US08938239B2

A wireless communication device is disclosed that is capable of performing efficient handoffs in order to maximize connection time with either a serving or target base station. The wireless communication device performs measurements of only intra-frequency base stations to avoid retuning its radio module. Based on this information, as well as stored information relating to nearby base stations, the serving base station is able to estimate a position of the wireless communication device and compare the estimated position to positions of the known base stations in order to make a handoff decision. In addition, by storing information during measurement or handoff preparation, the device is capable of skipping handoff steps, immediately return to the serving base station after handoff failure, and/or perform streamlined PLMN searching.
US08938232B2

A method and system to beneficiate, via a mobile terminal, services provided by a foreign locally accessible mobile network as a regular subscriber, by providing an apparatus with first and second modems and a subscriber identity module; providing a remote server containing a plurality of subscriber identity modules; allowing the apparatus to register with a foreign locally accessible mobile network using the first modem and the attached subscriber identity module, and to establish a data connection between the apparatus and the remote server; via the data connection, providing the remote server with information allowing it to determine which subscriber identity module is allowing local benefit of the services provided by a foreign locally accessible mobile network, and selecting that module; assigning the selected module to the second modem; allowing the apparatus to register with the foreign locally accessible network using the second modem and the selected module.
US08938230B2

A method of communicating between a vehicle and a telematics subscription service includes wirelessly linking a vehicle telematics unit to a session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy server; placing a telephone call from the vehicle telematics unit that is received by the SIP proxy server via the wireless link; establishing a SIP connection between the vehicle telematics unit and a telematics subscription service using the SIP proxy server in response to the placed telephone call; and communicating packetized data between the vehicle telematics unit and the telematics subscription service via the SIP connection.
US08938213B1

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for processing a charge for a telecommunication. In use, a telecommunication from a service subscriber to a recipient is received. Additionally, it is determined whether both the service subscriber and the recipient are included within one or more billing groups. Further, a charge for the telecommunication is processed, based on the determining.
US08938208B2

The invention relates to high-frequency technology. In particular, the present invention relates to a system for detecting the position and/or location of at least one high-frequency transceiver with at least one receiving antenna set up such that high-frequency signals transmitted by the at least one high-frequency transceiver can be received by means of said receiving antenna, at least one transmitting antenna set up for transmitting high-frequency signals of at least one frequency band being intended to be received by the at least one high-frequency transceiver and thereby in turn causing the transmitting of high-frequency signals by the at least one high-frequency transceiver, at least one first antenna signal processing device connected to the at least one receiving antenna being set up for analyzing the high-frequency signals received by the at least one receiving antenna in order to therefrom derive a spatial position and/or location and an identification of the transmitting high-frequency transceiver, and at least one data processing device being at least indirectly connected to the first antenna signal processing device and receiving information therefrom about the position, location, and/or identification of the transmitting high-frequency transceiver, where a data structure is provided in a first memory device connected to the at least one data processing device and at least partially comprising a virtual representation of the space supplied by the antenna field of the at least one transmitting antenna, where the virtual representation comprises information about the target position and/or location of at least one high-frequency transceiver having a predefined identification, and transformation information is available to the at least one data processing device on the basis of which an actual position and/or location of at least one high-frequency transceiver having a predefined identification within the virtual representation is associated on the basis of the position, location, and/or identification information obtained from the first antenna signal processing device, and the at least one data processing device carries out a comparison between the target position and the actual position and/or location of a high-frequency transceiver of a predefined identification within the virtual representation, outputting a signal representing a “match” or “no match” as the result of the comparison for further processing.
US08938205B2

The disclosure relates to a method for improving the power consumption of a transmission chain by varying the operating point of a power amplifier to optimize (e.g., reduce) the current that is consumed by the amplifier. The operating point is varied by changing the bias voltage(s) (e.g., supply voltage, quiescent voltage) of the amplifier to a predetermined value that is chosen based upon the effect that a given transmitted signal modulation scheme characteristic (e.g., channel bandwidth and/or number of subcarriers) has on the operating point of a power amplifier.
US08938204B2

The disclosed signal generator circuit has a four-phase signal generator circuit generating four-phase signals with a first frequency; an eight-phase signal generator circuit performing ½ frequency division of the four-phase signals to generate eight-phase signals with a second frequency; a first to a fourth harmonic rejection mixer circuits multiplying a first four-phase signal and a second four-phase signal of the four-phase signals by a first to a third eight-phase signals and a third to a fifth eight-phase signals of the eight-phase signals with mutually different combinations; a subtractor subtracting between outputs of the first and the fourth harmonic rejection mixer circuits to generate a first output signal with a third frequency; and an adder adding between outputs of the second and the third harmonic rejection mixer circuits to generate a second output signal with a third frequency whose phase is different from the first output signal by π/2.
US08938203B2

A radio transceiver including—an antenna (201) switch having a control lead (226); —a RF and front end circuit (202) coupled to said antenna switch and operating in at least one 2G mode and at least one 3G mode; —a RF transceiver (209) coupled to said RF front end and operating in at least a first 2G and a second 3G mode; —a baseband (210) communicating with a set of peripherals and external devices; The radio transceiver is characterized by the fact that it includes: —control means (221) for controlling said antenna switch (201) in a isolated mode; —an programmable adaptive filter controlled by said control means for the purpose of introducing at least one notch for eliminating one corresponding spur. The radio transceiver preferably includes means (215) for performing, under control of said control means (221) a FFT computation for the purpose of elaborating a representation, in the time domain, of the different spurs and/or jammers spoiling the received signal when in isolated mode.
US08938197B2

In one exemplary embodiment a network node (such as a base station BS) determines that a plurality of user equipments UEs are available for use as mobile relays MRs, and selects a subset of the plurality of UEs and configures the subset of the plurality of UEs as MRs. In another exemplary embodiment, an indication is sent (for example from a UE) that a UE is willing to operate as a MR, a response is received that the UE is selected to be a MR1 and then periodically there is sent a beacon advertising that the UE is a MR. In this manner UEs are pre-configured in a cell as MRs, regardless of any specific UE need for relay services. Any UE later needing relay service listens for the beacon. The BS can limit which UEs it pre-configures as MRs to avoid closely spaced UEs being both active MRs. Locations need not be signaled.
US08938167B2

An apparatus and method for managing a dynamic bandwidth allocation to support a low-power mode, in a passive optical network (PON) are provided. The apparatus may include a power saving mode managing unit to manage a power saving mode of at least one optical network unit (ONU), a bandwidth allocation parameter storage unit to store a bandwidth allocation parameter used for a power saving mode, and to maintain the stored bandwidth allocation parameter, and a dynamic bandwidth allocating unit to provide bandwidth allocation information to the at least one ONU, when the stored bandwidth allocation parameter is received.
US08938159B2

An aroma-diffusing apparatus includes a housing defining a top opening, a lamp socket mounted in the housing and holding a lamp bulb, an aroma capsule including a disposable heat-transfer container detachably mounted in the top opening of the housing, a breathing film bonded to the disposable heat-transfer container to hold an aromatic substance held in the disposable heat-transfer container and a sealing film bonded to the heat-transfer container to seal the aromatic substance in the heat-transfer container, and a cable bracket affixed to the lamp socket for keeping the cable from becoming tangled.
US08938144B2

An optical fiber cable including, in a radial direction outward, a central strength member, a first layer of loose buffer tubes stranded around the central strength member, at least one of the loose buffer tubes of the first layer containing at least one light waveguide, an intermediate layer, a second layer of loose buffer tubes stranded around the intermediate layer, at least one of the loose buffer tubes of the second layer containing at least one light waveguide, and a jacket surrounding the second layer of loose buffer tubes, wherein the intermediate layer is formed of a material having a high coefficient of friction.
US08938139B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to optoelectronic network switches. In one embodiment, an optoelectronic switch includes a set of roughly parallel input waveguides and a set of roughly parallel output waveguides positioned roughly perpendicular to the input waveguides. Each of the output waveguides crosses the set of input waveguides. The optoelectronic switch includes at least one switch element configured to switch one or more optical signals transmitted on one or more input waveguides onto one or more crossing output waveguides.
US08938132B2

An image collation system includes: a first direction estimating unit for estimating a first imaging direction of a reference object that matches an imaging direction of a collation target object by comparing global characteristics between an image of the collation target object and the three-dimensional data of the reference object; a second direction estimating unit for generating an image corresponding to the first imaging direction of the reference object, and estimating a second imaging direction of the reference object that matches the imaging direction of the collation target object by comparing local characteristics between the image of the collation target object and the generated image corresponding to the first imaging direction; and an image conformity determining unit for generating an image corresponding to the second imaging direction of the reference object, and determining whether the image of the collation target object matches the generated image corresponding to the second imaging direction.
US08938125B2

A motion estimation method is provided, which includes following steps: dividing a first frame to be estimated into a plurality of area units, in which each of the area units includes a plurality of blocks; and assigning a set of motion vector values to each of the area units, in which the set of motion vector values includes a plurality of predetermined motion vector values, and each of the predetermined motion vector values is assigned to at least one block in each of the area units.
US08938118B1

Single-image super-resolution (SISR) is the problem of generating a high resolution image from a single low resolution image. The SISR technique known as neighbor embedding utilizes a training ensemble of pairs of low and high resolution image patches, where the patches in a given pair represent the same image region. The present invention improves upon prior neighbor embedding algorithms by offering a practical, computationally efficient method of neighbor embedding for generating a high resolution version of a low resolution image. The technique may also be applied to generate high resolution versions of low resolution text images for subsequent input into OCR engines. OCR character error rates found on the high resolution images are drastically lower than those found when OCR is applied to the original low resolution text images.
US08938114B2

An imaging device that segments a data set into one or more data sub-sets, each data sub-set comprising a plurality of measurement values of one or more neighboring spots; determines, per pixel, costs for the measurement values acquired at a position corresponding to a position of the pixel determines a pixel value for a pixel by determining a label value from a set of label values; and selects the measurement value at the spot indicated by the determined label as the pixel value.
US08938111B2

A computed tomography imaging process, including: accessing projection data representing two-dimensional projection images of an object acquired using a misaligned tomographic imaging apparatus; and processing the projection data to generate misalignment data representing one or more values that quantify respective misalignments of the tomographic imaging apparatus.
US08938109B2

We describe a method of estimating the thickness of a tissue structure, in particular cortical bone thickness from tomographic imaging data such as CT data. The method models the tissue structure as a variation of an imaging parameter along a line; models a variation of the tomographic imaging data along the line as a blurred version of the variation of the imaging parameter modelling the; and fits the blurred tomographic imaging model to data from the tomographic imaging by holding a tissue modelling parameter at a constraining value and allowing variation of a blurring parameter and at least one parameter defining the thickness of the tissue structure to determine an estimate of the thickness of the structure.
US08938108B2

A method includes reducing structured artifacts in 3D volumetric image data, which is generated with reconstructed projection data produced by an imaging system (100), by processing the 3D volumetric image data along a z-axis (108) direction. The 3D volumetric image data includes structured artifacts which have high-frequency components in the z-axis direction, and lower-frequency compounds within the x-y plane.
US08938103B2

A method and system for the rapid detection of biomolecular interactions, the system comprising a sensing platform which comprises a primary support structure including recesses designed to be located in front of a detection unit, said recesses containing one or several arrays of biosensors, said system furthermore comprising a reader unit for optical excitation and detection.
US08938096B2

A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.
US08938093B2

A method and system for enabling interaction with unmodified 3D graphics applications using face-tracking. The method includes determining a position of a viewer using face-tracking component and transforming a viewer's position to application coordinates. The application coordinates are passed to a wrapper library around a 3D graphics application's library. The 3D graphic application's instruction stream is altered to display 3D graphics on a display with scenes rendered as seen from the viewer's position. The 3D graphics application is forced to load a wrapper library which overloads functions of the underlying 3D graphics application library. In this way, the 3D graphics application can be an existing unmodified 3D graphics application provided on a computer system.
US08938088B2

An embodiment of this invention is an image processing device, including: a sectioning unit for sectioning an image into a plurality of sections to be processed; and a classification unit for classifying the plurality of sections to be processed into at least a clarification-processing-adapted area for embedding a latent image into the image, and an obfuscation-processing-adapted area for embedding a digital watermark into the image based on a characteristic of the image.
US08938084B2

A speaker device includes an enclosure provided with a speaker unit and a bass reflex port, wherein the bass reflex port has an outer opening opened to outside of the enclosure and an inner opening opened to inside of the enclosure, and has a tubular body whose hollow cross-sectional area is gradually reduced along an axial direction of the bass reflex port from its ends to its center, and the tubular body is formed so that a length of the hollow cross-section in one direction does not change along the axial direction, and wherein the inner opening of the bass reflex port is located opposite to the speaker unit, with the bass reflex port sandwiched therebetween.
US08938083B2

A fixing mechanism for fixing a sound box on a casing is disclosed in the present invention. The fixing mechanism includes a first bridging structure disposed on the sound box and surrounding a speaker of the sound box, a second bridging structure disposed on the casing and surrounding a sound hole on the casing, a rib structure disposed on the casing, and a damping structure installed between the first bridging structure and the second bridging structure. The damping structure includes a base for contacting against the rib structure, an exterior portion disposed on an outer edge of the base for installing inside the second bridging structure, and an interior portion disposed on an inner edge of the base. An accommodating space is formed between the exterior portion and the interior portion for accommodating the first bridging structure.
US08938080B2

A method for generating engine acoustic emissions including the steps of providing a loudspeaker configuration (100) based upon the configuration of said engine, and feeding the said loudspeaker configuration (100) with signals for providing desired engine acoustic emission. Also a device, a computer program and a computer program product for performing the method.
US08938078B2

A method of enhancing audio sound. The method includes sensing an acoustic signal using a microphone in an electronic device. The acoustic signal is emitted in response to a primary sound signal and transmitted as a sound wave through a space. The method further includes receiving, using an antenna in the electronic device, a wireless signal encoded with the primary sound signal. An impulse response for the space is estimated based on the sensed acoustic signal and the primary sound signal encoded within the received wireless signal. A delay between the sensed acoustic signal and the primary sound signal encoded within the received wireless signal is calculated based on the estimated impulse response. The primary sound signal encoded within the received wireless signal is delayed using the calculated delay and reproduced to enhance the acoustic signal heard by a user of the electronic device.
US08938077B2

A method of selecting a compensation method to compensate a sound source signal output from a sound source playing apparatus includes; displaying a plurality of areas indicating each of a plurality of compensation methods with respect to a signal output from the sound source playing apparatus, outputting a test signal compensated by a compensation method of the plurality of compensation methods, the compensation method corresponding to at least one area of the plurality of areas, selecting any one of the plurality of areas based on a response of a user to the output test signal, and storing the compensation method corresponding to the selected area.
US08938075B2

Devices are provided with secret information to indicate which other devices are eligible to establish communication sessions. Information leaks about the eligibility of devices are prevented when no communication sessions are established. Each device makes a set of preference information items publicly available. Each preference information item selects an eligible device in cloaked way. Each protected information item contains protected information such as an encrypted random number that can be decrypted only by the eligible device. When a request to establish a communication is processed by a first and second device, the first and second device indicate which of their preference information items should be used. The devices then each attempt to decrypt the protected information from the other one's indicated preference information item and each combines the result with the protected information used to make the preference information item that it indicated to the other. The results from the first and second device are compared and when a match is detected, establishment of the communication session is enabled. If no match is detected a first device that did not make the second device eligible is unable to detect whether it was made eligible by the second device.
US08938063B1

A contact center is provided that includes a plurality of agents for servicing incoming contacts and an event manager that is operable to monitor various administrative changes made within the contact center, determine if those changes had a positive or negative effect on the contact center performance (either locally or globally), and reverse the change if it is determined that the change resulted in negative effect on the contact center.
US08938062B2

Service resource items for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure; this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service item is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI which is then used to access the desired service resource item.
US08938057B1

A method and system for registering a client for a call-pickup service and for executing the call-pickup service for a new call placed to a given communication device. The call-pickup service may carried out, in part, by providing the client with notification of when the new call is placed to the given communication device, the client requesting that the new call be re-routed to a location other than the given communication device, and a server re-routing the new call to the location other than the given communication device. The location other than the given communication device may be the client that registers for the call-pickup service or another location.
US08938056B2

Disclosed are a call processing supplementary service providing terminal device and an operation method thereof. The device includes: terminal operator configured to detect current state of the terminal device and provide an event signal corresponding to the detected current state; and a service provider configured to, when at least one of a voice call origination attempt state and a voice call end state is detected through the event signal, provide pre-registered additional content corresponding to the voice call. Accordingly, a call supplementary service can be conveniently provided without intervention of a communication service provider.
US08938050B2

A segmented thermionic emitter is provided. The segmented thermionic emitter has, among other features, a plurality of segments substantially spanning an entire length of the thermionic emitter and aligned substantially parallel with one another. In one embodiment, the segmented thermionic emitter may allow milli-amp modulation of an X-ray tube at voltages less than approximately 2 kV.
US08938048B2

An x-ray generator device includes a housing at least partially holding a specific fluid pressure, with an arm positioned to be able to strike a strike plate within the housing. The housing contains an x-ray window. The arm is magnetically actuated in at least one direction by a magnetic field generator outside of the housing. A striking portion of the lever arm and/or the strike plate may be a polymeric material with embedded metal or metal alloys.
US08938039B2

A semiconductor device contains a narrow band noise detector section to detect narrow band noise in an input signal that is input by way of a power line. The semiconductor device further includes a reference signal generator section to generate a second reference signal whose amplitude value which corresponds to the narrow band noise frequency of a pre-established first reference signal is reduced, and a correlation calculation section to calculate the correlation value between the input signal and the second reference signal utilized in the frame synchronization processing of the input signal.
US08938036B2

A device and method of fast automatic gain control in quadrature receivers are disclosed. The AGC activity between the I and Q branches is split where in one branch the receive chain is in a certain gain state and in the other branch the receive chain is in another possible gain state, resulting in a significant shortening of the AGC duration of any IQ receiver.
US08938032B2

A system for implementing an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing scheme and providing an improved range extension. The system includes a transmitter for transmitting data to a receiver. The transmitter includes a symbol mapper for generating a symbol for each of a plurality of subcarriers and a spreading module for spreading out the symbol on each of the plurality of subcarriers by using a direct sequence spread spectrum. The symbol on each of the plurality of subcarriers is spread by multiplying the symbol by predefined length sequences. The receiver includes a de-spreader module for de-spreading the symbols on each of the plurality of subcarriers. The de-spreader module includes a simple correlator receiver for obtaining maximum detection. The correlator produces an output sequence of a same length as an input sequence and the de-spreader module uses a point of maximum correlation on the output sequence to obtain a recovered symbol.
US08938027B2

In order to shorten the convergence time for compensating distortion generated by a high-frequency power amplifier, a distortion compensation circuit which independently generates coefficients of odd-symmetrical amplitude distortion compensation signals and coefficients of odd-symmetrical phase distortion compensation signals of respective orders of a high-frequency power amplifier includes an even-symmetrical distortion compensation signal generation circuit for generating an even-symmetrical amplitude distortion compensation signal and an even-symmetrical phase distortion compensation signal from a difference between the input signal amplitude and a signal obtained by delaying the input signal amplitude and a difference between the input signal and a signal obtained by delaying the input signal, respectively independently and independently of the odd-symmetrical distortion compensation signals, and an even-symmetrical distortion compensation signal superposition circuit for superposing the even-symmetrical distortion compensation signals on the input signal, and conducts pre-compensation on odd-symmetrical distortion and even-symmetrical distortion independently.
US08938024B1

A first calculator generates first computational data by multiplying each element in a result obtained by applying a fast Fourier transform to data containing at least one of a real data sequence and an imaginary data sequence with reordered elements by an element of a preamble model at a same position as the each element. A second calculator generates second computational data by performing computation that converts an absolute value of each element in the inverse fast Fourier-transformed first computational data into a value in a predetermined range. A third calculator generates third computational data by multiplying each element in the fast Fourier-transformed second computational data by an element of the preamble model at a same position as the each element. A decider generates the third computational data as a preamble in a case of the PAPR of the inverse fast Fourier-transformed third computational data matching a predetermined criterion.
US08938020B2

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and device for transmitting/receiving a signal by using a codebook. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for a transmitter supporting Nt antennas to attain the technical objects thereof and transmit a signal to a receive includes selecting the precoding matrix indicated by the combination of a first precoding matrix indicator (PMI) and a second PMI, precoding the signal by using the selected precoding matrix, and transmitting the precoded signal through the Nt antennas. Here, the first PMI may indicate one matrix group among N matrix groups (N≧1) including matrices representing channel directions related to the Nt antennas. Additionally, the precoding matrix may be selected by multiplying the one matrix group indicated by the first PMI by the matrix indicated by the second PMI.
US08938015B2

A system according to one embodiment includes a demodulator configured to receive an OFDM modulated signal over a channel, the signal including a sequence of symbols, each of the symbols including one or more pilot carriers and one or more data carriers; a time filtering and interpolation circuit coupled to the demodulator, the time filtering and interpolation circuit configured to estimate the frequency response of the channel based on time filtering and interpolation of the pilot carriers; a phase slope correction circuit configured to apply each of a plurality of phase slope corrections to the frequency response and to the data carriers; a frequency filtering and interpolation circuit configured to calculate frequency response estimates of the channel at data carrier frequencies based on frequency filtering and interpolation of the phase slope corrected frequency response; an equalization circuit configured to equalize the phase slope corrected data carriers based on the calculated frequency response estimates; an error calculation circuit configure to calculate the mean square error between the equalized data carriers and a nearest QAM constellation point; and an iterative phase slope optimization circuit configured to select the phase slope correction associated with the minimum of the mean square errors, wherein the selected phase slope resolves the cyclic ambiguity.
US08938014B1

A serializer/deserializer for a network device includes a data module configured to generate parallel data and side band data. A serializer is configured to convert the parallel data to serialized data for transmission over a communication channel, wherein the serialized data includes a serial data waveform. A side band transmission module is configured to generate a clock signal, inject the clock signal with side band data to generate a modulated clock signal, and apply the modulated clock signal to the serialized data to generate a modified serial data waveform. The modified serial data waveform includes the serialized data and the side band data and includes pulses with an increased pulse width and/or a decreased pulse width with respect to the serial data waveform. The serializer is configured to transmit, over the communication channel, the modified serial data waveform including the serialized data and the side band data.
US08938010B2

In the case of a method for decoding a data stream a first decoding means (DR2) is provided which is configured to decode from a data stream in a first data stream format at least two units of user data, wherein for decoding the second unit of the at least two units at least partial information from the first unit of the at least two units is used. Likewise reference data is provided and subsequently the first decoding means (DR2) is initialized with the information from the reference data. The data stream in the first data stream format is supplied to the first decoding means and decoded into at least one unit of user data using the information from the reference data.
US08938002B2

A data processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a program that are configured to prevent (or lower) the increase in scale and cost of the apparatus. A read/write control portion executes read/write control in which slots subject to extraction of two or more slots in one frame that is a collection of two or more slots each of which is a unit of error correction coding are written to a ring buffer and the slots subject to extraction in one frame written to the ring buffer are read within the unit time. When slots subject to extraction are changed, an output portion executes output processing in which dummy data outputted from a dummy data output portion are outputted with a timing immediately before a change start frame that is a frame from which the change of slots subject to extraction is started and, slots subject to extraction read from the ring buffer are outputted for frames subsequent to the change start frame. The present disclosure is applicable to reception apparatuses for receiving BS digital broadcasting, for example.
US08937992B2

A method and apparatus for updating equalization coefficients of an adaptive pre-equalizer of a network element are provided. The method includes monitoring a communications channel to measure distortion of a communications signal received from the network element and detecting whether a transient impairment is present in the communication signal. When a transient impairment is not detected to be present, a pre-equalization coefficient update is transmitted to the network element. However, when a transient impairment is detected to be present, at least selected ones of the pre-equalization coefficients are scaled before the update is transmitted to the network element or the update is withheld from being transmitted to the network element. An apparatus is also disclosed.
US08937990B2

A method of compensating for loss of a high-speed broadband signal may include receiving a high-speed broadband signal. The method may also include at least partially compensating for a low-frequency loss associated with a low-frequency component of the high-speed broadband signal. The compensation for the low-frequency loss may be based on a transfer function that may include a pole with a pole-frequency associated with the low-frequency component of the high-speed broadband signal.
US08937989B1

Systems and methods are provided for channel estimation using linear phase estimation. These systems and methods enable improved channel estimation by estimating a linear channel phase between received pilot subcarrier signals. The estimated linear phase can then be removed from the received pilot subcarrier signals. After the estimated linear phase is removed from the received pilot subcarrier signals, a channel response can be estimated. A final estimated channel response can be generated by multiplying the results of the linear channel estimation by the estimated linear phase.
US08937978B2

A semiconductor laser has an optical cavity comprising and active layer disposed between an n-side barrier layer and a p-side barrier layer. The active layer comprises alternating layers of a first and second material, and the n-side barrier layer and p-side barrier layer each comprise alternating layers of the first material and a third material. The materials are selected such that the layers of the second and third materials form quantum wells between the layers of the first material. A band gap Eg of the second material is arranged such that a proportion of electrons and holes that recombine across the band gap Eg recombine to emit photons at the lasing wavelength, the proportion decreasing with increasing temperature of the optical cavity. A band gap Ec of the third material is arranged such that a ratio of electrons and holes that recombine across the band gap Eg of the second material to electrons and holes that recombine across the band gap Ec of the third material increases with increasing temperature of the optical cavity. Over a range of temperatures at which the semiconductor laser is intended to operate, the increasing ratio compensates for the decreasing proportion so as to reduce change with temperature of the optical cavity in the rate at which electrons and holes recombine across the band gap Eg of the second material to emit photons at the lasing wavelength.
US08937972B2

An Internet protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) gateway application server includes an originating application server module adapted to invoke call control services in response to requests initiated by a voice over Internet Protocol (IP) (VoIP) client associated with a communication device such as an IP telephone. Disclosed gateway application servers include a proxy server module adapted to notify the communication client of session control messages intended for the communication device.
US08937971B1

A dual mode wireless device operations in a client mode and observes network congestion conditions. When the network congestion exceeds a threshold level, the dual mode wireless device changes to an access point mode and advertises itself to other clients, thereby reducing the network congestion level.
US08937962B2

A packet buffering device includes: a queue for temporarily holding an arriving packet; a residence time predicting unit which predicts a length of time during which the arriving packet will reside in the queue; and a packet discarding unit which discards the arriving packet when the length of time predicted by the residence time predicting unit exceeds a first reference value.
US08937961B1

In general, techniques are described that provide a modular software architecture for a route server within an Internet Exchange. The route server comprises an interface and a control unit. The interface receives a route advertisement advertising a route from one of the SP networks and defining attributes for the route. The control unit includes inbound, route and outbound processing modules to process the route advertisement. The inbound processing module updates the route advertisement to add an optional field that stores a copy of the attributes. The route processing module produces an outbound route advertisement that includes attributes of the Internet Exchange and, within the optional field, the original path attributes. The outbound processing module processes the outbound route advertisement to replace the attributes of the Internet Exchange with the original path attributes and outputs the outbound route advertisement to advertise the route to the SP networks.
US08937958B2

According to one embodiment, a router includes a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports. The input ports receive a packet including control information indicating a type of access. Each of the input ports includes a first buffer and a second buffer which store the packet. The output ports output the packet. Each of the input ports selects at least one of the first buffer and the second buffer as a buffer in which the packet is stored on the basis of the control information and a state of the output port serving as a destination port of the packet.
US08937939B2

Systems and methods provide a network's synchronization status to a terminal when the terminal receives a transmission from the network. This network synchronization status can be indicated in accordance with various methods including, but not limited to the following: with a status flag in a network message; in a network capability indication; in a network's positioning capability indication; cell/network time relation information; in a time relation information of different Radio Access Technologies; and implicitly with another parameter and/or by a request for a certain measurement. When the network's synchronization status is determined, accurate time information/time assistance data can be maintained at the terminal.
US08937926B2

Method for performing an rSRVCC procedure from UTRAN/GERAN to E-UTRAN/HSPA, comprising steps of:—receiving, a first network entity, a first message from a UE before an rSRVCC handover procedure from URTAN/GERAN to F-E-UTRAN/HSPA involving the UE, the first message containing a pre-allocated transport address to he used for voice after the rSRVCC handover,—sending a second message, during the rSRVCC handover procedure of a voice call, to a second network entity, the second message comprising information related to the transport address of the UE to give an instruction to send the voice media of the call to that transport address.
US08937925B2

A mobile communication system in which a plurality of base stations and a plurality of core network nodes are distributed in a plurality of areas, wherein a source base station or a mobile station in a handover procedure of the mobile station transmits information for selecting a core network node to a target base station.
US08937923B2

Apparatuses and methods for handover or roaming during a file download or streaming. A streaming roaming method in a Convergence of Broadcast and Mobile Services (CBMS) system includes generating a Session Description Protocol (SDP), a fragment, or a notification message indicating streaming roaming or handover information, and transmitting the SDP, the fragment, or the notification message to a terminal.
US08937918B2

A base station transmits a message to a plurality of wireless devices in connected mode. The message comprises a subframe allocation bitmap indicating a plurality of subframes. The plurality of subframes comprises a plurality of special subframes. During majority of symbols of a special subframe of a base station, no signal is transmitted by the base station or signals are transmitted at a special subframe power level that is different from a transmit power during a non-special subframe.
US08937893B1

A basic service set includes first and second stations and an access point (AP). An apparatus for the first station includes a controller and a transmitter. The controller is configured to, subsequent to a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) being transmitted by the AP, selectively provide a trigger signal that indicates a message should be transmitted by the first station to the second station via the AP. The message requests that the second station transmit a reply to the message directly to the first station. The transmitter is configured to, in response to the trigger signal, (i) enter a sleep mode until less than a predetermined period remains preceding an expected transmission of a second DTIM by the AP and (ii) transmit the message within the predetermined period. The second DTIM is transmitted by the AP subsequently to transmission of the first DTIM by the AP.
US08937884B2

