US08546247B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, in which an amorphous silicon layer is formed into a shape of a gate electrode of a MOS transistor, and then impurity is implanted to a surface of a silicon substrate from a diagonal direction using the amorphous silicon layer as a mask.
US08546245B2
Provided is a method for manufacturing a low-cost bonded wafer (8) which allows bulk crystals of a wide bandgap semiconductor (1) to be transferred onto a handle substrate (3) as thinly as possible without breaking the substrate. More specifically, provided is a method for manufacturing a bonded wafer (8) by forming a wide bandgap semiconductor film (4) on a surface of a handle substrate (3), the method comprising a step of implanting ions from a surface (5) of a wide bandgap semiconductor substrate (1) having a bandgap of 2.8 eV or more to form an ion-implanted layer (2), a step of applying a surface activation treatment to at least one of the surface of the handle substrate (3) and the ion-implanted surface (5) of the wide bandgap semiconductor substrate (1), a step of bonding the surface (5) of the wide bandgap semiconductor substrate (1) and the surface of the handle substrate (3) to obtain bonded substrates (6), a step of applying a heat treatment to the bonded substrates (6) at a temperature of 150° C. or more and 400° C. less, and a step of subjecting the ion-implanted layer (2) of the wide bandgap semiconductor substrate (1) to irradiation of visible light from the semiconductor substrate (1) side of the bonded substrates (6) to embrittle an interface of the ion-implanted layer (2) and transfer the wide bandgap semiconductor film (4) onto the handle substrate (3).
US08546244B2
A method includes the steps of: (a) fixing a front surface of a wafer (semiconductor wafer) having the front surface, a plurality of chip regions formed on the front surface, a dicing region formed between the chip regions, and a rear surface opposite to the front surface to the supporting member; (b) in a state of having the wafer fixed to the supporting member, grinding the rear surface of the wafer to expose the rear surface; (c) in a state of having the wafer fixed to the supporting member, dividing the wafer into the chip regions; (d) etching side surfaces of the chip regions to remove crushed layers formed in the step (c) on the side surfaces and obtain a plurality of semiconductor chips. After the steps (e) and (d), the plurality of divided chip regions are peeled off from the supporting member to obtain a plurality of semiconductor chips.
US08546241B2
A semiconductor device with stress trench isolation and a method for forming the same are provided. The method includes: providing a silicon substrate; forming first trenches and second trenches on the silicon substrate, wherein an extension direction of the first trenches is perpendicular to that of the second trenches; forming a first dielectric layer in the first trenches and forming a second dielectric layer in the second trenches; and forming a gate stack on a portion of the silicon substrate surrounded by the first trenches and the second trenches, wherein a channel length direction under the gate stack is parallel to the extension direction of the first trenches, indices of crystal plane of the silicon substrate are {100}, and the extension direction of the first trenches is along the crystal orientation <110>. The embodiments of the present invention can improve response speed and performance of the devices.
US08546240B2
Bulk acoustic wave filters and/or bulk acoustic resonators integrated with CMOS devices, methods of manufacture and design structure are provided. The method includes forming a single crystalline beam from a silicon layer on an insulator. The method includes providing a coating of insulator material over the single crystalline beam. The method further includes forming a via through the insulator material. The method further includes providing a sacrificial material in the via and over the insulator material. The method further includes providing a lid on the sacrificial material. The method further includes providing further sacrificial material in a trench of a lower wafer. The method further includes bonding the lower wafer to the insulator, under the single crystalline beam. The method further includes venting the sacrificial material and the further sacrificial material to form an upper cavity above the single crystalline beam and a lower cavity, below the single crystalline beam.
US08546236B2
A method for fabricating a DRAM capacitor stack is described wherein the dielectric material is a multi-layer stack formed from a highly-doped material combined with a lightly or non-doped material. The highly-doped material remains amorphous with a crystalline content of less than 30% after an annealing step. The lightly or non-doped material becomes crystalline with a crystalline content of equal to or greater than 30% after an annealing step. The dielectric multi-layer stack maintains a high k-value while minimizing the leakage current and the EOT value.
US08546232B2
A semiconductor device has memory cell portions and compensation capacitance portions on a single substrate. The memory cell portion and the compensation capacitance portion have mutually different planar surface areas. The memory cell portion and the compensation capacitance portion include capacitance plate electrodes of the same structure. The capacitance plate electrode has a laminated structure including a boron-doped silicon germanium film and a metal film.
US08546229B2
Insufficient gain in bipolar transistors (20) is improved by providing an alloyed (e.g., silicided) emitter contact (452) smaller than the overall emitter (42) area. The improved emitter (42) has a first emitter (FE) portion (42-1) of a first dopant concentration CFE, and a second emitter (SE) portion (42-2) of a second dopant concentration CSE. Preferably CSE≧CFE. The SE portion (42-2) desirably comprises multiple sub-regions (45i, 45j, 45k) mixed with multiple sub-regions (47m, 47n, 47p) of the FE portion (42-1). A semiconductor-metal alloy or compound (e.g., a silicide) is desirably used for Ohmic contact (452) to the SE portion (42-2) but substantially not to the FE portion (42-1). Including the FE portion (42-1) electrically coupled to the SE portion (42-2) but not substantially contacting the emitter contact (452) on the SE portion (42-2) provides gain increases of as much as ˜278.
US08546227B2
A method of making an integrated circuit includes providing a substrate with a high-k dielectric and providing a polysilicon gate structure over the high-k dielectric. A doping process is performed on the substrate adjacent to the polysilicon gate structure, after which the polysilicon gate structure is removed and replaced with a metal gate structure. An interlayer dielectric (ILD) is deposited over the metal gate structure and the doped substrate, and a dry etch process forms a trench in the ILD to a top surface of the metal gate structure. After the dry etch process, a wet etch process forms an undercut near the top surface of the metal gate structure. The trench and undercut are then filled with a conductive material.
US08546223B2
The characteristics of a semiconductor device including a trench-gate power MISFET are improved. The semiconductor device includes a substrate having an active region where the power MISFET is provided and an outer circumferential region which is located circumferentially outside the active region and where a breakdown resistant structure is provided, a pattern formed of a conductive film provided over the substrate in the outer circumferential region with an insulating film interposed therebetween, another pattern isolated from the pattern, and a gate electrode terminal electrically coupled to the gate electrodes of the power MISFET and provided in a layer over the conductive film. The conductive film of the pattern is electrically coupled to the gate electrode terminal, while the conductive film of another pattern is electrically decoupled from the gate electrode terminal.
US08546221B2
A voltage converter includes an output circuit having a high side device and a low side device which can be formed on a single die (i.e. a “PowerDie”) and connected to each other through a semiconductor substrate. Both the high side device and the low side device can include lateral diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) transistors. Because both output transistors include the same type of transistors, the two devices can be formed simultaneously, thereby reducing the number of photomasks over other voltage converter designs. The voltage converter can further include a controller circuit on a different die which can be electrically coupled to, and co-packaged with, the PowerDie.
US08546218B2
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes etching a substrate to form a plurality of bodies isolated by a first trench, forming a buried bit line gap-filling a portion of the first trench, etching the top portions of the bodies to form a plurality of pillars isolated by a plurality of second trenches extending across the first trench, forming a passivation layer gap-filling a portion of the second trenches, forming an isolation layer that divides each of the second trenches into isolation trenches over the passivation layer, and filling a portion of the isolation trenches to form a buried word line extending in a direction crossing over the buried bit line.
US08546210B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of separating a thin film transistor, and circuit or a semiconductor device including the thin film transistor from a substrate by a method different from that disclosed in the patent document 1 and transposing the thin film transistor, and the circuit or the semiconductor device to a substrate having flexibility. According to the present invention, a large opening or a plurality of openings is formed at an insulating film, a conductive film connected to a thin film transistor is formed at the opening, and a peeling layer is removed, then, a layer having the thin film transistor is transposed to a substrate provided with a conductive film or the like. A thin film transistor according to the present invention has a semiconductor film which is crystallized by laser irradiation and prevents a peeling layer from exposing at laser irradiation not to be irradiated with laser light.
US08546206B2
A III-nitride switch includes a recessed gate contact to produce a nominally off, or an enhancement mode, device. By providing a recessed gate contact, a conduction channel formed at the interface of two III-nitride materials is interrupted when the gate electrode is inactive to prevent current flow in the device. The gate electrode can be a schottky contact or an insulated metal contact. Two gate electrodes can be provided to form a bi-directional switch with nominally off characteristics. The recesses formed with the gate electrode can have sloped sides. The gate electrodes can be formed in a number of geometries in conjunction with current carrying electrodes of the device.
US08546203B1
Method of forming a semiconductor structure which includes an extremely thin silicon-on-insulator (ETSOI) semiconductor structure having a PFET portion and an NFET portion, a gate structure in the PFET portion and the NFET portion, a high quality nitride spacer adjacent to the gate structures in the PFET portion and the NFET portion and a doped faceted epitaxial silicon germanium raised source/drain (RSD) in the PFET portion. Low quality nitride and high quality nitride are formed on the semiconductor structure. The high quality nitride in the NFET portion is damaged by ion implantation to facilitate its removal. A faceted epitaxial silicon RSD is formed on the ETSOI adjacent to the high quality nitride in the NFET portion. The high quality nitride in the PFET portion is damaged by ion implantation to facilitate its removal. Extensions are ion implanted into the ETSOI underneath the gate structure in the NFET portion.
US08546201B2
A method of crystallizing a silicon layer and a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor using the same, the method of crystallizing the silicon layer including forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate; performing a hydrophobicity treatment on a surface of the amorphous silicon layer so as to obtain a hydrophobic surface thereon; forming a metallic catalyst on the amorphous silicon layer that has been subjected to the hydrophobicity treatment; and heat-treating the amorphous silicon layer including the metallic catalyst thereon to crystallize the amorphous silicon layer into a polycrystalline silicon layer.
US08546189B2
A semiconductor device is made by forming solder bumps over a copper carrier. Solder capture indentations are formed in the copper carrier to receive the solder bumps. A semiconductor die is mounted to the copper carrier using a die attach adhesive. The semiconductor die has contact pads formed over its active surface. An encapsulant is deposited over the copper carrier, solder bumps, and semiconductor die. A portion of the encapsulant is removed to expose the solder bumps and contact pads. A conductive layer is formed over the encapsulant to connect the solder bumps and contact pads. The conductive layer operates as a redistribution layer to route electrical signals from the solder bumps to the contact pads. The copper carrier is removed. An insulating layer is formed over the conductive layer and encapsulant. A plurality of semiconductor devices can be stacked and electrically connected through the solder bumps.
US08546187B2
A method of manufacturing a multi-chip module includes: securing a plurality of chips on a surface of a flat-shaped member through a solder bump; connecting the plurality of chips with each other by a bonding wire, at surfaces, opposite to the flat-shaped member side, of the plurality of chips; and electrically connecting the plurality of chips with a board, at the surfaces, opposite to the flat-shaped member side, of the plurality of chips.
US08546186B2
Described herein is an electronic device in which one or more planar interconnect structure are interposed between two substrates each incorporating a hybrid circuit. The planar interconnect structure has a plurality of conductive traces formed on one of its faces for electrically connecting sets of interconnection points of each of the hybrid circuits.
US08546183B2
A heat dissipating semiconductor package and a fabrication method thereof are provided. A semiconductor chip is mounted on a chip carrier. A heat sink is mounted on the chip, and includes an insulating core layer, a thin metallic layer formed on each of an upper surface and a lower surface of the insulating core layer and a thermal via hole formed in the insulating core layer. A molding process is performed to encapsulate the chip and the heat sink with an encapsulant to form a package unit. A singulation process is performed to peripherally cut the package unit. A part of the encapsulant above the thin metallic layer on the upper surface of the heat sink is removed, such that the thin metallic layer on the upper surface of the heat sink is exposed, and heat generated by the chip can be dissipated through the heat sink.
US08546181B2
A highly reliable semiconductor device is provided. A semiconductor device is manufactured at a high yield, so that high productivity is achieved. In a semiconductor device including a transistor in which a gate electrode layer, a gate insulating film, an oxide semiconductor film containing indium, and an insulating layer provided on and in contact with the oxide semiconductor film so as to overlap with the gate electrode layer are stacked and a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer are provided in contact with the oxide semiconductor film and the insulating layer, the chlorine concentration and the indium concentration on a surface of the insulating layer are lower than or equal to 1×1019/cm3 and lower than or equal to 2×1019/cm3, respectively.
US08546175B2
Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device. An organic light-emitting display device may include, for example, a thin-film transistor (TFT) including a gate electrode, an active layer insulated from the gate electrode, source and drain electrodes insulated from the gate electrode and contacting the active layer and an insulating layer disposed between the source and drain electrodes and the active layer; and an organic light-emitting diode electrically connected to the TFT. The insulating layer may include, for example, a first insulating layer contacting the active layer; and a second insulating layer formed of a metal oxide and disposed on the first insulating layer.
US08546174B2
In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment, an epitaxial semiconductor layer is epitaxially grown on a semiconductor substrate, a photoelectric converting portion is formed on the epitaxial semiconductor layer, a wiring layer is formed on the epitaxial semiconductor layer after forming the photoelectric converting portion, a support substrate is bonded onto the wiring layer, and the semiconductor substrate is etched from an opposite surface side to a side for the bonding after the bonding. In the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, an amorphous Si layer is formed on the opposite surface side of the epitaxial semiconductor layer after the etching and an antireflection film and a color filter are formed on the amorphous Si layer in sequence.
US08546170B2
A method of fabricating a micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) transducer comprises the steps of forming a membrane (5) on a substrate (3), and forming a back-volume in the substrate. The step of forming a back-volume in the substrate comprises the steps of forming a first back-volume portion (7a) and a second back-volume portion (7b), the first back-volume portion (7a) being separated from the second back-volume portion (7b) by a step in a sidewall of the back-volume. The cross-sectional area of the second back-volume portion (7b) can be made greater than the cross-sectional area of the membrane (5), thereby enabling the back-volume to be increased without being constrained by the cross-sectional area of the membrane (5). The back-volume may comprise a third back-volume portion. The third back-volume portion enables the effective diameter of the membrane to be formed more accurately.
US08546168B2
A system and method employing at least one semiconductor device, or an arrangement of insulating and metal layers, having at least one detecting region which can include, for example, a recess or opening therein, for detecting a charge representative of a component of a polymer, such as a nucleic acid strand proximate to the detecting region, and a method for manufacturing such a semiconductor device. The system and method can thus be used for sequencing individual nucleotides or bases of ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The semiconductor device includes at least two doped regions, such as two n-typed regions implanted in a p-typed semiconductor layer or two p-typed regions implanted in an n-typed semiconductor layer. The detecting region permits a current to pass between the two doped regions in response to the presence of the component of the polymer.
US08546167B2
A nitride-based semiconductor light-emitting element includes an n-GaN layer 102, a p-GaN layer 107, and a GaN/InGaN multi-quantum well active layer 105, which is interposed between the n- and p-GaN layers 102 and 107. The GaN/InGaN multi-quantum well active layer 105 is an m-plane semiconductor layer, which includes an InxGa1-xN (where 0
US08546166B2
Toward making available III nitride crystal substrates advantageously employed in light-emitting devices, and light-emitting devices incorporating the substrates and methods of manufacturing the light-emitting devices, a III nitride crystal substrate has a major face whose surface area is not less than 10 cm2 and, in a major-face principal region excluding the peripheral margin of the major face from its outer periphery to a 5 mm separation from its outer periphery, the total dislocation density is from 1×104 cm−2 to 3×106 cm−2, and the ratio of screw-dislocation density to the total dislocation density is 0.5 or greater.
US08546161B2
Etching of a semiconductor layer including a part over a gate wiring and formation of a contact hole for connection between a pixel electrode and a drain electrode are performed by one-time photolithography step and one-time etching step; thus, the number of photolithography steps is reduced. The exposed part of the gate wiring is covered by an insulating layer, and this insulating layer also functions as a spacer for maintaining a space for a liquid crystal layer. By the reduction in the number of photolithography steps, a liquid crystal display device can be provided at lower cost and higher productivity. Using an oxide semiconductor for the semiconductor layer can realize a liquid crystal display device with low power consumption and high reliability.
US08546160B2
A method for packaging LEDs includes steps of: forming a substrate with a rectangular frame, a plurality of first and second electrode strips received within the frame and alternately arranged along a width direction of the frame; forming a carrier layer on each pair of the first and second electrode strips, the carrier layer defining a plurality of recesses; arranging an LED die in each recess and electrically connecting the LED die with first and second electrodes; forming an encapsulation in each recess to cover the LED die; and cutting the first and second electrode strips along the width direction of the frame to obtain a plurality of separated LED packages each including the first and second electrodes, the LED die, the encapsulation and a part of the carrier layer.
US08546156B2
A high efficiency light-emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same are described. The high efficiency light-emitting diode comprises: a permanent substrate; a first contact metal layer and a second contact metal layer respectively deposed on two opposite surfaces of the permanent substrate; a bonding layer deposed on the second contact metal layer; a diffusion barrier layer deposed on the bonding layer, wherein the permanent substrate, the bonding layer and the diffusion barrier layer are electrically conductive; a reflective metal layer deposed on the diffusion barrier layer; a transparent conductive oxide layer deposed on the reflective metal layer; an illuminant epitaxial structure deposed on the transparent conductive oxide layer, wherein the illuminant epitaxial structure includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; and a second conductivity type compound electrode pad deposed on the second surface of the illuminant epitaxial structure.
US08546150B2
New chemiluminescent compounds, stable in aqueous buffers, for use in biological assaying include acridane-based compounds and 1,2-dioxetanes. Among the new acridane-based compounds are water-soluble acridanes, enhancer coupled acridanes, bis and tris-acridanes as well as acridane-1,2-dioxetanes. Among the new 1,2-dioxetanes are electron deficient group-containing dioxetanes and tethered bis-1,2-dioxetanes. The 1,2-dioxetanes are useful as substrates for various enzymes. The acridanes can be admixed with an oxidizing agent an aqueous buffer and, optionally, a stabilizer to form a substrate or reagent formulation useful for assaying, inter alia, HRP.
US08546147B2
The present invention relates to compound of formula I: and their use as chemiluminescent and/or bioluminescent reagents.
US08546133B2
Systems and methods for the removal of contaminants from a liquid culture microalgae and/or cyanobacteria comprise an inlet tube, a pump, a gas injector, a vertical chamber, and/or a collection container that promotes the production of foam in the microalgae culture, wherein the foam contains the contaminants.
US08546121B2
Variants of Bacillus sp. no. 707 alpha amylase are provided that are produced more efficiently and thus more economically. Higher fermentation yields are achieved through introducing amino acid variations that promote solubility of the variant in a fermentation broth. Increased solubility allows more enzyme to remain in solution after expression in a host cell. This in turn increases the efficiency with which the expressed variant enzyme can be recovered from the fermentation broth.
US08546118B2
This invention relates to polypeptides having aldolase activity, including pyruvate activity such as, without limitation, HMG and/or KHG aldolase activity, polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides, and methods of making and using these polynucleotides and polypeptides. In some embodiments, the invention is directed to polypeptides having aldolase activity, including pyruvate activity such as, without limitation, HMG and/or KHG aldolase activity, including thermostable and thermotolerant activity, and polynucleotides encoding these enzymes, and making and using these polynucleotides and polypeptides. The polypeptides in accordance with the invention can be used in a variety of pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial contexts. In some embodiments, the invention provides polypeptides and biosynthetic pathways that are useful in the production of R-2-hydroxy 2-(indol-3ylmethyl)-4-keto glutaric acid (R-MP) and certain stereoisomers of monatin, such as R,R and S,R monatin, and salts thereof, as well as certain stereoisomers of monatin derivatives, such as the R,R and S,R configurations, and salts thereof.
US08546113B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide DNA encoding novel NADH oxidase from a microorganism belonging to the genus Brevibacterium having excellent pH stability and thermostability. The present invention relates to DNA encoding NADH oxidase from a microorganism belonging to the genus Brevibacterium that is the following (a) or (b): (a) NADH oxidase comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 18; or (b) NADH oxidase comprising an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 18 by deletion, substitution, or addition of 1 or more amino acid(s) and having NADH oxidase activity.
US08546110B2
An automated method for preparing and amplifying a sequence contained in a nucleic acid present in a sample, the nucleic acid being prepared in a receptacle that is part of a unit that includes a plurality of receptacles and holds a removable contact-limiting element for aspirating a fluid component of the sample from the receptacle.
US08546101B2
This invention provides a system for obtaining cells of the chondrocyte lineage by differentiating primate pluripotent stem cells. The process involves culturing the cells as a micromass or other aggregate form in a cocktail of differentiation agents that facilitates outgrowth of the desired cell type. Progeny are capable of synthesizing Type II collagen or aggrecan, or other products that are characteristic of the chondrocyte lineage. Chondrocytes and chondrocyte precursor cells obtained according to this disclosure are suitable for use in both research and clinical therapy.
US08546092B2
An embodiment relates to a method of detecting a drug resistance in a patient comprising adding nanoparticles to sample platelets to form activated platelets containing the nanoparticles and comparing a difference in activation of the activated platelets and the sample platelets. Another embodiment relates to a method of monitoring a thrombotic risk factor in a subject in a general population comprising adding nanoparticles to sample platelets to form activated platelets containing the nanoparticles and comparing a difference in activation of the activated platelets and the sample platelets. Yet another embodiment relates to a kit comprising nanoparticles, a fluorescence dye tagged antibody and optionally a buffer, wherein the kit is configured to detect a drug resistance in a patient or a likelihood of the thrombotic risk factor in a subject in general population.
US08546090B2
Methods of modulating insulin secretion and treating metabolic disorders by modulating the expression or activity of Sirt4 are provided.
US08546089B2
The invention relates to markers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), particularly markers that may be used in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of AMI or reinfarction. A method of diagnosing cardiac injury comprising identifying an elevated concentration of cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C) or a fragment thereof or myosin regulatory light chain 2 (MLC2) or a fragment thereof in a sample obtained from a subject.
US08546088B2
The present invention provides a method of detecting (e.g., by flow cytometry) a target compound, cell or particle, wherein the target is labelled with a detectable luminescent compound. The method comprises utilizing as the detectable luminescent compound a compound comprising a porphyrinic macrocycle such as a porphyrin, chlorin, bacteriochlorin, or isobacteriochlorin. In particular embodiments, the detectable luminescent compound comprises a compound of the formula A-A′-Z-B′-B, wherein: A is a targeting group or member of a specific binding pair that specifically binds the detectable luminescent compound to the target compound, cell or particle; A′ is a linker group or covalent bond; B′ is a linker group or covalent bond; B is a water-soluble group; and Z is the porphyrinic macrocycle.
US08546085B2
Steviol glycosides have been discovered to bind the bitter taste receptor TAS2R44. Novel methods of identifying modulators and in particular inhibitors to the bitter taste of steviol glycosides and an inhibitor of steviol glycosides are provided.
US08546080B2
A method for dispensing charged particles includes applying a bias voltage to promote motion of charged molecules through a nanopore, detecting passage of at least one charged molecule through the nanopore, and manipulating an electrostatic potential barrier inside the nanopore, so as to prevent movement of additional charged molecules through the nanopore.
US08546077B2
Methods, uses, kits and products are described for the prognosis, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of myotronic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), and more particularly for the prognosis, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the congenital form of myotronic dystrophy type 1 (cDM1), based on changes in/modulation of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2).
US08546075B2
A method of treating samples containing hepatitis C virus (HCV) which method comprises treating HCV-containing samples with a treating agent containing (1) an acidifying agent, and (2) a protein-denaturing agent, or an amphoteric surfactant or a cationic surfactant having both a straight chain alkyl group of 10 or more carbon atoms and a tertiary amine or a quaternary ammonium salt in the same molecule, to effect the release of the HCV antigen and the inactivation of antibodies that bind to the HCV antigen, and the like.
US08546059B2
The present invention provides a photoresist composition comprising a resin, an acid generator and a compound represented by the formula (C1): wherein Rc1 represents an aromatic group which can have one or more substituents, Rc2 and Rc3 independently each represent a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group which can have one or more substituents or an aromatic group which can have one or more substituents, Rc4 and Rc6 independently each represent a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic hydrocarbon group which can have one or more substituents, or Rc4 and Rc6 are bonded each other to form an alkanediyl group, Rc5 represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group which can have one or more substituents or an amino group which can have one or two substituents, Rc7 represents a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic hydrocarbon group which can have one or more substituents, or Rc5 and Rc7 are bonded each other to form an alkanediyl group.
US08546058B2
A method for forming an electrostatic latent image developing toner including mixing in a stirring tank a resin particle dispersion with at least a colorant particle dispersion prepared by dispersing a colorant and in some cases with a release agent particle dispersion prepared by dispersing a release agent; aggregating in the stirring tank the resin particles with the pigment particles and the release agent particles to form aggregate particles; and then conducting heating in the stirring tank to fuse the aggregate particles, wherein the method further comprises during a fusion step, suppressing with an accumulation suppression unit accumulation of aggregate particles. The accumulation suppression unit is a magnetic field forming unit that forms a magnetic field either continuously or intermittently. The toner has an average sphericity of at least 0.94 but no more than 0.98 and particle characteristics as defined in the specification.
US08546043B2
This invention provides a method for producing a membrane electrode assembly comprising steps of: preparing a precursor of a membrane electrode assembly wherein a catalyst mixture comprising an electrolyte resin and a catalyst-carrying conductor is applied or placed on an electrolyte membrane; and externally exposing the precursor of the membrane electrode assembly to a superheated medium under oxygen-free or low-oxygen conditions and heating the boundary of the electrolyte membrane and the catalyst mixture in the precursor of the membrane electrode assembly by condensation heat of the superheated medium to fix the catalyst mixture to the electrolyte membrane. This method enables the production of a membrane electrode assembly that is substantially free of boundary and that has a catalyst layer in which a porous and sufficient three-phase boundary is present.
US08546042B2
In a membrane electrode assembly of the present invention, at least one of a catalyst layer of an oxygen electrode and a catalyst layer of a fuel electrode includes a supported catalyst supporting a metal catalyst containing a platinum group element, a proton conductive polymer electrolyte, and at least one selected from (a) a complex-forming agent having a ligand that forms coordinate bonds with ions of the platinum group element and forms a complex, the ligand containing oxygen as a coordinating atom, (b) a complex of the platinum group element, a ligand of the complex containing oxygen as a coordinating atom, and (c) carbon that has a BET specific surface area of 100 m2/g or greater, satisfies at least one of (i) an R value of Raman spectrum of 0.5 or less and (ii) a lattice spacing d002 between (002) planes of 0.35 nm or less, and does not support the metal catalyst. With the use of the membrane electrode assembly of the present invention, it is possible to provide a polymer electrolyte fuel cell that has high durability and a long service life.
US08546023B2
Disclosed is a secondary battery including a cathode, an anode, a separator, and an electrolyte, wherein the electrolyte includes a ternary eutectic mixture prepared by adding (c) a carbonate-based compound to a eutectic mixture containing (a) an amide group-containing compound and (b) an ionizable lithium salt, and the carbonate-based compound is included in an amount of less than 50 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the electrolyte. The use of the disclosed ternary eutectic mixture having flame resistance, chemical stability, high conductivity, and a broad electrochemical window, as the electrolyte material, improves both the thermal stability and quality of the battery.
US08546005B2
A cap assembly includes a cap-up and a safety vent wherein an end of the safety vent is bent to cover an end of the cap-up, a first thickness of a first region of the cap-up in contact with the end of the safety vent is smaller than a second thickness of a second region of the cap-up not in contact with the end of the safety vent.
US08546004B2
An electrolyte membrane is prepared from a liquid composition comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of trivalent cerium, tetravalent cerium, bivalent manganese and trivalent manganese; and a polymer with a cation-exchange group. The liquid composition is preferably one containing water, a carbonate of cerium or manganese, and a polymer with a cation-exchange group, and a cast film thereof is used as an electrolyte membrane to prepare a membrane-electrode assembly. The present invention successfully provides a membrane-electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells being capable of generating the electric power in high energy efficiency, having high power generation performance regardless of the dew point of the feed gas, and being capable of stably generating the electric power over a long period of time.
US08546002B2
A yeast biofilm microbial fuel cell has anode and cathode chambers, each containing an electrolyte medium, separated by a proton conducting membrane. A baker's yeast biofilm is induced to form on the anode under electrical poising. A method of making the MFC includes adding baker's yeast and yeast nutrient fuel source to the anode solution, connecting a resistor across the anode and cathode to enable current flow through the resistor for a selected time for poising the anode and formation of the anodic yeast biofilm, replacing the anode solution with a fresh quantity of yeast-free solution, adding fuel source to the solution, and continuing to run the MFC for a selected time under resistance. The steps of replacing the anode solution, adding fuel source and running the cell under load are repeated until the baker's yeast has formed a suitable anodic biofilm.
US08546001B2
Patterned media and associated methods of fabrication are provided in which vertical magnetic grains are grown on a patterned seed layer. The patterned seed layer includes a matrix of islands of a first seed material. Each island of first seed material is separated from other islands by a region of second seed material. The first seed material is selected to initiate growth of magnetic material, and the second seed material is selected to initiate growth of non-magnetic material. Subsequently, magnetic material is grown on the first seed material and non-magnetic material is grown on the second seed material. Deposition may be simultaneously. The magnetic and non-magnetic materials form well-defined vertical columns over the first and second seed materials respectively. Thus, each island behaves as an isolated magnetic unit, which switches independently from its neighbor units, which are magnetically separated by the non-magnetic material.
US08546000B2
A perpendicular magnetic disk that includes, a base 110, a granular magnetic layer 160, and a auxiliary recording layer 180 disposed as an upper layer of the granular magnetic layer 160. The granular magnetic layer 160 has a granular structure in which a grain boundary portion is formed by segregation of a non-magnetic substance containing an oxide as a main component around magnetic particles containing a CoCrPt alloy grown in a columnar shape as a main component. The auxiliary recording layer 180 contains a CoCrPtRu alloy as a main component and has a film thickness of 1.5 nm to 4.0 nm. With this structure, the auxiliary recording layer can be thinned while maintaining the function thereof to improve SNR.
US08545991B2
Compositions comprise an alternating plurality of ordered layers of a first composition MX and a second composition TX2, wherein M is one of Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, or a rare earth metal, X is S or Se and T is Ti, V, Cr, Nb, or Ta. In some examples, the alternating plurality of ordered layers conforms to a substrate. In typical examples, each of the ordered layers of the first composition has a common thickness and/or each of the ordered layers of the first material has a common composition. In some examples, each of the ordered layers of the second composition has a common thickness and/or a common composition.
US08545990B2
A coated article includes a substrate, a first magnesium-tin alloy layer, a tin layer, a second magnesium-tin alloy layer, a magnesium layer and a magnesium-nitrogen layer. The substrate is made of magnesium or a magnesium alloy. The substrate made of magnesium or magnesium alloy. The first magnesium-tin alloy layer formed on the substrate. The tin layer formed on the first magnesium-tin alloy layer. The second magnesium-tin alloy layer formed on the tin layer. The magnesium layer formed on the second magnesium-tin alloy layer. The magnesium-nitrogen layer formed on the magnesium layer.
