US08397573B2
A photoacoustic apparatus includes an acoustic lens configured to collect a acoustic wave, an acoustic detector configured to detect the acoustic wave collected by the acoustic lens, a driver configured to move at least one of the acoustic detector and the acoustic lens so as to measure the acoustic wave generated from an object to be measured due to a photoacoustic effect, and a controller configured to output a first measurement signal resulting from the acoustic wave that is generated from a first position in the object, and to eliminate a second measurement signal resulting from the acoustic wave that is generated from a second position different from the first position in the object.
US08397571B2
An output circuit that occupies a small area includes a control unit, X, Y, and Z axes amplification units, and first and second common circuits. The control unit outputs a temperature coefficient offset for correcting the temperature dependence of a sensor output. The first and second common circuits use the output from an acceleration sensor when performed amplification for each axis. In a reset phase, the charge accumulated in the first and second common circuits is released. In an amplification phase, the first and second common circuits and an operational amplifier uses the temperature coefficient offset voltage of each voltage to correct and amplify a signal from the acceleration sensor. In a hold phase, the accumulated charge is maintained in the same state to hold the output value of each axis.
US08397566B2
An apparatus for the transfer of broadband, high-frequency signals of a center wavelength (λc), including a conductor structure, which includes at least one signal path and two reference paths arranged symmetrically to the signal path. Together the conductor structure and the two reference paths form a coplanar line, with the conductor structure being arranged on two oppositely lying sides of at least one dielectric substrate layer of a predetermined thickness in such a manner that the conductor structure overlaps in predetermined coupling regions, whereby the coupling region of the conductor structure transfers the high-frequency signals by an electromagnetic coupling, wherein the thickness of the substrate layer (18) is smaller than λc/4, and wherein multiple electromagnetic couplings are arranged serially one after the other. The apparatus enables a galvanic isolation having good transfer properties in the case of frequencies greater than 6 GHz.
US08397560B2
A system for monitoring a sand reservoir includes: (a) a sand reservoir carried on an off-highway vehicle; and (b) at least one sand level indicator carried by the sand reservoir which provides a visual display external to the sand reservoir indicative of the quantity of sand within the sand reservoir.
US08397530B2
The present invention provides a heat exchanger, an air conditioning apparatus, and a method for manufacturing the heat exchanger capable of reducing the scattering of condensate water from curved portions to the downstream side in the direction of airflow. An indoor heat exchanger includes lower fins and upper fins. The upper fins are inclined in the direction of the airflow at an angle formed between the longitudinal axis of the upper fins and the vertical direction, the range of the angle being equal to or greater than the range of an angle formed between the longitudinal axis of the lower fins and the vertical direction, and the upper fins are disposed adjacent to top ends of the lower fins. The upper fins have curved portions that are curved in proximity to the portions bordering the top ends of the lower fins on the downstream side in the airflow direction F.
US08397521B2
The present invention relates to a supercooling recognition method and a supercooling apparatus which can rapidly and precisely judge whether a stored object is maintained in a supercooled state on the basis of a temperature thereof. A supercooling recognition method according to the present invention includes the steps of: cooling a stored object to below a temperature of a maximum ice crystal formation zone thereof; and judging whether the stored object is maintained in a supercooled state on the basis of a temperature thereof during the cooling step.
US08397516B2
An apparatus for removing heat from a turbine includes a stator having a cavity and a first plenum and a second plenum inside the cavity. The second plenum is connected to the first plenum and surrounds the first plenum inside the cavity. A refrigerant flows through the first plenum and the second plenum to remove heat from the stator. A method for cooling a turbine includes forming a cavity in a component to be cooled, installing a first plenum inside the cavity, and installing a second plenum inside the cavity. The method further includes connecting the second plenum to the first plenum, surrounding the first plenum with the second plenum inside the cavity, and flowing a refrigerant through the first plenum and the second plenum to cool the component.
US08397505B2
The present disclosure provides an apparatus for collecting solar energy for electrical energy generation through one or more thermodynamic closed-cycle heat engines or the like. The present invention includes new designs for solar collectors that concentrate solar energy, and mechanisms for transporting and transferring the concentrated solar energy directly into the working fluid (e.g., a liquid, a gas, or a phase change substance) of the closed cycle thermodynamic engines without heating the outside surface of the engines. In an exemplary embodiment, the present utilizes an inflatable design for a dual-surface reflector which provides low cost and weight, protection from external elements, and the ability to inflate/deflate as required.
US08397500B2
A control system for an engine that includes a turbocharger includes a restriction estimation module and an engine protection module. The restriction estimation module estimates restriction of airflow through an air filter of the engine based on a comparison between measured and modeled temperatures at an outlet of a compressor of the turbocharger. The engine protection module, based on the estimated airflow restriction, at least one of controls turbocharger boost, controls turbocharger airflow, controls a fueling rate of the engine, and generates a warning signal for a driver of a vehicle.
US08397489B2
Systems and methods are described for controlling an engine in a vehicle. One example method includes, after a threshold duration of engine idling, continuing engine idle operation when an exhaust NOx sensor indicates a NOx level below a NOx threshold, and stopping engine idle and shutting down the engine when the exhaust NOx sensor indicates the NOx level is above the NOx threshold. In this way, when the exhaust emissions are below the NOx threshold, it is possible to prolong engine idling operation using the exhaust NOx sensor.
US08397480B2
The invention relates to an energy guiding chain for guiding cables, hoses and the like with a number of tubular chain links (1) connected together in an articulated manner and designed so that the surface of the top panels (5), bottom panels (2) and at least the transition areas (11) of these panels and the side panels (3, 4) are convexly curved in the circumferential direction of the tubular chain links (1), said chain links each having a bottom panel (5), comprising thereon laterally adjoining, opposite side panels (3, 4) and a top panel (5), whereupon the top panel (5) is detachably connected to the side panels (3, 4), the side panels (3, 4) in each case having a joint pin (6) and a joint opening (7) to connect flexibly, the pivoting angle of both directions of pivot being limited by stops (8) and the top panels (5), side panels (3, 4) and bottom panels (2); of adjacent chain links (1) overlapping telescopically over the entire pivoting angle.
US08397477B2
A saddle horn assembly attached to the tree of a saddle in lieu of a conventional saddle horn consisting of a post of rectangular prismatic configuration with a receiving chamber for insertion of a quick release locking pin, a cap with a quick release locking pin attached to and protruding from the bottom thereof that allows the cap to be detached and reattached to the post within seconds, and a dally traction device with a central void of complimentary dimensions to the post, having a hyperboloid external configuration and being symmetrical in both the horizontal and vertical planes such that the device may be rotated and/or inverted about the post so that it may be quickly and easily manipulated to numerous positions to generate even wear about the exterior, thus increasing the longevity of the device and improving the safety and effectiveness of dallying.
US08397475B2
A packaging machine for producing closed packages includes a chamber that can be sealed in an airtight manner around one or a plurality of packages, a gas flushing unit for flushing with a gas the at least one package contained in the chamber, at least one gas line leading into the chamber or out of the chamber as well as a measuring device for determining a concentration of the gas. The measuring device comprises a measuring head for reading, through the use of electromagnetic radiation, an indicator for the concentration of the gas. The indicator is arranged in an interior of the chamber, in an interior of a package and/or in an interior the at least one gas line.
US08397473B2
An apparatus for automatically closing test tubes containing biological material mounted to an automatic test tube conveyor is described, comprising a cap recruiting device (11) adapted to feed a curved channelizer (12) adapted to tip a cap (5) from a configuration with the opening upwards at the inlet of the channelizer (12) to a configuration with the opening downwards at the outlet of the channelizer (12) at a loading surface (13). A horizontal pusher (22) moves the cap (5) from said loading surface (13) to a housing (23) in a channel (14) in which a stem (24) vertically slides and is adapted to move the cap (5) upwards in a test tube closing device (9) comprising a movable head (26) adapted to grip the cap (5) pushed by the stem (24) and to close the open test tube blocked at a working point of the conveyor.
US08397456B2
The invention relates to a method for applying to a flooring panel a layer designed to reduce the footfall sound on the floor, and a panel of this kind. With the prior art, it is disadvantageous that the sound-insulation layer is glued onto the laminate panel in a subsequent manufacturing stage. Accordingly, the panel is initially manufactured by pressing with the associated gluing of layers and/or papers. The sound-insulation layer is glued in place in a subsequent operational stage. PVA-glues, thermoplastics or wood glues may be used, for example, to attach the sound-insulation layer. In the manufacture of a panel with a carrier board, decorative paper, counteracting paper and/or a wood veneer, an additional layer, preferably in the form of a sheet or a roll, is provided. The material of this roll or sheet product is designed to provide the desired sound-insulation properties as described above and/or provides these properties when a panel is being walked over. The roll or sheet product is placed in a press and pressed together with the other components at a temperature of at least 100° C.
US08397446B2
A composite roofing board is provided, including a layer of bituminous core material having pieces or particles of shingles, rolled roofing, etc. that have been broken-up or comminuted therein, with the core material having layers of mat material on opposite surfaces thereof, also in layers, and with an adhesive applied to an outer surface of one of the layers of mat material, with a peelable and removable release liner layer covering the adhesive. The various layers are provided as a sandwich, to make the composite board. A plurality of composite boards may be applied to a roof deck or other roof structure, and they can be butt-joined and taped together with a joint tape. The method of making the composite board can be continuous.
US08397443B2
A bar system for building, the system provided with a plurality of bars, a level adjustment mechanism, and a dampener. Each of the bars having a recess positioned in a shank portion, with bars being adapted in use to at least partly enclose the level adjustment mechanism. The level adjustment mechanism including level adjustable projections adapted to project from the bars against a support structure, and provided with a surface which extends in a longitudinal direction of the bars, as seen in the use of the system, and with engagement adapted for engagement with recess. The shank, which the recesses that is adapted to engage with the engagement, is adapted to press the engagement towards level adjustment during application of the bars to the level adjustment, and recess is adapted to allow the engagement for moving resiliently back for engagement with recess in an interconnected position.
US08397438B2
Flashing systems for use with metal and non-metal roof systems are provided having a generally planar lead base defining an aperture, a generally cylindrical structure attached to the base in surrounding relation with the aperture and projecting upward therefrom, and an adhesive sealing membrane attached to the bottom of the base for connecting the flashing to a roof. A flexible plastic downspout allows flashing system to adapt to various roof slope and roof penetration configurations. The downspout may be include a plurality of diametrically reducing stepped sections such that the installing technician is able to simply cut the stepped plastic downspout to the size that will accommodate the roof penetration pipe.
US08397431B2
An ejection system for a window pane or panel which is affixed to a frame structure with at least one clamping seal. The system has means for ejecting the panel or window pane from the clamping seal and (a) a frame part with a housing which surrounds the inner face of the window pane or panel along a peripheral path, wherein the housing has an open end facing the window pane or panel; (b) an inflatable seal arranged in the housing; (c) a pressure source which is joined to the inflatable seal; and (d) an emergency actuation means to release pressure from the gas pressure source. The released air or gas expands the inflatable seal which pushes the window pane or panel out of the clamping seal.
US08397429B2
Methods and apparatus for facilitating the germination of seeds and growth of seedlings. One aspect of the invention provides a seed kit. The seed kit may comprise a biodegradable germination cup having a base having one or more apertures, a one-piece biodegradable germination pad capable of retaining water and sized to be received in the base of the germination cup without falling through the one or more apertures, and a biodegradable seedling cup sized to receive the germination cup. The seed kit may further comprise other components, such as a growth medium, a seed, a lid/base, a stirring stick, etc. Another aspect of the invention relates to methods wherein a seed is germinated and nurtured to a seedling by using a germination pad, a germination cup, and a seedling cup.
US08397428B2
A recipient for containing moist substrate, which recipient includes a flexible polymer wall having an outer surface and at least one gas exchanging membrane, which gas exchanging membrane is hermetically sealed to the outer surface of the flexible polymer wall along a sealing line. The sealing line defining a hermetically sealed area of the flexible polymer wall. The flexible polymer wall includes at least one aperture, being provided in this hermetically sealed area of the flexible polymer wall. The recipient further includes a mechanism for creating an air chamber circumscribed by the hermetically sealed area and the gas exchanging membrane, for preventing moist substrate to contact the gas exchanging membrane when the recipient is filled with moist substrate.
US08397424B2
A fishing pole holder can be inserted into the ground into a variety of types of dirt, soil and sand, can receive and maintain the handle of a fishing pole, and be removed from the ground and easily transported when not in use. The fishing pole holder includes a first end having a receiving cavity configured to receive the stock of a fishing pole, and a second end having a plurality of teeth for insertion into the ground, so as to securely anchor the second end into the ground.
US08397416B2
A multi-caliber firearm has a breech sleeve connecting a barrel to a receiver and a stock. The stock includes a forward V-block and a rearward V-block. Each of the V-blocks defines a V-cut along a top portion and a through hole substantially aligned with the cross-sectional center of the V-block. The forward V-block extends through a cutout portion of the receiver and into the breech sleeve. The breech sleeve is fastened to the stock through the through hole in the forward V-block to provide a rigid connection between the stock and the breech sleeve. The receiver is fastened to the stock through the through hole in the rearward V-block to provide a rigid connection between the receiver and the stock.
US08397415B2
A multi-caliber firearm has a breech sleeve connecting a barrel to a receiver and a stock. The stock includes a forward V-block and a rearward V-block. Each of the V-blocks defines a V-cut along a top portion and a through hole substantially aligned with the cross-sectional center of the V-block. The forward V-block extends through a cutout portion of the receiver and into the breech sleeve. The breech sleeve is fastened to the stock through the through hole in the forward V-block to provide a rigid connection between the stock and the breech sleeve. The receiver is fastened to the stock through the through hole in the rearward V-block to provide a rigid connection between the receiver and the stock.
US08397412B2
An efficient system and method for mounting an image composed of a plurality of subimages comprises a back panel onto which the subimages are mounted, and a transparent or translucent cover plate. In the preferred embodiment, the images are printed on borderless labels having a low-tack or low-aggressive type adhesive. The back panel and transparent cover plate are preferably dimensionally the same, and both may include aligned through-holes. The back panel may includes visual indicia such as score lines or alpha/numeric placement indicia to aid in mounting the subimages. The back panel and cover plate are preferably held together with a plurality of clips. An assembly method is also disclosed.
US08397410B1
A tabbed note includes a note sheet having an opening and at least two slits and a binder clip. Both slits extend to touch the opening. One slit extends to touch an edge of the note. A binder clip is inserted into one of the slits and positioned to block the opening from a front view of the tabbed note.
US08397395B2
The invention relates to an optical sensor with collision protection for a measurement machine, in particular for a coordinate measurement machine. The optical sensor comprises a sensor-side coupling part for mechanically and optically connecting to the measurement machine, and a sensor element. According to the invention, the sensor comprises a sensor protective coupling as collision protection, said protective coupling comprising a coupling part on the measurement machine side and a coupling part on the sensor element side, wherein a fiber optic cable is routed between the coupling parts of the sensor protective coupling and wherein a fiber optic cable protection element surrounds the fiber optic cable, wherein the ends of the fiber optic cable protection element are fastened to the associated coupling part of the sensor protective coupling.
US08397383B2
The method is used for making an annular gas turbine engine case from a preform. The method comprises comprising flowforming at least one section of the preform, and then outwardly bending at least one portion of the perform.
US08397375B2
A modular transfer system for workpieces. Workpiece carriers are positioned in a manufacturing module with the same CNC (x-y) axis systems and the same servo drives the workpiece carrier and transfers such between modules. A separate conveyor belt is thus not required for the transfer.
US08397367B2
In some embodiments, the present invention provides a mower including a frame having a front portion and a rear portion, at least one front wheel coupled to the front portion of the frame, and two drive wheels on substantially opposite sides of the rear portion of the frame. Each drive wheel is coupled to the frame by a first link pivotably coupled at one end to the front portion of the frame and at an opposite end to the drive wheel, and a second link pivotably coupled at one end to the rear portion of the frame and at an opposite end to the drive wheel. The mower also includes at least one spring positioned to bias the drive wheels in a downward direction. Each of the drive wheels are movable upward and downward relative to the frame.
US08397365B2
A rack disassembly tool includes a substantially planar U-shaped collar having a pair of legs extending from a base. A pair of hook members depend downwardly from the distal ends of the pair of legs. A pair of resilient bumpers, or other resilient pads, are mounted in a corresponding pair of elbows formed at junctions between the pair of legs and the pair of hook members.
US08397364B2
First and second components can be releasably coupled together with a locking pin having a sacrificial o-ring. The first and second components have respective first and second openings that are aligned with each other and receive the locking pin. The second opening has a square edge located adjacent to a recess in the first opening. The o-ring has an outside diameter greater than the diameter of the square edge and an inside diameter less than the diameter of the square edge when assembled. The locking pin is inside of the first and second openings, with the o-ring inside of the recess. To release the components, the locking pin is moved out of the first opening to shear the o-ring against the square edge.
US08397362B2
The invention relates to a device for setting a fastener element (55) having an inner pin (56) slidable relative to an outer body (57) and comprising a locking arrangement (32, 33; 38, 39) comprising a bolt (19) provided for acting on the inner pin (56) and secured in a retracted position against axial displacement into an advanced position after relatively spacing a handle body (52) and an actuating organ (8, 46). When the actuating organ (8, 46) is actuated by a displacement opposite the retraction direction, an unlatching organ (40, 41) acts on the locking arrangement (32, 33; 38, 39) and releases the bolt (19) for displacing into the advanced position. Very simple handling of the manually actuated device is thus ensured.
US08397354B2
An elastic attachment strap that has its ends connected together using Velcro-type hook and loop fasteners, where the fasteners are cut into multiple sections that are spaced along the elastic strap, said strips being placed at angles rather than straight across the width of the elastic strap.
US08397353B2
A continuous-coil type waterproof slide fastener includes two support tapes each having opposing first face and second face, two rows of coupling elements respectively formed of a continuous length of monofilament and respectively secured to along the inner longitudinal edge of the second face of each of the two support tapes, a high polymer elastic member bonded to the vertical wall of the inner longitudinal edge of each support tape and transversely extending from the vertical wall of the inner longitudinal edge to a predetermined distance, each high polymer elastic member further having a covering portion on the inner longitudinal edge of the second face of the associating support tape and a filling portion penetrates into inner chinks in the associating row of coupling elements, and a fluid impervious film covered at least on the first face of each support tape and the associating high polymer elastic member.
US08397349B2
A connection end portion of an inner member is provided with engagement projections and a connection end portion of a stay is formed with reception grooves that are capable of axially receiving the engagement projections. When operation cable is axially inserted into a cylindrical support, the engagement projections are axially received in insertion grooves and are then transferred to terminal end positions thereof that are bent in one circumferential direction by a spring force of a spring member, so as to be elastically retained therein. When the stay is axially inserted into the cylindrical support in this condition, the engagement projections are axially received in the reception grooves and are then moved to terminal end positions thereof that are bent in the other circumferential direction. As a result, the operation cable is positioned in a condition in which the operation cable is suspended in the stay.
US08397347B2
An attempt is made to miniaturize and reduce a thickness of a folding type portable terminal.There are provided a turning shaft member 51 having a shaft section 58; a friction member 54; an urging member 55; and a bearing member 52 including an accommodation section 63 for accommodating the friction member 54 and the urging member 55 and an insertion hole 62 which is in mutual communication with the accommodation section 63 and which retains the shaft section 58 in a turnable manner. The urging member 55 urges the friction member 54 when predetermined deflection is imparted to the urging member 55. The urged friction member 54 contacts an outer periphery of the shaft section 58 and also urges the outer periphery of the shaft section 58. The shaft section 58 of the turning shaft member 51 is configured so as to turn while generating sliding friction against the friction member 54 and the bearing member 52.
US08397333B2
A floor cleaning machine is provided that includes a chassis that supports at least one cleaning element. The chassis is supported by a plurality of wheels, one which is steerable via a steering wheel that is interconnected to a housing also associated with the chassis. The chassis provided includes a plurality of movable housing members, one of which is associated with the steering wheel. To access the internal components of the floor cleaning machine, the front housing is rotated or moved away from the other housings wherein the steering wheel does not require disconnection to allow this movement.
US08397329B2
A loading ramp for a vehicle that includes at least three articulated sections. The ramp is assembled to and stored on a floor of the vehicle. The ramp is extended from the vehicle with at least one section being retained on the floor. The sections outboard of the vehicle are retained in alignment at a ramp angle with the first section being pivoted relative to the last floor retained section to the ramp angle. A power extension and retraction device may be provided that drives the loading ramp reciprocally relative to the vehicle. Side edge guards are provided on the sides of the loading ramp and may be folded over when the loading ramp is stored.
US08397325B2
This air cell cushion has a pair of side air cells extending upwardly from the upper surface side of the base member at both end sides in the lateral direction of the base member. The side air cells have a larger front-rear direction size than in the lateral direction thereof. Also, each side air cell is configured to inflate outward in the lateral direction. By this, in a case in which the side air cells face the armrests of the wheel chair, when the side air cells are inflated outward in the lateral direction, the outer side surfaces of the side air cells abut against or become adjacent to the armrests.
US08397318B2
The system for flushing a vacuum toilet contains a urinal basin having a drain, which is connected to a drain line, and a bypass line, into which the drain line discharges, and which is connectable via a suction valve to a vacuum system. By generating a main air current in the bypass line and a secondary air current in the drain line, a noise emission in the area of the urinal basin may be significantly reduced.
US08397314B2
An article of clothing includes a front portion, a rear portion oppositely positioned from the front portion, a waistband encircling a top of each of the front portion and the rear portion, a right leg panel and a left leg panel extending downward from the waistband in the rear portion, a rear right band extending downward from the waistband and flanking a lateral edge of the right leg panel, a rear left band extending downward from the waistband and flanking a lateral edge of the left leg panel, a material void region in the rear portion forming a gap between the rear right band and the rear left band, and a sacrum guide that runs horizontally between the rear right band and the rear left band.
US08402560B2
A scanning probe microscope compensates for relative drift between its upper structure that includes a probe and a scanner that scans the probe in a straight line and a lower structure that includes a sample stage and a scanner that scans the sample stage in a plane. A light beam from the upper structure is initially aligned with a center of a position sensitive photo detector (PSPD) disposed on the lower structure at a predetermined position of the sample stage and any subsequent misalignments of the light beam with the center of the PSPD at the predetermined position of the sample stage are determined to be caused by drift and compensated by the scanning probe microscope.
US08402559B2
Methods and apparatus for determining, in a reliable manner, a port, physical location and/or device identifier, such as a MAC address, associated with a device using an IP address and for using such information, e.g., to support one or more security applications is described. Supported security applications include restricting access to services based on the location of a device seeking access to a service, determining the location of stolen devices, and verifying the location of the source of a message or other IP signal, e.g., to determine if a prisoner is contacting a monitoring service from a predetermined location.
US08402558B2
A system and method of encrypting digital content in a digital container and securely locking the encrypted content to a particular user and/or computer or other computing device is provided. The system uses a token-based authentication and authorization procedure and involves the use of an authentication/authorization server. This system provides a high level of encryption security equivalent to that provided by public key/asymmetric cryptography without the complexity and expense of the associated PKI infrastructure. The system enjoys the simplicity and ease of use of single key/symmetric cryptography without the risk inherent in passing unsecured hidden keys. The secured digital container when locked to a user or user's device may not open or permit access to the contents if the digital container is transferred to another user's device. The digital container provides a secure technique of distributing electronic content such as videos, text, data, photos, financial data, sales solicitations, or the like.
US08402557B2
The present invention provides systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway.”
US08402556B2
Systems, methods, software, and apparatus are described for facilitating the distribution and management of fragmented content. In one embodiment, a packager packages content into fragments and generates a manifest including policies and metadata associated with the content. A downloader obtains the manifest, and uses it to obtain the content from one or more uploaders. For example, a downloader might forward a search request to one or more trackers, which, in turn, are operable to locate one or more uploaders that can meet the request, subject to any relevant policy limitations. The uploaders forward fragments to the downloader, subject to any relevant policy. The downloader assembles the content from the fragments. The operations and interactions of the entities can be subject to policy limitations associated with the fragments, the content as a whole, or the like.
US08402551B2
A method for setting digital rights associated with content the method includes receiving a request from a user to access content comprising digital rights defined by a first set of attributes, identifying if the user has existing digital rights to the content, wherein the existing digital rights is defined by a second set of attributes, and modifying the existing digital rights associated with the content to include the first set of attributes. A terminal for issuing digital rights includes a digital rights management (DRM) server for issuing a rights object to a terminal or a content server; and a content server for encoding content using encryption keys issued from the DRM server and providing encoded content to the terminal in response to a content download request wherein the DRM server also issues content encryption keys to the content server.
US08402549B2
A protection method of application software is executed by initiating the first program transmitted from a server via a network on a client, and the method divides an execution result of the application software executed on the client into a plurality of pieces of intermediate data in accordance with distribution arrangement information reported by the server, distributes and arranges the plurality of pieces of intermediate data in the server and the client, transmits to the server notice information including a data length and arranged location information of each piece of the distributed and arranged plurality of pieces of intermediate data, rearranges the distributed and arranged plurality of pieces of intermediate data in the original order of the execution result of the application software on the basis of the notice information, generates in the server a second program for generating the execution result, and transmits the second program to the client.
US08402539B1
A method for detecting malware may include 1) receiving a request to determine whether a connection from a client device to a server is being blocked, 2) attempting to connect to the server from a kernel mode of the client device, 3) determining that the client device successfully connected to the server from the kernel mode, 4) attempting to connect to the server from a user mode of the client device, 5) determining that the client device did not successfully connect to the server from the user mode, 6) determining, based on the client device successfully connecting to the server from the kernel mode and failing to connect to the server from the user mode, that malware is blocking the connection from the client device to the server, and 7) in response to determining that the malware is blocking the connection, performing at least one security action.
US08402538B2
There is provided a method and system for detecting and responding to harmful traffic. The system includes a router determining whether or not received data is harmful traffic, by using a dynamic flow identification (DFI) function and a deep packet inspection (DPI) function, sending Cflowd information of the received data, and then encapsulating the received data when the received data is determined to be harmful traffic, a policy & resource control entity receiving the Cflowd information from the router, determining whether or not the received data is harmful traffic by using the received Cflowd information, and then sending a result of the determination to the router, and a security management server receiving the encapsulated data from the router, reconfirming whether or not the encapsulated data is harmful traffic, and then processing the encapsulated data.
US08402536B2
A configurable logic component is shown with a signature generator, responsive to a commanded configuration information signal from a processor, for providing a signed commanded configuration information signal, and with a memory device, responsive to the signed commanded configuration information signal from the signature generator, for storing the signed commanded configuration information signal in the configurable logic component for use by the processor in checking a current configuration of the configurable logic component against a trusted signed configuration file to ensure the current configuration matches the commanded configuration and allowing use of the configurable logic component in case of a match.
US08402529B1
A system and method for preventing propagation of malicious content associated with an electronic message are disclosed. An electronic message and content associated with the electronic message is simulated in a virtual machine which emulates the destination computing device of the electronic message. A virtual firewall receives one or more commands as the electronic message or content associated with an electronic message is executed. Initially, the virtual firewall establishes a network connection and determines the type of action associated with the commands. If the type of action comprises a connection maintenance or configuration command, the network connection is maintained. If the type of action comprises a data transmission command, the network connection is terminated. This allows the virtual machine to simulate performance of a networked computer by transmitting a subset of the data through a network connection.
US08402527B2
Techniques are disclosed for an identity broker to authenticate users to a network device, system, or hosted application that uses certain legacy protocols for user authentication. For example, the identity broker may be configured to respond to a user authentication request from a network device formatted as a RADIUS or LDAP message. The identity broker may operate in conjunction with an identity provider to authenticate a user requesting access to a computing resource (e.g., to the network device, system, or hosted application).
US08402526B2
A combination includes a user-portable computing device, and an identity selector adapted for interoperable use with the user device. The user computing device includes a security token service that issues security tokens in reference to a portfolio of user identities stored as information cards on the user device. The issuance of security tokens employs user attribute information that is stored onboard the user device. The identity selector exports the information cards from the user device and determines which user identity satisfies a security policy promulgated by a relying party as part of an authentication process within the context of an online interaction. The identity selector generates a token request based on one of the eligible user identities, and forwards the token request to the user device to invoke the token issuance operation. The identity selector presents the issued security token to the relying party to comply with the security policy.
US08402524B2
An ID bridge service system manages a type and assurance of identity information required for provision of service by an application service system and a type and assurance of identity information managed by plural authentication service systems, and is provided with a selecting measure that selects an authentication service system that manages identity information corresponding to the identity information required for the provision of the service by the application service system out of the plural authentication service systems when a request for authentication is received from the application service system and a requesting measure that requests the selected authentication service system to authenticate.
US08402517B2
A content distribution system may be provided for reviewing content such as video games, music, movies, or the like that may be shared by the system. The content distribution system may receive a credential from a user and authenticate the user based on the credential to permit access to the system. The content distribution system may also receive content generated by the user if the user may be authenticated. The content distribution system may provide the received content to a content evaluation entity, for example. The content distribution system may receive a review for the content from the content review entity and then may determine whether the content passes a review process based on the review, for example. The content distribution system may provide additional access to the content if the content passes the review process.
US08402510B2
A system and method for managing communication. The system and method applying to but not limited to settop boxes (STBs) and other devices used to interface services. The management including any number of features and processes associated with achieving Quality of Service (QoS) across different domains and according to network limitations associated with the same.
US08402505B2
A remote control unit for a video receiver may be utilized to display information about enhanced content available in conjunction with a video broadcast. The information displayed on the remote control unit display may provide information about available enhanced content, advertising, or even the status of connected devices, such as telephones, computer systems, digital video disk players, and video cassette recorders. By transmitting the data from the video receiver to the remote control unit, the information is available to the user without interrupting the display on the user's video receiver.
US08402502B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, presenting a plurality of unassociated media programs from a single presentation device having overlapping presentation periods, receiving information from a viewing apparatus to adjust an intensity of emitted light associated with one of the unassociated media programs, and adjusting the intensity of the emitted light in a manner that is detectable by the viewing apparatus supplying the information. Other embodiments are disclosed and contemplated.
US08402493B2
A method and system are disclosed for providing community defined and/or controlled channels where content for a channel may be continuously streamed to users based on input from users that participate in the channel. Channel definitions and content for different community channels may be stored in a community channel store within an on-demand media server capable of streaming content to subscribing users. One or more channels may be defined in the community channel store by a server administrator. Certain users may also have the ability to create channels within the community channel store. Each channel may be related to a topic, theme, type of content or anything of interest to a particular community of users. Content is added to each channel, which content is streamed to users continuously in a predetermined channel lineup. Ideally, there will be one or more channels that are tailored to a given community of users' viewing wishes, so that a user in that community may simply access a community channel and receive content that they are interested in without having to actively select the content they receive.
US08402489B2
To make it possible for a user to smoothly find content which satisfies the user's current taste without the need to carry out a troublesome input operation. Each of the content reproduction devices reproduces a content selected from among one or more reproduction object contents according to designation by the user. The content presentation assistance server analyzes, for every user attribute, relevance of one or more symbols relevant to each of the contents reproduced according to the designation of the user having that user attribute, and sends an analyzed result to the content reproduction used by the user having user attribute relevant to that analyzed result. Each of the content reproduction devices acquires, for the content, one or more relevant symbols, and displays content relevance information which describes the relevance of the reproduction object contents based on the symbols and the analyzed result.
US08402487B2
When searching for programs similar to a program designated by a viewer, a program selection support device not only searches for similar programs based on program-related information such as program contents, but also determines an algorithm used for similarity judgment based on viewer-related information, such as a program viewing history of a viewer, personal information of the viewer, evaluations by other viewers, and information added by a program producer, or based on a category of the designated program, and searches for similar programs using the determined algorithm. The program selection support device displays the programs found as a result of the search.
