US08911224B2

An assembly for molding and demolding hardened cementitious products comprises a flexible mold and a demolding apparatus. The flexible mold has a top side with separate openings for receiving cementitious material therein for hardening thereof, an opposite closed rear side and a perimeter. The apparatus for demolding the hardened cementitious products from the flexible mold comprises a conveyor, a holding member, a clamp, and a movable member. The conveyor conveys the flexible mold. The clamp grips a portion of the perimeter. The holding member engages the mold. The movable member moves the clamp and the clamped portion of the mold about the holding member thereby disengaging the flexible mold from the cementitious material.
US08911220B2

An electric fluid pump includes a casing, a rotor arranged in the casing, and a shaft member supported by the casing and including a shaft portion extending in the casing in a direction of an axis of the shaft member, having a first end portion arranged at one axial end of the shaft member and a second end portion arranged at the other axial end of the shaft member, and supporting the rotor, a collar portion arranged at the first end portion of the shaft portion and embedded in the casing, and a stepped section arranged between the shaft portion and the collar portion, positioned closer to the second end portion of the shaft portion than the first end portion of the shaft portion, and configured to have an end face facing the second end portion and serving as a bearing surface on which the rotor is rotatably supported.
US08911219B2

A submersible, water circulation system for enclosed tanks such as used by municipalities, fire districts, and industries. The system includes a driving unit having a shell extending along an axis with a pump supported within the shell. The shell has at least one inlet and at least one outlet and is positionable on the floor of the tank with the outlet facing upwardly. In operation, the pump continuously draws an incoming flow of water from outside of the driving unit adjacent the tank floor through the inlet of the driving unit and preferably drives all of the continuously incoming flow out through the upwardly facing outlet. The upwardly facing outlet is preferably a thin, elongated slot that creates a thin, substantially planar discharge of water therethrough that presents a very large surface area for its volume and induces water adjacent the shell to move upwardly with it.
US08911210B2

A vibration-damping shim configured to be interposed between a platform of a fan blade and a fan disk, including a radially external surface fitted with plates in contact with the fan blade platform, and a radially internal surface formed by an upstream surface, configured to be facing the disk, and a downstream surface separated from the upstream surface by a break in alignment. The upstream surface includes a zone protruding radially towards the interior, initiated at some distance from its upstream end.
US08911209B2

A helicopter rotor include a blade, a rotor hub which supports the blade, and a lead-lag angle mechanism configured to change the lead-lag angle of the blade in synchronization with the rotation of the rotor hub. The lead-lag angle mechanism changes the lead-lag angle of the blade such that a circumferential speed of a blade tip of the blade (3) is slower on a forward side and faster on a backward side. The result is a helicopter, a helicopter rotor, and a control method of a helicopter that enable higher speed flight.
US08911208B2

The pattern has a pattern material and a casting core combination. The pattern material has an airfoil. The casting core combination is at least partially embedded in the pattern material. The casting core combination comprises a metallic casting core and at least one additional casting core. The metallic casting core has opposite first and second faces. The metallic core and at least one additional casting core extend spanwise into the airfoil of the pattern material. In at least a portion of the pattern material outside the airfoil of the pattern material, the metallic casting core is bent transverse to the spanwise direction so as to at least partially surround an adjacent portion of the at least one additional casting core.
US08911206B2

An air-handling unit including a housing with a discharge opening, and a fan disposed substantially within the housing. The fan includes a fan discharge that extends through the discharge opening thereby defining a gap between the fan discharge and the housing surrounding the discharge opening. A brush seal is coupled to one of the housing about the discharge opening and the fan discharge such that the brush seal extends across the gap forming a seal between the discharge opening and the fan discharge.
US08911190B2

A blind rivet made of plastic, the shank of the body has a first region located between the head and the foot end, and the first region has a reduced first wall thickness. Within the first region is located a second region with a second wall thickness further reduced as compared to the first region. The first and second regions are arranged such that, as a result of the rivet setting process, the wall of the shank forms a roll fold with an annular bead that is pressed axially against the blind side of the workpiece.
US08911178B2

The invention relates to a method for erecting at sea a large slender body, such as the monopile of a wind turbine. The method comprises bringing the large slender body in a substantially horizontal floating condition at least partly underneath the work deck of a platform, attaching a tension cable to the slender body, and pulling on the tension cable using fixations means and guiding means that are provided at an edge of the work deck and are connected to it to gradually bring the slender body in an erected position along the edge of the work deck. The slender body is optionally driven into the under water bottom. The invention also relates to a device for performing the method. The method is reliable and obviates the use of large cranes.
US08911171B2

There is disclosed a device for fixing a U-shaped end of at least one spring for supporting a cushion for a seat, to a seat frame of the seat which includes opposing frame sections, one of the frame sections being formed from a shaft, and the spring being stretched between the frame sections. The device comprises a collar fitted over the shaft and a retainer including a body having a geometry of similar figure with the collar and fitted over the collar on the shaft, and at least one pair of first and second spring engagement pieces provided at both edges of the body. A first axial region and second axial region of the U-shaped end of the spring are engaged with the first piece and the second piece, respectively, whereby the end of the spring is fixed to the shaft through the device.
US08911169B2

A platen roller assembly for a printer includes a platen roller, a retaining clip, a plurality of bearings, and a pulley assembly. The platen roller defines a longitudinal axis. The retaining clip mounts to a support body of the printer and is positioned to retain the platen roller relative to the support body. The plurality of bearings is operably coupled to the platen roller. Each of the bearings permits rotational movement of the platen roller about the longitudinal axis thereof. The pulley assembly is mounted to the support body and is operably associated with one or more of the bearings. The pulley assembly includes a pulley and a belt. The belt is operably coupled to the pulley such that the platen roller rotates in response to rotational movement of the belt. The platen roller may be selectively coupled and uncoupled to/from the support body independent of the pulley assembly.
US08911167B2

A sheet cutting device includes a conveyance unit configured to convey a sheet, a cutting unit configured to cut the sheet conveyed by the conveyance unit, and a conveyance belt configured to convey a cut piece cut from the sheet cut by the cutting unit in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the conveyance unit.
US08911160B2

An light emitting device package and a backlight unit using the same are disclosed, wherein light advancing upward from the light emitting device package can be refracted by a lens to enable the light having a uniform intensity to be emitted upwards to the advantage of efficiency and power consumption, even with a small number of light emitting devices.
US08911149B2

An apparatus for calibrating an x-ray computed tomography device has a plurality of objects formed from a material that is visible to x-rays, and a base at least in part fixedly supporting the plurality of objects so that each of the plurality of objects contacts at least one of the other objects. Each one of the plurality of objects: 1) is configured to receive x-rays without changing shape, 2) has substantially the same shape and size as the other objects, 3) has an attenuation value to x-rays (“object attenuation value”), and 4) is symmetrically shaped relative to its center point. Like the objects, the base also has an attenuation value to x-rays (the “base attenuation value”). The object attenuation value is greater than the base attenuation. Each of the plurality of objects is kinematically locked in place on the base.
US08911148B2

A temperature detector for a contact thermometer of process measurement technology having a thermowell, at least one thermal sensor element arranged in a process-side end of the thermowell, and at least one electrical connecting means connected to the thermal sensor element with a first connection side and extending in the thermowell at least up to an evaluation-side end of the thermowell, so that the thermal sensor element can be electrically contacted via a second connection side of the electrical connecting means, and in which the electrical connecting means is formed by a connection printed circuit board with conducting paths.
US08911145B2

A method of generating a function that correlates semiconductor temperature with semiconductor lifetime including applying resonant frequency laser illumination to the semiconductor.
US08911143B2

A switch device of the present invention includes a cylindrical member attached to a through hole of a wristwatch case, an operation member having an operation shaft section inserted into the cylindrical member and an operation head section provided at the outer end of the operation member, a cushioning member attached to the operation head section of the operation member to cover the operation head section, and an exterior member fixed to the operation head section to cover the cushioning member and from which a plurality of portions of the cushioning member project outwardly. Therefore, when the exterior member receives an external impact, the impact can be mitigated by the cushioning member projecting outwardly from the exterior member. As a result, the operation member and the cylindrical member can be prevented from being damaged by the external impact, whereby the impact resistance can be increased.
US08911139B2

An internal batch mixer is provided with: a casing within which a material is mixed; a door which opens and closes a material discharge opening of the casing by being rotated about the axis thereof and closes the material discharge opening when in a closed state; and a latch mechanism which, when the material is mixed in the casing, holds the door in a latched state, the latched state being a state in which the material discharge opening is being closed by the door and cannot be opened, and which, when the material having been mixed in the casing is discharged from the inside of the casing, releases the door from the latched state. The latch mechanism is provided with a linear actuator which has a movable section capable of moving linearly and moves the movable section to the door side to supply power to the latch member, the power causing the latch member to move to the door side, and a linear sensor for measuring the distance of linear movement of the movable section caused by the linear actuator. Information relating to the displacement of the latch member is displayed on a display device on the basis of the distance of linear movement of the movable section measured by the linear sensor.
US08911137B2

Desk top items with LEDs also include USB-unit(s) or USB-module(s) and, optionally, additional outlet-units, to supply charging power to other electric or digital devices such as a smart phone or digital data device. The USB-unit(s) or USB-module(s) are arranged to supply power only, and do not have an additional USB data transfer function.
US08911131B2

An apparatus and method for coupling light from concentric illuminators into a light source in the form of a surface are disclosed. According to one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a plurality of concentric tubes, each tube including a light diffuser. The apparatus also has a sheet having a first edge with the plurality of concentric tubes placed along the first edge. Each tube of the plurality of concentric tubes diffuses light such that the light emanates in a predetermined pattern along the first edge of the sheet.
US08911127B2

A lighting device for a vehicle includes a lens, a housing, an engaging part, and an engaged part. The engaging part and the engaged part are configured to be a state in which the lens is fixed in a predetermined position by turning the lens by a predetermined angle with respect to the housing after the lens and the housing are fitted in a direction of an optical axis of the lens. An inside of the lens abuts, by screwing the fastening member to the housing when the lens is fixed in the predetermined position, on an end of the fastening member so that turning of the lens is disenabled even if it is tried to turn the lens in a direction in which the lens is disengaged from the housing.
US08911126B2

A vehicle lamp system includes a laser source, a reflecting mirror, a light converting element and a reflecting plate. The reflecting mirror is located at a position towards a light emitting direction of the laser source. Light generated from the laser source is reflected to the light converting element by the reflecting mirror. The light converting element includes a base and diffusing particles cooperating with the base. The light transmitted from the reflecting mirror is diffused via the light converting element. The reflecting plate reflects the light transmitted from the light converting element out of a vehicle.
US08911125B2

A circuit module includes: a lighting control circuit that controls lighting of a semiconductor light emitting element; a first heat radiating member on which the lighting control circuit is mounted; a second heat radiating member that is separated from the first heat radiating member and has a surface on which the semiconductor light emitting element is mounted; and a connecting mechanism having both a housing that connects the first heat radiating member and the second heat radiating member together and a conductive portion that transmits a signal from the lighting control circuit to the semiconductor light emitting element. The housing is formed of a material having a coefficient of thermal conductivity lower than those of the first heat radiating member and the second heat radiating member.
US08911122B2

A tiled display (100) for lighting or imaging includes a plurality of display tiles (110) arranged side by side. The tiled display (100) furthermore includes a seam hiding arrangement (114) formed of at least one light absorbing cloth or textile (114) in a seam (112) between two neighboring display tiles (110). A corresponding method for assembling or adjusting a tiled display is described. The seam hiding arrangement may be used for blocking environmental light or stray light in the seams and optionally also for aligning or controlling the position of the display tiles.
US08911118B2

An illumination system includes an LED module and an illuminated area. The LED module includes an LED, and a lens mounted in light path of the LED. The lens includes a light source recess, a first light emitting surface, a critical reflecting surface, and a second light emitting surface intersecting with the first light emitting surface and being on same side with the first light emitting surface. The first light emitting surface can receive more light quantity than the second light emitting surface. Although the light emitted from the first light emitting surface may have greater attenuation than the light emitted from the second light emitting surface, light emitted from the first light emitting surface can make up the intensity losses of attenuation as the first light emitting surface receives more light quantity than the second light emitting surface. As a result, the illumination system has a uniform illumination pattern.
US08911110B2

A lighting device includes a light emitting module including a substrate and a light emitting device mounted on the substrate; a case body receiving the light emitting module; a gap member contacting the case body and wider than the substrate; a lens on the light emitting module and contacting the gap member; a first ring provided on a peripheral portion of the lens; and a case cover coupled with the case body and having an opening, wherein the case body is provided therein with a coupling cavity in which the gap member is seated, and wherein the lens includes a first portion between the ring and the gap member and a second portion that extends outward from the first portion through the opening of the case cover.
US08911109B2

Peritoneal dialysis systems and methods are provided by the present disclosure. In a general embodiment, a peritoneal dialysis system includes a peritoneal dialysis fluid supply, a supply line in fluid communication with the peritoneal dialysis fluid supply and terminating at a supply connector, a patient connector in fluid communication with a patient's indwelling catheter, a device configured to connect the supply connector to the patient connector without a user having to physically contact the supply connector or the patient connector, and a housing placeable around the connecting device and including a plurality of ultraviolet (“UV”) light-emitting diodes (“LED's”) positioned to direct energy towards at least one of the supply connector and the patient connector.
US08911095B2

A discharge lamp driving device includes: a direct-current power supply section (a power supply section) that controls a current of power to be supplied to a discharge lamp from input power, and outputs the current; a voltage detecting section that detects a lamp voltage (a drive voltage) of the discharge lamp; and a control section that controls a modulation factor of a lamp current (a drive current) on which amplitude modulation has been performed, the lamp current (the drive current) which is supplied to the discharge lamp from the direct-current power supply section (the power supply section), in accordance with the detected lamp voltage (drive voltage) of the discharge lamp.
US08911082B2

The present invention is embodied in an eyewear lens with at least two controlled, limited visible light blocking filters that attenuate its transmittance spectrum. More specifically, in the present invention, the eyewear lens attenuates limited amounts of light in at least two visible wavelength regions via controlled, limited blocking filters, wherein the overall luminous transmittance is at least 75%. The at least two controlled, limited blocking filters have their peak blocking wavelengths in the region of 410-500 nm and 530-620 nm, respectively. In a preferred embodiment, the minimum transmittance that occurs within the 410-500 nm region is ≧55% and the minimum transmittance that occurs within the 530-620 nm region is ≧65%. In another preferred embodiment, the eyewear lens comprises an anti-reflective coating on its inner surface (the eye-side of the lens).
US08911078B2

The present disclosure relates generally to multicomponent optical devices having a space within the device. In various embodiments, an optical device comprises a first posterior component having an anterior surface, a posterior support component, and an anterior component having a posterior surface. An optical device can also comprise an anterior skirt. The first posterior component and the anterior skirt can comprise gas-permeable optical materials. An optical device also comprises a primary space between the posterior surface and the anterior surface, with the primary space configured to permit diffusion of a gas from a perimeter of the primary space through the space and across the anterior surface of the first posterior component. A method of forming a multicomponent optical device having a space is also provided.
US08911077B2

A pair of eyeglasses includes a front having two semi-rims and two temples are pivotably connected to outsides of the two semi-rims. Each semi-rim has a groove defined in the inside thereof and a slot is defined in an outside thereof. Two lenses each have a protrusion protruding from the inside thereof, the protrusion is engaged with the groove. A notch is defined in the inside of each lens. Two locking devices are respectively located in the two slots of the two semi-rims, and each locking device is locked with the notch to secure the lens to the semi-rim. Each locking device has a switch member and the lens is disengaged from the semi-rim by shifting the switch member.
US08911076B2

Various embodiments of an eyeglass and eyeglass system are provided that can maintain the geometric and optical quality of a lens supported by the eyeglass. The eyeglass can comprise a frame, a support member carried by the frame, and a lens mounting area or groove extending at least partially along at least one of the frame and the support member. The support member can be pivoted, moved, or deflected relative to the frame between a retaining position and an open position. In the open position, the lens can be seated within the lens mounting area. In the retaining position, the support member and the frame retain the lens without exerting deformative forces on the lens. Accordingly, the as-molded geometric and optical qualities of the lens can be preserved.
US08911075B2

A pair of eyeglasses includes a frame and two temples. The frame includes two rims whose inner edges are connected with each other. An inner wall of each of the rims has a slot in which the lens is inserted. An outer edge of each rim has a first connecting end and a second connecting end capable of connecting with or being separate from each other. Outer edges of the first and second connecting ends of each rim are respectively configured with connecting portions. A front end of each temple has a connecting recess for containing the two connecting portions of one of the rims to connect the first and second connecting ends of the rim. With the frame structure, the slot of the rim can be allowed greater depth, so that the lenses can be more firmly fixed to the rims respectively.
US08911070B2

The present invention provides a system and a method for recycling an inkjet-printing material. The recycling method comprises the following steps: utilizing a wiper configured to withdraw the inkjet-printing material dispensed by the nozzles, and collecting the inkjet-printing material by means of a recycling tank; mixing a fresh inkjet-printing material with the inkjet-printing material collected by the recycling tank, so as to form a reuse inkjet-printing material; and providing the reuse inkjet-printing material to the nozzles. The present invention can greatly save the inkjet-printing material.
US08911069B1

A supply source indicator indicates whether an ink cartridge is received from a subscriber source. An ink order identifier indicates a combination of ink colors for different chambers in a color pen of a printer. When print data is received, the supply source indicator and the ink order identifier are accessed to determine whether the ink cartridge is received from a subscriber source.
US08911068B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device to form an image and an ink cartridge that includes a deformable ink supply bag having an ink supply port; a deformable waste ink collection bag having a fluid gateway; and a cartridge housing to accommodate the deformable ink supply bag and the deformable waste ink collection bag at the same time. A connecting member having a non-return valve is provided to connect the deformable ink supply bag and the deformable waste ink collection bag with each other at a section other than the ink supply port and the fluid gateway. The non-return valve prevents ink from flowing from the waste ink collection bag into the ink supply bag. A non-return valve control mechanism is provided not to operate the non-return valve in an initial state in which the ink supply bag is initially filled with ink.
US08911059B2

A liquid ejection device may include a liquid ejection head, a conveyor mechanism, a liquid discharging device, and a control device. The control device may be configured to determine a dimension of a recording medium, and determine one or more first ejection nozzles of the liquid discharging device, which correspond to an edge of the recording medium, based on the dimension. The control device may be further configured to control the liquid discharging device to perform a liquid discharging process after the liquid ejection head records an image onto the recording medium, wherein in the liquid discharging process, an amount of liquid discharged from each of the one or more first ejection nozzles is larger than an amount of liquid discharged from each of one or more second ejection nozzles, which correspond to a more inward area of the recording medium than an area corresponding to the one or more first ejection nozzles.
US08911047B2

A fluid ejecting apparatus repeats an ejecting operation which ejects a fluid from nozzles while a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row move in a movement direction with respect to a medium and a relative movement operation in which the first nozzle row, the second nozzle row and the medium relatively move to the nozzle row direction, and repeatedly performs the ejecting operation so as to include the ejecting operation which does not perform a control which changes the movement distance in the movement direction of the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row according to a position of an end in the movement direction of the image when a main image and a background image are formed to be overlapped on the medium at different ejecting operations.
US08911038B2

A device (20) for attaching a functional part (14) to a rail (5,6) of a drawer pull-out guide (3) includes a first bearing element (11) and at least one second bearing element (12), wherein the bearing elements (11, 12) are arranged in the front end area of the rail (5) and in the rear end area of the rail (5), wherein at least one clamping device (13) is provided, by means of which the at least two bearing elements (11, 12), in the installed position thereof on the rail (5), can be connected to each other and braced relative to each other.
US08911026B2

A wheel assembly configured for attachment to a vehicle via a plurality of wheel studs or holes, the wheel assembly including a wheel defining a plurality of wheel openings therethrough, wherein each of the wheel openings has a non-circular shape and is configured to receive a wheel stud or bolt; and a plurality of variable lug inserts, wherein one of the variable lug inserts is within each of the openings and wherein each variable lug insert comprises a body having a longitudinal cross-sectional shape generally corresponding to the non-circular shape of the wheel opening and a variable lug insert opening extending through the body.
US08911025B2

A wheel, in particular for mobile apparatus such as carriages or the like, having an interlocking tire and rim and including: a central hub defining an annular external surface; a tread, associated to the external surface of the hub; and anchoring elements extending from the annular external surface in order to constrain the tread to the hub; the anchoring elements including at least one groove for housing at least a first portion of the tread.
US08911022B2

A fastening system for fastening a covering apparatus to a support structure is provided. The fastening system comprises a support frame having a fastening edge configured as a beading and a fastening device for fastening the covering apparatus on the support frame. The fastening device has a fastening opening into which a fastening unit projecting from the support frame engages at least partially so that a fastening fixed in at least six degrees of freedom is ensured.
US08911017B2

A motor vehicle seat having a sitting position and a backrest, which can be converted out of a sitting position into a cargo position in which they are essentially disposed in a common horizontal plane. The seat has a first arresting device for the sitting position of the backrest, a second arresting device for the sitting position of the sitting portion, and a third arresting device. The sitting portion and the backrest are biased into their cargo position, wherein after release of the first arresting device the backrest is pivoted in a direction toward the cargo position, against the third arresting device, and into a stand-by position, as a result of which the second arresting device is released and the sitting portion pivots into the cargo position, as a consequence of which the third arresting device is released and the backrest pivots out of the stand-by position into the cargo position.
US08911009B2

A reclining seating unit includes: a base; a rocker assembly fixed to the base; an arm frame fixed to the rocker assembly, wherein the rocker assembly is configured such that the arm frame experiences rocking motion relative to the base; a generally horizontally-disposed seat; a generally upright backrest positioned rearwardly of the seat; a footrest unit; and a reclining mechanism that interconnects and controls movement of the seat and the backrest relative to the arm frame between an upright position and a reclined position. The footrest unit comprises at least one footrest and a footrest mechanism that interconnects the footrest with the seat. And is decoupled from the reclining mechanism. When the backrest moves between the upright and reclined positions, the footrest unit moves relative to the arm frame in concert with the seat. In the reclined position, the rocking mechanism prevents the arm frame from rocking.
US08911007B2

Provided is a vehicle front structure including a front bumper and a lower grille. The front bumper includes a front-bumper lower surface extending in a vehicle rear direction, the front-bumper lower surface having a pair of bottom surface portions at respective side portions and a recessed surface at a center portion, the recessed surface extending from the pair of bottom surface portions and being recessed in an upper direction. The lower grille includes an annular portion arranged at the lower side of a rear end of the recessed surface and forming an opening, a protruding portion protruding from a lower portion of the annular portion so as to protrude in a front direction and oppose to the recessed surface, and a reinforcing portion extending from an upper portion of the annular portion to a back surface of the recessed surface and reinforcing the front-bumper lower surface.
US08911006B2

This front-end assembly (4) comprises a front-end module (16), at least one railplate (18A, 18B) adapted to be attached to a rail (14A, 14B) of a motor vehicle chassis, and means for fastening the railplate (18A, 18B) to the front-end module (16), the railplate (18A, 18B) comprising at least one hole for receiving a pin.The fastening means comprise, for the railplate (18A, 18B), at least one locking pin and at least one fastening element, said locking pin being attached to the front-end module (16) and being adapted to be received by said hole, said fastening element including a fastening part which is mechanically linked to said railplate (18A, 18B) and which is movable relative to the railplate (18A, 18B), said fastening part having at least one aperture for receiving said locking pin, and means for locking the front-end module (16) onto said railplate (18A, 18B), said locking means comprising at least one guiding slide, said guiding slide being contiguous with said aperture and being adapted to lock the locking pin, the locking being performed by a rectilinear movement of the fastening part from a first position in which the aperture is aligned with the hole, to a second position in which the guiding slide is aligned with the hole.
US08911002B2

A driver seat is disposed at a position offset by a predetermined distance to the left from a vehicle width center line and an ingress-egress opening through which a driver gets on and off the vehicle is provided on a lateral side of the driver seat. A door is attached to a left upper frame via a door hinge and the ingress-egress opening is opened and closed by using the door. A parking brake lever is disposed near the left upper frame and the door hinge is provided on the same left upper frame. Since the door hinge and the parking brake lever are disposed close to each other, there is no possibility of the parking brake lever hindering ingress and egress.
US08910997B2

An adjustable automobile shade cover and a method for covering the windows of a vehicle are disclosed. The shade cover includes a flexible and collapsible shade panel covering the windshield, the window and passenger compartment of the vehicle to provide temporary shading from the sun and other weather elements, and is adjustably anchored to the closed trunk on one end of the shade panel, and to a front or side area of the vehicle on the other end of the shade panel.
US08910995B2

Points on a surface of a vehicle foot well are digitally measured with a coordinate measuring machine. A vehicle foot well surface model is recreated in an electronic memory to include these points. The foot well surface model is in turn used to construct a mold for a vehicle floor tray, which ensures a snug fit.
US08910989B1

An extensible trailer has a rear frame supporting a front cargo deck, and a front frame supporting a front cargo deck. The rear frame has a yoke fixed to it for the front frame to slide in and out of, between collapsed and extended extremes. When collapsing the trailer, the front frame slides into the yoke as the front cargo deck rides up over a front edge of the rear cargo deck, until it lands on top of the rear cargo deck, where it stays all the while the trailer is in the collapsed position. When extending the trailer, the front frame slides out from the yoke as the front cargo deck slides back over the rear cargo deck's front edge, until it lands on top of the front frame, where it stays all the while the trailer is in the extended position.
US08910988B2

An adaptable bin includes a bin floor, at least two bin side walls, and one or more bin end walls. The bin floor, bin side walls, and bin end wall define a primary storage volume and define a bin opening allowing access to the primary storage volume. The adaptable bin also includes a secondary shelf moveable between a collapsed position and an expanded position. The secondary shelf defines a secondary storage volume in the expanded position. The secondary shelf includes a first shelf segment and a first hinge, which rotatably connects the first shelf segment to the bin end wall, and a second shelf segment and a second hinge, which rotatably connects the first and second shelf segments. The first and second shelf segments are substantially parallel to the bin end wall in the collapsed position and are substantially perpendicular to the bin end wall in the expanded position.
US08910980B2

A liquid-tight fitting comprising a ground element including a ferrule and a tube that extends from the ferrule to receive a conduit, wherein the tube includes one or more protruding elements that each protrudes from the tube and provides grounding to the conduit, and wherein the ferrule includes a lip portion; a threading element including a first shaft having a circumference sufficient to receive the ferrule portion, wherein the first shaft includes threads; a sealing ring including an opening defined by a tapered portion to seat against the lip portion; and a nut including threads to be received by the first shaft, wherein as the nut is threaded with the first shaft, the sealing ring is compressed onto an outer surface of the wall of the conduit based on a pulling of the nut against the sealing ring toward the lip portion of the ferrule.
US08910977B2

A steering device includes a steering column that rotatably supports a steering wheel, a column side bracket that supports the steering column, a vehicle body side bracket coupled to the column side bracket and an impact absorption mechanism that moves the steering column in a direction along the steering column in a second collision. The impact absorption mechanism includes an impact absorption member and a supporting member. The impact absorption member is integrally formed with an elastic supporting portion and an extending portion. The elastic supporting portion is supported by the vehicle body side bracket and elastically supports the steering column. The extending portion extends in a direction along the steering column. The supporting member is supported by a vehicle body and supports a part of the extending portion in a longitudinal direction of the extending portion.
US08910973B2

A seatbelt for a vehicle that includes a belt strap composed of a plurality of belt strap layers and at least one belt inner space which can be impacted with a gas. The belt strap is guided through a recess of a buckle tongue, which can be inserted into a belt buckle. A holding element is arranged on the belt strap, the holding element holds the buckle tongue in a defined position when the belt strap is in a retracted state.
US08910968B2

Binding systems for recreational boards are provided. A binding system is mounted atop a rider-support surface of the board. Portions of the binding system are pivotal with the rider's foot and with respect to the board. This pivotal motion may allow the rider to have greater control over the application of weight to the heel and/or toe edges of the board. In particular embodiments, the binding system comprises: a base rigidly mounted atop rider-support surface of the board; and a foot-retainer pivotally mounted to the base via pivot couplings for pivotal motion of the foot-retainer relative to the base and the board.
US08910966B1

A foil wing for creating lift force on snowboards and skis is disclosed. By use of this invention on skis or snowboards, the act of translating through powder creates the necessary lift force on the leading end and down force on the aft end that is required to stay afloat in powder. The snow wing generates lift upon need when the snow gets deep enough. Therefore, the rider is kept afloat in unforeseen loose-snow areas, carrying him safely over and out. On overall snow powder days, the use of this invention keeps riders from tiring so quickly and, therefore, makes the rider more in control, and thus safer.
US08910964B2

An insert bar assembly can comprise an elongate hitch-attachment bar which in turn comprises a hitch-receiver insert portion located at an insertable end of the bar. An insert bar assembly can include an expander which accommodates attachment of the assembly to a hitch which is larger than the insert portion of the bar.
US08910963B2

A damper device for a bicycle suspension fork has a magneto-rheological damping medium. A piston partitions a damper chamber into first and second chambers that are connected via a return duct, an adjustable throttle valve, and a transfer duct. A field-generating device generates a magnetic field in a damping duct of the throttle valve. A one-way circuit is provided for the damping medium, with two one-way valves disposed to cause a same direction of circulation of the damping fluid both when the piston rod plunges into and retracts from the damper chamber. A first one-way valves in the piston allows a flow of the damping medium from the second into the first chamber. A second one-way valve in the transfer duct allows a damping medium flow from the transfer duct into the second chamber. The adjustable throttle valve control the plunge and the retraction of the piston rod.
US08910962B2

A vehicle suspension transverse link, including a bearing journal assembly having a pin-shaped portion and an anchor portion that attaches to a connecting point on the link. The anchor portion has an unrounded configuration.
US08910960B2

A suspension arrangement for interconnecting a frame and an axle in a vehicle includes a control arm having an upper beam and a lower beam, each beam having a first end and a second end, the first end of each beam being pivotally connectable to a vehicle frame at a common pivot point, and the second end of each beam being connected to a bushing arrangement mountable to the vehicle axle, the bushing arrangement having an upper portion connected to the upper beam and a lower portion connected to the lower beam.
US08910949B2

A seal for pipe penetration or the like is formed, in at least one embodiment, of two halves, the seal received in a sleeve or opening of a wall or the like. The seal forms a central opening for a pipe or tube when the seal halves are brought together. Each seal half is formed of two base parts. Between the base parts a layer of intumescent material is placed. On the inside of the base parts peelable layers are arranged. The layers are peeled off to adapt the inner diameter of the seal to the pipe or tube received. In case of fire, the intumescent material will expand which expansion will collapse and close off the pipe or tube received in the seal.
US08910947B2

