switch connected in parallel is in the on-state.
US08331114B2
A dual-switch flyback power converter includes a control circuit to generate a switching signal. A high-side driving circuit includes a pulse generation circuit. The pulse generation circuit generates a pulse-on signal and a pulse-off signal to control two transistors in response to the switching signal. The two transistors further respectively provide a level-shift-on signal and a level-shift-off signal to a comparison circuit to enable/disable a high-side driving signal. Without using a charge pump circuit to power the high-side driving circuit, a floating winding of a transformer is utilized to provide a floating voltage to power the high-side driving circuit, which reduces the cost of the dual-switch flyback power converter and ensures a sufficient high-side driving capability of the high-side driving circuit.
US08331095B2
A storage server includes a case, an adapter board, a control board module, a power supply module, a plurality of hard disk units, a plurality of dividing boards, and a case cover. The adapter board divides the case into a first space and a second space. The control board module and the power supply module are disposed in the first space and electrically connected to the adapter board. The hard disk units are disposed in the second space, and the hard disk backboards thereof are connected to the adapter board via cables. The dividing boards are used to separate the hard disk units. The second space and the hard disk units disposed therein are covered with the case cover.
US08331090B2
A portable computer device includes a main body and an extendable display. The main body includes an upper portion and the lower portion. The extendable display includes a left portion rotatably connected to the upper portion and a right portion. The left portion is rotatably connected to the upper portion, and includes a first side surface. The right portion is movably connected to lower portion, and includes a second side surface. The right portion is able to slide together with the lower portion along a first direction to a predetermined position. The right portion is able to move relative to the lower portion until the second side surface engages the first side surface, causing the left portion to be flush with the right portion.
US08331086B1
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system is provided having a foundation that is modular in design. Each module has transport structures. Floor sections can be provided. A bearing plate can be provided on top of isolators supported on a foundation. A skeleton can also be constructed, which can support a heat exchanger assembly, which includes a plenum, a heat exchanger and air movers. A ducting assembly with boxes is supported by the skeleton. An equipment rack, such as a server rack, can be supported on the bearing plate. Any number of systems can be attached end to end, back to back, and/or vertically to form a system of a desired dimension. The entire system, once assembled and wired, can easily be moved with a transport assembly. The system can also be expanded in size and capacity as the operational needs increase.
US08331081B2
A shutter assembly is provided for an electrical system including at least one electrical switching apparatus, such as a circuit breaker, and a plurality of electrical bus members, and a plurality of electrical cable members, and a ground member with a plurality of contacts. Each of the conductors of the circuit breaker is removably coupled to a corresponding primary contact to electrically connect the circuit breaker to the electrical bus members and to electrically connect the circuit breaker to the electrical cable members and to electrically connect the circuit breaker to the ground members. The shutter assembly includes a flexible insulating member movably disposed between the conductors and the primary contacts. The flexible insulating member moves between a first position in which it provides access for the conductors to be coupled to the primary contacts, and a second position in which the flexible insulating member isolates and electrically insulates the bus member conductors from the primary contacts and the cable member conductors (“disconnected”) or isolates and electrically insulates the cable member conductors from the primary contacts and the ground member (“withdrawn”). An electrical switching apparatus and an electrical system employing the shutter assembly are also disclosed.
US08331072B1
A driver circuit uses a feedback loop having a programmable timer and timer logic to adjust a slew rate delay period used to accommodate slewing current when charging or discharging a load capacitor, and to increase the current limit during the slew rate delay period by selecting a larger input current reference value. Increasing the current limit provides for a faster settling time. The value of each input current reference value can be programmed. The programmable timer and the timer logic can be configured to coordinate the slew rate delay period and the selected input current reference value. The slew rate delay period can be adjusted based on which input current reference value is applied.
US08331068B2
An embodiment is a semiconductor device comprising a receiver circuit comprising fin field effect transistors (FinFETs), a transceiver circuit comprising FinFETs, and a transmit bus electrically coupling the receiver circuit and the transceiver circuit, wherein the receiver circuit and the transceiver circuit each further comprises an electrostatic discharge protection circuit comprising planar transistors electrically coupled to the transmit bus. Other embodiments may further comprise a power clamp electrically coupling a first power bus and a first ground bus, a power clamp electrically coupling a second power bus and a second ground bus, or at least two diodes electrically cross-coupling the first ground bus and the second ground bus. Also, the planar transistors of the transceiver circuit and the receiver circuit may each comprise a planar PMOS transistor and a planar NMOS transistor.
US08331067B2
An apparatus and method for providing ground fault protection to a lifting device utilizing an electromagnet and powered by a generator. The apparatus and method rectifies an AC voltage emanating from the generator source and monitors unsafe operating conditions of the generator's circuit wherein operation of the lifting device is ceased when predetermined electrical operating parameters are exceeded.
US08331059B2
A bracket for a hard disc drive combining three separate functions, a ramp, a latch and a connector bracket into a single assembly. The bracket assembly, mounted with ramp and latch, secures and seals the electrical connector connecting the flexible printed circuit on the head side of the actuator. Traditionally, latches are on the coil side of the actuator. Moreover, the combination bracket improves manufacturability while reducing overall cost for the disc drive. The assembly can be purchased complete from a supplier.
US08331055B2
A method for monitoring a plurality of servo channels, providing a finite state machine (“FSM”) comprising a single servo channel mode and a combined servo channel mode, and moving a sequential information storage medium comprising a plurality of servo bands across a read/write head comprising a corresponding plurality of servo sensors. The method further asserts an acquisition flag by a servo channel if that servo channel is tracking a servo pattern, and asserts a bit flag by a servo channel if a new LPOS bit is decoded. If at least one acquisition flag is asserted, the method determines if a bit flag is asserted by a servo channel associated with said asserted acquisition flag, and if an acquisition flag and a bit flag are asserted by a servo channel, the method determines a relative positioning of each servo sensor with respect to an associated servo pattern.
US08331053B2
Embodiments of the invention broadly contemplate systems, methods and arrangements for managing Adjacent Track Interference (ATI) risk through intelligent management of a table that logs individual tracks creating a risk of ATI in tracks adjacent thereto. Embodiments of the invention provide that tracks considered being at low risk for creating ATI be ejected from the table in order to maintain a track-level log of manageable size.
US08331052B2
A method and apparatus for writing data to a tape is disclosed. A plurality of data tracks are written onto a tape simultaneously. Any data tracks written to the tape that needs to be rewritten are identified. Each re-write unit that contains a data track that needs to be re-written is accumulated. The accumulated rewrite units are written to tape when a full set of rewrite units have been accumulated.
US08331050B1
A write clock synchronization system includes a channel module that reads a servo section of a bit-patterned magnetic medium to determine a preamble signal based on the servo section. An initial phase estimating system estimates an initial phase of the preamble signal based on servo clock samples of the preamble signal and estimates an initial phase of the preamble signal based on write clock samples of the preamble signal. A phase determination module estimates a phase of the write clock signal based on the initial phase of the preamble signal estimated using the servo clock samples and the initial phase of the preamble signal estimated using the write clock samples. A phase error module estimates a phase error based on the phase of the write clock signal. The channel module writes data to discontinuous bit islands of the bit-patterned magnetic medium based on the phase error.
US08331044B2
A fixed focal length optical lens system includes a lens group and a diaphragm which is located in front of the lens group. The lens group includes three lenses, respectively the first, the second and the third lens, which are sequentially arranged as a “negative-positive-positive” separated focal power system, wherein the first lens is a negative meniscus lens, the second lens is a positive meniscus lens, the third lens is a plano-convex or positive meniscus lens. All the curved surfaces of the first lens and the second lens are bent in the direction towards the diaphragm, and the focal length of the entire optical system is f, the focal lengths of the first, the second and the third lens are respectively f1, f2, and f3, and which satisfies the following requirement: −0.6
US08331030B2
In order to increase the depth of field of an optical system, there is provision to add a phase object, interposed between an object (O) to be imaged and an image plane (8) of the optical system. The phase object is interposed although a chromatic aberration of the system is not yet corrected. After interposition, the measured optical signal is corrected complementarily so as to eliminate the chromatic aberrations therefrom. It is shown that if a parameter of the expansion of the expression, a function of pupil dependency, that the difference in path length of the optical system possesses a significant value of higher order than that of the defocus, then an increase in the depth of field is obtained.
US08331029B2
An optical sheet package is disclosed. The optical sheet package includes an optical sheet including an unstructured surface, and a first protective film at a location corresponding to the unstructured surface. The unstructured surface is attached to the first protective film, and a force between the unstructured surface and the first protective film is an electrostatic attraction.
US08331015B2
A display medium including a pair of substrates, a dispersion medium sealed between the pair of substrates, a migrating particle group dispersed in the dispersion medium, and a surface layer provided on at least one of the facing surfaces of the pair of substrates and including a copolymer containing the following constitutional unit (A) and constitutional unit (B), wherein X represents a group containing a silicone chain, Ra1 and Ra2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, Rb2 represents an organic group containing a fluorine atom, n1 and n2 each represent mol% of the constitutional unit relative to the whole copolymer and satisfy 0
US08331006B2
Illuminating light (B2, B3) for a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) micro-display (210) is provided by an illuminating unit (100). The illuminating unit (100) has a waveguiding substrate (7) and a plurality of light out-coupling features (F30). The substrate (7) has two substantially parallel surfaces (41,42). Light coupled into said substrate (7) is reflected several times on the surfaces (41,42) of the substrate (7) by total internal reflection (TIR) before being coupled out of the substrate (7). Thus a portion (102) of said substrate (7) may act as an optical integrator for smoothing out variations in spatial intensity distribution of light propagating within said substrate (7). The out-coupling efficiencies of the out-coupling features (F30) may be selected to minimize vignetting and/or to minimize stray light effects.
US08331001B2
The welding filter device includes a light sensor, a microprocessor, a liquid crystal display, and a user interface. The light sensor senses light to generate a welding signal and a light source intensity signal. The microprocessor comprises a determining module, a control module, a regulating module, and a storage module. The determining module receives the welding signal and determines whether to activate a welding mechanism. The control module receives the light source intensity signal and outputs a control signal. The liquid crystal display presents a first display status according to the control signal. The user interface is used to generate a setting signal; wherein when the liquid crystal display presents the first display status, the regulating module receives the setting signal to regulate the settings so that the liquid crystal display presents a second display status. Furthermore, a method for controlling the welding filter device is also disclosed herein.
US08330992B2
A printer driver in a host computer (PC/WS) instructs an image input/output apparatus to perform clear toner printing in which color-toner data printed by using a plurality of color toners and clear-toner data printed by using a clear toner are printed in a superimposed relation. Upon accepting an instruction for a test print of the clear toner printing, the printer driver defines a first color and a second color, which differ from each other and which are discernible relative to colors designated in the color-toner data, and issues a printing instruction to the image input/output apparatus such that a portion designated in the clear-toner data where the clear toner is coated by the clear toner printing is printed in the first color, and a portion designated in the clear-toner data where the clear toner is not coated by the clear toner printing is printed in the second color.
US08330986B2
An image forming apparatus has a printing unit for executing a single-sided print job and a double-sided print job. A storage unit stores print target data as backing sheet image data when a single-sided print job is executed. An image reading unit reads images on both sides of a document that is subjected to image processing. A backing sheet judgment unit judges whether there is an image that matches a backing sheet image among the images on both sides of the document by comparing the document image data read by the image reading unit with the backing sheet image data stored in the storage unit. An exclusion processing unit performs processing to exclude from the image processing targets an image judged by the backing sheet judgment unit to match the backing sheet image among the images on both sides of the document read by the image reading unit.
US08330985B2
An image forming device is disclosed that is able to prevent halt of operations due to full memory occupation, and prevent the full occupation of the memory. The image forming device includes a reading unit; an image data storage unit; a vacancy waiting unit that, when allocating a storage area for storing image data in the image data storage unit, waits until the storage size of a vacancy in the image data storage unit becomes greater than a predetermined value when allocation of the storage area fails; a failure processing unit that, when allocating the storage area for storing the image data in the image data storage unit, performs failure processing when allocation of the storage area fails; and a control unit that controls one of the vacancy waiting unit and the failure processing unit according to image forming conditions in the image forming device.
US08330983B2
An image forming apparatus configured to allow a plurality of installed applications to be executed includes a storage unit configured to include a storage area storing information about the plurality of applications, and a registration unit configured to receive the application information about the application from an external apparatus without involving the application and to register the received application information into the storage area, wherein the application information includes identification information for identifying the application and usage information to be used by the application.
US08330979B2
An information processing apparatus receives first print setting information of a document file to be printed from a printing apparatus via a network, and analyzes it. Based on the analysis result, the information processing apparatus generates divided document files by dividing the document file into data each to be output on one print sheet. The information processing apparatus generates second print setting information by rewriting the first print setting information so as to obtain the same print results of the divided document files as those of the document file before division. The information processing apparatus encrypts each generated divided document file to generate an encrypted divided document file. The information processing apparatus transmits the encrypted divided document file and second print setting information to the printing apparatus via the network.
US08330978B2
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus including a print screen display unit configured to display in a display device a print screen including document information items regarding documents stored in a device which communicates with the image processing apparatus through a network, a print request unit configured to request a server which communicates with the image processing apparatus through the network to print a document corresponding to a document information item selected from among the document information items included in the print screen, and a print-request limitation control unit configured to prevent a new print request from being issued for a period of time from when the print request unit requests the server to print the document to when registration of print reservation information regarding a print reservation of the document in a print reservation information management unit is detected.
US08330977B2
A method may be provided with a first downloading step of downloading a predetermined size of first compressed data of a first image object which is to be included in both a first band of print data and a second band of the print data, a first decompression step of creating first decompressed data by decompressing the first compressed data having the predetermined size downloaded in the first downloading step, a determination step of determining whether all the first decompressed data corresponding to the first band has been created, a repeating step of repeating the first downloading step, the first decompression step, and the determination step in a case where a negative determination is obtained in the determination step, a second downloading step of downloading second compressed data of a second image object in a case where a positive determination is obtained in the determination step, and a second decompression step of creating second decompressed data by decompressing the second compressed data downloaded in the second downloading step.
US08330962B2
The invention relates to a system and to a corresponding method for optical coherence tomography having an interferometer (10) and a detector system (30, 31) which comprises a detector (30) for collecting the light reflected by a specimen (1) to be examined and has a sensitivity to the light reflected by the specimen (1). In order to reduce the times required for the most reliable possible recording of interference signals provision is made such that the sensitivity of the detector system (30, 31) to the light reflected by the specimen (1) and impinging on the detector (30) is modulated with a modulation frequency.
US08330959B2
A robust multichannel SPR instrument with exceptionally high sensitivity (
US08330957B2
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a device quantifying absolute amounts of ingredients of a plume. In one embodiment, the device comprises a source for emitting a beam of light and transmitting the emitted light through the plume to a surface on which the transmitted light is scattered, a detector for acquiring an image of the exhaust plume, the acquired image containing information of absorption of the scattered light scattered from the surface, and a processor for processing the acquired image to determine an absolute amount of at least one of components of the exhaust plume.
US08330956B1
Various embodiments provide devices and methods of an optical coupled-cavity photo-acoustic spectroscopy (CC-PAS). The exemplary CC-PAS can include three mirrors configured in parallel to couple a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity with a sample cavity. The sample cavity can be a resonant cavity for containing a sample. The FP cavity can be used as a tunable input coupler for the sample cavity to improve spectroscopic sensitivities when measuring an absorber in the sample.
US08330954B2
One aspect is an aerosol detection arrangement including a light source for projecting a light beam. The arrangement includes a light collector configured to collect light scattered off liquid drops in an aerosol that enter the light beam and processing the scattered light into an output signal. The arrangement includes a controller for receiving the output signal from the light collector and uses the output signal to determine a predicted number of main liquid drops ejected.
US08330952B2
A system for performing Raman spectroscopy comprises a waveguide layer configured with at least one array of features, the at least one array of features being configured to provide guided-mode resonance for at least one wavelength of electromagnetic radiation; and at least one fluid channel disposed in the waveguide layer. An analyte sensor comprises an electromagnetic radiation source configured to emit a range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, the system for performing Raman spectroscopy, and at least one photodetector configured to detect Raman scattered light.
US08330947B2
A surface inspection system includes a beam source subsystem, a beam scanning subsystem, a workpiece movement subsystem, an optical collection and detection subsystem, and a processing subsystem. The optical collection and detection system features back collectors disposed in the back quartersphere, outside the incident plane, for collecting light scattered from the surface of the workpiece. The back collectors are disposed at a relative minimum in the portion of scattered light attributable to haze relative to the portion of scattered light attributable to defect scatter portion, or, alternatively, at a relative minimum in the Rayleigh scatter.
US08330945B2
A visible wavelength range proximity sensor includes a visible light emitter with a peak wavelength in a visible wavelength range, and a plasmonic ambient light sensor, where a proximity sensing mode and an ambient light sensing mode are time multiplexed.
US08330942B2
The present invention relates to a measuring instrument and methods for such a measuring instrument for tracking a moving object, measuring a distance to an object. According to the invention, sets of target position data including at least horizontal (Ha) and vertical angle (Va) between the measuring instrument (1) and said at least one target (9) in consecutive measurements during a measurement session are obtained (40; 50; 60; 70); a model describing a path of and/or a distance to the target (9) is calculated; at least a present position of the target is estimated (44; 53; 65; 74) using the model; and, the estimated position of the target (9) is used (45; 56; 67; 79) when searching for the target (9).
US08330941B2
Method to calibrate a substrate table position in a lithographic apparatus includes providing a substrate on the substrate table with a two dimensional arrangement of patterns; positioning the substrate table with a positioning system; measuring positions of the substrate table in at least two dimensions with a position measurement system; reading out the arrangement of patterns as a function of the measured positions of the substrate table with a pattern read out system to obtain pattern read out results; deriving position errors as a function of the measured positions of the substrate table compared with the pattern read out results; calibrating the positioning system using the position errors, the calibrating including determining drift influences of the positioning system, correcting the position errors as a function of the corresponding two dimensional position of the substrate table with the determined drift influences, and calibrating the positioning system with the corrected position errors.