US08402480B2
The Swimlane Timeline application for task data visualization utilizes the Microsoft Visio Application Programming Interface (API) to visualize user specified task data. The task data includes one or more of: task name, task outline number, task start date, and/or task finish date. The application solicits, interprets, and visualizes the data by mapping the user selected top-level outline number “n” as the parent task that defines the timeline and title, the “n.n” child tasks to swim lane rows, and the “n.n.n . . . ” lower level tasks to intervals and milestones within the swim lanes. Task analysis and reporting are enhanced with features including task drill-in, task filtering, and other user visualization preferences.
US08402477B2
An information processing apparatus can easily delete drivers which become unnecessary as a result of removal of a peripheral device shared on a network or cancellation of a sharing setting. A driver deletion notification including the designation of a driver is input via an external network. In response to the deletion notification, the designated driver is deleted.
US08402474B2
A message sending method is disclosed includes: receiving a message containing a plurality of requested programs, the plurality of requested programs being provided by a plurality of content service systems; separating the received message containing the plurality of requested programs into a plurality of sub-messages; and sending the separated plurality of sub-messages to corresponding ones of the plurality of content service systems. The invention also relates to a message sending device and a message transmission system.
US08402472B2
Provided is a network management system notification shortcut relating to control of an event notification shortcut in a network management system. The network management system comprising: a probe for intercepting a system event from a monitored system and creating an event item or modifying an event item associated with the system event; a collection database server for collecting a new event item or modification to an existing event item and forwarding a event notification to a second database server; a second database server for receiving the event notification, requesting the event item data or modification data and forwarding the event item to a first client; a first client for receiving the event notification and requesting the event item data or modification data; whereby the collection database server sends the event notification directly to the first client bypassing the second database server if the event satisfies a priority condition.
US08402464B2
Transactional Lock Elision (TLE) may allow threads in a multi-threaded system to concurrently execute critical sections as speculative transactions. Such speculative transactions may abort due to contention among threads. Systems and methods for managing contention among threads may increase overall performance by considering both local and global execution data in reducing, resolving, and/or mitigating such contention. Global data may include aggregated and/or derived data representing thread-local data of remote thread(s), including transactional abort history, abort causal history, resource consumption history, performance history, synchronization history, and/or transactional delay history. Local and/or global data may be used in determining the mode by which critical sections are executed, including TLE and mutual exclusion, and/or to inform concurrency throttling mechanisms. Local and/or global data may also be used in determining concurrency throttling parameters (e.g., delay intervals) used in delaying a thread when attempting to execute a transaction and/or when retrying a previously aborted transaction.
US08402463B2
A determination of processor core utilization by a plurality of hardware threads over a time interval is made through a division of a length of the time interval by a total count of the plurality of hardware threads.
US08402461B2
A first virtual machine is implemented on one or more computing devices to generate input/output (I/O) requests to a hardware device. A second virtual machine is also implemented on the computing devices. A mechanism is to switch between a direct mode and an indirect mode without switching between a first context and a second context of the hardware device. In the direct mode, the I/O requests generated by the first virtual machine are to be sent to the hardware device without being redirected to the second virtual machine. In the indirect mode, the I/O requests generated by the first virtual machine are to be redirected to the second virtual machine for processing. The second virtual machine is to, after processing the I/O requests redirected to the second virtual machine, send the I/O requests to the hardware device.
US08402457B2
A content distribution method distributes a package containing a content from a content distribution apparatus to a terminal of a content distribution destination and causes the terminal to expand and display the content contained in the distributed package by using expansion software provided in the terminal. Update data of the expansion software is inserted in the package in addition to the content. When the terminal cannot expand the content by using the expansion software provided in it, the terminal updates the expansion software provided in it by using the update data contained in the distributed package and expands the content by using the updated expansion software.
US08402451B1
A dual evaluation mode method for use with computer software that includes the acts of determining, for certain functions and expressions within input computer code, whether each function and expression may have any recursive dependencies, generating eager evaluation mode executable code for one or more elements of the input computer code based on the act of determining and providing both eager evaluation mode executable code and non-eager evaluation mode executable code to runtime software that supports both eager and non-eager evaluation modes.
US08402444B2
An analysis engine is described for performing static analysis using CEGAR loop functionality, using a combination of forward and backward validation-phase trace analyses. The analysis engine includes a number of features. For example: (1) the analysis engine can operate on blocks of program statements of different adjustable sizes; (2) the analysis engine can identify a subtrace of the trace and perform analysis on that subtrace (rather than the full trace); (3) the analysis engine can form a pyramid of state conditions and extract predicates based on the pyramid and/or from auxiliary source(s); (4) the analysis engine can generate predicates using an increasingly-aggressive series of available discovery techniques; (5) the analysis engine can selectively concretize procedure calls associated with the trace on an as-needed basis and perform other refinements; and (6) the analysis engine can add additional verification targets in the course of its analysis, etc.
US08402441B2
A method is provided for monitoring registered code in a virtual machine of a virtualization system. The method includes instantiating a guest in the virtual machine of the virtualization system and monitoring execution of code registered for monitored execution in an execution context of the guest. The monitoring is performed by the virtualization system and is hidden from computations of the guest.
US08402437B2
A computer implemented method for updating initialization parameters for application software from within a software development environment. The method involves changing a value of at least one initialization parameter contained in a configuration file of a developer computer system. The method also involves starting application software deployed on an application server in response to the value change. Thereafter, the configuration file including the changed value of the initialization parameter is communicated from the developer computer system to the application server. Once the configuration file is received at the application server, the application software is initialized using the configuration file.
US08402432B2
A system and method of creating and communicating with wireless component applications is provided. Mobile communication devices communicate with a web service via a wireless network, the Internet, and optionally a message-map service. Each wireless component application is executed by a component framework on one of the mobile communication devices, and comprises data components, presentation components, message components, and workflow components. The component framework executes the component application in an application container which provides access to framework services which include a communication service, a screen service, a persistence service, an access service, a provisioning service, and a utility service. Messages can be sent from the component application to the message-map service, which converts each of the messages to a format required by the web service using an application message-map, and then sends the message to the web service. The web service sends a response to the message-map service, which converts the response to the format required by the wireless component application, and sends the response to the wireless component application.
US08402426B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing a make to stock process. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service interface operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include an Accounting process component; a Production process component; a Site Logistics process component; a Confirmation and Inventory process component; a Customer Requirement Processing process component; a Demand Forecast Processing process component; a Supply and Demand Matching process component; a Production Trigger and Response process component; an In-house Requirement Processing process component; a Sales Scheduling Agreement Processing process component; and a Demand Planning process component.
US08402420B2
A method for designing an optimal wiring topology for electromigration avoidance is disclosed. The wiring topology includes multiple sources, multiple sinks and multiple wires. The method includes the following steps: A feasible wire, a wire of the shortest length connecting each pair of source and sink, is calculated, and the capacity of each feasible wire is decided. An initial feasible topology is found. A flow network is created based on the initial topology. Negative cycles are iteratively checked and removed until no more negative cycles.
US08402411B1
A method and system are described for generating a performance prediction report to assist finalizing a partitioning scheme of a block diagram model. Providing a user-defined partitioning scheme and information describing a target hardware platform used in that partitioning scheme, the present invention can generate a performance prediction report by analyzing the computational characteristics of the block diagram model.
US08402409B1
Method and apparatus for generating an implementation of a program language circuit description for a programmable logic device (PLD) is described. In one example, the program language circuit description is analyzed to identify constructs indicative of dynamic function re-assignment. A hardware description of the program language circuit description is generated. The hardware description includes a plurality of implementations responsive to the identified constructs. Physical implementation data is generated from the hardware description. The physical implementation includes a plurality of partial configurations for the PLD based on the respective plurality of implementations in the hardware description.
US08402406B2
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are disclosed for controlling plating stub reflections in a chip package. In one embodiment, a resonance optimizer determines performance characteristics of a bond wire that connects a chip to a substrate of a semiconductor chip mount. In this embodiment, the resonance optimizer selects, based on the performance characteristics of the bond wire, a line width for an open-ended plating stub that extends from a signal interconnect of the substrate to a periphery of the substrate, The resonance optimizer also generates a design of signal traces for the substrate, where the signal traces include the open-ended plating stub with the selected line width.
US08402402B1
A method for determining simultaneous switching noise for multiple Input/Output (I/O) standards is provided by calculating incremental noise for the multiple I/O standards by considering a cumulative amount of noise contributed by previously assigned pins. In another embodiment, the number of pins being placed is considered rather than the cumulative amount of noise. When considering the cumulative amount of noise the I/O noise from corresponding I/O standards are characterized and a greater contributor is identified so that the I/O standard associated with the greater contributor can be assigned.
US08402398B2
A mechanism is provided for reducing through process delay variation in metal wires by layout retargeting. The mechanism performs initial retargeting, decomposition, and resolution enhancement techniques. For example, the mechanism may perform optical proximity correction. The mechanism then performs lithographic simulation and optical rules checking. The mechanism provides retargeting rules developed based on coupling lithography simulation and resistance/capacitance (RC) extraction. The mechanism performs RC extraction to capture non-linear dependency of RC on design shape dimensions. If the electrical properties in the lithographic simulation are within predefined specifications, the mechanism accepts the retargeting rules; however, if the electrical properties from RC extraction are outside the predefined specifications, the mechanism modifies the retargeting rules and repeats resolution enhancement techniques.
US08402394B2
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for visualizing content of one or more websites are provided. An amount of available content contained by at least one website is determined. A three-dimensional object is displayed having a surface. Each location of the surface of the three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the website(s). A user is enabled to select a location of the surface of the three-dimensional object. The selected location is mapped to the corresponding portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the website(s). Content of the website(s) corresponding to the selected location, such as a web page, video, audio, an RSS feed, etc., can be accessed by selection of the location. Interaction of the user with the website(s) can be tracked, and the resulting tracking information can be displayed on the three-dimensional object.
US08402392B2
Method and apparatus for providing access to and working with architectural drawings on the internet
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide access to architectural documents in a network based on-line web based system. Servers that are accessible from the Internet maintain persistent multiple architectural documents of different media types. An online user is provided, from the servers via the Internet, a set of basic virtual design tools that have persistent properties and may be copied. The virtual design tools may also be utilized to work with the architectural documents. A workspace is also provided for viewing, accessing, and modifying the architectural documents.
US08402387B1
A generic model of behavior pattern of general users is established. Information about a specific user is obtained from one or more electronic messages associated with the specific user, and a specific model of behavior pattern of the specific user is established based on the information about the specific user. Ads are identified based on the generic model and the specific model.
US08402380B2
A calendar application is disclosed for providing special occasion event highlighting and differentiation. The calendar application program according to the present system provides a special occasion interface which presents a high level view of all significant events for a given time period. The special occasion interface includes a plurality of special occasion event objects which can be dragged and positioned on a grid to represent special occasions of emotional or other significance to the user.
US08402376B2
An appliance development toolkit includes access to user interface domain data, an editor configured to create one or more instances of user interface control data, to create a map for associating the instances with one or more resource identifiers, and to create a map for associating one or more theme identifiers with the resource identifiers. The toolkit also has a converter for creating content based on the instances of user interface control data and the maps. The content is in a builder file. An appliance, having a graphical user interface with which a user can control and observe operation of the appliance, can use the builder file at runtime to dynamically render its graphical user interface based on resources in response to selection of a theme.
US08402374B1
An audience platform is disclosed. In a first example case, a first question is received. A preference event associated with the first question is received. A score is determined for the first question based at least in part on the preference. In a second example case, indications of a first and second potential interviewee are received. Preference events associated with the first and second potential interviewees are received. Scores are determined for the first and second potential interviewees based at least in part on the received preference events. A designated interviewee is selected based on the first and second scores. In a third example case, indications of a first and second potential awardee are received. Preference events associated with the first and second potential awardee are received. Scores are determined for the first and second potential awardees based at least in part on the received preference events.
US08402357B1
A software system and method that allows web site operators to adapt web pages for posting of public and private user comments. An administrator accesses a web site to enter data for creating reader comment areas. HTML code for the reader comment areas is generated for insertion into web pages. When the web page containing the code is posted to a web site, the code results in a reader comment display page where web site visitors can comment on the content of the particular web page where the reader comment area appears. Comments are saved at a remote web site accessible to the administrator. The administrator may review and manage the reader comments. A reader who makes a comment on a web page has the option of creating a personal journal comprising all comments entered by the reader at any web page enabled according to the invention.
US08402345B1
Systems and methods are provided for performing multilevel coset coding and probabilistic error correction. Multiple bit data is encoded in a memory by combining one of the bit positions of multiple data values and encoding the combination to form a codeword. A data point containing a bit error is determined by decoding a codeword associated with one of the bit positions. A first coset corresponding to a data point with the error is determined where the coset includes labels representing non-adjacent analog signal levels. Labels in a second coset that includes mutually exclusive labels from the first coset are analyzed to select a label representing a signal level that is closest in proximity to the signal level represented by the data point containing the bit error than the other labels in the second coset. The data point error is corrected by replacing the data point with the selected label.
US08402329B2
Flip-flops 201 to 206 constitute a scan path shift register. During shift mode operation, a clock signal CLK is supplied to clock terminals of the flip-flops 201, 203, and 205, a signal obtained by having an inverted clock control circuit 303 reverse the phase of the clock signal CLK is supplied to clock terminals of the flip-flops 202 and 206, and a normal/inverted clock control circuit 404 supplies a signal having the same phase as the clock signal CLK to a clock terminal of the flip-flop 204 having no sufficient setup time.
US08402321B2
A system and method of providing driver software to a test controller to facilitate testing by a wireless transceiver tester of a device under test (DUT). Using the wireless transceiver tester, executable tester instructions are accessed from one or more computer readable media and in accordance therewith bi-directional signal communications are established between the wireless transceiver tester and the test controller, and between the wireless transceiver tester and the DUT. Further accessed are executable driver instructions, including a plurality of executable driver program instructions for driving at least one of the wireless transceiver tester and the DUT, which are communicated to the test controller.
US08402314B2
A method and apparatus of stopping a functional block of an integrated circuit (IC) for debugging purposes is disclosed. In one embodiment, an IC includes a number of functional units accessible by an external debugger via a debug port (DP). During a debug operation, a power controller in the IC may power down a functional unit. When the functional unit is powered off, a first register may be programmed. Responsive to the programming of the first register, a first signal may be asserted and provided to the functional unit. When power is restored to the functional unit, operation of the functional unit may be halted prior to execution of instructions or other operations, responsive to the signal.
US08402313B1
One disclosed system and method enables dynamic reconfiguration of an electronic device in association with testing activities in a convenient and efficient manner. In one implementation, the electronic device includes a bus for communicating information, a microprocessor for processing data, a programmable functional component including a plurality of functional blocks programmable to provide a plurality of functions and configurations, and a memory for storing instructions including instructions for causing the programmable functional component to change functions and configurations. The components are programmably configurable to perform a variety of functions. In one example, the memory stores a plurality of configuration images that define the configuration and functionality of the circuit. The information stored in the memory facilitates dynamic reconfiguration of the circuit in accordance with the test harness instructions. Based upon a command from a test computer, the electronic device is automatically reconfigured by the test harness activating different configuration images.
US08402303B2
The embodiments disclose a method for encoder frequency-shift compensation, including, determining frequency values of an input encoder signal, analyzing an encoder index clock signal and the input encoder signal to determine values of frequency-shifts and compensating for the values of the frequency-shifts to generate a frequency-shift compensated clock.
US08402302B2
An electronic timer system includes a counter-based time generator for continuously generating raw base time, and a translator for translating between raw base time and local precise time. The counter-based time generator is driven by an oscillator. The timer system further includes a temperature sensor placed in the proximity of the oscillator or a crystal used by the oscillator, and a look-up control table holding temperature values associated with corresponding control values representative of the configurable parameter value A. The look-up control table is generated when the timer system is synchronized with a synchronization source so that the temperature and control values are characteristic of the operation of the timer system in synchronization. The timer system is also configured for reading, when no synchronization source is available, a temperature value from the temperature sensor, and for extracting, based on the temperature value, a control value from the look-up control table corresponding to a suitable (quantized) representation of the temperature value. The timer system is then able to configure the parameter variable A in accordance with the extracted control value.
US08402300B2
In a device and a method to execute commands in components of an imaging system, in particular of a magnetic resonance tomography system, local clocks in the components are temporally synchronized, commands, including a respective command execution time specification which respectively specifies at which point in time a command should be executed, are sent to the components, the commands are received by the components, commands and command execution time specifications that are received by components are stored in these components, and a stored command is respectively executed when a time indicated by the local clock coincides with the stored command execution time specification regarding the command.
US08402299B2
An electronics device comprising a time information acquisition unit which acquires time information representing present time from an external device, an update unit which updates reference time stored in a reference time storage unit to time represented by the latest time information acquired by the time information acquisition unit each time the time information is acquired, a counter circuit which is formed by hardware and updates its count value at fixed cycles, an elapsed time measurement unit which measures an elapsed time since the update of the reference time by use of the counter circuit, a present time calculation unit which calculates present time by adding the elapsed time to the reference time stored in the reference time storage unit, and a response unit which makes the present time calculation unit calculate the present time and outputs the calculated present time if a present time output request is issued.
US08402290B2
Methods and apparatus relating to power management for multiple processor cores are described. In one embodiment, one or more techniques may be utilized locally (e.g., on a per core basis) to manage power consumption in a processor. In another embodiment, power may be distributed among different power planes of a processor based on energy-based considerations. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US08402275B2
A method and a system is provided for establishing a communications path over a communications network between a personal security device (PSD) and a remote computer system without requiring the converting of high-level messages such as API-level messages to PSD-formatted messages such as APDU-formatted messages (and inversely) to be installed on a local client device in which the PSD is connected.
US08402274B2
A technique for sharing contents data in a network. In order to easily share the contents data in the network without using a physical media apparatus or a personal computer, a contents data providing device for providing the contents data is registered in a server in the network, and after the registration, the contents data is transmitted to the server. A contents data receiving device for receiving the contents data is registered in the server, and after the registration, the registered contents data receiving device is authenticated. According to a result of the authentication, the contents data is transmitted to the contents data receiving device.
US08402270B2
A measurement probe, such as a touch trigger measurement probe, is described that comprises a measurement portion for measuring an object and a data transfer portion for receiving data from and/or transmitting data to an associated unit. The measurement device also comprises an authentication module for verifying the authenticity of the associated unit. The authentication module may include a processor for running a one-way hash algorithm. Authenticity may be established using a challenge and response authentication process.
US08402269B2
A system for controlling exit of saved data from a security zone, comprising an access control device, the access control device comprising an access detection module for detecting access of an application to a security zone and access of an application to a general zone, a target checking module for comparing the application, detected by the access detection module, with a list and then controlling access of the application to the security zone and access of the application to the general zone, and a processing control module for controlling writing of data of the application to the general zone.
US08402266B2
Architecture removes the limitation of a fixed set of roles and scopes, allows more effective permission auditing, and provides a convenient delegation model. Administrators can create roles fine-tuned to business needs without changing permissions on the resources. The new roles can be easily examined and delegated to other administrators. Moreover, scoping and delegation is simplified. This is possible because permissions are granted as a role (a unit of permission assignment is a role), which can include multiple entries. The entries correspond to end-user actions and are not related to implementation-dependent resource rights. The actions can include web services or API calls, script or executable file names, specialized commands that implement particular operation, and associated parameters, etc., essentially any action that the end-user performs.
US08402265B2
At an apparatus, a reading unit reads a document a generation unit and generates a content data from the document and an encryption unit performs encryption processing on the content data using an encryption key and a transmission unit, when an instruction for not using a service for performing processing on the content data provided by a server group and for storing the generated content data in the server group is received, transmits to the server group the content data on which the encryption processing has been performed, and, when an instruction for using the service is received, transmits to the server group the content data on which the encryption processing has not been performed.
US08402257B2
Embodiments include a device, and a method. In an embodiment, a device includes an information store operable to save an execution-optimization information, a first processor, and a hardware circuit. The hardware circuit includes a hardware circuit for altering an execution of a program by the first processor in response to the execution-optimization information. The execution-optimization information created by a hardware device utilizing data collected from a second processor and corresponding to a previous runtime execution by the second processor of at least a portion of the program that was transparent to any software executing on the second processor.
US08402253B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for determining if an instruction of a first thread dispatched from a first queue associated with the first thread is stalled in a pipestage of a pipeline, and if so, dispatching an instruction of a second thread from a second queue associated with the second thread to the pipeline if the second thread is not stalled. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08402241B2
An integrated circuit device includes a first plurality of non-volatile memory locations such as fuses that supply programmed values corresponding to initially selected device features such as voltage, frequency, clock speed, and cache parameters. The device is programmed with a lock value in a second plurality of non-volatile memory locations. That lock value may be a randomly generated number that is unique for each device. After initial programming of the device, access to the device is prevented by appropriately programming access control. In order to unlock the device and modify device features, an unlock key value is supplied to the device. If the unlock key value correctly corresponds to the lock value, the device features can be modified. In that way device features can be modified, but security is maintained to prevent unauthorized modification to device features.
US08402240B2
A device and method is provided for commonly and securely allowing, as access control on a memory card, a plurality of information processing apparatuses to lock/unlock the memory. On the basis of a lock command input from an information processing apparatus serving as a host, such as a PC, an information storage device, such as a memory card, determines whether (a) a standard lock key set serving as a key set prohibiting output or (b) an export lock key set serving as a key set permitting output is detected and stores corresponding key set information. Only when the export lock key set is detected, output is permitted provided that predetermined verification succeeds.
US08402238B2
In order to prevent the degradation of performance of a storage apparatus caused by dynamic reallocation, the storage apparatus performs reassigning to a logical page the first physical page which is the physical page provided by the physical drive in Tier 1 which is the higher hierarchy than Tier 2 which is the hierarchy of the physical drive which provides the second physical page which is the physical page currently assigned to the logical page and, at the same time, by making the contents of the second physical page identical to the contents of the first physical page, performs the first migration for the logical page, associating and managing the second physical page and the first physical page and, when performing the second migration by reassigning the physical page provided by the physical drive in Tier 2 to the logical page to which the first physical page is assigned, and performs the second migration by reassigning the relevant second physical page to the logical page again when the second physical page is associated with the first physical page.
US08402232B2
A hardware memory control unit that includes a register block and hardware logic. The register block includes, for a hardware memory segment, an access count register, a low threshold register, and a high threshold register. The hardware logic includes functionality to increment the access count stored in the access count register for each memory access to the hardware memory segment performed during a predefined duration of time, and, at the end of the predefined duration of time, perform a response action when the access count stored in the access count register is less than the low threshold stored in the low threshold register, and perform a response action when the access count stored in the access count register is greater than the high threshold stored in the high threshold register. A power saving mode of the hardware memory segment is modified based on performing the response action.
US08402220B2
A storage controller comprises a cache storage used as a cache of an external storage and a control processor coupled to the cache storage. The control processor comprises an internal access function and an external access function. The internal access function transmits a read command to the cache storage. The cache storage determines whether the read target data complying with the read command is stored in a physical storage device or not. If the result of the determination is negative, the external access function is executed while, if the result of the determination is positive, the external access function is not executed because the cache storage transmits the read target data to the internal access function without issuing a request to the external access function.
US08402217B2
The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to implementing fault tolerant data storage in solid state memory. In some implementations, a method includes receiving data to be stored, dividing data into logical data blocks, assigning the blocks to a logical block grouping comprising at least one physical data storage block from two or more of multiple solid state physical memory devices, storing the blocks in physical data storage blocks, determining a code that corresponds to the persisted data, and storing the code that corresponds to the data stored in the logical block grouping. Blocks of damaged stored data may be recovered by identifying the logical data block and logical block grouping corresponding to the damaged physical data storage block, reading the data and the code stored in the identified grouping, and comparing the code to the read data other than the data stored in the damaged block.
US08402211B2
Times at which requests for a data read or data write from/to a logical volume are received are stored in memory as access times of a RAID group making up the logical volume. When a predetermined time has elapsed after the access time, a number of the hard disk drives according to the redundancy of the RAID group are set to a power saving mode. Assume there are first hard disk drives and second hard disk drives having shorter lifes and the RAID group exceeds a predetermined time after the access time. When the RAID group consists of only the first drives, a number of the first drives according to the redundancy of the RAID group are set to a power saving mode and when it consists of only the second drives, an arbitrary number of second drives are set to a power saving mode.
US08402210B2
Provided is a disk array system which is connected to a computer and which data is transmitted by the computer, including: a plurality of disk drives for storing user data transmitted by the computer; a cache memory for temporarily storing data sent/received among the computer and the plurality of disk drives; and a control unit for controlling input/output of the data to/from the cache memory, in which the control unit stores user data identification information that is capable of judging whether the user data is stored in a sector of the disk drive. The disk array system according to this invention allows the identification of user data of a disk drive.
US08402193B2
A storage router and method for providing virtual local storage on remote storage devices to devices are provided. A plurality of devices, such as workstations, are connected to a first transport medium, and a plurality of storage devices are connected to a second transport medium. In one embodiment, the storage router maintains a map to allocate storage space on the remote storage devices to devices connected to the first transport medium by associating representations of the devices connected to the first transport medium with representations of storage space on the remote storage devices, wherein each representation of a device connected to the first transport medium is associated with one or more representations of storage space on the remote storage devices and receives and processes native low level block protocol requests from the devices connected to the first transport medium to access allocated storage.
US08402190B2
A method and system are disclosed for network adaptor optimization and interrupt reduction. The method may generate an immediate I/O interrupt notification to a host device driver in response to receiving data from a network. The method may also update an inbound buffer list based on the received data in the inbound buffer queue. Furthermore, the method may set the buffer state from an empty state to a primed state to indicate that the received data is available for processing. The method may also build an outbound buffer list based on outgoing data and add the outgoing data to an outbound buffer queue. Furthermore, the method may set a buffer state from an empty state to a primed state to indicate that the outgoing data is prepared for transmitting and signal a network adaptor with a notification signal.
US08402186B2
In some embodiments a signal is sent from a Basic Input/Output System to a device to indicate that the Basic Input/Output System needs to obtain control of shared resources. A signal is sent from the device to the Basic Input/Output System that indicates that the Basic Input/Output System can now control the shared resources. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08402174B2
The context engine of a context aware platform may comprise a provider manager coupled to context providers and the provider manager may communicate with the context providers using application programming interfaces (API). To optimize the use of system resources, the provider manager may load/unload the context providers based on value of a load field of a hint signal or on prediction values. The context providers is to activate a first set of sensors of the plurality of sensors if the preferred activity level for the first set of sensors is set to activate state in the hint signal. The context providers is to deactivate a second set of sensors of the plurality of sensors if the preferred activity level for the first set of sensors is set to deactivate state in the hint signal.
US08402168B1
The present disclosure includes systems and methods relating to accelerating initialization of image viewers. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in a method that includes receiving a request to display an image, identifying a data component involved with displaying the image, modifying an existing electronic binary vector graphics file to include the data component, and transmitting the modified file.
US08402165B2
Methods and apparatus for prioritizing assignment of a packet data session for a plurality of applications of a mobile communication device, especially when operating in wireless networks that limit the number of simultaneous packet data sessions available to the mobile device. The plurality of applications include at least a first (priority) application operative in connection with a first (priority) communication service and a second application operative in connection with a second communication service. The first (priority) service may be or include a “push” type data or message synchronization service. The mobile device causes a packet data session associated with the first (priority) application to be activated for accessing the first (priority) service. In response to identifying an indication of a request for information via the second application, the mobile device causes the packet data session associated with the first (priority) application to be deactivated, and causes a packet data session associated with the second application to be activated for accessing the second service. Subsequently, in response to identifying communication inactivity associated with the second application over a predetermined time period, the mobile device causes the packet data session associated with the second application to be deactivated, and causes a packet data session associated with the first (priority) application to be activated again with the wireless network for again accessing the first (priority) service.
US08402155B2
Live media content is delivered in substantially real-time to a player device from a streamer and through a content delivery network. The streamer receives live media content and encodes and streams the content over the content delivery network. The content delivery network is configured to provide minimal buffering. A player device accessing the streaming channel receives media frames and buffers the frames while rending the received frames in order of receipt. If the buffer is loaded to the point that the currently rendered data lags the actual live feed by more than a threshold amount of time, the player skips over one or more video frames to bring the rendered content more current. For instance, the buffer can be flushed and more recent content can be received from the content delivery network.
US08402154B2
A method, Application Server (AS) and User Equipment (UE) for transferring media streams of a multimedia session are provided. A first UE sends a request for transferring media streams of a multimedia session to an AS, where the request carries the ID of a third UE and the media type of media streams requested to be transferred; and the third UE establishes media streams of the media type with a second UE under the control of the AS.
US08402149B2
A method, system and computer program product for (1) collecting information from a remote application unit and/or (2) diagnosing or controlling the remote application unit. By utilizing a shareable computer code device (e.g., a dynamic linked library), a new application can utilize tested, proven code without having to reproduce existing functionality. Moreover, by supporting multiple data formats and/or multiple communication protocols, a computer code device increases the likelihood that a supported format and/or protocol will be either receivable or understandable by a receiver.
US08402112B2
Servicing resource requests. A method includes at a first caching node, receiving a request for a first resource. The method further includes at the first caching node, determining at least one of health or load information of the first caching node. The method further includes generating a response to the request for the first resource, including generating a header to the response. The header is a custom header. The custom header includes at least one of health or load information. The method further includes sending the response to the request including sending the custom header with the at least one of health or load information.
US08402111B2
Device assisted services (DAS) install techniques are provided in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques for providing service processors for mobile devices are provided. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques for downloading/installing new and/or updated service processors for mobile devices are provided. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques for providing verified service processors for mobile devices are provided. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques for providing secured service processors for mobile devices are provided. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques include determining if a communications device in communication with a wireless network includes a service processor for assisting control of the communications device use of a service on the wireless network, in which the service processor includes a service profile that includes a plurality of service policy settings, and in which the service profile is associated with a service plan that provides for access to the service; and verifying the service processor. In some embodiments, DAS install techniques include providing a generic first version service processor for downloading and installing a second version service processor.
US08402108B2
A system for providing a web page having a home network function and a method of controlling home network devices, the system including: a plurality of universal plug and play (UPnP) devices forming a UPnP network, wherein a first UPnP device from among the plurality of UPnP devices includes a web browser having a control point used to control one or more other UPnP devices. Accordingly, the web page including the control point is provided, so that home network devices in various standards can be conveniently used without a firmware upgrade.
US08402107B2
A system is provided for providing content including one or more interactive components to a wireless device. The system includes a content server configurable to deliver push content to the wireless device, a processor for controlling operation of the server, a communications subsystem for communicating with a communications network, and a memory. The content server includes one or more modules for providing the content to the wireless device, the module(s) being configured to cause the content server to: receive a content file including the content and information about the interactive component(s), the information about each individual interactive component comprising one or more attributes useful in rendering the individual interactive component; process the content file and package the processed content file as a content package for delivery to the wireless device; and send the content package to the wireless device as a push delivery.
US08402099B2
The invention relates to a process for executing a multimedia communication, in particular a video, audio and/or text chat, between a totality of terminals (2) arranged in a communication network (1), which communication is based on a network protocol, in particular TCP/IP and/or UDP. The method is characterized in that at least one subscriber generates a personalized user account in the form of a virtual subscriber profile on a server (3) or in a peer-to-peer network, wherein, by setting up the virtual subscriber profile, the multimedia communication is established at each of the terminals. Thus, a mode of a subscriber selection preceding the communication, a communication type and/or a number of communication links to one of the terminals and/or the type of data transmission employed for the communication are freely defined. An arrangement for executing a process according to the preceding claims comprises a communication network with a valid communication protocol, in particular the internet (1). There are provided a plurality of terminals (2) having means for transmitting and receiving multimedia contents, and a server (3) or a peer-to-peer network having means for operating a hierarchical layer structure consisting of a database layer (4) for managing subscriber data, terminal addresses and multimedia contents, a link layer (5) for executing a switched communication between the terminals, a subscriber layer (6) for operating subscriber profiles set up by the users of the terminals, and a front end layer (7) having means for generating and operating a graphical user interface.
