US09010377B1
The present invention provides an electronic plumbing fixture fitting, such as an electronic faucet.
US09010369B2
A pressure type flow rate control apparatus is provided wherein flow rate of fluid passing through an orifice is computed as Qc=KP1 (where K is a proportionality constant) or as Qc=KP2m (P1−P2)n (where K is a proportionality constant, m and n constants) by using orifice upstream side pressure P1 and/or orifice downstream side pressure P2. A fluid passage between the downstream side of a control valve and a fluid supply pipe of the pressure type flow rate control apparatus comprises at least 2 fluid passages in parallel, and orifices having different flow rate characteristics are provided for each of these fluid passages, wherein fluid in a small flow quantity area flows to one orifice for flow control of fluid in the small flow quantity area, while fluid in a large flow quantity area flows to the other orifice for flow control of fluid in the large flow quantity area.
US09010365B2
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for filtering fluid in a breather assembly and providing uncontaminated fluid to a reservoir. The breather allows in-take fluid traveling through a first flow path to be filtered before entering the reservoir through a first directional valve. The breather also allows exhaust fluid traveling through a second flow path, separate from the first flow path, to exit through a second directional valve.
US09010361B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a control valve assembly and method of fault detection that includes adjusting a valve between an operating position and a fault position in response to various fault conditions. The control valve assembly is adjustable to accommodate fault conditions encountered in a variety of electrochemical deionization systems.
US09010355B1
A quick and efficient method to flush out engines, and appropriate machinery and tools for carrying out this operation. The machinery/tools are (a) a flange; and (b) a self-sealing quick connect-disconnect male-female coupling that connects to and through the center of the flange, terminates at a specified distance on the interior of a surface ending with threads or barbs or a quick disconnect, and is attached to a y-shaped connector, to provide a liquid to a cooling system for the engine; and (c) a quick connect-disconnect sealing cap.
US09010344B2
A dishwasher with a tub at least partially defining a treating chamber, a liquid spraying system, a liquid recirculation system defining a recirculation flow path, and a liquid filtering system. The liquid filtering system includes a rotating filter disposed in the recirculation flow path to filter the liquid.
US09010339B2
A method for producing triacetin from one or more plants of genus Nicotiana is provided. The triacetin can be derived inter alia from Nicotiana species biomass or from seed. In certain embodiments, the triacetin is produced by condensation of glycerin, generated by hydrolysis of acylglycerol-containing starting material derived from tobacco biomass or seed, and acetic acid, also derived from tobacco biomass or seed. The invention also provides articles and compositions including tobacco articles and tobacco compositions that include triacetin produced from one or more plants of genus Nicotiana.
US09010338B2
The invention relates to a biodegradable plastic having increased biodegradation speed. Said plastic comprises a) finely distributed particle of a biodegradable, water-soluble, organic component, and b) finely distributed particles of a water-soluble, inorganic component promoting the growth of microorganisms and comprising N, P, and/or S. Said plastic is particularly based on cellulose esters such as cellulose acetate. Preferable components A are water-soluble saccharides and/or water-soluble organic acids. Said particularly advantageous biodegradable plastic is particularly available in the form of fibers, films, injection molded items, granulate beads, and containers. Controlled-release biocides and/or fertilizers can also be included in the molded part, wherein the molded part is degraded faster in the environment as said ingredients are released. The accelerated biodegradation is based on a synergistic interaction of the components indicated.
US09010336B2
A pocket sized dispenser houses in coiled form a flexible strip of portions of smokeless tobacco sized for placement between a consumer's cheek and gum, where the flexible strip includes a base tape removably attached to the plurality of portions, and wherein the dispenser and strip are adapted to allow a consumer to separate individual portions from the base tape. The individual portions comprise either a collection of tobacco particles at least partially enclosed by a coating comprising a water-soluble non-crosslinked component and a substantially water-insoluble cross-linked component; or pouches attached to the base tape with a food-grade adhesive, the pouches comprising smokeless tobacco enclosed in a water-permeable wrapper with at least one lap-sealed edge. Methods of preparing such are disclosed.
US09010331B2
Component of a patient interface (1), particularly a cushion, comprising a first portion (3) having a first shore hardness and a second portion (5) having a second shore hardness different from the first shore hardness, wherein the first and second portion are co-molded to each other.
US09010328B2
A flow generator for delivering breathable gas to a patient includes a processor coupled with operation sensors and a user interface. The processor is programmed to generate at least one of time-based or event-based messages relating to at least one of flow generator operation, flow generator service, flow generator use, patient health, peripheral devices and services, patient treatment, and reminders. Time-based messages are generated at predetermined time intervals based on either time of use or elapsed time. The event-based messages are generated based on signals from the operation sensors. The user interface is configured to deliver the messages to at least one of a display, a flow generator service provider, the patient and a physician. By this system, operation of the flow generator is facilitated and enhanced.
US09010321B2
A system for keeping moisture in a vapor phase and for removing particles from a gas is described. The system includes a filter and a heating chamber. The filter is capable of being heated and includes a mechanical element that effectively regulates the heating of the filter. Heat production of the heating chamber is coupled to the proper insertion of the filter into the chamber, such that the filter closes an electrical switch in the heating chamber to allow for the production of heat. An exemplary use of the system is the keeping moisture in a vapor phase and removing pathogenic particles from the exhalation path of a ventilated subject.
US09010320B2
Apparatuses useful in and methods for positioning of an endotracheal tube within an airway by allowing manual articulation of the endotracheal tube while a patient is being intubated. The apparatuses and methods are of particular use in intubating patients with unique anatomical conditions that make standard stylets inadequate for intubation. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a stylet having a first end and a second end, with the second end of the stylet being insertable within a lumen of the endotracheal tube. First and second articulatable portions of the stylet may be independently articulated into respective primary and secondary arcuations to bend the endotracheal tube in conformance therewith as desired during the intubation procedure.
US09010310B2
A saw apparatus for sawing paving slabs has a frame mounted on a ground contacting propulsion member such that the frame may move above a slab to be cut without touching the slab. A first saw support assembly disposes a blade of a saw in cutting engagement with the slab for a transverse cut. A second saw support assembly disposes a blade of another saw in cutting engagement with the slab for a longitudinal cut. The saws are mounted on the saw assemblies and the saw assemblies are mounted on the frame and the frame is mounted on the ground contact propulsion members such that no part of said frame need contact the slab during cutting.
US09010307B2
A traditional archery bow assembly includes a handle assembly, a bowstring, and a first limb bolt assembly. The handle assembly includes a riser, an upper limb, and a lower limb, wherein the upper and lower limbs each include a distal end and a proximal end connected to the riser. The bowstring extends between the distal ends of the upper and lower limbs. The first limb bolt assembly is operable to connect one of the upper and lower limbs to the riser. The first limb bolt assembly includes a shank portion and a head portion, wherein the head portion defines a contact surface that faces and contacts the one of the upper and lower limbs, and is pivotable relative to the shank portion.
US09010306B2
In an ignition coil for an internal combustion engine, a column section and a notched section are provided in a side wall section of a case section of the ignition coil. A ventilation opening is formed in an up/down direction in the column section. The ventilation opening communicates with a ventilation passage formed between a sealing rubber and the case section and is open in an upper end section. A cover surrounding the column section and covering the upper end section is provided in the side wall section. A sealing section sealing the notched section is provided in the cover. The ignition coil has a filler resin that fills a space within the case section being in continuous contact with the sealing section and the side wall section and fixing the cover to the side wall section.
US09010301B2
Two-stage exhaust apparatus for a reciprocating internal combustion engine having one or more cylinders each with at least one piston and at least one exhaust port, the apparatus including a first-stage jet port in each cylinder, the jet port configured to open to release high-pressure exhaust gas to a high-pressure motor prior to exhaust-port opening.
US09010298B2
A general-purpose engine equipped with a rollover detection device for a general-purpose engine that is used for driving a driving unit such as a rammer. An oil pan is provided in a crankcase of an engine main body, and lubricating oil is supplied to a lubrication part of the engine main body by an oil pump. A suction port of a lubricating oil intake part that guides the lubricating oil to an intake port of the oil pump is provided in a substantially central part in front-rear and left-right directions of the oil pan. Therefore, even when the general-purpose engine rolls over in the front-rear or left-right direction, the lubricating oil does not enter the lubricating oil intake part. Detecting whether or not the lubricating oil is discharged from the oil pump allows detection of a rollover of the general-purpose engine.
US09010290B2
A multiple variable valve lift apparatus may include a camshaft rotating by drive of an engine, at least two cam portions slidably disposed on the camshaft and rotatable together with the camshaft, and forming a high cam and a low cam, a valve opening/closing unit operated by one of the high or low cams, at least two operating unit movable along the camshaft to move the at least two cam portions along the camshaft, a control portion selectively moving the operating unit along the camshaft, a pin disposed at the control portion, and a guide rail formed in a groove shape on an exterior circumference of the operating unit such that the pin is insert therein and guiding relative movement of the pin according to rotation of the camshaft and the operating unit such that the operating unit is moved along an axial direction of the camshaft by the pin.
US09010284B2
The cooling effect of an engine is improved. An engine, which rotationally drives a saw chain serving as a rotating tool, is provided with a crankcase, in which a crankshaft is rotatably built, and a cylinder, in which a piston coupled to the crankshaft via a connecting rod is reciprocatably built. Atop part of the cylinder is covered with a cylinder cover, and a cooling wind toward the cylinder is generated by a cooling fan attached to a projecting end of the crankshaft. The cooling wind is guided by heat-dissipating plates extending along the crankshaft. Exposing parts bulged to outside than a lateral side of the cylinder cover are provided to tips of the heat-dissipating plates.
US09010273B2
The present invention is directed towards an absorbent composition and its method of production and use. More specifically, the present invention relates to an absorbent composition comprising a liquid absorbing material, at least one alkaline earth metal peroxide, and an acidic material. The acid maintains a high hydrogen peroxide release profile under acidic conditions, such that the composition is found surprisingly effective in mitigating fecal odor.
US09010267B2
A center-less pointer type display apparatus includes a pointer moving device having a pointer section and a carrying section, and a containing case having a case body and a dial plate. A pointer accommodated in the containing case indicates a scale on the dial plate. The carrying section has a guide rail and a wire. A spring is interposed between a first support member and a second support member of the pointer section so that a lower portion and an upper portion of the spring push the first support member and the second support member respectively, and thereby holding an upper portion and a lower portion of the guide rail respectively. A wire fixing section is provided at an intermediate portion of the pointer section on a line connecting the upper pulley and the lower pulley.
US09010266B2
An underwater-above water accommodation is adapted for human occupancy under water, above or on the surface of water and comprises an underwater accommodation (1) and above water accommodation (2) slidably mounted on preferably three, vertical legs (3, 4, 5). At least one vertical shaft (23) is fixed to the underwater accommodation (1), contains a lift (26) and stairs (28) inside and is slidably mounted in a sleeve (24) fixed to the above water accommodation (2). The underwater accommodation (1) has a pressure shell (12), in the lower part of which a first ballast tank (29) is located; the above water accommodation (2) has a structure (13), in the lower part of which a second ballast tank (30) is attached. At the sliding joint with the vertical legs (3, 4, 5) the underwater accommodation (1) has built-in sliding joint bushings (9, 10, 11) tightly linked to the pressure shell (12). At the sliding joint with vertical legs (3, 4, 5) the structure (13) is fixed to the sliding joint bushings (14, 15, 16). At least one rack (31) is attached to each vertical leg (3, 4, 5) and cooperates with a toothed wheel (32) being fixed to the structure (13) and driven by a drive unit (33); a drive wheel (49) is attached to the structure (13) and it is connected to a brake drum (50) and driven by a drive unit (52) via a disengagable clutch (51); a chain or a rope (44) is wound on the drive wheel (49) and the brake drum (50) is in contact with a brake pad (54), which is pressed against the brake drum (50) by a pad actuator (56), by means of a actuator lever (55).
US09010265B1
A cover for a mooring line having a terminal eyelet, the cover having a sheath, with a pair of hook and loop strips positioned on opposite surfaces of the sheath. The cover is a single piece configured to enclose both a terminal eyelet and linear line section of a mooring line and also has a strap attached to the sheath proximate the linear line section to retain the sheath in position on the linear line section. A method for using the cover to protect mooring lines is also provided.
US09010264B1
A rat guard and method utilizing a flexible shield affixed to a plastic sheath positioned on a mooring line to prevent entry onto or exit from the ship by vermin. An electric grid is positioned on an insulated pad on the sheath which is electrically connected to the shield for receiving power from an acoustical generator also connected to the shield and spaced therefrom. The acoustical generator directs ultrasonic acoustic signals in a variable frequency range toward the shield to frighten rats or other vermin therefrom. Should the acoustical signals not deter the vermin, the electric grid will shock any vermin making contact therewith to cause harm and frighten. The shield provides another obstacle to prevent advancement and is affixed to the sheath on the mooring line. The shield is flexible and remains in place during high winds and other adverse weather conditions.
US09010260B1
A shaft mount sail device that may have a sail made of a lightweight, flexible material that is capable of being tightly wound about the shaft of a paddle, push-pole or other shaft, a mechanism for attaching the sail to the shaft, and a clamping member coupled to the sail and configured to releasably clamp onto the shaft. The sail may be rolled tightly about the shaft and the clamping member fit over the shaft to secure the sail in the stowed position. The clamping member in the stowed position may serve as the handle by which a user grasps and operates the shaft. Various embodiments are disclosed.
US09010254B1
A door blocking desk or table includes a substantially rectangular frame having two sides, two ends and having four corners with legs extending downwardly from each corner to support the frame on the floor. A rectangular bullet-proof top is supported on the frame and is pivotable between a first position where it is horizontal and lying on the frame and a second position wherein it lies in a substantially vertical plane in substantial alignment with one of the frame ends. The entire desk is movable toward a doorway so that the upper surface of the top can block the doorway when the top is in its second vertical position and slide bolts or other locking members carried on the undersurface of the top lock the top to the door frame to prevent persons or bullets from passing through.
US09010246B2
A surface blasting product which includes a container, a receptacle which contains adhesive which is displaceable to adhere the container to a rock, and an explosive charge, inside the container, which can be ignited to fragment or displace the rock.
US09010237B2
The invention concerns a beverage production system comprising beverage ingredient containing capsules (1) comprising an identification member (6) and a beverage production machine for receiving said capsules, said machine comprising contact means (8) for physically contacting the capsule identification member (6) in order to read information thereof and control means connected to the contact means and designed to control the operation of the beverage production machine (11) in response to the read information, the contact means (8) comprising:—at least one displaceable probe (81) which mechanically contacts the capsule identification member (6),—a resilient support member (82) in contact with the probe on one side and associated to a circuitry (9) on its other side, wherein the part of the resilient support member in contact with the probe presents such a shape that it is able to deform itself when the probe applies a force on it, the deformation being partially transversal to the direction applied by the force.
US09010235B2
The invention relates to a rotary machine with pistons (22) and a turret (25), including: —a frame (2), through which a shaft (1) extends, having a geometrical axis x-x′ and mounted in a stationary manner relative to the frame (2); —a thrust plate (9) rotatably mounted on the shaft (1); —an oscillating plate (15) bearing on the thrust plate (9); —a torsion bar (18), a first end of which is pivotably connected to the frame (2) and a second end of which is pivotably connected to the oscillating plate (15); —a spherical female bushing (14) rigidly connected to the oscillating plate (15) and pivotably connected around a spherical male knuckle centered on the shaft (1), the knuckle including a spherical male bushing (10) rotatably mounted relative to the shaft (1), characterized in that the rotary machine includes a means for rotating the spherical male bushing (10) about the geometric axis x-x′.
US09010234B1
A hydraulic cylinder includes a cylinder assembly having a cylinder, defining an inner hydraulic chamber and being for reciprocating receipt of a piston and piston rod therein; a piston rod extending from the inner hydraulic chamber exteriorly of the cylinder; and a piston head assembly connected with the piston rod and disposed for reciprocation within the cylinder assembly. The piston head assembly includes a piston head and a valve assembly including a passageway defined in the piston head and a valve member having an outer surface and being sized and configured for reciprocation in the passageway between extended and retracted positions therein, the valve member defining at least one flat defined along the outer surface and at least one transition surface between the outer surface and the flat, the transition surface forming an angle with the flat of between about 40 and 50 degrees.
US09010219B2
A power tong for rotating a pipe, the power tong comprising: a frame having a pair of arcuate front portions defining a throat for receiving the pipe; a cage plate assembly mounted for rotation on the arcuate front portions about a center of rotation, the cage plate assembly having an opening that is alignable with the throat; a ring gear mounted for rotation within, and supported by, the cage plate assembly about the center of rotation, the ring gear having an opening that is alignable with the throat; the ring gear cooperating with jaws mounted on the cage plate assembly for gripping the pipe upon rotation of the ring gear.
US09010218B2
The invention provides methods for making bunters used to form headstamp indicia into ammunition cases. The invention also provides bunter blanks that are specially configured to yield high quality bunters.
US09010214B2
The various robotic medical devices include robotic devices that are disposed within a body cavity and positioned using a support component disposed through an orifice or opening in the body cavity. Additional embodiments relate to devices having arms coupled to a device body wherein the device has a minimal profile such that the device can be easily inserted through smaller incisions in comparison to other devices without such a small profile. Further embodiments relate to methods of operating the above devices.
US09010210B2
An internal circulation ball screw includes a threaded shaft, a nut having a receiving space, a circulation member mounted to the receiving space and having a first circulation groove and a second circulation groove, and a plurality of rolling members running between the threaded shaft and the nut. The first circulation groove defines a first front section, a first rear section, and a first curved section communicating with the first front section and the first rear section separately. The second circulation groove defines a second front section, a second rear section, and a second curved section communicating with the second front section and the second rear section separately. The first and second curved sections define a predetermined included angle with respect to the threaded shaft radially. Therefore, the wall between the circulation channels is uniform to enhance the durability of the ball screw.
US09010207B2
A transmission includes an input shaft to receive the rotation of an engine, drive gears attached to the input shaft so as to freely rotate, an output shaft to output rotation following a gear shift, driven gears that are attached to the output shaft so as to freely rotate and mesh with the drive gears, an engagement mechanism to fix a gear to be used in a gear shift, from among the drive gears, to the input shaft to be incapable of relative rotation prior to a gear shift, and a selector mechanism to fix, during the gear shift, the driven gear of a corresponding gear position, which meshes with the drive gear fixed to the input shaft by the engagement mechanism, to the output shaft to be incapable of relative rotation.
US09010200B2
A device for measuring forces and a method of making the same. The device has a boss structure within a diaphragm cavity, wherein the boss structure has substantially parallel sidewalls. One or more sensors are installed proximate to the diaphragm to sense flexure in the diaphragm, which is controlled by the boss structure.
US09010199B2
A stator includes: cylindrical stator cores, each of which is formed of a laminated structure of electromagnetic steel sheets and at which an exciting coil and a detection coil are wound; and a mounting seat portion that is fixedly fitted to axial end faces of the stator cores. Insertion holes through which inserting bolts are passed are formed in the mounting seat portion.
US09010183B2
The invention relates to a balancing machine for measuring the rotating unbalance of a tool holder in two different clampings, comprising a spindle which can be set into rotation. The spindle comprises an automatically actuatable coupling, by which the tool holder can be coupled rigidly to the spindle in a first position in order to rotate with the spindle around the rotational axis of the tool holder and the tool holder can be coupled rigidly to the spindle in a second position in order to rotate with the spindle around the rotational axis of the tool holder. The balancing machine also comprises at least one measuring sensor for determining the rotating unbalance of the tool holder rotating in the spindle unit, wherein the device has a brake which retains the tool holder.
US09010180B2
The disclosure relates to a method and an observer for determining the exhaust manifold temperature in a turbocharged engine upstream of the turbine. In one example, a method for determining an exhaust manifold temperature in a turbocharged engine, the engine including a turbocharger and a turbine and the exhaust manifold temperature including a temperature upstream of the turbine, the method comprises estimating a value of the exhaust manifold temperature based on a model, measuring a temperature downstream of the turbine, and correcting the value of the exhaust manifold temperature based on the measurement.
US09010178B2
An erosion testing assembly adapted to test an abradable surface of a component, the testing assembly including: a shroud attachable to the component; the shroud being adapted to receive an erosion gun. The present disclosure also relates to a method of testing an abradable surface of a component, wherein the method includes: attaching a shroud to the component; connecting an erosion gun to the shroud; and testing the abradable surface with the erosion gun. The present disclosure may also relate to a method of testing an abradable surface of a component, wherein the method includes: using the component; and testing a portion of the abradable surface with an erosion gun after use of the component.
US09010172B2
Detection system and humidity detection method for detecting volatile organic compound comprises a device for introducing clean air and a controller, wherein the device for introducing clean air is connected with a test chamber; a test chamber sheath is sleeved outside the test chamber; the test chamber is provided with a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature in the test chamber, a high-temperature test exhaust device is connected with a high-temperature exhaust pipeline of the test chamber, and a low-temperature test exhaust device is connected with a low-temperature exhaust pipeline of the test chamber; a pipeline connecting the test chamber with the low-temperature test exhaust device is also provided with a dew point sensor for detecting dew point of the air in the low-temperature exhaust pipeline; and the temperature sensor and the dew point sensor are connected with the controller.
US09010169B2
A retractable stock guide has a stationary guide rail on which a retractable guide cap is operably supported. The guide rail and cap have two through holes at opposite ends through which two mounting studs extend to attach the stock guide to an associated die member. The holes in the guide cap are ovate, and the heads of the mounting studs are tapered, whereby tightening of the mounting stud shifts the guide cap relative to the guide rail from an aligned, retracted load/unload condition, to an inwardly protruding, extended run condition, wherein the stock strip is slidingly captured between two like stock guides and the mounting surface of the die. Two ball bearing guides can be substituted for the stationary guide rail.
US09010159B2
A laundry treating appliance having a tub with a tub ring and a drum located within the tub having a balance ring. The tub ring may extend radially inward and be spaced above the balance ring. The tub ring and balance ring may have an angled portion to provide for a generally constant space between the tub ring and balance ring during rotation of the drum within the tub.
US09010158B2
A fabric treatment apparatus is provided. The fabric treatment apparatus includes a treatment room which can receive and hold clothes; a motor which generates a rotational force; an eccentric unit which is rotated eccentrically by the rotational force generated by the motor; a contact unit which converts the rotating motion of the eccentric unit into a reciprocating motion; a clothes rack which is disposed in the treatment room and is coupled to the contact unit so as to move reciprocally in a linear path, and on which a number of hangers can be hung; and a heating unit which supplies at least one of hot air and steam into the treatment room.
US09010156B2
In the case of a single circular knitting machine consisting of a central rotatable needle cylinder (Z), around which a sinker ring (PR) comprising sinkers (P) as well as stationary cam systems (S) are arranged, which act on the needles (1), which are in each case assigned to the sinkers (P) and which can be moved vertically up and down, so as to replace the pitches, which hit one another rigidly, with a sinker grid system, which is flexible per se, which is automatically oriented in the needle gaps, a rocker (44) comprising an upper and a lower control bump (45) being provided in each case on the end of the sinkers (P), which is spaced apart from the needle, the sinker ring (PR), at the end below the sinkers (P), which is spaced apart from the needle, is embodied as a pivot point projection (40) comprising pivot point slits (41), in which the sinkers (P) are accommodated with their pivot inlet (43) so that they are capable of being tilted and the sinkers (P) being are laterally fixed in the needle gaps with sliding noses (47) at the end, which is spaced apart from the needle, transport the last knitting loops to the needle shaft (1) behind the needle latches in response to the knitting loop formation.
US09010151B2
A glass sheet cutting device fuses and divides a glass substrate using a preset cutting line as a boundary while supplying an assist gas and a laser beam from above the glass substrate along the preset cutting line of the glass substrate. The glass sheet cutting device includes a first laser irradiator for radiating a fusing laser beam and a second laser irradiator for radiating an annealing laser beam. Through a fusing gap formed between fused end surfaces by fusing, the second laser irradiator radiates the annealing laser beam obliquely from above onto the fused end surface to be annealed.
US09010149B2
Disclosed are a vacuum glass panel and a manufacturing method of the same. The vacuum glass panel according to the present invention includes a first glass plate, a second glass plate facing the first glass plate with a vacuum space therebetween, an edge of the second glass plate being in contact with the first glass plate, and a plurality of spacers disposed between the first glass plate and the second glass plates to separate the first glass plate and the second glass plate from each other. The plurality of spacers are formed of a glass including alumina (Al2O3) particles and silica (SiO2) particles.
US09010145B2
A refrigerator having an intermediate storage compartment, which has an improved structure of a return flow passage to return cold air from the intermediate storage compartment. The refrigerator includes a first evaporator to supply cold air to an upper storage compartment, a second evaporator to supply cold air to a lower storage compartment, a cold air supply duct to supply cold air generated at the second evaporator to an intermediate storage compartment, and a curved section formed at a top of the intermediate storage compartment to uniformly distribute the cold air supplied via the cold air supply duct in the intermediate storage compartment. The refrigerator also includes a cold air return duct to return cold air from the intermediate storage compartment, and an ice-making cold air return duct to return cold air from an ice maker. The cold air return duct is joined with the ice-making cold air return duct.
US09010134B2
The invention relates to an optronics system equipped with: a detector cooler having a cooling machine, a cryostat, an IR detector placed in the cryostat, and a sensor for measuring the temperature TD of the detector; and a processing card which includes means for servocontrolling the cooling machine according to the temperature TD. The system includes a sensor for sensing the system's internal temperature TS, and the processing card includes means for calculating: the refrigerating time (TMF) based on the temperatures TD and TS, on each “on-off” cycle of the detector cooler, the trend of the drift in the refrigerating time TMF, as a function of the number of “on-off” cycles of the detector cooler, a sudden drift as a function of said trend of the drift of the TMF, and means for storing data used in said calculations; these data are aggregated data and not the measurements of temperatures TD and TS, nor said TMFs, in order to limit the size of the storage means.
US09010130B2
A heat exchanger apparatus includes a housing having a sidewall defining a chamber in the housing for containing a cryogen; and a first insulation member movably mounted for coaction with the sidewall, the first insulation member moveable to a position to expose or cover a select portion of the sidewall to provide a heat transfer effect.
US09010121B2
A combustion chamber has an outer wall supporting a number of wall elements or tiles. The tiles are located on the wall by bosses so that a cooling space is provided between the wall and the tiles. Air holes are provided through the wall and the tiles and a flow passage is provided adjacent the air holes. A flow passage is defined by changing the profiles of the air holes in the outer wall and/or the location features to provide a localized gap through which cooling air is directed to cool regions subject to overheating and extend service life.
US09010110B2
A regulating flap arrangement (1) in a flange connection (2) between a turbine housing of a two-stage exhaust-gas turbocharger and an exhaust manifold of an engine, having a regulating flap plate (5) which is pivotable between an open position and a closed position for opening and closing a connecting opening (6) arranged in the flange connection (2); having an insert ring (7) which is arranged in the connecting opening (6); and having a sealing arrangement (8), wherein the sealing arrangement (8) has two V-rings (8A, 8B), of which a first V-ring (8A) is arranged in a first groove (9) provided adjacent to the connecting opening (6), and the second V-ring (8B) is arranged in a second groove (10) which is arranged, spaced apart radially outward from the first groove (9), in the flange connection (2).
US09010109B2
An assembly can include a turbine housing that includes a bore, a wastegate seat and a wastegate passage that extends to the wastegate seat; a bushing configured for receipt by the bore; a rotatable wastegate shaft configured for receipt by the bushing; a wastegate arm extending from the wastegate shaft; and a wastegate plug extending from the wastegate arm where the wastegate plug includes a profile, defined in part by a portion of a torus, for contacting the wastegate seat to cover the wastegate passage and, for example, defined in part by a portion of a modified sphere or a portion of a cone. Various other examples of devices, assemblies, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
US09010107B2
An electric motor is controlled based on an operation of a brake pedal to move a primary piston forward through a ball screw mechanism, thereby generating a hydraulic pressure in a master cylinder. At this time, a reaction force from the hydraulic pressure in the master cylinder is fed back to the brake pedal through an input piston. Automatic brake control, which generates the hydraulic pressure by driving the electric motor regardless of whether there is the operation of the brake pedal, is carried out. During the automatic brake control, an actual relative position is compared with a determination threshold value set based on the relative position between the primary piston and the input piston which is generated by a movement of the primary piston, and it is determined that the brake pedal is operated in a case where the relative position is smaller than the determination threshold value.
US09010106B2
This invention relates to the exploitation of porous foam articles exhibiting the Shape Memory Effect as actuators. Each foam article is composed of a plurality of geometric shapes, such that some geometric shapes can fit snugly into or around rigid mating connectors that attach the Shape Memory foam article intimately into the load path between a static structure and a moveable structure.The foam is open-celled, composed of a plurality of interconnected struts whose mean diameter can vary from approximately 50 to 500 microns. Gases and fluids flowing through the foam transfer heat rapidly with the struts, providing rapid Shape Memory Effect transformations. Embodiments of porous foam articles as torsional actuators and approximately planar structures are disposed. Simple, integral connection systems exploiting the ability to supply large loads to a structure, and that can also supply hot and cold gases and fluids to effect rapid actuation are also disposed.
US09010100B2
A seal assembly includes a seal carrier configured to be coupled to and rotate with a shaft. The seal carrier defines at least three annular recesses configured to receive annular seals. The seal assembly further includes at least three annular seals configured to provide a seal between the seal carrier and a non-rotating housing defining an inner surface having a circular cross-section. One of the at least three seals is received in each of the at least three annular recesses, and one of the at least three seals has a smaller cross-sectional area than a cross-sectional area of at least one of the other seals.
US09010099B2
An exhaust pipe for two-stroke, internal-combustion engines in which there are multiple exhaust expansion chambers, each within one another, used in combination, the multiple chambers allow for the combustible fuel/air mixture to be delivered in more optimal reflective pressure waves throughout the RPM range of the engine. By changing the number of the chambers, their size and shape, the design of the exhaust pipe can be tuned for torque and power while requiring a minimum of space.
