US08979682B2
A ball bat includes one or more low-durability regions fortified by one or more reinforcing elements. If the reinforcing element is altered or removed, the durability of the ball bat is significantly reduced. For example, if the ball bat is subjected to internal shaving or external rolling in an attempt to increase the bat's performance, the reinforcing element would de removed or damaged such that the durability of the bat is reduced to the point that the ball bat's performance remains below a specified limit.
US08979679B2
A golf having hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions is disclosed. In wet playing conditions, moisture may be repelled by the hydrophobic portions and attracted to the hydrophilic portions. Thus, the surface of the hydrophobic portions may remain dry such that the friction between a golf club head and the golf ball surface is not reduced. As a result, the golf ball may not be adversely affected by wet playing conditions.
US08979673B2
Embodiments of golf club heads with weight redistribution channels are described herein. Other examples and related embodiments are also disclosed herein.
US08979672B2
A wood-type golf club head includes a main body and a striking wall associated with the main body. The striking wall has a striking face including a face center, a first imaginary plane tangent to the face center, and a rear surface opposite the striking face. In a second imaginary plane perpendicular to the first imaginary plane and passing through, the face center, the striking face includes a first point associated with a maximum thickness, tmax, of the striking wall, and a second point associated with a minimum thickness, tmin, of the striking wall, such that a ratio, tmax/tmin, is no less than 1.70. Also, in the second imaginary plane, the striking wall gradually tapers in thickness entirely from the first point to the second point.
US08979655B2
A computer-implemented system for providing a virtualized application hosting environment comprising: a plurality of application/game servers each having a memory for storing application program code and data and a processor for executing the application program code and processing the data on behalf of a client; a virtualization service executed on each of the application/game servers, the virtualization service comprising a file redirection module for redirecting file read/write operations generated by the application program code to one or more virtualized file locations; and a registry redirection module for intercepting registry operations generated by the application program code and executing the registry operations on behalf of the application program code at one or more virtualized registry locations.
US08979654B2
Gaming system having a display/input device configured to interactively operate with external device
A game table having a multiplayer interactive display/input device which enables multiple players to play primary or base wagering games and/or secondary or bonus games using the display/input device. The display/input device enables multiple players to simultaneously interact with the game table and the various games using the same display/input device. In various embodiments, the game table operates with one or more separate physical input devices, each having one or a plurality of the encoded patterns and each being sized and configured to be placed on top of the game table. The separate physical input devices enable the player to interact with the display/input device.
US08979653B2
Based on posture/motion information which is output from predetermined detection means for detecting a posture or a motion of an input device operated by a user, a posture of the input device at a predetermined timing is calculated and stored as a reference posture. Then, based on the posture/motion information, the posture of the input device is constantly calculated as a current posture, and a difference of the current posture from the reference posture is calculated. In addition, based on the difference between the posture/motion information and the posture difference, a re-calculation necessity degree, which represents the necessity degree of re-calculation of the reference posture, is constantly calculated. When the re-calculation necessity degree exceeds a predetermined value, a presentation for urging the re-calculation of the reference posture is made.
US08979652B1
Some aspects discussed herein may provide for a dynamic and real-time analysis of a virtual environment around a player as the player traverses the virtual environment. The analysis may determine candidate hooks (interaction points) for player movement in the virtual environment, and a best hook may be selected for performing a movement action. The movement action may be selected based on the selected hook, providing fluid and natural movement through the virtual environment. The candidate hooks may be determined based on a plurality of three dimensional ray traces originating from points along a left side and a right side of the player and at a range of heights. Collision points from the ray traces may be analyzed to determine whether they may support movement interaction, and valid points may be used to create the candidate hooks.
US08979647B2
A method is disclosed in a gaming and media system for quickly and efficiently showing all friends gaming at a given time, what they are playing, and for providing the ability to download and/or join their friend's game. Information relating to which friends are gaming online, what games they are playing and whether their games are joinable are consolidated onto a single GUI. That same GUI, referred to as a Friends Playing Now GUI, also provides the user with the ability to join games which are indicated to be joinable.
US08979639B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a gaming system and method providing multiway evaluation for a game including multi-component symbols that are utilized to determine one or more modifiers. In one embodiment, the gaming system is configured to operate a game associated with a plurality of reels including a plurality of individual symbols and a plurality of multi-component symbols including a plurality of the individual symbols. The gaming system displays a plurality of the symbols on the reels and determines a quantity of adjacent reels that each displays at least one instance of a first individual symbol. The gaming system determines a modifier for each of the adjacent reels based on a quantity of instances of the first individual symbol displayed by that reel, and determines any awards for the first individual symbol based on the determined quantity of adjacent reels and any determined modifiers.
US08979630B2
A method and system for monitoring consecutive games of roulette played at a live roulette gaming table. The table includes a table layout, a roulette wheel and a chipper machine for sorting and counting betting chips. During each game, players bet on a spin of the roulette wheel by indicating bets on the table layout with the chips. Chip count data from the chipper machine along with game activity data from one or more gaming table monitoring systems is recorded and processed by a table computer to identify at least one game delineation event and associated timing information. The chip count data is analyzed based on the timing information for game delineation event: and then portions of the chip count data are assigned to respective roulette games. The recorded data may be later analyzed to determine a range of performance characteristics including optimization characteristics, and/or immediately communicated to the table operators.
US08979621B2
A system for storing articles can have at least two operating modes. In the first mode, gases are evacuated from the system whereby the articles are stored at a pressure less than the pressure at the exterior of the system. In the second mode, gases are evacuated while the system is open to the admittance of gases from the exterior of the system whereby the articles are ventilated by the admitted gases. The system also can have a third operating mode wherein both the first and second modes are rendered inoperative. The storage system can function so that when the articles are stored in the first mode, gases are intermittently removed from the system whereby the pressure at which the articles are stored is maintained at less than the pressure at the exterior of the system. The storage system can be located in a refrigeration appliance such as a household refrigerator.
US08979620B2
A hood article and a method of use for a seat conditioning assembly. The hood article including an air-impermeable housing with an internal hollow chamber and at least a first aperture adapted and a second aperture to connect an air mover to a collar device of an air distribution system assembly. The hood article used for fluidly connecting the air mover to the air distribution system assembly.
US08979619B2
The invention relates to a packaging plant for packing sausages or other objects, comprising a manufacturing device, a buffer device, a feeding device, an insertion device, and a packaging machine, the buffer device comprising a length-variable transport section, and a method for operating a packaging plant according to the invention.
US08979615B2
The polishing apparatus has a polishing unit capable of polishing a peripheral portion of the substrate to form a right-angled cross section. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate holder that holds and rotates the substrate; guide rollers that support a polishing tape; and a polishing head having a pressing member that presses an edge of the polishing tape against the peripheral portion of the substrate from above. The guide rollers are arranged such that the polishing tape extends parallel to a tangential direction of the substrate and a polishing surface of the polishing tape is parallel to a surface of the substrate. The substrate holder includes: a holding stage that holds the substrate; and a supporting stage that supports a lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate in its entirety. The supporting stage rotates in unison with the holding stage.
US08979601B2
An electric connecting terminal for connecting to an electrical conductor structure is described, with a serration arrangement, comprising a plurality of serration structures, for cutting into the electrical conductor structure being provided in a conductor-side section of the electric connecting terminal. In this case the serration arrangement has a gradient-shaped sharpness profile formed by heapings of material produced in an embossing process.
US08979587B2
A cable assembly comprises an insulative housing; a plurality of terminals received into the insulative housing; a cable electrically connected to the plurality of terminals. The cable comprises two differential pairs of signal wires. Each differential pair of signal wires comprises two signal wires, a grounding wire and a shielding layer surrounding the two signal wires and a grounding wire. Front end regions of the signal wires and the grounding wires are exposed out of the shielding layer. And, a wire management is assembled to a rear end of the insulative housing and defines a plurality of channels respectively plated with an electroplated layer. The front end regions of the signal wires and the grounding wires are respectively passed through the plurality of channels and electrically connected to the corresponding terminals.
US08979585B2
A connector comprises a contact, an inner housing, an inner shell, an outer housing and an outer shell. The inner housing holds the contact. The inner shell covers, at least in part, the inner housing. The outer housing holds the inner shell. The outer shell covers, at least in part, the outer housing. The inner shell has a connected portion and a connection portion. The connection portion extends from the connected portion and is directly connected with an attachment object when the connector is attached to the attachment object. A boundary between the connected portion and the connection portion is positioned apart from and rearward of the front end of the connector.
US08979580B2
The invention relates to a fluid-sealing electric motor connector (1) for a housing (70) of an electric motor (7), in particular an electric motor (7) of an engine cooling fan or of an ABS/ESP system of a motor vehicle, comprising a connector housing (10), which can be attached to the housing (70) and by means of which at least one electrical line (80) can be connected to the electric motor so as to be fluid-sealed to the electric motor (7), wherein the connector housing (10) can be fastened to the housing (70) by means of a locking spring (50) or a catch mechanism, wherein the fluid-sealing electric motor connector (1) can be fastened to the housing (70) in an easily detachable manner. The invention further relates to a motor, in particular an electric motor (7) for an engine cooling fan or an ABS/ESP system of a motor vehicle, or a completed electrical cable (8) for a motor (7), in particular an electric motor (7), wherein the motor (7) or the completed electrical cable (8) has a fluid-sealing electric motor connector (1) according to the invention.
US08979576B2
Provided is a cable connector, a cable assembly, and a method of manufacturing the cable assembly, in which electric characteristics are stabilized by suppressing elastic deformation of a cable for differential signal transmission, and besides, which is easily connectable by reducing the number of parts. In a ground contact, an outer-conductor adhering portion which is protruded from a side wall portion of a connector main body and which is adhered with an outer conductor by a conductive adhesive is provided. In this manner, elastic deformation of a cable for differential signal transmission is suppressed, so that electric characteristics can be stabilized. Also, connecting work between the outer conductor and the ground contact can be simplified as reducing the number of parts. Further, the cable for differential signal transmission is not exposed to a high temperature of soldering or others, and therefore, thermal deformation thereof does not occur, either.
US08979574B2
A modular plug includes a plug housing, plug contacts held by the plug housing, and a stuffer cap coupled to the plug housing. The stuffer cap includes a cable channel configured to receive a cable therein. The stuffer cap includes an interior side that defines at least a portion of the cable channel. The modular plug includes a strain relief member held by the plug housing. The strain relief member includes a base and a spring beam extending from the base such that the spring beam is cantilevered from the base. The spring beam is configured to engage the cable and thereby pinch the cable between the interior side of the stuffer cap and the spring beam.
US08979569B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to modular connector assemblies that generally include a connector and an attachment unit. The connector includes a connector housing, the connector housing including a first coupler element. The attachment unit includes an attachment unit housing, the attachment unit housing including a second coupler element. The first coupler element can be configured and dimensioned to interlock with the second coupler element for movably securing the connector to the attachment unit. Exemplary embodiments are also directed to methods and systems for modular connector assemblies.
US08979566B2
An electrical connector (100) for electrically connecting an IC package with a substrate and includes an insulative housing (1) with a plurality of contacts (10) received therein, a stiffener (3) located outside of the insulative housing (1) and includes a front end (20) and a rear end (21) opposite to the front end (20), a holding member (61) pivotally assembled to the front end (20) of the stiffener (2), a carrier (8) assembled to the holding member (61) for holding the IC package (9), a load plate (3) pivotally assembled to the rear end (21) of the stiffener (2) and includes an opening (310) to permit the exposing of the IC package (9), the load plate (3) presses on the holding member (61).
US08979562B2
A connector assembly that includes an electrical connector and an electrically conductive busbar. The connector can include a housing that defines a receptacle, a first row of at least one power contact, and a second row of at least one power contact at a location spaced from the first row along a first direction. Each power contact of the first and second rows can define at least two mating ends that are at least partially disposed in the receptacle so as to define a slot that extends between the mating ends of the first row and the mating ends of the second row. The housing can include a first attachment member. The electrically conductive busbar can include a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and an attachment member that is configured to mate with the first attachment member so as to attach the busbar to the housing.
US08979557B2
A fitting for terminating a conduit includes a substantially tubular fitting body having a central bore extending therethrough, a forward end, and a rearward end opposing the forward end. The fitting body includes a first liquid-proof coating that includes a rearward sealing rim. A gland nut is rotatably coupled to the rearward end of the fitting body. The gland nut includes a second liquid-proof coating that includes a forward sealing rim. A grounding ring is positioned between the gland nut and the fitting body and contacts the fitting body. Upon axial movement of the gland nut, the grounding ring engages the rearward sealing rim of the first liquid-proof coating on the fitting body and the forward sealing rim of the second liquid-proof coating on the gland nut to form a sealed relationship therewith.
US08979556B2
A communication socket comprises an outer casing, a circuit board, a communication connector, and a power terminal set. The outer casing has a power terminal passage formed penetratingly in the outer casing. The circuit board and the communication connector are arranged inside the outer casing. The communication connector is disposed between a side wall of the outer casing and the circuit board, and the communication connector electrically connects to the circuit board. The power terminal set is arranged in the power terminal passage and passed through the circuit board, wherein one end of the power terminal set exposes from the side wall of the outer casing, and another end of the power terminal set passes through the circuit board, and wherein the power terminal set and the circuit board are insulating to each other. The instant disclosure also provides a communication device.
US08979553B2
A guide member is provided for use with a multi-wire plug connector. It has an elongated body with multiple wire pathways extending through it in a torturous path so that wires inserted into one end of the guide member in a first orientation are twisted into a second orientation that is different than the first orientation. The guide member body is formed of two parts and one of the parts has ports for the injection of a settable compound, such as a hot melt adhesive to hold the guide member parts together as well as the wires in place within the guide member.
US08979552B2
A connector includes a plug connector including a projecting part and a plurality of plug electrodes, each plug electrode includes a first surface and a second plug surface that are substantially parallel to each other, and a jack connector including a plurality of jack electrodes, each jack electrode contacts to one of the plug electrodes when the plug connector is engaged with the jack connector, that includes a first jack contact part that contacts with the first plug surface, a second jack contact part that contacts with the second plug surface, and a third jack contact part that contacts with the projecting part. The projecting part is configured to exert a force to the third jack contact part to move the first jack contact part toward the first plug surface when engaging the plug connector and the jack connector.
US08979549B2
A rotating plug connected to a power supply of an electric appliance and having a conductive terminal with bending and rotating functions includes an inner frame, two conductive terminals, two inner frame brackets, two connecting plates, two inner frame casings, a power cable and a plug body. A connecting end at the rear of each of the two conductive terminals of the rotating plug is installed and hidden in the inner frame, and the connecting plate is accommodated and fixed inside the inner frame casing. When use, the plug is bent and rotated upwardly or downwardly by an angle, while the conductive terminal and the connecting plate are being covered without being exposed, so as to improve the safety of the rotating plug.
US08979546B2
A method and system are presented to address quantitative assessment of facial emotion nulling of a subject, where the method comprises the steps of: (1) presenting at least one scene, comprising a single facial expressions and a background, to a subject on a display; (2) adjusting the facial expression on the scene; (3) receiving feedback from the subject via at least one input device; (4) quantitatively refining the received feedback; (5) modulating the adjusted facial expression relative to the accuracy of the quantitatively refined feedback; (6) transforming the modulated facial expression; (7) calculating a critical threshold parameter; and (8) recording a critical threshold parameter onto a tangible computer readable medium.
US08979544B2
A method and system are presented to address quantitative assessment of word recognition sensitivity of a subject, where the method comprises the steps of: (1) presenting at least one scene to a subject on a display, the scene comprising a plurality of letters and a background; (2) distorting the scene; (3) moving plurality of letters relative to the scene, the movement being tracked by the subject via at least one input device; (4) receiving feedback from the subject via the input device; (5) quantitatively refining the received feedback; (6) modulating the movement of plurality of letters relative to accuracy of the received feedback; (7) calculating a critical threshold parameter; and (8) recording a critical threshold parameter onto a tangible computer readable medium.
US08979542B2
A method and system is presented to address quantitative assessment of functional impairment in a subject, comprising: presenting a plurality of tests to a subject on a display, the tests comprising a series of scenes, the scene comprising at least one stimulus, wherein the scene may be associated with visual, auditory, and tactile stimulus arrays; modulating at least one spatial characteristic of at least one stimulus; receiving feedback from the subject via at least one input device; quantitatively refining the scene relative to the received feedback; calculating the relationship between at least one of the scene, the stimulus, and the quantitatively refined scene; adjusting the scene relative to the calculated relationship; determining equilibrated scene parameter of the subject; recording the equilibrated scene parameter onto a tangible computer readable medium; generating at least one diagnosis to the functional impairment associated with the equilibrated scene parameter; recommending treatment to the subject.
US08979538B2
Elements of game play, such as usage statistics, scores, levels, challenges, achievements, competition, and the like, are incorporated into a productivity application to assist in motivating users to learn features of the productivity application. A recommendation system is utilized to assist users in determining what features of the application to learn next. Help content that is associated with the productivity application can also be tied to the features that are currently being learned and used by the user such that the linked help content is readily available. Users may compare their scores and compete with other persons that are also participating in the game play learning system.
US08979537B2
A training/safety plug for use in firearms is provided. In one implementation, the plug comprises a chamber end and a shaft extending away from the chamber end. The chamber end is adapted to fit within a chamber of a designated firearm, the chamber end has a cross-sectional dimension sufficient to prevent the chamber end from extending into a barrel of the designated firearm and further comprises a strike surface for receiving an impact of a firing pin and a proximal end dimension such that the chamber end is not engaged by an ejector mechanism of the firearm. The shaft comprises a barrel end coupled to and extending distally from the generally cylindrical chamber end. The training/safety plug renders the designated firearm inert. Methods of training a student to target a firearm or other targeting device are also disclosed.
US08979529B2
A medical apparatus including a bar with a first attachment loop, a second attachment and a plurality of hooks, wherein the medical apparatus is an arch bar.
US08979526B2
Described is a cell phone cover having an integrated cigarette lighter. The cell phone cover includes a housing that is divided into an interior volume in which a cell phone can be inserted, and an enclosed volume in which a control circuit having a supplemental battery is positioned. A lighting port having a heating element suited for lighting a cigarette and at least one lighting port control are positioned on the housing. The lighting port control allows a user to turn the lighting port on or off and is connected to a control circuit and powered by means of the supplemental battery. The cell phone cover is composed of a heat-resistant material that will not burn or melt as result of the heat created by the lighting port and that protects the cell phone from exposure to the heat created from the lighting port.
US08979520B2
The extruder head assembly comprises of a drive shaft connected to a troweling cylinder. A plurality of rollers are spaced around the drive shaft and above the troweling cylinder and intermittently contact an inside surface as the troweling cylinder is rotated and pulled upward. The rollers are either elliptically shaped or round positioned on an eccentric axis for intermittent contact against an inside surface of the concrete pipe. The rollers compact the concrete mixture to form the outer surface and the troweling cylinder follows the compaction by smoothing the surface. The troweling cylinder comprises a plurality of removable sections. Each section is composed of a plurality of removable and replaceable tile segments. When a tile segment breaks, the section containing the broken tile segment can be removed so that the broken tile segment can be replaced.
US08979519B2
A green tire disposed on a toroidal support is introduced into a vulcanization mold. The mold is closed through axial approaching of a pair of sidewall plates acting against the sidewalls of the tire. Circumferential sectors set to operate against the tire tread band are maintained spaced apart from the tread band itself during admission of a working fluid designed to press the tire against the toroidal support. Subsequently, the sectors are centripetally approached for penetration into the tread band concurrently with a step of full molding and vulcanization of the tire carried out through admission of steam under pressure into the tire itself.
US08979517B2
A rotary compressor, used e.g. in an air conditioner, includes a compressing unit having an end plate that closes an end portion of an annular cylinder. The end plate includes a groove portion accommodating a discharge valve portion having a reed valve type discharge valve and a discharge-valve limiter. The discharge valve portion is attached to the groove portion with a rivet. The groove portion has a rivet-side enlarged diameter portion formed into a semicircular step shape, and a diameter of the rivet-side enlarged diameter portion other than a bottom side thereof is larger than a diameter of the bottom side. This prevents a punch P that swages the rivet from interfering with the groove portion when attaching the discharge valve portion to the groove portion with the rivet.
US08979506B2
Apparatus and methods to prevent the rotation of a shaft in one direction using a device comprising a collar disposed around the shaft, a locking arm with an unlocked position and a locked position, and an actuator capable of moving the locking-arm between the unlocked and locked position. When the locking arm is in the unlocked position, the collar and shaft are allowed to rotate in a first direction. However, when the locking arm is in the locked position, the collar and shaft are prevented from rotating in a second direction. This device can also be used to prevent the reverse rotation of a rotating compressor.
US08979485B2
A variable geometry turbine comprising: a housing; a turbine wheel supported in the housing for rotation; an annular inlet passage defined between respective inlet surfaces defined by an annular nozzle ring and a facing annular shroud; the nozzle ring can vary the size of the inlet passage; a circumferential array of inlet vanes; the shroud covering the opening of a shroud cavity defined by the housing inlet passage and inboard of the shroud, and defining a circumferential array of slots, the slots and shroud cavity being configured to receive said vanes accommodating movement of the nozzle ring; wherein the annular shroud comprises an outer flange, the outer flange defining a circumferential groove for receiving a retaining ring for securing the shroud in the opening of the shroud cavity and defined on an inboard side by a flange wall; wherein an annular flange rim extends axially inboard from said flange wall.
US08979483B2
A bearing assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a bearing, an outer assembly disposed about an axis and having an angled perimeter, and an inner assembly supporting the bearing and having a surface angled to slide against and attach to the angled perimeter as the bearing is aligned with the axis.
US08979476B2
A pump for solids handling is provided having a suction liner in combination with an impeller. The suction liner has a suction liner spiral design. The impeller has forward curved impeller suction side pump out vanes. The suction liner spiral design and the forward curved impeller suction side pump out vanes are configured to handle solids substantially having a weight concentration (Cw)
US08979474B2
A water pump (30) includes an impeller chamber (32) formed in a housing (31), a swirl chamber (40) formed in the housing (31) to communicate with a coolant passage (8) and the impeller chamber (32), and an impeller (33) that is supported to be free to rotate in the impeller chamber (32) and rotates in conjunction with an engine (2) so as to take in a coolant and discharge the coolant into the coolant passage (8) via the swirl chamber (40). The swirl chamber (40) is formed to be divided into a first swirl chamber (41) that communicates with the coolant passage (8) at all times, and a second swirl chamber (42) and a third swirl chamber (43) respectively connected to the coolant passage (8) via thermostats (S1, S2) respectively having switch valves that can be opened and closed. The thermostats (S1, S2) are operated to open and close, thereby connecting and cutting off the swirl chambers (42, 43) and the coolant passage (8), in accordance with a temperature of the coolant.
US08979461B2
A stud retainer assembly includes a housing defining a stud chamber, and at least one stud-retaining arm disposed within the stud chamber. The at least one stud-retaining arm includes a stud engagement member comprising first and second teeth configured to engage a stud. The second tooth is recessed back with respect to the first tooth.
US08979459B2
Described in this application is a dual purpose hanger fastener for supporting a fixture, such as a pipe fixture, or the like to a building structure. The hanger fastener includes a threaded shank forming a first end portion and a head forming a second end portion where the head has both a cross-thread opening and an axial opening. The threaded shank is adapted to engage the structure and the head is adapted to receive a support member to support a pipe fixture or the like. For supporting the fixture, the head includes a cross-thread opening and an axial opening with the axial opening extending into the head to not less than one-thirty-second inch from the cross-thread opening. Both of the cross-thread and axial openings of the head of the hanger fastener are adapted to receive and engage the support member to support the pipe fixture or the like at the users option.
US08979449B2
A working portion of load restraint strip may include an attachment region. The attachment layer may include an adhesive layer. When the adhesive layer is exposed, at least part of the attachment region on an exterior side of the load restraint strip is colored differently from regions on the exterior side outside the attachment region.
US08979441B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a power tool includes a housing having a first opening formed therein with a motor being contained within the housing. The tool includes a device for sharpening a writing implement. The sharpening device is at least partially contained within the housing and accessible through the first opening which permits the writing implement to be inserted into the sharpening device. The sharpening device is operatively connected to the motor such that operation of the motor drives the sharpening device.
US08979440B2
A cutting insert includes an upper surface; a lower surface; a side surface which is connected to each of the upper surface and the lower surface and includes a first side surface, a second side surface and a third side surface being adjacent to each other in order; an upper cutting edge including an upper major cutting edge located at an intersection of the upper surface and the first side surface, and an upper flat cutting edge located closer to the upper major cutting edge in an intersection of the upper surface and the second side surface; and a lower cutting edge including a lower major cutting edge located at an intersection of the lower surface and the third side surface, and a lower flat cutting edge located closer to the lower major cutting edge in an intersection of the lower surface and the second side surface. The second side surface comprises an upper flank surface connected to the upper flat cutting edge, and a lower flank surface connected to the lower flat cutting edge. As going from the upper surface to the lower surface, the upper flank surface is closer to a central axis extending between the upper surface and the lower surface and the lower flank surface is separated from the central axis in a side sectional view. A cutting tool including the cutting insert, and a method of manufacturing a machined product by using the cutting tool are also provided.
US08979439B2
Electrode milling cutter for machining spot welding electrodes, said electrode milling cutter having one or more milling edges, wherein at least one of the milling edges is interrupted by one or more cut-outs at one or more points. The invention also relates to a milling device and to an apparatus for subsequently machining spot welding electrodes.
US08979434B2
A tubbing lining for a tunnel or shaft is formed from tubbing rings having annular end surfaces, with successively tubbing rings are aligned with each other at annular end surfaces forming an annular joint. Each tubbing ring is composed of successive circumferentially arranged tubbing segments which are butt-joined. A deformable flexible element having an outer cross-sectional contour is arranged in at least one butt joint, with the cross-sectional contour parallel to the butt joint matching outer contours of the end faces such that the flexible element completely covers at least one abutting end face. The tubbing segments in conjunction with the flexible element form a prefabricated element formed of a steel reinforcing framework encased in concrete to which the flexible element is connected in a force-locked manner.
US08979433B2
A liquid containment berm and its method of creation, assembly and use, wherein the berm has one or more interior seal members, a floor member and an outer wall member created by applying an expandable foam polymer along a desired retention or flow control pathway, the foam polymer expanding to form the liquid impermeable outer wall member. The berm is assembled and installed on site about a liquid container.
US08979427B2
A coastal recovery module including a body portion defining an interior compartment. The coastal recovery module may also include a selectively sealable fluid conduit. The selectively sealable fluid conduit may provide a fluid communication between the interior compartment and an exterior of the body portion, the fluid conduit configured for selectively flooding and dewatering the interior compartment. The coastal recovery module may further include a wave energy mitigation structure associated with at least a portion of a top surface of the body portion.
US08979425B2
A control system for an extendable screed includes a first input device configured to set a speed limit for the extendable screed, a second input device configured to vary a speed of the extendable screed within the speed limit. The controller further includes, a third input device configured to govern a relationship between a speed of the extendable screed and a relative position of the second input device. The control system further includes a controller configured to receive inputs from the first, the second, and the third input devices and output a command signal to move the extendable screed relative to the main screed.
US08979419B2
The invention relates to a security barrier, and a method for operation thereof. The security barrier (10) comprising a support (12) and a barrier member (30) movable relative to the support between a stowed position and a deployed position. The support (12) having an upper part (22) for positioning substantially at ground level (106). The barrier member (30) being rotatably mounted relative to the support (12) such that an axis of rotation (76) of the barrier member (30) is above the upper part (22).
US08979414B2
A connection system includes a sheet-metal part which is connected to a base plate. A connecting slot is formed in the base plate, and the sheet-metal part includes a connecting tab. The connecting tab includes a retaining region and a first stop. The connecting slot has a first end which faces towards and which is opposite the retaining region. The retaining region is inserted into the connecting slot in an assembly position. The retaining region includes a surface which engages an underside of the base plate in a connected position. The first stop is exposed in the assembly position. During the transition from the assembly position into the connected position, the first stop is inserted into the connecting slot and is brought into engagement with the first end of the connecting slot.
US08979412B2
A tip unit of a cosmetic applicator includes a tube portion connected to a hollow body of the cosmetic applicator, and a tip portion tapering away to a point from the tube portion. The tip portion has a passage space contain liquid cosmetics advanced from the hollow body through the tube portion, and has a plurality of flexible blade segments, a plurality of guiding grooves defined respectively by corresponding adjacent pairs of the blade segments, and a plurality of slits, each communicating the passage space with a respective one of the guiding grooves, and being enlargeable when the tip portion is deformed so as to permit flow of the liquid cosmetics from the passage space to the respective one of the guiding grooves therethrough.
US08979395B2
A tool set for terminating an optical fiber with a fiber optic connector includes a crimping tool and a polishing tool. The crimping tool includes a locating feature for locating a housing of the fiber optic connector, a stop for locating an end of an optical fiber relative to the housing, and at least one anvil for crimping a crimp of the fiber optic connector to secure a position of the optical fiber relative to the housing. The polishing tool includes a locating feature for locating the housing and thereby locating the end of the optical fiber and a seat for activating a compression member of the fiber optic connector thereby securing the end of the optical fiber to the polishing tool.
US08979372B2
A circuit board, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electro-optic apparatus having the circuit board are provided. The circuit board includes a substrate including a first dielectric layer and a first circuit layer disposed thereon, a waveguide layer disposed on a portion of the substrate, a second dielectric layer, a convex structure and a second circuit layer. The second dielectric layer is disposed on the substrate and the waveguide layer. The second dielectric layer has an opening exposing the sidewall of the waveguide layer and a portion of the first circuit layer. The convex structure is disposed on the sidewall of the waveguide layer. The convex structure and the waveguide layer respectively have refractive index n1 and n2, and |n1−n2|/n1<1%. The surface roughness of the convex structure is less than that of the sidewall of the waveguide layer. The second circuit layer is disposed on the second dielectric layer.
US08979367B2
A self opening bag includes front and real walls joined at their respective first and second side and bottom edges. The bag is folded at least once parallel to its side edges. At least one attaching feature is located on the outer surface of the bag adjacent the upper end and between the folded walls. The bag is releasably attached to a subsequent bag. The at least one attaching feature causes the bag to open as the bag is pulled from the subsequent bag. The once folded bag may be sealed at the bottom edges after folding to form a star-sealed bag bottom. The bags may be removably attached to each other at a perforation line and wound onto a compact roll for use with a bag dispenser. The bags may have an upper seam, a U-shaped cut and a pair of bag handles. The bags may be corona treated.
US08979363B2
Embodiments of an integrated rail efficiency and safety support system and method are shown comprising a server operable to receive a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the sets of collected information comprising a consist physical location and weather conditions and rail temperatures in an area of the respective consist and to process a predictive rail temperature algorithm for predicting a rail temperature and/or a trend in rail temperature for a selected section of track; and wherein the predictive rail temperature algorithm factors the information provided to it and provides a predicted rail temperature and/or trend in rail temperature for the selected section of track.
