US09167578B2
Various embodiments relate to cellular wireless networks, including networks made up of different types of base stations. Femtocell base stations typically operate at low transmit power and provide a limited area of wireless coverage. At times, femtocells are deployed within a coverage area of a macrocell and occupy some of the same frequency spectrum and timeslots as the macrocell. At times, transmissions from the femtocell may appear as interference to a user equipment terminal, further preventing it from accessing the macrocell. In some embodiments, a cellular wireless network allocates radio resource(s) to femtocells so that the transmissions from femtocells do not occupy the same radio resource blocks as those used by the macrocell for signalling; thereby preventing interference associated with signalling to cause a connection to be lost, or prevent a connection being set up.
US09167576B2
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting uplink channel state information (CSI) in a wireless communication system that supports carrier aggregation, and to an apparatus for the method. The method for reporting CSI in a wireless communication system that supports carrier aggregation comprises the steps of: configuring a plurality of downlink component carriers (DL CCs); setting a CSI report mode on the plurality of DL CCs for each DL CC; and performing an operation for transmitting CSI according to the CSI report mode set on each DL CC. If a P-number of CSI overlap in the same subframe and a first condition is satisfied, a Q-number of CSI among the P-number of CSI are transmitted through a first physical channel, and if the P-number of SCI overlap in the same subframe and a second condition is satisfied, only an R-number of CSI among the P-number of CSI are transmitted through a second physical channel which is different from the first physical channel, wherein R is smaller than Q.
US09167573B2
A method and apparatus of transmitting a reference signal in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes generating a precoded reference signal or a non-precoded reference signal in accordance with a rank, and transmitting the generated reference signal. Uplink transmission using multiple transmit antennas is supported through reference signal design and related control signaling.
US09167568B2
A method in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes generating a message including an indicator indicating whether a connection to perform Automatic Repeat reQuest reset is a downlink connection or an uplink connection and transmitting the message.
US09167567B2
A method for configuring a backhaul link subframe in a wireless communication system to which a carrier aggregation scheme is applied and an apparatus for the same are disclosed. The method comprises determining one of a plurality of subframe configurations as a first subframe configuration for a primary component carrier allocated to the relay node; configuring subframe configuration candidates for one or more secondary component carriers allocated to the relay node on the basis of the determined first subframe configuration; determining a second subframe configuration for each of the one or more secondary component carriers by using the configured subframe configuration candidates; and transmitting and receiving a signal to and from the relay node in accordance with the first subframe configuration and the second subframe configuration.
US09167563B2
Methods and devices are described for managing the use of system resources in a wireless network. In one aspect, a method is performed by a wireless network system associated with a wireless network. The method provides upstream communications from an electronic device to the wireless network. The method includes: identifying a set of carriers that may be used together without causing an intermodulation product that falls within one or more active pass-bands associated with a receiver of the electronic device; and scheduling a carrier aggregated upstream communication from the electronic device to the wireless network using the identified set of carriers, the carrier aggregated upstream communication being an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing communication.
US09167561B2
A new sequence initialization for demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence design used in the LTE-A system is provided. In some implementations, the modulo-2 addition of nSCID and nNDI, both of which are provided in a downlink control information (DCI) message, is used to dynamically select one of a plurality of parameter candidates and the dynamically selected parameter is then used for determining the initialization state of a DMRS sequence. In some other implementations, the modulo-2 addition of nSCID and nNDI is used for determining the least significant bit of the initialization state of the DMRS sequence.
US09167556B2
Disclosed herein are methods and systems that may take advantage of unused space in general page messages (GPMs) by including multiple instances of a given page in the same GPM, in an effort to improve the chances that the intended mobile station receives the page. An exemplary paging method involves: (a) before a transmission of a general page message (GPM) that is formatted to include up to a maximum number of page records, making a determination that less than the maximum number of page records are scheduled to be included in the GPM; (b) in response to the determination, selecting, from the page records that are scheduled to be included in the GPM, at least one page record for which to include two or more instances in the GPM; and (c) transmitting the GPM, wherein two or more instances of the at least one selected page record are included in the transmission of the GPM.
US09167554B1
The present disclosure provides a method and system for tracking one or more portable communication devices in a radio communication network in a facility. The system comprises two or more sensors and a server. Each of the two or more sensors is configured to record a radio signal strength corresponding to each of one or more radio signal probes from each of the one or more portable communication devices, by utilizing a corresponding media access control address of each of the one or more portable communication devices. The server is configured to determine a location coordinate of each of the one or more portable communication devices using the recorded radio signal strengths and an adaptive supervised machine learning system. A learning cycle of the adaptive supervised machine learning system is configured to initiate when a variation in one or more technical attributes of the radio communication network in the facility is detected.
US09167549B2
Provided are a method and apparatus for location update in a wireless communication system. A machine-to-machine (M2M) device transmits a mobility access classifier indicating the mobility access classification of the M2M device to a first base station, and receives information on a reattachment zone indicating a list of base stations accessible by the M2M device from the first station. The M2M device transits to an idle mode, and provides a location update to a second base station based on whether or not the second M2M device has exited the reattachment zone.
US09167547B2
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for uplink timing maintenance in wireless communications are provided. Certain aspects of the disclosure involve applying a timing advance command to adjust uplink transmission timing/resume uplink synchronization; and determining a metric. The metric can be used in determining whether to apply a timing advance command (TAC) to resume uplink resynchronization.
US09167546B2
Providing discontinuous reception (DRX) is disclosed. In DRX mode a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may periodically wake up, in relation to a DRX interval, to check for a paging message. The WTRU may reenter the DRX mode if there is no paging message. The WTRU may receive another specified DRX interval, in connection with a broadcast message, based on the activity of the WTRU. The another DRX interval may be increased as inactivity of the WTRU increases.
US09167540B2
The present invention relates to methods, a user equipment and a communication network node for efficiently utilizing radio resources in a communication system comprising said communication network node (15) serving cells (19) between which one or more user equipment (18) is moving. When a user equipment (18) detects a power shortage situation it is arranged to transmit a report, such as a scheduling information signalling, triggered by the power shortage situation, whereby the communication network node is allowed to take a pre-determined action regarding the available radio resources.
US09167529B2
Methods, systems and apparatuses for selecting which of a plurality of sensors to use for location detection of a mobile device are disclosed. One method includes activating lowest-power location-related sensors of the mobile device at power up of a mobile device, and activating medium-power location-related sensors of the mobile device upon detection of motion of the mobile device and/or a change in a wireless connection to the mobile device.
US09167522B2
Techniques for detecting discontinuous transmission (DTX) are disclosed. In an example method, given a sequence of bits that is known by a wireless receiver to be included in transmission bursts targeted to the wireless receiver and given a series of received signal samples corresponding to an expected transmission burst for the wireless receiver, the wireless receiver estimates a channel response and a location for the sequence within the series. The wireless receiver generates a plurality of bit estimates from the subset of received signal samples, based on the estimated channel response, compares the bit estimates to bits in the sequence of bits, and determines whether a valid burst for the wireless receiver is present, based on said comparing. The disclosed techniques are particularly suitable for use in detecting DTX in VAMOS scenarios.
US09167520B2
A method for controlling an application in a mobile device is disclosed. The method includes receiving environmental information, inferring an environmental context from the environmental information, and controlling activation of the application based on a set of reference models associated with the inferred environmental context. In addition, the method may include receiving a sound input, extracting a sound feature from the sound input, transmitting the sound feature to a server configured to group a plurality of mobile devices into at least one similar context group, and receiving, from the server, information on a leader device or a non-leader device and the at least one similar context group.
US09167516B2
Wireless sensor networks includes nodes configured to operate according to an 802.11-compliant communication protocol in an ad hoc mode in a multi hop network. The nodes include a power management unit configured to control operating states of a sensor control unit, a computing and storage unit and a communication unit of the node so that sensor measurements and inter-node communications occur at designated, coordinated times.
US09167508B2
Provided is a wireless communication apparatus including a communication unit capable of wireless communication with another wireless communication apparatus, a determination unit for determining whether the communication unit is in proximity to the other wireless communication apparatus, and a control unit for performing, in a case the communication unit is determined to be in proximity to the other wireless communication apparatus, a connection procedure between the communication unit and the other wireless communication apparatus.
US09167504B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate effectuating inter-technology handoffs utilizing pilots. A sector can utilize a first technology to communicate on a first bandwidth. Further, to indicate presence of the first technology, the sector can transmit a pilot on a second bandwidth (e.g., where the second bandwidth can be utilized with a second technology). While a mobile device is communicating data utilizing the second technology upon the second bandwidth, the pilot related to the first technology can be obtained. Based upon the pilot, communication of data (e.g., received and/or transmitted by the mobile device) can be switched to using the first technology on the first bandwidth. Accordingly, the mobile device need not discontinue communicating data with the second technology prior to identifying availability of the first technology and/or initiating handoff to the first technology.
US09167489B2
A variety of wireless communication methods and apparatus for supporting reconfiguration of radio link control (RLC) parameters are disclosed. A radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message is generated that indicates that an RLC unit in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) or a universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) should be reconfigured from supporting flexible size RLC protocol data units (PDUs) to supporting fixed size RLC PDUs. If an information element (IE) “one sided RLC re-establishment” is present in the RRC reconfiguration message, only a receiving side subassembly in the RLC unit is re-established. Otherwise, both the receiving side subassembly and a transmitting side subassembly in the RLC unit are re-established. Flexible size RLC PDUs may be discarded and a message indicating the discarded flexible size RLC PDUs may be transmitted. The flexible size RLC PDUs may be modified such that they correspond to a set of pre-defined sizes.
US09167478B2
Method and apparatus for enabling optimisation of the utilisation of the throughput capacity of a first and a second interface of an eNB, where the first and the second interface alternate in having the lowest throughput capacity, and thereby take turns in limiting the combined data throughput over the two interfaces. In the method, data is received over the first interface and then cached in one of the higher layers of the Internet Protocol stack. The output from the cache of data to be sent over the second interface is controlled, based on the available throughput capacity of the second interface. Thereby, the alternating limiting effect of the interfaces is levelled out.
US09167475B2
Method and arrangement in a first node for requesting a status report from a second node. The first node and the second node are both comprised within a wireless communication network. The status report comprises positive and/or negative acknowledgement of data sent from the first node, to be received by the second node. The first node comprises a first counter configured to count the number of transmitted Protocol Data Units, PDUs, and a second counter configured to count the number of transmitted data bytes. The method and arrangements comprises initializing the first and the second counter to zero, transmitting data to be received by the second node, comparing the value of the first and the second counters with a first threshold limit value and a second threshold limit value and requesting a status report from the second node if any of the threshold limit values is reached or exceeded.
US09167465B2
The present invention relates to a method, in which a terminal transmits channel state information in a multi-node system, which includes the steps of: receiving information about cooperative transmission candidate nodes from a network; calculating first channel state information about the cooperative transmission candidate nodes; calculating second channel state information by assuming that the nodes included in the interference candidate modes are interference nodes among the cooperative transmission candidate nodes; and transmitting the calculated first and second channel state information to the network.
US09167459B2
System and method for confirming radio frequency (RF) signal connections with multiple devices under test (DUTs) tested concurrently using replicas of a RF test signal. Cabled signal connections between the signal source and the DUTs are monitored by sensing levels of outgoing and related reflection RF signals. These signal levels are compared against similar signal levels when the outgoing RF signals are provided to reference impedances. Alternatively, the cabled signal connections have lengths of known signal wavelengths and the RF test signal frequency is swept such that minimum and maximum time delays between the outgoing and reflection RF signals go through minimum and maximum signal cycles with a difference of at least one full cycle. The reflection RF signal magnitude and phase are monitored, from which peak and valley signal level differences and phase changes are identified to determine return loss and phase changes indicative of DUT connection.
