US08616066B2

A piston-type differential pressure gauge provides an electronic output for remote monitoring. A linear potentiometer, in communication with a magnetic portion of the piston of the gauge, tracks the location of the piston. Resistance change in the potentiometer can be used by an electronic circuit to provide the electronic output of the differential pressure remotely to a data acquisition system or control electronics.
US08616054B2

A high-resolution digital seismic and gravity sensor includes an inertial mass connected to one or more force-sensitive resonators. The weight of the inertial mass is substantially unloaded with a spring arrangement when exposed to the force of the static gravity field. Seismic accelerations applied to the base of the seismic and gravity sensor, or changes in the gravitational field, generate loads that are transmitted to force-sensitive resonators so that changes in resonant frequency are related to the applied load. The changes in resonant frequency are thus a measure of the seismic accelerations and gravitational field variations.
US08616051B2

The method includes extraction of gases contained in a mud, in order to obtain a gas stream of extracted gases containing hydrocarbons to be analyzed and at least one parasitic compound. The method includes transporting the gas stream through a transport line (54) and passing it through a separation column (121) in order to separate the hydrocarbons to be analyzed according to their elution times in the separation column (121). The parasitic compound is likely to have an elution time in the separation column (121) between the elution time for the first hydrocarbon to be analyzed and the elution time of the final hydrocarbon to be analyzed. The method includes passing the gas stream over a surface (141) for chemical and/or physical interaction with the parasitic compound in order to selectively retain the or each parasitic compound without retaining the hydrocarbons to be analyzed.
US08616047B2

The invention relates to a method for regulating a fuel tank venting valve of a motor vehicle during leak testing of a fuel tank venting system where the fuel tank venting valve is arranged in a recovery line that connects a retention vessel to catch fuel vapors from a fuel tank to an inlet manifold of an operating internal combustion engine, comprising sealing the tank venting system from the atmosphere outside the motor vehicle, opening the fuel tank venting valve to expose the fuel tank and the tank venting system to a relative negative pressure present in the inlet manifold of the operating internal combustion engine and regulating the degree of opening of the tank venting valve based upon the external pressure, pA.
US08616031B2

An electronic lock is interchangeable with mechanical locks in retrofit applications or as an OEM lock. The lock includes interchangeable modular components. The lock housing is interchangeable with other housings of different configurations to permit replacement of existing mechanical locks. The lock may also include interchangeable drivers for compatibility with other systems. The lock includes an electronic access system such as a programmable keypad or card reader to activate a motor which powers the electronic lock. An optional manual bypass allows an operator to override the electronic access, for example when the motor is inoperative. When the lock is activated, the operator manually cranks a lock shaft to lock and unlock a storage unit. An optional modular chassis assembly includes a removable array of components for testing, maintenance and repair.
US08616027B2

Disclosed is a drum type washing machine with a cabinet for forming an appearance; a tub fixed to an inner side of the cabinet and for storing washing water, a drum rotatably arranged in the tub for washing and dehydrating laundry, and a driving motor positioned at a rear side of the drum for generating a driving force by which the drum is rotated. The washing machine can increase washing capacity with maintaining an entire size thereof by increasing a diameter of the drum without increasing a size of the cabinet. The washing machine may include a supporting plate to rotatably support the rotational shaft, and a supporting unit to support the supporting plate, the supporting unit comprising a plurality of supporters connected between the supporting plate and the cabinet.
US08616026B2

An improved control panel assembly is easy to fabricate, and easy to recognize a selected operation condition, and a laundry device with the same. The control panel assembly for a laundry device includes a button assembly having a plurality of buttons provided in correspondence to operation conditions, a control panel having a plurality of mounting holes for exposure of the plurality of buttons therethrough from a front thereof, and a frame on a rear of the control panel, the frame joining the plurality of buttons as one unit, and preventing pressing interference between adjacent buttons.
US08616022B2

An apparatus for manufacturing a float glass includes a bottom block in which molten metal is stored and floats, a loop block which covers the bottom block and has at least one hole formed therethrough, a heater installed through the hole, and a fragment intercepting member for preventing fragments generated at the loop block from falling onto the bottom block through the hole.
US08616021B2

The invention relates to a process for liquefying a gas stream rich in methane, said process comprising: (a) providing said gas stream; (b) withdrawing a portion of said gas stream for use as a refrigerant; (c) compressing said refrigerant; (d) cooling said compressed refrigerant with an ambient temperature cooling fluid; (e) subjecting the cooled, compressed refrigerant to supplemental cooling; (f) expanding the refrigerant of (e) to further cool said refrigerant, thereby producing an expanded, supplementally cooled refrigerant; (g) passing said expanded, supplementally cooled refrigerant to a heat exchange area; and, (h) passing said gas stream of (a) through said heat exchange area to cool at least part of said gas stream by indirect heat exchange with said expanded, supplementally cooled refrigerant, thereby forming a cooled gas stream. In further embodiments for improved efficiencies, additional supplemental cooling may be provided after one or more other compression steps.
US08616016B2

At a time of a heating high-load operation, a harmonic current is flown in an armature winding to induction-heat rare-earth magnets, thus reducing a residual magnetic flux density. Thereby, the number of rotations of a radial gap type motor is improved. The rare-earth magnets are provided near a cooling medium passage extending substantially in parallel with a flow line of a cooling medium, so that the cooling medium recovers heat of the heated rare-earth magnets. At a time of a cooling high-load operation, a greater number of rotations are obtained with respect to the same torque command value, by a field weakening control by means of a current-phase advance.
US08616001B2

Various thermodynamic power-generating cycles are disclosed. A turbopump arranged in the cycles is started and ramped-up using a starter pump arranged in parallel with the main pump of the turbopump. Once the turbopump is able to self-sustain, a series of valves may be manipulated to deactivate the starter pump and direct additional working fluid to a power turbine for generating electrical power.
US08615998B2

A first turbocharger comprises a first center housing and a first return passage. A second turbocharger comprises a second center housing and a second return passage. The first return passage joins the second return passage at a junction. The length of the second return passage from the second center housing to the junction is longer than that of the first return passage from the first center housing to the junction. A bellows-shaped vibration absorption portion is provided at the second return passage. The first return passage comprises a first upstream return passage and a first downstream return passage, and the first upstream and downstream return passages are connected to each other via the flexible hose.
US08615997B2

A dynamic feedforward amount to realize a predetermined transient response characteristic by compensating a transient response characteristic of an engine having a Variable Nozzle Turbo (VNT) and an Exhaust Gas Recirculator (EGR) is calculated for a nozzle opening degree of the VNT and a valve opening degree of the EGR. The transient response characteristic of the engine responds to a setting value of an injection quantity or the like. Then, command values of the nozzle opening degree of the VNT and the valve opening degree of the EGR are calculated by using the dynamic feedforward amount. In the transient state, the followingness to the target value is improved.
US08615986B2

Process for transferring a liquid from a passive tank (1) for storing the liquid to an active tank (2) using a pump intended for pumping the liquid held in the passive tank (1) and transferring it to the active tank (2), according to which the pump is commanded so as to transfer liquid from the passive tank (1) to the active tank (2) when said active tank (2) has a liquid level below a set point level Lsp and when the passive tank (1) contains liquid at a temperature above the freezing point of the liquid.
US08615984B2

A device is provided for the distribution of flowable additives in exhaust gas systems of an internal combustion engine, in particular for the distribution of a water/urea mixture in an exhaust gas system of a diesel engine, having an injection device in particular opening into the exhaust tract before a so-called SRC catalytic converter, with a swirl generation device being provided for the improvement of the mixing of the exhaust gas with the additive in the introduction region of the additive in the exhaust tract.
US08615978B2

Sugar cane stalks are conveyed along a path passing between upper and lower chopper drums equipped with chopper blades extending lengthwise of the drums and located so that blades of one drum intermesh with those of the other so as to cut the cane stalks into billets. The cutting diameter of the blades of the upper chopper drum is greater than that of the blades carried by the lower blade resulting in the peripheral speed of the upper chopper drum being greater than that of the lower chopper drum. The cutting edge of each of the blades is defined at one side by a compound bevel with the blades being disposed on the drums so that they overlap and mesh bevel-to-bevel. The compound bevels are chosen so as to both satisfy the requirement that the blades be self-sharpening and have close to a zero timing angle.
US08615968B2

A shingle, a method of making it, and a roof embodying the shingle is provided, in which an exterior surface of the shingle is provided with an attached reinforcement layer through which fasteners may be applied when the shingle is applied to a roof.
US08615959B2

This application relates to a track assembly for supporting wall studs. The assembly includes an upper track and a lower track each having a base and opposed first and second sidewalls. A plurality of tabs are formed in the track sidewalls at spaced longitudinal intervals. Each tab defines a slot between the tab and an adjacent portion of the sidewall for slidably receiving a wall panel of a stud. The track assembly allows wall studs to be quickly and removably coupled to the tracks without the need for ladders, fasteners or special tools. In one embodiment the assembly is a slip track system permitting deflection of the upper track relative to the lower track after installation of the wall studs.
US08615957B1

A light-weight metal stud and method to produce a light-weight metal stud may include forming a pair of channel members each having a respective major face having a respective first edge. Each member includes first and second flanges extending along the respective major face. A wire matrix includes a pair of wires each having apexes alternatively physically attached to the pair of channel members. The wire matrix forms longitudinal passages to support utility lines and position the lines away from the pair of channel members. The apexes are secured to flanges of the pair of channel members to strengthen the stud and reduce weight.
US08615951B2

A slat wall assembly comprising a first slat, an attachment assembly, and a second slat. The first slat includes a body and a lower flange. The body includes an upper edge and a lower edge. The lower flange emanates from the lower edge of the body. The attachment assembly is associable with the lower flange of the first slat and facilitates attachment of the first slat to an existing wall. The second slat includes a body and an upper flange. The body includes an upper edge and a lower edge. The upper flange emanates from the upper edge of the body. The upper flange is configured to be insertable into the lower flange of the first slat and retainable therein.
US08615942B2

An improved metal or steel header frame is provided for use in a metal framed building wall or the like, wherein the header frame is adapted for quick and easy installation to span a framed opening such as a door or window opening in the building wall. The improved header frame includes a pair of metal bracket clips adapted for screw-on and/or bolt-on attachment to a pair of jamb studs disposed at opposite sides of the door or window opening. These bracket clips define support lands for vertically supporting opposite ends of an elongated header stud which can be quickly and easily seated thereon to span the door or window opening, and attached thereto by one or more suitable fasteners such as screws.
US08615939B2

A photovoltaic module mounting system using clamps to attach the modules to a mounting structure, thereby providing a universal mounting structure for use with laminate or framed modules of differing shapes and sizes, from different manufacturers.
US08615937B1

A dance floor and a method of assembly of the dance floor are disclosed. The dance floor contains a plurality of interconnecting frames, each containing intersecting elongated panels, trim panels, wiring embedded inside channels disposed on the bottom of the elongated panels that are connected to electrical connectors, electrical receptors and ribbon lights. An electrical controller produces a chase pattern where strings of adjacent light bulbs cycle on and off to give the illusion of lights moving along the string. The dance floor is manufactured of lightweight materials and is configured for easy in situ assembly, installation and disassembly.
US08615936B2

A moveable and demountable wall panel system for defining an office space with a plurality of wall panels disposable in a substantially upright manner between a floor and a ceiling each having respectively a series of uppermost and lowermost deviations. The system includes at least one prefabricated frameless panel, the top edge of each panel being provided with a ceiling track configured for being removably insertable into a corresponding ceiling rail. The system also includes a bottom floor channel associated with each corresponding panel and being configured for operatively resting against the floor opposite to the ceiling rail. The system also includes first and second height adjustment assemblies associated with each panel and insertable into a corresponding bottom floor channel.
US08615925B2

A light guiding film including: a light entrance portion which allows incident light from a light source to enter; a wavelength converting portion which absorbs the incident light and converts the wavelength of the incident light to a wavelength utilizable for growth of a plant; and a light exit portion which allows the light with the converted wavelength to exit.
US08615923B2

A crop protection system can include a housing that houses at least one roller mechanism to carry a roll of material, a vault configured to receive the housing, and a lift mechanism configured to vertically position the housing with respect to the vault. In such a system the housing may include three roller mechanisms where each roller mechanism is configured to carry a roll of material and also include a wire roller mechanism configured to carry a roll of wire. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
US08615922B2

An animal deterring device has a carrier with a first conductive trace that is separated from a second conductive trace. The carrier has a bottom with a first glue trough disposed beneath the first conductive trace. The first conductive trace is coupled to the carrier by a first fastener that extends from the first glue trough to the first conductive trace.
US08615917B2

A protective cover for a firearm lower receiver attaches directly and securely to the lower receiver, protecting it from any impact or debris, yet it may still be used with existing firearm protective cases and bags. Forward and rearward assembly pin holes allow securing of the protective cover to the lower receiver with assembly pins. An extrusion on a lower surface of the protective cover is capable of depressing a magazine door of a magazine installed in the lower receiver and may be transparent to allow a user to view contents of the magazine while keeping the contents protected from debris.
US08615916B2

A thermal barrier (1) for firearms (A) comprising a body (2), optionally substantially cylindrical, made of a ceramic material. The body (2) is shaped and configured for being placed between a respective barrel (C) of a firearm (A) and at least one structure (S) of the firearm (A). The body (2) of the thermal barrier (1) has a first portion (3) suitable for remaining facing the barrel (C) of the respective firearm (A), and a second portion (4) facing the side opposite with respect to the first portion (3), optionally suitable for bearing upon at least one portion of the structure (S) of the firearm (A).
US08615908B2

A steam generating appliance such as an electric iron comprises a base unit and a hand-held mobile unit which can be releasably coupled to the base unit. The base unit comprises a reservoir for water and a pump for pumping water from the reservoir into the mobile unit when the mobile unit is coupled to the base unit. The mobile unit comprises a boiler and an on-board reservoir for water, wherein the on-board reservoir is adapted to store water received from the base unit under pressure and to deliver the water to the boiler under the control of a user-operable valve.
US08615906B2

A drilling bucket adapted to combine with a prime mover vehicle such as an excavator. The drilling bucket includes a floor pivotally combined with the bucket. The floor has an open position wherein collected spoils are emptied from the bucket and a closed position for retaining spoils in the bucket during operation. A release assembly is adapted to securely hold the floor in its closed position until it is actuated to release it to its open position. Some embodiments of the drilling bucket comprise two separate internal cavities. The first cavity is adapted to receive the spoils as the bucket is rotated beneath the ground by the prime mover vehicle. The second cavity is adapted to house portions of the release assembly. The second cavity may serve as a vent which allows air to pass the bucket as the bucket is being raised or lowered in a hole.
US08615884B2

A method of manufacturing a rolling bearing device which can improve operational efficiency and can enhance productivity thereof is provided. The method includes the steps of: applying an adhesive agent to fitting portions formed between inner rings of two rolling bearings which are arranged coaxially in a spaced-apart manner in an axial direction and a shaft which is fitted in the inner rings and fitting portions formed between outer rings of two rolling bearings and a sleeve which is fitted on the outer rings; bringing the inner rings and the shaft into fitting engagement and the outer rings and the sleeve into fitting engagement respectively; and welding, in a state where the inner rings to which the adhesive agent is applied in the adhesive agent applying step are brought close to each other due to pushing of the inner rings in the axial direction, the pushed inner rings to the shaft by laser welding using laser power which does not generate thermal deformation of the pushed inner rings.
US08615883B2

The invention relates to a method for producing a corner of a frame-type spacer for insulating glass panels by (a) making a metal hollow profile rod available, which rod has an outer wall, two parallel flanks, and an inner wall, (b) indenting the inner wall and the two flanks in the position of the hollow profile rod where the corner is supposed to be formed, and (c) bending the hollow profile rod by a defined angle.
US08615879B2

A method of making an electronic droplet discharge head includes positioning a channel forming member and an actuator unit. The channel forming member includes a liquid chamber which communicates with a discharge port. The liquid chamber has an opening to a surface of the channel forming member. The actuator unit includes an electrode and applies discharge energy to liquid contained in the liquid chamber. The positioning method includes acquiring a position of a centroid of the liquid chamber in the surface direction based on an image of the opening; acquiring a position of a centroid of the electrode based on an image of the electrode; and positioning the channel forming member and the actuator unit based on the position of the centroids so that the liquid chamber and the electrode have a positional relationship to the surface direction.
US08615877B2

A fiber preform is obtained by conforming panels of fiber texture on a former having a surface that reproduces the shape desired for a surface of the nozzle or the nozzle divergent section that is to be made. The panels are bonded together via their mutually contacting edges. A consolidated fiber reinforcement is formed by shaping the fiber preform impregnated with a consolidation composition including a resin. The shaping of the fiber preform is performed between the former and a jacket applied against the impregnated fiber preform so as the consolidated fiber reinforcement has a fiber volume percentage of at least 35%, and a thickness of less than 5 mm over at least a major fraction of its axial dimension. The densification of the fiber reinforcement is continued by chemical vapor infiltration after pyrolyzing the resin so that once densified, a part is obtained that has practically the shape and the wall thickness of the nozzle or the nozzle divergent section that is to be made.
US08615875B2

A method of manufacturing a metal blading sector for low-pressure guide vanes of a turbomachine of which at least one blade includes an internal cavity configured to accept or communicate with a gas detection probe and at least one hole formed in the wall constituting a passage for gas from a low-pressure zone of the turbomachine toward the cavity and the probe through the fitting, into a casting mold, of a core corresponding to the cavity and the casting of a molten metal in the cavity of the casting mold. The core includes, for each hole for communication with the cavity, a protrusion penetrating the internal surface of the mold and constituting the only element holding the core in position in the casting mold.
US08615874B2

Devices and systems for transporting a material suspended in a fluid, e.g., pulverized coal, that can be assembled about a rotary element are disclosed. The devices and systems comprise a first portion or half of a fan wheel assembly, a second portion or half of a fan wheel assembly, and a plurality of splice plates for connecting the first portion of the fan wheel assembly to the second portion of the fan wheel assembly about the rotary element. Methods of manufacturing and assembling the sectionalized devices and systems are also provided.
US08615872B2

A flow measurement device and a method of manufacturing a flow measurement device having a measurement tube made from plastic or at least a plastic liner are provided. According to an exemplary embodiment, the measurement tube can be fabricated from plastic in an injection molding apparatus. Thereafter, electrical components of the measurement tube, such as electrodes and a coil holder, for example, can be concomitantly injection molded in a common, separate injection molding process. The electrical components can there be installed easier and more reliably in position.
US08615863B1

An insertion tool for inserting a fitting into a hose including a handle with a trigger parallelly disposed relative to an elongated translation rod movable in one direction including a fitting holder releasably mounted on the translation rod. A bell crank and linkage system connects the trigger to the translation rod for longitudinal movement and enhances the mechanical advantage to facilitate the insertion of the fitting into the hose. The hose holder is adjustable to accommodate different diameter hoses and the fitting holder can be changed to accommodate different shaped and sized fittings. The insertion tool can be used to insert the fitting into the hose while these units are in the ground or it can be oriented and changed to accommodate insertions at various attitudes. A knife is attached to the translation rod to allow the translation rod to be positioned to remove the hose from its fittings. A hose cutter is carried by the insertion tool and can be mounted on the translation rod to cut the length of the hose to a particular size.
US08615861B2

A crimping assembly is provided for securing a cover part to a structural member. The crimping assembly includes a housing, a drive shaft disposed within the housing and rotatable in a first direction, and a first roller fixedly secured to the drive shaft and rotatable therewith. The crimping assembly also includes a slide shaft disposed within the housing and rotatable in a second direction. A second roller is fixedly secured to the slide shaft and rotatable therewith. A drive mechanism is operably coupled to the drive and slide shafts to roll the first and second rollers over the cover part to secure the cover part to the structural member. A coupling mechanism is operably connected between the drive shaft and the slide shaft to allow movement of the slide shaft towards and away from the drive shaft during operation of the crimping assembly to accommodate variations in flange thickness.
US08615858B2

In one embodiment, an extraction apparatus used to pull a golf shaft out of a club head comprises a hosel engagement member, an annular cylinder bore and piston assembly, and a shaft clamping device. The assembly is positioned on the shaft by passing the shaft through an axial hole in the assembly and the hosel engagement member is placed next to the head's hosel. The shaft is clamped in the clamping device so that the hosel, the hosel engagement member, and the cylinder and piston assembly are held tightly against the clamping device. The cylinder is then pressurized, thereby applying a force to the piston and an extraction force to the head which is essentially symmetrical with the shaft. The hosel is then heated to weaken its adhesive bond to the shaft so the piston is able to move and push the head away from the shaft.
US08615853B2

In a magnetic holding device for attaching items such as eyeglasses, a badge, identification, jewelry, or accessories to an article of clothing, the magnet is replaced with a multipole magnet.
US08615848B2

A hinge apparatus for an electronic device includes a cam unit and a gear unit provided at a connecting position of an upper plate and a lower plate. The cam unit includes a first cam mechanism for causing a first cam shaft connected to an upper plate to generate a torque and a second cam mechanism for causing a second cam shaft connected to a lower plate to generate a torque. Further, the gear unit includes a first gear shaft connected to the upper plate and a second gear shaft connected to the lower plate, a first gear provided in the first gear shaft, a first gear provided in the second gear shaft, and a gear mechanism that synchronizes and rotates the first gear shaft and the second gear shaft.
US08615845B2

The disclosed vacuum cleaner system for an automobile fits in a cavity in the vehicle and has a tank that can be removed in a lateral direction without tools and without detaching the vacuum hose. A circuit board that carries an electronic controller is positioned alongside the motor and extends generally parallel to both the axis of the motor and the lateral direction in which the tank is removed. Cooling air is drawn though a cooling air inlet on the cabin wall to the circuit board, and then one side of the motor, through the center of the motor, to the cooling fan. From there, it is blown into a cavity where it joins exhausted working air from the vacuum and is exhausted from the vehicle through an air release opening that leads to the exterior of the vehicle.
US08615843B2

A powered operation device for a glove box in a particular application to the field of nuclear fuel manufacturing. The device including a receiving portion designed to be driven by a motor part. The receiving portion has primary attachment means designed so as to enable this receiving portion to be mounted inside the glove box on a docking cylinder provided on the latter, and the motor part has secondary attachment means designed so as to enable this motor part to be mounted on the same docking cylinder, but outside the glove box.
US08615837B2

A drain-cleaning machine comprises a cable, a motor assembly, and a speed control assembly. The cable comprises a longitudinal axis. The motor assembly is configured to rotate the cable about the longitudinal axis of the cable. The motor assembly comprises a motor and a motor control device. The motor is configured to operate at an operating speed that may vary within a range of operating speeds. The motor is configured to produce a substantially constant torque while operating at varying operating speeds across the entire range of operating speeds. The motor is configured to be powered by DC power. The motor control device is configured to receive AC power from an AC power source, convert the AC power into DC power, and communicate the DC power to the motor. The speed control assembly is configured to vary the operating speed of the motor within the range of operating speeds.
US08615832B2

A nursing bed, including at least a net-shaped fabric with a mesh opening, and a bearing frame. The net-shaped fabric includes a warp and a weft interwoven in a vertical direction. An interweaving point of the warp and the weft is fastened by a fixed connection. The diameter or inscribed circle diameter of the mesh opening is 2-6 times the diameter of the warp and the weft. The ratio of the area of an opening of the mesh opening to the area of the mesh opening is 35% to 78%. The diameter or inscribed circle diameter of the mesh opening is less than 1.5 mm. The diameter of the warp and the weft is less than 0.55 mm. The thickness of the net-shaped fabric is less than 1.1 mm. At least two edges of the net-shaped fabric are hanging between two opposite edges of the bearing frame.
US08615829B2

An economical emergency evacuation mattress for persons in areas with limited access, such as subways and high-rises, provides a warm and secure cocoon for the patient, allows easy transport over any type of surface (e.g., up and down stairs), provides proper support for all of the patient's body, allows the patient to feel a high degree of comfort in what is otherwise a very stressful situation, and provides securing means (e.g., straps) to firmly hold the patient in place during transit.
US08615824B2

A stool collector adapted for being positioned in a use position in which it is secured to a standard water closet or toilet to collect a stool sample delivered by a user, said stool collector comprising a rear piece adapted for being secured between rear halves of a toilet bowl and a tip-up toilet seat, respectively, of said toilet. The stool collector further comprises a front piece adapted for being secured between front halves of said toilet bowl and said tip-up toilet seat, respectively, said front piece comprising two lateral wings enclosing a cut-out adapted to allow for urine from said user to pass through into said toilet bowl in said use position, and an intermediate piece connecting said front and rear pieces and in said use position forming a stool collecting area adapted to receive said stool sample, said front, rear and intermediate pieces being manufactured from a flexible, foldable, biodegradable and highly water soluble paper material, said stool collector thus being suitable for being flushed in a standard water closet.
US08615815B2

A brief style elastic undergarment designed for the particular needs of a portly person having an enlarged abdomen. The undergarment is constructed of elastic spandex material and has a high cut back and a low cut front so the waistband traverses the torso passing across the small of the back thence under the abdomen. The undergarment further comprising an auxiliary elastic waistband specifically intended to hold abdominal hernias in, and an attached supporting undershirt. Thus the elastic in the briefs and the auxiliary band press small hernias back into the abdominal cavity. For use by males, there is a hole through which the penis and scrotum project to avoid being compressed and allowing a snug, pressure fit across the front. The garment may be used as sleepwear and athletic wear.
US08615812B2

High-strength porous carbon and a method of its manufacture are described for multifunctional applications, such as ballistic protection, structural components, ultracapacitor electrodes, gas storage, and radiation shielding. The carbon is produced from a polymer precursor via carbonization, and optionally by surface activation and post-treatment.
US08621649B1

A technique provides a security-sensitive environment. The technique involves establishing a first secure channel from a trusted server to a first data source DA. The technique further involves establishing a second secure channel from the trusted server to a second data source DB. The technique further involves, while the trusted server performs a set of collaborative operations in which the trusted server (i) accesses the first data source through the first secure channel (ii) accesses the second data source through the second secure channel, and (iii) generates a set of collaborative results based on information from the first and second data sources (i.e., the output of f(DA,DB)), running a set of security policy compliance operations in the trusted server to inhibit unauthorized leakage of data in the set of collaborative results.
US08621646B2

A method and system for authenticating a user receiving device to communicate with a partner service device includes a primary service provider. A user receiving device generates a request for a first encrypted token. The user receiving device communicates the request for the first encrypted token to an authentication web service of the primary service provider. The authentication web service generates the first encrypted token. The primary service provider communicates the first encrypted token to the user receiving device. The user receiving device communicates the first encrypted token to the partner service provider. The partner service provider communicates data to the user receiving device after receiving the first encrypted token.
US08621645B1

A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium that receives a request to output content with a computing apparatus in a vehicle. Privacy information associated with the content is identified. Environmental data associated with the vehicle is determined, the environmental data including at least a number of occupants present in the vehicle. At least a portion of the content is modified and/or suppressed based on the privacy information and the environmental data. The modified content and/or any portion of the content not suppressed is output by the computing apparatus in the vehicle.
US08621641B2

Systems and methods according to the present invention provide a proactive approach to controlling access to information that may be correlated with a governmentally issued personal identifier. Included are systems and methods for proactive control of information access and liability incursion. Further included are systems and methods for emulating information access to an authorized person. Generally, a method according to the present invention includes the steps of requesting verification from a subscriber at any time that information is requested from registered information holders and any time that liability may be incurred through registered information holders. In this way, the subscriber, rather than reacting to invasive information or identity theft, may proactively control access to such information, thereby preventing the theft in the first place.
US08621638B2

Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for biasing a reputation score. A communication having data that identifies a plurality of biasing characteristics related to a messaging entity associated with the communication is received. The identified plurality of biasing characteristics related to the messaging entity associated with the communication based upon a plurality of criteria are analyzed, and a reputation score associated with the messaging entity is biased based upon the analysis of the identified plurality of biasing characteristics related to the messaging entity associated with the communication.
US08621631B2

A system, apparatus, and method are directed to evolving detectors in an Artificial Immune System for use in detecting unauthorized computing activities. In one embodiment, a population of detectors is generated with a matching value and expectation value of zero. The detectors are then compared to logged fragments of system calls within a computing device to modify the matching value. When the matching value for a given detector is equal to or greater than an expectation value, the detector's expectation value may be set to the matching value. The detectors may then evolve and/or generate other detectors using mutation, and/or recombination, or the like. Detectors continue to generate and/or to evolve until a detector's matching value reaches a determined value, in which case, the detector may be evaluated to determine if an unauthorized activity is detected. If an unauthorized activity is detected, a detection response may be performed.
US08621628B2

In one embodiment, a malware protection system may protect a computing system from a malware event. A data storage device 150 may store a watchdog filter driver 240 integrated with an operating system kernel 210. A processor 120 may intercept a process access to an application process 220 with the watchdog filter driver 240 to detect a malware event. The processor 120 may use the watchdog filter driver 240 to determine an originating process for the malware event.
US08621621B1

A computing device may receive content from a content source. The content may include software code that is executable by a web browser, and may be directed to another computing device. The computing device may inject security content into the content. The security content may include software instructions to enable the web browser to detect malicious software content within the content. The computing device may communicate the content to the other computing device.
US08621616B2

Identifying suspected phishing websites includes: obtaining an address of a website to be identified; determining, according to the address of the website to be identified, that the website to be identified is neither a legal website to be protected nor a phishing website; applying a suspected phishing website rule by matching a regular expression with the address of the website to be identified; and in the event that the matching is successful, determining that the website to be identified is a suspected phishing website.
US08621608B2

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for dynamically adjusting a level of security applied to a system. In use, predetermined activity that is at least potentially associated with unwanted activity is identified on a system. Further, a level of security applied to the system is dynamically adjusted, in response to the identification of the predetermined activity.
US08621601B2

A set of code for a peripheral device is installed on a host device. The set of code is used to control access to the peripheral device from the host device. The set of code also contains one or more subsets of code that can be used by software entities on the host device for access to the peripheral device. A software entity on a host device must be successfully authenticated with the set of code installed on the host device. Once the software entity is successfully authenticated, the set of code will provide access to the one or more subsets of code specific to the software entity. The one or more subsets of code can be used by the software entity to access the peripheral device.
US08621600B2

