US08549653B2
A system and method for providing access to data stored in encrypted form in a physically non-secure database without compromising security of the data in the physically non-secure database is disclosed. A representation of at least some of the data from the database in unencrypted form is stored in volatile memory associated with the server. The wildcard search is performed on the representation. Search results are displayed to the user to allow the user to select database contents to be retrieved. The user's selection is retrieved from the database and decrypted. Finally, the unencrypted selection results are provided to the user.
US08549651B2
A system and method for determining a trust level for a non-approved user in a social network is described. The method includes monitoring requests for social network interactions between an approved user and the non-approved user and determining if each interaction requested is of a first type or a second type. The method further includes increasing a first trust value when the interaction requested is of the first type and increasing a second trust value when the interaction requested is of the second type. The method further includes determining the trust level based on the first trust value and the second trust value. The method further includes changing the status of the non-approved user to an approved user based on the trust level, the first trust value and/or the second trust value.
US08549642B2
A method and apparatus for employing honeypot systems to identify potential malware containing messages whereby a decoy system to receive illegitimate e-mails is established. E-mails sent to the spam e-mail honeypot decoy are initially scanned/filtered and e-mails that are not considered possible malware containing e-mails are filtered out while the remaining e-mails sent to the spam e-mail honeypot decoy are identified as potential malware containing e-mails. One or more features, and/or feature values, of the identified e-mails are then identified, extracted and ranked. Once a given feature, and/or feature value, occurs more than a burst threshold number of times, the status of the given feature, and/or feature value, is transformed to that of suspicious e-mail parameter.
US08549629B1
Methods, programs, and systems for classifying and monitoring user-computer interactions include monitoring keystroke characteristics, mouse characteristics, and application frequency and garnering associated data. Metrics associated with the monitored data are then analyzed and used for a several business and security applications: Security-Impersonation, Security-Profiling, Business-Training, and Business-Application Development. The methods of the present disclosure enable greater insight into user-computer interactions.
US08549626B1
A method and apparatus for securing a computer from malicious threats through generic remediation is described. In one embodiment, the method for securing a computer from malicious threats through generic remediation includes processing at least one malicious threat to the computer, wherein the at least one malicious threat is not associated with a specific remediation technique and examining information regarding prior remediation of the at least one malicious threat by at least one computer to determine at least one remediation technique for the at least one malicious threat.
US08549622B2
Systems and methods for determining the identity of entities who meet trust requirements of a privilege grantor include an identity and trust management system including at least one computing device in communication with at least one entity, at least one privilege grantor, and at least one authoritative source. At least one rule is received from the at least one privilege grantor that must be satisfied for the at least one privilege grantor to trust an entity. A database is established of at least one entity with information about the at least one entity. The at least one authoritative source is queried to determine whether at least a portion of the information about the at least one entity is correct. A response is received from the at least one authoritative source as to whether or not the portion of information is correct. The database stores a result of the query without storing data underlying the result. The information stored in the database is compared with the at least one rule to determine if the at least one entity meets the at least one rule. The at least one privilege grantor is notified whether the at least one entity meets the at least one rule based on the comparison, without providing the at least one privilege grantor with either data stored in the database for the at least one entity or the data underlying the result.
US08549621B2
To limit access to a document according to a plurality of types of access authorities set to the document when a server apparatus for limiting access to the document having a setting of a plurality of types of access authorities to operate the document cannot limit access to the document according to the access authority, an apparatus includes a conversion unit configured to convert a document into a plurality of documents having a setting corresponding to each of the plurality of types of access authorities, and a generation unit configured to merge the plurality of documents formed through conversion by the conversion unit, so as to be handled as one document, to generate one merged document.
US08549617B2
An integrated, multi-service virtual private network (VPN) network client for cellular mobile devices is described. The multi-service network client can be deployed as a single software package on cellular mobile network devices to provide integrated services including secure enterprise VPN connectivity, acceleration, security management including monitored and enforced endpoint compliance, and collaboration services. The multi-service client integrates with an operating system of the device to provide a VPN handler to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device. The VPN network client includes to data acceleration module exchange network packets with the VPN handler and apply at least one acceleration service to the network packets, and a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the data acceleration module.
US08549611B2
Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for assigning a reputation to a messaging entity. A method can include receiving data that identifies one or more characteristics related to a messaging entity's communication. A reputation score is determined based upon the received identification data. The determined reputation score is indicative of reputation of the messaging entity. The determined reputation score is used in deciding what action is to be taken with respect to a communication associated with the messaging entity.
US08549610B2
Data traffic is routed from a customer edge (CE) router to an Ethernet services router via a generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnel. Upon routing the data traffic from the CE router to the Ethernet services router, the data traffic is routed from the Ethernet services router to an aggregation switch. Upon routing the data traffic from the Ethernet services router to the aggregation switch, the data traffic is routed from the aggregation switch to a service switch through a security module, the security module configured to filter the data traffic. The filtered data traffic is routed from the service switch to the Ethernet services router. Upon routing the filtered data traffic from the service switch to the Ethernet services router, the filtered data traffic is routed from the Ethernet services router to a provider edge (PE) router.
US08549606B2
There is provided a device for protecting a digital content. The device includes a digital content processing section that causes a digital content to be protected using security information; and an encrypting section that encrypts the security information, using a key acquired from a Digital Right Management system of an electronic ticket system.
US08549603B2
A method and system for addressing a unique device from an address book, the method having the steps of: receiving a message having a root token and a secondary token; checking whether the root token exists within the address book, if no, creating a record in the address book with the root and secondary token; and if yes, checking whether the secondary token exists within the address book, if yes, providing a representation of the unique device; and if no, storing the secondary token against the root token in the address book.
US08549601B2
User authentication is achieved by creating a window on the user's PC that is in communication with a security server, where this communication channel is separate from the communication channel between the user's browser and whichever web site they are at. A legitimate web site embeds code in the web page which communicates to the security server from the user's desktop. The security server signals both the web page on the user's browser and the window to which it has a separate channel. If user authentication is requested by the web site, the security server computes a one time password based on a secret which it shares with the web site, but not with the user, and which is not associated with any particular user, and the web site can re-compute the one time password to authenticate the user.
US08549598B2
A multifunction apparatus 21 of the present invention communicates with an information processing apparatus 51 via a communication network 50. The multifunction apparatus 21 includes an apparatus control section 7, a second web server section 8, and a web browser section 5 which communicates with a first web server section 53 or the second web server section 8. The apparatus control section 7 transmits login information entered by a user to an authentication server 91. The web browser section 5 (i) accepts, from the first web server section 53, control information for informing the second web server section 8 of a control instruction to obtain user related information from the authentication server 91 and (ii) carries out an informing process in which the second web server section 8 is informed of the control instruction. The apparatus control section 7 obtains the user related information from the authentication server 91 in accordance with the control instruction received by the second web server section 8. The web browser section 5 transmits the user related information obtained by the apparatus control section 7 to the first web server section 53.
US08549587B2
A communication network encrypts a first portion of a transaction associated with point-to-point communications using a point-to-point encryption key. A second portion of the transaction associated with end-to-end communications is encrypted using an end-to-end encryption key.
US08549586B2
An electronic device includes a receiver configured to receive, from an entity, a request to perform a function. The electronic device also includes a secure element to verify the request to perform the function. The secure element includes hardware programmed with instructions to verify that a security of the secure element has not been breached. The secure element also includes software including instructions to determine an access right for the entity requesting performance of the function, and to perform the function when the hardware verifies that the security of the secure element has not been breached and the access right indicates that the entity is authorized to request performance of the secure function.
US08549578B2
A method and apparatus for displaying information and content on a handheld wireless or other mobile device that is related to video content being presented on a nearby video device. The video content presented on the video device is delivered over a first communication channel and the related information and content displayed on the mobile device is delivered over a separate second communication channel from a remote server. The information and content received over the second communication channel is synchronized with the first primary video content so as to change automatically to correspond as the primary video content is presented on the video device.
US08549573B2
A content processing device is configured to receive a media stream via a network. The media stream may be analyzed to detect whether an anomaly is present in the media stream indicative of a potential quality defect in playback of the media stream. Data relating to a detected anomaly may be provided to a destination via the network.
US08549570B2
Some embodiments are directed to a method performed by a pipe control node for managing network resources that are used to transport network traffic. The method includes allocating network resources to a virtual pipe for transporting a plurality of multimedia streams through the network. Utilization of the network resources by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe is monitored relative to the network resources allocated to the virtual pipe. The network resources that are used by the plurality of multimedia streams transported through the virtual pipe are managed in response to the monitored utilization. Some other embodiments are directed to a corresponding pipe control node that manages network resources which are used to transport network traffic.
US08549568B2
A digital content processing apparatus and method of a digital video receiver is provided for controlling playback speed of digital content. The method includes receiving content data from a content provision server; buffering the received content data; demultiplexing the buffered content data to extract video data; indexing GOPs including specific frames in the content data; storing running times and file sizes of the GOPs as index data; demultiplexing the stored content data to extract the video data, when a request for a multiple speed playback is input; and decoding the GOPs corresponding to the multiple speed playback in the extracted video data by referencing the index data.
US08549565B2
Multiple systems for delivering satellite signals are described. An embodiment in accordance with the present invention comprises a receive antenna, including at least one low noise block amplifier (LNB), and a module, coupled to and proximate the receive antenna, the module comprising a multiswitch, coupled to the LNB, for directing the satellite signals received by the LNB to a plurality of outputs of the multiswitch, a plurality of tuners, respectively coupled to the outputs of the multiswitch, for tuning to a plurality of specific portions of the satellite signals in a respective fashion, the specific portions of the satellite signals selected based on commands received from a plurality of receivers, and an interface for delivering the specific portions of the satellite signals to the plurality of receivers, wherein the specific portions of the satellite signals are combined into a single combined signal and delivered to the plurality of receivers on a single output of the interface.
US08549560B2
A method according to the present disclosure comprises displaying a program in a first format on a first television channel to a user and automatically displaying a message to the user indicating that the program is available in a second format on a second television channel. The message may be displayed on the first television channel while the program in the first format is being displayed. Additionally, the automatic displaying of the message may be unprompted by the user. In certain embodiments, the user may be provided the option to purchase the program in the second format if the second format is not within the user's subscription.
US08549559B2
A playlist generating section generates a playlist by grouping a plurality of pieces of program information based on meta information stored in a database. Also, the playlist generating section generates the playlist by further including, in the playlist, current status information indicating a reproduction status of the playlist and changed status information indicating an update status of the plurality of pieces of the program information corresponding to the playlist. A display unit displays an image based on the playlist such that information representing the current status and the changed status is further included in the image based on the playlist for allowing selection of the playlist. As a result, it is possible to select a program desired by a user by a simple operation.
US08549558B2
The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for the delivery of programming content with targeted advertisements. One embodiment of a method according to the present invention comprises receiving a request for programming content from a given user, determining a given demographic group to which the given user belongs and determining whether the requested programming content is being streamed to one or more users associated with the given demographic group. If the requested programming content is being streamed to one or more users associated with the given demographic group, the requested programming content is streamed with advertisements targeted to the given demographic group to the given user. If not, a new stream is generated for the requested programming content with advertisements targeted to the given demographic group, which is streamed to the given user.
US08549557B2
A system and method of delivering personalized media items to users of an interactive television is disclosed. The system comprises a television terminal, a computing device and a remote control device. The computing device further comprises a set top box. The computing device may be connected to a server through a communication network. The system stores a personal profile for each of its users. Personal mobile devices associated with the users are connected wirelessly to the computing device. Identities of the users may be transmitted from the personal mobile devices to the computing device. Media items are selected based upon the personal profiles according to a predetermined algorithm. Selected media items may be delivered using scrolling tickers displayed on the television terminal.
US08549552B2
Methods and apparatus to monitor media exposure in vehicles are disclosed. An example implementation includes collecting audience measurement data with a media monitoring device fixed in a vehicle and transmitting the audience measurement data from the media monitoring device to a shuttle located within the vehicle, the shuttle being incapable of collecting audience measurement data independent of the media monitoring device.
US08549550B2
Various user behaviors are passively monitored and recorded when a user/viewer interacts with a network video player, e.g. a web video player, while watching an online video clip. For one embodiment, a data collection agent (DCA) is loaded to the player and/or to a web page that displays the video clip. The DCA passively collects detailed viewing and behavior information without requiring any specific input or actions on the part of the user. Indications of user preferences are inferred by user actions leading up to viewing the video, while viewing the video, and just after and still related to viewing the video. The DCA periodically sends this information to a central server where it is stored in a central database and where it is used to determine preference similarities among different users. Recorded user preference information may also be used to rate a video itself.
US08549548B2
A disc tray for a printing device includes a driving mover including a first guiding portion; a main body including a disc receiver having a holding portion and a sloping portion connected with each other, a second guiding portion engaged with the first guiding portion, and a third guiding portion, with the driving mover driving the main body by way of the first guiding portion and the second guiding portion to move the main body; and a supporter including a fourth guiding portion engaged with the third guiding portion to allow the fourth guiding portion to move along the third guiding portion. The supporter and the holding portion are used to support a printed disc. When the disc receiver receives the printed disc, the supporter is moved to be veiled under the main body for dropping the printed disc from the sloping portion of the disc receiver.
US08549546B2
Client software is modified by a translator to use unique variant of linguistic interface of a service. An interceptor pre-processes subsequent client service requests from translated unique linguistic interface to standard linguistic interface implemented by service. Usage of linguistic interfaces of service is contained, rendering service incapable of executing arbitrary input, even if such input is crafted specifically for the service interface.
US08549541B2
In a network of devices having a plurality of local domains, each local domain is likely to comprise a plurality of networks or communities of devices that communicate using a shared native protocol such as Jini, UPnP, Bluetooth, HAVi, WiFi, WiMAX or other standard architectures and protocols. The Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi) created a platform and method for various networks to communicate with one another in a local domain. OSGi does not, however, solve the problems associated with communication across local domains. An instant messaging protocol such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and a remote services register are used to provide a means for communication between local devices in a plurality of local OSGi domains using native communications protocols.
US08549534B2
Automated management of partition service assignment to a virtual input/output (VIO) adapter is provided. Responsive to creation of a new partition service in a data processing system, a partition priority number is determined for the new partition service, and, for each VIO adapter, the partition priority numbers of the partition services currently assigned to that VIO adapter are summed. For a VIO adapter with a lowest sum of partition priority numbers, logic determines whether assigning the new partition service to that VIO adapter results in its summed partition priority number being above a predefined threshold, and the new partition service is assigned to a VIO adapter based, at least in part, on whether assigning the new partition service to the VIO adapter with the lowest sum of partition priority numbers results in that VIO adapter's summed partition priority number exceeding the predefined threshold.
US08549528B2
Provided is a storage system including a host computer, a memory device, a plurality of resources for allocating a volume of the memory device to an access from the host computer, a memory for storing a correspondence relationship of the plurality of resources, an input module to be used by an administrator for selecting a prescribed resource among the plurality of resources, and a controller for extracting other resources related to the selected resource by using the correspondence relationship, detecting the performance status of the extracted other resources, identifying a related resource having a correlation with the performance of the selected resource among the other resources based on the detection result, and causing an output module to output the association of the selected resource and the related resource.
US08549518B1
Disclosed is an approach for overseeing the overall state of a virtual storage system, and for taking actions as necessary to manage the health and efficient performance of that system. A curator entity is provided on a distributed basis to manage and perform these functions. A master curator manages this workload that is performed by multiple slave curators. MapReduce operations are performed to implement the curator workload. Periodically, the master curator coordinates a full scan of all the metadata in the system using three MapReduce operations. Partial scans may also be run using a single MapReduce operation.
US08549515B2
To provide collaborative hosting of applications, the present invention first generates a virtual operating system image consisting of operating system code, application code, runtime code and supporting data repositories. The virtual operating system image may then be sent to and deploying on a physical computer or computer terminal at another location.
US08549512B1
A server that remotely monitors an Automated Teller Machine (“ATM”) is provided. The server includes a memory module for maintaining information including identification of software applications resident on the self-service device, identification of firmware applications resident on the self-service device, and identification of the hardware resident on the self-service device. The server also includes a communications module for receiving updates of the identification of software applications resident on the self-service device, updates of the identification of firmware applications resident on the self-service device, and updates of identification of the hardware resident on the self-service device. The server may also include a processing module for storing in the memory module the updates of the identification of software applications resident on the self-service device, the updates of identification of firmware applications resident on the self-service device, and the updates of identification of the hardware resident on the self-service device.
US08549503B2
Dangling pointers and memory leak locations within software are detected. As the software allocates and deallocates memory, lists of pointers referencing the memory, and pointer status, are maintained. As the software writes new addresses within pointers and reads addresses referenced by the pointers, the pointer lists are maintained to determine whether the pointers are dangling and to detect memory leak locations. A balanced binary tree having a number of nodes can be maintained. The nodes represent heap or stack records. Each heap record corresponds to heap memory that has been allocated and has a list of pointers referencing the heap memory. Each stack record corresponds to a stack within which a stack frame is allocated each time a function is entered. The stack record has frame records corresponding to the stack frames. Each frame record has a list of pointers referencing the corresponding stack frame.
US08549494B2
Techniques for parsing electronic files are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an apparatus for parsing electronic files comprising an input module operable to read one or more electronic files, a syntax element store, associated with one or more syntax elements, a mutation module operable to mutate one or more of the one or more syntax elements and parse the one or more electronic files read from the input module, and an output module operable to create one or more normalized electronic files from the one or more parsed electronic files.
US08549490B2
A method for static code analyzing customizations to a pre-packaged computing solution can include establishing a communicative connection from a recommendation generation module to a pre-packaged computing solution and authenticating into the pre-packaged computing solution. Customized program code can be extracted from the pre-packaged computing solution and a call graph of the customized program code can be constructed such that the call graph indicates method calls to different interfaces for program code of the pre-packaged computing solution. Finally, a report can be generated identifying customized program code to be adapted to a new version of the pre-packaged computing solution based upon changes in the different interfaces shown by the call graph to be used in the new version of the pre-packaged computing solution and modifications required for the customized program code to call the different interfaces in the new version of the pre-packaged computing solution.
US08549489B2
A programming editor and creator allows users with minimal knowledge of a computer language syntax to generate computer source code using a structured rather than freeform process. A predefined command sentence is provided representing at least a portion of a programming command, and includes words, which may be defined as constant or enterable words. Enterable words may be required or optional, and correspond to entry components. Each word may be defined according to word types, including list words, variable list words, variable words, mathematical words, condition words or Boolean words. Enterable words may include repeatable words which may be inserted multiple times within a command to create conditional statements, mathematical equations and string concatenations. Input values are provided for the entry components. The predefined command sentence with the input values is converted to a completed command sentence corresponding to the programming command, which is translated to a target programming language.
US08549487B2
Detection of redundant or duplicate method calls in a running program is provided. One or more methods can be selectively called when a program is running. Specified data is collected each time that a call to a given one of the methods occurs, wherein a given call to the given method is associated with a set of arguments comprising one or more particular argument values for the given method. The collected data includes an element uniquely identifying each of the particular argument values. The collected data is stored at a selected location, and a call threshold is selected for the given method, wherein the call threshold comprises a specified number of occurrences of the given call to the given method. The collected data is selectively analyzed at the storage location, to determine whether an occurrence of the given call to the given method has exceeded the call threshold.
US08549483B1
Embodiments of a system (such as a computer system), a method, and a computer-program product (e.g., software) for use with the computer system are described. These embodiments may be used to test software that includes instructions for a graphical user interface with objects that receive values in associated fields. In particular, during testing, the system identifies the objects and associated expected values in the software, tests the software based on the identified objects and the expected values, and generates a flow file which includes the testing operations and corresponding results. Moreover, during the testing, the system may generate a compliance document which includes the testing operations and the results. Additionally, the system compares differences between the flow file and a previous flow file (associated with previous testing), and presents differences to a quality-assurance analyst who evaluates whether or not the differences are consistent with design changes between the software and a previous version of the software.
US08549481B2
A computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for a web-based integrated test and debugging system is provided. The method includes configuring a proxy widget on a server to communicate with a debug widget on a browser, and configuring the proxy widget to communicate with an integrated development environment (IDE) external to the server. The method also includes running a process on the server associated with one or more process-control widgets on the browser. The method further includes polling the IDE via the proxy widget to access a debug and test infrastructure of the IDE for debug data associated with the process, and relaying the debug data associated with the process from the proxy widget to the debug widget to provide web-based integration of testing and debugging on the browser while the process is running on the server.
US08549468B2
The present invention discloses a system for generating a software TLM model, comprising a processing unit; a compiler coupled to the processing unit to generate target binary codes of a target software; a decompiler coupled to the processing unit to decompile the target binary codes into high level codes, for example C or C++ codes, to generate a functional model of the target software, wherein the functional model includes a plurality of basic blocks; an execution time calculating module coupled to the processing unit to calculate overall execution time of the plurality of the basic blocks of the functional model; a sync point identifying module coupled to the processing unit to identify sync points of the software transaction-level modeling model; and a time annotating module coupled to the processing unit to annotate the overall execution time of the basic blocks and the sync points into the functional model to obtain the software transaction-level modeling model.
US08549465B2
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to defect classification for software development and provide a method, system and computer program product for automated defect classification in a software development tool. In an embodiment of the invention, a defect classification method can be provided. The method can include computing differences between versions of a line of source code, lexically analyzing the computed differences to produce a lexical construct, mapping the lexical construct to a classification, and assigning the defect classification to the line of source code.
US08549462B2
Thermal coupling effects are represented as current into a thermal node of an initial design structure. The current is determined using a thermal coupling coefficient, and thermal resistance and thermal capacitance of a self-heating network of the initial design structure. By using another design structure with devices substantially identical to those of the initial design structure at known locations, operating a device as a heater while operating another device as a heat sensor, and measuring thermal response of the heater and the heat sensor, a thermal coupling coefficient may be determined.
US08549454B1
In one embodiment, a method for propagating design constraints between a module and a module instance in a circuit design is provided. A port of the module and a port/pin of the circuit design are determined, between which constraints are to be propagated. The determination of the port/pin includes determining whether or not pin of the module instance corresponding to the port is directly connected to a top-level port of the circuit design. In response to determining that the pin is directly connected to a top-level port, the top-level port is selected as the port/pin. In response to determining that the pin is not directly connected to the top-level port, the pin is selected as the port/pin. Design constraints are propagated between the port and the selected port/pin. The propagated design constraints are stored in a storage device.
US08549452B2
A method for accurately performing a timing, power, and noise analysis by pre-processing the characterization points of the available libraries, storing time consuming parts of the analysis and utilizing the pre-processed information during active runs to calculate the attributes at a desired PVT point. The PVT space is preferably sub-divided into triangular or rectangular regions, preferably obtained using Delaunay triangulation. In one embodiment, the invention performs an up-front pre-processing step on the characterized libraries to compute the static portion of the interpolation function that is independent of the specific instance; and a coefficient matrix that allows for interpolation of specific instances.
US08549451B2
A design verification apparatus for a semiconductor device includes: a storage for storing layout information of the semiconductor device, the layout information including information of interconnection regions and a via regions; and a controller for dividing the interconnection regions into wire regions and cross regions, the cross regions corresponding to the via regions, respectively, the wire regions extending between the cross regions, respectively, and extracting at least one of the wire regions as a candidate having a potential risk of future disconnection defect on the basis of the length of the wire regions.
US08549444B2
Impedance control, and the uniformity of electrical and mechanical characteristics in electronic packaging are becoming more important as chip and bus speeds increase and manufacturing processes evolve. Current state of the art design and manufacture processes inherently introduce physical dielectric thickness variations into multilayer cross sections. These thickness variations between the ground reference plane(s) and the signal layer(s) inject undesirable characteristic impedance variations and undesirable mechanical variations in thickness and surface topology. Therefore a multilayer structure and a method of manufacture are presented.
US08549436B1
Displaying search query records as moveable thumbnail objects in a flip page metaphor whereby mouse-dragging on a first axis pages the objects from background to foreground, a mouse-down event over an object fires an event to retrieve data at a uniform resource location associated with the object.
US08549416B2
An Entertainment System including a website, in combination with a commercially purchased product, wherein the system allows a product user to register a primary product online using a registration code, allowing the user access to various activities and scenarios in a “virtual world” including a virtual representation of the product, via a computer connected to the Internet. Additional ancillary products are also provided that may be related to the primary product or the virtual world, with these ancillary products also being provided with one or more codes to provide additional content, bonus items, and/or bonus access in the virtual world.
US08549412B2
Among other disclosures, a method may include identifying one or more of personal or public data that is related to a party in a message. The message delivered by a communication system where the personal or public data is unrelated to and otherwise inaccessible to the communication system. The method may include displaying the personal or public data upon a predetermined trigger.
US08549406B2
A management system and method for a wireless communication network and an associated interface is provided. The management system provides a structure of data layers and a visualization design to upgrade the efficiency of network management. The management system includes a data generation module and a display module. The data module generates a plurality of data layers, which comprise at least a map layer, a network configuration layer, and an operation index layer. The network configuration layer comprises a configuration of the wireless communication network on the map layer. The operation index layer includes statistic values of an operation index of the wireless communication network under the configuration. The display module performs an overlap display of a plurality of selected layers from the data layers to show operation status of the wireless communication network.
US08549385B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with soft decoding for a quantized channel are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a soft decoder configured to decode a signal received from a quantized channel based, at least in part, on one or more log likelihood ratios (LLRs). The apparatus may also include a reliability memory configured to store one or more known LLRs, and a controller configured to repetitively and selectively provide the soft decoder with known LLRs chosen from the reliability memory, to control the soft decoder to decode the signal, and to selectively update the reliability memory upon determining that the soft decoder successfully decoded the signal.
US08549380B2
Techniques for decoding levels in non-volatile memory. A level of a cell in a multi-bit non-volatile memory is read. A minimum of Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) and a modified LLR to decode the level, wherein the modified LLR is a function of a misplacement probability is used. A value corresponding the decoded level is written to a volatile memory.
US08549375B2
Configurable permutators in an LDPC decoder are provided. A partially-parallel architecture combined with the proposed permutators is used to mitigate the increase in implementation complexity for the multi-mode function. To overcome the difficulty in efficient implementation of a high-throughput decoder, the variable nodes are partitioned into several groups, and each group is processed sequentially in order to shorten the critical-path delay and, hence, increase the maximum operating frequency. In addition, shuffled message-passing decoding can be adopted in decoders according to the invention to increase the convergence speed, which reduces the number of iterations required to achieve a given bit-error-rate performance.
US08549373B2
Embodiments related to retransmission in a communication system are described and depicted. In one embodiment, a retransmission entity repeats a transmission of a data transfer unit by the device after a predetermined number of other transmitted data transfer units has been transmitted. The retransmission entity may also determine whether a measure for a time period since the first transmission of the data transfer unit by the device has exceeded a predetermined threshold and to provide a final transmission of the data transfer unit based on the determining that the measure for the time period has exceeded the predetermined threshold.
US08549364B2
In one or more embodiments of the invention, communication among host agents providing high availability in a computer cluster is implemented by reading and writing to files on a shared data store. Each host agent holds a lock on a file on the shared data store corresponding to a liveness indicator for the host agent and a coordinator host agent periodically monitors the liveness indicators for host failures.
US08549350B1
A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for restoring data. In some embodiments, this includes backing up data in a first form with a backup application, updating the backup application, and using the updated backup application to restore the backed up data in a second form. In some embodiments, the first form includes a backup image. In some embodiments, the second form is individual files.
US08549347B1
In response to a request to duplicate a network, the network is duplicated. The duplicate network includes one or more virtual devices that correspond to one or more devices in the network being duplicated. The devices of the duplicate network are communicatively arranged in a manner consistent with a topology of the network being duplicated. Once the duplicate network is created, access to the duplicate network is provided.
US08549341B2
A system and method are provided for reducing a latency associated with timestamps in a multi-core, multi threaded processor. A processor capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of threads is provided. The processor includes a plurality of cores, a plurality of network interfaces for network communication, and a timer circuit for reducing a latency associated with timestamps used for synchronization of the network communication utilizing a precision time protocol.
US08549332B2
An information handling system includes a module bay, a voltage control switch, and a controller. The module bay configured to receive a module, and to connect the module to the information handling system. The voltage control switch is in communication with the module bay, and is configured to provide power to the module bay. The controller is in communication with the module bay and with the voltage control switch. The controller is configured to detect a type of the module connected to the module bay, and to send a power control override signal to the voltage control switch when the type is a specific type, wherein the power control override signal causes the voltage control switch to disregard a power down signal received for the module bay and continue to provide power to the module bay.
US08549330B2
A computer system with reliable dynamic energy management includes a thread synchronized energy configurator, the thread synchronized energy configurator extending an instruction decoder of the computer system and the thread synchronized energy configurator is disposed to append an energy configuration field including energy configuration bits to pipeline control bits of instructions in the instruction decoder, a thread synchronized dynamic frequency shifter (DFS), the thread synchronized DFS disposed to set control signals indicative of a frequency shift both per thread and per pipeline, and a thread synchronized general purpose register (GPR) super scaler, wherein the GPR super scaler is disposed to optimize thread operation based upon the set control signals.
US08549328B2
A memory controller includes a first interface unit, a processor, a randomization unit, a state conversion unit, and a second interface unit. The first interface unit exchanges data with an external device, and the processor determines whether to randomize or state-convert the received data. The randomization unit randomizes data received through the first interface unit in response to the processor and generates randomization information in response to the randomization operation. The state conversion unit state-converts data received through the first interface unit in response to the processor and generates conversion information in response to the state conversion operation. The second interface unit receives the randomized data and the randomization information from the randomization unit, receives the state-converted data and the conversion information from the state conversion unit, and exchanges at least one of the randomized data, the randomization information, the state-converted data and the conversion information with a memory.
US08549325B2
A method of impeding leakage of cache access behavioral information of a section of a sensitive process to an untrusted process, said sensitive and untrusted processes being performed by a processor within a data processing apparatus, said data processing apparatus further comprising at least one cache operable to store information required by said processor while performing said sensitive and untrusted processes, the method comprising the steps of prior to commencing processing of a section of said sensitive process by said processor, evicting information stored in locations of said at least one cache which may otherwise be evicted by said sensitive process loading information that may be required by said section of said sensitive process in said at least one cache; commencing processing of said section of said sensitive process by said processor; switching said processor during processing of said section of said sensitive process to said untrusted process in response to a switching request; on switching back to said section of said sensitive process from said untrusted process, evicting information stored in locations of said at least one cache which may otherwise be evicted by said sensitive process loading information that may be required by said section of said sensitive process in said at least one cache prior to recommencing processing of said section of said sensitive process.
US08549316B2
A method and an apparatus for account and/or password output are disclosed. In the present invention, a hot-key corresponding to an account and/or a password is set in advance. By entering the hot-key, the related account and/or password is transferred and login automatically, thus the purpose of making login more conveniently is achieved. Besides, the present invention combines various input device to make the way of setting hot-key become more diversely, therefore security of password login is also enhanced.