US08545989B2
An intermediate transfer member that includes a mixture of a poly(amic acid amideimide), a tertiary amine, an optional phosphate ester, an optional polysiloxane or an optional fluoro polymer, and an optional conductive filler component.
US08545988B2
Compositions and articles of manufacture made therefrom for use in high temperature application, such as automotive reflectors, have a minimum haze onset temperature of about 205° C. and are made from a transparent, miscible blend of from about 30 to about 70 weight percent of a polyetherimide sulfone comprising greater than or equal to 50 mole percent of the polymer linkages have an aryl sulfone group and from about 70 to about 30 weight percent of a polyetherimide or polyimide.
US08545984B2
Described herein are compounds generally comprising an indeno[2′,3′:3,4]naptho[1,2-b]pyran structure. Such compounds may be useful for their photochromic properties, and be used in certain photochromic compositions. Such compositions may further comprise other photochromic compositions and/or materials. Additionally, such compounds and/or compositions may be suitable for preparing certain photochromic articles. Also described herein are methods for preparing certain photochromic compounds, compositions, and articles.
US08545983B2
Super-low fouling sulfobetaine and carboxybetaine materials, super-low fouling surfaces and methods of making the surfaces coated with sulfobetaine and carboxybetaine materials, and devices having the super-low fouling surfaces.
US08545981B2
The artificial hair of the present invention comprising a flame-retardant polyester-based fiber that is formed of a composition obtained by melt-kneading, the composition comprising: 100 parts by weight of polyester (A); 5 parts by weight to 30 parts by weight of a bromine-containing flame retardancy agent (B); and 0.5 parts by weight to 10 parts by weight of an antimony compound (C) having an average particle diameter ranging from 1.5 μm to 15 μm, wherein the polyester (A) is made of at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of polyalkylene terephthalate and copolyester, where the copolyester contains polyalkylene terephthalate as a main component, and 0.01% omf to 1% omf of a polyorganosiloxane-based fiber treating agent (E) is deposited on the flame-retardant polyester-based fiber. The artificial fiber has excellent combing smoothness, and the excellent flame retardancy.
US08545971B2
A multi-component article comprising a first component comprising a biodegradable polymer, and a second component comprising a polyolefin and a reactive modifier. A method of preparing a multi-layer film comprising coextruding first and second film layers, wherein the first layer comprises a polylactic acid and the second layer comprises a polyolefin and an epoxy-functionalized polyolefin. A method of preparing a multi-component fiber comprising coextruding a core component and a sheath component, wherein the core component comprises a polyolefin and an epoxy-functionalized polyolefin and the sheath component comprises a polylactic acid.
US08545969B2
A pattern-formed substrate is provided. The pattern-formed substrate includes a substrate base, an organic thin film and an inorganic resist film stacked on the substrate base in this order, and patterns having predetermined aspect ratios formed on the organic thin film and the inorganic resist film, respectively. The pattern of the organic thin film is formed by selective etching using the pattern of the inorganic resist film as a mask.
US08545954B2
The present invention relates to a barrier layer and a packaging laminate comprising a barrier layer and a method to produce a barrier layer. The barrier layer is manufactured of a cellulose-based hydrolysate. The barrier layer comprises lignin and oligo- or poly-saccharides, where the lignin and oligo- or polysaccharides are at least partly covalently bonded to each other in a matrix, and at least one co-component. The co-component is bonded to the lignin and oligo- or polysaccharides by means of primary and/or secondary bonds. In addition, the invention relates to a package made of the packaging laminate.
US08545939B2
A method and a device for infiltration of a structure made of a porous material by chemical vapor deposition. According to the method, a first face of the porous material structure is exposed to a gaseous flow, and the second face is maintained at least partially free from any contact.
US08545935B2
Methods of creating particulates coated with acid-releasing degradable material comprising the steps of: combining an acid-releasing degradable material with a solvent or a plasticizer to create a coating solution; providing a first flowing stream comprising the coating solution; providing a second flowing stream comprising particulates; and, combining the first and second flowing streams to create a third flowing stream comprising particulates coated with the coating solution. Wherein the acid-releasing degradable material comprises at least one acid-releasing degradable material selected from the group consisting of: poly(orthoester); a lactide, a poly(lactide); a glycolide; a poly(glycolide); a poly(ε-caprolactone); a poly(hydroxybutyrate); a substantially water insoluble anhydride; a poly(anhydride); a poly(amino acid); a copolymer of two or more of the above-listed compounds; and any combination thereof.
US08545925B2
It is an object of the invention is to provide a candy composition in which a sugar alcohol is used as a main raw material and which is comparable in intensity of sweetness and quality of sweetness to sugar as well as a candy manufactured using the same.The above object can be accomplished by providing a deliciously sweet candy composition which comprises sugar alcohol as a main raw material and comprises high sweetness intensity sweetener (E), flavoring components (A) maltol and (B) furaneol as essential components, each in an effective amount, and an effective amount of at least one component selected from among flavoring components (C) cyclotene and (D) menthyl acetate.
US08545924B2
The supernatant from the deposition of canola protein micellar mass is processed to provide a canola protein product having a protein content of about 60 to less than about 90 wt % (N×6.25) protein on a dry weight basis and which is soluble in an aqueous acidic environment.
US08545920B2
The disclosure features human milk fortifier compositions, standardized human milk, and methods of making and using same. In one embodiment, a pasteurized human milk composition includes a human protein constituent of about 35-85 mg/mL; a human fat constituent of about 60-110 mg/mL; and a human carbohydrate constituent of about 60-140 mg/mL.
US08545904B1
The subject of the invention is the use of a topical composition for the relief of dermatological disorders, with a primary intention or focus of treating symptoms associated with psoriasis and similar dermatological disorders and/or diseases.
US08545903B2
Disclosed is a composition comprising a turmeric extract for preventing and treating influenza virus infection and for inhibiting neuraminidase activity. A turmeric extract, its fraction, and a curcuminoid-based compound separated therefrom may inhibit neuraminidase activity and have antiviral and cell degeneration inhibitory effects on influenza virus, and may be useful in preventing and treating influenza virus infection.
US08545900B2
Procedure for the obtaining a concentrate of the total fixed lipids of the kernels of the family Sapotaceae, genus Calocarpum, Chrysophyllum and Lucuma. The kernels (seeds removed of the endocarp), are squeezed by means of mechanical techniques that use pressure and heat, without using extractive liquids, getting a concentrate of lipidic juices (virgin) in a dry way and with their characteristic aroma. This concentrate of total fixed lipids can be fractioned in its main constituents by means of a process that consist of the emulsification of the lipids, followed by centrifugation or sedimentation, giving place to the stratification of the main constituents and their consequent separations. The main constituent consist of oils, of phospholipids and of residues glucosidic triterpenes plus of sterols fractions. These fraction or as a whole concentrate are used to prepare cosmetics and pharmaceutical compositions of topical application, to act in the skin like anti-seborrheic, healing, promoter of delicate defoliation and as invigorated epithelia regeneration agents, as cutaneous anti-wrinkle agent and as adjuvant in the development of the hair.
US08545895B2
An inorganic silicate-substituted calcium phosphate hydroxyapatite, useful as a biomaterial, has a Ca/P molar ratio in the range 2.05 to 2.55 and a Ca/(P+Si) molar ratio less than 1.66. The hydroxyapatite can be substantially free of carbonate ions. The material has relatively high solubility and is able to release silicon into solution.
US08545885B2
The subject invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising N-ethyl-N-phenyl-1,2,-dihydro-4-hydroxy-5-chloro-1-methyl-2-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide or the salt thereof; a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier; and not more than 0.5% w/w relative to N-ethyl-N-phenyl-1,2,-dihydro-4-hydroxy-5-chloro-1-methyl-2-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide of 2-Chloro-6-(1-ethyl-N-methyl-2-oxoindoline-3-carboxamido)benzoic acid, 1H,3H-spiro[5-chloro-1-methylquinoline-2,4-dione-3,3′-[1]ethylindolin-[2]-one], or 5-Chloro-N-ethyl-3-hydroxy-1-methyl-2,4-dioxo-N-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-quinoline-3-carboxamide.
US08545881B2
A tablet that rapidly disintegrates in the oral cavity comprising a compressed blend of rapidly dispersing microgranules prepared by granulating a sugar alcohol or a saccharide or a mixture thereof having an average particle size less than about 30 microns and a disintegrant, and a taste-masked microcapsule containing at least one drug, the microcapsule being prepared by granulating a pharmaceutically acceptable formulation comprising at least one drug in a therapeutically effective amount and at least one polymeric binder that improves resilience of the microgranules, wet milling the granulated mass, and microencapsulating the milled granules to provide microcapsules.
US08545878B1
The present invention provides a capsule containing an inhalable powder composition wherein the composition comprises about 75% by weight or more levodopa, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and a salt characterized by a working density of less than about 100 g/L. The invention further provides a capsule containing an inhalable powder composition wherein the composition comprises about 75% by weight or more levodopa, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and a salt characterized by a working density of less than about 100 g/L wherein the capsule material comprises hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and titanium dioxide.
US08545872B2
The invention relates to a polymer matrix suitable for the transdermal administration of rotigotine [(−)-5, 6, 7, 8-tetrahydro-6-[propyl[2-(2-thienyl)ethyl]amino]-1-naphtol], containing a matrix for the transdermal administration of rotigotine [(−)-5, 6, 7, 8-tetrahydro-6-[propyl[2-(2-thienyl)ethyl]amino]-1 naphtol], containing a matrix polymer which is supersaturated with a rotigotine base. Said polymer matrix is characterised in that the part of the rotigotine which is not dissolved in the matrix polymer is dispersed in the matrix polymer as amorphous particles having a maximum mean diameter of 30 μm, and the matrix is free of solubilisers, crystallisation inhibitors and dispersants. The invention also relates to a flat device for the transdermal administration of rotigotine, containing the above-mentioned, preferably silicon-based polymer matrix which is supersaturated with rotigotine, and a rear layer which is impermeable to the active ingredient.
US08545865B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, internal medical devices are provided, which contain at least one surface region that comprises a polymer brush. The polymer brush, in turn, contains one or more types of hydrophobic polymer chains and one or more types of hydrophilic polymer chains.
US08545864B2
The present invention provides a hemostatic bone graft product and method. Hemostatic bone grafts may include demineralized bone matrix in combination with additives. In one embodiment, the graft comprises demineralized bone and polyethylene glycol. Methods for producing the hemostatic bone graft may include mixing demineralized bone with additives to facilitate protein precipitation, surface tension reduction in blood, and/or a cytolytic effect on cells at a bleeding site.
US08545862B2
Anionic polyelectrolytes are used as binding agents to reduce the solubility of cationic antimicrobial polyelectrolytes. Ionic attraction between the anionic stabilizing polyelectrolytes and the antimicrobial cationic polyelectrolytes results in formation of a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC). A treatment liquid comprising a stable colloid, suspension, dispersion, solution, coacervate, or emulsion of the PEC in an aqueous carrier is used to treat an article, thus coating, infiltrating, or infusing the PEC onto or into the article. Subsequent drying results in an antimicrobial article wherein the PEC is bound to the article and is significantly less prone, relative to either of the component polyelectrolytes, to being washed, leached, leaked, extracted, or migrated from the antimicrobial article during use, or when exposed to aqueous fluids or solvents. The antimicrobial article can be further treated with ethylene oxide which enhances its antimicrobial efficacy, its biocompatibility, and its utility in wound dressings, medical devices, clothing, etc.
US08545857B2
Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to compositions, methods, devices, systems, and products regarding frozen particles. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles include materials at low temperatures. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles provide vehicles for delivery of particular agents. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles are administered to at least one biological tissue.
US08545848B2
The invention relates to neutralizing antibodies which are specific for human cytomegalovirus and bind with high affinity as well as immortalized B cells that produce such antibodies. The invention also relates to the epitopes that the antibodies bind to as well as the use of the antibodies and the epitopes in screening methods as well as the diagnosis and therapy of disease.
US08545847B2
The present invention provides antibodies that bind to the human glucagon receptor, designated GCGR and methods of using same. According to certain embodiments of the invention, the antibodies are fully human antibodies that bind to human GCGR. The antibodies of the invention are useful for lowering blood glucose levels and blood ketone levels and are also useful for the treatment of diseases and disorders associated with one or more GCGR biological activities, including the treatment of diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis and long-term complications associated with diabetes, or other metabolic disorders characterized in part by elevated blood glucose levels.
US08545842B2
The present invention relates to IL-17 receptor A (IL-17RA or IL-17R) antigen binding proteins, such as antibodies, and the polynucleotide sequences encoding them, as well as host cells, expression vectors, and methods of making IL-17 receptor A antigen binding proteins.
US08545833B2
The present invention provides a method of extracting and recovering embryonic-like stem cells, including, but not limited to pluripotent or multipotent stem cells, from an exsanguinated human placenta. A placenta is treated to remove residual umbilical cord blood by perfusing an exsanguinated placenta, preferably with an anticoagulant solution, to flush out residual cells. The residual cells and perfusion liquid from the exsanguinated placenta are collected, and the embryonic-like stem cells are separated from the residual cells and perfusion liquid. The invention also provides a method of utilizing the isolated and perfused placenta as a bioreactor in which to propagate endogenous cells, including, but not limited to, embryonic-like stem cells. The invention also provides methods for propagation of exogenous cells in a placental bioreactor and collecting the propagated exogenous cells and bioactive molecules therefrom.
US08545830B2
Multifunctional polymers are disclosed having a smart segment and a biodegradable segment. Advantageously, the biodegradable segment includes a hydrophilic segment and a hydrophobic segment. Embodiments include combining the multifunctional polymeric material with a biologically active substance in an aqueous loading environment and administering the composition as a drug delivery vehicle to a human subject.
US08545825B2
Depilatory compositions comprising a depilatory agent, fatty alcohol and an oil-gelling agent provide improved resistance to rinsing of the compositions from the skin. The compositions provide for a method of depilation in wet conditions using a tool to apply and remove the compositions.
US08545819B2
A toothpowder oral care composition of fluoride ion source particulate (such as stannous fluoride particulate) dispersed in an oral calcium carbonate abrasive particulate bed is achieved with careful adjustment of the particle sizes of both the fluorinated particulate and the abrasive particulate to achieve a bed of toothpowder where neither the fluorinated particulate or the abrasive particulate will settle to create a localized concentration of the fluoride significantly different from the average concentration of the fluoride throughout the bed.
US08545810B2
Methods and compositions for treatment of ADD/ADHD, depression, memory problems and other conditions
Disclosed herein are compositions and methods for treating a variety of mood and behavioral disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, memory loss, as well as other conditions. Also disclosed herein are methods for diagnosing certain conditions, such as ADHD, using these compositions.
US08545807B2
The present invention has been created to provide a near infrared high emission rare-earth complex having an excellent light-emitting property in the near infrared region. The near infrared high emission rare-earth complex of the present invention is characterized in that its structure is expressed by the following general formula (1): where Ln(III) represents a trivalent rare-earth ion; n is an integer equal to or greater than three; Xs represent either the same member or different members selected from a hydrogen atom, a deuterium atom, halogen atoms, C1-C20 groups, hydroxyl groups, nitro groups, amino groups, sulfonyl groups, cyano groups, silyl groups, phosphonic groups, diazo groups and mercapto groups; and Z represents a bidentate ligand.
US08545804B2
This disclosure relates to LTA-type zeolites which are synthesized using tris[2-(isopropylamino)ethyl]amine as a structure directing agent.
US08545798B2
The present invention is directed to a method for preparing a new crystalline molecular sieve designated SSZ-81 using a structure directing agent selected from 1,5-bis(1-azonia-bicyclo[2.2.2]octane)pentane dications, 1,5-bis(1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane)pentane dications, and mixtures thereof.
US08545791B2
The present invention relates to the formation and processing of nanostructures including nanotubes. Some embodiments provide processes for nanostructure growth using relatively mild conditions (e.g., low temperatures). In some cases, methods of the invention may improve the efficiency (e.g., catalyst efficiency) of nanostructure formation and may reduce the production of undesired byproducts during nanostructure formation, including volatile organic compounds and/or polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons. Such methods can both reduce the costs associated with nanostructure formation, as well as reduce the harmful effects of nanostructure fabrication on environmental and public health and safety.
US08545790B2
Cross-linked carbon nanotube arrays forming a three-dimensional structure and methods of use including high thermal conductivity, high strength applications where repeated cycling is known, and chemical storage.
US08545788B2
Fumed silicon dioxide powder with a BET surface area of 20 to 35 m2/g, characterized in that a) the number-based median particle diameter is 60 to 150 nm, and b) the proportion of particles with a diameter of 200 nm or more is at most 10%, and c) the proportion of particles with a diameter of up to 60 nm is at most 20%, based in each case on the total number of particles.
US08545787B2
A method of treating a kaolin particulate material to improve one or more of its properties by removal of impurity particles therein which includes: producing a dispersed aqueous suspension of a kaolin particulate material containing at least 0.1% by weight, based on the dry weight of the kaolin particulate material of separable particulate impurity; diluting said dispersed aqueous suspension by adding a diluent thereto; adding a selective flocculation polymer to the diluted suspension; allowing the suspension containing the polymer to separate in a selective flocculation separator into layers comprising a flocculated product layer and a deflocculated impurity layer containing the separable impurity; and extracting the separated layers from the separator, wherein at least a portion of said deflocculated impurity layer is recirculated for use as at least a portion of the aforementioned diluent.
US08545777B2
The method of making an acid-absorbing biosolid composition provides a method for the use of recycled materials to produce an acid-absorbing composition that may then be recycled as a fertilizer after absorbing the acid. The method includes the steps of: collecting sewage sludge; drying the sewage sludge to remove water therefrom to form dried sludge; adding hydrochloric acid to the dried sludge to form a liquid intermediary product; heating the liquid intermediary product to produce a dried porous biomass; and mixing inorganic waste material with the dried porous biomass to produce the acid-absorbing biosolid composition. Thereafter, the acid-absorbing biosolid composition may be placed in a gas flow to absorb an acidic component therefrom; and then recycled for use as fertilizer following absorption of the acidic component from the gas flow.
US08545775B2
A reforming exchanger system for syngas production is provided. The reforming exchanger system can have a first and a second reforming exchanger, each with a shell-and-tube configuration, and a shift reactor located intermediate to the first and second reforming exchangers to reduce carbon monoxide concentration in the outlet gas. Processes for forming syngas using the reforming exchanger systems described herein are also provided.
US08545766B2
A counterfeit currency detector including a tubular body having a forward end and a rearward end, a contact assembly mounted at the forward end of the tubular body, and a counterfeit solution applicator mounted at the rearward end of the tubular body. The contact assembly includes an ultraviolet light source.
US08545762B2
A chemical sensor having a sol-gel material affixable to a predetermined surface, and an indicator within the sol-gel, for detecting and signaling the presence of at least one chemical is provided. Also provided is an indicator for detecting and indicating a presence of at least one chemical. The indicator includes a sol-gel material affixable to a predetermined surface and an indicator within the sol-gel, for detecting and signaling the presence of at least one chemical. There is provided a method of detecting at least one chemical by applying the indicator from above to a predetermined surface of an object and indicating the presence of a chemical. A method of making a chemical sensor encapsulating within a sol-gel a detector capable of detecting and signaling a presence of at least one chemical. A decontaminating agent for removing contaminants from an area, the decontaminating agent being formed of a sol-gel material affixable to a predetermined surface and a decontaminator having an affinity for the contaminants within the sol-gel for decontaminating at least one chemical present in the area.
US08545756B2
An assay apparatus comprising: i) an assay cartridge (52, 53) comprising at least one well (57-62) and a pipette (50) positionable in at least one said well; ii) a holder arranged to received said cartridge; iii) drive means operable to position said pipette in selected wells of said cartridge; iv) a gas pressure applicator couplable to said pipette whereby to cause liquid flow through said membrane; and v) a radiation detector operable to detect radiation from a well of said cartridge of said cartridge or from said pipette.
US08545754B2
Disclosed is an apparatus for oxygenating and controlling the temperature of blood in an extracorporeal circuit. The apparatus has an inlet and an outlet that is located radially outward from the inlet in order to define a flowpath through the apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a core that is substantially centrally located in the apparatus and to which blood from a patient can be supplied through the inlet; a heat exchanger comprising a plurality of heat transfer elements that are arranged around the core and between which blood from the core can move radially outward; and an oxygenator comprising a plurality of gas exchange elements that are arranged around the heat exchanger and between which blood from the heat exchanger can move radially outward before exiting the apparatus through the outlet.
US08545750B1
A continuous blow molding machine includes a mechanism for shifting molds upstream after closing to reduce between-mold flash.
US08545747B2
A method of forming a part with a feature having a die-locked geometry is disclosed herein. A molding tool used in the method includes at least one die having a cavity defined in a surface thereof, and a protrusion formed in the cavity. The method includes disposing a shape memory polymer insert on the protrusion, where the shape memory polymer insert has i) the die-locked geometry as its temporary shape, and ii) a geometry that is removable from the die-locked geometry as its permanent shape. A material is established in the cavity such that at least a portion of the material conforms to the die-locked geometry, thereby forming the part having the feature with the at least one die-locked geometry.
US08545730B2
Provided are inks and coatings including carbon nanotubes.
US08545721B2
A UV coating composition for LED color conversion including: 25 wt % to 97 wt % of a UV curable resin; and 3 wt % to 75 wt % of a phosphor. The composition enables emission of white light using only a white LED lens or a light guide plate without affecting a blue, violet or UV LED, thereby eliminating a need for a white LED. Further, users of a LED including the composition can perform direct and easy adjustment of the intensity of white light to obtain a desired intensity by replacing a conventional LED lens. The LED lens provides soft and comfortable lighting which effectively reduces glare caused by high brightness white LED lighting. Moreover, the composition slows deterioration of a lighting device and makes possible a light guide plate having a simple and thin structure.
US08545716B2
A metal film such as an aluminum film or an aluminum alloy film is etched with good controllability, preventing a resist from bleeding, to have a proper taper configuration and superior flatness.A water solution containing a phosphoric acid, a nitric acid, and an organic acid salt is used as an etching liquid composition used to etch the metal film on a substrate.The organic acid salt is composed of one kind selected from a group consisting of an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid, an aliphatic polycarboxylic acid, an aliphatic oxicarboxylic acid, an aromatic monocarboxylic acid, an aromatic polycarboxylic acid and an aromatic oxycarboxylic acid, and one kind selected from a group consisting of an ammonium salt, an amine salt, a quaternary ammonium salt, and an alkali metal salt.In addition, a concentration of the organic acid salt ranges from 0.1% to 20% by weight.In addition, the etching liquid composition according to the present invention is used when the metal film is formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy.
US08545715B1
A chemical mechanical polishing composition and method is provided, wherein the low-k dielectric material removal rate remains stable following the polishing of a 110th polished wafer in a plurality of wafers to be polished.
US08545711B2
A processing method performs a predetermined process to an object by supplying a process gas at a prescribed flow rate into a process container to which a gas supply unit and an exhaust system are connected. The processing method includes a first process of setting the gas supply unit to supply a process gas at a flow rate greater than the prescribed flow rate of a predetermined process for a predetermined short time from a gas channel while exhausting an atmosphere in the process container through the exhaust system; and a second process of setting the gas supply unit to supply the process gas at the prescribed flow rate from the gas channel after the first process is completed.
US08545710B2
An ion radiation damage prediction method includes a parameter computation step of computing the collision position and the incidence angle of an incident ion hitting a fabricated object by considering a transport path of the ion and by adopting the Monte Carlo method which takes distributions of flux quantities, incidence energies and angles of incident ions as input parameters; and a defect-distribution computation step of searching for data by referring to information found at the parameter computation step and databases created in advance, the databases storing distributions of quantities of crystalline defects having an effect on the fabricated object, ion reflection probabilities and ion penetration depths, finding the penetration depth and location of the incident ion based on the data found in the search operation, and the incidence energy and angle of the incident ion, and computing a distribution of defects in the fabricated object from the penetration depth and location.
US08545701B2
A method comprising providing a power train comprising a plurality of cells, each cell forming a hydraulic loop; producing a power train cycle comprising a controlled concentration-pressure loop wherein the concentration field: (a) osmotically induces a continuous and constant flow rate of substantially salt-free permeate flux throughout the power train; (b) maintains a salt concentration difference across the semipermeable membrane shared by the adjacent cells in the plurality of cells; (c) defines a salt concentration ratio within each cell that ensures a net positive power generation; and, (d) discharges the concentrated brine at the opposing end cell; and operating the power train under conditions effective to generate net positive power at an efficiency of 35% or more.
US08545698B2
Disclosed are hemodialysis and similar dialysis systems including fluid flow circuits. Hemodialysis systems may include a blood flow path, and a dialysate flow path including balancing, mixing, and/or a directing circuits. Preparation of dialysate may be decoupled from patient dialysis. Circuits may be defined within one or more cassettes. The fluid circuit and/or the various fluid flow paths may be isolated from electrical components. A gas supply may be provided that, when activated, is able to urge dialysate through the dialyzer and blood back to the patient. Such a system may be useful during a power failure. The hemodialysis system may also include fluid handling devices, such as pumps, valves, mixers, etc., actuated using a control fluid, The control fluid may be delivered to the fluid handling devices using a detachable external pump. The fluid handling devices may have a spheroid shape with a diaphragm dividing it into two compartments.
US08545690B1
A purification method of zinc sulfate leachate is provided. The purification method of zinc sulfate leachate comprises contacting the zinc sulfate leachate with a zinc powder under a non-oxidizing atmosphere to form solution containing a precipitate of impurity metal; and removing the precipitate of impurity metal from the solution and getting a purified zinc sulfate leachate. A purified zinc sulfate leachate may be prepared with a higher purification efficiency and a lower energy consumption than prior art.
US08545689B2
Solutions and processes for electrodepositing gallium or gallium alloys includes a plating bath free of complexing agents including a gallium salt, an indium salt, a combination thereof, and a combination of any of the preceding salts with copper, an acid, and a solvent, wherein the pH of the solution is in a range selected from the group consisting of from about zero to about 2.6 and greater than about 12.6 to about 14. An optional metalloid may be included in the solution.
US08545688B2
Dense carbon nitride films are electrochemically formed on a conductive substrate by placing the substrate acting as cathode in a molten salt electrolyte bath and applying DC current across the substrate and a counter electrode acting as anode also placed in the molten salt electrolyte bath. Carbonate ion and nitrate ion are concurrently reduced to deposit carbon nitride films on the substrate.
US08545678B2
Method of manufacturing a hygiene paper product in form of a continuous paper web (W)of sheets partly separated by perforation lines (9) and wound to a log of predetermined longitudinal length, providing a continuous paper web (W), moving the continuous paper web in a direction of its longitudinal extension, providing at least one embossed pattern on the continuous paper web, providing in the area of an embossing station at least one mark (6, 7) onto the continuous paper web, which mark (6, 7) is in register to the embossed pattern, sensing the mark and controlling perforating means for registering the perforation lines (9) with the embossed pattern thereby imparting perforation lines to the continuous paper web in predetermined longitudinal distances, winding up the resulting web to logs, and cutting the log into rolls.
US08545676B2
An absorbent cellulosic sheet includes a papermaking-fiber reticulum. The paper-making-fiber reticulum includes a plurality of fiber-enriched regions that are oriented in a cross-machine direction (CD) of the sheet, and the fiber-enriched regions have (i) a local basis weight and (ii) papermaking fibers that are oriented in the CD of the sheet. The paper-making-fiber reticulum further includes a plurality of linking regions that link corresponding ones of the fiber-enriched regions together in linking directions. The linking regions have (i) basis weights that are lower than those of the corresponding ones of the fiber-enriched regions and (ii) papermaking fibers that are oriented in the linking directions.
US08545675B2
An apparatus suitable for separating particles and methods for using such apparatus are provided.
US08545672B2
The plasma processing apparatus includes: a processing chamber an inside of which is airtightly closable; a process gas supplying mechanism which supplies a process gas into the processing chamber; an exhaust mechanism which evacuates the inside of the processing chamber; a plasma generating mechanism which generates plasma from the process gas; a holding stage which is provided in the processing chamber and configured such that a substrate to be processed and a focus ring provided to surround the substrate to be processed are held on a same plane; a temperature control mechanism which adjusts a temperature of the holding stage; and an electrostatic chuck which is provided on a top surface of the holding stage and comprises an adsorbing electrode extending to a portion under the focus ring.
US08545669B2
A plasma processing system is provided with diagnostic apparatus for making in-situ measurements of plasma properties. The diagnostic apparatus generally comprises a non-invasive sensor array disposed within a plasma processing chamber, an electrical circuit for stimulating the sensors, and means for recording and communicating sensor measurements for monitoring or control of the plasma process. In one form, the sensors are dynamically pulsed dual floating Langmuir probes that measure incident charged particle currents and electron temperatures in proximity to the plasma boundary or boundaries within the processing system. The plasma measurements may be used to monitor the condition of the processing plasma or furnished to a process system controller for use in controlling the plasma process.
US08545668B2
A substrate processing apparatus comprises a substrate holding mechanism, a process liquid supplying mechanism supplying a process liquid, a first guide portion around the substrate holding mechanism having an upper edge portion extending toward the rotation axis for guiding scattered process to flow down, a second guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism outside the first guide portion and having an upper edge portion extending toward the rotation axis as vertically overlapping with the upper edge portion of the first guide portion for further guiding the scattered process liquid to flow down, a recovery channel provided outside and integrally with the first guide portion for recovering the process liquid guided by the second guide portion, and a driving mechanism for moving up and down the first guide portion and the second guide portion independently of each other.
US08545667B2
This invention relates to compositions useful as adhesives and more particularly to the preparation of heat-curable epoxy-based adhesive compositions that are capable of being easily pumped under high shear at temperatures around room temperature but are resistant to being washed off substrate surfaces prior to being cured.
US08545655B2
A method for producing a print includes a step of thermally bonding a thermally transferrable image-protecting layer onto an image surface of an image-receiving sheet so as to form a protective layer. In this step, thermal energy applied is changed so that the resulting protective layer has a first glossy region and a second glossy region having a glossiness lower than that of the first glossy region. The first glossy region has a glossiness a, which is a 20° mirror-surface glossiness measured according to Japanese Industrial Standard Z8741. The second glossy region has a glossiness b, which is a 20° mirror-surface glossiness measured according to Japanese Industrial Standard Z8741. The value obtained by subtracting the glossiness b from the glossiness a is 60 or more.
US08545644B2
The present invention is aimed at providing a method for producing a vacuum-insulated double container that exhibits a remarkable and heretofore unobtainable operating effect. The invention provides a method for producing a vacuum-insulated double container by placing a titanium internal cylinder (2) into a titanium external cylinder (1) via a space section (S), and using the space section (S) between the external cylinder (1) and the internal cylinder (2) as a vacuum-insulating space section, the method comprising the steps of degassing the space section (S) of a workpiece (3) that includes the external cylinder (1) and the internal cylinder (2), and vacuum sealing a degassing hole while the workpiece (3) is heated in a vacuum heating furnace (6); and then providing concavoconvex portions (4, 5) to a surface of the recrystallized external cylinder (1) and the internal cylinder (2) by placing the workpiece (3) in an atmospheric-pressure environment.
