US09070259B2
Various embodiments are disclosed concerning games that use both 2D and 3D play areas. Various embodiments concern representing a 3D structure composed of a plurality of 3D shapes having a plurality of faces, presenting a plurality of elements, marking the plurality of faces and the elements, identifying a first set of one or more combinations of corresponding markings, moving the shapes of the three dimensional structure relative to the elements, and identifying a second set of one or more combinations of corresponding markings, each of the combinations of corresponding markings from the first set and the second set composed of markings from at least one of the elements and multiple faces of the shapes.
US09070256B2
A system and a method of conducting games of chance with enhanced payouts based on a cash in or initial investment amount are described. In response to a player's initial investment or cash in amount, a payout schedule is selected. The larger the initial investment the better the selected payout schedule for the player. Live games of chance, games of chance facilitated by electronic gaming machines or devices and server-based games may utilize the method shown here. Players may also receive enhanced awards such as enhanced player points based on the amount of the initial investment, or based on other parameters and factors. Awards and bonuses may also be provided to players who exhaust an initial investment exceeding a threshold amount. Different variations of the game and winning are also explained in details.
US09070255B2
Various embodiments disclosed herein are directed to methods, gaming machines, and gaming systems capable of simultaneously presenting two independent games for play. According to one embodiment, the gaming machine includes a cabinet for housing a display that simultaneously presents a first game that is independent from a second game. The first and second games are primary games, and a trigger event in either the first game or the second game initiates play of a tournament game. The gaming machine also includes a first set of player input devices for the first game and a second set of player input devices for the second game. The gaming machine also includes a player input device that allows a player to play both the first and second game simultaneously.
US09070247B2
A system receives standard game output consisting of electronic signals for displaying text, numbers, and machine sounds and converts these signals to animated behavior and animated speech of a virtual human bystander shown on the audio-visual display. An interface receives data communication representing standard game states and standard game output from a separate electronic game, and uses the input to drive a virtual assistant projector, which animates an automated virtual assistant on the audio-visual display. A game output converter translates standard game states and standard game output from the interface into animated behavior information and animated speech information for input to the virtual assistant projector. Computer processing of the system can be operationally and communicatively isolated from a main game engine of the electronic game table.
US09070242B2
Various aspects described or referenced herein are directed to different methods, systems, and computer program products for facilitating and/or enabling user controllable granularity in multi-player gaming environments for enabling a user (e.g., Target Player) to selectively allow/prevent game event influence/outcome by other players and/or groups of players participating in a multi-player game. At least a portion of the game event influence/outcome techniques disclosed herein may be operable to provide event influence/outcome functionality for facilitating user controllable granularity in multi-player gaming environments for enabling individual players of that game to granularly and selectively control the degree and/or type of influence other players of the game may have on game event outcomes relating to the game being played by that individual player.
US09070236B1
A method for time-space-position-information (TSPI) for at least one air-based platform in a flight test includes providing a system having components to collect TSPI. The system, which includes an air-based platform, is initialized and a flight test is started. The system is remotely monitored to determine system diagnostics and, when system problems are diagnosed, they are fixed by remote configuration or manual repair. TSPI data is received with ground-based receiver nodes through a wireless data link signal transmitted from a dedicated on board transmitter on the air-based platform. The dedicated on board transmitter uses a known transmitter signal waveform. The ground-based receiver nodes match an internally generated signal waveform to the known transmitter signal waveform to measure time of arrival. The TSPI data is collected and sent to a ground processing station. The TSPI data is processed with the ground processing station. The system components and TSPI data are collected. The TSPI data is produced as output.
US09070234B2
A device for identifying a vehicle includes: an input interface receiving a first input of feature specificities of first features of a vehicle; a database device which stores a component model, an identification model, and an information unit model; a computation device ascertaining second features which make possible an unequivocal identification of the vehicle in relation to the intended diagnosis; and an output device outputting the second features ascertained by the computation device, the input interface receiving a second input of feature specificities of the second features of the vehicle through the user, and the computing device ascertaining, as a function of the second input, a relation associated with the intended diagnosis from the information unit model of the database device.
US09070231B1
A system, method and apparatus for using electronic seals in container security system is provided. According to the present invention, one or more biometric measurements may be used with an e-seal device to control access. In one preferred embodiment, the biometric signals received by an e-seal device may be transmitted to a remote monitoring station, and the remote monitoring station may wirelessly authorize the access.
US09070228B2
A surface definition module of a hair/fur pipeline may be used to define a surface. An instancing module is used to instance hairs. An instanced hair database coupled to the instancing module is used to store hair data. The instancing module retrieves hair data from the instanced hair database to allow for a relatively large number of hairs to instanced. A display module is used to display the instanced hairs with respect to the surface.
US09070226B2
Method(s) and system(s) for identifying marker features of various subsets of a multi-dimensional data are provided. Each subset includes various data points associated with various features. Each of the data points are defined by feature values corresponding to the associated features. The method includes identifying feature pairs based on a matrix of the data points and the features, and computing correlation distances between features in each of the feature pairs. The method includes generating a non-linear pattern of the plurality of features in a two-dimensional plane. Additionally, the method includes calculating a threshold feature value for the associated features of the data points of a particular subset and representing the threshold feature value as a threshold non-linear pattern in the two-dimensional plane. The method includes determining the marker features based on a relative position of the features with respect to the threshold feature value in the two-dimensional plane.
US09070221B1
Computer-generated images based on force field effects are generated by evaluating force field data and animated data. The force field data includes force field directional vectors and the animated data includes density values for an animated model. The force field data and the animated data are splattered on separate multi-dimensional grids. An animation system determines a vector path, starting at a point in the grid containing the animated model, based on the directional vectors and the density values along the vector path are integrated to determine an attenuation factor for the point. The attenuation factor provides a value for accurately determining the movement of the animated model at the point when the force field is present.
US09070218B2
A method for reconstructing an image of a scene captured using a compressed sensing device. A mask is received which identifies at least one region of interest in an image of a scene. Measurements are then obtained of the scene using a compressed sensing device comprising, at least in part, a spatial light modulator configuring a plurality of spatial patterns according to a set of basis functions each having a different spatial resolution. A spatial resolution is adaptively modified according to the mask. Each pattern focuses incoming light of the scene onto a detector which samples sequential measurements of light. These measurements comprise a sequence of projection coefficients corresponding to the scene. Thereafter, an appearance of the scene is reconstructed utilizing a compressed sensing framework which reconstructs the image from the sequence of projection coefficients.
US09070204B2
A measurement system is capable of accurately aligning the corresponding measurement points of a plurality of measurement targets to evaluate the measurement targets from measurement results. A measurement system includes a measuring instrument and a PC, the measuring instrument includes a spectroscopic unit that measures a measurement point of a measurement target and a camera that images surroundings in real-time. The PC displays an evaluation image of continuous image information, which is imaged and displayed by the camera on a display screen so as to be superimposed on a reference image of still image information, which has been imaged and stored in memory. By comparing the data obtained by measuring the measurement point in the evaluation image when both images overlap each other and the measurement data of the point in the reference image, it is possible to perform positioning easily and compare the measurement data.
US09070201B2
An image processing apparatus includes a buffer unit which stores image data of one input image, an input control unit which causes the buffer unit to store the image data of the input image, a processing operation unit which outputs image data of a processed image generated by performing image processing based on one of a plurality of set processing conditions, a plurality of output control units corresponding to the processing conditions, wherein each output control unit causes the image data necessary when image processing is performed in a corresponding processing condition to be output from the buffer unit to the processing operation unit and causes the image data of the processed image to be output to a subsequent-stage processing circuit, and an output arbitrating unit which determines which processing condition is used to perform the image processing and permits the corresponding output control unit to perform output control.
US09070197B2
This invention is related to a method that enables the object based segmentation of especially air/satellite images that are displayed in high resolution. The aim of the invention is to determine automatically the borders of objects by using statistical, spatial and structural relationships/characteristics and also by using high resolution air/satellite image data. Another aim of the invention is to develop a method that can operate by being minimally affected by limiting aspects such as ambient light, weather conditions or resolution and that can provide the determination of an object as a whole instead of sensing it in pixels.
US09070196B2
An apparatus and method for estimating disparity based on a visibility energy model includes an energy calculator to calculate energy related to stereo matching of each of a left image and a right image which constitute a stereo image, a map generator to generate a visibility map for determining an error in disparity between the left image and the right image using the energy, an energy recalculator to recalculate energy with respect to a region including a visibility error generated due to the error in disparity in the visibility map, and a disparity determiner to determine disparity from the stereo image using recalculated energy of each of the left image and the right image.
US09070195B2
Some embodiments of the image editing and organizing application described herein provide an automatic enhancement process that includes vibrancy adjustment. The vibrancy adjustment increases the saturation of multiple pixels. The saturation of each pixel is determined by subtracting the lowest component value from the highest component value. The process determines an overall saturation of the image using a histogram. The histogram is generated using doubled saturation values for pixels with blue and green as the highest component value.
US09070191B2
A storage medium storing a distance calculation program that causes a computer to execute operations, the operations includes; obtaining a first image captured by an image pickup device disposed on a vehicle; extracting a first feature point which satisfies an extraction condition used to determine a point on a road surface in the first image; and calculating a first distance from the first feature point to the image pickup device in a real space in accordance with data obtained by associating a position of the point in the first image and a first angle of the point viewed from a center of the image pickup device in the real space, and setting information including an angle of depression of the image pickup device and a distance between the image pickup device and the road surface.
US09070190B2
A method of registering the position of an object moving in a target volume in an ultrasound imaging system includes capturing a first ultrasound image of a target volume. A second ultrasound image of the target volume is then captured after the capturing of the first ultrasound image. The position of the object in the target volume is identified using differences detected between the first and second ultrasound images. In another aspect, a region of interest in the target volume is determined. A segment of an operational scan range of a transducer of the ultrasound imaging system encompassing the region of interest is determined. The transducer is focused on the segment of the operational scan range during image capture.
US09070188B2
A system for managing scouting images, including a scouting camera configured to record and store images of subjects at a particular location and an image management device which has a processor that creates a predictive statement based on image content of the images stored on the scouting camera or copies thereof and a display conveying the predictive statement to a user, wherein the predictive statement indicates a portion of a future time period that subjects are most likely to be at the particular location as compared to remaining portions of the future time period.
US09070179B2
An apparatus and a method for motion vector encoding/decoding, and to an apparatus and a method for image encoding/decoding using same are provided. The apparatus includes a selector of optimal predicted motion vector PMV from candidate motion vector set of current block; a determiner of motion vector prediction mode of current block with selected motion vector prediction mode from multiple motion vector prediction modes by decision criterion prearranged with motion vector decoding apparatus; and an encoder for determining, by determined motion vector prediction mode, optimal PMV or default predicted motion vector into PMV for current motion vector, encoding differential vector between the current block and PMV, and selectively encoding/outputting determined motion vector prediction mode as encoded motion vector prediction mode by the determined motion vector prediction mode. Bit quantity in encoding a motion vector is reduced improving encoding efficiency and preventing decoder crash even at encoding error, improving decoder.
US09070176B2
In some embodiments, scripts may be used to perform parcel data acquisition, conversion, and clean-up/repair in an automated manner and/or through graphical user interfaces. The scripts may be used, for example, to repair geometries of new parcel data, convert multi-part parcel geometries to single part parcel geometries (explode), eliminate duplicate parcel geometries, append columns, create feature classes, and append feature classes. These scripts may be executed in a predetermined manner to increase efficiency. In some embodiments, different combinations of attributes may be appended to stored parcel data. In some embodiments, a tracking application may be used to track information about sources of data. In some embodiments, a tracking application may be used to track which system users are assigned to specific tasks (e.g., in a data acquisition project).
US09070175B2
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques which aid in correctly capturing what a restaurant customer intends to order, and may enhance the customer's satisfaction with the ordering and dining process overall. For example, an interface may be provided through which a customer may specify an order, and the interface may clearly convey such information as each ordered item's ingredients and nutritional content. The interface may enable the customer to customize ordered items, and may clearly convey any changes that the customer has made, allowing the customer to make informed choices about the items included in an order. The interface may embody a design which enables the customer to quickly and easily customize items, and/or to re-order previously customized items.
US09070165B2
A method for matching a hedge fund and a hedge fund investor, and apparatus therefore, may utilize databases that may be searched by search engines. The databases and the search engines may be accessed using a website. Information regarding the investor may be stored in one database and information relating to the hedge fund may be separately stored in the other database. An investor may access the search engine associated with the database containing hedge fund information to identify hedge funds that may be relevant to that investor. Likewise, a hedge fund may access the search engine associated with the database containing investor information to identify qualified investors that may be interested in the hedge fund.
US09070162B2
A system and method to manage employee time at a set of job sites. A time management system comprises a server in communications with a database in which a set of job site data is stored. An employee device application is installed on a set of employee devices. The set of employee devices are in communication with the server through the employee device application. The set of employee devices collect a set of time punch data and a set of photos from the set of employees at check-in events and check-out events. The set of time punch data and the set of photos are sent to the server and stored in the database with the set of job site data. A supervisor management application is installed on a set of supervisor devices to monitor the set of job site data, validate photos and activate employee devices.
US09070158B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for displaying content associated with a merchant selling items through an electronic commerce system. A display area includes multiple information regions presenting content associated with the merchant. Visual characteristics associated with the information regions adjust according to values corresponding to the to the information regions. For example, the sizes or positions of the information regions may adjust according to the values.
US09070157B2
A payment apparatus that settles merchandise sold at an EC site, includes a receiving unit that receives, when a merchandise page of the EC site is accessed by a user, a merchandise identifier for specifying the merchandise and session data with the user from the merchandise page; a generation unit that generates a payment icon including information regarding a payment of the merchandise based on the merchandise identifier and the session data; a sending unit that sends the payment icon to the merchandise page; and a payment unit that performs, when the payment icon displayed in the merchandise page is operated by the user, a payment process of the merchandise for the user specified by the session data.
US09070144B1
In some embodiments, the instant invention provides an improved computer system programmed for matching which includes at least the following components: a specialized computer machine having a processor for executing program code stored in memory, where the program code is configured to perform upon the execution: obtaining business information regarding a plurality of businesses and a plurality of offerings offered by the plurality of businesses; concurrently matching each consumer of a plurality of particular consumers with at least one business based on: business identifying matching parameter(s) obtained from each consumer, a geographic indication, a plurality of ranked filtering criteria, personal consumer profile information having responses to psychometric questions, business profile information having responses to psychometric questions, and at least one rating score filtering parameter; and causing to concurrently output, utilizing a graphical user interface, each matching result to each particular consumer.
US09070139B2
Estimating a number of unique ad impressions in a streaming video system includes defining parameters of an ad campaign and a desired number of ad impressions for the campaign. A computer system determines a discrete probability distribution of video advertising segments per unit time per client device in a population of video advertising segments streamed to a plurality of client devices, based on historical data. The system randomly samples the probability distribution without replacement, based on the defined number of desired ad impressions. An enhanced binary search algorithm may be used for the sampling. Each sample of the probability distribution identifies a number of ads streamed to a different client device in the probability distribution. The system determines, based on the sampling, a number of unique client devices included the samples, thus obtaining an estimate of unique ad impressions for the defined ad campaign.
US09070131B2
A system includes a machine-readable storage medium, a processor in communication with the machine-readable storage medium, communication circuitry in communication with the processor; and a plurality of sensors in communication with the processor. Each of the plurality of sensors is configured to generate an electrical signal in response to receiving wave energy. The processor is configured to control data acquisition for authenticating an object using at least a subset of the plurality of sensors, calculate an authentication value based on signals received from the subset of the plurality of sensors, and cause the communication circuitry to transmit an authentication request including the authentication value to an authentication entity.
US09070129B2
A merchant conducting a transaction on an account forms transaction data with a sensitive data field. To obscure the account prior to transmitting information about the transaction, for each character in the sensitive data field, a combined character is formed with a character of a generated pad. A replacement character is formed by a modulus operation on the combined character and is stored in the corresponding position in the sensitive data field. A transmission containing the sensitive data field with replacement characters is delivered to the merchant's acquirer.
US09070126B2
An entitlement validation system for laser tag games having a laser tag vest arranged to be activatable for enabling game play has a ticketing module arranged to issue a ticket with a machine readable identification code upon payment made for a selected game, and to update a game entitlement database having identification codes matched with corresponding selected games, a ticket reader arranged to read the identification code of a ticket presented for game activation, a game controller arranged to receive the identification code transferred from the ticket reader and to activate the game equipment upon verifying of entitlement by matching the received identification code with the corresponding selected game in the database. The system may have a base station arranged as a communications link between the ticket reader and the game controller. The ticket reader may be integrated into the game equipment or installed in a validation activation station.
US09070124B2
A self-service check cashing system and method which performs preliminary tests on a check to reduce queue length at attendant check cashing stations. An example method includes obtaining an amount of a check from a customer by the self-service terminal, obtaining information from an image of a check by the self-service terminal, performing a plurality of tests by the self-service terminal, including tests using the information from the image to determine whether the check was properly completed; and displaying instructions to the customer by the self-service terminal to go to an attendant terminal to complete a second phase of the check cashing transaction when the self-service terminal determines that the test results were positive.
US09070117B2
Providing contextual information and enabling group communication for participants in a conversation
Configurations for providing a widget that displays participants involved in the conversation thread and provides different graphical elements (e.g., buttons) to initiate one click actions to start a group chat, create a meeting on each participant's calendar, or start a new conversation thread. In the case of the group chat, the subject technology can include the contents of the group chat session as an additional electronic message in the conversation thread. In one example, the widget is implemented as a floating toolbar that can be positioned in the user interface while in the conversation thread view.
US09070108B2
Optimizing travel and time management during travel. A travel tool is provided to receive travel objectives, which may also be prioritized and set with the tool. In response to detecting a disruption of an aspect of the set travel plans, this disruption is evaluated in an effort to mitigate the effects of the disruption. The impact of the disruption is evaluated and the travel plans are re-calculated. At least one modification to the set of travel plans is provided and selected in compliance with the set objective. This selection is communicated to the travel tool. Based upon the selection, the travel plans are dynamically modified while attaining the set objectives.
US09070105B2
This disclosure describes systems and methods for collecting and processing change of address data and providing change of address services to a customer using a computer network. The address data can include a physical address, an electronic address, or both. The systems and methods may also provide additional services to the customer to assist in changing addresses.
US09070099B2
Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for developing workflow processes associated with data-encoded tags. A server receives tag data associated with each of a plurality of data-encoded tags from one or more mobile devices capable of reading data-encoded tags. The server generates a collection of tags to include each of the plurality of data-encoded tags. The server develops a workflow process associated with the collection of tags using the received tag data, and stores the workflow process in a data storage module.
US09070098B2
A web based software system generally designed for processing pre-employment background investigations is described. The software system allows an organization the ability to create and customize electronic documents to be sent to their applicants to complete via the web based software system, and returned in the same fashion. The subject matter turns much of a common pre-employment background investigation electronic, so that fewer hardcopy documents are necessary, thus creating more efficient management of individual background investigations.
US09070097B2
A single meta-model can include metadata defining a business scenario landscape that includes business scenarios accessible to members of an organization that are supported by a business software architecture. The metadata can include business process definitions and relationships between business processes. A user interface can present first, second, and/or third visualization layers based on the metadata. The first visualization layer can include first user interface elements forming a business scenario landscape map showing business scenarios and at least one relationship between the business scenarios. The second visualization layer can include second user interface elements displayed in a navigation pane concurrently with a work pane. The second user interface elements can represent a linear sequence of second business processes of a business scenario while the work pane can include additional user interface elements corresponding to functionality provided by the business software architecture relating to a currently selected business process.
US09070096B2
A system for providing a reliable and redundant enterprise management solution includes an appliance disposed at a healthcare facility and a pair device disposed at a remote facility. The appliance includes first processing circuitry, a first virtualization manager and a first synchronizer. The first processing circuitry is configured to enable execution of a plurality of applications. The first virtualization manager is configured to virtualize at least storage components and an execution environment for at least some of the applications. The pair device includes second processing circuitry, a second virtualization manager and a second synchronizer. The second processing circuitry provides redundancy for the first processing circuitry. The second virtualization manager is configured to provide redundancy with respect to the virtualized storage components and execution environment. The second synchronizer is configured to communicate with the first synchronizer to enable shifting of operations with respect to one of the applications being executed between the appliance and the pair device. A corresponding method and apparatus are also provided.
US09070094B2
Techniques for optimizing a shopping agenda are disclosed. The techniques include receiving an electronic shopping list containing one or more items, each item indicating a product sold by a retailer. The techniques also include determining, at the processing device, a store location of the retailer, the store location indicating a store where the one or more products indicated by the one or more items are to be purchased. The techniques further include determining one or more product waypoints based on the one or more items in the electronic shopping list and the store map, each product waypoint of the one or more product waypoints respectively corresponding to one of the one or more items and being indicative of a product location of the product indicated by the item in the store. The techniques further include providing the one or more product waypoints for display.
US09070091B2
A method for extracting a critical dimension of a semiconductor nanostructure. The method includes: 1) determining a value range for each parameter to be extracted, whereby generating an electronic spectra database, and employing training spectra and support vector machine (SVM) training networks for training of SVMs; 2) employing the SVMs after training to map measured spectra to yield a corresponding electronic spectra database; and 3) employing a searching algorithm to search for an optimum simulation spectrum in the corresponding electronic spectra database, simulation parameters corresponding to the simulation spectrum being the critical dimension of the semiconductor nanostructure to be extracted.
US09070084B2
A method, executed by a computer system, or altering a base expression associated with an ontology, the method including: generating a canonical expression from the base expression; modifying the canonical expression to generate a modified canonical expression, the modification being the addition, replacement or deletion of a target update expression segment; modifying the base expression to generate a modified base expression by adding a modification sub-expression to the base expression or deleting a modification sub-expression from the base expression, the modification sub-expression being determined at least in part from the target update expression segment; generating a comparison canonical expression from the modified base expression; and comparing the comparison canonical expression with the modified canonical expression to determine whether to substitute the base expression with the modified base expression.
US09070083B2
Provided are a method for learning task skill and a robot using the same. The modeling method for learning a task skill includes: receiving training data for a task to be performed by a learning engine; dividing, by the learning engine, the received training data into segments by using a geometric property of a predetermined probabilistic model; and learning, by the learning engine, a basis skill for the divided segments by modeling each divided segment.
US09070071B2
A card-type information recording medium including a PCB that has a loop antenna pattern and a routing pattern formed on the top surface and the bottom surface thereof through the use of an etching process, an NFC communication unit and a USIM card unit that are horizontally mounted on the top of the PCB, and a molding material that is formed on the top of the PCB so as to cover the NFC communication unit and the USIM card unit.
US09070070B2
A smart card apparatus and related systems are presented here. The smart card apparatus includes a dielectric substrate forming a card body, a card circuit module carried by the dielectric substrate, and a radio frequency (RF) antenna arrangement carried by the dielectric substrate. The RF antenna arrangement is physically and electrically isolated from the card circuit module, and RF signals communicated by the RF antenna arrangement are unrelated to native functionality of the card circuit module.
US09070064B2
Provided herein is a system for transmitting data to a motor vehicle travelling along a roadway. The motor vehicle preferably contains an antenna which produces a magnetic field having a length (L) in the direction of travel and a width (W) perpendicular to the direction of travel. A first plurality of RFID transponders may be positioned in the roadway as a row which is perpendicular to the direction of travel. A second plurality of RFID transponders may be positioned following the first row and offset from the first row. Depending on the speed of the vehicles travelling the roadway at this location, more rows of transponders may be used. A method for placing the RFID transponders within the roadway is also disclosed.
US09070056B1
Incentive rewards awarded to a recipient have a code unique to each reward. Receipt of a reward may be reported by the Internet or the intranet. Plural rewards can be connected together to form a trophy. The incentive rewards can be connected to one another by the use of magnets on the rewards.
US09070048B2
A computer implemented method and apparatus for automatically identifying a representative image for an image group. The method comprises dividing an image group into one or more clusters based on an average time gap of the image group, wherein the images in the image group are in sequential timestamp order wherein the average time gap is calculated using a time span calculated from the timestamp of a first image in the image group to the timestamp of a last image in the image group; recursively dividing a largest cluster in the one or more clusters to determine a resultant cluster, wherein the resultant cluster comprises no time gaps larger than the average time gap of the resultant cluster; and identifying a representative image from the resultant cluster as an image representative for the image group.
US09070045B2
Technologies pertaining to object detection are described herein. A cascaded classifier executes over subwindows of an image in a plurality of stages. A crosstalk cascade is employed to reject subwindows as being candidates for including an object that is desirably detected, where the crosstalk cascade is a combination of multiple cascades.
US09070039B2
Apparatus and methods for contrast enhancement and feature identification. In one implementation, an image processing apparatus utilizes latency coding and a spiking neuron network to encode image brightness into spike latency. The spike latency is compared to a saliency window in order to detect early responding neurons. Salient features of the image are associated with the early responding neurons. An inhibitory neuron receives salient feature indication and provides inhibitory signal to the other neurons within an area of influence of the inhibitory neuron. The inhibition signal reduces probability of responses by the other neurons to stimulus that is proximate to the feature thereby increasing contrast within the encoded data. The contrast enhancement may facilitate feature identification within the image. Feature detection may be used for example for image compression, background removal and content distribution.
US09070032B2
A method of programming a symbol reading system having a field of view includes selecting a programming command from a list of programming commands for programming a symbol reading system. The list of programming commands is typically stored on a computer that includes a processor configured for, in response to the selection of a programming command from the list of programming commands, generating a page bearing a symbol corresponding to the selected programming command and no other symbol corresponding to another programming command in the list of programming commands. The method also includes placing the computer generated page bearing a symbol corresponding to the selected programming command within the system's field of view.
US09070028B2
Methods and systems for controlling wireless identification tag activation are disclosed. An example method includes controlling a first wireless identification read cell to activate a first set of wireless identification tags within a first communication range. Further, the method includes controlling a second wireless identification read cell to activate a second set of wireless identification tags within a second communication range during activation of the first set of wireless identification tags and subsequent to initially activating the first set of wireless identification tags. The first communication range overlaps with the second communication range.
US09070026B2
Methods and systems for coordinating transmission of data from wireless identification tags are disclosed. According to an aspect, a wireless identification tag includes a communication module configured to wirelessly transmit data in response to receipt of an instruction. The wireless identification tag also includes a timer configured to communicate the instruction to the communication module for transmission of the data within a timeslot based on a stored first identifier of the wireless identification tag. Further, the timer module is configured to receive second identifier. The timer module is also configured to change the first identifier based on the second identifier.
US09070025B2
A biometric information processing apparatus includes a biometric sensor configured to acquire biometric information of a first instance, a second instance and a third instance; a processor configured to execute a procedure, the procedure comprising: extracting an authentication feature used for matching from the biometric information of each of the second instance and the third instance; normalizing the relative positions of authentication features of the second instance and the third instance by using the biometric information of the first instance; and extracting a relative feature indicating a relative positional relationship between the authentication features of the second instance and the third instance normalized in the normalizing procedure.
US09070019B2
Methods and systems for capturing motion and/or determining the shapes and positions of one or more objects in 3D space utilize cross-sections thereof. In various embodiments, images of the cross-sections are captured using a camera based on reflections therefrom or shadows cast thereby.
US09069995B1
Fixed capacitive circuits are described which perform arithmetical summation operations over sets of scaled analog values, where the constant parameters of the summations and scaling multiplications are formed as ratios of circuit element values. The passive nature of the design can enable efficient integrated circuit implementation.
US09069990B2
The present invention systems and methods facilitate secure communication of information between devices. A present invention system and method can enable secure communication of proprietary content in a HDCP compliant configuration. In one embodiment, a high definition content protection key secure management method is utilized to enable efficient and secure storage of a HDCP key. A high definition content protection key value is received. The high definition content protection key is encrypted utilizing a secure key value, wherein the secure key value is not accessible via an external port. In one exemplary implementation, the secure key is stored in fuses included in a processing unit. The results of said encrypting in a memory (e.g., a BIOS memory, flash memory, etc.).
US09069986B2
A computer determines, based on a degree of authorization of a user, that a user has authorization to view a type of field. Based on the degree of authorization of the user, the computer generates a modified list of search terms by adding additional search terms to a list of search terms. The computer executes a search using the modified list of search terms. The computer identifies a search result that includes the first type of field which further includes a search term that is included in the modified list of search terms.
US09069977B2
A method, hybrid server system, and computer program product, for managing access to data stored on the hybrid server system. A memory system residing at a server is partitioned into a first set of memory managed by the server and a second set of memory managed by a set of accelerator systems. The set of accelerator systems are communicatively coupled to the server. The memory system comprises heterogeneous memory types. A data set stored within at least one of the first set of memory and the second set of memory that is associated with at least one accelerator system in the set of accelerator systems is identified. The data set is transformed from a first format to a second format, wherein the second format is a format required by the at least one accelerator system.
US09069976B2
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a device used by a user, a request to access a resource hosted by a computer system; identifying, by the computer system, a level of risk associated with the user requesting access to the resource; adjusting, by the computer system an authentication standard for access to the resource, adjusting based on the identified level of risk; determining values for authentication factors used in authenticating the user's access to the resource; applying weights to the values for the authentication factors; and determining, based on a comparison of the weighted values to the adjusted authentication standard, whether the user is authorized to access the resource.
US09069971B2
A method of testing security of an electronic device against a combination of a side-channel attack and a fault-injection attack implemented during a method of cryptographic processing that includes: delivering a message signature based on a secret parameter and implementing a recombination of at least two intermediate values according to the Chinese remainder theorem; and verifying the signature on the basis of at least one public exponent. The method of testing includes: transmitting a plurality of messages to be signed by said electronic device; disturbing each message, including modifying the message by inserting an identical error for each message, before executing a step of determining one of the intermediate values; and analyzing physical measurements, obtained during the step of verifying the signature as a function of the message to be signed, the identical error for each message, and an assumption of a value of part of the secret parameter.
US09069967B2
Security analysis and vulnerability testing results are “packaged” or “bound to” the actual software it describes. By linking the results to the software itself, downstream users of the software can access information about the software, make informed decisions about implementation of the software, and analyze the security risk across an entire system by accessing all (or most) of the reports associated with the executables running on the system and summarizing the risks identified in the reports.
US09069966B2
A method for updating code images in a system includes booting a first image of a code with a sub-system processor, receiving a second image of the code, performing a security and reliability check of the second image of the code with the sub-system processor, determining whether the security and reliability check of the second image of the code is successful, storing the second image of the code in a first memory device responsive to determining that the security and reliability check of the second image of the code is successful, designating the second image of the code as an active image, and sending the second image of the code to a second memory device, the second memory device communicatively connected with the first memory device and a main processor.
US09069960B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for avoiding an on-access scan of data after an on-demand scan of the data. In use, an on-demand scan is performed on data accessible by a collaborative portal application. Further, an on-access scan of the data is avoided, after the on-demand scan.