US08330937B2
A lithography system with a stray light feedback system is disclosed. The stray light feedback helps control critical dimension (CD) within a stray light specification limit. A stray light dose control factor is calculated as a function of the stray light measured in the exposure tool and the sensitivity of the resist. The stray light dose control factor is used to adjust the exposure dose to achieve the desired CD. The stray light may be monitored, and if a threshold level of stray light is reached or exceeded, the use of the exposure tool may be discontinued for a particular type of semiconductor product, resist, or mask level, until the lens system is cleaned.
US08330936B2
A path which a substrate should take under the projection system during immersion lithography imaging of a plurality of dies on the top surface of the substrate is disclosed.
US08330934B2
An exposure apparatus for emitting exposure light onto a substrate via a projection optical system and a liquid to expose the substrate includes a supply pipe which supplies the liquid; a recovery pipe which recovers the liquid; a connection pipe which connects the supply pipe and the recovery pipe; and a switching device which switches a flow path of the liquid so that when liquid supply is stopped, the liquid that has flowed into the supply pipe flows to the recovery pipe via the connection pipe. The apparatus may further include a temperature regulation apparatus connected to the supply pipe, which performs temperature regulation of the liquid supplied to the supply pipe, and has a rough temperature regulator which roughly regulates the temperature of the liquid, and a fine temperature regulator which is arranged between the rough temperature regulator and the supply pipe and performs fine regulation of this temperature.
US08330931B2
A device for controlling the polarization state of transmitted light comprises first and second cell walls enclosing a layer of a chiral liquid crystal material. The material has a uniformly orientated helical axis in the absence of an applied field, and electrodes for applying an electric field substantially normal to the helical axis. An applied electric field flexoelectrically couples to the molecules, causing distortion of the helical structure and hence changes the bulk birefringence of the cell.
US08330930B2
Provided is a liquid crystal display device including: a plurality of column spacers and a first alignment film which are formed above the first substrate; an insulating layer which is formed on the second substrate and a second alignment film which is formed on the insulating layer; and column spacer receiving members which are provided between the insulating layer and the second alignment film in places opposed to the plurality of column spacers, the column spacer receiving members each being made of a material different from both of a material of the insulating layer and a material of the second alignment film, in which a thickness of the second alignment film in places above the column spacer receiving members is ⅓ or less of a thickness of the second alignment film in places in which the second alignment film is formed directly on the insulating layer.
US08330925B2
A display panel includes a first substrate, a pixel array, a peripheral circuit, a first protection layer, a second protection layer, a display medium, and a second substrate. The first substrate array has a display area and a peripheral area, wherein the pixel array is disposed in the display area, the peripheral circuit is disposed in the peripheral area, and the pixel array and the peripheral circuit are electrically connected. The first protection layer is disposed on the display area and the peripheral area to cover the pixel array and the peripheral circuit. The second protection layer is at least disposed on the first protection layer within the peripheral area. Here, the second protection layer includes a color filter material layer, a black matrix material layer, a photo spacer material layer, or a combination thereof. The second substrate is disposed above the first substrate to expose the peripheral area.
US08330924B2
An array substrate for a liquid crystal display device includes a gate line, a data line including a first data line having a first width and a second data line having a second width overlying the first data line, the second width is larger than the first width, a pixel electrode in a pixel region and defined by a crossing of the gate line and the data line, the pixel electrode being formed during a same process as the second data line, and a thin film transistor connected to the pixel electrode.
US08330920B2
A liquid crystal display of a fringe field switching type is disclosed which can prevent generation of display stains upon application of an external pressure. The liquid crystal display of a fringe field switching type includes: a gate line; a data line; a TFT connected to the gate line and the data line; a pixel electrode connected to the TFT to receive a data signal; a common line for supplying a common voltage; and a common electrode electrically connected to the common line and formed in a plate shape, wherein the domains are vertically symmetrical with respect to a domain border area, and the pixel electrode includes a plurality of finger portions spaced apart from one another by a predetermined gap to form a fringe field together with the common electrode and a border link pattern connecting the finger portions at the domain border area.
US08330910B2
A transflective type LCD device and a method for manufacturing the same is disclosed, in which an aperture ratio of a reflective part is improved, and manufacturing process is simplified by decreasing the number of masks for forming contact holes. The transflective type LCD device includes a plurality of gate and data lines crossing each other, defining a plurality of pixel regions; a thin film transistor at a crossing point of the gate and data lines; a lower storage electrode formed by one portion of a preceding gate line, and an upper storage electrode above the lower storage electrode having a gate insulating layer in between; a transmitting electrode in contact the upper storage electrode; and a reflective electrode in contact with the transmitting electrode in the reflective part of the pixel region wherein the transmitting electrode is in between the reflective electrode and the substrate.
US08330903B2
A liquid crystal display, comprising an array substrate and a color filter substrate, wherein a combination type mark is disposed on both of the array substrate and the color filter substrate, and the combination type mark comprises a rough mark and a fine mark that is located around the rough mark; and wherein the rough mark on the array substrate corresponds to the rough mark on the color filter substrate, and the fine mark on the array substrate corresponds to the fine mark on the color filter substrate.
US08330899B2
A photoflash includes a substrate, a flashtube and a light field control member. The substrate serves as a bottom of a cavity formed there-above and having a plurality of circuits embedded in the bottom of the cavity. The flashtube is received in the cavity and electrically connected to the circuits. The control member includes a liquid crystal panel, a plurality of transparent electrodes attached on opposite of the liquid crystal panel and a control circuit attached on the panel and electrically connected to the electrodes. The liquid crystal panel is mounted on the substrate and covers the cavity, while the control circuit is electrically connected to the circuits of the substrate. The control circuit is configured for controllably powering transparent electrodes thereby adjusting the arrangement of liquid crystal cells in particular regions of panel to control which portions of the light emitted from the flashtube will pass through the light field control member.
US08330895B2
In a method for making an antiglare film including the casting, the releasing, the drying, the applying and the curing as defined herein, the transparent particles have an average primary particle size of greater than 2.5 μm and not greater than 12 μm, the transparent base has on at least one side thereof flat portions substantially parallel to a film-forming plane and rounded protrusions arising from the transparent particles, the protrusions having a maximum height Rt from the flat portions of from 1 to 15 μm, and the cured layer has an average thickness of from 1 to 15.0 μm and a surface profile with an arithmetic average roughness Ra, a mean spacing between peaks Sm, and an average slope θa, all as measured in accordance with JIS B0601, satisfying the relationships (1) to (3) as defined herein.
US08330879B2
A projection display apparatus includes a light source configured to emit light, at least one reflective liquid crystal device configured to generate an image by modulating a polarization of the light emitted from the light source and reflecting the light, an imaging lens configured to form a real image of the image generated by the reflective liquid crystal device, a quarter-wave plate disposed between the reflective liquid crystal device and the imaging lens, an image splitter configured to include at least one reflecting plane and spatially split the real image into at least two split real images by reflecting the real image on the reflecting plane, at least two projection lenses configured to form the split real images again on a screen, and a phase difference corrector configured to correct a phase difference between a p-polarized light and an s-polarized light generated by the reflecting plane.
US08330860B2
According to embodiments, a color signal processing circuit includes: an A/D converter configured to convert an analog television signal into a digital signal by using a clock; a color signal demodulation circuit configured to color-demodulate the television signal converted into the digital signal by the A/D converter; a clock generation section configured to generate the clock that is used by the A/D converter; and a frequency control section configured to control the clock frequency of the clock generation section on the basis of a color subcarrier frequency of a color signal included in the analog television signal and on the basis of the vertical synchronization signal frequency of the analog television signal.
US08330857B2
A display apparatus includes a conversion unit for converting first video data having a first frame rate to second video data having a second frame rate which is “n” times as high as the first frame rate (“n” being an integer of two or larger), and a display unit for displaying the second video data. When the first video data is video data of two successive frame images having different brightnesses, the conversion unit performs a first frame rate converting process for converting the first video data to the second video data by outputting a frame image group made of two successive frame images in the first video data “n” times in a row at the second frame rate. Consequently, the frame rate converting process can be performed without causing a deterioration of a visual effect such as an HDR effect, and a viewing environment comfortable for the user can be realized.
US08330853B2
An image pickup apparatus that can reduce power consumption of the image pickup apparatus, and take high-definition moving images at high speed without bringing about decreases in recordable time and the number of still images taken. An image pickup processing unit is operated in a plurality of operation modes, and has an image pickup device and a plurality of processing units that process image pickup signals outputted from the image pickup device. An interval control circuit causes the image pickup processing unit to switch between a standby ON state and a standby OFF state in predetermined timing. A control signal is outputted to the interval control unit according to an operation mode of the image pickup processing unit. When the image pickup processing unit lies in a predetermined operation mode, a control signal for causing the interval control circuit to perform the switching is outputted to the interval control circuit.
US08330849B2
When a face is detected from image signals, stability determination time is set for determining if the face is recognized in a stable manner, and a period of time for which the face is consecutively detected starts to be measured. Until the measured period of time exceeds the stability determination time, an AF evaluation value acquired from a normal frame set to include a face frame corresponding to the face is used to exercise TV-AF control. Once the measured time exceeds the stability determination time, TV-AF control is exercised based on AF evaluation values acquired from each of the face frame and the normal frame.
US08330843B2
In a solid-state image sensing device, a method for driving the solid-state image sensing device, and an image sensing system incorporated with the solid-state image sensing device of the invention, pixel signals having two or more different photoelectric conversion characteristics to be outputted from a pixel section are amplified by using an analog gain with respect to each of the photoelectric conversion characteristics for outputting the amplified pixel signals. This enables to reproduce an image having a wide dynamic range while suppressing lowering of the frame rate.
US08330838B2
A shading correcting device includes a correction-coefficient interpolation unit that calculates a color shading correction coefficient used at a position of a pixel at which the color shading correction coefficient is not set among pixels in an image signal by an interpolation process using a color shading correction coefficient set at a predetermined position. A color shading correction coefficient sent to the correction-coefficient interpolation unit is a color shading correction coefficient that is for a first color and corresponds to a pixel value of a second color adjacent to a pixel of the first color.
US08330831B2
A digital image processing technique gathers visual meta data using a reference image. A main image and one or more reference images are captured on a hand-held or otherwise portable or spatial or temporal performance-based image capture device. The reference images are analyzed based on predefined criteria in comparison to the main image. Based on said analyzing, supplemental meta data are created and added to the main image at a digital data storage location.
US08330828B2
A device comprises a photoelectric conversion portion including a light receiving surface, and a condensing structure which condenses light to the photoelectric conversion portion, wherein in the condensing structure, a first insulating film and a second insulating film having a refractive index higher than that of the first insulating film are laid out in a plane perpendicular to a normal passing through a center of the light receiving surface such that a density of the second insulating film is higher in a central portion of the plane than in a peripheral portion of the plane, and a layout pattern of the first insulating film and the second insulating film in the plane includes a portion having a dimension not more than a maximum wavelength of a visible light range.
US08330821B2
A mobile terminal including a plurality of cameras and a method of processing images acquired in a plurality of cameras is provided. The image processing method includes simultaneously operating a plurality of cameras, outputting a synchronous signal during an inactive time period and a data image signal during an active time period, wherein the active time period during which one camera of the plurality of cameras provides the data image signal occurs during the inactive time period of the other camera or cameras of the plurality of cameras.
US08330811B2
Methods and an apparatus responsive to sensed orientation and translatory position of an image acquisition device with respect to a three-dimensional reference frame of an object space for providing and storing successive computer generated images with respect to a three-dimensional frame of reference of an image space synchronized with successive images acquired by the electronic image acquisition device with respect to the three-dimensional reference frame of the object space, the successive computer generated images having a changing point of view that changes direction between images, the successive computer generated images stored on a storage medium for playback and presentation to a viewer.
US08330808B2
An ophthalmic photographing apparatus having a photographing unit having a projection optical system having a light source and a scanner changing a reflection direction of light and scanning an eye portion in X,Y-directions with measurement light, and an optical system having photodetectors and making the reflected light enter the photodetectors, a unit controlling the photographing unit to scan the given portion plural times in a scanning region and obtain image information pieces based on a photodetector signal, and a unit dividing the region in the X,Y-directions of each information into regions and obtain information on deviation between the image information pieces for each divided region, obtain image information for each divided region, in which deviation has been corrected, with reference to one of the image information pieces based on the deviation information, add and average the image information pieces for each corresponding divided region to obtain image information.
US08330797B2
A method for photographing a panoramic picture includes the steps of checking motion of a corresponding photographing apparatus compares currently input images and previous images in real time through a motion estimation technique employing exposure compensation. Respective images constituting a panoramic picture are photographed, and image photography information is checked that includes focus distance and optical magnification to calculate actual photography range distance of the images. A pre-set threshold is set in consideration of a calculated actual photography range distance of the images. The checked motion is confirmed as to whether the pre-set threshold has been reached, and photography time points of the respective images are determined. The respective images are photographed according to a manual mode or an automatic mode at the photography time point of the respective images.
US08330790B2
A videoconferencing system and method of automating access to a videoconferencing room is provided. The videoconferencing system includes a reservation controller for comparing remote identifying information and local identifying information and for receiving a deposit. A payment collector is in communication with the reservation controller for receiving the deposit from the reservation controller. An access controller is in communication with the payment collector and the reservation controller for allowing access to the videoconferencing room if the remote identifying information matches the local identifying information. The method includes the steps of receiving remote identifying information, receiving local identifying information, comparing the local identifying information to the remote identifying information, and electronically unlocking a door of the videoconferencing room if the local identifying information matches the remote identifying information.
US08330786B2
An optical scanner includes at least one light source, an optical element, a deflective scanner, an optical housing, a pressing member, and a mounting member. The light source emits a light beam to an object. The optical element forms the light beam emitted from the light source into a desired shape. The deflective scanner deflects the light beam. The optical housing stores the optical element and the deflective scanner, and includes at least one positioning member. The positioning member positions the light source in an axial direction of the light source. The pressing member presses the light source toward the positioning member to sandwich the light source between the pressing member and the positioning member and mount the light source on the optical housing. The mounting member fastens the pressing member to the optical housing.
US08330783B2
A method is provided for forming an image of a pattern of features on media which includes determining a pitch of the features along first and second directions and determining a first size of a first pixel based at least on the pitch of the features along the first direction. A second size of a second pixel is determined based at least on the pitch of the features along the second direction. An offset is determined along the scan direction between a first and second scan-line of pixels, based at least on the skew angle and the first size. The imaging head is controlled to form the first pixel comprising the determined first size and the second pixel comprising the determined second size. The imaging head is controlled to form the first scan-line and the second scan-line, offset from one another by the determined offset.
US08330781B2
A thermal head avoids a drop in print quality caused by adhesion of printing chaff. A thermal head 39 that presses against thermal paper that moves from one side to the other side and prints by melting dye contained in the thermal paper has a glazed layer 150 that is formed in an area on one part of a ceramic substrate 43 and stores in-flowing heat, and a heating resistor 140 that is located offset to one side from the center of the glazed layer 150, selectively heats the thermal paper S pressed in contact therewith, and melts a dye material contained in the thermal paper. A smooth surface P against which the thermal paper S heated by the heating resistor 140 slides is formed to the other side of the glazed layer 150 from the heating resistor 140.
US08330780B2
A method and apparatus for transferring an image of predetermined length onto a substrate by selective energization of a row of printing elements in a printhead of a printing apparatus. The printing apparatus may be arranged with a print ribbon located between the printhead and the substrate such that ink is selectively transferred from the ribbon to the substrate as a result of energizations of the printing elements. The image to be printed is rendered in memory as a series of rows of pixels and the apparatus is set up to download the rendered rows of pixels to the printhead successively. The relative positioning of successively printed rows of pixels on the substrate is determined by relative displacement between the printhead and the substrate. The apparatus is set up to control the positioning of the rows of pixels by controlling the delay between successive energizations of the printing elements. Operational characteristics of the printing apparatus are determined, and the image is rendered such that the number of rows of the pixels in the rendered image is no greater than the maximum number of rows of pixels which can be printed in the length of the image given the operational characteristics of the printing apparatus. Additional rows of pixels may be printed between pairs of rows of printed which correspond to consecutive rows in the rendered image. The pixel content of each additional row is a function of the pixel content of the adjacent pairs of rows.
US08330778B2
A monitor includes a microprocessor, a switch control unit, and a switch detecting unit receiving a system voltage and sending the system voltage to the microprocessor. When the microprocessor detects the presence of the system voltage, and the microprocessor outputs a first control signal to the switch control unit, to control the monitor to be turned on. When the microprocessor detects the system voltage not being present, and the microprocessor outputs a second control signal to the switch control unit, to control the monitor to be turned off.
US08330777B2
A method and a device for processing touch information and a flat panel display using the method and the device are disclosed. The touch information processing arrangement includes: generating sensor output data from a touch sensor array; computing the sensor output data corresponding to each of adjacent frames to generate difference data; first binarizing the difference data based on a predetermined first threshold value; filtering the first binarized difference data; and second binarizing the filtered difference data based on a predetermined second threshold value.
US08330773B2
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates communicating data utilizing a portable device. An interface component can receive annotation data related to a display associated with a portable device. An annotation component can append a screen shot corresponding to the display with the annotated data to create an annotated screen shot.
US08330769B2
There are provided systems and methods for tinting an image by monochromatic tinting using saturation maps for use by an application providing a user interface supporting customizable tinted images. By using saturation map and a monochromatic value map derived from the image and configuring the saturation map to specify areas for tinting, a tint color can be applied to the image by a series of quickly processed arithmetic calculations. This provides a lightweight and high quality method for tinting images within an application without wasting unnecessary network bandwidth or processor resources. Furthermore, the method can be adapted to apply multiple tint colors for multiple tints or use an alpha channel to restore color information lost due to the monochromatic value map. The resulting tinted image can also be used as a texture for a three-dimensional rendering engine.
US08330766B1
A system and method for performing zero-bandwidth-clears reduces external memory accesses by a graphics processor when performing clears and subsequent read operations. A set of clear values is stored in the graphics processor. Each region of a color or z buffer may be configured using a zero-bandwidth-clear command to reference a clear value without writing the external memory. The clear value is provided to a requestor without accessing the external memory when a read access is performed.