US08979362B2
A circuit for sensing a physical quantity according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first oscillator circuit configured to provide a first clock signal including a first frequency depending on the physical quantity, and a second oscillator circuit configured to provide a second clock signal comprising a second frequency depending on the physical quantity. The circuit also includes a frequency comparator circuit configured to provide a frequency signal indicative of the physical quantity, the frequency signal being based on the first and second frequencies, wherein the first and second oscillator circuits are configured to provide the first and second clock signals such that due to a change in the physical quantity one frequency of the first and second frequencies increases, while the other frequency of the first and second frequencies decreases.
US08979360B2
A system for cooling and holding a testpiece in an effective manner while the testpiece is subjected locally to high heat flux. The testpiece includes an inside face extended by parallel strips that leave between them channels for passing a cooling fluid, and parallel fins of an intermediate part are inserted between the strips.
US08979357B1
A mixing system and mixing arrangement are provided. The mixing system includes a rigid container including an integral support plate; a mixing assembly supported on the integral support plate, the mixing assembly including a pliable enclosure containing a fluid and a mixing device, a portion of the mixing device extending from the pliable enclosure and adapted to be detachably coupled to a drive mechanism; and a first plate detachably secured to the rigid container. The pliable enclosure is in compression between the first plate and the integral support plate. The mixing arrangement includes a docking station including a drive cradle and a drive mechanism, a rigid container removably positioned within the drive cradle, a mixing assembly positioned within the rigid container, and a first plate configured to be detachably secured to the rigid container.
US08979354B2
A mixer 1 for thermal treatment of a material for mixing consisting of solid particles comprises a mixing vessel 2 for admitting the material for mixing. The vessel 2 has at least one thermal medium channel that with its surface gets at least partially in contact with the solid particles to be heat-treated, through which thermal treatment media are fed when the mixer 1 is in operation. Additionally, the mixer 1 has available a device for circulating the material for mixing found in the container 2. The container 2 is turnably supported about an axis R that penetrates the two front sides 7, 20. A motorized drive 17, 18, 18.1 serves as a circulating device to turn the container 2.
US08979342B2
A system for illuminating a reflective display or other material from a planar front device and a method of manufacture thereof. The system includes a light guide plate that conducts light from an edge light source across the face of a reflective display. Micro scattering features are formed on an outer surface of the light guide, farthest from the reflective display or material. A stepped index layer is formed on the surface of light guide plate containing the micro scattering features. The stepped index layer has an index of refraction lower than an index of refraction of the light guide plate to assist in the total internal reflection of light injected into the light guide plate. The micro scattering features, light reflecting areas, redirect luminous flux toward the display. In one embodiment, the micro scattering features are formed as white dots on the light guide plate. A black absorbing layer can be added to each white scattering dot in order to improve the apparent contrast when the front light is deactivated.
US08979329B1
A curved wall, square-shaped reflector assembly includes multiple reflector wall sections and multiple enclosure wall sections. Each reflector wall section is slidably coupled to a respective enclosure wall section by positioning a top reflector flange of the reflector wall section above a top support flange of the enclosure wall section and aligning alignment features on the enclosure wall section with holes on the reflector wall section. In addition, a bottom flange of the reflector wall section is positioned below a bottom edge of the enclosure wall section, thereby providing a consistent tension along the wall surface of the reflector wall section. Each enclosure wall section includes flange members on opposing side edges. Each of the combined reflector-enclosure wall sections are positioned orthogonal to one-another and coupled together along the adjacent flanges from the adjacent enclosure wall sections with rivets. The assembly reduces light leak without damaging the reflector surface.
US08979320B1
A lighting device includes a light emitting diode (LED) element configured to emit light about an axis. The lighting device further includes an optic of a transparent material. The optic includes a first surface configured to intersect and refract said emitted light to form a first light interior to the optic, a second surface configured to intersect and reflect said first light to form a second light interior to the optic. The optic further includes a third surface configured to intersect and reflect said second light to form a third light interior to the optic. The optic further includes a fourth surface configured to intersect and transmit said third light to form a fourth light exterior to said optic. The fourth surface is further configured to concentrate the fourth light about an emerging light plane perpendicular to said axis.
US08979310B2
An omnidirectional LED light bulb comprising a lamp base (1), a heat sink housing (2), a circuit board (5), an LED light source (3) and a bulb (4) is provided. The heat sink housing (2) is provided with a protruded platform (6) on which the light source (3) in a column shape of polygonal prism head is arranged. LED chips (9) are arranged on the top and lateral surfaces of the head, and an annular reflecting surface (10) is arranged on the rear portion of the head. The omnidirectional LED light bulb has the advantages of high rear light flux, omnidirectional luminescence and uniform illumination.
US08979309B2
An array of non-packaged LED dies is sandwiched between at least two transparent substrates having conductors bonded to the electrodes without wires. The light sheets are formed to emit light from opposite surfaces of the light sheet to create a bidirectional light sheet. The light sheet may be suspended from a ceiling to be perpendicular to the ceiling, or the angles of the light sheet may be adjusted.
US08979307B2
A belt-like flexible LED light can be bent in both an orthogonal direction to a light emitting direction and a vertical direction. Additionally, a circuit board and LED illuminating device are capable of implementing the LED light. An LED mounting circuit board, in which an LED mounting portion has a plurality of LEDs mounted in an array, is provided on a central part in a transverse direction of a long belt-like flexible board. Both sides of the LED mounting circuit board are in a transverse direction of the LED mounting portion and are provided with a first board and a second board having a feed pattern for causing a current to flow to the LEDs formed thereon. The LED mounting portion, the first board and second board are formed to be bendable and are used with the belt-like flexible LED light.
US08979303B2
A lighting fixture for protecting and mounting an array of light sources such as LED modules. The fixture includes a frame with a first surface that arcs or curves with an arc angle of between ten and fifty degrees and an arc length of between about ten to fifteen times the arc height. A plurality of LED modules including a lens and bonnet reflector are each functionally coupled against the first surface to direct a combination refracted and reflected beam pattern, the beam pattern of each LED module having an peak luminous intensity directed substantially normally from the first surface in front of and against which each LED module is functionally coupled. The peak luminous intensity of the combination refracted and reflected beam pattern associated with each LED module has a positive angle with respect to the combination refracted and reflected beam pattern from adjacently located LED modules.
US08979297B2
Disclosed is an illuminated cooler with a light source positioned below an expected top level of contents of the cooler. A light source is preferably between two and six inches below an expected top level of contents. Most preferably, the cooler will comprise multiple lights arranged at varying heights within the cooler or a single light that provides light sources at a range of heights. The cooler may also comprise a switch to activate the lights when the cooler is opened, an ambient light sensor, and a processor.
US08979293B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a lighting device in which a problem is hardly caused by a hole formed in a chassis of the lighting device. A backlight unit (a lighting device) 1 according to the present invention includes an LED (a light source) 17, a flat cable (a flat conductor) 22 connected to the LED 17, a chassis 14 including a hole 14e, a cable protector (a flat conductor protector) 23 including a protection portion 24 and an insertion hole 24a extending through the protection portion 24. The chassis 14 houses the LED 17. The flat cable 22 is inserted through the insertion hole 24a. The flat conductor protector 23 is arranged such that the protection portion 24 is positioned between an edge of the hole 14e of the chassis 14 and a portion of the flat cable 22 that is positioned in the insertion hole 24a.
US08979290B2
A structure and method for three-dimensional lighting using light active technology. The structure has one or more sheets of light active material, with each sheet having lighting elements. The structure additionally has one or more folding elements along which the sheets of light active material are foldable to create a three-dimensional lighting structure having a center element located at a back side of the three-dimensional lighting structure. A power supply element can then be used to provide power to the lighting elements. A fastening element fastens together the sheets of light active material at fastening points to retain the three-dimensional lighting structure created by folding the one or more sheets of light active material. The three-dimensional lighting structure may be attached to a surface by attaching the center element directly to the surface or by attaching the center element to a substantially rigid backing that attaches to the surface.
US08979288B2
The invention is related to an external rear view mirror assembly including a positive connection that fits mirror components as a support frame mounted to a mirror housing or shell. The positive connection is a connector having a two part snap-fit connector with a first snap-fit connector part and a second snap-fit connector part.
US08979282B2
The invention relates to a device for projecting an image on a surface, comprising: a light source generating a light beam; a mask arranged in the path of the light beam; a lens arranged behind the mask to focus the image of the mask on a surface, wherein the surface is not parallel to the lens, wherein at substantially each position along the edges of the mask the distance v to the lens and the distance b of the corresponding position at the edges of the image of the mask to the lens correspond substantially to the formula 1/v+1/b=1/f, wherein f is the focal length of the lengths. The invention also relates to a device for moving the image on the surface.
US08979278B2
A first light source control section controls the drive timing of each of the first and second light sources, and light-source light generation section such that the light-source light generated from each of the light-source light generation section and second light source is cyclically generated. A detection section detects the light intensity of the light-source light generated from each of the light-source light generation section and second light source. A storage section stores therein the light intensity value of the light-source light generated from each of the light-source light generation section and second light source detected by the detection section. A second light source control section adjusts the light emission state of each of the first and second light sources on the basis of the detection results of the detection section with respect to the light-source light intensity values stored in the storage section.
US08979277B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, apparatus and system for digital cinema color management. In one embodiment, a digital cinema color management system includes a projection device configured to project image content and a color meter configured to measure color levels of the projected image content. A control device is also provided including a validation module configured for validating the measured color levels of the color meter for preventing the creation of erroneous correction data. A calibration module determines if calibration of the color levels is required and provides real-time corrective color information to a projector.
US08979275B2
The projector uses two lamps, which are high-pressure discharge lamps with the same rated power, as light sources. The projector includes: a first alternating-current generator configured to generate a lamp current to be supplied to one of the lamps, based on an input control signal; a second alternating-current generator configured to generate a lamp current to be supplied to the other lamp, based on an input control signal; and a controller configured to control the lamp currents to have a same period and to be out of phase, by inputting a control signal to each of the first and the second alternating-current generators.
US08979263B2
Cognitive deficits involving attention, sequential processing, reading, speed of processing, and navigation may be diagnosed and remediated in a subject by respectively measuring and improving contrast sensitivity for motion discrimination of the subject. A background may be displayed with a contrast and temporal frequency and either single, or multiple, higher spatial frequencies that may repeat over a wider area than the individual frequency components. A test window may be superimposed over the background, and includes a test pattern with a contrast and a spatial frequency and a temporal frequency. The subject may provide a signal indicative of the direction the subject believes the test pattern moved. In response to this signal, the contrast of the test pattern, the spatial frequency of the background, the spatial frequency of the test pattern, or the temporal frequency may be modified, either by increasing or decreasing its respective value.
US08979260B1
This invention relates to contact lenses comprising pH indicating moieties useful for determining the presence or absence of active bacterial infections wherein said pH indicator is entrapped in the lens. Other aspects relate to contact lenses comprising pH indicating moieties useful for determining the presence or absence of active bacterial infections and a biodegradable coating with a biocompatible colorant entrapped within the coating useful for determining the usable lifespan of the contact lens. Other aspects relate to methods of using such contact lenses.
US08979255B2
An ink cartridge including a holding member and an ink bag to accommodate ink, wherein the ink cartridge is replenished with pigment ink having a pH higher than a pH of residual ink remaining in the ink cartridge.
US08979254B2
A liquid circulation device includes a supply unit that forms a flow path supplying a liquid from a reservoir unit; a collection unit that forms a flow path collecting the liquid to the reservoir unit; and N number of the connection units provided respectively corresponding to N number of ejection units ejecting the liquid forming a flow path connecting the supply unit and the collection unit via the ejection units, wherein with regard to each of N number of the connection units, a connection order of the connection units with respect to the supply unit, which is counted from upstream in a flow direction of the liquid in the supply unit coincides with a connection order of the connection units with respect to the collection unit, which is counted from upstream in the flow direction of the liquid in the collection unit.
US08979244B2
Inkjet head cleaning and storage includes cleaning an orifice plate by inserting a tip of a shaped wiper into a slit of a printing mask, such that one or more shoulders of a handling end of the shaped wiper are in contact with respectively one or more edges of the slit. The shoulders of the shaped wiper facilitate the tip applying a predetermined pressure to an orifice surface during wiping. Preventing sediment buildup during extended periods of non-printing includes placing at least the orifice plate of the printing head in a protecting liquid that avoids evaporation of the volatile liquid from the nozzles. An innovative “night plate” can be used to seal the slit of a printing mask and ink purged from the printing head used to fill a gap between the printing head and the mask, thereby covering at least the orifice plate with the purged ink.
US08979241B2
In some aspects of the present application, a printhead assembly is disclosed that comprise a plurality of functional plates stacked together; an adhesive confinement structure comprising an adhesive-coated mesh substrate arranged between adjacent functional plates to provide bonding between the plates.
US08979240B2
Disclosed is a head alignment assembly in which a deviation of the head can be aligned conveniently with simple operation from the outside of the printer head section. The head alignment assembly includes a base plate to which at least one head unit is fixed to be exposed downward by a first head support block and a second head support block; a first fine adjustment section configured to shift the first head support block in a longitudinal direction of the head unit; and a second fine adjustment section configured to shift the second head support block in a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the head unit. The first fine adjustment section includes a first push rod supported by fixed guides which are fixed on the base plate to press the first head support block; and a first handle fixed to one end of the first push rod to move the first push rod in the longitudinal direction. The second fine adjustment section includes a second push block configured to press the second head support block in the transverse direction; a second push rod supported by a plurality of fixed guides which are fixed on the base plate; and a second handle fixed to one end of the second push rod to move the second push rod in the axial direction.
US08979237B2
A recording head control method prevents head coil burnout caused by heat output while suppressing a drop in printer throughput. A control method for a recording head 18 of a dot impact printer 100 that prints information on a recording medium S by driving the recording wires 9 of a recording head 18 that has a plurality of recording wires 9 while a carriage 19 that carries the recording head 18 traverses the recording medium S, each of the recording wires 9 being allocated to printing one dot line in the scanning direction of the carriage 19, the control method including steps of: during dot line printing, determining before printing if the number of previously defined specific dot patterns P1, P2 contained in the dot line to be printed is greater than or equal to a reference number N of 2 or more; and printing the dot line based on the result of the decision.
US08979235B2
The conveyance apparatus includes a first conveyance unit configured to convey a sheet in a conveyance direction, and a second conveyance unit disposed on a downstream side of the first conveyance unit in the conveyance direction and configured to convey the sheet in the conveyance direction. The conveyance apparatus corrects a rotational amount of each conveyance unit using a correction value dedicated to each rotational phase of each conveyance unit for each conveyance state, in a first conveyance state in which the first conveyance unit is operative to convey the sheet, a second conveyance state in which the first and second conveyance units are cooperative to convey the sheet, and a third conveyance state in which the second conveyance unit is operative to convey the sheet.
US08979231B2
A recording apparatus includes a recording head, a roller configured to convey a recording medium, an acquisition unit configured to acquire information about a conveyance amount for conveying the recording medium per a predetermined rotation amount of the roller, a recording timing generation unit configured to generate a plurality of timing signals for performing recording for one raster line according to a rotation of the roller during one rotation thereof, and a drive signal generation unit configured to generate a drive reference signal for performing the recording for the one raster line on the recording medium at a predetermined interval based on the conveyance amount information and the timing signal.
US08979230B2
A device includes a drive portion for driving a pressure generating element and controlling a state of driving the element. The drive portion includes a first drive section for causing a first current to flow to drive the element, and a second drive section for causing a second current smaller than the first current to flow to drive the element. The state of driving the element includes a first state and a second state. The second drive section causes the second current to flow in a direction in which the element is switched from the first state to the second state at a timing that is faster by a predetermined time determined in advance with respect to a timing at which the first drive section causes the first current to flow for switching the state of driving the element from the first state to the second state.
US08979223B2
An adjustable coupling device includes a base member fastened to a sliding rail assembly, a sliding block connected to the base member to support a sliding box, a first adjustment member rotatable to adjust the position of the sliding box horizontally subject to the constraint of a limiter member, and a second adjustment member rotatable to adjust the position of the sliding box vertically subject to the constraint of a push member.
US08979218B2
A brake system for motor vehicles, which in a “brake by wire” mode, can be activated both by the vehicle driver and also independently of the vehicle driver, which is operated preferentially in the “brake by wire” operating mode and can be operated in a fall-back mode. A pedal force actuating element connected to a brake pedal is guided in a retaining piston forming a retaining chamber. Dividing piston devices interact with the retaining piston and connected to vehicle wheel brakes. The first dividing piston and the second dividing piston surface are formed on a first dividing piston portion and the first dividing piston surface, together with a third dividing piston surface formed on a second dividing piston portion form an intermediate chamber connected to electrohydraulic pressure generating device. A pressure modulation valve enables both a build-up of pressure in and also a discharge of pressure from the intermediate chamber.
US08979209B2
A mining machine including a frame, a cutting head moveably coupled to the frame and pivotable about an axis that is substantially perpendicular to a first mine surface, and a first actuator for stabilizing the frame relative to the first mine surface. The first actuator is coupled to the frame and includes a first end extendable in a first direction to engage the first mine surface. The extension of the first actuator is automatically controlled based on measurements of at least one indicator of the force between the first actuator and the first mine surface.
US08979208B2
An input device for a machine is provided. The input device includes a lever which is operable to select from a plurality of transmission modes of the machine. Further, a hoisting input device is disposed on the lever. The hoisting input device is operable to select from a plurality of hoisting functions associated with a payload carrier of the machine.
US08979194B2
Passenger seat for a system of passenger seats of an aircraft cabin, comprising: a seat body, an energy harvesting system for providing electrical energy, in particular for use in the passenger seat electrical net and/or aircraft electrical net, wherein an energy harvesting device of the energy harvesting system is provided to the seat body, wherein the energy harvesting device is adapted for capturing from the seat body ambient energy.
US08979190B2
A tray attached to a pivot housing, support arm, and armrest clamp may be easily and quickly detached and reattached to an armrest on a chair. The tray may rotate around an arm hub when a stationary lower index plate in the arm hub is displaced from an upper index plate in the index housing. The tray is restrained from rotation when the upper and lower index plates are in contact with one another. The tray may be disconnected from the support arm while the support arm remains clamped to an armrest. The armrest clamp includes a bevel gear driven in rotation by a clamping ring on the support arm. The bevel gear drives rack gear attached to a traveling clamp jaw. Rotating the clamping ring displaces the traveling clamp jaw relative to a stationary clamp jaw, enabling the armrest clamp to securely clamp to an armrest.
US08979189B2
A tray table assembly for a passenger seat including a table top having a cantilevered portion configured to slide horizontally between an overseat position and a position forward of a passenger seat, and a linear slide for providing horizontal motion of the table top, the linear slide configured to mount to a wall adjacent the passenger seat and support the table top in a horizontal position. A tray table assembly for an aircraft passenger suite.
US08979188B2
The present invention is a single leg sitting device which has a collapsible leg which fits inside the seat for compact transportation or to turning the seat into a walking stick.
US08979181B2
A cover includes a top portion that spans a width of a roof ditch of a vehicle. The cover includes a cover attachment section and a molding attachment section. The cover attachment section couples the cover at a fixed position relative to the vehicle. A molding member extends in a lengthwise direction along the roof ditch between the first and second wall surfaces. The molding member includes an attachment member and an attachment projection. The attachment member mates with the molding attachment section of the cover to form a lengthwise movement connection that retains the cover to the molding member with a predetermined amount of movement along the lengthwise direction of the roof ditch. The attachment projection extends under a lateral side of the cover with an upper surface of the top portion of the cover facing an underside of the molding member.
US08979176B2
A steering support member according to the present invention supports a steering shaft, extends in a vehicle width direction and is fixed at both ends to lateral sides of a vehicle, is molded of a light alloy or a resin composite material. And the steering support member includes a fixing portion having a shape of a truncated cone that extends toward a vehicle front side from the vicinity of a position supporting the steering shaft, a top of the fixing portion being fixed to a dash panel delimiting an engine room in a vehicle front portion, and a plurality of reinforcing ribs that are arranged upright along tangents to a circle constituted by the top of the fixing portion and to a bottom circle.
US08979175B2
Disclosed herein is a driving cab for tractors. A hollow part is provided in a bottom plate of the driving cab, and a hollow shaft is provided in the bottom plate so as to be rotatable around the hollow part. A driver seat, an implement control device and a movement control device are fixed to the hollow shaft, so that the driver seat, the implement control device and the movement control device can be rotated along with the hollow shaft. Thereby, the implement control device and the movement control device along with the driver seat can be easily turned in a desired direction. When the tractor is required to be moved forwards or backwards, the implement control device and the movement control device along with the driver seat can face in the direction in which the tractor moves, so that the driver can easily control movement of the tractor.
US08979156B2
A vehicle panel attachment arrangement includes a vehicle panel, a clip supporting section, a first wall section, a second wall section and at least one resilient arm. The clip supporting section defines a shaft receiving hole extending therethrough. The first and second wall sections extend from the vehicle panel to first and second sides of the clip supporting section. The clip supporting section further defines a shaft insertion slot open to the shaft receiving hole. The shaft insertion slot extends in a radial direction from the shaft receiving hole between the first and second side walls. The at least one resilient arm extends from one of the clip supporting section and the first wall section in a direction perpendicular to the radial direction. A portion of the at least one resilient arm is aligned with the clip supporting section and another portion of the at least one resilient arm is offset from the clip supporting section as viewed in the radial direction.
US08979154B2
A regenerative hydraulic circuit for a clamping attachment limits the clamping force applied to a clamped load.
US08979152B2
A tendon-driven robotic gripper is disclosed for performing fingertip and enveloping grasps. One embodiment comprises two fingers, each with two links, and is actuated using a single active tendon. During unobstructed closing, the distal links remain parallel, creating exact fingertip grasps. Conversely, if the proximal links are stopped by contact with an object, the distal links start flexing, creating a stable enveloping grasp. The route of the active tendon and the parameters of the springs providing passive extension forces are optimized in order to achieve this behavior. An additional passive tendon is disclosed that may be used as a constraint preventing the gripper from entering undesirable parts of the joint workspace. A method for optimizing the dimensions of the links in order to achieve enveloping grasps of a large range of objects is disclosed and applied to a set of common household objects.
US08979149B2
Micro-nanomanipulation device that is capable of grasping and actively releasing micro or nanometer-sized objects in ambient and vacuum environments as well as methods of manufacturing the devices of the present invention. The micro-nanomanipulation device includes gripping arms, an active release plunger to impact or push objects, and microactuators that actuate the gripping arms and the active release plunger.
US08979143B1
A fire bolt assembly (10) includes a receiving tube (117) mounted in a door (106). A mounting member (32) is mounted to the receiving tube (117). A positioning bolt (151) is received in the receiving tube (117). A stop member (58) is securely mounted in the mounting member (32) to hold the positioning bolt (151) in the receiving tube (117). The front end (153) of the positioning bolt (151) is moved out of the receiving tube (117) by a spring (100) to engage with a coupling hole (116) in another door (112) or a door frame when the stop member (58) melts due to the heat of a fire, locking the door (106) in place during the fire. A stick (175) in the receiving tube (117) is moved to a blocking position preventing the front end (153) of the positioning bolt (151) from disengaging from the coupling hole (116).
US08979142B2
The disclosure describes a novel approach for restricting the movement of a moveable system. The disclosure describes a novel locking mechanism utilizing a gravity hinge assembly and pocket assembly. The disclosure further describes a novel method for locking a moveable system.
US08979141B2
A washing machine door, in which assembly efficiency of the door is improved, and an assembling structure and assembling method thereof are disclosed. The door includes a front panel forming the front surface of the door, a rear panel forming the rear surface of the door, a door handle mounted on the rear panel, fixing parts provided on the rear panel, a hook member operated in connection with the operation of the door handle, and an elastic member provided with one side fixed to the fixing parts and the other side fixed to the door handle to provide elastic force to the hook member and the door handle.
US08979126B2
A steering apparatus for a vehicle, includes: a steering column; a single electric motor being selectively connected to a telescopic mechanism or a tilt mechanism; a steering wheel; a drive mechanism transmitting an output torque of the electric motor to a telescopic threaded shaft and a tilt threaded shaft; and a connecting-disconnecting mechanism having a first clutch mechanism connecting and disconnecting the drive mechanism to and from the tilt threaded shaft and a second clutch mechanism connecting and disconnecting the drive mechanism to and from the telescopic threaded shaft, the connecting-disconnecting mechanism bringing one of the first clutch mechanism and the second clutch mechanism in a connected state to the drive mechanism and bringing the other of the first clutch mechanism and the second clutch mechanism in a disconnected state from the drive mechanism, wherein the drive mechanism and the connecting-disconnecting mechanism constitute a single power connecting-disconnecting unit.
US08979124B2
A vehicle includes a pair of front wheels, a pair of rear wheels, a frame portion, a seat unit including a first seat portion and a second seat portion arranged side by side in a width direction of the vehicle and supported by the frame portion, a steering wheel in front of the first seat portion, a roll-over protection cage supported by the frame portion to cover an area above the seat unit and the steering wheel, and a shoulder bolster portion. The first seat portion includes a seat bottom portion that supports a human body from below, and a back support portion that supports the human body from behind. In the width direction of the vehicle, at least a portion of the shoulder bolster portion is on an outer side of the seat unit. In a side view, at least a portion of the shoulder bolster portion is at a more rearward position than a forward end of the seat bottom portion, at a more forward position than the back support portion, at a higher position than a center of the steering wheel in an up-down direction, and at a lower position than an upper end of the steering wheel. The shoulder bolster portion has its upper end at a higher position than a midway point between a center of an upper surface of the seat bottom portion and an upper end of the back support portion in an up-down direction.
US08979122B2
The invention relates to a combustion chamber screen, especially for an inflator, that includes plural flow orifices and bent segments. In accordance with the invention, the bent segments are arranged around a center (M) of the combustion chamber screen so that in the circumferential direction of the combustion chamber screen (10) a waveform having plural wave peaks (12) and wave troughs (13) is formed.
US08979119B2
A door inner panel includes a front operation opening and a rear operation opening that communicate with the inside of a door main body. A seal portion is formed at an edge of each of the openings. The seal portion allows a hole seal that covers the openings to be attached thereto. In the door inner panel, a first extension portion, a second extension portion, and a third extension portion extend, toward the rear opening, from the lower rear portion of the seal portion formed at the edge of the rear opening. The top ends of the first extension portion, the second extension portion, and the third extension portion are connected together to form a connection portion. A displacement preventing portion is located in the connection portion and prevents displacement of a door trim urged by a side airbag toward the door inner panel.
US08979116B1
A retractable frame structure for baby trailer includes a rigid base frame, a bottom frame bar horizontally movable in and out of a front side of the rigid bottom, a first locking device for selectively locking the bottom frame bar to the base frame in the extended or received position, a backrest, a top frame bar vertically movable in and out of a top side of the backrest, and a second locking device for selectively locking the top frame bar to the backrest in the extended or received position.
US08979115B1
The shopping cart has a foot pedal mechanism to adjust the height of the shopping basket to accommodate different sized users and can lower the cart height automatically with just the push of a button. The shopping basket includes separate detachable smaller bags used for bringing in items from the car. The cart is also designed to be fully collapsible to a height of only six inches and can be easily loaded into the rear trunk space of a car or SUV. The entire basket is also both collapsible and expandable in size and can also be detached from the cart easily and includes at least two carrying handles.
US08979113B1
A combination device is featured for both tethering a snowboard to the boot of a user and for carrying a snowboard over the shoulder. The device has a retraction unit that houses a spring-wound strap within. The retractable unit has a flange for attaching the unit to one of the bindings of the snowboard. Screws are used to affix the flange, and hence the retraction unit, to the binding. The combination tether and carrying strap is easily accessible by pulling on the hooking latch, which is attached to the retractable strap.
US08979110B2
A bicycle including a frame, a bottom bracket coupled to the frame and adapted to support a crankset, and a battery pack supported by the frame. The battery pack has a powered end cap with a tapered protrusion and a battery connector on an end of the tapered protrusion. The bicycle also includes a receiver supported by the frame and including a tapered socket in which the tapered protrusion is positioned. The tapered socket includes a power connector detachably coupled to the battery connector.
US08979107B2
An easy-pedaling and labor-saving bicycle includes a frame, a front and a rear wheel set, a transmission set driving the rear wheel set, and a pedal device driving the transmission set. The pedal device includes a crank disposed on the frame, a link-up member driving a rear link-up plate to rotate, a link-up strip disposed between one end of the crank and the link-up member, a pedal unit disposed at the other end of the crank, and a straining member disposed between the frame and the link-up strip. Pedaling the pedal unit makes the crank set as an extension of a moment arm for increasing a force moment imparting to the transmission set. The crank swings downward easily to allow the other end thereof to pull the link-up strip, whereby the link-up member, the transmission set, and the rear wheel are driven to pedal easily, save labor and drive quickly.
US08979106B2
A tire protection mount may include a bracket that includes a central platform and an arm. The central platform is connected the arm to define an opening. The tire protection mount further includes a shield connected to the bracket that substantially covers the opening.
US08979103B2
The invention relates to a tubular structure (1) that can form part of a motor vehicle axle, comprising at least one first tubular élément (15), at least one second tubular élément (16) and a Connecting piece (61, 62) fixing the first and second tubular éléments (15, 16) by welding, such that the Connecting piece (61, 62) is welded to one (15) of the two tubular éléments (15, 16) by at least one weld bead extending along a line forming said tubular élément (15).
US08979100B2
An apparatus for transporting articles between working locations including a first container comprising a first latch engagement structure and a second latch engagement structure and a second container comprising a latch. The latch selectively engages with 1) the first latch engagement structure of the first container to latch the first and second containers in a first configuration or 2) the second latch engagement structure of the first container to latch the first and second containers in a second configuration. A third container is configured to be positioned between the first and second containers. In the first configuration, one of the first and second containers is arranged on top of the other of the first and second containers without the third container therebetween. In the second configuration, the third container is provided between the first and second containers.
US08979094B2
A piston ring, in particular a compression piston ring, includes a main body, which has a radially outer running surface, a radially inner circumferential surface, an upper and a lower flank surface, and a joint, wherein the running surface is provided with at least one circumferential recess which receives a wear-resistant coating, in particular a PVD coating, and wherein, starting from respective end faces of the joint, as seen in the circumferential direction of the main body, a land shoulder is integrally formed on the main body outside the coating and extends at a predetermined radial height over a predetermined circumferential length on both sides of the joint.
US08979091B2
Embodiments of the present general inventive concept provide a game that includes two tethered balls and a goal post adapted to receive the tethered balls. In some embodiments, the goal post includes a vertical body configured to stand upright and an upwardly-angled appendage configured to allow the tethered balls to hang thereon. In some embodiments, the game includes two participants competing to place or toss the tethered balls on or at the goal post, such that the resulting arrangement resembles that of a male's genitalia.