A non-modal notification user interface element is displayed persistently but unobtrusively such that a user may easily determine that authentication credentials are required by a background synchronization process. The non-modal notification is configured such that it may be ignored by the user such that their workflow is not interrupted. The background synchronization continues to synchronize the data it can even though the background synchronization may require authentication credentials for a subset of the data to be synchronized. The user may select the non-modal notification user interface element at any point in time in order to supply the required authentication credentials. The non-modal notification is removed from the display when there are no further authentication credentials required.
US08621598B2

An embodiment of the present invention provides a system that enables a user to securely invoke a REST (Representational State Transfer) API (Application Programming Interface) at an application server. A client can establish a secure communication channel with an application server, and can send a request to the application server to invoke the REST API. The client can then receive a security token from an authentication system in response to authenticating the user with the authentication system. Next, the client can receive a nonce and a timestamp from the application server. The client can then determine a security token digest using the security token, the nonce, and the timestamp. Next, the client can resend the request to the application server to invoke the REST API with the security token digest. The application server can invoke the REST API if the security token digest is valid.
US08621597B1

Programmable logic devices (PLDs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), (collectively referred to as “PLDs”) can include circuitry for performing automatic erasing or “zeroization” of security information including data and programming. Such circuitry detects the occurrence of a possible security event, selects and/or forms one or more appropriate erase commands, and causes the command(s) to be executed against PLD memory. The circuitry prevents security information from being compromised under certain situations.
US08621595B2

A method of network gateway authenticating involves a network gateway receiving an authentication request from a communications terminal. The communications terminal is in communication with an identity token. The authentication request includes a token cryptogram generated from a cryptographic key stored on the identity token. The network gateway transmits the authentication request to a communications network, and receives an authentication response from the communications network in accordance with a validity of the token cryptogram. The authentication response includes a gateway authentication certificate. The gateway authentication certificate is configured to authenticate the network gateway to a network device of the communications network.
US08621589B2

The present application provides a method and system for Cross Domain Single Sign On. The method comprises: receiving a request from a user to a service provider; processing the user request prior to relaying the request to the service provider; forwarding the processed request to the corresponding service provider according to the type of request; in response to receiving a response to the request from the service provider, processing the response, and forwarding the processed response to the user. By adopting the method and system of the present application, a Single Sign On management proxy is introduced as a united management system for a session lifetime of the user. The SSO management proxy manages operations of logging in, checking a session expiration and recovering, logging out, URL mapping, error processing, and access control, and effectively improves the availability, security, functional continuity of the service as well as the user's experience.
US08621588B2

With a terminal apparatus that includes an authentication method deciding unit that selects one of two or more authentication methods according to acquired position information, an authentication screen output unit that outputs a screen corresponding to the one authentication method, an accepting unit that accepts authentication information that is input on that screen, an authentication information sending unit that sends an authentication method identifier that identifies an authentication method and the authentication information to a server, an output information receiving unit that receives, from the server, one or more pieces of output information corresponding to the authentication method identification information in the case of success of authentication, and an output information output unit that outputs output information, information necessary for medical practice can be acquired while appropriately securing the privacy of a patient.
US08621571B2

An online service providing system, a method, a server, and a mobile device thereof, and a computer program product are provided. The method includes sending a verification link corresponding to a user account that is not verified; after receiving a verification request corresponding to the verification link, determining whether a device identification sent by the mobile device that has logged in the user account is received; when receiving the device identification, confirming whether the user account is verified according to the device identification; after confirming that the user account is verified, when receiving a service request sent by a terminal device logging the user account into a service website, determining a homepage of the service website according to the device identification, and providing the online service corresponding to the mobile device to the terminal device through the service website.
US08621564B2

A method for authenticating an access attempt includes detecting an access attempt by a user device over a network. A challenge-response authentication is provided over the network to the user device. The challenge-response authentication includes an image having a plurality of image objects. The challenge-response authentication is operable to display the image such that at least one of the plurality of image objects is in focus and at least one of the plurality of image objects is not in focus. In response to providing the challenge-response authentication, an authentication response is received from the user device over the network, and it is determined whether the authentication response includes an indication of the at least one of the plurality of image objects that is in focus to determine whether to authenticate or deny the access attempt.
US08621562B2

Disclosed are systems and methods of authenticating a user on a network, including, based on identity information received from the user, accessing at least one data source to retrieve data associated with the user, comparing the retrieved data against a listing of possible questions associated with the retrieved data to determine associations between the retrieved data and the listing of possible questions, based on a ranking of the listing of possible questions, formulating at least one question set using questions within the listing of possible questions for which retrieved data is available, where each of the at least one question set includes at least two different questions, causing at least some of the questions from the at least one question set to be presented to the user, and, based on responses to the questions from the user, determining whether the user is authenticated.
US08621557B2

An information processing system includes a first information processing device and a second information processing device. The first information processing device stores a first object group and an additional access control policies. The second information processing device stores access control policies applied to each of second objects. The additional access control policies indicate a changed object group for the each first object. The changed object group is a group of second objects whose access control policy is same as that of the first object. When the second information device obtains an operation request for the first object, the second information device accesses the additional access control policy and determines the changed object group. The second information system judges whether or not the operation request is feasible for the changed object group based on the access control policy, and determines whether or not the target first object is processed.
US08621556B1

Dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions is provided. In some embodiments, dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions includes receiving a network policy that includes a domain name (e.g., the network policy can include a network security rule that is based on the domain name); and periodically updating Internet Protocol (IP) address information associated with the domain name by performing a Domain Name Server (DNS) query. In some embodiments, dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions includes dynamically performing a first local Domain Name Server (DNS) lookup for a first VSYS using a first DNS server on a first domain name for implementing a network policy based on the first domain name; dynamically performing a second local DNS lookup for a second VSYS using a second DNS server on the first domain name for implementing the network policy based on the first domain name; in which the network policy includes a network security rule that is based on the first domain name, and the network policy includes a network security rule that is based on the second domain name.
US08621536B1

The illustrative embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for conducting transactions with a customer using text messages. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first text message from a mobile communication device associated with a customer. The first text message includes a request from the customer to receive one or more text messages from a vendor. The method also includes adding the customer to a set of consenting customers in a customer database in response to receiving the first text message. The set of consenting customer including customers that consent to receiving text messages from the vendor. The method also includes sending a second text message to the mobile communication device. The second text message is associated with a service offered by the vendor.
US08621532B2

Video-coded information is transmitted over a network at a priority level that is determined based on feedback from the network. In an embodiment, the feedback comprises a response to a request for information on whether the network currently has the available capacity to transmit additional high priority traffic. In an embodiment, a candidate base layer frame is transmitted over a network as a base layer frame if permission to send high priority data was granted and is transmitted over the network as an enhancement layer frame if permission to send high priority data was denied. In a further embodiment, the candidate base layer frame is deleted if permission to send high priority data was denied.
US08621525B2

Multiple systems for delivering satellite video signals are disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention comprises a module comprising a multiswitch, the multiswitch selectively directing the satellite video signals to a plurality of outputs of the multiswitch, an interface for delivering the satellite video signals to at least one receiver, and a power inserter, coupled between the interface and the at least one receiver, for controlling the flow of signals between the multiswitch and the at least one receiver, wherein the power inserter continuously flows the satellite video signals to the at least one receiver while selectively flowing commands between the module and the at least one receiver.
US08621524B2

A method of delivering event notifications includes receiving data from a network-based calendar system at a notification system. The data indicates that a notification related to a calendar-based event is to be sent to a subscriber. The method also includes receiving presence information related to the subscriber from a presence system. The presence information indicates whether the subscriber is present at one or more of a plurality of subscriber devices. The plurality of subscriber devices includes a set-top box device. Further, the method includes sending an event notification related to the calendar-based event to the set-top box device when the presence information indicates that the subscriber is present at the set-top box device.
US08621514B2

Video thumbnail electronic program guide (EPG) systems and methods are operable to include a video thumbnail. An exemplary embodiment receives a media content stream at a media device; picks a plurality of still image video frames from the received media content stream, wherein each still image video frame has information that is sufficient to construct the still image video frame; generate a plurality of still image video frame thumbnails, wherein each of the still image video frame thumbnails correspond to one of the still image video frames; generate a video thumbnail from the plurality of still image video frame thumbnails; and incorporate the video thumbnail with at least one program descriptor and a channel identifier associated with the media content stream into the video thumbnail EPG.
US08621504B2

A system and a method are described herein for enabling a user with a location-aware mobile device to have at least partial control of a closest set top box associated with a closest television. The closest set top box does not need to be associated with the user's home television but instead can be any set top box that is associated with a television located for instance at a stranger's house, an airport, a bar, or wherever.
US08621499B2

A method includes identifying at least one program viewing sequence. The at least one program viewing sequence includes a plurality of programs. The method may include identifying a subsequence in the at least one program viewing sequence. The subsequence includes a subset of the plurality of programs in the at least one program viewing sequence and the subset of the plurality of programs is arranged in an identified order. The method may further include determining a user profile based on the subsequence. The method may include receiving a current viewing indicator. In addition, the method may include determining whether the current viewing indicator indicates the subsequence. The method may also include providing a content recommendation based on the user profile for the subsequence in response to a determination that the current viewing indicator indicates the subsequence.
US08621498B2

An apparatus including a remote command receiver, a decode logic, and a database is described herein. The remote command receiver may detect a remote control command that selects a program. The decode logic may receive a video signal from an access device that is the target of the detected remote control command and separate from the apparatus. The decode logic may capture a video frame that is rendered by the apparatus based on the video signal from the access device, and may decode the captured video frame to generate metadata regarding the selected program. The apparatus may generate a user interface using the metadata stored in the database that is different from the user interface generated by the access device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08621496B2

A method of application program-operating system decoupling includes performing, through an application program configured to execute on a client machine, a system call to a first operating system executing on a server machine over an interconnect configured to couple the server machine to the client machine. The method also includes serving the application program configured to execute on the client machine through the first operating system executing on the server machine in accordance with the system call.
US08621485B2

A data connection of a shared resource is placed in isolation mode to remove its ability to communicate with other data connections of the shared resource. This ability to isolate the data connection is dynamic in that it can be turned on/off at any time. This provides increased data security for the entities using the data connection.
US08621475B2

Task scheduling in cooperative multi-tasking environments is accomplished by a task scheduler that evaluates the relative priority of an executing task and tasks in a queue waiting to be executed. The task scheduler may issue a suspend request to lower priority tasks so that high priority tasks can be executed. Tasks are written or compiled with checks located at opportune locations for suspending and resuming the given task. The tasks under a suspend request continue operation until they reach a check, at which point the task will suspend operation depending on specific criteria. By allowing both the task and the task scheduler to assist in determining the precise timing of the suspension, the multi-tasking environment becomes highly efficient and responsive.
US08621470B2

A method of co-locating threads and corresponding system are described. The method comprises a first thread executing on a first processor awakening a second thread for execution on a second processor and assigning the second thread to execute on the first processor based on a determination that the first thread awakened the second thread at a prior awakening of the second thread.
US08621461B1

A virtual storage device of a virtual machine is stored onto a host based RAM drive to achieve performance gains. The virtual machine can be a virtual storage server or a simulated storage server. The disclosed technique can include using the host based RAM drive to store a data image file that represents a virtual disk based emulation of an NVRAM of a storage server. A network server is used to provide persistence across host reboots and to allow virtual machines to be moved between hosts.
US08621458B2

The present invention is directed to making a guest operating system aware of the topology of the subset of host resources currently assigned to it. At virtual machine boot time a Static Resource Affinity Table (SRAT) will be used by the virtualizer to group guest physical memory and guest virtual processors into virtual nodes. Thereafter, in one embodiment, the host physical memory behind a virtual node can be changed by the virtualizer as necessary, and the virtualizer will provide physical processors appropriate for the virtual processors in that node.
US08621455B1

Customization of a plurality of servers in a computer network. A server customizer module is generated that includes a server customizer initialization file containing a plurality of arguments for populating and running a plurality of standardized applications, scripts and utilities on each server. The server customizer module is installed on each of the plurality of servers for subsequent execution as part of the server build/customization process. A server unattended install launch module, cooperative with the server customizer module is generated that includes an unattended install launch initialization file for launching a plurality of standardized processes on each server. The server unattended install launch module is installed on each of the plurality of servers for subsequent execution as part of the server build/customization process. The server customizer module and server unattended install launch module are executed on each of the plurality of servers to complete customization of each server.
US08621452B2

Techniques for device driver management/installation are provided. In at least some embodiments, a device driver management system can be employed by a user to selectively rollback a currently installed device driver to one or a plurality of previously installed device driver(s). Additionally, the system can be employed by the user to revert to a pristine state of not having the device driver installed at all, for example, the NULL driver (e.g., in the situation in which the first driver installed on the device causes machine instability). The system stores information associated with driver(s) running on a specific device and allows a user to selectively revert to any one of a plurality of previously installed device driver(s), for example, if they experience a problem with a newer driver. Rollback point(s) can be stored, for example, in the system registry.
US08621451B1

A computing device configured for improving the responsiveness of a computing device in connection with software distribution is described. The computing device includes a processor and executable instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor. The computing device receives a return code and package information from a remote computing device. The computing device also looks up a code mapping in a cache, wherein the code mapping is based on the return code. The computing device further stores the package information in a database. The computing device furthermore displays the code mapping and the package information.
US08621448B2

Systems and methods for the vectorization of software applications are described. In some embodiments, source code dependencies can be expressed in ways that can extend a compiler's ability to vectorize otherwise scalar functions. For example, when compiling a called function, a compiler may identify dependencies of the called function on variables other than parameters passed to the called function. The compiler may record these dependencies, e.g., in a dependency file. Later, when compiling a calling function that calls the called function, the same (or another) compiler may reference the previously-identified dependencies and use them to determine whether and how to vectorize the calling function. In particular, these techniques may facilitate the vectorization of non-leaf loops. Because non-leaf loops are relatively common, the techniques described herein can increase the amount of vectorization that can be applied to many applications.
US08621446B2

Compiling software for a hierarchical distributed processing system including providing to one or more compiling nodes software to be compiled, wherein at least a portion of the software to be compiled is to be executed by one or more other nodes; compiling, by the compiling node, the software; maintaining, by the compiling node, any compiled software to be executed on the compiling node; selecting, by the compiling node, one or more nodes in a next tier of the hierarchy of the distributed processing system in dependence upon whether any compiled software is for the selected node or the selected node's descendants; sending to the selected node only the compiled software to be executed by the selected node or selected node's descendant.
US08621432B2

A computer implemented application development (authoring) system permits objects (such as VBX custom controls) to be graphically inserted into the program under development by dragging and dropping associated icons into one of four views. The properties associated with the object may then be assigned settings. Development of a complete application is accomplished by visually arranging, ordering, and interconnecting the objects without the necessity of writing any code. The four views of Output, Map, Multitrack, and Workform may be synchronized so that changes made to the program in one view are simultaneously reflected in all other views. The system generates as output a script listing the objects and their properties which is then executed by a separate run time program. The system permits use of objects written to a standard specification and the addition at any time of additional objects written to that. Integration of the objects into the system is achieved by wrapping each object in an “envelope” of system specific properties.
US08621431B2

A method for identifying GUI widgets of software are provided, comprising: during runtime of the software, determining a GUI window object and an ID thereof; determining all GUI widgets or all GUI widgets belonging to a same type in the GUI window object; partitioning the display area of the GUI window object into a plurality of areas such that each of the GUI widgets is uniquely contained in one area; specifying a unique ID for each area containing a GUI widget; and, identifying a GUI widget using the ID of the GUI window object and the ID of the area where the GUI widget resides, or the ID of the GUI window object, the ID of the type to which the GUI widget belongs and the ID of the area where the GUI widget resides, as the ID property of the GUI widget.
US08621412B1

Techniques are disclosed for partitioning a placement of a circuit design into a plurality of regions. A constraint is generated based on the partitioning of the placement and on the sequential elements that are located within each region. The constraint is provided to one or more design tools, and the constraint forces sequential elements to fall within the same region on the next placement. Some regions can be classified as guides, and these regions act as a recommendation for a design tool instead of as an explicit rule. Other regions can be classified as inclusive, and sequential elements can be allowed to enter the region but any sequential elements already in the region must stay in the region. Further regions can be classified as exclusive, and no sequential elements may enter or leave these regions on the next placement of the circuit design.
US08621406B2

A method for generating a layout for a device having FinFETs from a first layout for a device having planar transistors is disclosed. The planar layout is analyzed and corresponding FinFET structures are generated.
US08621403B2

An automated method for designing an integrated circuit layout using a computer based upon an electronic circuit description and based upon cells which are selected from a cell library, each of the cells having an associated area, comprising the steps of: (a) placing each of the cells in the integrated circuit layout so that the cells can be coupled together by wires to form a circuit path having an associated predetermined delay constraint wherein the cells are coupled together based upon the electronic circuit description input to the computer; (b) connecting the cells together with the wires to form the circuit path; and (c) adjusting an area of at least one of the cells to satisfy the associated predetermined delay constraint of the circuit path.
US08621400B2

In order to enable an evaluation of systematic defects, a method of evaluating systematic defects was configured so as to sample a circuit pattern of a specific layer of a semiconductor device, evaluate the state of superimposition between the sampled circuit pattern and circuit patterns of layers other than the specific layer, using design data, classify the state of superimposition, calculate the ratio thereof as a reference ratio, evaluate the state of superimposition between a pattern in design data corresponding to a defect of the specific layer detected by another inspection apparatus and patterns at positions corresponding to the defects in layers other than the specific layer, classify the evaluated state of superimposition, calculate the ratio of the classification as inspection-result ratio, compare the calculated reference ratio and the calculated inspection-result ratio, and evaluate systematic defects by the comparison between the calculated reference ratio and the calculated inspection-result ratio.
US08621377B2

A configuration tool for a programmable HVAC controller is provided. The configuration tool may accept user input, and may generate a corresponding configuration profile based on the user input. The configuration profile may be downloaded to a programmable HVAC controller, which may, among other things, reconfigure the I/O terminals of the programmable HVAC controller. The configuration tool may generate a terminal diagram that labels at least some of the I/O terminals of the programmable HVAC controller based on the particular configuration profile. In some cases, the configuration tool may output the terminal diagram in a format that can be printed on a label, with the label being suitable for adhering to the programmable HVAC controller.
US08621369B2

A media client presents a menu interface for a media client intercom and receives, via the menu interface, a signal from a user to initiate an intercom message. The media client receives a message input from the user, where the message input is provided through the human interface device, and converts the message input into a digital format to create a digitized message. The digitized message is sent, exclusively via a home media network, to another media client within the home media network.
US08621368B2

Systems and methods of virtual world interaction, operation, implementation, instantiation, creation, and other functions related to virtual worlds (note that where the term “virtual world” is used herein, it is to be understood as referring to virtual world systems, virtual environments reflecting real, simulated, fantasy, or other structures, and includes information systems that utilize interaction within a 3D environment). Various embodiments facilitate interoperation between and within virtual worlds, and may provide consistent structures for operating virtual worlds. The disclosed embodiments may further enable individuals to build new virtual worlds within a framework, and allow third party users to better interact with those worlds.
US08621364B2

This invention provides an information processing apparatus capable of more reliably preventing inconvenience to the user, that may occur upon a transition of the Web page using the display history of a Web browser. The information processing apparatus can communicate with a Web server via a network and displays, in a Web browser, a screen provided by the Web server. A holding unit holds the display history of a Web page that is previously displayed in the Web browser. A determination unit refers to the display history held in the holding unit to determine whether a Web application different from that activated at the latest time via the Web browser is activated. A deletion control unit deletes the display history held in the holding unit if the determination unit determines that the different Web application is activated.
US08621361B2

A network-management device includes a map storing unit and a map state storing unit. The map storing unit stores therein a map created based on information on network devices. The map state storing unit stores therein a creation state indicating that creation of the map is in process or completed in association with the map. When creation of the map is in process, disclosure of the map is prohibited, and all the network devices are notified that creation of the map is in process. When creation of the map is completed, it is checked whether all the network devices are laid out on the map. When all the network devices are laid out on the map, disclosure of the map is permitted.
US08621354B2

A computer (2) is used to prepare a script (4) of prompts for a media capture device (6) such as a cell phone or a self interview kit. Discrete prompts of the script arc displayed. A camera (14) then captures video clips or other assets with each video clip corresponding to one or more displayed prompt. A clip storage module (18) stores each recorded video clip in a storage unit (20) so as to be related to its corresponding discrete prompts. The clip to prompt relationship provided by the storage module (18) facilitates the editing of the clips into a sequence to produce a complete video presentation or movie. The final video sequence compilation can be performed automatically using the script to define the order of each clip. The automatically edited video sequence may be ordered non-sequentially with respect to the order of the presentation of the discrete prompts. This reflects the non-sequential filming of scenes in film making to avoid going back and forth between locations, where the final edit assembles the clips in a different order to that in which the filming takes place.
US08621349B2

A system for processing a visual capture operation as described. The system receives an indication of a visual capture operation performed from a rendered document. The indication specifies both a text sequence capture As part of the capture operation and a supplemental marking captured as part of the capture operation. The system determines an action to perform in response to receiving the indication, based both upon the text sequence specified in the indication and the supplemental markings specified by the indication.
US08621346B2

A medical image diagnostic apparatus includes: a screen saver shape storing unit that stores shapes of a screen saver for respective execution states of an application; a screen saver activation event detecting unit that detects an event serving as an activation condition for the screen saver; an application execution state detecting unit that detects an execution state of the application; a screen saver screen creating unit that reads a shape of the screen saver corresponding to the execution state of the application from the screen saver shape storing unit and creates screen saver image information; and a screen saver managing unit that receives notification indicating that the event serving as the activation condition for the screen saver is detected and requests detection of the execution state of the application and, on the other hand, give the application execution state information to the screen saver screen creating unit to request creation of the screen saver image information.
US08621341B2

A cascading stylesheet (CSS) file transformed with user-selected design variables is provided. One or more CSS files may be received as a first input item, and user defined colors, fonts, layout, and images may be received as a second input item. Embodiments provide for determining if the colors and fonts selected by the user are usable and legible. User-selected color and font schemes may be modified if necessary, and a modified CSS file may be outputted to a rendering engine for rendering an aesthetically pleasing, usable, and legible web page.
US08621337B1

A device identifies, based on a program code instruction, an attempted write access operation to a fenced memory slab, where the fenced memory slab includes an alternating sequence of data buffers and guard buffers. The device assigns read-only protection to the fenced slab and invokes, based on the attempted write access operation, a page fault operation. When a faulting address of the attempted write operation is not an address for one of the multiple data buffers, the device performs a panic routine. When the faulting address of the attempted write operation is an address for one of the multiple data buffers, the device removes the read-only protection for the fenced slab and performs a single step processing routine for the program code instruction.
US08621336B2

A data processing apparatus is provided comprising processing circuitry for performing data processing operations, a set associative storage device for storing data values for access by the processing circuitry when performing data processing operations, error detection circuitry for performing, for each access to the storage device, an error detection operation on the data value accessed, and maintenance circuitry associated with the storage device for performing one or more maintenance operations. The processing circuitry is arranged to issue an error detection maintenance request to the maintenance circuitry specifying at least one specific physical location within the storage device, and the maintenance circuitry is responsive to the error detection maintenance request to perform at least one dummy access to the at least one specific physical location within the storage device and to provide the processing circuitry with error status information derived from the error detection operation performed by the error detection circuitry in respect of said at least one dummy access.
US08621335B2

A Viterbi decoder which is based on a special instruction set implemented in the processor, enabling it to handle the Viterbi processing with a much lower CPU loading without significantly increasing the hardware complexity. By careful application of appropriate design constraints specific to the SV navigation and analysis of the Viterbi algorithm an optimised architecture can be realized for embedding Viterbi acceleration logic efficiently into a GNSS chipset.
US08621333B2

An encoding device includes an encoder and a puncturing unit. The encoder generates parity bits based on information bits. The puncturing unit punctures the parity bits based on a puncturing pattern complying with a first criterion determining a period of the puncturing pattern and a second criterion determining positions of remaining parity bits.
US08621332B1

A cyclic code encoding device or encoder that contains word registers rather than single bit registers, and can process input bits and parity bits as input words and parity words. The cyclic code encoder can add input words to output register words, generating a feedback word, which can be supplied through a feedback loop that selectively transmits feedback words through weight arrays and intra-register adders, to the input of word registers. A controller can operate the cyclic code encoder in either an input mode or an output mode during which feedback words can be sequentially transmitted on the feedback loop and the states of the word registers can be updated and the final states of the word registers can be sequentially shifted out of the output word register as parity words.
US08621317B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for modified orthogonal coding techniques. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a block of data. A column of error-correcting row code chunks is generated using a matrix of row weights that includes weights [a b c d], wherein a and b are in a same first row and c and d are in a same second row, and wherein a and c are in a same first column and b and d are in a same second column. A row of error-correcting column code chunks is generated using a matrix of column weights that includes weights [e f g h] at positions corresponding to respective positions of [a b c d] in the matrix of row weights, wherein a ⁢ ⁢ d b ⁢ ⁢ c ≠ e ⁢ ⁢ h f ⁢ ⁢ g .
US08621304B2

An integrated circuit comprises random logic communicatively coupled to a non-scannable memory array. The integrated circuit also comprises a built-in self-test (BIST) controller adapted to apply test data to the random logic and propagate the test data through the random logic to test the memory array.
US08621297B2

The peripheral circuitry (350, 360, ESD, BH) of an integrated circuit die on a wafer is tested without physically contacting the bond pads of the die.
US08621291B2

To provide a write amplifier that is connected to bit lines, a read amplifier that is connected to the bit lines via a first switch, and a relief memory element that includes a write port that is connected to the bit lines via a second switch, and a read port that is connected to the read amplifier via a third switch. When there is a request to access a defective memory cell, during a write operation, the second switch is turned on and write data is supplied from the write amplifier to the relief memory element via the bit lines, and during a read operation, the first switch is turned off and the third switch is turned on, and then read data read from the relief memory element is supplied to the read amplifier without being routed via the bit lines.
US08621286B2

To save the records of an instant fault generation history and an instant fault recovery history without omission, and to pursue the cause of the fault that causes data error and the like as well as to perform recovery works and the like accurately. Each of fault generation notifications transmitted from main signal packages are stored to an instant fault generation history table provided to a storage module of a monitoring control package along a time series cyclically without exception, and each of fault recovery notifications transmitted in accordance with a detection of recovery of the fault corresponding to each of the stored fault generation notifications is stored to the instant fault generation history storage table by corresponding to each of the fault generation notifications already stored to the instant fault generation history storage table.
US08621284B2

An operations management apparatus which acquires performance information for each of a plurality of performance items from a plurality of controlled units and manages operation of the controlled units includesa correlation model generation unit which derives a correlation function between a first element and a second element of the performance information, generates a correlation model between the first element and the second element based on the correlation function, and obtains the correlation model for each element pair of the performance information, anda model searching unit which searches for the correlation model for each element between an input element and an output element among elements of the performance information in series, and predicts a value of the output element from a value of the input element based on the searched correlation model.
US08621281B2

A processing apparatus includes: first and second register files, the latter holding a part of data in the former; an operation unit to operate on data in the second register file and to output data; an instruction unit to issue a write instruction to write, to both register files, the output data and an error detection code for it, and first and second occurrence instructions; a first control unit to issue a first generation instruction when receiving the write instruction and the first occurrence instructions; and a first generation unit to generate a first simulated fault data to output it to the first register file when receiving the first generation instruction, and to output the output data and the error detection code to the first register file in absence of the first generation instruction. Similar second control and generation units are also provided mutatis mutandis.
US08621279B1

A system for processing of errors, including an emulator configured for replicating a state of a computer system so as to trigger an application execution error, and obtaining a cause of the error; an expert system configured for generating a scenario for processing of the error based on the cause; and updating a database that contains an identifier of the error, the cause, the state of the computer and the scenario, including updating an error tree that maintains cumulative information about the errors; and an error processor configured for identifying an occurrence of the error, loading the scenario from the database, and running the scenario.
US08621277B2

Methods, systems and products are provided for dynamic administration of component event reporting in a distributed processing system including receiving, by an events analyzer from an events queue, a plurality of events from one or more components of the distributed processing system; determining, by the events analyzer in dependence upon the received events and one or more event analysis rules, to change the event reporting rules of one or more components; and instructing, by the events analyzer, the one or more components to change the event reporting rules.
US08621270B2

A redundant array of independent nodes are networked together. Each node executes an instance of an application that provides object-based storage. The nodes are grouped into a plurality of systems each having multiple nodes. An object recovery method comprises: receiving, by a first system of the plurality of systems from a client application, a read request for an object, the object having been replicated to/from at least one second system among the plurality of systems; if the object of the read request is available in the first system, returning by the first system the object of the read request to the client application; and if the object of the read request is not available in the first system, performing a read from replica process by the first system to access a replica of the object from a second system among the plurality of systems and using the replica of the object to return the object of the read request to the client application.
US08621268B2

A method begins with a processing module sending a plurality of dispersed storage write commands to plurality of dispersed storage (DS) units for storing a plurality of encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module receiving, within a time period, acknowledgements from at least some of the plurality of DS units to produce received acknowledgements. The method continues with the processing module determining whether a number of received acknowledgements compares favorably to a write threshold. The method continues with the processing module changing at least one of the write threshold and at least one of the plurality of DS units when the number of received acknowledgements does not compare favorably to the write threshold.
US08621265B2

A computing core includes a processing module, main memory, and a memory controller. The memory controller receives a request to store a data result from a processing module and determines whether to store the data result in an error encoded format. When the memory controller determines to store the data result in the error encoded format, it facilitates encoding the data result in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function to produce one or more sets of encoded data slices. The memory controller then determines where to store the one or more sets of encoded data slices and provides the one or more sets of encoded data slices to one or more identified memories for storage.
US08621260B1

Various systems and methods for implementing site-level sub-cluster dependencies are disclosed. One such method involves initiating failover of a first service group from a first cluster site to a second cluster site. The first service group includes one or more resources of an application. The method then identifies at least one dependent service group at the first cluster site. The dependent service group is either a parent or a child of the first service group. The method then involves initiating failover of the dependent service group from the first cluster site to the second cluster site.
US08621259B2

A method to detect potential problems within a heterogeneous and diverse application environment. Operations data is received from a plurality of application servers within the application environment. The operations data pertains to operations performed at the plurality of application servers over a predetermined time interval. The operations data is aggregated. The aggregated data is compared to reference data, and a potential problem within the application environment is detected if the aggregated data deviates from the reference data in a predetermined manner.
US08621256B2