US08330756B2
Grid structured data arranged for a spherical structured grid constituted by combining two component structured grids are visualized by using computer graphics technology. Coordinate conversion means 31 converts grid point coordinates of first and second component structured grids (referred to as N and E systems, respectively), represented by specific regions in spherical coordinates, into local xyz coordinates used in computer graphics. Filter means 32 obtains first and second graphic objects for the N and E systems, respectively. Using E system rotation and N and E system synthesis means 33, the second graphic object for the E system is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to an x axis of a first local xyz coordinate system, and is then rotated by 180 degrees with respect to a z axis of the first local xyz coordinate system, thereby obtaining the rotated second graphic object for the E system, and then, both of the graphic objects are synthesized.
US08330749B2
A method and an apparatus for generating a control signal are provided. This method includes following steps. First, a reset parameter is generated according to a data enable signal and a clock signal, wherein the reset parameter indicates a cycle of the data enable signal. Next, a counting value is generated according to a positive rising edge of the data enable signal and the reset parameter. Finally, a control signal is generated according to the counting value. As a result, the control signal can be continually generated to apply various techniques when variation the data enable signal is ceased.
US08330748B2
An image display apparatus includes: a correction circuit that outputs corrected data based on luminance data designating luminance of display devices, and a modulation circuit that outputs a pulse width modulation signal for driving the display device to the column wiring based on the corrected data. The correction circuit includes: a luminance calculation circuit that calculates luminance including an effect of a voltage drop in the row wiring and an effect of a light emission time of the display device for each predetermined time slot; an accumulation circuit that temporally accumulates the luminance for each time slot; and a corrected data determination circuit that outputs, as the corrected data, a value determined in accordance with the time slot at a time point when an accumulated luminance value obtained by the temporal accumulation reaches a target luminance value.
US08330745B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a source driver includes a shift register including latch stages each including a level shifter that level-shifts clock signals so that the signals are fed into a set-reset flip-flop as inverted set input signals. Outputs from the set-reset flip-flop are delayed by a hazard preventing circuit and then fed into a level shifter in the next latch stage as enable signals. A delay trimming circuit causes a NAND circuit to perform a NAND operation with respect to outputs obtained by a delay of the outputs by a delay circuit and outputs from the level shifter in the next latch stage, so that a sampling pulse is derived. This allows for provision of a pulse output circuit capable of further trimming delay in output pulses and of securing a sufficient interval between the output pulses.
US08330739B2
Display devices and methods for operating the same are provided. In one embodiment, the display device has an electronic display having an active area for presenting visual content; a housing holding the electronic display and having an opening allowing a person to view a first portion of the active area; and a bezel about the opening, the bezel covering a second portion of the active area and providing a window through which at least a part of the second portion can be viewed. A sensor system senses when a person is close to touching the bezel or when a person is in touch with the bezel and generates a sensor signal; and a controller is operable to adjust the appearance of the active area in the part of the second portion when the controller determines that a person has touched the bezel or is close to touching the bezel.
US08330738B2
A transparent capacitive touch panel comprising a transparent substrate, a transparent cover lens and a transparent adhesive layer is provided, wherein a first transparent electrode layer and a second transparent electrode layer are disposed on the transparent cover lens and the transparent substrate respectively. The transparent adhesive layer is used to bind the first transparent electrode layer and second transparent electrode layer in order to combine the transparent cover lens and the transparent substrate disposed in parallel. Thereby, the manufacturing process of the transparent capacitive touch panel is simplified, and the manufacturing cost of the same is lowered.
US08330737B2
An input apparatus has an input unit for receiving a pressure input, a load detection unit for detecting a pressure load on the input unit, a vibration unit for vibrating the input unit, and a control unit for controlling drive of the vibration unit 14 such that a click sensation is provided to an object pressing the input unit when the pressure load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a predetermined standard for receiving an input to the input unit. Thereby, a realistic click sensation similar to that obtained when a push-button switch is operated is provided upon operation of the input unit of a pressure type by an operator.
US08330734B2
A liquid crystal display device having a touch panel and a front window which can enhance reliability thereof and facilitates repair thereof is provided. The touch panel and the front window are mounted on a liquid crystal display device using a thermoplastic adhesive material. Electronic parts are arranged on a lower side of a touch-panel-use flexible printed circuit board, and electronic parts are arranged on a lower side of a main flexible printed circuit board. The respective electronic parts are covered with the front window in a plan view. A light emitting diode is mounted on the main flexible printed circuit board, and faces a light guide plate in a resin mold. Due to such a constitution, an external shape of the liquid crystal display device can be made small as a whole, and relatively expensive light emitting diodes can be reproduced and reused by repair.
US08330730B1
A chroma-key/matte display screen system with a touch input device that allows a user to interact with the display by selecting or pointing to composite images on the display. Touch input devices include camera based, infrared, membrane, and acoustic. Displays screens include CRT, various flat screen displays such as plasma, LCD, OLED, and various projection display systems.
US08330726B2
A position detection apparatus, with which the setting position adjustment of imaging sections is not required and the maintenance can be made easily, structuring of which can be realized with low-cost components, is provided. In the position detection apparatus, imaging sections (7), each of those which includes an area image sensor (70), in which light-sensitive elements are arrayed in a two-dimensional pattern, and an image formation lens (71), are placed to the lateral two points of a detection plane (1), respectively. A selection device (10) selects particular pixels corresponding to a particular field of view of a reflex reflection frame (4) or the like from the light-sensitive elements within a range of a given field of view having been imaged by the imaging sections (7). An image processing device (11) image-processes a particular image signal corresponding to the selected particular pixels and then outputs an indicating position coordinate of a pointing device (2).
US08330720B2
An optical navigation system and method for performing self-calibration on the system uses captured frames of image data of an interior surface of a calibration cover of the system to detect a performance-related change of the system. In response to the detected performance-related change, a predefined procedure is then initiated.
US08330719B2
A mouse includes a bottom casing, a PCB with a controller fixed thereon and a roller unit assembled to the bottom casing, and a top casing coupled with the bottom casing. The bottom casing has a retainer plate and a backing plate in rear of the retainer plate. The retainer plate and the backing plate respectively define a location hole and a receiving recess thereon. The PCB defines an opening in front of the controller and a slit positioned between the controller and the opening. The backing plate passes through the slit while the retainer plate locates in front of the opening. The roller unit includes a roller bearing which has a location post extended forward from a front thereof to be inserted into the location hole, and a contact post extended rearward from a rear thereof to be received in the receiving recess so as to movably activate the controller.
US08330718B2
A cursor positioning control device is provided. The device includes a cursor movement measuring unit configured to measure a measurement value corresponding to a movement amount of a cursor on a display every certain time, a cursor deceleration determination unit configured to subtract an N-th measurement value from an (N−1)-th measurement value of the cursor movement measuring unit, and configured to determine that the cursor is being decelerated if the subtracted value is greater than a predetermined threshold value, wherein N is a natural number. When the number of successive times that the subtracted value is greater than the predetermined threshold value exceeds a predetermined number of times, the cursor deceleration determination unit generates an instruction signal for at least further decelerating a movement of the cursor than a cursor movement deceleration speed that a user instructs.
US08330712B2
An electrophoretic display device includes a first substrate having a display region and a non-display region at a periphery of the display region, the display region including a pixel region; gate and data lines on the first substrate and in the display region, the gate and data lines crossing each other to define the pixel region; a gate link line connected to the gate line and positioned in the non-display region; a thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines and positioned in the pixel region, the thin film transistor including a gate electrode, a gate insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode; a passivation layer of an organic insulating material over the thin film transistor and in the display region, the passivation layer having a first thickness and including a drain contact hole exposing the drain electrode; a buffer pattern formed of the same material and having the same thickness as the passivation layer, the buffer pattern positioned in the non-display region; a pixel electrode positioned in the pixel region and on the passivation layer, the pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode through the drain contact hole; and an electrophoretic film on the pixel electrode and covering an entire surface of the display region, an end of the electrophoretic film positioned on the buffer pattern.
US08330711B2
A plurality of data signal lines each of which is connected to at least one pixel circuit in one pixel circuit column and is not connected to the pixel circuits of other pixel circuit columns are provided to one pixel circuit column, and the pixel circuits in the pixel circuit column are connected to any one of the plurality of data signal lines. An image display device having such a constitution can alleviate lowering of display quality attributed to transmission delay or voltage drop of a scanning signal.
US08330695B2
A plurality of groups each of which includes a plurality of scanning signal lines are sequentially selected; a polarity of the data signal electric potentials in one (first group) of sequentially-selected groups is set to be different from that of the other (second group) of the two groups; two pieces of dummy scan periods are put between (i) a horizontal scan period corresponding to a last horizontal scan in the first group and (ii) a horizontal scan period corresponding to a first horizontal scan in the second group; dummy signal electric potentials are supplied to the data signal line in the dummy scan periods; and a time period from when a scanning pulse which corresponds to the last horizontal scan in the first group becomes nonactive to when the dummy scan period is started is set to be longer than a time period from when a scanning pulse corresponding to one of consecutive two horizontal scans becomes nonactive in the first group to when a horizontal scan period corresponding to the other of the consecutive two horizontal scans is started. This makes it possible to enhance display quality in a case where the data signal line is subjected to the block-reversal driving.
US08330687B2
Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display in which a system board and a timing control board can be used in common in a 60 Hz driving mode and a 120 Hz driving mode without being modified. The liquid crystal display includes a system board for identifying a driving frequency of video data and supplying the video data and control signals at a first driving frequency or second driving frequency as a result of the identification, a timing control board equipped with a timing controller for processing the video data and control signals from the system board, the timing control board supplying the processed video data and control signals at the first or second driving frequency, and a liquid crystal panel for displaying an image based on the video data and control signals supplied from the timing control board.
US08330683B2
A driving method of a flat panel display includes dividing one frame into a plurality of sub-frames, wherein each sub-frame includes an on-state time, each on-state time corresponds to a weight value, and at least one of the weight values is expressed in the form of a non-binary code; applying an on-state gate signal to a pixel in each sub-frame to turn on the pixel; and applying each bit of a data signal corresponding to each sub-frame to the pixel.
US08330678B2
Nonuniformity in an organic EL display device is effectively detected. All display pixels of an organic EL panel are turned on and the display is photographed with a digital camera. A computer performs image processing of the photographed image to detect an area in which unevenness exists. Then, a V-I curve of each pixel in the area is measured to calculate necessary correction values. The calculated correction values are stored in a memory for use in correcting a signal input to the organic EL panel.
US08330672B2
An electronic display arrangement for taking light signals forming an image emitted from a miniature screen (2) and referred to as a screen image, and for conveying them to the eye (O) of a user to enable a virtual image (I) to be viewed, the arrangement having a miniature screen control device having an arrangement for subdividing a source image into N screen images (IE) and in that it includes a mosaicing device (3) having an exit viewport (10) and serving to convey the N screen images in a manner in which they are spatially offset from one another and time shifted from one another at a period (τ) shorter than the remanence time of the retina of the eye divided by N, each screen image (IE) being conveyed towards the eye of the wearer for viewing a virtual sub-image (IN), the N resulting and adjacent virtual sub-images together forming said virtual image (I) in full, said mosaicing device (3) being constituted by a light polarization control element (5) and by an element (7) for spatially reconstructing the virtual image (I). A mosaicing device has a light pipe (6) of material that is transparent in the visible domain and said light pipe is disposed between said control element (5) and said element for spatially reconstructing the virtual image.
US08330666B2
A multiband antenna includes a first radio unit closed loop and a second radio unit connected to the first radio unit and symmetrical structure. When the multiband antenna functions, the first radio unit functions as a balanced loop antenna, and the second radio unit functions as a dipole antenna.
US08330655B2
Connectors for electronic devices are provided with embedded antennas. The connectors may be 30-pin connectors. A 30-pin connector may have a conductive shell structure that defines a cavity and a planar dielectric member that extends into the cavity and that has contact pins. An antenna may be formed from an antenna resonating element on the planar dielectric member and an antenna ground formed from the conductive shell structure. An antenna may be formed from a slot in the conductive shell. The antenna and the pins may be electrically coupled to an electronic device using a cable.
US08330653B2
Phase shift values between signals received at a plurality of receiving antennas are determined to orient one or more receiving antennas of the plurality of receiving antennas during signal location. Subsequent signals are received utilizing the oriented receiving antennas. Candidate angle of arrival (AOA) values are computed based on the determined phase shift values during the signal location so as to adaptively orient the receiving antennas. Each of the candidate AOA values is iteratively selected one at a time to adaptively orient the receiving antennas. The receiving antennas may be adaptively oriented according to the computed receive signal power levels. The determined phase shift values may be rounded to nearest discrete phase shift values. In this regard, one candidate AOA value is selected for each of the receiving antennas based on the corresponding rounded phase shift values such that the receiving antennas may be adaptively oriented during the signal location.
US08330651B2
A high resolution, low power marine radar for use in applications such as the newly mandated barge/river radars that are to be used in very confined spaces such as canals. An example radar system includes frequency-modulated/continuous-wave (FM/CW) radar that uses very low transmitter power (a fraction of a watt) and has an exceptionally short sensing range of a few feet or even inches if needed.
US08330648B2
A method and apparatus for measuring a distance in a wireless environment are provided, in which a first device transmits a distance measurement signal to a second device and receives at least one response signal for the distance measurement signal from the second device, matches the received response signal with a reference signal to detect an earliest response signal, and calculates a time taken from the transmission of the distance measurement signal to the second device and the reception of the response signal from the second device using a peak value of the matched reference signal.
US08330646B2
A number of apparatuses are provided, for sensing and/or emitting energy along one or more desired apparatus line of sights (LOS) with respect to the respective apparatus. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus includes an assembly that is rotatably mounted on a base with respect to a switching axis. The assembly has two or more sensing/emitting units, each having a respective sensing/emitting unit line of sight (ULOS). Each sensing/emitting unit has an operative state, wherein the respective unit ULOS is pointed along a LOS of the apparatus for sensing and/or emitting energy along the LOS, and a corresponding inoperative state, where the respective unit ULOS is pointed along a direction different from this LOS. A switching mechanism enables switching between the sensing/emitting units to selectively bring a desired sensing/emitting unit exclusively into its respective operative state while concurrently bringing a remainder of the sensing/emitting units each to a respective non-operative state. Corresponding systems and methods are also provided.
US08330645B2
A radar activation multiple access system and method is provided that includes a plurality of radar participant nodes wirelessly connected and forming a radar network and a multiple access unit in communication with the radar network. The multiple access unit includes a scheduler component, a synch component, a priority component and a radar activation component. The scheduler component is configured to schedule a period of operation having a plurality of time divisions within the period of operation. The synch component is configured to synchronize the radar participant nodes within the period of operation. The priority component is configured to assign a priority to individual radar participant nodes in the radar network. The radar activation component is communicatively connected to the radar network and configured to determine a contentious state at a time division in the period of operation. The radar activation component instructs individual nodes to assume the role of transmitter or receiver based on the assigned priority.
US08330633B2
A differential current steering (CS) circuit uses feedback from the differential output nodes A and B to cause current steering devices (e.g., MOSFETs) to effectively exhibit an infinite output impedance when conducting. Therefore, the signal on the output nodes A or B does not significantly change the voltage at the common node, This is particularly useful when the differential output nodes are connected to differential output buses in a digital-to-analog converter. The circuit dynamically cancels, though feedback, the signal induced at the common node by the signal present at the “steered” output node. Therefore, the CS circuit effectively presents an infinite output impedance between the common node and the output nodes. In some cases, it may be desirable to not create a substantially infinite output impedance for the CS circuit but control the impedance to a predefined level to counter other distortions in the system.
US08330631B2
A method for calibrating a fixed gain amplifier configured as a front-end amplification stage of an analog-to-digital converter including sampling a calibration voltage with normal and inversed polarity and with the fixed gain amplifier bypassed and with the fixed gain amplifier connected. An actual gain value of the fixed gain amplifier is computed from offset corrected digital output codes generated from converting the calibration voltage. A gain correction value for the fixed gain amplifier can then be computed based on the ratio of the actual gain to the ideal gain. In another embodiment, a method for calibrating an analog-to-digital converter including a fixed gain amplifier, an input buffer and a modulator generates an offset correction value using normal and polarity inversed input samples. The offset correct value provides correction for at least offset errors in the fixed gain amplifier, the input buffer and the modulator.
US08330628B2
A hand-held electronic device has a keyboard with a plurality of keys, each key having a substantially flat contact surface extending to the sides of each key. One of the sides of the key is beveled.
US08330623B2
A method and an apparatus for recognizing a parking area are disclosed. The parking area recognizing apparatus includes: a signal transmitter transmitting a signal using a sensor; an echo signal receiver receiving an echo signal for the signal; a multiple signal generator generating a multiple echo signal using the echo signal based on first and second preset thresholds; and a parking area recognizer recognizing a parking area by calculating a round trip time and a duration time for the multiple echo signal and selecting an available echo signal based on at least one of the round trip time and the duration time. Accordingly, a precision in recognition of a parking area is enhanced by reducing a measurement error by processing an echo signal received after it is reflected on an object with a multiple echo signal in recognition of the parking area using a sensor such as an ultrasonic sensor or a radar sensor.
US08330622B2
Traffic light installations for producing meta information on the basis of input information about the surroundings of the traffic light installation. The traffic light installation acts as a data pool and can independently reproduce a road section using the information which it has measured or which it has obtained from adjacent vehicles. In addition, the traffic light installation can use the input information to produce meta information which is communicated to other vehicles and thus results in a constant flow of traffic.
US08330620B2
A method for issuing warnings in vehicles about hazardous situations as a function of their location. A position of the first vehicle is transmitted as first information and actuated warning signal of the first vehicle are transmitted as second information to surrounding vehicles. The information is received by the surrounding vehicles and the first information is compared and evaluated with information relating to a position of the surrounding vehicles. In the event of a hazardous situation for the surrounding vehicles, corresponding measures for minimizing the hazardous situations are initiated in the surrounding vehicles.
