US08920119B2

A Ram Air Turbine (RAT) is provided and includes a turbine hub having an end plate and a nose cone attached thereto at trailing and leading ends, respectively, a governor shaft, to which turbine blades are connected, which is coupled to the end plate and supported within the nose cone to be rotatable with the turbine blades about a central axis thereof and axially movable from a first position relative to the turbine hub to a second position relative to the turbine hub and a hub assembly operably coupled to the turbine hub, the governor shaft and the turbine blades whereby the hub assembly biases the governor shaft toward the first position at low rotational speeds such that the turbine blades assume a partial coarse pitch angle, and the second position at high rotational speeds such that the turbine blades assume a fine pitch angle.
US08920116B2

A wear prevention system for securing compressor airfoils within a turbine engine while reducing wear of related components may include a compressor diaphragm spring positioned in an airfoil receiving channel between a radially outer surface of a diaphragm base and a radially inner surface of the airfoil receiving channel. The spring may bias the diaphragm base and airfoil attached thereto radially inward against upstream and downstream arms formed from upstream and downstream recesses extending axially from the airfoil receiving channel in the compressor case. The compressor diaphragm spring may dampen vibration and increase service life of the diaphragm base.
US08920115B2

A composite material and method for manufacturing the material, the material including: a plurality of plies layered one on top of the other; and one or more through-thickness fibers which join one or more of the plurality of plies to one another; wherein the one or more through-thickness fibers form a boundary which delineates one or more discrete regions of the material.
US08920101B2

A tennis ball collection device includes a rotating drum that rotates at a higher speed than the rotation of the wheels that carry the device. Additionally, the drum rail that operates in connection with the rotating drum to lift a ball off of a ground is allowed to move in the horizontal direction. This back and forth movement is facilitated by a spring that otherwise biases the drum rail forward to a rest position.
US08920080B2

A machine tool 1 comprises a bed 11, a column 12, a spindle head 15, a spindle 16, a saddle 17, a table 18, a feed mechanism for moving the spindle head 15, the saddle 17 and the table 18 in Z-axis, Y-axis and X-axis directions respectively, a position detector for detecting the positions of the spindle head 15, saddle 17 and table 18, a controller for feedback controlling the feed mechanism, a position detector 51 for detecting the position of the spindle head 15, a position detector 54 for detecting the position of the spindle head 15, a position detector 57 for detecting the position of the table 18, and a measurement frame 50 which is configured with a different member from the bed 11 and the column 12 and on which readers 53, 56, 59 of the position detectors 51, 54, 57 are disposed.
US08920060B2

A rotation restricting device for restricting the rotation of a rotating part with respect to a base part, comprising a stopper supported so as to be capable of rotating around an axis of rotation of the base part, a lock mechanism capable of switching between a state preventing and a state allowing the rotation of the stopper with respect to the base part, a first block provided on the rotating part and capable of moving between a position interfering with and a position not interfering with a rotation path of the stopper, and a second block provided on the rotating part and capable of moving between a position interfering with and a position not interfering with the rotation path of the stopper. In a state where the rotation of the rotating part with respect to the base part is not restricted, both the first block and the second block are in the position interfering with the rotation path of the stopper, and the stopper is positioned between the first block and the second block.
US08920059B2

An applicator apparatus can be attached and detached to and from any tube container that properly fits. The tube is not part of the invention, but works with the invention as a handle and as a dispenser. When the tube is attached to the applicator apparatus, the hole of the tube in which the tubes contents come out of, meets with the hole of the applicator apparatus. The applicator apparatus's hole is surrounded by an applicator material such as brush bristles or sponge. When the tube is squeezed, the tubes contents will come out of the hole of the applicator apparatus and be introduce onto the surrounding bristles of the brush or sponge of the applicator apparatus. The applicator apparatus attaches to a lid. The top portion of the lid has an opening in which the applicator apparatus can be placed into. The bottom portion of the lid can have a suction cup base that is to be secured onto a flat hard surface or a pull tab that can be taken off by a humans mouth. The combination of the applicator apparatus working with the lid allows for a human to perform the entire application process without contaminating ones hand with the tubes contents, and while only using one hand.
US08920057B2

A mechanical pencil comprises a shaft cylinder (1), a lead pipe (3) axially movably inserted into the shaft cylinder (1) and biased in a retract direction, and a chuck body (45) provided within the shaft cylinder (1) in front of the lead pipe (3) for releasably griping a writing lead (S). The lead pipe (3) and the chuck body (45) are separated, the lead pipe (3) is inserted into the shaft cylinder (1) with axial movement thereof being permitted and circumferential rotation thereof being restricted, and the chuck body (45) is positioned within the shaft cylinder (1) in front of the lead pipe (3) so as to be movable in an axial direction and circumferentially rotatable. A lead rotation mechanism (5) is provided between a back part of the chuck body (45) and a front part of the lead pipe (3). When the lead pipe (3) is advanced by a knocking operation or retracted by the release of the knocking operation, when writing pressure is applied to the writing lead (S), and when the writing pressure is released, the lead rotating mechanism (5) rotates the chuck body (45), but does not transmit the rotation force to the lead pipe (3).
US08920054B2

There is provided a roll tape including a core main body portion having a double cylinder construction made up of an outer core portion and an inner core portion, a pair of shaft portions each having an insertion portion which can be fittingly inserted in the inner core portion, an outer shaft which can be fittingly inserted in the outer core portion and a bearing shaft that is thinner than and concentric with the outer shaft and which extends longer in one direction than the outer shaft and a printing tape which is wound around a tape core which has the pair of shaft portions disposed individually on both sides of the core main body portion.
US08920047B2

On a mounting substrate 101, an LD element 102 and a wavelength converter element 103 are mounted as optical elements. An end of an optical fiber 105 is fixed, at a given length, in a fiber anchoring groove 301 of a sub-substrate 104. The sub-substrate 104 is mounted to the mounting substrate 101 with the surface supporting the optical fiber 105 opposing thereto, and the wavelength converter element 103 and the optical fiber 105 being coupled. By mounting of the sub-substrate 104 to the mounting substrate 101, the coupling position of the output end of the wavelength converter element 103 and the input end of the optical fiber 105 is provided an internal position that is a given distance from the end of mounting substrate 101.
US08920046B2

The invention relates to a test adapter (1) for operatively connecting a chip to be tested to a test device. The test adapter has a three-dimensional construction with a baseplate (8) and a cover plate (2). The cover plate (2) has a contact array (3) having contact elements (9) coordinated with the chip to be tested in terms of number and arrangement. Arranged between the baseplate (8) and the cover plate (2) are side walls (4) which are arranged at an angle with respect to the cover plate (2) and have a number of individual connectors (5) that is coordinated with the chip to be tested.
US08920044B2

A plug including main optical connector bodies, a housing for securing and holding the main optical connector bodies on the connecting end side thereof, a cylindrical inner shell surrounding the housing and attached to the housing by screwing a threaded hole formed in a rear wall portion thereof onto a thread formed in the outer periphery of the housing, and a cylindrical outer shell surrounding the inner shell and having a thread formed in the inner periphery thereof on the connecting end side and a step portion formed in the inner periphery on the rear end side thereof, the thread being screwed onto the thread of an enclosure shell. When the plug is coupled to a receptacle, the inner shell is rotated with respect to the housing and the connecting end of the inner shell hits the abutment surface of the enclosure shell and, when the outer shell is screwed onto the enclosure shell, the step portion hits the rear wall portion. This plug can be coupled properly to the receptacle by accommodating variations in the position of the mating optical connector housed in the receptacle and can be reduced in size.
US08920039B2

A tandem rolling bearing including a first rolling element subassembly and a second rolling element subassembly is provided. The subassemblies both include a plurality of rolling elements and a cage. The cages each include a ring and a plurality of axial projections having axial free ends. The free ends of the cages in the first and second subassemblies face each other. Rolling element retaining pockets are defined between adjacent pairs of projections in the cages. The projections include pairs of lugs that, together with a partially spherical retaining surface provided between the projections of each of the pockets, contact and retain the rolling elements in the pockets.
US08920035B2

A rolling bearing used in a power transmission device for transmitting power such as turning force, characterized in that a magnet for holding in a lubrication portion of the rolling bearing a lubricating magnetic fluid for lubricating the lubrication portion is provided on at least one side of an outer race of the rolling bearing, and an annular yoke made of a magnetic material loosely fitted to a rotating shaft is provided on the opposite side of said magnet relative to said outer race, and a cross-sectional profile of the yoke has an I-shape.
US08920031B2

A split-type aerostatic bearing for supporting a moving table to move frictionlessly on a platform (4) is disclosed. The split-type aerostatic bearing includes an aerostatic bearing plate (6), air floating elements (2′a, 2′b, 2′c, 2′d) disposed on a bottom of the aerostatic bearing plate (6) and a vacuum pre-tightening structure (7) disposed on the aerostatic bearing plate (6). The vacuum pre-tightening structure (7) is coupled to the aerostatic bearing plate (6) in a split fashion. Separation of the air floating elements (2′a, 2′b, 2′c, 2′d) from the vacuum pre-tightening structure (7) prevents the aerostatic bearing plate (6) from bending under a vacuum pre-tightening force, and hence will not affect the air floating area.
US08920029B2

Apparatus and systems may operate to enable positron emission imaging with a unitary chamber body having an open end that defines a hollow interior portion shaped to completely contain a flexible sleeve that is used to cover a core sample when the sleeve is seated within the hollow interior portion. An end cap may be formed to engage the open end of the chamber body, which is configured to attenuate gamma rays approximately eight times less than stainless steel, while supporting a pressure differential of at least 3 MPa between the chamber inlet and the outlet when fluid carrying a radioactive tag to generate the gamma rays flows through the hollow interior portion and the core sample via the inlet and the outlet. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08920028B2

A test phantom for tomographic imaging, the phantom comprising an assembly of elementary structures defining a 3D mesh, wherein each elementary structure comprises a chief constituent material corresponding to an X-ray attenuation simulating a glandularity, wherein the elementary structures are in at least two types of chief constituent materials corresponding to different X-ray attenuations.
US08920027B2

In a semiconductor device or test structure, appropriate heating elements, for instance in the form of resistive structures, are implemented so as to obtain superior area coverage, thereby enabling a precise evaluation of the thermal conditions within a complex semiconductor device. In particular, the device internal heating elements may allow the evaluation of hot spots and the response of a complex metallization system to specific temperature profiles, in particular at critical areas, such as edge regions in which mechanical stress forces are typically highest in contact regimes in which the package substrate and the metallization system are directly connected.
US08920024B2

The present invention provides a steel plate quality assurance system and facilities thereof, wherein the steel plate quality assurance system measures, with a steel plate manufacturing line including a finishing mill of a steel plate manufacturing line, and accelerated cooling equipment disposed on the downstream side of the finishing mill in the advancing direction of the steel plate manufacturing line, temperature of at least the whole area of the upper surface of a steel plate, or the whole area of the lower surface of a steel plate to perform quality assurance, and includes temperature measurement means; temperature analysis means; and mechanical property determining means.
US08920023B2

A non-destructive test using cryogenic temperatures is capable of detecting defects in materials that result from residual stress from manufacturing and from retained austenite. The subject materials or parts that are subjected to cryogenic temperatures approaching and below˜−300° F., −184° C., 89° K, thereby causing permanent deformations or characteristic changes in the material if excessive residual stress, retained austenite or discontinuities exist. To determine the extent of changes, a first metric of the subject material is determined, the material is then subjected to cryogenic cooling thereby triggering any deformation or characteristic changes. Subsequent to the cryogenic cooling, the subject material may be returned to a second temperature whereby a second metric representing based on the same characteristic of the subject material is determined The comparison of the first and second metrics reveals the deformation or change resultant from the defect. In addition characteristic changes in the subject material during cryogenic cooling may be use to detect the phase transition of the retained austenite to martensite.
US08920015B2

A backlight includes a visible light transmissive body having a light guide portion and a light input portion. The visible light transmissive body primarily propagates light by TIR and includes a light input surface and a light output surface. The light guide portion has a light reflection surface and a light emission surface. The light input portion has opposing side surfaces that are not parallel. A light source is disposed adjacent to the light input surface and emits light into the light input portion. A specularly reflective layer is disposed adjacent to but not in intimate contact with the opposing side surfaces and reflects more than 80% of visible light incident on the specularly reflective layer.
US08920008B2

Disclosed is a vehicle head lamp-purpose shield actuator, including a case, and a motor fixed inside the case, and a first rotating shaft rotated by the motor to be connected to an output shaft that drives a shield member for controlling an opening angle of a head lamp, and a second rotating shaft disposed inside the case to be connected to an output shaft that drives a shield member for opening the shield member, wherein the case is constructed by an inter-coupling of a left side case and a right side case, and the left side case and right side case each having a shaft connection part connecting a first rotating shaft and a second rotating shaft, and an output shaft, respectively, thereby being used commonly in a left side head lamp and a right side head lamp, and consequently improving productivity and assembling capacity and reducing production expense.
US08919995B2

The present disclosure relates generally to an omnidirectional light optic. In one embodiment, the omnidirectional light includes a plurality of reflectors, wherein each one of the plurality of reflectors comprises at least two reflective sides, wherein each one of the at least two reflective sides has an associated optical axis, wherein each respective optical axis of the at least two reflective sides is located on a common horizontal plane and each one of the at least two reflective sides comprises a curved concave cross-section, a plurality of LEDs, wherein each one of the plurality of reflectors is associated with at least one of the plurality of LEDs and at least one blocking band member with at least one edge that blocks light emitted by the plurality of LEDs at common horizontal angles.
US08919980B2

A circular LED light guide includes a top wall and a peripheral side wall; the top wall and the peripheral side wall cooperatively form a hollow receiving space. The hollow receiving space is used for receiving an LED therein. The top wall includes a light incident surface inside of the receiving space, and an exterior light output surface. The light incident surface includes a concave lens surface formed in a central area of the light incident surface, and the light output surface includes a convex lens surface formed in a central area of the light output surface. A central optical axis of the concave lens surface is aligned with a central optical axis of the convex lens surface. An LED module and a direct-type LED TV using the LED light guide are also provided.
US08919977B2

A lamp comprises a thin layer of phosphor (105,113) which is irradiated (46), for example by ultraviolet radiation, by a source which typically comprises a laser diode and a condenser (101,111). This causes the phosphor (105,113) to emit visible light with a Lambertion-type emission pattern. An optical system such as a reflector (102,115) concentrates the light from the phosphor (105,113). The phosphor (105,113) is thermally connected to a heatsink (103,116), of example by a plate (114) of sapphire glass, so as to dissipate the heat produced by the phosphor (105,113). The phosphor (105) may be mounted on a plane reflector (104) disposed on or comprising the heatsink (103) and facing a curved reflector (102) and the radiation source. Alternatively, the optical system may have an optical axis and the phosphor (113) may be substantially flat and inclined with the respect to the optical axis.
US08919968B2

The invention provides a light uniform device and a digital light processing (DLP) projection system applying the said light uniform device. The light uniform device comprises a light incident surface, a light emergent surface and a light uniform portion defined therebetween. The light incident surface and the light emergent surface have a first contour and a second contour, respectively. And a first projection image of the second contour that is projected onto a projection plane forms a rotational angle about a longitudinal axial direction corresponding to a second projection image of the first contour projected onto the projection plane. Thereby, the light sources may simply be disposed in the projection system to provide uniform light beams that entirely cover the DMD (digital micromirror device) after being uniformed by the light uniform device. Neither of the light sources need to be inclined following with the DMD, nor is additional relay lens needed in imaging.
US08919966B2

A rotatable projection system is provided. A mounting system for the projection system includes a support back and a rotatable mounting system mounted to the support back. The rotatable mounting system includes a first frame, a second frame mounted to the first frame in a fixed angular relationship, and a rotating joint mounted to at least one of the first frame and the second frame and to the support back to provide rotation of the rotatable mounting system relative to the support back. The rotatable projection system may further include a projector mounted to the first frame and a projection board mounted to the second frame. The projector may include a mirror positioned to reflect light from the projector onto the projection board.
US08919965B2

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for generating a projected image are provided. Movement measurements are received from an accelerometer within a projection device. A determination is made as to whether the movement measurements indicate movement of the projection device. Upon determining that the movement measurements indicate movement of the projection device, a movement correction factor is determined based on the movement measurements to compensate for the movement of the projection device. The projection device is caused to generate a projected image according to the movement correction factor.
US08919963B2

A projector includes: an image modulation section that modulates light emitted from a light source in accordance with a video signal to form an optical image; a projection section that enlarges and projects the optical image; a drawing area setting section that sets a drawing area within an image modulation area where the light is modulated to form the optical image, the drawing area being an area where a template image is drawn; and a template image generating section that generates the template image to be drawn in the drawing area.
US08919958B2

An wavefront sensor uses a calibration wave generator to calculate correction factors to be applied to ratiometric combinations of position sensor output signals to determine real centroid deflection values.
US08919957B2

A sequential wavefront sensor includes a light source, a beam deflecting element, a position sensing detector configured to output a plurality of output signals and a plurality of composite transimpedance amplifiers each coupled to receive an output signal. The output of each composite transimpedance amplifier is phase-locked to a light source drive signal and a beam deflecting element drive signal.
US08919955B2

Disclosed are virtual glasses try-on method and apparatus, and the apparatus includes an image capturing unit for capturing a user's image and a processing device for detecting a face image from the user's image, storing a glasses model, defining a first feature point of a lens of the glasses model and a second feature point at the center of a frame, and obtaining vertical vectors of the first and second feature points to find a third feature point. Two eye images are searched and binarized into a binarized picture that is divided into an eye area and a non-eye area. A center point between first and second extreme values is found, and vertical vectors of the first extreme value and the center point are obtained to find an example point. An affine transformation of the feature points is performed and attached to the face image to form a try-on image.
US08919939B2

Approaches to remove objects from ink in an ink jet printer are described. An object separator for an ink jet printer includes one or more inlets configured to allow passage of ink that includes objects such as bubbles and particles into the object separator. The object separator has a number of stacked plates. Some of the plates have curved channels which are connected through other plates that include vias. The plates are arranged to form at least one cyclonic flow generator, the cyclonic flow generator configured to focus the objects into one or more focused flow streams. The object separator includes one or more object outlets that allow objects to exit the object separator and at least one ink outlet that allows the ink to exit the object separator.
US08919938B2

A droplet generator (100, 600, 700) having a bubble purging fluidic architecture comprises a firing chamber (110, 610, 710); an inlet (155, 655) fluidically connecting the firing chamber (110, 610, 710) to a fluid reservoir (140, 640, 740); and an outlet (120, 400, 620, 720) configured to pass fluid droplets being ejected from the firing chamber (110, 610, 710). The geometry of the outlet (120, 400, 620, 720) and the geometry of the inlet (155, 655) are configured such that the outlet (120, 400, 620, 720) geometry has a substantially lower barrier to expansion or motion of a bubble (300, 310, 410) than the inlet (155, 655) geometry.
US08919935B2

A liquid supply (30, 130, 330) includes a lever (48, 348) that moves in response to expansion and contraction of a variable chamber (42, 342) within a liquid reservoir (56, 356). Movement of the lever (48, 348) moves a ball (52, 352) or sealing member (154, 354) to open or close an opening (60, 360) out of the liquid reservoir (56, 356).
US08919931B2

An ink jet head is provided which includes: nozzles forming a predetermined array; liquid chambers respectively provided for the nozzles; pressure generation elements respectively provided for the liquid chambers which respectively discharge liquid in the liquid chambers; individual supply flow paths which respectively supply the liquid to the liquid chambers; a common supply flow path that is connected to each individual supply flow path and supplies the liquid into each individual supply flow path; and a liquid supply unit that circulates the liquid of the common supply flow path so as to make the liquid flow in one direction in the common supply flow path. The common supply flow path has a shape in which a cross-sectional area is increased and decreased at a predetermined interval. Each individual supply flow path is provided at a position where the cross-sectional area of the common supply flow path is increased.
US08919928B2

A fluid ejection device includes a firing chamber having an ejection orifice opposite a chamber floor, a heating element and a mesa projecting from the chamber floor, the mesa is spaced from the heating element to define a passive zone between the mesa and heating element.
US08919922B2

A washing liquid supply mechanism includes a washing liquid supply device including a supply opening that supplies a washing liquid, the washing liquid supply device being mounted on a carriage; an openable/closable shutter mounted on the carriage and connected to the supply opening of the washing liquid supply device; and a shutter open/close device that opens the shutter when the carriage moves from a first position at which printing is performed to a second position at which printing is not performed and that closes the shutter when the carriage moves from the second position to the first position.
US08919920B2

There is provided an image forming apparatus in which a waiting time is small and the throughput is not degraded. Therefore it is determined whether or not a delay accumulation operation is necessary at the time of performing a cap closing operation or a wiping operation. If necessary, the delay accumulation operation is performed.
US08919917B2

A liquid ejecting apparatus provided with N (N≧2) liquid ejecting heads which eject liquid, the liquid ejecting apparatus including a supply path through which liquid is supplied from a tank to the N liquid ejecting heads, a circulation path through which liquid is returned from the liquid ejecting heads to the tank, N opening and closing valves that are installed for each liquid ejecting head on at least one of the supply path and the circulation path, and a liquid sending unit that applies a force sending the liquid from the tank toward the liquid ejecting heads. M opening and closing valves corresponding to M (M
US08919913B2

An inkjet image forming apparatus includes an ink container and a container installed part. The ink container stores an ink. To the container installed part, the ink container is attached/detached. The ink container includes an RFID tag, a pouch pack and a container case. The pouch pack contains the ink. The container case covers the pouch pack, has one wall to which the RFID tag is fixed and further has an engaging part stopping the pouch pack in an engaged state and keeping a distance between the RFID tag and the pouch pack a predetermined value or more. The container installed part includes an RFID sensing circuit board configured to carry out wireless communication with the RFID tag.
US08919900B2

A printing apparatus includes a detection unit that detects the amount of residual ink in a ink cartridge, and a control unit that controls of initial filling of a printing head, in which the control unit performs initial filling when a state of the amount of residual ink detected by the detection unit is equal to or more than a predetermined amount, and the amount of residual ink based on information on the amount of ink stored in a storage unit is equal to or more than a predetermined value.
US08919898B2

A nail print apparatus includes a print head and a display control unit. The print head performs printing on a plurality of fingernails. The display control unit distinguishes between an under-printing fingernail and a not-under-printing fingernail to display the fingernails. The under-printing fingernail is a fingernail under printing performed by the print head. The not-under-printing fingernail is a fingernail not under printing performed by the print head.
US08919887B2

To achieve weight reduction while providing elasticity sufficient in a cushioning member for a vehicle seat, an elastic member made of expanded resin beads includes an elastic covering material having stretching properties stuck to an outer face of an expanded bead body. Therefore, when the elastic member made of expanded resin beads is bent or compressed, the respective beads themselves configuring the expanded bead body are elastically deformed according to stretching or compressing of the elastic covering material, and since the elastic deformation is not such deformation that a gap between beads of the expanded bead body largely expands, a crack occurring between beads or permanent deformation does not occur so that bending or compressing becomes possible. Accordingly, the elastic member made of expanded resin beads is suitable as a cushioning member utilizing an elastic recovering force in a bending direction and a thickness direction thereof.
US08919877B2

A head restraint for a vehicle seat is provided. The head restraint includes a basic body and a foam body surrounding the basic body. The foam body at a front has a contact surface for a head of a person using the vehicle seat, and a front surface of the basic body facing the contact surface has a vertically running concave curvature. The basic body in a region of an upper end of the contact surface comprises a ramp, which, with respect to a portion of the front surface of the basic body arranged below this upper end, is directed towards the front.
US08919861B1

A flexible extension storage enclosure for folding travel trailers that is selectively secured to the underside of a folding trailer extension after it has been deployed from the main body of the travel trailer. The storage extension enclosure provides additional usable weather tight storage area beneath the extension by using a combination of track insertable support rails and a plurality of wall surface mounted snaps to define selectively accessible integrated storage compartment there beneath with a selective access closure.
US08919860B2

An automotive sliding door supported by an upper rail that eliminates the need for a middle rail opening in a vehicle body. The sliding door hangs from an upper guide member or members that support the door along its length in both an open and closed position. The upper guide members support the full weight of the door without a middle rail for support thereby eliminating rail gash in rear quarter panel.
US08919852B2

An actuator for moving a drawer and a cover for an opening in an interior panel part of a vehicle, which, for covering an opening formed in an interior panel part, can be moved between a closed state for covering the opening and an open state for uncovering the opening. The actuator includes a guiding device that guides the movements of the drawer out of and into the opening, a cover opening and closing device that opens and closes the cover, and an unlocking and locking device that unlocks and locks the drawer. The unlocking and locking device includes a bolting device that locks the drawer in a retracted state and an adjustment device that interacts with the bolting device and cover opening and closing device in such a way that moving the cover in its open state causes the adjustment device to release the bolting device with the drawer in its retracted state, so that the drawer can be moved out of the opening.
US08919849B1

A transportable hybrid operating room (THOR). The THOR includes a transportable unit with an interior for use in the imaging of and performance of surgery on a patient, the interior including a ceiling. The THOR also includes a support assembly positioned above the unit for supporting equipment used in conjunction with such imaging and surgery so that the equipment extends downwardly from the ceiling into the interior. The support assembly is designed to support a load of at least 3,500 pounds.
US08919847B2

A storage console for a vehicle is provided and may include a housing movable from a stowed position to an upright position. The housing may include a top surface that is substantially flush with a floor of the vehicle in the stowed position and is spaced apart from the floor in the upright position.
US08919844B1

A gripper assembly includes an actuator, at least one gripper jaw, a sensor member and at least one position sensing device. The actuator has a first actuator portion, a second actuator portion, and a fixed portion. The first actuator portion and the second actuator portion are moveable in unison between a first position and a second position. The at least one gripper jaw is disposed forward of the fixed portion of the actuator and is moveable with respect to the fixed portion of the actuator in response to movement of the first actuator portion. The sensor member is disposed rearward of the fixed portion of the actuator and is coupled to the second actuator portion for movement therewith. The position sensing device is disposed rearward of the fixed portion of the actuator and is operable to detect proximity of the sensor member.
US08919843B2

A device for removing a person in a life-threatening situation comprises an elongate, soft, flexible body (1) provided with a central zone (2) that is thicker than two tapered ends (3). A method for removing a person in a life-threatening situation involves passing the central zone (2) around an accident victim's neck, crossing the tapered ends (3) over the nape of the neck and arranging the tapered ends under the armpits, from front to back, so that the tapered ends (3) project behind the accident victim and a rescuer can pull thereon in order to move the accident victim while the latter's neck is immobilized.
US08919842B2

A robotic system includes a tendon-driven end effector, a linear actuator, a flexible tendon, and a plate assembly. The linear actuator assembly has a servo motor and a drive mechanism, the latter of which translates linearly with respect to a drive axis of the servo motor in response to output torque from the servo motor. The tendon connects to the end effector and drive mechanism. The plate assembly is disposed between the linear actuator assembly and the tendon-driven end effector and includes first and second plates. The first plate has a first side that defines a boss with a center opening. The second plate defines an arcuate through-slot having tendon guide channels. The first plate defines a through passage for the tendon between the center opening and a second side of the first plate. A looped end of the flexible tendon is received within the tendon guide channels.
US08919841B2

Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatus for a handling system and attachment of a secondary elevator, and/or other complementary equipment, to a primary elevator. In one embodiment, a casing elevator is provided. The casing elevator includes a body, two first load-rated lift members coupled to a perimeter of the body at a first location on the body, and two second load-rated lift members coupled to the perimeter of the body at a second location on the body, the second location being different than the first location.
US08919839B2

An electromagnetic lifter comprises at least two polar expansions (4), shaped for transporting a horizontal axis coil or the like, arranged perpendicularly to the axis of the coil to be lifted, divided into two halves (4a, 4b) slidable with respect to each other under the action of an actuator mechanism (5) and shaped so as to be able to penetrate each other. The adjustability of the polar expansions (4) allows them to better adapt to the different diameters of the coils to be lifted, with the result of exploiting the greatest possible useful polar section and of reducing to a minimum the operational air gaps, whereby the lifter need not be oversized to take into account the most unfavourable case and it results smaller, lighter and cheaper.
US08919837B1

A lifting device for RC cars including a first support wire having an upper section, a first side section, and a second side section. A brace is medially disposed between a first bend and a second bend of each of the first and second side sections. An L-shaped support is disposed on each of the first and second side sections. The lifting device also includes a hinge medially disposed upon the upper section. An elongated hook and a second support wire are disposed on the hinge. A C-shaped loop is medially disposed upon the upper section. The device is configured to engage with and support the weight of one of each of a variety of differently shaped RC cars and RC car remote controls.
US08919836B2

The present invention is a waste pick-up and storage device for scooping solid and semi-solid pet waste. The device includes a bag portion and a scoop portion. In an embodiment, two scoops scoop the pet waste into the bag. In an embodiment, a portion of the scoop is detachable, and another portion is secured to the bag for providing support. The scoop is used to sweep the pet waste into the bag. The scoop portions can serve as handles of the device. In an embodiment, the device can be single-handed. The device can have a receptacle, a cover rotatably attached to the receptacle, and wherein the cover has a handle attached to a surface opposite the base of the receptacle. The waste pick-up and storage device is foldable to be flat, and can be made from a combination of flexible materials for the bag, and inflexible materials for the scoop.
US08919835B1

A structure for absorbing frontal collision energy of a vehicle absorbs frontal collision energy of a vehicle using both front side members configured to support a bumper beam disposed at a front side of a vehicle body, a shock absorber housing panel disposed outside the front side member, and a fender apron member disposed outside the shock absorber housing panel, and the structure includes: an enlarged member installed to be inclined between an outer surface of the front side member and a rear surface of the fender apron member so as to be spaced forward and apart from the outer surface of the front side member; and an enlarged frame engaged between a lower side of the fender apron member and a front mounting portion of a sub-frame.
US08919833B2

Disclosed herein is a drying apparatus for a vehicle using vehicle induced wind. The drying apparatus is capable of drying a wet object using vehicle induced wind generated by the driving of the vehicle. The apparatus includes a storage cover that is rotatably coupled to a rear bumper cover via a hinge module, to form a storage space between the storage cover and the rear bumper cover. In addition the apparatus includes an inlet cover that is coupled to the rear bumper cover to form an inlet passage through which the vehicle induced wind flows into the storage space when the vehicle is being driven. A plurality of outlet holes are formed in the rear bumper cover, and are configured to operate as a passage to allow air to be discharged from the storage space to an exterior of the vehicle.
US08919832B1

A closure retainment latch for cabinet doors and the like that provides a child resistant access protocol restricting opening to required user specific actions. A cabinet door handle selectively engages an interior magnet retainer latch allowing the door to open. Multiple handle engagement indicated operations are required to initiate handle drive activation and latch release in a rotational longitudinally engagement configurations of contoured interdependent engagement activation elements within the handle and latch specific cam engagement surfaces.
US08919816B2

A lift-up mechanism is provided with a link member with one end thereof being supported rotatably on a movable bracket for holding a movable columnar member, and the other one end thereof being disposed to be engaged with and removed from a fixing bracket. The link member selectively provides a hold state for engaging the link member with the fixing bracket at a rear part of the vehicle body to hold the movable bracket at an initial position or a lift-up position, and a release state for releasing its engagement. A spring member is disposed between the fixing bracket and the movable bracket, with component forces of its biasing force biasing the movable bracket in a direction to be lifted up from the fixing bracket, and biasing the link member in a direction to be engaged with the fixing bracket.
US08919812B2