A method is provided for forming a seal element on a substrate surface. A layer of base material is formed on the substrate surface and a plurality of crenellations are formed in the layer of base material prior to forming a layer of seal material on the crenellated layer of base material. The method may be applied to making an original seal element or to repairing an existing seal element. The resulting seal includes a layer of base material bonded to a substrate and having a plurality of crenellations formed in a face surface of the layer of a base material and a layer of a seal material bonded thereto, the seal material filling the crenellations.
US08910944B2

A shooting practice target that includes a roll with an elongated sheet having multiple images. The sheet is movable across a shooting zone formed in a frame. The sheet is movable across the shooting zone to position each of the images for use as a target. A back support may be positioned behind (away from the user) the sheet to support and position the images for viewing by the user.
US08910942B2

A puzzle having a plurality of puzzle pieces configured to be assembled into a plurality of different coherent images.
US08910937B2

The present invention provides a sheet medium detection device, which comprises a light guide bar (2) provided on one side of a medium conveying passage (4) and provided with a plurality of reflection surfaces (21) arranged with Intervals along a length direction of the light guide bar, wherein each of the reflection surfaces (21) reflects the light within the light guide bar (2) to the other side of the medium conveying passage (4); a plurality of light receivers (31), each of which, being opposite to a reflection surface (21) of the light guide bar, is provided on the other side of the medium conveying passage (4); and a point light source (1) provided at least on one end of the light guide bar along the length direction of the light guide bar, wherein each of the reflection surfaces (21) is provided obliquely to form an obtuse angle relative to the light guide bar (2) on the side where the point light source (1) locates. The present invention also provides a sheet medium processing device which comprises the detection device described above. The sheet medium detection device has a low cost and high adaptability.
US08910931B2

A sheet feeding device including: a sheet feeding roller configured to convey a sheet; a placing portion on which the sheet is configured to be placed; a moving unit configured to move the placing portion toward the sheet feeding roller; a separation pad to which a leading end of the conveyed sheet is configured to abut at a contact position; a separation roller configured to nip the sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding roller between the separation pad and the separation roller at a nip position while bringing the sheet into sliding contact with the separation pad; and a separation assistant member provided between the sheet feeding roller and the separation roller and configured to change a distance between the nip position and the contact position according to a basis weight of the sheet by coming into contact with the sheet.
US08910929B2

A printer architecture that enables a printer (or other media processing device) with an elongate foot print to be configured with media input and operator controls oriented at either a narrow end or a wide side thereof, that surface becoming the “front” of the unit. Controls and/or display(s) are mounted such that either the end or side orientation can be accommodated. The media input tray includes a separate assembly so that selection of the tray with access to end or side complements the user control panel in establishing the front of the machine. The combination of control/display mounting and oriented media tray structure integration with the print engine to establish which of the printer surfaces is considered the front allows for multiple orientations of the printer and greater flexibility to the customer.
US08910928B2

A clamping assembly for attaching loads to various kinds of flanged seams, the assembly comprising a generally U-shaped clamp body, at least one clamping hammer disposed interior of the clamp body, the clamping hammer is secured to the clamp body along the longitudinal axis of the clamp body, at least one adjustment screw extending through the clamp body and adapted to selectively impinge against the clamping hammer and cause it to pivot about its axis or otherwise move inwardly within the clamp body, the adjustment screw extending transverse to the longitudinal axis of the clamping hammer, at least one locking screw adapted to selectively impinge against the clamping hammer to prevent pivoting of the same may be optionally provided whereby a standing seam received within the clamp body may be tightly grasped between the clamp body and the clamping hammer under action of the adjustment screw.
US08910927B2

An archery bow holding device that is preferably mounted to a ball joint assembly for attachment to a table top, bench or like surface, and provides a movable mount for the archery bow holding device that holds an archery bow for performing work thereon. The preferred ball joint assembly includes a cylindrical housing that is slotted on opposite sides thereof from a center opening in the housing top and contains a ball that mounts a stem that the archery bow holding device is secured to, with the stem fitted through a slot through the housing top, to tilt between the slots and pivot when the ball in unlocked and, with the ball locked, provides a rigid mount to the archery bow holding device that includes a main beam that is bent to provide a rest for an archery bow limb positioned and clamped there against for an operator to work on.
US08910925B2

A fence system, and method for making same, includes at least one support member, and at least one infill material having an edge. At least one union strip is coupled to the at least one support member, the at least one union strip including at least one channel configured for receiving the edge of the at least one infill material. In one embodiment of the invention, the at least one channel is U-shaped, and the edge is configured in a U-shape for matingly engaging the at least one U-shaped channel.
US08910922B1

A portable crane for installing and removing windows. The portable crane for installing and removing windows includes a wheeled base with a platform having front and rear ends; a boom support assembly removably fastened to the wheeled base; and a boom assembly supported by the boom support assembly.
US08910921B2

A valve and stem sealing assembly capable of preventing leakage under demanding environmental and operating conditions. The valve comprises a body and bonnet secured together to house a flow-element, stem, and stem sealing assembly. The body may contain a body joint encapsulated within its liner. The flow-element is positioned between a first port and second port on the valve. The body and bonnet may be configured to eliminate rotational forces from being translated to the bonnet. The stem sealing assembly comprises a primary seal, primary shaft insert, spacer, and force transmitting member. The stem sealing assembly may also comprise a secondary seal and secondary shaft insert. The stem seal assembly is substantially adjacent to the stem, and configured to fit within an annular space or cavity between the stem and the first body half, second body half, and bonnet. The valve may also include a leak detection port.
US08910920B1

A shutter valve for regulating pressure and controlling fluid flow comprising: an actuator ring comprising a plurality of gear teeth, the gear teeth driven by a mating gear; a plurality of arm pin bosses, each pin boss affixed within an inside circumference of the actuator ring, each arm pin boss further comprising a hinge pin aperture; three or more pivot arms, each pivot arm having a first end and a second end, the first end forming a hinge and mounted to a hinge pin aperture of an arm pin boss; three or more obturator elements; and a housing defining a cavity for holding the actuator ring, the pivot arms and the obturator elements.
US08910914B2

A mount that is useful for mounting electronics equipment such as audio or video equipment such as a microphone or a camera in a desired orientation has first and second interconnected body members that retain a swivel adapter that is movable in a ball and socket swivel joint relative to the body members. The body members rotated on threaded connections to thereby adjust the tightness of the swivel adaptor retained between the body members. A stop prevents inadvertent disassembly of the assembled mounting apparatus.
US08910910B2

A wing of an aircraft has a pressure-side flow surface and a suction-side flow surface relative to an assumed main direction of attack and comprises a flow fence disposed on a flow surface, wherein the flow fence extends in the main wing chordwise direction and between a location of the pressure-side flow surface and a location of the suction side flow surface.
US08910897B2

A web rewinding apparatus having a mandrel cupping assembly for releasably engaging unsupported ends of a plurality of mandrels is disclosed. Each of the plurality of mandrels extends generally parallel to the web winding turret assembly axis. Each of the mandrels is driven in a closed mandrel path about the web winding turret assembly axis. The mandrel cupping assembly comprises a cupping arm turret having a cupping arm turret central axis, a mandrel cup cooperatively associated with each mandrel of the plurality of mandrels, and a first actuator.
US08910891B2

Comminution apparatus is described which is tailored for the processing of green, soft, and fibrous waste. Inner and outer comminution drums bear projecting macerating features which can progressively interact to provide a shearing action on material on waste within the outer comminution drum. Screening apertures on the outer comminution drum allow for the exit of comminuted material.
US08910884B2

An injector for injecting a reagent includes an axially translatable valve member positioned within a housing. An electromagnet is positioned within the housing and includes a coil of wire positioned proximate the valve member such that the valve member moves between a seated position and an unseated position relative to an orifice in response to energizing the electromagnet. A connector coupled to the housing includes an inlet tube concentrically aligned with and surrounding a return tube. The inlet tube is adapted to receive pressurized reagent from a source of reagent. The return tube is adapted to return reagent to the source.
US08910876B2

The disclosed methods and apparatus relate generally to the electronics media industry, such as cable television (CATV), home shopping services, on-line computer services and computer memory applications. These methods and apparatus allow a user to access and make use of electronic media input and output devices by reference to and/or utilization of standard printed matter, such as magazines, textbooks, or any other printed matter that can be correlated to electronic media. The methods and apparatus further allow the user to tailor the retrieval of electronic data by using a user profile.
US08910869B2

A method of checking value documents having a security element with a plurality of magnetic areas, including a high-coercivity magnetic area, a low-coercivity magnetic area and a combined magnetic area, which contains both the high-coercivity and the low-coercivity magnetic material. When all magnetic areas have been magnetized in a first direction, second magnetization is performed, which involves only the low-coercivity magnetic material being remagnetized parallel to the first magnetization in the opposite direction, but the high-coercivity magnetic material remaining oriented in the first direction of magnetization. Next, first magnetic signals from the security element are detected using a first magnetic detector, and second magnetic signals are detected using a second magnetic detector. The magnetic signals are used to identify each magnetic area of the security element as a high-coercivity, a low-coercivity or a combined magnetic area.
US08910865B2

A ballot authentication system uses a plurality of security features embedded in and/or printed on the paper stock used to print a ballot on which election-choice-information is printed and a voting unit that includes at least a scanner that is configured to detect the plurality of security features that are embedded in and/or printed on the ballot and authenticate the ballot based on the read information. The voting unit of the ballot authentication system can be configured to verify and confirm that the various security features embedded in and/or printed on the ballot is correct for a particular precinct of an election. The security features of the ballot authentication system can include static, dynamic and data security features.
US08910862B2

Retail point-of-transaction systems, program products, and related computer implemented methods to provide a customized set of identification data to facilitate a retail sales point-of-sale transaction which includes the use of one or more electronic coupons is provided. The retail point-of-sale system can include a computer having memory and configured to facilitate one or more transactions each of which include the use of one or more electronic coupons through a retail point-of-transaction terminal positioned remote from, and adapted to be in communication with, the computer. The computer can also include a set of instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to redeem one or more electronic coupons for one or more retail transactions responsive to a customized set of identification data provided by the computer responsive to a data profile derived from a set of personal data of at least one of a plurality of remotely positioned users.
US08910853B2

In one embodiment of the present invention, inert nano-sized particles having dimensions from 1 nm to 1,000 nm are added into a solder ball. The inert nano-sized particles may comprise metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, metal borides, etc. The inert nano-sized particles may be a single compound, or may be a metallic material having a coating of a different material. In another embodiment of the present invention, a small quantity of at least one elemental metal that forms stable high melting intermetallic compound with tin is added to a solder ball. The added at least one elemental metal forms precipitates of intermetallic compounds with tin, which are dispersed as fine particles in the solder.
US08910843B2

A self-weighing backpack includes a container body that is connected to right and left carry straps that include strain gauges. Processing circuitry is included that compares dynamic force measurements to a predetermined threshold force and generates an alert when the predetermined threshold force is exceeded.
US08910836B2

A valve assembly for dispensing liquid from a container. A manifold includes a first channel extending downwardly from a first inlet to a first side outlet, and a second channel extending downwardly from a second inlet on the manifold to a second outlet. The first side outlet and the second inlet are located on the same horizontal plane in reference to the longitudinal axis of the manifold. An elastic membrane sheathed around the manifold extends over the first side outlet and the second inlet. External fluid pressure causes the membrane to expand under fluid flow to provide for fluid communication through the manifold. In alternate embodiments fluid pressure flowing through the first and second channels causes the elastic membrane to expand enabling fluid communication between the first side outlet and the second inlet. A sealing sleeve extends around the elastic membrane is movable from a first to a second position.
US08910831B2

A system for dispensing sprayable material such as paint and other liquefied products. The system includes a dispenser designed to accept a flexible, crushable container filled with sprayable material and having a valve and spray tip at one end. The container is placed into an interior portion in the dispenser with the valve on the container secured in the housing of the dispenser. In operation, a pump action lever is activated causing a piston to slide lengthwise in the housing of the dispenser and exert force on the bottom of the container crushing it as it is emptied and forcing the sprayable material out through the valve and spray tip.
US08910828B2

A single-use storage and dispensing container is provided for use with small volumes of consumer products. The container is generally sleeve-like, sealed at both ends to contain the flowable material, and is scored or otherwise includes a break point for rupture by a user to dispense the container contents. Application of a threshold pressure to the container by the user will cause the container to rupture at the break point, dispensing flowable material therefrom. The container is suitable for one-handed use. Various cross sectional shapes of the sleeve are possible.
US08910827B2

Disclosed is a dispenser for controlling access to product, such as but not limited to bottles, housed within the dispenser. In some embodiments, the dispenser includes an opening having a contour that generally mirrors the shape and/or dimensions of the product stored within the dispenser plus a relatively small amount of clearance and also includes a tunnel within the interior of the device. The configuration of the opening and/or the tunnel feature prevents a user from accessing product stored behind the opening within the dispenser. In some embodiments, the dispenser includes a pusher system that provides a time delay between the dispensing of products into a receiving area.
US08910825B2

A computer-based apparatus for dispensing a medication, including: at least one specially programmed computer; and a medication device. The at least one computer is arranged to automatically generate a medication regimen for a patient, the medication regimen including designation of a measure for an orally-administered or injectable medication; or automatically modify a medication regimen for a patient, by modifying a designation of a measure for an orally-administered or injectable medication. The medication device is arranged to: extract the orally-administered or injectable medication from a medication storage element; and non-intravenously dispense an amount of the orally-administered or injectable medication equal to the designated measure or the modified designated measure into a container. The at least one specially programmed computer is part of the medication device, is attached to the medication storage element, or is located remote from the medication device.
US08910819B2

According to an aspect of the invention, a latching mechanism/device is provided, as well as a method of maintaining a closed position between opposing first and second portions of a container. The latching mechanism includes a latch attached to the first portion and a latch keeper integrally molded to the second portion. The latch keeper includes an elongated keeper slot and a recessed pocket formed in the keeper slot, such that when at least a portion of the latch is received within the recessed pocket, the container is closed and/or sealed.
US08910811B2

There is described a closure for a sealed container of a pourable food product, comprising a pouring spout defining a pour opening externally closed by a cover portion, a cap fitted to the pouring spout in a removable way, an opening member interposed between the cap and the cover portion of the pouring spout and joined to the cover portion, and a driving mechanism carried by the cap to engage and pull the opening member along a direction transversal thereto upon removal of the cap from the pouring spout so as to detach the cover portion from the neck portion and free the pour opening when the closure is first unsealed by the user.
US08910810B2

According to a first embodiment, a feeding bottle comprises a vessel, collar, and nipple. The nipple comprises a base portion, a teat portion, an areola portion allowing movement of the teat portion towards and away from the base portion. According to a second embodiment, a feeding bottle comprises a vessel, collar, nipple and handle portion removeably secured to the vessel by the collar. The invention includes a flexible region or regions to provide a more natural feeding by closely mimicking the human breast.
US08910805B2

A shelving system including brackets and shelves suspended by flexible or rigid straps from various types of shelving. The shelving system includes two frames that may include wire for forming ends of the shelving system. Each frame includes a shelf supporting element including first and second shelf rod receiving elements. A shelf is provided that includes first and second spaced rods. The rod receiving elements are configured to receive and support the rods. In another embodiment, a shelving system includes at least two brackets that are configured to engage a fixed shelf, and at least one rigid strap depending from each bracket. Two frames are each associated with and releaseably attached to one of the rigid straps and include a shelf supporting element including a shelf retaining portion. A shelf is supported by the shelf supporting element and is retained in place with the shelf retaining portion.
US08910796B2

A screening machine includes wall members, screen assembly guide members, a screen assembly and a compression assembly. The screen assembly includes a frame with a plurality of side members and a screen supported by the frame. The compression assembly is attached to at least one wall member and forms the screen assembly into a concave shape.
US08910790B2

A stacked shipping configuration useful for stacked upper and lower unitized loads of soft or flexible articles such as bales of natural rubber includes an upper unitized load stacked on top of a lower unitized load. An upper separator is associated with the upper unitized load and a lower separator associated with the lower unitized load. Each separator has a first leg and a second leg with the first legs of the separators disposed against each other between the unitized loads. The separators protect the unitized loads from damage when a lifting device is inserted between the loads to lift the upper load from the lower load.
US08910789B2

A reclosable package well suited for holding pre-curved beam-type wiper blades in a package cavity formed in a base that releasably engages with a cover via a reclosable closure arrangement that includes an arrangement of bar snaps each formed of a bar with an elongated bulbous head received in a complementarily configured bar snap pocket during package closure. Each bar includes inclined endwalls that facilitate location and entry of the head into a narrower mouth of the pocket until the head is received in a head-anchoring chamber releasably clamping the bar head in place. The closure arrangement can include an interlocking rib-and-channel arrangement having a rib segment extending along a hinge joining the cover to the base and rib sections extending along end flanges and part of an outer flange that stiffen and strengthen the package while guiding bar snaps into snap-fit engagement during package closure.
US08910785B2

Embodiments of golf bag having a stabilization and reinforcement system and methods to manufacture such a golf bag are generally described herein. Other embodiments of a golf bag having a stabilization and reinforcement system including a first bracket engaged to a second bracket through a flexible rod may be described and claimed.
US08910782B2

A multipack having a plurality of cuboidal cigarette packs (13), which are partially surrounded by an outer wrapper (14) made of packaging material, the packs (13) being subject, in the region of base side faces (18) thereof, to subsequent application of tax markings (23), and the outer wrapper (14) not extending over the regions of the packs (13) at which the tax markings (23) are to be applied to corresponding faces of the packs (13), that is, not in or substantially not in the region of a base side (19) of the multipack (10), with the outer wrapper (14) being detachably connected to the packs (13) by glue points (31).
US08910779B2

A conveyor device with an elastic load-bearing means guided between a drive and a return roller which are spaced apart parallel to and opposite one another, wherein the load-bearing means circulates endlessly in a carrying run and a lower run, is flexible in all directions and is configured to receive articles to be conveyed, and which can be driven in a conveying direction by drive trains disposed on longitudinal edges of the load-bearing means, characterised in that a support means for the carrying run is located between the carrying run and the lower run, wherein the drive trains are stretched to a greater extent than a region of the load-bearing means located between them.
US08910777B2

An arrangement continuously and non-destructively monitors a conveyor system having a continuous conveyor belt with a carrying-side cover plate and a running-side cover plate, each made of a polymeric material with elastic properties. The arrangement further includes drums wherein the above-mentioned components form, in conjunction with the conveyor belt, a material-conveying top strand (A) and a material-conveying or material-free bottom strand (B). A conductor loop packet with continuous conductor loops is embedded in the conveyor belt. An electronic slit protection system contactlessly detects damage to the conveyor belt. The slit protection system is an electrical system including an interrogation station and a slit monitoring station and is connected to a central controller which controls the entire conveyor system. The arrangement is equipped, as part of a conductor loop packet, with sequential conductor loops and a sequential slit protection system.
US08910771B2

The invention relates to apparatus for the provision of receipt, validation and collection of banknotes or tickets which are input by a user, typically as payment for a service which has or is to be provided. The apparatus allow for the accurate location of the banknote or ticket as it passes through the apparatus and the accurate validation of the same. In one embodiment a printer assembly is provided which allows the apparatus to print tickets and to pass the same in the reverse direction to input banknotes or tickets, to be provided to the user as, for example a credit which can be cashed subsequently by the user.
US08910767B2

A clutch mechanism includes a field core into which an electromagnetic coil is incorporated and is fixed to a base member, a rotor rotatably fitted on a shaft and passing through a central portion of the field core to be connected to a speed reduction mechanism and an armature accommodated on an inside diameter side of the output drum. The armature is fitted on the shaft in order to rotate and move in an axial direction and is magnetically attracted to the rotor when the electromagnetic coil is energized. Drum side locking portions are provided inside of the output drum such that armature side locking portions provided on an outer circumferential portion of the armature can move in an axial direction of the shaft relative thereto and can be brought into engagement therewith in a rotational direction to transmit the rotation of the armature to the output drum.
US08910743B2

An acoustic reflector primarily for underwater use comprising a shell surrounding a core in which holes are provided in the shell to allow air and water freely to enter and leave the interior of the shell when the reflector is immersed in water. Various embodiments are described including the use of a metal shell matched to a water core, the use of a mounting bar, provision of a frame to reflect acoustically alpha numeric characters, a soluble plug to delay operation of the reflector, and coating the reflector with polyurethane to limit damage. Also proposed is a pulse pattern to improve the identification of an acoustic reflector in some circumstances. Designs of reflectors particularly suitable for use with the relatively low frequency sonars found in the fishing industry with an aluminum or aluminum alloy shell are described, as are reflectors with a non-metal shell suitable for use with the higher frequency sonars in the underwater exploration industry. The reflectors can be spherical, toroidal, ovoid, or cylindrical provided that they have at least on circular cross section. A particularly important development with the current invention is the ability to mark and trace underwater non-ferromagnetic pipes.
US08910741B2

The present invention relates, in general, to a steering device for tractor and, more particularly, to a steering device for a tractor for enabling front wheels of the tractor to be turned to an angle over or approximate to a right angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the tractor by means of a driver manipulating a steering handle, thus making it possible to increase the steering angle of the front wheels and making the turning of the front wheels smoother, whereby the tractor can turn around in place and easily perform different kinds of tasks, for example, a task required in a limited space, a task where there is a need for turning the tractor around in place, etc.
US08910738B2

A snow bike system includes a motorcycle converted for use in the snow with a rear suspension and belt track system. The belt track is relatively very wide and driven by a front wheel sprocket through a jackshaft. Matching shocks and struts in the rear suspension independently equalize the pressure applied to the ground. The rear strut is a sliding extension type that causes the front of the sliders to kick up when fully compressed during acceleration or climbing uphill. Increased weight on the rear track is shifted forward to keep the front ski down. The jackshaft provides both disc braking and moves the motorcycle engine drive power outboard to accommodate the wider belt track. A tubular subframe and tunnel rigidly mounts to the motorcycle's original rear swing arm pivots and shock mounts.
US08910732B1

A mobile crane includes a main body and extendable axles, which are selectively re-positioned relative to the main body through strategically positioned apertures. The axles may be automatically locked to the main body in a desired one of the multiple positions without operator intervention. The axles one or more tapered ends for connecting to side frames, which may support crawler tracks. The tapered ends of the axles extend through openings located in the frames such that they are removably connected to an outside or exterior portion of the frames relative to the main body.
US08910728B2

In an electric power tool in which a metal front housing that accommodates a driving mechanism is assembled to the front of a main housing that accommodates a motor, an output shaft is protruded from the distal end of the front housing, and the outer periphery of the front housing is protected by a cylindrical transparent cover made of synthetic resin, a decorative pattern is formed on the inner surface of the transparent cover. The decorative pattern is formed of bumps and dips formed on the inner surface.
US08910726B2

A harvester has an attachment, for rotatably supporting the support arm of the support wheel to the frame of the header, that includes a first bearing device with a substantially horizontal axis for rotatably supporting the support arm of the support wheel to the attachment, so that the support arm is tiltable between an operating position and a stowed position. The attachment further has a second bearing device with a substantially vertical axis, for rotatably supporting the attachment to the frame, so that the attachment is tiltable between a first position whereby the axis of the first bearing device substantially transverses the direction of travel and a second position whereby the axis of the first bearing device is substantially parallel to the direction of travel.
US08910723B2

A sprinkler head cover including an end wall and a side wall extending from and around the end wall to form a cavity therebetween. The cavity is sized for receiving a deflector and arms of a sprinkler head. The side wall is adapted for engaging the sprinkler head to thereby releasably mount the cover to the sprinkler head. The sidewall includes a tear-away strip to facilitate removal of the cover from the sprinkler head.
US08910718B2

A system and method is provided for producing a hydrocarbon fluid from a subterranean environment. The system and method utilize an electric submersible pumping system having a motive unit comprising a combined submersible motor section and protector section.
US08910714B2

Methods and apparatus for using a fluid within a subterranean formation comprising forming a fluid comprising a fluid additive, introducing the fluid to a formation, observing a temperature, and controlling a rate of fluid introduction using the observed temperature, wherein the observed temperature is lower than if no observing and controlling occurred. A method and apparatus to deliver fluid to a subterranean formation comprising a pump configured to deliver fluid to a wellbore, a flow path configured to receive fluid from the pump, a bottom hole assembly comprising a fluid outlet and a temperature sensor and configured to receive fluid from the flow path, and a controller configured to accept information from the temperature sensor and to send a signal.
US08910712B2

Clathrate reservoirs of Class II are modified in order to improve the ability to produce hydrocarbons from them. Specifically a method for improving producibility of subsurface clathrate formation underlain by a mobile aquifer includes drilling a borehole to a depth providing access to the mobile aquifer and injecting a material into the mobile aquifer such that the material passes through pore spaces and forms a barrier underlying the clathrate formation and substantially impeding fluid flow from the mobile aquifer into contact with the clathrate formation.
US08910709B2

A method of connecting a first tubular member to a second tubular member located in a wellbore, the second tubular member including an upper end portion which has a greater diameter than the diameter of the first tubular member, the method comprising: lowering the first tubular member into the wellbore until the first tubular member is located at least within the bore of the upper end portion of the second tubular member; and expanding the first tubular member until the first tubular member is sealingly connected to the second tubular member.
US08910708B2

Systems for remedial cementing are provided that utilize pumice and various additives. One of the systems for remedial cementing embodiments comprises a lightweight settable composition comprising pumice, a calcium activator, and water, wherein the lightweight settable composition has a density of less than about 13.5 pounds per gallon; mixing equipment for mixing the lightweight settable composition; and pumping equipment for delivering the lightweight settable composition to a well bore.
US08910707B2

A top drive-pumpable cement head is provided for cementing a casing into a wellbore comprising a top sub portion with a top drive connection connectable to a top drive shaft to receive cement and impart translational and rotational forces to the casing simultaneously during cementing, and a ball launching assembly for housing and launching one or more launching balls. A bottom sub portion comprises a casing sleeve for housing one or more hollow wiper plugs and a tattle tale wire. The cement head also comprises a hammer union. The ball launching assembly is pre-loadable with the launching balls, the bottom sub is pre-loadable with the one or more hollow wiper plugs and a tattle tale wire and the top sub and the bottom sub are connectable via the hammer union for storage, prior to cementing operations. A method is also provided for assembling a cement head for completing a casing in a wellbore.
US08910701B2

A thermal module for use on a spacecraft to control thermal loads coming from a heat source is disclosed. The thermal module includes a two-phase loop system and a heat rejection system. The two-phase loop system includes a thermal collector, a heat flow regulator, a by-pass line, and a condenser. The condenser and the heat rejection system are thermally coupled, such that the heat flow regulator redirects part of the thermal loads from the heat source to the condenser, from which the heat rejection system directs said thermal loads to a heat sink. The temperature of the heat source is regulated by bypassing another part of the thermal loads back to the thermal collector through the by-pass line in a proportional manner, to avoid overcooling the heat source. The heat rejection system is designed based on the hottest possible conditions for the spacecraft mission.
US08910699B2

A method and apparatus for centrifugal casting, in which transfer functions are developed relating the fluidity of molten metal, for example iron of varying composition, to casting machine movement for a particular mold in order to cast objects, for example pipe, having desired and uniform characteristics, including wall thickness. Fluidity is calculated for each pour of molten metal based on the measured pour temperature and measured liquidus arrest temperature. A drive system controlled by a programmable logic controller moves the casting machine in accordance with the output of the transfer functions based on the calculated fluidity.
US08910691B2

Assemblies are provided for stabilizing sheets of glass during handling. The assemblies may include rollers of different varieties for stabilization. Crowder rollers may be provided to contact edges of the sheets. One or more of the crowder rollers may have an outer surface having a noncylindrical portion with an increasing diameter in an upward direction relative to the conveyance plane of the sheets. Conveyor rollers may be arranged so as to define a conveyor for conveying the sheets. One or more of the conveyor rollers may be a support roller in substantial registration with a strip applicator for contacting a bottom side of the sheets below the strip applicator during application of a strip.
US08910684B2

A tire comprising an innerliner, where the innerliner includes a rubber and boron nitride dispersed within the rubber.
US08910676B2

The invention relates to a device for loading solid particles into an enclosure, including: a means for supplying solid particles to be dispensed, which can be arranged on the top part of the enclosure to be loaded and which pours the solid particles in a substantially vertical manner into a feeding pipe (1); a mobile device (2) disposed entirely or partially inside the enclosure and under the feeding pipe, including a central shaft (3) rotatably driven by a motor means (4) about a substantially vertical axis and deflector elements (6) having a substantially identical shape and being rotatably secured to the shaft (3), preferably arranged in line with one another at different heights about the shaft (3) and pivotably connected thereto so that they can be raised, for example by centrifugal force; and a feeding pipe (1) at least partially surrounding said central shaft (3) and comprising at least one opening (5) for discharging the solid particles, which opening is provided on the horizontal or side wall thereof. The invention is characterized in that the device includes at least one deflector element (7) disposed on the rotatably driven shaft (3), the width of said deflector element (7) close to the shaft (3) being less than that of the other deflector elements (6), in particular the width of the element close to the shaft is smaller than that of the other deflector elements. The invention also relates to a use of said device and to a loading method involving said device.
US08910668B2

A hose for transporting fluids in which a plurality of carcass layers is disposed between an inner surface rubber layer and a cover rubber layer, and a visible design, continuous in a hose axial direction, is provided on an outer surface of the cover rubber layer. The hose for transporting fluids includes a sliding-surface layer that is embedded at least partially in the hose axial direction in the cover rubber layer and that is non-adhesive with respect to the cover rubber layer, and a constraining layer that is embedded so as to be wound partially in a hose circumferential direction on an outer side of the sliding-surface layer and that is adhesive with respect to the cover rubber layer.
US08910661B2

A cage for a control valve trim assembly includes a cage body having an opening at one end and a wall extending from the opening, a plurality of cage openings disposed in the wall, and a pressure relief mechanism disposed in the cage wall.
US08910649B2

A readily cleanable water storage system and a method of maintaining cleanliness of water in said system are disclosed. The system comprises an overhead water tank, wherein said water tank comprises a floor, at least one inlet, a draining outlet with a stop cock, an overflow outlet, a supply outlet and a pump, characterized in that the floor of the tank is inclined at a pre-determined continuous and effective slope either towards another point on the periphery to form an inclined floor, or from all sides to form a conical bottom with the supply outlet located at the side wall of the tank above the conical bottom and the draining outlet is located at the periphery of the inclined floor at sloping end or at the convergence of the cone formed by the conical bottom.
US08910647B2

The present invention relates to a tip assembly for a mobility device such as a cane or walking stick, for example. The tip assembly including a specially shaped extension for enhanced gripping of the surface upon which the associated mobility device is being used. The tip assembly also generally includes a dampening element to assist in dissipating the reverberations of contacting the tip assembly with hard surfaces over time.
US08910642B2