US08549306B2
An image managing method includes dividing the original moving image into a header and a body and generating the group hash value of the header portion, generating the hash value of each item of still image data, connecting the group hash value of the header portion and the hash value of each item of still image data to generate connected hash values, generating a group of the connected hash values as a hash value list, generating the hash value of a Huffman table on the basis of cutting out one still image, and signing to generate signature information of the original moving image, using the group hash value of the header portion, the hash value of the Huffman table, and the hash list as verification data of the original moving image, by adding a digital signature of a video recording terminal to it.
US08549304B2
A system and method is disclosed for allowing content providers to protect against widespread copying of their content, while enabling them to give their customers more freedom in the way they use the content. In accordance with one embodiment, content providers identify their content as protected by watermarking the content. Consumers use compliant devices to access protected content. All of a user's compliant devices, or all of a family's devices, can be organized into an authorized domain. This authorized domain is used by content providers to create a logical boundary in which they can allow users increased freedom to use their content.
US08549300B1
In general, the invention is directed to techniques for enabling single sign-on (SSO) for a client seeking access to multiple resources protected by a certificate-based authentication scheme. For example, as described herein, a secure gateway comprises a certificate repository to store a digital certificate as well as a policy that includes one or more policy rules. A network interface of the secure gateway receives a message from a client device, wherein the message comprises a request to access a protected resource and an identifier for the requesting agent. The secure gateway also comprises a resource authentication module to map the identifier and the protected resource to the digital certificate based on the policy. The resource authentication module retrieves the digital certificate from the certificate repository and sends the digital certificate to the protected resource to authenticate the secure gateway to the protected resource.
US08549299B2
A method is provided for obtaining a secret value for use as a key in a cryptographic operation, the secret value combining a private key, x, of one computing device with a public key, Y, of another computing device to obtain a secret value xY. The method includes obtaining a pair of scalars x0, x1 such that x=x0+x1 t where t is a scaling factor; obtaining a supplementary public key tY; combining the scalars and the public keys to obtain a representation of the secret value xY as a linear combination of the scalars and the public keys; and utilising the secret value as a key in a cryptographic operation performed by the one computing device.
US08549298B2
Computer-readable media, systems, and methods for encrypting communications between a client and an online service provider to ensure the communications are secure. In embodiments an authentication request is received from a user agent associated with the client and the authentication request includes identification information and authentication information. Additionally, it is determined that the identification and authentication information are associated with a user. An authentication ticket is created that includes a user identification and an authentication and indicates to the online service provider that the user is authenticated to access one or more services. Further, a session key is generated and an encrypted session key is embedded into the authentication ticket. The session key is encrypted and the private key is known only to the online service provider and the public key is known at least by an authentication server.
US08549291B2
A wireless network apparatus including an authentication information storage unit to store first authentication information for network communication, an authentication information converting unit to generate second authentication information by converting the stored first authentication information according to an predetermined authentication method, a nonvolatile storage unit to store the generated second authentication information, and an authentication processing unit to conduct an authentication based on the second authentication information.
US08549289B2
Architecture that provides centrally located role-based administration where role assignments that are used to calculate scopes for each operation and create a filtered request that only returns objects that the user is allowed to manage. No access checks are needed. The architecture addresses the proliferation of scope definitions by at least creating a set of relative scopes such as that can generically apply to multiple users at once. More specifically, self-relative scopes and absolute scopes are provided.
US08549283B2
There are provided a security server for intermediating transmission/reception of security data between a service providing server and a user terminal, a security data transmission/reception system and a method. In order to intermediate the transmission/reception of security data between the service providing server and the user terminal, the security server may generate a session key corresponding to a secret key provided from a user terminal, receive security data together with the session key from a security data transmitter, encode the security data with the secret key corresponding to the session key, store the encoded security data, provide a data encryption key to the security data transmitter, decode the encoded security data with the secret key corresponding to the session key when the session key is received together with a security data request key from a security data receiver, and provide the decoded security data to the security data receiver.
US08549280B2
A method, system, server device and computer program product for securely transferring data from one or more non-subscribers to a subscriber or subscriber-defined destination, via a network, are provided. Access is provided, to one or more non-subscriber, to a network location indicator (NLI) and a private data transfer conduit is established, accessible via the NLI and configured to accept data from the non-subscribers. Data received at the conduit is transformed into secured data and transferred to the subscriber or subscriber-defined destination. In some embodiments, access to the NLI may be provided by accepting a request from a subscriber and sending, upon receipt of the request, a notification to at least one non-subscriber.
US08549279B1
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for transmitting a character string. Such embodiments provide systems and methods to: (1) store a character string in storage devices; (2) associate a unique token with the character string; (3) associate a sub-string of the character string to identify that the unique token is associated with the character string without revealing the character string; (4) access the character string by using the unique token; and (5) transmit the character string to a device or user requesting the string. In addition, various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for transmitting a unique token associated with a character string. Such embodiments provide systems and methods to: (1) access the unique token by using the character string; and (2) provide the unique token to a computer device or user requesting the string.
US08549277B2
A server system includes a BMC, a BIOS chip, an IPMI and a diplexer. The BMC includes a first chip-selecting signal output terminal, a second chip-selecting signal output terminal, a first updating output terminal and a controlling input terminal. The BIOS chip includes a second chip-selecting signal input terminal and an updating input terminal. The IPMI has a controlling output terminal. The diplexer includes a first input terminal and an updating output terminal. The first input terminal of the diplexer is electrically coupled to the first updating output terminal of BMC. The updating output terminal of the diplexer is electrically coupled to the updating input terminal of the BIOS chip. The controlling output terminal of the IPMI is electrically coupled to the controlling input terminal of the BMC. The second chip-selecting signal input terminal of the BIOS chip is electrically coupled to the second chip-selecting signal output terminal of the BMC.
US08549275B2
A processor capable of secure execution. The processor contains an execution unit and secure partition logic that secures a partition in memory. The processor also contains cryptographic logic coupled to the execution unit that encrypts and decrypts secure data and code.
US08549273B1
A backup system on an external bootable personal computer drive that presents a unique and specific wall paper display on the computer monitor when the operating system residing on the drive is booted when the drive is externally attached to the computer system. The invention is used to make it obvious to the user that the original system drive has been replaced by a cloned or imaged drive. The invention consists of a software program and a graphics file. The software program recognizes the case where the drive it resides on has been booted over an external bus and when that event occurs the software program substitutes a specific graphic file for the normal wall paper file used to display the background on the computer display.
US08549267B2
Example methods and apparatus to manage partial commit-checkpoints are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes identifying a commit instruction associated with a region of instructions executed by a processor, identifying candidate instructions from the region of instructions, and generating a processor partial commit-checkpoint to save a current state of the processor, the checkpoint based on calculated register values associated with live instructions, and including instruction reference addresses to link the candidate instructions.
US08549263B2
A memory access management technique is disclosed, one embodiment of which relates to a technique to issue loads to a memory ahead of older store operations corresponding to the same target address. A processor may include load buffer entries having predictor table entries associated therewith, including saturation counters to record history of previous conflicts between loads and stores corresponding to the same target address. A watchdog unit may disable memory disambiguation (MD) if the MD causes too high a misprediction rate for load operation and store operation conflicts. In one embodiment, the MD is disabled if a flush counter value reaches a threshold.
US08549259B2
Systems, methods and articles of manufacture are disclosed for performing a vector collective operation on a parallel computing system that includes multiple compute nodes and a network connecting the compute nodes that includes an ALU. A collective operation may be performed to determine displacements for the vector collective operation. Descriptors for the vector collective operation may be generated based on the displacements. The vector collective operation may then be performed using the descriptors.
US08549255B2
A microprocessor equipped to provide hardware initiated prefetching, includes at least one architecture for performing: issuance of a prefetch instruction; writing of a prefetch address into a prefetch fetch address register (PFAR); attempting a prefetch according to the address; detecting one of a cache miss and a cache hit; and if there is a cache miss, then sending a miss request to a next cache level and attempting cache access in a non-busy cycle; and if there is a cache hit, then incrementing the address in the PFAR and completing the prefetch. A method and a computer program product are provided.
US08549254B2
Embodiments of an invention for using a translation lookaside buffer to manage protected micro-contexts are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an interface and memory management logic. The interface is to perform a transaction to fetch information from a memory. The memory management logic is to translate an untranslated address to a memory address. The memory management logic includes a storage location, a series of translation stages, determination logic, and a translation lookaside buffer. The storage location is to store an address of a data structure for the first translation stage. Each of the translation stages includes translation logic to find an entry in a data structure based on a portion of the untranslated address. Each entry is to store an address of a different data structure for the first translation stage, an address of a data structure for a successive translation stage, or the physical address. The determination logic is to determine whether an entry is storing an address of a different data structure for the first translation stage. The translation lookaside buffer is to store translations.
US08549247B2
Provided is a technique for realizing allocation of pool areas to virtual volumes in accordance with the use environment of the user with proper cost, while improving the capacity efficiency of media. For this purpose, in the present invention, a pool is constituted by selecting or limiting combinations of tiers of media in the pool to be used (range of tiers that can be used in each pool) for each virtual volume set in a storage system (see FIG. 5).
US08549246B2
One or more techniques are provided for restricting access to protected modes of operation in a memory device. In one embodiment, detection circuitry is provided and configured to receive and evaluate a protected mode entry sequence for accessing a protected mode of operation. The detection circuitry may be further configured to temporarily enable an output pin on a serial interface between the memory device and a master device to receive inputs, such that a entry sequence may be entered on both the input and output pins. In another embodiment, the detection circuitry may be enabled only if a security code is first provided, thus requiring both the correct security code and entry sequence before protected mode access is allowed. The memory device may also include a parallel NAND memory array, and detection logic may be further configured to enable a serial-to-parallel NAND translator once protected mode access is allowed.
US08549240B2
Disclosed is a data recovery mechanism associated with a data writing process in a storage area network (SAN). In general, a data writing mechanism is provided so that a particular host can write data to a storage device in a particular SAN session. One specific example of a data writing mechanism is a data tapping mechanism that provides a copy of this data to an appliance. The data recovery mechanism allows the appliance to recover data from the particular target, for example, when the data was unsuccessfully mirrored to the appliance during the data tapping or when the appliance needs to obtain the data that was written prior to a data tapping procedure being initiated. In one embodiment, the data recovery mechanism is set up so that the appliance can recover data from the target by mimicking the particular host.
US08549239B2
A method includes receiving a message to be logged. In response to receiving the message, the message is written to a stream corresponding to an active archive. The active archive includes compressed messages. Also in response to receiving the message, the message is written to an active log without compression.
US08549237B2
Apparatus for use in transferring data to or from a plurality of storage media, comprises means for identifying a most recently written to data storage media of said plurality of data storage media.
US08549230B1
Method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for implementing caching in a storage system
A method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium are provided for implementing caching in a data storage system. According to aspects of the invention, a cache module is provided that utilizes cache lines sized according to a snapshot chunk size or an allocation unit size. The cache module utilizes cache header data structures corresponding to cache lines, each of which is assigned a device and logical block access range when active. The active headers are arranged in a set of hash queues. A free queue corresponds to the list of unused cache headers and a dirty queue corresponding to a list of unflushed cache headers. The cache header contains sector-level bitmaps of the cache line, specifying on a per sector granularity the bits that are dirty and valid. Flushing is performed by copying the dirty bitmap into a temporary memory location and flushing the bits set in it, while resetting the dirty bitmap and allowing writes to it. A read-ahead algorithm is used to perform read-ahead operations only in the event of a sequential read.
US08549222B1
A cache-based storage architecture has primary and secondary storage subsystems that are controlled by first and second data layout engines to provide a high-performance storage system. The primary storage subsystem illustratively comprises non-volatile electronic storage media configured as a cache, while the secondary storage subsystem comprises magnetic storage media configured as a disk array. The data layout engines illustratively implement data layout techniques that improve read and write performance to the primary and secondary storage subsystems. To that end, the data layout engines cooperate to optimize the use of the non-volatile cache as a primary storage stage that efficiently serves random data access operations prior to substantially transposing them into sequential data access operations for permanent (or archival) storage on the disk array.
US08549213B2
A nonvolatile storage device includes a nonvolatile memory that stores data and a memory controller that controls the nonvolatile memory. The memory controller accepts a pause instruction to pause writing from the access device within a period in which data from the access device are written, and writes the data received from the access device to the nonvolatile memory within a predetermined time interval, then pauses the writing and accepts read and/or write of new data from the access device.
US08549200B2
A multiprocessor system includes a plurality of processor units each transmitting an interrupt request signal indicating an interrupt request for which an interrupt-request destination processor unit is specified and receiving an interrupt signal and an interrupt control circuit receiving the interrupt request signal from each of the plurality of processor units and transmitting the interrupt signal to each of the plurality of processor units, wherein, the interrupt control circuit transmits the interrupt signal to the interrupt-request destination processor unit specified by the interrupt request signal if the specified interrupt-request destination processor unit is not in a low power consumption state and transmits the interrupt signal to another processor unit different from the processor unit specified by the interrupt request signal if the specified interrupt-request destination processor unit is in the low power consumption state.
US08549188B2
The present invention discloses an electronic device having a main microcomputer that controls some functions of the electronic device, and a sub microcomputer that executes a process according to an operation input from an external device by using a control program. The sub microcomputer has a first memory that stores plural control programs respectively corresponding to each different specification of the electronic device. The main microcomputer has a second memory that stores specification information to specify the electronic device and sends a selection instruction of the specification to the sub microcomputer based on the specification information stored in the second memory. The sub microcomputer selects the control program corresponding to the specification indicated by the selection instruction from the plural control programs stored in the first memory and then executes a process according to the selected control program.
US08549187B1
A hypervisor is described herein that hosts a virtual machine (VM) having a virtual network interface controller (VNIC). The hypervisor is configured to construct a MAC address for the VNIC by combing a organizationally unique identifier (OUI) preconfigured for the hypervisor, the last two bytes of the IP address of the hypervisor, and a unique byte generated for the VNIC.
US08549176B2
A technique dynamically retrieves reachability information from a target node, including a tail-end or any intermediate node, along a traffic engineering (TE) label switched path (LSP) that spans multiple domains in a computer network. The interdomain information retrieval technique is illustratively based on a request/response signaling exchange whereby at least a portion of the reachability, i.e., routing, information maintained by the target node is propagated to a head-end node of the TE-LSP. The routing information may comprise a list of address prefixes reachable by the target node, but may optionally include next-hop and metric attributes associated with those prefixes. The head-end node uses the retrieved routing information to calculate routes reachable from the target node for insertion into its routing table.
US08549170B2
A system and method are provided for performing the retransmission of data in a network. Included is an offload engine in communication with system memory and a network. The offload engine serves for managing the retransmission of data transmitted in the network.
US08549167B2
The techniques discussed herein contemplate improved methods and systems for transcoding application content to minimize latency in just-in-time conversion of application formats. In embodiments, a target client device requests application content of a particular format from a content provider. If the content provider does not have a local copy of the requested format, the content is split to multiple segments and a first high-priority segment is identified. This first segment is converted using a dedicated high-performance computing unit and transmitted with minimal latency to the target client device for immediate rendering. Concurrently, remaining segments of the content are converted in multiple lower performance computing units and fed into the target client device. By ensuring that at least a first segment of the application is available for immediate rendering while other segments are converted, the transcoding application minimizes latency delay in rendering of the application in the target device.
US08549166B2
A computer device having wireless communication capability and a computer platform with a resident application environment for selectively downloading applications to the platform across the wireless network with a predefined security protocol for downloading and executing applications at the platform, such as verifying the presence of a certificate. The download manager is resident on the computer platform and allows download, storage, and execution of applications that do not otherwise comply with the security protocol of the resident application environment.
US08549165B2
Processing devices and methods for transmitting and receiving data are provided. By performing multiple checks on the downloaded control data packets and the decompressed control data, the data status of each process can be known during the processes from the data packets downloading to decompression. And the correct processing can be performed, thus avoiding loading and running failure caused by incomplete data.
US08549164B2
A media transmission system and method having a server for selecting a video frame having an image number nearest to play position information and a high compression ratio, and for transmitting the video frame to a user terminal when the user terminal transmits desired play position information to the server while media data streaming is being performed from the server to the user terminal, thereby moving to the scene desired by a user and playing the scene in a simple manner with the media transmission system comprising a user terminal for receiving, from a user, desired position information for the media data being streamed and played, receiving the video stream matched to the position information for playing the video stream; and a media server for searching for the video stream having a high compression ratio among the video streams nearest to the position information, and streaming the searched video stream to the user terminal when the position information is received from the user terminal after streaming media data to the user terminal.
US08549162B2
The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can transmit and receive data without any process part of an application corresponding to various communication protocols and easily add a communication protocol and an application. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes connection request mediation means for, in response to a connection notice from a plurality of communication protocol daemons to transmit and receive data in accordance with respective different communication protocols, mediating connection instead of the communication protocol daemons by informing the application that a connection request is provided to the communication protocol daemons and a shared memory being used for delivery of received data and transmitted data between the application and the plurality of communication protocol daemons and being shared by the communication protocol daemon.
US08549161B2
The invention relates to a method for the data communication between a portable data carrier (10) and an external communication device, which both in each case comprise a TCP/IP protocol stack (24). In a first step the communication device sends communication data to the data carrier (10), the communication data comprising at least commands according to an Internet protocol of the application layer of the TCP/IP reference model and commands in the form of APDUs according to ISO/IEC 7816-4. The method additionally comprises the steps of transmitting the communication data between the communication device and the data carrier (10), of receiving the communication data by the data carrier (10) and of separating the received APDUs and the received Internet protocol commands from each other by means of the allocator unit (32) of the data carrier (10). Here, the mentioned commands are transmitted by means of TCP/IP and the allocator unit (32) separates the APDUs and the Internet protocol commands not until above the transport layer of the TCP/IP reference model. This permits the APDUs and the Internet protocol commands transmitted together with said APDUs in a joint TCP/IP data stream to be separated from each other in a simple fashion.
US08549159B1
A presentation system and method is disclosed for presenting a presentation via a communications network. The presentation system includes one or more client nodes structured to receive presentation data. One or more leader stations of the presentation is structured to control content of the presentation data at the one or more client nodes, and one or more content server sites is structured to provide the presentation data to the one or more client nodes. The presentation system further includes one or more content managers structured to manage the delivery of the presentation data to the one or more content server sites and verify that the presentation data is operable to being presented at the one or more client nodes.
US08549146B2
A load balancer dynamically load balances packets for network connections between clients and servers. When receiving a packet from a client that requests a new connection, the load balancer checks the current load of all the servers and selects the server most suitable to handle the new connection. The load balancer then forwards that packet to the selected server. If the server accepts the request for the new connection, then the server responds with an acknowledgement packet. The acknowledgement packet also includes the server's blade identification that the client uses for all subsequent packets on the accepted connection. When the load balancer receives a packet containing the blade identification, the load balancer forwards the packet to the server corresponding to the blade identification. Backup load balancers can therefore continue packet forwarding services in a smooth and efficient manner.
US08549140B2
Methods and system for a unique coding framework used to create, manage and track instructions for documentation and dissemination of instructions, indicate a particular association or activate a given process. In one example, the present disclosure relates to the online publishing of documentation to demonstrate relationships of parties and compliance with regulatory and other requirements. The present disclosure uses URL hyperlinks, badges, watermarks, icons and visual displays that are representative of a given function and that may be identified by reference of unique coding structure. The present disclosure relates to the publishing and display of relevant visual codes or images for viewing by members of the public, (human readable) as well as machines. The present disclosure enables the tracking and measurement of uses of coded representations in public or private channels. Structured hyperlink codes allow brief messages to be sent in shortened form to instruct or deliver messages or processes.
US08549138B2
Technologies are described herein for generating a suite of web tests that are then combined into a load test. A log file is received. The log file may contain one or more requests received at a web server. Relevant information is extracted from the log file into a data file. A web test template is retrieved. The web test template is populated with the relevant information from the data file to generate the web test.
US08549135B1
A method is provided for performing control functions in a secure network where security prohibits the transmission of control information beyond secure networks and/or their associated systems. A method is provided for permitting proxy servers to communicate within full DBRA schemes without compromising security. According to various embodiments, methods for IPsec communication are provided that permit systems to move information across secure gateways. In one embodiment, IPsec communication and full DBRA bandwidth/QoS control is provided without compromising security. Although various aspects relate to satellite networks, it should be appreciated that aspects relate to other types of secure networks.
US08549131B2
A method and associated apparatus are described that enables unattended, remotely distributed appliances, such as vending machines, utility meters, thermostats and kitchen appliances (ovens, washing machines, refrigerators, etc.) to be connected inexpensively to each other and to a centrally located server. The apparatus 1) uses relatively simple “personality” modules to adapt the apparatus to the application in combination with a sophisticated core module that provides the intelligence needed to process data locally, to format that data and to transfer it to a remote server and 2) uses existing Internet-based communication links, thereby avoiding the costly proprietary links used with current state-of-the-art solutions.
US08549130B2
Exemplary method, system, and computer program embodiments for managing a network are provided. In one embodiment, at least one of an available plurality of network components is polled, including devices, hosts and virtual devices, an interconnected plurality of communication paths, and quality of service (QoS) information in a discovery process for network information. A graphical representation of the at least one of the available plurality of network components is created for presentation by a graphical user interface (GUI) to a user. Based on a selection of the user of at least one attribute of the at least one of the available plurality of network components as displayed by the GUI to the user, a zone is created for the at least one of the available plurality of network components.
US08549122B2
A computer-enabled agent and method to support the communication within a fully distributed network comprises an agent core with an agent facade, wherein the agent facade enables the agent to communicate with other applications without predetermined programming and the agent core enables the agent to operate without a central message broker for communication across a network; and a network layer that handles low-level network operations and is capable of finding the least expensive way to send a message to one or more destinations.
US08549117B2
In response to an ACTIVATE PACKET DATA PROTOCOL (PDP) CONTEXT REQUEST message from a host, including a global reachability request option that requests a global IP address and a global port to be allocated to the host, a serving gateway transmits a CREATE PDP CONTEXT REQUEST message to an Internet gateway device. The CREATE PDP CONTEXT REQUEST message includes the global reachability request option. In response to a CREATE PDP CONTEXT RESPONSE message from the Internet gateway, where the CREATE PDP CONTEXT RESPONSE message includes a global reachability response option specifying therein a global IP address and a global port allocated to the host, the serving gateway transmits an ACTIVATE PDP CONTEXT ACCEPT message to the host, where the ACTIVATE PDP CONTEXT ACCEPT message includes the global reachability response option. As a result, the host does not need to establish a separate connection session to the Internet gateway device to acquire the same.
US08549115B2
An apparatus and method for upgrading firmware on an internet sharing device. The apparatus includes a memory that stores information for getting access to a firmware server, a lookup part that gets access to the firmware server and looks up a new version of firmware using the information stored in the memory, and an upgrade notice part that gives notice of firmware upgrade to at least one terminal interworking with the internet sharing device when the new version of firmware is looked up. Thus, since the internet sharing device looks up a new version of firmware, and then automatically gives notice of a need for firmware upgrade to a user, the user can easily recognize whether or not the firmware upgrade is needed, and easily upgrade the firmware with no need to check a kind of the internet sharing device, a version of firmware, location of the firmware server, and the like.
US08549114B2
A method and system for configuring heterogeneous servers across a network through modules that can browse, snapshot, track changes, track compliance, correct server objects on each of the servers, and provision new servers is provided. In one embodiment, server objects on multiple servers can be browsed in real time. While browsing, a collection of server object identifiers can be selected and collected in a template. The values of the server objects identified in the template can be recorded for a “gold server” through a “snapshot” process, which collects the values and saves them in a reference model. By comparing other live servers to the reference model, discrepancies in configuration of the other live servers can be identified and corrected. The reference models can also be used to provision a new server. Alternative to the reference model, an arbitrary snapshot or scheduled snapshots of a server can be used to track change and compliance in that server.
US08549110B2
Disclosed is a method for transmitting data between a subscriber terminal (MT) and at least one service providing component (MMS-Server 1, MMS-Server 2, MMS-Server 3) associated with a service provider, which are connected to each other by a network (UTRAN, SGSN, GGSN). According to said method, when a communication link is set up between the subscriber terminal and the service providing component, access information for the at least one service providing component is requested by a storage means associated with the subscriber terminal. By providing exclusively specific access information for specific service providing components on said storage means associated with a subscriber or a subscriber device, such as a SIM card or a USIM application on a UICC card, the network operator can prevent a subscriber from using other service providing components of other specific service providers different from those prescribed thereto when a specific data service is requested.
US08549101B2
A method of facilitating, via an embedded local server, dynamic responses to requests originating from an application and directed to a server is disclosed. An intermediary intercepts requests responds to the requests with locally stored data. The intermediary may also forward requests to an embedded local server for processing based on local data.
US08549081B2
A system includes at least one router for routing email messages from a sender node to a destination node; a system memory; a network interface; a database; and a processor configured for: extracting the delivery path information from the email message; determining a network path for the email message using delivery path information; comparing the delivery path information with the plurality of prior delivery paths; determining a measure of similarity between the network path of the received email message and one or more of the plurality of prior email paths; and determining a spam score for the email received, based on the measure of similarity.
US08549076B2
A method of managing an on-going interactive event. The method includes transferring statements between participants over a computer network, during a live interactive event, analyzing, by a computer, at least some of the transferred statements, so as to generate feedback on said event and controlling the event responsive to the generated feedback.
US08549067B2
A power management device can include a power management device housing, a power input associated with the power management device housing, and a plurality of power outputs associated with the power management device housing. At least certain power outputs can be connectable to one or more electrical loads external to the power management device housing and to the power input. In some embodiments, a communications bus can be associated with the power management device housing and one or more power control sections can also be associated with the power management device housing. In some embodiments, one or more power control sections can communicate with the communications bus and with one or more corresponding power outputs among the plurality of power outputs. In some embodiments, a power information display can communicate with the communications bus. If desired, a power information determining section can be associated with the power management device housing and in communication with the communications bus. The power information determining section may communicate power-related information to the power information display.
US08549066B1
A system is provided to deploy a computing application on a cloud using a service provider interface. The system comprises a launch request detector, a service provider interface selector, and a launcher. The launch request detector may be configured to detect a request to launch a server computer system within a virtualization service. The server computer system, in one example embodiment, comprises a computing application and a service provider interface layer. The service provider interface selector may be configured to determine an implementation of the virtualization service and access a service provider interface associated with the implementation of the virtualization service. The launcher may be configured to complete launching of the server computer system within the virtualization service, utilizing the selected service provider interface.
US08549062B2
A vertical-mount network remote power management outlet strip embodiment of the present invention comprises a long, thin outlet strip body with several independently controllable power outlet sockets distributed along its length. A power input cord is provided at one end, and this supplies AC-operating power to relays associated with each of the power outlet sockets. The relays are each addressably controlled by a microprocessor connected to an internal I2C-bus serial communications channel. The power-on status of each relay output to the power outlet sockets is sensed and communicated back on the internal I2C-bus. A device-networking communications processor with an embedded operating system translates messages, status, and controls between the internal I2C-bus and an Ethernet port, and other external networks.
US08549044B2
A computer implemented method for providing location-based services using a mobile device is provided. A first anchor is generated by sensing a location-identifying physical characteristic proximate to a mobile device present at a first location and generating a representation of the location-identifying physical characteristic; determining a descriptive identification of the first location; and combining the descriptive identification and the representation of the location-identifying physical characteristic. The first anchor is transmitted to a computer remote from the first location. A request is made to a remote computer for a chronotope retrieved from a database of previously generated anchors, the received chronotope indicating a logical distance between the first anchor and a second anchor, wherein the second anchor is associated with a second location distinct from the first location. Information including the logical distance between the first and second anchors indicated by the received chronotope is conveyed to a user of the mobile device.
US08549038B2
A method and apparatus are described for sharing a session to access a database. A database server receives, in a session, a session context identifier and a command. The session context identifier identifies a session context to use for the session. The session context is a set of information or commands that plug into a session state and specify how commands in the session are to be performed for a particular user or privilege level. In response to receiving the identifier, the database server associates the session context with the database session for the connection. The database server uses the session context to process the command. The session context may then be detached from the session, allowing another user to attach to the session via another session context.
US08549031B2
A range-conversion method and system includes receiving data records. Each data record includes one or more data fields and a field value associated with each data field. One or more data fields are identified as a range-based data field. A plurality of text-based range descriptors are defined, such that each text-based range descriptor is associated with a range of field values for one of the range-based data fields.
US08549027B2
Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for reducing a number of options presented to a user where the options have characteristics that are arranged in a multi-dimensional hierarchical space. A system and method can be configured to identify common dimensions using dimension nodes in dimensional points and identify compatible nodes for each dimension in the multi-dimensional hierarchical space by determining whether an association exists. Compatible pairs of surviving points are generated after applying each of the compatible nodes from the common dimensions. Greatest lower bounds (GLBs) are computed for each of the generated compatible points, and a set of options is generated comprising points from the generated compatible points and the computed GLBs.
US08549018B1
A computer-implemented method for predictive responses to internet object queries may include receiving a query from a client to evaluate a first internet object. The computer-implemented method may also include analyzing the query to predict a set of additional internet objects for which the client may subsequently request an evaluation. The computer-implemented method may further include transmitting an evaluation of the first internet object and of each additional internet object in the set of additional internet objects to the client. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08549005B1
Groups of users accessing content are generated and modified to allow the users to more easily interact with each other. A number of groups and a maximum number of users in a group are received and used to generate shards. In one embodiment, the number of shards generated is based on the number of groups received. Each shard is associated with a unique shard identifier. In one embodiment, a user is associated with a shard when the user accesses content. For example, when a comment is received from a client device associated with a user, a user identifier is determined and associated with a shard. Using the shards, groups of users are generated. In one embodiment, a substring of the shard identifiers associated with the shards is determined and users associated with shard identifiers having the same substring of the shard identifier are included in a group.
US08549003B1
A method in one example implementation includes obtaining a plurality of host file inventories corresponding respectively to a plurality of hosts, calculating input data using the plurality of host file inventories, and then providing the input data to a clustering procedure to group the plurality of hosts into one or more clusters of hosts. The method further includes each cluster of hosts being grouped using predetermined similarity criteria. In more specific embodiments, each of the host file inventories includes a set of one or more file identifiers with each file identifier representing a different executable software file on a corresponding one of the plurality of hosts. In other more specific embodiments, calculating the input data includes transforming the host file inventories into a matrix of keyword vectors in Euclidean space. In further embodiments, calculating the input data includes transforming the host file inventories into a similarity matrix.
US08549002B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with producing a proximity display of correlated load metrics associated with members of a cluster are described. One example method includes acquiring metrics data (e.g., load data) from nodes in a cluster. The example method may also include determining a cluster element state based on the metrics data and determining relationships between members of the set of related cluster elements. The method may also include identifying element metric representations for cluster elements based on cluster element states and identifying locations on a proximity display at which element metric representations are to be displayed. The locations may depend on relationships between cluster element states. The method may also include displaying element metric representations at the computed locations to produce a proximity display of correlated load metrics.
US08548998B2
A system and method for protecting a networked organizational data storage facility, which is accessible by a network environment, by mapping the network environment, profiling the network environment and filtering the network traffic based on said profiling of the network environment.