A steering wheel for an automotive vehicle comprising an airbag module and a detachable snap-fit connection for fastening the airbag module to the steering wheel includes a detent pin that is positively embedded in the foamed steering wheel cover of the steering wheel.
US08919804B2

An improved trailer hitching system adaptable to quick coupling with both ball and pintel hook trailer couplers without the need to remove the pintel hook trailer coupler. The system incorporates an improved trailer hitch ball capable of meeting or exceeding all the Class I-V trailer hitch ball load requirements and dimensional tolerances yet with enhanced protection against crack development at the ball/ball stem. The ball can be sized for different purposes without being removed from the tow vehicle. It also includes a removable trailer hitch alignment system that can align both pintel hooks and the various sizes of trailer tongues.
US08919799B2

A rear wheel suspension for a vehicle, in particular a two-wheeled vehicle, specifically a bicycle (2) which is designed for a particularly great spring travel, comprises a pivot element (18) which is connected to a frame element (12) of the vehicle via a principal swivel joint (16), a swing arm rear suspension (6) which is connected to the pivot element (18) via an auxiliary pivot (20), a deflection element (46) which is pivotally mounted on a frame element (12), a hock absorber/spring element (52) which is mounted on the one hand on a frame element (14) and on the other hand on the deflection element (46), wherein the deflection element (46) is kinematically coupled to the swing arm rear suspension (6) via a pivotally mounted connecting element (38) and to the pivot element (18) via a pivotally mounted coupling element (60) in such a way that the end of the pivot element (18) facing the swing arm rear suspension (6) is pulled upwards on deflection of the rear wheel (8).
US08919794B2

A device suspends a steerable wheel on a vehicle via a wheel carrier that is pivotable about a steering axis and on which the wheel is rotatably mounted. The device includes an upper link including a first end and a second end. The upper link is pivotably mounted on the vehicle by the first end and supports the wheel carrier by the second end via a wheel carrier arm. A lower link includes a wheel-side end on which the wheel carrier is pivotably mounted and a vehicle-side end that is pivotably mounted on the vehicle. A stabilizer is pivotably supported in support bearings on the vehicle. The stabilizer includes a free end connected to a coupling rod that extends in a bent manner around a wheel-side region of a spring strut and another end that is mounted on the wheel carrier.
US08919782B2

A dynamic lip seal is provided for sealing between a housing and a shaft and with a fluid medium to be sealed on an oil side and air on an air side of the seal. The seal includes a seal lip extending from a seal body and including a shaft contact portion adapted for engagement with the shaft and including a static band and a first set of spiral grooves disposed on an oil side of the static band, and a second set of spiral grooves on an air side of the static band. The first and second sets of spiral grooves are both configured to pump oil toward the static band when the shaft is rotated in a first direction, and the first and second sets of spiral grooves are both configured to pump oil away from the static band when the shaft is rotated in a second direction.
US08919778B2

A frangible target suspension apparatus wherein the frangible targets are secured to one or more support cords by passing the support cord through apertures in the side edges of the frangible targets and using tension caused by the weight to keep the frangible targets in place on the support cord, or by securing with adhesive, such as when the support cord is a tape, or by knotting the support cord, or utilizing a fastener to secure the support cord to the frangible target. In an alternative embodiment, the frangible target engages a cover with side slots that is placed over the frangible target from the rear retaining the support cord in place within the side slots.
US08919774B2

This invention relates to a mechanical fixture which simulates a four bar link drive system for pedal driven scooters and bicycles and the resulting drive system. A four bar drive link system simulator has a frame assembly, a proximal hinge attachment bracket, a bottom bracket simulator 0, a pair of crank levers, a pair of coupling levers and a pair of pedal levers. The frame assembly has a plurality of guide rails, including at least a proximal hinge adjustment rail, and a frame rail. The proximal hinge attachment bracket is connected to the proximal hinge adjustment rail. The bottom bracket simulator is attached or otherwise connected to the frame simulator rail.
US08919759B2

The feeder device comprises a support structure (2) wherein, between a feeder plate (3) and an opposite surface (4), there is defined an input receptacle (5) for the introduction of one or more documents (BC) to be processed, and a motorized aligning and conveying device (6), adapted to engage and urge a document (BC) introduced into the input receptacle (5) towards a lateral stationary aligning surface (50). The feeder device is characterized in that the aligning and conveying device comprises an assembly (10) which is rotatable about a first axis (A) and which includes a pick-up member (24) rotatable in the assembly (10) about a second axis (B) spaced apart from the first axis (A), between a first, resting angular position and a second, working angular position, in the first of which positions the pick-up member (24) is retracted, while in the second it protrudes into the assembly (10) in the input receptacle (5) to engage a document (BC) introduced thereinto; and an electric control motor (18), coupled to the assembly (10) and to the pick-up member (24) through transmission means (12-22, 30-33).
US08919757B2

The present invention relates to an apparatus for removal of docking plate, wherein comprising a docking plate base device; and a handle removably joined to the docking plate base device and causing the docking plate base device to be removed from the semiconductor equipment when the handle is joined to the docking plate base device.
US08919754B2

A mandrel for producing a fiber-reinforced composite part, in particular a blade for a wind turbine is disclosed. The mandrel includes an expandable body with an outer surface onto which a fiber material of the fiber-reinforced composite part is layable out. The expandable body is expandable in an expanded state, wherein in the expanded state the outer surface forms an interior shape of the fiber-reinforced composite part to be produced. Moreover, the expandable body is collapsible in a collapsed state.
US08919751B2

A hysteresis assembly, including: first, second, and third plates; at least one fastener connecting the first and third plates; and, at least one resilient element. The resilient element is: disposed between the first and second plates; disposed about the fastener; and arranged to urge the second plate into frictional contact with the third plate. A damper assembly, including: first and second cover plates arranged to receive torque; a flange axially disposed between the cover plates; at least one first resilient element engaged with the cover plates and the flange and arranged to transmit the torque to the flange; at least one fastener connecting the cover plates and passing through the flange; and at least one second resilient element. The resilient element is: disposed between the first cover plate and the flange; disposed about the fastener; and arranged to urge the flange into frictional contact with the second cover plate.
US08919743B2

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for facilitating dissolution of one or more gases into a liquid. Preferred gases for use with the apparatus are oxygen, air, and ozone. An apparatus of the present invention includes a dissolution tank that includes a pressure vessel, at least one liquid spray nozzle, and a fluid outlet. The apparatus also includes a gas source, an element for passing fluid into the pressure vessel, and a discharge device connected to the fluid outlet, which discharge device is provided with at least one orifice. Preferred applications include wastewater treatment, treatment of drinking water, fermentation, and bioremediation.
US08919741B2

A fence includes a plurality of bases, each base having a body having a floor, a top wall, side walls and end walls defining an interior chamber; a first projection extending from one of the end walls and having a top wall; and a second projection extending from another one of the end walls and having a bottom wall; wherein the bottom wall of the second projection and the top wall of the first projection are both configured to receive a pole and wherein the first projection of a first base of the bases can overlap the second projection of a second base of the bases when the floor of the first and second bases are resting on a common surface. The fence further includes a plurality of poles, each inserted into and maintained erect by one of the bases; and a mesh fencing material tensioned between the poles.
US08919739B1

An integral vehicle jack assembly is provided for facilitating raising of the ground engaging members of a vehicle off of a supporting surface. The assembly includes a vehicle having a plurality of ground engaging members. A plurality of telescopic supports is coupled to the vehicle. Each support is movable between a deployed position and a retracted position. The deployed position is configured for raising the vehicle such that the ground engaging members are positioned in spaced relationship to a support surface. A control is operationally coupled to the supports for selectively extending and retracting the supports.
US08919738B2

A landing gear system for a trailer is described. The landing gear system includes two jacks, each with a first tubular body in which a second tubular body is telescopically mounted, a hydraulic chamber and a pneumatic chamber. The system includes a hydraulic fluid reservoir, a pneumatic fluid source, a pneumatic manifold in pneumatic fluid communication with the pneumatic source and in pneumatic fluid communication with said hydraulic reservoir and a hydraulic manifold in hydraulic fluid communication with the hydraulic reservoir. Pneumatically operated hydraulic pumps are included, along with a central control mechanism attached to the pneumatic manifold and disposed to simultaneously control pneumatic flow into the pneumatic chambers of the jacks and to pneumatically operated hydraulic pumps. Separate pneumatically operated hydraulic valve are provided to individually control hydraulic flow from the jacks.
US08919731B2

A valve for inflation and deflation of an air bag that is operable to allow air pressure to open the valve to allow air to enter the air bag with subsequent sealing of the valve upon removal of the air pressure source. For deflation, a common coin is insertable into the valve insert which is subsequently turned into a locked-open position, allowing egress of the air within the air bag.
US08919728B2

A unitary assembly facilitates constructing concrete foundation pads made of poured concrete, the foundation pads being useful to support a structure or building. The apparatus comprises a unitary assembly of existing planar forms connected by taper-shaped corners using wedge connectors to define an upwardly-tapered cavity shaped to hold poured concrete until the concrete cures. The assembly is sufficiently rigid and the planar forms are held at an angle sufficient for the unitary assembly to self-release from the cured concrete without disassembly when lifted/moved vertically off of the cured concrete.
US08919723B2

Device for adjusting the length of a connecting rod and consisting of a bushing positioned inside an eye of the said connecting rod, the said bushing comprising at least one element in which there is made a bore to act as a support for a pivot pin intended to pass through the eye, characterized in that the said element is a cylinder made of a metallic material covered by a cylinder made of an elastomeric material so as to form with the metallic cylinder a cylinder homothetic with the previous one, the generatrices of the said cylinders being oriented in a direction that is inclined with respect to the longest length of the said connecting rod.
US08919721B2

A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes: a lower rail that is fixed on a vehicle floor; and an upper rail that is fixed to a seat and is movably supported on the lower rail in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, wherein the lower rail has a lower rail hook part, wherein the upper rail has an upper rail hook part, wherein the upper rail hook part is to be engaged with the lower rail hook part in the upper and width directions, wherein the lower rail has a curvature part that is downwards convex as viewed from the width direction of the vehicle, and wherein the lower end of the lower rail hook part at the curvature part has a notch part, in which the downward extending amount is reduced compared to the other part of the lower rail hook part.
US08919720B2

A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes: a lower rail that is fixed on a vehicle floor and extends in a front-rear direction of the vehicle; and an upper rail that is fixed to a seat and is movably supported on the lower rail in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, wherein the lower rail has a lower rail hook part extending in a width direction of the vehicle, wherein the upper rail has: a pair of rolling members arranged in the front-rear direction of the upper rail; and a shoe, which has a sliding contact part that slidingly contacts a lower surface of the lower rail hook part, wherein the lower rail has a curvature part that is convex downwards as viewed from the width direction, and wherein the shoe is arranged at an outer side of the pair of rolling members in the front-rear direction.
US08919715B2

A folding shelf holder is strong and folds easily. A wall side member has a pin as a rotational axis of a shelf side member relative to the wall side member and a rotation limiter limiting rotation of the shelf side member relative to the wall side member. The shelf side member has a long groove for inserting the pin of the wall side member. When the folded shelf side member is opened to be approximately orthogonal to the wall side member and the shelf side member is slid toward the wall side member and in a direction where the long groove extends, the shelf side member abuts, at a back side of the pin, to the rotation limiter of the wall side member, preventing rotation of the shelf side member relative to the wall side member. Then, the shelf side member cannot fold relative to the wall side member.
US08919714B2

A compliant tool holder is provided for use with robots, unmanned ground vehicles, and the like. The compliant tool holder is characterized in that it involves the use of means for compliance, such as springs, rubber, plastics, metals, composites, shock mounts, vibration mounts, or similar means for permitting compliant movement in three rotational and three translational degrees of freedom during end effector changes. The compliant tool holder reduces costs associated with automated tool change in the field, and allows for more rapid switching of end effectors, enabling a greater range of uses for robots and unmanned ground vehicles.
US08919704B2

A support assembly for supporting a conduit includes a support, a clamp, and a hanger. The support has a partial-cylindrical shape including a first section having a first diameter and a second section having a second diameter that is greater than the first diameter. In one aspect, at least one of the first section and the second section define a first aperture in the partial-cylindrical shape. In another aspect, at least one of the first section and the second section includes a retention member extending radially from an outer surface of the partial-cylindrical shape. The retention member includes a closed loop or a partially-open loop that defines a second aperture for receiving a strap to secure the conduit to the support. The clamp is configured to secure the conduit to the support. The hanger is configured to suspend the support from a structure.
US08919698B2

A method and apparatus for a tracking door centering system. An apparatus may comprise an elongate member, a first centering track, and a second centering track. The elongate member may have a first end and a second end capable of being rotatably mounted to a door along an axis that may be substantially parallel to a horizontal centerline. The first centering track may be mounted on the first end. The second centering track may be mounted on the second end. The first centering track and the second centering track may be movable to reduce rotational movement of the door during movement of the door about a vertical centerline when a first follower is engaged in the first centering track and a second follower is engaged in the second centering track.
US08919695B2

A storage compartment configuration and an aircraft having a storage compartment configuration according to the invention are proposed. The storage compartment configuration has a storage compartment having a storage space and a suspension. The storage space is designed to receive pieces of luggage. The suspension is used for the attaching the storage compartment to a load-bearing structure of the aircraft. The suspension is designed in such a manner that the storage compartment can be pivoted essentially around a geometrical center point of the storage space.
US08919694B2

A skid landing gear assembly is provided. One embodiment of the landing gear assembly may include a first and a second skid member, and a forward and an aft cross member. The forward and aft cross-members may have integrated attachment members coupled to a forward portion and an aft portion of the first and second skid members. In more particular embodiments, the cross-members may be beam members with open cross-sections, and the skid members may be beam members with a closed cross-section.
US08919686B2

A roll medium feeding device includes a temporal placement portion on which a roll medium is placed temporarily, a roll holder that has a fitting portion which is movable in a width direction of the roll medium, and an elevating unit that lifts the roll medium. The elevating unit includes an elevating portion that has a placement portion and is capable of going up and down in an up-down direction, an operation lever that moves rotationally about a fulcrum, and moves the elevating portion with the rotational movement, and a pedal that is provided at a free end side of the operation lever.
US08919684B1

An auxiliary drag system for a spinning reel comprising a generally cylindrical reel body having a standard rotor assembly for spooling fishing line onto a spool member. A standard handle assembly is operatively attached to the rotor assembly via drive gears. A standard spool assembly comprises the spool member and a spool shaft. A standard primary drag system has a clutch assembly located in the spool assembly. A spool shaft sleeve is generally located over the spool shaft and through the reel body and the rotor assembly. Upon rotation of the auxiliary drag lever in a first direction, the spool shaft sleeve is moved in an inline direction with respect to the spool shaft via the threaded auxiliary drag nut toward and frictionally engaging a spool member bushing located on the spool member thereby imposing a degree of frictional drag to the rotation of the spool member.
US08919681B1

This invention relates to a progressive method of separating and extracting raw materials from residential roofing products for re-use as ingredients for asphalt and fiberglass related products, including roofing materials. The method includes reduction, separation and then extraction of raw materials. The resulting products are alternative roofing granules, asphalt coated limestone, limestone, recycled asphalt and recycled fiberglass strand powders.
US08919676B2

An agricultural sprayer includes a spray boom equipped with a plurality of spray heads, with each head having a body defining a cavity located in fluid communication with a fluid inlet and an array of four outlets leading to four nozzles respectively having different flow rates. A nozzle-select control member is mounted for rotation in the cavity and includes a fluid passage arrangement for establishing fluid connections between the inlet and different ones or combinations of the four nozzles as the control member is rotated among preselected discrete positions by an electric stepper motor, with the stepper motor being controlled in response to vehicle speed so that the spray tip capacity decreases for effecting a constant application rate as the vehicle speed decreases from a maximum permitted speed.
US08919659B2

A heating system includes: a heat generation unit which generates heat using electricity supplied through a second power system of a lower electricity rate; a heat storage unit which stores heat generated by the heat generation unit; a heat radiation unit which radiates heat stored in the heat storage unit; and a control unit which causes, when receiving a signal from a power supplier indicating that a supply of electricity through the second power system is to be stopped after an elapse of a predetermined period of time, the heat generation unit generates additional heat that is required while the supply of electricity through the second power system being suspended, during a period of time from when the signal is received to when the supply of electricity through the second power system is stopped.
US08919648B2

A barcode and RFID reading apparatus includes: a micro-controller; at least a RFID antenna configured to detect a RFID tag in a first area proximate to the reading apparatus; a RFID reader connected to the at least one antenna and controlled by the micro-controller, the RFID reader being configured to receive a RFID tag data from the at least one antenna and send the RFID tag data to the micro-controller; and a barcode reader controlled by the micro-controller, the barcode reader being configured to detect a barcode in a second area proximate to the reading apparatus and send a barcode data from the barcode to the micro-controller; the micro-controller is configured to check whether the barcode reader or the RFID reader ends a data-reading process; if one reader ends the data-reading process, the micro-controller switches off the one and switches on the other.
US08919647B2

A sight and methods of operation thereof are provided. In some embodiments, an image is captured via an image capture unit, and a center position is calculated according to the positions of at least three impact points in the image, and a predefined view center of a display unit is set to the center position. In some embodiments, an angle of dip of the sight to a plane is detected via a dip angle detector. A predictive impact point is calculated according to the angle of dip and at least one calculation parameter, and an impact point indication is accordingly displayed in the display unit. When the angle of dip is changed, the predictive impact point is recalculated according to the new angle of dip, and the corresponding impact point indication is displayed.
US08919643B2

Method and apparatus for using at least a portion of a one-time password as a dynamic card verification value (CVV) are disclosed. A credit/debit card is able to generate a dynamic card verification value (CVV). Such a card may also include an indication that the dynamic CVV is to be used as a security code for purchasing or other transactions. A card-based financial transaction can be authorized in accordance with the use of a dynamic CVV by receiving a transaction authorization request for a specific credit/debit card, wherein the transaction authorization request includes a dynamic CVV. The dynamic CVV can be compared to at least a portion of a one-time password generated for the specific credit/debit card, and a transaction authorization can be sent to the merchant or vendor when the dynamic CVV matches all or a portion of the one-time password.
US08919642B2

The invention relates to a device (10, 50, 60) for handling notes of value, which comprises a control unit (38) which executes program data of a computer program. Further, the device (10, 50, 60) has an authentication data memory (28) in which authentication data for the unambiguous authentication of the device (10, 50, 60) are stored. The control unit (38) generates an unambiguous reference value dependent on the authentication data. Further, the device (10, 50, 60) comprises a transmission unit (20, 64) which transmits reference data comprising the reference value for generating a device-individual license key to a license management unit (46). Further, the transmission unit (20, 46) receives data comprising the license key from the license management unit (46). The control unit (38) enables at least one function module of the computer program dependent on the license key.
US08919638B2

A mailbox display sleeve may include an inside layer and an outside layer joined at a crease. The outside layer may be made of a clear plastic material. An attachment component may attach the inside layer to an outside surface of a mail box. An insert may fit in between the inside layer and the outside layer of the display sleeve, and may thereby be displayed from the mailbox.
US08919628B2

A modular backpack has a harness, a container and/or a cover. The container is detachable from the harness for use without the harness. A different container is attachable to the harness to provide a different volume, different compartments and/or different ornamental features. A different cover is attachable to the container and/or the harness to provide different compartments and/or different ornamental features. Removable compartments may attach and detach from various locations on the backpack to customize the backpack.
US08919625B1

A food and beverage caddy comprises a platform that is adapted to be securely placed within an existing touring pack or saddlebag of a motorcycle. The platform comprises a plurality of beverage cup apertures specifically shaped to receive and support standard beverage cups. Support legs elevate the platform above the bottom of the touring pack or saddlebag. Spikes or hook-and-loop fasteners can be used to attach the food and beverage caddy to the touring pack or saddlebag.
US08919622B1

A beverage carriage if provided for wear around a user's waist area. The apparatus includes an accessory that attaches to a user's waist area. A hanger depends from the accessory, the hanger having an upwardly positioned socket. A mounted sleeve has a top opening having an opening that enables a contained beverage to be housed within the sleeve interior. A curved panel/plate fits inside the sleeve. A projecting member is attached to the curved panel/plate and extends through the insulated sleeve to a position spaced externally of the sleeve. A detachable connector joins the projecting member to the hanger when the detachable connector is lowered into the socket via the open top. A locking member moves between locking and release positions, the locking member automatically interlocking with the connector when the connector is lowered into the socket, the locking member having a manually operated release portion.
US08919618B2

A self chilling beverage container including a heat exchange unit having a pressurized medium therein secured internally thereof and including an over-pressure relief valve. The valve includes a hollow housing within which there is first and second valves. The first valve is operable to inject and release the pressurized medium into the container. The second valve is normally closed and is continuously exposed to the pressurized medium and in response to the pressure thereof reaching a predetermined level opens to exhaust the pressurized medium to the atmosphere to relieve the excess pressure.
US08919599B2

A fuel tank is provided having a plastic container with a cavity for holding fuel. Inner and outer plates are arranged on opposite wall regions of the plastic container. A reinforcement device is arranged between opposite wall regions of the fuel tank and comprises a tension/compression strut extending through the inner plates, wall regions, and outer plates. Axial securing means are provided on free ends of the tension/compression strut. The reinforcement device further comprises a spring device bearing against the inner plates. The reinforcement device is configured to absorb both compressive forces and tensile forces.
US08919595B2

A closure and a container having the same closure are provided. The closure includes a sealing portion assembled to an aperture of a container to seal the container; a plurality of locking protrusions, each lock protrusion connected to a hinge extending from a lower rim of the sealing portion to protrude inwards and fixed to a locking flange formed on the container; a cover portion having a ring shape and assembled to an outside of the sealing portion to be vertically movable with respect to the sealing portion; and a plurality of fixing protrusions protruding from an inner circumferential surface of the cover portion to support the locking protrusions.
US08919587B2

A plastic container, sidewall portions, and method of same are described. The sidewall portion can accommodate a vacuum in a filled and sealed container and includes a plurality of columns extending between upper and lower ends of the sidewall portion, and a plurality of vacuum panels oriented vertically between respective adjacent ones of the columns, each vacuum panel including an upper section, a middle section, and a lower section, a first hinge connecting the upper and middle sections, and a second hinge connecting the middle and lower sections. The vacuum panels can move radially inward toward a container central axis such that the container vacuum is accommodated. As the vacuum panel moves radially inward, the middle section can maintain a substantially parallel orientation with respect to the central axis, and the upper and lower sections rotate about first and second hinges, respectively, and incline away from the central axis.
US08919585B2

A decking member can have a plurality of panels each with first and second side supports. The plurality of panels can each have a plurality of slots and optional hooks. A shelving system has a frame and at least one decking member.
US08919583B2

An accessory merchandiser for displaying products. The accessory merchandiser includes a modular unit including a plurality of first members and a plurality of second members, wherein the first and second members form a grid structure, a plurality of indicator marks formed on each second member, and a plurality of coupling members configured to removably couple the modular unit to a fixture. The plurality of indicator marks form a marking grid.
US08919582B1

Changeover parts are mountable on a modular changeover parts cart characterized by a cart frame having a plurality of rigidly interconnected beams supportable on wheels, and a suspension frame having a plurality of rigidly interconnected vertical struts and beams supportable on the cart frame. A first one of a plurality of mounting components is removably coupleable with the cart frame or the suspension frame for supporting one of a star wheel, a guide, or a timing screw. The first one of the plurality of mounting components is simultaneously orthogonally coupleable with the plurality of beams. The first one of the plurality of mounting components is replaceable by or combinable with a second one of the plurality of mounting components for supporting another of a star wheel, a guide, or a timing screw.
US08919581B2

A merchandise display stand for floor display having a support portion and trays. The support portion having a base member integral with and at about a right angle to a dovetail back member. One or more trays arranged on the support portion. The trays having a dovetail slot to accommodate the dovetail back member of the support portion. One or more trays is lowered into position onto the support portion such that the dovetail projection back member fits within the dovetail slot of the tray locking the tray onto the back member.
US08919578B2

A shoe carousel device that includes a base with a top and a bottom, the base stabilizes and supports the shoe carousel device, a support stem with an end, the support stem is attached at an approximate 90 degree angle to the top of the base and extends upward and a plurality of stackable shelves with a top surfacing, the stackable shelves are circular shaped with a circumference, the stackable shelves each include a raised outer rim and a relatively thin mesh surfacing. The shoe carousel device also includes a motor and a foot pedal to rotate the shoe carousel device.
US08919575B2

The invention is directed to a process for separating bitumen froth into an upper bitumen-rich, reduced-solids layer, and a lower concentrated solids layer using a cone-bottomed, raked froth tank. The process involves introducing bitumen froth into the froth tank; rotating at least one movable picket through the bitumen froth; recovering the upper bitumen-rich, reduced-solids layer; and withdrawing the lower concentrated solids layer from the tank.
US08919573B2

A system for purifying non-potable water to make said water potable includes an intake pump for bringing the non-potable water into the system. At least one centrifugal separator separates the non-potable water into suspended solids, saline water and oil. At least one ozone contact chamber injects ozone into a water stream being injected into at least one of the at least one of the centrifugal separators. A series of progressive filtration components are used for progressively filtering the saline water from the at least one centrifugal separator. The salinization filters then desalinate the progressively filtered saline water.
US08919571B2

The present invention provides a vacuum filter device including a filter body having two holders on opposite sides of a filter. Each holder contains a closed container in a fluid-tight, sealed relationship. The filter is retained by a compression sealing element that resiliently applies sealing pressure to the upper surface of the filter. The sealing element is maintained in place by a compression element formed of a ring that applies a desired compressive force to the sealing element. The compression element is bonded to a portion of the body to hold it, the sealing element and filter in place and under a compression seal. The invention also can provide for an alignment feature on the compression element that ensures the port is in alignment with the vent of the device. The device also includes a vacuum port communicating with the downstream side of the filter, and hence the filtrate container.
US08919568B2

A screening having a plurality of warp elements. The plurality of warp elements includes first and second warp elements each having a plurality of undulations oriented in any desired manner including but not limited to horizontal or vertical. At least one retaining member is operably associated with the plurality of warp elements to form an integral screen segment having a plurality of openings. The first warp element has at least one characteristic different from the second warp element to prevent blinding of the screen segment. The at least one characteristic affecting movement of the first warp element and the second warp element when the screen segment is used to classify material such that at least one of amplitude and frequency of movement of the first warp screening element is different from that of the second warp element when subjected to the same operating condition.
US08919564B2

A packaging case includes a body, a fixed support portion, and a movable support portion. Body includes storage space, and has openings that are formed in top face thereof and bottom face thereof and that are in communication with storage space. Fixed support portion is fixed to body and is provided at first position at which fixed support portion is capable of supporting article to be packed stored in storage space. Movable support portion is provided in body so as to be movable in storage space, is configured to support article at first position, along with fixed support portion, and is configured to move, when packaging case has been taken out of exterior case and placed on predetermined face, to second position defined above first position to support article in a state where at least a part of article is exposed from opening in top face to outside.
US08919547B2

A case for holding optical discs includes a primary blank formed of foldable material and having at least six interconnected panels. In certain of the panels of the primary blank a U-shaped cutout is formed, and in certain other panels a disc access cutout is formed. The panels are folded to form a folded primary blank. The folded primary blank is joined to an end blank, which is also folded to form a folded end blank, the folded primary blank and the folded end blank being joined together to define a folded composite blank. The folded composite blank is positioned between a front cover and a back cover of a cover piece.
US08919545B2

A desiccating container is provided in the present invention. The desiccating container includes an outer can having a cap; a first inner can having an outer side and configured in the outer can, wherein there is a gap provided between the outer can and the first inner can; and a second inner can circularly configured in the outer side and in the gap, and dividing the gap into an inner gap and an outer gap, wherein the first inner can is one of an insert and a desiccating element, and the second inner can is the other one thereof.
US08919544B2

A holder includes a first outer sheet, a second outer sheet, and a handled portion. A base portion, a first supporting portion and a second supporting portion are formed on the second outer sheet. A latching piece is formed on the base portion, the latching piece having a bendable portion. The first supporting portion is folded relative to the base portion, and the second supporting portion is folded relative to the first supporting portion until the second supporting portion is held by the latching piece, the base portion, the first supporting portion and the second supporting portion cooperatively form a three-dimensional structure that can support the portable electronic device at an angle relative to the second outer sheet without collapsing.
US08919540B2

A conveyor take-up device may include a carriage, a pulley, a counterweight assembly, at least one connector, and at least one safety restraint. The carriage may be movably joined to a support structure and may support the pulley, which may be configured for operative association with an endless conveyor belt. The counterweight assembly may include a counterweight arm, a tension arm, and a counterweight. The counterweight arm may be pivotally joined to the support structure and configured to move between upper and lower limit positions. The tension arm may extend generally transversely from a first end portion of the counterweight arm with the counterweight supported by the counterweight arm distal from the tension arm. The connector may be joined to the carriage at one end portion of connector and to the tension arm at a second end portion that is distal the first end portion of the connector.
US08919535B2

A system for loading and/or unloading trays includes a first conveyor configured to convey the trays in a direction of transport. A lowering device is configured to lower the trays from the first conveyor onto a strip conveyor. A lift-out device is configured to lift the trays from the strip conveyor onto a second conveyor. The strip conveyor includes strips disposed perpendicularly to an upper surface of the strip conveyor and the trays include slots configured to receive the strips such that the strips perpendicularly emerge into corresponding slots while a respective one of the trays is being lowered onto the strip conveyor by the lowering device and perpendicularly emerge from the corresponding slots while the respective one of the trays is being lifted from the strip conveyor by the lift-out device.
US08919533B2

A transfer device for transferring a flat folding box to a succeeding conveyor device with simultaneous erection has a rotarily driven support part which is pivotable about an axis of rotation, and at least one further rotarily driven support part which rotates coaxially to the support part about the axis of rotation. The folding boxes are received in a receiving station by the retaining device and are conveyed on a curved track to a transfer station and therefore transferred to a succeeding conveyor device. Here the support parts perform a rotary movement at a speed that varies during one revolution and with an opposing relative rotation. Each support part supports a plurality of retaining devices arranged equally distributed along the circumference, wherein the retaining devices of the support parts are preferably arranged alternately and consecutively in the circumferential direction.
US08919530B2

A short gap diverter for a conveyor includes a plurality of spaced apart belts for transferring a product from a speed up conveyor to a primary delivery conveyor. A secondary delivery conveyor is positioned above the transit conveyor. A first set of fingers is positioned between the belts and is moveable from a position below the plane determined by the upper surfaces of the belts to a second position above the plane and angled toward the secondary delivery conveyor. A second set of fingers is mounted on the secondary delivery conveyor and moveable from a first retracted position to an extended position with the extended fingers forming a bridge for directing alternate products to the secondary delivery conveyor.
US08919518B2

A multiple plate friction clutch includes clutch plates or discs having reduced frictional (spin) losses and thus reduced heat generation and improved service life. The clutch plates include both leaf springs or spring tabs at the periphery of the clutch plate that axially bias adjacent plates away from one another and a reduced area of friction material that contacts an adjacent reaction plate. On a typical motor vehicle automatic transmission clutch, a total of six or eight leaf springs or tabs are utilized: with three or four offset to one side and three or four offset to the other side.
US08919514B2