US08330618B2
A telemeter system in which information that has an effect on a state of communication between a terminal device and a central device can be readily and accurately reported from the terminal device to the central device. When a central device (12) transmits a request signal for prescribed measurement result information to a terminal device (10), a terminal control component (20) of the terminal device (10) extracts the measurement result information from a measurement component (16), and transmits the measurement result information to the central device (12) via a telecommunication component (18) by using a short message service or the like. When a communication component (22) of the central device (12) receives the measurement result information, a center control component (26) stores the received measurement result information in a storage component (24) The state of communication between the terminal device (10) and the central device (12) is reported to an administrator as necessary.
US08330614B2
A telemetry system is described in which a plurality of channels are coupled to a bus. A control subsystem controls the channels so that one of the channels presents to the bus during its designated time period a channel characteristic. The control subsystem interrogates in the analog domain each of the channels during its designated time period, and forms a signal representative of the channel characteristic. The control subsystem may combine one or more of the signals into a digital packet, and transmit the same via transceiver over a wireless network. The channels may be contained within a submersible enclosure and displaced at intervals along the bus, thereby forming an array for monitoring waterborne threats. The array may lie along an ocean floor, may be towed by a marine vehicle, or may suspended from a deployable buoy containing the control subsystem, transceiver, and a remote power source. The array may further comprise a defensive countermeasure deployable responsive to detecting a threat.
US08330613B2
A remotely controlled electronic display sign which operates with a plasma display and which provides for humidity and heat control and the like allowing the sign to be used in various environments. The sign is essentially self-contained and includes those components necessary for enabling a display of desired material from a remote control source or one located at the sign. A controller in or associated with the sign is accessible either electrically, or through satellite transmission or other wireless transmission from the remote source which allows the display of the sign to be changed at will. Thus, an operator at a remote source may, with the aid of a pre-prepared graphic design, transmit that design to the controller at or associated with the sign for display of that graphic information and potentially with sound.
US08330611B1
A method and system are disclosed for locating or otherwise generating positional information for an object, such as but not limited generating positional coordinates for an object attached to an athlete engaging in an athletic event. The positional coordinates may be processed with other telemetry and biometrical information to provide real-time performance metrics while the athlete engages in the athletic event.
US08330604B2
Disclosed is a handheld salinity analyzer including a body, in which a circuit board and a battery are installed, a cell block provided with one end inserted into one end of the body and the other end on which a projecting part provided with a salinity sensor hole and a depressed part provided with a temperature sensor hole are formed, a salinity sensor inserted into the salinity sensor hole and provided with one end connected to the circuit board, a temperature sensor inserted into the temperature sensor hole and provided with one end connected to the circuit board, an ON/OFF switch installed on the end of the body, a light emitting lamp connected to the circuit board, and a body cover connected to the end of the body provided with the ON/OFF switch or to the cell block, and provided with an operating piece to operate the ON/OFF switch.
US08330594B2
A tire pressure measuring system (TPMS) for transmitting pressure information from a tire to a vehicle body has a complicated structure when a plurality kinds of transmission data exist. A sensor unit receives a transmission electromagnetic field from a sensor control unit, and rectify-detects the received field. The counter of the sensor unit determines a rotation cycle of a tire, based on the signal obtained by the rectification detection, then switches the switch in conjunction with the rotation cycle, and sequentially sends the plurality of transmission data items for every tire rotation.
US08330593B2
A method of monitoring a vehicle. The method includes the steps of establishing a first wireless connection between a first portable wireless device and a vehicle communications system thereby creating a data transfer network between the first portable wireless device and the vehicle communications system, monitoring, by the vehicle communications system, at least one sensor for a specific vehicle activity, and if the specific vehicle activity occurs, sending a notification via the wireless connection from the vehicle communications system to the first portable wireless device via the data transfer network.
US08330586B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that comprises, based upon receipt of a mode command, changing an operating mode of a fan motor controller of a fan to a serial port communication protocol, programming a memory of the fan motor controller with an operating parameter of the fan, and based upon receipt of a serial port command, changing the operating mode of the fan motor controller from the serial port communication protocol to another protocol.
US08330585B2
A power supply for supplying electric power comprises a power circuit which supplies L channels of electric power (L: positive integer), a control circuit board which outputs multiple types of control signals including a digital control signal and a PWM signal, a digital-to-analog converter having M channels (M: positive integer less than L) each of which converts the digital control signal into an analog control signal, and N demodulation circuits (N=L−M) each of which generates an analog control signal by demodulating the PWM signal. The control circuit board is electrically connected to the power circuit via the M channels of the digital-to-analog converter and the N demodulation circuits. N is a positive integer not more than M.
US08330582B2
A remote control is configured to control a multimedia appliance and to be communicatively coupled to a remote server via a network. The remote server is configured to provides information to the remote control via the network. The remote control includes a transmitter configured to send commands to the multimedia appliance. The remote control further includes a memory configured to store information provided by the remote server. The remote control further includes a controller configured to synchronize information with the remote server to obtain current information on an irregular basis from the remote server to thereby obtain information that degrades partially over time.
US08330571B2
A vehicle electronic portable key system including a master key and sub-key. A retainer is arranged in the vehicle to retain the sub-key. A control unit determines whether the master key or sub-key is located in a vehicle interior or exterior wireless communicatable area. When the key is located in one of the wireless communicatable areas, the control unit permits various operations of the vehicle in accordance with the communicable area in which the key is located. The control unit determines that the sub-key is in a lent state if the sub-key is removed from the retainer when the master key is located in the interior wireless communicatable area. In a state in which the sub-key is located in one of the wireless communicatable areas after removal from the retainer, the control unit limits the operations of the vehicle unless the sub-key is determined as being in the lent state.
US08330570B2
A secure keyless entry system integrates into an existing motorized garage door opening system to replace the one button transmitters typically placed in a vehicle. The one button transmitters are replaced with remote modules having alpha numeric key pads. The remote modules accept a string of input and compare the last four to eight entries to a previously set designated PIN. In order to obfuscate the designated PIN from on lookers, a user of the system may first enter a random string of decoy characters before finally entering the designated PIN. The disclosed system may also be used to replace the metal keys typically used to secure entry doors to a dwelling.
US08330567B2
An asymmetrical coupled inductor includes a first and a second winding and a core. The core is formed of a magnetic material and magnetically couples together the windings. The core is configured such that a leakage inductance value of the first winding is greater than a leakage inductance value of the second winding. The coupled inductor is included, for example, in a multi-phase DC-to-DC converter. A DC-to-DC converter including a symmetrical coupled inductor includes at least one additional inductor electrically coupled in series with one or more of the coupled inductor's windings. A controller for a DC-to-DC converter including a first phase having an effective inductance value greater than an effective inductance value of a second phase is configured to shut down the second phase while the first phase remains operational during a light load operating condition.
US08330564B2
An electrical switching device including a base terminal that extends substantially in an axial direction and has a base contact. The switching device also includes a movable terminal that extends substantially in the axial direction and has a mating contact. The movable and base terminals extend generally parallel to each other and are separated by a field spacing. The movable terminal is selectively movable to and from the base terminal to electrically connect the base and mating contacts at a contact interface. The switching device also includes a magnetic shield that is located between the movable and base terminals within the field spacing. The movable terminal experiences a separation force when current flows through the base and movable terminals in opposite directions. The magnetic shield is configured to reduce the separation force experienced by the movable terminal to facilitate maintaining the contact interface between the base and mating contacts.
US08330560B2
The invention relates to a tuning-fork type crystal resonator in which the frequency adjustment accuracy is increased, and a frequency adjustment method thereof. In a tuning-fork type crystal resonator having a tuning-fork shaped piece of quartz crystal in which a pair of tuning fork arms extend from a tuning fork base, and a frequency adjustment method thereof, there is provided a first frequency adjustment step for adjusting an oscillation frequency by forming inclined surfaces spanning from outer peripheral surfaces surrounding the pair of tuning fork arms toward distal end surfaces, by using a femtosecond laser irradiated in a direction from the outer peripheral surfaces toward the distal end surfaces, or in a direction from the distal end surfaces toward the outer peripheral surfaces.
US08330553B2
A duplexer includes an acoustic wave element having a first terminal and a second terminal; a substrate; a first columnar conductor electrically connected to the first terminal, and drawn to a back surface of the substrate while partially in the substrate; a second columnar conductor electrically connected to the second terminal, and drawn to the back surface of the substrate while partially in the substrate. Additionally, a first ground pattern region is between the first columnar conductor drawn part and the second columnar conductor drawn part on the back surface of the substrate; a second ground pattern region is electrically connected to the first ground pattern region and arranged in the part not including the part between the first columnar conductor drawn part and the second columnar conductor drawn part; and a third columnar conductor electrically is connected to the first ground pattern region while partially in the substrate.
US08330550B2
A method and apparatus for automatic compensation of insertion loss in video signals transmitted over conductors is presented. The present invention is particularly applicable to the transmission of video over long lengths of CAT-5 or similar twisted-pair cables. A reference signal having a known form and strength (e.g. a pulse signal) is provided to each pair of conductors carrying a component of a video signal from a transmitter to a receiver. The receiver includes adjustable gain amplifiers for each conductor pair over which a component of the video signal is transmitted. The gains of the amplifiers are initially set at an initial level (e.g., their maximum gain) to allow detection of the reference signal. Once the reference signal is detected in a conductor pair, the amplifier gains are adjusted such that the level of the reference signal is restored approximately to its original form and strength.
US08330547B2
An exemplary apparatus is disclosed that comprises a plurality of voltage to current transducers to convert an input signal voltage into a plurality of input signal currents and a cascode stage. The cascode stage is coupled to the voltage to current transducers to provide amplifier gain control. The cascode stage comprises a thin gate oxide transistor and a thick gate oxide transistor.
US08330543B2
A differential amplifier includes a pair of input transistors, a pair of load transistors, a pair of impedance devices, a pair of auxiliary input transistors, and a pair of shield transistors is provided. The input transistors provide two input terminals. The load transistors provide two output terminals and two first terminals connected to first voltage. The impedance devices are coupled between the output terminals in series. The auxiliary input transistors have two control terminals respectively connected to the input terminals, two first terminals, and two second terminals. The input transistors and the auxiliary input transistors have reverse conductive type. The shield transistors has a pair of control terminals, a pair of first terminals respectively connected to the second terminals of the auxiliary input transistors and coupled to a second voltage through a pair of current sources, and a pair of second terminals respectively connected to the output terminals.
US08330541B2
A multilevel class-D differential amplifier which can be operated in at least three modes includes a first power stage and a second power stage. In an idle mode, an output of the first power stage varies between a first voltage level and a second voltage level, wherein an output of the second power stage varies between the first voltage level and the second voltage level. In a PWM mode, the output of the first power stage varies between the first voltage level and the second voltage level, wherein the output of the second power stage varies between the first voltage level and the second voltage level. In a Multi-Level mode, the output of said first power stage varies between said second voltage level and a third voltage level, wherein said output of said second power stage is fixed at said first voltage level, and wherein said differential signal between said outputs of said power stages is pulse width modulated.
US08330539B2
A dual bridge amplifier includes a first bridge amplifier receiving a first input signal and having a pair of drive outputs connecting to a first load, a second bridge amplifier receiving a second input signal and having a pair of drive outputs connecting to a second load, and a mode switch between one of the drive outputs of the first bridge amplifier and one of the drive outputs of the second bridge amplifier. The mode switch closes and switches the dual bridge amplifier to a series amplification mode, based on detecting the magnitudes of the first and second input signals. The series amplification mode shares current between the first load and the second load, reducing amplifier heat generation.
US08330528B2
Active sensor for switching over into a special operating mode, wherein the sensor has at least one sensor element, one evaluation circuit and two connecting lines, each with a terminal for transmitting the sensor information, wherein a supply voltage of the sensor is applied to the two connecting lines, wherein the sensor comprises a switchover module with which it is possible to switch over between a normal operating mode and a special operating mode by reversing the polarity of the supply voltage which is applied to the two terminals.A method for actuating an active sensor and to the use of the sensor, in particular as a wheel speed sensor, in motor vehicles.
US08330524B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit which reduces and increase in the level of a harmonic signal of an RF transmission output signal at the time of supplying an RF transmission signal to a bias generation circuit of an antenna switch, including an antenna switch having a bias generation circuit, a transmitter switch, and a receiver switch. The on/off state of a transistor of the transmitter switch coupled between a transmitter port and an I/O port is controlled by a transmit control bias. The on/off state of the transistors of the receiver switch coupled between the I/O port and a receiver port is controlled by a receiver control bias. An RF signal input port of the bias generation circuit is coupled to the transmit port, and a negative DC output bias generated from a DC output port is supplied to a gate control port of transistors of the receiver switch.
US08330519B2
A circuit and method are provided for switching in a semiconductor based high power switch. Complementary p-type based transistors are utilized along insertion loss insensitive paths allowing biasing voltages to alternate between supply and ground, allowing for negative voltage supplies and blocking capacitors to be dispensed with, while improving performance.
US08330518B2
The present disclosure relates to a low consumption flip-flop circuit with data retention, comprising at least one flip-flop and at least one retention cell connected to the output of the flip-flop and configured so that during normal operation of the flip-flop circuit, the retention cell transmits the data or logic state present on the output terminal of the flip-flop to its own output terminal, while during low consumption operation of the flip-flop circuit a latch circuit of the retention cell suitable to memorize data or a logic state corresponding to the last data or logic state present on the output terminal of the flip-flop is activated.
US08330511B2
A charge pump includes an UP current mirror and a DN current mirror. The UP current mirror is controlled by an input UP signal and supplies charge onto an output node. The DN current mirror is controlled by an input DN signal and draws charge from the output node. The input UP and DN signals may be received from a phase detector in a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL). To prevent disturbances on bias nodes of the UP and DN current mirrors that otherwise might occur, replica circuits of portions of the UP and DN current mirrors are provided. Each replica circuit is coupled to a bias node of a corresponding current mirror, but is controlled by an input signal of opposite polarity to the input signal that controls the current mirror so that the replica circuit creates disturbances that tend to counteract disturbances created by switching of the current mirror.
US08330505B2
A detection circuit is coupled to an output terminal of a driver circuit. The detection circuit includes a comparator to compare a signal at the output terminal to a reference signal corresponding to a signal that would be generated if a capacitive load having a relatively high capacitance value were connected to the output terminal. Output of the comparator is sampled at a predetermined time after the driver circuit provides the drive signal. An error signal is generated when the sampled output indicates that the capacitive load having the relatively high capacitance value is actually connected to the output terminal.
US08330504B2
Dynamic biasing methods and circuits are described. The described methods generate bias voltages that are continuously varied so as to control stress voltages across transistors used within a cascode stack.
US08330500B2
A comparator comprises a current mirror, a differential input pair, and a auxiliary circuit. The current mirror has a biasing end coupled to a power voltage, a first end, and a current outputting end coupled to an output node of the comparator. The differential input pair has a first and second input ends for respectively receiving a first voltage and a second voltage, a second and third ends, and a ground end, wherein the third end is coupled to the first end. The auxiliary circuit is coupled between the output node and the second end, and provides a minimum voltage of a comparison result output at the output node. The comparison result is the power voltage when the first voltage is larger than the second voltage, and the comparison result is the minimum voltage when the first voltage is less than the second voltage.
US08330499B2
In a comparator circuit having a differential amplifier, which makes a logical judgment by comparing an input voltage with a reference voltage, generates and outputs a resulting output voltage thereof, a current source generates and supplies a bias current of a predetermined minute current to the differential amplifier, and a first inverter circuit inverts a differential voltage from the differential amplifier. An adaptive bias current generator circuit detects the bias current of the current source, and a through current of the first inverter circuit. The adaptive bias current generator circuit generates and supplies an adaptive bias current for executing adaptive bias current control to the differential amplifier to allow the differential amplifier to operate with the bias current upon no logical judgment, and to allow the differential amplifier to operate by using the adaptive bias current obtained by increasing the bias current upon logical judgment.
US08330498B2
A sense amplifier according to the present invention for detecting a potential difference of signals input to a first input terminal and a second input terminal, includes a first means for applying voltages corresponding to threshold voltages of first and second transistors to gate-source voltages of the first and second transistors, and a second means for transferring signals input to the first and second input terminals to gates of the first and second transistors. In this case, a threshold variation of the first and second transistors is corrected.
US08330497B1
A frequency monitoring system comprises a plurality of circuit cards. Each circuit card, such as a primary multiplexer card and a backup or redundant multiplexer card, has an oscillator that provides a reference clock signal. On each circuit card, a respective frequency compare element is configured to receive a clock signal to be measured and to provide a frequency error signal indicating a frequency error of the clock signal relative to an average frequency of a plurality of reference clock signals. Accordingly, the frequency measurements for the circuit cards are based on the same reference frequency (e.g., the average frequency of the reference clock signals from the oscillators).
US08330478B2
A monitoring circuit 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 for monitoring an operating parameter of an integrated circuit 2 comprises a ring oscillator circuit 80 comprising a plurality of serially connected inverting stages 82-1, 82-2, 82-3. At least one of the inverting stages 82-1, 82-2 comprises at least one leakage transistor 64-1, 64-2 which is configured to operate in a leakage mode in which substantially all current through the at least one leakage transistor is a leakage current, and a capacitive element 70-1 arranged to be charged or discharged in dependence on the leakage current. The ring oscillator circuit 80 thus generates an oscillating signal with an oscillation period dependent on a rate at which the capacitive element 70-1 is charged or discharged. The operating parameter controls a magnitude of the leakage current so that the oscillation period indicates the operating parameter.
US08330460B2
Pulse sequences are applied to a fluid in an earth formation in a static magnetic field and NMR spin echo signals are obtained. The signals are processed to give a distribution of a relaxation time at a plurality of depths. Semblance between the distributions and a log of a formation property are used to identify depths at which portions of the distributions are similar to the formation property logs.
US08330441B1
An apparatus includes multiple switching regulators configured to generate at least one regulated output signal. The apparatus also includes a combination unit configured to blank the switching regulators in response to a switching event associated with one or more of the switching regulators. Each switching regulator could include a one shot timer configured to generate a first signal having pulses that identify switching events associated with that switching regulator. The combination unit may be configured to combine the first signals to generate at least one second signal, which can be provided to blanking inputs of the switching regulators. The combination unit could include one or more logical OR gates configured to combine the pulses in the first signals. The one shot timer in each switching regulator could generate a pulse in the first signal in response to each rising and falling edge of a control signal in that switching regulator.