There is provided a signal processing device which is capable of suppressing the influence of a digital data process on an analog signal process without completely stopping a digital data processing circuit. A signal processing device includes an analog signal processing circuit, a digital data processing circuit, a determination section configured to determine an influence of the digital data processing circuit on the analog signal processing circuit, and a control section configured to stop a partial circuit of the digital data processing circuit or lower processing capability thereof in response to a determination result of the determination section.
US08621254B2

Method for an electronic device (IT) that is controllable in at least one operating state (OP) and one standby state (SBY), with which a main processing unit (MPU) controls the operating state (OP) and a preprocessing unit (PPU) controls the standby state (SBY), such that, by means of the preprocessing unit (PPU), the main processing unit (MPU) and, to some extent, the functional units of the electronic device (IT) that are implemented by circuitry are switched by the control into at least one state having reduced energy consumption. An advantage can be seen in the fact that, by using a preprocessing unit (PPU), in the operating state of “standby” (SBY) the total energy consumption of the electronic device (IT) is reduced, both due to the significantly reduced energy consumption of a preprocessor (PPE) in the preprocessing unit (PPU) and to the units (MPU) that have been switched by the control into a state having reduced energy consumption, and the electronic device can therefore be operated more economically. An additional advantage is that the reduction of the energy consumption is achieved exclusively by circuitry measures and that no implementations must be included in the programs of the electronic device (IT).
US08621242B2

A handheld device 300 generates a verification image to indicate that the device is operating in a secure domain. The verification image is generated in dependence upon secure data stored within a secure region 324 of a memory 310 and user input data captured from a user input device 314, 316, 320. The secure data may be data defining a three-dimensional object. The user image data may be captured from accelerometers 314 defining a viewpoint of the secret three-dimensional object.
US08621233B1

Descriptions of files detected at endpoints are submitted to a security server. The descriptions describe the names of the files and unique identifiers of the files. The security server uses the unique identifiers to identify files having different names at different endpoints. For a given file having multiple names, the names are processed to account for name differences unlikely to have been caused by malware. The processed names for the file are analyzed to determine the amount of dissimilarity among the names. This analysis is used to generate a score indicating a confidence that the computer file contains malicious software, where a greater amount of dissimilarity among the names generally indicates a greater confidence that the computer file contains malicious software. The score is weighted based on file name frequency, the age of the file, and the prevalence of the file. The weighted score is used to determine whether the computer file contains malicious software.
US08621226B1

A computer-implemented method for signing computer applications is disclosed. The method includes generating a compiled version of a first software application, signing the first software application with a digital certificate locally to a developer of the first software application without assistance from a central certification authority, and submitting the signed first software application to an on-line application store.
US08621225B2

The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for enhancing security of communications. The apparatus comprises a security processing unit, a data processing unit, a cross-layer watermarking unit, and optionally a smart antenna processor. The security processing unit generates a token/key to be used in watermarking and sends a node security policy to other components. The data processing unit generates user data. The cross-layer watermarking unit includes at least one of Layer-2/3, Layer-1 and Layer-0. Each layer performs a different scheme or degree of watermarking. The cross-layer watermarking unit embeds the token/key into the user data transmission on at least one of the layers selectively in accordance with a security policy.
US08621217B2

A trusted branded email method and apparatus in one aspect detects branded electronic messages and performs validation before it is sent to a recipient. In another aspect, an electronic messages is branded by embedding branding assets and validation signatures. Algorithms that generate validation signatures are dynamically selected to further strengthen the security aspects. Branding assets are presented to a user using a distinct indicia that represents to the user that the branding assets are secure.
US08621212B2

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the management and enforcement of blacklists of counterfeited, cloned or otherwise unauthenticated devices. In an embodiment, a system comprises an accessory comprising an authentication chip including data signed by a private verification key, the data including a unique identifier related to the accessory, and a device comprising a public verification key forming a verification key pair with the private verification key and an identifier list, the device configured to read the data from the authentication chip, compare the unique identifier with the identifier list, and reject the accessory if the unique identifier is found in the identifier list.
US08621211B1

A system receives discovery rule inputs that include addresses, verifies one or more device identifiers for one or more addresses, obtains device information from each verified device associated with the one or more verified device identifiers, determines whether each verified device is a discovered device based on the device information, and automatically adds each verified device as a discovered device to a management system without human intervention when it is determined that the verified device is discovered. The system further creates device configuration information, creates an identifier and password, provides device configuration information, the identifier, and the password, to each of the discovered devices based on the NETCONF or the Device Management Interface standards, waits for a connection from the discovered devices, imports device configuration information from the discovered devices when the connection has been established, and indicates that the discovered devices are managed devices.
US08621208B1

An embodiment of the present invention proposes a novel file and multimedia management and tracking system using a secure key server. The invention also proposes a novel, but very simple, digital watermarking technique. With the invented technology, the user's files/data can be encrypted and managed automatically, whether the data is stored in a USB format or in a public storage space. Furthermore, the file/data access record will be kept on the secure key server. Hence, an user can always track when the file/data was accessed. The advantage of the invented secure file manage system is that the key server never access the protected electronic data, and the data—encrypted or decrypted—are always on the local machine. The secure key server only manages the keys and records the key queryings. With the present invented technology, the multimedia server and the multimedia owner can protect their copyright, even when the multimedia is downloaded from the Internet. The key ideas of the invention are: (a) embedding the advanced secure key server proposed in a previous patent [2] into the multimedia server; (b) performing account management and key distribution automatically; (c) always pre-encrypting the electronic data; and (d) requiring that if anyone tries to get the decrypted electronic data, he/she must query the keys from the secure key server at least once when the software is started. This present invention also proposes a very simple digital watermarking system using reverse-verification technology.
US08621205B2

Certificate remoting and recovery may be provided. A computer may identify required security certificates and determine whether at least one required security certificate is not available. If the certificate is not available, the computer may identify a peer server and request the missing certificate from the peer server. The computer may also be operative to receive certificate management instructions from other computers.
US08621204B2

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for determining a status of a client certificate from a plurality of responses for an Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) request. An intermediary device between a plurality of clients and one or more servers identifies a plurality of OCSP responders for determining a status of a client certificate responsive to receiving the client certificate from a client during a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) handshake. Each of the plurality of OCSP responders may transmit a request for the status of the client certificate to a uniform resource locator corresponding to each OCSP responder. The intermediary device may determine a single status for the client certificate from a plurality of statuses of the client certificate received via responses from each uniform resource locator.
US08621193B2

A computing device is provided that includes a computing unit, which has a working memory and a processing unit, and a boot memory having control instructions for operating the computing device. The control instructions are stored in boot memory and are to be transferred to the computing unit at start-up of the computing device. A boot control unit is connected to the computing unit by at least a first and a second interface and connected to the boot memory by a third interface. The boot control unit is configured to transfer a first part of the control instructions from the boot memory via the first interface to the computing unit and to transfer a second part of the control instructions from the boot memory via the second interface to the computing unit.
US08621183B2

A system and method are disclosed wherein a processor of a plurality of processors coupled to shared memory, is configured to initiate execution of a section of code according to a first transactional mode of the processor. The processor is configured to execute a plurality of protected memory access operations to the shared memory within the section of code as a single atomic transaction with respect to the plurality of processors. The processor is further configured to initiate, within the section of code, execution of a subsection of the section of code according to a second transactional mode of the processor, wherein the first and second transactional modes are each associated with respective recovery actions that the processor is configured to perform in response to detecting an abort condition.
US08621179B2

A method and system for simulating in software a digital computer system by performing virtual to physical translations of simulated instructions is disclosed. The number of virtual to physical translations using hash lookups is reduced by analyzing sequences of the instructions for determining with high probability whether the memory accesses made by the instructions perform the same virtual to physical translation in order to reduce the number of necessary hash lookups to enable faster simulation performance.
US08621155B2

Approaches for an object store implemented, at least in part, on one or more solid state devices. The object store may store objects on a plurality of solid state devices. The object store may include a transaction model means for ensuring that the object store performs transactions in compliance with atomicity, concurrency, isolation, and durability (ACID) properties. The object store may include means for providing parallel flushing in a write cache maintained on each of the solid state devices. The object store may include means for maintaining one or more double-write buffers, for the object store, at a location other than the solid state devices. The object store may optionally comprise means for maintaining one or more circular transaction logs, for the object store, at a location other than the solid state devices. The object store may operate to minimize write operations performed on the solid state devices.
US08621150B2

Mechanisms are provided for data placement optimization during runtime of a computer program. The mechanisms detect cache misses in a cache of the data processing system and collect cache miss information for objects of the computer program. Data context information is generated for an object in an object access sequence of the computer program. The data context information identifies one or more additional objects accessed as part of the object access sequence in association with the object. The cache miss information is correlated with the data context information of the object. Data placement optimization is performed on the object, in the object access sequence, with which the cache miss information is associated. The data placement optimization places connected objects in the object access sequence in close proximity to each other in a memory structure of the data processing system.
US08621149B2

In one embodiment, a cache memory includes entries each to store a ring level identifier, which may indicate a privilege level of information stored in the entry. This identifier may be used in performing read accesses to the cache memory. As an example, a logic coupled to the cache memory may filter an access to one or more ways of a selected set of the cache memory based at least in part on a current privilege level of a processor and the ring level identifier of the one or more ways. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08621148B2

A hierarchical memory storage using a concentrator device that is located between a processor and memory storage devices to provide a succession of memory devices and enable attachment of a memory depth to a processor controller with a limited pin count.
US08621142B1

A technique for achieving consistent read latency from an array of non-volatile solid-state memories involves an external entity determining the “busy” or “not busy” status of non-volatile solid-state memory elements in a RAID group. An external data layout engine then uses parity based RAID data reconstruction to avoid having to read from any memory element that is busy in a RAID group, along with careful scheduling of writes and erasures.
US08621141B2

A method and system for wear leveling in a solid state drive by mapping the logical regions of the solid state drive that hold static content or information into the physical regions of the solid state drive that have erase counts more than an average erase count of all of the physical regions. By doing so, it allows the solid state drive to wear level itself naturally through continued usage. In one embodiment of the invention, the erase count of each physical region is incremented with every erasing operation of each physical region. The physical regions that have a high count of erase count operations are mapped with content of the logical regions with static content so that the possibility of future erase operations of these physical regions is reduced.
US08621138B2

In a storage controller connected to a flash memory module, an execute loop used to carry out tasks related to reading or writing data from the module. The loop includes reading a data structure from a queue and carrying out a task specified by the data structure, unless resources required by the task are not available, in which event the loop moves on to another data structure stored in another queue. Data structures bypassed by the loop are periodically revisited, until all tasks required are completed. Data structures store state information that is updated when tasks are completed.
US08621137B2

A method of rebuilding metadata in a flash memory controller following a loss of power. The method includes reading logical address information associated with an area of flash memory, and using time stamp information to determine if data stored in the flash memory area is valid.
US08621136B2

Methods for providing shadow page tables that virtualize processor memory protection. In one embodiment, two shadow L2 page tables are maintained for each section, for example, each 1 MB section, of guest address space covered by a shadow L1 descriptor.
US08621125B2

A system and method that use the TCK and TMS to transmit address and data. IEEE 1149.1 based tools can use the system and method without modification to make IEEE 1149.1 TAPs appear and disappear, add compliance-enable circuits without pins and broadcast commands to IEEE P1687 instruments. The system and method use Test-Logic-Reset sequences with Run-Test-Idle to enable an on/off switch of various DFT capabilities. IEEE 1149.1 compliant TAP interfaces disappear to pass-through wires using the system and method. The sequences communicate an “address” which enables one or more of the TAP interfaces and a “command”. The system and method has benefits for IEEE P1687 instrument chains and on-chip routing of the P1687 network.
US08621123B2

Management of data communication between a peripheral device and host computer system is provided. A physical interface for communicating data between a peripheral device and applications executing on the host is opened and controlled by a software module. First and second virtual interfaces of the software module are exposed to an operating system of the host, and the operating system exposes the first and second virtual interfaces to a first application and a second application executing on the host. The first virtual interface is used for communicating data between the peripheral device and the first application through the physical interface, and the second virtual interface is used for communicating data between the peripheral device and the second application through the physical interface. Management of data communication between the peripheral device and the first application and between the peripheral device and the second application is thereby provided.
US08621117B2

An exemplary method for configuring an intelligent electronic device in a power delivery system includes receiving identification data for the intelligent electronic device, based on the received identification data and on capabilities of the intelligent electronic device, generating a configuration profile for the intelligent electronic device, receiving operating parameters for the intelligent electronic device, determining a coordination of the intelligent electronic device with the power delivery system based on the received operating parameters, displaying the determined coordination, modifying the configuration profile based on the received operating parameters and the determined coordination, and configuring the intelligent electronic device with the modified configuration profile.
US08621116B2

A method of setting an address of a component that includes determining a characterization value associated with a consumable, calculating a number of address change operations based upon the characterization value, and setting a last address generated from the number of address change operations as the new address of the component, wherein the characterization value is determined based upon a usage of the consumable.
US08621115B1

A method is disclosed for configuring a data storage device. The data storage device receives a configuration code, and in response to the configuration code selects a configuration data record set from a plurality of configuration data record sets. The data storage device is configured in response to the selected configuration data record set. For example, the data storage device may be configured into a manufacturing test procedure mode, and then into a customer specific operating mode. In another embodiment, a hardware configuration of the data storage device is identified, and the configuration code selected based on the identified hardware configuration.
US08621103B2

A method of routing messages in an IP-based signaling network is provided. Further, a network node (201) for performing such a routing of messages in an IP-based signaling network, is provided. The network node (201) comprises at least two interfaces (214, 215) and a processing unit (302) configured to route an incoming message received at a first of the at least two interfaces to a second interface of the at least two interfaces. Further, a relay network comprising plural of such network nodes as relay nodes is provided.
US08621101B1

An interface device is connected to a host by an I/O bus and provides hardware and processing mechanisms for accelerating data transfers between a network and a storage unit, while controlling the data transfers by the host. The interface device includes hardware circuitry for processing network packet headers, and can use a dedicated fast-path for data transfer between the network and the storage unit, the fast-path set up by the host. The host CPU and protocol stack avoids protocol processing for data transfer over the fast-path, freeing host bus bandwidth, and the data need not cross the I/O bus, freeing I/O bus bandwidth. The storage unit may include RAID or other multiple drive configurations and may be connected to the INIC by a parallel channel such as SCSI or by a serial channel such as Ethernet or Fiber Channel. The interface device contains a file cache that stores data transferred between the network and storage unit, with organization of data in the interface device file cache controlled by a file system on the host. Additional interface devices may be connected to the host via the I/O bus, with each additional interface device having a file cache controlled by the host file system, and providing additional network connections and/or being connected to additional storage units.
US08621080B2

A method, system and computer program product for accurately predicting capacity requirements for Information Technology (IT) resources in physical, virtual, cloud and hybrid cloud environments. The business demand is translated into IT application demand, which is translated into IT architecture layer demand. Resource groups are created for each IT application, IT architecture layer and resource type combination. The utilization for each IT resource group within the IT architecture layers is computed using the created resource groups, IT application demand and IT architecture layer demand. Under or over-utilized IT resource groups may be identified using the computed utilization for each IT resource group. Upon identifying such IT resources, an optimal resource profile (e.g., number of servers) for each resource group is computed. In this manner, the utilization of IT resources can be more accurately predicted thereby allowing the IT resources to be used more effectively without over-utilizing or underutilizing these resources.
US08621075B2

Systems and methods for cache state management to preserve user experience with a mobile application on a mobile device while conserving resources in a wireless network are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method can include, for example, storing content from a content server as cached elements in a local cache on the mobile device and in response to receiving polling requests to contact the content server, retrieving the cached elements from the local cache to respond to the polling requests made at the mobile device, and/or using state information associated with the cached elements to provide the cached elements as responses to the polling requests such that user experience is preserved.
US08621073B2

A system and method provide comprehensive and highly automated testing of vulnerabilities to intrusion on a target network, including identification of operating system, identification of target network topology and target computers, identification of open target ports, assessment of vulnerabilities on target ports, active assessment of vulnerabilities based on information acquired from target computers, quantitative assessment of target network security and vulnerability, and hierarchical graphical representation of the target network, target computers, and vulnerabilities in a test report. The system and method employ minimally obtrusive techniques to avoid interference with or damage to the target network during or after testing.
US08621065B1

Attacks from automated scripts or processes, such as Web bots, can be dynamically blocked by monitoring dimensions of requests or submissions received by a system. Each host receiving requests can log information about the requests over a specified period of time. For each period of time, specified dimensions of the requests for that host can be analyzed to determine whether the number of requests having a common value for any of those dimensions meets or exceeds a specified threshold. If so, any requests having those specified dimension values can be automatically blocked for the next specified period of time. The requests can be automatically unblocked after that period of time if the requests do not again meet or exceed the threshold, but can be dynamically blocked for subsequent periods of time if the threshold is again met or exceeded.
US08621058B2

In a method for providing a cloud-based computing service to a user, a request for the computing service to be performed for the user is received, in which, the request includes a selection of at least one flow-slice, the at least one flow-slice comprising a network abstraction of a network pay-per-use unit. In addition, workloads to be performed by a plurality of infrastructure components to satisfy the at least one flow-slice are estimated and a provisioning scheme for the plurality of infrastructure components to implement the estimated workloads on the plurality of infrastructure components is determined.
US08621047B2

A program storage device and method for creating an electronic icon containing information unique to a category and to a network address including information for associating the icon with a digital image and sending the digital image over a network to the network address.
US08621044B2

An adaptive streaming system is described herein that provides a stateless connection between the client and server for streaming media playback in which the data is formatted in a manner that allows the client to make decisions and react more quickly to changing network conditions. The client requests uniform chunks of media from the server that include a portion of the media. The adaptive streaming system requests portions of a media file or of a live streaming event in small-sized chunks each having a distinguished URL. This allows streaming media data to be cached by existing Internet cache infrastructure. Each chunk contains metadata information that describes the encoding of the chunk and media content for playback by the client. The server may provide chunks in multiple encodings so that the client can switch quickly to chunks of a different bit rate or playback speed.
US08621043B2

In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating a bulletin board system (BBS) message including a map through a communication network. According to said embodiment, upon receiving a request to post a message, it is determined whether a user wishes to include a map to the message. If it is determined that the user wishes to include a map to the message, then a location mapping interface facilitating configuration of a user-defined map is provided to the user and a map defined by the user with the location mapping interface is inserted in the message. The user may add one or more map items such as symbols showing the locations of interest and annotations in the map. Upon receiving the user's request to display a map included in the message, a map corresponding to the user's request is retrieved from the map server and displayed to the user. The map information of the displayed map and the message are stored in a database.
US08621036B1

A secure file access system and method are disclosed which comprises a file access module executed on a processor of a computing device. The file access module receives a request to access an encrypted file from a computer program executed on the computing device and sends an access query including an encrypted first segment of the encrypted file and a user identifier to a file access server via a communication network. The access query enables the file access server, after decryption of the encrypted first segment using a first decryption key, to authorize or deny access to the encrypted second segment based, at least in part, on the user identifier and file access permission data. The file access module decrypts the encrypted second segment using a second decryption key obtained from the file access server to enable the computer program to access the second segment of the file.
US08621031B2

An apparatus and method are provided of communicating between an application and a server including, on a client side, establishing a connection pool to the server. In an embodiment, a communication request from a client-side entity is served by a connection that was established in the connection pool prior to the issuance of the request. Subsequent communication requests may reuse the connection that serviced the first request.
US08621028B2

Digital content items are shared using content-recommendation messages by recognizing an indication of a digital content item to be recommended and recognizing an indication of an intended recipient of the digital content item. A content-recommendation message for that digital content item is then built. The content-recommendation message includes first instructions for displaying, with a first visual appearance and a first feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a first class. The content-recommendation message includes second instructions for displaying, with a second visual appearance and a second feature set, information relating to the digital content item if the intended recipient belongs to a second class.
US08621015B2

Some embodiments comprise integrating information from a social network into a multi-tenant database system. A plurality of information from the social network is retrieved, using a processor and a network interface of a server computer in the multi-tenant database system, wherein the plurality of information is associated with a message transmitted using the social network. Metadata related to the transmitted message is generated, using the processor. A conversation object is generated, using the processor, based on the plurality of information associated with the transmitted message and the metadata related to the transmitted message. The conversation object is then stored in an entity in the multi-tenant database system, using the processor of the server computer.
US08621007B2

In various embodiments, a computer-assisted method for processing an electronic message includes the steps of reviewing the recipients of the electronic message, evaluating whether any of the recipients of the electronic message are potentially incorrect, and prompting the sender of the electronic message to evaluate whether the potentially incorrect recipients are correct. This computer-assisted method, as it evaluates whether a recipient may be potentially incorrect, may provide an effective warning to the sender of the electronic message as opposed to previous systems which automatically, and often, spuriously, warned the sender that a recipient may be incorrect without ever evaluating the recipients.
US08621004B2

A system for and method of providing a call transfer is presented. In one exemplary embodiment, the system and method of providing a call transfer may comprise receiving, via a network interface, a call at an IP based phone, the call originating from outside a network of the IP based phone, parsing one or more portions of call information to identify a unique network interface indicator associated with the network interface, receiving a request to transfer the call, and transferring the call to the network interface using the unique network interface indicator.
US08621003B2

An application-layer multicast-based (ALM-based), peer-to-peer conferencing system is disclosed that leverages the differing capabilities of the participating peer nodes. A conference call can be set up among peer nodes of three different types. A bridging node is capable of mixing individual audio signals that are associated with a call into a composite audio signal and of providing the composite audio signal to another node. A mixing-capable node is capable of mixing the individual audio signals that are associated with a call, but not of relaying those signals to another node. A mixing-incapable node does not support the mixing of individual audio signals. The conferencing architecture of the illustrative embodiment is able to account for the differences between the three types of nodes that are to participate in a conference call, resulting in an optimal allocation of bandwidth and processing resources.
US08621002B2

A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons.
US08620997B2

A client apparatus, which requests a service to a server apparatus and receives a result corresponding to the request, comprises: a receiving section for receiving screen data corresponding to the result and a position of a status bar area in the screen data from the server; a display section for performing a display based on the screen data; and a control section for detecting a change of display contents of the screen data based on the position of the status bar area and the screen data, causing the display section to perform the display except for the status bar area based on the screen data when it is not detected that the display content of the status bar area is changed, and causing the display section to display the status bar area when it is detected that the display content of the status bar area is changed.
US08620996B2

A method (100) of electronically determining a group preference in a social network from multiple individual preferences of members of the social network is provided. One embodiment of the method (100) uses a combination of an individual's importance to a social network and a social network's importance to the individual as weighting factors when combining the individual preferences to generate a shared set of preferences. This group preference may be used to select content for broadcast to the network, including audio content and video content. A social network group preference determination apparatus (401) can determine the individual's importance to the social network by interrogating or monitoring the communication activity of portable electronic communication devices (402) belonging to the members of the social network.
US08620995B2

The present invention relates to a method for modifying a digital document, comprising steps of detecting embedded data contained in the document; extracting said data from said document; storing said data as a separate file; and replacing said extracted data in said document with a reference to said file. The method may be performed by a transcoding server in order to increase the overall performance of a mobile client terminal equipped with a web browser.
US08620990B2

A method parses the contents of an e-Form, where the contents of said e-Form have been divided into more than one section with a different content identification code assigned to each section of the e-Form. The method includes scanning an e-Form submitted for processing to determine, based on the content identification codes, which of the sections have a corresponding parsed result already in a cache system; parsing contents of the sections without a parsed result already in the cache system; and combining parsed results from the cache system with parsed results from the parsing of sections without a parsed result already in the cache system.
US08620988B2

A system and method for processing syndication information for a mobile device that includes: identifying a plurality of syndication servers to which a user of the mobile device subscribes; polling, at a first predetermined interval, the plurality of syndication servers to determine if syndication information on each the syndication server has been updated; if the syndication information has been updated, requesting and receiving updated syndication information; adapting the updated syndication information into a predetermined format, and sending the adapted syndication information to the mobile device. The sending of the adapted syndication information may also be performed at a predetermined interval. The predetermined format preferably uses less data and requires less processing than the original format.
US08620985B2

A method is disclosed that includes computing, using at least one uniformly fine-grain data parallel computing unit, a mean-square error regression within a regression clustering algorithm. The mean-square error regression is represented in the form of at least one summation of a vector-vector multiplication. A computer program product and a computer system are also disclosed.
US08620982B2

Techniques are generally described for generating an identification number for an integrated circuit (IC). In some examples, methods for generating an identification of an IC may comprise selecting circuit elements of the IC, evaluating measurements of an attribute of the IC for the selected circuit elements, wherein individual measurements are associated with corresponding input vectors previously applied to the IC, solving a plurality of equations formulated based at least in part on the measurements taken of the attribute of the IC for the selected circuit elements to determine scaling factors for the selected circuit elements, and transforming the determined scaling factors for the selected circuit elements to generate an identification number of the IC. Additional variants and embodiments may also be disclosed.
US08620977B1

Digital signal processing (“DSP”) circuit blocks are provided that can more easily work together to perform larger (e.g., more complex and/or more arithmetically precise) DSP operations if desired. These DSP blocks may also include redundancy circuitry that facilitates stitching together multiple such blocks despite an inability to use some block (e.g., because of a circuit defect). Systolic registers may be included at various points in the DSP blocks to facilitate use of the blocks to implement systolic form, finite-impulse-response (“FIR”), digital filters.
US08620975B2

An original file of a versioned WPAR, that are incompatible with a global operating system, can be persistently replaced with a corresponding replacement file that is compatible with the global operating system. For this, the original file can be renamed and a symbolic link file can be created to reference the replacement file instead of the original file. A software maintenance program can also be persistently replaced to preserve the replacement file and to maintain compatibility with the global operating system regardless of new instances of the original file delivered by the software maintenance program. The replacement file that corresponds to the original file can be identified and renamed. In response to detecting a new version of the original file, the new version of the original file can be renamed. A reference to the new version of the original file can be updated to reference the replacement file.
US08620974B2

An original file of a versioned WPAR, that is incompatible with a global operating system, can be persistently replaced with a corresponding replacement file that is compatible with the global operating system. For this, the original file can be renamed and a symbolic link file can be created to reference the replacement file instead of the original file. A software maintenance program can also be persistently replaced to preserve the replacement file and to maintain compatibility with the global operating system regardless of new instances of the original file delivered by the software maintenance program. The replacement file that corresponds to the original file can be identified and renamed. In response to detecting a new version of the original file, the new version of the original file can be renamed. A reference to the new version of the original file can be updated to reference the replacement file.
US08620970B2

A filesystem can be converted to a different version by creating a new data structure according to a new format of the different version and transforming the data from the filesystem to the new data structure. Transforming the data can include changing the format of the data in the filesystem to be compatible with the new data structure format. The data may be incorporated into the new data structure by copying the data, or creating indirect reference mechanisms to point to the original data.
US08620968B2

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium containing computer code that, when executed by a computer, implements a method for transforming a finite state automaton (FSA) of a regular expression, wherein the method includes determining, by a computer, a first subexpression R1 and a second subexpression R2 in the regular expression; calculating an overlap FSA, the overlap FSA configured to determine the existence of a partial overlap or a full overlap between the first subexpression R1 and the second subexpression R2; determining whether the overlap FSA has an accepting state; and in the event the overlap FSA is determined not to have an accepting state, determining that the transformation of the regular expression is safe, and constructing a transformed FSA of the regular expression comprising a first FSA for the first subexpression R1 and a second FSA for the second subexpression R2.
US08620965B2

A configuration file is received by a publish-subscribe service and published to a syndication feed. The received configuration file is associated with a class of services. The configuration file is then sent to subscribers of the syndication feed. The subscribers of the syndication feed belong to the class of services. Upon receiving the configuration file, the subscribers are automatically reconfigured.
US08620959B1

A computer database system for multi-model integration includes remote client-side components and a multi-model database having a plurality of artifacts that define the multi-model database and a multi-model repository that holds the artifacts under version control. The remore client-side components include a multi-model manager, one or more connectors, execution automation engine, a sandbox, and a version control system client. The multi-model repository includes a plurality of models, wherein each model represents a discrete aspect of the system, a model registry containing a list of the models in the multi-model database, a set of input attributes and a set of output attributes corresponding to each of the models, a set of interfaces representing a tuple corresponding to each of the models, wherein said tuple contains a mapping operation and the input and output attributes, a set of attribute constraints associated with the input and output attributes, and a set of notifications associated with each of the models for informing the models of defined events.
US08620952B2

A method of creating user-generated reports. The method begins with the step of receiving information related to consumer internet behavior. That information is then assembled into a database having facts and dimensions, in which the database resides on a server, the server being connected to a communications network. The method then provides a report generation system, including a report generation module resident on the server. The module generates a report, beginning with accepting user criteria for generating a report from a front end system resident on a client computer. It then generates from the database a dataset corresponding to the first report and forwards the same to the client computer, and it displays the report generated from the first dataset. The module then reiterates the report generation steps to generate a second report, the first report remaining resident on the client computer.
US08620948B2

A system and method for searching information based on crowd-sourced templates comprising a user input subsystem for entering one or more search terms, a database for storing a plurality of crowd-sourced templates, wherein each template is a representation of a data collection process from a plurality of sources. Subsequent search entries with tags results in display of stored templates in descending order of rank. Templates may be ranked using crowd voting or their social relevancy. Templates may be viewed, edited, and stored on the database by other users through social network sites.
US08620939B2

Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for removing redundant data from a storage system. In one example, a data delineation process delineates data targeted for de-duplication into regions using a plurality of markers. The de-duplication system determines which of these regions should be subject to further de-duplication processing by comparing metadata representing the regions to metadata representing regions of a reference data set. The de-duplication system identifies an area of data that incorporates the regions that should be subject to further de-duplication processing and de-duplicates this area with reference to a corresponding area within the reference data set.
US08620938B2

A method and system for routing a query to one or more providers. The system may include a search interface for presenting a service list including one or more services offered by the one or more providers, permitting selection of one or more of the one or more services, and a query entry for receiving input of the query. A search processor is capable of receiving and parsing the query. A service recognizer for a particular provider is capable of receiving and analyzing one or more terms of the query to determine if the particular provider is a match for the query. A query router can route the query to the particular provider if the particular provider is determined to be a match and block the query to the particular provider if the particular provider is determined not to be a match. A results interface presents results of the query.
US08620934B2