A brake assembly includes a mounting flange having a central opening to receive a shaft, a rotor disc mounted on the shaft and rotatable with the shaft, a float plate having a first friction surface engageable with one face of the rotor disc, and a pressure plate having a second friction surface engageable with another face of the rotor disc. The brake assembly also includes a spring housing, which operates as a piston, and a cylinder coupled to the spring housing to form a fluid pressure chamber. The spring housing moves in a first direction when pressurized fluid enters the fluid pressure chamber and in a second direction when pressurized fluid exits the fluid pressure chamber. The assembly further includes at least one sliding stud to allow axial movement of at least one of the float plate, the pressure plate, and the spring housing to allow axial movement.
US08919513B2

A bi-directional overrunning clutch includes a housing and a pair of hubs substantially coaxially aligned within the housing. A pair of roll cages position a plurality of rollers between each hub and an inner cam surface of the housing. The rollers are positioned to wedge between the hub and the inner cam surface when one of the hub and the housing is rotated with respect to the other. End caps are attached to the housing adjacent to the hubs. A friction disk mechanism includes a friction plate rotating in combination with each the roll cage and a spring compressed between the end cap and the roll cage for biasing the friction member into frictional contact with the hub. An intermittent coupler is located between each roll cage and configured to engage the roll cages so as to permit indexing of one roll cage relative to the other.
US08919508B1

A portable suitcase tabletop system features a suitcase with a u-shaped telescopic handle located on a suitcase top surface. The telescopic handle slides out and away from the suitcase top surface when extended. The suitcase features a plurality of wheels located on a suitcase bottom surface. The system features a planar table pivotally located on a suitcase rear surface or a suitcase front surface. A U-shaped bar is slides out from the suitcase rear surface or the suitcase front surface next to a table bottom surface. The bar supports the table. The table and the bar are located in a zippered pouch. A telescopic front support slides out from a front support cavity located in the suitcase rear surface or the suitcase front surface close to the suitcase bottom surface.
US08919503B2

A brake lining for a railroad car brake includes friction members which are pressed onto the sliding surface of a brake disc, and a back plate which is attached to a brake caliper in order to support the friction members. The friction members are dividedly arranged in a radial direction and in a circumferential direction of the brake disc. A disc spring is disposed between each respective friction member and the back plate. An outer peripheral surface of the friction members facing the back plate is formed in a convex curved shape in an area outside the elastic member. When a light pressing force is applied, a pressing force is transmitted from the back plate to the friction members via the disc springs. When a heavy pressing force is applied, the back plate and a rounded surface portion make contact, thereby directly transmitting a pressing force to the friction members.
US08919502B2

Disclosed herein are a cord assembly for replacement of an outer beam and a carrier including the same which may provide an improved degree of freedom in design and prevent damage to the carrier. The cord assembly for replacement of an outer beam, which is fastened to a carrier at which a pair of pad plates is installed to be movable forward and backward with pads attached to inner surfaces of the pad plates to be squeezed against a disc rotating together with a wheel of a vehicle, includes at least one cord having a predetermined stiffness and formed by twisting at least two steel wires and fasteners fastened to both ends of the at least one cord to be installed at coupling portions protruding respectively from both ends of the carrier.
US08919501B2

An elevator system which utilizes four or more independently moving cabs in each elevator shaft. The lower cabs are connected to four spatially separated counterweights at four different counterweight connection points. The connection points are horizontally shifted on different cabs in order to prevent interference between cables, pulleys and counterweights. The top cab may be connected to one or two counterweights by connection points on the roof of the cab. The cabs are mounted on two tracks, each track on one side of the elevator shaft. The system includes a motor attached to each of the cabs by lift cables to facilitate the independent movement of all cabs. Existing buildings can be retrofit for compatibility with the present invention.
US08919494B2

An electric heater (40) for integration into an acoustic panel (20) having sound-penetrating pores (30) communicating with a sound-canceling medium. The heater (40) includes an electrically conductive layer (53) with resistance-setting apertures (63) filled with sealant (73). Openings (83), which contribute to the sound-penetrating pores (30), extend through the sealant-filled apertures (63). The acoustic panel (20) can be assimilated into an aircraft component, such as a nacelle inlet lip, which requires both noise-reducing and ice-protecting features.
US08919492B2

An adsorption unit for combustion gas of an internal combustion engine has an adsorption housing having a chamber section with an inner wall. An adsorption element disposed in the adsorption housing is made of a gas-permeable adsorption medium that is formed to a hollow body and encloses an interior of the adsorption element. The hollow body has opposed open ends. A main flow passage extends through the hollow body and the combustion gas flows in main flow direction through the hollow body. The adsorption element has an exterior circumferential side facing away from the interior and delimiting together with the inner wall of the chamber section a bypass chamber surrounding the absorption element outwardly. In the main flow direction, the bypass chamber has a downstream end that is closed off and an upstream end that has at least one bypass opening that communicates with the main flow passage.
US08919490B2

A power steering system for a vehicle comprises a lead screw which is driven by a servo motor and which is composed of a nut that is mounted axially non-displaceably in a frame, and an axially displaceable component, the thread of which is engaged with a thread of the nut, wherein the nut is mounted in the frame by a rolling bearing. At least one side of the rolling bearing is provided on an outer ring with at least one respective bearing disk, the side of which facing away from the outer ring is provided in the radial region of the outer ring with a ring or an annular component made of elastomeric material, wherein the ring protrudes in the axial direction over the outer surface of the respective bearing disk when the rolling bearing is not installed.
US08919484B2

An automobile is provided with a body, a combustion engine and a transmission operationally connected to the engine. The crankshaft of the engine is substantially oriented in vehicle transverse direction and the engine seen in driving direction of the vehicle is arranged behind the transmission.
US08919473B2

A motor vehicle chassis including two valance lateral flanks including a horizontal portion for attachment to a central floor situated between the two lateral flanks, at least one horizontal beam for accepting seats which is mounted on the raised central floor of the vehicle, and a housing for an energy reservoir situated under a horizontal main surface of the central floor, the horizontal portions of the valance and the main surface of the central floor having a height difference. The chassis further includes connecting elements arranged on each side of the chassis and including a flat portion fixed to the central floor and an inclined portion fixed to one end of the horizontal beam, the inclined and flat portions being joined together and produced as a single piece, and the connecting element being fixed to the horizontal beam and to the central floor respectively, using welding.
US08919472B2

Industrial truck with a drive part which comprises an electrical travel drive, a load part which comprises a load carrying means and which may be lifted relative to the drive part, a battery receiving space and an energy module which may be handled manually, which may be inserted into the battery receiving space and which comprises a battery for supplying power to the travel drive, the energy module having a defined installed position in the state inserted into the battery receiving space, the battery receiving space enclosing the energy module in the inserted state so that the energy module is not displaceable in the defined installed position but may only be removed from the battery receiving space after being tilted, during the tilting process an upper end of the energy module being moved by a predetermined angle about a horizontal pivot axis.
US08919465B2

A construction machine with improved safety can include a high voltage cable for supplying power. The high voltage cable connects a storage devices to an electric drive that drives using power from a power generation device, which generates power using the drive of an engine, or from the storage device, which stores the power generated by the power generation device, is wired along the sides of a frame structural member that protrudes in a vertical direction. The frame structural member serves as an upright wall to adequately protect the high voltage cable. In cases in which, for example, the construction machine strikes an obstruction, or the like, the high voltage cable is adequately protected by the frame structural member.
US08919457B2

An apparatus for determining the weight on a drill bit and axial forces along a drill string drilling though an earthen formation. The apparatus comprising an LVDT incorporated into a torsional bearing of a magneto-rheological damping system such that the LVDT senses the relative displacement and accelerations between a bearing mandrel portion and a bearing casing portion of the torsional damper. The LVDT is calibrated with respect to a spring in the damping system that resists relative motion between the bearing mandrel and bearing casing such that the output of the LVDT can be transformed into the force associated with the weight on the drill bit, and the same LVDT accelerations combined with the mass distribution along the drill string to determine axial stresses.
US08919442B2

A method for coating a filter medium (110) of a sand control screen assembly (100). The method includes providing a sand control screen assembly (100) having a filter medium (110), the filter medium (110) having pores therein, flowing a slurry containing particles through the filter medium (110) of the sand control screen assembly (100) and bridging the particle across the pores to form a particle coating (116) on the filter medium (110), thereby protecting of the filter medium (110) during installation, enabling transportation of reactive materials to a desired wellbore location and enabling circulation of fluid through the sand control screen assembly (100).
US08919439B2

Disclosed are systems and methods of producing from multiple production zones with a single trip multi-zone completion system. One method includes arranging an outer completion string within an open hole section of a wellbore, the outer completion string having at least one sand screen disposed thereabout, extending a production tubing within the outer completion string, the production tubing having at least one interval control valve disposed thereon, communicably coupling the production tubing to the completion string at a crossover coupling having one or more control lines coupled thereto, actuating the at least one interval control valve to initiate production into the production tubing at the at least one interval control valve, and measuring one or more fluid and/or well environmental parameters external to the outer completion string with a surveillance line communicably coupled to one or more control lines at the crossover coupling.
US08919431B2

A hydraulic wellbore anchoring system for use with whipstocks or other tools in either cased or open hole wellbores. The anchoring system includes an upper slip system and a lower slip system. The anchor system may be set using hydraulic pressure and withdrawn by a predetermined upward force. While the slips of the upper and lower slip systems may be set substantially simultaneously, the anchoring system enables sequential disengagement of the slips to reduce the force required for withdrawal.
US08919430B2

A system for containing and recovering from the blowout of an oil or gas well. The blowout containment (BOC) system is operable in place of, or as a failsafe alternative to, standard blowout preventer (BOP) systems. The BOC system includes a hydraulically operated gate valve positioned over the well at the wellhead. The gate valve includes a check valve operable when the gate valve is closed. The BOC system further includes at least one shearing assembly positioned over the gate valve. The shearing assembly orients explosive charges into the well flow path. An activation trigger detonates the explosive charges to clear the well flow path of obstructions to permit the gate valve to close. Operation of the BOC system is preferably monitored and controlled from a remote location apart from the rig associated with the well.
US08919426B2

A heat pipe device and a corresponding method in which micro-channel embedded pulsating heat pipes are incorporated into a substrate. A volume of fluid in a vacuum is introduced into a micro-channel which will become slugs of liquid. Heating of the contents of the micro-channel at an evaporator region (heat source) will cause vaporization within the micro-channel and cooling at a heat sink will cause condensation within the micro-channel, acting to both drive fluid flow within the micro-channel and efficiently transfer heat. Such devices could be used in a number of different configurations, including one as a stacked set of micro-channel embedded substrates.
US08919425B2

A heat exchanger divided into two regions through which a heat exchange medium is flowed and an inlet side and an outlet side are integrally formed so as to simplify a construction thereof using a header tank of a double-tube structure type, and in which a flow control valve having a single body is disposed at one side of the heat exchanger so as to facilely control an amount of the heat exchange medium bypassed or flowed into each region.
US08919420B2

A variable length support rod apparatus for translational support of a window treatment, such as draperies, comprised of a support member formed of a plurality of transnationally engaged segments, the support member is infinitely configurable from a minimum contracted length to a maximum extended length through a translation of the plurality of segments toward or away from each other. A continuous flexible member is positioned along a pathway running between a first end and a second end of the support member. The support rod may be configured to any length between the minimum and maximum lengths and may be fixed to a support surface without an adjustment of the fixed length of the continuous flexible member.
US08919417B2

A head rail of a window covering includes a rail member, two rail lids engaging opposite ends of the rail member, and two lid fasteners to fix a rail lids. The lid fastener includes a main plate, two clip plates, and two stop plates. The lid fastener engages the rail member with the clip plates clipping the rail member and the stop plates holding the rail lid to securely fix the rail lid to the rail member. The lid fastener provides a fast and easy way to engage and disengage the rail lid.
US08919416B2

An apparatus for raising and lowering a covering member of a window covering includes a sliding base, a first biasing device, a connecting device, and a second biasing device. The sliding base is moved between a first position and a second position in a headrail. The first biasing device has two first biasing members to urge the sliding base toward the first position. The connecting device is moved between a third position and a fourth position in the headrail. The second biasing device has a second biasing member to urge the connecting device toward the third position. The second biasing member of the second biasing device is added at a middle of raising the covering member to help the covering member totally received close to or in the headrail.
US08919408B2

A method and a device are provided for pre-fixing a laminating material to at least one surface portion of a component, in particular an interior lining component for a motor vehicle, which is arranged on a component receptacle 5. Here, a seam blade which can be acted on with different contact pressures is, by means of a pivoting movement from a position arranged offset from the component receptacle, applied with a pivoting movement to the laminating material placed onto and aligned on the component.
US08919393B2

The invention is based on the insight that a filling system obtained by combining a “Kruse” compatible threaded socket and an annular magnet as required for the operation of the “Elaflex” nozzle, will exhibit air exchange problems related to the difference in the positioning of the respective air intake openings of the “Kruse” bottle and the “Elaflex” nozzle. More particularly, the invention is based on the insight that by judiciously providing a chamber in fluid communication with the volume of air or vapor in the tank, filling may be made possible with a “Kruse” bottle as well as with an “Elaflex” nozzle.
US08919371B2

A valve includes a rotor and a stator. The rotor and the stator each have seal surfaces for contacting and sliding against one another during operation of the valve. Either or both of the rotor and the stator have a seal-surface coating formed by depositing an at least partially amorphous interlayer on a substrate and depositing a surface layer, including diamond-like carbon, on the interlayer. The surface layer requires no mechanical polishing.
US08919354B2

Methods and devices are provided for various headbands and one or more decorative features configured to be magnetically attached to the headbands. In certain embodiments, a decorative feature can magnetically attach to any part of a headband via a magnetic element seated within a magnetic element pocket of the decorative feature. The magnetic element can be securely contained within the magnetic element pocket by a closure. In certain embodiments the decorative feature can also optionally include a sleeve that can slide over the headband and more securely attach the decorative feature to the headband.
US08919350B1

Disclosed is a hair comb capable of reducing the resistance and improving the smoothness of combing hair, and the hair comb includes a slab-shaped main body, a plurality of parallel slash-shaped teeth implant areas disposed on a surface of the main body, a plurality of serial comb teeth sequentially implanted in the teeth implant areas and disposed opposite to the slash-shaped teeth implant areas respectively, a vacant area without any implanted tooth and disposed on a surface of the main body and the width of the vacant area falling between the serial comb teeth is greater than the distance between two adjacent comb teeth to achieve the effects of reducing the resistance of combining hair by the hair comb and the occurrence of tangled hair and providing a smooth combing operation.
US08919347B2

An apparatus is disclosed for placement on a support surface between the support surface and a living being, wherein the living being has a bony prominence. The apparatus includes a first zone having a first coefficient of friction, the first zone being configured for positioning proximate the bony prominence. A second zone is adjacent the first zone, the second zone having a second coefficient of friction higher than the first coefficient of friction. The second zone is configured for positioning remote from the bony prominence. A method of preventing or healing decubitus ulcers includes positioning the bony prominence over the first zone and positioning an area remote from the bony prominence over the second zone.
US08919346B2

A radial artery of a patient is made accessible to an operator on the right side of the patient for performing a left radial artery accessed cardiac catheterization with a forearm and hand positioning device which includes first and second inflatable air bladders. The first air bladder extends longitudinally with an upper surface that, when the air bladder is inflated, supports and positions the forearm and hand of a patient with a radial artery of the patient remaining accessible to the operator. The second air bladder extends longitudinally beneath and is connected to the first air bladder and when inflated elevates the first air bladder and a forearm and hand of the patient held therein above a support for the patient's arm.
US08919342B2

In an inhaler for administering a powdery medicament in the form of an inhalable substance, substance formulation or mixture, a blister cavity to be opened by piercing elements (11) is mounted in the lower part (1) of a housing (2), which has an upper part (6), designed as mouthpiece and with an inhalation channel (16), and of the lower part (1), which has an air inlet opening (9). The inhalation channel (16) of the upper part (6) of the housing has a unit (15) for dispersing the powdery medicament, said unit (15) being connected to the piercing elements (11), wherein the upper part (6) of the housing can be moved relative to the lower part (1) of the housing in order to open the blister cavity.
US08919338B2

A cooking appliance includes an outer cabinet within which is provided an oven cavity which can be selectively accessed by movement of a door mounted through a door linkage system which enables the door to be shifted between opened and closed positions through either sliding or tilting movements. In particular, the door can be automatically or manually shifted between open and closed positions, through either the sliding or tilting motions. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the door can be automatically opened at the end of a process or cooking cycle, or manually opened.
US08919331B2

A portable and adjustable clay target launching apparatus for use with a clay pigeon launcher includes a framework. A tilt adjustment assembly is coupled to the framework, and includes a shaft and a tilt assembly input member operatively coupled to the shaft such that the shaft is rotated by operation of the tilt assembly input member. A base member is configured to secure the clay pigeon launching device, the base member being operatively coupled to the shaft and configured to tilt side to side when the shaft is rotated by operation of the tilt assembly input member. A rotational adjustment assembly operatively couples the base member to the tilt adjustment assembly, the rotational adjustment assembly being movable between a released configuration at which the base member is selectively rotatable about a sprocket and a locked configuration at which the base member is not rotatable.
US08919315B2

An intake manifold (2) of comburent air is provided for an internal combustion engine (1) with a recirculating conduit (60) of exhaust gases. The intake manifold (2) includes a first inlet mouth (213) of the comburent air, a second inlet mouth (214) in communication with the recirculating conduit (60) of the exhaust gases, and a plurality of outlet mouths (201), having a wall (7) positioned in front of each of the outlet mouths (201) and suitable for dividing the internal volume of the intake manifold (2) into two chambers (215, 204), the first chamber (215) being placed in communication with the first inlet mouth (213) and the second inlet mouth (214) and the second chamber (204) being placed in communication with the outlet mouths (201), the wall (7) defining an opening (70) suitable for placing the first chamber (215) and the second chamber (204) in communication.
US08919310B2

Provided is a valve open/close timing control device including, a drive-side rotating body, a driven-side rotating body, a fluid pressure chamber, a partition portion, a fluid control valve part, a first locking mechanism which is capable of restraining a relative rotational phase of the driven-side rotating body relative to the drive-side rotating body at a first predetermined phase between a most retarded angle phase and a most advanced angle phase, and a second locking mechanism which is capable of restraining the relative rotational phase at a second predetermined phase on a more retarded angle side than the first predetermined phase, in which the relative rotational phase is changed to the first predetermined phase when a shift lever position is changed to a parking range.
US08919308B2

A clutch shaft for a camshaft controller having at each of two ends (30, 31) thereof a rotating joint which equalizes the angle between the axes. An actuator for controlling a camshaft adjustment transmission includes a clutch shaft for controlling the camshaft adjustment transmission to the actuator via a first rotating joint which equalizes the angle between the axes which is coupled in a region of the actuator which faces away from the adjustment transmission.
US08919306B2

A controller for a variable valve device of an internal combustion engine includes a hydraulic valve timing changing mechanism that changes the valve timing VT of an intake valve, a valve timing locking mechanism that locks the valve timing VT to an intermediate phase, and an electronic controller that controls the operation of the valve timing changing mechanism. The electronic controller limits the variable range of the valve timing VT in accordance with the composition of hydraulic oil, when the operational state of the valve timing changing mechanism is a phase-unlocked state in which the valve timing VT can be changed.
US08919301B2

A cylinder block including a cylinder and two crankshaft supports at a bottom of the cylinder block is described. The cylinder block may be coupled to a structural frame such that the cylinder block is lubricated through the structural frame. The cylinder block may reduce vehicle weight and cost.
US08919297B2

An apparatus including a reciprocating internal combustion engine with at least one piston and cylinder set and an intake stream; at least one liquid atomizer in fluid communication with the intake stream operable to provide a plurality of liquid droplets with a diameter less than 5 μm to the intake stream; and a controller where the controller is able to adjust an index of compression for the engine by: calculating a wet compression level in response to an engine operating limit and adjusting the at least one liquid atomizer in response to the wet compression level.
US08919284B2

An animal bed includes a plurality of elongate frame members, a plurality of corner fittings coupling the plurality of elongate frame members to form a frame, bedding supported by the frame, and at least one support supporting the frame above an underlying substrate. Each of at least first and second corner fittings among the plurality of corner fittings has a passage formed therethrough that receives therein a corresponding one of the elongate frame members.
US08919279B1

A processing system for and a method of producing ions inside a process chamber and shielding the ions from a magnetic field by directing the magnetic field through a magnet keeper is described.
US08919269B1

A sewing machine feed mechanism is mounted on a work table of a sewing machine for transporting fabrics to be sewn, and includes a feed belt defining an encircled space; two belt wheels, on which two opposite ends of the feed belt are mounted; a driving source for driving the two belt wheels and the feed belt to rotate synchronously; a plurality of pressing elements located in the encircled space with respective bottom in contact with the feed belt; and an airbag located atop the pressing elements and connected to an external control device to have adjustable internal pressure. With these arrangements, the sewing machine feed mechanism has simplified structure to allow easy mounting/dismounting and reduced manufacturing cost thereof. Further, fabrics placed between the work table and the feed belt can be evenly pressed while being transported into a stitch forming area of the sewing machine for sewing.
US08919264B1

An apparatus for adjusting the height of a work surface comprising a height-adjusting mechanism and a universal mount that ensures compatibility with a wide variety of desks and other work surfaces.
US08919262B2

The embodiments of the subject invention pertain to a workstation for attachment to a trolling motor. The workstation comprises a cowl for covering the head of a trolling motor and a shaft collar for operable attachment of the cowl to a trolling motor shaft. The workstation can remain in place on a trolling motor even when stored on the deck of a boat. Various accessories can also be attached to the cowl.
US08919260B2

A running gear for a rail vehicle includes a wheel unit and a cooperating unit. The running gear defines a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction and a height direction, while the wheel unit defines a wheel unit axis. The cooperating unit is connected to the wheel unit and cooperates with the wheel unit during operation the running gear to drive and/or brake the wheel unit. Furthermore, during operation of the running gear, an airflow passes the wheel unit and the cooperating unit, in the height direction, at a first height level below the wheel unit axis. At least one air guide device is provided, the air guide device being arranged and adapted to guide an airflow portion of the airflow towards a section of the cooperating unit located at a second height level, the second height level being located above the first height level above the wheel unit axis.
US08919255B1

A chemiluminescent tracer insert with decelerator for use with a shotgun shell to provide an aiming and training aid for shotgun shooting activities, including skeet, trap, sporting clays, hunting, law enforcement and military applications. The tracer insert can be used in shotgun shells of all gauges. The tracer insert comprises a translucent, resilient, elastic, cylindrical container in which the reactants, an oxalate and fluorescent-colored dye solution, and an activator encased in a glass vessel, are held. Ignition of the shell causes the glass vessel to break. The resulting chemiluminescent reaction causes emission of light visible to the shooter. Unattached ends of thin-flaps on the tracer insert extend outwardly when drag forces act upon them during flight, slowing the speed of the tracer insert, which makes it more visible to the shooter, thereby providing a consistent reference to enable a shooter to make corrections to his lead and/or shooting techniques.
US08919250B2

The present invention provides a printing press. The printing press includes a frame, a plate cylinder, a plate cylinder support supporting the plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder for receiving an image from the plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder support supporting the blanket cylinder, an impression cylinder for supporting a printing substrate between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder, an actuator connected to and controlling a position of the plate cylinder support or the blanket cylinder support and a controller providing the actuator with a position setpoint, the actuator receiving position feedback signals to maintain the position setpoint during a printing operation. The present invention also provides a method for operating a printing press.
US08919241B2

According to embodiments described in the specification, a brewing chamber for a beverage machine is provided comprising a housing having upper and lower ends and a channel extending between the upper and lower ends; an outlet portion of the channel configured to direct liquid towards the lower end; an extraction member extending from an inner surface defined by a wall of the outlet portion, the extraction member having an upper penetrating end for penetrating a cartridge and an anchoring end abutting the wall; the extraction member further having guide means for guiding liquid from the penetrating end onto the inner surface. The brewing chamber can include at least one spring coupled to the housing at the inlet end, the at least one spring receivable within a pocket of a support insert supporting a cartridge. The spring centers the support insert over the housing and facilitates ejection of the support insert.
US08919240B2

The invention concerns a beverage production system comprising beverage ingredient containing capsules (1) comprising an identification member (6) and a beverage production machine for receiving said capsules, said machine comprising:—contact means (8) for physically contacting the capsule identification member (6) in order to read information thereof and—control means connected to the contact means and designed to control the operation of the beverage production machine (11) in response to the read information, the contact means (8) comprising:—at least one displaceable probe (81) which mechanically contacts the capsule identification member (6),—a resilient support member (82) in contact with the probe on one side and associated to a circuitry (9) on its other side, the parts of said resilient support member in contact with the probe presenting a shape able to be deformed,—discrete conductive parts (121) between the resilient support member (82) and the circuitry (9), wherein the contact means (8) comprises a waterproof material layer (12) between the resilient support member (82) and the discrete conductive parts (121).
US08919235B2

A cutting apparatus includes a cutting device and a base section. The cutting device includes a motor, a housing, a circular saw blade, and a base plate. The circular saw blade is driven by the motor to cut a workpiece. The housing rotatably supports the circular saw blade and accommodates the motor. The base plate is connected with the housing and is formed with an opening into which the circular saw blade is inserted. The base plate includes a main base plate connected with the housing and a sub base plate detachably mounted on the main base plate. The base section supports the workpiece. The cutting device is detachably mounted on the base section and is pivotably supported by the base section to be moved toward and away from the base section to cut the workpiece.
US08919234B2

A food slicer includes a frame for supporting a landing and a runway movable relative to the landing. A cutting blade is secured on an upstream end of the landing. A downstream end of the runway is spaced from an edge of the cutting blade. A separate cutting knife is moveably connected to the frame. An adjustment mechanism connected to the frame adjusts an offset between the cutting blade and the runway. The adjustment mechanism includes spaced apart first and second guide tracks provided on respective first and second movable side members. The guide tracks are configured such that a first movement of the adjustment mechanism moves the downstream end of the runway relative to the cutting blade to adjust a cutting thickness and a second movement of the adjustment mechanism lowers the downstream end of the runway and raises the cutting knife to a working position.
US08919224B1

A transmission having an integrated gear and brake mechanism is disposed in a housing, the transmission having a variable drive mechanism, gear train, and an output axle engaged to the gear train. The output axle is driven by a final drive gear having an integrated drum brake within its circumference.
US08919222B2

A platform upon which a humans foot can be placed has an upper and a lower surface, distal and proximal ends respectively corresponding to the toes and heel of the humans foot, and a ridge extending approximately vertically from the platforms upper surface around the perimeter of the proximal end of the platform to aid in retaining the humans heel at the proximal position of the platform when positioned on the upper surface of the platform. Associated with the platform is a distal plate adjustably connected to the distal region of the lower surface of the platform.
US08919214B2

A transmission and power take-off unit assembly is provided including a transmission, a power take-off unit, and an alignment sleeve and seal assembly. The transmission and power take-off housing both include a bearing surface and locating surface that are machined by a tool having two coaxial cutting wheels. The alignment sleeve enables tighter tolerances for improved concentricity between the bearing surface and locating surface.
US08919210B2

A load cell lockout system includes a lower support, an upper support, and a load cell disposed between the lower support and the upper support. The upper support is movable relative to the lower support between a first position wherein a first load is applied by the upper support to the load cell and a second position wherein either a second load that is lighter than the first load is applied by the upper support to the load cell or no load is applied by the upper support to the load cell. A lockout includes a cam with an eccentric perimeter side edge, the cam being rotatable between a first orientation whereby the upper support is placed in the first position and a second orientation whereby the upper support is placed in the second position.
US08919208B2

An ultrasonic flowmeter apparatus, which can be mounted on a conduit flowing a fluid whose flow rate is to be measured, has two housing halves coupled swingably about an axis. Free ends of the housing halves include a clamp mechanism for closing and locking the halves in position. The halves have formed therein grooves 1a and 2a, respectively, and a pair of ultrasonic wave transmission and reception elements are provided on an inner wall of the groove 1a. When the conduit is clamped between the grooves, the conduit is urged against the inner walls and deformed into a substantially square cross sectional configuration. An ultrasonic wave beam B is projected from one of the elements into a fluid passing through the conduit, the beam is reflected by an opposite surface of the conduit urged against the groove 2a, and the reflected beam is received by the other element.
US08919203B2

The invention relates to a thermal protection element (1), which is arranged on the front side for protecting a diaphragm (11) of a pressure sensor (10) to which pressure is applied. According to the invention, the thermal protection element (1) has, in the region of the sensor diaphragm (11), lamellae (2) which run parallel or are configured as circular arc segments (8) and cover 40% to 60% of the diaphragm surface, with the ratio between the cross-sectional height (h) of the lamellae (2) and the cross-sectional width (b) thereof being 8:1 to 12:1.
US08919197B2

A bank angle detecting device includes an angular velocity sensor for detecting a roll rate and a yaw rate of the vehicle, a roll rate estimating circuit for calculating an estimated roll rate, which is an angular velocity about a forward and rearward axis, on the basis of the roll rate, the yaw rate and a travelling speed, a bank angle estimator for calculating an estimated bank angle from the estimated roll rate, a straightforward travel determiner for determining a straightforward travelling condition on the basis of the estimated roll rate and an estimated yaw rate, a time-of-straight-forward-travel drift amount estimator for estimating a time-of-straight-forward drift amount from an output of the angular sensor in the event that the straightforward travel determiner determines a straightforward travel, and an angular velocity corrector for correcting the output of the angular velocity sensor with the time-of-straight-forward drift amount.
US08919195B2

An environment providing device having a test chamber; a spraying device for receiving the supply of a gas flow to spray, into the test chamber, a fluid that contains particles; a flow meter for measuring a measured value for the flow rate of the gas flow that is supplied to the spraying device; a flow rate controlling device for controlling to a prescribed value, based on the measured value, the flow rate of the gas flow that is supplied to the spraying device; a timer for measuring a time interval over which the fluid that includes the particles has been sprayed into the test chamber; and a spraying-device-controlling device for stopping the spraying of the fluid that contains the particles after spraying a prescribed quantity of particles into the test chamber.
US08919191B2

Use for measuring temperatures of a coordination complex presenting formula I, wherein M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 are chosen, each independently of the others, in the group consisting of: CuI, AgI, AuI, PdII; n is equal to the sum of the oxidation states of M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 minus 3; II represents a respective portion of each tridentate ligand having the formula III in which R1 is chosen in the group consisting of: Ph, C1-C4 alkyl, halo-alkyl C1-C4 substituted phenyl; R2 is chosen in the group consisting of: Ph, C1-C4 alkyl, C1-C4 halo-alkyl-, substituted phenyl; R3 is chosen in the group consisting of: C1-C18 alkyl, benzyl, substituted benzyl, C1-C20 hydroxy-alkyl, C1-C20 alkoxy silane.
US08919186B2