US08330439B2
A multi-phase voltage regulator comprises a plurality of DC/DC voltage regulators. Each of the DC/DC voltage regulators is associated with a particular phase of the multi-phase regulator. Each of the regulators comprises a first switching transistor connected between an input voltage node and a phase node responsive to switching control signals. A second switching transistor is connected between the phase node and a ground node and is responsive to the switching control signals. An inductor is connected between the phase node and an output voltage node. Control logic generates the switching control signals responsive to a pulse control signal. PFM/PWM transition logic generates the pulse control signal. The pulse control signal transitions between a PWM signal and a PFM signal responsive to an error voltage, a feedback voltage from the output voltage node and an inductor current through the inductor. An error amplifier generates the error voltage responsive to the feedback voltage and a reference voltage. The output of each error amplifier in each of the plurality of phases are connected to each other. A capacitor is connected between the output voltage node and a ground node.
US08330437B1
An apparatus includes a sawtooth generator configured to generate a sawtooth voltage, where the sawtooth generator is configured to repeatedly reset the sawtooth voltage using a clock signal. The apparatus also includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) generator configured to generate a PWM signal using the sawtooth voltage, the PWM signal comprising multiple PWM pulses, where an output voltage is based on the PWM signal. The apparatus further includes a transient detector configured to detect a transient associated with the output voltage and to cause the sawtooth generator to asynchronously reset the sawtooth voltage in response to the detected transient. The resetting of the sawtooth voltage may cause the sawtooth generator to lengthen one or more of the PWM pulses in the PWM signal and/or generate one or more additional PWM pulses in the PWM signal. This can help to increase a duty cycle of the PWM signal.
US08330420B2
A dynamically reconfigurable framework is provided for a large-scale battery system. The framework is comprised of a plurality of battery circuits arranged adjacent to each other to form a battery-cell array that is coupled to an application load. A given battery circuit includes: a battery cell with an input terminal and an output terminal; a first switch connected between the load and an input terminal of the battery cell; a second switch is connected between an input terminal of the battery cell and an output terminal of a battery cell in an immediately adjacent battery circuit; and a third switch connected between the output terminal of the battery cell and the output terminal of the battery cell in the adjacent battery circuit. The battery-cell array also includes a local controller that selectively controls the switches in the plurality of battery circuits.
US08330414B2
A contactless charging system is made up of an electronic device and a contactless charger 200 that recharges the electronic device in a contactless manner. The electronic device transmits a full charge command indicating completion of charge. Upon receipt of the full charge command, the contactless charger shifts to a charge stop state in which charge of the electronic device is not performed. In the charge stop state, the contactless charger generates a load check signal for checking whether or not the electronic device is placed in the contactless charger in a rechargeable state, and transmits the signal. Further, the contactless charger also generates a charge restart check command for checking whether or not the electronic device requests recharge in a charge stop state, and transmits the command.
US08330411B2
A system and method for charging a battery of an electric vehicle is disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention enables an internal motor of an electric vehicle to be backdriven. When the internal motor is backdriven, it operates as an electric generator to produce electric power used to charge the electric vehicle's battery.
US08330410B2
The present invention relates to a charger for minimal-power consumers, such as mobile phones or the like, comprising a plug for connection to a mains supply, a housing for accommodating the charging electronics and a charger cable for connection to the minimal-power consumer, said plug being fixedly connected to one side of the housing. For providing a charger of the type specified at the beginning, which allows charging of the minimal-power consumer even if an adequate mains supply should not be available, the present invention is so conceived that another side of the housing is provided with a photovoltaic element which is connected to the charging electronics.
US08330403B2
The invention relates to a method for determining the position of a rotor flux vector of an electric motor (M), comprising a step of injecting a first current vector into a first reference frame (x+, y+) rotating at a first frequency (Ω) relative to a reference frame (d, q) synchronous with the rotation of the motor, and a second current vector into a second injection reference frame (x−, y−) rotating at a second frequency opposite to the first frequency, a step of determining a first stator flux induced voltage delivered at the output of a first integrator module (12) synchronous with the first reference frame (x+, y+) and a second stator voltage delivered at the output of a second integrator module (13) synchronous with the second reference frame (x−, y−), a step of regulating the position of the rotor flux vector by minimizing the error (ε) between a real position and an estimated position (θS) of the rotor flux vector, the error being determined based on the second induced voltage.
US08330402B2
An alternating-current motor control apparatus includes a voltage controller configured to output a command voltage vector so that the command voltage vector is time-averaged for time periods, a square-wave voltage generator configured to control, every time period, amplitudes and phases of voltages to be applied to an alternating-current motor, a current detector configured to detect motor currents at a timing synchronized with periods 1/N-th of the time periods, where N is equal to or larger than one, a coordinate transformation section configured to perform coordinate transformation to transform the motor currents into two-phase currents, an envelope extractor configured to extract two-phase currents as waveforms having amplitudes that periodically change from the two-phase currents, and extract envelopes of the waveforms, and a magnetic-pole-position computing section configured to compute a magnetic-pole position using the envelopes.
US08330396B2
A starting circuit arrangement in which a gas discharge lamp is assigned a supply circuit having at least one inductor arranged in series with the gas discharge lamp, wherein the starting circuit arrangement comprises a starting transformer connected on the primary side to a starting triggering circuit and connected on the secondary side to the lamp for the transmission of a starting pulse, an input energy source for the starting triggering circuit, a first switch means in the starting triggering circuit, an electronic control device which drives the first switch means. The starting circuit arrangement has, on the supply side, an input terminal connected in the supply circuit of the lamp between the inductor and the lamp, and a means provided for reproducing the phase profile of an AC supply variable of the lamp after starting of the lamp.
US08330390B2
A lighting apparatus and method for operating LED-based lighting devices are disclosed. The apparatus includes a receiver that receives a potential from a power source whose output varies as a function of time, an energy storage device, and an LED array. The energy storage device stores energy from the power source when the driving potential is greater than a predetermined value. The LED array has variable forward bias potential, the LED array generating light when a potential across the array is greater than the selected forward bias potential. A source selector connects the energy storage device to the array when the potential from the power source is less than a predetermined value. A controller that varies the forward bias potential such that the difference between the forward bias potential and potential across the array is maintained at a value less than a predetermined value.
US08330386B2
The present invention provides a remote control and adjustment apparatus disposed in an energy saving lighting apparatus and a control system of the same. The remote control and adjustment apparatus of the invention includes a RF wireless transceiver, a processing module and a power module. The wireless transceiver can receive a first signal from a remote controller. The processing module can receive the first signal from the wireless transceiver, and generate a second signal or generate and send a third signal according to the first signal. Particularly, the second signal includes at least a control parameter, and the processing module can control the energy saving lighting apparatus operating based on the control parameter. Additionally, the power module can provide electric power for the operation of the remote control and adjustment apparatus.
US08330379B2
This invention relates to a method for controlling a light output signal emitted by a set of light sources comprising at least one light source, wherein said light output signal comprises a modulation signal which carries individual information, the method comprising recurrently: remotely detecting the light output signal of said set of light sources; determining at least one quality measure of said remote detection of the light output signal; and adjusting the modulation signal on basis of said at least one quality measure.
US08330375B2
A vehicle lamp lighting control device includes: a current control unit which is of a non-insulation type and supplies a supply current to a semiconductor light source; an abnormality detecting unit which detects abnormality of a positive-electrode-side output based on at least one of a power supply voltage or a supply voltage supplied to the semiconductor light source, and outputs signal indicating the abnormality; and a bypass unit which bypasses the supply current supplied from the current control unit in accordance with the signal indicating the abnormality.
US08330374B2
A vehicle-mounted load controller is characterized by including: a power terminal connected to a power line through a fuse; load connecting portions to which loads having vehicle-mounted light sources are connected; switches which are provided corresponding to the load connecting portions and which control states of power supply from the power line connected to the power terminal to the light sources connected to the load connecting portions; and a control unit which controls the switches in response to inputted control signals. The vehicle-mounted load controller is characterized in that the multiple load connecting portions to which the multiple light sources for different uses are respectively connected are electrically connected to the power terminal, and that each of the switches stops the supply of power from the power line to the light source connected to the corresponding load connecting portion when the magnitude of current flowing through the light source reaches or exceeds a predetermined value. A rise in lamp voltage during a period from the start of lighting to the establishment of stable lighting is reduced with consideration given to a history of lighting conditions for stable lighting. This produces effects such as increasing the lives of lamps and reducing the frequency of occurrence of arc jumping.
US08330369B2
An arc tube for a discharge bulb, comprising a sealed glass bulb in which luminous materials are sealed; a plurality of pinch-sealed portions made of quartz glass and formed at both end portions of the sealed glass bulb; a plurality of molybdenum foils each pinch sealed in the corresponding pinch-sealed portion; a pair of electrode rods provided in the sealed glass bulb so as to face each other, wherein each of electrode rods extends from the sealed glass bulb to the corresponding pinch-sealed portion and is connected to one end of the corresponding molybdenum foil; and a plurality of lead wires each connected to the other end of the corresponding molybdenum foil, wherein the molybdenum foils comprise a plurality of closed cavities therein.
US08330364B2
The present invention relates to a photomultiplier that realizes a significant improvement of response time characteristics by a structure enabling mass production. The photomultiplier comprises a sealed container, and, in the sealed container, a photocathode, an electron multiplier section, and an anode are respectively disposed. The electron multiplier section includes multiple stages of dynode units, and each of the multiple stages of dynode units is fixed with one end of the associated dynode pin while being electrically connected thereto. In particular, the dynode pin, whose one ends are fixed to the multiple stages of dynode units, are held within an effective region of the electron multiplier section contributing to secondary electron multiplication, when the electron multiplier section is viewed from the photocathode side. By this configuration, a focusing distance from the photocathode to a first stage dynode unit can be shortened effectively and the effective region of the electron multiplier section can be enlarged to effectively reduce variations in transit time of photoelectrons propagating from the photocathode to the first stage dynode unit.
US08330354B2
An OLED adapted to ensure the reliability and improve the lifespan and to improve an electric contact characteristic between a drive element and an organic light emission diode is disclosed. The OLED device includes: first and second substrates, opposite to each other at a interval, sealed by a sealant; driver elements arranged on the inner surface of the first substrate; organic light emission diode elements, arranged on the inner surface of the second substrate, each including a contact portion upwardly protruding from this substrate; and gather electrodes arranged on the second substrate including the organic light emission diode elements and formed of an electrically conductive gather material and an oxidation-resistant electrically conductive material having an oxidative index lower than that of the electrically conductive gather material.
US08330353B2
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device including a substrate, an insulating layer disposed on the substrate, a first electrode disposed on the insulating layer, an organic light emitting member disposed on the first electrode, and a second electrode disposed on the organic light emitting member. The insulating layer includes a furrow corresponding to at least one edge of the first electrode, and at least a portion of the second electrode is disposed in the furrow.
US08330351B2
An organic light emitting device comprising, an anode, a cathode, and an emissive layer, located between the anode and the cathode, of a host compound, a first compound capable of phosphorescent emission at room temperature, and a second compound capable of phosphorescent emission at room temperature is provided. At least 95 percent of emission from the device is produced from the second compound when an appropriate voltage is applied across the anode and cathode.
US08330347B2
A foldable display device is designed so that a junction between at least two display panels connected to each other is not visibly seen. The display device displays an image on a plurality of display panels that are connected together. Pixels near the junction between every two adjacent display panels of the at least two display panels are smaller and have a higher brightness than the other pixels.
US08330346B2
An image display device includes a rear plate provided with an electron emitting element, a face plate provided with a transparent substrate, a transparent anode electrode formed on the transparent substrate, and a fluorescent layer provided on the anode electrode and including fluorescent particles. An average particle size of the fluorescent particles is equal to or less than 500 nm. The face plate has a light extraction means for extracting light emitted when the fluorescent layer is irradiated by electrons emitted from the electron emitting element to the substrate side.
US08330336B2
To obtain an inexpensive piezoelectric vibration component having vibration characteristics whose degradation resulting from deposition of moisture due to a temperature change is less likely to occur without increasing the cost of a sealing structure and the number of parts, a piezoelectric vibration component includes a piezoelectric vibrating element accommodated in a package being sealed, and when the volume of the piezoelectric vibrating element is Ve and the volume within the package obtained by subtraction of the volume Ve of the piezoelectric vibrator from the volume of the space of the package is Vp Ve/Vp>(Se×M)/{(Sp+Se)×2.72} where Se is the surface area of the piezoelectric vibrating element, Sp is the surface area of the space inside the package when the piezoelectric vibrating element inside the package is absent, and M is the maximum mass of moisture per unit volume [μg/mm3] at the use temperature and 100% relative humidity.
US08330333B2
An ultrasound transducer that includes a backing layer, an insulating layer disposed on top of the backing layer, and a plurality of conductive traces disposed on top of the insulating layer are disclosed. Each of the conductive traces has an upper face. A plurality of transducer elements, each having (a) a core of piezoelectric material and (b) a conductive coating disposed beneath the core, are bonded directly to the upper face of a respective one of the plurality of conductive traces. Methods for fabricating ultrasound transducers are also disclosed.
US08330331B2
A piezoelectric power generator that performs conversion between kinetic energy and electrical energy. The piezoelectric power generator is equipped with a beam, a piezoelectric element and a flexible body. The piezoelectric element is bonded to a surface on one side of the beam. The flexible body is arranged on a side of the beam that is opposite to that on which the piezoelectric element is provided. A portion of the beam is connected to the flexible body. The beam is configured such that stress is applied to the beam when the flexible body is deformed into a concave shape with respect to the beam, whereas a stress is not applied to the beam when the flexible body is deformed into a convex shape with respect to the beam.
US08330329B2
A driver (100f) comprises a base section (110), a movable stage section (130) for mounting a driven article (12), a resilient section (120) for connecting the base section and the stage section and exhibiting resiliency for moving the stage section along one direction (Y axis), and a section (161, 162, 22) which applies a shaking force to the resilient section in order to move the stage section to oscillate alone the one direction at a resonance frequency determined by the stage section and the resilient section.
US08330328B2
An ultrasonic motor includes a vibrator, a mobile unit, a holding mechanism, and a pressing mechanism. The vibrator generates elliptical vibration by degenerating different vibration modes and having a phase difference between the different vibration modes. The mobile unit is configured to be movable relative to the vibrator. The holding mechanism holds and fixes the vibrator in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the relative movement of the mobile unit. The pressing mechanism presses the vibrator against the mobile unit. The holding mechanism includes an adjustment unit for adjusting the resonant frequencies of the different vibration modes of the vibrator to substantially match each other when the ultrasonic motor is driven.
US08330327B2
A piezoelectric oscillator that generates a travelling wave using two B (1, n) mode (n is a natural number) standing waves that are out of phase with each other by 90°. On a lower surface of an oscillating body, (4/3)n piezoelectric elements are provided in order to generate an n-wave travelling wave by combining the two B (1, n) mode standing waves that are out of phase with each other by 90°. When a wavelength of the travelling wave is given by λ, each of the piezoelectric elements has a dimension in a circumferential direction occupying a central angle corresponding to (1/2)λθ, and a plurality of piezoelectric elements are spaced apart from each other at intervals each occupies a central angle corresponding to (1/4)λθ.
US08330320B2
[Problem to be Solved]There is provided a highly wear-resistant and durable sliding contact material applicable to a commutator of a motor used for high-capacity applications in which the initial starting current (IS) is 1 ampere or higher.[Solution]The present invention provides a sliding contact material in which metal oxide particles are dispersed in an Ag alloy matrix, wherein the Ag alloy matrix is an Ag alloy containing 0.01 to 10.0 wt % of at least one kind of Fe, Co, Ni and Cu in Ag, and 0.1 to 3.0 wt % of a Ta oxide is dispersed as the metal oxide. In the present invention, 0.1 to 10.0 wt % of metal oxide particles of one kind or two or more kinds of Mg, Fe, Co, Ni and Zn may further be dispersed. The sliding contact material is used in a mode of clad composite material formed by embedding the sliding contact material in a part of a base material consisting of Cu or Cu alloy.
US08330310B2
A spindle motor is disclosed. The spindle motor includes a rotation shaft; a bearing rotatedly supporting the rotation shaft inserted therein; a bearing housing supporting the bearing and coupled to a stator; and a base plate coupled to the bearing housing, wherein the base plate has a reverse burring part projected from an upper part of the base plate along the outer surface of the bearing housing and burred from the upper surface of the bearing housing towards the lower surface opposite to the upper surface to support the outer surface of the bearing housing.
US08330309B2
Tubular induction motor with two directions of rotation contained in a tube of a tubular actuator designed to be installed in a building. The tubular induction motor includes a squirrel cage rotor supported by bearings and a stator including a stack of metal laminations forming a central bore and centered in the tube, wherein a support part of a bearing is centered in the central bore, wherein the bearing is of the plain and conductor type and wherein it is placed as close as possible to a short-circuiting ring of the rotor, preferably less than 2 mm, and preferably less than 1 mm away.
US08330299B2
A power generation system configured to provide direct current (DC) power to a DC link is described. The system includes a first power generation unit configured to output DC power. The system also includes a first DC to DC converter comprising an input section and an output section. The output section of the first DC to DC converter is coupled in series with the first power generation unit. The first DC to DC converter is configured to process a first portion of the DC power output by the first power generation unit and to provide an unprocessed second portion of the DC power output of the first power generation unit to the output section.
US08330298B2
At least certain embodiments describe methods, apparatuses, and systems for converting energy from electro-magnetic (EM) radiation into electric power using a simultaneous collector of ambient radio frequencies (SCARF) circuit. In one embodiment this is done by capturing EM radiation from a plurality of ambient signals using an array of antennae where each signal has a resonant frequency and aggregating the ambient signals to generate an aggregated signal having a single frequency with greater AC power than the AC power of each of the plurality of ambient signals individually. The single frequency can be produced by either the sum of the resonant frequencies of the ambient signals or the difference between the resonant frequencies of the ambient signals. The aggregated signal is then converted into useable electric power using a rectifying circuit such that for every incremental increase in the AC power of the aggregated signal, there is a corresponding exponential increase in DC power at the output of the rectifying circuit.