US08402095B2
An apparatus and method for instant message transmission includes a message center coupled to one or more servers and to an event engine by a network. An instant message is transmitted to the message center by the event engine over the network. An algorithm determines the optimum path for the transmission of the instant message. Users may share identical data via instant messaging, and may make changes to the data as it is streamed in real-time to designated users over the network. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 CFR 1.72(b)
US08402090B2
A teleconferencing apparatus for a teleconference to be performed between a plurality of terminal apparatus including a shared display area and an individual display area, the teleconferencing apparatus includes a browsing page information storage control device that causes a browsing page information storage device to store, identification information for identifying the terminal apparatus having sent the page information and the received page information, a browsing time information storage device that stores, as browsing time information, the page information of the display data displayed in the individual display area and a display time indicating a time in which a page specified with the page information is displayed in the individual display area unlike a page in the shared display area, a sending device that sends page information of the browsing time information, to the terminal apparatus.
US08402085B2
Self-discovering transaction accelerators improve communications between a client and a server. A client directs a message to a server. A client-side transaction accelerator intercepts the message, terminates the connection with the client, and accelerates the request by replacing segments of data with references. The accelerated request is forwarded to a server-side transaction accelerator through a new connection. The server-side transaction accelerator reconstructs the message by replacing the reference with segment data in a persistent segment store accessible to the server-side transaction accelerator. The reconstructed request is then provided to the server. Accelerations may occur in any direction of communication. Persistent segment stores can be pre-populated with segment data from other transaction accelerators and anticipated transactions. The persistent segment store can store segments that are data segmented based on content of the data and can be independent of transaction protocol, application, and device.
US08402083B2
A computer cluster system comprising a plurality of nodes and a software package comprising a user interface and a kernel for interpreting program code instructions is provided. In one embodiment, a cluster node module is configured to communicate with the kernel and other cluster node modules. The cluster node module accepts instructions from the user interface and interprets at least some of the instructions such that several cluster node modules in communication with one another and with a kernel can act as a computer cluster.
US08402078B2
A method, computer program product and a system for controlling a fixed point division operation are provided. The method includes: receiving an instruction to perform a division operation for a dividend and a divisor, the operation comprising a maximum number of iterations to produce a quotient having a maximum precision; calculating a magnitude of at least one of the dividend and the divisor; determining a quotient precision based on the magnitude; and computing a required number of iterations needed to produce the quotient precision and performing the number of iterations.
US08402076B2
A topological categorization method, based on inclusive intervals, provides a general method of analyzing escape topologies for discrete dynamic systems, in complex and higher dimensions, including the calculation of both potential for complex and hypercomplex and field lines for complex iterations.
US08402074B2
An adaptive filter device, including a finite impulse response (FIR) filter which is based on filter coefficients, which are determined based on a predetermined iterative adaptation algorithm for determining filter coefficients of an adaptive filter, wherein, in at least one iteration step of said predetermined iterative adaptation algorithm a sum value is determined, wherein each summand of said sum value depends on one of said filter coefficients, and, if said sum value is above a predetermined threshold, the filter coefficients are modified.
US08402072B2
In an approximation computation apparatus, a location monitor designates, each time the number of data of a received data sequence exceeds an integer l, a starting location of the received data for calculating reduced received-data; a dimensionality reducer dimensionally reduces each data sequence including the received data after the corresponding designated starting location by random projection to generate the reduced received-data; an object selecting controller controls an object in response to a result of monitoring from the location monitor of the number of the received data reaching another integer n, deletes currently-stored object data, selects the reduced received-data after the oldest reduced received-data in the reduced received-data, and substitutes and updates an object data sequence to the selected reduced received-data; and a coefficient approximator calculates an approximate value of a wavelet coefficient on the basis of the object data and a wavelet matrix.
US08402066B2
A method and system for generating a clarity grading look-up table includes collecting actual inclusion parameter data for a plurality of gems, where the actual inclusion parameter data includes an actual clarity grade and an actual inclusion parameter data combination. A mathematical relationship between a clarity grade and a particular inclusion parameter combination is then extrapolated from the actual inclusion parameter data. A derived clarity grade is then assigned to a plurality of inclusion parameter combinations as a function of the mathematical relationship and a set of inputted inclusion parameters. Also, a method and system for providing a clarity grade includes receiving a plurality of inclusion characteristics associated with a gem and parameterizing each of the inclusion characteristics, so that a parameter value is assigned to each inclusion characteristic. The parameter values are then input to a mathematical formula so as to provide a parameterized clarity grade for the gem.
US08402055B2
A social electronic learning system, including a plurality of computing devices for communicating with a plurality of users in an educational community, and at least one server in communication with each of the plurality of computing devices, each server in communication with at least one data storage device configured to host a plurality of electronic portfolios, each electronic portfolio associated with one or more users of the plurality of users in the educational community, wherein each server is configured such that one or more users may associate one or more digital items with each electronic portfolio, and the plurality of users may take actions on the digital items in each electronic portfolio depending on authorization criteria.
US08402052B2
The search method includes: receiving a search request including plural search conditions; separating the plural search conditions into search conditions for individual databases; storing, for each database, the search condition and the database identifier in a condition record; searching a search result management table by the database identifier and the search condition; determining anterior search databases; searching each of the anterior search databases by the search condition to acquire a first search result; determining common entity identifiers included in common in the first search results; and searching each of posterior search databases by the common entity identifiers and the search condition.
US08402040B2
The system and methods disclosed herein validate the authenticity of a document and an individual's claimed identity. The system and method use a validation facility that is configurable to compare and match characteristics of biometric and non-biometric data presented by an individual with biometric and non-biometric data received from a request to a database or file system holding such information. The determination on the matching characteristics of the data can occur in completely automated fashion without intervention from the user, but user intervention is also possible allowing the user to review and override certain data discrepancies. The validation facility provides a user interface for use by a user to review a determination on the data analysis and instruct the validation facility to override that determination if the user determines the cause of the identity verification failure is within an acceptable criterion.
US08402036B2
Disclosed herein is a method, a system and a computer product for generating a snippet for an entity, wherein each snippet comprises a plurality of sentiments about the entity. One or more textual reviews associated with the entity is selected. A plurality of sentiment phrases are identified based on the one or more textual reviews, wherein each sentiment phrase comprises a sentiment about the entity. One or more sentiment phrases from the plurality of sentiment phrases are selected to generate a snippet.
US08402027B1
A computer-implemented method for clustering a plurality of observations included in a dataset. The method includes selecting a subset of variables from a set of variables, where each variable in the subset is associated with each observation in the dataset; for each of a first number of times, randomly selecting an initial value for each variable in the subset to generate a seed value set that includes an initial value for each variable in the subset; generating a number of pre-clusters equal to the first number based on a similarity between each observation in the dataset and each of the first number of seed value sets; and applying a hierarchical clustering algorithm to the first number of pre-clusters to derive a second number of clusters.
US08402019B2
The exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program products for determining a particular document that initiated a topic of interest in a collection of documents, were each of the documents has contents and a time it was created. The method includes ranking the documents in the collection based on the respective times that the documents were created, ranking the documents based on how similar their respective contents are to the topic of interest and ranking the documents based on originality of their respective contents. The method further includes producing a composite ranking of the documents based on the time, contents, and originality rankings, and then determining the particular document that initiated the topic of interest from the composite ranking.
US08402018B2
A semantic search system using a semantic ranking scheme including: an ontology analyzer analyzing ontology data related to a search target to determine a weight value of each property according to a weighing method for property; a semantic path extractor extracting all the semantic paths between resources and query keywords and determining a weight value of each extracted semantic path according to the semantic path weight value determination scheme by using the weight value of each property; a relevant resource searcher traversing an instance graph of ontology based on a semantic path having a pre-set length and weight value of more than an expectation level to search resources that have a semantic relationship with the query keywords and are declared as a type presented in the query; and a semantic relevance ranker selecting a top-k results having the highest rank from among the candidate results extracted by the relevant resource researcher by using a relevance scoring function.
US08402015B2
The present invention provides a method for processing stream data and a system thereof capable of implementing general data processing including recursive processing with low latency. In the system for processing stream data, a single operator graph is prepared from operator trees of a plurality of queries, an execution order of the operators is determined so that execution of a streaming operator is progressed in one way from an input to an output, the ignition time of an external ignition operator that inputs data from the outside of the system and an internal ignition operator that time-limitedly generates data is monitored, and an operator execution control unit repeats processing that completes the processing in the operator graph at the time according to the determined operator execution order, assuming the operator of the earliest ignition time as a start point.
US08402010B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing persistent storage of Web resources. Uniform Resource Locators (“URLs”) that identify Web resources are augmented to include a time stamp. A web browser and a web server are disclosed that accommodate a time stamp parameter and allow a user to refer to any Web address with a precise target date. The persistent Web servers (i) receive URLs containing a time stamp, (ii) extract the time stamp, (iii) retrieve the correct Web page from the archive, and (iv) return the requested page to the client. The persistent Web servers include a persistent archive for storing all of the versions of Web resources that will be persistently available to Web users. A persistent domain name server (PDNS) allows a user to refer to historical Web resources. The persistent domain name server (PDNS) utilizes the dated URL to determine where the historical information of a given company is located following a domain name change for the requested time period and translates the request to a new machine containing the historical information of the company.
US08402006B1
In an exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method for obtaining a persistent design portion of an executable model is provided. The model includes on or more design details, a design detail specifying one or more aspects or elements of the model. The method also includes obtaining a design description of the model and a user selection specifying a design detail to be included in the design portion. The method further includes generating a selection specification from the user selection, obtaining the design portion by processing the design description according to the selection specification, and making the design portion persistent.
US08402005B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for creating a self-extracting file from any given input file type with minimum user interaction. The systems and methods include, in response to a single action, receiving an input file, compressing the input file, transforming the compressed input file into a self-extracting file, configuring the self-extracting file to, upon execution, decompress and launch the original input file with the appropriate application software, and generating a name for the resulting self-extracting file. The systems and methods may operate directly on the input file regardless of file type, transforming the input file into an executable file and increasing the ease and speed of creating a self-extracting file that automatically launches the original input file upon execution of the self-extracting file.
US08401999B2
A system includes a first storage unit connected to a secondary storage unit such that data written to the first storage unit is replicated on the secondary storage unit. The first storage unit in at least one embodiment includes the capability to intercept input/output instructions for routing to a buffer and/or directly to the secondary storage unit. A method for operation of a first storage unit includes intercepting a data operation from a requesting client, determining whether the data operation modifies data. When no modification of data is required, the method retrieves the requested data from the first storage unit and transmits the requested data to the requesting client. When a modification of data is required, the method performs the data operation in the first storage unit, stores the data operation in a buffer, transmits the data operation from the buffer to the second storage unit, receives a confirmation from the second storage unit is done, and deletes the data operation in the buffer.
US08401988B2
The disclosure describes a method and apparatus for maintaining groupings and relationships of propositions associated with a knowledge base. In one embodiment, the method includes providing multiple microtheories to form a knowledge base. Each microtheory includes multiple propositions. An mt label is provided for each microtheory. A proposition label is provided for each proposition. The proposition label for a specific proposition is compared with the microtheory labels in response to a transaction request. Microtheory labels that have a common element with the proposition label are determined. In another embodiment, the method includes providing multiple microtheories, providing an mt label for each microtheory, and initializing tags for first and second microtheories to a clean value. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include one or more storage devices and a tag processing logic.
US08401976B2
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide a barcode image. A client is operable to create a request for a barcode image and send the request to a server. The request comprises data to be converted to a barcode. The server is operable to receive the request from the client via a network, generate a barcode image from the data, and encode the barcode image. Thereafter, the server provides the encoded image to the client.
US08401966B2
An electronic payment and authentication system that includes features to verify the authenticity of a payer, validate debit data, and facilitate debit (as opposed to credit) payment transactions. The electronic payment system allows a consumer to purchase items and services via a network while utilizing a debit transaction. The invention provides merchants with the ability to verify the identity of the consumer, determine if the consumer is a good debit transaction risk, and retrieve debit data associated with a particular consumer.
US08401962B1
A deposit interchange system, method and program product for managing deposits and withdrawals among a plurality of financial institutions participating in a program, the system comprising: electronic databases, storing aggregated transaction account information; and client transaction account information for the respective client transaction accounts; computers with instructions: (a) receiving respective excess amount data, (b) allocating excess amounts between the financial institutions, comprising: (1) determining a respective primary client transaction account sum for the financial institutions; (2) comparing the primary client transaction account sum for the respective financial institution to fund balance in aggregated accounts of the financial institution to determine a surplus or a deficit for the financial institution; (3) allocating funds among the aggregated accounts in financial institutions to bring the balance of funds in the aggregated accounts in the financial institution into substantial equality with their respective primary client transaction account sum.
US08401956B2
A method for transferring longevity comprising: receiving an order to trade a financial instrument associated with at least one asset or liability affected by longevity risk; calculating a morbidity description for at least one age of each individual, a survivorship distribution and a mortality distribution, a net cash flow projection distribution, where each distribution value in the net cash flow projection distribution is computed as the probability-adjusted cash in-flow expected over a period, less the probability-adjusted cash out-flow expected over the same period; calculating a net present and net forward value distribution; accepting starting and ending dates over which counterparties wish to exchange the difference to provide at least one exposure period; accepting an input for computing a performance bond; receiving through a computing device, over time, updated mortality information and morbidity information; and recalculating distributions affected to provide recalculated distributions; calculating the difference to be exchanged.
US08401945B2
A computer for displaying an evaluation tool for evaluating a proposed fee on behalf of a professional, including a memory having at least one region for storing computer executable program code and a processor for executing the program code stored in the memory. The program code includes code for receiving a product type for a proposed client account, a proposed fee for the proposed client account, and at least one of the following numerical parameters: (i) an account asset amount for the proposed client account, (ii) a relationship asset amount for the proposed client account, and (iii) a breakdown of components in an asset mix for the proposed client account. A range of historical fees of the nearest neighbor historical accounts is shown on a graph from lowest to highest, and the proposed fee is shown on the graph relative to the nearest neighbor historical fees.
US08401943B2
Techniques and systems for determining a valuation for securities that do not have an established valuation mechanism are described herein. Derivative securities based on underlying employee stock options where the maturity of the derivative security is tied to exercise and forfeiture behaviors of individuals owning the stock options are also described herein.
US08401941B1
A system, method, and computer readable medium for usage billing of one or more hosted applications serving one or more clients. The hosted applications are contained within one or more isolated environments or run without isolated environments. The system may include usage billing based on one or more of resources open, amount of data flowing through resources, number of open files, number of transactions, number of concurrent users, number of processes, CPU utilization and memory usage, The system may further include a management interface where administrators may add, remove and configure isolated environments, configure client policies and credentials, and force upgrades. If using isolated environments, the isolated environments may be isolated from other applications and the host operating system on the clients and applications within the isolated environments may run without performing an application-installation on the client.
US08401936B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing expense reimbursement. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include an Expense and Reimbursement Management process component, a Due Item Processing process component, a Payment Processing process component, a Payroll Processing process component, and an Accounting process component.
US08401934B2
An approach is provided for enabling the accounting of closures to support query requests established by a device. A computation processing and accounting infrastructure determines one or more closures based, at least in part, on a query request. One of the one or more closures based, at least in part, on one or more predetermined policies is selected to generate a response to the query.
US08401933B2
Secure access to inventory data concerning a supplier's product located at a seller's premises is provided by tagging units of product with a supplier identifier and a product identifier. The identifiers may be embedded in RFID tags or EPC labels. A secure VPN tunnel is established between a supplier and a seller. The VPN tunnel is associated with a particular supplier identifier such that only inventory data associated with the supplier identifier that matches the supplier is transmitted on the VPN tunnel, and inventory data associated with supplier identifiers that do not match the supplier are filtered out. Hence, the seller can provide the supplier with access to inventory data without exposing sensitive information related to the seller and other suppliers.
US08401923B1
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to method for exchange of semi-fungible goods or services. In some embodiments, the method includes electronically receiving a plurality of offers from a plurality of participant devices, each offer comprising a plurality of parameters related to the offer, including an identification of a semi-fungible good or service to be offered, matching two of the offers from the plurality of participant devices based on the parameters of the offers, and executing an exchange of the semi-fungible goods or services identified in the offer, based on the parameters of the offers. In some embodiments, the semi-fungible goods or services can be tickets, reservations, services, order in line, educational services, or physical objects.
US08401917B2
A computer-implemented system for monetizing internet content. In an embodiment, the system includes an internet content provider providing online content and an online section with the online content for containing an expression of at least one reader's posted thoughts or opinion. The online section is capable of having posted thereto the expression of the at least one reader's thoughts or opinion in a free default format or a fee-paid distinctive format. The system also has a processor for executing the computer executable instructions and a memory for storing at least the computer executable instructions.
US08401900B2
A computer readable medium is disclosed containing a computer program including but not limited to computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer are useful in performing a method for presenting advertising data, the method including but not limited to sensing current trick-play command data at an end user device; updating trick-play trend data for the end user device based on the current trick-play command data; and adjusting a number of advertising data items in an advertising data buffer presented at the end user device based on the trick-play trend data. A system is disclosed useful for performing the method. A data structure is disclosed for containing data used by the system and method.
US08401898B2
The present invention involves spending loyalty points over a computerized network to facilitate a transaction. With this system, a loyalty program participant is able to use an existing transaction card to purchase an item over a computerized network, while at the same time offsetting the cost of that transaction by converting loyalty points to a currency value credit and having the credit applied to the participant's financial transaction account. Currency credit from converted loyalty points may also be applied to stored value cards, online digital wallet accounts and the like. Further, currency credit may also be applied to other accounts to effect a gift or donation.
US08401897B1
A system and method is provided that displays advertisements. In one aspect, advertisements are associated with target areas. When a request for information is received from a client device, the system and method determine a geographic area in which the client device may be located. Advertisements may be selected based on the likelihood that the client device is within the target area. In another aspect, advertisers may select prices for their advertisement that vary with such likelihood.
US08401895B2
A pre-existing liability payment and reward system including a user communication module in communication with a pre-existing liability holder; a merchant communication module that transacts with the user communication module and a processing communication module; a processing communication module that communicates with the merchant communication module and a provider communication module; a provider calculation module that determines a reward; a provider communication module in communication with the provider calculation module; a system calculation module that determines a reward and communicates with a system communication module; a system communication module in communication with a system calculation module; a holder calculation module managing a pre-existing liability holder user account; and a holder communication module in communication with a user communication module and the system communication module. A method of use is also provided.
US08401880B2
A computer network may include a host computer and a plurality of computer workstations selectively connectable thereto at which user work sessions may be initiated. Each computer workstation when disconnected from the host computer (e.g., due to server outage, etc.) may advantageously initiate a user session responsive to a user request and store session information for updating the respective user account balance when reconnected with the host computer. Additionally, when the computer workstations are connected to the host computer they may copy respective user account balances from the host computer upon initiation of user sessions, and update the copied account balances based upon computer usage during the respective user sessions. The computer network may also include at least one reservation computer for cooperating with the host computer to schedule user session reservations and provide a requesting user an estimated time before a user session will be made available.
US08401873B2
A device for managing health data provides a first housing portion including a data storage system that stores health data and a second housing portion including a data communications element. The data communications element provides data communications between the data storage system and a processing device that processes the health data according to a data-management software. The first housing portion and the second housing portion are connected by a cable that communicates signals between the data communications element and other components in the first housing portion. Another device for managing health data provides a first housing portion including a health data management system and a data communications element that provides data communications between the health data management system and an external processing device. The second housing portion is removably coupled to the first housing portion, and includes at least one component used by the health data management system.
US08401872B2
In a method for operation of a medical diagnosis apparatus as well as medical diagnosis-apparatus, with which medical questions are to be answered, the medical questions to be answered is established for each question at least one examination step is determined that is necessary for clarification of the respective medical question, and supplementary information is associated with each examination step, and, using the supplementary information, the examination workflow is determined with the necessary examination steps that are needed to answer all medical questions.
US08401871B2
Methods and apparatus enabling organizations with a need to communicate with healthcare providers regarding health-related issues affecting patient health to notify healthcare providers of a health-related issue affecting patient health are disclosed. An electronic notification of the health-related issue is transmitted by one of the organizations to a healthcare notification network, which may include a healthcare website, for transmission to a healthcare provider, where the electronic notification includes a mechanism for obtaining an acknowledgement indicating that the healthcare provider has received and opened the electronic notification. Healthcare related information, such as drug recalls and medication warnings to healthcare providers from content providers, along with other services, is provided at the healthcare website. Healthcare related information may also be provided through other websites, such as electronic prescription and electronic medical/health records websites. Other services include providing corresponding Continuing Medical Education (“CME”) courses that may enable healthcare providers to earn CME credits toward a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) required by Medical Boards. MOCs for corresponding healthcare providers along with certificates to prescribe particular medications and/or use particular medical devices may be also stored at the healthcare website and verified by third parties, such as pharmacists and medical device manufacturers, before delivery.
US08401868B1
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention generate a model for providing one or more scores indicating a likelihood that a stated income is faulty. In one embodiment, the method includes, for example, receiving information representative of at least one borrower; receiving a first income value for the at least one borrower; and receiving a second value for the at least one borrower, such that the second income value verifies the first income value. Moreover, the method includes determining one or more parameters for the model based on the received information, the received first income value, and the received second income value, such that the one or more parameters enable the model to provide the one or more scores.
US08401865B2
This invention relates to a method, a computer program product, apparatuses and a system for extracting coded parameter set from an encoded audio/speech stream, said audio/speech stream being distributed to a sequence of packets, and generating a time scaled encoded audio/speech stream in the parameter coded domain using said extracted coded parameter set.
US08401861B2
A method for generating a frequency warping function comprising preparing the training speech of a source and a target speaker; performing frame alignment on the training speech of the speakers; selecting aligned frames from the frame-aligned training speech of the speakers; extracting corresponding sets of formant parameters from the selected aligned frames; and generating a frequency warping function based on the corresponding sets of formant parameters. The step of selecting aligned frames preferably selects a pair of aligned frames in the middle of the same or similar frame-aligned phonemes with the same or similar contexts in the speech of the source speaker and target speaker. The step of generating a frequency warping function preferably uses the various pairs of corresponding formant parameters in the corresponding sets of formant parameters as key positions in a piecewise linear frequency warping function to generate the frequency warping function.
US08401857B2
Assisting apparatus that assists in a task for generating task-completed data from original data. The assisting apparatus includes: a conversion unit that converts the original data into converted data in order to keep a content of the original data secret from an operator in charge of the task; an interface unit that provides the converted data to the operator, and thereby allows the operator to perform the task by using the converted data and thus to generate a task-completed version of the converted data; and an inverse conversion unit that generates the task-completed data by performing inverse conversion of the task-completed version of the converted data.
US08401856B2
A very common problem is when people speak a language other than the language which they are accustomed, syllables can be spoken for longer or shorter than the listener would regard as appropriate. An example of this can be observed when people who have a heavy Japanese accent speak English. Since Japanese words end with vowels, there is a tendency for native Japanese to add a vowel sound to the end of English words that should end with a consonant. Illustratively, native Japanese speakers often pronounce “orange” as “orenji.” An aspect provides an automatic speech-correcting process that would not necessarily need to know that fruit is being discussed; the system would only need to know that the speaker is accustomed to Japanese, that the listener is accustomed to English, that “orenji” is not a word in English, and that “orenji” is a typical Japanese mispronunciation of the English word “orange.”
US08401851B2
A system and method of targeted tuning of a speech recognition system are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a method includes determining a frequency of occurrence of a particular type of utterance method and includes determining whether the frequency of occurrence exceeds a threshold. The method further includes tuning a speech recognition system to improve recognition of the particular type of utterance when the frequency of occurrence of the particular type of utterance exceeds the threshold.
US08401843B2
There is provided a transition mode device and method for use in a predictive-type sound signal codec for producing a transition mode excitation replacing an adaptive codebook excitation in a transition frame and/or a frame following the transition in the sound signal, comprising an input for receiving a codebook index and a transition mode codebook for generating a set of codevectors independent from past excitation. The transition mode codebook is responsive to the index for generating, in the transition frame and/or frame following the transition, one of the codevectors of the set corresponding to the transition mode excitation. There is also provided an encoding device and method and a decoding device and method using the above described transition mode device and method.
US08401842B1
Phrase matching processes for matching phrases comprising a plurality of keywords in document text construct hit lists of the keywords in a document text, and operate on the keywords in either phrase order or without regard to the order of occurrence of the keywords in the phrase. The processes form sorted sets of all keywords, and compare occurrences of the keywords in the sorted sets to a predefined proximity constraint. For unordered phrases, the proximity constraint defines a maximum span between keywords in the highest and lowest positions in the sorted set as MaxSpan=p(k−1), where p is a proximity and k is the number of keywords in the phrase. For ordered phrases, the distances between successive phrase keywords in phrase order must be less than or equal to the proximity p.
US08401840B2
A language identification system that includes a universal phoneme decoder (UPD) is described. The UPD contains a universal phoneme set representing both 1) all phonemes occurring in the set of two or more spoken languages, and 2) captures phoneme correspondences across languages, such that a set of unique phoneme patterns and probabilities are calculated in order to identify a most likely phoneme occurring each time in the audio files in the set of two or more potential languages in which the UPD was trained on. Each statistical language model (SLM) uses the set of unique phoneme patterns created for each language in the set to distinguish between spoken human languages in the set of languages. The run-time language identifier module identifies a particular human language being spoken by utilizing the linguistic probabilities supplied by the SLMs that are based on the set of unique phoneme patterns created for each language.
US08401837B2
The different advantageous embodiments provide a system for text discrimination comprising a word recognizer and control logic. The word recognizer has language data compiled using a number of finite state automata. The control logic is configured to operate the word recognizer to accept or reject a number of characters as a word.
US08401836B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for language translation are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes accessing a translation hypergraph that represents a plurality of candidate translations, the translation hypergraph including a plurality of paths including nodes connected by edges; calculating first posterior probabilities for each edge in the translation hypergraph; calculating second posterior probabilities for each n-gram represented in the translation hypergraph based on the first posterior probabilities; and performing decoding on the translation hypergraph using the second posterior probabilities to convert a sample text from a first language to a second language.
US08401822B2
A wellness circuit is for a rotating electrical apparatus having a rated current and being operatively associated with an electrical switching, control, protection or monitoring apparatus structured to provide a number of currents and a number of voltages of the rotating electrical apparatus. The wellness circuit includes a current sensor scaled to the rated current and structured to provide a notch current signal representative of one of the number of currents; an interface to the electrical switching, control, protection or monitoring apparatus, the interface providing the number of currents and the number of voltages; and a processor employing the number of currents and the number of voltages from the interface and the notch current signal to determine wellness of the rotating electrical apparatus. The wellness circuit is structured to be separate from or added to the electrical switching, control, protection or monitoring apparatus.
US08401819B2
Detection of one or more abnormal situations is performed using various statistical measures, such as a mean, a median, a standard deviation, etc. of one or more process parameters or variable measurements made by statistical process monitoring blocks within a plant. This detection is enhanced in various cases by using specialized data filters and data processing techniques, which are designed to be computationally simple and therefore are able to be applied to data collected at a high sampling rate in a field device having limited processing power. The enhanced data or measurements may be used to provided better or more accurate statistical measures of the data, may be used to trim the data to remove outliers from this data, may be used to fit this data to non-linear functions, or may be use to quickly detect the occurrence of various abnormal situations within specific plant equipment, such as distillation columns and fluid catalytic crackers.
US08401817B2
A velocity detection device includes a rotational direction discriminator calculating an x coordinate or a y coordinate in temporary coordinates on a line between an origin of the coordinates and a point obtained by rotating the actual second coordinates by as much as a rotational angle θ in a direction of a coordinate axis, the rotational direction discriminator discriminating a rotational direction from the actual first coordinates to the actual second coordinates based on either a sign of the x or y coordinate in the temporary coordinates; and a processor calculating calculational second coordinates represented by a multiplication, addition or subtraction between the actual first coordinates and one of the trigonometric function values to make calculational second coordinates closer to the actual second coordinates, and calculating the velocity of the moving body based on the temporary angles corresponding to the trigonometric function value used for the calculational second coordinates.
US08401814B1
An electronic limit switch software module is programmed into a controller for a hoist system. The electronic limit switch determines the rotations of a motor to keep track of the location of the load. Arbitrary stop and slow down locations may be input into the system so that the system can determine when to stop and slow down the load.
US08401812B2
A tester for testing a device under test has a first channel unit and a second channel unit. The first channel unit has a corresponding first pin connection for a signal from a device under test, a corresponding first test processor adapted to process, at least partially, data obtained from the first pin connection, and a corresponding first memory coupled with the first test processor and adapted to store data provided by the first test processor. The first channel unit is adapted to transfer at least a part of the data obtained from the first pin connection to the second channel unit as transfer data. The second channel unit has a corresponding second test processor adapted to process, at least partly, the transfer data from the first channel unit.
US08401811B1
An apparatus, system, method and kit for testing fluid flow and pressure is provided. The apparatus, system, method and kit include or include the use of a flow unit which is configured to measure flow rate and/or flow velocity when interfaced with a flow valve or hydrant and a pressure unit configured to measure at least residual pressure when interfaced with a test valve or hydrant. At least one of the units is configured to wirelessly send data transmissions to the other unit which is configured to receive such transmissions.
US08401810B2
The present invention provides a scheduling device which can carry out scheduling of process execution periods of time, included in plural pieces of processing target data, respectively. The scheduling device sorts out plural pieces of substance data by looking up a retention time, included in each of the plural pieces of substance data. The scheduling device groups the plural pieces of substance data into a plurality of functions Fn so that pieces of substance data, included in each of the plurality of functions Fn, is successively arrayed in an order resulting from the sorting. Further, the scheduling device finds, for each of the plurality of functions Fn, a function range between a detection start time included in that function Fn and a detection end time included in that function Fn, and groups the plurality of functions Fn into a measurement group(s) In so that an interval between functions Fn included in the same measurement group is more than a condition set in advance.
US08401809B2
A system, apparatus and method are provided for adjusting an on-line appearance sensor system (OnLASS) for color and other appearance characteristic(s) of a web product produced during a production run of a web production system. The OnLASS is calibrated and its setting(s) are sent to a color error minimizer (CEM). The OnLASS measures a first appearance characteristic of the web product during the production run and the on-line measurement is sent to the CEM. After the production run, a second appearance characteristic of the web product is measured with an off-line appearance sensor system (OffLASS) and the off-line measurement is sent to the CEM. The CEM compares the on-line and off-line appearance measurements and adjusts at least one setting based on the comparison. The adjusted setting(s) are sent to the OnLASS.
US08401807B2
A method for energy consumption monitoring in an ICT environment, wherein the ICT environment (1) includes a multitude of energy consuming components (2, 3), at least partly the components (2, 3) being instrumented with elements for energy consumption monitoring and/or having assigned specific energy consumption models that derive one or more energy metrics for the respective component (2, 3) from the component's (2, 3) current performance metrics, is characterized in the steps of ascertaining changes of and/or related to the ICT environment (1) via an energy consumption monitoring controller (7), performing an assessment of available energy consumption monitoring techniques both instrumentation-based and model-based, based on the result of the assessment selecting one or more energy consumption monitoring techniques that best satisfy the change of the ICT environment (1) according to predefined policies. Furthermore, a corresponding monitoring system is described.
US08401806B2
A method is provided for detecting faults in a pump assembly having an electric motor, or faults in an electric motor, having at least one rotating shaft. A vibration signal is detected, the detected vibration signal is processed in a manner such that the influence of the current rotational speed of the shaft is eliminated, periodic signals are filtered out of the processed vibration signal, and the vibrational operating condition, in particular possible faults, is recognized by way of the periodic signals. Further, a pump assembly having an electric motor or an electric motor is provided in which this method is applied.
US08401798B2
Methods for determining a property that affects expression of polynucleotides are provided. A plurality of polynucleotides each encoding a polypeptide sequence is constructed. A frequency that a sequence element is used in a first polynucleotide is different than in a second polynucleotide. Each polynucleotide is expressed in an expression system to obtain an expression property value thereby constructing a dataset that contains, for each respective polynucleotide, sequence element occurrence in the respective polynucleotide and the measured expression property value of the respective polynucleotide. A model is computed that describes variation in the measured expression property values as a function of a plurality of variables and weights. From the model, a property that affects expression of polynucleotides in the expression system is determined, where the property is an effect that the frequency of occurrence of one or more sequence elements has on the expression property of polynucleotides in the expression system.