A fuel injection system for use with an internal combustion engine supplies fuel to an injector (fuel injection valve) from a common rail (accumulator) through a high-pressure pipe to spray the fuel from a spray hole formed in the injector. A thin-walled portion is formed in a path member (e.g., an injector body, the high-pressure pipe, or a connector connecting the injector and the high-pressure pipe) and defined by a locally thin wall of the path member. A strain gauge (strain sensor) is affixed to the thin-walled portion to measure strain of the thin-walled portion arising from the pressure of fuel in a high-pressure fuel path.
US08919181B2

A multiple flow conduit flow meter (200) is provided according to an embodiment of the invention. The multiple flow conduit flow meter (200) includes a first flow conduit (201) conducting a first flow stream and a pair of first pickoff sensors (215, 215′) affixed to the first flow conduit (201). The multiple flow conduit flow meter (200) further includes at least one additional flow conduit (202) conducting at least one additional flow stream and at least one pair of additional pickoff sensors (216, 216′) affixed to the at least one additional flow conduit (202). The at least one additional flow stream is independent of the first flow stream. The multiple flow conduit flow meter (200) further includes a common driver (220) configured to vibrate both the first flow conduit (201) and the at least one additional flow conduit (202) in order to generate a first vibrational response and at least one additional vibrational response.
US08919179B2

A system and method for optimizing the response of a metal loss sensor which is configured in a way that its insertion depth and orientation in the process fluid are adjustable. These adjustments affect local turbulence and thereby enable achieving a desired corrosion rate at the metal loss sensor. Corrosion rate comparison between the metal loss sensor and pressure containment boundary can be measured directly or indirectly by computing wall shear stresses at the sensor and the pressure containment boundary.
US08919159B2

The invention relates to an actuator (10) for closing and/or opening a mobile part, especially a door, a tailgate or the like. Said actuator comprises a support (20), an actuating element (30), an electronic unit (50) and a detector system (60), the actuating element (30) being arranged on the support (20), the detector system (60) being arranged in the region of the actuating element (30) and at least a locking or unlocking action being triggerable directly or indirectly on the detector system (60). The electronic unit (50) interacts with the detector system (60) and the electronic unit (50) controls a locking system (40) for locking or unlocking. The invention is characterized in that a receiving unit (70) is integrated into the support (20) and/or into a handle shell (32) in a material fit, at least a part of the electronic unit (50) being permanently accommodated in the receiving unit (70).
US08919143B2

An air-cooling apparatus is provided which includes an air-cooling wall cooling airflow passing through an electronics rack(s) of a data center. The air-cooling wall is disposed separate from and in spaced relation to the air inlet or air outlet side(s) of the electronics rack(s), and includes a wall panel support structure disposed separate from the electronics rack(s), which supports one or more slidable wall panels. The slidable wall panel(s) includes an air-to-liquid heat exchanger slidably supported and disposed in spaced relation to the air outlet or air inlet side of the electronics rack(s). The heat exchanger extracts heat from air passing across the heat exchanger and is slidable within the support structure in a direction transverse to the direction of airflow through the rack(s). Slidable support of the heat exchanger by the support structure facilitates access to the air outlet or air inlet sides of the electronics rack(s).
US08919139B2

An air conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit, an operation controlling device and a liquid refrigerant accumulation determining device. The refrigerant circuit has an accumulator. The operation controlling device performs normal operation control where each device of the heat source unit and the utilization unit are controlled in accordance with operating load of the utilization unit, and refrigerant quantity determination operation control where properness of quantity of the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit is determined while performing the cooling operation. The liquid refrigerant accumulation determining device determines whether or not liquid refrigerant is accumulating in the accumulator. When it has been determined that liquid refrigerant is accumulating in the accumulator, liquid refrigerant accumulation control is performed to eliminate liquid refrigerant accumulation in the accumulator.
US08919138B2

A packaged beverage temperature adjustment apparatus includes: a temperature adjustment section configured to hold a packaged beverage, and adjust a temperature of the packaged beverage; and a rotation driving section configured to rotate the temperature adjustment section, the temperature adjustment section including at least one temperature adjustment unit abutting on a side face of the packaged beverage.
US08919136B2

An after-body assembly for an aeroengine, the assembly comprising an annular part (60) made of metallic material secured to the aeroengine and an after-body part (20) made of ceramic matrix composite material, the after-body part (20) being mounted on the annular part (60) by resiliently flexible fastener tabs (70) and having a first end (71) fastened to the annular part (60) and a second end (72) fastened to the upstream portion of the after-body part (20). Each fastener tab (70) includes an axial abutment element (720) that extends radially from the second end (72) of the tab and having at least a portion thereof facing the first end (71). The fastener tab (70) also includes a radial abutment element (721) at the second end (72) of the tab, the radial abutment element (721) at least partially overlying the first end (71).
US08919134B2

An assembly for gas turbine engine includes a cross-over housing, an inter-shaft seal housing, and a linkage. The inter-shaft seal housing is disposed within the cross-over housing. The linkage is connected to the inter-shaft seal housing and extends through a slot in the cross-over housing. The linkage is removable from both the inner radial housing and the outer radial housing.
US08919127B2

A system includes a gas turbine combustor, which includes a combustion liner disposed about a combustion region, a flow sleeve disposed about the combustion liner, an air passage between the combustion liner and the flow sleeve, and a structure between the combustion liner and the flow sleeve. The structure obstructs an airflow through the air passage. The gas turbine combustor also includes a wake reducer disposed adjacent the structure. The wake reducer directs a flow into a wake region downstream of the structure.
US08919126B2

A device for injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of a gas turbine is provided, having a distribution section to which a first fuel channel, a second fuel channel and an injection channel are coupled. The first fuel channel and the second fuel channel are arranged such that a) fuel is transportable by one of the first fuel channel and the second fuel channel to the distribution section, and b) a first quantity of fuel is transportable by the other one of the first fuel channel and the second fuel channel out of the distribution section. The injection channel is arranged such that a second quantity of fuel is injectable from the distribution section into the combustion chamber. The device further comprises an end cap with a protrusion having the injection channel inside, and extending inside the inner tube.
US08919118B2

A motor vehicle is provided having a combustion engine, an automatic transmission, a turbocharger with variable geometry pre-compressing combustion air for the combustion engine and a turbocharger control unit for varying the turbocharger geometry, the turbocharger control unit is equipped before a downshifting of the automatic transmission to vary the geometry in the turbocharger in the direction of a reduction of the rotational speed of the turbocharger.
US08919112B1

A compressed-air energy storage system according to embodiments of the present invention comprises a reversible mechanism to compress and expand air, one or more compressed air storage tanks, a control system, one or more heat exchangers, and, in certain embodiments of the invention, a motor-generator. The reversible air compressor-expander uses mechanical power to compress air (when it is acting as a compressor) and converts the energy stored in compressed air to mechanical power (when it is acting as an expander). In certain embodiments, the compressor-expander comprises one or more stages, each stage consisting of pressure vessel (the “pressure cell”) partially filled with water or other liquid. In some embodiments, the pressure vessel communicates with one or more cylinder devices to exchange air and liquid with the cylinder chamber(s) thereof. Suitable valving allows air to enter and leave the pressure cell and cylinder device, if present, under electronic control.
US08919104B2

A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine detects an amount of particulate matter contained in an exhaust gas in an exhaust passage, according to an electrical property across electrodes of a particulate matter sensor disposed in the exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine. The term “electrical property” here refers to a property that changes with the amount of particulate matter deposited, for example, a current value of when a predetermined voltage is applied. After the internal combustion engine is started and detection of the amount of the particulate matter is completed, an element section of the particulate matter sensor is set to a predetermined temperature range. The particulate matter deposited on the element section is thereby burned and removed. The control apparatus maintains the element section in the predetermined temperature range after burning and removing the particulate matter until the internal combustion engine stops.
US08919103B2

A system for purifying an exhaust gas and an exhaust system having the same while preventing degradation of a selective reduction catalyst may include an exhaust pipe connected to an engine, the exhaust gas generated at the engine passing through the exhaust pipe, a particulate filter mounted on the exhaust pipe, coated with a selective reduction catalyst adapted to reduce nitrogen oxides contained in the exhaust gas by an injection of a reducing agent, and adapted to trap particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas, and one or more injectors adapted to inject the reducing agent and/or oxygen storage capacity material together or separately into the exhaust gas passing through the exhaust pipe.
US08919101B2

An exhaust system is provided. The exhaust system includes a first sensor that senses a level of nitrous oxide (NOx) in exhaust gas and generates a first sensor signal. A second sensor senses a level of ammonia (NH3) in the exhaust gas and generates a second sensor signal. A control module receives the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal, determines a desired reductant dosage based on the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal, and generates an injector control signal based on the desired reductant dosage.
US08919098B2

In a diesel engine equipped with a system for automatic regeneration of a particulate filter, an automatic regeneration mode is inhibited in the case where there is recorded a number higher than a pre-set threshold of unfavorable event. When the automatic regeneration mode is inhibited, an on-demand regeneration mode is simultaneously enabled, which can be activated manually by the driver. If an on-demand regeneration is not performed before the vehicle has covered a certain mileage since the automatic regeneration mode was inhibited, the vehicle is set in a condition of limited performance.
US08919095B2

Embodiments of the invention relates to an injection element having an inner element with a first outlet opening and an outer element. The outer element includes at least one second outlet opening structured and arranged for receiving and injecting fuel in a combustion space, and arranged coaxially to the first outlet opening. The outer element further includes third outlet openings composed of bores structured and arranged for forming a cooling liquid film layer, wherein the bores are arranged coaxially to the first outlet opening and the at least one second outlet opening.
US08919092B2

An SZ laying machine for umbilical/power umbilical is described. Starting from an input end the machine includes: a first die receiving and collecting a first set of elongate elements substantially rectilinear from respective supplies of elongate elements, a second static die which receives and collects a second set of elongate elements substantially rectilinear from respective supplies of elongate elements and this second set is closed together with the first set into an assembled bundle, at least one supporting means which keeps the assembled bundle radially in place; a revolving device able to torsional rotate the bundle back and forth in an oscillating SZ manner, and a tape or band winding apparatus which in immediate proximity to the revolving device applies band or tape circumferentially onto the SZ laid bundle of elongate elements.
US08919091B2

A method is provided for interrupting yarn production on a spinning machine upon detecting a defined deviation of a monitored yarn parameter from a target value, upon changing bobbins at a winding device, and/or prior to switching off the spinning machine. The feed speeds of the delivery device, the take-off device, and the winding device are gradually reduced to a stop in order to interrupt the yarn production, wherein the reducing takes place such that an end of the produced yarn is located within the spinning point after the reducing is completed.
US08919089B2

An apparatus for harvesting agricultural row crops having stalks. The apparatus includes an inclined arm comprising a first section, the first section including: a stalk inlet arranged to receive stalks of row crops; and a cutter arranged to cut stalks received by the stalk inlet; the inclined arm further comprising: a biasing guide assembly disposed along the inclined arm, the biasing guide assembly comprising a plurality of individual biasing members; and a conveyor arranged to engage each received stalk and move each engaged stalk along the biasing guide assembly; the conveyor and the biasing guide assembly mutually arranged such that the biasing guide assembly is operative to apply an accommodating clamping force upon each engaged stalk sufficient to keep each engaged stalk substantially upright as it is conveyed along at least a portion of the arm; the accommodating clamping force accommodating possible differences in stalk diameters from one stalk to another, the plurality of individual biasing members arranged to maintain a substantially constant compressive force on each engaged stalk.
US08919087B2

A mower carrying a rotary cutting deck has a height of cut system for adjusting the vertical position of the deck relative to the mower frame for changing or adjusting the height of cut. The height of cut system comprises a pair of parallel cross shafts that carry a plurality of pivotal suspension linkages that connect to the deck, the cross shafts and linkages pivoting jointly with one another and with a pivotal control lever. One of the cross shafts carries a torsion spring to counterbalance the weight of the deck. The control lever is maintained in a plurality of adjusted pivotal positions by a height selection bracket fixed to the frame with the height selection bracket being capable of having its position changed or adjusted relative to the frame by a single adjustment bolt. Each suspension linkage has its effective length adjusted by turning a threaded adjuster carried at the upper end of a connecting rod that is part of each linkage to allow the deck to be leveled relative to a reference plane. The adjustment of the height selection bracket is accomplished without affecting the length adjustments previously made to any of the suspension linkages.
US08919082B1

The present invention provides a collapsible foam shipping cooler and a process for producing the collapsible cooler. The collapsible cooler includes a linear series of attached side panel sections where each of the adjacent side panel sections are separated by a V groove formed by 45° beveled cuts made in a ends of each of the sections, and an adhesive tape flexible hinge is attached on the side of the panels opposite the V groove. The series of attached side panel sections is movable between a collapsed storage mode and an assembled mode where the series of sections are arranged to form a closed rectangular loop with top and bottom perimeter edges. Top and bottom foam panels contact the top and bottom edges of the closed loop to form a closed insulated cooler which is matingly received in a conventional corrugated box shipping container.
US08919076B1

An adjustable tile spacer is described. In one example, the tile spacer includes a first support bar connected to a first spacer arm. The first spacer arm has a top face to abut a wall and support a tile. A second support bar is movably connected to the first support bar. A second spacer arm is connected the second support bar. The first spacer arm has a bottom face to abut a wall and to support the second support bar against a tile. A lock fixes the first and the second support bars in a position with respect to each other when the lock is engaged to define a distance between the top face and the bottom face corresponding to a gap between two tiles.
US08919075B2

A unitized photovoltaic assembly is disclosed. A unitized photovoltaic assembly consists of a unitary frame designed to retain a plurality of photovoltaic modules. The unitary frame is formed by orienting a plurality of rails in the lateral direction above and mounted to a plurality of struts oriented in the vertical direction. Once the unitary framed is formed, photovoltaic modules slide into slots running the length of the rails and are thus retained in the unitary frame. Also added to the unitary frame are a series of power conversion elements, retaining brackets, mounting brackets, and cleaning elements. The completed unitized photovoltaic assembly can be fabricated off-site, transported as a single unit and installed to a roof or other surface with the use of a specialized lifting frame, also disclosed. Additional unitized photovoltaic assemblies can be mechanically and electrically interconnected to form a complete photovoltaic system.
US08919071B2

An implementation of a truss configuration disclosed herein includes a plurality of trusses, each including a top chord, a bottom chord, a plurality of exterior braces, and a plurality of interior braces, wherein length of each of the plurality of exterior braces is substantially similar and wherein the angle between each of the exterior braces and the top chord is substantially similar. Furthermore, length of each of the plurality of interior braces is substantially similar and wherein the angle between each of the alternate interior braces and the top chord is substantially similar.
US08919069B2

An impact attenuating tile system that can be selectively installed and uninstalled without damaging the modular tiles making up the system is disclosed. The system uses a support ladder to support the seam between two modular tiles. The seam can support wheelchairs and other heavy equipment positioned on the seam between two tiles without the tiles coming apart. Additionally, the tiles can be selectively removed without damaging or disfiguring the tiles. The system taught herein allows a user to implement a system which provides fall height attenuation, is ADA complaint, is not prone to creating tripping hazards even under high loads, and can be removed or replaced as deemed appropriate and can be selectively removed without cutting, disfiguring compromising the tiles.
US08919059B2

An elongated crown moulding with a front surface having a top front chamfer portion, a bottom front chamfer portion, and a front non-planar decorative profile portion separating the top front chamfer portion and the bottom front chamfer portion, and a back surface having a top back chamfer portion, a bottom back chamfer portion, and a back non-planar decorative profile portion disposed between the top back chamfer portion and the bottom back chamfer portion, the back non-planar decorative profile portion oriented as an inversely mirrored version of the front non-planar decorative profile portion.
US08919055B2

A pool stair assembly includes step members having riser panels and tread panels, the step members joined together to form a multi-step structure. In illustrative embodiments, a spacer is located between a connection flange of a first step member and a riser panel of a second step member to form a channel therebetween, with one or more detents extending into the channel. A swimming pool liner includes locking tabs at predetermined locations that correspond to the channel, the locking tabs insertable into the channel to secure the liner to the step members. When the locking tab is inserted, a lip of the locking tab is compressed against the detent to move the locking tab past the detent when sufficient downward force is applied. The lip naturally biases back to its original position after passing the detent, preventing removal of the locking tab from the channel.
US08919052B2

A system and apparatus are disclosed including PV modules having a frame allowing quick and easy assembling of the PV modules into a PV array in a sturdy and durable manner. In examples of the present technology, the PV modules may have a grooved frame where the groove is provided at an angle with respect to a planar surface of the modules. Various couplings may engage within the groove to assemble the PV modules into the PV array with a pivot-fit connection. Further examples of the present technology operate with PV modules having frames without grooves, or with PV modules where the frame is omitted altogether.
US08919051B1

A tower with exterior cable support preferably includes a tower structure, a base plate, a middle support structure, a top plate and at least three cables. The tower structure may be a tapered monopole tower, a step mono tower or a lattice tower. The base plate is attached to a base of the tower. The middle support structure is attached to substantially a midway height of the tower. The top plate is secured to substantially a top of the tower. One end of the at least three cables are secured to the base plate, a perimeter of the at least three cables are supported by the middle support structure and the other end of the at least three cables are secured to the top plate. The modular base preferably includes at least four foundation base members, a tower base member, a perimeter wall base and at least four wall members.
US08919043B2

The invention relates to a device for closing off an opening formed in a structure, comprising an essentially flat fixed part in which an aperture is defined, and at least one sliding panel which an aperture is defined, and at least one sliding panel which is guided along two rails mounted on one face of said fixed panel, between at least a closed position that closes off said aperture and an open position which uncovers said aperture. At least one of said rails at each of its ends bears a closure end piece to which a first end of a flexible or semi rigid first element is secured, the second end of which element is intended to be secured to said structure.
US08919040B2

An apparatus for hydroponic cultivation of plants comprising conical-shaped modules connected end to end with dovetail joints forming a pyramid-like spiral structure with a hollow tube-like interior which acts as a conduit for the flow of water or nutrient-rich solutions over the roots of plants placed in perforated divots on the top sections of the modules either on their own or in an inert medium matrix. The apparatus is also configured to be capable of use for aeroponic gardening or in the alternative, traditional gardening using potting or garden soil.
US08919035B2

An electrical system having an underlying structure resembling the double helix most commonly associated with DNA is used to produce useful electromagnetic fields for agricultural applications.
US08919030B2

A fishing rod assembly is described. The assembly includes a butt connector that is formed to connect with and between a fishing rod and a rod butt. The butt connector also includes a reel seat formed thereon that has two posts (e.g., cylindrical extensions) protruding therefrom. Additionally, a reel foot is included for connecting with a fishing reel. Alternatively, the reel foot can be integrally formed with a fishing reel. In either event, two cutouts are formed in the reel foot to engage with the extensions of the butt connector and affix the fishing reel with the butt connector. Thus, using the reel foot and corresponding reel seat, a user can quickly and firmly attach the fishing reel with a fishing rod.
US08919023B2

A customizable firearm is disclosed. The firearm can perform one or more functions, including firing a bullet, firing a less-than-lethal projectile, and/or providing light. In some cases, the firearm includes a main frame component having an inner cavity, wherein a barrel is slidably received within the cavity so as to selectively slide back and forth within the cavity. In some cases, a proximal end of the barrel comprises a bullet chamber. In such cases, the barrel fires the bullet by carrying the bullet proximally and striking it against a stationary firing pin. In other cases, a firing pin is attached to a distal end of the barrel. In such cases, the barrel discharges the firearm by moving the firing pin distally and striking a cartridge at a distal end of the main frame. In some cases, the barrel rotates between a safe and a fire alignment. Other implementations are described.
US08919022B2

A device for modifying an existing high capacity magazine to reduce the friction between the bolt and the cartridges and assure more reliable feeding, by biasing the cartridge into the feed position in a manner independent of the magazine's primary spring pressure.
US08919020B2

This invention generally relates to firearms or more precisely—to devices providing underwater firing firearms from within the dry environment.The device for underwater firing for a firearm comprises: a weapon with ammunition, a fire control tool and a controllable muzzle valve with a passage opening intended for passing of the projectile in the course of the underwater shot.Moreover, the device comprises an outer housing having inside it at least a weapon and ammunition.The fire control tool has at least one pyrotechnical charge intended to produce inside the housing before firing the excessive pressure exceeding the exterior water pressure.Moreover, the fire control tool is connected with the muzzle valve that provides firing after opening of the muzzle valve in the result of increasing pressure of the pyrotechnical gas inside the housing and ceasing firing after closing of the muzzle valve.The muzzle valve is installed in such a way that it can bypass the pyrotechnical gas from the housing into the water through its passage opening.This invention increases the efficiency of firing under the water and reliability of the device for underwater firing from a firearm.
US08919009B2

A method for controlling the operation of a clothes dryer having a drying chamber and an air flow system including a variable speed blower for forcing air through the drying chamber comprises the step of assessing a value related to the water removal rate and the step of adjusting the speed of the blower depending on the assessed value, the value being preferably based on a ratio between the water condensing rate and the power of a heater used to heat up the air flow upstream the drying chamber.
US08919008B2

The invention relates to a Yankee dryer (1) made of steel with a cylindrical steel shell (2) that is closed off at each end by a cylinder end cover (3, 4). According to the invention the Yankee dryer (1) has a one-piece central shaft (7) with a first and a second connecting flange (8, 9) to join the central shaft (7) to the end covers (3, 4), where the diameter of the first connecting flange (8) is smaller than the diameter of the opening (6) in the second end cover (4) so that the central shaft (7) can be pushed through this opening (6) into the Yankee cylinder (1). The invention also refers to a manufacturing process for a Yankee dryer (1).
US08919002B2

A laser system for creating a linear laser marking, including a radiation source that emits a laser beam and that emits it along a direction of propagation, a focusing lens assembly with an optical axis, and a conical mirror that, at least in certain areas, is configured as a straight cone with a cone axis and a reflecting lateral surface. The conical mirror is arranged in the beam path of the laser beam behind the focusing lens assembly, and the cone axis is oriented parallel to the optical axis of the focusing lens assembly. The direction of propagation of the laser beam is inclined at an angle relative to the optical axis of the focusing lens assembly.
US08918992B2

A circuit layer manufacturing method is applied to a portable computer. The portable computer includes a front bezel, a display module, and a back cover. The front bezel is connected to the back cover for containing the display module. The front bezel includes a metal portion. The metal portion has a flat region corresponding to a side of the back cover. The circuit layer manufacturing method includes forming at least one control circuit layer assembly on the flat region, grounding the control circuit layer assembly to the flat region, and forming a protection layer on the control circuit layer assembly. The control circuit layer assembly includes an insulation layer and a control circuit layer. The control circuit layer is electrically connected to the display module. The insulation layer is formed between the control circuit layer and the flat region for being alternately stacked with the control circuit layer.
US08918990B2

A method of forming solder-less printed wiring boards includes attaching a electronic components to a workpiece using an adhesive material. A mold material is added to partially cover the electronic components to form a sub-assembly including the electronic components attached to the mold material and a planar surface on the workpiece side. At least tops of the electronic components extend beyond a height of the mold material. The adhesive material is removed to separate the workpiece and sub-assembly. A first prepreg dielectric is attached to the planar surface of the mold material. First vias are formed in the first prepreg dielectric to expose bondable contacts of the electronic components. The first vias are filled with electrically conductive plugs to provide connections to the bondable contacts of the electronic components. A circuit layer is formed on a surface of the first prepreg dielectric to provide contact to the first plugs.
US08918980B2

A beverage bottle handling machine construction method for constructing a beverage bottle handling machine, such as a beverage bottle cleaning machine, a beverage bottle pasteurization machine, and a beverage bottle shrink wrap machine in a beverage bottling plant. The abstract of the disclosure is submitted herewith as required by 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b). As stated in 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b): A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification must commence on a separate sheet, preferably following the claims, under the heading “Abstract of the Disclosure.” The purpose of the abstract is to enable the Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims. Therefore, any statements made relating to the abstract are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.
US08918968B2

A clamp has a housing with a piston assembly positioned in the housing. A piston rod lock assembly is coupled with the piston rod and is positioned in the housing. A clamping arm is coupled with the piston rod and moves from a position parallel to the piston rod, when in an unclamped position, to a position substantially perpendicular to the piston rod, when in a clamping position.
US08918961B2

An electronic device includes a first object and a hinge structure. The first object includes a rear plate, and a plurality of positioning posts is located on the rear plate. The hinge structure includes a first connecting member secured to the first object. The first connecting member includes an installation board, and a plurality of installation holes is defined in the installation board, corresponding to the plurality of positioning posts. Each of the plurality of positioning posts is received in each of the plurality of installation holes, so that the installation board directly abuts the rear plate to decrease the thickness of the first object.
US08918958B1

A door stop comprises a flexible bar having a first end, a second end, and six sequential adjacent bends between the first and second ends, the first sequential adjacent bend closest to the first end, and the sixth sequential adjacent bend closet to the second end. A rubber grommet is affixed into the first end, and protrudes past the first end. A hole in the second end is substantially three-sixteenth inch in diameter. The distance between the fifth and sixth sequential adjacent bends is substantially equal to 1.375 inches. In an alternate embodiment, the distance between the fifth and sixth sequential adjacent bends is substantially equal to 1.75 inches.
US08918954B2

A squeegee assembly for removing liquids from a floor. The squeegee assembly includes a frame that is movable in a direction of travel and that includes a base and opposed walls defining a channel extending along the width of the frame, and a squeegee blade partially disposed in the frame within the channel adjacent one of the walls. The squeegee blade has a first longitudinal edge positioned adjacent the base of the channel and a second longitudinal edge extending outward from the channel. The squeegee assembly also includes a jam member that is engageable with the frame within the channel so that the squeegee blade is positioned between the frame and the jam member to couple the squeegee blade to the frame.
US08918940B2

An apparatus may include a connection component configured to connect the apparatus to any one of a plurality of different apparatuses. A toothbrush may include at least one measurement component configured to measure a parameter of use of an oral care region, and a processor configured to change output of a first audio signal of a plurality of audio signals to a second audio signal of the plurality of audio signals based on the measured parameter. Another toothbrush may include a processor configured to receive first data from an external source component and output second data corresponding to the received first data to at least one output device in response, and the at least output device configured to output the second data from the processor.
US08918939B1

An operable ramp is moveable between a lowered stowed position and a raised deployed position. The operable ramp has a ramp panel rotatable about a first axis located at a first end. A support element is slidingly coupled to the ramp panel. The operable ramp further includes a drive assembly comprising an endless loop coupled to an end of the support element. The endless loop has a linear portion and an arcuate portion. During a first phase of deployment, the end of the support element moves upward along the linear portion. During a second phase of deployment, the end of the support element moves along the arcuate portion of the endless loop.
US08918932B2

An apparatus includes a bed configured to support a subject and having an insertion hole through which a subject portion that is part of the subject is inserted; a pair of compression plates configured to hold and compress the subject portion when the subject portion is inserted through the insertion hole; and a unit including therein the pair of compression plates and having an opening through which an operator inserts a hand when the subject portion is inserted through the insertion hole. The unit includes a receiving plate at a position opposite to the opening in an insertion direction of the hand within a range of the insertion hole when viewed from the insertion hole.
US08918931B1

A bed accessory, for use with a bed having a mattress and a base for the mattress, includes a bed cover retainer having a first portion adapted to fit between the mattress and the base for the mattress. The first portion defines a wedge that is configured to produce a separation force between the mattress and base to hold the retainer in position. The first portion may further define a bed-cover-engaging member, such as a high-friction surface, to hold the bed cover in position. A sleeper attendant may be supported at a second portion. The sleeper attendant is adapted to support an object in a manner that the object is accessible to a sleeper on the bed.
US08918929B2

A displaceable sidewall of an infant crib made from outwardly rotatable bi-fold door sets that cooperate to open outward to provide limited or complete access to the bed space. Each of the doors has a latch mechanism to retain the doors in a closed position and the central doors have an interlocking locking and release means for ease of access and for maintaining the integrity of the sidewall when closed and locked.
US08918927B1

A multiple piece shower stall assembly including a base and at least one wall section for mounting on the base. The base and the wall section each include a plurality of corresponding sidewalls. An interface between the base and the wall section includes a first ledge extending outwardly from the base sidewalls, a second ledge extending outwardly from the wall section sidewalls, and a plurality of connectors configured to join the first ledge and the second ledge.
US08918922B2

A water discharge valve device includes: a water discharge valve unit which has a valve element for opening and closing a discharge port and a control casing for controlling an up-down movement of the valve element; a casing module which includes a peripheral wall extending upwardly from a bottom wall of a water storage tank while surrounding peripheries of the discharge port and the control casing of the water discharge valve unit, to define an upwardly open space therebetween, an opening formed to penetrate through the peripheral wall, and a switching valve attached to the peripheral wall and adapted to open and close the opening; and a communication port formed in a peripheral plane extending from the control casing of the water discharge valve unit to the discharge port, to provide fluid communication between the casing module and the discharge port.
US08918918B2

An apparatus for preventing neck injury, spinal cord injury and concussion is disclosed. The apparatus includes a helmet, a body harness and a plurality of anchor assemblies connecting the helmet to the body harness. The anchor assemblies are adjustable to limit the cervical rotation, lateral bending, flexion and extension ranges of motion of a wearer to a predetermined set point, each anchor assembly including a plurality of guide cords extending from the helmet to an anchor of the anchor assembly, the plurality of guide cords being attached to, but individually adjustable with respect to, the anchor.
US08918915B2

A garment includes an outer garment having a shorts portion with an inner side and a pair of elastic tethers having first fastening elements, and an undergarment having a front panel and a pair of second fastening elements. Each of the first fastening elements of the tethers of the shorts portion is adapted to engage releasably a corresponding one of the second fastening elements of the undergarment. The first and second fastening elements may include snap elements, buttons, pins, zippers, or hook and loop fasteners.
US08925096B2

In a method for enabling support for backwards compatibility in a User Domain, in one of a Rights Issuer (RI) and a Local Rights Manager (LRM), a Rights Object Encryption Key (REK) and encrypted REK are received from an entity that generated a User Domain Authorization for the one of the RI and the LRM and the REK is used to generate a User Domain Rights Object (RO) that includes the User Domain Authorization and the encrypted REK.
US08925090B2

A system for detecting and halting execution of malicious code includes a kernel-based system call interposition mechanism and a libc function interception mechanism. The kernel-based system call interposition mechanism detects a system call request from an application, determines a memory region from which the system call request emanates, and halts execution of the code responsible for the call request if the memory region from which the system call request emanates is a data memory region. The libc function interception mechanism maintains an alternative wrapper function for each of the relevant standard libc routines, intercepts a call from an application to one or more libc routines and redirects the call into the corresponding alternative wrapper function.
US08925081B2

Intrusion detection is performed by communicating an initialization request from an intrusion detection system enabled application to an intrusion module to begin intrusion detection. Also, a request is communicated to a policy transfer agent to provide an intrusion detection system policy specifically configured for the application. The application identifies where in the application code the intrusion detection system policy is to be checked against an incoming or outgoing communication. Information obtained by the application program is selectively evaluated against information in the intrusion detection system policy. A conditional response is made based upon information in the intrusion detection system policy if an intrusion associated with the application program is detected.
US08925078B2

A system for preventing data remanence in memory is provided. The system includes a computing device, a memory chip coupled to the computing device and including memory, and a heater, the heater configured to prevent data remanence in a memory by providing heat to at least a portion of the memory. The memory includes a plurality of bits configured to electronically store data.
US08925077B2