US08545642B2
Providing an iron and steel material having quenched surface part, avoiding oxidation of a compound layer formed on the surface of the iron and steel material due to quenching, its production method, and an induction-quenched component. A quenched iron and steel material 10 comprises an iron and steel material 11, a compound layer 12 formed on the iron and steel material 11, and an antioxidant cover layer 13 formed on the compound layer 12. The iron and steel material 11 has a hardened layer having a given depth, and the surface of the iron and steel material 11 has enhanced hardness. A method for producing the iron and steel material 10 comprises a first step for forming the antioxidant cover layer 13 to cover the compound layer 12 formed on the iron and steel material 11, and a second step for applying induction hardening to the iron and steel material 11 having the compound layer 12 and the antioxidant cover layer 13, with the temperature increased in a given heating time until the given heating temperature is reached, and with cooling immediately performed once the heating temperature is reached.
US08545640B2
In a substrate processing method according to the present invention, a cleaning liquid nozzle supplies a rinsing liquid to a central portion of a substrate and thereafter moves from a position corresponding to the central portion of the substrate to a position corresponding to a peripheral, edge portion thereof while supplying the rinsing liquid before stopping at the position corresponding to the peripheral edge portion. Next, a drying liquid nozzle moves from the position corresponding to the peripheral edge portion to the position corresponding to the central portion while supplying a drying liquid. Then, the drying liquid nozzle is kept stationary at the position corresponding to the central portion for a predetermined period of time while supplying the drying liquid. Thereafter, a gas nozzle moves from the position corresponding to the central portion to the position corresponding to the peripheral edge portion while supplying an inert gas.
US08545637B2
A cleaning device (1) performs a cleaning of an article by blowing a cleaning medium (5) by an air stream onto the article (4). The cleaning device (1) includes a cleaning tank (6) that forms a space for the cleaning medium (5) to be blown, which includes an opening; a holding unit (3) that holds the article (4) at the opening; a pool member (19) that is arranged on an outer edge of the opening with a clearance between the pool member (19) and the article (4); and a cleaning-medium collecting unit (8) that brings the cleaning medium (5) leaked out of the outer edge and accumulated in the clearance back into the cleaning tank (6).
US08545635B1
A hard floor surface care process comprising a process of identifying, cleaning, polishing, and protecting manmade and natural stone hard floor surfaces having a single surface or multi-surface quality. The hard floor surface care process comprising an acid reactive or nonreactive hard floor surface identifying process; an emulsifying solution, agitating, and toweling cleaning process; a polishing process utilizing a lubricating solution with a polishing chemistry or pad, and a protecting process utilizing a protecting chemistry selected as a function of the identifying process.
US08545634B2
A system for cleaning a conditioning device to improve the efficiency of the conditioning of a polishing pad using the conditioning device as part of a chemical-mechanical polishing process, the system comprising a conditioning device; a fluid dispenser arranged to dispense a fluid on the conditioning device; and an acoustic nozzle arranged to emit a megasonic or ultrasonic signal at the conditioning device while the fluid dispenser is dispensing the fluid on the conditioning device.
US08545633B2
The present invention generally relates to processes for production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass. The present invention also relates to production of various co-products of preparation of ethanol from cellulosic biomass. The present invention further relates to improvements in one or more aspects of preparation of ethanol from cellulosic biomass including, for example, improved methods for cleaning biomass feedstocks, improved acid impregnation, and improved steam treatment, or “steam explosion.”
US08545631B2
A mask device, a method of fabricating the mask device with improved reliability, a method of manufacturing a large-sized division mask device by forming a striped aperture parallel to the roll direction, and a method of fabricating an organic light emitting display device (OLED) using the mask device. The mask device includes: at least one mask alignment mark formed on a mask; a blocking region formed on the mask and blocking a deposition material; and an aperture region formed on the mask and through which the deposition material passes, wherein the at least one mask alignment mark is formed outside the aperture region, the aperture region has a stripe pattern, and the roll direction of the mask substrate is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the stripe pattern.
US08545622B2
An annealed wafer in which oxygen precipitation is uniform in the substrate plane and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A nitrogen-doped silicon single crystal substrate pulled at the cooling rate of 4° C./minute or more during crystal growth between 1100 and 1000° C. wherein the nitrogen concentration is 1×1014 to 5×1015 atoms/cm3 and V/G satisfies predetermined conditions serves as a substrate, and the substrate is subjected to heat treatment in a non-oxidative atmosphere.
US08545607B2
A pleatable, high efficiency composite gas filtration media is provided. The media includes an essentially boron free chopped strand glass backer layer and media layer comprising a synthetic material. The composite media exhibits excellent pleatability, low boron out gassing, and low organic out gassing, with filtration performance comparable to existing commercial membrane composites.
US08545603B2
The present invention provides for a method utilizing adsorber bed(s) and reversible blower(s) operating in a vacuum pressure swing adsorption separation process to separate gases. The process is designed to provide a safer and more cost-effective adsorption system that captures and utilizes energy typically wasted during equipment transitions thereby achieving overall higher power efficiency.
US08545594B2
A method of enriching the iron content of low grade iron ore bearing materials has been developed which produces a high iron ore concentrate suitable for processing into pig iron and steel. The process includes reducing the low grade iron ore bearing materials to a fine particulate form and treating a water slurry of this material by applying a combination of ultrasonic treatments in a plurality of high and low intensity magnetic separation operations to remove interfering materials and concentrate magnetic and paramagnetic iron bearing materials into a high grade ore stock.
US08545591B2
The present invention provides a new liquid fertilizer comprised of potassium sulfite and potassium bisulfite, with neutral to slightly alkaline pH, relatively lower salt index and potentially lower phytotoxicity damage compared to other sources of potassium and sulfur products applied in equal amounts as a starter fertilizer. More specifically, the present invention further relates to methods for fertilizing using a composition of potassium sulfite and potassium bisulfite, particularly as a starter fertilizer, in-furrow fertilizer, side dress fertilizer, and for foliar, broadcast, soil injection and fertigation applications. The fertilizer composition is comprised primarily of potassium sulfite and potassium bisulfite (with the fertilizer grade of 0-0-23-8S).
US08545579B2
A gasification furnace 2 is divided into a plurality of gasification furnace units 2a and 2b each of which has an inlet 15a, 15b on a lower portion at a longitudinally upstream end in a direction of travel of raw and bed materials and has an outlet 16a, 16b on an upper portion at a longitudinally downstream end in the direction of travel. The outlet 16a is connected to the inlet 15b. The inlet 15a is fed with a raw material and a hot bed material from a materials separator 8. The inlet 15b is also fed with the hot bed material from the material separator 8. The outlet 16b is connected to a combustion furnace 5.
US08545578B2
Disclosed is an apparatus and method for capturing the hot humid gases from a gypsum board dryer and utilizing those gases in the production of a synthetic gas (referred to as “syngas”). The syngas produced can then be utilized within a gypsum board plant to reduce the amount of natural gas needed.
US08545571B2
A knee prosthesis includes a femoral component, a tibial component, and a coupling component interconnecting the femoral component and the tibial component. The tibial component includes ball. The femoral component is configured to move relative to the tibial component. The coupling component defines an internal cavity including a first spherical end portion and a second spherical end portion. The internal cavity is dimensioned to receive the ball of the tibial component. The ball is repositioned between the first spherical end portion and the second spherical end portion of the internal cavity upon movement of the femoral component relative to the tibial component.
US08545561B2
An artificial disc having a pair of opposing plates (100) for seating against opposing vertebral bone surfaces separated by an inner stress distributor and spacer device (300) called in this specification a supporting element, functioning as both a spacer and structural support. Various plate geometries are disclosed including ones with flat outer faces and ones with convex outer faces to conform to the adjacent vertebral mating surface geometry. Inner surfaces are described as comprising two sloping substantially flat or curved surfaces meeting at an ridgeline with a radius. Various inner device embodiments are disclosed including circular ones and non-circular ones, plate flat ones, ones with a raised rim or circular recess, ones with raised hubs and ones with an elastomeric planar core to perform a shock-absorbing function, ones with central bore and ones with no central bore. Inner spacers comprising various combinations of these features are disclosed. The inner spacer/support devices are dispersed between the plates, through various disclosed couplings, so that the plates compress, rotate and angulate freely relative to one another, enabling the artificial disc to mimic a healthy natural intervertebral disc.
US08545549B2
A stent graft has a tubular wall (1) defining a main lumen with at least one fenestration (15) in the wall. A tube (17) extends from the fenestration into the main lumen and is in fluid communication with the main lumen. An extension leg stent graft can be deployed from a branch vessel into the fenestration to seal into the tube. A flared guide (89) associated with the fenestration can be provided interiorly or exteriorly. There is also disclosed a bifurcated intraluminal prosthesis having a body (1), a first leg (7) and a second leg (17), the first leg extending from the body and the second leg extending into the body.
US08545547B2
An expandable slide and lock stent is provided that comprises a plurality of radial elements interconnected to form a tubular member. Each radial element can comprise a helical backbone and at least one elongate member extending from the helical backbone in a circumferential direction. Each backbone can have at least one slot that can be configured to receive an elongate member of an adjacent radial element.
US08545545B2
A helical stent includes at least one helical winding. Each helical winding includes a plurality of alternating long struts and short struts, ends of at least some of the long struts being joined to an end of an adjacent short strut by a flexible hinge arrangement, the struts being substantially rigid. The stent also includes at least one interconnection member connecting a hinge arrangement on one turn of the at least one winding with a hinge arrangement on an adjacent turn of the at least one winding. Fewer than all hinge arrangements on the at least one helical winding are connected to other hinge arrangements by an interconnection member.
US08545533B2
A user-actuatable guidewire stop is disclosed which can be used to stop and/or lock a medical device on a guidewire advanced through a body lumen. The guidewire stop is configured as a coil spring having an inner lumen configured to slideably and rotationally receive the guidewire in an unlocked configuration, and to frictionally engage the guidewire in a locked configuration. The coil spring is composed of turns having at least one protrusion disposed on a turn of the coil spring and adapted for engagement with a corresponding recess disposed on an adjacent turn of the coil spring, wherein the at least one protrusion interlocks with the corresponding recess to maintain the coil spring in the unlocked configuration. The coil spring transitions into the unlocked configuration by disengaging the at least one protrusion from the corresponding recess.
US08545519B2
Medical systems, devices and methods are provided for engaging tissue, e.g. for clipping tissue, closing a perforation or performing hemostasis. Generally, the medical system including a housing, first and second jaws rotatable relative to the housing, a driver, and an elongate drive wire. The elongate drive wire may be disconnected from the driver, first and second jaws, and the housing, which are left in vivo engaged with the tissue.
US08545517B2
Tools and methods are provided for dissecting and/or removing biological units, such as hair follicles, from the body surface based on the images both above and below a body surface to reduce potential damage to the removed biological unit. The invention may be used in fully automated systems and also in a hand-held devices and systems. A system may produce a series of three-dimensional images of the body surface indicating follicular unit size, shape, position, and orientation both above and below the skin surface. The images may be utilized by an automated follicular unit harvesting tool, or maybe stored for later use. Imaging techniques include devices that sense light in the visible or infrared spectrums, optical coherence tomography, and ultrahigh frequency ultrasound.
US08545514B2
Devices, processes and systems facilitate and enable treatment of acute stroke conditions, providing reperfusion while therapy is made available by preserving structure in the arterial tree. Using a Rapid Exchange approach with at least dual lumens in a microcatheter facilitates embolus/clot removal without damaging sensitive vasculature.
US08545508B2
A cutting block for use in a bone osteotomy procedure is disclosed, and includes a first cutting guide surface, a second cutting guide surface, and a third cutting guide surface. The first, second, and third cutting guide surfaces are adapted to be temporarily affixed to a bone having a first side and a second side such that the first cutting guide surface is disposed on the first side of the bone, and such that the second cutting guide surface and third cutting guide surface are disposed on the second side of the bone forming an angle therebetween.
US08545503B2
A medical device and method. The medical device includes a handle portion, a shank portion, a guide channel and a flexible guide device. The shank portion has a non-linear portion adjacent a distal end. The device is useful in performing medical procedures in the pre-sacral area of a human patient. After inserting the guide device, the shank may be removed leaving the guide device in place and a second medical device can be inserted into the site of interest using the guide device for guidance. The medical procedure can be performed using the second medical device.
US08545495B2
A catheter comprises a catheter body with an ablation assembly at its distal end. The ablation assembly has a preformed generally circular curve generally transverse to the axis of the catheter body, and comprises a flexible tubing that carries a tip electrode at its distal end. In use, the generally circular curve contacts the inner circumference of a tubular region of a patient's heart so that the tip electrode contacts tissue along the inner circumference. After ablating the tissue at this first position, the ablation assembly can be rotated so that the tip electrode contacts tissue at a second position along the inner circumference. After ablating the tissue at the second position, the procedure can be repeated to form a lesion of the desired length.
US08545490B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus (1) for applying energy to an object (2), wherein the apparatus (1) comprises an energy emitting element, a temperature sensor and a tube (6), in which the energy emitting element and the temperature sensor are locatable. The energy emitting elements is adapting for applying energy to the object (2) and the temperature sensor is adapted for sensing the temperature of the object (2). Both, the energy emitting element and the temperature sensor can be guided to a location of the object (2), at which the energy is to be applied.
US08545484B2
An accumulator is employed in an implantable infusion device to provide compliance in the flow path of the device. The accumulator may act to increase the pumping accuracy and repeatability while simultaneously reducing the energy requirements of the device. In one example, the accumulator is arranged at the outlet of a fluid delivery pump of the infusion device. The accumulator includes a cover and a diaphragm biased away from the cover and configured to deflect toward the cover under pressure generated by the therapeutic agent in a flow path of the infusion device. The cover of the accumulator is configured to withstand the pressure generated by the therapeutic agent in the flow path without deforming.
US08545483B2
Systems and methods are provided which enable communications to be initiated locally relative to an individual's developing physiological condition and remotely as the condition requires. Physiological sensors and associated medical delivery systems can be coupled to a unit wearable by an individual which can provide various audible or visual outputs and one or more manual inputs indicative of the individual's condition. A global positioning unit can be incorporated so that condition information as well as location information can automatically be provided, wirelessly, to a remote monitoring system for follow up as needed.
US08545466B2
Device for treating wounds with reduced pressure. The device comprises a sealing film, which is placed sealingly around the wound to cover the latter, an underpressure source, as well as a tube, which connects a space over the wound and beneath the sealing film to the underpressure source. The interior of the tube comprises a longitudinal first strand made of a hydrophobic material, as well as a second strand, made of an open-pored hydrophilic material, extending longitudinally over at least a part of the length of the tube. The said material strands are enclosed in a tube casing made of a flexible material.
US08545465B2
A medical drainage device is provided which includes a casing and a chamber for indicating the amount of suction applied to an animal or human body by the height of a water column. A fill funnel is further provided, which is attached to an opening in the casing for filling water through the opening into the chamber. The fill funnel has a configuration rendering the fill funnel selectively impermeable. A fill funnel and a method of manufacturing a fill funnel are also provided.
US08545463B2
A reservoir assembly for use in an ophthalmic fluid delivery device adapted to deliver an ophthalmic fluid in the form of a mist to an ocular region of a patient is provided, wherein the device has a lumen-defining component configured to deliver the fluid from the reservoir assembly. The reservoir assembly includes a reservoir defining an aperture and a cavity in fluid flow communication with the aperture, a fluid contained in the cavity of the reservoir, and a gasket traversing the aperture. The gasket defines a passage configured to receive a portion of the lumen-defining component and to permit the flow of the fluid from the cavity and through the aperture when the portion of the lumen-defining component is inserted through the passage. The gasket is also configured to substantially prevent the flow of the fluid from the cavity and through the aperture when the portion of the lumen-defining component is not inserted through the passage.
US08545459B2
A medical device includes a base material having an immobilized fibrinolytic enzyme and dextran sulfate. The dextran sulfate has a molecular weight that is less than 40 kilo dalton (kDa). The medical device is formed from at least a base material. A fibrinolytic enzyme is immobilized on the base material. The fibrinolytic enzyme is stabilized with a dextran sulfate having a molecular weight of less than 40 (kDa).
US08545450B2
A surgical access device includes a base having two or more ports or apertures that provide for the insertion of surgical instruments. The multi-port insert may be used with a laparoscopic access device. The multi-port insert may also include one or more instrument supports that are attached to the base to fix the position of one or more surgical instruments inserted through the multi-port insert.
US08545449B2
The invention provides a multi-port fluid access device for medical use, such as in a blood-flow circuit during dialysis. The device has a main tubular body and a needle access port and a needleless access port located at positions axially offset from each other. Each port has a tubular body with a septum sealing the passageway to the main fluid channel of the main tubular body. Alongside the main tubular body are members providing finger-gripping surfaces at or near the axial position of the needle access port. There is also a needle shield located between the finger gripping surfaces and the needle access port. Use of the device permits either or both of needle access and needleless access to a patient's blood during dialysis.
US08545444B2
A system for administering pain-free injections includes an electric current source having at least two electrodes attached adjacent an injection site, the electric current source producing a variable numbness pattern and providing a frame of reference for identifying a plurality of sub-areas of the injection site; and a probe applied to the plurality of sub-areas of the injection site for pain-response testing, wherein one or more areas of numbness in the variable numbness pattern are identifiable according to the plurality of sub-areas of the injection site. A fence may be removably applied to the injection site and provide a frame of reference for identifying a plurality of sub-areas of the injection site, and may aid in identifying one or more areas of numbness in the variable numbness pattern. The fence may be removably applied to the injection site via a belt or manual pressure.
US08545442B2
An inflation device including a handle mechanism configured to selectively engage and disengage threads within the device. In some instances the threads are configured to couple a plunger to a syringe body. The handle mechanism may be configured to (1) provide a mechanical advantage and (2) change the location and direction of the input force, thereby making the device easier to use.
US08545441B2
A disposable injector (4) having a two-chamber system (99), wherein at least one first chamber (105) is part of a piston-cylinder unit (100) that can be accommodated in the disposable injector (4), and wherein the second chamber (255) is part of a chamber (250) which is at least temporarily closed by means of a stopper (257) and inserted into a container adapter (200) detachably mounted on the disposable injector (4), or part of a piston-cylinder unit (254), and wherein the container adapter (200) comprises a connecting tube (242) initially closed by means of a cap (290). To this end, on the side oriented toward the second chamber, the stopper has a recess (271), into which at least one stopper channel (275) connecting the lateral surface (277) of the stopper to the recess (271) opens. After the container has been pushed in or activated, the connecting tube (242) connects the interior of the piston-cylinder unit to the interior of the container or of the piston-cylinder unit via the stopper channel and the tubular channel.
US08545440B2
Devices and systems for injecting fluids and/or other materials into a targeted anatomical location, in particular, a joint or intra-articular space, include a handpiece assembly having a needle extending from its distal end, a fluid delivery module comprising a cassette and a fluid transfer device. A conduit is generally configured to place the fluid delivery module in fluid communication with the handpiece assembly. Medicaments, formulations and/or other fluids or materials contained within vials that are secured to a cassette or other portion of the fluid delivery module can be selectively delivered into an anatomy through a needle located at the distal end of the handpiece assembly. In some embodiments, ultrasound or other imaging technologies can be used to locate a joint or other targeted anatomical location.
US08545429B2
A shunt is provided having a first catheter end with one or more apertures that provide access to an interior of the shunt. At least a portion of the first catheter end has a substantially helical shape and the one or more apertures are disposed on an interior surface of the substantially helical shape of the first catheter end. The shunt also includes a second catheter end providing access to the interior of the shunt for drainage of the shunt at a remote location. The shunt further includes a catheter body disposed between the first catheter end and the second catheter end.
US08545427B2
A blood treatment apparatus, including a blood treatment unit configured to receive untreated blood and fresh blood treatment fluid, and emit treated blood and used blood treatment fluid, a pair of fluid pumps configured to pass blood treatment fluid through the blood treatment unit, a pair of blood pumps configured to extract untreated blood from a blood source, pass extracted blood through the blood treatment unit and deliver treated blood to a target vessel, each blood pump including a pump chamber and a flexible member separating the pumping chamber into a first blood accumulating container and a second working fluid accumulating container where the flexible member is configured to vary a volume relationship between the first and the second accumulation containers. A control unit and a measuring device are configured to emit a feedback signal indicative of the amount of working fluid received into, or discharged from at least one of the second accumulation containers whereby the pumped mass or volume of working fluid is determined by the control unit at an arbitrary position of the flexible member.
US08545414B2
Methods and devices for modulating heart valve function are provided. In the subject methods, a heart valve is first in structurally modified. Blood flow through the structurally modified heart valve is then monitored, and the heart is paced in response to the monitored blood flow. Also provided are devices, systems and kits that find use in practicing the subject methods. The subject methods find use in a variety of applications.
US08545413B2
A non-contact apparatus for monitoring cardiopulmonary activity signals comprises a pulse-series generator configured to generate a series of probing pulses and a series of reference pulses, a transmitting antenna configured to emit the probing pulses to a chest portion and a series of scattered pulses generated from the probing pulses by the scattering of the chest portion, a receiving antenna configured to receive the scattered pulses, a mixer including a first input port configured to receive the reference pulses and a second input port electrically connected to the receiving antenna and a signal-processing module configured to generate cardiopulmonary activity signals after the scattered pulses and the reference pulses are processed by the mixer.
US08545391B2
A penile prosthesis implantation device comprises a barrel having a bore, an obturator and a needle clamp. The obturator has a longitudinal axis, a first end and a second end. The second end of the obturator is adapted for slidable insertion into the bore of the barrel. The needle clamp is coupled to the second end of the obturator and comprises first and second pinching surfaces that are separated by a gap.
US08545377B2
A magazine for chain components of a chain with radiation sources comprises a housing as well as a first means for receiving chain components that is mounted in a pivotal manner in the housing and has recesses for receiving the chain components, a tension spring for driving the means for receiving the chain components, a sprocket being coupled in a pivotal manner to the means for receiving the chain components and being mounted in a pivotal position in the housing, and an ejector for ejection of the radiation sources. Furthermore, the magazine comprises an ejection lever which is mounted in a pivotal manner in the housing, whereby, in a first position, the ejection lever engages the sprocket, and in a second position it blocks the ejector.
US08545371B2
A rehabilitation exercising equipment includes a main frame, a first geared member rotatably mounted on the main frame, a second geared member rotatably mounted on the main frame, two handlebars secured on the first geared member and the second geared member respectively, a connecting mechanism mounted between the first geared member and the second geared member to connect the first geared member and the second geared member, and a transmission mechanism mounted between the main frame and the second geared member. Thus, a user's two hands can hold the handlebars to pivot the handlebars in two opposite directions by connection of the connecting mechanism so as to achieve an exercising or rehabilitating function.
US08545370B2
Rehabilitation exercising equipment includes a main frame, a first geared member rotatably mounted on the main frame, a second geared member rotatably mounted on the main frame, a connecting mechanism mounted between the first geared member and the second geared member to connect the first geared member and the second geared member so that the first geared member and the second geared member are movable in concert with each other, and two handlebars secured on the first geared member and the second geared member to rotate in concert with the first geared member and the second geared member respectively. Thus, a user's two hands can hold the handlebars to pivot the two handlebars in two opposite directions by connection of the connecting mechanism so as to achieve an exercising or rehabilitating function.
US08545354B2
A torque transfer apparatus for a transmission includes a rotatable friction clutch pack including a first friction plate that is contiguous to a second friction plate, with the first friction plate coupled to a first transmission element and the second friction plate coupled to a second transmission element. A Belleville spring device is configured to urge the first friction plate to engage the second friction plate to effect torque transfer therebetween when a hydraulically-activated piston is deactivated. The hydraulically-activated piston is configured to urge the second periphery of the Belleville spring device away from mechanical contact of the first friction plate when the hydraulically-activated piston is activated.
US08545353B2
A motor drive system configuration for a vehicle. The motor drive system includes an engine operable for providing power to the vehicle, a motor operable for providing power to a first wheel and a second wheel of the vehicle. The motor drive system also includes a first transmission mounted between the engine and the motor and in operative engagement with the motor and the engine. The first transmission includes a first clutch for coupling and decoupling the motor with the engine. The motor drive system also includes a differential in operative engagement with the transmission and coupled to the first wheel and the second wheel, and a clutch for disabling the connection between the motor and the wheels.
US08545348B2
A golf-course guide is provided with true to scale information maps of the individual holes for orientation about the quirks and distances of the respective hole. Detailed golf-course features which serve at least as an orientation aid for visual position determination are indicated by way of each information map of the respective hole which is shown to scale. A measurement aid is provided which includes a distance scale which corresponds to the scale of the information map, in order for it to be possible to determine the distances which are relevant for the player. A golf-course guide of this type can be handled simply and produced inexpensively.
US08545347B2
A golf ball with a layer of composite material applied to at least one surface of one layer of the ball. The composite material includes a plurality of particles. The particles are shaped to enable specific orientations. A percentage of the particles in the composite material achieve a specific orientation. A portion of at least one of the particles extends from the composite material layer and into an adjacent, surrounding layer. The particles may have a tetrapod shape. The composite layer may be applied as a thin film coating, such as in a primer layer.
US08545346B2
The invention provides a multi-piece solid golf ball composed of a solid core, a cover, at least one intermediate layer interposed therebetween, and a plurality of dimples on a surface of the ball. The diameter of the solid core, the deflection of the core when compressed under a final load of 130 kgf from an initial load of 10 kgf, the hardness at the center of the core, the hardness in a region 5 mm to a region 10 mm from the center of the core, the hardness in a region 15 mm from the center of the core, and the surface hardness are set within specific ranges. The intermediate layer is composed primarily of a material obtained by mixing under applied heat a specific resin composition.
US08545339B1
The present invention provides a golf grip training aid that includes a golf grip training aid that includes a glove and a golf club handle grip or grip cover, the handle grip or grip cover having a plurality of discrete co-operating contact zones marked thereon spaced apart therealong in locations to define a good grip position and adapted to be co-operatively used with corresponding discrete co-operating contact zones marked on the glove whereby the user may discern when their hand in the glove is in the required good grip position on the handle grip or grip cover by mutual covering of the co-operating contact zones on the glove with the co-operating contact zones on the handle grip or grip cover.
US08545336B2
A game apparatus includes a CPU, and in a case that two or more players play a game in turn, when a game as to a certain player is ended, the CPU selects a player for a next game out of registered already-selected players who have already been selected to participate in the game or not-yet-selected players who have not yet been selected to participate in the game according to an instruction by the player. If the not-yet-selected player is selected as a player for the next game, the player is registered as an already-selected player.
US08545334B2
Gaming software interfaces to hardware through high level drivers loaded in resource repositories. The high level drivers can be software or hardware drivers. Software drivers can simulate hardware, connect to other parts of the gaming software, or combine functions by calling other software and hardware drives. New drivers can be added easily, allowing gaming software to use new hardware with little or no changes.
US08545332B2
A system, method and computer program product for planning actions in a repeated Stackelberg Game, played for a fixed number of rounds, where the payoffs or preferences of the follower are initially unknown to the leader, and a prior probability distribution over follower types is available. In repeated Bayesian Stackelberg games, the objective is to maximize the leader's cumulative expected payoff over the rounds of the game. The optimal plans in such games make intelligent tradeoffs between actions that reveal information regarding the unknown follower preferences, and actions that aim for high immediate payoff. The method solves for such optimal plans according to a Monte Carlo Tree Search method wherein simulation trials draw instances of followers from said prior probability distribution. Some embodiments additionally implement a method for pruning dominated leader strategies.
US08545331B2
In various implementations, a remote transmits a first signal to a currently controlled first content player of a network of content players and a second signal to a proximate content player. If the first player is notified that a second player received the second signal, the first player may command the remote to activate a display associated with the second player. However, if the first player is not notified, the first player may command the remote to activate all known displays. In addition, the first player may also instruct the remote to configure which player the remote controls. In some implementations, the remote stores a table transmitted by a player of the network of players including entries corresponding to players and including commands for associated components. In such implementations, control configuration may include configuring which entry of the table is utilized.
US08545329B2
A gaming machine: determines, for each slot machine 10, whether a common game start condition is met, based on an accumulated value relative to bet amount information transmitted from each slot machine 10 for each unit base game; and when the common game start condition is met at any one of the slot machines 10, executes a common game at each of the slot machines 10.
US08545326B2
Novel methods, devices and systems are described for forming displays and creating environments in a casino. Some implementations of the invention provide configurable gaming machine skins, which may be formed from electronic paper or the like. Casino environments may be created in accordance with a game theme and/or to indicate a group of players. The environment may include configurable surfaces of gaming machines and/or nearby surfaces, such as walls, floors and ceilings. Projected light and/or an audio system may be used to enhance the immersive and dynamic environment. Preferably, some or all of these features may be changed automatically when a game theme changes.
US08545317B2
A secondary game system, in various embodiments, comprises a system of networked game terminals where a player playing a game on a game terminal can earn eligibility to win a prize from a secondary game that plays simultaneously in the background. The secondary game may be triggered based on play on the plurality of networked terminals. This allows the player to play a first game that earns them eligibility to win another game that is played in the background. The player sends a game initiation request for a game (e.g., lottery slot) to be played on the game terminal. If a certain criterion is satisfied, the player becomes eligible to win a prize from the secondary game if the secondary game is triggered while the player is eligible to win.
US08545316B2
In various embodiments, the gaming system and method disclosed herein maintains a progressive award that is associated with a plurality of different progressive award trigger values or progressive award hit values. In such embodiments, the displayed value of the progressive award does not reset to a reset value or reset amount until the displayed value of that progressive award has incremented to each of the plurality of progressive award hit values associated with that progressive award. In these embodiments, the gaming system provides a plurality of displayed incremented values of a progressive award a plurality of times before the displayed value of that progressive award is reset to the reset value. Such a configuration provides that after the gaming system provides a currently displayed value of a progressive award to a player at least a first time, the displayed value of that progressive award continues incrementing from the provided value.
US08545312B2
Gaming systems, devices, and methods configured to change winnable awards of a pending play of a game based on a quantity of concurrently pending plays of the game are provided. The gaming system enables a player to sequentially initiate multiple plays of a game such that a plurality of plays are concurrently pending. Each play of the game includes one or more awards available to be won in that play. When a quantity of concurrently pending plays of the game is greater than or equal to a designated quantity of plays of the game, the gaming system changes one or more of the awards available to be won in one or more of those concurrently pending plays of the game, and they remain changed as long as the quantity of concurrently pending plays of the game is greater than or equal to the designated quantity of plays of the game.
US08545307B2
The gaming system receives a wager from a player for a play of a game including a plurality of multi-component symbols. Each of the multi-component symbols includes a plurality of symbol component locations. A plurality of the multi-component symbols include at least one of the symbol components in at least one of the symbol component locations. The gaming system randomly generates and displays a plurality of the multi-component symbols. The gaming system determines, for a first one of a designated number of the displayed multi-component symbols, a quantity of symbol component locations of the first one of the displayed multi-component symbols that display one of the symbol components and that correspond to a symbol component location of each of the other displayed multi-component symbols of the designated number of the displayed multi-component symbols that each display one of the symbol components. Any awards are determined based on the determined quantity.
US08545303B2
Wagering games, gaming machines, networked gaming systems and associated methods are disclosed that include a randomly selected feature game. One disclosed aspect provides for a wagering game including a primary game and a plurality of feature games. One or more of the plurality of feature games is selected for play upon a triggering event associated with the primary game. In another disclosed aspect, the wagering game may also include at least two types of progressives including wide-area progressives, casino-wide progressives, bank progressives and stand-alone progressives. Another disclosed aspect provides a pay table, wherein the pay table changes dynamically according to the size of a wager.