The “Hair Spoon” is a simple curved, double-spoon shaped, device for retaining long hair near the back of the head. This enables a method and apparatus for retaining and adornment of long hair. A hair device is used to hold long hair in a fixed location. The visible surface facing away from the head may be plain or adorned with ornaments and images. Only two motions required; one continuous motion to wrap the hair and one rotation of the device to hold it in place securely and safely. The device is simple and easy to use while ensuring beauty to the beholder.
US08910638B2

In exemplary implementations of this invention, high-throughput screening of a mammalian brain is performed to locate neural circuit targets of interest. A variety of search patterns may be used for this neural screening, including (a) iterative subdivision, (b) serial search, and (c) combinatorial. To perform this neural screening, an array of optical fibers (or an array of waveguides) is inserted into the brain. Alternately, the array is positioned adjacent to the brain. Each fiber or waveguide in the array is coupled to a light source (LED or laser). The brain has been previously sensitized to light, using genetically encoded optical neural control reagents, which are delivered either using viruses or via transgenic means. In the screening, the array is used to optically perturb the brain. For example, the neurons of the brain may be activated by one color of light, and/or silenced by another color of light.
US08910633B2

Gas leakage from a ventilator circuit and patient interface is estimated by a method that relies on breath-by-breath or time-to-time variability in the pattern of pressure delivery by the ventilator, comprising generating signals that correspond to pressure (PCIRCUIT) and flow rate (Flow) in the ventilator circuit, integrating flow (Integrated Flow), measuring the change in Integrated Flow (ΔV) over an INTERVAL extending from a selected point in the expiratory phase of a ventilator cycle to a selected point during the expiratory phase of a nearby ventilator cycle, repeating the measurement of ΔV for at least two said INTERVALs, processing PCIRCUIT to produce an index or indices that reflect(s) the pattern of pressure delivery by the ventilator during each of said INTERVALs, applying statistical methods to determine the relation between the differences in ΔV among 1NTERVALs and the corresponding differences in said index or indices of PCIRCUIT, and establishing from said relation the leak rate at specified PCIRCUIT values.
US08910624B2

The invention relates to a solar collector (1) comprising a collector element plane comprising a set of parallel metallic collector elements (2) for collecting solar energy. The collector element plane, on its side to be arranged to face the sun, comprises a set of parallel, elongated ridges (R, r) formed by the metallic collector elements (2), and elongated depressions (v) between the ridges (R, r), and that at least some of the ridges (R, r) comprise therein a channel (3) for a heat transfer medium. The invention also relates to a collector element. The invention further relates to a building roof, a building, and a solar energy recovery system comprising said solar collector (1).
US08910617B2

If a relative rotational phase between a first rotor drivably connected to a crankshaft and a second rotor drivably connected to a camshaft is not an intermediate lock phase when an engine is started, a fuel injection starting timing is delayed more than that of the time when the relative rotational phase is the intermediate lock phase. The delay time is determined according to the working oil temperature of a valve timing mechanism during the engine start or the same oil temperature at the previous stop time of the engine, for example. As a result, the start of the engine can be completed as soon as possible while retaining the startability of the internal combustion engine.
US08910615B2

An object of this invention is to provide a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine which makes it possible to reliably avoid an abnormal increase in in-cylinder pressure due to pre-ignition. The control apparatus of this invention controls an internal combustion engine including an injector that directly injects fuel into a cylinder. The control apparatus includes pre-ignition detection means that executes an operation to detect pre-ignition until a time of a crank angle θA, and injection instruction means that, at a time of a crank angle θB that is before the crank angle θA, sends to the injector an injection instruction to perform fuel injection that suppresses pre-ignition combustion. Preferably, the control apparatus includes energization stopping means that, when the pre-ignition detection means does not detect pre-ignition until the time of the crank angle θA, stops energization of the injector that is started by the injection instruction.
US08910613B2

An internal combustion engine is described that includes an expansion cylinder adjacent to a first combustion cylinder (or power cylinder). Combustion gases from the first cylinder are directed to the expansion cylinder to act on the piston in the expansion cylinder. The expansion cylinder has a larger bore (i.e. larger diameter piston) and/or a longer stroke than the first cylinder. The longer stroke also results in a much larger crankshaft arm resulting in a significantly improved mechanical advantage (i.e. torque). In addition, the expansion cylinder includes a check valve that is designed to automatically open the expansion chamber to atmosphere if a negative pressure develops due to the varying amount of exhaust gases at different speeds. In one embodiment, two power cylinders can be connected to one expansion cylinder.
US08910610B2

The present invention is an oil pump used in combination with a twin cam type engine, such as a HARLEY DAVIDSON® type A or type B engine, that includes a first high pressure gerotor and cam chest scavenger gerotor housing, a separator plate that establishes an independent dual scavenging capability and a second crankcase sump scavenger gerotor housing that pulls oil from the crankcase sump. The oil pump also includes a high pressure gerotor that pulls oil from an oil reservoir and supplies oil under pressure through a stock or aftermarket cam plate to the engine, a cam chest scavenger gerotor to scavenge oil in a cam chest of the engine and return the oil to the oil reservoir, a crankcase sump scavenger gerotor to scavenge the oil in a crankcase sump of the engine and return the oil to the oil reservoir and an o-ring to prevent the oil from leaking into the cam chest of the engine.
US08910597B2

A single-crankshaft single-cylinder fully-balanced opposed piston engine module that provides extra time for the injection and the combustion of the fuel.
US08910586B2

A seasoning apparatus and method for evenly and consistently seasoning french fries or other food. The seasoning apparatus may include a hollow hopper for holding and selectively dispensing seasoning therefrom and a plurality of actuatable dispensing elements each translatably attached to the hopper and each having a holding compartment formed therein. The actuatable dispensing elements may receive seasoning in the holding compartment from the hopper. When translated to a dispensing position, the dispensing elements may dispense seasoning from the holding compartment. The seasoning apparatus may also include a seasoning spreader for spreading seasoning dispensed from the actuatable dispensing elements and a food-holding container fixed a distance below the hopper and seasoning spreader. The food-holding container may have a weighing device coupled with a controller for determining an amount of seasoning to dispense from the hopper and actuating the actuatable dispensing elements accordingly.
US08910582B2

A planter row unit is disclosed having an active downforce control system for the closing wheels. This separate control of the downforce pressure for the closing wheels is provided from the row unit downforce control. A single operator input is used to set a desired downforce for all row units. The control system then operates to produce the desired downforce. Alternatively, the control system may display a downforce load to the operator who then manually makes adjustments as desired.
US08910581B2

An agricultural side dressing fertilizer coulter row unit includes a first attachment member adapted to be rigidly connected to a towing frame, and a second attachment member pivotably coupled to the first attachment member for pivoting movement about a substantially vertical axis. A linkage is pivotably coupled to the second attachment member for pivoting movement of the trailing end of the linkage relative to the second attachment member, and a tool-carrying stem pivotably coupled to the trailing end of the linkage carries a rotatably mounted coulter wheel for forming a slit in the soil, a liquid fertilizer dispenser for dispensing fertilizer, and a rotatably mounted closing wheel for closing the slit. A biasing element is pivotably attached to the linkage and coupled to the second attachment member for urging the stem downwardly with a controllable force.
US08910580B1

A wall mount cabinet assembly safely mounts a flat screen television to a wall while also providing storage space for additional items. The assembly includes a frame having a first side positioned opposite a second side. A plurality of shelves is coupled to the frame and extends between the first side and the second side of the frame. A first side of each of the shelves extends outwardly of a front side of the frame. The plurality of shelves comprises at least two shelves wherein an uppermost one of the shelves is configured to support a flat-screen television positioned on the uppermost one of the shelves and a bottommost one of the shelves is configured to store items thereon. A plurality of mounting brackets is coupled to the frame and the shelves wherein the mounting brackets are configured for mounting the television to a wall surface.
US08910579B2

Disclosed is a vehicle, in particular rail vehicle, with a wagon body and an running gear on which the wagon body is supported, wherein the wagon body and the running gear define a vehicle longitudinal direction, a vehicle transverse direction and a vehicle height direction. A tilting mechanism is arranged between the wagon body and the running gear, which is designed to impose, during a transverse displacement in the vehicle transverse direction, upon the wagon body a rolling motion about a rolling axis parallel to the vehicle longitudinal direction. The tilting mechanism comprises a transverse decoupling device, which is designed to reduce the stiffness of the tilting mechanism against a pure transverse displacement of the wagon body with respect to the running gear. The invention furthermore relates to a corresponding tilting mechanism.
US08910578B2

An aerial cable car system including transportation operating equipment for passenger and/or freight transport, wherein electrical consumers are connected for operation thereof to a rechargeable electrical energy store of a transportation operating equipment by a respective power circuit. The transportation operating equipment includes an operating control device connected to measuring devices for dynamically capturing measurement values based on available quantity of energy in the energy store. The operating control device includes a storage module having at least one stored measurement control value and an associated control parameter. The operating control device includes a filter module comparing a captured measurement value to the at least one stored measurement control value and reading out corresponding stored control parameter, based on which power circuits can be selectively coupled or decoupled to the energy store by the operating control device. Electrical consumers in transportation operating equipment can be fed without interruption by the energy store, even during travel.
US08910574B2

A mark detecting device detects a positioning mark on a transfer medium based on light that is emitted to and then reflected from the transfer medium. The mark detecting device includes a light emitting unit that emits light to a target position on the transfer medium; a light receiving unit that receives light reflected from the target position; and an adjusting unit that rotatably supports a detecting unit including at least one of the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit about a center of rotation, which passes through the target position, on the transfer medium and adjusts the rotation angle of the detecting unit with respect to the center of rotation.
US08910567B2

The invention relates to a compacting device (1) for compacting empty containers, in particular beverage bottles or cans of plastic or metal, comprising at least one rotatable roller (1a, 1b), which is designed for compressing and perforating empty containers, wherein the roller (1a, 1b) has a roller base body (2a, 2b) and at least one pin element (3) protruding from the roller base body (2a, 2b), wherein the pin element (3) is formed as a hollow pin, at least the end face of the hollow pin that is facing away from the roller base body (2a, 2b) is open.
US08910565B2

Batch cookers, as well as methods for cooking using the batch cookers, are provided. A batch cooker comprises a cooking trough configured to hold a volume of heated cooking oil. An oil recirculation system delivers heated cooking oil from an external heat source (e.g., a heat exchanger) to the cooking trough through a series of valves and inlets. After use in cooking, used cooking oil is drained from the cooking trough and filtered (e.g., using a drum filter) before being recirculated into the heat source for reuse in subsequent cooking cycles. One application for the batch cooker of the present disclosure is to cook kettle-style potato chips. Accordingly, the batch cooker is configured to facilitate the multiple cooking temperatures required to produce kettle chips.
US08910541B2

Systems and methods for packaging a Control Assembly (“CA”) on an Electronic Device (“ED”). The methods involve: mounting a first component (112, 812, 908) of CA on a Top Surface (“TS”) (104, 804, 904) of ED (100, 800, 900) such that a Central AXis (“CAX”) (136, 836, 934) thereof is at an acute angle (170, 870, 962) relative to a plane (152, 852, 952) perpendicular to a horizontal center axis (150, 850, 950) of ED; mounting a second component (106, 806, 906) of CA on TS such that CAX (132, 832, 932) thereof is at a first Obtuse Angle (“OA”) (164, 860, 960) relative to the plane; and mounting a third component (108, 808, 912) of CA on TS such that CAX (134, 834, 936) thereof is at a second OA (166, 862, 970) relative to the plane. The second or third component may have a trapezoidal shape.
US08910537B2

A holding arm apparatus 1 is configured to connect upper and lower timing pulleys 5A and 6A of a vertical arm unit 4 to each other with a timing belt 15, to widen the range of rotation angle of a horizontal arm unit 5 and allow the position and angle of an endoscope 20 held at a front end of the horizontal arm unit 5 to be widely changed. The horizontal arm unit 5 and a counterweight 6 turn by the same angle, to maintain a weight balance by the counterweight 6. Using the timing belt 15 reduces the total weight and operation noise of the holding arm apparatus 1. Accordingly, the apparatus is appropriate for a medical front.
US08910533B2

Various embodiments include apparatus and methods of providing a sensor, in a transducer subassembly, having a backing (1) coupled to a housing (7) without bonding the sensor to the housing such that the sensor is effectively mechanically decoupled from the housing except for longitudinal waves traveling through the front face of the transducer subassembly. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08910528B2

A vortex flowmeter having a optical fiber channel in the device wall, a first sealing element extending into the fiber channel with a contact surface for the optical fiber and at least a second sealing element with a contact surface for the optical fiber, wherein second sealing element being guided in a guide in the device wall. In a sealed state of the fiber fiber channel, the second sealing element is pressed against the contact surface of the first sealing element by a positioning means with the optical fiber located between the contact surfaces of the sealing elements and enclosed thereby, and in this manner, the fiber channel is closed by the first sealing element, the second sealing element and the optical fiber guided between the first sealing element and the second sealing element.
US08910522B2

A method for measuring positional changes of an object, including rotation about any or all of three axes, using linear accelerometers. There is disclosed a method of using a linear accelerometer to integrate two 3D linear accelerometers in order to measure and supply for further use six-dimensional information, that is, translation in three dimensions and rotation about three axes. Two linear accelerometer sensors are used to determine all but rotation about an imaginary axis between the accelerometers. Output from a third accelerometer may be used to generate the data needed to determine rotation about the imaginary axis. The need for a gyroscope for detecting changes in heading (i.e., yaw or azimuth) may therefore be avoided.
US08910520B2

A vibrating gyroscope having a base, and a resonator. The resonator includes a body of generally cylindrical shape terminating in a distal face to the side opposite the base. The face includes at least one through hole, a plurality of piezoelectric elements placed in contact with the resonator, vibration control and processing modules arranged at least in part on the base, and at least one electrical connection passing through the body of the resonator via the hole, and electrically connecting the modules of the base and the plurality of piezoelectric elements for controlling and measuring the vibration of the resonator.
US08910518B2

A yaw rate sensor (10) includes a movable mass structure (12) and a drive component (13) which is suitable for setting the movable mass structure (12) in motion (14), and an analysis component (15) which is suitable for detecting a response (40) of the movable mass structure (12) to a yaw rate (Ω). A method for functional testing of a yaw rate sensor (10) includes the following steps: driving a movable mass structure (12), feeding a test signal (42) into a quadrature control loop (44) at a feed point (48) of the quadrature control loop (44), feeding back a deflection (40) of the movable mass structure (12), detecting a measure of the feedback of the movable mass structure (12), and reading out the response signal (47) from the quadrature control loop (44). In the yaw rate sensor (10) and also in the method, the readout of the response signal (47) in relation to a processing direction (45) of the test signal (42) is provided between a feed point (48) for a test signal (42) and an actuator (38) for feeding back a deflection (40) of the movable mass structure (12).
US08910514B2

Systems and methods of determining fluid properties are disclosed. An example apparatus to determine a saturation pressure of a fluid includes a housing having a detection chamber and a heater assembly partially positioned within the detection chamber to heat a fluid. The example apparatus also includes a sensor assembly to detect a property of the fluid and a processor to identify a saturation pressure of the fluid using the property of the fluid.
US08910507B2

A gas measurement system is provided that includes a mechanism for customizing gas supplied to the system. The system further includes a plurality of test locations that can be serviced by a common vessel portion and common sampling and testing infrastructure. The system further includes a controller that is able to control the customization of the supply gas and the location of the common vessel portion.
US08910503B2

The present invention relates to the use of an adaptive protective textile (3) in sheet metalforming, comprising non-woven material which is draped over the active surfaces of the sheet metalforming tool (2), wherein the surfaces of the sheet metal (4) are protected from contact with the surfaces of the tool (2) and the need for lubricant is eliminated.
US08910502B2

A locking collar assembly for metal forming dies includes a disc-shaped locking collar with a cylindrical outer surface closely received in a collar bore in one face of a first die member. A circular recess in the outer face of the locking collar has an internal retainer ring groove. A counter bore shaped fastener hole extends through the collar and a part of the recess, and has shank, head and shoulder portions. A socket head cap screw is inserted in the fastener hole with a threaded end anchored in a threaded end aperture in one of the guide pins, with the head seated on the shoulder of the fastener hole. A retainer ring is mounted in the collar ring groove and overlies the cap screw head to positively prevent the cap screw from unintentionally unfastening from the guide pin.
US08910500B2

An end plunger for end feeding during a hydroforming process (such as tube hydroforming) has at least one releasable seal. The effect of the releasable seal is that it avoids pressurizing the blank in a nip area, thereby reducing friction and wear, and allowing increased end feeding with a given end feeding force. The releasable seal may be actuable, for sealing or releasing. The plunger may be modular or monolithic. A kit and method may incorporate the end plunger.
US08910492B2

An upper suction port is formed in a main-body upper part of an air-conditioning apparatus main body, a suction opening part is formed in a front grill disposed on a main-body front face of the air-conditioning apparatus, a suction opening whose opening is directed upward is formed by consecutively providing an air guide wall inclined downward inside the main body on the upper edge of the suction opening, and the suction opening is located between a part, in the main-body height direction, lower than a straight line passing through a rotation center of an impeller and a closest contact point between the impeller and a front-face heat exchanger and a part, in the main-body height direction, higher than a straight line parallel with the straight line and passing through the impeller and a tongue part of a stabilizer.
US08910486B2

The invention is directed to an improved cryogenic cooler with an expander where the regenerator matrix is decoupled from the displacer or piston, thereby allowing the design of each to be optimized substantially independently. The regenerator matrix is preferably positioned spaced apart from the displacer and can be designed to enhance thermal exchanges and flow rates of the working gas. In one embodiment, the regenerator matrix has a serpentine shape or U-shape disposed around the displacer and the cold finger. Preferably, the regenerator matrix is static. The thermal lengths of the cold finger and/or the displacer can be extended by minimizing their geometrical lengths. Additionally, the structural integrity or stiffness of the cold finger and/or displacer can be strengthened.
US08910476B2

An exhaust gas condensate control method includes selecting modeling objects from the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, acquiring control factors from the modeling objects, such as mass, temperature, pressure, absolute humidity, relative humidity, partial water vapor pressure of the exhaust gas and a gas mixture, calculating an estimated relative humidity value, a desired relative humidity value from estimated relative humidity value, and an allowable relative humidity limit and a current relative humidity value of the EGR system, and precluding production of condensate in the EGR system by feedback-controlling the intake air flow rate of a mixing pipe line, the opening amount of an LP-EGR (low pressure) valve, and boost pressure by using an applied control value compensating the desired relative humidity value. An EGR system may be an LP-EGR type or an HP-EGR (high pressure)+LP-EGR type.
US08910474B2

A hydraulic system includes a first pump, a first actuator fluidly connected to the first pump via a first closed-loop circuit, a second pump, and a second actuator fluidly connected to the second pump via a second closed-loop circuit. The system also includes a third pump, a third actuator fluidly connected to the third pump via a third closed-loop circuit, a fourth pump, and a fourth actuator fluidly connected to the fourth pump via a fourth closed-loop circuit. The system further includes a first combining valve configured to combine fluid from the first and second circuits, a second combining valve configured to combine fluid from the second and third circuits, and a third combining valve configured to combine fluid from the third and fourth circuits. The system also includes a fourth combining valve configured to combine fluid from the first and fourth circuits.
US08910469B2

The present invention is intended to suppress a decrease in insulation resistance between electrodes and a case in an electric heating catalyst (EHC). An EHC (1) according to the present invention is provided with a heat generation element (3) that is energized to generate heat thereby to heat a catalyst, a case (4) that receives the heat generation element therein, an insulating member (5) that is arranged between the heat generation element (3) and the case (4) for insulating electricity, electrodes (7) that are connected to the heat generation element (3) through an electrode chamber (9) which is a space located between an inner wall surface of the case (4) and an outer peripheral surface of the heat generation element (3), and a ventilation passage (10) that ventilates the electrode chamber.
US08910460B2

An agricultural round baler has a press chamber with inlet and rear outlet for ejecting a bale. A pressing device in the press chamber causes the harvested crop to rotate. A pickup device and a conveying and cutting device are provided upstream of a storage chamber that extends to the inlet of the press chamber and receives harvested crop in a storage phase of the baler. An element that interrupts or releases flow of harvested crop from the storage chamber to the press chamber is provided and acted on by a control and governing device. The storage chamber is a flat shaping and pressing channel for the harvested crop conveyed in the storage phase of the baler operation. The channel has a height-adjustable end and a cross-section that at least temporarily in the storage phase tapers in flow direction of harvested crop to the press chamber.
US08910452B2

A hurricane tie fastener and method are provided for securing a truss to a wall structural member. The fastener includes upper and lower vertical perpendicular plates with respective nail-receiving through holes formed therein. A horizontal arm extends from adjacent the bottom of the upper plate away from the lower plate. A leg extends upwardly from the arm. A truss-receiving space is formed between the upper plate and leg having a top entrance opening for receiving the bottom of the truss when the fastener is moved upwardly relative to the truss. The fastener is self-supporting on the truss to make the nailing of the fastener to the truss and wall member easier and safer.
US08910451B2

An example of the disclosed seating system includes a plurality of seating risers configured to telescope relative to one another, and at least one of the seating risers is a powered seating riser configured to deploy and retract the seating risers. Further included is a control pendant. The powered seating riser is drivable in response to said control pendant.
US08910449B2

A ferrule (10) that is intended to be cast into a concrete element, such as a concrete panel. Engaged with the ferrule (10) is a washer assembly (22) that secures a plate (19) to the concrete element (16) for the purposes of securing the concrete element (16) to an adjacent concrete element (17). The washer assembly (22) has a threaded fastener (21) that can be adjusted angularly for engagement with the ferrule (10).
US08910445B2

An anchoring system for cavity walls is disclosed and includes a stud-type wall anchor and veneer tie. The stud-type anchor is comprised of high-strength, nonconductive thermally-isolating components that maintain the insulation R-values. The anchor has a driver head, dual-diameter barrel, a driven tip and multiple thermally-isolating seals. The multiple seals and the dual-diameter barrel of the anchor fill the anchor-receiving channel and stabilize the wall anchor. The wall anchor is clamped in place by the multiple seals. The anchor operates with various veneer ties.
US08910444B2

Disclosed herein are embodiments of foam backing panels for use with lap siding and configured for mounting on a building. Also disclosed are lap siding assemblies and products of lap sidings. One such embodiment of the foam backing panel comprises a rear face configured to contact the building, a front face configured for attachment to the lap siding, alignment means for aligning the lap siding relative to the building, means for providing a shadow line, opposing vertical side edges, a top face extending between a top edge of the front face and rear face and a bottom face extending between a bottom edge of the front face and rear face.
US08910443B2

Disclosed herein are embodiments of foam backing panels for use with lap siding and configured for mounting on a building. Also disclosed are lap siding assemblies and products of lap sidings. One such embodiment of the foam backing panel comprises a rear face configured to contact the building, a front face configured for attachment to the lap siding, alignment means for aligning the lap siding relative to the building, means for providing a shadow line, opposing vertical side edges, a top face extending between a top edge of the front face and rear face and a bottom face extending between a bottom edge of the front face and rear face. The foam backing panel has alternating high density portions and low density portions. Fasteners used to attach the foam back panel to an exterior wall pass through the high density portions.
US08910442B2

A deck board mounting clip mounts deck boards to joist members with respective undercut portions in a deck structure. The mounting clip has an intermediate body received between an adjacent deck boards, a first retainer flange protruding laterally into the side edge of one of the deck boards, a second retainer flange protruding laterally into the side edge of the next deck board, and a hook portion engageable with the undercut portion of the joist member such that the mounting clip cannot be lifted from the joist member.
US08910440B2

The present invention describes a connection system for prefabricated panels of the type comprising at least two outer concrete layers (12, 14), provided with metallic reinforcement (18), and an intermediate layer (16) made of heat-insulating material, arranged between the two outer concrete layers (12, 14). The system comprises a plurality of plate-like connection elements (10) having such a length (L) as to allow them to extend, in an orthogonal direction with respect to the panel's development plan, through the heat-insulating layer (16) and to partially penetrate inside the outer concrete layers (12, 14). Each connection element (10) is provided, at two opposed terminal ends, with respective hooking means (22, 24) to the outer concrete layers (12, 14). At least one (24) of the hooking means provided at the opposed terminal ends of each connection element (10) is made up of two distinct C-shaped edges (24A, 24B), side by side and parallel to each other. The C-shaped edges (24A, 24B) are capable of hooking onto respective bars (20) provided on the metallic reinforcement (18) of at least one (12) of the panel's outer concrete layers.
US08910439B2

A wall panel configured for quick and easy manufacturing and assembly to create affordable, sustainable buildings. The wall panel has a main wall section having an inside-facing surface and an outside-facing surface opposite the inside-facing surface; a first set of elongated studs embedded in the outside-facing surface of the main wall section, each elongated stud in the first set of elongated studs having a length; a second set of elongated studs embedded in the inside-facing surface of the main wall section, each elongated stud in the second set of the elongated studs having a length; wherein the length of each elongated stud of the first set of elongated studs is greater than a height of the main wall section, and wherein the length of each elongated stud of the second set of elongated studs is equivalent to the height of the main wall section.
US08910435B2

A beam assembly for subdividing a floor plan area comprises a horizontally-extending beam member including an interiorly-facing surface, a bottom wall having at least one aperture extending therethrough, and at least one horizontally-extending lower frame member located below the beam member. The beam assembly further comprises at least one vertical frame member extending between and coupled with the beam member and the at least one lower frame member, wherein the at least one vertical frame member extends through the at least one aperture and the bottom wall of the beam member and interferingly engages the interior-facing surface of the beam member.
US08910432B2

Embodiments of the invention generally relate a method and apparatus for a tower structure. In one embodiment, the tower structure comprises a first base plate comprising a first hinge device, a first structural section having a first side and a second side, the first structural section coupled to a second base plate comprising a second hinge device, a second structural section coupled to the first structural section, and an aerial component coupled to the second structural section, wherein the first structural section is rotatable relative to the first base plate in a first rotational axis, the second structural section is rotatable relative to the first structural section in a second rotational axis, and at least a portion of the second structural section is received in a channel formed in the first side of the first structural section when the first structural section and the second structural section are substantially parallel.
US08910427B2

This disclosure describes a snow stop, and methods of manufacture and use, that can be manufactured in a flat and easily transportable form and then hand-folded into a folded snow stop at an installation site. The snow stop is formed in a flat chevron shape that is stackable so as to ease transportation of large numbers of snow stops to an installation site. The snow stop includes first, second, and third fold lines enabling installers to hand fold the flat snow stops into folded snow stops in a repeatable manner. The snow stops can further include raised portions that can delineate and form the fold lines and increase structural integrity of the folded snow stop.
US08910421B2

For sealing a door, a jamb interface with a specified width connects to a jamb interior face of a jamb along a longitudinal axis of the jamb interior face. The jamb interface includes a plurality of fingers with a proximal edge of each of the fingers in the range of 4 to 6.5 centimeters (cm) from an intersection of the jamb interface and a flap. Each finger has a specified finger height in the range of 1 to 1.5 cm. Each finger is separated from adjacent fingers by a specified spacing height in the range of 1 to 1.5 cm.
US08910394B2

A tumble dryer having a drying chamber for articles to be dried; a process-air duct; a heater arranged to heat process air, wherein the heater is a two-stage heater having a first heating stage in a first circuit and a second heating stage in a second circuit that is parallel to the first circuit; a first fan to direct heated process air over the articles to be dried in the drying chamber; a heat pump having a heat sink, a heat source and a heat transfer device; a controller; and a thermostatic switch arranged in the first circuit or the second circuit, wherein the thermostatic switch is thermally coupled to the heat pump.
US08910389B1

A door leveling apparatus is configured for assisting in the cutting of a lower edge of a door to match a base angle of a base of a door frame. In the exemplary embodiment, a housing is removably engagable with a hinge of each of the door and door frame and provides a pivotally engaged leveling arm configured for selectively pivoting away from the housing toward the base of the door frame. A laser assembly is pivotally engaged with a distal end of the leveling arm and comprises a laser housing capable of selectively emitting a laser beam and an angle adjustment knob configured for selectively retaining the laser housing at a desired laser angle that matches the base angle. The apparatus may then be removably engaged with the hinge of the door so that the laser beam may project the line on which the door is to be cut.
US08910386B2

A hand pruner having a first and second handle, the first handle having a hook, formed at a far end, the second handle having a cutting blade formed at the far end. The first handle and hook and second handle and blade pivotally connected for movement with respect to each other. The blade and second handle having a cup formed between the blade and second handle. The hook and first handle having a cup formed between the hook and first handle. The cutting edge of the hook is formed along two concave intersecting arcs of different diameters, the smaller diameter arc located next to the pivot. The cutting edge of the blade is formed along two convex intersecting arcs having diameters that complement the two concave arcs in the hook cutting edge.
US08910385B2

A bearing assembly is disclosed which addresses the problem of axially retaining a bearing journaled onto a shaft within a casing in an axially compact and technically economic and reliable way by first mounting a retaining plate (6) onto an outer race of the bearing (1). The mounting can be achieved by press fitting onto a shoulder so that the retaining plate can rotate relative to the outer race. The bearing is then journaled onto a shaft (4) and inserted into a compact casing (3) so that the outer race is guided into a housing (2) formed in an end wall of the casing (3). The retaining plate can then be rotated as required to align fastening bosses (7) with holes (8) to be engaged by screws (9) so that the retaining plate us urged axially against the outer race.
US08910383B2

A machine tool for manufacturing exhaust gas cleaning devices, in particular diesel particulate filters and catalysts that have a housing and a gas-traversed insert clamped in the housing, comprises at least one tool, in which the insert is clamped in the housing. A heating device that heats the housing is integrated in the tool. In a method for manufacturing exhaust gas cleaning devices, the heated housing is plastically deformed in a machine tool, and the insert is inserted into the housing.
US08910364B2

A method and apparatus for securing a heat sink/filter positioned between a pressure vessel and a diffuser in an air bag inflator. The pressure vessel is constructed so that upon activation of the inflator of the area of gas exiting the pressure vessel is smaller than the area of gas exiting the diffuser to create pressures in the pressure vessel that are higher than the pressures in the diffuser. This results in deformation of the pressure vessel that is equal to or greater than the deformation of the diffuser to maintain compression of the heat sink/filter between the pressure vessel and the diffuser during activation of the inflator.
US08910362B2

A process is described for converting the spring components and the cushioning and covering materials derived from discarded mattresses and foundations into materials suitable for the manufacture of rebuilt units which comply with given governmental regulatory requirements. A preliminary optional step in the process comprises heating the discarded mattress at 230° F. to ensure that the components produced by deconstruction may be safely reused and recycled.
US08910355B2

Manufacturing a semiconductor structure including modifying a frequency of a Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) device though a vent hole of a sealing layer surrounding the FBAR device.
US08910354B2