US09167455B2
The present application discloses a virtualized wireless communication network and an establishing method thereof. The virtualized wireless communication network system includes a plurality of virtual nodes, the plurality of virtual nodes being divided into multiple virtual node cliques according to interference relations among the plurality of virtual nodes, wherein, each virtual node represents a wireless communication node; and a plurality of clique communication management modules that are one-to-one associated with the multiple virtual node cliques, wherein, each clique communication management module is configured to manage data exchange between an associated virtual node clique and other virtual node cliques, so as to emulate communication behavior of the wireless communication node. The present invention has many advantages such as high flexibility, good scalability, low cost and the like. Compared with a centralized virtualization solution, this solution can significantly reduce management data overhead and thus enhance the real-time behavior of the whole system.
US09167452B2
A signalling proxy system for a switching center server is provided, as well as a method of operating a signalling proxy system for a switching center server. The signalling proxy system comprises two signalling proxies for routing signalling traffic between a network node and a plurality of switching center server units. Each signalling proxy is addressable by an address code and is operable in one of an active state and a passive state towards the network node.
US09167448B2
The present invention provides a mobile terminal apparatus, a base station apparatus, and a communication control method, which allow control suitable for interference reduction in a layered network such as HetNet, and which support a next-generation mobile communication system. A mobile terminal apparatus has a receiving section (103) that receives radio frames of a lower cell, in which a protected subframe, the transmission of which by a higher cell is suppressed, and a non-protected subframe, the transmission of which by the higher cell is not suppressed, coexist, a measurement section (112) that measures reception quality from reference signals multiplexed individually on the protected subframe and the non-protected subframe, a feedback information reduction section (114) that calculates a difference value between the reception quality of the protected subframe and the reception quality of the non-protected subframe, and a transmission section (103) that reports reception quality information of the protected subframe, and the difference value calculated in the feedback information reduction section (114), to a base station apparatus (20B).
US09167443B2
A system and method for managing content exchanges in a wireless network using a listener module. A listener module receives a message broadcast by a string broadcast station. The string broadcast station message includes a network information string. The listener module also receives a message broadcast by a wireless station. The wireless station message includes the MAC address of the wireless station. The listener module associates the network information string with the MAC address of the wireless station and stores the pair a list server device. The wireless station may then request a list from the list server device of network information strings associated with the MAC address of the wireless station.
US09167434B2
A method and system for coordinated interference suppression in a communication system. The communication system implements at least a first radio access technology via a first base station and a second radio access technology via a second base station. The first and second radio access technologies differ from one another. Information relating to an interference signal received at the first base station via the first radio access technology is received at the second base station from a first device associated with the first base station, At a second device associated with the second base station, an interfering user equipment accessing the second base station via the second radio access technology is identified. The identification is based on the information received from the first device associated with the first base station. Interference caused by the identified interfering user equipment is suppressed by the second base station.
US09167426B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to devices and methods for supporting a wireless access point for one or more mobile clients. A mobile device may include a first module for supporting access to a network via a first wireless access protocol. The device may further include a second module for supporting a wireless access point for the one or more mobile clients to the network using a second wireless access protocol.
US09167424B2
A method for handling security in an SRVCC handover for a mobile device in a wireless communication device is disclosed. The method includes having an active Circuit-Switched (CS) service or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection in a CS domain when the mobile device is served by a first network, wherein the first network supports the CS domain and a Packet-Switched (PS) domain; receiving a handover command to handover from the first network to a second network, wherein the second network supports the PS domain; deriving a plurality of security keys used in the second network from a plurality of CS domain keys used in the first network; and applying the plurality of security keys for transmission and reception in the second network.
US09167420B2
A system, apparatus and method for enabling interaction between a mobile device and a dynamic list of remotely hosted applications. A mobile device is provided with a removable module implementing a virtual machine defined by a set of instructions. The mobile device requests an initial application from an application server. The application server generates a message, including a set of commands and any parametric information, such as text to be displayed, which is then compiled into executable code. The executable code is then forwarded to the mobile device for execution. The mobile device interprets the executable code and runs it, possibly causing text or a menu to be displayed. In a first embodiment, the mobile device requests a list of currently available applications and is provided with such a list by a first application server. The user is then able to select from the list of applications, some which can be located on other servers. In another embodiment, an application server initiates a communication by transmitting a set of commands causing one or more actions on the mobile device, such as the sounding of an audio alarm, the displaying of text, etc.
US09167418B1
A wireless transmission system and method is provided for use in a vehicle having an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system configured to provide vehicle speed data and engine operation status data. A transmission apparatus is interfaceable with the on-board diagnostic system. The transmission apparatus is configured to transmit a wireless signal as specified by Bluetooth criteria. A mobile computing device has an input device, a GPS module, and a wireless transceiver configured to receive the wireless signal in accordance with Bluetooth criteria and determine a signal level thereof. The GPS module is configured to provide GPS data as determined by received GPS signals. The mobile computing device operates in accordance with a method for determining is the mobile computing device is with a driver's seating area and disables the input device if the vehicle speed is at or above a threshold value.
US09167405B2
A device receives a message from a fixed user device associated with a first user. The first user is associated with a first mobile user device, and the message is destined for a second mobile user device associated with a second user. The device generates a first charge record for the first user based on the message and on a telephone number associated with the first mobile user device, and provides the first charge record to a billing system. The device generates a copy of the message, provides the copy of the message to the first mobile user device, and forwards the message toward the second mobile user device.
US09167401B2
A messaging system and methods used by content providers to deliver items of content stored in an internet-accessible storage system to a cell phone by causing communication of notifications or paging calls to the cell phone that specify the item of content from among other items of content stored in the storage system and include a system address for the cell phone to initially contact to request the item of content; and methods that identify the system storing the content, that receive identifiers from a separate identification service; that update the content without causing communication of another notification; and that provide for performing action on information at different times, and for selective paging.
US09167399B2
A method for effecting handoff of a communication session between a cellular telephone and a desktop telephone includes anchoring a communication session involving a remote device and a cellular telephone in an enterprise network such that signaling for the communication session passes through an element of the enterprise network; receiving an indication to handoff the communication session from the cellular telephone to a desktop telephone coupled to the enterprise network; placing the remote device in a holding state in response to the indication; and coupling the desktop telephone to the remote device to resume the communication session.
US09167392B2
User experience enhancements for conducting group communication sessions may include displaying visual feedback on a display to indicate a state of a group communication session. Embodiments may include establishing a group communication channel with devices in a first operating mode in response to inputs on a user interface, detecting actuation of a lock mechanism, such as a target-based sliding lock mechanism on a touchscreen user interface display, and while the lock mechanism is actuated, maintaining the group communication channel in a second operating mode. The second operating mode may be a lockout mode and/or a blocking mode with respect to at least one other device in the group communication.
US09167390B2
A method for providing tiered indoor positioning service includes: receiving a request for assistance data from a mobile device; receiving expected quality of service information from the mobile device; generating an adaptive assistance data file comprising heat map data based at least in part on the received expected quality of service information; and transmitting the adaptive assistance data file to the mobile device.
US09167381B2
Geo-fence based alerts are provided in a wireless communications network. A first subscriber device (SD) in the wireless communications network determines its current location. The first SD detects a geo-fence trigger by determining, as a function of the determined current location and a stored geo-fence database, that it has either (i) crossed a geo-fence boundary into a first active geo-fence in the stored geo-fence database or (ii) is within the first active geo-fence and has not yet begun playing back an alert associated with the first active geo-fence. Responsively, the first SD identifies an alert associated with the first active geo-fence and begins playback of the alert associated with the first active geo-fence.
US09167378B2
A method is for accessing multimedia contents associated with a geographical area including a plurality of items, the multimedia content being stored on a multimedia content provider having information of one or more of the items. The method provides an IC Card application for enabling a mobile device to detect a geographical area of interest, connect to the multimedia content provider and select at least one multimedia content of the detected geographical area of interest, download the selected multimedia content into a memory of the IC Card, provide an identification code of an item located into the detected geographical area of interest, and access a portion of the multimedia content which stores information of the identified item.
US09167367B2
A parametric coding method and apparatus are provided for coding a multichannel digital audio signal. The method includes a coding step for coding a signal from a channel reduction matrixing of the multichannel signal. The coding method also includes: obtaining, for each frame of predetermined length, spatial information parameters of the multichannel signal; dividing the spatial information parameters into a plurality of blocks of parameters; selecting a block of parameters as a function of the index of the current frame; and coding the block of parameters selected for the current frame.
US09167365B2
A method and apparatus for objectively assessing acoustical performance of an in-ear device having a passageway extending there through use a dual microphone probe that removably engages the passageway. The acoustical performance of the in-ear device is performed with the in-ear device inserted into the ear canal of the user and a reference sound source. A clip holding the probe in an acoustic near field of the sound source permits real time calibration thereof. The method and apparatus allow on-site and in-situ measurement of a predicted personal attenuation rating of the device, a subject-fit re-insertion test, an acoustic seal test, a rating test, a stability and reliability test, as well as a protection test of the device with an assessment of a filtered predicted exposure level at the ear for a specific noise exposure level. The apparatus may be simply housed along with the sound source for in-field evaluation tests.
US09167364B2
A simple hearing enhancement device that takes the normally adequately loud sound levels and optimizes selective frequency gain of the patient's ear passage to improve speech comprehension.
US09167355B2
A system for in-situ evaluation of the performance of an actuator of a hearing instrument to be implanted in a middle ear cavity of a patient and to be mechanically coupled to an ossicle or to the cochlea includes: a reference output transducer assembly for generating sound waves in the middle ear cavity, means for providing test audio signals as input to the actuator and to the reference transducer assembly, a microphone assembly for being inserted at least in part into the middle ear cavity for picking up sound waves in the middle ear cavity generated by vibrations of the actuator and by the reference output transducer assembly according to the test audio signals and for providing for an output signal corresponding to the picked-up sound waves, and means for analyzing the output signals of the microphone assembly in order to evaluate the actuator performance.
US09167354B2
The electroacoustic transducer according to the invention has at least one diaphragm and at least one counterelectrode. In that case the diaphragm and/or the counterelectrode each have at least two electrically mutually insulated segments. In that arrangement the segments are so adapted that different electric signals are supplied or that different electric signals are delivered in response to exposure to sound of the sound transducer.
US09167349B2
A multi-channel music reproducing apparatus and method using a wired and/or wireless communication system are provided. The method includes confirming neighboring devices capable of wired and/or wireless communication; allocating audio channel information to confirmed neighboring devices; encoding the channel information and reproduction synchronization information as index information; transmitting the index information together with a music data file; receiving the encoded index information and music data; decoding the allocated channel information and the synchronization information; and outputting music data corresponding to the allocated channel.
US09167347B1
A wireless headphone having a headband with ear pieces that insert into the ear or encompass the ear with a headphone control module attached to said headband incorporating rechargeable power supply, transceiver, microprocessor, firmware, memory, storage, D/A, speakers, microphone and display with the display incorporated into said control module having actuators and firmware for engaging and disengaging processor resident function for uploading and downloading audio files to said wireless headphones.
US09167346B2
Systems and methods for providing object-oriented audio are described. Audio objects can be created by associating sound sources with attributes of those sound sources, such as location, velocity, directivity, and the like. Audio objects can be used in place of or in addition to channels to distribute sound, for example, by streaming the audio objects over a network to a client device. The objects can define their locations in space with associated two or three dimensional coordinates. The objects can be adaptively streamed to the client device based on available network or client device resources. A renderer on the client device can use the attributes of the objects to determine how to render the objects. The renderer can further adapt the playback of the objects based on information about a rendering environment of the client device. Various examples of audio object creation techniques are also described.