US08545299B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for providing a power-puzzler computer generated crossword puzzle which employs a unique and original combination of technology-based features to offer puzzlers of all skill levels a richer and more enjoyable crossword puzzle gaming experience. A master puzzle database (MPDB) consisting of clues and solutions associated with metadata is created and utilized to offer numerous improvements over previous crossword puzzle games. Features include offering multiple clues of varying difficulty for the same solution and improvement features to help a puzzler understand and develop crossword strategies, skills and techniques. Unique scoring is offered based on multiple variables such as level of difficulty, elapsed time to complete the puzzle, percentage of solutions correct, etc. Puzzlers can also create custom puzzles by defining game parameters such as categories of interest, level of difficulty and desired time to complete. Puzzler performance can be stored in a user profile.
US08545297B2
An air-flap device for a refrigerator and/or freezer for equipping a kitchen comprises an air flap (18) which is mounted so as to be pivotable about a first axis of rotation (20) between an open position and a closing position and which, in the open position, unblocks an air-passage aperture (16) for the passage of air and, in the closing position, blocks said air-passage aperture, at least substantially, against the passage of air, and said air-flap device also comprises a motorized flap-actuating mechanism for displacing the air flap in a pivoting manner. According to the invention, the flap-actuating mechanism comprises a movably disposed flap-actuating element (26) having a flap-engaging section (32) which can be moved, as a result of movement of said flap-actuating element, from outside the pivoting space of the air flap into said pivoting space in order, in doing so, to pass into engagement with the air flap and lift the latter out of one of the two flap positions towards the other. The flap-actuating element (26) is preferably a body of revolution which is disposed so as to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation (28) which is substantially parallel to the first axis of rotation (20) but extends at a distance from the latter.
US08545292B2
The present invention relates to a two-component urethane resin composition for a polishing pad including a base resin containing an isocyanate group-terminated urethane prepolymer (A) and a curing agent containing an isocyanate group reactive compound (B), and characterized in that the prepolymer (A) is a prepolymer having an isocyanate group equivalent of 250 to 700 and being produced by reacting a polyisocyanate (a1) with an aromatic polyester polyol (a2) and a polyether polyol (a3) which are used as polyol components in combination at a mass ratio of (a2)/(a3)=5/95 to 70/30, and the aromatic polyester polyol (a2) has 2 to 11 aromatic rings in its molecular chain, and also relates to a polyurethane polishing pad using the resin composition and a method for producing a polyurethane polishing pad.
US08545291B2
A polishing pad capable of improving an affinity to polishing liquid and stabilizing polishing performance is provided. A polishing pad 10 is equipped with a urethane sheet 2. The urethane sheet 2 has a polishing surface P for polishing an object to be polished. The urethane sheet 2 is formed by a dry molding method and is formed by slicing a polyurethane foamed body which is obtained by reacting and curing mixed liquid in which an isocyanate-group containing compound, water, a foam control agent and a polyamine compound are mixed. Foams 3 are dispersed approximately uniformly inside the urethane sheet 2. Opened pores 4 which are opened parts of the foams 3 are formed at the polishing surface P. Inside the urethane sheet 2, the foams 3 formed adjacently to each other are communicated by communication holes 9, and the communication holes 9 are formed at a ratio of 800 holes/cm2 or more when observed from a side of the polishing surface P. Polishing liquid moves via the communication holes 9 and the foams 3.
US08545288B1
A reversible one-piece support bra device. The support bra device features a front section for covering and supporting a user's breasts. The front section has a first end, a second end, a top edge, and a bottom edge. The first end and second end are for positioning under a user's arms. A back section connected to front section. Together the back second and front section wrap around a portion of a user's torso around the breasts. A strap extends upwardly from the top edge of the front section near the second end. The strap extends to the back section and is for positioning over a user's shoulder.
US08545283B2
A toy has a body in the form of a doll or a living being, an audio output to reproduce audio effects, a memory to provide audio data, a controller to control the reproduction of different audio effects based on the reading of the audio data, and a sensor for generating detection signals correlated with the proximity of an object to the toy. The controller is designed in such a way that a selection of the reproduced audio effects depends on an evaluation of the detection signals and of signals generated by a provided interface device that is connected through devices in the play accessories being fed to that controller, and/or being made available for access.
US08545280B1
A marine drive has a lower drive unit including a gearcase with a vertical strut having a lower horizontal torpedo with an aft propeller. An anti-ventilation plate on the strut is spaced above the torpedo. A spray shield plate on the strut is spaced above the torpedo and below the anti-ventilation plate.
US08545273B1
An electrical connector includes an electrically insulative holder member, a signal module formed of a circuit board with longitudinal terminal holes, circuit lines, electrical contacts and via-holes, metal contact terminals and metal mounting terminals, and a metal shield. The metal contact terminals have rear soldering end portions thereof respectively soldered to respective circuit lines, front contact portions thereof positioned in front ends of the longitudinal terminal holes of the circuit board and middle suspension arms thereof connected between the rear soldering end portions and the front contact portions and suspending below the longitudinal terminal holes. The electrical contacts of the circuit board are positioned in respective bottom contact holes of the tongue plate. The circuit lines electrically connect the electrical contacts and the metal contact terminals to the via-holes. The surface area of each circuit line may be modified to adjust impedance, reducing interference.
US08545272B2
An anti-electromagnetic interference electrical connector having a terminal assembly is provided. The anti-EMI electrical connector includes an electrical insulation case, plural first terminals, and plural second terminals. The electrical insulation case includes a slot. Each first terminal is disposed in the electrical insulation case and includes a contact end located in the slot. Each second terminal is disposed in the electrical insulation case and in a staggered manner with the first terminals. Each second terminal includes a body and a first extended portion. The body is located in the electrical insulation case and includes a connection end located in the slot. The first extended portion extends from the body and an included angle is defined between the first extended portion and the body. The first extended portion isolates the first terminals adjacent to each of the second terminals by increasing a lateral projected area of the second terminal.
US08545271B2
A wiring apparatus includes a wire housing portion, terminal housing chambers and wire extracting portions. The wire housing portion is provided with a plurality of elongated housing grooves that respectively house wires therein and are disposed in parallel to each other, each of the grooves is divided at one or more portions by groove(s), and side walls and are coupled by a U-shaped elastic coupling member. Each terminal housing chamber houses a conductive metal plate for coupling the terminal of the battery and the terminal of the adjacent battery and couples adjacent terminal housing chambers and by a U-shaped elastic coupling member. Each of the wire extracting portions couples a wire housing groove and the terminal housing chamber to thereby extract the wire to the wire housing groove.
US08545266B2
Plug connections on radar sensors include plug pins which are inserted into plastic. The plastic that surrounds the plug pins is at least partially provided with a granulate that absorbs radar waves, such that the electrical impedance of the plastic has a high value in low-frequency range, and the plastic comprises a characteristic which absorbs radar waves in a region of higher-frequency radar waves. The plug pins are surrounded by a thin layer of plastic without radar-absorbent granulate, and a remainder of an area surrounding the plug pins includes the plastic with the granulate which absorbs radar waves.
US08545253B2
A high definition multimedia interface connector comprising a connector body having an extension configured to be inserted into a high definition multimedia interface receptacle, and at least one projection on an outer surface of the extension to facilitate releasable engagement of the plug with a standard high definition multimedia receptacle. A corresponding method of releasably securing a high definition multimedia interface plug to a standard high definition multimedia interface receptacle is also provided.
US08545243B2
The present invention provides a lock structure of plug of cable including a main body and a key. The main body has a locking area, an elastic area with an elastic element, and a lower room which is able to receive a plug of cable. The elastic element tends to stay at a first position. When the key is not inserted into the locking area, the elastic element is at the first position, and a latch of the plug of the cable is unable to be compressed due to the fixation by the elastic element. When the key is inserted into the locking area and is rotated, the elastic element is pushed to a second position, and the latch is able to be compressed. Thereby, the lock structure of plug of cable can be used to control the availability of the plug for a jack.
US08545212B2
A mold-tool system is provided which includes a melt distribution device and a melt splitting device configured to interact with the melt distribution device. The melt splitting device includes a single inlet and multiple outlets spaced from the single inlet. The outlets are configured for fluid communication with the melt distribution device. The melt splitting device further includes a plurality of uninterrupted melt channels, where each melt channel extends from the inlet to an associated one of the outlets.
US08545211B2
A method and apparatus for manufacturing and installing a fairing on an aircraft. In one advantageous embodiment, a composite fairing is installed on the aircraft. A composite sheet having a form of the composite fairing is formed. A plurality of cured composite tiles is created from the composite sheet, wherein spaces are present between the plurality of composite tiles. The plurality of composite tiles is cured to form the composite fairing. The composite fairing is attached to a surface of the aircraft. The spaces between the plurality of composite tiles are filled with a flexible filler.
US08545202B2
A mould system for manufacturing a container which includes a movable mould half and a stationary mould half which are positioned opposite to each other, wherein the movable mould half includes a core plate provided with a core, a plate-like seal ring that is movable relative to the core, a seal surface which surrounds the core, and a collar ring that is movable relative to the core and the stationary mould half includes a mould plate provided with a mould cavity and a seal surface, wherein in the mould system, a plate-like insert is connected to the seal surface of the seal ring, the insert including a recess which is in contact with a front edge of the seal surface, so that it is in flow communication with molten plastic material flowing from the direction of the collar ring.
US08545201B2
A system for forming a composite structure comprises an electromagnetic press including an upper die, a lower die and an electromagnet. The lower die may be mounted in spaced relation to the upper die for receiving a composite layup therebetween. The electromagnet is energizable such that the upper and lower dies apply a compressive force to the composite layup.
US08545183B2
A gas turbine rotor blade and rotor disk arrangement is provided. The rotor blade and the rotor disk includes a coating in order to seal the gap which normally exists between the bottom part of the blade root and the bottom part of the disk slot. The coating may be applied to the blade root or to the disk itself on the bottom part of the disk slot. The coating is preferably an abradable nickel-alloy Bentonite coating. The coating may also be applied to only a portion of the areas being sealed, omitting a portion at the start of the slot or at the start of one of the lobes of the blade root, so that a lead-in is formed, whereby the blade can more easily be inserted into the slot.
US08545174B2
A nose dome for a turbomachine rotor is provided. The turbomachine rotor has an impeller which is arranged in an overhung fashion with respect to a bearing point of the turbomachine rotor. The nose dome can be connected axially to the impeller in order to guide an axial inflow and/or outflow of the impeller, and includes a coupling device. The impeller and the nose dome can be mechanically coupled radially with the coupling device, such that the vibration behavior of the turbomachine rotor may be influenced. The turbomachine with the turbomachine rotor including the nose dome is also provided. The impeller and nose dome are coupled radially using the coupling device, such that the vibration of the turbomachine rotor is damped.
US08545173B2
A process for calibrating a variable-nozzle assembly (200) prior to its installation in a turbocharger. The variable-nozzle assembly facilitating such process is installed in a calibration fixture (20) having internal flowpath contours configured to replicate corresponding internal flowpath contours of a turbocharger into which the variable-nozzle assembly (200) is to be installed. The calibration fixture (20) defines a generally annular chamber (110) in fluid communication with a flow path defined in the variable-nozzle assembly (200), and a fluid supply passage (112) extending into the annular chamber. A fluid is supplied through the fluid supply passage (112), and the fluid then flows through the flow path of the variable-nozzle assembly (200). While the fluid is flowing through the variable-nozzle assembly (200), the vanes (220) are pivoted to set a predetermined flow rate. A stop member (290) is then fixed to the variable-nozzle assembly (200) so that the vanes (220) cannot be pivoted past the position corresponding to the predetermined flow rate.
US08545171B2
A rotor of a thermal fluid flow machine, especially a gas turbine, is provided. The rotor includes a plurality of rotor components that are held together by a common tie-bolt that extends through the center of the rotor components. The tie-bolt is fixed in at least one of the rotor components using at least one star spring that surrounds the tie-bolt in a circumferential direction.
US08545169B2
An aspect of the invention is a turbine blade for a gas turbine, comprising a blade root, adjoining which one after the other are a platform region having a transversely running platform and then a blade profile curved in the longitudinal direction, comprising at least one cavity which is open on the root side and through which a coolant can flow and which extends through the blade root and the platform region into the blade profile. The cavity is surrounded by an inner wall, on the surface of which structural elements influencing the coolant are provided. In order to prolong the service life of such a turbine blade, the invention proposes that a section, lying at least in the blade profile and adjoining the platform region, of the surface of the inner wall be free of structural elements. Such a turbine blade can preferably be used in a stationary gas turbine.
US08545166B2
A turbine system is provided wherein during self-sealing operating conditions, excess leakoff steam is restricted from being dumped to a steam seal header and is diverted into the working steam flow path, hence increasing net output and efficiency for the turbine system. A related method is also provided.
US08545151B2
A device for engaging an elongated support for restraining cargo in a container having a pair of opposed walls and configured to transfer to shear stress at least some of the tensile force applied by the elongated support. The device comprising: a strip, a sleeve including a plurality of walls extending from the strip having an open end for receiving an end of the elongated support; gussets for transferring to shear stress at least some of the tensile force applied by the elongated support.
US08545138B2
A machine for boring spaced, axially-aligned surfaces of a part includes a frame and a boring apparatus associated with the frame. The boring apparatus is configured to bore at least one surface of the part and includes a boring bar associated with a cutting tool configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the boring bar. The machine further includes a mounting fixture associated with the frame configured to mount the part in a fixed relationship with respect to the frame. The machine also includes an alignment assembly including at least one pair of plates. At least one of the plates of the pair of plates is configured to pivot such that the longitudinal axis of the boring bar is aligned with an axis defined by the axially-aligned surfaces of the part.
US08545137B2
The cutting method of steel for machine structural use includes: forming a mist by mixing a cutting fluid supplied at a supply rate of 0.01 ml/hour to 200 ml/hour and an oxidizing gas containing, by volume %, 21% to 50% of oxygen; and cutting the steel for machine structural use while the mist is blown on the cutting edge surface of a tool and the surface of the steel for machine structural use, wherein the steel for machine structural use includes, by mass %: C: 0.01% to 1.2%, Si: 0.005% to 3.0%, Mn: 0.05% to 3.0%, P: 0.001% to 0.2%, S: 0.001% to 0.35%, N: 0.002% to 0.035%, Al: 0.05% to 1.0%, and the balance consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities in which O is limited to 0.003% or less, and the amount of Al [Al %] and the amount of N [N %] satisfy [Al %]−(27/14)×[N %]≧0.05.
US08545129B2
A cofferdam module can include first and second side panels, outer support members that are each coupled to the outer side of one of the side panels, and two different types of inner support members that are each coupled to the inner side of each of the side panels.
US08545126B1
The portable traffic safety barrier is formed of plastic or recycled rubber, and has a narrower upper portion and wider cap atop the upper portion to form a mushroom-shaped cross section. Elongate passages are formed through each barrier section, and a spring is installed in at least one passage to connect the barriers resiliently to one another end-to-end. Another passage contains a flexible coiled electrical cord to provide power for lighting the barrier, the lighting being installed atop the barrier sections. The springs and coiled cord allow connected barriers to separate in the event of impact, while still maintaining the integrity of the assembly and lighting. Wheels may be provided beneath the barrier sections to allow lateral repositioning. Two or more rows of barriers may be arranged laterally, and the resulting gap between barriers serves as a planter box or for the installation of signage.
US08545114B2
A camera module includes a lens system, an image sensor, and an actuator. The actuator is fixed relative to the image sensor, and the actuator moves the lens system relative to the image sensor to achieve focus. Components that move relative to each other result in gaps or spaces between the components, an in particular there is a gap between the lens system and the actuator. Such a gap provides a traveling path for foreign material, or particulates, to enter the camera module and reach the image sensor, or other intermediate optical components between the lens system and the image sensor. A camera contamination reduction apparatus is implemented as a protective membrane that prevents foreign material from reaching the internal optical components through the traveling path.
US08545104B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to tilting pad bearing assemblies and apparatuses. The disclosed tilting pad bearing assemblies and apparatuses may be employed in downhole motors of a subterranean drilling system or other mechanical systems. In an embodiment, a bearing assembly or apparatus includes a support ring and a plurality of tilting pads. Each tilting pad is tilted and/or tiltably secured relative to the support ring. In some embodiments, one or more of the tilting pads include a plurality of superhard bearing segments assembled to form a superhard bearing surface. One or more seams may be positioned between adjacent superhard bearing segments of the superhard bearing segments. In other embodiments, one or more of the tilting pads may include at least one or only one superhard bearing segment, such as a polycrystalline diamond bearing segment.
US08545089B2
A back frame of a flat panel display device includes first and second primary assembling pieces. The first primary assembling piece has an end forming at least two joint sections each of which has a structure mating an end of the second primary assembling piece to selectively joint the two primary assembling pieces. The back frame includeds a bracing piece fixed to the primary assembling pieces and forming at least two sets of mounting structures. A mold for making a back frame and bracing piece of a flat panel display device, a method for manufacturing a back frame of a flat panel display device, and a backlight system are also provide and they have a simple back frame mold to reduce cost of the back frame mold, and save material for the back frame to lower down cost of the flat panel display device.
US08545088B2
The present invention provides a back frame and a backlight system of a flat panel display device. The back frame includes at least two assembling pieces that are joined to form the back frame. The back frame further includes a bracing piece fixed to the assembling pieces and the bracing piece functions to fix a circuit board and an electromagnetic shielding piece. The bracing piece includes a bracing body, a first suspension section, a first bearing section, and a first resilient bent section. The bracing body is fixed to the assembling pieces. The first suspension section extends from the bracing body toward one side of the bracing body. The first bearing section is spaced from the bracing body and extends from the first suspension section toward one side of the first suspension section. The first resilient bent section is located between the first bearing section and the bracing body and is bent from the first suspension section toward one side of the first suspension section. The first bearing section and the first resilient bent section resiliently clamp a first side edge of the circuit board. The electromagnetic shielding piece is fixed to the bracing body. As such, the manufacturing cost is reduced and the expenditure of mold is saved and the problem that a circuit board cannot be easily fixed and the electromagnetic shielding problem can be overcome.
US08545087B2
In a light-emitting assembly and a display apparatus having the light-emitting assembly, the light-emitting assembly includes a light guide plate, a first light-emitting module and a second light-emitting module. The light guide plate includes a first surface, a second surface facing the first surface and including a light incident portion and a light exiting portion, and a third surface connecting the first surface with the second surface and inclined toward the first surface. The first light-emitting module is on the light incident portion of the second surface and emits a first light to the light incident portion. The second light-emitting module faces the third surface and emits a second light having a wavelength different from the first light, to the third surface.
US08545084B2
Light guides and backlight systems are disclosed that include one or more groups of geometric light redirectors whose arrangement and/or orientation across the surface of a light guide varies to improve light emission uniformity and to reduce visual artifacts.
US08545082B2
A light emitting apparatus including a body including a first cavity; a first electrode and a second electrode on the body; a light emitting device disposed in the first cavity and being electrically connected with the first and the second electrodes; and a first molding member disposed in the first cavity, and including a fluorescent material. Further, a height ‘a’ of the light emitting device and a depth ‘y’ of the first cavity satisfy a relation 1.5a≦y≦3.0a, and the height ‘a’ and a horizontal distance ‘x’ from an upper outer edge of the light emitting device to an inner surface of the body forming the first cavity satisfy a relation 0.5a≦x≦1.5a.
US08545078B2
A solar lighting apparatus uses optical fibers to transmit solar light for illumination. The apparatus includes a support frame, optical fibers, a hybrid solar light diffuser and a reflective sheet. The optical fibers are fastened to the support frame and are spaced apart from each other at regular intervals. The hybrid solar light diffuser is coupled to a lower portion of the support frame and includes a diffusion plate and diffusion lenses which are provided on the diffusion plate at positions corresponding to the respective optical fibers. Each diffusion lens has a width increasing from a top thereof to a bottom. An incident depression is formed in the upper end of each diffusion lens. A reflective surface is formed on the circumferential outer surface of each diffusion lens to diffuse and reflect solar light. The reflective sheet is applied to the lower surface of the support frame.
US08545074B2
An electronic device includes a housing having a lower base and an upper cover disposed on the lower base, a light emitting module received in the housing, two arms extending downwardly from the upper cover, and a light guiding member facing the light emitting module and fixed between the two arms.
US08545073B2
A lighting module notably for motor vehicles comprising a first concave reflector comprising a first and a second focal point, a second concave reflector comprising a first and a second focal point, the first and the second reflectors having a truncated circumference such that the reflecting face of the first reflector is oriented towards that of the second reflector, a shield between the first and the second reflectors, an optical element comprising a first focal point situated in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the module and passing through the cut-off edge, the cut-off edge being situated at the second focal point of the first reflector and at the second focal point of the second reflector.
US08545067B2
A shock resistant outdoor lamp has a bulb assembly includes a shock resistant gas-filled vessel coupled to an RF source. The vessel has a transparent or translucent body having an inner surface and an outer surface and a cavity formed within the inner surface. The gas-filled vessel comprises a first end region and a second end region. The bulb assembly has a length provided between the first end region and the second end region and ranging from about 0.5 centimeter to about three centimeters characterizing the gas-filled vessel. The bulb assembly at least one or more coupling members operably coupled to the gas-filled vessel such that the outer surface of the gas-filled vessel is substantially free from mechanical damage caused with the one or more coupling members and substantially free from any openings in the thickness.
US08545052B2
A high illumination LED bulb with a 360-degree full emission angle includes a transparent lamp seat, a transparent lampshade coupled to lamp seat, a support board disposed in a chamber defined by transparent lamp seat and transparent lampshade, a heat dissipating body supported by support board, and first and second light emitting modules. The first light emitting module includes a first substrate disposed on a face of heat dissipating body and at least one LED disposed on the first substrate. The second light emitting module includes a second substrate disposed on another face of the heat dissipating body and at least one LED disposed on the second substrate. The LEDs on first and second substrates can project upper and lower projection lights respectively, and a reflected halo formed by projection of the upper projection light on the transparent lampshade can form a side projected halo. Thereby, a 360-degree full emission angle projected halo can be formed.
US08545048B2
An LED illumination structure without a light guide plate (LGP) includes an optical bottom plate, a plurality of LED illumination components arranged at least along one side edge of the optical bottom plate and a plurality of reflecting structures parallel to the LED illumination components formed on the optical bottom plate from two opposite side edges of the optical bottom plate to a center of the optical bottom plate. The reflecting structures are in a shape of tapered embossment and include a first side facing the center of the optical bottom plate and a second side facing the side edges of the optical bottom plate. An optical film is arranged in a raising direction of the reflecting structures of the optical bottom plate. The present invention is applicable to an illumination lamp for generating a uniform light emitting or may further be an illumination structure for projecting a light source of a bare-eyed 3D image.
US08545047B2
A light emitting diode (LED) light with a corrugated reflective surface is disclosed. The corrugated reflective surface reflects and diffuses light beams emitting from a light source having at least one LED. The corrugated reflective surface can be concavely curved. The curvature and the corrugations of the reflective surface can be designed by an equation to achieve a specified beam spread.
US08545042B2
A self-illuminating battery including one or more film light-emitting diodes positioned adjacent an inner surface of a battery casing. The diodes are connect to positive and negative poles through conductor. The battery may also include one or more miniature light-emitting diode mounted at the end of the battery, connecting the positive pole and negative pole through conductor.
US08545041B2
A mounting clip for attaching objects, such as flashlights to an article, such as a hat or belt, includes a clip portion dimensioned for attaching the clip to the article and an object mounting portion formed with the clip portion. Objects of different widths are removably yet snugly grasped within the object mounting portion. The clip portion includes upper and lower members defining a slot for receiving the article through a lip of the slot and frictionally securing the clip to the article.
US08545040B2
A multipurpose lighting device comprising a flashlight end, a lantern end including a barrel through which light may pass, and a module mounted between the flashlight end and lantern end. The module includes a first light source configured to direct light out the flashlight end, and a second light source configured to direct light out the lantern end. The second light source is disposed on an opposite end of the module from the first light source. The module further includes a power source configured to energize the first light source and second light source, wherein the second light source is oppositely disposed on the module from the first light source.
US08545037B2
Lightguides, devices incorporating lightguides, and processes for making lightguides are described. A lightguide includes light extractors arranged in a pattern on a surface of the lightguide. The pattern of light extractors is arranged to enhance uniformity of light output across a surface of the lightguide and to provide enhanced defect hiding. The efficiency of the light extractors is controlled by a shape factor. The areal density of the light extractors across the surface of the lightguide may be substantially constant or may decrease along the direction of propagation of light from the light source.
US08545029B2
A light production system for a projector is provided. The light production system comprises: at least one high pressure mercury arc lamp; at least one red laser; at least one green laser; and an integrator for receiving and combining light from the at least one high pressure mercury arc lamp, red light from the at least one red laser and green light from the at least one green laser, the integrator comprising an output enabled to emit combined light into illumination relay optics of the projector.
US08545026B2
A method corrects trapezoid distortion of projected images using a projector. The projector includes a projection lens, a driver device, an image capturing device, and a storage system. A rectangular picture is read from the storage system and projected on a projection area by the projection lens. The method controls the image capturing device to capture an image from the projection area when the projection lens increases one trapezoid row correction grade, and corrects each trapezoid row of the captured image if the captured image has trapezoid rows. The method further controls the image capturing device to capture an image from the projection area when the projection lens increases one trapezoid column correction grade, and corrects each trapezoid column of the captured image if the captured image has trapezoid columns.
US08545024B2
An ophthalmic apparatus comprises: a main unit including a photographing device for photographing an examinee's eye; a monitor provided in the main unit, the monitor including a displaying device for displaying an image of the eye photographed by the photographing device and a setting device for setting a predetermined function; a rotation mechanism for rotating the monitor from an almost vertical position to an almost horizontal position with respect to the main unit; a first lock mechanism for locking the monitor at each predetermined tilt angle, the first lock mechanism being arranged to allow upward rotation of the monitor but restrict downward rotation of the monitor in the course of rotating the monitor from the almost vertical position to the almost horizontal position; and a first unlock mechanism arranged to release the restriction of the downward rotation of the monitor by the first lock mechanism based on further upward rotation of the monitor after the monitor is locked in a first maximum tilt lock position by the first lock mechanism.
US08545016B2
Methods and systems for obtaining an ocular aberration measurement of an eye of a patient are provided. Exemplary techniques involve obtaining a first induced metric for the eye that corresponds to a first accommodation state of the eye, obtaining a second induced metric for the eye that corresponds to a second accommodation state of the eye, and determining a natural metric of the eye based on the first and second induced metrics. An induced metric may include a pupil size or a spherical aberration. Techniques can also include determining a target metric for the eye base on the natural metric, determining whether an actual metric of the eye meets the target metric, obtaining an ocular aberration measurement of the eye if the actual metric meets the target metric, and determining a treatment for the eye based on the ocular aberration measurement.
US08545010B2
The present invention relates to dual-lens eyeglasses including an eyeglass frame and two lens units permanently installed on the eyeglass frame. Each lens unit includes two lenses arranged in optical alignment with each other. The lenses can be optical lenses or sunglass lenses. The optical lenses can be selected from known lenses such as corrective lenses, myopic corrective lenses, reading glasses lenses, progressive lenses, etc. The sunglass lenses can be selected from polarized lenses, tinted lenses, or photochromic lenses. Without the use of sub-frames, two lens units are permanently installed on eyewires of the eyeglass frames, enhancing the integration effect of the eyeglass frames. In addition, each lens is directly fixed and installed on the eyeglass frames, so that the installation is reliable and the lenses will not fall off easily. Furthermore, the lenses can be easily installed on full-rim, half-rim or rimless eyeglass frame.
US08545008B2
The invention provides a recording medium capable of inhibiting conspicuousness of scratches attached to the recording medium and preventing the occurrence of density unevenness in an image. The recording medium has a substrate and an ink receiving layer provided on the substrate, wherein substrate is a resin-coated substrate obtained by coating a base material with a resin, and wherein Ra2 is 0.3 μm or more and 2.5 μm or less and Ra1−Ra2 is 2.0 μm or more, where Ra1 is an arithmetic average roughness of a surface of the substrate son the side of the ink receiving layer as prescribed by JIS B 0601:2001 and Ra2 is an arithmetic average roughness of the outermost surface of the recording medium as prescribed by JIS B 0601:2001.
US08545003B2
A pigment dispersion containing a metal pigment, wherein the metal pigment contains plate-like particles, and in the case where the longitudinal diameter on the planar surface of the plate-like particle is X, the lateral diameter is Y, and the thickness is Z, the 50% average particle diameter R50 of a corresponding circle determined from the surface area in the X-Y plane of the plate-like particle is between 0.5 and 3 μm, and the condition R50/Z>5 is satisfied.
US08544999B2
An in situ process for preparing a phase change magnetic ink including heating a phase change ink composition to a first temperature sufficient to provide a melt composition; wherein the phase change ink composition comprises a carrier, an optional colorant, and an optional dispersant; placing the melt composition under inert atmosphere; heating the melt composition to a second temperature sufficient to effect decomposition of a metal carbonyl; adding the metal carbonyl to the melt composition under inert atmosphere at this second temperature to form metal nanoparticles thus forming in situ a phase change magnetic ink including the metal nanoparticles; optionally, filtering the phase change magnetic ink while in a liquid state; and cooling the phase change magnetic ink to a solid state.
US08544994B2
An ink cartridge includes an ink bag that is configured to store ink inside, a spout that is provided on the ink bag and includes a hollow portion that leads from a first opening to a second opening, and a case that houses the ink bag, an end portion of the case on a side of the second opening including at least a first corner portion, a second corner portion, and a first surface portion, a width in a first direction being smaller than a width in a second direction in the case, an axial line of the spout being, in the second direction, located closer to one end portion of the case on a side having the first corner portion, and the leading end portion of the spout being located inside of the case with respect to the line connecting the first corner portion and the second corner portion.
US08544991B2
A consumable supply item for an imaging device holds an initial or refillable volume of ink. An interior retains the ink while exit and return ports define openings through a housing to fluidly communicate the interior to the imaging device. The opening of the return port is larger than the opening of the exit port. The design slows the return of fluid to the housing which minimizes air bubbles or frothiness in the fluid. During use, ink depletes toward a bottom surface of the interior beneath which the ink is prevented from occupying. A housing section below the interior retains a portion of the exit port so that a bottom of the opening of the exit port is substantially horizontally aligned with the bottom surface. It prevents stranding ink beneath the exit port. Further embodiments include port configuration, construction, and modular components, to name a few.
US08544989B2
A MEMS integrated circuit includes a silicon substrate having a frontside with a drive circuitry layer and a backside. A MEMS layer is disposed on the drive circuitry layer. The MEMS layer includes a plurality of MEMS devices electrically connected to the drive circuitry layer. Connector posts extends from the drive circuitry layer to a contact pad positioned in a roof of the MEMS layer and through-silicon connectors extending linearly from the contact pad, through the drive circuitry layer and the silicon substrate, towards the backside of the silicon substrate. Each through-silicon connector terminates at a backside integrated circuit contact, such that each integrated circuit contact is electrically connected to the drive circuitry layer via the contact pad positioned in the roof of the MEMS layer.