Interference cognitive devices are described. An interference cognitive device can be collocated with a transmitter of an interference cognitive transmitter (ICT), as receive chains or portions thereof at the ICT. An interference cognitive device can also be remote with respect to the transmitter, which operates in an interference cognitive network and receives data directly or indirectly from the interference cognitive device. The ICT uses the data to mitigate interference while continuing to operate in accordance with a performance metric.
US08937877B2

A bandwidth estimation algorithm on shared links detects peaks and/or average per-user bandwidth. Estimating is performed at the transport or IP layer with no assistance from lower layer (PHY, MAC, etc.) and the techniques can be used for any of adjusting the level of video optimization to the available bandwidth; driving QoS decisions at the transmitter based on available bandwidth; improving QoS enforcement during transitions among hybrid technologies on a wireless links; and correcting estimates on devices delivering bursty payload.
US08937859B2

A first mobility management entity (MME) is configured to cooperate with a first access network controller to provide a circuit switched service to a mobile station while the mobile station is attached to a packet switched wireless access network in a first coverage area. A second MME is configured to cooperate with the first access network controller to provide a circuit switched service to the mobile station when the mobile station has moved from the first coverage area to the second coverage area. A home subscriber system is operated to provide, to the second MME, information identifying the first access network controller as serving the mobile station to enable the second MME to initiate handoff of the mobile station from the packet switched wireless access network to the circuit switched wireless access network.
US08937858B2

A multicast router is coupled with a multicast enabled layer 2 device that is coupled with a source of multicast data traffic for multicast groups. Responsive to determining that the amount of bandwidth currently being attributed as being used by the subscriber exceeds its allowed bandwidth limit due to oversubscription of multicast groups, the multicast router switches from periodically transmitting multicast membership general query messages to the multicast hosts of the subscriber, to transmitting one or more multicast membership group-specific query messages to one or more multicast hosts of the subscriber for a subset of the subscribed multicast groups to impede the subscribed multicast groups that are not part of the subset from being refreshed to cause the multicast data traffic for those multicast groups from being transmitted on the access network to the multicast hosts of the subscriber.
US08937856B2

An example method involves, when a first quality of service parameter for a failed logical circuit is equal to or less than a second quality of service parameter for a logical failover circuit, rerouting data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit without requiring authorization from a customer to communicate the data at the second quality of service parameter. When the second quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit is a lower level of quality than the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit: a customer is prompted for an authorization to communicate the data via the logical failover circuit at the second quality of service parameter; when the authorization is received, the data is rerouted from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit; and when the authorization is denied, the data is not rerouted to the logical failover circuit.
US08937853B2

Changes in the thermal boundary condition near a close point of an ABS to a media indicate proximity of the ABS with the media. Before contact, heat conduction from the ABS is primarily through convective and/or ballistic heat transfer to air between the ABS and the media. After contact, heat flux primarily flows from the ABS to the media through solid-solid conductive contact. Further, a light source within a HAMR transducer head may create additional thermal variations within the transducer head. These thermal variations create temperature variations within the transducer head. Two resistance temperature sensors on the transducer head at varying distances from the close point and/or light source measure these temperature variations. A temperature difference between the two resistance temperature sensors indicates proximity of the close point to the media and/or light output.
US08937847B2

Disclosed herein is a system of acquiring seismic date in a marine environment, which includes: seismic streamers towed by a vessel; and means for detecting and/or locating marine mammals, characterised in that said marine mammal detection and/or location means are secured to said seismic streamers.
US08937843B2

A semiconductor device is disclosed which comprises a clock generating circuit generating first and second divided clocks by dividing an input clock by first and second division number, respectively, and a counter circuit including a shift register having a plurality of stages that sequentially shifts an input signal and outputs an output signal delayed based on setting information. The counter circuit individually controls operation timings of the stages of the shift register by selectively supplying either of the first and second divided clocks to each stage of the shift register, and either of signals from the stages of the shift register is extracted and outputted as the output signal.
US08937842B2

A strobe calibration component for a memory control device includes a tri-state detection receiver, an edge detection component, and an extension gate generation component. The tri-state detection receiver is configured to identify states of an input signal. One of the states includes a high impedance state. The edge detection component is configured to identify valid edges from a sequence of states provided from the tri-state detection receiver. The extension gate generation component is configured to generate a calibrated gate signal according to the valid edges from the edge detection component.
US08937831B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling a sense amplifier in a memory device are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a signal generator configured to generate a sense enable signal that activates a sense amplifier of a memory cell in a memory device. The apparatus includes a dummy memory cell connected to a current mirror circuit that is configured to detect a timing variation in the dummy memory cell from a predefined timing and to alter a timing of the sense enable signal based, at least in part, on the timing variation. The apparatus also includes a controller configured to modify the timing of the sense enable signal by selectively enabling one or more of a plurality of semiconductor gates in the current mirror circuit. The plurality of semiconductor gates are connected in parallel.
US08937817B2

A method for operating a DC-DC converter. The method comprises: matching, based on a turns ratio of a transformer of the DC-DC converter, a primary side capacitance of the DC-DC converter and a secondary side capacitance of the DC-DC converter to result in a matched capacitance; and operating the DC-DC converter with at least one operating parameter set to cause a primary current to oscillate between a peak value and zero such that a valley of the primary current coincides with a zero crossing of a secondary switching element voltage.
US08937816B2

A carrying case having a first compartment and a second compartment for accommodating a plurality of objects; the first object which is embedded with integrated circuits that can process, store and communicate data on radio frequency identification microprocessors; said second object which is configured to process, store and communicate data on radio frequency identification microprocessors; said inner lining of said carrying case configured to include a radio frequency shielding; said shielding material including a layer of conductive material to attenuate interference fields and signals which are transmitted at varying frequencies and wavelengths; and wherein the shielding material is configured to block access to data which is stored on radio frequency identification microprocessors embedded in either the first object or second object.
US08937802B2

A terminal box for electrical connection to an electric motor, in particular to a circulating pump, includes at least one housing part, designed as a cast plastic part, and an operating switch wherein the operating switch is arranged on the housing part, wherein at least one fixed electrical switch contact of the operating switch is embedded in the housing part. The pump aggregate features one such terminal box.
US08937801B2

There is provided an array-type multilayered ceramic electronic component including: a ceramic body; a plurality of external electrodes formed on one surface of the ceramic body and the other surface thereof opposing the one surface; and a plurality of internal electrode multilayered parts formed in the ceramic body and connected to the external electrodes, respectively, wherein when a gap between the internal electrode multilayered parts is G and internal electrode density is D, 40%≦D≦57%, 10 μm≦G≦200 μm, and G≧(0.0577×D2)−(4.4668×D)+111.22. Therefore, delamination and cracking may be prevented.
US08937797B2

An integrated circuit includes circuitry to sense the occurrence of a break in a ground connection and/or supply connection and to indicate same to an exterior environment. In at least one implementation, the break may be indicated by providing a signal on an output terminal of the device that is not associated with a normal output of the device.
US08937791B1

A slider having a slider body having an air bearing surface, a leading edge and a trailing edge, and a transducer on the air bearing surface proximate the trailing edge, the transducer comprising a read sensor and a write sensor. The slider also has a heater, positioned proximate the transducer, and a continuous dielectric layer comprising a dielectric material having a coefficient of thermal conductivity of at least 20 W/m-K, the dielectric layer positioned adjacent to and in contact with the heater and between the heater and the transducer.
US08937789B2

To suppress a spread of not only a recording magnetic field generated from a main pole but also a high-frequency magnetic field generated from a spin torque oscillator in a microwave assisted magnetic recording head. The main pole and the spin torque oscillator are surrounded by a trailing shield layer and are also surrounded by a side/leading shield layer with an insulator sidegap layer interposed therebetween, and a high-frequency magnetic field shield layer, which absorbs a high-frequency magnetic field generated from the spin torque oscillator, is arranged in at least part of the shield layers.
US08937784B1

A method of operating a disk drive is disclosed wherein the disk drive comprises a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, a head, and a closed loop servo system comprising a seek servo loop and a settle servo loop for actuating the head over the disk. When the head approaches a target track during a seek operation, the settle servo loop is enabled wherein a feedback control signal is generated based on a measured state of the servo system. The feedback control signal is adjusted with a feed-forward compensation. A phase shift between the measured state of the servo system and a corresponding estimated state of the servo system is compensated. The head is settled on the target track in response to the feed-forward compensation.
US08937782B1

A hard disk drive assembly (HDA) operable with a host computer that comprises a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) including a system on a chip (SOC). The HDA including a plurality of disks configured to store data, a plurality of heads configured to read and write data stored on the plurality of disks, a flex circuit board including a preamplifier, and configured to couple to the plurality of heads and the SOC, a flex circuit cable coupled to the flex circuit board, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) located in the HDA. The NVSM is configured to store configuration data for read and write operations of the HDA, wherein the configuration data is to be retrieved by the SOC for controlling the read and write operations of the HDA, and the NVSM is coupled to at least one of the flex circuit cable, the flex circuit board, or the preamplifier.
US08937776B2

A prismatic glass laminate comprising: (a) a substrate; and (b) a plurality of prismatic glass elements mounted on said substrate, each element comprising: (i) a mounting surface to which a laminating interlayer is applied, said laminating interlayer providing adhesion of said element to the substrate; and (ii) a lateral surface to which a laminating interlayer is applied, said laminating interlayer providing adhesion of said element to the lateral surface of an adjacent element.
US08937771B2

A prism eye piece and optical system including a prism eye piece and microdisplay are described herein. The prism eye piece may include three prisms. A main body prism has a surface that receives light from a source such as a microdisplay. Another prism has a surface that receives light from a source such as the real world. Both of these images are projected through a surface of still another prism that is proximate to an exit pupil. The surface of the prism proximate the exit pupil may be flat. Also the surface of the prism that receives light from a source such as the real world may be flat. These flat surfaces may be parallel to each other. This allows the light from the real world to be transmitted to the exit pupil without distortion.
US08937764B2

A dual-function optical system including a secondary optical path incorporated, off-axis, within a primary optical path of the system and sharing a single aperture and at least some of the optical components with the primary optical path. In one example, an optical system includes an optical telescope including a plurality of mirrors configured to receive and direct first light rays through an entrance aperture of the optical system along a primary optical path, a detector positioned behind the optical telescope in the primary optical path and configured to receive the first light rays from the optical telescope, and an illuminator positioned behind the optical telescope and configured to produce second light rays and to direct the second light rays to the optical telescope, the optical telescope being further configured to transmit the second light rays along a secondary optical path through the entrance aperture of the optical system.
US08937759B2

A modular routing node includes a single input port and a plurality of output ports. The modular routing node is arranged to produce a plurality of different deflections and uses small adjustments to compensate for wavelength differences and alignment tolerances in an optical system. An optical device is arranged to receive a multiplex of many optical signals at different wavelengths, to separate the optical signals into at least two groups, and to process at least one of the groups adaptively.
US08937757B2

In an optical deflector apparatus, an optical deflector chip includes a mirror, an actuator adapted to rock the mirror, and first pads on a front surface of the optical deflector chip and connected to the actuator. A first substrate includes second pads on a back surface of the first substrate, and an opening is formed in the first substrate. The front surface of the optical deflector chip is adhered to the back surface of the first substrate in such a way that the first pads of the optical deflector chip are in contact with respective ones of the second pads of the first substrate and the mirror opposes the opening. A back surface of said optical deflector chip is adhered to a front surface of a second substrate.
US08937756B2

The present invention relates to use of a digital holographic microscopy and imaging setup and a method of digital holographic microscopy and imaging for detecting molecules or structures stained or labelled to at least one cell or conjugated to antibodies which are bound either directly to said at least one cell or indirectly via another or several antibodies in a chain bound to said at least one cell.
US08937754B2

An image reading apparatus comprises a moving unit on which a reading unit is mounted and which slides on a guide, and a driving unit mounted on the moving unit and includes a pinion gear meshing with a rack which extends in a scanning direction and is disposed between the pinion gear and the guide. A slide contact portion between the guide and the moving unit includes a first slide contact portion on the rack side and a second slide contact portion. The first slide contact portion includes a first surface being inclined so as to displace the moving unit toward the rack. The second slide contact portion includes a second surface preventing the moving unit from being displaced toward the rack.
US08937751B2

The present invention relates to an image evaluating apparatus, an image evaluating method, and a non-transitory storage medium. In the present invention, two-dimensional relative positions between the image formation position of one color plate of a plurality of color plates and the image formation positions of other color plates are calculated based on known positional information of registration marks formed by the color plates and positional information of the registration marks that are actually formed as images on a recording medium. A position expressing image is generated which represents the calculated relative positions by way of two-dimensional positional coordinates.
US08937747B2

An image processing device to receive print data generated based on image data of an original document, the original document including color pixels and being determined to be printed by color printing, and to store the received print data in a storage unit in preparation for a possible reprinting operation based on the received print data, the device including: a redetermination unit configured to redetermine whether to carry out color printing or monochrome printing to achieve a printing operation to print a part of the original document by using the stored print data.
US08937741B2

A multi-function printer main body has a copy function. A remote terminal conducts various kinds of copy settings or instructions to start copy. An execution button is provided in the multi-function printer main body. When the execution button is operated in normal time, copy is executed with the default settings. When copy is executed by inputting copy settings on the remote terminal side, copy can be executed again with the copy settings used for the last time by operating the execution button until a predetermined period of time passes. Therefore, in a case of executing copy with the default settings or repeatedly executing copy with the same settings as the settings used for the last time, a user's work burden can be reduced because it is sufficient for the user to operate the execution button 38.
US08937740B2

A printing apparatus is configured to, when a specific type of sheet has been designated by the user as a sheet to be replenished, specify a storage unit to be replenished with the specific type of sheet based on information about the sheet used by the print job now being executed and the sheets going to be used by queued print jobs, and information about the sheets that are stored in a plurality of storage units.
US08937735B2

A nonvolatile storage medium storing an image-forming-data transmitting program readable by a computer of a mobile terminal including: a sensor for outputting sensor information indicating at least one of a movement and an orientation of the mobile terminal; a communication portion for communicating with an image forming apparatus for forming image based on image forming data; and a display for displaying an image based on image data. The image-forming-data transmitting program has the computer function as: a parameter determining section for determining a parameter for image forming based on the sensor information; an image-forming-data-creation controlling section for controlling a first creating section to create image forming data based on the image data, by using the determined parameter; and an image-forming-data-transmission controlling section for controlling the communication portion to transmit the created image forming data to the image forming apparatus.
US08937715B2

Methods and apparatus facilitate dynamic range balancing for multi-component peaks of widely varying magnitude in an optical spectrometer. In a specific embodiment, filters attenuate the C—H stretch region to produce a better fit of a multi-component hydrocarbon Raman spectrum to the dynamic range of a CCD detector. The filter may be translated into and out of the collimated collection beam to achieve a varying degree of attenuation. In certain applications, the filter is insertable into a collimated collection beam within a fiber-optic probe head to collect Raman spectra. The invention may include optical elements to create the collimated collection beam if not already present or not suitable for insertion of the filter. A second filter, an “opaque” or neutral density filter, may be insertable into the collimated collection beam to attenuate a broad spectral response within and outside the spectral range.
US08937705B2

A lithographic apparatus can include the following devices: a patterning system, a projection system, and a radiation beam inspection device. The patterning system can be configured to provide a patterned radiation beam. The projection system can be configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate. Further, the radiation beam inspection device can be configured to inspect at least a part of the patterned radiation beam. In a substrate exposure position, the projection system is configured to expose a pattern of radiation on the substrate using the patterned radiation beam and the radiation beam device is configured to move the reflecting device away from a light path of the patterned radiation beam. In a radiation beam inspection position, the radiation beam inspection device is configured to move the reflecting device into the light path of the patterned radiation beam.
US08937701B2

A wavefront analyzer comprises a network of adjustable converging microlenses dividing an incident wavefront into multiple beams and creating a respective focal point for each beam, and a network of light-sensitive detectors placed behind to detect positions of these focal points. The microlenses network is formed from a liquid crystal layer operating in transmission with an array of electrodes forming liquid crystal pixels whose refractive index is controllable by a voltage applied individually to each electrode. Each converging microlens comprises a subset of pixels grouped in a region constituting the microlens, the pixels of a subset having indices that vary radially in a monotonic manner by distance from a central point of the region to its edges, enabling the microlens to operate in refractive mode. The number, position, size and focal length of the microlenses can be adjusted by the profile of the voltages applied to the array of pixels.
US08937693B2

The present invention discloses a back light module and a liquid crystal display (LCD) thereof. The back light module comprises a light guide plate, an optical sheet laid on the light transmission surface of the light guide plate, wherein the edge of the optical sheet is fixed to the light guide plate by a plurality of positioning structures. With application of the positioning structures, because the expansion coefficient of the optical sheet is not nearly to that of the frame but is close to the thermal expansion rate of the light guide plate, after the optical sheet is fixed to the light guide plate, the light guide plate is expanded along with the expansion of the optical sheet when subject to heating, and shrunk along with the shrinking of the optical sheet when the temperature drops. Thus, the optical sheet is not easy to warp due to the minimum performance change of the optical sheet and the light guide plate, and the temperature environment is also very similar because the optical sheet is near to the light guide plate. Therefore, as compared with the frame, the temperature of the optical sheet is more similar to that of the light guide plate, and the thermal expansion rate of the optical sheet is also similar to that of the light guide plate. Thereby, the warping of the optical sheet is further decreased.
US08937680B2

An image pickup unit and an image processing unit are provided, each inexpensively achieving both of far distance photographing and near distance photographing in a simple configuration. In an image processing section 12, a correction coefficient selection section 123 selects one of a correction coefficient k1 for a distant object and a correction coefficient k2 for a proximate object in response to a mode setting signal input by a user, and outputs the selected correction coefficient to a deblurring processing section 122. The deblurring processing section 122 performs blur correction to image data D2 based on imaging data D0 with use of the selected correction coefficient. This allows appropriate blur correction to the imaging data of each of the distant object and the proximate object.
US08937678B2

An imaging apparatus includes a calculation unit that calculates power consumptions related to a plurality of functions during a predetermined period for the respective functions; and a control unit that performs control to display data of the calculated power consumptions for the respective functions and countermeasures to be used to reduce the power consumptions related to a predetermined number of functions among the plurality of functions, on a display unit.
US08937657B2

A portable instrument for 3D surface metrology projects augmented-reality feedback directly on the measured target surface. The instrument generates structured-light measuring-patterns and projects them successively on a target surface. Features, contours, and textures of the target surface distort each projected measuring-pattern image (MPI) from the original measuring-pattern. The instrument photographs each MPI, extracts measurement data from the detected distortions, and derives a result-image from selected aspects of the measurement data. The instrument warps the result-image to compensate for distortions from the projector or surface and projects the result-image on the measured surface, optionally with other information such as summaries, instrument status, menus, and instructions. The instrument is lightweight and rugged. Accurate measurements with hand-held embodiments are made possible by high measurement speed and an optional built-in inertial measurement unit to correct for pose and motion effects.
US08937656B2

The invention relates to a method for testing bottles or the like containers (1) filled with a bulk material and mechanically closed by means of a container closure (2), the container closures (2) each comprising an original security ring (4) held on said container (1) in the closed state thereof in an interlocking and/or force-fit manner, such that opening the container (1) is possible only by separating and/or destroying the originality security ring (4), characterized in that the containers (1) are tested by means of at least one optoelectronic sensor system (10) after filling and closing for intactness of the originality security element (4).
US08937655B2

A method for positioning a phase retarder substrate includes the following steps. A phase retarder substrate is provided, wherein the phase retarder substrate includes a first align mark which includes a patterned phase retarder film. An image capturing unit is disposed at one side of the phase retarder substrate. A light source is disposed at the other side of the phase retarder substrate. An upper polarizing sheet is disposed between the image capturing unit and the patterned phase retarder film, and a lower polarizing sheet is disposed between the light source and the patterned phase retarder film. An image of the light which passes through the lower polarizing sheet, the patterned phase retarder film and the upper polarizing sheet is captured so as to position the phase retarder substrate.
US08937650B2

A device and method are provided for performing a triggered action. In one implementation, an apparatus for processing real time images of an environment of a user is provided. The apparatus may include an image sensor configured to capture image data for providing a plurality of sequential images of the environment of the user. The apparatus may also include at least one processor device configured to identify a trigger associated with a desire of the user to cause at least one pre-defined action associated with an object. The trigger may include an erratic movement of the object. In response to identification of the trigger, the at least one processor device may also be configured to identify a captured representation of the object. Based on at least the captured representation of the object, the at least one processor device may be configured to execute the at least one pre-defined action.
US08937643B1

Embodiments efficiently account for variations in camera position across an image, when the image is texture mapped from a single position associated with the image. In an embodiment, each pixel of an image is texture mapped to a three dimensional model. A time offset mask for the image and a value representing a speed of the camera are received. The time offset mask and speed values are used to create an offset mask. The offset mask is applied to the texture mapped model to correct for variations in camera position across an image.
US08937639B2

Systems and methods of acquiring large field of view, high-resolution image data are discussed herein. Techniques and devices relate operation and composition of systems for acquiring large field of view, high-resolution image data. Such systems may include a first sensor chip assembly (SCA) in an interlaced focal plane array (FPA), the first SCA having a length, a width, and a resolution; a second SCA in the FPA, the second SCA having the same length, width, and resolution; and a field of view (FOV) adjustment device that moves the FOV of the FPA so that it can observe different scenes. In some such systems, the first and second SCAs are arranged relative to each-other in a first spaced array extending along a first dimension of the FPA such that there is an intentional gap between the first and second FPAs along the first dimension.
US08937628B2

A method for determining geometric properties of a target shape such as a shape of a perimeter of a strut shield (36) for use in a gas turbine (10). The method includes obtaining a digital image of at least a portion of a first object including a first feature (164) (106). The image including the first feature (164) is displayed on a display device (108). During a reconstruction process, one or more control points (168A, 168B, 168C, 168D) are associated with feature points (164A, 164B, 164C) along an extent of the displayed first feature (164) (109). Using the associated one or more control points (168A, 168B, 168C and 168D), a data file is created that corresponds to the first feature (164) (114). The data file includes geometric properties of the feature points (164A, 164B, 164C).
US08937624B2

A memory access address translating apparatus and method may each classify pixels included in an input image into a plurality of tiles, and may generate a new memory for each of the successive tiles to enable the successive tiles, among a plurality of tiles, to be stored in different banks.
US08937620B1

A system and methods are disclosed which provide simple and rapid animated content creation with simple control of scene characteristics, scene-to-scene transitions, content elements, and certain element behaviors. Tools are disclosed for conveniently applying scene characteristic and transition labels to control the look and feel of a scene, such as camera attributes, lighting, and the like. A voice input tool enables quick creation of spoken language segments for animated characters. Tools are provided to enable multiple content creators to collaborate on content creation. A warehouse model is disclosed for animation content elements. The ability to create dynamic animated content, and the ability to increase the emotional and dramatic texture of that content, are provided through use of relatively simple and intuitive tools.
US08937612B2

A coordinate locating device capable of locating the coordinates of two or more objects is provided for a display apparatus. The coordinate locating device includes a first detector arranged together with a first light source at a first corner of the coordinate locating device, a second detector arranged together with a second light source at a second corner of the coordinate locating device, at least one reflector configured to reflect light from the first and second light sources, and a mirror arranged on a first edge of the coordinate locating device, configured to reflect mirrored images of two or more objects intruding the coordinate locating device, wherein the first and second detectors detect real images of the two or more objects, and at least one of the first and second detectors further detects the mirrored images of the two or more objects reflected by the mirror.
US08937607B2

A mutual capacitance touch panel device includes a substrate and an array of electrode elements formed on the substrate, each electrode element including a drive electrode and a pair of dual-function electrodes. In addition, the pair of dual-function electrodes of each electrode element are arranged substantially symmetrically around the drive electrode of the respective electrode element such that a first dual-function electrode of the pair is adjacent to the drive electrode and the second dual function electrode of the pair is separated from the drive electrode by the first dual-function electrode.
US08937598B2

A navigation module for a handheld communication device having a navigation pad, a chrome-like ring surrounding the navigation pad, an illumination ring surrounding the navigation pad, and at least one light source is optically coupled to at least the illumination ring. The illumination ring can be interposed between the chrome-like ring and the navigation pad. The chrome-like ring can be interposed between the illumination ring and the navigation pad. The light source can be a light emitting diode.
US08937596B2

The present disclosure is directed to a method that includes capturing images of a working area that includes indicia of a virtual keyboard having a plurality of keys and detecting a selected key of the plurality of keys. The detecting of the selected key includes detecting an object in the working area by analyzing the captured images for variations in light intensity in the captured images. The detecting of the object includes generating a first row histogram based on the light intensity in each of the rows in each of the captured images, generating a first column histogram based on the light intensity in each of the columns in each of the captured images, and determining an identification of the selected key based on the first row histogram and the first column histogram. The method also includes outputting the identification of the selected key to a host device.
US08937595B2

An optical touch control apparatus, for detecting displacement between an object and the optical touch control apparatus. The optical touch control apparatus comprises: an object detecting apparatus, for detecting the object to generate an object image, having a first detecting area in a first mode and having a second detecting area in a second mode, wherein the first detecting area is larger than the second detecting area; an image sensor, for capturing at least one frame of the object image; and a control unit, for adjusting an image capturing area of the image sensor, according which one of the first detecting area and the second detecting area the object detecting apparatus utilizes.
US08937593B2

A method for calibrating position of light point is used for an interactive projection system including an image capture device. The image capture device includes an image sensor and an optical filter. The method includes the following steps. A plurality of calibrating patterns formed by visible light is individually projected on a screen. The distance between the calibrating pattern with big area and an optical axis of the image sensor is larger than that between the calibrating pattern with small area and the optical axis. Next, the exposure time of the image sensor is adjusted so the image sensor can capture the images of the calibrating patterns through the optical filter. According to the images of the calibrating patterns, a plurality of coordinate positions is gotten. Then, the coordinate positions are adjusted according to a standard coordinate.
US08937588B2

A method of operating an interactive input system comprises capturing images of a region of interest at a first frame rate; processing a first pixel subset of images captured at the first frame rate to detect the presence of an object; and if an object is detected, capturing images of the region of interest at a second frame rate.
US08937584B2

An organic light emitting display includes a display unit that includes scan lines and data lines. First sub-pixels, second sub-pixels, and third sub-pixels that emit light corresponding to different colors are repeatedly arranged in a uniform pattern. The organic light emitting display also includes a scan driver for supplying scan signals to the scan lines; a data driver coupled to one end of each of the data lines for supplying data signals to the data lines; a switch unit coupled between the one end of each of the data lines and the data driver to transmit the data signals supplied from output lines of the data driver to the data lines; and a test circuit unit including transistors coupled to other ends of the data lines. The first sub-pixels and the second sub-pixels are alternately arranged in same columns and the third sub-pixels are arranged in columns adjacent to the same columns.
US08937575B2

A nanotube based microstrip antenna element is provided along with arrays of same. The nanotube based microstrip antenna element comprises a dielectric substrate layer sandwiched between a ground plane layer and a conductive nanotube layer, the conductive nanotube layer shaped to form a radiating structure. In more advanced embodiments, the nanotube based microstrip antenna element further includes an integrated two terminal nanotube switch device such as to provide a selectability function to such microstrip antenna elements and reconfigurable arrays of same. Anisotropic nanotube fabric layers are also used to provide substantially transparent microstrip antenna structures which can be deposited over display screens and the like.
US08937572B2

A signal generator of an embodiment has an oscillator to generate an oscillation signal controlled in frequency by an analog control signal; a digital phase detector; a first differentiator; and a comparator outputting digital frequency error information. The generator includes a second differentiator differentiating the frequency setting code to generate a gain value and an inverse number of the gain value; a first multiplier multiplying the digital frequency error information by the gain value, a low-pass filter removing a high frequency component in a multiplication result, and a second multiplier multiplying an output of the low-pass filter by the inverse number. The generator includes a D/A converter converting a multiplication result into analog frequency error information, and an integrator converting the analog frequency error information into analog phase error information to output the analog phase error information as the analog control signal.
US08937570B2

An apparatus for synthetic imaging of an object is disclosed. The apparatus includes a plurality of transmitter elements spaced apart by a first distance in a first column and a plurality of receiver elements spaced apart by a second distance in a second column. The first distance and the second distance are different. The plurality of transmitter elements is a non-integer multiple of the plurality of receiver elements, and the plurality of receiver elements is a non-integer multiple of the plurality of transmitter elements.
US08937569B2

An analog-to-digital conversion device has: an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive an input signal via an input signal node, and convert the input signal to a digital signal; and a control circuit configured to receive the digital signal when the input signal is set to have a fixed value, and change, when a deviation amount of the digital signal with the respect to an expected value is equal to or larger than a threshold value, a value of a capacitor between a power supply potential node and a reference potential node of the analog-to-digital converter and/or values of resistors connected to the power supply potential node and the reference potential node of the analog-to-digital converter.
US08937562B1

This disclosure relates to synchronizing dictionaries of acceleration nodes in a computer network. For example, dictionaries of a plurality of acceleration nodes of a client-server network can be synchronized to each include one or more identical data items and data identifier pairs. Synchronization can include transmitting a particular data item, or a combination of a data item and an associated data identifier, to another acceleration node which includes it in its dictionary. A particular acceleration node can, instead of transmitting a data item, transmit an associated data identifier to another acceleration node. As all (or a subset) of the acceleration nodes can have an identical dictionary when employing the methods described herein, the particular acceleration node can use the same dictionary to communicate with all (or the subset of) other acceleration nodes of the computer network.
US08937560B2

A system of communicating vehicle detection is provided. The system may include a probe having at least a probe controller and a magnetic sensor for detecting the Earth's magnetic fields, and a control system having a main controller, an output port and a two-wire interface for communicating with the probe. The probe controller may be configured to quantify detected magnetic fields into a sensor output value per iteration at a predefined frequency, and initiate an interrupt per iteration the sensor output value is determined to exceed a predefined sensor value. The main controller of the control system may be configured to communicate a supply signal to the probe over a first line of the two-wire interface, monitor a return signal from the probe over a second line of the two-wire interface for interrupts, and generate a call signal on the output port indicative of confirmed vehicle detection if the number of consecutive interrupts in the return signal exceed a predefined interrupt limit.
US08937553B2