US09167345B2
A method and device of channel equalization and beam controlling for a digital speaker array system includes (1) converting digital format; (2) performing channel equalization; (3) controlling beam-forming; (4) performing multi-bit Σ-Δ modulation; (5) performing thermometer code conversion; (6) performing dynamic mismatch-shaping processing; and (7) extracting the channel information to send to the digital power amplifier and drive the array sound. A device includes a sound source, a digital converter, a channel equalizer, a beam-former, a Σ-Δ modulator, a thermometer coder, a dynamic mismatch shaper, an extraction selector, a multi-channel digital power amplifier and a speaker array. Each unit connects to each other serially.
US09167342B2
Method, user device and computer program product for suppressing echo. An audio signal is output from a speaker. A microphone receives an audio signal, wherein the received audio signal includes an echo resulting from said outputted audio signal. A Finite Impulse Response filter estimate ĥ(t) is dynamically adapted in the time domain based on the outputted audio signal and the received audio signal to model an echo path h(t) of the echo in the received audio signal. At least one power response is determined from the filter estimate ĥ(t) and used to estimate the echo power of the echo in the received audio signal. The estimated echo power is used to apply echo suppression to the received audio signal, thereby suppressing the echo in the received audio signal.
US09167326B2
A modular sound component system can be configured to be located at least partially behind a wall surface, wherein the wall surface is supported by multiple vertical studs. The modular system can include a rail system that is in contact with the wall surface and at least one sound reproduction module coupled to the rail system. The sound reproduction module can include a body that can be disposed on a stud-side of the wall surface, and the module can include an attachment feature that is slidably coupleable to the rail system. In an example, the sound reproduction module can include a loudspeaker assembly, an amplifier assembly, or other device. Multiple modules can be slidably coupled to the rail system, such as on different sides of a wall stud. A wired communication link can couple the multiple modules, such as across a wall surface-side of the wall stud.
US09167325B2
An electronic device may be provided with environmental sensors. Environmental sensors may include one or more environmental sensor components and one or more acoustic components. Acoustic components may include a speaker or a microphone. Environmental sensor components may include a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, or other sensors or combinations of sensors for sensing attributes of the environment surrounding the device. The environmental sensor may have an enclosure with an opening. The enclosure may be formed from a rigid support structure and a portion of a printed circuit. The opening may be formed in the rigid support structure or the printed circuit. The opening in the enclosure for the environmental sensor may be aligned with an opening in an outer structural member for the device. The outer structural member may be a housing structure or a cover layer for a device display.
US09167322B1
A packet switch/router including a first stage switch fabric receiving an electrical signal, a mid-stage buffer receiving and storing the electrical signal from the first stage switch fabric, and a second stage switch fabric receiving the electrical signal from the mid-stage buffer. Each switch fabric includes N layers of N×N arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs), and each AWG has ingress ports and egress ports. A wavelength tunable device, such as a tunable laser, communicates with a source ingress port of an AWG and converts the received electrical signal to an optical signal having a wavelength selected for routing a packet from the source ingress port to a target egress port of the arrayed waveguide grating. A photoreceiver, such as a burst-mode photoreceiver, receives the propagated optical signal from the target egress port and converts the optical signal to the electrical signal.
US09167318B1
A bandwidth advertisement update method in an optical network, an optical network, and a controller provide a configurable mechanism for bandwidth advertisement updates in a control plane providing flexibility and reducing bandwidth advertisements in the control plane while concurrently supporting aggregated connections. The bandwidth advertisement update method includes defining a plurality of bandwidth update threshold values for a plurality of bandwidth units supported on a link in the optical network, responsive to a change in available bandwidth on the link, sending a bandwidth advertisement if the available bandwidth for any of the plurality of bandwidth units is less than the associated bandwidth update threshold value, and responsive to a change in available bandwidth on the link, withholding the bandwidth advertisement if the available bandwidth for all of the plurality of bandwidth units is greater than or equal to the associated bandwidth update threshold value.
US09167317B2
A battery monitoring system including an on-site battery event monitor (BEM) that sends out battery-related data to a server over a wide area network (WAN). The BEM sends out data in a broadcast (or unicast manner) to predetermined server(s) without being queried or polled. This improves network security and data security and also eliminates the need for on-site network configuration and administration.
US09167315B2
A method that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example transmitting, by a system comprising a processor, via a first emergency media channel a first video stream comprising first evacuation routing information for a first evacuation group responsive to receiving a notification of an emergency event, instructing, by the system, a first media processor device to select the first emergency media channel while disabling selection of other media channels according to the first evacuation routing information, where the content of the emergency media channel is presented at a display device by way of the first media processor device, and enabling, by the system, the first media processor device to select the other media channels responsive to receiving user input acknowledging the emergency media channel. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09167314B2
A method for embedding information in an image includes defining a code corresponding to a unit of content where the code includes at least one character. The method includes defining a cryptographic representation for each character of the at least one character in the code. Each cryptographic representation includes a group of regularly spaced mark locations and each mark location has a mark selected from a normative mark or a native mark. A pattern of marks in the group of regularly spaced mark locations is unique to each character of the at least one character in the code. The method includes embedding the cryptographic representation for each character of the at least one character of the code into at least a portion of an image. A distance between mark locations in the image indicates an orientation of the image.
US09167309B2
A method for transmitting broadcast and data streams in an HFC-based cable network includes a first transmission step of a broadcast transmission apparatus sending broadcast and data service streams in an IP-based stream or RF signal form through an optical section up to a cell node that is a contact point between the optical section and a cable section of a cable network and a second transmission step of the cell node converting the broadcast and data service streams into one of RF signal, IP-based stream, and RF/IP convergence service stream forms depending on a service type of a subscriber terminal and sending the converted broadcast and data service streams to the subscriber terminal through the cable section.
US09167308B2
A cable television (CATV) optical transmitter includes a tunable laser having a phase bias input and a gain bias input. The tunable laser generates an optical beam at an output. A semiconductor optical amplifier includes an electrical bias input and an optical input that is optically coupled to the output of the tunable laser. The semiconductor amplifier amplifies the optical beam generated by the tunable laser. An integrated balanced modulator includes an electrical modulation input that receives analog CATV signals and an optical input that is connected to the output of the semiconductor amplifier. A third order pre-distortion circuit includes an output that is electrically connected to a modulation input of the integrated balanced modulator. The 3rd order pre-distortion circuit generates a signal that, when combined with the analog CATV modulation signal, at least partially cancels third order distortions that are introduced during modulation.
US09167302B2
Playlist bookmarking may be provided. First, a content program from a playlist may be displayed on a first user device. The content program may then be paused and a time stamp may be placed in the playlist at a point where the content program was paused. Next, the time stamped playlist may be transmitted to a server. At a second user device, the time stamped playlist may be received from the server and the content program may be displayed from the playlist from the point in the content program corresponding to the time stamp.
US09167301B2
A method for programming a secondary device responsive to an advertisement, including: requesting a file and associated content identifier responsive to the advertisement; receiving the advertisement and a supplementary information associated with the advertisement; presenting a user with an option to initiate a request for an activity in response to the supplementary information; and performing the requested activity in response to the user request.
US09167298B2
Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture determine compliance with usage guidelines of an audience measurement system. Initially, location information associated with an audience member is obtained. It is then determined whether the audience member is in compliance with the usage guidelines based on the location information. Media monitoring information corresponding to the location information is then tagged as non-compliant if the audience member is not in compliance with the usage guidelines.
US09167296B2
This disclosure describes techniques to improve a user experience in a Wireless Display (WD) system. The WD system includes a source device that provides media data to one or more sink devices. The techniques are directed toward reducing end-to-end latency in the WD system while improving video playback quality at the sink devices. More specifically, the techniques include customized playback at the sink devices based on the type of media data received from the source device. If the media data only includes video data and does not include audio data, a processing pipeline of the sink device is configured to render the video data without waiting to synchronize with non-existent audio data. If the media data includes both video data and audio data, an audio rendering start-up timer is reduced and the processing pipeline renders synchronized audio and video data according to the reduced start-up timer.
US09167291B2
A method of processing a digital television (DTV) signal in a DTV receiver, the method includes receiving a digital television signal including a plurality of extended text table (ETT) instances that appear in transport stream packets with common PID values, the ETT instances having common table ID values, each ETT instance comprising a section header and a message body, the section header containing a table identification (ID) extension field that serves to establish uniqueness of each ETT instance, the message body containing an extended text message (ETM) which provides detailed descriptions of a virtual channel or an event associated with each ETT instance, wherein the section header further contains a current next indicator field and a section length field indicating a section length, demodulating the digital television signal and identifying at least one pertinent ETT instance from the plurality of ETT instances.
US09167289B2
Exemplary perspective display systems and methods are disclosed herein. An exemplary method includes a perspective display system acquiring visual data representative of a camera view of a user space associated with a display screen, determining, based on the visual data, a position of a user within the user space, identifying, based on the position of the user, a viewable region of an image, and displaying, on the display screen, the viewable region of the image, the displayed viewable region of the image representing a perspective view of the image based on the position of the user. In certain examples, the method further includes the perspective display system detecting a movement of the user to another position within the user space and updating the display on the display screen in real time in accordance with the movement to display another viewable region of the image on the display screen.
US09167283B2
A wireless communication channel operation method and a system of the portable terminal for preventing data loss when switching between different wireless video transmission modes are provided. The method includes transmitting multimedia data to a recipient terminal on a communication channel of a second transmission mode in a wireless video transmission mode, the wireless video transmission mode supporting a first and second transmission modes, receiving buffer state information from the recipient terminal, pausing, when a request for switching to the first transmission mode is detected, transmission of the multimedia data to the recipient terminal, determining the buffer state information, waiting, when the buffer state information indicates presence of multimedia data in a reception buffer of the reception terminal, for completion of playing of the multimedia data in the reception buffer, and switching to the first transmission mode after the multimedia data in the reception buffer is played completely.
US09167278B2
An automatic content recognition (ACR) enabled display communication device that is operable to receive and consume content from a linear feed and a corresponding IP-based feed. The linear feed and the IP-based feed includes one or more content identifiers that identify similar content within the linear feed and the IP-based feed and also includes one or more corresponding automatic content recognition triggers. The ACR-enabled display communication device determines a first content identifier that is associated with a first content in the linear feed that is being consumed and requests IP segments in the IP-based feed that corresponds to the determined first content identifier and switches from consuming content in the linear feed to consuming content in the requested IP segments. The ACR-enabled display communication device stores the determined first content identifier and receives the requested IP segments from a remote server.
US09167272B2
Techniques and mechanisms for exchanging sets of video data each via multiple channels. In an embodiment, a first data set is distributed across the multiple channels according to a first mapping of the multiple channels each to a different respective one of multiple data types, where each of the multiple data types corresponds to a different respective dimension of a color space. In another embodiment, a second data set is distributed across the multiple channels according to a second mapping of the multiple channels each to a different respective one of the multiple data types, where the second mapping is different from the first mapping.
US09167270B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for efficient adaptive filtering for video encoders and decoders. An apparatus includes a video encoder for encoding picture data for at least a portion of a picture using adaptive filtering. The video encoder includes an adaptive filter for performing the adaptive filtering. A final filter coefficient set used for the adaptive filtering is determined by iteratively estimating a plurality of filter coefficient sets and selecting a last estimated one of the plurality of filter coefficient sets as the final filter coefficient set when a last iteration corresponding to the last estimated one of the plurality of filter coefficient sets results in a quality improvement above a threshold value for the portion.