US08544987B2
A coating for an ink jet printhead front face, wherein the coating comprises a oleophobic low adhesion coating. When the oleophobic low adhesion coating is disposed on an ink jet printhead front face surface, jetted drops of ultra-violet gel ink or jetted drops of solid ink exhibit a contact angle greater than 45° and a low sliding angle of less than about 30°. In embodiments, the oleophobic low adhesion coating is thermally stable wherein the surface contact angle and sliding angle show little degradation after the coating is subjected to high temperatures in a range between 180° and 320° or thereabout and high pressures in a range between 100 psi and 400 psi or thereabout during printhead fabrication and manufacturing.
US08544977B2
A liquid discharge head includes a substrate including a plurality of nozzle arrays formed by arranging nozzles having heat generating elements generating thermal energy for discharging a liquid, and a plurality of common liquid chambers formed along the plurality of nozzle arrays to supply the liquid to the plurality of nozzle arrays, the substrate being divided into a plurality of substrate portions by the plurality of common liquid chambers. The substrate includes a first substrate portion having a first nozzle array among the plurality of nozzle arrays and a second substrate portion having a second nozzle array different from the first nozzle array and a thermal capacity larger than that of the first substrate portion. A heating area of each first heat generating element provided in the first nozzle array is smaller than that of each second heat generating element provided in the second nozzle array.
US08544966B2
A brake controller for a vehicle is disclosed. The brake controller is mounted on the vehicle to control the drive of the brake device. The brake controller comprises a rough road index calculating section for calculating a rough road index in a predetermined cycle, wherein the rough road index indicates an unevenness degree of the road on which the vehicle travels; and a controlling section for controlling the drive of the brake device to provide the driving force to the brake pad when the current rough road index calculated by the rough road index calculating section is smaller than a previous rough road index calculated by the rough road index calculating section.
US08544965B2
Provided is a brake system capable of preventing fuel efficiency of a vehicle from being lowered. After a brake pedal is released, a pump is driven under a state in which opening/closure of valves included in an ABS/VDC actuator are regulated so that pressure-reduction control for returning a brake fluid in wheel cylinders to a master cylinder is performed. Therefore, the brake fluid remaining in the wheel cylinders is returned to the master cylinder via the pump to increase a hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder. As a result, return characteristics of an electric actuation unit are improved. Therefore, for example, even if viscosity of grease applied onto a rotary-to-linear motion converting mechanism is increased at a low temperature or the like, pistons of the master cylinder can be appropriately returned to initial positions.
US08544959B2
The invention relates to a piece of furniture comprising a seat portion and a supporting substructure, wherein an apparatus for removably connecting the seat portion to the substructure is provided, the apparatus comprising at least one lever that can be moved between a position that locks the seat portion to the substructure and a release position, the lever being located at the substructure or seat portion and being provided with a bracket that forms an undercut, said bracket enclosing a pin at the seat portion or at the substructure in the locking position.
US08544951B2
A stackable and nestable chair includes a seat assembly, a pair of rear legs spaced apart by a first distance, and a pair of front legs spaced apart by a second distance different than the first distance. The front legs and the rear legs mutually connected by a crossbar, and the seat assembly is supported by the crossbar when the seat is in an operable position. A plurality of casters are each attached to a bottom of each of the front and rear legs, wherein each caster includes a notch that is configured to couple with a leg of an adjacently stacked chair.
US08544948B2
A vehicle seat is provided in which a shock reducing member provides an optimum state both under a usual (normal) seating load and in a rear-end collision load, the sinking (moving) amount of the passenger's body to the vehicle rear at the time of rear-end collision can be increased, and a shock applied to a passenger at the time of rear-end collision can be reduced effectively, independently from a headrest. A vehicle seat includes a seat back frame, a headrest, a pressure receiving member connected to the seat back frame via wires, and a rotating member disposed at least on one side of side parts on both sides of the seat back frame. The rotating member is rotated by a predetermined impact load applied to the pressure receiving member, and comes into contact with the seat back frame, whereby the rotating is inhibited.
US08544947B2
An apparatus for fitting a bicycle saddle comprises a mounting rod secured to a bicycle frame, a height adjuster mounted upon the mounting rod, a lateral adjuster mounted upon the height adjuster, a tilt orientation adjuster mounted upon the lateral adjuster, and a clamp securing the saddle to the tilt orientation adjuster.
US08544945B2
A chair 10 for seating in rows is disclosed. In particular, an armrest arrangement 21 for such chairs is disclosed. The arrangement has an arm support 22 which is pivoted to a support brace 23. When the seat 15 is pivoted into its standby position the arm support 22 and support brace 23 lie alongside each other and have a transverse width D6 which is less than the front to rear dimension D5 of the adjacent seat 15 and backrest 14. In particular, the armrest arrangement can be provided with a cup holder 145 which remains horizontal, notwithstanding the pivoting action of the chair armrest arrangement. This reduces the incidence of beverage and food spillage.
US08544944B1
A stadium seating adjustable storage device, having a mounting frame assembly with an anchor wall. Extending from the anchor wall is a sidewall. A storage assembly has first and second lateral walls, a rear wall, and a bottom wall. The first and second lateral walls and the rear wall each have a respective top section, a respective at least one folding section, and a respective bottom section. A plate assembly has an exterior face and first and second ends. The plate assembly mounts onto the storage assembly; and at least one anchor is mounted onto the mounting frame assembly and a stadium styled seat.
US08544943B2
A chair apparatus for facilitating performance of hairstyling services is disclosed. The chair apparatus includes a seat and a shaft coupled to a bottom face of the seat. The chair apparatus further includes a base coupled to a bottom end of the shaft and one or more castors coupled to a bottom face of the base. The chair apparatus further includes an arm coupled to the shaft, wherein the arm extends from the shaft to substantially the height of the seat. The chair apparatus further includes a tray coupled to a top end of the arm, wherein the tray comprises a flat surface and one or more hooks.
US08544939B2
An operator cab for a work vehicle is releasably mounted to a frame of the vehicle via a cab support pin and a flexible mount during vehicle work operations and rotationally attached via the cab support pin for servicing working parts of the work vehicle. An anchor arrangement for the cab support pin helps to maintain the position of the cab with respect to the cab support pin during work and service operations.
US08544934B2
A roll up cover for a box of a pick-up truck includes a plurality of substantially rigid slats connected by hinge joints. A flexible sheet of material is attached to the top surface of the slats. The hinge joints include a stop which allows pivoting of adjacent slats only in a direction moving the top surfaces of the slats towards each other, to allow the cover to be rolled up with flexible sheet facing inwardly, and with bottom surfaces of the slats facing outwardly, and not vice versa. Side rails are attached to the box of the pick-up truck. A roll rod in each side rail pivots into closed position when the cover is unrolled, with the roll rods engaging the end fittings on the slats, to hold the cover down onto the side rails.
US08544915B1
A beverage transport system used for the transportation of beverages includes a plurality of ring-shaped cup holders that engage tapered sides of a beverage cup. “T”-shaped fasteners and slots enable attachment of appropriately sized carrying handles to enable one-hand transportation of both hot and cold beverages. In addition to cup holders the system can incorporate a box-like tray to carry food stuffs, condiments, and other related items.
US08544902B2
A lock includes first and second mating members. The first member is an elongate member with a first and second ends. The first end has a first transverse dimension and is provided with a plurality of first anti-rotational elements. The second end defines a head with a second transverse dimension greater than the first transverse dimension. The second member has a cavity configured to receive the first end of the first member. The cavity is provided with a plurality of second anti-rotational elements that engage and lock with the first anti-rotational elements when the first end of the first member is inserted into the cavity.
US08544893B2
The invention relates to a security element for protecting documents of value, which has magnetic material. Furthermore, the invention relates to a document of value, a transfer material and method for producing such security elements and documents of value as well as a method and an apparatus for checking such a security element or document of value.According to the invention the security element has at least two magnetic materials, wherein the magnetic materials have different coercive field strengths and are applied onto and/or incorporated in the security element in such a manner that their remanence is equally high.
US08544891B2
A washer inlet attaching structure, configured to attach a washer inlet to a vehicle structural body made of resin, the washer inlet communicating with a tank main body adapted to store a windshield washer fluid and guiding the windshield washer fluid into the tank main body, the washer inlet attaching structure includes a washer inlet holding portion, configured to hold the washer inlet, the washer inlet holding portion being molded integrally with the vehicle structural body.
US08544889B2
A motorized fastening device for seat belts of a transportation vehicle, of the kind having a belt unwrapping from a coiler, which is fixedly arranged on a side of a seat, and passing in sequence through a regulator, which is fixedly arranged on the same side of said seat where also said coiler is arranged, a tongue, a housing of said tongue and a blocking point of the extremity of the belt, which is fixedly arranged in proximity of said coiler, wherein said device further has a track for the sliding of a transport carriage for said tongue, obtained on the chassis of said vehicle, defining a path going from a first position, corresponding to a position of non-use of the seat belts, positioned on the chassis of the vehicle, on the same side of the seat with respect to said coiler and said regulator, behind or at the base of the back of the seat and that, passing under the door and within or under the dashboard of the vehicle, arrives to a second position, corresponding to a working position of the seat belts, behind or at the base of the back of the seat, on the opposite side of the seat with respect to the position of said coiler and of said regulator.
US08544882B2
A front passenger airbag (5) is described for arrangement in the instrument panel (20) of a motor vehicle. It has an airbag envelope (10) having an impact area (11) and lateral surfaces extending from the impact area (11). In order to use small gas generators and to reduce the danger for a passenger in a non-standard seating position, the impact area (11) is nearly exclusively allocated to the front passenger's (I) head or head and shoulder area, the impact area (11) having a concave shape when the airbag envelope (10) is fully expanded and free of external forces, such that a left and right section of the impact area (11) respectively extend farther into the interior of the motor vehicle than a central section.
US08544880B2
An active bolster for a vehicle is provided, wherein the bolster comprises an expansible hollow interior that is inflatable and is self-supporting in both an inflated and in an uninflated position. The bolster has an inflator module for inflating the expansible hollow interior. The bolster has an inner wall for projecting inwardly into the vehicle and away from the side of the vehicle on inflation of the expansible hollow interior. The bolster may have a relatively non-expansible component located between a first expansible chamber and a second expansible chamber. The bolster may comprise an outer wall having an attachment portion for attaching the outer wall to a portion of the side of the vehicle.
US08544874B2
A transport device cart having a frame assembly having one or more arms corresponding to and capable of engaging a removable bucket; one or more movement mechanisms; and a latching post. It also includes a latching assembly rotatably coupled to the frame assembly having a hooking latch capable of engaging and disengaging the latching post. A handle assembly is coupled to the latching assembly, wherein the handle assembly can be rotated back and used to push the removable bucket into a substantially inverted position.
US08544871B1
A three-fold three-wheel golf bag cart folding device includes a main shaft, a rear wheel set, a link mechanism, a lower cart frame, a front wheel set and an upper cart frame, and the upper cart frame can be pulled and rear wheels can be driven by the link mechanism to fold or unfold, such that the golf bag cart can be folded into a flat shape by a simple and easy operation to achieve the effects of reducing the storage space and facilitating users to carry and transport the cart.
US08544869B2
The present invention relates to a touring binding comprising two bearing portions arranged on different sides of a longitudinal axis, which bearing portions, in a walking position of the touring binding, are designed to engage with opposing lateral counter-bearing portions of a boot, in order to hold the boot on the touring binding pivotably about a transverse axis extending transversely of the longitudinal axis, characterized by a longitudinal positioning portion separate from the bearing portion, on which positioning portion the boot may be supported in an insertion position in such a manner that the counter-bearing portions are positioned, with regard to their location along the longitudinal axis, in a ready-to-engage position relative to the bearing elements.
US08544864B2
A vehicle suspension assembly that includes a first control arm having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the first control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to a first frame member of a vehicle, and wherein the second end of the first control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to an axle of the vehicle. The vehicle suspension assembly also includes a second control arm having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the second control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to a second frame member of the vehicle, wherein the second end of the second control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to the axle of the vehicle. The vehicle suspension assembly also includes a rigid first torsional member coupled to the first control arm along a length of the first control arm, and coupled to the second control arm along a length of the second control arm. The vehicle suspension assembly further includes a third control arm having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the third control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to a third frame member of the vehicle, and wherein the second end of the third control arm is adapted to be pivotally coupled to a select one of the second frame member and the axle of the vehicle.
US08544863B2
A damping and stiffness system for a vehicle suspension system including at least two forward and two rearward wheel assemblies each associated with vehicle resilient support means (27-30) between a vehicle body and the wheel assemblies. The damping and stiffness system including: a wheel ram (11-14) with at least a compression chamber (45-48) between each wheel assembly and the vehicle body and a load distribution unit (76). The load distribution unit (76) includes two pairs of chambers (77-80), each chamber (77-80) being divided into front (89, 90) and back (91, 92) system chambers (which vary in volume proportionally and in opposite senses therein with piston motion) and the remaining pitch chambers (93-96) by interconnected pistons (81-84) supported therein. The compression chamber (45-48) of each wheel ram (11-14) is in fluid communication with a respective system chamber (89-92) wherein the vehicle is primarily supported by the vehicle resilient support means (27-30).
US08544846B2
A main CPU of a game machine for playing a game with playing balls allows a player to launch the playing balls until 30 seconds have lapsed after the player inserted a predetermined amount of metal money into the game machine. Whenever the playing ball enters any predetermined win hole mounted on a playfield of a game board, a ticket CPU of the game machine controls the game machine to pay a ticket as a payout medium different from the playing ball out, not playing balls, so that the sales figures of the game machine can be boosted since the acquired playing balls are not reused for a next game play, that is, the player has to borrow new playing balls with money paid for the next game play.
US08544844B2
An image forming system including an image forming apparatus and a sheet feeding apparatus. The system includes: a first conveying unit conveying to the image forming apparatus a recording material; a second conveying unit conveying to an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus the recording material; a detector detecting a recording material type while the second conveying unit halts conveying the recording material; a first controller, based on detection by the detector, determining a speed for conveying the recording material to the image forming unit, and conveying the recording material at the conveying speed; and a second controller controlling recording material conveying speeds of the first conveying unit. Before the recording material reaches the second conveying unit, the second controller maintains a first conveying speed, and after the recording material reaches the second convey unit, maintains a second conveying speed determined by the first control unit.
US08544840B2
An automatic document feeder with a drive system that can efficiently handle double-side scanning and accommodate more than one timing sequence for sequentially picking individual sheets from a stack using only two motors—a pick motor and a media motor. The automatic document feeder includes a pickup unit with a pick roller, a set of de-skew rollers, a main media path configured to guide a media sheet from the pickup unit to a scanning region and from the scanning region to an output tray, and a switch-back path configured to guide the media sheet back into the main media path. The drive system is operable to provide a high-speed picking mode and a delayed picking mode. In the high-speed picking mode, the pickup unit is driven by the pick motor to pull a subsequent media sheet from a stack of media sheet as soon as a previously pulled media sheet has passed the pick roller. In the delayed picking mode, the de-skew rollers are driven by the pick motor to advance the media sheet toward the scanning region and the subsequent media sheet is pulled from the stack by the pickup unit when the previously pulled media sheet has passed the de-skewed rollers.
US08544834B2
A finisher deforms a fold end portion of a sheet bundle with a lower pressing plate and an upper pressing plate. A pressing unit holds a sheet bundle so that the fold end portion is positioned between the lower pressing plate and the upper pressing plate. A third pressing roller includes a third pressing surface that presses the fold end portion of the sheet bundle between the lower pressing plate and the upper pressing plate. The third pressing roller moves in between the lower pressing plate and the upper pressing plate. The third pressing roller or the pressing unit moves so that the third pressing surface of the third pressing roller presses the fold end portion at a predetermined position based on a tip of the fold end portion. The fold end portion projects after the sheet bundle is held between the lower pressing plate and the upper pressing plate.
US08544829B2
An adjustment safeguard for a set screw that is rotatably held in a housing has a cap that is non-rotatably secured on the head of the set screw. The cap is received in a sleeve of the housing and surrounded with minimal radial play by the sleeve that is essentially coaxially positioned relative to the cap. The cap is received with its axial length in the sleeve. The cap has a projection and the sleeve has a stop arranged in the interior of the sleeve. Projection and stop interact with each other in a rotational direction of the set screw. The cap has a top part and a separate bottom part. The bottom part is secured axially and non-rotatably on the head of the set screw. The bottom part engages with form fit the top part in the rotational direction and is axially connected to the top part.
US08544823B2
An assembly for lifting and storing an ice house or other item includes a base and a plurality of horizontal brace members rigidly connected to one another. The assembly further includes an electric winch mounted to the base and a plurality of rollers and pulleys. The rollers are rotatably attached to the base and the pulleys are connected to the horizontal brace members. The assembly includes at least one cable that is routed from the electric winch, past the roller and over the pulley. The cable is attached to the ice house. The ice house is lifted and suspended from a ceiling or an assembly of overhead beams via the electric winch.
US08544812B2
A motorcycle restraint device is provided. The motorcycle restraint device comprises a base assembly, a catch assembly and a catch pin assembly. The base assembly comprises at least one base mounting box, at least one front ramp and at least one rear ramp. The catch assembly is mounted to a top portion of the base assembly comprising at least one catch arm, at least one catch arm keeper, at least one bolt traversing the base assembly, at least one front plate, at least one top plate located perpendicular to a front portion of the top plate, at least base side plates, at least two springs vertically mounted between at least one locking rod and at least one spring backup rod. The catch pin assembly is secured to a frame of a motorcycle.
US08544811B2
A display positioning apparatus is provided for lifting, supporting, and/or positioning a load, such as a display. The apparatus includes a base and a lift arm adapted to couple to a display, the lift arm pivotally coupled to the base providing a range of travel. A balance mechanism is operatively coupled to the lift arm and the base to counterbalance the lift arm and display. In some cases the balance mechanism includes a torquing spring member to counterbalance the lift arm and an attached display along the range of travel.
US08544809B1
A swivel device on which a chair can be secured, and which is configured to allow the easy elimination or reduction of accumulated dirt and/or sand. The swivel device may include a mounting device, and a base, wherein the mounting device is connected to the base so that the mounting device can rotate with respect to the base. The swivel device may further include a device for keeping a chair stationary on the mounting device, a first cavity located between the mounting device and the base, and a device for aiding rotation of the mounting device with respect to the base located in the first cavity. There may be a first opening of the mounting device leading to the first cavity, leading to a first opening of the base, which leads to an area outside of the swivel device. The swivel device accommodates all straight and lounge chairs.
US08544806B1
A system for mounting an item to a wall is provided comprising a plurality of stakes, each stake having a proximal end and a distal end and an extension member there between, and each stake comprising a hook at the proximal end and a piercing element at the distal end. At least one stake comprises an extension member having a uniform width, and at least one stake comprises an extension member having a width greater than the width of the hook such that when a plurality of stakes are positioned adjacent each other within the wall, the plurality of hooks functions as a single hanger upon which the item to be hung may be suspended on the wall.
US08544801B2
A bracket assembly includes a bracket and a tray secured in the bracket for accommodating a disk drive. The tray includes a base panel, a pair of side panels extending from opposite sides of the base panel, a first plate extending substantially perpendicularly from an upper edge of one of the pair of side panels, and a second plate extending substantially perpendicularly from an upper edge of the other one of the pair of side panels. The first plate and the second plate are partially overlapped with each other and fixed to each other. The tray includes a pair of sidewalls abutting inner sides of the pair of side panels and a pair of connecting pieces connected between the pair of side walls for supporting the disk drive.
US08544795B2
An item of aircraft galley unit separating a cockpit from an insecure zone of the aircraft, including two portions separated from one another by a secure wall, one of the portions being accessible only from the cockpit, the other being accessible only from the insecure zone, a recess being made in the portion of the item of unit accessible from the cockpit.
US08544792B2
Disclosed a towbarless airplane tug and method of operating thereof. The tug comprises a chassis mounted on a plurality of tug wheels, at least some of said tug wheels being steerable tug wheels and at least some of said tug wheels being drivable tug wheels; an airplane wheel support turret assembly, rotatably mounted in connection with said chassis and operative to support at least one wheel of a nose landing gear of an airplane; at least one rotation sensor connected to said wheel support turret assembly and operative to sense rotation of said wheel support turret assembly relative to said chassis, said rotation resulting at least from steering control induced movement of the nose landing gear caused by pilot-controlled ground steering of said airplane, and to generate an output indicating a direction of said pilot-controlled ground steering of said airplane; at least one tug wheel driver unit operative to drive said drivable tug wheels; at least one tug wheel steering mechanism operative to steer said steerable tug wheels thereby providing steering of said chassis; and at least one tug controller operative to control operation of at least said tug wheel steering mechanism at least in response to said output of said rotation sensor, so as to cause steering said steerable tug wheels such that said chassis moves in the direction indicated in said output of said rotation sensor.
US08544789B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to an aircraft equipped with at least one device for attaching a lift member to the fuselage which includes elastic articulations whose rigidity in translation and in rotation can be adjusted axially, vertically, and transversely. An airfoil may be connected to the body of the fuselage by these elastic articulations.
US08544782B2
A lined drum includes a drum having a wall with an inner surface. The lined drum also includes a plurality of liner segments, each liner segment having inner and outer opposing surfaces, opposing side edges, and opposing end edges, the outer surface of the liner segment facing the inner drum surface and the side edges of adjacent liner segments being spaced from each other to define a space therebetween, and at least one retainer having opposing side edges overlapping the side edges of the adjacent liner segments, the at least one retainer attached to the wall of the drum in the space between the side edges of the adjacent liner segments. The lined drum may also include a plurality of bar segments, each bar segment attached to the wall of the drum and at least one retainer.
US08544781B2
A power shredder with individually removable components structure comprising two main removable components: the power component and the shredding mechanism component. The power and the shredding mechanism components can be individually attached and removed from the waste collector of the power shredder. The power component further comprises two main parts: a detachable motor and a detachable gear assembly. When any of the power component, shredding mechanism component, motor or gear assembly should become defective, the use can simply remove and replace the defective part with a new part.
US08544780B2
An output-side subassembly of a mill drive system is provided. The subassembly includes an output flange, connectable to a grinding dish, for absorbing forces occurring in a grinding process. Moreover, an annular basic element which is mountable on a foundation or carrier element is provided. For supporting the output flange, a plurality of axial plain bearing segments are arranged essentially equidistantly with respect to one another on the annular basic element. In this case, lubricating gaps are formed in each case between the output flange and the axial plain bearing segments.
US08544778B2
A grinding machine has a shearing chamber that includes one or more edges that provide fulcrum points against which frozen block of material, such as frozen blocks of meat, can be held against during a reduction or shearing process. The edges may be arranged to limit the advancement of reduced blocks of material to provide more control on the size of the ground material that is ultimately output by the grinding machine. The grinding machine may also include an expansion zone into which reduced blocks can be temporarily held to accommodate volume increases during the reduction process. A feed screw advances the frozen blocks through the shearing chamber and includes pressure fighting to help shear material from the frozen blocks. The feed screw may include a knife holder that provides support for a knife held therein against the lateral forces experienced by the knife as the knife shears material adjacent the orifice plate.
US08544761B2
The present invention relates to a user activated hot water heater and control system for processing hot water to hot water output locations, e.g. faucet, shower, or the like, such that temperature fluctuations and delays in hot water delivery are reduced. Additionally, the temperature of the hot water delivered is adjusted to a predetermined value determined by a user signature constructed from a potential user physical attributes such as height, weight, and the like. The user activated feature of the present invention will provide an energy savings resulting from the smart, upon demand, activation of internal and/or external recirculation systems. Additionally, in preferred embodiments incorporating tank-less water heaters, the hot water maximum temperature, T(maximum) is dependent on the preference setting or default value of the detected general category user or unique individual user. The user dictated control of hot water heater T(maximum) value will not only further increase energy savings, but additionally provide a safety feature that helps protects heat sensitive people such as children, the elderly and the like from potential water burns.
US08544755B2
A SIM card is presented. The SIM card includes a support carrier having a first and a second major surface. The support carrier includes a cavity which extends partially into the carrier from the first major surface. The SIM card further includes a chip package disposed within the cavity. The support carrier is sufficiently flexible to bend when the SIM card is being inserted into or removed from a SIM card holder.
US08544734B1
A method is provided for packaging and activating open loop stored value cards. A retailer is provided an open loop card and a closed loop card in an integrated package, the open loop card associated with a first account number and configured for activation by an open loop account processor, and the closed loop card associated with a second account number. An electronically readable card component contains data corresponding to a control account including the first and second account numbers. Upon receiving an activation request from a point of sale which contains the data corresponding to the control account, the control account and the account numbers are identified, and the closed loop card is activated. An activation request is transmitted electronically to the open loop account processor, wherein activating of the closed and open loop cards may be substantially simultaneous with respect to the point of sale.
US08544732B2
An electrical digital computer machine and a data processing system, methods of making and for using the machine, products produced thereby, as well as data structures and articles of manufacture pertaining thereto, and all necessary intermediates of that which is discussed herein, all in the field of computerized aspects of CARD crediting or debiting to GREENLIFEs, e.g. organic food bill and the like.More particularly, there can be a computer system applying a CARD debit or credit to a GREENLIFE. Another approach can include: a first computer system enabling a debit to be incurred in connection with usage of a CARD, such as a debit, credit, or membership card; and a second computer system enabling a GREENLIFE, such as a utility bill, and applying the debit or credit to the GREENLIFE.
US08544729B2
The present disclosure facilitates gesture-based interaction with a computer-system. The method may comprise pairing a transaction account with a likeness, receiving the likeness and a transaction request based upon the location of a marker in three dimensional space, retrieving the transaction account paired with the likeness, and approving the transaction request at least partially based upon the transaction account and the likeness.
US08544725B1
Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for processing readable indicia. An exemplary system is configured to: receive information associated with readable indicia; determine whether the readable indicia is activated; and in response to determining the readable indicia is activated, process the readable indicia to determine at least one of advancement in a game or a reward. The processing of the readable indicia is based on transaction information associated with a purchase of an item. Additionally, the processing of the readable indicia is based on check-in information indicating a location of a user either prior to, during, or after a purchase of an item.
US08544710B2
In a gas combustion type driving tool, a measuring chamber 22 is provided in an intermediate part of a gas pipeline 11 between a gas canister 7 and a combustion chamber 2. A solenoid valve 23 is provided in the measuring chamber 22. When fuel gas is supplied to the combustion chamber, an upstream side gas pipeline 11a and a downstream side gas pipeline 11b of the measuring chamber 22 are opened for a predetermined opening time by the solenoid valve 23 to supply the fuel gas within the measuring chamber 22 to the gas pipeline 11b by an injection pressure of the fuel gas in the gas canister 7.
US08544706B2
A handgun holster permits sideward extraction of the weapon, and engages with the central portions of the handgun without regard to accessories mounted to the front or beneath the barrel. The holster has a main element which engages the central region of the pistol in a snap fit between two opposed arms. Lateral projections extend from the back wall to restrict the side-to-side displacement of the gun and two resilient flaps extend around the engaged gun, providing additional retention, and covering the on/off switch of any flashlight accessory. The main element is connected to a mounting assembly to permit the main element to be set at any desired angular orientation with respect to the mounting assembly. The mounting assembly has two expandable parts with opposed flanges which permit mounting to either a conventional belt, or to a series of webbing pockets, such as in the military's PALS webbing attachment system.
US08544704B2
The disclosed invention is a threader for use with various modular tactical vest systems. The particular modular vest systems have a weaving interface with attachable storage modules. A strap on a module is attached to the threader and the threader is woven through the support web on the vest. As the threader is pulled through the support web, the module is secured to the vest. Two embodiments for attaching the strap to the threader are disclosed.
US08544699B2
An inductor pump system comprises a pump system, a ram system and a bearing assembly. The pump system includes a platen configured to engage a container. The ram system comprises a cylinder configured to support the pump system, and a piston extendable from the cylinder to vary axial positioning of the platen with respect to the container. The bearing assembly links the piston to the cylinder and is configured to prevent rotation of the pump system with respect to the ram system.
US08544697B2
The invention proposes a dosing device (1) for the preparation of a food composition comprising supply means (2) for providing a soluble powder, a dosing member (3) which is rotatably mounted and which comprises at least one recessed portion (4) for receiving powder supplied by the supply means (2) in a first rotational position and discharging powder in a second rotational position, and tapping means (5) driven by the rotation of the dosing member (3) and designed to induce a reciprocating force on the supply means (2).
US08544695B2
The invention relates to a support member and dispensing container assembly designed for a “squeeze to use” dispensing container. A support member 31 which rigidly attaches to a support structure like a wall, has a releasable attachment means 34 into which a free standing “squeeze to use” dispensing container for gels or liquids 1 can be inserted to releasably hold the container 1 to form a rigid connection whereby the dispensing aperture 3 of the dispensing container 1 faces downwards.
US08544692B2
The present disclosure provides a base station for a liquid dispensing apparatus. The base station includes a driver and a container support having a dispensing device, which includes a liquid duct leading from the container to an outlet. The device further includes a connector connected to the driver and detachably connectable to the dispensing device. In an embodiment, the container support is a holder, and the connector is movable towards the holder to connect to the dispensing device and away from the holder after disconnecting from the dispensing device.
US08544686B2
A system for dispensing sprayable material such as paint and other liquefied products. The system includes a dispenser designed to accept a flexible, crushable, container filled with sprayable material and having a valve and spray tip at one end. The container is placed into a slot in the dispenser with the valve on the container secured in the housing of the dispenser. In operation, a plunger that runs lengthwise within the housing of the dispenser exerts force on the bottom of the container crushing it as it is emptied and forcing the sprayable material out through the valve and spray tip.
US08544684B2
A bi-audible, bi-tactile, and visual transdermal delivery apparatus for delivering specific desired quantities of cream-base medicament or any flowable composition; comprising: a revolving platform with equispaced side tabs stemming from an outer and inner base rim responsible for yielding said bi-audible and bi-tactile sensations upon interaction with ticker tabs projecting form the bottom exterior wall of the house; a threaded screw-complex that interacts with an elevator to transport the medicament upwards; a house that confines an inner chamber to store the medicament; an applicator pad with a center outlet where the composition exits the chamber; and a safety cap. Equispaced digit tabs on the outer side wall of the rotatable platform indicate the amount to be delivered. The platform rotates 18° clockwise per actuation against equispaced line demarcations on the house delivering roughly a 1/20th of a milliliter of composition.
US08544683B2
A fluid cartridge for storing and dispensing first and second fluids includes a first tubular cartridge wall and a second tubular cartridge wall in side-by-side relation. First and second pistons are coupled for movement by a coupling portion and are respectively disposed within the first and second tubular cartridge walls to define first and second side-by-side fluid chambers. A fixed wall is disposed between the first and second fluid chambers. A force is applied to the first piston along the first central longitudinal axis of the first tubular cartridge wall and moves both the first and second pistons along and within the first and second fluid chambers as the coupling portion between the first and second pistons travels within an opening in the fixed wall. The opening may be a preformed slot or may be formed by a cutting element attached with the pistons as the pistons move during the dispensing operation.