A syringe drive device 11 includes a fixing section 15 fixing an outer tube 14, a movable holder 16 holding a plunger 13, and a drive section 42 driving the holder 16 along an axis of the plunger to push and pull the plunger with respect to the outer tube 14. An internal pressure detector 18 has a positive pressure detection switch 63 detecting an internal pressure of a syringe 12. A determination section 41 determines the issuance of an alert when the holder 16 is stopped and the positive pressure detection switch 63 is ON. A display section 19 is lit to indicate the alert when the determination section 41 determines to issue the alert.
US08937551B2

A system for covertly activating an alarm comprising: at least one processor; at least one covert 3D sensor; and computer executable instructions readable by the at least one processor and operative to: use the at least one covert 3D sensor in conjunction with gesture recognition software to sense at least one covert gesture made by at least one person in a space; and covertly trigger an alarm based on the at least one covert gesture.
US08937535B2

A greeting card having an audio message and playback device delivers a first sound recording upon opening of the greeting card and a second sound recording upon closing of the greeting card. The delivery of each sound recording may be delayed by a timing component within the audio message and playback device. Additionally, the delivery of each sound recording may be played simultaneously or in queue. Sound recordings may also be recorded by a user using a recording component that is in addition to the audio message and playback device. The audio message and playback device may also include an additional trial mode component that allows the user to test a recorded message before purchasing the greeting card and place the greeting card into a use mode that allows the user to permanently record the message.
US08937529B2

An information processing apparatus includes: status information input means for inputting status information indicating an operating state and power consumption of each of a plurality of electronic appliances targeted for connection from the plurality of electronic appliances; list screen generating means for generating a list screen that associates the status information inputted from each of the plurality of electronic appliances with the plurality of electronic appliances; and a display control means for controlling display means for displaying the list screen thereon.
US08937525B2

A surface mountable over-current protection device having upper and lower surfaces comprises a PTC device, first and second electrodes, and first and second circuits. The PTC device comprises a PTC material layer and first and second conductive layers. The PTC material layer is disposed between the conductive layers and comprises crystalline polymer and conductive filler dispersed therein. The first electrode comprises a pair of first metal foils, whereas the second electrode comprises a pair of second metal foils. The first circuit connects the first electrode and conductive layer, and has a first planar line extending horizontally. The second circuit connects the second electrode and conductive layer, and has a second planar line extending horizontally. At least one of the planar lines has a thermal resistance sufficient to mitigate heat dissipation by which the over-current protection device undergoes a test at 25° C. and 8 amperes can trip within 60 seconds.
US08937522B2

A transformer device is disclosed in which a transformer module includes a first transformer unit disposed on a PCB and having a plurality of first pins and a plurality of second pins, and a second transformer unit disposed on the PCB and adjacent to the first transformer unit. The second transformer has a plurality of third pins and a plurality of fourth pins. First to fourth conductive lines are disposed on the PCB, and configured to electrically connect to the plurality of first to fourth pins, respectively. The plurality of first and third pins are located on a first side of the transformer module, the plurality of second and fourth pins are located on a second side opposite to the first side, and the plurality of first pins are adjacent to the plurality of third pins.
US08937515B2

A device for mixing multiple (N) pulse density modulated (PDM) bit streams of a bit rate, the device comprises an input logic, an error accumulation circuit, an error correction circuit and an adder of more than N bits; wherein the device is arranged to output an output PDM bit stream that represents a mixture of the multiple input PDM bit streams; wherein the output PDM bit stream comprises a plurality of output PDM bits, wherein a certain output PDM bit of a plurality of output PDM bits that form the output PDM bit stream is generated during a certain clock cycle; wherein the input logic is arranged to select, during each fraction of the certain clock cycle, a current bit of a selected PDM bit stream, wherein different PDM bit streams are selected during different fragments of the certain clock cycle; wherein the error accumulation circuit is arranged to store intermediate values during a first fraction till a penultimate fraction of the certain clock signal and to store a last value during a last fraction of the certain clock signal.
US08937509B2

A multi-channel biopotential signal acquisition system is disclosed. In the system, a plurality of biopotential channels is corrected for common-mode interference. In one aspect, each biopotential channel includes an electrode for providing a biopotential input signal and an associated amplifier for amplifying the biopotential input signal and providing a biopotential output signal. The output signal is processed in a processor. Each biopotential output signal is passed to a common-mode feedback system, which determines an average common-mode signal and feeds that signal back to each of the amplifiers in each of the biopotential channels to enhance common-mode rejection ratio of the system.
US08937503B2

A switch control circuit has a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, a serial-parallel converter, a selector, a driver circuit and a tri-state buffer. The serial-parallel converter converts a serial switching control signal inputted from the third terminal into first parallel switching control signals when the first terminal is at a first power-supply potential. The selector selects either the first parallel switching control signals converted by the serial-parallel converter or second parallel switching control signals inputted into the second and third terminals, depending on the potential of the first terminal. The driver circuit converts potential levels of the first parallel switching control signals or the second parallel switching control signals selected by the selector and generates parallel switching control signals with potential levels capable of switching a switch circuit.
US08937498B2

A common mode noise reduction circuit works with a transmission signal output circuit that has a first and a second output terminals and transmits differential signals from the first and second output terminals. The common mode noise reduction circuit includes: a first generating circuit to generate electric current to input to or receive electric current from the first output terminal; a second generating circuit to generate electric current to input to or output receive electric current from the second output terminal; and a control circuit to control the first and second generating circuits so that in synchronism with a drive control clock of the transmission signal output circuit, the first and second generating circuits generate current pulses to reduce common mode noise of the differential signals to be transmitted.
US08937497B1

An electrical circuit includes a comparator that receives a first signal at a first input pin, where the first signal is indicative of a current drawn from a power supply unit (PSU) that delivers power to an electronic component. The comparator substantially simultaneously receives a second signal at a second input pin, where the second signal is indicative of a voltage provided by the PSU to the electronic component and is set to a predetermined threshold. An output of the comparator changes if a difference exists between the first signal and the second signal. The electrical circuit includes a variable gain amplifier that provides the first signal to the comparator, where a gain of the variable gain amplifier is set according to the predetermined threshold.
US08937491B2

An apparatus includes an integrated circuit with a clock network in an array of circuit blocks. The clock network includes routing tracks, distribution spines, and clock leaves. The routing tracks and the distribution spines are bidirectional.
US08937487B2

Methods, apparatus, and computer program products for evaluating current transients measured during an electrical stress evaluation of a dielectric layer in a semiconductor device. Measured current transients are fit to an equation representing a time dependence for stress induced leakage currents. The measured current transients are corrected based upon stress currents computed from the equation to define corrected current transients.
US08937484B2

The terminals of a device under test are temporarily electrically connected to corresponding contact pads on a load board by a series of electrically conductive pin pairs. The pin pairs are held in place by an interposer membrane that includes a top contact plate facing the device under test, a bottom contact plate facing the load board, and a vertically resilient, non-conductive member between the top and bottom contact plates. Each pin pair includes a top and bottom pin, which extend beyond the top and bottom contact plates, respectively, toward the device under test and the load board, respectively. The top and bottom pins contact each other at an interface that is inclined with respect to the membrane surface normal. When compressed longitudinally, the pins translate toward each other by sliding along the interface. The sliding is largely longitudinal, with a small and desirable lateral component determined by the inclination of the interface.
US08937477B2

The invention provides a biochemical measuring device including: a measuring unit configured to measure a base current and a peak current; a time counting unit configured to count an elapsed time from the contact of a sensor electrode to a reference solution until the start of measurement of the base current; and a control unit, wherein the control unit acquires a concentration of a specific substance using the base current value when the elapsed time is equal to or longer than a stationarizing time, and when it is shorter than the stationarizing time, acquires the concentration of the specific substance using the stationary base current value measured by the measuring unit when the elapsed time is shorter than the stationarizing time instead of the current value of the base current.
US08937469B2

Methods and apparatus for zero current detection and discontinuous conduction mode digital detection for a boost power factor correction converter based on a digital signal processor are disclosed. By effectively using resources in a processor with integrated high-speed comparators, simple detection can be accomplished with cost and performance over alternative detection methods. The methods and apparatus can be employed in an adaptive digital controller for mixed-conduction mode in the converter and can provide for lower total harmonic distortion and greater power factors than a non-adaptive controller.
US08937464B2

Voltage regulation in charge pumps. A high voltage generation system includes a charge pump having an output voltage node and a regulated input voltage node. The high voltage generation system also includes a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator includes a capacitive attenuator in electrical communication with the output voltage node. The voltage regulator also includes a comparator in electrical communication with the capacitive attenuator and with a reference voltage source. The voltage regulator further includes a buffer in electrical communication between the comparator and the regulated input voltage node.
US08937463B2

A common-core power factor correction resonant converter includes an energy-transforming circuit. The energy-transforming circuit receives an input line voltage and generates an output power. The energy-transforming circuit includes a coupling inductor and a charge-storage capacitor. The coupling inductor and the charge-storage capacitor are charged by the input line voltage in response to a control signal, so as to generate a charge-storage capacitor voltage. When the charge-storage capacitor voltage is charged to a preset voltage level, the coupling inductor and the charge-storage capacitor are discharged according to the control signal. Then, the energy in the coupling inductor and the charge-storage capacitor is transformed to the output load and provide the output voltage or current regulation.
US08937462B2

The present invention relates to an overvoltage repetition prevention circuit, a method thereof, and a power factor correction circuit including the same. The power factor correction circuit includes: an inductor receiving an input voltage and supplying an output voltage; a power switch connected to the inductor and controlling an inductor current to the inductor; and a power factor correction controller differently controlling a control structure generating a control voltage controlling a switching operation of the power switch during a predetermined overvoltage stabilization period generated in synchronization with a time that an output voltage is an overvoltage and the control structure generating the control voltage in a normal state in which the output voltage is not the overvoltage, wherein the control structure is determined according to a difference between the output voltage and a predetermined output target voltage during the overvoltage stabilization period.
US08937460B2

A dual-interface card reader module is disclosed including: a card accessing circuit; a power controller for providing a charging current to a USB device; an overcurrent detector coupled with the power controller for generating an overcurrent notice when the charging current is greater than a current threshold; and a control circuit coupled with the card accessing circuit and the power controller for accessing a data storage card via the card accessing circuit and instructing the power controller to reduce its electricity output to lower the charging current when receiving the overcurrent notice.
US08937455B2

An ECU detects a rated current that can be supplied from a power supply to a power storage device, based on a pilot signal. If a combination of detected values of a voltage, the rated current and a power supply frequency matches a predefined combination, the ECU executes charging with a voltage, a current and a frequency in accordance with the combination. On the other hand, if it is determined that the combination of the voltage, the rated current and the frequency does not match any one of predefined combinations and if it is determined that the power supply itself is normal, the ECU executes charging by limiting a charging current to a predefined minimum rated current value. If it is determined that the combination of the voltage, the rated current and the frequency does not match any one of predefined combinations and if it is determined that the power supply is abnormal, the ECU prohibits charging.
US08937451B2

A motor control apparatus has a plurality of DC-to-AC inverter circuits which supply respective electric motors, each inverter circuit formed of a plurality of switching circuits, all of the switching circuits being connected in parallel with a smoothing capacitor which smoothes a DC voltage. A charge which remains in the smoothing capacitor, after the source of the DC voltage has become disconnected, is discharged through a single switching circuit in each of the inverter circuits, with all other switching circuits of each inverter circuit being held in a non-conducting state, thereby preventing a flow of discharge current through any of the motors.
US08937442B1

A light emitting diode (LED) driving circuit structure includes a surge absorber unit, a voltage suppression unit connected to the surge absorber unit, a rectifier unit electrically connected to the voltage suppression unit, a control chip connected to a fourth junction of the rectifier unit, and an impedance unit connected to the control chip. The LED driving circuit structure is installed on an LED light circuit board having a plurality of LEDs mounted thereon. According to the sinusoidal wave form of the alternating current (AC) supplied to the LEDs as well as the number and layout of the LEDs on the LED light circuit board, the LED driving circuit structure controls the current flowing through the LEDs to vary with changes of supply voltage, so as to enable effectively increased power factor and reduced harmonics, as well as effectively lowered manufacturing and material costs.
US08937440B2

The disclosure provides a lighting device and a voltage reduction method thereof, wherein the lighting device comprises: an AC power supply generator for generating an AC power source to supply power to other accessories and circuits in the lighting device; m load components, every two adjacent load components forming one head common connection point and one end common connection point respectively for each load component from head to end alternatively; and (m−1) current balancing cells each respectively connected between one head common connection point or one end common connection point and one of two output terminals of the AC power supply generator; wherein the m load components comprise (m−n) low impedance load components therein. The present application can reduce the output voltage of the AC power supply generator with lower cost.
US08937438B2

A power supply protected against open circuit conditions at its output terminals, and methods for so protecting, are disclosed. A front end circuit receives an input voltage and provides a regulated front end DC voltage to a voltage converter circuit, which in turn provides a DC output voltage to the output terminals to drive a light source. An open circuit protection circuit is coupled between the voltage converter circuit and the output terminals. It has a non-conducting state to couple the DC output voltage to the output terminals, and a conducting state to establish a short circuit across the output terminals in response to charging of a capacitor during an open circuit condition at the output terminals. A restart circuit intermittently discharges the capacitor during the open circuit condition to place the open circuit protection circuit in the non-conducting state when the open circuit condition is resolved.
US08937433B1

LED controllers, LED lighting systems and control methods capable of providing an average luminance intensity independent from the variation of an AC voltage. A string of LEDs are divided into LED groups electrically connected in series between a power source and a ground. A LED controller has path switches, each for coupling a corresponding LED group to the ground. A management center controls the path switches, for making an input current from the power source to the string substantially approach a target value. A line waveform sensor coupled to the power source holds a representative signal during a cycle time of the power source. The representative signal is in response to an attribute of the power source, and substantially determines the target value.
US08937419B2

A method for producing a radially anisotropic ring magnet having at least one axial groove on the inner surface comprises using a die comprising a cylindrical, magnetic core, a magnetic sleeve having an axial ridge in alignment with the groove on the outer surface and disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the core, and an outer, cylindrical die member defining a cavity for forming the ring magnet with the magnetic sleeve, and compression-molding magnet powder charged into the cavity while applying a magnetic field in a radial direction, and a radially anisotropic ring magnet substantially having a composition of R-TM-B, wherein R is at least one of rare earth elements including Y, TM is at least one of transition metals, and B is boron, having at least one axial groove on the inner surface, and magnetized such that centerlines between magnetic poles do not overlap grooves.
US08937414B2

Disclosed are an electric motor and an electric vehicle having the same. The electric motor includes a stator including a stator core and a stator coil wound around the stator core, a rotor disposed to be rotatable with respect to the stator, and a cooling unit configured to allow a cooling fluid to flow therein and disposed to be in contact with the stator to cool the stator, wherein an outer surface of the stator core includes grooves in which the cooling unit is inserted. Cooling performance can be enhanced by shortening a heat transmission path, and the cooling unit can be easily fabricated and coupled.
US08937411B2

There is provided a vibration generating device, including: a housing including an inner space; a shaft provided in the inner space of the housing in an axial direction; a frame including a shaft hole into which the shaft is fitted; a bearing member mounted on the frame to be vibrated in a state of contact with the shaft; a vibrating part mounted on an outer surface of the frame and including a magnetic field generation part; elastic members mounted on both ends of the vibrating part in the axial direction; and a coil provided in the inner space and vibrating the vibrating part by interaction with the magnetic field generation part.
US08937407B2

A power transfer system (100) is used with a primary table (102) and one or more secondary tables (170). Incoming power is supplied from a source outlet receptacle block (108) to raceway assemblies (120, 134) and an energy center (140) on the primary table (102). The raceway assemblies (120, 134) are connected to a primary winding circuit (136) having a primary winding (160). A secondary table (170) also includes raceway assemblies (120, 134) connected to a secondary winding circuit (176). When the tables (102, 170) are in close proximity, magnetic flux generated from current flowing through the primary winding (160) commonly flows through the secondary winding (186), thereby inductively generating power which can be applied to the raceway assemblies (120, 134) associated with the secondary table (170).
US08937392B2

A semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate including a first surface and an opposing second surface, and a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip is mounted over the first surface, includes signal electrodes, power-supply electrodes and ground electrodes, which connect to pads on the first surface of the insulating substrate. Lands provided on the second surface of the insulating substrate include signal lands, power-supply lands and ground lands through vias penetrate from the first surface to the second surface of the insulating substrate, and include signal vias electrically connected the signal connection pads to the signal lands, power-supply vias electrically connected the power-supply connection pads to the power-supply lands and ground vias electrically connected the ground connection pads to the ground lands. At least one of the signal vias are closer to the connection pads than immediately adjacent one of the power-supply vias or the ground vias.
US08937385B2

An electronic component comprising a substrate extending in a plane, having electrical connections to connect the component to a circuit, and having an upper face; an electronic chip arranged on the upper face or inside the substrate and connected to the connections via the substrate, a thick insulating layer forming a package and covering the upper face or at least part of the chip, and having an outer face parallel to the plane; a cavity inside the thick layer, the cavity having a bottom parallel to the plane and a side extending from the bottom to the outer face, the cavity having heat-absorbing material inside that is different from the material forming the thick layer. The heat-absorbing material has a specific heat capacity greater than 1 kJKg−1K−1 at a 25° C. and at 100 kPa. Either a bottom or side of the cavity is covered with a interface layer.
US08937384B2

At least one feature pertains to an apparatus having passive thermal management that includes an integrated circuit die, a heat spreader thermally coupled to the integrated circuit die, a phase change material (PCM) thermally coupled to the heat spreader, and a molding compound that encases the heat spreader and the PCM. In one example, the heat spreader may include a plurality of fins, and at least a portion of the PCM is interposed between the plurality of fins. Another feature pertains to an apparatus that includes an integrated circuit die, and a molding compound having a phase change material intermixed therein. The resulting molding compound completely encases the die.
US08937382B2

The present disclosure relates to the field of fabricating microelectronic device packages and, more particularly, to microelectronic device packages having bumpless build-up layer (BBUL) designs, wherein at least one secondary device is disposed within the thickness (i.e. the z-direction or z-height) of the microelectronic device of the microelectronic device package.
US08937379B1

A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: providing a leadframe having a trench; mounting an integrated circuit device on the leadframe; forming a top encapsulation on the leadframe and the trench; forming a lead having a lead protrusion and a peripheral groove, the lead protrusion and the peripheral groove formed from etching the trench at a leadframe bottom side; and forming a bottom encapsulation surrounding a lead bottom side of the lead.
US08937377B2

A package-on-package proximity sensor module including a infrared transmitter package and a infrared receiver package is presented. The proximity sensor module may include a fully-assembled infrared transmitter package and a fully-assembled infrared receiver package disposed on a quad flat pack no-lead (QFN) lead frame molded with an IR cut compound housing. A bottom surface of the QFN lead frame may be etched and covered with the IR cut compound to provide a locking feature between the QFN lead frame and the IR cut compound housing.
US08937374B2

A semiconductor package according to the present invention includes: a semiconductor element where a high frequency signal is input or output; a planar lead terminal having an end electrically connected to an input terminal or an output terminal of the semiconductor element; an encapsulation resin for encapsulating the lead terminal and the semiconductor element, the lead terminal having another end exposed from the resin; and a ground enhancing metal body encapsulated in the encapsulation resin, having a first main surface facing the lead terminal and a second main surface exposed from the encapsulation resin, wherein the ground enhancing metal body has a shape with a cross section parallel to the second main surface and having a smaller area than an area of the first main surface.
US08937369B2

A transistor includes a semiconductor substrate, at least a gate structure, at least a first tensile stress layer, a second tensile stress layer, a source region, and a drain region. The gate structure is disposed within a first transistor region of the semiconductor substrate. The first tensile stress layer includes a curved portion encompassing the gate structure, at least an extension portion with a curved top surface located on the semiconductor substrate at sides of the gate structure, and a transition portion between the curved portion and the extension portion. The first tensile stress layer has a thickness gradually thinning from the curved portion and the extension portion toward the transition portion. The second tensile stress layer is disposed on the first tensile stress layer. And the source/drain regions are separately located in the semiconductor substrate on two sides of the gate structure.
US08937368B2

A semiconductor device includes: an active region located in an upper portion of a semiconductor substrate; a through-hole electrode penetrating the substrate, and made of a conductor having a thermal expansion coefficient larger than that of a material for the substrate; and a stress buffer region located in the upper portion of the substrate and sandwiched between the through-hole electrode and the active region. The stress buffer region does not penetrate the substrate and includes a stress buffer part made of a material having a thermal expansion coefficient larger than that of the material for the substrate and an untreated region where the stress buffer part is not present. The stress buffer part is located in at least two locations sandwiching the untreated region in a cross section perpendicular to a surface of the substrate and passing through the through-hole electrode and the active region.
US08937367B2

A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of auxiliary patterns formed over a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of gate line patterns disposed in parallel with one another over the semiconductor substrate between the plurality of auxiliary patterns, and an air gap formed between the plurality of gate line patterns and between each of the plurality of gate line patterns and each of the auxiliary patterns.
US08937365B2

In a semiconductor integrated circuit device including fuse elements for performing laser trimming processing, a dummy fuse formed of a first polycrystalline Si film is formed between the fuse elements formed of a second polycrystalline Si film, and a nitride film is formed on the dummy fuse. In this manner, the step difference of an interlayer film caused by the presence and absence of the fuse element formed of the polycrystalline Si film is eliminated, to thereby prevent SOG films having moisture-absorption characteristics on an inner surface of a fuse opening region and on an internal element side from connecting to each other.
US08937352B2

A layout pattern of an implant layer includes at least a linear region and at least a non-linear region. The linear region includes a plurality of first patterns to accommodate first dopants and the non-linear region includes a plurality of second patterns to accommodate the first dopants. The linear region abuts the non-linear region. Furthermore, a pattern density of the first patterns in the linear region is smaller than a pattern density of the second patterns in the non-linear region.
US08937350B2

A gate trench 13 is formed in a semiconductor substrate 10. The gate trench 13 is provided with a gate electrode 16 formed over a gate insulating film 14. A portion of the gate electrode 16 protrudes from the semiconductor substrate 10, and a sidewall 24 is formed over a side wall portion of the protruding portion. A body trench 25 is formed in alignment with an adjacent gate electrode 16. A cobalt silicide film 28 is formed over a surface of the gate electrode 16 and over a surface of the body trench 25. A plug 34 is formed using an SAC technique.
US08937346B2

A semiconductor device includes vertical channel layers, control gates and interlayer insulating layers stacked alternately with each other on the substrate and surrounding the vertical channel layers, floating gates interposed between the vertical channel layers and the control gates and separated from each other by the interlayer insulating layers, and charge blocking layers interposed between the floating gates and the control gates.
US08937345B2

An integrated circuit includes an active transistor laterally adjacent to a trench capacitor formed in a semiconductor substrate, the active transistor comprising a source junction and a drain junction, wherein a barrier layer is disposed along a periphery of the trench capacitor for isolating the trench capacitor; a passive transistor laterally spaced from the active transistor, wherein at least a portion of the trench capacitor is interposed between the active and passive transistors; an interlevel dielectric disposed upon the active and passive transistors; and a first conductive contact extending through the interlevel dielectric to the drain junction of the active transistor and the at least a portion of the trench capacitor between the active and passive transistors, wherein the first conductive contact electrically connects the trench capacitor to the drain junction of the active transistor.
US08937343B2

A semiconductor device includes a gate pattern disposed on a semiconductor substrate, a bulk epitaxial pattern disposed in a recess region formed in the semiconductor substrate at a side of the gate pattern, an insert epitaxial pattern disposed on the bulk epitaxial pattern, and a capping epitaxial pattern disposed on the insert epitaxial pattern. The bulk epitaxial pattern has an upper inclined surface that is a {111} crystal plane, and the insert epitaxial pattern includes a specific element that promotes the growth rate of the insert epitaxial pattern on the upper inclined surface.
US08937336B2

Passivation of group III-nitride heterojunction devices is described herein. The passivation facilitates simultaneous realization of effective/high current collapse suppression and low leakage current without the use of a sophisticated multiple-field plate technique. The passivation can be achieved by growing a charge-polarized AlN thin film on the surface of a group III-nitride based heterojunction device by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition such that positive polarization charges are induced at the interface to compensate for a majority of negative charges at the interface.
US08937328B2

A light emitting device includes a light emitting element that emits light having a wavelength of 250 nm to 500 nm and a fluorescent layer that is disposed on the light emitting element. The fluorescent layer includes a phosphor having a composition expressed by the equation, ((M1−x1Eux1)3−ySi13−zAl3+zO2+uN21−w), and an average particle diameter of 12 μm or more, wherein in the equation, M is an element that is selected from IA group elements, IIA group elements, IIIA group elements, IIIB group elements except Al, rare-earth elements, and IVB group elements, and x1, y, z, u, and w satisfy each of the inequalities simultaneously, that is to say each of the following inequalities is satisfied by the choice of values of the identified paramaters within the noted ranges of 0
US08937321B2

The present invention is directed to a vertical-type luminous device and high through-put methods of manufacturing the luminous device. These luminous devices can be utilized in a variety of luminous packages, which can be placed in luminous systems. The luminous devices are designed to maximize light emitting efficiency and/or thermal dissipation. Other improvements include an embedded zener diode to protect against harmful reverse bias voltages.
US08937320B2

Provided are a light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting apparatus. The light emitting device includes: an n-type semiconductor layer including a first area and a second area in a plane; an active layer disposed on the n-type semiconductor layer in the first area; an electron barrier layer disposed on the active layer in the first area; and a p-type semiconductor layer disposed on the electron barrier layer in the first area.
US08937318B2

A light-emitting device includes a case including a first substrate and a sidewall on the first substrate, a light-emitting, element that is mounted on the first substrate in a region surrounded by the sidewall and includes a second substrate and a crystal layer, the light-emitting element being formed rectangular in a plane viewed in a direction perpendicular to the first substrate, and a low-refractive-index layer that is located between the light-emitting element and the sidewall and has a smaller refractive index than the second substrate. A side surface along a longitudinal direction of the second substrate is provided with a tapered portion on a side of the first substrate.
US08937311B2

A method of fabricating a thin film transistor includes sequentially forming a first metal layer on a substrate and a second metal layer of copper on the first metal layer; performing a plasma process to form a copper nitride layer on the second metal layer; patterning the copper nitride layer, the second metal layer and the first metal layer to form a gate electrode; forming a first gate insulating layer of silicon nitride on the substrate including the gate electrode; forming a second gate insulating layer of silicon oxide on the first gate insulating layer; forming a semiconductor layer on the second gate insulating layer formed of an oxide semiconductor material; and forming a source electrode and a drain electrode on the semiconductor layer, the source electrode spaced apart from the drain electrode.
US08937307B2

A semiconductor device including a capacitor with increased charge capacity and having a high aperture ratio and low power consumption is provided for a semiconductor device including a driver circuit. The semiconductor device includes a driver circuit which includes a first transistor including gate electrodes above and below a semiconductor film so as to overlap with the semiconductor film; a pixel which includes a second transistor including a semiconductor film; a capacitor which includes a dielectric film between a pair of electrodes in the pixel; and a capacitor line electrically connected to one of the pair of electrodes. In the semiconductor device, the gate electrode over the semiconductor film of the first transistor is electrically connected to the capacitor line.
US08937306B2

In a bottom-gate thin film transistor using the stack of the first oxide semiconductor layer and the second oxide semiconductor layer, an oxide insulating layer serving as a channel protective layer is formed over and in contact with part of the oxide semiconductor layer overlapping with a gate electrode layer. In the same step as formation of the insulating layer, an oxide insulating layer covering a peripheral portion (including a side surface) of the stack of the oxide semiconductor layers is formed.
US08937302B2

The present invention provides an organic light-emitting diode, which includes a light-transmitting substrate, an anode arranged on the light-transmitting substrate, a hole transporting layer arranged on the anode, a light emission layer arranged on the hole transporting layer, an electron transporting layer arranged on the light emission layer, and a cathode arranged on the electron transporting layer. The light emission layer includes a color light emission layer and an ultraviolet light emission layer spaced from the color light emission layer. The present invention integrates functions of color displaying and ultraviolet source together to allow the color displaying and the ultraviolet source to be simultaneously or individually activated.
US08937297B2

Optoelectronic device including light-emitting means in the form of nanowires (2, 3) having a core/shell-type structure and produced on a substrate (11), in which said nanowires comprise an active zone (22, 32) including at least two types of quantum wells associated with different emission wavelengths and distributed among at least two different regions (220, 221; 320, 321) of said active zone, in which the device also includes a first electrical contact zone (15) on the substrate and a second electrical contact zone (16) on the emitting means, in which said second zone is arranged so that, as the emitting means are distributed according to at least two groups, the electrical contact is achieved for each of said at least two groups at a different region of the active zone, and the electrical power supply is controlled so as to obtain the emission of a multi-wavelength light.
US08937296B2

Photonic integrated circuits on silicon are disclosed. By bonding a wafer of III-V material as an active region to silicon and removing the substrate, the lasers, amplifiers, modulators, and other devices can be processed using standard photolithographic techniques on the silicon substrate. The coupling between the silicon waveguide and the III-V gain region allows for integration of low threshold lasers, tunable lasers, and other photonic integrated circuits with Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits.
US08937293B2

The invention provides a fast, scalable, room temperature process for fabricating metallic nanorods from nanoparticles or fabricating metallic or semiconducting nanorods from carbon nanotubes suspended in an aqueous solution. The assembled nanorods are suitable for use as nanoscale interconnects in CMOS-based devices and sensors. Metallic nanoparticles or carbon nanotubes are assembled into lithographically patterned vias by applying an external electric field. Since the dimensions of nanorods are controlled by the dimensions of vias, the nanorod dimensions can be scaled down to the low nanometer range. The aqueous assembly process is environmentally friendly and can be used to make nanorods using different types of metallic particles as well as semiconducting and metallic nanaotubes.
US08937292B2