US09167269B2
A video coder associates a first boundary strength value with an edge in response to determining that a first video block or a second video block is associated with an intra-predicted coding unit (CU), where the edge occurs at a boundary between the first video block and the second video block. The video coder may associate a second or a third boundary strength value with the edge when neither the first video block nor the second video block is associated with an intra-predicted CU. The video coder may apply one or more deblocking filters to samples associated with the edge when the edge is associated with the first boundary strength value or the second boundary strength value. The third boundary strength value indicates that the deblocking filters are turned off for the samples associated with the edge.
US09167266B2
The invention relates to a method for deriving motion data for a macroblock divided in elementary blocks of a high resolution picture, called high layer macroblock, from motion data of macroblocks of a low resolution picture, called base layer macroblock. The method comprises the following steps: computing, for each elementary block, an intermediate position within the low resolution picture from the elementary block position depending on the coding modes of the high layer macroblock and of the high and low resolution pictures; identifying the base layer macroblock, called base_MB, comprising the pixel located at the intermediate position; computing a final position within the low resolution picture from the virtual base layer position depending on the coding modes of the base_MB, of the high layer macroblock; identifying the base layer macroblock, called real_base_MB, comprising the pixel located at the final position; and deriving motion data, for the high layer macroblock, from motion data of the identified real_base_MB.
US09167263B2
A method and device relate to coding an image split up into partitions, which comprises the selection of at least one mode of coding and of its associated coding information items, from among items placed in competition, the prediction of the data of a current partition, the determination of residual data. Calculation of the value of a function representative of said residual data are performed, then the comparison of said calculated value with a value selected as value of competition index from among the associated values. If the values are equal, said signal transmitted comprises said residual data and said associated coding information items. If not, the residual data determined are modified so that the value of the function representative of the residual data is equal to the selected value of competition index, the signal transmitted comprising the modified residual data, excluding the selected value of competition index.
US09167259B1
Methods and systems for defining a compression and reconstruction scheme of a media stream, for generating and transmitting a base media layer and enhancement data layers and for reconstructing compressed representations of the media stream from the base media layer and the enhancement data layers.
US09167256B2
A system for encoding video data calculates a need parameter for an encoder and then adds a predetermined need bias value to the need parameter. The bias value is added without first determining video source complexity. The system then determines whether the input video comprises static video. Thereafter, the need parameter bias value is scaled in response to a determination that the input video includes the static video.
US09167249B2
The present invention relates to a video signal decoding method for adding an intra prediction mode as a sub-macroblock type to prediction of a macroblock in coding a video signal. Some implementations may include obtaining a macroblock type, when a macroblock includes the intra prediction coded sub-macroblock and the inter prediction coded sub-macroblock based on the macroblock type, obtaining prediction mode flag information indicating whether the sub-macroblock is the intra prediction coded or the inter prediction coded, and obtaining a prediction value of the sub-macroblock. Accordingly, implementations disclosed herein may raise coding efficiency of video signal by adding an intra prediction mode as a sub-macroblock type in predicting a macroblock.
US09167245B2
A system is provided for creating binary codewords for transform coefficients used for relating transform units (TUs) divided into coding units (CUs) in a High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) system. The system provides binarization of the codewords and removes unnecessary operations to reduce system complexity and increase compression performance. The system generates transform coefficients that relate the TUs and begins by providing a parameter variable (cRiceParam) set to an initial value of zero. Significant transform coefficients are converted into binary codewords based on the current value of the parameter variable, and the parameter variable is then updated with a new current value after each transform coefficient has been converted. Updating can be provided with reference to table values or the values can be provided from combination logic.
US09167244B2
An image coding apparatus configured to support a coding scheme capable of selecting a size of a block to be coded from a plurality of sizes includes a quantization unit configured to assign a quantization step size to each block of an image to be coded and quantize each block, a coding unit configured to code image data relating to each block quantized by the quantization unit, a minimum quantization step value setting unit configured to set a minimum quantization step value according to the size of each block and apply the minimum quantization step value to each block of the image to be coded, and a quantization step determination unit configured to determine the quantization step size of each block not to fall below the minimum quantization step value thereof.
US09167243B2
Described herein are techniques for allowing a customer support agent to remotely analyze a television receiver. A television receiver is communicatively coupled to a customer support center through a communication network. A customer support agent remotely accesses the television receiver and the television receiver transmits video content to the customer support center through the communication network. The video output is outputted to the customer support agent at the customer support center for analysis of the television receiver.
US09167218B2
A projector includes a moving unit adapted to move positions of at least six correction points, which are included in a correcting image, a reception unit adapted to receive a designation on a value of a parameter representing linearity, a derivation unit adapted to derive a correspondence relationship of the coordinates between and input image and the correcting image using coordinates of the at least six correction points moved by the moving unit, and the parameter having the value designation of which is received by the reception unit, and a processing unit adapted to perform a correction process the input image based on the correspondence relationship derived by the derivation unit.
US09167215B2
In a machine vision system editing environment for a part program, a continuous stream of image acquisition operations are performed during a run mode. Previously, a continuous stream of image acquisition operations was achieved by utilizing different programming representations and syntax for programming and grouping image acquisition operations together in the part program. A new common syntax and representations are utilized wherein such continuous image acquisition operations are recorded in the same way as regular operations, with the running of the part program being performed in two stages. First, the portion of the part program that is to have the continuous stream of image acquisition is scanned for image acquisition operations, and the most efficient order for acquiring the images is determined. Second, while the image acquisition process is being performed, the portion of the part program is scanned again, with the image analysis operations then being performed.
US09167213B2
An apparatus and method for display and control of video data on a mobile device provides simultaneous multiple video data display of groups of video sources and selection of video data for single, larger viewing. Control of the camera source of the video data is provided for the mobile device user, such as by manipulation of a multi-touch sensitive screen to pan, tilt and zoom. Image capture from the video screen and marking of the captured image is provided. Activation of video data streams and groups of video data streams for display on the mobile device is provided by transfer of activation information to the mobile device via email. Notification of events monitored by the video source or by other sensors is sent to users of the mobile devices.
US09167210B2
A method of operating a communications system storing assets for later transmission, is disclosed. The assets have respective expiration dates beyond which a right to transmit expires. The method comprises checking an expiration date of an asset and deleting the asset from storage based, at least in part, on the expiration date, a predetermined period of time added to or subtracted from the expiration date and/or whether the asset has been selected for later viewing. The predetermined period of time may provide a grace period for completing viewing of a selected asset by a user, either after or before the expiration date, depending on the rights to the asset granted by the source of the asset. The period of time may depend on a playtime of the asset and may be added to the expiration date only if the asset has been selected for viewing. Systems are also disclosed.
US09167208B2
A method and system for providing television programming content and interactive data services is provided. In one embodiment, the interactive content is displayed on the television concurrently with television programming content and facilitates game play between viewers. The game may be scored for each viewer based on selection data from the viewer and event data that is determined by events occurring in the television programming content. In addition, the interactive content may present a message that conveys an incentive to the viewer to take some action such as actuating a button when a particular commercial is presented thereby allowing the service provider and advertisers to determine how many, and which, viewers watched a particular commercial. In addition, the interactive content (including the incentives) can be presented to viewers when the programming content is stored on a digital video recorder and subsequently presented thereby presenting incentives to viewers to watch commercials that were recorded as part of the television programming content.
US09167201B2
A feedback-system for managing the position of a frontal camera provided on a portable multimedia device during video communication. The feedback-system comprises a camera image analyzer coupled to the frontal camera and adapted to detect and analyze the pose of a user facing the frontal camera, an optimal video estimator coupled to the camera image analyzer and adapted to calculate a 6-dimensional error-vector of the current position of the frontal camera with respect to an optimal position of the frontal camera, an intuitive feedback manager coupled to the optimal video estimator and adapted to generate a transformation matrix translating the error-vector into an error message for the image displayed on a screen of the portable multimedia device, the intuitive feedback manager being further coupled to the portable multimedia device which is adapted to use the error message for modifying the image displayed on the screen.
US09167194B2
A projector includes a network interface card, a basic input output system, and a service set identifier module. The network interface card is configured to communicate with a computer. The basic input output system is in communication with the network interface card, and is configured to store a model number and identification data for the projector. The service set identifier module is in communication with the basic input output system, and is configured to retrieve the model number and the identification data, and to utilize the model number and the identification data to create a unique service set identifier for the projector.
US09167192B2
A display system includes a base member, a rear support member which is connected to one end of the base member in an upward and downward direction, a display device, a support unit which is disposed on an upper portion of the rear support member, and supports the display device such that the display device is movable in position and changeable in position in at least two axial directions, a sound output device which is disposed on the display device and the rear support member, and a control device which controls operations of the support unit, the sound output device and the display device. A bed, a mattress, a bedding covering or the like is provided on the base member such that a user can watch a screen of the display device in a posture where the user has lain above the base member.
US09167189B2
A content summary is generated by determining a relevance of each of a plurality of scenes, removing at least one of the plurality of scenes based on the determined relevance, and creating a scene summary based on the plurality of scenes. The scene summary is output to a graphical user interface, which may be a three-dimensional interface. The plurality of scenes is automatically detected in a source video and a scene summary is created with user input to modify the scene summary. A synthetic frame representation is formed by determining a sentiment of at least one frame object in a plurality of frame objects and creating a synthetic representation of the at least one frame object based at least in part on the determined sentiment. The relevance of the frame object may be determined and the synthetic representation is then created based on the determined relevance and the determined sentiment.
US09167185B2
A transmission and reception apparatus, system for transmitting and receiving signals, and method for transmitting and receiving signals are disclosed. In one example, a transmitting part produces an output signal including a first digitally modulated signal. A receiving part includes a mixer circuit and receives an input signal including a second digitally modulated signal. A folding signal may be present as a function of the first digitally modulated signal and a clock signal used to produce the first digitally modulated signal. The mixer circuit performs frequency down conversion on the input signal, and may also be configured to perform a harmonic wave removal function on the input signal that reduces the presence of the folding signal from the input signal. The receiving part may further include a filter circuit that receives the frequency-down-converted input signal from the mixer circuit and selects a predetermined reception signal from the frequency-down-converted input signal.
US09167179B2
On-board non-uniformity correction calibration methods for a microbolometer focal plane array in a thermal camera are disclosed. The methods include performing first calculations in the processor unit of the thermal camera to generate and apply a set of coarse correction bias voltages to the detector elements. The method also includes performing calculations in the external computer based on image data collected by the thermal camera with the coarse correction bias voltages applied to the detector elements to generate a set of fine correction bias voltages. The method also includes downloading the fine correction bias voltages to the thermal camera and applying the fine correction voltages to the detector elements to establish a fine calibration of the microbolometer focal plane array.
US09167176B2
A method and device for dynamically overlaying two or more video streams uses specialized metadata that are attached to at least one of the video streams.
US09167168B2
A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing an image processing program configured to enable a computer to execute a shaping step of shaping an input image generated through capturing via an optical system by using a characteristic of the optical system and an image-pickup condition, a blurring step of blurring an image shaped in the shaping step, and a dividing step of dividing the input image into a plurality or layered images according to an object distance. The computer executes the shaping step based upon distance information of an object contained in each layered image.
US09167165B2
A system and method for platform independent LOS visual information transmission is disclosed. A transmitter consists of a series of sequential images that are stacked together to form frames in a video transmission. Each image is modulated spatially, by color, and by intensity. The data is transmitted over an LOS visual channel. The receiver first captures each individual image from the received video, and then demodulates each image in the three areas it was modulated spatially, by color, and by intensity. LOS visual information transmission allows for secure data transfer and reduces interference from other applications.