US09010098B2
The present disclosure is directed to an after-treatment device. The after-treatment device may have a center plenum configured to be fluidly connected to an engine. The after-treatment device may also have a filter bank having a plurality of filter assemblies. Each filter assembly may have an inlet fluidly connected to the center plenum. The inlet may be oriented orthogonal to the center plenum. Each filter assembly may also have an outlet. Further, the after-treatment device may have an exhaust plenum fluidly connected to the outlet. The exhaust plenum may be oriented orthogonal to the outlet. The exhaust plenum may also have an outer wall disposed parallel to and located at a predetermined distance from the outlet.
US09010093B2
In cases where at the upstream side of an NOx selective reduction catalyst there is provided another catalyst, sulfur poisoning of both the catalysts is recovered in an appropriate manner. To this end, provision is made for an NH3 generation catalyst arranged in an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine for generating NH3, the NOx selective reduction catalyst arranged in the exhaust passage at a location downstream of the NH3 generation catalyst for reducing NOx in a selective manner, an upstream side recovery unit to recover sulfur poisoning of the NH3 generation catalyst, and a downstream side recovery unit to recover sulfur poisoning of the NOx selective reduction catalyst after the sulfur poisoning of the NH3 generation catalyst has been recovered by the upstream side recovery unit.
US09010089B2
A reductant delivery unit (10) includes a fluid injector (12) and a flange (20) coupled with the fluid injector. An exhaust boss (28) has a surface (39) defining a through-hole (40) that communicates with a vehicle's exhaust flow path. The flange is coupled to a mounting surface such that the outlet of the fluid injector communicates with the exhaust flow path so as to control injection of urea solution into the exhaust gas flow path. A gasket (32) is sandwiched between the flange and the mounting surface. The gasket has a surface (37) defining a through-hole (38) therein that communicates with the through-hole in the exhaust boss to permit the urea solution to pass from the fluid outlet to the exhaust flow path. Gasket shielding structure (44) covers the surface defining the through-hole in the gasket to prevent the urea solution from contacting the gasket.
US09010083B2
A combustor nozzle includes an inlet surface and an outlet surface downstream from the inlet surface, wherein the outlet surface has an indented central portion. A plurality of fuel channels are arranged radially outward of the indented central portion, wherein the plurality of fuel channels extend through the outlet surface.
US09010081B2
A power plant includes a gas turbine unit adapted to feed flue gases into a boiler of a steam turbine unit, to be then diverted into a recirculated flow and discharged flow. The recirculated flow is mixed with fresh air forming a mixture that is fed into a gas turbine unit compressor. The discharged flow is fed into a CO2 capture unit that is an amine based or chilled ammonia based CO2 capture unit. A cooler for the flue gases can be configured as a shower cooler located upstream of the CO2 capture unit. The plant can also include a washing unit to neutralize ammonia drawn by the flue gases that can be fed with nitric acid gathered at the cooler.
US09010078B2
The weed trimmer head is comprised of a sole plate having a diameter; a circumference; a plurality of pivot pins extending upwardly therefrom near the circumference. The sole plate also has a driving shaft extending upwardly therefrom from a center thereof. The driving shaft has a threaded segment thereon. A plurality of cutting blades are pivotally mounted to the plurality of pivot pins. A wingnut plate is also provided. This wingnut plate has a disc-like portion and wing blades extending on an upper side thereof. The wingnut plate has a threaded hole in its disc-like portion. The threaded hole is mounted to the threaded segment of the driving shaft and the wingnut plate is movable along the threaded segment, for selectively contacting or exposing the ends of the pivot pins.
US09010076B2
A mower assembly is provided for cutting around a post. A support structure supports the mower assembly in cantilever fashion. The mower assembly includes a plurality of mower units with each mower unit having a rotary blade. Two or more mower units cooperate to engage and cut around a post and, during the process, the entire mower assembly rotates about an axis enabling the mower units to encircle and efficiently cut grass and other vegetation about the post.
US09010074B2
A method of using a packaging unit with a selected beverage container comprises obtaining a packaging unit having a receiving chamber for popcorn or the like and a square pocket coupled to the outside of the receiving chamber, a lower end portion of the pocket having one or more strip-shaped wall sections; selecting either a conical beverage cup or a beverage bottle; configuring the pocket based on the configuration of the selected beverage container; and inserting the selected beverage container into the correspondingly configured pocket, wherein in a first configuration, the conical beverage cup is held in a clamp seat, or in a second pocket configuration the beverage bottle is supported on a partial bottom support member formed by the strip-shaped wall sections.
US09010065B2
A method, apparatus, and kit for adjustment of a construction unit with a rough opening. The construction unit may be a window, door, or similar construction element that requires shimming and squaring up within a rough opening. An adjustment mechanism is included that has a head section and threaded section. The head section engages the construction unit by abutment and the threaded section engages the rough opening by threaded retention. After initial embedding of the adjustment mechanism within the inner surface of the rough opening, the adjustment mechanism is rotationally engaged via a wrench for fine-tuned shimming of the construction unit.
US09010054B2
A structural insulated panel is composed of a structural member in a corrugated form and a cohering, insulating filler material. The structural member has a plurality of front surfaces spaced laterally apart from each other and a plurality of back surfaces spaced laterally apart from each other and spaced apart in depth from the front surfaces. The structural member has a plurality of chord panels which span between corresponding edges of respective pairs of the front surfaces and the back surfaces. Chase channels are formed between adjacent pairs of the cord panels and one of the front surfaces or one of the back surfaces. Each chord panel defines a plurality of apertures. The filler material fills the chase channels, binds to the front surfaces, back surfaces, and chord panels, and extends through the apertures in each of the cord panels to structurally connect the filler material in adjacent chase channels.
US09010050B2
A prefabricated rain screen wall panel is provided comprising inner and outer concrete panels secured together by shear connectors. Intermediate members provide insulation, a drainage channel and a vapor barrier.
US09010031B1
A modular headwall system with multiple interlocking sections. The studs in each frame section include hooks and slots that ensure secure attachment of one section to each adjacent section while maintaining proper alignment. For floor-mounted applications, a self-leveling base assembly provides a level support track even on uneven floors. An adjustable crown molding assembly provides an attractive architectural feature while concealing an irregular ceiling line. The cover panels forming the front of the headwall float on a hanger system that allows slight lateral and vertical movement while holding the entire matrix of panels firmly against the frame behind it; this allows the panels to maintain proper alignment in the assembled headwall even where the supporting wall and floor surfaces are irregular. The side trim assembly includes a cable management recess. Some panels include a floating equipment track that is aesthetically pleasing and less likely to harbor microorganisms.
US09010027B2
A panel attachment system comprises a panel and a casing. The panel has a fixed mount bracket, and a sliding mount bracket. The casing has a first fixed mount boss, and a sliding mount boss. When the panel attachment system is in use, the fixed mount bracket is fixedly secured to the first fixed mount boss, and the sliding mount bracket is slidingly engaged with the sliding mount boss. This enables the panel to be detachably connected to the casing, such that any relative in-plane thermal expansion between the panel and the casing is accommodated by corresponding relative movement between the sliding mount bracket and the sliding mount bosses.
US09010014B2
A rod body for a fishing rod, in which torsional rigidity and the like are enhanced by exercising ingenuity in direction of arrangement of a prepreg tape, is provided. An inner layer 23 is formed by winding a main pattern, which is constituted by a prepreg sheet 52 having a length corresponding to the length of a rod body and provided with reinforcing fibers 42 uniformly aligned, so that reinforcing fibers 42 are tilted relative to the rod axis. An outer layer 25 is formed by helically winding a prepreg tape with small-width 70, which is constituted by reinforcing fibers 42 uniformly aligned in the longitudinal direction, in the rod axis direction so that ends of the prepreg tape 70 in the small-width direction thereof abut closely against each other. The reinforcing fibers 42 of the prepreg sheet 52 and the reinforcing fibers 42 of the prepreg tape 70 are wound so as to cross each other when viewed in a radial direction, with the winding being made helically in directions opposite to each other.
US09010012B2
Various gun sights and related methods are provided. In one embodiment, a gun sight includes a light source adapted to project light, a user-viewable interface, and an optical element. The optical element includes a first surface adapted to pass the light to provide a reticle at the user-viewable interface. The optical element also includes a second surface adapted to refract the light to provide a light guide at a peripheral area of the user-viewable interface to aid a user to substantially align the user's eye with the reticle. Various mechanisms for aligning gun sights, attaching gun sights, related methods, and other embodiments are also provided.
US09010002B2
An accessory device for a ballistic thrower/launcher that can be handgun or a gun or other object throwing or launching device that is meant to improve the quality of the action, the comfort and safety of the operator. It is made of accessory devices that stabilize the operation of the throwing device aligning the recoil with the projectile trajectory making the process reproducible, predictable and controllable. It adds environment monitoring electronics, cameras and actuators, for accurately launching after aiming, considering all the major process perturbations, as movements, wind, humidity, atmospheric pressure, target movement, shooting post movement, etc. The device adds other features of safety for the operator, as stealth action, dimming process noise, recoil shock, flames and heat signature being suitable for remote operation.
US09009997B1
The present disclosure is directed to a display fixture used to convey information to a consumer that is easily coupled to a display rack by inserting portions of the fixture into the product storage spaces of the display rack. The display fixture can include a display panel, a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm where the arms can be sized and configured for placement in the product storages space of an associated display rack.
US09009993B2
A mining shovel includes a boom and a transmission unit coupled to the boom. The transmission unit includes an outer housing, an internal motor housing disposed within the outer housing, and a venting system coupled to the outer housing to direct air through both the outer housing and the internal motor housing.
US09009991B2
A sole structure for an article of footwear and a method of making the sole structure is disclosed. The sole structure can include an outsole and a midsole. The midsole includes a cavity with a protruding portion. A U-shaped transparent member is configured to cover the cavity so that the protruding portion remains visible from within the cavity.
US09009989B2
An article of footwear with a hydroplaning-resistant outsole and camouflaged toe cap is disclosed. In one example, an article of footwear includes an outsole with a ground contacting surface including a first and second plurality of angled channels angled relative to longitudinal and lateral axes of the footwear. Each angled channel in the first plurality of angled channels extends from the toe to an outer edge of a mid-foot region of the outsole, and each angled channel in the second plurality of angled channels extends from a back portion of the heel to a front portion of the heel. The ground contacting surface also includes a plurality of lateral waved grooves intersecting the first and second plurality of angled channels, and a plurality of lateral waved sipes intersecting the plurality of lateral waved grooves and the first and second plurality of angled channels.
US09009988B2
A sole for dance footwear such as a dance sneaker includes an outsole having forefoot, arch and heel portions and which contains openings in the forefoot and arch portions. The bottom surface of the outsole further includes a plurality of laterally extending spaced grooves. The grooves and openings provide increased flexure of the outsole from heel to toe and from side to side about a longitudinal axis of the outsole. A shank between the openings in the arch portion of the outsole supports the foot during dance movements, maintains the integrity of the shoe, and improves the aesthetics and ergonomic movement of the footwear.
US09009979B2
A system for locking a blade of a knife with a folding blade in an unfolded position includes a handle-forming part for a user to grasp, and a blade pivotably mounted relative to this handle-forming part. The blade pivots to adopt either an unfolded position for use, or a foldaway position for storage, wherein it is partially concealed in the handle-forming part. A first locking element on a top of the knife, cooperates with the blade and adopts a first position of locking the blade in the unfolded position and a second release position of the blade A second locking element cooperating with the first locking element, adopts a first position of locking the first locking element in the first locking position of the blade, and a second release position wherein the second locking element forces the first locking element to adopt the second release position of the blade.
US09009976B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for installation of an energy chain system onto equipments at an operation site. A base fixture is provided at a preparation site which is independently operable from the operation site. A drag chain assembly and an auxiliary fixture are attached to the base fixture. Cables/hoses required to be installed onto equipments at the operation site are arranged and attached to the auxiliary fixture. The base fixture carrying the drag chain assembly, the auxiliary fixture and the cables/hoses pre-arranged on the auxiliary fixture are then transported to the operation site to enable cable/hose installation and connection to the equipments. The auxiliary fixture is removed upon completion of the cable/hose installation and connection.
US09009975B2
A method of producing a filter unit, such as an air/oil separator, having a tubular filter element bonded at one end to an end cap, is proposed. The method includes the steps of: providing a tubular filter element and an end cap; melting a portion of the end cap; and embedding an end of the filter element into the melted portion of the end cap. The melted portion, on cooling, solidifies to bond the tubular filter element to the end cap. The end cap can be formed of thermoplastic containing an electrically conductive filler. The end cap can be formed of a thermoplastic having a melting point of at least 180 C. The method may further include, after the embedding step, a step of forcing melted thermoplastic from the melted portion radially against a side wall of the tubular filter element.
US09009966B2
The construction of an internal/external single expansion ramp nozzle (nxSERN), and method of designing the same, is provided. Initial design parameters for primary stream construction are selected and additional parameters are determined by isentropic relations using the selected design parameters and Prandtl-Meyer function. The nozzle throat input and output angles are determined and used to define an initial portion of the nozzle primary stream lower expansion surface. The nozzle primary stream upper expansion surface and an aft portion of the primary stream lower expansion surface are defined using a method of characteristics. Initial and aft portions of the primary stream lower expansion surface are then connected by a straight line to define the primary stream nozzle.
US09009959B2
A method and mass storage device that combine multiple solid state drives (SSDs) to a single volume. The device includes a carrier board and at least two solid state drives having power and data connections to the carrier board. The carrier board includes a circuit board functionally connected to a control logic and at least two secondary connectors that are disposed at different edges of the circuit board and functionally connected to the control logic. The solid state drives are connected to the carrier board through the secondary connectors, and each solid state drive has a power and data connector directly connected to one of the secondary connectors of the carrier board. The solid state drives are oriented substantially parallel to the carrier board and to each other.
US09009945B2
Hydraulic flange connectors connect two flange components together, and hydraulic pressure applied to ports in connector holes of one of the flanges tension the flange studs and crush the gasket between the flange components. Each connector has a piston that disposes in the connector hole and can move therein when hydraulic pressure is applied through the port by a pump. A first stud connected to the piston extends beyond one open end of the hole for connection to a first nut, while a second stud connected to the piston extending beyond another open end of the to the second flange component for connection to a second nut. A retainer having seals threads in this other open end of the hole and seals between the hole and the second stud.
US09009935B2
A capacitor assembly for use in, and a method of assembling, a filtered feedthrough. The capacitor includes an insulative member fixedly attached to its bottom portion to inhibit high voltage arcing. The termination material present on the inner and outer diameters of the capacitor is absent from a portion of the capacitor proximate the bottom portion, e.g., at the insulative member.
US09009933B2
The present invention relates to a method to improve the appearance of a corpse by means of the application of specific thanatocosmetic compositions. The invention also relates to the new compositions and to their use in thanato-aesthetics.
US09009932B2
A seat belt buckle assembly for resisting unintentional opening during rapid acceleration or deceleration. The seat belt buckle assembly includes a female buckle, a male tongue plate, a pawl assembly, a spring and a load rate sensitive foam member. The female buckle is a casing with an open end that is adapted to receive the substantially planar male tongue plate provided with a slot. The pawl assembly housed within the casing includes a pawl that fits within the slot. The spring disposed between casing and pawl assembly urges the pawl into slot and elastically deforms when subjected to force. The load rate sensitive foam member interposed between spring and pawl assembly transmits load applied on pawl to spring for facilitating compression of spring and therefore unlatching of the buckle in case of gradual loading, but inhibiting involuntary compression of spring by absorbing most of the impulsive loading.
US09009919B1
A steady opening and closing double-axis hinge comprises a first rotation member, a second rotation member and a connection member run through by the first rotation member and the second rotation member in a parallel manner. The first rotation member includes a first shaft and a first sector portion formed on the first shaft. The second rotation member includes a second shaft and a second sector portion formed on the second shaft. The connection member includes a movable detent plate which is located between the first and second shafts and movable between a first operation position and a second operation position. Through the movement of the movable detent plate, the first sector portion and second sector portion can be blocked alternately to control the first and second shafts to rotate in sequence, so as to simplify the shaft rotation switch mechanism and improve the durability.
US09009918B2
A carriage, which serves for holding and shifting a separating element in a running direction along a rail, includes a carriage body that holds at least one running element and a mounting body that is slidably connected to the carriage body and is connectable to the separating element. A coupling member includes a first and second coupling element connected via a bridge member, wherein the first coupling element is slidably held in the carriage body and the second is slidably held in the mounting body. The bridge member has a first coupling surface inclined relative to the running direction which supports the carriage body or the mounting body, so that with a movement of the coupling member the carriage and mounting bodies are shifted relative to one another. The shifting device includes two inventive carriages that are guided in a rail and that are connected to a separating element.
US09009915B2
An upright type vacuum cleaner is disclosed. The upright type vacuum cleaner may include a main body, a suction nozzle provided at a lower end of the main body, a first leg assembly configured to support a first side of the main body, and a second leg assembly configured to support a second side of the main body. The main body may further include a coupler configured to pivotally rotatably couple the first leg assembly and the second leg assembly to each other. The first leg assembly and the second leg assembly may be rotated by different angles to support the main body when the main body is tilted leftward or rightward. The first leg assembly and the second leg assembly may be rotated by a same angle to support the main body when the main body is tilted rearward.
US09009913B2
An upright surface treating appliance includes a main body, a surface treating head connected to a yoke, and a stand. To provide a compact appliance the yoke and the stand are pivotable independently relative to the main body about a common pivot axis. This can also enable the yoke and the stand to be rotatably connected to the main body using one or more common connectors or bearings.
US09009905B2
A pipe pig for refinery heater tubes is disclosed. The pipe pig has arcuate cleaning elements which form an expandable circumference. Each of the arcuate cleaning elements has a scraping edge. A spring element biases the arcuate cleaning elements radially outward. The pipe pig may have structural components made from titanium alloys and arcuate cleaning elements made from carbon-carbon composites. A method for cleaning coking out of refinery heater tubes using the pipe pig is also disclosed.
US09009904B2
An improved apparatus for removing snow and ice from the roof top of a truck, trailer, bus or similar vehicle is mounted atop a conventional flatbed trailer for ease of relocation from one site to another for use. The addition of a height adjustable scraper or plow blade that is operator controlled to remain in contact with the roof of the vehicle being cleaned is provided with a self-contained front-to-back and side-to-side stabilization mechanism to prevent damage to the tops of vehicles by gouging or tearing the roof top.
US09009897B2
A device for use with a respiratory mask comprises a pillow having at least one recess structured to receive the mask so that the pillow does not exert substantial pressure on the mask, and a cover that at least partially covers the exterior surface of the pillow and substantially follows the contours of the at least one recess. A method of using a respiratory mask comprises providing a pillow having at least one recess, positioning a cover on the pillow so that the cover substantially follows the contours of the at least one recess, positioning a respiratory mask on the head of a user, and positioning the user's head on the cover and pillow such that the mask is received in the at least one recess so that the pillow and cover do not exert substantial pressure on the mask.
US09009894B2
The claimed invention provides an improved posture correction tool in the form of a table to be used by chiropractic practitioners to treat mechanical disorders of the spine and musculoskeletal system. The improved posture correction tool provides a plurality of pads to support the various major areas of the body and has built in drop capability and adjustment capability for the pelvic pad, the lumbar pad, the thoracic pad and the head and cervical area. The claimed invention also has a novel cervical support.
US09009892B2
One embodiment of a topper assembly for a mattress comprises a liquid permeable cover layer, a liquid transport layer beneath the cover layer that directs liquid transport therethrough in a preferred direction, a liquid impermeable base layer beneath the transport layer, an air mover in fluid communication with the transport layer and a reservoir positioned downstream of the liquid transport layer. Operation of the air mover moves air and liquid through the liquid transport layer in the preferred direction such that the reservoir captures liquid discharged from the liquid transport layer. A related support apparatus comprises a mattress and a condition management assembly atop the mattress. The condition management assembly includes the liquid transport layer, the liquid impermeable base layer, the air mover and the reservoir.
US09009881B2
A retainer assembly for a shower surround includes a first frame arm, a second frame arm, an arcuate frame section, a stop and a retainer. The arcuate frame section interconnects the first frame arm and the second frame arm. The stop extends from the first frame arm, and is substantially between the first frame arm and the second frame arm. The retainer arm extends from the arcuate frame section in a direction that is generally opposite from the first frame arm and the second frame arm.
US09009880B2
A superstructure system for a drain located in the floor region of a wash area or shower stall, including a cover box which is to be placed over the drain and has a closed rear side and top and end faces connecting the rear side and the top, a side which is open toward the drain and a visible side which is open toward the water collection element of the drain, and in which a cover flap (10) is vertically oriented, the lower face of which, when installed, delimits a drain slot of the superstructure system and is connected to the cover box by way of a hinge so as to be horizontally pivotable.
US09009878B2
Bath curtain rod assemblies are disclosed comprising axially movable tubes that may be locked into position in relation with each other. A contact end is extended from one of the tubes to engage and press against a bath support structure to firmly secure the assembly in place. The bath curtain rod assemblies may be installed quickly and easily in bath and shower stalls without the necessity of screws or adhesives.
US09009875B2
A lock for lavatory plumbing fixtures includes one or more griping members adapted to receive and attach to an internal rim of the lavatory fixture bowl. At least one of the gripping members can be translationally adapted or slideably engaged. A keyed rotational lock or a padlock can be incorporated for locking the article in place. Alternatively, a screw having a special head can be utilized to prevent unauthorized unlocking of the article.
US09009873B2
Swimming goggles includes left and right frames integrally formed together, a connecting element for interconnecting the left and right frames, protection pads, lenses installed in the left and right frames, buckles integrally formed on side portions of the left and right frames, and a head strap being movably connected with the buckles. Each of the buckles has a main body which is disposed on and integrally formed with the corresponding side portion of the left/right frame. More specifically, the buckles are capable of forming a part of the lenses, or a part of the left and right frames. Additionally, the main body is defined with a through hole for simplifying the structure of the swimming goggles and for making assembly of the swimming goggles less difficult, and further for efficiently reducing a cost for assembly of the swimming goggles.
US09015853B2
Methods and systems of concealing access patterns to data storage, such as within servers of a cloud computing environment are presented. Server data storage is securely partitioned into smaller electronic data storage partitions of predetermined size. The client side maintains a shuffling buffer and position map for these blocks as stored on the electronic data storage partitions of the server. Concealment is performed with respect to accesses from the client to server using an oblivious sorting protocol. Access operation is concealed with each block being randomly assigned to any of the data storage partitions, and whenever a block is accessed, the block is logically removed from its current partition and logically assigned to a fresh random partition selected from all partitions, while the client maintains tracking of which partition each block is associated with at any point of time.
US09015850B2
Disclosed are methods, systems and articles for tracing and disabling one or more unauthorized distributors of content originally transmitted by a distribution center. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving rebroadcast transmissions of a data segment previously transmitted by the distribution center, the received segment including embedded information associated with a subset of recipients that includes at least one of the unauthorized distributors, and identifying the subset based on the embedded information. The method further includes assigning recipients in the identified subset into two or more new subsets such that the at least one unauthorized distributor is assigned to one of the two or more new subsets, and coding a subsequent data segment to be transmitted with additional embedded information associated with the two or more new subsets. The above operations may be repeated until the at least unauthorized distributor is identified.
US09015849B1
A method and apparatus for preventing data leakage of e-discovery data items is provided. In one embodiment, the method for automatically configuring e-discovery data for data leakage prevention includes processing filtering information regarding at least one e-discovery data item that is selected for data leakage prevention and generating data leakage prevention information for the selected at least one e-discovery data item, wherein the data leakage prevention information is used to filter the at least one data item.
US09015848B2
The present invention is directed to a method for virtualizing a personal working environment and a device for the same, relating to the information security field. The method comprises the steps of: installing a Virtual Machine (VM) environment on a device; upon virtualizing the personal working environment, connecting the device to a host, loading the VM environment into the host; and responding to a user operation and saving data of the user operation to the device by the VM environment. The device comprises a communication interface module, a VM environment storage module, and a control module. The present invention provides a means for secure and convenient mobile work.
US09015846B2
A security system is provided. The system comprises a computer system, a memory accessible to the computer system, a data store, and an application. The data store comprises a threat catalog, wherein the threat catalog comprises a plurality of threat vectors, each threat vector comprising a plurality of fields, wherein each field is constrained to carry a value selected from a predefined list of enumerated values. The application is stored in the memory and, when executed by the computer system receives a threat report, wherein the threat report comprises an identification of at least one threat vector, determines a correlation between the at least one threat vector received in the threat report with the threat vectors comprising the threat catalog, and, based on the correlation, sends a notification to a stakeholder in an organization under the protection of the security system.
US09015836B2
Approaches for ensuring a digital file does not contain malicious code. A digital file in an original format may or may not contain malicious code. An intermediate copy of the digital file in an intermediate format is created from the digital file in the original format. The intermediate format preserves a visual or audio presentation of the digital file without supporting metadata or file format data structures of the original format. A sterilized copy of the digital file is created from the intermediate copy. The sterilized copy is in the original format. The sterilized copy comprises a digital signature indicating that the sterilized copy has been converted from the intermediate format to the original format. Advantageously, the sterilized copy is guaranteed to not possess any malicious code.
US09015821B2
A user authentication method and system. A computing system receives from a user, a first request for accessing specified functions executed by a specified software application. The computing system enables a security manager software application and connects the specified software application to a computing apparatus. The computing system executes first security functions associated with the computing apparatus. The computing system executes second security functions associated with additional computing apparatuses. The computing system determines if the user may access the specified functions executed by the specified software application based on results of executing the first security functions and the second security functions. The computing system generates and stores a report indicating the results.
US09015806B2
A system for establishing a connection between a first device and a wireless network includes a first control module, located on the first device, that receives encoded digital data. The encoded digital data corresponds to a plurality of images displayed sequentially on a display of a second device. Each of the plurality of images corresponds to a different portion of the encoded digital data. A decoder module, located on the first device, converts the encoded digital data into configuration data. The configuration data includes at least one of an identifier of the wireless network, an encryption key associated with the wireless network, and a password associated with the wireless network. The first control module uses the configuration data to establish the connection with the wireless network.
US09015805B2
The invention relates to a method for activating a terminal (4) by an operator, the activation of the terminal allowing secured exchanges of information between the terminal (4) and a secured server, characterized in that it comprises the following steps for the terminal (4): receiving from the operator (2) a first piece of activation information, receiving from an authorization server (3) a second piece of activation information, using the first and second pieces of activation information for activating the terminal.
US09015799B2
A content transmitter transmits content over a network, and includes: an input section configured to obtain the content, a first kind of information indicating, based on at least one of the destination and transmission method of the content, whether transmission of the content is permitted or not, and a second kind of information specifying the destination of the content; a control section configured to determine, by reference to the first and second kinds of information, whether or not to transmit the content to the destination and rewrites the first kind of information; and an output section configured to output the content and the first kind of information that has been rewritten.
US09015787B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a presentation device having a controller that performs operations including enabling a supply of power to a portable battery operated device from a presentation port where the presentation port is a high definition multimedia interface port by trickle charging a rechargeable battery of the portable battery operated device through the presentation port, and receiving from the portable battery operated device an audio-visual signal for presentation at the presentation device through the presentation port. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09015786B2
Methods and systems are provided for detection of noise ingress into a network. In an aspect, multiple access devices on the network are analyzed for noise ingress. In another aspect, using characterization data of components in the network and the detection of the noise at the access devices, the location of the noise ingress can be determined.
US09015781B2
Methods and apparatuses provide load balanced signal distribution to client devices in a network, such as a digital home network. According to an exemplary embodiment, one of the methods includes the steps of receiving a request from a client device for downloading video from one of a plurality of video sources, receiving respective load indicators from first and second video receiving devices capable of receiving the plurality of video sources, selecting one of the first and second video receiving devices according to the load indicators, and instructing the selected video receiving device to transmit the video from the one of the plurality of video sources using an address known by the client device.
US09015775B2
An information system suitable for use in cooperation with portable media devices, such as an Apple iPod® digital electronic media device, and methods for manufacturing and using same. The information system provides a user-friendly communication interface for coupling with a portable media device and can perform a plurality of integration tasks simultaneously, enabling the personal media device to become fully integrated with the information system. Viewing content thereby can be selected from video and/or audio viewing content stored internally within the personal media device, and the selected viewing content can be communicated from the personal media device to the information system for presentation via a video presentation system and/or an audio presentation system of the information system. The personal media device likewise can receive control commands and/or operating power from the information system. Thereby, the personal media device advantageously can become a seamless part of the information system.
US09015771B2
The invention relates to apparatus and method which can be used to receive broadcast digital data. The apparatus and method are provided at one or more receiving locations and is connected to one or more broadcast data receivers at each location. The apparatus is capable of receiving and processing data in linear and/or circular polarity formats and the operating condition of the same can be altered in response to a command signal broadcast to the receiving locations prior to the transmission of data in a new format such as to the change in the operating condition of the apparatus to receive and process linear as well as the previously broadcast circular polarity format data.
US09015769B2
A method of processing additional information related to an announced service or content in a Non-Real Time (NRT) service and the broadcast receiver are disclosed herein. A method of providing a Non-Real Time (NRT) service in a broadcasting receiver includes receiving a service map table (SMT) and a first descriptor through a service signaling channel, identifying an image identifier and an image type of an image for an NRT service based upon the first descriptor, receiving the image via a flute session and displaying the image when corresponding service is played, wherein the image is logo or icon data for the NRT service. The method may further include connecting a service signaling channel, parsing the received SMT and the first descriptor, determining whether a service is the NRT service based upon the parsed SMT and storing the received image.
US09015766B2
An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT.
US09015764B2
An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT.
US09015758B2
A method of controlling a display apparatus and which includes displaying received audio and video contents on a display unit of the display apparatus, receiving a request signal for executing an application browser and displaying a list of applications stored in a memory associated with the display apparatus, the list of applications stored in the memory including an editable application group including at least one application that can be edited and a non-editable application group including at least one application that cannot be edited; generating graphic data representing the applications included in the editable application group and non-editable application group; and displaying the received video data in a first area of the display unit and displaying the generated graphic data representing the applications in a second area within the first area.
US09015756B2
Electronic program guides in which program listings may be graphically presented and in which sponsors and celebrities of those programs may be identified are provided. The electronic programs guides may be passive television program guides, interactive television program guides, and/or on-line television program guides. Television show text information, logos and/or trademarks, celebrity images, affiliation indicators, and advertisements may be present in the program listings to enhance the electronic program guides.