An ultra-high-density vertical cross-point array comprises a plurality of horizontal line layers having horizontal lines interleaved with a plurality of vertical lines arranged in rows and columns. The vertical lines are interleaved with the horizontal lines such that a row of vertical lines is positioned between each consecutive pair of horizontal lines in each horizontal line layer. Each vertical line comprises a center conductor surrounded by a single or multi-layered memory film. Accordingly, when interleaved with the horizontal lines, two-terminal memory cells are integrally formed between the center conductor of each vertical line and each crossing horizontal line. By configuring the vertical and horizontal lines so that a row of vertical lines is positioned between each consecutive pair of horizontal lines, a unit memory cell footprint of just 2F2 may be realized.
US08937290B2

Some embodiments include memory cells. A memory cell may contain a switching region and an ion source region between a pair of electrodes. The switching region may be configured to reversibly retain a conductive bridge, with the memory cell being in a low resistive state when the conductive bridge is retained within the switching region and being in a high resistive state when the conductive bridge is not within the switching region. The memory cell may contain an ordered framework extending across the switching region to orient the conductive bridge within the switching region, with the framework remaining within the switching region in both the high resistive and low resistive states of the memory cell.
US08937284B2

A control and sensing system for diffusion optical tomography and a method for operating the same are disclosed. The control and sensing system includes a control unit and a sensing circuit with a plurality of light sources and sensors, each light source being surrounded by a corresponding predetermined number of the sensors. The control unit instructs the light sources to individually emit light to an object, so the object generates a plurality of optical signals, and instructs the predetermined number of the sensors corresponding to each light source to receive the optical signals and transmit them to the control unit, thereby reducing the complexity of the control and sensing system.
US08937264B2

A laser beam machining method and a laser beam machining device capable of cutting a work without producing a fusing and a cracking out of a predetermined cutting line on the surface of the work, wherein a pulse laser beam is radiated on the predetermined cut line on the surface of the work under the conditions causing a multiple photon absorption and with a condensed point aligned to the inside of the work, and a modified area is formed inside the work along the predetermined determined cut line by moving the condensed point along the predetermined cut line, whereby the work can be cut with a rather small force by cracking the work along the predetermined cut line starting from the modified area and, because the pulse laser beam radiated is not almost absorbed onto the surface of the work, the surface is not fused even if the modified area is formed.
US08937254B2

An aircraft conductor sandwich assembly configured to be embedded in a composite aircraft structure. The conductor sandwich assembly comprises a plurality of carbon conductors disposed between two sheets of insulating layers and an adhesive resin bonding the plurality of carbon conductors and the two sheets of insulating layers into a carbon sandwich assembly such that (i) the conductors are electrically isolated and (ii) structural loads can be passed through said conductor sandwich assembly.
US08937245B2

A cable seal includes a heat-shrinkable tubing coupled to a cable outer jacket. An elastic member is positioned about the heat-shrinkable tubing. A cap is positioned about the heat-shrinkable tubing. At least one of the elastic member and the cap has a vertical sealing surface and a horizontal sealing surface. The vertical sealing surface extends substantially coaxially with respect to a longitudinal axis of the cable seal, and the horizontal sealing surface extends substantially radially with respect to the cable seal longitudinal axis.
US08937239B2

Provided are a light emitting control device, computer readable memory device, and method to control a light emitter associated with a pad capable of being struck to produce a sound. In response to detecting a striking of the pad, a tone associated with the pad is produced. A level of the tone produced is determined and a level meter brightness is determined based on the determined level of the tone. An output brightness for the light emitter is calculated associated with the struck pad using the determined level meter brightness and a brightness change pattern. The light emitter associated with the pad is controlled according to the determined output brightness.
US08937238B1

A CPU sets a first key-press pitch as a first target value; sets the immediately-preceding key-press pitch as a first starting point; emits the first key-press pitch sound therefrom with portamento toward the first target value; sets the second key-press pitch as a second target value; sets a pitch obtained by adding a pitch difference between the first and second key-press pitches to the pitch of the above-described sound as a second starting point; emits the second key-press pitch sound therefrom with portamento toward the second target value; sets the third key-press pitch as a third target value; sets a pitch obtained by adding a pitch difference between the second and third key-press pitches to the pitch of the sound being emitted with portamento toward the second target value as a third starting point; and emits the third key-press pitch sound therefrom with portamento toward the third target value.
US08937218B2

A transformed soybean plant having a gene encoding a modified seed storage protein introduced therein, obtained by inserting a gene encoding an Alzheimer's disease vaccine to a variable region(s) of a gene encoding a wild-type seed storage protein, is produced, and said vaccine is produced and accumulated in the seeds thereof.
US08937209B2

A process for separating para-xylene from a plurality of aromatic compounds, wherein the process introduces a first mixed xylene stream comprising a plurality of xylene isomers into a first adsorptive separation unit to produce a first para-xylene enriched stream and a first raffinate stream. The process further introduces a second mixed xylene stream comprising a plurality of xylene isomers into a second adsorptive separation unit to produce a second para-xylene enriched stream and a second raffinate stream. The process further feeds both the first raffinate stream and the second raffinate stream into a shared raffinate column.
US08937203B2

The present invention relates to catalysts, to processes for making catalysts and to chemical processes employing such catalysts. The multifunctional catalysts are preferably used for converting acetic acid and ethyl acetate to ethanol. The catalyst is effective for providing an acetic acid conversion greater than 20% and an ethyl acetate conversion greater than 0%. The catalyst comprises a precious metal and one or more active metals on a modified support. The modified support includes a metal selected from the group consisting of tungsten, vanadium, and tantalum, provided that the modified support does not contain phosphorous.
US08937202B2

Processes and systems for converting glycerol to propylene glycol are disclosed. The glycerol feed is diluted with propylene glycol as the primary solvent, rather than water which is typically used. The diluted glycerol feed is sent to a reactor where the glycerol is converted to propylene glycol (as well as other byproducts) in the presence of a catalyst. The propylene glycol-containing product from the reactor is recycled as a solvent for the glycerol feed.
US08937200B2

A new process capable of producing a 2-(aryloxymethyl)benzaldehyde compound is provided. More particularly, a process for producing a 2-(aryloxymethyl)benzaldehyde compound represented by formula (2) comprising a step of hydrolyzing a compound represented by following formula (1); wherein X1 and X2 each represent independently a chlorine atom, a bromine atom or an iodine atom, Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 each represent independently a hydrogen atom or a halogen atom, and Ar represents a phenyl group optionally having a substituent.
US08937196B2

A process for removing an impurity from a siloxane comprising i) flowing a first liquid through a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of fibers extending lengthwise in a conduit, wherein the bundle has an upstream end and a downstream end, and the first liquid flows in a direction from the upstream end of the bundle to the downstream end; and ii) while continuing (i), flowing a second liquid comprising a siloxane and an impurity through the fiber bundle in a direction from the upstream end of the bundle to the downstream end of the bundle to effect transfer of at least a portion of the impurity from the second liquid to the first liquid, wherein the first liquid and the second liquid are substantially immiscible.
US08937192B2

Described herein are improved methods for the preparation of 5- and 6-membered cyclic mono and diesters of sugar alcohols and anhydrosugar alcohols by reaction with an organic acid RCOOH over a solid acidic substrate. The process is adaptable to a continuous process for simultaneously making and separating the cyclic esters from the sugar alcohols and anhydrosugar alcohols under mild conditions using the solid acid substrate as both the catalyst and a chromatographic bed for separation. The reactions are performed at mild temperatures of 70° C. to 100° C. and the formation of the cyclic esters is nearly quantitative. Also described is a method for making 5- and 6-membered cyclic mono and diesters of sugar alcohols and anhydrosugar alcohols using microwave irradiation in the presence of the organic acid.
US08937185B2

Provided are improved processes for the preparation of 1-aryl pyrazole compounds of formula (I) and (IB): which are substituted at the 5-position of the pyrazole ring with a carbon-linked functional group. The process described are efficient and scalable and do not utilize hazardous sulfenyl halide reagents.
US08937178B2

The invention relates to a compound of Formula I and methods of treating CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) mediated diseases, in particular cystic fibrosis, comprising the step of administering a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of Formula I to a patient in need thereof:
US08937177B2

The present invention relates to pyridazine compounds of formulae I or II and the salts and N-oxides thereof, wherein the substituents are as defined in the description, a method for controlling invertebrate pests, to a method for protecting plant propagation material and/or the plants which grow therefrom, to plant propagation material, comprising at least one compound according to the present invention, to a method for treating or protecting an animal from infestation or infection by parasites and to an agricultural composition containing at least one compound according to the present invention.
US08937176B2

This invention relates to compounds of formula I their use as positive allosteric modulators of mGlu5 receptor activity, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and methods of using the same as agents for treatment and/or prevention of neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with glutamate dysfunction such as schizophrenia or cognitive decline such as dementia or cognitive impairment. A, B, Ar, R1, R2, R3 have meanings given in the description.
US08937173B2

The invention relates to isolated anti-microRNA molecules. In another embodiment, the invention relates to an isolated microRNA molecule. In yet another embodiment, the invention provides a method for inhibiting microRNP activity in a cell.
US08937171B2

The present invention provides a nucleic-acid-responsive gel which allows (i) a larger volumetric change through structural design, (ii) adjustment of its recognition ability to recognize a nucleic acid, (iii) improvement of sensitivity, and (iv) flexible design according to, e.g., a sequence of target DNA. The nucleic-acid-responsive gel includes a probe formed of two single-stranded nucleic acids which are hybridized with each other. The probe is fixed within a network structure of a polymer gel. The two single-stranded nucleic acids are bound reversibly with each other.
US08937170B2

The present invention is related to a fungal serine protease enzyme, which comprises an amino acid sequence of the mature Fe_RF6318 enzyme having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 15. The serine protease is obtainable from Fusarium equiseti, more preferably from the deposited strain CBS 119568. Also disclosed are nucleic acid sequences encoding said protease, such as plasmid pALK2521 comprising the nucleotide sequence SEQ ID NO:9 deposited in E. coli RF7664 under accession number DSM 22171 and plasmid pALK2529 comprising the full-length gene SEQ ID NO: 10 deposited in E. coli RF7800 under accession number DSM 22172. Said protease is useful as an enzyme preparation applicable in detergent compositions and for treating fibers, for treating wool, for treating hair, for treating leather, for treating food or feed, or for any applications involving modification, degradation or removal of proteinaceous material.
US08937167B2

The present invention encompasses compounds and methods for treating urinary tract infections.
US08937166B2

The present invention relates to a 68Ga generator, wherein the 68Ge parent nuclide thereof is attached specifically to a support through a triethoxyphenyl group and continuously disintegrates to 68Ga, the triethoxyphenyl group being covalently bound to a support material through a linker.
US08937165B2

The present invention relates to proteomic markers for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma, compositions for detecting changes of these proteomic markers, kits for detection of hepatocellular carcinoma, methods for detecting proteomic markers including these compositions, methods for screening drugs for hepatocellular carcinoma using these proteomic markers, and antibodies specific for these proteomic markers.
US08937164B2

The present invention relates to particular polypeptides, nucleic acids encoding such polypeptides; to methods for preparing such polypeptides; to host cells expressing or capable of expressing such polypeptides; to compositions and in particular to pharmaceutical compositions that comprise such polypeptides, for prophylactic, therapeutic or diagnostic purposes.
US08937163B2

Novel antibodies and antigen binding fragments that specifically bind to KAAG1 and which may be used in the treatment, detection and diagnosis of cancer comprising KAAG1-expressing cells are disclosed herein. Cells expressing the antibodies and antigen binding fragments as well as methods of detecting and treating cancer using the antibodies and fragments are also disclosed. Cancer indications which may benefit from such treatment or detection include ovarian cancer, renal cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer, as well as melanomas.
US08937161B2

Cysteine engineered anti-TENB2 antibodies are engineered by replacing one or more amino acids of a parent anti-TENB2 antibody with non cross-linked, reactive cysteine amino acids. Methods of design, preparation, screening, and selection of the cysteine engineered anti-TENB2 antibodies are provided. Cysteine engineered anti-TENB2 antibodies (Ab) are conjugated with one or more drug moieties (D) through a linker (L) to form cysteine engineered anti-TENB2 antibody-drug conjugates having Formula I: Ab-(L-D)p  I where p is 1 to 4. Diagnostic and therapeutic uses for cysteine engineered antibody drug compounds and compositions are disclosed.
US08937155B2

The present invention relates to a antimicrobial peptide or peptide derivative comprising the following sequence: Sub1-X1-D2-K3-P4-P5-Y6-L7-P8-R9-P10-X2-P12-P13-R14-X3-T16-P17-N18-N19-X4-Sub2. The invention further relates to multimers comprising said peptides or peptide derivatives. Moreover, the invention provides a peptide or peptide derivative for use in the treatment of a disease. The peptide or peptide derivative may also be used in the screening for novel antimicrobial compounds.
US08937153B2

The present invention relates to a class of engineered polypeptides having a binding affinity for albumin. It also relates to new methods and uses that exploit binding by these and other compounds to albumin in different contexts, some of which have significance for the treatment of disease in mammals including humans.
US08937147B2

Processes that make nitrogen-containing compounds include converting succinic acid (SA) or monoammonium succinate (MAS) derived from a diammonium succinate (DAS)- or MAS-containing fermentation broth to produce such compounds including diaminobutane (DAB), succinic dinitrile (SDN), succinic amino nitrile (SAN), succinamide (DAM), and related polymers.
US08937143B2

Provided according to some embodiments of the invention are methods of making co-condensed macromolecules that include forming a reaction mixture by combining at leak one reactant and at least one reagent at a first temperature at which the at least one reactant is substantially unreactive in the presence of the at least one reagent; raising the temperature of the reaction mixture to a second temperature at which the at least one reactant is reactive in the presence of the at least one reagent, wherein the reaction of the at least one reactant in the presence of the at least one reagent produces co-condensed macromolecules such as co-condensed silica macromolecules.
US08937136B2

A curable composition and use thereof are provided. The exemplary curable composition can show excellent processability and workability. Also, the curable composition can have a high refractive index before or after curing. The composition has low moisture permeability before or after curing and shows excellent crack resistance, thermal shock resistance, adhesive property and hardness. In addition, the composition does not cause color change such as whitening under a high-temperature or high-humidity condition, and does not exhibit stickiness on a surface thereof. The curable composition may be used as an adhesive material or as an encapsulation material for semiconductor devices such as an LED, a CCD, a photo coupler, or a photovoltaic cell.
US08937127B2

A composition comprising: a first polymer comprising a poly(etherimide-siloxane) copolymer comprising (a) a repeating polyetherimide unit, and (b) a poly(siloxane) block unit, a second polymer different from the first polymer and comprising bromine; and optionally, a third polymer comprising a polycarbonate different from the first polymer and second polymer; wherein polysiloxane block units are present in the composition in an amount of at least 0.3 wt %, and bromine is present in the composition in an amount of at least 7.8 wt %, each based on the sum of the wt % of the first, second, and third polymers; and further wherein an article molded from the composition has an OSU integrated 2 minute heat release test value of less than 65 kW-min/m2 and a peak heat release rate of less than 65 kW/m2, and an E662 smoke test Dmax value of less than 200.
US08937124B2

A resin composition includes a polylactic acid, a monocarbodiimide compound and a phosphazene.
US08937120B2

An additive for reclaiming asphalt of the present invention, which is obtained by adding straight asphalt to a mixture of a waste animal or vegetable oil and a waste mineral oil having a kinematic viscosity at 60° C. of 10 mm2/s to 40 mm2/s, mixing the materials, and heating the resultant mixture to remove an aromatic component. The additive for reclaiming asphalt can restore the physical properties of a deteriorated asphalt component to the same or greater extent than that of a conventional additive for reclaiming asphalt, and the additive has low content of components that may affect the environment or humans, and high fluidity at room temperature, and is available at an extremely low cost.
US08937117B2

The present invention is a method for preparing an emulsion resin composition for a cationic electrodeposition paint, which reduces or eliminates time for desolvation. The emulsion resin composition for cationic electrodeposition paint includes a cationic epoxy resin and a blocked isocyanate curing agent. The method features the steps of: (1) a step of mixing water and the cationic resin to form a W/O emulsion, (2) a step of mixing the blocked isocyanate curing agent and the W/O emulsion to form a curing agent-containing W/O emulsion, and (3) a step of mixing water and the curing agent-containing W/O emulsion to form an O/W emulsion, via a phase inversion point from W/O emulsion to O/W emulsion. The method features a solid concentration by mass Xw/o (%) of the curing agent-containing W/O emulsion and a solid content by mass Xtra (%) at the phase inversion point from W/O emulsion to O/W emulsion satisfying a relation of Xw/o−Xtra>3%.
US08937116B2

The present invention relates to a sheet for forming a hard coating and a method of formation thereof. The present invention can provide a transfer material or a surface protection sheet having a high refractive index and superior physical properties, such as hardness, friction resistance, abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, transparency, luster, and the like, for forming a hard coating on the surface of various molded products, including resin molded products or wood products, and a method for forming a hard coating from such transfer material or surface protection sheets.
US08937113B2

The present invention provides vinyl chloride-based resin aggregate particles capable of providing a plastisol with excellent non-infiltrating property and favorable sagging property, a method for producing the same, and a glove using the same. The vinyl chloride-based resin aggregate particles of the present invention have a mean volume particle diameter of 10 to 60 μm, and the percentage of particles having a particle diameter of 10 to 60 μm is at least 50 vol %. The moisture absorption coefficient is 1.5 wt % or less when being retained for 24 hours under conditions of 30° C. and a relative humidity of 97.0±0.4%. A plastisol comprising 100 weight parts of the vinyl chloride-based resin aggregate particles and 160 weight parts of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate satisfies a relationship of 3≦η70/η40≦1000. Further, in the vinyl chloride-based resin aggregate particles of the present invention, the number of voids having a void size of 1.0 μm or more per one aggregate particle is less than 5.0, and the percentage of particles having a particle diameter of 1.0 μm or less after ultrasonic treatment is less than 3.0 vol %.
US08937112B2

An aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion comprising fluoropolymer particles having an average particle size of about 10 to about 400 nm. The dispersion has a solids content of at least about 35 to about 70 wt % and comprises about 0.03 wt % to about 10 wt % anionic polyelectrolyte dispersing agent based on the weight of fluoropolymer solids. The dispersion has a Gel Time of at least about 100 seconds.
US08937095B2

The invention describes dual Aurora kinase/MEK inhibitors and their use in therapy.
US08937094B2

The present invention relates to substituted triazole compounds and compositions comprising substituted triazole compounds. The invention further relates to methods of inhibiting the activity of Hsp90 in a subject in need thereof and methods for treating hyperproliferative disorders, such as cancer, in a subject in need thereof comprising administering to the subject a substituted triazole compound of the invention, or a pharmaceutical composition comprising such a compound.
US08937093B2

Disclosed are compounds of the formula I or a stereoisomer, tautomer, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof, wherein W, X, U, R1, R2, R3, and R4, are as defined herein, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds of formula I. Also disclosed is the method of inhibiting aspartyl protease, and in particular, the methods of treating cardiovascular diseases, cognitive and neurodegenerative diseases, and the methods of inhibiting of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, plasmepins, cathepsin D and protozoal enzymes. Also disclosed are methods of treating cognitive or neurodegenerative diseases using the compounds of formula I in combination with a cholinesterase inhibitor or a muscarinic antagonist.
US08937092B2

The invention relates to aryl or N-heteroaryl substituted methanesulfonamide derivatives as vanilloid receptor ligands, to pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds and also to these compounds for use in the treatment and/or prophylaxis of pain and further diseases and/or disorders.
US08937091B2

The present invention relates to: a ketone compound having transglutaminase-inhibiting activity, which is represented by the following Formula 1, 2, or 3: wherein R1 is a substituted or unsubstituted aryl or heterocyclyl group, R2, R3, and R4 are hydrogen atoms, n is 2, X is halogen, R5 and R6 independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituted or unsubstituted C1-C10 alkyl, aryl, or aralkyl group, wherein R5 and R6 are not hydrogen atoms at the same time, or R5 and R6 may be taken together to form a saturated or unsaturated and substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclyl group containing a nitrogen atom (N); an inhibitor of protein crosslinking comprising the compound; and a composition for preventing or treating a protein-crosslinking causative disease, which comprises the compound or the protein crosslinking inhibitor.
US08937090B2

The invention provides a parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent that has a function such as parakeratosis inhibition, pore shrinkage, or rough skin-inhibition/abatement, poses no safety problems such as sensory irritation, and is very safe, and further provides an external composition for skin to which a compound having the above-mentioned function has been added. The parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent comprises one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of β-alanine derivatives and salts thereof. The external composition for skin comprises the one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of β-alanine derivatives and salts thereof as the above-mentioned parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent.
US08937089B2

Disclosed are mixtures and compositions for controlling invertebrate pests relating to combinations comprising (a) 3-bromo-N-[4-chloro-2-methyl-6-[(methylamino)carbonyl]phenyl]-1-(3-chloro-2-pyridinyl)-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxamide, and its N-oxides, and suitable salts thereof and a component (b) wherein the component (b) is at least one compound or agent selected from neonicotinoids, cholinesterase inhibitors, sodium channel modulators, chitin synthesis inhibitors, ecdysone agonists, lipid biosynthesis inhibitors, macrocyclic lactones, GABA-regulated chloride channel blockers, juvenile hormone mimics, ryanodine receptor ligands, octopamine receptor ligands, mitochondrial electron transport inhibitors, nereistoxin analogs, pyridalyl, flonicamid, pymetrozine, dieldrin, metaflumizone, biological agents, and suitable salts of the foregoing. Also disclosed are methods for controlling an invertebrate pest comprising contacting the invertebrate pest or its environment with a biologically effective amount of a mixture or composition of the invention.
US08937083B2

This document discloses molecules having the following formula (“Formula One”): and processes related thereto.
US08937078B2

Quinazolinone compounds of formula (I) are described, which are useful as prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors. Such compounds may be used in pharmaceutical compositions and methods for the treatment of disease states, disorders, and conditions mediated by prolyl hydroxylase activity. Thus, the compounds may be administered to treat, e.g., anemia, vascular disorders, metabolic disorders, and wound healing.
US08937076B2

The present invention relates to a crystalline form of entecavir and its process for preparation, and provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the crystalline form of entecavir. Furthermore, the present invention also provides a use of the crystalline form of entecavir in preparation for a medicament for the treatment of hepatitis B viral infections. The present invention is beneficial toe preparations for pharmaceutical formulations and enhancements of its bioavailability.
US08937074B2

The invention provides a method of enhancing the action of a pharmaceutical agent selected from the group consisting of the anti-infective agents, the group comprising of the antimicrobial agents, the anthelmintic agents and the anti-ectoparasitic agents, but excluding coal tar solution and H1-antagonist antihistamines, and from the group consisting of the CPNS agents selected from the group of compounds acting on the central or peripheral nervous system, but excluding coal tar solution and H1-antagonist antihistamines and also excluding anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic agents and also provides an enhanced method for the administration of a nucleic acid substance to the cells of an animal, a plant or a micro-organism. The method is characterized in that the agent or nucleic acid substance is formulated with an administration medium which comprises a solution of nitrous oxide gas in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier solvent for the gas and which administration medium includes at least one fatty acid or ester or other suitable derivative thereof selected from the group consisting of oleic acid, linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, gamma-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid [C20:5ω3], decosahexaenoic acid [C22:6ω3], ricinoleic acid and derivatives thereof selected from the group consisting of the C1 to C6 alkyl esters thereof, the glycerol-polyethylene glycol esters thereof and the reaction product of hydrogenated natural oils composed largely of ricinoleic acid based oils, such as castor oil with ethylene oxide. The formulations of such agents or substances form part of the invention.
US08937072B2

Disclosed is a substituted cyanoaniline compound or a salt thereof, wherein the compound has a structure represented by General Formula I. The compound of General Formula I has broad-spectrum fungicidal activity in the field of agriculture and effectively prevents against a variety of pathogens such as cucumber downy mildew, wheat powdery mildew, maize rust disease, rice blast and cucumber gray mold. In particular, even at a low dose, the compound effectively prevents and treats rice blast, cucumber gray mold, maize rust disease and cucumber downy mildew. Moreover, the raw materials for preparing the compounds are widely available and the synthesis method therefor is simple and convenient.
US08937070B2

The present invention is directed to methods of inhibiting syk and/or JAK kinase activity, methods of inhibiting platelet aggregation, and methods to prevent or treat a number of conditions mediated at least in part by syk and/or JAK kinase activity, such as undesired thrombosis and Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma with compounds of the formula: and pharmaceutically acceptable tautomers, salts, or stereoisomers thereof.
US08937052B2

The present invention relates generally to the field of therapeutics and in particular, chemotherapy. Even more particularly, the present invention provides therapeutic strategies which reduce the toxicity or enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents. Compositions and methods of treatment and prophylaxis are also contemplated by the present invention.
US08937044B2

A method, for synchronizing ovulation in sows and gilts by a single injection of hormones is disclosed. A hormone, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), analogues, derivatives, agonists or combinations thereof is administered to an open sow post weaning at a specific time to stimulate ovulation of mature responsive follicles. The sow is then bred, without heat detection, at a specific subsequent timed interval after injection with hormone, with one or two artificial or natural breedings. In gilts, the hormone is injected at a timed interval from onset of estrus or at a specific timed interval following Prostaglandin F2a for those gilts which have been held in a state of pseudopregnancy.
US08937043B2

The invention concerns a method for obtaining a highly enriched TGF-beta protein fraction in activated form, from a liquid solution rich in proteins said to be soluble in the aqueous phase of milk and/or of whey, said method comprising the following steps; a) adjusting soluble proteins purified at a concentration between 5 and 30 g/liter of solution; b) precipitating part of the whey proteins by acidic treatment of the solution thus obtained to a pH ranging between 4 and 5.5 and at a temperature ranging between 55° C. and 68° C.; c) carrying out a microfiltration of the treated solution by diafiltration, so as to obtain respectively a microfiltration retentate and a microfiltrate; d) recuperating the microfiltration retentate containing the protein fraction highly enriched in TGF-beta; e) drying the microfiltration retentate which has been subjected to diafiltration to obtain a powder highly enriched in TGF-beta.
US08937040B2

Provided herein is an antibacterial compound of the following formula: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. The antibacterial compound has antibacterial properties against a diverse range of gram negative bacteria and reduced toxicity compared to polymyxins such as polymyxin B. Also provided are antibacterial pharmaceutical compositions containing the antibacterial compound, as well as methods for preparing the antibacterial compound.
US08937039B2

The present invention provides peptide-based peroxidase inhibitors having the formula AA1-AA2-AA3, wherein AA1 is a positively charged, negatively charged or neutral amino acid, AA2 is a redox active amino acid, and AA3 is an amino acid possessing a reducing potential such that AA3 is capable of undergoing a redox reaction with a radical of amino acid AA2 or a retro or retro-inverso analog thereof. The result of such a combination is a highly effective inhibitor of peroxidase activity that has potent anti-inflammatory properties in widely diverse models of vascular disease and injury. Exemplary tripeptides effectively inhibit peroxidase mediated LDL oxidation, increase vasodilation in SCD mice, inhibit eosinophil infiltration and collagen deposition in asthma mice, inhibit acute lung injury, and decrease ischemic injury of the heart.
US08937038B2

A therapeutic agent for treating an infectious or inflammatory disease, a pharmaceutical composition for treating an infectious or inflammatory disease, and a method of using a pharmaceutical composition are provided. The pharmaceutical composition includes a peptide ligand that binds with CXCR2 as an active component. The active component can be useful in preventing and treating infectious and/or inflammatory diseases, including sepsis and septic shock by promoting the removal of bacteria by phagocytosis, suppressing an inflammatory response, and suppressing the apoptosis of immune cells.
US08937035B2

The present invention relates to a lubricating composition containing an oil of lubricating viscosity and a star polymer that has at least two inner blocks, at least one of which is in turn bonded to one or more outer blocks. The invention further relates to methods of lubricating a mechanical device with the lubricating composition.
US08937033B2

The present invention relates to the use of phosphated 2-propylheptanol, phosphated 2-proyplheptanol alkoxylate and/or mixtures thereof in agricultural formulations. The invention also relates to agricultural formulations comprising the aforementioned adjuvants, and to methods of treating a plant with the agricultural formulations of the invention.
US08937031B2

A catalyst for the epoxidation of an olefin comprising a carrier and, deposited thereon, silver, a rhenium promoter, a first co-promoter, and a second co-promoter; wherein the quantity of the rhenium promoter deposited on the carrier is greater than 1 mmole/kg, relative to the weight of the catalyst; the first co-promoter is selected from sulfur, phosphorus, boron, and mixtures thereof; the second co-promoter is selected from tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, and mixtures thereof; the total quantity of the first co-promoter and the second co-promoter deposited on the carrier is at most 5.0 mmole/kg, relative to the weight of the catalyst; and wherein the carrier has a monomodal, bimodal or multimodal pore size distribution, a pore diameter of 0.01-200 μm, a specific surface area of 0.03-10 m2/g, a pore volume of 0.2-0.7 cm3/g, wherein the median pore diameter is 0.1-100 μm, and a water absorption of 10-80%.
US08937026B2

Novel glass compositions and method for producing a glass/metal join, in which the novel glass comprises: Oxide(%) B2O3  8-13.5 Al2O35-9 Na2O3-9 K2O0-5 CaO2-4 MgO0-4 ZnO0-4 SiO2Up to 100 depending on the necessary requirements, owing to the significance thereof the thermal expansion coefficient, such that this thermal expansion coefficient is adjusted to match that of the metal part or alloy with which the glass/metal weld is to be achieved, which makes it possible to satisfactorily produce said weld which results in a strong glass/metal join, that is free from tensile stresses and that is durable over time and may be used, inter alia, to obtain parts that form part of solar collectors.
US08937023B2

A method includes forming an insulating film over a substrate by introducing a cyclic siloxane compound having a cyclic siloxane as a skeleton and having at least one volatile hydrocarbon group bonded to a side chain, and a silicon-containing compound into a plasma, and converting the insulating film to a porous insulating film by adding energy to the insulating film. The silicon-containing compound is decomposed using less energy as compared with the skeleton of the cyclic siloxane compound, the volatile hydrocarbon group, and the bond between the cyclic siloxane compound and the volatile hydrocarbon group.
US08937021B2