US09069958B2
An approach for managing a security policy is provided. First, second, and third specification sets are received after being independently generated by different practitioners. The first specification set maps service-to-service communications. The second specification set maps the services to devices on which the services are placed. The third specification set maps the devices to one or more network addresses. The received specification sets are algorithmically combined to create packet filtering rule statements. The security policy is generated as packet filtering rules based on the combined specification sets and the packet filtering rule statements. An application deployment modification includes independently editing specification set(s) that are affected by the modification, without knowledge of specification set(s) that are unaffected by the modification. An updated security policy may be generated by an incremental update to an existing security policy without requiring replacement of the entire security policy.
US09069957B2
A network management system monitors malware within a mobile network. The system comprises a receiver component that obtains data regarding malware in the mobile network. The data is obtained from a first source and a second source, where the first source is of a different type than the second source. The monitoring system also includes an analysis component that generates a malware analysis of the mobile network as a function of the data.
US09069952B1
An electronic device. The device comprises an anti-trusted-security-zone in the trusted security zone that, when installed and managed by the trusted security zone manager, places non-trusted applications into the anti-trusted-security-zone for execution, restricts access of the non-trusted applications to at least some resources of the electronic device outside the anti-trusted-security-zone, alerts the user when the non-trusted application inside the anti-trusted-security-zone desires access to any restricted resource of the electronic device outside the anti-trusted-security-zone, asks the user for permission to access the desired resource outside the anti-trusted-security-zone, grants access for the non-trusted application to requested resources outside the anti-trusted-security-zone upon the permission by the user, moves the applications from the anti-trusted-security-zone to the normal zone that are determined not to be malicious, keeps the applications within the anti-trusted-security-zone that do not need to execute outside the anti-trusted-security-zone, and deletes the applications that are determined to be malicious.
US09069939B2
In accordance with an example embodiment of the invention there is provided a method, comprising: associating an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMSI) with a mobile telecommunication device, the IMSI configured to identify the device to a mobile telephone network; storing a software program in memory associated with the device; storing a licence, necessary for allowing the operation of the software program on the device, in memory associated with the device; and locking the licence to said IMSI such that the software application cannot be operated on the device without said IMSI being associated with the device; wherein, the licence and the IMSI are stored on the same memory medium such that they are transportable from the device together.
US09069933B1
A secure, networked portable storage device includes: a secure data storage section; a program storage section including a security program operatively connected to the secure data storage section, wherein the security program is operable to selectively enable and disable access to the secure data storage section; a device antenna operable at a low radio frequency not exceeding one megahertz; a transceiver operatively connected to the device antenna, the transceiver operable to receive radio signals at the low radio frequency and generate data signals at the said low radio frequency, in response thereto; a programmable microprocessor operatively coupled with the transceiver and the program storage section, the microprocessor configured for controlling operation of the program storage section and to cause the transceiver to emit an identification signal; and a connector for enabling an electrical connection between the portable storage device and another device, wherein the connector and the secure data storage section are not operatively connected.
US09069932B2
A computer-implemented method for controlling access to a computing device entails displaying a user-rotatable three-dimensionally rendered object on a display of the computing device, the object presenting a plurality of user-selectable visual indicia such that only a subset of the indicia are visible at any one angle of rotation and providing access to the computing device based on user input received in relation to at least one of the visual indicia. The object may be spherical or polyhedral or it may be composed of a plurality of independently rotatable rings that together form a generally spherical shape. The visual indicia may be letters, numbers, symbols, colours, photographs or any other visually distinctive indication.
US09069925B2
A method for constant power density scaling in MOSFETs is provided. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit includes computing fixed scaling factors for a first fabrication process based on a second fabrication process, computing settable scaling factors for the integrated circuit to be fabricated using the first fabrication process, determining parameters of the integrated circuit based on the settable scaling factors, and manufacturing the integrated circuit using the determined parameters. The first fabrication process creates devices having a smaller device dimension than the second fabrication process and the settable scaling factors are set based on the fixed scaling factors.
US09069923B2
Multi-Project Wafers includes a plurality of chiplets from different IP owners. Non-relevant chiplets are implemented with IP protection to inhibit IP disclosure of non-relevant IP owners.
US09069922B2
A method includes designating a cell mismatch parameter of a memory cell including a plurality of transistors and an initial value of a transistor mismatch parameter for each of the plurality of transistors. A critical current sensitivity parameter is determined for each of the plurality of transistors based on the transistor mismatch parameters in a computing apparatus. The cell mismatch parameter is distributed across the plurality of transistors in the computing apparatus to update the individual transistor mismatch parameters for each of the plurality of transistors based on the critical current sensitivity parameters and the cell mismatch parameter. The memory cell is simulated based on the individual transistor mismatch parameters to generate a simulation result.
US09069916B2
A method, system and processor readable medium containing computer readable software instructions for selecting representative models from a large ensemble of models is disclosed. An ensemble of reservoir models that define an input uncertainty space is provided. A target number of representative models and one or more target percentiles of output variables that the representative models are to approximate are input. The representative models from the ensemble of reservoir models that match the one or more target percentiles of output variables are selected while maximizing the spread between the selected representative models in the input uncertainty space.
US09069913B2
A circuit topology to reduce ringing and the strength of unwanted signals includes a signal transmitting terminal, a first signal receiving terminal, and a second signal receiving terminal. The signal transmitting terminal receives a first DC voltage via a first node and a first resistor. The first node is electrically connected to a second node via a third resistor and an energy consuming element. The energy consuming element weakens the voltage level of noise signals on the second signal receiving terminal, therefore, signal reflections from the second signal receiving terminal are reduced, and signal integrity at the first signal receiving terminal is improved.
US09069911B2
One data processor is provided with an interface for realizing connection with the other data processor. This interface is provided with a function for connecting the other data processor as a bus master to an internal bus of the one data processor, and the relevant other data processor is capable of directly operating peripheral functions that are memory mapped to the internal bus from an external side via the interface. Accordingly, the data processor can utilize the peripheral functions of the other data processor without interruption of the program being executed. In short, one data processor can use in common the peripheral resources of the other data processor.
US09069909B2
A server and an identifier synchronization method are provided, and the server includes a network card, hardware peripherals and a basic input output system. The network card stores at least one identifier. The basic input output system starts operating to acquire the at least one identifier of the network card and write the at least one identifier into each hardware peripheral after the server is booted.
US09069906B2
A method is provided for interfacing a plurality of processing components with a shared resource. A token signal path is provided to allow propagation of a token through the processing components, wherein possession of the token enables a processing component to conduct a transaction with the shared resource. Token processing logic is provided for propagating the token from one processing component to another along the token signal path, the propagating being done at a propagation rate related to a transaction rate of the shared resource. The token processing logic also generates a trigger signal at least in part based on the token and propagates to trigger signal to the shared resource to convey initiation of a transaction with the shared resource. A circuit comprising a plurality of processing components and a shared resource is provided wherein the processing components and the shared resource interface with one another using the method proposed.
US09069904B1
System, method, and non-transitory medium for ranking runs of test scenarios belonging to a cluster. Runs by users on software systems that belong to different organizations are clustered to clusters of similar runs. The runs involve executing transactions instantiated from transaction types. A first processor receives a selection of a certain transaction type, and calculates a first number of different organizations associated with users that ran test scenarios involving execution of a transaction instantiated from the certain transaction type. A second processor receives a selection of a certain cluster from the clusters and calculates, based on runs belonging to the certain cluster, a second number of different organizations associated with users that ran certain test scenarios involving execution of a transaction instantiated from the certain transaction type. A ranking module ranks runs of test scenarios belonging to the certain cluster according to the first and the second numbers.
US09069902B2
In a method of creating a custom action, a user interface is presented for entry of lines of a custom action. In response to receipt of a sub-portion of a line of the custom action via said user interface, the sub-portion is automatically checked for errors in syntax. The custom action is stored as a selectable custom action in a dynamic layer of a testing infrastructure. The dynamic layer of the testing infrastructure is associated with a particular instance of a software item.
US09069901B2
Methods, software, frameworks, and systems for automating test procedures for a computer processing system. An embodiment of the method includes steps of determining a plurality of available automated test procedures, determining a plurality of available test options, and generating a plurality of test specifications. Each test specification may include option data corresponding to one of the available test options as well as procedure data corresponding to one of the available automated test procedures. The present invention advantageously supports reuse and extensibility of automated test procedures for a variety of configurations.
US09069897B2
At least one embodiment described herein relates to the selective capturing of script code stacks associated with exceptions thrown by script code. For unhandled exceptions, the script engine 1) captures the script code stack in a host-accessible manner in which a host that hosts the script engine may access the captured script code stack, 2) completes unwinding of the script stack, and 3) reports the captured script code stack to a host that hosts the script engine. For at least one of the handled exceptions thrown by the script code for which the script code itself handles the exception, the script code stack is not captured in the host-accessible manner. Also, the call stack property of an error object is populated at throw time, rather than creation time.
US09069895B2
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for analyzing concurrent debugging sessions are provided. Embodiments include a first debugger initiating a conditional breakpoint in a first debug session of a first application. The conditional breakpoint stops execution of the first application based on a condition of a value of a variable of a second application. Embodiments also include the first debugger requesting and receiving the value of the variable from a second debugger. Embodiments also include the first debugger evaluating the condition of the conditional breakpoint based on the received value of the variable.
US09069891B2
A device for supporting hardware enabled performance counters with support for context switching include a plurality of performance counters operable to collect information associated with one or more computer system related activities, a first register operable to store a memory address, a second register operable to store a mode indication, and a state machine operable to read the second register and cause the plurality of performance counters to copy the information to memory area indicated by the memory address based on the mode indication.
US09069889B2
Performance data for a healthy system is captured and used to create benchmarks that represent behavior of the computing environment in a healthy state. Current behavior (e.g, run-time characteristics) of the computing environment are monitored in an on-going manner, and are compared to the benchmarks. When a benchmark is violated, performance data capture is dynamically and automatically enabled. Or, if performance data is already being captured, then performance data capture may be enabled for a larger subset of possible data. Optionally, performance data capture may be automatically disabled upon detecting that the current behavior of the computing environment has returned to a healthy state where benchmarks are no longer violated.
US09069888B2
Tracking errors in a computing system that includes a plurality of current error buckets and a plurality of historical error buckets, including: inserting, by an error repository manager into a current error bucket, error information describing a first error identified by a timestamp; moving, by the error repository manager, the error information in the current error bucket to a historical error bucket upon the expiration of the bucket interval, wherein each historical error bucket has a storage interval determined in dependence upon the base time interval associated with the error and a bucket number associated with the historical error bucket; and moving, by the error repository manager, the error information in a source historical error bucket to a destination historical error bucket upon the expiration of the storage interval associated with the source historical error bucket.
US09069883B2
A document management method includes generating a category list based on identification information of a document; and assigning at least one category in the category list to the document.
US09069881B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to dynamically assessing and managing probing of a system for resource availability. A predicted resource usage pattern is acquired, and critical points in the pattern pertaining to predicted changes in resource consumption are identified. Probing the system for resource availability is limited to the identified critical points, or to real-time changes in the resource usage pattern.
US09069877B2
A method of presenting content on the user interface display screen of a portable electronic device includes the presentation of a plurality of icons. The icons scale in size in accordance with a position of the respective icons along a curved path.
US09069876B2
There is disclosed a method in which a process is initiated to handle a set of information, which includes one or more resources. In the method the set of information is examined to determine whether the set of information includes a resource stored as a shareable cache element in a memory. If the determination indicates that the set of information includes a resource stored as a shareable cache element, the shareable cache element is used as the resource of the set of information.
US09069873B2
An apparatus for creating a mashup web application includes: a web application authoring unit configured to generate a web application initial page from previously stored block resources and web application resources during web application authoring login, receive UI-based web application authoring information through the web application initial page, and generate web application metadata; and a workflow management unit configured to generate a final web application by verifying a workflow of the web application metadata.
US09069871B2
A method, article, and system for reconfiguring a web page. The method includes extracting dependencies between pages, files, and components of the web page, measuring a network delay value, a transfer efficiency value, and a component size, estimating load time of a candidate file using information of the network delay value, the transfer efficiency value, the dependencies, and the component size. An integer programming problem is generated to minimize an object function representing the load time of the web page by analyzing the web page, solving the integer programming problem, reconfiguring a library file from the solution and reconfiguring the web page by replacing a link to the library file of each page with a link to the reorganized file.
US09069859B2
Providing search results is disclosed. A search query is received and a plurality of preprocessing functions to be performed on the search query is determined based at least in part on a search label corresponding to the search query. The plurality of preprocessing functions is performed on the search query to obtain a plurality of preprocessed search queries. Based at least in part on precision levels associated with the plurality of preprocessed search queries, a search plan comprising a selected preprocessed search query is generated. The search plan is input to the search engine to obtain the search results.
US09069857B2
Methods, computer systems, and computer-storage medium for generating a per-document index used for semantic searching is provided. A document is received and parsed into a plurality of section. Each term in each section is translated in order to at least one of a cache index or a term identifier. Subsequent to translating the terms, each section is separately group encoded to generate the per-document index. The per-document index is stored in association with a data store.
US09069855B2
A structured document is translated into an initial hierarchical data structure in accordance with syntactic elements defined in the structured document. The initial hierarchical data structure includes a plurality of nodes, and each node corresponds to one of the syntactic elements. The method then annotates a node with a set of attributes including geometric parameters of semantic elements in the structured document that are associated with the node in accordance with a pseudo-rendering of the structured document. Finally, the method merges the nodes in the initial hierarchical data structure into a tree of merged nodes in accordance with their respective attributes and a set of predefined rules such that each merged node is associated with a semantically distinct region of the pseudo-rendered document. The predefined rules include rules for merging nodes associated with semantic elements that have nearby positions and/or compatible attributes in the pseudo-rendered document.
US09069853B2
In a particular embodiment, a method of goal-oriented searching is disclosed that includes providing a graphical user interface including an input and a selectable indicator. The selectable indicator is related to a pre-defined query associated with a particular goal. The particular goal includes multiple criteria. The method also includes receiving data related to the input and inserting the data into the pre-defined query to produce a goal-oriented query to identify one or more documents that satisfy the multiple criteria.
US09069847B2
Data visualization methods, data visualization devices, data visualization apparatuses, and articles of manufacture are described according to some aspects. In one aspect, a data visualization method includes accessing a plurality of initial documents at a first moment in time, first processing the initial documents providing processed initial documents, first identifying a plurality of first associations of the initial documents using the processed initial documents, generating a first visualization depicting the first associations, accessing a plurality of additional documents at a second moment in time after the first moment in time, second processing the additional documents providing processed additional documents, second identifying a plurality of second associations of the additional documents and at least some of the initial documents, wherein the second identifying comprises identifying using the processed initial documents and the processed additional documents, and generating a second visualization depicting the second associations.
US09069844B2
Implementations of the present disclosure include methods, systems, and computer-readable storage mediums for improving keyword searches for enterprise services receiving user input, processing the user input to identify a set of terms, querying a knowledge base based on each term of the set of terms to define a first set of facts, each fact of the first set of facts including instance data associated with a concept, generating a query based on the first set of facts, processing the query to generate search results, the search results including one or more enterprise services stored in an enterprise service repository, and transmitting information associated with each of the one or more enterprise services for display to a user.
US09069840B2
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to receive a first identification of two or more records that match and to search at least two sources of data to locate a set of potential matching records, based on element transformation to determine common characteristics of the two or more records. Further activities may include publishing the set of potential matching records, receiving a second identification of matching members of the set, and searching at least one repository to locate further matching records based on the second identification and the common characteristics. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US09069836B2
A method and system are disclosed herein for accepting multimodal inputs and deriving synchronized and processed information. A reusable multimodal application is provided on the mobile device. A user transmits a multimodal command to the multimodal platform via the mobile network. The one or more modes of communication that are inputted are transmitted to the multimodal platform(s) via the mobile network(s) and thereafter synchronized and processed at the multimodal platform. The synchronized and processed information is transmitted to the multimodal application. If required, the user verifies and appropriately modifies the synchronized and processed information. The verified and modified information are transferred from the multimodal application to the visual application. The final result(s) are derived by inputting the verified and modified results into the visual application.
US09069835B2
A distributed storage system is provided. The distributed storage system includes multiple front-end servers and zones for managing data for clients. Data within the distributed storage system is associated with a plurality of accounts and divided into a plurality of groups, each group including a plurality of splits, each split being associated with a respective account, and each group having multiple tablets and each tablet managed by a respective tablet server of the distributed storage system. Data associated with different accounts may be replicated within the distributed storage system using different data replication policies. There is no limit to the amount of data for an account by adding new splits to the distributed storage system. In response to a client request for a particular account's data, a front-end server communicates such request to a particular zone that has the client-requested data and returns the client-requested data to the requesting client.
US09069830B2
Provided are techniques for generating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based on relationships between tables identified in a data model and displaying the GUI to enable selection of the tables and columns in the tables. Via the GUI, a selection of at least one of the tables and a selection of at least one of the columns in the at least one of the selected tables are received. A statement is generated based on the selected tables and the selected columns. The statement is executed to obtain results. The results are processed to create a data object having a hierarchical structure that indicates the relationships between the tables.
US09069828B2
The present invention discloses methods, systems, and tools for knowledge processing by building maps of ontological subjects for compositions or the contents accompanying a request for service by a user. In one embodiment of the invention the method assigns and calculates an ontological subject power spectrum to each composition or ontological subject. The resulting power spectrum and the adjacency matrix of the map are used to evaluate the merits of the compositions in the context of reference universes. It is also used as a research guiding tool for knowledge discovery. The invention serves knowledge seekers, knowledge creators, inventors, discoverer, as well as general public by assisting and guiding users to assess their work, identify their unknowns, optimize their research trajectory, and provide higher quality contents. The method and system, thereby, is instrumental in increasing the speed and efficiency of knowledge acquisition, discovery, retrieval, as well as faster learning and problem solving.
US09069827B1
A system that implements a data storage service may store data on behalf of storage service clients. The system may maintain data in multiple replicas of partitions that are stored on respective computing nodes in the system. A master replica for a replica group may increment a membership version indicator for the group, and may propagate metadata (including the membership version indicator) indicating a membership change for the group to other members of the group. Propagating the metadata may include sending a log record containing the metadata to the other replicas to be appended to their respective logs. Once the membership change becomes durable, it may be committed. A replica attempting to become the master of a replica group may determine that another replica in the group has observed a more recent membership version, in which case logs may be synchronized or snipped, or the attempt may be abandoned.
US09069823B2
A method is provided for managing a relational database of the SQL type for information technology and network infrastructure service information, including a method in which the following are created, in a system for managing a database of the MySQL type, a read-only data storage engine, and unmodifiable tables, for example of WORM, defined as “Write Once Read Many” type managed by the storage engine; each table includes a column of digital counting data called a “timestamp”; each table is partitioned by time intervals; partition files are grouped in subdirectories of a file system, these directories forming a tree structure, each node of which is uniquely identified from a timestamp.
US09069817B2
A method, system, and computer program product to create an access control bit mapping (ACBM) structure for a corresponding database table are disclosed. The ACBM structure may include a relative record number (RRN) bit map. The RRN bit map may describe the access rights for a parameter. The computer-implemented method may maintain one or more statistics describing the RRN bit map. The method may additionally provide for updating the ACBM structure. The method may also provide for using the ACBM structure to process a database query.
US09069811B2
An Enterprise Network includes a master data management (MDM) system that is linked to two or more data sources each of which include means for storing local management information. The MDM system builds a master management information database that is comprised of some or all of the management information stored by the data sources. The master database in the MDM includes master records each of which is comprised of one or more attributes. The MDM system is configured to only update particular master record attributes with selected management information received from a trusted data source.
US09069809B2
The apparatuses and methods described herein may operate to identify, from an index structure stored in memory, a reference minimum bounding shape that encloses at least one minimum bounding shape. Each of the at least one minimum bounding shape may correspond to a data object associated with a leaf node of the index structure. Coordinates of a point of the at least one minimum bounding shape may be associated with a set of first values to produce a relative representation of the at least one minimum bounding shape. The set of first values may be calculated relative to coordinates of a reference point of the reference minimum bounding shape such that each of the set of first values comprises a first number of significant bits fewer than a second number of significant bits representing a second value associated with a corresponding one of absolute coordinates of the point.
US09069807B2
Disclosed are a method and system for implementing an array data type of a programming language using various data structures. The disclosed method includes a plurality of implementations in which the array data type may be implemented. The implementations provide an efficient way to retrieve elements from the array, especially in the order they are inserted into the array. The data structures also minimize the computing resources required to manage and access the array. The disclosed technique also selects one of the many implementations based on criteria such as access pattern or size of the array.
US09069799B2
Systems and methods for restoring a database in an information management system that does not include a secondary copy of the database, are disclosed. The systems and methods may include using metadata stored in non-production storage devices to restore the database. In some implementations the methods are used to consolidate multiple information management systems. In other implementations, the systems and methods are used for reviewing content of archived storage media. Other implementations are disclosed.
US09069797B1
The invention is a system and method for generating a file system model at a selected point in time without requiring sequential generation of file system models for each point in time prior to the selected point in time. Present data modeling require that data be generated using some initial point, then passed through time intervals in order to simulate the data at a later point in time. The invention does not require sequential data generation. Instead, any arbitrary point in time may be selected, and the data may be modeled at that selected timepoint. The invention stores a compact representation of file system data for each timepoint. Whenever a user wants to simulate data at some timepoint, the proper compact representation is selected and expanded to produce a simulation of the data at that timepoint.
US09069790B2
Example apparatus and methods protect state in a file system using a message-passing multi-threaded journal. One example apparatus stores, in memory, data and metadata affected by a file system transaction. The apparatus may run a thread that receives the file system transaction from the file system and that produces a set of atomic operations configured to complete the file system transaction. The apparatus may also run a thread that records a set of journal entries associated with the set of atomic operations to protect the file system while the atomic operations complete. The journal entries may be written on a non-volatile computer-readable medium. The apparatus may also run a thread that co-ordinates usage of space on the computer-readable medium. Rather than synchronizing journal activity with locks, the threads running on the example apparatus may synchronize their activity using message passing.
US09069785B2
Stream locality delta compression is disclosed. A previous stream indicated locale of data segments is selected. A first data segment is then determined to be similar to a data segment in the stream indicated locale.
US09069783B1
A technique for processing IO requests in a data storage system provides active-active access to pooled data objects from multiple storage processors. Data objects, which may include both block-based objects and file-based objects, are realized in the form of respective files stored in a set of clustered internal file systems of the data storage system. For providing active-active access to a data object, each of multiple storage processors operates such a clustered file system, which coordinates with a clustered file system on each of the other storage processors to present a consistent file system image having a single namespace across all such storage processors. On each storage processor, the clustered file system is built upon a clustered storage pool, which maintains consistency with each of the clustered storage pools running on each of the other storage processors, to present a consistent image of storage allocation across all storage processors.
US09069779B2
In at least some disclosed embodiments, a method includes a) creating a first stub file on a target file server, b) creating a t-stub file at the location of the source directory, c) disabling performance of operations on the source data while allowing completion of operations in progress, d) copying the source data into a hidden directory on the target file server, thus creating target data, e) overwriting the first stub file by renaming the target data, f) enabling performance of operations on the target data, g) performing queued operations on the target data, and h) deleting the source data from the source file server.
US09069776B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for serving encrypted and plain data from a low latency non-volatile memory. One of the methods includes executing a process on a server having a low latency volatile random access memory and a low latency non-volatile memory. The process is associated with an index file stored in the low latency volatile random access memory and encrypted and plain data stored in the low latency non-volatile memory. The process receives a query, finds data necessary to generate a response to the query using the index file, and retrieves the data from the low latency non-volatile memory whether the data is in an encrypted or a plain format. The process provides responses to queries where the responses are generated from a portion of either the encrypted data or the plain data stored in the low latency non-volatile memory.
US09069768B1
Creating subgroups of documents using optical character recognition data is described. A matrix is created for words included in documents. Each column-row combination in the matrix indicates whether a corresponding word that is associated with the column-row combination is included in a corresponding document that is associated with the column-row combination. Distances are identified between pairs of the words. Each distance is based on a number of the documents that differ in including a corresponding pair of the words. Word clusters are created. Each word cluster includes pairs of words associated with a corresponding distance less than a distance threshold. Sets of word clusters are created. A set of word clusters includes word clusters that are not associated with any of the documents associated with other word clusters in the set. Subgroups of the digitized documents are created based on a set of word clusters with a highest word score.
US09069767B1
Techniques for aligning content items with one another are described herein. These techniques may align different versions of a same content item for the purpose of identifying differences between the versions, identifying commonalities between the versions, mapping annotations made in one version to the other version, aggregating annotations across the different versions, or for any other reason. The content items may include electronic books, songs, videos, documents, or the like.
US09069754B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for navigating electronic texts. According to an aspect, a method may include determining that a user non-linearly navigates between text subgroups within electronic text. The method may also include linking the text subgroups in response to determining that the user non-linearly navigates between the text subgroups. Further, for example, text subgroups within an electronic text may be determined. In this example, a similarity relationship between content of each text subgroup and one or more other text subgroups may be determined for linking the text subgroups.
US09069753B2
Determination of proximity measurements indicative of respective intended inputs are disclosed. User inputs are received, where each user input is one of a predefined plurality of inputs that each map to multiple characters in a language. Rates of user selections of candidates decoded from the user inputs into the language are received, where each of the candidates includes one or more characters in the language. User inputs for the candidates having low rates of selection as non-selected user inputs are identified. User inputs for the candidates having high rates of selection as intended inputs are identified. The intended user inputs to the non-selected user inputs are compared to identify one or more misspelled input and intended input pairs. A proximity measurement for each misspelled input and intended input pair is determined based on a ratio of the number of times corresponding candidates for the misspelled input were not selected to the number of times the misspelled input was entered.
US09069751B1
A method and system for managing and tracking the pedigree or data lineage of an electronic document. The methods and systems provide a standardized way for managing the pedigree of an electronic document regardless of its data type.
US09069750B2
A method and system comprising an automated analysis of at least one corpus of natural language text is disclosed. For each sentence of a corpus, the analysis includes performing a syntactic analysis using linguistic descriptions to generate at least one syntactic structure for the sentence, building a semantic structure for the sentence, associating each generated syntactic and semantic structure with the sentence, and saving each generated syntactic and semantic structure. For each corpus text that was preliminary analyzed, performing an indexing operation to index lexical meanings and values of linguistic parameters of each syntactic structure and each semantic structure associated with sentences in the corpus text. A semantic search as disclosed herein includes at least one automatic preliminary analyzed corpus of sentences comprising searched values of linguistic, syntactic and semantic parameters. Due to deep semantic analysis of one or more corpora, the search may be executed in various languages, in resources of various languages, and in text corpora of various languages, regardless of the language of the query.
US09069736B2
A method for performing data processing through a pipeline of components includes receiving a set of training observations, each including partial user feedback relating to error in data output by the pipeline for respective input data. Some pipeline components commit errors for at least some of the input data, contributing to an error in the respective output data. A prediction model models a probability of a pipeline component committing an error, given input data. Model parameters are learned using the training observations. For a new observation which includes input data and, optionally, partial user feedback indicating that an error has occurred in processing the new input data, without specifying which pipeline component(s) contributed to the observed error in the output data, a prediction is made as to which of the pipeline components contributed to the error in the output (if any).
US09069732B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a system for automated document conversion testing. For each page in the received documents, the system first converts the page into a source image. The system then converts the document page into a set of markup language page elements and generates a rendered image of the markup language page elements displayed in a web browser on a target software platform. Next, the system determines a correlation factor between the source image and the rendered image. The correlation factor indicates a page fidelity between the original document and its markup language transformation. If the correlation factor exceeds a threshold established for a minimum page fidelity requirement, the markup language conversion is validated.
US09069730B2
A system and methods for reliability management of virtual machines in a host system. The reliability of the host system is monitored and compared with a reliability threshold level for a virtual machine. If the reliability of the host system drops below the reliability threshold level, the virtual machine is migrated to another host system having an appropriate level of reliability.
US09069721B2
A storage control device obtains an access request having a random characteristic or an access request having a sequential characteristic, compares a threshold with a ratio of the number of commands corresponding to the access request having the random characteristic to the number of commands corresponding to the access request having the sequential characteristic, generates and issues a command to which first identification information for instructing a storage to determine an execution order of commands issued to the storage has been assigned or a command to which second identification information for instructing the storage to execute commands in an order in which the storage received the commands has been assigned, in accordance with a result of the comparison, measures a time from issuance of the command to a response from the storage when the obtained access request has a random characteristic, and adjusts the threshold.
US09069719B2
A smart memory system preferably includes a memory including one or more memory chips, and a processor including one or more memory processor chips. The processor may include a common address/data/control memory bus that is configured to provide an asynchronous handshaking interface between the memory array and the memory processor. The processor can offload error data from the memory chip for analysis, and can store poor retention bit address information for memory refreshing in a non-volatile error retention memory. Program logic can also be included for memory address re-configuration. Power management logic can also be included, which may have a process-voltage-temperature compensation voltage generator for providing stable and constant read currents. An asynchronous handshaking interface is provided between the memory array and the memory processor. Write error tagging and write verification circuits can also be included.
US09069716B2
A matrix calculation unit may include a matrix operation unit and a converting unit. The matrix operation unit may include functions to perform a matrix operation of a first size with respect to data stored in a memory, and to perform a matrix operation of a second size with respect to the data stored in the memory, where the second size is enlarged from the first size. The converting unit may convert in at least one direction in the memory between a data array suited for the matrix operation of the first size and a data array suited for the matrix operation of the second size.
US09069710B1
Machine implemented method for generating and accessing a point in time copy of an expandable storage volume in a network storage system is provided. The expandable storage volume includes a namespace for storing information for accessing data objects stored at a plurality of data constituent volumes managed by a plurality of nodes of the storage system. The method includes initiating a logical fence first for the namespace and then for the data constituent volumes for generating the point in time copy of the expandable storage volume. The logical fence filters out any information written after the fence is initiated from the point in time copy of the expandable storage volume.
US09069693B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with decoder based data recovery are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a decoder configured to decode codewords and decoder firmware configured to control one or more decoding parameters of the decoder. The decoder includes a recovery unit configured to store recovery instructions. The decoder is further configured to execute the stored recovery instructions without interaction with the decoder firmware when the decoding fails.
US09069689B2
The sampling rate of a digital signal is reduced by storing a series of partial sums of the digital signal instead of the signal itself, thus reducing the memory size required to perform the sampling-rate reduction.
US09069686B2
A digital signal processor and method are disclosed having an instruction set with one or more non-linear functions using a look-up table of reduced size and exponentially varying step-sizes. A digital signal processor evaluates a non-linear function for a value, x, by obtaining at least two values from at least one look-up table for the non-linear function that are near the value, x, wherein the at least one look-up table stores a subset of values for the non-linear function using exponentially-varying step sizes; and interpolating the at least two obtained values to obtain a result, y. A position of a leading zero in the value, x, can be used as an index into the at least one look-up table. The interpolation can comprise, for example, a linear interpolation or a polynomial interpolation. A modulo arithmetic operation can optionally be employed for a periodic non-linear function.