Systems and methods for selecting data elements, such as population members, from a data source include translating the data source into a reverse schema. The reverse schema includes one or more data objects, each data object having a reverse access identifier and at least one unique identifier from the data source corresponding to the reverse access identifier. In some embodiments, access to data elements is provided using the reverse schema translation. A user may select a filter represented by a reverse access identifier in order to exclude those data elements associated with that reverse access identifier. In response, information associated with non-excluded data elements, such as population size, is provided for display.
US08620933B2

Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on computer readable media, for generating Venn-like diagram illustrating cross channel conversion paths. In one aspect, a plurality of conversion paths are received. Each conversion path includes one or more user interactions that include a plurality of dimensional data. A sorted list of channel groups that includes one or more group rules is received and each user interaction is grouped into a channel based upon the channel groups. A selection of channels to visualize is received and an image including one circle for each selected channel is generated. The circles are optimally placed to maximize the accuracy of the overlapped regions with channel group data.
US08620931B2

A modular method of composing an ontology alignment provides a set of correspondences between at least two ontologies thereby allowing a composition of an optimal alignment by balancing a recall value and a precision of the alignment. A two-fold strategy is followed. By means of mapping functions a set of alignment correspondences is determined. Depending on a particular mapping function a recall value of the alignment can be improved by an extension of the set of correspondences. By filtering functions particularities of the domain are reflected and incorrect mappings are avoided. Depending on a particular filtering function a precision value of the alignment can be improved by restricting the set of correspondences.
US08620914B1

According to one general aspect, a method of presenting to a user a subset of applications that may be executed by a computing device is described. The subset of applications may be selected from a plurality of applications available an online marketplace for such applications. The method may include ranking the applications based on signals relevant to the relative desirability to the user of different applications, wherein at least one of the signals is based on information that is generated outside of the marketplace. The method may further include selecting the subset of applications based on their respective rankings. The method may also include presenting the selected subset to the user.
US08620908B2

A method is provided of retrieving a configuration record from a configuration management database pertaining to an IT-infrastructure including host devices, a configuration record having attributes and assigned attribute values, the IT-infrastructure being managed by an operation management system providing messages indicating events in the IT-infrastructure. The method includes providing a message including a set of unidentified attribute values and an identified host value, retrieving from the configuration management database one or more configuration records containing the identified host value, and selecting from the one or more retrieved configuration records a configuration record depending on the number of matches between the unidentified attribute values and the attribute values of the retrieved configuration records.
US08620906B2

One embodiment provides a system for recommending products. The system may include a search engine to retrieve, from a collection of product reviews, product review results using at least two input product names. The system may also include a template builder to build comparative sentence templates to define relationships between at least two product names, in which each comparative sentence template has a weight as a function of the defined relationship, and the search engine extracts one or more snippets matching at least one of the comparative sentence templates within each product review result. The system may further include a review ranking device to rank the product review search results based on the one or more extracted snippets, in which each snippet has a same weight as its matched comparative sentence template.
US08620905B2

Embodiments are directed towards providing a device and method of identifying media items from a media library maintained by a media server that are similar to a designated media item. The media server stores a controlled vocabulary which is represented as a hierarchically linked set of nodes wherein a plurality of nodes correspond to concepts and a library of media items. Each media item corresponds to a record in the media library and the record includes at least one metadata field with assigned keywords. The media server receives a designation of a media item from a user computer, retrieves the keywords assigned to the media item, obtains all related concepts from the controlled vocabulary, computes a search weight for each related concept, and queries the media library to identify media items that match the designated media item and provides the results to the user computer.
US08620899B2

Techniques for generating a set of one or more materialized query table (MQT) candidates for a workload are provided. The techniques include receiving a workload, wherein the workload comprises a set of one or more queries, generating one or more best matching MQTs (BMQTs) based on one or more query blocks of the one or more queries by removing syntax that is not qualified for a MQT re-write, determining one or more frequently used multi-joins in the workload, using the one or more BMQTs and the one or more frequently used multi-joins to generate a set of one or more workload MQTs (WMQTs), and grouping one or more WMQTs and one or more BMQTs into one or more groups to merge into a set of a smaller number of MQTs and to cover the workload.
US08620897B2

Indexing and searching features are provided including associated system, methods, and other implementations. A computing system of an embodiment is configured to reuse or repurpose physical index fields for different tenants as part of providing efficient and scalable indexing and searching services. A method of one embodiment operates to provide an indexed data structure that includes a number of reusable index fields that are shared and used to index information associated with a plurality of tenants. Other embodiments are included.
US08620893B2

A user can create an online presentation by receiving audio and/or video media items from a search and dividing at least one of the audio and/or video media items into smaller time duration segments. The user can then utilize the smaller segments to create the presentation.
US08620885B1

Many public utilities companies employ meter data management systems (MDMSs) to manage the millions and sometimes billions of daily and interval meter read values that they collect during a single billing period. One problem with some MDMSs estimate missing daily reads based on average daily usage and these estimates do not match daily usage values determined from interval read data, causing sum check exceptions. Such exceptions are undesirable because they can lead to billing errors and lost consumer confidence in the utility, among other things. To address this, the present inventors devised an exemplary system that uses good and estimated interval read data to more accurately estimate the missing daily reads and thereby reduce occurrences of sum check exceptions. The exemplary system also estimates missing time of use and demand data based on interval read data.
US08620881B2

Methods and apparatuses for processing data are disclosed, including methods and apparatuses that leverage a reconfigurable logic device to offload decompression and search operations from a processor to thereby enable high speed data searches within data that has been stored in a compressed format.
US08620879B2

A server receives from a user's computer a request to store a file and a file hash value. The server determines whether a file with the same hash value is stored on the server. If so, the server grants access to the server's file copy. If not, the server requests the user to upload the file and stores it. The server grants access to the copy by sending the user a pointer to the copy's storage location and associating the user with the pointer in a database. The server can challenge the user's right to access the copy by requesting a file password or a portion of the file stored on the user's computer. The server can limit access to the server's copy to users who successfully respond to the challenge.
US08620878B2

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, multimedia content may be streamed, together with associated timing information, to various users, who may provide feedback data in response to the multimedia content; the feedback data may be related to the multimedia content using the associated timing information, and then stored to some medium.
US08620870B2

Software, firmware, and systems are described herein that permit an organization to dock previously-utilized, limited-feature data management modules with a full-featured data management system. By docking limited-feature data management modules to a full-featured data management system, metadata and data from the various limited-feature data management modules can be integrated and utilized more efficiently and effectively. Moreover, additional data management features can be provided to users after a more seamless transition.
US08620868B2

A database system comprising a plurality of access keys stored in a first data memory device sector, each access key associated with a node value stored in a second data memory device sector. An access key processor configured to receive an input value and return the associated node value for the input value if the input value matches an access key stored in the first data memory device sector. The access key processor is configured to generate a revised input value if the input value does not match an access key stored in the first data memory device; a default node value stored in the second data memory device sector and associated with a portion of the input value, wherein the access key processor is configured to return the default node value as part of the revised input value.
US08620856B2

A computer program product comprises a computer useable medium. The computer useable medium has a computer readable program such that when the computer readable medium is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to provide a data interface between an adapter component and one or more application interface components for a runtime application. Further, the computer is caused to establish a cursor that iterates over a plurality of data objects within a data set of the runtime application. In addition, the computer is caused to establish an accessor that provides access to a data element of the data object. The computer is also caused to provide the cursor and the accessor to the adapter component so that the adapter component accesses data through the one or more application interface components of the runtime application.
US08620855B2

A method for changing qubit encoding for implementation of a quantum computational gate is disclosed. Such a method may include providing first and second qubits encoded in a plurality of non-abelian anyons according to a first encoding scheme. The first encoding scheme may not be suitable for implementing a certain topologically protected quantum computational gate, such as an entangling gate, for example. Successive topological charge measurements may be performed on at least a subset of the anyons until the qubits are encoded according to a second encoding scheme. The second encoding scheme may be different from the first encoding scheme, and may be suitable for implementing the gate.
US08620850B2

Graphical user representations, such as emoticons or avatars, used to convey mood and emotion, can be dynamically modified and manipulated, e.g. by squeezing, rotating, distorting, coloring, etc. This enables a user to customize or tailor an existing emoticon to better reflect the user's current mood or emotion. For example, a user may insert a smiley face emoticon into a text message and then manipulate or distort the face or a component of the face (e.g. the smile) to broaden the smile into a grin, or twist the smile into an ironic smile, etc. This enables the user to personalize the emoticon rather than having to select the most appropriate emoticon from a palette of predefined emoticons. Another aspect is device hardware (e.g. dedicated or shared user interface elements or specific touchscreen gestures) for recognizing the squeezes or other gestures that are meant to modify or manipulate the emoticon.
US08620840B2

In one embodiment, first weight information indicating a first set of delta values is obtained, where the first set of delta values includes a first delta value for each weight in a set of weights, the set of weights including a weight for each of a set of one or more parameters of a model. In addition, second weight information indicating a second set of delta values is obtained, where the second set of delta values includes a second delta value for each weight in the set of weights. Combined weight information including a combined set of delta values or a combined set of weights is generated based, at least in part, upon the first weight information and the second weight information.
US08620824B2

A method and system of encrypting a Personal Identification Number (PIN) using a portable payment device includes a portable payment device in communication with a network and a payment processor, and may be configured to receive a first encryption key from the payment processor, to receive a PIN, to encrypt the PIN using the first key, and to provide the encrypted PIN to the payment processor in a form useable to process a payment authorization message or transaction request. The first key may be protected by cryptographic camouflaging using a password. The password may be received by the device and used to decamouflage the first key, and the decamouflaged first key may be used to encrypt the PIN. In one configuration, the first key may be a symmetric key, such that a PIN encrypted by the first key may be of a standard format usable in existing payment systems.
US08620818B2

Techniques are described for generating a license for software installed on a device. An entitlement certificate is generated including one or more entitlements describing license characteristics of the software. The one or more entitlements are determined in accordance with first information about the software. The first information includes at least one of a purchase token and package information. A binding certificate in accordance with a binding type for the software is generated. A license in accordance with said binding certificate and said entitlement certificate is generated. The binding certificate identifies an entity to which the license is bound.
US08620810B2

An aspect of the present invention provides a computer-implemented method for verifying authorization of a transaction. The method comprises the steps of: receiving a request to process an electronic transaction for a predetermined amount of money (215); dividing the predetermined amount into a plurality of charges (225); providing the plurality of charges to facilitate debiting of a financial instrument with each of the plurality of charges (235); receiving information relating to the plurality of charges from a user of the financial instrument after debiting of the charges (245); and verifying the transaction only if the information is correct (255).
US08620808B1

A system and method for funding a collective account such as a charitable account includes issuing a plurality of financial instruments, linking the financial instruments to the collective account, aggregating individual financial instrument usage, calculating a bonus or other reward based on the aggregate financial instrument usage and funding or distributing the reward to the collective account. According to the invention, members of a civic, charitable, political or other entity may generate collective rewards or other benefits which may be attributed to the designated organization.
US08620772B2

Arrangements involving portable devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) are disclosed. One arrangement enables a content creator to select software with which that creator's content should be rendered—assuring continuity between artistic intention and delivery. Another utilizes a device camera to identify nearby subjects, and take actions based thereon. Others rely on near field chip (RFID) identification of objects, or on identification of audio streams (e.g., music, voice). Some technologies concern improvements to the user interfaces associated with such devices. Others involve use of these devices in connection with shopping, text entry, sign language interpretation, and vision-based discovery. Still other improvements are architectural in nature, e.g., relating to evidence-based state machines, and blackboard systems. Yet other technologies concern use of linked data in portable devices—some of which exploit GPU capabilities. Still other technologies concern computational photography. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
US08620769B2

The disclosed technology provides systems and methods for delivering a media program and purchase opportunities related to the media program to user equipment. A media program and its related merchandise information can be located at a distribution facility. The distribution facility can tailor the purchase opportunities it provides to the user equipment based on the user equipment's equipment category. When user equipment receives purchase opportunities, the user equipment can select the opportunities based on which types of merchandise are supported by the user equipment. The user equipment and/or a distribution facility may be able to determine the location of the user equipment. When the distribution facility provides merchandise information for physical merchandise to the user equipment, the merchandise information can be selected to include physical merchandise that are available for purchase at stores that are, for example, near the location of the user equipment.
US08620764B2

A recommendation engine of a recommender system provides a mobile device user with a personalized recommendation based on, at least in part, the user's current situation. In some embodiments, the recommender system determines the user's current situation by obtaining information identifying the user's present context(s) (e.g., location context, noise context, time context, etc.). For example, assume the user presently has the location context of “at home” and the noise context of “TV on.” From these contexts, the recommender system can categorize the user as being in the “at home relaxing” situation.
US08620755B1

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for auditing in-store sales transactions when a digital receipt is issued. A receipt application server formulates a digital receipt from digital receipt data received from a POS system. The digital receipt is sent from the receipt application server to an auditor mobile device at the location of the POS system. A human auditor can view the digital receipt during an in-store audit. In some embodiments, one or both of the receipt application server and the auditor mobile device reorder receipt entries so that items having specified characteristics are presented more prominently on a display. For example, receipt entries can be re-ordered such that higher profit margin items, bulkier items, or more likely to be stolen items are presented more prominently. As such, a human auditor is more likely to expressly audit these types of items.
US08620751B2

Systems, methods, and computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that facilitate advertisement selection using advancement bids. In embodiments, advertisement attributes in association with an advertisement are referenced. Such advertisement attributes might include an impression bid and a click bid. For a particular advertisement, it is determined if a satisfactory click rate is available. If it is determined that the satisfactory click rate is unavailable for the advertisement, an impression bid is utilized to compete with other advertisements in an advertisement-selection auction. On the other hand, if it is determined that the satisfactory click rate is available for the advertisement, the satisfactory click rate and the click bid are utilized (e.g., via an effective impression value) to compete with the other advertisements in the advertisement-selection auction.
US08620749B2

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for facilitating electronic commerce via a web banner. Entire purchase transactions may be provided via the web banner, where an end user purchases products sold from third parties via the web banner. Entire sale listing transactions may also be provided via the web banner, where an end user lists products for sale via the web banner. Further, users may be identified when they access third party web sites, and customized offers may be generated and communicated to the identified users.
US08620748B1

A method of delivering targeted on-line advertising to an end user of a computer network system comprises creating an advertisement campaign having a plurality of dimensions associated therewith, obtaining end user data based upon engagement of the end user with the network system, profiling advertisement content available on the network system to identify specific items of advertisement content that are compatible with the advertising campaign, for each item of compatible advertisement content, utilizing the end user data and metrics associated with the plurality of dimensions associated with the advertisement campaign to develop an effectiveness measurement, and utilizing the effectiveness measurements to select at least one item of compatible advertisement content for display to the end user.
US08620741B2

A system and method for reducing excess capacity for restaurants and other industries during off-peak hours is provided. Customers or potential customers may bid on gift certificates redeemable at restaurants during a predetermined time. Users may register with the system and provide identification and demographic information which may be used by restaurants for targeted marketing strategies, promotions, and special offers. The system may include a registration module, an auction module, a restaurant guide module, a restaurant manager module, rewards and referral center module, restaurant reservation module, and advertisement displays.
US08620736B2

Items—including gourmet products—are evaluated and rated by participants in a controlled event, which can be coordinated by software locally or at a dedicated website. Event data, including item scores and participant scores can be shared with vendors, merchants and other commercial entities associated with the products. Promotional incentives from such entities for the products (and related products) can then be directly targeted and provided to participants and other members of the public. The participant's activities can also be collected and disseminated to affiliates/friends of the participants through social networking sites, personalized web pages, etc.
US08620731B2

An inverted tier award system for financial alternatives to currency is presented, wherein a consumer using the financial alternative to currency is rewarded based on the purchases made by the consumer within a given time frame. Award rates can vary based on the total value of purchases made within a given time frame, with higher award rates assigned to lower value ranges to motivate those consumers to increase their purchases made using the financial alternative to currency. Additionally, higher award rates at lower value ranges can increase consumer loyalty and provide consumers access to their awards more quickly and more often. The award rates or award access can be modified to achieve greater profitability or to further other goals of the implementing organization.
US08620728B2

A system for displaying manufacturing productivity information, including a controller connected to a display device, a momentary actuator and a display. The controller records a plurality of cycle times between sequential actuations of the actuator and stores the cycle times in a library. The controller maintains a count of actuations that have occurred since reset of the timer and records time passed since the reset. The controller determines a median value of the cycle times and multiplies the median value of cycle times by the count of actuations to obtain a resulting value and subtracts the resulting value from the total time since the last reset to determine a value for total downtime. The controller activates the display to show the value for total downtime.
US08620726B2

Methods, apparatus and systems including a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium (memory), and at least one input/output (I/O) interface for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation. First information relating to the marking operation (e.g., marking information) is compared to second information relating to the locate operation (e.g., locate information). In some examples, one or both of the marking information and the locate information may be filtered to improve data integrity in some manner. One or more indications of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation is automatically generated based on such a comparison, and the one or more indications of the quality assessment are electronically stored on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitted via the at least one I/O interface, so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
US08620713B2

A method to revoke a task includes receiving task data, the task data including information regarding a task to be performed. The method further includes receiving delegation data, the delegation data including information identifying a delegator of the task and a delegatee to perform the task. The method further includes receiving revocation task data, with the revocation task data having as its object at least aspects of the task.
US08620708B2

A progress status management device and a method for managing a progress status are provided so that a progress status of respective processes in a project is visually and swiftly confirmed. By using the device and method, it is possible to prevent a delay of the project progress because the processing states of processes at an optional stage of the project are shared and easily grasped by managers and workers among departments and outside business partners in charge of the project.
US08620707B1

Systems and methods systems and methods for allocating inventory in a fulfillment network are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include identifying orders fulfilled by a fulfillment center, where each of the identified orders specifies one or more of a plurality of items. The method may also include determining, for each identified order, a probability that the identified order will occur in the future and calculating, for each identified order, a cost savings. Items may then be selected based, at least in part, upon the determined probability and cost savings of each identified order. Additionally or alternatively, a method may include, for a selected item, receiving a customer demand forecast, determining a bind factor, and calculating a target inventory for the selected item to be stored in the fulfillment center based, at least in part, upon the customer demand forecast and the bind factor.
US08620687B2

Systems, methods, and computer program media for creating, managing, backing, and transferring health care credits are described. Health care credits may be implemented as freely transferable financial instruments whose initial value can be based on costs or savings generated by an individual, or by a health care provider, that are associated with a health-related metric or a health benefiting behavior(s).
US08620682B2

Methods, computer systems, and computer readable media for transitioning a clinical care room from a first scene to a second scene in order to facilitate completion of a real-world activity are provided. The first scene in the clinical care room is presented where the clinical care room has one or more zones. The first scene is associated with a first group of setting for components within the one or more zones. An input corresponding to the real-world activity is received. Incident to receiving the input, the second scene is provided. The second scene is associated with a second group of settings for the components. The second group of setting is optimized to facilitate completion of the real-world activity.
US08620679B2

Apparatus is provided for use with at least one labeled radiopharmaceutical agent, the apparatus including a container (22) containing the at least one labeled radiopharmaceutical agent, and a portable computer-communcatable data carrier (120, 24) associated with the container (22), the data (120, 24) containing imaging protocol information for use with the at least one labeled radiopharmaceutical agent. Other embodiments are also described.
US08620677B2

Medical and other research organizations, sites within those organizations, and physicians practicing at those sites register in an online database. The company providing the database posts a description of a clinical trial opportunity or other research opportunity. The company can search and match for physicians with research opportunities, or the physicians can browse the list of opportunities. Once it is determined who will perform the research and awarded a contract, performance data are collected at 30-day intervals over the life of the trial for computation of benchmarks. The benchmarks from one physician are compared anonymously to those from other physicians participating in the same opportunity.
US08620675B2

A method, and system employing the method, for service channel reconfiguration at a service outlet includes generating service transaction data of a service outlet, generating queue management system (QMS) data of the service outlet, and generating cost and profit data for the service outlet. Data is extracted from the service transaction data and the QMS data relating to specified parameters including customer experience data, and customer demand data. The service transaction data and the QMS data is integrated with the cost and profit data providing a unified objective function. Stochastic service processes and customer behavior data are modeled. The unified objective function is evaluated using the stochastic service processes and customer behavior data model, and the service channel function of the service outlet is reconfigured using the unified objective function.
US08620671B2

Filter banks may have different structures and different individual output signal domains. Often a translation between different filter bank domains is desirable. Usually, mapping matrices are used that, however, vary over frequency. This requires a significant amount of lookup tables. A method for transforming first data frames of a first filter bank domain to second data frames of a different second filter bank domain, comprises steps of transcoding sub-bands of the first filter bank domain into sub-bands of an intermediate domain that corresponds to said second filter bank domain but has warped phase, and transcoding the sub-bands of the intermediate domain to sub-bands of the second filter bank domain, wherein a phase correction is performed on the sub-bands of the intermediate domain.
US08620670B2

Automatic correcting of user's speech impairment in speech may include obtaining the audio signal of a given user's speech, and analyzing the obtained audio signal to identify artifacts caused by the user's impairment. The obtained audio signal may be modified by eliminating the identified artifacts from it. The modified audio signal may be provided, e.g., to be played or broadcast or transmitted.
US08620667B2

A collection of human language terms is obtained. The terms describe a system resource. At least one term in the collection does not describe the identify of the resource. The collection of human language terms is incorporated into a grammar. The grammar is utilized as a basis for identifying spoken user commands.
US08620665B2

A method is provided for user speech performance evaluation with respect to a reference performance for which a phoneme mark-up is available. The method includes capturing input speech from the user and formatting it as frames. For a respective frame of the input speech, the method generates probability values for a plurality of phonemes, generates a probability value for a phoneme class based upon the generated probability values for a plurality of phonemes belonging to that phoneme class. For a plurality of frames of the input speech, the method further includes averaging the phoneme class probability values corresponding to the plurality of frames of the input speech. The method also includes calculating a user speech performance score based upon the average.
US08620655B2

A speech processing method, comprising: receiving a speech input which comprises a sequence of feature vectors; determining the likelihood of a sequence of words arising from the sequence of feature vectors using an acoustic model and a language model, comprising: providing an acoustic model for performing speech recognition on an input signal which comprises a sequence of feature vectors, said model having a plurality of model parameters relating to the probability distribution of a word or part thereof being related to a feature vector, wherein said speech input is a mismatched speech input which is received from a speaker in an environment which is not matched to the speaker or environment under which the acoustic model was trained; and adapting the acoustic model to the mismatched speech input, the speech processing method further comprising determining the likelihood of a sequence of features occurring in a given language using a language model; and combining the likelihoods determined by the acoustic model and the language model and outputting a sequence of words identified from said speech input signal, wherein adapting the acoustic model to the mismatched speaker input comprises: relating speech from the mismatched speaker input to the speech used to train the acoustic model using: a mismatch function f for primarily modelling differences between the environment of the speaker and the environment under which the acoustic model was trained; and a speaker transform F for primarily modelling differences between the speaker of the mismatched speaker input, such that: y=f(F(x,v),u) where y represents the speech from the mismatched speaker input, x is the speech used to train the acoustic model, u represents at least one parameter for modelling changes in the environment and v represents at least one parameter used for mapping differences between speakers; and jointly estimating u and v.
US08620652B2

The disclosed speech recognition system enables users to define personalized, context-aware voice commands without extensive software development. Command sets may be defined in a user-friendly language and stored in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) file. Each command object within the command set may include one or more user configurable actions, one or more configurable rules, and one or more configurable conditions The command sets may be managed by a command set loader, that loads and processes each command set into computer executable code. The command set loader may enable and disable command sets. A macro processing component may provide a speech recognition grammar to an API of the speech recognition engine based on currently enabled commands. When the speech recognition engine recognizes user speech consistent with the grammar, the macro processing component may initiate the one or more computer executable actions.
US08620644B2

Encoder-assisted frame loss concealment (FLC) techniques for decoding audio signals are described. A decoder may discard an erroneous frame of an audio signal and may implement the encoder-assisted FLC techniques in order to accurately conceal the discarded frame based on neighboring frames and side-information transmitted from the encoder. The encoder-assisted FLC techniques include estimating magnitudes of frequency-domain data for the frame based on frequency-domain data of neighboring frames, and estimating signs of the frequency-domain data based on a subset of signs transmitted from the encoder as side-information. Frequency-domain data for a frame of an audio signal includes tonal components and noise components. Signs estimated from a random signal may be substantially accurate for the noise components of the frequency-domain data. However, to achieve highly accurate sign estimation for the tonal components, the encoder transmits signs for the tonal components of the frequency-domain data as side-information.
US08620642B2

In embodiments of the invention, a system receives selections from a user based on a list of pre-defined monitoring categories and/or optionally receives custom category definitions from the user. The option for custom category definitions may be advantageous due to the flexibility provided to a system administrator or other user. In embodiments of the invention, the pre-defined and/or custom monitoring categories may be or include complex hierarchical behavior. Such an approach provides monitoring algorithms that can achieve improved accuracy compared to known methods. In embodiments of the invention, the order of computations used in resolving a monitoring category may be re-ordered, statically and/or dynamically, to improve the efficiency of monitoring operations.
US08620639B2

A simulation or test system for a network architecture of computers and active equipment items, in particular on board an aircraft, and a corresponding method are disclosed. The system comprises a simulation unit comprising models simulating at least one part of the computers. Moreover, each computer or simulation model is able to communicate on a real network through a corresponding active equipment item to which the computer, simulated if need be, is directly connected in the network, and the simulation unit may acquire a message sent out by a computer or a simulation model on the network, and transmit the acquired message to simulation models that are recipients thereof. The simulation unit acquires the message at the corresponding active equipment item to which the sending computer or simulation model is directly connected.
US08620630B2

Methods for accurately predicting radio propagation from signal strength measurements. Dynamic range limitations in the measurement data are explicitly taken into account. The resulting propagation models accurately predict signal strength for calculation of coverage and interference.
US08620624B2

A method of detecting an event anomaly includes receiving one or more data points, in which each data point represents a spatial or temporal event; associating a unique identifier with each of the one or more data points to obtain one or more individualized data points; distributing the one or more individualized data points across a grid, in which the grid includes one or more cells; determining an event likelihood ratio for one or more of the grid cells; identifying one or more event clusters, in which each event cluster includes one or more of the grid cells; and storing in a data repository an event cluster having a significance level above a threshold significance level.
US08620623B2

A hierarchical and distributed system architecture for a container monitoring and security system is provided. The architecture may be a hierarchical chain of separate, related processing elements. The partitioning of functions and distribution of processing among these or other similar hierarchical elements in the network is provided. The elements may further be described in successive layers, each have a greater level of network intelligence than the former.
US08620617B2

A method for generating recommendations for achieving goals is described. The method includes receiving a goal for a user account. The goal is associated with an activity that is trackable via a monitoring device. The method further includes receiving tracking data associated with the monitoring device. At least part of the tracking data is associated to the activity. The method includes receiving geo-location data associated with the monitoring device. The geo-location data is correlated to the tracking data. The method includes analyzing the received tracking data and geo-location data to characterize a current performance metric for the activity and generating a recommendation for the user account. The recommendation identifies the current performance metric and a suggested action and location for increasing the current performance metric to achieve the goal.
US08620613B2

A sensor diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing a sensor includes a moving object counter, a reference value storage, and a comparator. The moving object counter counts, in accordance with identification data acquired by a plurality of sensors in a predefined time period, a local number of moving objects moving between a sensing area of a first sensor and a sensing area of a second sensor near the first sensor. The reference value storage stores a preset reference value for the first sensor and the second sensor. The comparator compares a value derived from the local number of moving objects counted by the moving object counter with the preset reference value stored in the reference value storage to determine the first sensor to be in trouble when a difference between the value derived from the local number of moving objects and the preset reference value exceeds a predefined threshold value.
US08620603B1

A tank to contain a fluid includes a tank wall having an inner surface. A vane is disposed within the tank. The vane is configured to facilitate extraction of fluid from the tank. The vane may include an electrically conductive material. The tank also includes a first connector to electrically couple at least one portion of the tank wall to a capacitance sensing device and a second connector to electrically couple at least one portion of the vane to the capacitance sensing device.
US08620601B2

An object is to detect an abnormality when the inside of a gas cutoff apparatus is submerged.A flow rate computing unit 15 computes an instantaneous flow rate from a detected value of a flow rate detecting unit 8 for measuring a flow rate, and an amplification degree determining unit 18 determines signal amplification adjusted by the flow rate detecting unit 8, and timing is started when the amplification degree is a predetermined value or more, and a measurement condition setting unit 16 sets a measurement condition of the flow rate detecting unit 8 from the flow rate obtained by the flow rate computing unit 15, and a measurement ratio computing unit 20 obtains a measurement condition ratio during predetermined time from a time measuring unit 19 and the measurement condition setting unit 16, and it is determined that the flow rate detecting unit 8 is abnormal when the measurement ratio is a predetermined ratio or more, and a cutoff unit 22 breaks supply of gas.
US08620596B2

A method and apparatus that enables a user to sort data from one or more sample lots, which may be obtained via a network, such as the Internet, into a composite parameter structure. The composite parameter structure is a function of one or more parameters corresponding to one or more characteristics associated with one or more sample lots. The composite parameter structure representation may be printed, stored, or transmitted to another location. A server device that is coupled and working in conjunction with a client device may implement the present invention.
US08620589B2

Methods and compositions are provided for creating a binding protein that recognizes a rationally chosen recognition sequence in which a first amino acid has been substituted for a second amino acid using site-directed mutagenesis of a member protein of a set of proteins at an identified position or positions correlated with recognition of a chosen specified target module in the recognition sequence. A system is provided for automating the storage and manipulation of the correlations between positions and types of amino acid residues in the binding protein with specific modules at specified positions in the target recognition sequence and for designing and creating proteins with novel specificities.
US08620586B2

A device receives, from one or more user devices, one or more user-defined paths associated with a starting point and a destination point, and receives, from the one or more user devices, information associated with the one or more user-defined paths. The device also aggregates the one or more user-defined paths and the associated information, and determines one or more popular paths based on the aggregation of the one or more user-defined paths and the associated information, where the one or more popular paths are capable of being utilized by the one or more user devices for selection of a path for navigation.
US08620579B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying points-of-interest. In one aspect, a method includes determining a position and a heading of a mobile device, defining a zone of interest based on the position and heading of the mobile device, identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest, determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI, selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the distances, and displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.
US08620578B1