US08548997B1
A discovery information management system, which can be easily configured, instantly reset, and run by project managers, is disclosed for use in discovery processes. The system allows users to post information on a discussion board, exchange email between members, add information to plural configurable database tables, validate information in different routes by different methods, move information between tables, share real-time information by using local search method, project-wide search method, and interactive data retrieving tools. The system also allows the users to process information by using interactive server pads, investigative identity data search algorithm, identity data processing algorithm, configurable interactive data entry tool, and phrase construction tool.
US08548989B2
Techniques are disclosed for searching a set of documents using search terms. In one embodiment, a summary is provided for each document in the set. Search terms are received, and the set of documents are parsed using the received search terms. A first relevance value is calculated using only the summary of each document. A subset of documents having the highest relevance is provided by using the first relevance value. The subset of documents is parsed using the received search terms, to calculate a second relevance value for each document using the respective document. Query results are provided, the query results including documents having the highest relevance according to the second relevance value.
US08548984B2
Disclosed are an apparatus, method, and program product which each provide an enhanced database engine. Access to precise values is provided while permitting unfettered access to those who are not interested in precise values. This is accomplished via an enhanced database index and indexing method. The entries of the database index are normalized to exclude precision. Individuals interested in precision can then specify precision as part of their query through use of a PRECISE keyword. Results are then filtered to account for the specified precision.
US08548981B1
Methods, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for enhancing selecting of relevant and diverse advertisements by selecting additional queries relating to an initial query, and by filtering additional queries and their associated advertisements.
US08548979B2
A method, system, and article are provided for evaluating regular expressions over large data collections. A general purpose index is built to handle complex regular expressions at the character level. Characters, character classes, and associated metadata are identified and stored in an index of a collection of documents. Given a regular expression, a query is generated based on the contents of the index. This query is executed over the index to identify a set of documents in the collection of documents over which the regular expression can be evaluated. Based upon the query execution, the identified set of documents is returned for evaluation by the regular expression responsive to execution of the query over the index.
US08548935B2
A method for measuring specific substances and extracting objective information from the measurements that is especially applicable in immunoassays but can also be used in other assays which rely on affinity between binding partners. The invention overcomes problems and difficulties caused by disturbing or interfering phenomena by exploiting a mathematical algorithm which predicts the target value from a series of measurements performed during the reaction. The mathematical method of linear prediction is used for this purpose.
US08548934B2
The invention describes systems and methods of assessing risk using a computer. A computer-based system including an enrollment module, a data aggregation module, a risk assessment module, and a memory is provided for assessing risks. The enrollment receives, at a computer, personal information regarding at least one entity. The data aggregation module receives, at the computer, risk information regarding the entity according to the personal information from at least one data source. The risk assessment module converts the risk information to assessment information. The memory stores the personal information, the risk information, and/or the assessment information on the computer.
US08548923B2
A system for facilitating data access and management on a smart card is provided. According to one exemplary aspect of the system, a storage architecture is provided in the smart card which allows data stored thereon to be shared by multiple parties. Access to data stored on the smart card is controlled by various access methods depending on the actions to be taken with respect to the data to be accessed.
US08548921B2
The present invention provides an intuitively-based (WYSIWYG) user interface for generic value bearing item label custom specification of each label on a multi-part label set. According to the present invention, an interactive display such as is depicted in FIG. 13 would be provided on a display monitor of a plurality of independently interactive panels, wherein each panel corresponds to a particular label on a multi-part label set. As depicted in FIG. 13, the exemplary WYSIWYG generic custom VBI label specification interface of the present invention displays an interactive label display (1110) in which each separate label panel (e.g., 1120-11 through 1120-45) displays an independent postage rate class input field (e.g., 1125-11 with a postage rate class menu button, e.g., 1123-11). Once the user has selected the “Custom” option (1150), the user can set the price for each label by clicking on the individual rate input field (e.g., 1121-11) of the particular label panel (e.g., 1120-11), and inputting any amount, e.g., $0.37 (e.g., 1122-11); and then clicking on the corresponding postage rate class menu button (e.g., 1123-11) and selecting a postage rate class (e.g., 1125-11).
US08548906B1
Method and apparatus for automatic savings upon event detection. An electronic transfer of funds from one financial account to another financial account is performed in response to selection of a user interface element to a computer software program. For example, a user may initiate the transfer of a fixed, relatively small amount from a checking account to a savings account by selecting a user interface element configured to initiate a funds transfer transaction. Each time the user selects the user interface element, a new funds transfer transaction is generated and transmitted to a financial institution's computer system(s) via a network. Thus, for example, a user may quickly and easily transfer relatively small, fixed amounts of funds from checking into savings without changing the current context of the computer software program.
US08548902B2
A method for online lending services with the creation and population of loan applications and other related documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) for subsequent access by applicant and other entities. Consumers use their Web browsers for access and said method includes an Application Service Provider (ASP) architecture, a loan origination site interface, and a secure server facility.
US08548899B2
Systems and methods for optimizing order placement in an electronic trading environment are provided. Global queue holder orders are placed in a tradeable object to reserve quantity for traders. Traders may submit order requests for quantity at price levels at which a global queue holder order is holding quantity. When a trader submits an order for a quantity at a price level at which quantity is being held, a gateway compares the order to the global queue holder order information stored in a database. If the trader's order coincides with a price level at which quantity is held, then the gateway virtually transfers ownership of that quantity to the trader, who then assumes the advantageous queue position. When the quantity associated with the order is filled, the fill information is sent to the gateway, which to the database to determine which trader is associated with the filled order quantity.
US08548896B2
A computer based system for executing transactions involving financial instruments, comprising a central host computer system, and a network of client computer systems including browser-based software which is adapted to present different interfaces to different trading parties, and also adapted to enable the different parties to set permission filters which control the presentation of information relating to their own trading, to other parties.
US08548880B2
According to some embodiments, a system, a method and/or a computer readable medium are provided. According to some embodiments, a method includes receiving, by a processor, data indicative of a plurality of imported components, each one of the plurality of imported components being subject to an import duty if a respective condition associated with the imported component is not satisfied; maintaining, by a processor, data indicative of ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied; wherein the maintaining data indicative of ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied comprises: providing data indicative of ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied; and updating the data indicative of ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied; and after the maintaining data indicative of ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied, determining, by a processor, a respective duty owed for each of the ones of the plurality of imported components for which the respective condition has not been satisfied.
US08548871B2
A system and method for allocating conditional purchase offers (CPO) among a plurality of agency-based and broadcast-based sellers in a buyer-driven commerce system. In one embodiment, the system determines which agency-based or broadcast-based sellers can fulfill or satisfy the CPO and orders those sellers in a priority order. In another embodiment, the priority is determined by relative market share and number of recent opportunities to satisfy the CPO. In another embodiment, the priority is also determined by metrics and buyer information. In another embodiment, the priority is determined randomly. The system ensures that when a buyer can satisfy the CPO at multiple prices levels, the highest price level fulfills the CPO. This ensures maximum seller revenue for each CPO.
US08548861B2
A method and system for automatically handling exceptions in a business-to-business transaction. E-commerce internet gateways through which the business-to-business transaction passes are monitored for exceptions. When an exception is detected, an intelligent contact manager automatically determines and then locates the representative(s) authorized to resolve this exception. A unified communication system is then utilized to automatically contact and notify the authorized representative(s) of the exception. A web collaboration system is then utilized to automatically establish a collaboration session between representatives of the business-to-business transaction so that the exception can be readily resolved.
US08548860B2
The present invention relates to a computer-based system that provides a method for real time data storage and retrieval for the purpose of verifying and validating sales transactions and product return/warranty repair eligibility. An electronic product registration system is provided which stores information on purchased products and which enables a retail store or the like to verify compliance with return policies prior to accepting a product for return or replacement, thereby reducing improper or fraudulent product returns under warranty, while also providing related functionality to third parties such as law enforcement agencies and the like.
US08548844B2
An apparatus, system and method of implementing a computerized brand affinity engine. The apparatus, system and method include at least a plurality of computerized access points having accessible thereto a plurality of sites mentioning at least one sponsor, a categorized, hierarchical database of keywords, wherein at least the keywords falling in at least one category of the hierarchy correspond to a sponsor category of the at least one sponsor, and a tracker, wherein the tracker tracks positive ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor on ones of the plurality of sites and negative ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor on ones of the plurality of sites, in accordance with positive and negative keywords of the categorized, hierarchical database in the sponsor category, and wherein the tracker issues an rating with regard to the at least one sponsor in accordance with the positive ones and the negative ones of the mentions. An assessment of optimal sponsors for particular markets and/or in particular geographies that additionally increases sponsorship opportunities in particular markets and/or in particular geographies is thereby provided.
US08548843B2
A method for ranking the performance data of a plurality of employees. The method may include using a receiver to receive information relating to the performance, by each of the employees, of a plurality of tasks. Each of the plurality of tasks may be tasks completed during a predetermined time period. The method may also include using a processor to compute for each of the plurality of employees, based at least in part on the received data, a median cycle time score, an accuracy score, an escalation percentage score, a volume score and a client target date score. The method may further include using the processor to rank, using percentile ranking, the of the median cycle time scores, accuracy scores, escalation percentage scores, volume scores and client target date scores.
US08548822B2
A system and method for determining the consequent step of a multi step procedure determines the identity of components usable in the procedure. Based on the components introduced and the context of the procedure at the time the component is introduced determines a consequent step and moves to that determined consequent step.
US08548821B2
In one embodiment, the method uses a social networking website and employs a monetary incentive to get members of their social network to identify potential funding sources for entities that are growing or need liquidity, wherein a funds seeker and a funds finder, who agree to terms of use of the secure website, act to enter into an exclusive rights contract providing for a contingent referral fee for the funds finder if the terms of the offered contract are met. If the funds seeker is qualified, many offers of introduction will be made. The funds seeker can enter into many exclusive rights contracts, for an equal number of funding sources, but will pay only one referral reward if only one funding source provides funds.
US08548811B2
Systems, methods, and programs for generating an authorized profile for a text communication device or account, may sample a text communication generated by the text communication device or account during communication and may store the text sample. The systems, methods, and programs may extract a language pattern from the stored text sample and may create an authorized profile based on the language pattern. Systems, methods, and programs for detecting unauthorized use of a text communication device or account may sample a text communication generated by the device or account during communication, may extract a language pattern from the audio sample, and may compare extracted language pattern of the sample with an authorized user profile.
US08548807B2
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable storage media for recognizing speech by adapting automatic speech recognition pronunciation by acoustic model restructuring. The method identifies an acoustic model and a matching pronouncing dictionary trained on typical native speech in a target dialect. The method collects speech from a new speaker resulting in collected speech and transcribes the collected speech to generate a lattice of plausible phonemes. Then the method creates a custom speech model for representing each phoneme used in the pronouncing dictionary by a weighted sum of acoustic models for all the plausible phonemes, wherein the pronouncing dictionary does not change, but the model of the acoustic space for each phoneme in the dictionary becomes a weighted sum of the acoustic models of phonemes of the typical native speech. Finally the method includes recognizing via a processor additional speech from the target speaker using the custom speech model.
US08548801B2
Adaptive time/frequency-based audio encoding and decoding apparatuses and methods. The encoding apparatus includes a transformation & mode determination unit to divide an input audio signal into a plurality of frequency-domain signals and to select a time-based encoding mode or a frequency-based encoding mode for each respective frequency-domain signal, an encoding unit to encode each frequency-domain signal in the respective encoding mode, and a bitstream output unit to output encoded data, division information, and encoding mode information for each respective frequency-domain signal. In the apparatuses and methods, acoustic characteristics and a voicing model are simultaneously applied to a frame, which is an audio compression processing unit. As a result, a compression method effective for both music and voice can be produced, and the compression method can be used for mobile terminals that require audio compression at a low bit rate.
US08548800B2
A device may receive user input, select two strings to compare based on the user input, obtain a first set of keyboard codes for a first of the two strings, obtain a second set of keyboard codes for a second of the two strings, and determine a distance between the two strings based on the first and the second set of keyboard codes. In addition, the device may send a result associated with determining the distance to another device, store the result in a storage device, or display the result.
US08548793B2
A method of enabling the selection of a language to be employed as a method input language by a disambiguation routine of a handheld electronic device having stored therein a plurality of method input languages and disambiguation routine number, includes detecting a selection of a language, detecting as an ambiguous input an actuation of one or more input members, outputting at least a plurality of the language objects that corresponds to the ambiguous input, outputting an indicator which one of the method input languages is currently employed by the disambiguation function, and enabling an alternate one of the input language methods to be selected in response to a selection of the indicator in lieu of one of the plurality of language objects.
US08548792B2
Described are field of training devices and methods to simulate the use of interpreters and spontaneous verbal exchanges between participants who speak different languages. More particularly, the devices and methods simulate an environment wherein participants are communicating through a third-party interpreter, which simulates the use of an interpreter. Some embodiments of the devices include audio components that are configured in a manner that distorts direct verbal communication between two parties of a trilateral verbal exchange. Although the direct verbal communication is distorted, tonality and tempo of the communication can still be preserved. Further, visual information from the speaker is still conveyed.
US08548788B2
A single finite element mesh is generated for predicting performance of an integrated circuit design. A plurality of sample points are identified for conducting a variability study on at least one parameter associated with the integrated circuit design. The sample points are selected to predict performance of the integrated circuit design when subject to variations in the at least one parameter due to variations in manufacturing processes to be used to manufacture the integrated circuit design. A parameterized netlist is generated corresponding to each of the sample points. A technology computer aided design (TCAD) simulation is run for each of the parameterized netlists, using the single finite element mesh for each of the parameterized netlists, until convergence is achieved, to obtain, for each of the parameterized netlists, at least one metric indicative of the performance of the integrated circuit design. A predicted design yield is developed for the integrated circuit design.
US08548781B2
A method and system of determining a volume of a vehicle component. The system includes a computing device having a host application and analytical tool. The host application is configured to present an interface to a user and allow the user to modify a component model. The component model includes a three-dimensional representation of at least a portion of a vehicle component and has a virtual housing at least partially defining an internal cavity. The analytical tool is configured to generate a solid body representing the internal cavity and calculate a volume of the solid body. The analytical tool is configured to determine whether the internal cavity is bounded by the virtual housing, counting a number of external and internal faces traversed by the fluid during the simulated fluid flow, and determining a shortest path between the selected external and internal faces.
US08548780B2
A method for predicting dynamic behavior of an aircraft structure, the aircraft including at least one rotary device including at least one rotor guided in rotation by at least one fixed-bracket bearing containing a shock-absorbing fluid film. The method includes using a global digital model of the aircraft structure including a basic digital model of each rotary device, generating a non-linear digital model of each shock-absorbing film (for example by developing a cavitation-free model and a model with cavitation), integrating the model of each shock-absorbing film with the global model, applying interference to at least one rotor of a rotary device, and calculating the vibration frequency of at least one rotor of each rotary device and the corresponding frequency of the vibrations generated in a critical portion of the aircraft structure.
US08548773B2
A voltage controlled delay line (VCDL) for measuring the maximum speed of a chip includes a first input configured to receive a reference clock signal, a first output configured to output an output clock signal, and a second input configured to receive a phase error signal representing a phase delay between the reference and output clock signals. A register stores a delay code applied by the VCDL to the reference clock signal to delay the reference clock signal to generate the output clock signal. The delay code is adjusted according to the phase error signal until the phase delay is equal to a predetermined value. A second output is coupled to an interface that reads the delay code from the register and outputs the delay code to automated testing equipment when the phase delay is equal to the predetermined value. The outputted delay code corresponds to the maximum chip speed.
US08548770B2
A portable activity monitoring device comprising a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the user's body, a motion sensor to detect user motion and, in response thereto, to generate data which is representative of motion of the user, an altitude sensor to detect a change in user altitude and, in response thereto, to generate data which is representative of the change in altitude of the user, processing circuitry to calculate activity metrics of the user, wherein the processing circuitry: (i) calculates a motion metric using the motion data, (ii) calculates an altitude metric using the altitude data, and (iii) calculates at least one sleep metric of the user. In certain embodiments, the processing circuitry may automatically determine a sleep mode of the user using the motion data and calculate at least one user sleep metric.
US08548767B2
The invention relates to a measuring device having at least one first assembly and at least one second assembly. The first assembly and the second assembly each comprise an intermediate frequency interface or a complex baseband interface. The intermediate frequency interfaces or baseband interfaces are designed as serial digital interfaces.
US08548762B2
The present invention relates to a method of estimating the internal state of an electrochemical system by a zero-dimensional (0D) electrochemical mathematical model for estimating the characteristics of a battery that are not directly measurable during operation thereof. For applications relating to hybrid and electric vehicles, the most significant internal characteristics are the state of charge (SoC), the state of health (SoH) and the thermal state (T). Reconstruction of the internal characteristics is achieved using a mathematical model of the battery. The method can be used with the operation of the battery itself (real time) with a concentrated-parameter (0D) or off-line mathematical model, for calibration, an optimization or a validation of management and estimation strategies. The method allows simulation of the thermal and electrical behavior of a battery. The method according to the invention can also be useful for battery dimensioning and for optimization of the energy and thermal management strategies as a function of the desired application.
US08548755B2
Switching a transmitting and receiving direction of two transducers (2,3) in the forward and the reverse direction, a time differential memory part (17b) storing a propagation time differential every K times a unit measurement process being executed, the propagation time differential being a differential between a propagation time of the ultrasonic wave signal in a forward direction and in a reverse direction, a flow rate calculating part (15) calculating a flow rate of a passing fluid based on a lump sum of propagation times in both the forward and the reverse directions obtained at least every K times of a unit measurement process being executed, an estimating part (18) estimating a change in a momentary flow rate of the fluid based on the time differential obtained every K times of the unit measurement process being executed and storing thereof in a time differential memory part (17b), thus obtaining an accurate flow rate and detecting the change in the momentary flow rate.
US08548749B1
Path classification and estimation method and system used in combination with a computer and memory for prognosticating the remaining useful life of an asset by classifying a current degradation path of a current asset as belonging to one or more of previously collected degradation paths of exemplary assets and using the resulting classifications to estimate the remaining useful life of the current asset.
US08548745B2
The present invention provides methods and devices for the knowledge-based discovery and optimization of differences between cell types. In particular, the present invention provides visual servoing optical microscopy, as well as analysis methods. The present invention provides means for the close monitoring of hundreds of individual, living cells over time; quantification of dynamic physiological responses in multiple channels; real-time digital image segmentation and analysis; intelligent, repetitive computer-applied cell stress and cell stimulation; and the ability to return to the same field of cells for long-term studies and observation. The present invention further provides means to optimize culture conditions for specific subpopulations of cells.
US08548744B1
A computer-implemented method for cellular modeling is provided. The computer-implemented method for cellular modeling may include generating a cellular model, the model comprising a plurality of compartments, each compartment comprising at least one reaction, at least one species, or a combination of at least one reaction and at least one species; receiving a selection of at least one compartment for simulation to obtain at least one selected compartment; simulating the at least one selected compartment to obtain a result; and providing an output of the result from simulating the compartment; wherein at least two of the compartments comprise parallel pathways through the cellular model.
US08548743B2
A method for monitoring production from a methane hydrate reservoir includes obtaining a plurality of temperature measurements in a wellbore connected with the methane hydrate reservoir; and deriving a parameter relating to conversion of methane hydrate to carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrate by injection of liquid CO2, wherein the deriving uses a modeling program and the plurality of temperature measurements, wherein the modeling program uses at least one parameter relating to a thermodynamic properties that are substantially different between methane and CO2. The at least one parameter relating to thermodynamic properties may include Joule-Thomson coefficients of methane and CO2. The parameter relating to the conversion of methane hydrate to CO2 hydrate may include a ratio of methane and CO2 in a mixed fluid.
US08548741B2
A tracking system is disclosed for use with a fleet of machines operating at a common worksite. The tracking system may have a locating device located onboard each machine of the fleet of machine that is configured to determine a current location of an associated machine of the fleet of machines, and a communicating device located onboard each machine in communication with the locating device. The tracking system may also have a central controller located offboard the fleet of machines in communication with each communicating device. The central controller may be configured to receive an unacknowledged message from each communicating device relaying the current location of the associated machine. The central controller may also be configured to update a location listing of the fleet of machines with the current location, and to repetitively multicast the location listing to the communicating devices of the fleet of machines.
US08548739B2
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: detecting an accelerometer acceleration, having a magnitude and a direction, for monitoring a device; receiving a first location reading for locating the device with a remote location system; determining the first location reading as being invalid; and updating a device-location from the first location reading with the accelerometer acceleration for displaying on the device.
US08548730B2
Primary and secondary keys are adapted to be associated to primary and secondary drivers. A key ignition device is positioned on each of the primary and secondary keys and is configured to generate a driver status signal indicative of whether the driver the primary driver or the secondary driver. A controller is operably coupled to the key ignition device. The controller is adapted to determine whether the driver is the primary driver or the secondary driver. The controller is adapted to generate a position notification signal indicative of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle. The controller is adapted to notify the primary and secondary drivers of the position of the object. The controller is adapted to selectively control the operation of generating the position notification signals based on whether the driver is the primary driver or the secondary driver.
US08548728B2
The general field of the invention is, within the framework of terrain anti-collision systems for aircraft, the presentation on navigation aid displays of a simplified symbology suited to these critical situations. More precisely, the symbols comprise at least one arrow representing the direction of the ground speed vector with respect to the axis of the airplane and at least one set of straight segments representing the limit boundaries in plan view beyond which the aircraft will inevitably crash. Other symbols such as the indication of the instructed course supplement this symbology.
US08548727B2
Integrated surveillance systems and methods for processing multiple sensor inputs and determining a best route for avoiding multiple hazards. An example method performed on a first aircraft includes generating a plurality of routes for avoiding a previously determined alert from a first advisory system. Then, probability of success information is generated at other advisory systems for each of the plurality of routes. The best route of the plurality of routes is determined based on the generated probabilities and output to the flight crew or other aircraft. The probability of success information includes a previously defined uncertainty value. The uncertainty value corresponds to quality of data provided to or provided by the respective advisory system.
US08548725B2
Visual images may be used to detect, or verify the existence of, landmarks. In one example, the landmarks may be used to provide driving or walking directions. A set of records may be examined to identify the street addresses of businesses or other entities. Additionally, street-level images may be captured with a camera, and the locations at which the images were captured may be recorded. The images may be evaluated with an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process to determine what words appear in the images. The words in the image are compared with the names of entities whose addresses are near where the image was captured. If the words match the entity name, then a sign identifying the entity is presumed to be visible along a particular route, and the entity may be used as a landmark in a set of walking or driving directions.
US08548722B2
A tilt sensor and method comprises a first accelerometer for measuring a first acceleration level associated with a first axis of the vehicle. A second accelerometer measures a second acceleration level associated with a second axis of the vehicle that is generally perpendicular to the first axis. A data processor is capable of determining an arcsine-derived tilt based on an arcsine equation and the determined first acceleration level. The data processor is capable of determining an arc-cosine-derived tilt based on an arccosine equation and the determined second acceleration level. The data processor comprises a selector for selecting the arcsine-derived tilt as the final tilt of the vehicle if the determined arcsine-derived tilt is lesser than the determined arccosine derived tilt such that the final tilt compensates for vertical acceleration associated with changes in the terrain in the direction of travel of the vehicle.
US08548720B2
A system and method for aircraft taxi gate selection based on passenger connecting flight information. In one embodiment, a communication link is established between an aircraft computing system and a ground station system via a communication network provided by the ground station system. Further, aircraft taxi gate selection information and the passenger connecting flight information are substantially simultaneously displayed on a display device to a pilot upon establishing the communication link. Furthermore, the pilot is allowed to select an aircraft taxi gate based on the displayed aircraft taxi gate selection information and passenger connecting flight information.
US08548715B2
Methods, systems, and computer readable storage media are provided for operating a vehicle including an engine that may be automatically shutdown in response to AESS conditions. In one example, the method comprises, determining an AESS emission credit corresponding to an amount of AESS operation; and adjusting an engine operating parameter based on the determined AESS emission credit. Further, in another example, the method comprises retarding injection timing in response to manifold air temperature, wherein an amount of retard is adjusted responsive to an amount of AESS operation.
US08548713B2
A method is disclosed of determining the power demand on a power subsystem (2) of a system (1) by optimising a respective demand-dependent operating characteristic based on one or more operating conditions affecting the power subsystem, the method comprising: using a system-authority (3, 14) to determine system-level power demand limits on the basis of a system-level objective associated with an operating period; inputting the power demand limits to a separate power control processor (4, 16) configured for regulating the power demand on the power subsystem (2); determining each of said operating conditions; and using the power control processor (4, 16) autonomously to determine the overall power demand on the power subsystem (2) within said system-level limits, based on each of said operating conditions, thereby to optimise said operating characteristic. A method of regulating the power demand during the operating period is also disclosed. The method finds particular application in vehicles, turbomachinery and plant equipment, notably multi-engine aircraft and marine vehicles.
US08548710B1
An open cockpit off-road vehicle has an engine, four wheels, side-by-side driver and passenger seats, and at least one safety belt which include a seat belt, first and second connecting portions selectively connected to each other, and one of a safety belt sensor and a safety belt switch sensing a state of this connection. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) operatively connects the engine to the wheels. A control unit is connected to the engine. A vehicle speed sensor senses a speed of rotation of a shaft driven by the CVT. The control unit controls the engine in a vehicle speed limit mode when the first and second connecting portions are disconnected. When in this mode, the control unit controls the engine to limit the speed of the vehicle to a predetermined speed and to permit the engine to reach a torque necessary to operate the vehicle at the predetermined speed.
US08548701B2
A transmission controller determines whether an oil temperature in the CVT is higher than a high oil temperature control starting temperature or not. If it is determined that the oil temperature is higher than the high oil temperature control starting temperature, a first oil temperature lowering processing which limits an input rotation speed of the CVT by changing a speed ratio of the CVT smaller is executed. If the input rotation speed of the CVT reaches a predetermined lower limit rotation speed during execution of the first oil temperature lowering processing, the first oil temperature lowering processing is ended and a second oil temperature lowering processing that limits a torque of an engine is executed.
US08548700B2
A control system for controlling an automatic transmission that is capable of establishing a given speed stage by engaging a given frictional element. The control system comprises an actual time lag measuring section that measures an actual time lag from the time when a speed change instruction for the given speed stage is issued to the time when a gear ratio of the automatic transmission starts to change for the purpose of establishing the given speed stage, a torque detecting section that detects a torque from an engine, a time lag map that provides a suitable time lag in accordance with the detected torque from the engine, a learning correction section that corrects, by learning control, an instruction value for the hydraulic pressure led to the frictional element in a manner to cause the actual time lag to have the same value as the suitable time lag; and a time lag map correcting section that corrects the suitable time lag in accordance with an operation condition of an associated motor vehicle.
US08548692B2
A travel vibration suppressing device is connected to a hydraulic cylinder for operating a work machine, and utilizes an accumulator to suppress vibration during travel of the vehicle. Upon determining that the state of the work machine is the excavating state, the control unit switches from a state of communication between a hydraulic cylinder and the accumulator to a blocked state when the vehicle speed changes from a speed exceeding a first speed to a speed equal to or less than the first speed. Upon determining that the operating state is the normal state, the state of communication between a boom cylinder and the accumulator is switched to the blocked state when the vehicle speed changes from a second speed lower than the first speed to a speed equal to or less than the second speed.
US08548685B2
A method of providing range measurements for use with a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: a) visually sensing (2) the area adjacent the vehicle to produce visual sense data (22); b) range sensing (26) objects around the vehicle to produce range sense data; c) combining the visual sense data and the range sense data to produce, with respect to the vehicle, an estimate of ranges to the objects around the vehicle (28). The estimate of ranges to the objects around the vehicle may be displayed (29) to a driver.
US08548684B2
To obtain an electric power steering control apparatus hard to generate vibration even when accuracy is not high enough for torque vibration of extremely small output of torque detecting means. An electric power steering control apparatus includes steering torque detecting means, a torque controller that computes an auxiliary torque current, a motor that generates a torque for assisting a steering torque, current steering component removing means for removing a component by steering, vibration velocity estimating means for estimating a vibration velocity in a rotational direction of the motor, and a damping controller that computes a damping current to be added to the auxiliary torque current, and the vibration velocity estimating means includes vibration acceleration computing means for computing vibration acceleration in the rotational direction of the motor by multiplication of a motor current output from the current steering component removing means, and rotational acceleration integrating means for computing the vibration velocity in the motor rotational direction by integrating the vibration acceleration computing means.
US08548677B2
A content management section rearranges contents in an order from a content having a greater information value, preparing a content list. With respect to assignable areas of a display apparatus, a region value is compared with an information value of each content; the content may be assigned to the area when the information value exceeds the region value. The contents are associated with information values and the areas are associated with region values; thus, the content can be assigned to the area that is more suitable. When there are several assignable areas, a target content is assigned to an area having a highest region value.
US08548675B2
A diagnosing system for diagnosing a control device of a vehicle-mounted equipment is provided, which has a chip of integrated circuit that stores a control program data for controlling the vehicle-mounted equipment, a control program data storage zone arranged in the chip and storing the control program data for controlling the vehicle-mounted equipment, a diagnosing data storage zone arranged in the chip and storing a diagnosing data that is provided by modifying the control program data and a data abnormality diagnosing section that detects an abnormality of the control program data by comparing the control program data with the diagnosing data.
US08548672B2
An apparatus and method for the automatic or semi-automatic acquisition of multiple photographs and VIN-coded information about an automobile. In one embodiment, four height-adjustable, digital cameras are positioned on four corner posts defining a work center. A vehicle is pulled into the center until a stop indicator light is triggered, at which time an attendant scans the bar coded VIN number and reviews the proposed photographs of the vehicle at a work center computer. Once the photographs and data are acceptable, the attendant triggers a download of the information to local and industry databases. Alternate embodiments include Alternate embodiments include work centers with different post configurations, manual entry systems, and completely automated centers.
US08548667B2
A control system to determine a hands on wheel (HOW) condition is provided. The control system includes a sensor that monitors an amount of applied torque exerted upon a hand wheel, and a control module for monitoring the sensor. The control module includes a notch filter to attenuate a normal column mode frequency from the amount of applied torque to produce a filtered torque signal. The normal column mode frequency represents a range of vibrational modes of the hand wheel based on a hands off wheel condition. The control module includes a state detector to receive the filtered torque signal from the notch filter. The state detector determines if the HOW condition exists based on if the filtered torque signal exceeds an ON threshold torque value.
US08548666B2
Auto-guidance may be provided. First, location information may be received and a location of a machine may be determined based on the location information. Once the location of the machine is determined, an auto-guidance data file may be loaded based on the determined location of the machine.
US08548648B2
An electronic lead/lag damper algorithm implemented as part of the fly-by-wire flight control system to minimize or eliminate mechanical lead/lag dampers of a rotary wing aircraft. The electronic lead/lag damper algorithm uses a cross-feed control methodology that band-pass filters pitch and roll rates and feeds back a signal to the lateral and longitudinal cyclic inputs to provide electronic stability to rotor lag modes.
US08548640B2
A server computer may be located at a home or business and may be used for heating the home or business. The server computer may operate a distributed cloud based application and may generate heat in response to application load. The server computer may have an air or water based heat exchanger that may integrate into various heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to use the heat generated by the server. In some embodiments, a thermostat may regulate the application load on the server computer as controlled by a cloud based controller.