US09069685B2
A digital signal processor and method are disclosed having an instruction set with one or more non-linear functions using a look-up table of reduced size. A digital signal processor evaluates a non-linear function for a value, x, by obtaining two or more values for the non-linear function that are near the value, x, from at least one look-up table, wherein the at least one look-up table stores a subset of values for the non-linear function; and interpolating the two or more obtained values to obtain a result, y. The interpolation may comprise, for example, a linear interpolation or a polynomial interpolation. In a further variation, a modulo arithmetic operation can be employed for a periodic non-linear function.
US09069683B2
A system includes a cache and a processor coupled to the cache. The cache stores data in multiple storage tracks and each storage track includes an associated multi-bit counter. The processor is configured to perform the following method. One method includes incrementing the multi-bit counter on each respective storage track a predetermined amount each time the processor writes to a respective storage track. The method further includes decrementing each multi-bit counter each scan cycle, and destaging each storage track including a zero count.
US09069680B2
Technology for operating a cache sizing system is disclosed. In various embodiments, the technology monitors input/output (IO) accesses to a storage system within a monitor period; tracks an access map for storage addresses within the storage system during the monitor period; and counts a particular access condition of the IO accesses based on the access map during the monitor period. When sizing a cache of the storage system that enables the storage system to provide a specified level of service, the counting is for computing a working set size (WSS) estimate of the storage system.
US09069678B2
A storage controller receives a request that corresponds to an access of a track. A determination is made as to whether the track corresponds to data stored in a solid state disk. Record staging to a cache from the solid state disk is performed, in response to determining that the track corresponds to data stored in the solid state disk, wherein each track is comprised of a plurality of records.
US09069673B2
A host configured to interact with a storage device includes a write-back (WB) cache configured to write data to the storage device, a cache managing module configured to manage the WB cache, and a file system module configured to determine whether live blocks in victim segments among a plurality of segments stored in the storage device are stored in the WB cache, to read the live blocks from the storage device as a consequence of determining that the live blocks are not stored in the WB cache, to load the read live blocks to the WB cache, and to request the cache managing module to set dirty flags for the stored live blocks.
US09069656B2
In one embodiment, a system wide static global stack pool in a contiguous range of random access memory is generated, a block of memory in the system global pool is assigned to a thread of a running process, and the thread stores local variable information in static global stack pool, such that the local variable is hidden from a stack frame back-trace. In one embodiment, a dynamically allocated data structure in system heap memory is generated, the data structure is locked to ensure atomic access, a block of memory in the data structure is assigned to a thread of a process, the data structure is unlocked, and the thread stores local variable information in static global stack pool, such that the local variable is hidden from a stack frame back-trace.
US09069642B2
Embodiments relate to building a downloadable application. In response to a request to build a downloadable application, a build system determines a set of resources used by the downloadable application. The build system reads this initial set of resources to discover other resources used by the downloadable application. The build system determines resource dependencies for the set of resources and the discovered set of resources, and creates a dependency data structure according to the resource dependencies. Using the dependency data structure, the build system determines a subset of the set of resources and the discovered set of resources to include in a module associated with the downloadable application.
US09069639B2
A user proxy setting is managed by a computer system that frequently performs package updates. A session starts when a user logs onto the computer system. The session registers the proxy setting of the user with a daemon that quits after a period of inactivity and restarts upon request. The daemon stores the proxy setting in a database using a user identifier (UID) and a session identifier as a key. The daemon then performs package updates multiple times during the session via a network, each time using the proxy setting stored in the database.
US09069633B2
A method for offloading includes a host channel adapter (HCA) receiving a first work request identifying a queue pair (QP), making a first determination that the QP is a proxy QP, and offloading the first work request to a proxy central processing unit (CPU) based on the first determination and based on the first work request satisfying a filter criterion. The HCA further receives a second work request identifying the QP, processes the second work request without offloading based on the QP being a proxy QP and based on the first work request failing to satisfy the filter criterion. The HCA redirects a first completion for the first work request and a second completion for the second work request to the proxy CPU based on the first determination. The proxy CPU processes the first completion and the second completion in order.
US09069630B2
The automated labeling system provides access to the input mechanism axes and button semantic information to applications running in a windowing environment. This enables the applications to not have to have specific information or interface with the low level drivers of the input mechanism and can rely exclusively on the windowing system and its API to interface with the input devices attached to the computer system.
US09069615B2
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes executing one or more computer applications and ranking the applications according to one or more criteria that change in response to a user's interaction with the applications. State information for certain of the one or more applications is saved and one or more applications are terminated in response to a memory condition. Subsequently, one of the terminated applications is revived using the saved state information.
US09069608B2
Techniques are disclosed for migrating a linked clone virtual machine (VM) based on a location of a client device. In one embodiment, a client device transmits its location to a VM management center, and a migration application running thereon determines whether the client device and a linked clone VM to which the client device is attempting to connect are at the same location. If the client device and the linked clone VM are not at the same location, the migration application identifies a VM hosting site proximate to the client device, and instructs a hypervisor to “cold” migrate the linked clone VM and its associated redo log to a VM host and a storage device, respectively, at the identified VM hosting site. The link clone VM may then be “actively” linked to a base VM at the VM hosting site, while maintaining “passive” links to base VM(s) at other locations.
US09069607B1
User configurations of an installed application are migrated by isolating them from a base application state of the installed application to generate a virtual application package. At runtime, a base virtual application package and a user configurations virtual application package are provisioned from a central repository and executed by the user. The resulting virtualized execution environment merges the application resources contained in the packages such that the user configurations override the base application to make available all of the user configurations. This technique may be used to preserve user configurations during migration of applications, or to maintain user-specific configurations for a particular application across different sessions of a user's virtualized desktop.
US09069602B2
A transactional memory (TM) includes a control circuit pipeline and an associated memory unit. The memory unit stores a plurality of rings. The pipeline maintains, for each ring, a head pointer and a tail pointer. A ring operation stage of the pipeline maintains the pointers as values are put onto and are taken off the rings. A put command causes the TM to put a value into a ring, provided the ring is not full. A get command causes the TM to take a value off a ring, provided the ring is not empty. A put with low priority command causes the TM to put a value into a ring, provided the ring has at least a predetermined amount of free buffer space. A get from a set of rings command causes the TM to get a value from the highest priority non-empty ring (of a specified set of rings).
US09069596B2
In general, the present invention provides a computer-implemented hypervisor file system (HVFS) comprising (among other things): a HVFS Manager, a Source File System Implementation, Hypervisor API, and HVFS Driver implemented in conjunction with a set (e.g., one or more) of virtual machines. Running a virtual machine on top of complex software systems like hypervisors allows the virtual machine to be presented with virtual storage devices which operate in the file system abstraction layer, instead of the block device layer traditionally presented by hardware. Doing so allows the file system abstraction to be implemented in the hypervisor, and not in the individual virtual machines, giving the hypervisor much greater access and control over the file system elements used by virtual machines, as well as giving it new capabilities such as sharing file system elements across virtual machines.
US09069594B1
A burst buffer appliance is adapted for coupling between a computer system and a file system. The burst buffer appliance comprises a flash memory or other high-speed memory having a substantially lower access time than the file system, and is configured to include a plurality of virtual machines for processing respective different types of input-output operations that involve utilization of the high-speed memory, with each of the virtual machines providing a different performance level for its associated type of input-output operations. The performance levels provided by the plurality of virtual machines may comprise respective different quality of service (QoS) levels for the respective different types of input-output operations, specified in terms of parameters such as latency and throughput rate. A highest QoS level may be provided by a particular virtual machine for operations involving writing checkpoints from the computer system to the high-speed memory.
US09069592B2
A computing system including a communication network architecture with a transport layer mechanism. The computing system is capable of supporting a multitude of different application protocols involving information and/or data exchange between an operating system instance and various firmware services. The computing system may include an operating system instance with a Generic Transport Driver supporting the application protocols in the operating system instance, a firmware service connected to a Generic Transport Facility via a Generic Firmware Service Interface and a virtual machine with a Generic Transport Passthrough. The Generic Transport Driver of the operating system instance exchanges communication protocol data with the Generic Transport Facility of the firmware component via the generic Transport Passthrough.
US09069587B2
Systems and methods for caching data from a plurality of virtual machines are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the systems and methods may be realized as a method for caching data from a plurality of virtual machines. The method may comprise detecting, using a computer processor executing cache management software, initiation of migration of a cached virtual machine from a first virtualization platform to a second virtualization platform, disabling caching for the virtual machine on the first virtualization platform, detecting completion of the migration of the virtual machine to the second virtualization platform, and enabling caching for the virtual machine on the second virtualization platform.
US09069585B2
In accordance with one or more aspects, a request to run an application is received. The application has an associated tune manifest that identifies one or more resources that the application may use. The tune manifest is compared to a device resource record, and a check is made, based at least in part on the comparing, whether the one or more resources identified in the tune manifest can be satisfied by the device. If the one or more resources identified in the tune manifest can be satisfied by the device, then the application is run; otherwise, a notification of a conflict between the application and the device is presented. Additionally, when the application exits, a device tune state that identifies a content source to which the device was tuned prior to running the application can be retrieved and the device restored to this device tune state.
US09069575B2
Apparatus and methods for changing operational modes of a widget and changing content feed to a widget based on operational mode changes and/or memory availability on the wireless device are provided. Apparatus and methods for managing the runtime memory usage of mobile widgets on a wireless device by changing widget states based on widget usage data are also provided.
US09069572B2
Embodiments efficiently replace an inbox driver of a computer with a third party driver. The inbox and third party drivers are function drivers configured to service an external device connected to the computer. A Function Loader driver is installed within the computer to enable replacement of the inbox function driver with the third party function driver based on a highest ranking of matching criteria. The Function Loader driver cooperates with a Function Loader Child driver, which intercepts a packet exchange that pertains to the external device to determine whether specified rules for replacement are satisfied. If so, the Function Loader Child driver modifies content of the packet exchange to uniquely identify the third party function driver as having the highest ranking of matching criteria. Accordingly, the operating system recognizes the third party function driver as a preferred driver for servicing the external device and installs the third party driver.
US09069571B2
A unique device name is assigned to each of a plurality of shared storage devices in a cluster configuration database defining membership of nodes in a cluster. A particular node among the nodes defined by the cluster configuration database as a member of the cluster searches the cluster configuration database for a device identifier matching a device identifier of a shared storage device hosted by the particular node. In response to finding a matching device identifier in the cluster configuration database, the particular node renames, in a local configuration maintained at the particular node, a storage device associated with the matching device identifier with the unique name assigned to that storage device in the cluster configuration database.
US09069566B1
Method and system for implementing a multiple writer single reader queue in a lock free and a contention free manner. The method includes receiving a plurality of payloads from a plurality of users, assigning each payload to a writer thread, creating a corresponding writer queue by each the writer threads, enqueuing queue entries into the writer queues maintained exclusively by the each of the writer threads and dequeuing sequentially the queue entries by a reader thread. Further, the method includes adding and removing one or more writer threads in real time. The system includes an electronic device for displaying a plurality of payloads. The system also includes a processor, a memory that stores instructions and a communication interface in electronic communication with the electronic device and the processor.
US09069563B2
A technique for reducing store-hit-loads in an out-of-order processor includes storing a store address of a store instruction associated with a store-hit-load (SHL) pipeline flush in an SHL entry. In response to detecting another SHL pipeline flush for the store address, a current count associated with the SHL entry is updated. In response to the current count associated with the SHL entry reaching a first terminal count, a dependency for the store instruction is created such that execution of a younger load instruction with a load address that overlaps the store address stalls until the store instruction executes.
US09069560B2
A method for creation of an operational model from a service oriented architecture (SOA) solution architecture. The method includes: selecting an SOA solution architecture model from a plurality of SOA solution architecture models including a plurality of layers; retrieving at least one layer according to the SOA solution architecture model; retrieving at least one SOA model element corresponding to the at least one layer; searching for an operational model element type for the at least one SOA model element and reading the operational model element type; reading a technical environment including hardware, operating system and software product requirements for the operational model element type; creating an operational model element with the technical environment hardware, operating system and software product requirements; and generating an operational model including the specific hardware and software infrastructure required to deploy the SOA solution architecture solution. The method is performed on one or more computing devices.
US09069559B2
User modeling facilitates use of a UML user model to define roles, goals, and tasks inside an organization, and defines how the roles, goals, and tasks relate to business entities within the organization. This information can be used to generate a user interface (UI) that facilitates management of the defined business entities within the organization. Each task defined inside the model, which may be represented as a stereotyped class in the UML class diagram, has a number of explicit steps associated with the task. These steps are outlined in UML activity diagrams and defined in a task interaction pattern. A modular approach to constructing UML activity diagram using the task interacting pattern to reduce the size of the model permits greater flexibility in generating the UI.
US09069549B2
Disclosed are machine processors and methods performed thereby. The processor has access to processing units for performing data processing and to libraries. Functions in the libraries are implementable to perform parallel processing and graphics processing. The processor may be configured to acquire (e.g., to download from a web server) a download script, possibly with extensions specifying bindings to library functions. Running the script may cause the processor to create, for each processing unit, contexts in which functions may be run, and to run, on the processing units and within a respective context, a portion of the download script. Running the script may also cause the processor to create, for a processing unit, a memory object, transfer data into that memory object, and transfer data back to the processor in such a way that a memory address of the data in the memory object is not returned to the processor.
US09069542B2
A power consumption amount management system which is capable of appropriately managing the amount of power consumption according to the situation. In the power consumption amount management system, an image forming apparatus and a power consumption management server are connected to a network. An electric power measurement section in the image forming apparatus measures the amount of electric power consumed by the apparatus. A measurement error determination section determines whether or not measurement of the power consumption amount is successful. An interface section outputs a notification of information on the power consumption amount measured in the image forming apparatus and a result of the determination. The power consumption management server receives the notification from the image forming apparatus, and corrects the information on the power consumption amount in the image forming apparatus by referring to the result of the determination.
US09069537B2
A power supply switching apparatus includes a controller and a switch. The controller includes a first comparator, an integrator circuit and a second comparator. The first comparator is configured to output a binary signal having a level corresponding to a magnitude of a signal input from the power supply being connected thereto. The integrator circuit is configured to integrate an output from the first comparator. The second comparator is configured to output a binary signal having a level corresponding to a magnitude of a single input from the integrator circuit. The switch has an input side connected to the first and the second power supply and is configured to switch an outputting current between a current supplied from the first power supply and a current supplied from the second power supply in accordance with a value of the signal output from the second comparator.
US09069531B2
In embodiments of a double hinge torsion bar, a portable device includes a first housing integrated with a display device, and a second housing movably coupled to the first housing. Double hinges attach to the first and second housings of the portable device, and the double hinges are operable to open and close the first and second housings relative to each other. A torsion bar movably couples the double hinges to open and close at approximately a same timing rate, which can prevent the double hinges from binding when the first and second housings are opened and closed relative to each other.
US09069530B2
A hinge mechanism includes a sliding member, a pivoting member and a wedging member. The sliding member is disposed on a first casing in a slidable manner and includes a first bearing portion. The pivoting member is pivoted to the first casing and the second casing and includes a first pivotal portion and a second pivotal portion. The first pivotal portion is installed in first bearing portion and for driving the sliding member to slide to a first position in a first direction. The second pivot portion is installed in a second hinge of the first casing when the sliding member slides to a second position in a second position. The wedging member is disposed on the first casing in a slidable manner for wedging the sliding member when the sliding member slides to the second position.
US09069526B2
Audio data processing method and an audio data processing system are described. The audio data processing system includes an audio collect module, a processing module, a virtual play module, a virtual collect module, and a buffer memory. The virtual play module and the virtual collect module are registered in an application interface layer of a third-part software. The third-part software chooses the virtual play module and the virtual collect module. The virtual play module is configured for receiving audio data processed by the processing module and storing the processed audio data in the buffer memory. The virtual collect module is configured for collecting the processed audio data from the buffer memory and transmitting the processed audio data to the third-part software. The invention provides a universal solution suitable for any chatting tool by installing the virtual speaker and the virtual microphone.
US09069520B2
A securing device is adapted to secure a central processing unit to a circuit board. The securing device includes first and second seats secured to the circuit board. The securing device further includes a press member stacked on and pressed against the central processing unit, and having a side edge portion that is connected pivotally to the first seat, and an opposite side edge portion that is adjacent to the second seat. The securing device further includes an engaging rod pressed against the press member, and having one end that is connected pivotally to the second seat and the other end removably engaged with the first seat for securing the central processing unit to the board body.
US09069515B2
Systems and methods relating to preparing data for use in a printing operation are provided. One method includes receiving selected records from a first data source. The selected records have been subjected to a first record characteristic updating step and the selected records comprise mail information useful for delivery of printed materials. The method further includes updating the selected records with a second record characteristic updating step. A time at which the second record characteristic updating step is performed is determined in relation to a print production schedule for the printed materials. The method further includes creating a postal pre-sort file based upon the updated selected records for use in the printing operation. The printing operation is performed on a printing device based on the pre-sorted records.
US09069504B2
A printer performs printing based on a print setting related to a session ID. A Web application transmits print data to the printer together with the session ID. If a print setting related to the session ID is present, the printer performs printing based on the print setting. If no print setting related to the session ID is present, the printer prompts a connection destination to confirm the print setting related to the session ID. When the session ends, the printer deletes the print setting related to the session ID. With the above configuration, issues are solved.
US09069496B2
In an operation unit, a display panel displays a two-sided copy setting screen image including a still image display area on which a plurality of software keys (two-sided copy setting keys) corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of processes (one-sided/one-sided copy process, one-sided/two-sided copy process, two-sided/two-sided copy process and two-sided/one-sided copy process), for selecting any of the plurality of processes, are displayed. A touch-panel receives an input operation to the plurality of software keys. In response to the touch-panel receiving the input operation, a CPU displays, on a movie display area different from the still image display area of the two-sided copy setting screen image, an image representing contents of the selected process in a prescribed state.
US09069493B2
An image forming apparatus to effectively reduce power consumption of an image forming apparatus in a sleep mode by reducing current consumed in an operating panel microcomputer by operating parts by constituting the parts so that a power voltage is continually supplied to the parts to indicate that the image forming apparatus is in a power-on state while stopping the operation of the operating panel microcomputer of an operating panel part in a sleep mode.
US09069489B1
Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method comprising receiving a first set of memory access commands; modifying the first set of memory access commands to generate a second set of memory access commands; and in response to said generation of the second set of memory access commands, issuing the second set of memory access commands to a memory. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09069475B1
A hybrid drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM). When booting the hybrid drive in a first boot mode, the disk remains spun down, and when booting in a second boot mode, the disk is spun up. In one embodiment the hybrid drive receives a host command that configures the boot mode, and in another embodiment the hybrid drive determines the boot mode based on a state of the NVSM, such as an amount of free space or life remaining of the NVSM.
US09069473B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to systematic migration of data. Data is streamed to data storage and stored in a virtual storage device (VSD). Stored data is systematically migrated from the VSD to a higher density VSD, while streaming of data is also switched to the higher density VSD. Source and target data extents are maintained and merged upon completion of the data migration, together with linking the streamed data blocks with the migrated data blocks in the order presented in the input stream.
US09069470B2
A method and apparatus for assigning zone groups to a storage enclosure is disclosed. When a storage enclosure is added to a switch in a fabric, a signature of the storage enclosure will be created from the storage devices loaded in that enclosure. The signature will then be compared against the signature from a storage enclosure that is offline. When the signature matches the signature of the offline storage enclosure, the zone groups from the offline storage enclosure will be copied to the storage enclosure that was added to the fabric.
US09069469B2
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that processes data from a user. During operation, the system obtains, at a cloud computing system, a set of data-sharing preferences for the user. Next, the system creates a set of virtual storage partitions for the user with the cloud computing system based on the data-sharing preferences. Upon receiving data from the user to the cloud computing system, the system associates the data with a virtual storage partition from the set of virtual storage partitions based on the data-sharing preferences and a set of data attributes for the data. Finally, the system manages access to the virtual storage partition by one or more other users based on the data-sharing preferences.
US09069466B2
Source-synchronization between a source module and a responder module generally includes providing, at the source module, an initial determinism reconciliation signal, propagating the initial determinism reconciliation signal from the source module to the responder module and back to the source module to produce a received determinism reconciliation signal, and compensating for an intrinsic delay of the circuit based on the initial determinism reconciliation signal and the received determinism reconciliation signal.
US09069464B2
A data processing apparatus includes a browsing portion to execute a process of the type corresponding to a gesture event, a mouse event generating portion to generate a mouse event including positional information indicating the position detected by a position detecting portion, and a gesture event determining portion to determine one of gesture events on the basis of the mouse event(s). The browsing portion includes a display image generating portion operable, when content includes a description for displaying an embedded image generated as an application program is executed, to generate a display image with the embedded image arranged in an embedded area, and a selecting portion operable, when the position indicated by one of the mouse event(s) from which the gesture event has been determined falls within the embedded area, to select either the gesture event or the mouse event(s) on the basis of the type of the gesture event.
US09069461B2
A display system includes an image forming apparatus for storing screen data and a portable information terminal for displaying a screen based on the screen data stored by the image forming apparatus. The display system accepts flick operation for requesting movement of a screen at the portable communication terminal and transmits flick information concerning the flick operation to the image forming apparatus. The display system successively transmits screen data of screens from the start of movement to completion of movement from the image forming apparatus to the portable communication terminal, based on the flick information. The display system displays a screen based on the transmitted screen data on the portable communication terminal.
US09069454B2
Touch-sensitive features of devices may be used to demarcate a displayed area on the device to identify a set of data points contained in the demarcated area. After identifying the data points in the demarcated area, the user may be presented with an interface on the display listing different actions that may be performed on at least one of the identified data points. After the user selects the actions to be performed, the computing device may perform the selected actions on one or more of the identified data points in demarcated area.
US09069451B2
An image processing apparatus which is capable of improving ease of operation for users and also improving security when destinations are made public. The image processing apparatus is shared by a plurality of users and capable of selecting a destination from a plurality of address books and carrying out file transmission to the destination. It is determined whether or not a user has logged in, and when it is determined that the user has logged in, only personal addresses for the logged-in user are displayed on a display unit. The personal destinations displayed on the display unit are switched to destinations other than the personal destinations according to selection by the user. When it is determined that the user has not logged in, all destinations which are registered in the plurality of address books are displayed on the display unit.
US09069444B1
Disclosed are methods and systems for providing cloud services to personal computing devices that store large personal files such as personal videos and personal photographs in a lossless format. The methods and systems include a cloud server that synchronizes large personal files in a lossless format between first and second local computing devices. The cloud server may also store the personal large files in a lossy format on the cloud server. The lossy file can be used to facilitate syncing of the lossless file between a first and second local computing device. The lossy file stored on the cloud can also be provided to a third local computing device having limited capabilities (e.g., a mobile device with a limited internet connection or limited screen resolution).
US09069437B2
A window management method, apparatus and a computing device are provided. The window management apparatus comprises a window rendering management device for managing the at least two windows in response to an input operation, to change the size and location of a target window of the at least two windows to which the input operation is directed, and simultaneously adaptively change the size and location of at least one other window of the at least two windows. With the embodiments of the present invention, upon detection of an input operation, a window control operation can be performed on at least two opened windows to change the sizes and locations of at least two opened windows simultaneously. In this way, a plurality of windows can be managed collectively by fewer operations, and the required numbers of user operations can be reduced.
US09069433B2
A method and system for generating a schematic illustration of a design made by inserting cups in the openings of a chain-link fence are provided. A customer uploads a design representation through a web based interface. The designer adjusts the representation into a matrix of polygons displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI). The matrix of polygons represents the polygonal openings of the chain-link fence. The representation is converted into a cluster of highlighted polygons that represents the schematic illustration of the design. The customer can customize the design parameters and place an order for the design.
US09069428B2
A method for the operation of a capacitive, matrix touchscreen for use in a motor vehicle, wherein touching the matrix touchscreen in the region of a matrix element produces a signal level associated with the matrix element, wherein the extent of a signal level which is produced by touching the matrix touchscreen in the region of the matrix element and which is associated with the matrix element is altered, and wherein the thus modified signal levels of two adjacent matrix elements are taken as a basis for determining whether the two matrix elements are being touched as part of collective areal touching of the matrix touchscreen.
US09069409B2
A coordinate algorithm of a touch panel is provided, in which the touch panel includes a plurality of first-direction sensing lines and a plurality of second-direction sensing lines. The coordinate algorithm of a touch panel includes following steps. A first edge coordinate is obtained. A first coordinate compensation parameter is defined. The first edge coordinate is taken as a first base coordinate, and the first base coordinate is adjusted according to the first coordinate compensation parameter to obtain a first interpolation coordinate when an edge of the touch panel is touched.
US09069407B2
A display control apparatus comprises a proximity detection unit which detects that an object has come close to the apparatus, a touch detection unit which detects that an object has come close to a display unit, and a control unit which, when the proximity detection unit detects approach of the object and the touch detection unit detects the approach of the object in a region of not smaller than a predetermined range on the display unit, controls not to perform a display, to reduce a luminance of the display unit, or to turn off the display unit, and when the proximity detection unit detects the approach of the object and the touch detection unit does not detect the approach of the object in the region of not smaller than the predetermined range on the display unit, controls to carry on the display.
US09069405B2
A method of operating a touch-sensing surface may include determining a presence of at least one conductive object at the touch-sensing surface by performing a search measurement of a first set of sensor elements of the touch-sensing surface, and in response to determining the presence of the at least one conductive object, determining a location of the at least one conductive object by performing a tracking measurement of a second set of sensor elements of the touch-sensing surface.
US09069395B2
In a computer system having a display and a keyboard, a computer readable medium includes instructions for invoking a message hook procedure based on a mouse message indicative of a mouse event. Instructions also provide for identifying at least one focus application that has a current keyboard focus and of converting the mouse message into a command for the focus application. The command is then sent to the focus application and the mouse message is prevented from being routed to any other applications. In one embodiment, the commands include the command to page forward or backward through pages of Internet documents. In other embodiments, instead of converting the mouse message into a command, the message hook procedure displays a graphical user interface based on the focus application and the mouse message. The graphical user interface includes one or more commands that the user may select. Based on the selection made by the user, the message hook procedure sends a corresponding command to the focus application.
US09069393B2
A flexible sleeve includes a first flexible sheet of a first hardness. The first flexible sheet has a first perimeter including a first lip edge and a first pocket edge. The flexible sleeve also includes a second flexible sheet of a second hardness, different than the first hardness. The second flexible sheet has a second perimeter including a second lip edge and a second pocket edge. The second pocket edge is joined to the first pocket edge, and the second lip edge is free from the first lip edge so that the first flexible sheet and the second flexible sheet collectively form a pocket having a mouth defined by the first lip edge and the second lip edge. The flexible sleeve further includes a connector joined to the mouth and configured to mate the mouth to a head of a device while the pocket substantially covers a tail of the device.
US09069382B1
Methods and devices for initiating a search are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes receiving video data captured by an image-capture device on a wearable computing device, segmenting the video data into a number of layers and, based on the video data, detecting that a pointing object is in proximity to a first layer. The method further includes initiating a first search on the first layer. In another embodiment, a wearable computing device is disclosed that includes an interface configured to receive video data captured by an image-capture device, a processor, and data storage comprising instructions executable by the processor to segment the video data into a number of layers and, based on the video data, detect that a pointing object is in proximity to a first layer. The instructions are further executable by the processor to initiate a first search on the first layer.
US09069381B2
A computing system runs an application (e.g., video game) that interacts with one or more actively engaged users. One or more physical properties of a group are sensed. The group may include the one or more actively engaged users and/or one or more entities not actively engaged with the application. The computing system will determine that the group (or the one or more entities not actively engaged with the application) have performed a predetermined action. A runtime condition of the application is changed in response to determining that the group (or the one or more entities not actively engaged with the computer based application) have performed the predetermined action. Examples of changing a runtime condition include moving an object, changing a score or changing an environmental condition of a video game.
US09069374B2
Computer-implemented methods, computer program products and computer systems that render display of a video on a first page, that has been occluded from view by the subsequent viewing of a second page, to viewing on such subsequently viewed second page. Source location of the video is identified from source code of the first page, the identified video source is retrieved, and then it is input into source code of the second page to transfer the video to the second page. The video may then me displayed on the second page. The computer program products and computer systems both include a number of program instructions for effecting the transfer of the video from the first page to the second page for the continuous unobstructed or non-occluded viewing thereof.
US09069371B2
Provided is a hysteresis generating pedal apparatus. More specifically, the hysteresis generating pedal apparatus includes: a housing fixed to a vehicle; a pedal arm rotatably supported by the housing; and a friction member having an end supported by a spring and an other end in contact with a portion of the pedal arm and generating friction by contacting the housing when rotated by a driver's pedal effort received from the pedal arm. In particular, in a center of rotation of the friction member is different from a center of rotation of the pedal arm.
US09069369B1
A voltage regulator is disclosed. The voltage regulator includes an operational amplifier (op-amp) and a voltage trim circuit. The op-amp is operable to receive a reference voltage at a first terminal. The op-amp also includes an output terminal. The voltage trim circuit is coupled between the output terminal and a second terminal of the op-amp. The voltage trim circuit is operable to modify an output voltage to be substantially equivalent with the reference voltage. The modification is performed by selecting an electrical current propagating pathway. An IC and a method to operate the voltage regulator is also disclosed.
US09069367B2
A reference voltage generator is described. The reference voltage generator includes a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current source, the PTAT current source being capable of providing a first current that is proportional to a temperature. The reference voltage generator further includes a current mirror comprising a first transistor and a second transistor, the current mirror configured to generate a second current proportional to the first current, wherein a ratio of the first current to the second current is equal to a ratio of a gate width of the first transistor to a gate width of the second transistor. The reference voltage generator further includes a voltage divider, the voltage divider being capable of receiving the second current, the voltage divider capable of outputting a reference voltage, the reference voltage being substantially independent from a change of the temperature.
US09069366B2
A switching regulator includes a switching element to generate an output voltage, a reference voltage source to generate a reference voltage, a soft-start circuit to set the reference voltage increasing gradually within a range, an error amplifier circuit to generate an error difference voltage indicating an error difference between the reference voltage and feedback voltage of the output voltage of the switching regulator, a switching circuit to generate a switching signal to control the switching element in response to the error difference voltage, and a current limiting circuit to generate a limiting signal indicating a comparison result between an current into the switching element and a limit being set to increase within a range, wherein the switching circuit controls a duty cycle of the switching signal so that the current through the switching element does not exceed the limit in response to the limiting signal.