The present invention provides a system and method that enables a user to save locations (e.g., addresses, landmarks, etc.) to a central storage location system from within third party applications and then automatically have access to saved location information on registered, client devices, including navigational devices. Third party applications send saved locations, as well as information identifying the applicable users, to a central storage location system. The central storage location system stores location information associated with each saved location in a database (e.g., address and corresponding geocodes). Each location is saved in association with a unique ID corresponding to the user that saved the location. The central storage location system provides each saved location to registered client devices associated with the user that saved the location.
US08620565B2

A control system (36) for comparing engine speed data to an engine speed threshold above which the engine is considered to be running (40), for comparing engine temperature data to an engine temperature threshold (60), and once engine speed data has become greater than the engine speed threshold, for causing engine torque to be limited to an engine torque limit until the first to occur of: engine temperature data exceeding the engine temperature threshold, a first timer (44), started upon engine speed data having become greater than the engine speed threshold, having timed to a time that is a function of engine temperature data, and a second timer (54), started upon engine speed data having become greater than the engine speed threshold and engine oil pressure data having become greater than an engine oil pressure threshold, having timed to a time that is also a function of engine temperature data.
US08620563B2

A fuel supply apparatus for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, which supplies fuel through fuel injection valves provided corresponding to the plurality of cylinders. An amount of fuel supplied to the engine is controlled by changing a fuel injection period of said fuel injection valve, and performing a fuel injection with a plurality of injection modes including a reference injection mode. A fuel injection amount parameter for controlling a valve opening period of the fuel injection valve in the reference injection mode, is calculated according to an operating condition of said engine. When the injection mode is determined to be another injection mode which differs from the reference injection mode, the fuel injection amount parameter is corrected so as to compensate shortage or oversupply of the fuel injection amount according to a correction parameter indicative of a time period which affects a pressure change of the fuel supplied to the fuel injection valve caused by employing the other injection mode.
US08620552B2

A data communication system for a vehicle includes an interface gateway device that is configured to be communicatively coupled with a data acquisition module and a client module. The interface gateway device is further configured to receive a value of a data parameter related to operation of the vehicle from the data acquisition module and to communicate the value to the client module for performing a function for the vehicle. The interface gateway device also is configured to determine when either of the data acquisition module or the client module is communicatively coupled with the interface gateway device and to implement respective communication configurations associated with the data acquisition module or the client module to receive the value of the data parameter from the data acquisition module or communicate the value of the data parameter to the client module.
US08620536B2

Controlling a digging operation of an industrial machine that includes a dipper, a crowd motor drive, and a controller. The crowd motor drive is configured to provide one or more control signals to a crowd motor, and the crowd motor is operable to provide a force to the dipper to move the dipper toward or away from a bank. The controller is connected to the crowd motor drive and is configured to monitor a characteristic of the industrial machine, identify an impact event associated with the dipper based on the monitored characteristic of the industrial machine, and set a crowd motoring torque limit for the crowd motor drive when the impact event is identified.
US08620534B2

The disclosure relates to a mobile working machine with a control device, comprising a working arm, and methods for controlling the operating point of a working arm of a mobile working machine. According to the disclosure, the mobile working machine with the control device, comprising a working arm, has a working arm, a first end of which is hinged to a superstructure of the working machine. A tool is movably arranged on a second end of the working arm at an operating point. At least one first inclination sensor lies on the superstructure and at least one second inclination sensor lies on the working arm. In addition, at least one hydraulic cylinder is provided for changing the position of the operating point, said cylinder being hinged between the superstructure and the working arm. Furthermore, a control unit for processing signals from the at least two inclination sensors is provided to determine an operating point as a reference operating point and to ascertain a position change of the operating point by calculating a cylinder stroke on the basis of a volume flow into or out of the hydraulic cylinder.
US08620532B2

Systems and methods for providing passive crowd-sourced alternate route recommendations. In one embodiment, locations of users of a number of mobile location-aware devices are tracked over time. Upon receiving a request, users of mobile location-aware devices that have traveled from a desired start location to a desired stop location are identified. Location histories for the identified users are analyzed to determine one or more different routes taken from the desired start location to the desired stop location. The one or more different routes, or a select subset thereof, are then returned to the requestor as recommended alternate routes.
US08620528B2

The invention relates to a method for reducing a risk of or avoiding a roll-over event of a vehicle, having means of an electronic controllable steering system and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit identifies the occurrence of the roll-over risk, such that control means generate a signal in order to steer the road wheels more into the direction in which the vehicle is tending to roll-over.
US08620518B2

According to various embodiments, systems and methods are provided for capturing vehicle activity data and filtering such data to reconstruct accident conditions according to a predetermined level of accuracy.
US08620512B2

A method for tracking defective functions in the operation of heater plugs in a diesel engine of a vehicle, provided with a control unit for the control of its heater plugs—the preheater control unit—, by monitoring at least one operating parameter of the heater plugs and/or of the preheater control unit, generating a fault message when the operation parameter so monitored deviates from a predefined nominal value or nominal state of the operating parameter, and storing the fault message. The invention links the fault message to a time parameter, stores the fault message together with the time parameter, searches for further fault messages that are stored in the vehicle and linked to the same time parameter, and combines the fault messages that are linked to the same time parameter.
US08620509B2

A control method for a powertrain of a hybrid vehicle executing a compound split mode where a first carrier and a second ring gear are selectively connected. More specifically, a controller, determines a target torque of the second motor/generator based on a gear ratio of the first sun gear and the first ring gear, a gear ratio of the second sun gear and the second ring gear, a demand torque of the powertrain, and an output torque of the first motor/generator; determines a compensation value based on a target speed of the engine and a current speed of the engine; and determines a final torque of the second motor/generator based on the target torque of the second motor/generator and the compensation value, and controlling the second motor/generator according to the final torque of the second motor/generator.
US08620500B2

A method for ascertaining learned values for controlling an internal combustion engine, a second drive unit, e.g., an electric motor, drags the internal combustion engine in a specific operating state, and the learned values are ascertained in this operating state.
US08620495B2

An electronic multi-function probe (MFP) is provided for positioning adjacent an aircraft skin. The electronic MFP includes a plurality of pressure sensing ports and an electronics housing. Positioned within the electronics housing are air data processing circuitry and stall protection system processing circuitry. The air data processing circuitry is configured to generate air data parameters, including airspeed and altitude, as a function of pressures at the plurality of pressure sensing ports. The stall protection system processing circuitry of the electronic MFP is configured to detect stall conditions as a function of angle of attack and at least one air data parameter from the air data processing circuitry, and to generate stall protection system outputs indicative of the detected stall conditions.
US08620493B2

An auto-guidance and control method and system is provided for use in conjunction with an aircraft electric taxi system. Aircraft status data is obtained, and airport feature data accessed. A processor generates taxi path guidance and control information including at least taxi speed guidance information, and sends commands derived from the taxi speed guidance information by the processor directly to an electric taxi controller to regulate the taxi speed of the aircraft.
US08620479B2

One aspect of the invention provides a lubricator device for dispensing a lubricant to a lubrication point of a machine. The device includes an electric dispensing mechanism including an electronic control circuit. The control circuit includes an RF receiver for receiving control signals, e.g. signals incorporating a lubrication schedule to be adopted by the control circuit, and an RF transmitter for transmitting operational signals incorporating an ID code of the device and at least one operational parameter of the device. Such at least one operational parameter may include one indicative of an amount of lubricant dispensed or one indicative of an error condition. Another aspect of the invention provides a lubrication system including a plurality of lubricator devices, as referred to, and a computer in communication with them for monitoring their operation via operational signals received from them and for controlling their operation via control signals transmitted to them.
US08620477B2

An apparatus for supporting a patient, such as a hospital bed, is provided. The apparatus includes a patient support surface and at least one fluid containing bladder. A pressure control assembly is operably coupled with the bladder. When the fluid pressure within the bladder falls outside of an acceptable range of pressure values, the active adjustment of the pressure within the bladder is initiated by the pressure control assembly if the pressure does not return to the acceptable range of pressure values within a time period, e.g., a time delay, that has a variable length.
US08620474B2

In a method for controlling a manipulator, in particular a robot, a reference path is stored and reference increments are automatically determined while following the path the reference increments are determined based on the dynamics of the manipulator while following the path.
US08620472B2

A vending arrangement for computerized vending machines, retail displays, automated retail stores, utilizes a centralized, robotic gantry associated with companion modules for vending a plurality of selectable products. The modularized design enables deployment of half-sized or larger, full sized machines. The robotic gantry is deployed in a centralized module disposed adjacent display and inventory modules. Inventory modules can be fitted to both gantry sides, and doors can be fitted to the gantry front or rear. The gantry comprises an internal, vertically displaceable elevator utilizing a central conveyor for laterally, horizontally moving selected items from associated display and inventory positions to a vending position. Computerized software enables the display and vending functions, and controls elevator movement to dispense products from twin sides of the gantry by appropriately controlling the conveyor.
US08620471B2

A system for controlling a numerical control machine tool with movable component parts carrying tools (5) and/or mechanical component parts to be checked includes a control unit (7) and a sensor device (9) having an associated interface unit (15). A digital channel (20), through which there are transmitted measuring signals from the interface unit to the control unit, is used, at different moments and as an alternative to the measuring process, for transmitting confirmation pulse signals (ACK) consequent to request/instruction messages that the control unit sends to the interface unit. A method for controlling the machine tool includes the sending of request/instruction messages (M) from the control unit to the interface unit, for example for checking the efficiency and the operativeness of the measuring chain, and the reception of confirmation pulse signals through the transmission channel which is a component part of the measuring chain. The sensor device is advantageously implemented by means of an optoelectronic apparatus which detects the interruption of the light beam (10), typically a laser beam.
US08620463B2

Systems and methods providing statistical analytics of golf performance including text, tabular, graphic, and image-based outputs that include trends information for the golfer, all based upon actual golf play on course situations, wherein the golfer inputs shot data during play, without interrupting the flow of the game, and uploads the shot data for analytics and review online, including detailed diagrammatic representations of golf performance analytics, such as scattergraph diagrams, that provide information including zone-based target areas rather than merely pinpoint targets.
US08620461B2

A method and system for updating tuning parameters associated with a controller without repetitive compilation of a controller code. The controller code represents an algorithm associated with the controller and can be compiled separately from a data set representing a solution for an optimization problem and also from a data set representing parameters required for prediction. The algorithm can be implemented in a programming language code suitable for implementation on an embedded platform or other types of computer platforms. The data sets can be represented in a specified data structure and the variables associated with the data structure can be declared in the controller template code. The variables can be updated independently without varying the compiled code associated with the controller algorithm that is referring to the variables. The controller can also be updated while the controller actively performs online. Such an approach enables repetitive tuning of the controller without repetitive compilation of the code representing the controller algorithm.
US08620436B2

Disclosed herein is a current generation architecture for an implantable stimulator device such as an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG). Current source and sink circuitry are both divided into coarse and fine portions, which respectively can provide a coarse and fine current resolution to a specified electrode on the IPG. The coarse portion is distributed across all of the electrodes and so can source or sink current to any of the electrodes. The coarse portion is divided into a plurality of stages, each of which is capable via an associated switch bank of sourcing or sinking a coarse amount of current to or from any one of the electrodes on the device. The fine portion of the current generation circuit preferably includes source and sink circuitry dedicated to each of the electrode on the device, which can comprise digital-to-analog current converters (DACs). The DACs also receives the above-noted reference current, which is amplified by the DACs in fine increments by appropriate selection of fine current control signals. When the coarse and fine current control circuitry are used in tandem, ample current with a fine current resolution can be achieved at any electrode and in a space- and power-efficient manner.
US08620432B2

An implantable medical device applies an electric signal over two electrodes and measures the resulting electric signal over a candidate pair of neighboring electrodes on a lead for a first heart ventricle or over a candidate electrode of the lead and a case electrode. An impedance signal is determined for each candidate pair or electrode based on the applied signal and the measured resulting signal. A time difference between start of contraction in a second ventricle and the timing of local myocardial contraction as identified from the impedance signal at the site of the candidate pair or electrode is determined for each candidate pair or electrode. An optimal pacing electrode is selected to correspond to one of the electrodes of the candidate pair having the largest time difference or the candidate electrode having largest time difference.
US08620427B2

Various system embodiments comprise a stimulator adapted to deliver a stimulation signal for a heart failure therapy, a number of sensors adapted to provide at least a first measurement of a heart failure status and a second measurement of the heart failure status, and a controller. The controller is connected to the stimulator and to the number of sensors. The controller is adapted to use the first and second measurements to create a heart failure status index, and control the stimulator to modulate the signal using the index. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
US08620424B2

An implantable medical device and associated method control the delivery of extra systolic stimulation by determining a coupling interval, setting an extra systolic interval in response to the coupling interval; and delivering a supraventricular stimulation pulse upon expiration of the extra systolic interval. The supraventricular stimulation pulse evokes a depolarization that is conducted to the ventricles occurring at a ventricular coupling interval relative to a ventricular event.
US08620423B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for treatment of heart arrhythmia via renal neuromodulation. Such neuromodulation may effectuate irreversible electroporation or electrofusion, ablation, necrosis and/or inducement of apoptosis, alteration of gene expression, action potential attenuation or blockade, changes in cytokine up-regulation and other conditions in target neural fibers. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is achieved through application of an electric field. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is achieved through application of neuromodulatory agents, of thermal energy and/or of high intensity focused ultrasound. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is performed in a bilateral fashion.
US08620418B1

A method is disclosed for displaying patient ECG data. The method includes receiving ECG data including an ECG waveform; receiving analyzed ECG data including arrhythmic events; generating an indicia of the detected arrhythmic event; and displaying the indicia of the detected arrhythmic event in relation to the ECG waveform at a position associated with a time of the detected arrhythmic event. A system for displaying patient ECG data is also disclosed.
US08620416B2

An implantable medical device monitors ST segment data collected from EGM. ST trends are established and monitored over time. The IMD is able to discern whether the data indicate supply ischemia, demand ischemia, or other physiological causes. The IMD is then able to provide appropriate information and alerts.
US08620414B2

An implantable medical device and associated method for classifying a patient's risk for arrhythmias by sensing a cardiac electrogram (EGM) signal and selecting a first pair of T-wave signals and a second pair of T-wave signals. A first difference between the two T-wave signals of the first pair is compared to a second difference between the two T-wave signals of the second pair. A T-wave alternans phase reversal is detected in response to comparing the first difference and the second difference, and the patient's arrhythmia risk is classified in response to detecting the phase reversal.
US08620412B2

An apparatus that is able to detect the position of a catheter. The apparatus utilizes a catheter filled with electrically-conductive physiological saline and a connector for establishing an electrical connection between the saline of the catheter and an input of a controller. The controller includes at least one output connectable to a standard ECG lead connector, wherein the controller includes circuitry for generating a low impedance output signal. The controller provides an output which replicates the input a standard ECG patient lead connector is configured to receive. The apparatus provides a more convenient and cost effective solution for providing specialized ECG functions without having to replace a hospital's existing ECG beside monitoring equipment.
US08620411B2

The present invention relates to a method of determining skin health of an area of skin and overall health of an individual by exposing the area of skin to a first exposure radiation to induce the area of skin to emit a first fluorescent emission, measuring the intensity of the first fluorescent emission, exposing the area of skin to a second exposure radiation to induce the area of skin to emit a second fluorescent emission, measuring the intensity of the second fluorescent emission, calculating a ratio of these intensities, and comparing the ratio to a control ratio.
US08620408B2

2-D projection images show the variation over time of the distribution of a contrast medium in an examination subject. Each projection image comprises pixels having pixel values corresponding to one another in the projection images that are determined by identical areas of the examination subject. A computer subdivides an image that is to be displayed from the projection images into parcels in one perfusion region. For each parcel, the computer determines a characteristic value and, based on the characteristic value, a projection color. It assigns the projection color to the parcel. The characteristic value is determined based on the pixel values occurring in the parcel of the projection image or their differences from the pixel values of a corresponding parcel of another projection image. The computer outputs a subarea of the projection image containing the perfusion region. It represents each parcel of the perfusion region in its assigned projection color.
US08620401B2

A biological signal detection electrode includes an electrode element and a plurality of drought-resistant electrolytic solution soaking parts. The electrode element is made of a conductive material and has a surface. The plurality of drought-resistant electrolytic solution soaking parts are placed at predetermined intervals on the surface of the electrode element, are formed to have a thickness that allows contact with a scalp without hair being sandwiched between the electrode element and the scalp, and are soaked in a drought-resistant electrolytic solution including a drought-resistant liquid and a conductive liquid.
US08620400B2

An electrophysiology catheter includes a tubular body having a proximal region, a neck region, and a distal region predisposed into a loop and including electrodes. A first deflection wire extends through at least a portion of the proximal region of the catheter body and includes a first flattened section, while a second deflection wire extends through the neck region and at least a portion of the distal region and includes a second flattened section within the neck region. A first activation wire is joined to the flattened section of the first deflection wire, while a second activation wire is joined to the flattened section of the second deflection wire. Thus, forces acting on the first and second activation wires, such as forces imposed by a handle-based actuator, are respectively transmitted to the first and second deflection wires, thereby deflecting the proximal and neck regions, respectively.
US08620397B2

A method and apparatus are described that permit an analyte concentration to be estimated from a measurement in the presence of compounds that interfere with the measurement. The method reduces the error in the analyte concentration in the presence of interferents. The method includes the use of a set of measurements obtained for a large population having a range of known analyte and interfering compound concentrations. From a sample measurement, which may or may not be one of the population, likely present interferents are identified, and a calibration vector is calculated.
US08620391B2

The present invention is a cordless musical cell phone accessory that includes a planar base, a radio station tuner that is disposed on the planar base and one or more preset buttons that are depressed to put the musical cell phone accessory in communication with one or more predetermined radio stations. The accessory also includes a headphone jack that is inserted into a headphone jack inlet of a cell phone to connect the musical cell phone accessory to the cell phone, a display screen that is disposed on the planar base and a battery pack that is built into the planar base to provide electrical power to the accessory. The accessory can also include an additional battery pack that is attached to the cell phone utilizing the musical cell phone accessory.
US08620385B2

A unique system and method that facilitates group-based mobile communication around external feed content is provided. The system and method involve adding external feed content to content generated within a group. Both types of content can be viewed on the mobile devices of the group. Updates to the feed content can be obtained and communicated to the group. When multiple feeds are subscribed to by a group, one or more group members can display such feed content in a selective manner. For example, splinter groups can be formed off of the original group for members who wish to receive a subset of feeds (feed content) to assist them in focusing on a topic of interest. Group members can also employ display filters to restrict feed content displayed on their mobile devices. Users can also search for available feeds and form new groups around such content or join an existing group.
US08620382B2

An apparatus and method of facilitating cooperation within a cognitive radio communication system. The cooperation system facilitated in the communication system by another communication system. The apparatus include: a receiver to receive an uplink signal from a mobile station and a cooperation signal from a second communication system, wherein the cooperation signal is associated with the uplink signal; an evaluator to evaluate a contribution of the cooperation signal with respect to detection of the uplink signal; and a radio resource management unit to control an available radio resource for the second system according to the contribution of the cooperation signal.
US08620376B2

A method and apparatus for adaptively selecting a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication mode in a wireless communication system are provided. In a method of operating a Base Station (BS) for establishing a P2P connection between Mobile Stations (MSs) in the wireless communication system, the method includes, upon receiving a connection request message from a transmitting MS, broadcasting an instruction message to one or more neighbor MSs, receiving P2P-related information from a receiving MS among the neighbor MSs, selecting a communication mode by determining whether P2P communication is possible between MSs according to the P2P-related information and, if P2P communication is possible between the MSs, transmitting a connection response message to the transmitting MS and the receiving MS.
US08620372B2

A method and apparatus for transport format selection in a mobile wireless communication device. During a simultaneous voice and data call, the mobile wireless communication device selects a transport format for proper uplink data transmission. Simultaneous voice and data calls require higher uplink transmit power than voice only calls. The mobile wireless communication device selects a transport format based on the uplink transmit power level. At higher transmit power levels, minimum or zero data rates are chosen to maintain sufficient power for simultaneous voice. Transmit format is specified using a transmit format combination indicator.
US08620364B2

A user of a wireless device, such as a mobile phone, can make purchases or obtain information via a network, such as the Internet, using both voice and non-verbal methods. Users can submit voice queries and receive non-verbal replies, submit non-verbal queries and receive voice replies, or perform similar operations that many the voice and data capabilities of modern mobile communication devices. The user may provide notification criteria indicating under what conditions a notification should be sent to the user's wireless device. When purchasing opportunities matching the selected notification criteria become available, the user is notified. The user can respond to the notification, and immediately take advantage of the purchasing opportunity if he so desires. Mixed-mode interactions can also be used by sellers to more advantageously control the marketing of distressed, time sensitive, or other merchandise/services.
US08620358B2

A method and apparatus for dial input using a voice in a mobile terminal are provided. The method includes recognizing a voice inputted from a microphone when a call is connected, identifying a numeral corresponding to the recognized voice, and transmitting the identified numeral to a phone number to which the call is connected.
US08620357B2

A wireless communications network (120) responds to each incoming call placed to a wireless communications device (134) by transmitting a call-paging message (418) within a corresponding partition of a digital radio frame of prescribed format. Responsive to each occurrence of a broadcast event (404), the network transmits (414) a repeating broadcast-paging message announcing the availability of broadcast content from the network. The broadcast-paging message is transmitted multiple times within each digital radio frame. Another sequence (500) describes WCD operation in this network. Responsive to wakeup (502) from sleep, the WCD detects (509) received signal quality. The WCD also receives (510) scheduled network transmission of a call-paging message and a number of instances (at least one) of a repeating network transmitted broadcast-paging message that occurs multiple times for each scheduled transmission of the call-paging message. This number varies inversely with the detected signal quality.
US08620356B2

A paging signal transmission method which transmits the paging signal to a position registration area of a mobile station in response to incoming to the mobile station. When a wireless base station managing a cell belonging to the position registration area of the mobile station does not permit access to the mobile station, the method does not transmits the paging signal to the cell.
US08620353B1

Multimedia from a mobile device is automatically distributed to multiple and various types of shares specified by a default destination. The mobile device generates a media package from the multimedia and sensor meta data. The media package is transmitted to a server that optimizes the multimedia before distributing the multimedia to the shares. Alternatively, the multimedia may be distributed to shares specified in a different destination that is input through the mobile device. Delivery instructions corresponding to the shares for the different destination are included in the media package. In another aspect, the mobile device sends share identifiers to the server to define the default destination for the user account.
US08620349B2

Methods and systems for applying power to a mobile device responsive to user actions are disclosed. An exemplary method includes detecting, while a mobile device is powered down, actions made by a user in connection with the user handling the mobile device without pressing a power button of the mobile device. A prediction is then made that the user is about to power up the mobile device based upon particular actions made by the user. And before the user presses the power button, power is applied to processing and network communication components of the mobile device so that if the user presses the power button, the processing and network communication components are already powered; thus reducing an amount of time it takes for the mobile device to access a network with the mobile device.
US08620348B2

Interaction between wireless devices, one of which may be equipped with a directional radio (a radio with a directional antenna for directional sensing capabilities) can be used in directional peer-to-peer networking. A method can include obtaining, at a first device from a serving device, proximity information regarding a second device. The method can also include obtaining, at the first device from the serving device, direction information regarding the second device. The method can further include calculating a position of the second device with respect to the first device based on the proximity information and based on the direction information. The method can additionally include communicating with the second device based on the position.
US08620347B2

The invention provides a method and a system for forwarding a telephone call. The inventive method includes receiving a telephone call from a calling party line to a called party line, determining a location of the called party, determining a proximity of the location of the called party to one or more subscriber locations, and directing the telephone call to the one or more subscriber locations based on the determined proximity. The subscriber locations may be predefined by the called party. The location of the called party may be determined using a global position system and/or a radio frequency signal, for example.
US08620346B2

A system for and method of deriving a position estimate of a receiver from a plurality of parameter measurements is provided. Each measurement is derived from a correlation function, which in turn is derived by correlating a signal received at the receiver with an identification code uniquely identifying a transmitter visible to the receiver. A plurality of position estimates are derived, each from a different subset of the plurality of measurements. Based on local topography, one of the position estimates is selected as the best estimate of the position of the receiver.
US08620336B2

Controlling access by a User Equipment (UE) to a cellular network may be effected by: receiving an instruction at the UE from a base station of the cellular network regarding transmission by the UE over a Random Access Channel (RACH) of the cellular network; and controlling when transmissions are made from the UE over the RACH, on the basis of the received instruction. In some cases, a transmission over the RACH may be made in response to the received instruction, which gives permission for the UE to transmit if it has data to send. In other cases, the instruction specifies a Group Identifier, which is compared with a Group Identifier specific to the UE and transmission over the RACH may be avoided based on the comparison. In particular, the UE may be a Machine Type Communication device.
US08620334B2

As part of carrier assignment and configuration for multicarrier wireless communications, a single uplink (UL) primary carrier may provide control information for multiple concurrent downlink (DL) carriers. Optionally, control information for each DL carrier may be transmitted over paired UL carriers. Carrier switching of UL and/or DL carriers, including primary and anchor carriers, may occur during normal operation or during handover, and may occur in only the UL or only the DL direction. A unidirectional handover is performed when only an UL carrier or only a DL carrier is switched as part of a handover. Switching of UL and/or DL carriers may be from one component carrier or a subset of carriers to another component carrier, another subset of carriers, or all carriers in the same direction.
US08620323B1

An access terminal establishes a session with a first radio access network (RAN). As a result, the access terminal receives a Unicast Access Terminal Identifier (UATI) assigned by the first RAN and establishes configuration settings for radio communications between the access terminal and the first RAN. The access terminal moves from the first RAN to a second RAN. Before the access terminal has a session established with the second RAN, the access terminal receives a request from a user to originate a call. In response, the access terminal sends the second RAN a connection request that includes the UATI assigned by the first RAN. The second RAN evaluates the UATI included in the connection request and determines that it was previously assigned to the access terminal by another RAN. Based on this determination, the second RAN grants the connection request by assigning a traffic channel to the access terminal.
US08620322B2

A base station may decide to initiate a handover of a communication with a mobile station from a first wireless link to a new wireless link and identify one or more wireless links for the handover. For each identified wireless link, the base station may then determine a channel-quality metric, a wireless-link loading metric, and perhaps a coverage-area loading metric. In turn, the base station may then select the new wireless link based on the channel-quality metric and one or both of the wireless-link loading metric and the coverage-area loading metric. For example, the base station may apply a linear function that includes as variables the channel-quality metric and the wireless-link loading metric, and the base station may select the identified wireless link that best satisfies this function. The base station may then facilitate the handover of the communication from the first wireless link to the selected new wireless link.
US08620321B2

Consistent handover can be provided between a plurality of objects by providing handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment including the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks.
US08620314B2

Apparatus and methods for determining a connection quality of a wireless device with a wireless communications network comprise a user manager operable to receive a plurality of communications messages as recorded by the wireless device, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device via the wireless communication network. Further, a connection quality module associated with the user manager is operable to generate a connection quality record comprising a connection quality characteristic based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of communications messages within the plurality of communications messages. Optionally, an optimization module may generate a configuration change for the wireless device and/or a network component based on the connection quality characteristic.
US08620296B2

Automatically created and dynamically updated lists of a user's frequently called contacts and favorite calling numbers may be provided via a frequently called contacts and favorite calling numbers application. If a call usage count associated with a particular phone number meets a prescribed threshold, the phone number may be added to a frequently called contacts list. Given a user's call frequency and type, the frequently called contacts list may be updated dynamically. A favorite calling numbers list may be generated manually or automatically based on various criteria for adding contact numbers to the list. Both the frequently called contacts list and the favorite calling numbers list may be tied in with a service provider's billing system, wherein special rates or discounts may be applied to calls made to or received from phone numbers in the frequently called contacts list or favorite calling numbers list.
US08620291B2

Apparatus, systems, and methods provide digital voice call redirection. A configuration module associates a phone number with a first identifier of a first voice terminal device and a second identifier of a second voice terminal device provided by an address module. A location module determines whether the first device is within a predefined proximity to the second device, such as by detecting connectivity between the devices, over a personal area network (“PAN”). A routing module redirects a digital voice call to a call module of the first device using the first identifier when the first device is not within the predefined proximity to the second device. Otherwise the routing module directs the call to a call module of the second device using the second identifier.
US08620285B2

A system for targeting mobile coupon placement on a mobile communication facility includes performing the steps of: (a) receiving a navigation request from the mobile communication facility operated by a user, wherein the navigation request comprises an action by the user with the mobile communication facility; (b) receiving information corresponding to a location of the mobile communication facility; (c) receiving information corresponding to a rendering capability of the mobile communication facility; (d) selecting a sponsored mobile coupon based at least in part on a relevance between the navigation request, the location, the rendering capability of the mobile communication facility, and a mobile subscriber characteristic or usage history characteristic; and (e) transmitting the sponsored mobile coupon to the mobile communication facility for display thereon.
US08620284B2

A system and method for controlling output of content on a media rendering device. A mobile phone may be effective to receive a request for content where the content is from a content processor. The mobile phone may be effective to generate a command based on the request, the command including a URL, the URL including an address of a gateway processor and an identification of the content processor. The mobile phone may be effective to send the command to the media rendering device. The media rendering device may be effective to send a request to the gateway processor using the URL. The gateway processor may be effective to receive the content from the content processor and send the content to the media rendering device. The media rendering device may be effective to output the content.
US08620279B2

An apparatus and method for sending video content to a mobile device is described. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprising embedding a widget in a website, the widget generating a form. The form is provided when a user visits the website so as to execute the widget. The form includes a first field to enter a recipient phone number, a send selector, and one or more non-visible fields, the non-visible fields containing a content service provider identifier, and a video URL. A data packet is generated with the widget when the user selects the send selector, the data packet including the recipient phone number, the video URL, and the content service provider identifier. An encoded version of the data packet is sent to the content service provider and a video link message is sent to the recipient phone number.
US08620273B2