US08544680B2
A packaging system is configured to package a product to form a packaged product assembly. The packaging system includes a lid including a major panel, side panels, and a tab extending from one of the side panels. The packaging system also includes a box hingedly coupled to the lid that includes side walls and a bottom wall with a slot defined therein. The product may be retained by the lid against the major panel by first and second end flaps. As the lid and box are folded toward one another, the product may be loaded into the box and the tab and an adhesive member coupled thereto may extend through the slot in the bottom wall of the box. The adhesive member may then be adhered to a back surface of the box to retain the product in the packaging system. Related methods are also provided.
US08544675B1
A fluid reservoir assembly includes a base assembly defining an interior cavity that is adapted to receive a fluid. A cover assembly is engaged to the base assembly. The cover assembly includes a first end and an oppositely disposed second end. A first plurality of fasteners engages the first end of the cover assembly to the base assembly. The first plurality of fasteners has a first strength. A second plurality of fasteners engages the second end of the cover assembly to the base assembly. The second plurality of fasteners has a second strength. The first strength is less than the second strength.
US08544673B1
A dual bin waste receptacle is disclosed having a bin assembly comprised of a pair of bins sharing a single divider between them. The bins are waterproof and leak proof. The tops of each respective bin has a continuous rim that a trash liner may be folded over. A complementary dual lid assembly is also provided that snaps onto the bin assembly thereby pinching both of the trash liners. The lid assembly is hinged in the middle, essentially over the divider that allows access to and trash liner removal from each side independently.
US08544671B2
A bowl-shaped molded plastic cradle has bottom contours which are complemental to the topographical features of a thermoformed drink cup lid so that the cradle and lid may be nested within one another in a laterally stable association. This allows a food product such as a donut to be placed within the tray and marketed with, for example, hot coffee in a synergistic association.
US08544658B2
The present invention relates to a method of preparing RAFT, ATRP or NMRP functionalized thin film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes on a microporous substrate. A further aspect of the invention is the subsequent modification of the thin film composite polyamide membrane by controlled free radical polymerization (CFRP) to yield membranes having new chemical and physical properties, e.g. antifouling and/or antibacterial properties. Further aspects of the invention are the functionalized thin film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes on the microporous substrate itself and the membranes modified by controlled free radical polymerization.
US08544651B2
A wafer transport pod for storing or transporting semiconductor wafers during semiconductor wafer processing includes a body having a top panel, a bottom panel, a back panel, two side panels and a front panel. The two side panels are configured for receiving the semiconductor wafers therebetween. The two side panels have a plurality of separately hermetically sealed partitions inside the body, any two of the sealed partitions for sealing a wafer therebetween and for preventing wafer contamination. The front panel provides ingress and egress for the semiconductor wafers to and from the wafer transport pod.
US08544647B2
Packaging arrangement includes a wallet having an internal channel and an insert arranged partly in the channel and having first and second portions extending outward from respective ends of the wallet, and each of which includes at least one aperture on an alignment region. The apertures in the alignment regions align with one another to thereby form a suspension aperture that enables the packaging arrangement to be suspended for retail sale. A grommet may be arranged in the suspension aperture to facilitate such suspension. A method for forming the packaging arrangement is also disclosed.
US08544646B2
The medical safety box is a system using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to ensure that correct delivery of the correct treatment in the form of medication or injection to in-hospital patients is consistently carried out. The system includes a medical box containing whatever medication or injection that needs to be administered to a specific patient. The box has a locking mechanism that can only be opened by an RFID wristband, which is worn by that same specific patient, thus assuring that the medicine in the box is administered to the correct patient.
US08544641B1
Various embodiments provide a garment box insert comprising a bottom panel; a container portion comprising a first side wall, a second side wall, a third side wall, and a fourth side wall; and contiguous to the first side wall, a first walled enclosure portion. The walled enclosure portion comprises: a first fold over panel comprising two apertures configured to receive at least an upper portion of a handle portion; and a second fold over panel comprising an elongate aperture positioned such that opposing ends of an elongate aperture are approximately aligned with the two apertures of the first fold over panel and a central portion of the elongate aperture being approximately aligned with the elongate slot located in the first side wall. Such alignment allows one or more clothes hangers to be inserted through the elongate aperture of the second fold over panel and secured on the handle portion.
US08544636B2
A chuck for actuating plastic material containers, in particular performs, along a conveying line, includes a structure, fixable to a link of a conveying chain, a body, defining a longitudinal axis, inserted into a longitudinal through-hole of the structure and adapted to axially slide and/or rotate about the longitudinal axis, provided with gripping means at a first end for gripping a container neck. The structure is provided with locking elements for locking the body in a predetermined angular position, with the body being provided with at least one indication element of the predetermined angular position.
US08544632B2
A device (10) for conveying at least one preform (12) in a preform heating unit (12), the conveying device (10) including a conveyor belt which includes at least: a main traction belt (14a) which engages with rotary elements (16a, 16b); and a secondary support belt (14b) which is movably connected to the main belt (14a) by a connecting element (24), and to which at least one support device (34) of at least one preform (12) is attached by an attachment element (36).
US08544622B2
The invention is a system for transferring electric energy to a vehicle. The system includes an electric conductor arrangement for producing an alternating electromagnetic field and for thereby transferring the energy to the vehicle. The electric conductor arrangement includes at least one alternating current line, wherein each alternating current line carries one phase of an alternating electric current. The conductor arrangement includes a plurality of consecutive segments, wherein the segments extend along the path of travel of the vehicle. Each segment includes one section of each of the at least one alternating current line. The system also includes a direct current supply line for supplying electric energy to the segments. Each segment is connected to the supply line via at least one inverter which inverts a direct current carried by the supply line to an alternating current carried by the at least one alternating current line.
US08544621B2
A shock absorber which facilitates an insertion/fixation operation. The shock absorber includes a spring-force application unit (84) for applying a force in a valve-closing direction to a disc valve while allowing the fixed shaft to be inserted therethrough; and a cylindrical member (47) for allowing the fixed shaft (21) to be inserted therethrough. The disc valve includes a plurality of valve discs (53) to (58). The cylindrical member is inserted into each of the valve discs (53) to (58) and the spring-force application unit (84), in which: the cylindrical member (47) is provided so as to have a radially extending gap on an inner side of the inner seat (31) of the valve main body (14).
US08544617B2
A railroad and industrial vehicle disk brake pad having a supporting plate and a number of friction members. Each friction member is elongated in shape, with two curved parallel long sides, and is fixed to the supporting plate so that the curves of the long sides form a substantially 0° angle with respective concentric circles of a disk to which the pad fitted. To prevent displacement of the friction members, these are fixed to the supporting plate with the interposition of antirotation means.
US08544614B1
A system and method are provided for mounting, removing and retaining brake pads in disc brakes, such as air-operated disc brakes utilized on commercial vehicles, in a manner which does not require the use of separate brake pad retaining devices while providing positive retention of the brake pad. A preferred embodiment includes a brake caliper mount having brake pad abutment surfaces having radially-oriented and lateral grooves which permit a brake pad with corresponding projections on is lateral sides to be inserted through an opening of the brake caliper into the radially-oriented grooves until the backing plate projections are aligned with the lateral groove, and advancing the brake actuator behind the brake pad to place the brake pad in an operating position in which the actuator prevents the brake pad from realigning with the radially-oriented grooves until the actuator is retracted to permit brake pad extraction.
US08544612B2
A conveyance system comprises at least one user interface having at least one service request pushbutton for providing service requests to the conveyance system. An identifier device is provided to a passenger. The identifier device stores identifier device data for determining a service profile of the identifier device. The identifier device data in the identifier device is read when a passenger presses or touches a service request pushbutton of the user interface. Based on the data read from the identifier device, the service profile of the identifier device is determined. A service request connected to the service request pushbutton is activated based on the service profile.
US08544609B2
An at least partially automatic valve stem lubrication system including a source of grease lubricant, a pump and an at least partially automated control system, the control system structured and arranged such that lubricant is pumped onto a valve stem surface area as a function of the receipt of certain inputs.
US08544605B2
A scaffolding (20) comprises vertical frame elements (22), crossbeams that extend therebetween, flooring units (27) which have mounting aids (28) to be mounted on the crossbeam (21), and at least one anti-release device (40) for securing the flooring units (27) against being released. The anti-release device (40) can be removably connected to the crossbeam (21) and has a securing member (41) which corresponds to the length of the crossbeam, is to be placed on the mounting aid (28), and is fitted with at least one hook-shaped fastening element (42) that penetrates a hole (33) located in the crossbeam and partially embraces the crossbeam (21) in the anti-release state. One end of the securing member (41) is provided with a pivotable plate which is fastened by means of a hinge and is pivoted from the open position into the locking position and retained by means of a spring mechanism (60). Alternatively or additionally, the hook-shaped fastening element (42) can be made of flat steel, and the parallel lateral surfaces are placed at an adequate distance from the mounting aids (28) in the anti-release state in order to prevent a collision.
US08544574B2
A grain cart capable of self-propulsion and receiving steering and propulsion inputs from a lateral extendable connector to a tractor for the grain cart so that the grain cart may be deployed close to the central chassis of a combine for unloading of grain.
US08544566B2
A fluid-actuated percussive impact tool includes a drill bit disposed partially within a casing for respective longitudinal movement between extended and retracted positions. A bearing having a bore is fixedly disposed within the casing. A piston is located in the chamber and a second end thereof is configured to selectively enter the bore of the bearing through the first end to impact the first end of the drill bit. At least one groove is formed in an exterior surface of the piston proximate the second end thereof. The tool has a sealed position when the drill bit is in the extended position wherein a water seal is formed between an interior surface of the bearing and a portion of the exterior surface of the piston between the first end of the piston and the first end of the at least one groove.
US08544561B2
A bumper of a driving tool has a cylindrical overall shape and also has a space portion expanding downward therein. The bumper is provided with an upper portion, an intermediate portion, and a lower portion. A normal inclined-surface, in which an outer diameter becomes larger from an upper end of a full height of the bumper toward a slightly upper position of the intermediate portion, is formed at a periphery of the upper portion. A bulging-out portion haying the largest outer diameter in the bumper is bulged out, at a periphery of the intermediate portion. A reverse inclined-surface, in which the outer diameter becomes smaller toward downward, is formed at the periphery of the lower portion.
US08544560B2
A drive mechanism is described for moving/controlling objects/mechanisms/systems coupled with a drillstring and/or pipe. The drive mechanism may be axially arranged on a drillstring or pipe, compact, capable of fine control and delivering high torque or the like and may be electrically and/or hydraulically powered. The drive mechanism may comprising a driving member comprising a plurality of drivers linearly translatable with respect to the driving member, each driving member having at their ends a male engaging portion and an associated driven member, comprising a plurality of female receiving portions adapted to receive a male engaging portion, the arrangement being such that linear translation of a driver causes its engaging portion to engage with a female receiving portion and the action of the engaging portion produces a reaction in the receiving portion causing displacement of the driven member in a direction other than that of the translatable driver.
US08544555B2
A system and method for cracking, hydrogenating and extracting oil from underground deposits is presented. A method includes injecting syngas into the oil deposit for processing the oil to produce upgraded oil with a reduced density and viscosity. A natural catalytic bed of the oil deposit is utilized to aid a rate of processing the oil into upgraded oil. The upgraded oil with reduced density and viscosity is extracted from the underground oil deposit by transporting the upgraded oil aboveground.
US08544552B2
For injecting e.g. water into ground formation around a borehole, and for superimposing pulses onto the outflow of the injected water, it is important that the pulses have a rapid rise-time. A piston is connected to a pulse-valve of the tool. A bias spring urges the piston towards its closed position. The piston is urged towards the open position by a differential PDAF between the supplied accumulator-pressure and the in-ground formation-pressure. When the pulse-valve is open, the PDAF is falling, until the force of the spring closes the pulse-valve. Then the PDAF rises, but now the PDAF acts over only a small area of the piston. When the PDAF is high enough to ease the pulse-valve open, suddenly the whole area of the piston is exposed to the PDAF, whereby the pulse-valve opens violently.
US08544551B2
A wellhead is provided. In one embodiment, the wellhead includes a plug for sealing a side passage of the wellhead. The plug may include an outer member, an inner member extending through the outer member and coupled to the outer member with at least one degree of freedom of movement relative to the outer member, and a moveable seal disposed around the outer member. In some embodiments, the moveable seal is configured to seal against the side passage in response to being moved on the outer member by the inner member.
US08544544B2
A system for forming a subterranean oriented fissure in a target zone by utilizing a connection between two well bores and a flexible linear cutting device, such as a segmented diamond wire saw, to form the fissure beginning at the connection of the well bores and extending along a specified the length of the well bores.
US08544533B2
An air conditioner for vehicles having a two layer air flow structure which uses one temperature control door for adjusting the temperature and serving as a partition wall for the two-layer air flow structure.
US08544515B2
Negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) or auxetic are used to make lightweight wheels and runflat tires. The NPR tires can be tailored and functionally-designed to optimally meet the runflat requirements for both military and commercial vehicles. NPR-runflat tires may be fabricated using standard materials and simple manufacturing processes, resulting in low-cost and high-volume production. In preferred embodiments the runflat tire designs are fully compatible with Central Tire Inflation Systems (CTIS), while providing a performance equivalent to current military vehicle solutions but at half the weight. An auxetic wheel according to the invention comprises a line defining an axis of rotation; and a plurality of concentric rings of unit cells surrounding the axis, each unit cell being constructed of a plurality of members defining a Negative Poisson's Ratio (NPR) structure. The outermost ring of unit cells is arranged to facilitate rolling terrain contact, such that the stiffness of the structure in the localized region of loading due to terrain contact increases as the wheel rotates. A layer of material may be disposed between the concentric rings of unit cells which in preferred embodiments comprise a plurality of nested-V shapes. A cover may be provided over the outermost ring of unit cells forming a tire which may, or may not, be inflated.
US08544507B2
There is provided a filling method which is capable of suppressing uneven distribution of particle diameter and suppressing property decrease of the particulate water-absorbing agent. The method for filling the particulate water-absorbing agent according to the present invention includes a abutting step for making a member for filling the particulate water-absorbing agent abutted on a vibrator; a supplying step for supplying the particulate water-absorbing agent to the member for filling; and a vibration step for vibrating the particulate water-absorbing agent present in the member for filling by vibrating the vibrator. Preferably, the supplying step is performed by dividing into a plurality of times. Preferably, the vibration step includes an intermediate vibration step performed at a stage where a part of a plurality of times of the supplying steps is completed, and a final vibration step performed at a stage where all of a plurality of times of the supplying steps is completed. Total filling mass W2 is set preferably at 500 kg to 1500 kg.
US08544493B2
A water-hammer proof and silent check valve comprises a shell (1), a spring (9), a flow guide body (10) and a cowl (11). The flow guide body (10) is provided with flow blocking boards (4, 6) which project from the outer surface of the flow guide body (10) and are capable of rotating around installation shafts (3, 7). A plurality of flow blocking boards are arranged in the flow passage in the axial direction of the valve, so that most part of pressure energy and kinetic energy are undertaken by the flow blocking boards by grading when liquid flows back to the valve, thus ensuring that the water hammer with large energy is divided into multiple water hammers with relatively smaller energy so as to greatly reduce the inner stress of valve bearing parts.
US08544490B2
A valve comprising an inlet port, an outlet port, an exhaust port and a diaphragm disposed between the inlet and exhaust ports which is moveable, in response to air pressure within the valve, between a first position in which it seals the exhaust port and a second position in which the exhaust port is open, there being one or more projections associated with the exhaust port on which the diaphragm is able to rest in its first position.
US08544489B2
A collapsible tent structure includes a plurality of poles coupled with a plurality of linkages. The tent structure also includes a plurality of rods where each rod is pivotally coupled to each pole on one end and pivotally coupled to a hub on an opposite end. A plurality of struts are further included in the tent structure and each strut is pivotally coupled to each rod on one end and pivotally coupled to each pole on an opposite end, and a locking mechanism is coupled to each of the rods. A plurality of eaves, each pivotally coupled to a locking mechanism, extend radially outward beyond the poles when in an extended position and retracted radially inward of the poles when in a retracted position while the tent is in an open configuration.
US08544478B2
A dual gas and AC electric hair styler comprises: a heater, a housing, and a control member movably disposed in the housing. One end of the control member is exposed out of the housing and another end of the control member is inserted in the housing to connect a linkage device of the heater. The linkage device includes a guiding member. A gas supply and an electric power supply are selectively inserted in the housing to the heater and each have a valve which is pressed to achieve connection. The axial movement of the control member causes axial movements of the linkage device and the guiding member to affect connection of the gas and the electric power supply to the heater. The hair styler can be powered by gas or electric power, and the switching of gas and electric power supplies can be done by the control member.
US08544476B1
In the specification and drawings a hair styling apparatus is described and shown with a first barrel half, a second barrel half, and a handle, the handle being releasably attached to the first barrel half and releasably attached to the second barrel half.
US08544474B2
Systems and methods that provide magnetically-enhanced delivery of therapeutic agents to selected tissue are disclosed. The systems and methods involve the use of carrier devices and release devices and two different magnetic fields to move magnetic particles into selected tissue. Movement of the magnetic particles (and any associated therapeutic agent) into the tissue may be assisted by both magnetic attractive forces as well as magnetic repulsive forces.
US08544473B2
Architectures and techniques for treating conditions of the eye, such as presbyopia, utilize sources of treatment energy, such as electromagnetic energy emitting devices, to implement non-corneal and other manipulations. According to these devices and methods, the sources of treatment energy are activated to direct energy onto parts of the eye, such as the conjunctiva and sclera, to treat presbyopia. The treatments can affect at least one property of the eye and enhance an accommodation of the eye.
US08544471B2
An apparatus and method includes a first anatomic positioner for migrating a first anatomic part. The first anatomic positioner includes a first tapered arm for applying a motive force and a first arch at a distal end of the first tapered arm for contacting the first anatomic part. The first arch includes a varying width and a varying density where the first arch is asymmetrically offset from the first tapered arm such that a longitudinal axis of the first tapered arm extends through a lower portion of the first arch.
US08544469B2
A respiratory protective device in which a face piece (11) is located within the volume of a filter canister (10). The filter canister (10) can be in the form of a hollow section or sections which fit around all or part of the face piece (11) or on either side thereof. Contaminated air that has been purified in the filter canister (10) is ducted in an airtight manner through a hollow assembly (18) into the face piece (11).
US08544468B2
An assembly for modifying airflow into a nasopharyngeal airway or trachea of a patient. A valve assembly having an inlet and an outlet attaches to a traditional airflow generator. A valve seal within the assembly is operable by a solenoid and is adapted to cycle in response to a programmable controller circuit wherein upon activation of both the airflow generator and the controller circuit, pressurized air from the airflow generator continuously enters the inlet but passes out of the outlet of the assembly only when the solenoid causes the valve seal to retract and to at least partially unblock the outlet such that the pressurized air is converted into a single, repeatable burst exiting the outlet thereby modifying the traditional airflow.
US08544466B2
The present invention describes a method and apparatus for detecting and quantifying intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEPi) of a respiratory patient breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. A processing device receives respiratory airway data from one or more sensors adapted to non-invasively monitor a respiratory patient, calculates from the respiratory airway data two or more parameters that are indicative of or quantify intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of the patient, and generates a predicted quantitative value for intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure based on the two or more parameters. The respiratory airway data is transformed into a predicted quantitative value for intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEPi).
US08544460B2
An apparatus and method is provided for preparing frozen ground for construction-type work includes using arrays of heat sources placed over the surface to be heated. The apparatus can warm the surface in preparation for the construction activity with energy penetrating into the ground affording efficient thawing of materials below 20 centimeters of depth. Heat sources used in the array can include emitted infrared radiation.
US08544457B1
An archery rest system comprises a body mounted to the bow. A shaft is mounted within the body and a lever arm is secured to the shaft. An opening is formed in the body with an arrow launcher mounted to the shaft and extending through the opening. A spring biases the arrow launcher in an up position. A cord is secured to the lever arm. A securing mechanism secures the cord to the bow and an in-line dampening spring is mounted between the lever arm and the securing mechanism. With the bow at rest, the launcher moves to a down position out of contact with the arrow. Upon bow draw, the launcher moves into the up position contacting the arrow. Upon bow firing, the launcher moves to the down position with the spring absorbing load imparted on the cord when the shaft reaches a rotation travel limit.
US08544454B2
The invention relates to a heat exchanger (or a motor vehicle, comprising a first flow path (1) with a number of flow conduits (6) for conducting a fluid to be cooled, a deflection region (13), situated downstream of the first flow path (1) and a second flow path (2), situated downstream ol the deflection region (13). According to the invention, the flow conduits (6) of the first flow path (1) continue in the deflection region (13) and the second (low path (2) as continuous separate flow conduits (6). The invention also relates to a flow conduit (41, 41′, 61, 61′, 71, 71′, 81, 81′, 91, 91′) for a heat exchanger (30,40) for exchanging heat between a first fluid (31) and a second fluid (33). The aim of the invention is to guarantee an improved transfer of heat with a simultaneous acceptable pressure drop, whilst reducing the blocking risk.
US08544452B1
A combination air pressure system and a plasma ion gas generator system adapted for mounting next to an intake manifold of a turbocharged diesel engine. The system includes a water holding tank for supplying water to a plasma ion gas generator. The gas generator includes a housing with a plurality anode and cathode electrode plates. The system also includes an on/off switch and amp meter. The on/off switch is connected to the vehicle's battery. When the system is turned “on”, power is supplied to the gas generator for generating combustible gases. The air pressure system includes an air line connected to a vehicle's high pressure air line. The system's air line is connected to the water holding tank for pressurizing the gas mixture before it's introduced in the intake manifold.
US08544439B2
An engine air intake tract includes a flexible air intake duct having a flexible tubular body. A plurality of radially extending convolutes are formed in and spaced apart on an axially extending outer wall of the tubular body. Each convolute has a circumferential ring-shaped inwardly extending peak bordered by outwardly extending troughs. A liquid sump is formed into a lower portion of the tubular body and includes a plurality of spaced sump chambers with each chamber formed between and connected to at least two adjacent ones of the convolutes and extending radially outwardly from the convolutes.
US08544437B2
A plunger relay includes a movable actuating element on which a first solenoid actuator is acting in force-transmitting manner. The plunger relay has at least one second solenoid actuator, which is acting on the same movable actuating element in force-transmitting manner, and whose magnetic force is able to be set independently of the magnetic force of the first solenoid actuator.
US08544436B2
An engine assembly may include an engine structure, a first valve, a first valve lift mechanism and a first camshaft. The engine structure may define a first combustion chamber and a first port in communication with the first combustion chamber. The first valve may be located in the first port and the first valve lift mechanism may be engaged with the first valve. The first camshaft may be rotationally supported on the engine structure and may include a first double lobe engaged with the first valve lift mechanism. The first double lobe may define a first valve opening region including a first peak and a second valve opening region including a second peak rotationally offset from the first peak.
US08544429B2
A valve control apparatus includes a variable mechanism configured to vary operating states of two intake valves by varying a swing range of a single swing cam; a primary swing arm configured to receive swinging force from the swing cam by becoming in contact with the swing cam, and configured to open/close one of the two intake valves; a secondary swing arm configured to open/close another of the two intake valves; and a connection changeover mechanism configured to connect/disconnect the primary swing arm with/from the secondary swing arm in accordance with an operating state of engine. The connection changeover mechanism disconnects the primary swing arm from the secondary swing arm to maintain the another of the two intake valves in a non-lifted state, when the variable mechanism controls a swing amount of the primary swing arm within a range below a predetermined amount. The connection changeover mechanism connects the primary swing arm with the secondary swing arm to open and close both of the two intake valves together, when the variable mechanism controls the swing amount of the primary swing arm within a range greater than or equal to the predetermined amount.
US08544423B2
A control for a water heater is provided that comprises a pressure switch for sensing a predetermined level of airflow sufficient for maintaining proper burner operation, and a temperature sensing means for sensing the temperature of the water in the tank. The control further comprises a processor for controlling the operation of the burner to maintain the water temperature above a predetermined value. When the processor receives a signal from the pressure switch or temperature switch indicating a malfunction, the processor shuts down the burner and subsequently attempts to restart the burner. The processor will lock-out further burner operation after a predetermined number of consecutive shut downs occurs, and will communicate any malfunction information to a remote display device.
US08544422B2
A fired heater has two types of burners. The first burner is located in a duct which provides oxygen-containing gas to the heater to be combusted with the fuel provided by the burner. The second burner is located in the heater and provides both air and fuel for combustion. The heater may be located downstream of a gas turbine engine that cogenerates electricity and provides the oxygen-containing gas.
US08544419B1
Livestock insect-removal systems and methods. According to one embodiment, the system may comprise a structure with a defined path for passage of livestock. The system may comprise a container removably attached to the structure and a vacuum device within the container configured to generate a change in pressure within the container. The system may comprise a first duct to expel air from the container and direct air across the path and displace or dislodge insects. The first duct may further comprise a vent to expel bypass air from the first duct. The system may comprise a second duct, positioned along the path to draw air and dislodged insects into the container.
US08544413B1
An animal waste bag dispenser and collection apparatus may include an upright pole member, a dispenser housing and a receptacle. The dispenser housing may include a spindle, a mounting member, and a cover. The receptacle may include a receiving bin covered by a lid. The receiving bin may have a grooved sidewall configured to receive and mount the upright pole therein. The lid may removably cover the receiving bin, have a slotted wall configured to receive the upright pole therein, and have an opening configured to receive bags containing animal waste.
US08544404B2
This invention relates to a platform of the FPSO type in the form of a mono-column, of circular or polygonal horizontal section or of a combination of circular and polygonal sections, comprising one or more central load tanks (12), which can be single or compartmented, surrounded, in an alternately and uniformly distributed manner, by permanent-ballast tanks (13) and by ballast tanks open to the sea (“moonpools”) (14).
US08544394B2
Method for reducing a formation of nitrogen oxide on a primary side of a furnace and reducing or avoiding nitrous oxide and ammonia slip in an offgas of the furnace in which a fuel is burned in a combustion process having at least two stages. The method includes passing a fuel consecutively through each of a plurality of bed areas of a combustion bed of the furnace. A primary gas including oxygen is fed individually to each of the bed areas so as to burn the fuel in the combustion chamber of the furnace. A secondary gas including oxygen is introduced into a downstream offgas burn-out zone, so as to after-burn incompletely burned offgas components formed during the burning of the fuel. Partial offgas streams from the combustion bed areas are axially mixed by injecting a water-gas mixture as at least one free jet above a surface of the combustion bed upstream from the downstream offgas burn-out zone so that the at least one free jet penetrates the partial offgas streams of the combustion bed areas to reduce a heating value of the offgas between the surface of the combustion bed and the downstream offgas burn-out zone.
US08544392B2
Disclosed is an engagement assembly for releasably engaging a rigid member, including a rotating member that releasably engages the rigid member to prevent movement of the rigid member in at least one direction by friction. The rotating member is forced by a biasing element to selectively engage the rigid member, preventing retraction of the leg and inhibiting extension of the leg. A control release interacts with the biasing element, providing a releasable engagement of the rotating member with the rigid member.
US08544388B2
An arrangement for supporting a shell (1) into the barrel of a breech-loading weapon, the arrangement comprising a support piece (4) provided with a rim flange (15) and to be fastened to the tail of the shell (1), the support piece being fastened in connection with the tail of the shell (1) with one or more adhesive materials. In addition, a method of fastening a support piece (4) to a shell (1).
US08544384B1
A screen-printing panel comprising a locking strip sewn to screen-printing mesh is described. The mesh along an edge of the panel is folded around the locking strip and secured using a line of stitching. A gap between the end of the locking strip and the edge of the mesh contributes to corner softening. Another gap between the end of the stitching and the end of the locking strip also contributes to corner softening. Locking strips have various cross sections including rectangular, triangular, and complex curves. Two colors of thread may be used to aid in orienting the panel. An adhesive may be used to hold the mesh to the locking strip for convenience during handling and sewing.
US08544382B2
The present invention relates to cooking grates for use in connection with grills, ovens and/or range tops. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a cooking grate that is designed to be used in conjunction with a barbecue grill, where the cooking grate is designed to evenly distribute heat across the entire surface of the grate in order to eliminate, and/or reduce, any “hot” or “cold” spots thereon. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a cooking grate that contains one or more heat transmitting members positioned in such a manner that heat is transmitted from the central portion of the cooking grate to the edge portions thereof, thereby facilitating a more even heat distribution across the entire cooking surface of the cooking grate.
US08544376B2
A transparent armor system includes a hard face fabricated from a substantially transparent glass-ceramic material exhibiting crystalline bodies throughout the mass of the glass-ceramic material and a backing covering a rear surface of the hard face opposite an anticipated incoming projectile. The backing has a refractive index substantially matching that of the hard face such as to allow substantial transparency of the transparent armor system. The hard face serves to disburse energy caused by the impact of an incoming projectile with the transparent armor system, while the backing serves to retain any pieces of the hard face fractured during ballistic impact. In certain embodiments, a plurality of hard faces are held in parallel and spaced apart arrangement.
US08544375B2
A system and method capable of providing a cooperative network for applying countermeasures to airborne threats is provided. The system contains at least one aircraft having an airborne countermeasures system (ACS) capable of controlling deployment of countermeasures located on the aircraft. The system also contains a central countermeasures management system (CCMS) capable of communicating with the ACS to control the ACS in deployment of the countermeasures located on the aircraft. The aircraft may be one of a series of aircrafts, where each aircraft within the series of aircrafts has a separate ACS thereon, and where each separate ACS is capable of controlling deployment of countermeasures located on an aircraft within the series of aircrafts on which the separate ACS is located. When multiple aircrafts are within the network, the CCMS is capable of communicating with each separate ACS in response to the airborne threat, to control deployment of the countermeasures.
US08544374B2
A tip 14 is rotatably attached to a tip holder 10. The tip holder 10 is made into a cylindrical shape and its end has an installation part 16. An opening is arranged at a holder joint. The tip holder 10 is attracted by a magnet for attachment so that detaching and attaching can be performed easily. Tip offset data is recorded as a 2-dimensional code 17 on the surface of the tip holder 10. When replacing the tip holder, the offset data is read out and inputted to a scribe device, thereby canceling the offset. This eliminates the operation required for correction when attaching/detaching the tip holder and enables easy tip replacement during a short time of device stop.
US08544368B2
A magnetic device assembled with a square hole of a socket includes a base received in a connecting portion of the square hole, a magnetic element mounted to an end of the base. The magnetic element magnetically attracts a bolt received in a driving hole of the socket, and at least one expansive portion formed at an end of the base disposed opposite to the magnetic element. The expansive portion selectively hinders a connecting portion of the square hole of the socket. The magnetic device is received in the square hole of the socket without departing from the driving hole of the socket in an operating process.
US08544364B2
A power cable jacket tearing tool. A first tool body portion has a first aperture for receiving the cable therethrough, and a second tool body portion has a second aperture for receiving the cable therethrough. The first and second tool body portions are rotatably connected to one another to form a joint allowing each tool body portion to rotate relative to the other about a pivot axis that passes through the first and second apertures. The second tool body portion supports a rotatable spool for receiving and spooling the end of a selected conductor of the cable. The tool also includes a motor for driving the spool, a power source for powering the motor, and a control mechanism for controllably coupling the power source to the motor. The motor is carried by the second tool body portion, whereas the control mechanism is carried by the first tool body portion.