US09167159B2
A camera mobile phone with an anti-shaking function and an anti-shaking method for use by the camera mobile phone in image capturing are disclosed. The anti-shaking method including the following steps of: A. using a gravity sensor module of the mobile phone to detect a shaking level of the mobile phone when capturing an image; B. according to the shaking level detected by the gravity sensor module, controlling an exposure time of the mobile phone in the process of capturing the image so that a camera module of the mobile phone captures the image according to the exposure time and C. using an image processing software program to carry out deblurring processing on the blurred image according to a displacement vector generated due to shaking.
US09167153B2
An imaging device comprising an imaging optical system, a lens movement mechanism, an imaging element, a first interpolation device, a second interpolation devices, a photographic image generation device, a split image generation device using a first image formed by the outputs of the first phase difference pixels and the first interpolation pixels and a second image formed by the outputs of the second phase difference pixels and the second interpolation pixels to generate a split image, and a display device displaying the photographic image generated by the photographic image generation device, the display device displaying the split image generated by the split image generation device in a display area of the photographic image.
US09167144B2
The invention describes several embodiments of an adapter which can make use of the devices in any commercially available digital cameras to transform the digital camera into a fundus camera for inspecting the back of the eye, or into a microscope. The camera adapter is adapted to be placed between the camera device and the object. The devices in the camera being used are at least its optical source, photodetector sensor, memory, shutter and autofocus. Means in the adapter are provided to employ these devices and allow camera to operate its autofocus capability and its different color sensors. Methods of investigation of an object are also presented of using the adapter to transform the camera into an imaging instrument, where the effect of adjustments of elements inside the adapter are guided by the displaying screen of the camera.
US09167141B2
Novel tools and techniques are described for protecting camera components on a surface and/or within an internal portion of a portable electronic device. In one aspect, an electronic device might comprise a camera mount, which might comprise a camera barrel assembly configured to have a camera affixed thereto, the camera barrel assembly being rotatably coupled with one of a front panel, a rear panel, or a chassis of the electronic device. The camera mount may further comprise a set of cantilever springs affixed to one of the front panel, the rear panel, or the chassis and biased against the camera barrel assembly to provide rotational friction on the camera barrel assembly. The set of cantilever springs might have sufficient compliance to allow the camera to retract into a body of the portable electronic device upon encountering an external force, which may include an impact force or a dropping force.
US09167139B2
A device for a motor vehicle has a camera unit, which can be brought into an inactive position and an active position includes a protective element, which can be guided into a closed position and an open position. In the closed position, the camera unit is in its inactive position behind the protective element, where it is inaccessible from the outside. In the open position, the camera unit is in its active position for image acquisition. The device further includes a drive unit for moving the camera unit and the protective element, wherein the camera unit and protective element are movably hinged to each other. A vehicle, particularly a motor vehicle, could be equipped with such a device.
US09167137B2
A security camera includes a camera head and a cable assembly with an integrated processing module. The camera head contains a lens and an image sensor, while the processing module contains image processing circuitry for processing images obtained using the image sensor and power circuitry used to power the image processing circuitry and the camera head. A cable connects the camera head and the processing module. The processing module is sized to fit through an aperture in a mounting surface that can be covered by the camera head when the camera head is mounted to the mounting surface, which facilitates ease of installation.
US09167127B2
A printing control device, a program, and a printing method is provided for creating printed matter for which a user can easily identify a web page on which an image included in the printed matter is published. A printing control device accessible to a server for managing a web site through a network includes a specification receiving unit receiving specification of an image published on the web site, an image acquisition unit acquiring the specified image through the server, an access information acquisition unit acquiring access information for accessing a web page on which the image is published on the web site, a code information creation unit creating code information expressing the access information using text or an image, and a printing execution unit making a printer print a synthetic image in which the acquired image and the created code information are included.
US09167119B2
An image scanner includes a transparent plate, a scanning device, a driving device, a positioning member, a light absorbing portion and a white reference portion. The transparent plate has an original placing surface. The scanning device irradiates an original with light by means of a light source and scans reflected light from the original. The driving device reciprocates the scanning device along the transparent plate. The positioning member positions the original placed on the original placing surface of the transparent plate. The light absorbing portion, which is disposed on the original placing surface side of the positioning member and at substantially a central portion of the positioning member in moving directions of the scanning device, absorbs ambient light entering to the original placing surface side of the positioning member through the transparent plate. The white reference portion is provided to the original placing surface side of the positioning member.
US09167113B2
An image forming apparatus in which applications can be installed is provided, in which the image forming apparatus includes an application information obtaining part for obtaining application information that is used for determining whether an application is installable in the image forming apparatus.
US09167107B2
An image processing apparatus implements appropriate image processing on image data stored in a storage unit of the image processing apparatus easily and efficiently, and distributes the image data to an external apparatus. An image format conversion unit implements image processing such as resolution conversion processing, filter processing, γ correction processing, and halftone processing on image data stored in an HDD serving as an image data storage unit so that the image data conform to conditions, such as image quality and format, specified by an external client apparatus. The image-processed image data are then distributed to the external client apparatus.
US09167090B2
A Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is disclosed. The PSAP is configured to enable the detection of language preferences, capabilities, or inabilities and, based on such detection, assist the PSAP agent in assisting the PSAP caller. The PSAP may additionally or alternatively utilize the detection of language information to assist in the decision to route or re-route the PSAP caller to appropriate PSAP resources.
US09167088B2
A system and method for a selective ring silencer that prevents people from having to listen to the telephone ring on and on with nuisance calls. The ringer silencer can be: (1) discretely constructed from a telephone, (2) part of a telecommunication device, or (3) part of a central telephone network construction. A receiver demodulates an incoming call. Control logic reads at least a portion of the called identification (CID) data and determines an action based on the reading. A switch in communication with the control logic is actuated to a first state that allows the communication data to be output from the ring silencer, and a second state that blocks the communication data from being output from the ring silencer to a user's communication device. The control logic blocks toll-free area codes originated calls from ringing a user's telephone, optionally forwarding the call to a voice mail module.
US09167085B2
System and method to revoke call-back requests, the method including: transmitting a plurality of communication requests from a caller to one or more callees; determining mootness of a request for a call-back from at least some of the callees; initiating, by use of a single command, a plurality of call-back cancellation requests to the at least some of the callees; and transmitting one or more call-back cancellation requests to the at least some of the callees. The method may further include determining a characteristic shared by the communication requests to the at least some of the callees. Determining a characteristic may include determining subject matter from message content, metadata, or sending time of the communication requests. The request for a call-back is determined by the caller or inferred by a callee. Call-back cancellation may include removal of a call indication from a notification list of the callee.
US09167075B2
A method of selecting a service and inputting information to that service, in which an input device having keys is provided. When a key is pressed and released quickly, the user indicates a desire to enter a symbol on the key in order to enter symbols of an entry string. In addition, one or more of the keys may also be used to identify a service and also supply that service with the entry string. For example, by pressing and holding such a key, the entry string may be delimited and then sent to a service corresponding to the pressed key. In this manner, a single key press may be used to both delimit an entry string and also send the entry string to the service. The service may use the delimited entry string to retrieve information, which is then supplied to the input device.
US09167064B2
A docking station, method, and system are disclosed including a universal dock and connection cable to establish a network connection between a mobile device and a local data network such as an enterprise Private Branch Exchange (PBX). The cable connection is reconfigurable within so that the docking station can receive a mobile communications device in different orientations. Sliding tiles within the universal dock may be repositioned for different locations of the connection cable. USB and micro-USB cable connections are described.
US09167063B2
A rigid removable case for a portable electronic device may have an acoustic isolation mechanism between the rigid removable case and an acoustic component on the electronic device. The acoustic isolation mechanism may be a compressible component that may provide an air seal between an interior surface of the removable case and an exterior surface of the electronic device. The acoustic isolation mechanism may be constructed of several different materials and several different manufacturing processes.
US09167055B2
A method and a system of displaying a frame are provided. The method is applicable for an electronic apparatus, and the method includes: obtaining capability information of each client apparatus in a subnet where the electronic apparatus is located, so as to obtain total capability information; connecting a server system and receiving a capability inquiring instruction from the server system; reporting the total capability information to the server system in response to the capability inquiring instruction, so that the server system sends a drawing instruction; co-generating the frame with the client apparatuses according to the drawing instruction sent by the server system.
US09167049B2
A content delivery network may provide content items to requesting devices using a popularity-based distribution hierarchy. A central analysis system may determine popularity data for a content item stored in a first caching device. At a later time, the central analysis system may determine that a change in the popularity data is beyond a threshold value. The central analysis system may then transmit an instruction to move the content item from the first caching device to a second caching device in a different tier of caching devices than the first caching device. The central analysis system may update a content index to indicate that the content item has been moved to the second caching device. A user device may then be redirected to request the content item directly from the second caching device.
US09167047B1
A system and method can support user account management in a computing environment. A user account manager can configure one or more recording policies, wherein said one or more recording policies operates to define detailed information on how user activities on a target system should be recorded. Furthermore, the user account manager can provide said one or more recording policies to one or more visual session recording processes associated with the target system. Then, the user account manager can use said one or more visual session recording processes to record activities in a user session on the target system based on said one or more recording policies.
US09167041B2
A system for maintaining SIP application session affinity, the system including a destination inspector configured to inspect a SIP request to determine whether the SIP request indicates as its destination a logical name of a SIP container, a request router configured to route the SIP request to the SIP container that is identified by the logical name if the SIP request indicates as its destination the logical name of the SIP container, and a destination assignor configured to assign the SIP request to a SIP container in accordance with a predefined assignment protocol if the SIP request does not indicate as its destination the logical name of a SIP container.
US09167038B2
Method, systems, and computer-readable mediums for securing uploaded content are presented. User content can be uploaded from a user device to a computer system, where the user content is dissected into a number of content portions. After dissection, the computer system can transmit each of the content portions to a corresponding storage server. The storage servers may be independent from each other, independent from the user device, and independent from the computer system itself. Any portion of the user content can then be removed from the computer system, such that the computer system does not own or store the user content, and such that that no single entity in the system can compromise the user content. In some cases, the storage servers can be operated by non-profit entities that are not privately owned.
US09167031B2
A distributed processing system 100 includes: a plurality of application servers 1031 to 103n that execute a plurality of applications 1321 to 132n and detect a communication state between a client 105 and the applications 1321 to 132n; a load distribution control server 101 that decides a communication path between the client 105 and the applications 1321 to 132n on a basis of the communication state detected by the application servers 1031 to 103n to perform load distribution; and an intermediate communication apparatus 102 that transfers flow data between the client 105 and the application servers 1031 to 103n.
US09167014B2
A social networking system includes a question and answer system that displays to a viewing user questions and answers provides by other users of the social networking system. The question and answer system may display answers to a particular question in a way that visually indicates both the global answer set and a subset of the global answer set, such as the viewing user's friends. The social networking system may also display to a viewing user news stories about another user asking or answering a question, where the format of the displayed new stories is based on an affinity that the viewing user has for the user who provided the question or answer mentioned in the news story. The displayed questions and/or answers may be associated with an object in the social networking system, where the user interface provides additional information about those objects.
US09167013B2
In one aspect, the teachings herein address the changing network capacity requirements that arise in electronic conferencing systems not hosted in a fully dedicated network using a clever prioritization scheme that is determined in view of which source streams (26) available in the electronic conference are being used by respective conference clients (22) and how they are being used by those clients (22). In one non-limiting example, the electronic conference is a video conference managed by an electronic conferencing server (10) in a host network (20).
US09167011B2
Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for collaboration conferencing with multiple participants over a communications network, and more specifically for a conferencing routing service for managing and routing collaboration participants. In one embodiment, the conferencing routing service may maintain a database of information or preferences associated with the conference requester and attempt to select a conference bridge based on the requester's information. Further, the conferencing routing service may receive performance information from a plurality of conference bridges that are able to conduct the collaboration conference and select a conference bridge in response to the performance information.