US08401794B2
A method of processing geological log data obtained from use of one or more logging tools and including at least a first log having a relatively poor attribute and a corresponding, second log having a relatively good said attribute comprises the step of incorporating into the first log characteristics of the second log that confer improvements in the said attribute, characterised in that the incorporating step includes modulating the extent of incorporation into the first said log of the said characteristics without distorting geologically significant information in the first log.
US08401781B2
Apparatus for orientating a user in a space wherein the space comprises a plurality of zones of which only certain zones constitute functional zones wherein each functional zone includes a first type device containing information relating to the position of the zone in the space and wherein the first type device is reactive to the presence of a second type device associated with the user to provide the user with the information to determine the orientation of the user in the space. A method of orientating the user within the space and guiding the user toward one or more features in the space is also disclosed.
US08401778B2
The present invention relates to a system and a method for displaying an accumulative fuel economic driving area of a vehicle. A system according to an embodiment includes a vehicle information unit that collects vehicle information and a controller that calculates a fuel economic driving area by using the vehicle information, and calculates an accumulative fuel economic driving area by accumulating respective lighting times of respective zones of the fuel economic driving area and calculating respective accumulation ratios of the respective zones. The system provides the driver with information for fuel economic driving.
US08401776B2
A method of using airport surveillance data to determine a location of a delay and an amount of time a vehicle is subjected to the delay during a movement of the vehicle between locations including obtaining a time-ordered sequence of data points representing the movement of the vehicle, creating a speed vector (sv) for each data point, replacing ground speed elements in the speed vector (sv) with a one when the ground speed element is less than a speed threshold, performing a spatial density test on each data point in a sequence of consecutive one entries, defining a starting and stopping index for a consecutive sequence of data points as a preliminary hold, determining whether to merge adjacent preliminary holds, determining a time duration of each preliminary hold and eliminating any preliminary hold having a time duration less than a predetermined time duration and outputting the results.
US08401774B2
A method for predicting the occurrence of an undesired operating event for a mobile platform operating within a designated area. The method may involve obtaining a plurality of parameters including a position of the mobile platform within the designated area for determining a kinematic motion of the mobile platform while the mobile platform is operating within the designated area. Information may also be obtained that relates to surface geometry of the designated area. The information related to surface geometry may be used to determine physical constraints within the designated area that limit operation of the mobile platform within the designated area. The plurality of parameters may be used to determine a kinematic motion of the mobile platform within the designated area. The kinematic motion of the mobile platform and the physical constraints may be used to predict if motion of the mobile platform will cause it to incur an undesired operating event.
US08401768B2
Various systems and methods are described for controlling an engine in a vehicle, the engine being coupled to a transmission. One example method comprises, under selected braking conditions, shutting-off the engine and spinning-down the engine to rest while the vehicle is traveling, and in response to a foot-off-brake event, restarting the engine by at least partially engaging the transmission to assist in spinning-up of the engine from rest while the vehicle is traveling. In this manner, vehicle inertia can be used to assist in spinning-up the engine from rest when the vehicle is moving.
US08401763B2
In a control device which uses a specific physical quantity as a control variable of an internal combustion engine, and controls the internal combustion engine by manipulation of one or a plurality of actuators, switching of setting of a manipulation variable based on a required value of a physical quantity and setting of the manipulation variables by direct instruction to individual actuators is performed without generating discontinuity in a realized value of the physical quantity. When a manipulation variable instruction value directly designating a manipulation variable of an actuator is present, the manipulation variable instruction value is converted into a value of a physical quantity which is realized in the internal combustion engine by the operation quantity instruction value. When a deviation between a physical quantity conversion value converted from the manipulation variable instruction value and the physical quantity required value is within a predetermined range, switch of information for use in setting of the manipulation variable of each of the actuators is permitted.
US08401758B2
A method for assisting an operator of a vehicle which is approaching a set of traffic lights which permits a stop line to be crossed in at least one first operating state and does not permit the stop line to be crossed in a second operating state. The method provides that (i) a signal which describes the current operating state of traffic lights and the time period until the operating state changes is received in the vehicle, (ii) in the vehicle, verification is carried out on the basis of the received signal as to whether the vehicle can reach the stop line at a speed from a predefined speed range while the set of traffic lights is in the first operating state, and (iii) a speed of the vehicle is influenced and/or a recommendation for influencing the speed is generated as a function of the result of the verification.
US08401754B2
In a method for detecting the status of the clutch in the drive train of a motor vehicle, the engine speed and the speed are ascertained and a transmission ratio is formed as the quotient of the engine speed and speed. Furthermore, a reference value is determined, which is set equal to the transmission ratio from a first time step. In a subsequent time step, the difference between the instantaneous transmission ratio and the reference value is formed, a disengaged clutch status being detected if the difference exceeds a threshold value.
US08401753B2
A method for automatically controlling the downhill speed of a machine. The method includes establishing a target machine speed based on a current machine speed and determining whether at least one trigger condition including a grade greater than a predetermined threshold has been satisfied. If satisfied, the method activates a control system to control at least one of a powertrain retarder and a change in a transmission gear to prevent exceeding the target machine speed.
US08401743B2
A ground engaging vehicle having a tool connected to the vehicle, at least one actuator coupled to the tool and an electronic controller. The electronic controller is controllably coupled to the at least one actuator. The controller includes an operator interface. The controller is configured for issuing a plurality of commands, recording the commands, positioning the tool and replaying at least some of the commands. The issuing step includes issuing a plurality of commands to the at least one actuator using the operator interface to place the tool in a position relative to the vehicle. The recording step records the commands issued in the issuing step. The positioning step includes positioning the tool in another position different from the position. The replaying step includes replaying at least some of the commands recorded in the recording step, thereby repositioning the tool substantially in the original position.
US08401718B2
Repair or replacement of a transparency mounted in body of a vehicle, e.g. an aircraft when one or more properties of the transparency is (are) operating outside of an acceptable limit(s) is arranged by monitoring operating performance of a property of the transparency, e.g. by mounted a sensor, e.g. a sensor for detecting moisture; a sensor for detecting impacts and vibrations; a sensor for detecting fractures; a sensor for detecting electric arcing, and a sensor for measuring temperature of an electrically conductive coating, on the transparency. Scheduling repair or replacement of the transparency at a geographical area when the operating performance of the property is outside an acceptable operating performance limit, and forwarding the schedule to the vehicle and to a maintenance location to prepare for the repair or replacement of the transparency at the geographical work area.
US08401717B2
The aim of the method of controlling at least one mechanical system exhibiting at least one flexible structure element and at least one actuator or group of actuators is to reduce the level of vibrations of said element while controlling the actuator or group of actuators in such a way as to achieve at least one objective assigned to the mechanical system. The control consists of increments having to be carried out at a sampling period T, each of the increments being constant in amplitude in a sampling time interval extending between two successive sampling instants and each of the increments being applied during a duration which is less than or equal to the sampling period T. In each sampling interval, at least one of the initial and final instants of application of the increment is modified by adding a variable, random or pseudo-random, temporal deviation dT.
US08401709B2
A system for dynamically managing and controlling distributed energy resources in a transmission/distribution power grid is disclosed. A plurality of regions within a transmission/distribution power grid is autonomously managed using regional control modules. Each regional control module oversees the management and control of the transmission/distribution power grid and is further associated with a plurality of local control modules that interface with distributed energy resources within a region. Power production and power consumption are monitored and analyzed by the enterprise control module which, upon determining that power consumption within a region does not match power producing capability, dynamically reallocates distributed energy resources throughout the grid keeping the system balance. Power flow at key nodes within the network are monitored and analyzed by the local control modules, regional control modules, and enterprise control modules with compensating actions taken in the event that system parameter risks violating safety, stability, or operational thresholds.
US08401708B2
The electric power supply and demand control device judges whether or not electric power shortage is occurred or whether or not electric power surplus is occurred in the electric power supplier and demander provided with the electric power supply and demand control device based on data on total electric energy, the amount of maximum electric power demanded, and the amount of total electric power demanded of the following day in each electric power supplier and demander, predicted by a neural network; receives electric power from other electric power suppliers and demanders provided with the power generation devices and/or the electrical storage devices in the case where electric power shortage is occurred in the electric power supplier and demander; and controls to deliver electric power to other electric power suppliers and demanders in the case where electric power surplus is occurred in the electric power supplier and demander.
US08401704B2
A global navigation satellite sensor system (GNSS) control system and method for irrigation and related applications is provided for a boom assembly with main and extension boom sections, which are hingedly connected and adapted for folding. The control system includes an antenna and a receiver connected to the antenna. A rover antenna is mounted on the boom extension section and is connected to the receiver. A processor receives GNSS positioning signals from the receiver and computes locations for the antennas, for which a vector indicating an attitude of the extension boom section can be computed. Various boom arrangements and field configurations are accommodated by alternative aspects of the control system.
US08401703B2
The invention relates to a method and a device for controlling the production of a mixture of components, especially a mixture with premix dead volumes.The method and the device according to the invention ensure multivariable regulation feedback by a dynamic observer providing an estimate in real time of the properties of the components of the mixture, said estimate being sufficient to guarantee the effectiveness of the feedback loop. Thus, the desired properties of the mixture are guaranteed despite large uncertainties in the properties of the components on the one hand, and partial knowledge of the mixing process on the other.
US08401699B2
A manipulator includes a main unit movable to a specified target position, an arm unit rotatably provided on the main unit, and a posture controller. The posture controller controls the posture of the arm unit so that a front surface of the arm unit facing forward in a moving direction of the main unit is not orthogonal to the moving direction of the main unit when the movement of the main unit is performed. The arm unit may be inclined obliquely backward with respect to a moving direction of the main unit when the main unit is moved to a specified target position.
US08401695B2
A method and a device are provided for automatically supplying packages, that have been sorted by type, to a column stacker, preferably in a sorting system. The device has at least one supply path (2) on which the packages, which have been sorted by type, are automatically supplied to the column stacker (3) individually and chaotically distributed in partial stacks. The invention proposes that at least two packages (T1, T1) or partial stacks of packages (T2, T2 or T3, T3 or T4, T4 or T5, T5)—as long as said partial stacks are not already randomly present on the supply path (2)—of the same height disposed one directly behind the other be combined with the aid of a package register 1 before being supplied to the column stacker (3) simultaneously.
US08401694B2
A management apparatus is for managing a storage medium. The apparatus includes a rack including a cell which has a first opening and a second opening, a robot for inserting or ejecting the storage medium with respect to the cell through the first opening, and a controller for executing a process. The process includes driving the robot to start inserting or ejecting the storage medium with respect to the cell, detecting a failure in inserting or ejecting the storage medium, stopping the robot from inserting or ejecting the storage medium for a given time upon detecting the failure, and driving the robot to restart inserting or ejecting the storage medium with respect to the cell after the stopping the robot from inserting or ejecting the storage medium for the given time.
US08401687B2
An assembly model is identified including a plurality of part models. Each part model is a predefined, selectable model corresponding to at least one part in a plurality of assembly parts. The assembly model is presented and a sequence of user selections identifying part models in the assembly model are received through a user interface. User selections can correspond to designations of parts to be removed from the modeled assembly during a disassembly of the assembly. Selected part models are removed from the displayed presentation in response to corresponding user selections. A disassembly order is generated including an ordered grouping of disassembly steps, each disassembly step corresponding to a user selection of a part model in the sequence of user selections. The disassembly steps are ordered based on an order of selection of the corresponding part models. The order of the disassembly order is reversed and an assembly order is generated for the assembly from the reversed disassembly order.
US08401686B2
A dental template for positioning an object on teeth of a patient and method for fabricating the same. The method includes creating a digital model of the patient's teeth, creating a simplified template model based on the digital model, and fabricating the dental template based on the simplified template model. The template model is simplified by removing certain features of the patient's tooth anatomy. The dental template can be located on a patient's teeth using four or fewer positioning teeth.
US08401683B2
Among other things, techniques and systems are disclosed for detecting onsets. On a device, an audio signal is pre-processed in temporal domain. The pre-processed audio signal is smoothed on the device. A predetermined quantity of peaks is selectively identified in the pre-processed and smoothed audio signal based on a size of a sample window applied to the pre-processed and smoothed audio signal.
US08401679B2
In one embodiment of the invention, a method to detect fraud includes a) receiving by the computer system from a source information regarding a plurality of played coupons for at least one game, wherein the plurality of played coupons comprises at least one first coupon; b) populating by the computer system a two-dimensional array for each played game from the received information, wherein the at least one two-dimensional array holds aggregated game statistics, c) storing by the computer system the at least one two-dimensional array with in a data structure; d) scanning, using the received information for the at least one first coupon, by the computer system the at least one data structure to identify at least one abnormal pattern; and e) generating, when the at least one abnormal pattern is identified, by the computer system an alert prior to a payout on the at least one first coupon.
US08401672B2
A neural stimulation system senses autonomic activities and applies neural stimulation to sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves to control autonomic balance. The neural stimulation system is capable of delivering neural stimulation pulses for sympathetic excitation, sympathetic inhibition, parasympathetic excitation, and parasympathetic inhibition.
US08401671B2
A lead assembly for an implantable medical device includes a lead body having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion adapted for coupling to a pulse generator and the second portion is adapted for implantation. First and second conductive coils are positioned within the lead body and electrically isolated from each other. The first and second conductive coils each including a plurality of turns. Two or more adjacently wound consecutive turns of the first conductive coil alternate with two or more adjacently wound consecutive turns of the second conductive coil.
US08401670B2
A medical lead screening connector includes a first housing portion having a first lead receptor channel and a second housing portion having a second lead receptor channel and the second housing portion is pivotally connected to the first housing portion. The first lead receptor channel includes two first contact apertures and the second lead receptor channel comprising two second contact apertures. The first housing portion includes two second lead receptor contacts that mate with the second contact apertures and the second housing portion includes two first lead receptor contacts that mate with the first contact apertures.
US08401663B2
An improved external charger for an implantable medical device is disclosed in which charging is at least partially controlled based on a sensed pressure impingent on its case, which pressure is indicative of the pressure between the external charger and a patient's tissue. The improved external charger includes pressure detection circuitry coupled to one or more pressure sensors for controlling the external device in accordance with the sensed impingent pressure. The sensed pressure can be used to control charging, for example, by suspending charging, by adjusting a maximum set point temperature for the external charger based on the measured pressure, or by issuing an alert via a suitable user interface. By so controlling the external charger on the basis of the measured pressure, the external charger is less likely to create potentially problematic or uncomfortable conditions for the user.
US08401658B2
An implantable pulse generator includes a current steering capability that allows a clinician or patient to quickly determine a desired electrode stimulation pattern, including which electrodes of a group of electrodes within an electrode array should receive a stimulation current, including the amplitude, width and pulse repetition rate of such current. Movement of the selected group of electrodes is facilitated through the use of remotely generated directional signals, generated by a pointing device, such as a joystick. As movement of the selected group of electrodes occurs, current redistribution amongst the various electrode contacts takes place. The redistribution of stimulus amplitudes utilizes re-normalization of amplitudes so that the perceptual level remains fairly constant. This prevents the resulting paresthesia from falling below the perceptual threshold or above the comfort threshold.
US08401656B2
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of adjusting an established initial operational settings profile, the profile having two or more operational setting values for a speech processor of a recipient's cochlear implant, comprising: setting one or more profile adjustment functions with one or more function parameters; and modifying concurrently said two or more operational setting values in said operational settings profile using each of said set profile adjustment functions.
US08401654B1
Methods of treating one or more effects of deafferentation within a patient include applying at least one stimulus to a stimulation site within the patient with an implanted stimulator in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters. The at least one stimulus is configured to treat one or more effects of deafferentation. Systems for treating one or more effects of deafferentation within a patient include a stimulator configured to apply at least one stimulus to a stimulation site within the patient in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters. The at least one stimulus is configured to treat one or more effects of deafferentation.
US08401653B2
An embodiment relates to a method for delivering a vagal stimulation therapy to a vagus nerve, including delivering a neural stimulation signal to non-selectively stimulate both afferent axons and efferent axons in the vagus nerve according to a predetermined schedule for the vagal stimulation therapy, and selecting a value for at least one parameter for the predetermined schedule for the vagal stimulation therapy to control the neural stimulation therapy to avoid physiological habituation to the vagal stimulation therapy. The parameter(s) include at least one parameter selected from the group of parameters consisting of a predetermined therapy duration parameter for a predetermined therapy period, and a predetermined intermittent neural stimulation parameter associated with on/off timing for the intermittent neural stimulation parameter.
US08401649B2
The disclosure describes an axial lead connector assembly for an implantable medical device (IMD). The lead connector assembly facilitates electrical connection between an implantable medical lead and circuitry contained within the housing of an IMD. A connector header defines an axial stack bore to receive an axial stack of in-line connector components. The connector components define a common lead bore to receive a proximal end of an implantable lead. The in-line stack of connector components may include seals, electrical connector elements, a strain relief, and a locking device, each of which defines a passage that forms part of the lead bore.
US08401638B2
A method for determining a cardiac shock strength, for example the programmed first-therapeutic shock strength of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), including the steps of sensing a change in a T-wave of an electrogram with respect to time such as the maximum of the first derivative of a T-wave of an electrogram; delivering a test shock by (i) delivering a test shock at a test-shock strength and at a test-shock time relating to the maximum of the first derivative of the T-wave with respect to time; and (ii) sensing for cardiac fibrillation. If fibrillation is not sensed, test-shock delivery is repeated at the same test-shock strength and at specific, different test-shock times relating to the maximum of the first derivative of the T-wave. If fibrillation is still not sensed, the shock strength is decreased and test shocks are repeated at the same specific test shock times relative to the maximum of the first derivative of the T-wave. And if fibrillation is sensed, the programmed therapeutic shock strength of the ICD is set as a function of the incrementally greater test-shock strength. Also disclosed is an apparatus for selecting a programmed first-shock strength of an ICD, including a shock subsystem for delivering therapeutic shocks and test shocks to the heart, and a ULV subsystem connected to the shock subsystem, to provide test shocks of test-shock strengths and at test-shock times relating to the maximum of the first derivative of the T-wave with respect to time, and to determine the therapeutic shock strength of the ICD as a function of the test-shock strengths.
US08401637B2
A method and system for treating an individual experiencing cardiac arrest using an automatic external defibrillator (AED) includes placing a first and a second electrode of the AED in electrical communication with an exterior surface of the individual. A need to apply a high voltage defibrillation signal to the individual is automatically determined. The method also includes automatically causing the AED to apply a medium voltage therapy (MVT) signal through the first and the second electrodes to the individual. The MVT signal is applied to induce a hemodynamic effect in the individual. Alternatively, or additionally, the MVT signal is applied to induce a respiratory effect in the individual. Optionally, the MVT signal is applied before determining the need to apply the defibrillation signal.
US08401630B2
Method of determining the training intensity of a person (2), whereby time intervals RRi (13) between consecutive heartbeats are recorded whereupon from sequences of these time intervals RRi (13) a sequence of standardised intervals rri (14) is generated through mathematical modelling. From two consecutive standardised intervals rri (14) and rri+1 points in a Poincaré plot are generated and with regard to the principal horizontal axis X0 (16) of a confidence ellipse of these points a standard deviation SOL is calculated. From pairs of values formed of a mean value RRMV of the sequence of intervals RRi (13) and the standard deviation SOL for further sequences of standardised intervals rri (14) a training intensity curve (20) is then produced for the person (2) whereby the training intensity curve (20) is produced from pairs of values of the heart frequencies HF (HF=1/RRMV) corresponding to the mean values RRMV and the standard deviations SOL.
US08401628B2
An apparatus comprises an implantable cardiac signal sensing circuit, configured to provide a sensed near-field depolarization signal from a ventricle and to provide a sensed a far-field intrinsic atrial signal using a far-field atrial sensing channel, and a controller circuit communicatively coupled to the cardiac signal sensing circuit. The controller circuit includes a P-wave detection module configured to detect an atrial depolarization in the sensed far-field intrinsic atrial signal and a tachyarrhythmia detection module configured to detect an episode of tachyarrhythmia using the sensed near-field depolarization signal and to determine whether the tachyarrhythmia episode is indicative of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) using the detected atrial depolarization and the sensed near-field depolarization signal.
US08401625B2
In some aspects, a method includes measuring unipolar signals at one or more electrodes in response to electrical activity in a heart cavity. The method also includes determining, based at least in part on Laplace's equation, bipolar physiological information at multiple locations of an surface based on the measured unipolar signals and positions of the one or more electrodes with respect to the surface.
US08401619B2
The invention relates to systems and methods for tomographic imaging of a subject comprising diffuse media by converting measurements of electromagnetic radiation, e.g., fluorescent light, obtained in free space exterior to the subject into data that would be measured if the subject were surrounded by an infinite and homogeneous diffusive medium, e.g., a medium with optical properties equal to the average optical properties of the subject. After applying a transformation to convert measurements to virtually-matched values, propagation of light is simulated from the index-matched surface to a set of virtual detectors exterior to the subject and arranged in a geometrically advantageous fashion, for example, in a planar array, thereby facilitating the use of fast reconstruction techniques.
US08401616B2
An image guided navigation system for navigating a region of a subject includes an imaging device, a tracking device, a controller, and a display. The imaging device generates images of the region of the subject. The tracking device tracks the location of the instrument in the subject. The controller superimposes an icon representative of the instrument onto the images generated from the imaging device based upon the tracked location of the instrument. The display displays the image with the superimposed instrument.
US08401603B2
To realize an imaging device, imaging method and program capable of improving image quality. This invention controls light sources so as to irradiate a body with irradiation light of a luminance level higher than that in the air arriving at the body, adjusts the imaging sensitivity of a solid imaging element for performing photoelectric conversion on pattern scattered light obtained through the inside of the body, and masks the luminance level deterioration region of a pattern image obtained from the solid imaging element to treat the masked image as an image to be composed with a reference image.
US08401602B2
A secondary-emitter sensor position indicator has primary emitters that transmit light having primary wavelengths and at least one secondary emitter that transmits light having at least one secondary wavelength. A detector outputs a sensor signal in response to received light. An attachment assembly, in a sensor-on condition, positions the emitters and detector relative to a tissue site so that the sensor signal is substantially responsive to the primary wavelength light after attenuation by pulsatile blood flow within the tissue site and is negligibly responsive to the secondary wavelength light. The attachment assembly, in a sensor out-of-position condition, positions the secondary emitter relative to the tissue site so that the sensor signal is at least partially responsive to the secondary wavelength.
US08401596B2
A communication device is provided and includes: an electromagnetic-wave generating means for outputting an electromagnetic wave; and a transmitting/receiving means for transmitting data by modulating the electromagnetic wave in accordance with data as well as receiving data transmitted from the other device by demodulating the electromagnetic wave outputted by the electromagnetic-wave generating means or the electromagnetic wave outputted by the other device as the other party of communication, wherein the transmitting/receiving means transmits attribute information indicating communication ability of the device itself as well as receives attribute information indicating communication ability of the other device as the data, and the electromagnetic-wave generating means turns off the output of the electromagnetic wave for a given period of time after the transmission of the data based on the attribute information.
US08401572B2
An approach is provided for providing location based services using connectivity graphs based on cell broadcast information. A plurality of cell broadcast message identifiers are caused to be received. Cell broadcast message identifiers are respectively associated with a plurality of cells. A connectivity graph specifying relationships among the cells is generated for providing a location based service.
US08401561B2
In a method of improved channel-sounding transmissions between a base station in communication with a user equipment in a telecommunication system, the user equipment receiving (S0) an assigned channel-sounding transmission pattern from the base station, and transmitting (S1) a channel-sounding signal to the base station based on the assigned channel-sounding transmission pattern and on available uplink data at the user equipment.
US08401553B2
A method and radio network controller (RNC) in a radio access network (RAN) for controlling access to a cellular telecommunication system. Upon receiving an access request from a given user equipment (UE) through a given radio base station (RBS), the RNC retrieves authorization information from an access control database within the RAN. The authorization information indicates whether the given UE is authorized to access the system through the given RBS. The RNC alternatively grants access or denies access to the UE based on the retrieved authorization information. The RBS is particularly useful for controlling access through small cells with limited capacity.
US08401552B2
A GSM, UMTS or LTE mobile telecommunications network is disclosed. In addition to the conventional radio access network comprising the base stations, one or more additional access points may be provided. An access point is typically connected to the network core by an IP transport broadband connection. The access point is configured to appear to the mobile terminal as a conventional base station. Arrangements are disclosed which allow the network to more simply route mobile terminating calls to a mobile terminal in a network including home base stations. Other arrangements are disclosed which allow the network to verify the validity of a mobile terminal accessing the telecommunications network using a home base station, and correspondingly the validity of the home base station to register itself as serving a given UE.
US08401548B2
A method of scanning frequencies for registration onto a wireless service provider by a wireless device is provided. The inventive method comprises predefining a priority sequence of frequencies in association with each of a plurality of locations. Itinerary information is received and a current expected location of the device in real-time based is determined based on the itinerary information. The device then scans frequencies according to any priority sequence predefined for the current expected location.
US08401546B2
An acquisition and tracking apparatus is provided for tracking digitized spread spectrum navigation signals modulated with a spreading code according to any of a set of modulation types including Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) with and without Frequency Domain Multiplexing Access (FDMA), time multiplexed BPSK, Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), sine and cosine Binary Offset Carrier (BOC), modified, complex, and time multiplexed BOC (TMBOC), the apparatus comprising a plurality of universal tracking channels, each coupled to an interrupt module. The universal tracking channel includes a carrier demodulation module, a code generation module, a correlator module, a code frequencies generation module, and a subcarrier combining module for efficiently using the correlator resources in the correlation of the data and the pilot components of the signal within a single universal tracking channel. A corresponding method of operation is also provided.
US08401543B2
An apparatus, system and method are provided for testing a battery-powered electronic device-under-test in a transport frame engaged with a test fixture. A transport frame power supply is arranged to provide power to the DUT in a pre-testing stage. A switching circuit is arranged to switch from the transport frame power supply to a test fixture power supply in response to receiving a power switching signal indicating satisfaction of a pre-testing condition. Power from the test fixture power supply can then be switched back to the first transport frame, or to a second transport frame, to begin testing a second DUT. The ability to start a DUT test without having to wait for the DUT to boot-up in the test fixture reduces test time and increases efficiency of use of test equipment.
US08401535B2
A method for providing content via a wireless communication network to a requesting terminal. The method comprising editing the content on a mobile terminal, receiving a request at a mobile terminal for the content from the first requesting terminal, and providing the content to the first requesting terminal via at least one connection with a mobile terminal storing the content.
US08401531B2
A messaging service system, including a call component for receiving a voice call from a caller and transmitting call data associated with the call, the call data including caller identification (ID) data; and a subscription server for receiving the call data, causing the call component to send a subscription acceptance message to the caller, and storing the caller ID data in association with data representing a messaging service identified by the called number of the call data.
US08401530B2
Disclosed is a mobile marketing and advertising based system comprised of a database, a mobile device, a trigger location (primary physical location), a secondary location in a favorable proximity to the trigger location and a means for providing multimedia content from the database to the mobile device.
US08401529B1
A server computer is provided comprising a processor, a memory, and an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, identifies at least one keyword based on one of a first communication device and a second communication device and transmits the at least one keyword to the first communication device. The server computer also analyzes a voice traffic between the first communication device and the second communication device to determine whether the at least one keyword occurs in the voice traffic. When the at least one keyword is determined to occur in the voice traffic, the server computer sends a confirmation message to the first communication device.
US08401525B2
Systems and methods are provided for identifying an electronic file that is accessible by a communications node to be transmitted to a recipient. A communications device sends an identification of the electronic file. The communications node receives the identification of the electronic file, identifies the electronic file based on the identification, and accesses the electronic file for transmission to the recipient. The electronic file is not transmitted from the communications device to the communications node.
US08401520B2
Disclosed herein is a method and system for establishing a local conferencing session amongst a plurality of Bluetooth enabled terminal units. An audio gateway is provided to interconnect a voice network and the terminal units. A session management entity is provided on the audio gateway and each of the terminal units. A local conferencing session setup is established prior to the conference session wherein a set of common session parameters is shared among the audio gateway and the terminal units through the respective session management entities. The common session parameters enable Bluetooth communication between the audio gateway and the terminal units. The audio gateway broadcasts the voice packets from the voice network to the terminal units. The audio gateway provides microphone holder rights to a terminal unit to transfer voice packets to the voice network. Further, the audio gateway coordinates the transfer of microphone rights between the terminal units.
US08401510B2
In an embodiment, a method and apparatus for downconverting a received RF signal in a wireless device where differential signals from an off-chip matching network may be input to a CGCS input stage of a mixer, which downconverts the signals to baseband or some intermediate frequency. The input stage includes a pair of NMOS transistors in a common-gate configuration and a pair of PMOS transistors in a common-source configuration. A potential advantage of the CGCS input stage over the existing CGO transconductance stage configuration is that by adding a common-source stage through the PMOS differential-pair, the transconductance gain is decoupled from the high Q matching network.
US08401508B2
Disclosed are methods and systems for mitigating unwanted signal components. A received carrier signal is downconverted using a local reference signal that imposes an frequency perturbation or dither. Later, when an intermediate digitized signal is filtered to remove the DC offset that is an artifact of the sampling process, the dither in the carrier signal serves to distinguish the carrier from the unwanted offset. The preferred offset filter is a low pass filter with a passband that is narrow relative to the frequency range of the dither.
US08401507B2
A method of selecting an RF gain of an automatic gain control amplifier includes the steps of measuring a strength of a received signal, the signal reliable and consistent power characteristics, and then measuring an interference level of the received signal, and determining either a target output power level or a target output interference power level based on a ratio of the measured signal strength to the measured interference level. The method also includes determining a gain that, when applied to an incoming signal, will produce a corresponding one of the determined target output power level and the determined target output interference power level.
US08401505B1
A first low noise amplifier (LNA) applies a gain to both (a) signals conforming to a first communication protocol and (b) signals conforming to a second communication protocol. A second LNA applies a gain to the signals conforming to the first communication protocol. A third LNA applies a gain to the signals conforming to the second communication protocol is provided. A first signal strength indicator corresponding to a signal strength of a first signal, conforming to the first communication protocol, is determined. A second signal strength indicator corresponding to a signal strength of a second signal, conforming to the second communication protocol, is determined. The gain of the first LNA is controlled based on (i) the first signal strength indicator and ii) the second signal strength indicator. The gains of the second and third LNAs are controlled based on the first and second signal strength indicators, respectively.
US08401495B2
A high-frequency module has a configuration in which a diplexer is capable of separating the frequency bands of first and second communication systems from the frequency band of a third communication system, a first high-frequency switch is capable of separating a transmission signal of the first or second communication system from a reception signal thereof, a second high-frequency switch is capable of separating a transmission signal of the third communication system from a reception signal thereof, and a third high-frequency switch is capable of separating the reception signal of the first communication system from the reception signal of the second communication system. A reception-signal output port for the second communication system of the high-frequency module is terminated with a chip capacitor to configure the double-band high-frequency module supporting the first and third communication systems.
US08401476B2
Methods and apparatuses for automated configuring of user preferences. In one aspect of the present invention, a method to operate a data processing system, includes: detecting whether or not a portable device is connected to the data processing system; and automatically configuring one or more user preferences of the data processing system according to an identity of the portable device in response to a change in whether or not the portable device is connected to the data processing system. In one aspect of the present invention, call forwarding of at least one of a land line phone and a mobile phone is automatically configured when the mobile phone is brought close to the land line phone or when the mobile phone is taken away from the land line phone.
US08401472B2
A method of guiding a user in an environment particularly in a building, utilizes at least one first communications unit communicating data to a mobile second communications unit carried by the user. The first communications unit transmits a contact signal within a predetermined range for establishing contact with the second communications unit. If the second communications unit is located within the range and receives the contact signal, contact is established between the first communications and the second communications unit. In order to enable guidance of the user through the environment by means of the second communications unit, data are communicated from the first communications unit to the second communications unit.