US08548637B2
Systems and methods for associating a load demand with a variable power generation are described. For example, a method of providing power from a renewable resource includes receiving a signal including an output capability value for a renewable variable power generation module. An input power demand value is calculated for a load demand module based on the output capability value of the received signal. A customer load is controlled on a power transmission and distribution grid based on the calculated input power demand value.
US08548634B2
In an information processing device, an operation executing unit executes a requested operation in one of a plurality of operating modes. A monitoring unit monitors an electric power consumed by the execution of the requested operation. Information related to the consumed electric power is stored in a memory unit. A setting unit defines a consumption period and an allowable consumed electric power within the consumption period. A control unit computes a consumed-electric-power log of the consumed electric power monitored at intervals of a predetermined time and a consumed-electric-power total log, and stores consumed-electric-power log related information in the memory unit. When an operation request is received within the consumption period, the control unit controls the execution of the requested operation based on the consumed-electric-power log related information and the allowable consumed electric power.
US08548631B1
A method and system provide for the cooperative powering of unitary air conditioners. The method and system includes coordinating powering of unitary air conditioners in a multiunit building or other low level of aggregation in a power grid. Multiple unitary air conditioners can use a power line communication (PLC) communication module for communicating with other air conditioners that are within the same multiunit building. According to one aspect of the method and system, by using power line communications, multiple unitary air conditioners within a single building can form self-contained local area networks. The LAN can also support a token ring network. According to this token ring network, a predetermined number of tokens can be assigned within the token ring network.
US08548624B2
An appliance including a housing, a dispenser, and a water supply mechanism. The appliance includes a drink supply mechanism configured to removably hold a plurality of drink supply containers, a user interface panel, and a computer. The computer is configured to: cause the user interface panel to display a plurality of different images, each image associated with a different one of a plurality of different beverages which correspond to a drink supply in at least one of the plurality of drink supply containers held by the drink supply mechanism, enable the user interface panel to receive an input from a user of a selected one of the plurality of different displayed images, and after receiving the input from the user of the selected one of the plurality of different displayed images, cause the dispenser to dispense the beverage corresponding to the selected image.
US08548621B2
Methods and production control systems are presented in which design of experiments are performed in situ and produce model parameter estimates that relate actuator set points to any number of response variables, and the model is periodically updated based on these designed experiments and used as the basis for determining actuator set points.
US08548615B2
An encoder for encoding an audio signal comprising at least two channels, the encoder configured to generate an encoded signal comprising at least a first part, a second part and a third part, wherein the encoder is further configured to: generate the first part of the encoded signal dependent on at least one combination of first and second channels of the at least two channels; generate the second part of the encoded signal dependent on at least one difference between the first and second channels of the at least two channels; and generate the third part of the encoded signal dependent on at least one energy ratio of the first and second channels of the at least two channels.
US08548610B1
Systems, methods and computer program products for objectively determining tennis player rankings and rating levels for a broad range of tennis players, from novice amateurs to top-ranked professionals, on a single continuum are disclosed. Player-specific match outcome data stored in an electronic archive database are communicated to an electronic processing element that calculates player rankings and rating levels. Updated player-specific data is then communicated back to the electronic archive database for storage. The disclosed ranking and rating process evaluates each player's body of work, including the results of his/her most recent match. The disclosed ranking and rating process uniquely provides a methodology for objectively factoring in, and applying different ranking-calculating weight to, various match characteristics that influence the reliability of match results, such as match format, the number of times a player has played the same opponent, and the reliability of the accuracy of the opponent's ranking.
US08548608B2
Sensor fusion algorithm techniques are described. In one or more embodiments, behaviors of a host device and accessory devices are controlled based upon an orientation of the host device and accessory devices, relative to one another. A combined spatial position and/or orientation for the host device may be obtained based on raw measurements that are obtained from at least two different types of sensors. In addition, a spatial position and/or orientation for an accessory device is ascertained using one or more sensors of the accessory device. An orientation (or position) of the accessory device relative to the host computing device may then be computed based on the combined spatial position/orientation for the host computing device and the ascertained spatial position/orientation for the accessory device. The relative orientation that is computed may then be used in various ways to control behaviors of the host computing device and/or accessory device.
US08548607B1
An automation system including a plurality of peripheral devices, each configured to perform at least one function relating to energy consumption in a facility and an automation controller in communication with the plurality of peripheral devices and providing for the control of the performance of the function by each device. An external network resource such as at least a virtual private network server is configured to enable communication with the automation controller. The automation controller is configured, such as by executing virtual private network software, to establish and maintain a secure data link with the virtual private network server and to enable oversight and/or control of the automation controller via the virtual private network server.
US08548604B2
Miniature implantable stimulators (i.e., microstimulators) are capable of producing unidirectionally propagating action potentials (UPAPs). The methods and configurations described may, for instance, arrest action potentials traveling in one direction, arrest action potentials of small diameters nerve fibers, arrest action potentials of large diameter nerve fibers. These methods and systems may limit side effects of bidirectional and/or less targeted stimulation.
US08548601B2
A lead connection system includes a connector housing. A plurality of lead retainers disposed in the connector housing are configured and arranged to removably attach to a proximal end of one of a received plurality of leads. The plurality of lead retainers include at least one of a slidable drawer and at least one pivotable hinged panel. A plurality of connector contacts are configured and arranged for making electrical contact with one or more of the terminals of one or more of the plurality of received leads. A single connector cable has a distal end that is electrically coupled to the plurality of connector contacts and a proximal end that is configured and arranged for insertion into a trial stimulator. A cable connector is electrically coupled, via the connector contacts, to at least one terminal of each of the received plurality of leads.
US08548590B2
By incorporating magnetic field-inducing position determination coils (PDCs) in an external charger, it is possible to determine the position of an implantable device by actively inducing magnetic fields using the PDCs and sensing the reflected magnetic field from the implant. In one embodiment, the PDCs are driven by an AC power source with a frequency equal to the charging coil. In another embodiment, the PDCs are driven by an AC power source at a frequency different from that of the charging coil. By comparing the relative reflected magnetic field strengths at each of the PDCs, the position of the implant relative to the external charger can be determined. Audio and/or visual feedback can then be communicated to the patient to allow the patient to improve the alignment of the charger.
US08548586B2
This document discusses, among other things, an apparatus comprising at least one implantable cardiac depolarization sensing circuit, an electrical stimulation circuit, and a pacing mode controller. The implantable cardiac depolarization sensing circuit is configured to obtain a sensed depolarization signal from a ventricle and the electrical stimulation circuit is configured to provide pacing electrical stimulation energy to at least one implantable ventricular electrode. The pacing mode controller delivers pacing therapy according to a first pacing mode that is a normal operating mode, and delivers pacing therapy according to second and third pacing modes. The second and third pacing modes increase mechanical stress on at least a particular portion of the ventricle as compared to the pacing therapy delivered during the first pacing mode. The pacing mode controller alternates between the second and third pacing modes when switched from the normal operating mode to a stress augmentation mode.
US08548582B2
An implantable electrical stimulation system includes a control module electrically coupleable to a lead. The control module includes a housing, an electronic subassembly disposed in the housing, and a connector assembly for receiving the lead. The connector assembly includes a port for receiving a proximal end of the lead. Connector contacts are disposed in the connector assembly housing and electrically couple to the electronic subassembly. The connector contacts align with terminals disposed on the lead to form an electrical connection between the connector contacts and the terminals when the proximal end of the lead is disposed in the port of the connector assembly. A disconnecting feature includes a switch for electrically disabling, or at least significantly reducing, the electrical connection between the connector contacts and the electronic subassembly when the switch is opened.
US08548578B2
A living body state monitor apparatus includes: a living body information acquisition device to acquire living body information containing an electrocardiography waveform and a pulse waveform from a user; an irregular heartbeat detection section to detect an irregular heartbeat from the electrocardiography waveform; and a pulse wave feature quantity extraction section to extract a pulse wave feature quantity from a pulse wave corresponding to the irregular heartbeat. Further, a living body state determination section is included to determine a danger degree on user's living body state using both of (A) information on kind and/or continued time period of an irregular heartbeat detected by the irregular heartbeat detection section, and (B) a pulse wave feature quantity extracted by the pulse wave feature quantity extraction section, and/or a variation of the extracted pulse wave feature quantity.
US08548552B2
Implantable self-calibrating biosensor Subcutaneously or intracorporeally implantable biosensor, characterized by a closed microfluidic circuit with calibrating fluids, which communicates by a backward micro-dialysis logic with the exterior of said circuit, an open and in contact with the tissues and the interstitial fluid working electrode, for its self-calibration. One or more working electrodes may be positioned inside openable boxes from EAP, and be opened for the duration of the measurement and closed immediately after, succeeding one another in the measurement, as their sensitivity is diminished.
US08548550B2
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a noninvasive optical sensor or probe including disposable and reusable components. The assembly of the disposable and reusable components is straightforward, along with the disassembly thereof. During application to a measurement site, the assembled sensor is advantageously secured together while the componentry is advantageously properly positioned.
US08548549B2
A method for noninvasively measuring analyte levels includes using a non-imaging OCT-based system to scan a two-dimensional area of biological tissue and gather data continuously during the scanning. Structures within the tissue where measured-analyte-induced changes to the OCT data dominate over changes induced by other analytes are identified by focusing on highly localized regions of the data curve produced from the OCT scan which correspond to discontinuities in the OCT data curve. The data from these localized regions then can be related to measured analyte levels.
US08548543B2
Implantable medical devices and methods include an optical sensor that includes at least two optical sensor portions. The light emitting devices of the optical sensor are distributed among the at least two optical sensor portions.
US08548542B2
There is provided a directly-coupled high-temperature superconductor SQUID magnetic sensor in a single thin film structure, which suppresses flux trapping or jumping generated in the sensor in a magnetic field, prevents the degradation in performance of the SQUID sensor, and operates stably with high sensitivity even in the magnetic field. The SQUID magnetic sensor including a bi-crystal substrate 1 having a bi-crystal grain boundary, pickup loops 7a-7d formed from a first high-temperature superconducting thin film on the bi-crystal substrate 1, and a SQUID ring 3 formed from the first high-temperature superconducting thin film on the bi-crystal grain boundary, directly connected with the pickup loops 7a-7d, wherein a plurality of pickup loops 7a-7d are disposed equally spaced from a bi-crystal grain boundary line 2 so as not to overlap with the bi-crystal grain boundary.
US08548540B2
The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for updating mobile devices with additional elements. In some implementations, a cover for a mobile device includes side surfaces, a rear surface, a physical interface, and a circuit. The side surfaces and the rear surface are configured to be adjacent at least a portion one or more side surfaces of the mobile phone. The side surfaces and the rear surface form an opening that receives at least a portion of the mobile device. A first portion of at least one of the surfaces includes a connector for connecting to a port of the mobile phone. The physical interface includes in at least one of the surfaces that receives a memory device external to the mobile device. The circuit connects the physical interface to the connector.
US08548520B2
Methods and devices for operating a wireless communication device that can communicate with at least two different wireless networks using a single radio frequency modem are described. The communication device attaches to a first wireless network through the radio frequency (RF) modem, and then detaches from the first wireless network at a predetermined time before a start time of a selected event on a second wireless network. The device attaches to the second wireless network using the same RF modem before the start time of the selected event and collects at least a portion of event data associated with the selected event. After collecting at least a portion of event data, the device detaches from the second wireless network and re-attaches to the first wireless network.
US08548519B2
A wireless communication device for effecting wireless communication using a short-range wireless communication method having a ranging function, which carries out wireless connection establishment/disconnection control using ranging information. For example, the wireless communication device determines the range to another wireless communication device within wireless communication range, and if it finds a wireless communication device present within a predetermined range establishes a wireless connection with that wireless communication device, and disconnects the connection if the wireless communication device with which the device is in wireless connection passes beyond a predetermined range.
US08548518B2
The application discloses a method of controlling user equipment in a wireless telecommunications network in which a mobility characteristics of said user equipment is determined (102) and then recorded (106) in an assigned (104) information element. The information element is then transmitted (108) to a control node adapted to control at least part of the functions of the wireless telecommunications network and in return the user equipment receives (110) from said control node a control message that is optimised for mobility characteristics of said user equipment.
US08548514B2
The present invention relates to a method for reducing a resource element group (REG) size, which is used at a control channel element (CCE) for a relay physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH), for the purpose of easy interleaving by a physical resource block (PRB) unit for the R-PDCCH, and a mobile telecommunication system for the same. The mobile telecommunication system of the present invention includes reducing the CCE size to 8 REGs or less of the R-PDCCH to be included in a single PRB.
US08548513B2
Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving control information, such as downlink assignment and uplink grant, to each CC through a DCI format of a PDCCH in a wireless communication system using a plurality of CCs. Exemplary embodiments include configuration and transmission of a CC indicator for the DCI format, in order to identify a CC to which the control information transferred by each DCI format corresponds from among the CCs.
US08548492B2
A system and method for estimating a location of a subscriber station receiving a first signal from a first base station and receiving a second signal from a second base station where the first and second base stations are nodes in a WiMAX or LTE network. A message may be received from the subscriber station containing first and second information, and a range ring determined from the first base station using the first information. A location hyperbola may be determined using the second information wherein the location hyperbola has the first and second base stations as foci. A location of the subscriber station may be estimated using the range ring and the location hyperbola.
US08548489B2
An access gateway device is disclosed that is used in a mobile communication system and that is capable of storing an identifier of a tracking area in which a mobile station in communication is located. The access gateway device includes a table unit storing a table having a corresponding relationships between a tracking area and a base station managing a cell included in the tracking area; a tracking area identifier comparison unit referring to the table at a predetermined timing, detecting the identifier of the tracking area in which the mobile station is located, and comparing the detected identifier of the tracking area with the stored identifier; and a tracking area identifier notification unit notifying the mobile station of the detected identifier of the tracking area when the detected identifier of the tracking area is different from the stored identifier based on a result of the comparison.
US08548479B2
A Base Station (BS) includes an apparatus and method for transmitting cell information. The BS is in the a communication system of a small cell size in a wireless communication environment in which a communication system of a large cell size and the communication system of the small cell size are hierarchically constructed in the same area. The method includes confirming reference signal transmission information for transmitting a reference signal including its own cell information, if a reference signal transmission interval arrives according to the reference signal transmission information, transmitting the reference signal through an operation frequency of a macro BS of the large cell size including the BS itself, and, if it is not the reference signal transmission interval, providing service through its own operation frequency or operating in a power saving mode.
US08548478B2
A method for facilitating inter-system handover by a multi-mode wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) is disclosed. The WTRU is capable of communicating in multiple wireless communication systems using different wireless communication protocols. A first wireless communication system provides a hot spot within the coverage area of a second wireless communication system. A base station in a cell in the second wireless communication system generates and transmits a message to inform the WTRU of the existence of the hot spot located in the vicinity of the cell. The WTRU receives the message and is therefore informed of the existence of the hot spot in the vicinity of the cell.
US08548463B2
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) for managing a session for a roaming subscriber. The method may include: defining a roaming agreement associated with at least one roaming partner and including at least one limitation; receiving a session establishment request; extracting a subscription identifier; determining an active roaming partner by comparing the subscription identifier to the roaming partner profile; selecting the roaming agreement including the active roaming partner; and enforcing the at least one limitation when processing the session establishment request. The PCRN may include: a roaming agreement storage; a first interface configured to receive a session establishment request for a roaming subscriber; a roaming manager configured to identify a roaming partner associated with the roaming subscriber and a roaming agreement associated with the roaming partner; and a second interface configured to communicate session information with a roaming partner PCRN.
US08548460B2
After a call is established between two stations using a codec that has been negotiated during call setup, in-band signaling may be used between the two stations to change the codec that is to be used. The in-band signals are indicative that the station that is transmitting the in-band signals can operate with a second codec and are used to probe whether the receiving station can also operate with that second codec. If the receiving station detects and reacts to the in-band signals, then both stations change to communicate with the second codec. The second codec has compatible packet sizes of the deployed (originally negotiated) codec without any need of infrastructure upgrade and/or quality compromise to legacy phone users (i.e., stations that cannot operate with the second codec).
US08548457B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus can be used to flexibly allocate RF channels to output ports on edge termination systems. Flexible edge termination systems can include multiplexing modules operable to combine signals together inside of the flexible edge termination system to provide a flexible mapping of RF channels to output ports.
US08548455B2
Aspects of a method and system for installation and configuration of a femtocell are provided. In this regard, information for configuring a femtocell to operate in a specified location may be received by the femtocell and may be utilized to configure one or more parameters of the femtocell. Once the femtocell is operational the parameters may be updated and/or optimized based on one or both of characterizations of cellular signals and/or information received from a femtocell registry. In this manner the femtocell may be reconfigured utilizing the updated and/or optimized parameters. The one or more parameters may be configured based on attributes of the location in which the femtocell is to operate. The one or more parameters may be configured based on a location, number, and/or coverage area of other femtocells. The parameters may comprise one or more of: power levels, frequency of operation, and/or antenna beam pattern.
US08548453B2
Provided are a remote control system and method for controlling portable terminals. The remote control system includes a control terminal which is a portable terminal that performs a remote control operation, a target terminal which is a portable terminal that is subject to the remote control operation performed by the control terminal, and a remote control management server which determines whether the control terminal and the target terminal are heterogeneous, and if the two terminals are heterogeneous, converts messages respectively transmitted from the control terminal and the target terminal to a format conforming to corresponding receiving terminals.
US08548451B2
An information processing system includes a first apparatus including a position information transmission unit to transmit information on the position of the first apparatus; and a second apparatus including, a position information acquisition unit to acquire a position of the second apparatus; a position information receiving unit to receive the information on the position of the first apparatus; a relative-position information acquisition unit to acquire relative-position information of the second and the first apparatus on the basis of the information on the position of the second and the first apparatus; and a control unit to control a coupling mode of the second and the first apparatus on the basis of the relative-position information.
US08548447B1
Methods and systems are described for processing call blocking instructions and for managing mobile messaging. A method of processing call blocking instructions is described. A call processing system receives a call from a caller intended for a first user. A notification regarding the call is transmitted to a mobile device associated with the first user. A message from the user is received via the mobile device, wherein the message is a text or multimedia type message. At least partly in response to the message, the caller is placed on a blacklist indicating that future calls from the caller to the user are to be blocked.
US08548446B2
A device for forming a shared telephone address book is provided. The device may be associated with a mobile telephony terminal to form a shared telephone address book also provided is a method for sharing contacts.
US08548445B2
An intelligent abbreviated dialing feature can use a portion of a phone number as a shortcut to dialing. Any portion of a phone number can be input into a communications device such as by pressing buttons on the keypad or speaking into a microphone. A processor in the communications device or on a network accessible by the communications device can generate the phone number register from frequently dialed numbers. The processor can compare the input into the communications device against the phone number register. For each digit of the phone number that is input into the communications device, the processor can search the phone numbers and provide search results with the corresponding numbers. A phone number can be selected from the search results and dialed.
US08548444B2
A method to initiate a phone call to a contact. The method includes analyzing a text message to identify a first attribute of the contact, and selecting one or more entries from a contact list stored in the mobile device by matching the first attribute of the contact to a portion of each of the one or more entries. The method also includes identifying a second attribute of the contact from the one or more entries based on a first pre-determined criterion, and modifying the text message to generate a displayed text message comprising a modified attribute that is modified from the first attribute based on the second attribute. The method also includes receiving a user selection as a first input indicating a user selected the modified attribute in response to viewing the displayed text message, and initiating the phone call to the contact based on the phone number.
US08548443B2
Wireless telephones retrieve feature restrictions from a wires telephone network, the feature restrictions having associated predetermined conditions. A wireless telephone applies the feature restrictions if the predetermined conditions are met to disable functions at the wireless telephone as defined by the feature restrictions. For example, a wireless telephone disables camera operations if the position of the wireless phone is in an academic testing location during an academic testing period.
US08548442B2
Service provisioning tasks can be performed to provision or deprovision services for users, reconcile overlapping services, and apply effective service properties. A service can be provisioned by receiving a request to provision the service for a user, reconciling new service properties with current service properties, from one or more service instances, to determine effective service properties, and applying the effective service properties as properties to use for the service for the user. A service can also be provisioned by receiving a request to provision the service for a user, storing a new service instance, and reconciling the new service instance with one or more previously stored service instances for the same service to determine effective service properties. A service provisioning system can perform provisioning operations for one or more internal and external service providers.
US08548437B2
A system and method are provided that utilize a set of heuristics to more intelligently determine when to utilize an audible tone associated with a notification profile or other mechanism used to alert a user of events such as an incoming instant message. The heuristics employed consider the layering of the message screens for the corresponding conversations, in combination with one or more device usage indicators such as the status of the backlight, the idle timer, and the orientation of the mobile device 10A itself as indicated by the orientation sensor.
US08548435B2
Techniques are described for providing users of client devices with coordinated access to information and/or functionality of multiple types, such as by using multiple types of connections to multiple information services of distinct types that exchange context information related to activities of the users and/or clients. The client devices can be, for example, wireless devices with multiple distinct modes (e.g., voice and data modes) for different types of connections with different types of servers (e.g., voice servers and data servers). In some situations, coordination between different servers allows multiple distinct interaction sessions of different types with different servers to remain synchronized or otherwise coordinated over time as the user performs interactions via the different sessions. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and is not intended to be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US08548432B2
Aspects relate to authorizing mobile devices for PBX-based voice services. A mobile device calls a PBX over a voice channel, and phone number identifier information is obtained and matched to identifier information for devices that known (authorizeable) to use the PBX. If there is one incoming call that matches to a given device, and an authentication token provided over a data channel matches an authentication token associated with that device, then the device is authorized for voice services. Where there are multiple matching calls, those devices are instructed to provide authentication tokens over their voice channels. The devices can detect absence of a data channel and provide authentication tokens over the voice channels; the devices also can wait to receive a call connected response and in the absence of such provide their authentication tokens over the voice channel. Tokens can be requested and downloaded for storage at the devices.
US08548428B2
Device group partitions and a settlement platform are provided. In some embodiments, device group partitions (e.g., partitions of devices based on associated device groups) are provided. In some embodiments, a settlement platform service is provided. In some embodiments, a settlement platform service is provided for partitioned devices. In some embodiments, collecting device generated service usage information for one or more devices in wireless communication on a wireless network; and aggregating the device generated service usage information for a settlement platform for the one or more devices in wireless communication on the wireless network is provided. In some embodiments, a settlement platform implements a service billing allocation and/or a service/transactional revenue share among one or more partners. In some embodiments, service usage information includes micro-CDRs, which are used for CDR mediation or reconciliation that provides for service usage accounting on any device activity that is desired. In some embodiments, each device activity that is desired to be associated with a billing event is assigned a micro-CDR transaction code, and a service processor of the device is programmed to account for that activity associated with that transaction code. In some embodiments, a service processor executing on a wireless communications device periodically reports (e.g., during each heartbeat or based on any other periodic, push, and/or pull communication technique(s)) micro-CDR usage measures to, for example, a service controller or some other network element for CDR mediation or reconciliation.
US08548420B2
A data collection device comprising: a data collection subsystem; a wireless communication device; a dedicated panic button; and a processor that, responsive to a user activating the dedicated panic button, uses the wireless communication device to cause a message to be sent to a designated emergency contact.
US08548414B2
The invention discloses a circuit and a method for reducing radio frequency power consumption of mobile phone, wherein a baseband processing chip (21) adjusts a base bias voltage and/or a collector bias voltage of a radio frequency power amplifier (23) according to radio frequency power output of the radio frequency power amplifier (23). Since the invention reduces the radio frequency output power of the radio frequency power amplifier (23) by moderately reducing the base bias voltage and/or the collector bias voltage at the same time when it is ensured that the mobile phone communicates with a base station normally and the linear index and the Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) of the radio frequency power amplifier (23) meet the requirements of the specification, thus the efficiency of the radio frequency power amplifier can be improved, the battery energy is saved and the heating problem of the mobile phone is relieved.
US08548412B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for eliminating an outband interference signal. An apparatus for eliminating an interference signal includes a first mixer, a filter unit, a second mixer, and an operation unit. The first mixer downconverts a received signal containing an outband interference signal. The filter unit extracts the downconverted outband interference signal from the downconverted received signal. The second mixer upconverts the downconverted outband interference signal to restore the outband interference signal to the original frequency band. The operation unit subtracts and eliminates the restored outband interference signal from the received signal.
US08548411B2
A system may comprise a plurality of signal processing paths, a bin-wise combiner, an inverse transformation block, and a DAC. Each signal processing path may comprise a transformation block that is operable to transform a first time-domain digital signal to an associated frequency-domain signal having a plurality of subband signals. The bin-wise combiner may be operable to combine corresponding subband signals of the plurality of signal processing paths. The inverse transformation block may be operable to transform output of the bin-wise combiner to an second time-domain signal. The DAC may be operable to converts the second time-domain signal to a corresponding analog signal.
US08548403B2
A baseband-derived RF predistortion system using a lookup table having coefficients extracted at baseband and then applied at RF by means of a vector modulator. The architecture combines the narrowband advantage of envelope predistortion with the accuracy of baseband predistortion, and including compensation for memory effects. A polynomial-based alternative is also described.
US08548397B1
A mobile wireless communications device includes a power module with a first housing, at least one power cell carried by the first housing, and a first plurality of contact pads coupled to the at least one power cell and exposed on the first housing. A wireless module is adjacent the power module and includes a second housing having an opening therein, and wireless communications circuitry carried by the second housing and comprising a second plurality of contact pads aligned with the opening. A connector is in the opening and has a dielectric body, and a plurality of spring contacts carried by the dielectric body and exposed on opposite sides thereof coupling respective ones of the first and second pluralities of contact pads together.
US08548396B2
An antenna element includes a feeding path unit connected to a feeding point, first and second antenna main body units, and first and second short-circuit path units. The first antenna main body unit has one end connected to the feeding path unit and the other end that is opened. The second antenna main body unit has one end connected to a connection point between the feeding path unit and the first antenna main body unit and the other end that is opened. The first short-circuit path unit contributes to a resonance to a radio signal in a predetermined first frequency band, and is formed between the connection point and a ground point. The second short-circuit path unit contributes to a resonance to a radio signal in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, and has a path length different from that of the first short-circuit path unit.
US08548391B2
An apparatus includes terminals configured to be coupled to a string wiring of a photovoltaic string. The apparatus also includes a power controller configured to control a power provided over the string wiring by a photovoltaic panel in the photovoltaic string. The apparatus further includes a wireless radio configured to at least one of transmit and receive wireless signals using the string wiring as an antenna. The wireless signals contain data associated with the photovoltaic panel and/or the power controller. For example, the wireless radio could be configured to receive a first signal containing a command for the power controller from the string wiring and to provide the command to the power controller. The wireless radio could also be configured to receive an acknowledgement associated with the command from the power controller and to transmit a second signal containing the acknowledgement over the string wiring for wireless transmission.
US08548380B2
A near field communications (NFC) device is disclosed that intelligently routes NFC data from a NFC device between multiple user interfaces based upon a power level of its internal batteries. The communications device utilizes a communications device user interface to send and/or receive the NFC data from the NFC device when its internal batteries are sufficient to operate the communications device user interface. The communications device begins to route some of this NFC data from being sent and/or received by the communications device user interface to a NFC user interface as its internal batteries deplete. Eventually, all of the NFC data will be sent to and/or received by the NFC user interface as the internal batteries of the communications device become so depleted that they are unable to reliably operate the communications device user interface.
US08548378B2
A mobile station which connects to a base station having a plurality of relays belonging thereto is provided. The mobile station includes a receiving unit which receives a first preamble signal from a first relay and receives a second preamble signal from a second relay, the first relay belonging to a first cluster including an N1 number of relays and the second relay belonging to a second cluster including an N2 number of relays, a control unit which selects the first cluster as an access cluster to connect to the base station, based on the first preamble signal and the second preamble signal, and a transmission unit which transmits an access request message to the first relay, wherein the access request message is transmitted to the base station via the first relay.
US08548374B2
A system is provided for providing content to a plurality of mobile electronic devices, where at least some of the mobile electronic devices have wireless communications capabilities. A first network comprises a wireless network system for communicating with at least some of the mobile electronic devices through wireless sessions; a wired to wireless gateway module connected to the wireless network system for interfacing between a wireless portion of the first network and a wired portion of the first network; a session control module interfacing with the wired to wireless gateway module for managing the wireless sessions and wired sessions; and a relay server module interfacing with the session control module and the wired to wireless gateway module, the relay server module for providing relayed content to the mobile electronic devices. A second network comprises an external server for providing content to the mobile electronic devices.
US08548373B2
Methods and apparatus for identifying a digital audio signal are described. An example apparatus for identifying a digital audio signal includes an input to receive the digital audio signal, which includes data from a broadcast or a stored digital program signal. The example apparatus also includes a detector to receive the digital audio signal from the input and determine whether the received digital audio signal is uncompressed as received at the input; a decoder to receive the digital audio signal from the detector when the digital audio signal is compressed as received at the input and identify any first program-identifying code in an auxiliary field of the compressed digital audio signal; and a code reader to receive the digital audio signal from the detector when the digital audio signal is uncompressed as received at the input and receive the digital audio signal from a decompressor when the digital audio signal is compressed as received at the input. Additionally, the code reader is to identify any second program-identifying code in a decompressed or uncompressed portion of the digital audio signal when the first program-identifying code is not identified in the auxiliary field or when the digital audio signal is uncompressed as received at the input.
US08548372B2
Methods for operating a printer to form a combination print with improved appearance are provided. In one aspect first receiver is provided with a first thickness at a first edge and having a first toner image on a first side with toner in an overlap area proximate the first edge. The first edge and overlap area are overlapped with a second receiver having a second thickness at a second edge; and the first receiver and second receiver are fused to cause any toner thereon to fuse such that the toner in the overlap area bonds the first receiver to the second receiver. The first toner image includes an edge concealment toner pattern positioned confronting the second edge with the edge concealment toner pattern having toner that reduces the visual impact of artifacts created by the overlapping second edge. Printed articles are also provided.
US08548334B2
Reduced Rayleigh backscattering effect enables a longer-reach optical access communication network-thus it eliminates significant costs. Furthermore, a wavelength to an intelligent subscriber subsystem can be dynamically varied for bandwidth on-Demand and service on-Demand. A software module renders intelligence (and context awareness) to a subscriber subsystem and an appliance. An object can sense/measure/collect/aggregate/compare/map and connect/couple/interact (via one or more or all electrical/optical/radio/electro-magnetic/sensor/bio-sensor communication network(s) within and/or to and/or from an object) with another object, an intelligent subscriber subsystem and an intelligent appliance utilizing an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) and its subsequent versions.A construction of a near-field communication (NFC) enabled intelligent micro-subsystem and/or intelligent appliance with key applications (e.g., an intelligent, location based and personalized social network and an intelligent, location based and personalized direct and peer-to-peer marketing) are also described.