US09069363B2
A method for regulating a temperature in a plurality of rooms (3) of a building, comprising steps of detecting a first ambient temperature measurement (TaI) in a first room (3a) with use of a thermostat (5) destined to command functioning of a first heat-regulating device (8a) mounted on a first radiator (4a) arranged in the first room (3 a), in a correlated way with the first ambient temperature measurement (TaI) and with a first set value (Tset1) of a desired temperature in the first room (3 a), detecting a first proximal temperature (Tpr1) by means of a first sensor (9a) arranged in proximity of the first radiator (4a), detecting a second ambient proximal temperature measurement (Tpr2) in a second room (3b) by means of a second sensor (9b) arranged in proximity of a second radiator (4b), correlating the measurement of the second proximal temperature (Tpr2) with a second set value (Ofs2) for a second heat-regulating device (8b) and also at least with the first proximal temperature measurement (Tpr1) in order to obtain a second command value for the second radiator (4b), and commanding functioning of the second heat-regulating device (8b) mounted on the second radiator (4b) in a correlated way with the second command value.
US09069358B2
A instrument for performing synthesis of small molecules such as Oligos and Peptides when using solid phase synthesis techniques to synthesize small molecules. The system and methods include a mechanism for controlling the pressure differential across the reaction vessels that contain the solid support used in solid phase synthesis. Reaction vessels are held in a holder that provides a sealable chamber at the outlet ends of the reaction vessels. The rotor containing the reaction vessels is placed within a sealable chamber. The sealable chamber is fitted with a means for engaging the rotor and draining the reaction vessels to waste. The sealable chamber is also fitted with a means for engaging the rotor to drain the reaction vessels at a slower, variable rate.
US09069357B2
A robot device includes a base station and a robot. The base station transmits guiding signals. The robot receives the guiding signal by three receivers. A receiver is disposed at the robot, and the other two receivers are disposed at the right and left of the receiver at different angles. The robot bypasses toward right or left according to the guiding signal received by the receivers. When the strength of the guiding signal received by the central receiver decreases, the robot stops bypassing to spin and searches the guiding signal again till the strength of the guiding signal received by the central receiver is a maximum value. The robot has a fine tuning to return to the base station to have a charge.
US09069353B2
In various embodiments, an electronic flow selector of a fluid flow control system may be used to select a flow rate of a fluid. When the system is in an electronic mode, an encoder may electronically encode the fluid flow selection. A controller may receive the electronically encoded flow selection and transmit a corresponding control signal to an electronic valve to allow the fluid to flow at the selected flow rate. When the system is in a manual mode, mechanical backup flow selectors may be used to directly control the flow rate of a fluid. When the system is in a manual mode, the mechanical backup flow selectors may be in a deployed position. When the system is in an electronic mode, the mechanical backup flow selectors may be in a retracted position. Particular applications to gases and anesthesia delivery are disclosed herein.
US09069344B2
An operator interface within a process plant includes an execution engine that implements process flow modules made up of interconnected smart process objects that are aware of devices and other entities within the plant and that can perform methods to detect conditions within the plant, especially on a system-level basis. The smart process objects include a display element to be displayed to the operator, data storage for storing data pertaining to and/or received from an associated entity within a plant, inputs and outputs for communicating with other smart process objects and methods that may be executed on the stored and received data to detect plant conditions, including system-level conditions, such as leaks, errors and other conditions. Process flow modules, which may be made up of numerous interconnected smart process objects, may also include flow algorithms associated therewith to calculate mass balances, flows, etc. for the process elements within the process flow modules.
US09069331B2
A support unit that supports a member to be supported is inserted in an apparatus main body thus to be mounted therein. The support unit includes a wall portion, a connector unit, and a cover member. The wall portion is provided on an upstream end portion of the support unit in the direction in which the support unit is inserted. The connector unit is provided on the wall portion for electrical connection between the apparatus main body and the support unit. The cover member is pivotably supported by a bearing portion provided on the wall portion, so as to pivot between a first position in which the connector unit is exposed so as to allow an operator to grasp the cover member, and a second position in which the connector unit is concealed.
US09069327B2
A developing cartridge includes: a housing having first and second sidewalls through which respective end portions of a developing roller shaft are rotatably inserted; a developing gear, which is arranged outside of the first sidewall, and which is fixed to the end portion of the developing roller shaft; a transmission gear, which is arranged outside of the first sidewall, and which transmits driving force to the developing gear; a first cover member, which is attached to the first sidewall, and which covers the transmission gear; and a second cover member, which is attached to the first sidewall, and which covers the developing gear from an outer side in the axis line direction. The second cover member is formed separately from the first cover member and is arranged side by side with the first cover member outside of the first sidewall.
US09069324B2
An image forming apparatus including: a body frame including an opening; a cover configured to rotate between an open position where the cover opens the opening and a closed position where the cover closes the opening and including a base end portion rotatably supported by the body frame and a distal end portion; an exposure member supported by the cover and configured to swing when the cover is rotated from the closed position to the open position; a cable configured to transmit current to the exposure member; and a metal plate fixed to the cover and having a through-hole through which the cable extends, the metal plate including, a main body part, and a conduction part protruding, toward the exposure member, from the main body part adjacent to the through-hole at the distal end side of the cover.
US09069320B2
A cleaning device for an image forming apparatus includes a cleaning member that removes residual developer that remains on a image carrier, a rotary conveying member that conveys the removed residual developer toward a predetermined direction, and a housing that contains the rotary conveying member. The housing includes a support member that supports the cleaning member; and a protective member that has an inner wall which opposes outer periphery of the rotary conveying member and partially covers the rotary conveying member. The protective member is made of a resin molding material to which a filler is not added.
US09069315B2
A method using a media height sensor assembly for measuring a media stack in an imaging device. The assembly includes a support and drive and insertion assemblies mounted thereon. The insertion assembly includes a translateable plunger having a sensor and a translateable probe. At a home position, the sensor is actuated by a flag on the support placing a sensor output in a first state. During measurement, the drive assembly translates the insertion assembly toward a media stack and the sensor output changes to a second state and a counter is started. The probe initially encounters the media stack and translates in a direction opposite to that of the plunger. As the plunger reaches the media stack, the probe causes the sensor output to again change state stopping the counter. The insertion assembly is retracted to the home position where the flag causes the sensor output to change state.
US09069312B2
An image forming apparatus includes a conductive member paired with one of a developer carrying member and an image bearing member to form a capacitor. A contact-separation member assumes a first position for bringing the developer carrying member into contact with the image bearing member and a second position for separating the developer carrying member from the image bearing member. A detecting unit detects a value relating to a capacitance of the capacitor when a voltage is applied to the capacitor, and a control unit detects whether or not the image forming apparatus is ready for image formation by comparing a first detected result and a second detected result to each other. The first detected result is detected when the contact-separation member assumes the first position, and the second detected result is detected when the contact-separation member assumes the second position.
US09069309B2
A fixing device that includes a heater, a first endless belt, a first roller, and a second roller is provided. The first endless belt confronts the heater at a confronting part and providing a nip region upon contacting the heater. The first endless belt is movable in a first direction at the confronting part, and has an inner peripheral surface. The first roller supports the inner peripheral surface, and nips the first endless belt in cooperation with the heater. The nip region has a part facing the first roller. The second roller is disposed downstream of the nip region in the first direction and supports the inner peripheral surface. The second roller is positioned such that a part of the endless belt mounted over the second roller is out of contact from the heater.
US09069304B2
In the present invention, upon return from a standby mode or sleep mode, image data is acquired as warming-up time estimate information for estimating the warming-up time to increase the temperature of a fixing belt to a target fixing temperature and, if the acquired image data is the data on a black-and-white image, control is performed to delay the heating start timing of the fixing belt.
US09069297B2
A belt fuser assembly which dispenses lubricant oil or other depleted lubricant component to the inner surface of the fuser belt. The belt fuser assembly may include a lubricant dispenser positioned to be heated by the heating element of the fuser assembly for dispensing a lubricant oil to the inner surface of the fuser belt. The lubricant dispenser may include a reservoir containing the lubricant oil and an exit port for delivering the lubricant oil from the reservoir to the inner surface of the fuser belt upon the reservoir being heated by the heating element at a temperature above the fusing temperature of the belt fuser assembly.
US09069294B1
A transfer assist member comprising a plurality of layers, at least one of the layers being a check film layer comprised of a crosslinked mixture of an epoxy resin and a carboxylated polyester.
US09069284B2
An image forming apparatus includes a powder container containing powder used for image forming and including an inlet through which the powder is supplied, a powder supply unit including an outlet that is removably connected to the inlet and supplying the powder to the powder container with the outlet connected to the inlet of the powder container, a powder amount detector detecting whether a present powder level in the powder container is equal to or greater than a threshold, and a controller controlling an amount of powder supply from the powder supply unit and controlling the present powder level in the powder container after replenishment to remain in a range from the threshold and a position corresponding to an upper edge of the inlet. A powder transport unit includes a transport decelerating part to decelerate the speed of powder transport and a detection area in the image forming apparatus.
US09069282B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing device, a holding unit, and a detection device. The image bearing member supports an electrostatic latent image. The developing device includes a developer bearing member having a first electrode member and supporting a developer to develop the electrostatic latent image. The developing device includes a supply member having a second electrode member and supplying the developer to the developer bearing member at a nip portion. The holding unit holds and change the developing device to a first posture and to a second posture where the deposited developer falls off the first posture. The detection device detects a remaining developer amount in the developing device based on a capacitance C1 between the first and second electrode members in the first posture and a capacitance C2 between the first and second electrode members in the second posture.
US09069281B2
A developing device of the present disclosure includes a developing roller, a toner feeding roller, a thickness regulating member, and a casing. The toner feeding roller feeds toner to the developing roller. The thickness regulating member is disposed opposite to the toner feeding roller at a predetermined distance from the toner feeding roller, and the thickness regulating member regulates a thickness of the toner carried on the toner feeding roller. The casing holds therein the developing roller, the toner feeding roller, and the thickness regulating member. The thickness regulating member is formed in a roller shape and rotatable.
US09069280B2
A developing cartridge includes: a housing having first and second sidewalls through which respective end portions of a developing roller shaft are rotatably inserted; a developing gear, which is arranged outside of the first sidewall, and which is fixed to the end portion of the developing roller shaft; a transmission gear, which is arranged outside of the first sidewall, and which transmits driving force to the developing gear; a first cover member, which is attached to the first sidewall, and which covers the transmission gear; and a second cover member, which is attached to the first sidewall, and which covers the developing gear from an outer side in the axis line direction. The second cover member is formed separately from the first cover member and is arranged side by side with the first cover member outside of the first sidewall.
US09069277B2
An image forming apparatus may include controls for changing a state of a developing roller from a stopped state to a rotating state. The change in state may be used to avoid deterioration of toner and/or a surface of the developing roller. Changes in state may occur at various times including at a timing corresponding to an outside of an image formation area, a timing corresponding to an inside of an image formation area and the like. In one arrangement, a first developing roller may continue to rotate (e.g., during monochrome printing), while one or more other developing rollers are switched between a stopped state and a rotating state. Alternatively or additionally, a roller which is caused to change states may remain stopped between the timing corresponding to a rear end of an image formation area and a timing corresponding to a front end of an immediately subsequent image formation area.
US09069274B2
The present invention provides a toner excellent in light resistance. The toner includes toner base particles, each of which contains a binder resin, a wax and a coloring agent, and a coloring matter compound represented by the general formula (1) is contained as the coloring agent. wherein R1 and R2 each independently represent an alkyl group or an acyl group, or R1 and R2 may be bonded to each other so as to form a cyclic organic functional group containing, as a hetero atom, a nitrogen atom to which R1 and R2 are bonded; R3 and R4 each independently represent an alkyl group; R5 and R6 each independently represent an alkyl group or an alkoxy group; R7 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or an alkoxy group; and R8 represents an alkyl group.
US09069271B2
An image forming apparatus including an image forming device forming a toner image on a recording material, and a fixing device including an endless fixing belt feeding the recording material at a speed of 400 to 1,700 mm/sec while heating to fix the toner image thereon. The fixing belt has a rubber layer located on a substrate and having thickness of 400 μm to 700 μm, and a fluorine-containing resin layer located on the rubber layer and having thickness of 2 μm to 20 μm. The toner includes a release agent including a microcrystalline wax and/or a synthetic ester wax, and a binder resin including a crystalline polyester and an amorphous polyester. The ratio (W/R) of the height (W) of the third falling peak of the crystalline polyester to the height (R) of the maximum rising peak of the amorphous polyester in the FT-IR spectrum of the toner is 0.045 to 0.850.
US09069267B2
An electrophotographic photosensitive member has a laminated body, and a hole transporting layer formed on the laminated body, wherein the laminated body is a laminated body having a conductive support, an electron transporting layer and a charge generating layer. When an impedance is measured by forming a circular-shaped gold electrode having a thickness of 300 nm and a diameter of 10 mm on a surface of the charge generating layer of the laminated body by sputtering, and applying an alternating electric field of 100 mV and 0.1 Hz between the conductive support and the gold electrode, the laminated body of the electrophotographic photosensitive member satisfies the following expression (1): R_opt/R_dark≦0.95 (1)
US09069265B2
The invention relates to a differential interferometer module adapted for measuring a direction of displacement between a reference mirror and a measurement mirror. In an embodiment the differential interferometer module is adapted for emitting three reference beams towards a first mirror and three measurement beams towards a second mirror for determining a displacement between said first and second mirror. In a preferred embodiment the same module is adapted for measuring a relative rotation around two perpendicular axes as well. The present invention further relates to a lithography system comprising such a interferometer module and a method for measuring such a displacement and rotations.
US09069254B2
An improvement is achieved in the performance of a semiconductor device. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device includes an exposure step of subjecting a resist film formed over a substrate to pattern exposure using EUV light reflected by the top surface of an EUV mask which is a reflection-type mask. In the exposure step, the EUV mask is held with the cleaned back surface thereof being in contact with a mask stage. In the EUV mask, the water repellency of the side surface thereof is higher than the water repellency of the top surface thereof. After the exposure step, the resist film subjected to the pattern exposure is developed to form a resist pattern.
US09069251B2
A scanning exposure apparatus using microlens arrays, includes a plurality of microlens arrays is arrayed in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction above a substrate to be exposed, and the microlens arrays are supported on a support substrate. The microlens arrays can be supported on a support substrate so as to be capable of being inclined from a direction parallel to the exposure substrate, relative to the direction in which the microlens arrays are arranged. The inclination angles of these microlens arrays are configured so as to gradually increase or decrease along the arrangement direction.
US09069237B2
A projection type display apparatus including a light source, a display element, an illumination optical system and a projection lens to project a magnified image of the optical image. The illumination optical system includes a first array lens and a second array lens, each includes a plurality of lens elements arranged in a matrix, each of the lens elements having a rectangular opening, and a polarization conversion element having polarization conversion function by use of a plurality of polarized beam splitters and a plurality of half-wave phase plates, arranged in an array and opposing to the lens elements of the second array lens, to emit predetermined polarized light. The light source includes a light emitting plane of a rectangle or an ellipse shape, a longitudinal direction of the light emitting plane being parallel to a longitudinal direction of each opening of the polarization conversion element.
US09069234B2
A finder optical system 20 includes a focusing glass 21 including a collection surface 21a that collects a light beam and a diffusion surface 21b that diffuses the collected light beam, an eyepiece 23 that receives a part of the diffused light beam, a photometry lens 24 arranged near the eyepiece 23, and a photometry sensor 25 on which an image of another part of the light beam diffused by the diffusion surface 21b is formed via the photometry lens 24, a plurality of micro lenses are arranged on the diffusion surface 21b of the focusing glass 21, at least one micro lens of the plurality of micro lenses has at least two radii of curvature on its cross section in a predetermined direction, and the at least one micro lens satisfies R1
US09069225B2
A method and system for enhanced viewing of a display device is disclosed in this application. In some implementations, a method and system for improving a perceived contrast of a screen of a display device is disclosed. Some implementations may also relate to a method and system for privately viewing content displayed on a screen.
US09069223B2
A Mach-Zehnder optical modulator with a series push-pull traveling wave electrode uses a balanced coplanar stripline with lateral ground planes. Two signal electrodes extend along the center of the optical modulator adjacent and parallel to the optical waveguides in a series push-pull configuration. The ground planes run parallel to the signal electrodes, but are spaced laterally outward from the signal electrodes.
US09069221B2
A liquid crystal display device including a first substrate, with a plurality of bus lines formed thereon such that they intersect with each other, and a second substrate facing the first substrate. The device also includes a plurality of pixel regions defined by the bus lines; a thin film transistor formed in each of the pixel regions; a color filter layer formed in each of the pixel regions; and a pixel electrode formed in each of the pixel regions. A liquid crystal layer is provided between the first substrate and the second substrate. The liquid crystal layer is located next to a polymeric structure formed by irradiating a mixture of liquid crystal materials and ultraviolet-curing monomers with ultraviolet light, and a black display is achieved when no voltage or a subthreshold voltage is applied.
US09069219B2
A source section (S) is made of a source metal (25s) provided above a gate insulating film (23) and an oxide semiconductor film (24a), and a drain section (DR) includes a low resistance portion (24ad) which is part of the oxide semiconductor film (24a), where the part includes a surface of the oxide semiconductor film (24a) opposite to the gate insulating film (23), and the resistance of the part is reduced.
US09069218B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a TFT substrate having a display region where pixels each having a TFT and a pixel electrode are formed in a matrix, a counter substrate having a display region where color filters of three colors are formed in a matrix, the TFT substrate and the counter substrate being bonded together with a sealing material in a seal portion at a periphery, and liquid crystal sealed between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate by the seal material. In the display region, a first insulation film, a first alignment film, a first columnar spacer, an overcoat film, a first color filter among the color filters of three colors are stacked in this order between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate.
US09069210B2
A display device includes a first substrate, a first alignment layer disposed on the first substrate, a second substrate, a second alignment layer disposed on the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second alignment layers and having liquid crystal molecules. At least one of the first and second alignment layers includes an initial alignment layer and a pretilting layer including a self-assembled monolayer disposed on the initial alignment layer.
US09069202B2
Provided are a liquid crystal display device with horizontal electric field mode, in which a decrease in driving speed can be suppressed by reducing the resistance of a wiring even when the number of pixels is increased, and a manufacturing method thereof. One of a scan wiring and a signal wiring is divided in an intersection portion where the scan wiring and the signal wiring intersect with each other, and the separated wirings are connected with a connection electrode positioned over a thick insulating film. Accordingly, parasitic capacitance at the intersection portion can be reduced, preventing the decrease in the driving speed. The connection electrode is formed at the same time as formation of a pixel electrode and a common electrode using a low-resistance metal, which contributes to the reduction in manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device.
US09069181B2
An optical imaging system includes a birefringent element, a light modulating element, and a polarizer element. The birefringent element is configured for decomposing un-polarized light into first linear polarized light and second linear polarized light under different refractive indexes to respectively form a first focal length and a second focal length in the optical imaging system. The light modulating element is configured for modulating a state of polarization of the first and second linear polarized light in response to control signals. The polarizer element is configured for filtering out one of the modulated first and second linear polarized light for creating a single image.
US09069180B2
There is provided a light-guide, compact collimating optical device, including a light-guide having a light-waves entrance surface, a light-waves exit surface and a plurality of external surfaces, a light-waves reflecting surface carried by the light-guide at one of the external surfaces, two retardation plates carried by light-guides on a portion of the external surfaces, a light-waves polarizing beamsplitter disposed at an angle to one of the light-waves entrance or exit surfaces, and a light-waves collimating component covering a portion of one of the retardation plates. A system including the optical device and a substrate, is also provided.
US09069173B2
A light scanning apparatus configured to irradiate a surface to be scanned with a light beam, including: a light source configured to emit the light beam; a deflector configured to deflect the light beam to scan the surface; an optical element configured to lead the light beam to the surface; a housing configured to hold the light source, the deflector, and the optical element, and including fibers; and a rib formed integrally with a bottom portion of the housing on which the deflector and the optical element are disposed, the rib standing on the bottom portion between the deflector and the optical element to suppress a deformation of the housing in a scanning direction, wherein the fibers of the rib are oriented along the scanning direction, and the fibers of the bottom portion are oriented along the bottom portion and in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction.
US09069171B2
There are provided a video projection device and a video projection method which can realize both a guarantee of safety and an increase in luminance of a screen. The video projection device includes: a laser light source unit which emits a laser; a laser scanning unit which is provided with one or more scanning directions and project video by performing a reciprocating scan of the laser with respect to a scanning direction with the highest scanning frequency; and a control unit which controls operations of the laser light source unit and the laser scanning unit depending on a video signal so that a scanning angle when emission of the laser in an outgoing path is stopped is different from a scanning angle when emission of the laser in a return path is started with respect to the scanning direction along which the reciprocating scan is performed.
US09069170B1
An ultraviolet laser zoom beam expanding system, applied to the field of laser processing, includes a first lens, a second lens, and a third lens (L1, L2, L3). The first lens and the third lens (L1, L3) are plane-convex plus lenses, and the second lens (L2) is a convex-concave minus lens. The first lens, the second lens and the third lens (L1, L2, L3) respectively comprise a first surface and a second surface (S1, S2), a third surface and a fourth surface (S3, S4) as well as a fifth surface and a sixth surface (S5, S6). The radiuses of curvature of the first to sixth surfaces (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6) are ∞, −30, 10, 2.2, ∞, −81. The center thickness of the first to third lenses (L1, L2, L3) is 2, 1, 4. The outer diameters of the first to third lenses (L1, L2, L3) are 10, 3, 34. Proportions of the refractive indexes to the abbe numbers of the first to third lenses (L1, L2, L3) are 1.57:41, 1.48:68, and 1.57:41. An interval (d2) between the second surface and the third surface (S2, S3) is 6-37. An interval (d4) between the fourth surface and the fifth surface (S4, S5) is 114-125, a unit is mm, and a tolerance is 5%. The system may perform beam expanding on entering light by 2-16 times, which may be adaptable to laser devices with different emergent diameters and divergence angles, and improve efficiency and accuracy of laser processing.
US09069166B2
A display system for a head-mounted device comprising a display for displaying information. The display system includes a glance detector comprising a light source, disposed proximate the display, for transmitting light toward an eye of a user of the head-mounted device, a light detector, disposed proximate the light source, for detecting light reflected from the eye of the user and generating a voltage based on the detected light. The display system also includes a processor operably coupled to the display, and the gaze detector and configured to control the display to turn-on the display based on the voltage received from the glance detector.
US09069161B2
A display device comprising picture elements, which are constituted by electrowetting elements having at least one first fluid and a second fluid immiscible with each other within a space between a first support plate and a second support plate, the second fluid being electro-conductive or polar. The first fluid in each element is at the side of the first support plate confined by element walls, and the second fluid is shared by a plurality of picture elements, characterized by a preventer for preventing first fluid portions from being expelled from its confinement when forces other than electrowetting forces are exerted on this fluid.
US09069159B2
A zoom lens includes a first lens group, a second lens group and a third lens group, all of which are arranged in sequence from an object side to an image side along an optical axis. The first lens group is with negative refractive power and includes a first lens, a second lens and a third lens, wherein the first lens is with negative refractive power, the second lens is with positive refractive power and the third lens is with negative refractive power. The second lens group is with positive refractive power. The third lens group is with positive refractive power. The third lens satisfies |R31/R32|≦0.39, wherein R31 is a radius of curvature of an object side surface of the third lens and R32 is a radius of curvature of an image side surface of the third lens.
US09069158B2
A variable-magnification optical-system substantially consists of a first-lens-group having positive-refractive-power, a second-lens-group having negative-refractive-power, a third-lens-group having negative-refractive-power, a fourth-lens-group having negative-refractive-power, an aperture-stop, and a fifth-lens-group having positive-refractive-power in this order from an object-side along an optical-axis. The second-lens-group, third-lens-group and fourth-lens-group move when magnification is changed from a wide-angle-end to a telephoto-end. The first-lens-group substantially consists of a 1f-th lens-group having negative-refractive-power, a 1m-th lens-group having positive-refractive-power and a 1r-th lens-group substantially consisting of a 1r1-th lens having positive-refractive-power with its strong convex-surface facing the object-side, a biconvex 1r2-th lens and a convex meniscus 1r3-th lens with its convex-surface facing the object-side, and the 1r-th lens-group having positive-refractive-power as a whole in this order from the object-side. The 1f-th lens-group substantially consists of a concave meniscus-lens with its convex-surface facing the object-side and a negative-lens in this order from the object-side.
US09069157B2
Composing a projection zoom lens with a first lens group disposed on the most magnification side and having a positive power, the lens group being fixed at the time of zooming, a final lens group disposed on the most reduction side and having a negative power, the lens group being fixed at the time of zooming, and a plurality of lens groups disposed between the first and final lens groups and moved at the time of zooming along an optical axis in association with each other for the zooming and correction of image plane shift arising from the zooming, in which the final lens group includes a lens having a positive power on the most reduction side.
US09069138B2
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention relates to an imaging lens, the imaging lens including, in an ordered way from an object side, a first lens having positive (+) refractive power, a second lens having negative (−) refractive power, a third lens having positive (+) refractive power, a fourth lens having negative (−) refractive power, wherein the imaging lens meets a conditional expression of D4-D3≦0, where D3 is a distance from an apex of an object side surface of the third lens to an apex of an image side surface of the third lens, and D4 is an axial distance from the apex of an object side surface of the third lens to an effective diameter of an object side surface of the fourth lens.
US09069134B2
An optical assembly, which is in particular in the form of a splitter component with a so-called splitter forming a passive optical component, is produced particularly inexpensively. In a first step a plurality of splitters are produced on a common wafer by forming a corresponding conductor track pattern. In a second step optical fibers are coupled simultaneously to the connection sides of the individual splitters with the aid of a connection carrier. Then, in a third step the individual splitters with the connection carriers connected thereto are separated form one another. Only one common coupling operation for a large number of splitters is required. The splitters may then be connected to form a splitter cascade.
US09069133B2
Anti-reflective coating materials for ultraviolet photolithography include at least one absorbing compound and at least one material modification agent, such as at least one porogen, at least one high-boiling solvent, at least one capping agent, at least one leveling agent, at least one catalyst, at least one replacement solvent, at least one pH tuning agent, and/or a combination thereof that are incorporated into inorganic-based materials or inorganic compositions and/or compounds. Suitable absorbing compounds are those that absorb around wavelengths such as 365 nm, 248 nm, 193 nm and 157 nm that may be used in photolithography.
US09069129B2
An optical body includes a first optical layer, a second optical layer having an incident surface on which light is incident, and a reflecting layer sandwiched between the first and second optical layers, wherein the first optical layer includes a plurality of convex or concave structures formed on or in a surface thereof on which the reflecting layer is disposed, ridges of the convex structures or ridges between the concave structures adjacent to each other have tip portions projecting toward the incident surface side, the tip portions are deformed from an ideal shape, the second optical layer is transparent and has a refractive index of 1.1 or more and 1.9 or less, and the optical body selectively directionally reflects part of light entering the incident surface, which part is in a specific wavelength band, in direction other than the specular reflection direction.
US09069123B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, when driving one optical member at a time, the control part sets a first current equal to or more than a rated current of the driving part and equal to or less than a maximum supply current from the image-capturing device body, or a second current less than the rated current of the driving part, for the one optical member as the current limit value, and controls the driving part so that first drive for driving the optical member for a first time by allowing the first current to serve as the current limit value, and second drive for driving the optical member for a second time by allowing the second current to serve as the current limit value after the first drive being performed, are repeated until drive of the optical member to the drive target is completed.
US09069120B2
In a method for manufacturing a preform for drawing a microstructured optical fiber, a core element and multiple sub-elements are arranged extending along the perform. The sub-elements and the core element form a bundle, which is twisted by a specified angle about the longitudinal axis of the bundle, wherein the pattern formed by the cross section of the sub-elements and the cross section of the core element is preserved along a length of the perform. The sub-elements and the core elements are subsequently at least partially fused together by heating the material of which the core element and the sub elements are made of above the transformation point of the material, so as to at least partially eliminate the cavities between the sub-elements, between the sub-elements and the core element, and between the sub-elements and the casing.
US09069118B2
A radius of a first core 21 in a large-diameter end surface EF1 of a tapered portion 31 is denoted by r1S, a radius of a second core 22 is denoted by r2S, a relative refractive index difference of the first core 21 with respect to a clad 23 is denoted by Δ1, a relative refractive index difference of the second core 22 with respect to the clad 23 is denoted by Δ2, a refractive index volume of the first core 21 is denoted by V1S, and a refractive index volume of the second core 22 is denoted by V2S, r2S/r1S is set to be 3 or more and 5 or less, V2S/V1S is set to be 1.07r22−13.5 or more and 1.07r22−11.5 or less, and r2S/r1S is set to be −3×Δ1/Δ2+10 or more.
US09069114B2
A single-mode optical fiber for transmitting optical signals includes a central core region for guiding the optical signals, and a cladding region surrounding the core region and including a void-containing annular layer containing randomly distributed voids, wherein the void-containing layer is doped with fluorine at a concentration of less than 1 wt % and has a radial thickness equal to or smaller than 3 μm.
US09069109B2
The present invention relates to a planar 3-DOF (degree of freedom) stage, which includes: a transitional manipulator section having parallel 2-DOF; a rotation manipulator section having rotation 1-DOF so as to carry out motion independently from the transitional manipulator section; and a stage base mounted with the transitional manipulator section and the rotation manipulator section and having a fixing section inside and a driving section outside. According to the planar 3-DOF stage, transitional motion and rotational motion are independently carried out so that it is possible to reduce motion errors and simplify control and design.
US09069108B2
In order to suppress uneven brilliance of emitted planar light and enhance a rate of light utilization, the present invention provides a backlight unit (1) including: a light guide plate (2) receiving from a light source (31) from a light receiving surface (22) on a side surface and emitting planar light from a light emitting surface on a front surface; and a front side pressing member (5) having a light guide plate pressing portion (52) to press a peripheral portion on the front surface of the light guide plate (2); wherein an attached shape (211) in a concave and convex pattern shape is formed in the light emitting surface (21), and the light guide plate pressing portion (52) is provided with an engagement portion (521) provided with a concave and convex pattern that is engageable with a attached shape (211).
US09069103B2
Described herein are various technologies pertaining to predicting an amount of electrical power that is to be generated by a power system at a future point in time, wherein the power system utilizes a renewable energy resource to generate electrical power. A camera is positioned to capture an image of sky over a geographic region of interest. The image is analyzed to predict an amount of solar radiation that is to be received by the power source at a future point in time. The predicted solar radiation is used to predict an amount of electrical power that will be output by the power system at the future point in time. A computational resource of a data center that is powered by way of the power source is managed as a function of the predicted amount of power.
US09069087B2
A method is provided for controlling a light-sensitive device, for example, a digital X-ray detector including an array of light-sensitive points. The light-sensitive device includes a column conductor, line conductors, and light-sensitive points. Each light-sensitive point is connected between the column conductor and one of the line conductors, and includes a light-sensitive element converting a photon flux into electrical charges, and a transistor transferring the electrical charges to the column conductor based on control of a signal received by the corresponding line conductor. The method depends on the presence of a capacitor for cross-coupling between the drain and source of each transistor in the off state. The capacitor provides a potential variation to the column conductor upon receiving photons. The method comprises comparing the potential variation with a threshold, and reading the light-sensitive points in the event that the result of the comparison is positive.