US08979068B2
A differential pressure sealing device for use with ball valves that utilizes the pressure of the fluid being communicated in a piping system to increase the sealing force created by the sealing device. Fluid being communicated through a ball valve is provided to a sealing device that includes some type of element for creating a bias force. The pressure of the fluid being communicated increases the sealing pressure created by the sealing device. In this manner, the bias force created in the sealing device benefits from the pressure of the fluid being communicated to enhance the sealing when used with a ball valve or similar component.
US08979065B2
A piezoelectric valve has a body with an input passage and an output passage each configured to connect to a fluid flow system, a flow control member movable with respect to the valve seat between a fully open position and a closed position and a piezoelectric motor directly connected to the flow control member. The piezoelectric motor has a piezoelectric resonator in which two orthogonal vibrational modes across a length and a width of the piezoelectric resonator are excited, a working element and one or more contact sites providing frictional contact between the working element and the piezoelectric resonator. One of the working element and the piezoelectric resonator is connected to the flow control member and configured to move relative to the other of the working element and the piezoelectric resonator due to the frictional contact, thereby moving the flow control member.
US08979056B2
A support bracket for a cabin air compressor (CAC) assembly includes a CAC mounting portion formed substantially orthogonal to an access portion and a structural support portion. A cross-support bracket mounting portion is formed at an angle relative to the access portion. An upper lug portion is formed at an angle relative to the access portion and substantially orthogonal to an upper lug. A plurality of CAC mounting holes is formed in the CAC mounting portion. A plurality of lower slotted holes and an upper slotted hole are formed in the cross-support bracket mounting portion. A ratio of a length of longitudinal offset defined between the lower slotted holes and the upper slotted hole to a length of lateral offset between a center of at least one of the lower slotted holes and the upper slotted hole is between 2.47 and 2.91.
US08979055B2
A tripod head includes a shell, an adjusting member, a supporting member, and a locking member. The shell defines a receiving space and an adjusting opening communicating with the receiving space. The adjusting member includes a spherical adjusting portion and a connecting portion connected to the adjusting portion. The adjusting portion is received in the receiving space, and the connecting portion passes out of the shell through the adjusting opening. The adjusting portion adjusts a position and angle of the connecting portion relative to the shell by rotating in the receiving space. The supporting member supports the adjusting portion in the receiving space. The locking member locks the adjusting portion between the supporting member and the shell.
US08979050B2
A positioning device includes a base, a press board, an antislip piece, and a positioning unit. The base includes an opening, and a mounting space. The mounting space is mounted on a rod. The press board is slidably mounted in the opening. The antislip piece is mounted on the press board and is close to the mounting space. The antislip piece is made of elastic material and is softer than the press board. The positioning unit includes a shaft mounted on the base and a driving member rotatably and eccentrically connected with the shaft. The driving member is driven between a pressing position for locking the rod and a releasing position for unlocking the rod. Thus, the user only needs to drive the driving member to lock or unlock the rod so that the rod is locked or unlocked easily and quickly.
US08979036B2
Disclosed is a vertical rudder control system for an aircraft. The system is comprised of a rudder trim compensation generator that is configured to generate a rudder trim compensation order to set the position of the rudder bar of the aircraft to a neutral position in which the rudder bar is controlled with nil (i.e., zero) pilot effort. The vertical rudder control system includes a flight control calculator for calculating rudder control orders to maintain the nil effort rudder bar position, with the calculation of the rudder control orders being based on a sum of the rudder bar position, determined by a detection unit, and the rudder trim compensation order. The rudder control orders are received by a rudder operating unit, which is used to deflect the vertical rudder by a deflection value based on the rudder control orders.
US08979035B2
A system and corresponding method for a launch vehicle or spacecraft for releasably connecting a first body (100) with a first interface (101) and a second body (200) with a second matching interface (201), said system comprising: a belt (300) for releasably securing said first body (100) to said second body (200); a circumferential trench (203) at said second interface (201) for receiving said belt (300) in order to provide for a fixation of said belt (300) with relation to said second body (200); mechanical fixation means (301) attaching said belt (300) to said first body (100), said mechanical fixation means (301) being provided to enable a circumferential shifting movement of said belt (300) with respect to said circumference of said first body (100) in order to initiate a separation of the first body (100) from the second body (200), wherein said circumferential shifting movement induces a relative movement of said belt (300) with respect to said circumference of said first body (100) in order to remove said belt (300) from said trench (203), and wherein the system further comprising a releasing mechanism (303) causing said circumferential shifting movement.
US08979031B2
An aerial delivery system is configured to allow delivery of one or more releasable items after the system is extracted from an aircraft. One or more linear guidance devices and releasable securing mechanisms allow the aerial delivery system to deploy one or more releasable items at an appropriate time. The releasable securing mechanisms may utilize one or more rotatable latch plates. The one or more releasable items may be deployed simultaneously, or in a staged or staggered fashion. Through use of drag or lift-producing devices, the system may be recovered and reused. The attitude and/or azimuth orientation of the system may be varied prior to, during, and/or after release of a releasable item.
US08979011B2
A winding machine includes an upper winding roller and a separation mechanism arranged at a location close to and below the upper winding roller. The separation mechanism includes a pivot shaft having an outer circumferential surface and at least one pinch arm having a connecting end coupled to the outer circumferential surface of the pivot shaft and a web engagement end extending outward from the outer circumferential surface of the pivot shaft. When the pinch arm is driven by a driving mechanism to rotate the web engagement end of the pinch arm to an engagement position where the web engagement end opposes the upper winding roller, the web engagement end of the pinch arm sucks and holds or guides a web material passing therethrough, whereby the web material is subjected to a pulling force induced by a roll of paper formed in a winding nip to tear and thus separate.
US08979006B2
A method for recycling discarded batteries by chopping or crushing to recover reusable materials, the method comprising the steps, sorting a plurality of batteries into groups by battery technology; removing button-cell batteries from said groups; chopping said groups of batteries into pieces approximately one quarter inch or less, to produce final particle matter; removing ferro-magnetic material form said final particulate matter; transferring said final particulate matter to refining or smelting process to recover to recover reusable materials.
US08979002B2
A manual compressed-air spraying device comprising a head in which are fixed an air nozzle forming a venturi and an output nozzle is disclosed. The head delimits, between the venturi and the output nozzle, a mixing chamber into which directly opens a conduit for channelling product to be sprayed. The output nozzle presents a convergent section and a divergent section downstream of the convergent section.
US08979000B2
In the ultrasonic atomization method, a liquid is ultrasonically oscillated in an atomization chamber 4 and a liquid column P is projected in carrier gas to thus atomize the liquid into mists, the carrier gas carrying the atomized mists outwardly of the atomization chamber 4; the carrier gas is forcibly sucked from a lateral point being away at a distance (d1) of 5 cm or less from a center axis m of the liquid column P and thereby a gas flow is blown across the liquid column P; the mists are separated away from the liquid column P by means of the blown gas flow; and such separated mists are transferred outwardly of the atomization chamber 4 by means of the carrier gas.
US08978999B2
A container for air freshening materials or other volatiles includes a receptacle or base and a cover that may be rotated from a closed position to multiple open positions while still engaged to the base to create vent passageway(s) between the cover and the base. A containment section of the base houses an air freshening material, such as a fragrance gel or potpourri, or a volatile, such as an insect repellant. The base further defines an alignment section adapted to rotationally and axially position the cover, an integrated sealing element, and an optional vent section. The alignment section includes a ramp and upper and lower locating elements coupled to the ramp. The alignment section engages at least one guide or a guide nub that extends from a depending arm of the cover. The guide or guide nub travels along the ramp from a first locating element when the cover is in a fully closed position to a second locating element when the cover is in a fully open position. In one of its multiple open positions, the cover is rotationally and axially displaced to specified height(s) above the container, allowing for fragrance or volatile material release.
US08978998B1
A fragrance dispenser mountable to a fan includes a dispenser housing which retains a pair of removable air fragrance packs. The dispenser housing includes a plurality of air vent openings through a rear panel which promotes air flow through the interior of the dispenser housing and over the removable fragrance packs. A sliding door allows a user to selectively block and expose varying portions of the dispenser interior and thus corresponding fragrance packs. The dispenser also includes a pair of clips located along a rear surface which engage a grill of a fan or similar air distribution device. When the fan is activated, air flow caused by the fan circulates through the dispenser housing and over the fragrance pack dispensing a scent or air freshener to the surrounding area.
US08978986B2
A multilayer contactless smartcard 10 including an electronic chip embedded in the card, the chip being connected to an antenna 22 printed on a carrier layer 20, and two card bodies, one on each side of the carrier, each including at least one plastic layer 40 and 60. The antenna carrier is opaque and includes a first cut-out forming a void 23 filled with a transparent plastic; and the plastic layers of the two card bodies each include a second cut-out forming two identical voids 43 and 63 the outlines of which superimpose, in order to make a transparent zone appear in the thickness of the card, forming a transparent logo in the shape of the cut-out. A process for manufacturing such a card is also disclosed.
US08978982B2
An apparatus includes (1) an imaging lens arrangement having an optical axis, (2) an aiming light source configured to project visible light through the imaging lens arrangement to create an aiming pattern on a target object, (3) an imaging sensor detecting light from the target object through the imaging lens arrangement, and (4) a folding mirror tilted relative to the optical axis of the imaging lens arrangement. The folding mirror is positioned both on the optical path from the imaging lens arrangement to the imaging sensor and on the optical path from the aiming light source to the imaging lens arrangement. Both the imaging arrangement and the aiming arrangement share the same imaging lens.
US08978980B2
Intelligent first-aid kit (1) includes of a fixed first-aid kit of the conventional first-aid kits for storing the most important drugs which it is important to have for emergencies or chronic illnesses. A parallelepipedal is container divided into several elongated compartments (2), preferably with a rectangular cross section and a vertical orientation, which includes a drawer (3), an input reader (5.1), an output reader (5.2), a slot (4) for the insertion of an electronic health card, a keypad (6), a screen (7) and a control module (8).
US08978979B2
Systems, methods, and apparatus for overhead scanning of images in a manual distribution environment
This disclosure defines systems, methods and apparatus for imaging systems for scanning barcodes and images in a manual distribution environment. In one aspect a method is disclosed for expanding the effective field of view of a camera used in an overhead scanning system. The method may include moving a mirror positioned relative to the input of a camera according to a determined pattern of movement and a determined speed and capturing a series of images with the camera while the mirror is moving such that the field of view defining each image captured by the camera changes based on the position of the mirror. The method may further include using combined image data from each of the images in the series of images to process machine readable information located on a target item being imaged.
US08978974B2
There is disclosed a method for customer signature management. A customer's signature may be captured by means of a signature capture panel. The capture signature may be stored in one or more data files with a date and time tag.
US08978972B1
Automated banking machines operate to cause financial transfers responsive to data read from data bearing records. Each of the automated banking machines includes a card reader that is operative to read data from user cards corresponding to financial accounts. Transactions are authorized responsive at least in part to correspondence between card data and stored data corresponding to authorized users. Entities responsible for operating the automated banking machines receive messages that include information or update code items for software or firmware usable in the banking machines for which they have operational responsibility.
US08978945B2
A musical instrument strap 100 has a neck band 101 worn on the back side of the neck of a musical instrument player, and also has a musical instrument connector 10 that is connected to both ends of the neck band 101 extending forward respectively from the left and right sides of the neck and connects the neck band 101 to a musical instrument. The musical instrument connector 10 has a flat plate 1 that prevents a right portion of the neck band 101 that extends forward from the right side of the neck, and a left portion of the neck band 101 that extends forward from the left side of the neck, from approaching each other, thereby maintaining the distance between the right portion and the left portion; and a hook 5 capable of engaging with the musical instrument. The flat plate 1 has a hole where the right end of the neck band 101 is connected and a hole where the left end of the neck band 101 is connected, and the left and right holes are spaced from each other by a predetermined distance.
US08978941B2
In accordance with one embodiment, a display strap for displaying a first article of clothing (e.g., a tie) with a second article of clothing (e.g., a hanky, etc.) includes an elongated strap body having a first end and an opposing second end along with a top edge and an opposing bottom edge. The body has a plurality of score lines to permit the elongated body to be folded and the first end be drawn toward the second end. The body further has a locking slit formed therein proximate the first end and a locking tab formed at the second end for reception within the locking slit to form a continuous, folded strap body that captures the first and second articles of clothing for holding thereof at a first location. The display strap has a flag portion that extends upwardly from the top edge of the body and includes an opening formed therein for receiving a fastener that couples the first and second articles of clothing together at a second location that is spaced from the first location.
US08978935B2
A spray system for dispensing a homogenous mixture of a liquid formulation and propellant as an atomized aerosol where a disposable container containing a liquid base is used alone or secured within a rigid container and is charged through a fitting in fluid communication with the interior of the disposable container using a detachable pressurized charge can containing a propellant compatible with the liquid base. Preferably the liquid formulation is a paint base that can be tinted at the point of sale before charging with the charge can.
US08978933B2
A fluid dispenser comprising: a fluid reservoir (1) defining a neck (11) and a bottom wall (12) provided with a filling valve (13, 15); a dispenser member (5), such as a pump, that is mounted on the reservoir (1) so as to take the fluid, the dispenser member (5) including a body (51) and an actuator rod (56) that is movable downwards and upwards along an axis X; a pusher (6, 7) that is mounted on the actuator rod (56) of the dispenser member (5) in such a manner as to turn about the axis X of the rod (56); a vent passage that puts the reservoir (1) into communication with the outside; closure means (3) for selectively closing the vent passage; and control means (4) for urging the closure means (3) into a closed condition, in which they close the vent passage, from an open condition, in which they do not close the vent passage; the dispenser being characterized in that the control means (4) are secured to the pusher (6, 7) or moved by the pusher.
US08978911B2
Container having a helical grip translating down the container.
US08978900B2
A bulk rail bracket including at least three horizontally-oriented and vertically aligned support shelf rows, wherein each pair of consecutive support shelf rows is positioned such that the two support shelf rows in the pair are spaced by a height that is approximately a multiple of a rack unit size.
US08978899B2
A layer of fluoropolymer fine fiber can be made. The fine fiber can be made by electrospinning from a solvent or a solvent blend. The layers of the invention are useful in general filtration of fluid streams including gaseous and liquid streams. The fine fiber layers are also useful as hydrophobic filtration layers that can be used to separate water from a hydrocarbon stream.
US08978896B2
An apparatus filters particles from small volumes of liquid in a tubular vial having an open top and closed bottom with a tubular plunger sliding in the vial to force liquid through a filter at the end of the plunger and into a cavity in the plunger. The filter is held by a cap placed over the end of the plunger. The vial's bottom has an upward extending protrusion mating with a conforming recess in the cap to direct liquid to the protraction and filter as the cap abuts the bottom of the vial. Channels in the bottom help direct liquid flow.
US08978895B2
A lump coal size sorting grate comprising parallel bars is provided with three spaced apart, parallel cleaning combs which can be individually activated to clean the sizing grid of lodged coal lumps in a predetermined sequence so that the entire sizing grid is never closed during a coal sorting operation. The cleaning combs are made of spaced, parallel bars which can be pivoted upwardly, between and through the bars of the sizing grate. An adaptive system which senses and responds to a clogged condition in the grate can be provided by sensing crusher motor current or, in the alternative, sensing grate bar deflection using strain gage transducers.
US08978892B2
The present invention provides a packaging carton for fragile, apparatus for making cartoon bottom, and method for making the carton bottom. The packaging carton includes a bottom and peripheral wall which jointly define a receiving space for storing fragile glass substrate with the bottom. The bottom has a skeleton configuration and is made from plastic blowing technology. By the forgoing, the present invention can effectively reduce the packaging cost, and which in turn reducing the cost of the product.
US08978874B2
A friction drive carriage-type conveying apparatus in which a conveying carriage is constituted of a plurality of carriage units to located in series in a moving direction of the conveying carriage, and the respective carriage units to are connected at one of left and right lateral side portions of the conveying carriage in a straightforward posture so as to be horizontally bendable about vertical joint axes and positioned on a straight line parallel to the moving direction, and a friction drive load bar is constituted of a plurality of load bar units to divided for every carriage unit to and attached at positions on the straight line, and the respective load bar units are horizontally bendable about the joint axes.
US08978872B2
A transfer mechanism that transfers boards from a first conveyor onto a second conveyor having lugs using a stop, a cammed wheel for lifting boards over the stop, and a programmable computer controller for controlling the cammed wheel independent of the speed of the first and second conveyors.
US08978871B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for a roller cover that can be installed in a conveyor system. The roller cover includes a plate that is configured to be positioned over a roller in the conveyor system. The plate is configured to restrict a movement of an item that is transported by the conveyor system. A first fin and a second fin extend from the plate. The first fin and the second fin attach the roller cover to the conveyor system.
US08978859B2
A fluid clutch device having a fluid clutch in a body and a cover. A fan member is attached to the device. The body and fan member are both centered on the cover.
US08978856B2
An over-torque protector device including a drive pulley and a drive hub. A plurality of receptacles extends from a pulley face, and a plurality of links extends from a drive hub plate. Each link has a first end pivotably engaged to the plate and a second end provided with coupling means for releasably coupling the drive hub and the drive pulley for unified rotation through operative engagement with the receptacles in a device engaged state, the coupling means and the receptacles out of operative engagement in a device released state. The coupling means and the receptacles have relative axial movements induced by relative rotation between the drive pulley and the drive hub. Transition from the device engaged state to the device released state is induced by the relative axial movements of the coupling means and the receptacles.
US08978855B2
A clutch type driving mechanism used in a hybrid powered vehicle is disclosed to include an axle housing mounted at a motor shaft of a motor, a sliding sleeve having a female thread meshed with a male thread of the axle housing, an axle bearing mounted in the sliding sleeve, an input shaft rotatably and slidably supported in the axle bearing with its one end normally kept apart from the axle housing and its other end provided with a gear, and an output shaft meshed with the gear of the input shaft. When the motor is started, the axle housing is driven by the motor shaft to rotate the sliding sleeve, and the sliding sleeve is moved along the axle housing toward the motor due to the effects of inertia, causing friction engagement between the input shaft and the axle housing so that the axle housing can drive the input shaft to transfer rotational motion to the output shaft. When the motor stands still, the inertia disappears, the sliding sleeve moved back from the axle housing, causing separation between the input shaft and the axle housing.
US08978854B2
A rotational coupling device is provided with an integrated rotor and brake disc to simplify design of the device and remove liquids from the device when used in a wet environment. The rotor is configured for rotation about a rotating hub and includes a first member defining one pole of the rotor and a second member defining a second pole of the rotor and a braking surface. The second member is coupled to the first member, but axially movable relative to the first member. During clutch engagement, an electromagnetic circuit used to engage the clutch urges the second member into engagement with the first member for rotation. When the clutch is disengaged, the second member disengages from the first member to create a fluid flow path between the members and engages a brake plate to halt rotation of the rotor.
US08978849B2
The present invention relates to a damping and dissipation device (10) which can be used for limiting disturbances transmitted between two bodies, generated by forcing elements of a dynamic, seismic nature and by wave-motion in structures in general, which comprises two end elements (18, 14, 32) each destined for being respectively connected to one of the two bodies, the device (10) also comprising at least one disk (11) made of an elastomeric material and at least one elastic element (12) with a variable load, coaxially arranged along an axis A, the elastic element (12) with a variable load having an initial pre-compression degree and is characterized in that at least one of the end elements (18) is connected to the device (10) through a sliding coupling with a sliding direction within a plane tilted with respect to the axis (A), preferably by at least 60°.
US08978848B2
An apparatus for modularly adjusting a shock absorber includes a base, a plurality of pins, and a selecting mechanism. The pins are connected to the base. The selecting mechanism can select at least one of the pins to control at least one valve of the shock absorber.
US08978844B2
An adjustable damping valve arrangement for a vibration damper comprises an actuator which exerts an actuating force on an auxiliary valve body of an auxiliary valve. The auxiliary valve influences a closing force on a main stage valve. A pressure depending on the pressure level in a working space of the vibration damper acts on at least one pressure-impinged closing surface of the main stage valve via a flow connection. The flow connection is carried out so as to be functionally parallel to an incident flow of the main stage valve, and a flow-in opening of the flow connection is oriented at an angle of at least 60° to the flow direction into the main stage valve so that only a static pressure acts on the closing surface of the main stage valve.
US08978833B2
A double-deck elevator group controller including a hall-installed car call registration device, cars of the first operation mode which are in charge of operation between even-numbered floors or between odd-numbered floors and cars of the second operation mode which serve all of the floors at which the cars can stop, are set, and in consideration of both combinations of boarding and alighting floors of registered from-hall car calls and an increment of the number of stops, the from-hall car calls are divided for assignment to the cars of the first operation mode and the cars of the second operation, whereby it is possible to meet from-hall car calls having arbitrary floors as the boarding and alighting floors and it is possible to improve the operation efficiency.
US08978832B2
A holding brake is designed for use in an elevator installation, the installation comprising an elevator cage, a drive and a drive control, wherein a support is movable by way of the drive and the elevator cage is movable by way of this support. The holding brake is designed for application of a mechanical braking action relative to a guide rail of the elevator installation so that the elevator cage after actuation of the holding brake retains its vertical position. The holding brake comprises a locking mechanism which is designed so that it acts from two opposite sides on the guide rail.
US08978827B2
One embodiment (100) collects air pressure created from forward motion of a motorcycle (300) in a reservoir assembly (1001) which stores a liquid lubricant, is attached to motorcycle frame (302), and comprises a containment chamber (102), cap (106), cap seal (104), air inlet port (107), lubricant outlet port (109), and an air inlet connector (108) and a lubricant outlet connector (110) to facilitate the external attachment of conduit. The air pressure is collected by and delivered to reservoir assembly (100-1) via an air collection conduit (118) attached to motorcycle front portion (306) by a mount (130) and urges liquid lubricant through a suction conduit (124), flow restrictor (112) and delivers lubricant via discharge conduit (114) to a chain applicator (116) attached to a motorcycle swing arm assembly (304) and to the inner circumference of drive chain (310). Lubricant flow ceases after motorcycle is stopped. Other embodiments are described and shown.
US08978820B2
The invention provides a fall protection system for an individual maneuvering about a structure, the structure having structure sections disposed equidistant from each other and at least one transverse section extending between the equidistant sections, the system generally including a first cable support disposed on one of the equidistant structure sections, a second cable support disposed on another of the equidistant structure sections, a transverse cable support extending between the first and second cable supports, a rigid member operably associated with the transverse cable support and configured to span the distance between the first and second cable supports, and a personal fall arrest assembly attached to and movable relative to the transverse cable support, the transverse cable support and the rigid member are further configured to move relative to the equidistant and transverse structure sections and relative to the first and second cable supports.
US08978817B2
A sensing subassembly for use with a downhole tool comprises a housing, a cavity disposed within the housing, an electronic board disposed within the cavity, a stiffening member engaging the electronic board and configured to limit flexing of the electronic board, and a spring member configured to provide an isolation mount for the electronic board within the cavity.
US08978816B2
A temporary building structure is provided. The temporary building structure includes a top wall and an opposing floor surface covered by the top wall. The top wall and the floor surface define a first building area and a second building area. The first building area includes a floor surface configured to receive a sound source. The structure further includes a portable sound limiting acoustic shell including an acoustic canopy covering at least a portion of the first building area in which the sound source is positioned. The acoustic canopy is positioned proximate the floor surface, such that the acoustic canopy concentrates sound generated by the sound source within the first building area and isolates the generated sound from the second building area.
US08978810B2
The present invention provides a tractor which is configured such that front wheel axles are disposed above upper portions of front wheels so that the front wheels are prevented from being impeded by the front wheel axles even when the front wheels are steered to maximum angles in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and turned to an angle over or approximate to a right angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the tractor, whereby the tractor can be turned in place by manipulating a steering wheel.
US08978801B2
A system includes a motor coupled to an energy source and coupled to a hoist pump. During one mode of use or operation, the motor cars receive electricity from the energy source and provide mechanical power to the hoist pump. A method includes directing a motor to mechanically couple to the hoist pump, and directing electrical power to flow from an energy source to the motor, and thereby to control the speed of hoist activity.
US08978795B2
An additional roller has a rigid frame, with a drivable wheel which is mounted in the frame and has an axle. The wheel together with the frame can be raised or lowered by pivoting relative to a chassis, on which the additional roller is to be mounted. A compression spring is coupled rotatably at one end to the chassis, in order, in the lowered position, to load the wheel in respect of ground contact. A transverse connection connects two frame parts in the direction of an axle of the wheel. The compression spring is coupled at the other end to the transverse connection. The compression spring together with the frame pivots about the chassis-mounted pivot point during raising and lowering of the wheel.
US08978794B2
A snowmobile rear suspension is shown comprised of a linear force element (LFE) positioned outside the envelope of the snowmobile endless track. The LFE is attached at one end to the frame and at the other end to a bell crank. The bell crank is operatively connected to the slide rails, and carrier rollers extend from the bell crank. When the slide rails collapse in normal operation, the bell crank strokes the LFE, and the suspension is progressive throughout the range.
US08978781B2
A dust shroud assembly for a power tool includes a shroud portion, a barrel, and a helical spring. The barrel includes an upper portion slidably received within a first end portion of the shroud portion. The barrel defines a helical channel. The helical spring is at least partially rotatably engaged with the helical channel and rotationally fixed with respect to the shroud portion. The helical spring is configured to bias the barrel outwardly from the first end portion.
US08978780B2
A handheld power tool with a shiftable mechanism, which is adjustable between two operating positions, has a coupling spring that is coupled with an adjustable shifting member of the mechanism. The coupling spring is embodied as a metastable spring.
US08978778B2
An airplane fire extinguishing system comprises an extinguishing agent storage unit with an activatable closing device, which makes possible, when active, an outflow of extinguishing agent from the extinguishing agent storage unit, and a supply line, connected with the closing device and an outlet opening, via which the extinguishing agent can be conducted from the extinguishing agent storage unit to the outlet opening, in order to eject it there for firefighting, wherein one or more sensor systems are present, by means of which a current airplane state can be determined, and a control unit, connected with the closing device and an actuatable input element, is present, via which the closing device can be activated, the control unit constructed and configured in such a way that the closing device is activated, as a function of the current airplane state, which exists at the time of an actuation of the input element.
US08978768B2
An underwater clamping arrangement (100, 100′) is provided for fixing at least a first and a second member (1, 2) together, to prevent relative movement between the members along at least a longitudinal axis (2L). The clamping arrangement comprises at least a fixed portion (102, 102′) attached to the first member and a reaction portion (104, 104′) attachable to the fixed portion, and a forcing portion (106, 106′). The forcing portion is arranged to apply a clamping force (4F, 4G) in a direction along a forcing axis (2F) substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis between the reaction portion and the second member so to fix the two members together. The reaction portion and forcing portion are removable from the fixed portion when the clamping arrangement is clamped.
US08978763B2
An adjustable fracturing system is provided. In one embodiment, the system includes a fracturing manifold coupled to a fracturing tree to allow the fracturing tree to receive fracturing fluid from the fracturing manifold. The system also includes an adjustment joint configured to be varied in length to facilitate coupling of the fracturing manifold to the fracturing tree. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.
US08978761B2
A method of treating a treatment zone in a well is provided. The method includes the step of introducing into the treatment zone: (a) a hydrated sheet silicate mineral; and (b) a chemical activator for expanding the hydrated sheet silicate mineral. According to an embodiment, a method of treating a treatment zone in a well, where the method includes the steps of, in any order: (a) introducing into the treatment zone a first treatment fluid, wherein the first treatment fluid includes: (i) a hydrated sheet silicate mineral; and (ii) water; and (b) introducing into the zone a second treatment fluid including a chemical activator for expanding the hydrated sheet silicate mineral in the treatment zone.
US08978760B2
A method for placing ball sealers within a well formed within a subterranean formation for sealing holes in a casing of the well is carried out by performing at least one of two operations. The first operation involves providing a tag with at least one ball sealer or a carrier fluid containing the at least one ball sealer to facilitate monitoring of the location of the ball sealer. A tag monitoring device is provided within the well for monitoring the location of the tag. The ball sealer and carrier fluid with the tag are introduced downhole into the well. Information from the monitor device regarding the location of the tag is communicated to a remote monitoring location to the thereby provide an indication of the location of the tag within the well to a surface location. In the second operation a container is provided within the well at a known location downhole within the well. The container contains at least one ball sealer. The ball sealer or sealers are released from the container within the well at the known location in response to an instruction initiated from a surface location.
US08978758B2
A method of the simultaneous production of oil and combustion gases using gravity phase segregation and gravity drainage to produce hydrocarbons from a subterranean oil-bearing formation. Such method comprises initially injecting a fluid such as a solvent, steam, or an oxidizing gas through a pair of horizontal wells placed high in the formation and producing oil through a plurality of parallel lower horizontal wells situated low in the reservoir, each lower horizontal well perpendicularly disposed to said upper horizontal wells. In a preferred embodiment well liner segments are provided in lower horizontal wells, having apertures therein, to allow oil to flow into said lower horizontal wells. At locations where an upper horizontal well traverses a lower horizontal well such well liners possess no apertures thereby preventing oxidizing gas injected in said upper horizontal wells from flowing directly into said lower horizontal wells at such point at which said lower wells are traversed by said upper wells.
US08978747B2
A datacenter may use heat collected from a heat exchanger at the exhaust portion of a cooling system to heat inlet louvers for an atmospheric intake. The louvers may have fluid passages through which heated fluid may pass and cause the louvers to heat up. The heated louvers may operate during periods of snow, rain, high humidity, or other conditions to eliminate condensation, snow and ice buildup, or other problems. In some embodiments, a liquid may be passed through the louvers, while in other embodiments, heated air or other gas may be passed through conductive paths in the louvers. In a heated air system, holes in the louvers may allow the heated air to enter the incoming airstream to regulate the incoming temperature to the datacenter.
US08978743B2
A fin tube heat exchanger 1 according to the present invention includes fins 31 and a heat transfer tube 21 penetrating through the fins 31. A region that is surrounded by line segments connecting among two reference points BP and two leading edge reference points BPF is defined as a reference region. A region that is included in the reference region and located between an upstream reference line LU and a downstream reference line LD is defined as a specific region. Each fin 31 is provided with a cut-and-raised portion 12 having, in the specific region, another leading edge different from a leading edge 31f. The cut-and-raised portion is formed by cutting and raising a part of the fin 31.
US08978737B2
The present invention discloses a molding system, more particularly, a shrinking type molding system comprising an outer mold, an inner mold and a first pattern layer. An adjustable gap is formed between the outer mold and the inner mold to contain a work piece therein. Furthermore, the work piece with a pattern structure on the surface thereof can be formed by the first pattern layer. The difference between the present invention and the prior art is that the molding system of the present invention is capable of optionally or simultaneously forming the pattern structure on the inner surface or the outer surface of the work piece, so as to solve the long last problem that not all the surfaces of the work piece could have the pattern structure thereon in the prior art.