In some embodiments, methods for forming a three dimensional NAND structure include providing to a process chamber a substrate having alternating nitride layers and oxide layers or alternating polycrystalline silicon consisting layers and oxide layers formed atop the substrate and a photoresist layer formed atop the alternating layers; etching the photoresist layer to expose at least a portion of the alternating layers; providing a process gas comprising sulfur hexafluoride and oxygen to the process chamber; providing RF power of about 4 kW to about 6 kW to a first inductive RF coil and a second inductive RF coil disposed proximate the process chamber to ignite the process gas to form a plasma, wherein a current flowing through the first inductive RF coil is out of phase with RF current flowing through the second inductive RF coil; and etching through a desired number of the alternating layers to form a feature.
US08937013B2

A method for easily forming a region with conductivity and high wettability without a step for removing a photocatalytic reaction layer, which is formed over a conductive layer, is proposed. The photocatalytic reaction layer is formed over a photocatalytic conductive layer, and the photocatalytic conductive layer is irradiated with ultraviolet light to form a region with conductivity and higher wettability than the photocatalytic reaction layer on a surface of the photocatalytic conductive layer which is irradiated with ultraviolet light. Note that for the photocatalytic conductive layer, a layer having a photocatalytic property of which resistivity is lower than or equal to 1×10−2 Ω cm can be used.
US08937011B2

Techniques disclosed herein may achieve crack free filling of structures. A flowable film may substantially fill gaps in a structure and extend over a base in an open area adjacent to the structure. The top surface of the flowable film in the open area may slope down and may be lower than top surfaces of the structure. A capping layer having compressive stress may be formed over the flowable film. The bottom surface of the capping layer in the open area adjacent to the structure is lower than the top surfaces of the lines and may be formed on the downward slope of the flowable film. The flowable film is cured after forming the capping layer, which increases tensile stress of the flowable film. The compressive stress of the capping layer counteracts the tensile stress of the flowable film, which may prevent a crack from forming in the base.
US08937009B2

Disclosed are a method for metallization during semiconductor wafer processing and the resulting structures. In this method, a passivation layer is patterned with first openings aligned above and extending vertically to metal structures below. A mask layer is formed and patterned with second openings aligned above the first openings, thereby forming two-tier openings extending vertically through the mask layer and passivation layer to the metal structures below. An electrodeposition process forms, in the two-tier openings, both under-bump pad(s) and additional metal feature(s), which are different from the under-bump pad(s) (e.g., a wirebond pad; a final vertical section of a crackstop structure; and/or a probe pad). Each under-bump pad and additional metal feature initially comprises copper with metal cap layers thereon. The mask layer is removed, an additional mask layer is formed and patterned with third opening(s) exposing only the under-bump pad(s) and solder material is deposited on the under-bump pad(s).
US08937001B2

A technique for forming nanostructures including a definition of a charge pattern on a substrate and introduction of charged molecular scale sized building blocks (MSSBBs) to a region proximate the charge pattern so that the MSSBBs adhere to the charge pattern to form the feature.
US08936998B2

A device is provided with: a first substrate mainly containing silicon dioxide; a second substrate mainly containing silicon, compound semiconductor, silicon dioxide or fluoride; and a bonding functional intermediate layer arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate. The first substrate is bonded to the second substrate thorough room temperature bonding in which a sputtered first surface of the first substrate is contacted with a sputtered second surface of the second substrate via the bonding functional intermediate layer. Here, the material of the bonding functional intermediate layer is selected from among optically transparent materials which are oxide, fluoride, or nitride, the materials being different from the main component of the first substrate and different from the main component of the second substrate.
US08936993B2

A hybrid substrate comprises first and second active areas made from semiconductor materials laterally offset from one another and separated by an isolation area. The main surfaces of the isolation area and of the first active area form a plane. The hybrid substrate is obtained from a source substrate successively comprising layers made from a first and second semiconductor materials separated by an isolation layer. A single etching mask is used to pattern the isolation area, first active area and second active area. The main surface of the first active area is released thereby forming voids in the source substrate. The etching mask is eliminated above the first active area. A first isolation material is deposited, planarized and etched until the main surface of the first active area is released.
US08936988B2

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is disclosed. In one aspect the method includes forming a gate stack over a substrate. The method also includes forming a dummy sidewall spacer around the gate stack. The method also includes depositing a stress liner of diamond-like amorphous carbon (DLC) on the substrate, the gate stack and the dummy sidewall spacer. The method also includes annealing, so that a channel region in the substrate below the gate stack and the gate stack memorize stress in the stress liner. The method also includes removing the dummy sidewall spacer. The method also includes forming a sidewall spacer around the gate stack. In the method according to the disclosed technology, large stress in the liner of DLC is memorized and applied to the dummy gate stack and the channel region.
US08936975B2

A touch display comprising a first substrate formed with a common electrode; a second substrate formed with a gate line and a data line, wherein a first thin film transistor and a pixel electrode is provided in a pixel region defined by the gate line and the data line and the pixel region and the common electrode form a liquid crystal capacitor; a touch element provided in the pixel region in the second substrate and used to sense a touch voltage reflecting the change of the liquid crystal capacitance at a touch point; and a touch processing device connected with the touch element and used to obtaining a position coordinates of the touch point according to the touch voltage.
US08936964B2

The present invention provides a silicon carbide Schottky-barrier diode device and a method for manufacturing the same. The silicon carbide Schottky bather diode device includes a primary n− epitaxial layer, an n+ epitaxial region, and a Schottky metal layer. The primary n− epitaxial layer is deposited on an n+ substrate joined with an ohmic metal layer at an undersurface thereof. The n+ epitaxial region is formed by implanting n+ ions into a central region of the primary n− epitaxial layer. The Schottky metal layer is deposited on the n+ epitaxial layer.
US08936963B2

If an oxide semiconductor layer is crystallized by heat treatment without being covered with an inorganic insulating film, surface unevenness and the like are formed due to the crystallization, which may cause variation in electrical characteristics. Steps are performed in the following order: a second insulating film is formed on an oxide semiconductor layer over a substrate and then heat treatment is performed, instead of performing heat treatment during a period immediately after formation of the oxide semiconductor layer and immediately before formation of an inorganic insulating film including silicon oxide on the oxide semiconductor layer. The density of hydrogen included in the inorganic insulating film including silicon oxide is 5×1020/cm3 or more, and the density of nitrogen is 1×1019/cm3 or more.
US08936960B1

A method for fabricating an integrated device includes the following steps. First, a multi-layered structure is formed on a substrate, wherein the multi-layered structure is embedded in a lower isolation layer. Then, a bottom conductive pattern and a top conductive pattern are formed on a top surface of the lower isolation layer, wherein the top conductive pattern is on a top surface of the bottom conductive pattern. Afterwards, portions of the top conductive pattern are removed to expose portions of the bottom conductive pattern. Subsequently, an upper isolation layer is deposited on the lower isolation layer so that the upper isolation layer can be in direct contact with the portions of the bottom conductive pattern. Finally, portions of the lower isolation layer and the upper isolation layer are removed so as to expose portions of the substrate.
US08936959B1

An rf MEMS system has a semiconductor substrate, e.g., silicon. The system also has a control module provided overlying one or more first regions of the semiconductor substrate according to a specific embodiment. The system also has a base band module provided overlying one or more second regions of the semiconductor substrate and an rf module provided overlying one or more third regions of the semiconductor substrate. The system also has one or more MEMS devices integrally coupled to at least the rf module.
US08936955B2

An LED manufacturing method includes following steps: providing an LED die; providing an electrode layer having a first section and a second section electrically insulated from the first section, and arranging the LED die on the second section wherein an electrically conductive material electrical connects a bottom of the LED die with second section; forming a transparent conductive layer to electrically connect a top of the LED die with the first section; providing a base and coating an outer surface of the base with a layer of electrically conductive material, defining a continuous gap in the electrically conductive material to divide the electrically conductive material into a first electrode part, and a second electrode part, arranging the electrode layer on the base so that the first section contacts the first electrode part, and the second section contacts the second electrode part.
US08936951B2

Provided are a semiconductor laser and a method of manufacturing the same. The method includes: providing a substrate including a buried oxide layer; forming patterns, which includes an opening part to expose the substrate, by etching the buried oxide layer; forming a germanium single crystal layer in the opening part; and forming an optical coupler, which is adjacent to the germanium single crystal layer, on the substrate.
US08936949B2

A manufacturing method of a solar cell in which a light receiving side electrode including grid electrodes is provided on one side of a semiconductor substrate, comprises: a first step of forming an impurity diffusion layer on one side of the semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, the diffusion layer having a second conductivity-type impurity diffused therein; a second step of measuring a sheet resistance value of the diffusion layer at a plurality of measurement points in a surface of the diffusion layer; and a third step of dividing the surface of the diffusion layer into a plurality of areas corresponding to the measured sheet resistance values of the surface of the diffusion layer, setting a distance between adjacent grid electrodes for each of the areas, and forming the light receiving side electrode, which is electrically connected to the diffusion layer, on the diffusion layer.
US08936943B2

Provided are methods of detecting the presence or amount of a vitamin D metabolite in a sample using mass spectrometry. The methods generally comprise ionizing a vitamin D metabolite in a sample and detecting the amount of the ion to determine the presence or amount of the vitamin D metabolite in the sample. Also provided are methods to detect the presence or amount of two or more vitamin D metabolites in a single assay.
US08936941B2

DCAMKL-1 has been identified as a biomarker for stem cells, as well as cancer stem cells. Methods of detecting the presence of at least one stem cell, methods of isolating stem cells, and methods of inhibiting growth of cancer cells utilizing DCAMKL-1 are disclosed herein.
US08936928B2

The present invention provides probiotic compositions suitable for reducing the incidence and duration of nasal eosinophilia and other parameters associated with birch pollen allergy. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods and/or compositions suitable for reducing nasal and/or respiratory allergy symptoms. Suitably, such compositions may comprise L. acidophilus, B. lactis or both.
US08936925B2

The present invention relates to protein fragments of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, which are selected from the protein fragment pairs of EPSPS, two such protein fragments can make up full length EPSPS and reconstitute EPSPS activities by complementation without help of any joint structure. The present invention also relates to nucleic acid molecules encoding the protein fragments, expression vectors and cells comprising such nucleic acid molecules. The present invention also relates to methods for reconstituting EPSPS activities by using the fragments or the nucleic acid molecules or the expression vectors of the present invention, as well as methods for dividing the protein fragments of the present invention.
US08936911B2

Methods, Compositions, and Systems are provided for obtaining polymerase-template complex mixtures with improved levels of active polymerase. In some aspects, methods are described in which a polymerase-template complex is exposed to reaction conditions in which a complementary strand to the template is produced. The extended reaction mixture is purified, for example by gel filtration chromatography to produce a mixture of polymerase-template complex having a higher active fraction. This purified mixture can be used for further analyses including single molecule sequencing.
US08936909B2

A method for determining the nature of a sample is provided, wherein the presence or absence of at least one marker small non-coding RNA in the sample is detected. Suitable marker small non-coding RNAs for different samples such as blood, saliva, semen and vaginal secretions are provided. Also provided are suitable kits and methods for identifying marker small-non coding RNAs.
US08936907B2

The invention is directed to transfection reagents for the delivery of nucleic acids into neural cells, compositions including the reagents, methods of preparation of such reagents, methods of transfecting cells with such reagents, and uses thereof. In preferred embodiments the reagents comprise horseradish peroxidase and/or a polycarboxylic acid such as poly(acrylic acid) or poly(methacrylic acid).
US08936906B2

Disclosed is a means for improving the clinical outcomes of cancer therapy. Specifically disclosed is an activity potentiator comprising a compound capable of inhibiting the expression of RFP (RET finger protein) gene or the activity of RFP as an active ingredient. The activity of an anti-cancer agent having an oxidative stress inducing ability can be potentiated by using the anti-cancer agent in combination with the activity potentiator. Further specifically disclosed are a biomarker useful for the recognition of prognosis in a cancer patient and use of the biomarker.
US08936905B2

An auto-nucleating device includes a tube containing a crystalline cholesterol matrix. The ends of the tube are closed by a membrane impermeable to the cholesterol but permeable to liquids contained in a cryopreservation vessel. The auto-nucleating device provides a site for ice nucleation during freezing of the liquid within the vessel. The cryopreservation vessel can be a flexible vial having a closed port adapted to be pierced by a needle, and an opposite end that is initially open to receive the liquid. Another vessel includes an adaptor mounted to liquid container with a tubular branch closed by a needle septum and another tubular branch provided with a barbed fitting for engaging a flexible tube that terminates in a needle septum. Alternatively, the vessel includes an inlet and vent branch at the top of the container and an outlet septum at a bottom opening.
US08936898B2

A photosensitive resin composition and a method for forming an organic film on a substrate are provided. Because the photosensitive resin composition for imprinting includes an erythrotol-based monomer or oligomer, an organic film formed by the photosensitive resin composition for imprinting has improved restoring force. Therefore, the photosensitive resin composition is appropriate for imprinting processes.
US08936890B1

A pattern is formed in a polymeric layer comprising (a) a reactive polymer comprising -A- recurring units comprising pendant tertiary alkyl ester groups, (b) a compound that provides an acid upon exposure to radiation having a λmax of 150 nm to 450 nm, and (c) a crosslinking agent that is capable of reacting in the presence of the acid to provide crosslinking in the (a) reactive polymer. The polymeric layer is patternwise exposed to the radiation to provide a polymeric layer comprising exposed regions comprising a polymer comprising carboxylic acid groups. The exposed regions are contacted with a reducing agent to incorporate reducing agent, and then contacted with electroless seed metal ions to oxidize the reducing agent and to form corresponding electroless seed metal nuclei. The electroless seed metal nuclei are then electrolessly plated with a metal to form a conductive metal pattern.
US08936885B2

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell formed by stacking a plurality of power generation cells, and an oxygen-containing gas supply apparatus for supplying an oxygen-containing gas to the fuel cell. The oxygen-containing gas supply apparatus includes an oxygen-containing gas supply channel connected to an oxygen-containing gas inlet of the fuel cell for allowing the oxygen-containing gas to flow from an air pump into the oxygen-containing gas inlet, a branch supply channel branched from the oxygen-containing gas supply channel and which is opened to the inside of a fuel cell chamber, an oxygen-containing gas discharge channel for discharging an oxygen-containing off gas from the fuel cell, and an oxygen-containing off gas circulation channel one end of which is connected to the oxygen-containing gas discharge channel, and another end of which is connected to the oxygen-containing gas supply channel at a position upstream from the air pump.
US08936879B2

A composite cathode active material, a cathode including the composite cathode active material, and a lithium battery including the cathode. The composite cathode active material includes: a lithium transition metal oxide; and a lithium-containing impurity on a surface of the lithium transition metal oxide. The lithium-containing impurity includes free lithium in an amount of about 0.050 wt % or less based on a total weight of the composite cathode active material, and LiOH and Li2CO3 in a mole ratio of LiOH to Li2CO3 of about 0.50 or less.
US08936872B2

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a lithium-ion secondary battery with small internal resistance, excellent load characteristics and low reduction in capacitance due to repeated discharge and charge.The lithium-ion secondary battery of the present invention attaining the above purpose comprises a positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte; said positive electrode and negative electrode are configured by binding an active material layer, including an electrode active material and a binder, to a collector; the binder used for at least one of the positive electrode or negative electrode includes polymer particles; and the polymer particles satisfy the following properties: swelling degree in the electrolyte of a sheet-like molded body, obtained by pressure molding of only the polymer particles, is 5 to 50%, and lithium ion conductivity of the sheet-like molded body swollen by the electrolyte is 1×10−4 S·cm or more.
US08936869B2

A flange 37b of a cap case 37 is provided with protrusions 37c that, before being swaging, project upward from the flange 37b. When the flange 37b is swaged along an upper surface of the cap 3, the protrusion 37c projects along the upper surface of the cap 3 from the flange 37b toward a center of the cap 3. The cap case 37 is welded to the cap 3 by friction stir welding at a welding portion 37d located at a substantially center of the protrusion 37c. The protrusions 37c are formed approximately in a letter-T shape that is symmetric left and right, and width W2 of a connecting portion 37r in a cap circumferential direction is smaller than the maximum width W1. The rigidity of the connecting portion 37r against deformation is reduced by forming a portion with small width W1 at the connecting portion 37r.
US08936865B2

A battery pack includes a plurality of unit batteries; at least one bus bar electrically connecting electrode terminals of unit batteries of the plurality of unit batteries; and a bus bar holder including a holder body extending in a lengthwise direction, and at least one bus bar receiver on the holder body and mounting a respective bus bar of the at least one bus bar thereon, the at least one bus bar receiver having at least one connection hole formed therethrough, wherein the at least one bus bar is connected to an electrode terminal of the electrode terminals through the at least one connection hole.
US08936851B2

A flame retardant polymeric foam material and its manufacturing method are provided. The flame retardant polymeric foam material comprises a polymeric foam, and an organic flame retardant coating on the surface of the polymeric foam which is obtained by spraying, coating or by impregnating after the organic flame retardant melts. The present invention selects those types of flame retardants which are very effective in improving the flame retardancy of the polymeric foams; especially those effective for extruded polystyrene foams, and provides a simple and feasible approach to obtain polymeric foams with excellent flame retardant property. The methods can effectively increase the amount of the flame retardants added without affecting foaminess of the foam products and reducing strength or insulation properties of polymeric foams. Different flame retardancy requirements can be satisfied by simply varying the amount of the flame retardants coated on the polymeric foam surface.
US08936849B2

Provided are a polyamide combination that includes: a first polyamide including a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 1, a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 2, or a combination thereof; and a second polyamide including a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 3, and a film prepared using the polyamide combination.
US08936847B2

The invention relates to a reflective insulation material product including a metallized polymeric film laminated to an insulation material with the metallized polymeric film having its exposed metallic surface facing away from the insulation material. The product can meet Class A standard thermal insulation material standards characterized by a flame speed rating of from 0 to 25 and a smoke developed rating value of 0 to 450.
US08936846B2

The invention relates to a value document, especially a banknote, having a sequence of layers into which visually and/or mechanically perceptible identifiers in the form of patterns, letters, numbers or images are introduced by the action of laser radiation. According to the present invention, the sequence of layers includes a marking layer (22) composed of an ink mixture (24, 26) exhibiting a laser-radiation-absorbing mixture component (26) and a laser-radiation-transparent mixture component (24), the identifiers being visually and/or mechanically perceptible due to an irreversible change in the optical properties of the ink mixture (24, 26), effected by the action of the laser radiation.
US08936844B2

A composite chassis frame may include a primarily-formed core material having a steel core material and internal composite materials laminated on both surfaces of the steel core material, an internal core material disposed between the primarily-formed core materials, wherein the primarily-formed core materials may be laminated on both surfaces of the internal core material, and a secondarily-formed external composite material covering outer surfaces of the primarily-formed core materials and the internal core material as a skin material.
US08936842B2

Certain example embodiments of this invention relate to an electrode (e.g., front electrode) for use in a photovoltaic device or the like. In certain example embodiments, a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) based front electrode for use in a photovoltaic device is of or includes zinc oxide, or zinc aluminum oxide, doped with yttrium (Y). In certain example embodiments, the addition of the yttrium (Y) to the conductive zinc oxide or zinc aluminum oxide is advantageous in that potential conductivity loss of the electrode can be reduced or prevented. In other example embodiments, a low-E coating may include a layer of or including zinc oxide, or zinc aluminum oxide, doped with yttrium (Y).
US08936838B2

The present disclosure is directed to a method for coating the edge of glass articles. The shaped edge of a glass article is inserted into the slot of a coating apparatus. The coating apparatus includes a vessel containing a UV curable coating material, an element connected to the vessel having the slot, wherein the slot is shaped to receive an edge of the glass article; and a coating pad having a coating surface shaped to conform to the shaped edge of the glass article, the pad having a network of interconnected openings therethrough, wherein the coating pad extends from the vessel and into the element so that the coating surface forms a bottom surface of the slot. An ultraviolet (UV) curable coating material is supplied to the coating pad and the shaped edge is contacted with the coating pad surface to transfer a selected thickness of the coating material from the coating pad to the shaped edge. The UV curable coating material is then cured on the shaped glass edge.
US08936831B2

The invention provides a method for dispersing particles within a reaction field, the method comprising confining the particles to the reaction field using a standing wave. The invention also provides a system for coating particles, the system comprising a reaction zone; a means for producing fluidized particles within the reaction zone; a fluid to produce a standing wave within the reaction zone; and a means for introducing coating moieties to the reaction zone. The invention also provides a method for coating particles, the method comprising fluidizing the particles, subjecting the particles to a standing wave; and contacting the subjected particles with a coating moiety.
US08936829B2

Functional groups on the outermost surface of an amorphous hydrocarbon film are substituted. The amorphous hydrocarbon film is formed on a silicon substrate Sub, which is coated with a low-k film. A heat treatment is performed on the amorphous hydrocarbon film in a non-silane gas atmosphere. Next, a heat treatment is performed on the amorphous hydrocarbon film in a silane gas atmosphere immediately after the heat treatment in a non-silane gas atmosphere. After the heat treatment, a film, such as a hard mask, is formed.
US08936819B2

A receptacle holding unit (1) for a device for preparing a beverage from an ingredient contained in a receptacle (2) having: —a first part (10); —a second part (20) that is movable towards the first part, in particular along a longitudinal axis (1′), into a closed position for holding the receptacle in such unit and relatively apart from the first part into an open position for inserting the receptacle into such unit and/or for removal therefrom; —a fastening device (11, 21) having a fastened configuration for fastening together the first and second parts (10, 20) in the closed position and an unfastened configuration such to enable movement of the first and second parts out of the closed configuration; and —an actuator (30) movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration to drive the first part and the second part between the open and the closed positions. The actuator is movable along a straight axis (1′) to drive the first part (10) and the second part (20) into the closed position and further movable along said axis (1′) to actuate the fastening device (11, 21) from the unfastened configuration to the fastened configuration.
US08936816B1

A composition of a bone repair mixture has a quantity of allograft particulate bone having a bone particle distribution of particle sizes less than 700 micron and a quantity of biologic carrier material intermixed with the particulate bone. The biologic carrier material is one of collagen, porous collagen or a collagen mixture. Preferably, the carrier material is exclusively collagen.
US08936813B2

A method and apparatus are provided for atomizing a liquid under dispersal conditions suitable for spray drying at a commercial plant scale. In one embodiment, a liquid atomizer has a structural body adapted for connection with a spray dryer and a plurality of atomizing nozzles. Each of the atomizing nozzles includes a liquid nozzle adapted to disperse a supply of liquid and a gas nozzle adapted to disperse a supply of gas. In another embodiment, a process for producing a powder blend of at least two target substances in a single processing step is provided.
US08936808B1

The invention is directed in part to oral dosage forms comprising a combination of an opioid agonist, acetaminophen and an orally active opioid antagonist, the opioid antagonist being included in a ratio to the opioid agonist to provide a combination product which is analgesically effective when the combination is administered orally, but which is aversive in a physically dependent subject. Preferably, the amount of opioid antagonist included in the combination product provides at least a mildly negative, “aversive” experience in physically dependent addicts (e.g., precipitated abstinence syndrome).
US08936784B2

An in situ gel-forming composition is disclosed. The in situ gel-forming composition comprises one or more absorbable polymers, solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, polyethylene glycol or DMSO, and optionally one or more bioactive agent. The composition forms a hydrogel or semi-solid mass on contact with an aqueous environment. The method of using in situ gel-forming composition for various applications is also disclosed.
US08936774B2

A CVD single crystal diamond material suitable for use in, or as, an optical device or element. It is suitable for use in a wide range of optical applications such as, for example, optical windows, laser windows, optical reflectors, optical refractors and gratings, and etalons. The CVD diamond material is produced by a CVD method in the presence of a controlled low level of nitrogen to control the development of crystal defects and thus achieve a diamond material having key characteristics for optical applications.
US08936765B2

An automatic analyzer having a reaction vessel in which an analyte is caused to react with a reagent; a probe for suctioning the reacted analyte from the reaction vessel; an analyzer unit for analyzing the reacted analyte; a transfer channel for transferring the reacted analyte suctioned by the probe to the analyzer unit 6; and a liquid-surface detector, connected to the reaction vessel and the probe via signal lines 1a and a pair of signal lines 4a and 4b, respectively, for detecting the electrical characteristics between the probe and the reaction vessel. A switch is located between the signal lines 4a and 4b that connect the liquid-surface detector to the probe, so that the switch can connect or disconnect the signal line 4a to/from the signal line 4b.
US08936759B2

A double helix gas hydrate reactor is disclosed. The reactor includes an inlet port (510) into which water and gas are supplied, an outlet port (540) disposed opposite the inlet port, a hollow jacket (580) extending from the inlet port to the outlet port, a hollow outer helix (550) installed in the hollow jacket, and an inner helix (560) installed in the outer helix. The gas and water that are supplied into the inlet port react with each other to form gas hydrate in a channel defined between the inner helix and the hollow jacket.
US08936758B2

A process and apparatus for mixing streams of regenerated and carbonized catalyst involves passing a catalyst stream around an insert in a lower section of a riser. The insert fosters mixing of the catalyst streams to reduce their temperature differential before contacting hydrocarbon feed.
US08936751B2

A multiphase composite system is made by binding hard particles, such as TiC particles, of various sizes with a mixture of titanium powder and aluminum, nickel, and titanium in a master alloy or as elemental materials to produce a composite system that has advantageous energy absorbing characteristics. The multiple phases of this composite system include an aggregate phase of hard particles bound with a matrix phase. The matrix phase has at least two phases with varying amounts of aluminum, nickel, and titanium. The matrix phase forms a bond with the hard particles and has varying degrees of hard and ductile phases. The composite system may be used alone or bonded to other materials such as bodies of titanium or ceramic in the manufacture of ballistic armor tiles.
US08936749B2

An apparatus for injecting gas into a vessel is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a gas flow duct from which to discharge gas from the duct, an elongate central structure extending within the gas flow duct from its rear end to its forward end, and a plurality of flow directing vanes disposed about the central structure adjacent the forward end of the duct. The forward end of the central structure and the vanes are water cooled by separate supply passages.
US08936745B2

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a painted substrate (30) using powder paint (21), said substrate being electrically insulating, during which method the following steps are performed in succession: a) a treatment coating (10) is placed on a mold (1), said treatment coating (10) including at least one preparation layer (11, 12) based on an unmolding agent (15, 15′) in contact with said mold (1); b) said treatment coating (10) is electrostatically covered with powder paint (21) in such a manner that said powder paint (21) is attracted towards said mold (1) and is held against the treatment coating (10); c) said powder paint (21) is transformed at least in part in order to obtain a sheet (20) of powder paint (21); and d) said substrate (30) is prepared on said sheet (20) in order to obtain said painted substrate.
US08936740B2

A method for forming biodegradable fibers is provided. The method includes blending polylactic acid with a polyepoxide modifier to form a thermoplastic composition, extruding the thermoplastic composition through a die, and thereafter passing the extruded composition through a die to form a fiber. Without intending to be limited by theory, it is believed that the polyepoxide modifier reacts with the polylactic acid and results in branching of its polymer backbone, thereby improving its melt strength and stability during fiber spinning without significantly reducing glass transition temperature. The reaction-induced branching can also increase molecular weight, which may lead to improved fiber ductility and the ability to better dissipate energy when subjected to an elongation force. To minimize premature reaction, the polylactic acid and polyepoxide modifier are first blended together at a relatively low temperature(s). Nevertheless, a relatively high shear rate may be employed during blending to induce chain scission of the polylactic acid backbone, thereby making more hydroxyl and/or carboxyl groups available for subsequent reaction with the polyepoxide modifier. Once blended, the temperature(s) employed during extrusion of the blended composition can be selected to both melt the composition and initiate a reaction of the polyepoxide modifier with hydroxyl and/or carboxyl groups of the polylactic acid. Through selective control over this method, the present inventors have discovered that the resulting fibers may exhibit good mechanical properties, both during and after melt spinning.
US08936738B2

A disposal method for entirely recycling solid refuse includes the following steps: sorting, crushing, drying, pressing with high pressure to shaped articles, producing charcoal from combustible refuse in high temperature and firing incombustible refuse in high temperature, at last cooling high temperature articles to obtain solid fuel with various shapes and bricks or board used for building. The method achieves entirely recycling house refuse, especial solid refuse. The method recycles solid refuse to obtain fuel and building material with economic value. The method is simple and its processing cost is low.
US08936731B2

A process for the preparation of a niobium compound of formula (I): DαNbβEγO3-δ  (I) wherein D is an alkali metal (e.g. Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs and/or Fr), alkaline earth metal (such as Ba, Ca, Mg and/or Sr), La and/or Bi and may be present as a mixture of two or more metals; E is Ta, Sb and/or Fe and may be present as a mixture of two or more metals; α is a positive number β is a positive number γ is zero or a positive number δ is a number 0≦δ≦0.5; and wherein the formula (I) has the perovskite or tungsten bronze structure; comprising spray pyrolising a solution, for example an aqueous solution, comprising metal (D) ions, Nb ions and if present, metal (E) ions.
US08936725B2

Constructed wetland wastewater treatment equipment under low temperature for continuous operation which includes: three-section substrates filled in a constructed wetland, ventilation pipes being arranged in the substrates, a height of a bed of the constructed wetland being higher than a height of the substrates; a double wall being filled with an organic substance used as a barrier at periphery of the constructed wetland; a water distributing pipe disposed at a top of the three-section substrates and a water collecting pipe disposed at a bottom of the three-section substrates; and a water inlet pipe connected to an upper portion at one end of the three-section substrates and a water outlet pipe connected to a lower portion at the other end of the three-section substrates, a water outlet of the water outlet pipe being higher than the height of the bed of the constructed wetland.
US08936722B2