US08548331B1
An analog signal receiver includes photonic sampling and electronic quantization. The receiver includes timing control circuitry configured to receive a series of optical pulses and output a plurality of timing signals based on the series of optical pulses to synchronize optical switches that receive a sampled optical signal to time deinterleave the optically sampled signal. The time deinterleaved signals are then sent to a plurality of demodulators wherein each demodulator receives at least one time deinterleaved optically sampled signal and at least one time deinterleaved optical reference signal to produce electrical signals based on the demodulated optical signals.
US08548327B2
A system in an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to dynamically manage polling rates in a passive optical network is provided herein. The system includes a Media Access Control (MAC) unit that is configured to receive a first message from an Optical Network Unit (ONU). The first message includes a status of an upstream queue of the ONU. The system includes a traffic monitor unit coupled to the MAC unit and is configured to receive the first message from the MAC unit and place the upstream queue of the ONU in an inactive mode if the status of the upstream queue indicates that the upstream queue is empty.
US08548326B2
An optical communication system is disclosed. The optical communication system includes a reflection hub connected to a plurality of communication modules. The communication modules communicate optical signals to one another via two way light channels, such that an optical signal is scattered off a diffuse surface at a distal end of the reflection hub and into the two way light channel of each communication module.
US08548325B2
A system, device, and method for supporting cut-through pats in an optical communication system involves obtaining hop count and quality of service information by an initiating device and using the hop count and quality of service information by the initiating device to make decisions relating to a cut-through path. The hop count and quality of service information is provided in a reply message that is sent by a terminating device and modified by intermediate devices between the initiating device and the terminating device. The terminating device sends the reply with a hop count equal to one and quality of service information for a first link (hop) toward the initiating device. Each intermediate device increments the hop count in the reply and adds quality of service information for a next link (hop) into the reply.
US08548323B2
Embodiments of a scalable optical network unit (ONU) architecture for multi-dwelling units (MDUs) that has a low initial cost (or first port cost) and a low maintenance cost are provided herein. The ONU architecture is scalable in that a growing number of end users can share a single drop fiber that couples the ONU to a passive optical network. The ONU architecture utilizes a multiplexer module to allow the ONU to be daisy chained with one or more additional ONUs.
US08548315B2
An in-vehicle camera unit has a body to which a lens is attached and prevention members that prevent water drops from falling on the lens. Specifically the body has a top surface where the lens is arranged, a front surface of the lens being exposed to an outside of the body. The top surface has an oblique portion extending from the periphery of the lens backward of the lens. The oblique portion is oblique in such a way as to be away from the optical axis 13a of the lens with increasing distance from the lens backward. The prevention member is provided in or on the oblique portion across an oblique direction of the oblique portion.
US08548312B2
A rapid thermal process chamber having a lamp driver circuit that includes two transistors and two diodes is described. The rapid thermal process chamber includes a plurality of halogen lamps, the lamp driver, a temperature sensor that measures wafer temperature, a temperature controller connected to the temperature sensor and to the lamp driver, the temperature controller providing control signals to the lamp driver that are functions of the wafer temperature and a desired temperature. The lamp driver includes two transistors that are controlled by the control signals so that the power factor of the power supplied to the plurality of halogen lamps is in the range of 0.9 to 1.
US08548307B2
The present invention facilitates reading in advance information on addresses where data of each reproduction path to be reproduced is stored. Clip AV stream 1 to Clip AV stream 3 of angles forming a multiangle are managed by PlayList#1 to PlayList#3 for the different angles. Each of PlayList#1 to PlayList#3 is divided by angle change points. Each of the divided reproducing sections corresponds to a PlayItem. Correspondences between source packet numbers and presentation time stamps of the angle change points are recorded in an EP_map. The present invention is applicable to DVD recording and reproducing apparatus, for example.
US08548306B2
An audio and video recording and reproduction apparatus includes an audio signal switch section for outputting one of a first audio signal having a first volume level and a second audio signal having a second volume level by a switching operation; and a mute section for muting the first audio signal which is output from the audio signal switch section when the audio signal switch section switches the second audio signal to the first audio signal.
US08548304B2
A apparatus and method for displaying available video play times are provided. Information about a remaining battery capacity of a video playing apparatus and information about a resolution of a video file is received from a first signal input unit, and information contained in a codec-resolution mapping table is received from a second signal input unit. Available video play times associated with video decoding modes are acquired based on the information received from the first signal input unit and the information received from the second signal input unit.
US08548298B2
On a BD-ROM, PlayList information is recorded. The PlayList information includes MainPath information and SubPath information. The MainPath information specifies one of a plurality of AVClips as a MainClip, and defines a primary playback section (PlayItem) on the MainClip. The SubPath information specifies, among the rest of the AVClips, one AVClip as a SubClip, and defines, on the SubClip, a secondary playback section (SubPlayItem) to be synchronized with the primary playback section. The SubPath information includes In_Time information and Out_Time information which indicate In_Time and Out_Time, respectively, of the SubPlayItem. In_Time and Out_Time of the SubPlayItem match In_Time and Out_Time of the PlayItem.
US08548288B2
In an MCM, an optical signal is conveyed by an optical waveguide disposed on a surface of a first substrate to a first optical coupler. This first optical coupler redirects the optical signal out of the plane of the optical waveguide. Then, an optical interposer guides the optical signal between the first optical coupler and a second optical coupler on a surface of a second substrate, thereby reducing spatial expansion of the optical signal between the optical couplers. Moreover, the second optical coupler redirects the optical signal into a plane of an optical waveguide disposed on a surface of the second substrate, which then conveys the optical signal.
US08548285B2
A method of manufacturing an optical sensor module which eliminates the need for the operation of alignment between a core in an optical waveguide section and an optical element in a substrate section, and an optical sensor module obtained thereby. An optical waveguide section W1 including groove portions (fitting portions) 4a for the positioning of a substrate section, and a substrate section E1 including fitting plate portions (to-be-fitted portions) 5a for fitting engagement with the groove portions 4a are individually produced. The fitting plate portions 5a in the substrate section E1 are brought into fitting engagement with the groove portions 4a in the optical waveguide section W1 whereby the substrate section E1 and the optical waveguide section W1 are integrated together.
US08548274B2
Systems and methods for generating efficient transformed input image address sets for producing a multi-pane output image from an input image are disclosed. The input address sets may be generated by applying a first transformation corresponding to one pane of the output image to output pixel addresses to create first transformed input addresses, applying a second transformation corresponding to another pane to the output image pixel addresses to create second transformed input addresses, and storing, for one output pixel address, a first transformed image pixel address and a second transformed input pixel address and, for another output pixel address, including a first transformed input pixel address, but no second transformed address.
US08548270B2
Techniques are provided for determining depth to objects. A depth image may be determined based on two light intensity images. This technique may compensate for differences in reflectivity of objects in the field of view. However, there may be some misalignment between pixels in the two light intensity images. An iterative process may be used to relax a requirement for an exact match between the light intensity images. The iterative process may involve modifying one of the light intensity images based on a smoothed version of a depth image that is generated from the two light intensity images. Then, new values may be determined for the depth image based on the modified image and the other light intensity image. Thus, pixel misalignment between the two light intensity images may be compensated.
US08548261B2
A Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a multi-view image are provided. The method of encoding a multi-view image includes determining whether each of pictures included in multi-view image sequences is a reference picture referred to by other pictures included in the multi-view image sequences for inter-view prediction, and encoding the pictures using at least one of inter-view prediction and temporal prediction based on the determination result, thereby efficiently encoding and decoding the multi-view image at high speed.
US08548256B2
A method for identifying digital images having matching backgrounds from a collection of digital images, comprising using a processor to perform the steps of: determining a set of one or more feature values for each digital image in the collection of digital images, wherein the set of feature values includes an edge compactness feature value that is an indication of the number of objects in the digital image that are useful for scene matching; determining a subset of the collection of digital images that are good candidates for scene matching by applying a classifier responsive to the determined feature values; applying a scene matching algorithm to the subset of the collection of digital images to identify groups of digital images having matching backgrounds; and storing an indication of the identified groups of digital images having matching backgrounds in a processor-accessible memory.
US08548249B2
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an analysis section which analyzes, based on image information extracted from image data, a theme per image data group including a plurality of pieces of the image data, and a selection section which selects a combination of predetermined processing which is stored in association with the theme and the image data group based on the theme.
US08548248B2
A system and method of mapping a persistent feature change of image data at a geographic location includes selecting a plurality of satellite images from a geographic location on different dates, producing a plurality of two-date satellite change images from pairs of the satellite images, comparing the plurality of satellite change images, and detecting a persistent feature change of image data in the compared satellite change images.The system may be implemented by selecting a plurality of satellite images from a database from different dates. A change detection module measures a change between pairs of the satellite images to produce a plurality of two-date satellite change images. A change confirmation module compares the two-date satellite change images and to confirm a persistent feature change.
US08548243B2
An information processing device includes a recognition section for recognizing a feature keyword representing a feature of at least part of text content, an additional information acquisition section for acquiring additional information related to the text content from an outside of the text content in response to the recognized feature keyword, and a control section for controlling the additional information acquired by the additional information acquisition section to be output along with the part of the text content.
US08548240B2
An apparatus comprises: unit configured to divide input document data into a body region, a caption region, and an object region; unit configured to acquire text information included in each of the body region and the caption region; unit configured to search the text information in the body region for an anchor term, to extract an anchor term from the text information in the caption region, and to generate a bi-directional link between a portion corresponding to the anchor term in the body region and a portion of the object region to which the caption region is appended; and unit configured to convert the input document data into digital document data in which the portion corresponding to the anchor term in the body region and the portion corresponding to the object region to which the caption region is appended are bi-directionally linked based on the link.
US08548238B2
A method of partitioning a weighted combinatorial graph representative of a dataset consists of the steps of generating a generalized Laplacian matrix corresponding to the combinatorial graph, computing the eigenstructure of the generalized Laplacian matrix, determining if an end criterion is satisfied using the eigenstructure, and if the end criterion is not satisfied, calculating new values for at least some of the plurality of weighting factors using the eigenstructure, updating the combinatorial graph with the new values for at least some of the weighting factors, and returning to the generating step.
US08548236B2
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.
US08548230B2
Image processing device and method, data processing device and method, program, and recording medium
A tentative eigenprojection matrix (#12-a) is provisionally generated from a studying image group (#10) including a pair of a high quality image and a low quality image, and a tentative projection core tensor (#12-b) defining a correspondence between the low quality image and an intermediate eigenspace and a correspondence between the high quality image and the intermediate eigenspace is created. A first sub-core tensor is created from the tentative projection core tensor based on a first setting (#12-c), and the studying image group is projected based on the tentative eigenprojection matrix and the first sub-core tensor (#15-a) to calculate an intermediate eigenspace coefficient vector (#15-b). A representative intermediate eigenspace coefficient vector (#15-c) is obtained from the coefficient vector group according to the number of studying representatives, an eigenprojection matrix (#17) and a projection core tensor (#18) are recreated based on the determined representative studying image group (#15-d), and the matrix and the tensor are used in a restoration step. This can reduce the redundancy of a studying image set, reduce processing load of projection conversion, speed up a process, and suppress a memory size.
US08548215B2
The invention provides methods and apparatus for image processing that perform image segmentation on data sets in two- and/or three-dimensions so as to resolve structures that have the same or similar grey values (and that would otherwise render with the same or similar intensity values) and that, thereby, facilitate visualization and processing of those data sets.
US08548214B2
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for using real-time video analysis and AR or the like to assist the user of mobile devices with commerce activities. Through the use of real-time vision object recognition medical conditions can be recognized in the real-time video stream and can be matched to medical condition related information regarding the medical condition and can also be matched to one or more targeted offers for products related to the medical condition. The medical condition related information may be presenting to the user of the mobile device in conjunction with display of the associated medical condition in a live video stream. Further, in some embodiments, a product can be recognized as products related to a previously recognized medical condition and indicators associated with the recognized products can be presented with the real-time video stream.
US08548210B2
An image processing apparatus includes an analysis processing unit that quantizes an input image in two levels by replacing an area of the input image where a feature of a subject appears with a first pixel value and replacing an area of the input image where no feature of the subject appears with a second pixel value when the input image is acquired; a storing unit that stores dictionary data including a feature of a plurality of face images quantized by the analysis processing unit; and a face detection processing unit that performs face detection on a detection target image by using the dictionary data read from the storing unit, the detection target data being quantized by the analysis processing unit.
US08548209B2
A user settings system includes a trigger module, an image acquisition module, a microprocessor and a database. The trigger module implements the image acquisition module to capture a pupil image of a driver. The database is coupled with the microprocessor, and stores at least one pupil image of at least one authorized user and the personalized settings of the authorized user. The microprocessor includes a comparison module, a response module, and an implementation module. The comparison module compares the pupil image of the driver captured by the image acquisition module with the stored pupil images in the database and generates a result notification to the response module. The response module determines whether or not a matching pupil image is found. The implementation module automatically activates the personalized settings stored in the database.
US08548206B2
A method of capturing biometric data is provided that includes activating a security application in a device. The security application is activated by an operator of the device and is configured to cause the device to display an outline image. Moreover, the method includes displaying the outline image in a stationary position on a display of the device, positioning desired biometric data proximate the device such that the desired biometric data appears as a biometric image on the device display, and monitoring the outline and biometric images shown on the device display. Furthermore, the method includes positioning the device and the desired biometric data to better align the outline and biometric images when the outline and biometric images do not align and capturing the desired biometric data from an individual after approximately aligning the outline image with the biometric image.
US08548204B2
An image processing device is comprising: an input unit which inputs image data of a chart; and a streak detection processing unit which specifies an inspection region in the inputted image data, calculates a line average which is an average of all pixels on a line, for each line in a sub-scanning direction in the inspection region, calculates a width average value which is an average of the line averages of the lines corresponding to a series of main scanning pixels, the number of which is a specified width and whose center is a target pixel, for each target pixel, calculates a difference between the width average value, and the average of the line averages of the target pixel and a predetermined number of main scanning pixels, and determines that the target pixel is included in a streak when the difference exceeds the threshold value set in advance.
US08548201B2
The present invention detects a candidate ROI group associated with character strings/figure strings on the basis of a result acquired through prior learning of various types of license plates, verifies the interested region candidate group detected by using at least one condition of five predetermined conditions, and determines an MBR region in the selected ROI region from the verified interested region candidate group by considering a ratio between the height and width of the ROI region to recognize the license plate for the automobile. According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically detect the location of the license plate regardless of various types of license plate specifications defined for each of countries.
US08548200B2
In a lane-marker recognition system installed in a vehicle, an image pickup unit picks up an image of a target region including a road ahead of the vehicle, and a light-intensity detecting unit detects a change in a light intensity of the target region in the picked-up image. A lane-marker recognizing unit compares the change in the light intensity of the target region in the picked-up image with a predetermined threshold value, and recognizes a region of at least one lane marker in the target region based on a result of the comparison, the at least one lane marker being formed on the road. A re-determining unit re-determines the threshold value based on a light intensity of the recognized region of the at least one lane marker.
US08548190B2
A composite speaker is provided capable of obtaining larger sound output than that of a conventional flat panel speaker and flat speaker when input with an audio signal of the same strength. The composite speaker includes: one magnet or a plurality of magnets disposed at predetermined intervals to each other; a yoke for forming a magnetic circuit with a magnetic gap to the magnets; a voice coil disposed in a gap between the magnets and the yoke so as to interlink with the magnetic circuit; a diaphragm with the voice coil fixed to one face thereof; a frame that supports the diaphragm at peripheral edge portions of the diaphragm and houses the magnets and the yoke; a speaker base plate fixed to the frame at the side of the frame supporting the diaphragm or at the side of the frame opposite to the side supporting the diaphragm; and a phase rotation member configured by an elastic member provided between the speaker base plate and the yoke; wherein sound is generated from both the diaphragm and the speaker base plate.
US08548188B2
A diaphragm includes a carbon nanotube film structure and an amorphous carbon structure composited with the carbon nanotube structure to form a stratiform composite structure. The carbon nanotube film structure defines a plurality of micropores therein. The amorphous carbon structure comprises a plurality of amorphous carbon particles received in the micropores.
US08548185B2
The disclosure relates to a microphone coupler and coupler system for a communication device. The microphone coupler comprises a conduit having an internal channel therein, a distal end, a proximal end, a first opening in the distal end connecting to the internal channel and a second opening in the proximal end connecting to the internal channel, the conduit being attachable to a printed circuit board of the communication device over an opening in the printed circuit board with the second opening mating to the opening and with the distal end of the coupler extending towards an end of the printed circuit board. The coupler has a microphone having a port that is mounted on the printed circuit board and the port is aligned with the opening in the printed circuit board.
US08548178B2
A miniature microphone, comprising a diaphragm, supported for displacement in response to acoustic waves, from which a plurality of projections extend; a plurality of projections extending from a surface; a body, supporting the surface to maintain the plurality of projections from the diaphragm and the plurality of projections from the surface in close proximity; and an electromagnetic sensor adapted to sense an electromagnetic interaction between the plurality of projections from the diaphragm and the plurality of projections from the surface and produce an electrical signal in response thereto. The interaction may be detected substantially without inducing a force which tends to substantially displace the diaphragm, since the electrostatic force is substantially parallel to the diaphragm surface.
US08548168B2
A security module includes a signal interface for receiving an encrypted signal and a host interface that is coupleable to a host. A processing module is operable to receive encrypted decryption code from the host via the host interface, decrypt the encrypted decryption code to form decrypted decryption code that is operable to decrypt the encrypted signal, send the decrypted decryption code to the host via the host interface, monitor the security of the decrypted decryption code via security signaling sent between the host and the security module via the host interface to detect potential tampering with the decrypted decryption code, transfer the encrypted signal to the host via the host interface, and discontinue transfer of the encrypted signal when the security signaling indicates the potential tampering with the decrypted decryption code.
US08548167B2
The present invention makes use of techniques such as those described by Boneh and Franklin to allow for the realization of a pseudo-asymmetric encryption scheme whereby one public encryption corresponds to a plurality of private decryption keys. This scheme therefore provides a solution to the problem of inefficient use of bandwidth in asymmetrical encryption schemes which inherently require that a plurality of encryptions of data be broadcast to a plurality of receivers. The invention further ensures that the advantage of traceability, typical found in asymmetric encryption schemes, is maintained due to the characteristic that each receiver uses a unique traceable decryption key. The traceability thus achieved by the present invention allows for the revocation of a security module which has been involved in the abusive use of conditional access data, particularly by means of clones of security modules whose security has been compromised.
US08548160B2
One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed that provide for determining mathematical pairings for a curve for use in cryptography. A plurality of inversions used for determining the mathematical pairings for the curve are aggregated (e.g., into a single inversion in respective levels of a binary tree representation of elements of the computation). The mathematical pairings for the curve are determined in affine coordinates from a binary representation of a scalar read from right to left using the aggregated plurality of inversions.
US08548137B2
A method for dynamically updating a model is described. The method includes accessing a model that specifies expected characteristics for a transaction. The model includes variables associated with fraud. The method also includes receiving at least one value for each of the variables while monitoring transactions, and updating a distribution of values for each variable based on the received value. The received value is compared with the updated distribution to determine a deviation from a threshold value associated with a percentile of the updated distribution that is indicative of fraud.
US08548134B2
A digital photo frame, including a memory for storing a plurality of digital photos, and tags associated with the digital photos, where a tag for a digital photo corresponds to an object appearing in the digital photo, a screen for displaying the digital photos, an interface for making connection with a communicator, wherein the communicator includes a storage for storing a contact list of phone numbers for objects, and a controller, coupled with the memory and the interface, for rendering one of the plurality of digital photos on the screen, and for instructing the communicator via the interface (i) to identify the phone number of a selected object, and (ii) to dial the identified phone number, in response to user activation of a tag associated with the rendered digital photo and corresponding to the selected object.
US08548130B2
Information associated with messages and/or missed calls is provided to a subscriber. Calls received but not answered by the subscriber may be monitored. Each monitored call is classified as one of a missed call and a message. The monitored calls may be summarized based on a customizable rule set to create a summary. The summary is provided to the subscriber via, for example, a voice notification.
US08548119B2
A CT system is disclosed that includes detector modules positioned on a rotatable gantry configured to receive x-rays attenuated by an object. Each detector module includes a module frame, a plurality of tileable sub-modules on the module frame aligned along a Z-axis thereof to receive the x-rays attenuated by the object and convert the x-rays to digital signals, and an electronics board connected to the plurality of sub-modules to receive the digital signals. Each sub-module further includes an array of detector elements to receive x-rays attenuated through the object and convert the x-rays into analog electrical signals, an ASIC electronics package coupled to the array of detector elements to receive the analog electrical signals and convert the analog electrical signals to digital signals, and a flex circuit connected to the ASIC electronics package to receive the digital signals and transfer the digital signals to the electronics board.
US08548115B2
A shift register unit and a gate drive device for a liquid crystal display are disclosed. Both gate and drain of the tenth thin film transistor are connected to the source of the fifth thin film transistor, a source thereof is connected to a low voltage signal input terminal, threshold voltages of the eighth thin film transistor and the ninth thin film transistor are equal to or less than threshold voltage of the tenth thin film transistor. The shift register unit and the gate drive device for liquid crystal display provided in the present invention, could enable the thin film transistor used to suppress the noise in the shift register unit to maintain turning on, therefore it guarantees the reliability of the shift register unit.
US08548112B2
A fuel basket apparatus, system and method for storing high level radioactive waste. In one aspect, the invention is an apparatus suitable for transporting and/or storing spent nuclear fuel rods comprising: a basket formed from a honeycomb-like gridwork of plates arranged in a rectilinear configuration, the gridwork of plates forming a plurality of cells for receiving spent nuclear fuel rods; the basket comprising one or more flux traps that regulate production of neutron radiation; and wherein the plates are constructed of a metal matrix composite material. In another aspect, the invention is an apparatus suitable for transporting and/or storing spent nuclear fuel rods comprising: a basket formed from a honeycomb-like gridwork of plates arranged in a rectilinear configuration, the gridwork of plates forming a plurality of cells for receiving spent nuclear fuel rods; the basket being formed by a plurality of segments arranged in a stacked assembly; each segment comprising a honeycomb-like gridwork of plates arranged in the rectilinear configuration, wherein each segment comprises a plurality of top and bottom slots arranged so that when the segments are arranged in the stacked assembly, the top slots of each segment intersect with the bottom slots of the adjacent segment; and wherein the entire basket is formed of plates having no more than three different configurations.
US08548110B2
A receiver is equipped with an adaptive phase-offset controller and associated timing-calibration circuitry that together shift the timing for a data sampler and a digital equalizer. The sample and equalizer timing is shifted to a position with less residual inter-symbol interference (ISI) energy relative to the current symbol. The shifted position may be calculated using a measure of signal quality, such as a receiver bit-error rate or a comparison of filter-tap values, to optimize the timing of data recovery.
US08548108B2
In particular embodiments, a method includes generating by a data detector a recovered data signal from a phase-equalized signal based on the transmitted data in the phase-equalized signal; comparing by a phase-distortion detector the phase-equalized signal and the recovered data signal with each other; based on the comparison, determining by the phase-distortion detector a phase-distortion level; generating by the phase-distortion detector a phase-distortion-level signal based on the phase-distortion level; generating by an integrator a phase-equalize-level signal based on the phase-distortion-level signal; and adjusting by a phase equalizer a transmitted-data signal based on the phase-equalize-level signal, the adjustment of the transmitted-data signal providing the phase-equalized signal or a phase pre-distorted signal configured to be distorted into the phase-equalized signal by transmission across a communication channel, the transmitted-data signal comprising the transmitted data.
US08548104B2
A method includes, in a receiver that operates using multiple clock signals having respective clock frequencies, accepting a request to receive a target channel frequency. In response to the request, a set of preferred clock frequencies is calculated, which when applied by the receiver will cause the receiver to tune to the target channel frequency while satisfying a predefined criterion relating to interference caused by the clock signals. The target channel frequency is received by setting the clock signals to the preferred clock frequencies.
US08548100B2
A method and system for performing complex sampling of signals by using two or more sampling channels and for calculating time delays between these channels. According to certain embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter, the system and method are operable to enable a complex sampling of a signal in a frequency-domain by means of a predefined-order sampling, including utilizing a sampling channel for converting an analog signal to a corresponding substantially non-delayed digital signal; and transforming the digital signal to a plurality of corresponding frequency-domain substantially non-delayed discrete components; providing one or more additional sampling channels enabling to perform a predefined-order sampling, the predefined-order depending on a number of the one or more additional sampling channels, each additional sampling channel configured to perform a number of stage, giving rise to the multiplied frequency-domain delayed discrete components; and combining the multiplied frequency-domain delayed discrete components with the corresponding frequency-domain substantially non-delayed discrete components, giving rise to an output frequency-domain complex signal.
US08548095B2
A method for designing an optimized codebook in a multi-input multi-output communication method using various codebooks is disclosed. In particular, an optimized codebook with respect to eight transmission antennas is devised, and a method for effectively transmitting data by using the optimized codebook is disclosed.
US08548088B2
A method for transmitting/receiving data in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communication system is disclosed. The data transmission method includes determining a precoding matrix to be a part of a phase-shift-based precoding matrix, determining a first diagonal matrix for phase shift to be a part of the phase-shift-based precoding matrix, determining a unitary matrix to be a part of the phase-shift-based precoding matrix, precoding a transmission symbol for each resource using the phase-shift-based precoding matrix to produce precoded data, and transmitting the precoded data, wherein the phase-shift-based precoding matrix is determined by the product of the precoding matrix, a Hermitian matrix of the unitary matrix, the first diagonal matrix, and the unitary matrix.
US08548087B2
A method for configuring a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication begins by generating a plurality of preambles for a plurality of transmit antennas. Each of the plurality of preambles includes a carrier detection sequence at a legacy transmit rate, a first channel sounding at the legacy transmit rate, a signal field at the legacy transmit rate, and Z−1 channel soundings at a MIMO transmit rate, where L corresponds to a number of channel soundings. The method continues by simultaneously transmitting the plurality of preambles via the plurality of transmit antennas.
US08548085B2
Peak power reduction in transmit chains of frequency hopping, multi-band radiocommunication devices is performed. Filtering and, optionally, interpolation of a signal being processed for peak power reduction can be performed only in an error signal path or in both an error signal path and a primary signal path. Alternatively, a sufficiently high sample rate can be used in support of error signal generation.
US08548083B2
A method and apparatus for mapping/demapping a resource efficiently in a wireless communication system are provided. A resource mapping method of a transmitter in a wireless communication system includes precoding pairs of symbols, arranging the pairs of precoded symbols adjacently in a resource block, and transmitting the pairs of precoded symbols in the resource block.
US08548081B2
In accordance with a method for diversity combining in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, repetition diversity equalization and combining may be performed with respect to received OFDMA signals. In addition, receiver antenna diversity equalization and combining may be performed with respect to the received OFDMA signals. The repetition diversity equalization and combining and the receiver antenna diversity equalization and combining may be performed in accordance with a maximum ratio combining (MRC) scheme.
US08548078B1
A ranging code present in a transmission from a transmitter to a receiver can be detected, and hence a time offset can be determined. For each of the possible ranging codes in a transmitted signal, a correlation is formed between a received signal and the ranging code for multiple subcarriers in the received signal. For multiple adjacent ranging subcarriers, the correlation is multiplied by a conjugate of the correlation of an adjacent ranging subcarrier in order to form a differential phase value. At least one ranging code in the transmitted signal can then be determined based on the differential phase values for said plurality of subcarriers. A time offset in the transmission from the transmitter to the receiver can then be determined, based on the differential phase values for the subcarriers, and based on the determined ranging code.
US08548077B2
A receiver includes a sample and hold module, a discrete time filter module, and a conversion module. The sample and hold module is operable to sample and hold a first inbound wireless signal and a second inbound wireless signal to produce a frequency domain sample pulse train. The discrete time filter module is operable to filter the frequency domain sample pulse train to produce a first filtered sample pulse corresponding to the first inbound wireless signal and to produce a second filtered sample pulse corresponding to the second inbound wireless signal. The conversion module is operable to convert the first filtered sample pulse into a first inbound baseband signal and to convert the second filtered sample pulse into a second inbound baseband signal.
US08548075B2
Systems and methods for adjusting timing in a communication system, such as an OFDM system are described. In one implementation an error signal is generated to adjust the timing of a variable rate interpolator so as to adjust FFT timing. The error signal may be based on detection of significant peaks in an estimate of the impulse response of the channel, with the peak locations being tracked over subsequent symbols and the system timing adjusted in response to changes in the peaks.
US08548071B2
An integrated circuit enabling the communication of data is described. The integrated circuit comprises an input/output port; a plurality of data converter circuits; and programmable interconnect circuits coupled between the input/output port and the plurality of data converter circuits, the programmable interconnect circuits enabling a connection of the plurality of data converter circuits to the input/output port of the integrated circuit. A method of enabling the communication of data in an integrated circuit is also described.
US08548062B2
A system for encoding and decoding video that uses power reduction techniques.
US08548057B2
Embodiments for reducing redundancy in video coding are disclosed. In accordance with at least one embodiment, video content is represented as a tree structure in which the nodes of the tree structure are associated with attributes of the video content. An encoder analyzes the nodes to determine whether there is redundancy associated with a last node of a divided node. In another embodiment, bidirectional prediction video coding techniques are applied to the video content. The encoder analyzes two lists of reference frames to determine whether a third mode of bidirectional prediction is redundant to a second mode of bidirectional prediction. The efficiency of video coding is improved by refraining from sending data symbols to the decoder in the event that the video coding techniques contain redundancy.
US08548053B2
In the method for predicting a bi-predictive block of a moving picture, first and second distinct motion-compensated blocks are obtained using first and second motion vectors respectively. The bi-predictive block of the moving picture is predicted using first and second variable weight factors associated with the first and second distinct motion-compensated blocks, respectively.
US08548052B2
Disclosed are a video encoding method and apparatus and a video decoding method and apparatus. The method of encoding video includes: producing a first predicted coding unit of a current coding unit, which is to be encoded; determining whether the current coding unit comprises a portion located outside a boundary of a current picture; and producing a second predicted coding unit is produced by changing a value of pixels of the first predicted coding unit by using the pixels of the first predicted coding unit and neighboring pixels of the pixels when the current coding unit does not include a portion located outside a boundary of the current picture. Accordingly, a residual block that is the difference between the current encoding unit and the second predicted encoding unit, can be encoded, thereby improving video prediction efficiency.
US08548045B2
A method for encoding a video sequence of video frames. Each video frame includes a plurality of macro blocks. One video frame of the video sequence is encoded based on a first quantization parameter value for generating a first bit stream of encoded macro blocks (12). Transmission of a subset of the encoded macro blocks from the first bit stream is initiated (13). It is determined if the first bit stream exceeds a bit budget. If the first bit stream is determined to exceed the bit budget, a second quantization parameter value, which is larger than the first quantization parameter value, is generated. Otherwise, the second quantization parameter value, which is smaller than the first quantization parameter value, is generated. At least a part of the video frame is encoded based on the second quantization parameter value for generating a second bit stream of encoded macro blocks (15, 15a). The first bit stream and the second bit stream are then merged (17, 17a). An apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed.