US09069083B2
Apparatus for detecting ionizing radiation includes a mobile telephone, including an imaging assembly, which includes a solid-state image sensor. A radiation converter is mounted in proximity to the image sensor and is configured to emit, in response to the ionizing radiation, lower-energy radiation for detection by the image sensor. A processor, contained in the mobile telephone, is configured to process images captured by the image sensor so as to assess an intensity of the ionizing radiation.
US09069082B2
Disclosed is a method for the detection of radiation-induced damage on a biomaterial using a magnetic sensor, and a magnetic sensor biochip for biodosimetry. Designed to utilize a magnetic sensor in detecting damage to biomaterials in vitro, the method and magnetic sensor biochip can accurately determine the degree of damage irrespective of the self-recovery of the organism. Thanks to their high sensitivity, the method and biochip can detect the biomaterial damage by exposure to even a low dose of radiation.
US09069079B2
An obstacle detection system includes ultrasonic sensors and a controller. The ultrasonic sensors include first and second ultrasonic sensors. Each of them is located at either side of a vehicle bumper so that its own beam axis has an angle deflected in a horizontal direction from a surface-normal direction of the bumper and is directed towards an intermediate portion of the bumper.
US09069078B2
A radar device (10) comprising a transmission antenna (14) for transmitting electromagnetic waves; a reception antenna (15) for receiving waves; and a detector unit (34) which detects, based on the reflected waves, the positions of a preceding vehicle and a preceding object, judges the preceding object to be the same as the preceding vehicle if the position of the preceding object is in a predetermined preceding vehicle judging range with the position of the preceding vehicle as a reference, detects the positions of an oncoming vehicle and an oncoming object and judges the oncoming object to be the same as the oncoming vehicle if the position of the oncoming object is in a predetermined oncoming vehicle judging range with the position of the oncoming vehicle as a reference; wherein the oncoming vehicle judging range is set to be narrower than the preceding vehicle judging range.
US09069073B2
Methods and integrated circuits for performing receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM) in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers are disclosed. In an embodiment, a first information comprising current position related information is accessed. A second information comprising predicted position related information is accessed based on previously received information. A solution is computed based on the first information and the second information and a presence of outlier information is determined in at least one of the first information and the second information based on the solution.
US09069054B2
A microwave transmission apparatus is provided. A multiplexing unit generates multiplexed data based on a service clock rate. An interface unit writes and reads the multiplexed data at the service clock rate and a read clock rate respectively. An encoding and mapping unit performs encoding and mapping on the multiplexed data using a symbol clock rate to generate symbol data, and sends the symbol data to up conversion units. A clock tracking unit generates the symbol clock according to the system clock, and performs frequency division on the symbol clock to acquire the read clock. A stream control unit adjusts the service clock rate according to a water line error generated by the interface unit, so that the service clock rate is equal to the read clock rate. As a frequency and a phase of the system clock are fixed, even ACM switching occurs, the system clock is stably transferred.
US09069050B2
Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) blipped trajectories having varying blip amplitudes are described. One example method includes controlling an MRI apparatus to produce a set of blipped trajectories including a first blipped trajectory having a first blip amplitude and a second, different blipped trajectory having a second, different blip amplitude. The blip amplitudes may be based on a relationship between a trajectory and a reference. The relationship may be, for example, a rotation angle. The rotation angle may be a proxy for information including a gradient trajectory speed associated with a blipped trajectory or an amount of unused gradient energy available while producing the blipped trajectory. The blip amplitudes may be selected to produce incoherent sampling during an MRI acquisition that uses the blipped trajectories. In one example, readout directions may be altered between trajectories to reduce regularity in k-space.
US09069049B2
Directed-energy systems and methods are described for disrupting electronic circuits, especially those containing semiconductors. A directed-energy system can include a charged particle generator configured to generate plural energized particles and a charge transformer configured to receive the plural energized particles that include charged particles and to output energized particles that include particles having substantially zero charge. The charged particle generator can be configured to direct the plural energized particles through the charge transformer in a predefined direction. A method for disrupting electronic circuits can include generating plural energized particles, directing the plural energized particles to an incident surface of a charge transformer and transforming the plural energized particles within the charge transformer. The transformed particles can be at substantially zero charge. The method can further include generating a wavefront at an exit surface of the charge transformer including the transformed particles and impinging an electronic circuit with the wavefront.
US09069048B2
A magnetic resonance apparatus includes a magnet that generates a static magnetic field, e.g., 7T, and a resonance excitation system that induces resonance in an observed nuclear species such as 13C or 31P. A decoupling delay generator introduces pauses between adjacent pulses of a decoupling pulse train configured to decouple a coupled species such as 1H. An RF amplifier whose energy shortage capacity would be exceeded by the pulse train without the pauses amplifies the pulse train with the pauses. The pauses are sufficiently short that decoupling and Nuclear Overhauser Effect enhancement are not adversely affected, but long enough to provide recovery time to the RF amplifier, e.g., 0.2 msec.
US09069047B2
An architecture is presented that provides a computer-implemented system and method for monitoring a remaining battery charge level in a mobile computer cart used in a hospital environment and detecting when said battery charge level is reduced to a selected level. The system comprises a monitoring component that monitors remaining battery charge levels for the mobile computer cart. Further, the monitoring component communicates with a detection component which detects when the battery charge levels of the mobile computer cart are low and/or reach a predetermined threshold level. The system further comprises a trigger component that sends a customizable alert to a user once a low battery charge level and/or a predetermined threshold level has been reached. Furthermore, the system comprises a power component that automatically places the mobile computer cart in detect and protect mode after a predetermined period of time after the alerts are sent.
US09069046B2
An estimation apparatus of estimating a deterioration state of a secondary battery has a current sensor measuring an electric current of the secondary battery, a current estimating section estimating the electric current of the secondary battery by using a battery model, and a deterioration estimating section estimating a second deterioration component produced in association with a salt concentration imbalance in the secondary battery. The deterioration estimating section estimates the second deterioration component by using the measured current obtained from the current sensor, the estimated current obtained from the current estimating section, and a first deterioration component produced in association with wear of the secondary battery. The deterioration estimating section corrects the estimated current by using a ratio between a resistance change rate of the secondary battery when the second deterioration component is eliminated and a resistance change rate during charge and discharge of the secondary battery.
US09069044B2
A battery management system (BMS) and a method of controlling the BMS, which are capable of increasing reliability of determination of a defect of a relay by considering not only a voltage of a battery and a voltage of an inverter but also a current between the battery and the inverter and information regarding an operational state of the relay.
US09069031B2
A magnetic-field sensor that provides an output signal in response to an external magnetic field is described. This magnetic-field sensor includes a pair of cantilevers separated by a horizontal gap, which is displaced vertically over an open cavity by applying a time-varying voltage having a fundamental frequency across piezoelectric layers in the pair of cantilevers. The pair of cantilevers also includes magnetic-flux concentrators that convey the external magnetic field to the horizontal gap between the pair of cantilevers. A stationary magnetoresistive sensor in the horizontal gap transforms the external magnetic field into an output signal. Because the pair of cantilevers is displaced vertically at the fundamental frequency, the output signal includes a modulation signal corresponding to the external magnetic field centered around twice the fundamental frequency. This modulation of the external magnetic field allows 1/f noise to be suppressed, thereby improving the sensitivity of the magnetic-field sensor.
US09069020B2
In various embodiments a method for determining a demagnetization zero current time, at which a transformer is substantially demagnetized, for a switched mode power supply comprising a transformer is provided, wherein the method may include: applying a first current through a winding of one side of the transformer; interrupting the current flow of the first current; measuring a time at which a voltage across a winding of another side of the transformer becomes substantially zero; and determining the demagnetization zero current time using the measured time.
US09069017B2
A test and measurement instrument including a user interface; and a controller is described. The controller is configured to receive a serial bit stream; apply a regular expression to the serial bit stream; and present acquired data, or other data, through the user interface in response to the application of the regular expression to the serial bit stream.
US09069013B2
A high frequency test prod for electrically contacting at least one contact point of a specimen, using an HF coaxial line to connect the test prod housing and the contact unit electrically and mechanically between the housing and the contact unit, the HF coaxial line having an external conductor, an internal conductor arranged coaxially to the external conductor, and a gas or vacuum dielectric arranged between the external conductor and internal conductor, the external conductor designed as a hollow profile section from a rigid, elastically deformable material, wherein the internal conductor is arranged coaxially to the hollow profile section.
US09068970B2
The present invention relates to methods of selecting and developing a chemically defined media (“CDM”) for use in the manufacture of biological products. In particular, the present invention is directed to screening methods to determine cell culture technique media supplement blends with enhanced performance characteristics. The present invention is also directed to identifying CDM supplement blends that demonstrate significant increases in harvest titer and/or viable cell density.
US09068954B1
A system and method for non-destructive testing of a monolith catalyst element includes a flat surface on which a monolith catalyst can be placed and a portion of the catalyst sealed against a piping arrangement located above and below the flat surface. A test fluid passes between the piping and therefore through the portion of the sealed catalyst section. Ports located in the piping allow for sampling of the fluid before and after the catalyst section. The catalyst element may then be repositioned on the flat surface for testing of a second portion of the element.
US09068952B2
A method and apparatus for producing high frequency dynamically focused oblique laser illumination for a spinning wafer inspection system. The focus is changed by changing the beam direction incidence angle so as to bring focal spot onto the wafer surface.Disclosed herein is a system and method for automatic beam shaping (i.e., spot size) and steering (i.e., position) for a spinning wafer inspection system, combined into a single module. Also disclosed is a method and system for measuring the beam position/size/shape and angle with sufficient resolution to make corrections using feedback from the monitor.
US09068945B2
To provide a surface plasmon-field enhanced fluorescence spectroscopic measurement method and a surface plasmon-field enhanced fluorescence spectroscopic measurement device which are capable of accurately measuring a fluorescent signal regardless of the type of a light detection means even when the concentration of an analyte is high by adjusting the dynamic range of the SPFS device. A surface plasmon-field enhanced fluorescence stereoscopic measurement method wherein an analyte labeled with a fluorescent substance is excited by surface plasmon light generated by applying excitation light to a metallic thin film, and generated fluorescence is received by a light detection means to thereby detect the analyte. The dynamic range is expanded by adjusting the amount of the fluorescence received by the light detection means.
US09068939B2
Technologies are generally described for providing and using a material including: a template molecule; a first cluster of one or more nanoparticles located at a first site on the template molecule; and a second cluster of one or more nanoparticles located at a second site on the template molecule and spaced apart from the first cluster. In some embodiments, the first and second clusters of nanoparticles exhibit a plasmon resonance having a first resonant peak and a second resonant peak.
US09068934B2
A gas sensor processing apparatus (1) which includes voltage shift means (11, 19, S1071) for shifting a detection element voltage VE produced between electrodes (3P, 3N) of a detection element (3) from a pre-shift voltage VE1 to a post-shift voltage VE2; recovery means (11, 19, S1072) for returning the detection element voltage VE from the post-shift voltage VE2 to the pre-shift voltage VE1 after the end of a voltage shift period TS in which the voltage VE is shifted by the voltage shift means; and deterioration index detection means S106-S107 for detecting a deterioration index ID representing the degree of deterioration of the detection element (3) on the basis of a voltage change in the recovery period TK in which the voltage VE is recovered by the recovery means.
US09068921B2
An analyzer is disclosed herein. The analyzer encompasses a substrate having a surface with a plurality of distinct V-grooves formed therein. An input flow channel is configured to intersect and fluidly communicate with each of the plurality of distinct V-grooves at respective input points, and an output flow channel is configured to intersect and fluidly communicate with each of the plurality of distinct V-grooves at respective output points.
US09068918B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for in-situ measurement of impurities on metal slugs utilized in electron-beam metal evaporation/deposition systems, and for increasing the production yield of a semiconductor manufacturing processes utilizing electron-beam metal evaporation/deposition systems. A voltage and/or a current level on an electrode disposed in a deposition chamber of an electron-beam metal evaporation/deposition system is monitored and used to measure contamination of the metal slug. Should the voltage or current reach a certain level, the deposition is completed and the system is inspected for contamination.
US09068913B2
A sensor, particularly an impedance sensor, for example a soot sensor, is provided which has two mutually electrically insulated electrodes, wherein at least one external electrode is formed from a composite of metal and inorganic oxide as a film pattern having a film thickness of 0.5 to 20 μm. The trace width of the film pattern and the spacing between the traces is 5 to 70 μm and the border region around the conductor trace edge varies less than 10 μm. Both electrodes can be arranged adjacent to each other as a film pattern in a plane. Preferably, the sensor has a heater. For mass production, electrodes are produced as a film pattern having a film thickness of 0.5 to 20 μm on electrically insulating oxide bases and, following full-surface imprinting of a metal powder and oxide-containing paste, the electrodes are structured particularly accurately as traces from the printed film. In particular, the film thickness of the printed film is reduced.
US09068903B2
A system, method, and computer storage configured for determining period-ending positions of multiple parts movable by select actuation of corresponding active materials. The operations include receiving, from a work-source sensor, work-source input indicating a distance moved by the work source and a direction of the movement, and determining, based on the work-source input and a first and second status histories, corresponding to a first and a second part, respectively, first and second distances travelled by the parts, respectively. Operations also include calculating, based on the first and second distances determined and first and second period-starting positions, corresponding to the first and second parts, respectively, first and second period-ending positions for the first and second parts, respectively.
US09068899B2
The present invention relates to a pressure sensor, which may include a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate, a third electrode plate, a fourth electrode plate and a fifth electrode plate, which are successively laminated on a substrate, wherein the first electrode plate, the third electrode plate and the fourth electrode plate are fixed to the substrate, the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate are disposed opposite to each other and have a gap formed therebetween, the second electrode plate is suspended over the first electrode plate to constitute a first capacitor; the second electrode plate and the third electrode plate are disposed opposite to each other and have a gap formed therebetween, to constitute a second capacitor; and the fifth electrode plate is suspended over the fourth electrode plate to constitute a third capacitor, and can move along a direction perpendicular to the substrate.
US09068894B2
A temperature emulator may include a stack assembly having a pair of end plates positioned at an uppermost and lowermost location of the stack assembly, a plurality of heat sink plates disposed between the pair of end plates, each of the heat sink plates having a plurality of heat sink cutouts, a plurality of shim plates separating adjacent pairs of the end plates and the heat sink plates, each of the shim plates having a shim cutout, an open cavity formed by a plurality of adjacent heat sink cutouts and shim cutouts, thermal insulation disposed within the cavity, and at least one temperature sensor coupled to at least one of the plurality of heat sink plates.
US09068878B2
A vehicle weight sensor is based on wheel-rim stress measurement.
US09068875B1
An optical liquid level transducer is provided that eliminates the need for moving parts, linearization, temperature compensation, material incompatibility with fuel, light output and sensing fluctuations due to temperature changes, and so on. As described, the liquid level is digitally sensed by analyzing axial images of the probe section and outputting changes in liquid level accordingly. The optical liquid level transducer employs an absolute measurement technique with no moving parts such that when power is turned off and restored to the fuel sender, liquid level is automatically determined even if the fuel level in the tank were to change during the “power-off” condition. The optical liquid level transducer is independent of liquid type, temperature and other environmental factors, and does not require special materials that may be incompatible with fuel.
US09068873B2
The multiphase flow measurement system and method includes video sensors and illumination along a pipe upstream, and a similar arrangement of sensors and illumination downstream displaced from the first location by a known distance utilized for velocity calculation between images at both locations. Image capturing and processing is done from video data at both locations. Objects corresponding to each flow phase in the video images are characterized and sorted by size, color, spectral properties, shapes, and pattern features using automatic pattern recognition. Image cross-correlation and pattern recognition are applied to each group of objects corresponding to one or more flow phases to estimate the velocity of each phase based on the delay calculation. Flow velocity is calculated from the weighted average of the phase velocities. Overall flow type is estimated using the estimated phase velocities and the areas occupied by the objects corresponding to each phase in the images.
US09068861B2
A resolver interface includes an excitation coil, a first secondary coil, a second secondary coil, a sampling circuit, and a controller. The excitation coil receives an excitation signal that generates first and second signals in the first secondary coil and the second secondary coil, respectively. The sampling circuit includes a multiplexer that samples at least one period of the excitation signal, the first signal, and the second signal, individually. The controller is configured to calculate a sign of the first signal and the second signal relative to the excitation signal, wherein based on the calculated sign of the first signal and the second signal the controller determines a quadrant of the excitation coil and based on the determined quadrant and magnitudes of the sampled first signal and second signal calculates a position of the excitation coil.
US09068856B2
A method and system for creating geometry for ADAS are described. Link chains, which are a sequence of segments, are created. The link chains are used to create 2D splines. The link chains, the 2D splines, and height data are used to create 3D splines. The 3D splines and possibly the 2D splines are converted to Bezier curves, which can be used to create a 2D polyline. ADAS applications can use the Bezier curves and the 2D polylines to provide ADAS functions.
US09068836B2
Systems, methods and computer program products for tracking objects in an area of interest are described. According to an embodiment, an object is tracked as follows. First position information relating to the object is received from a first sensor and translated to a coordinate system of a map. The object is displayed on the map in accordance with the translated first position information. Second position information relating to the object is received from a second sensor, where the second sensor is based on a second positioning technology different from the first positioning technology. The second position information is translated to the coordinate system of the map, and the object is displayed on the map in accordance with the translated second position information. In an embodiment, other information relating to the object is also received from sensors.
US09068832B2
A method and an electronic device for determining the direction of a magnetic field, in which a mobile electronic compass device is used to measure three field vectors of the magnetic field the desired number of times. From each measurement, a data point (p1-p6) is formed in a three-dimensional co-ordinate system, for which measured data points a common reference point (C) is calculated. The location of the device is determined relative to the reference point in said co-ordinate system and the co-ordinates of the reference point obtained are compared to the co-ordinates of at least one previous reference point, and the co-ordinate values of the reference point are calibrated, after which the direction of the magnetic field is indicated with the aid of the reference point.
US09068830B2
A laser-leveling device having a at least one radiation module and mounting module, where laser radiation sources and the prisms for developing planes from the laser beams are combined in the radiation module. The radiation module with housing contains a device for horizontal fine adjustment, an additional power supply with control, and an additional self-leveling support plate for receiving the laser radiation sources and prisms for developing the planes from the laser beams The mounting module with housing contains a self-leveling support plate, power supply with control, and a mount for securing to a tripod. The housing of the at least one radiation module and the housing of the mounting module are embodied such that the radiation module can be coupled to the mounting module, and it is possible to connect at least one additional radiation module.
US09068829B2
The invention relates to an orientation device comprising: a true north finder including a rate-gyroscope-type member, as well as sensors that can be used to measure the inclination of the device in relation to the horizontal, and associated calculation means for determining the orientation of the true north used on information provided by the rate gyroscope-type member and the sensors. According to the invention, the device also includes three feet that are used to support the device when it is placed on a support, at least one of said feet including a built-in sensor that changes state when the device is resting on a support by means of the feet, and means for automatically triggering the determination of the orientation of the north when the device is sufficiently horizontal and when the sensor indicates that it is placed on a support.
US09068827B2
The invention is a method and device for measuring the slope of a surface. The device includes a frame, one or more clear tubes containing a liquid and a gas bubble, and an attachment facilitating attachment to a sloped surface. The attachment may be a removable strap or magnets. The tubes are fixed at angles greater than zero degrees and less than ninety degrees relative to the bottom surface of the frame and a visual indication of the angle of each tube is present on the device. The device is designed to be placed parallel to the slope of a sloped surface and the slope of the surface can then be increased or decreased such that the gas bubble will become centered within the tube when the angle of slope conforms to a desired standard.
US09068822B2
A system and method for a chromatic probe detachment sensor is provided. A detachment signal element is included in an interchangeable optics element of a probe. The detachment signal element is configured to substantially transmit a first set of wavelengths corresponding to a measuring range, and at least partially reflect a set of detachment element wavelengths. In one implementation, the detachment signal element comprises a thin film coating such as a sharp edge filter. The detection of a detachment condition can thus be achieved using the existing probe electronics without requiring the addition of other external sensors or wiring to the probe or coordinate measuring machine that utilizes the probe. The sensing of a detachment condition may be utilized to halt further movement of the probe to minimize damage in the event of a collision.
US09068821B2
Provided is an optical measuring device capable of easily improving accuracy in measurement of a measurement object. Light is projected from a light projecting unit into a measurement space. Light passing through the measurement space is directed toward a first image sensor through a first optical system, and directed toward a second image sensor through a second optical system. Within the measurement space, a position of a first focus of the first optical system and a position of a second focus of the second optical system in an X direction are different from each other. Whether the measurement object is positioned at the first focus, on a side of the first focus closer to the light projecting unit, or on a side of the first focus away from the light projecting unit is determined based on the signals outputted from the first and the second image sensor.
US09068810B2
The trunk area dimension measurement device includes a light reflection portion to be placed at a position of a navel of the measurement subject, a contact portion to be placed on a side surface of the measurement subject's trunk area, a support column having a contact detection unit that detects the contact with the contact portion and that extends in the vertical direction, a measurement bar that is supported pivotably about a first support point vertically with respect to the support column and that extends above the measurement subject's trunk area, an optical sensor that is held by the measurement bar positioned above the measurement subject's trunk area and that is held pivotably about a second support point so as to hang down in a gravity direction, and an angle sensor that is provided at either one of the first support point and the second support point.
US09068809B1
A method for determining characteristics of a shim fittable between first and second bodies, comprising: (a) placing optical targets in respective sets of holes in the first and second bodies; (b) scanning respective surfaces of the first and second bodies using a three-dimensional scanner to acquire point cloud scan data, measured hole vector data and other discrete feature data; (c) processing the point cloud scan data, measured hole vector data and other discrete feature data to derive first deviation values representing the deviation of the surface of the first body from a nominal surface of the first body and second deviation values representing the deviation of the surface of the second body from a nominal surface of the second body; (d) correlating the first deviation values with the second deviation values based on a best fit position of the first body relative to the second body; and (e) computing shim gap values based on the correlated first and second deviation values.
US09068807B1
A rocket-propelled grenade includes a payload section, a selectable fuzing section joined to the payload section, and a propulsion section joined to the selectable fuzing section. A rocket-propelled grenade includes a propulsion section and a payload section operably associated with the propulsion section. The payload section includes a shell, one or more penetrators disposed in the shell, and a charge for compromising the shell to deploy the one or more penetrators when the charge is initiated.
US09068804B2
Example nocks, arrowheads and/or arrowhead inserts include a tapered annular flange axially engaging a correspondingly tapered edge on a tubular arrow shaft. The tapered flange and edge help prevent the end of tubular arrow shaft from deforming radially outward when substantial axial force is applied to the nock, arrowhead and/or arrowhead insert.
US09068802B2
A ballistic protection is described. The ballistic protection includes a rigid structure and a flexible structure, co-operating to dissipate energy associated to an incident bullet impact, the rigid structure and the flexible structure being separated by at least a first discontinuity layer. The rigid structure includes at least a first rigid layer, at least a second rigid layer, and at least a third layer interposed between the first and the second rigid layer. The material of the first discontinuity layer and of the third layer of the rigid structure are selected so that a speed of propagation of a sound wave through the first discontinuity layer and the third layer of the rigid structure is less than 50% of the speed of propagation of a sound wave through fibers of the first rigid layer. The third layer can have a frame shape extending along the edges of the ballistic rigid protections, so that protection is increased along the borders.
US09068798B2
Systems and methods for enabling an integrated multifunction scope for optical combat identification and other uses. The functionality of Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) is combined with Optical Combat Identification Systems (OCIDS) or other identification as friend or foe (IFF) systems. This can provide for improved MILES performance through the utilization of a common laser transmission system and/or the use of location information systems, such as global positioning system (GPS) coordinates. According to some embodiments, various additional features may be included for use in training and/or combat environments.
US09068793B1
An upper receiver of a firearm including a body with an interior, an opening for a barrel extension, and one or more engagements for communicating with a lower receiver of a rifle; a high wear area located on the interior of the receiver; a relief cut at the high wear area; and a wear plate fit within the relief cut of the high wear area located on the interior of the aluminum body, the wear plate having an expose surface.
US09068783B2
Tube heat exchanger for exchanging heat between first and second fluids includes a housing wherein one or more tubes extend between an inlet part and an outlet part for the first fluid. The tubes extend through passages through baffle plates which are secured at a distance from one another by means of one or more fastening devices that include a profile that is snapped in place in one or more recesses in the respective baffle plates. The profile is a V-profile and the recess is a V-shaped recess having protrusions on its two opposite edges behind which the V-profile is snapped in place.
US09068780B2
A method for forming a manifold for use with a heat exchanger is disclosed. The method may involve forming a plurality of vanes. Opposing surfaces of each of the vanes may define a pair of adjacent flow channels for receiving portions of first and second fluids to be flowed through the flow channels. Each of the flow channels may have a changing aspect ratio along its length.
US09068778B2
An apparatus, system, and method provide drying procedure information through a user interface. A monitoring device transmits drying procedure data measured by sensors within a structure undergoing the drying procedure to a server. In response to requests received through a communication network from a user interface, the server transmits the drying procedure information that is presented through the user interface. A variety of information and services related to the drying procedure may be provided through the user interface.
US09068777B2
Apparatus and method for drying a product comprising placing the product on a first side of a support surface, and directing dry radiant heat toward the second side of the surface to heat the product. A sensor can be included to measure at least one characteristic of the product, such as the temperature or moisture content thereof. The temperature of the heat source can be regulated as a function of the measured characteristic. The support surface can also be made so as to be movable relative to the heat source. In an alternative embodiment, a plurality of control zones are defined and through which the product is successively passed. Each of the control zones has at least one associated heat source and an associated sensor so as to regulate the temperature of the heat sources associated with each control zone independently of those associated with another zone.
US09068774B2
A process and an apparatus are disclosed for a compact processing assembly to recover C2 (or C3) components and heavier hydrocarbon components from a hydrocarbon gas stream. The gas stream is cooled and divided into first and second streams. The first stream is further cooled, expanded to lower pressure, and supplied as a feed between two absorbing means. The second stream is expanded to lower pressure and supplied as a bottom feed to the lower absorbing means. A distillation liquid stream from the bottom of the lower absorbing means is heated in a heat and mass transfer means to strip out its volatile components. A distillation vapor stream from the top of the heat and mass transfer means is cooled by a distillation vapor stream from the top of the upper absorbing means, thereby forming a condensed stream that is supplied as a top feed to the upper absorbing means.
US09068768B2
A refrigerated point-of-use food holding cabinet keeps food products cold in compartments having cross sections that are substantially U-shaped. Food products are kept refrigerated using heat-absorbing, heat-exchangers thermally coupled to the U-shaped compartment. Refrigeration is provided by either a conventional reversed-Brayton cycle, one or more Peltier devices or a chilled, re-circulating liquid that does not change phase as it circulates but which is chilled by another refrigeration system, such as a conventional refrigeration system. An optional cover helps prevent food flavor transfers between compartments. Semiconductor temperature sensors and a computer effectuate temperature control.
US09068766B2
Provided is an air-conditioning and hot water supply combination system capable of maintaining a high hot water supply capacity and achieving high efficiency even under high-temperature outside air conditions by appropriately controlling the degree of superheat and the degree of subcooling of a heat exchanger. In an air-conditioning and hot water supply combination system, when an evaporating pressure or an evaporating temperature calculated from the evaporating pressure reaches a first predetermined value or higher, the degree of superheat of a refrigerant on a low-pressure gas side of a subcooling heat exchanger or the degree of subcooling of the refrigerant on a high-pressure liquid side of the subcooling heat exchanger is controlled by the opening degree of a low-pressure bypass pressure reducing mechanism, such that the evaporating pressure or the evaporating temperature calculated from the evaporating pressure is less than or equal to the first predetermined value.
US09068760B2
A heating appliance including a burner and a heat exchanger including a bundle of heat conducting elements that form the primary channels through which the hot flue gases from the burner are guided via inputs that are opposite the burner, and which are connected together to close off the secondary channels that are formed between the aforementioned elements and through which the air to be heated can be guided. The burner is a premix burner that is positioned opposite the inputs of the primary channels, whereby the burner has a supply for a mixture of fuel and a sufficient quantity of air for the essentially complete combustion of the fuel, and whereby between the burner and the inputs of the primary channels there is a heat shield of a heat-resistant material with a passage opposite each of the aforementioned inputs.
US09068758B2
A refrigerant distribution unit for an air conditioner, includes: a pipe unit which distributes a refrigerant from a refrigerant pipe on an outdoor unit side to multiple branch refrigerant pipes, which includes an electromagnetic valve and a temperature sensor, on an indoor unit side; a main unit which stores the pipe unit covered by an insulator case, upper and lower cases; and an electric component box which controls the electromagnetic valves and the temperature sensors by connecting the valves with the sensors by cables. A cable draw-out recessed portion is formed in one of side faces of the insulator case where the connecting slots for the pipes are formed, and a bottom face recessed portion for storing the cables is formed in a bottom face of the insulator case. The upper case includes a cable draw-out slot for guiding the cables to a cable guide hole formed in the electric component box.
US09068756B1
A solar hot water system includes a mirror which reflects solar energy on an absorber including a water pipe and two plates to heat water in the pipe. When water in the pipe freezes and expands, the pipe and the plates are elastically deformed without injury.
US09068754B2
A cooking device has an exhaust duct (19) configured and arranged to mix together exhaust air discharged from an opening (61a) at a tip of a nozzle part (61) and part of cooling air discharged from a cooling fan and guide the mixed exhaust air to discharge it outside of a casing, and an exhaust duct temperature sensor (70) placed within the exhaust duct (19) to detect a temperature of an atmosphere inside the exhaust duct at a portion upper than the opening (61a) of the nozzle (61). A fan abnormal-stop detection part detects an abnormal stop of the fan when an increment per unit time of an atmosphere temperature inside the exhaust duct (19) detected by the temperature sensor (70) during cooking becomes equal to or higher than a first threshold value.
US09068744B2
An energy conversion system comprises a plurality of concentrically arranged combustion chambers for passing incinerated waste plastic fuel along a generally S-shaped combustion path into a discharge section for thermally coupling the incinerated waste plastic fuel to a fluid material to facilitate an energy conversion process. The combustion chambers are arranged concentrically around a single rotatable feed mechanism and the combustion chambers are in fluid communication with one another. The fluid material is contained within a boiler in fluid communication with the combustion chambers for heating the fluid material to facilitate the energy conversion process.
US09068741B2
An eddy current probe testing apparatus structured to operate concurrently in a driver pick-up mode and said impedance mode is provided. The eddy current probe has two coils. The eddy current probe testing apparatus also includes a signal producing device, an output device, and a switch assembly. The switch assembly is structured to switch how an input signal from the signal producing device is provided to the two coils. Thus, an inspection may be performed in two modes concurrently.