US08330290B2
A system for providing electrical energy to heating and cooling units associated with a building. Conduits are positioned within the building, such that the end portions are open to exterior wall surfaces of the building. Wind deflector mechanisms positioned at the end portions of the conduits direct wind from the exterior wall surfaces into the conduits, impacting venturi elements and wind collector devices positioned within the conduits. The venturi elements are pivotally mounted within the conduits to accelerate the wind towards the wind collectors regardless of in which direction the wind flows, rotating the wind collectors operatively associated with a wind turbine device. The wind turbine device converts mechanical energy to electrical energy which is provided to the heating and cooling units.
US08330273B2
A semiconductor device and method is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes placing a first semiconductor over an electrically conductive carrier. The first semiconductor is covered with a molding compound. A through hole is formed in the molding compound. A first material is deposited in the through hole.
US08330269B2
A semiconductor device and method is disclosed. One embodiment provides an active region in a semiconductor substrate, including a first terminal region and a second terminal region. wherein the active region is interrupted by an inactive region, wherein an electrical power dissipation in the inactive region is zero or smaller than an electrical power dissipation in the active region; and a metallization layer arranged with respect to the active region on a surface of the semiconductor device and at least partly overlapping the active area, wherein the metallization layer is divided into a first part, in electrical contact to the first terminal region, and a second part, in electrical contact to the second terminal region, wherein the first and the second part are separated by a gap; and wherein the gap and the inactive region are mutually arranged so that an electrical power dissipation below the gap is reduced compared to an electrical power dissipation below the first part and the second part of the metallization layer.
US08330260B2
A method for producing an electronic component of a VQFN (very thin quad flat pack no-lead) design includes the following method steps: anchoring at least one integrated circuit element on a sacrificial substrate; contact-connecting the at least one integrated circuit element to the sacrificial substrate with formation of contact-connecting points on the sacrificial substrate; forming an encapsulation on a top side of the sacrificial substrate, the at least one anchored integrated circuit element being mounted on the top side of the sacrificial substrate; removing the sacrificial substrate, thereby uncovering a portion of the contact-connecting points on the underside of the encapsulation.
US08330243B2
A semiconductor light-detecting element includes: a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type having a band gap energy, a first principal surface, and a second principal surface opposed to the first principal surface; a first semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type on the first principal surface and having a band gap energy smaller than the band gap energy of the semiconductor substrate; a second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type on the first semiconductor layer; an area of a second conductivity type on a part of the second semiconductor layer; a first electrode connected to the second semiconductor layer; a second electrode connected to the area; and a low-reflection film on the second principal surface. The second principal surface is a light-detecting surface detecting incident light, and no substance or structure having a higher reflection factor, with respect to the incident light, than the low-reflection film, is located on the second principal surface.
US08330242B2
The Si waveguide 305 includes a first conductivity-type Si layer 301 and an intrinsic Si layer 302, and a second conductivity-type light-absorption layer 303 is partially formed on an area thereof. During operation, a reverse bias is applied between the first conductivity-type Si layer 301 and the light-absorption layer 303. Since the light-absorption layer 303 has a conductivity type, it is not depleted when a voltage is applied, but the intrinsic Si layer 302 forming the Si waveguide 305 is depleted. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a CR time constant. Furthermore, since the intrinsic Si layer 302 can be formed on the first conductivity-type Si layer 301 in a continuous manner, it is possible to reduce lattice defects. As a result, it is possible to suppress the dark current generated in the light-receiving element.
US08330241B2
The magnetic tunnel junction device of the present invention includes a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, an insulating layer formed between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer. The insulating layer is composed of fluorine-added MgO. The fluorine content in the insulating layer is 0.00487 at. % or more and 0.15080 at. % or less. This device, although it includes a MgO insulating layer, exhibits superior magnetoresistance properties to conventional devices including MgO insulating layers. The fluorine content is preferably 0.00487 at. % or more and 0.05256 at. % or less.
US08330239B2
A device comprises a conductive substrate, a micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) structure, and a plurality of bond pads. The conductive substrate has a first side and a second side, the second side opposite the first side. The MEMS structure is formed over the first side of the conductive substrate. The plurality of bond pads are formed over the first side of the conductive substrate and electrically coupled to the first side of the conductive substrate. The conductive substrate and plurality of bond pads function to provide electrostatic shielding to the MEMS structure.
US08330233B2
A semiconductor device 1 including a cell region 2 formed with a semiconductor element 6 and a periphery region 3 formed in the periphery of the cell region 2. The semiconductor region 1 is arranged with an n− type drift region 12 formed in the cell region 2 and periphery region 3, a plurality of p− type columnar regions formed in the n− drift region 12 of the cell region 2, a plurality of p− type columnar resistance improvement regions 23n formed in the n− type drift region 12 of the periphery region 3, and a plurality of electrical field buffer regions 24n formed in an upper part of the p− type columnar region 23n. An interval Sn between the electrical field buffer region 24n and an adjacent electrical field buffer region 24n is different between an interior side and an exterior side of the periphery region 3.
US08330226B2
A PRAM device includes a lower electrode, a phase-change nanowire and an upper electrode. The phase-change nanowire may be electrically connected to the lower electrode and includes a single element. The upper electrode may be electrically connected to the phase-change nanowires.
US08330222B2
A small amount of oxygen is ion-implanted in a wafer surface layer, and then heat treatment is performed so as to form an incomplete implanted oxide film in the surface layer. Thereby, wafer cost is reduced; a pit is prevented from forming in a surface of an epitaxial film; and a slip is prevented from forming in an external peripheral portion of a wafer.
US08330221B2
It is an object to form single-crystalline semiconductor layers with high mobility over approximately the entire surface of a glass substrate even when the glass substrate is increased in size. A first single-crystalline semiconductor substrate is bonded to a substrate having an insulating surface, the first single-crystalline semiconductor substrate is separated such that a first single-crystalline semiconductor layer is left remaining over the substrate having an insulating surface, a second single-crystalline semiconductor substrate is bonded to the substrate having an insulating surface so as to overlap with at least part of the first single-crystalline semiconductor layer provided over the substrate having an insulating surface, and the second single-crystalline semiconductor substrate is separated such that a second single-crystalline semiconductor layer is left remaining over the substrate having an insulating surface.
US08330215B2
A method for fabricating a transistor including a bulb-type recess channel includes forming a bulb-type recess pattern in a substrate, forming a gate insulating layer over the substrate and the bulb-type recess pattern, forming a first gate conductive layer over the gate insulating layer, forming a void movement blocking layer over the first gate conductive layer in the bulb-type recess pattern, and forming a second gate conductive layer over the void movement blocking layer and the first gate conductive layer.
US08330214B2
The present inventors have realized that manufacturability plays into optimization of power semiconductor devices in some surprising new ways. If the process window is too narrow, the maximum breakdown voltage will not be achieved due to doping variations and the like normally seen in device fabrication. Thus, among other teachings, the present application describes some ways to improve the process margin, for a given breakdown voltage specification, by actually reducing the maximum breakdown voltage. In one class of embodiments, this is done by introducing a vertical gradation in the density of fixed electrostatic charge, or in the background doping of the drift region, or both. Several techniques are disclosed for achieving this.
US08330210B2
A blocking dielectric engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a gate by a blocking dielectric including a buffer layer in contact with the charge trapping element, such as silicon dioxide which can be made with high-quality, and a second capping layer in contact with said one of the gate and the channel. The capping layer has a dielectric constant that is higher than that of the first layer, and preferably includes a high-κ material. The second layer also has a conduction band offset that is relatively high. A bandgap engineered tunneling layer between the channel and the charge trapping element is provided which, in combination with the multilayer blocking dielectric described herein, provides for high-speed erase operations by hole tunneling. In an alternative, a single layer tunneling layer is used.
US08330204B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes first, second gate electrodes, first, second diffusion layers, contact electrodes electrically connected to the first diffusion layers, a first insulating film which has concave portions between the first and second gate electrodes and does not contain nitrogen as a main component, a second insulating film which is formed on the first insulating film and does not contain nitrogen as a main component, and a third insulating film formed on the first diffusion layers, first gate electrodes, second diffusion layers and second gate electrodes with the second insulating film disposed therebetween in a partial region. The second insulating film is formed to fill the concave portions and a portion between the first and second gate electrodes has a multi-layered structure containing at least the first and second insulating films.
US08330199B2
To eliminate the substrate voltage dependences of the respective resistance values of resistor elements, in the resistor elements coupled in series to each other over respective substrate regions, the ends of the resistor elements are coupled to the corresponding substrate regions by respective bias wires such that respective average potentials between the substrate regions of the resistor elements and the corresponding resistor elements have opposite polarities, and equal magnitudes.
US08330198B2
A device for preventing current-leakage is located between a transistor and a capacitor of a memory cell. The two terminals of the device for preventing current-leakage are respectively connected with a slave terminal of the transistor and an electric pole of the capacitor. The device for preventing current-leakage has at least two p-n junctions. The device for preventing current-leakage is a lateral silicon controlled rectifier, a diode for alternating current, or a silicon controlled rectifier. By utilizing the driving characteristic of the device for preventing current-leakage, electric charge stored in the capacitor hardly passes through the device for preventing current-leakage when the transistor is turned off to improve the current-leakage problem.
US08330195B2
An image sensor pixel includes a substrate, a first epitaxial layer, a collector layer, a second epitaxial layer and a light collection region. The substrate is doped to have a first conductivity type. The first epitaxial layer is disposed over the substrate and doped to have the first conductivity type as well. The collector layer is selectively disposed over at least a portion of the first epitaxial layer and doped to have a second conductivity type. The second epitaxial layer is disposed over the collector layer and doped to have the first conductivity type. The light collection region collects photo-generated charge carriers and is disposed within the second epitaxial layer. The light collection region is also doped to have the second conductivity type.
US08330194B2
A substrate for a semiconductor device is provided, including: a substrate; a transistor, formed on the substrate, that includes a semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode disposed so as to be opposed to the semiconductor layer with a gate insulating film interposed therebetween; and an underlying film disposed below the semiconductor layer, as an underlayer of the transistor, and formed in an island shape so as to at least partially overlap the semiconductor layer, in a plan view of the substrate.
US08330188B2
A semiconductor device 20 formed on a semiconductor chip substrate 30 has a plurality of circuit blocks made up of circuits each containing at least a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor 36, the circuit blocks being covered on top with a protective film 41 to protect the circuits. A plurality of bumps 23a, 23b, 23c are formed, at least via the protective film 41, only on circuit blocks whose current-carrying ability and threshold voltage do not satisfy predetermined values and which are in need of performance enhancement. The bumps 23a, 23b, 23c impose stresses on the MOS transistors 36, increasing the mobility of the MOS transistors 36 and thereby improving the performance of the semiconductor device 20.
US08330173B2
Disclosed are a nanostructure with an indium gallium nitride quantum well and a light emitting diode employing the same. The light emitting diode comprises a substrate, a transparent electrode and an array of nanostructures interposed between the substrate and the transparent electrode. Each of the nanostructures comprises a core nanorod, and a nano shell surrounding the core nanorod. The core nanorod is formed substantially perpendicularly to the substrate and includes a first nanorod of a first conductivity type, an (AlxInyGa1-x-y)N (where, 0≦x<1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1) quantum well, and a second nanorod of a second conductivity type, which are joined in a longitudinal direction. The nano shell is formed of a material with a bandgap greater than that of the quantum well, and surrounds at least the quantum well of the core nanorod. Meanwhile, the second nanorods are connected in common to the transparent electrode. Accordingly, with the nano shells, it is possible to provide a light emitting diode capable of improving external quantum efficiency by preventing non-radiative recombination on a surface of the (AlxInyGa1-x-y)N quantum well.
US08330171B2
A single optical receiver having a photo-detector with a wide optical bandwidth and high efficiency within the wide optical bandwidth, the photo-detector comprising: a first diode region of first doping type for receiving light; a second diode region of second doping type and of second thickness; an active region for converting the received light to an electronic signal, the active region having a third thickness and configured to reside between the first diode region and the second diode region; and a reflector coupled to the second diode region and having a silicon layer with a fourth thickness, the silicon layer residing between silicon oxide layers of fifth thicknesses, wherein the active region is configured to absorb the light of wavelengths of less than 900 nm, and wherein the reflector is configured to reflect the light of wavelengths from a range of 1260 nm to 1380 nm.
US08330165B2
In fabricating a thin film transistor, an active layer comprising a silicon semiconductor is formed on a substrate having an insulating surface. Hydrogen is introduced into The active layer. A thin film comprising SiOxNy is formed to cover the active layer and then a gate insulating film comprising a silicon oxide film formed on the thin film comprising SiOxNy. Also, a thin film comprising SiOxNy is formed under the active layer. The active layer includes a metal element at a concentration of 1×1015 to 1×1019 cm−3 and hydrogen at a concentration of 2×1019 to 5×1021 cm−3.
US08330164B2
A thin film transistor array panel includes: a substrate, a gate line disposed on the substrate, a data line intersecting the gate line, a drain electrode separated from the data line a first insulating layer covering the data line, a color filter disposed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer disposed on the color filter and having a contact hole exposing the drain electrode and the color filter and a pixel electrode disposed on the second insulating layer and connected to the drain electrode through the contact hole. The contact hole partially exposes the color filter near a portion where the drain electrode and the pixel electrode are connected to each other, and the pixel electrode covers the color filter exposed through the contact hole.
US08330159B2
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a substrate having a device layer and a plurality of metal layers formed thereon. The plurality of metal layers include patterned upper metal layers and lower metal layers, a multi-level metal interconnect structure formed using the plurality of metal layers, where the interconnect structure is in electrical contact with a first portion and second portion of the device layer. At least one circuit editing structure including a first and second columns are formed using at least a portion of the plurality of metal layers, the first column being in electrical contact with the first portion of the device layer and the second column being in electrical contact with second portion of the device layer, where a portion of the first and second columns define a circuit editing feature operable to electrically couple or decouple the columns using focused ion beam (FIB) processing.
US08330158B2
The generation of a chip identifier supporting at least one integrated circuit, which includes providing a cutout of at least one conductive path by cutting the chip, the position of the cutting line relative to the chip conditioning the identifier.
US08330157B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes steps of forming a gate electrode over a light-transmitting substrate, forming a gate insulating layer containing an inorganic material over the gate electrode and the substrate, forming an organic layer containing a photopolymerizable reactive group over the gate insulating layer, polymerizing selectively the organic layer by irradiating the organic layer with light from back side of the substrate, using the gate electrode as a mask, forming an organic polymer layer by removing a residue of the organic layer, being other than polymerized, forming an organosilane film including a hydrolytic group over the gate insulating layer in a region other than a region in which the organic polymer layer is formed, forming source and drain electrodes by applying a composition containing a conductive material over the organic polymer layer, and forming a semiconductor layer over the gate electrode, the source and drain electrodes.
US08330146B2
An organic photodetector including a substrate, a first electrode, an insulation layer, an organic layer, and a second electrode is provided. The first electrode is disposed on the substrate. The insulation layer is disposed on the first electrode. The organic layer is disposed on the substrate and the insulation layer and covers a side surface of the insulation layer and a side surface of the first electrode. The second electrode is disposed on the organic layer and located above the insulation layer.
US08330145B2
A superconducting junction element has a lower electrode formed by a superconductor layer, a barrier layer provided on a portion of a surface of the lower electrode, an upper electrode formed by a superconductor and covering the barrier layer, and a superconducting junction formed by the lower electrode, the barrier layer and the upper electrode. A critical current density of the superconducting junction is controlled based on an area of the lower electrode.
US08330143B2
A nanowire wrap-gate transistor is realized in a semiconductor material with a band gap narrower than Si. The strain relaxation in the nanowires allows the transistor to be placed on a large variety of substrates and heterostructures to be incorporated in the device. Various types of heterostructures should be introduced in the transistor to reduce the output conductance via reduced impact ionization rate, increase the current on/off ratio, reduction of the sub-threshold slope, reduction of transistor contact resistance and improved thermal stability. The parasitic capacitances should be minimized by the use of semi-insulating substrates and the use of cross-bar geometry between the source and drain access regions. The transistor may find applications in digital high frequency and low power circuits as well as in analogue high frequency circuits.
US08330138B2
An electronic device (100), the electronic device (100) comprises a substrate (101), a first electrode (102) formed at least partially on the substrate (101), a second electrode (103) formed at least partially on the substrate (101), a convertible structure (104) connected between the first electrode (102) and the second electrode (103), and a spacer element (105) connected between the first electrode (102) and the second electrode (103) and adapted for spacing the convertible structure (104) with regard to a surface of the substrate (101).
US08330132B2
An energy modulator for use with a particle source that provides a beam of particles includes a first block moveable between a first position and a second position, wherein when the first block is at the second position, it is in a path of the beam, and a second block moveable relative to the first block, wherein the second block and the first block are offset from each other in a direction of the beam, wherein the first block has a first energy absorption characteristic, and the second block has a second energy absorption characteristic that is different from the first energy absorption characteristic.
US08330123B2
A system and method is provided for improved fluorescence decay time measurement. A digital heterodyning technique is disclosed in which a photon detector is sampled at a rate slightly faster than a digitally pulsed excitation signal. A resulting cross correlation frequency is low enough to be read by inexpensive electronics such as by a field programmable gate array. Phase information in the signal provides correlation with corresponding photon detections.
US08330115B2
A scintillator system is provided to detect the presence of fissile material and radioactive material. One or more neutron detectors include scintillator material, and are optically coupled to one or more wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media that extend from the scintillator material to guide light from the scintillator material to a photosensor. An electrical output of the photosensor is connected to an input of a pre-amp circuit designed to provide an optimum pulse shape for each of neutron pulses and gamma pulses in the detector signals. Scintillator material as neutron detector elements can be spatially distributed with interposed moderator material. Individual neutron detectors can be spatially distributed with interposed moderator material. Detectors and moderators can be arranged in a V-shape or a corrugated configuration.