Applications that have the ability to be debugged also provide an access to violate the security of the application. The present invention provides a means to ensure that the debugging aspects of an application can be defeated after development and other test procedures, to keep persons or other applications from starting a debugging procedure that can lead to the discovery of secured or sensitive information and data. The application of the present invention is greatly automated such that anyone beginning a debugging program against the application in a device will be stymied by the application shutting down the debugging before data or other sensitive information can be released.
US08925076B2

System and method for re-adjustment of a security application to various application execution scenarios. Application execution scenarios for each of a set of software applications are created, each representing a specific subset of functionality of a corresponding application. Sets of security application configuration instructions are stored, each corresponding to at least one of the application execution scenarios. A current one or more of the application execution scenarios that is being executed in the computing device is determined and, in response, a set of security application configuration instructions corresponding to each current application execution scenario are carried out, such that the security application is adjusted to perform a specific subset of security functionality that is particularized to the current one or more of the application execution scenarios.
US08925075B2

A method for protection of cloud computing includes homomorphic encryption of data. Partially or fully homomorphic encryption allows for data within the cloud to be processed without decryption. A partially or fully homomorphic encryption is provided. The proposed scheme can be used with both an algebraic and analytical approaches. A cloud service is implemented on a server. A client encrypts data using fully homomorphic encryption and sends it to the server. The cloud server performs computations without decryption of the data and returns the encrypted calculation result to the client. The client decrypts the result, and the result coincides with the result of the same calculation performed on the initial plaintext data.
US08925073B2

A method for preventing password theft through unauthorized keylogging includes detecting, from a host application, a request for a password input by a user of an input keyboard device; activating a randomly generated keyboard map uniquely associated with the host application such that a first set of keystroke values inputted by the user results in a second, converted set of keystroke values transmitted to the host application, in accordance with the randomly generated keyboard map uniquely associated therewith; and upon completion of a password entry process by the user, deactivating the randomly generated keyboard map such that subsequent keystroke values inputted by the user are no longer converted to the values according to the keyboard map.
US08925068B2

Disclosed is a method of preventing a denial of service (DoS) attack using transmission control protocol (TCP) state transition. Flow of packets transmitted between a client and a server using TCP is monitored to prevent the DoS attack, e.g., SYN flooding, and to efficiently reduce the load on the server and provide more secure service. By applying the method to a firewall, a proxy server, an intrusion detection system, etc., of a server, it is possible to make up for vulnerabilities regarding a DoS attack without disturbing a conventional TCP state transition operation and detect, verify and block DoS attacks abusing the vulnerabilities, thereby providing more secure service.
US08925067B2

A network access method, an authentication method, a communications system, and relevant devices are provided to support implicit authentication based on subscriber line information in Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). The authentication method includes: receiving a request message sent from an Access Node (AN), wherein the request message carries subscriber line information and a Link-Local Address (LLA); sending an access request to an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) server according to the subscriber line information; receiving an authentication result indicating the authentication is successful; determining whether an address matching the LLA carried in the request has been stored in the BNG; and storing the LLA in the BNG, if the address matching the LLA is not stored in the BNG.
US08925065B2

A computerized system and method for processing network content in accordance with at least one content processing rule. In accordance with the inventive method, the network content is received at a first interface. The inventive system identifies a transmission protocol information of the received network content and uses the identified transmission protocol information to intercept at least a portion of the received network content formatted in accordance with a transmission protocol. The intercepted portion of the network content is redirected to a proxy, which buffers the redirected portion of network content. The buffered network content is scanned in accordance with a scanning criterion and processed in accordance with the at least one content processing rule based on the result of the scanning. The processed portion of network content may be forwarded using the second interface.
US08925063B2

A test method for Internet-Protocol packet networks that verifies the proper functioning of a dynamic pinhole filtering implementation as well as quantifying network vulnerability statistically, as pinholes are opened and closed is described. Specific potential security vulnerabilities that may be addressed through testing include: 1) excessive delay in opening pinholes, resulting in an unintentional denial of service; 2) excessive delay in closing pinholes, creating a closing delay window of vulnerability; 3) measurement of the length of various windows of vulnerability; 4) setting a threshold on a window of vulnerability such that it triggers an alert when a predetermined value is exceeded; 5) determination of incorrectly allocated pinholes, resulting in a denial of service; 6) determining the opening of extraneous pinhole/IP address combinations through a firewall which increase the network vulnerability through unrecognized backdoors; and 7) determining the inability to correlate call state information with dynamically established rules in the firewall.
US08925059B2

A network authentication system authenticates a connection-request based on a manner that the connection-request traverses the network. In client-server terminology, a server authenticates a client request for connection by examining one or more sequences of network entities (or network nodes) that form entity-patterns. The client pseudo-randomly selects entities of the network to be redirectors that redirect a received connection-request to further redirectors and/or the server. The client generates a different connection-request for each of the redirectors, and each redirector does the same for each of the further redirectors. This results in substantially unique connection-requests transmitted by each entity of the network in connection with the user request. Thus, redirector patterns are substantially unique and may be used for authentication.
US08925053B1

An authentication technique involves receiving an authentication request which includes a set of authentication factors and performing, in response to the authentication request, an authentication operation based on a set of authentication factors. An authentication result of the authentication operation identifies a particular trust category among a set of trust categories. Each trust category of the set defines a unique set of user permissions. The technique further involves providing the authentication result for use by a web application. The particular trust category identified by the authentication result defines a particular set of user permissions to be imposed by the web application. For example, the trust categories may take the form of trust levels such as Low, Med, and High which control access to certain resources. Furthermore, the technique involves providing periodic and/or random authentication requests to the authentication server to detect hijacking of the user session after successful initial authentication.
US08925048B2

A security method in a server-based mobile IP system is provided. Specifically, in the security method, general data is securely exchanged in addition to a control message that is exchanged between a mobile node and a server or between mobile nodes. Specifically, provided is a method of securely exchanging data by using a mobile node including an mPAK execution module generating necessary keys by exchanging key information with the server while performing a mutual authentication process and negotiating the security policy; and a security module setting a security policy that is negotiated with the corresponding node and applying the security policy to data according to the set security policy when transmitting the data.
US08925047B2

A method includes receiving authentication information for a client device at a server. The authentication information includes a network address of the client device, a geographic location of the client device, and a first result of a one-way hash function based on a combination of the network address, an authentication seed, and a first secret. The method includes computing, with the server, a second result of the one-way hash function based on a combination of the network address, the authentication seed, and a second secret. The method also includes enabling the client device to access a second network in response to a determination by the server that the first result matches the second result and a determination by the server that the client device is authorized to access the second network based on the geographic location.
US08925044B2

A system and method for recognizing traffic generated from an authenticated a device roaming in a wireless local area network and related aspects are provided. An authentication server is arranged to authorize communications traffic originating from a wireless access point to use a roaming service, the traffic comprising an NAT translated IP address. The server first authorizes a WLAN roaming device, and then processes a meta-data message received from a WLAN access point in which the source address of the message comprises the source address of the roaming device at the WLAN access point. The server then determines, from the information provided in the meta-data message when it is received by the authentication server, which includes at this point a NAT translated source address in the meta-data message what the NAT translated source address of traffic from said NAT translated source address. In this way, all traffic generated by the roaming device while that NAT translated IP address is valid is automatically authorized to use a roaming service to access the internet.
US08925039B2

Systems and methods of applying security measures to data services are disclosed. In one embodiment, a processor determines when more than one data service is used by or is accessible to a subscriber device and applies a security measure to at least one data service.
US08925026B2

A system may receive, from a set top box (STB), a request for a video asset; retrieve a profile, associated with a user of the STB, that identifies a device, associated with the user, that is a different type of device than the STB; determine whether a transaction history associated with the STB or another transaction history, associated with the device, indicates that the video asset is authorized to be transmitted to the STB; transmit the video asset to the STB based on a determination that the transaction history or the other transaction history indicates that the video asset is authorized to be transmitted to the STB; perform a transaction on the video asset based on a determination that the first transaction history or the second transaction history does not indicate that the video asset is authorized be transmitted to the STB, and transmit the video asset to the STB as a result of the transaction.
US08925024B2

Methods and apparatus to detect commercial advertisements associated with media presentations are disclosed. An example method involves receiving a video frame and detecting a change in box-formatting between the video frame and a subsequent video frame. A transition between the video frame and the subsequent video frame is indicated as a commercial advertisement transition based on the detected change in box-formatting.
US08925020B2

There is provided a transmission system where reproduction devices and display devices may communicate content through a network, includes: a display device storage unit which stores identification information of the display devices capable of communicating a signal using communication means different from the network; and a content list storage unit which stores content lists provided from the reproduction device; the display device includes: a reproduction device storage unit which stores identification information of the reproduction devices capable of communicating a signal using the communication means; and when the display device which displays a requested content list is determined to be a device capable of transmission and reception using the communication means, based on at least one of the reproduction device identification information and the display device identification information, the reproduction device transmits the content lists stored in the content list storage unit to the display device.
US08925019B2

The synchronous display streaming system for multi-view frames is provided. The server provides a plurality of display streamings of a content in a plurality of angles. The server stores accounts. The first electronic device logs in a relation account of the accounts of the server. The second electronic device logs in the relation account of the server. The first electronic device and the second electronic device are grouped in a synchronization operation group. The server provides the plurality of display streamings in the plurality of angles to the first and the second electronic device which log in the relation account respectively and display the frames of the content in the plurality of angles on the first and the second electronic device. Any electronic device of the synchronization operation group performs an operation on one of the electronic devices of the synchronization operation group through the relation account of the server.
US08925005B2

Methods, systems and computer-readable media to provide custom video content via a custom content channel are disclosed. A method to display custom video content includes receiving a selection of a channel via a set top box (STB) device and determining whether the channel is a custom content channel. The method further includes accessing a play list associated with the custom content channel based on the determination. The play list identifies one or more video files stored at the STB device. The method also includes playing the one or more video files of the custom content channel to a display device coupled to the STB device.
US08925003B2

A mechanism for facilitating dynamic synchronization of audio and video for multiple media devices is described. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes first logic to insert a signature in an audio portion of an audio/video data stream. The signature represents uniquely identifiable data and is to be transmitted to a second media device having a display device. The apparatus may include second logic to detect the signature in the audio portion of the audio/video data stream, third logic to calculate latency of the display device using an audio output of the display device, and fourth logic to synchronize the audio output to a corresponding video display based on a feedback loop generated using the audio portion of the audio/video data stream transmitted to the display device and the audio output of the display device.
US08924996B2

A method may include receiving a request, from a user device, associated with accessing a multi-media asset/content, identifying a location associated with the user device and identifying a profile for a subscriber associated with the user device. The method may also include determining whether the multi-media asset/content is available, identifying, based on the location, a content distribution network or network device to deliver the first multi-media asset/content, and identifying, based on the profile, advertisements associated with the multi-media content or asset. The method may further include inserting the identified advertisements into the multi-media asset/content and providing, via the identified content distribution network or network device, the multi-media asset/content to the user device.
US08924995B2

Methods and apparatus for monitoring locally inserted media content are disclosed. A disclosed method includes obtaining identification data and inserting the identification data in the media content after the media content has been received at a media consumption location. Another disclosed method includes receiving media content before the media content is output by a consumer receiving device and monitoring the received media content. Monitoring the received media content may include extracting signatures from the received media content and transmitting the extracted signatures to another location.
US08924992B2

An independent auditing and ad service system that may be utilized in conjunction with a system for presenting marketing campaigns to audiences via a network of players located in public locations. Independent agents in the players monitor media content that is presented to audiences during marketing campaigns and generate independent agent playlogs that are provided to a content registry service. The content registry service compares the independent agent playlogs with playlogs that are provided by a network operator to validate the network-operator-generated playlogs. The independent agent playlogs may also be provided to an analytics service where they are used to analyze the performance of marketing campaigns. Based on the analyzed performance, the service may determine that the media content being presented to audiences via the media players should be changed. The independent agents may be instructed to implement recommended changes by modifying the media content being presented on the players.
US08924988B2

In one embodiment, a mechanism for collocation in a JAVA Virtual Machine of Java™ APIs for Intelligent Networks Service Logic Execution Environment (JSLEE) and Java™ Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes an integrated application server including JSLEE and J2EE, one or more resource adapters communicably coupled to the integrated application server, and one or more management interfaces communicably coupled to the integrated application server.
US08924981B1

Requests to be executed in the database system are received, where a plurality of the requests are provided in a queue for later execution. Priority indicators are calculated for assignment to corresponding ones of the plurality of requests in the queue, where the priority indicators are calculated based on delay times and predefined priority levels of the requests. The requests in the queue are executed in order according to the calculated priority indicators.
US08924980B2

The present invention relates to a method of scheduling for multi-function radars. Specifically, the present invention relates to an efficient urgency-based scheduling method.The present invention provides a method of scheduling tasks in a radar apparatus including the steps of: receiving one or more tasks to schedule; calculating an urgency function for each said task; and storing the said tasks using said urgency function to order each said task relative to the other said tasks; wherein when a task is to be performed, the task having the highest value of urgency function is located.
US08924974B1

A system for processing a batch job comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to receive a batch job comprising a sequential or parallel flow of operations, wherein each operation has a defined input type and a defined output type. The processor is further configured to verify that the batch job can run successfully, wherein verifying includes checking that a first operation output defined type is compatible with a second operation input defined type when a first operation output is connected to a second operation input, and wherein verifying includes checking that a parameter used by a calculation in an operation is input to the operation. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.
US08924969B2

A system that includes multiple hosts, each having physical resources, a hypervisor, and a host agent that causes the virtual machines to operate above the hypervisor so as to be abstracted from the physical resources. A host fabric reviews requests to instantiate or upgrade a virtual machine, identifies a corresponding virtual machine image to instantiate the virtual machine from in order to honor the request, and determines whether the virtual machine to be instantiated has a valid lease on the virtual machine image. If the requestor does not have a valid lease, the request is blocked. If the requestor does have a valid lease, the host fabric facilitates the instantiation of the virtual machine from the virtual machine image. This prevents or eliminates the chances of multiple instances of the same virtual machine image writing to the virtual machine image at the same time.
US08924965B2

A mechanism for memory change tracking during migration of a virtual machine (VM) with VM-controlled assigned peripherals is disclosed. A method of the invention includes interacting with a VM executed by a hypervisor of a origin host machine in order to cause the VM to prevent a state of a peripheral device controlled by the VM from changing, receiving the state of the peripheral device from at least one of the VM, a memory of the VM, or the peripheral device, and transferring the obtained state of the peripheral device to a destination host machine as part of a migration process of the VM.
US08924954B2

An application software installation method and an application software installation apparatus are used to solve problems of operation complexity and high implementation difficulty in an existing installation process of application software. The method includes: mounting mirror data of a virtual machine, and mapping the mirror data as one virtual disk in a local file system; updating a registry file in a virtual disk according to registry change record data in an application software package; and updating a file structure in the virtual disk according to the file change record data and the file in the application software package, thereby implementing installation of the application software in the virtual machine. In the process of installing the application software, a user of the virtual machine does not need to perform complex operations, thereby reducing software installation difficulty.
US08924951B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with maintaining information about patches installed on a node are described. In one embodiment, a method includes, in response to installing a patch to a program, updating a list of installed patches in a computer by adding an identifier of the patch to the list of installed patches. The method also includes embedding the updated list of installed patches into compiled binary code of the program.
US08924946B2

Systems and methods for replacing inferior code segments with optimal code segments. Systems and methods for making such replacements for programming languages using Message Passing Interface (MPI) are provided. For example, at the compiler level, point-to-point code segments may be identified and replaced with all-to-all code segments. Programming code may include X10, Chapel and other programming languages that support parallel for loop.
US08924944B2

Embodiments are directed to providing a generic software function for a plurality of data types in a distributed environment and to implementing type checking at compile time and at runtime. In one scenario, a computer system receives a portion of software code for a distributed software application, where the software code is written as a generic function in a computer programming language that supports reflection. The computer system presents a function signature at runtime to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. The function signature describes which of multiple different input and output data types the generic function is configured to work with. The computer system also implements reflection at runtime to resolve each generic function to a function pointer after compilation by the JIT.
US08924942B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for identifying user interface improvements from observed user behavior. A use case description is obtained from a developer of an application. Usability metrics are collected that observe interaction of a plurality of users with a user interface of the application. The usability metrics are analyzed in conjunction with the use case description to identify at least one aspect of the user interface for improvement. The aspect includes a page or an actionable element. Information is provided to the developer about the at least one aspect of the user interface identified for improvement.
US08924937B1

Disclosed is a process, system, and computer program product for generating a verification test or verification environment for testing and verifying software or mixed software/hardware. Object code is analyzed to generate and setup test information and environments. The object code is analyzed to identifying information about the software important or relevant for the verification process. Based upon the information generated form the object code, one or more verification environments or tests can be generated for testing and verifying the software or mixed hardware/software.
US08924934B2

An automated test tool interface is described. A developer of a reusable web component provides an interface for obtaining an accurate identification of a root element of a component and any sub elements within the root element on a web page. An automated test framework uses this interface when recording automated tests to obtain a stable identification of the element that is independent of the rendering of the component on the web page. When the automated test is played back, the test framework again uses the interface to convert the stable identification of the element to a form that is dependent on the rendering of the component on the web page. Thus, changes in the rendering of a component will no longer cause an automated test tool to fail, as element identification in the testing framework is no longer tied to the specific rendering of the web page.
US08924931B2

Techniques are provided for determining dependencies in a mainframe development environment. While executing a first build file to generate a first build of a software program from files in a file system, the activity in the file system is monitored to determine a plurality of files that are being accessed, and first information about the plurality of files is recorded. The first information is sent to a configuration management server. From the configuration management server, second information is received that indicates one or more dependencies which are determined among the plurality of files based on the first information. Based at least on the second information, a second build file is generated. The second build file is executed to generate a second build of the software program, where the second build is generated more efficiently by using less computing resources than the first build of the software program.
US08924930B2

Techniques are described for tracking and maintaining the lineage of virtual machines (VMs). As applications are built or compiled, information about the makeup or elements of the applications is captured. As applications are installed on VMs, that information is also captured. As the VMs are deployed to hosts, decommissioned, migrated between hosts, etc., that information is also maintained. Therefore, it is possible to trace relations between live VMs (and/or hosts they execute on) and the elements of applications installed on the VMs. For example, if an element is a source code file, it may be possible to link that source code file with particular hosts or VMs. Or, it may be possible to determine whether a given host or VM has a dependency on an application element. Given a dataset of lineage information, a wide range of previously unavailable information can be obtained.
US08924929B2

A system and methods are disclosed for executing a technical computing program in parallel in multiple execution environments. A program is invoked for execution in a first execution environment and from the invocation the program is executed in the first execution environment and one or more additional execution environments to provide for parallel execution of the program. New constructs in a technical computing programming language are disclosed for parallel programming of a technical computing program for execution in multiple execution environments. It is also further disclosed a system and method for changing the mode of operation of an execution environment from a sequential mode to a parallel mode of operation and vice-versa.
US08924927B2

Representation of an array in dynamically-typed program code at runtime is provided. Program code is accessed at runtime. An instruction for adding, updating or deleting one or more elements for an array is detected within the code. The array is associated with a first kind of element comprising a first representation and packing format. A second kind of element is determined based on at least one of the instruction or the one or more elements, the second kind of element comprising at least one of a second representation or packing format. A determination is made that the first and second kind of elements are not consistent, based on an inconsistency between the first and second representation formats or packing formats. The array is converted so that the first and second kind of elements are consistent. One or more array elements are added, updated or deleted based on the instruction.
US08924923B2

Disclosed herein are an apparatus and a method for generating a multi-level test case for testing software from a unified modeling language (UML) sequence diagram (SD) based on a multiple condition control flow graph (MCCFG). The apparatus includes: a UML SD metamodel storing unit storing a UML SD metamodel defined for a model to be converted therein; an MCCFG metamodel storing unit storing an MCCFG metamodel; a model converting unit model-converting the UML SD from which the test case is to be generated according to the UML SD metamodel and the MCCFG metamodel to generate the MCCFG; and a coverage criteria unit converting the MCCFG into a tree structure and then converting the tree structure into test cases according to a selection command.
US08924921B2

Methods, systems, and products for abstracting business logic into centralized database controls are disclosed herein. In one general embodiment, a method, executed by a computer system, includes identifying data use code in business logic: analyzing the data use code to determine a general data model: and implementing the general data model in the centralized database controls. The general data model is an abstraction embodying the functionality inherent in the data use code. In specific embodiments, identifying data use code in the business logic may be carried out by identifying the data use code in at least one subcomponent of the business logic, such as a user interface code component, a database coding, a table, or a file. The computer system may remove the data use code from the business logic or designate the data use code for removal.
US08924907B1

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques for verifying compatibility between a configuration image file bitstream for a programmable logic device (PLD) and an electrical circuit incorporating the PLD. The circuit includes an embedded processor, at least one memory device, and at least one input/output (I/O) device. A computer processing arrangement receives a user selection of the target image file, a first identifier of a first set of electrical circuit designs with which the target image file is compatible; and makes a determination whether or not the first circuit has a design included in the first set by comparing the first identifier with a second identifier, the second identifier corresponding to a design definition of the circuit.
US08924886B2

An image display device connected to an image archive device that stores multiple image data, the image display device comprising: a memory that stores address information of said multiple image data; a display part that is capable of scroll-displaying said image data in a predefined order; a manipulation part for inputting an instruction regarding the scroll display of the image data displayed on said display part; and an image display controller that determines image data to be read from said image archive device depending on the image data and scrolling speed of a display object designated with an instruction that has been input by said manipulation part, reads the image data from said image archive device based on said address information, and also causes said display part to display the image data of a new display object from among the image data that have been read.
US08924885B2

Desktop as an immersive application techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an immersive environment module is configured to provide an immersive shell through which a user may interact with applications of a computing device. The immersive environment module is further configured to provide a desktop shell within the immersive shell to support additional techniques for interaction with the application of the computing device. The desktop shell, for instance, may be configured for accessibility similar to that provided to applications in the immersive shell.
US08924880B2

Methods and systems for connecting people for real time communications via a virtual reality environment. One embodiment includes: receiving a call for a real time communication session at a virtual object presented in a virtual reality world; indicating to a plurality of residents of the virtual reality world that the virtual object is being called; and responsive to an input from one resident of the plurality of residents, connecting the call to the resident for a real time communication session.
US08924872B1

Techniques in this disclosure may provide a user interface that concurrently displays multiple panels which provide visualization of emergency call data of a law enforcement agency. The user interface can provide a high-level overview of emergency calls in a geographical area. Each panel in the user interface can provide visualization of the emergency calls and/or statistics relating to the calls. A user can customize which panels to include in the user interface and/or customize setting for each panel. The user may apply various types of filters to the data displayed in the user interface, and the panels can update the visualizations according to the filters. The user interface can also provide the ability to show data at various levels of detail within the same user interface or panel. The techniques in the disclosure can provide a convenient, digestible overview of tactical and/or strategic data in a single user interface.
US08924848B2

A user interface (UI) area having multiple data sources is synchronized based upon changes made to UI elements associated with the UI area. To synchronize the changed UI elements, a processor of the computer determines UI controls and data objects associated with the UI area. Based upon a modification to a data object, a corresponding UI control that is affected by the modification is determined. A synchronization process is triggered to determine updated UI controls and updatable UI controls from the UI controls that are affected by the modification. The UI area is synchronized by updating the updatable UI controls based upon the modification.
US08924845B2

An improved web browser architecture for an OOP application for a dynamic web page using a client-side scripting language in JavaScript and Ajax to encapsulate presentation logic as objects manipulated by a mediator class state controller object. The browser code is divided into reusable but decoupled and interacting objects. The objects publish to unknown subscribers, and there is no need for objects to explicitly know of or be bound to other objects subscribing to events, consistent with a delegate model. The state of the web browser can be maintained by the state controller, and bookmarking of the state of the web browser allows reconstruction of a web browser dynamic web page. In a preferred embodiment, a GUI for the web browser controls a SAN.
US08924844B2

Soft-screen annotations are associated with objects in order to communicate information relating to the object. The annotation can be static or dynamic and/or interactive or non-interactive. Different properties can be selected when a soft-screen annotation is created in order to customize the annotation for each object.
US08924843B1

A plurality of time series having corresponding sets of data over time are received. Visual indicators for display in a display region are presented for values of at least a first attribute of the plurality of time series in corresponding cell-based lines, where the cell-based lines have cells to display the corresponding visual indicators for the values of the at least first attribute over time. The plurality of time series in the display region are ordered according to an aggregate of at least one attribute of the plurality of time series.
US08924835B2

Aspects of the disclosure pertain to a system and method for promoting improved error detection efficiency in a Content-Addressable Memory (CAM). The system and method provide CAM continuous error detection with interleave parity. The system continuously monitors for changes in cell contents and, when (e.g., as soon as) a soft error occurs, the error detection output bit for that entry will change, causing an error flag at chip level. The system can then immediately stop compare operations and rewrite the failing entry. Separate read operations are not needed to check for errors, thereby decreasing overall dynamic power usage and increasing possible search frequency for the system.
US08924832B1

A data storage system configured to efficiently search and update system data is disclosed. In one embodiment, the data storage system can attempt to correct errors in retrieved data configured to index system data. Metadata stored along with user data in a memory location can be configured to indicate a logical address associated in a logical-to-physical location mapping with a physical address at which user data and metadata are stored. The data storage system can generate modified versions of logical address indicated by the metadata and determine whether such modified versions match the physical address in the logical-to-physical mapping. Modified versions of the logical address can be generated by flipping one or more bits in the logical address indicated by the metadata. Efficiency can be increased and improved performance can be attained.
US08924819B2

A method for operating a memory device is provided and includes the following steps. A first error correction code is generated according to user data. Then, the user data is written to the memory device. Moreover, the user data in the memory device is read, and a second error correction code is generated according to the read user data. Further, the first and the second error correction codes are written to the memory device.
US08924811B1

Disclosed is a decoder having efficient inner and outer decoders for decoding serially concatenated convolutional codes. The decoder comprises a data converter that processes soft demodulator data derived from a demodulator to generate log of probabilities data. An inner decoder is coupled to the data converter and comprises a forward recursion metric in parallel with a backward recursion metric that are coupled to a soft log-likelihood calculation processor and that generate inner decoded soft data. A de-interleaver is coupled to the inner decoder that de-interleaves the inner decoded soft data. An outer decoder is coupled to the de-interleaver that comprises a forward recursion metric in parallel with a backward recursion metric that are coupled to a soft log-likelihood calculation processor that generate outer decoded soft data. An interleaver feeds back the outer decoded soft data to the inner decoder. A decision processor processes the outer-coded soft data to generate decoded data. The inner and outer decoders may each normalize the largest state recursion metric to 0, and subtract off the original largest value from the rest of the recursion metrics. The soft log-likelihood calculation processor in the inner and outer decoders preferably comprises add and compare operators.
US08924808B2

A method and apparatus are described including determining address using an access point address and a multicast group address, transmitting a recovery request message to a recovery server to request recovery data using the address and receiving the recovery data from the recovery server. Also described are a method and apparatus including receiving a registration message, transmitting a reply to the registration message, receiving a recovery request message, transmitting recovery data responsive to the recovery request message and transmitting a message to a recovery multicast group to determine status of the recovery multicast group.
US08924804B2

Functional circuits and cores of circuits are tested on integrated circuits using scan paths. Using parallel scan distributor and collector circuits for these scan paths improves test access of circuits and cores embedded within ICs and reduces the IC's power consumption during scan testing. A controller for the distributor and collector circuits includes a test control register, a test control state machine and a multiplexer. These test circuits can be connected in a hierarchy or in parallel. A conventional test access port or TAP can be modified to work with the disclosed test circuits.
US08924803B2

The invention provides a boundary scan test interface circuit. The boundary scan test interface circuit includes N test input pads, a test interfacing module and M test output pads, wherein N and M are positive integers, and M is smaller than N. The test interfacing module is coupled to the test input pads. The test interfacing module having a plurality of logical gates, and each of input pins of each of the logical gates coupled to each of the test input pads. The test output pads are coupled to output pins of the logical gates in the test interfacing module.
US08924791B2

A system including a vendor computer system. The vendor computer includes a test controller and a resource controller. The test controller is configured to provide a central access point to the vendor computer system and to manage test cases. The resource controller is configured to control testing of software products. The resource controller allocates cloud resources in a cloud network to test the software products via the test case.
US08924790B2

Methods and system for exception detecting and alerting are described. An exception indicating an occurrence of an error in an application and a path to the exception in an application space may be received. The received exception may be compared to a stored exception in a prior version of an exception data structure to determine whether the received exception is a new exception. The exception data structure may include a plurality of stored exceptions. The results of the comparison may be provided.
US08924782B2

Systems, methods, and media for recovering an application from a fault or an attack are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method is provided for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition. The method includes specifying constrained data items and assigning a set of repair procedures to the constrained data items. The method further includes detecting a fault condition on the constrained data items during execution of the software application, which triggers at least one repair procedure. The triggered repair procedures are executed and the execution of the software application is restored. In some embodiments, the restoring comprises providing memory rollback to a point of execution of the software application before the fault condition was detected.
US08924779B2

An apparatus for handling anomalies in a hardware system including a master device and at least one slave device coupled with the master device through an interconnect device is provided. The apparatus includes at least one controller operative to receive status information relating to the slave device. The status information is indicative of whether an anomaly is present in the slave device and/or the interconnect device. The controller is operative to generate output response information as a function of the status information relating to the slave device for detecting and/or responding to hardware system anomalies in a manner which reduces a need for resetting the hardware system to return to normal operation.
US08924774B2

A semiconductor memory device includes, a memory cell array configured to include a plurality of memory cells each having a plurality of logic pages, an error detector configured to detect a recovery target data among the data stored in the memory cell array, and output a logic page information of the recovery target data, a data recoverer configured to recover the recovery target data by using adjustment of a read reference voltage in response to the logic page information of the recovery target data, and a page buffer configured to read the recovery target data output from the memory cell array and write a recovered data output from the data recoverer in the memory cell array.
US08924773B1

A storage processor isolates and classifies file system faults and inconsistencies to produce a fault tree for inline error recovery. The storage processor isolates the metadata objects or objects that have internal inconsistencies, the storage processor creates a fault tree to map the file system; or portion of the file system with the errors or inconsistencies and the metadata objects dependent upon those objects. Once the fault having been mapped, determine the complexity of recovering the branch of the fault tree with the error. If the error is not too complex, performing recovery of the metadata objects online otherwise taking the system offline for file system recovery.
US08924769B2

A burning control method for burning software to at least one chip is provided, the method includes: controlling the at least one chip to enter a download mode when the at least one chip is startup; initializing the at least one chip when the chip enters the download mode; executing a burning process to burn software into the at least one chip when the chip is initialized; controlling the at least one chip to enter the test mode when the burning process is completed; testing whether the software has been burned into the at least one chip successfully when the at least one chip is in the test mode.
US08924766B2

A method of performing and correcting a timing analysis performed by a data processing apparatus on a circuit formed of a plurality of cells to account for the reverse Miller effect. The timing analysis steps includes identifying cells on and in parallel with a signal path that are driven by a same signal and determining an output transition time and a delay using the characterization data for the cell. The correcting steps includes providing further characterization data for some of the cells; correcting the output transition time for some of the cells by increasing the output transition time by an amount dependent upon the Miller capacitance for the cell and using the correction to the output transition time to correct an input transition time for a next cell; and calculating a time taken for a data signal to travel along the signal path from the delay times.
US08924747B1