A method for assembling turbomachinery having combined particle separation device and flow regulating device is provided. The turbomachinery includes a casing; a compressor attached to an inside of the casing, the compressor having a shaft supported by bearings; and a cooling system mounted inside the casing and configured to cool the bearings of the compressor with a cooling fluid. The cooling system includes a particle separation device configured to separate particles from the cooling fluid, and a flow regulation device that fluidly communicates with the particle separation device without contacting the particle separation device. The flow regulation device is disposed adjacent to the particle separation device within a wall of the casing.
US08936719B2

A process for the deep desulfurisation of hydrocarbons (HC), in particular Natural Gas Condensate (NGC), and HC comprising diesel, pre-extracted diesel and naphtha, is described which is capable of reducing the sulfur content of these HC from 500 to 30 ppm. The process comprises contacting the hydrocarbon material with an oxidant selected from organic peroxy acids, organic peroxides, inorganic peroxides and mixtures thereof, in at least a stochiometric amount sufficient to oxidise a sulfur compound to a sulfone compound; contacting the hydrocarbon material with an aqueous extractant to allow at least a portion of the oxidised sulfur compounds to be extracted into the aqueous extractant, and separating the hydrocarbon material from the aqueous extractant to give a hydrocarbon material of reduced sulfur content. Optionally, the process may include a second and subsequent extractions with the aqueous extractant to further reduce sulfur content. A final extraction with an IL may be conducted. The invention also provides for substitution of the aqueous extractant with an IL in one or more of the other extraction steps. The extractants and by products generated during f01 oxidation can be recovered by simple distillation techniques.
US08936712B2

A water electrolysis system includes a high-pressure hydrogen production unit for electrolyzing water to generate oxygen and high-pressure hydrogen (the pressure of the high-pressure hydrogen being higher than that of the oxygen), and a gas-liquid separation unit for removing water contained in the high-pressure hydrogen. The gas-liquid separation unit is placed on a hydrogen pipe for discharging the high-pressure hydrogen from the high-pressure hydrogen production unit. In addition, the water electrolysis system includes a high-pressure hydrogen supply pipe for transferring dewatered high-pressure hydrogen from the gas-liquid separation unit, a cooling unit, which is placed on the high-pressure hydrogen supply pipe and is capable of variably controlling the temperature of the high-pressure hydrogen to adjust the humidity of the high-pressure hydrogen, and a control unit.
US08936703B2

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to semiconductor device fabrication and processes, and more particularly, to methods for implementing arrangements of magnetic field generators configured to facilitate physical vapor deposition (“PVD”) and/or for controlling impedance matching associated with a non-metal-based plasma used to modify a non-metal film, such as a chalcogenide-based film.
US08936693B2

A method of manufacturing a flexible composite panel having a plurality of reservoirs connected by at least one capillary includes forming a capillary assembly by winding a flexible, deformable capillary base web partially around a rotating cylinder that has a plurality of recessed features formed therein; drawing the capillary base web into the recessed features to form the capillaries in the capillary base web; filling the capillaries; and laminating a capillary barrier web over the capillary base web. A flexible reservoir assembly is formed by cutting the perimeter of the at least two reservoirs and associated catchments into a flexible reservoir web; removing the waste cut interiors of the reservoirs and the catchments from the reservoir web; securing the reservoir web to a base layer; overfilling each reservoir; and laminating the capillary assembly over the reservoir assembly, driving excess filler from the reservoirs into the catchments.
US08936692B2

Provided is an optical functional film in which air bubbles can be effectively prevented from forming during lamination, and preferably in which a carrier film does not tear readily. Also provided is a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using this optical functional film. A belt-shaped optical functional film is used in order to cut away the optical functional film at predetermined intervals from the belt-shaped optical functional film to which a carrier film is bonded, with the carrier film remaining uncut; to subsequently turn over the carrier film by an edge-shaped member and peel away the optical functional film; and to laminate the exposed surface of the optical functional film to a sheet member while the optical functional film is being peeled away, wherein the optical functional film is characterized in that the flexural rigidity of the carrier film per unit length in the longitudinal direction is from 5.0×10−5 N·mm2 to 8.0×10−2 N·mm2, and the longitudinal modulus in the longitudinal direction is from 3000 MPa to 5000 MPa.
US08936682B2

A manufacturing method of a SiC single crystal includes growing a SiC single crystal on a surface of a SiC seed crystal, which satisfies following conditions: (i) the SiC seed crystal includes a main growth surface composed of a plurality of sub-growth surfaces; (ii) among directions from an uppermost portion of a {0001} plane on the main growth surface to portions on a periphery of the main growth surface, the SiC seed crystal has a main direction in which a plurality of sub-growth surfaces is arranged; and (iii) an offset angle θk of a k-th sub-growth surface and an offset angle θk+1 of a (k+1)-th sub-growth surface satisfy a relationship of θk<θk+1.
US08936680B2

The present invention, which provides a crucible for producing single-crystal silicon carbide, and a production apparatus and a production method for single-crystal silicon carbide, which are capable of stably growing a single-crystal silicon carbide ingot good in crystallinity at high yield, is a crucible for producing single-crystal silicon carbide having a crucible vessel for holding silicon carbide raw material and a crucible cover for attaching a seed crystal and is adapted to sublimate a silicon carbide raw material in the crucible vessel to supply silicon carbide sublimation gas onto a seed crystal attached to the crucible cover and grow single-crystal silicon carbide on the seed crystal, which crucible for producing single-crystal silicon carbide is provided in the crucible vessel and the crucible cover with threaded portions to be screwed together and is provided with a sublimation gas discharge groove or grooves capable of regulating flow rate by relative rotation of the threaded portions; and is a production apparatus for single-crystal silicon carbide equipped with such a crucible and a production method for single-crystal silicon carbide utilizing this apparatus.
US08936673B2

A surface treatment composition comprising a crosslinking agent which comprises a plurality of dialdehyde residues, a water soluble polymer such as guar gum capable of covalently bonding with the crosslinking agent and a fibrous material.
US08936658B2

A method of reforming a gasification gas, in order to decompose the impurities contained therein, and a use of a noble metal catalyst in the pre-reforming of gasification gas. The gas is brought into contact with a metal catalyst in the presence of an oxidizing agent. The reformation is carried out in several stages, wherein in at least one of the first stages a noble metal catalyst is used, and in a second stage which follows the first stage the catalyst used is a metal catalyst. The use of a noble metal catalyst can reduce the risk of deactivation of the metal catalysts and can increase the operating life of the catalyst.
US08936654B2

A biomass pyrolysis product is quenched by direct cooling with a cold quench fluid and initial product separation is performed based on boiling point and solubility in the quench fluid. A properly chosen quench fluid may act as a selective solvent, thus providing dilution of unstable precursors of pyrolytic lignin or other heavy by-products, and/or separation of certain undesirable pyrolysis oil components such as water and light acids.
US08936653B2

A pouch, in which an electrode assembly of a battery is held, including a frame, including a groove into which the electrode assembly is inserted with a front of the electrode assembly temporarily exposed, upper and lower flanges bordering upper and lower ends of the groove, and extended parts on either side of the groove, front and upper sealing parts formed when the extended parts are folded over the front of the electrode assembly and the upper and lower flanges and sealed together and to the upper flange, respectively, the front and upper sealing parts defining a pocket in which an electrolyte solution is injected toward the electrode assembly, and a lower sealing part formed when the folded extended parts are sealed to the lower flange.
US08936652B2

A device for taking up a silicon melt comprises at least one block of a refractory with a capillary structure.
US08936650B2

Described is a scaffold that is strong enough to resist forces that exist inside a body, while possessing biocompatible surfaces. The scaffold is formed of a layer of mesh (e.g., Stainless Steel or Nitinol) that is tightly enclosed by a multi-layer biological matrix. The biological matrix can include three layers, such a first layer (smooth muscle cells) formed directly on the metal mesh, a second layer (fibroblast/myofibroblast cells) formed on the first layer, and a third layer (endothelial cells) formed on the second layer. The scaffold can be formed to operate as a variety of tissues, such as a heart valve or a vascular graft. For example, the mesh and corresponding biological matrix can be formed as leaflets, such that the scaffold is operable as a tissue heart valve.
US08936648B2

A prosthesis for replacing a knee joint between a femur and a tibia can include a femoral component, a tibial component, a bearing and a yoke assembly. The yoke assembly can have a yoke disposed between the bearing and the femoral component and an axle having an axle axis. The axle can hingedly couple the yoke with the femoral component. Rotation of the femoral component about a rotation axis that is perpendicular to the axle axis causes concurrent rotation of the yoke about the rotation axis.
US08936642B2

Methods for treating a defect in an annulus fibrous are described. The annulus fibrosis has an outer layer, at least one inner layer, and a defect extending through the outer and inner layers. An implant is inserted into the defect in the annulus fibrosis, the implant having at least one aperture. The implant is advanced distally beyond the outer layer in the annulus fibrosis and positioned to occlude the defect. An elongate fixation element is inserted through the at least one aperture, the elongate fixation element having a first end region and a second end region. The elongate fixation element is positioned such that the first end region is within the at least one aperture. The second end region of the elongate fixation element is anchored to the annulus fibrosis. The implant prevents escape of nucleus pulposus through the defect.
US08936639B2

Modular spinal prosthesis having one of both of adaptable and configurable components are provided. The modular spinal prosthesis described herein provide an artificial articular configuration to replace damaged, worn or otherwise removed spinal facet elements.
US08936634B2

The current invention discloses tubes that can be constrained and expanded by either axial or torsional strain. By torsionally displacing the tube in a direction counter to the biased helices and angularly displacing the lower angle helix to an angle equal to, but opposite, the starting angle, the tube is expanded diametrically with no significant change in length after expansion of the tube. These tubes find utility in medical and non medical applications.
US08936633B2

The present invention relates to devices and methods for the treatment of diseases in the vasculature, and more specifically, devices and methods for treatment of aneurysms found in blood vessels. In a first embodiment of the present invention, a two part prostheses, where one part is an expandable sponge structure and the other part is an expandable tubular mesh structure, is provided. In the first embodiment, the expandable sponge structure is intended to fill the aneurysm cavity to prevent further dilatation of the vessel wall by creating a buffer or barrier between the pressurized pulsating blood flow and the thinning vessel wall. In the first embodiment, the expandable tubular mesh structure is placed across the aneurysm, contacting the inner wall of healthy vessel proximal and distal to the aneurysm.
US08936627B2

Expandable support devices for tissue repair are disclosed. The devices can be used to repair hard or soft tissue, such as bone or vertebral discs. A method of repairing tissue is also disclosed. Surgical devices and methods for adjusting (e.g., removing, repositioning, resizing) deployed orthopedic expandable support devices are also disclosed. The expandable support devices can be engaged and surgically implanted by an engagement device and affixed to bone to provide stability and support for the devices. The expandable support devices are attachable to spinal fixation devices such as screws or plates, and may be used to support such devices when placed in weakened or damaged areas of bone.
US08936626B1

Surgical systems and methods are disclosed for safe bi-cortical bone screw placement within a bone segment. Included is a method of measurement to control advancement of instruments and implants to repeatedly obtain bi-cortical screw fixation while minimizing protrusion of the lead end of the screw beyond the distal cortical wall therein reducing incidence of injury to adjacent soft tissues.
US08936614B2

A surgical instrument includes a housing supporting first and second actuators thereon, and an elongated shaft extending distally from the housing. First and second drive members extend through the elongated shaft to operatively couple respective actuators to respective jaw members such that independent manipulation of one of the actuators may induce pivotal movement of an individual jaw member. A locking member is operatively associated with the first and second drive members, and is selectively movable between locked and unlocked positions. When the locking member is in the locked position, the first and second drive members are coupled to one another and move concurrently to drive the jaw members in a bilateral manner. When the locking member is in the unlocked position, the drive members are decoupled from one another and move independently to permit operation of the instrument in a unilateral manner.
US08936613B2

A medical device is configured to position a bag member filled with a therapeutic substance in a prescribed region of the brain. The use of this medical device involves, with a sheath inserted in the brain region, filling a therapeutic substance into a bag member through an infusion tube, followed by retracting the sheath relative to the infusion tube until the bag member protrudes forward beyond the distal end of the sheath. After this, the bag member is put indwelling in the brain region by moving an operating member relative to the infusion tube to detach the bag member from the distal end of the infusion tube.
US08936609B2

Integrated systems and associated method for manipulating tissues and anatomical or other structures in medical applications for the purpose of treating diseases or disorders or other purposes. In one aspect, the system includes a delivery device configured to deploy and implant anchoring devices for such purposes.
US08936600B2

A method and instrument is used for inserting a bone screw through a hole in a bone plate into bone at a maximum angulation of a bone screw central longitudinal axis with respect to a central axis of the hole. The maximum angulation places the head of the bone screw at or below an outwardly facing surface of the bone plate. The instrument has a distal end including a gauge element spaced proximally from an end surface of the distal end when in contact with a counterbore surrounding the plate hole a distance less than a depth of the counterbore. The instrument is tilted with respect to a central axis of the bone plate hole to an angle wherein the gauge element remains at or below the outwardly facing surface of the bone plate adjacent the counterbore. A hole is drilled through a guide bore in the instrument.
US08936594B2

Methods and devices for treating nasal airways are provided. Such devices and methods may improve airflow through an internal and/or external nasal valve, and comprise the use of mechanical re-shaping, energy application and other treatments to modify the shape, structure, and/or air flow characteristics of an internal nasal valve, an external nasal valve or other nasal airways.
US08936592B2

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a laser ablation system. In one embodiment, the laser ablation system comprises a shaft, a balloon, a laser fiber and a viewing fiber. The shaft has a proximal end and a distal end. The balloon is attached to the distal end of the shaft, a portion of which is within the balloon. The laser fiber has a distal end comprising a light dispenser that is configured to deliver laser light through the balloon. The viewing fiber is configured to image an interior balloon. In accordance with another embodiment, the laser ablation system comprises a shaft, a balloon and a laser fiber. The shaft has a proximal end and a distal end. The balloon is attached to the distal end of the shaft, which is within the balloon. The balloon includes an inflated state, in which the balloon is shaped to conform to a cavity of a patient. The laser fiber has a distal end comprising light dispenser that is configured to deliver laser light through the balloon.
US08936585B2

A disposable absorbent article for receiving urine from an individual and a method of using the same are described. The absorbent article can include an absorbent body folded substantially longitudinally. The absorbent body can include a left-side portion and a right-side portion on opposite sides of the fold, and a proximal edge extending generally orthogonal to the fold. An interior receiving cavity can be defined by the left-side portion and the right-side portion of the folded absorbent body. The absorbent article also includes a penile opening defined by a portion of the proximal edge, where the penile opening is adapted for receiving a penis of a user into the interior receiving cavity. The absorbent body can include a liquid impermeable, exterior layer; a liquid permeable, fluid management layer; and an absorbent layer disposed between said exterior layer and said fluid management layer.
US08936583B2

A multi-layer odor barrier catheter tube for a fecal drainage catheter. The layers of the catheter tube include one or more thermoplastic elastomer layers and one or more odor barrier layers. For example, the catheter tube may comprise an inner thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) layer, an intermediate odor barrier film layer, and an outer TPE layer. Alternately, the multi-layer catheter tube includes an inner TPE layer sandwiched between outer layers of odor barrier film material.
US08936581B2

A catheter having a catheter body with a lumen and a distal lumen opening. The catheter's lumen extends through the catheter body along a longitudinal axis of the catheter body. A spiral slit is formed through a wall of the catheter body.
US08936575B2

A needle tip shielding mechanism is described herein. The shielding mechanism comprises an outer housing, an inner housing, and a needle having a needle feature. Generally, the outer housing comprises at least one adapter-interlock feature. Moreover, the inner housing comprises a needle-feature capture mechanism, such as a washer feature, and a needle-tip capture mechanism, such as duckbilled tip barrier. In some cases, the inner housing is slidably moveable within the outer housing. In such cases, the inner housing is movable between a first position that biases the adapter-interlock feature into an engaged position and a second position that allows the adapter-interlock feature to move to an unengaged position. This ability to bias the interlock feature in the engaged position and to allow the interlock feature to move to the unengaged position allows the shielding mechanism to be selectively coupled to and released from an interlock-feature mating component within a catheter adapter.
US08936569B2

A safety needle locking device, which may be used with a syringe, consisting of a Blunting Member (19). The Needle (16) has a Needle Curvature (25) which allows locking of the Blunting Member (19) within the needle with the indent (27). The blunting member also has a Puncture Tip Protector (26) which allows for the Needle Tip (24) to be sheathed upon expulsion of the fluid. The needle is tubular with one surface flattened out. The Blunting Member is aligned within the needle. When the fluids are expelled the blunting member moves out, blocks the needle tip and locks inside the needle. Thus preventing reuse and needle stick injury. The syringe is flattened along one longitudinal surface to allow for alignment.
US08936566B2

Apparatus and methods for treatment of an internal cavity are provided. The internal cavity is coated with a treatment solution. The treatment solution can include a solidifiable matrix with or without a drug or combination of drugs incorporated therein, or a drug solution without a solidifiable matrix. The treatment solution is coated onto at least a portion of the internal cavity, and acts as a slow-release drug delivery system.
US08936564B2

A bio-compatible lumen bearing device such as a catheter formed of a polymeric material having a titanium surface bonded to the underlying exposed catheter surface. The titanium surface is employed in patients to improve bio-compatibility and enhance lubricity during insertion and removal.
US08936558B2

Medical devices for navigation through anatomy, including guidewires, which may have a core wire, a slotted tubular member, or both. Embodiments may have coils, including non-circular cross-section edge-wound marker coils, extended coil tips, and soldered or glued mesial joint coils. Core wires may have a step, ridge, or taper at the joints to the tubular member, and may be flattened at the distal tip. Radiopaque material may be located inside the tubular member, and the distal tip may be heat treated to make it shapeable. Additional tubular members or coils may be used concentrically or in line and may enhance flexibility, provide radiopacity, reduce friction, or reduce material or manufacturing cost. Tubular members may be chamfered or tapered continuously or incrementally. Slots may be arranged in groups, such as groups of three, and may be equal in depth or unequal in depth to provide a steerable or compressible tip.
US08936553B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure are configured to visualize severe blockages in a vessel and, in particular, chronic total occlusions in blood vessels. In some particular embodiments, the devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are configured to visualize the blockage to facilitate safe crossing of the blockage.
US08936548B2

An endoscope 100 includes a first light source 45 that emits white illumination light, a second light source 47 that emits narrow-band light and an imaging section that has an imaging device 21 having plural detection pixels and images a region to be observed. The imaging section is caused to output a captured image signal including both a return light component of the white illumination light from the region to be observed by and a return light component of the narrow-band light the white illumination light. From the captured image signal, the return light component of the narrow-band light is selectively extracted, and a brightness level of the extracted return light component of the narrow-band light is changed by changing a light amount of light emitted from the second light source 47.
US08936546B2

An endoscopic image pickup unit includes: a first fixed lens frame which holds a first objective lens group; a second fixed lens frame which, being fitted over the first fixed lens frame, holds a second objective lens group; a movable lens frame which, being installed in the second fixed lens frame so as to be able to move forward and backward along a photographic optical axis, holds a movable lens; and a deformation preventing member which, being interposed between a distal end body and the second fixed lens frame, prevents the second fixed lens frame from being deformed by fixing force of the fixing member when the endoscopic image pickup unit is fixed to the distal end body.
US08936544B2

A system for sexual stimulation includes a first sexual stimulation device having a first sensor and a first actuator and a second sexual stimulation device having a second sensor and a second actuator. The first sexual stimulation device is configured to communicate information from the first sensor to actuate the second actuator of the second sexual stimulation device and the second sexual stimulation device is configured to communicate information from the second sensor to actuate the first actuator of the first sexual stimulation device.
US08936541B2

A machine tool is provided with a chain-type bit-storing apparatus which includes a frame, two sprockets, a chain and a pivoting unit. The frame includes a cutout. The sprockets are placed in the frame. The chain is driven by the sprockets. The chain includes links each including a socket for containing a bit, two plates for supporting the socket, first and second blocks placed between the plates, first and second bearing units for rotationally supporting the first and second blocks on the plates, and a connecting unit for pivotally connecting the first block thereof to the second block of an adjacent link. The pivoting unit is used to pivot the socket of a selected one of the links to move an open end of the socket out of the frame through the cutout.
US08936540B2

A portable exercise device for the posterior muscle chain. The portable exercise device can include a first anchor and a second anchor, the anchors being oriented substantially vertically, and at least one central member coupled to and extending between the first anchor and the second anchor. The anchors can include a housing, a handle portion rotatably disposed at a first end of the housing, and an anchoring portion operatively coupled to the handle portion and disposed at a second end of the housing.
US08936539B2

A fitness apparatus for exercising with stretchable and resilient resistance bands includes a body member having a base and a rocker portion extending away from the base, the rocker portion having a generally convex configuration. The fitness apparatus includes a lid member having a generally planar configuration removably coupled to the body member. The lid member defines a pair of oppositely disposed lid member channels configured to receive the resistance bands therethrough for repositionable use in exercise by a user.
US08936537B2

An exercise arm apparatus and method of use. The exercise arm comprises at least one finger, a spindle attached to the finger, and weights sized to reside on the spindle. One end of the exercise arm is rotatably attached at a pivot point to a frame or to a vertical surface; a belt is attached to an opposite end of the exercise arm by means of a belt line. Where the exercise arm is rotatably attached to a frame, dip bars and chin bars are disclosed wherein an exerciser may perform dips and chins. Upward motion by an exerciser wearing the belt is impeded by spindle weights, a belt elastic attached at one end to the belt and at an opposite end to the exercise arm, and/or an elastic member attached at one end to the frame and at an opposite end to the exercise arm.
US08936518B2

An iron golf club head includes a hosel part embedded member installed in a hosel part thereof, a sole part embedded member installed in a sole part thereof, and a top part embedded member installed in an upper portion of a face part of thereof. In a shank part (neck part) connecting the hosel part to the body part, a connecting embedded member for connecting the hosel part embedded member to the sole part embedded member is installed. These embedded members are covered with a synthetic resin layer. The hosel part embedded member and the connecting embedded member each are preferably made of a metal.
US08936514B2

According to an aspect of this invention, a golf club includes: a shaft; a head attached to a distal end of the shaft; a substantially cylindrical shaft case is secured to the distal end of the shaft; the shaft case is inserted into a hosel hole in the head; and the shaft case is fixed to the head by a bolt which is inserted from a sole side of the head, wherein: a stopper member is attached to an outer circumference of the shaft case so that an attaching position can be changed; the stopper member is in abutment with an upper end portion of a hosel; and an inserting depth of the shaft case into the hosel hole can be changed by changing the attaching position of the stopper member.
US08936513B2

A system, computer-readable storage medium including instructions, and a computer-implemented method for placing players of a multiplayer game in a virtual world are described. Territory for a player of the multiplayer game is placed in the virtual world for the multiplayer game. Territory for at least one other player is placed adjacent to the territory of the player in the virtual world. The player is determined to have entered the territory for the at least one other player. At least one in-game task is assigned to the player based on an in-game state of the player and an in-game state of the at least one other player.
US08936511B2

An automatic verification system for automatically verifying a winner of an on-line game is disclosed. The verification system (a server/memory connected to the Internet) contains information about subscriber players and contains accounts that are used for betting on outcomes of skill games. The subscribers access the system via the Internet to set up an on-line game with other subscribers. The players then compete against each other normally via the game (e.g., Halo™) network server. The verification system then automatically receives the final game information from the server or console(s) via an e-mail, or by accessing published results of the game, or by accessing the players' published career summaries. Based on that automatically generated data, the verification system automatically determines the winner and awards the winner money or points.
US08936505B2

A coin dispensing apparatus has a cabinet serving as an apparatus housing for the apparatus. The apparatus further has a module for receiving, optionally validating and optionally sorting coins of different types and at least one dispenser for coins to be dispensed. The apparatus is adapted to dispense a specific composition of coins from the at least one dispenser to a portable coin receptacle. Each dispenser comprises a spout and is shaped such that a plurality of dispensers can be placed in a pattern allowing the spouts to be placed in a row. An effect of this is that the sorted coins can be dispensed in a row above the row of spouts, thus there is no need for an additional complex channel system for leading the sorted coins into the correct dispenser.
US08936500B1

A dual section paddle board is configured to be stable in water which is shallow without fouling vegetation or hitting rocks. The dual section paddle board includes two board sections that are symmetrical along a single edge of each section to increase stability while paddle boarding. A connector joins the two board sections proximate one another permitting balance shifting that further increases stability. Each board section is made from a buoyant material in order to maintain buoyancy while avoiding damage to the board section.
US08936498B1

An improvement in telescoping electric trolling motors is disclosed. The trolling motor has a telescoping shaft that changes the depth of the electric motor, and therefore the prop of the trolling motor. A cable is used to raise and lower the electric motor and telescope the shaft. The same cable is used to pivot the trolling motor into a storage position on the deck of the boat.
US08936496B2

Provided is a connector in which a decrease in contact pressure due to the shape degradation of the pressing portions does not occur even if the operation of rotating the pressing member is repeated. Since the connector main body has, at the rear end, supporting portions that rotatably support the pressing portion, the pressing portion rotates while butting the rear ends of the movable pieces and the supporting portions so that the rear ends of the movable pieces are pushed up by the pressing portion, the butting of the pressing portion and the supporting portions is contact between synthetic-resin components, this eliminates the pressing portion being cut off due to contact with the supporting portions even if the rotation of the pressing member is repeated, and hence the shape degradation of the pressing portion can be prevented.
US08936494B2

A telecommunications jack (1) is described for making electrical connection to a mating plug (5) such that the electrical signals travel along a signal path through the jack and the plug when connected. The telecommunications jack includes a first supporting printed circuit board (16) holding an array of front contacts (12) that are connectable to telecommunication wires and a second compensating printed circuit board (17) comprising electrical compensation components for reducing crosstalk. The front contacts have a section that is in the signal path and a section that is outside the signal path. At least one electrical compensation component of the second printed circuit board is electrically connected to at least one front contact in the signal path and another electrical compensation component is electrically connected to at least one front contact in the section outside of the signal path.
US08936482B2

A safety lock device for locking a charging connector in a charging receptacle of an electric vehicle is provided. The safety lock device includes a locking pin movable between a first position and a second position, an actuator configured to drive the locking pin between the first position and second position, a sensor configured to measure information used in determining a distance the actuator has driven the locking pin and a control unit electrically connected to the sensor and configured to receive the measured information from the sensor and determine the status of the safety lock based on the measured information received from the sensor. The charging connector and charging receptacle may be part of a Fast Charge coupler.
US08936479B2

A connector is connectable to an inserted object. The connector comprises a housing and an actuator. The actuator is supported by the housing so as to pivot between an open position where the object is insertable and a close position where the inserted object is held. The actuator has a supported shaft, a first supported portion and a second supported portion which are supported by a pivot supporter, a first support member and a second support member of the connector, respectively. The first supported portion is in abutment with the first support member located thereabove both when the actuator is located at the open position and when the actuator is located at the close position. The second supported portion is in abutment with the second support member located therebelow both when the actuator is located at the open position and when the actuator is located at the close position.
US08936476B2

Provided is a connector lockable a connection with the connection object securely. The connector comprises a housing, an attachment, and a lock portion. The connection object which has a locked portion is inserted to and connected with the connector from the front of the connector. The attachment is attached to the housing and comprises an upper attachment positioned higher than the housing, a lower attachment positioned lower than the housing, and a coupling portion coupling the upper attachment and the lower attachment. The lock portion comprises a locking lug positioned backward of the coupling portion and engaging with the locked portion of the connection object when the connection object connected with the connector is moved in an eject direction opposite to the insertion direction, and a spring portion positioned between the upper attachment and the lower attachment and supporting the locking lug so as to be displaceable in a vertical direction perpendicular to the insertion direction.
US08936475B2

An electrical device includes an upper shell facing a user, a lower shell engaged with the upper shell to commonly define a mounting space, a mother board mounted in the mounting space, a receptacle portion and a rotating cover rotating about the receptacle portion. The upper shell defines a first opening for an insertion of a mating plug. The mother board defines a notch, wherein the receptacle portion is holding conductive terminals therein, the receptacle portion is assembled in the notch of the mother board and between the mother board and the upper shell. Wherein the lower shell defines a second opening, the rotating cover is received in the second opening and a front portion of the rotating cover is actuated in to the first opening of the receptacle portion.
US08936464B2

A physical model of at least a portion of a patient's dentition has model dental surfaces corresponding to real dental surfaces of the patient's dentition. The physical model includes one or more targets, each configured for facilitating placement of an orthodontic appliance on the model at a desired location. The targets lack mechanical stops that are outwardly protruding from the original model dental surfaces. Also provided are a method of manufacturing a physical model for use in indirect bonding procedures, a method for indirect bonding for use in an orthodontic procedure, a method for providing an indirect bonding transfer tray for use in an orthodontic procedure, and a system for providing a physical model for use in indirect bonding orthodontic procedures.
US08936461B2

A design transfer device comprising an elastic planar wall having a first side surface and a second side surface is disclosed herein. An elastic cutting blade is unitary with the elastic planar wall and extends directly from the first side surface of the elastic planar wall. The elastic cutting blade is continuous and is configured to cut a design from a moldable material. The elastic cutting blade has an inner side surface and an outer side surface with a cutting edge therebetween. The cutting edge is disposed at a substantially constant distance, from the first side surface of the elastic planar wall, throughout its perimeter. A method of using the design transfer device is also disclosed herein.
US08936458B2

A device for forming plastics material preforms into plastics material containers includes a plurality of blowing stations, each comprising blow moulds, inside which preforms can be formed into containers. The device includes an admission arrangement to expose the preforms, for the forming thereof, to a free-flowing medium, and stretching rods to extend the preforms in the longitudinal direction thereof. The device includes a transport arrangement which transports the blowing stations with the preforms along a first predefined transport path, and a control arrangement which controls movement of the stretching rods and exposure of the preforms to the freeflowing medium so that predefined sub-steps of the forming process are carried out during transport of the preforms along the first path. Sub-steps of the forming process can be carried out irrespective of geometric position of the preforms along the first path, and an output rate of the device can thus be changed.
US08936457B2