A method of integrating a tampon includes providing an absorbent blank having a longitudinal centerline and compressing the absorbent blank in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline to form a pledget having a compressed diameter. The method also includes penetrating the pledget in the perpendicular direction to a compressed depth of at least 20% of the compressed diameter to form a discrete indentation.
US08910353B2

A locking device for laces, shoelaces, cords and the like, including: a base configured to be fixed to a product including the lace to be locked and including at least one seat for passage of a lace to be locked; a lever including at least one element for pinching the lace in the passage seat, and at least one guiding seat for the lace; the lever being connected to the base, proximate to the passage seat, by a pivot, the pinching element engaging the passage seat so as to pinch thereat the lace to prevent its sliding in the passage seat, an end portion of the lace passing through the at least one guiding seat to be directed in a preselected reverse direction, which is defined by the at least one guiding seat, and vice versa.
US08910342B2

A robot cleaning system includes a debris collection volume, a vacuum airway configured to deliver debris to the debris collection volume, and a cleaning head in pneumatic communication with the vacuum airway. The cleaning head includes two shape-changing resilient tubes separated by an air gap opposing the vacuum airway. The cleaning head is operable in a first configuration, where the two shape-changing resilient tubes rotate against a cleaning surface engaged by the cleaning head to agitate debris on the cleaning surface to pass through the air gap and into the vacuum airway, and a second configuration, where both shape changing resilient tubes deform opposite one another to roll an object larger than the air gap to pass into the vacuum airway.
US08910330B1

A pillow of embodiments of the disclosed technology has a top side and bottom side. The bottom side has a front support at the front, and back portion extending along the length of the back. The front support and back portion are adapted to touch a surface on which they rest, leaving a cavity between the back portion all the way to the front of the pillow, excluding the front support. As such, the pillow is almost entirely open at the front, the only portion at the front lacking an opening is for the centrally located front support. Two such pillows may be placed together, allowing one to extend his/her arm into the cavity and under an adjacent pillow for comfort when lying next to another person, one person resting on the first pillow, and another on the second pillow, with an arm of one person under both pillows.
US08910328B2

An articulating bed incorporating a frame having side frame members and a rigid cross frame member extending between the side frame members employs a flexible support member secured to the rigid cross frame member. Support arms engage an upper body portion of the flexible support member with lubricious support and are rotatable through a range of motion from an aligned position with the side frame members to a fully elevated position angularly supporting the upper body portion in a raised position. A leg portion adjustment member engages the flexible support member at a knee position intermediate a thigh portion and a leg portion of the flexible support member. The leg portion adjustment member is rotatable through a range of motion from an aligned position with the side frame members to a fully elevated position placing the knee position at an elevated location with angular positioning of the thigh portion and leg portion.
US08910315B1

A garment can assist a user with transporting personal items. The garment comprises a vest that can be worn over one's shoulders. The vest further comprises a right breast mechanically coupled a left breast by an upper vest fastener, a lower vest fastener and a draw string to provide stability to the vest. The left breast is mechanically coupled to a left breast pocket and the right breast is mechanically coupled to a right breast pocket that can be used for storing items. The vest is further mechanically coupled to a pouch that does not impede a user's ability to walk and can further store personal items. In this manner the user can use the garment to transport the personal items in a stable manner without having the garment impede the user's ability to walk.
US08910312B1

A sneeze catching apparatus includes a sleeve having a first open end, a second open end and a perimeter wall. A frame coupled to the perimeter wall and has an exterior edge and an interior edge. The frame has an attached edge and a free edge positioned opposite of each. The frame is positioned in an open position having the free edge spaced from the sleeve or in a closed position having the free edge secured to the sleeve. The frame bounds a receiving space. An air and fluid covering is attached to the interior edge. A closure is mounted on the sleeve and releasably retains the frame in the closed position. A pad is removably positioned in the receiving space. The pad has anti-bacterial properties. The sleeve worn on an arm of a person to capture and destroy bacteria exhaled by the person.
US08914910B1

The arrangement for calibrating probes comprises a source (10) of coherent photon radiation and at least one optically based strain sensor (12a) for measuring an amount of strain (ε). The at least one optically based strain sensor is optically coupled to said source of coherent photon radiation. The arrangement further comprises at least one calibration lever (14) having a surface for placement of a tip (21) of a probe (2) to be calibrated, and that is mechanically coupled to the at least one optically based strain sensor for converting a force (F) exerted by said tip at said surface into an amount of strain in the optically based strain sensor. The arrangement further comprises at least one probe holder (24) for holding the probe (2) to be calibrated, the at least one probe holder having a controllable position in at least a direction (y) transverse to the surface of the calibration lever (14). The arrangement further comprises a calibration control facility (46) for controlling said controllable position within a range of position values, and for determining a mechanical property of said probe from the measured amount of strain (ε) and a deflection (δC) of the tip (21) of the probe relative to the probe holder as a function of said position.The arrangement may be used as a stand-alone device or may be integrated in a device, such as an AFM-device. The arrangement may also be carried out as a batch-calibration device.
US08914909B2

A frequency measuring and control apparatus includes a plurality of synchronized oscillators integrated in parallel into one programmable logic device.
US08914908B2

An automated system and method for piracy control based on user generated updates is described. The system and method described renders human intervention for piracy control superfluous and, therefore, is cost-effective, and consumes less time. The automated system and method for piracy control based upon update requests significantly reduces the number of update requests by pirated copies of the software, reduces the burden on the update server and smoothens the overall user experience for the legitimate users of the software.
US08914907B2

An electronic device generates an access signal according to user input. The electronic device includes a processor, a key circuit to generate a key signal according to press of the user, a storage unit to store data, a clock generator circuit to generate a clock signal, and a protection circuit. The protection circuit generates an enable signal or a disable signal according to the key signal and the clock signal to control the storage unit to unlock or lock, and transmits the access signal to the storage unit to access the data.
US08914904B2

A configuration is achieved in which content copying between media and content downloading are performed effectively and under strict management. In content copying between media, the identification information (medium ID) of a copying destination medium is obtained using an API for providing a predefined processing, then the obtained medium ID is transmitted to a server to obtain copying permission information from the server, and then content copying is performed under the management of the server. This configuration allows a copying destination medium to be managed, which can eliminate the unauthorized use of the content. Also, the configuration in which content downloading from the server is performed according to, for example, a Java® program allows a ROM disc on which the content is recorded to store the program and to be provided to a user.
US08914898B2

The invention provides a method and system of authentication and online sharing of documents by electronic means, through a third party, conducted via a communication network. The method involves, creation of a website, subject to the control of an administration entity; uploading the scanned version of the original document by the user at the allotted location in the website, using the obtained user name and created password; assigning a uniquely identifiable indicia to the scanned document; sending the scanned document to the authenticating entity; accessesing and verifying the authenticity of scanned document by the authenticating entity, by comparison with the original document available in the database of the authenticating entity. The authentication is performed through an electronically simple mechanism only once, in which, irrespective of the date of issue of the document, the document may be attested and the record may be maintained permanently.
US08914896B2

A system for secure data processing can include an electronic data storage device and a field programmable gate array coupled to the electronic data storage device. The field programmable gate array can be configured to include a data storage section for performing a data storage operation and a data retrieval section for performing a data retrieval operation. The data storage operation can include obtaining a seed value and retrieving one or more algebraic operations based on the seed value. The storage operation can also include processing input data according to the one or more algebraic operations to generate pseudorandom output data, prepending the seed value to the output data and storing the output data in the electronic data storage device.
US08914892B2

A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) system is enhanced according to this disclosure by augmenting the information obtained from OS API hooking with “context” information obtained from other sources, such as by monitoring an endpoint's user interface (UI). In one embodiment, the additional “context” information is obtained from one or more user interface hooks that provide the DLP system with additional information, such as the contents of one or more application windows, the UI elements contained in a particular display window, window activation or deactivation, window resizing, user input, pointer operations, and the like. This UI information defines a “context” of the application, namely, its operating state (including, without limitation, its display state), and associated user actions that define that state. When a particular OS API hook is invoked by the application, the DLP solution uses the context information to make a more accurate enforcement decision, preferably based on the UI context.
US08914883B2

Methods and systems are provided for securing email communications. According to one embodiment, a network device evaluates whether a domain name of a target recipient of an outbound email is present in a local white list or a local black list. If it is found in the local white list, the email is transmitted to the target recipient. If it is found in the local black list, transmission of the email to the target recipient is prevented. When the domain name is not present in the local black list and the local whitelist, a global doppelganger database is checked. If it is found in the global doppelganger database, the email is handled according to a corresponding acceptability flag; otherwise, the validity of the domain name is dynamically verified and handled according to the verification result.
US08914880B2

An Archetype Software Invention which calculates the probability of a cyber security incident for a given computer by correlating the distribution of computer program files with the occurrences of security incidents across a large number of computers.
US08914878B2

This disclosure describes techniques for determining whether a network session originates from an automated software agent. In one example, a network device, such as a router, includes a network interface to receive packets of a network session, a bot detection module to calculate a plurality of scores for network session data based on a plurality of metrics, wherein each of the metrics corresponds to a characteristic of a network session originated by an automated software agent, to produce an aggregate score from an aggregate of the plurality of scores, and to determine that the network session is originated by an automated software agent when the aggregate score exceeds a threshold, and an attack detection module to perform a programmed response when the network session is determined to be originated by an automated software agent. Each score represents a likelihood that the network session is originated by an automated software agent.
US08914876B2

The present disclosure involves a system that includes a computer memory storage component configured to store computer programming instructions and a computer processor component operatively coupled to the computer memory storage component. The computer processor component is configured to run a secure operating system and a non-secure operating system in parallel. The secure and non-secure operating systems are isolated from each other. The computer processor component is configured to execute code to perform the following operations: receiving an authentication request from an application that is run by the non-secure operating system, wherein the authentication request contains credentials of the application; communicating with a secure applet that is run by the secure operating system, and wherein the communicating includes transferring the credentials of the application to the secure applet; and authenticating and vetting the application based on the credentials of the application.
US08914874B2

A set of security claims for a communication channel are obtained, the set of security claims including one or more security claims each identifying a security characteristic of the communication channel. The security claims are stored, as is a digital signature generated over the set of security claims by an entity. The security claims and digital signature are subsequently accessed when a computing device is to transfer data to and/or from the communication channel. The set of security claims is compared to a security policy of the computing device, and the entity that digitally signed the set of security claims is identified. One or more security precautions that the computing device is to use in transferring data to and/or from the communication channel are determined based at least in part on the comparing and the entity that has digitally signed the set of security claims.
US08914872B2

A method, apparatus, and computer-readable media are presented that provide a configuration for revealing occurrence of network address translation by receiving a packet that includes an encoding of a source port number and then determining whether a network address translation occurred on the packet by comparing the source port number against a predetermined port number.
US08914864B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating temporary virtual identities in a social networking system. An identity associated with a user is authenticated. A time period, location or other parameter associated with the user is authenticated. The temporary virtual identity is registered in the social networking system. Content generated by the user is published in the social networking system under the temporary virtual identity.
US08914857B2

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to performing an operation in a computing environment that is prohibited by a security application governing the computing environment. Exemplary embodiments can generate a security bypass environment in a computing environment governed by the security application to provide a bypass to the security application. In exemplary embodiments, a request to perform the operation can be received via the security bypass environment and the operation can be performed through the security bypass environment in response to satisfaction of access control criteria specified for the security bypass environment so that the performance of the operation bypasses the security application.
US08914853B2

A first server, associated with a first network, may: receive a first query from a network device associated with a second network; determine an identifier associated with the user device; provide, to a second server, a second query including the identifier; receive, from the second server, a response to the second query, the response identifying whether the identifier of the user device is being stored by the second server; and provide to the network device, a response to the first query, the response to first query identifying whether the user device is authorized to access the second network based on determining that the user device is not authorized to access the second network when the identifier is being stored by the second server or based on determining that the user device is authorized to access the second network when the identifier is not being stored by the second server.
US08914832B2

Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus which cooperates with a terminal apparatus to configure a home network system, including: a frame visual attribute setting section configured to set a frame visual attribute to a window provided on a screen to display a reproduced piece of content; a publication section configured to publish a command adapted to request notification of the frame visual attribute set to the window from the terminal apparatus to the terminal apparatus; and a notification section configured to notify the terminal apparatus of the frame visual attribute of the window in response to calling of the command from the terminal apparatus.
US08914831B2

According to one embodiment, a communication controller includes: an output module; a transmitter; and a receiver. The output module is configured to control output of image information to a display. The transmitter is configured to transmit the image information to a first communication device by unicast. The receiver configured to receive a transmission request of the image information from a second communication device. If the receiver receives the transmission request from the second communication device, the transmitter stops transmission of the image information to the first communication device by unicast, and transmits the image information to the first communication device and the second communication device by multicast.
US08914829B2

An Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system includes a selector module adapted to select content items based upon metadata information associated with the content items, send the content items to a respective set-top box, direct each respective set-top box to record the content item and analyze content information associated with the content item to create an index of the content information, and receive from the set-top boxes the indices of the content information. A method includes selecting a content item based upon metadata information associated with the content item, sending the content item to a set-top box on an IPTV network, directing the set-top box to record the content item, and directing the set-top box to analyze content information associated with the content item to create an index of the content information in response to recording the content item.
US08914820B2

Systems and methods of memorializing a viewer's viewing experience are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment presents a movie to the viewer, detects an occurrence of one of a plurality of event capture triggers, captures at least one image of the viewer in response to detecting the event capture trigger, and stores the image of the viewer.
US08914814B1

Some embodiments provide a capacity exchange whereby capacity from different content delivery networks (CDNs) can be bought, sold, and traded. The capacity exchange is part of an “Open CDN” platform. The Open CDN platform federates the independent operation of CDNs and other operators and service providers to distributed platforms participating in the Open CDN platform. The Open CDN platform includes one or more APIs for facilitating intercommunication between the federation participants by performing configuration mapping, command interoperability, traffic management, and reporting aggregation.
US08914809B1

A message broker system can include a message broker. The message broker can be configured to receive the message instances output as input message instances, store the input message instances in a message store, alter the structure or content of the input message instances according to a message brokering model to generate output message instances and provide output message instances to one or more downstream processors. According to one embodiment, input message stream processing can be decoupled from output message stream processing by the message broker.
US08914806B2

A virtual storage management method that can increase the overall processing speed while preventing a processor from being overloaded. A request for acquisition of a memory area in a primary storage device is received from a process executed by a processor. It is determined whether or not the process that has made the acquisition request is a utility process executable in cooperation with another process. Control is provided so as to restrict swap-out of the utility process when it is determined that the process that has made the received acquisition request is a utility process executable in cooperation with another process, and a process cooperating with the utility process executed by the processor is a preferred process of which swap-out is restricted, and a processor utilization of the preferred process is greater than a predetermined value.
US08914804B2

A method and apparatus for handling queues associated with web services of a business process. The method may include generating deployment descriptors for executing a business process as a web application, and determining a default queue for the business process using a business process management (BPM) configuration file. During execution of the business process, users are allowed to monitor the message load associated with the default queue. If a user decides to re-distribute the message load, the user is allowed to specify a new set of queues for the business process to improve performance of the business process at runtime.
US08914803B2

A mechanism for flow control-based virtual machine (VM) request queuing is disclosed. A method of the invention includes implementing a pass-through mode for handling of one or more requests sent to a hypervisor by a virtual machine (VM) managed by the hypervisor, determining that a number of outstanding requests associated with the VM has exceeded a first threshold, implementing a queued mode for handling the one or more requests sent to the hypervisor from the VM, determining that a number of outstanding requests associated with the VM has fallen below a second threshold, implementing the pass-through mode for handling the one or more requests sent to the hypervisor from the VM, and repeating the implementing and determining as long as the VM continues to send requests to the hypervisor.
US08914798B2

The illustrative embodiments described herein provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing a batch production system. In an illustrative embodiment, an application forecast is generated for a set of batch jobs in a critical path of a batch application. The application forecast comprises a sum of execution times for the batch jobs in the critical path. In response to detecting an abend from production data generated during the execution of the batch application, the abend is mapped against known abends in an abend database to identify a set of abend solutions. Thereafter, a notification is generated which comprises at least one of a status of the batch application and the set of abend solutions, wherein the status is generated based on the application forecast.
US08914797B2

A computer-executable method for determining an allocation configuration for allocating virtual machines to physical machines. The method includes the steps of determining a predicted peak usage amount of physical resources for each time interval for individual clusters wherein the clusters include a plurality of virtual machines; setting a constraint that ensures the total predicted peak usage amount of the physical resource predicted for the first physical machine does not exceed the physical resource amount for the first physical machine; and deriving an allocation configuration by calculating, in accordance with the constraint, a solution to an optimization problem for minimizing, as an objective function, the sum total of the physical resource amounts of the plurality of physical machines to which the virtual machines are allocated.
US08914789B2

Data characterizing a source computing environment having at least one hardware resource and at least one workload is obtained, as is a specification of a target computing environment to which the at least one workload is to be migrated in a migration. Based on the data characterizing the source computing environment and the specification of the target computing environment, the migration is categorized into one of a plurality of categories; and the migration is specified in accordance with a migration technique selected based on the categorizing step. Techniques to identify suitable migration candidates are also provided.
US08914787B2

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for registering management software component types in a managed network. In embodiments, a central registration server can scan a managed network to identify different types and configurations of target machines. The registration server can, for instance, perform an authorization process on some or all targets in a network, and determine a management software component type required by or compatible with each target. The Different target machines may have requirements for different management software component types depending, for instance, on the operating system or other resources installed on each target. Once a management software component type has been identified, the registration server can take an inventory of further resources hosted on the target, as well as identify types of management agents that can be distributed to the target to registration to remote management services, such as configuration management or performance monitoring services.
US08914779B2

According to one embodiment, a system including a compiler to produce an executable module to be executed by a computer system including a main processor and active memory devices is provided. The system configured to perform a method including dividing source code into code sections, identifying a first code section to be executed by the active memory devices and identifying data structures that are used by the first code section. The method also includes classifying the data structures based on pre-defined attributes, formulating, by the compiler, a storage mapping plan for the data structures based on the classifying and generating, by the compiler, mapping code that implements the storage mapping plan, wherein the mapping code is part of the executable module and wherein the mapping code maps storing of the data structures to storage locations in the active memory devices.
US08914777B2

A method and system debug a computer program by using trace data, which is a recording of the sequence of machine instructions executed by a program during a time period along with the addresses and values of memory locations accessed and modified by each machine instruction. After the time period, the method and system use the trace data to simulate the execution of the program during the time period under the control of a debugger. In addition, the method and system use the trace data to simulate the execution of the program during the time period backwards in time under the control of the debugger.
US08914775B2

A method for verifying software includes determining the result of a bounding function, and using the result of the bounding function to apply one or more policies to the execution of the received job. The bounding function evaluates the execution of a received job, the received job indicating a portion of software to be verified. The result of the bounding function is based upon the present execution of the received job, one or more historical parameters, and an evaluation of the number of idle nodes available to process other jobs.
US08914774B1

A method, system, Web-environment and computer program product for tagging to code to determine a run location. The present includes identifying a plurality of sections of a code, according to runat attributes. Each of the sections of the code is tagged with a runat attribute according to where the section of the code should run. The code can run on the client-side, the server-side or both. The invention preferably operates with a system that allows for JavaScript to be utilized on the server-side.
US08914773B2

The disclosed logic tables include a truth table, an answer table and a state table. The logic tables enable integration of conditional logic, complex situational judging, and state handling using an elegant, visual set of tools with a consistent graphical user interface. The user is able to create logical interactions between objects which would otherwise require the use of a complex computer programming language.
US08914771B2

Indicating hierarchy diversion in a class diagram. A class inheritance structure for at least one parent class contained in computer program code can be identified to determine a class hierarchy corresponding to the parent class. For at least one child class in the class hierarchy that is a child of the parent class, a parent-child similarity value corresponding to a parent-child diversion of the child class from the parent class can be calculated via a processor. The class diagram can be generated. The class diagram can indicate at least the parent class, the child class and the parent-child similarity value. The class diagram can be presented.
US08914761B2

A circuit design that contains at least two clock domains is simulated using a novel system and method for injecting the effects of metastability. The system includes detectors for detecting, during simulation, when a clock in a transmit clock domain and a clock in a receive clock domain are aligned and when the input of a register receiving a clock-domain-crossing signal is changing. The system includes coverage monitors for measuring, during simulation, statistics related to metastability injection. The system accurately models the effects of metastability by, at appropriate times during simulation, pseudo-randomly inverting outputs of registers receiving clock-domain-crossing signals. By accurately modeling the effects of metastability, errors in the circuit design can be detected while simulating a pre-existing simulation test. The simulation with metastability effects injection is repeatable and requires no modification of pre-existing RTL design files or simulation test files.
US08914751B2

Techniques are described for character deletion on a computing device that utilizes a gesture-based keyboard. The computing device includes a processor and at least one module operable by the processor to output, for display at a presence-sensitive display, a graphical keyboard comprising a plurality of keys and a text editor field. In response to receiving an indication of a gesture that comprises a first path, the module outputs a first character, based at least in part on the first path, associated with a first key and a second character associated with a second key. In response to determining that the gesture further comprises a second path that retraces at least a portion of the first path, the module removes the second character from the text editor field of the presence-sensitive display.
US08914739B2

A data processing apparatus executes one or more computer program applications. The data programming, apparatus is operable to display at least one resizable graphical element from a plurality of resizable graphical elements on a display and resize the at least one displayed graphical element in response to a resize control input from a user control. The data processing device is operable to switch between which of the plurality of graphical elements is displayed if the displayed graphical element is resized to be greater in size or to be less in size than one of a plurality of predetermined threshold sizes. Each of the plurality of graphical elements includes at least one graphical object or interface control different from the other graphical elements of the plurality of graphical elements and a greater a size of one of the plurality of predetermined threshold sizes, a greater a number of controls and/or graphical objects included in the graphical element that is displayed when the displayed graphical element is resized to exceed that predetermined threshold size.
US08914732B2

A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the mobile terminal are provided. According to the mobile terminal and the method of controlling the mobile terminal, it is possible to automatically change widgets on a home screen in accordance with a user-defined time or location condition. Therefore, it is possible for a user to manually delete or add a widget to or from the home screen.
US08914730B2

A virtual machine (VM) is accessed by receiving user log-in information, the log-in information identifying a user and a corresponding VM, the VM having a local copy and a remote copy. A selected copy of the VM is identified based on at least one of a policy and a user selection, the selected copy being one of the local copy and the remote copy of the VM. A desktop generated by the selected copy of the VM is presented to the user in a common application graphical user interface, the common application graphical user interface being used regardless as to whether the selected copy of the VM is the local copy or the remote copy.
US08914725B2

A method and apparatus for enhancing digital video effects (DVE) operates to embed DVE functionality within a graphics modeling system and provides the user with an interface configured to present model elements to a user as controllable parameters. In order to embed DVE functionality, a dynamic data structure is introduced as a scene to allow the addition of user defined model elements. The user interface enables the identification of, and access to the newly introduced model elements.
US08914722B2

A computer system for preparing a document which includes multiple elements having a common noun and being differentiated by a reference indicia with each combination of primary and secondary adjectives by automatically scanning the document for each combination of the primary and secondary adjectives and inserting all of the reference indicia following the common noun in response to a scanning processor detecting the occurrence of the common noun unmodified by an adjective to reference the unmodified common noun with all of the reference indicia for the elements throughout the document without attaching the reference indicia to occurrences of the common noun modified by one of the adjectives.
US08914719B2

An apparatus for editing a document containing a plurality of pages each of which includes one or more first objects is provided. The apparatus includes: an adding portion that adds a second object to each of the pages; an extraction portion that extracts, from the pages, a possible improper page that is a page to which the second object is probably not added properly, the possible improper page being extracted for each cause due to which the second object is not added properly; a quantity display portion that displays, for each cause, a quantity of the possible improper page thus extracted; an excluding portion that excludes, from the possible improper page, a selected page that is a page corresponding to the cause selected by a user; and an informing portion that informs the user of a to-be-confirmed page corresponding to the possible improper page remaining after excluding the selected page.
US08914717B2

Generally described, embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to utilize dynamic thresholds and dynamic threshold values when generating variable formatting rules to be applied to a range of cells. Dynamic thresholds include, but are not limited to, “Highest Value,” “Middle Value,” “Lowest Value,” “Number,” “Percent,” “Percentile,” and “Formula.” When using a dynamic threshold, dynamic threshold values are determined based on values contained in a selected range of cells.
US08914713B2

Error correction coding for streaming communication is provided. A streaming problem is modeled as a non-multicast network problem with a nested receiver structure. Each packet in the streaming problem corresponds to a link, and each deadline in the streaming problem corresponds to a receiver in the non-multicast network problem. For the non-multicast network problem, content to be transmitted in multiple packets to multiple receivers is obtained. Each of the receivers is required to decode specific independent messages from the content, at given time steps, and has access to a subset of the content received by another receiver. The content is allocated into multiple packets to be transmitted on multiple links. No coding occurs across information demanded by different receivers. A capacity region defines a set of information rate vectors that can be communicated to the receivers successfully. A rate vector is successfully communicated if it complies with various inequalities.
US08914710B2

A method includes, in a decoder of an Error Correction Code (ECC), maintaining only aggregated information regarding a set of messages, a function of which is to be reported from a first node to a second node of the decoder. The function of the set is determined and reported using the aggregated information. After reporting the function, one of the messages in the set is replaced with a new message. The aggregated information is updated to reflect the set having the new message, and the function of the set having the new message is determined and reported using the updated aggregated information.
US08914706B2

A system for software error-correcting code (ECC) protection or compression of original data using ECC data in a first memory is provided. The system includes a processing core for executing computer instructions and accessing data from a main memory, and a non-volatile storage medium for storing the computer instructions. The software ECC protection or compression includes: a data matrix for holding the original data in the first memory; a check matrix for holding the ECC data in the first memory; an encoding matrix for holding first factors in the main memory, the first factors being for encoding the original data into the ECC data; and a thread for executing on the processing core. The thread includes a Galois Field multiplier for multiplying entries of the data matrix by an entry of the encoding matrix, and a sequencer for ordering operations using the Galois Field multiplier to generate the ECC data.
US08914702B2

An information processing apparatus has an error correction function for checking an error of stored data read out from a flash memory. If an error is found, error information thereof is temporarily stored into a register and then stored in a nonvolatile memory at an appropriate timing. At an appropriate timing such as power-on, the information processing apparatus reads the stored data in which the error is found again on the basis of the error information stored in the nonvolatile memory, corrects the error and then rewrites the stored data into the flash memory. It is thereby possible to repair a recoverable bit error such as a read disturb. Therefore, a normal read operation can be performed without a hitch, and this can avoid giving any uncomfortable feeling to users.
US08914700B2

A method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprising: receiving a read instruction transmitted by a host device, the read instruction including a first address; reading first data together with a first CRC code and a first ECC which are associated with the first data from a memory based on the first address; and performing error detection on the first data based on the first CRC code, and performing error correction on the first data based on the first ECC if an error is detected. With the embodiments of the disclosure, the CRC code with better capability of error detection is adopted to perform error detection on the data. If any error is detected, error correction is performed using the ECC. Thus, it is possible to overcome the problem as to insufficient capability of error detection of the ECC in the prior art, thereby improving the system performance.
US08914698B2

A method of implementing and manufacturing a cyclic redundancy check circuit for a multi-channel communication system. The method includes creating a generation expression that generates cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits that satisfies a cyclic redundancy check polynomial of a mono-channel serial communication system with respect to a first point in time, creating a generation expression with respect to points in time that are sequentially delayed as much as the number of multi-channels from the first point in time by applying each point in time to the generation expression, and embodying a circuit corresponding to the generation expression with respect to the most delayed point in time among the created generation expressions. The CRC circuit corresponding to the generation expression will have more modulo-2 adders (e.g., XOR gates) than the number of non-zero coefficients in the selected CRC polynomial.
US08914697B2

In general, this disclosure relates to various techniques for detecting corrupt bits in a data stream. The techniques may allow a data storage device to detect corrupt bits prior to transformation of the data stream and subsequent to transformation of the data stream. A data storage device may include a first error-related code generating unit configured to generate a first error-related code based on received data and combine the first error-related code and the received data to generate a first data stream. The data storage device may further include a transform unit configured to transform the first data stream to a transformed data stream. The data storage device may also include a second error-related code generating unit configured to generate a second error-related code based on the transformed data stream.
US08914694B2

Disclosed herein are exemplary embodiments of a so-called “X-press” test response compactor. Certain embodiments of the disclosed compactor comprise an overdrive section and scan chain selection logic. Certain embodiments of the disclosed technology offer compaction ratios on the order of 1000×. Exemplary embodiments of the disclosed compactor can maintain about the same coverage and about the same diagnostic resolution as that of conventional scan-based test scenarios. Some embodiments of a scan chain selection scheme can significantly reduce or entirely eliminate unknown states occurring in test responses that enter the compactor. Also disclosed herein are embodiments of on-chip comparator circuits and methods for generating control circuitry for masking selection circuits.
US08914692B2

A 2.5D or 3D test architecture includes a logic die, and a memory die. In the 2.5D architecture, the logic die and memory die are mounted on an interposer. In the 3D architecture, the memory die is mounted on the logic die. The logic die includes a control logic wrapped with a processor wrapper. The processor wrapper enables testing components of the control logic. The memory die is also mounted on the interposer. The memory die includes dynamic random access memory and channel selection/bypass logic. The control logic is coupled to the dynamic random access memory via the channel selection/bypass logic, the channel selection/bypass logic being controlled by the processor wrapper.
US08914690B2

A multi-core processor having a cache, an interconnect system selectively connecting the cache to individual cores, and a interconnect control whereby selected cores are disabled.
US08914684B2

A software module capable of simultaneously supporting multiple services provides log message throttling for each service with a separate “per service” log message buffer. When the software module is a device driver, for example, each device controlled by the device driver is allocated a message buffer to store descriptive log messages. Upon generation of a warning log message, descriptive log messages in the message buffer are flushed to a log file for review by an administrator. Furthermore, log message throttling may be implemented by only flushing the message buffer upon certain occurrences of warning log messages, such as in accordance with an exponential back-off algorithm.
US08914680B2

File system errors are handled and computing systems are recovered by, responsive to receiving a page buffer request, initializing a sleep timer according to a detection interval value plus a hang resolution range value; responsive to the timer expiring, detecting that a process, thread, application program, daemon, or task is waiting on availability of the requested page buffer; and responsive to the detection, quarantining metadata associated with the requested page buffer, failing the page buffer request and releasing one or more locks on the requested page buffer. This process is then optionally repeated for additional processes, threads, application programs, daemons, tasks or combinations thereof which are waiting for availability of the requested page buffer, optionally randomizing the detection interval value in order to avoid an instantaneous recovery from the error.
US08914679B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to software test automation and provide a method, system and apparatus for a reusable software testing framework. In one embodiment of the invention, an automated application test data processing system can include a reusable test automation framework. The system further can include a test task generator and a scenario generator coupled to one another and to the framework. In this regard, the test task generator can be configured to generate uniform logic for performing testing tasks, while the scenario generator can be configured to arrange testing tasks for a complete test scenario. Finally, a collaborative testing environment can be provided through which multiple users can interact with the scenario generator and test task generator to produce test cases of different test scenarios.
US08914677B2