US08401471B2
Signal transmission and/or reception device, by contactless inductive coupling comprising at least one structure forming one or several antennas, said structure comprising a plurality of conducting links (102, 106) in at least two parallel and distinct planes, a first plurality of said conducting links forming a first conducting circuit (104, 204, 304, 404, 504, 604, 704) through which a current (I1) will circulate, and a second plurality of said conducting links forms at least one second conducting circuit (108, 208, 308, 408, 508, 608, 708), distinct from said first circuit, and through which a current (I2) will circulate, the links being arranged such that the coefficient coupling between pairs of said circuits is zero or at least less than 5% or less than 1%.
US08401466B2
This invention provides satellite communication systems and methods that employ a satellite in MIMO communication with a geographically-distributed array of ground nodes. In an embodiment, the satellite communication system includes a MIMO satellite configured to receive first information at a higher bandwidth, process the first information into lower bandwidth signals, and relay the lower bandwidth signals using a satellite communication link. The geographically-separated ground nodes receive the lower bandwidth signals and transmit terrestrial signals using high-speed communication links. A central processing node receives the terrestrial signals over the high-speed communication links and combines the terrestrial signals to obtain the higher data rate signals.
US08401464B2
In a wireless multi-hop relay network arranged in a tree topology, the base station and one or more relay stations are associated as a virtual base station (VBS). The base station and each relay station have a unique virtual base station identifier (VBS-ID) associated with the path defined by the base station and the one or more relay stations. a relay station in the branch uses its VBS-ID for communicating with an attached subscriber station (e.g. a mobile station) such that communications between the base station and subscriber station occur via the VBS. Subscriber station data communications are relayed between the base station and the one or more relay stations over the VBS via a tunnel connection. The VBS is autoconfigurable. Mobility for subscriber stations and relay stations is provided through reconfiguration of VBS's.
US08401462B2
A media broadcast and distribution system is disclosed which substitutes storage for communications, allowing more efficient use of scarce bandwidth resources. One embodiment allows a terrestrial FM broadcaster to offer a larger number of higher quality audio channels than current satellite radio services such as Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. This embodiment also has features that offer a better user experience than with personal audio devices such as Apple's iPod™. Another embodiment allows satellite radio services to expand their video offerings.
US08401447B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a fixing apparatus having: a heating section and a pressing section that forms a fixing-nip portion by being in pressure contact with the heating section, wherein at least one of the heating section and the pressing section having: an endless fixing belt that is trained about a plurality of rollers, a pressure applying member that causes the fixing belt to be in pressure contact with a side of the fixing-nip portion from an inner circumferential surface thereof, and a lubricant supplying member that supplies lubricant to the inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt; and a supplying amount change section that changes a supplying amount of the lubricant by the lubricant supplying member based on an amount used coming from a part replacement of at least one of the fixing belt, the pressure applying member and the lubricant supplying member.
US08401443B2
A developing device includes a toner particle-bearing roller that bears toner particles on its surface and develops a latent image borne by an image-bearing member with those toner particles, the toner particle-bearing roller has a projection portion disposed on its surface, the projection portion having a top surface having a flat portion, and a width of the top surface being equal to or more than a volume average particle diameter of the toner particles.
US08401437B2
The present application is directed to toner cartridges for use with image forming devices. The cartridge may include an interior to contain toner that is transferred to the image forming device and used during image formation. The cartridge may include one or more engagement features that interact with the image forming device during insertion. The engagement features may include one or more alignment features that align the cartridge during insertion into the image forming device. The engagement features may also include one or more functional features that allow the cartridge to effectively transfer the toner to the image forming device.
US08401429B2
An image forming apparatus includes a belt unit having a driving roller, a driven roller, a driving roller gear; and a belt which is looped around the driving roller and the driven roller; a belt driving gear which is engaged with the driving roller gear; a photosensitive drum which contacts the belt; and a positioning section which contacts a portion of the belt unit to position the belt unit with respect to a moving direction of the belt. The positioning section contacts the portion of the belt unit in a direction of receiving a force with which the photosensitive drum is pressing the belt unit. The belt driving gear is engaged with the driving roller gear such that a force pressing the belt unit from the belt driving gear via the driving roller gear presses the belt unit against the positioning section.
US08401424B2
A process cartridge comprises an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a drum unit, and a developing roller. The apparatus further comprises a developer supplying roller, and a developer accommodating portion accommodating the developer. A developing unit is swingably coupled with the drum unit and supporting the developing roller, the developer supplying roller, and the developer accommodating portion. A first-end developing-device spacing member is provided rotatably about an axis of a shaft at a first end portion of the developing unit to limit rotation of the developing unit relative to the drum unit to maintain spacing between the developing roller and the electrophotographic photosensitive drum. A second-end developing-device spacing member is provided rotatably about an axis of a shaft at a second end portion of the developing unit to limit rotation of the developing unit relative to the drum unit to maintain spacing between the developing roller and the electrophotographic photosensitive drum.
US08401421B2
A charging device includes: a charging component, and a cleaning member for the charging component, containing a substrate and an elastic layer that contains a silicone oil and is arranged in a spiral form on an outer surface of the substrate, the charging device being satisfying a following formula: A≦6 atomic % wherein A is a maximum value of the contents of Si atom constituting a siloxane skeleton with respect to total atoms at a contact part where the charging component is brought into contact with the elastic layer and at a non-contact part where the charging component is not brought into contact with the elastic layer, in which the contents of Si atom are obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of a surface of the charging component after preparing the elastic layer of the cleaning member for the charging component in an initial state and the charging component in an initial state to bring into contact with each other for 24 hours.
US08401420B2
A process cartridge attachable to and detachable from an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a first unit having an electrophotographic photosensitive member, and a second unit including a developing roller configured to develop a latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and a sheet member which is disposed along the developing roller in a lengthwise direction of the developing roller and contacts the electrophotographic photosensitive member to restrain scattering of developer, wherein a contact portion of the sheet member that contacts the electrophotographic photosensitive member is roughened by a roughening process.
US08401418B2
An image forming apparatus including: a frame member including a first electrode and a replacement unit including a second electrode that electrically contacts the first electrode. The replacement unit is movable relative to the frame member along a moving direction. The moving direction includes a first direction and a second direction that intersects the first direction. The first electrode is formed by a wire and includes a contact portion. The contact portion, which is bent along an intersection plane, is movable in a third direction that is perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction. A direction of the contact portion is set so that the intersection plane intersects with a first plane and a second plane at angles smaller than an intersection angle formed by the intersection of the first plane and the second plane.
US08401417B2
The invention reduces loss produced when a power supply device supplies power to a fixing unit of a copier, thereby contributing to a reduction in size, a saving in terms of energy and lower cost. To achieve this, it is arranged so that it is possible to vary the capacitance of a resonant capacitor C200 that constructs a resonant circuit together with a coil 71 through which a high-frequency current flows in order to produce an induced electromotive force in an electrically conductive heating element. In an interval in which a tail current flows after closure of an IGBT 401 that switches the coil current, the capacitance of the resonant capacitor C200 of a switching element SW402 is increased, thereby suppressing a rise in voltage Vce of the IGBT 40 over a fixed interval of time. As a result, loss ascribable to the tail current is reduced.
US08401413B2
Disclosed is an image forming device which can prevent occurrence of damage on the surface of a fixing roller or a fixing belt due to the contact of the end of a sheet with the fixing roller or fixing belt. The image forming device, for transferring a toner image to a sheet fed out from a sheet feed section and fixing the toner image to the sheet by pressing the sheet carrying the toner image at a fixing section, includes a moving section for moving the sheet and or the fixing section in the direction at right angles to the traveling direction of the sheet within a preset moving range, the moving section being controlled based on a preset operation pattern.
US08401407B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an attachment unit configured to receive at least one voltage and being replaceable with a test tool, a controller for controlling operation of a plurality of voltage generating circuits, a current detecting section and a deciding section. The controller is configured to control a first voltage generating circuit so as to generate a test voltage and so as to apply the test voltage through a first voltage line, the test tool, and a second voltage line to a second voltage generating circuit. The deciding section is configured to, upon a detection current corresponding to the applied test voltage and detected by the current detecting section being equal to or greater than a first predetermined value, decide that the predetermined voltages are to be normally applied through the respective first and second voltage lines to the attachment unit.
US08401406B2
An image forming apparatus includes a developing device for developing a latent image formed on an image bearing member into a developer image; a transferring device for transferring the developer image from the image bearing member onto a transfer material; a temperature detecting sensor in a main assembly of the image forming apparatus, for detecting a temperature; and a controller for controlling a forced consumption operation in which toner is forcedly consumed by the developing device without transferring the developer image from the image bearing member onto the transfer material. The controller is capable of executing the forced consumption operation when toner consumption is below a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold is higher with higher temperature.
US08401405B2
Various embodiments of a coherent receiver including a widely tunable local oscillator laser are described herein. In some embodiments, the coherent receiver can be integrated with waveguides, optical splitters and detectors to form a monolithic optical hetero/homodyne receiver. In some embodiments, the coherent receiver can demodulate the full phase information in two polarizations of a received optical signal over a range of optical wavelengths.
US08401399B2
In various embodiments, a monolithic integrated transmitter, comprising an on-chip laser source and a modulator structure capable of generating advanced modulation format signals based on amplitude and phase modulation are described.
US08401396B2
An optical communication module includes an optical package including at least one semiconductor optical device, an optical filter for reflecting light of a specific wavelength and transmitting light of an other wavelength, an optical block including a transparent material and the optical filter, a housing that houses the optical package and the optical block, an in-housing circuit board housed in the housing and mounting a peripheral electrical circuit for the optical package thereon, and an electrical connector electrically connected to the in-housing circuit board and exposed at a bottom surface of the housing. The optical block further includes a front lens portion at a front side face of the housing, a rear lens portion at a rear side face of the housing, a light inputting port, and a light outputting port. The optical filter is arranged to obliquely intersect with an optical axis passing through the front lens portion and the rear lens portion at a predetermined angle. The optical package is arranged such that an optical axis between the optical filter and the optical package is substantially orthogonal to an optical axis between the front lens portion and the optical filter.
US08401389B2
A method for compensating for optical dispersion includes receiving an optical signal at a first node of an optical network that includes a first set of channels and a second set of channels that are each configured to be received using coherent digital receivers at a second node of the optical network. Each coherent digital receiver provides electronic dispersion compensation for the received channel at the second node. The method also includes forwarding the first set of channels from the first node without performing optical dispersion compensation on those channels. Furthermore, the method includes compensating for optical dispersion in the second set of channels at the first optical node and forwarding those channels from the first node. The optical dispersion compensation on the second set of channels at the first node provides dispersion compensation in addition to the compensation provided by the associated coherent digital receivers at the second node.
US08401388B2
A transmitter for generating, starting from a data-packet traffic at input, flows of information to be conveyed via optical signals with different wavelengths towards a plurality of targets in a communications network, the transmitter including: a destination decoder to identify, for each packet in the input packet traffic, a respective destination target in the plurality of targets; a plurality of emitter modules operating at different wavelengths for converting the electrical signals into optical signals; and a de-multiplexer, which is controlled by the destination decoder and is able to drive the emitter modules by sending selectively to each emitter module the electrical signals corresponding to a given packet of the input packet traffic according to the respective destination target identified by the destination decoder. A serialization module is set upstream of the de-multiplexer for converting the packet traffic into a serial flow of bits. The transmitter also includes an optional transmission optical bus inverter for implementing a source coding on the electrical signals sent to the emitter modules.
US08401386B2
There is provided an optical transmission apparatus including: a plurality of wavelength selective switches including input ports, a transmission port, and monitor port used to output a light switched so that the light from the input port is monitored; a multiplexer to combine the lights output from the transmission ports of the plurality of wavelength selective switches; a monitor to monitor whether a same wavelength of the light output from the monitor port exists in wavelengths of the lights combined by the multiplexer; and a controller to control the wavelength selective switch so as to output, from the transmission port, the light switched to the monitor port in case that the same wavelength of the light output from the monitor port is absent in wavelengths of the lights combined by the multiplexer, based on a monitor result by the monitor.
US08401380B2
A stereographic camera and a method of operating a stereographic camera are disclosed. The stereographic camera may include a left camera and a right camera having respective lenses and an interface for receiving a selection of a selected preset operating mode from a plurality of preset operating modes. A preset parameter memory may store a plurality of preset parameter sets, each of the plurality of preset parameter sets associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of preset operating modes, each of the plurality of preset parameters sets including an assumed minimum object distance and an assumed extreme object distance. An interocular distance mechanism may set an interocular distance between the left camera and the right camera based on, at least in part, the assumed minimum object distance and the assumed extreme object distance associated with the selected operating mode.
US08401379B2
An optical path adjusting device includes a supporting plate having a hole through which light travels, a two-dimensional (2D) aperture disposed in the supporting plate so as to adjust an open area of the hole, and a three-dimensional (3D) aperture having a plurality of first blinds and a plurality of second blinds. The plurality of first blinds are disposed to correspond to a first area of the hole so as to move to open or close the first area, and the plurality of second blinds are disposed to correspond to a second area of the hole so as to move to open or close the second area.
US08401376B2
Entry points are managed so they are easy for users to understand. The data recording apparatus has a receiver unit that receives a stream of encoded digital data; an analyzer that detects change in an attribute of the received stream and that outputs the detection information; a controller that generates management information containing the detection information output by the analyzer and time information indicating detection time of the change as a first entry point; a drive that records the management information and the received stream to a data storage medium; and an input unit that defines a second entry point. This second entry point is set relative to the playback path of the stream and is used to access and read from a particular point in the stream. The controller further generates the management information containing the first entry point and the second entry point separately identified.
US08401371B1
A content player includes a pausable mass storage device player that can be used to record and play content. The pausable mass storage device can become paused in response to an assertion of a pause signal. Once paused, the content player remains paused until the pause signal is deasserted. The content player also includes an event detector that is coupled to the pausable mass storage device player. The content player detects a non-viewer initiated event, (e.g., an automatic event such as the receipt of an email with embedded enhanced content), and to assert the pause signal in response thereto. The content player receives content, detects an event, and in response to detecting the event, pauses the content to a presentation device; and spools the content onto the mass storage device.
US08401370B2
Techniques for providing application tracks in a media data container are described. An application descriptor may be extracted from a coded bitstream. The coded bitstream comprises media data to be played by a media presentation system. The application descriptor identifies an application archive (i) that is retrievable by the media presentation system from one or more sources and (ii) that is required by the media presentation system at a set media time associated with the media data. While playing the media data, the media presentation system causes retrieving all of the application archive from the one or more sources before the set media time.
US08401369B2
When a plurality of AVClips recorded on a BD-ROM and Local Storage 18 constitute one stream sequence, a Playback Control Engine 32 starts playback if at least one AVClip of the stream sequence is in an enable status, even when the stream sequence also includes an AVClip which is in a disable status. While one AVClip is being played back, a Virtual FileSystem unit 38 changes a remaining AVClip to the enable status of being recognizable by the Playback Control Engine 32 or the disable status of being unrecognizable by the Playback Control Engine 32, according to a method call by an application.
US08401361B2
A signal processing portion successively accepts frames of images from video information recorded on a recording medium acting as a dubbing source. The medium is one of a hard disc drive and a disc medium. Then, the processing portion recognizes face images from the frames of image, displays the recognized face images on the screen of an LCD, registers face images selected from the displayed face images in response to a manipulation of control buttons, creates thumbnail images from images which are included in the registered face images and which have appeared at ratios in excess of 70%, extracts images including the thumbnail images from the recording medium acting as the dubbing source, and dubs the extracted images onto the recording medium acting as a dubbing destination.
US08401355B2
A hydrogen-resistant optical fiber particularly well-suitable for downhole applications comprises a relatively thick pure silica core and a depressed-index cladding layer. Interposed between the depressed-index cladding layer and the core is a relatively thin germanium-doped interface. By maintaining a proper relationship between the pure silica core diameter and the thickness of the germanium-doped interface, a majority (preferably, more than 65%) of the propagating signal can be confined within the pure silica core and, therefore, be protected from hydrogen-induced attenuation problems associated with the presence of germanium (as is common in downhole fiber applications). The hydrogen-resistant fiber of the present invention can be formed to include one or more Bragg gratings within the germanium-doped interface, useful for sensing applications.
US08401352B2
A first optical waveguide of a convex shape is formed over a substrate. A second optical waveguide of a convex shape is formed over the substrate. A multimode interference waveguide of a convex shape is formed over the substrate for optically coupling the first optical waveguide to the second optical waveguide. Either side of the first optical waveguide is filled with a filling material, but either side of the second optical waveguide is not filled with the filling material.
US08401349B2
An approach is provided for an automated patch panel. A command is received to change a connection state of an optic patch cord. A robotic arm is controlled to change the connection state of the optic patch cord with respect to a particular port of a plurality of ports disposed about a disk-shaped face of a docking panel.
US08401345B2
An integrated circuit that includes an optical waveguide defined in a semiconductor layer is described. In this integrated circuit, light is coupled between the optical waveguide and an optical modulator, which is disposed on the optical waveguide, using 3-dimensional (3-D) taper structures that are proximate to the ends of the optical modulator. The cross-sectional areas of these 3-D taper structures transition, over a distance, from that of the optical waveguide (distal from the optical modulator) to that of optical modulator (proximate to the ends of the optical modulator). In this way, a spatial extent of an optical mode in the optical waveguide and a spatial extent of the optical mode in the optical modulator may be approximately matched to reduce the optical loss when the light is coupled to or from the optical modulator.
US08401340B2
An image processing apparatus includes a storage unit in which regression coefficient data is stored for each class on the basis of a tap in which a linear feature amount corresponding to a pixel of interest of first image data and a non-linear feature amount determined from the image data are used as elements; a classification unit configured to classify each of linear feature amounts of a plurality of items of input data of the input first image into a predetermined class; a reading unit configured to read the regression coefficient data; and a data generation unit configured to generate data of a second image obtained by making the first image have higher quality by performing a product-sum computation process by using the regression coefficient data read from the reading unit and elements of the tap of each of the plurality of items of input data of the input first image.
US08401336B2
Motion picture scenes to be colorized/depth enhanced (2D->3D) are broken into separate elements, backgrounds/sets or motion/onscreen-action. Background and motion elements are combined into composite frame which becomes a visual reference database that includes data for all frame offsets used later for the computer controlled application of masks within a sequence of frames. Masks are applied to subsequent frames of motion objects based on various differentiating image processing methods, including automated mask fitting/reshaping. Colors and/or depths are automatically applied to masks throughout a scene from the composite background and to motion objects. Areas never exposed by motion or foreground objects in a series of images may be partially or fully realistically drawn or rendered and applied to the occluded areas of the background and then automatically applied throughout the images to generate of minimal artifact or artifact-free secondary viewpoints when translating foreground objects horizontally during 2D->3D conversion.
US08401332B2
Disclosed is a distortion invariant system, method and computer readable medium for detecting the presence of one or more predefined targets in an input image. The input image and a synthetic discriminant function (SDF) reference image are correlated in a shift phase-encoded fringe-adjusted joint transform correlation (SPFJTC) correlator yielding a correlation output. A peak-to-clutter ratio (PCR) is determined for the correlation output and compared to a threshold value. A predefined target is present in the input image when the PCR is greater than or equal to the threshold value.
US08401324B2
It is possible to inhibit side effects even when an image that has sharp edge regions has been input, using a spatial processing portion (10) outputting surrounding image information US from an input image signal, a control signal generation portion (40) outputting an effect adjustment signal MOD according to a degree of flatness of an edge proximal region, and an effect adjustment portion (20) outputting a synthesized signal MUS that is synthesized by changing a ratio of the image signal IS and the surrounding image information US according to the effect adjustment signal MOD. Further, the side effects are inhibited using a visual processing portion (30) visually processing the image signal IS based on the synthesized signal MUS and the image signal IS.
US08401322B2
There is provided an image recording device, including: a highly-gradating unit for highly-gradating an input image having a first gradation depth, thereby generating a high gradation image having a second gradation depth higher than the first gradation depth; an image quantizing unit for quantizing the high gradation image generated by the highly-gradating unit such that a quantization error is modulated into a band with relatively low sensitivity of human visual characteristics, thereby generating a recording target image having a third gradation depth lower than the second gradation depth; an encoding unit for encoding the recording target image generated by the quantizing unit; and a recording unit for recording the recording target image encoded by the encoding unit in a recording medium.
US08401320B2
An image forming apparatus for compressing image data, includes: a compression unit that reduces data into a predetermined bit number per band of image data so as to satisfy a condition related to a predetermined compression and compresses the reduced data; a specifying unit that specifies a minimum bit number among the predetermined bit numbers applied to the bands and specifies bands which are not compressed by the minimum bit number; and a re-compression unit that performs re-compression on the specified bands so that the data is compressed by the minimum bit number.
US08401319B2
The invention provides devices and methods that process images. The invention processes a received signal representing information of texture and information of an image, which has the texture removed from at least one region. The image information is encoded to obtain encoded information of the image. An output signal is generated representing the texture information and the encoded image information. In another embodiment, the invention synthesizes texture based on the received texture information, decodes received image information, which is encoded, to obtain a decoded image, and then maps the synthesized texture onto the decoded image.
US08401315B2
Systems, methods, and computer programs for high quality wide-range multi-layer image compression coding, including consistent ubiquitous use of floating point values in essentially all computations; an adjustable floating-point deadband; use of an optimal hand-split filter; use of entire SNR layers at lower resolution levels; targeting of specific SNR layers to specific quality improvements; concentration of coding bits in regions of interest in targeted band-split and SNR layers; use of statically-assigned targets for high-pass and/or for SNR layers; improved SNR by using a lower quantization value for regions of an image showing a higher compression coding error; application of non-linear functions of color when computing difference values when creating an SNR layer; use of liner overall quantization at lower resolution levels with regional quantization scaling; removal of source image noise before motion-compensated compression or film steadying; use of one or more full-range low bands; use of alternate quantization control images for SNR bands and other high resolution enhancing bands; application of lossless variable-length coding using adaptive regions; use of a folder and file structure for layers of bits; and a method of inserting new intra frames by counting the number of bits needed for a motion compensated frame.
US08401302B2
An image processing apparatus may include a feature quantity extraction unit configured to extract a feature quantity from an image, a setting unit configured to set setting information including a plurality of setting items used to perform processing upon the image so that a designated setting item can be changed among the setting items; and a recording unit configured to associate the setting information with a feature quantity of the image and record them.
US08401297B1
A neuromorphic parallel image processing approach that has five (5) functional layers. The first performs a frequency domain transform on the image data generating multiple scales and feature based representations which are independent of orientation. The second layer is populated with feature based representations. The third layer, an object class recognizer layer, are fused using a neuromorphic parallel processor. Fusion of multimodal data can achieve high confidence, biometric recognition.
US08401294B1
Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer-implemented method for pattern matching includes receiving a pattern image, a mask image and a search image, the mask image having an arbitrary shape and identifying a portion of the pattern image. The method includes evaluating a normalized cross-correlation equation based on the pattern image, the mask image and the search image, including at least a convolution of the mask image and the search image. The method includes outputting a result of evaluating the normalized cross-correlation equation, the result indicating whether the search image matches the portion of the pattern image.
US08401291B2
Provided is an image processing apparatus which includes a block histogram generation unit configured to calculate frequency of a pixel value in each block, divide a dynamic range, and generate a first histogram including “N” number of bins, a pixel histogram generation unit configured to calculate frequency of a target pixel in a block based on first histograms of the block including the target pixel and a block adjacent to the block including the target pixel, and generate a second histogram including “N” number of bins for each pixel, and an output value determination unit configured to generate a relation between the pixel value and an output value of the pixel value based on the second histogram so that a maximum cumulative frequency of the second histogram matches a maximum value of the output value, and calculate the output value based on the pixel value of the target pixel.
US08401289B2
A method for matching colors including comparing the appearance of a first white color associated with a first color imaging system and a second white color associated with a second color imaging system, wherein the tristimulus values of the first and second white color are similar; determining a fixed correction to the tristimulus values of the second white color to achieve a visual match to the first white color; measuring a first set of spectral values for a first color associated with the first color imaging system; determining a first set of tristimulus values from the first set of spectral values; measuring a second set of spectral values for a second color associated with the second color imaging system; determining a second set of tristimulus values from the second set of spectral values; applying a correction to the tristimulus values of the second color; determining a difference between the tristimulus value of the first color and the corrected tristimulus value of the second color; and adjusting the second color to reduce the difference.
US08401282B2
A multi-class classifier is trained by selecting a query image from a set of active images based on a membership probability determined by the classifier, wherein the active images are unlabeled. A sample image is selected from a set of training image based on the membership probability of the query image, wherein the training images are labeled. The query image and the sample images are displayed to a user on an output device. A response from the user is obtained with an input device, wherein the response is a yes-match or a no-match. The query image with the label of the sample image is added to the training set if the yes-match is obtained, and otherwise repeating the selecting, displaying, and obtaining steps until a predetermined number of no-match is reached to obtain the multi-class classifier.
US08401279B2
A system capable of recognizing position, a shape, a posture and the like of an object present in a marginal environment of a device such as a robot in order to make the device perform operations on the object as a subject. In an environment recognition system, 3D information and physical information (color information and the like) of a subject are associated by using camera parameters of each of a 3D image sensor and a 2D image sensor. Thereby, the position, the posture and the shape related to the subject and the physical information of the subject present in the environment of a robot are obtained.
US08401277B2
A method for restoration of building structure using infinity homographies calculated based on parallelograms includes: calculating, using two or more parallelograms, an infinity homography between those cameras which refer to an arbitrary camera; restoring cameras and the building structure on an affine space using the computed infinity homography and homologous points between images; and transforming the restored result onto the metric space using constraints on orthogonality of vectors joining the restored three-dimensional points, the ratio of lengths of the vectors and intrinsic camera parameters. As a result, intrinsic camera parameters, camera positions on the metric space and the structure of the building are restored. All the restoration is possible even when intrinsic camera parameters corresponding to all the images are not constant.
US08401272B2
A system for inspecting semiconductor devices is provided. The system includes a region system selecting a plurality of regions from a semiconductor wafer. A golden template system generates a region golden template for each region, such as to allow a die image to be compared to golden templates from a plurality of regions. A group golden template system generates a plurality of group golden templates from the region golden templates, such as to allow the die image to be compared to golden templates from a plurality of group golden templates.
US08401261B2
The invention provides an integrated framework for detecting peripheral sympathetic responses through imaging. The measurements may be performed on three facial areas of sympathetic importance, that is, periorbital, supraorbital, and maxillary. Because the imaging measurements are thermal in nature and comprise multiple components of variable frequency (i.e., blood flow, sweat gland activation, and breathing), wavelets are used as the image analysis framework. The image analysis may be grounded on GSR signals.
US08401259B2
The admission of the editing of information on a key image of an object, the type of edit processing, and the contents targeted for edit processing are controlled in accordance with a combination of user information and device information (i.e., a scene where the key image is used).
US08401249B2
According to one of embodiments, taking in facial image data for a user, extracting feature points of the face of the user from the facial image data and then coding the feature points, and registering the facial image data on a destination management table so that the facial image data is associated with a special identifier and/or the coded feature points. In particular, the face of the sender is incorporated into a video mail, so that the exchange of addresses (faces) is facilitated and the reliability of the e-mail itself can be enhanced. Further, a face can be automatically registered on an address book at a receiving end. In this case, a similar face can be updated by the latest face.
US08401246B2
A second retinal characterization data set is mapped to a first retinal characterization dataset. The first retinal characterization dataset is displayed as a first graphical map. The second retinal characterization dataset is displayed as a second graphical map which is mapped to the first graphical map. The second graphical map may be warped and morphed onto the first graphical map. Retinal characterization datasets may be derived either from a fundus image or from a retinal parameter dataset calculated from a three-dimensional optical coherence tomography scan of a retina. Retinal parameter datasets may characterize parameters such as retinal thickness. In an embodiment, a fundus image is warped and morphed onto a retinal surface topographical map.
US08401238B2
An apparatus for map matching between a measured position for an object and information on a digital map is specified. This involves a computation unit being used to perform a first selection of cartography elements on the map on the basis of the measured position and on the basis of a predefined error. In addition, the computation unit is designed to provide the selected cartography elements for a first and a second secondary computation unit. In addition, values from the secondary computation units are converted in the same unit of measurement.
US08401234B2
An object position correction apparatus is provided with an observing device that detects an object to be observed to obtain an observed value, an observation history data base that records an observation history of the object, a position estimation history data base that records the estimated history of the position of the object, a prediction distribution forming unit that forms a prediction distribution that represents an existence probability at the position of the object, an object position estimation unit that estimates the ID and the position of the object, a center-of-gravity position calculation unit that calculates the center-of-gravity position of the observed values, an object position correction unit that carries out a correction on the estimated position of the object, and a display unit that displays the corrected position of the object.
US08401219B2
Headset assemblies and headset connectors are provided. Headset connectors can include a magnetic mating face and a plurality of electrical contacts disposed within the mating face. Engaging assemblies and engaging connectors are also provided. The engaging connectors can include a housing having a mating side, a magnetic array structure, and a plurality of spring biased contact members. The magnetic array structure can be fixed within the housing and house a plurality of spring biased contact members. The spring biased contact members can include tips that extend out of the mating side. The tips can electrically couple with electrical contacts in a headset connector.
US08401216B2
The present invention is an acoustic traveling wave tube system for propagating a directional acoustic wave comprising an acoustic traveling wave tube having a cylindrical shape with a load on one end of the tube, a plurality of excitation rings positioned around a circumference of the tube and spaced at predetermined intervals along a length of the tube and a microprocessor having a database containing a plurality of waveforms representative of acoustic signals. The microprocessor energizes one of the plurality of excitation rings to form an acoustic wave, sequentially energizes one or more of the remaining excitation rings along the length of the tube to amplify the acoustic wave as the acoustic wave travels along the length of the tube, and propagates the acoustic wave from an end of the tube opposite the load as a shaped directional acoustic wave.
US08401211B2
In a hearing device with an audio signal processing stage (3, 7, 5) and an Rf signal processing stage (9, 11) the Rf signal processing stage is realized in one module (13a), whereas the audio signal processing stage is realized in a second module (13b). The two modules are releasably interlinked by means of a releasable positive locking link (15).
US08401209B2
A microphone includes a housing; a back volume within the housing; a diaphragm within the housing; a backplate attached to the housing; and a diaphragm ring connected to the diaphragm. The diaphragm ring has a body defined by an outer perimeter and at least a first inner perimeter and a second inner perimeter adjacent the first inner perimeter. The first inner perimeter is adjacent to a top surface of the diaphragm ring. The second inner perimeter is adjacent to the bottom surface of the diaphragm ring. The second inner perimeter is smaller than the first inner perimeter.
US08401204B2
A method and a system for the active reduction, at a predetermined area, of the energy of a sound signal (dk(n)), also called a diffused noise signal, generated at the area by a primary signal (xk(n)), or noise signal, by the emission of a plurality of counter-noise signals (yk(n)) having an effect antagonistic to the diffused noise signal (dk(n)), each of the counter-noise signals (yk(n)) including a feedback counter-noise signal (yfbkk(n)) and a feed-forward counter-noise signal (yfwdk(n)). The method includes detecting the periodical components of diffused noise signal (dk(n)) for adjusting the feedback counter-noise signal (yfbkk(n)), and modelling the inverse of the secondary path for adjusting the feedback counter-noise (yfbkk(n)) and feed-forward counter-noise (yfwdk(n)) signals. The invention can be implemented to any type of industrial or non-industrial noise and in any location such as working places and relaxation places.
US08401198B2
A method of measuring and improving acoustic properties, and a recording medium and a music reproduction apparatus that are suitable for the method. The method includes reproducing and outputting an analysis signal stored in codec file types, recording the output analysis signal in the codec file types, obtaining an impulse response by performing convolution on the recorded signal and an inverse signal of the analysis signal, and correcting frequency properties based on the impulse response. By storing a signal that is supposed to be generated by a signal generation device in codec file types, it is possible to implement the signal in a music reproduction apparatus without a need for the signal generation device. By correcting frequency property, the music reproduction apparatus can improve the performance of an output acoustic signal close to that of an original sound.