US08548040B2
A coding method includes: defining an access unit; and coding each of the pictures included in the access unit, for each access unit. The defining includes: determining a unit of coding for determining whether the pictures included in the access unit are to be uniformly coded on a per-field basis or on a per-frame basis; and determining a field type for determining whether the pictures are to be uniformly coded as top fields or bottom fields when it is determined that the pictures included in the access unit are to be coded on a per-field basis. In the coding, each of the pictures is coded for each access unit in a format determined in the determining of a unit of coding and in the determining of a field type.
US08548037B1
Automatic recalculation of tuner filter coefficients are made in order to compensate for changes in signal properties due to processing functionality in the tuner. The architecture compensates for processing changes, such as a large continuous range of clock frequency shifts, while not sacrificing bandwidth response characteristics of the channel filter. Embodiments may calculate coefficients in order to obtain response characteristics while utilizing a completely on-chip architecture, which does not require accessing off-chip software driver programs, and does not require complex look-up tables containing filter coefficients stored in onboard memory.
US08548033B2
Carrier frequency offset is determined by sample-to-sample phase shifts of a digital radio signal. The CFO range is divided into a number of intervals and creates as many parallel derived streams as there are interval endpoints by pre-compensating (“back rotating”) the input by the sample-to-sample phase shift corresponding to the particular endpoint. Magnitude and phase values are computed of the correlation of a preamble pattern period with the preamble segment of each derived stream in parallel. The largest resulting magnitude value(s) are used to zoom in on the actual CFO present in the input stream. Improved accuracy in the presence of noise may be obtained by repeating the search for a shorter interval centered on the prior CFO value. Final CFO and phase values from corresponding correlation computations then determine the actual CFO and corresponding sample-to-sample phase shift to be applied for pre-compensation (“back rotation”) in an open-loop AFC.
US08548021B2
Provided is a III-nitride semiconductor laser allowing for provision of a low threshold with use of a semipolar plane. A primary surface 13a of a semiconductor substrate 13 is inclined at an angle of inclination AOFF in the range of not less than 50 degrees and not more than 70 degrees toward the a-axis direction of GaN with respect to a reference plane perpendicular to a reference axis Cx along the c-axis direction of GaN. A first cladding layer 15, an active layer 17, and a second cladding layer 19 are provided on the primary surface 13a of the semiconductor substrate 13. The well layers 23a of the active layer 17 comprise InGaN. A polarization degree P in the LED mode of emission from the active layer of the semiconductor laser that reaches lasing is not less than −1 and not more than 0.1. The polarization degree P of the III-nitride semiconductor laser is defined by P=(I1−I2)/(I1+I2), using an electric field component I1 in the X1 direction and an electric field component I2 in the X2 direction of light in the LED mode.
US08548020B2
A III-nitride semiconductor laser device includes a laser structure including a support base, a semiconductor region, and an electrode. The support base includes a hexagonal III-nitride semiconductor and a semipolar primary surface. The semiconductor region includes first and second cladding layers and an active layer arranged along an axis normal to the semipolar primary surface. A c-axis of the hexagonal III-nitride semiconductor is inclined at an angle ALPHA with respect to the normal axis toward an m-axis of the hexagonal III-nitride semiconductor. The laser structure includes first and second fractured faces that intersect with an m-n plane defined by the normal axis and the m-axis of the hexagonal III-nitride semiconductor. A laser cavity of the laser device includes the first and second fractured faces. Each of the first and second fractured faces have a stripe structure on an end face of the support base.
US08548015B2
Provided is a wavelength-tunable external cavity laser module. The wavelength-tunable external cavity laser module includes: a gain medium generating light; an optical waveguide combined with the gain medium and including a Bragg grating and a thin film heater adjusting a temperature of the Bragg grating; and a high frequency transmission medium delivering a high frequency signal to the gain medium, wherein the high frequency transmission medium controls an operating speed of the light.
US08548000B2
A dual transmission stream generating device includes a turbo pre-processor that receives a turbo stream, encodes the turbo stream to obtain an encoded turbo stream, and expands the encoded turbo stream to obtain an expanded turbo stream; and a turbo packet stuffer that receives a normal stream and the expanded turbo stream, segments the expanded turbo stream into fragments having a specified size, and generates a dual transmission stream by stuffing the fragments of the encoded turbo stream into a specified area of the normal stream.
US08547997B2
An audiovisual signal is converted from a native format to a digital, packetized interchange format and transported between a capture node and a display node through a switch. The display node converts the audiovisual signal from the interchange format to a displayable format and causes display of the audiovisual signal. The use of a switch for video routing and distribution allows one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many distribution. The use of a device-independent interchange format allows concurrent distribution of multiple heterogeneous audiovisual signals.
US08547996B2
A system and method for optimizing data transfers in requests from a calling system to a called system via one or more channels are disclosed. Performance data related to a set of performance metrics for one or more communication scenarios of the calling system are stored in a database. The performance data is analyzed based on the performance metrics. An optimal channel is determined from the one or more channels on which a data transfer should occur based on the analyzing the performance data. A communication type is determined for the optimal channel.
US08547990B2
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a network element that is configured to be associated with a network having a number of nodes. A proxy node is configured to distinguish between a some signals received from a master node and other signals received from at least one hidden node, where the at least one hidden node is unable to bi-directionally directly communicate with the master at a given time. The proxy node is further configured to relay at least one signal between the master node and the hidden node to facilitate addition of the hidden node to the network via the master node. Other methods and devices are also disclosed.
US08547988B2
A wireless combination time, frequency and spectral shaping communications method that transmits data in convolution unit matrices (data frames) of N×N (N2), where generally either all N2 data symbols or elements are received over N spreading time intervals (each composed of N time slices), or none are. To transmit, each data element is assigned a unique waveform which is derived from a basic waveform of duration N time slices over one spreading time interval, where each basic waveform has a data element specific combination of a time and frequency cyclic shift. At the receiver, the received signal is correlated with the set of all N2 waveforms previously assigned to each data element by a transmitter for that specific time spreading interval, producing a unique correlation score for each one of the N2 data elements. The scores are summed over each data element, and this summation reproduces the data frame.
US08547987B2
A digital broadcasting system which is robust against an error when mobile service data is transmitted and a method of processing data are disclosed. The mobile service data is subjected to an additional coding process and the coded mobile service data is transmitted. Accordingly, it is possible to cope with a serious channel variation while applying robustness to the mobile service data.
US08547978B2
A system and method for providing Multicast/Broadcast Service (MBS) service to a mobile terminal in an MBS service provisioning system in a Wide Area Network (WAN) network are provided. An authentication server sends a message for requesting resource reservation, in which a Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy is included, when a registration procedure of the mobile terminal is performed. A base station stores the message sent from the authentication server, forwards the message to the mobile terminal, and sets up a channel to the mobile terminal upon receiving from the mobile terminal a request for channel setup based on the QoS policy.
US08547966B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a method for receiving initial filter criteria from a home subscriber server, transmitting information obtained from the initial filter criteria to a domain name system, receiving a multicast IP address from the domain name system, and transmitting a message to a plurality of IP multimedia subsystem network elements according to the multicast IP address. The message can be used for configuring the plurality of IP multimedia subsystem network elements. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08547953B2
The subject matter disclosed herein provides a mechanism for numbering OFDMA symbols in data regions of OFDMA frames. The method may include assigning, based on a pattern vector, one or more numbers to one or more symbols of a time diversity interval. Moreover, the one or more numbered symbols may be assigned to one or more segments. The pattern vector is then provided to a client station to enable the client station to access, based on the numbered one or more symbols, at least one of the segments. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described.
US08547944B2
A communication apparatus (101) includes: receiving means for receiving a communication parameter, which is necessary for communication, from another communication apparatus; storage means (103, 212) for storing the communication parameter; first detecting means for detecting a connection instruction for connection to a network; and connecting means which, if the connection instruction (S401) has been detected by the first detecting means, is for executing processing for connecting to the network using a communication parameter already stored in the storage means (212), or processing for connecting to the network after a communication parameter is received from another communication apparatus by the receiving means, in accordance with the type of communication parameter already stored in the storage means (212).
US08547942B2
In a wireless LAN system, the transaction efficiency may be enhanced. The transmitter station holds the number of transaction successes, the number of transaction failures, the data rate when the transaction is carried out, and the number wait to perform the transaction. The transmitter station determines that the radio wave condition is in the state {WS} from the data rate at which the transaction succeeded; the area covered by the transmitter station is influenced by the hidden terminal by the average rate of the failure transaction, and the area is influenced by the collision terminal from the relation between the number of the wait for the transaction and the data rate. The transmitter station selects an optimum mode for respective conditions.
US08547940B2
A transmission method of a digital broadcast, which is compatible with a DVB-T terrestrial digital broadcast system in Europe, saves a battery in a mobile terminal. Superframes in DVB-T are divided into units each including plural symbols so that an integer number of TS packets can be carried in each slot. At least one slot is used to transmit one service. Energy dispersion, Reed-Solomon coding, byte interleaving, convolutional coding, and time interleaving are applied to each service. When services for mobile terminal reception and services for fixed terminals are transmitted as the provided services, null packets may be transmitted before and after the slot carrying the mobile receiver service so that the fixed reception service and the mobile reception services are not mixed.
US08547935B2
The basic concept of the invention is to expand the capabilities of the MSC Server enhanced for SR-VCC and of the SCC AS to support a “session transfer revocation” procedure. To allow for such procedure it is envisaged that a MSC-Server enhanced for SR-VCC being involved in a Handover procedure for a call from a source RAN, e.g. E-UTRAN/UTRAN HSPA, to a target RAN, e.g. GERAN/UTRAN CS, sends an indication that a session transfer for said call should be performed towards the target RAN. Once the MSC-Server receives from a mobility management entity, such as MME or SGSN, of the source RAN an indication that a relocation request having initiated the session transfer indication is canceled, the MSC-Server may send an indication that the session transfer should be cancelled towards the SCC AS in the IMS which has performed the session transfer.
US08547934B2
A mobile communication method according to the present invention includes a step of monitoring, by a radio base station 201 connected to a user network, certain traffic in the user network, step of notifying, by the radio base station 201, a mobile communication network of communication quality information indicating that communication quality therein is not assurable when the radio base station 201 detects that the certain traffic exceeds a predetermined threshold, step of transmitting, by a mobile station 300, a communication start request which requests start of specific communication, to the mobile communication network, step of selecting, by the mobile communication network upon receipt of the communication start request, a radio base station to which the mobile station is connected at the time of performing the specific communication, the selection being made on the basis of the communication quality information, and step of starting, by the mobile station 300, the specific communication through the selected radio base station.
US08547929B1
A wireless device transmits a first sounding reference signal on a first cell of a first cell group in parallel with transmission of at least one of a first random access preamble in a second cell group, and a first uplink data packet on a second cell. The wireless device drops a second sounding reference signal in a symbol of the first cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: a second random access preamble is transmitted overlapping the symbol in the first cell group, and a second uplink packet is transmitted overlapping the symbol in the first cell.
US08547922B2
The present disclosure discloses a signal resource determination method, and the method includes that: carrying a dedicated demodulation data reference signal in a Resource Element (RE) on an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, wherein the OFDM symbol is in a non-control channel area of a Resource Block (RB) and carries a non-common reference signal.
US08547920B2
A method and system for communication device discovery and coordination of data channel selection between a first device and a second device in a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). The method includes transmitting a set of discovery beacon blocks by the first and second devices in a discovery channel using an asynchronous contention based medium access mechanism; scanning the discovery channel by the first and second devices; and coordinating between the first and second devices to select a data channel by exchanging channel selection command frames in the discovery channel using the asynchronous contention based medium access mechanism.
US08547910B2
Providing for fair resource sharing among wireless nodes in a wireless communication environment is described herein. By way of example, fairness can comprise establishing a set of resource sharing credits for wireless nodes. By expending credits, a node can borrow a resource of another node, to enable or enhance operation of the borrowing node. Credits for the borrowing node are decreased based on consumption of a shared resource, or credits for the lending node are increased based on such consumption, or both. Once an amount of credits expires, a node can be restricted from borrowing further resources until enough resources are lent to build up a suitable amount of credits. Accordingly, fairness can comprise correlating shared resource consumption with shared resource provisioning, to encourage participation in cooperative wireless communications.
US08547908B2
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for enriching a Diameter signaling message are disclosed. In one example, the method comprises receiving, at a Diameter routing node, a Diameter signaling message that is associated with a mobile subscriber and includes mobile subscriber related information and querying a Diameter binding repository (DBR) using the mobile subscriber related information to select a network service node from a plurality of network service nodes configured to process the Diameter signaling message. The method further includes obtaining DBR information associated with the mobile subscriber from the DBR, wherein the DBR information includes an identifier associated with the selected network service node and modifying the Diameter signaling message to include at least a portion of the DBR information.
US08547888B2
A set sleep period is coordinated among a plurality of mesh network nodes to conserve power, and a temporarily reduced sleep period is coordinated among the plurality of nodes to facilitate mesh network node service or installation activity. The reduced sleep period comprises scheduling a period of time during which the sleep period is reduced, or reverting from the temporarily reduced sleep period to the original set sleep period after predetermined period of time. Temporarily reducing the sleep period includes distributing a message throughout the mesh network when the mesh network nodes are awake.
US08547885B2
Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus including a plurality of frame head detection sections configured to determine whether a frame head complying with any one of a plurality of different communication methods is detected by comparing the waveform of a signal sent from an external apparatus with a plurality of predetermined different symbol patterns; a communication method selection section configured to select the communication method for communicating with the external apparatus based on results of the determination by the frame head detection sections and on the priority of each of the plurality of communication methods; and a priority changing section configured such that if a second communication method different from an initially selected first communication method is selected anew, then the priority changing section changes the priority of each of the plurality of communication methods based on the newly selected second communication method.
US08547879B1
A collaborative communication system comprises a highly flexible architecture that facilitates connecting communication devices and networks to establish multimedia collaboration sessions in a manner that allows distribution of various services and features throughout the collaborative communication system to provide scalability and selectable combination of cost, resource usage, and performance.
US08547868B2
Methods and apparatus to a cross-layer approach to virtualized overlay on ad hoc networks are described. In one embodiment, a virtual address may be used to search for a (key,value) pair in a virtual overlay. Other embodiments are also described.
US08547862B2
Described is incorporating white space networking components into a network stack. A user mode spectrum access control component determines which white space channels are currently allowed for use based upon policy, current operating status and availability information obtained from one or more sources. A white space service (e.g., in the WLAN service) receives the availability information. The white space service includes a discovery module that discovers other nodes, and a channel migration module that changes from the current channel to another channel if the current channel is no longer allowed for use. A kernel mode (NDIS layer) white space driver through a miniport driver controls the channel in use as the current channel. An automatic configuration module is provided that switches to Wi-Fi network communication when a Wi-Fi network is present, and switches back when a Wi-Fi network is not present.
US08547860B2
This innovation relates to systems and methods for multiple carrier allocation in wireless communication networks, and more particularly to allocation and/or de-allocation of one or multiple carriers on the uplink to a high-speed uplink packet access user. A radio network controller can allocate uplink carriers to users based on a plurality of criteria, including but not limited to network loading, channel conditions, and so forth. The allocation messages can be transmitted to the user via layer three messages or layer one signaling.
US08547859B2
A system, method, and computer readable medium that facilitate authentication center-initiated authentication procedures for a mobile station attached with a femtocell system are provided. A femtocell system may generate a registration identification of a mobile station from one or more mobile station authentication parameters. A convergence server located in a core network receives an authentication procedure request from an authentication center for the mobile station attached with the femtocell system and generates an authentication procedure request message that includes the registration identification assigned to the mobile station. The convergence server then transmits the authentication procedure request message to the femtocell system and receives a response to the authentication procedure request message from the femtocell system. The authentication procedure request may comprise a unique challenge, a shared secret data update procedure, or a call history count update procedure.
US08547855B1
An apparatus and method for scheduling multiple probes for monitoring of a network is disclosed. The method comprises identifying a group of multiple probes to be deployed over an IP network, each of the multiple probes measuring different performance metrics in the network. A schedule period is also identified, in which to schedule the deployment of the multiple probes in the group. An even or random mode of scheduling may be specified. In response the even mode of scheduling, the apparatus may schedule the deployment of the multiple probes in the defined group periodically in the schedule period and/or schedules the group of probes periodically. Alternatively, in response to the random mode of scheduling, the scheduling apparatus may schedule the deployment of each of the multiple probes in the defined group at random intervals and/or schedules the group of probes randomly.
US08547849B2
A telecommunications system comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network having uncommitted bandwidth, and a plurality of adaptive grooming routers (AGR) coupled to the network. The AGRs comprise a group adapted to function as a virtual transit exchange whose fabric and control are distributed over the group. The visual comprising the AGRs incorporates independent connection control and call routing functions and has means for determining the current system status whereby to set up narrow band connections across the ATM network based on that status determination.
US08547824B2
Systems and methods for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing are provided. In one embodiment, a multi-carrier modem comprises: a transmitter configured to modulate symbols onto at least one of a plurality of the spectrally overlapping carrier signals; a processor coupled to the transmitter, wherein the processor outputs data for transmission by the transmitter, wherein the processor applies an inverse Fourier transform to the data transmitted by the transmitter; the processor modulating a first carrier of the plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals based on a first modulation scheme while modulating a second carrier of the plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals based on a second modulation scheme.
US08547816B2
According to one embodiment, an information storage medium in which layer 0 and layer 1 are arranged from a read surface, a system lead-in area, data lead-in area, data area, and middle area are arranged from an inner circumference of the layer 0, and a system lead-out area, data lead-out area, data area, and middle area are arranged from an inner circumference of the layer 1. A guard track zone is arranged on a side of the data area in the data lead-out area, and a reference code zone, R physical format information zone, recording management zone, and drive test zone are arranged in the data lead-in area of the layer 0 and padding of the guard track zone of the data lead-out area is performed after padding of the drive test zone of data lead-in area and recording of the recording management zone.
US08547813B1
A circuit including a wobble signal phase imperfection detector configured to detect and correct a phase transition imperfection in a first scaled wobble signal sample. The wobble signal phase imperfection detector includes an integrator configured to integrate the first scaled wobble signal sample over substantially a half-period portion of the wobble clock signal, and a selector configured to select as an output either i) the first scaled wobble signal sample integrated over substantially one period of the wobble clock signal or ii) the first scaled wobble signal sample integrated over substantially the half-period portion of the wobble clock signal, wherein selection of the first scaled wobble signal sample integrated over substantially one period of the wobble clock signal indicates that the phase transition imperfection does not exist with the first scaled wobble signal sample.
US08547811B2
With a large capacity of an optical disk and high-speed recording, a frequency of a recording signal is increased and a pulse width is narrowed. In the case that a laser is driven by a signal having the short pulse width, unfortunately the high-speed recording is hardly performed to an optical disk when a rise time and a fall time of the optical pulse are lengthened. During user data recording, a bottom driving current is set to a second bottom driving current value that is a current value of a threshold or less, so that the rise time and the fall time of the optical pulse can be shortened to perform the high-speed recording of the optical disk.
US08547809B2
There is a need to prevent a possible erroneous detection of an off-track condition during recording to an optical disk. The above need can be addressed by, for example, determining an off-track condition has occurred when a light spot is located at least half-way from the track being recorded toward another track adjacent the track being recorded, and stopping a recording operation. In another example, the above need can be addressed by determining that off-track has occurred based on an output of a first off-track detector which detects that the light spot is off the track based on a wobble signal, an output of a second off-track detector which detects that the light spot is off the track based on a tracking error signal, and an output of a zero-cross detector which detects that the tracking error signal crosses zero based on an output of the tracking error signal.
US08547808B2
The present invention relates to an optical pickup actuator which includes a plurality of objective lenses for converging a light on an optical recording medium, a lens holder for holding the objective lenses, a suspension wire for holding the lens holder and projections provided at the lens holder, wherein the projections are provided at the periphery of the objective lens and at least one of the projections is provided on the upstream side of the insertion direction of the optical recording medium. A slope for guiding the optical recording medium upward at the time of inserting the optical recording medium is provided on the side surface of each of the projections. Thus, even when the optical recording medium is inserted so as to slide on the upper surface of a pickup cover, the end portion of the outer periphery of the optical recording medium contacts with the slope provided at the projection and slides to thereby push down the optical pickup actuator in the elevational direction. Thus, since there does not arise a force in the bending direction of the suspension wire, the deformation of the suspension wires can be prevented.
US08547804B2
In a magnetic recording head including an optical waveguide for guiding a laser beam to a surface of a magnetic recording medium, a shield is provided in the vicinity of at least one portion changing discontinuously in structure of the optical waveguide to absorb or reflect non-propagating light leaking from the discontinuous portion to the outside of the optical waveguide.
US08547803B2
The watch striking mechanism (1) includes a gong, which is fixed via one end thereof to a gong-carrier integral with a plate, a hammer rotatably mounted on the plate to strike the gong at determined times, a damper counter-spring (5) for keeping the hammer away from the gong in an idle mode, and a drive spring (3) for the hammer. The drive spring includes an end (3b) fixed to the plate and an end (3a) that is free to move. The spring can be wound so that the free end (3a) of the spring drives the hammer (2) against the gong (21) in a strike mode to produce an acoustic sound. The striking mechanism includes means (10) for actuating the damper counter-spring (5) in a strike mode with a time lag after the hammer (2) strikes the gong, so that after the hammer strikes the gong, the counter-spring pushes said hammer towards an idle position. The actuating means includes a stop member mounted on the damper counter-spring to be actuated via the drive spring when in action just after the hammer strikes the gong.
US08547802B2
A timepiece includes a movement, a ring member, and an hour plate. Upward engagement convex portions of the ring member have contact parts placed near an outer peripheral surface of the ring member. The hour plate has a plurality of interposition portions and a plurality of convex portion accommodation grooves opened to the peripheral surface thereof. The interposition portions divide the convex portion accommodation grooves, come into close contact with the contact parts in the state of being elastically deformed, and interpose the engagement convex portions therebetween along a direction perpendicular to a radial direction of the ring member. The convex portion accommodation grooves are housed in the respective engagement convex portions, and the hour plate is attached to the ring member.
US08547799B2
An ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging apparatus and a fabricating method thereof are provided. The ultrasonic probe includes a rear block, a flexible printed circuit board having wiring patterns formed thereon, a piezoelectric wafer, a ground electrode plate, an acoustic matching layer, an acoustic lens, and a plurality of slots. Holes are formed in at least one of the rear block, the piezoelectric wafer and the acoustic matching layer and wiring patterns are formed in the form of a matrix array, and thus vibration property and focusing can be improved to obtain clear images.
US08547793B2
Systems and methods perform correction of velocity cubes for seismic depth modeling. An example system receives a velocity model defined in the time domain for seismic modeling of a subsurface earth volume and receives well depth data associated with the subsurface earth volume. The system updates an average velocity cube associated with the velocity model to correct depth-converted time horizons to accord with known well markers, thereby increasing the accuracy and correctness of the velocity model.
US08547789B2
A method for determining on a real time logging while drilling (LWD) basis gas within earth formations traversed by a borehole. Continuous LWD acoustic measurements are recorded and processed including coherent energy and attenuation attributes to detect downhole gas zones and kick during drilling operations.
US08547788B2
A method for determining an acoustic anisotropy of a subterranean formation includes measuring acoustic wave slownesses at three or more toolface angles while rotating a logging while drilling tool in a borehole. Compressional, shear, and/or guided wave slownesses may be measured. The measured slownesses are fit to a mathematical model to obtain maximum and minimum slownesses. The maximum and minimum slownesses are processed to determine the acoustic anisotropy of the formation.
US08547782B2
A seismic survey system having a source array (11) coupled to a deflector device (15) that controls the position of the source array. A positioning system unit (16) is mounted on the source array to provide a signal to a controller, informing the controller of the current position of the source array so that the controller can control the position of the deflector device (15) and the coupled source array. A seismic source (14) on the source array may be triggered when the source array is at a desired location as measured by the positioning system unit. The deflector device (15) comprises one or more wings (18) in a generally vertical or, alternatively, in a generally horizontal arrangement disposed adjacent to a central body (19). The streamlined central body has connection points that allow the deflector device (15) to be connected to a tow cable (13) from the tow vessel (12) and to the source array (11).
US08547774B2
A memory system includes multiple (N) memory banks and multiple (M) ports, wherein N is greater than or equal to M. Each of the memory banks is coupled to each of the ports. Access requests are transmitted simultaneously on each of the ports. However, each of the simultaneous access requests specifies a different memory bank. Each memory bank monitors the access requests on the ports, and determines whether any of the access requests specify the memory bank. Upon determining that an access request specifies the memory bank, the memory bank performs an access to an array of single-port memory cells. Simultaneous accesses are performed in multiple memory banks, providing a bandwidth equal to the bandwidth of one memory bank times the number of ports. An additional level of hierarchy may be provided, which allows further multiplication of the number of simultaneously accessed ports, with minimal area overhead.
US08547773B2
An integrated circuit device includes at least one data driver block for driving data lines, a plurality of control transistors TC1 and TC2, each of the control transistors being provided corresponding to each output line of the data driver block and controlled by using a common control signal, and a pad arrangement region in which data driver pads P1 and P2 for electrically connecting the data lines and the output lines QL1 and QL2 of the data driver block are disposed. The control transistors TC1 and TC2 are disposed in the pad arrangement region.
US08547772B2
A memory power supply circuit is used for providing power to a first memory module received in a first memory slot and a second memory module received in a second memory slot, and comprises a logic circuit and a switching power supply. The logic circuit comprises a first input terminal electrically connected to the first memory slot, a second input terminal electrically connected to the second memory slot, and a first signal terminal. The switching power supply comprises a first power terminal, a second power terminal, and a second signal terminal electrically connected to the first signal terminal. When the first memory slot and the second memory slot receive the first memory slot and the second memory module, the switching power supply turns on the first power terminal and the second power terminal; otherwise, the switching power supply turns off the first power terminal or the second power terminal.
US08547771B2
To reduce power consumption of a semiconductor integrated circuit and to reduce delay of the operation in the semiconductor integrated circuit, a plurality of sequential circuits included in a storage circuit each include a transistor whose channel formation region is formed with an oxide semiconductor, and a capacitor whose one electrode is electrically connected to a node that is brought into a floating state when the transistor is turned off. By using an oxide semiconductor for the channel formation region of the transistor, the transistor with an extremely low off-state current (leakage current) can be realized. Thus, by turning off the transistor in a period during which power supply voltage is not supplied to the storage circuit, the potential in that period of the node to which one electrode of the capacitor is electrically connected can be kept constant or almost constant. Consequently, the above objects can be achieved.
US08547766B2
A data line layout includes column selection lines arranged in a first direction at a layer on a memory cell array region, and data lines arranged in the first direction at the layer, the data lines being connected between I/O sense amplifiers and I/O pads.
US08547756B2
A method for performing a holding operation to a semiconductor memory array having rows and columns of memory cells, includes: applying an electrical signal to buried regions of the memory cells, wherein each of the memory cells comprises a floating body region defining at least a portion of a surface of the memory cell, the floating body region having a first conductivity type; and wherein the buried region of each memory cell is located within the memory cell and located adjacent to the floating body region, the buried region having a second conductivity type.
US08547754B2
A charge pump in a memory device is activated to produce a programming voltage prior to data loading during a programming operation. During an initial programming cycle, first and second load voltages are charged from the charge pump. The first load is removed from the charge pump during a verify operation. The first load voltage is subsequently recharged by charge sharing from the second load voltage so that the charge pump is not initially necessary for recharging the first load voltage.
US08547753B2
It is an object to provide a semiconductor device in which power consumption can be reduced. It is another object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device using a programming cell, such as a programmable logic device (PLD). In accordance with a change in a configuration of connections between basic blocks, power supply voltage furnishing to the basic blocks is changed. That is, when the structure of connections between the basic blocks is such that a basic block does not contribute to a circuit, the supply of the power supply voltage to this basic block is stopped. Further, the supply of the power supply voltage to the basic blocks is controlled using a programming cell formed using a field effect transistor whose channel formation region is formed using an oxide semiconductor, the field effect transistor having extremely low off-state current or extremely low leakage current.
US08547751B2
There is provided a non-volatile storage device including: a bit line that is connected to a non-volatile storage element and is applied with a voltage of magnitude corresponding to the logic value stored in the storage element; a charging section that charges the bit line to a voltage of equivalent magnitude to the reference voltage; a voltage generation section that is connected between the reference voltage line and the bit line, comprises a capacitance load for generating coupling charge when charging by the charging section has been performed, and employs the capacitance load to generate a voltage according to a difference between the magnitude of the voltage of the reference voltage line and the magnitude of the voltage of the bit line as a voltage expressing the comparison result; and a charge absorbing section for absorbing the coupling charge generated by the capacitance load.
US08547750B2
Methods and devices for memory reads involving precharging adjacent data lines to a particular voltage for a read operation. During the operation, a data line associated with a selected memory cell is selectively discharged from the particular voltage depending upon the data value of the selected memory cell while the adjacent data line is maintained at the particular voltage. Various embodiments include the array architecture to facilitate precharging the adjacent pair of data lines to a particular voltage and maintaining the unselected data line at the particular voltage during a sensing phase of a read operation.
US08547749B2
A method for programming a memory device, a memory device, and a memory system are provided. According to at least one such method, a first programming pass generates a plurality of first programming pulses to increase the threshold voltages of target memory cells to either a pre-program level or to the highest programmed threshold. A second programming pass applies a plurality of second programming pulses to the target memory cells to increase their threshold voltages only if they were programmed to the pre-program level. The target memory cells programmed to their respective target threshold levels during the first pass are not programmed further.
US08547744B2
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes memory cells storing data in a nonvolatile manner, word lines connected to the memory cells and including a first word line and a second word line which is n-th (n is an integer of 1 or more) from the first word line, and a control circuit configured to control a voltage of a word line to write data to a memory cell so that data are written in order from the first word line to the second word line. In a write sequence of the first word line, the control circuit applies a writing voltage to the second word line before writing a memory cell connected to the first word line.
US08547742B2
A method for data storage includes accepting data for storage in a memory that includes multiple analog memory cells and supports a set of built-in programming commands. Each of the programming commands programs a respective page, selected from a group of N pages, in a subset of the memory cells. The subset of the memory cells is programmed to store M pages of the data, M>N, by performing a sequence of the programming commands drawn only from the set.
US08547737B2
A magnetoresistive element according to an embodiment includes: a first ferromagnetic layer having an axis of easy magnetization in a direction perpendicular to a film plane; a second ferromagnetic layer having an axis of easy magnetization in a direction perpendicular to a film plane; a nonmagnetic layer placed between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer; a first interfacial magnetic layer placed between the first ferromagnetic layer and the nonmagnetic layer; and a second interfacial magnetic layer placed between the second ferromagnetic layer and the nonmagnetic layer. The first interfacial magnetic layer includes a first interfacial magnetic film, a second interfacial magnetic film placed between the first interfacial magnetic film and the nonmagnetic layer and having a different composition from that of the first interfacial magnetic film, and a first nonmagnetic film placed between the first interfacial magnetic film and the second interfacial magnetic film.
US08547724B2
A nonvolatile memory device comprises a one-time-programmable (OTP) lock bit register. The nonvolatile memory device comprises a variable-resistance memory cell array comprising an OTP block that store data and a register that stores OTP lock state information indicating whether the data is changeable. The register comprises a variable memory cell. An initial value of the OTP lock state information is set to a program protection state.