A platen-supported system (105) for use with a molding-system platen structure (107), the platen-supported system (105) comprising: a frame assembly (103) connectable with the molding-system platen structure (107); and at least one plasticating device (201) supported by the frame assembly (103). A molding system (100) having a mold frame assembly (203) configured for supporting a molding assembly (200), and the at least one plasticating device (201) located within the mold assembly (200).
US08936451B2

Rotary vane pumps include casings having asymmetrical cavities that accommodate a rotor. For a single pump chamber, one portion of the rotor abuts or nearly abuts the inner wall of the cavity at a single location while one portion of the rotor and the inner wall are not in contact with each other thereby defining a pump chamber. For a dual pump chamber embodiment, two diametrically opposed portions of the rotor abut or nearly abut the inner wall of the cavity while two portions of the rotor and inner wall are not in contact with each other thereby defining the two pump chambers. The two pump chambers are disposed on opposite sides of the minor axis of the cavity. The cavities of each pump are skewed so each pump chamber is larger in volume at the inlet end than at the outlet end.
US08936448B2

A rotary compressor includes a cylinder having an annular cylinder space, a piston eccentrically disposed relative to the cylinder, and a drive shaft (53) connected to the piston. The piston has a piston portion eccentrically rotatable relative to the cylinder, and a piston end plate closing the cylinder space. The cylinder has an end plate storage space storing the piston end plate in an eccentrically rotatable manner. The cylinder space forms a main cylinder chamber, and the end plate storage space forms a sub-cylinder chamber.
US08936445B2

A fluid pump includes a housing that defines a suction chamber, a discharge chamber, and a barrier having a first height, wherein the barrier is configured to separate the suction chamber from the discharge chamber. The pump also includes meshed first and second gears rotatably disposed in the housing. The gears are configured to draw relatively low-pressure fluid from the suction chamber, transform the relatively low-pressure fluid into relatively high-pressure fluid, and release the relatively high-pressure fluid into the discharge chamber. The barrier includes first and second portions configured to accept the first and second gears respectively, and a bridge connecting the first and second portions. The bridge is disposed proximately to where the gears mesh and is configured to provide a transition from the first height to a second height to thereby generate gradual re-expansion of the fluid away from the bridge.
US08936440B2

A Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) platform for an airfoil of a gas turbine engine includes a CMC platform segment which at least partially defines an airfoil profile.
US08936434B2

A portable fluid blower with a housing having a central axis and defining a fluid flow path extending axially between an upstream inlet and a downstream outlet. A fan assembly has a rotary component that is operable to draw fluid into a first stage of the flow path and accelerate fluid incoming at the inlet radially outwardly to against a first housing surface portion that diverts the fluid to a second stage of the flow path. The second flow path stage is defined by facing second and third housing surface portions that cause the fluid to flow substantially fully axially in an annular space extending around the central axis between the first stage and a third stage. The fluid flows from the third stage to and through the downstream outlet.
US08936430B2

A submersible centrifugal pump is disclosed. The submersible centrifugal pump includes a pump housing having a pump intake disposed generally opposite a pump outlet. A shaft extends at least partially through the pump housing and is adapted to be driven by a submersible motor. A centrifugal impeller is attached to the shaft and has an opening for fluid intake. A diffuser is disposed corresponding to the centrifugal impellers to form a pump stage. And an auger is coupled to the shaft.
US08936422B2

A blind nut mountable in mounted members such as panels of a wide range of thicknesses. The blind nut includes an internal threading portion, a hollow tube-shaped portion adjacent to the threading portion, and an open flange formed in the tube-shaped portion on the end opposite the internal threading. The internal threading portion and the tube-shaped portion are inserted into a mounting hole in a mounted member, and a section of the tube-shaped portion is plastically deformed to enlarge the diameter in order to grip the mounted member between the deformed enlarged-diameter portion and the flange, and mount the blind nut in the mounted member. The tube-shaped portion has a tapered portion adjacent to the internal threading portion, and a cylindrical straight portion adjacent to the flange. The tapered portion and the straight portion are plastically deformed to widen their diameter and mount the blind nut on the mounted member.
US08936395B1

Systems and methods that are capable of measuring temperature via spectrophotometry principles are discussed herein. These systems and methods are based on the temperature dependence of the reflection spectrum of hematite. Light reflected from these sensors can be measured to determine a temperature, based on changes in the reflection spectrum discussed herein.
US08936393B2

A clock case comprising a first plurality of upstanding, spaced-apart fins formed from flat sheets of material, each of the first plurality of fins having a plurality of slots extending vertically upward from a bottom edge; and, a second plurality of upstanding, spaced-apart fins formed from flat sheets of material, each of the second plurality of fins having a plurality of slots extending vertically downwards from a top edge. Each upwardly extending slot is configured to mate with a respective downwardly extending slot, whereby each of the first plurality of fins is interlocked with each of the second plurality of fins to form an orthogonal array of laterally extending fins and longitudinally extending fins.
US08936390B2

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for producing an aqueous paint from a plurality of premixed compositions at the point of sale wherein the apparatus is cleaned during the paint production. The premixed compositions include a pigment composition, a dispersant-thickening agent composition, a high resin content binder, and a low resin content binder. The dispersant-thickening agent, when supplied in a cleaning amount, effectively cleans the nozzles and valves, used to supply the premixed compositions to a receiving reservoir for the desired aqueous paint.
US08936379B1

A lighted artificial tree includes a first tree portion including a first trunk portion, first branches joined to the first trunk portion, and a first light string. The first trunk portion has a trunk connector and a first trunk wiring assembly, the first trunk wiring assembly is electrically connectable to the first light string and the trunk connector, and at least a portion of the first wiring assembly is located inside the first portion. The second tree portion includes a second trunk portion, second branches, and a second light string. The second trunk portion has a trunk connector and a second trunk wiring assembly, the second trunk wiring assembly electrically connectable to the second lighting string and the trunk connector. The second tree portion may be mechanically coupled and electrically connected to the first tree portion by coaxially coupling the first trunk portion to the second trunk portion.
US08936372B2

A door mirror for a vehicle includes a foldable unit to be provided turnably on a stay mounted to a vehicle-body side and a mirror housing for housing the foldable unit therein. A stopper of the foldable unit is configured to regulate a turning operation of the foldable unit by abutting a stopper receiver of the stay. The mirror housing includes positioning portion which is a cut out on the peripheral edge of the unit-mounting hole which fits over the stopper to connect the foldable unit and the mirror housing to each other in a predetermined positional relationship. The foldable unit and the mirror housing are configured such that screwing a setscrew into a screw-fixing hole of the foldable unit through the screw-insertion hole of the mirror housing, in a state in which a position portion is fitted over the stopper, attaches the foldable unit to the mirror housing.
US08936367B2

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that are related to projection.
US08936361B2

An image forming system has a first image forming section to form an image on a sheet, wherein the first image forming section heats the sheet to fix the image on the sheet, a second image forming section to form an image to the sheet on which the image has been formed by the first image forming section, and a transporting section to transport the sheet from first image forming section to the second image forming section. The transporting section has a first transporting part to transport the sheet to a predetermined position, and a second transporting part to reverse a surface of the sheet which has been transported by the first transporting part as transporting the sheet from the predetermined position to an area below the predetermined position.
US08936360B2

A nozzle surface (nozzle plate) of a printing head which ejects UV-curable ink from a nozzle is tilted with a predetermined inclination angle θ with respect to the recording surface of a recording sheet so as to face the opposite side to an ultraviolet irradiator. In this manner, it is difficult for the ultraviolet light which is radiated from the ultraviolet irradiator, and is reflected on the recording sheet to input to the nozzle plate, and it is possible to prevent ink in the nozzle from being thickened, or being cured due to the ultraviolet light.
US08936358B2

An ink composition for ink jet textile printing at least includes a disperse dye and a solvent represented by the following Formula (1): (in Formula (1), R1 denotes an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms). The solvent represented by the Formula (1) has an HLB value of 10.5 or more and 20.0 or less.
US08936353B2

A liquid dispenser array structure includes a liquid dispensing channel. A first liquid supply provides a carrier liquid that flows continuously through an outlet of the liquid dispensing channel during a drop dispensing operation. A plurality of liquid dispensers, located on a common substrate, includes a liquid supply channel and a second liquid supply that provides a functional liquid, immiscible in the carrier liquid, to the liquid dispensing channel through the liquid supply channel. A drop formation device, associated with an interface of the liquid supply channel and the liquid dispensing channel, is selectively actuated to form a discrete drop of the functional liquid in the carrier liquid flowing through the liquid dispensing channel.
US08936341B2

In the present invention, a first calculation unit calculates, based on image data obtained by reading with a reading unit a plurality of patches formed on a printing medium by a plurality of nozzle regions constituting nozzle array of a printing head, respective color specification values of a plurality of correction regions corresponding to a plurality of nozzle regions constituting the nozzle array. Then, a target value setting unit sets, based on the calculated color specification values of the plurality of correction regions, a target color specification value of the patch. Further, a second calculation unit calculates a difference between each of the color specification values of the plurality of correction regions and the target color specification value as a correction amount. After that, based on the correction amount calculated, image data corresponding to an image printed by each of the plurality of nozzle regions are corrected.
US08936331B2

The present subject matter provides a hinge for an appliance. The hinge is rotatably mounted to a cabinet of the appliance. The hinge includes a foot configured for receipt by a door of the appliance. Specifically, the foot has a tip that is configured for receipt into a cavity of the door and a substantially planar portion configured to be positioned adjacent a pocket of the door.
US08936326B2

A pull-out blocking device for furniture parts that can be pushed into or pulled out of a basic furniture structure, the pull-out blocking device having a guide rail and a sequence of support elements mounted on the guide rail displaceable in the longitudinal direction, and at least one intermediate element arranged between two of the support elements. Each support element has an upper supporting surface for abutment against a support element arranged adjacently above, a lower supporting surface for abutment against a support element arranged adjacently below and a further supporting surface for abutment against the support element arranged adjacently above or below. Each support element is pivotably arranged on the guide element for movement between the blocking and releasing positions, and all the supporting surfaces are arranged outside the guide element. The intermediate element's longitudinal extent is a multiple of a longitudinal extent of one of the support elements.
US08936323B2

A brake apparatus including a housing with a fluid passage, a piston body disposed within a closed-ended bore of the housing and communicated with the fluid passage, a first elastic member biasing the piston body toward a closed end of the bore, a valve element disposed in the fluid passage, a seat portion coming into contact with the valve element, a rod disposed between a crown surface of the piston body and the valve element, a second elastic member biasing the valve element toward the seat portion, a rod supporting hole portion that supports one end side of the rod, a rod outer circumferential passage portion disposed on the other end side of the rod and having an inner diameter larger than an inner diameter of the rod supporting hole portion, and at least one communicating hole portion that communicates the rod outer circumferential passage portion and the bore.
US08936320B2

A relatively warm mineral deposit is solution mined by injecting fluid through a well drilled into the deposit and dissolving the mineral to form a production brine. Warm production brine is cooled at the surface using a heat exchanger as a crystallizer to precipitate the mineral in the exchanger and form a slurry. Crystals of the mineral in the slurry are recovered in a separation plant leaving a relatively cool, dilute or depleted brine, which is conveyed through the heat exchanger for cooling the production brine and then injected into the mineral deposit to dissolve more mineral thereby providing a continuous process. A pipe-in-pipe heat exchanger is preferably used and in a manner so that the heat exchanger also serves as a primary means for conveying the production fluid and/or slurry from the well to the separation plant. This method extracts and recovers the desired mineral(s), recovers much of the heat in the production brine, accelerates the solution mining process since the injection fluid has been warmed, reduces salting in the production string, is relatively inexpensive to install and maintain, and does not require a source of energy for cooling the production brine such as electricity for a refrigeration system.
US08936314B2

A multi-purpose seat for a child includes a seat body, a protecting sheet, a shoulder strap and an encircle belt. The seat body has two upper straps respectively defined on two sides of the seat body. The protecting sheet has two upper buckles which are connected with the two upper straps respectively. The protecting sheet has two through holes for passing through two legs of a child respectively. Two ends of the shoulder strap are assembled on a rear side of the seat body and two ends of the encircle belt are assembled to the shoulder strap. Under this arrangement, a user carries the child sitting on the seat body by the shoulder strap; besides, the seat body is fixed on a car seat and the encircle belt is encircled the car seat, so that the child sits on the seat body securely.
US08936311B2

Headrests for motor vehicle seats. The headrests may include a fixed part, a moving part movable with respect to the fixed part from a rest position to an active position, with connection means connecting the fixed part and the moving part to determine the path and the position of the moving part. A drive device drives and moves the moving part with respect to the fixed part in the event of a crash. Movement of at least one portion of the moving part to a forward position with respect to the active position may be provided by a damping assembly. The damping assembly may also allow the backward movement to the active position after an impact of the user's head on the moving part, absorbing energy in the backward movement.
US08936310B2

A headrest including: a headrest body that supports a head portion of an occupant; a pair of side frame sections that supports the headrest body, the side frame sections extending along a seat height direction and disposed at a separation from each other along a seat width direction; and an inclined wall portion that is provided between the side frame sections, that is inclined towards a seat front-rear direction front side with respect to the side frame sections such that a lower end portion of the inclined wall portion is positioned further to the seat front-rear direction front side than an upper end portion of the inclined wall portion, and that bears load acting on the headrest body from a seat front-rear direction rear side.
US08936300B2

A cab assembly is disclosed for use with a machine having a frame. The cab assembly may include an operator cab with a first side and a second side, a plurality of cab mounts connecting the operator cab to the frame, and a hydraulic cylinder connected at one end to the operator cab and at an opposing end to the frame. The plurality of cab mounts may be selectively disconnected from the operator cab to allow the hydraulic cylinder to tilt the operator cab toward the first side or the second side of the operator cab.
US08936291B2

This robot hand includes a first finger portion and a second finger portion being relatively movable in a direction in which an object to be grasped is grasped and bar-shaped claw members fixed to the first finger portion and the second finger portion. A plurality of claw members are fixed in parallel to at least either the first finger portion or the second finger portion.
US08936288B2

The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for lifting a joint of pipe. The elevator configured to grip and lift a rigid shoulderless pipe segment having a substantially circular cross-section includes a U-shaped body having a proximal end configured to receive an outer surface of the rigid shoulderless pipe segment and a distal end with a first prong and a second prong, a first deployable jaw coupled to the first prong of the U-shaped elevator; a second deployable jaw coupled to the second prong of the U-shaped elevator; a first static jaw positioned in the proximal end of the U-shaped body; and a second static jaw positioned in the proximal end of the U-shaped body.
US08936268B2

An apparatus for traversing loose, granular material includes a frame and a rotatable traction device connected to the frame. The outer surface of the rotatable traction device includes spaced apart curvilinear or angular traction ridges and spaced apart curved or angular valleys, each valley being between a pair of adjacent traction ridges, thereby forming curved or angular shovel-like elements. Each shovel-like element has a leading curved or angular surface and a confining curved or angular surface. Rotation of the rotatable traction device results in rotation of the shovel-like elements through the loose, granular material. Each shovel-like element enfolds a portion of the loose, granular material bordering the leading curved or angular surface of the shovel-like element, and the confining curved or angular surface of the shovel-like element confines at least part of the enfolded portion of the material, thereby confining and restricting displacement of the enfolded portion of the material.
US08936266B2

A retractable vehicle step is attachable to a rear portion of a vehicle or truck. The vehicle step facilitates access to a cargo hold of the vehicle. Advantageously, the vehicle step provides clearance space relative to a tailgate of the vehicle by displacing a stepping member of the vehicle step in a generally lateral direction. The vehicle step desirably has a covered and protected biasing mechanism for transitioning between retracted and extended positions of the stepping member. Another advantage is that the vehicle step is readily attachable to the vehicle using already existing connection members, thereby generally eliminating or mitigating the need for customized retrofitting and avoiding undesirable installation cost and time.
US08936265B2

A rear axle is provided for a motor vehicle, in particular a passenger car, with two independent wheel suspensions, each of which include, but is not limited to a wheel carrier and a three-link arrangement connected therewith in an articulated manner with a longitudinal link and two transverse links. The two transverse links are each arranged in vehicle longitudinal direction next to each other, and with a transverse leaf spring arrangement, which is connected to the two independent wheel suspensions.
US08936257B2

A mobile storage unit comprises a rigid frame coupled with a top seat portion, a pair of wheels and a number of supports. The wheels are coupled to a wheel mechanism that retracts the wheels into a retracted position when a downward force is applied to the rigid frame in an upright position. As a result, at least one supplemental support that is positioned above the ground when the pair of wheels are in the extended position, touches the ground when the pair of wheels is in the retracted position thereby adding support and stability to the mobile storage unit when in the upright position.
US08936256B2

There is provided a walker apparatus. The walker apparatus has a pair of spaced-apart, arc-shaped support members. The walker apparatus includes a pair of elongate pivot rods operatively connected to respective ones the support members. The walker apparatus includes a laterally-foldable seat. The seat pivotally connects to the support members via the pivot rods. According to one aspect, each support member has an apex. The elongate pivot rods operatively connect to respective ones of the apexes of the support members.
US08936249B2

An increased resilience seal utilizing a sealed gas filled inner chamber in a bellows spring that functions as both a mechanical spring and a gas spring to provide a more constant level of separation force between two face plates to provide a seal between two mechanical components such as those found in an aircraft jet engine. The bellows spring is made of a plurality of walls that are joined together in a pressurized chamber that is filled with a gas, such as an inert gas. In alternative embodiments, the bellows spring is made of walls that are shaped and oriented to optimize the operating characteristics of the bellows spring when the pressure is increased in a sealed inner chamber in response to elevated temperature. In one embodiment, the walls forming a portion of the chamber overlap to optimize the geometry of the bellows spring.
US08936246B2

Simultaneous poker hands played on an elliptical, table incorporating two dealer stations with each dealer station including one or more of the following: automatic shuffler; chip rack and chips; poker cards; and drop box. Using the table facilitates the play of a game comprising broadly: positioning two dealers about a table at two independent dealer stations, each dealer station including one or more of the following: (i) automatic card shuffler; (ii) chip rack and chips; (iii) poker cards; and (iv) drop box; utilizing said two dealers to deal independent poker hands substantially simultaneously; and providing players with two distinctive chip sets to play said independent poker hands substantially simultaneously.
US08936245B2

An interactive educational toy, having six faces in a manner permitting multi-planar movement; each of the six jointed faces is comprised of plurality of bars pivotally connected in a pantographic configuration; the six faces each include sides, and the sides of adjacent faces are hinged together to form a cube that can shift into variously proportioned parallelepipeds.
US08936243B1

A media diverter system for directing a media sheet traveling along an input media path into either a first media path or a second media path. One or more roller assemblies are provided including a media-guiding roller having one or more grooves formed around the exterior surface, and an air source for selectively providing an air flow into one or more of the grooves, the air flow being directed between the media sheet and the exterior surface of the media-guiding roller thereby producing a Bernoulli force to draw the media sheet toward the media-guiding roller. A controller selectively activates the air source in at least one of the roller assemblies while the corresponding media-guiding roller rotates around its roller axis to draw the media sheet toward the exterior surface of the media-guiding roller, thereby directing the media sheet into either the first media path or a second media path.
US08936237B2

The post-processing device includes: a binding unit that forms a cut in a sheet stack and cuts a part of the sheet stack into a predetermined shape to form a tongue portion in the sheet stack, the tongue portion having a part where one end part of the tongue portion is not separated from the sheet stack, and binds the sheet stack by bending the tongue portion and inserting the other end part of the tongue portion into the cut; and a sheet stack transport unit that transports the sheet stack in an orientation such that the one end part of the tongue portion in the sheet stack bound by the binding unit is on a downstream side of the other end part of the tongue portion in the sheet stack transport direction.
US08936233B1

A baluster bracket assembly including a pair of mounting brackets attached to facing surfaces of a handrail and a baserail for retaining a baluster in railing construction. Each mounting bracket includes a mounting plate fastened to the railing surface and a collar for receiving an end of the baluster. A shoe is provided with each mounting bracket for attachment to the end of the baluster and for covering the mounting bracket after installation.
US08936227B2

A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes a first rail including a locked portion, a second rail movably connected relative to the first rail and including bearing holes, a lock member including a lock portion and rotating around the bearing holes to engage the lock portion with the locked portion and disengage the lock portion from the locked portion to selectively bring a relative movement between the first and second rail into a locked state, and wherein the second rail includes a fracture opening allowing the shaft portion to shift from the bearing hole in a case where a load is inputted in the direction of the relative movement, and a restriction portion configured to restrict the lock member from rotating in a direction in which the locked state is released in a case where the shaft portion shifts from the bearing hole.
US08936225B2

An apparatus for storing and retrieving cookware and utensils utilizing an assembly attached to the interior of a kitchen cabinet. The assembly is accessible by slides attached to the cabinet and incorporates hanger assembling and hanging guard assemblies whose positions are adjustable along the length of the assembly. The hanger assemblies utilize hooks that hang in a downward vertical position and are capable of rotating and pivoting around their vertical axes. The hanging guards are constructed of material that protects and separates the cookware hanging from the hanging assemblies.
US08936224B2

The invention relates to a mounting system, in particular for solar modules (1), consisting of supports (2) with a closed hollow box profile (3), with connectors (4) for solar module fastening means, and connectors (5) for roof fastening means. At least the connectors (4) for the solar module fastening means are formed from longitudinal groove pairs—or longitudinal flange pairs in or on the hollow box profile (3) that are arranged at a distance from each other. The fastening means for the solar module (1) or solar modules (1) in the area of the support consist of a clamping piece with a shaped part (8), with each shaped part (8) having at least two webs (9.1, 9.2), arranged opposite each other on the shaped part (8) whereby at least one positive click connection with one of the groove pair—or flange pairs can be made by means of the ends remote from the shaped part (8), and the shaped part (8) has at least one bore hole (11) for the insertion of a fastening bolt (14). The fastening can be carried out as a click-in and/or click-on system.
US08936221B2

The present invention is directed to a wall bracket that mounts bundles to a wall. The wall bracket includes a bundle side member and a wall side member that engages the bundle side member. The bundle side member has a plurality of slots for receiving a locking tie. The wall side member having a plurality of pockets aligned with the plurality of slots. The plurality of pockets guide the locking tie when installed in the slots to secure the bundle on the wall bracket.
US08936218B2

An aircraft having a dihedral wing configuration with a wing fuel tank and a vent system for ventilating the fuel tank, the vent system including a combined vent-surge tank disposed inboard of at least part of the wing fuel tank, a vent fluidically connecting the vent-surge tank to ambient, and a vent line fluidically connecting the upper part of the fuel tank to the combined vent-surge tank, wherein the vent line has its lowest point at the combined vent-surge tank.
US08936217B2

A method for interconnecting electronic equipment within an aircraft includes installing a multi-dimensional backplane within the aircraft across a plurality of frame bays associated with the aircraft, the backplane including a plurality of connectors mounted thereon, contacts associated with the connectors interconnected by electrical conductors formed within the backplane, attaching shipside wiring to a first portion of the connectors on the backplane, and attaching electrical connectors of the electronic equipment to corresponding connectors on the backplane.
US08936208B2

An irrigation system includes a central pivot and a series of mobile towers connected to the central pivot and to one another by support structure. Each mobile tower has wheels and a motor for driving at least one of the wheels. A control system operates the motors to maintain alignment of the mobile towers and the central pivot while preventing power usage of the system from exceeding a maximum power threshold. The control system determines in which sequence to operate the motors to maintain alignment of the mobile towers while operating no more than a selected number of the motors simultaneously.
US08936207B2

Embodiments of the invention provide a bayonet system for attaching a nozzle body to a nozzle turret. The bayonet system can be rotated with respect to a spray nozzle. A seal can be positioned between the spray nozzle and the nozzle turret. The seal can be compressed by moving the bayonet system without exerting any substantial torsion force on the seal. The bayonet system can help prevent unintentional disengagement of the spray nozzle.
US08936198B1

In a data center containing numerous computer resources, a technician may use mobile device to scan an identification tag associated with a particular resource. In response, the operational status of the resource is determined and reported to the technician. Status information from different resources may be normalized for viewing by different types of support personnel in a common format.
US08936192B2

An interrogating and processing system and method is described. In one embodiment, a wireless communication device interrogates an information source, having a barcode or tag, and wirelessly transmits data indicative of the information source. The interrogator can be built into or adjunct to the wireless communication device. An automated processing subsystem receives the transmitted data and identifies an item corresponding to the data. A fulfillment subsystem effects delivery of the item to a destination. In another embodiment, there is a coupon code scanning and processing system and method. A wireless computing device having an interrogator reads a coupon code. An automated processing subsystem receives the corresponding data and provides a benefit associated with the coupon. The benefit can be a discount on a product or service. Alternatively, at least a portion of the coupon including a code is displayed on a screen of the computing device for processing at a point of sale terminal.
US08936189B2

An apparatus for punching holes is provided. The apparatus may include a base movable from a first position to a second position and first and second punch assemblies attached to and movable with the base. The punch assemblies may each include parallel punches movable relative to the base and having an end. The apparatus may include first and second cams fixed to a rotatable shaft and having an engagement portion for engagement with the ends of the respective punches at a predetermined rotation position of the shaft. When the base is in the first position, rotation of the shaft to the predetermined rotation position may cause movement of only one of the punches relative to the base. When the base is in the second position, rotation of the shaft to the predetermined rotation position may cause movement of only the other punch of the punch assemblies.
US08936186B2

There is provided a tool for friction stir welding having excellent wear resistance and chipping resistance. The tool for friction stir welding according to the present invention includes a base material, the base material includes a first hard phase, a second hard phase and a binder phase, the first hard phase is formed by WC particles, the second hard phase is formed by a compound of one or more metals selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W and one or more elements selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, carbon, boron, and oxygen, or a solid solution of the compound (except for WC), the binder phase is formed by an iron group metal, and the second hard phase is higher than or identical to the first hard phase in terms of volume ratio.
US08936177B2

A fluid dispenser comprising a body (1), a fluid reservoir (2), a dispenser member, such as a pump or a valve, mounted on said reservoir (2), and a dose indicator device for indicating the number of doses of fluid that have been dispensed or that remain to be dispensed from said reservoir, the dispenser being characterized in that said dose indicator device includes a first safety system for actuating the dose indicator device once the dispenser has performed a predetermined incomplete actuation stroke, even if the dispenser does not perform the complete actuation stroke.
US08936174B1

The plastic bag dispenser pipe is constructed of a wall bracket from which a pipe member is rigidly affixed. The pipe member extends laterally an undefined length, and is further characterized with a front opening that spans along the length. The pipe member includes distal openings, which enable a plurality of individually folded plastic bags to extend at both distal openings. Each individually folded plastic bag is individually removed from the plastic bag dispenser pipe as needed. The wall bracket includes mounting surfaces that enable the plastic bag dispenser pipe to be secured to a generally planar surface.
US08936170B2

A container and lid assembly are provided. The lid assembly has a base configured to engage an opening of the container. A hole in the base allows access to an interior chamber of the container. A surface extends upwardly and outwardly from the hole to act as a funnel to direct material towards the hole. A cover is rotatably coupled to the base to allow selective access to the hole.
US08936166B2

The present invention relates to a collapsible garment rail assembly that can be stacked with similar garment rail assemblies.
US08936149B2

A carrier for holding a plurality of containers. The carrier can comprise a bottom panel, a top panel at least partially in face-to-face contact with the bottom panel, a handle comprising a bottom gripping portion in the bottom panel and a top gripping portion in the top panel, and at least one container receiver for at least partially receiving a respective container of the plurality of containers. The at least one container receiver is foldably connected to the handle.
US08936148B2

A container carrier for unitizing a plurality of containers that includes two layers of a flexible sheet joined along a weld and two rows of container receiving apertures formed in the carrier and generally separated by the weld wherein each container receiving aperture forms an interruption in the weld. One or more tabs may extend from an edge of each container receiving aperture into the container receiving aperture to minimize movement and contact between adjacent containers in the resulting package.
US08936145B2

The invention relates to a material conveyor system (1) for a road paver and feeder. The material conveyor system (1) comprises a material hopper (2), which comprises a first and a second hopper half (3, 4), a main conveyor device (5), which defines a main conveyor flow and which runs between the first and the second hopper halves (3, 4), and conveying screws (6, 7), which define a transverse conveyor flow and which are arranged in the hopper halves (3, 4). The material conveyor system (1) is characterized in that the conveying screws (6, 7) can be operated independently of the main conveyor device. The independent operation of the conveying screws (6, 7) and the main conveyor device (5) makes it possible to achieve improved homogenization of the mixing temperature of the paving material.
US08936143B2

A wrap spring clutch system includes one or more wrap spring clutch assemblies each having a latching actuator assembly. The latching actuator assembly includes an armature plunger movably coupled with a solenoid coil, and in a powered solenoid coil state the solenoid coil moves the armature plunger between deployed and retracted configurations. A latching magnet latches the armature plunger in one of the deployed or retracted configuration in an unpowered solenoid coil state. A latching spring latches the armature plunger in the other of the deployed or retracted configuration in an unpowered solenoid coil state. The wrap spring clutches include a rotatable input hub and a rotatable output hub configured for rotation by the input hub. A helical spring is engaged with the output hub and selectively engaged in slipping and locking engagement with the input hub according to the deployed or retracted configuration of the armature plunger.
US08936138B2

A disc brake includes a brake disc, a sliding caliper, a single piston, and a brake pad carrier comprising a leading part and a trailing part. The brake pad carrier includes mounting features for securing the brake pad carrier to an associated structure of a vehicle. The mounting features define a mounting side and a non-mounting side of the brake. A mounting side brake pad comprises mounting side friction material and a non-mounting side brake pad comprising non-mounting side friction material. The center of pressure of the non-mounting side friction material is circumferentially aligned with the piston and the center of pressure of the mounting side friction material is offset in relation to the piston towards the leading part of the brake pad carrier.
US08936129B2