US09068739B2
Decorative fragrance diffuser having a light source mounted to a base and a space for custom inserts
The present disclosure generally relates to a decorative fragrance diffuser and methods of use thereof. The decorative fragrance diffuser may be comprised of a base and a light source mounted to the base. The decorative fragrance diffuser may further comprise an inner glass surrounding the light source and an interchangeable outer glass surrounding the inner glass, whereby an annular area is formed between the inner and outer glass. The decorative fragrance diffuser may further comprise a custom insert located between the inner glass and the outer glass. The decorative fragrance diffuser may further comprise a top disposed above the inner glass, the top including a basin for holding a fragrant element. The method of using the decorative fragrance diffuser may comprise following instructions or a template to create the custom insert with suitable dimensions.
US09068733B2
A LED lamp (1) with an actively cooled heat sink having at least one LED (7) mounted in a non-conductive substrate (8) that is attached to a heat sink (2) having a plurality of cooling vanes (9) extending therefrom. Heat generated by the at least one LED travels through the heat sink and then through the cooling vanes. Cooling channels (10) located between the cooling vanes allow for air flow between the cooling vanes. A plurality of air inlets (11) located in a housing (3) allow for air flow into the cooling channels. A fan (12) located in the housing pulls air through the air inlets through the cooling channels and across the cooling vanes through an exhaust outlet (14) where the fan then blows the air through exhaust vents (15) located on a rear of the housing.
US09068732B2
An air-cooled lamp bulb includes a central tube, a circuit board disposed inside the central tube, a circular light wall surrounding the central tube, a transparent dome surrounding a top end of the circular light wall and having a top central opening, and a first air passage formed between the central tube and the circular light wall. The circular light wall is formed by a plurality of light units arranged side by side. Each of the light units has a light source mounted adjacent a top end of the central tube. The transparent dome is arranged for modifying light emitted by the light sources. The first air passage allows air flow through the air-cooled lamp bulb.
US09068729B2
A lamp including a light source, a reflective unit and a light modulation module is provided. The light source provides an illuminating light, and the reflective unit reflects the illuminating light. The light modulation module is disposed between the light source and the reflective unit. In the light modulation module, a region where movable light absorbing materials exist is a light absorbing region, and a region where the movable light absorbing materials are absent is a light penetration region. By applying different electrical fields to the movable light absorbing materials, sizes and locations of the light absorbing region and the light penetration region can be changed. A portion of the illuminating light irradiating the light penetration region penetrates through the light penetration region, is transmitted to the reflective unit, being reflected by the reflective unit, and penetrates through the light penetration region again sequentially.
US09068719B2
A light engine housing comprising a mixing chamber element, a driver chamber element and/or a connection element, one or more of which is removable. A light engine comprising (1) a light engine housing and (2) a mixing chamber module and/or a driver module removably attached to and/or positioned in the light engine housing. Also, a light engine comprising (1) a light engine housing and a mixing chamber module and/or a driver module. Also, a solid state light engine comprising a light engine housing comprising at least a first connection element.
US09068716B2
An illumination apparatus includes a frame, an optical base plate, a light source and an optical film. The optical base plate is disposed in the frame and has a protrusion area at the center of the optical base plate. The protrusion area has at least a protrusion portion, which has at least a reflective surface. The reflective surface includes a plurality of inclined surfaces with different inclination angles. The light source is disposed in the frame and located adjacent to the periphery of the optical base plate. The light source is disposed corresponding to the reflective surface and has a plurality of light-emitting elements. Each light-emitting element has an optical axis direction, and the optical axis directions extend toward the protrusion area. The optical film is disposed at the frame, and the protrusion portion of the optical base plate protrudes toward the optical film.
US09068712B2
A vehicular light-emitting diode lamp includes a housing having a compartment receiving a reflective member including first and reflective surfaces and a partitioning section between the first and second reflective surface. The partitioning section includes two lateral portions respectively engaged with two mounting portions of the housing. A lamp seat is mounted in front of the partitioning section of the reflective member. First and second LED modules are mounted to the lamp seat and are electrically connected to a circuit board unit. The first LED module emits light beams towards a rear and a side of the first reflective surface. The second LED module emits light beams towards a rear and a side of the second reflective surface. Light beams emitted by the first and second LED modules transmit are reflected by the first and second reflective surfaces and then transmit cover in front of the reflective member.
US09068709B2
The invention relates to an optical unit, notably for a motor vehicle signaling and/or lighting device, comprising: at least one light source, notably an LED, at least one board bearing the light source, this board comprising an electric circuit to power the light source, a light guide made at least partially from a material through which light can travel, this guide being designed to accept light from the light source and to guide this light, the optical unit being characterized in that the board is borne by the light guide.
US09068708B2
An illuminable beverage holder assembly is provided and includes at least one side wall coupled an illuminable base member to form a receptacle for receiving a beverage container. The illuminable base member includes a distal engagement member with an optical surface. A light source is operably coupled to the engagement member and configured to emit light through the optical surface to illuminate the illuminable portion.
US09068705B1
A 9-volt battery mounted flashlight including a lower housing fixedly mounted on the battery and an upper housing carrying an LED that pivots or rocks on the lower housing to turn the flashlight on and off. The upper housing has a pair of integral pivot bosses that mount in horizontal pivot bores in the lower housing so the upper housing rocks between on and off positions.
US09068699B2
Microfluidic structures and methods for manipulating fluids, fluid components, and reactions are provided. In one aspect, such structures and methods can allow production of droplets of a precise volume, which can be stored/maintained at precise regions of the device. In another aspect, microfluidic structures and methods described herein are designed for containing and positioning components in an arrangement such that the components can be manipulated and then tracked even after manipulation. For example, cells may be constrained in an arrangement in microfluidic structures described herein to facilitate tracking during their growth and/or after they multiply.
US09068697B2
A process for reducing segregation of mining tailings while being deposited below the surface of a column of fluid is provided which comprises introducing the mining tailings into a downpipe having an inlet at or near the surface of the column of fluid and an outlet submerged in the column of fluid; providing at least one pressure drop element in the downpipe to prevent acceleration of the mining tailings and maintain the tailings flow therethrough; and providing a diffusing device at the outlet of the downpipe to reduce the velocity of the mining tailings as the tailings are discharged therefrom.
US09068693B2
A lubricant supplying device includes: lubricant; a supplying member that supplies the lubricant to a lubricant supply target; and a remaining amount detecting unit that detects that a remaining amount of the lubricant is equal to or smaller than a certain amount. The remaining amount detecting unit includes a first electrode member and a second electrode member. The lubricant supplying device includes a member that causes at least a part of the second electrode member to move and causes the second electrode member to abut the first electrode member with an increase in consumption of the lubricant.
US09068691B2
A stand for a computing device may include a body having first and second opposing longitudinal sides, and first and second opposing ends, and a retention strap extending between the first and second opposing ends. The stand may include first and second fasteners coupled respectively to the first and second opposing ends and to be coupled to a support structure.
US09068687B2
The supporting apparatus includes a base, a device supporting portion, a device connecting portion, and a linking rod. The base includes a front end and a rear end; the device supporting portion includes a supporting element and a first rotating shaft, wherein the first rotating shaft is pivotally connected to the front end of the base and connected with the supporting element for allowing the supporting element to rotate along the first rotating shaft such that the supporting apparatus has a closed state and a first open state. When the supporting apparatus rotates to the first open state, the connecting element and the linking rod form a first connecting element opening angle θ21 for allowing the connecting element to connect with the first lateral surface of an electronic device and the supporting element to contact a bottom surface of the electronic device.
US09068684B2
A sealed stopper for an opening in a tubing for joining a chamber and a piping including a fastening ring is provided. The stopper includes a rigid bearing plate and a sealing member carried by the bearing plate, and includes a seal having a planar and flexible central portion with a reduced thickness extending below the bearing plate and a peripheral portion radially deformable by a central expander of the peripheral portion against the inner surface of the fastening ring.
US09068683B2
A manufacturing apparatus of a core material of a highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material having excellent workability, usability, and heat insulating performance is provided. The manufacturing apparatus of a core material of a vacuum heat insulating material related to the present invention includes: a reel for winding up a fiber assembly which has a predetermined width and is wound on a substantially cylindrical original fabric roll which has been cut to have a predetermined width, at a predetermined number of times; cutting means for cutting the fiber assembly which has been wound on the reel; and a forming member for forming the fiber assembly into a flat-plate-shaped core material after removing from the reel the fiber assembly which has been wound up on the reel at the predetermined number of times and been cut.
US09068672B2
A grommet is provided for protecting and securing a conveyance system component routed through an aperture in a structure. The grommet includes a strap having a first and second side and two or more pairs of ribs formed along at least a portion of the first side of the strap. The ribs cooperatively define a channel for receiving the edge of the aperture. The grommet further includes a plurality of spaced apart perforations formed along at least portion of the length of the strap.
US09068671B2
An aerated swirling vertical shaft with double volute chambers comprises an upper volute chamber (2) and a first shrinking section (3) beneath the upper volute chamber (2), a venting passage (4) outside the upper volute chamber (2), a vertical shaft section (7) beneath the first shrinking section (3), as well as an aerated lower volute chamber (5) and a second shrinking section (6) communicated with the aerated lower volute chamber (5) between the first shrinking section (3) and the vertical shaft section (7), wherein the upper end of the aerated lower volute chamber (5) is connected with the first shrinking section (3), the lower end of the second shrinking section (6) is connected with the vertical shaft section (7); the upper end of the venting passage (4) is communicated with the atmosphere and the lower end is communicated with the aerated lower volute chamber (5). The water stream in the vertical shaft can be discharged smoothly and the wall surface of the vertical shaft may avoid being destroyed due to cavitation and cavitation erosion.
US09068658B2
Apparatus to bias valve closure members are described. An example valve includes a valve body having an opening defining a passageway. The opening has an axis that is substantially coaxially aligned with a flow path axis defined by the passageway. A first shaft supports a closure member within the passageway of the valve body and relative to the opening and an end cap removably coupled to the valve body retains the shaft within a bore of the valve body. A spring is disposed between the first seating surface and a second seating surface opposite the first seating surface to provide a force to oppose the weight of the closure member and facilitate alignment of the closure member relative to the opening of the passageway.
US09068654B2
A gasket held between opposite flange joint surfaces with a bolt includes a combination of a complex material with a rubber material formed on one or both sides of a steel plate, the complex material having a convex or waveform bead, and a circular metal plate arranged at a bolt portion with a through-hole where a shank of the bolt penetrates and a bearing corresponding portion that corresponds to a bearing of the bolt around the through-hole. The gasket is configured to have the thickness (H3) of the bead provided to the complex material greater than the thickness (H2) of the circular metal plate that is equal to or greater than the thickness (H1) of the complex material. This structure provides a gasket indicating good sealing properties under such circumstances that a flange has low stiffness, a tightening load is reduced, and the distance between bolts is expanded.
US09068653B2
To provide a sealing material which is excellent in sealability under high-temperature conditions as well as crack resistance at high temperatures and high compression. A sealing material comprising a cross-linked fluororubber layer obtainable by cross-linking a fluororubber composition containing a fluororubber (A) and a carbon black (B), the cross-linked fluororubber layer having a loss modulus E″ of 600 kPa or higher and 6,000 kPa or lower determined by a dynamic viscoelasticity test under conditions of measurement temperature: 160° C., tensile strain: 1%, initial force: 157 cN, and frequency: 10 Hz.
US09068652B2
An extraction apparatus includes a brewing module for receiving a capsule with an extraction material. The brewing module includes a first brewing module part and a second brewing module part, the second brewing part being movable relative to the first brewing part. The first and the second brewing module parts form a discharge device for the discharge of an extraction product out of the capsule, and an introduction device for introducing an extraction fluid into the capsule. A sealing system for such an extraction apparatus includes a seal having at least one circumferential sealing lip and/or one circumferential sealing bead, which bears on a surface of the capsule in a line-like or strip-like manner and presses the capsule wall against the capsule interior.
US09068648B2
An automated transmission comprises a hydraulic control device and one or more hydraulically actuated gear units. The hydraulic control device comprises a control unit for setting actuating pressures on the gear units; a base pressure control valve for adjusting a hydraulic base pressure of the hydraulic control device; and a device for controlling the base pressure control valve dependent on the actuating pressures. The automated transmission further comprises a device for switching through an actuating hydraulic pressure to the base pressure control valve. A method comprises the method steps of adjusting a hydraulic base pressure at the hydraulic control device; adjusting actuating pressures for actuating one or more transmission units; switching through one of the actuating pressures to the base pressure control valve; and adjusting the hydraulic base pressure by one of the actuating pressures.
US09068647B2
Provided is a method for manufacturing a gear wheel, the method including: preparing an insertion unit formed of a steel material having a hollow pipe shape; injection-molding an outer side unit including teeth on an outer circumference; and molding a connection unit having a wheel shape by injecting resin into at least three points between the insertion unit and the outer side unit so as to connect the insertion unit and the outer side unit after arranging the insertion unit on the inner center of the outer side unit. According to the method, removing of an unnecessarily injected portion may be omitted since the resin is injected between the insertion unit and the outer side unit while injection-molding the connection unit. Also, productivity is increased by decreasing a number of defective products generated due to cracks.
US09068645B2
A method of controlling a level of fluid in a main sump of a transmission includes opening an auxiliary reservoir with a first valve when fluid temperature in the main sump is at or below the predetermined temperature. The first valve is opened to increase the level of fluid in the main sump to at least a predetermined height so that transmission rotating components contact the fluid and generate splash lubrication. When the transmission is transmitting torque and the fluid is above the predetermined temperature, the level of fluid in the main sump is maintained below a predetermined height with closed first valve, such that the rotating components do not contact the fluid inside the main sump. A fluid pump alone is sufficient to lubricate the rotating components above the predetermined temperature and sufficient to lubricate the rotating components at or below the predetermined temperature only with splash lubrication.
US09068640B2
A fastening structure for a ring-gear and a differential case comprises a differential case which is provided with: a ring gear having a gear section formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and a plurality of notch portions formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof; a press-fitting surface whereon the ring gear is press-fitted; and a flange section which is forced against and caulked to the notch portions, at the end of the press-fitting surface. After the ring gear has been press-fitted to the press-fitting surface, the flange section is forced toward the notch portions, and thus the differential case is caulked and fastened to the ring gear. The notch portions have stepped surfaces , and thus rattling generated during torque transmission can be suppressed.
US09068628B2
In one embodiment of the invention, a robotic arm is provided including a linkage assembly and a strap drive train. The linkage assembly includes first, second, third, and fourth links pivotally coupled in series together at first, second, and third joints to define a parallelogram with an insertion axis. The strap drive train includes first and second sets of straps coupled to the linkage assembly. As the linkage assembly is moved about a pitch axis, the first set of straps ensures the third link maintains the same angle relative to the first link, and the first and second set of straps ensures the fourth link maintains the same angle relative to the second link.
US09068622B2
A shock isolation structure for mounting a radar system to a supporting surface on board of a vessel includes a platform on which the radar system can be attached, six strut-like damping elements operating in both tension and compression between the platform and the supporting surface. The damping elements are oriented in a truss configuration with first ends of the damping elements connected to the supporting surface for universal movement and with second ends of the damping elements connected to the platform for universal movement. Each of the damping elements includes a magnetorheological or electrorheological fluid damper.
US09068621B1
A rotary wing aircraft bearing that provides a constrained relative motion between a first rotary wing aircraft member and a second rotary wing aircraft member. The bearing includes an elastomeric mold bonded laminated bearing stack, the elastomeric mold bonded laminated bearing stack including a plurality of mold bonded alternating layers of nonelastomeric shim member layers and elastomeric shim members layers, the alternating layers having an exterior surface and an interior center distal from the exterior surface. At least one of the elastomeric shim members layers has an interior elastomer region distal from the exterior surface, the interior elastomer region formed an interior cured elastomer composition having at least a first interior optical characteristic ingredient, and an exterior elastomer region encompassing the interior elastomer region, the exterior elastomer region proximate the exterior surface, the exterior elastomer region formed from an exterior cured elastomer composition having at least a second exterior optical characteristic ingredient, the at least second exterior optical characteristic ingredient different than the interior cured elastomer composition first interior optical characteristic ingredient, wherein with an elastomer void crack propagating from the exterior surface inward towards the interior elastomer region and a repeated rotary wing aircraft relative motion between the first rotary wing aircraft member and the second rotary wing aircraft member generates a plurality of interior cured elastomer composition crumbs to be expelled from the elastomer void, the interior cured elastomer composition crumbs optically distinguishable from the exterior cured elastomer composition.
US09068612B2
Brake disk contains through channels (7) running across primary vanes (4) skewly to the inter-vane space (5). At least part of the brake disk body (1) is equipped with a static cover (8) in which a system of secondary vanes (9) is located. Channels (7) are preferably arranged in rows, where they have a bore increasing with increasing distance from the brake disk centre. The secondary vanes (9) are in the number of at least the number of primary vanes (4) and their impact surfaces (10) are directed against the cooling air flow direction. Primary vanes (4) and secondary vanes (9) are bent, but inversely. There are primary gaps between secondary vanes (9) and circumferential wall (13) of a cover (8), and secondary gap inter-connected with primary gaps is between the brake disk and supporting wall (11) of the cover (8). Space around the brake disk body (1) is interconnected with channels (7) and led out through the wheel disk outside the wheel.
US09068605B2
A clutch member of a torque converter of an automatic transmission fitted slidingly with a splined connection between a number of extending teeth of the clutch member and channels of a torque converter housing configured to slidingly engage the teeth. At least two of the teeth are elongated for a distance beyond engagement with a base of the respective engaging channels and bent at right angles to the original tooth extension direction. The extent of parallel engagement of the bent tooth and base of the channel of the splined connection is significantly increased and fretting wear between the teeth and the channels of the housing is reduced or eliminated.
US09068602B2
A locking mechanism for the elbow swivel joint of a support arm for selectively locking the lower arm section and upper arm section of the support arm relative to each other, in which the lower arm section has a swivel head positioned between the end flanges of the upper arm section. A carriage bolt runs through centrally-located coplanar screw holes in the swivel head and end flanges for completing the live hinge of the swivel joint elbow. The locking mechanism preferably includes three spring-biased locking pins that sit in three open-ended guide channels in the relevant end flange of the upper arm section, and there are also a plurality of corresponding locking pin receiving notches on the engagement surface of the swivel head, and a locking knob for compelling the three spring biased locking pins into mating engagement with the corresponding locking pin receiving notches on the engagement surface of the swivel head and holding them in place.
US09068589B2
A rotating device includes a shaft body that has a shaft, a first flange extending outwardly from the outer periphery of the shaft, and a second flange, a bearing body that has a shaft encircling member encircling the shaft between the first flange and the second flange, a first thrust opposing part formed between the shaft encircling member and the first flange, a second thrust opposing part formed between the shaft encircling member and the second flange, an intermediate space provided in a gap between the shaft and the shaft encircling member, a radial dynamic pressure bearing, a first communication channel that allows the first thrust opposing part to be in communication with the intermediate space, and a second communication channel that allows the second thrust opposing part to be in communication with the intermediate space.
US09068586B2
Disclosed is a fastening system and method for securing a sheathing board to an associated framing member. The system includes a feedband for retaining a series of fasteners and a powered drill for sequentially driving the fasteners. The feedband is made from a membrane of a polymeric compound. As the fastener is driven into the sheathing board, a portion of the membrane tears away from the surrounding feedband and becomes seated beneath the fastener. This acts to seal the penetration point and prevent water intrusion and otherwise prevents deterioration of the sheathing board.
US09068579B2
A rear brake system has a rod extending from a master cylinder that inputs the operational force of a brake pedal to the master cylinder, a coil spring coaxially arranged with the rod and providing reaction force to return the brake pedal to the state before operating the brake pedal, a reaction adjustment mechanism provided on the rod and configured so as to be movable in the axial direction of the rod. According to the position of the reaction adjustment mechanism in the axial direction of the rod, shrinkage of the coil spring in the axial direction of the rod can be adjusted.
US09068568B2
A gear pump comprises first and second gears and a housing. The housing comprises a first arcuate gear bore that receives the first gear, a second arcuate gear bore that receives the second gear, a discharge port that joins the first and second arcuate gear bores, an inlet port that joins the first and second arcuate gear bores opposite the discharge port; and first and second cutbacks that are joined to the first and second arcuate gear bores, respectively, adjacent the inlet port.
US09068554B2
A wave energy electric power generation system has a buoyant body responsive to wave movement and an associated, relatively vertically stationary body, a compressor, a pressure regulator, and an air turbine/generator set. The compressor has a piston that moves reciprocally relative to a cylinder to alternately compress air in opposed chambers. A pressure regulator tank defines a chamber in communication with the compressor for alternately receiving compressed air from opposed compression chambers, a floating piston within the tank applying pressure to compressed air in the chamber, a pressure regulator controlling pressure applied by the piston to the compressed air, and an hydraulic dampening system coupled to the floating piston to restrict unwanted vertical oscillations of the piston, for output of a continuous flow of compressed air at relatively constant pressure. The turbine and generator set receives the flow compressed air from the pressure regulator and/or the compressor to rotate the turbine, driving the generator for generation of electric power. Rolling diaphragm and liquid trough sealing between opposed regions of contrasting pressure/vacuum are also described.
US09068553B2
An apparatus for converting wave energy into electrical energy comprising a first floating hull (201) interconnected to a second floating hull (202). A winch mechanism for use in raising a weight suspended on a cable (14). The winch mechanism is operated in response to movement of the first hull (201) relative to the second hull (202), and a generator driven by the downward movement of the weight. Moreover, a method for converting wave energy into electrical energy.
US09068546B2
Systems and methods for improving operation of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, an engine may be started in one of two ways depending on operating conditions. In particular, the engine may be started via a lower power output electric machine or a higher power output electric machine.
US09068542B2
A fuel injector for fuel injection systems of internal combustion engines. The valve includes an electromagnetic actuating element which has a solenoid, a solid core, an external magnetic circuit component, and a movable armature for activating a valve closing member which cooperates with a valve seat surface provided on a valve seat member. The valve has extremely small outer dimensions. By optimizing the dimensions of the electromagnetic circuit, the outer diameter of the external magnetic circuit component in the peripheral area of the solenoid is 10.5 mm
US09068536B2
In an EGR valve, an actuator includes a coil, a rotor body to be driven to rotate when the coil is energized with electric current, and a converting mechanism to convert rotational movement of the rotor body into stroke movement of the rod to bring a valve into or out of contact with a seat. The rod includes a stopper that will contact with a protrusion of the rotor body when the valve is placed in a full closed state. An end face of the stopper and an end face of the protrusion are slanted with respect to a stroke direction of stroke movement of the rod.
US09068532B2
A nacelle assembly for a turbofan engine includes a forward nacelle portion having an aft edge and defining a bypass duct that transports bypass airflow of the turbofan engine, a translatable sleeve that is translatable aft of the forward nacelle portion and a reverse thrust apparatus that is movable between a stowed position, and a deployed position. When the reverse thrust apparatus is deployed, the translatable sleeve is moved aft to a position away from the aft edge of the forward nacelle portion to expose a cascade assembly comprising an opening in the bypass duct, and one or more blocker doors are deployed so as to extend into the bypass duct, such that at least a portion of the airflow in the bypass duct is directed out the bypass duct through the cascade assembly. Also, during deployment of the reverse thrust apparatus, at least a portion of the cascade assembly translates toward the engine centerline. The cascade assembly may have a cross-section that is non-uniform.
US09068527B2
A monitoring computer for monitoring a processor, on which processor a computing element is executed. The computing element essentially includes three program modules by which the performance of the motor vehicle is influenced. The processor includes a functional computer and a monitoring computer that is physically independent of the functional computer, wherein the monitoring computer includes two monitoring units that are independent of each other.
US09068525B2
Embodiments of the present invention include an engine control method for controlling an engine having an accessory. In the method, a relationship between a torque of the accessory and a controlled variable corresponding to each rotational speed of the engine is stored in advance. An estimated value of the controlled variable is calculated based on a calculated value of the torque of the accessory and the engine rotational speed by reference to the said relationship. A command value of the controlled variable is calculated based on at least one of the engine rotational speed, opening of a throttle, opening of an accelerator and an air supply pressure. A calculated difference is determined by comparing the estimated value of the controlled variable and the command value of the controlled variable.
US09068521B2
An internal combustion engine has a cylinder in which a combustion chamber, bounded on one side by a reciprocating piston, is formed. The piston drives a crankshaft rotatably mounted in a crank casing. The internal combustion engine has an inlet opening for combustion air into the crank casing, and an outlet opening out of the combustion chamber. The internal combustion engine has at least one overflow duct which connects the crank casing interior to the combustion chamber. The internal combustion engine has a crank casing pressure sensor for measuring the crank casing pressure, a device for determining the rotational position of the crankshaft, and an evaluation device which evaluates the measurements of the crank casing pressure sensor. A method for operating the internal combustion engine is provided where the ambient pressure is determined using the crank casing pressure measured by the crank casing pressure sensor.
US09068520B2
An engine control apparatus in which a fuel injection apparatus injects a fuel to an engine; detecting means detects a drive state of the engine, and an ECU controls actuation of the fuel injection apparatus on the basis of a detection information of the detecting means and a specific output characteristic data of the engine, wherein compensating means for compensating the output characteristic data is provided, and the ECU is structured such as to compute a limit torque value on the basis of a result of compensation of the output characteristic data by the compensating means and the detection information of the detecting means, and actuate the fuel injection apparatus in correspondence to the limit torque value.
US09068513B2
A seal assembly between a disc cavity and a hot gas path in a gas turbine engine includes a rotating blade assembly having a plurality of blades that rotate with a turbine rotor during operation of the engine, and a stationary vane assembly having a plurality of vanes and an inner shroud. The inner shroud includes a radially outwardly facing first surface, a radially inwardly facing second surface, and a plurality of grooves extending into the second surface. The grooves are arranged such that a space having a component in a circumferential direction is defined between adjacent grooves. During operation of the engine, the grooves guide purge air out of the disc cavity toward the hot gas path such that the purge air flows in a desired direction with reference to a direction of hot gas flow through the hot gas path.
US09068506B2
A gas turbine engine recuperator system includes a heat recuperator positioned in a gas turbine exhaust gas duct for recovering heat from turbine exhaust gases to preheat a compressor flow being supplied to the combustor. A continuous bleed flow of the turbine exhaust gases is provided to bypass the heat recuperator. The continuous bleed flow of the turbine exhaust gases is adjustable to reduce turbine exhaust gas pressure loss at a high engine operation level and to provide efficient heat recovery at low and/or medium engine operation levels.
US09068504B2
An engine-operated device includes a dust separating device. An air inlet provided on a first end side of the dust separating device. A first discharge opening is provided in the lateral surface on a second end side of the longitudinal direction, and a second discharge opening is provided to be separated from the first discharge opening. A first connecting passage is connected between the first discharge opening and the rotor cover of a magneto-rotor, and a second connecting passage is connected between an upstream side of an air cleaner case and the second discharge opening.
US09068499B2
A flow direction system (200) for a turbocharger (1) or other fluid impeller device is provided that can reduce swirl or turbulence of exhaust gases being supplied to a turbine rotor (4). The system (200) uses one or more ribs (250) or fins that extend from an inner surface (110) of an inlet (100) of the turbine housing (2) and that can be integrally formed with the inlet (100). The ribs (250) can be diametrically opposed along the inner surface (110) and can extend less than half way across the inlet (100). The ribs (250) can have chamfered leading or trailing edges to reduce drag.
US09068498B2
A port for a cylinder of a two-stroke cycle engine includes at least one generally circumferential array of port openings. Port openings have a shape that reduces ring clipping during engine operation. The port opening shape is defined at a bore surface by opposing top and bottom edges joined by side edges. Each of the top and bottom edges is characterized by rounded corner transitions to the side edges, a rounded peak, and inclined ramp portions extending from the rounded corner transitions to the rounded peak.
US09068496B2
An engine is provided with an open deck cylinder block having an open water jacket that surrounds a plurality of cylinders that are joined together in a Siamese design by a cylinder bore bridge. The engine also includes a cylinder head gasket, and a cylinder head. For the purpose of removing excess heat from the cylinder bore bridge, cooling channels are provided that allow coolant to flow from the engine block water jacket, across the cylinder bore bridge, and into a cylinder head coolant passageway. In addition, coolant is prevented from flowing from the water jacket on one side of the cylinders, across the bore bridge, and into the water jacket on the other side of the cylinders.
US09068487B2
A selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) that reduces a burden on a battery resulting from energization of a heater and a decrease in time during which an NOx concentration cannot be detected. The SCR system includes: an SCR device; a dosing valve; NOx sensors; an urea solution injection control unit; electric heaters for raising respective temperatures of the NOx sensors to a sensor operating temperature; and an energization permission unit that prohibits energization of the heaters at the time of a start of an engine and permits energization of the heaters when engine revolutions become equal to or exceed a preset energization permission threshold value and such state lasts for a period of time equal to or exceeding a preset stabilization wait time.
US09068480B2
A rotary electromagnetic actuator is provided which is suitable for opening and closing a valve for example. The actuator comprises a rotor (10), a stator (16), and a biasing arrangement (20, 100, 102, 104, 106) for applying a torque to the rotor during at least part of its rotation. A plurality of stable rest positions (200; 316, 318; 400) for the rotor are defined by forces acting on the rotor and the actuator is controllable to move the rotor from one stable rest position to another. The torque applied by the biasing arrangement varies with the rotational position of the rotor such that at a primary rest position and at least a second rest position, it is sufficiently low to enable selection of those positions, and then it increases beyond the second rest position.
US09068476B2
The link rod can have a core portion supported inside an annular bypass duct with a bypass air passage extending radially therebetween, the link rod comprising a hot end fitting, a cold end, and an elongated and hollow strut body of composite material and having an aerodynamic cross-sectional shape, the strut body being secured to the hot end fitting and extending between the hot end fitting and the cold end, the hot end fitting having a metal body housing a spherical bearing mountable to the core portion, and the cold end housing a spherical bearing mountable to the bypass duct wall.
US09068474B2
A turbine housing comprises an exhaust port flange, a turbine discharge flange, a crossover flange, and a bearing support ring. The exhaust port flange is configured for mechanically coupling the turbine housing to a mating structure providing a source of working fluid. The turbine discharge flange is configured for mechanically coupling the turbine housing to an exhaust system. The crossover flange is configured for mechanically coupling the turbine housing to a crossover duct. The bearing support ring is configured for mechanically supporting a bearing, on which a turbine output shaft is supported. The turbine housing defines an inlet plenum, a turbine shroud, and a discharge vent. The exhaust port flange defines an inlet port configured to provide fluid communication between the inlet plenum and the source of working fluid. The turbine shroud defines a fluid expansion flow path for expansion of the stream of working fluid.
US09068467B2
An electric power generation assembly includes a frame, an intake unit, an air storage unit, two water tanks, two pulling units and a power generating unit. The intake unit has an air bag to which an inhale tube and an exhale tube are connected. The air storage unit has an air tank whose underside is connected to the exhale tube. The two water tanks each have a pressure tube which is connected to the air tank. The two pulling units are respectively located in the water tanks and each include multiple stationary pulleys, a float, a release valve, an air hose connected to the pressure tube and a cable. The release valve is connected to the top of the float and the air hose is connected to the float. The cable is connected between the two floats via the stationary pulleys. The power generating unit is connected to the cables.