An integrated circuit including a decoding module, a moving average module, and an iteration control module. The decoding module is configured to decode a plurality of information units by performing a number of decoding iterations on each of the plurality of information units. The moving average module is configured to generate a moving average of decoding iterations performed when decoding a selected number of information units of the plurality of information units. The iteration control module is configured to adjust the number of decoding iterations based on (i) the moving average of decoding iterations performed in decoding the selected number of information units of the plurality of information units and (ii) an amount of power consumed by the integrated circuit.
US08924746B2

The device management server is provided with a power consumption acquisition unit that acquires information relating to power consumption of each of a plurality of sockets; a communication unit that performs communication with an object device from among devices connected to a network in order to change power consumption of the object device; a socket specifying unit that specifies a socket in which power consumption has changed within a period of time relating to the communication on the basis of information acquired by the power consumption acquisition unit; and an association unit 24 that associates the object device with the socket specified by the socket specifying unit.
US08924743B2

Encryption techniques for securing data in a data cache are generally disclosed. Example methods may include one or more of reading the cache to identify data, determining whether the data is encrypted to identify previously unencrypted data and/or previously encrypted data, and encrypting selectively at least a portion of the previously unencrypted data. The present disclosure also generally relates to a computer system data processor configured to read a cache to identify data, determine whether the read data is encrypted, and encrypt selectively at least a portion of the previously unencrypted data. The present disclosure also generally relates to computer accessible mediums containing computer-executable instructions for data encryption upon execution of the instructions by a data processor. The instructions may configure the data processor to perform procedures that read the cache to identify data, determine whether the data is encrypted, and selectively encrypt data determined as unencrypted.
US08924741B2

Instructions and logic provide SIMD secure hashing round slice functionality. Some embodiments include a processor comprising: a decode stage to decode an instruction for a SIMD secure hashing algorithm round slice, the instruction specifying a source data operand set, a message-plus-constant operand set, a round-slice portion of the secure hashing algorithm round, and a rotator set portion of rotate settings. Processor execution units, are responsive to the decoded instruction, to perform a secure hashing round-slice set of round iterations upon the source data operand set, applying the message-plus-constant operand set and the rotator set, and store a result of the instruction in a SIMD destination register. One embodiment of the instruction specifies a hash round type as one of four MD5 round types. Other embodiments may specify a hash round type by an immediate operand as one of three SHA-1 round types or as a SHA-2 round type.
US08924735B2

A computing system such as a game console maintains and updates a biometric profile of a user. In one aspect, biometric data of the user is continuously obtained from a sensor such as an infrared and visible light camera, and used to update the biometric profile using a machine learning process. In another aspect, a user is prompted to confirm his or her identify when multiple users are detected at the same time and/or when the user is detected with a confidence level which is below a threshold. A real-time image of the user being identified can be displayed on a user interface with user images associated with one or more accounts. In another aspect, the biometric profile is managed by a shell on the computing system, where the shell makes the biometric profile available to any of a number of applications on the computing system.
US08924723B2

A system or computer usable program product for providing security for a business application including receiving a request from a server including a server public key and a security token, deploying a virtual node implementing the business application in response to the request, using the security token in a bootstrap process by the virtual node to provide authentication to the server, and authenticating a message from the server using a server public key.
US08924716B2

A communication device for performing communication by employing first and second communication units, includes: a reception unit for receiving a communication packet including a random number generated for every connection with another communication device, a certificate calculated with the random number, and authentication method information indicating whether or not an authentication method at the second communication unit is compatible with the public key system, through the first communication unit; and a method determining unit for determining whether or not an originator of the communication packet accepts public key encryption based on the authentication method information included in the communication packet; wherein in a case of the method determining unit determining that the originator of the communication packet does not accept the public key system, the random number included in the communication packet is replied to the originator as the identification information of the device itself.
US08924712B2

Systems, apparatus, methods, and computer program products for using quick response (QR) codes for authenticating users to ATMs and other secure machines for cardless transactions are disclosed. Embodiments of the present disclosure read an image displayed on a display of an external device using a mobile device associated with a user authorized to access a secure resource, decode transaction information encoded in the image, transmit the transaction information and an identifier of the mobile device from the mobile device to an authentication system, and grant access to the secure resource if the transaction information and the identifier satisfy an authentication test performed at the authentication system.
US08924711B2

A mobile communication system comprising a multiplicity of mobile devices, and a server communicating with the mobile devices via a communication network, and a central database which is in data communication with the server and which is operative for storing sensitive data encrypted using at least one key, at least a portion of which is provided, only on certain occasions, by an individual one of the mobile devices and is not retained between the occasions by the central database.
US08924697B2

A method for processing interrupt requests in a processor is suitable for executing at least two threads in parallel, wherein an instruction pipeline is provided for each of the at least two threads. One of the at least two threads is defined as a main thread for processing programs. Another thread of the at least two threads is assigned to the main thread as an interrupt thread. After an interrupt request is received, the processor stores interrupt data in a register assigned to the interrupt thread. Subsequently, the processing of an interrupt routine is started in the interrupt thread and at least part of the interrupt routine is executed in the interrupt thread.
US08924696B2

An image processing device includes an operating unit and a plurality of control units each configured to control the operating unit in order to execute a function on image data. The plurality of control units include at least a first control unit and a second control unit. When a first mode is selected, the control units control the operating unit to execute the function in cooperation with each other. When a second mode is selected, at least the second control unit controls the operating unit to execute the function without cooperating with the first control unit.
US08924686B2

A data processing apparatus is provided comprising a plurality of master devices configured to issue memory access requests including virtual addresses. A memory management unit is configured to receive memory access requests and to translate a virtual address included in a memory access request from a requesting master device into a physical address indicating a storage location in memory. The memory management unit has an internal storage unit having a plurality of entries wherein indications of corresponding virtual address portions and physical address portions are stored. The memory management unit is configured to select an entry of the internal storage unit in dependence on the virtual address and an identifier of the requesting master device. Conflict between the master devices in their usage of the internal storage unit is thus avoided.
US08924682B1

In one embodiment, a system includes a main data system, a virtual tape volume coupled to receive a write request from the main data system, and an accidental loss protection system configured to receive the write request to the virtual tape volume, detect whether the write request overwrites a label of the virtual tape volume, and prevent the overwriting of the label.
US08924680B2

A memory system includes a memory controller with a plurality N of memory-controller blocks, each of which conveys independent transaction requests over external request ports. The request ports are coupled, via point-to-point connections, to from one to N memory devices, each of which includes N independently addressable memory blocks. All of the external request ports are connected to respective external request ports on the memory device or devices used in a given configuration. The number of request ports per memory device and the data width of each memory device changes with the number of memory devices such that the ratio of the request-access granularity to the data granularity remains constant irrespective of the number of memory devices.
US08924679B2

A memory device includes a first bank group, a second bank group, where the first and second bank groups are each configured to output multi-bit data in parallel in response to a read command, a data transferor configured to receive the multi-bit data outputted in parallel from the first bank group or the second bank group and output the multi-bit data at a time interval corresponding to an operation mode, first global data buses configured to transfer the multi-bit data outputted from the first bank group to the data transferor, second global data buses configured to transfer the multi-bit data outputted from the second bank group to the data transferor, and a parallel-to-serial converter configured to convert the multi-bit data outputted from the data transferor into serial data according to the operation mode.
US08924672B2

Embodiments related to a processing unit and a first information storage are described and depicted. First information is provided from a first unit into a first information storage for performing a first operation of the processing unit. During the first operation of the processing unit second information is transferred between the processing unit and the first information storage. The first information storage comprises during the first operation of the processing unit an access protection for the first unit.
US08924658B1

The techniques introduced here provide for efficient management of storage resources in a modern, dynamic data center through the use of virtual storage appliances. Virtual storage appliances perform storage operations and execute in or as a virtual machine on a hypervisor. A storage management system monitors a storage system to determine whether the storage system is satisfying a service level objective for an application. The storage management system then manages (e.g., instantiates, shuts down, or reconfigures) a virtual storage appliance on a physical server. The virtual storage appliance uses resources of the physical server to meet the storage related needs of the application that the storage system cannot provide. This automatic and dynamic management of virtual storage appliances by the storage management system allows storage systems to quickly react to changing storage needs of applications without requiring expensive excess storage capacity.
US08924642B2

The present invention provides a monitoring record management technology, which is used to manage a monitoring record stored in a memory, where the monitoring record is used to monitor a chunk in a storage, and by reading at least one monitoring parameter from each monitoring record in the memory, monitoring records between which a monitoring parameter meets a threshold are combined or split. After the monitoring record management technology provided in the present invention is applied, the occupancy of the memory can be reduced or the accuracy of the monitoring record can be improved.
US08924631B2

A method and system are disclosed for handling host write commands associated with both data aligned with physical page boundaries of parallel write increments in non-volatile storage areas in a non-volatile storage device and data unaligned with the physical page boundaries. The method may include a controller of a storage device identifying the aligned and unaligned portions of received data, temporarily storing the aligned and unaligned portions in different queues, and then writing portions from the unaligned data queue or the aligned data queue in parallel to the non-volatile memory areas when one of the queues has been filled with a threshold amount of data or when the controller detects a timeout condition. The system may include a storage device with a controller configured to perform the method noted above, where the non-volatile memory areas may be separate banks and the queues are random access memory.
US08924627B2

A flash memory device is disclosed comprising a flash controller for accessing a first flash memory over a first channel and a second flash memory over a second channel. A multi-command descriptor block is received from a host, wherein the multi-command descriptor block comprises identifiers for identifying a plurality of access commands that the host is preparing to request. A first group of the access commands are selected to execute concurrently and a second group of the access commands are selected to execute concurrently. The first group of access commands are received from the host and executed concurrently by accessing at least the first and second flash memories concurrently. The second group of access commands are received from the host and executed concurrently by accessing at least the first and second flash memories concurrently.
US08924626B2

A method and system for phasing power-intensive operations is disclosed. A non-volatile storage device controller detects a power reset. The controller is in communication with non-volatile memories in the non-volatile storage device. In response to detecting a power reset, the controller determines a current consumption necessary to reset the non-volatile memories in the non-volatile storage device. The controller simultaneously resets all of the non-volatile memories when the determined current consumption is less than a current consumption threshold. If the determined current consumption is greater than the current consumption threshold, the controller resets a first subset of the plurality of non-volatile memories, and after a predetermined delay, resets a second subset of the non-volatile memories. Therefore, a power-intensive operation may be performed without exceeding a current consumption threshold by dividing the operation into a sequence of steps that do not exceed the threshold.
US08924625B2

A method includes implementing, with a memory of a computing device, a memory controller of the memory of the computing device, a storage device coupled to the computing device and/or an external device coupled to the computing device, a scheme for detecting an overlap between a first address range and a second address range. The first address range includes a first starting address and a first ending address, and the second address range includes a second starting address and a second ending address. The method also includes reducing a number of comparators utilized in the address range overlap detection through solely determining whether the first starting address is within the second address range or the second starting address is within the first address range.
US08924623B2

A method for managing multi-layered data structures in a pipelined memory architecture, comprising the steps of: —providing a multi-level data structure where each level corresponds to a memory access; —storing each level in a separate memory block with respect to the other levels. In this way, a more efficient usage of memory is achieved.
US08924619B2

A system includes a plurality of processors, a message fabric, and a plurality of hardware units. Each of the plurality of processors comprises a plurality of communication FIFOs and has an instruction set including at least one instruction to send a message via at least one of the plurality of communication FIFOs. The message fabric couples the processors via at least some of the plurality of communication FIFOs . Each of the processors is associated with a respective one or more of the hardware units and coupled to each of the associated hardware units via respective hardware unit input and output communication FIFOs. Each of the processors is enabled to send messages to others of the processors via respective processor output communication FIFOs. The respective hardware units associated with each of the processors are enabled to send messages to the associated processor via the respective hardware unit input communication FIFOs.
US08924613B2

A data processing device includes a master arbitrating unit assigning information to a command sent from a selected bus master, a data buffer, a write command buffer, a read command buffer, a write data reception completion notification control unit issuing a signal indicating that storing of write data is complete, and a command order determining unit selecting whichever of a first command and a second command coming earlier in an order identified with the information, the first information being information for which the completion is indicated by the signal and a second command being a read command.
US08924605B2

A computer peripheral device includes a host interface, which is configured to communicate over a bus with a host processor and with a system memory of the host processor. Processing circuitry in the peripheral device is configured to receive and execute work items submitted to the peripheral device by client processes running on the host processor, and responsively to completing execution of the work items, to generate completion reports and to write a plurality of the completion reports to the system memory via the bus together in a single bus transaction.
US08924591B2

A method and device for data segmentation in data compression are disclosed. The method includes: acquiring a segmentation rule corresponding to the length of a current unsegmented data stream according to the length of the current unsegmented data stream in a data stream to be compressed, whereas the length of the unsegmented data stream increases, the probability that the corresponding segmentation rule is satisfied increases monotonically, and when the segmentation rule corresponding to a first length is satisfied, the segmentation rule corresponding to a second length is definitely satisfied too; where the first length and the second length are the length of the unsegmented data stream, and the first length is smaller than the second length; and segmenting, by using the segmentation rule, the data stream to be compressed.
US08924590B2

There is provided a system and method for communicating in a networked system. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided a computer system comprising a plurality of endpoints, each of the endpoints being configured to transmit data messages to each of a plurality of other endpoints by transmitting data messages to only a respective subset of endpoints at any given time.
US08924589B2

High availability architecture that employs a mid-tier proxy server to route client communications to active data store instances in response to failover and switchover. The proxy server includes an active manager client that interfaces to an active manager in each of the backend servers. State information and configuration information are maintained separately and according to semantics consistent with needs of corresponding data, the configuration information changing less frequently and more available, the state information changing more frequently and less available. The active manager indicates to the proxy server which of the data storage instances is the currently the active instance. In the event that the currently active instance is inactive, the proxy server selects a different backend server that currently hosts the active data store instance. Client communications are then routed to the different backend server with minimal or no interruption to the client.
US08924578B2

The present disclosure relates to a method for transmitting messages, a transmission message containing one or more useful data objects is first transmitted to a switching component in order to be routed to a second telecommunications device, wherein the transmission is made by a transmitting telecommunications device. A plurality of variants of the one or more useful data objects is created in the switching component in accordance with a set of parameters, the second telecommunications device is then informed of the provision of the plurality of variants of the data objects for transmission to the second telecommunications device. Also, a delivery request message relating to a specific variant of the useful data objects is subsequently sent from the second telecommunications device to the switching component. The switching component then transmits a delivery message containing the requested variant of the useful data objects to the second telecommunications device.
US08924577B2

A network in which peer-to-peer remediation is provided to keep clients in the network up-to-date. As network clients establish peer-to-peer connections, they exchange status information. The status information allows the clients to mutually identify whether one client is more out-of-date than another. The more up-to-date client provides update information to the more out-of-date client. To preserve the integrity of the update process, updates are provided as signed binary files and are only applied by the client receiving the update if the binary file may be authenticated by the recipient.
US08924573B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for establishing an authenticated session between a client computing device and a remote computing device. In certain embodiments, a connection is established between the client computing device and the remote computing device. Once the connection is established, the client computing device sends a number of requests to the client computing device including a negotiate request, a setup request, and a validation request. In response to the requests, the client computing device receives a number of responses from the remote computing device including a negotiate response, setup response and a validation response. Once the responses have been received, a determination is made as to whether information contained in the validation response matches information contained in the negotiate response. If the information matches, an authenticated session is established between the remote computing device and the client computing device.
US08924571B2

The methods and systems described herein are directed to providing, to virtual machines, access to data associated with a connection to a wireless local area network, in a computing device executing a hypervisor hosting a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine. A first driver executed by a first virtual machine of the first physical computing device establishes a network connection to a second physical computing device, via a wireless local area network interface of the first physical computing device. The first driver receives from a second driver executed by a second virtual machine of the first physical computing device, a request for a characteristic of the network connection. The first driver provides, responsive to the request, data comprising the requested characteristic to the second driver.
US08924568B2

A method of managing contention in a wireless network is described. The wireless network may include an access router and a plurality of access terminals connectable to the base station. The method may include designating a data slot as a downlink slot or an uplink slot, and sending a signal from the access router to the access terminals to indicate the designation of the data slot. The access router may determine whether the data slot should be designated as a downlink slot or an uplink slot by assessing information such QoS (quality of service) requirements contained in a REQ message received from one or more of the access terminals, and information regarding buffer level received from one or more of the access terminals.
US08924554B2

A method and apparatus for providing domainless service selection (DLSS) are described. According to one embodiment of the invention, there is a service selection network element used to provide access of computing devices to a set of one or more services provided by a set of one or more providers. In addition, a web portal allows subscribers to log in and/or select/switch between the services and providers. Responsive to such action by a given subscriber, the web portal causes a record of that subscriber to be altered to reflect the action and causes the service selection network element to attempt to connect the subscriber accordingly. According to certain embodiments of the invention, subscribers' domainless user identifiers are merged by the service selection network element with domain names (stored in a database) of services/providers to form network addresses (e.g., Internet addresses).
US08924547B1

An exemplary network management system comprises a management server communicating with a plurality of network devices via a network. Each network device initiates a check-in request with the management server that indicates a task to be performed by the server. Upon receiving a check-in request from a network device, the management server is configured to determine a task to be performed that requires communication with the network device, and the management server is configured to determine a weight value indicative of a processing burden for the server in performed such task. The management server is further configured to determine whether to perform the task during the current check-in session based on the weight value.
US08924543B2

A technique involves modular storage of network service plan components and provisioning of same. A subset of the capabilities of a service design system can be granted to a sandbox system to enable customization of service plan offerings or other controls.
US08924539B2

Embodiments relate to combinatorial optimization of multiple resources across a set of cloud-based networks. In aspects, a set of usage histories can store patterns for users in a host cloud-based network recording the consumption of processor, memory, storage, operating system, application, or other resources subscribed to by the user. The user can be a corporation or other collective user. A deployment engine can identify similar target resources available in a set of target clouds. The engine can receive selection criteria for selecting target clouds for a migration of the user's deployment. In the combinatorial selection, each target cloud can independently supply one or more target resources. The engine can thus identify a series of combinations of target resources and target clouds supplying those resources to discover combinations of target clouds and target resources that can satisfy or optimize the selection criteria, such as cost or others.
US08924538B2

In a computer-implemented method of computer usage monitoring, at least one of the following is electronically monitored on a computing device without reference to an electronically produced visual image: one or more of keywords or phrases input into an application; a presence of one or more of the keywords or phrases in a file; or the launching of one or more applications or programs. Responsive to the input of one or more of the listed keywords or phrases into an application running on the computing device, the presence of one or more of the listed keywords or phrases in a file on the computing device, or the launching of one or more of the listed applications or programs on the computing device, an electronic form of at least one visual image produced by the computing device is recorded and electronically dispatching to another computing device.
US08924532B2

In some embodiments, multiple heterogeneous information technology service management (ITSM) applications of different IT service partners (customers and service providers) are integrated via a service process integration grid employing a set of standard workflows and associated standard transaction types and data structures. Once a service partner's workflows and data structures have been mapped to the standard grid workflows and data structures, integration with a first and new service partners is relatively fast and convenient. Analysis of real-life ITSM applications led to the development of particular standardized workflows classified according to whether they are initiated by service provider or customer, and according to whether they do or do not include ownership-transfer transactions allowing a service partner (customer or provider) to transfer ownership of the service process to its counterpart for further action by the counterpart.
US08924528B1

Systems and method for the management and processing of resource requests by a service provider, such as a content delivery network (“CDN”) service provider, on behalf of a content provider are provided. The CDN service provider can measure the performance associated with the delivery of resources to requesting client computing devices from various computing devices associated with the CDN service provider. In one embodiment, the CDN service provider can utilize commands responsive to an initial request for a resource that causes the requesting client computing device to transmit one or more supplemental resource requests. Information associated with the processing of the sequence of resource requests can be used to measure CDN service provider latencies.
US08924527B2

Systems and methods are provided that allow network resources to be shared across geographical distances. This can be achieved by changing the resources available for establishing and handling call or data session processing in an area. A mobility management device can alone or in combination with a DNS server change the size or the resource pool available in some embodiments. The change in resources can be dynamic according to certain predefined conditions or can be setup beforehand to account for daily demand. This sharing of resources can allow more efficient usage of resources available across a geographic region, rather than needed to over-provision each region to account for peak demands.
US08924519B2

A client process may identify a local DNS server and may change a DHCP-supplied DNS setting to the local DNS server when the local DNS server is present. The client process may periodically monitor the local DNS server and, if the local DNS server is not present, the client process may revert the DNS setting to the originally supplied DHCP DNS setting. The client process may actively monitor the local DNS server by initiating communication with the local DNS server, or may passively monitor by listening for activity by the local DNS server.
US08924510B1

A digital content management system comprises a technology and process, which provides for personalized searching and browsing of digital content in a Digital Content Storefront based upon a real-time contextual merge of cloud-based Digital Content Catalog metadata and individualized, consumer-personalization Contextual Metadata, wherein the Contextual Metadata and Digital Content Catalog metadata are respectively delivered from a set of consumer web services provided at a managed datacenter in combination with a real-time elastic cloud cache, preferably provided by a Content Delivery Network. This system focuses on and expedites end-to-end delivery, caching, and real-time consumer application metadata merging to offer highly scalable and responsive contextual Catalog search and browse results.
US08924508B1

In general, techniques are described for advertising end user content delivery reachability by content delivery networks (CDNs) to upstream content serving entities. In one example, a CDN interconnection (CDNI) device of a content serving entity receives a prefix advertisement that specifies a downstream entity and indicates the downstream entity provides content delivery reachability to the network address prefix. A request router of the CDNI device receives a content request that includes a request for content and specifies a network address of an end user device to receive the content, wherein the network address is within a range defined by the network address prefix. The request router selects the downstream entity to serve the content request based at least on the content delivery reachability indication and redirects the content request to the downstream entity.
US08924507B2

An invention is disclosed for efficiently processing and transmitting graphics data in a remote desktop environment. In embodiments of the invention, a connection is established between a remote desktop server computer and a remote desktop client computer. The remote desktop server computer may process graphics data representative of a remote user desktop. The remote desktop server computer may divide the remote desktop screen in data regions and portions. The remote desktop server computer may then encode and transmit each region to the remote desktop client computer at a certain quality that may be adjusted progressively across the screen frames. The remote desktop server computer may also stop encoding and transmitting the portions of the data region that would not be visible to a user when the region is rendered on a display. The remote desktop user experiences an image quality gradually improving with each frame containing information about the image.
US08924505B2

The present invention is directed toward a computer implemented method and device for configuring a user agent (e.g., a web browser) to act as a web server, and host services to be available to the end users of other user agents (e.g., web browsers) acting as clients. Such services may be provided by executing web widgets written in a scripting language, or provided as simple HTML services. The present invention further provides various techniques (e.g., Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal) for allowing requests for a service to pass to the user agent acting as a server, by making such requests appear to a firewall as responses to an initial request made by the user agent.
US08924500B2

Disclosed are various embodiments for storage of files. A portable memory device is configured to couple to a computing device, and a storage management application is stored in the portable memory device, the storage management application being executable by a processor circuit. The storage management application is configured to send a plurality of files for storage in a networked storage system, the networked storage system being remote to the computing device. The storage management system caches a subset of the files on the portable memory device and maintains a local file directory in the portable memory device. The local file directory lists the files stored in the networked storage system in association with an account linked to the portable memory device.
US08924489B2

Methods and apparatuses that generate a subtopic identifier identifying a client application within a client device that can support multiple users are described. The client application may be associated with a server application hosted in one or more application servers. Notification services may be registered with the application servers from the client application to forward identifiers associated with the client application for one of the multiple users to the server application to enable the server application to push notification messages to the client device selectively for the client application for that user. When receiving a notification message from the application server, the notification message may be examined to forward the notification message directly to the client application for that user without invoking other applications in the client device if the notification message carries a subtopic identifier of the client application.
US08924487B2

Exemplary systems and methods for managing support cases based on support issues received by way of social media outlets are disclosed. An exemplary method includes a social media management subsystem receiving data representative of a support issue by way of a social media outlet, establishing a support case based on the support issue, displaying a portal configured to facilitate management of a plurality of support cases including the support case, receiving a request to assign the support case to one or more backend support subsystems, transmitting data representative of the support case to the one or more backend support subsystems, and monitoring one or more actions performed by the one or more backend support subsystems to address the support issue. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08924485B2

Methods, devices, signals, and systems are provided in a message routing architecture which provides improved capabilities for integrating “digital” communication through email messages with “analog” communication through voice and/or fax or pager messages. Email can be addressed using nothing more than a standard telephone or fax number. If the registered owner of the telephone or fax number has a corresponding email address, then the invention converts the telephone or fax number to the email address for delivery and uses standard email delivery systems to deliver the message. If no conventional delivery email address is known, or if the message sender or recipient specify multiple delivery modes, then the email message content is transformed into voice, pager and/or fax content and delivered to the recipient using the telephone or fax number which was specified as the email address. Familiar telecommunications services such as call forwarding and selective call blocking can also be used with messages that originate as email. The invention also supports use of telecommunications numbers as indexes into databases which contain public key certificates, to make it unnecessary for a proposed message recipient to provide its public key expressly in advance to each particular proposed message originator.
US08924477B2

A system and method for sharing and installing customized meeting objects into an ongoing electronic meeting is disclosed. An object module, which defines the customized meeting object is loaded onto a server hosting the ongoing electronic meeting. Client-side portions of the object module are then downloaded to each of the clients that are participating in the electronic meeting. While the meeting is ongoing, the meeting player installs the client-side portions of the object module and displays the customized meeting object, at least, to a meeting presenter. Once displayed to a meeting presenter, the presenter may use the customized meeting object during the meeting and display such object to the meeting participants when desired.
US08924465B1

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes generating a data structure that links users based on social relationships and permits a first user to target content to other users that are linked to the first user via a social relationship.
US08924463B2

A method, system, and device for reporting User Agent Profile (UAP) information are disclosed. In the embodiments of the invention, UAP information is associated with an attribute group label, and a client identifies the attribute group label and reports UAP attribute information associated with the identified attribute group label to a server side according to the identified attribute group label, thereby avoiding reporting all UAP attribute information and further saving network resources. Moreover, in the case that a change occurs in the value of a device capability UAP attribute of a terminal or in the attribute group label of the server side, if such a change affects an existing service, the client only needs to send the changed device capability UAP information to the server side, thereby further avoiding transmitting a large volume of UAP information and further saving the network resources.
US08924456B2

A method and a system are disclosed for processing online joint guarantee. After a server receives an application from a user, the server provides various types of joint guarantee grouping to the user for selection. The server creates a joint guarantee group having a unique ID according to the selection of the user, organizes the information of the joint guarantee group into a data packet and sends the data packet to a bank system to be approved. The method potentially improves the success rate of joint guarantee grouping and removes the geographical limitations. Through the Internet, the method makes it possible to join companies of different geographical locations for online joint guarantee. The method also establishes a complete online alert mechanism, and realizes computerized loan risk control to improve the business credit system.
US08924450B2

A time-division (TD) decimation filter bank includes two decimation filter units. The first decimation filter unit operates at a system clock and receives a first-stage input data string. Each data in the first-stage input data string has a first part data and second part data. During the odd clock periods, the first part data are filtered and decimated in frequency. During the even clock periods, the second part data are filtered and decimated in frequency. The second decimation filter unit operates at the system clock and 2N clock periods are set as an operation-period unit, N≧2. The second decimation filter unit receives the outputs from the first decimation filter unit and receives several feedback data of the second decimation filter unit by TD, so that the received data are distributed into the 2N clock periods for filtering and decimation and outputting by TD.
US08924448B2

An arithmetic device includes an input unit inputting data that are elements of a group; a converting unit is configured, when the input data are in a second representation, to convert the input data into a first representation and to perform arithmetic operation on the converted first representation using an operand in the first representation in which at least one subcomponent is a zero element to convert the converted first representation into first converted data expressed in the first representation, and when the input data are in the first representation, to perform arithmetic operation on the input data using the operand in the first representation in which at least one subcomponent is a zero element to convert the input data into second converted data expressed in the first representation; and an operating unit that performs arithmetic processing on the first or the second converted data using secret information.
US08924447B2

A method for double precision approximation of a single precision operation is disclosed. The method may include steps (A) to (B). Step (A) may store an input value in a processor. The processor generally implements a plurality of first operations in hardware. Each first operation may receive a first variable as an argument. The first variable may be implemented in a fixed point format at a single precision. The input value may be implemented in the fixed point format at a double precision. Step (B) may generate an output value by emulating a selected one of the first operations using the input value as the argument. The emulation may utilize the selected first operation in hardware. The output value may be implemented in the fixed point format at the double precision. The emulation is generally performed by a plurality of instructions executed by the processor.
US08924445B2

It is an object of the present invention to search for image data with an intuitive operation to which active elements are added.A digital photo frame 1 searches a non-volatile data base memory 15 or a network for image data based on parameters respectively related to a position and a direction in which the digital photo frame 1 is arranged, a distance or a depth from the digital photo frame 1, and time. The digital photo frame 1 displays an image expressed by the image data thus searched.
US08924443B2

A system for managing files over a network comprises a first computer hosting managed folders and files and one or more second computers. The first computer comprises database management software, server software such as server pipe software, and a first unique token. The second computer comprises a software module adapted and configured to be integrated into application software, client software such as client pipe software, and a second unique token. The computers communicate in part using the server and client software to establish a secure session for file access and transfer between the first and second computers.
US08924439B2

A system for and method of partial file hashing is presented. The system and method may generate a hash table file using a hash algorithm on portions of a file before transmitting the file. The receiving system may calculate hash values on one or more portions of a file and compare the values to the values in the hash table file.
US08924434B2

A system and method for facilitating comparing or juxtaposing characteristics or attributes of human resources of an enterprise. The example method includes displaying one or more representations of one or more human resources and providing various user options. A first user option enables a user to add a representation of a human resource to a shortlist. A second user option enables a user to initiate a comparison operation based one or more user selected human resources chosen from the shortlist. In a more specific embodiment, the comparison operation results in display of a comparison view that juxtaposes various attributes of human resources being compared. Example attributes include numbers of keyword matches appearing in human resource profiles, availability scores, locations, billing rates, qualification scores, and so on.
US08924433B2

Records of geotemporal data for a plurality of users from a database associated with on-line and/or mobile cellular activities are used to generate a geotemporal fingerprint of a user. The geolocation history associated with the user's on-line and/or mobile cellular activities from one such database can be correlated with a user's geolocation data from a separate on-line database associated with a different activity. For example, the geolocation history or geotemporal fingerprints associated with on-line and/or mobile cellular activities from one particular database can be correlated with those associated with payment card usage. Such information can be used to authenticate a user, for example, as a security measure for payment card users and issuers, for registrationless credit security applications, and for gathering relevant data for advertising campaigns.
US08924432B2

A method of improving accuracy of a database of amusement device locations is described. A plurality of amusement devices are deployed at a plurality of locations. The database of amusement device locations is populated based on the deploying. A server receives over a network, from a portable device, a check-in request. The check-in request is associated with one of the amusement devices, and includes geographic location information associated with the portable device at the time the check-in request is made. The server compares the geographic location information received from the portable device with the location of the amusement device stored in the database, and updates the database based on the comparing.
US08924430B2