US09167010B2
Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for collaboration conferencing with multiple participants over a communications network, and more specifically for a conferencing routing service for managing and routing collaboration participants.
US09167007B2
Stream complexity mapping enables substantially uninterrupted transmission of a highest compatible bit rate of a stream of media to a client via a network connection. Stream complexity data may include complexity information for each period of a stream of media. The stream complexity data may be associated with the stream of media. The stream complexity data may be analyzed to enable a preemptive transition to a new stream of media having a new bit rate and/or expanding a buffer capacity to provide uninterrupted streaming media for complex portions of a variable bit rate stream of media.
US09167002B2
The use of one or more device health values to indicate the health status of a computing device may enable operating system developers to directly manage the security configuration of the computing device. The generation of a device health value involves initializing hardware components of a computing device and loading the operating system according to configuration settings during boot up of the computing device. The device health value is then generated based on a state of the hardware component and/or a state of a software stack that includes the operating system at boot up. The device health value may be compared to a reference health value to determine whether the computing device is in a secured state.
US09166999B1
Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for transaction-based security risk aggregation and analysis. A server computing device receives security risk data elements from a plurality of data sources, the data elements corresponding to a transaction submitted by a remote computing device to the server computing device for execution. The server computing device aggregates the security risk data elements into a weighted risk matrix. The server computing device generates a risk score for the submitted transaction based upon the weighted risk matrix. The server computing device determines an internal environment risk factor and an external environment risk factor based upon environmental risk data received from the plurality of data sources. The server computing device adjusts the risk score for the submitted transaction based upon the internal environment risk factor and the external environment risk factor, and determines a disposition for the transaction based upon the adjusted risk score.
US09166994B2
Systems and methods may use automation discovery to identify malicious activity. An automation discovery system comprising a processor in communication with a network and in communication with a database may receive potentially automated network traffic data. The system may analyze the potentially automated network traffic data to determine whether the potentially automated network traffic data is likely to be automated. When the potentially automated network traffic data is not likely to be automated, the system may generate a low automation confidence score associated with the potentially automated network traffic data. When the potentially automated network traffic data is likely to be automated, the system may generate a high automation confidence score associated with the potentially automated network traffic data.
US09166982B1
A system and method are provided for providing access to educational content in a private browsing mode. A private browsing session is initiated that provides to an incognito user access to an educational account associated with a user of the educational content, wherein the educational account includes a set of stored user actions associated with the educational content. The incognito user is associated with the user. The incognito user is permitted to re-execute the set of user actions within the private browsing session without the re-executed actions being stored in the user account.
US09166968B2
A user credential sharing mechanism which can suitably implement a single sign-on function while preventing illicit accesses by accidental matches of authentication data in a mixed environment of an environment suitable for use of a single sign-on function and an unsuitable environment is provided. To accomplish this, when an information processing apparatus of this invention receives, from a user, an access request instruction to an external apparatus connected to be able to communicate with the information processing apparatus, if an authentication protocol related to user credentials generated at the time of a login operation is that which can limit a security domain, the apparatus accesses the external apparatus using the user credentials, and if that authentication protocol is that which cannot limit a security domain, the apparatus prompts the user to input an account accessible to the external apparatus.
US09166967B2
A comprehensive authentication and identity system and method are disclosed. A central profile is created for a user which includes user information that can be passed back or otherwise utilized by websites (e.g. for registrations, logins, etc.) The user information may include the user's username, password, contact information, personal information, marketing preferences, financial information, etc. For website registrations, the user may provide a mobile communication number that is utilized to perform a type of mobile communication device verification process. As part of a website login, the user may provide identifiable information (e.g. a username) that is looked up by the system or website to determine a mobile communication number for the user, which is used for a verification process. If the verification process is completed successfully, the user may be logged into the website. For accessing the system directly, a user may go through a mobile communication device verification process.
US09166965B2
An approach is provided for automated user authentication for a priority communication session. An authentication platform receives a session request for establishing a priority communication session over a data network between a user device and a service platform. The authentication platform determines network information and device information associated with the session request and the user device, respectively. The authentication platform further determines user history information regarding one or more prior communication sessions of a user of the user device. The authentication platform authenticates the user based on the network information, the device information, and the user history information for establishing the priority communication session.
US09166958B2
A key fob-control unit pairing device that includes a transceiver to transmit and receive signals, a memory to store a key fob identification (KFID) and a control unit identification (CUID), and a processor coupled to said transceiver and memory. The processor is to authenticate the key fob using identification (ID) authenticated key agreement protocol based on the KFID, and to transmit an encrypted CUID to the key fob.
US09166957B2
This invention provides a means of authenticating digital files without the need for a central trusted authority. A message digest of one or more digital files is calculated, preferably using a cryptographic hash function and all or part of the digest value is implanted into one or more biometric information files produced by the originator of the digital files or a trusted third party. The recipient of the digital files and biometric information files is able to determine all or part of the digest value from the biometric information files, check that this corresponds to the calculated message digest of one or more digital files as well as check the identity of the originator or trusted third party. In further embodiments the biometric information files contain all or part of a digital signature generated by the originator of the digital files or a trusted third party. The invention may be used in many applications including the distribution of public encryption keys.
US09166939B2
System and methods for uploading media content in an instant messaging application are disclosed. In some implementations, a method includes, at a first electronic device having one or more processors and memory: obtaining a request by a first user to associate a media content item with a conversation between the first user and a second user. The conversation includes a message and one or more responses to the message. In some implementations, the method also includes, responsive to the request: (i) causing a thumbnail of the media content item to be displayed in-line in the conversation; and (ii) causing the media content item to be display to the second user, in response to a predefined user action by the second user. The thumbnail is displayed in a first resolution; and the media content item is displayed in a second resolution that is different than the first resolution.
US09166929B1
In general, techniques are described that facilitate scalable wholesale layer two (L2) connectivity between customers and service providers and a demarcation between the L2 wholesale network and one or more ISPs with which customers communicate L2 PDUs. In one example, a network device receives PDU having both a service identifier identifying a service virtual local area network (SVLAN) and a customer identifier identifying a customer VLAN (CVLAN). A virtual switch determines whether an entry of a L2 learning table is associated with both the service identifier and the customer identifier of the PDU. When no such entry exists, a VLAN learning module updates the L2 learning table to create a new entry that maps to a network device interface and is associated with both the service identifier of the PDU and a plurality of customer identifiers that includes the customer identifier of the PDU.
US09166922B2
A communication device for an industrial communication network which can be operated in a redundant manner comprises a first and a second transmitting and receiving unit that transmit data packets in a bumpy or bumpless manner inside the industrial communication network and are selectively changeable over to a bumpy or bumpless transmission mode. An evaluation unit is connected to the first and/or second transmitting and receiving unit(s) and detects data packets to be transmitted in the bumpy or bumpless manner inside the industrial communication network. Redundancy handling and filter units for received redundant data packets are deactivated when a data packet to be transmitted in the bumpy manner is detected. A memory unit is assigned to the first and/or second transmitting and receiving unit(s) and buffers at least one data packet to be transmitted in the bumpy manner during a predefined period of time in the bumpy transmission mode.
US09166920B2
Embodiments provide systems, methods, and computer program products for mapping higher-layer circuits, links, flows, and services to lower layer circuit and connection elements to determine utilization of the lower layer circuit elements based on the high-layer traffic. Higher layer configuration data and lower layer configuration data are imported to populate a model. An inter-layer relationship is either directly or indirectly mapped from the higher layers to the lower layer. Once the inter-layer relationship is established, the higher-layer circuits, links, flows, and services are inspected using the lower layer circuit and connection elements. Circuit and packet-based utilization is determined for the lower layer elements based on the higher-layer traffic flows.
US09166919B2
The various embodiments of the invention provide mechanisms to reduce headroom size while minimizing dropped packets. In general, this is done by using a shared headroom space between all ports, and providing a randomized delay in transmitting a flow-control message.
US09166902B1
In a multicast networking device having a plurality of output ports, a hierarchical packet scheduling tree is generated for a first port. The hierarchical packet scheduling tree is generated from a transmission queue for the first port. A sequential search of the hierarchical scheduling tree is performed to determine a packet pointer to a first packet in the transmission queue of the first port. Based on the packet pointer, packet data for the first packet is obtained and the first packet comprising the packet data is transmitted to a destination device via the first port.
US09166893B2
In one embodiment, a data set is received at a network service element of a network service, a location record for that data set is generated, and the location record is sent to a location registry within the network service to monitored locations of that data set within a network service. The network service element is operatively coupled to a communications link. The location record is generated based on a portion of the data set and a cryptographic key associated with the network service element. The location record uniquely identifies the presence of the data set at the network service element.
US09166892B1
A system for managing event streams is provided that includes a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and a processor. The volatile memory is configured to store, for each of a plurality of event streams associated with the client device, metadata indicative of events not yet delivered to a client device and the content associated with only a most recent event of the event stream. The non-volatile memory is configured to store the content associated with each of undelivered events. The processor is configured to, upon receiving a request from the client device, retrieve from the volatile memory, without accessing the non-volatile memory, data indicative of a current state of an event stream associated with the client device. The processor is further configured to deliver the retrieved data indicative of the current state of the event stream.
US09166883B2
A method for identifying devices on a network using a two-step process of first scanning a range network addresses for devices and then acquiring device information from each of the accessible devices. The method involves scanning the network for devices by sending a request to each of a plurality of network addresses, receiving a response from one or more of the devices, obtaining a hardware address for at least some of the responding devices, and identifying the device based on the hardware address. A user interface is provided to display the results of the scan along with the more specific identifying information for some or all of the responding devices.
US09166873B2
A method and apparatus for a connection manager have been disclosed. By providing for persistent connections with clients, the connection manager allows for servers to communicate with clients, which would otherwise be inaccessible.
US09166870B2
A method for monitoring and reporting information regarding status of a power supply/management device operated by a user comprises detecting the status of the device using a monitoring device having an application interface configured to communicate over a communication network, generating a status update indication using a self-describing computer language and sending the status update indication over the communication network to a remote computer, and associating the user with the status update information for the remote device using the remote computer.
US09166865B2
According to one aspect of the present disclosure a system and technique for mobility operation resource allocation is disclosed. The system includes a first machine having a running application, and a management console operable to manage migrating the running application from the first machine to a second machine. The management console is operable to: display an interface indicating a plurality of selectable mobility settings, each mobility setting corresponding to a desired resource allocation to utilize for the migration; receive via the interface, a selection of a mobility setting to apply for migrating the running application; and initiate migration of the running application from the first machine to the second machine utilizing resources as set by the selected mobility setting.
US09166861B2
A method is provided for managing communication channels for transmission of multimedia contents from at least one server to at least one radio communication terminal. The method includes: transmitting a first content through a first channel; progressively rendering the first content in a terminal; issuing via the terminal a request for a second content, the request including a control datum indicating whether the second content is to be transmitted through the first channel or through a second channel; and progressively rendering the second content.
US09166859B2
A variable gain amplifier amplifies a baseband signal. A quadrature modulator quadrature-modulates the amplified baseband signal to generate a high-frequency signal. A power amplifier amplifies the generated high-frequency signal. An antenna transmits the amplified high-frequency signal. A detector detects the amplified high-frequency signal. A first nonvolatile memory stores the desired transmission power of the high-frequency signal to be transmitted from the antenna. A controller adjusts the gain of the variable gain amplifier depending on the output of the detector and the transmission power stored in the first nonvolatile memory.