US09068466B2
A sealing device for an integrally bladed rotor basic body of a turbomachine to suppress a gas exchange between a hot gas stream and a cooling air stream in the radial direction in contact areas of adjacent moving blades, including a plurality of sealing elements activatable by centrifugal force, which may be situated in the area of channels which extend from a high-pressure side to a low-pressure side and are peripherally delimited by the moving blades, an integrally bladed rotor basic body having such a sealing device, and a turbomachine having such an integrally bladed rotor basic body.
US09068463B2
A monitoring system for use with a turbine engine is described herein. The turbine engine includes a compressor and at least one compressor bleed valve coupled to the compressor. The monitoring system includes at least one sensor that is for sensing an operational parameter of the compressor bleed valve, and a controller that is coupled to the sensor and the compressor bleed valve. The controller is configured to determine an operating mode of the turbine engine and receive a monitoring signal indicative of the sensed operational parameter. The controller is also configured to calculate at least one operational value of the compressor bleed valve based at least in part on the sensed operational parameter. The controller is further configured to determine a condition of the turbine engine based at least in part on the calculated compressor bleed valve operational value.
US09068442B2
A string of subs includes a controller sub. The controller sub includes a first end, a second end, a controller, a first controller bus coupled to the controller, the first controller bus exiting at the first end of the controller sub, and a second controller bus coupled to the controller, the second controller bus being separate from the first controller bus, the second controller bus exiting at the second end of the controller sub. The string of subs also includes a first measuring sub and a second measuring sub. A process, running on a computer, discovers that the first measuring sub is connected to the first controller bus, discovers that the second measuring sub is connected to the first controller bus, determines that the first measuring sub is physically closer to the controller sub than the second measuring sub, and use the fact that the first measuring sub is physically closer to the controller sub than the second measuring sub in controlling the operation of the string of subs.
US09068436B2
A system and method for sampling fluid from a production wellsite are provided. The system includes an interface operatively connectable to the port and a separation circuit operatively connectable to the interface for establishing fluid communication therebetween. The separation circuit includes a pumping unit and at least one sample chamber. The pumping unit includes pumping chambers having a cylinder with a piston therein defining a fluid cavity and a buffer cavity. The fluid cavities define a separation chamber for receiving the fluid and allowing separation of the fluid therein into phases. The buffer cavities have a buffer fluid selectively movable therebetween whereby the fluid flows through the separation circuit at a controlled rate. The sample chamber is for collecting at least one sample of the phases of the fluid.
US09068433B2
A diverter system having stabbing dogs is provided. In one embodiment, such a system includes a diverter, a housing, and a plurality of stabbing dogs coupled to the housing. The stabbing dogs are positioned to enable locking elements of the stabbing dogs to be extended into recesses in the diverter to secure the diverter within the housing. At least one of the recesses in the diverter is connected to a fluid conduit within the diverter, and at least one stabbing dog includes a fluid passage that enables fluid to be routed into the fluid conduit within the diverter through the at least one stabbing dog. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.
US09068432B2
A method, apparatus, and program product facilitate the automation of an oil & gas process, e.g., a drilling process, through the use of a dynamic phase machine incorporating multiple autonomous agents. An agent may be used to perform automated acceptance of a survey performed by a downhole survey device, e.g., so that an oil & gas drilling process may proceed for an accepted survey.
US09068424B2
A system for transferring fluids from a free-standing riser to a surface vessel comprises a first valve assembly including a first valve spool and a first isolation valve configured to control the flow of fluids through the first valve spool. In addition, the system comprises a second valve assembly releasably coupled to the first valve assembly with a hydraulically actuated connector. The second valve assembly includes a second valve spool and a second isolation valve configured to control the flow of fluids through the second valve spool. Further, the system comprises a deployment/retrieval rigging coupled to the first valve assembly and configured to suspend the first valve assembly and the second valve assembly from the surface vessel. Each isolation valve has an open position allowing fluid flow therethrough and a closed position restricting fluid flow therethrough, and each isolation valve is biased to the closed position.
US09068410B2
A method of making a dense diamond body comprises the steps of: forming a sintered polycrystalline diamond body with the use of a catalyst; forming voids in the body by removing at least some of the catalyst; and reducing the overall volume of voids by applying pressure and temperature to the body in a vessel substantially free of additional catalysts.
US09068408B2
Earth-boring tools comprise a body comprising a plurality of radially extending blades. At least one blade of the plurality of radially extending blades comprises a blade support segment integral with the body. A blade frame segment is attached to a rotationally leading portion of the blade support segment. A plurality of cutting elements is attached to the blade frame segment. Methods of forming an earth-boring tool comprise forming a body including a blade support segment of at least one blade. At least one blade frame segment is attached to a rotationally leading portion the support segment of the at least one blade. A plurality of cutting elements is secured to the at least one blade segment.
US09068403B2
A riser tensioner for maintaining a tensile force on a riser extending through an opening in a deck of a floating platform includes a frame assembly that may be quickly bolted together in the field. The frame assembly includes a plurality of tensioner legs that may be installed on an un-level deck yet still provide a level support of the riser. Lower leg mounting assemblies include a slip ring for mounting directly to the deck and a deck mounting member received in the slip ring at a variable angle and having an upwardly extending shaft passing into a bore in a lower end of a tensioner leg.
US09068402B2
A fluid recovery system is provided. In one embodiment, the fluid recovery system includes a telescoping joint of a marine riser having an inner barrel and an outer barrel configured to extend and retract with respect to one another when installed as part of the marine riser. A drip pan is coupled to the outer barrel to enable the drip pan to catch fluid, such as drilling mud, leaking from the telescoping joint between the inner barrel and the outer barrel. In this embodiment, the fluid recovery system also includes a pump and a return conduit that are coupled to enable the pump to pump caught fluid from the drip pan back into the telescoping joint via the return conduit. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.
US09068392B2
Protective clips for movable partitions include a guard portion that protrudes from a top major surface of a base portion. The guard portion extends along the top major surface proximate to a front side of the base portion. The guard portion also may extend along the top major surface proximate to at least one end side surface at a longitudinal end of the base portion. Movable partitions include one or more such protective clips. The protective clips optionally may be used to attach a sweep strip to panels of a movable partition. Methods of forming such protective clips include molding the clips within a mold cavity.
US09068391B2
An adjustable garage door jamb trim system includes: an interior door jamb trim; and an exterior door jamb trim, wherein the interior door jamb trim and exterior door jamb trim form an adjustable mating configuration that seal the interface between the interior door jamb trim and the exterior door jamb trim when the interior door jamb trim and exterior door jamb trim are secured to a door jamb having a width between a first width and a second width.
US09068383B2
A hinge device for mounting a motor vehicle door on a bodywork is proposed. The hinge device includes a hinge component which is screwed to the vehicle door. By means of two articulated joints, the component is articulated on the bodywork. Each of the two articulated joints has an axis of articulation. The two axes of articulation are intersecting and extending preferably perpendicular to each other. The hinge component to be mounted to the door is provided with a protrusion which is moved, during the opening movement, in a guideway attached to the bodywork. The form of the guideway is decisive for the opening movement of the door.
US09068376B2
A lockable strike (10) is disclosed which includes an exterior strike assembly (16) and an interior release assembly (17). The exterior strike assembly has a housing (25) and a rod receiver (30) with a slotted rod holder (32). The interior release assembly includes a pinned coupling rod (35), a lever (46), and a space adjuster (47). The pinned coupling rod is received within rod holder. The space adjuster includes an adjustment base (56) and a hub body (57). The adjustment base has a floor (63) with three stepped camming surfaces (65). The nub body also a floor (75) with three stepped camming surfaces (77) which are configured to ride upon the adjustment base camming surfaces. To adjust for varying thicknesses of a wall, the space adjuster is expanded in size by rotating the nub body relative to the adjustment base so that the camming surfaces more these components apart.
US09068372B2
A system and method for constructing a temporary structure is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of wall panels, a plurality of roof panels, a plurality of floor panels, at least one foundation panel, at least one sub-floor truss supporting the plurality of floor panels and placed atop the at least one foundation panel, at least one sub-roof truss supporting the plurality of roof panels, and at least one floor coupling bracket, each floor coupling bracket coupling one wall panel, one floor panel, one sub-floor truss, and one foundation panel.
US09068362B1
An interlocking siding panel comprising an upper lock portion, wherein the upper lock portion further comprises a riser segment contiguous with the back face of the panel. The riser segment transitions to a bend fully reversing direction to form a nail hem segment. The nail hem segment terminating at a first bend leading to a first riser leg transitioning to a planar segment through a second bend. The planar segment terminating at a third bend leading to a second riser leg that terminates at a fourth bend forming the proximal end of a locking leg; a front face; a back face; and a lower lock portion disposed laterally opposite the upper lock portion. The lower lock portion further comprising a lower flange and a return leg, wherein in operation the return leg of the lower portion of a first panel is inserted beneath the proximal end of the locking leg.
US09068356B2
Hard panels formed from a wood-based material and having a decorative layer for floor coverings are provided, at least on two opposite edges, with coupling devices made in one piece with the panels wherein similar panels may be coupled together to form a floor covering, wherein these coupling devices provide for an interlocking in a direction perpendicular to the plane of coupled panels, as well as in a direction perpendicular to the edges concerned and parallel to the plane of coupled panels. These coupling devices are constituted of a tongue and a groove. The top side of the tongue has a protrusion that cooperates with a meshing recess located in the lower side of the upper lip of the groove of the coupling devices, and a portion extending generally parallel with the plane of the panel to form a contact surface cooperating with the lower side of the upper lip of the groove.
US09068351B1
Interlocking construction blocks are provided, having a tongue and groove configuration, attachable together by pressing the tongue of one block into a groove of another block. Multiple blocks may be adapted to be interlocked together forming a structure, such as a wall. Blocks comprise first and second opposing sidewalls integrally connected together by first and second pairs of opposing connecting walls. The first and second sidewalls comprise a lower portion integrally connected to an upper portion. The lower portion comprises a pair of opposing lower portion sidewalls integrally connected to a pair of opposing lower end walls. The upper portion comprises a planar top surface, a pair of opposing upper portion sidewalls and a pair of opposing upper portion end walls integrally connected via upper portion angular walls. The upper portion sidewalls, upper portion end walls and upper angular walls may have a beveled or tapered surface.
US09068349B2
A reinforcing is disclosed that comprising a reinforcing bar extending along a portion of the length of the reinforcing and a termination extending along an end portion of the reinforcing. The termination is disclosed as being permanently bonded to the reinforcing bar preferably by a friction welding process so as to form an integral connection. The termination has a body extending in a longitudinal direction between opposite first and second ends, and a lateral engagement face formed on the body. In use the first end is joined to an end the reinforcing bar, and the engagement face incorporates locking formations thereon arranged to interfit with a complementary shaped termination to form an interlock arranged to accommodate loading applied in the longitudinal direction.
US09068347B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a curtain wall panel bracket leveling system that facilitates leveling a panel bracket mounted to a fixture (such as an embedment or an anchor array) cast in a concrete slab.
US09068346B1
The invention is directed to a porous, acoustic attenuating composition, wherein the composition comprises a nanostructured material and wherein the composition exhibits acoustic transmission loss ranging from 20 to 60 dB/cm thickness of the composition.
US09068338B2
An apparatus for diverting the flow of wastewater in a lift station, or other liquid storage tank, along the interior wall of the station. In particular, wastewater introduced into a lift station by an inlet is directed by piping so it is discharged along the interior wall to impart a generally circular or vortex-like movement of the wastewater in the station. This generally circular or vortex-like movement prevents coagulation of solids not removed from the station by the pumps therein, reducing the need for cleaning and other maintenance of the lift station.
US09068337B2
A system for separating waste materials from a flowing stream of surface water comprises a vertical cylindrical vessel and a vertical structure within the cylindrical vessel. The vertical structure comprises stacked filtering elements and weirs sized to accommodate normal and increased fluid flow for abnormally high surface water flow conditions. The flowing stream containing waste material under normal flow conditions enters the vessel and passes through a filtering wall portion in a lower section of the vertical structure and exits through and effluent pipe. Under higher flow conditions the water flows through an overflow structure mounted on top of a lower cylindrical structure The over flow structure comprises one or more upwardly extending filtering structures and weirs sized to accommodate the excess flow conditions, filter at least a portion of the waste material from said excess flow and direct such excess flow to the effluent pipe.
US09068330B2
A bathroom device with a single use dissolvable functional head with a plunger head or a cleaning head is described. The bathroom device may include an elongated handle coupled at a first end to the to the single use dissolvable functional head. The device may also include a single use dissolvable sleeve covering a portion of the elongated handle and a release mechanism for releasing the single use dissolvable functional head from the first end of the elongated handle. The single use dissolvable sleeve may be configured to slide off the elongated handle when the single use dissolvable functional head has been released. A method of using the bathroom device is also described.
US09068324B2
A bulldozer includes a folding blade that includes a base blade having opposed ends. A first blade portion is rotatably movable about an axis near one end of the base blade. A second blade portion is rotatably movable about an axis near an end of the base blade opposite the first blade portion. The first blade portion and the second blade portion are rotatably movable relative to the base blade between extended and retracted positions. Each blade portion includes a selectably removable first pin and a selectably removable second pin. When installed, the first pin secures each of the first blade portion and the second blade portion in the extended position and the retracted position relative to the base blade, and when installed, the second pin secures each of the first blade portion and the second blade portion in the extended position relative to the base blade.
US09068321B2
A hybrid-driven hydraulic work machine maintains the torque of the engine at a prescribed value when the load on a hydraulic pump is higher than the rated power of the engine and the electric assist motor assists the torque of the engine. Control of the engine revolution speed is based on the target revolution speed of the engine; engine load calculation; and at least one of: electric motor power running calculation which calculates a differential revolution speed between the target engine revolution speed and the revolution speed of the engine and performs power running control on the electric assist motor depending on the differential revolution speed when the engine load is a prescribed value or higher; and a hydraulic pump absorption torque calculation which performs reduction control on absorption torque of the hydraulic pump depending on the differential revolution speed when the engine load is a prescribed value or higher.
US09068320B2
A mounting base (10A) that shortens construction time and reduces cost is formed from a metal foundation (16), a metal cover (17), height-adjusting bolts (18), support bolts (19), and mortar (20). In the base (10A), the first fixed ends (47) of the bolts (19) are inserted into support bolt insertion holes (39) formed in a metal plate (24) and are fixed to the metal plate (24) with nuts (50), and the second fixed ends (48) of the bolts (19) are fixed to a concrete slab (12) with nuts (51). The portion of the first fixed ends (47) of the bolts (19) which extends between the metal plate (24) and the top surface of the concrete slab (12) is integrated with the mortar (29) filled into the space (46), and the metal cover (17) covers the opening (27) at the top of a metal tube (23).
US09068310B2
A sediment retention device including a water-permeable outer containment structure, a water-impermeable injection tube including an outlet disposed within the outer containment structure, and a flocculent treatment material disposed within the injection tube. The injection tube can include an agitation structure to promote mixing contaminated water with the treatment material. A baffle including water distribution openings can be disposed over the outlet to distribute water into the outer containment structure.
US09068301B2
A dual rotor, manually steered riding trowel comprises powered, downwardly projecting rotors driven by reduction gear boxes that are tilted by parallel levers beneath the machine. A pair of vertical hand steering levers actuate the parallel levers to tilt the rotors. Each rotor may be swiveled in an arc parallel with the biaxial plane to produce pivoted fore and aft trowel movement. At least one rotor responds to lateral movements of one or both steering levers by tilting in an arc perpendicular to the biaxial plane, moving the trowel left or right. To emulate prior Allen trowels, lateral movements of one of the hand levers is mechanically disabled with a transformation link anchored to the frame. The transformation link may be disconnected from the frame and instead connected to the foot of the companion hand steering lever, allowing both steering levers to pivot laterally, resulting in a different steering “feel.”
US09068297B2
An expansion joint system includes: a core; and a layer of an elastomer disposed on the core. The core and the layer of elastomer disposed thereon form an elongated section, the elongated section configured to be oriented vertically between substantially coplanar substrates. The expansion joint system further includes a termination section located at one end of the elongated section and comprising a flared end forming an angle with the elongated section and configured to direct fluid and/or particles and/or solvents away from the expansion joint system.
US09068295B2
In a system for laying down an asphalt layer made of asphalt material, and having a road paver having a screed with compacting tools, a compacting device and a mixer, an electronic material density module is provided in or for the road paver. The electronic material density module obtains data during the laying process regarding at least the actual degree of compaction of the asphalt layer produced in the area of at least one compacting tool and evaluates and/or documents these data at least for operational optimisation and/or operational monitoring of the road paver and/or compacting device and/or mixer. The data obtained is communicated to the compacting device that produces the final degree of compaction of the asphalt layer based on the data and on the actual degree of compaction determined at the screed.
US09068288B2
The present invention relates to a household appliance (1) comprising a control unit (2) which provides the amount of energy consumption in the stand-by mode to be reduced.
US09068286B2
Provided are nonwoven polymeric fiber webs using an improved curable composition. Such curable composition comprises an aldehyde or ketone and an amine salt of an inorganic acid. The composition when applied to polymeric fibers is cured to form a water-insoluble polymer binder which exhibits good adhesion and thermodimensional stability.
US09068277B2
The invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing good quality single-crystal silicon carbide stably without formation of cracks and the like, which apparatus comprises: at least a crucible for accommodating silicon carbide feedstock powder and seed crystal; heat insulation material installed around the crucible; and a heating device for heating the crucible, wherein the outer profile of the crucible includes at least one region of narrower diameter than a vertically adjacent region, insulation material is also installed in the space left by the diameter difference, and thickness of the insulation material at the narrower diameter region is greater than that of the insulation material at the vertically adjacent region. The apparatus for manufacturing single-crystal silicon carbide enables precise control of the temperature gradient inside the crucible, thereby enabling manufacture of good quality single-crystal silicon carbide.
US09068273B2
A method of cleaning metal-containing deposits from a metal surface of a process chamber component includes immersing the metal surface in an electrochemical cleaning bath solution. A negative electrical bias is applied to the metal surface to electrochemically clean the metal-containing deposits from the metal surface. The cleaning method is capable of removing metal-containing deposits such as tantalum-containing deposits from the metal surface substantially without eroding the surface, and may be especially advantageous in the cleaning of components having textured surfaces.
US09068270B2
An object of the present invention is to provide an extended-life plating solution that allows an aluminum electroplating process to be performed stably for a long period of time, and also a method for forming an aluminum plating film using the same. An aluminum electroplating solution according to the present invention is characterized by comprising 1.5 to 4.0 mol of an aluminum halide per 10.0 mol of dimethyl sulfone and, relative to the aluminum halide, ammonium chloride in a molar ratio of 1/15 to 1/4 or a tetraalkylammonium chloride in a molar ratio of 1/15 to 1/2. The plating solution has improved electrical conductivity and thus has a further advantage in that it allows the formation of a uniform aluminum plating film on a substrate to be plated even when the plating process is performed by a barrel method.
US09068266B2
A substrate processing apparatus includes an enclosure defining a reaction chamber, a substrate holder in the reaction chamber, and a door assembly. The door assembly has a substrate entrance with a tunnel extending to the reaction chamber, a door movable with respect to the substrate entrance, and a pattern of features. The features are located along a portion of the substrate entrance defining the tunnel. The features promote sticking of processing byproducts, produced in the reaction chamber, to the substrate entrance. A door mates with the entrance to form a seal that reduces flow through the tunnel to control the amount of byproducts that enter the tunnel.
US09068261B2
An atomic layer deposition apparatus, which forms a thin film on a substrate, includes a first container that defines a first inner space and includes a substrate carrying-in and carrying-out port and a gas introduction port in different positions, the substrate being carried in and out through the substrate carrying-in and carrying-out port, gas being introduced through the gas introduction port to form the thin film on the substrate, a second container that is provided in the first container to define a second inner space separated from the first inner space, the second container including a first opening, a first moving mechanism that moves the second container in a predetermined direction, and a controller that controls the first moving mechanism such that the second container is moved to a first position where the substrate carrying-in and carrying-out port and the first opening are located opposite each other when the substrate is carried in and out, the controller controlling the first moving mechanism such that the second container is moved to a second position where the gas introduction port and the first opening are located opposite each other when the thin film is formed on the substrate.
US09068251B2
A nickel-based superalloy is provided. Known nickel-based superalloys for producing components made of stem shaped single crystals do not provide sufficiently for grain boundary strength. The superalloy includes a low molybdenum content and very accurately adjusted values for elements having grain boundary strength and elements that precipitate in grain boundaries.
US09068245B2
A process for the recovery of gold from a gold-bearing aqueous filtrate, the process comprising the steps of: (A) Contacting the aqueous filtrate with dibutyl carbitol (DBC) in a two-stage solvent extraction process to remove the gold from the aqueous filtrate into the DBC to form a gold-loaded DBC; and (D) Contacting the gold-loaded DBC with an aqueous acid scrub of hydrochloric acid in a four-stage countercurrent scrub process to remove impurities, e.g., non-gold metal, from the DBC into the aqueous scrub solution to form an impurity-loaded aqueous scrub. Each stage of the solvent extraction circuit and the aqueous acid scrub circuit is equipped with a mixing assembly and a phase separation tank in a head-tail arrangement such that the mixing assembly of one stage is adjacent to the phase separation tank of the adjacent stage.
US09068243B2
A method includes the introduction of a first medium into the compartment through an inlet and the heating of the first medium when it is present in the inlet. The heating takes place through the use of a combustion arrangement that is arranged in the inlet and that comprises fuel. The heating, the use of the combustion arrangement, includes in turn the ignition of the fuel, combustion of the fuel, and the transfer of the combustion heat to the first medium that is present at the combustion arrangement in the inlet. The combustion arrangement, is arranged in a region in the inlet, which in turn is arranged outside of the direct passage of the first medium in and through the inlet, such that the ignition of the fuel, the combustion of the fuel and the transfer of combustion heat to the first medium take place in this region.
US09068241B2
A method of producing an ore slurry includes pulverizing and classifying steps as well as an ore slurry condensing step, wherein the slurry condensing step uses as a flocculant solution a diluted solution of the flocculant that satisfies the conditions of: (A) a flocculant molecular weight of 8×106 to 20×106 and (B) a flocculant dilution ratio of 0.1 to 0.5 g/L, and with respect to the added amount of the flocculant, a flocculant solution having an amount corresponding to 50 to 150 g of the flocculant amount per ton of dried solid components of the ore slurry is added to the ore slurry so as to be made in contact therewith for a sufficient period of time, with the temperature of the slurry being set in a range from 35 to 45° C. upon transporting the slurry from the condensing step to the next process.
US09068240B2
The invention relates to a method for thermally processing α-spodumene, i.e. lithium aluminum silicate, by which treatment it is transformed into β-spodumene, which is more advantageous for further processing; in the method, concentrate or ore with a grain size of 20-1,000 μm is processed in a fluidized bed reactor, at a temperature of 800-1,000° C., by using an oxygenous gas as the fluidizing gas.
US09068232B2
The present invention provides a method for classification of kidney tumors through the analysis of the expression patterns of specific microRNAs and nucleic acid molecules relating thereto. Classification according to a microRNA expression framework allows optimization of treatment, and determination of specific therapy.
US09068228B2
The present invention provides a method for screening and evaluating ameliorants of dry skin caused by atopic dermatitis, comprising: evaluating a candidate drug as being an ameliorant of dry skin caused by atopic dermatitis in the case the candidate drug significantly increases expression and/or activity of bleomycin hydrolase in comparison with a control drug.
US09068224B2
Methods are provided for the detection and analysis of clonality in a cell population, where parallel sequencing is applied to a nucleic acid sample obtained from the cell population, optionally a population of lymphocytes. Replicate samples are amplified, and sequenced, where identification of coincident sequences in two or more replicates is indicative of clonal expansion.
US09068217B2
The present invention provides a device for detecting aerobic bacteria, anaerobic bacteria and fungi in a targeted material which comprises of a plurality sided slide, and a vial, wherein a first side of said plurality sided slide is coated with a first predetermined medium for aerobic bacteria growth and a second side of said plurality sided slide is coated with a second predetermined medium for fungal (mold and yeast) growth, and wherein at the bottom of said vial a third predetermined medium is embedded to determine a level of presence of anaerobic bacteria.
US09068213B2
Recombinant DNA techniques are used to produce oleaginous recombinant cells that produce triglyceride oils having desired fatty acid profiles and regiospecific or stereospecific profiles. Genes manipulated include those encoding stearoyl-ACP desturase, delta 12 fatty acid desaturase, acyl-ACP thioesterase, ketoacyl-ACP synthase, and lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase. The oil produced can have enhanced oxidative or thermal stability, or can be useful as a frying oil, shortening, roll-in shortening, tempering fat, cocoa butter replacement, as a lubricant, or as a feedstock for various chemical processes. The fatty acid profile can be enriched in midchain profiles or the oil can be enriched in triglycerides of the saturated-unsaturated-saturated type.
US09068212B2
The present invention provides a method capable of producing a protein efficiently. A method of producing a polypeptide, comprising culturing a cell which strongly expresses a bicarbonate transporter and has a transferred DNA encoding a desired polypeptide and thereby allowing the cell to produce said polypeptide.
US09068201B2
Methods and compositions, including nucleotide sequences, amino acid sequences, and host cells, for producing fatty alcohols are described.
US09068192B2
The invention provides the discovery that SCD2 (Susceptible to Coronatine-Deficient Pst DC3118-2) protein converts aldehydes to alkanes, thereby changing the composition and/or amount of synthesized waxes. The invention additionally provides homologs, orthologs and paralogs of SCD2 protein, and nucleotide sequences encoding these proteins. Also provided are expression vectors, transgenic cells, transgenic plants, transgenic seeds, methods for altering alkane production in cells, methods for identifying the function of a nucleotide sequence in the synthesis of plant surface wax, and methods for identifying plant tissue that has an altered surface wax composition. The invention's compositions and methods are useful for altering the amount and/or composition of wax produced by cells, including plants and seeds, that have been transformed with the invention's sequences.
US09068191B2
This invention provides methods of transiently expressing a nucleotide sequence in one or more cells of a soybean plant, comprising: a) abrading the surface of a soybean plant and/or intact part thereof; and either (b1) immersing the abraded plant and/or abraded intact part thereof in a solution comprising Agrobacterium cells and a surfactant, wherein the Agrobacterium cells comprise the nucleotide sequence to be transiently expressed; (b2) applying a vacuum to the immersed soybean plant and/or intact part thereof of step (b1); and (b3) releasing the vacuum, thereby introducing the solution into the plant and/or intact part thereof; or (c) contacting the abraded plant and/or abraded intact part thereof with a solution comprising Agrobacterium cells and a surfactant, wherein the Agrobacterium cells comprise the nucleotide sequence to be transiently expressed, whereby the nucleotide sequence is transiently expressed in one or more cells of the plant.
US09068190B2
Methods for the fermentative production of four carbon alcohols is provided. Specifically, butanol, preferably isobutanol is produced by the fermentative growth of a recombinant bacterium expressing an isobutanol biosynthetic pathway.
US09068187B1
Bacteria which co-express protease inhibitors and protease sensitive therapeutic agents, which are surface displayed, secreted and/or released and result in their localized production and maintenance within a target tissue and inactivation outside of the target tissue, thereby increasing therapeutic activity and reducing the systemic toxicity. The bacteria may be attenuated, non-pathogenic, low pathogenic or a probiotic. Protease sensitivity may be further accomplished by engineering protease degradation sites within the therapeutic agents, further enhancing the inactivation outside of the target tissue while retaining activity within the target tissue through co-expression of a protease inhibitor. Novel chimeric proteins secreted by bacteria, including chimeric toxins targeted to neoplastic cells, tumor matrix cells and cells of the immune system, and combination therapies of these protease inhibitor:chimeric toxin-expressing bacteria together with small-molecule and biologic agents are also described. Non-conjugative bacteria limiting exchange of genetic material, and antibody resistant bacteria are also provided.
US09068184B2
The invention relates to double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) targeting a PROC gene, and methods of using the dsRNA to inhibit expression of PROC. At least one nucleotide of the dsRNA can be a modified nucleotide, e.g., a 2-0-methyl modified nucleotide, a nucleotide comprising a 5′-phosphorothioate group, and a terminal nucleotide linked to a cholesteryl derivative or dodecanoic acid bisdecylamide group. Other examples of modified nucleotides include a 2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro modified nucleotide, a 2′-deoxymodified nucleotide, a locked nucleotide, an abasic nucleotide, 2′-amino-modified nucleotide, 2′-alkyl-modified nucleotide, morpholino nucleotide, a phosphoramidate, and a non-natural base comprising nucleotide. A dsRNA of the invention can include one or more of any of these modified nucleotides.
US09068183B2
The present invention relates to antisense oligonucleotides that modulate the expression of and/or function of Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2), in particular, by targeting natural antisense polynucleotides of Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2). The invention also relates to the identification of these antisense oligonucleotides and their use in treating diseases and disorders associated with the expression of UCP2.
US09068179B1
Some aspects of this disclosure provide strategies, systems, reagents, methods, and kits that are useful for the targeted editing of nucleic acids, including editing a nucleic acid encoding a mutant Presenilin1 protein to correct a point mutation associated with a disease or disorder, e.g., with familial Alzheimer's disease. The methods provided are useful for correcting a PSEN1 point mutation within the genome of a cell or subject, e.g., within the human genome. In some embodiments, fusion proteins of Cas9 and nucleic acid editing enzymes or enzyme domains, e.g., deaminase domains, are provided. In some embodiments, reagents and kits for the generation of targeted nucleic acid editing proteins, e.g., fusion proteins of Cas9 and nucleic acid editing enzymes or domains, are provided.
US09068168B2
The present invention relates to the arrangement of one or more cells in a medium or on a substrate through the use of boundary conditions, which are changes in local environment compared to the medium or substrate alone or cause an alteration of cell response upon interaction of a cell with the boundary condition.
US09068164B1
Disclosed is a method of preparing an undifferentiated cell. The method includes contacting a more committed cell with an agent that causes the more committed cell to retrodifferentiate into an undifferentiated cell.
US09068163B2
The present invention provides methods and compositions for establishing and maintaining growth of undifferentiated stem cells. In particular, the present invention provides synthetic growth matrices for stem cells, wherein said cells are capable of going through multiple passages while remaining in an undifferentiated state.
US09068157B2
A device for sampling cultures such as microorganisms or cells via a connection (10) from autoclavable culture vessels, including a sterile syringe for receiving the sample and having a so-called Luer Lock taper and an automatic valve (8) that automatically opens when the syringe is attached and automatically closes when the syringe is detached, and further including a first check valve (41) closing towards the automatic valve (8) and provided between the automatic valve (8) and the connection (10).