US08547719B2
A stacked memory device includes a plurality of memory layers, where at least one of the plurality of memory layers is stacked on another of the plurality of memory layers and each of the memory layers includes an array of memory cells, a first active circuit unit configured to classify and process address information for at least one of the memory cells as vertical address information and horizontal address information, and at least one second active circuit unit configured to generate a memory selection signal for at least one of the memory cells based on signals processed by the first active circuit unit.
US08547718B2
A power converter apparatus having a configuration of a plurality of unit cells, including a DC capacitor and semiconductor devices, connected in cascade, includes a variable voltage source that is connected with a DC link, and a unit having a function that initially charges up the DC capacitor in the unit cell alone selected at a time of an initial charge.
US08547716B2
A power converting apparatus comprises a DC-DC converter circuit that steps up or steps down an input voltage from a DC power supply, a DC-AC converter circuit that converts an intermediate voltage outputted by the DC-DC converter circuit to an alternate current, and a control circuit that controls the DC-DC converter circuit and the DC-AC converter circuit. The control circuit is provided with a circuit control unit that controls the DC-DC converter circuit so that the modulation factor, which is the amplitude ratio between a signal wave for manipulating the DC-AC converter circuit and the carrier wave therefor, will become a target modulation factor.
US08547714B2
There are provided an output inverter for single phase which can detect a current with high precision through a smaller number of components, and an output current detecting method thereof. A first current detector (6) is disposed between a positive electrode P side of a DC power supply and a parallel connector (1) in a first arm (8), a second current detector (7) is disposed between a negative electrode N side of the DC power supply and a parallel connector (4) in a second arm (9), a current in a first convection mode is detected by the first current detector (6), a current in a second convection mode is detected by the second current detector (7), and an output current is detected from signals output from the first current detector (6) and the second current detector (7).
US08547711B2
An active snubber circuit for a power converter, a method of operating the same and an inductor inductor capacitor converter incorporating the circuit or the method. In one embodiment, the circuit includes: (1) a series-coupled first capacitor and diode associated with a secondary-side switch in the power converter and coupled to an output thereof and (2) an active snubber circuit switch coupled in parallel with the diode and configured to receive a control signal that closes the active snubber circuit switch during at least a portion of a time during which the secondary-side switch is open.
US08547705B2
Provided is a semiconductor device which includes a wiring substrate; a semiconductor chip fixedly attached to a first surface of the wiring substrate; a power supply pad that is provided on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the wiring substrate, and supplies electric power to the wiring substrate; a ground pad that is provided on the second surface of the wiring substrate and grounds the wiring substrate; a power supply-side reinforcing member that is connected to the power supply pad and made of metal; a ground-side reinforcing member that is connected to the ground pad and made of metal; and an insulating part that insulates the power supply-side reinforcing member and the ground-side reinforcing member from each other.
US08547700B2
A sliding module includes a first section, a second section, a sliding member, at least one elastic member and a pivot body. The sliding member is slidably engaged with the first section, and is rotatably connected to the second section. One end of the at least one elastic member is fixed to the first section, the other end is fixed to the sliding member. Two ends of the pivot body are respectively connected to the first section and the second section. When the sliding member slides relative to the first section, the pivot body brings the second section to move and rotate relative to the first section in a tilted orientation.
US08547696B2
A latch module and an electronic device using the same are provided. The electronic device includes the latch module as well as first and second bodies that are opened and closed relative to each other. The latch module in the first body includes a pressing member, a linking member, and a latch. The pressing member is movably configured in and passes through the first body along a first axis. The linking member is pivoted to the first body. The pressing member leans against the linking member. The latch is configured in the first body along a second axis. The linking member leans against the latch. The pressing member moves relative to the first body along the first axis to press and rotate the linking member relative to the first body. Thus, the linking member presses the latch to move relative to the first body along the second axis.
US08547695B2
A removable pad kit for a smart device, such as an iPhone®, an iPad®, a Samsung Galaxy®, a Samsung Galaxy Tab®, or the like, is disclosed. The removable kit may comprise a removable pad. The removable pad is configured to at least partially cover a home button, or the like, of the smart device to protect the home button and prevent accidental or intentional tapping on the home button.
US08547684B2
A load center includes a pair of generally parallel busbars for distributing a single phase of electricity to circuit breakers through a multitude of stabs that form respective bridges between the pair of busbars to provide respective bidirectional paths for dissipating heat from each of the stabs to both of the busbars and to provide a connection point for a pair of circuit breakers installed into the load center.
US08547679B2
An electronic weapon has an installed deployment unit from which an electrode, tethered by a filament, is launched. According to various aspects of the present invention, the deployment unit includes a housing, two filaments stored in the housing prior to launching, and two electrodes, each coupled to the end of one of the filaments. A propellant in the housing launches the electrodes responsive to the launch device. In operation, an end portion of each filament experiences a tensile stress during launching. The tensile stress follows a nonlinear path along a surface of an undulation of an interior of the respective electrode.
US08547677B2
The application discloses novel internal structures of energy conditioners, assemblies of external structures of energy conditioners and mounting structure, and novel circuits including energy conditioners having A, B, and G master electrodes.
US08547660B2
A magnetic write head having a tapered trailing edge and having a magnetic layer formed over a trailing edge of the write pole at a location recessed from the ABS, the magnetic layer being separated from the trailing edge of the write pole by a thin non-magnetic layer. The thin non-magnetic layer is preferably sufficiently thin that the magnetic layer can function as a portion of the write pole in a region removed from the ABS. A trailing magnetic shield is formed over the write pole and is separated from the write pole by a non-magnetic trailing gap layer. A non-magnetic spacer layer can be formed over the magnetic layer to provide additional separation between the magnetic layer and the trailing magnetic shield.
US08547657B1
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk surface comprising a plurality of tracks, each track comprising a plurality of servo sectors. The disk drive further comprises a head coupled to a distal end of an actuator arm, and a voice coil motor (VCM) and a microactuator operable to actuate the head over the disk surface. The head is first servoed in response to the servo sectors, and after first servoing the head, a manufacturing procedure is executed by controlling the VCM and the microactuator to servo the head while accessing the disk surface. After executing the manufacturing procedure, the head is second servoed in response to the servo sectors, and the microactuator is evaluated in response to the first and second servoing.
US08547626B2
A method of shaping a mechanical layer is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises depositing a support layer, a sacrificial layer and a mechanical layer over a substrate, and forming a support post from the support layer. A kink is formed adjacent to the support post in the mechanical layer. The kink comprises a rising edge and a falling edge, and the kink can be configured to control the shaping and curvature of the mechanical layer upon removal of the sacrificial layer.
US08547615B2
A head-mounted display device for generating reconstructions of three-dimensional representations including a frame, in which at least one light source, at least one optical system and at least one encodable light modulator are situated, wherein the light modulator with an encoding of a wavefront of the three-dimensional representation in the encoding area is positioned at the place of an observer window defined in an observer plane or the light modulator with an encoding of a hologram of the wavefront of the three-dimensional representation in the encoding area is positioned in the region closely in front of the observer window for transforming the hologram into the observer window. When the light modulators are illuminated, complex wavefronts of the three-dimensional representation are situated in the observer window and the reconstruction of the three-dimensional representation is visible in a visual cone spanned by the observer window and the light modulator.
US08547614B2
Provided is a 3-colorant DOD (dot-off-dot) periodic halftone geometry used to render an image. The DOD 3-colorant halftone geometry includes a base colorant halftone screen with hexagonally tiled halftone dots arranged in a hexagonal pattern, the hexagonally tiled halftone dots having a first fundamental frequency vector Vh1, a second fundamental frequency vector Vh2, and a third fundamental frequency vector Vh3, where Vh3 is substantially equivalent to Vh1+Vh2.
US08547611B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a storing section, an image forming section to form a measurement image to output a measurement chart, and a control section for inputting density information indicating densities at positions of the measurement image, to calculate a correction value corresponding to each position based on the density information, to store the value in association with an output condition including a screen condition indicating a screen processing at the time of outputting the chart, to determine the output condition of the image data, to read the value corresponding to the output condition, and to correct the image data based on the value, wherein the image forming section forms an image based on the corrected image data, and when no correction value corresponding to the screen condition of the input image data is stored in the storing section, the control section inhibits the correction from being executed.
US08547610B2
An image processing apparatus includes: an output unit that outputs a tone-correction-parameter generation sheet and a scanner-profile generation sheet identical in layout of patch columns, each containing patches of different tone values, formed thereon; a scanning unit that scans the patches at scanner positions on a platen; a scanner-profile creating unit that creates, for each of the scanner positions, a scanner profile specifying a relationship between readout values of patches on the scanner-profile generation sheet and color measurement values of the patches measured with a colorimeter; a color-measurement-value deriving unit that determines, from readout values of the patches on the tone-correction-parameter generation sheet and the scanner profiles for the scanner positions, color measurement values of the patches; and a calculating unit that calculates a tone correction parameter for correcting differences between the color measurement values and target color measurement values for the patches on the tone-correction-parameter generation sheet.
US08547604B2
A cable arrangement structure is provided with a movable body configured to reciprocally move relative to a base member, and a flexible cable transmitting electrical signals. One end of the flexible cable is fixedly connected to the base member, and another end is connected to the movable body. The flexible cable has a curved portion, and both ends of the flexible cable being located on a same side with respect to the curved portion. A tension applying unit configured to contact the curved portion of the flexible cable from an inner side of a curvature of the curved portion to apply tension to the flexible cable when the curved portion is located on a front direction of the movable body as moved. Application of the tension to the flexible cable is controlled in mechanical association with movement of the movable body.
US08547596B2
An image forming apparatus includes a first density correction unit that corrects density correction characteristics in correcting density of print image data to be output by using a density correction patch formed in an image forming process; a second density correction unit that corrects the density correction characteristics by using a density correction patch printed on a recording sheet; an image inspection unit that compares an image density of inspection image data obtained by scanning a printed output image with an image density of the print image data to be output, thereby inspecting a magnitude of a density change in the printed output image; and a density control unit that selects one from the first and second density correction units according to the magnitude of the density change and causes the density correction characteristics to be corrected by the selected one from the first and second density correction units.
US08547591B2
An image processing apparatus performing image processing on image data stored in a temporary storage area, is provided. The image processing apparatus includes: a size-reducing unit that reduces a size of original image data, wherein the size of the original image data is reduced according to a parameter of the original image data such that a size-reduction ratio of a chroma component is greater than a size-reduction ratio of a luminance component, to perform the image processing; and a storage control unit that stores size-reduced image data in the temporary storage area to perform the image processing.
US08547590B2
An apparatus and method of calculating a resolution. The method of calculating a resolution includes selecting a region having an edge from a test chart, calculating a spatial frequency response (SFR) of an image forming device that has printed the test chart from the selected region, setting a frequency that corresponds to a principal SFR among the calculated SFRs of the image forming device as a principal frequency of the SFR of the image forming device, and judging the set principal frequency as the resolution of the image forming device.
US08547581B2
A printing system includes a storage unit that stores printing status information and host apparatus identification information. The printing status information includes a printing status representing whether a printing processing of the print job is interrupted, and the host apparatus identification information represents the host apparatus as a requestor of the print job. The printing system includes a update unit that updates the printing status information based on a monitoring result of the printing apparatus; a job managing unit that judges whether to execute the print job according to the printing status information when receiving a processing request of the print job from the host apparatus; and a printing status information managing unit that decides printing status information to be stored in the storage unit. The printing status information managing unit first deletes, from the storage unit, printing status information on a print job transmitted from a low-ranked host apparatus.
US08547569B2
In order to easily set a process condition with effective use of a function of each of a plurality of MFPs, an image processing system includes a plurality of MFPs connected to a network. Each of a plurality of MFPs includes a group function information storing unit to store, for each of a plurality of MFPs, function information which defines an individual process that does not allow processed data to be output to any MFP other than that MFP and a shared process that allows processed data to be output to any MFP other than that MFP, a setting screen display unit to read function information of all of a plurality of MFPs to display a setting screen that allows setting of a process condition for performing a process that can be performed in at least one of a plurality of MFPs, a process condition reception unit to receive the process condition, and an output unit to output the process condition to any one of a plurality of MFPs.
US08547565B2
An image processing apparatus is capable of transmitting its status information to a remote apparatus. A job receiving section receives an image outputting job from an external apparatus. An image outputting section outputs an image based on the image outputting job. A notification destination information memory stores notification destination information including a first notification destination for a first output device and a second notification destination for a second output device. A communication section sends status information about the image outputting section to the first and second notification destinations. When the image outputting section is outputting the image, if the status information is outputted from the image outputting section, the communication section sends the status information to the first output device. If job receiving section receives another image outputting job when the status information exists, the communication section sends the status information to the second output device.
US08547562B2
An image forming device includes an operation unit, a job executing unit, a receiving unit, a first determining unit, and a second determining unit. The print job received at the receiving unit contains information about an amount of print resource to be consumed. The first determining unit determines whether the receiving unit receives a print job while the user is setting another print job by the operation unit. The second determining unit determines whether the print resource remains as much as both the received print job and the another print job can be executed when the first determining unit determines that the receiving unit receives the print job while the user is setting the another print job by the operation unit. The job executing unit sets an order of priority for executing the print job based on the determination result of the second determining unit.
US08547560B2
A sheet processing apparatus includes a gripper unit which is moved to a retreat region along long grooves in advance when moving a stapler unit to any one of first and second binding positions. The stapler unit is moved to the binding position by being guided by a guide rail portion while passing above the long grooves. Therefore, moving operations of both of the gripper unit and the stapler unit can be smoothly performed under a state in which movement of both thereof is not prohibited by the long grooves and the guide rail portion. Further, an image forming apparatus including the sheet processing apparatus is provided.
US08547558B2
A wind power rotor with measuring device (3) for measuring rotor deflection. A measuring cavity (20), which has a transmitter/receiver (31/32) at one end and a reflector device (33) at the other end, extends in a longitudinal direction of the rotor. The transmitter/receiver (31/32) is accommodated in a housing (50), which is fastened to an intermediate plate (10) with three-point mounting (12, 13, 14).
US08547554B2
A system includes a moisture analyzer configured to detect moisture in natural gas. The moisture analyzer includes an absorption cell that encloses and conducts the natural gas. The moisture analyzer also includes a pressure control device that may reduce a pressure of the natural gas inside the absorption cell. The moisture analyzer includes a light emitting device that may transmit light through the natural gas inside the absorption cell, as well as a photodetector that may detect an intensity of the light transmitted through the natural gas and exiting the absorption cell.
US08547548B1
Disclosed is a final defect inspection system, which including a host device, a microscope, a bar code scanner, a support tool, a signal transceiver and an electromagnetic pen. The bar code scanner scans a bar code on a circuit board provided on the support plate. The host device selects data and a circuit layout diagram from the database corresponding to the bar code. The signal transceiver and the electromagnetic pen are electrically connected to the host device. The electromagnetic pen is used to make a mark on a scrap region of the circuit board where any defect is visually found through the microscope. The signal transceiver receives and transmits the positions of the mark to the host device such that the host device calculates the coordinate of a scrap region based on a relative position between an original point and the positions of the mark.
US08547546B2
A data processing and controlling portion calculates the amounts of coordinate deviations between the artificial defects on the standard sample and the detected defects, checks the sensitivity (instrumental sensitivity (luminance, brightness, or the like)), and proceeds to execution of hardware corrections. If the coordinate deviation is less than a certain value, software corrections are carried out. In the case of the software corrections, coordinate corrections are made for the whole standard sample. The amounts of coordinate deviations are computed and checked. If the amounts of coordinate deviations are outside a tolerance, coordinate corrections are made for each region obtained by dividing the standard sample.
US08547545B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for inspecting a surface of a substrate. The apparatus includes: a rotatable stage on which a substrate to be inspected is placed; an inspection optical system having an illumination light source for emitting light to a substrate placed on the stage and a detector for detecting light from the substrate which is irradiated with the light from the illumination light source; an A/D converter for amplifying and A/D converting signals output from the detector in the inspection optical system; and a defect detector for detecting defects in a surface of the substrate by processing signals output from the detector and converted by the A/D converter and classifying the defected defects. The defect detector extracts micro defects in the surface of the substrate by processing the signals output from the detector, and detects linear defects existing discretely in a linear region.
US08547541B2
A method for determining optical properties of an optical fiber including providing optical fibers having varying values of an optical property, measuring values of the optical property of the fibers, selecting one of the fibers as a reference fiber, determining the relative backscatter coefficient of the fibers compared to the reference optical fiber, correlating data obtained in step ii) with data obtained in step iv) to obtain a calibration curve showing a correlation between the Rrel and the values of the optical property of the optical fibers, measuring the Rrel of another optical fiber compared to the reference fiber, and determining a value of the optical property of the another optical fiber based on the calibration curve obtained in step v).
US08547538B2
A method of generating a library of reference spectra includes storing at least one reference spectrum, storing a plurality of different transmission curves, and for at least two transmission curves from the plurality of different transmission curves, calculating a modified reference spectrum from the reference spectrum and the transmission curve to generate a plurality of modified reference spectra. The transmission curves represent distortion to a spectrum introduced by variations in components in an optical path before a substrate surface.
US08547506B2
A color filter substrate including a substrate, a black matrix layer and a color filter substrate layer is provided. The substrate has a plurality of grooves. The black matrix layer is disposed on the substrate between each two adjacent grooves, wherein the black matrix layer extends to the region above the groove from the edge of the groove and an undercut profile forms between the bottom of black matrix and the substrate. The color filter layer including a plurality of filter films separated is filled in the plurality of grooves and the plurality of filter films is separated from each other by the black matrix layer. In addition, a method of fabricating a color filter substrate is also provided. The above-mentioned color filter substrate and the fabricating method thereof can improve the quality and color uniformity of the color filter substrate.
US08547495B2
Disclosed is a display device. The display device comprises a frame receiving at least one of a liquid crystal panel and a backlight unit, an adhesive layer coupling the liquid crystal panel to the backlight unit, and wherein the adhesive layer comprises at least one of an adhesive sheet for light diffusion and a polarizer film.
US08547481B2
This invention is a preprocessor apparatus and method algorithm facilitating black bar detection in video frames or fields. The preprocessing marks a sharp discontinuity between pixels a predetermined distance apart on each line. On first detection of this discontinuity the location and pixel value is stored. The location and pixel value is also stored for the last discontinuity in the line. This data enables software to detect top horizontal bars, bottom horizontal bars, left vertical bars and right vertical bars.
US08547480B1
Multi-window display operations may be optimized in an electronic device. The electronic device comprises a screen that may be operable to provide a multi-window display by enabling configuring of a plurality of display regions, where video content corresponding to one or more of the plurality of applications is displayed in each of the plurality of display regions. Optimizing multi-window display operations may comprise monitoring updates of video content for each of the plurality of display regions of the screen, and generating a frame comprising video content for all of the plurality of display regions when one or both of the following occurs: all pending video content updates are completed and a frame generation deadline is reached.
US08547476B2
An imager and a method for real-time, non-destructive monitoring of light incident on imager pixels during their exposure to light. Real-time or present pixel signals, which are indicative of present illumination on the pixels, are compared to a reference signal during the exposure. Adjustments, if necessary, are made to programmable parameters such as gain and/or exposure time to automatically control the imager's exposure to the light. In a preferred exemplary embodiment, only a selected number of pixels are monitored for exposure control as opposed to monitoring the entire pixel array.
US08547474B2
The image pickup apparatus is configured to move a focus lens and an image pickup element to perform focusing, the image pickup element being moved in a predetermined movable range. The image pickup apparatus includes a position detector configured to detect a position of the image pickup element moved for the focusing; and a controller configured to move, after the focusing, the image pickup element to a specific position closer to a center of the predetermined movable range than the position detected by the position detector and to move the focus lens so as to decrease generation of defocus due to the movement of the image pickup element to the specific position.
US08547471B2
A camera module includes an image sensor chip including a substrate having first and second opposite surfaces and a ground pad on the first surface, a housing surrounding the sides of the image sensor chip but which leaves the second surface of the image sensor chip exposed, an electromagnetic wave-shielding film united with the housing, and an electrical conductor electrically connected to the ground pad. The camera module also has an optical unit disposed on the first surface of the image sensor chip in the housing to guide light from an object to the image sensor chip. The electrical conductor extends through a side of the housing. The conductor also contacts the electromagnetic wave-shielding film to electrically connect the ground pad and the electromagnetic wave-shielding film.
US08547468B2
An image pickup apparatus that reduces the likelihood that when a user operates a display screen with a fingertip while not looking through a viewfinder, the user's fingertip will be falsely detected, and makes it less likely that erroneous operation resulting from the false detection will occur. When an eye proximity sensor detects an object approaching, the light emission luminance of a display unit is reduced, or display on the display unit is turned off. When the eye proximity sensor has not detected an object approaching, first-type display objects that execute assigned functions in response to touch operations are displayed farther away from the eye proximity sensor on a display surface of the display unit than second-type display objects that do not execute assigned functions even when touched. When a touch on any of the first-type display objects is detected, a function assigned to the first-type display object is executed.
US08547459B2
A solid-state imaging device, includes: plural unit pixels including a photoelectric conversion portion converting incident light into an electrical signal, and a waveguide having a quadratic curve surface at an inner surface and introducing the incident light to the photoelectric conversion portion.
US08547456B1
A method for monitoring inactive pixels in a scene imaging system may include determining a location of at least one inactive pixel in a focal plane array. The method may include sensing an environment image based upon a surrounding environment of an aircraft. The method may include generating an image associated with the environment image. The method may include evaluating a location for one or more inactive pixels in the generated image in comparison to a location for the at least one inactive pixel in the focal plane array. The method may include determining whether a fault exists in image generation or image display based upon the evaluation.
US08547455B2
An image processing circuit includes an analogue front-end (AFE) processing unit, comprising a horizontal driver, an image-capturing unit, a voltage current regulation unit, and a dummy loading device. The image-capturing unit is driven by the horizontal driver. The voltage current regulation unit at least provides a voltage and a current to the AFE processing unit. The dummy loading device bears an inrush current noise of the current, connected to an output terminal of the voltage current regulation unit. During a predetermined time section just before a start of transmitting a horizontal shift clock by the AFE processing unit to the image-capturing unit, the dummy loading device is set at a turned-on state within the predetermined time section, and set at a turned-off state other than the predetermined time section.
US08547452B2
An image processing apparatus including: a pixel array section in which unit pixels, each having a photoelectric conversion element, are two-dimensionally arranged in a matrix; and a signal processing section determining a signal level by any one of a water gate mode determining the signal level in accordance with a first amount of electric charge based on an electric charge accumulated in the unit pixels, the electric charge more than or equal to a prescribed accumulated electric charge, in a first exposure period or a second amount of electric charge based on all the electric charges accumulated in the unit pixels in a second exposure period including the first exposure period and a multiple exposure mode determining the signal level in accordance with a plurality of amounts of electric charge based on all the electric charges accumulated in the unit pixels in a plurality of exposure periods.
US08547450B2
A method for calibrating automatic white balance (AWB) in a digital system is provided that includes capturing an image of a test target under a natural lighting condition, generating a first color temperature reference from the captured image, and outputting AWB configuration data for the digital system, wherein the AWB configuration data comprises the first color temperature reference and a second color temperature reference generated using the test target under simulated lighting conditions. A method for calibrating automatic white balance (AWB) in a digital system comprising a first imaging sensor is provided that includes receiving a reference for AWB that was generated using an image captured using a second imaging sensor, and compensating a histogram reference into a histogram reference for AWB for the first imaging sensor in the digital system based on R, G, B adjustment values from the second imaging sensor to the first imaging sensor.
US08547445B1
An apparatus having a circuit is disclosed. The circuit may be configured to (i) process a digital image received from a camera sensor and (ii) convert the digital image after the processing. The converting generally uses a lookup table-based conversion that performs both (a) a color correction and (b) a tone correction.
US08547438B2
An object detecting apparatus includes an evaluation information storage unit that stores evaluation information used for computing an evaluation value for each of a plurality of objects, where the evaluation value is used for evaluating which one of the objects is contained in an image, a determination information storage unit that stores determination information used for determining whether the object is contained in an image in association with each of the objects, a computing unit that computes the evaluation value for each of the objects by extracting features from a plurality of areas of the image using the evaluation information and comparing two of the extracted features, and a determination unit that determines whether the object is contained in the image using the determination information associated with the object relating to the evaluation value that satisfies a predetermined condition among the evaluation values computed for the objects.
US08547436B2
A method of configuring data processing apparatus for automatically determining the real size of an object in an image of a scene is provided. The method includes responding to user input by displaying in the image of the scene displayed on the display screen a virtual object representative of a real size object to establish a first datum position, and storing data defining the first datum position; varying a size of the virtual object in the image; storing data representative of a horizontal and vertical size of the virtual object relative to the displayed image at the first datum position; displaying said virtual object at a second datum position in said image; varying the size of the virtual object on the display screen at the second datum position; and storing data representative of the vertical and horizontal size of the virtual object at the second datum position.
US08547435B2
An internet connected mobile security system for recording at least one audio and video on a removable semiconductor storage media in a continuous record loop for evidentiary documentation purposes inside an automotive vehicle or as a wearable video recording device is described.
US08547433B2
It is disclosed an extended-life video detector assembly (VDA) directable at a viewing region. The VDA includes a video camera module having a normally inactive state, and a passive detection module (PDM) for selective activation of the video camera module. A battery powers the VDA for an extended period of at least two years. The VDA may include a control panel assembly (CPA) positioned within a communication range from the VDA for sending and receiving wireless signals to and from the VDA, and a central monitoring station located remotely from the CPA and communicating with it. Also the VDA includes a recording module, for recording video information. The PDM discriminates movement of an object in the viewing region and consequently activates the video camera module, based on characteristic parameters like temperature, size, movement direction, and movement speed.
US08547428B1
A pipe inspection system employing a camera head assembly incorporating multiple local condition sensors, an integral dipole Sonde, a three-axis compass, and a three-axis accelerometer. The camera head assembly terminates a multi-channel push-cable that relays local condition sensor and video information to a processor and display subsystem. A cable storage structure includes data connection and wireless capability with tool storage and one or more battery mounts for powering remote operation. During operation, the inspection system may produce a two- or three-dimensional (3D) map of the pipe or conduit from local condition sensor data and video image data acquired from structured light techniques or LED illumination.
US08547427B2
An illumination device and an observation system capable of outputting light having a continuous spectrum and high color rendering properties are provided. Employed is an illumination device including a first light source that emits first-wavelength-band light having a first wavelength band of violet color; a second light source that emits second-wavelength-band light having a second wavelength band that is broader than the first wavelength band and having a continuous spectrum; a light combining section that is composed of a dicroic mirror and that combines the first-wavelength-band light and the second-wavelength-band light; and a combination-ratio adjusting section that adjusts the combination ratio of the first-wavelength-band light and the second-wavelength-band light to be combined by the light combining section.
US08547426B2
Systems, apparatus, and methods for providing a micro-scanning system with low settle times for fingerprint image capture are provided. In one embodiment, a flexure apparatus includes a stiffening device and parallelogram structures. The flexure apparatus is configured to move an image sensor to different positions to capture images that can be used to form a composite image according to micro-scanning techniques. The stiffening device allows the resonant frequency of the flexure apparatus to be established at a higher level than the operation frequency of the flexure apparatus, minimizing the settle time required for the flexure apparatus.
US08547425B2
The diagnosability of diseased parts is improved by precisely correcting fluorescence images without being affected by specular reflection and without being affected by thick blood vessels. Provided is a fluorescence observation apparatus that includes a light source unit that radiates, onto an observation target site, illumination light that is in the wavelength band absorbed by a blood vessel, first excitation light that includes the wavelength band of the illumination light and generates autofluorescence by exciting an autofluorescent substance in the blood vessel, and second excitation light that is in a different wavelength band from the first excitation light and generates agent fluorescence by exciting fluorescent dye that selectively stains normal tissue and abnormal tissue; an image-acquisition unit that obtains respective images by capturing reflected light, autofluorescence, and agent-fluorescence, obtained by radiating the illumination light, and the first and the second excitation light onto the same observation target site; and an image processing unit that extracts a blood-vessel image from the obtained reflected-light image, obtains a reference image by applying interpolation to an area in the autofluorescence image corresponding to the extracted blood-vessel image, and corrects the agent-fluorescence image, obtained by the image-acquisition unit, based on the obtained reference image.
US08547421B2
A display includes an integrated imaging sensor and a plurality of pixels. The imaging sensor integrated within the display includes a plurality of individual sensors each of which provides an output. The content of the display is modified based upon the sensed content.
US08547419B2
The method of the invention includes: determining a set of points of a space and a value of each of these points at a given moment, the set of points including the points of the object in the position thereof at the given moment; selecting a three-dimensional representation function that can be parameterized with parameters and an operation that gives, using the three-dimensional representation function, a function for estimating the value of each point in the space; and determining parameters, such that, for each point in the set, the estimation of the value of the point substantially gives the value of the point.
US08547412B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a light source; a photosensitive member; a brushless motor including a stator and a rotor; a rotary polygon mirror rotated by the brushless motor; an energization switching unit that turns on/off energizations of the coils; a voltage detecting unit that outputs a detection signal based on induced voltages generated in coils of the stator by rotation of the rotor; and a motor controlling unit that controls the turning on/off of the energizations by the energization switching unit based on the detection signal. In a non-image forming period after one image forming operation, the motor controlling unit performs a low-speed process where the motor controlling unit maintains a rotation speed of the brushless motor at a speed, which is lower than a speed in the image forming operation, and at which the induced voltages are detectable by the voltage detecting unit.
US08547404B2
A liquid crystal display apparatus enables image display with optimum quality corresponding to the genre of an image to be displayed. The liquid crystal display apparatus controls the emission luminance of a backlight according to the APL of an image signal measured at an APL measuring portion 14. Upon emission luminance control, the display apparatus sets the follow performance of a change of the backlight emission luminance in following a change in a characteristic quantity of the image signal according to a genre so that the display image can be viewed without an odd feeling. Specifically, the APL of the image signal measured at the APL measuring portion 14 is put into a filter 15, and the rate of a change in the APL on the time axis is controlled through weighted averaging to control the follow performance of the emission luminance control on the backlight. At this time, the genre of image to be displayed is determined, and a constant used for weighted averaging on the filter 15 is changed according to the determined genre to optimize display quality for each genre.
US08547397B2
A method for processing data, in particular an image representative of an observation zone in which is situated an object arranged with respect to a reference plane.Such a method comprises the following steps: reception of the image which has been captured beforehand by means of first and second image capture devices, display (EV2) of the image received in a plane which comprises an object plane, containing said object, and said reference plane which has been determined beforehand as being the plane situated at the intersection of a conical beam and of a parallel beam emitted respectively by said first and second image capture devices, determination (EV3), in the displayed image, of the number of pixels separating two contiguous sides, respectively of the object plane and of the reference plane, and extending along a determined direction (X or Y), correlation (EV4) of the determined number of pixels with the value of the measurement of the real distance (d) which separates said object from said reference plane.