US08401197B2
An audio power display provides a signal and an update rate. An audio power monitoring system comprises a digital display unit including at least one light-emitting display element and a rapid update rate. The digital display unit displays signal levels at the rapid update rate to emphasize the dynamic nature of music. In one embodiment, the display update rate is varied to increase proportionally to increases in signal level, and decrease proportionally to decreases in signal level to further represent the dynamic nature of music.
US08401192B2
In one embodiment, a mechanism for securely ordered message exchange is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes associating sequence numbers with each of a plurality of messages that are part of a transmission from a broadcaster to an intended recipient, and for each message of the plurality of messages, calculating a unique message authentication code (MAC) using as inputs the message, a shared secret key, and the associated sequence number. The method also includes sending to the intended recipient the plurality of messages each with the associated calculated MAC attached to the message.
US08401187B2
Methods and a systems are described for processing recordable content in a broadcast stream sent to a receiver, wherein said broadcast stream is protected in accordance with a conditional access system and wherein said receiver is configured for storing and consuming content in said broadcast stream in accordance with a digital rights management system. In this methods and systems recording information is sent in one or more entitlement control messages over a broadcast network to a receiver. Using the recording information in the entitlement control messages the receiver is able to store recordable events in a broadcast stream on a storage medium and to consume said recorded events in accordance with a digital rights management system.
US08401181B2
A system for storing encrypted data comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to receive an encrypted segment. The encrypted segment is determined by breaking a data stream, a data block, or a data file into one or more segments and encrypting each of the one or more segments. The processor is further configured to determine whether the encrypted segment has been previously stored, and in the event that the encrypted segment has not been previously stored, store the encrypted segment. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.
US08401177B2
A combined sidetone and hybrid balance apparatus and method of operating same are disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention may provide both a hybrid balance mode of operation and a sidetone generation mode of operation within a single integrated circuit device. The functionality provided by an embodiment of the present invention may be used in both Internet protocol (IP)-based telephones and residential gateways, and may be incorporated within the IP telephone chip used in such devices. An embodiment of the present invention may be used to reduce processor demand and the cost of materials, permitting greater IP telephone or residential gateway functionality at lower cost.
US08401175B2
An internet protocol telephone includes a substrate having an input and an output that are capable of being connected to the internet protocol (IP) network. A relay is disposed on the substrate and is connected between the input and the output of the substrate. The relay includes first and second native FETs that have a threshold voltage of approximately zero volts. Therefore, the relay is nominally turned-on, even when little or no voltage (or power) is applied to the IP telephone substrate, as during the discovery mode of IP telephone operation. During discovery mode, The IP phone is configured to be responsive to extended link pulses and block data packets that are associated with legacy devices. Data packets have a higher signal duration and are more continuous than extended link pulses. The IP phone includes a switchable ground that is connected to the gates of the native devices, and is controlled by a rectifier and filter circuit that are connected to the substrate input. If the IP phone receives legacy data packets during discovery mode, then the high signal duration and continuous nature of the data packets are sufficient to cause the rectifier to generate a rectified signal having sufficient amplitude to activate the switchable ground, so as to ground the gates of the native devices and therefore turn-off the native devices. Therefore, the data packets are rejected and are not passed back to the switch. Extended link pulses have a frequency that is too low to generate a rectified signal that is sufficient to activate the switchable ground, and therefore the native devices remain turned-on. Accordingly, the extended link pulses are passed back to the switch.
US08401172B1
An online and offline communication processing and tracking using data processing and data/voice networks is described. A phone address from a phone address number pool is automatically assigned to a first entity. A call quality rating is determined and recorded. A call from a caller directed to the phone address is received at a call bridging system coupled to at least one network, wherein the call is associated with call signaling information. Based at least in part on the call quality associated with the caller call, the caller call is assigned to a first location in a call queue. An outbound call is generated from the call bridging system and the inbound and the outbound calls are bridged. One or more parameters of the bridged call are compared to the call quality rating. An indication is recorded regarding the successful bridging of the calls in association with an entity identifier.
US08401170B2
A method and apparatus are provided for establishing a communication connection between a client of an organization and an agent of the organization. The method includes the steps of an automatic call distributor of the organization receiving a call from the client, the automatic call distributor detecting an IM handle of the client from the call and the automatic call distributor establishing a VOIP connection between the client and agent of the organization using the IM handle.
US08401167B2
A customized routing service platform for routing international communications includes a receiver that receives, from an international gateway via a network node, international communication origination data for an international communication to a customer's communication address. A database server receives customer routing instructions from the customer via a web server. The database server stores the received customer routing instructions. The database server also retrieves stored customer routing instructions, and determines a destination communication address based on the international communication origination data and the retrieved customer routing instructions. A forwarder forwards the destination communication address to the network node for routing the international communication to the destination communication address.
US08401163B1
The present invention is related to telecommunications, and in particular, to methods and systems for call processing. By way of example, a first call control is visually provided via a Web page in association with search results transmitted to a user computer system, wherein the user submitted to search request to a search engine. An indication is received that the user activated the first call control. A first call is placed to a telephonic address selected by the user. A second call is placed to a telephonic address associated with the first call control. Progress information related to the second call is transmitted to the user computer system in substantially real-time.
US08401159B2
Uploading data to a call connection service by providing data records associated with a call destination in a user-selected manner. Navigation instructions are obtained concerning a particular data record in response to the data navigation instructions. An indication is received to upload the call destination associated with the particular record to the call connection service. In response to the indication, a routine is executed to acquire a portion of the data record and upload the portion to the call connection service in a format suitable for handling. Alternatively, data can be provided to the call completion service in an automated manner, including in response to an unconnectability condition detected during the call process, either during call initiation or after the call has been connected, and when calls are received at a secondary user device.
US08401156B1
A method, a system, and computer readable medium comprising instructions for monitoring caller experience in a call flow are provided. The method comprises collecting at least one selection by at least one caller in a call flow, generating performance analysis of a voice response system, combining the at least one selection and the performance analysis into a set of data, applying a monitoring formula to the set of data to form a result representing caller experience; and presenting the result to at least one service provider.
US08401153B2
The present invention provides for a system and method for providing a signal to a communication system comprising an interface between a communication link and the communication system, like an alarm system, wherein the interface receives a signal from the communication link and provides a signal indicative of the availability of the communication link for use by the communication system. Alarm systems operations may be facilitated so that Residential Gateway components (such as voice terminal adapters) may simulate traditional telephone network systems that run on 48 VDC powered telephone lines. The system also comprises an input port associated with the interface for receiving the signal from the communication link, a transformer or a voltage regulator and an output port associated with the interface for providing the conditioned signal to the communication system. A ring voltage received from the communication link may be passed through to the alarm system.
US08401151B2
An injector for an X-ray tube is presented. The injector includes an emitter to emit an electron beam, at least one focusing electrode disposed around the emitter, wherein the at least one focusing electrode focuses the electron beam and at least one extraction electrode maintained at a positive bias voltage with respect to the emitter, wherein the at least one extraction electrode controls an intensity of the electron beam.
US08401128B2
A method and system are described for processing a received signal at a receiver in a communication system. The receiver includes a digital filter and automatic gain control means. Information indicating the frequency band of operation and the type of service of the received signal is received at the receiver from the communication system. The gain and filtering parameters of the receiver are set according to the received information. The received signal is processed at the receiver using the gain and filtering parameters. Optionally, a determination of whether the received signal contains adjacent channel interference above a predetermined allowable threshold may also be made and the determination may then be used in setting the gain and filtering parameters.
US08401122B2
A method for decoding at least one signal, including: receiving the at least one signal, the at least one signal being transmitted by at least one transmitting antenna and received by at least one receiving antenna; defining a sphere having a predetermined radius and being centered on a particular symbol chosen among predetermined symbols forming a lattice constellation of symbols which may be received by the receiving antenna; and producing estimated symbols representative of at least one transmitted symbol carried by the at least one signal and identified among the predetermined symbols included in the sphere and likelihood values associated to the estimated symbols.
US08401105B2
A method for transmitting a data signal by a transmission unit of a wireless multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. The communication system includes the transmission unit and a reception unit, the transmission unit having a plurality of transmission antennas and the reception unit having a plurality of reception antennas. The method includes performing a first transmission of a data signal, the first transmission including transmitting the data signal by each one of the plurality of transmission antennas, and performing a second transmission of the data signal at a time later than the first transmission, the second transmission including transmitting at least one spectrally modified signal variant of the data signal by at least one antenna of the plurality of transmission antennas.
US08401104B2
A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication method using a codebook is provided. The MIMO communication method may use one or more codebooks and the codebooks may change according to a transmission rank, a channel state of a user terminal, and/or a number of feedback bits.
US08401095B2
An apparatus for transmitting data using a plurality of carriers and method thereof are disclosed, by which PAPR improving effect is enhanced. A method of generating an OFDM signal, which is transmitted by spreading data symbols using a DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) matrix, according to the present invention includes the steps of generating an output symbol by data-processing the data symbols in time domain in a manner of giving a specific weight to the data symbols and summing up the weight-given data symbols and generating the OFDM signal by performing OFDM data processing on the output symbol.
US08401086B1
In a streaming media environment in which multiple channels of media content are available, the present invention reduces the time interval between a user requesting a new channel and the media content of the requested channel being made available to the user.
US08401085B2
In decoding a scalable video signal using a partial picture reference on a temporal domain and a scalable domain, the present invention provides a method including obtaining a first partial picture on a first temporal point, and decoding a full picture referring to the first partial picture, the full picture being on a second temporal point, the second temporal point being located after the first temporal point, wherein a level of the first partial picture on a scalable domain is lower than a level of the full picture on the scalable domain.
US08401084B2
A system and method for decoding digital video by processing multiple regions of an image in parallel, even when there are dependencies between rows in the image, are disclosed. The method generally involves decoding multiple rows concurrently, with the start of decoding of a given row being delayed until portions of the other rows on which the given row depends have been decoded. The system generally comprises parallel processors, with one processor typically decoding one row and another processor typically decoding the row above it. In accordance with the present invention, however, any number or type of processors can decode, or perform decoding functions on, the image in parallel.
US08401074B2
The picture decoding method according to the present invention is a decoding method for decoding coded pictures by inverse quantization and inverse orthogonal transformation, in which a quantization matrix which defines a scaling ratio of a quantization step for each component is multiplied by a multiplier, which is a coefficient for frequency transformation or a quantization step, and also, a result of the multiplication is multiplied by a quantized value, as a process of inverse quantization.
US08401069B2
A video process receives an interlaced sequence of input fields organized in a plurality of frames and identifies whether each video cut occurs at a frame boundary. Where a cut occurs otherwise than at a frame boundary, the processes generates a synthetic field by motion compensation and interpolation. This synthetic field replaces one of the fields at the cut, effectively re-timing the cut to a frame boundary. The process thereby outputs a sequence of output fields in which every cut is positioned at a frame boundary, the sequence of output fields containing the same number of fields as the sequence of input fields.
US08401065B2
In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving by a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) a first signal comprising transmitted data; adjusting by the DFE the first signal to an equalized signal comprising the transmitted data; detecting by a phase-error detector phase errors at a data rate of no more than one fourth of a data rate for the transmitted data; generating by the phase-error detector a phase-error level based on the detected phase errors; and recovering, by a clock-recovery circuit for the DFE and the phase-error detector, a clock signal associated with the transmitted data based on the phase error level.
US08401062B2
A method, and corresponding modem, of transmitting data. The method including: modulating the data onto a plurality of carriers with different carrier frequencies, resulting in a transmission signal; notching predetermined frequency bands of the transmission signal, which predetermined frequency bands would otherwise disturb external transmissions; and boosting carriers that are adjacent to the predetermined frequency bands and that would be attenuated because of the notching.
US08401058B1
A channelized amplification system and method for mitigating non-linear amplification effects and controlling spectral re-growth is disclosed. A channelized amplifier system includes a frequency divider, a plurality of distributors coupled to the frequency divider, and a plurality of amplification modules coupled to the plurality of distributors. Each of the plurality of amplification modules includes a plurality of channelized non-linear amplifiers, a frequency combiner having a plurality of band-pass filters and coupled to the plurality of channelized non-linear amplifiers, and a band-pass filter coupled to the frequency combiner.
US08401057B2
An OFDM-based relay-assisted channel estimation method enables a composite channel (source-relay-destination) to be disintegrated into a source-to-relay channel and a relay-to-destination channel and separately estimated at the destination node in a relay-assisted way. A relay-amble signal is added to a sub-frame when the relay node is forwarding the amplified signals from the source node. Through the relay-amble signal, the second channel estimation from the relay node to the destination node is performed to obtain a second channel coefficient, and then uses an ML (Maximum Likelihood Estimator) algorithm to estimate a first channel coefficient from the source node to the relay node. After having estimated the coefficients of the two channels, the optimum diversity combining is performed at the destination node to improve accuracy of received data.
US08401051B2
A base station effectively transmits BCH data and includes an encoding unit for encoding the BCH data; a modulation unit for modulating the BCH data after being encoded; a transmission band setting unit for setting a BCH data transmission band in one of sub carriers constituting an OFDM symbol; encoding units for encoding user data, modulation units for modulating user data after being encoded; and an IFFT unit for mapping the BCH data and the user data to each of the sub carriers and performing IFFT to generate an OFDM symbol. Here, the IFFT unit maps the BCH data to the sub carrier existing in the transmission band set by the transmission band setting unit among the plurality of sub carriers.
US08401046B2
A multibeam coherent laser diode source comprises a master laser, a linear amplifier and two perpendicular amplifiers. The master laser and amplifiers are in the form of a single heterostructure containing an active layer, two limiting layers and a radiation influx area with an influx layer. The heterostructure is characterized by the ratio of the refractive index of the heterostructure to the refractive index of influx layer. This ratio is determined from a range extending from one plus delta to one minus gamma, where delta and gamma are defined by a number much less than one and gamma is greater than delta. The linear amplifier is positioned so that optical axis of radiation propagation from master laser coincides with the axis of the linear amplifier. Each perpendicular amplifier has output edge and is positioned so that its optical axis is situated at right angle to the axis of linear amplifier.
US08401044B2
[Task] To provide a semiconductor light emitting element capable of emitting light beams with wavelengths in a plurality of wavelength ranges with a high optical output, a driving method of a semiconductor light emitting element capable of making a semiconductor light emitting element that can emit light beams with wavelengths in a plurality of wavelength ranges operate with a high optical output, a light emitting device, and a small and high-performance optical pulse tester using the light emitting device.[Means for Resolution] In a driving method of a semiconductor light emitting element with a configuration in which an active layer 13a with a gain wavelength λ1 of about 1.55 μm and an active layer 13b with a gain wavelength λ2 of about 1.3 μm are optically coupled along the guiding direction of light and are disposed in series in order of the length of the gain wavelengths λ1 and λ2 and a diffraction grating 20 with a Bragg wavelength of the short gain wavelength λ2 is formed near the active layer 13b with the short gain wavelength λ2 and near a butt-joint coupling portion 19 between the active layers 13a and 13b, an upper electrode provided above the active layer 13b is short-circuited to a lower electrode provided on a bottom surface of a semiconductor substrate so that a leakage current does not flow into the active layer 13b when a driving current is applied to the active layer 13a.
US08401041B2
The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, system and computer program product, wherein a time division multiplex signal is received with a periodic first time period allocated to a downlink transmissions and a periodic second time period allocated to uplink transmissions. A decision time metric is obtained by correlating the received signal with a replica signal in order to detect a synchronization pattern provided in the first time period. Then, a slide window based normalization with a time window long enough to accommodate said second time period is applied to the decision time metric.
US08401035B2
An exemplary method of one way transmission of information is provided, the exemplary method steps preferably include partitioning a portion of each network device along a transmission path (based on a configuration of a source adaptive translation device), to form a source dedicated one way transmission path, analyzing source customer supplied information received by the source adaptive translation device to discern the source supplied information format, mapping the source discerned supplied information into a first synchronous transport signal using the source adaptive translation device, transmitting the first synchronous transport signal across the source dedicated one way transmission path, receiving the first synchronous transport signal at a destination adaptive destination device, and remapping the received first synchronous transport signal back into the discerned source supplied information using the destination adaptive translation device.
US08401032B2
Methods, devices, and computer programs for improving the efficiency of multi-user multimedia messaging services are disclosed. A multimedia message is sent from an originator user device to an originator server and further to one or more recipient servers to which recipient user devices as addressed are associated to. The one or more recipient servers execute a multicast delivery for distributing the multimedia message to the recipient user devices and/or an improved reporting of a transmission state of the multimedia message by receiving status messages from the recipient user devices, each status message comprising an indication of an individual transmission state of the multi media message at one of the recipient user devices, aggregating the indications into a report representing the transmission state of the multimedia message, and sending the report to the originator server.
US08401031B2
A method of performing a random access procedure in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes transmitting a random access preamble, and monitoring a downlink control channel in a transmission time interval (TTI) window for a random access response, the TTI window comprising a plurality of TTIs, wherein a TTI is an interval to search a random access-radio network temporary identity (RA-RNTI) transmitted on the downlink control channel and monitoring the downlink control channel for the random access response is stopped when the random access response including an random access preamble identifier corresponding to the transmitted random access preamble is received.
US08401020B2
Requests of resources of uplink flows towards a base station (BS) and/or downlink flows towards end nodes are computed by each requesting node on an end-to-end basis. Each requesting node issues a cumulative request given by summing up the same request for each link separating the node from the BS plus each link separating the BS from the destination node, enabling the centralized node to perform connection based scheduling. The BS in response to all cumulative requests grants uplink and/or downlink resources for each link. The profile of grants is equal to the profile of requests when the amount of resources requested is below the maximum net throughput on MAC layer. When not below the maximum net through-put on MAC layer, the ideal profile of grants is normalized with respect to a ratio between the maximum net throughput on MAC layer and the amount of the overall requested resources.
US08401019B2
A method for scheduling a processing of packet stream channels comprises: determining whether at least one packet stream channel comprises a frame ready for processing; if at least one packet stream channel comprises a frame ready for processing, identifying a frame ready for processing having a highest priority; and scheduling the identified highest priority frame for processing. The method further comprises prioritising frames ready for processing based on at least one of: a frame availability time and an estimated processing time, for each frame.
US08401018B2
Techniques for scheduling flows and links for transmission are described. Each link is an oriented source-destination pair and carries one or more flows. Each flow may be associated with throughput, delay, feedback (e.g., acknowledgments (ACKs)) and/or other requirements. A serving interval is determined for each flow based on the requirements for the flow. A serving interval is determined for each link based on the serving intervals for all of the flows sent on the link. Each link is scheduled for transmission at least once in each serving interval, if system resources are available, to ensure that the requirements for all flows sent on the link are met. The links are also scheduled in a manner to facilitate closed loop rate control. The links are further scheduled such that ACKs for one or more layers in a protocol stack are sent at sufficiently fast rates.
US08401015B2
The present invention relates to a method for representing a partition of n w-bit intervals associated to d-bit data in a data communications network, said method comprising the steps of: providing in a memory (102), a datagram forwarding data structure (10) provided for indicating where to forward a datagram in said network, which data structure (10) is in the form of a tree comprising at least one leaf (11) and possibly a number of nodes (13) including partial nodes, said data structure (10) having a height (h), corresponding to a number of memory accesses required for looking up a largest stored non-negative integer smaller than or equal to a query key, step 201, reducing worst storage cost by using a technique for reduction of worst case storage cost that are selectable from: partial block tree compaction, virtual blocks, bit push pulling, block aggregation or split block trees, and variations thereof, step 202, updating the layered data structure partially including by using a technique for scheduling maintenance work that are selectable from: vertical segmentation and bucket list maintenance, and providing a hybrid structure by using a technique that are selectable from cluster monitoring, path compression, prefix pointer encoding to provide a static hybrid block tree, step 203.
US08401012B2
An embodiment may include circuitry to determine, at least in part, at least one first output to which to route at least one packet, based, at least in part upon, a first output determination and a second output determination. The first output determination may select at least one second output based at least in part upon at least one deterministic output selection algorithm. The second output determination may select at least one third output based at least in part upon at least one pseudo-random output selection algorithm. The at least one pseudo-random output selection algorithm may be based, at least in part, upon a counter value. Many modifications, variations, and alternatives are possible without departing from this embodiment.
US08401006B2
Embodiments of a method and system for enforcing a traffic policy at a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) that controls the flow of traffic in a wireless communications network are described. In one embodiment, a method involves learning the topology of the wireless communications network, defining a virtual PEP (VPEP) within the topology of the wireless communications network, the VPEP comprising a location component that is remote from the PEP, associating a traffic policy with the VPEP, associating a traffic flow with the VPEP if the traffic flow has a characteristic that corresponds to the location component of the VPEP, and enforcing, at the PEP, the traffic policy that is associated with the VPEP against the traffic flow.
US08401005B2
In a method for processing contents of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, a SIP sender sends a SIP message, and a SIP network content processing entity sets the message contents of the SIP message based on an acquired management strategy for the message content. A network for processing contents of a SIP message is also provided. Message contents of the SIP message may thereby be changed in the SIP message in accordance with the user's will and the strategy of the operator.
US08401003B1
A method and system for updating physical location data associated with a VoIP endpoint device is implemented in a variety of embodiments. In one such embodiment, a VoIP endpoint device stores an identifier for a packet-communicating device which is subject to changing. The VoIP endpoint device has an interface for communication over the Internet via the packet-communicating device and uses a circuit-implemented method for prompting a VoIP user to update physical location data associated with the VoIP endpoint device. In response to a power state transition and a change in the stored identifier, the VoIP endpoint device facilitates an update to the physical location data associated with the VoIP service.
US08400999B2
A method of handling packets for a user end in a wireless communications system includes activating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) procedure, receiving a first packet and decoding the first packet successfully, receiving a second packet following the first packet, and decoding the second packet if the second packet is a retransmission of the first packet.
US08400993B2
An autonomously dispersed type wireless network is suitably formed with communication stations avoiding collision of beacons transmitted one to another. In the event that the range of reach of airwaves change and a receivable state is created and beacons collide, a communication station changes the beacon transmission position of itself in response to receiving a beacon from another station at a timing immediately prior to transmission to its own beacon. Also, in the event that beacon collision is exposed due to emergence of a new communication which can perform reception from two systems out of airwave range of each other, the newly-participating station requests one of the communication stations of which the beacons are colliding to change the beacon transmission timing.
US08400992B2
A call setup method is provided for a MVPN which includes at least one access point apparatus, at least one database, and a plurality of users. The database records a private extension number, a user phone number, and a user identity module of each user and a link address of the corresponding access point apparatus. The access point apparatus corresponding to a MO user receives a call setup request message for setting up a call with a MT user from the MO user. The access point apparatus corresponding to the MO user determines whether the link address of the access point apparatus corresponding to the MT user is valid according to the database. If the link address of the access point apparatus corresponding to the MT user is valid, the MO user and the MT user set up the call through the access point apparatuses corresponding to the link addresses.
US08400990B1
Specifying the hosting WLAN switch controller for a WiFi VPN connection from a public hotspot should not require managing separate name spaces for switch controllers and SSIDs. Instead, identification of the controller should be done within the standard 802.11 protocol using SSIDs that resolve to IP addresses. Users therefore need only manage a single SSID name space for both WiFi VPN connections and local wireless connections.
US08400989B2
A unique identifier is associated with a personal access point. The personal access point is distributed to an end user, who sends a text message including the identifier. Within an automated computer system, the text message is received, a billing account is associated with the personal access point on the basis of the text message, and the personal access point is activated to provide wireless access to a network.
US08400986B2
In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) selects a random access channel (RACH) and a phase for a constant amplitude zero auto correlation (CAZAC) sequence for RACH transmission. The WTRU then transmits a RACH transmission to a Node B via the selected RACH. Once the RACH transmission is detected, the Node B sends an acknowledgement (ACK) to the WTRU over an ACK channel. The Node B may transmit the ACK on a shared channel. The WTRU may ramp up transmit power while the RACH transmission is transmitted, or steps up transmit power of a subsequent RACH transmission. The RACH transmission and data transmission may be either time multiplexed or frequency multiplexed. A plurality of RACHs may be defined and one of the defined RACHs may be selected randomly or based on predetermined criteria.
US08400980B2
Disclosed are a fast handover system and a method thereof. The fast handover method can include: allowing a mobile node (MN) to transmit a handover information message to a previous mobile access gateway (PMAG); allowing the PMAG to transmit a fast proxy binding update (FPBU) message to a local mobility anchor (LMA) on the basis of the handover information message received from the MN; allowing the LMA to transmit a handover initiation (HI) message including MN-ID and proxy-care-of address (CoA) of the PMAG to a new MAG (NMAG); transmitting a position update message to the NMAG if the MN is attached to a target BS that is connected to the NMAG; and allowing the NMAG to deliver a buffered packet to the MN.
US08400978B2
A method for multiplexing a data information stream, including a systematic symbol and a non-systematic symbol, and a control information stream of at least three types in a wireless mobile communication system is disclosed. The method includes mapping the data information stream to a resource area so that the systematic symbol is not mapped to a specific resource area to which the control information stream is mapped, and mapping the control information stream to the specific resource area.
US08400974B2
Methods and apparatus to enable a wireless network system to dynamically change information channel message broadcasts. In one aspect, cellular network systems optimize pilot channel message delivery based at least in part on one or more network parameters. Base stations and/or cellular devices can dynamically configure the pilot channel message delivery or reception based on the network parameters. For example, such flexible pilot channel message delivery may more frequently deliver prioritized pilot channel messages, and less frequently broadcast low priority messages. Cellular subscribers with appropriately enabled user equipment may improve their power and applications performance through implementation of the invention. Furthermore, base stations may reclaim the freed cellular resources to support other services. Legacy subscribers are advantageously not affected.
US08400973B2
A network includes a first node and a second node and data frames are transmitted from the first node to the second node. Each of the data frames carry information belonging to one of a plurality of data flows. In a flow control unit (125) there is an estimate or measure determining unit (1201) for determining for each of the data flows, at the ends of first time periods having a predetermined first length, an estimate of or a measure representing the total number of received data frames that have been faulty during the first time period. A reference calculating unit (1101) is connected to the estimate or measure determining unit for calculating, based on the determined estimate or measure, a bandwidth capacity reference value determining the currently maximum allowable bandwidth for transmission from the data transmitting node to the data receiving node. The first node can be a radio network controller and the second node a radio base station, the data frames forwarded in an HS-DSCH over an Iub interface.
US08400971B1
Methods and systems are provided for implementing reclamation of EV-DO sessions based on latency-sensitivity. In an embodiment, an EV-DO access node (e.g. an RNC) maintains a plurality of sessions respectively associated with a plurality of access terminals. The plurality of sessions consists of a first number of sessions, each having an associated degree of latency-sensitivity. The access node compares the first number with a session-reclamation threshold. If the access node determines that the first number exceeds the session-reclamation threshold, the access node responsively reclaims one or more of the sessions that have been inactive for at least a threshold amount of time in ascending order of latency-sensitivity, without notifying the one or more associated access terminals.
US08400957B2
A network of nodes and connections is provided, each connection connecting two nodes. A method of operating a first node in the network includes detecting a change in a node connected to the first node, identifying that the number of nodes connected to the first node with the detected change is above a predetermined threshold, and executing the detected change at the first node and/or propagating the detected change to one or more nodes connected to the first node that do not have the detected change.
US08400955B2
A system and method for wireless communication over multi-rate channels are disclosed. One embodiment of the system operates on wake-up schedules for power saving. The system includes a first multi-band wireless station that is capable of using a first frequency band and a second frequency band for wireless communication; and a second multi-band wireless station that is capable of using the first frequency band and the second frequency band for wireless communication. One or more of the first and second stations is configured to maintain therein one or more wake-up schedules on the second frequency band of one or more of the first station, the second station, and an access point. The first and second stations are configured to share the one or more wake-up schedules with each other via the first frequency band. The system allows the stations to effectively associate with each other, thereby saving power.
US08400951B2
A wireless communication terminal and method for determining a number of Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) groups (N) in the downlink subframe based on a first parameter, a second parameter and a determined cyclic prefix (CP) duration, wherein the first parameter indicates a downlink system bandwidth in terms of a number of resource blocks and the second parameter indicates a scaling factor. The terminal receives downlink control signaling in a set of resource elements in the subframe, wherein the set of resource elements is determined based partly on the number of PHICH groups (N).
US08400947B2
The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer program products for specifying an ENUM service type in a communications network that uses a plurality of different ENUM service types. According to one method, at least one ENUM service type is identified from a plurality of different ENUM service types. The identification is performed at a signaling point separate from an ENUM database. An ENUM query message corresponding to the at least one identified ENUM service type is generated. The ENUM query message is transmitted to an at least one ENUM server for providing the at least one identified ENUM service type.
US08400930B2
The invention achieves a communication quality diagnostic unit capable of detecting an omen phenomenon of a communication trouble early in a stage prior to actual emergence of the communication trouble due to a noise, thereby issuing a warning. The communication quality diagnostic unit for diagnosing quality of communication for transmitting and receiving frames at predetermined interval time, comprising a frame-interval time detector for monitoring interval time between the frames, a frame-interval abnormality determiner for making determination as the case of diagnostic abnormality when a predetermined threshold value is exceeded by frame-interval time as detected, and a diagnostic abnormality notifier for notifying a host unit of the diagnostic abnormality as an alarm.
US08400929B2
One embodiment is a source router that monitors the performance of an Ethernet network. The source router generates an Ethernet connectivity check request frame that includes a transmission timestamp, and transmits the Ethernet connectivity check request frame to a destination router. The source router receives a reply from the destination router that is transmitted in response to receiving the Ethernet connectivity check request frame and determines a round trip time between the source router and the destination router based on a time of receipt of the reply and the transmission timestamp.
US08400928B2
A method of reporting a channel state for a plurality of bands includes transmitting channel quality indicators (CQIs) for the respective bands, and transmitting CQI variation information, wherein the CQI variation information comprises CQI up/down information indicating whether the CQIs of the respective bands collectively increase or decrease and a CQI variation indicating a collective variation of the CQIs of the respective bands. Accordingly, waste of resources consumed for the CQIs can be reduced.
US08400927B2
The present invention relates to methods and arrangements in a telecommunication system to monitor information related to specified services in a service unaware node. The node handles Content of Communication associated with services. The system comprises a Delivery Function to which Content of Communication related to a target is received from the node. The method comprises the following steps: Receiving from a requesting entity to the Delivery Function a request to delimit the received Content of Communication according to not desired services. Parsing the received Content of Communication according to not desired services by a Packet Inspection Feature associated with the Delivery Function. Forwarding Control Information related to the not desired services to the requesting entity.
US08400916B2
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the policy and charging rules node from a requesting entity, a message including a request associated with at least one service data flow (SDF), wherein the request includes at least one requested bandwidth; extracting at least one subscriber identifier from the message; retrieving a subscription record associated with the at least one subscriber identifier; determining whether the request should be fulfilled by performing at least one comparison of the at least one requested bandwidth for the SDF against at least one field of the subscription record; if the request should be fulfilled, establishing the SDF; and if the request should not be fulfilled: generating a response message that indicates that the request was rejected, and transmitting the response message to the requesting entity.
US08400912B2
Packet switch operating methods and packet switches receive, at a packet switch, a control packet from another packet switch. The packet switch and the other packet switch are coupled together by two or more tunnels. The control packet indicates that a particular one of the tunnels is active on the other packet switch. In response, the packet switch operating methods and packet switches activate the particular tunnel indicated by the received control packet on the packet switch.
US08400911B2
A system and method for managing information communication in a network includes a plurality of network nodes. A plurality of circuit emulation data flows are established between a first network node and at least a second network node. Different data transmission rates are assigned to each circuit emulation data flow such that the frequency of communicated packets is different at least for each circuit emulation data flow used for timing recovery to make the plurality of circuit emulation data flows substantially independent of each other. For example, different frame rates can be assigned to synchronous backhaul transmission links such that the frequency of the backhaul transmission rates is substantially independent of the circuit emulation flow rates.