US09015755B2
A system and method for automatically changing channels. A user selection of a channel and a time associated with media content is received. The current time is determined. A display is powered on in response to determining the display is off. A display is automatically changed to the channel in response to the current time matching the selected time. The media content received through the channel is displayed.
US09015753B2
A virtual channel table for broadcasting protocol and a method for broadcasting by using the virtual channel table includes identification information identifying and permitting discrimination of active and inactive channels contained in the virtual channel table. At a receiver, the virtual channel table transmitted from the transmitting side is parsed, thereby determining whether the current received channel is an active or inactive channel.
US09015752B2
A virtual channel table for broadcasting protocol and a method for broadcasting by using the virtual channel table includes identification information identifying and permitting discrimination of active and inactive channels contained in the virtual channel table. At a receiver, the virtual channel table transmitted from the transmitting side is parsed, thereby determining whether the current received channel is an active or inactive channel.
US09015745B2
Systems, methods and/or techniques for detection of user-initiated events in relation to a media device are described, for example utilizing a content recognition system. A method may be executed in a media device that is operable to play video content. The method may include receiving user interaction with the media device and the user interaction causes initiation of a feature that affects video content that plays on the media device. The method may include receiving one or more interactive events from a content recognition system in response to the user interaction. The method may comprise executing the one or more interactive events to affect video content that is playing on the media device, and display one or more overlay windows corresponding to the affected video content. One or more video fingerprints that correspond to the affected video content may be communicated to the content recognition system.
US09015742B2
Digital video signature apparatus and methods for use with video program identification systems are disclosed. The example apparatus and methods generate a signature associated with a video program. An example system includes a frame scanner to scan video frames associated with the video program. The frame scanner is to select a video frame based on a number of intra-coded macro blocks within the video frame. The example system also includes an intra-coded macro block extractor to extract intra-coded macro blocks from the video frame and a scaled image extractor to extract a scaled image from the intra-coded macro blocks. A signature generator is also included in the example system to calculate a plurality of centroids associated with video frame based on the scaled image and to form the signature based on the plurality of centroids.
US09015736B2
Systems and methods for monitoring a user's viewing progress of media in a series are provided. The user may setup a media profile containing a list of program series to be monitored. The interactive media monitoring application may track the user's viewing progress of programs in the program series on the user equipment and update the user's media profile. The user may request and watch programs in the series at the user's leisure while peripheral media content may be filtered to be consistent with the user's viewing progress in the series.
US09015734B2
A turn table for a spindle motor and a spindle motor having the turn table are provided, the turn table for a spindle motor according to an exemplary embodiment comprising a clamping plate configured to have a locking protrusion protruding from an inner surface of a first recess thereof, the first recess being concavely formed in an outer circumference of the clamping plate; and a turn-table body configured to have a second recess to receive the clamping plate, and a plurality of protrusions protruding from an inner surface defined by the second recess towards the first recess to lock the locking protrusion.
US09015733B2
In one embodiment, a method includes storing one or more first schemas associated with a first version of an Application Programming Interface (API), the API being used for retrieving data items stored in one or more hierarchical graphs, the first schemas comprise one or more definitions of one or more data types to which the data items belong; forming one or more second schemas associated with a second version of the API; and validating the second version of the API by comparing the second query schemas with the first query schemas.
US09015731B2
An event handling system includes a standard operating procedure (SOP) engine configured to process an SOP defined for an event and transmit the event, and an event publisher configured to transmit the event transmitted from the SOP engine to a target according to a type and a connection state of the target.
US09015726B2
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for scheduling jobs on a multi-node computing system based on the predicted environmental impact of executing the jobs. In one embodiment, a plurality of job plans may be generated for processing a requested job on the multi-node computing system. The environmental impacts resulting from executing each job plan may be estimated by matching the job plans to stored data based on standardized executions of job plans. Further, environmental impacts may be estimated by matching the job plans to stored data based on actual environmental measurements obtained during prior executions of the job plan on the multi-node computer system. The job may be executed using a job plan selected based on predicted environmental impacts and time performance.
US09015723B2
A novel and useful system and method of decentralized decision-making for real-time scheduling in a multi-process environment. For each process step and/or resource capable of processing a particular step, a service index is calculated. The calculation takes into account several measures, such as business level measures, operational measures and employee level measure. The decision of which process step a resource should next work on or what step to assign to a resource is based on the service index calculation and, optionally, other production factors. In one embodiment, the resource is assigned the process step with the maximal service index. Alternatively, when a resource becomes available, all process steps the resource is capable of processing are presented in order of descending service index. The resource then selects which process step to work on next.
US09015710B2
A deployment system provides the ability to deploy a multi-node distributed application, such as a cloud computing platform application, which has a plurality of interconnected nodes performing specialized jobs. The deployment system includes a deployment director that provisions an infrastructure that includes one or more virtual machines (VMs) for hosting the plurality of nodes of the cloud computing platform application. The deployment director distributes a plurality of jobs (e.g., application packages and configurations) to deployment agents executing on the provisioned VMs, based on a mapping in the deployment manifest between the infrastructure and the plurality of specialized jobs to be performed by the cloud computing platform application. The deployment agents apply the jobs to their respective VM (e.g., launching applications), thereby deploying the cloud computing platform application.
US09015706B2
Techniques for inter-virtual machine communication are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for interaction with a guest virtual machine comprising monitoring image loads into electronic memory of a guest virtual machine using a secure virtual machine, identifying a memory structure having a specified format, and performing, using the secure virtual machine, at least one of reading one or more portions of the identified memory structure and setting a value in the identified memory structure.
US09015704B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for executing a process within a virtual machine. A module is injected into an operating system for the virtual machine to form an injected module. The injected module is executed to load an agent process within an application space within the virtual machine. Execution of the agent process is initiated by the injected module.
US09015703B2
Techniques are disclosed for controlling and managing virtual machines and other such virtual systems. VM execution approval is based on compliance with policies controlling various aspects of VM. The techniques can be employed to benefit all virtual environments, such as virtual machines, virtual appliances, and virtual applications. For ease of discussion herein, assume that a virtual machine (VM) represents each of these environments. In one particular embodiment, a systems management partition (SMP) is created inside the VM to provide a persistent and resilient storage for management information (e.g., logical and physical VM metadata). The SMP can also be used as a staging area for installing additional content or agentry on the VM when the VM is executed. Remote storage of management information can also be used. The VM management information can then be made available for pre-execution processing, including policy-based compliance testing.
US09015687B2
Systems and methods of allocating physical registers to variables may involve identifying a partial definition of a variable in an inter-procedural control flow graph. A determination can be made as to whether to terminate a live range of the variable based at least in part on the partial definition. Additionally, a physical register may be allocated to the variable based at least in part on the live range.
US09015678B2
A storage medium containing computer code, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of creating a second file of messages to be outputted by the software from a first file of messages, the messages in the first file being written in a first language and executing the software using the second file. The creating of the second file includes for each message in the first file, applying specified rules to form a second message by changing the character length of the second message, filling in any blank characters in the second message with a dummy character, inserting characters from the target language into prescribed places in the second message to form a second message having both characters of the first language and characters of the target language, and copying the second message into the second file.
US09015674B2
Various technologies pertaining to answering reachability queries are described herein. A reachability query includes a user-specified destination line of code in source code that is desirably analyzed. A theorem prover is employed to identify an execution path through the source code that reaches the destination line of code. Graphical data is presented to the user that illustrates to the user the execution path through the source code that reaches the destination line of code.
US09015648B2
In one embodiment, a method of performing a merge operation can include: mapping a business process modeling notation (BPMN) model to a business process execution language (BPEL) model; modifying the BPMN model to form a modified BPMN model; modifying the BPEL model to form a modified BPEL model; when the merge operation is a forward merge operation: exporting the modified BPMN model to an exported BPEL model; performing an activity level outline merge for added information technology (IT) scopes and branches from the modified BPEL model; performing an activity level detail merge for added IT details from the modified BPEL model; and performing an attribute level merge for updated branch conditions in the merged BPEL model; and when the merge operation is a reverse merge operation, adding scopes and branches from the modified BPEL model to the BPMN model.
US09015640B2
A consumer electronic device has an orientation sensor and a lock control. The orientation sensor outputs signals identifying the orientation of the device, while the lock control to allow a user to move the device from a locked state to an unlocked state. The device also includes a plurality of application programs stored in memory. Responsive to the user unlocking the device, a controller will launch a selected application program. The application that is launched by the device is based on an orientation of the device.
US09015638B2
Techniques for managing a set of states associated with a capture device are disclosed herein. The capture device may detect and bind to users, and may provide feedback about whether the capture device is bound to, or detecting a user. Techniques are also disclosed wherein virtual ports may be associated with users bound to a capture device and feedback about the state of virtual ports may be provided.
US09015635B2
The subject matter described herein is directed to controlling presentation and selection of objects that are digital images depicting subjects. According to one aspect, a plurality of objects is presented via a presentation device. Each object s associated with at least one other object of plurality of objects and is a digital image of a subject. A first object presented is selected in response to a first selection event associated with the first object. A second object non-adjacent to the first object is determined based on a predefined relationship associating the first object with the second object. The second is presented via the presentation device adjacent to the first object in response to the determination. An indication of the predefined relationship is also presented.
US09015620B1
A computer implemented method for user interface navigation engine is provided. A number of items to display is determined based on an interface screen parameter. The number of items is displayed based on the numerical position on a list selected for display. A displayed item is highlighted, wherein a position of the highlighted displayed item on a screen indicates a position relation of the displayed number of items to the count of items in the list.
US09015617B2
Disclosed are method and apparatus for displaying supplementary information on a graphical user interface. A request for supplementary information is received. The supplementary information is retrieved and displayed in a reserved display field in a graphical user interface. The reserved display field may be configured by a user to adapt to specific applications, but remains stationary throughout the user session. The reserved display field does not obstruct any other display fields in the graphical user interface. A request for supplementary information may be generated by using a mouse to first position a cursor over an active display element. A request for supplementary information associated with the active display element may be generated by clicking the mouse, or by holding the cursor stationary for a time interval greater than a threshold dwell time.
US09015609B2
Amongst other things, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving, by one or more computers, data indicating that a first service provider is authorized to engage in a consultation with a second service provider; and receiving, by one or more computers, a request from the first service provider to consult with the second service provider having a second service provider profile that satisfies at least some attributes in a set of attributes that define a suitable service provider.
US09015606B2
This document describes techniques and apparatuses for presenting an application change through a tile. These techniques enable a user to see content associated with content changes to an application or other information about the application, such as a new article, new email, or a software update having become available since a user last visited the application. By so doing, the techniques enable a user to forgo visiting the application or permit the user to quickly and easily decide whether or not to visit the application.
US09015604B2
Calendar items can be scheduled with a joined group of user profiles. Scheduling calendar items can include, for each of the calendar items, sending a calendar item request to each of the user profiles in the group of user profiles. In response to the joining of a new user profile to the group, the new user profile can be automatically sent a calendar item request for each of one or more of the calendar items scheduled with the group of user profiles. Also, a first user profile can receive a request to share a calendar with a second user profile. The request can be received from the second user profile and can list one or more additional user profiles as recipients of the request. A representation of the request to share can include a control that can be selected to share the calendar with the additional user profile(s).
US09015584B2
A mobile device for providing a shortcut in the form of tactile feedback based on a user touch input and a method controlling the same are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method includes displaying a user interface; receiving a first touch input to the user interface for selecting an item from the displayed interface, wherein the first touch input is for setting a shortcut interface of the selected item; displaying a virtual image corresponding to the selected item in a first region based on the first touch input; receiving a second touch input to the user interface for moving the virtual image from the first region to a second region or for selecting the second region; and setting the shortcut interface of the selected item at the second region based on the second touch input.
US09015582B2
There is disclosed a method and apparatus for reordering thumbnails. The method includes displaying a visual representation of an electronic document including a first page and a second page in an original order on a user interface generated on a touchscreen display, receiving movement data indicating that the touch has moved in a horizontal direction relative to the user interface, toward the second page. The method also includes altering the visual representation in response to release data such that the first page and the second page are presented in an altered order in the electronic document.
US09015573B2
Methods for processing machine-readable forms or documents of non-fixed format are disclosed. The methods make use of, for example, a structural description of characteristics of document elements, a description of a logical structure of the document, and methods of searching for document elements by using the structural description. A structural description of the spatial and parametric characteristics of document elements and the logical connections between elements may include a hierarchical logical structure of the elements, specification of an algorithm of determining the search constraints, specification of characteristics of searched elements, and specification of a set of parameters for a compound element identified on the basis of the aggregate of its components. The method of describing the logical structure of a document and methods of searching for elements of a document may be based on the use of the structural description.
US09015564B2
Data objects are delivered over a packet-switched network and receivers receive encoded symbols, such as repair symbols, broadcast or multicast, with sufficient information to form requests for additional symbols as needed based on what source symbols or sub-symbols are needed or missing. The requests can be made in a unicast or request fashion. Requesting and broadcasting might be done by different entities. A broadcast server can generate and store repair symbols while a source server can store content in source form. A request can be a unicast HTTP byte-range request, such as a URL, starting position and length. Requests might be aligned with starting positions of files. A receiver can calculate starting and ending byte positions of symbols or sub-symbols in a file and get indications that conventional HTTP servers are usable for file repair. Repair servers can request broadcast of repair data when byte-range requests from multiple receivers overlap.
US09015562B1
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an error correction method. The error correction method comprises receiving a digital signal and processing the digital signal to perform a first error correction. The first error correction includes a first correction for data insertions or deletions and a first correction of data errors to generate a reference signal. The reference signal corresponds to the digital signal having been corrected to a first correction accuracy. The digital signal and the reference signal may be processed to perform a second correction for data insertions or deletions to generate a synchronized signal. The second correction of the digital signal is based on the reference signal, and the correction accuracy of the second correction is more accurate than the first correction accuracy.
US09015560B1
An integrated circuit including a first interface, a decoder, and a controller. The first interface is configured to (i) write encoded data in a portion of a flash memory, and (ii) read the encoded data back from the flash memory. The decoder is configured to (i) according to an error correction code, decode the encoded data read back from the flash memory, and (ii) based on the decoded data, determine a number of decoding errors corresponding to the decoded data. The controller is configured to, in response to the number of decoding errors being greater than or equal to a first threshold, cease accessing the portion of the flash memory. The first threshold is less than a number of errors correctable by the error correction code for the portion of the flash memory.
US09015556B2
A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module determining whether at least a portion of temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term, wherein the temporarily stored data is stored in a set of distributed storage and task (DST) units in accordance with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. When the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term, the method continues with the DS processing module identifying one or more DST storing the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, recovering the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, dispersed storage error encoding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in a pre-dispersed storage error encoded format into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, and storing the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in the set of DST units.
US09015549B2
A storage medium includes at least one data unit defining a plurality of symbol-based inner code words and a plurality of symbol-based outer code words. Each symbol included in one of the inner code words is also included in one of the outer code words. A processor is configured to perform a first iteration of inner code error correction on the plurality of symbol-based inner code words, a first iteration of outer code error correction on the plurality of symbol-based outer code words and a second iteration of inner code error correction on the plurality of symbol-based inner code words. In the first iteration of outer code error corrections, at least one of the outer code words is correctable. In the second iteration of inner code error correction, at least one of the inner code words is correctable.
US09015531B2
Mechanisms for preventing a distribution of a failure caused by a sequence of instructions in a distributed client server environment are provided. These mechanisms comprise executing the sequence of instructions on a first client, the instructions being provided by a management control server and being indicative of maintenance actions. These mechanisms may further comprise determining by the first client a failure caused by the sequence of instructions, and generating a warning message by the first client based on the determined failure. The warning message may comprise an indicator for the sequence of instructions. In addition, these mechanisms may comprise sending the warning message for informing a second client about the sequence of instructions causing the failure in order to prevent a distribution of the failure.
US09015527B2
Techniques for data backup and recovery are described. In one implementation, at least one storage device storing original data which has failed is determined. Once the failed storage device is determined, backup related information corresponding to the failed at least one storage device is determined. Based on the backup related information at least one backup of the original data from a storage unit is identified. The backup as identified is eventually used for recovering data corresponding to the original data.
US09015523B2
Apparatuses and methods associated with memory allocations for virtual machines are disclosed. In embodiments, an apparatus may include a processor; a plurality of memory modules; and a memory controller configured to provide a layout of the memory modules. The apparatus may further include a VMM configured to be operated by the processor to manage execution of a VM by the processor including selective allocation of the memory modules to the VM using the layout of the memory modules provided to the VMM by the memory controller. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US09015514B2
Systems and methods are provided for implementing a persistent battery system shutdown condition when a battery pack voltage level drops below a predetermined minimum acceptable operating voltage threshold that is above a pre-determined permanent failure operating voltage threshold at which the battery pack is permanently disabled. The disclosed systems and methods may be implemented such that shutdown portion of the power-consuming components of the information handling system are not allowed to be restarted until external power has been first provided and applied to at least partially recharge the battery cells of the battery pack to a battery voltage level that is above the minimum acceptable operating voltage threshold and/or when sufficient external power is applied to power the information handling system and at the same time charge the battery cells of the battery pack.
US09015512B2
A portable electronic device that can receive power from an internal power source (such as a battery) and/or a second portable electronic device is described. In order to coordinate the power availability in these portable electronic devices, a power-management mechanism in the portable electronic device (which may be implemented in hardware and/or software) may determine a power state of an internal power source in the second portable electronic device, and may accordingly adjust a power consumption by circuits in the portable electronic device and/or the power received from the second portable electronic device. In this way, the power-management mechanism may approximately synchronize the power consumption in the portable electronic devices and/or the power states of the internal power sources in the portable electronic devices. This approximate synchronization may facilitate concurrent operation of the portable electronic devices.
US09015506B2
An image forming apparatus includes first and second memories, and a main controller and a sub-controller. The main controller performs a control operation using the first memory in a normal mode state, the sub-controller is mounted on an engine unit provided in the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming job by driving the engine unit in a normal mode state under the control of the main controller, the main controller transmits a low-power mode change request to the sub-controller if a condition for changing a mode state from the normal mode state to a low-power mode state is satisfied, and the sub-controller copies a low-power service program stored in the first memory into the second memory if the low-power mode change request is received, and performs a low-power service by executing the low-power service program through accessing of the second memory.
US09015499B2
A method begins by a processing module retrieving at least a threshold number of error coded data slices of a set of error coded data slices from storage units of a dispersed storage network (DSN) and identifying, based on an intentional error pattern, error coded data slices that were intentionally altered to produce identified error coded data slices. The method continues with the processing module decoding the set of error coded data slices to produce a recovered data segment and encoding the recovered data segment using an altered dispersed storage error encoding function to produce a test set of error coded data slices for comparing with corresponding error coded data slices. When the test set of error coded data slices substantially match the corresponding error coded data slices, the method continues with the processing module indicating that the recovered data segment has not been corrupted.
US09015490B2
Computing devices utilizing trusted execution environments as virtual smart cards are designed to support expected credential recovery operations when a user credential, e.g., personal identification number (PIN), password, etc. has been forgotten or is unknown. A computing device generates a cryptographic key that is protected with a PIN unlock key (PUK) provided by an administrative entity. If the user PIN cannot be input to the computing device the PUK can be input to unlock the locked cryptographic key and thereby provide access to protected data. A computing device can also, or alternatively, generate a group of challenges and formulate responses thereto. The formulated responses are each used to secure a computing device cryptographic key. If the user PIN cannot be input to the computing device an entity may request a challenge. The computing device issues a challenge from the set of generated challenges. Upon receiving a valid response back, the computing device can unlock the secured computing device cryptographic key associated with the issued challenge and subsequently provide access to protected data.
US09015487B2
Disclosed is a method for virtual pairing of a first peer device with a second peer device. In the method, a nonce is generated at the first peer device for use in virtually pairing the first and second peer devices to establish a first-type wireless connection. The nonce is forwarded from the first peer device to the second peer device over an already established second-type wireless connection between the first and second peer devices. At least one new key is generated from the nonce and a shared key for the already established second-type wireless connection. The first peer device is virtually paired with the second peer device using the at least one new key to establish the first-type wireless connection between the first and second peer devices.
US09015473B2
In a communications network including at least one authentication entity adapted to authenticating a network access requestor in order to conditionally grant thereto access to the communications network, wherein the authenticating is based on public key cryptography, a method for automatically provisioning the network access requestor with service access credentials for accessing an on-line service offered by an on-line service provider accessible through the communications network. The method includes: during the authenticating the network access requestor, having an authentication entity request to the on-line service provider the generation of the service access credentials; at the on-line service provider, generating the service access credentials, encrypting the service access credentials by exploiting a public encryption key of the network access requestor and providing the encrypted service access credentials to the authentication entity; and having the authentication entity cause the network access requestor to be provided with the encrypted service access credentials.
US09015461B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for generating a list of files accessed during an operating system (OS) boot process to profile the OS boot process, and optimizing the list of files to generate an optimized file list for use in future OS boot processes, where the optimizing is according to a first optimization technique if the files were accessed from a solid state medium and according to a second optimization technique if the files were accessed from a rotating medium. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09015455B2
A system and method for BIOS flash attack protection and notification. A processor initialization module, including initialization firmware verification module may be configured to execute first in response to a power on and/or reset and to verify initialization firmware stored in non-volatile memory in a processor package. The initialization firmware is configured to verify the BIOS. If the verification of the initialization firmware and/or the BIOS fails, the system is configured to select at least one of a plurality of responses including, but not limited to, preventing the BIOS from executing, initiating recovery, reporting the verification failure, halting, shutting down and/or allowing the BIOS to execute and an operating system (OS) to boot in a limited functionality mode.
US09015450B2
Embodiments of a processor architecture efficiently implement shadow registers in hardware. A register system in a processor includes a set of physical data registers coupled to register renaming logic. The register renaming logic stores data in and retrieves data from the set of physical registers when the processor is in a first processor state. The register renaming logic identifies ones of the set of physical registers that have a first operational state as a first group of registers and identifies the remaining ones of the set of physical registers as a second group of registers in response to an indication that the processor is to enter a second processor state from the first processor state. The register renaming logic stores data in and retrieves data from the second group of registers but not the first group of registers when the processor is in the second processor state.
US09015440B2
An autonomous sub-system receives a database downloaded from a host controller. A controller monitors bus traffic and/or allocated resources in the subsystem and re-allocates resources based on the monitored results to dynamically improve system performance.
US09015439B1
A system and method are disclosed for an event lock storage device. The storage device includes a user partition and an event partition (which may be associated with an event). The storage device receives data from a host device, and stores the data in the user partition. In response to receiving an indication of an event, the storage device may designate the data as part of the event partition. The event partition may include a set of access rules that is different from the user partition, such as more restrictive rules for modification or deletion of a file containing the data.
US09015437B2
The present disclosure provides a system and method for implementing extensible hardware configuration using memory. A memory containing an Info Block is provided. The Info Block contains a set of descriptors, which comprises an address part and a data part. The OTP Engine reads each valid descriptor stored in the Info Block, and writes the data in the data part into the memory location specified by the address part. The OTP Engine interacts with the Info Block by accessing the Info Block Controller registers via the central system bus.
US09015433B2
A method to provide resiliency with a destination volume in a replication environment is disclosed. Data from a source volume, such as a primary volume or a secondary volume in a replication relationship, is migrated to the destination volume. A snapshot representing data on a source volume is generated. The replication relationship between the source volumes is broken, and a new relationship between a source volume and the destination volume is established. A delta of data between the snapshot and one of the volumes in the new relationship is generated. The delta is sent to the other of the volumes in the new relationship.
US09015423B2
A computer product for reducing store operation busy times is provided and relates to associating first and second platform registers with a cache array, determining that first and second store operations target a same wordline of the cache array, loading control information and data of the store operations into the platform registers and delaying a commit of the first store operation until the loading of the second platform register is complete. The method further includes committing the data from the platform registers using the control information from the platform registers to the wordline of the cache array at a same time to thereby reduce a busy time of the wordline of the cache array.
US09015422B2
In an embodiment, a processor may implement an access map-pattern match (AMPM)-based prefetcher in which patterns may include wild cards for some cache blocks. The wild card may match any access for the corresponding cache block (e.g. no access, demand access, prefetch, successful prefetch, etc.). Furthermore, patterns with irregular strides and/or irregular access patterns may be included in the matching patterns and may be detected for prefetch generation. In an embodiment, the AMPM prefetcher may implement a chained access map for large streaming prefetches. If a stream is detected, the AMPM prefetcher may allocate a pair of map entries for the stream and may reuse the pair for subsequent access map regions within the stream. In some embodiments, a quality factor may be associated with each access map and may control the rate of prefetch generation.
US09015416B2
Some embodiments provide systems and methods for validating cached content based on changes in the content instead of an expiration interval. One method involves caching content and a first checksum in response to a first request for that content. The caching produces a cached instance of the content representative of a form of the content at the time of caching. The first checksum identifies the cached instance. In response to receiving a second request for the content, the method submits a request for a second checksum representing a current instance of the content and a request for the current instance. Upon receiving the second checksum, the method serves the cached instance of the content when the first checksum matches the second checksum and serves the current instance of the content upon completion of the transfer of the current instance when the first checksum does not match the second checksum.
US09015409B2
A method for prolonging the service life of a solid state drive. The method includes providing for use with a digital video recorder, a solid state drive (SSD) for time-shifted viewing of media content, changing the SSD from a first state to a second state based on a functional command from the user, and repeating changes between the first state and the second state, an accumulation of which over time results in a prolonged service life. A device designed to prolong the service life of a solid state drive is also provided.
US09015408B2
A method is disclosed for providing memory bus timing of a load reduction dual inline memory module (LRDIMM). The method includes: determining a latency value of a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) of the LRDIMM; determining a modified latency value of the DRAM that accounts for a delay caused by a load reduction buffer (LRB) that is deployed between the DRAM and a memory bus; storing the modified latency value in a serial presence detector (SPD) of the LRDIMM; and providing memory bus timing for the LRDIMM based on the modified latency value, wherein the memory bus timing is compatible with a registered dual inline memory module (RDIMM).
US09015406B2
A storage device made up of multiple storage media is configured such that a flash memory serves as a cache for data stored on a backend storage device having one or more magnetic storage media. The storage device includes a controller configured to maintain a direct mapping from respective backend block addresses of the backend storage device to respective physical addresses of the flash memory. Such mapping is used to translate a backend block address of the backend storage device at which a first block is stored into a physical address of the flash memory at which the first block is cached.
US09015398B2
Methods and structure for determining compatibility between a pair of SAS devices for support of super-standard features of the devices. Features and aspects hereof provide for exchange of information between a first and second SAS device using SAS protocol in non-standard manners. The exchanges are designed to exchange information between compatible, enhanced device without causing protocol violation errors in either the first or second devices. The information exchanged represents super-standard features supported by each device. Mutually supported super-standard features are enabled for further communications between the devices. If no super-standard features are mutually supported or if the second device is non-enhanced, no super-standard features are enabled in further communications between the devices.
US09015397B2
A DMA optimization circuit transfers data from a single source device to a plurality of destination devices on a computer bus. A first DMA control circuit is configured to transfer a payload of data from the source device to a first destination device where the payload of data divided into a plurality of chunks of data. A second DMA control circuit is configured to transfer the payload of data from the source device to a second destination device, and is further configured to perform a logical operation on the data transferred to the second destination device. A synchronization controller is configured to control each DMA control circuit to independently transfer the chunk of data, and receives a signal indicating that both DMA control circuits have finished transferring the corresponding chunk of data. The synchronization controller then transfers of a next chunk of data only when both DMA control circuits have finished transferring the corresponding chunk of data.
US09015386B2
The technology disclosed relates to testing of connected vehicle systems. The connections involved are sometimes referred to as Car-2-Car (C2C), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Car-2-Infrastructure (C2I), or Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I). More generically, the connections are referred to as C2X and V2X. The technology disclosed provides an over the wire simulation of signals that a system will receive in operation, which allows testing of algorithms, breadboards, prototypes and complete systems. The system simulates the position of multiple on board units as the move with the vehicles that carry them. It attenuates signals between the OBUs and can attenuate signals among the OBUs and other test components, including roadside units and synthetic OBUs. The simulation is can be practiced as a method, a device, or computer readable medium that causes a device to practice the method or that, when combined with appropriate hardware, produces the device.
US09015378B2
Methods and systems for acquiring and batching sensor data using a mobile device are described. In one example, a system in a mobile device is provided. The system includes one or more sensors, a memory, a sensor processor, and a main application processor. The sensor processor is configured to determine sensor data using the one or more sensors on an interval basis and store the sensor data into one or more first-in, first-out (FIFO) queues. Additionally, the sensor processor is configured to replace at least a portion of the stored sensor data if a main application processor of the mobile device does not request the stored sensor data within a certain amount of time. The main application processor is configured to receive data indicating a request for sensor data for a recent time period and, in response, to retrieve the sensor data from the one or more FIFO queues.
US09015367B2
A fieldbus gateway using a virtual serial fieldbus port and a data transmission method thereof are provided. By receiving a fieldbus frame containing target data through a virtual serial fieldbus port connected to a source device or a target device via a fieldbus gateway and sending another fieldbus frame containing the target data via other fieldbus port to target devices or source devices, the system and the method can provide two or more remote devices to control one controlled device at the same time. The invention also achieves the effect of using one virtual serial fieldbus port to transmit data between multiple source devices and target devices concurrently.
US09015366B2
A controller to which a second controller is connected arranges, based on predetermined integrated scenario information defining a first input region allotted for the controller and a second input region allotted for the second controller within data regions for packet input data, operation input data corresponding to an operation input from a user in the first input region, and data based on extended input data obtained from an extension apparatus in the second input region, generates packet input data, and transmits it to a device main unit.
US09015362B2
A computer program product is provided for performing a method including: receiving transmission data over a selected time interval for each of a plurality of communication paths; calculating an average round-trip transmission time for each of the plurality of communication paths over the time interval; comparing an average round-trip transmission time for a communication path having the highest average round-trip transmission time to a threshold value and to a multiple of an average round-trip transmission time for a communication path having the lowest average round-trip transmission time; and determining, based on a result of comparing the highest round-trip transmission time to the threshold value and to a multiple of the lowest round-trip transmission time, whether the time period indicates a delay in communication between the I/O subsystem and the control unit requiring at least one of a monitoring action and a recovery action.