US09068154B2
A method for removing dissolved oxygen from a plant product such as grapes or the like and for maintaining it in a controlled atmosphere when it is placed in mechanical means for harvesting, transport and storage, said means comprising a collection tank which receives the plant product which is present in a solid and a liquid state in this tank, said removal and controlled atmosphere being provided by using an inert gas, said tank having a lower portion or first part and a second upper part or portion into which the product is introduced when being placed in the tank. Provision is made for the use of said inert gas in an initial solid state, its subsequent sublimation and the interaction of the gas in gaseous state thus produced with said product inside the tank.
US09068148B2
Disclosed are blends of acrylic polymers comprising at least one crosslinked acrylic copolymer and at least one linear acrylic copolymer. The acrylic polymer blends surprisingly provide desirable rheological, clarity, and aesthetic properties in aqueous surfactant containing compositions, particularly at low pH.
US09068139B2
A method for extracting oil from sea cucumber material. The sea cucumber material is mixed with water and the mixture is heated at a predetermined heating temperature for a predetermined heating time interval. The pH value and temperature of the mixture are adjusted to be compatible with an enzyme. A predetermined amount of the enzyme is then added to the mixture. The mixture is incubated at a predetermined incubation temperature for a predetermined incubation time interval. After the incubation the oil is removed from the mixture.
US09068136B2
A lubricating oil composition for high-temperature applications contains (A) a pyromellitate ester, (B) a sulfur-containing triazine antioxidant, and (C) a thiophosphoric acid ester antioxidant. When the lubricating oil composition for high-temperature applications according to the invention is applied to a chain, a gear, a bearing and the like, an amount of evaporation of the lubricating oil composition is restrained for a long time and fluidity thereof is also kept for a long time.
US09068102B2
There is provided a laminated article having a coating film surface being excellent in sliding property, transparency, abrasion resistance, stain-proofing property and chemical resistance, particularly a laminated article having a silicone rubber substrate. The laminated article comprises a substrate (III), a primer layer (II) provided on the substrate (III) and a top coat layer (I) provided directly on the primer layer (II), in which the top coat layer (I) is formed with a cured article of the top coat composition comprising (A) a curable fluorine-containing resin, (B) a curing agent and (C) a coupling agent comprising a functional group-containing silane coupling agent and/or an aluminum chelating agent, and the primer layer (II) is formed with a primer composition comprising (D) a polydiorganosiloxane, (E) a polyorganosiloxane resin and (F) a coupling agent comprising a functional group-containing silane coupling agent and/or an aluminum chelating agent.
US09068088B2
A protective air barrier air barrier sealant and methods of applying the same, including a high density polyurethane chemistry provided in an amount, volume, and density effective for providing a protective air barrier for an enclosure, wherein the polyurethane material is combined with at least one UV, fire and antimicrobial protectant for providing UV protection to UV-exposed surfaces.
US09068087B2
The present invention relates to an aqueous binder composition comprising (a) at least one emulsion polymer comprising as monomer units a C1-C8 alkyl (meth)acrylate, a vinylaromatic compound having up to 20 carbon atoms or mixtures thereof, (b) at least one water-soluble alkyd resin having a weight-average molecular weight of between 5000 and 40 000 Da, and (c) at least one alkyd resin having a weight-average molecular weight of more than 100 000 Da in the form of an aqueous emulsion, wherein the solids content of the mixture of (a), (b), and (c) is less than 60% by weight, and also to their use and preparation.
US09068084B2
Provided are silica nanoparticles doped with dyes having a negative charge by using cationic polyelectrolyte as templet and preparing method thereof. The nanoparticles have a core-shell structure, inner core comprises cationic polyelectrolyte aggregates, in which fluorescent dye having a negative charge and SiO2 are doped, and optional additive having a negative charge, the shell is consisted of SiO2, wherein the sum of negative charge carried by the additives and the fluorescent dye is less than that of positive charge carried by the polyelectrolyte aggregates. The preparing method comprises the following steps: preparing complex solution of polyelectrolyte and fluorescent dye; prehydrolysis of organosilicon source; coating with organosilicon source. The method can be applied to dope silica with various fluorescent dyes having a negative charge. Various dyes can be doped at the same time, the doping amount, and particle diameter and shape of the product can be controlled by the method. The nanoparticles are spherical, the particle diameter thereof is uniform, and colloid formed therefrom is stable.
US09068079B2
Bar type clay for craft including 50 wt % to 80 wt % of wax, 10 wt % to 40 wt % of body pigment, and 1 wt % to 10 wt % of a colorant, and formed to have a bar-like shape is provided.
US09068076B2
A catalyst masterbatch is disclosed, which when used with a rigid TPU polymer, will cause the rigid TPU to depolymerize during melt processing and repolymerize as the melt is being cooled. This feature is of particular interest in a pultrusion process to create TPU/fiber composites. The catalyst masterbatch contains a relative soft TPU polymer where the catalyst has been swelled or absorbed into the soft TPU polymer. A carrier, such as a plasticizer, can be used to aid the transport of the catalyst into the soft TPU polymer. The catalyst masterbatch is used as an additive to the rigid TPU in a pultrusion process to make the composites. The catalyst masterbatch can also be used in non-fiber reinforced rigid TPU compositions to increase the Mw of melt processed rigid TPU.
US09068071B2
A novel aqueous polymerization process for making fluoropolymer dispersions is disclosed in which non-ionic non-fluorinated emulsifier is used to produce fluoropolymer emulsions. The emulsifiers used in the invention are those that contain segments of polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, and/or polytetamethylene glycol with repeating units of 3 to 100. The process and fluoropolymer produced contain no fluorinated surfactant.
US09068063B2
A cellulose ester composition is provided comprising at least one cellulose ester and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of a compatibilizer, and a plasticizer. Processes for producing the cellulose ester composition are also provided. In another embodiment, a cellulose ester/elastomer composition is provided comprising at least one elastomer, at least one cellulose ester; and at least one additive; wherein the additive is at least one selected from the group consisting of a compatibilizer and a plasticizer. Processes for producing the cellulose ester/elastomer composition is also provided as well as articles comprising the cellulose ester/elastomer composition.
US09068058B2
A composition for use as a wood-filler that includes a modified styrene butadiene latex; at least one pH indicator, wherein pH indicator causes the composition to change color as the composition dries; and one or more types of microspheres, wherein the microspheres provide durability and stainability to the wood-filling composition.
US09068057B2
A curable composition including a fluorine-containing elastomer having a cyano group in its trunk chain and/or side chain and inorganic nitride particles in an amount of 0.1 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the fluorine-containing elastomer, or a curable composition including a specific crosslinking agent selected from an oxazole crosslinking agent, an imidazole crosslinking agent and a thiazole crosslinking agent, a fluorine-containing elastomer having a cure site crosslinkable with the crosslinking agent and inorganic nitride particles. Also disclosed is a molded article obtained by curing the above-mentioned curable composition, and a process for production of a molded article which includes a step of primary vulcanization of the curable composition and a step of secondary vulcanization following the primary vulcanization.
US09068044B2
Novel alkoxylation products containing lateral hydroxyl groups or bearing lateral C—C double bonds and a process for preparing them by means of an alkoxylation reaction of halogenated alkylene oxides using double metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts and subsequent elimination of chlorine.
US09068035B2
A liquid coating composition containing a crosslinkable binder A, as an optional component a crosslinker B for the binder A, and a latent catalyst C, wherein C is a carboxyl-functional resin which is present in the liquid coating composition as particles having a melting temperature of 40 to 180° C., measured by DSC at a heating rate of 10 K/min.
US09068029B2
A process for the preparation of propylene polymer compositions comprising from 50 to 90% by weight of a propylene polymer fraction insoluble in xylene at 25° C., and from 10 to 50% by weight of an ethylene copolymer fraction soluble in xylene at 25° C., said process being carried out in the presence of a specific catalyst system, is also characterized by the following step: (i) contacting the catalyst components (a), (b) and optionally (c) for a period of time ranging from 0.1 to 120 minutes, at a temperature ranging from 0 to 90° C.; (ii) polymerizing propylene in the optional presence of ethylene and/or C4-C10 alpha olefins producing a propylene (co)polymer being for at least 85% by weight of insoluble in xylene at 25° C. and (iii) in a successive step, carried out in gas-phase, in the presence of the product coming from (ii), polymerizing mixtures of ethylene with α-olefins CH2═CHR in which R is a hydrocarbon radical having 1-10 carbon atoms, to produce an ethylene copolymer. An increased reactivity in the last step is observed.
US09068028B2
A process for the preparation of propylene polymer compositions carried out in the presence of a catalyst system comprising (a) a solid catalyst component having average particle size ranging from 15 to 80 μm comprising a magnesium halide, a titanium compound having at least a Ti-halogen bond and at least two electron donor compounds one of which being present in an amount from 50 to 90% by mol with respect to the total amount of donors and selected from succinates and the other being selected from 1,3 diethers, (b) an aluminum alkyl and optionally (c) an external electron donor compound, and comprising the following steps: (i) contacting the catalyst components (a), (b) and optionally (c); (ii) pre-polymerizing up to forming amounts of polymer from about 0.1 up to about 1000 g per gram of solid catalyst component (a); (iii) polymerizing propylene producing a propylene (co)polymer being for at least 85% by weight of insoluble in xylene at 25° C. and (iv) in a successive step, carried out in gas-phase, polymerizing mixtures of ethylene with α-olefins CH2═CHR in which R is a hydrocarbon radical having 1-10 carbon atoms, to produce the said ethylene copolymer.
US09068024B2
The invention provides 2,2-dimethoxy-1,2-di-[4-(meth)acryloyloxy]phenylethane-1-one represented by the following formula (A): (wherein R1 and R2, which may be identical to or different from each other, each represent a hydrogen atom or a methyl group).
US09068018B2
Nucleic acid and protein sequences relating to a proton channel (Hv1) are disclosed. Nucleic acids, vectors, transformed cells, transgenic animals, polypeptides, and antibodies relating to the Hv1 gene and protein are disclosed. Also provided are methods of identifying modulators of Hv1 activity, methods of geno typing subjects with respect to Hv1, and methods of diagnosing and treating Hv1-mediated disorders.
US09068014B2
The invention relates to a peptidomimetic of an NPC-1 epitope on the MUC5AC protein which is differentially expressed in pancreatic and colorectal cancer, and diagnostic and therapeutic usages. Further, antibodies that selectively bind the NPC-1 epitope peptidomimetics and may be used in diagnostic and therapeutic methods.
US09068013B2
In one aspect, the disclosure provides cross-linked materials that include multivalent lectins with at least two binding sites for glucose, wherein the lectins include at least one affinity ligand which is capable of competing with glucose for binding with at least one of said binding sites and is covalently linked to a cysteine residue of the lectins; and conjugates that include two or more separate affinity ligands bound to a conjugate framework, wherein the two or more affinity ligands compete with glucose for binding with the lectins at said binding sites and wherein conjugates are cross-linked within the material as a result of non-covalent interactions between lectins and affinity ligands on different conjugates. These materials are designed to release amounts of conjugate in response to desired concentrations of glucose. Depending on the end application, in various embodiments, the conjugates may also include a drug and/or a detectable label.
US09068005B2
The present invention relates to the field glycosylation engineering of proteins. More particular, the present invention is directed to the glycosylation engineering of proteins to provide proteins with improved therapeutic properties, e.g., antibodies, antibody fragments, or a fusion protein that includes a region equivalent to the Fc region of an immunoglobulin, with enhanced Fc-mediated cellular cytotoxicity.
US09068004B2
The invention provides methods for preventing loss and augmenting regeneration of skeletal muscle by decreasing the activity of the TWEAK/Fn14 system.
US09067996B2
The present application relates to antibodies, such as monoclonal antibodies, and in particular CDR grafted, humanized versions thereof, for the treatment and diagnosis of pain and other neuroinflammatory conditions associated with the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE).
US09067989B2
The presently described subject matter is based on the finding that inhibition of eotaxin-2 by polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies, has a significant protective effect in animal models of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), colitis, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Thus, provided are pharmaceutical compositions including specific anti-eotaxin 2 antibodies for use alone or in combination with other therapeutic agents in the treatment of inflammatory, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases. Also provided are specific anti-eotaxin-2 monoclonal antibodies, and methods of treatment utilizing such antibodies.
US09067980B2
The invention relates to antigenic polypeptides expressed by pathogenic microbes, vaccines comprising said polypeptides; therapeutic antibodies directed to said polypeptides and methods to manufacture said polypeptides, vaccines and antibodies.
US09067979B2
The present invention provides anti-hemagglutinin antibodies, compositions comprising anti-hemagglutinin antibodies, and methods of using the same.
US09067976B2
The present invention relates to an asymmetric chromatography media suitable for separations applications, particularly as packed bed, fluidized bed or magnetized bed chromatography media. In certain embodiments, the asymmetric chromatography media comprises asymmetric particles, preferably beads, having at least two distinct, controlled pore size distributions. Preferably one of the distinct pore size distributions is in an internal region of the particle, and the other is in an external region or coating on the particle. These distinct pore size distributions can be modified with uniform or alternatively unique functional groups or mixtures of functional groups. The present invention allows for the control over pore size distribution within an asymmetric porous particle by providing a distinct internal region, preferably in the form of a bead, and a distinct external region, preferably in the form of a coating on the bead.
US09067974B2
The present invention relates to a polymyxin derivative wherein R1, R2 and R3 are optional and R1, R2, R3, R5, R8 and R9 are cationic or neutral amino acid residues selected so that the total number of positive charges at physiological pH is at least two but no more than three; and to a combination product comprising at least two such derivatives. The invention further relates to a method for treating, alleviating or ameliorating an infection in a subject, caused by a Gram-negative bacterium by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a derivative according to the present invention to said subject; to a method for sensitizing Gram-negative bacteria to an antibacterial agent by administering, simultaneously or sequentially in any order a therapeutically effective amount of said antibacterial agent and a derivative according to the present invention to said subject; to methods for developing novel antibiotics; for reducing the nephrotoxicity, for improving the pharmacokinetic properties of natural polymyxins and octapeptins; and for sensitizing clinically important bacteria to a host defence mechanism complement present in serum. Finally, the invention relates to a process for preparing such polymyxin derivatives.
US09067969B2
N-acyldipeptide derivatives are described. Compositions comprising the N-acyldipeptide derivatives are therapeutically effective for topical or systemic administration to alleviate or improve conditions, disorders, diseases, symptoms or syndromes associated with a tumor, cancer, immune, nervous, vascular, musculoskeletal or cutaneous system, or other tissue or system in a subject.
US09067965B2
A method for preparing rocuronium is disclosed. 2β-(4-Morpholinyl)-16β-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17β-acetate is used as a starting material and is directly reacted with 3-bromopropene at ambient temperature to produce rocuronium.
US09067961B2
Aspects of the invention include 2′ protected nucleoside monomers that are protected at the 2′ site with thiocarbon protecting groups. Thiocarbon protecting groups of interest include thiocarbonate, thionocarbonate, dithiocarbonate groups, as well as thionocarbamate protecting groups. Aspects of the invention further include nucleic acids that include the protecting groups of the invention, as well as methods of synthesizing nucleic acids using the protecting groups of the invention.
US09067955B2
The present invention relates to copper-catalyzed carbon-heteroatom and carbon-carbon bond-forming methods, such as the reaction of Z-X with C(L)(R)(R′)2 in the present of a catalyst and a base, thereby forming C(Z)(R)(R′)2; wherein X represents I, Cl, alkylsulfonate, or arylsulfonate; Z represents optionally substituted aryl, heteroaryl or alkenyl; L represents H or a negative charge; catalyst comprises a copper atom or ion, and a ligand, wherein the ligand is an optionally substituted aryl alcohol, alkyl amine, 1,2-diamine, 1,2-aminoalcohol, 1,2-diol, imidazolium carbene, pyridine, or 1,10-phenanthroline; the ligand is a chelating ligand; and the base represents a Bronsted base; R represents H, optionally substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, aralkyl, aryl, or heteroaryl; R′ represents independently for each occurrence H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aralkyl, aryl, or heteroaryl, formyl, acyl, —CO2R″, —C(O)N(R)2, sulfonyl, —P(O)(OR″)2, —CN, or —NO2; R″ represents independently for each occurrence optionally substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, aralkyl, aryl, or heteroaryl; and C(R′)2(R) taken together may represent nitrile.
US09067951B2
The present invention relates to a process for the production of novel antagonists for CCR2 (CC chemokine receptor 2) and intermediates thereof.
US09067950B2
In the production of spiroglycol by the reaction of pentaerythritol and hydroxypivalaldehyde in water in the presence of an acid catalyst, (A) a total content of amines and amine salts in hydroxypivalaldehyde is reduced to 1.5% by weight or lower; (B) seed crystals are added to the reaction system before initiating the reaction and/or during the reaction in an amount from 1.5 to 30% by weight on the basis of the total feed amount of pentaerythritol, hydroxypivalaldehyde, water, the acid catalyst and the seed crystals, each being fed into the reaction system; (C) the pH of the reaction system is kept from 0.1 to 4.0 from initiation of the reaction to completion of the reaction; and (D) the sum of a maximum theoretical amount of spiroglycol to be synthesized from pentaerythritol and hydroxypivalaldehyde to be fed into the reaction system and an amount of spiroglycol contained in the seed crystals to be added to the reaction system is controlled within a range from 5 to 35% by weight on the basis of the total feed amount. The spiroglycol produced has an increased particle size. By washing the spiroglycol with a basic solution, the heat stability is improved.
US09067949B2
The present invention relates to benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridine and azepine analogs as serotonin sub-type 6 (5-HT6) modulators, pharmaceutical compositions including these compounds, methods of preparation, and use thereof. These compounds are useful in the treatment of central nervous system disorders including obesity, metabolic syndrome, cognition, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, rare and orphan diseases, and sleep disorders. The subject compounds have the structure of formula (I) with the substituents being described herein.
US09067948B2
The present invention provides thienopyridine compounds, compositions thereof, and methods of using the same.
US09067946B2
The present invention provides methods for chemically synthesizing naturally-occurring alkaloids, for example, Flindersia alkaloids, and their analogs and derivatives. Generally, the precursor borrerine is synthesized from tryptamine in the presence of an alkylating agent, an acylating agent and a reducing agent and dimerized in the presence of an acid, for example, tetrafluoroacetic acid, hydrochloric acid or acetic acid to yield the products. Analog and derivative compounds are produced by derivatizing one or more of the tryptamine, alkylating agent or acylating agent. Also provided are the synthetic alkaloids and derivatives and analogs thereof produced by the synthetic methods.
US09067924B2
The present invention relates to 1,4 Thiazepines/Sulfones of formula I having BACE1 and/or BACE2 inhibitory activity, their manufacture, pharmaceutical compositions containing them and their use as therapeutically active substances. The active compounds of the present invention are useful in the therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatment of e.g. Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes.
US09067918B2
The present invention relates to polymorphs and hydrates of 2-(2-methylamino-pyrimidin-4-yl)-1H-indole-5-carboxylic acid [(S)-1-carbamoyl-2-(phenyl-pyrimidin-2-yl-amino)-ethyl]-amide, processes for their preparation and their use, in particular in pharmaceutical compositions.
US09067913B2
The disclosure provides a fumagillol type compound and their use in treating medical disorders, such as obesity. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of using, e.g. in the treatment of obesity are provided.
US09067907B2
The present invention provides a process for preparing fluorinated 1,3-dioxolan-2-one by reacting a derivative of 1,3-dioxolan-2-one having halogen atom other than fluorine with an amine hydrofluoride in an organic solvent, and in this preparation process, fluorinated 1,3-dioxolane-2-on can be prepared in a short period of time by liquid-liquid reaction while maintaining high yield, by using a derivative of 1,3-dioxolan-2-one having halogen atom other than fluorine as a starting material and fluorinating the derivative with a fluorinating agent.
US09067905B2
The invention provides sulphone compounds and their use in treating medical disorders, such as obesity. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of making various sulphone compounds are provided. The compounds are contemplated to have activity against methionyl aminopeptidase 2.
US09067901B2
The invention relates to a process for the production of ethylene oxide, comprising the steps of: producing ethylene by converting a stream comprising an oxygenate into a stream comprising ethylene and ethane; producing ethylene oxide by subjecting ethylene and ethane from the stream comprising ethylene and ethane to oxidation conditions resulting in a stream comprising ethylene oxide, unconverted ethylene and ethane; and recovering ethylene oxide from the stream comprising ethylene oxide, unconverted ethylene and ethane.
US09067900B2
Novel 2,8-diaminophenothiazine compounds of the following formula: and a method for preparing the same, are presented. The 2,8-diaminophenothiazine compounds are useful in the field of treating liquid or gaseous fluids, especially influents and industrial or domestic effluents.
US09067898B1
Disclosed are compounds, compositions and methods for treating of disorders that are affected by the modulation of the GPR120 receptor. Such compounds are represented by Formula (I) as follows: wherein R1, G, and Q are defined herein.
US09067896B2
The present technology provides novel anhydrous and hydrated crystalline forms of 3-(2,6-dichloro-3,5-dimethoxy-phenyl)-1-{6-[4-(4-ethyl-piperazin-1-yl)-phenylamino]-pyrimidin-4-yl}-1-methyl-urea, amorphous and anhydrous crystalline polymorphs of its monophosphoric acid salt, and the hydrochloride salt, including its dihydrate. The present technology further provides methods for preparing the various forms, compositions containing them, and methods of treatment employing them.
US09067888B2
Compounds of general Formula (I): wherein R1, R2, R3, Ra, A, B and x are as defined herein are inhibitors of protein kinases in particular members of the cyclin-dependent kinase family and/or the glycogen synthase kinase 3 family and are useful in preventing and/or treating any type of pain, inflammatory disorders, cancer, immunological diseases, proliferative diseases, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, renal diseases, neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases and neurodegenerative diseases.
US09067887B2
The present invention provides a compound represented by the formula (I) wherein X is a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom; R is a hydrogen atom or alkyl; R1 is (1) cyclopropyl optionally substituted by 1 to 3 halogen atoms or (2) phenyl optionally substituted by 1 to 3 halogen atoms; R2 is alkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, a halogen atom, cyano, etc.; and R3 is 7-oxo-7,8-dihydro-1,8-naphthyridinyl, 3-pyridyl, etc., or a salt thereof. The compound of the present invention has excellent antimicrobial activity against Clostridium difficile and is useful for the prevention or treatment of intestinal infection such as Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea.
US09067882B2
The instant invention provides for novel cationic lipids that can be used in combination with other lipid components such as cholesterol and PEG-lipids to form lipid nanoparticles with oligonucleotides. It is an object of the instant invention to provide a cationic lipid scaffold that demonstrates enhanced efficacy along with lower liver toxicity as a result of lower lipid levels in the liver. The present invention employs low molecular weight cationic lipids comprising at least one short lipid chain to enhance the efficiency and tolerability of in vivo delivery of siRNA.
US09067879B2
Improved processes are described for making trialkyl esters and acylated trialkyl esters of carboxylic acids, as well as epoxidized trialkyl esters and acylated trialkyl carboxylate esters, such as are used in developing plasticized PVC compositions. In particular, processes are described for conducting the esterification and acylation steps involved in making the acylated trialkyl esters in a single vessel without an intermediate purification step, by means of a Lewis acid metal triflate catalyst.
US09067877B2
The present invention relates to an improved process for the production of 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-(3-methylpent-2-en-4-ynyl)cyclohex-1-ene, highly enriched in the Z-isomer, and the use of such compounds in organic syntheses, especially in processes forming intermediates (building blocks) the synthesis of vitamin A or β-carotene or other carotenoids, e.g. canthaxanthin, astaxanthin or zeaxanthin.
US09067874B2
The present invention relates to is coupling process for the preparation of polyether polyols starting from highly functional starter compounds that are solid or highly viscous under reaction conditions and monofunctional starter compounds that are liquid under reaction conditions with Zerewitinoff-active hydrogen atoms.
US09067868B2
It is described a process for the opening of lactone or lactam rings useful in the synthesis of pharmaceutically active compounds and the intermediates thereof, particularly Aliskiren. It has found that by selecting a type of solvent it is possible to obtain excellent yields and high optical and chemical purity of the isolated products.
US09067858B2
Processes for isolating 1,1,1,2,3-pentachloropropane from a crude product stream containing the 1,1,1,2,3-pentachloropropane and ferric chloride. The processes may include deep distillation of the crude, treatment of the crude with a reagent that deactivates the ferric chloride followed by distillation on the deactivated crude stream, aqueous washing of the crude product stream to remove ferric chloride followed by distillation on the deactivated crude stream. Other embodiments simultaneously prepare 1,1,2,3-tetrachloroprene and 1,1,1,2,3-pentachloroprane.
US09067857B2
A method of manufacturing a fluorine-containing aromatic compound represented by the following formula (2-1) or formula (2-2): [R is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having a carbon number of 1 to 12 which may have a substituent other than a fluorine atom, or a monovalent aromatic group which may have a substituent; Rf1 and Rf2 are a fluorine-containing alkyl group having a carbon number of 1 to 12 and Rf1 and Rf2 may be the same or different; and m is an integer of 1 or more, n is an integer of 0 or more and m+n is an integer of 1 or more and 5 or less].
US09067855B2
Processes for the production of chlorinated alkanes are provided. The present processes comprise reacting one or more mono- and/or dichloroalkanes to form tri-, tetra- and/or pentachloroalkanes, with high regioselectivity. In those embodiments wherein a dichloroalkane is desirably utilized, it may advantageously be a vicinal dichloroalkane. Further, only one catalyst is utilized. The present processes make use of sulfuryl chloride as a chlorinating agent, rather than a gaseous chlorinating agent such as chlorine gas. Finally, the process uses lower intensity process conditions than at least some conventional processes, and thus, operating costs are saved.
US09067836B2
A method of preparing a pre-mix composition for delivering a pro-growth medium to promote an enhanced growth pattern for particular plants, and in particular, medicinal plants and herbs.
US09067835B2
Abstract Provided is a freely flowing particulate fertilizer essentially consisting of potassium phosphate of the formula K3H3(PO4)2 and of less than 8 wt % water. The stable and not caking fertilizer is characterized by an XRD signal corresponding to 2-theta of about 70°. An economic process for making the fertilizer is also provided.
US09067823B2
It is an object of the invention to provide a synthetic silica glass for a cladding of a core from a fiber laser. The refractive index should be low and there should be no foaming foreign substances. This object is achieved by a synthetic silica glass for an optical element, which contains paramagnetic E′ defect centers in an amount that is sufficient to set the absorption coefficient at 215 nm is in the range between 0.001 cm−1 and 2 cm−1; it contains paramagnetic oxygen defect centers in an amount that is sufficient to set the absorption coefficient at 250 nm is in the range between 0.001 cm−1 and 2 cm−1; the OH group concentration is 5 wtppm or less; the viscosity at 1100° C. is in the range between 1×1013.5 poise and 1×1015.5; the total content of metallic elements of Group 3 and Group 13 of the periodic table is 50.000 wtppm or less; and the relative refractive index difference of said synthetic silica glass is in the range between +0.03 % to +3 %, in relation to a synthetic fused silica glass with the absorption coefficient at 215 nm being less than 0.001 cm−1, the absorption coefficient at 250 nm being less than 0.001 cm−1, and the total concentration of the metallic elements contained being 1 wtppm or less, in the wavelength range of 600 nm or more and 1700 nm or less.
US09067820B2
Transparent, essentially colorless and non-diffusing β-quartz glass-ceramics and glass compositions for forming the same have a composition, free of arsenic oxide, antimony oxide and rare earth oxides except for inevitable trace amounts, which contains, expressed as percentages by weight of oxides 62-72% of SiO2, 20-23% of Al2O3, 2.8-5% of Li2O, 0.1-0.6% of SnO2, 1.9-4% of TiO2, 1.6-3% of ZrO2, less than 0.4% of MgO, 2.5-6% of ZnO and/or BaO and/or SrO, less than 250 ppm of Fe2O3; and their crystallites present in the β-quartz solid solution have an average size of less than 35 nm. The glass-ceramics exhibit low thermal expansion and are easily obtained at an industrial scale.
US09067814B2
Disclosed is a method of producing a synthetic quartz glass for excimer laser by depositing on a target silica particulates obtained by subjecting a silica raw material to vapor-phase hydrolysis or oxidative decomposition in an oxyhydrogen flame in a vacuum sintering furnace to form a porous silica base material, vitrifying the porous silica base material, and subjecting the vitrified material to hot forming, an annealing treatment and a hydrogen doping treatment, wherein the vitrification of the porous silica base material includes: (a) a step of holding a vacuum pressure at or below 20.0 Pa in a temperature range from 400° C., inclusive, to 900° C., exclusive; (b) a step of holding a vacuum pressure at or below 10.0 Pa in a temperature range from 900° C., inclusive, to 1100° C., exclusive; and (c) a step of holding a vacuum pressure at or below 3.0 Pa in a temperature range from 1100° C. to a transparent-vitrification temperature.
US09067808B2
Cost-effective tailored earth materials and methods of making and using these tailored earth materials are disclosed. These tailored earth materials can be used to treat (filter) emergent contaminants, such as perchlorate, from water or brine. The sorbed contaminants on the spent tailored earth materials can be degraded after use by bioremediation.
US09067804B2
A solar powered water purification canteen includes a container, UV LED lights and a solar power panel. The container is adapted to hold a fluid and has a reservoir, an inlet and an outlet. The UV LED lights are around the reservoir and are adapted to kill any bacteria from fluid in the reservoir. The solar power panel is positioned on the outside of the container adapted to power the UV LED lights.
US09067803B2
Provided is a standalone integrated water treatment system for a distributed water supply including a filter input, a coagulation system in operative connection with the filter input, wherein the water is subjected to a coagulation process to create pin floc from suspensions in the water. A maturation buffer tank in operative connection with the coagulation system aggregates floc in size within the water. A spiral separator separates the water into two water streams, a first stream of water having most of the floc removed, and a second stream of water which includes a concentrated amount of the floc. An optional filtration system is configured to receive the first stream of water and perform a filtration operation thereon. A sterilization system is configured to perform a sterilization operation on the first stream of water. The water is then output from the sterilization system as potable water.
US09067800B2
An object of the present invention is to provide tin(II) oxide powder which has extremely high solubility in an acid or an acidic plating solution, excellent in storage stability in the air and can heighten oxidation-preventive effect of Sn2+ ion in the plating solution. The method for manufacturing tin(II) oxide powder of the present invention comprises Step (11) of preparing an aqueous acidic solution containing Sn2+ ions, Step (12) of neutralizing the aqueous acidic solution by adding an aqueous alkaline solution to prepare a slurry of tin(II) hydroxide, Step (13) of dehydrating the prepared slurry to obtain a slurry of tin(II) oxide, Step (14) of separating the slurry of tin(II) oxide into a solid and a liquid to obtain tin(II) oxide, Step (15) of treating the obtained tin(II) oxide with an aqueous antioxidant solution, and Step (16) of vacuum drying the tin(II) oxide treated with the aqueous antioxidant solution.