US08978729B2
A stabilizing mechanism for resisting relative movement of upper and lower laminates of a composite structure having a core comprises a lower grip strip and at least one upper grip strip. The lower grip strip may be mounted to a tool upon which the composite structure may be processed. The lower grip strip may include an outer surface having at least one engagement feature for engaging at least one of the upper and lower laminates which make up the composite structure. The upper grip strip may have opposing outer surfaces which may include at least one engagement feature for engaging the lower strip and at least one of the upper and lower laminates.
US08978725B2
A bicycle wheel rim structure is provided with a rim, a cap and a tape. The rim includes a first annular side portion, a second annular side portion and an annular bridge portion extending between the first and second annular side portions. The bridge portion has at least one opening. The cap includes a base plate and a projection. The base plate overlies an outer rim surface of the annular bridge portion. The projection extends from the base plate into the at least one opening. The tape is attached to the outer rim surface of the annular bridge portion and overlying the base plate of the cap. The tape is dimensioned to cover an interface between a peripheral edge of the base plate of the cap and the outer rim surface of the annular bridge portion.
US08978723B2
A solid vacuum wheel and tire assembly incorporating a vacuum to adhere a solid tire in place against a wheel rim, allowing for safe and reliable operation. The assembly incorporates a flexible solid tire core which contracts into place after a vacuum is applied, contracting and adhering directly onto the wheel rim and filling a void between the rim and tire, having no air pressure to go flat or release if punctured. Vacuum channels installed along the wheel rim direct a vacuum seal to the tire core. A vacuum valve is installed into a vacuum chamber, which acts as a conduit to direct the vacuum throughout the assembly. The solid tire incorporates a possible concave shaped tire tread configuration, tire tread rubber and a steel belt. The solid tire core material comprising of solid or porous rubber, jell or a combination of each provides a solid flexible non-pneumatic core structure.
US08978722B2
A pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion, side wall portions, and bead portions. The tread portion of said pneumatic tire includes at least one groove unit including a main groove extending in a tire circumferential direction and an auxiliary groove extending in the tire circumferential direction that has a smaller width than that of the main groove. The main groove and/or the auxiliary groove meanders in a wave or zigzag manner, and the main groove and the auxiliary groove intersect so as to intertwine with each other. Additionally, a rib portion extending in the tire circumferential direction is disposed adjacent along the groove unit including the main groove and the auxiliary groove.
US08978721B2
A heat-expandable rubber layer is provided to an inner all of a pneumatic tire when the tire is in an uncured state. The rubber layer is expanded when the tire is in a vulcanized state. Once expanded, the rubber layer is capable of reducing rolling noises of the tire. The rubber layer includes an elastomer composition based on at least an elastomer, e.g., natural rubber or butyl rubber; a reinforcing filler, e.g., silica and/or carbon black; between 10 and 80 phr of a blowing agent, e.g., an azodicarbonamide compound; and between 10 and 50 phr of a hot-melt compound with a melting point between 70° C. and 150° C., e.g., urea. The combination of the blowing agent and the hot-melt compound, at recommended high contents, makes it possible to very greatly reduce an expansion ratio and therefore a thickness of the rubber layer once the pneumatic tire is vulcanized, without affecting noise absorption properties provided by the blowing agent.
US08978720B2
A pneumatic tire 1 including a cylindrical annular structure 10; a rubber layer 11 that will become a tread portion, provided along a circumferential direction of the annular structure 10, on an outer side 10so of the annular structure 10; and a carcass portion 12 including fibers covered with rubber, provided on both sides 2S in a direction parallel to a center axis (Y-axis) of a cylindrical structure 2 including the annular structure 10 and the rubber layer 11. In a meridian cross-sectional view of the structure 2, an outer side 11so of the rubber layer 11 and the outer side 10so of the annular structure 10 have the same form.
US08978717B2
A cap unit is provided with: a cap body having a first flow channel for feeding the compressed air from a compressor into a bottle container, and a second flow channel for sequentially taking out a puncture repair agent and the compressed air from the bottle container; and a first and second inner lids which are independent from one another and which close the first and second flow channels. The cap body has a boss portion extending upward from the bottom surface of a mouth portion securing recess, and provided with a first inner lid securing portion. The first inner lid is fitted into the first inner lid securing portion The upper opening portion of the first flow channel opens further inward than the first inner lid securing portion, and the upper opening portion of the second flow channel opens further outward than the first inner lid securing portion.
US08978713B2
A highly corrosion and abrasion resistant coating combination for high precision metal tubing comprises a passivation layer applied to the tubing and a thermoplastic jacket extruded onto the passivated tubing. In an embodiment, the passivation layer is formed by electropolishing the exterior surface of the tube to remove impurities in an upper layer of the tube.
US08978703B2
The invention relates to a device for receiving liquids in an aircraft and/or releasing liquids therefrom, especially during the flight, said device being arranged especially in an airplane. The aim of the invention is to provide a device which can receive large quantities of liquids in a rapid, reliable and flexible manner. To this end, the device can include a tank module with at least one tank container that is connected to a collector using a connecting shaft and a bulkhead module that can be connected to the tank module by the collecting tank. A closing element in the open position releases liquid from the tank module. In addition, a refueling module which is connected to the tank module by a supply line and a tube arranged on a winding device, and a receiving element attached to the tube, can provide refueling of the device.
US08978691B2
A valve including a flow control assembly having an adaptive, floating closure member is provided. In one embodiment, a ball valve includes a floating closure member having a shoulder enclosed within a recess of the valve body. The recess is larger than the shoulder of the closure member and allows axial movement of the closure member with respect to the valve body and along a flow path through the valve. Additional valve systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.
US08978680B2
An erectable canopy framework comprising a base frame and a roof frame. The roof frame is operative to support a canopy above the base frame and is removably mountable to the base frame. The base frame includes a plurality of upright support members, a plurality of cross members, each interconnecting adjacent upright support members, and a plurality of mounts disposed on the upright support members. Each mount includes a mount opening and each cross member includes a scissor assembly to permit movement of the base frame between expanded and a collapsed states. The mounts are operative to fasten the cross members to the upright support members. The roof frame includes a plurality of rafters each connectable to a corresponding mount opening. The framework comprises a plurality of rafter fittings each adapted for insertion into a corresponding mount opening and connectable to a corresponding rafter.
US08978673B2
A system for cleaning semiconductor packages is provided which includes a pickhead that is configured to hold the semiconductor packages in an array arrangement and a plurality of nozzles, each of which is constructed and arranged to project a separate jet of cleaning fluid upwardly against the semiconductor packages. A megasonic energy generator is coupled for imparting megasonic energy to the cleaning fluid and a driving device drives relative movement between the plurality of nozzles and the pickhead to direct the said jets to clean the array of packages on the pickhead.
US08978671B2
An apparatus comprising: a processing liquid supply unit; a volatile processing liquid supply unit; a substrate heating unit; and a controller to control the volatile processing liquid supply unit and the substrate heating unit, wherein the controller executes a process of supplying the processing liquid to the substrate, a process of heating the substrate on which a liquid film of the processing liquid is formed, a process of supplying a volatile processing liquid, a process of stopping the supply of the volatile processing liquid, and a process of drying the substrate by removing the volatile processing liquid, and wherein the process of heating the substrate starts before the process of supplying the volatile processing liquid, and the substrate heating unit heats the substrate so that the surface temperature of the substrate is higher than a dew point before the surface of the substrate is exposed from the volatile processing liquid.
US08978665B2
The invention provides a nail polish device for applying or removing nail polish. The nail polish device comprises a liquid delivering material for delivering a liquid nail polish or liquid nail polish removing composition; a main body structure substantially enclosing the liquid delivering material with an opening for receiving the fingers or toes of the user during use; and a vapor inhibiting material disposed on the main body structure, along the surface proximal to the liquid delivering material. The vapor inhibiting material is effective in inhibiting vapors and/or excess liquids from the liquid nail polish or removing composition by either absorbing same and/or neutralizing same.
US08978659B2
A dental device has a U-shaped carrier with at least one channel for embracing an arch of teeth. There are recessed insets in the channel. Discrete inserts carrying a beneficial agent can fit into the insets and release the agent gradually. The device may be used in a therapeutic application and as an athletic mouthguard. Temporary blanks may be initially fitted in the insets, while a portion of the mouthguard is softened before an arch of teeth is pressed into the channel to make a custom impression. The inserts possess different physical properties than the carrier and may be positioned and shaped to mechanically buffer teeth of the arch from mechanical shocks as well as release beneficial agents. The inserts may be replaced or refreshed to maintain the beneficial agent. A dental device having a core carrying a beneficial agent inside a liquid-permeable shell functions as an infant's teething device.
US08978657B2
Various embodiments of a tracheal tube having a shaped divider disposed therein for separation of a tracheal tube into multiple ventilation lumens are provided. In some embodiments, the divider divides a tracheal ventilation lumen from a bronchial ventilation lumen. In some embodiments, the shaped divider provides an irregular inner diameter that allows a relatively bulky device to be inserted into one or both lumens.
US08978655B2
A respirator comprises: a nose and mouth covering porous filter body and a flexible restraining device arranged so that the body may pivot in its vertical plane of symmetry about its nose contact portion, and the restraining device attaches to the body at positions where its restraining force imparts torque in the body about said nose contact portion so that the chin contact portion of said body bears against the user's chin. In use, the resulting chin contact force may be less than the opposing user expiration force on the filter body, so the periphery of the chin contact portion may separate from the user's chin during expiration to benefit user comfort and mitigate eyeglass condensation.
US08978651B2
An anesthesia system is disclosed herein. The anesthesia system includes a sensor configured to measure an anesthetic agent concentration, and a processor connected to the sensor. The processor is configured to generate an exponential agent model based on the measured anesthetic agent concentration. The exponential agent model represents a plurality of future anesthetic agent concentrations.
US08978647B2
A nasal delivery device for and method of delivering substance to a nasal cavity of a subject, the delivery device comprising: a nosepiece for fitting to a nostril of a subject, wherein the nosepiece comprises a tip element which includes a delivery aperture from which substance is in use delivered into the nasal cavity, and the tip element is at least in part tapered such as to be inclined to a longitudinal axis of the nosepiece, with the delivery aperture extending both laterally across the tip element and along a longitudinal extent of the tip element; a nozzle through which substance is in use delivered, preferably substantially axially to a longitudinal axis of the nosepiece, to the respective nasal cavity; and a delivery unit for delivering substance through the nozzle of the nosepiece.
US08978646B2
An inhaler for powdery, in particular medical, substances is formed with a suction air channel, which leads to a mouthpiece. The inhaler also has a storage chamber for storing the substance and a linearly moving dosing chamber for apportioning a specified amount of substance from the storage chamber to a transfer point to the suction air flow. The aim of the invention is to obtain a structurally simple solution that makes it possible to eliminate adding an external air flow. To this end, a component of the suction air flow, which is located in the direction of extension of the dosing chamber, empties the dosing chamber.
US08978642B2
A tubular heat-absorbing element partly enclosed in an insulating layer or jacket, has absorbing surface that is accessible to solar radiation. The thermal insulation is designed to provide entry to solar radiation by way of a cavity. The absorbing surface can be substantially planar.
US08978635B2
A method of transferring data in a projectile launching device includes providing a projectile launching device that has a transmitter and a receiver. An external device also includes its own transmitter and receiver. The receivers are in range with the transmitters. Data is sent from the transmitter on the projectile launching device to the either or both the receiver on the projectile launching device and the receiver on the external device. Data is sent from the transmitter on the projectile launching device to either or both the receiver on the projectile launching device and the receiver on the external device. As a result, the projectile launching device communicates with the external device.
US08978620B2
An apparatus includes an internal combustion engine with an engine block and a cylinder liner housing a piston. The engine block includes at least one cylinder cavity and at least one replaceable cylinder liner positioned within the cylinder cavity. At least two press fit areas create an interference fit between the engine block and the replaceable cylinder liner. One press fit area is located proximate to the top surface of the engine block and the other press fit area is located in the engine block at the opposite end of the cylinder liner. A storage volume is formed between the press fit areas by the outer surface of the cylinder liner and the surface of the engine block defining the cylinder cavity.
US08978618B2
The present invention relates to a heat engine having a housing. A generally triangular shaped rotor can drive an offset crank as it eccentrically rotates within the housing. Two inlets with valves and two exhausts are provided. The volume between each face of the rotor and the housing defines three expansion chambers. Six power cycles are provided (one by each expansion chamber times two inlets) per revolution of the rotor. Each valve controls the length of time that high pressure gas is allowed to enter each expansion chamber. The valves are controlled by a processor and close when enough pressure is supplied so that the pressures inside and outside the expansion chamber are equal when the chamber is fully expanded just prior to exhaust. Gates can provide a mechanical advantage to the rotor by reducing the amount of pressure applied to the back side of the fulcrum.
US08978614B2
A lubrication apparatus for a four-stroke engine includes an oil tank, a supply passageway having an opening to supply oil mist from the oil tank to driving parts, the opening being provided in the oil tank. A partition is provided between the opening and a side wall of the oil tank, the partition being formed by partition plate members so as to divide an inside of the oil tank into an inner area and an outer area. The inner area includes the opening, and the outer area is defined between the inner area and the side wall. Oil can freely move between the inner area and the outer area, and the opening is placed in a position above a surface of the oil accumulated in the oil tank even when the four-stroke engine is tilted in every direction.
US08978612B2
In a piston (1) for combustion engines are included a piston crown (2), a piston skirt (3) and portions (4A, 4B; 13) for receiving a piston pin (5) by means of which the piston is pivotally supported on a connection rod, whereby a protection (7) covering a major portion of a bottom side of the piston crown is supported on the piston pin. The protection is fitted in sealing engagement with a first inner portion of the piston skirt, forming an uninterrupted gap in relation to a main portion of the piston crown and with at least a portion of the protection being provided at a distance inside a second outer portion of the piston skirt.
US08978607B2
A device (11) for variably adjusting the control times of gas exchange valves (9, 10) of an internal combustion engine (1), including a drive element (13) that can be brought into driven connection with a crankshaft (2) of the internal combustion engine (1), an output element (14) which can be brought into driving connection with a camshaft (6, 7) of the internal combustion engine (1) and which is arranged in a pivotable manner with respect to the drive element (13), and at least one lateral cover (15) which lies on an axial lateral surface of the output element (14) or of the drive element (13), which is connected to the drive element (13) or to the output element (14) in a rotationally fixed manner and which has a disk-shaped portion (33). The disk-shaped portion (33) has a sliding guide depression (36c) which is open to the drive or output element (13, 14), said sliding guide depression being equipped with a stop element (40), and the sliding guide depression (36c) and the stop element (40) form a sliding guide into which a locking element (38) can engage.
US08978605B2
A camshaft adjusting device of an internal combustion engine having two camshafts supported concentrically to one another, the axial position of the outer camshaft being determined by an axial bearing and the outer camshaft interacting with a sealing cover of an adjusting apparatus. A first cam is rotationally fixed to the outer camshaft. A second cam is rotationally fixed to the inner camshaft, which can be rotated relative to the outer camshaft by the adjusting apparatus, wherein the inner camshaft has a locking contour on at least one section of the outside of the inner camshaft, which locking contour engages in a form-closed manner in a mating contour on at least one section of the inside of the outer camshaft in order to fix the axial position of the inner camshaft relative to the outer camshaft.
US08978600B2
Methods and systems for controlling the operation of a dual mode engine accessory, such as a dual mode cooling pump. The dual mode device has two modes of operation, an electric motor operation and a mechanical pulley-driven operation. A friction clutch mechanism controlled by the control system is utilized to switch between the two modes of operation. The speed of the electrical motor can be changed to be substantially the same as, or changed in the direction of, the speed of the mechanical pulley-driven system.
US08978597B2
A cooling system 1A includes an internal combustion engine 10, a pump 31, a radiator 32, a main passage section 41, a stirling engine 20, a branch passage section 43 branching from the main passage section 41 at a first connection point P1 and joining a downstream part of the main passage section 41 from the first connection point P1 at a second connection point P2, and a thermostat 33. The first connection point P1 and the second connection point P2 are provided in a part of the main passage section 41 between the radiator 32 and the pump 31. The thermostat 33 is provided in another part of the main passage section 41 between the first connection point P1 and the second connection point P2.
US08978595B2
A piston engine has a housing and a piston. The piston is magnetically and movably disposed in the housing. A device for magnetically supporting the piston is fixedly mounted relative to the housing. A linear machine in conjunction with the magnetic bearing of the piston can prevent friction and thus result in a machine for converting mechanical into electric energy without having to lubricate and with reduced mechanical effort.
US08978591B2
A pet toy comprising a rod that has a proximal end and a distal end. The rod becomes increasingly flexible from the proximal end to the distal end. The pet toy further comprises a flexible line member connected to the distal end where a ratio of a length of the rod and a length of the flexible line member can be from about 5:1 to about 50:1. The connection between the distal end and the flexible line member comprises a pin with a needle and a head where the needle can be inserted into the distal end, and a connector that is mounted on the head.
US08978585B2
A system and method for cognitive enrichment of an animal. At least one display device is configured to display stimuli to an animal. At least one input device is configured to accept input from the animal. At least one reward dispenser is configured to dispense a reward to the animal. At least one processor is communicatively coupled with the at least one display device, the at least one input device, and the at least one reward dispenser. Execution of computer-readable instructions causes the at least one processor to carry out steps including displaying one or more stimuli to the animal using the at least one display device, accepting an input from the animal corresponding to at least one of the one or more stimuli, making a dispensing decision based on the input, and dispensing a reward using the at least one reward dispenser based on the dispensing decision.
US08978582B2
The invention relates to a device for stimulating an udder during milking, made up of a housing with a first connection (350, 351) and a second connection (352, 353), which housing can be grasped by a hand. The first connection connects the housing to a pulsator and the second connection connects the housing to a teat cup. A throttle valve (305, 306) is interposed between the first connection and the second connection. A control device (309) is housed in the housing and is adapted to bring the throttle valve, after a defined duration, from a partially open to an open position.
US08978577B2
A waxing device is used for applying a waxing treatment to a polishing wheel, and includes a supporting assembly, an adjusting assembly, a driving mechanism, a mounting assembly, a motor, a wax block and a resisting mechanism. The supporting assembly includes a sliding rail, and the adjusting assembly is slidably positioned on the sliding rail; the driving mechanism is mounted on the adjusting assembly; the mounting assembly includes a mounting member positioned on the driving mechanism; the motor is mounted on mounting member; the wax block is positioned on the motor and rotated by the motor; the resisting mechanism is positioned on the supporting assembly and resists the adjusting assembly for adjusting a pressure applied to the polishing wheel during the waxing process.
US08978566B2
A sewing machine may comprise a needle bar driving mechanism, a cutting needle rotation mechanism, and an embroidery frame movement mechanism configured to move an embroidery frame comprising a protruding portion. A cam member may be fixed to the needle bar and comprise a plurality of cams. A processor of the sewing machine may set a height of the needle bar to a specific position from a plurality of positions. Each of the plurality of positions may represent that each of the plurality of cams is able to contact with the protruding portion. The processor may instruct the needle bar driving mechanism to move the needle bar to the specific position and instruct the embroidery frame movement mechanism to move the embroidery frame to a position where the protruding portion is able to contact with one of the plurality of cams.
US08978565B2
Disclosed is a two-needle sewing machine that improves strength in a convex curve part by bringing a pair of stitches close together when sewing an item. A two-needle sewing machine includes a bed part; a column part; an arm part; a needle shaft that is disposed on the leading part of the arm part; two sewing needles that are attached to the needle shaft; two horizontal hooks that catch the respective needle thread loops of the two sewing needles; and a conveyor member that conveys a material to be sewn in a direction approximately orthogonal to the bed part. On the two-needle sewing machine, the sewing needle, which is positioned in a location distant from the column part, is disposed closer to the conveyance side of the material to be sewn than the sewing needle that is positioned in a location closer to the column part.
US08978554B2
An alkali soluble resin is disclosed comprising a first monomeric unit including at least one sulfonamide group and a second monomeric unit derived from the monomer according to the following structure (I) wherein R1 represents a structural moiety comprising an ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable group; R2, R3 and R4 independently represent hydrogen, an optionally substituted alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, alkaryl, aralkyl, aryl or heteroaryl group or, the necessary atoms to form a five to eight membered ring.
US08978551B2
A flexible manufacturing system includes a printing system, a projection system and a remote device. The projection system is calibrated with the printing system and helps with aligning graphics to be printed on an article. The remote device receives information from an optical device corresponding to a projection area of the projection system. The remote device can be used to control the alignment of a projected graphic on the article when the article is inside the projection area.
US08978547B2
An improved cooking assembly and method is disclosed. The assembly includes a base pan for heating and boiling water. An inner pan is suspended or elevated above the base pan via a support member. Ideally, the support member allows water to flow over, under, or through it. A lid is disposed over the base pan, and a gap remains between the rim of the inner pan and the base pan. Optionally, the handle of the inner pan fits into a notch in the rim of the base pan to lock it into place, and a projection may extend from the handle of the inner pan to a receiving member in a handle of the base pan. The lid may be extended using a free-standing peripheral extender or an extender wall about the lid. Optionally, a grill may be placed on the inner pan, or poaching pans may be placed in the inner pan. Water is heated and transformed to steam. The steam is allowed to condense on the interior concave surface of the lid, and condensed water then streaks down the lid toward the outside edge. In this manner, food is cooked evenly without any of the problematic effects of burning.
US08978546B2
This invention provides a device for preserving and dispensing a beverage, having: (a) a housing including one or more compartments, each compartment for storing a beverage container; and (b) one or more dispensing head removably connected to a cartridge, wherein said dispensing head having an aerator for aerating said beverage, wherein said cartridge removably and securely holds a beverage container, wherein said beverage flows from said container to said dispensing head by the force of a pump connected to said cartridge. In one embodiment, the beverage is wine.
US08978545B2
An apparatus for preparing a beverage liquid from beverage forming ingredients contained in a receptacle by passing water through the ingredients by centrifuging the receptacle. The apparatus includes a centrifugal driver for driving the receptacle around its central axis of rotation (I), a device for feeding water into the receptacle, a filter placed in the receptacle, and at least one beverage flow outlet of variable cross-section for enabling the beverage to flow out of the receptacle.
US08978540B2
A clamping cylinder is disclosed. The cylinder includes a cylinder block defining a receiving chamber and two vents communicating with the receiving chamber, the cylinder block further defining a through hole communicating with the receiving chamber at a side; a piston slidably mounted in the receiving chamber and defining a through groove corresponding to the through hole, the piston further comprising a resisting surface; and a pushrod assembly comprising a push block movably mounted in the through hole, and a resilient member mounted in the through groove, the resilient member is connected to the push block; wherein the resilient member is adapted to pull the push block towards the piston, and the resisting surface is configured to resist the push block so that the push block moves along the through hole when the piston slides along the receiving chamber.
US08978534B2
A weapon system which includes an intermodal shipping container, an unmanned weapons unit, configured to fit substantially within said intermodal shipping container, an energy source capable of providing power to said weapon system, a computing processing unit, wherein computing processing unit is capable of controlling said weapon system, a lifting system, wherein said lifting system is capable of raising said unmanned weapons unit, and a camera system, wherein camera system is capable of capturing images and communicating said images to said computing processing unit.
US08978529B2
A food article feed apparatus for a food article slicing machine. The apparatus has conveyor with a drive belt for connecting a drive source to a drive roller, and a conveyor belt. The drive roller is for driving the conveyor. The drive roller has an outer diameter and a recessed diameter where the drive belt is connected around the recessed diameter and the conveyor belt is connected around the outer diameter. The drive belt operates within an area defined by the first conveyor belt.
US08978521B2
A torque transmittal tool has an input socket to receive a drive input from a drive tool. The input socket causes a first link to rotate through a range of rotation upon rotation of the input socket. The first link is fixed to rotate with an extension link. The extension link is fixed to rotate with an output link. The output link includes an output ratchet for transmitting rotation, and has a torque reversal button which may be actuated to change the direction of rotation of the output ratchet. An actuator has an unactuated position where a contact surface is spaced away from the torque reversal button, and an actuated position at which it actuates the torque reversal button. A method is also disclosed.
US08978520B2
A tightening machine has a socket unit which tightens a reaction washer and a nut to each other. The socket unit includes an inner socket whose tip end can engage with the nut, and an outer socket formed concentrically with the inner socket. A tip end of the outer socket can engage with the reaction washer. The socket unit concentrically includes an inner socket holder and an outer socket holder. The inner socket holder and the outer socket holder can rotate in opposite directions from each other, and the outer socket holder is formed around an outer periphery of the inner socket holder. The inner socket is detachably engaged with the inner socket holder, and the outer socket is detachably engaged with the outer socket holder. The inner socket is engaged with the inner socket holder with clearance in its circumferential direction.
US08978516B2
The invention relates to a hybrid drive, comprising an internal combustion engine, an electric machine and a torque superposition device, by means of which a torque supplied by the internal combustion engine can be superposed on a torque supplied by the electric machine, wherein the torque superposition device has a first and a second torque input and a torque output. The electric machine is coupled to the first torque input via a first transmission device, and the internal combustion engine is coupled to the second torque input via a second transmission device.
US08978509B2
A robot arm assembly includes a main base, a joint and at least one arm. The main base includes a main body, and the main body includes a mounting portion and a limiting post on a side of the mounting portion. The joint is rotatably mounted on the mounting portion and includes a limit piece corresponding to the limiting post. The at least one arm is fixed to the joint, when the arm rotates relative to the main base to a predetermined extent of rotation, the limit piece abuts against the limiting post to stop the rotation of the arm.
US08978507B2
A balancing mechanism for a robot configured for lifting heavy weights comprises a hollow balancing body comprising an opening; an elastic assembly received in the balancing body and a pulling rod assembly received in the balancing body and hinged to a robot arm of the robot. One end of the pulling rod assembly resists the elastic assembly, and another opposite end of the pulling rod assembly extends out from the balancing body through the opening, the pulling rod assembly is movably assembled with the balancing body via the elastic assembly to make the elastic assembly capable of producing a balancing moment against the gravity moment of the robot arm.
US08978483B2
The integrated electronic device is for detecting a local parameter related to a force experienced in a predetermined direction within a solid structure. The device includes a semiconductor substrate having a substantially planar region that defines a plane substantially perpendicular to the predetermined direction. At least one sensor detects the local parameter at least in the predetermined direction with a piezo-resistive effect. At least one substantially planar face is arranged in a portion of the integrated electronic device, the face belonging to a inclined plane by a predetermined angle relative to the plane perpendicular to the predetermined direction, which plane is defined by the substantially planar region of the substrate. The predetermined angle is defined such as to reduce forces acting in directions other than the predetermined direction at the portion of the device around the at least one sensor.
US08978478B2
A laser beam having a single wavelength emitted from a laser light source is converted at a wavelength shifter into a laser beam having at least two wavelengths, which is further demultiplexed at a beam splitter into a laser beam having a first wavelength and a laser beam having a second wavelength. The output power and pulse width of the laser beam having the first wavelength are adjusted by a first controller so as to reach levels appropriate for generating ultrasonic vibrations without causing damage to an inspection object. The output power and pulse width of the laser beam having the second wavelength are adjusted by a second controller so as to reach appropriate levels for detecting the above-described ultrasonic vibrations. These laser beams are multiplexed by a multiplexer into a single laser beam to be focused onto a surface of the inspection object.
US08978475B2
This document discusses among other things apparatus and methods for a proof mass including split z-axis portions. An example proof mass can include a center portion configured to anchor the proof-mass to an adjacent layer, a first z-axis portion configure to rotate about a first axis using a first hinge, the first axis parallel to an x-y plane orthogonal to a z-axis, a second z-axis portion configure to rotate about a second axis using a second hinge, the second axis parallel to the x-y plane, wherein the first z-axis portion is configured to rotate independent of the second z-axis portion.
US08978468B2
Methods and systems for detecting and indicating the presence of undesirable substances in ingestible substance such as food or beverages. More specifically, systems and methods for nonvisually and concealably indicating and detecting the presence of unwanted or undesired drugs in beverages and/or food.
US08978464B2
An alternate construction and method for a magnetostrictive probe intended to be used as a tank monitoring device. Height determination, either water or fuel, is referenced to an ultrasonic pickup assembly located inside the shaft at the foot of the probe. With this inverse approach, height measurement uses the relative geothermal stability of underground storage tanks, or the temperature stability offered by the thermal mass of the fuel, to facilitate a tank level determination. At that new location, the detection circuit is isolated from the effect of magnetic risers, large temperature swings and other undesirable phenomenon that often affect magnetostrictive probe measurements that are referenced to the canister. Aside from its primary use as referred to by this disclosure, this probe could be adapted for any application necessitating precise knowledge of height or distance measurement in relation to the foot of the probe without using a reference magnet.
US08978458B2
A system and related method for improving tire uniformity includes identifying at least one candidate process effect and a corresponding process harmonic number for each process effect. A given uniformity parameter, such as radial or lateral run-out, balance, mass variation, radial lateral or tangential force variation, is measured for each tire in a test set, such that the measurements contain tire harmonics as well as a process harmonics corresponding to each candidate process effect. Rectangular coordinate coefficients are electronically constructed for each said process harmonic, after which point the rectangular coordinates corresponding to each process harmonic are solved for (e.g., by using regression-based analysis). The magnitude of each said process harmonic is estimated, and a final magnitude estimate for each process harmonic can be determined by summarizing (e.g., by taking the average or median value) the respectively estimated magnitudes for each process harmonic across all test tires.
US08978454B2
The invention relates to a pressure gauge for measuring the pressure in a combustion chamber of an engine, comprising a housing, a tappet, which is movable in the housing in an axial direction under the action of combustion chamber pressure, a sensor for detecting an axial displacement of the tappet, and a force transmitter, in order to transmit a force loading the tappet to the sensor. In accordance with the invention, the force transmitter has at least one damping section for damping flexural vibrations, at which its flexural rigidity is reduced.
US08978451B2
The invention relates to a balancing device, having a measuring system for determining the rotational unbalance of a test object, comprising a spindle unit with a spindle, which is intended to hold the test object and rotate it at a test rotational speed, and a spindle mounting, by which the spindle unit is movably anchored on the machine base, such that the spindle unit can oscillate in a predetermined measuring direction as a result of the unbalance forces occurring during the measurement operation, and at least one sensor, which upon rotation of the spindle detects at least one unbalance characteristic variable occurring in the measuring direction, and a material removal system for balancing the test object by material removal in a predetermined site. The measuring system and the material removal system are designed such that material can be removed when the test object is held in the spindle.
US08978450B2
An apparatus for determining and controlling characteristics of a fluid is provided that includes a substrate, a heating circuit, and a sensing circuit applied on the substrate by a layered process. A control module is in communication with the heating circuit and the sensing circuit for determining, for example, type, concentration, liquid level, and temperature of the fluid, which in one form is a urea solution.