US09015356B2
The present disclosure includes methods and devices for a memory controller. In one or more embodiments, a memory controller includes a plurality of back end channels, and a command queue communicatively coupled to the plurality of back end channels. The command queue is configured to hold host commands received from a host. Circuitry is configured to generate a number of back end commands at least in response to a number of the host commands in the command queue, and distribute the number of back end commands to a number of the plurality of back end channels.
US09015353B2
A method including intercepting a OFR for a file issued by an application to a FS, forwarding the OFR to the FS, receiving from the FS a FD for the file, issuing a SR for the file to the FS. The further method includes receiving from the FS status information for a target device on which the file is located, where the status information includes an OID for the file, storing a mapping of FD to the OID, intercepting a first FOR for the file, making a determination the that the first FOR is one of a read request and a write request, based on the determination, making another determination that the target device supports the direct I/O protocol, and issuing a DI request to the target device using the OID for the file, where the DI request is not processed by the FS.
US09015340B2
Systems and methods for splitting a network traffic flow in a data network are described. A flow of traffic between a source node and a destination node in the data network is split into a set of data paths. A data path includes one or more data links between nodes in the data network. A submap of the data network that excludes at least one data link is used to determine the set of flow paths.
US09015338B2
A method and apparatus for suppressing silence frames in a stream of media includes receiving a stream of media from a user and suppressing at least one silence frame from the received stream of media. The suppressed silence frame includes an initial silence frame situated before a first media frame and/or a silence frame situated between two successive media frames.
US09015337B2
In one implementation, a stream client emulator includes a stream access module and a monitor module. The stream access module receives stream data from a streaming service and consumes the stream data according to an output rate of a stream without outputting the stream data. The monitor module determines that buffer events have occurred relative to the stream data and a buffer characteristic.
US09015335B1
Technology is provided for dynamically adjusting the delivery of content by switching streams during delivery in order to adapt to bandwidth information. A server (or set of servers) storing content transmits one or more portions of a first version of a set content to a client and monitors that transmission (or other transmission) to determine bandwidth information. The server determines whether to switch versions of the set of content based on the bandwidth information. One or more additional portions of the first version of the set of content are transmitted from the server to the client if the server determines that it should not switch versions of the set of content. One or more portions of a second version of the set of content are transmitted from the server to the client if the server determines that it should switch versions. The first version of the set of content and the second version of the set of content are at different quality levels.
US09015334B2
A media streaming device which automatically senses the proximity of an auxiliary media player such as a digital picture frame or digital audio device, and automatically streams media information from the media streaming device to the auxiliary media player. Permissions can be set so that only some files are sent to the auxiliary media player, based on user specified permissions and/or based on copyright restrictions.
US09015317B2
The present technology may determine an anomaly in a portion of a distributed business application. Data can automatically be captured and analyzed for the portion of the application associated with the anomaly. By automatically capturing data for just the portion associated with the anomaly, the present technology reduces the resource and time requirements associated with other code-based solutions for monitoring transactions. A method for performing a diagnostic session for a request may begin with initiating collection of diagnostic data associated with a request. An application thread on each of two or more servers may be sampled. The application threads may be associated with the same business transaction and the business transaction may be associated with the request. The diagnostic data may be stored.
US09015307B2
An Application Server entity in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network comprises an interface for interfacing with an application and control logic which is arranged to inspect signaling information received from the application via the interface in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML). The received signaling information is compared with stored rule data which specifies a relationship between an element in the signaling information and an action that should be taken and output data is generated based on the comparison. The Application Server can output operational measurements and/or charging information which more accurately reflect usage made of the Application Server resources. The need for a separate OSA/Parlay-X gateway can be avoided.
US09015302B2
A method and apparatus for managing a network. Signals are received from a plurality of time sources. A signal having a desired level of accuracy is selected from the signals. A reference time in the network is established using the signal. Data to be transmitted through the network is encrypted to form encrypted data. The encrypted data includes a number of encrypted headers and an encrypted body. A next node in the network is identified based on a destination for the encrypted data. A request is generated to reserve a number of time intervals for transmitting the encrypted data to the next node through the network. The encrypted data is transmitted in the network during the number of time intervals responsive to receiving an approval for the request from the next node.
US09015298B2
To reduce the administration complexity required for a data processing (DP) network, provided particularly for use in the medical or clinical sector, a method is proposed which specifies a DP network which is advantageous in this respect and also an associated method of operation. The DP network includes a configuration server and also at least one further data processing appliance, on which an application, configured using prescribed configuration data, is installed. In this case, the configuration data are stored on the configuration server and are made available to the at least one DP appliance for the purpose of configuring the application (A).
US09015293B2
An apparatus and a method for setting a ping interval in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes transmitting a ping message to a server after a predefined time period corresponding to a set ping interval and determining whether a response message is received from the server, so as to determine whether a ping test succeeds, determining whether a short interval count value of the set ping interval is 0 by referring to a count table when the ping test is determined to be successful, and resetting the ping interval, and determining whether the short interval count value of the set ping interval is 0 by referring to the count table when the ping test fails, and resetting the ping interval.
US09015289B2
Techniques are disclosed for validating the resiliency of a networked application made available using a distributed computing infrastructure. In one embodiment, a latency monitoring application observes each active application component and at specified or unspecified intervals, selects one and introduces latency or error messages in one or more messages emanating from the selected active application component. The latency monitoring application then measures the effect of the latency or error messages on other active application components that are dependent on the affected active application component. By observing the effects of the failed server on the rest of the network application, a provider can ensure that each component can tolerate any unexpected latency or error conditions with the distributed computing infrastructure.
US09015278B2
The present technology monitors a web application provided by one or more services. A service may be provided by applications. The monitoring system provides end-to-end business transaction visibility, identifies performance issues quickly and has dynamical scaling capability across monitored systems including cloud systems, virtual systems and physical infrastructures. A method for communicating data between servers may detect by a first computer a request to a second computer. The request and a first name may be sent to the second computer by the first computer. The first name and request information may be sent to a server by the first computer. The first name and a second computer identifier may be transmitted to the server by the second computer.
US09015275B2
A method of distributing partial content objects may include receiving a request for a content object with a content identifier. The method may further include sending the content identifier from an edge server to a distribution server that is configured to determine that the content object is a candidate for partial object distribution, determine a first portion of the content object, and cause the first portion of the content object to be sent to the edge server. The method may additionally include caching, at the edge server, a second portion of the content object, where the first portion of the content object may include the second portion of the content object and a remaining portion of the content object, and where the second portion of the content object is smaller than the first portion of the content object.
US09015269B2
The present invention relates to the notification of a server device with the availability of resources in cache memories of a client device and to the serving of digital resources in such a client-server communication system. The notifying method comprises: obtaining a first list of resources available in the cache memories of the client device; filtering the first list according to filtering criteria relating to a resource parameter, to obtain a filtered list of fewer resources available in the client device or splitting the first list according to splitting criteria relating to a resource parameter, to obtain a plurality of sub-lists of resources available in the client device; and notifying the server device with data structures representing the filtered list or sub-lists of resources.
US09015266B2
Systems and methods relating to communication within a fabric network are presented. The fabric network includes one or more logical networks that enables devices connected to the fabric to communicate with each other using various profiles known to the devices. A device sending a message may follow a general message format to encode the message so that other devices in the fabric may understand the message regardless of which logical networks the devices are connected to. Within the message format, a payload of data may be included for the receiving device to forward, store, or process the message. The format and the contents of the payload may vary according to a header within the payload that indicates a profile and a message type within the profile. Using the profile and message type, the receiving devices may decode the message to process the message.
US09015264B2
Systems and methods for providing information include receiving messages associated with a user. Each message is associated with a respective conversation. A request for conversations associated with the user is received from a client. In response, display information for displaying the conversations as a list, including first and second rows respectively representing first and second conversations, is sent to the client. The first row includes a first recipient indicator indicating that the user is a primary message recipient in the first conversation. The second row includes a second recipient indicator indicating that the user is a secondary message recipient in the second conversation. A single field in each row is provided for presentation of both the first and second recipient indicators in individual rows. The first recipient indicator is not used to identify the primary recipient and the second recipient indicator is not used to identify the secondary recipient.
US09015261B2
A method, system, and program product for communicating with machines and end users connected to a network. Information sent to or from the machines is transmitted using electronic mail or a via a direct connection. The electronic mail may be transmitted over the Internet to a service center or from a service center to a resource administrator, but also may remain within a local or wide area network for transmission between a machine and an end user or a resource administrator. E-mail messages may be transmitted from a computer which is attached to a device which is being monitored or controlled and include information regarding the status, usage or capabilities of the attached device. The device may send status messages and usage information of the device by an end user to either a resource administrator or to a service center on the Internet through a firewall.
US09015255B2
Methods and apparatus are disclosed to identify session users with cookie information. An example method includes identifying activity associated with a first cookie having a first type, in response to identifying the first, parsing the first cookie to identify a first panelist, when the first cookie includes an identifier associated with a first panelist, associating current usage activity of the computing device with the first panelist, and when the first cookie includes an identifier unassociated with the first panelist, associating current usage activity of the computing device with a guest.
US09015254B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for calculating prominence of an email with regard to a user. During operation, the system determines an importance value associated with an email participant in the user's conversations, wherein the email participant is an email sender and/or recipient other than the user. Next, the system calculates a prominence value associated with a received email based upon at least the importance values associated with the email participants in the received email.
US09015246B2
A method of collaborating session management during remote control management with a mobile device which allows a Customer Service Representative to be able to share, transfer, and monitor their remote control sessions amongst other Customer Service Representatives without having to end the existing session.
US09015235B2
A software-implemented method which allows the streaming of applications from a server or cluster of server to one or more clients, typically mobile devices. The invention also enables the sharing, through a social network cloud service, of applications located on connected computers or on the cloud. When applications are streamed to mobile devices, the user interface of the application may be modified to fit the native user interface of the device.
US09015234B2
Embodiments of this invention are directed to providing an approach that provides an Internet-based testing environment. In a typical embodiment, there is a cloud connect agent that executes while a test-taker is taking a test on a client device. The cloud connect agent is configured to monitor and control certain components of the client device.
US09015215B2
Quantum annealing may include applying and gradually removing disorder terms to qubits of a quantum processor, for example superconducting flux qubits of a superconducting quantum processor. A problem Hamiltonian may be established by applying control signals to the qubits, an evolution Hamiltonian established by applying disorder terms, and annealing by gradually removing the disorder terms. Change in persistent current in the qubits may be compensated. Multipliers may mediate coupling between various qubits and a global signal line, for example by applying respective scaling factors. Two global signal lines may be arranged in an interdigitated pattern to couple to respective qubits of a communicatively coupled pair of qubits. Pairs of qubits may be communicatively isolated and used to measure a response of one another to defined signals.
US09015213B2
Methods, systems, and user interfaces for accessing, retrieving, storing, and presenting information stored in computer readable media. Information stored on a computer readable media may be searched using selectable items representing an index of information. In response to selection of one of the selectable items, information is presented which is related to the selected item, concurrently with display of the index and at least one least one previously-selected item in a hierarchical display. The invention has particular application to the legal field, but is also applicable to other fields, e.g., accounting, medicine, business and finance, engineering, scientific fields, merchandising fields, fulfillment fields, inventory fields, etc.
US09015206B2
The present invention provides a general solution to presenting media interface and navigation tools for content provided from a plurality of sources. The invention maintains a user at a single site regardless of the source of the media content. This permits a consistent interface to be presented to the user. Because the user remains at the same site, differences in tiered membership may be tracked so that the user is only presented with content that the user is permitted to view. The invention uses a metadata language to characterize content so that viewer type, membership level, and other information can be maintained and used for an enjoyable viewing experience.
US09015205B2
Upon requesting to share one or more types of identity information, a user is automatically presented with an interface through which the user can interact in selecting an amount of identity items to share. A subset of the total identity items selected may then be shared with specified entities. Interfaces can also be used to assist the user in managing identity information that has been shared with others by providing the user with a visual list of entities for which the user has shared specified identity information and to whom updated information can be sent.
US09015203B2
A mechanism is provided for managing balloon objects of a memory balloon for a runtime environment executing in a virtual machine. The mechanism includes a balloon agent that evaluates a relative value of each balloon object. The balloon agent may set an allocation rate of rebuilding balloon objects based on life spans of previously garbage-collected balloon objects. The balloon agent may also modify a percentage of balloon objects to be weak-referenced based on an amount of application data freed in a previous garbage collection.
US09015202B2
Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and/or systems for manipulating hierarchical sets of data are disclosed.
US09015198B2
A logical apparatus and associated methods provide highly scalable and flexible data storage in a network of computers. The apparatus provides flexible organizational and access control mechanisms and a practical and efficient way to work with smaller portions of a data storage system at a given time to enable sparse population, caching, paging and related functions. A data structure, called a virtual container, comprises references to objects stored in a data storage system such that the same object can be visible from different virtual containers, if such virtual containers hold references to said object. Access controls further enhance the effectiveness of the methods and structures to enable multiple simultaneous organizational schemes and selective sharing of objects. Participating nodes provide access to objects stored on said nodes and their participating peer nodes, employing the data storage apparatus, such that balance in the network is achieved by data placement decisions that may combine common constraints and a node's individual self interest.
US09015177B2
An online service includes managed databases that include one or more tenants (e.g. customers, users). A multi-tenant database may be split between two or more databases while the database being split continues processing requests. For example, web servers continue to request operations on the database while content is being moved. After moving the content, tenant traffic is automatically redirected to the database that contains the tenant's content.
US09015176B2
Keyword expansion is used to expand a particular keyword into multiple related keyword candidates using a collection of data that relates to search queries performed using one or more search engines. The data identifies search terms from associated search queries. A particular keyword is identified and one or more candidate keywords related to the particular keyword are identified based on the data.
US09015175B2
A system and method for filtering an already obtained information resource (“document”) for display is described, including identifying a target portion of the information resource; dividing the data of the target portion into elements of a set; receiving one or more search requests as a filter specification; interpreting the filter specification as a Boolean logic expression; evaluating the elements of the set based on the Boolean logic expression, in an ongoing manner, each time the filter specification is entered or modified; and dynamically re-rendering the display, upon each such entry or modification of the filter specification, with all elements not matching the logic expression removed from the display of the target portion, providing the user with a “shrinking document” more likely to contain just the information being looked for.
US09015172B2
Various embodiments of the present invention include concept-service components of content-search-service systems which employ ontologies and vocabularies prepared for particular categories of content at particular times in order to score transcripts prepared from content items to enable a search-service component of a content-search-service system to assign estimates of the relatedness of portions of a content item to search criteria in order to render search results to clients of the content-search-service system. The concept-service component processes a search request to generate lists of related terms, and then employs the lists of related terms to process transcripts in order to score transcripts based on information contained in the ontologies.
US09015170B2
Techniques are provided for selecting a diverse mix of content items that may be displayed to a user. Content items such as user-generated events are received from a variety of sources. One or more content items are added to a set of content items based on a diversity of characteristics. The diversity of characteristics for the one or more content items may be calculated by measuring a diversity of characteristics of the set as if the one or more content items were added to the set. Content items that produce a greater diversity are selected for addition to the set. The set is displayed to the user, who is provided with a more meaningful mix of content due to the greater diversity in content.
US09015153B1
System and methods are disclosed for discovering topics in sub-segments of documents, and extracting terms from a sub-segment representing topics or summaries of the sub-segment, and displaying such terms in connection with the sub-segment or with the document, which can also function as automatically generated tags or labels for the segments or for the documents. Methods are also disclosed for building search indexes based on specific sub-segments of documents, such that, users can search for contents in a specific segment of the document. One embodiment of such a search index is with emails, blogs, and forum articles that typically contain segmented contents added at different times or by different authors in a format known as a thread, and searching in a specific segment such as the most recently added segment can help quickly find the most relevant information without repeating the same information in other segments in the thread.
US09015150B2
Techniques are disclosed for presenting semi-structured sets of search results comprising two or more differently-structured subsets of search results. The search results are divided into two or more groups of similarly-structured results. The search results are displayed in their respective groups rather than as a single set. Each group is displayed using a different display structure, in an order determined by a group ranking mechanism. The search results within a group ordered by a result ranking mechanism. Techniques are also disclosed for enhancing a display of similarly structured data by emphasizing highly relevant result fields. The highly relevant result fields may be identified based on metadata ranking mechanisms, uniqueness of their constituent values, historical feedback, keyword location, and/or other mechanisms. The fields are emphasized using, without limitation, highlighting, reordering, and filtering of unemphasized fields from the display.
US09015148B2
Described is the presenting of suggested queries for web pages that are not search engine results pages, based upon the URL and/or content of a currently displayed page. The suggested query set may be dynamically extracted (locally or remotely) based upon the content of the web page, and/or obtained from a data store of per-URL suggested query sets, e.g., generated from historical logs. Also described are various techniques for generating suggested queries, and user interface mechanisms that display and allow interaction with suggested queries.
US09015142B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying listings of multi-site entities based on user behavior signals. In one aspect, a method exploits user behavioral signals that are strong indicators of whether a search result previously presented for a multi-site-entity search query is, in fact, a relevant result, and affords sufficient weight to these behavioral signals to overcome other signals of relevance for the search result. Two such strong user behavior signals include (i) users invoking an information window from a search result and (ii) users submitting a direction request related to a search result. A black list of search results and/or a search result index can be generated based on how the two strong behavior signals associated with the search results compare to threshold values set for the two strong behavior signals.
US09015140B2
The present invention provides a method and system for providing targeted applications within a search engine results page. The method and system includes receiving a search query from a user and interpreting the search query. The method and system then first maps the interpreted query to one or more action templates, wherein mapping the interpreted query to one or more action templates comprises selecting one or more actions associated with the interpreted query. The method and system then maps the selected one or more actions associated with the interpreted query to a plurality of applications and selecting one or more applications associated with the one or more actions. Finally, the method and system displays the one or more applications within a search results page.
US09015138B2
The present invention provides methods to provide or establish links, web addresses or web content with media (e.g., audio, videos or imagery). In one implementation, we provide a method comprising: upon receipt of a content identifier associated with media, initiating a time-limited auction for a right to associated a link or website with the content identifier; receiving additional bids for the right; and at a conclusion of a predetermined time associated with the time-limited auction, awarding the right to associate a link or website with the content identifier. In another implementation we provide a method including awarding a right to provide or host web content; and monitoring provided or hosted web content to ensure that non-advertising content is maintained at or above a predetermined level. In yet another implementation, we provide a method including: receiving a content identifier associated with media; determining whether web content exists that is associated with the content identifier; if the web content exists, providing the web content or a pointer to the web content; and if web content does not exist, allowing a user who provided the content identifier to provide or host web content.
US09015135B2
A system and method to separate business processing from data handling. A persistence layer resides between an application and a database. The persistence layer receives updates from the application and stores them in a memory delaying writeback to the database to a later time.
US09015130B1
The present invention, in one embodiment, is directed to a spam filter 132 that identifies, based on a likely interest of a user, electronic text messages addressed to the user as being spam or non-spam and determines a likely interest of the user using at least one of the following: (i) at least part of a search query provided to a search engine; (ii) content of at least one web page selected by the user during a browsing session; (iii) content of a cookie; (iv) a live voice electronic address; and (v) an entry in an electronic calendar of the user.
US09015128B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for characterizing one or more users accessing a plurality of web pages. In an embodiment, a social sharing graph is generated based on the one or more log records. The one or more log records are indicative of the one or more user activities. A first and a second score are assigned to preferably each of the one or more users in the social sharing graph based on the one or more log records. Finally, the one or more users are categorized in a first category and a second category based on the first score and the second score.
US09015121B1
The system described herein provides for unifying the streams of I/O, external VM snapshot triggers and VM internal operations into one in connection with providing for snapshotting of both the data storage of a storage system and one or more associated VMs over time. The system described herein thereby allows recording undo and redo journals for all the streams substantially simultaneously. The system described herein unifies snapshots for data storage and all associated VMs in response to one or more triggers. A tag of the unified snapshots may therefore automatically refer to a point-in-time of both the VM and array data.
US09015105B2
A form is received and loaded. It is determined if a schema structure definition defines one or more choice elements for data of the form. A data structure is created for the data. The data structure includes both a schema structure valid component and a non-validated component. When a user selects one of the choice elements, a first set of zero or more data elements corresponding to the selected choice element are loaded into the schema structure valid component of the data structure. The previous set of zero or more data elements and values associated with the previous set of data elements are then stored in the non-validated component of the data structure.
US09015101B2
Certain examples provide systems, methods, and apparatus to model clinical data objects in a content-based clinical system. An example system includes a processor and a memory to implement a constraint definition language processor to define a detailed clinical model to express a clinical concept as a standardized and reusable set of clinical knowledge. The constraint definition language processor is to use a compiled, context-free constraint definition language to define the detailed clinical model as a compiled object. The constraint definition language processor is to provide the compiled object as content for at least one of a clinical content database and a clinical information system. Content represents one or more parameters to instruct a clinical application.
US09015089B2
Quantitatively identifying and forecasting shifts in a mood of social media users is described. An example method includes categorizing the textual messages generated from the social media users over a selected period of time into a plurality of word categories, with each word category containing a set of words associated with the mood of social media users. A score indicating an intensity of the mood of the social media users is calculated for each word category, wherein a value of the score and its corresponding time point define a data point for the word category. Subsequently, breakpoints in the mood of social media users are determined so that the breakpoints minimize a sum of square errors representing a measurement of a consistency of all data points from inferred values of the scores of the data points derived using the breakpoints over the selected period of time. Further, space of all possible breakpoints for the word categories are searched to identify a defined number and locations of the breakpoints. Finally the breakpoints over the selected period of time are interpreted to identify the shifts in the mood of social media users and trends between breakpoints.
US09015084B2
A user may be exposed to multiple token instances representing stimuli that may influence the affective state of the user. Described herein are embodiments of systems, method, and computer programs for estimating affective response to a token instance of interest, selected from among the token instances. In one example embodiment, the token instance of interest is a token instance for which attention level of the user is higher than at least one other token instance.
US09015083B1
Systems and methods are disclosed for distributed first- or higher-order model fitting algorithms. Determination of the parameter set for the objective function is divided into a plurality of sub-processes, each performed by one of a plurality of worker computers. A master computer coordinates the operation of the plurality of worker computers, each operating on a portion of the parameter set such that no two worker computers contain exactly the same parameter subset nor the complete parameter set. Each worker computer performs its sub-processes on its parameter subset, together with training data. For maximum efficiency, the sub-processes are performed using a compact set of instruction primitives. The results are evaluated by the master computer, which may coordinate additional sub-process operations to perform higher-order optimization or terminate the optimization method and proceed to formulation of a model function.
US09015082B1
A computing device receives a training data set that comprises a plurality of sensitive documents and a plurality of non-sensitive documents. The computing device determines a quality of the training data set. The quality may be determined using k-fold cross validation and/or latent semantic indexing. In response to determining that the training data set has a satisfactory quality, the computing device then analyzes the training data set using machine learning to train a machine learning-based detection (MLD) profile, the MLD profile to be used by a data loss prevention (DLP) system to classify new documents as sensitive documents or as non-sensitive documents.
US09015081B2
Escalations in users' goals or concerns in web-based searching and browsing may be predicted. An escalation feature is extracted from a webpage and run through a classifier trained to estimate a likelihood that a subsequent search query will comprise an escalation when compared to a previous search query and/or that a subsequent webpage selection will comprise an escalation when compared to a previous webpage selection. It can thus be predicted whether a user visiting a current webpage is likely to escalate or navigate to another webpage based upon the current webpage, for example.
US09015079B2
Systems and methods for verifying and monitoring employees are provided. Employees call-in to the system at scheduled times. If an employee misses a scheduled call-in, an alert can be generated. An employer notification process can generate the alert, notifying a supervisor of the employee's missed call. The alert can include the employee's name, the location of the employee, and the time he/she was supposed to call. Such systems and methods can be used to verify that a worker is at the proper location at the proper time and awake and alert during the entire time period that he/she is supposed to be working.
US09015072B2
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for managing inventory are disclosed. For example, the method monitors a region of interest to determine an inventory level based upon a depth image captured by a depth sensing device, calculates a change in a depth in the region of interest from the depth image that is captured and determines a change in the inventory level associated with the change in the depth of the region of interest.
US09015070B2
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for pre-processing a sales return. The system may initiate a sales return transaction prior to a customer being physically present at a merchant store. To this extent, the system is also capable of transmitting sales return information to a merchant such that the consumer's presence is not necessary in order to process a sales return transaction. Merchants and Consumers may use QR codes to both process payments for sales transactions and initiate sales return transactions.
US09015069B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to electronic order processing of items in an electronic commerce environment. A geographic boundary associated with a physical location of a retail entity can be implemented using, for example, a geo-fence. An order for an item from the retail location can be received by a customer and a notification prioritizing processing of the order can be generated based on a location of the user relative to the geographic boundary.
US09015066B2
Methods and systems are provided for loading money from a gift card into a digital wallet. The transfer can be done at a point of sale (POS), such as during a purchase of the gift card. The digital wallet can be a digital wallet of a user who is purchasing the gift card. The money in the digital wallet can be used to purchase products from the same merchant or another merchant. The money can be transferred from the digital wallet to any other person or entity.
US09015062B2
Systems and methods are for identifying online advertisements to display to a user based on historical user data collected across the user's use of a plurality of Internet devices. One method includes receiving, over a network, a request for an advertisement to display at a first device of the user, the request including a unique identifier stored on the user's first device; accessing, in a database, a demographic or browsing history information generated from the user's use of a second device, the demographic or browsing history information being stored in the database in relation to the unique identifier; and identifying, based on the demographic or browsing history information, an advertisement to display at the user's first device. The demographic or browsing history information is synchronized based on the unique identifier being stored on the user's first device and the user's second device.
US09015048B2
A system and method for integrating incremental speech recognition in dialog systems. An example system configured to practice the method receives incremental speech recognition results of user speech as part of a dialog with a user, and copies a dialog manager operating on the user speech to generate temporary instances of the dialog manager. Then the system evaluates actions the temporary instances of the dialog manager would take based on the incremental speech recognition results, and identifies an action that would advance the dialog and a corresponding temporary instance of the dialog manager. The system can then execute the action in the dialog and optionally replace the dialog manager with the corresponding temporary instance of the dialog manager. The action can include making a turn-taking decision in the dialog, such as whether, what, and when to speak or whether to be silent.
US09015031B2
In an automated Question Answer (QA) system architecture for automatic open-domain Question Answering, a system, method and computer program product for predicting the Lexical Answer Type (LAT) of a question. The approach is completely unsupervised and is based on a large-scale lexical knowledge base automatically extracted from a Web corpus. This approach for predicting the LAT can be implemented as a specific subtask of a QA process, and/or used for general purpose knowledge acquisition tasks such as frame induction from text.
US09015026B2
A system and method for verifying logic circuit designs having arithmetic operations and complex logical operations such that the operations may be evaluated at substantially full hardware speed is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a system for verifying the functionalities of an electronic circuit design comprises hardware emulation resources emulating at least a portion of an electronic circuit design; and a first hardware ALU block having an arithmetic logic unit that performs an arithmetic operation or a complex logical operation of the electronic circuit design, and a set of flag registers that contains a conditional value for enabling the arithmetic logic unit.
US09015004B2
A system for emergency power supply in case of power grid failure, particularly for longer-term power failures, is described. The system is based on emergency power systems that automatically form an autonomous telecommunication network and transmit data by means of the telecommunication network about the operating state of the emergency power supply system and optionally further data.
US09015000B2
The monitoring breathalyzer has an alcohol sensor, a non-volatile memory, a processing unit or processor, a screen and a housing to house these components. The processing unit determines the accuracy of the breathalyzer using the user's body as a simulator. In monitoring mode, the processing unit receives a BAC % measurement from the alcohol sensor based on the breath sample provided by the user at a sample time to provide reference point. The sample time is determined based on the user's metabolism rate or based on a time to a predetermined calibration point from a drink start time.
US09014997B2
Drive techniques for a digital flowmeter are described. The drive techniques account for delays caused during digital signal processing of sensor signals that correspond to a motion of a flowtube, as well as drive signals that impart motion to the flowtube. Such delays may be caused by a variety of factors, including delays associated with analog/digital conversion of the signals and/or filtering of the signals. The techniques include open-loop techniques and closed-loop techniques, which can be used separately or together during the start-up and operation of the digital flowmeter.
US09014995B2
A collector monitoring system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the collector monitoring system includes: a sensor connected to an interior surface of a dynamoelectric machine housing, the sensor for sensing a condition of a collector during operation of a dynamoelectric machine; and a diagnostic system operably connected to the sensor, the diagnostic system configured to: obtain data about the condition of the collector from the sensor; compare the data about the condition of the collector with a predetermined condition threshold; and provide an indicator of a collector fault in response to the data about the condition of the collector exceeding the predetermined condition threshold.
US09014994B2
A multi-phase process fluid is passed through a vibratable flowtube. Motion is induced in the vibratable flowtube. A first apparent property of the multi-phase process fluid based on the motion of the vibratable flowtube is determined, and an apparent intermediate value associated with the multi-phase process fluid based on the first apparent property is determined. A corrected intermediate value is determined based on a mapping between the intermediate value and the corrected intermediate value. A phase-specific property of a phase of the multi-phase process fluid is determined based on the corrected intermediate value.
US09014987B2
Systems and methods for analyzing community structures within a plurality of environmental samples are described herein. The method includes obtaining taxa data corresponding to taxonomic groups within the plurality of the environmental samples. Based on the taxa data, an abundance value for each of the taxonomic groups with respect to each of the plurality of environmental samples is determined. Further, based on abundance values, an interaction factor for each pair of the taxonomic groups in the plurality of environmental samples is computed. The interaction factor is indicative of a degree of interaction between a pair of taxonomic groups from among the taxonomic groups. Based in part on interaction factors and abundance values, the plurality of the environmental samples is clustered.
US09014981B1
Characteristics of a book are determined. A plurality of maximum-likelihood dates associated with text pages within the book is accessed. A maximum-likelihood date for a text page indicates a time period during which that text page was most likely to have been written. The plurality of maximum-likelihood dates is ordered according to the maximum-likelihood dates' associated text pages, from a first text page for which a maximum-likelihood date is available to a last text page for which a maximum-likelihood date is available. The ordered plurality of maximum-likelihood dates is analyzed according to a heuristic to determine characteristics of the book.