US08330107B2
An TDLS gas sensor with a measuring pick-up to be arranged outside of the interior chamber of an incubator or a climate chamber of similar design, and with an absorption pick-up to be arranged inside the interior chamber, and also with a window separating the measuring area and absorption area for the atmospheric separation of the laser diode from the interior chamber of the incubator, with the window being arranged at an angle to the axis of the laser beam emitted by a laser diode, and with the optronic components being arranged in a block of material in the measuring pick-up, said block being made of thermally well-conducting material and serving as heat sink, and with a heating system for the window in the measuring pick-up. In addition, a process for measuring the moisture and the carbon dioxide concentration.
US08330104B2
A pattern measurement apparatus includes a beam intensity distribution creation unit to scan a charged particle beam over a reference pattern having edge portions formed at a right angle to create a line profile of the reference pattern and thus create a reference-beam intensity distribution, an edge width detection unit to determine line profiles for pattern models including edges formed at various inclination angles by use of the reference-beam intensity distribution and calculate edge widths reflecting an influence of a width of a reference beam, and a correspondence table creation unit to calculate correction values for edge positions from the calculated edge widths and the pattern models and create a correspondence table in which the edge widths and the correction values are associated with one another.
US08330100B2
Tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry method and apparatus permits an ion gate to be time set optimally at all times if the instrumental conditions are modified. Delayed extraction conditions for the mass-to-charge ratios of plural reference substances and optimum values of the time for which the ion gate is opened are measured and stored in a data table. Delayed extraction conditions and opening time of the ion gate which optimize the mass resolution at the mass-to-charge ratio of the desired precursor ions are found based on values stored in the table.
US08330099B2
A mass analyzer comprises a pair of planar electrode structures. The electrode structures are disposed opposite one another, parallel to one another, and axially offset from one another. One of the pair of planar electrodes comprises an opening. The mass analyzer comprises an ion mirror disposed between the pair of planar electrodes. A mass spectrometer and a mass spectrometry method are also described.
US08330098B2
Disclosed are various embodiments of a single track reflective optical encoder featuring current amplifiers disposed in the signal generating circuit thereof. Voltage amplifiers and their associated feedback resistors are eliminated in the various embodiments disclosed herein, resulting in decreased die size and improved encoder signal accuracy and performance, especially at high speeds The single track optical encoder configurations disclosed herein permit very high resolution reflective optical encoders in small packages to be provided. Methods of making and using such optical encoders are also disclosed.
US08330095B2
There is provided an optical scanning type photoelectric switch capable of preventing interference with another photoelectric switch by use of its own capability, wherein, as for light projection pulse periods of the first and second optical scanning type photoelectric switches, the period is set to 30 μs in the first optical scanning type photoelectric switch while the period is set to 33 μs in the second optical scanning type photoelectric switch 1B, the light projection pulses have the same pulse width, and by setting the light projection periods different between the first and second optical scanning type photoelectric switches, even if mutual interference occurs between any optical axes, a phase difference of 36 degrees in rotation period is generated therebetween in a next scan, thereby preventing occurrence of the interference in succession in a plurality of times of scanning.
US08330094B2
In an optical mouse, an optical sensing module includes a printed circuit board and a packaging body. The printed circuit board has an upper surface and a lower surface on opposite sides. The packaging body including a compound, an optical sensing die and a lead frame is disposed on the lower surface. The compound has a transparent surface. The optical sensing die used for receiving light is located inner the compound and has an optical sensing surface facing the transparent surface of the compound. The lead frame with a shoulder portion is electrically connected to the optical sensing die. The shoulder portion extends out from the compound along a direction that is parallel to the optical sensing surface of the optical sensing die. The shoulder portion is fixed on the lower surface. The optical sensing module may be used in an optical mouse. In the above optical sensing module, since the packaging body is positioned on the lower surface of the printed circuit board and the shoulder portion is fixed thereon, a preciseness of assembling the above optical sensing module can be easily improved.
US08330090B2
A photosensitive device (100), the photosensitive device (100) comprising a substrate (101) and a plurality of vertically aligned nanowire diodes (102 to 105) provided on and/or in the substrate (101).
US08330079B2
A steering wheel including a rim, first heating members, second heating members, and a control section is provided. The rim has leather-covered portions and wood-grain portions. The surface of the leather-covered portions has a thermal conductivity different from the thermal conductivity of the surface of the wood-grain portions. Each first heating member is provided inside of the surface of the corresponding leather-covered portion. When being energized, each first heating member adjusts the surface temperature of the corresponding leather-covered portion. Each second heating member is provided inside of the surface of the corresponding wood-grain portion. When being energized, each second heating member adjusts the surface temperature of the corresponding wood-grain portion. The control section controls the energization of the first heating members and the energization of the second heating members independently from each other.
US08330078B2
A welding electrode and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The welding electrode includes a metallic electrode portion and a flux portion adjacent and attached to the metallic electrode portion. The flux portion includes a material including particles, wherein each of the particles includes a substrate and an outer layer. The outer layer includes aluminum and substantially coats the substrate.
US08330070B2
There is provided an improved laser shock hardening method and apparatus which can eliminate spattering of a liquid and waving of the liquid surface upon laser irradiation, and can stably irradiate a workpiece with a laser beam. Thus, the present invention provides in a laser shock hardening method for carrying out surface processing of a workpiece in contact with a liquid by irradiating through the liquid the surface of the workpiece with a pulsed laser beam intermittently emitted from a laser irradiation device, the improvement comprising: providing a solid transparent to the wavelength of the laser, serving as an entrance window to the surface of the liquid; allowing the liquid to be present in the light path of the laser beam between the solid and the surface of the workpiece; and allowing the laser beam to enter through the solid and irradiating through the liquid the surface of the workpiece with the laser beam, thereby shock-hardening the surface of the workpiece.
US08330064B2
A key button mechanism mounted to a housing of an electronic device, comprises a key body and an actuator. The key body is mounted to the housing, the key body has a contacting portion protruding therefrom. The actuator has a resisting portion and a driving portion protruding from an end of the resisting portion. The actuator is rotatably mounted to the housing and the resisting portion is aligned with the contacting portion such that when the key body is operated, the contacting portion pushes the resisting portion to make the driving portion touch the printed circuit board.
US08330058B2
The portable airbag scale is a scale that measures the weight of a load based upon a difference between measured air pressure in an inflatable bladder, the difference being measured between a first state, where the load is not positioned on the inflatable bladder, and a second state, in which the load is supported on the inflatable bladder. The portable airbag scale includes an inflatable bladder having opposed upper and lower walls and at least one sidewall. A port is formed through the at least one sidewall for selective inflation and deflation of the inflatable bladder. A pressure sensor is mounted within the inflatable bladder for measuring the air pressure therein. A controller selectively calculates the weight of the load based upon the measured difference in air pressure. A display is provided for displaying the weight of the load.
US08330056B2
An electrical power system including a first power entry unit, at least one receptacle, and a second power entry unit. The at least one receptacle is electrically connected to the first power entry unit. The second power entry unit is electrically connectable to the at least one receptacle. The first power entry unit and the second power entry unit include at least one detection device. Either the first power entry unit or the second power entry unit is a selected power entry unit and the remaining one is another power entry unit. The detection device is configured to preclude an electrical power connection of both the selected power entry unit and the other power entry unit to the at least one receptacle.
US08330054B2
A plurality of wiring traces are formed on a base insulating layer, and a metal layer is formed on the opposite surface of the base insulating layer. Two adjacent wiring traces constitute a transmission line pair. The width of the wiring trace is set to not more than 250 μm, and the distance between the adjacent wiring traces is set to not less than 8 μm. The thickness of the base insulating layer is selected to cause differential impedance of the transmission line pair to be not less than 10 Ω and not more than 50 Ω.
US08330045B2
The invention discloses a fire-resistant wire or cable comprising a conductor wiring and a fire-resistant organic/inorganic composite as an insulation layer or an outer sheath. The organic/inorganic composite comprises an organic component of a polymer, oligomer, or copolymer having a first reactive functional group; and inorganic particles having a second reactive functional groups. The inorganic particles are chemically bonded to the organic component via a reaction between the first and the second reactive functional groups.
US08330044B2
An insulation material for electric cables includes an ethylene-alpha olefin copolymer with a melting point of 30° C. to 90° C.; and 0.5 to 20 parts by weight of a crosslinking agent based on 100 parts by weight of the ethylene-alpha olefin copolymer. The insulation material composition is based on a non-crystalline ethylene copolymer, and thus is flexible and satisfies tensile strength and insulation characteristics in conformity with the industrial standards. The insulation material composition is suitable for an insulation of electric cables for power, control and signaling that are installed in narrow spaces, in particular, electric cables for ships.
US08330043B2
A vertical cable manager includes a base, an interconnected double-spine assembly topped by a top frame, and a pair of doors. The double-spine assembly is supported by the base. Each door is removably coupled at each lower corner to the base and at each upper corner to the top frame, thus permitting each door to be opened or hinged along either of its lateral sides or removed entirely. The double-spine assembly may support selectively repositionable mounting members, which may in turn support a large cable spool, a selectively repositionable shelf-mounted handle spool assembly, and various other cable management accessories.
US08330041B2
A mountable power strip includes a first arm section having a plurality of electrical receptacles defining a “strip” of electrical receptacles. The mountable power strip further includes a coupling assembly that is configured to couple the first arm section to a second arm section such that the first and second arm sections are configured for rotational movement relative to each other about an axis of the coupling assembly. The first and second arm sections are biased by at least one spring member such that the first and second arm sections are configured to transition between a first open configuration and a second closed configuration. The biasing may be toward the closed configuration for mounting of the power strip.
US08330038B1
A power pack comprising a solar cell panel, a carbon crystal plate, and a radium plate, wherein said solar cell panel, said carbon crystal plate, and said radium plate are positioned in an encasement. A system for generating power utilizing the power pack is also disclosed.
US08330033B2
An example graphical programming interface system includes a processor. A grid matrix defined by a plurality of coordinate axes, having selectable matrix positions is displayed on a display device. Multiple movable object icons, each representing an object having a predefined output sound are also displayed on the display device. In one aspect, a single object data file is associated with each matrix position on said grid matrix. In this aspect, once a user places an object icon on a matrix position, the processor causes the predefined output sound associated with the object icon in accordance with the object data file associated with the matrix position at which the object icon is placed, and outputs the processed sound to an output device. This allows a user to program musical sequences by placing one or more object icons each on the selectable matrix positions.
US08330029B2
A textured surface for improving grip on plectra and other hand-held implements. A series of parallel ridges serve to frictionally engage thumb and forefinger surfaces and “lock” the grip in place.
US08330027B2
A lid structure of a keyboard instrument is provided, which improves a design degree of freedom of an instrument body. When a covered keyboard is changed from a close state to an open state, a front lid rotates relative to a back lid through a rotation shaft. A front guide slot and a rack built in the instrument body are used to guide backward movements of an engagement pin and a pinion. Since the rack is located posterior to the front guide slot, the back lid approximately maintains a pose to move backwards. A height of an accommodating space of the instrument body set to the open state is only required to be equal to a thickness of the back lid. Therefore, the accommodating space is reduced, an overall height of the instrument body is suppressed and a design degree of freedom of the instrument body is improved.
US08330021B1
A novel maize variety designated X13A477 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing hybrid maize variety X13A477 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X13A477 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X13A477, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X13A477. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X13A477.
US08330012B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV258468. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV258468, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV258468 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV258468 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV258468.
US08330006B2
The present invention relates to the field of the improvement of the digestibility and the tolerance of maize to fungal pathogens and especially to fusariosis by modification of the C4H gene.
US08329994B2
The invention relates to methods and compositions concerning desaturase enzymes that modulate the number and location of double bonds in long chain poly-unsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA's). In particular, the invention relates to methods and compositions for improving omega-3 fatty acid profiles in plant products and parts using exogenous desaturase enzymes and nucleic acids encoding for such enzymes. In particular embodiments, the exogenous desaturase enzymes utilized are Hemiselmis spp. delta 5 desaturases. Also provided are improved soybean oil compositions having EPA derived from plants carrying the genes of interest.
US08329976B2
A method for making a net patterned adhesive layer by a mold, and a wound dressing having a net patterned adhesive layer.
US08329975B2
A process to increase the capacity of the adsorbent in a normal paraffin adsorption separation system is presented. A tertiary flush stream is used to improve the capacity of the simulated moving bed system by flushing residual raffinate from the feed transfer line. The flushing removes residual raffinate containing desorbent that competes with the adsorption of normal paraffins from the feedstream. The flush stream is a material that will displace fluid in the column, but will not enter the pores of the adsorbent.
US08329974B2
The device described in the present invention can trap plugging particles contained in the liquid feed supplying a reactor functioning in gas and liquid co-current down-flow mode using a specific distributor tray comprising a filtration medium.The present device is of particular application to the selective hydrogenation of feeds containing acetylenic and dienic compounds.
US08329969B2
A process for the conversion of biomass derived pyrolysis oil to liquid fuel components is presented. The process includes the production of diesel, aviation, and naphtha boiling point range fuels or fuel blending components by two-stage deoxygenation of the pyrolysis oil and separation of the products.
US08329960B2
Process for converting a hydrocarbon feedstock into alcohol(s), wherein the hydrocarbons are first converted into syngas, which is subsequently converted into alcohols. The process comprises the consecutive steps of 1) converting a hydrocarbon feedstock, in a syngas reactor, into a stream A, comprising essentially of a mixture of carbon oxide(s) and hydrogen, 2) converting at least part of stream A, in the presence of a catalyst in a oxygenate synthesis reactor under a temperature comprised between 150 and 400° C. and a pressure of 20 to 200 bar, into an alcohols stream B, comprising essentially methanol, ethanol, propanol(s), H2, C1-03 alkanes, CO, CO2 and water, 3) separating stream B, into a stream C containing the CO, C1-C3 alkanes, H2 and methanol; a stream D containing the CO2; and recovering a stream E containing the ethanol, propanol(s) and water, 4) treating a fraction of stream C in order to separate said fraction into a stream comprising CO, and a stream comprising H2 and the C1-C3 alkanes, 5) reintroducing at least part of stream C together with the stream comprising CO from step 4 into the oxygenate synthesis reactor of step 2, and 6) reintroducing at least part of stream D into the syngas reactor of step 1.
US08329958B2
A simple chain-extending approach was established for the scale-up of the monoprotected monodisperse PEG diol materials. Reactions of THP-(OCH2CH2)n—OMs (n=4, 8, 12) with a large excess of commercially available H—(OCH2CH2)n—OH (n=1-4) under basic conditions led to THP-(OCH2CH2)n—OH (n=5-15). Similarly, Me-(OCH2CH2)n—OH (n=4-11, 13) were prepared from Me-(OCH2CH2)n—OMs (n=3, 7, 11). For the chain elongation steps, 40-80% yields were achieved through extraction purification. PEG oligomer libraries I and II were generated in 50-95% overall yields by alkylation or acylation of THP-(OCH2CH2)n—OH (n=1-15) followed by deprotection. Alkylation of Me-(OCH2CH2)n—OH (n=1-11, 13) with X—(CH2)m—CO2R (X=Br or OMs) and subsequent hydrolysis led to PEG oligomer library III in 30-60% overall yields. Combinatorial purification techniques were adapted to the larger-scale library synthesis. A total of 498 compounds, each with a weight of 2-5 g and a minimum purity of 90%, were synthesized.
US08329956B2
In a process for producing cyclohexylbenzene, benzene and hydrogen are contacted under hydroalkylation conditions with a catalyst system comprising a MCM-22 family molecular sieve and at least one hydrogenation metal. The conditions comprise a temperature of about 140° C. to about 175° C., a pressure of about 135 psig to about 175 psig (931 kPag to 1207 kPag), a hydrogen to benzene molar ratio of about 0.30 to about 0.65 and a weight hourly space velocity of benzene of about 0.26 to about 1.05 hr−1.
US08329950B2
One aspect of the present invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing two or more active agents that when taken together can be used to treat, e.g., menopause, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, or cognitive disorders. The first component of the pharmaceutical composition is a sedative eszopiclone. The second component of the pharmaceutical composition is trans 4-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-N-methyl-1-napthalenamine or trans 4-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-napthalenamine. The present invention also relates to a method of treating menopause, perimenopause, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and cognitive disorders.
US08329949B2
A method for producing a nitrone of formula (I) wherein R is a branched alkyl group having from four to thirty carbon atoms; R1, R2, R3 and R4 independently are hydrogen or alkyl groups having from one to six carbon atoms from an imine having formula (II)
US08329948B2
An improved method for the synthesis of substituted formylamines and substituted amines via an accelerated Leuckart reaction. The Leuckart reaction is accelerated by reacting formamide or N-alkylformamide and formic acid with an aldehyde or a ketone at a preferred molar ratio that accelerates the reaction. The improved method is applicable to various substituted aldehydes and ketones, including substituted benzaldehydes. An accelerated method for the hydrolysis of substituted formylamines into substituted amines using acid or base and a solvent at an elevated temperature. The improved method is useful for the accelerated synthesis of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals such as vanillylamine, amphetamine and its analogs, and formamide fungicides.
US08329946B2
The present invention concerns the discovery that proteins encoded by a family of genes, termed here HDx-related genes, which are involved in the control of chromatin structure and, thus in transcription and translation. The present invention makes available compositions and methods that can be utilized, for example to control cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro and in vivo.
US08329941B2
A method for recovering high molecular weight naphthenic tetra-acids, particularly ARN acids from a calcium naphthenate deposit. Calcium naphthenate deposits contain large amounts of calcium naphthenate salts of ARN acids. The method dual solvent extraction process in which the naphthenic tetra-acids chemically bound as calcium naphthenate salts are converted into free acid monomers by an aqueous acid. The resulting free acid monomers are then dissolved into an organic solvent phase and the counterions dissolve in the aqueous acid phase. The naphthenic tetra-acids are then recovered from the organic solvent phase.