A user interface and method for viewing communications events on a mobile device includes a user interface, a communications event handler, and a communications event database is disclosed herein. The communications event handler interfaces with the database and the user interface to the provide a user of the mobile device with a communications event history associated with the correspondent of an incoming communications event. Additionally the communications event handler interfaces with the database and the user interface to the provide a user of the mobile device with a communications event history for a specified correspondent.
US08620270B2

A method and corresponding apparatus for providing a cellular subscriber with access to a WLAN are provided. They involve identifying a multimode mobile terminal, which corresponds to the subscriber and the WLAN from an access request. Based on the identification, the WLAN is authorized to provide the mobile terminal with access. The mobile terminal is then provided with access to the WLAN as a cellular subscriber and enables interoperability between the two networks. For example, the subscriber does not have to supply a credit card to pay for WLAN access directly. Instead, the subscriber pays a cellular network provider, and, in turn, the cellular network provider pays a WLAN provider for the access.
US08620265B1

A portable electronic device that promotes user awareness of approaching a usage limit is provided, comprising a processor, a memory, and an application. When executed by the processor, the application installs a file describing a subscription plan documenting availability of at least one of wireless voice and data services, the subscription plan comprising a usage limit. The application also records a first usage of a first unit of a first service provided under the plan and increments a count of units of usage of the first service during a first usage period based on the record of the first usage. The application also detects the count of units of usage reaching a first predetermined threshold wherein the threshold is less than the usage limit. The application also presents a first message, the message providing notification of the count of units of usage reaching the threshold.
US08620263B2

According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for credit status triggered policy control. The method may include monitoring one or more credit control request (CCR) and credit control answer (CCA) messages associated with a request of credit for a subscriber. The method may further include determining whether an amount of granted credit for a service flow associated with the subscriber has reached a predetermined minimum threshold value. The method may further include notifying a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) of the credit status associated with the subscriber when the predetermined minimum threshold value has been reached.
US08620261B2

An information processing system of the present invention comprises a storage apparatus storing calculation equations for calculating a communication fee corresponding to an identifier of said information terminal regarding first and second subscription courses whose said particular utilization forms are different each other, and storing subscription information including information on a date and time of starting the first subscription course, and an information processing apparatus connected to the storage apparatus through a network. Upon receipt of information on the second subscription course will be selected instead of the first subscription course and a date and time of starting the second subscription course from the information terminal through the network, the information processing apparatus stores received information in the storage apparatus, and changes the calculation equation for calculating the communication fee based on the date and time of starting the second subscription course.
US08620259B2

A method and apparatus for implementing new services is disclosed whereby a model of the system implementing a new service is created by a function referred to herein as a Service Designer and then different views of the service from the perspective of individual OSS subsystems are published at a Service Hub for use in configuring new services. When a request for service arrives at a subsystem in the network, such as an ordering system, that subsystem will illustratively request a view of the service from the Service Hub. This view is representative of the interfaces and attributes common between the requesting subsystem and other network components, with interfaces to the requesting subsystem. The requesting subsystem then uses this view to transmit values of attributes that are defined to be communicated between the requesting subsystem and other network components.
US08620251B2

An electronic device includes an adjustable filter with a first filter element, and a second filter element coupled to the first filter element. The second filter element includes a field effect transistor (FET) including a source terminal, a drain terminal, and a gate terminal. The source terminal and the gate terminal are coupled to a reference voltage. A control circuit is coupled to the drain terminal and is configured to apply a control voltage thereto to vary a capacitance between the source and drain terminals to adjust the adjustable filter.
US08620247B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure can include, for example, determining from nodal voltages sampled at an input port of a matching network an impedance of a variable load coupled to an output port of the matching network, generating at least one control signal according to the nodal voltage, and tuning the matching network with the at least one control signal. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US08620240B2

An aspect of a power amplifier according to the present invention is a power amplifier that amplifies a modulated signal including amplitude modulated components and phase modulated components, the power amplifier including a first voltage source 21 that amplifies low-frequency components of the amplitude modulated components of the modulated signal to output a first voltage VC_L, a second voltage source 22 that amplifies high-frequency components of the amplitude modulated components of the modulated signal to output a second voltage VC_H, a current source 24 that amplifies amplitude components of the modulated signal to output a current, a combiner circuit 23 that combines the first voltage VC_L, the second voltage VC_H, and a current IM to generate a modulated power supply signal VOUT, and an RF amplifier 30 that amplifies a signal obtained by up-converting the modulated signal to a carrier frequency and outputs the amplified signal after modulating amplitude of the amplified signal by the modulated power supply signal VOUT. In this way, power efficiency of a circuit that generates a modulated power supply can be improved.
US08620231B2

A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing, antenna, and circuit board carried by the housing and having radio frequency (RF) circuitry operative with the antenna for receiving and transmitting RF signals through the antenna. A power amplifier is connected within a transmission line for amplifying RF signals to be transmitted over the transmission line to the antenna. An antenna switch is connected to the antenna and RF circuitry. An RF shield surrounds the power amplifier and antenna switch and isolates the power amplifier and antenna switch from the antenna and RF circuitry. A low pass filter is connected to the power amplifier and antenna switch for reducing any RF coupling of voltage standing waves of upper harmonic frequencies from the power amplifier into the antenna switch through the RF shield while maintaining transmission of signals through the transmission line at a desired fundamental frequency.
US08620227B2

Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of selectively connecting between a transmit chain and an antenna. For example, a device may include a transmit chain and a non-active connector module configured to electrically connect the transmit chain to at least one antenna when the transmit chain generates a wireless communication signal, and to electrically disconnect the antenna from the transmit chain when a wireless communication signal is received via the antenna.
US08620224B2

A communication method for transmitting a control signal from a first communication apparatus to a second communication apparatus, wherein the first communication apparatus performs a retransmission process in which the control signal is transmitted repeatedly until a positive acknowledgment signal is received or until a termination condition is satisfied, and the second communication apparatus that received the control signal transmits the positive acknowledgment signal to the first communication apparatus and determines, based on a period of time, a control start timing for starting control commanded by the control signal.
US08620223B2

The present invention provides a method and a base station for managing capacity of a wireless communication network, which relates to the field of wireless communications and is capable of saving energy while adjusting capacity of a wireless communication network of a base station. The present invention includes: checking total traffic of all overlay networks belonging to the base station; if the checked total traffic keeps being smaller than a preset load threshold, searching for and determining a first overlay network; maintaining normal work of a power amplifier of at least one antenna in each group of antennas in the first overlay network and turning off power amplifiers of one or more other antennas; and connecting the one or more other antennas to the power amplifiers maintaining normal work in the groups in which the one or more other antennas are located.
US08620215B2

An accessory for personalizing a mobile communication device includes an accessory body that is configured to adorn the mobile communication device and at least partially cover its exterior. At least one graphic design is disposed on the exterior surface of the accessory body to convey a theme. A data tag is secured to the accessory. The data tag stores data that facilitates personalization of at least one functionality of the mobile communication device in support of the theme. The data tag being configured so that the data is accessible via a short-range wireless protocol such as the Near-Field Communication (NFC) protocol.
US08620211B2

A sending subscriber system may participate in a wireless network by generating a message to transmit in a wireless network, identifying a local wireless subscriber system with which communications may be established, and determining whether to use the wireless local subscriber system as a relay.
US08620210B2

A radio communication system in which a mobile relay station includes a notification unit configured to notify the mobile station of mobility state information of the mobile relay station determined based on a number of base stations selected within a specified time, and the mobile station includes a base station selection processing unit to select the base station based on the mobility state information when the mobile station switches a device to be communicated with from the mobile relay station to the base station.
US08620205B2

An image formation apparatus is connectable to a post processing apparatus for performing a post process to a sheet. The image formation apparatus includes: a power source for outputting a voltage to a first load and a second load, the first load being provided in the image formation apparatus and being involved in image formation, the second load being provided in the post processing apparatus and being involved in the post process; a power source controller for increasing the output voltage of the power source during an operation of the second load; and a load controller for controlling an operation of the first load such that an output of the first load falls within a predetermined range during the operation of the second load.
US08620192B2

A color image forming machine is provided having a plurality of xerographic marking engines, each forming associated color separations that are combined to produce a color print image. Each marking engine includes a dual replenisher assembly having first and second reservoirs containing respective toners of different gloss levels. The reservoirs each include one or more augers separately and independently controlled for dispensing the respective toners into a developer to continuously vary the gloss level of the toner in the developer.
US08620191B2

A developing device comprising: a first transport member disposed in a first transport passage and configured to rotate and thereby transport developer; a second transport member disposed in a second transport passage and configured to rotate and thereby transport the developer; and a developer carrier configured to carry the developer supplied from the first transport passage, wherein the second transport passage is composed of an upstream section and a downstream section, the second transport passage communicates with the first transport passage via a first communication passage and a second communication passage, the upstream section is configured to receive refill toner, and V1
US08620190B2

A developing apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the developing apparatus, the developing apparatus including a developing roller, a mixing transfer unit including a first mixing transfer unit and a second mixing transfer unit, and an auxiliary mixing transfer unit disposed on a transfer path from the first mixing transfer unit to the second mixing transfer unit and to mix the developer transferred by the first mixing transfer unit and the supply toner, wherein the auxiliary mixing transfer unit includes a vertical transfer unit to vertically upward transfer the developer transferred by the first mixing transfer unit and a mixing unit to mix the developer transferred by the first mixing transfer unit and the supply toner injected from an upper side thereof and to connect the second mixing transfer unit to a through hole formed in a lower portion thereof.
US08620174B2

An image forming apparatus includes a toner density detection unit, cleaning member, motor and motion conversion unit. The toner density detection unit is configured to detect toner density. The cleaning member is configured to linearly reciprocate to clean a detection surface of the toner density detection unit. The motor has a rotational shaft. The motion conversion unit is configured to convert a rotation of the rotational shaft to a linear reciprocal movement of the cleaning member. The motion conversion unit includes a cam having a shape configured to cause the cleaning member to perform one reciprocal movement at each rotation of the cam.
US08620168B2

An image forming apparatus includes a weight detection sensor and a CPU (notification control section, weight calculation section and full-capacity amount correction section). The CPU calculates weight of toner in a waste toner container based on image formation history information including the number of image-forming sheets. When weight of toner in the waste toner container detected by the weight detection sensor reaches a semi full-capacity amount, the CPU makes a comparison of a detection value detected by the weight detection sensor with a calculation value calculated by the CPU and corrects a weight value in a full-capacity state with a correction value set based on a result of the comparison.
US08620163B1

Embodiments relate to methods, devices, and computer-implemented methods for receiving a modulated signal transmitted from at least one signal emitter. The method can include receiving at least one image that comprises image data representing the modulated signal received as radiation emitted from the at least one signal emitter, wherein the radiation represented in the image data comprises at least one period of the modulated signal and wherein the at least one image was captured by a camera of a computing device while a field of view of the camera was moving relative to the at least one signal emitter; analyzing, by at least one processor, the at least one image; extracting, based on the analyzing, the image data representing the radiation; and determining, from the image data that was extracted, the modulated signal transmitted by the at least one signal emitter.
US08620148B2

A playback control section 5 obtains identification information (an extension) of compressed coded data recorded on a recording medium 1 or input information designating a decoding scheme from outside; tries decoding, unless the decoding performed in accordance with the identification information obtained or with the decoding scheme corresponding to the input information is carried out normally, with successively switching to other compatible decoding schemes; and performs playback based on the decoding scheme that enables normal decoding.
US08620146B1

A method and apparatus for providing a picture-in-picture overlay video system for superimposing real time video onto a prerecorded video image onto a viewing screen. The present invention is used for exercise and sports instruction by enabling the user to view a real time video image superimposed on a viewing screen showing a prerecorded instructional video and allowing for comparison of the users form in comparison to that of the instructor on the prerecorded video. The merged images can also be saved for future evaluation.
US08620145B2

The present embodiments provide methods, systems and mediums for use in protecting content. Some embodiments provide methods for use in protecting content that access media content with sectors reserved for error data, search for and identify a reserved sector, access error data, replace at least a portion of the reserved sector in the media content with the error data, and record the media content and the error data onto a medium.
US08620137B2

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for defining entry points for a data stream, in particular a stream of audiovisual information. Entry points in the stream are defined at a predetermined interval. This may be a time interval, a byte interval or any other interval. It is an object of the invention to provide an entry point table having a limited size. This object is achieved by increasing the interval between entry points if the table exceeds a predetermined size. This size may be defined in bytes, in the number of entry points or even in the number of sub-tables. After redefinition of the interval between entry points, entry points are redefined. The invention also relates to an apparatus for defining the entry points and to a record carrier with a data stream incorporating entry points defined by the method according to the invention.
US08620120B2

A photonic integrated circuit (410) is described comprising at least one signal processing circuit (110). The signal processing circuit (110) comprises at least one input coupling element (120) for coupling incident light from a predetermined incoupling direction into the photonic integrated circuit (410), and at least one output coupling element (130) for coupling light out of the photonic integrated circuit (410) into an outcoupling direction. The relation between the incoupling direction and the outcoupling direction is different from a relation according to the law of reflection and the incoupling direction and the outcoupling direction are substantially the same. Furthermore, an optical sensor probe (400) comprising such a photonic integrated circuit (410) is disclosed. In some embodiments, the optical sensor probe (400) comprises an optical fiber (420) having a first facet and comprises a sensing element physically attached to the first facet, wherein the sensing element comprises said photonic integrated circuit (410).
US08620116B2

An optical modulation apparatus, including: a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having two light waveguides, two output light waveguides, and a join-and-branch portion located therebetween; a drive circuit configured to output a modulation signal to modulation electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides as a differential signal, the modulation signal modulating lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase adjustment circuit configured to control first phase control signals to be output to phase adjustment electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and adjust phases of lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase shift control circuit configured to switch second phase control signals to be output to phase shift electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and change phases of the lights propagated in the two light waveguides; and a signal polarity reversal circuit configured to reverse a polarity of the differential signal.
US08620114B2

A computer-implemented method of managing information is disclosed. The method can include receiving a message from a mobile device configured to connect to a mobile device network (the message including a digital image taken by the mobile device and including information corresponding to words), determining the words from the digital image information using optical character recognition, indexing the digital image based on the words, and storing the digital image for later retrieval of the digital image based on one or more received search terms.
US08620103B2

A video encoder may use an adaptive Wiener filter inside the core video encoding loop to improve coding efficiency. In one embodiment, the Wiener filter may be on the input to a motion estimation unit and, in another embodiment, it may be on the output of a motion compensation unit. The taps for the Wiener filter may be determined based on characteristics of at least a region of pixel intensities within a picture. Thus, the filtering may be adaptive in that it varies based on the type of video being processed.
US08620099B2

A method, medium, and apparatus processing depth information of a depth image. The apparatus adaptively presenting information on depth information includes a section determination unit determining which one of plural sections respective depth values for pixels of the 3D image fall within, with the plural sections being defined by a measured limit distance for the 3D image being parsed into the plural sections based on distance based depth resolution information, and an adaptive quantization unit to selectively quantize and represent each depth value based on a respective predefined quantization setting of the one section.
US08620092B2

A computer implemented method is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a first and second images for comparison, globally registering the first and second images, calculating for pairs of a first patch of the first image and second patch of the second image a similarity measure which is a product of luminance and contrast components and a normalized structure component, each component taking a value between 0 and 1 and determining similarity of the images based on the calculated similarity measure. Relating computer program product and data processing system are also disclosed.
US08620085B2

The outlines of specific subjects becoming unnaturally deformed is prevented, while reducing the amount of calculations. A reference image setting section sets a reference image which is to become a reference from among a plurality of images. A specific subject detecting section detects a specific subject from within the reference image. A feature point extracting section extracts a plurality of feature points from within the reference image such that the average density of the feature points become higher in the vicinity of the outline of the specific subject. A corresponding point obtaining means corresponding point obtaining section obtains corresponding points within the other images that correspond to the extracted feature points. A coordinate converting section converts the coordinates of the positions of each pixel within the reference image and/or the other images such that the positions of the feature points and the positions of the corresponding points match.
US08620082B1

Systems and methods for sonar image feature extraction, which fit a parameterized statistical model to sonar image data to extract features that describe image textures for follow-on pattern classification tasks. The systems and methods estimate the parameters of an assumed statistical model from the pixel values in the sonar images. The parameters of the distribution can then be used as features in a discriminant classifier to perform tasks such as texture segmentation or environmental characterization. The systems and methods divide a sonar image into separate overlapping cells. The ACF parameters of each cell are sequentially estimated using various methods. Based on the ACF parameters obtained, each cell is assigned a label via a pattern classification algorithm. The labeled image can be used in target recognition, environmental characterization and texture segmentation.
US08620073B2

A natural input image is upscaled, first by interpolation. Second, edges in the interpolated image are sharpened by a lion-parametric patch transform. The result is decomposed into an edge layer and a detail layer. Only pixels in the detail layer enhanced, and the enhanced detail layer is merged with the edge layer to produce a high resolution version of the input image.
US08620068B2

An image processing apparatus extracts an area for each color from an illustration area, specifies an area that is in contact with the boundary of the illustration area, extracts a color around the illustration area, determines whether or not the extracted color around the illustration area is the same as the color of the specified area, and processes vector data that represents an area that has been determined as having the same color.
US08620055B2

An embodiment of the invention provides a method and apparatus for registering two medical images with one another. A first medical image including a representation of a biological organ of a subject or for a population is obtained and the surface of the organ is identified in the first medical image. The identified surface is then used to construct a 3D geometric surface model of the organ. The geometric model is used to derive a motion model that incorporates information on the physical material properties of the organ and external forces that cause the organ to move and deform. A second medical image including a representation of the organ of the subject (or another subject, in the case that the first medical image is an atlas image) is obtained and an alignment is determined between a first surface normal vector field for the organ surface, derived from the geometric model, and a second surface normal vector field for the organ surface, derived by filtering the second medical image. The alignment accommodates deformation of the geometric model in accordance with the motion predicted by the motion model. The first and second medical images can then be registered with one another based on said determined model-to-image vector alignment (MIVA).
US08620054B2

An image reconstruction system and method based on image projection data collected by an imaging system having N tubes of response (TORs) having Nφ axial translation symmetries and Nθ in-plane rotation symmetries between the TORs. A system matrix mapping image projection data to pixels of an image is used, where the pixels are positioned according to a polar or cylindrical coordinate grid. During image reconstruction, matrix-vector computations are performed between the system matrix and vectors containing image estimates or image projection estimates. The matrix-vector computations are accelerated by structuring the system matrix coefficients, image vectors, and projection measurement vectors in such a way that symmetric data is stored in contiguous memory locations. Further, instead of storing the coefficients for all TOR and voxel combinations, matrix coefficients for only the subset of non-symmetric TOR and voxel combinations are stored, and the same coefficients are reused for the other symmetric TOR/voxel combinations.
US08620050B2

A method for registering a 2-D DSA image to a 3-D image volume includes calculating a coarse similarity measure between a 2-D DRR of an aorta and a cardiac DSA image, and a 2-D DRR of a coronary artery and the cardiac DSA image, for a plurality of poses over a range of 2-D translations. Several DRR-pose combinations with largest similarity measures are selected as refinement candidates. The similarity measure is calculated between the refinement candidate DRRs and the DSA, for a plurality of poses over a range of 3-D translations and in-plane rotations. One or more DRR-pose combinations with largest similarity measures are selected as final candidates. The similarity measure between the final candidate DRRs the DSA are calculated for a plurality of poses over a range of 3D translations and 3D rotations, and a DRR-pose combination with a largest similarity measure is selected as a final registration result.
US08620048B2

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a tomography image of a target to be captured, a detection unit configured to detect layer boundaries of a plurality of layers sequentially positioned in the depth direction from the acquired tomography image, and a determination unit configured to determine a structure of the target to be captured according to the number of the detected layer boundaries.
US08620043B2

An image processing apparatus includes a gradient strength calculating unit that calculates a gradient strength of respective pixel values based on an intraluminal image; an extracting unit that extracts a closed region satisfying conditions that the pixel of which gradient strength is a predetermined value or more is not included in the region and a boundary of the region does not bend with a predetermined curvature or higher toward an inner side of the region; and a detecting unit that detects an abnormal portion inside the region. The extracting unit includes a setting unit that sets an initial shape of the region; an energy calculating unit that calculates values of types of energy including at least energies determined respectively by an outer shape of the region and the gradient strength; and an energy-weighted sum calculating unit that calculates a weighted sum of the types of energy.
US08620042B2

An apparatus includes a calculating unit that calculates gradient strength of respective pixel values based on an intraluminal image, an extracting unit that extracts a closed region from the image, and a detecting unit that detects an abnormal portion of the closed region. The closed region satisfies conditions that the pixel of which gradient strength is a predetermined value or more is not included in the closed region and a boundary of the closed region does not bend with predetermined curvature or higher toward an inner side of the closed region. The extracting unit includes a setting unit that sets an initial closed region based on the gradient strength, an energy calculating unit that calculates values of types of energies based on an outer shape of the closed region and the gradient strength, and an energy weighted-sum calculating unit that calculates a weighted sum of the types of energy.
US08620037B2

An image retrieval system, including: an image input section for inputting a retrieval target image; an image data base for storing image data; a retrieval section for retrieving a plurality of images similar to said retrieval target image, by using a feature amount of said retrieval target image from said image data base; a filtering processing section for carrying out filtering processing using a whole image feature amount of another feature amount different from said feature amount of said retrieval target image about said plurality of images, to obtain a filtering result; and an outputting section for outputting said filtering result.
US08620034B2

A system and method for biometric identification of a target individual based on a query containing UV image data of the target individual. In one embodiment, the system includes a first database, a query module, a detection module, a sequence module and a match module. The first database includes a plurality of identities with each identity having at least one binary sequence representative of a skin area of that identity. The query module receives the query and validates the UV image data. The detection module detects at least one skin area in the UV image data. The sequence module forms at least one target binary sequence corresponding to the at least one skin area. The match module searches the first database based on the at least one target binary sequence to identify at least one identity thereby facilitating biometric identification of the target individual.
US08620032B2

A method and system may determine a location of a vehicle, collect an image using a camera associated with the vehicle, analyze the image in conjunction with the location of the vehicle and/or previously collected information on the location of traffic signals or other objects (e.g., traffic signs), and using this analysis locate an image of a traffic signal within the collected image. The position (e.g., a geographic position) of the signal may be determined, and stored for later use. The identification of the signal may be used to provide an output such as the status of the signal, such as green light.
US08620031B2

A smoke detecting method which uses a beam of radiation such as a laser (16), to monitor a region, such as a room (12). A camera (14) is used to capture images of part of the room (12), including a path of the laser beam. Particles in the laser beam scatter light (30), and this is captured by the camera (14) for analysis. A processor (20) extracts data relating to the scattered light (30) to determine the density of particles in the beam, to determine the level of smoke in the region. The laser may have a modulated output (38) so that images captured without the laser tuned “on” can be used as a reference point and compared to images taken with the laser turned “on”, to assist in determining the level of scattered light (30) compared to ambient light. Filters (24, 26) may be used to decrease signals generated from background light.
US08620023B1

A method and apparatus for detecting objects. An object detector associated with a platform and configured to detect a number of objects is used to monitor for the number of objects. In response to detecting the number of objects, a number of distances to the number of objects detected by the object detector are measured using a distance measurement system. A number of geographic locations for the number of objects is identified using the number of distances, a location of the platform, and an orientation of the distance measurement system.
US08620014B2

A miniaturized microphone maintaining the properties of a microphone chip and achieving a smaller mounting area. The microphone includes a package which includes a first and second member. At least one of the first second members includes a recess. The microphone also includes a circuit element installed on an inner surface of the first member. Additionally, the microphone includes a microphone chip arranged on a surface on an opposite side of an installing surface of the circuit element.
US08620012B2

An apparatus and a method for providing a stereo effect when playing an audio file at a portable terminal are provided. The apparatus includes a component extractor for extracting a mono component and stereo components from an audio signal and a gain controller for determining a signal ratio of the stereo components to the mono component and for controlling a stereo gain according to the signal ratio.
US08620010B2

The present invention relates to a loudspeaker device, comprising first and second closely located and individually acoustically isolated loudspeaker elements. The first and second elements are arranged to receive a first signal and a second signal, respectively, at least part of said first signal being in anti-phase relative to said second signal. The device further includes third and fourth loudspeaker elements, being located in close proximity to said first and second loudspeaker elements, respectively. The center of said third loudspeaker element is located such that a first axis intersecting the center of said first loudspeaker element and the center of said third loudspeaker element is inclined an angle φ relative to a horizontal plane, φ being in the range 0°-+30°, and the center of said fourth loudspeaker element is located such that a second axis intersecting the center of said second loudspeaker element and the center of said fourth loudspeaker element is inclined at an angle cp relative to a horizontal plane, φ being 0°-±30°. The first and second signals to said third and fourth loudspeaker elements, respectively, are low-pass filtered, the cut-off frequency of said low-pass filters being less than or equal to 2.5 kHz.
US08620007B2

A headset used as an external louder speaker and a method for adjusting an output of the speaker transducers are disclosed. The headset includes a signal receiver, speaker parts, hinge parts, and amplifiers. The speaker parts change their direction through the hinge parts. The output of speaker transducers is adjusted according to the direction of the speaker parts. When the output of speaker transducers is increased, the speaker parts of the headset are used as an external speaker.
US08620003B2

The invention converts non audio systems into distributed audio sources for active noise control solutions. The system transforms non acoustic structures into soundboards using inertial type acoustic transducers. Acoustic parameters unique for each application due to the variation in properties of the sound board are compensated by equalizers. The invention also uses damping means to limit the reflection of bending waves from the edges. The inertial type acoustic transducer is driven by an amplifier. The acoustic signal to the amplifier is modified by a signal conditioner to compensate for the non optimal response of the acoustic system. An external controller communicates with the amplifier to control its operating parameters. A series of distributed audio sources in a variety of positions may each be addressable as a node on a network wherein noise detected at that source is analyzed and the system generates sound at that source to mask the noise.
US08619997B2

A receiving apparatus includes: a local oscillator to output first- and second-local-oscillator signals whose phases are orthogonal to each other; a mixer to output first- and second-intermediate-frequency signals; a first filter to allow a component from a desired signal to pass therethrough, and eliminate a component from an image signal having a frequency symmetrical with that of the desired signal, in the first- and second-intermediate-frequency signals; a second filter to allow a component from the image signal to pass therethrough, and eliminate a component from the desired signal, in the first- and second-intermediate-frequency signals; a comparator to compare levels between output signals of the first and second filters; and a control unit to switch a frequency of the first- and second-local-oscillator signals to a difference frequency between a frequency of the desired signal and the intermediate frequency or a sum frequency thereof, according to a comparison result of the comparator.
US08619994B2

The present invention relates to a method and system for providing a digital content service that provides packaging content consisting of digital rights management (DRM) content and advertisement content, and is able to use the DRM content for free by watching or listening to the advertisement content, including: generating packaging content consisting of pilot content and target content, which has been encrypted using an encryption key of the pilot content, and providing the packaging content to a portable terminal; and obtaining a decryption key for the target content through playing the pilot content of the packaging content, and playing the target content by the decryption key, by the portable terminal.
US08619992B2

Creating a secure key includes creating a token and populating a key control information section of the token with a value to indicate a minimum number of key parts used to form a key. Creating the secure key also includes populating a payload section of the token with a first key part, binding the key control information section to the payload section, adding a second key part to the first key part and iterating the value and binding the key control information section to the payload section after the second key part has been added. Creating the secure key further includes indicating the key is complete, wherein the key comprises a combination of the first and second key parts.
US08619991B2

An encoding/decoding operation portion includes an encoding/decoding operation circuit and an avoiding path for detouring the encoding decoding operation circuit and can select between encoding or decoding input data in the encoding/decoding operation circuit and detouring the encoding/decoding operation circuit to output the input data without change. Only one wire has to be provided from a selector to a key storage portion and an initialization-vector storage portion. With this construction, it is possible to realize an encoding/decoding circuit which can suppress an increase in the number of wires used to transmit a content of key data to the key storage portion and the initialization-vector storage portion and does not cause complication of circuit layout.
US08619989B2

A home wireless router establishes a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that supports wireless communications within a WLAN service area. The home wireless router establishes broadband communications via a broadband connection with a VoIP service accumulator. The home wireless router services a plurality of wireless terminals within the WLAN service area, including at least one Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) wireless terminal. The home wireless router determines that a VoIP wireless terminal desires VoIP call servicing determines a WLAN encryption scheme supported by the VoIP wireless terminal, sets up, and services the VoIP call via the WLAN and the broadband connection. Servicing includes terminating the WLAN encryption scheme supported by the VoIP wireless terminal to protect the VoIP call as it is wirelessly serviced by the WLAN and terminating a broadband encryption scheme supported by the broadband connection to protect the VoIP call as it is serviced by the broadband connection.
US08619986B2

An apparatus and methods of securely communicating a message between a first device and a second device using a message specific identifier is disclosed. The method begins by receiving an encryption key request from a sending device, where the encryption key request is based upon the message specific identifier, which is associated with a plurality of attributes associated with the message and the sending device. In more detail, the message specific identifier may be an information-based indicator that is unique with respect to the message and the sending device. The method parses the encryption key request and the message specific identifier to provide an intermediate argument used to enter a current random character set that is periodically generated and stored into memory. The intermediate argument helps identify which type of encryption method is desired for use in encryption key generation. An encryption key is constructed using the intermediate argument as an entry point to the current random character set. A data structure is stored associated with the message specific identifier, a random character set identifier for the current random character set, and an identifier of the encryption method used before the key is transmitted back to the device.
US08619984B2

User rating data may be received at a correlation engine through a network. The user rating data may include ratings generated by a plurality of users for a plurality of items. Correlation data may be generated from the received user rating data by the correlation engine. The correlation data may identify correlations between the items based on the user generated ratings. Noise may be generated by the correlation engine, and the generated noise may be added to the generated correlation data by the correlation engine to provide differential privacy protection to the user rating data.
US08619978B2

A method and a system allow accessing several of a user's controlled access accounts by presenting the credentials of only one of the accounts. The method may include (a) storing the credentials for each of the user's accounts; (b) receiving from the user credentials corresponding to any of the user's accounts; (c) presenting the received credentials to access the corresponding account; and (d) upon successful access of the corresponding account, using the stored credentials to access one or more of the user's accounts without requiring the user to present the corresponding credentials. For each of the user's accounts, the credentials are stored encrypted, using a randomly generated key, common to all the encrypted credentials. In addition, the randomly generated key is encrypted using the credentials of each of the accounts. In that manner, plain-text copies of neither the random key nor the credentials of the accounts need to be stored.
US08619977B2