US08544361B2
A link fitting having bearing supports, an inner core and an outer band surrounding it all. Each bearing support includes a first stepped portion, a separate second stepped portion and a recess disposed between the first and second stepped portions. The inner core includes a central elongate layer, a first outer layer and a second outer layer. The first and second outer layers are disposed on opposed first and second sides of the central layer. The first outer layer engages the first side of the central layer and a portion of the first stepped portion on each of the two bearing supports. The second outer layer engaging the second side of the central layer and a portion of the second stepped portion on each of the two bearing supports. Opposed first and second ends of the central layer disposed within the recesses of each of the two bearing supports.
US08544354B2
Monitoring means 46, 47 are provided to monitor working hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic engagement elements for the high gear range of a vehicle automatic transmission 2. Characteristic changing means 5 is provided to change, to a high vehicle speed side, a gear shifting characteristic when shifting from the middle gear position to the low gear position. According thereto, it is possible to quickly shift from a middle gear position to a low gear position without reducing the durability of hydraulic engagement elements for a high gear range, thereby, to achieve sufficient acceleration performance during climbing a slope, which improves driveability.
US08544349B2
A fluid transfer device for transferring fluid into or out of a fluid vessel, such as a tank, and is particularly useful in transferring fluids with particulates or high viscosity in a substantially aseptic, hygienic, or sterile manner. The device has a body with an elongate passage extending through the body. The body has a proximal end and a distal end. A longitudinally displaceable shaft is disposed in and extends along the passage in the body. A plug sealing the passage is at a first location. A diaphragm sealing the passage is at a second location intermediate the plug and the distal end of the passage. The shaft extends through and is secured to the diaphragm. A fluid transfer opening is located in the passage between the diaphragm and the plug. Longitudinal displacement of the shaft causes the fluid transfer opening to be in fluid communication with a fluid vessel, the diaphragm stretching to accommodate the displacement of the shaft while maintaining an aseptic seal of the passage.
US08544348B2
A method and tube for separating a sample. The tube is configured to separate agglomerated or clumped material or other sample components having over a particular size from other smaller size portions of the sample. For example, blood clots may be separated from serum of a blood sample. The tube includes a chamber with a closed bottom and a sidewall extending upwardly from the bottom, and a sample inlet branch coupled to the chamber. A slit is positioned between the chamber and the sample inlet branch so that after a sample is placed into the sample inlet branch, a portion of the sample having a size smaller than the slit (e.g., liquid material) passes through the slit and into the chamber, and material in the sample having a size larger than the slit remains in the sample inlet branch.
US08544330B2
The embodiments of the probe or the probe handle additionally include an integrally formed cooling structure with at least one dividing wall that is connected to an outer wall and an inner wall of the probe. The outer wall and the inner wall of the probe together form a medium flow space inside the probe, and the dividing wall divides the medium flow space into a continuous medium flow path where a predetermined medium travels to carry undesirable heat away from the probe handle. The undesirable heat is generated from electronic components and or an array of transducer elements in the probe handle.
US08544328B2
A method and apparatus for detecting an inconsistency in an object. A signal sent from a first transducer unit is received at a second transducer unit. The signal is sent along a path through an object from the first transducer unit to the second transducer unit. The second transducer unit has segments. A velocity is identified at each segment in the segments for a number of modes for the signal to form identified velocities. A determination is made as to whether the inconsistency is present along the path through the object using the identified velocities for the number of modes for the signal.
US08544322B2
There is provided a jaw motion measuring system that can attach a simple detector and can accurately carry out measurement of jaw motion. The jaw motion measuring system includes: an acceleration detector having at least an acceleration sensor that senses accelerations of three-axis directions, a flexible wire whose one end is connected to the acceleration sensor, an output terminal that is connected to another end of the flexible wire and outputs acceleration data of the three-axis directions, and an attachment portion that attaches the acceleration sensor to a chin portion of a lower jaw; and a jaw motion measuring device that acquires acceleration data corresponding to jaw motion from the acceleration detector, and carries out correction, with respect to the acquired acceleration data, of errors due to the acceleration sensor, and measures jaw motion expressed by acceleration waveforms.
US08544319B2
A system and related method for improving tire uniformity includes providing at least one set of test tires constructed with one or more process elements provided at known relative angular locations. At least one uniformity parameter, such as radial or lateral run-out, balance, mass variation, radial lateral or tangential force variation, is measured for at least one harmonic of interest for each test tire. Respective rectangular coordinates are determined for each measured uniformity parameter and harmonic of interest for each tire. A form of the determined rectangular coordinates (e.g., the rectangular coordinates themselves and/or the log of the residuals squared) is analyzed for each tire to identify optimized relative angular locations for each process element that reduce dispersion (or dispersion and mean) of the measured uniformity parameter. New tires are built with the one or more process elements positioned in the identified optimized relative angular locations.
US08544318B2
A method for detecting abnormal combustion in the combustion chamber of at least one cylinder of a spark-ignition supercharged internal-combustion engine includes: measuring a quantity linked with the combustion of the fuel mixture in the chamber, producing a signal whose amplitude depends on the amplitude of the measured quantity, comparing the amplitude of the signal produced with the amplitude of a threshold signal corresponding to the amplitude of a signal during combustion with engine knock, determining the presence of a rumble type abnormal combustion in the combustion chamber when the amplitude of the signal produced exceeds the amplitude of the threshold signal by a significant value.
US08544310B2
A forged product having thick end parts, and a thin part between the thick parts, is formed by extruding a forging stock such that the cross section of the forging stock varies along the direction of extrusion, wherein in any cross section in a direction perpendicular to the direction of extrusion, the forging stock has two thick end parts, a thin part intermediate the end parts and transitional parts with varying thickness between the thin part and each of the thick end parts; cutting the forging stock in the direction perpendicular to the direction of extrusion to form cut portions; and forging each of the cut portions such that the thick end parts of the cut portions form the thick end parts of the forged product and the thin part of the cut portions forms the thin part of the forged product.
US08544303B2
A lock device is provided that includes a housing (2) having an opening (4) and a core (10) which is rotatably mounted in the opening (4) about a longitudinal axis of the core and which includes a key way (12) for reception of a key. Also included is a latching dement (20) that co-acts between the housing (2) and the core (10). An electronically controllable actuator (30) is mounted in the core (10) and is movable using a motor (40) between an opening-registering position in which movement of the latching element (20) to the release position is permitted, and a latching position in which movement of the latching element (20) to the release position is blocked. The motor (40) is provided in a recess (10a) in the barrel surface (10b) of the core at a distance from the end surfaces of the core.
US08544295B2
A heat exchanger and associated methods for sublimating solid particles therein, for conveying fluids therethrough, or both. The heat exchanger includes a chamber and a porous member having a porous wall having pores in communication with the chamber and with an interior of the porous member. A first fluid is conveyed into the porous member while a second fluid is conveyed into the porous member through the porous wall. The second fluid may form a positive flow boundary layer along the porous wall to reduce or eliminate substantial contact between the first fluid and the interior of the porous wall. The combined first and second fluids are conveyed out of the porous member. Additionally, the first fluid and the second fluid may each be conveyed into the porous member at different temperatures and may exit the porous member at substantially the same temperature.
US08544293B2
A vacuum sorption apparatus includes a first volume region (1) in which a sorber (2) which periodically sorbs or desorbs a refrigerant and a condenser (3) are located, and a second volume region (4) located below the first, in which an evaporator (5) is located, wherein a separating body (6) is located above the evaporator (5) to minimize a free surface area of the liquid refrigerant. The separating body (6) is configured to be vertically movable to compensate for different filling level heights of the refrigerant.
US08544291B2
The present invention relates to refrigerators. More specifically, the present invention relates to a refrigerator which has a residue tray for holding residue of water or ice from a dispenser when the dispenser is pushed in the door, thereby permitting to make simple and effective disposing of the residue of water or ice from the dispenser in the door.
US08544277B2
A combustor of a turbine engine includes a portion where the aft end of a combustor liner is sealed to a forward end of a transition piece. A cover sleeve surrounds the aft end portion of the combustor liner to form an annular airflow passage between the exterior of the combustor liner and the inner side of the cover sleeve. A plurality of turbulators project radially outward from the combustor liner. One or more circumferential rows of supports also extend radially outward from the combustor liner to support the cover sleeve.
US08544238B2
A multi-floor building construction system for progressively constructing floors on load-bearing means of a foundation as the occupational need to do so arises and while sub-floors can be occupied. A permanent roof structure is displaceably supported over an uppermost floor of at least an upper one of one or more occupational floor spaces. Extensible load support means is secured in the roof structure until the completion of the mufti-floor building. The extensible load support means rests upon the uppermost floor to support the total load of the permanent roof structure. The extensible load support means is extendible downwardly to push against the uppermost floor to raise the permanent roof structure. Adjustable hoisting means is secured inside the permanent roof structure for lifting floor sub-assemblies fabricated in the construction zone using the extensible load support means while simultaneously raising the permanent roof structure.
US08544233B2
Flooring material including sheet-shaped floor elements with a mainly square or rectangular shape. The floor elements are provided with edges, a lower side and an upper decorative layer. The floor elements are intended to be joined by means of joining members. The floor elements are provided with male joining members on a first edge while a second edge of the floor elements are provided with a female joining member. The male joining member is provided with a tongue and a lower side groove while the female joining member is provided with a groove and a cheek, the cheek being provided with a lip. The floor elements are provided with a male vertical assembly joining member on a third edge while a fourth, opposite, edge is provided with female vertical assembly joining member.
US08544230B2
Floor panels (1b, 1c) provided with a mechanical locking system made of a separate material in order to reduce snapping resistance during vertical displacement.
US08544221B2
A structure for supporting an array of solar panels above a surface comprises finned poles, a horizontal spline, and a number of movable yokes coupling each of the solar panels to the spline, such that the solar panels may be secured to the spline, and later repositioned along the spline and re-secured to the spline. A pole includes one or more fins in a central portion, to stabilize the pole when set into the ground. The cross-section of the spline may take a variety of shapes, including quadrilateral shapes and conic sections. Constructing a solar array involves using commonplace, readily accessible materials, and construction equipment and methods with low-environmental-impact, all to produce an attractive, easy to construct environmentally friendly installation.
US08544212B2
A reinforced inflatable structure includes an inflatable member having a longitudinal axis. The member includes a bladder and a braided restraint layer mounted to the bladder. A plurality of spaced supports is mounted on the member and extends outwardly therefrom. A plurality of spaced bracing cables are connected at each end to a respective one of the plurality of supports. The cables are oriented generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the member and are held at a generally fixed distance from the member by the supports. The inflatable member tensions the bracing cables rendering them capable of resisting bending.
US08544201B2
Methods for disabling firearms and firearm safety devices designed to reduce the risk of accidental discharge are provided. Safety devices according to the present invention comprise a chamber-disabling component constructed of a flexible material. The chamber-disabling component is adapted to be inserted through an opening in the firearm into the firing chamber with partial retraction of the bolt.
US08544195B2
A thinner shoe mounted receptacle results from a thin cleat attachment flange received in a shallow receptacle cavity. An angled interface between the cleat and receptacle provide a friction fit engagement to minimize inadvertent disengagement of the cleat and receptacle. Rotational locking occurring inside or outside the cavity further prevents inadvertent cleat rotation. Multiple positionally synchronized angular stops positively define the final angular orientation of the cleat in the receptacle.
US08544191B2
Shoe uppers having smooth seams and methods for producing them are disclosed. In one embodiment the upper uses thermoplastic seam tape which forms bonds between contiguous upper sections after being subjected to heat and/or pressure. In another embodiment, different parts of the shoe can be joined using hidden seams. Close seams can also be covered with a transfer material adapted to give the interior and/or exterior of the upper a smooth surface. In yet another embodiment, a method is disclosed which allows three-dimensional upper sections to be bonded on a last using thermoplastic seam tape.
US08544185B2
A dryer with an improved arrangement of heating coils is provided. The improved heater assembly includes a heater case partitioned into an upper passage and a lower passage, with independent first and second coil arrays crossing the plate between the upper and lower passages. The first and second coil arrays may be separately controlled to adjust an amount of drying capacity provided to the dryer while maintaining a uniform flow of drying air.
US08544178B2
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus that chops off a weed at or below ground level and applies a small shot of herbicide to the freshly cut weed base. More particularly the present invention is a rechargeable, battery operated, solenoid driven, and hand held device with a herbicide reservoir on the handle and a reciprocating cutter blade with a directed herbicide spray nozzle at the base.
US08544177B2
A shaving blade unit comprising a shaving cartridge having a rearwardly secured shaving blade member wherein the cartridge comprises a) a housing having a front wall, a rear wall, and opposing side walls extending between the front and rear walls; b) a shaving blade member disposed within said walls of the housing and wherein the blade member has a cutting edge that faces a front surface of said housing; c) a resilient member disposed rearward of the shaving blade member and that is secured by a shaving blade member retainer; and wherein the resilient member provides a forward biasing force to the shaving blade member and wherein the shaving blade member exhibits a springing motion during a shaving stroke.
US08544176B2
A panel assembly, in which the liaison between two adjacent panels is sealed by a sealing joint, where the sealing joint comprises a central part, housed in an interstice between the two panels, and an external part, facing the exterior of the panel assembly, and capable of covering at least partially the external face of the two longitudinal edges of the panels surrounding the interstice. Also, a method for mounting a panel assembly, in which two adjacent panels are fixed to one another.
US08544174B2
A differential mechanism includes a case including first and second portions, the first portion including a first surface interrupted by recesses, the second portion including a second surface interrupted by second recesses, contacting the first surface, and secured to the first portion, a pin extending though the recesses, and a ring gear secured to the portions and overlapping the surfaces and the pin.
US08544171B2
A method for terminating a fiber optic cable includes removing an end portion of an outer jacket of a fiber optic cable to expose a strength member and at least one optical fiber. A binder material of the strength member of the fiber optic cable is heated using a heat source to expose strength elements of the strength member. The strength elements are secured to a fiber optic connector assembly using an adhesive.
US08544170B2
In one embodiment, a percutaneous stimulation lead for applying electrically stimulation pulses to tissue of the patient comprises: a plurality of electrode assemblies electrically coupled to a plurality of terminals through a plurality of conductors of the stimulation lead, wherein each electrode assembly is disposed in an annular manner around the lead body and each electrode assembly comprises (i) an electrode adapted to deliver electrical stimulation to tissue of a patient, (ii) an interior conductive layer, and (iii) a dielectric layer disposed between the electrode and the interior conductive layer; the electrode and interior conductive layer being capacitively coupled, the dielectric layer further comprising an inductor, the inductor being electrically connected to one of the plurality of conductors through the interior conductive layer, and the inductor being electrically coupled to the electrode.
US08544169B2
A method of manufacturing a through-hole electrode substrate includes forming a plurality of through-holes in a substrate, forming a plurality of through-hole electrodes by filling a conductive material into the plurality of through-holes, forming a first insulation layer on one surface of the substrate, forming a plurality of first openings which expose the plurality of through-hole electrodes corresponding to each of the plurality of through-hole electrodes, on the first insulation layer and correcting a position of the plurality of first openings using the relationship between a misalignment amount of a measured distance value of an open position of a leaning through-hole among the plurality of through-holes and of a design distance value of the open position of the leaning through-hole among the plurality of through-holes with respect to a center position of the substrate.
US08544166B2
An electrical terminal applicator system includes a die connected to a press. A one-piece member includes a stock guide portion homogeneously connected to a tool receiving portion. The one-piece member is releasably secured to the die using only a single fastener. A male member extends from either one of the one-piece member or the die, and a female slot is created in the other one of the one-piece member or the die slidably receiving the male member to permit the one-piece member to be horizontally positioned on the die prior to securing the one-piece member using the single fastener.
US08544153B2
A lockable snap-clip fastener with two spring-biased jaw members and a slidable locking bar. The locking bar is held in position by the same spring that biases the jaws. As the bar is held in either the locked or unlocked position, it must be positively actuated in order to transition from one configuration to the other.
US08544147B2
A grommet includes two semicircular closing plate sections that protrude from inner peripheries of a larger diameter end of an enlarging diameter tubular section provided with a vehicle body latch recess. Two half ring sections protrude from peripheral edges of central circular cut-outs at opposed ends of the semicircular closing plate sections. Adhesive tape is wound around the half ring sections. The semicircular closing plate sections are thinner than the enlarging diameter tubular section and have bellows-like configurations with projections and depressions. The half ring sections deform in accordance with an outer diameter of the wire harness and a bending direction of the wire harness. Deformation of the semicircular closing plate sections is absorbed by the bellows-like configurations, and the vehicle body latch recess of the enlarging diameter tubular section coupled to an outer periphery of the semicircular closing plate sections.
US08544124B2
The present invention relates to multipurpose furniture which combines a bed and a desk, and is positioned between furniture facing each other. Since a turning apparatus for the multipurpose furniture is simplified, there is a reduction in all kinds of work processes and the work load required for turning of a turning member, of which a table surface and a mattress respectively used as a desk and a bed are formed on top and bottom, and manufacturing cost is decreased. In addition, when the multipurpose furniture is used as a bed, stability during sleep is increased and sleeping in comfort is doubled through minimization of the height from the surface.
US08544123B2
A flush toilet device has a toilet body having a bowl section, rim water discharge opening, a jet water discharge opening, and a discharge water trap conduit. A pressurizing pump is provided for pressurizing flush water contained in a cistern to supply it to the jet water discharge opening. A pump controller regulates the operation and rotation speed of the pressurizing pump to regulate the flow speed and flow rate of flush water discharged from the jet water discharge opening so that flush water at a first flow rate for generating a siphon effect is discharged and then at a second flow rate is discharged at the end of the siphon effect generated by the first flow rate. The second flow rate having a flow speed that can carry away human wastes and causes the siphon effect to continue by closing the cross section of any portion of the discharge water trap conduit.
US08544122B2
An improved toilet plunger for unclogging drains, such as those typically associated with a toilet, preferably comprised of a stem, a bell with a generally oblong opening, and a plurality of baffles attached to said bell. The unique shape of the bell and bell opening, combined with the presence and function of the baffles, make the improved plunger device particularly effective for unclogging modern trough-like toilet drains.
US08544116B2
A pair of golf gloves is provided with indicia that aids in properly gripping a golf club whether the grip employed is a conventional grip or a natural golf grip.
US08544112B2
A guard includes a transparent face shield, a neck strap having one end secured to one side of the guard and a second end secured to the opposite side of the guard, and a neck opening defined by the guard and the neck strap. The guard is worn by user with the user's neck extending through said neck opening such that said guard depends from the user's neck by said neck strap with an edge of said guard in contact with the user's chest and with said face shield extending upwardly in a direction from the user's chest shielding the user's face. The guard, when worn by the user, protects foodstuff handled by the user from contamination by the user sneezing or from other material falling from the user's head and/or face.
US08549661B2
An apparatus for performing magnetic resonance force microscopy on one or more large area samples comprising a base plate, one or more heat sink plates coupled to the base plate, one or more suspension mechanisms coupled to the base plate and the heat sink plates, a probe head suspended from the one or more suspension mechanisms for scanning the one or more samples and a sample cylinder comprising a sample stage coupled to the probe head for sample positioning and an outer drum for isolating the sample stage.
US08549659B2
A method and a non-volatile memory apparatus for cloning prevention is provided. The non-volatile memory apparatus includes an Enhanced Media Identification (EMID) area, which is located in a specific area of the non-volatile memory, and stores an EMID for identifying the non-volatile memory; and an EMID encoder for modifying the EMID by a preset operation in conjunction with an arbitrary value.
US08549657B2
Systems and methods that regulate range of access to personal information of a mobile unit's owner. The access control component can designate granularity for access levels and/or a spectrum of access modes—(as opposed to a binary choice of full access or no access at all). Such access can be based on a spectrum and/or discrete trust relationship between the owner and user of the mobile unit. A profile definition component can exploit an owner's trust relationships to designate levels of security. The profile definition component can further define a profile based on a set of applications, such as entertainment mode, browser mode, and the like.
US08549648B2
A security module may be configured to execute on the electronic device at a level below all of the operating systems of an electronic device accessing the one or more system resources. The security module may be configured to: trap one or more attempts to access system resources of the electronic device, the one or more attempts made from a less privileged ring of execution than the first security module; record information identifying one or more processes attempting to access the system resources of the electronic device; compare the information identifying one or more processes attempting to access the system resources with the enumerated one or more processes visible to the operating system; and based on the comparison, determine one or more hidden processes, the hidden processes determined by at least identifying processes whose information was recorded by first security module but were not enumerated by the second security module.
US08549643B1
A computing device executing a data loss prevention (DLP) system tracks bait data on at least one of the computing device or a network. The DLP system identifies a potential security threat in response to detecting unscripted activity associated with the bait data. The DLP system performs an action in response to identifying the potential security threat.
US08549637B2
A website defacement incident handling system and associated methodology and non-transitory computer program storage device for detecting a defacement of a website and taking appropriate corrective action upon detection of the defacement. The website defacement incident handling system receives web page information and snapshot images corresponding to websites and performs comparisons against corresponding information and snapshot images of a reference website. Probability scores indicating the likelihood that a website has been defaced are calculated based on the comparisons and corrective actions are taken as appropriate to protect the affected website.
US08549636B2
An information processing apparatus includes: a software storing unit that stores software; a storage recognizing unit that recognizes, when a storage having stored therein first authentication information for enabling a function of the software stored in the software storing unit is connected to the information processing apparatus via an interface unit, that the storage is connected and transmits second authentication information uniquely corresponding to the function of the software to be enabled to the storage; and a function managing unit that enables, when the first authentication information and the second authentication information compared by the storage coincide with each other, the function of the software on the basis of a notification informing that the first authentication information and the second authentication information coincide with each other issued by the storage, the storage deleting the first authentication information.
US08549635B2
A malware scanner 2, for malware such as computer viruses, worms, Trojans and the like, utilizes the external call characteristics associated with known items of malware to identify the presence of malware within a computer file. Malware written in a high level language when compiled can take a variety of different forms as object code, but these different object code forms will usually share external call characteristics to a sufficient degree to allow the presence of such external call characteristics to properly and accurately generically identify different compiled variants of the source code malware.
US08549632B2
A method for supporting attack detection in a distributed system, wherein a message being sent within the distributed system from a source entity to one or more target entities is transmitted via one or more intermediate entities, and wherein at least one of the one or more intermediate entities—tagging entity—appends an attack information tag to the message indicating whether the message constitutes or is part of an attack, is characterized in that a reputation system is provided, the reputation system being configured to receive the attack information tag generated by the tagging entity, and to generate a rating of the attack information tag.
US08549631B2
The present invention discloses an internet site security system and method thereof. That is, the present invention comprises a browser execution module which executes the browser for providing a work-performing environment on the internet site according to the selection of a user; a memory protection module which, according to the execution of the browser, prevents an external module from accessing a memory area allocated to the browser and detects whether the memory area is tampered or not and whether the executing code is tampered or not; and a browser protection module which prevents another process or module from debugging the browser execution module according to the execution of the browser, and distinguishing several modules loaded to the memory area into acceptable modules and unacceptable modules, and thereby is able to provide a secure electronic transaction based environment against a malicious attack.
US08549628B2
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related security evaluation system including one or more of the following: determining, at the security evaluation system, a plurality of security dimensions to be evaluated for the target system; determining a reference value for each of the plurality of security dimensions, wherein each reference value is representative of a minimum target value for the associated security dimension of the target system; evaluating the security of the target system to generate an actual value for each of the plurality of security dimensions; and generating a security index representation that displays the reference value and the actual value of each of the plurality of security dimensions for the target system.
US08549627B2
A video that advertises a particular web site may be a form of video spam. For example, pornographers often advertise their web sites by displaying a link to their web sites in videos, and then placing the videos on video-sharing services. This type of video spam may be detected by analyzing the video for the presence of text and then determining whether the text is a URL. If the text is a URL, the URL may be checked to determine whether it points to an objectionable web site. The determination of whether a URL points to an objectionable web site may be made by comparing the URL with a blacklist and/or whitelist, or by retrieving the URL and analyzing the retrieved content. If a video is found to be an advertisement for an objectionable web site, action may be taken, such as removing the video from a content database.
US08549615B2
An IMS system includes an IMS initiator user entity. The system includes an IMS responder user entity that is called by the initiator user entity. The system includes a calling side S-CSCF in communication with the caller entity which receives an INVITE having a first protection offer and parameters for key establishment from the caller entity, removes the first protection offer from the INVITE and forwards the INVITE without the first protection offer. The system includes a receiving end S-CSCF in communication with the responder user entity and the calling side S-CSCF which receives the INVITE without the first protection offer and checks that the responder user entity supports the protection, inserts a second protection offer into the INVITE and forwards the INVITE to the responder user entity, wherein the responder user entity accepts the INVITE including the second protection offer and answers with an acknowledgment having a first protection accept. A method for supporting a call by a telecommunications node.
US08549612B2
An intrusion prevention system includes a processor, processing engines, buffers that are associated with a different range of reputation scores, and a storage device having a database and an application. The processor executes the application to determine that a firewall has admitted a packet, determine a reputation score for the packet from the database, provide the packet to a buffer that has a reputation score range that includes the reputation score of the packet, provide the packet from the buffer to a processing engine, process the packet by in the processing engine to determine if the packet includes an exploit, and forward the packet to the protected network if the first packet does not include the exploit.
US08549604B2
A user authentication method and system. A computing system receives from a user, a first request for accessing specified functions executed by a specified software application. The computing system enables a security manager software application and connects the specified software application to a computing apparatus. The computing system executes first security functions associated with the computing apparatus. The computing system executes second security functions associated with additional computing apparatuses. The computing system determines if the user may access the specified functions executed by the specified software application based on results of executing the first security functions and the second security functions. The computing system generates and stores a report indicating the results.
US08549595B1
An improved adaptive authentication technique involves defining a window array which stores the number of distinct fact values per time unit over a predetermined number of time units. Each element of the window array has a value set to the number of distinct fact values over a time unit. The window array is stored in a database. Under the improved technique, upon a user initiating an authorization request, the risk engine extracts the request and the window array from the database into a cache on the authorization server. The risk engine uses the request which contains a value of the fact to adjust values of the elements of the window array and, once the adjusting is completed, computing the fact velocity which is used in the determination of a risk score for the request.
US08549594B2
A method of identity authentication and fraudulent phone call verification uses an identification code of a communication device and a dynamic password. The “dynamic password” is directly sent to an Internet user via a dynamic web-page of a specific website instead of by means of a traditional telephone short message. Thus, the “dynamic password” cannot be copied from the spyware infected communication device of the Internet user. Furthermore, even if the “dynamic password” is intercepted or otherwise discovered by a hacker or intruder, authentication is still secure because the dynamic password must be sent back to the specific website via a short message or the like from the same communication device having the corresponding identification code that was initially input by the Internet user in order to generate the dynamic password.
US08549592B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed in a data processing system for establishing virtual endorsement credentials. The data processing system includes a hardware trusted platform module (TPM). Logical partitions are generated in the system. A different virtual TPM is generated for each one of the logical partitions. For each one of the logical partitions, the virtual TPM that was generated for the logical partition then dynamically generates a virtual endorsement key, which is stored only within a corresponding virtual TPM. Using the virtual endorsement key, each virtual TPM also generates a virtual endorsement credential for use by the logical partition that includes the virtual TPM. The virtual endorsement credential is generated within the data processing system without the data processing system or its devices accessing a trusted third party that is external to the data processing system.
US08549588B2
Exemplary systems and methods for providing a network credential in order to access a communication network are provided. In exemplary embodiments, a digital device attempting to access the communication network receives an authentication request from the network device. An authentication record based on the authentication request is retrieved from a credential server. The network credential is then provided within the authentication record and transmitted as an authentication response to the network device. Upon authentication by the network device, the digital device is provided access to the communication network.
US08549582B1
A method, computer readable medium, and system that handles a multi-protocol name in a virtualization environment includes determining and predicting with a virtualization management computing device when a name collision occurs between content names of different content accessible by two or more protocols. The virtualization management computing device restricts access to the different content in one or more network attached storage devices when the name collision is determined to occur to one or more of the protocols which can distinguish the different content. It preserves access to the different content in certain cases where the collision can be predicted.
US08549581B1
Guard tables including absence information are used in a security system to limit the processing of negative queries. A key corresponding to a request to access a network resource is hashed and the output of the hash is a bit position in a guard table. The bit value at the bit position in the guard table is checked to determine if the information to which the key corresponds is absent from a datastore. Further processing of the request can be based on the indicated presence or absence information.
US08549576B2
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for dynamically creating and inserting an application into an MPEG program transport stream. The application may be subsequently run on a customer premises equipment (CPE) device to effect switching between content streams for presentation to viewers based on other available data, such as targeting information.
US08549571B2
One embodiment comprises a method of streaming video data comprising, outputting video data from a video capture device comprising a first video resolution, determining a desired viewable area of the video data, removing a first portion of the video data comprising video data outside of the desired viewable area, and streaming the video data comprising the desired viewable area to a client device.
US08549566B2
A method of receiving and processing a Non-Real Time (NRT) service and a broadcast receiver are disclosed herein. A method of processing an NRT service in a broadcast receiver includes receiving and processing a signaling information table including detail information of each content in the NRT service and indication information indicating whether the content is available on internet, acquiring internet access information of each file belonging to content available on the internet through File Delivery Table (FDT) of File Delivery over Unidirection Transport (FLUTE) based on the indication information, and downloading files belonging to the content by accessing the internet based on the acquired internet access information.
US08549553B2
Techniques described herein enable parents to establish a child-protective “kids zone” on a DVR. According to one technique, a DVR receives, from a parent, identities of content items that the parent does not want children to view. The DVR maps the identities to a kids zone. During times that the DVR is set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR prevents itself from presenting any content items that are associated with the identities. However, during these times, the DVR still may obtain and store these content items. At other times, during which the DVR is not set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR may allow itself to present the content items that are associated with the identities, including content items that the DVR obtained and stored during times that the DVR was set to operate in the kids zone operational mode.
US08549547B2
A disclosed disk clamping mechanism includes a turntable fixed on a rotational shaft of a spindle motor to rotate a flexible thin optical disk, a stabilizer member configured to suppress a run-out of the flexible thin optical disk by an applying aerodynamic force to the rotating flexible thin optical disk so as to stabilize the run-out of the rotating flexible thin optical disk, and a clamper movably supported in a center of the stabilizer member in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the flexible thin optical disk. In the disclosed disk clamping mechanism, the flexible thin optical disk is sandwiched between the turntable and the clamper such that the turntable and the clamper rotate the flexible thin optical member sandwiched in-between.
US08549545B2
A computer system and computer program product for implementing a method for configuring an improved computing system containing a first computing device. The method includes: creating a logical layer and a physical layer within the first computing device; installing a software operating system (OS) in the logical layer of the first computing device; configuring a first basic input/output system (BIOS) based on installation in the physical layer of the first computing device; relocating all first hardware device drivers for the first hardware devices from an OS image in the logical layer to a first Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) in the physical layer of the first computing device; installing the first BIOS in the physical layer of the first computing device; and loading the first hardware device drivers from the first EEPROM into the first BIOS during a boot phase for the first computing device.
US08549544B1
A system, method and computer program product are provided for preventing the execution of unwanted code. In use, it is determined whether an object is associated with a class having diamond inheritance. If it is determined that the object is associated with a class having diamond inheritance, an exploit of the object is prevented.