US09014978B2
For a more efficient utilization of data that are relevant to safety and/or mobility, data are read from a plurality of data sources. The data of each data source sets of coordinates of real locations relevant for a respective aspect can be determined. Based on a respective set of coordinates for each of the real locations a respective area is then defined for each of the data sources, and a value assigned to the area is determined. Overlapping areas defined for a respective data source are aggregated so as to obtain non-overlapping areas with at least one assigned value for each of the data sources. The non-overlapping areas are superposed with the assigned values. The result is a value distribution, which reflects an overall situation with regard to the at least two aspects in a real region. An apparatus, a system, a program and a storage medium are configured accordingly.
US09014976B2
If a destination set on a display 3 is a facility not having connection relation between facilities stored in a facility information DB 84, a scroll direction detecting unit 92 that detects a scroll direction of a map 31 detects a direction instructed for scroll as the scroll direction and a display controlling unit 94 performs scroll of the map 31 in the scroll direction. In addition, if the set destination is a facility having the connection relation between the facilities, the scroll direction detecting unit 92 that detects a scroll direction of the map 31 detects the scroll direction based on the connection relation of the destination and the direction instructed for scroll and the display controlling unit 94 performs the scroll of the map 31 to a position of a facility connected to the destination in the scroll direction.
US09014971B2
A vehicle tracking system for tracking a position of at least one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles within a region, includes a plurality of identifiers, an imaging device, and a controller. At least one of the identifiers is provided on each of the vehicles. The imaging device is configured to generate image data including (i) region data representative of the region and (ii) identifier data representative of the identifiers located in the region. The controller is configured (i) to process the identifier data to generate position data representative of a position of each of the identifiers within the region, (ii) to process the identifier data to generate identification data that are unique to each identifier, and (iii) to output at least one of the image data, the position data, and the identification data to a monitor.
US09014957B2
Methods and systems for determining trajectories for vehicles of a fleet of vehicles are provided. In one example, a method comprises receiving an initial location of one or more vehicles, and receiving a sequence of coverage requirements for a region and an associated period of time. The region may be divided into a plurality of landmarks and the period of time may be divided into a plurality of phases. The method also comprises determining for each of one or more phases and at least one respective landmark, a set of starting landmarks from which a vehicle could reach the respective landmark during the phase. The method further comprises determining which respective landmark that the vehicle should travel to during the one or more phases based on the sequence of coverage requirements and the set of starting landmarks for the one or more phases and the at least one respective landmark.
US09014945B2
A system is provided that includes a memory storing a turbomachinery degradation model configured to model degradation of a turbomachinery over time. The system also includes a controller communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to control the turbomachinery based on a feedback signal and the turbomachinery degradation model. Moreover, the turbomachinery degradation model is configured to use a target power to derive a control parameter by estimating a modeled power of the turbomachinery, and the controller is configured to use the control parameter to control the turbomachinery.
US09014944B2
A turbo machine includes a speed probe that is configured to detect a speed of a rotating feature. Engine controls are used by a processor to control operation of the turbo machine. The processor communicates with the speed sensor and receives the speed signal to produce a command signal. A detection module is arranged in parallel with the processor and communicates with the speed probe to receive the speed signal. The detection module compares the speed signal with data to determine whether the speed signal is reliable. In one example, the detection module bypassed the processor and sends a corrective command directly to an engine control device in response to an unreliable speed signal.
US09014940B2
Vehicle mass is estimated in a hybrid motor vehicle. Upon determination of a significant change in vehicle mass, adjustments are made to control of the regenerative braking systems and to energy storage levels to improve fuel efficiency. Upon determination of an increase in vehicle mass, the amount of braking force applied to the vehicle by the regenerative braking system in response to brake pedal movement is increased in order to capture more braking energy before friction braking is used.
US09014934B2
A method of controlling a pump for a hybrid transmission includes commanding a first line pressure of the transmission and deriving a first torque value—an open-loop torque value—from the first line pressure command, and commanding the pump to operate at the first torque value. The method monitors actual speed of the pump and derives a second torque value—a closed-loop torque value—therefrom. A third torque value is derived from the first and second torque values, and the pump commanded to operate at the third torque value. A first speed value may be derived from the first line pressure command, and the second torque value derived from the difference between the monitored and the first speed values. Deriving the third torque value may include a substantially-linear combination of the first and second torque values.
US09014927B2
A shift control system is mounted on a vehicle that includes a transmission. The transmission includes a multi-gear shifting mechanism. Also, the transmission is configured to shift a speed of rotational power from an engine in response to a shift request and to output the rotational power to a drive wheel side. The shift control system includes a detecting unit and a control unit. The detecting unit detects the shift request. When the detecting unit has detected a multiple-gear skip downshift request as the shift request from a first gear to a second gear, the control unit executes shift control that includes a skip shift from the first gear to a predetermined intermediate-speed gear and a sequential shift from the predetermined intermediate-speed gear to the second gear, the first gear been higher by multiple gears than the predetermined intermediate-speed gear.
US09014921B2
A method in which the driving behavior of a vehicle is influenced as a function of data on the surroundings in order to assist an avoidance maneuver, as soon as a risk of a collision is detected on the basis of the data from one or more environment sensors, in particular radar sensors and/or cameras, and the data from one or more vehicle sensors, in particular a steering angle sensor and/or yaw rate sensor and/or wheel speed sensors, and the vehicle has an electronically controlled brake system which permits a driver-independent buildup and modulation of the braking forces at the individual wheels of the vehicle, wherein when a risk of a collision is detected, in a first phase a turning-in operation by the driver is assisted and/or in a second phase a steering operation by the driver is damped. Furthermore, an electronic control unit for a brake system is defined.
US09014919B2
A lane change control method and system that include a driver mode setting unit that sets a driver's lane change mode based on a lane change mode input from a plurality of lane change modes and a lane change path generation unit that generates a lane change path based on the lane change mode set by the driver mode setting unit, a transverse acceleration of vehicle, a target path angle and a target transverse distance path. In addition, a path follow up controller executes a lane change based on the lane change path by calculating steering angle information that corresponds to the lane change path.
US09014910B2
A system and method that reports vehicle data to one or more third parties using an onboard telematics unit. The method includes the steps of selecting a type of data to be reported and identifying a third party to receive the selected type of data. The onboard telematics unit receives a portion of the data that is classified as the type of data to be received by the third party. The vehicle information is then associated with the received data to create a report. The report is then transmitted to the third party using the onboard telematics unit allowing the third party to analyze the report. Several reports for various types of data may be generated to be disseminated to various third parties.
US09014904B2
A driver assistance system for a vehicle includes an imaging device disposed at an exterior portion of a vehicle. With the imaging device disposed at the exterior portion of the vehicle, the imaging device has a field of view at least one of rearward of the vehicle and sideward of the vehicle. A control utilizes edge detection in processing image data captured by the imaging device. Responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by the control, the control determines that an object is present in the field of view of the imaging device. The control is operable to determine that the imaging device is misaligned. The control, responsive to a determination of misalignment of the imaging array sensor, is operable to at least partially compensate for the determined misalignment of the imaging device.
US09014897B2
A torque distribution apparatus acquires instructed torque input and a motor efficiency map; detects vehicular speed and drive wheel rotational speed; calculates based on the speeds, a relational expression of a slip rate at drive wheels and a friction coefficient; creates based on the relational expression, a performance curve expression that indicates torque-drive wheel rotational speed relations, superimposes the performance curve expression on the motor efficiency map, creates an efficiency variation expression that indicates for each vehicular speed, the torque and efficiency values of the motor efficiency map, and calculates torque that optimizes efficiency, from the efficiency variation expression; calculates within a range of the slip rate being 0 to 0.2 and based on the instructed torque and torque optimizing efficiency, a torque distribution value for each of the motors such that total efficiency ηtotal=Σ((Tn/T)×ηdn×ηλn) is maximized; and controls based on the calculated torque distribution values, torque distribution among motors.
US09014893B2
A plug-in hybrid vehicle includes: an internal combustion engine outputting driving power; an electric motor outputting driving power; an electrical storage device storing electric power; and a controller. The controller is configured to learn an electric power consumption rate by calculating the electric power consumption rate when the vehicle has traveled on the electric power stored in the electrical storage device using only the electric motor as a driving force source and to control travel of the vehicle using at least one of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor as the driving force source. The controller is configured to, when a driving frequency of the internal combustion engine that is driven as the vehicle travels on at least one of an uphill and a downhill is higher than a predetermined frequency, invalidate the calculated electric power consumption rate or information acquired to calculate the electric power consumption rate.
US09014892B2
Disclosed is a control method for a hybrid vehicle that couples an engine clutch promptly while minimizing consumption of battery SOC and deterioration of fuel ratio, and further improves acceleration of the vehicle even in a situation in which a driver works an acceleration pedal deep during an EV mode.
US09014891B2
A control unit increases a discharge allowable power when the running mode is at a charge depleting mode and an engine is stopped. An engine operation determination unit determines whether the engine is to be set at load operation or not based on a non-increased power value when the running mode is at the charge sustaining mode, and based on an increased power value when the running mode is at the charge depleting mode. In the case where the engine is at no-load operation, the engine operation determination unit determines whether the engine is to be set at load operation or not based on the non-increased power value even if the running mode is at the charge depleting mode.
US09014888B2
A communication and analysis system can manage data operations with a vehicle centric system. A vehicle that is in a communications link with a network can also manage its activities based on real-time, historical and predictive knowledge, without having this knowledge processing on-board. Such data processing includes the geo-spatial, internal functions and operator specific requirements. The rule based system also incorporates the use patterns of a specific vehicle, or a specific user. A use pattern can be transferred from one operator to another or be shared to assist with navigation and operations. A vehicle operator or vehicle multiple operators can share or upload information that can assist with efficient operations, including fuel conservation and time management. Use patterns can be assigned to geospatial regions and be used for comparative analysis for such activities as efficient operation, safe travel and navigation.
US09014887B2
A utility vehicle includes a first axle, a second axle, an electric motor, an internal combustion engine, and a torque transfer device. The first axle is coupled to first and second wheels. The second axle is coupled to third and fourth wheels. The electric motor drives the first axle in a first direction and a second direction at different times. The internal combustion engine drives a transmission output shaft in one direction. The torque transfer device selectively drives the second axle in the first direction in response to rotation of the transmission output shaft in the one direction. The torque transfer device also selectively drives the second axle in the second direction in response to rotation of the transmission output shaft in the one direction.
US09014881B2
A system for providing a visual indication of a predicted stopping point to an aircraft crew during landing or an aborted take-off attempt includes a ground based transceiver to determine aircraft position along a runway, a processor to determine deceleration of aircraft, and a ground based visual display. The transceiver is located adjacent to the runway to capture the location of an aircraft along the runway and to convey that information to the processor. The processor continually compares the location of the aircraft on the runway to project a stopping point for the aircraft based on current conditions. The stopping point is conveyed to the crew by the ground based visual display.
US09014880B2
A trajectory-based sense-and-avoid system for use on an aircraft is provided that utilizes 4-D constructs, such as 4-D trajectories or 4-D polytopes, to maintain separation from other aircraft and/or to avoid collisions with other aircraft. In certain embodiments the trajectory-based sense-and-avoid system utilizes 4-D trajectories provided from an external source and/or 4-D trajectories estimated based on a variety of data sources during operation.
US09014879B2
A system and method for validating data entry in response to an instruction received in an aircraft cockpit includes receiving, in an aircraft cockpit, an instruction that requires an aircraft pilot to manually enter a target value into an avionics system using an avionics system user interface. The received instruction is processed to determine the target value that should be set by the aircraft pilot using the avionics system user interface. Haptic feedback is to the avionics system user interface during the manual entry by the aircraft pilot.
US09014868B2
An apparatus and an article of manufacture for improving power factor include collecting consumption data of at least one appliance, building a consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption data collected, reconstructing reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance, and computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance in accordance the reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance to improve power factor while respecting at least one constraint.
US09014856B2
In one embodiment of the invention, a control system for a robotic surgical instrument is provided including a torque saturation limiter, a torque to current converter coupled to the torque saturation limiter, and a motor coupled to the torque to current converter. The torque saturation limiter receives a desired torque signal for one or more end effectors and limits the desired torque to a range between an upper torque limit and a lower torque limit generating a bounded torque signal. The torque to current converter transforms a torque signal into a current signal. The motor drives an end effector of one or more end effectors to the bounded torque signal in response to the first current signal.
US09014848B2
A robot system includes a mobile robot having a controller executing a control system for controlling operation of the robot, a cloud computing service in communication with the controller of the robot, and a remote computing device in communication with the cloud computing service. The remote computing device communicates with the robot through the cloud computing service.
US09014833B2
There is provided a system for reproduction of media content. The system includes at least one sound reproduction apparatus being wirelessly connectable to at least one control apparatus via at least one data channel, the at least one control apparatus being connected to the at least one sound reproduction apparatus once the at least one control apparatus receives a first signal indicating a presence of the at least one sound reproduction apparatus; and the at least one control apparatus being wirelessly connectable to at least one data storage apparatus on a data network. Preferably, the at least one sound reproduction apparatus plays back audio signals of the media content which is either stored on the at least one control apparatus or received via the data network, and with the audio signals of the media content being received at a memory module of the at least one sound reproduction apparatus. The audio signals may be played back either in a streaming form or a stored-data playback form, the form depending on the audio signals stored in the memory module.
US09014831B2
A server-side audio file beat mixing device and method are provided that enable users to create custom “DJ-style Beat Mixed” play lists of songs that are then mixed continuously on a host computer server matching beats of preset mix length, layering and mixing in of transitional sounds/effects, imposing audio processing technologies, and finally converting to a compressed audio format and delivered back to the customer for download, or shipped as a CD. Currently, multi-track editing programs like Sony Acid allow users to mix songs on their computers to create DJ-style mixed programs; however, this and all local computer software-based solutions require significant user skill, patience and time as well as computer processing power to accomplish similar results. This invention provides a better, easier solution that takes the time-intensive mixing process out of the user's hands.
US09014815B2
A medical device lead is presented that includes an electrode assembly having a first electrode located near a distal end of the electrode assembly and a second electrode located near a proximal end of the electrode assembly. The electrode assembly also includes a conductive elongated coupler that is electrically coupled to the first electrode and capacitively coupled to the second electrode. At low frequencies and DC (e.g., during delivery of stimulation therapy), the capacitive coupling between the conductive elongated coupler and the second electrode presents a high impedance allowing little current to be redirected from the first electrode to the second electrode. However, at high frequencies (e.g., during an MRI scan) the capacitive coupling between the conductive elongated coupler and the second electrode presents a low impedance, resulting in a significant amount of induced current being redirected to the second electrode and dissipated into bodily fluid surrounding the second electrode.
US09014813B2
An apparatus is disclosed for providing efficient stimulation. As an example, a variable compliance regulator can be connected to supply a compliance voltage to a power supply rail, which compliance voltage can vary dynamically based on a stimulus waveform. A pulse generator can be configured to provide an output waveform to one or more output based on the stimulus waveform for delivery of electrical therapy.
US09014810B2
The main object of the invention is an implantable device of the neural interface type for processing signals, including: a case intended to be held at least partially in a cavity formed on the cranium of a human or animal, an electronic circuit positioned in the case (B), and a system of electrodes coupled electrically to the electronic circuit, wherein the device includes a signal transmission sleeve, extending from the periphery of the case.
US09014809B2
An exemplary embodiment includes acquiring an electroneurogram of the right carotid sinus nerve or the left carotid sinus nerve, analyzing the electroneurogram for at least one of chemosensory information and barosensory information and calling for one or more therapeutic actions based at least in part on the analyzing. Therapeutic actions may aim to treat conditions such as sleep apnea, an increase in metabolic demand, hypoglycemia, hypertension, renal failure, and congestive heart failure. Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
US09014797B2
Electrical impedance myography (EIM) can be used for the assessment and diagnosis of muscular disorders. EIM includes applying an electrical signal to a region of tissue and measuring a resulting signal. A characteristic of the region of tissue is determined based on the measurement. Performing EIM at different frequencies and/or different angular orientations with respect to a muscle can aid in the assessment and diagnosis. Devices are described that facilitate assessment and diagnosis using EIM.
US09014796B2
A flexible multi-modal microelectrode is provided that combines multi-channel fluidic and electrical interfaces for biological and other systems. Methods of making and using same are also disclosed.
US09014791B2
The present invention generally relates to a system that enables one to address various thermal management issues in advanced gas turbine engines. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method to extract heat from an air stream, utilize a significant fraction for on-board power generation, and reject a small quantity of heat to the fuel stream safely at, for example, a lower temperature. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method to extract heat from an air stream, utilize a significant fraction for on-board power generation, and reject a small quantity of heat to the fuel stream safely at, for example, a lower temperature with no potential air/fuel contact is disclosed.
US09014785B2
The present disclosure provides various methods and systems for performing magnetic resonance studies. In accordance with many embodiments, image or other information of interest is derived from super radiant pulses.
US09014777B2
Disclosed is a detachable biological signal measuring pad that may conveniently measure biological signals such as a pulse or body temperature. The biological signal measuring pad includes an adhesive pad main body detachably adhered to a body, a biological signal detecting electrode provided on an adhesive surface of the main body adhered to the body, and a module chip including a memory card mounted on the main body so as to be connected with the electrode and storing biological signals measured in the electrode, and provided on a surface opposite to the adhesive surface.
US09014771B1
A layered superconductor device includes multiple layers of a single crystal superconducting material having intermittent layers of superconducting material dispersed in a pattern with a second material such that each layer of the multiple layers a single crystal superconducting material are interconnected via superconducting material, allowing for a continuous current path, and a thickness of the superconducting material never exceeds a first predetermined thickness.
US09014759B2
A method and system for configuring a multi-mode base station is disclosed so that a network system may specify a radio access mode for the base station. In the present invention, a configuration control unit inside the base station reports resource capabilities of the base station to a configuration decision unit. The configuration decision unit determines a mode for the base station according to network planning and the reported resource capabilities, generates a configuration file for the base station according to the determined mode, and delivers the configuration file to the base station. The configuration control unit configures relevant resources of the base station according to the received configuration file.
US09014752B2
A front end device includes an upper-level device and a lower-level device. The upper-level device includes an S/P interface unit. The lower-level device includes a parallel interface unit and a high-frequency processor. The S/P interface unit is connected to an RFIC and the parallel interface unit, receives a serial signal from the RFIC, converts the serial signal into a parallel signal, and transmits the parallel signal to the parallel interface unit. The parallel interface unit receives the parallel signal and supplies the parallel signal to the high-frequency processor. The high-frequency processor is connected between the RFIC and an antenna and performs certain processing on a high-frequency signal based on the parallel signal.
US09014750B2
A wireless communication device includes: a master terminal that includes an antenna element, an RF circuit, a control unit, and a MIMO processing unit connected with the RF circuit; and a slave terminal that includes an antenna element and an RF circuit. The slave terminal is connected with the master terminal via an interface that includes a high-frequency transmission path. The control unit can control the MIMO processing unit and each RF circuit, and controls the MIMO processing unit to perform a MIMO reception process based on an RF signal that is received by the master terminal and an RF signal that is received by the slave terminal and transmitted to the master terminal.
US09014744B2
A method and apparatus for conserving power in a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving at least a portion of a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU) frame, where the PPDU frame includes an aggregate MAC protocol data unit (A-MPDU) field. The method also includes comparing a receiver address (RA) within the A-MPDU field to a stored address of the wireless communication device and, if the received RA does not match the stored address, causing power to be removed from one or more circuits of the wireless communication device for a calculated period of time.
US09014737B2
Example embodiments described herein are directed to systems and methods by which a group of base stations (BS) can configure pilot signals in time and time-frequency, called channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources, so that the user equipment (UE) such as mobiles and laptops can measure certain possible channel quality indicators (CQI) that correspond to specific channel and interference conditions that can arise during actual data submission. Using these values, example embodiments utilize an interpolation algorithm by which the group of base stations can estimate other possible CQI corresponding to a different set of channel and interference conditions.
US09014730B2
Systems and methods for determining the availability or reachability of mobile devices to receive text messages. One embodiment comprises a message entity of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The message entity attempts delivery of a text message to a mobile device, and determines that the delivery attempt failed due to the mobile device being temporarily unavailable. The message entity transmits a request to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of the LTE network to be notified when the mobile device becomes available. The message entity receives a notification from the MME that the mobile device is available, and retries delivery of the text message to the mobile device responsive to the notification from the MME that the mobile device is available.
US09014728B2
A method for operating a call function of a portable terminal that may simply execute a call function while operating various applications, and intuitively provide a call relation interface, and an apparatus thereof, are provided. The method for operating a call function, includes displaying a call interface in which a phone number is automatically input when interaction is input to the call item, and executing a call function using the phone number when a call transmission interaction is input from the call interface.
US09014725B2
A method and system for enhancing security using location-based wireless authentication for a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of: sending from the mobile device to a base station a message, the message having a unique identifier associated with the mobile device; appending, at the base station, a location identifier to said message; sending the message to a recipient; and authenticating the message at the recipient, said authenticating step confirming that the location identifier appended at the base station corresponds with an expected location for the message.
US09014720B2
Certain embodiments of this disclosure include methods and devices for prioritizing message threads. According to one embodiment, a method is provided for detecting a current location of an electronic device; determining contact location information describing one or more locations of one or more devices associated with one or more contacts; determining respective proximities between the electronic device and the one or more devices associated with the one or more contacts based at least in part on the current location of the electronic device and the contact location information to provide contact proximity information; identifying a plurality of message threads, wherein each message thread is associated with at least one of the one or more contacts; associating a respective priority value with each message thread based at least in part on the contact proximity information; and outputting, for display, formatting information based on the respective priority values.
US09014715B2
Systems for and methods of determining likelihood of atypical transmission characteristics of reference points in a positioning system are disclosed. A method of determining a measure of likelihood that a designated wireless device exhibits signal transmission characteristics atypical of a wireless device of a type matching the designated device includes determining reference points associated with the designated device, which are a geographic position at which signals from the designated device were detected and/or another wireless device from which signals were also detected by a receiver within a selected period of time during which the signals from the designated device were detected. The method also includes determining statistical measures of a spatial distribution of the reference points and determining a measure of likelihood that the designated device exhibits signal transmission characteristics that are atypical of a wireless device of a type matching the designated device based on the statistical measures.
US09014712B2
A method of managing signals within a wireless network that comprises at least one macro cell, wherein the macro cell comprises at least one base station and a plurality of pico cells, and wherein each pico cell comprises an access point in communication with the at least one base station. The method includes selecting a spectrum to use for transmission of signals within a corresponding pico cell, wherein the spectrum that is selected is one of (i) a spectrum licensed for wireless communication, and (ii) a spectrum that is unlicensed. Signals within the corresponding are then transmitted and received over the selected spectrum.
US09014708B2
The present invention relates to a network entity for handling communications towards a mobile station over a communication network, the mobile station being capable of receiving a paging request from a mobile switching center of a pool of mobile switching centers, and, in response to the paging request, of transmitting a paging response over the communication network. The network entity comprises a receiver (101) for receiving the paging response, the paging response comprising mobile identity information identifying the mobile station, a processor (103) for identifying the mobile switching center to which to re-transmit the paging response upon the basis of the mobile identity information, and a transmitter (105) for retransmitting the paging response to the identified mobile switching center.
US09014700B2
A method for user detachment when a handover or change occurs in a heterogeneous network is provided. The method includes: a user equipment (UE) is handed over or switched from a source network to a target network; a network element on a network side determines whether to detach the UE from the source network, and if yes, the network element on the network side detaches the UE from the source network. A system and a device for user detachment when a handover or change occurs in a heterogeneous network, and another method for user detachment when a handover or change occurs in a heterogeneous network are also provided.
US09014695B2
A Local Dialing Routing Application Server (LDR-AS) for resolving local dialing plans by a roaming mobile device in regard to a visiting network in which the mobile device is located with a Local Dialing Database (LDD) of the visiting network. The LDR-AS of a home network of the mobile device spatially distinct from the visiting network. Methods for resolving local dialing plans by a roaming mobile device with respect to a visiting network. A Local Dialing Database (LDD) for resolving local dialing plans by a roaming mobile device.
US09014685B2
A mobile device such as a cell phone is used to remotely control an electronic appliance such as a television or personal computer. In a setup phase, the mobile device captures an image of the electronic appliance and identifies and stores scale-invariant features of the image. A user interface configuration such as a virtual keypad configuration, and a communication protocol, can be associated with the stored data. Subsequently, in an implementation phase, another image of the electronic appliance is captured and compared to the stored features in a library to identify a match. In response, the associated user interface configuration and communication protocol are implemented to control the electronic appliance. In a polling and reply process, the mobile device captures a picture of a display of the electronic device and compares it to image data which is transmitted by the electronic appliance.
US09014682B1
A wireless device includes a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver configured to (i) selectively transition between operating in a power save mode and operating in a full power mode, and (ii) while operating in the full power mode, wirelessly communicate with a second wireless device. The wireless device also includes a mobile phone radio transceiver configured to receive, in accordance with a mobile phone protocol, time information from a first base station. The time information is based on a time reference maintained by the first base station. The wireless device also includes a controller configured to instruct the WLAN transceiver to transition to the full power mode upon expiration of a sleep period. The controller determines the expiration of the sleep period based on (i) the time information and (ii) an offset between the time reference and a second time reference maintained by a second base station.
US09014681B2
Establishing a communication connection between two devices based on device displacement information
An information processing apparatus that receives, from another information processing apparatus, first displacement information; senses second displacement information corresponding to movement of the information processing apparatus; and establishes a connection with the another information processing apparatus based on a predetermined relationship between the first displacement information and the second displacement information.
US09014677B2
Disclosed herein is a communication system for a vehicle for communicating with nearby vehicles which includes a control unit and a communication unit. After a triggering event occurs, an inquiry is sent to nearby vehicles whether a communication voice connection is to be established. Nearby vehicles can thereupon offer the establishment of the voice connection. This establishment can be accepted or rejected by the communication system.
US09014672B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for e-mail polling in a portable terminal. In the e-mail polling method, a state of the portable terminal is detected after a predetermined time period of a first timer expires in an idle state after a periodical e-mail polling mode is set in the portable terminal. E-mail polling is performed according to the detected state of the portable terminal. The state of the portable terminal is changed into an idle state after the performance of the e-mail polling.
US09014669B1
A system configured to limit an un-provisioned mobile communication device from repeatedly failing to access a network. The system comprises an authorized activation application, a setting, wherein the setting is configured to limit access to a data connection to the authorized activation application, and a mobile communication device, wherein the mobile communication device is configured to: maintain the data connection in an inactive state, prevent unauthorized applications from activating the data connection, activate the data connection in response to input from the authorized activation application, and attempt to connect to a network in response to the data connection in an active state.
US09014664B2
A method of processing transactions is described. A pricing matrix is configured on a billing server. The pricing matrix has a set of cells, each cells corresponding to an intersection between a respective country and a respective target price. The merchant server downloads the pricing matrix periodically from the billing server. The merchant server determines a country of a consumer mobile phone and displays price points corresponding to the country within a mobile phone application. When the consumer selects one of the price points a transaction is processed between the consumer mobile phone, the billing server and a carrier server aligned with the billing server.
US09014660B2
Computerized systems and methods may be used to enable users to report crimes, safety hazards or other perceived problems to the appropriate authorities via an alert. Such alerts may be communicated to the authorities through any suitable communication method such as, for example, phone calls, email and/or SMS text messages. In some example embodiments, the reporting system includes a computing device including, but not limited to, a mobile smartphone, tablet device, laptop computer, or desktop computer programmed with a software application.
US09014653B2
A novel and useful reconfigurable superheterodyne receiver that employs a 3rd order complex IQ charge-sharing band-pass filter (BPF) for image rejection and 1st order feedback based RF BPF for channel selection filtering. The operating RF input frequency of the receiver is 500 MHz to 1.2 GHz with a varying high IF range of 33 to 80 MHz. The gain stages are inverter based gm stages and the total gain of the receiver is 35 dB and in-band IIP3 at mid gain is +10 dBm. The NF of the receiver is 6.7 dB which is acceptable for the receiver without an LNA. The architecture is highly reconfigurable and follows the technology scaling.
US09014643B2
A mobile terminal testing device includes a reproduction unit that reproduces a BB signal to output at least one reproduced BB signal, an adder that adds a BB signal that are frequency-shifted and a reproduced BB signal to output an added BB signal, an up-converter that generates a multicarrier test signal by making a frequency conversion of the added BB signal of an I phase and Q phase and outputs the multicarrier test signal to UE, and an analyzer that analyzes a response signal output by the UE in response to the multicarrier test signal and the analyzer includes a throughput calculation unit that calculates throughput for the multicarrier test signal and an RSRP acquisition unit that acquires RSRP.
US09014639B2
The present invention provides methods of notifying a user of a smartphone event through use of an energizable ophthalmic lens. In some embodiments, the smartphone may be paired with a specified ophthalmic lens, wherein the pairing may limit wireless communication to communication between the two specified devices. The smartphone may transmit smartphone event data, which may activate an indicator in the ophthalmic lens. In some embodiments, the user may respond to the notification of the smartphone event. The response may trigger an internal action within the ophthalmic lens, or the response may be transmitted to the smartphone, triggering an action in the smartphone. The present invention further describes a method of using an ophthalmic lens with a smartphone event indicator, including methods of pairing an ophthalmic lens with the specified smartphone.
US09014616B2
An alert content reception apparatus comprises a communications interface (229) compatible with a data broadcast service and capable of receiving, when in use, a broadcast data message comprising reference data concerning alert content. The apparatus also comprises a processing resource (202) arranged to analyze, when in use, the broadcast data message and acquire the alert content associated with the reference data in response to determining that the alert content associated with the reference data has not previously been acquired. The communications interface (229) is compatible with a bidirectional data communications service, the processing resource (202) also being arranged to cooperate with the communications interface (229) in order to retrieve the alert content via the bidirectional data communications service.