US08329938B2
Retinyl hydroxyesters and retinyl oligo-hydroxyesters were prepared using a chemoenzymatic process from retinol and short chain esters of hydroxycarboxylic acids or short chain esters of hydroxycarboxylic acids. The presence of the hydroxyl group on the acid can result in a mixture of esters from various oligomers of the hydroxycarboxylic acid. The retinyl ester products are readily enzymatically hydrolyzed in vitro, which indicates that application to the skin should result in release of the anti-aging ingredient retinol (without the inherent instability and irritation) along with the acid, which, if chosen appropriately, should also have desirable biological effects. This combination should be effective as an anti-aging skin care ingredient.
US08329937B2
The present invention relates to a method for purifying naproxcinod comprising the steps of: a) dissolving or dispersing a mixture containing naproxcinod in an amount higher than 90% by weight in a solvent; b) cooling the solution or two phases dispersion under stirring to a temperature ranging from −20° C. to 10° C. c) optionally seeding the solution with crystals of naproxcinod d) stirring, by maintaining the temperature in the range from −40° C. to 10° C. e) collecting the formed solid by maintaining the temperature under 15° C. A further object of the invention is a crystalline form of naproxcinod.
US08329921B2
This invention relates to a catalyst compound comprising a combination of a cyclic alkyl amino carbene ligand and a benzylidene both attached to a Group 8 metal, preferably ruthenium atom.This invention also relates to a process to make linear alpha-olefins comprising contacting a feed material and an optional alkene (such as ethylene) with the catalyst described above, wherein the feed material is a triacylglyceride, fatty acid, fatty acid alkyl ester, and/or fatty acid ester, typically derived from seed oil (e.g., biodiesel).
US08329920B2
The present invention provides Formula (1A) compounds that act as glucokinase activators; pharmaceutical compositions thereof; and methods of treating diseases, disorders, or conditions mediated by glucokinase. X, Y, Z, R1, R2, R3, and R4 are as described herein.
US08329910B2
Substituted bicyclic heteroaryls and compositions containing them, for the treatment of general inflammation, arthritis, rheumatic diseases, osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disorders, inflammatory eye disorders, inflammatory or unstable bladder disorders, psoriasis, skin complaints with inflammatory components, chronic inflammatory conditions, including but not restricted to autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE), myestenia gravis, rheumatoid arthritis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, multiples sclerosis, Sjoegren's syndrome and autoimmune hemolytic anemia, allergic conditions including all forms of hypersensitivity. The present invention also enables methods for treating cancers that are mediated, dependent on or associated with p110δ activity, including nut not restricted to leukemias, such as Acute Myeloid leukaemia (AML) Myelo-dysplastic syndrome (MDS) myelo-proliferative diseases (MPD) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) Non Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL) B-cell lymphoma and solid tumors, such as breast cancer.
US08329906B2
The compounds of a certain formula (1), in which R1, R2, R3, R31, R4, R5, R6 and R7 have the meanings as given in the description, are novel effective PDE4 inhibitors.
US08329901B2
The present invention provides 4,6-disubstituted pyrimidine compound useful as kinase inhibitors, pharmaceutically acceptable compositions thereof, and methods of using the same.
US08329899B2
Compounds of formula (I), pharmaceutical compositions comprising compounds of formula (I) and methods of inhibiting Hsp90 in a cell, treating or preventing a proliferation disorder in a mammal and treating cancer in a mammal comprising administering a compound of formula (I) to a patient or a cell. Variable R5 is an optionally substituted heteroaryl; an optionally substituted 6 to 14-membered aryl; a bicyclic 9-member heterocycle optionally substituted at any substitutable nitrogen or carbon atoms; or a substituent R18, defined herein. Ring A is an aryl or a heteroaryl optionally further substituted with one or more substituents in addition to R3. Substituent R3 is defined herein.
US08329898B2
The present invention relates to pyrido[3,2-h]quinazolines and/or 5,6-dihydro derivatives thereof, methods for their production and doped organic semiconductor material which use such quinazolines.
US08329896B2
The present invention can provide new spirooxazine radical derivatives of the following general formula (1) which have chromic property enabling the distinction between the radical species and the cation species on the basis of absorption wavelength:
US08329889B2
Described are methods and compositions for the detection of target genes. The inventors have developed a synthetic nucleic acid sensor-effector gene circuit. In cells without a target gene, the circuit suppresses e.g., effector production, but in the presence of the target gene the suppression is subject to competition, such that the synthetic sensor is de-repressed and permits expression of the effector gene. The methods and compositions described further permit the selective expression of an effector gene in those cells expressing the target gene. In this manner, cells expressing a target gene can be selectively targeted for treatment or elimination. In certain aspects, the methods and compositions described permit the selective expression of an agent such as a therapeutic gene product, in a specifically targeted population of cells in an organism.
US08329868B2
The present invention relates to antagonist antibodies that specifically bind to Notch 3 and inhibit its activation. The present invention includes antibodies binding to a conformational epitope comprising the first Lin12 domain and the second dimerization domain. The present invention also includes uses of these antibodies to treat or prevent Notch 3 related diseases or disorders.
US08329866B2
Disclosed are polymer sFlt-1 conjugates, variants of sFlt-1, compositions comprising such conjugates and variants, including cysteine variants of sFlt-1. Also disclosed is the use of such conjugates, variants and compositions in methods to inhibit the activity of VEGF, to inhibit angiogenesis, and to treat or reduce at least one symptom of diseases and conditions in which it is desirable to inhibit VEGF activity and/or angiogenesis.
US08329863B2
Antagonistic peptides of GnRH having improved water solubility are disclosed. These peptides are capable of suppressing serum testosterone levels in vivo to chemical castration levels of ≦0.5 ng/ml. Stable, filter sterilizable, non-gelling solutions containing the GnRH antagonists at least at levels typically used in sustained release formulations also are disclosed, as is a method of increasing the solubility of GnRH antagonist in a polymer containing dispersed phase, which method comprises addition of an acid to the dispersed phase.
US08329862B1
The present invention relates a novel cell-killing peptide, particularly to a cell-killing peptide that exploits a specific region at the C-terminus of Noxa protein, a “BH3-only” member of Bcl-2 family causing apoptosis and fusion proteins containing the same.According to the present invention, the cell-killing peptide (CKP) effectively kills a cancer cell such as HeLa or HCT116 when it is conjugated with PTD or CTD domain. Therefore, the cell-killing peptide of the present invention is still stronger to kill cells, compared with conventional substances such as TRAIL, and will be applied widely for various cell therapies, especially in cancer treatment.
US08329857B2
The present invention provides a method for producing a polyester resin, comprising carrying out a hot-water treatment and a heat treatment, in this order, of polyester prepolymer particles obtained by melt polycondensation of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component. The hot-water treatment comprises bringing the polyester prepolymer particles with an intrinsic viscosity of from at least 0.10 dL/g to at most 1.0 dL/g and with a density of at most 1.36 g/cm3 into contact with hot water at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the polyester prepolymer particles and less than 100° C., under the condition satisfying the following formula (1): 40≦(T−Tg)t≦6000 (1) wherein t is a hot-water treatment time (second), T is the temperature of the hot water (° C.) and Tg is the glass transition temperature (° C.) of the polyester prepolymer particles.
US08329854B2
A resinous compound of the formulas or a salt thereof, wherein G1 is —X1C(O)OR1, —X2OC(O)R2, or —X2OH; G2 is R4, R12, —C(O)R2, —C(O)X1C(O)OR1, or —C(O)X2OC(O)R2; R1 is an alkyl having from 10 to 80 carbon atoms; R2 is an alkyl having from 2 to 40 carbon atoms; each R3 and R4 is independently hydrogen, alkyl, arylalkyl or alkylaryl; each R5 and each R6 is independently hydrogen or alkyl; X1 and X2 are both a straight or branched alkylene group; t1 is 1 to 20; t2 and t3 is independently 0 to 20; u1 is 1 to 30; u2 and u3 is independently 0 to 30; each R7 and each R8 is independently hydrogen, alkyl, or alkoxyl; each R9 and each R10 is independently hydrogen, alkyl, or alkoxyl; Ar is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic moiety; p is 1 to 5; q is 1 to 12; A⊖ is selected from the group consisting of Cl−, Br−, I−, HSO4−, HSO3−, CH3SO3−, NO3−, HCOO−, CH3COO−, H2PO4−, SCN−, BF4−, ClO4−, SSO3−, PF6−, and SbCl6−; and J is alkyl, arylalkyl, or alkylaryl.
US08329843B2
A method for producing an amide compound from a nitrile compound in an aqueous medium in the presence of a catalyst having a nitrile hydratase activity wherein the concentration of benzene in the aqueous medium is 4.0 ppm or less and a method for producing an amide-based polymer excellent in quality from the amide compound. Also provided are a method for more efficiently producing an acrylamide with higher quality by a microbial catalyst containing a nitrile hydratase and the like and a method for producing an acrylamide-based polymer, which is excellent in hue, has a good balance between water solubility and high molecular weight and is excellent in quality.
US08329839B2
Melt-processible, thermoplastic poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) compositions are disclosed and methods for making and processing same. Additionally, products comprising these compositions are described.
US08329835B2
Polyethylene compositions having improved properties are provided. In one aspect, a polyethylene composition having a long chain branching index (g′avg) of 0.5 to 0.9; a Melt Flow Rate (MFR) of greater than (49.011×MI(−0.4304)), where MI is Melt Index; and a weight average molecular weight to number average molecular weight (Mw/Mn) of less than or equal to 4.6 is provided.
US08329825B2
A material for vibration control of the invention includes a propylene polymer (A) containing a constitutional unit (a) derived from propylene in the proportion of 40 to 100 mol % and a constitutional unit (b) derived from α-olefin having 2 to 20 carbon atoms excluding propylene in the proportion of 60 to 0 mol % [provided that the total of (a) and (b) is 100 mol %], and having a melting point measured by DSC of 90° C. or below or no observed melting point, and the material has excellent vibration controllability such as vibration damping property, vibration preventing property, sound insulating property, and sound absorbing property.
US08329823B2
A diamine compound of formula (I) is proposed as well as polymers, copolymers, polyamic acids, polyamic acid esters, or polyimides based on such compound.
US08329816B2
A silicone microemulsion composition obtained by microemulsifying a carboxy-modified organopolysiloxane, and having a lower surface tension than conventional microemulsions. The composition includes 100 parts by mass of a specific carboxy-modified organopolysiloxane (A), 25 to 75 parts by mass of a specific polyether-modified organopolysiloxane (B), 0.1 to 10 parts by mass of an anionic surfactant, and 20 to 6,000 parts by mass of water, wherein the average particle size of the emulsion particles is not more than 100 nm.
US08329812B2
A compound that includes an aqueous dispersion, wherein the dispersion includes a thermoplastic resin and at least one stabilizing agent, and at least one selected from the group consisting of a colorant and a magnetic pigment, wherein the dispersion has an average volume diameter particle size from about 0.05 to about 10 microns is described.
US08329803B2
A process for the preparation of aqueous polymer dispersions is described, a vinylaromatic compound, such as, for example, styrene, a conjugated aliphatic diene, such as, for example, butadiene, and an ethylenically unsaturated carbonitrile, such as, for example, acrylonitrile, being copolymerized in an aqueous medium. The copolymerization is effected in the presence of a degraded starch and of free radical initiators. At least part of the monomers differing from ethylenically unsaturated carbonitriles are polymerized before the ethylenically unsaturated carbonitriles are added to the polymerization mixture.
US08329802B2
The invention provides a surface-treated calcium carbonate that when incorporated into a paste resin, can impart low viscosity and high thixotropy and offers excellent storage stability, and paste resin compositions containing the same. The surface-treated calcium carbonate is a calcium carbonate surface-treated with a surface treatment agent containing a sodium salt or potassium salt of a fatty acid, wherein the total content of a sodium salt and a potassium salt of lauric acid, a sodium salt and a potassium salt of palmitic acid and a sodium salt and a potassium salt of stearic acid in the surface treatment agent is 80% by weight or more, the content of the sodium salt and potassium salt of lauric acid is within the range of 30% to 60% by weight, the content of a sodium salt and a potassium salt of an unsaturated fatty acid in the surface treatment agent is 5% by weight or less, and the BET specific surface area is 10 m2/g or more.
US08329800B2
An aqueous binder composition comprising: a) a water-insoluble polymer (P) in the form of dispersed polymer particles having a glass transition temperature in the range from −50° C. to 50° C., obtained by free-radical polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers M, the monomers M comprising: 80% to 99.9% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers M, of at least one neutral, monoethylenically unsaturated monomer M1 of low water-solubility; and 0.1% to 20% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers M, of at least one monoethylenically unsaturated monomer M2 which carries at least one carboxyl group and/or at least one carboxamido group (CONH2); and b) boric acid and/or at least one salt of boric acid is provided. Also provided are a process to prepare the binder composition and the use thereof.
US08329798B2
A curable composition, useful as a thermosetting binder, having a polycarboxy polymer or co-polymer and a multifunctional polyol.
US08329790B2
A polypropylene composition comprising polypropylene impact copolymer or impact modified polypropylene and an effective flame retarding amount of a mixture of (i) tris(tribromoneopentyl) phosphate and (ii) a carbon-carbon initiator, wherein the composition meets a UL 94 rating of V-1 or V-0, said composition being substantially free from antimony trioxide. A method for improving the flame retarding rating of a polypropylene composition is also disclosed.
US08329785B2
A wall repair compound useful for filling and repairing cracks, holes, and other imperfections in a wall surface includes a conventional filler material, a conventional binder material, and a dust reducing additive which reduces the quantity of airborne dust particles generated when sanding the hardened joint compound. Airborne dust reducing additives include oils, surfactants, solvents, waxes, and other petroleum derivatives. The additive can be added to conventional ready-mixed joint compounds and to setting type joint compounds. A method of reducing the quantity of airborne dust generated when sanding a fully hardened joint compound includes mixing a sufficient quantity of the dust reducing additive with the joint compound prior to when the joint compound has been applied to the wall.
US08329766B2
A functional membrane and a production method thereof including: an ion irradiation step in which a polymer film substrate is irradiated with high energy heavy ions at 104 to 1014 ions/cm2, to generate active species in the film substrate; and a graft polymerization step in which after the ion irradiation step, the film substrate is added with one or more monomers selected from a group A consisting of monomers each having a functional group and 1 to 80 mol % of a monomer including a group B consisting of a crosslinking agent(s) for the group A monomer(s), and the film substrate and the monomer(s) are graft-polymerized. There is obtained a functional membrane having high functionality in conjunction with the gas barrier property intrinsically possessed by a polymer film substrate, in particular, a polymer electrolyte membrane optimal as a polymer electrolyte membrane for use in fuel cells, high in proton conductivity and excellent in gas barrier property.
US08329762B2
The present invention provides calcium phosphate platelets with a length between 250 nm and 800 nm and methods for producing the calcium phosphate platelets. The platelets may be used to provide dispersions or colloidal dispersions obtained by suspending the platelets in the presence of a dispersing agent. The platelets may be used in reinforcing fillers, polishing agents, building materials, additives for oral formulations, in dentrifices or in encapsulating agents.
US08329757B2
Novel curcumin-analog compounds are disclosed that are antioxidants useful in inhibition of pro-inflammation, angiogenic, and vascular permeability factors and elimination of reactive oxygen species. The curcumin compounds specifically inhibit VEGF and are useful in treating various diseases that are mediated through the oxidative stress pathway, including those that are characterized by inflammation, angiogenesis, or vascular leakage.
US08329756B2
The invention provides a method for treating or ameliorating colon cancer in a mammal comprising administering to the mammal a therapeutically effective amount of one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of compounds of Formula (1), (2), and a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or metabolite thereof.
US08329754B2
The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I) wherein X, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are as defined herein, which are useful for treating diseases which respond to CXCR2 receptor mediators. Pharmaceutical compositions that contain the compounds and processes for preparing the compounds are also described.
US08329752B2
The invention provides compostions for administering memantine to a subject. Memantine in an extended release form containing 22.5 to 30 mg memantine or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt achieves particular pharmacokinetic criteria such as change in plasma concentration of memantine over time and ratio of maximum memantine plasma concentration to mean memantine plasma concentration.
US08329724B2
According to the present invention there are provided novel processes for the manufacture of the compound of formula 1 as well as novel synthesis routes for key intermediates used in those processes.
US08329722B2
The instant invention provides for compounds that inhibit JAK2 tyrosine kinase and/or PDK1. The invention also provides for compositions comprising such inhibitory compounds and methods of inhibiting JAK2 tyrosine kinase activity and/or PDK1 kinase inhibitory activity by administering the compound to a patient in need of treatment or prevention of myeloproliferative disorders or cancer.
US08329716B2
The invention relates to hetaryloxy-substituted phenylaminopyrimidines, to a process for their preparation and to their use for preparing medicaments for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of diseases in humans and animals, in particular cardiovascular disorders.
US08329710B2
This disclosure is directed to compound having the formula (A) and a method of treatment using the compound. Compared with metformin, the disclosed compound has the same clinic curative effect, such as lowering blood sugar, curing poly-cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), losing weight and so on, without resulting in the increase of homocysteine concentration, even with a little decrease of homocysteine concentration in some cases.
US08329708B2
Disclosed are a 1,3,6-substituted indole compound having inhibitory activity for protein kinases, a pharmaceutically acceptable thereof, and a pharmaceutical composition for prevention and treatment of diseases caused by abnormal cell growth including the compound as an active ingredient.Since the novel indole compound exhibits superior inhibitory activity for various protein kinases involved in growth factor signal transduction, it is useful as an agent for preventing or treating cancers caused by abnormal cell growth.
US08329705B2
The present invention relates to substituted [1,2,4]triazolo-[4,3-a]pyrazine compounds and methods of synthesizing these compounds. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing substituted [1,2,4]triazolo-[4,3-a]pyrazine compounds and methods of treating cell proliferative disorders, such as cancer, by administering these compounds and pharmaceutical compositions to subjects in need thereof.
US08329682B2
The invention provides new pyrrolo-nitrogenous heterocyclic derivatives represented by formula (I) or their salts, the preparation thereof, pharmaceutical compositions containing such derivatives and the use of such derivatives as therapeutic agents, especially as protein kinase inhibitors, wherein each substituent in formula (I) is same as defined in the description.