US09166851B2
An OFDM signal identification method in a received signal, wherein the received signal is sampled and cut off into blocks of P samples, each block being subjected to an inverse Fourier transform to obtain a plurality of symbols at a plurality of frequencies. For each frequency of the plurality, the kurtosis of the set of symbols thus obtained at this frequency is calculated, and then it is determined whether the kurtosis has a periodicity in frequency domain from kurtosis values calculated for the frequencies of the plurality, and the presence of an OFDM signal in the received signal is identified if the kurtosis has such a periodicity.
US09166845B2
In one embodiment, a device maintains a predetermined number of high-priority subcarriers for use in communicating high-priority data frames and a predetermined number of low-priority subcarriers for use in communicating low-priority data frames. A data frame is received and a data frame priority is determined for the data frame. If the data frame is determined to be a low-priority data frame, a minimum number of subcarriers, from the low-priority subcarriers, required for communication of the data frame is determined and the data frame is communicated using the minimum number of subcarriers. If the data frame is determined to be a high-priority data frame, a maximum number of subcarriers available, including the high-priority subcarriers and the low-priority subcarriers, is determined and the data frame is communicated using the maximum number of subcarriers.
US09166844B2
An integrated circuit is disclosed that includes a receiver circuit to receive duobinary data symbols from a first signaling lane. The receiver circuit includes sampling circuitry to determine symbol state, and a duobinary decoder. The duobinary decoder is coupled to the sampling circuitry and converts the detected states to a PAM2 coded symbol stream. A decision-feedback equalizer (DFE) is provided that has inputs coupled to the sampling circuitry in parallel with the duobinary decoder. The DFE cooperates with the sampling circuitry to form a feedback path, such that the duobinary decoder is external to the feedback path.
US09166836B1
An estimate of a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) channel is computed, and an equalizer to be applied to signals received via the MIMO channel is computed. The equalizer is initialized based on the estimate of the MIMO channel. The equalizer is applied to a received signal, and the received signal is demodulated to generate a demodulated signal. The demodulated signal is decoded according to an error correction code to generate decoded data, and the decoded data is re-encoded according to the error correction code to generate re-encoded data. The re-encoded data is re-modulated to generate a re-modulated signal. The received signal is compared to the re-modulated signal, and the equalizer is updated based on the comparison. After updating the equalizer, the equalizer is applied to the received signal.
US09166833B2
A receiver may be operable to receive a signal. A sequence estimation module of the receiver may generate estimated symbols corresponding to the received signal. The generating of the estimated symbols may use tap information associated with one or both of a pulse shaper via which the signal was transmitted and an input filter of the receiver. The sequence estimation module may generate a reconstructed signal based on the estimated symbols and the tap information. A feed forward equalizer (FFE) of the receiver may adapt a plurality of tap coefficients of the FFE based on the reconstructed signal. The signal may be equalized via the FFE. The adaptation of the tap coefficients of the FFE may be based on a least-mean-square (LMS) process for minimizing a mean square of the error signal. An output signal of the FFE may comprise a power gain compensation.
US09166829B2
This method for the estimation of a channel between an emitter and a receiver, where the said emitter emits a signal comprising symbol frames distributed in time and frequency, among which pilot symbols known to the receiver, is characterized in that it comprises the following steps: •—computation (30) of a covariance matrix MF and MT of the channel in the frequency and time domains respectively; •—decomposition (32) of the covariance matrices MF and MT into eigenvectors according to the relations MF−WFHNFWF and MT−WTHNTWT; •—computation (34) of the Kronecker product of the matrices NVF and WT to obtain an eigenvector matrix W; •—computation (34) of a diagonal eigenvalue matrix N equal to the Kronecker product of the eigenvalue matrices NF and NT; and •—estimation of the channel with the help of pilot symbols and matrices W and N using the maximum a posteriori or quadratic error minimisation criterion.
US09166818B2
Techniques for provisioning single or multistage networks using Ethernet Service Instances (ESIs). In one embodiment, an ESI is a logical entity or object that stores information that may be used to provision a network. An ESI may represent a logical entity that identifies a grouping of elements of a network or network device and associated attributes. Hierarchical relationships may be created between ESIs. The hierarchical relationships are used to perform packet-level processing including performing network packet encapsulations.
US09166817B2
A method for load balancing Ethernet traffic within a fat tree network (315, 455) includes randomly assigning incoming messages (510) into hash classes using a hash function (520); allocating the hash classes among uplinks (550); and transmitting the incoming messages on the uplinks (550) according to the hash class. A network switch (515) for load balancing communication flows in a fat tree network (315, 455) includes downlinks (545) and uplinks (550); the network switch (515) being configured to route communication flows among the downlinks (545) and uplinks (550); a hash module (520) which receives a MAC address from a message (510) and outputs a hash address; and a TCAM lookup module (535) which allocates the hash address into a hash class and allocates the hash class to one of the uplinks (550).
US09166814B1
A method and apparatus in which multiple Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless data transmissions are simultaneously provided between a wireless device and a server, including providing multiple antennas, multiple T/R units, multiple processors and multiple I/O ports on the wireless device. The method includes receiving multiple IP data packets on the I/O ports at substantially the same time, and sending multiple data packets from the wireless device to the server, whereby the transmission rate between the wireless device and the server is increased.
US09166813B2
A method and apparatus is provided for the delivery of digital television and interactive broadband service in a manner that maximizes the usage of the digital broadcast spectrum. A digital television signal is transmitted to a given broadcast area in a relatively small part (for example, a 1 MHz band) of one or more licensed portions of the digital broadcast spectrum. Interactive broadband service is delivered within at least a portion of the same broadcast area covered by the broadcast digital television signal, in the remainder (for example, a 5 MHz band) of an unused part of the same licensed portion of the digital broadcast spectrum as is occupied by the digital television signal, or within an unlicensed (unused) portion of the digital broadcast spectrum. The broadcasting of the digital television and delivery the interactive broadband service occur simultaneously. In one embodiment, digital television and broadband service are delivered by the same equipment within the same bandwidth.
US09166803B2
According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for communicating service data flow (SDF) event information. The method includes steps occurring at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node. The method also includes communicating, via an Rx interface, a request to a deep packet inspection (DPI) node to be notified when an SDF event occurs. The method further includes receiving notification from the DPI node that the SDF event has occurred.
US09166801B2
An intrinsically safe connection unit with a network interface for intrinsically safe appliances in explosion-risk areas, having a housing, a voltage supply connection, plug connection for connecting an intrinsically safe appliance via a transmission cable, and a decoupling circuit. For allowing even a multiplicity of network subscribers to be connected in the explosion-risk area with less wiring complexity, a plurality of plug connections of the same type are provided as network interface, each being preceded by a separate decoupling circuit, and the voltage supply connection builds a central feed connection with separate supply cores for each plug connection each having at least two plug contacts for data communication and at least two plug contacts for supplying power to the connectable appliances via the transmission cable. The invention relates also to a Controller and a network interface for use therewith.
US09166795B2
A device is described for forming a signature from an input signal (input). According to the present invention, a plurality of transformation elements is provided, each having a finite-state machine, to which, on the input end, in each case the input signal (input) and/or a signal (input′), that is a function of the input signal, is able to be fed, all the finite-state machines are similar and are configured in such a way, particularly able to be initialized, that each finite-state machine always respectively has a different state than do all the other finite-state machines, and the signature is formable as a function of state data of at least one finite-state machine.
US09166789B2
According to an embodiment, a cryptographic processing apparatus performs processes to encrypt plain text or decrypt cipher text. The processes include a non-linear process using multiplication. The non-linear process is a process performed using intermediate data masked with mask data. The intermediate data is data in a middle of the plurality of processes. The mask data hides the intermediate data. The apparatus includes a non-linear processing unit configured to receive first data that is an exclusive OR of a product of the intermediate data and first mask data and second mask data, and output second data that is an exclusive OR of a product of data obtained by the non-linear process on the intermediate data and data obtained by the non-linear process on the first mask data and third mask data having a predetermined correspondence relation with the second mask data.
US09166783B2
A digital content protection method includes distributing, together with an encrypted content, an encrypted protected program key, a protected content key, and a protected code including an individual instruction code, at least some elements of which are designed according to a unique operation code specification for each content player or for each content player group.
US09166780B2
To limit use of content, when a source receives a request for transmitting content from a sink, the source performs an authentication process. When the authentication is successful, the source transmits to the sink key information necessary for decrypting the encryption applied to the content. The sink can receive the content by receiving the key information and by decrypting the encryption applied to the content by using the key information.
US09166776B2
A method and system for pseudorandom noise (“PN”) phase detection in digital terrestrial multimedia broadcast (“DTMB”) receivers. This method selects a detection range of symbols from a frame of the received signal; applies FFT to the PN portion of each of the symbols in the detection range to generate Hn(k); applies phase rotation to Hn(k) to obtain phase rotated for the PN portion of the symbols in the detection range; applies differential operations to to generate Hpd ; sums the Hpd to generated Hsum; calculates a value Q as a function of Hsum; and determines the PN phase offset as a function of Q and a predefined threshold.
US09166775B2
A data communication system includes a unit that receives edge-encoded data from a data link. The unit includes a counter, a data bit reader, and a phase-locked loop. The counter counts at a sampling frequency between a minimum value and an end-count value. The data bit reader is connected to receive the edge-encoded data. The data bit reader samples the edge-encoded data at the sampling frequency to detect data bits of the edge-encoded data. The phase-locked loop updates the end-count value if consecutive bits of the data bits are detected prior to an expected iteration of the counter. The phase-locked loop also updates the end-count value if consecutive bits of the data bits are detected later than the expected iteration of the first counter.
US09166772B2
A data reception apparatus obtains an integrated number of bits by integrating the numbers of bits of a bit string, obtains an integrated number of samples by integrating the number of samples obtained by oversampling each bit, obtains an approximated line that indicates correspondence between the integrated number of bits and the integrated number of samples, determines, based on the approximated line, a bit length of a bit string corresponding to a segment in which identical values continue in oversampling data after the integrated number of samples. Even when a receive-side clock source has a degree of clock frequency error against a transmit-side clock source, how many samples one bit of the bit string corresponds to is obtained with an accuracy higher than a period of oversampling (inverse of the number of samples).
US09166765B2
Provided is a high-frequency circuit module that has high mounting density. In a high-frequency circuit module, an RFIC that performs transmission and reception processes for high-frequency signals, a power amplifier IC that amplifies a transmission signal from the RFIC, and a duplexer that separates a transmission signal outputted from the power amplifier IC to an antenna and a reception signal that is inputted from the antenna to the RFIC are formed on the top surface thereof. The duplexer is disposed between the RFIC and the power amplifier IC.
US09166764B2
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The UE receives pilot signals from a serving base station and at least one interfering base station. The UE determines phase rotations used by the serving base station and the at least one interfering base station for transmitting resource blocks. The UE determines channel feedback based on the received pilots signals and the determined phase rotations for each of the serving base station and the at least one interfering base station. The UE sends the channel feedback to the serving base station. The UE receives data based on the determined phase rotations.
US09166743B2
When data retransmission is used to handle errors caused by impulse noise, buffer memory requirements may be reduced and/or data rate increased by detecting impulse noise at the transmitting equipment and initiating retransmission in response to such detection rather than waiting for a retransmission indication from the receiving end. The decision to retransmit may be made dependent on the strength or other properties of the detected noise burst. The decision criterion may be made adaptive by correlating noise burst properties with received retransmission indications or the absence thereof.
US09166742B2
A frame configuration used for both SISO transmission and MISO and/or MIMO transmission. According to the frame configuration, a frame has a preamble, a control symbol, and transmission data symbols. A transmission device includes the designation of a transmission scheme of the transmission data symbols in the control symbol and includes the designation of a transmission scheme of the control symbol in the preamble. This frame configuration improves the reception performance (detection performance) of a reception device.