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for managing traces to capture data for memory regions in a memory. A trace includes a monitor parameter used by a trace procedure to monitor data in a memory device. A frequency is determined at which the trace procedure monitors the memory device. The trace procedure is invoked at the determined frequency to perform trace procedure operations comprising determining a region in the memory device according to the monitor parameter and copying data in the determined region to trace data in a data space.
US08914666B2

A method for data protection includes accepting data for storage from one or more data sources (24). The data is sent for storage in a primary storage device (28) and in a secondary storage device (32). While awaiting an indication of successful storage of the data in the secondary storage device, a record associated with the data is temporarily stored in a disaster-proof storage unit (48) adjacent to the primary storage device. When an event damaging at least some of the data in the primary storage device occurs, the data is reconstructed using the record stored in the disaster-proof storage unit and at least part of the data stored in the secondary storage device.
US08914665B2

A tape drive for exchanging data with a tape cartridge, which has tape media and auxiliary memory that is not tape media, is operable, in response to a boot request from a computer apparatus that is bootable from a kind of initial program load device that is not a tape drive, to read boot data stored on the auxiliary memory and to output the boot data for booting the computer apparatus.
US08914663B2

Techniques for rescheduling a failed backup job are described in various implementations. A method that implements the techniques may include identifying a failed instance of a backup job, and determining an estimated amount of time to complete a rescheduled execution of the failed instance. The method may also include determining an available window of time in a backup schedule that equals or exceeds the estimated amount of time to complete the rescheduled execution, and rescheduling the failed instance for execution during the available window of time.
US08914662B2

The present invention discloses a device and method for implementing a transparent clock. The device comprises: a clock module, a data identification module and a data correction module, wherein the clock module is connected with the data identification module and the data correction module respectively, and used for providing clock information to the data identification module and the data correction module; the data identification module is used for receiving data and acquiring current time information from the clock module; and the data correction module is connected with the data identification module, and is used for accumulating a positive or negative value of the current time information with the time information included in the data according to an outputting direction of the data and outputting the accumulated time information together with the data. By adopting the present invention, the residence time information of the data in the switching node is acquired by a hardware device, and the time information included in the data is corrected according to the residence time information, so that the transparent clock of the data can be effectively implemented, and the acquired residence time information is of a high precision and is acquired stably.
US08914655B2

An image forming apparatus, which operates in a normal mode or a power saving mode, includes a user interface, a first supply unit configured to supply power in the power saving mode, a second supply unit configured to supply power in the normal mode and supply no power in the power saving mode, a detection unit configured to detect abnormality of the second supply unit, and a control unit configured to perform control to supply power from the second supply unit to the user interface when the detection unit does not detect abnormality of the second supply unit and to start power supply from the first supply unit to the user interface when the detection unit detects abnormality of the second supply unit.
US08914650B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a multicore processor having a variable frequency domain including a plurality of cores and at least a portion of non-core circuitry of the processor. This non-core portion can include a cache memory, a cache controller, and an interconnect structure. In addition to this variable frequency domain, the processor can further have a fixed frequency domain including a power control unit (PCU). This unit may be configured to cause a frequency change to the variable frequency domain without draining the non-core portion of pending transactions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08914647B2

Methods and systems for protecting data may include controlling encryption and/or decryption and identifying a destination of corresponding encrypted and/or decrypted data, utilizing rules based on a source location of the data prior to the encryption or decryption and an algorithm that may have been previously utilized for encrypting and/or decrypting the data prior to the data being stored in the source location. The source location and/or destination of the data may comprise protected or unprotected memory. One or more of a plurality of algorithms may be utilized for the encryption and/or decryption. The rules may be stored in a key table, which may be stored on-chip, and may be reprogrammable. One or more keys for the encryption and/or decryption may be generated within the chip.
US08914644B2

A system and method for facilitating identification of an attacking computer in a network is provided. A user attempting to login to a network application may be presented with a screen prior to the login which lists preconditions of gaining access to the application. If a user concurs with the preconditions, a security module is downloaded to the user's computer and executed which gathers various configuration settings and transmits the gathered information to a predetermined destination. The security module may also attempt to place a call to a predetermined destination over a modem in the computer to cause registration of caller-ID data when answered at the predetermined destination. Once the security check is completed, login may proceed with the network application. Any data gathered by the security module may be stored for later recall and use to identify the computer in the event of an attack.
US08914637B2

A computer method, computer system, and article for enabling digital signature auditing. The method includes the steps of: receiving at least one signature request issued by at least one application, forwarding a first data corresponding to the received at least one signature request to at least one signing entity for subsequent signature of the first data, storing an updated system state that is computed using a function of: i) a reference system state and ii) a second data corresponding to the received at least one signature request, where the reference system state and the updated system state attest to the at least one signature request, and repeating the above steps, using the updated system state as a new reference system state, where the steps of the method are executed at a server of a computerized system.
US08914633B1

A computer-implemented method for validating client authentication using timing data is described. A connection request is received from a client. Data are transmitted to the client. The client is instructed to retransmit the data. The retransmitted data are received from the client. Timing data that indicates a time to transmit the data to the client and receive the retransmitted data from the client are calculated. A protective element is applied to the timing data.
US08914630B2

Systems and methods for handling electronic messages. An electronic message that is associated with a digital certificate is to be processed. A decision whether to check the validity of the digital certificate is based upon digital certificate checking criterion. An IT administrator may provide to one or more devices configuration data that establishes the digital certificate checking criterion.
US08914629B2

An example method disclosed herein to monitor Internet usage comprises intercepting, using a kernel extension executing in an operating system kernel of a device, a first request to be sent to a content source by a monitored client executing on the device, providing a first certificate to the client in response to intercepting the first request sent by the client to the content source, the first certificate associated with a meter that is to monitor Internet usage, sending a second request to the content source, receiving a second certificate that is associated with the content source in response to sending the second request to the content source, and obtaining a session key to decrypt encrypted traffic exchanged between the content source and the client, the session key being obtained from the client based on the first certificate and being sent to the content source based on the second certificate.
US08914620B2

Hardware-based transactional memory mechanisms, such as Speculative Lock Elision (SLE), may allow multiple threads to concurrently execute critical sections protected by the same lock as speculative transactions. Such transactions may abort due to contention or due to misidentification of code as a critical section. In various embodiments, speculative execution mechanisms may be augmented with software and/or hardware contention management mechanisms to reduce abort rates. Speculative execution hardware may send a hardware interrupt signal to notify software components of a speculative execution event (e.g., abort). Software components may respond by implementing concurrency-throttling mechanisms and/or by determining a mode of execution (e.g., speculative, non-speculative) for a given section and communicating that determination to the hardware speculative execution mechanisms, e.g., by writing it into a lock predictor cache. Subsequently, hardware speculative execution mechanisms may determine a preferred mode of execution for the section by reading the corresponding entry from the lock predictor cache.
US08914615B2

A processor core supports execution of program instruction from both a first instruction set and a second instruction set. An architectural register file 18 containing architectural registers is shared by the two instruction sets. The two instruction sets employ logical register specifiers which for at least some values of those logical registers specifiers correspond to different architectural registers within the architectural register file 18. A first decoder 4 for the first instruction set and a second decoder 6 for the second instruction set serve to decode the logical register specifiers to a common register addressing format. This common register addressing format is used to supply register specifiers to renaming circuitry 10 for supporting register renaming in conjunction with a physical register file 16 and an architectural register file 18.
US08914613B2

In-lane vector shuffle operations are described. In one embodiment a shuffle instruction specifies a field of per-lane control bits, a source operand and a destination operand, these operands having corresponding lanes, each lane divided into corresponding portions of multiple data elements. Sets of data elements are selected from corresponding portions of every lane of the source operand according to per-lane control bits. Elements of these sets are copied to specified fields in corresponding portions of every lane of the destination operand. Another embodiment of the shuffle instruction also specifies a second source operand, all operands having corresponding lanes divided into multiple data elements. A set selected according to per-lane control bits contains data elements from every lane portion of a first source operand and data elements from every corresponding lane portion of the second source operand. Set elements are copied to specified fields in every lane of the destination operand.
US08914601B1

In a multi-processor (e.g., multi-core) computer system, several processors can simultaneously access data without corruption thereof by: designating to each processor a portion of a hash table containing the data; by allowing each processor to access only those data elements belonging to the portion of the hash table designated to that processor; and by sending, via a network, other data elements to the processors that are designated the portions of the hash table to which the other data elements belong. The network avoids memory contention at each processor without requiring a memory-based lock. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the disclosure contained herein. This Abstract is submitted with the explicit understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US08914594B2

A method may be performed in a data storage device that includes a controller, a non-volatile memory, and a volatile memory. The method includes loading a first portion of stored data from the non-volatile memory to the volatile memory according to one or more load priority indicators accessible to the controller. The method further includes, in response to completion of the loading of the first portion of the stored data to the volatile memory and prior to completion of loading a second portion of the stored data to the volatile memory, sending a signal to indicate to a host device operatively coupled to the data storage device that the volatile memory is ready for use by the host device.
US08914592B2

According to one embodiment, a data storage apparatus includes a write command module, a read command module, and a controller. The write command module is configured to process a write command for writing data to the nonvolatile memories for a plurality of channels, respectively. The read command module is configured to process a read command usually and to process a read command for read modify write (RMW) operation. The controller is configured to control the read command module, causing to execute the read command for the RMW operation, prior to the normal read command, thereby to execute a flush command, and to control the write command module, causing to execute a write flush process that includes the processing of a write command for the RMW operation after the read command for the RMW operation has been executed.
US08914591B2

An information processing apparatus processes data to be processed while accessing data to be processed that is stored in a memory or a HDD. The information processing apparatus determines the process content and calculates the access number to the HDD based on the determined process content and the content of data to be processed. The information processing apparatus also decides to store data to be processed in the memory when the access number is more than or equal to a threshold value. The information processing apparatus decides to store data to be processed in the HDD when the access number is less than the threshold value.
US08914588B2

A lock mechanism can be supported in a transactional middleware system to protect transaction data in a shared memory when there are concurrent transactions. The transactional middleware machine environment comprises a semaphore provided by an operating system running on a plurality of processors. The plurality of processors operates to access data in the shared memory. The transactional middleware machine environment also comprises a test-and-set (TAS) assembly component that is associated with one or more processes. Each said process operates to use the TAS assembly component to perform one or more TAS operations in order to obtain a lock for data in the shared memory. Additionally, a process operates to be blocked on the semaphore and waits for a release of a lock on data in the shared memory, after the TAS component has performed a number of TAS operations and failed to obtain the lock.
US08914586B2

A system and method are disclosed for increasing large region transaction throughput by making informed determinations whether to abort a thread from a first core or a thread from a second core when a conflict is detected between the threads. Such a system and method allow resolution of conflicts between a first thread and a second thread. In certain embodiments, the system and method allow a requester to detect a conflict under specific circumstances and make an intelligent decision whether to abort the first thread, enter a wait state to give the first thread an opportunity to complete execution or, if possible, abort the second thread.
US08914580B2

In some embodiments, a cache may include a tag array and a data array, as well as circuitry that detects whether accesses to the cache are sequential (e.g., occupying the same cache line). For example, a cache may include a tag array and a data array that stores data, such as multiple bundles of instructions per cache line. During operation, it may be determined that successive cache requests are sequential and do not cross a cache line boundary. Responsively, various cache operations may be inhibited to conserve power. For example, access to the tag array and/or data array, or portions thereof, may be inhibited.
US08914579B2

Provided is a method that, in the case of managing areas of a non-volatile memory of an information recording module by a file system, increases the speed of processing for writing file data and file system management information, and furthermore prevents a decrease in the rewriting lifetime of the non-volatile memory. The information recording module (2) is provided with a page cache control unit (217) that stores page cache information (224) in the non-volatile memory (22) of the information recording module (2) and performs control such that a specific physical block is used as a cache when writing small-sized data. Also, an access module (1) is provided with a page cache information setting unit (104) that sets information necessary for page cache control in the information recording module (2). The combination of the access module (1) and the information recording module (2) prevents the execution of needless saving process with use of page caching when writing small-sized data, thereby increasing the speed of writing processing.
US08914578B2

Expanding capacity of a logical volume is described. In an example a logical volume is described by a global metadata unit and a plurality of local metadata units. The global metadata unit includes a description of the logical volume, a list of the plurality of local metadata units, and ranges of logical blocks of the logical volume corresponding to the plurality of local metadata units. Each of the local metadata units includes a description of a local RAID set and a range of logical blocks on the local RAID set. When a new drive is to be added to the logical volume to increase capacity, a new local metadata unit is created. The new local metadata unit includes a description of a new local RAID set to be added to the RAID volume and a range of logical blocks on the new drive. The new local metadata unit is added to the global metadata unit to expand the logical volume to incorporate the new local RAID set.
US08914572B2

A memory controller may include a cell state generator that is configured to generate a cell state for each of a plurality of multi-level cells included in a non-volatile memory device, using data of pages. The memory controller may also include a pseudo-random number generator that is configured to generate a pseudo-random number. The memory controller may further include an operator that is configured to change the cell state of each multi-level cell using the pseudo-random number, and that is configured to output a changed cell state for each multi-level cell.
US08914568B2

Methods and apparatuses for providing a hybrid memory module having both volatile and non-volatile memories to replace a DDR channel in a processing system.
US08914566B2

A process for managing interrupts, which may be performed using electronic circuitry, includes: receiving interrupts bound for a processing device, where the interrupts are received from hardware devices that are configured to communicate with the processing device; generating data containing information corresponding to the interrupts; and sending the data to the processing device.
US08914562B2

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided herein to enable buffer initialization and/or clearance to occur on, for example, a mobile terminal. In some example embodiments, a method is provided that comprises receiving an indication that a buffer has been initialized by a host. The method of this embodiment may also include receiving source code from the host. In some example embodiments, the source code is received from a program running on the host and is configured to cause the buffer that has been initialized by the host to be cleared. The method of this embodiment may also include executing the source code such that the buffer that has been initialized by the host is cleared.
US08914557B2

In an example embodiment, data is transferred from a higher speed memory to a lower speed memory or data storage device after determining a size of a block of data to be written to the lower speed memory. In an example embodiment data is collected in the higher speed memory until an amount of collected data is equal to or greater than the size of the block to be written, and then the collected data is transferred to the lower speed memory or data storage. In an example embodiment, the block size can be a predefined erase block size of the lower speed memory. In an example embodiment, the lower speed device is a flash memory.
US08914554B2

A communication device including a comparison unit that compares a first identification number of which notification is provided by a packet that sequentially assigns identification numbers to a plurality of nodes in a network, and a second identification number, which is assigned to the communication device. A control unit notifies other nodes of the second identification number and that the identification number of the communication device has not been changed when the first identification number and the second identification number are in non-conformance.
US08914552B2

A detection circuit can be configured to receive a digital value from an identification register and to determine a resistance at a conducting terminal of an audio or video jack plug using the digital value. The detection circuit can include a current source that outputs a current according to the digital value from the identification register and a comparator that compares a reference voltage to a voltage created by the current source across the resistance at the conducting terminal of the audio or video jack plug. A control logic circuit can be configured to store the digital value in the identification register, generate an interrupt signal to cause a processor to read the digital value, and identify a function of an accessory device including the audio or video jack plug, when the detection circuit determines the resistance at the conducting terminal of the audio or video jack plug.
US08914541B2

Systems and methods of managing a link provide for receiving a remote width capability during a link initialization, the remote width capability corresponding to a remote port. A link between a local port and the remote port is operated at a plurality of link widths in accordance with the remote width capability.
US08914538B2

A method and circuit for implementing a network manager quarantine mode in an interconnect system, and a design structure on which the subject circuit resides are provided. A respective network manager on a source interconnect chip and a destination interconnect chip sends end-to-end (ETE) heartbeats on each path between the source and destination interconnect chips. Each network manager maintains a heartbeat table with counters to track each path to each destination interconnect chip. When a first network manager of a first interconnect chip detects a change from at least one valid path to no working paths for a second interconnect chip of the interconnect chips, the quarantine mode is established for a programmable quarantine time interval and all paths are prevented from advertising good heartbeats during the quarantine time interval.
US08914531B2

Methods are generally described for distributing and storing contents over a wireless network in a home or another similar environment. A storage device may be configured to automatically download content using broadband communications. A wireless device may establish communication with the storage device when within range for wireless communications. The established communications with the storage device may be a direct wireless communication link or an indirect communication link through other networking devices. The wireless device may download contents from the storage device during an idle time when the wireless device has sufficient power available. Downloaded content may be manually or automatically selected. Downloading may be handed off from one storage device to another storage device that has greater wireless signal strength. Downloading may be multicast from a network device to both the wireless device and the storage device.
US08914522B2

The present invention is generally directed towards a remote access architecture for providing peer-to-peer communications and remote access connectivity. In one embodiment, the remote access architecture of the present provides a method for establishing a direct connection between peer computing devices via a third computing device, such as a gateway. Additionally, the present invention provides the following techniques to optimize peer-to-peer communications: 1) false acknowledgement of receipt of network packets allowing communications via a lossless protocol of packets constructed for transmission via a lossy protocol, 2) payload shifting of network packets allowing communications via a lossless protocol of packets constructed for transmission via a lossy protocol, 3) reduction of packet fragmentation by adjusting the maximum transmission unit (MTU) parameter, accounting for overhead due to encryption, 4) application-aware prioritization of client-side network communications, and 5) network disruption shielding for reliable and persistent network connectivity and access.
US08914518B2

An intermediary or intermediaries are provided to allow a service requestor to communicate with a service provider according to a service requirement or service policy set forth by the service provider which the service requester is unable to meet directly. To this end, the service requestor determines whether it can communicate with the service provider according to the service requirement. If the service requestor is unable to satisfy the service requirement, but does have some property which is translatable, then the service requestor finds an intermediary that can translate the service requestor's property in order to satisfy the service provider's service requirement. Once the intermediary is found, the service requestor requests translation of its property to satisfy the service provider's service requirement. Thus, the service requestor receives service from the service provider while adhering to the service provider's service policy.
US08914516B2

Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for providing an integrated suite of cloud-based, hosted, and internal applications. A server receives from a client device a request to access a portal comprising a plurality of cloud-based, hosted, and internal applications. The server determines an identity of the user, and one or more applications of the plurality of applications available for access by the user. The server establishes a link with one or more computing devices hosting the one or more available applications for providing functionality of the available applications. The server authenticates the user automatically for each of the available applications, and translates communications between the server and each of the applications based on a mapping configuration. The server integrates the established links into a user interface that provide access to each of the available applications, and provides the integrated user interface to the client device.
US08914515B2

A system, and computer program product for cloud optimization using workload analysis are provided in the illustrative embodiments. An architecture of a workload received for execution in a cloud computing environment is identified. The cloud computing environment includes a set of cloud computing resources. A section of the workload is identified and marked for static analysis. Static analysis is performed on the section to determine a characteristic of the workload. A subset of the set of cloud computing resources is selected such that a cloud computing resource in the subset is available for allocating to the workload and has a characteristic that matches the characteristic of the workload as determined from the static analysis. The subset of cloud computing resources is suggested to a job scheduler for scheduling the workload for execution.
US08914511B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for managing resources in virtualization systems, including multi-cloud systems. The use of supply chain economics alone and in combination with other techniques offers a unified platform to integrate, optimize or improve, and automate resource management in a virtualization system. These techniques may be used to monitor and control the delivery of service level agreements and software licenses. They may also be used to monitor and control contention of computing resources in a virtualization system, and to suspend or terminate computing resources.
US08914501B2

A method for scheduling distributed buffer resources is provided, where in the distributed buffer system, each buffer node is distributed on a virtual circle that is based on a consistent hashing algorithm, and the method includes: monitoring a load value of each buffer node in the distributed buffer system; judging whether a load exception exists in the current distributed buffer system according to the load value; and if the load exception exists in the current distributed buffer system, adjusting a layout of the buffer nodes in the distributed buffer system.
US08914489B2

The invention is a method of personalizing an application embedded in a secured electronic token which is able to manage first and second channels that allow to convey personalization data exchanged with a distant machine. Said first and second channels are of different types. The application is of Javacard™ type and comprises at least a function which is invoked when personalization data is received from the distant machine regardless of the channel used for conveying the personalization data.
US08914481B2

Techniques for spontaneous resource management are provided. Information about resources is indexed and housed in a repository. The information is dynamically updated. Search queries are performed against the indexed information in the repository for purposes of forming dynamic groupings of the resources that are then managed as custom-defined and dynamic groups.
US08914478B2

In one aspect of the present description, a systems manager based upon a common model of information protocol or standard includes automated storage area network (SAN) expansion management which permits additional provider modules to be automatically installed if needed in response to devices being added to the SAN. In addition, the automated SAN expansion management permits installed provider modules to be automatically configured in response to devices being added to the SAN. Still further, in another aspect, the automated SAN expansion management can automatically determine if a suitable host processor exists to host installation of a new provider module and if not, the automated SAN expansion management 20 can automatically deploy a suitable host processor such as a virtual server to host installation of a new provider module. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application.
US08914477B2

A wireless device is provided. The wireless device has a processor for controlling operation of the wireless device; a first input device coupled to the processor for accepting an input; at least one display device coupled to the processor for communicating an output to the user; a communications subsystem coupled to the processor for communicating with a communications network; a universal serial bus (USB) storage device connected to a USB port of the wireless device; a memory coupled to the processor; and a storage device coupled to the processor. The wireless device includes a USB/network handling module resident in the memory for execution by the processor. The USB/network handling module is configured to establish a secure connection between the wireless device and a server of a network; load a universal serial bus mass storage component; initiate a file share between the wireless device and the server; and mount the USB storage device connected to the USB port of the wireless device as a shared network drive on the network.
US08914474B2

Various methods and systems are disclosed to provide dynamic content to users of online payment service providers without requiring users to log in or otherwise actively engage the payment service providers. In one example, a method of providing dynamic content includes providing a client device with access to an online marketplace over a network. The method also includes facilitating transmission of a user identifier stored by the client device to a payment service provider. The method further includes receiving dynamic content from the payment service provider in response to the user identifier. In addition, the method includes serving the dynamic content to the client device over the network.
US08914461B2

It is possible to provide a method and device for enabling a WEB server having no WEB edition system inside to edit and update WEB contents directly from a WEB browser by converting and accessing a disclosed WEB contents public URL. For this, a relay server is installed for mediating between a WEB server having file transfer means, such as FTP, and a WEB browser for browsing the WEB contents. By converting the disclosed URL of the contents from the WEB browser based on a predetermined procedure, the connection destination is switched from the WEB server to the relay server. The relay server specifies the WEB server and the positions of the contents data according to the URL accessed by the WEB browser and relays the contents date acquisition and storage for the WEB server in accordance with a request from the WEB browser. Moreover, the relay server provides the WEB browser with an application for editing the contents. Thus, it is possible to acquire, edit and update the contents.
US08914456B2

A computer implemented method, system and apparatus for rebooting a host having a plurality of network interfaces. A server reboots the host by stopping an NFS server process on the host. The server sends at least one consolidated notification to a plurality of clients identified in a consolidated notification table, wherein the consolidated notification comprises at least two addresses of network interfaces of the host. The server determines that an acknowledgement is received from each of the plurality of clients. The server halts resending of consolidated notifications, responsive to determining that an acknowledgement is received from the each of the plurality of clients.
US08914440B2

A technique for acquiring a web page includes: receiving, at a client, a user instruction; obtaining from the instruction a page number of a web page that a user desires to access; searching for web page data in a hidden form that is cached in advance at the client, the search being based at least in part on the page number and the hidden form comprising web page data for a plurality of page numbers and in the event that web page data is found in the hidden form, generating, by the client, the web page using the web page data.
US08914429B2

One example embodiment includes a method for constructing a unified namespace carried out by a domain manager service executing on a domain node in a domain network comprised of domain nodes. The method includes establishing a single, hierarchical domain tree that encompasses digital computers in a distributed data service network, where the domain manager service sends a request to all domain member nodes requesting that each domain node export the root of its sub-domain to the domain manager. The method also includes receiving the exported sub-domain roots. The method further includes grafting onto a domain root of the domain manager service the received exported sub-domain roots.
US08914426B2

Devices and methods are provided for managing the identity of media content data. A server node processes metadata associated with a plurality of media content data files to generate a corresponding master identifier for each of the media content data files. A client node then provides the server node a first set of metadata corresponding to a media content data file that has no associated master identifier. In turn, the server node processes the first set of metadata to identify a corresponding master identifier and a second set of associated metadata, which it provides to the client node. The client node processes the second set of metadata to identify a matching set of metadata stored in its database of identification data and metadata. If found, the client node associates the master identifier with a second media content data file corresponding to the matching set of metadata.
US08914413B2

A processor-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product defines multiple context-based data gravity wells on a context-based data gravity wells membrane. Non-contextual data objects are associated with context objects to define synthetic context-based objects. The synthetic context-based objects are parsed into an n-tuple that includes a pointer to one of the non-contextual data objects, a probability that a non-contextual data object has been associated with a correct context object, and a weighting factor of importance of the synthetic context-based object. A virtual mass of each parsed synthetic context-based object is calculated, in order to define a shape of multiple context-based data gravity wells that are created when synthetic context-based objects are pulled into each of the context-based data gravity well frameworks on a context-based data gravity wells membrane.
US08914408B2

Various embodiments are disclosed that relate to detecting mobile operator networks. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of operating a catalog server to which a mobile computing device connects via a computer network path that traverses a mobile operator network. The method may include receiving data from a mobile device, the data including a locale and a mobile operator identifier stored in memory on the mobile device; searching a database to find a store based on the mobile operator identifier and the locale; if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.
US08914401B2

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for providing an N-best list interface. A system practicing the method receives a search query formatted according to a standard language for containing and annotating interpretations of user input, the search query being based on a natural language spoken query from a user and retrieves an N-best list of recognition results based on the search query. The system then transmits the N-best list of recognition results to a user device, receives multimodal disambiguation input from the user, the input indicating an entry in the N-best list, and transmits to the user device additional information associated with the selected entry. The additional information can be a map indicating an address for the selected entry. The standard language can be XML-based Extensible MultiModal Annotation (EMMA) markup language from W3C.
US08914394B1

A method and apparatus for performing an integrated search is provided. An interface is provided that allows users to search and select any data related to a searchable term. Searchable terms may comprise titles of content, actors, and tags. A client device formulates a search request from the user-selected search terms. A service receives the search request from the client device and formulates a query for at least one broadband database and at least one partner broadcast database. The service queries each broadband database with a compatible query that the service creates using information regarding the type of database queries each partner's database requires. The service formats the data received from the searches of the databases into a user interface screen that is presentable by the client device. The screen information instructs the client device on how it should respond to any key presses by the user.
US08914390B2

Processing repetitive database queries may include receiving a database query having a connection identifier, determining whether a queue for database queries contains an earlier database query matching the received database query, identifying the second database query as matching the first database query if the queue contains an earlier matching database query, receiving query results for the earlier matching database query from a database server, and forwarding query results to the clients associated with both database queries using corresponding connection identifiers.
US08914389B2

An information processing device includes: a subsidiary content storage unit configured to store and manage a subsidiary content which is created by editing processing secondarily using at least one content as editing material and which includes a main unit portion which is data for reproducing the actual content of the subsidiary content, and directly used content information which is added information, indicating what the directly used content, which is a content directly secondarily used at the time of creating the subsidiary content, is; and an importance setting unit configured to set importance based on secondary usage state of the directly used content regarding which importance is to be set, by other subsidiary contents, by using the directly used content information, so as to set importance regarding at least subsidiary contents stored and managed by the subsidiary content storage unit.
US08914380B2

A search index structure which extends a typical composite index by incorporating an index which is optimized for fast retrieval from storage and which eliminates data which is specific to phrase searching. Other data is represented in a manner which allows it to be calculated rather than stored. Associating variable length entries with logical categories allows their length to be inferred from the category rather than stored. Using delta values between document IDs rather than the ID itself generates a compact, dense symbol set which is efficiently compressed by Huffman encoding or a similar compression method. Using an upper threshold to remove large, and thus rare, delta values from the symbol set prior to encoding further improves the encoding performance.
US08914373B2

Representative embodiments of a method for grouping participants in an activity include the steps of: (i) defining a grouping policy; (ii) storing, in a database, participant records that include a participant identifier, a characteristic associated with the participant, and/or an identifier for a participant's handheld device; (iii) defining groupings based on the policy and characteristics of the participants relating to the policy and to the activity; and (iv) communicating the groupings to the handheld devices to establish the groups.
US08914372B2

A computer implemented method for clustering customers includes receiving a source set of customer records, wherein each customer record represents one customer, and each customer record includes at least one data attribute, and each data attribute has an attribute value; pre-processing the source set of customer records to generate a pre-processed set of customer records; executing a clustering algorithm on the pre-processed set of customer records to group the pre-processed set of customer records into clusters of a pre-defined number. The pre-processing comprises: determining the type of a customer in the source set of customer records; using a type attribute value to indicate the type of the customer in its customer record; normalizing data attribute values and type attribute values; weighting to the data attribute values and the type attribute values respectively to obtain weighted attribute values of the data attribute and weighted attribute values of the tune attribute.
US08914363B2

Allowing users of a network based multiple user tagging system to use any phrase they feel is relevant to the resource can lead to ambiguities within the system. For example, a user may tag a picture of a gift with the keyword “bow”. Another user may tag a picture of a bow and arrow with the keyword “bow”. This may cause a problem for someone searching with the keyword “bow” when looking for information about making a bow for a gift. The user looking for gift bows does not want to see search results for bows and arrows. Functionality can be implemented in a folksonomy tagging system to disambiguate tags by associating them with definitions. Associating ambiguous tags with appropriate definitions will increase search accuracy for users of folksonomy tagging systems, thus allowing users to find relevant information more efficiently.
US08914355B1

Systems and processes for data presentation may be implemented with a variety of operations and techniques. In particular aspects, a system and process for data presentation may include the ability to receive a data request at a data distribution device and determine data responsive to the data request, the responsive data including textual data. The system and process may also include the ability to modify the textual responsive data based on a user interface for visually presenting the textual responsive data and generate a data response including the modified textual responsive data.
US08914347B2

Methods and systems are disclosed for extending the search functionality of search engines. In one configuration, a method for modifying functionality of a search engine operated by a search engine host involves providing a search function associated with an entity different from the search engine entity and making that search function available to the search engine entity such that searches using the search engine utilize the search function.
US08914346B1