US09014611B2
A fixing device fixes an unfixed image onto a recording medium by heating the recording medium conveyed to a fixing nip. The fixing device includes a rotator, a belt rotatable by contacting the rotator, and a fixing nip-forming member provided inside a loop of the fixing belt to together form the fixing nip with the rotator via the fixing belt. A sliding pad is placed between the fixing nip-forming member and the fixing belt to retain lubricant and render the fixing belt to smoothly slide thereon. The sliding pad includes a first fibrous layer contacting the fixing belt and a second fibrous layer closer to the fixing nip-forming member than the first fibrous layer. The second fibrous layer has less fiber density than the first fibrous layer.
US09014600B2
Provided are a developing roller having an elastic layer formed on an outer circumferential face of a shaft and a coating layer formed on an outer circumferential face of the elastic layer, wherein the coating layer is composed of first coating layers that are formed at respective edges across the elastic layer, and a second coating layer formed between the first coating layers, and wherein the first coating layers contain a resin obtained through a reaction of a polyol with a silane-coupling agent, fluororesin particles, and an electric conductivity agent; and the second coating layer contains a urethane resin, an ionic liquid, an electric conductivity agent, and filler particles; and a development apparatus and an image-forming device having the developing roller. The provided are capable of keeping the image quality high and of arresting leakage of the toner satisfactorily.
US09014596B2
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit including a transfer member for transferring a developed image formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, and a mounting portion for demountably mounting a cartridge, the image formation unit being movable, in a state that the cartridge is demountably mounted, between a transfer position for transferring the developed image, and a mounting and demounting position, different from the transfer position, and a regulating member for limiting movement of the cartridge mounted to the mounting portion, when the unit moves between the transfer position and the mounting and demounting position, the regulating member being movable between a regulating position for limiting the movement of the cartridge, and a permitting position for permitting mounting and demounting of the cartridge, and the regulating member being in a regulating position when the unit moves between the transfer position and the mounting and demounting position.
US09014592B2
A developing device includes: a frame; a developer carrying member rotatably supported to the frame; and a side seal. The developer carrying member is rotatable about its axis in a rotating direction and has an axial end portion and a remaining portion inward of the axial end portion in an axial direction. The side seal is disposed between the frame and a peripheral surface of the axial end portion and includes: a contact member that can contact the peripheral surface; a support member disposed between the contact member and the frame; and a double-sided tape for adhering the contact member to the supporting member. The contact member includes: a first seal member; and a second seal member disposed adjacent to and upstream of the first seal member in the rotating direction. The first seal member and the second seal member are affixed to one adhesive surface of the double-sided tape.
US09014589B2
An image forming apparatus provided with a resin frame made of a resin, an image forming unit and a fixing unit includes a duct for allowing air to flow between the image forming unit and the fixing unit. The resin frame includes a main frame to which the image forming unit is attached, and a fixing unit attachment frame that is separate from the main frame and to which the fixing unit is attached, and the fixing unit attachment frame has a duct portion that constitutes at least one part of the duct.
US09014576B2
An optical-to-electrical converter may include and/or involve a splitter to separate one or more narrowcast signals from a broadcast signal, at least one broadcast signal receiver to receive the broadcast signal separated from one or more narrowcast signals, at least one narrowcast signal receiver to receive the narrowcast signal separated from the broadcast signal, the narrowcast receiver including an attenuator and a filter, and a controller including logic to dynamically monitor and adjust the attenuator to maintain separation between the broadcast and narrowcast signals.
US09014571B2
A pluggable small form factor optical transmitter is described. The optical transmitter can be plugged into an optical transmission unit which may hold many optical transmitters. The optical transmitter includes an analog laser for QAM transmissions, a TEC driver, pre-distortion circuitry, a microprocessor, and an automatic power control circuit and dither tone level control capability. The optical transmitter may have receptacle optical ports such as LC or SC type, also it may include a pin connector for mating with the optical transmission unit and a latch mechanism to secure the optical transmitter in the optical transmission unit.
US09014560B2
An optical transmission system includes an optical emitting device and a plurality of optical receiving devices. The optical receiving devices are optically connected in series and one of the optical receiving devices is optically connected to the optical emitting device. Each of the optical receiving devices includes a control module, an optical receiving terminal, and an optical fiber amplifier. The optical emitting device emits out first optical signals or second optical signals. The control module transmits the first optical signals to the optical receiving terminal or transmits the second optical signals to the optical fiber amplifier. The optical fiber amplifier amplifies the second optical signals and sends the amplified second optical signals to the next optical receiving device.
US09014558B2
The invention is directed to apparatus, systems and methods enabling a service provider to establish an optical demarcation point located at or within equipment controlled at least in part by a customer's domain such that the service provider's domain is able to directly control access of an optical signal to their domain based upon at least one optical signal characteristic and at least one of mapping and multiplexing properties pertaining to one or more information flows within said optical signal.
US09014556B2
The present invention discloses an optical power monitoring method and apparatus. The present invention includes: measuring broadened spectrums of optical signals of monitored channels after performing filtering processing on the optical signals, to obtain a measured broadened spectrum of the optical signals of the monitored channels; constructing a plurality of optical signal power combinations; performing calculation for each optical signal power combination according to a transfer function that indicates the filtering processing, to obtain its corresponding theoretical broadened spectrum of the optical signals of the monitored channels; comparing a plurality of theoretical broadened spectrums with the measured broadened spectrum to find a theoretical broadened spectrum that is closest to the measured broadened spectrum; and determining each hypothetical optical power in an optical signal power combination corresponding to the theoretical broadened spectrum as an actual optical power of an optical signal of a corresponding monitored channel.
US09014553B2
A satellite test signal reflection apparatus for testing transmitters sending out optical signals, the apparatus includes a plate that is at least partially permeable to optical signals. The plate has a base with a first surface with a residual reflective coating and a second surface. The residual reflective coating is configured to split an optical beam, which penetrates the plate in a first direction from the first surface to the second surface, into a reflective optical beam and a transmitted optical beam.
US09014552B2
A method and system for testing jitter compatibility are disclosed in the present invention, which includes: an interconnection testing board configured with a non-NRZ optical transponder needing to satisfy the board jitter performance specification, and according to the specification, testing the jitter performance of the interconnection testing board to indirectly judge whether the jitter compatibility of non-NRZ optical transponder at a line side of the interconnection testing board is qualified, wherein: at the line side and a client side of the interconnection testing board, a non-NRZ optical transponder to be tested and an NRZ optical transponder with qualified jitter performance are configured respectively, and the jitter performance of interconnection testing board is tested; if the qualified jitter performance of interconnection testing board is obtained through testing, believing that the jitter compatibility of non-NRZ optical transponder to be tested is qualified.
US09014551B1
Method and apparatus for simulating a photon-counting detector array as used in a communication link
The method and apparatus as disclosed herein allows the user to input conditions for a communications link, set characteristic values of a photon-counting detector array, simulate the resulting link, observe a summary analysis of the simulated detector and link activity, and extract a record of the detector activity (e.g. each photon counted) making it available for further analysis.
US09014546B2
Systems and methods are presented for detecting users within a range of a media device. A detection region may be defined that is within the range of the media device and smaller than the range. The detection region may be stored. It may be determined whether a user is within the detection region. The media device may be activated and settings associated with the user may be applied when a user is within the detection region. In some embodiments, settings associated with a user may be compared to provided media content when the user is within the detection region. The content may change when the settings conflict with the media content. Reminders may be provided to or directed to a plurality of users within the range of the media device.
US09014537B2
An information processing apparatus may generate resource information used for playing back image content that can be divided into a plurality of zones. The information processing apparatus may include an image generator generating a still image from each of the plurality of zones, a face processor setting each of the plurality of zones to be a target zone and determining whether a face of a specific character which is determined to continuously appear in at least one zone before the target zone is contained in the still image generated from the target zone, and an information generator specifying, on the basis of a determination result obtained for each of the plurality of zones by the face processor, at least one zone in which the face of the specific character continuously appears as a face zone, and generating information concerning the face zone as one item of the resource information.
US09014532B2
A transmitter (14) of audio, video, or other real-time information reads the information from a persistent store (22) in which the real-time information has been stored in the Real-time-Transport Protocol (“RTP”) format (FIG. 4). A receiver (18) receives the information from the channel (16) through which the transmitter (14) has transmitted it, and the receiver may store the information in a persistent store (24) in RTP format instead of or in addition to playing it by applying it to an appropriate player (20). Parts of this communications circuit may be tested by a tester unit (26) that also employs RTP-format information from a persistent store (22).
US09014530B2
A system comprises a movie clip environment in which a movie clip object is defined, and a native application that is external to the movie clip environment. The native application renders an image to an off-screen surface of the system. A composition manager is responsive to communications from the movie clip object to control where the off-screen surface is to be rendered on a display screen. The composition manager may be responsive to communications from the movie clip object to direct the native application to control one or more properties of the image of the off-screen surface.
US09014529B2
An apparatus for positioning an optical device includes (i) a holder assembly for holding an optical device and for limiting movement of the optical device within the holder assembly to movement in the Z-direction and (ii) a housing for permitting limited movement of the holder assembly in the X-direction, for supporting and optionally permitting movement of the holder assembly in the Y-direction, for supporting and for substantially preventing movement of the holder assembly in the Z-direction. When the holder assembly optionally holding the optical device is positioned within the housing to obtain a desired position of the optical device, a bonding material may be used for fixing the location in the X-direction, and optionally the Y-direction, of the holder assembly within the housing. A method of operating the apparatus for obtaining a desired position of an optical device is further provided.
US09014528B1
An interferometer for inspecting and evaluating the end surface of an optical cable with an optical fiber includes a reader, a chuck and a reference connector. The chuck is adapted to be removably received by the interferometer. The chuck removably receives the cable. The chuck includes a chuck tag in operative proximity to the reader. The reference connector is removably received by the chuck. A cable aperture in the reference connector is for receiving the cable. The reference connector includes a reference connector tag in operative proximity to the reader. The reader is adapted to read information on the chuck tag and reference connector tag in a single operation and automatically transfer all of the read information to perform apex offset calibration in the interferometer during a single measurement. The invention also includes a method of calibrating the apex offset on a fiberoptic connector measuring interferometer.
US09014527B2
A fiber optic adapter module is disclosed. The fiber optic adapter module includes a molded one-piece housing including a first end and a second end, the housing including a plurality of passages extending from the first end to the second end, each passage configured to interconnect two cables terminated with fiber optic connectors. The housing is movably mounted on a fixture, wherein the module is movable relative to the fixture along a line of travel that is non-parallel to longitudinal axes of the openings.
US09014520B2
A photoelectric mixed substrate includes a wiring substrate including a first ground wire, a signal wire arranged above the first ground wire and electrically connected to the photoelectric component and the electronic component, and a waveguide unit stacked on the wiring substrate to cover the signal wire. The waveguide unit includes a first clad layer formed on the wiring substrate, a second ground wire formed above the first clad layer, a core formed on the first clad layer and optically coupled to the photoelectric component, and a second clad layer formed on the first clad layer to cover the core.
US09014511B2
In one embodiment the present invention is a method for populating and updating a database of images of landmarks including geo-clustering geo-tagged images according to geographic proximity to generate one or more geo-clusters, and visual-clustering the one or more geo-clusters according to image similarity to generate one or more visual clusters. In another embodiment, the present invention is a system for identifying landmarks from digital images, including the following components: a database of geo-tagged images; a landmark database; a geo-clustering module; and a visual clustering module. In other embodiments the present invention may be a method of enhancing user queries to retrieve images of landmarks, or a method of automatically tagging a new digital image with text labels.
US09014506B2
An image processing method is configured to denoise three-dimensional image data. The image processing method includes an image transform step of performing a frequency transform for the three-dimensional image data in the optical axis direction and of calculating three-dimensional transformed image data, an image modulation step of reducing an absolute value of the three-dimensional transformed image data in a specific frequency region and of calculating three-dimensional modulated image data, and an inverse image transform step of performing an inverse frequency transform corresponding to the frequency transform for the three-dimensional modulated image data in the optical axis direction and of calculating three-dimensional inversely transformed image data. The specific frequency region is a part of a predetermined.
US09014505B2
The position of a first structure relative to a second structure can be determined by a) providing a reference image containing the first structure, b) providing a measurement image containing the second structure, in which the measurement image is recorded with an image sensor with a plurality of sensor pixels and the image sensor has at least one known faulty sensor pixel, c) producing a masked measurement image with a masked region that corresponds to the second structure, and forming an optimization function of the shift of the masked measurement image and the reference image relative to each other, d) determining the extreme value of the optimization function and determining the optimum value of the shift based on the extreme value, and e) determining the position of the first structure relative to the second structure on the basis of the optimum shift value.
US09014499B2
In a decoder, a desired image is estimated by first retrieving coding modes from an encoded side information image. For each bitplane in the encoded side information image, syndrome bits or parity bits are decoded to obtain an estimated bitplane of quantized transform coefficients of the desired image. A quantization and a transform are applied to a prediction residual obtained using the coding modes, wherein the decoding uses the quantized transform coefficients of the encoded side information image. The estimated bitplanes of quantized transform coefficients of the desired image are combined to produce combined bitplanes. Then, an inverse quantization, an inverse transform and a prediction based on the coding modes are applied to the combined bitplanes to recover the estimate of the desired image.
US09014492B2
An apparatus is provided that includes a processor (e.g., FPGA) configured to cause the apparatus to perform a number of operations. The apparatus may be caused to receive input data for a digital image represented by point samples at respective sample locations, reconstruct the digital image from the input data for presentation by a display including display pixels, and output the reconstructed digital image. The reconstruction may include a number of operations for each of at least some of the display pixels. In this regard, the apparatus may be caused to perform a convolution-based, point-sample encoding of a selected display pixel to generate an encoding that identifies point samples of the digital image nearby the selected display pixel. And the apparatus may be caused to interpolate a value of the selected display pixel from at least some of the identified point samples using the generated encoding.
US09014483B2
Input information of a multidimensional array is divided into a plurality of divided areas, accumulated information is generated by calculating accumulated values at respective element positions of the input information from a corresponding reference location for each of the plurality of divided areas, and the generated accumulated information is held in a memory for each divided area. Calculation using the accumulated information is executed for a predetermined processing range. The input information is divided into the plurality of divided areas so that two neighboring divided areas have an overlapping area, and the overlapping area has a size at least in which the whole processing range fits.
US09014479B2
The current application is directed to a method and system for automatically determining the sense orientation of regions of scanned-document images that include symbols and characters of languages that are not written as simple sequential strings of alphabetic characters. In one implementation, the sense-orientation method and system to which the current application is directed employs a relatively small set of orientation-marker characters that occur frequently in printed text and that lack rotational symmetry. In this implementation, text-character images within a region of a scanned-document image are compared to each of a set of orientation-marker patterns corresponding to orientation-marker characters in order to identify images corresponding to orientation-marker patterns in the text-containing region of the scanned-document image and to determine an overall sense orientation for the text-containing region of the scanned-document image based on the orientations of the identified orientation-marker patterns.
US09014478B2
A method and apparatus for determining a reading order of characters The method includes preparing a list of character information, which is character information extracted from image data by character recognition processing and preparing a list of line information, which is made up of a line box surrounding a set of characters which are continuously aligned in the same direction in image data and an alignment direction of characters in the line box. In response to a request for adding character information to the list of character information, extracting a line box containing a character region of the character to be added, obtaining all character information having the character region contained in the concerned line box from the list of character information and rearranging according to the position with respect to the alignment direction of characters corresponding to the line box to determine a new reading order of characters.
US09014475B2
An image synthesis apparatus acquires one or plural images including one or plural pictures of one person or plural people as an object, determines an aspect of the one or plural pictures, extracts a part of the one or plural pictures in accordance with the aspect of the one or plural pictures and synthesizes the extracted one or plural images.
US09014466B2
An image segmentation method segments a plurality of image features in an image. The plurality of image features are segmented non-simultaneously in succession. The segmenting of each image feature includes adapting an initial mesh to boundaries of the image feature. The segmenting of each image feature further includes preventing the adapted mesh from overlapping any previously adapted mesh.
US09014450B2
An image processing apparatus for executing reconstruction of a tomographic image from a plurality of radiation projection images by using a reconstruction filter comprises an obtaining unit that obtains the radiation projection images obtained by detecting X-rays irradiated from a plurality of positions by a digital radiation detector; a reconstructing unit that executes the reconstructing process of the tomographic image on the basis of the obtained radiation projection images and the reconstruction filter; and a processing unit that reduces an influence on a first pixel value of a pixel obtained by the reconstruction filter, that influence having been exerted by a second pixel in which a difference between a pixel value of a target pixel of a filtering process in the radiation projection image and a pixel value of a peripheral pixel of the target pixel is larger than a predetermined threshold value in the reconstructing process.
US09014449B2
A method and system for segmentation and removal of pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and a left atrial appendage from 3D medical image data, such as 3D computed tomography (CT) volumes, is disclosed. A global shape model is segmented for each of pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and a left atrial appendage in a 3D volume. The segmented global shape model for each of the pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and left atrial appendage is locally refined based in local voxel intensities in the 3D volume, resulting in a respective mask for each structure. The mask is used to remove voxels belonging to the pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and left atrial appendage from the 3D volume in order to better visualize coronary arteries and bypass arteries.
US09014447B2
A system and method for characterizing a point in a three-dimensional digital medical image includes determining third order derivatives of the three-dimensional digital medical image at one or more points in the three-dimensional digital medical image. At each of the one or more points, one or more invariant or semi-invariant features that characterize a local geometry at the point is determined using the third order derivatives of the three-dimensional digital medical image. The invariant or semi-invariant features are used for automatic detection of lesions, abnormalities, and other anatomical structures of interest in the three-dimensional digital medical image.
US09014441B2
The invention relates to a system (300) for performing and visualizing a measurement of an object viewed in an image computed from image data, the system comprising an image unit (310) for visualizing the image data in the image for displaying in a display, a deployment unit (320) for deploying a caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) in an image data space based on the location of the object in the image data space, and a caliper unit (330) for visualizing the caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) in the image, wherein the caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) comprises a first planar surface (211) and a second planar surface (212) substantially parallel to the first planar surface (211), and wherein the measurement of the object is determined based on the distance between the planes of the first and second planar surface. Viewing the first and second planar surfaces of the caliper, visualized together with the measured object, improves the visualization of the measurement of an anatomical or pathological structure, because the first and second planar surface help a user to relate the measurement to the object—to see what is being measured. Advantageously, in an embodiment of the system (300), manually aligning the first and second planar surface with the object may also improve capturing the size of the object, because the system makes the measurement both easier to obtain and more accurate.
US09014435B2
On the basis of information regarding zones in which a plurality of registrants are assumed to be currently located, characteristic data of registrants who are assumed to be in the zone corresponding to a terminal apparatus that read the characteristic data of a user being authenticated is compared the characteristic data of the user being authenticated.
US09014430B2
A High-resolution Image Acquisition and Processing Instrument (HIAPI) performs at least five simultaneous measurements in a noninvasive fashion, namely: (a) determining the volume of a liquid sample in wells (or microtubes) containing liquid sample, (b) detection of precipitate, objects of artifacts within microliter plate wells, (c) classification of colored samples in microliter plate wells or microtubes; (dl determination of contaminant (e.g. wafer concentration}; (e) air bubbles; (f) problems with the actual plate. Remediation of contaminant is also possible.
US09014400B2
An alarm sounder, which incorporates a piezo-electric output transducer, can be silently monitored using a variable frequency square wave. An initial frequency, close to the upper limit of human hearing, is coupled to the sounder. The transducer draws very little current at this initial frequency. The frequency of the square wave is systematically reduced, and the current draw is continually monitored. A high current indicates a low impedance type of fault. A low current throughout the frequency range indicates a potential high frequency type of fault.
US09014392B2
Introduction of sounds outside a vehicle is automatically controlled according to a driving state of the vehicle. In a vehicle, a microphone device that collects sounds outside the vehicle and a speaker device that reproduces the collected sounds are installed. When a gear position for the vehicle is a reverse driving position, and until the vehicle reaches a predetermined speed for the first time after a key position in an ignition key switch is switched from an off position to an accessories position or an on position, the collected sounds are reproduced. The collected sounds are transmitted to a car navigation device or a car audio system via wires or wirelessly. When the sounds outside the vehicle are reproduced, sound reproduction in the car navigation device or the car audio system is stopped and the sounds outside the vehicle are reproduced at a set volume.
US09014380B2
A loudspeaker drive circuit comprises an input for receiving an audio signal and a signal processor for processing the audio signal before application to the loudspeaker. The signal processor processes the audio signal to derive a loudspeaker drive signal which results in the loudspeaker membrane reaching its maximum displacement in both directions of diaphragm displacement.
US09014379B2
In a method of initializing a binaural hearing aid system (1) both ipse- and contra-lateral individualized adjustment data are stored in both hearing aids of the binaural hearing aid system for transmission between the hearing aids. This provides an easy backup of the data. The invention further provides a hearing aid having means adapted for performing such a method.
US09014376B2
Method and apparatus for low-power AP-assisted fast wireless roaming using optimized neighbor graphs
An embodiment of the present invention provides a method, comprising using optimized neighbor graphs for low-power access point assisted fast wireless roaming by a wireless station (STA) operating in a wireless network.
US09014364B1
Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer-program products for providing a plurality of speech analytics engines in a speech analytics module for detecting semantic and non-semantic speech characteristics in the audio of a call involving an agent in a contact center and a remote party. The speech analytics module generates event notification messages reporting the detected semantic and non-semantic speech characteristics and these messages are sent to an event handler module that forwards the messages to one or more application specific modules. In turn, the application specific modules provide functionality based on the semantic and non-semantic speech characteristics detected during the call such as, for example, causing information to be presented on the screen of a computer used by the agent during the call.
US09014359B1
An analyzer resource receives call information about outbound phone calls from multiple phone numbers to target phone numbers in a phone network. The analyzer resource analyzes the call information to detect likely unwanted call activity. Based on the analyzing, the analyzer resource produces a list of phone numbers from which one or more entities originate unwanted calls to the subscribers in the phone network.
US09014358B2
Presented are systems and methods for creating a transcription of a conference call. The system joins an audio conference call with a device associated with a participant, of a plurality of participants joined to the conference through one or more associated devices. The system then creates a speech audio file corresponding to a portion of the participant's speech during the conference and converting contemporaneously, at the device, the speech audio file to a local partial transcript. The system then acquires a plurality of partial transcripts from at least one of the associated devices, so that the device can provide a complete transcript.
US09014347B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for voice print tagging for interactive voice response (IVR) session management. In an embodiment of the invention, a method of voiceprint tagging for IVR session management is provided. The method includes establishing an IVR session for a caller from over a network and presenting a portion of the IVR session to the caller over the network. The method also includes storing a voiceprint tag in memory associating a voiceprint of the caller with a portion of the IVR session. Finally, the method includes responding to a premature termination of the IVR session by re-establishing the prematurely terminated IVR session with the caller at the portion of the IVR session indicated by the voiceprint tag of the caller.
US09014345B2
Systems and methods for secure recording in a customer center environment are provided. The system receives data related to a communication at a media distribution device. A key is provided by a key server to the media distribution device to encrypt the received data. In addition, an identifier may be associated with the received data. The key and the identifier are stored in a database associated with the key server. The encrypted data is recorded the a recorder, where it is accessible to authorized users within the customer center. Upon request, the key is provided to the authorized user to decrypt the encrypted data for play back. The customer center environment may include a user interface for viewing customer contacts. The contact may be organized into folders and annotations associated with the customer contacts may be received.
US09014342B2
A mobile communication device, a method of establishing a mobile telephone voice call and an apparatus are provided herein. In one embodiment, the mobile communication device includes: 1) a processor configured to indicate a voice call employing the mobile communication device is a hearing impaired call and (3) a modem configured to initiate establishment of the hearing impaired call with a mobile cellular network, wherein the establishment includes providing a hearing impaired codec list to the mobile cellular network.
US09014335B2
A system for analyzing a sample is provided. The system includes a beam selection device for selecting between a one-dimensional operation mode for providing a one-dimensional x-ray beam to the sample and a two-dimensional operation mode for providing a two-dimensional x-ray beam to the sample.
US09014327B2
An output thin film transistor threshold voltage offset compensation circuit, a GOA circuit, and a display. The circuit includes: a first capacitor, comprising a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode being connected to the gate of an output thin film transistor and receiving a charge signal, the second electrode being connected to the drain of the output thin film transistor, the first capacitor being used for, under the action of the charge signal, making the first electrode and the second electrode have a same voltage, so that a voltage difference between the drain and the source of the output thin film transistor is equal to a threshold voltage thereof; a first switch unit, connected to the drain and the source of the output thin film transistor, and opening under the action of a first clock signal, so that a voltage difference between the gate and the source of the output thin film transistor is equal to the threshold voltage thereof.
US09014312B1
A radio signal transmission technique includes selecting a sample rate from a plurality of predefined sample rates so that the radio signal is contained entirely within a Nyquist zone corresponding to the sample rate. A digitized signal is converted to an analog signal, spectrally enhanced, and passed through a selected one of a plurality of selectable bandpass filters to form the radio signal.
US09014301B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate utilizing dedicated reference signal in connection with downlink transmissions. A dedicated reference signal can comprise a set of dedicated reference symbols, which are inserted into a resource block in accordance with a specification provided by a dedicated reference signal structure. The dedicated reference signal structure can vary according to a rank utilized in the downlink transmission.
US09014286B2
A method of transmitting pilots id disclosed. The method of transmitting pilots includes transmitting pilots over N orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein a pilot at subcarrier k for OFDM symbol n is determined to have time varying characteristic, thereby to prevent the cause of spectral lines.
US09014285B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a receiving apparatus and a receiving method capable of preventing phase rotation of a signal after FFT from occurring on a frequency domain. Further, the receiving apparatus according to the present invention is provided with: a window control unit configured to control a position of an FFT window in which FFT is performed to the time domain signal, and output FFT data corresponding to the FFT window; a signal delaying unit configured to generate, from the time domain signal, a plurality of delay signals with different delay amounts; and a signal switching unit having a switch for outputting by switching between two of the time domain signal and the plurality of delay signals based on a predetermined switch timing, the signal switching unit being configured to output the FFT data including the output signal of the switch.
US09014283B2
An ECU of a transmission side performs a first conversion of converting a single bit of original baseband data into a four-bit bit pattern, which indicates one of two kinds of “0” and “1” of the single bit, to thereby prepare after-conversion baseband data, and transmits the after-conversion baseband data as transmission data to a transmission line. An ECU of a reception side restores the original baseband data by performing a second conversion of the received transmission data. The second conversion is the reverse of the first conversion. The ECU of the transmission side transmits the transmission data that includes a training pattern, which indicates a bit period of the transmission data, in addition to the after-conversion baseband data. The ECU of the reception side specifies the bit period of the transmission data based on the training pattern in the received transmission data.
US09014274B2
A video image encoding device includes a calculation unit for calculating a decoding time of each group including plural blocks; a source encode unit for encoding each of the plural blocks based on the encoding amount of each block controlled based on the decoding time and generating compressed data; and an entropy encode unit for performing an arithmetic encoding process on the compressed data in each block and outputting a bit stream. The entropy encode unit outputs undetermined bits retained by the arithmetic encoding process when all bits corresponding to the compressed data in each group are not output at a time point when the arithmetic encoding process on the compressed data in a predetermined number of blocks in a next group is finished, and the calculation unit shifts the decoding time of each group by a processing time of the predetermined number of blocks.
US09014273B2
A method for transmitting a vector having at least two vector components, each of the vector components described in a frequency. Each vector is represented as a bit number with a predetermined number of bit levels. The bit numbers are encoded according to a priority of the bit levels and the encoded bit numbers are transmitted.
US09014263B2
A video base layer can contain information pertaining to frame-compatible interlace representations of multiple data categories while video enhancement layers can contain interlace or progressive representations and/or frame-compatible representations of these data categories. Video data are encoded and decoded using layered approaches.
US09014261B2
The present invention discloses a method for media file compression, which includes: extracting the encoding parameters from an input media file, separating and decoding the audio and video stream from the input media file, and extracting an original audio stream and an original video stream; computing the transcoding parameters required for compression according to the encoding parameters; encoding the original audio stream to output a new compressed audio stream, and encoding the original video stream to output a new compressed video stream according to the transcoding parameters; synthesizing the new compressed audio stream and the new compressed video stream to create a new media file. The present invention also provides a system for media file compression. By means of the method and system of the present invention, users can realize simple and rapid compression for media files of various formats without understanding media expertise, and the storage space can be saved, so that it is convenient to carry, transfer and share the media files.
US09014257B2
An apparatus and method for wireless communications are provided. The apparatus for wireless communications includes a receiving unit which receives a packet, which comprises a plurality of sub-packets, output from a transmitting device, and processes the received packet in a plurality of signal processing modes that correspond to a plurality of transmission modes applied to the received packet, and a media access control processing unit which acquires data from the sub-packets included in the processed packet.
US09014256B2
An endpoint element of a distributed antenna system includes processing circuitry configured for processing a plurality of digital signals for conditioning the signals and compression circuitry configured for compressing at least one of the digital signals according to a compression scheme to yield at least one compressed digital signal and compression settings. The digital signals are combined into a single digital stream and combined and time division multiplexed onto a serial data link with the compression settings. The digital signals are also transmitted with compression settings to another endpoint element over the serial data link.
US09014255B2
A computer-based method for generating a compressed data stream, including using a specially programmed computer to: access a first compressed data stream including a first plurality of sequentially arranged frames including respective compressed frame data; access a second compressed data stream including a second plurality of sequentially arranged frames including respective compressed frame data; compare respective compressed data for sequentially matched pairs of frames in the first and second pluralities of frames; select, based on the comparison, common and unique portions in the first data stream; and select, based on the comparison, first and second portions in the second data stream, matched with the common and unique portions, respectively, in the sequence. The first portion has respective compressed frame data equal to the respective compressed frame data for the common portion. The second portion has respective compressed frame data unequal to the respective compressed frame data for the common portion.
US09014252B2
A channel equalization scheme is provided. A linear equalizer using a continuous-time linear equalization and a decision feedback equalizer using a discrete-time decision feedback equalization are integrated together from a hybrid receiver equalizer. The continuous-time linear equalization scheme and the discrete-time decision feedback equalization scheme are blended using a joint adaptation algorithm to form an equalization scheme for inter-symbol interference cancellation in the hybrid receiver equalizer. The hybrid receiver equalizer controls crosstalk while maintaining signal bandwidth and linearity of a signal by the high-order high frequency roll-off of the linear equalizer used. Using this configuration, the hybrid receiver equalizer eliminates the need for adaptive bandwidth controller used in conventional low-pass receiver equalization schemes. The hybrid receiver equalizer can be used in receivers for dual-speed simultaneous transmission on the same physical link. The hybrid receiver equalizer can also be used in receivers for simultaneous forward and back-channel transmission using differential-signaling in multi-Gbps transceivers.