An image processing apparatus having a processing function of an image includes a communication unit for communicating image data using certificate data; a certificate data storage unit for storing the certificate data; a corresponding status output unit for outputting a correlation between the certificate data and the processing function; and an updating unit for updating the correlation between the certificate data and the processing function.
US08924421B2

After receiving a first user request including a first set of search keywords, a computer identifies a first set of chunks within multiple documents, wherein each chunk includes terms matching the first set of search keywords, and displays at least a portion of the first set of chunks, including highlighting the terms matching the first set of search keywords in the displayed portion in a first manner. After receiving a second user request to search among the documents for documents that satisfy a second set of search keywords, the computer identifies a second set of chunks within the documents, wherein each chunk includes terms matching the second set of search keywords, and displays at least a portion of the second set of chunks, including highlighting the terms matching the second set of search keywords in the displayed portion in a second manner that is different from the first manner.
US08924411B2

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a system and method for the dynamic provisioning of static content. In one embodiment, information presented on a content delivery system can be refreshed based on information published on a content management system. One embodiment can interface the content delivery system and the content management system at the page level. More specifically, content dependencies across pages employing the same content or portion(s) thereof can be tracked in a timely, accurate manner. Upon receiving a notification of a change to the content or a portion thereof from the content management system, a content generation system may operate to determine, based on the dependencies, what pages are affected by the change and, based on the determination, dynamically regenerate any and all affected pages. The regenerated pages may then be stored and/or pushed to the web tier for delivery to end users.
US08924410B2

An intent guessing system receives partial user queries as they are entered by the user. The partial user queries are compared with different intents derived from previously logged queries. Guesses are made as to which of the intents are associated with the partial user query. The intent guesses are then provided as responses to the user query. Features are identified for the earlier logged queries and associated with the derived intents. The derived intents and associated features are then used to identify intents for the partial user queries.
US08924405B2

There is provided an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention including a history information obtaining unit and a reference value determining unit. The history information obtaining unit obtains history information about predetermined operation. The history information includes identification information and time information at which a predetermined operation is performed by/on a classification subject. The identification information and the time information are associated with each other. The reference value determining unit calculates operation number information based on the obtained history information. The operation number information includes the number of operations performed by/on the single classification subject. The operation number information further includes the number of classification subjects having the same number of operations. The number of operations and the number of classification subjects are associated with each other. The reference value determining unit determines a reference value based on the operation number information.
US08924396B2

A computer-implemented method, computer-readable medium and system for scoring a text are disclosed. Themes within one or more texts may be determined and used to score each text, where an overall score for each text may indicate a respective importance and/or value of each text. The score for each text may be determined based upon a number of themes, type of themes, frequency of theme elements associated with the themes, distribution of theme elements associated with the themes, location of themes in the text, some combination thereof, etc. In this manner, the importance or value of one or more texts may be determined more accurately using information within each text with reduced reliance upon external information. Additionally, more relevant search results can be returned to a user by using internal information to perform ranking operations and/or filtering operations associated with a search.
US08924393B1

A system and method for improving the accuracy of the automatic categorization of financial transactions provides a flexible and comprehensive approach to the automatic categorization of financial transactions whereby the payee data associated with the financial transaction and one or more of: data indicating the transaction amount, and how products and/or services of various kinds are typically priced; data indicating the time associated with the transaction; data indicating the time intervals between related transactions; and data indicating the transaction amount as compared to pricing data associated with the payee of the transaction, is analyzed to determine a financial category to automatically apply to the financial transactions.
US08924392B2

Data representing capabilities of devices in a data is aggregated on a cluster-basis. Information representing capability attributes of devices in the data center is received. The information representing the capability attributes is analyzed to generate data that groups devices based on similarity of at least one capability attribute. Aggregation data is stored that represents the grouping of the devices based on similarity of the at least one capability attribute and identifies the devices in corresponding groups.
US08924387B2

Social networking data is received at the dispersed storage processing unit, the social networking data associated with at least one of a plurality of user devices. Dispersed storage metadata associated with the social networking data is generated. A full record and at least one partial record are generated based on the social networking data and further based on the dispersed storage metadata. The full record is stored in a dispersed storage network. The partial record is pushed to at least one other of the plurality of user devices via the data network.
US08924383B2

Described is a system and method for automatic monitoring and dissemination of media content. The system and method include a content acquisition platform receiving media content from at least one source and storing the media content in a media storage platform, a media processing platform segmenting the media content based upon predetermined criteria defined by a user and storing metadata corresponding to the segmented media content in the media storage platform, an alert platform providing the user with an alert identifying the segmented media content, the alert including at least a portion of the metadata stored in the media storage platform and a content delivery platform sending the segmented media content to a device of the user.
US08924371B2

Method and system for facilitating accessing or retrieving desired data via use of graphically displayed search/sort toggle functionality. The method includes providing a first user option to toggle between display of a search control and a sort control. Search results are displayed in response to user input provided via the search control. Default search results may be initially displayed. A portion of the search results may be displayed simultaneously with one or more controls associated with the first user option.
US08924366B2

Storage systems and methods are presented. In one embodiment, a variable length segment storage method comprises: receiving a data stream; performing a tailored segment process on the data stream, wherein at least one of a plurality of tailored segments include corresponding data of at least one of a plurality of variable length segments and alignment padding to align with boundaries of a fixed length de-duplication scheme; performing a de-duplication process on the plurality of tailored segments; and storing information corresponding to the result of the de-duplication process. In one embodiment, the tailored segment process includes adjusting the alignment padding of the at least one of a plurality of tailored segments, wherein an adjustment in the alignment padding of the at least one of a plurality of tailored segments corresponds to a modification in the at least one of the plurality of variable length segments.
US08924362B2

Systems and methods are provided for data processing and storage management. In an illustrative implementation an exemplary computing environment comprises at least one data store, a data processing and storage management engine (B-File engine) and at least one instruction set to instruct the B-File engine to process and/or store data according to a selected data processing and storage management paradigm. In an illustrative operation, the illustrative B-File engine can generate a B-File comprising multiple buckets and store sample items in a random bucket according to a selected distribution. When the size of the B-FILE grows to reach a selected threshold (e.g., maximum available space), the B-File engine can shrink the B-File by discarding the largest bucket. Additionally, the B-File engine can append data to existing buckets and explicitly cluster data when erasing data such that data can be deleted together into the same flash block.
US08924358B1

A first write operation is intercepted. The first write operation is a write from a virtual machine to a virtual disk. The first write operation is a change to a first data location. The change to the first data location is recorded. The recording creates a first change record. The first change record is stored separately from the first data location. A first backup operation is performed. The first backup operation, the intercepting, and the recording are performed by an application executing on a host of the virtual machine. The first backup operation includes a read request for the first data location. The read request for the first data location is fulfilled based on the first change record.
US08924356B2

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to checkpoints for a file system. In aspects, updates to the file system are organized into checkpoint buckets. When a checkpoint is desired, subsequent updates are directed to another checkpoint bucket. After global tables have been updated for updates in the current checkpoint bucket, a logical copy of the global tables is created. This logical copy is stored as part of the checkpoint data. To assist in recovery, a checkpoint manager may wait until all updates of the current checkpoint bucket have been written to storage before writing final checkpoint data to storage. This final checkpoint data may refer to the logical copy of the global tables and include a validation code to verify that the checkpoint data is correct.
US08924353B1

A computer-implemented method for copying database files may include (1) identifying a request to copy a database file to a target location, and in response to identifying the request to copy the database file to the target location, (2) identifying a preallocated but unused portion of the database file, (3) transmitting a used portion of the database file to the target location, and (4) transmitting a metadata representation of the unused portion of the database file to the target location, the metadata representation being smaller than the unused portion. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08924342B2

A data transfer system and method are provided in the present invention. Wherein, the data transfer system and method comprises a source data obtaining service module and a target table updating service module, both of which are divided into a main part and an affiliated part, and wherein the affiliated part is a dynamic function library, which can package sub-processings such as source data obtaining, data transformation and data inserting/updating. Meanwhile, the data transfer system and method can support quasi real-time data transfer tasks and real-time data transfer tasks at the same time. The data transfer system and method support multi-computer disaster tolerance and extension, and the customization of the dynamic function library can facilitate the change in the requirements of data transfer.
US08924338B1

Described are methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for automatically updating a tag embedded in a webpage that summarizes a current version of the webpage. A first model representative of the current version of the webpage is extracted. The first model is compared with a second model corresponding to a previous version of the webpage to detect one or more changes to the webpage. If the changes exceed a threshold, at least one keyword is determined for to the current version of the webpage. The tag of the webpage can be updated to include the keyword.
US08924327B2

An approach is provided for rapport management. A rapport management platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of coach multimodal sensor information to determine movement information, cognitive information, or a combination thereof, wherein the coach multimodal sensor information is captured from at least one coach device, at least one coach user of the at least one coach device, or a combination thereof while the at least one coach device, the at least one coach user, or a combination thereof is engaged in at least one activity. The rapport management platform is capable of processing and adapting mixed reality objects, changing virtual reality, creating coaching reality based on information, adapting to rendering of reality, reducing and adapting notes and information according to people habits. The rapport management platform is also capable of controlling the quality of mixed reality content transferred in computation clouds, and selecting appropriate CODEC for coaching model transfer.
US08924317B2

There is provided an information processing apparatus including an information amount gain calculation unit that, on the assumption that a factor that could cause a state transition in a state transition model occurs and the state transition takes place as a result of an occurrence of the factor, determines an information amount gain, which is an information amount obtained by causing the factor to occur regarding a causal relationship between the factor and the state transition and observing a result thereof, an evaluation value calculation unit that determines an evaluation value to evaluate effectiveness of causing each of the factors to occur based on the information amount gain to acquire the causal relationship between the factor and the state transition, and a decision unit that decides the factor to be occurred based on the evaluation value.
US08924314B2

Various embodiments include systems and methods for search result ranking using machine learning. A goal model can be created using machine learning. Responsive to a search query, a plurality of data factors can be inputted into the goal model to create a model output. Search results can be presented to a user based on the model output.
US08924313B2

Multi-label classification is performed by (i) applying a set of trained base classifiers to an object to generate base classifier label prediction sets comprising subsets of a set of labels; (ii) constructing a set of second level features including at least one second level feature defined by a predetermined combination of two or more of the base classifier label prediction sets; and (iii) applying a second level classifier to label the object with a set of one or more labels comprising a subset of the set of labels, labeling being based on the set of second level features. The multi-label classifier is trained by: (iv) applying operations (i) and (ii) to labeled training objects of a set of labeled training objects to generate training metadata comprising sets of second level features for the labeled training objects; and (v) training the second level classifier using the training metadata.
US08924291B2

A system for making financial transfers between subscribers of a financial transfer service is disclosed. The system may include a receiving subscriber interface (RSI), a sending subscriber interface (SSI), and an agent server (AS). The RSI may be configured to accept a set of invoice information including an identifier of a destination account. The SSI may be configured to accept a set of payment information including an identifier of a source account. The AS may be configured to receive the set of invoice information and create an invoice based on the set of invoice information. The AS may also be configured to transmit the invoice and receive the set of payment information. The AS may also be configured to cause an amount of funds to be transferred from the source account on a source transfer network to the destination account on a destination transfer network via a primary transfer network.
US08924287B1

A method of electronically transferring funds comprising receiving by an application executing on a computer payment card information associated with a payment card and a portable electronic device. The method also comprises receiving by the application a request from the portable electronic device to electronically transfer funds. The method also comprises sending by the application to the portable electronic device identification of entities that have the capability of receiving the electronic funds based on the payment card information.
US08924284B2

Software at a trading station receives a data feed from an electronic exchange and computes an effective bid price and/or an effective ask price based on a particular quantity to trade. Then, the effective bid price and/or effective ask prices are indicated to the user. An effective bid price is an average price at which a quantity could be sold based on current market conditions. An effective ask price is an average price at which a quantity could be bought based on current market conditions. Depending on the available quantities in the market, the effective prices may represent spreads different from the actual spread of the inside market. Additionally, a derivative of price, such as yield, may be used to compute other types of effective bid and/or ask information.
US08924276B2

Forecasting financial market activity includes a host system and a graphical processing unit in data communication with the server. Forecasting financial market activity also includes a computer program product residing on the host system, the computer program product including instructions for causing the host system to send one or more financial models to the graphical processing unit; and a computer program product residing on the graphical processing unit for causing the graphical processing unit to: receive the financial models and a list of types of market data associated with each financial model; generate one or more engine instances; structure the received market data; receive instructions, from the host system, to run an identified financial model; clone at least part of the structured market data; run the engine instances; and generate, in real time, forecast data indicative of an expected market performance.
US08924265B2

A system and process for improving product recommendations for a first user includes receiving a request for one or more product recommendations for a first user, each product recommendation being associated with any one of a plurality of retailers, receiving a plurality of recommendation sets from one or more automated product recommendation systems, wherein the plurality of recommendation sets are generated using different selection models and using ensemble learning to select one or more most relevant product recommendation sets from the plurality of product recommendation sets.
US08924259B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for conducting cardless payment transactions. One of the methods includes receiving from a merchant computer an indication of a payment transaction by a user associated with a mobile phone number. A text message is provided to a device associated with the mobile phone number requesting approval for the payment transaction, wherein the message includes an approval code. A message is received from the device associated with the mobile phone number. If the text message from the device associated with the mobile phone number includes the provided approval code, account information associated with the mobile phone number is obtained, authorization for the payment transaction is obtained using the account information, and notification of authorization of the payment transaction is provided to a merchant conducting the payment transaction.
US08924257B2

A generic RFID reader is provided that can function across a large range of computing devices including mobile computing devices, without customization or with minimal customization.
US08924252B2

Systems and methods for displaying advertisements on a portable device that utilizes an Activity-based operating system are described. The method includes receiving an indication that an Activity is being transitioned away from, and determining whether or not the Activity is finishing. Upon determining that the Activity is finishing, the method includes causing an advertisement display routine to be executed immediately, otherwise submitting the advertisement display routine into a processing queue to be executed subsequently. The advertisement display routine displays the advertisement only upon determining that the state of the Activity and the state of the portable device are characterized by one or more predetermined conditions.
US08924249B2

A band formed to secure to a part of a human body. The band including a motion detection component. The motion detection component including circuitry for detecting and recording movement of the motion detection component. The motion detection component including a display defined to provide a visual indication of an amount of movement recorded by the circuitry. The circuitry including an electrical contact for electrical communication of signals associated with the detected and recorded movement of the motion detection component.
US08924248B2

In a redeemable coupon there is a housing, a motion detector coupled to the housing, wherein the motion detector detects an amount of motion of the coupon, and an indicator coupled to the motion detector, wherein the indicator is activated by the motion detector upon detecting the amount of motion. Additionally, in a method of providing an incentive for a user to exercise, providing the user with a coupon to be coupled to the user, monitoring the motion of the user with a motion sensor included in the coupon, and activating the coupon when the motion sensor has detected a predetermined amount of motion such that the coupon becomes redeemable by the user.
US08924244B2

A technique for performing commercial venture analysis involves establishing an empirically-derived structure and evaluating companies using analytical techniques within that structure. The technique may involve defining jobs, or goals a customer is attempting to reach, with dozens or even hundreds of outcomes. Ideally, the structure and tools facilitate analysis that would not be possible otherwise. Moreover, the nature of the system enables real-time input for changing conditions and the ability to calculate returns for new markets in which products or services do not exist.
US08924243B2

The present invention is directed to mitigating peak traffic in a multimedia conference. In one aspect, one or more requests for starting a first type of conference over the network are received. Thereafter, a second type of conference is started based on predefined parameters, wherein the second type of conference consumes lower bandwidth than the first type of conference.
US08924240B2

A system for monitoring operator and motor vehicle behavior, including at least one mobile device; application software resident on the mobile device, wherein the application software is operative to gather and record information relevant to both the behavior of a motor vehicle and the behavior of an operator of the motor vehicle, and wherein the application software is activated or deactivated based on certain predetermined trigger events; and at least one information processor in communication with and/or resident on the mobile device, wherein the information processor is operative to process and characterize the information gathered by the application software and communicate the processed and characterized information to a user of the system.
US08924238B1

A method and system for providing healthcare service appointment time and cost estimates at the time of scheduling whereby a healthcare services database is created that includes: data indicating standardized codes associated healthcare services; data indicating the average time associated with healthcare services; data indicating the average cost of the healthcare services. One or more screening questions to be asked a patient at the time of scheduling a healthcare service appointment are then generated that indicate which, if any, of the healthcare services in the healthcare services database may be needed by the patient at the healthcare services appointment. The data in the healthcare services database is then used to schedule a healthcare service appointment for the given patient having an allocated time based on the average appointment time associated with the needed healthcare service and, in one example, the patient is provided an estimate of the cost of the healthcare service appointment based on the average cost of the needed healthcare service appointment at the time the healthcare service appointment is scheduled.
US08924220B2

In a multiband compressor 100, a level calculation unit 121 calculates a signal level inputted for each of bands, a gain calculation unit 122 calculates a gain value from the calculated signal level, and a gain limitation unit 130 limits a gain value by comparison with a gain value of the other band in a compressor for each band. With this configuration, provided is a multiband compressor capable of achieving a balance between the quality of sound and the effect of enhancing the sound level at a high level.
US08924192B1

A system and methods emulate an application executing in real time in a mobile device. The mobile device is emulated in real time using a model running on a processor extrinsic to the mobile device. The model is based on characteristics indicative of performance of the mobile device. The application is executed in real time within the model and the application executing in the model is monitored to determine resource utilization information by the application for the mobile device. The resource utilization information for the mobile device is displayed.
US08924188B2

A computerized method for simulating dispersion of fillers in a high polymer material comprises: a simulation step in which filler models and polymer models are disposed in a predetermined virtual space and a molecular dynamics calculation is made thereon; and an outputting step in which the dispersion state of the filler models is output based on results of the simulation step, wherein the filler model represents a plurality of filler particles one of which is defined as a most influential particle for which a largest cutoff distance is defined, and the outputting step includes a rendering step in which, as regards the filler models in the virtual space, only the most influential particles are rendered.
US08924186B1

Physical systems modeled by matrix equations may simultaneously be simulated for multiple excitations using, for example, an adaptive Krylov iterative recycling method.
US08924182B2

A system for measuring a plurality of operating parameters of an object in a harsh environment is provided. The system includes a first energy transceiver system configured to transceive energy signals. The system also includes a transcieved modulant coupled to the first energy transceiver system. The system further includes a second energy transceiver system at least partially disposed on the object and capable of being interrogated by the first energy transceiver system. The second energy transceiver system still further includes a sensing system. The system also includes a processor coupled to the first energy transceiver system. The processor is configured to determine of the plurality of the operating parameters of the object in the harsh environment based upon the transceived modulant.
US08924181B2

Operating refrigeration systems is described herein. One method includes receiving operating information associated with a refrigeration system, and determining a probability of liquid slugging occurring in the refrigeration system before liquid slugging occurs in the refrigeration system based, at least in part, on the operating information.
US08924180B2

According to one embodiment, a measurement unit periodically measures a usage status of a measurement target, and measures each test item of the measurement target at an arbitrary timing according to a test schedule. A first storage unit stores the usage status and a test result in time series. A second storage unit stores statistic information representing a relationship between the usage status and the test result. A probability calculation unit calculates a first evaluation value representing a load of the measurement target at a recent timing and a second evaluation value representing a load of the measurement target at the arbitrary timing, based on the usage status, and calculates a specific probability of each test item, based on the statistic information, the first evaluation value and the second evaluation value. A test schedule creation unit creates a new test schedule having selected test items, based on the specific probability.
US08924174B2

Methods, systems, and devices for determining a power flow are described herein. One method includes determining a temperature of a circuit conductor while the circuit conductor is conducting a current, and determining a power flow associated with the circuit conductor based, at least in part, on the determined temperature.
US08924172B2

A power consumption display unit for a machine tool includes: machining state determining means for determining, when a main power switch used to supply power to a machine tool is ON, whether the machine tool is in a machining state where a machining program is executed to machine a workpiece or in a non-machining state where the machining program is not executed; power consumption measuring means for measuring a power consumption of the machine tool during a period where the machine tool is determined to be in the non-machining state by the machining state determining means; and display means for displaying the power consumption measured by the power consumption measuring means.
US08924167B2

A dual sensor sediment monitoring system for stormwater management facilities includes a capacitive sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. The former periodically determines if a liquid layer exists above the sediment and activates the ultrasonic sensor when it does not. The echo delay measured by the ultrasonic sensor is used to calculate the sediment level, which is wirelessly transmitted to a remote computer for database compilation and use in scheduling maintenance involving sediment removal.
US08924161B2

A health-monitoring device assesses the health of a user based on levels of two analytes in a biological fluid. A first analyte that is utilized to assess a user's health is a fat metabolism analyte, such as ketones, free fatty acids and glycerol, which is indicative of fat metabolism. A second analyte that is utilized is a glucose metabolism analyte, such as glucose. The levels of the two analytes may be used to assess insulin sensitivity, to detect both recent hypoglycemia and the cause of high glucose levels, and/or to guide therapeutic intervention. The dual analyte model may calculate a discrepancy between an actual insulin activity level and a theoretical insulin activity level. The dual analyte model of the present invention may be used to identify individuals at risk for metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and non-insulin dependent diabetes, and allows monitoring of the progression of those disease states, as well as progress made by therapeutic interventions.
US08924153B2

A navigation apparatus and method are provided. The navigation apparatus includes an image acquiring part that acquires an image of a road feature from a vehicle camera. The apparatus also includes a correction distance table that stores a correction distance to correct a difference between a position of a vehicle when the feature disappears from an imaging area of the camera and a guidance output reference position that is a position of the vehicle when the feature disappears from a driver's view. Further, a judging part is included and judges, based on the image acquired by the image acquiring part and the correction distance stored in the correction distance table, whether the vehicle has arrived at the guidance output reference position. Lastly, the apparatus includes a guidance part that provides guidance regarding the traffic light at a predetermined position having the guidance output reference position as a reference.
US08924147B2

A system, method, device, computer program, user interface, and apparatus to associate an object of interest of a map in a location database with a geo-fence. The method includes selecting a first time interval; selecting a mode of transportation; determining terrestrial routes starting from the object of interest; for each determined terrestrial route, determining an end point that can be reach on the terrestrial route within the first time interval using the selected mode of transportation; and storing a geo-fence for the first time interval and mode of transportation in associating with the determined end points.
US08924140B2

An external environment recognition device for a vehicle and a vehicle system capable of assuring safety and reducing the processing load in a compatible manner are provided. An external environment recognition device 100 for a vehicle includes: first collision determination means 103 for computing a risk of collision of a host vehicle with a detected object in front of the host vehicle on the basis of information of a predicted course of the host vehicle and the detected object; and second collision determination means 104 for determining whether the detected object enters the predicted course from the outside of the predicted course or not. This device further includes object selection means 105 for selecting the detected object having a risk at least a first threshold and the detected object determined to enter the predicted course as selection candidate objects from among the detected objects, and for selecting the selection candidate object having a minimum relative distance to the host vehicle as a pedestrian determination request object from among the selected selection candidate objects. This device further includes pedestrian determination means 106 for determining whether the selected pedestrian determination request object is a pedestrian or not using image information.
US08924117B2

A brake monitoring system for an air brake arrangement including: at least one sensor to measure air pressure in at least one component of an air brake arrangement; at least one local controller to determine air brake data; and at least one communication device to transmit at least a portion of the air brake. An air brake arrangement and a computer-implemented method of determining air brake data in an air brake arrangement are also disclosed.
US08924115B2

The disclosure describes, in one aspect, a control system for controlling a braking system. The control system includes a parking brake operatively to at least one wheel, a park brake override mechanism operatively associated with the parking brake, an inching pedal operatively coupled to a transmission, a shift lever operatively coupled to the transmission, at least one sensor operatively coupled to the parking brake to detect when the parking brake is engaged, at least one sensor operatively coupled to the inching pedal to detect a depression of the inching pedal, and at least one sensor operatively coupled to the shift lever for detecting at least one of a forward or reverse gear selection. The control system further includes a controller operatively coupled to the at least one sensors to receive corresponding signals and adapted to control the engagement of the parking brake when the inching pedal is depressed and the at least one of the forward or reverse gear selections is desired.
US08924114B2

When there is a curve in a forward driving path of a vehicle, a wheel clutch for a turning outer wheel of a rear shaft is engaged and a wheel clutch for a turning inner wheel of the rear shaft is disengaged during driving of the curve. When there is no curve, both of the right and left wheel clutches are engaged when it is estimated the vehicle receive a predetermined disturbance input during forward driving. Then, a target yaw moment of a vehicle is calculated. If an average speed of the right and left wheels of a front shaft is more than the speed of the turning outer wheel, the wheel clutch for the turning outer wheel is engaged when the target yaw moment is applied to the vehicle, so that the engaging force of a transfer clutch is controlled based on the target yaw moment.
US08924113B2

A method of operating a transmission with interlocking and friction shifting elements. In or to carry out a gearshift from a currently gear to a target gear, one shifting element is disengaged and another is engaged, and if to carry out a gearshift an interlocking shifting element has to be engaged, the interlocking shifting element is synchronized by partially closing a friction shifting element, with redundancy in the transmission, only if a current speed of the vehicle is lower than a limit value. To monitor for possible malfunction, actuation of the shifting elements and the driving speed are monitored and if, based on the actuation of the shifting elements, it is concluded that there is a redundancy in the transmission, a stored non-actual driving speed is compared with the limit value and if the stored driving speed is higher than the limit value, the redundancy in the transmission is eliminated.
US08924111B2

The invention concerns an electronic controller for a continuously variable transmission of the type having a variator (10) with a rotary variator input (17) coupled to a first variator race (14a) and a rotary variator output (29) coupled to a second variator race (16a). At least one roller (20) runs upon the said races to transfer drive from one to the other. The roller is movable to steplessly vary the variator ratio. The variator further comprises at least one hydraulic actuator (36), (38) which acts upon the roller and through which net torque acting on the variator races is referred via the roller to the variator's casing. A hydraulic arrangement is provided for applying to the actuator at least one hydraulic control pressure which determines force applied’ by the actuator and thus determines the reaction torque. The variator is coupled between a rotary transmission input (17) and a rotary transmission output (714) such that the transmission ratio is a function of the variator ratio. The electronic controller is adapted to cany out the following steps in a loop: measure a speed ratio of the continuously variable transmission; compare the measured speed ratio with a target speed ratio; determine a transmission output torque request on the basis of the said comparison; convert the output torque request to a control pressure request, taking account of the speed ratio; differentiate the control pressure request with respect to lime to obtain a compensation value and apply the compensation value to the control pressure request; and output the resulting compensated control pressure request to the hydraulic valve arrangement.
US08924110B2

When a rotational speed of a secondary pulley is less than a first reference value, the disclosed electronic control device implements lower limit hydraulic control to adjust the hydraulic pressure of a primary pulley to be at a lower limit hydraulic pressure. When the rotational speed is equal to or exceeds the first reference value, but is less than a second reference value, the electronic control device implements balanced hydraulic control to adjust the hydraulic pressure to be more than the lower limit hydraulic pressure. When the rotational speed is equal to or exceeds the second reference value, the electronic control device implements feedback control to correct the hydraulic pressure on the basis of the size of the difference between a target transmission gear ratio and a transmission gear ratio, calculated on the basis of rotational speeds detected by each rotational speed sensor.
US08924101B1

A system and method for adjusting movement of an irrigation apparatus to help compensate for transient conditions occurring during operation of the apparatus to accomplish a substantially uniform fluid application rate, and including transient conditions such as a detected actual speed of movement of the span across the field is lesser or greater than expected or such as a detected actual flow rate of fluid to the irrigation system is lesser or greater than expected.
US08924098B2

Dozers outfitted with manual or electric valves can be retrofitted with a control system for automatically controlling the elevation and orientation of the blade. No modification of the existing hydraulic drive system or existing hydraulic control system is needed. An arm is operably coupled to the existing joystick, whose translation controls the elevation and orientation of the blade. The arm is driven by an electrical motor assembly. Measurement units mounted on the dozer body or blade provide measurements corresponding to the elevation or orientation of the blade. A computational system receives the measurements, compares them to target reference values, and generates control signals. Drivers convert the control signals to electrical drive signals. In response to the electrical drive signals, the electrical motor assembly translates the arm, which, in turn, translates the joystick. If necessary, an operator can override the automatic control system by manually operating the joystick.
US08924093B2

A tractor (10) comprising a power takeoff stub (20) which is drivingly connected to an engine (12) by a driveline (14) is provided. A power takeoff clutch (16) is provided in the driveline for selectively powering the power takeoff stub. A first hydraulic pump (26) is drivingly connected to the driveline between the engine and the power takeoff clutch, while a hydraulic pump/motor (30) is drivingly connected to the driveline between the power takeoff clutch and the power takeoff stub. The pump/motor can operate as a pump driven by the connection to the driveline so as to deliver an additional hydraulic output (B) when required for high capacity implements for example. The PTO clutch (16) can be employed to selectively control operation of the pump/motor. Alternatively, the pump/motor can serve as a motor driven by a hydraulic connection (35) to the first hydraulic pump. In combination with disengagement of the PTO clutch, the pump/motor can provide a hydrostatic drive for the PTO stub.
US08924091B2

An intelligent stuffer trip mechanism is configured to detect a characteristic of a charge within a stuffer chute and actuate the stuffer in response to the characteristic. A user interface may receive desired characteristics of a charge from a user, a sensor may be used to detect characteristics of a charge in a stuffer chute and a controller configured to actuate the stuffer in accordance with a predetermined scheme and the detected characteristics of the charge.
US08924084B2

A control computing unit allocates a feedback axial force and a feedforward axial force at an allocation ratio based on an axial force difference which is a difference between the feedback axial force and the feedforward axial force to set a final axial force as a steering-rack axial force. The control computing unit drives a reaction force motor on the basis of the set final axial force.
US08924083B2

In a power steering system, a torque sensor obtains first and second rotation angles, and a steering angle sensor obtains third and fourth rotation angles. A controller includes a first absolute rotation angle calculation section, a second absolute rotation angle calculation section, and an abnormality detection section. The first absolute rotation angle calculation section calculates a first absolute rotation angle as a first estimate of an absolute rotation angle of a steering wheel based on the first and third rotation angles. The second absolute rotation angle calculation section calculates a second absolute rotation angle as a second estimate of the absolute rotation angle of the steering wheel based on the third and fourth rotation angles. The abnormality detection section detects an abnormality by comparison between the first absolute rotation angle and the second absolute rotation angle.
US08924080B2

Provided is an electric power steering device in which the operation feeling is improved without a decrease in commercial value. A phase compensation unit performs a frequency shift on a compensation frequency band compensated by the phase compensation unit. The phase compensation unit performs phase-shift in the compensation frequency band through a frequency shift process, instead of an increase in compensation gain. Therefore, it is possible to minimize occurrences of minute vibrations and abnormal noise in the steering system including the motor that accompany an increase in gain, and to improve the operation feeling and commercial value.
US08924079B2