Systems, methods and devices described herein enable producing and utilizing a clustered search index as a way of searching correlated data groups, such as channel lineups. In particular, in some implementations systems, methods and devices are operable to create a clustered search index that includes clusters of TV channels frequently provided together in various channel lineups in order to improve searching efficiency. That is, the resultant search index is based on sub-lineups of channels that are shared by multiple channel lineups (i.e. sub-lineup indexing). Each sub-lineup includes channels that are frequently provided together, as determined by analysis of the channel lineups offered by the various providers. Additionally and/or alternatively, in some implementations systems, methods and devices are operable to process a search query by selecting a number of pertinent channel clusters from a clustered search index associated with one or more characteristics associated with the query.
US08914345B1

A computer-implemented method for host communication in a clustered file system may include 1) identifying a cluster file system site comprising at least one host that performs data operations on a storage unit, 2) identifying a storage management application that manages the storage unit, 3) transmitting, by an initial host, an initial data operation directed to a location of the storage unit, where the data operation comprises a notification signal that commands the notification of the initial host upon a subsequent host attempting to access the location, 4) transmitting, by the subsequent host, a subsequent data operation directed to the location of the storage unit, and 5) notifying the initial host, by the storage management application, that the subsequent host attempted to access the location of the storage unit. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08914342B2

Receive a plurality of data management policies from a user. Store in a memory the data management policies in association with a context and an identifier of the user. Receive personal data of the user collected in one or more contexts by one or more collection devices. Determine whether the personal data complies with one or more of the data management policies with respect to collecting personal data of the user. If the personal data complies with the data management policies with respect to collecting personal data on the user, then storing in the memory the personal data in association with the identifier of the user. Provide a centralized interface to the user for managing the personal data stored in the memory.
US08914340B2

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for relocating storage pool hot spots. An identification module identifies a hot spot on a first storage pool if accesses to the first storage pool exceed an access threshold. The first storage pool is part of a plurality of storage pools. Each storage pool comprises a plurality of logical segments from a plurality of storage devices. Each storage device is of a specified class. A migration module dynamically migrates data of a first logical segment to a second storage pool. The migration is transparent to a host and the data of the first logical segment is continuously available to the host.
US08914335B2

A method and system of provisioning one or more Network Elements, as well as a method and apparatus for resuming a failed Customer Service Order for provisioning one or more Network Elements, is disclosed. A provisioning logic framework receives a Customer Service Order CSO from a Business Support System, calls respective provisioning logic for performing said Customer Service Order and detects if the received Customer Service Order is a CSO to be resumed. During the performing time of said Customer Service Order, historical processing data is stored. If it is detected that the received Customer Service Order is a CSO to be resumed, the provisioning logic framework builds up a fake environment on the basis of historical processing data stored previously for the CSO to be resumed. Then the successful part of the CSO is directed to the fake environment and the uncompleted part of the CSO is directed to actual Network elements.
US08914334B2

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using a metadata image of a file system and archive instance to restore files in the file system. A metadata image of the file system for a point-in-time backup as of a point-in-time includes information on files and directories in the file system as of the point-in-time and an archive instance including a copy of database records in the backup database for the files in the point-in-time backup. A restore request is received. A file representation is created of each file to restore in the directory structure of the file system from the metadata image, wherein at least one of the created file representations indicates that the file is stored off-line and has an external identifier used to access information on the file in the database records in the archive instance for the point-in-time backup.
US08914331B2

A computer-implemented system and method for identifying duplicate and near duplicate messages is provided. A set of messages is obtained. A body of one such message is compared with the body of each other message. Those messages having matching bodies are identified as exact duplicates. The exact duplicates are removed from the set. The remaining messages are sorted in order of message length and a shorter message is compared with a longer message. A determination is made that the body of the shorter message is included in the body of the longer message and the shorter message is marked as a near duplicate of the longer message.
US08914330B2

A mechanism is provided that aggregates data in a way that permits data to be deleted efficiently, while minimizing the overhead necessary to support bulk deletion of data. A request is received for automatic deletion of segments in a container and a waterline is determined for the container. A determination is made if at least one segment in the container falls below the waterline. Finally, in response to one segment falling below the waterline, the segment from the container is deleted. Each object has an associated creation time, initial retention value, and retention decay curve (also known as a retention curve). At any point, based on these values and the current time, the object's current retention value may be computed. The container system continually maintains a time-varying waterline: at any point, objects with a retention value below the waterline may be deleted.
US08914326B2

Methods for presenting files upon switching between system states and portable terminals are provided. The portable terminal comprising a first system platform and a second system platform, a state in which the presentation of the file is controlled by the first system platform being a first state, and a state in which the presentation of the file is controlled by the second system platform being a second state. The method comprising: detecting, by the first system platform in the first state, that a status of the file satisfies a preset condition; backuping, by to the first system platform, the file for the second system platform; and switching to the second state, and continuing, by the second system platform, the presentation of the file based on the backup file. With the portable terminal of hybrid system architecture according to embodiments of the present invention, if the system state is switched while a file is being played, the switched-to system can continue presenting the file based on the backup file, according to the presentation progress before the system switching. In this way, it is possible to achieve a seamless presentation of the file before and after the switching, and thus improve user's experience.
US08914324B1

A system and method for backing up files to a single-instance storage system are disclosed. The files may be split into segments, and the file data may be stored in the single-instance storage system as individual segments. The single-instance storage system uses the concept of a file region which covers multiple segments of the file. If a region of a file is unchanged from one backup to the next, the system may use a region object to refer to the unchanged region. This avoids the need to update the reference information for each of the segments within the region, thus increasing the efficiency of backing up the new version of the file.
US08914310B2

One particular implementation of the present invention may involve a control unit of an ionic foot bath or other health product. The control unit may be connected to a network or the Internet such that the control unit may be monitored or controlled by a third party, such that the third party may provide programming updates, adjust the programming of the control unit to conform to the user's preferences and provide flexibility to a practitioner with several foot bath systems. The control unit may also provide the functionality of a pay-per-use method for use of the ionic foot bath. The method may allow a user or an operator of the product to purchase operational time that is desired to use the product. Once the operating time is purchased, the product may be operated for the purchased amount of time, at which point, more usage time may be purchased.
US08914277B1

According to example configurations, a speech-processing system parses an uttered sentence into segments. The speech-processing system translates each of the segments in the uttered sentence into candidate textual expressions (i.e., phrases of one or more words) in a first language. The uttered sentence can include multiple phrases or candidate textual expressions. Additionally, the speech-processing system translates each of the candidate textual expressions into candidate textual phrases in a second language. Based at least in part on a product of confidence values associated with the candidate textual expressions in the first language and confidence values associated with the candidate textual phrases in the second language, the speech-processing system produces a confidence metric for each of the candidate textual phrases in the second language. The confidence metric can indicate degree to which the candidate textual phrase in the second language is an accurate translation of a respective segment in the utterance.
US08914256B1

In one embodiment, a technique is provided for exchanging a design of a structure between a modeling application and an analysis application. The model of the structure is scanned in the modeling application, to identify model elements and their interrelationships. Using the identified model elements and their interrelationships, an analytical interface model is generated within the modeling application that provides an abstracted representation of the structure. Such analytical interface model is viewable and modifiable within the user interface of the modeling application. Information regarding the analytical interface model is transferred to the analysis application. This information is used by the analysis application to create a separate analytical model maintained and used by the analysis application.
US08914252B2

A complete test involving the entire number of devices in a large group of managed devices (T) is periodically performed to determine whether the devices are operating normally or have a malfunction; a test result (Ic) is recorded in a management database (Db) for each cycle of the complete test, and a device that has been found to be malfunctioning is repaired or replaced; and the suitability of a device model is determined or a suitable device model is selected for each of the managed devices (T) on the basis of history information (N) about each of the managed devices (T) obtained from the test result (Ic) of the complete test that spans a plurality of cycles, as recorded in the management database (Db).
US08914248B2

A device for estimating an internal resistance of a battery and a battery pack including the same. The device stores voltage difference values between sampled voltage values and current difference values between sampled current values for a predetermined period of time, periodically selects a maximum value or a minimum value of stored voltage difference values and a maximum value or a minimum value of the stored current difference values, calculates a covariance value and a variance value of the selected voltage difference values and the selected current difference values, and estimates the internal resistance of the battery based on the calculated covariance value and variance value.
US08914246B2

Methods and systems to provide baseline measurements for aging compensation for a display device are disclosed. An example display system has a plurality of active pixels and a reference pixel. Common input signals are provided to the reference pixel and the plurality of active pixels. The outputs of the reference pixel is measured and compared to the output of the active pixels to determine aging effects. The display system may also be tested applying a first known reference current to a current comparator with a second variable reference current and the output of a device under test such as one of the pixels. The variable reference current is adjusted until the second current and the output of the device under test is equivalent of the first current. The resulting current of the device under test is stored in a look up table for a baseline for aging measurements during the display system operation. The display system may also be tested to determine production flaws by determining anomalies such as short circuits in pixel components such as OLEDs and drive transistors.
US08914237B2

A system and method for adjusting count rate information, comprising: acquiring, using at least one detector, static image information from at least one imaged object; acquiring, using the at least one detector, whole body image information from the at least one imaged object; determining, using at least one computer application, the count rate information using the static image information and the whole body image information; and adjusting, using the at least one computer application, the count rate information by accounting for movement between the at least one detector and the at least one imaged object.
US08914231B2

A mobile-side terminal apparatus of the present invention includes: a route information storing unit that stores route information related to a route that a user follows; a position acquiring unit that acquires a present position of the user; a display unit that displays the route information stored in the route information storing unit and the present position acquired by the position acquiring unit; and a position transmitting unit that performs transmission of the present position acquired by the position acquiring unit to another information processing device that stores the route information and displays the route information and the present position.
US08914221B2

Various methods and systems are provided for diagnosing an engine component condition in an exhaust gas recirculation system. In one example, a method includes selectively routing exhaust from a subset of engine cylinders to an exhaust passage via a first valve and to an intake passage via a second valve, and obtaining one or more of a pressure or temperature from the subset of engine cylinders. The method further includes indicating an engine component condition based on the one or more of the pressure or temperature.
US08914212B1

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to notifying a pedestrian of the intent of a self-driving vehicle. For example, the vehicle may include sensors which detect an object such as a pedestrian attempting or about to cross the roadway in front of the vehicle. The vehicle's computer may then determine the correct way to respond to the pedestrian. For example, the computer may determine that the vehicle should stop or slow down, yield, or stop if it is safe to do so. The vehicle may then provide a notification to the pedestrian of what the vehicle is going to or is currently doing. For example, the vehicle may include a physical signaling device, an electronic sign or lights, a speaker for providing audible notifications, etc.
US08914209B2

An automatic shift apparatus including a rotation shaft, a dog clutch gear shift mechanism, and a control unit. The control unit supplies a predetermined electric current to a shaft moving apparatus to move a sleeve in an engaged state engaged with one of a first clutch ring and a second clutch ring and supplies a braking electric current smaller than the predetermined electric current to the shaft moving apparatus to exert a braking force on the sleeve, the braking force directed in the opposite direction relative to a direction of movement of the sleeve, before a spline of the sleeve disengages from a first dog clutch portion or a second dog clutch portion of the mentioned one of the first clutch ring and the second clutch ring.
US08914204B2

A control device includes a belt slip controller, a limiting determining control unit, and a transmission speed limiter. The device controls a vehicle belt type continuously variable transmission including a primary pulley and a secondary pulley so as to control a gear ratio by controlling a primary hydraulic pressure and a secondary hydraulic pressure. The controller oscillates the secondary hydraulic pressure, extracts an oscillation component of an actual gear ratio when a transmission speed is less than a predetermined value, and controls the secondary hydraulic pressure based on a phase difference between oscillation components. The determining control unit determines whether to limit acceleration, and the limiter limits a transmission speed to less than the predetermined value when the determining control unit makes a determination to limit the acceleration. The controller permits belt slip control while the limiter limits the transmission speed to less than the predetermined value.
US08914202B2

A clamp force control method for a continuous variable transmission may include a first process that fixes clamp force of any one of a driving pulley and a driven pulley, and a second process that finds a section where a transmission ratio may be the minimum while gradually decreasing the clamp force from a current clamp force of the other pulley of which the clamp force may not be fixed in the first process and sets the clamp force in the section where the transmission ratio may be the minimum as the clamp force of the other pulley, which may not be fixed.
US08914201B2

A control device controls a belt type continuously variable transmission including a belt slip controller and a belt slip control permission determining unit. The device decreases belt friction when an estimated accuracy of a belt slip condition is high and prevents a belt from greatly slipping when an estimated accuracy is low. The device includes primary and secondary pulleys and the belt, and controls a gear ratio based on a running radius of the belt on a pulley by controlling primary and secondary oil pressures. The controller oscillates a secondary oil pressure, estimates the belt slip condition by monitoring a phase difference between oscillation components, and reduces an actual secondary oil pressure to maintain a predetermined belt slip condition. The determining unit permits belt slip control when a torque change speed input to the transmission mechanism is less than a predetermined value.
US08914182B2

The present invention provides a co-operative network of unmanned vehicles that participate in co-operative task allocation. Each unmanned vehicle comprises a computer system with an executive level configured to control motion of the unmanned vehicle and an automatic decision level configured to communicate with other unmanned vehicles, to receive task descriptions, to participate in task allocation, and to provide descriptions of tasks to be performed to the executive level for execution. Each unmanned vehicle submits a bid for each task it can perform, the bid reflecting an execution cost for the task. The bids are compared and the task effectively auctioned to the unmanned vehicle with a lowest execution cost. Each unmanned vehicle builds a task plan from its allocated tasks, decomposes the associated task descriptions into elementary task descriptions and forwards the elementary task descriptions in a format suitable for the executive level to execute.
US08914177B2

[Problem] To provide a hybrid wheel loader capable of highly efficient and stable supply of motive power.[Solution] A hybrid wheel loader including: a front work machine (5) provided at the front of a vehicle; power sources including an engine (1) and an electric storage device; and a hybrid control device (20) which controls output of these power sources; characterized in that: a capacitor (11) is provided as the electric storage device; and the hybrid control device makes control to decrease a voltage of the capacitor in accordance with increase of energy held by the vehicle.
US08914174B2

A control device for controlling a vehicle drive unit including an input member drivingly connected to an engine; an output member drivingly connected to a wheel; and a transmission device that includes engagement elements, that switches between shift speeds by control of engagement and disengagement of engagement elements, and that transmits a rotational driving force of the input member to the output member at a speed changed at a speed ratio of each of the shift speeds. The control device includes a control unit that controls the transmission device to achieve a one-way transmission speed in a running idle state in which a vehicle is running while the rotational driving force of the input member is not transmitted to the output member and a rotational speed of the engine is controlled to a predetermined idle speed. The transmission device has, as one of the shift speeds, the one-way transmission speed at which the rotational driving force from the input member to the output member is transmitted but the rotational driving force from the output member to the input member is not transmitted.
US08914173B2

A method and system for conditioning an energy storage system (ESS) for a vehicle, like a high-voltage battery or a fuel cell used for vehicle propulsion. It may be detrimental for a high-voltage battery in a parked vehicle to be exposed to extreme temperatures for an extended period of time. Thus, the method and system may be used to condition such a battery—for example, by heating it up if it is too cold or by cooling it down if it is too hot—so that the performance, durability, lifespan and/or other aspects of the battery are improved. In an exemplary embodiment, the method predicts if the battery will need conditioning the next time the vehicle is parked and, if such conditioning is needed, then the method predicts if the battery has sufficient charge to perform this conditioning. If the charge appears insufficient, then the method operates an energy generator that provides additional charge to the battery in anticipation of the needed conditioning.
US08914168B2

Data representative of a train consist (the train consist comprising a plurality of locomotives and a plurality of cars) and data representative of a route for the train consist can be processed by a processor to automatically determine which locomotives in the train consist should be powered on and which locomotives in the train consist should be shut down for each segment of the route. The processor can make these determinations based on an analysis of the train consist data and the route data with respect to a plurality of considerations that affect train efficiency. Recommendations for locomotive startups and shutdowns in accordance with such automated determinations can then be presented to the train crew for the crew to use during train operations. It is believed that when train crews are in compliance with such recommendations, significant improvements in efficiency, particularly with respect to fuel consumption, can be achieved.
US08914162B2

A system, method, and apparatus for detecting and reporting track defects while a train is in motion on railway tracks includes at least one defect sensor configured to sense an acceleration of at least a portion of the train; and at least one computer-readable medium. The at least one computer-readable medium comprises program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: detect, while the train is in motion on the railway tracks, at least one track defect in the railway tracks based at least partially on the acceleration of the at least a portion of the train; and generate track defect data based at least partially on a location of the train when the at least one track defect is detected.
US08914160B2

A demand response (DR) method or a demand response (DR) system determines priority of each household appliance in response to a quality status of each household appliance, and variably controls a DR level of each household appliance according to the priority of each household appliance, to guarantee the quality of the household appliance and minimize power consumption.
US08914158B2

An energy storage medium is combined with a secondary energy source that supplies power to an electricity distribution grid. The charge and discharge behavior of the energy storage medium is controlled so that rapid increases in the output of a secondary source of energy are absorbed by the storage system, whereas rapid decreases in the output of the secondary source are compensated by discharging stored energy onto the grid. The combined contributions of the secondary source and the energy storage system ensures a rate of change that does not exceed a defined level. Maximum and minimum output power levels for the secondary source can be established to define a normal operating range. The charging or discharging of the energy storage system is also performed when the secondary output power level exceeds or falls below the limits of the defined range.
US08914154B2

An active tuned vibration absorber (100) is disclosed for reducing vibrations in a structure, the vibration absorber comprising: a mount (104) for attachment to the structure; a moveable mass (106); a spring arrangement (108) connected between the mass and the mount; an actuator arrangement (110) for applying a force between the mass and the mount; a first sensor (112) for providing a first measurement indicative of a force exerted between the structure and the mount; a second sensor (114) for providing a second measurement indicative of an acceleration of the structure at or proximate to the mount; and a control system (116) for generating an actuator driving signal for driving the actuator using the first and second measurement, wherein the control system is operable to generate the actuator driving signal to cause the first measurement and second measurement to conform to a target relationship.
US08914150B2

Improved robotic surgical systems, devices, and methods include selectably associatable master/slave pairs, often having more manipulator arms than will be moved simultaneously by the two hands of a surgeon. Four manipulator arms can support an image capture device, a left hand tissue manipulation tool, a right hand tissue manipulation tool, and a fourth surgical instrument, particularly for stabilizing, retracting, tool change, or other functions benefiting from intermittent movement. The four or more arms may sequentially be controlled by left and right master input control devices. The fourth arm may be used to support another image capture device, and control of some or all of the arms may be transferred back-and-forth between the operator and an assistant. Two or more robotic systems each having master controls and slave manipulators may be coupled to enable cooperative surgery between two or more operators.
US08914149B2

A platform health monitoring system including an associative memory. The associative memory stores a plurality of known health profiles for a platform. The platform health monitoring system also includes an input device in communication with the associative memory. The input device is configured to receive a current health profile of the platform. The platform health monitoring system also may include a comparator configured to compare, in conjunction with the associative memory, the current health profile with the plurality of known health profile to generate a comparison. The comparator is further configured to generate, based on the comparison and in conjunction with the associative memory, a report on a current health of the platform.
US08914144B2

An apparatus includes a processor and a memory. The memory is configured to store computer-readable instructions therein, wherein the computer-readable instructions instruct the sewing machine to execute steps comprising acquiring image data including one or more characters, extracting, from acquired image data, one or more character designs with respect to each character included in the acquired image data, wherein the character design represents each character included in the acquired image data, generating embroidery data with respect to each character based on the extracted character design, wherein the embroidery data represents an embroidery pattern in a predetermined size.
US08914140B2

The system and method uses a virtual frame of reference to evaluate and control a manufacturing system. Electronic images from a vision system may be analyzed using the virtual frame of reference to control the phasing of devices in the manufacturing system and to generate alerts.
US08914137B2

An audio/video (A/V) system includes an audio/video (A/V) component configured to generate audio or video data. The A/V system includes one or more processing devices configured to implement an audio or video processing engine to process the audio or video data to generate one or more different domain representations of the audio or video data. The A/V system includes one or more audio or video processing applications that are each configured to access one or more of the different domain representations of the audio or video data, and to perform audio or video processing on the one or more accessed domain representations of the audio or video data. Each of the one or more processing applications access and process the domain representations independently of each other.
US08914133B2

Provided is a method of controlling a network system. In the method, information about an electric product comprising a communication modem is recognized to make the electric product join a power management network. The electric product is registered in the power management network by allocating an ID (identification) to the electric product.
US08914130B2

One example includes an implantable lead including an elongate lead body which includes a proximal portion and a distal portion. In the example, the lead includes a coupler configured to couple to an implantable medical device. The lead includes a first conductor, coupled to the coupler, and extending away from the coupler at least partially through the lead. The lead includes a first electrode, located on the lead away from the coupler and a first switch, located on the lead away from the coupler, the first switch configured to control conductivity between the conductor and the electrode. The lead also includes a first controller circuit, coupled to the conductor and including a first multiplexer circuit configured to multiplex over the conductor a first signal and a second signal, the first controller circuit configured to control the first switch based at least on the first signal.
US08914127B1

An exemplary sound processor apparatus included in an auditory prosthesis system includes a linear regulator and a sound processing integrated circuit (“IC”). The linear regulator 1) receives a source voltage signal having a source voltage level and provided by an external power source, 2) drops the source voltage level to an intermediate voltage level, and 3) outputs an intermediate voltage signal having the intermediate voltage level. The sound processing IC 1) performs one or more sound processing operations with respect to an audio signal presented to a patient associated with the auditory prosthesis system, 2) receives the intermediate voltage signal having the intermediate voltage level, 3) converts the intermediate voltage level into one or more supply voltage levels, and 4) outputs one or more supply voltage signals having the one or more supply voltage levels.
US08914126B2

An exemplary system includes a sound processor configured to identify one or more spectral peaks of an audio signal presented to a cochlear implant patient and an implantable cochlear stimulator communicatively coupled to the sound processor and configured to apply electrical stimulation representative of the one or more spectral peaks to at least one stimulation site within the cochlear implant patient using a partial multipolar stimulation configuration and apply electrical stimulation representative of one or more other spectral components of the audio signal to at least one other stimulation site within the cochlear implant patient using a monopolar stimulation configuration. Corresponding systems methods are also disclosed.
US08914123B2

The invention concerns a method for performing an electric inhibition of the facial muscles for purely aesthetic purposes, using a device comprising a support at the head of a user (1), two contact electrodes (2), an electronic circuit (3) for generating low-voltage electric pulses at said electrodes (2), a direct current electric power supply (4) and means for fixing and locking (7) said components on the head. The invention is characterized in that it includes the following steps: placing the electrodes (2) on either side of the upper part of the nose, at the glabella; passing the electric pulses via the electrodes (2) through the pyramidal muscle of the nose so as to cause said pyramidal muscle of the nose to relax and hence its antagonist muscle, the forehead muscle and the double eyebrow muscle.
US08914122B2

A non-invasive electrical stimulation device shapes an elongated electric field of effect that can be oriented parallel to a long nerve, such as a vagus nerve in a patient's neck, producing a desired physiological response in the patient. The stimulator comprises a source of electrical power, at least one electrode and a continuous electrically conducting medium in which the electrode(s) are in contact. The stimulation device is configured to produce a peak pulse voltage that is sufficient to produce a physiologically effective electric field in the vicinity of a target nerve, but not to substantially stimulate other nerves and muscles that lie between the vicinity of the target nerve and patient's skin. Current is passed through the electrodes in bursts of preferably five sinusoidal pulses, wherein each pulse within a burst has a duration of preferably 200 microseconds, and bursts repeat at preferably at 15-50 bursts per second.
US08914117B2

One embodiment of the invention provides a method and apparatus for performing deep brain stimulation with an electromagnetic field. The includes an electrode assembly having multiple electrodes and a phased array system for driving the electrodes to generate the electromagnetic field. By controlling delays within the phased array system, the generated electromagnetic field can be steered to a desired region of the brain.
US08914110B2

An implantable stimulator includes a device for delivering a stimulus and a casing having a first, metal portion and a second, portion which is formed from a plastic or polymer. A method of forming an implantable stimulator includes preparing a coil on a ferrite tube and molding a casing body on the coil, such that the coil is embedded in a wall of the casing which is formed of a plastic or polymer. Another method of forming an implantable stimulator includes forming an annular metal connector and molding a plastic or polymer casing body on the metal connector.
US08914109B2

A method for detecting potential failures by an implantable medical lead is disclosed. The method includes sensing first, second and third signals between at least first and second combinations of electrodes, on the lead; determining whether at least one of the first, second and third signals is representative of a potential failure in the lead and identifies a failure and the electrode associated with the failure based on which of the first, second and third sensed signals is representative of the potential failure. Optionally, when the first and second sensed signals are both representative of the potential failure, the method further includes determining whether the first and second sensed signals are correlated with one another. When the first and second sensed signals are correlated, the method declares an electrode common to both of the first and second combinations to be associated with the failure.
US08914098B2

An imaging method includes providing a handpiece having a probe tip insertable into human or animal tissue disposed at an end thereof, and, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe connected to the handpiece such that a functionality of the OCT probe is provided at the probe tip. The probe tip is disposed adjacent to or into human or animal tissue. Imaging of the tissue, measuring at least one of a feature size or a quantifiable characteristic of a structure in the tissue for biometry analysis, and/or performing a diagnostic procedure on the tissue or a device implanted in the tissue is performed with the OCT probe.
US08914094B2

A method of manufacturing an implantable medical lead is disclosed herein. The method may include: providing a lead body including a proximal end, a distal end, and an electrode near the distal end; provide a conductor extending between the proximal and distal ends; providing a crimp including a ribbon-like member and extending the ribbon-like member around the conductor; and mechanically and electrically connecting the ribbon-like member to the electrode.
US08914093B2

A method of manufacturing an implantable medical lead is disclosed herein. The method may include: providing a lead body including a proximal end, a distal end, and an electrode near the distal end; provide a conductor extending between the proximal and distal ends; providing a crimp including a ribbon-like member and extending the ribbon-like member around the conductor; and mechanically and electrically connecting the ribbon-like member to the electrode.
US08914081B2

Consideration of Quality of Service is taken into account during the establishment of a sleep cycle in a mobile station providing real-time services. Upon the mobile station's identification of a need for a real-time service to enter into sleep mode, a request conveying that need is sent to the base station. The base station replies with a start frame number and other sleep parameters. Thereafter the mobile station enters sleep mode comprising sleep intervals interleaved with listening intervals. To prevent transmission packets from being buffered at the mobile station for an excessive period of time due to attempts to transmit packets to the base station during a sleep interval, the length of the sleep interval is set so as not to exceed the maximum latency value reflecting the QoS of the real-time service negotiated during establishment of the real-time services.
US08914072B2

Techniques are described to implement a user interface for a display of a mobile device. In an implementation, the user interface may include a chromeless menu configured to be displayed when menu-based user input to the mobile device is available; a system tray configured to be displayed on the display when a notice containing status information affecting operability of the mobile device is available; and a task switcher module operable to cause a chromeless overlay be displayed over an active application being executed by the mobile device to allow selection of one or more applications of the mobile device.
US08914070B2

A mobile wireless communication terminal includes a wireless communication module and a controller. The wireless communication module is configured to communicate with other communication terminals over at least one direct point-to-point wireless interface. The controller is configured to establish a connection with each of a plurality of participant wireless communication terminals via the wireless communication module, to receive an image send command from a user, and to send a digital image file over the at least one direct point-to-point wireless interface to each of the plurality of participant wireless communication terminals as a group responsive to the image send command.
US08914049B2

Example embodiments relate a method for managing a status of a mobile station in a wireless network. The method includes receiving, at an accounting network element, a report message indicating a state change of the mobile station. The method may also include sending, by the accounting network element, a notice to a network serving element in response to receiving the report message, the notice message indicating the state change of the mobile station.
US08914043B2

A mobile device receives signals from transmitting devices and generates sets of signal metrics based on the received signals. The mobile device also receives indicated locations, where each indicated location is associated with a respective set of signal metrics. The mobile device provides location-specific data to a transmitting device locating engine to estimate locations of the transmitting devices, where the location-specific data includes data representing the sets of signal metrics and data representing the indicated locations. The mobile device further receives an indication of sharing criteria via a user interface of the mobile device, and causes the estimated locations to be selectively shared with one or more other mobile devices based on the sharing criteria.
US08914039B1

An interpersonal communication and an interactive information system, where a user can access a wireless local area network connected to a cloud computing service from any compatible mobile device and obtain information specific to the user's location and communicate with other mobile devices in the user's location through the wireless local area network.
US08914037B2

Systems and methods are described for computing device motion direction and orientation. A system as described herein includes an orientation sensor configured to collect data relating to orientation of the mobile device; an orientation analysis module communicatively coupled to the orientation sensor and configured to determine a three-dimensional orientation of the mobile device relative to an Earth-based coordinate system based on the data collected by the orientation sensor; and a motion direction tracker module communicatively coupled to the orientation analysis module, configured to compute a first direction, that is a three-dimensional direction of motion of the mobile device relative to a coordinate system of the mobile device, and configured to compute a second direction, that is a direction of motion of the mobile device relative to the Earth-based coordinate system, based on the first direction using the three-dimensional orientation of the mobile device relative to the Earth-based coordinate system.
US08914036B2

A communication terminal includes a first wireless unit for carrying out cellular communication, and a second wireless unit for carrying out WLAN communication. A control unit carries out a power save operation that inactivates the WLAN communication function of these wireless communication functions. Location information for access points accessible by WLAN communication is stored in the storage unit. The control unit calculates distances between access points and the communication terminal and determines whether or not the communication terminal is within communication range of any of the access points by matching location information for the communication terminal obtained by the GPS unit and location information for the access points stored in the storage unit. When the access point is within communication range, the control unit gives notification by outputting the signal strength via a display unit and the like according to the distance to the access point.
US08914034B2

The disclosed subject matter relates to an architecture that can provide enhancement with respect to circuit switched fall back. In particular, the architecture can reduce the signaling and delay of conventional systems that are necessitated by establishing a radio resource control connection prior to establishing the circuit switched fall back connection. For example, when user equipment is not in a radio resource control connected state at the time of a circuit switched fall back call, the radio resource control connection can be at least partially avoided by responding to a radio resource control connection request message with a radio resource control connection reject message that includes target cell reselection information.
US08914033B2

A method comprising running an application on user equipment; providing a mobility service; using a packet switched connection when said mobility service is unavailable; and using said mobility service when said mobility service becomes available.
US08914032B2

A handover method and apparatus for facilitating a handover of a user equipment to a femto cell in a wireless communication system supporting both the femto and macro cells. When a handover condition is detected, the user equipment acquires identity information of a target femto cell base station from system information transmitted by the target femto cell base station, decides whether to handover to the target femto cell base station, based on the identity information; and transmits a measurement report message including the identity information to a serving base station of the user equipment, when the handover is to be made.
US08914030B2