An elliptic curve cryptographic system where point coordinates are transformed from a first coordinate system to a second coordinate system. The transformed coordinates are processed by field operations, which have been modified for operating on the transformed point coordinates. In some implementations, the point coordinates are transformed from an affine coordinate system to a projective coordinate system using a non-random value for the projective coordinate. In some implementations, the transformed projective representation of the point can be changed from a first representation of the point in projective coordinates to a second representation of the point in projective coordinates, where the projective coordinate used in the representation change is a random value.
US08619969B2

An adaptive hybrid system is coupled to a loop for adjusting trans-hybrid loss. The system comprises a fixed portion comprising a first receiver transfer function block and a first hybrid transfer function block. The fixed portion is configured to receive a far-end signal and mitigate frequency dependent attenuation experienced by the far-end signal. The system also comprises a variable portion comprising a second receiver transfer function block and a second hybrid transfer function block configured to subtract a transmit echo from the received far-end signal.
US08619968B2

A queueless contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, achieve true one-to-one matching. Solutions are also provided for managing data structures utilized by the queueless contact center. Furthermore, mechanisms for generating traditional queue-based performance views and metrics for the queueless contact center are proposed to help facilitate a smooth transition from traditional queue-based contact centers to the next generation contact centers described herein.
US08619962B2

A method is provided for authorizing an authenticated user into a teleconference session as a participant that avoids some of the costs and disadvantages of doing so in the prior art. The authorization is a combination of the enterprise user's authentication at work and cryptographic authorization to the teleconference system by the inviter. When a user goes to work and connects with his or her office computer to the network of the user's employer, a secure single sign-on (SSO) access control procedure is executed. In a secure single sign-on (SSO) access control procedure, the user submits authentication information, such as a user name and password, to an identity provider and receives back a credential token when the identity provider determines that the user name/password pair is valid. The credential token is saved on the user's computer and used for further authentication.
US08619951B2

A computer-implemented method to securely collect data over a telephone is described. Telephone communications between a customer and a customer service representative are monitored. At least one tone from a telephone keypad of the customer is detected. The at least one tone represents sensitive data for the customer. An audio output channel directed to the customer service representative is prevented from outputting a detectable tone from the telephone keypad of the customer. An indicator is provided to the customer service representative when detection of the at least one tone occurs.
US08619949B2

A conference system is provided with enhanced settings capabilities. A controller can poll for settings at each endpoint in a conference system and be able via the video stream to selectively display and compare settings among the endpoints. One location can push its settings to one or more locations to overcome failures or degradation in the conference. The settings between different controllers may be rationalized via a common denominator method or tabular method to build a knowledge of how to configure conferences and to automate responses to problems.
US08619946B2

An x-ray source has multiple electron sources spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal direction that is defined as being parallel to the rotation axis of a rotating anode which is common to all of the electron sources. Each electron source emits electrons that strike the anode at respective strike points that are spatially separated from each other along the longitudinal direction, to produce respective emission centers, from which x-rays are emitted, each emission center being associated with respective ones of the x-ray sources.
US08619940B2

A method for transmitting a sounding reference signal from a user equipment in a MIMO antenna wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises receiving sounding reference signal setup information from a base station, the sounding reference signal setup information including an initial cyclic shift value nSRScs and an initial transmissionComb parameter value kTC; setting an interval between cyclic shift values corresponding to each antenna port based on the initial cyclic shift value, to reach a maximum interval; setting a transmissionComb parameter value corresponding to a specific one of the antenna ports to a value different from the initial transmissionComb parameter value if the initial cyclic shift value is a previously set value and the number of antenna ports is 4; and transmitting the sounding reference signal to the base station through each antenna port by using the set cyclic shift value and transmissionComb parameter value.
US08619939B2

An object of the present invention is to provide an inspection apparatus for inspecting weld zones in a reactor pressure vessel, the inspection apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic probe 6 for emitting an ultrasonic wave; a probe holding unit 60 for holding the ultrasonic probe 6 such that a ultrasonic wave transmitting surface of the ultrasonic probe 6 is kept in direct contact with or at a constant distance from the outer surface of the reactor pressure vessel 1; a pressing unit 50 for pressing the probe holding unit 60 parallel to a central axis of a control rod drive housing 8 against the reactor pressure vessel; and a rotator 40 for rotating the probe holding unit 60 and the pressing unit 50 about the central axis of the control rod drive housing 8.
US08619935B2

Methods and structure for on-chip self-test of clock jitter for an application clock signal generated within an integrated circuit (IC). Features and aspects hereof provide for acquisition of samples of an application clock signal within the IC and counting the number of samples having a predetermined value. The count is compared to acceptable limits range values to generate a pass/fail signal of the IC use by external automated. A sample clock is generated based on the reference clock used by a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) circuit. An incremental delay is added to the sample clock pulse such that the sequence of samples “walk” through an application clock pulse waveform to sense clock jitter at various points of the waveform based on the counts. Acceptable limits range for the count at each sampled point, the incremental delay, and the number of samples at each delayed value may be user programmed.
US08619930B2

A synchronization circuit that synchronizes received data, includes: a determiner for determining whether or not data with a phase of a internal clock can be stably captured by the synchronization circuit, when the synchronization circuit accepts the data received from another device connected to the synchronization circuit with the phase of the internal clock of the synchronization circuit; a first flip-flop circuit accepting the data and the internal clock, capturing the data with the phase of the internal clock and synchronizing the data, when the determiner determines that the synchronization circuit can stably capture the data; a second flip-flop accepting the data and an inverted internal clock that has a phase obtained by inverting the phase of the internal clock, capturing the data with the phase of the inverted internal clock, and synchronizing the data, when the determiner determines that the synchronization circuit can not stably capture the data.
US08619921B2

A channel estimation device comprises: a channel variation detection unit that determines whether variation width of a received signal level is not less than preset threshold width and whether variation period of received signal is not greater than preset threshold period; and a channel estimation unit that, if the channel variation detection unit determines that the variation width of the received signal level is not less than preset threshold width and that variation period is not greater than preset threshold period, refers to hysteresis of received signal level to determine whether lowering of received signal level is temporal, and, if it is determined that lowering of received signal level is temporal, allowing received signal to pass through, without removing received signal as noise, even when received signal level is not greater than signal level to be removed as noise.
US08619918B2

A method for sparse channel estimation in MIMO OFDM systems with a plurality of subchannels having the same sparsity structure is presented. The inventive method comprises initializing a plurality of residual vectors and observation generating matrices modeling the channel, sending a pilot signal for each subcarrier, converting the pilot signals to tap positions, detecting an optimal tap position, updating the residual vectors by removing the one residual vector having the optimal tap position, updating the generating matrices in accordance with the optimal residual vector, calculating weighted residuals based on the updated residual vectors, and repeating the steps, except initializing, until a stopping condition is met, wherein the updated observation matrices estimate the sparse channel. In one embodiment, the observation generating matrices are omitted. In one embodiment, multiple vectors are removed during one iteration. Pilot placement and pilot allocation techniques are presented to optimize the method.
US08619914B2

Provided are a receiver and a receiving method for a scalable bandwidth in a mobile station of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. The receiving method includes the steps of: (a) filtering a received RF signal; (b) oscillating a frequency according to a center frequency control signal to output a local oscillation frequency; (c) down-converting the filtered RF signal by using the local oscillation frequency; (d) scalable-filtering the down-converted signal while adjusting a bandwidth according to a bandwidth control signal; (e) controlling gain of the scalable-filtered signal; (f) converting the gain-controlled analog signal into a digital signal by using a sampling frequency matching with a corresponding bandwidth according to an ADC control signal; and (g) demodulating the converted digital signal, outputting the center frequency control signal, the bandwidth control signal, and the ADC control signal according to control information received from an upper layer.
US08619912B2

A frequency shift circuit that shifts the frequency of an input signal using a rotor corresponding to a predetermined phase rotation amount, the frequency shift circuit includes a table look-up unit that includes a plurality of tables that store complex data and outputs the complex data for each table based on address information, a complex multiplication circuit that complex-multiplies the complex data which have been output from the table look-up unit for each table, a deletion circuit that generates a rotor corresponding to a phase rotation amount which is based on a result of complex-multiplication executed, and a calculation circuit that calculates the address information for each table such that exp(2πjθ) is obtained as the result of complex multiplication executed based on rotation angle information θ.
US08619911B2

A system and method for decoding quadrature signals includes a quadrature signal generator, a quadrature signal decoder, a key matrix and a driver. The quadrature signal generator generates quadrature signals on rotation. The quadrature signal decoder is configured to convert the quadrature signals into non-overlapping signals. The key matrix is configured to receive the non-overlapping signals. The driver is configured to scan the key matrix to decode the non-overlapping signals to generate an event update corresponding to a direction of rotation of the quadrature signal generator.
US08619905B2

A predistorter includes a distortion compensating unit which gives, in advance, a reverse characteristic of a characteristic of input to output of a power amplifier to a transmission signal which is to be input to the power amplifier; a distortion compensation signal generating unit which generates a distortion compensation signal indicating the reverse characteristic based on transmission data that is sample data of the transmission signal and the delayed transmission data; and a delay amount control unit which controls a delay amount of the transmission data according to an output signal of the power amplifier.
US08619898B2

There is provided an information processing apparatus, including a signal receiving unit that receives a signal encoded in such a way that a signal containing a first bit value and a second bit value that are mutually different, wherein the first bit value is represented by a plurality of first amplitude values, the second bit value is represented by a second amplitude value that is different from the first amplitude values, a same amplitude value is not taken successively, and polarity of the amplitude value is reversed in each period, an amplitude square unit that squares an amplitude of the signal received by the signal receiving unit, and an input data decoding unit that decodes an input data by determining the first and second bit values based on the amplitude value of the signal output from the amplitude square unit.
US08619894B1

Systems and techniques for beamforming are disclosed. Codebook antenna ports, such as ports defined by the 8 transmit antenna LTE codebook, are mapped to sub-elements of an antenna array arranged to form a plurality of elevation and azimuth ports, such as 4 elevation and 2 azimuth ports or 2 elevation and 4 azimuth ports. The mapping is chosen so as to optimize performance. Phasing values may also be applied to signal components provided as inputs to the sub-elements, with the values chosen to maximize performance, such as rank 1 gain or rank 2 or higher performance.
US08619891B2

A method and apparatus for improving channel estimation within an OFDM communication system. Channel estimation in OFDM is usually performed with the aid of pilot symbols. The pilot symbols are typically spaced in time and frequency. The set of frequencies and times at which pilot symbols are inserted is referred to as a pilot pattern. In some cases, the pilot pattern is a diagonal-shaped lattice, either regular or irregular. The method first interpolates in the direction of larger coherence (time or frequency). Using these measurements, the density of pilot symbols in the direction of faster change will be increased thereby improving channel estimation without increasing overhead. As such, the results of the first interpolating step can then be used to assist the interpolation in the dimension of smaller coherence (time or frequency).
US08619890B2

A data processing apparatus maps input symbols to be communicated onto a predetermined number of sub-carrier signals of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbol. The data processor includes an interleaver memory which reads-in the predetermined number of data symbols for mapping onto the OFDM sub-carrier signals. The interleaver memory reads-out the data symbols on to the OFDM sub-carriers to effect the mapping, the read-out being in a different order than the read-in, the order being determined from a set of addresses, with the effect that the data symbols are interleaved on to the sub-carrier signals. The set of addresses are generated from an address generator which comprises a linear feedback shift register and a permutation circuit.
US08619886B2

A method is disclosed for mixed analog/digital beamforming in a wireless communication system having transmit and receive antennas and analog front-ends connected to either the transmit antennas or the receive antennas. The method includes determining transmit and receive analog/digital beamforming coefficients by a) determining information representative of communication channels formed between a transmit antenna and a receive antenna, b) defining coefficients representing the transmit analog beamforming coefficients and the receive analog beamforming coefficients, c) determining a beamforming cost function using the information and the coefficients, the cost function taking into account the analog front-ends, d) computing an optimized set of transmit/receive analog beamforming coefficients by exploiting the cost function, e) deriving an estimate of the frequency responses of the communication channels using the information determined in process a, and f) deriving for each channel transmit/receive digital beamforming coefficients using the estimated frequency responses and the optimized beamforming coefficients.
US08619885B2

The second radio communication system selects one or more of the sub-carriers S21 to be used in accordance with a condition of the sub-carriers S11. The second radio communication system transmits a radio signal by using the sub-carriers S21 selected. In the selection of sub-carrier, the sub-carrier S21 located between the plurality of sub-carriers S11 radiated in the frequency band BW2.
US08619870B2

A digital broadcasting transmission and/or reception system having an improved reception performance and a signal-processing method thereof. A digital broadcasting transmitter comprises a TRS encoder for to TRS-encode an MPEG-2 transmission stream having null data for inserting an SRS data and a TRS parity at predetermined positions, randomizer to input and randomize data stream from the TRS encoder, a SRS exchanger to replace the null data for inserting the SRS data to the known data, and an encoder for encoding a data streams to which the Known data is inserted. Accordingly, the present invention detects the known data from a signal received from a reception side and uses the detected known data for synchronization and equalization and further uses the TRS parity for correcting error of the received signal, so that the digital broadcasting reception performance can be improved at poor multipath channels.
US08619869B2

A digital broadcasting transmission and/or reception system having an improved reception performance and a signal-processing method thereof. A digital broadcasting transmitter comprises a TRS encoder for to TRS-encode an MPEG-2 transmission stream having null data for inserting an SRS data and a TRS parity at predetermined positions, randomizer to input and randomize data stream from the TRS encoder, a SRS exchanger to replace the null data for inserting the SRS data to the known data, and an encoder for encoding a data streams to which the Known data is inserted. Accordingly, the present invention detects the known data from a signal received from a reception side and uses the detected known data for synchronization and equalization and further uses the TRS parity for correcting error of the received signal, so that the digital broadcasting reception performance can be improved at poor multipath channels.
US08619862B2

The invention is related to the generation of an image data stream and the reconstruction of an image from an image data stream.The method for generating an image data stream comprises the steps of (a) assigning search regions in a reference image to source macro blocks of a current image; (b) determining in the search regions best matches and corresponding residuals and (c) encoding the determined residuals in a data stream. A further feature of the method is related to the fact that the processing order in at least one of the steps (b) and (c) depends on positions of the assigned search regions in the reference image.The variation in the processing order allows for more efficient determination of best matches at encoder side and/or reduced processing requirements at decoder side.
US08619855B2

A method includes examining a statistical distribution of motion vectors employed for motion compensation in a first frame of image data. The examining is to produce a distribution model of the motion vectors in the first frame. The method further includes selecting, based at least in part on the distribution model, a block-matching search pattern for use with respect to a second frame of image data. The second frame follows the first frame in a sequence of frames of image data.
US08619846B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for varying symbol amplitude. In one aspect, a system includes a symbol generator that includes a waveform generator configured to output waveforms at a plurality of selectable fundamental frequencies and with a selectable duty cycle. The symbol generator can also include a bandpass filter having a pass-band that corresponds to a communications channel of a communications network. The system can also include data processing apparatus operable to interact with the symbol generator and further operable to determine that at least a threshold number of endpoints that receive symbols from the symbol generator are experiencing a same type of transmission error. In response to the determination, the data processing apparatus can cause the waveform generator to adjust at least one of the fundamental frequency or a duty cycle of the waveforms. The fundamental frequency can be adjusted to a frequency having a harmonic that is within the pass-band.
US08619834B2

A frequency allocation method and apparatus using a mirroring-assisted frequency hopping pattern is provided for retransmission in a wireless communication system operating in a frequency hopping mode. A frequency mapping method for a wireless communication system operating in a frequency hopping mode includes determining whether or not mirroring is used in accordance with a number of packet transmissions; mapping a frequency resource for a packet transmission based on a result of the determination; and receiving a packet using the mapped frequency resource.
US08619825B2

A light-emitting device reliably supplying electric power to a light-emitting element on a supporting base and securing heat dissipation, and a method of manufacturing the light-emitting device are provided. A light-emitting device includes: a light-emitting element arranged on a first supporting base; a package covering the first supporting base and the light-emitting element therewith, and supporting the first supporting base; and a thermal conductive member having ends which are bonded to the light-emitting element and the package, respectively, so as to also have a wiring function.
US08619823B2

The invention relates to an optical system arranged to provide an output which, in operation, comprises at least one figure of merit, Q. The system comprises an optical component having multiple working areas, said component being mounted on a support member. The system further comprises an optical beam path arranged to bring light into interaction with at least one working area of the optical component wherein the position of said working area(s) may be selected by relative movement between said path and said component while keeping Q substantially unaffected by said movement.
US08619822B2

A system and method of generating an output signal includes a receiving system generating a plurality of signals having a first format, an encoder 162 encoding the plurality of signals into a plurality of transport streams and a multiplexer 210. The system also includes a local area network 130 routing the plurality of transport streams to the multiplexer 210 to form a combined signal, a modulator 214 modulating the combined signal to form a modulated signal and a system 202 forming the output signal from the modulated signal. In one aspect, the output signals may be satellite uplink signals.
US08619820B2

A system and method for routing data packets may be used. The method may include determining network usage of a first packet network managed by a first communications carrier. The network usage may distinguish communications of data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content. Network usage of a second packet network may be determined. A network usage differential between the determined network usages of the first and second packet networks may be determined. The data packets may be routed utilizing a threshold for the network usage differential.
US08619817B1

A communication gateway receives an Internet Protocol (IP) message sourced from a first IP address and directed to a second IP address. The gateway associates the first IP address with a code. The gateway processes the second IP address to identify a Radio Access Network (RAN) address. The gateway transfers the IP message directed to the RAN address and sourced from the second IP address. The IP message uses the code as the source port number. A base station receives the IP message, and in response to the RAN address, wirelessly transfers the IP message to a routing system. The routing system wirelessly receives the IP message and forwards the IP message based on the second IP address which is now in the source address field.
US08619814B2

A method and apparatus of transmitting a PPDU in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes selecting a subchannel among a plurality of subchannels, wherein a PLCP preamble and a PLCP header in each PPDU are independently generated in each of the plurality of subchannels, and transmitting a PPDU in the selected subchannel.
US08619805B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for transmitting data in a listen before talk (LBT) wireless transmission regime. A digital radio receiver is configured to simultaneously receive and decode digital data transmissions from multiple radio channels. A digital radio transmitter is configured to listen to the multiple radio channels prior to transmitting digital data on a selected one of the multiple channels, based on locally determined channel occupancy. Optimal LBT efficiency is achieved within the set of multiple channels, thereby improving overall transmission efficiency between the transmitter and the receiver.
US08619801B2

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for sharing a transmission control protocol (TCP) port by a plurality of applications are provided. Embodiments include receiving, by a transmission controller from a client, a first TCP packet that includes an indication of a new TCP connection for a TCP port; determining, by the transmission controller, an origination of the first TCP packet; identifying, by the transmission controller, a TCP sequence number range associated with the determined origination; selecting, by the transmission controller, an initial sequence number (ISN) within the identified TCP sequence number range; and sending, by the transmission controller to the client, a second TCP packet that includes the selected ISN.
US08619788B1

In general, techniques are described for performing scalable layer two (L2) learning in computer networks. A network device that includes interfaces and a control unit may implement these techniques. The control unit stores a L2 learning table having entries that are each associated with a service tag identifying a service virtual local area network. In response to receiving a packet that includes a service tag, the interfaces access the L2 learning table using the service tag to determine whether any of the entries of the L2 learning table are associated with the service tag. When none of the entries are associated with the service tag, the L2 learning module updates the L2 learning table to create a new entry defining an association between the one of the interfaces that received the packet and the service tag.
US08619782B2

A network packet includes a packet key that includes one or more source-destination field pairs that each include a source field and a destination field. For each selected source-destination field pair, first and second sections are selected in the packet key. A source field value is extracted from the source field and a destination field value is extracted from the destination field. For each source bit of the source field value: a destination bit is selected from the destination field; an OR logic function is applied to the source bit and the destination bit to generate a first resulting value is stored at the same bit position as the source bit in the first section; an AND logic function is applied to the source bit and the destination bit to generate a second resulting value stored at the same bit position as the source bit in the second section.
US08619775B2

A Flow Transport and Delivery Network (FTDN) supports delivery and transport of flows to destination nodes over parallel overlay networks. Overlay nodes executing overlay processes create and maintain one or more overlay networks. A plurality of sites are connected to each other via the parallel overlay networks with each site comprising one or more transit routers that route the flows to the destination nodes.
US08619766B2

A method and apparatus for classifying packets, e.g., at wire speed are disclosed. The method receives a packet and processes the packet through a hardware-based packet classifier having at least one evolving rule. The method then processes the packet through a software-based packet classifier if the hardware-based packet classifier is unable to classify the packet. In one embodiment, the at least one evolving rule is continuously modified in accordance with learned traffic characteristics of the received packets.
US08619760B2

Disclosed is a radio (wireless) communication system providing a radio communication service and a terminal, and an operation method of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and more particularly, to an operation method of transmitting, by a transmitting side (transmitter), data blocks by including a Connection Frame Number (CFN) therein such that a receiving side (receiver) processes each of received data blocks by a reference time, as a method of providing a Circuit Switched (CS) service using a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) or High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technology.
US08619756B2

Systems and methods identify a multi-hop network data path with sufficient available resources at each node along the data path to facilitate desired end-to-end data flow. Embodiments operate to identify resource constraints for meeting QoS or other communication requirements at each node of a multi-hop data path and propagate the resource constraint information within the network for use in identifying data paths suitable for supporting a desired end-to-end data flow. A resource allocation algorithm operable to allocate resources to achieve an end-to-end data flow meeting the communication requirements is implemented according to embodiments. A resource allocation algorithm of embodiments operates to ensure efficient use of the available resources so that desired conditions are satisfied when the resource requirements are met at each intermediate node for the upstream and downstream links and also both links simultaneously.
US08619744B2

In a reception method and a receiver, a base station corrects a frequency offset contained in a reception signal from each user terminal and realizes excellent reception characteristics by using a simple receiver mechanism for performing frequency domain processing in a radio system using a frequency division multiplex (FDM) method. The base station includes: a DFT section that converts reception signals from a plurality of mobile stations communicating by radio communication using FDM all at once into the frequency domain; a demapping section that recognizes, from the frequency domain signals, user signals corresponding to respective mobile stations by using sub-carriers selected in association with respective mobile stations; a correction signal generation section generating a correction signal correcting a user signal frequency offset for each user signal; a frequency conversion section that corrects the frequency offset of the user signal by the correction signal; and a demodulation section that demodulates each of the corrected user signals.
US08619737B2

A technology is disclosed for a mobile device with multiple interfaces to make use of its multiple interfaces capability with Mobile IP. According to this technology, MN (Mobile Node) 100 comprises a cellular interface to connect to the cellular network 112 and a Wireless-LAN interface to connect to the local network 122 and 132, and sends a Binding Update message to set the address of the Wireless-LAN interface to CoA (Care-of Address) to HA (Home Agent) at the cellular network or CN (Correspondent Node) 160. This Binding Update message includes a special label indication that the cellular interface is currently connected to the home network.
US08619730B2

A Wireless mobile communication (WMC) device may maintain user preference information, which is unique to the WMC device capabilities and the device user. WMC devices located in near proximity of each other may be enabled to form an ad hoc wireless network wherein each WMC device within the network may function as a router for other devices. Utilizing such routing capability within an ad hoc wireless network may allow WMC devices that are out of their wireless coverage area to use other WMC devices within such ad hoc wireless network to route any impending communication through such other WMC devices wherein these devices may have wireless connectivity to their coverage networks. WMC devices that are may have external connectivity may be enable to be selective in routing information and/or data from other WMC devices in the ad hoc network.
US08619712B2

A method and device for detaching a user equipment (UE) are disclosed in the present invention. The UE is registered with a mobility management entity (MME) in a packet switched (PS) network and a mobile switching center (MSC) in a circuit switched (CS) network. When the UE needs to detach from the PS network, the MSC receives a Detach Request with a Detach Type indicating the detaching from the PS network only; after receiving the Detach Request, the MSC deletes the context of the PS core network entity and clears the connection between the MSC and the MME. An MME for performing UE detachment is also disclosed in the present invention. The present invention helps reduce the time delay during the subsequent handover and quickly provide users with communications services, so as to improve user's experience and meet the carriers' requirements.
US08619709B2

In an access point scan method by which a station disconnected from an access point scans for a next access point to which the station can be connected at a predetermined scan interval, the station sets a shorter scan interval when a possibility of connection to the next access point to which the station can be connected is presumed to be high or a need for connection is presumed to be great, and sets a longer scan interval when the possibility of connection is presumed to be low or the need for connection is presumed to be small, based on one of information on the access point to which the station being connected just before disconnection and information on the station.
US08619696B2

A method and apparatus for controlling enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) transmissions are disclosed. An enhanced uplink medium access control (MAC-e/es) entity processes a received scheduling grant to calculate a serving grant. The MAC-e/es entity determines whether both a hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) process for scheduled data and scheduled data are available. If an H-ARQ process for scheduled data and scheduled data are available, the MAC-e/es entity determines whether a serving grant exists. The MAC-e/es entity calculates a remaining power based on maximum allowed power and restricts an E-DCH transport format combination (E-TFC) based on the remaining power. The MAC-e/es entity selects an E-TFC using the serving grant and generates a MAC-e protocol data unit. The MAC-e/es entity may process the received scheduled grant is at each transmission time interval or may store the received scheduled grant in a grant list until there is E-DCH data to transmit.
US08619686B2

A method of managing baseband resources in a mobile communications network, wherein at least one interference cancellation technique in uplink is available, the method comprising the steps of: when baseband resources are demanded by a mobile user, determining whether there are free baseband resources or not, and: if there are not free baseband resources, determining whether there is at least one interference cancellation process cancelling the interference caused by at least one mobile user or not, and: if there is at least one interference cancellation process cancelling the interference caused by at least one mobile user, one mobile user is removed from said interference cancellation process.
US08619684B2

A method is provided to generate messages for wireless communications. The method includes encapsulating a first message protocol within the framework of a second message protocol and generating a message from the first message protocol and the second message protocol. The method transmits the first message protocol to an allocation space designated for the second message protocol.
US08619672B2

An apparatus and method for estimating velocity and Doppler frequency comprising acquiring a first plurality of time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements from a first plurality of base stations at a first time; acquiring a second and a third plurality of TOA measurements from a second and third plurality of base stations at a second time and a third time; determining a plurality of line-of-sight distance measurements using the first, second and third pluralities of TOA measurements; determining a plurality of velocity estimates and a plurality of angle of arrival (AOA) estimates, using the plurality of LOS distance measurements; determining a plurality of Doppler frequency estimates using the plurality of velocity estimates and the plurality of AOA estimates; and using a processor for determining an average Doppler frequency estimate over a plurality of sectors, wherein the first, second and third pluralities of TOA measurements are acquired over the plurality of sectors.
US08619670B2

The present invention relates to a method of controlling broadcasting in a wireless sensor network. The method includes performing broadcasting from an upper node to a lower node for a predetermined number of times, transmitting a time offset calculated according to the broadcasting from the lower node to the upper node, calculating an average of the time offsets received from at least one lower node, by the upper node and resetting the number of times of broadcasting according to the calculated average by the upper node. Accordingly, the number of times of broadcasting may be controlled according to the average of received time offsets in the wireless sensor network. In another aspect, an adjustment to the number of times of broadcasting may be received and the number of times of broadcasting may be adjusted based on an average of the received adjustments.
US08619669B2

Methods of providing multicast communications within a wireless communications network are provided. In an example, an access network forms a target sector group, the target sector group including at least one target sector from among a plurality of sectors, each target sector expected to have one or more access terminals belonging to a given multicast group. The access network also forms a supporting sector group, the supporting sector group including at least one supporting sector from among the plurality of sectors, each supporting sector not being a target sector and satisfying a proximity metric (e.g., being adjacent to one or more target sectors) with respect to at least one target sector. The access network transmits multicast messages associated with the given multicast group in the at least one target sector and the at least one supporting sector.
US08619650B2

Devices, systems and methods to schedule a service period at a wireless network. A wireless network controller of the wireless network may set a start time of a service period. The start time is no less than a predefined time after transmitting by the wireless network controller an information element containing the service period scheduling information.
US08619638B2

Systems and methods for performing MCS adaptation are provided. In some cases, the network performs MCS adaptation based on received NACKs. In other cases, the mobile station determines an MCS based on channel quality measurements, and feeds back the MCS adaptation decision to the network. In either case, NACK-only feedback may be implemented to reduce interference.
US08619629B2

Disclosed is a technique for surely supporting multihoming for a mobile terminal (mobile node) moving in a local mobility domain. A mobile node (MN) 11 connects via an IF 110 to a mobile access gateway (MAG) 102 that supports multihoming, and further attempts to connect via an IF 111 to a MAG 103 that does not support multihoming. Under these conditions, according to this technique, when the MN recognizes that the MAG 103 does not support multihoming, the MN notifies a local mobility domain that the MAG 103 does not support multihoming if connection with the MAG 103 is not yet established, and notifies the local mobility domain of information on a connection to a local mobility domain other than the MAG 103 (connection with the MAG 102) if the connection with the MAG 103 is already established.
US08619627B2

A particular networked machine broadcasts packets from its interfaces resulting in patterns of returned copies of the sent broadcast packets received on its interfaces. Based on these patterns, a determination is made to identify groupings of one or more of the interfaces that are considered by remote devices as being grouped together, as a broadcast packet transmitted from an interface belonging to a grouping will be received on, and only on, a single interface in each of the other groupings, with a grouping being one or more interfaces. In one implementation, a grouping is defined as a single independent interface, or an aggregation of two or more interfaces combined into a single logical interface, such as, but not limited to that of a PortChannel.
US08619626B2

A method and apparatus for use in a communications network whereby an Instance Identifier (ID) is created to uniquely identify a device such as a mobile device or User Equipment (UE) in the communications network.
US08619614B2

A device, connected to a monitoring appliance, may include a traffic analyzer to receive a data unit and identify a traffic flow associated with the data unit. The device may also include a traffic processor to receive the data unit and information regarding the identified traffic flow from the traffic analyzer, determine that the identified traffic flow is to be monitored by the monitoring appliance, change a port number, associated with the data unit, to a particular port number to create a modified data unit when the identified traffic flow is to be monitored by the monitoring appliance, and send the modified data unit to the monitoring appliance.
US08619609B2