US08978448B2
Some embodiments relate in part to endovascular devices such as prostheses and methods of testing same prior to deployment. Some embodiments may be directed more specifically to inflatable grafts or stent grafts and methods of in vitro leak testing of such grafts prior to in vivo deployment.
US08978444B2
The disclosure describes embodiments of an apparatus including a first gas chromatograph including a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, and a first temperature control. A controller is coupled to the first temperature control and includes logic to apply a first temperature profile to the first temperature control to heat, cool, or both heat and cool the first gas chromatograph. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
US08978443B2
An arrangement for use in a utility meter includes an accelerometer, a processing circuit, and a source of power. The accelerometer is configured to detect impact force on a utility meter housing. The processing circuit is operably coupled to receive information representative of detected shock events from the accelerometer, and is configured to store information regarding detected shock events in a non-volatile memory. The source of power is independent of a main meter power supply, and is operably connected to the processing circuit.
US08978441B2
A method for mounting a substrate of a measurement graduation and a scanning head of a position measuring system on a first machine part and a second machine part. The method including fastening a substrate of a measurement graduation and a scanning head on first and second portions, respectively, of a mounting aid. The method including adjusting a location of the first portion relative to the second portion in a first degree of freedom that differs from a measurement direction in which a relative position of the first machine part relative to the second machine part is to be measured. The method including fastening the substrate and the scanning head on the first and second machine parts, respectively, at the mounting position. The method further including removing the mounting aid.
US08978440B2
The present invention provides a method for calibrating a geodetic instrument, an instrument and a computer program product thereof. In the method and geodetic instrument of the present invention, a value of at least one parameter affecting the measurements made by the instrument is detected and compared with a predetermined threshold. On the basis of the comparison between the detected value and the predetermined threshold, the instrument aims at a reference target and a calibration is performed using the reference target. The present invention is advantageous in that the accuracy and reliability of the measurements performed by the instrument are increased. Further, the present invention is advantageous in that the requirements on mechanical stability are reduced.
US08978427B2
Security tag includes a housing and a movable locking element. A latch within the housing is resiliently biased toward the movable locking element and movable responsive to a magnetic field between a locked position and an unlocked position. A guide structure is arranged to constrain movement of the latch. The latch and the guide structure are cooperatively arranged to ensure an engagement that will disrupt a motion trajectory of the latch occurring when the housing is subjected to a physical impact. Consequently, the latch is selectively inhibited from moving fully from the locked position to the unlocked position when the housing is subjected to the physical impact.
US08978414B2
Disclosed herein are methods for strengthening glass articles having strength-limiting surface flaws, together with strengthened glass articles produced by such methods, and electronic devices incorporating the strengthened glass articles. The methods generally involve contacting the glass articles with a substantially fluoride-free aqueous acidic treating medium for a time at least sufficient to increase the rupture failure points of the glass articles.
US08978404B2
An air conditioner includes a printed circuit board (31) to which a power device (33) is attached; and a refrigerant jacket (20) which is connected to the power device (33), and through which refrigerant used for a refrigeration cycle flows. The printed circuit board (31) is accommodated in a switch box (40). The refrigerant jacket (20) is fixed to the switch box (40) through a heat transfer plate (50), and the refrigerant jacket (20) and the printed circuit board (31) are connected together by the switch box (40).
US08978399B2
A heat pumping unit includes a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger and a pump. An outlet of the first heat exchanger is connected to a vapor inlet of a liquid jet-ejector. A liquid outlet of the ejector is connected to an inlet of the second heat exchanger. An outlet of the second heat exchanger is connected at the same time to an inlet of the pump and through a pressure reducing device to an inlet of the first heat exchanger. The pump outlet is connected to the liquid-jet ejector liquid inlet.
US08978397B2
An apparatus for providing heating and/or refrigeration effect and a method thereof is disclosed which provides simultaneous heating and refrigeration, only heating or only refrigeration, using a double-effect vapor absorption cycle or a single-effect vapor absorption cycle. The present invention comprises providing a heat input to an absorbent in a generator to obtain a concentrated absorbent which is fed to a set of absorbers which are located in co-operation with a set of evaporators provided with a condensed refrigerant, to obtain heating and/or refrigeration effect. The heat/energy used during the process is recovered by a plurality of heat exchangers such that the wastage of energy and utilities is minimized. The present invention substantially reduces the CO2 emissions, thus is eco-friendly.
US08978396B2
An improved vent ice prevention method including introducing a cold vent stream into a first conduit, wherein at least a portion of the first conduit is concentric with a second conduit, thereby producing an annular region, introducing a hot vent stream into a third conduit, and wherein the third conduit is in fluid connection with the annular region, thereby preventing the first conduit or the second conduit from forming ice. The cold vent stream is a cold compressor seal vent stream. The hot vent stream is a warm compressor seal vent stream.
US08978389B2
A gas turbine engine (10), including: a turbine having radial inflow impellor blades (38); and an array of advanced transition combustor assemblies arranged circumferentially about the radial inflow impellor blades (38) and having inner surfaces (34) that are adjacent to combustion gases (40). The inner surfaces (34) of the array are configured to accelerate and orient, for delivery directly onto the radial inflow impellor blades (38), a plurality of discrete flows of the combustion gases (40). The array inner surfaces (34) define respective combustion gas flow axes (20). Each combustion gas flow axis (20) is straight from a point of ignition until no longer bound by the array inner surfaces (34), and each combustion gas flow axis (20) intersects a unique location on a circumference defined by a sweep of the radial inflow impellor blades (38).
US08978388B2
A loading assembly for a turbine system is disclosed. The loading assembly includes a transition duct and a load member. The transition duct extends between a fuel nozzle and a turbine section, and has an inlet, an outlet, and a passage extending between the inlet and the outlet and defining a longitudinal axis, a radial axis, and a tangential axis. The outlet of the transition duct is offset from the inlet along the longitudinal axis and the tangential axis. The load member extends from the transition duct and is configured to transfer a load between the transition duct and an adjacent transition duct along at least one of the longitudinal axis, the radial axis, or the tangential axis.
US08978381B2
A method of constructing self-powered air-conditioner comprises a convergent divergent nozzle where powered fan pushes air into said nozzle. While the pushed air accelerates toward the nozzle throat it becomes colder as air internal energy transformed into kinetic energy. An axial turbine installed within the nozzle throat extracts energy from the air in the nozzle and drives an electrical generator that provides electricity to the fan electric motor. Alternatively the turbine and fan are installed on common shaft, which could be the electric generator shaft. The cold air within the nozzle throat cools the nozzle throat skin, which serves as air-conditioner core. The cold nozzle skin is wrapped with coiled pipes in which liquid flows, becomes colder and this cold liquid flows away to heat exchanger where air is flowing through it and becomes colder. This cold air is then flows into spaces needed to be air-conditioned.
US08978365B2
In the exhaust gas purification system, a diesel particulate defuser (“DPD”) for trapping particulate matter (“PM”) in exhaust gas is connected to an exhaust pipe of an engine to automatically regenerate the DPD by raising a temperature of the exhaust gas from the engine by carrying out post injection when an amount of PM in the DPD exceeds a predetermined amount. Further, the system includes detecting the temperature of the exhaust gas during DPD regeneration when the DPD is automatically regenerated, calculating a deviation between the detected temperature of the exhaust gas and a target temperature for the DPD regeneration, and controlling a quantity of the post injection by resetting an integral control term used in a PID control to zero when running mode automatic regeneration is shifted to idling mode automatic regeneration after a vehicle is stopped, when PID-controlling the quantity of the post injection based on the deviation.
US08978363B2
A diesel particulate filter (“DPF”) system that is more convenient than a conventional DPF system, including a DPF having a catalyzed soot filter (“CSF”) that is connected to an exhaust pipe of a diesel engine in order to collect particulate matter (“PM”) in exhaust gas, and a diesel oxidation catalyst (“DOC”) provided on an upstream side of the CSF; and temperature sensors provided respectively on an upstream side and a downstream side of the DOC. When a PM accumulation amount in the CSF exceeds a fixed amount, DPF regeneration is performed by setting a temperature detected by the upstream side temperature sensor at or above a first threshold and setting a temperature detected by the downstream side temperature sensor at or above a second threshold. When a breakdown is detected in the upstream side temperature sensor, the second threshold is modified upward.
US08978362B2
A method for operating an exhaust gas treatment system that includes an SCR catalytic converter is provided. Either a model-based filling level regulation for achieving the target filling level or a model-based efficiency control for achieving the target efficiency is performed according to presettable values for certain operating variables such as a temperature of the exhaust gas or of the SCR catalytic converter.
US08978360B2
A hydrocarbon and NOx trap and related apparatus and methods for reducing cold-start NOx emissions from an engine are provided. In one embodiment a trap includes a first, topmost layer, exposed to an exhaust gas flow path of exhaust gases from an engine, the first layer comprising a zeolite, a second layer, substantially covered by the topmost layer, the second layer comprising a NOx adsorbing material and a monolithic substrate, directly supporting the second layer and indirectly supporting the first layer, the substrate providing a substantially rigid structure of the trap. In this way, engine emissions, such as NOx and hydrocarbons may be adsorbed over the exhaust trap at low temperature and then thermally released, limiting cold start emissions beyond engines that only include a lean NOx trap.
US08978359B2
A turbocharged internal combustion engine disclosed that may comprise an engine block with a first end side opposing a second end side and a two-stage turbocharged system. The two-stage turbocharged system may comprise a low-pressure turbocharger with a first turbine and a first compressor and a high-pressure turbocharger with a second turbine and a second compressor. A turbine connection may fluidly connect the first turbine and the second turbine and a compressor connection fluidly connects the first compressor and the second compressor. The low-pressure turbocharger is mounted at the first end side of the engine block and the high-pressure turbocharger is mounted at a second end side of the engine block.
US08978356B2
There is provided an actuation system for a gas turbine engine including a thrust reverser and a variable area fan nozzle. The system has a plurality of linear actuators each having a first outer piston concentric with a second inner piston. The first outer piston is operatively connected to a thrust reverser. The second inner piston is operatively connected to a variable area fan nozzle. The system further has a piston lock assembly for selectively locking the first outer piston to the second inner piston. The system further has a control system coupled to the plurality of linear actuators for operating the variable area fan nozzle between a stowed position and a deployed position.
US08978350B2
The invention relates to a device (1) for attaching an end link (2) of a chain strand (3) made of chain links (4) of a predetermined geometry. The device comprises a retaining device (5) comprising an insertion segment (7) at one end (6) that can be inserted in an opening (8) of the end link, and a retaining segment (5). The retaining segment comprises a cross section (28) on which the end link can be placed in a limited number of retaining positions, preferably only one single retaining position, from the insertion segment (7). The device further comprises a closure element (12) by which the end link can be permanently secured to the retaining device. In order to prevent tilting of the end link on the retaining device during operation, according to the invention the closure element forms a stop (14) by which a motion of the end link out of the retaining segment (10) in the direction of the insertion segment (7) is blocked.
US08978346B2
A multi-layer film for making pouches for containing flowable materials, said multi-layer film having generally five layers in order: inner sealant-layer, first interposed layer, the core layer, second interposed layer, and the outer sealant layer. All layers are ethylene-based. The combined thickness of the first and the second interposed layers is in the range of from about 10% to about 27% of the total thickness of said multi-layer film. Similarly, a combined thickness of the inner and the outer sealant-layers is in the range of from about 10% to about 27% of the total thickness of the multi-layer film. The interposed layers are of a high-density polyethylene that has a density of at least 0.950 g/cm.3 and a melt-index of less than 1.05 dg/min.
US08978345B2
A machine for inflating and sealing an inflatable structure having a longitudinal edge generally comprises a drive, an inflation nozzle, a sealing device, and a sheet engagement device. The machine may define an engaging assembly and an opposing assembly. The drive may be rotationally coupled to the sheet engagement device such that when the drive rotates, the engagement device also rotates. The engagement device may include a first belt and an opposing second belt which may each have a plurality of teeth thereon. The teeth may intermesh between a drive roller and a backing roller on the longitudinal edge of the inflatable structure. Thereby, the sheets of the inflatable structure may be engaged together and the length of the longitudinal edge may contract to facilitate inflation. The resulting inflated inflatable structure may comprise an embossed longitudinal edge.
US08978344B2
The invention is a device (10) for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers. The containers are received in a receptacle (12), in which a carrier element (11) is inserted. The containers are arranged in receivers of the carrier element (11) in multiple rows. The device further includes a first handling unit (27) for removing the carrier element (11) from the receptacle (12), a filling and sealing device (35) for the containers, and a second handling unit (45) for reinserting the carrier element (11) into the receptacle (12) which is conveyed with the carrier element (11) on a conveying device (20). The containers are embodied as syringe barrels (1) or as containers which are to be provided with crimp caps (53), and the second handling device (45) is associated with a crimping device (54).
US08978342B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure include methods of radiant heat rejection, and structures for use in same, where Aluminet® is provided in a roof or an attic of a building structure. The Aluminet® material is installed by providing a structure for the material to breathe, that is, the material is provided so that an air space surrounds it.
US08978341B2
A method of inserting material into a hole formed through a building structure includes inserting a cover assembly into the hole formed through the building structure, moving at least a portion of the cover assembly from an insertion position to a deployed position, and inserting material into the hole with the cover assembly in the deployed position. An apparatus for filling a hole formed between first and second sides of a building structure includes a cover assembly insertable into the hole from the first side of the building structure, a connector configured to be positioned on the first side of the building structure, and a fastening mechanism configured to secure the cover assembly relative to the connector.
US08978335B2
The invention relates to a panel designed for mechanical connection with at least one further, identical panel by means of pivoting, with a tongue and groove profile (6, 8) for fastening the panels (2, 4) at the same height with respect to one another, comprising a groove profile (6) with a short groove cheek (14), a groove bottom (16) and a long groove cheek (18) on at least one side of the panel and a tongue profile (8) corresponding to the groove profile (6) on at least one side of the panel, wherein the long groove cheek (18) has a greater thickness (M) at its free end (20) than in the region under the free end of the short groove cheek (14), and wherein in the assembled state the tongue and groove each have upper bearing faces (24a, 24b), which are inclined with respect to the surface (10) of the panel (2, 4), and lower bearing faces (26a, 26b) which are rounded, and with locking means (28a, 28b) for fastening the panels (2, 4) in the same plane with respect to one another, comprising a locking face (28b) on the tongue and a locking face (28a) on the groove, wherein the locking faces (28a, b) on the groove and on the tongue are arranged between the surfaces (10, 12) of the panels (2, 4) in the region of the free end (20) of the long groove cheek (18). To make it possible for the panels to be assembled without deformation and jamming, and thereby avoiding damage during the laying operation, provision is made for the height H of the locking faces (28a, 28b) not to be more than 20% of the maximum height M of the long groove cheek (18).
US08978328B2
A protective foot is provided for a piece goods item, in particular a pylon section segment or a concrete pylon segment of a wind power installation. The protective foot has a bottom plate for receiving an end of the item and a fixing unit for releasable fixing to the end of the item.
US08978324B2
The present invention relates to pre-manufactured utility walls that may be readily adapted for use in multi-story building construction. The present invention efficiently and conveniently consolidates utility components typically found in residential, institutional and/or commercial settings into a pre-manufactured, preassembled and, optionally, pre-bundled component at a site other than the building site.
US08978320B2
Disclosed herein are apparatus and systems for forming a temporary storage facility for granular materials such as agricultural products including grain and corn. The temporary storage facility includes a retaining wall constructed by connecting free-standing wall sections in a circular or rectangular shape. The free-standing wall sections have overlapping elements on the face to hold the agricultural products inside the retaining wall sections while admitting air for ventilation. Ventilation holes are made in the panel elements so as to admit air but prevent water or vermin entry to protect the agricultural products.
US08978314B2
A mobile terminal booth which provides an area where a mobile terminal can be comfortably used is described. This mobile terminal booth is provided with a sound absorbing unit which is placed in a public place and partially partitions a space as viewed from the above where a user of a mobile terminal can have a telephone conversation. The sound absorbing unit is provided with an entrance which is always opened without any closing member. The sound absorbing unit is made of a laminate consisting of a plurality of sound absorbing layers, and serves as a sound controlling means. Particularly, the sound absorbing layers are joined together in the form of the laminate with a viscous adhesive which does not solidify after formation of said laminate, maintains its viscosity when the mobile terminal booth is used and functions as said sound controlling member.
US08978305B2
A retractor element includes a rigid slide connected between a latch bolt and a solenoid plunger for movement between a first position and a second position, the slide operably connected to plunger. A pivoting link defines a slot having an inner end portion extending transversely, the slot configured for pivoting the link when the slide moves between the first position and the second position of the slide. When the retracting mechanism is energized the plunger retracts causing movement of the slide to the second position of slide and the pin to enter the transverse end of the slot in the link. A bearing surface intersects the path of movement of the pin such that significantly less current is required for retaining the plunger in the retracted position than to retract the plunger for blocking the return of the latch bolt to the projected position.
US08978301B2
Provided is an opening/closing apparatus with a lock capable of performing the opening/closing and closed lock of a sliding door by a single actuator and arbitrarily setting the timing of a lock operation. In the opening/closing apparatus with a lock, an electric motor is driven and the drive force of the electric motor is input to the sun gear of a planetary gear mechanism and output from the internal gear or the carrier. A pair of sliding doors are opened and closed by the drive force output from the internal gear. While the pair of sliding doors are at a fully closed position, the lock and lock-released states of a lock mechanism are switched by a lock restricting mechanism.
US08978296B2
A watering system for providing a flora-nourishing substance to flora. The system comprises a nourishment receiving and delivery mechanism for receiving and delivering the flora nourishing substance; and at least one percolation bore disposed adjacent to the flora and at least partially filled with a material for absorbing the nourishing substance.
US08978294B2
A stackable holder for a potted plant has a top having a central opening and a plurality of legs extending from the top. A plurality of flexible flaps may extend inward from the central opening, and be frangibly joined to each other along a length of the flap. The stackable holder has a plurality of connectors attached to the top and/or the legs, which may connect multiple stackable holders side-by-side in a row. The stackable holder is configured so that it may be stacked upon a second stackable holder, allowing the stackable holders to be tightly packed for storage or shipment. The stackable holder may have a planter body having a base and at least one sidewall extending from the base to form a cavity. The planter body may be attached to the stackable holder or may be removable. The planter body may have a lid.
US08978281B2
A display member includes a frame member formed of heat insulation material; an adhesive layer with removable adhesion formed on one side of the frame member to be attached on a window pane; and a synthetic resin plate arranged on the other side of the frame member. The synthetic resin plate is removably provided on the frame member, thereby to form a housing for a printed material in a space defined by the synthetic resin, the frame member, and the window pane.
US08978278B1
A toothbrush has an integral identification system for distinguishing one (1) toothbrush from another. At the bottom of the toothbrush handle is a cylinder and rotating thumb wheel assembly. The cylinder has a plurality of indicia which are visible one (1) at a time through a window on the side of the brush handle. A user rotates the thumb wheel to display an individual indicium. Once selected, a locking pin mechanism prevents the cylinder from being accidentally turned. These features allow multiple users to distinguish their toothbrush from another's by verifying the displayed indicia. Alternative embodiments can be retrofit and/or replaced on a toothbrush handle.
US08978269B2
Disclosed is a hybrid drying system where a cold-air drier and a desiccant drier are combined to increase drying efficiency (extent of dehumidification/power consumption), thereby shortening drying time and significantly reducing operation costs. The hybrid drying system includes a desiccant drier installed between an evaporator and a condenser and having an absorbing part configured to produce dry air from the cold-air dried air which has passed through the evaporator and a detaching part configured to supply recycled air heated by the condensation heat of the condenser as a recycling heat source; a heat exchanger configured to heat-exchange exterior air with recycled exhaust air with the recycled air to retrieve exhaust heat; and a control unit configured to simultaneously control a cold-air drying operation and a desiccant drying operation according to the humidity and temperature of the drying chamber. The hybrid drying system is operated through a freezing cycle, a drying cycle, a drying chamber circulating cycle, and a recycling cycle.
US08978249B2
A method for repairing a gas turbine component includes: identifying on the gas turbine component (10) a worn out location, where the gas turbine component (10) is damaged; removing the damaged location, thereby creating a missing zone (18); manufacturing an insert, which fits into the missing zone (18); putting the insert into the missing zone (18); adjusting the insert in the gas turbine component (10); and joining the adjusted insert to the gas turbine component (10). A higher degree of precision and automation can be achieved, because the worn out location is measured/scanned with a 3-D scanning/measuring system (20) to get the actual geometry of the missing zone (18), especially as a CAD data; the nominal geometry for the insert is defined by the actual geometry of the worn out location, with respect to certain defined gap tolerances; the actual geometry of the insert is measured during the manufacture of the insert; the nominal geometry and the actual geometry of the insert are compared; and an adaptive machining operation of the insert is carried out based on the results from the comparison between the actual and nominal geometries of the insert.
US08978243B2
A turbomachine is provided. The turbomachine comprises a compressor, at least two magnetic bearings provided at opposite ends of a compressor shaft, a motor having a motor shaft, a first electrical cable having a first end, a second end, an internal core section and an outer sheath section with the internal core section and the outer sheath section extending from the first end to the second end, a first connector configured to connect the first end to the first magnetic bearing, wherein the first connector is welded or brazed to the first end to both the internal core section and the outer sheath section, and a second connector configured to connect the second end to the first external connection, wherein the second connector is welded or brazed to the second end to both the internal core section and the outer sheath section.
US08978242B2
A connector device includes a pair of connectors and a lever jig. The lever jig includes: an opening/closing door configured to be displaced between an open position where the opening/closing door allows a connector to be attached to the lever jig and a close position where the opening/closing door prevents the connector positioned at an attachment position from being detached from the lever jig; a door holding portion configured to hold the opening/closing door at the close position; and an automatic door opening portion configured to move the opening/closing door at the close position to the open position against a holding force of the door holding portion at a point in time when a manipulation from a fitting manipulation start position to a fitting manipulation completion position is completed.
US08978221B1
A puller device for pulling bearings, gears, wheels and pulleys from objects such as shafts and axles and other machine parts. The puller device includes a jaw support assembly; jaw members being in operable communication with the jaw support assembly; a jaw actuating assembly being supported by the jaw support assembly and including a jaw guide member being in operable communication with the jaw members; and an elongate push member being adjustable relative to and in operable communication with the jaw support assembly for urging against an object to facilitate the removal of a press fitted work piece.
US08978220B2
A die for a riveting tool for implementing a punch rivet connection between at least two joined part sections is proposed, the die being used in a state provided in the riveting tool for supporting the joined part sections during a connection procedure and a die front side facing toward a movable punch of the riveting tool, using which a rivet element can be pressed in a punching manner through the joined part sections to be connected, an embossing section of the die protruding in relation to adjacent areas of the die front side and causing an embossment in the die-side joined part section, so that components of the joined part material flow into an external depression on the rivet element. According to the invention, the embossing section is implemented as divided into sections. The invention additionally relates to a riveting tool.
US08978203B2
A hinge assembly includes a hinge box, and a decklid attachment bracket rotatably attached to the hinge box. The decklid attachment bracket includes a contoured surface. A compressible member is positioned for engagement with the contoured surface as the decklid attachment bracket moves between an open position and a closed position. The contoured surface defines an outer region, a recessed region, and an inner region. The outer region compresses the compressible member as the decklid attachment bracket moves between the open and closed positions to absorb energy and dampen movement of the decklid attachment bracket. The recessed region cradles the compressible member without substantially compressing the compressible member when the decklid attachment bracket is in the open position to secure the position of the decklid attachment bracket. The inner region compresses the compressible member to absorb energy, and limit movement of the decklid attachment bracket beyond the open position.
US08978200B2
A latch mechanism for a dirt cup of a vacuum cleaner. The latch mechanism can include a first sloped portion provided on a mounting structure for receiving a dirt cup and a filter housing in supporting relationship to the vacuum cleaner and a second sloped portion on the filter housing corresponding to the first sloped portion. Movement of the filter housing in a first direction relative to the mounting structure as the first and second sloped portions bear against each other results in the movement of the filter housing, and thus the dirt cup, in a second direction transverse to the first direction relative to the mounting structure.
US08978197B2
A vacuum cleaner is provided. The vacuum cleaner may include a main body, a dust separator selectively mounted on the main body, the dust separator including a dust separation device and a dust storage device having at least one compression member disposed therein, the at least one compression member being configured to be rotated to compress dust.
US08978195B2
A vacuum cleaner to perform a plurality of cleaning functions includes a main body including a suction motor, a nozzle to suction air and foreign material by using a suction power generated by the suction motor, and a handle disposed between the nozzle and the main body to be gripped by a user. A communication unit receives power information from an external, and a power management unit receives the power information from the communication unit. The power management unit determines a number of cleaning functions available to the vacuum cleaner among the plurality of cleaning functions based on the received power information, and a display unit displays the number of the cleaning functions determined by the power management unit to be available to the vacuum cleaner.
US08978190B2
A floor care machine is provided that includes a replaceable floor care element that is quickly and easily attached and detached. To attach the floor care element, an operator positions the floor care element under a motor and lifts the element up to a motor interface. The motor interface aligns with a complementary interface of the floor care element.
US08978187B2
A debris removal device for electrostatically removing debris may include a sheet comprising a plurality of conductive traces and a driver circuit positioned in electrical communication with the conductive traces of the sheet. Each conductive trace may be spaced apart from adjacent conductive traces. Furthermore, the driver circuit may be configured to selectively energize subsets of the plurality of conductive trace. The driver circuit may be configured to energize the subsets of the plurality of conductive traces sequentially.
US08978186B2
The invention relates to a self-contained and wireless monitoring device (10) for use in a washing machine (1) to indicate shortage of detergent in said washing machine. The monitoring device comprises a sensor (13) arranged to monitor detergent concentration in washing liquid (5) of said washing machine and to provide an alarm signal (A) when said monitored detergent concentration is below a target value. The monitoring device is capable of floating in said washing liquid and comprises signalling means (11) for indicating said shortage of detergent in response to said alarm signal. The invention further relates to a package containing such a monitoring device and a method for indicating shortage of detergent.
US08978177B1
Some embodiments of the present disclosure include a bed having an integrated, hidden pet ramp. The bedframe may include a headboard, a footboard, a first side rail, and a second side rail, the bedframe configured to support a mattress. A ramp support/attachment rail may extend along a length of the footboard and may support a ramp configured to support an animal. The ramp may include a ramp landing and a ramp side extending from an upward facing surface of the ramp to the floor, wherein the ramp side may abut the mattress. In embodiments, the first side rail may be shorter than the second side rail to accommodate a ramp entry, and the ramp may extend from the ramp entry upwardly to the ramp landing. Additionally, the footboard may extend upwardly past the upper surface of the ramp to hide the ramp.
US08978176B1
An adjustable, collapsible mattress support for a box spring has cross bars with slidably connected sections. A first section of each cross bar is fixedly attached to a band that folds around the second section and slides along the second section. A bolt that passes through holes in the second section slides into a slot in the band. By aligning the slot over one of the holes through which the bolt passes, the length of the cross bars can be adjusted to accommodate the widths of different sized box springs and mattresses. The first section is fixedly attached to a hinge plate. First and second bars are pivotally attached to the plate. The first and second bars pivot about parallel axes that pass through the plate at separate fixed locations and that are orthogonal to the plate. The mattress support accommodates full, Queen, California King and Eastern King sized mattresses.
US08978171B1
An apparatus for use with an existing Western-style toilet having a toilet bowl facilitates use of a squatting posture thereon. The apparatus includes a platform assembly including: a mounting flange that is connectable to the toilet bowl, and a support platform that is pivotally connected to the mounting flange. The support platform defines first and second spaced-apart foot support surfaces to support a person's feet and a gap through which the person's waste products can pass.
US08978170B2
A mounting assembly for securing a pedestal of a toilet to a trap. The mounting assembly including a clamping member pivotally coupled to the trap, the clamping member having an opening extending therethrough, and an adjusting member extending through an opening in the pedestal and through the opening in the clamping member. The adjusting member is configured to pivot the clamping member between a first position in which a portion of the clamping member contacts the adjusting member to secure the pedestal to the trap and a second position in which the portion of the clamping member does not contact the adjusting member.
US08978169B2
A hazardous materials protective garment may use a two-stage evaporative cooling process to ease heat strain on the wearer of the garment. The garment may include an impermeable inner layer and a wicking outer layer. One or more reservoirs may be disposed interior to the inner layer for collecting condensed and/or unevaporated sweat. One or more pumps may move the sweat to the exterior of the impermeable layer for distribution in the wicking layer and evaporation from the garment.
US08978168B2
A pair of swim goggles include a connecting frame being assembled with a left lens frame and a right lens frame and a head strap, characterized in that the left and the right lens frames respectively have a lens and a frame body, an upper side and a lower side of the frame body respectively provided with a track thereon, the connecting frame including a first rib and a second rib spaced apart from each other and respectively defining a connection part thereon for being detachably coupled with the respective track, whereby the left and the right lens frames are detachably and separately assembled with the respective first rib and second rib and therefore are slidable with respect to the first and the second ribs though the track.
US08978162B2
A cut resistant sweater is provided including a chest portion, sleeves, collar, and closure extending from the top edge of the collar through at least part of the chest portion. The closure includes an opening extending from the top of the collar through at least part of the chest portion, and a strip having a first part of a hook and loop fastener thereon. A second part of the hook and loop fastener is disposed on the sweater in at least two pieces, a piece adjacent to a first side of the opening and a piece adjacent to a second side of the opening. The closure is stiff relative to the collar to support the collar. A method for manufacturing the sweater includes providing a cut resistant yarn, and knitting it into a sweater in the order of cuff of first sleeve, first sleeve, body and collar, second sleeve, and cuff of the second sleeve.
US08984650B2
A privacy server protects private information by substituting a token or an identifier for the private information. The privacy server recognizes that a communication includes private information and intercepts the communication. The privacy server replaces the private information with a random or pseudo-random token or identifier. The privacy server maintains the private information in a local database and associates the private information for a particular person with the token or identifier for that person.
US08984646B2
A content reception equipment for accessing an in-home content transmission equipment from a remote place executes a first authentication process with the content transmission equipment in advance, executes the remote access information sharing process required for access from a remote place, and causes the information on the content reception equipment and the remote access information to be registered in an equipment information table of the content transmission equipment.In the case where the in-home content transmission equipment is accessed by the content reception equipment brought out of home, the content transmission equipment transmits the content to the content reception equipment only in the case where the information on the content reception equipment is registered in the device information table of the content transmission equipment and the second authentication process using the remote access information is successfully executed between the content transmission equipment and the content reception equipment.