US08400907B2
A user equipment (UE) receiving a plurality of reference signals in a wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system includes a transceiver configured for receiving the plurality of reference signals for multiple antennas in a sub-frame, the sub-frame including a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a time domain over a plurality of sub-carriers in a frequency domain. A first array is repeated in the frequency domain on a first OFDM symbol of the sub-frame, a second array is repeated in the frequency domain on a second OFDM symbol of the sub-frame and a third array is repeated in the frequency domain on a third OFDM symbol of the sub-frame, and each of the first, second and third arrays consists of six contiguous symbols in the frequency domain.
US08400905B2
Physical downlink channels PPHY1, PHY2 are summed in a summation unit 10. The output of summation unit 10 is forwarded to another summation unit 12, where it is combined with the primary and secondary synchronization channels P-SCH, S-SCH. The secondary synchronization channel S-SCH is formed as in WCDMA. The primary synchronization channel P-SCH is formed by connecting a switch SW either to a code generator 14 generating the conventional code PSCWCDMA or a code generator 18 generating the code PSCNEW. The selection is controlled by a PSC controller 18. This controller can be adapted to produce a P-SCH in accordance with one of several formats. PSCNEW has the properties that it is a hierarchical Golay sequence constructed by a plurality of constituent sequences with at least one of the constituent sequences being the Golay sequence, and that it is orthogonal to the primary and secondary synchronization codes used in non-MBSFN capable WCDMA.
US08400902B2
An apparatus includes a waveguide having a core layer and first and second cladding layers on opposite sides of the core layer, wherein the cladding layers comprise a binary oxide composition. In another example, the cladding layers include a ternary or quaternary combination of oxides and/or oxynitrides. In another example, the cladding layers include a silicon oxynitride.
US08400897B2
Provided is a storage mechanism that readably migrates a content of data from one recording medium to another over generations in a readable manner and provides the contents of the records from a current recording medium. A read/write controller comprises a mechanism for preparing an archive recording medium of a first generation having a plurality of records recorded therein and a mechanism for migrating the records from the recording medium of the first generation to a recording medium of the next generation (the third generation subsequent to the first generation) and further to recording media of following generations one by one. The migration mechanism generates migration information including a mapping table between record numbers of the first generation and a current generation and holds the migration information as data in the recording medium of the current generation.
US08400894B2
The present invention provides a method for writing data on a multilayer optical disc with N information storage layers (where N is an integer and N≧2). The kth deepest one (where k is an integer and 1≦k≦N) of the storage layers of the multilayer optical disc is called a kth information storage layer. The method includes the steps of: (A) finding the number of layers that an optical disc loaded into an optical disc drive has (disc type recognition); if the number of layers is X (which is an integer and X≧2), (B) tentatively writing data on a test write area of an mth information storage layer (where m is an integer and 1≦m≦X−1), thereby determining a provisional initial optical recording power (performing OPC); (C) choosing an appropriate correction coefficient according to the level of a target layer, on which data needs to be written, and correcting the provisional initial optical recording power based on the correction coefficient chosen, thereby determining an initial optical recording power; and (D) starting writing the data on the target layer with the initial optical recording power.
US08400893B2
Power consumption is calculated in accordance with an operation state of disk devices without using a power meter in a storage system. The power consumption in accordance with the operation state is calculated as follows. That is, information on the power consumption for every type of hard disks is stored in advance when types of I/O process (random/sequential of read and write) operate at idle time up to a limit state in every type of hard disks. A control unit of the storage system aggregates time waiting a response from the hard disks in every type of I/O process. The power consumption of the disks is calculated on the basis of the information on the power consumption stored in advance and a sum of the waiting time of the response from the hard disks.
US08400891B2
An apparatus includes a read/write head disposed on a slider, a control circuit disposed on the slider, and an adjustable delay line disposed on the slider. The adjustable delay line delays transmission of aligned write data to the read/write head by an adjustable delay. The adjustable delay is controlled by the control circuit a function of read synchronization data provided by the read/write head.
US08400887B2
A thermally assisted recording magnetic head is provided in which a magnetic recording medium can be irradiated with light having a spot size reduced in the submicron order with high total optical propagation efficiency. In a magnetic head, a spot size converter that propagates the light from an optical source in the magnetic head is provided adjacent to a main pole. The spot size converter includes a cover layer having a refractive index lower than that of a clad material and formed in contact with the optical waveguide core, and is formed in a shape composed of a substantially rectangular shape in a light traveling direction and a tapered shape where the width is increased toward the bottom surface of the magnetic head. The optical waveguide core having the cover layer formed is vertically interposed between multi-mode-thin-film-like cores that can excite a first or higher-order optical waveguide mode.
US08400881B2
A method and system for maintaining date and time information correctly across rule changes for time zones is provided. A time maintenance system provides rules for converting dates and times between various time zones and a common time zone. When the time maintenance system receives a date and time in a designated time zone, it converts the date and time to a date and time in the common time zone based on a provided rule. The time maintenance system then stores the converted date and time along with an identification of the rule used to convert the date and time to the common time zone. The time maintenance system may then receive an indication of an overriding rule that overrides an existing rule for converting a date and time between the designated time zone and the current time zone. The time maintenance system then updates the stored date and time when the rule has been overridden in such a way as to indicate that the original date and time is no longer correct and to indicate the new rule.
US08400874B2
A method for characterizing fluid pumping effects on a subsurface formation includes (a) during pumping of fluid into the subsurface formation, detecting passive seismic signals related to fractures created in the subsurface formation. (b) A place of origin of the passive seismic signals is determined. (c) A seismic energy source is actuated for a plurality of actuations and an output thereof is beam steered toward the place of origin. (d) At least one acoustic property is determined for the place of origin using signals detected as a result of the plurality of actuations. The detected signals are beam steered toward the place of origin and are stacked over the plurality of actuations. (a), (b), (c) and (d) are repeated until the pumping is completed.
US08400873B2
A technique includes monitoring acquisition activity of a plurality of seismic vibrators. The technique includes receiving signals from the seismic vibrators during the monitoring. Each of the signals indicates that at least one of the seismic vibrators is available for an associated seismic operation. The technique includes, in response to the signals, regulating the operations based on the monitored acquisition activity.
US08400861B2
A power supply control circuit includes a power supply control unit configured to receive a rank mode signal and generate a plurality of power supply enable signals based on a rank mode designated by the rank mode signal, a chip selection signals and bank address signals; and a plurality of power blocks configured to supply power to a plurality of memory banks of a plurality of chips based on the plurality of power supply enable signals.
US08400857B2
A sensing circuit (100) for sensing the content of a memory cell (101), wherein the sensing circuit comprises a sense node (103) connectable to the memory cell (101) so that a signal indicative of the content of the memory cell (101) is providable to the sense node (103). The sensing circuit (100) further comprises a logic gate (102) having a first input, a second input and an output, wherein a reference signal (105) is providable to the first input and wherein the sense node (103) is coupled to the second input. The sensing circuit (100) further comprises a feedback loop (104) for coupling the output of the logic gate (102) to the second input of the logic gate (102) so that, during sensing the content of the memory cell (101), an electrical potential at the sense node (103) is used to make a decision but after a result is obtained, the memory and sense amplifier combination are configured so that the result is held indefinitely and so that no static current continues to flow.
US08400846B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a multi-mode control signal generating unit configured to control an activation of a up/down mat I/O switch control signal, which controls I/O switches in a up/down mat, according to a multi-test mode signal and a read/write discriminating signal, a multi-mode decoder configured to output multi-mat select signals to simultaneously activate a plurality of mats according to a multi-test mode active write signal, and a mat controller configured to enable word lines and the I/O switches according to the up/down mat I/O switch control signal and the multi-mat select signals.
US08400841B2
A method includes minimizing current leaking through a virtual ground pipe during access of NROM memory cells. The minimizing includes operating two neighboring memory cells generally together, which includes connecting an operation voltage to a shared local bit line of the two neighboring memory cells and connecting the external local bit lines of two neighboring memory cells to a receiving unit, such as a ground supply or two sense amplifiers. Also included is an array performing the method.
US08400840B2
A NAND Flash memory device reduces circuitry noise during program operations. The memory includes bit lines that are electrically coupled together to charge share their respective voltage potentials prior to performing a discharge operation on the bit lines. A NAND flash cell is programmed by coupling a first memory array bit line to a program voltage to program the memory cell, biasing a second memory array bit line to a ground potential, wherein the second memory array bit line is located adjacent to the first memory array bit line, activating at least one first transistor to electrically coupling the first and second memory array bit lines together, and activating at least one second transistor to electrically couple the first and second memory array bit lines to a discharge potential.
US08400837B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes memory cells, a memory cell array, a word line, a bit line, a source line, a row decoder, a sense amplifier, and a first MOS transistor. The word line is connected to gates of the memory cells. The bit line is electrically connected to drains of the memory cells. The source line is electrically connected to sources of the memory cells. The row decoder selects the word line. The sense amplifier senses and amplifies data read onto the bit line in a read operation. The first MOS transistor is capable of connecting a well region where the memory cells are formed with the source line and is arranged between the row decoder or the sense amplifier and the memory cell array.
US08400833B2
A method of evaluating a semiconductor storage device of a floating gate type has calculating an electron density distribution of a tunnel insulating film of a memory cell by multiplying a change rate of a threshold voltage Vt of the memory cell of the semiconductor storage device with respect to the change of the logarithm of a time with ε*Cr*2k/Tox/q (where ε is the permittivity of the tunnel insulating film of the memory cell, Cr indicates a coupling ratio of the memory cell, Tox indicates the thickness of the tunnel insulating film, k indicates an attenuation rate of the existence probability when the charges are detrapped and is represented as k=(2mE/(h/2π)2)0.5, m indicates the mass of the electron, E indicates an energy level of the trap of the tunnel insulating film, h indicates a Planck's constant, and π indicates a circumference ratio).
US08400820B2
An embodiment of a memory device includes a plurality of memory cells; each memory cell includes a latch adapted to store an information bit. Said latch includes a first logic gate including a first input terminal and a first output terminal and a second logic gate including a second input terminal and a second output terminal. Said first input terminal is connected to said second output terminal and said first output terminal is connected to said second input terminal. The memory device further includes reading and writing means adapted to perform a read operation or a write operation of the information bit. Said first logic gate includes a pull-up branch coupled between a terminal for providing a supply voltage and the first output terminal, and a pull-down branch coupled between the first output terminal and a terminal for providing a reference voltage. Said second logic gate includes a pull-up branch coupled between a terminal for providing the supply voltage and the second output terminal, and a pull-down branch coupled between the second output terminal and a terminal for providing the reference voltage. Said memory device includes variation means adapted to selectively vary a gain factor of at least one between the pull-down branch and the pull-up branch of said first logic gate and second logic gate depending on the operation performed by the reading and writing means.
US08400818B2
A voltage-controlled oscillator includes an oscillating unit configured to output first and second output clock signals at first and second nodes, respectively, the first and second output clock signals having a frequency that is variable in response to a control voltage. An active element unit connected to the oscillating unit is configured to maintain oscillation of the oscillating unit. A bias current generating unit connected to the active element unit at a bias node provides a bias current to the bias node and is adapted to adjust the bias current in response to a control code. First and second capacitor blocks connected to the oscillating unit and the active element unit provide first and second load capacitances, respectively, to the first and second nodes, respectively, in response to the control code.
US08400816B2
A resistance change memory device includes: a memory cell array with memory cells arranged therein, the memory cell having a variable resistance element for storing a rewritable resistance value; a reference cell formed of the same memory cells as those set in a high resistance state in the memory cell array, the reference cell being trimmed with selection of the number of parallel-connected memory cells to have a reference current value used for detecting data in the memory cell array; and a sense amplifier configured to compare a cell current value of a memory cell selected in the memory cell array with the reference current value of the reference cell.
US08400806B2
A technology that makes it possible to reduce fluctuation in operating voltage for operating the circuits formed in the core region of a semiconductor device is provided. This semiconductor device is so arranged that the core region is divided into multiple functional blocks and power can be supplied and this power supply can be interrupted with respect to each of the divided functional blocks. The core region formed in the semiconductor chip is divided into multiple functional blocks. A power switch row in which multiple power switches are arranged is disposed in the boundaries between the divided functional blocks. These power switches have a function of controlling the supply of reference potential to each of functional blocks and the interruption of this supply. A feature of the invention is that reference pads are disposed directly above the power switch rows. This shortens the wires coupling together the reference pads and the power switches.
US08400805B2
A semiconductor device according to the present invention includes plural controlled chips CC0 to CC7 that hold mutually different layer information, and a control chip IF that supplies in common layer address signals A13 to A15 and a command signal ICMD to the controlled chips. Each bit that constitutes the layer address signals A13 to A15 is transmitted via at least two through silicon vias that are connected in parallel for each controlled chip out of plural first through silicon vias. Each bit that constitutes the command signal ICMD is transmitted via one corresponding through silicon via that is selected by an output switching circuit and an input switching circuit. With this configuration, the layer address signals A13 to A15 reach the controlled chips earlier than the command signal ICMD.
US08400795B2
One embodiment of the invention provides a method for optimizing the power consumption in a redundant power system. A pulse width modulation waveform is generated in each of a first and second power supply to control the power output of each power supply. In response to the system load reaching a power setpoint, the first and second power supplies supply power to the system load in parallel. In response to the system load being below the power setpoint, the pulse width modulation waveform is disabled or blocked in the second power supply, and the system load is powered substantially entirely with the first power supply.
US08400791B2
Techniques include systems and methods of synchronizing multiple parallel inverters in a power converter system. In one embodiment, control circuitry is connected to a power layer interface circuitry at each of the parallel inverters, via an optical fiber interface. The system is synchronized by transmitting a synchronizing pulse to each of the inverters. Depending on the operational mode of the system, different data exchanges may occur in response to the pulse. In an off mode, power up and power down data may be exchanged between the control circuitry and the inverters. In an initiating mode, identification data may be transmitted from the inverters to the control circuitry. In an active mode, control data may be sent from the control circuitry to the inverters. In some embodiments, the inverters also transmit feedback data and/or acknowledgement signals to the control circuitry. Power layer circuitry of the inverter adjusts a local clock based upon sampled data from the control circuitry to maintain synchronicity of the inverters between synchronization pulses.
US08400790B2
The present invention discloses a light load control circuit and the method accordingly where the synchronous rectification is latched off selectively according to the gate voltage of the synchronous rectifier.
US08400786B2
An apparatus includes: a circuit board which is disposed in a main unit of the apparatus; a shielding conductor which is placed outside the circuit board as viewed from the apparatus main unit; a covering member which covers an outer side face of the apparatus main unit; and an electrically conductive member which is fixed to an inside of the covering member to cross an opening which exists between a main unit frame on which the circuit board is disposed, and the shielding conductor, one end portion of the electrically conductive member being connected to the shielding conductor, another end portion of the electrically conductive member being connected to a grounded frame of the apparatus main unit.
US08400780B2
Stacked microfeature devices and associated methods of manufacture are disclosed. A package in accordance with one embodiment includes first and second microfeature devices having corresponding first and second bond pad surfaces that face toward each other. First bond pads can be positioned at least proximate to the first bond pad surface and second bond pads can be positioned at least proximate to the second bond pad surface. A package connection site can provide electrical communication between the first microfeature device and components external to the package. A wirebond can be coupled between at least one of the first bond pads and the package connection site, and an electrically conductive link can be coupled between the first microfeature device and at least one of the second bond pads of the second microfeature device. Accordingly, the first microfeature device can form a portion of an electrical link to the second microfeature device.
US08400776B2
A multilayered printed wiring board includes a plurality of insulating layers; a plurality of wiring layers which are located between the corresponding adjacent insulating layers; and a plurality of interlayer connection conductors for electrically connecting the wiring layers through the insulating layers; wherein a cavity is formed through one or more of the insulating layers so as to insert a first electric/electronic component and an area for embedding a second electric/electronic component is defined for the insulating layers.
US08400764B1
A device includes a display unit, a first coupler, and a second coupler. The display unit is configured to provide a visual display to a user of the device. The display unit has a first side portion and a second side portion. The first coupler is disposed on the first side portion of the display unit. The first coupler is configured to removably couple a filter to the first side portion of the display unit. The second coupler is disposed on the second side portion of the display unit. The second coupler is configured to removably couple the filter to the second side portion of the display unit.
US08400761B2
A portable terminal according to the present invention has a first casing, a second casing and a third casing overlapped in the order from the bottom toward the top. And the portable terminal according to the present invention includes: a slide section slidably coupling the first casing and the second casing; a first hinge section rotatably coupling the second casing and the third casing around a first rotation axis; and a second hinge section that enables the third casing to be rotatable relative to the second casing around a second rotation axis that is approximately perpendicular to the first rotation axis.
US08400759B2
The invention relates to a gas-insulated high-voltage switchgear, comprising at least one bus bar with three phase conductors, whereby each phase conductor is connected to the input of a respectively provided bus bar section. The phase conductor and the bus bar section are arranged in a three-phase bus bar module with three single-phase power switches, each arranged in a separate power switch housing and each bus bar section is connected at the output therefrom to a respectively provided power switch.
US08400758B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor according to the present invention includes a solid electrolyte type capacitor element including a dielectric layer intervening between an anode section and a cathode section, an anode terminal connected electrically to the anode section of the capacitor element through a pad member, and a cathode terminal connected electrically to the cathode section of the capacitor element. Here, on facing surfaces of the pad member and the anode terminal, a joint part which joins the pad member and the anode terminal electrically is formed at a position adjacent to a first lateral surface of the pad member located on the cathode terminal side, and a second lateral surface of the pad member on the opposite side to the first lateral surface and a partial area of a lateral end surface of the anode terminal are flush with each other.
US08400757B2
A one-side pressed terminal is applied as a first anode (cathode) lead tab terminal and the one-side pressed terminal is connected to an anode (a cathode) foil in such a manner that a position in a radial direction of a lead is shifted inward after winding. A one-side pressed terminal is applied as a second anode (cathode) lead tab terminal and the one-side pressed terminal is connected to the anode (cathode) foil in such a manner that a position in the radial direction of a lead is shifted inward after winding. Thus, while retaining characteristics as an electrolytic capacitor, connection of the anode (cathode) lead tab terminal to the anode (cathode) foil can be achieved in a stable manner.
US08400753B2
There is provided a multilayer ceramic capacitor, including: a multilayer body having a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrode layers alternately laminated; wherein each internal electrode layer has a width gradually decreases from a center thereof towards both ends thereof in a length direction; and when a width of each internal electrode layer at the ends thereof in the length direction is defined as a minimum width L2 and a width of a portion of a margin portion M in each dielectric layer is defined as a maximum width M2, the portion of the margin portion M having no internal electrode layer present thereon and corresponding to the ends of each internal electrode layer in the length direction, a ratio of M2 to L2 (M2/L2) ranges from 0.2 to 0.3.
US08400750B2
A particle charger with sheath air flow for enhancing charging efficiency includes a housing and a discharge wire. The housing has a charging chamber for accommodating the discharge wire, a particle inlet, a sheath air inlet, an outlet and an accelerating channel. A clean sheath air is guided through the sheath air inlet into the charging chamber to surround charged particles, reducing deposition of charged particles on the inside wall of the housing. A relatively small annular gap of accelerating channel accelerates the charged particles to exit the particle charger, and therefore minimized the particle electrostatic loss due to depositing on the inner surface of the housing. Additionally, uncharged particles approach the discharge wire axially, and charged particles move away radially. It is helpful for the charged particles to diffuse rapidly and uniformly, thereby enhancing the charging efficiency.
US08400738B2
An apparatus and associated method may be used to provide a data sensing element capable of detecting changes in magnetic states. Various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a magnetically responsive lamination of layers and [a] means for generating a high magnetic moment region proximal to an air bearing surface (ABS) and a low magnetic moment region proximal to a hard magnet.
US08400735B2
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium (100). The invention finds a particularly interesting application in the field of data stored on hard disks. The medium (100) comprises an assembly of magnetic zones disposed on a substrate (102), each magnetic zone comprising at least one first (C′1) and one second (C′2) stacked magnetic layers separated from each other by a non-magnetic layer (NM′). In addition, said first magnetic layer (C′1) presents magnetization substantially oriented parallel to the plane of said substrate (102) and said second magnetic layer (C′2) presents magnetization substantially oriented perpendicular to the plane of said substrate (102).
US08400730B2
A multi-stage gasket having a multi-stage structure constituted by multiple kinds of gasket materials and being used by holding between a cover plate and a base plate, the multi-stage gasket having contactness of a gasket as the lowermost layer to the cover plate or the base plate in contact with the gasket that is higher than contactness of a gasket as the uppermost layer to the cover plate or the base plate in contact with the gasket. A gasket can be provided that provides good reworkability of a cover plate and a base plate of a hard disk device, provides sufficient adhesiveness of the gasket to a cover plate and a base plate even when used in a high humidity and temperature environment, and is prevented from being toppled sideways or peeled off even when applied with a force in an oblique direction.
US08400725B2
According to one embodiment, a storage device includes a recording medium, a driving module, a head, a conductive body, a write-verify module, and a projection amount controller. A conductive body is mounted on the head, and changes a projection amount of the head by thermally expanding the head with heat from a current carried by the conductive body. The write-verify module executes a write-verify check to check whether content written in any location on the recording medium is correct when the driving module starts rotating the recording medium. The projection amount controller controls the projection amount of the head by adding a first value to a current in a steady state carried by the conductive body if the content is correct, and adding a second value with an absolute value greater than that of the first value to the current in the steady state if the content is not correct.
US08400706B2
An acousto-optic laser beam scanner of improved scanning angle scope is provided by introducing a controllable compound acoustic waveform into a light transmissive body wherein at least binary and binary diffraction grating patterns of both positive and negative sense can be introduced into the body, the period of the waveform determining the refraction angle magnitude and the order of the pulses determining the refraction angle direction.
US08400705B2
There is provided a charged particle migration-type display panel (1) which has a plurality of cells (40) partitioned by partitions (31) between a transparent substrate (10) and a back substrate (20) placed opposite to each other, and charged particles (41, 42) sealed in the respective cells (40), and in which the partitions (31) provided upright on the back substrate (20) are formed of a translucent material, and the tips and the side faces of the partitions (31) are covered with a resin (32) containing an opaque or semi-transparent dark-colored coloring material, thereby forming a black matrix structure.
US08400699B2
An optical scanning device includes a light source device, a deflector, an input optical system for directing a light beam from the light source device onto the deflector, and an imaging optical system for imaging a light beam scanningly deflected by a deflecting surface of the deflector, upon a scan surface to be scanned, wherein, in a sub-scan section, a light beam directed from the input optical system toward the deflecting surface of the deflector is incident thereon at a finite angle with respect to a plane which is orthogonal to a rotational axis of the deflector, wherein the imaging optical system includes at least one molded imaging lens, and wherein a shape within a sagittal section of at least one lens surface, of lens surfaces of the at least one imaging lens, is non-arcuate, and a sagittal curvature in a light beam passage region has an extreme value.
US08400692B2
Systems and methods for utilizing metadata embedded in a color measurement target to uniquely identify the target through color measurement. A color measurement target is used for color calibration, color characterization, color adjustment and/or color correction of a color output device and includes a collection of color patches imaged by the output device, wherein metadata is embedded directly into the color patches of the color measurement target to uniquely identify the target through color measurement. The metadata-bearing patches in the target are used to communicate information through color measurement, and can contribute to the color characterization.
US08400687B2
A document photosensor is provided which comprises upper and lower sensor assemblies 1 and 2 disposed on opposite sides of a passageway 55 along which a document 50 is transported. Upper sensor assembly 1 comprises an upper substrate 11, an upper LED chip 21 surface-mounted on upper substrate 11 and an upper PD chip 37 surface-mounted on upper substrate 11. Lower sensor assembly 2 comprises a lower substrate 12, a lower LED chip 31 surface-mounted on lower substrate 12 and a lower PD chip 38 surface-mounted on lower substrate 12. These chips 21, 37, 31 and 38 are secured at precise locations on upper and lower substrates 11 and 12 with accuracy on the order of a few micrometers or less to exactly detect by upper and lower PD chips 37, 38 lights irradiated from upper and lower LED chips 21 and 31 after penetration of these lights through particular points on a bill 50 moved along passageway 55 to improve validation performance of bill 50.
US08400683B2
Streak compensation in a digital printer is provided utilizing a spatially varying Printer Model and Run Time updates to generate Spatially Varying Tone Reproduction Curves (STRCs) which are used as actuators to compensate for streaks during run time. A full width array sensor is used to measure streak profiles and the STRCs are used as actuators to compensate for streaks. Streak profile measurements taken at a limited number of area coverage levels combined with a Printer Streaks Basis Function Model are used to estimate and project the streak behavior at all area coverage levels and at all inboard-to-outboard spatial locations. The projection is then used in a pixel-wise error feedback control scheme to drive each profile to a desired shape, thereby compensating for streaks.
US08400682B2
An image recording apparatus including: a storing portion configured to store first image data based on which recording is performed on one of recording surfaces of a recording medium and second image data based on which the recording is performed on the other surface; a first density adjusting section configured to make an adjustment to a recording density for at least part of the first image data on the basis of an input of a user; a second density adjusting section configured to make an adjustment to a recording density for at least part of the second image data, the adjustment being reverse to the adjustment by the first density adjusting section; and a recording section configured to perform the recording on the basis of the first image data adjusted by the first density adjusting section and the second image data adjusted by the second density adjusting section.
US08400671B2
The subject application is directed to a system and method for selectively disabling document rendering. An electronic document is first generated having a customized operator. The generated electronic document is then communicated to an associated document rendering device. The generated electronic document is received by the associated document rendering device and the customized operator is parsed and executed so as to secure identification data representing an identity of the documents rendering device. The identification data is then tested. An output of a document rendering operation is then controlled in accordance with an output of testing of the identification data.
US08400670B2
A method for resizing an input digital image having input pixel values to produce an output digital image having output pixel values, wherein the output digital image has a lower resolution and wherein single pixel width details in the input digital image are preserved, the method being performed by a processor and comprising: determining an output pixel value for the output digital image by interpolating within a corresponding neighborhood of image pixels in the input digital image; detecting whether the input digital image contains a fine detail within the corresponding neighborhood of image pixels; adjusting the output pixel value when a fine detail is detected; and repeating steps a)-c) for a plurality of output pixels.
US08400662B2
A printer apparatus is provided which receives concurrent input print data from plural input ports without increasing receiving buffer memory. A controller determines whether an image creator is used by other jobs when starting receiving print data through any one of the plural input ports. When not used, print data related to the current job is stored in a receiving buffer memory and at the same time print data stored in the buffer memory is printed via the image creator. On the other hand, when other jobs use the image creator, the print data related to the current job is stored in a hard disk unit and is printed when the image creating device becomes available.
US08400659B2
In an MFP, a system controller is connected to an engine via a universal transmission line and a dedicated transmission line. When MFP is powered, the system controller sends a mode signal to the engine via the dedicated signal line. If the mode signal indicates that the power mode is to be set to a normal mode, the engine activates predetermined components. The system controller and the engine then establish communication via the universal bus. After establishing the communication, if the mode signal indicates that the power mode is to be set to a mode other than the normal mode, the system controller sends a setting command to the engine via the bus to set the power mode to any of a plurality of power-saving modes.
US08400658B2
A system which executes a workflow without a management apparatus immediately notifies the user of an error which has occurred in a device. When an error occurs in a job in a device which is executing the workflow, the device which shares the workflow with other devices transmits the log of the error to a device of the end stage of the workflow in accordance with the flow of the workflow.
US08400655B2
An image processing method includes measuring a state of an image forming apparatus which is connected to a host apparatus to perform color and mono printings; selecting at least one of a plurality of color management system profiles by using the measured state of the image forming apparatus; and generating a printing data of a document based on the selected color management system profile.
US08400650B2
A network printer and a network printing method of restricting a host from using the network printer. The network printing method includes, if identification information of a host and a print job request signal are received from the host, receiving print data from the host and processing the received print data into a printable signal, determining whether an error exists in a print job during the processing of the print data into the printable signal, if the error exists, automatically registering the identification information of the host in a use restriction list to prevent execution of the print job, and if no error exists in the print job, executing the print job with respect to the print data.
US08400646B2
An image processing apparatus is provided, the image processing apparatus including: a dynamic circuit reconfiguring section in which a circuit is dynamically reconfigured; a circuit configuration storing section that stores information of configurations of circuits, the information including a first piece of information that contains a configuration of a circuit singly performing one image processing, and a second piece of information that contains a configuration of a circuit including a compression circuit that compresses image information and performing a plurality of image processings in parallel; and a circuit configuration controlling section that switchingly reads out the first piece of information and the second piece of information from the circuit configuration storing section and that controls the circuit reconfiguration in the dynamic circuit reconfiguring section.
US08400645B2
A system comprising a processor and a memory comprising firmware is provided. The firmware is executable by the processor to cause the processor to operate a print mechanism in accordance with a first state associated with a capability of the print mechanism, change the first state associated with the capability to a second state in response to receiving first information from an external interface, and operate the print mechanism in accordance with the second state associated with the capability.
US08400642B2
A position detection device includes: a light source adapted to form a light intensity distribution of a detection light beam; a first detector adapted to receive a reflected light beam of the detection light beam reflected by an object in a detection area where the light intensity distribution is formed; a transmissive member disposed between the detection area and the light source, and between the detection area and the first detector, and having a first surface directed toward the detection area and a second surface directed toward the light source; a second detector adapted to receive a light beam reflected by the second surface out of the detection light beam; a position detector adapted to detect the object based on the detection result in the first detector; and a light blocking member disposed between the second detector and the detection area, and adapted to block the reflected light beam.
US08400641B2
An interferometer that measures a shape of a surface of an inspection object includes an interference optical system that splits light from a light source into inspection light and reference light and causes the inspection light reflected by the surface of the inspection object and the reference light to interfere with each other, and a photoelectric conversion element that detects interference fringes produced by interference between the inspection light and the reference light. The interference optical system includes a first optical element that transmits and reflects the inspection light, a second optical element that reflects the inspection light, and a moving unit configured to move the second optical element. The inspection light passes through the first optical element, is reflected by the second optical element, is reflected by the first optical element, and is then incident on the surface of the inspection object.
US08400637B2
The present subject matter relates to an apparatus and related method of high-speed analysis of product samples during production of the product. Light is directed to a portion of a product under analysis and reflected from or transmitted through the product toward optical detectors. Signals from the optical detectors are compared to determine characteristics of the product under analysis. Temperature within the monitoring system may be monitored in order to provide compensation for the signals produced by the optical detectors. The products under analysis may be stationary, moved by an inspection point by conveyor or other means, or may be contained within a container, the container including a window portion through which the product illuminating light may pass.
US08400629B2
A surface defect inspection apparatus and method for irradiating a beam multiple times to a same region on a surface of an inspection sample, detecting each scattered light from the same region by detection optical systems individually to produce plural signals, and wherein irradiating the beam includes performing a line illumination of the beam on a line illumination region of the sample surface. The line illumination region is moved in a longitudinal direction at a pitch shorter than a length of the line illumination region in the longitudinal direction.
US08400626B2
Embodiments described herein relate to a light sensing system. In one embodiment, the light sensing system may include a microprocessor including an input pin configured to receive a first voltage from a light sensor. The light sensing system may also include a pull-up resistor coupled to the input pin. The pull-up resistor may include a first gate. The light sensing system may further include a pull-down resistor coupled to the input pin. The pull-down resistor may include a second gate. The first and second gates may allow for connecting or disconnecting the pull-up and pull-down resistors based on the amount or intensity of light detected by the light sensor.
US08400618B2
A method for arranging an optical module in a measuring apparatus includes: providing the measuring apparatus with an irradiation system for irradiating the optical module with electromagnetic radiation, a reference component, and a detection element defining a detection surface, the detection element being disposed in a defined position in relation to the reference component, disposing the optical module in the measuring apparatus such that the radiation emitted by the irradiation system passes through the optical module and impinges onto the detection surface as an exit beam, measuring a position of the exit beam in relation to the detection surface, adjusting the position of the optical module within the measuring apparatus such that the position of the exit beam in relation to the detection surface is brought to correspond to a predetermined position, and establishing position parameters defining the position of the optical module in relation to the reference component.