A wireless mesh network, method, and processor-readable storage medium for using stand-alone repeaters that are designated as having priority over other communication nodes with respect to their service as repeaters are disclosed herein. According to various embodiments, a control node or collector builds a wireless mesh network by first establishing communication paths with the designated priority communication nodes and then with communication nodes that are not designated priority communication nodes.
US08619604B2

A system and method for auto 10BASE-T/10BASE-Te selection based on cable characteristics. IEEE 802.3az defines a new 10BASE-Te PHY type for energy efficiency that runs on Category 5 or better cabling. Configuration of a PHY that supports both 10BASE-T and 10BASE-Te operating modes is based on measurements that provide an indication of channel characteristics.
US08619599B1

Methods and systems for implementing self-testing of packet processing devices are disclosed. For example, a packet-processing device can include a plurality of ports having a receive media access controller (RX MAC) and a transmit media access controller (TX MAC). The TX MAC of a first port is selectably configurable to loop back packets to its respective RX MAC during the self-testing. The packet-processing device can further include a switching engine configured to provide a test packet received from a packet generator to the TX MAC of the first port, and route to the TX MAC of one or more second ports at least the test packet received from the RX MAC of the first port, or a copy of the received test packet, after the received test packet or its copy has been looped-back one or more times between the TX MAC and the RX MAC of the first port.
US08619595B2

In one embodiment, a method includes generating at an ingress routing bridge in a TRansparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) network, a trace message for a specified flow along a path from the ingress routing bridge to a destination reachable through the TRILL network, transmitting a single trace message from the ingress routing bridge to a next-hop routing bridge in the TRILL network, receiving a plurality of reply messages in response to the transmitted trace message, and identifying the routing bridges in the path and a location of any fault in the path. An apparatus for fault isolation in a TRILL network is also disclosed.
US08619594B2

The system and method get a packet trace for a failed communication and a packet trace for a successful communication. The two packet traces are generated with packets from a common protocol(s) shared by the two communications. The failed and successful communications have at least some network elements in common. A field(s) in the common protocol(s) is identified. The field(s) is updated to be the same in both packet traces. The two packet traces are then compared to produce a list of remaining differences that can be used to diagnose problems in the failed communication. The list can also be compared to bills of materials for the failed and successful communications to further enhance diagnosis of the failed communication.
US08619593B2

A device may manage fixed wireless installations. The device may receive data relating to the fixed wireless installations, where the data is received from a number of sources, including the fixed wireless installations and network devices used to implement a long term evolution (LTE) cellular network to which the fixed wireless installations connect. The device may analyze the data to determine optimizations to improve the operation of one or more of the fixed wireless installations or the LTE cellular network. The device may change, in response to the analysis, a configuration of at least one of the fixed wireless installations and at least one of the network devices.
US08619590B2

A method of transmitting an Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) message and of processing an error in a Passive Optical Network (PON) system is provided. Using an OAM packet format that may be used in common in the PON system, a process of transmitting or receiving an OAM message may be simplified, an efficiency of the process may be increased, and an Optical Network Unit (ONU) may be managed at a high speed.
US08619585B2

Embodiments of a system with a first network device and at least first and second links connecting the first network device and one or more other network devices are disclosed. The first network device determines the costs of the first and the second links using the latencies of the first and the second links and factors that correspond to the bandwidths of the first and the second links.
US08619584B2

Methods and apparatus for generating different hash values in an effort to achieve better load balancing among various paths in a data center environment, such as Data Center Ethernet (DCE) with Layer 2 Multipathing (L2MP), supporting equal-cost multipath (ECMP) routing are provided. In this manner, the data center environment may attain better network utilization for high-performance computing (HPC), storage area network (SAN), and/or local area network (LAN) traffic.
US08619574B2

A fabric login (FLOGI) in a Fibre Channel (FC) adapter is throttled by a system. The system includes a first tracking mechanism, a second tracking mechanism, a switch, and an FC adapter. The FC adapter comprises three or more FLOGIs and a controller.
US08619569B2

A method is disclosed for use in a packet switched network, comprising carrying descriptor information relating to options for stream adaptation, for example media stream adaptation, in the packet switched network using at least one of the Next Step in Signalling, NSIS, and Resource Reservation Protocol, RSVP, signalling protocols. Carrying the descriptor information may comprise receiving (S120), processing (S130), generating (S110), distributing (S140), transmitting (S140) or using the descriptor information in any way. The method aims to provide a generally applicable solution for cross-layer information forwarding, with one realization of the general solution using the Layer Independent Descriptor as the forwarded information. Specific NSIS and RSVP object formats are also proposed.
US08619567B2

A system and method for delaying packet transmissions within source devices and network bridges for the purpose of reducing the worst-case delays associated with forwarding of time-sensitive packets through a bridged network. The minimal bridged network system include a first device node attached to a first network link, a second device node attached to a second network link, and a bridge connecting the first network link to the second network link. The method and system includes shaping the traffic within a source device or bridge (shaping involves spreading bunched packets over time). Within a bridge, shaping occurs at each output port of the bridge, applying a distinct shaper to the traffic coming from each of the input ports, as well as distinct shapers for the distinct traffic class coming each of the input ports. According to the system and method disclosed herein, the present invention ensures small latencies when passing through network bridges, regardless of the network topology or other concurrent data-packet transfers, subject to the restriction that the cumulative time-sensitive bandwidth flowing through any link is less than the prenegotiated rate below that of the link's cumulative bandwidth capacity.
US08619566B2

Schedule and channel assignment (SCA) in a wireless mesh network (WMN) is disclosed. A method includes: forming a representation of a sequence of permutation matrices from a n×n rate matrix. The entries of the rate matrix define the bandwidth of links between the n nodes of the WMN. Each of the permutation matrices represents active radio links between the n nodes. The sequence of permutation matrices defines a sequence of radio links to provide the desired bandwidth of links between said n nodes. Further, a representation of a sequence of partial permutation matrices corresponding to the sequence of permutation matrices is formed in such a way that each of the permutation matrices can be decomposed into a group of partial permutation matrices. Each of the partial permutation matrices in a group represents non-interfering radio links between the n nodes. In each timeslot, the n nodes are configured for radio transmission and reception in accordance with at least one of the partial permutation matrices in each group to transmit traffic between the n nodes. Example SCA can be used to provision longer-term guaranteed-rate backhaul traffic flows supporting multimedia services such as VOIP or IPTV between base-stations in a WMN, with near-minimal delay and jitter and near-perfect Quality-of-Service for every provisioned traffic flow.
US08619564B2

A method of initiating a communication session includes transmitting, using a call signaling protocol, a call invitation from a first node over a network for receipt by a second node. The call invitation comprises a list of one or more codecs available to the first node for use when transmitting data over a network. The call invitation additionally comprises a traffic specification associated with each of the one or more codecs. The traffic specification associated with each of the one or mode codecs comprises a plurality of bandwidth attributes that describe the flow of data when transmitting data using each of the one or more codecs.
US08619556B2

Described herein is a method of controlling call admission for packet switched networks, each network including at least two local area networks (50, 60) and a connecting network (70). The method comprises determining success rates of previous calls from a first local area network to a second local area network and deciding to drop the call attempt based on the success rates of previous calls. In one embodiment, the current packet loss rate for calls from the first local area network to the second local area network is also determined, and the decision to drop the call attempt is based on that current packet loss rate. Additionally, the decision to drop the call attempt may be based on both the current packet loss rate and the success rates of previous calls. It is also possible to transmit a burst of trial data from a first node in the first local area network through the connecting network to a second node in the second local area network, have the burst of trial data received at the second node reflected back to the first node, and to compare the reflected burst of trial data to the transmitted burst of trial data to determine whether transmission of a continuous stream of data can be initiated from the first node in the first local area network to the second node in the second local area network once the reflected burst of trial data has been received at the first node through the connecting network.
US08619552B2

A virtual router spans a number of physical routing devices. A set of physical ports on one of the physical routing devices is logically represented as a trunk. A respective port priority value is associated with each of those ports, and a device priority value is associated with the physical routing device. If a port in the trunk is out-of-service, then the device priority value can be adjusted by the port priority value associated with the out-of-service port. A corrective action can be implemented if the device priority value fails to satisfy a condition. For example, the physical routing device may failover to another one of the physical routing devices spanned by the virtual router.
US08619544B2

A method and apparatus facilitating transmit diversity for control information communications is provided. The method may comprise processing received content, generating control information in response to the processed content, allocating two or more resources associated with two or more transmit antennas for transmitting the control information using a transmit diversity scheme, and determining cyclic shifts by applying a predetermined cyclic shift delta parameter.
US08619526B1

Aspects of the disclosure can provide a method for generating an offset correction signal with a reduced circuit footprint. The method can include converting samples of a wobble signal into digital values having a reduced number of bits, integrating the digital values having the reduced number of bits over a specified time interval to determine an error signal, and generating an offset correction signal based on the determined error signal.
US08619524B2

If a recording error has occurred during RAW, then subsequent recording reproducing processing is omitted in a predetermined range, and all blocks omitted in the processing are handled as defective blocks, DFL-registered, and recorded in a replacement area. As a result, it becomes possible to hold down the number of times of recording processing accompanied by seek processing in the RAW processing, and transfer rate lowering can be solved.
US08619518B1

A thermally assisted magnetic head includes a main magnetic pole layer, a near-field light generating layer having a generating end part generating near-field light arranged within a medium-opposing surface, and an optical waveguide guiding light to the near-field light generating layer. The optical waveguide has a waveguide end face arranged within the medium-opposing surface and an upper end face on a side closer to the main magnetic pole layer. The thermally assisted magnetic head has an interposed layer which is in direct contact with an outer surface of the optical waveguide. The near-field light generating layer has a near-field light generating part having the generating end part and an expanded part connected with the near-field light generating part. The expanded part has a base part arranged above the upper end face of the optical waveguide and extended base part connected with the base part.
US08619516B1

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for recording data in data tracks of a TAR disk is supported on an air-bearing slider and includes the magnetic write pole, a near-field transducer (NFT), an optical waveguide that directs laser light to the NFT, and an electrically conductive layer between and in contact with the NFT and the write pole. The NFT has an output tip having a generally triangularly-shaped end at the slider's air-baring surface (ABS). The electrically conductive layer is located between the NFT and the write pole and contacts both the NFT output tip and the write pole. The electrically conductive layer has a contact edge that is generally parallel with the ABS but recessed from the NFT output tip end and a cross-track width greater than the cross-track width of the NFT output tip end.
US08619513B1

A near field transducer antenna has a first end proximate a media writing surface and a second end proximate a waveguide that delivers light to the antenna. The antenna includes an aperture disposed along a propagation axis that extends from the first end to the second end. A notch protrudes within the aperture. The notch is facing an opening of the aperture that extends along the propagation axis. A magnetic pole is proximate the antenna, and includes a first portion of magnetic material and a second portion of antenna material. The second portion is disposed over the opening of the aperture and facing the notch of the antenna.
US08619512B1

An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) head having a stress buffer for reducing the stress on a near-field transducer during thermal expansion and methods for fabricating the EAMR head are provided. The EAMR head includes a waveguide, a near-field transducer (NFT) configured to receive optical energy from the waveguide, and a cladding of the waveguide has an opening. The NFT is positioned within the opening, and an air gap is formed between the NFT and a side wall of the opening.
US08619510B1

A measurement method of a magnetic field gradient of a recording magnetic field generated by a magnetic head in a recording medium includes a step of locally heating the recording medium in a nonmagnetic field state where a magnetic field is not applied to the recording medium at all and measuring a temperature gradient of the recording medium in the nonmagnetic field state, a step of locally heating the recording medium in a recording magnetic field application state where the recording magnetic field is applied to the recording medium and measuring a temperature gradient of the recording medium in the recording magnetic field application state, and a step of calculating a magnetic field gradient of the recording magnetic field based on the temperature gradient of the recording medium in the nonmagnetic field state and the temperature gradient of the recording medium in the recording magnetic field application state.
US08619509B1

In an example, a method comprises aligning a central axis of a paddle portion on a write pole circuit to be substantially perpendicular to an adjacent magnetic surface, and bending a central axis of an extended tip portion relative to the central axis of the paddle portion. In another example, a transducer head comprises a write pole circuit having a paddle portion with a central axis, and an extended tip portion with a central axis, the central axis of the extended tip portion angled from the central axis of the paddle portion. In another example, a magnetic circuit comprises a write pole circuit having a paddle portion and an extended tip portion, the extended tip portion bending away from a central axis of the paddle portion, and a coil wrapping around the extended tip portion.
US08619505B2

A watch provides a chronographic function while the watch is in a “sport” mode. If a user activates a button relating to the chronographic function, such as a “start/lap” button, then the light for the watch will automatically activate. The light may remain active for a significantly long time, such as a period of six seconds or more. Alternately or additionally, if a user activates a button while the watch is in a “performance” or “sport” mode, then the light will automatically activate regardless of the button being activated. Still further, the chronographic function of the watch may be configured to not measure a lap time that is lower than a preset threshold value, such as, for example, three seconds.
US08619503B2

A wellbore seismic source includes a sparker electrically coupled to a power source. The sparker is disposed in a pressure-sealed canister, wherein the canister is at least partially filled with liquid. At least one of the pressure of the liquid and the energy discharged by the power source through the sparker is selected to cause emission of acoustic energy at a selected frequency.
US08619501B2

One or more embodiments and methods of analyzing a formation sample with in a coring tool are disclosed herein. The methods and embodiments may include extracting a first core from a sidewall of a wellbore with a coring tool at a first depth, ultrasonically measuring a sound speed of the first core, transmitting the ultrasonically measured sound speed of the first core to a surface display unit, analyzing the ultrasonically measured sound speed in real time, determining the quality of the first core, extracting a second core at the first depth if the first core is determined to be low quality, and extracting the second core at a second depth if the core first is determined to be high quality.
US08619493B2

A flash memory device having at least two bank, where the each bank has an independently configurable page size and core controller. The core controller is local to each bank, and governs memory access operations for the bank that include read, program and erase operations. Each core controller controls timing and activation of row circuits, column circuits, voltage generators, and local input/output path circuits for a corresponding memory access operation of the bank. Concurrent operations are executable in multiple banks to improve performance. Each bank has a page size that is configurable with page size configuration data such that only selected wordlines are activated in response to address data. The configuration data can be loaded into the memory device upon power up for a static page configuration of the bank, or the configuration data can be received with each command to allow for dynamic page configuration of the bank.
US08619484B2

A semiconductor device includes a bit line, a complementary bit line, a sense amplifier configured to sense and amplify a voltage difference between the bit line and the complementary bit line, and a capacitance adjusting circuit configured to adjust a load capacitance of the complementary bit line in response to a plurality of control signals.
US08619480B2

A method for calibration of a memory controller may include determining if an unused memory location exists in memory. The method may include writing a first pattern to the unused memory location in response to a determination that the unused memory location exists. The method may include determining if a second pattern exists in the memory in response to a determination that the unused memory location does not exist. The method may include iteratively modifying a first delay of a first delay control module among a plurality of delay values. The method may include reading from a memory location including the first pattern or the second pattern for each iteration of modification of the first delay. The method may include modifying one or more second delays, each second delay associated with one of one or more second delay control modules, based on the results of reading from the memory location.
US08619479B2

A method for synchronizing signals includes the steps of receiving a preamble of a data strobe signal in response to a write preamble command, and synchronizing the data strobe signal with a clock signal through the preamble of the data strobe signal.
US08619471B2

Some embodiments include an apparatus having data lines coupled to memory cell strings and a selector configured to selectively couple one of the data lines to a node. The memory cell strings and the selector can be formed in the same memory array of the apparatus. Other embodiments including additional apparatus and methods are described.
US08619452B2

Large capacity memory systems are constructed using stacked memory integrated circuits or chips. The stacked memory chips are constructed in such a way that eliminates problems such as signal integrity while still meeting current and future memory standards.
US08619450B2

A method of adjusting a resistive change element using a reference is disclosed. The method comprises inspecting a resistive change element to determine a first state; comparing the first state to a reference wherein said reference provides stimulus parameters corresponding to a transition from the first state to a second state; and applying the stimulus parameters to the resistive change element. A resistive change memory cell array is also disclosed.
US08619442B2

A power factor correction circuit responsive to an input power supply signal at an input supply voltage is described. The circuit includes rectifier circuitry for largely performing full-wave rectification on the input supply signal to produce a full-wave rectified supply signal at a full-wave rectified voltage and a full-wave rectified current susceptible of having at least one overtone of the fundamental supply frequency. The circuit also includes a regulator for regulating the full-wave rectified voltage to produce a regulated power supply voltage with reduced voltage ripple, the regulator operating in buck-boost mode, and control circuitry for measuring at least one such overtone in the full-wave rectified current. The control circuitry also provides the regulator with a primary control signal that causes at least one such overtone to be largely removed from the full-wave rectified current.
US08619439B2

A flyback boost circuit includes an output voltage detection terminal provided to a secondary winding of a transformer of the flyback boost circuit, and configured to detect an output voltage. Prior to the start of a boost operation, current is supplied to a secondary side of the transformer via the output voltage detection terminal to detect a voltage generated at the output voltage detection terminal, to thereby detect an unwired state by determining whether or not there is floating of the output voltage detection terminal or a grounding terminal of the secondary winding of the transformer.
US08619427B2

A media content receiving device, such as a set top box, includes a chassis that incorporates a heat bridge, a heat shield or both. The heat bridge may take the form of a structural wall coupled to, but preferably integrated with, the chassis to facilitate conductive heat transfer into a chassis panel. The heat bridge may be configured to receive heat radiated from a chip having a die to be cooled. The heat shield may take the form of a wall-type structure protruding from a chassis panel. For example, the heat shield may extend from a top panel of the chassis in a fin-like or flange-like manner to provide a thermal barrier between adjacent electrical components arranged on a circuit board. While the heat shield protects the adjacent component from potential thermal damage or degradation, it may also operate to transfer heat into the chassis.
US08619420B2

A low profile heat removal system suitable for removing excess heat generated by an integrated circuit operating in a compact computing environment is disclosed.
US08619414B2

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device in which a front cover and so on exposed to an outside of the display device have a gradation effect.
US08619413B2

A power supply unit is provided for supplying low voltage power. The supply unit includes at least one power plug contact connectable to a supply voltage; at least one output lead for outputting the low voltage; and a voltage transformer unit having at least one electronic component for transforming the supply voltage to the low voltage. The power supply unit includes a casing made of a casing base element and a lid element, such that the power plug contact is held in the casing base element or in the lid element in such a way that it can be plugged into a power socket. The voltage transformer unit is mounted on a circuit carrier which is arranged in the casing base element in such a way that a defined first region of the circuit carrier is received in a casting space filled with an electrically insulating casting compound.
US08619411B2

Electrical switchgear comprising electrical switching equipment for a multi-phase electrical power distribution system, a supporting structure for a bus assembly for supplying electrical current to the switching equipment, and a plurality of spaced buses mounted on the supporting structure each for connecting the switching equipment to respective phases of the multi-phase electrical power distribution system. Each bus comprises a plurality of substantially co-planar, spaced, elongated flat conductors arranged with at least one longitudinal edge surface of each conductor in that bus opposed to and spaced from a longitudinal edge surface of another conductor in that same bus, and a connector at each end of said conductors for connecting the plurality of flat conductors in each bus to each other.
US08619409B2

An electrochemical device, e.g., an electric double layer capacitor, is applicable to high-temperature reflow soldering wherein a lead-free solder is used, and is provided with an electric storage element, a package having the electric storage element sealed therein, and a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal, each of which is led out from the electric storage element and is provided with a part sealed in the package with the electric storage element and other part led out to the outside the package. On a part of the positive electrode terminal and on a part of the negative electrode terminal, increased thermal resistance sections for suppressing heat transfer to the electric storage element via the terminals from other parts of the positive electrode terminal and other parts of the negative electrode terminal are arranged, respectively.
US08619403B2

This device comprises an electromagnetic coil (3) in which there is able to slide a piston (6) which has at least a portion made of a material having paramagnetic susceptibility and which is placed in contact with the mechanical member when the drive device (1) is in the rest state.Electrical energy supply means are provided in order to store electrical energy and to abruptly release this energy into the coil and thus apply the high-energy magnetic movement pulse to the mechanical member.According to the invention, the piston (1) comprises a stack (9) of blocks (11, 12) which are made alternately from the material having paramagnetic susceptibility and an insulating material; and the electrical energy supply means are provided in order to allow the energy to be applied to the coil in the form of a series of electrical pulses which appear as the piston (6) moves.
US08619398B1

In a conventional differential output circuit, the output terminals are connected to the drains of a differential pair of transistors and the sources of the transistors are connected together at a first node. The bodies of the transistors are connected to a second node having a potential different from that of the first node. In the event of a HBM ESD event, discharge may take place through the differential transistors, leading to destruction of one of them. To reduce the likelihood of such discharge, in a preferred embodiment, switches are provided to connect the body of each of the differential transistors to the first node when an ESD event is sensed. In an alternative embodiment, a switch is provided to connect the first node to the second node when an ESD event is sensed.
US08619391B2

Magnetic write heads and corresponding fabrication methods for bi-layer wrap around shields resulting in dissimilar shield layer widths are disclosed. A gap structure is formed around a main write pole for a magnetic write head. A wrap around shield for the main write pole is fabricated to include a first magnetic layer proximate to the main write pole and a second magnetic layer on the first magnetic layer. A width of the first magnetic layer is less than the width of the second magnetic layer, and back edges of the first and second magnetic layers are coplanar. Further, a throat height of the wrap around shield is maintained between the first and the second magnetic layers because their back edges are coplanar.
US08619387B2

The disk drive device includes a base member, a hub, a clamper including an end that defines a central hole, a bearing unit which is arranged on the base member and which rotatably supports the hub, and a spindle drive unit which drives the hub to rotate. The hub is formed of magnetic material and includes an exterior cylinder portion engaged with an inner circumference of a recording disk and an interior cylinder portion to which the outer diameter portion of the magnet is fixed. The hub is provided with a fitting portion located radially outside of a space in the bearing unit for storing lubricant and configured to be fitted to the end of the clamper that defines the central hole.
US08619382B2

A hard drive write preamplifier includes a first differential pair of PNP BJTs having a first PNP BJT and a second PNP BJT; a first tail current source coupled into emitter of the PNP BJTs of the first differential pair; a second differential pair of NPN BJTs having a first NPN BJT and a second NPN BJT; a second tail current source coupled into the emitters of the NPN BJTs of the second differential pair; wherein a collector of each of the PNP BJTs of the first differential pair are coupled to a corresponding collector the NPN BJTs of the second differential pair; a first shift up PNP BJT having emitter coupled to the collector of a first PNP BJT of the first differential pair; a second shift up PNP BJT having an emitter coupled to the collector of the second PNP BJT of the first differential pair.
US08619381B2

Systems and methods for improving accuracy of head positioning using existing servo patterns are provided. In one embodiment, a method for improving read head positioning is provided that comprises: writing a series of tracks over a range of read offsets to be calibrated; measuring a set of raw track profiles from the series of tracks; sampling the set of raw track profiles at a series of signal amplitude levels; constructing a reference track profile from the set of sampled track profiles; calculating a set of read offset deltas from each sampled track profile; merging the sets of read offset deltas into a set of average read offset deltas; and converting the set of average read offset deltas into a read offset correction table. A similar method for improving disk write head positioning is also provided which utilizes such a read offset correction table to eventually create write offset correction table.
US08619376B2

A lens support frame includes an annular body portion; a large diameter lens holding groove on an inner peripheral surface of the body portion which is open on one side; a small diameter lens holding groove formed on an inner peripheral surface of the body portion and is open on the one side; and large-diameter-groove and small-diameter-groove lens-bonding depressions formed on inner peripheral surfaces of a large diameter lens holding groove and the small diameter lens holding groove, respectively, and allow an adhesive to be injected into the large-diameter-groove and small-diameter-groove lens-bonding depressions through end openings thereof on the one side, the end opening of the small-diameter-groove lens-bonding depression being communicatively connected with the large-diameter-groove lens-bonding depression. Circumferential positions of the large-diameter-groove and small-diameter-groove lens-bonding depressions are mutually different.
US08619372B2

A zoom lens system has a front lens group and a rear lens group along the optical axis and in order from the object side. The rear lens group has a first lens unit having a positive refracting power, a second lens unit having a negative refracting power, and a third lens unit having a positive refracting power. Upon zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, a space between the front lens group and the first lens unit varies, a space between the first lens unit and the second lens unit increases, and a space between the second lens unit and the third lens unit decreases. At least a part of the second lens unit is movable so as to have a component in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis.
US08619364B2

An apparatus for reducing fringe interference of light created in the optical system of a laser spectroscopy system comprising an electromagnetic actuator for generating, along a laser path, physical translational vibration of an optical element of the optical system and a control device for controlling the amplitude and frequency of said vibration. The optical element is arranged on a cantilever body which is, at one end, attached to a base by a flexural pivot and, at the other free end, coupled to the electromagnetic actuator, and the control device includes a controller that controls the amplitude of the vibration and a vibration sensor attached to the cantilever body and providing the actual vibration value to the controller to improve fringe interference reduction, especially with longer wavelengths.
US08619350B2

Methods and devices for calibrating and controlling the actuation of an analog interferometric modulator configured to have a plurality of actuation states. Devices and methods for calibrating an analog interferometric modulator to respond in linear relation to an applied voltage.
US08619348B2

For a selected class of functions, which describe most typical banding variations, the average response can be found by sampling at only 2Nth locations, where N is the number of different frequencies of significant banding. This approach makes use of the fact that in most applications the banding frequencies of a given printer system, are known in advance, even if the amplitudes of the banding are not known. Each sample point requires a very small test area or pattern, significantly reducing the overall size of the required test areas.
US08619345B2

An image reading device and an image forming apparatus having the same that can increase a scan quality by mounting positions of units to read information recorded on a document and a mounting structure of a light shielding member. The image reading device may include a first reading unit to read image information recorded on a first surface of a document, a second reading unit disposed at a predetermined distance from the first reading unit along a document feeding direction to read image information recorded on a second surface of the document, and at least one light shielding member mounted between the first reading unit and the second reading unit along the document feeding direction. The light shielding member, which may include a document guide portion, may extend in a direction different from the document feeding direction such that one end portion is located in a document feeding path.
US08619339B2

An image reading apparatus includes a reading glass, a second guide member, and a control section. The reading glass and the second guide member together form a document feed path. The second guide member includes a white reference plate. The control section performs, when it is determined that shading correction image data is affected by a stain, a stain location determination of whether the stain is attached to the reading glass or the second guide member according to a tone value variation in the portion of the shading correction image data that corresponds to the stain edge, the variation being along a predetermined distance in the main scanning direction.
US08619334B2

An image forming apparatus includes a determination unit and a restriction unit. The determination unit determines an image forming capability of each of the image forming apparatus and a different image forming apparatus, an image being formed on a printing medium that is transported between the image forming apparatus and the different image forming apparatus. The restriction unit restricts an image forming operation of the image forming apparatus when the determination unit determines that the image forming capability of any one of the image forming apparatus and the different image forming apparatus is to be lower than an image forming capability of the other one of the image forming apparatus and the different image forming apparatus when independently performing an operation to form an image on the printing medium.
US08619331B2

A method includes receiving a primary image as input data and receiving textured image data for rendering a perceived non-uniform texture on a printed output of the primary image. The primary image input data is used for determining a low coverage portion and a high coverage portion. The method then includes applying clear toner to the low coverage portion and applying colored toner at variable anisotropic orientations to the high coverage portion.
US08619328B2

For reducing jaggies in second image data based on first image data, the second image data obtained by performing digital halftoning on each image signal of the first image data, and attribute data indicating the attribute of each pixel in the first image data, a determination signal indicating whether or not to perform smoothing processing is output based on the first image data, edge correction data for the smoothing processing is generated from the first image data, and whether or not to perform edge correction processing that uses the edge correction data is selected according to the determination signal and the attribute data. Moreover, the second image data and the edge correction data are compared for each image signal so as to output either one thereof according to the comparison result.
US08619325B2

An image processing apparatus includes an image reading unit, a pixel color determining unit, an isolated point determining unit, and a document discriminating unit. The image reading unit scans a document to detect pixel values of color components of each pixel. The pixel color determining unit determines whether a color of each pixel is a specific color based on the detected pixel values. The isolated point determining unit determines whether each pixel is an isolated point based on the detected pixel values. The document discriminating unit discriminates whether the document is a color document or a black-and-white document based on the detected pixel values while treating the pixels, of which the color has been determined to be the specific color by the pixel color determining unit and which have been determined to be isolated points by the isolated point determining unit, as black-and-white pixels.
US08619322B2

A problem in conventional electrical color deviation correction is that an awkward step is generated at a border where a pixel is offset by one-pixel-basis correction. Although such a step can be cancelled by less-than-one-pixel-basis correction, this smoothing process in turn generates unevenness in density. To solve these problems, in electrical color deviation correction, a draw command is analyzed to specify a draw position for color deviation correction for each of draw objects. Then, the object is drawn at the specified draw position, and an offset for color deviation correction is performed on an object basis.
US08619305B2

A method of determining a print shop sustainability metric over a period of time may include, for each of a plurality of print devices in a print shop, determining a low-activity state sustainability metric value associated with the print device operating in one or more low-activity states over a period of time, determining a print shop low-activity state sustainability metric value associated with the print shop, and determining a processing state sustainability metric value associated with the print device operating in a processing state over the period of time, determining a print shop processing state sustainability metric value associated with the print shop, determining a print shop sustainability metric value and displaying one or more of the low-activity state sustainability metric values, the processing state sustainability metric values, the print shop sustainability metric value, the print shop processing state sustainability metric value and the print shop sustainability metric value.
US08619291B2

The subject application is directed to a system and method for controlling a document processing device via a remote device interface. Display data is generated corresponding to the control of the document processing device, following which instructions are received from a user corresponding to one or more document processing operations. An image is then generated on a display integrated in the document processing device based on the display data and the received instructions. The display data is then communicated, via an established data connection, to an associated data processing device having both a user data input and a user display. Control instructions for the document processing device are then received from the associated data processing device so as to allow for user control of a document processing operation and a document processing operation is commenced based on instructions received from the data processing device.
US08619287B2

A system, apparatus and method for filling forms, including using a graphical capture device, are described herein.
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