US09014247B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for communicating on a pilot wire between Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE) and an Electric Vehicle (EV). In an example embodiment, a modem is coupled to the pilot wire that couples the EVSE and the EV. The modem transmits both pulse width modulation (PWM) command signals and power line communication (PLC) signals to a remote device via the pilot wire. The modem interleaves the PWM and PLC signals on the pilot wire so that latency requirements for the PWM signals are maintained. The modem supports parallel protocol stacks in which PLC signals are processed in a first path and PWM signals are processed in a second path that bypasses the first path and provides the PWM signals directly to a MAC layer. The modem may create a modified frame for the PLC signals to maintain the latency requirements.
US09014243B2
A system and method that demodulates the phase characteristic of a carrier signal are described. The scrambling of the phase characteristic of each carrier signal includes associating a value with each carrier signal and computing a phase shift for each carrier signal based on the value associated with that carrier signal. The value is determined independently of any input bit value carried by that carrier signal. The phase shift computed for each carrier signal is combined with the phase characteristic of that carrier signal so as to substantially scramble the phase characteristic of the carrier signals. Bits of an input signal are modulated onto the carrier signals having the substantially scrambled phase characteristic to produce a transmission signal with a reduced PAR.
US09014240B2
Disclosed is a wireless transmitter/receiver provided with: a local oscillator which oscillates at a predetermined local oscillator frequency; a mixer which mixes a local oscillation signal of the local oscillation frequency outputted from an output terminal of the local oscillator and a radio signal received by an antenna; a modulation circuit which modulates the local oscillator signal and generates a radio signal; and a transmission/reception switching unit which selectively switches over between a reception state in which the output terminal of the local oscillator is connected to the mixer and a transmission state in which the output terminal is connected to the antenna without passing through the mixer.
US09014230B2
Single-mode quantum cascade lasers having shaped cavities of various geometries are provided. The shaped cavities function as monolithic coupled resonators, and permit single-mode operation of the lasers. A folded or hairpin-shaped cavity could be provided, having a plurality of straight segments interconnected with a curved segment. Additionally, a shaped cavity could be provided having a single straight segment interconnected at one end to a curved segment. The curved segment could also be tapered in shape, such that the width of the curved segment decreases toward one end of the curved segment. A laser which includes a shaped cavity having two interconnected, folded shaped cavities is also provided.
US09014224B2
Various embodiments of a multi-laser system are disclosed. In some embodiments, the multi-laser system includes a plurality of lasers, a plurality of laser beams, a beam positioning system, a thermally stable enclosure, and a temperature controller. The thermally stable enclosure is substantially made of a material with high thermal conductivity such as at least 5 W/(m K). The thermally stable enclosure can help maintain alignment of the laser beams to a target object over a range of ambient temperatures.
US09014223B2
Systems and methods of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification for laser pulses are provided. Techniques and components include replacing pulse stretcher and/or pulse compressors with chirped volume Bragg gratings (CVBGs) to reduce size, weight, cost, and environmental sensitivity of the laser system.
US09014204B2
The disclosed embodiments include a computer-implemented method for controlling network communications. In one embodiment, the method executes instructions, using a processor, to perform operations comprising: communicating with a first set of network communications devices of a first packet network; receiving and storing in memory network performance information associated with the first set of network communications devices; initiating routines on a second set of network communications devices of a second packet network of a second communications carrier for determining network performance information associated with the second packet network; storing the network performance information associated with the second set of network communications devices; determining an operational status of a network node within the second packet network based on the stored network performance information; and controlling network communications of data packets over node segments of the first packet network and the second packet network based on the stored network performance information.
US09014186B2
Methods and systems for hardware-accelerated packet multicasting are provided. According to one embodiment, a multicast packet is received at an ingress system of a packet-forwarding engine (PFE). Multiple flow classification indices are identified for the multicast packet by the ingress system. The multiple flow classification indices are sent to an egress system of the PFE by the ingress system. A single copy of the multicast packet is buffered in a memory accessible by the egress system. Corresponding transform control instructions are identified by the egress system based on each flow classification index. The single copy of the multicast packet is read from the memory. The multicast packet is transformed to an outgoing packet for each instance of the multicast packet based on the corresponding transform control instructions. The outgoing packet is transmitted for routing to a network.
US09014178B1
A telecommunication system comprising a computer system comprising a store of representations of telecommunication actions and a store of representations of telecommunication rules. A URL is associated with each of the telecommunication actions. The computer system is configured to, at least in part, command the telecommunication actions. Each telecommunication action is carried out, at least in part, in a manner dependent on at least one of the telecommunication rules. In response to an electronic device accessing a URL associated with one of the telecommunication actions, the telecommunication action is carried out, at least in part, in a manner dependent on at least one of the telecommunication rules. The telecommunication system is configured to change the unique URL to a new unique URL in response to a telecommunication action and associate a different telecommunication action with the new unique URL and/or change a telecommunication action associated with the unique URL.
US09014169B2
In a heterogeneous network, low power cells are detected by correlating a first and second signal originating from an unknown cell, such as synchronization signals, e.g., SSS received in a first and second time period (e.g., subframes 0 and 5 of a frame with corresponding sets of possible SSS signals. The cell identities for the candidate cells can be used to determine corresponding reference symbol sequences for the candidate cells. The final determination of the cell identity is then made by correlating a third signal originating from the unknown cell, such as a reference signal received in a third time period (e.g., an almost blank subframe or a broadcast subframe) with the set of reference signals for the candidate cells. The correct cell identity is determined to be the cell identity yielding the greatest correlation with its corresponding reference signal.
US09014167B2
A wireless communication terminal may include: an instruction unit (CPU) that instructs whether a wireless communication serves as host or target; a wireless communication unit that transmits/receives the radio frame to/from a terminal serving as target when receiving an instruction from the instruction unit to serve as host, and transmits/receives the radio frame to/from a terminal serving as host when receiving an instruction from the instruction unit to serve as target; and a setting unit that sets the frame transmission interval of host as the frame transmission interval when receiving an instruction from the instruction unit to serve as host, sets the frame transmission interval of target as the frame transmission interval when receiving an instruction from the instruction unit to serve as target, and transmits a radio frame to a terminal serving as host when the frame transmission interval of target is set.
US09014162B2
The location of one or more mobile nodes in a wireless local area network (WLAN) is determined. Nodes in the WLAN include respective ping drivers to generate ping event values related to transmit count stamps and receive count stamps for wireless messages exchanged between the nodes. Each wireless message is associated with a transmit offset corresponding to an expected transmit time. A sorting module groups the ping event values and produces a difference between the respective receive count stamps and the transmit count stamps for each wireless message. Based on the sorted ping event values, the sorting module generates transmit offset values relating to the transmit offsets. A space-time calibration unit generates, from the sorted differences and the transmit offset values, a clock rate solution and a location solution for at least one of the nodes in the WLAN.
US09014153B2
A method for enabling a mobile station (MS) to efficiently detect and search for a femto base station is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving a signal including information of a femto base station; and searching for the femto base station on the basis of the received information, wherein said received information is a sequence including at least one of the following: the entirety or a part of a femto base station ID (Identity), the entirety or a part of a cell ID, a sector ID, the entirety or a part of a CSG (Closed Subscriber Group) ID, and a frequency allocation index. In the step of receiving femto base station information, a preamble and data containing information on the femto base station are received. In the step of detecting the femto base station, the femto base station is separately detected on the basis of the received information. Here, the entirety or a part of the preamble sequence of the femto base station which is used for the separation of the femto base station is reused as a scrambling sequence for said data.
US09014139B2
A method for forwarding downlink packets based on S1 handover is disclosed. The method includes: numbering a packet not processed by using PDCP according to a message that comprises PDCP Serial Number (SN) information if downlink packets to be forwarded include the packet not processed by using PDCP; and sending the downlink packets to the UE according to the PDCP SN corresponding to the packet included in the downlink packets. A method for forwarding uplink packets based on S1 handover is disclosed. The method includes: receiving state report information of the packet sent by the target eNodeB; and sending the packet according to the state report information of the packet. Another method for forwarding downlink packets based on S1 handover and an eNodeB are disclosed. Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, the packets are forwarded without loss in the case of S1 handover.
US09014129B2
A mobile station (MS) receives in a sub-frame a first and second PDCCH, where the first PDCCH indicating a first PDSCH transmission on a first downlink component carrier (DCC) and the second PDCCH indicating a second PDSCH transmission on the second DCC, determines a first PUCCH resource based on a control channel element (CCE) of the first PDCCH and a second PUCCH resource based on a CCE of the second PDCCH when the first PDCCH and the second DCC are received in the sub-frame and transmits control information on HARQ using a single PUCCH resource (selected from the first and second PUCCH resource), where the first and second PUCCH resource are mapped on a single uplink component carrier corresponding to the first DCC, and the control information on HARQ includes information indicating an ACK or a NACK for each of downlink transport blocks transmitted on the first and second PDSCH.
US09014122B2
A method of converting TV channels into WLAN channels in a wireless local area network system (WLAN) is disclosed. A method of converting TV channels into WLAN channels at an apparatus comprising receiving WSM including a list of available TV channels and finding out a center frequency of each of first WLAN channels which exist on frequency area of the available TV channels using TV channel bandwidth, WLAN channel bandwidth and a starting frequency of each of the available TV channels, wherein the TV channel bandwidth and the WLAN channel bandwidth are predetermined.
US09014121B2
An apparatus, method and system for acquisition of an uplink communication resource in a communication system. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a processor, and memory including computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to generate a first message indicating that data is ready for transmission on an uplink, initiate a procedure in a Layer 1 (L1) subsystem to acquire an uplink communication resource in response to the first message, receive a second message from the L1 subsystem indicating failure to acquire the uplink communication resource, and generate a third message for a radio link control (RLC) subsystem to proceed as if the RLC subsystem transmits an uplink RLC protocol data unit in response to the second message.
US09014117B2
Technologies that, among other things, provide resource allocation in multi-hop wireless networks with relay stations and can be used to supply information to link data packets with a respective resource allocation.
US09014115B2
A communications system employing CoMP transmission to suppress interference comprises: a CoMP user equipment; and a plurality of base stations, one of the base stations being an associated base station of the CoMP user equipment to transmit data to the CoMP user equipment, the plurality of base stations including multiple CoMP base stations for the CoMP user equipment. The CoMP base stations for the CoMP user equipment transmit CoMP downlink data, including subframes which comprise physical resource blocks having a plurality of resource elements (REs) and cell-specific reference signal (CRS) resource element (RE) locations. PDSCH bit-level muting or puncturing information is determined, based on radio resource management measurement and the subframes sent from the multiple CoMP base stations, to identify PDSCH REs that suffer strong CRS interference transmission from within the multiple CoMP base stations and are to be subjected to one of bit-level muting or bit-level puncturing.
US09014114B2
Estimation of timing errors is disclosed that uses user equipment reference signals (UERSs). A UE models each channel in a user equipment reference signal (UERS) as a channel on an adjacent UERS tone multiplied by a phase ramping term. This phase ramping term is determined using an estimator on the modeled channels. The UE then determines the equivalent timing error by mapping the phase ramping terms into the estimated timing errors in the time domain. In coordinated multipoint (CoMP) systems, the UERS-based timing error may be used to identify an aligned common reference signal (CRS) associated with the network entity transmitting the data. With this determination, the UE may estimate a CRS-based timing error and either substitute the CRS-based timing error for the UERS-based timing error or calculate a further average timing error based on both the CRS-based and UERS-based timing errors.
US09014111B2
A multi-blocks radio access method is provided and includes the following steps. A plurality of resource blocks are grouped into a plurality of groups. One resource block is respectively selected from the groups to form a plurality of resource block sets. Data to be accessed are transmitted in corresponding one of the resource block sets. A code division multiplexing code sequence is determined for the corresponding one of the resource block sets according to at least one of a plurality of parameters. Encoding or decoding operations are performed on the data to be accessed according to the corresponding one of the resource block sets and the corresponding code division multiplexing code sequence. The encoded or decoded data is accessed. A transmitter module and a receiver module using the foregoing method are also provided.
US09014106B2
Apparatus and method for resource allocation are provided. An apparatus includes a controller configured to: utilize a tree structure with more than one branch in the resource allocation of physical resource blocks, each branch including one or more legal starting positions for resource allocation. Each starting position is associated with a cluster of physical resource blocks, the number of starting positions being different on each branch. The size of the resource clusters of each branch is different. The controller is configured to denote each resource cluster with a predefined index, and allocate one or more clusters to user equipment uplink connection.
US09014105B2
A method and apparatus for negotiating an idle subchannel set for a wireless data transmission. The method includes transmitting an indication of a first set of idle subchannels to a wireless station. The method also includes receiving an indication of a second set of idle subchannels from the wireless station. The method further includes determining a final set of idle subchannels based on the indication of the first set of idle subchannels and the indication of the second set of idle subchannels.
US09014103B2
A method for transmitting a preamble over a Random Access CHannel (RACH) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes generating a preamble having a length longer than a basic transmission unit, and dividing the preamble into preambles having a length less than the basic transmission unit; and sequentially transmitting the divided preambles over the RACH using different antennas.
US09014100B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for analyzing a wide frequency band with respect to signal power levels in specified narrow frequency bands, detecting narrow band signal power levels received in the specified narrow frequency bands, determining an average composite wideband power level from the narrow band signal power levels, determining an adaptive threshold from the average composite wideband power level, detecting narrow band interference according to the adaptive threshold, and configuring a filter to substantially suppress the detected narrow band interference. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09014098B2
A system and method are provided for converting radio communication signals between a Digital Fixed Station Interface (DFSI) Internet Protocol (IP) APCO P25 standard communications format and binary serial data protocol standard communications. Received serial binary data may be evaluated, separated into control information and data payloads, and converted to DFSI IP standard data. Incoming and outgoing data communications are processed by implementing decisions about how to handle the information contained in, or to be contained in, the incoming and outgoing data communications based upon the substance, or overarching format, of the data contained in individual data packets, or serial bit streams. In embodiments, decisions and determinations regarding the information include determining that the information is damaged or corrupted and therefore not available to be converted. The data may be discarded based on such a determination.
US09014090B2
A method for handling Circuit Switched Fallback from a Packet Switched domain includes receiving an indication that Circuit Switched Fallback is supported from an eNodeB located within the Packet Switched domain. The method also includes registering to a Circuit Switched domain associated with Circuit Switched Fallback by tunneling Circuit Switched Registration information, via the eNodeB, to the Circuit Switched domain, thereby enabling the User Equipment to setup a Circuit Switched call or receive a Circuit Switched page. The method also includes receiving a Circuit Switched specific parameter setting from the eNodeB. The Circuit Switched specific parameter setting includes decoding information to facilitate decoding of transmissions in the Circuit Switched domain. Additionally, the method includes, after receiving the Circuit Switched specific parameter setting, switching from the Packet Switched domain to the Circuit Switched domain and using the decoding information to access the Circuit Switched domain.
US09014069B2
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in connection with selection of a communication mode based on traffic type information. In one example, a network entity (e.g., a WiFi router, Picocell, Fentocell, an eNB, etc.) is equipped to obtain traffic type information for content to be transmitted by a network entity, determine a communication mode to use for transmission of the content based on the traffic type information, and transmit the content using the determined communication mode. In an aspect, the traffic type information may indicate that the content is a best effort traffic type, a latency sensitive traffic type, or no traffic type is available.
US09014068B2
An antenna having a passive feed network in one band, and an active radio network in an adjacent band, is provided. The antenna includes radiating elements arranged in an array dimensioned to transmit and receive RF signals. The antenna includes diplexers having a first port, a second port and a third port. The first port of each diplexer coupled to at least one radiating element. The diplexer has a first filter coupling the first port to the second port and a second filter coupling the first port to the third port. A passive feed network includes a phase shifter, which is coupled to an input transmission line and a plurality of output transmission lines. Each of the output transmission lines may be coupled to one of the second ports of one of the diplexers. An active radio is coupled to each of the third ports of the plurality of diplexers.
US09014064B2
Technology for reconfiguring an uplink-downlink (UL-DL) time-division duplexing (TDD) configuration timing is disclosed. In an example, a user equipment (UE) for reconfiguring an uplink-downlink (UL-DL) time-division duplexing (TDD) configuration timing can have computer circuitry configured to: Decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) including a timing indication field (TIF); and reconfigure a channel timing for a semi-static UL-DL TDD configuration using the TIF. The channel timing can include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) scheduling timing, or a PUSCH HARQ timing.
US09014061B2
A user equipment (UE) including a processor configured to transmit control plane data irrespective of on-duration/off-duration status.
US09014059B2
In a network having routing elements for routing information through the network, there is provided a method for providing an ability to set up a Quality of Service contract for a videoconference session between clients. A reservation is received for a time period for the videoconference session. Configuration information, for filtering real-time traffic corresponding to the videoconference session from other traffic traversing the network, is sent to at least one of the routing elements after the time period is reserved.
US09014052B2
Certain aspects are directed to an interceptor system for characterizing digital data communicated between certain points in a telecommunication system. The interceptor system includes an interface device and a processing device. The interface device can retrieve data from at least one communication link between a radio frequency processing unit and a baseband processing unit of a telecommunication system. The data includes digital data communicated between the radio frequency processing unit and the baseband processing unit. The processing device can determine an interface link protocol for communicating with terminal equipment via the telecommunication system. The interface link protocol can be determined based on an organization of the data retrieved from the communication link.
US09014051B2
Systems, methods and apparatuses for updating multicast group information of a client device of a wireless mesh network are disclosed. One method includes an access node of the wireless mesh network determining multicast group information of the client device that is connected to the access node, and the access node providing routing updates to upstream access nodes and a first upstream gateway, wherein the multicast group information of the client device is included within the routing updates of the client device.
US09014047B2
A method for analyzing traffic in a communications network includes sampling data packets at a plurality of network interconnection points, wherein sampling the data packets includes generating a plurality of sampled packet data in one or more standardized formats, converting the sampled packet data from the one or more standardized formats into a neutral format, and aggregating the sampled packet data in the neutral format from the plurality of network interconnection points. A system includes a communications node operable to sample data packets flowing through and generate sample packet data in a specified format, a collector node operable to convert the sampled packet data into a neutral format, the collector node further operable to map IP addresses of the sampled packet data to corresponding prefixes in a routing table; and an aggregator node operable to aggregate neutrally formatted sampled packet data from a plurality of collector nodes.
US09014042B2
The invention relates to a system for determining surroundings in a wireless network, the system including first and second nodes, each node being programmed to periodically detect the nodes located in the surroundings thereof every time period Δ, characterized in that: the first node comprises a transmitter (1) and control means (3) for activating the transmitter (1) for a transmission time ξ less than the time period Δ, the transmitter transmitting an identification signal during the transmission time ξ; the second node comprises a receiver (2) and control means (3) for activating the receiver (2) for a reception time α less than the time period Δ, the receiver (2) listening for the signals from the adjacent nodes during the reception time a, the control means (3) of the second node activating the receiver once per time period Δ.
US09014039B2
The present invention defines a method for a terminal to perform measurement for neighbor cells efficiently in a mobile communication system capable of carrier aggregation. The present invention is directed to the 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) or 3GPP LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) being discussed in the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) system as an exemplary next generation mobile communication system.
US09014038B2
Intelligent multi-streaming for enhancing or avoiding dropped and interrupted communication sessions
Systems and methods for intelligently enhancing communication sessions or avoiding dropped and interrupted communication sessions between or among communication devices. Characteristics of a communication link are monitored and are compared to intelligent communication session data to predictively determine whether a handoff may be needed or whether multi-streaming should be invoked or terminated. Intelligent communication session data may be monitored, recorded and/or stored by a handoff service, a bridging service and/or a multi-streaming service, as well as applications executed on communication devices or other network devices. Intelligent communication session data may be any data relating to a communication session, including detected signal strengths, available networks, protocol and buffer statistics and analysis, environmental and/or geographical factors, the performance of access points and other network components, past interactions between or among communication devices, and access points and other network components, context of conversations during voice calls.
US09014034B2
A network access device for network traffic analysis of a plurality of client devices in a local area network (LAN) maintains a hierarchical key combination traffic analysis (HKCTA) table for each of the client devices of the LAN (LAN devices) to store network traffic statistics of each LAN device, wherein the HKCTA includes entries identified by keys, each key being formed based on a combination of zero or more packet attributes of packets or flow attributes of a network flow associated with the packets (packet/flow attributes) exchanged by the LAN device. Each key represents one of hierarchical levels of a hierarchy of the entries. Each level of the hierarchy includes all packet/flow attributes of its parent hierarchical level plus at least one additional packet/flow attribute that is not present in its parent hierarchical level.
US09014032B2
A method for controlling discontinuous reception in a wireless transmit/receive unit includes defining a plurality of DRX levels, wherein each DRX level includes a respective DRX cycle length and transitioning between DRX levels based on a set of criteria. The transitioning may be triggered by implicit rules.
US09014030B2
A wireless network is provided that includes a base station and subscriber stations that communicate with the base station using radio frequency (RF) time division duplex (TDD) signaling. The base station may establish medium access control (MAC) connections with each station. The base station monitors communications with the stations and, in accordance, assigns stations or MAC connections to modulation groups. The base station transmits signals on MAC connections or to stations in a modulation group in adjacent TDD slots within a TDD frame. The base station may receive access requests from the stations, evaluate traffic requirements for the stations, and determine a longest downlink portion for the stations. The base station then allocates downlink and uplink portions of a TDD frame according to the length of the longest downlink portion.
US09014018B2
An auto-aware dynamic control policy for energy efficiency. A discovery node in a network can be designed to transmit periodically discovery traffic to a plurality of other network nodes in the network. Responses to the discovery traffic can be used by the discovery node to ascertain real-time activity in the network. Measures of the real-time activity can be used to adjust a control policy in the discovery node.
US09014009B2
An alarm root cause analyzing method includes: obtaining at least one alarm of a managed network; sending an alarm raising time to a failed link locating device; receiving an identifier of a failed link, an identifier of an affected edge device, and an identifier of a device interface of the affected edge device; querying whether any alarm from the failed link exists in the at least one alarm, if an alarm from the failed link exists, marking the alarm from the failed link as a root cause alarm; querying whether any alarm from the affected edge device exists in the at least one alarm, if an alarm from the affected edge device exists, if a service object corresponding to the alarm from the affected edge device is borne over the device interface of the affected edge device, marking the alarm from the affected edge device as a derivative alarm.
US09014008B2
Techniques related to a localized routing approach are generally described where the number of transmissions, the maximum number of transmission per node, effective bandwidth, the latency, overall energy consumption, the maximum energy consumption, or other individual or composite objective in a wireless network may be optimized. The localized routing approach may use a metric that combines immediate progress benefit and expense with a statistics-based forward looking estimation of future routing properties and cost. The protocol may also employ a combination of probabilistic and deterministic mechanism to detect and escape local minima.
US09014003B2
A network component comprising a traffic manager (TM) configured to assign a unique identifier (ID) to a received packet, a splitter module configured to separate a header and a payload of the received packet, the splitter module further configured to attach the unique ID to each of the header and the payload, and a merger module configured to assemble an outgoing packet using the header and the payload.
US09013997B2
A data segment of a data packet destined for an egress port of an egress node may be received at a first ingress node. An egress statement vector and an ingress statement vector may be identified at the first ingress node. A determination may be made, based on the egress statement vector and ingress statement vector, whether the first ingress node is authorized to transfer the data segment to the egress port before the other data segments of the data packet are received at the first ingress node. The data segment may be transferred to the egress port before the other data segments of the data packet are received at the first ingress node when the determination indicates the first ingress node is authorized. The data segment may be stored in a buffer of the first ingress node when the determination indicates the first ingress node is not authorized.
US09013992B2
A method and system for improved network address translation (NAT) to enable efficient translation of packets destined for communication systems within a domain utilizing network addresses that are incompatible with the source and destination addresses indicated in packets delivered from the global Internet. Since the addresses are not compatible with global Internet addresses, delivery cannot be accomplished except by some method of address translation. Traditional systems have not been constructed to enable such inbound translations, providing instead only communications outbound from the incompatibly addressed domain towards the global Internet. An embodiment of the system employs deep packet inspection (DPI) search techniques known from widely deployed systems in use today, to acquire a resource identifier, and to attempt to match the resource identifier to complete the flow of traffic on a packet-by-packet basis.
US09013982B2
A communication comprises a plurality of digital subscriber line (DSL) links, a first node having at least one application port configured for an elastic service and a plurality of DSL ports, and a second node having at least one application port configured for an elastic service and a plurality of DSL ports. Each of the first and second nodes is configured to interleave data received over the at least one application port across the plurality of DSL ports, each DSL port allocated a set of DSL timeslots for transport of the data received over the at least one application port. When a failure is detected on one of the DSL links, each of the first and second nodes is configured to interleave the data received over the at least one application port across the remaining DSL ports not connected to the failed DSL link without adjusting the set of DSL timeslots allocated to each of the remaining DSL ports for transport of the data from the at least one application port.
US09013981B2
A system and method for routing data is provided. The system includes a one or more ports, one or more bypass circuits, a data router, and a logic circuit. The one or more bypass circuits are connected to and corresponding in number to the one or more ports. The data router is connected to the one or more bypass circuits. The data router is operable to: monitor for data, decode a priority according to the data, and move data through the one or more bypass circuits according to the priority. The logic circuit is connected to the data router for interfacing to a system bus of a host computer.
US09013977B2
A method may include: (i) in response to clearing of a fault on a working path of a protection switching group to which a first network element is interfaced: (a) transitioning, by the first network element, its state to a first state in which a protection path of the protection switching group is active; and (b) initiating, by the first network element, a wait to restore timer, the wait to restore timer having a duration such that upon expiration of the timer, the first network element is configured to switch the working path to active; and (ii) in response to receiving a message from a second network element interfaced to the protection switching group indicating that a failure has occurred on the working path: (a) maintaining, by the first network element, its state in the first state; and (b) continuing, by the first network element, the wait to restore timer.
US09013972B2
Disclosed is an optical information recording and reproducing device capable of recording an interference fringe pattern as a hologram in an optical information recording medium, the interference fringe pattern being formed by a signal beam superimposed with signal information and a reference beam, and also capable of reproducing the signal information from the optical information recording medium, the device having a light source unit to emit light, a light splitting unit to split the light into the reference beam and the signal beam, a spatial light modulation unit to superimpose the signal information on the signal light, and a light detection unit to detect an image reproduced by the reference beam, wherein information about defects on the spatial light modulation unit is recorded in the optical information recording medium.
US09013956B2
A beam tomography computer implemented method and system for generating improved seismic images and earth models without dependence on reflector structure is disclosed. Recorded seismic data is transformed into data beams which are compared to forward modeled beams using an earth model having a velocity model to compute raypaths and a seismic image to specify the reflectors. The tomographic updates to the earth model and velocity model are based on misalignments between the data beams and the same beams forward modeled from the velocity model and the seismic image. The updated earth model and seismic image better describe the true propagation of the beams through the earth.
US09013954B2
A method for determining properties of a formation comprises disposing at least one acoustic logging tool in a well and moving the logging tool along the well. An acoustic logging is performed during movement of the acoustic logging tool together with simultaneous thermal treatment of the formation. A temperature of a formation zone being thermally treated is measured as well as attenuation and velocity of the Stoneley waves excited by the acoustic logging tool. Based on the obtained dependencies of measured parameters as functions of the formation zone temperature formation relative phase permeabilities, formation fluid viscosity and viscous flow activation energy are determined.
US09013944B2
A user system is provided which includes a storage device and an auxiliary power device configured to supply a power to the storage device, wherein the auxiliary power device includes a first one direction device configured to supply a supply voltage from an external power supply to the storage device, a charging unit configured to be charged by the external power supply, a second one direction device configured to selectively supply an output voltage of the charging unit to the storage device, a voltage detector configured to detect a level of the output voltage of the charging unit and to output a first control signal to the storage device, and a switching unit connected between the charging unit and the second one direction device and configured to operate in response to a second control signal from the storage device.
US09013934B2
A memory system, and an operation method of a nonvolatile memory, include programming memory cells using a normal program pulse, reading out a first set of data from the memory cells, detecting failed cells based on the first set of data, storing information about the failed cells in a buffer, and reprogramming the failed cells using a reinforced program pulse in an idle state based on the information stored in the buffer.
US09013933B2
Embodiments of a memory are disclosed that may reduce the likelihood of a miss-read while reading a weak data storage cell. The memory may include a number of data storage cells, a column multiplexer, a first sense amplifier and a second sense amplifier, and an output circuit. The gain level of the first sense amplifier may be higher than the gain level of the second sense amplifier. The output circuit may include a multiplexer and the multiplexer may be operable to controllably select one of the outputs of the first and second sense amplifiers and pass the value of the selected sense amplifier. The output circuit may include a node that couples the outputs of the first and second sense amplifiers and the outputs of the first and second sense amplifiers may be able to be set to a high impedance state.
US09013928B1
A program operation for a set of non-volatile storage elements. A count is maintained of a number of program pulses which are applied to an individual storage element in a slow programming mode, and an associated bit line voltage is adjusted based on the count. Different bit line voltages can be used, having a common step size or different steps sizes. As a result, the change in threshold voltage of the storage element within the slow programming mode, with each program pulse can be made uniform, resulting in improved programming accuracy. Latches maintain the count of program pulses experienced by the associated storage element, while in the slow programming mode. The storage element is in a fast programming mode when its threshold voltage is below a lower verify level, and in the slow programming mode when its threshold voltage is between the lower verify level and a higher verify level.
US09013927B1
Methods and systems are disclosed for sector-based regulation of program voltages for non-volatile memory (NVM) systems. The disclosed embodiments regulate program voltages for NVM cells based upon feedback signals generated from sector return voltages that are associated with program voltage drivers that are driving program voltages to NVM cells within selected sectors an NVM array. As such, drops in program voltage levels due to IR (current-resistance) voltage losses in program voltage distribution lines are effectively addressed. This sector-based regulation of the program voltage effectively maintains the desired program voltage at the cells being programmed regardless of the sector being accessed for programming and the number of cells being programmed. Sector return voltages can also be used along with local program voltages to provide two-step feedback regulation for the voltage generation circuitry. Test mode configurations can also be provided using test input and/or output pads.