Provided is an electric vehicle that realizes a light electric straddled vehicle using a motor with a small size, and optimizes the left and right weight balances in the width direction of the vehicle with respect to the vehicle body centerline. The electric motor (250) is disposed inside a swing arm (124) of a cantilever type at a position overlapping a projection area of a rear wheel WR when seen from the side portion of the vehicle body. The motor driver (216) is disposed inside the swing arm (124) so that the vehicle body centerline (C) passing through at the front side of the vehicle body in the rear wheel (WR). The position (G2) of the center of gravity of the motor driver (216) is disposed to be offset in the direction opposite to the offset direction of the electric motor (250) with respect to the vehicle body centerline (C).
US08936128B2

A wheel loader comprises an engine, an exhaust gas post-processing device, an engine room, a top plate, a cooling room, a partition wall, and a drainage mechanism. The exhaust gas post-processing device is disposed above the engine in the engine room and includes a diesel particulate filtering device and a selective catalyst reduction catalyst device. The top plate has a sloping part with a height that decreases toward the rear, and a first ventilation part that includes a plurality of through-holes formed in the sloping part. The top plate defines an upper plane of the engine room. The cooling room accommodates a cooling unit and is disposed to the rear of the engine room, separated by the partition wall. The drainage mechanism is disposed below the first ventilation part, and configured to drain water entering the engine room from the first ventilation part to the outside of the engine room.
US08936127B2

Provided is a construction machine including a guard panel with an air suction port and capable of ensuring a required intake opening area with suppressed disadvantages of the air suction port. The construction machine includes an engine, a cooling fan, and a heat exchanger which are accommodated in a device accommodation space in an upper slewing body, and a guard panel covering the device accommodation space. The guard panel includes a first panel with an opening edge defining an opening and a second panel that opens and closes the opening and has a peripheral portion to be supported by the opening edge with the opening closed. Respective parts of the peripheral portion and the opening edge are shifted from each other in an inward-outward direction to form an air suction port bringing the device accommodation space into communication with outside, between the second panel and the first panel.
US08936125B2

A battery container which is to house a battery for a vehicle and which is to be attached between at least two frames disposed in the vehicle, includes: a bottom plate; a wall member which is raised from a circumference of the bottom plate and which includes a side wall member disposed along the frames; an outer frame which is attached to an outer side of the side wall member; and an inner frame which is attached to an inner side of the side wall member. The outer frame and the inner frame are extended in a substantially same direction along the side wall member, and the side wall member is clampingly held between the outer frame and the inner frame.
US08936117B2

In an embodiment, a polycrystalline diamond compact includes a polycrystalline diamond table having nanocrystalline diamond present in an amount greater than zero weight percent to about 5 weight percent of the polycrystalline diamond table. The polycrystalline diamond table including a catalyst material distributed throughout at least a portion thereof. The polycrystalline diamond compact includes a substrate bonded to the polycrystalline diamond table.
US08936115B2

A cutting table includes a cutting surface, an opposing surface, a cutting table outer wall, and one or more fins. The cutting table outer wall extends from the circumference of the opposing surface to the circumference of the cutting surface. The fins extend from a portion of the cutting surface to a portion of the cutting table outer wall. The cutting table is optionally leached prior to forming the fins. One or more fins are positioned in parallel with at least another fin in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the fins are positioned circumferentially around the cutting surface. In some embodiments, the cutting table is coupled to a substrate to form a cutter. The fins are formed either after or during the formation of the cutting table.
US08936114B2

A composite may generally include a substantially continuous binder phase and a first reinforcing agent cluster infiltrated by the binder phase, the first reinforcing agent cluster comprising a plurality of first reinforcing agent particles. A drill bit may include at least one cutting element for engaging a formation and a bit body, at least a portion of said drill bit being a composite that includes a substantially continuous binder phase and a first reinforcing agent cluster infiltrated by the binder phase.
US08936111B2

An invert emulsion drilling fluid, and a method of drilling with such fluid, having improved rheology at low mud weights and high temperatures. The improved rheology is effected with addition of hydrophobic amines, most preferably dimer diamines.
US08936109B2

Cutting elements for downhole cutting tools comprise a top surface having a cutting surface portion and a cutting profile disposed across the top surface. The cutting elements comprise first and second longitudinal side surfaces and first and second lateral side surfaces, each having a respective cross-section. The cutting profile can be disposed on the cutting surface either asymmetrically or symmetrically. Asymmetrical disposition permits two cutting elements to be arranged facing each other to cover a center point of a cutting tool. The cutting edge of asymmetrical or symmetrically disposed cutting profiles can have a shape that facilitates self-sharpening during cutting.
US08936106B2

An orthopedic impacting tool comprises a motor, an energy storage arrangement, a striker, and an anvil. The motor stores energy in the energy arrangement means and then releases it, causing the striker to apply a controlled force on an adapter to create a precise impact for use in a surgical setting. The tool may further comprise a combination anvil and adapter. The tool further allows forward or backward impacting for expanding the size or volume of the opening or for facilitating removal of a broach, implant, or other surgical implement from the opening. An energy adjustment control of the tool allows a surgeon to increase or decrease the impact energy. A light source and hand grips improve ease of operation of the tool.
US08936097B2

A method for downhole injecting treatment fluids, and for providing in an annular space between a well tubular and the surrounding formation or between pipes of a wellbore system, includes loading the treatment fluids into separate fluid containers that are arranged in an injection tool. Each container includes container walls that surround the fluid in the fluid container, and an outlet opening. The method also includes lowering the injection tool body into the wellbore or the well tubular to a predetermined position, and then pumping the fluids from each fluid container into the wellbore or the well tubular.
US08936091B2

A jet pump mounts on a pipe string in a well passing through coal beds. The pipe string length is greater than the lower coal bed occurrence depth. A carrying ring, with filtering shoe attached on a switcher, mounts below the lower bed floor. A carrying ring with bypass ports mounts on the string above the upper bed roof. A packer mounts on the string below the ports above the upper bed roof. A pump housing with a removable insert seat, having a nozzle and a mixing chamber with diffuser, mounts on the ring. The housing has a working fluid and exhausted fluid mixture draining channel and an exhausted fluid supplying channel, provided with a check valve. The housing connects to a working fluid supply pipe provided on the upper end with a sealing element disposed on the ring, and an inlet funnel receiving the removable insert.
US08936086B2

Method including the steps of providing a treatment fluid that comprises a base fluid and polymeric particulates and introducing the treatment fluid into a subterranean formation having a temperature above about 65° C. The polymeric particulates comprise a degradable polymer and a plasticizer and exhibit a Tg above about −15° C. When the polymeric particulates are placed into a subterranean formation having a temperature above about 65° C. they transform from rigid form to malleable form and are able to provide fluid loss, seal the rock surfaces for fluid diversion, or plug an area along the annulus of a well bore. The malleable particulates then degrade over time in the subterranean formation.
US08936084B2

Methods of making a degradable ball composition comprising a carboxylic acid, a fatty alcohol, a fatty acid salt, a fatty ester, or a combination thereof comprising the steps of: forming a thermoplastic mass, and allowing the thermoplastic mass to cool as to form a degradable ball that is introduced in subterranean treatments by a carrier fluid.
US08936073B1

A drilling rig with static resistant synthetic inter-connectable structural mat assembly. The assembly has a plurality of static resistant mats, wherein each mat engages another mat without tools or fasteners and each mat has a top layer, a middle layer, a bottom layer, a static charge conduction conduit through the mats, and an optional non-skid coating partially embedded in the mats to support drilling rigs. The mats are made from 100 percent recycled rust proof, non-absorbing post-consumer waste materials.
US08936064B1

The invention is a security trolley lock for garage door openers. The trolley lock is a “U-shaped” element that removably attaches to a garage door trolley for preventing lateral access to the release lever of a garage door opener system. The trolley lock has a pass-through opening for allowing attachment of said trolley to a garage door trolley and another pass-through opening for receiving a lock means preventing unauthorized actuation of the release lever.
US08936058B2

A method of manufacturing tires includes making a plurality of structural components for tires, assembling the components following a pre-established sequence at respective work stations disposed along a manufacturing line, transferring the tires to a curing line, and curing the tires in respective vulcanization molds. The tires are sequentially transferred along the manufacturing line from a first work station to successive work stations. At least one series of tires is simultaneously processed on the manufacturing line and the curing line, and the at least one series of tires includes at least one first tire model and at least one second tire model different from the at least one first tire model. The tires are transferred from the manufacturing line to the curing line at a same rate as the tires are sequentially transferred along the manufacturing line from the first work station to the successive work stations.
US08936055B2

Tire tread (1) comprising a plurality of blocks (6), each block (6) comprising a leading face (61), a trailing face (62) and a contact face (60), the leading face (61) making a mean angle αA greater than 0 degrees, the trailing edge (62) making a mean angle αF greater than 0 degrees, the angle αA of the leading face (61) being greater than the angle αF of the trailing face, each block (6) comprises an incision (7) extending into the thickness of the block, this incision (7) being delimited by opposing faces provided with blocking means (71) for blocking the relative movements of one of the said faces with respect to the other face in at least one direction, this incision (7) dividing the contact face (60) of the block into two parts with substantially equal surface areas, this tread being characterized in that the incision (7) is inclined by a mean angle β, measured with respect to the perpendicular to the contact face (60) in the same direction as the angle αA of the leading face and in that the volume of material contained between the leading face (61) and the incision (7) is less than the volume of material contained between the trailing face (62) and the same incision (7).
US08936047B2

A reinforced hose assembly includes tubular inner layers with a uniform interior radial surface and an exterior radial surface. The tubular inner layer defines a longitudinal axis along a length thereof and comprises a first fluorocarbon polymer. The reinforced hose assembly also includes a bonding layer comprising a second fluorocarbon polymer. The bonding layer is disposed about the exterior radial surface of the tubular inner layer. The reinforced hose assembly also includes a reinforcing element comprising the second fluorocarbon polymer, attached to bonding layer and helically disposed about the tubular inner layer at a predetermined helical pitch measured relative to the longitudinal axis of the tubular inner layer.
US08936042B2

A dual control shut off system, such as a dead man system for a blasting system, blasting equipment, or other equipment having both pneumatic and electric safety control circuits, may include an electric dead man's switch or a pneumatic dead man's switch. An embodiment of the dual control dead man system is for wet abrasive blasting systems used for cleaning, preparing surfaces, removing coatings, and/or other abrasive blasting operations. Embodiments of the dual control shut off system provide the ability to conveniently switch between an electric and pneumatic shut off system.
US08936039B2

A communication apparatus, an air conditioning system having the same, and a communication method for the air conditioning system using a refrigerant pipe are provided. The refrigerant pipe may be used as a transmission line to allow communications between an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, and a low frequency band signal and a core having an inductance value appropriate for the characteristic of a pipe communication frequency may be used to perform the pipe communication, which allows communications between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit without a separate communication line, resulting in minimizing noise interruption and affection of surge, and avoiding signal strength attenuation and signal radiation.
US08936036B2

A flap door having a soft hinge for a lay-down hunting blind comprises a fabric door frame cover, a door frame receiving pocket formed in the door frame cover, a door frame enclosed within the door frame receiving pocket supporting the door frame cover in planar configuration, the door frame having interconnected U-shaped head end and toe end support members having curved head end and toe end hinge corners supported on the framework of the hunting blind's enclosure, a hinge end of the door frame cover attached to one of two opposing lateral edges of the top opening of the fabric enclosure of the blind without any direct mechanical interconnection between the door frame and the support framework of the enclosure such that a pair of flap doors may be moved between opened and closed configurations over the top opening.
US08936020B1

Some embodiments of the invention relate to a solar preheater having a central body, which includes a base and an outer cover, wherein the base is arranged to receive the outer cover. The solar preheater includes a first thermal collection mechanism and a second thermal collection mechanism.
US08936015B2

A repeating mechanism for an air gun includes a high pressure air storage chamber and a driving air chamber. An air stream automatic control valve is arranged between the high pressure air storage chamber and the driving air chamber. An air outlet valve is arranged between the driving air chamber and an air outlet and interlocked with a trigger interlock mechanism. The repeating mechanism can achieve the purpose that corresponding high pressure air can be blown inside according to the designed pressure force of the high pressure air storage chamber and the driving air chamber, and the process of opening or closing the air outlet valve of the air gun can not be limited by the pressure force of the high pressure air, thereby obtaining the air gun with a further firing range or obtaining more firing frequency after aeration.
US08936009B2

A pressure regulator is disclosed having a body, a valve seat dividing a cavity of the body into first and second portions, and an end stop movable against a bias to selectively engage the valve seat and isolate the first and second portions. The pressure regulator may also have a first inlet port in the first portion, a first outlet port in the second portion and in fluid communication with the first portion via the valve seat, and a second inlet port in the second portion. The fuel system may also have a valve element in the second portion and movable against a spring bias based on a pressure difference between an open position and a restricted position against the end stop. The fuel system may additionally have an actuator biased to urge the valve element toward the second position and selectively actuated to move away from the valve element.
US08936008B2

A fuel pump module for a vehicle includes a reservoir having a longitudinal axis. An aperture is arranged within a bottom surface of the reservoir. The aperture has a plurality of vanes extending towards a central ring. An umbrella valve having an elongated stem is movably secured within the central ring of the aperture. The elongated stem is movable between a first position completely overlaying the aperture to a second position at a distance from the aperture. A suction filter is located within the reservoir at the bottom surface thereof. The suction filter has an undersurface sized for receipt of the umbrella valve in both the first and second positions.
US08936007B2

In a compression self-igniting internal combustion engine, a fuel injection by an auxiliary injection ends before a gas temperature inside a cylinder reaches a temperature at which a fuel starts a low-temperature oxidation reaction. Specifically, an in-cylinder gas temperature (750K) is used as a reference, and the auxiliary injection is carried out before the in-cylinder gas temperature reaches 750K, so as to separate the low-temperature oxidation reaction and a high-temperature oxidation reaction from one another. This control makes a premixed combustion slow before a compression top dead center is reached, and ensures control of the premixed combustion in a temperature controlled manner in accordance with the transition of the in-cylinder gas temperature. This ensures unambiguous determination of the injection time of the auxiliary injection based on the in-cylinder temperature, and facilitates the attempt to simplify the fuel injection control.
US08935997B2

A ventilation system for an engine is disclosed. The ventilation system may include a first conduit configured to connect an exhaust system of the engine with a crankcase of the engine, a second conduit configured to connect to a vent of the crankcase, and a valve disposed within the second conduit. Additionally, the ventilation system may include a sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of a concentration of a gaseous constituent within the crankcase of the engine, and a controller in communication with the valve and the sensor, the controller being configured to selectively move the valve based on the signal.
US08935994B2

Gasoline fuel and method of making and using it. The fuel comprises from 5 to 20 vol.-% paraffinic hydrocarbons originating from biological oils, fats, or derivatives or combinations thereof. Further, it comprises oxygenates, such as ethanol present in a concentration of about 5 to 15 vol.-%; or iso-butanol present in a concentration of 5 to 20 vol.-%, preferably about 10 to 17 vol.-%; or ETBE present in a concentration of 7 to 25 vol.-%, preferably about 15 to 22 vol.-%. The bioenergy content of the gasoline is at least 14 Energy equivalent percentage (Eeqv-%) calculated based on the heating values given in the European Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC. By means of the invention, fuels with a high bioenergy content are provided which can be used in conventional gasoline-fuelled automotive engines.
US08935986B2

Agricultural seed planting systems are provided. In some aspects, the system includes a processing unit, a frame, a furrow opener coupled to the frame for opening a furrow in soil, and a sensor in communication with the processing unit and adapted to sense a characteristic associated with seed planting. The sensor may generate a signal associated with the sensed characteristic and the processing unit may receive the signal. In some aspects, the sensed characteristic may be either a soil characteristic or a seed characteristic. Information associated with the sensed characteristic can be saved in memory for future use and to assist with more effective planting in the future.
US08935983B2

A locomotive (or other rail vehicle) truck and method for distributing weight asymmetrically to axles of the truck includes a first axle of a truck uncoupled from a traction system of the locomotive and a first suspension assembly coupling the first axle to the truck for applying to the first axle a first portion of a locomotive weight. The truck also includes a second axle coupled to the traction system and a second suspension assembly coupling the second axle to the truck for applying a second portion of the locomotive weight to the second axle that is greater than the first portion so that weight is asymmetrically distributed to the first axle and the second axle so as to transmit a corresponding incremental amount of tractive effort for a given amount of a driving torque applied to the second axle via the traction system of the locomotive. The axle weight distribution involves relatively slight weight distribution compared to the nominal weights normally carried by the axles.
US08935979B2

A bale size sensing mechanism for an agricultural round baler having bale chamber partially defined by continuous side-by-side belts disposed between a pair of spaced-apart side walls and trained around a plurality of rolls. Bale size sensing mechanisms disposed in each side wall detects the density of the transverse ends of a bale forming within the chamber and provides the measure to a controller which determines the transverse uniformity of the bale. Each sensing mechanism includes a generally planar element having a wedge-shaped periphery with a vertex, the planar element being pivotally coupled to the baler adjacent to the vertex and a portion of the wedge-shaped periphery projecting into the bale-forming chamber to interact with the bale forming therein. The wedge-shaped periphery minimizes open areas within the bale chamber into which turbulent crop could enter and jam the sensing mechanism.
US08935975B2

An incendiary machine (10) comprises a feed and dispensing system (12), a priming system (20) and a control system. The feed and dispensing system (12) feeds a belt (14) of incendiary capsules (16) to a region at which individual capsules are separated from the belt and dispensed from the machine (10). The priming system (20) primes the capsule (16) prior to being dispensed from the machine (10) with a priming liquid which, when delivered into a capsule, facilitates an exothermic reaction. The control system controls the feed and dispensing system (12), and the priming system (20) independently of each other so that the belt (14) can be fed into and indeed thought the machine (10) with the priming liquid being injected into the capsules.
US08935973B2

In an improvement to a pipe re-facing machine having a rotatable flange plate and a coaxially-mounted collar rotatable with and longitudinally movable relative to the flange plate, a support bracket projects from the flange plate, and a support block is retainingly mounted to and movable relative to the support bracket in an angled radial direction. The support block is adapted to receive a tool holder carrying a cutting element. An actuating mechanism is engageable with the support block such that longitudinal movement of the collar will move the support block relative to the support bracket. The actuating mechanism can thus move the cutting element in an angled direction relative to the axis of a tubular workpiece, thereby enabling machining of a bevelled edge on an annular shoulder of a tubular workpiece non-rotatably mounted to the re-facing machine by longitudinally moving the collar while rotating the flange plate.
US08935972B2

A firefighter tool has pivotably connected handles and jaws, and one handle has an outer generally sinusoidal surface and the handle end is formed with a hook facingly disposed to the generally sinusoidal surface. The handles open fully so that the user grips the other handle and the sinusoidal surface hook alternately operably contactingly engages differently sized and configured fire hose couplings.
US08935969B2

A manual operator for a vehicle, wherein the manual operator can be simply operated, has a good appearance, and allows a sufficient space for a manual operator for a parking brake. A first manual operator (13) pivotably mounted on a handlebar (11) has an output section (26) mounted so as to be pivotable about the center of a first support shaft (12). A second manual operator (15) has an input section (44) provided so as to be pivotable about a second support shaft (14) when pushed by the output section (26). The second manual operator (15) is a manual operator adapted for a vehicle parking brake and capable of setting the vehicle to a parked state.
US08935966B2

In a dual clutch transmission, a transmission control unit operates at vehicle start such that a clutch engaged is changed from a second clutch, which is on a high speed gear stage side, to a first clutch, which is on a low speed gear stage side, resulting in a torque transmission path being changed. At this time, torque capacities of the first and second clutches change so that thermal loads on the first and second clutches are equal or approximately equal according to a clutch rotational speed difference that is a rotational speed difference between the driving side and the driven side in the first clutch.
US08935962B2

A sensor assembly including a flexible member having a first end and a second end, a rotating member connected to the second end of the flexible member, a positional element disposed on the rotating member, and a sensor capable of sensing a movement of the positional element. A movement of the second end of the flexible member allows the rotating member and the positional element to rotate.
US08935955B2

A test stand for dynamic testing of an individual running gear component or of a complete axle system of a motor vehicle includes a test stand frame having. The test stand frame has a mounting area configured for mounting the complete axle system in the mounting area in a first installation direction. A fastening device is configured for fixed mounting of the individual running gear component on the fastening device in a second installation direction, the second installation direction being different from the first installation direction. An actuator is configured for dynamic excitation of both of the complete axle system and the individual running gear component. The actuator is configured to connect to the individual running gear component or the complete axle system in a region of a point of intersection of the first installation direction and the second installation direction.
US08935947B2

According to the present invention, an apparatus for manufacturing necking cans processes inlets of cans for which drawing processes are completed, wherein the apparatus comprises: a lower press plate; an upper press plate arranged so as to move linearly in the upward and downward directions relative to the lower press plate; a molding unit including a guide formed on the lower press plate, a plurality of holders arranged on the guide such that the holders can be transferred, and a plurality of molds arranged on the upper press plate; transferring means for transferring the holders along the guide; and driving means for driving the upper press plate. The apparatus of the present invention is advantageous in that cans for which the drawing processes are completed are linearly transferred by a plurality of cylinders and processed at a high speed.
US08935935B2

Methods for monitoring a sensor of a refrigerator appliance are provided. The methods include activating an auto-fill feature of the refrigerator appliance and receiving a signal from a sensor of the refrigerator appliance. The method also includes displaying a message on a display of the refrigerator appliance if the sensor does not detect the container within the dispenser recess. The message can provide a user with feedback regarding the auto-fill feature and assist the user with properly operating the auto-fill feature.
US08935932B2

The invention relates to vapor absorption refrigeration. The invention provides methods for carrying out vapor absorption refrigeration, and a vapor absorption refrigeration installation. The invention provides also a method for operating an absorption stage of a vapor absorption refrigeration system and an absorption stage installation for a vapor absorption refrigeration installation.
US08935920B2

A hydrostatic drive including a hydrostatic pump configured to supply a transmission fluid. The hydrostatic drive further includes an axle motor and a drum motor. The axle motor is configured to drive a set of traction wheels and the drum motor is configured to drive a drum. The hydrostatic drive also includes an axle drive line and a drum drive line. The axle drive line and the drum drive line are connected to the axle motor and the drum motor respectively to supply the transmission fluid. A manifold integrally connected to the hydrostatic pump to operatively couple the axle drive line and the drum drive line with the hydrostatic pump.
US08935919B2

A method and a device for controlling a load sensing hydraulic system, having a bypass valve (F), which is controlled by a pump pressure (P) and which when the hydraulic system is in operation diverts a pump flow of hydraulic fluid to a tank (E). The bypass valve (F) is pre-stressed towards a closed position and is put on load by the pump pressure (P) towards an open position against the action of the pre-stress. When the hydraulic system operates in a idling operation a first pre-stress element (I) limits the pre-stress to a first pressure and upon activation of the hydraulic system, a pressure regulator (10) increases the pre-stress to a second, substantially higher pressure by applying a hydraulic, constant second pre-stress force, that is added to the first pre-stress force and is substantially greater than this.
US08935903B2

A centering unit for aligning at least two grouped vessels, a liftable and lowerable precentering mechanism as well as a liftable and lowerable final centering mechanism being provided so as to improve the alignment. According to a preferred embodiment, the precentering mechanism may include a plurality of subcentering mechanism so that vessels coming from different infeeds can be centered by mechanism a centering unit.
US08935896B2

Support panels for masonry objects and associated methods of use are disclosed herein. A support panel for masonry objects may include an inner surface, an outer surface, at least one stiffening channel formed longitudinally along the support panel, and a plurality of substantially C-shaped tabs extending from the outer surface, the tabs being disposed in spaced apart relation to one another to form a grid, wherein the tabs are configured to contactingly support at least a portion of a masonry object.
US08935891B2

A catalyst for the metathesis of olefins in general and specifically for the production of propylene from ethylene and butylene has been developed. The catalyst comprises a tungsten metal compound, which contains at least one tungsten-fluoro bond, dispersed or grafted onto a support. A specific example of the catalyst is the compound WOF(CH2CMe3)3 grafted onto a silica support.
US08935888B2

An inflatable mold assembly for forming a hollow composite construction member that is suitable for use as a building material has a longitudinal axis. The mold assembly further has a flexible, substantially tubular bladder wall defining an elongated inflatable cavity. A reinforcing fabric is positioned concentrically around the flexible bladder wall. A flexible air-impervious outer layer is positioned concentrically around the fabric, with the bladder wall and the outer layer defining an elongated annular space, and with the fabric being positioned within the elongated annular space.
US08935886B2

In an aspect, a window regulator module kit is provided, comprising a guide rail having substantially no helical twist, a carrier plate having a selected mounting arrangement configured to bring the guide rail to a selected helically twisted position when the guide rail is mounted to the carrier plate, a lifter mountable to the guide rail, wherein the lifter is configured to hold a window glass, and a cable drive assembly connectable to the lifter so as to slide the lifter along the arcuate rail.
US08935884B2

The invention relates to an arrangement (10) for closing an opening for the input and/or output of notes of a device for handling notes. The arrangement (10) comprises a pivotable shutter element and a rotary solenoid. An armature of the rotary solenoid is connected to the shutter element via a connecting element. In a first position of the armature the shutter element is arranged in a closed position, and in a second position of the armature the shutter element is arranged in an open position.
US08935880B2

Methods for manipulating yield and generation time of plants, especially short day plants such as soybean are provided. The methods comprise manipulating external signals such as long day conditions, short day conditions, growth medium, and nutrient supply.
US08935870B2

A pole sign system having a pole, a sign, and a pole clamp attachment assembly that includes a perforated square tubing attached to a back surface of the sign, a cable configured to be wrapped around the pole and having first and second ends, and a pair of teethed clamps on each end of the cable, each clamp configured to be attached to the square tubing on the sign and adjustably tightened to the cable and the pole.
US08935869B2

A dual arm sign includes an upstanding panel stretched between resilient arms.
US08935863B2

A method of dredging a pond uses a submersible assembly, having a dredging cutter and submersible pump, which is submersed in the pond. The submersible assembly is moved along a bottom of the pond by winches. A controller receives signals from a global positioning system as to the position of the submersible assembly in the pond and moves the submersible assembly in a continuous dredging pattern through the coordinated operation of the winches.
US08935861B2

An article of footwear comfortably accommodating different foot sizes is disclosed. The article comprises an upper, sole and integrally formed cleat members made of a monolithic material. In addition, the article can include an integrally formed internal cushioning system. The article further includes grooves and/or perforations that assist the footwear in stretching to accommodate different foot sizes.
US08935860B2

A shoe have a sole and a shoe upper is provided with a mechanism for automatically tightening the shoe on a foot to a preset level of tightness that has been stored in memory. The wearer can select and change the level of tightness as desired.
US08935844B2

A system for securing at least one cable in a conduit having first and second ends, the at least one cable being housed in the conduit and extending therethrough. The system includes a first inhibiting device disposed at the conduit proximate the first end and a second inhibiting device disposed at the conduit proximate the second end. Each of the inhibiting devices includes a stopper having a proximal end, a distal end, and a passageway formed therethrough for receiving the at least one cable. First and second thickening devices are respectively disposed adjacent each stopper. Each thickening device is operable to secure to the at least one cable. The first and second thickening devices cooperate with a respective one of the stoppers to deter removal of the at least one cable from the conduit when the thickening devices are secured to the at least one cable.
US08935837B2

A hanging memorial for displaying pictures and ashes of the deceased, and storing keepsakes. The hanging memorial includes a frame and an urn; the urn being integrated into the frame. A lateral wall and a front panel of the frame define a storage volume in which keepsakes can be placed. Alternatively an internal storage box can define the storage volume. The frame further includes a frame insert that can be configured to display a physical painting or photograph, or configured to display digital pictures. The urn is removably attached or pivotally connected to the frame by an at least one bracket, such that the contents of the urn are readily accessible. The hanging memorial may further include a niche about which the at least one bracket is positioned and into which the urn is positioned. Alternative support mechanism may also be used in place of the at least one bracket.
US08935834B2

Bracelet clasp (1) with a buckle (10) having strands carrying shouldered pins (6, 7) cooperating with eyes (8, 9) in the buckle, with two pushers (11, 12) antagonistic against springs, each controlling two bolts (15, 16; 17, 18), where the first pusher (11) integrally drives a first bolt (15) opposite a first pin (6) and a second bolt (16) opposite a second pin (7), this first pin (6) and a second bolt (18) opposite this second pin (7), so that only the combined actuation of the two pushers (11, 12) drives all of the bolts (15, 16, 17, 18) through their entire release travel to release these pins (6, 7) and one of the bolts (17, 18) remains locked during insertion of a pin (6, 7) in an eye (8, 9).
US08935833B2

In a cam lock buckle, a slide mechanism holds a movable member so that the movable member can slide between a first position at which a shaft is located close to a first end of an elongated hole and a second position at which the shaft is located close to a second end of the elongated hole. A gap defined between a holding portion and a bottom portion when the movable member is slid to the second position is narrower than a gap defined between the holding portion and the bottom portion when the movable member is slid to the first position. One of the holding portion and the bottom portion facing the holding portion is provided with a concave groove and the other of the holding portion and the bottom portion is provided with a convex tread that pushes a part of the belt into the concave groove.
US08935831B2

The invention relates generally to the field of fasteners used with flexible strapping to secure cargo. In embodiments of the invention, a wire buckle fastener includes a retention tab coupled to an inside shoulder of the buckle. The retention tab prevents the inside shoulder from being pulled through a base of the buckle when the buckle is in use. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the retention tab may be configured as a loop or an open curve.
US08935825B2

A wiper blade assembly including: a primary lever including a spoiler portion; and a secondary lever disposed on a side of the primary lever and hinge-coupled to the spoiler portion of the primary lever, wherein support portions are disposed on an inner surface of the spoiler portion of the primary lever and prevent the movement of the secondary lever. The support portions support the secondary lever to prevent the secondary lever from moving on the inner surface of the spoiler portion of the primary lever when a wiper is or is not in operation.
US08935812B2

A glove has a top panel and a bottom panel that together form a main glove body. Fingers, including an index finger and other fingers, extend from the main glove body, each of the fingers having a top side and a bottom side corresponding with the top panel and bottom panels of the main glove body. A thumb extends from the main glove body. A region, at a juncture of the index finger and the main glove body on or adjacent the top panel and/or the thumb, has an insulating pad covering a portion of the region.
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