US08984628B2
A system and method identifies mobile applications that can have an adverse effect on a mobile device or mobile network. In an implementation, a server monitors behavioral data relating to a mobile application and applies a model to determine if the application has an adverse effect or has the potential to cause an adverse effect on a mobile device or a network the mobile device may connect to. A mobile device may monitor behavioral data, apply a model to the data, and transmit a disposition to the server. The server may aggregate behavioral data or disposition information from multiple devices. The server may transmit or make available the disposition information to a subscriber through a web interface, API, email, or other mechanism. After identifying that an application may have an adverse effect, the server may enact corrective actions, such as generating device or network configuration data.
US08984619B2
According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for communicating an encrypted data packet. The method includes steps occurring at a first gateway node. The method also includes receiving a data packet from a first host. The method further includes determining that a first security association (SA) instance associated with the data packet is in an inactive state. The method further includes identifying a second SA instance that is both associated with the data packet and in an active state. The method further includes forwarding the data packet to the second SA instance.
US08984616B2
Efficient routing for a client-server session or connection is provided in an application layer of multi-layered systems interconnect stack by caching a plurality of application-specific information at an intermediary network point; using the application specific information to route messages for an application connection; and indexing the application-specific information with a key provided by the application. Optionally, a second key may be used to retrieve the application-specific information if the first key is not provided in an application connection request, where the second key is optionally opaque to the application program. The intermediary network point may be an edge of network Internet Protocol (IP) switch, and the application layer in which the routing is performed may be layer seven of the Open Systems Interconnection model.
US08984613B2
The present disclosure relates to the authenticating a client against a pool of servers utilizing a secure authentication protocol, and, more specifically, to the authenticating a client against a pool of servers providing a common service, utilizing the Kerberos secure authentication protocol.
US08984607B1
An indication that a user wishes to conduct a bank transaction is received. An authentication path to be presented to the individual is pseudo-randomly determined. The authentication path comprises a combination of authentication challenges to be presented to the individual. A determination is made whether the user presented valid responses to the authentication challenges. The user is authenticated to conduct the bank transaction based on whether the user is determined to have presented valid responses to the authentication challenges.
US08984605B2
According to some embodiments, a method provides a designated link in a notification to an intended recipient of the message. The designated link includes a unique identifier associated with the message. Upon receiving a request to access the message, the method authenticates the request. Authentication includes verifying whether the request corresponds to the designated link provided in the notification. If the request passes authentication, the method communicates the message.
US08984603B2
A communication device is described comprising a receiver configured to receive a message from a communication terminal indicating that the communication terminal requests a data service and indicating that a cost of providing the data service is to be associated with a provider of the data service and including security information; a determining circuit configured to determine, based on the security information, whether the communication terminal is authorized to be provided with the requested data service with a cost of providing the data service being associated with a provider of the data service; and a controller, configured to establish a communication connection for providing the data service and to associate a cost of the communication connection with the provider of the data service if the authorization has been successful.
US08984602B1
A processing device comprises a processor coupled to a memory and is configured to receive authentication information from a user, to generate a message authentication code based at least in part on the received authentication information, to generate a credential for a particular access control interval based at least in part on the message authentication code and an intermediate value of a hash chain, and to provide the credential to a user in order to allow the user to access a protected resource in the particular access control interval. The message authentication code may be generated over a message payload that includes a password provided by the user. The credential may comprise a combination of the message authentication code and the intermediate value of the hash chain.
US08984599B2
A method and apparatus for generating a password in real time by creating at least one password map during creation of an account associated with a user, and generating and providing a random password hint sequence grid to the user in real time, authenticating the user for accessing the account using a password created by the user, where the password is created by the user using the random password hint sequence grid and the at least one password map.
US08984598B2
Mechanisms are provided for collecting configuration data from components of a managed computing system environment. A portion of code is obtained, in a data processing system, from a data collection system that does not have security credentials to allow the data collection system to directly access to the managed computing system environment. The portion of code is executed by the data processing system using security credentials maintained in the data processing system. Executing the portion of code causes the data processing system to access the managed computing system environment and collect configuration data from the managed computing system environment. The data processing system, via the portion of code, provides the configuration data collected from the managed computing system to the data collection system which stores the collected configuration data in a data storage.
US08984588B2
Techniques for an ID federation gateway include determining whether a user associated with a request for a particular network resource is to be identified by the provider of the particular service or by a different party. The service also comprises causing the different party to provide identification data that indicates an identity for the user, if the user is to be identified by the different party. The method further comprises causing user credentials data, based on the identification data, to be sent to an authentication process of the provider for a set of one or more network resources that includes the particular network resource requested by the user, if the data indicates that the user is successfully identified.
US08984587B2
A system and method for managing communication. The system and method applying to but not limited to settop boxes (STBs) and other devices used to interface services. The management including any number of features and processes associated with achieving Quality of Service (QoS) across different domains and according to network limitations associated with the same.
US08984586B2
Methods and systems for remediating a security policy violation on a computer system are provided. According to one embodiment, an agent running on an endpoint system collects information regarding a program-code-based operational state of the endpoint system. The agent transmits the information to a remote computer system via a network coupling the endpoint system and the remote computer system in communication. The remote computer system enforces one or more security policies with respect to the endpoint system based on the received information.
US08984579B2
A device, method, computer program product, and network subsystem are described for associating a first mobile agent with a first security policy and a second mobile agent with a second security policy or for providing a first agent with code for responding to situational information about the first agent and about a second agent and for evaluating a received message at least in response to an indication of the first security policy and to an indication of the second security policy or for deploying the first agent.
US08984575B2
Described are methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products for packaging media. In some embodiments, the technology relates to a computer-implemented method of packaging media files. A list of one or more media asset IDs is received by a media packaging server. A packaging template is received by the media packaging server. One or more media files based on a media asset ID in the list of the one or more media asset IDs and the packaging template are retrieved, by the media packaging server. Metadata associated with the media asset ID based on the packaging template is retrieved by the media packaging server. The one or more media files and the metadata are packaged by the media packaging server into a delivery package in a packaging format indicated by the packaging template.
US08984557B2
Method and apparatus for displaying entertainment system data upon selection of a video data display
A graphical user interface (GUI) includes a first window that displays video data of a first entertainment selection. A first area of the first window displays entertainment system data that corresponds to the first entertainment selection. The GUI includes a second window that displays video data of a second entertainment selection. A second area of the second window, displays entertainment system data that corresponds to the second entertainment selection. Upon selection by a user of the respective window, entertainment system data regarding the entertainment selection corresponding to the respective window is displayed.
US08984554B2
A hybrid tuner, comprising multiple individual tuners having differing capabilities of receiving programs or channels of broadcast audio or video content, can be controlled by periodically determining the capabilities of each individual tuner to receive broadcast channels, storing such information into a guide database and then utilizing such information to select appropriate individual tuners to tune in desired programs. If the tuners that can receive a desired program are already in use, the program they are currently receiving can be switched to a different tuner to free up the tuner that can receive the desired program without interrupting the consumption of the program currently being received. When determining the capabilities of an individual tuner to receive a particular channel, one or more tokens associated with such a channel, and utilized to prevent unauthorized access to such a channel, can be obtained from the guide database and provided to the tuner.
US08984551B2
An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide implemented on user television equipment obtains program guide data from two data delivery mechanisms. Current program guide data is obtained from a continuous data stream. Other program guide data (which may include the current program guide data) is obtained by the program guide from a program guide server. The continuous data stream may also include program and program grouping identifiers. The program guide may perform real-time actions associated with programs identified in the continuous data stream.
US08984550B2
Systems and methods for viewing media content are provided. Sets of permitted media content and/or channels that have been screened in advance by parents are created. Content suggestions may also be made. In response to media set creation and activation, permitted programming in the media set may be tuned and presented to a viewer, while access to other media content is restricted.
US08984549B2
A method and computing device that provides viewer impression data for a recorded digital video stream. The method receives a digital video stream as a series of segments, and stores it as a recorded digital video stream having a transition between two consecutive segments at a transition position. The method stores a notification tag that is associated with the transition, and that includes a tag position in the recorded digital video stream, a notification mode, and tag data. During playback of the recorded digital video stream, the method generates a play mode status event, and generates a transition notification when the playback encounters the notification tag and, based on the notification mode, the transition associated with the notification tag. The method collects viewer impression data for one of the two consecutive segments from the play mode status event and the transition notification.
US08984547B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for estimating demographic compositions of television audiences. In an aspect, audience demographics are estimated from viewing device log records and household demographic data describing demographic segments to which members of the households belong.
US08984542B2
Disclosed are a method and system for binding a program object in a source code to one of a number of implementations of the program object, using caching techniques. Binding a program object to a particular implementation includes performing the binding process at compile time and runtime of the source code. During compilation phase, the program objects in the source code are identified, and each of the program objects is assigned a slot in a target cache. The slot is configured to store a pointer that points to a particular implementation of a program object to which the slot is assigned. During execution phase, the particular implementation of the program object is determined based on execution flow of the source code. After the particular implementation is determined, the program object is bound to the particular implementation by updating the assigned target cache slot with a pointer pointing to the particular implementation.
US08984540B2
The present invention provides a multi-user computer system, comprising a master computer with a first wireless module, a virtual graphic driver, a virtual audio driver and a user mode application. At least one virtual computer is included, wherein the at least one virtual comprises a second wireless module for communicating with the first wireless module, a USB connector and a video processing device. The first wireless module and the USB connector are coupled to the video processing device. The virtual graphic driver and the virtual audio driver are coupled to the user mode application for driving USB devices and to enable virtual image/audio data to transmit to the at least one virtual computer.
US08984533B2
An improved industrial automation system and communication system for implementation therein, and related methods of operation, are described herein. In at least some embodiments, the improved communication system allows communication in the form of messages between modules in different control or enterprise domains. Further, in at least some embodiments, such communications are achieved by providing a communication system including a manufacturing service bus having two internal service busses with a bridge between the internal busses. Also, in at least some embodiments, a methodology of synchronous messaging is employed.
US08984532B2
Loading of a component to an operating system process that is being executed on a node is initiated. Thereafter, a first available resource location is sequentially determined among a plurality of ranked component resource locations and according to the ranking. Subsequently, the component is loaded to the operating system process via the first available resource location. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US08984527B2
A system and method donates time from a first process to a second process. The method includes determining a time slice for each of a plurality of processes to generate a schedule therefrom. The method includes determining a time donation scheme for the first process, the time donation scheme indicative of a donation policy in which the execution time of the first process is donated to the second process. During execution of the processes, the method includes receiving a request from the first process for a time donation to the second process and executing the second process during the time slice of the first process.
US08984522B2
A relay apparatus executes a reallocation process so as to transfer data received from an information processing apparatus allocated to the relay apparatus to a destination apparatus. The reallocation process includes the following operations. The relay apparatus determines reallocatability of the information processing apparatus on the basis of a status of receiving transfer data from the information processing apparatus. The reallocatability represents whether the information processing apparatus is reallocatable to another apparatus. The relay apparatus stores reallocatability information indicating the determined reallocatability in a storage unit. The relay apparatus determines whether to reallocate the information processing apparatus on the basis of the reallocatability information stored in the storage unit. The relay apparatus reallocates the information processing apparatus determined to be reallocated.
US08984519B2
A system and method for scheduling client-server applications onto heterogeneous clusters includes storing at least one client request of at least one application in a pending request list on a computer readable storage medium. A priority metric is computed for each application, where the computed priority metric is applied to each client request belonging to that application. The priority metric is determined based on estimated performance of the client request and load on the pending request list. The at least one client request of the at least one application is scheduled based on the priority metric onto one or more heterogeneous resources.
US08984507B2
A system, method and computer program for transferring a running virtual machine from a first to a second physical machine, where each of the physical machines has a different instruction set architecture. The system may comprise a receiver for receiving a transfer request; responsive to receiving the transfer request, pausing the virtual machine and collecting a state of the virtual machine. A first interface component operable on the first physical machine is stopped and a second interface component operable on the second physical machine is started. The state is transferred to the second interface component. The the virtual machine on the second physical machine is started in response to the state transfer.
US08984505B2
A cloud computing environment can be configured to allow third party, user-controlled resources to be included in the pool of resources available in the cloud. The user-controlled resources can include a cloud application to communicate with a cloud management system to coordinate access to the user-controlled resources. The cloud application allows the user to specify the specific set of resources that the cloud can access, such as specific hardware and software resources.
US08984500B2
A computing node is connected to a sensor and an actuator. The computing node receives a module which is used to program the computing node to perform a function associated with the sensor and the actuator.
US08984494B1
An embodiment can include one or more computer readable media storing executable instructions for performing execution scheduling for code generated from an executable graphical model. The media can store instructions for accessing a first code portion having a first priority, and a second code portion having a second priority, where the second priority has a relationship with the first priority. The media can store instructions for accessing target environment characteristics that indicate a performance of the target environment, and for performing execution scheduling for the first code portion and the second code portion, the execution scheduling taking into account the target environment characteristics, the execution scheduling using an execution schedule. The media can also store instructions for scheduling execution of the first code portion and the second code portion in the generated executable code based on the execution schedule, the generated executable code adapted for execution in the target environment.
US08984493B2
A method for distributed static analysis of computer software applications, includes: statically analyzing instructions of a computer software application; identifying at least one entry point in the computer software application; assigning a primary agent to statically analyze the computer software application from the entry point; assigning a secondary agent to statically analyze a call site encountered by the primary agent and produce a static analysis summary of the call site; and presenting results of any of the static analyzes via a computer-controlled output device.
US08984488B2
Systems and methods for type and range propagation through data flow models are provided. In one embodiment, a test generating system for processing data flow diagrams, the system comprises: a processor programmed to perform a test generation process; and at least one memory device coupled to the processor, the at least one memory device including a data flow diagram. The test generation process computes range information and data type information for outputs of one or more functional blocks defined by the data flow diagram by applying transformations to input range information for inputs of each of the one or more functional blocks. The transformations are at least in part performed by applying specific mathematical and functional effects that are pre-defined for each of the one or more functional blocks based on block type.
US08984487B2
Resource tracker techniques are described in which resource trackers may be generated, assigned to resources, and used to track resources throughout a development environment. The resource trackers may be configured in a designated format that is suitable to distinguish different resources one from one another. In one approach, resource trackers are derived as a combination of a user-supplied project identifier and defined resource identifiers. Resource trackers may be embedded into code defining corresponding resources and exposed to identify resources in connection with various development operations. In an embodiment, the resources trackers may be employed to provide visual indications of resources that appear within a user-interface for a project that is output for testing. A developer may identify resources based on resource trackers exposed via the user-interface and navigate back to underlying code in various ways to address any issues identified through the testing.
US08984485B2
Use of an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) to select portions of source code when analyzing the affect of changes in that source code from one version to another. In this way, it is possible to better focus on how changes in the source code, especially changes which only impact limited portion(s) of the source code, affect code quality with respect to measures like code complexity, performance and so on.
US08984479B2
Software for managing legal holds on objects identifies a target object to associate with a particular legal hold. The example software is further operable to automatically communicate with a lookup table to verify a hold record associated with the target object. In another example, the software for managing legal holds on objects can receive a legal hold status request for a target object associated with a business application. The software can automatically communicate with a lookup table to determine a hold record identifying a legal hold associated with the target object. The software is further operable to respond to the legal hold status request with a legal hold status based on the lookup table communication.
US08984478B2
In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises obtaining access to computer program code; identifying a plurality of code segments in the computer program code; reorganizing the computer program code into reorganized code, by re-ordering the plurality of code segments into a new order that is potentially different than an original order of the plurality of code segments; wherein the new order is unpredictable based on the original order; rewriting one or more pointers of the reorganized code to point to new locations in the reorganized code consistent with the order of the reorganized code; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.
US08984475B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for generating code overlay capable of minimizing the number of memory copies. A static temporal relationship graph (STRG) is generated in which each of functions of a program corresponds to a node of the STRG and a conflict miss value corresponds to an edge of the STRG. The conflict miss value is the maximum number of possible conflict misses between functions. Overlay is generated by selecting at least one function from the STRG, calculating an allocation cost for each region of a memory to be given when the at least one selected function is allocated, and allocating the at least one selected function to a region that has the smallest allocation cost.
US08984471B2
An electronic apparatus may include a circuit board, a processor disposed on an upper surface of the circuit board, and a memory disposed on a lower surface of the circuit board, such that the lower surface of the circuit board where the processor is arranged overlaps an area corresponding to where the memory is disposed.
US08984468B1
Using an adaptive square mesh for parasitic extraction, small squares of a predetermined minimum size will be placed where accuracy in the parasitic calculations is most critical—around edges, contacts and vias, and corners. Then, in areas where the parasitic analysis is less critical, for example in open spaces, a more coarse grid consisting of larger squares may be used to calculate the parasitic values in those spaces. Squares in the mesh may increase in size gradually to provide more accurate results.
US08984465B1
Various aspects described herein identify an area in an electronic design, identify a set of track patterns or track pattern groups for the area based on a set of criteria, and iteratively implement the electronic design in the area using at least some of the set of track patterns. These aspects may dynamically or iteratively update the assignment of one or more track patterns to the region based at least in part upon the implementation of the electronic design in the area or one or more attributes of one or more other areas on the same layer as the current layer of interest or on one or more different layers.
US08984464B1
A method of detailed placement for ICs is provided. The method receives an initial placement and iteratively builds sets of constraints for placement of different groups of cells in the IC design and uses a satisfiability solver to resolve placement violations. In some embodiments, the constraints include mathematical expressions that express timing requirements. The method in some embodiments converts the mathematical expressions into Boolean clauses and sends the clauses to a satisfiability solver that is only capable of solving Boolean clauses. In some embodiments, the method groups several cells in the user design and several sites on the IC fabric and uses the satisfiability solver to resolve all placement issues in the group. The satisfiability solver informs placer after each cell is moved to a different site. The method then dynamically builds more constraints based on the new cell placement and sends the constraints to the satisfiability solver.
US08984455B1
An embodiment of the invention introduces a method for generating schematic diagrams, executed by a processing unit of an apparatus, which comprises the following steps. A pin-editing interface comprising a data table is generated to assist a user to configure pin settings. A user setting is obtained via the pin-editing interface, and a schematic diagram is generated on a display unit according to the obtained user setting.
US08984448B2
A user interface (UI) is presented in which a UI client engine is associated with an application, and a UI rendering engine is associated with the client engine. The UI client engine processes a client thread to manage a scene graph. The UI rendering engine receives the scene graph and data items associated with elements of the scene graph, and processes a rendering thread to render a UI in accordance with the scene graph and the data items, independently of further input from the client UI engine.
US08984447B2
Various arrangements for simplifying a display of a flowchart are presented. A flowchart may include a plurality of elements, including a plurality of vertices and a plurality of edges. A selection of an element of the plurality of elements may be received. A logical distance for each element of the plurality of elements may be calculated. The logical distance may be between each element and the element identified by the selection. The flowchart may be displayed with a portion of the plurality of elements emphasized. The portion of the plurality of elements emphasized are selected at least partially based on the logical distance of each element of the plurality of elements.
US08984445B1
In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for geo-locating images may generally include receiving, by one or more computing devices, a request to geo-locate an image on a map and, in response to the request, providing for display a user icon on the map. In addition, the method may include determining a current geographic location of the user icon on the map, providing for display a textual representation of the current geographic location, receiving data indicative of the user icon being moved across at least a portion of the map and updating the textual representation of the current geographic location as the user icon is moved across the at least a portion of the map.
US08984441B2
While a user is using the electronic device, user interaction information for keystrokes, button pushes, and activation of functional controls may be recorded. The user interaction information is stored and when the electronic device is connected to a network, the user interaction information is sent over the network to a user interface analyzer. The user interface analyzer analyzes the user interaction information to determine patterns of usage regarding a hierarchy of menu items for the user interface. The analysis may show that a user interface may be improved for better usability. The user interface on the electronic device may be dynamically changed to alter the menu hierarchy, or the analysis may be used to improve future generations of products. For example, menu items may be positioned such that the user can more easily access menu items that are used more frequently.
US08984432B2
A method for displaying page shape includes displaying a page screen, detecting at least one touch starting point by a first user-manipulation on the page screen, detecting at least one dragging direction by a second user-manipulation made consecutively to the first user-manipulation, and dimensionally deforming the page screen based on the touch starting point and the dragging direction and displaying the deformed page screen.
US08984426B2
For prescribing a state of a selection operating part having options disposed on an operating page displayed, a type attribute of the selection operating part, a display attribute of displaying or not displaying an operating part corresponding to each option of the selection operating part, and priority setting information indicating modification of setting of an option of the selection operating part, are stored, the modification being carried out while the operating page is displayed. In response to a user's operation, a selected or non-selected state of an operating part of each option, or a display attribute may be changed. When a display attribute of an option is changed, information corresponding to a type of the selection operating part having the option and a selected or non-selected state of the operating part having the option is registered as the priority setting information.
US08984424B2
User interface frameworks may provide an environment for developers to design and arrange user interface elements within a design layout to create a user interface. Many times UI elements comprise non-integer size values (e.g., height, width, position, etc.) due to text, user specified data, and/or centering, for example. Rendering UI elements at non-integer size values may create display artifacts because of sub-pixel rendering. Accordingly, as provided herein, a set of rules may be applied during design layout to non-integer size values to create integer size values (e.g., non-integer size values may be rounded to the nearest integer). Using integer size values in arranging UI elements within a design layout, allows undesirable display artifacts to be mitigated during rendering.
US08984418B2
To avoid the need for off-line collaboration, a primary user who is attempting to enter data required for computer-based process may, as part of the data entry process, delegate data entry tasks for specific input fields to designated delegate users who are more likely to be knowledgeable about the data to be entered. Data entry operations performed by the primary user are recorded and used to build a transaction model which will enable a server to provide required data input screens to delegate users. Data entered by the delegate users is merged with data entered by the primary user to meet the requirements of the computer-based process.
US08984410B2
An image processing apparatus comprising: a display; an embedded web browser that displays hypertext-coded information on the display; a data input and output module that inputs and outputs hypertext-coded data and can be accessed from the embedded web browser and another web browser of an external machine; a judgment portion that judges which the data input and output module is accessed from, the embedded web browser or the web browser of the external machine; a data generator that generates different display data depending on the judgment made by the judgment portion; and a transmitter that transmits the display data generated by the data generator, to the embedded web browser or the web browser of the external machine.
US08984407B2
A graphical user interface displays performance data related to a communication session between a first computing device and a second computing device. The graphical user interface comprises a first graphical element and a second graphical element. The first graphical element has a number of sections that represent respective physical portions of a connection between the first computing device and the second computing device. Each of the sections displays the performance data of a current session for that respective physical section. The second graphical element displays corresponding performance data for a predetermined number of previous sessions between the first computing device and the second computing device.
US08984404B2
Provided is a method of guiding an image-based task execution. The method allows a user of a computing device to record an association between an image and at least one task, wherein a task is an action related to content present in the image; and upon subsequent recognition of the image, guides a user to perform the at least one task associated with the image, based on previously recorded association.
US08984399B2
According to one general aspect, a method of regulating the system resource consumption of an apparatus may include monitoring one or more system resources of the apparatus. The method may also include receiving a request to display, via the apparatus, a requested multi-element document. The method may include retrieving by the apparatus, at least in part, the requested multi-element document. The method may include dynamically editing the requested multi-element document based, at least in part, upon the monitored system resources. The method may also include displaying the dynamically edited multi-element document.
US08984397B2
An extensible markup language document processing engine performs arbitrary processing on extensible markup language documents. The processing sequence of the extensible markup language document processing engine is not fixed, but rather can depend upon the information submitted with the job and upon determinations and analysis during the actual job processing. The extensible markup language document processing engine can also segment the document processing so that different fragments of the document are handled differently, thereby providing parallel processing capabilities. Moreover, the extensible markup language document processing engine can segment the document processing so that different fragments of the document are handled differently so that not all processing is blocked when a fragment requires a slow action, such as retrieval of information from the web.
US08984389B2
A mobile terminal for setting a bookmarked region and its control method are disclosed. According to the method for controlling a mobile terminal, one region of a screen image of an accessed Web page is selected as a select region, and the select region is set as a bookmarked region. When the Web page is re-accessed, the set bookmarked region is displayed as an initial access screen image. Accordingly, when the Web page is re-accessed through bookmarking, the set bookmarked region can be displayed as the initial screen image.
US08984385B1
In accordance with the teachings described herein, systems and methods are provided for calculating a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code for a message. A system includes a first CRC calculator and a second CRC calculator. The first CRC calculator is configured to receive a first data block of the message, and to calculate a first CRC value based at least in part on the first data block, the message including the first data block and a second data block. The second CRC calculator is configured to receive the first CRC value and the second data block of the message, and to calculate a second CRC value based on the first CRC value and the second data block, the second CRC calculator being different from the first CRC calculator.
US08984375B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory stores a program for causing a memory controller to operate in at least one of first and second modes. In the first mode, for each of the blocks, the memory controller autonomously erases and writes data and reads the written data, and determines that the block or the semiconductor storage device is defective when a count of errors in the read data exceeds a correction capability or a threshold. In the second mode, when error correction of read substantial data fails, the memory controller reads the substantial data which failed in the error correction using a read level shifted from the present read level.
US08984372B2
A partition unit that includes a cache for storing both data and error-correcting code (ECC) checkbits associated with the data is disclosed. When a read command corresponding to particular data stored in a memory unit results in a cache miss, the partition unit transmits a read request to the memory unit to fetch the data and store the data in the cache. The partition unit checks the cache to determine if ECC checkbits associated with the data are stored in the cache and, if the ECC checkbits are not in the cache, the partition unit transmits a read request to the memory unit to fetch the ECC checkbits and store the ECC checkbits in the cache. The ECC checkbits and the data may then be compared to determine the reliability of the data using an error-correcting scheme such as SEC-DED (i.e., single error-correcting, double error-detecting).
US08984371B2
A method begins, as data objects are ingested, by determining, for each of some of the data objects, a priority indicator to produce a listing of priority indicators. The method continues for a data object by determining encoding parameters based on a corresponding priority indicator. The method continues by encoding the data object in accordance with the encoding parameters to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices and storing them. The method continues by identifying a first data object for analysis based on a corresponding priority indicator and an analysis priority. The method continues by decoding a plurality of sets of encoded data slices to recover the first data object and analyzing it in accordance with analysis criteria to determine its relevancy. The method continues by issuing a command to delete the plurality of sets of encoded data slices when the relevancy is below a threshold.
US08984369B2
Apparatuses and methods associated with shaping codes for memory are provided. One example apparatus comprises an array of memory cells and a shaping component coupled to the array and configured to encode each of a number of received digit patterns according to a mapping of received digit patterns to shaping digit patterns. The mapping of received digit patterns to shaping digit patterns obeys a shaping constraint that limits, to an uppermost amount, an amount of consecutive digits of the shaping digit patterns allowed to have a particular digit value.
US08984367B2
Integrated circuits with memory circuitry may include error detection circuitry and error correction circuitry. The error detection circuitry may be used to detect soft errors in the memory circuitry. The error detection circuitry may include logic gates that are used to perform parity checking. The error detection circuitry may have an interleaved structure to provide interleaved data bit processing, may have a tree structure to reduce logic gate delays, and may be pipelined to optimize performance. The memory circuitry may be loaded with interleaved parity check bits in conjunction with the interleaved structure to provide multi-bit error detection capability. The parity check bits may be precomputed using design tools or computed during device configuration. In response to detection of a memory error, the error correction circuitry may be used to scan desired portions of the memory circuitry and to correct the memory error.
US08984355B2
A technique for controlling scan access of multiple scan devices (including or more slave scan devices and a master scan device) to a scan chain includes sending, by a requesting slave scan device included in the one or more slave scan devices, a first request for access to the scan chain to the master scan device. The master scan device and the one or more slave scan devices are connected to the scan chain. The technique also includes receiving, at the requesting slave scan device, an evaluation result from the master scan device and accessing, by the requesting slave scan device, the scan chain in response to the evaluation result indicating access granted. Finally, the technique includes sending, by the requesting slave scan device, one or more second requests for access to the scan chain to the master scan device in response to the evaluation result indicating access denied.
US08984352B2
[This invention] inhibits the response time of the storage control apparatus from being longer even if the response time of the storage apparatus is long.The disk adapter (DKA), receiving a read message from the channel adapter (CHA), sets the timeout time in accordance with specified conditions, and tries to read data from the storage apparatus 4. As the timeout time, either the normal value or the shortened value is selected. If a timeout error occurs, the read job is reset, and correction read is started.
US08984349B2
Device Test Automation framework. This embodiment provides a device test automation framework for automating testing of embedded systems. The device test automation framework—DTAF allows user to test embedded device software using test scripts, which can capture various interfaces of device under test. A Graphical User Interface—GUI tool is created based on device under test configuration and user input. This GUI tool shows various interface of device under test. A device test automation framework hardware enables communication between test tool and the device under test. DTAF allows testing process to dramatically improve productivity, effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of embedded software testing
US08984344B2
During a debug mode of operation of a data processor it is determined whether a data access request is to a stack of the data processor. If not, a data trace message based on the data access request is generated for transmission to a debugger so long as an address being accessed by data access request meets a predefined address range criteria. Otherwise, if the data access request is to the stack of the data processor, a data trace message based on the data access request is prevented from being generated for transmission to the debugger regardless the predefined address range criteria.
US08984340B2
In an exemplary embodiment, a system includes a memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory. The processor is operable to receive a first indication that a first action keyword is selected from a plurality of action keywords and determine whether a first object requirement is associated with the first action keyword. The processor is further operable to retrieve a plurality of action objects and receive a second indication that a first action object is selected. The processor is also operable to receive a third indication that a second action keyword is selected and determine whether a first input parameter is associated with the second action keyword. The processor may also be operable to request a first user input, receive the first user input, generate a test case file comprising the first action keyword and the second action keyword, and associate the test case file with an application.
US08984336B1
A computer-implemented method for performing first failure data captures may include 1) identifying a process that has failed within an old process context and is undergoing a first failure data capture within the old process context, 2) identifying at least one resource allocated within the old process context and required for restarting the process in a new process context, 3) freeing the resource from the old process context before terminating the process within the old process context, and 4) initiating the process in the new process context before the process within the old process context has terminated. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08984335B2
Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to an apparatus that comprises a first core susceptible to an error condition, and a second core configured to perform a diagnostic on the first core to identify a cause of the error condition and an action to remedy the error condition in order to recover the first core.
US08984333B2
An approach to providing diagnostics of data storage medium units may be performed automatically without interruption to system operations. Upon receipt of one or more error messages occurring on a first data storage medium unit, data content from the first data storage medium unit may be copied to a second data storage medium unit. A system may operate using the second data storage medium unit while the first data storage medium unit is diagnosed for possible disk failure.
US08984322B2
A device configured to switch a clock speed for multiple links running at different clock speeds and a method for switching the clock signals are disclosed. A frequency divider derives a plurality of clock signals at different frequencies from a source clock signal. A clock switching controller selects a maximum data rate among data rates requested by a plurality of ports of links and outputs a transmit clock signal at the selected maximum data rate to the ports along with a clock enabling signal for each of the ports. Each of the clock enabling signals selectively enables the transmit clock signal for matching a data rate requested by each port. The clock speed may be selected and updated as required by the ports glitch-free in a known amount of time without interrupting data transfers on any of the other ports.