The present invention relates to an intermediate node which is arranged to relay information between a donor node and at least one served node, and comprises a served antenna arrangement that communicates by means of at least a first and second electrically steerable antenna radiation lobe. During a first mode of operation, all antenna radiation lobes are directed towards a first donor node. During a second mode of operation, the antenna radiation lobes are directed such that the intermediate node is in contact with both the first donor node and the second donor node. During a third mode of operation, all antenna radiation lobes are directed towards the second donor node. A first polarization is associated with each lobe directed towards the second donor node during the second mode of operation and a second polarization is associated with each lobe directed towards the first donor node during the second mode of operation.
US08914029B2

A user equipment (UE) is configured to maintain an updated frequency list for pseudo-fast return handover. The UE receives a frequency list for pseudo fast return when the UE is in an idle mode in a first radio access technology (RAT). When the UE is in a connected mode in a second RAT, the list is updated based on actual UE inter- and intra-frequency measurements of the first RAT during mobility.
US08914028B2

In a wireless telecommunications network, there is included: a macro cell (10) having a first coverage area; and at least one metro cell (20a, 20b, 20c) having a second coverage area, the metro cell being located within the first coverage area of the macro cell. Suitably, the macro cell is configured to: determine whether or not the macro cell is congested; determine whether or not the metro cell is uncongested; and, if it is determined the macro cell is congested and that the metro cell is uncongested, then the macro cell determines that an attempted application of Cell Association Bias (CAB) for the metro cell is warranted. Suitably, if CAB is in fact applied, the macro cell also implements enhanced Inter Cell Interference Coordination (eICIC) using Almost Blank Subframes (ABS) and informs its other neighboring metro cells of this configuration.
US08914021B2

A mobile data network includes a radio access network and a core network. A first service mechanism in the radio access network breaks out data coming from a basestation. When data is broken out by the first service mechanism, the data is delivered at the edge, which means the true activity of the channel is not visible to the core network. In order to maintain the high-speed channel, channel maintenance data packets are sent to and from the radio network controller on the network tunnel. The maintenance channel is also used to send cache miss data to a subscriber when a cache miss occurs at the edge of the mobile data network, without regard to a need for channel maintenance data packets.
US08914018B2

In a communication network architecture including mobile equipment that employs multiple functions selectable for use by the user, the functions having respective measurable parameters, a service provider monitors the user's behavior with, and use of, the mobile equipment. An agent, such as software installed on-board the mobile equipment, measures parameters that are related to the user's behavior and use of the mobile equipment, and communicates the measured parameters to the service provider, over the communication network. The agent detects change of such user behavior and use, and accordingly changes parameters to measure and report on.
US08914013B2

Mobile device management macros may be provided. A request to perform a function may be received. If the function is associated with a management macro comprising a plurality of operations, the macro may be activated to perform at least some of the plurality of operations.
US08914010B2

A method of controlling applications in a mobile terminal is provided. The method includes collecting acceleration values continuously using an acceleration sensor, when the mobile terminal is being moved; identifying a motion trace indicating that the mobile terminal has been moved from the collected acceleration values; matching the identified motion trace with a preset motion trace, and executing a control command mapped to the preset motion trace to control an application in the mobile terminal, if the matching succeeds.
US08913981B1

A method, system, and medium are provided for generating a profile for public safety answering platforms (PSAP). The profile identifies media formats supported by the PSAPs at various cell sector locations maintained by a network provider. A network server selects a cell sector and generates a first test emergency services call and subsequent test emergency services calls. The test emergency services call is transmitted to a PSAP. During the session with the PSAP, the subsequent test emergency services calls are processed to determine mid-call support for additional multimedia formats or codecs. The PSAP generates responses that indicate whether the PSAP supports a multimedia format or codec identified in the test emergency services call or the subsequent test emergency services call. The PSAP transmits the responses to the network server for storage in the profile.
US08913965B2

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for detecting antenna port misconfigurations are disclosed. According to one method, the method includes storing one or more reference signal maps for identifying reference signals in downlink data in memory. The method further includes receiving downlink data that appears to be associated with a first antenna port of a device under test (DUT). The method also includes identifying, using the one or more reference signal maps, a first reference signal in the downlink data, wherein the first reference signal appears to be associated with the first antenna port. The method further includes determining, using a first computed error vector magnitude associated with the first reference signal, whether the first antenna port is misconfigured.
US08913953B2

A method for controlling a function is used for an electronic device. The electronic device includes a first sensor and a second sensor. In the method for controlling the function, a first determination result is generated by determining if a neighboring object neighboring to the electronic device belongs to a target species with assist of the first sensor. A second determination result is generated by determining if the neighboring object belongs to an exception species with assist of the second sensor. The function executed by the electronic device is adjusted according to the first determination result and the second determination result.
US08913952B2

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a wireless sensor system is described. The wireless sensor system includes a near-field wireless power transfer component, at least one measurement sensor, and an antenna. The antenna is in communication with the measurement sensor and can transmit measurements from the measurement sensor. The near-field wireless power transfer component can wirelessly receive power to operate the measurement sensor.
US08913947B2

A sheet supply device that is addable to a medium processing device includes a storage part storing a medium and a controller. The controller performs a first operation in which the medium is supplied from the storage part of the sheet supply device, and a second operation in which another medium supplied from an upstream side of a medium path is carried to a downstream side. When the second operation is performed, the controller operates the carrying part by transmitting a drive force to the carrying part via the transmission mechanism without operating the carrying transmission member.
US08913945B2

Provided is a cleaning blade in which at least a portion which comes in contact with a member to be cleaned is configured of a member having dynamic ultra micro hardness of from 0.25 to 0.65 and an index K acquired in the following Equation (1) of equal to or more than 15: index K=[23° C. breaking elongation (%)]×[10° C. impact resilience (%)]×(−1)×[tan δ peak temperature (° C.)]/[Young's modulus (MPa)]/1000  Equation (1).
US08913929B2

A developing device for use with an image forming apparatus, includes a developing roller for carrying a developer and for forming a developer image on an image bearing member; a supplying roller for supplying the developer to the developing roller, wherein the supplying roller has a foam layer at its surface and forms a nip between itself and the developing roller; an accommodating portion, provided below the supplying roller, for accommodating the developer; and a feeding member for feeding the developer from the accommodating portion to a location above the nip by being rotated in a direction opposite to a rotational direction of the supplying roller. The supplying roller is rotated in a direction which is from a lower end of the nip to an upper end of the nip. The supplying roller is provided so that its top is higher than a top of the developing roller.
US08913924B2

An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes: a developing section which includes a developer bearing member which bears toner to be supplied to an image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is formed; and a developer regulating section which regulates a layer thickness of the toner borne by the developer bearing member, the developer regulating section being electrically connected to the charger case, the developer regulating section being at least partially electroconductive.
US08913921B2

A developer container includes a casing having a developer accommodating chamber and a waste-developer accommodating chamber, conveying member, a conveying-member accommodating unit, and a supporting member. The conveying member conveys waste developer in a longitudinal direction of the waste-developer accommodating chamber. The conveying-member accommodating unit accommodates the conveying member therein and has a first opening and a second opening. The first opening is provided in an upstream end portion and allows the waste developer to move from outside of the conveying-member accommodating unit to the inside of the conveying-member accommodating unit. The second opening allows the waste-developer to move from the inside of the conveying-member accommodating unit to the waste-developer accommodating chamber. The supporting member is provided on the casing. The supporting member supports the conveying-member accommodating unit such that the conveying-member accommodating unit is movable in directions perpendicular to the longitudinal direction relative to the casing.
US08913914B2

An image forming apparatus includes a housing, a sheet conveyance path, a toner containing unit, a fixing unit, a fixing housing, a heat insulation member, a first hot air exhaust passage, a second hot air exhaust passage and a third hot air exhaust passage. The fixing housing houses the fixing unit and includes a wall portion facing the toner containing unit. The heat insulation member shields between the wall portion and the toner containing unit. The first hot air exhaust passage is arranged between the heat insulation member and the toner containing unit. The second hot air exhaust passage communicates with the first hot air exhaust passage. The third hot air exhaust passage is arranged between the wall portion and the heat insulation member and includes an opening facing the sheet conveyance path and a communication port communicating with the second hot air exhaust passage.
US08913901B2

A system and method for blind equalization of a QAM signal. Equalization is achieved using an algorithm characterized by cost function that is a function the Euclidian distance, e.g. the minimum Euclidian distance, between points of the constellation associated with the QAM signal, i.e. the distance between symbols.
US08913883B2

According to one embodiment, a controller of a multiformat video playback device creates control information including a conversion instruction intended for an input processor, size specification intended for a scaler, and format specification intended for an output processor, and supplies the created control information to the input processor. A first delay section delays the control information supplied to the input processor by one frame, and supplies the delayed control information to the scaler. A second delay section delays the control information supplied to the scaler by one frame, and supplies the resultant control information to the output processor.
US08913880B1

Some embodiments of the present invention refer to an apparatus and method for managing video storages. The method may include periodically receiving parameters indicative of a level of performance of video storage units and detecting up-down states of the video storage units upon receipt of an instruction to record video data. The method may further include detecting writing rates and reading rates of video data associated with the storage units and selecting one of the video storage units to record the video data, based on the parameters received, the detected up-down states, the detected writing rates and the detected reading rates.
US08913873B2

Provided is a content reproduction control system equipped with: a signal characterizing quantity sequence extraction means that, for each content item stored in a content group storage unit that stores at least more than one content item, extracts a signal characterizing quantity sequence which is the sequence of the signal characterizing quantities associated with the content positions on the time axis; a common section group detection means that detects, as a common section group in the signal characterizing quantity sequence for each content item, a common section group for which the signal characterizing quantities for different content items are similar to each other; a content reproduction quality information collection means that, for each common section group, collects content reproduction quality information which indicates the reproduction quality of the content to which each common section of a common section group belongs; and a content reproduction control means that, when the content contained in the content group storage unit is reproduced, switches the content reproduced for the content to be reproduced for the sections included in the common section group and performs reproduction such that the reproduction quality of the content will be higher, based on the content reproduction quality information for the content to which each common section of a common section group belongs.
US08913865B1

The technology provides embodiments for a waveguide including gaps which turn the direction of light. Each of a plurality of planes located within a waveguide includes a group of gaps so that each of the gapped planes partially reflects out of the waveguide light within a first angle range and transmits down the waveguide light received within a second angle range. In some examples, the waveguide is formed by joining optically transparent sections, and each group of gaps is formed in a surface of each optically transparent section which becomes a joining surface when bonded with an abutting all flat surface of an adjacent section. The waveguide may be used in displays, and in particular in near-eye displays (NED)s.
US08913863B2

A hydrocarbon application cable of reduced nylon with increased flexibility and useful life. The cable may be of a hose or solid configuration and particularly beneficial for use in marine operations. A power and data communicative core of the cable may be surrounded by a lightweight intermediate polymer layer of a given hardness which is ultimately then surrounded by an outer polymer jacket having a hardness that is greater than the given hardness. Thus, a lighter weight polymer is provided interior of the outer polymer jacket, which may be of nylon or other suitably hard material. As such, the overall weight and cost of the cable may be substantially reduced.
US08913849B2

An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input an image, a determining unit configured to determine a foreground area and a background area in the image input by the input unit, an expansion unit configured to expand the foreground area determined by the determining unit, a calculating unit configured to calculate a feature amount of the foreground area expanded by the expansion unit, and a detecting unit configured to detect an object from the image using the feature amount.
US08913844B2

An improved method for correcting for noise in the digital domain is disclosed. Reference pixel fast-varying components are extracted using a Hilbert-Huang Transform Real-Time Data Processing System (HHT-DPS-RT). The reference pixels are non-photon-detecting pixels in a sensor array. The fast-varying components of the reference pixels are processed in addition to the average over the remaining trend, facilitating additional noise correction for active pixels.
US08913833B2

An image processing apparatus includes: an extraction unit that extracts a first image and a second image similar to the first image, in a first resolution; and a generation unit that generates an image in a second resolution based on the respective images extracted by the extraction unit and phases of the respective images calculated with precision higher than one pixel in the first resolution.
US08913830B2

A multilevel image segmentation technique using graph cuts is disclosed. A reduced resolution image is generated from a full resolution image which is to be segmented. The reduced resolution image is then segmented in order to identify a boundary between an object and a background within the image. The identified boundary then identifies a portion of an increased resolution image which is segmented in order to refine the earlier identified boundary. The steps may be iterated for successively increasing image resolutions in order to refine the boundary as required by a particular application. An initial identification of object and background portions of the image may be provided as input by a user. Alternatively, a user may identify only the object portion, and the background portion may be automatically determined.
US08913824B2

A processor-implemented method for processing image data of a document using an apparatus or medium. The processor determines a billable color pixel count in an image by determining a first count of color pixels in the image data in device independent space (e.g., fuzzy and true color counts using a neutral page determination) and a second count of color pixels in device dependent space (e.g., binary CMYK based count). The first and second counts are transformed and a minimum of the transformation is used as the billable count. Based on the disclosed implementation, billing accuracy for outputting color documents is improved and flexibility in tier-based billing is preserved.
US08913821B1

A three-dimensional model of a scene is reconstructed from images of the scene. The three-dimensional model comprises parameters describing points of the scene and cameras that captured the scene. The parameters are iteratively modified by adding a correction to the parameters in each iteration. A preconditioner matrix is determined for solving the linear system of equations. To determine the preconditioner matrix, cameras that observed the scene are clustered, each cluster including cameras that observed a portion of the scene. The preconditioner matrix is determined by selectively eliminating terms of the linear system of equations that correspond to interactions across clusters of cameras. The linear system of equations is preconditioned using the preconditioner matrix. The preconditioned linear system of equations is solved to obtain the corrections to the parameters.
US08913813B2

Method and system for determining the spatial response signature of a x-ray detector comprising a photostimulable phosphor by generating a flat field image of the detector, generating a low-pass filtered version of the flat field image and background demodulating the flat field image by pixel-wise dividing it by means of corresponding pixel values in the low-pass filtered version.
US08913807B1

A system and method for detecting an anomaly in a tissue captured or imaged by an imaging system are provided. A uniform region in an image representing a tissue may be defined by identifying a group of pixels associated with a predefined variance from an imaging parameter value. An adaptive size window may be used to define a sub-region in a uniform region. An anomaly may be detected by identifying, in the sub-region, a set of pixels associated with imaging parameter values indicative of an anomaly. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08913806B2

An image identifying device includes a mechanism that sets an evaluation area whose category is to be identified in an in-vivo image; a mechanism that acquires texture components from the evaluation area in the in-vivo image; a mechanism that calculates an evaluation value indicating homogeneity of the texture components; and a mechanism that identifies the category of the evaluation area on the basis of the evaluation value.
US08913805B2

Methods provided for forward and back-projection, which are referred to as separable footprint (SF) projectors: exemplified by the SF-TR and SF-TT projectors. These methods approximate the voxel footprint functions as 2D separable functions. Because of the separability of these footprint functions, calculating their integrals over a detector cell is greatly simplified and can be implemented efficiently. In some embodiments, the SF-TR projector uses trapezoid functions in the transaxial direction and rectangular functions in the axial direction. In some embodiments, the SF-TT projector uses trapezoid functions in both the axial and transaxial directions. Simulations and experiments showed that both SF projector methods are more accurate than conventional distance-driven (DD) projectors. Moreover, the SF-TT projector is more accurate than the SF-TR projector for rays associated with large cone angles. In some embodiments, the SF-TR projector has similar computation speed with the DD projector and the SF-TT projector is about two times slower.
US08913802B2

A fingerprint sensing system. The fingerprint sensing system includes: at least one sensor; at least one display device; at least one application processor; and at least one secure enclave processor. The application processor(s) receives fingerprint data from the sensor(s) and provides the fingerprint data to the secure enclave processor(s). The secure enclave processor(s) decodes the fingerprint data and provides a signal indicative of at least one matched node. The application processor(s), responsive to receipt of the signal indicative of the matched node(s), presents at least a portion of a synthetic fingerprint image via at least one display device corresponding to the matched node(s).
US08913786B2

Provided is a driving support system that includes an image recognition unit that performs image recognition processing to recognize if a recognition object associated with any of the support processes is included in image data captured by an on-vehicle camera and a recognition area information storage unit that stores information regarding a set recognition area in the image data that is set depending on a recognition accuracy of the recognition object set for execution of the support process. A candidate process extraction unit is also included for extracting at least one execution candidate support process from the plurality of support processes and a support process execution management unit that allows execution of the extracted execution candidate support process on a condition that a position in the image data of the recognition object recognized by the image recognition processing is included in the set recognition area.
US08913774B2

The present invention provides a double earphone structure and an electronic device. The double earphone structure comprises a primary earphone assembly having a primary earphone rod, and a secondary earphone assembly having a secondary earphone rod which can be in snapping connection with the primary earphone rod. When desired in use, the secondary earphone rod is detached from the primary earphone rod, and the primary earphone receiver and the secondary earphone receiver can be used simultaneously so as to obtain dual-channel, stereo effect. When not in use, the secondary earphone rod is connected with the primary earphone rod via a snapping structure, so it is convenient to retract the double earphone structure into an earphone cable retracting means.
US08913768B2

A hearing aid includes a microphone for conversion of acoustic sound into an input audio signal, a signal processor for processing the input audio signal for generation of an output audio signal; and a transducer for conversion of the output audio signal into a signal to be received by a human, wherein the signal processor includes a compressor with a compressor input/output rule that is variable in response to a signal level of the input audio signal.
US08913765B2

An earphone includes a loudspeaker, a signal process, an audio signal input port, and a driving port. The loudspeaker includes a thermoacoustic device disposed in a housing. The signal processor is electrically connected to the loudspeaker to provide signal to the loudspeaker. The audio input port is electrically connected to the signal processor to provide audio signal. The driving port is electrically connected to the signal processor to provide driving signal. The thermoacoustic device includes a substrate, and the substrate defines a number of grooves, a sound wave generator is suspended on the grooves.
US08913763B2

N input channel signals from an input channel section having N input channels are selectively supplied to M mixing buses and cue buses. Mixed outputs from the mixing buses are supplied, via talkback input sections, to an output channel section having M output channels, and M output channel signals from the output channel section are patched to output ports via an output patch section. Talkback signal from a talkback supply section is supplied to the talkback input sections. When a talkback function is ON, a talkback signal is mixed with the mixed outputs from the mixing buses and then output to the output channels, during which time the mixed outputs are temporarily attenuated.
US08913755B2

A loudspeaker assembly linked to a amplifier includes a loudspeaker assembly having a housing having a top wall, a bottom wall, and four side walls in which a high frequency driver and a midrange driver are mounted. The loudspeaker assembly further includes a transceiver and associated microprocessor. The amplifier is linked to the loudspeaker assembly. The amplifier includes a transceiver and associated microprocessor. The transceiver of the loudspeaker assembly is paired with the transceiver of the amplifier for the exchange of information with the amplifier.
US08913744B2

Confidential information included in image and voice data is filtered in an apparatus that includes an extraction unit for extracting a character string from an image frame, and a conversion unit for converting audio data to a character string. The apparatus also includes a determination unit for determining, in response to contents of a database, whether at least one of the image frame and the audio data include confidential information. The apparatus also includes a masking unit for concealing contents of the image frame by masking the image frame in response to determining that the image frame includes confidential information, and for making the audio data inaudible by masking the audio data in response to determining that the audio data includes confidential information. The playback unit included in the apparatus is for playing back the image frame and the audio data.
US08913725B1

An exemplary embodiment provides for a computer-implemented method for rating telephone calls originating from a secure facility. The method includes receiving a destination number, of a called party, for a telephone call from the secure facility and determining, based on the destination number, if the called party is pre-verified wherein pre-verified includes at least a billing address of the called party. Next, a rate for the telephone call is then determined based on the billing address of the called party, if the called party is pre-verified.
US08913721B1

A telecommunication system is arranged between a trusted automated interactive system and a non-secure agent. The trusted automated interactive portion is operable for bidirectional communications with a caller. The agent portion is arranged to be bridged onto a communication connection between the caller (or network chat user) and the trusted interactive system under certain conditions. Sensitive data transmitted between the system and a calling user may be blocked from being communicated to the agent even while the agent is bridged onto the connection. In one embodiment, information (such as a verification of authenticity of the caller) pertaining to the sensitive data (but not the sensitive data itself) is communicated to the agent.
US08913717B2

Systems and methods for developing a treatment plan for irradiating a treatment volume within a patient are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, control points used to calculate a dose of radiation delivered to the treatment volume may be combined to result in a smaller number of control points. The smaller number of control points may allow more efficient calculation of dose distributions resulting in a treatment plan that can be delivered to the patient earlier or may allow additional iterations of treatment plan optimization resulting in a more accurate dose distribution being delivered to the patient.
US08913711B2

A CT apparatus includes: a tube that produces an X-ray photon whose highest energy is higher than highest peak energy of characteristic X-rays; a detecting material; a unit that produces a first attenuation coefficient map which corresponds to a first energy region including the highest peak energy of the characteristic X-rays; a unit that transforms the first attenuation coefficient map into a second attenuation coefficient map of a second energy region; a unit that produces a scattered photon distribution of scattered X-ray photons on the basis of the second attenuation coefficient map; and a unit that produces data before reconstruction on the basis of the detected X-ray photon which corresponds to the second energy region, corrects and processes the data before reconstruction with the scattered photon distribution so as to produce corrected data, and reconstructs an image corresponding to the second energy region for which scattered radiation is corrected.
US08913708B2

A maintenance/repair device for reactor internal structure 6 of the present invention includes a device body 6a configured to be fixed on a reactor internal structure 49. Connected to the device body 6a is a welding-part repair mechanism 6b configured to repair a welding part 49a of the reactor internal structure 49. Thus, a welding part 2a of the reactor internal structure 49 can be repaired by the welding-part repair mechanism 6b, while the device body 6a is fixed on the reactor internal structure 49.
US08913701B2

A radio may define a channel plan to include one or more channels, and each channel may include a plurality of overlapping filters. Each filter may overlap at least one other filter, such as by an expected bandwidth of an incoming signal. The overlapping filters may extend over a frequency range based in part on an expected frequency error of the incoming signal. Due in part to the overlapping nature of the filters, the incoming signal will be within at least one of the filters. Since only one of the filters must receive the incoming signal, the filters may be narrower than might otherwise be the case, particularly in an application that includes frequency error. Accordingly, the filters may be narrower than their respective channels, and therefore receive less noise and interference. This improves signal-to-noise and improves the quality of the link and range.
US08913699B2

A method for processing at least one polarization type of at least one wireless signal by a communication unit operably couplable to an antenna arrangement that comprises at least two orthogonally polarized antenna elements. The method comprises processing at least one signal radiated by at least one first antenna element of the antenna arrangement; and processing the at least one signal where processing comprises at least applying at least one digital complex scaling operation on the at least one signal radiated by at least one second antenna element of orthogonal polarization to the at least one first antenna element of the antenna arrangement thereby radiating at least one wireless signal of at least one non-native polarization type.
US08913695B2

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate employing a hybrid pilot configuration in a wireless communications network. A hybrid pilot configuration includes common pilot symbols and dedicated pilots multiplexed together within a time transmission interval. The multiplexed pilot symbols can be received and utilized to demodulate channels. Common pilot symbols can be employed to demodulate control channels and dedicated pilot symbols can be utilized to demodulate data channels. Moreover, the dedicated pilot symbols can be employed to generate a channel estimate. The common pilot channels can be utilized in combination with the dedicated pilot symbols to augment the channel estimate.
US08913694B2

A direct conversion transmitter has a mixer stage to up-convert an input signal to the frequency of a local oscillator (LO). A DC offset circuit is coupled to an input signal port to apply a set of DC offset signal values. A processor determines a set of optimal DC offset signal values by no more than three differential spectral measurements made at the transmitter output port with a test signal applied at the input port. Optimal DC offset signal values are those that, when applied to the input signal at the input port of the transmitter, minimize an LO leakage component of the transmit signal at the output signal port of the transmitter. The optimal DC offset values are stored in memory and retrieved and applied to information bearing signals provided as the input signal once those optimal DC offset values have been determined.
US08913689B2

A digital predistortion linearization method is provided for increasing the instantaneous or operational bandwidth for RF power amplifiers employed in wideband communication systems. Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of increasing DPD linearization bandwidth using a feedback filter integrated into existing digital platforms for multi-channel wideband wireless transmitters. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes a DPD feedback signal in conjunction with a low power band-pass filter in the DPD feedback path.
US08913687B1

A signal transmission system and a signal transmission circuit are provided. The system includes a first chip and a second chip. A rising pulse signal (RPS) and a falling pulse signal (FPS) are generated by a transmission module on the first chip in response to a waveform of an input signal. The RPS corresponds to rising edges of the input signal, the FPS corresponds to falling edges of the input signal, and the RPS and the FPS are transmitted by a first transmission unit and a second transmission unit both located on a surface of the first chip.
US08913680B2

An interference alignment method, an interference alignment device, and a multi-channel communication system are provided. The method includes: obtaining channel matrix in a multi-channel communication system; determining a first desired signal and a second desired signal of the multi-channel communication system according to the channel matrix; obtaining precoding vectors and receive vectors, after a first receive signal is filtered by a receive vector corresponding to the first desired signal, a signal formed by superposing interference signals included therein has a feature of a lattice constellation pattern, and that at a receiver corresponding to the second desired signal, after a second receive signal is filtered by a receive vector corresponding to the second desired signal, interference signals included therein are canceled, where the first receive signal and the second receive signal are transmit signals sent to the corresponding receivers after precoding processing is performed at transmitters by using corresponding precoding vectors.
US08913673B2

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for transmitting rank indication information, in which the method comprises: when rank indication information and a sounding reference signal are transmitted in a same sub-frame, loading the sounding reference signal to a last symbol of a sub-frame, and transmitting the rank indication information and the sounding reference signal. The present invention prevents destruction of orthogonality of codes between PUCCH channels when the rank indication information and the sounding reference signal are transmitted in the same sub-frame, thus the overall performance of the system can be ensured.
US08913672B2

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate indicating a type of waveform utilized for uplink transmission in a wireless communication environment. An access terminal can select a type of waveform from a set of possible waveform types. Moreover, a reference signal can be generated based upon the selected type of waveform. For instance, a sequence employed to yield the reference signal can be generated and/or chosen as a function of the selected type of waveform. According to another illustration, a tone location and/or a symbol location of the reference signal can be based upon the selected type of waveform. Further, the reference signal can be sent as part of the uplink transmission to the base station from the access terminal. The base station can detect the selected type of waveform utilized by the access terminal for the uplink transmission based upon parameter(s) recognized from the reference signal.
US08913671B2

Disclosed herein is a data receiving circuit including a transmitting section configured to transmit an identifying signal used to identify a state of connection of the data receiving circuit, the identifying signal making potential transitions periodically, in an in-phase signal via a transmission path having AC coupling to a data transmitting circuit for transmitting data in a differential signal via the transmission path.
US08913665B2

An image coding method includes: deriving a candidate for a motion vector of a current block from a co-located motion vector; adding the candidate to a list; selecting the motion vector of the current block from the list; and coding the current block, wherein the deriving includes: deriving the candidate by a first derivation scheme in the case of determining that each of a current reference picture and a co-located reference picture is a long-term reference picture; and deriving the candidate by a second derivation scheme in the case of determining that each of the current reference picture and the co-located reference picture is a short-term reference picture.
US08913662B2

For a block of video data, a video encoder can signal to a video decoder, using a context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) process, a selected intra-prediction mode using a codeword that is mapped to a modified intra-prediction mode index. The video decoder can perform a context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) process to determine the codeword signaled by the video encoder, determine the modified intra-prediction mode index corresponding to the codeword, determine most probable modes based on a context, map the modified intra-prediction mode index to an intra-prediction mode index by comparing the modified intra-prediction mode index to the mode indexes of the most probable modes, and determine the selected intra-prediction mode used to encode the block of video data based on the intra-prediction mode index.
US08913661B2

A method of compressing video data, the method comprising: providing image data for each of a plurality of image portions; determining an index value for each of said image portions based on the respective image data; for a target image portion to be encoded, identifying a matching image portion having an index value within a search threshold of the index value of the target image portion; and generating difference data for the target image portion relative to the matching image portion, and including the difference data in an encoded video signal.
US08913660B2

Motion estimation is the science of predicting the current frame in a video sequence from the past frame (or frames), by slicing it into rectangular blocks of pixels, and matching these to past such blocks. The displacement in the spatial position of the block in the current frame with respect to the past frame is called the motion vector. This method of temporally decorrelating the video sequence by finding the best matching blocks from past reference frames—motion estimation—makes up about 80% or more of the computation in a video encoder. In this patent disclosure, we define a method of searching only a very sparse subset of possible displacement positions (or motion vectors) among all possible ones, to see if we can get a good enough match, and terminate early. This sparse subset of motion vectors is preselected using prior knowledge and extensive testing on video sequences.
US08913658B2

A GOP-independent dynamic bit-rate controller system includes a user interface to receive one or more input parameters, a bit-rate controller and an encoder. The bit-rate controller regulates a bit-rate of an output bit-stream. The bit-rate controller includes multiple bit-rate modules to determine a bit-estimate and a quantization parameter, and a control module to calculate a convergence period based on the received input parameters and a frame rate. The control module selects a bit rate module based on the convergence period and the encoder generates the output bit-stream using the quantization parameter determined by the bit rate module.
US08913657B2

The virtual view image synthesis method according to the present invention comprises: generating an intermediate picture from a first viewpoint and an intermediate picture from a second viewpoint by swapping a reference picture from a first viewpoint and a reference picture from a second viewpoint; determining whether there is a hole in said intermediate picture from a first viewpoint; if there is a hole in said intermediate picture from a first viewpoint, obtaining the pixel value of said intermediate picture from a second viewpoint based on the location of said hole; and allocating the pixel value of said intermediate picture from a second viewpoint to said hole. A virtual picture is synthesized using a reference picture, thereby reducing the quantity of information due to encoding a virtual viewpoint picture.
US08913654B2

In a data processing device and a method for analyzing stability of the data processing device, one or more sets of equalization parameters and a predetermined bit error ratio (BER) are received. Times and voltages of data points that represent a waveform of an electronic signal generated by the data processing device are read, and an output type of the electronic signal is selected to obtain a time interval of outputs of the electronic signal. Optimal equalization parameters are selected from the one or more sets of equalization parameters to compute a sample interval. Interfering voltages of the electronic signal are computed to select a frequency which is equal to the predetermined BER, and the interfering voltages corresponding to the selected frequency are obtained. An eye pattern is established using the interfering voltages corresponding to the selected frequency, and a determination is made according to the eye pattern.
US08913649B2