US08547392B2
A signal processing apparatus and a signal processing method are disclosed. The signal processing apparatus includes a correction block and a division correction block. The correction block receives grayscale data comprising achromatic color grayscale data or chromatic color grayscale data to create corrected grayscale data. The division correction block receives the corrected grayscale data to create first division grayscale data and second division grayscale data having a grayscale value less than or equal to a grayscale value of the first division grayscale data. The correction block includes a first correction block and a second correction block. The first correction block receives the grayscale data and includes a one-dimensional lookup table to create corrected create achromatic color grayscale data. The second correction block includes a three-dimensional lookup table and an interpolator.
US08547387B2
Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which in some implementations a graphical object is generated around a mathematical boundary of a region of interest in an image. The graphical object has varying opacity in which a higher opacity in areas of the graphical object in close proximity to the boundary acts as a visual cue to indicate close proximity to the boundary, and lesser opacity in areas of the graphical object of more distant proximity to the boundary acts as a visual cue to indicate distant proximity to the boundary.
US08547386B2
A painterly conversion unit of an image processing device, for example, converts a main-object image piece and a background image piece into respective painterly images with a fine touch and a rough touch, respectively, when, for example, the ratio of a region representing the main-object image piece relative to a whole image represented by image data is less than a predetermined threshold. Moreover, the painterly conversion unit converts the whole image into a painterly image with a touch of predetermined roughness when the ratio of the region representing the main-object image piece relative to the whole image represented by the image data is equal to or larger than the predetermined threshold.
US08547379B2
Systems, methods, and media for generating heat maps of event data are provided herein. Methods may include gathering instances of event data according to a performance characteristic, discretely decomposing the instances by applying at least one constraint to the instances, assigning a hue to each instance, the hue being associated with the at least one constraint, and generating a heat map that includes representations of the instances, wherein each representation includes the hue associated with the at least one constraint to which the instance has been assigned.
US08547378B2
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for time-based degradation of images. In one embodiment, the rendering of a first frame of a digital video using a GPU may be initiated. In one embodiment, it may be determined that a time elapsed in rendering the first frame exceeds a threshold. In one embodiment, a downsampling factor may be determined in response to determining that the time elapsed exceeds the threshold. In one embodiment, a second frame of the digital video comprising a second set of one or more images may be rendered based on the downsampling factor using the GPU. Rendering the second frame based on the downsampling factor may comprise sending each of the second set of images to the GPU at a reduced resolution comprising a respective original resolution for each image divided by the downsampling factor.
US08547374B1
A 3D reconstruction technique using integral imaging, which does not require computing point correspondences. The technique has been demonstrated that it can effectively estimate the surface of an object, and reconstruct the surfaces of partially occluded objects. Reconstruction can be performed from either an array of imaging sensors, or a single moving imaging sensor with known positions. The technique relies on the concept that each view is allowed to vote on the contents of the scene via ray tracing. Various sharpness metrics are utilized for estimating the locations of visible surfaces in the views, and reconstruction is posed as an optimization problem.
US08547372B2
A pixel circuit and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device using the same are provided. The pixel circuit compensates for a threshold voltage of a driver transistor and for a voltage drop, and separately drives an initialization time to improve a contrast ratio. The pixel circuit further suppresses a leakage current caused by a data voltage using a fixed power source so that current variation caused by the leakage current can be reduced or minimized to improve crosstalk, and the duty of an emission control signal can be adjusted to remove motion blur. The pixel circuit also compensates for a leakage current generated in a turn-off state of a transistor with an increase in a drain-source voltage.
US08547363B2
A digital signature collection and authentication system includes an ink pen having an ultrasonic transmitter that transmits ultrasonic energy to a plurality of ultrasonic receivers. A computer triangulates the location of the pen versus time to generate the signature shape, and to generate velocity and acceleration data. The pen also includes a pressure sensitive tip to record pressure applied to the pen tip. The pen also includes a higher frequency burst transmitter useful to generate a time reference, and to transmit the pressure information. The computer packetizes the shape, velocity, acceleration, and pressure data with a time stamp and an IP address or phone number, encrypts the packet and sends it to a host computer for authentication.
US08547347B2
A method for generating multiple windows frames, an electronic device thereof, and a computer program product using the method are provided. In the present method, first, a touch trajectory generated by continuously touching a touch panel of the electronic device is detected, wherein the center of the touch panel is a display area, and a non-display area surrounds the display area. Then, whether the touch trajectory is started from one side of the non-display area and passed through the display area to be extended to another side of the non-display area is determined. If so, the display area is split according to the touch trajectory to display at least two windows frames. As a result, an intuitional and convenient method for generating multiple windows frames in the display area is provided, and the operation of the electronic device is made very convenient.
US08547342B2
A computing device displays an item on a display of the computing device and establishes a wireless connection with one or more other devices. The computing device receives an input gesture on a touch panel of the computing device, where the input gesture has a direction, and determines a geographic direction of the input gesture. The computing device also identifies one of the one or more other devices in the geographic direction and sends the item on the display to the one of the one or more devices in the geographic direction.
US08547341B2
A touch-sensitive sheet member contains a body having predetermined hardness and a sheet shape and a sense-of-touch-representing unit that represents a sense of touch. The sense-of-touch-representing unit has a predetermined size and is arranged at positions of the body or at a predetermined position of the body. The touch-sensitive sheet member also contains a medium-supplying unit that supplies medium to the sense-of-touch-representing unit.
US08547334B2
A customer user input device such as a computer mouse is disclosed. A core module can house the sensor, micro-controller and RF modules (if any). It may or may not also house the microswitches and scroll wheel. The core module can accept inserts having differing or variable button configurations so that the user can customize the location of the buttons in accordance with the user's intentions.
US08547333B2
An optical joystick is connected to a vibratory transducer such as a piezoelectric transducer, where the vibratory transducer produces vibration which may be perceived upon a surface of the optical joystick. The vibration is perceived primarily at the surface of the optical joystick, and not upon a case of the computing device, and is distinguishable from other vibrations which may be induced in the computing device. Vibrations are created to indicate scrolled items in a list, selected items, or navigation within certain displayed zones.
US08547332B2
A pointing method, medium, and system detecting a synchronization signal from a plurality of light sources sequentially blinking at predetermined periods, detecting position information of the light sources by driving a video camera in synchronization with the synchronization signal, removing noise from among observed light sources by using the position information, and calculating a pointed to position by using the position information of the non-noise light sources. Provided is also a pointing reception method, medium, and system using a plurality of light sources blinking sequentially at predetermined periods, receiving the position information corresponding to light sources presenting the signals received by a pointing device and the position information pointed by the pointing device, and changing output data with respect to the pointed position information.
US08547330B2
A system and method are provided for managing data being displayed on at least one monitor screen based on monitoring user's attention in relation to the monitor screen. In one embodiment, upon detecting that the user's attention is leaving at least a portion of a screen, the system may alert the user of such an event. Alternatively, the system could alert the user upon detecting a triggering condition while the user's attention is away from the at least a portion of the screen. The step of alerting the user may include modifying at least a portion of a display on a monitor not being viewed by the user. Additionally, the system may initiate preparation of a report including any data not being viewed by a user during the time period when the user is not viewing a portion of the monitor.
US08547324B2
An electrophoretic display sheet comprising a display layer, a first electrode, and second electrodes. The display layer has a plurality of reservoir portions filled with a dispersion liquid containing particles. Each of the plurality of reservoir portions has predetermined positions. When an electric field having a direction is generated by applying a voltage to between the first electrode and the second electrodes, the particles are locally gathered to the predetermined positions of each of the plurality of reservoir portions so as to make rows of the particles along the direction of the electric field in the dispersion liquid. The electrophoretic display sheet is capable of exhibiting both superior responsiveness (responsibility) and superior color display performance with high contrast in changing a display color.
US08547316B2
A display apparatus includes a display panel, a panel substrate including a data line driver, a controller connected to the panel substrate, and a connection unit provided in the panel substrate. The controller selects M signal lines from N signal lines (M is a natural number satisfying M≦N) in accordance with a frame rate of a video data, and transmits M-phase video data to the panel substrate via the selected M signal lines. The data line driver controls the switching circuits of the connection unit in accordance with the frame rate of the video data to connect the M signal lines via which the video data is transmitted, to the data lines, and sequentially selects the M data lines to supply each piece of the video data transmitted via the M signal lines to each pixel connected to the selected M data lines.
US08547308B2
A display device comprises a pixel array unit including a plurality of pixels, and power supply lines and a power supply scanner for supplying a power supply voltage switching between first and second potentials to each of the power supply lines, wherein each of the pixels includes a light emitting element, a sampling transistor, a driver transistor, and a holding capacitor. The sampling transistor samples a signal potential to be held in the holding capacitor, the driver transistor receives a supply of a current from the power supply scanner through the power supply line at a first potential and flows a drive current to the light emitting element in accordance with the held signal potential, and the power supply scanner changes the power supply line from the first potential to the second potential before the sampling transistors samples the signal potential.
US08547307B2
A display device includes an organic EL element and a capacitor. A driving transistor is connected to an anode of the organic EL element and passes a current to the organic EL element. The current corresponds to a voltage held in the capacitor. A first switch is between the capacitor and a data line, and the data line supplies the voltage to the capacitor. A voltage detector is connected to the data line for detecting an anode voltage applied to the organic EL element. A second switch is between the anode and the data line. A controller turns on the first switch, causes the organic EL element to emit light, and causes the voltage detector to detect the anode voltage by turning off the first switch and turning on the second switch while the organic EL element is emitting light.
US08547306B2
The present invention enhances a display quality of a display device as a task. As means for solving such a task, the present invention provides a display device including a light emitting element and a switching element in a pixel, wherein the switching element is provided for supplying a power source to the light emitting element and is constituted of a first switching element and a second switching element. The first switching element and the second switching element are configured to be operated, in response to inputting of data signals into the inside of the pixel, one switching element assumes a positive bias state and another switching element assumes a reverse bias state, and the bias states are alternately changed over between the first switching element and the second switching element in response to time-sequential inputting of the data signals, and the supply of the power source to the light emitting element is performed by way of either one of the first switching element and the second switching element.
US08547298B2
A method to display a graphic illustrating an operational environment of a vehicle includes monitoring informational inputs describing the operational environment of the vehicle, processing the informational inputs to determine critical information, monitoring location of the eyes of an operator of the vehicle, determining a registered graphic describing the critical information hidden from a view of the operator by a non-transparent component of the vehicle based upon the location of the eyes of the operator, and displaying the registered graphic describing the critical information hidden from the view of the operator upon the non-transparent component of the vehicle, the non-transparent component including a material reactive to display graphics in response to an excitation projector.
US08547297B1
In an exemplary embodiment, the color resolution of a first image display screen is increased by assembling the first display screen with a second image display screen in an overlaid manner. Transmissive color filter elements are provided associated with addressable sub-pixels of the display screens. A first set of sub-pixels of the first screen and a second set of sub-pixels of the second screen are cooperatively addressed to display an image pixel of the display assembly, where the first set of sub-pixels addressed is spatially offset from the second set of sub-pixels addressed along the planar surfaces of the display screens. The exemplary display assembly formed by the display screens thereby enables the use of more than three colors to define a broadened color space relative to that defined by the display screens separately.
US08547285B2
A unit includes a glidepath aerial and a support organ designed to be mounted on the front landing gear of an aircraft, with the landing gear forming an electrically conductive ground plane. The aerial is mounted on the support organ and is electrically insulated from this support organ by insulating elements. The support organ has a longitudinal dimension at least equal to around one quarter of the wavelength λ at which the aerial functions, so that the distance separating this aerial and the ground plane is greater than λ/4, and the aerial also has a transmission line designed to connect the aerial to a receiver in the aircraft. The transmission line is surrounded by an electromagnetic shielding element serving as a faradization screen for the transmission line, and designed to be electrically connected to the ground plane.
US08547283B2
A multiband antenna having a ground plane and a radiating portion is provided. The radiating portion includes a first metal portion, a second metal portion, an inductively-coupled portion, and a third metal portion. The first metal portion has a first coupling metal portion and a signal feeding line electrically connected thereto. The second metal portion has a second coupling metal portion and a shorting metal portion electrically connected thereto with a shorting point connected to the ground plane. The first and second coupling metal portions are coupled and a capacitively-coupled portion is formed therebetween. The inductively-coupled portion is connected between the third and second metal portions. The first and second metal portions enable the antenna to generate a first operating band. The first, second and third metal portions enable the antenna to generate a second operating band, the frequencies of which are lower than those of the first operating band.
US08547277B1
Disclosed are a system and method for controlling transmit power of a mobile node in air-to-ground communications to a fixed node. Power is controlled by taking into consideration the position of the mobile node, the ground position of a plurality of fixed nodes, and the RF pattern of an antenna. The ground position of the plurality of fixed nodes is determined by at least using a tower i.d. broadcast by the fixed nodes. Preferably, a power level is selected that will excite the fewest number of the plurality of fixed nodes while still maintaining a stable connection with at least one of the fixed nodes. The system may also utilize a repeater to receive communication signals from one or more mobile phones. This repeater then pre-amplifies the signal with a gain control signal received from one of the plurality of fixed nodes. The repeater would then pass the pre-amplified signal to the power amplifier for further amplification as controlled by the power controller.
US08547275B2
An antenna architecture for hemispherically-scanning active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). The antenna architecture utilizes variable diameter disks of antenna elements configured in a conical implementation. The antenna elements are oriented such that the element boresight is normal to the surface of the conical structure. Beamforming takes place on each disk first, and them separately in combining the signals from each disk, thereby reducing complexity. The antenna optionally utilizes disks of antenna elements of the same diameter to form a cylindrical antenna, which when combined with a conical configuration create enhanced sectors while maintaining a hemispherical coverage capability. Further, use of two conical configurations can produce a fully spherical coverage capability.
US08547263B2
The invention provides a system of generation of multi-channel analog output signals, from a single analog input signal, and the controlled activation of peripheral devices responsive to the multi-channel analog output signals. A single-channel to multi-channel analog-to-analog converter is provided to convert the single analog input signal to multiple output channels. Uni-directional coupling is used for coupling and mixing the multi-channel outputs and transferring the mixed outputs to a data bus. Signals on the data bus are used to drive the multiple peripheral devices.
US08547258B2
A calibration method to compensate for a sparsifying basis mismatch is provided. An analog signal is converted to a first digital signal at a sampling frequency that is less than a Nyquist frequency for the analog signal to generate a first digital signal. Each of a plurality of spectral terms is iteratively isolated from the first digital signal, and the offset for each of the plurality of spectral terms is iteratively determined. A dictionary is then constructed using the offset for each of the plurality of spectral terms, where the dictionary compensates for mismatch from a sparsifying basis.
US08547255B2
In a method for encoding a symbol it is determined whether the symbol can be encoded by a codeword of a first codebook. In case this is true, the appropriate codeword for the symbol is selected from the first codebook. Otherwise, a codeword is selected from the first codebook indicating that the symbol cannot be encoded by a codeword of the first codebook and the symbol is split into a plurality of first sub-symbols and for at least one of the first sub-symbols a codeword is selected from a second codebook. Also a corresponding method for decoding is described.
US08547251B2
An on-board vehicle warning system includes a location detecting section, a regulation retrieving section, an incoming message receiving section and a potential violation alerting section. The location detecting section detects respective geographic locations of a vehicle and a forthcoming intersection. The regulation retrieving section retrieves, based on the intersection location, a jurisdiction including local intersection regulation information pertaining to a vehicle position with respect to an intersection boundary at the time of a particular phase transition of a traffic light. The incoming message receiving section receives intersection status information of the intersection containing a geographic location of the boundary and phase information including a current phase and a time to the phase transition of a traffic light of the intersection. The potential violation alerting section estimates a future position of the vehicle with respect to the boundary at the occurrence of the phase transition to determine a potential violation.
US08547245B2
A system and method are provided for providing electromagnetic (EM) measurement-while-drilling (MWD) telemetry capabilities using an existing mud-pulse MWD tool. An EM tool intercepts the output from the mud-pulse tool and generates an EM signal that mimics a mud-pulse pressure signal. The EM signal is intercepted at the surface by a receiver module that conditions the signal and inputs the signal into the existing pulse tool receiver. Since the EM signal mimics a mud-pulse signal, the pulse tool receiver does not require software or hardware modifications in order to process an EM telemetry mode. The EM tool can be adapted to also provide dual telemetry by incorporating a conventional pressure pulser that would normally be used with the pulse tool.
US08547234B2
A safety system for a truck loading dock with an elevated platform provides an alarm that warns of a hazard at the loading dock such as a forklift operating inside the truck or a falling hazard that may exist due to the dock door being open while a truck is not present at the dock. In cases where a dock's open doorway is protected by a barrier that can be opened or closed, the alarm can be de-activated by closing the barrier. In some embodiments, the safety system includes a remote body sensor that detects when someone or something is near the doorway. In response to the body sensor, a second, more pronounced alarm can warn of more imminent danger where someone on the platform may be too close to an open doorway when a truck is not present.
US08547233B2
An integrated circuit includes a thermal-effect unit and a processing unit. The thermal-effect unit generates an electrical energy and forms a temporary channel when experiencing a thermal cycle. The processing unit has a thermal-cycle number, and updates the thermal-cycle number through the temporary channel in response to the electrical energy.
US08547232B2
An approach is presented for transferring data via radio frequency (RF) memory tags. The UE manager receives a request, at a device, to grant access for interaction between a first RF memory tag and a second RF memory tag, the first RF memory tag associated with one or more trusted storage. Further, the UE manager determines an accessibility state of the first RF memory tag, the one or more trusted storage, or a combination thereof. Then, the UE manager causes, at least in part, granting of the access based, at least in part, on the accessibility state. The access is via a connection between the first RF memory tag and the second RF memory tag.
US08547223B2
The system provides approximations of a person's location to interested parties wherein the approximations are based upon a detection device's location and inherent inaccuracies related to that detection device. The system can evaluate location information from multiple detectors and approximate the location using and combining that information. The system can provide a confidence level for that determination. The system can also degrade confidence levels assigned to the location as a function of time. Each location can include a hierarchy of subtypes with each subtype including a precision level, the precision level associated with an accuracy level of a detector involved for placing a person within that particular location. When a detector receives location information, the system described herein can traverse through the locations and their associated precision levels to approximate the correct type of location within the hierarchy using the accuracy level of the detector.
US08547219B2
An automotive brake light system producing a graduated display according to the level of vehicle deceleration as sensed by an onboard piezoelectric accelerometer. Taillight assemblies are divided into segments which are illuminated in sequence to produce a graduated display. The vehicle anti-lock brake system may be connected into the system to provide a special lighting effect such as blinking the taillights during a panic stop condition.
US08547216B2
A system and method for a tire temperature measurement system is disclosed. An instantaneous temperature value of a tire may be requested through an input device. At the time of a temperature measurement request a control unit may retrieve tire temperature from a sensor and determine an instantaneous temperature value of a tire. The instantaneous temperature value of a tire may be displayed, stored and transmitted to a remote device.
US08547201B2
According to one embodiment, when sending a transmission target main data 21, an authentication-tag generator unit 13 generates an authentication tag 23 by using a main data 21 and a key data 22 stored in a key-data storage unit 12. A transmitter/receiver unit 14 adds the authentication tag 23 to the main data 32 sends as a transmission data. When receiving the received data 24a, the transmitter/receiver unit 14 divides the received data into a main data 21a and an authentication tag 23a. The authentication-tag generator unit 13 generates an authentication tag 23b for comparison. A received-data authentication unit 15 determines whether or not those the received authentication tag 23a and the authentication tag for comparison 23b match with each other. A different key data is used every time upon the authentication-tag generation and use time of each key data during a set period is restricted.
US08547196B2
A thermally responsive switch includes a hermetic container including a housing and a header plate hermetically secured to an open end of the housing, a conductive terminal pin inserted through the header plate, a conductive pin, a thermally responsive plate having one of two ends fixed to the terminal pin, a movable contact secured to the other end of the thermally responsive plate, and a fixed contact fixed via an electrical conductor to the terminal pin, the conductor having a fuse part and a heater. The fixed contact is fixed to a ceramic member disposed between the container and the fixed contact. The housing includes a bottom surface including both lengthwise ends between which the conductive pin is interposed. Both ends of the housing bottom surface are deformed axially relative to the conductive pin from an initial state, so that an operating temperature of the switch is calibratable.
US08547193B2
In a stationary induction apparatus, an inter-partial-coil insulating plate and a plurality of inter-partial-coil spacer insulators form a refrigerant flow path in conjunction with each other. A space having an inter-partial-coil insulation dimension for withstanding an abnormal voltage is formed between a pair of partial coils. The inter-partial-coil insulating plate and the inter-partial-coil spacer insulators support both the pair of partial coils at an insulated state so as to maintain the inter-partial-coil insulation dimension. The insulators are arranged so as to be overlapped with each other in the direction in which mutually adjacent partial coils are opposed to each other.
US08547186B2
The present invention is directed to a compact balun device that includes an unbalanced port and a set of balanced differential ports. A first set of coupled transmission line structures is coupled to the unbalanced port and one port of the set of balanced differential ports. The first set of coupled transmission line structures is characterized by at least one device parameter and a first length that is substantially equal to a quarter of a wavelength (λ). The wavelength (λ) corresponds to a first frequency. A second set of coupled transmission line structures is coupled to another port of the set of balanced differential ports. The second set of coupled transmission line structures is characterized by the at least one device parameter and a second length that is substantially equal to the quarter of a wavelength (λ). The wavelength (λ) corresponds to the first frequency. A plurality of interconnections couples the first set of coupled transmission line structures and the second set of coupled transmission line structures. The plurality of interconnections are configured such that the compact balun operates at a reduced operating frequency, the reduced operating frequency being selected from a range of frequencies by varying at least one device parameter. The range of frequencies is approximately between one-sixth of the first frequency and one-half the first frequency.
US08547181B2
An oscillator with adjustable oscillation frequency includes an active device showing a negative input resistance at a terminal, an oscillator circuit coupled to the terminal of the active device showing the negative input resistance, and an element with adjustable ohmic resistance by which the oscillation frequency of the oscillator is adjustable.
US08547179B2
A PLL circuit includes a phase detector, a loop filter (LF), a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), and a frequency divider. The phase detector compares a phase of a signal Fs which is input from outside with a phase of a signal Fo/N which is input from the frequency divider. The loop filter generates a signal Vin by removing alternating current components from a signal input from the phase detector. The voltage-controlled oscillator outputs a signal Fo based on the signal Vin input from the loop filter. The frequency divider converts the signal Fo output from the voltage-controlled oscillator into Fo/N (frequency division by N), and outputs it to the phase detector.
US08547177B1
Disclosed herein is an improved power amplifier, referred to as a Switched-Capacitor Radio Frequency Power Amplification (SCPA). The SCPA may be fabricated with scale CMOS technology. The SCPA may include a plurality of stages, each stage including a storage device, a switch, and selection circuitry. Various combinations of the stages may produce an output signal based on characteristics of a reference signal to be amplified. The output from the stages may be combined to create an amplified approximate square wave. The amplified square wave may be filtered by output circuitry such as a bandpass matching circuit, resulting in an output signal that may be an amplified version of the reference signal.
US08547174B1
Systems and methods can provide an improved broadband linearizer that includes a distortion generator with a bypass path for generating both composite triple beat (CTB) and composite second order (CSO) distortions suitable for linearizing a laser. The linearized laser can be suitable for injection into a communications network such as, for example, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network, among others.
US08547168B2
Systems, methods, and devices that employ a dynamic gate boost component (DGBC) to generate a desired boosted gate voltage to facilitate controlling an enhanced charge pump are presented. An enhanced charge pump can comprise a desired number of charge transfer switches (CTSs) and a desired number of DGBCs, wherein a DGBC can apply a desired boosted gate voltage to the gate of an associated CTS to control switching of the CTS. An auxiliary gate boost component (AGBC) of one circuit path can apply a desired boosted gate voltage to a CTS of another circuit path to control switching of that CTS. The AGBC and DGBC can operate to facilitate maintaining the overdrive voltages of all of the CTSs in the enhanced charge pump so that the overdrive voltages are essentially unchanged under various loading current conditions. Multiple enhanced charge pumps can be cascaded to produce a higher output voltage.
US08547160B2
There is disclosed current-mode time-interleaved sampling circuitry configured to be driven by substantially sinusoidal clock signals. Such circuitry may be incorporated in ADC circuitry, for example as integrated circuitry on an IC chip. The disclosed circuitry is capable of calibrating itself without being taken off-line.
US08547156B2
Apparatus and methods are disclosed related to using one or more field effect transistors as a resistor. One such apparatus can include a field effect transistor (FET), averaging resistors and a bidirectional current source. The averaging resistors can apply an average of a voltage at the source of the FET and a voltage at the drain of the FET to the gate of the field effect transistor. The bidirectional current source can turn the FET on and off. The FET can operate in the ohmic region when on. Such an apparatus can improve the linearity of the FET as a resistor, for example, at lower frequencies near or at direct current (DC). In some implementations, the apparatus can include one or more current sources to remove an offset introduced by the bidirectional current source at the source and/or the drain of the FET.
US08547142B2
A power semiconductor device has: an output transistor connected between a power-supply terminal and an output terminal; a gate charge-discharge circuit configured to charge/discharge a first node connected to a gate of the output transistor to ON/OFF control the output transistor; a short switch circuit connected between the first node and the output terminal; and a short control circuit configured to control the short switch circuit. In the turn-ON period, the ON period and the turn-OFF period, the short control circuit cuts off electrical connection between the first node and the output terminal through the short switch circuit. In the OFF period, the short control circuit electrically connects the first node and the output terminal through the short switch circuit.
US08547138B2
A semiconductor device includes a first input buffer adjusting a logic threshold voltage, a first replica circuit, a first reference voltage generating circuit, and a first comparator circuit. The first replica circuit is identical in circuit configuration to the first input buffer. The first replica circuit has an input and an output connected to the input. The first replica circuit generates the logic threshold voltage as an output voltage. The first reference voltage generating circuit generates a first reference voltage. The first comparator circuit compares the logic threshold voltage as an output voltage of the first replica circuit to the first reference voltage to generate a first threshold adjustment signal. The first comparator circuit supplies the first threshold adjustment signal to the first input buffer and the first replica circuit. The first threshold adjustment signal allows the first input buffer to adjust the logic threshold voltage.
US08547130B2
A method for detecting a foreign particle trapped between substrates of a liquid crystal display panel, by which a potential short caused by the particle can be made into a short with reliability, and thus it is possible to make a display defect manifest itself that is caused by the particle. The method is for detecting the presence of a foreign particle trapped between flexible substrates (21, 26) of a liquid crystal display panel (20), between the substrates liquid crystals filled, and the method includes making the panel pass between supporting rollers (3) arranged to support one surface of the panel, and a pressing roller (4) disposed at a position opposed to a space between the supporting units and arranged to press the other surface of the panel, bending the panel, and displacing the substrates with respect to each other in their surface directions.
US08547120B1
An apparatus for testing a DUT includes a pulsed signal source; a hard current-limiter adapted to be operated in series relationship between the pulsed signal source and the DUT; and a voltage sensor adapted to sense a voltage across the DUT in response to the pulsed signal source.
US08547119B2
A dynamic quantity detection device includes a detection portion, a signal process portion, and an operation mode switch portion. The detection portion detects a dynamic quantity applied from an outside and generates a sensor signal in accordance with the dynamic quantity. The signal process portion processes the sensor signal from the detection portion to have a property suitable for an external device. When the sensor signal output from the detection portion is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, the operation mode switch portion sets an operation mode to a power save mode by stopping an operation of the signal process portion. When the sensor signal output from the detection portion is greater than the predetermined threshold value, the operation mode switch portion switches the operation mode to a normal mode by activating the signal process portion.
US08547117B2
A capacitive touch panel can select a way of voltage control with a high degree of detection accuracy according to operating environment. In response to approach of an input unit, the stray capacitance of the sensing electrode the input unit approached increases. Accordingly, charge and discharge of the stray capacitances of a plurality of sensing electrodes are controlled, and a sensing electrode the potential change of which is made slow by the increase in stray capacitance and resultant increase in time constant is detected as a sensing electrode the input unit approached. The stray capacitance of a sensing electrode can selectively be controlled either by the charge control or by the discharge control, and optimum one of the controls is selected according to operating environment.
US08547116B2
To enable position or distance of sensing target making approach, etc. to the range of sensing area to be detected securely with simple configuration at low cost and improve latitude of designing, position detector includes capacitance sensor unit and detecting circuit unit. Capacitance sensor unit includes first and second sensing electrodes and dielectric material therebetween. Dielectric material has range L of sensing area defined on its sensing surface. Detecting circuit unit includes selector switches SWA and SWB, capacitance sensing circuits, A/D converters, and arithmetic processing circuit. Arithmetic processing circuit judges and detects the position of sensing target in range L of sensing area based on detected values of capacitances C1 and C2 sensed by first and second sensing electrodes under switching control on selector switches SWA and SWB.
US08547113B2
Changes of the stray capacitances of a large number of sensing electrodes can be detected simultaneously. Further, even if a stray capacitance changes slightly, an input operation to a sensing electrode can be detected based on elapsed time until the electric potential of the sensing electrode becomes the same as a threshold potential. The stray capacitance of a sensing electrode and a resistor of the sensing electrode form a CR time constant circuit. Charge or discharge of the stray capacitance of the sensing electrode is controlled while a rest time in a predetermined time ratio is set. A stray capacitance that slightly increases in response to an input operation made near a sensing electrode can be detected by detecting the stray capacitance in extended elapsed time until the electric potential of the sensing electrode becomes the same as the threshold potential.
US08547103B2
An apparatus and method for estimating a parameter of interest of an earth formation, particularly relating to borehole logging methods and apparatuses for estimating electrical resistivity properties at multiple depths of investigation. The apparatus may include two or more transmitters for introducing electrical current to the earth formation. The apparatus may include a controller configured to deliver an electrical signal to the two or more transmitters either simultaneously or sequentially. The controller may deliver an electrical signal to two or more transmitters at the same frequency for estimating depth of investigation. The apparatus may include one or more receivers responsive to electric signals from the earth formation at one or more frequencies to provide data from one or more depths of investigation. The method may include steps for using the apparatus to obtain data that may be used to estimate the parameter of interest.
US08547098B2
A magnetic resonance system includes at least one coil and at least one coaxial line connecting the at least one coil to an electronic receive system. The at least one coil includes a preprocessing device that converts the received signals to at least one transmission frequency that is different from a transmit frequency. The coaxial line includes at least one sheath wave barrier with a trap suppressing sheath waves of transmit frequency both on the outside and the inside of a sheath conductor of the coaxial line.
US08547095B2
A method and apparatus are described wherein a micro sample of a fluidic material may be assayed without sample contamination using NMR techniques, in combination with magnetoresistive sensors. The fluidic material to be assayed is first subject to pre-polarization, in one embodiment, by passage through a magnetic field. The magnetization of the fluidic material is then subject to an encoding process, in one embodiment an rf-induced inversion by passage through an adiabatic fast-passage module. Thereafter, the changes in magnetization are detected by a pair of solid-state magnetoresistive sensors arranged in gradiometer mode. Miniaturization is afforded by the close spacing of the various modules.