US08984310B2
Provided is a power supply control device including a first power supply which is a power supply source of an operating unit and a main control unit, a second power supply which supplies minimum necessary power to create a power-saving state, a switching unit that switches to a power supply source selected from the first and second power supplies, a receiving unit that receives an external request signal, a determining unit that determines whether the external request signal is a switching request signal or a recovery request signal, a switching controller that switches the power supply source to the first power supply when a power-saving state is created, and the external request signal is the switching request signal, and a recovery unit that recovers at least the main control unit when the recovery request signal is received within a predetermined period after the power supply source is switched.
US08984307B2
Various embodiments of methods and systems for managing battery capacity in a portable computing device (“PCD”) are disclosed. One such method includes leveraging a request/grant algorithm that receives a request from an offline component to come online. If battery capacity is available to accommodate the offline component, the request is granted. If battery capacity is not available to accommodate the offline component, the request is authorized at a reduced power level or capacity is created by reducing power to online components. Another method polls a battery to monitor demand on its capacity by active components. Offline components likely to come online concurrently with the active components are identified and ranked based on power consumption. A target current margin is adjusted based on the highest power consumption associated with an identified block of offline components.
US08984296B1
A method for device driver self authentication is provided. The method includes accessing a device driver having encrypted authentication parameters therein including, for instance, a vendor identification, a device identification, a serial number, an expiration date and a filename. The method includes executing an authentication portion of the device driver to generate a message digest of these parameters and comparing the message digest to a stored digest for a match thereof. The method further includes loading the device driver only if the authentication portion successfully authenticates the device driver, e.g., there is a match. The method can be applied to USB device drivers and peripherals.
US08984293B2
Systems, methods, and apparatus for generating and validating product keys. In some embodiments, a product key includes security information and identification information identifying at least one copy of a software product. The identifying information may be used to access validation information from at least one source other than the product key, and the validation information may be used to process the identification information and the security information to determine whether the product key is valid. In some further embodiments, the security information includes a first portion to be processed by a first validation authority using first validation information and a second portion to be processed by a second validation authority using second validation information, wherein the second validation information is stored separately from the first validation information.
US08984290B2
The present disclosure involves a method of verifying user check-ins to a venue. The method includes initializing a digital check-in chain for a venue. The method includes expanding, electronically by a processor, the check-in chain with a plurality of check-in entries that each correspond to a visit to the venue by a respective user. Each check-in entry on the check-in chain is generated in response to one or more preceding check-in entries on the check-in chain. The method includes detecting fraudulent check-in entries in response to a split in the check-in chain. The method includes removing the fraudulent check-in entries from the check-in chain.
US08984281B2
An information processing apparatus including: a storage unit configured to store a plurality of applications and a plurality of certificates, an application execution unit configured to execute one of the plurality of applications by using one of the plurality of certificates which is designated by a user, and a storage control unit configured to control the storage unit to store correspondence information indicating that the executed application corresponds to the designated certificate, when the application execution unit executes one of the plurality of applications and one of the plurality of certificates is designated by the user.
US08984280B2
Systems and methods for efficiently verifying identities and for generating and signing digital certificates associated with those identities are disclosed. Generation of a digital certificate of an entity may begin by receiving a certificate signing request from the entity at a certification authority, the certificate signing request including verification information. The certificate signing request may be transmitted to a registration authority and the information of the certificate signing request may be processed. Whether to approve the certificate signing request may be determined, based on a result of the processing, and an approval may be granted when the certificate signing request is approved. A certificate associated with the entity may be generated when the approval is received, and the certificate may be transmitted to the entity.
US08984278B2
A novel code signing system, computer readable media, and method are provided. The code signing method includes receiving a code signing request from a requestor in order to gain access to one or more specific application programming interfaces (APIs). A digital signature is provided to the requestor. The digital signature indicates authorization by a code signing authority for code of the requestor to access the one or more specific APIs. In one example, the digital signature is provided by the code signing authority or a delegate thereof. In another example, the code signing request may include one or more of the following: code, an application, a hash of an application, an abridged version of the application, a transformed version of an application, a command, a command argument, and a library.
US08984273B2
A lightweight solution enables the exchange of multimedia information in a secure manner. Exchanged cryptographic material can be used to encipher multimedia message-oriented communications between devices. This lightweight solution can be used by common off the shelf devices such as smartphones, tablets, feature phones, or special purpose machine to machine devices for private communications, such as command and control, location services, video, audio, electronic attachments, etc. using insecure voice or data communication paths, such as MMS.
US08984270B2
A data file decryption method, a decryption device and a data broadcasting system are disclosed, which are applied to a data broadcasting service. Among them, the data file decryption method includes the steps of: receiving the file delivery information which includes a data file identification and a key file identification corresponding to the data file; receiving the corresponding data file and key file according to the data file identification and the key file identification; and decrypting the data file according to the key file. According to the data file decryption method, decryption device and the data broadcasting system of the present invention, by setting the data file identification and the corresponding key file identification in the file delivery information and receiving the corresponding file according to the data file identification and the key file identification, the resource dissipation due to a large quantity of useless information received at a terminal is avoided, and the file to be received can be quickly located by the terminal, so that the time delay due to the decryption of a data file is avoided, and the service experience for users is improved.
US08984267B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for reducing computer system boot up times in systems with composite HDD-SSD storage devices. Booting a computer system having a composite storage device that includes a magnetic storage device (HDD) and a solid state storage device (SSD) includes identifying boot data read from the magnetic storage device during an initial boot process, pinning the boot data to the solid state storage device, wherein pinning causes the boot data to be retained on the solid state storage device during movement of infrequently-used data from the solid state storage device to the magnetic storage device, and reading, by the computer system, the boot data from the solid state storage device during a subsequent boot process. Booting can also include moving infrequently accessed data from the solid state storage device to the magnetic storage device, and the boot data on the solid state storage device.
US08984266B2
Techniques for detecting rolling reboots and for taking responsive actions to stop rolling reboots.
US08984260B2
A circuit arrangement, method, and program product for substituting a plurality of scalar instructions in an instruction stream with a functionally equivalent vector instruction for execution by a vector execution unit. Predecode logic is coupled to an instruction buffer which stores instructions in an instruction stream to be executed by the vector execution unit. The predecode logic analyzes the instructions passing through the instruction buffer to identify a plurality of scalar instructions that may be replaced by a vector instruction in the instruction stream. The predecode logic may generate the functionally equivalent vector instruction based on the plurality of scalar instructions, and the functionally equivalent vector instruction may be substituted into the instruction stream, such that the vector execution unit executes the vector instruction in lieu of the plurality of scalar instructions.
US08984248B2
A second storage maps a migration source volume to a virtual volume of a migration destination volume according to storage virtualization technology. A host system including a host switches an access path from an access path to the migration source volume to an access path to the migration destination volume. The second storage executes copy processing of migrating, from the migration source volume to the migration destination volume, data in an assigned area of a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of the migration source volume based on the information contained in the first thin provisioning information in the first storage, and copying that data from the migration destination volume to a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of a copy destination volume in the second storage. The second storage associates the virtual volume of the copy destination volume with the migration destination volume in substitute for the original virtual volume.
US08984242B2
A hibernation method of a computing system that includes generating backup data and write addresses according to at least a portion of data utilized by the computing system at a hibernation request, generating conversion addresses corresponding to a first non-volatile memory when the write addresses correspond to a second non-volatile memory, and storing the backup data in the first non-volatile memory according to either the write addresses or the conversion addresses.
US08984236B2
Techniques for reacting to events in a switch module. Embodiments provide a plurality of predefined load/store operations stored in a first memory buffer of the switch module. An execution buffer capable of storing load/store operations within the switch module is also provided. Responsive to detecting that a first predefined event has occurred, embodiments copy the plurality of predefined load/store operations from the first memory buffer to the execution buffer for execution. Upon detecting the plurality of predefined load/store operations within the execution buffer, the plurality of predefined load/store operations within the execution buffer are executed.
US08984234B2
A method and system for managing a cache for a host machine is disclosed. The method includes: indicating each cache line in the cache as being in a transitional meta-state when any virtual machine hosted on the host machine moves out of the host machine; each time a particular cache line is accessed, indicating that particular cache line as no longer in the transitional meta-state; and marking the cache lines still in the transitional meta-state as invalid when a virtual machine moves back to the host machine.
US08984220B1
In large complex multi-path storage environments, knowing there is a problem is extremely valuable. Example embodiments of the present invention include a management framework that provides an easy to use and read graphical perspective that allows analysis of faults in a multi-path storage environment. The architecture is not only responsive, scalable, and robust, but also provides “middleware” services to a broad spectrum of enterprise management applications whose domains may extend beyond storage path management. The management framework includes a consolidator that, along with an agent on the hosts, supports an administrator in: collecting storage path information from hosts; summarizing, aggregating, filtering, and reformatting storage path information to serve enterprise management needs and policies; forwarding an alert regarding storage path information to interested managers; routing storage path management commands from managers to hosts; and reporting command completion status from the host back to the requesting manager.
US08984219B2
A method is provided for writing data in a storage device, including a nonvolatile memory. The method includes receiving a pre-write command including a logical address and size information of write data, performing a pre-operation for optimization of a write operation based on the pre-write command, and writing the write data in the nonvolatile memory after the pre-operation is completed.
US08984218B2
A system (and associated method) comprises a storage drive and a central processing unit (“CPU”). The storage drive is adapted to accommodate a removable storage medium. The CPU is configured to execute code to cause the CPU to write data to an addressable unit of the storage medium and also to write an identifying value to the addressable unit. The identifying value is indicative of an identity of the system or the storage drive.
US08984207B2
Disclosed is a method of executing a write operation in a nonvolatile memory system. The method includes receiving a write command indicating the write operation and write data associated with the write operation, and determining a selected merge size for use by a merge operation responsive to the write command by determining a number of free blocks and then determining a selected free block level (FBL) from among a plurality of FBLs in accordance with the number of free blocks.
US08984199B2
According to an embodiment of the invention, a method and apparatus for inter-processor interrupts in a multi-processor system are described. An embodiment comprises writing an inter-processor interrupt request to a first memory location; monitoring the first memory location; detecting the inter-processor interrupt request in the first memory location; calling a function for the inter-processor interrupt request; and performing the function for the inter-processor interrupt request.
US08984198B2
A digital processor has a default bus master having a highest priority in a default mode, a plurality of secondary bus masters having associated priorities, wherein the plurality of secondary bus masters have a predetermined priority relationship to each other, and a data space arbiter. The data space arbiter is programmable in a non-default mode to raise a priority of any of the secondary bus masters to have a priority higher than the priority of the default bus master while maintaining the predetermined priority relationship to only those secondary bus masters for which the priority level also has been raised above the priority of the default bus master.
US08984193B1
Methods and systems for processing transaction packets at a serial interface are disclosed. The method includes receiving transaction information at a serial interface. The method further includes executing one or more pipelined operations based on the transaction information, where the operations relate to processing of the transaction packet. The method is performed such that the serial interface is configured to send and receive transaction packets at a line speed of the serial bus.
US08984190B2
A data storage device may comprise data storage comprising a first logical unit configured to store user data and a second logical unit configured to store an operating system. A first interface may be configured to couple to a host and a second interface may be configured to couple to a network. In a first mode, the data storage device may be configured to expose the first logical unit to the host and render the second logical unit inaccessible and, in a second mode, the data storage device may be configured to allow access to both the first and the second logical units. The first mode may comprise a direct attached storage (DAS) mode and the second mode may comprise a network attached storage (NAS) mode.
US08984178B2
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and a system for communicating with networked clients and servers through a network device includes receiving a first network data packet destined for a first executing traffic management application of a plurality of executing traffic management applications operating in the network device. A first DMA channel is identified to allocate the received first network data packet. Further, the first network data packet is transmitted to the first traffic management executing application over the first identified DMA channel.
US08984175B1
A method and apparatus for providing a multipathing connection to a storage volume, where in one embodiment, the invention prohibits the disk driver from reading the storage parameter information (e.g., table of contents) upon initialization. The method commences with a multipathing disk driver determining at least on active port and at least on passive port for the storage volume. The disk driver then sends a request via the active port to the storage volume for the storage parameter information that is contained in the disk array. After the host computer's operating system disk driver receives the storage parameter information, it copies the information and distributes the information to the port definitions for the passive ports. Consequently, the ports are defined without causing a failover within the storage volume.
US08984173B1
Mechanisms are provided for providing an early warning of an error state of a remote direct memory access (RDMA) resource to a userspace application. The mechanisms detect, using kernelspace logic, an error event having occurred, and perform a write operation to write an error state value to a userspace shared memory state data structure indicating the RDMA resource to be in an error state. The mechanisms detect, using userspace logic, the RDMA resource being in an error state by reading the error state value from the userspace shared memory state data structure in response to a userspace application attempting to perform a RDMA operation using the RDMA resource. In addition, the mechanisms initiate, by the userspace application, an operation to tear down the RDMA resource in response to detecting the RDMA resource being in the error state.
US08984163B2
A method for creating a communication network from devices of an automation system, wherein the automation system is developed based on logical addresses of the devices and the devices are assigned physical addresses by which the devices are accessed to exchange data over the communication network when operating the automation system. An overlay network comprising a decentralized network is constructed with the devices as network nodes, wherein conventional mechanisms for decentralized networks for publication of resources and subscription to resources are used to map logical addresses used during development of the automation system to the physical addresses used when operating the automation system. Mapping is achieved by a resource or a subscription to a resource being suitably published during initialization of a respective device, wherein the resources are stored based on keys in the decentralized network which corresponds to a logical addresses, and the resource contents represent physical addresses.
US08984155B2
Resources may be managed in a topology for audio/video streaming. DisplayPort is a digital audio/video interconnect standard of the Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA). It allows video and audio to be coupled from a computer to a video display or an audio playback system. The topology includes audio/video sources and sinks and intervening branch devices. Messages between these sources, sinks, and branch devices may be used for resource management.
US08984151B1
A server that manages download and/or distribution of content may collect content-related information associated with users, and classify the users based on that data. The content-related information may comprise data relating to content generation and/or upload by the users. The server may determine whether a user is granted permission to upload content for distribution or download via the server, based on correlating the user with a previously classified user, and/or on evaluation of current content generation or download activities associated with the user. Determination of whether the user is granted permission to upload content may be done directly and/or autonomously by the server. Alternatively, a recommendation whether to grant permission to upload content may be submitted by the server to another entity for selection thereby. The server may reject or accept a content upload request from the user based on the determination of whether the user is granted permission.
US08984147B1
Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer program products, may be used for content delivery. In particular implementations, methods, systems, and apparatuses may include the ability to identify that a content item request for a user device has been received, determine a position and velocity of the user device, select a content item to provide to the user device based at least on its position and velocity, and sending the content item to the user device.
US08984145B2
An apparatus for managing network objects in a heterogeneous network, a network management system and a network management apparatus are provided. The apparatus includes processor that receives, using a first protocol communicated using a communications protocol, a network management request to manage a network object in the heterogeneous network, and that transmits, according to a second protocol that is different than the first protocol, the network management request to the network object network management interface is provided.
US08984141B2
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an Internet connection system capable of performing bidirectional communications between a home network and the Internet by relatively simple means and enabling manufacturers of client-side home network appliances to find a unique added value.In order to attain the above object, according to a first primary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for connecting a client device to a server, comprising the steps of: (a) notifying a relay device of an IP address of the server; (b) establishing a TCP/IP session by a tunneling connection between the relay device and the server using the notified IP address; and (c) based on information of the relay device or the client device, grouping by the server a plurality of relay devices or client devices for each of which a tunneling connection with the server is established.
US08984139B2
A method, at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing programs for execution by the one or more processors, identifies a conversation including a plurality of participants. A sequence of edits to a content unit in a plurality of content units of the conversation is obtained from a first participant in the plurality of participants to produce a revised content unit. While a second participant of the plurality of participants is providing or editing a portion of the content unit, or viewing the portion of the content unit, the following conditions are imposed. When the second participant is a team member, the conversation is updated for the second participant with the revised content unit by providing the revised content unit to the second participant. When the second participant is a non-team member, updating the conversation for the second participant with the revised content unit is delayed.
US08984138B2
In some embodiments, a method includes sending a first data unit, received from a source device, to a destination device via a first data unit path. The first data unit path includes (1) a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine that are included in a first network, and (2) a third virtual machine that is included in a second network. Furthermore, the first data unit path includes the first virtual machine, the second virtual machine, and the third virtual machine in a first order. The method includes sending a second data unit, received from the source device, to the destination device via a second data unit path from the source device to the destination device. The second data unit path includes each of the first virtual machine, the second virtual machine, and the third virtual machine in a second order different from the first order.
US08984130B1
System, methods and articles of manufacture for tracking content across an Internet. An embodiment comprises receiving the content from a content source, wherein the content includes a unique content identifier, injecting the content into a content aggregation system, retrieving the unique content identifier from the content, analyzing the content based on the unique content identifier and data in the content aggregation system, and generating a report of the analyzed content.
US08984118B2
An automatic messaging client launcher for a communication device automatically launches the communication device's messaging client, when the device is calling a currently unavailable destination communication device. The automatic messaging client launcher consists of an availability detector and a messaging initiator. The availability detector determines if the communication device being called is available. If the destination device is unavailable, the messaging initiator launches the messaging client.
US08984106B2
Techniques are described for providing a backup DHCP server using a DHCP relay agent. Embodiments retrieve DHCP server configuration information specifying a configuration of one or more DHCP servers. Additionally, embodiments monitor, at a DHCP relay agent, DHCP lease traffic between the one or more DHCP servers and one or more DHCP clients passing through the DHCP relay agent. Upon determining that the one or more DHCP servers have failed, DHCP server services are provided at the DHCP relay agent, based on the received DHCP server configuration information and the monitored DHCP lease traffic.
US08984105B2
A method and apparatus are provided for connecting a mobile device to a subscriber access network, such as 3G network over an untrusted network, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN). SIP signaling is performed to authenticate and establish a connection to the subscriber access network. A unique identifier may be assigned to the mobile device for transmitting data to and receiving data from the subscriber access network.
US08984104B2
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for a self-moving operating system installation in cloud-based network. A guest operating system can be instantiated in a cloud-based host environment to support a set of virtual machines. The operating system can be configured with resources in the kernel to detect and manage the identity of the cloud in which the operating system is installed, as well as to interrogate potentially new target host clouds to determine the configuration settings required to move or copy the guest operating system to that target. The resulting mobility of the guest operating system affords the ability to be self-moving, and an administrator or other user can simply specify a desired target cloud to host the operating system without a need to manually configure APIs or other resources.
US08984100B2
A data downloading method, wherein the method includes the following steps: obtaining a downloading request for a file to be downloaded, wherein the downloading request includes an original downloading link, which is any one of a source URL link, a BT seed file, and an eMule downloading link; obtaining a hash value of the file to be downloaded based on the original downloading link; based on the hash value of the file to be downloaded, if the original downloading link is the BT seed file, obtaining the eMule downloading link information of the file to be downloaded and a multi-source URL set; if the original downloading link is the eMule downloading link, obtaining the Bt seed file information of the file to be downloaded and the multi-source URL set; and if the original downloading link is the source URL link, obtaining the Bt seed file information and the eMule downloading link information of the file to be downloaded and the multi-source URL set; downloading the file to be downloaded based on the obtained Bt seed file information and/or eMule downloading link information of the file to be downloaded, and the multi-source URL set. In the above method, the data sharing based on the networks over different downloading protocols may be implemented.
US08984089B2
An industrial automation device comprises a reception component that receives a request for data resident within the industrial automation device. An encoding component communicatively coupled to the reception component that receives a binary bit stream associated with the request and encodes a payload of the bit stream as XML data, the encoding component further communicates the encoded payload by way of an industrial automation protocol. Furthermore, the industrial automation device can include a compression component that compresses the XML data.
US08984087B2
A communication apparatus is provided with network interfaces. A control unit provides an application programming interface for an application that runs on the communication apparatus. A transmission unit transmits a search packet via the respective network interfaces in response to a request from the application. A reception unit receives a response packet in response to the search packet that the transmission unit transmits. A first determination unit determines whether the information showing a transmitting source of the response packet that the reception unit received is stored in a storage unit. The control unit stores the information showing the transmitting source of the response packet received into the storage unit and transfers the response packet received to the application, when the first determination unit determines that the information showing the transmitting source of the response packet received is not stored in the storage unit.
US08984085B2
Provided are an apparatus and method for controlling a distributed memory cluster. A distributed computing system may include a computing node cluster, a distributed memory cluster, and a controlling node. The computing node cluster may include a plurality of computing nodes including first computing nodes that each generates associated data. The distributed memory cluster may be configured to store the associated data of the first computing nodes. The controlling node may be configured to select memory blocks of the associated data for distribution on the distributed memory cluster based on a node selection rule and memory cluster structure information, and to select second computing nodes from the computing node cluster based on a location selection rule and the memory cluster structure information.
US08984082B2
Embodiments are directed towards personalizing content to be provided to a user. A recommendation score may be determined for a piece of content for a user. The recommendation score may be based on a combination of an intrinsic value and/or a social value of the content to the user. The social value may be calculated based on a combination of an individual social value for each of the user's friends, which may be determined based on the combination of a social weight, an interest probability, and a recommendation score for the friend. Online personalization of content for a user may provide the user with the tools to be a valuable, appreciated member of the user's social network. By employing embodiments, as described herein, content may be determined and provided to a user, which may help the user gain the attention of their social circles.
US08984077B2
Some embodiments of the invention provide a future messaging system that can be configured to analyze data from one or more data sources in an automated manner in order to detect with a degree of accuracy the occurrence of a possible future event, which may or may not occur in the future. Upon detection of the future event, the future messaging system in some embodiments provides content to a set of one or more recipients. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the future messaging system only provides notification of the detection to the set of recipients. In some embodiments, a user provides the content for release upon the detection of the future event. Along with this content, the user in some embodiments provides a description of the event and a list of one or more recipients for receiving the content upon the detection of the event.
US08984070B2
A method is provided for rendering a personal message sent by a sender for a recipient. The method includes: receiving the personal message by a processing software component of a server of a communications network; detecting, by the server, a connection of the recipient to an information rendering space; and replacing an advertisement insert display by the message subsequently to the connection of the recipient as a function of at least one rendering parameter accompanying the message.
US08984065B2
An electronic process for presenting interpersonal relationship analysis includes: receiving recorded responses of a plurality of users to selected stimuli, such recorded responses comprising indications of traits and preferences that are not explicitly identified in the recorded response; generating match profile data at least partially from the response; and presenting potential matches to a first user based on a compatibility score generated from correlating match profile data of the plurality of users with the match profile data of the first user.
US08984062B2
A computing device defines one or more hunt groups on a client, wherein the one or more hunt groups are defined based, at least in part, upon information specific to the client. The computing device receives a request for a communication session at the client. The request for the communication session is directed, by the computing device, to one or more members of the one or more hunt groups based, at least in part, upon the one or more defined hunt groups.
US08984057B2
In one embodiment, the methods and apparatuses detect an active device configured to utilize content; identify the content and a current location of the content; detect an idle device configured to selectively deliver the content; detect a transition parameter for determining a transition to the idle device; and transition the content from the active device to the idle device wherein the idle device is capable of utilizing the content based on the transition parameter.
US08984047B2
A system and method are provided for delivering targeted content to a subscriber coupled to a service provider network. Network application data generated by the subscriber is received and processed by a network application element deployed in the service provider network associated with a network identifier of the subscriber's computing device. The network application data is generated from user interaction with a server coupled to the service provider network or through a public communication network. The network application data is converted to web events associated with the network identifier. The web events are filtered to remove irrelevant data from received web events. A subscriber profile can then be generated base upon the filtered web events associated with the subscriber. Targeted content can then be delivered to the subscriber based upon the subscriber's profile.
US08984045B2
A technique for identifying a group of potential candidates to join an organization is described. During this analysis technique, an identifier is received from an individual. This identifier may be used to associate the individual with a pre-existing profile that includes information. For example, the identifier may include a link to the pre-existing profile. Alternatively, a profile with the information may be generated for the individual based on the identifier and an information source. Using the information, an affinity metric of the individual with the organization is calculated, such as a number of employees of the organization who know the individual or who attended a same educational institution as the individual. Moreover, the affinity metric is used to determine whether to include the individual in the group of potential candidates to join the organization. In this way, the analysis technique may facilitate more-efficient recruiting efforts.
US08984043B2
An apparatus and method are described for multiplying and adding matrices. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises decoding by a decoder in a processor device, a single instruction specifying an m-by-m matrix operation for a set of vectors, wherein each vector represents an m-by-m matrix of data elements and m is greater than one; issuing the single instruction for execution by an execution unit in the processor device; and responsive to the execution of the single instruction, generating a resultant vector, wherein the resultant vector represents an m-by-m matrix of data elements.
US08984040B2
A method and apparatus for performing modular exponentiation using iterative modular multiplications steps and taking as input a first modulus N, a secret exponent d and a base x. During at least one modular multiplication step aiming at computing a result c from two values a, b and the first modulus N so that c=a·b mod N, a processor takes as input the two values a, b and the first modulus N from which are obtained two operands a′, b′ and a second modulus N′ using operations with at most linear complexity—at least one of the two operands a′, b′ is different from the two values a, b, and the two operands a′, b′ are different when a is equal to b—so that the modular multiplication c=a·b mod N from a side-channel viewpoint behaves like a modular squaring except for when a′ equals b′ . An intermediate result c′=a′·b′ mod N′ is computed, and the result c is derived from the intermediate result c′ using an operation with at most linear complexity; and the result c is used in the modular exponentiation.
US08984039B2
A residue generating circuit for an execution unit that supports vector operations includes an operand register and a residue generator coupled to the operand register. The residue generator includes a first residue generation tree coupled to a first section of the operand register and a second residue generation tree coupled to a second section of the operand register. The first residue generation tree is configured to generate a first residue for first data included in the first section of the operand register. The second residue generation tree is configured to generate a second residue for second data included in a second section of the operand register. The first section of the operand register includes a different number of register bits than the second section of the operand register.
US08984038B2
Aspects of a method and system for unconstrained frequency domain adaptive filtering include one or more circuits that are operable to select one or more time domain coefficients in a current filter partition. A value may be computed for each of the selected one or more time domain coefficients based on a corresponding plurality of frequency domain coefficients. The corresponding plurality of frequency domain coefficients may be adjusted based on the computed values. A subsequent plurality of frequency domain coefficients in a subsequent filter partition may be adjusted based on the computed values. Input signals may be processed in the current filter partition based on the adjusted corresponding plurality of frequency domain coefficients. A time-adjusted version of the input signals may be processed in a subsequent filter partition based on the adjusted subsequent plurality of frequency domain coefficients.
US08984035B2
Channel select filter circuits are described. One circuit implements a multiplying element and digital-to-analog converter as a differential current mode device. Another circuit implementing a multiplying element and digital-to-analog converter with weighted addition, deferred after multiplication of the digital-to-analog converter and multiplier combination. In one such circuit, substantially equal current source magnitudes are in different columns of the circuit. Another such circuit, with substantially equal current source magnitudes, uses non-radix2. Another such circuit, with substantially equal current source magnitudes, has partial segmentation. Another circuit implements a multiplying element and digital-to-analog converter, with partial segmentation, scrambling bit allocation for elements. One such circuit scrambles bit allocation on equally weighted segments, as described herein. Another circuit implements a multiplying element and digital-to-analog converter with selective enablement of duplicate current source devices. Another circuit implements a multiplying element and digital-to-analog converter with variable effective length of the digital-to-analog converter. In one such circuit one or more current sources of a multiplier element are deselected to remove a noise contribution of the multiplier element, as described herein. A complex filter circuit includes a pair of real finite impulse response filter circuits performing addition and subtraction in current domain, sharing a common resistor network to perform weighted addition. One such circuit further includes a second pair of real finite impulse response filter circuits performing addition and subtraction in current domain, sharing a second common resistor network to perform weighted addition.
US08984034B2
A method of acquiring data and performing calculations on the data using a provider service. A provider ticket service (PTS) receives tickets from one or more clients. Each ticket includes a calculation identifier and a payload. The calculation identifier identifies a calculation to be performed using information in the payload. The PTS associates a unique ticket identifier with each ticket. A ticket manager submits a selected ticket from the PTS to a provider host service (PHS), which determines which provider is to perform the calculation identified by the selected ticket by inspecting provider identification information in the selected ticket. The PHS launches a provider host thread (PHT) that invokes the provider determined to perform the calculation identified by the calculation identifier of the selected ticket. The provider performs the calculation and returns its result to the PHS, which passes the result back to the PTS, which returns the result to the requesting client.
US08984031B1
A method is used in managing data storage for databases based on application awareness. Content is received via any of a file system interface, a block based interface, and an object based interface to a data storage system, which executes a general purpose operating system. Based on software installed on the data storage system and running on the general purpose operating system, an application-aware management interface is used to provide a database interface to the data storage system. Based on the database interface, database queries are accepted at the data storage system.
US08984021B2
A system and method for harvesting electronically stored content by custodian is provided. Content associated with user names for one or more custodians is maintained in a collaboration environment. A custodian list with names of at least a portion of the custodians is received. Access reports each having user names and associated unique identifiers for the custodians with access to the content within a collaboration environment are obtained. One or more of the user names are mapped with at least one of the custodians by comparing the list of custodians to the access reports and by determining a selected user name for the at least one custodian. The content associated with the at least one custodian is identified using the selected user name.
US08984020B2
A system and method of registering voters and tabulating an election is provided. A voter database is maintained with a record of each eligible voter comprising at least one voter characteristic. Based on the at least one voter characteristic, a set of positions and issues for which the voter is eligible to vote is determined. The set of positions and issues is printed onto a ballot. The ballot may be printed on demand or mailed to the voter along with a return envelope and an anonymous ballot envelope. The invention further comprises a system and method for tabulating and auditing election results. Voted ballots are scanned and computer readable visual representations of the ballots are generated and stored. The visual representations are analyzed to generate vote data. The visual representation, vote data and ballot are associated with each other by a unique ballot identification. Visual representations of ballots can be received based on a database query and displayed along with the associated vote data for review. Based on the unique ballot identification, the ballot associated with the vote data may also be identified and reviewed. If necessary, vote data associated with a ballot may be corrected.
US08984018B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a computer-implemented method comprising storing data in an application using an application custom data type and application custom data structure. The data is stored in a database using the application custom data type and the application custom data structure. In one embodiment, a request is sent to access the data from the application to the database. The data is retrieved from the database in response to the request in the application custom data type and the application custom data structure. In one embodiment, the data is sent from the database to a shared memory in the application custom data type and the application custom data structure and the data is retrieved by the application from the shared memory in the application custom data type and the application custom data structure.