A vehicle's dynamic handling state, driver inputs to the vehicle, etc. may be examined to determine one or more measures of driver workload. Driver interface tasks may then be delayed and/or prevented from executing based on the driver workload so as to not increase the driver workload. Alternatively, driver interface tasks may be schedule for execution based on the driver workload and caused to execute according to the schedule, for example, to minimize the impact the executing driver interface tasks have on driver workload.
US08924075B2

An electric power steering system includes: a torque sensor including a first rotor connected to an input shaft, a second rotor connected to an output shaft, a first angle element for measuring an absolute steering angle of the first rotor, and second and third angle elements for measuring relative steering angles of the first rotor; and an electronic control unit for determining a reference steering angle based on the absolute steering angle and the relative steering angles received from the torque sensor, tracing and accumulating first and second absolute steering angles rotated from the reference steering angle based on the relative steering angles received from the second and third angle elements, and averaging the first and second absolute steering angles to provide the calculated final absolute steering angle when the difference between the accumulated first and second steering angles is within the preset reference difference.
US08924042B2

A robot cleaner having a network function is capable of informing information on its internal and external states, through a network service, on a time desired by a user, or periodically, or whenever an event occurs. A remote monitoring system and method of a robot cleaner are capable of allowing a network service user to check state information of the robot cleaner real-time or when necessary, under a configuration that a robot cleaner provides state information such as a cleaning state, the occurrence of an unexpected accident, and an internal state of the robot cleaner, through a network service, by accessing a network server.
US08924032B2

An irrigation system includes at least one environmental sensor, such as a solar radiation sensor that is installed on an irrigation site, and a soil moisture sensor that is also installed on the irrigation site. Programming allows an estimated ET value to be calculated based at least in part on the output signal of the environmental sensor. A pre-programmed watering schedule is automatically modified based on the estimated ET value to thereby conserve water while maintaining the health of plants on the irrigation site. The system automatically inhibits irrigation when an output signal of the soil moisture sensor indicates an amount of moisture in the soil is above a predetermined threshold.
US08924016B2

A method for planning the robot path includes forming a shape space that includes a start point, a goal point, and obstacle information so as to generate a moving path of the robot, generating one or more moving paths of the robot within the shape space, and storing the generated moving paths in a database, selecting a specific path that has a minimum operation range of the robot and a minimum constraint caused by the obstacle from among the stored moving paths, and planning the selected path, enabling the robot to perform motion along the planned path, and pre-planning a path for a next motion of the robot while the robot performs the motion. The apparatus or method for planning the robot path can reduce a time from an end time of one motion to the start time of the next motion, thereby performing a smooth motion.
US08924010B2

A method to control a robot device that includes at least one manipulator which is moveable in an operating space, at least one actuator which actuates the manipulator, a sensor arrangement having at least one position sensor to determine the actual position of the manipulator and a controller which controls the actuator. The manipulator moves along an actual trajectory by means of an external force provided by an operator. The actuator provides compensation forces onto the manipulator influencing the torques or forces exchanged between operator and manipulator. The controller includes a conservative force field module having a conservative force field. The controller provides control signals for the actuator which provides the compensation force based on the control signals. The control signals are based on the conservative force field and on the actual position of the manipulator.
US08924009B2

A haptic device for telerobotic surgery, including a base; a linkage system having first and second linkage members coupled to the base; a motor that provides a motor force; a transmission including first and second driving pulleys arranged such that their faces form an angle and their axes form a plane, first and second idler pulleys offset from the plane and arranged between the first and second driving pulleys such that their axes divide the angle between the first and second driving pulleys, and a cable that traverses the first and second driving pulleys and the set of idler pulleys and transfers the motor force to the linkage system; an end effector coupled to distal ends of the first and second linkage members and maneuverable relative to the base; and a controller that modulates the motor force to simulate a body part at a point portion of the end effector.
US08924007B2

One embodiment is a three dimensional load method for simulating loading of items into at least one container to be transported to at least one destination. The method includes receiving a list of items to be transported, determining at least one container as an optimal number and type of container to be used for transporting the items, and initializing an empty space list to include one space equal to a size of the at least one container. The method also includes initializing a placed item list and an unplaced item list, such that the placed item list includes a list of items already loaded on the at least one container and the unplaced item list includes a list of items to be loaded on the at least one container. The method further includes selecting a subset of items from the unplaced item list for one of the destinations and, while there are more items to be loaded on the at least one container, selecting an item, space in the at least one container, and rotation using an item iterating process, inserting the selected item into the space, the item oriented according to the selected rotation, and updating the empty space list. The method then includes updating the placed item list and the unplaced item list.
US08924003B2

In a thermal displacement compensation method for a machine tool, in which a feed shaft thermal displacement amount is obtained and an amount which cancels the obtained feed shaft thermal displacement amount is added as a thermal displacement compensation amount to a position command for a feed axis, a position where a signal is first output by a position sensor for detecting the position of a movable part of the machine tool is first stored as an initial position. Then, the position where the signal is output by the position sensor is detected, and the thermal displacement compensation amount is modified according to a compensation error, which is the difference between the detected position (actual position) and the initial position.
US08924002B2

A method and programmed apparatus for cutting graphics from substantially-identical sheets with graphics and registration marks printed thereon using a plotter and controlled cutter and sensor movable over the sheets, including: (1) sensing work-surface positions of the marks of a sheet and calculating an expected work-surface position for each such mark based on the work-surface positions of other marks of the sheet; (2) classifying each mark as active or inactive based on a first error criterion and applying the classification to corresponding marks of a subsequent sheet, the active marks being fewer than the total number of printed marks; (3) sensing the work-surface positions of the active marks of the subsequent sheet; and (4) cutting the graphics from the subsequent sheet based on the sensed positions of the active marks, thereby reducing the time for accurate cut-processing of the subsequent sheet.
US08924001B2

Based on a model for determining optical emission intensity values Y at wavelengths from actuator values X of an etching apparatus, X is calculated from Y to achieve preferable Run-to-Run control over Y. A relation between X and Y is defined as a control model (matrix model C1, ratio-constraint model C2) based on an algebraical expression with ΔX as an input and ΔY as an output. In etching process control, ΔX (manipulated volume) is calculated from ΔY (controlled volume) using the control model, based on a non-control optical emission intensity value Y, to set X (S1) for the etching process, during which Y is monitored. Based on an actual value for Y, a non-control optical emission intensity value Y to be used in the next wafer etching process is calculated.
US08923995B2

Methods and apparatus for a user to interact with and control a portable media device through an audio user interface. The audio user interface includes one or more audible control nodes perceived by the user to be spatially located at different points about the user of the portable media device. A sensor in the portable media device senses a movement of the portable media device by the user toward one or more of the audible control nodes. The operation of the portable device is modified in accordance with the sensed movement of the portable media device.
US08923986B2

An implantable medical lead for transmitting electrical pulses to excitable bodily tissue and/or signals detected at bodily tissue to a detection and evaluation unit, including a distal electrode or a distal sensor, or actuator; a proximal electrode connector or sensor/actuator connector; and a lead pole which connects the electrode or the sensor or actuator to the electrode connector or sensor/actuator connector and extends in the lead body, wherein the lead pole comprises at least two separate and individually insulated conductors which are electrically interconnected at least at one point which functions as an interchange point, or reversal point, in the lead extension from the proximal electrode or sensor connector to the distal electrode or the distal sensor, and wherein at least one of the separate conductors, in particular close to the reversal point, is interrupted at least once and/or is not connected at one end.
US08923978B1

A device is provided for use in performing an exercise involving at least one lower extremity of a human subject. The device may include a base including at least one moveable receiver adapted for engaging the at least one lower extremity. At least one stimulator is provided for applying electrical stimulation at a first level to at least one muscle for causing movement of the at least one lower extremity. A controller is also provided for adjusting the stimulator to apply stimulation to the at least one muscle at a second level based on a volitional movement by the human subject.
US08923975B2

A method for treating a patient suffering from chronic neuropathic pain, comprises epidurally applying electrical stimulation energy to a dorsolateral funiculus of the patient, thereby treating the chronic neuropathic pain. The method may further comprise increasing the activation threshold of a side-effect exhibiting neural structure relative to the activation threshold of the dorsolateral funiculus of the patient, wherein the electrical stimulation energy is applied to the dorsolateral funiculus of the patient while the activation threshold of the neural structure relative to the dorsolateral funiculus is increased, thereby treating the chronic neuropathic pain without stimulating the neural structure.
US08923969B2

An implantable medical device includes a housing formed of a first material and a first electronic component provided within the housing. The implantable medical device also includes a second material provided in contact with at least a portion of the housing. At least one of the housing and the first electronic component has a magnetic permeability in a magnetic field that differs from the magnetic permeability of water. The second material is provided in an amount effective to reduce MRI image distortion caused by the implantable medical device.
US08923957B2

A computer-implementable method includes generating a first set of input signals representing an X-lead ECG apparatus, generating a second set of input signals based on the first set and representing a Y-lead ECG apparatus, and generating to a display device a set of ECG traces and/or a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction based on the second set. X and Y are integer values and Y is greater than X.
US08923935B2

A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a display unit configured to display information; a circuit board having one surface with a plurality of switches thereon; and a keypad disposed over the circuit board and having keys that when pressed, contact corresponding switches on the circuit board. Further, the keypad further includes a plurality of actuators corresponding to and protruding towards the plurality of switches; key-shaped parts laminated on the actuators, respectively, and each having a predetermined height; and a film part disposed to obscure the key-shaped parts and having one surface with key marks in correspondence with the key-shaped parts so as to form the keys of the keypad. In addition, the key-shaped parts and the film part are integrally formed together.
US08923927B2

Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for forming an event picture in a mobile communication terminal. If an event such as call reception, alarm or message reception occurs while a service picture is displayed on a screen of the terminal, the current service picture is backed up, a command input through the buttons provided to the terminal is interrupted and the event picture is overlapped over the current service picture, thereby allowing a user to perceive the corresponding event. Accordingly, the terminal user can correctly perceive the event occurred during the service. In addition, when the event occurs, the command input through the buttons is interrupted, so that it is possible to prevent an unintended event processing or erroneous operation due to an erroneous button manipulation.
US08923925B2

The invention relates to hand-held electronic devices that can have a spherical, cylindrical or other curved surface and an output display providing output visible on the curved surface. The interior region of the device can house receiver circuitry coupled to an antenna to enable reception of transmitted radio signals, display control circuitry, physical stimulus processing circuitry, a microprocessor, data storage memory, and a battery. Display and antenna configurations and data processing methods are also disclosed.
US08923919B2

A method and system for interactive home monitoring includes detecting a visitor arriving at a premises of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) client by an intercom unit installed at the premises. The intercom unit may be coupled to the MCDN client, which may be configured to wirelessly communicate with a user of the MCDN client. A captured image of the visitor may be used to determine if an identity of the visitor is known or unknown. Based on the identity, a communication channel between the visitor and the user may be established at the intercom unit. The intercom unit may further be configured to provide further information to the visitor based on the visitor identity.
US08923918B2

A biosensor interface apparatus that utilizes pre-existing or standard electrical connectors of mobile devices such as smart phones, mobile media players, and tablets. The interface device transforms the input biosensor signals to compatible electrical signals for input to one or more of the mobile's connectors. That signals are then conducted via one or more input conductors in the connectors to the mobile's microprocessor, which may display or transmit the biosensor signals and derive further measurements from them.
US08923913B2

A first extended base station that forms a first cell and a second extended base station that forms a second cell operate for a cooperative communication of transmitting same data to a user terminal located in the first cell. A second signal processor that corresponds to the second extended base station generates a training signal specific to the first extended base station and the first extended base station and the second extended base station transmit same data and same training signals. Thus, a cooperative communication can be realized in a system that uses a training signal specific to a base station.
US08923910B2

A wireless communications device supports a constant transmission power mode of operation and a time varying transmission power mode of operation for transmitting data, e.g., peer discovery data. The device determines an amount of network congestion and switches between the two modes of operation as a function of the determined amount of network congestion. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited for use in a peer to peer ad hoc wireless communications system in which a limited amount of air link resources are available for peer discovery signaling and the same peer discovery resources are, at times, used concurrently by multiple devices. When network congestion is low, the device operates in the constant transmission power mode. When network congestion is high, the device operates in the time varying power mode. Devices sharing a common peer discovery resource in a local area intentionally select different time varying transmission patterns.
US08923905B2

Methods, systems, apparatus and computer program products are provided for generating a shared initialization code for physical channel data scrambling in an LTE Advanced coordinated multipoint transmission network. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, it is to be understood that it should not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US08923903B2

To enable syncing communication-specific history information on apparatuses of a user, one of which may be a legacy apparatus, in a multi-apparatus environment, to correspond to each other, communication-specific history information is also maintained in a network, and in response to an event changing the communication-specific history information, it is also updated in the network, and by means of the information in the network, corresponding communication-specific history information in the user's other apparatuses can be updated.
US08923899B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for interfacing RESTful web applications with packet-switched networks for text messaging. One embodiment comprises a system that handles a Mobile Terminated (MT) text message from a web application to a packet-switched network. The system receives a RESTful send operation for sending the MT text message from the web application. The system converts the RESTful send operation for the MT text message to a send request that is based on a signaling protocol used by the packet switched network, such as SIP, SMPP, or MAP. The system then transmits the send request for the MT text message to the packet-switched network for delivery of the MT text message to a recipient.
US08923898B2

Maintaining communication of a wireless device and using a plurality of wireless communication technologies. A first paging message schedule may be determined for maintaining communication between the wireless device and a first base station associated with a first wireless communication technology. Similarly, a second paging message schedule may be determined for maintaining communication between the wireless device and a second base station associated with a second wireless technology. Additionally, a scheduling conflict may be determined between the first paging message schedule and the second paging message schedule. Accordingly, communication with the first base station may be switched to a third base station using the first wireless technology in response to determining that there is a scheduling conflict.
US08923888B2

A method is provided for offering content recommendations to a mobile station based on a current location of the mobile station. Records of one or more other mobile stations within a distance of the location at a set time frame can be identified. In association with the location of the other mobile station, identification of the time at which that other mobile station was at the location can be recorded. For each identified record of another mobile station, a search query or a result is then identified. In association with the location of the other mobile station, identifications of the search and/or result resident on that other mobile station can be recorded. The response to an inquiry from the mobile station is a recommendation that includes information about the identified search query and/or result resident on one or more of the other mobile stations.
US08923884B2

Disclosed is method for measuring a home cell in a mobile telecommunications system, comprising acquiring, at a network, position data indicative of the position of a first user equipment, determining whether the first user equipment is close to the home cell by using the acquired position data, sending a cell measurement control message from the network to the first user equipment via a base station specifying measurements of said home cell, performing a fine position measurement at the first user equipment, determining at the first user equipment whether the first user equipment is close to the home cell, based on said fine position measurement; and taking measurements of said home cell at the first user equipment when the first user equipment is close to the home cell.
US08923877B2

An approach is provided for mitigating interference from Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) terminals to adjacent frequency bands. A platform determines whether a region associated with transmission of one or more resource blocks are an interfering region according to predetermined criteria, where one or more resource blocks are assigned a primary carrier as a default carrier for the transmission. The platform selects a secondary carrier for the one or more resource blocks instead of the primary carrier if the region is determined to be interfering.
US08923876B2

A method and system for adaptive coordinated multipoint support in a wireless communication system are disclosed. According to one aspect, the invention provides an uplink coordinated multipoint, CoMP, method. A CoMP request is received at a cooperating base station from a serving base station. The CoMP request specifies a first CoMP payload type. Responsive to receiving the CoMP request, a second type of CoMP payload to provide to the serving base station is provided. The second type of CoMP payload is determined based at least in part on resource usage. The cooperating base station provides a CoMP payload of the determined second CoMP payload type to the serving base station.
US08923864B2

A method and system is provided that supports minimizing handover times of netsurfing smartphones controlled by home Internet Access Devices (IADs) to shared IADs and optimizing earnings from these shared devices. The shared services are provisionable right at the handovers. Any shared IAD can implement an automatic auction of its service capacity controlled by a clearing system. The shared IADx automatically generates lucrative clicks on services of location based Internet-apps issued by Ayz passing through shared IADx's reach. Several such provisioning systems may run concurrently, thus enabling high flexibility as to instant and local/regional system restructuring, e.g. on behalf of pricing strategy adaptations and/or version control. The application of the invention needs no change of the networks between which the above described pre-HO support of their HOs/MHOs shall be performed, i.e. it may work on top of all networks between which HOs or MHOs may be executed.
US08923863B2

In one embodiment, a method comprises activating a signaling reduction mode on a wireless access node for a mobile device in an idle state where the signaling reduction mode permits the mobile device to switch radio access technologies while maintaining registration with both the wireless access node and a peer wireless access node, exchanging with the peer wireless access node a first control tunnel identifier of the wireless access node and a second control tunnel identifier of the peer wireless access node, selecting at the wireless access node a second gateway to replace a first gateway, establishing a control connection with the second gateway, transmitting to the second gateway the second control tunnel identifier of the peer wireless access node so that the second gateway may establish a control connection with the peer wireless access node, and continuing the signaling reduction mode.
US08923861B2

A method for facilitating reselection by a wireless communication device to a first network from a second network after termination of a voice call for which a CSFB procedure was performed is provided. The method can include performing measurement of the first network while connected to the first network and performing measurement of the second network during the voice call. The method can further include determining based at least in part on one or more of the measurements that the wireless communication device is in a mobility state. The method can additionally include deriving a predicted signal quality of the first network after termination of the voice call based at least in part on the measurement of the first network and using the predicted signal quality to determine whether to release a connection to the second network and attempt reselection to the first network.
US08923837B2

A technique includes, in response to an electronic device attaching to a telephony network, selecting a telephony number from a plurality of available telephony numbers to assign to the electronic device for a given session in which the electronic device is attached to the telephony network and provisioning the telephony network based at least in part on the assigned telephony number.
US08923813B2

Methods and systems are provided for securing integrated base stations, such as base station routers (BSRs), in which a SIM card is operatively coupled with a secured portion of a base station and a secure association is established therebetween to facilitate encryption key exchange between the secured portion of the base station and a core network.
US08923806B2

Provided is a distributed system and method for enabling new and useful location dependent features and functionality to mobile data processing systems. Mobile data processing Systems (MSs) interact with each other as peers in communications and interoperability. Data is shared between mobile data processing systems to carry out novel Location Based eXchanges (LBX) of data for new mobile applications. Information transmitted inbound to, transmitted outbound from, is in process at, or is application modified at a mobile data processing system triggers processing of actions in accordance with user configured permissions, charters, and other configurations. In a preferred embodiment, a user configurable platform is provided for quickly building well behaving LBX applications at MSs and across a plurality of interoperating MSs. Tools, triggered interfaces and integrated applications are disclosed for a breadth of MS LBX configurations and functionality.
US08923801B2

When a PSAP receives a call from a cellular telephone in reference to an emergent event, the speed and quality of the response may be improved by the cellular service provider's provision to the PSAP of information that includes the geographic location of the caller's phone. In a typical scenario, in which the call is from a GPS-equipped phone, the GPS coordinates of the phone may be echoed back to the PSAP in response to a specialized open “ping” request from the service provider. Of particular advantage to this approach is that GPS ping requests typically work regardless of whether a call is in progress, as long as the phone is turned on.
US08923800B2

A method and apparatus for receiving and providing disaster information. The method of providing the disaster information includes: classifying a disaster service district into a plurality of emergency zones according to a danger level; transmitting information regarding the plurality of emergency zones to at least one mobile terminal located within the plurality of emergency zones, and receiving a location of the at least one mobile terminal from the at least one mobile terminal; and sequentially transmitting disaster information according to the danger level, to the at least one mobile terminal in the plurality of emergency zones, based on the location of a disaster which has been received from a disaster information server, when a disaster occurs.
US08923797B2

A system and method for communicating with a call center from a vehicle telematics unit that has had its cellular service deactivated. The method includes the step of receiving a request from the telematics unit to communicate with the call center via cellular telephony using a cleared telephone number. The call is then established and the type of request is determined at the call center and used to route the cellular call to an appropriate advisor or department in the call center based on the type of request being made.
US08923795B2

Systems, methods, and devices for activating an implantable medical device from a low-power sleep state are provided. One method includes receiving a wake-up signal at a receiver device from a transmitter device. The wake-up signal includes a series of pulses having a pulse pattern encoding a predetermined wake-up code. The wake-up signal is transmitted via intracorporeal communication of electrical pulses conducted by interstitial tissues of a patient's body. The method further includes extracting the wake-up code from the wake-up signal and determining whether the wake-up code corresponds to a stored wake-up value. The method further includes, in response to determining that the predetermined wake-up code corresponds to the stored wake-up value, switching at least one active circuit element of the receiver device from a lower-power sleep state into a higher-power operational state.
US08923790B2

A wireless communication receiver includes a circuit, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a processing circuit. The circuit receives a wireless signal and outputs an analog signal according to a gain index. The ADC converts the analog signal to a digital signal. The processing circuit adjusts the gain index according to a clipping number of the ADC.
US08923788B1

In one embodiment the present invention includes a method of generating an oscillating signal at different frequencies. The method comprises configuring a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO). The DCO is configured to generate the oscillating signal at a first frequency, and the DCO is configured to generate the oscillating signal at a second frequency. Additionally, the DCO is configured to transition from the first frequency to the second frequency during a transition time period. During the transition time period, the DCO activates the second frequency and deactivates the first frequency during a plurality of time intervals. The time intervals for activating the second frequency and deactivating the first frequency successively increase from the beginning of the transition time period to the end of the transition time period.
US08923785B2

A transmitting entity performs spatial processing on data symbols for each subband with an eigenmode matrix, a steering matrix, or an identity matrix to obtain spatially processed symbols for the subband. The data symbols may be sent on orthogonal spatial channels with the eigenmode matrix, on different spatial channels with the steering matrix, or from different transmit antennas with the identity matrix. The transmitting entity further performs beamforming on the spatially processed symbols, in the frequency domain or time domain, prior to transmission from the multiple transmit antennas. A receiving entity performs the complementary processing to recover the data symbols sent by the transmitting entity. The receiving entity may derive a spatial filter matrix for each subband based on a MIMO channel response matrix for that subband and perform receiver spatial processing for the subband with the spatial filter matrix.
US08923783B2

Provided is a wireless communication device in which an antenna switch module is omitted. The wireless communication device includes a PA that amplifies a transmission signal, a transmission circuit that processes the amplified transmission signal, an antenna, and a control unit that alternately activates and deactivates the PA, the transmission circuit being configured to match an impedance between the transmission circuit and the antenna when the PA is activated, and to put an impedance as seen from the antenna toward the transmission circuit when the PA is deactivated in a high impedance state.
US08923780B2

Aspects of a method and system for sharing low noise amplifier (LNA) circuitry in a single chip Bluetooth and wireless local area network (WLAN) system are disclosed. Aspects of the system may comprise a chip with integrated WLAN and Bluetooth radios. RF signals may be received via a single antenna coupled to a shared LNA integrated in chip. When WLAN signals are received they are communicated from the shared LNA to a subsequent amplification stage integrated within the WLAN radio. When Bluetooth signals are received they are communicated from the shared LNA to a subsequent amplification stage that comprises a transconductance amplifier integrated within the WLAN radio and an LNA load integrated within the Bluetooth radio. Gains in the LNAs, the transconductance amplifier, and/or the subsequent WLAN amplification stage may be dynamically adjusted. Outputs from the subsequent amplification stages may be communicated to mixers for further processing.
US08923777B2

A transceiver, receiver, and transmitter are provided. The transceiver may also include a programmable matching block configured to implement impedance-matching between an antenna and the receiver and/or between the antenna and the transmitter. The programmable matching block may implement the impedance-matching through a shared matching circuit block. The programmable matching block may include at least one of a programmable inductor and a programmable capacitor.
US08923766B2

An electronic couponing technique includes transferring coupon information, which may include a coupon ID (identification) to a first portable terminal and storing same therein. The portable terminal displays a representation of the transferred coupon information on a display thereof. The stored coupon information may be transferred from the portable terminal to another terminal for redemption. The stored coupon information may also be transferred from the portable terminal to another portable terminal. Various schemes may be used to transfer the coupon information including a Bluetooth low-range radio link or an optical bar code scanner scanning an optical bar code or an infrared link or a wireless link from the portable terminal. The Internet or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) may also be used in transferring the coupon information to and from the various terminals.
US08923765B2

Disclosed herein are systems, apparatuses, and methods for establishing wireless communications among a plurality of wireless-enabled components (WECs), and applications thereof. Such a system includes a plurality of WECs, each configured to transmit and receive over a wireless bus. The wireless bus includes (i) a first channel to identify proximally located WECs and (ii) a second channel to support communications among the proximally located WECs. The plurality of WECs may be located on a single chip, on multiple chips of a single device, or on multiple chips across multiple devices.
US08923759B2

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for transmitting a CPRI signal by means of a coaxial line. The method includes: converting a Common Public Radio Interface CPRI signal sent by a sending end into a parallel data stream; extracting valid data from the data stream by performing frame parsing; and converting the valid data into a transmittable analog signal, modulating the analog signal to a specified frequency, and sending it to a receiving end by means of a coaxial line. The present invention applies to transmission of a CPRI signal by means of a coaxial line.
US08923758B2

A transmitting device is provided for a communication system, which has at least one transmitting antenna, the at least one transmitting antenna being implemented to generate an emission field by emitting electromagnetic waves in an emission region. In addition, the transmitting device has a first ascertainment device, which is implemented to ascertain whether at least one receiving device for receiving the emitted electromagnetic waves, which forms a non-trustworthy receiver, is situated inside the emission region. In addition, the transmitting device has a first adaptation device, which is implemented to adapt an emission field of the at least one transmitting antenna, if at least one receiving device, which forms a non-trustworthy receiver, is ascertained inside the emission region, in such a manner that a field strength of the electromagnetic waves is reduced at the location of the at least one receiving device.
US08923751B2

A radio communication system includes a relay station, a first radio base station, second radio base stations, and a mobile station. The relay station is connected by radio to the first radio base station and communicates with the second radio base stations via the first radio base station. When the relay station communicates with the second radio base stations, the relay station requests the first radio base station to communicate with the second radio base stations for the relay station. The requested first radio base station communicates with the second radio base stations for the relay station and transmits a communication result to the relay station.
US08923746B2

A sheet feeding mechanism incorporatable in an image forming apparatus includes a cover unit rotatably attached to one side of a main body of an image forming apparatus to cover a part of a sheet conveyance path, a first feeding member located in a main body of the apparatus, a second feeding member located in the cover unit in a displaceable manner and facing the first feeding member when the cover unit is closed and sandwiching and conveying a recording medium along the sheet conveyance path with the first feeding member, and a guide member disposed in the main body to guide the second feeding member. The guide member guides the second feeding member to move in a first direction that approaches the first feeding member when closing the cover unit and in a second direction that separates from the first feeding member when opening the cover unit.
US08923745B2

A cleaning blade includes a contact portion that contacts a member to be cleaned, and the contact portion at least contains polyurethane rubber and has at least two different endothermic peak temperatures by differential scanning calorimetry in a range of 100° C. or higher.
US08923741B2

A fixing apparatus for fixing a toner image onto a recording material by heating the recording material bearing the toner image at a nip portion while conveying the recording material includes a tubular film, a nip portion forming member in contact with an inner surface of the film, a pressure member that forms the nip portion with the nip portion forming member via the film, and a regulation member for regulating a movement of the film that includes a first regulation surface facing an inner face of the film to regulate the movement of the film in a radial direction of film and an second regulation surface facing an end surface of the film to regulate the movement of film in a generatrix direction of the film. The second regulation surface includes a concave and curved surface area.
US08923737B2

A fixing device includes a light irradiation portion that irradiates a recording medium transported to a predefined position with light, a power supply member that is disposed at a position which is irradiated with light with a first intensity of light emitted from the light irradiation portion in a state in which the recording medium is disposed at the predefined position and which is irradiated with light with a second intensity larger than the first intensity of light in a state in which the recording medium is not disposed at the predefined position, and that changes a physical property thereof so as to reduce the supply of power when the power supply member is continuously irradiated with the light with the second intensity for a predefined time or more, and a power supply portion that supplies power to the light irradiation portion via the power supply member.
US08923735B2

A toner hearing member includes: an electric conductive support; an insulating layer provided on the electric conductive support; a plurality of electrodes located on the insulating layer so that each electrode is separated from one another with a certain space; and a surface layer covering the insulating layer and the electrodes, wherein the surface layer contains a crosslink reaction product of a fluororesin, or a crosslink reaction product of a (meth)acrylate compound, or both thereof.
US08923731B2

A developing cartridge mountable to a development rotary of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a coupling member for transmitting a rotational force from a main assembly engaging portion to a developing roller, the coupling member being engageable and disengageable relative to the engaging portion with rotation of the rotary, the coupling member being movable among a rotational force transmitting angular position, a pre-engagement angular position in which the coupling member is inclined relative to that in the transmitting angular position to engage with the engaging portion, and a disengaging angular position for disengaging therefrom; and an inclination regulating member movable between a regulating position for positioning the coupling member to the pre-engagement position and a retracted position, the inclination regulating member being movable from the retracted position to the regulating position by being abutted by a function member of the rotary.
US08923719B2

Provided is a fixing device comprising: a fixing rotating body; a magnetizing coil; a pressing member forming a fixing nip through which a recording sheet passes; a demagnetizing coil unit set including a pile of demagnetizing coil units each including demagnetizing coils of different sizes, and canceling out part of magnetic flux generated by the magnetizing coil in a non-sheet-passing region; a sheet information acquisition unit acquiring sheet information including information relating to a width of the recording sheet; and an operation control unit controlling each demagnetizing coil according to the width, wherein in each demagnetizing coil unit, the demagnetizing coils are arranged such that a smaller demagnetizing coil is surrounded by a larger demagnetizing coil and the demagnetizing coils are in a same plane extending along a surface of the magnetizing coil, and a combination of sizes of the demagnetizing coils differs among the demagnetizing coil units.
US08923718B2

Supply distribution of toner bands is varied in accordance with an image rate. Provided is image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit; a movable image bearing member; a movable conveying belt; a transfer member; a power supply; a first blade member; a second blade member; and an execution unit.
US08923710B2

An approach is provided for managing a printing system. The approach involves determining at least one printer of the printing system is capable of at least five-color printing. The approach also involves determining a print job to be processed by the printing system includes using a custom colorant. The approach further involves determining if the custom colorant is ready for use, if an alternative colorant is ready for use, or if any custom colorants or alternative colorants are within a predetermined proximity of the printer. The approach additionally involves causing a preview of an output of the print job to be rendered and displayed, causing the print job to be processed or held, and causing one or more colorants to be ordered or made ready for use if the print job is held.
US08923708B2

A signal processing device includes: a phase controller configured to control respective phases of an in-phase signal and an quadrature signal, which are obtained by converting an analog signal into a digital signal when a multi-value phase modulation light is demodulated, by digital signal processing; and a control amount provider configured to provide a control amount to the phase controller based on an output of the phase controller.
US08923706B2

An optical transmitter configured to perform digital signal equalization directed at mitigating the detrimental effects of a frequency roll-off in the transmitter's optical I-Q modulator. In various embodiments, a frequency-dependent spectral-correction function used for the digital signal equalization can be constructed to cause the spectrum of the modulated optical signal generated by the transmitter to have a desired degree of flatness in the vicinity of an optical carrier frequency and/or to at least partially mirror the frequency roll-off in the optical I-Q modulator.
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