US09013924B2
An operating method of a semiconductor device includes precharging bit lines corresponding to selected memory cells, supplying a first verify voltage to a word line coupled to the selected memory cells and outputting programming states of the selected memory cells to the bit lines during a first time period, sensing potentials of the bit lines that have the programming states of the selected memory cells outputted to the bit lines during the first time period, supplying a first target voltage higher than the first verify voltage to the word line and outputting programming states of the selected memory cells to the bit lines during a second time period shorter than the first time period, and sensing potentials of the bit lines that have the programming states of the selected memory cells outputted to the bit lines during the second time period.
US09013922B2
Storage space allocation and a wear leveling technique for a FLASH memory module are disclosed. The FLASH memory module includes a plurality of FLASH chips. A controller for the FLASH memory module divides the storage space of the FLASH memory module into Xblocks for management of the FLASH memory module. The controller erases at least one Xblock for space release and moves data on Xblocks for wear leveling.
US09013914B2
A semiconductor memory device includes word lines, bit line pairs intersecting the word lines, and memory cells arranged where the word lines and the bit line pairs intersect. A word line driver arranged in correspondence with one of the word lines outputs a first voltage or a second voltage. A potential detection circuit is arranged in correspondence with at least one bit line pair to detect the potential at the bit line pair and generate a detection signal. A word line voltage adjustment circuit changes the output voltage of the word line driver from the first voltage to the second voltage in accordance with the detection signal from the potential detection circuit. A sense amplifier amplifies a potential difference of a selected one of the bit line pairs for access.
US09013906B2
In a power-system-interconnected inverter device, PI control circuits obtain voltage correction values in directions reducing the current errors on the basis of current errors serving as differences between target current values and detection values. Multiplexers provide modulation circuits with voltage target values corrected by the voltage correction values being added to voltage detection values. The modulation circuits provide gate signals for switch elements in multilevel circuits. In addition, a sign circuit provides gate signals for switch elements in a bridge clamping circuit.
US09013894B2
A printed circuit board includes: a substrate; a land that is disposed on a surface of the substrate, and includes a central portion and a plurality of extended portions, the central portion having the same shape and the same size as a land of a surface mount device, and the extended portions being up-and-down symmetry and right-and-left symmetry with respect to a straight line which passes through the center of the central portion; gaps that are disposed on the surface of the substrate, each of the gaps being disposed on a periphery of the central portion and between the extended portions; and a resist that is disposed on the surface of the substrate, and has an opening portion formed at a position corresponding to the central portion and the gaps.
US09013887B2
A display device includes a panel module, a frame, and a fixing device, wherein the panel module has a panel connecting part. The frame has a frame connecting part whose location corresponds to the location of the panel connecting part. The fixing device includes a joint unit and a fixing unit. The joint unit is used for accommodating the panel connecting part and the frame connecting part. The fixing unit is connected to the joint unit such that the frame can be fixed on the panel module.
US09013867B2
A handheld computing device may include a first screen having a first display, a second screen having a second display, and a hinge connected to the first and second screens. The hinge may include a plurality of axes to enable the first and second screens to rotate about distinct axes. The hinge may include a hub having an internal passage configured to electrically couple the first and second screens.
US09013859B2
A method for manufacturing a laminated electronic component in which, when first plating layers that respectively connect a plurality of internal electrodes to each other and second plating layers that improves the mountability of a laminated electronic component are formed as external terminal electrodes, the entire component main body is treated with a water repellent agent after the formation of the first plating layers, and the water repellent agent on the first plating layers is then removed before the formation of the second plating layers. The gaps between the end edges of the first plating films on the outer surface of the component main body and the outer surface of the component main body are filled with the water repellent agent.
US09013856B2
An ignition circuit is provided and may include a dc-dc converter having a positive terminal and a negative terminal, an igniter plug having a first terminal and a second terminal, a first capacitor coupled to the positive terminal, a first diode coupled between the first capacitor and the negative terminal, a switching circuit coupled between the positive terminal, and the negative terminal, a second capacitor, a transformer having a primary and a secondary winding, the primary winding coupled between the negative terminal and the second capacitor and the secondary winding coupled between the negative terminal and the first terminal of igniter plug, and a second diode coupled between the first capacitor and the second terminal, wherein the second capacitor is coupled between the primary winding and the second diode, and wherein the first terminal is coupled to the secondary winding and the second terminal is connected to a ground.
US09013850B2
A semiconductor device includes a sense resistor that converts a sense current flowing through a sense terminal of a switching element to a voltage (sense voltage), and an overcurrent protection circuit that performs a protection operation for the switching element when the sense voltage exceeds a threshold. The overcurrent protection circuit can switch the threshold to a first reference voltage, or to a second reference voltage which is lower than the first reference voltage. The overcurrent protection circuit sets the threshold to the second reference voltage at the time of the switching element being in a steady state, and sets the threshold to the first reference voltage during a mirror period immediately after turning-on of the switching element.
US09013847B2
According to one embodiment, there is provided a protection relay apparatus that protects lines of a three-phase alternating current power system, the protection relay apparatus including a fault detector to detect a fault of the line, an opening unit to open a circuit breaker of a fault phase in which the fault has occurred through detection of the fault, a fault phase voltage measurement unit to measure a voltage of the fault phase after the circuit breaker is opened, a fault recovery determination unit to determine whether the fault is recovered or not based on the voltage, and a closing unit to close the circuit breaker when the fault recovery determination unit determines that the fault is recovered.
US09013838B1
Novel anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) sensor architectures and techniques for fabricating same are described. In at least one embodiment, an AMR sensor is provided that includes barber pole structures having upper and low metal layers that are formed of different materials. The metal material closer to the AMR element is formed of a material that can be etched using an etching process that does not attack the AMR material. In some other embodiments, AMR sensors having segmented AMR sensing elements are described.
US09013836B1
A method and system provide a magnetic head having an air-bearing surface (ABS). The magnetic head includes a read transducer and a write transducer. The read transducer includes a first shield and a read sensor. The write transducer includes a main pole, at least one coil for energizing the main pole and a return pole between the read sensor and the main pole. The return pole includes an antiparallel coupling (AC) pole structure. The AC pole structure includes a plurality of ferromagnetic layers interleaved with at least one nonmagnetic layer. The ferromagnetic layers and the nonmagnetic spacer layer(s) are substantially parallel. The ferromagnetic layers and the nonmagnetic spacer layer(s) are substantially perpendicular to the ABS. The magnetic moment of each of the ferromagnetic layers is aligned antiparallel with the magnetic moment of a nearest neighbor of the ferromagnetic layers.
US09013835B2
Implementations described and claimed herein address the foregoing problems by providing a suspension assembly used in a storage device to support a transducer head, wherein the suspension assembly comprises a base plate for attaching to an actuator arm and a moving portion movably attached to the base plate. The base plate is fixed and/or clamped to the actuator arm and the moving portion adapted to rotate about a center of rotation. The moving portion is adapted to have a center of mass of its moving mass substantially close to its center of rotation. In one implementation, a counter-weight is attached to the moving portion to move the center of mass of its moving mass substantially close to its center of rotation to minimize inertial loads to the system during suspension actuation.
US09013833B2
A head stack assembly comprising an actuator arm having an aperture therein, a head suspension assembly comprising a load beam having a mounting region with a aperture therein, and a base plate adapted to attach the head suspension assembly to the actuator arm, with the base plate comprising a boss tower having an outside surface and a swaging hole. One of the actuator arm aperture, the boss tower outside surface or the swaging hole is non-circular to provide increased compression between the boss tower and the actuator arm aperture in the roll direction than in the pitch direction. Methods of making a boss tower are also provided.
US09013832B2
A perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a nonmagnetic substrate, an underlayer provided above the nonmagnetic substrate, and a perpendicular recording layer provided above the underlayer. The perpendicular recording layer includes a first magnetic layer including Co and Pt and having a granular structure, and a second magnetic layer having magnetic and ferroelectric properties.
US09013829B2
A spindle motor includes an upper bearing portion and a lower bearing portion each of which is inclined with respect to a central axis. The upper bearing portion includes an upper dynamic pressure generating groove defined in at least one of an upper outer circumferential surface of a shaft portion and an upper inner circumferential surface of a sleeve. The lower bearing portion includes a lower dynamic pressure generating groove defined in at least one of a lower outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion and a lower inner circumferential surface of the sleeve. The radial distance between a lower end portion of the upper dynamic pressure generating groove and the central axis is shorter than the radial distance between an upper end portion of the lower dynamic pressure generating groove and the central axis.
US09013824B1
A data storage device is disclosed comprising a disk comprising a plurality of servo tracks defined by servo sectors, wherein each servo sector comprises a plurality of servo bursts. A head comprises a first read sensor and a second read sensor separated from the first read sensor by a cross-track spacing. A first servo channel processes a first read signal emanating from the first read sensor to generate a first position signal based on at least two servo bursts read using the first read sensor. A second servo channel processes a second read signal emanating from the second read sensor to generate a second position signal based on at least two servo bursts read using the second read sensor. A position error signal (PES) is generated based on the first position signal and the second position signal, and the head is servoed over the disk based on the PES.
US09013819B1
Systems and techniques relating to control of magnetic recording devices are described. Such devices can contain a recording medium including magnetic data positions, servo sync marks (SSMs), and phase tracking fields (PTFs) arranged between first and second SSMs. A described technique includes producing, based on a read head's waveform from the recoding medium, a servo detect pulse indicating a SSM detection; producing, based on the waveform, a servo detect pulse that indicates a SSM detection; producing, responsive to the servo detect pulse, calibration pulses, each of the calibration pulses corresponding to a read head's passage over one of the PTFs; and controlling, responsive to the calibration pulses, adjustments of a phase of a write clock signal to align the write clock signal with at least a portion of the data positions, the adjustments being based on groups of samples of the waveform that respectively correspond to the PTFs.
US09013811B2
An imaging lens formed of 4 lenses, in which a negative first lens having a meniscus shape with a convex surface on the object side, a biconvex positive second lens, a negative third lens having a concave surface on the image side, and a positive fourth lens having a convex surface on the object side, arranged in order from the object side, and the imaging lens satisfies conditional expressions (1): L12/f<0.82; (2): 2.3
US09013809B2
An image capturing lens which substantially consists of five lenses, composed of a first aspherical lens having a convex surface on the object side and a positive refractive power; a second aspherical lens having a concave surface on the image side and a negative refractive power; a third aspherical lens having a positive refractive power near the optical axis; a fourth aspherical lens having a negative refractive power; and a fifth aspherical lens which is a meniscus lens having a concave surface on the image side and a negative refractive power, arranged in this order from the object side, and satisfies predetermined conditional expressions.
US09013796B2
An intermediate image is formed inside the prism by a projection lens or the like, and since an image light that is totally reflected at three or more surfaces; a third surface firstly, a first surface firstly, at a third surface secondly, at a first surface secondly, and the second surface in this order, transmits the first surface and then arrives at an observer's eyes, the thickness of the prism can be reduced and the size and weight of the entire optical system can be reduced, and it is possible to realize a display of high performance and brightness with a wide angle of view. Since the external light can be observed after passing through the first surface and the third surface, and the visibility at that time becomes substantially zero, it is possible to reduce the defocus or distortion of the external light when observing the external light.
US09013794B2
A dispersive optical device with a three-dimensional photonic crystal. The object is to obtain a device having a high damage threshold on the whole and the making of which is facilitated and guaranteeing optimum optical properties. This object is achieved by using a device in silica including a three-dimensional photonic crystal and a diffraction grating. This device may notably be used in a compressor system for a short pulse.
US09013789B2
A zoom lens includes: a first lens group having a negative refractive power; and a second lens group having a positive refractive power, provided in this order from an object side. Magnification is changed by moving the first lens group and the second lens group. The first lens group includes a first lens having a negative refractive power, a second lens, a third lens having a negative refractive power, and a fourth lens having a positive refractive power, provided in this order from the object side. The zoom lens satisfies predetermined conditional formulae.
US09013785B2
A widely tunable multi-mode semiconductor laser containing only two electrically active sections, being an optical gain section and a tunable distributed Bragg reflector section adapted to reflect at a plurality of wavelengths, wherein the gain section is bounded by the tunable distributed Bragg reflector section and a broadband facet reflector, and wherein the tunable distributed Bragg reflector section comprises a plurality of discrete segments capable of being selectively tuned, wherein the reflection spectra of one or more segments of the tunable distributed Bragg reflector section can be tuned lower in wavelength to reflect with the reflection spectrum of a further segment of the tunable distributed Bragg reflector section to provide a wavelength range of enhanced reflectivity. An optical transmitter comprising a light source that is such a widely tunable multi-mode semiconductor laser.
US09013783B2
The present invention is directed to a color display device wherein each of the display cells is filled with an electrophoretic fluid comprising two types of charged pigment particles dispersed in a colored medium. Multiple colors of high quality may be achieved by the present invention.
US09013779B2
An electrowetting display apparatus includes an array substrate, an opposite substrate, and an electrowetting layer. The array substrate includes a base substrate having a plurality of pixel areas and a plurality of pixel electrodes respectively arranged in each of the pixel areas. The pixel electrodes in each pixel area are spaced apart from each other at regular intervals and each have an island pattern shape.
US09013777B2
This disclosure describes systems and methods for creating monolithically integrated electrochromic devices which may be a flexible electrochromic device. Monolithic integration of thin film electrochromic devices may involve the electrical interconnection of multiple individual electrochromic devices through the creation of specific structures such as conductive pathway or insulating isolation trenches.
US09013764B2
In a reading apparatus, a control device is configured to: acquire a conveyance path switching information indicating whether a conveyance path switching unit has switched a conveyance path to a first conveyance path or a second conveyance path; judge, based on detection results by a width detecting unit, whether a type of an original sheet that is currently placed on an original sheet placing unit and that is not yet conveyed by a conveyance unit from the original sheet placing unit is a first type or a second type; and determine, based on both of the conveyance path switching information and the type of the not-yet-conveyed original sheet, whether the conveyance unit should stop conveyance of a preceding original sheet that the conveyance unit is currently conveying.
US09013763B2
An image reading apparatus includes: a transmitting glass; and a step member that is located upstream of a reading position, at which an image of a conveyed document is read by a reading unit via a transmitting glass, in a conveying direction of the document, and has a document guiding surface at a position away from a surface of a transmitting glass by a prescribed distance and forms a step between the document guiding surface and the transmitting glass. The step member is provided with a protrusion protruding downstream in the conveying direction of the document to form space between the transmitting glass and a downstream part of the step member in the conveying direction of the document.
US09013761B2
A scanner is disclosed. The scanner has a scan sensor with a width smaller than the width of the platen. The scanner scans a first pass of the platen with the scan sensor in a first position on one side of the platen. The scanner then moves the scan sensor to the other side of the platen and does a second pass.
US09013747B2
To provide a technology enabling a terminal device to use various functions provided in a data processing device without the use of a device driver. A multifunction device executes a process for implementing a function indicated by instruction data when such instruction data is stored in a shared area of the RAM. Here, the shared area of the RAM in which the instruction data is stored can be recognized by a personal computer connected to the multifunction device as a storage area that can be accessed through the file system, which is a function provided as a standard feature of the operating system. Accordingly, operations of the multifunction device can be controlled from the personal computer end simply by storing instruction data in the shared area via the operating system, eliminating the need for a special device driver to control the operations of the multifunction device.
US09013741B2
An information processing apparatus includes a first control unit configured to display a shortcut corresponding to a program of an application and associate both of a first print queue corresponding to a first peripheral apparatus and a second print queue corresponding to a second peripheral apparatus with the application, and a second control unit configured to, if no print queue associated with the application is determined to exist after the shortcut is displayed, hide the shortcut corresponding to the program of the application, with different addresses assigned to the first peripheral apparatus and the second peripheral apparatus.
US09013732B1
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for using font information installed in an operating system to intercept text being printed are provided herein. A method includes intercepting an item of glyph data directed to at least one of a printing device and a display device, wherein the item of glyph data comprises a font-specific representation of a text character associated with a device context of the at least one of the printing device and the display device, converting the item of glyph data to an item of text data based on one or more items of font-specific information, analyzing the item of text data to classify one or more aspects of content in the item of text data, and analyzing the one or more aspects of content in the item of text data against one or more data policies to determine eligibility of the item of text data for transmission to the at least one of a printing device and a display device.
US09013724B2
An information processing apparatus is disclosed, including: a first storage unit which stores printing setting information used in an OS, the printing setting information including identifying information and a setting value of each setting item in printing; a second storage unit which stores customizing information including identifying information and a default value of a predetermined setting item that is included in a printer driver; and an updating unit which updates a setting value of the printing setting information to the default value and identifying information of the printing setting information to identifying information of the customizing information when the identifying information included in the printing setting information and the identifying information stored in the second storage unit differ when the printing setting information read by the OS from the first storage unit is obtained.
US09013719B2
A multifunction print device and a method of using the multifunction device is disclosed. The multifunction print device includes a user interface comprising at least one input mechanism configured to transmit a user request to enter at least one of a print mode and a non-print mode; a plurality of elements configured to be in either an active or inactive state, wherein the elements comprise one or more first elements configured to perform printing functions and one or more second elements configured to perform non-printing functions; and a control system configured to, in response to a user request to enter non-print mode, switch the one or more second elements from an inactive state to an active state while keeping the one or more second elements in an inactive state.
US09013718B2
In order to allow any device to use a graphics device interface (GDI) driver without having to modify it once the GDI driver has been developed, the GDI driver is configured to create a spool format in a next-generation print path (NGPP) graphics engine specification and to convert drawing data in the spool format in the NGPP graphics engine specification into a page description language (PDL) by using an NGPP driver.
US09013713B2
The present invention aims to provide a highly reliable relief pattern detection device 1, including a slant FOP 3 having an input end surface 4 with which an object surface makes contact and an output end surface 5 substantially parallel to the input end surface 4, an irradiation light source 10 disposed on the output end surface 5 side of the slant FOP 3, for irradiating the output end surface 5 with light, and a CCD camera 11 disposed on the output end surface 5 side of the slant FOP 3, for detecting a relief pattern based on light emitted from the output end surface 5, in which optical axes Rf of optical fibers are inclined so as to create a first angle α less than 90° in one direction from the output end surface 5 within a predetermined plane substantially perpendicular to the output end surface 5, the irradiation light source 10 irradiates the output end surface 5 with light in a direction to create a second angle β less than 90° in the other direction from the output end surface 5 within the predetermined plane, and the first angle α and the second angle β are set so that light made incident from the output end surface 5 into a core 8 of the optical fiber 6 enters into a cladding 9.
US09013709B2
A method for detecting motion direction of an object (4) comprises the steps of: laser output light (L1) is generated, using a semiconductor laser (2) having a thermal response frequency (fr); the laser is driven with rectangularly modulated DC current (I) having a modulation frequency higher than said thermal response frequency (fr) and preferably higher than twice said thermal response frequency (fr), such as to triangularly modulate the wavelength of the laser output light; the laser output light is directed to the object; a portion of reflected light (L3) is allowed to interfere with light (L0) within the laser; a portion of the laser light is used as measuring beam (5); the frequency spectrum of the measuring beam (5) is analyzed in conjunction with the modulated laser current in order to determine the direction of movement of the object (4).
US09013708B2
An optical apparatus includes a light source, an optical coupling module, a reference light reflection module, and a data processing module. The light source provides an incident light. The optical coupling module divides the incident light into a reference light and a detection light emitting to the reference light reflection module and the object respectively. The reference light reflection module reflects the reference light and rapidly change the optical path of the reference light. The optical coupling module receives a first reflected light generated by the reference light reflection module reflecting the reference light and a second reflected light generated by the object reflecting the detection light and it interferes the first reflected light and second reflected light to generate a light interference signal. The data processing module receives and analyzes the light interference signal to obtain an optical detection result related to the object.
US09013681B2
On the +X and −X sides of a projection unit, a plurality of Y heads are arranged in parallel to the X-axis by a predetermined distance half or less than half the effective width of the scale, so that two heads each constantly form a pair and face a pair of Y scales. Similarly, on the +Y and −Y sides of the projection unit, a plurality of X heads are arranged in parallel to the Y-axis by the predetermined distance described above, so that two heads each constantly form a pair and face a pair of X scales. Of the pair of heads consisting of two heads which simultaneously face the scale, measurement values of a priority head is used, and when abnormality occurs in the measurement values of the priority head due to malfunction of the head, measurement values of the other head is used. Then, by using the measurement values of the two pairs of Y heads and the pair of X heads, a position of a stage within a two-dimensional plane is measured in a stable manner and with high precision.
US09013680B2
An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a beam deflection array including a number beam deflection elements, for example mirrors. Each beam deflection element is adapted to deflect an impinging light beam by a deflection angle that is variable in response to control signals. The light beams reflected from the beam deflection elements produce spots in a system pupil surface. The number of spots illuminated in the system pupil surface during an exposure process, during which a mask is imaged on a light sensitive surface, is greater than the number of beam deflection elements. This may be accomplished with the help of a beam multiplier unit that multiplies the light beams reflected from the beam deflection elements. In another embodiment the beam deflecting elements are controlled such that the irradiance distribution produced in the system pupil surface changes between two consecutive light pulses of an exposure process.
US09013670B2
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel having the first substrate sheet. The object of the present invention can be accomplished by a liquid crystal capsule which is mixed with a binder and printed on one surface of the first substrate on which the transparent electrode is formed; a transparent adhesive applied to entirely cover the liquid crystal capsule and the binder printed on the first substrate; and a releasing sheet which is attached to entirely cover the transparent adhesive applied on the first substrate.
US09013665B2
Provided are a display device and a manufacturing method thereof capable of preventing aggregation of an alignment layer and maintaining uniformly a cell-gap. The display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention includes: a substrate including a plurality of pixel areas; a thin film transistor formed on the substrate; a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and formed in the pixel area; a barrier layer formed on the pixel electrode; a roof layer formed on the barrier layer to be spaced apart from the barrier layer with a microcavity therebetween; and a liquid crystal formed to fill the microcavity.
US09013663B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The first substrate includes a gate line and an auxiliary capacitance line extending in a first direction, a source line extending in a second direction orthogonally crossing the first direction, and a pixel electrode having a main pixel electrode arranged on the auxiliary capacitance line and extending in the first direction. The second substrate includes a common electrode having a main common electrode arranged above the gate line and extending in the first direction. A liquid crystal layer is held between the first substrate and the second substrate having liquid crystal molecules. The liquid crystal molecules are initially aligned in the first direction in a splay alignment state between the first substrate and the second substrate in a state where electric field is not formed between the pixel electrode and the common electrode.
US09013656B2
A polarizing plate according to the invention includes a first protective film; a polarizer; a second protective film; and an adhesive layer in this order, in which a moisture vapor permeability of the first protective film is less than or equal to 200 g/m2/24 hours, the second protective film contains cellulose acylate as a major component, a creep amount of the adhesive layer is less than 100 μm, and a shrinkage force of the polarizing plate in an absorption axis direction thereof which is represented by the following expression (A) is lower than or equal to 2000 N/m. Expression (A) is the Shrinkage Force (N/m) of Polarizing Plate in Absorption Axis Direction=Elastic Modulus (GPa) of Polarizing Plate in Absorption Axis Direction×|Humidity Dimensional Change Rate (%) of Polarizing Plate in Absorption Axis Direction|×Thickness (μm) of Polarizing Plate×10.
US09013649B2
An array substrate for a transflective liquid crystal display device and its fabrication method are discussed. In one embodiment, an array substrate for a transflective liquid crystal display device includes a gate pad on a base substrate, a gate insulator on the gate pad and having an opening exposing a portion of the gate pad, an auxiliary pad pattern on the gate insulator and made of an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer, and a conductive layer on the auxiliary pad pattern and contacting the gate pad through the opening.
US09013641B2
To effectively suppress speckle noise generated when coherent light is used as a light source in a projection type image display device using an LCOS Liquid Crystal On Silicon). A projection type image display device according to the present invention includes: a light source that emits coherent light; an optical scanning section that scans the coherent light emitted from the light source; an LCOS that has an image formation area in which an image is formed; a projection optical system that projects an image formed on the image formation area on a screen; and a hologram that has polarization selectivity and diffuses scanning light scanned by the optical scanning section so as to allow diffusion light emitted from respective points thereof to illuminate the image formation area in an overlapping manner.
US09013640B2
An entertainment system for a vehicle is provided comprising a front display screen in a front seat area of the vehicle and a rear display screen in a rear seat area of the vehicle. The entertainment system further provides a DVD player for reading a DVD including video content of the DVD. The DVD player can be connected to the rear display screen for displaying the video content of the DVD thereon. The video content can include a DVD menu. A controller can be connected to the DVD player and the front display screen. The controller generates a DVD menu representation corresponding to the DVD menu for display on the front display screen.
US09013631B2
Methods and apparatus for processing and displaying caption information associated with a video program are provided. The caption information is extracted from a video signal and different captions are rendered in sequence for different segments of the video program. A plurality of the different captions is blended in a form for simultaneous display superimposed on video images during one of the different segments of the video program. The different captions may be the latest caption corresponding to the current segment of video and a previous caption corresponding to a previous video segment. These different captions can be displayed such that they overlie each other and such that their opacity is different. In this manner, a viewer is able to have a prolonged period of time to read captions and can readily distinguish the current caption from the previous caption.
US09013624B2
An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element to obtain an image of a subject using a plurality of pixels which are classified into a plurality of pixel groups and are arranged in a matrix pattern, a controller to apply a reset signal to start exposure of a pixel on a pixel group basis in sequence, to read out pixel values of the plurality of pixel groups on the pixel group basis in sequence according to the reset signal applying order, and to control the image pickup element such that each of the pixel groups has a same exposure time, and a storage unit to store the pixel values read out on the pixel group basis in sequence.
US09013614B2
In a solid-state image pickup apparatus, a first insulating film continuously extends over at least part of a photoelectric conversion element and at least part of a gate electrode and further protrudes into a region above part of a floating diffusion region. A second insulating film is disposed above the first insulating film. The first insulating film has a higher dielectric constant than the second insulating film. An end of a part of the first insulating film protruding beyond an end of the gate electrode into the region above the floating diffusion region is located at a distance of 0.25 μm or less from an end, on a side of the floating diffusion region, of the gate electrode.
US09013604B2
A digital video camera system that provides a video summary using a method that includes: designating a reference image containing a particular person; capturing a video sequence of the scene using the image sensor, the video sequence including a time sequence of image frames; processing the captured video sequence using a video processing path to form a digital video file; during the capturing of the video sequence, analyzing the captured image frames using a person recognition algorithm to identify a subset of the image frames that contain the particular person; forming the video summary including fewer than all of the image frames in the captured video sequence, wherein the video summary includes at least part of the identified subset of image frames containing the particular person; storing the digital video file in the storage memory; and storing a representation of the video summary in the storage memory.
US09013581B2
Storing biometric information regarding the identity of an author in association with an artistic work created by the author may assist in properly attributing ownership of rights to the artistic work. To facilitate the association, an apparatus used to create the work may be configured to include a component for capturing the biometric information regarding the identity of the author.
US09013575B2
Doorbells can be used to detect visitors. Doorbells can have a field of view that includes a first portion and a second portion. Some embodiments include using a doorbell to detect a first object within the first portion of the field of view, and then determining if a doorbell button is pressed. If the doorbell button is not pressed, the doorbell may become less sensitive to objects detected in the first portion of the field of view. If the doorbell button is pressed, the doorbell may become more sensitive to objects detected in the first portion of the field of view. Multiple portions of the field of view may be independently adjusted based on doorbell button data.
US09013570B2
Provided is a microscope including: dark field illumination and bright field illumination which illuminate a preparat where a sample mounted on a slide glass is covered with a cover glass and a mounting agent; an image capturing unit which acquires a dark field image by image-capturing the preparat illuminated by the dark field illumination and which acquires a bright field image by image-capturing the preparat illuminated by the bright field illumination; and a magnified portion image acquisition area determination unit which detects an edge of the cover glass in the preparat based on the dark field image and the bright field image acquired by the image capturing unit and determines an internal area of the detected edge of the cover glass as a magnified portion image acquisition area of the sample.
US09013569B2
A conveying device including: a storage unit storing two or more sheets of slide glasses to be subjected to a predetermined treatment; a stage holding only one sheet of slide glass to be subjected to the treatment; a supply arm by which one sheet of slide glass to be subjected to the treatment is picked up from the storage unit and supplied onto the stage; a discharge arm by which the slide glass mounted on the stage is picked up and discharged in the storage unit; a moving unit operable to move the supply arm and the discharge arm in an integral manner so as to bring the supply arm or the discharge arm into proximity to each of the storage unit and the stage; and a control unit operable to control the supply arm, the discharge arm and the moving unit.
US09013566B2
A phase comparing unit compares a phase of an imaging-side synchronization signal with a phase of a display-side clock, and controls oscillation of a display-side clock generating unit based on a result of the comparison. A display timing adjusting unit receives a video signal output from an endoscope at a timing based on the imaging-side synchronization signal and adjusts a synchronization timing of the received video signal to a synchronization timing based on a display-side synchronization signal.
US09013563B2
A wavelength separation device includes a waveplate adapted to convert the polarization direction of light in a predetermined wavelength band so that right-eye and left-eye image light in a time-divisional manner can be separated into first outgoing light as first polarized light in a first wavelength band and second outgoing light as second polarized light in a second wavelength band, a polarization control element adapted to keep the polarization direction of the first and the second outgoing light input from the waveplate in the case of either one of the right-eye and the left-eye image light, and respectively change the polarization direction of the first and the second outgoing light input from the waveplate in the case of the other thereof, and a polarization plate adapted to absorb one of the first polarized light and the second polarized light, and transmit the other thereof.
US09013558B2
Systems and methods according to principles disclosed here provide a screen space transform, e.g., implemented as a node, that may be employed to correct alignment issues between left and right eyes of a native stereo plate. The transformations may be in a number of homographic ways, including via translation, rotation, and scaling. By properly aligning stereographic images, subsequent images are properly aligned throughout the animation pipeline. In addition, the viewer experience is significantly improved.