US08984015B1
On-demand scheduling for presentations in movie theatres is enabled by providing users with the ability to communicate content, theatre and time slot selections. The communication can use message or telephone based devices. By tabulating the selections of plural users, selections which will attract an audience greater in number than a predetermined threshold for the presentation in a given venue and time of a particular content can be identified. Feeding this information back to an exhibitor allows the presentation to be implemented. Communicating the fact of the scheduling to the selecting users and others who may also have interest in the presentation multiplies the potential audience. Others who may have an interest in the scheduled presentation include a) individuals associated in a social network with a selecting user and b) individuals registered with social networking or specialty web sites devoted to content which is the same as, or similar to, the scheduled presentation.
US08984013B2
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for conditioning the distribution of data in a hierarchical database. A data store can store data in a hierarchical format. Higher-level data, such as yearly profit, may be desired to be spread from parent nodes to lower nodes, such as quarters. Parent nodes can be associated with a set of programmatic placeholder nodes. A spreading tool can insert child nodes representing quarters, months, or other at insertion point(s) represented or encoded by a set of placeholder nodes, dividing quantities appropriately. In aspects, data can be spread from multiple parents at once. In aspects, the spreading tool can access or host sequence logic to ensure that data is spread in an order that takes dependencies, formatting, output connections, or other factors into account.
US08984010B2
A system receives a request from a request processor of a database connection pool to access a database. The system determines whether a database connection from the database connection pool is available for the request. A new security assertion mark-up language (SAML) assertion is generated when the database connection pool does not have an available database connection for the request. A new database connection to the database is built using the new SAML assertion.
US08984007B2
Provided is a member or content search method in a virtual private community (VPC) network including at least one of a first VPC including communication devices owned by a predetermined user, a second VPC that may be positioned in an upper layer of the first VPC, and a third VPC that may be positioned in an upper layer of the second VPC, the method including receiving, by one of the communication devices, a search request comprising one of VPC identifiers of a user, verifying a VPC corresponding to the VPC identifiers that may be included in the search request, in response to the search request, and searching for members included in the verified VPC, a VPC positioned in a lower layer of the verified VPC, or contents owned by the members included in the verified VPC.
US08984006B2
Embodiments include a computer-implemented method that includes identifying a candidate parent entity having one or more characteristics indicative of the entity having a parent hierarchical relationship to another entity of an entity set, identifying a candidate child entity set including entities of the entity set that each have one or more characteristics indicative of the entity having a child hierarchical relationship to the candidate parent entity, comparing characteristics of the candidate parent entity to characteristics of an entity of the candidate child entity set to determine whether a hierarchical relationship exists between the candidate parent entity and the entity of the candidate child entity set, determining that a hierarchical relationship exists between the candidate parent entity and the entity of the candidate child entity set, and updating a hierarchical index to reflect the hierarchical relationship between the candidate parent entity and the entity of the candidate child entity set.
US08983994B2
Embodiments include generating data models that may give semantic meaning for unstructured or structured data that may include data generated and/or received by search engines, including a time series engine. A method includes generating a data model for data stored in a repository. Generating the data model includes generating an initial query string, executing the initial query string on the data, generating an initial result set based on the initial query string being executed on the data, determining one or more candidate fields from one or results of the initial result set, generating a candidate data model based on the one or more candidate fields, iteratively modifying the candidate data model until the candidate data model models the data, and using the candidate data model as the data model. The method further includes generating a new query string using the data model, executing the new query string on the data, and generating a new result set based on the new query string being executed on the data.
US08983987B2
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes causing generation of a metered record associated with a metering event of an application executed within a cloud-based computing system, the metered record including a metering attribute and a corresponding value, the corresponding value being determined substantially simultaneous to a runtime execution of the application, and facilitating searching for the metered record based on the metering attribute and the corresponding value of the metering attribute. In specific embodiments, the metered record is communicated using a REpresentational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API). In an example embodiment, the notification of the metering event can be received by any one of a REST API, a Java Messaging Service listener, an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) listener, or a metering plugin.
US08983977B2
A question-answering device, a question-answering method, and a question-answering program that can obtain an answer to an inputted query with high probability are described. A score calculation element 305 determines a matching degree between the group of the style and the topic of an inputted query and the group of the style and the topic of the query of question-answer pairs. A search result presentation element 306 narrows the question-answer pairs on the basis of the matching degree.
US08983966B2
In various embodiments, a system and related method for organizing transactional data from a diverse and heterogeneous application environment is disclosed. In an example embodiment, a system includes a file system and one or more daemon indexers in electrical communication with the file system. The file system is arranged as a non-relational and serverless file system to allow for cost-effectiveness with ready scalability. The file system is to receive, in substantially real-time, unsorted transactional data from a publishing module. The one or more daemon indexers are arranged to receive the unsorted transactional data from the file system, organize the unsorted transactional data by operational characteristics, and store the organized transactional data on the file system.
US08983960B1
A global-level manager receives a work order referencing at least one executable file and one or more input files. The one or more input files include multiple input resources. A first type of input resource is identified in the one or more input files and a second type of input resource in the one or more input files. The first type of input resource is split into a plurality of first-type input shards. The second type of input resource is split into a plurality of second-type input shards. The plurality of second-type input shards are associated with each of the first-type input shards. For each of the first-type input shards, the global-level manager distributes the first-type input shards, the associated second-type input shards, and the executable file to a single.
US08983958B2
Disclosed are methods and systems for improving indexing throughput. The methods and systems involve receiving one or more documents for indexing, categorizing the one or more documents based on a document type, a document size and a processing priority, assigning buckets to the categorized one or more documents according to the document type, the document size and the processing priority and scheduling the buckets for processing based on a document type priority, a bucket type and number of threads available to process the buckets.
US08983954B2
In one embodiment, datasets are stored in a catalog. The datasets are enriched by establishing relationships among the domains in different datasets. A user searches for relevant datasets by providing examples of the domains of interest. The system identifies datasets corresponding to the user-provided examples. The system them identifies connected subsets of the datasets that are directly linked or indirectly linked through other domains. The user provides known relationship examples to filter the connected subsets and to identify the connected subsets that are most relevant to the user's query. The selected connected subsets may be further analyzed by business intelligence/analytics to create pivot tables or to process the data.
US08983951B2
Systems and computer program products for relating facts stored in healthcare databases are provided. At least two fact tables stored in a healthcare database including data meeting a criteria of interest are located. An identification key is assigned to the at least two fact tables including the located data meeting the criteria of interest. The identification key provides access to a dimension table including a list of subjects associated with the at least two fact tables including the located data meeting the criteria of interest so as to allow future identification of the subjects meeting the criteria of interest.
US08983939B1
In general, in one aspect, a method includes receiving a query image, obtaining a set of text labels associated with the query image, each text label associated with a confidence score that the text label accurately describes a topic of the query image, selecting a first text label associated with the query image, the first text label having a highest confidence score among the set of text labels, selecting a subset of the set of text labels that have a confidence score greater than a confidence score threshold, obtaining search results responsive to the query image, and in response to at least one of the search results identifying a web page containing the first text label, sending data that causes a client device to display the subset of text labels with the search results.
US08983937B2
A system for presenting information identifying a media item associated with a geographic area is disclosed. In one embodiment the system includes a server and a user device. The server receives media item information identifying a media item and location information identifying a geographic location associated with the device at which the media item was interacted with; identifies a second media item played within a geographic area of interest; and provides information identifying the second media item. The user device interacts with the media item; provides information identifying the media item; provides location information identifying a geographic location associated with the device at which the media item was interacted with; receives an identification of a geographic area; receives information that identifies the second media item; and presents the information that identifies the second media item.
US08983936B2
The subject disclosure is directed towards simulating query execution to provide incremental visualization for a global data set. A data store may be configured for searching at least a portion of a global data set being stored at an enterprise-level data store. In response to a user-issued query, partial query results are provided to a front-end interface for display to the user. The front-end interface also provides statistical information corresponding to the partial query results in relation to the global data set, which may be used to determine when a current set of query results becomes acceptable as a true/accurate estimate.
US08983935B2
A method, computer readable medium and apparatus that utilize a JavaScript emulator in a proxy server to create and store an object model of a web page which has one or more JavaScript instruction sets. At least one of the one or more JavaScript instruction sets are extracted from the web page and a JavaScript field identifier is inserted into the web page to optimize the web page which is then provided.
US08983924B2
When a user enters an information retrieval query, a topic feed generator automatically generates a topic feed for publication or distribution to a set of followers or recipients who have elected to receive the topic feed from the user or based on the subject matter content of the query. A feed distributor component automatically distributes the topic feed, which includes the query, to the identified recipients. A search component executes the search and returns results, corresponding to the query, to the user.
US08983913B2
A computer system maintains a repository of software products. The software products include a plurality of business processes, and each business process includes a business object. The system maintains a plurality of archiving objects, and further maintains a mapping of each business process to at least one business object, a mapping of each business object to at least one related database table, and a mapping of each database table to at least one related archiving object. The system receives a selection of a business process for which data is to be archived, and uses the mapping of the each business process to the at least one business object, the mapping of the each business object to the at least one database table, and the mapping of the each database table to the at least one archiving object to determine the database tables to transmit to the archiving objects.
US08983905B2
The present technology resolves playlist version conflicts resulting from modifications made to a playlist version, stored on a client device and in a cloud locker, when the client device and the cloud locker are in a disconnected state. The present technology is a heuristic for determining how to resolve such version conflicts. Upon reconnection of the client and cloud locker, the server, associated with cloud locker attempts to reconcile any version discrepancies resulting from user-initiated changes. In one embodiment, when the server determines that one of the playlists on the client or server is a superset of the other, the superset is selected and saved to both the client and cloud locker, while the subset version is deleted.
US08983904B2
A file system watcher in the presence of different file systems to allow synchronization of replicated files distributed among different file systems without compromising the features of each file system is described. To synchronize the distributed replications, a platform independent synchronization manager creates a file system watcher for each file system associated with a replication of the file. The file system watcher monitors each object for events affecting the object or the object's constituent files, such as creation, deletion, change and rename. Notifications are sent to the synchronization manager, which consolidates the modifications and updates a locally stored replication, if necessary. The synchronization manager then sends a notification of an update to other synchronization managers for replications of the distributed file or folder. Synchronization is complete when the nonconforming synchronization managers acquire a replication of the locally stored replication and update their respective objects.
US08983900B2
The disclosure generally describes computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for providing a generic semantic layer for in-memory database reporting. One computer-implemented method for combining online transactional processing and online analytical processing in an in-memory database, comprises: retrieving two or more tables from an online transaction processing system; identifying related tables among the two or more tables; determining relationships between the related tables; determining a measure based on the relationships; and outputting the measure.
US08983895B2
A method and system for representing and deducing a multiplicity of predecessor relationships between a plurality of first objects and a second object in an OLAP system comprises configuring an extraction system to extract information for a plurality of sub-objects of the first and second objects and using the extracted information to deduce predecessor relationships between the first objects and the second object.
US08983889B1
Disclosed are computer systems with intelligent or autonomous decision systems which include means for determining relevancy, i.e., the threats to and opportunities of the autonomous decision system. Also disclosed are such autonomous decision systems using an efficient ontology to interact sociably with humans, including the use of natural languages and bonding. The desired “whether concrete is included in abstract” computation system is enhanced by the ontology system using categorizing of natural objects using as primitives a set of self tendencies suitable, when hierarchically assigned to objects, to do incremental simulation of “future” situations (including such objects) from a presented situation. Using such primitives and computation system, planning, learning, languaging, etc., are efficiently accomplished.
US08983885B1
A system for prospectively identifying media characteristics for inclusion in media content is disclosed. A neural network database including media characteristic information and feature information may associate relationships among the media characteristic information and feature information. Personal characteristic information associated with target media consumers may be used to select a subset of the neural network database. A first set of nodes, representing selected feature information, may be activated. The node interactions may be calculated to detect the activation of a second set of nodes, the second set of nodes representing media characteristic information. Generally, a node is activated when an activation value of the node exceeds a threshold value. Media characteristic information may be identified for inclusion in media content based on the second set of nodes.
US08983884B2
The invention provides a computer-implemented chunking process (named “OP”) to assign and physically associate unique spatial representations (“chunk codes”) in one representational (coding) space (“chunk coding space”) with unique temporal sequences of spatial codes (“items”) in another coding space (“item coding space”). OP differs from all prior chunking processes in that, for any particular item sequence, it activates a unique chunk code for that sequence during presentation of that sequence's first item, even if other sequences from the input domain may begin with the same item.
US08983882B2
Autonomic computing, robotics, and security devices, systems, and methods are provided. Agents of the system can communicate with one another and can self-destruct under event conditions that would render the agent detrimental to the overall system.
US08983881B2
A system is provided for benchmarking a progressive combinatorial solver. The system may initialize a parametric model collector, and perform a plurality of parametric trials associated with respective numbers of sub-part iterations of the progressive combinatorial solver. For each of the plurality of parametric trials, the system may initialize a statistical data collector. The system may perform a plurality of randomized executions of the progressive combinatorial solver, and add data including metric values for respective solutions of the executions to the statistical data collector. The system may then determine statistical parameter(s) of data in the statistical data collector, and add data including an indication of the respective number of sub-part iterations, a cost of finding the metric values for the respective solutions, and the statistical parameters of the trial to the parametric data collector. And the system may determine a best-fit model from data in the parametric data collector.
US08983875B2
Methods and adapters for realizing energy services by a device via a grid connection point are disclosed. An adapter includes a detection unit for measuring a quantity of energy services realized by a mobile device; an identification unit for detecting the identifier of the grid connection point electrically connected to the device; and a communication unit to report connection event information including: quantity of the energy service realized by the device; an identifier associated with the adapter; and the identifier of the grid connection point. In another embodiment, a method receives an energy service signal indicating operating set points for a mobile device; communicates the indicated operating set points to the device; and measures a quantity of energy services realized by the device. The method communicates quantity information of energy services realized by the device and sends updated operating set points for the device based on the communicated quantity information.
US08983870B2
Methods, devices, and computer storage media for installation, upgrading, reinstallation, and roll back of software application packages are disclosed. A first software application package is stored in an installation partition of a data storage device of a computing device. The first software application package includes a first software application. The first software application can be installed on an active partition of the data storage device. A first authentication key, associated with the first software application, is determined and stored on the active partition, and then copied to the installation partition. In response to determining that the first software application is to be reinstalled on the active partition: (a) the first software application is reinstalled from the first software application package stored on the installation partition to the active partition, and (b) the associated authentication key stored on the installation partition is copied to the active partition.
US08983868B1
When a request to purchase an item using an account of a user is received, a geographic location of a user device when the request was made is determined, the user device used to make the request. If the location from where the request was made is an unexpected location of the user, a determination is made as to the likelihood of the user being at the determined location. The likelihood of the user being at determined location is determined based on social networking information of the user. The purchase request is processed based on the determined likelihood of the user being at the determined location. The feature of checking the location of where a purchase request is made from can be enabled or disabled by the user.
US08983858B2
A user device receives consumer information from a consumer, where the consumer information includes preference information, demographic information, identity information, relationship information, and location information associated with the consumer. The user device provides the consumer information to a lifestyle application platform, and receives, from the lifestyle application platform, a consumer profile for the consumer based on the consumer information. The user device receives, from the lifestyle application platform, notifications, reports, and offers, associated with an enterprise and relevant to the consumer, based on the consumer profile, and provides the notifications, reports, and offers for display to the consumer.
US08983851B2
A noise filler for providing a noise-filled spectral representation of an audio signal on the basis of an input spectral representation of the audio signal has a spectral region identifier configured to identify spectral regions of the input spectral representation spaced from non-zero spectral regions of the input spectral representation by at least one intermediate spectral region, to obtain identified spectral regions, and a noise inserter configured to selectively introduce noise into the identified spectral regions to obtain the noise-filled spectral representation of the audio signal. A noise filling parameter calculator for providing a noise filling parameter on the basis of a quantized spectral representation of an audio signal has a spectral region identifier, as mentioned above, and a noise value calculator configured to selectively consider quantization errors of the identified spectral regions for a calculation of the noise filling parameter. Accordingly, an encoded audio signal representation representing the audio signal can be obtained.
US08983844B1
Methods and systems for transmission of noise parameters for improving automatic speech recognition are disclosed. A system includes one or more microphones, wherein each microphone is configured to produce an audio signal. The system also includes a noise reduction module configured to generate a noise-reduced audio signal and a noise parameter. Furthermore, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit, to a computing device, the noise-reduced audio signal and a noise parameter. The computing device may use the noise parameter in obtaining a model to use for performing automatic speech recognition.
US08983838B2
A global speech user interface (GSUI) comprises an input system to receive a user's spoken command, a feedback system along with a set of feedback overlays to give the user information on the progress of his spoken requests, a set of visual cues on the television screen to help the user understand what he can say, a help system, and a model for navigation among applications. The interface is extensible to make it easy to add new applications.
US08983828B2
A system and method for extracting and reusing metadata to analyze messages is provided. A stream of messages is monitored. Those messages with a predetermined message component pointing to a referent are identified. Words that are related to the referent are extracted from each of the messages. A local similarity of the identified messages is determined by comparing the extracted words of each message. A global similarity of the identified messages is determined by combining the extracted words from all the identified messages and by comparing the combined extracted words with extracted words from all messages that include a different referent. A determination is made as to whether one or more of the extracted words from the identified messages are descriptive of the referent based on the local and global comparisons.
US08983823B1
A system and method automatically generates an object-oriented, textual program from a graphical model, and verifies the performance of the textual program as compared to the graphical model. The graphical model may have a plurality of interconnected blocks, and each block may have a plurality of parameters. One or more of the blocks are mapped to a system object, and the block's parameters are mapped to properties of the system object. An object-oriented, executable textual string is generated automatically for the block. The generated string includes at least one command to: instantiate a system object having functionality that matches the block; set one or more properties of the system object based on the block's parameters; and run the instantiated object.
US08983820B2
A method and a system are disclosed for simulation in a substation. The method can include acquiring substation data from substation condition data and base substation record; adapting the acquired substation data to suit a target substation; and administering the adapted substation data on a communication channel of the target substation. The substation system can include a base substation which is an existing, a pre existing, or a target substation, or a substation defined by a user or any combination thereof; a substation automation system; test equipment configured to test the system and perform simulation in a target substation; and a human machine interface for interfacing the substation system with a user.
US08983819B2
Systems and related methods to simulate the use of rupture disks and syntactic foam in the mitigation of trapped annular pressure and wellhead movement during downhole operations.
US08983817B2
A method for dynamic load balancing of a mesh, wherein the mesh is partitioned to find a solution using a plurality of processors, and wherein the partitions have become unbalanced. The present method allows large portions of the mesh to continue to progress towards a solution by only repartitioning a small percentage of the overall mesh. This is done by stripping cells along the partition interfaces using a marching method to form a free-cell region, repartitioning the free-cell region, and joining the repartitioned portions of the free-cell region with the remaining cells in a manner that will increase the efficiency of the solver.
US08983816B2
Likely disconnections or system-level-impact producing slowdown in a flow parameter in a network can be identified by annotating a graph representing the network with a weight to edges of a graph representing the network. The weight can be linearly or non-linearly proportional to the inverse of the severity of the impact, and/or linearly or non-linearly proportional to the inverse of the likelihood of disconnection. Minimal cut sets needed to generate a disconnection in the network are identified from the annotated network based on the weights on the edges. Subsets of each minimal cut set are generated and evaluated during a simulation. The subsets can correspond to almost isolated scenarios for the network. The scope of the simulations can be reduced by selecting the minimal cut sets employing the weight.
US08983814B1
A laser device, having an optical cavity containing a gain medium, a total reflectance reflector positioned within the optical cavity, and a partial reflectance reflector positioned within the optical cavity in a juxtaposed relationship to the total reflectance reflector. The topology of the reflectors are defined by a convergent reflector topology function that converges light emitted within the optical cavity to a laser beam that exits the optical cavity through the partial reflectance reflector by a series of reflections between the total reflectance reflector and the partial reflectance reflector. The laser beam emitted from the optical cavity has a predefined pattern for a given convergent reflector topology.
US08983813B2
The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method, a computing device, and a computer readable storage medium, for providing alignment information data for the alignment of an orthopaedic implant for a joint of a patient. The computer-implemented method comprises the steps of being responsive to patient specific information data for deriving patient data, where the patient specific information data is indicative of one or more dynamic characteristics, and being responsive to the patient data for providing the alignment information data for the alignment of the orthopaedic implant.
US08983811B2
Methods are disclosed that teach two simulators used with demand response management systems. The first simulator generates load patterns from historical customer consumption data and generates customer loads from the generated load patterns. The second simulator generates customer response to changing electricity prices using an econometric characterization of the customer response.
US08983807B2
A method of designing a group of femoral implants from three-dimensional images of femurs from a patient population greater than 100. A boundary between cortical and cancellous bone is defined in each of the images. A longitudinal axis of the femur is defined centered within the boundary. The width of the boundary is measured in a direction perpendicular to the axis at multiple cross-sections along the longitudinal axis spaced less than 20 mm. At least five (5) different size implants for implantation in a noncortical bone area of the femur are designed based on the measured widths. At least one area of the proximal femoral component boundary is designed where the implant outer surface is sized to be within 2 mm of the cortical bone. The proximal dimensions of the at least five implants are sized to provide the fit within 2 mm in 95% of the femurs from the population.
US08983806B2
A system and method for intelligently combining CAD, inspection, and building guideline data for intelligently setting roof facet directionality, analyzing repair and replacement decisions and estimating material and repair or replacement costs for building facets is described. One embodiment includes receiving digital building facet data for a first building facet of a set of one or more building facets; receiving digital inspection data for the first building facet; determining the amount of building material required to repair damage to an area of the first building facet; determining a repair indicator for the first building facet; wherein the determining a repair indicator is based at least in part upon the digital facet data for the first building facet and the inspection data for the first building facet; and displaying an electronic image of the set of one or more building facets.
US08983805B2
Provided is a computer-implemented method for updating a 3D model. The method comprises providing an operation undergone by the 3D model, an old input graph of the 3D model before undergoing the operation, an old output graph of the 3D model corresponding to an application of the operation to the old input graph, and a new input graph of the operation. The new input graph is generated as a result of a modification of the 3D model. The method also comprises computing a double push-out rewriting rule that specifies a part of the old input graph to be replaced, a part of the new input graph to replace the part of the old input graph. The rewriting rule also specifies an interface which is a part common to the part of the old input graph, the part of the new input graph, and the old output graph. The method further comprises applying the rewriting rule directly on the old output graph. This transforms the old output graph to a new output graph representing an updated 3D model of the real world object. The method is an improvement to updating a 3D model in a CAD system.
US08983792B2
An indoor testing device for multiple rotor-containing flying objects including a main support having a plurality of linking members, a plurality of mechanical arms, a plurality of trays, and control units of the mechanical arms. The main support is disposed vertically. The mechanical arms are separately disposed on the linking members of the main support with different height. The trays are separately disposed on one end of the mechanical arms for receiving rotor-containing flying objects, and the control units are disposed on the mechanical arms and rotate therewith. The device can be used for the cooperation and coordination test of multiple rotor-containing flying objects and autonomous control experiments of a single rotor-containing flying object. The tests have high stimulation and improve the usability of the experimental results in the actual system.
US08983788B2
A method includes detecting a first event and executing a first procedure to identify a sensor offset in response to detecting the first event. The method further includes determining, via a computing device, whether the sensor offset was measured during the execution of the first procedure, scheduling a second procedure to execute in response to detecting a second event if the sensor offset was not measured during the first procedure, and scheduling the first procedure to execute in response to detecting a subsequent occurrence of the first event if the sensor offset was measured during the first procedure.
US08983783B2
The described embodiments may provide a chemical detection circuit that may comprise a plurality of first output circuits at a first side and a plurality of second output circuits at a second side of the chemical detection circuit. The chemical detection circuit may further comprise a plurality of tiles of pixels each placed between respective pairs of first and second output circuits. Each tile may include four quadrants of pixels. Each quadrant may have columns with designated first columns interleaved with second columns. Each first column may be coupled to a respective first output circuit in first and second quadrants, and to a respective second output circuit in third and fourth quadrants. Each second column may be coupled to a respective second output circuit in first and second quadrants, and to a respective first output circuit in third and fourth quadrants.
US08983775B2
An electronic device that is operable to provide navigation information to a user by utilizing the navigation system of a separate mobile device, such as a GPS-enabled mobile phone. The electronic device includes a communication interface for communicating navigation data between the mobile device and the electronic device. The electronic device also includes a display for displaying the navigation data received from the mobile device. The display of the electronic device may be larger than the display of the mobile device, such that a driver of an automobile may use the electronic device to provide a more desirable viewing experience. Further, the electronic device may include a user interface, such as a touch screen, that allows a user to access and control the navigation functions of the mobile device. The electronic device may also be operable to communicate with other portable electronic devices.
US08983773B2
Pictorial information is provided relevant to a geographic location through selecting characteristics relevant to geographic locations, searching pictorial image databases for images having an embedded tags associated with the characteristics, retrieving image files from databases having embedded tags correlated to characteristics and visually depicting a physical appearance or an attribute of a location, analyzing characteristics image files and responsively selecting preferred image data, formatting preferred image data for presentation to a traveler, associating formatted preferred data with geographic locations, and presenting associated formatted data to the traveler in association with geographic locations. Characteristics include global positioning satellite coordinates. Image data may be selected having preferred image resolutions or perspectives. Formatting pictorial information may comprise synthesizing photographs into a constructs. Associated image data may indicate a distance and direction from a geographic location. Routing system applications are enabled to present pictorial information with navigation route points.
US08983769B2
An apparatus includes a map information storage section for storing map information on an area by area basis formed in meshes; a positioning section for measuring its own present location; a new road detecting section; a new road registration decision section for deciding that the new road is additionally registerable to the map information stored in the map information storage section when the road density in the area including the new road detected by the new road detecting section is equal to or less than a predetermined value; and a new road registration section for making additional registration of the new road, as to which the new road registration decision section makes an additionally registerable decision, to the map information stored in the map information storage section.
US08983763B2
An apparatus may include a landmark selector configured to receive selection of a landmark. A sensory device may determine at least one position indicator relating to alignment with the landmark from a sensing location, such as orientation, attitude, and/or altitude. The apparatus may further include a position determiner configured to determine a relative position of the sensing location with respect to the landmark based at least in part on the position indicator. Accordingly, the apparatus may determine the relative position of the sensing location with respect to the landmark. In some embodiments the apparatus may be further configured to determine the absolute position of the sensing location. Thereby position information may be used, for example, to create collaborative content captured at an event occurring near the landmark.
US08983760B2
The present invention relates to a method and system for controlling air traffic. The method and system utilizes aircraft performance data, provided either by an FMS of a capable aircraft or generated by a model based on knowledge of the aircraft, to provide an accurate prediction of aircraft intent so that an accurate estimated time of arrival can be generated. The estimated time of arrival is then used to provide a required time of arrival (RTA) for the aircraft. The RTAs for the aircraft are provided for the aircraft to arrive at a destination, such as an Outer Fix Point, in a desired sequence. The desired sequence is arranged to provide intervals between the aircraft such that they may be able to land at the destination airport without requiring holding and vectoring from top of descent.
US08983752B2
A system for calculating a first mass value indicative of a first mass of a vehicle is provided, wherein the vehicle has a vehicle interface capable of providing fuel data indicative of a rate at which fuel is being consumed by an engine of the vehicle at each point in time. The system includes: an interface coupled with the vehicle interface, the interface configured for: receiving the fuel data; and receiving movement data indicative of a movement of the vehicle at the each point in time; and a data processing system configured for: deriving a plurality of mass values from the fuel data and the movement data, each mass value corresponding to a respective point in time; and calculating, using the plurality of mass values, the first mass value indicative of the first mass of the vehicle.
US08983748B2
A vehicle dynamics control device includes a control unit that executes braking/driving torque control based upon vehicle information that includes operation input information and vehicle dynamics information. The operation input information includes a lateral motion operation index pertaining to a lateral motion operation executed to generate a lateral motion in the vehicle; the vehicle dynamics information includes a longitudinal acceleration generated in the vehicle and a lateral motion index indicating a lateral motion occurring in the vehicle; and the control unit determines a handling assurance acceleration limit with a maximum longitudinal acceleration value that assumes a substantially linear proportional relationship with the lateral motion operation index and the lateral motion index over a range in which the lateral motion operation index assumes a value equal to or less than a predetermined value or the lateral motion index assumes a value equal to or less than a predetermined value.
US08983746B1
A method of modeling initial temperatures of a dry DCT includes reactivating a controller after a time lapse between first and second clock times representing an offline period. The last known temperatures of a first component and a second component are read and a first temperature difference therebetween is calculated. The method calculates a stop time and a start time on a predefined exponential function from the calculated temperature difference. A first conductive heat transfer between the first and second components is calculated by integrating the predefined exponential function between the stop time and the start time. Based upon the calculated first conductive heat transfer, a first conductive temperature change between the first and second components is calculated. A starting temperature of the first component is calculated from first conductive temperature change, and a control action on the dry DCT is executed based upon the calculated starting temperature.
US08983735B2
An opening/closing control device for a shutter of a vehicle is provided which is capable of appropriately opening and closing the shutter according to the traveling conditions of the vehicle, and improving fuel economy while maintaining excellent maneuverability of the vehicle. When the detected vehicle speed is not smaller than a predetermined first reference value and smaller than a second reference value, the shutter is closed to improve fuel economy. On the other hand, when the vehicle speed is not smaller than the second reference value, the shutter is opened. Further, at this time, a condition for opening the shutter is set according to at least one of a grip force of the vehicle and a steering angle. This maintains excellent vehicle maneuverability.
US08983730B2
An electric motor has a stator and a rotor that are used in common between two systems. An ECU controls the motor torque by supplying drive electric power to the motor coils independently of each other. When the ECU determines that the vehicle is traveling on a uneven road, the ECU causes the electric motor to perform a braking operation by short-circuiting at least two phases of the electric motor of one of the two systems that is other than the system that is executing a torque control of controlling the assist torque according to the steering torque and the vehicle speed.
US08983727B2
A steering control apparatus is obtained which can achieve a sophisticated control function and redundancy of a motor output torque control unit with a simple construction. The apparatus includes a motor 3 that provides assist torque to a steering system, and a processing unit 2 that has an input processing section 21 for taking in detection signals of various kinds of sensors, and an inverter 25a for driving the motor 3, wherein a command is given to the inverter 25a based on the detection signals. The processing unit 2 has a motor target output torque calculation section 221a, a motor output torque control unit 222, a plurality of main-calculation sections, and a plurality of sub-calculation sections corresponding to the main-calculation sections, and determines abnormality of the motor output torque control unit 222 based on individual calculation results of the main-calculation sections and the sub-calculation sections.
US08983724B2
In a method for setting an actuator that influences the driving dynamics of a vehicle as a function of signals of a surround sensor system, the lateral distance of the vehicle from another vehicle is determined, and in case a minimum lateral distance is undershot, the actuator in the vehicle is actuated for the generation of a yawing moment.