System and methods for a multicarrier communication system, which includes a first and second transceivers, to transmit, from the first transceiver to the second transceiver, a first initialization message indicating an impulse noise protection value. The system also transmits, from the second transceiver to the first transceiver, a second initialization message comprising information that indicates a number of repeated DMT symbols, the number of repeated DMT symbols being greater than the impulse noise protection value. The system further transmits, from the first transceiver to the second transceiver, a third initialization message, wherein the first transceiver modulates at least one message bit onto repeated DMT symbols, wherein the number of repeated DMT symbols is indicated in the second initialization message transmitted from the second transceiver to first transceiver.
US08913644B2

An optically pumped laser oscillator or amplifier includes a laser head having a gain medium exhibiting polarization-dependent absorption along two crystallographic axes and a pump source producing a pump beam. The medium's absorption coefficients along both said crystallographic axes are equal or the difference between the absorption coefficients relative to the lowest absorption coefficients R=Abs(αc−αa)/(min(αc, αa)) is reduced at least by a factor of two compared to the same relative difference between the two absorption coefficients at the medium's absorption peaks, used for conventional pumping by pumping with unpolarized or partially polarized pump light at a wavelength around which the average absorption coefficients along both of said crystallographic axes are equal or present a relative difference that is reduced by a factor of two or better compared to conventional pumping around the medium's absorption peaks.
US08913640B2

A semiconductor laser assembly has at least one semiconductor laser which is designed to emit laser radiation through an exit area and at least one further area, the further area being a part of a surface of the semiconductor laser and/or of the semiconductor laser assembly and the further area is developed to be reflecting to the radiation of at least one specifiable wavelength range. For this purpose, a reflecting metal layer is applied, for example. The semiconductor laser having a laser layer is able to be fastened to a carrier element with the aid of a solder layer.
US08913639B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide laser safety techniques and configurations. In one embodiment, an optical module includes a first die including a laser configured to transmit optical signals, a first node electrically coupled with the laser, and a second node electrically coupled with the laser, and a second die including a power supply line configured to provide power to the laser, a third node electrically coupled with the power supply line and electrically coupled with the first node to provide the power to the laser, a fourth node electrically coupled with the second node of the first die, and a switch configured to prevent the power of the power supply line from reaching the laser through the third node based on a voltage of the fourth node when a laser fault event occurs. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US08913638B2

A directly driven laser includes multiple contacts, with at least one of the contacts for injecting current into the laser such that the laser reaches at least a lasing threshold and at least one of the contacts for providing a data signal to the laser. In some embodiments a differential data signal is effectively provided to a front and a rear section of the laser, while lasing threshold current is provided to a central portion of the laser.
US08913636B2

A method, apparatus and computer-readable storage medium are described for a tunable laser source that produces a desired frequency modulated optical waveform with a precision within 0.01 percent over a bandwidth greater than about 50 gigaHertz. An apparatus includes a tunable laser having one or more drive inputs for affecting an optical frequency of light output by the laser; and an optical detector. Multiple optical paths are configured to direct light output by the laser onto the optical detector. A laser controller is configured to provide to a drive input a loopback signal based on a measured or predetermined difference in optical dispersion among the plurality of optical paths and a detector signal output from the optical detector. In some embodiments, a ranging device includes the tunable laser source.
US08913620B2

A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. When a sub-switch receives a multicast data frame, it forwards the packet to one of the surrogate sub-switches. Each surrogate sub-switch may then forward the packet to another surrogate in a different hierarchical level or to a destination computing device. Because the surrogates may transmit the data frame in parallel using two or more connection interfaces, the bandwidth used to forward the multicast packet increases for each surrogate used.
US08913619B2

In a method of providing downlink retransmissions to a mobile station in a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network comprising a base station communicatively linked to a transparent relay station, the base station receives a request for a retransmission from the mobile station; schedules resources for the retransmission; signals scheduling information for the retransmission to the transparent relay station via a control link; and the transparent relay station receives the scheduling information for the retransmission on the control link; and sends the retransmission to the mobile station in a retransmit subframe on a retransmit frequency band.
US08913618B2

There are disclosed processes and apparatus for reordering packets. The system includes a plurality of source processors that transmit the packets to a destination processor via multiple communication fabrics. The source processors and the destination processor are synchronized together. Time stamp logic at each source processor operates to include a time stamp parameter with each of the packets transmitted from the source processors. The system also includes a plurality of memory queues located at the destination processor. An enqueue processor operates to store a memory pointer and an associated time stamp parameter for each of the packets received at the destination processor in a selected memory queue. A dequeue processor determines a selected memory pointer associated with a selected time stamp parameter and operates to process the selected memory pointer to access a selected packet for output in a reordered packet stream.
US08913613B2

A system and method for classifying a multicast packet, involving receiving, at a classification engine, the multicast packet sent from a packet source; determining, based on a source address of the multicast packet, a Direct Memory Access (DMA) filter vector; determining, based on a destination address of the multicast packet, a DMA target vector, where the DMA target vector includes a listing of DMA channels which are available to transfer the multicast packet; determining a DMA final vector based on the DMA filter vector and the DMA target vector; and sending the multicast packet according to the DMA final vector.
US08913612B2

This invention concerns the transmitting and receiving of digital media packets, such as audio and video channels and lighting instructions. In particular, the invention concerns the transmitting and receiving of redundant media packet streams. Samples are extracted from a first and second media packet stream. The extracted samples are written to a buffer based on the output time of each sample. Extracted samples having the same output time are written to the same location in the buffer. Both media packet streams are simply processed all the way to the buffer without any particular knowledge that one of the packet streams is actually redundant. This simplifies the management of the redundant packet streams, such as eliminating the need for a “fail-over” switch and the concept of an “active stream”, The location is the storage space allocated to store one sample. The extracted sample written to the location may be written over another extracted sample from a different packet stream previously written to the location. These extracted samples written to the same location may be identical.
US08913611B2

A controller of a network control system for configuring several middlebox instances is described. The middlebox instances implement a middlebox in a distributed manner in several hosts. The controller assigns a first set of identifiers to a first middlebox instance that associates an identifier in the first set with a first packet. The controller assigns a second set of identifiers to a second middlebox instance that associates an identifier in the second set with a second packet.
US08913608B2

The method provides buffer status reporting for the transmission of uplink data from a wireless device to a base station. Uncompressed data is stored in a first buffer of the wireless device. A buffer status report is transmitted from the wireless device to the base station, where the buffer status report contains information indicating an amount of the uncompressed data to be transmitted from the wireless device. The information is dependent on the amount of the uncompressed data stored in the first buffer.
US08913605B2

Implementations described herein may provide for VoIP phone or server devices, where the phones include visual menus through which a user of the phone can modify options or features relating to the user's account. In one implementation, the phone may receive a data structure defining features relating to communication services for the phone device. The phone may parse the data structure to obtain a menu corresponding to the features and present the menu to a user of the phone device.
US08913579B2

According to one embodiment, a method for transmission/reception contention resolution in D2D communication is provided. The method includes detecting, at a device-to-device (D2D) node, re-usable cellular resources based on the scheduling information. The method also includes receiving related information from another D2D node identifying the re-usable cellular resources for the another D2D node, and identifying common and different re-usable cellular resources between the D2D node and the another D2D node. The method also includes receiving updated scheduling information, and determining, from the detected re-usable cellular resources, whether there is a simultaneous transmission/reception contention. When it is determined that there is a simultaneous transmission/reception contention, the method includes resolving the contention by dynamically selecting a direction of communication based on a preconfigured decision criteria, wherein the direction of communication is one of transmission or reception.
US08913578B2

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus in which a terminal transmits aperiodic sounding reference signals (SRSs) in a wireless communication system. The terminal receives a triggering bit for triggering the transmission of the aperiodic SRSs from a base station, and transmits the aperiodic SRSs through at least one uplink (UL) component carrier (CC) from among a plurality of uplink component carriers.
US08913575B2

The present invention relates to optimized radio resource utilization in a cellular telecommunication system. A base station of such a system evaluate a capacity metric of the base station and capacity metrics of neighboring base stations. In response to detecting that the capacity metric of the base station is below a threshold with respect to the capacity metrics of the neighboring base stations, the base station enters a stand-by mode and releases its radio resources that essentially define a cell associated with the base station so that the released radio resources become available for allocation to at least one of the neighboring base stations.
US08913574B2

A method for feeding back channel state information and user equipment are provided in the present invention, which relates to the digital communication field; and they solve the problem of lacking a mechanism of reporting overall and effective channel state information in a SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO dynamic switching system. The method includes: in a single transmission mode, UE sends the channel state information to a network side, wherein the channel state information includes information indicating a transmission layer with the best channel quality. Technical schemes provided in the present invention are applied to the LTE system and LTE-A system.
US08913569B2

A method for determining a shifting parameter P to be used by a telecommunication device for mapping symbols on sub-carriers, the telecommunication device including at least two transmit antennas, the symbols being transferred through each antenna of the telecommunication device on at least an even number K, strictly greater than two, of sub-carriers allocated to the telecommunication device. The telecommunication device transfers on a first antenna on each sub-carrier ‘k’, a signal representing a symbol ‘Xk’ in the frequency domain. The telecommunication device transfers on a second antenna on each sub-carrier ‘k’, a signal representing a symbol ‘X′k’ derived from the signal transferred on the first transmit antenna, for each frequency k, by the formula X′KsecondAnt=ε(−1)k+1X*(p-1-k)mod K. Sub-carriers grouped in at least two clusters are allocated to the telecommunication device, and the shifting parameter p is even and determined according to clusters of sub-carriers allocated to the telecommunication device.
US08913567B2

In a method for using resources in a communication system, a communication region is divided into inter-sector boundary regions, sector central regions, and a sector common region, and predetermined resources are allocated to the divided regions.
US08913563B2

A communications method includes establishing two or more access slot groups corresponding to velocity ranges of mobile units, receiving a signal from a mobile unit in an access slot of an access slot group, where the signal includes a sequence, and detecting the sequence using a detection algorithm, where the detection algorithm used is assigned to the access slot group.
US08913562B2

A method of accessing a physical random access channel, a method of signaling access information for accessing a physical random access channel, a mobile communication terminal and a base station are provided. The method of accessing a physical random access channel comprises selecting a plurality of transmission time intervals from transmission time intervals being allowed for accessing a physical random access channel, randomly selecting one transmission time interval of the plurality of transmission time intervals, and accessing the physical random access channel in the randomly selected transmission time interval. A mobile communication terminal is configured to carry out the method.
US08913561B2

Preemptive based radio access control is facilitated. Queue data is received, wherein the queue data corresponds to a set of requests for highly prioritized communications included on a prioritized queue. The queue data is used to determine whether a set of conditions for involuntarily terminating a radio communication session has been met. Session data corresponding to characteristics for each of a plurality of radio communication sessions are also received and utilized to determine which of the plurality of radio communication sessions to terminate if the set of conditions for involuntarily terminating a radio communication session have been met.
US08913559B2

A mobile station selects a provider such as an online sign up (OSU) provider by receiving a pre-association message including OSU selection information from a Wi-Fi network component, such as an access point in communication with the OSU provider, and sending a selection of an OSU provider in accordance with the OSU selection information to the network component. The OSU selection information excludes identification of the OSU network provider or resource, but provides other attributes to the user, such as price or service configuration. The pre-association message may be transmitted as a beacon or using ANQP.
US08913554B2

A system may receive base station configuration data associated with base stations, classify the base stations into morphologies based on the base station configuration data, identify resource utilization data associated with the base stations, generate resource allocation recommendations for the base stations based on the resource utilization data and the morphologies, and transmit the resource allocation recommendations for the base stations to permit the stations to allocate resources based on the resource allocation recommendations.
US08913552B2

Techniques for annotating data packets with time and/or location information in wireless networks are provided. In one aspect, a method for processing information streams produced by end-computing devices that are transmitted over a wireless network having at least one network element is provided. The method includes the following steps. Data packets which originate from the end-computing devices and are received by the network element are inspected for spatiotemporal metadata. Spatiotemporal metadata is inserted into the data packets and the data packets are transmitted if the step of inspecting the data packets reveals that the data packets are missing spatiotemporal metadata. Otherwise the data packets are transmitted if the step of inspecting the data packets reveals that spatiotemporal metadata is already present in the data packets.
US08913550B2

According to various embodiments, a method is disclosed that includes detecting if a first cluster capable PCP/AP is within range of a non-PCP/non-AP STA; and transmitting a message to a second cluster capable PCP/AP associated with the non-PCP/non-AP STA requesting that the second cluster capable PCP/AP start or continue the use of clustering in a basic service set (BSS) of the second cluster capable PCP/AP.
US08913548B2

A frame structure supporting a relay and a method of transmitting control information for supporting a relay system are disclosed. The method of transmitting control information for supporting a relay system comprises configuring a frame to which the relay system is applied; and transmitting a first message to one or more of a mobile station and relay stations, the first message including offset information indicating a beginning time of the frame and zone allocation information indicating configuration of the frame. In this case, a downlink zone of the frame includes a downlink transmit zone and a downlink access zone.
US08913545B2

A mobile communication system according to the present invention is configured such that a relay node RN is configured to time-share a subframe for transmission and reception in a Un interface and a subframe for transmission and reception in a Uu interface, and a radio base station DeNB is configured to transmit SI, which is to be transmitted in a subordinate cell, to the relay node RN via individual signaling.
US08913542B2

A radio communication method includes receiving first data transmitted from a first radio communication apparatus at a second radio communication apparatus and at a third radio communication apparatus 1 being one of third radio communication apparatuses to which the second radio communication apparatus relays data transmitted from the first radio communication apparatus, transmitting second data from the first radio communication apparatus to the third radio communication apparatus 1, and relayed data of the first data from the second radio communication apparatus to a third radio communication apparatus 2 being another one of the third radio communication apparatuses, using a same channel resource, and performing a cancelling process for data in which the second data and the relayed data of the first data are mixed to extract the second data, based on the first data received in the first phase at the third radio communication apparatus 1.
US08913539B2

The present description relates to a method for updating E-MBS-related system information in an idle mode state, comprising the following steps: receiving, from a base station, a first system configuration descriptor (SCD) message containing an E-MBS-related parameter; receiving, from the base station, a first message containing an indicator for indicating whether or not to change the E-MBS-related parameter; and, if the indicator indicates that the E-MBS-related parameter is to be changed, shifting from the idle mode state to a connected mode state.
US08913528B2

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for handling full-duplex interference. One method includes: obtaining an interference degree that is caused when a site device performs full-duplex transmission with at least two UEs; and determining, according to the interference degree, a UE allowed to transmit uplink and downlink signals on the same time and frequency resource among the at least two UEs. In embodiments of the present invention, a UE allowed to transmit uplink and downlink signals on the same time and frequency resource may be classified according to an interference degree that is caused when a site device performs full-duplex transmission with at least two UEs, thereby preventing the interference problem in the scenario of point-to-multipoint full-duplex communication as much as possible.
US08913525B2

A method of merging Distributed Hash Table (DHT) rings in heterogeneous network domains, where each domain includes a DHT ring. Upon determining that a node is common to first and second DHT rings on the same hierarchical level and having at least one Overlay Router in common, a link is started between a node in the first DHT ring and a node in the second DHT ring by establishing an indirect link through the common node. An indirect link is created between the first and second DHT rings, and virtual links are created to DHT rings positioned higher in the DHT ring hierarchy until all the DHT rings are merged into a single logical ring.
US08913524B1

A first user device may receive a call instruction associated with a second user device; select a particular codec list from multiple codec lists stored by the first user device based on selection rule and based on receiving the call instruction; provide the particular codec list as part of a call negotiation process; and provide, using a particular codec from the particular codec list, a data flow towards the second user device via a session between the first user device and the second user device.
US08913508B2

A method for controlling a charging condition change in a real-time charging system that sends a QoS and charging rule request to be applied to a user terminal from a packet processing node to a real-time charging function server. If a charging condition change is detected, a charging rule change request is sent to a management server and a changed QoS and charging rule is sent, from the management server to the real-time charging function server. The changed QoS and charging rule is sent from the QoS and charging rule management server to the packet processing node. The changed QoS and charging rule are forwarded from the packet processing node to the real-time charging function server and, at the real-time charging function server, quotas for the user terminal are reallocated according to the changed QoS and charging rule.
US08913505B2

A mechanism to permit an LMA to perform some specific handling once MAG restart is detected is disclosed. If a MAG restart is detected by the LMA, the LMA preferably will not release all corresponding binding in its cache. The LMA may select an alternative MAG which is servicing the same. Then the LMA can send a mobility message to the selected MAG. The mobility message can be triggered by the restart detection or by the received downlink data on one or more valid binding. The mobility message can contains all UE identity that has a valid binding in the LMA and the restarted MAG.
US08913493B2

A system may receive data collected by a network for a plurality of calls that are to be routed by the network to a call center, detect an event based on the received data, determine a confidence level, for the event, that the event is a denial-of-service attack, determine a call service to be provided to the call center in response to detecting the event, and provide the call service based on the confidence level.
US08913489B2

Aggregation switches are connected to an edge node by a multi-chassis link aggregation group and a virtual fiber link provides a connection for exchange of information between the aggregation switches regarding MAC addressing to synchronize MAC address tables across the aggregation switches. When failure of the virtual fiber link is detected, the multi-chassis link aggregation group is reconfigured into two or more link aggregates with each link aggregate connecting the edge node to one of the aggregation switches. A spanning tree protocol is initiated over the link aggregates to prevent loops in the network. MAC address tables are flushed and relearned with the two or more link aggregates.
US08913487B2

A method, system and computer readable medium for fast failover of an access point are described. A system can cause a failover of a first wireless access point when a wireless control point determines that a first wireless switching plane has failed through a platform link failure mechanism. The system can also prevent a failover of the first wireless access point or a second wireless access point when a message is received from both the first wireless switching plane and a second wireless switching plane indicating that the other wireless switching plane has failed.
US08913486B2

The present invention is a system, method and computer program product operable to select a pathway for a communication signal within a network between two end points. The pathway may be selected based on one or more parameters that may be monitored or measured at either, or both, of the two end points. Should one or more of the parameters indicate an imminent network connection failure, the communication signal may be transferred from a primary communication connection to a second communication connection. The present invention may distinguish false from true positive detections and may undertake a transfer of a communication signal within a short response time, so as to support real-time applications. The present invention may manage the pathway to support communication between the two end points at any given time. Such communications may occur in two directions, therefore the management of the pathway can happen in two directions.
US08913474B2

An optical information recording/reproducing apparatus for recording information on a recording medium and/or reproducing information from the recording medium, includes: a laser light source for performing recording and/or reproducing information; a shielding part, using a liquid crystal, that can switch between transmission and interception of laser light emitted from the laser light source; a driving circuit for driving the switching between transmission and interception of the shielding part; a moving part for relatively moving the shielding part and the laser light; and a controlling circuit for controlling the moving part. The moving part relatively moves the shielding part and the laser light so as to switch a region to which the laser light is applied from a first region of the shielding part to a second region thereof different from the first region, in order to prevent the liquid crystal from deteriorating.
US08913471B2

A recording apparatus includes: a recording unit configured to perform recording of information on a recoding medium having a plurality of layers serving as recording layers where recording of information is performed, and a track serving as a continuous recording area is formed in the plurality of layers and recording of data is performed within a track; and a control unit configured to cause the recording unit to execute recording to the recording medium according to a request from a host apparatus, and also to enable the host apparatus to recognize, in the event of determining that a certain layer of the recording medium is in a recording disabled state, that all of tracks in this layer are in a recording disabled state.
US08913469B2

An optical information storage medium system is provided. The optical information storage medium system includes an optical pickup, which comprises a photo-detector configured to control light power detected by receiving a portion of light emitted from a light source and obtains an output signal proportional to output light power of the light source from a signal detected by the photo-detector, and a signal processor configured to signal-process the output signal input from the optical pickup. The signal processor includes a sensitivity acquisition unit configured to acquire a sensitivity value of the photo-detector, a gain calculator configured to calculate a target gain value to be used in comparing the sensitivity value of the photo-detector, which is acquired by the sensitivity acquisition unit, with a target sensitivity value to be used by the optical information storage medium system, and a gain adjustment unit.
US08913464B2

Methods and systems utilizing seismic sensors configured or designed for use in seismic signal detection. The seismic sensors output displacement signals of a displacement sensor superimposed on velocity signals generated by a moving coil of the seismic sensors.
US08913461B2

Measurements made by a transducer assembly for downhole imaging are affected by reverberations between the transducer and the window on the outside of the assembly. The reverberations result in a stationary noise on the image. Hardware solutions to improve signal-to-noise ratio includes using a composite transducer, adjusting the distance between the transducer and the window. SNR can also be improved by processing techniques that include stacking, fitting a sinusoid to the reverberation, by envelope peak detection, and by applying a notch filter.
US08913459B2

A method for reading data from a plurality of DRAM devices connected to common command, address, and data busses. A clock signal is provided to the plurality of DRAM devices. A read command and address to the plurality of DRAM devices on the command and address busses in synchronization with the clock signal. A read clock signal is provided to the plurality of DRAM devices to initiate a read operation in one of the plurality of DRAM devices that is selected by the address. The one DRAM device delays the read clock signal by an amount based on a speed of the one of the plurality of DRAM devices to generate. First delayed read clock and second delayed read clock signals are provided. The read data is received on the data bus in synchronization with the second delayed read clock signal.
US08913453B2

A semiconductor device including a memory block, which includes memory cells coupled to bit lines. The semiconductor device further includes a first sensing circuit coupled to an even bit line and configured to sense current flow through the even bit line in response to an even bit line control signal and an even discharge signal. The semiconductor device further includes a second sensing circuit coupled to an odd bit line and configured to sense current flow through the odd bit lines in response to an odd bit line control signal and an odd discharge signal. The first sensing circuit and second sensing circuit are configured to supply a ground voltage to the odd bit line when sensing the current flow through the even bit line, and to supply the ground voltage to the even bit line when sensing the current flow through the odd bit line.
US08913448B2

Apparatuses and methods for capturing data in a memory are disclosed herein. An apparatus may include a command path and a data capture logic. The command path may be configured to receive a command signal and to delay the command signal with a delay based, at least in part, on a plurality of propagation delays. The data capture logic may be coupled to the command path and configured to receive the delayed command signal and a data strobe signal. The data capture logic may further be configured to capture data according to the data strobe signal responsive, at least in part, to receipt of the delayed command signal.
US08913446B2

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a write control unit that performs a first write operation with respect to a first threshold distribution, a first verify operation on the first threshold distribution, and a second write operation on the basis of a result of the first verify operation, and then starts a third write operation with respect to a second threshold distribution.
US08913444B1

A memory devices and methods can use multiple sense operations to detect a state of memory elements in a marginal state. In some embodiments, an evaluation circuit can generates an output value for a memory element in response multiple sense results for the same memory element. In other embodiments, a memory device can include both standard and strong read operations, where strong read operations apply more energy to a selected memory element than a standard read operation.
US08913442B2

A circuit for sensing a multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory is disclosed. The circuit comprises a plurality of first decoding units, a second decoding unit and a data latch. Each of the first decoding units provides a timing information and includes a controlled transistor to allow a current to pass therethrough, and a capacitor to be charged by the current or to discharge through the controlled transistor. The second decoding unit provides a latch signal and includes a controlled transistor to allow a current to pass therethrough, the magnitude of the current being associated with data in an MLC, and a capacitor to be charged by the current or to discharge through the controlled transistor. The data latch, in response to the timing information from each of the first decoding units and the latch signal from the second decoding unit, determines the data in the MLC.
US08913441B2

A glitch circuit includes an SR flip-flop where a received input clock is operatively coupled to set and reset inputs of the flip-flop, respectively. A configurable delay circuit receives an input signal, and an output of the delay circuit provides a delayed signal. The configurable delay circuit includes a plurality of switchable taps, each providing an increment of delay to the input signal. The delay circuit input is operatively coupled to an output of the flip flop, and an output of the delay circuit is operatively coupled to the inputs of the flip-flop. The glitch circuit captures a first signal transition of the input clock and blocks all other transitions from propagating through the flip-flop during a selected delay period so as to provide on an output of the flip-flop, the glitch-free output clock.
US08913436B2

A word line driver that includes a pull up transistor for biasing a node of a stack of transistors that are located between a high supply voltage terminal and a low supply voltage terminal. The node is biased at a voltage that is between the high supply voltage and the low supply voltage. The stack of transistors includes a stack of decode transistors and a cascode transistor. The cascode transistor is located between the node and a second node of the stack that is coupled to an inverting circuit.
US08913434B2

A non-volatile memory device and a method for driving the same are disclosed. During a precharge operation, the bit line is precharged on the basis of a voltage applied to a common source line. The bit line is precharged or not precharged based on whether or not a selected memory cell is in an erased state or a program state.
US08913433B2

Reading methods of nonvolatile memory devices including a substrate and a plurality of memory cells which are stacked in a direction intersecting the substrate. The reading methods apply a bit line voltage to a plurality of bit lines and apply a first string selection line voltage to at least one selected string selection line. The reading methods apply a second string selection line voltage to at least one unselected string selection line and apply a read voltage to a plurality of word lines. The reading methods apply a first ground selection line voltage to at least one selected ground selection line and apply a second ground selection line voltage to at least one unselected ground selection line.
US08913408B2

A power supply device includes an SMPS circuit including an electric transformer having first and second stages, the SMPS circuit generating a second stage output voltage using the electric transformer, a power switcher receiving and switching the second stage output voltage to generate a first power voltage having logic high and low levels in one frame, and a PWM controller controlling a voltage level of the second stage output voltage by providing a control signal to the first stage. The first power voltage is simultaneously provided to a plurality of pixels, and a magnitude of the logic low level is increased or decreased according to a magnitude of an image load, where the magnitude of the image load is dependent on a color and a gradation level of an image to be displayed in a next frame.
US08913405B2

A power converting apparatus generates a carrier having a waveform in which an absolute value of a slope is constant with respect to time, based on a value for internally dividing amplitude of the waveform into first and second values. Commutation of a converter is performed when the carrier takes a reference. Adoption is allowed of a zero voltage vector as a switching mode of an inverter in a period in which the carrier takes a first command value to a second command value. A value for internally dividing a value from the reference to a maximum value of the carrier at a ratio between a third value and a fourth value is the first command value. A value for internally dividing a value from a minimum value of the carrier to the reference at a ratio between the third value and the fourth value is the second command value.
US08913400B2

This is directed to systems and methods for shielding circuitry from interference with a shield assembly. In some embodiments, a shield assembly may include a shield fence having a fence body, at least one fence finger extending from the bottom of the fence body for coupling to a circuit board, and a tab extending from the fence body. The tab is configured to be removed from the shield fence after the shield fence is coupled to the circuit board.
US08913398B2

An object of the present invention is to allow stress that may be applied to a semiconductor package to be suppressed, when the semiconductor package is mounted on a curved board. In a mount board 1, a semiconductor package 20 is mounted on a curved board 10 including a curved surface on at least a portion thereof. The curved board 10 includes a pedestal portion 13a disposed on a region of the curved surface portion where the semiconductor package 20 is mounted and having an upper surface thereof formed flat, and a plurality of pad portions 15a disposed on the flat surface of the pedestal portion 13a. The pedestal portion 13a is formed of an insulating material. The semiconductor package 20 is mounted on the pad portions 15a.
US08913397B2

In a power source control circuit module, switching regulator devices and a linear regulator device are mounted on a surface of a laminated body so as to be spaced from each other. In an interface between dielectric layers of the laminated body, first to fifth internal ground electrodes separated by an electrode non-formation portion are provided. The first, second, fourth, and fifth internal ground electrode are connected to the respective switching regulator devices. The third internal ground electrode is connected to the linear regulator device. The first to fifth internal ground electrodes are connected to respective different external ground terminals.
US08913396B2

An electronic device includes a housing, and a card holding mechanism for holding an electronic card. The housing defines a through hole, and the card holding mechanism may be inserted into the housing via the through hole. The card holding mechanism includes a tray for receiving the electronic card, an operating component, and a transmission component. The operating component moves from a latched position to an unlatched position, the transmission component is driven by the operating component to rotate and drive the tray to eject from the housing.
US08913388B2

An example embodiment includes a thermal conduction system for dissipating thermal energy generated by operation of an optical subassembly that disposed within a shell of a communication module. The thermal conduction system can include a thermally conductive flexible member that contacts the optical subassembly and to contact the shell of the communication module. By contacting the optical subassembly and the shell, the thermal energy generated by operation of the optical subassembly can transfer from the optical subassembly to the shell. The thermally conductive flexible member defines thermally conductive flexible member holes that correspond to pins extending from the optical subassembly. The pins pass through the thermally conductive flexible member holes enabling the thermally conductive flexible member to contact the optical subassembly.
US08913386B2

A cooling module including a condenser, a power module including the cooling module and a method for cooling electric and/or electronic components are provided. The condenser of the cooling module includes at least one panel for cooling electric and/or electronic components. Two sheets of the panel are attached to one another by a process involving roll-bonding such that a conduit is formed between the two sheets. The conduit extends in a direction of a plane formed by the sheets. Cooling may be provided by evaporating coolant in the conduit at an evaporation section of the panel and by condensing the coolant at a condensing section of the panel. A heat load may be transferred from a heat source to a heat receiving unit. The heat receiving unit is adapted to transfer the heat load to the panel which transfers the heat load to an ambient environment by a thermal carrier.
US08913376B2

An expandable keyboard device includes a keyboard, and a supporting assembly having interconnected first and second panels. The second panel is adapted to connect with an electronic device. The supporting assembly is movable relative to the keyboard between an unfolded state, where the first panel extends upwardly relative to the keyboard for supporting the electronic device above the keyboard, and a folded state, where the second panel along with the electronic device cover the keyboard. An electrical connector is disposed in the housing for electrical connection with the electronic device. A connecting unit interconnects the supporting assembly and the keyboard.
US08913364B2

In various embodiments, apparatuses and methods are disclosed that may be able to implement a multi-layer, three dimensional routing between a decoupling component and an input port for a SoC or MCM. A three dimensional (3D) structure may provide a defined current return path from the decoupling component to the input port. The current return path may be constrained by design to provide an equal and opposite electromagnetic flux to the input port thereby reducing series inductance between the input port and the decoupling component.
US08913363B2

An overcurrent protection circuit includes: a determiner configured to determine whether or not the switch current exceeds a predetermined threshold, that is, the switch current is an overcurrent state when the switching element is turned ON; an OFF period setting counter configured to increase or decrease a counter output depending on a determination result of the determiner; and a drive signal generator configured to generate a drive signal of the switching element such that a length of an ON timing interval of the switching element corresponds to the counter output of the OFF period setting counter.
US08913360B2

Power supplies together with related over voltage protection methods and apparatuses. A power supply has a transformer including a primary winding and an auxiliary winding. A power switch is coupled to the primary winding and a sensing resistor coupled between the power switch and a grounding line. A multi-function terminal of a controller is coupled to the sensing resistor. A diode and a first resistor is coupled between the auxiliary winding and the multi-function terminal.
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