US08549539B2
A message flow within a message broker can be identified. The message flow can include nodes and connections. The nodes can include a reflective node, a pre-defined node and a user-defined node. The message broker can be an intermediary computer program code able to translate a message from a first formal messaging protocol to a second formal messaging protocol. The code can be stored within a computer readable medium. The reflective node within the message flow can be selected. The reflective node can be associated with an external resource which can be an executable code. The external resource can be executed which can result in the modifying of the structure of the message flow. The modification can occur during runtime. The modification can include node and/or connection adding, altering, and deleting.
US08549536B2
A technique of performing a workflow on a plurality of task servers involves starting a plurality of task server processes on the plurality of task servers. Each task server provides an operating system which is constructed and arranged to locally run a respective task server process. The technique further involves receiving a workflow which includes a set of dependency-related predefined activities, and placing task identifiers in a queue structure based on the received workflow. The task identifiers identify tasks to be performed in a distributed manner by the plurality of task server processes started on the plurality of task servers. Each task is a specific execution of a dependency-related predefined activity of the workflow. Progress in performing the workflow is made as the plurality of task server processes (i) claim task identifiers from the queue structure and (ii) perform the tasks identified by the claimed task identifiers.
US08549535B2
A method, a system and a product are disclosed for executing a taskflow in a distributed taskflow architecture and for providing the latter. In at least one embodiment, the taskflow is generated by interconnecting modular tasks, having a synchronization mechanism in order to be able to execute the taskflow on different processing instances both in an online mode and in an offline mode and in order to allow a change between the modes even during performance of the taskflow.
US08549527B2
A computer implemented method, system and/or computer program product schedule execution of work requests through work plan prioritization. One or more work packets are mapped to and assigned to each work request from a group of work requests. A complexity level is derived for and assigned to each work packet, and priority levels of various work requests are determined for each entity from a group of entities. A global priority for the group of work requests is then determined. The global priority and the complexity levels combine to create a priority function, which is used to schedule execution of the work requests.
US08549517B2
An address assignment method includes a first notification step of selecting a range of use of addresses to be assigned to the virtual network interface card from the set of addresses, and notifying another physical machine of the range of use via a network, the first notification step being carried out by the physical machine that creates the virtual machine; a storage step of storing the range of use, the storage step being carried out by the physical machine notified of the range of use at the first notification step; and a second notification step of selecting the range of use of addresses to be assigned to the virtual network interface card in the virtual machine to be created from the set of addresses excluding the stored range of use, and notifying another physical machine of the range of use via the network.
US08549514B2
A solution for distributing software products in a data processing system is disclosed. A set of models of each software product is to be distributed (for example, of the UML type) is provided; each model includes an indication of relationships among a plurality of available logical items (representing functions provided by the software product, such as use cases) and a plurality of available distribution artifacts (used to distribute the software product). A set of logical items is then selected among the available ones. The process continues by identifying a set of distribution artifacts required to implement the selected logical items (among the available distribution artifacts); the required distribution artifacts are identified according to the corresponding relationships in the models. A software package is built including the required distribution artifacts. The software package is then distributed to a set of data processing entities of the system (i.e., endpoints), so as to cause each entity to install the required distribution artifacts on the entity.
US08549511B2
An information processing apparatus is described which includes a list fetching section for fetching, from outside, a list of disabled contents information indicating disabling execution of an application program, when the contents data is subjected to a contents data reproducing/copying process for at least reproducing or copying the contents data. When it is determined that a type and/or a version of the application program identified by referring to the starting file corresponds to a type and/or a version of any disabled application program described in the list of disabled contents information, the starting file is not distributed to the application program.
US08549502B2
Performance of a program written in dynamic languages is improved through the use of a compiler that provides type inference for methods having a user-defined element. The user-defined element may be an input in a user-defined type. Though, the user-defined element may reflect that the method is user-defined. Type inference may be performed based on a user-defined mapping, relating input types to output types for one or more methods. The mapping may be specified as a data table provided to the compiler or as one or more functions that register with the compiler such that, as the compiler processes portions of a source program and detects a method with a user-defined element, the compiler may access the mapping and infer the type of an output of the method. The inferred type may then be used to optimize code dependent on that output.
US08549495B2
A method for using an appropriate level of code to be executed in a runtime environment. Code in a non-Java format is translated into a Java source file. During the translation process, metadata is generated from a configuration file where the metadata includes version information of the resources (e.g., JSTL) being used by the code written in the non-Java format. A determination is made as to whether to recompile the non-Java code based on software components, referred herein as “listener components,” determining whether the versions of the resources being used by the non-Java code performs acceptably well in the runtime environment. If a listener component determines that a version of a resource being used is not acceptable, then the non-Java code is recompiled with a newer version of the resource. In this manner, an appropriate level of code is executed by the runtime environment.
US08549484B2
A configuration information verification apparatus includes an alive monitoring information collecting unit for collecting alive monitoring information from a plurality of configuration items constituting a network, a logical formula creating unit for referring to configuration information that represents information about connection relationships between the configuration items and creating a logical formula with respect to each configuration item by performing an AND operation on configuration items positioned on a route leading to corresponding configuration item, and assigning a “true” value to the logical formula if the alive monitoring information indicates that the corresponding configuration item is operating normally and assigning a “false” to the logical formula if the alive monitoring information indicates that the corresponding configuration item is not operating normally; and a logical formula verifying unit for verifying, from a plurality of logical formulae, whether an inconsistent logical formula is present.
US08549479B2
The present subject matter is directed to systems and methods for automating the testing of multi-function systems, such as naming registration systems and the like. A method of testing a registry, and the like, may include providing a command phrase including an add command and at least one function that includes an artificial attribute for a domain added by the add command. The command phrase may specify an operation, a protocol, and an object. The operation may include at least one of add, delete, or update domain. The protocol may include at least one of RRP and EPP. One or more parameters associated with the command phrase may be provided and may include an expected response code and/or a variable. One or more additional parameters that are associated with the command phrase may be determined and a database may be accessed to provide the one or more additional parameters. The command phrase, the one or more additional parameters, and/or the one or more additional parameters may be translated into an XML command and the XML command transmitted to the registry, or the like. A response from the registry may be evaluated to determine potential problems with database.
US08549478B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with graphical user interface input element identification are described. One example system identifies a graphical user interface (GUI) element through which an input to an application was received based on comparing images generated from data provided by the application. Data that describes the GUI element may then be provided.
US08549475B1
A method of improving an object-oriented programming environment by creating objects that automatically test themselves to determine if the object is being used properly. Each programming object in a library of programming objects includes an initialization routine for testing the programming object. If the initialization routine detects an programmer errors in the use of the programming object, the initialization routine will display a message describing the detected error.
US08549467B2
A method that includes: modeling a software system having pairs of coupled software components to yield a platform-independent model of pairs of respective platform-independent software component models associated with platform-specific software components; applying a materialization process to the platform-independent model to yield a platform-specific model by selecting respective concrete platform specific software components for the software component models; analyzing the platform-specific model to identify mismatched pairs of concrete platform-specific software components; re-modeling the platform-specific model such that each identified mismatched pair becomes coupled together via a configurable glue component model which comprises interface maps usable to eliminate the mismatch; configuring the glue component models by determining, in response to a feedback from a user, code snippets associated with any of the interface maps; and transforming the configured glue component model into a computer code in the platform-specific language by assembling all code snippets into a single piece of code.
US08549464B2
A reusable expression graph system and method that generates reusable expression graphs that can be used with potentially different input parameters in order to achieve computational efficiency and ease of programming. Reusable expression graph mitigate the need to rebuild an expression for each new value. This is achieved in part by creating a node called a “parameter node.” The parameter node acts as a generic placeholder for a leaf node in the expression graph. In addition, the parameter node acts as a proxy for a bindable term of the leaf node, and the bindable term can be either a value or one or more additional expressions. The parameter node then is bound to the bindable term and the expression is evaluated with that bindable term instead of the placeholder. The parameter node created by embodiments of the reusable expression graph system and method works across many different programming languages.
US08549461B2
A logically hierarchical netlist may be split along physical partition boundaries while retaining information on the logical hierarchy. Nets can be driven to higher levels of hierarchy in order to maintain connectivity and enable the original logical function. A mapping of nets can be created. During the design process merging of physical partitions may result in a new logically hierarchical netlist which retains the hierarchy of the original logically hierarchical netlist. The lowest common hierarchical ancestor (LCA) is identified and then the appropriate cells and nets are included during the merging process.
US08549458B2
Disclosed is a method, apparatus, and program product for routing an electronic design using sidewall image transfer that is correct by construction. The layout is routed by construction to allow successful manufacturing with sidewall image transfer, since the router will not allow a routing configuration in the layout that cannot be successfully manufactured with a two-mask sidewall image transfer. A layout is produced that can be manufactured by a two-mask sidewall image transfer method. In one approach, interconnections can be in arbitrary directions. In another approach, interconnections follow grid lines in x and y-directions.
US08549438B2
Systems and methods for control of a split mode command button are disclosed. The method includes displaying a button to a user, the button including a primary function area incorporating a primary function available for immediate selection and a secondary function area incorporating a drop-down menu of at least one secondary function. The method further includes accepting a selection of a secondary function and executing the secondary function. The method also includes updating the button such that the secondary function is associated with the primary function area and the primary function is associated with the secondary function area and displaying the updated split mode command button to a user.
US08549431B2
The invention aims to provide a user interface for efficiently displaying desired content from among a large number of contents.An operation location and an operation amount of an operation that has been made on an operation member is detected. Based on the operation location, one content is selected from among a plurality of contents that have been arranged in sequence, and a display unit displays the selected one content. The display unit displays another content when the operation location has moved during the display of the selected one content, an order of said another content being different from an order of the selected one content by a number based on the operation amount detected by a detection unit.
US08549430B2
A navigation system which provides: a navigation system which provides tiles that are easily identifiable and content-driven vs. context-driven; a navigation system that includes an expanded view/tile paradigm; and a navigation system that allows users to interact with the native operating system environment of the information handling system.
US08549419B2
A mobile terminal providing a graphic user interface and method of providing a graphic user interface are disclosed. In one embodiment a mobile terminal may comprise a control unit, a touch screen display unit coupled to the control unit, and a memory storing instructions to be executed by the control unit. In one embodiment a method may comprise displaying and then moving one or more icons around the screen of the mobile terminal, detecting a designation of a point on the screen, and executing a predefined action based on a distance from a location of the designated point to a location of at least one of the icons. Another embodiment may detect an application related event, display an indicator icon, and execute a predefined action in response to the event detection.
US08549401B1
Computer-implemented methods, systems, and computer-readable media for automatically generating computer-assistance videos based on remote interactive-guidance sessions are disclosed. In one example, an exemplary method for performing such a task may comprise: 1) detecting initiation of a remote interactive-guidance session between a local computing device and a remote computing device, 2) recording the remote interactive-guidance session, 3) storing the recorded interactive-guidance session in a media file, and then 4) providing access to the media file.
US08549396B2
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to subscribing and updating nodes within XML documents and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for matching various combinations of XML Path Language (XPATH) Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). In one embodiment of the invention, a method for matching various combinations of XML Path Language (XPATH) Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) that includes receiving a XPATH expression for a node in an XML document, retrieving the node identified by the XPATH expression, determining if a template exists for the identified node, where the template resides in a database of a document management system, comparing the template expression to the XPATH expression and determining if the expressions match. The method can further include modifying the XPATH expression to account for a dominant attribute required by the template when the XPATH expression does not match the template expression and returning the modified XPATH expression.
US08549394B2
An apparatus and method are disclosed for determining whether the meaning of a word in an electronic message should be presented to a user, according to a dynamic determination of whether the user knows the meaning of the word. A communication control unit receives a message sent from user A to user B. A morphological analysis unit extracts a word from the message, and a history acquisition unit acquires history information on viewing, usage, or the like of the word by user B. A display determination unit determines whether the meaning of the word should be displayed, according to the acquired history information, the language level of user B, and the difficulty level of the word. The meaning of the word is presented to user B according to the determination result.
US08549391B2
A system and related methods for tagging data, especially in the context of a web-based application, includes various features associated with a tag bar. A text field is displayable in conjunction with such tag bar, as is a list of any potential tags. Data can be received corresponding to a tag to be added to the tag bar. Once the tag bar has been added, it is displayed in the tag bar.
US08549388B2
According to one embodiment, a controller controls writing into and reading from a storage apparatus that includes a first data-storage unit and a second data-storage unit. The second data-storage unit stores user data and parity data of the user data. The first data-storage unit stores the parity data. The controller includes a parity updating unit and a parity writing unit. When parity data is updated, the parity updating unit writes the updated parity data into the first data-storage unit. When a certain requirement is satisfied, the parity writing unit reads the parity data written in the first data-storage unit, and writes the parity data thus read into the second data-storage unit.
US08549384B1
Apparatus having corresponding methods and computer-readable media comprise an encoder configured to provide encoded data according to an error correction code; a flash memory interface configured to write the encoded data to a location in flash memory, and to read the encoded data from the location in the flash memory; a decoder configured to decode the encoded data read from the location in the flash memory, and to indicate a number of resulting decode errors; and a retirement module configured to retire the location responsive to a number of resulting decode errors reaching an error threshold T.
US08549383B2
A cache memory system includes a cache controller and a cache tag array. The cache tag array includes one or more ways, one or more indices, and a cache tag entry for each way and index combination. Each cache tag entry includes an error correction portion and an address portion. In response to an address request for data that includes a first index and a first address, the cache controller compares the first address to the cache tag entries of the cache tag array that correspond to the first index. When the comparison results in a miss, the cache controller corrects cache tag entries with an error that correspond to the first index using the corresponding error correction portions, and stores at least one of the corrected cache tag entries in a storage that is external to the cache tag array. The cache controller, for each corrected cache tag entry, replays the comparison using the least one of the externally stored corrected cache tag entries.
US08549377B1
An LDPC decoder, applicable to LDPC codes including codes where check nodes within the same group are connected to a common bit node, successively processes groups of check nodes in a particular iteration, including updating bit nodes in that same iteration responsive to messages generated in response to processing a group of check nodes. Within an iteration, the LDPC decoder may also track the number of unresolved parity check equations, and cease iterating or output to an outer block decoder if that number reaches a local minima or standard minimum, falls below a predetermined threshold, or its rate of change falls below a predetermined threshold, indicating a lack of convergence or false convergence condition. The LDPC decoder may also provide a feedback assist to a demodulator. Also, a novel memory configuration may store messages generated by the decoder in the course of check node processing. The decoder may also employ a novel method for generating check node to bit node messages through a prescribed series of pair-wise computations.
US08549376B1
The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for error correction utilizing turbo code and signal transmission with error correction utilizing turbo code. A sequence of data is divided into a plurality of elements. Each element is encoded separately in parallel utilizing turbo encoding and decoded separately in parallel utilizing turbo decoding. The encoding and decoding of each element may be performed by an encoder and a decoder dedicated to that respective element. The control mechanism that controls each encoder and decoder may be identical, similar to a SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) architecture, allowing each element to be encoded and decoded separately in parallel utilizing turbo encoding and decoding. The encoding and decoding of each element separately in parallel utilizing turbo encoding and decoding may utilize the same interleaver permutation.
US08549372B2
A method to increase automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) effectiveness and compression identifies instances of “majority gates” and modifies test generation to exploit their behavior so that fewer care bit are needed. This method can increase test coverage and reduce CPU time as previously aborted faults are now tested. The majority gate enhanced ATPG requires no hardware support and can be applied to any ATPG system.
US08549371B1
A semiconductor memory device includes a test mode signal generation circuit configured to generate test mode signals which are selectively enabled, in response to a test enable signal which is enabled upon entry into a test mode; and a test mode signal output circuit configured to store the test mode signals in response to an input control signal and output the test mode signals in response to an output control signal, wherein the input control signal is enabled when a test write signal is generated according to a combination of commands, and the output control signal is a signal which is generated by delaying a test read signal a preset amount of time, where the test read signal is generated according to a combination of the commands.
US08549368B1
A multi-core integrated circuit includes first and second sets of processor cores and corresponding first and second test access ports (TAPs). The first and second TAPs are connected to corresponding first and second debug ports by way of corresponding first and second TAP controllers. The first and second sets of processor cores include first and second memory blocks and corresponding first and second built-in-self-testing (BIST) engines of different architectures. A control circuit configures the first and second TAP controllers and the connection between the first and second sets of processor cores and the first and second debug ports, for initiating the first and second BIST engines for testing the memory blocks using a predetermined test mode. A debug access module provides secure access to the first and second debug ports.
US08549367B1
A method and system for randomizing memory in a functional verification test of a user design is disclosed. A random number is generated during the functional verification test. The data stored in the memory of the user design is stored. Encryption keys unique for each memory address of the memory are generated. Each encryption key for each memory address is a function of the random number and the memory address. Data in each memory address of the memory is encrypted with the encryption keys unique for each memory address. After exiting a low-power or power-off state, data in each memory address is read and decrypted using the same encryption keys. Data before and after the low-power or power-off state are compared to test memory loss.
US08549360B2
Generation of diagnostic information of a computer-implemented system is made early so that the data is closer to the causation of errors or for performance analysis. At least one selected activity of the system is monitored from initiation of the activity, and the monitoring is for successful completion. Early collection of diagnostic information is provided by comparing the time of the activity without successful completion to an initial trigger, where the initial trigger is less than the time period for a time-out for the activity. If the time of the activity without successful completion exceeds the initial trigger, diagnostic information is collected and an initial dump of the diagnostic information is taken. In one example, a notification that the dump of diagnostic information has been taken is directed to the host or diagnostic terminal.
US08549356B2
A method and system for recovery of a computing environment includes monitoring during a pre-boot phase and a runtime phase of a computing device for selection of a hot key sequence by a user and performing a recovery action in response to the selection of the hot key sequence by the user. The recovery action may be any one of a number of predetermined and/or selectable actions such as restoring system defaults, migrating memory, displaying a menu of options, setting various software flags, restarting or rebooting the computing device, and/or the like.
US08549339B2
Embodiments of the disclosure generally set forth techniques for handling communication between processor cores. Some example multi-core processors include a first set of processor cores in a first region of the multi-core processor configured to dynamically receive a first supply voltage and a first clock signal, a second set of processor cores in a second region of the multi-core processor configured to dynamically receive a second supply voltage and a second clock signal, and an interface block coupled to the first set of processor cores and the second set of processor cores, wherein the interface block is configured to facilitate communications between the first set of processor cores and the second set of processor cores.
US08549335B2
Systems and methods for selectively utilizing secondary power sources during peak power times are provided for. The method includes receiving a notification of a peak power time, and discontinuing use of a primary power supply and beginning use of a secondary power supply based upon the notification.
US08549326B2
Users can share encrypted files without having access to other users' public key certificates, by specifying only the other users' identity information. A client agent interacts with a trusted service account to transparently add user encryption certificates to encrypted files after it was created. A header of each encrypted file includes signed encrypted data blocks, file system metadata, and a digital signature. When a user attempting to open an encrypted file is denied access, the client agent transmits the header data and the encryption certificate of the user to the trusted service account, with a request that the user encryption certificate be added to modify the encrypting file system metadata. After the trusted service account determines tampering has not occurred enroute and the user is authorized to access the file, the modified header data are returned to the client agent to enable the user to open the file.
US08549324B2
The invention relates to a method for protecting at least one motor vehicle component against manipulation in a control device, which comprises at least one microcomputer (μC) and at least one memory module (2, 3), characterized in that the code which is necessary for operation of the control device (1) is divided into at least one master code (MC) which comprises information essential for operation of the control device (1), and at least one sub-code (SC) which comprises additional information for operation of the control device (1), at least the master code (1) being stored in the microcomputer (μC) and the master code (MC) monitoring the manipulation of the sub-code (SC). The invention furthermore relates to a control device for a motor vehicle component which comprises at least one microcomputer (μC) and at least one memory module (2, 3), the code which is necessary for operation of the control device (1) being divided into at least one master code (MC) which comprises information which is essential for operation of the control device (1), and at least one sub-code (SC) which comprises additional information for operation of the control device (1), and at least the master code (MC) being stored in the microcomputer (μC) and the master code (MC) containing a software function module for detection of manipulation within the sub-code (SC).
US08549320B2
A debugger traps a module load operation and computes a hash of the loaded module. The hash is compared with a hash of a module file, and a warning is issued if the checksums are different. Systems and software implementing similar methods are also described and claimed.
US08549319B2
A system and algorithms to authenticate a person where a system only has some standard personal text data about the person, and cannot have a real biometric template obtained using an enrollment procedure. The authentication allows access to restricted resources by the person. This method is especially useful when it is used as an auxiliary authentication service with other methods such as password or Callback that dramatically lower the chances for an imposter.
US08549317B2
When only a fingerprint authentication approach is set, it is displayed that only authentication by the fingerprint authentication approach is accepted, and authentication by the fingerprint authentication approach is performed. Meanwhile, at least a system administrator is enabled to perform authentication by a password authentication approach.
US08549314B2
Password generation and extraction is described. In one aspect, a user inputs multiple characters, including a user password, variable characters, and multiple terminator characters. Locations of the terminator characters are identified and used to extract the user password from the multiple characters input by the user.
US08549313B2
Method and system for the integrated securing and managing of virtual machines and virtual appliances are presented. Sealing the virtual appliance at the computer of a sender, verifying authenticity of the sender at a recipient computer and managing the execution of the VA are performed in a seamless fashion.
US08549310B2
The invention relates to methods and apparatuses for acquiring a physical measurement, and for creating a cryptographic certification of that measurement, such that its value and time can be verified by a party that was not necessarily present at the measurement.The certified measurement may also include corroborative information for associating the actual physical measurement process with the certified measurement. Such corroborative information may reflect the internal or external state of the measurement certification device, as well as witness identifiers of any persons that may have been present at the measurement acquisition and certification.The certification may include a signal receiver to receive timing signals from a satellite or other external source. The external timing signals may be used to generate the time included in the certified measurement, or could be used to determine the location of the measurement certification device for inclusion in the certified measurement.
US08549307B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed which enable flexible insertion of forensic watermarks into a digital content signal using a common customization function. The common customization function flexibly employs a range of different marking techniques that are applicable to a wide range of forensic marking schemes. These customization functions are also applicable to pre-processing and post-processing operations that may be necessary for enhancing the security and transparency of the embedded marks, as well as improving the computational efficiency of the marking process. The common customization function supports a well-defined set of operations specific to the task of forensic mark customization that can be carried out with a modest and preferably bounded effort on a wide range of devices. This is accomplished through the use of a generic transformation technique for use as a “customization” step for producing versions of content forensically marked with any of a multiplicity of mark messages.
US08549305B2
An apparatus and method for encoding and decoding additional information into a stream of digitized samples in an integral manner. The information is encoded using special keys. The information is contained in the samples, not prepended or appended to the sample stream. The method makes it extremely difficult to find the information in the samples if the proper keys are not possessed by the decoder. The method does not cause a significant degradation to the sample stream. The method is used to establish ownership of copyrighted digital multimedia content and provide a disincentive to piracy of such material.
US08549293B2
A method of establishing security association between heterogeneous networks is disclosed. The method comprises a first step of receiving information of heterogeneous networks near a mobile station; a second step of transmitting a request message requesting authentication related information transfer to a target heterogeneous network where the mobile station intends to perform handover, among the heterogeneous networks near the mobile station; and a third step of receiving authentication related information and key related information of the target heterogeneous network. At this time, the first step, the second step, and the third step are preferable performed before handover is performed between heterogeneous networks.
US08549276B2
Gaming machines and systems having a universal interface layer linking a gaming platform to a hardware platform are disclosed. In particular, the universal interface layer is configured such that the gaming platform is hardware platform independent and such that the hardware platform is gaming platform independent. Platform independence can facilitate the interchangeability of one platform without a corresponding need to modify the other platform. The gaming platform can include various gaming modules and an operating system, while the universal interface layer can include firmware, various additional gaming modules, hardware specific drivers and various APIs to facilitate communication between the gaming platform and other universal interface layer components. A safe storage manager can be included to utilize a non-volatile storage component to store data regarding a gaming machine state, with the state being recoverable after a substantial interruption to the machine.
US08549274B2
A distributive cache accessing device for accelerating booting remote diskless computers mounted in a diskless computer equipped with WAN-bootable hardware, such as an iSCSI host bus adapter (HBA), allows to access data required to boot the diskless computers or run application programs thereon from an iSCSI target or other diskless computers having the distributive cache accessing device via a network. The retrieved iSCSI data blocks are temporarily stored in the local distributive cache accessing device. If any other diskless computer requests for the iSCSI data blocks, the temporarily stored iSCSI data blocks can be accessible to the diskless computer. Given installation of a large number of diskless computers, the network traffic of the iSCSI target is alleviated, and booting remote diskless computer is accelerated.
US08549272B2
Images for information handling system manufacture and maintenance are created and managed by manipulating the images as virtual machines through a secure remote network interface, such as a virtual private network or virtual desktop infrastructure. Operating system and application installation and updates, such as service packs and patches, are performed on a virtual machine of the image to adjust the image as desired, and then the image is transformed for loading on physical information handling systems, such as newly manufactured information handling systems or deployed information handling systems in need of maintenance.
US08549268B2
A computer-implemented method for managing processing resources of a computerized system having at least a first processor and a second processor, each of the processors operatively interconnected to a memory storing a set of data to be processed by a processor, the method comprising: monitoring data accessed by the first processor while executing; and if the second processor is at a shorter distance than the first processor from the monitored data, instructing to interrupt execution at the first processor and resume the execution at the second processor.
US08549264B2
A method in one aspect may include receiving an add instruction. The add instruction may indicate a first source operand, a second source operand, and a third source operand. A sum of the first, second, and third source operands may be stored as a result of the add instruction. The sum may be stored partly in a destination operand indicated by the add instruction and partly a plurality of flags. Other methods are also disclosed, as are apparatus, systems, and instructions on machine-readable medium.
US08549262B2
A circuit arrangement and method support efficient indexing into large register files by utilizing register address sequence detection, wherein register addresses to be used by an instruction are produced by concatenating a portion of the address that is contained in the instruction with another portion that is speculatively produced by sequence detection logic. The portion of the correct full address that is not contained in the instruction is stored in a software accessible special purpose register. If the end of a particular sequence of addresses is detected by the sequence detection logic, the invention speculatively assumes that the next address in the sequence will be used. Since only a portion of the full addresses are stored in the instruction, they occupy less instruction space than the full address widths. An instruction may include at least one address portion that identifies a register address.
US08549260B2
Some embodiments comprise an apparatus for processing data, the apparatus having a second configurable processor configured to process data using second configuration data, and a configuration data re-manipulator configured to retrieve manipulated second configuration data and first data of a first processor, to re-manipulate the manipulated second configuration data depending on the first data, and to feed the re-manipulated second configuration data to the second configurable processor as the second configuration data.
US08549257B2
An integrated circuit is disclosed that comprises: a core comprising logic circuitry: a plurality of interface devices for transmitting signals to and from the processing core, the plurality of interface devices comprising two types of interface devices: one type being a power interface device for delivering power to the core; and a second type being a signal interface device for transmitting data signals between the core and devices external to the integrated circuit; wherein the plurality of interface devices are arranged in two rows, an outer row towards an outer edge of the core and an inner row within the outer row closer to a centre of the core the inner row comprising one of the two types of interface devices and the outer row comprising an other of the two types of interface devices.
US08549250B2
A plurality of memory devices of mixed type (e.g., DRAMs, SRAMs, MRAMs and NAND-, NOR- and AND-type Flash memories) having associated device type information is serially interconnected. A serial input (SI) containing a device type (DT) and a device identifier (ID) is fed to one device of the serial interconnection. Upon a match between the fed DT matches the DT of the device, the fed ID is latched in a register of the device and an ID for another device is generated, which is then transferred to the next device in the serial interconnection. Otherwise, ID generation is skipped. These steps are performed in all devices. Thus, sequential IDs are generated for the different device types and also the total number of each device type is recognized. If the fed DT is “don't care”, sequential IDs are generated for all devices and the total number of the devices is recognized.
US08549244B2
A data copying device that copies data stored in a first data storage device to a second data storage device is disclosed. The data copying device includes a data reading unit that reads data that has an amount determined based on a number of a plurality of logical volumes included in the first data storage device storing the data to be copied and an amount of data to be transferred from each of the logical volumes, a storage unit that stores the data read by the data reading unit, and a data transfer unit that transfers the data stored in the storage unit to the second storage device.
US08549241B2
A virtualization platform provides fault tolerance for a primary virtual machine by continuously transmitting checkpoint information of the primary virtual machine to a collector process, such as a backup virtual machine. When implemented on a hardware platform comprising a multi-processor that supports nested page tables, the virtualization platform leverages the nested page table support to quickly identify memory pages that have been modified between checkpoints. The backup virtual machine provides feedback information to assist the virtualization platform in identifying candidate memory pages for transmitting actual modifications to the memory pages rather than the entire memory page as part of the checkpoint information. The virtualization platform further maintains a modification history data structure to identify memory pages that can be transmitted simultaneous with the execution of the primary virtual machine rather than while the primary virtual machine has been stunned.
US08549238B2
A memory management system determines a timestamp for a memory access operation that accesses a block of data, and uses the timestamp to access a timestamp-indexed record. The timestamp-indexed record includes a plurality of record arrays, each of which corresponds to a different time range, and includes one or more record entries of a different array-specific time duration. The system selects a record entry that indicates a time range associated with the timestamp, and that indicates an amount of memory accessed during the indicated time range. The system then updates the selected record entry to account for the memory size of the block of data.
US08549235B2
A method, apparatus and algorithm for quickly detecting an address match in a deeply pipelined processor design in a manner that may be implemented using a minimum of physical space in the critical area of the processor. The address comparison is split into two parts. The first part is a fast, partial address match comparator system. The second part is a slower, full address match comparator system. If a partial match between a requested address and a registry address is detected, then execution of the program or set of instructions requesting the address is temporarily suspended while a full address match check is performed. If the full address match check results in a full match between the requested address and a registry address, then the program or set of instructions is interrupted and stopped. Otherwise, the program or set of instructions continues execution.
US08549231B2
Provided is a method, which may be performed on a computer, for prefetching data over an interface. The method may include receiving a first data prefetch request for first data of a first data size stored at a first physical address corresponding to a first virtual address. The first data prefetch request may include second data specifying the first virtual address and third data specifying the first data size. The first virtual address and the first data size may define a first virtual address range. The method may also include converting the first data prefetch request into a first data retrieval request. To convert the first data prefetch request into a first data retrieval request the first virtual address specified by the second data may be translated into the first physical address. The method may further include issuing the first data retrieval request at the interface, receiving the first data at the interface and storing at least a portion of the received first data in a cache. Storing may include setting each of one or more cache tags associated with the at least a portion of the received first data to correspond to the first physical address.
US08549229B2
Systems and methods for managing a storage device are disclosed. Generally, in a host to which a storage device is operatively coupled, wherein the storage device includes a cache for storing one or more discardable files, a file is identified to be uploaded to an external location. A determination is made whether sufficient free space exists in the cache to pre-stage the file for upload to the external location and the file is stored in the cache upon determining that sufficient free space exists in the cache to pre-stage the file for upload to the external location, wherein pre-stating prepares a file for opportunistically uploading such file in accordance with an uploading policy.