US08400610B2
Apparatus and methods keep immersion liquid in a space adjacent to an optical assembly. An optical assembly projects an image onto a substrate supported adjacent to the optical assembly by a substrate table. An insertion member insertable into the space between the optical assembly and the substrate, the substrate table, or both, divides the immersion liquid into a first portion and a second portion, the first portion disposed between the optical assembly and the insertion member, and the second portion disposed between the insertion member and the substrate, the substrate table, or both. The insertion member keeps the optical assembly in contact with the first portion when the substrate is moved away from being disposed adjacent to the optical assembly.
US08400603B2
A liquid crystal display panel having a plurality of pixels and a first substrate and a second substrate that are so disposed as to be opposed to each other and sandwich a liquid crystal layer, each of the pixels including a display sub-pixel and a viewing angle control sub-pixel, the liquid crystal display panel, includes: a first electrode configured to operate as a pixel electrode and be formed in the first substrate and in each of the display sub-pixels and the viewing angle control sub-pixels; and a second electrode configured to operate as a common electrode and be formed in the first substrate and over the first electrode with intermediary of an insulating film across the display sub-pixels and the viewing angle control sub-pixels, wherein an auxiliary interconnect electrically connected to the second electrode is formed in the viewing angle control sub-pixel.
US08400600B2
A method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device includes in a first mask process, forming a first mask pattern group including a gate line, a gate electrode connected to the gate line and a common line parallel to the gate line that have a first conductive layer group structure having at least double conductive layers. A second mask process forms a gate insulating film on the first mask pattern group and a semiconductor pattern thereon. A third mask process forms a third mask pattern group including a data line, a source electrode connected to the data line and a drain electrode opposite the source electrode that have a second conductive layer group structure having at least double conductive layers, and a protective film interfacing with the third mask pattern group on the gate insulating film.
US08400599B2
A liquid crystal display panel with enhanced image quality is disclosed. The liquid crystal display panel has a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines, a plurality of thin film transistors connected to gate line and data line, a plurality of pixel electrodes, and floating electrode(s). The floating electrode extends along the data line to prevent light leakage and vertical crosstalk. Throughout the whole liquid crystal display panel, the floating electrode is electrically interconnected to lessen vertical crosstalk.
US08400598B2
A tetragonal ring shape aperture is formed in the common electrode on one substrate and a cross shape aperture is formed at the position corresponding to the center of the tetragonal ring shape aperture in the pixel electrode on the other substrate. A liquid crystal layer between two electrodes are divided to four domains where the directors of the liquid crystal layer have different angles when a voltage is applied to the electrodes. The directors in adjacent domains make a right angle. The tetragonal ring shape aperture is broken at midpoint of each side of the tetragon, and the width of the aperture decreases as goes from the bent point to the edge. Wide viewing angle is obtained by four domains where the directors of the liquid crystal layer indicate different directions, disclination is removed and luminance increases.
US08400580B2
A backlight unit capable of preventing a light leakage phenomenon caused by using a light guide plate of wedge type is disclosed. The backlight unit includes: at least one light source; a light guide plate configured to include a first portion with a first thickness disposed adjacent to the at least one light source, a second portion of plate shape having a second thickness thinner than the first thickness, and a wedge portion formed to connect the first and second portions and become gradually thinner from the first portion to the second portion; and a flexible printed circuit board loaded with the at least one light source and extended to cover the wedge portion of the light guide plate. The flexible printed circuit board is provided with a groove formed opposite a boundary area between the first portion and the wedge portion.
US08400574B2
A SWIR hyperspectral imaging filter has serial stages along an optical signal path with angularly distributed birefringent retarders and polarizers. The retarders can include active retarders such as tunable liquid crystal birefringent elements, passive retarders such as fixed retarders, and/or combinations thereof. Distinctly different periodic transmission spectra are provided by different filter stages, each having multiple retarders, in particular with some stages having broad bandpass peaks at wide spectral spacing and other stages have very narrow closely spaced peaks. The respective spectra include at least one tunably selectable band at which the transmission spectra of the filter stages coincide, whereby the salutary narrow bandpass and wide spectral spacing ranges of different stages apply together, resulting in a high finesse wavelength filter suitable for spectral imaging. The filter may be configured to provide faster switching speed and increased angle of acceptance and may operate in the rage of approximately 850-1700 nm.
US08400562B2
A digital camera of the present invention has: an optical housing having a bending optical system for reflecting photographic object light entering along a first optical axis to a second optical axis direction perpendicular to the first optical axis to form an image on an image pickup device; a camera main body having a containing portion for containing the optical housing slidably only in the second optical axis direction and having support portions for supporting the optical housing provided on each of both sides surfaces of the containing portion across the second optical axis of the bending optical system; and a shock absorbing unit provided between an inner surface of the containing portion of the camera main body in which the support portions are not provided and an outer surface of the optical housing facing thereto.
US08400561B2
A digital camera of the present invention has: a lens group reflecting photographic object light entering along a first optical axis to a second optical axis direction perpendicular to the first optical axis and forming an image of light flux thereof on an image pickup device located on the second optical axis; and a driving force generating member blocking or allowing entering light flux along the first optical axis by driving a barrier member, and has a camera body having an optical housing, a containing portion containing the optical housing and the barrier member, and having a transmitting member transmitting driving force of the driving force generating member to the barrier member, wherein the coupling relation between the driving force generating member and the driving force transmitting member is maintained.
US08400556B2
An imaging apparatus includes an optical system to change a focus state of an image of a subject, an imaging unit to capture the image of the subject formed by the optical system and generate image data, an auto focus controller to control the optical system to focus on a partial area in the image indicated by the image data generated by the imaging unit, a manual focus changing unit to be operated manually by a user to change the focus state of the optical system, a display unit to display the image based on the image data generated by the imaging unit, and a display controller to control the display unit. When detecting that the manual focus changing unit is operated by the user while a focus state is maintained after the autofocus controller controls the optical system to the focus state, the display controller determines, as an enlarged area, an area including a partial area in the focused image by the autofocus controller and controls the display unit to display the image of the determined enlarged area.
US08400552B1
Projection capabilities are provided in consumer electronic devices that are used for the capture or reproduction of images, such as digital still image cameras, digital video cameras, cellular telephones, DVD players and other digital video players. Such devices can display images to several people simultaneously in a manner that is more convenient than the use of miniature onboard displays. The incorporation of image projection capabilities also enables image generation to be provided by the device itself without the necessity of an independent display device.
US08400547B2
An imaging apparatus includes: a first display panel mounted on an apparatus casing so as to display images or data in a direction towards a user; a second display panel mounted on the apparatus casing so as to display images or data in a direction towards a subject; an imaging processor that performs a photoelectric conversion on incident light from the subject direction to obtain image signals; a person detector that detects whether or not a person is present in the subject direction; and a controller that allows images or data based on the image signals obtained by the imaging processor to be displayed on the first display panel and controls an operation of displaying the images or data based on the image signals obtained by the imaging processor on the second display panel in accordance with at least the detection results of the person detector.
US08400544B2
The solid-state imaging device having pixels that are arranged in rows and columns and convert optical signals to electric signals to output the electric signals as voltage signals includes column signal lines each provided for a corresponding one of the columns and transmitting, in the direction of the columns, voltage signals outputted from the pixels, current sources each provided for and connected to a corresponding one of the column signal lines, column amplification circuits each provided for a corresponding one of the column signal lines and amplifying the voltage signals transmitted through the column signal lines, a current-source ground potential supply line supplying the current sources with ground potential, and a column amplification circuit ground potential supply line supplying the column amplification circuits with ground potential. The current-source ground potential supply line and the column amplification circuit ground potential supply line are interconnected at positions corresponding to the columns.
US08400541B2
A photoelectric conversion apparatus includes: a first semiconductor region forming a part of a photoelectric conversion element; a second semiconductor region stacked on the first semiconductor region, and forming a part of the photoelectric conversion element; a third semiconductor region to which a signal charge transferred from the photoelectric conversion element; a fourth semiconductor region of the first conductivity type having an higher impurity concentration, between the first and third semiconductor region and between the second and third semiconductor regions, closer to a main surface than the first semiconductor region, and connected to the first semiconductor region; a first gate electrode over the fourth semiconductor region, an insulating film on the main surface and between the first gate electrode and the fourth semiconductor region; and a second gate electrode between the third and fourth semiconductor regions, and over the insulating film.
US08400540B2
A photoelectric conversion device may include a plurality of A/D converters each of which receives a pixel signal from a pixel array that includes pixels arranged two-dimensionally. Each of the pixels may have a photoelectric conversion element. The pixel array may output the pixel signal in accordance with an incident light amount to the photoelectric conversion element. The plurality of A/D converters may convert the pixel signal to a digital value based on a reference voltage. The plurality of A/D converters may output the digital value. A reference voltage wire, which supplies the reference voltage to each of the plurality of A/D converters, may be branched into a plurality of branched reference voltage wires each of which is corresponding to one of the plurality of A/D converters. Each of the plurality of branched reference voltage wires may be connected only to constituent components in a corresponding A/D converter.
US08400539B2
A composite focal plane assembly with an expandable architecture has a multi-layer, double-sided aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate and vertical architecture to achieve the dual function of focal plane and electronics backplane. Imaging dice and other electrical components are mounted and wire bonded to one surface and then direct backplane connectivity is provided on the opposing surface through a matrix of electrical contacts. In one embodiment, a flexible connector is sandwiched between the AlN focal plane and a FR-4 backplane is used to compensate for differences in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between the AlN and commercially available high density circuit card connectors that are commonly manufactured from materials with CTE properties more closely approximating FR-4. In an alternate embodiment, the FR-4 and flexible connectors are eliminated by using high density circuit card connectors that are fabricated out of materials more closely matching the CTE of AlN.
US08400538B2
Provided are an apparatus and a method for capturing images by applying different color filters to two pixel regions with IR blocking filters removed so that optical signals in the visible band and IR signals can be received. The apparatus includes a filter unit having a plurality of filters having different wavelength bands; a sensor unit sensing optical signals passing through the filters; and a signal-extraction unit extracting detailed optical signals in respective wavelength bands by using the difference between the sensed optical signals.
US08400535B2
A solid-state image pickup device includes a pixel array, a gain adjusting unit that adjusts a gain of a pixel signal, an A/D conversion unit that performs A/D conversion on an image pickup signal, a plurality of fixed pattern noise detection units that detect a fixed pattern noise from a digital image pickup signal, a selecting unit that selects one output from outputs of the plurality of fixed pattern noise detection units, a fixed pattern noise correction unit that corrects the fixed pattern noise included in the digital image pickup signal, and a control unit that controls the gain adjusting unit setting a plurality of gain values, the control unit controlling the plurality of fixed pattern noise detection units detecting the plurality of fixed pattern noise based on the plurality of gain values and storing a plurality of correction values.
US08400534B2
Embodiments describe noise reduction methods and systems for imaging devices having a pixel array having a plurality of pixels, each pixel representing one of a plurality of captured colors and having an associated captured pixel value. Noise reduction methods filter a captured pixel value for a respective pixel based on the captured pixel values associated with pixels in a window of pixels surrounding the respective pixel. Disclosed embodiments provide a low cost noise reduction filtering process that takes advantage of the correlations among the red, green and blue color channels to efficiently remove noise while retaining image sharpness. A noise model can be used to derive a parameter of the noise reduction methods.
US08400510B2
A night vision system includes an image intensifier tube and circuitry coupled to a digital storage medium that periodically samples a signal provided by the image intensifier tube and stores the sampled image to be viewed in near real time or at a later date by a data analyst. The night vision system includes a casing surrounding the image intensifier tube and the associated circuitry along with a port for accepting a power and/or signal cable for providing power to the image intensifier tube and image signal data to the digital storage medium. The system may further include a daytime camera and a switch for toggling the image signal data input to the digital storage medium between the daytime camera and the image intensifier tube.
US08400502B2
Detecting video phenomena, such as fire in an aircraft cargo bay, includes receiving a plurality of video images from a plurality of sources, compensating the images to provide enhanced images, extracting features from the enhanced images, and combining the features from the plurality of sources to detect the video phenomena. Extracting features may include determining an energy indicator for each of a subset of the plurality of frames. Detecting video phenomena may also include comparing energy indicators for each of the subset of the plurality of frames to a reference frame. The reference frame corresponds to a video frame taken when no fire is present, video frame immediately preceding each of the subset of the plurality of frames, or a video frame immediately preceding a frame that is immediately preceding each of the subset of the plurality of frames. Image-based and non-image based techniques are described herein in connection with fire detection and/or verification and other applications.
US08400499B2
An endoscope apparatus (1) includes a rigid scope portion (2) having an imaging window (5) at a front end thereof; a camera unit portion (3) mounted to a root end of the rigid scope portion (2); and a vibration generating device (4) mounted to the camera unit portion (3). The camera unit portion (3) can obtain an image of the inside of a body cavity through the imaging window (5). The vibration generating device (4) provides vibration to the rigid scope portion (2) through the camera unit portion (3) to defog the imaging window (5). This can provide an endoscope apparatus that can reduce the cost and size of a scope portion and has a high defogging effect.
US08400495B2
The present invention relates to a security element for security papers, value documents and the like, having a microoptical moiré magnification arrangement (30) for depicting a three-dimensional moiré image (40) that includes, in at least two moiré image planes spaced apart in a direction normal to the moiré magnification arrangement, image components (42, 44), having a motif image that includes two or more periodic or at least locally periodic lattice cell arrangements having different lattice periods and/or different lattice orientations that are each allocated to one moiré image plane and that include micromotif image components for depicting the image component (42, 44) of the allocated moiré image plane, for the moiré-magnified viewing of the motif image, a focusing element grid that is arranged spaced apart from the motif image and that includes a periodic or at least locally periodic arrangement of a plurality of lattice cells having one microfocusing element each, wherein, for almost all tilt directions ({right arrow over (k)}), upon tilting the security element, the magnified, three-dimensional moiré image (40) moves in a moiré movement direction ({right arrow over (v)}) that differs from the tilt direction.
US08400486B2
Disclosed herein is a thermal transfer sheet including: a dye layer which is provided on one side of a substrate and which contains an indoaniline dye; and a transferred image coating layer provided on that side of the substrate on which the dye layer is formed, the transferred image coating layer being operable to coat an image thermally transferred onto a transferred image receiving sheet, wherein the transferred image coating layer contains a compound having a predetermined structure and a binder resin, and the content of the compound having the predetermined structure is 0.5 to 8 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of the binder resin.
US08400483B2
A printer includes a conveying unit for conveying a rewritable printing medium toward a discharging portion along a conveying path, and the rewritable printing medium is erasable and printable by applying heat energy to the rewritable printing medium. The printer further includes an erasing unit including a heating body for erasing print of the rewritable printing medium by pressing the heating body to be in pressure contact with the rewritable printing medium, a printing unit for printing the rewritable printing medium, a determination unit for determining whether an abnormality occurs in conveyance of the rewritable printing medium, and a control unit for controlling at least one of the erasing unit and the conveying unit for releasing the pressure contact of the heating body on the rewritable printing medium, if the determination unit determines that an abnormality occurs.
US08400481B2
An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductive body on which an electrostatic latent image is formed; an exposure member which has a plurality of blinking sections and which exposes the photoconductive body; a support frame which is made of resin and which supports the exposure member; a roller shaft which is made of metal and provided on the support frame; a roller which is made of resin, which is rotatably provided on the roller shaft and which maintains a spacing distance between the exposure member and the photoconductive body; and a metal plate which supports and is electrically connected to the roller shaft and which is electrically grounded. With the image forming apparatus, it is possible to solve a problem caused when the roller shaft is electrically floated, and to suitably arrange parts or components around the roller shaft.
US08400475B2
A method for processing data includes; storing image data of a p-th frame, wherein p is a natural number, determining a display mode of the image data of the p-th frame based on the number of pulses of a data enable signal corresponding to the image data of the p-th frame, and processing the image data of the p-th frame according to the determined display mode.
US08400468B2
Methods having corresponding apparatus and tangible computer-readable media comprise: capturing a first image of ambient light upon a surface; generating a first grayscale image based on a selected color channel of the first image; projecting a primary color of light upon the surface; capturing a second image of the primary color of light projected upon the surface; generating a second grayscale image based on the selected color channel of the second image; generating a difference image, comprising subtracting the first grayscale image from the second grayscale image; and generating a projector mask, comprising detecting edges of a shape in the difference image, and reproducing the shape based upon the edges of the shape.
US08400466B2
An image retrieval apparatus, which is included in an image forming apparatus and has a storage medium storing a machine-readable program to perform an image retrieving method, includes a retrieving unit configured to search and retrieve a target image similar to specified image data in a storage unit storing a distinctive feature area image stored in association with the target image as a key image, an extracting unit configured to extract the distinctive feature area image associated with the target image retrieved by the retrieving unit, and a display control unit configured to control a display unit having a display screen to display the distinctive feature area image or multiple distinctive feature area images on the display screen in a given time interval in an order according to distinctive feature area image type.
US08400464B2
A liquid crystal display including a pixel array, multiple control lines and a driving unit is provided. The pixel array has multiple pixels. The control lines are coupled to the pixels. The driving unit drives the pixel array via the control lines. Of the pixels coupled to the same control line, the number of image-dithering compensated pixels with positive polarity is equal to the number of image-dithering compensated pixels with negative polarity when the pixel array is driven.
US08400454B2
An embedded, programmable motion blur system and method is described herein. Embodiments include applying displacement on a vertex level and amplification on a primitive level within a graphics pipeline. Embodiments include receiving a plurality of vertices in a first component of a graphics processing unit (GPU), displacing each of the plurality of vertices, receiving a primitive that includes at least one of the displaced vertices in a second component of the GPU, and transforming the primitive. In one embodiment, transforming comprises at least one of translation, scaling, and rotation. Further included are generating a plurality of primitive samples over a time aperture, and outputting the plurality of primitive samples to further components of the GPU for further processing for display of the scene with motion blur.
US08400442B2
A display includes: a pixel array section configured to include power feed lines, scan lines disposed along rows, signal lines disposed along columns, and pixels that are disposed at intersections of the scan lines and the signal lines and are arranged in a matrix, each of the pixels including a drive transistor and a light-emitting device, one of a pair of current terminals as source and drain of the drive transistor being connected to the power feed line, and a power supply scanner configured to sequentially switch potential of each power feed line between higher potential and lower potential, wherein the power supply scanner switches the higher potential applied to the power feed line between first higher potential and second higher potential at different levels in a predetermined sequence.
US08400440B2
A display device includes a substrate, a display region having pixels on the substrate, a drive circuit element mounted on a peripheral portion of the substrate, a plurality of terminal portions formed on the peripheral portion and arranged on a mounting portion of the drive circuit element, and a plurality of wiring lines prolonged from the terminal portions to the outside of the mounting portion of the substrate. The terminal parts are arranged to two lines of the plurality of wiring lines along one end of the mounting portion, a plurality of bumps connected to each of the terminal portions by an anisotropic conductive film are formed on the plane facing the terminal portion of the drive circuit element, a part of the plurality bumps include a first bump and a second bump which is adjoined close to the first bump.
US08400435B2
A circuit arrangement for controlling a display device which can be operated in a partial mode, the circuit arrangement including a row drive circuit for driving n rows of the display device and a column drive circuit for driving m columns of the display device. The row drive circuit controls the n rows of display device sequentially from 1 to n, and the column drive circuit supplies column voltages to the m columns. The column voltages corresponding to the picture data to be displayed of pixels of the controlled row. A logic function is connected in front of at least one output of the row drive circuit, and a first control signal is supplied to the logic function. The first control signal achieving a deactivation/activation of the at least one output of the row drive circuit in dependence on the partial mode of the display device.
US08400427B2
A detector for providing position detection of objects over a sensor with a first and second set of conductor lines forming a grid with a plurality of junctions there between at which the conductor lines do not contact, includes a signal generator providing a signal to at least one conductor line of the first set of conductor lines, and circuitry detecting output arising from one or both of an electromagnetic stylus and one or more fingers when present. The output arising from each of the one or more fingers is detected from at least one conductor line of the second set of conductor lines in response to the signal provided to the at least one conductor line of the first set of conductor lines. The circuitry detects positions of one or both the electromagnetic stylus and each of the one or more fingers when present responsive to the output detected.
US08400423B2
A method and device for analyzing positions are disclosed. In sensing information, at least one position is determined according to a first characteristic of a touch related sensing information. The sensing information also has a touch related sensing information with a second characteristic, which is opposite to the first characteristic. The touch related sensing information with the second characteristic is neglected or filtered. In addition, another method and device for analyzing positions are disclosed. An AC signal is provided through a pen, and a first characteristic of a touch related sensing information corresponding to a finger is opposite to the second characteristic of the touch related sensing information corresponding to the pen. The first characteristic and the second characteristic can be used to distinguish the touch of the finger from the touch of the pen or for palm rejection.
US08400414B2
A method for controlling a mobile terminal, and which includes displaying, via a display, a plurality of items on a touch screen of the mobile terminal; receiving, via a controller on the mobile terminal, a first touching signal indicating a first item of the plurality of items has been touched and held for a predetermined amount of time; displaying, via the display, a first preview screen corresponding to the selected first item when the first item has been touched and held for the predetermined amount of time; receiving, via the controller, a second touching signal indicating a flicking operation has been performed on the touch screen while the first touching signal is still being received; and displaying, via the display, a second preview screen of a next-priority item among the plurality of item instead of the first preview screen based on the received first and second touching signals.
US08400413B2
Disclosed herein is a display apparatus including: a display panel having a plurality of picture elements configured to execute display by driving a liquid crystal layer; a backlight configured to illuminate a display surface of the display panel from a backside; a photodetector arranged on the plurality of picture elements and configured to receive a light entered from the side of the display surface of the display panel; and a detection block configured to execute image recognition in the proximity of the display surface from a difference between a photodetection amount in the photodetector in a state where an illuminating light from the backlight is radiated from the display surface and a photodetection amount in the photodetector in a state where the illuminating light is blocked before the display surface.
US08400412B2
Provided are a display panel which can detect a touch position derived from a user's touch and can prevent erroneous touch position data from being generated even when an erroneous connection to a position sensing line is present due a processing deviation or a cell gap deviation, and a manufacturing method of the same. The display panel includes a first substrate, a first sensor pad that is formed on the first substrate, a second sensor pad that is spaced apart from the first sensor pad, a second substrate that is disposed to face the first substrate, a first sensor spacer that is formed on the second substrate to overlap the first sensor pad and protrudes toward the first substrate, a second sensor spacer that is formed on the second substrate to overlap the second sensor pad and protrudes toward the first substrate, and a sensor electrode that is formed on the first sensor spacer and the second sensor spacer to overlap the first sensor pad and the second sensor pad, wherein the second sensor spacer protrudes toward the first substrate more than the first sensor spacer does.
US08400411B2
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates arranged to face each other with a predetermined gap, and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first and second substrates. The first substrate includes pixel electrodes and thin-film transistors connected with the pixel electrodes. The transistors are turned on based on a scanning signal from scanning lines to electrically connect the pixel electrodes to signal lines. The second substrate has an opposed electrode, which forms pixels in areas facing the pixel electrodes. The device also has a touch input contact point provided on either the pixel electrodes or the opposed electrode to correspond to a previously selected pixel. The contact point protrudes at a height smaller than the gap between the first and second substrates and is brought into conduction by flexural deformation caused by a pressing force of a touch onto the first or second substrates.
US08400402B2
An electronic device housing with a seemless user input zone that measures the level of force applied by the user is described. It is particularly advantageous when used with small hand-held consumer electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, game—and media players. A housing for an electronic device includes a seamless user input zone defining a contact force-sensitive deformable area. A capacitance sensor is formed between the conductive inside surface of the housing and the electrode of the rigid base facing that inside surface. Linear support elements such as columns support the housing away from the rigid base defining an air gap. Capacitance measurement circuit is deployed to detect the location and progressively increasing levels of force applied by the user onto the housing and send a user input signal to the electronic device.
US08400397B2
The invention relates to a backlighting system (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) and to a display device. The backlighting system comprises a plurality of segments (20, 21, 22, 23, 24) for selectively illuminating a predefined area of pixels of a display device. The backlighting system is configured for selectively controlling the intensity and/or color of the light emitted from the segment, each segment comprising a light source (30). The backlighting system (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) further comprises light barriers (40) for limiting the lateralspreading of the light emitted by the light source (30) towards the neighboring segments (20, 21, 22, 23, 24). The light barriers define grid-lines of a grid, and the light source (30) is arranged at a position on the grid-line which at least partially coincides with at least one of the light barriers. The effect of the measures according to the invention is that by positioning the light source of the segment on the same grid-line as the light barriers, the light from the light source spreads on either side of the light barrier towards the neighboring segments. This enables a predefined overlap of the light emitted by the segment towards its neighboring segments without the need for additional thickness of the backlighting system.
US08400393B2
A method of controlling backlight module, a backlight controller and a display device using the same are provided herein. First, an image having a plurality of regions is received, wherein the image is displayed by a plurality of color backlights which are provided from the backlight module. Next, a first average of a characteristic in a specific region of the image is calculated, wherein the specific region is one of the regions. According to the first average of the characteristic and a weight function, a characteristic weight is calculated. Next, one of the color backlights provided to the specific region is adjusted according to the characteristic weight. Therefore, adjusting the color backlights according to the image content can enhance the displaying quality of the image and adaptively reduce the artifacts perceived by human eyes in different images.
US08400392B2
Disclosed is a backlight control apparatus for controlling a backlight used in a liquid crystal display, the backlight having a lighting area that includes a plurality of blocks in each of which a backlight luminance is individually allowed to change. The apparatus includes a backlight control unit that calculates the backlight luminance of each block so that the absolute value of the difference between a backlight lighting ratio and 1 is at or below a first value, and controls the backlight so as to yield the calculated backlight luminances of the respective blocks, the backlight lighting ratio being the ratio between backlight set values of neighboring blocks.
US08400391B2
Methods and systems for displaying an image on a display device having first and second light sources are provided. A video signal is provided to the display device. The video signal includes first and second video frames. Each video frame includes first and second sub-frames corresponding to the respective first and second light sources. The first light source is operated for a first duration during the first sub-frame of the first video frame. The first light source is operated for a second duration during the first sub-frame of the second video frame. The second duration is different from the first duration.
US08400386B2
A transreflective liquid crystal display device includes an upper substrate (202) on which a color filter is disposed, a lower substrate (201) on which scanning lines and data lines are formed, a liquid crystal layer (206) sandwiched between the upper substrate (202) and the lower substrate (201) and a backlight unit (204) provided on the side of the lower substrate (201) opposite to the liquid crystal layer (206). The lower substrate (201) and the upper substrate (202) are parallel, and the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer (206) are arranged parallel the upper substrate (202) when no voltage is applied. A transparent electrode (205) is disposed on the side of the upper substrate (202) faced to the liquid crystal layer (206), and there are comb-shaped electrodes (203) disposed on the side of the lower substrate (201) faced to the liquid crystal layer (206). The comb-shaped electrodes (203) include a first comb-shaped electrode (301) and a second comb-shaped electrode (302) both of which are interdigitated. A method for driving the said display devices is also disclosed.
US08400384B2
A display device is provided that comprises a liquid crystal display panel for displaying an image by spatial light modulation, and circuitry for switching liquid crystal in the panel between having a first configuration in a first mode to cause an image displayed using the panel to be discernible from a wide range of viewing angles, and having a second configuration in a second mode to cause an image displayed using the panel to be discernible substantially only from within a narrow range of viewing angles. Several types of display panel to achieve such in-panel switching between public and private viewing modes are disclosed.
US08400380B2
An organic light emitting display device includes a scan driver for driving scan lines and light emitting control lines; a data driver for selecting any one gamma voltage of a plurality of gamma voltages corresponding to bit values of externally supplied data and generating data signals; a pixel coupled to a reference power, a first power, and a second power, and the pixel configured to compensate for a voltage drop of the first power using the reference power; and a gamma voltage controller for comparing a voltage value of the reference power with that of a comparative power having a target voltage value of the reference power to generate a comparison result and controlling voltage value of the gamma voltages in accordance with the comparison result.
US08400376B2
Provided is a voltage selection circuit for outputting a potential selected from a plurality of input potentials, the voltage selection circuit capable of selectively outputting a first high-level potential being a highest potential, a second high-level potential, or a third high-level potential being a lowest potential from an output terminal thereof. The voltage selection circuit includes a first switching circuit that supplies the first high-level potential to the output terminal, a second switching circuit that supplies the second high-level potential to the output terminal, and a third switching circuit that supplies the third high-level potential to the output terminal. The first switching circuit includes a high-voltage transistor and a level shifter connected to a gate terminal of the high-voltage transistor. The second switching circuit includes a first low-voltage transistor, a level shifter connected to a gate terminal of the first low-voltage transistor, and a diode disposed between the first low-voltage transistor and the output terminal. The third switching circuit includes a second low-voltage transistor and a diode disposed between the second low-voltage transistor and the output terminal.
US08400372B2
In displaying a predetermined image on a plasma display panel, occurrence of an initializing bright point can be suppressed to reduce the maximum voltage in an all-cell initializing operation, light emission in the all-cell initializing operation is suppressed to reduce the black luminance, and the contrast is sharpened. In driving the plasma display panel, one field period includes a plurality of subfields having a setup period for causing initializing discharge in discharge cells, an address period, and a sustain period. One field period includes at least one subfield for applying ramp waveform voltage increasing in the setup period to the scan electrodes. The maximum voltage of the ramp waveform voltage can be varied. When a predetermined image establishing a previously determined condition is displayed, the ramp waveform voltage is generated whose maximum voltage is smaller than when an image other than the predetermined image is displayed, and a positive voltage is applied to the data electrodes at least while the ramp waveform voltage having the smaller maximum voltage is applied to the scan electrodes.
US08400370B2
In a multiple image display device that is provided with a plurality of image display devices and that displays a single input image, the image display devices each divide the input image into division images that are individually displayed on the image display devices, and enlarge and display them. In particular, the image display device provided in an edge portion of the multiple image display device enlarges the division image toward a side opposite from the side of the edge portion. In this way, the edge portion of the input image is displayed on the multiple image display.
US08400352B2
A global positioning system includes a base GNSS receiver that determines position and carrier phase measurements for GNSS satellites in view and a rover GNSS receiver, which is a single frequency receiver that captures GNSS satellite signals transmitted in the single frequency band during a capture window from a plurality of GNSS satellites, the plurality being large enough to provide a carrier phase data set from which a solution to associated integer carrier phase ambiguities is over determined. The system determining from the captured signals, a search space associated with the satellites in view, the code phase delays and associated position uncertainty. The system resolving the integer carrier cycle ambiguities using double difference carrier phase measurements associated with signal power values that are over a predetermined threshold value. The system resolving the carrier cycle ambiguities over the capture window to a single solution set and determining the position of the rover GNSS receiver to an accuracy within centimeters using the resolved carrier phase measurements.
US08400348B1
Apparatus and methods for an airborne biota monitoring and control system are disclosed. Radar and laser/optical sensors are used to detect insects, with detection zones being over water in some embodiments to reduce backscatter clutter. A pest control laser or small autonomous or radio controlled aircraft under automated or human control may be used to disable a targeted flying insect. One embodiment includes use of a head-mounted display for displaying insect targeting information superimposed on a real landscape view. Technologies such as adaptive lens, holographic optical elements, polarized radar and/or laser beams, light amplifiers and light guides, thin disk, spinning disk, or vertical cavity surface emitting lasers enhance performance of the apparatus or reduce cost of the apparatus. Also disclosed are methods of discrimination of insect types using spectral information and dynamic relative variation of spectral intensities at different wavelengths reflected from an insect in flight.
US08400340B2
A continuous-time sigma-delta analog to digital converter (CTSD ADC) includes a comparator that samples the time integral of an analog signal at each rising edge and falling edge of a sampling clock. A feedback block, operating as a digital to analog converter, receives the outputs of the comparator and generates corresponding analog signals also at each rising and falling edge of the sampling clock. The feedback blocks are implemented as either switched-resistor or switched-current circuits. High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is achieved in the CTSD ADC without the need to use very high sampling clock frequencies. Compensation for excess loop delay is provided using a local feedback technique. In an embodiment, the sigma delta modulator in the CTSD ADC is implemented as a second order loop, and the comparator as a two-level comparator.