US09166733B2
A method and nodes for providing adaptive segmentation in a higher protocol layer interacting with a lower protocol layer. An adaptable segmentation limit, defining a threshold of a largest Protocol Data Unit (PDU) that is to be submitted to a lower protocol layer, is deployed at a higher protocol layer interacting with the lower protocol layer. A PDU to be submitted to the lower protocol layer may match any transport block size that is available in the lower protocol layer. For each Service Data Unit (SDU) arriving at the higher protocol layer, it is determined if the respective SDU can fit into the segmentation limit or not. Each SDU that do not fit into the segmentation limit is segmented into PDUs which are smaller than or equal to the segmentation limit, while no segmentation is performed on SDUs that fit into the segmentation limit.
US09166721B2
The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to reconfigurable optical transmitters. In some implementations, an apparatus, systems, or methods can include multiple ports to receive independent optical data signals or independent electrical signals that are converted into independent optical data signals, at least one optical pump laser, and one or more nonlinear optics elements configured and arranged to generate a phase conjugate for each of the independent optical data signals at least by combining the respective independent optical data signal with an output of the optical pump, and generate an output optical signal from the independent optical data signals at least by combining each of the independent optical data signals with its corresponding generated phase conjugate.
US09166713B2
A method for providing access to operation information relating to a digital signal, including providing a digital signal encoded, in accordance with a layered encoding scheme, in a plurality of layers, and extracting operation information from a first layer of encoding within the digital signal, and placing the extracted information in a data section in a second layer of encoding within the digital signal. Related methods and apparatus are also described.
US09166701B1
A stream of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals can be converted into the electrical domain and processed electrically to discriminate the information on each optical signal. An optical medium can transmit multiple optical communication signals, each having a different wavelength and each imprinted with different information. Detectors can receive the optical communication signals, with each detector receiving some of each communication signal. Thus, any one of the detectors can output an electrical signal according to a composite of multiple optical communication signals. Accordingly, each output electrical signal can include features or energy of each of the optical communication signals. An electrical circuit can process the electrical signals output by the detectors. The processing can remove from each electrical signal contributions from all but one of the optical communication signals, so that each processed electrical signal carries the information of a single wavelength division multiplexed optical signal.
US09166698B2
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to electronic dispersion compensation (EDC). The interaction between the frequency chirp and the fiber dispersion is newly analyzed. The linear and nonlinear properties of the chirp-dispersion are separately analyzed. A pre-compensating transmitter may consist of a phase interpolator (PI), a 2 tap data generator, a pulse widening CLK generator, a rising pattern detector, 4:1 Mux and an output driver. A post-compensating receiver may consist of linear equalizer for the rabbit ear compensation, nonlinear equalizer for tilting compensation, typical high frequency boosting equalizer (EQ) and limiting amp (LA).
US09166696B2
An apparatus including a photodiode, a low pass filter, an analog-to-digital converter, an interpolation circuit and a digital signal processor is disclosed. The photodiode receives a portion of a plurality of optical signals, each of which is modulated in accordance with a corresponding one of a plurality of data streams, and each having a corresponding one of a plurality of wavelengths. The photodiode supplies an electrical output. The low-pass filter supplies a filtered output in response to the electrical output. The analog-to-digital converter is configured to sample the filtered output at a first sampling rate to generate a plurality of first data samples. The interpolation circuit is configured to receive the plurality of first data samples and supply a plurality of second data samples at a second sampling rate less the first sampling rate. The digital signal processor circuit is configured to receive the plurality of second data samples.
US09166694B2
The invention relates to an optical coupling unit for an arrangement for sending optical signals, including a base unit, a light path formed between a light input and a light output of the base unit and configured to transmit light received via the light input to the light output, an outer light path section included in the light path, which section extends outside the base unit and into which the light transmitted along the light path emerges from the base unit via a light exit and from which the light after passing through the outer light path section enters again into the base unit via a light entry, and a light decoupling element, which is formed in the light path by means of at least one beamsplitting surface coating and configured to decouple a portion of the light transmitted along the light path. Furthermore the invention relates to an arrangement for sending optical signals and to an optical transceiver.
US09166689B2
A system receives four-bit symbols that correspond to traffic associated with a three-bit phase modulation scheme and are encoded based on a four-bit phase modulation scheme. The system determines values with which to perform equalization that enable the four-bit symbols to be restored to a condition that existed prior to being transmitted to the system. The system performs, using the values, equalization on a four-bit symbol that includes at least a first pair of bits associated with a first polarization, and performs, after completing the equalization, another equalization on another four-bit symbol that includes at least a second pair of bits associated with a second polarization. The system identifies a three-bit symbol, of a set of three-bit symbols associated with the three-bit phase modulation scheme, based on the equalized first pair of bits and the equalized second pair of bits, generates the three-bit symbol, and outputs the three-bit symbol.
US09166687B2
Various systems and methods for using credits to determine cable length are described herein. A number of available credits is determined at a transmitter, the credits being received at the transmitter from a receiver, and each of the credits being used for the transmitter to transmit a packet to the receiver. An average number of credits for a period is determined. The cable length between the transmitter and the receiver is determined based on the average number of credits for the period.
US09166683B2
A hybrid communications system implements different communication technologies to communicate data and information for particular communications directions in different portions of the system. Power line communications (PLC) signaling is used to deliver data and information from a gateway device to a light access point. Visible light communications (VLC) signaling is used to communicate data and information from the light access point to a user equipment (UE) device. Wireless radio signaling, wireless infrared (IR) signaling, or a combination of wireless IR signaling and PLC signaling is used to communicate data/information from the UE device to the gateway device. To efficiently control the VLC communications channel between the light access point and UE device, the UE device measures the VLC channel, e.g., calculating SNRs on a per VLC tone basis, and communicating VLC channel quality feedback information to the gateway device, which is forwarded to the light access point.
US09166672B2
A wireless communication system comprises a relay system including a plurality of relay devices and a plurality of wireless terminal devices. Each relay device transmits control information to the wireless terminal device which is registered in the own relay device, and each wireless terminal device selects, based on the control information received from the relay device which registers the own wireless terminal device, a channel which is currently able to relay a communication among channels respectively allocated to the relay devices to establish a communication between the wireless terminal devices. Each relay device acquires information configuring the control information via a communication line and causes a downlink signal wirelessly transmitted by the own relay device to synchronize with a communication signal, and each wireless terminal device maintains, when shifting a channel for communication to another channel, a synchronized state established in a channel prior to shifting.
US09166666B2
A terminal apparatus is disclosed wherein even in a case of applying SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO at the same time, the inter-sequence interference in a plurality of pilot signals used by the same terminal can be suppressed to a low value, while the inter-sequence interference in pilot signal between terminals can be reduced. In this terminal apparatus: a pilot information deciding unit decides, based on allocation control information, Walsh sequences of the respective ones of first and second stream groups at least one of which includes a plurality of streams; and a pilot signal generating unit forms a transport signal by using the decided Walsh sequences to spread the streams included in the first and second stream groups. During this, Walsh sequences orthogonal to each other are established in the first and second stream groups, and users are allocated on a stream group-by-stream group basis.
US09166665B2
Communication is performed for a first communication device having a set of antenna elements. A quality-indication signal is received from a second communication device (e.g., a basestation). A complex weighting is calculated based on the quality-indication signal. A pre-transmission signal is modified based on the complex transmit diversity weighting to produce a set of modified-pre-transmission signals, wherein the modifications are symmetric by making approximately half the magnitude of the transmit diversity modification to one signal in a first direction, and approximately half the magnitude of the transmit diversity modification to the other signal in a second direction, opposite the first direction. Each modified pre-transmission signal from the set of modified-pre-transmission signals is uniquely associated with an antenna element from the set of antenna elements. The set of modified-pre-transmission signals is sent from the set of antenna elements to produce a transmitted signal.
US09166662B1
A computer readable storage medium or media stores machine readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to generate, using reference signals received via a first communication channel from a first communication device to a second communication device, an estimate of the first communication channel using the received reference signals, calculate one or more transmit beamforming vectors using the estimate of the first communication channel, and utilize the one or more transmit beamforming vectors to process signals to be transmitted via a second communication channel from the second device to the first device. The first device processes the signals to be transmitted from the second device to the first device according to a model H ei, where H is a matrix representing the second communication channel and ei is a vector with all components of ei, except an ith component, being equal to zero.
US09166655B2
A communication system for an active implantable medical device. The communication system includes an isolation transformer a coil coupled to the isolation transformer, and first and second communication components each coupled to the isolation transformer such that the first and second communication components are electrically isolated from the coil, and such that the isolation transformer enables the first and second communication components to communicate, via magnetic induction (MI) using the coil, with at least one external component.
US09166654B2
An electronic device includes: a device main body having a battery; a power reception unit configured to receive a first wireless power signal formed by a first apparatus; a charging unit configured to charge the battery based on the received first wireless power signal; a power conversion unit configured to form a second wireless power signal for transmitting power to a second apparatus by using power of the battery; and a controller configured to determine whether to activate a power reception function or a power transmission function, wherein when the power reception function is activated, the controller controls the power reception unit to receive the first wireless power signal, and when the power transmission function is activated, the controller controls the power conversion unit to form the second wireless power.
US09166651B2
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for sensing noise sources in a wireline communications environment such as a customer premises environment in a DSL system. In embodiments, the invention includes an additional sensor that is connected to power mains in a DSL customer premises environment either to characterize, at their source, noises coupling into the DSL lines, and/or to mitigate their impact into the DSL lines. One objective is associated with diagnostics that help to better characterize the noise signals themselves and derive correlation of signals sensed from the power mains and their possible projection onto the DSL line. Another objective makes use of these power line sensor signals to mitigate or to eliminate power line noises that make their way onto the DSL line. Example embodiments further include and exploit signals from additional secondary sensors such as secondary common mode, differential mode and phantom mode sensors.
US09166650B2
This disclosure presents a method of canceling inductance-dominated crosstalk using a capacitive coupling circuit; it also presents a method of calibrating, selecting and programming a capacitance value used for coupling, so as to add a derivative of each aggressor signal to each victim signal, and thereby negate crosstalk that would otherwise be seen by a given receiver. In the context of a multiple-line bus, cross-coupling circuits may be used between each pair of “nearest neighbors,” with values calibrated and used for each particular transmitter-receiver pair. Embodiments are also presented which address crosstalk induced between lines that are not nearest neighbors, such as, for example, for use in a differential signaling system.
US09166644B2
A dongle transceiver a substrate, a transceiver circuit, a transmit/receive switch, a MIMO antenna structure, and a decoupling module. The transceiver circuit is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate and is coupled to the transmit/receive switch. The MIMO antenna structure is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate. The decoupling module is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate, couples the MIMO antenna structure to the transmit/receive switch, and electrically isolates antennas of the MIMO antenna structure.
US09166642B2
A signal receiving device and signal receiving method to pass a desired frequency component of an intermediate frequency signal by using an IF filter without increasing a chip area. The signal receiving device comprises: a mixer to mix a received frequency signal with a local oscillation frequency signal to generate an intermediate frequency signal; an IF filter to pass a predetermined frequency component of the intermediate frequency signal; a controlling part which adjusts, according to a frequency band of the intermediate frequency signal, the frequency band of the IF filter, and adjust, according to a center frequency set in the IF filter that fluctuates with the adjustment, a center frequency of the intermediate frequency signal to be inputted in the IF filter; and a demodulating part to demodulate a frequency component of the intermediate frequency signal outputted after passing through the IF filter.
US09166633B2
Information is communicated from a host device to a receiving device via white space. A white space device is interfaced with the host device. The white space device has at least one port configured to communicatively interface with a host device to receive multimedia content from the host device. The white space device also optionally has a television band engine configured to encode a transport stream containing at least a portion of the multimedia content received from the host device. A transmitter is configured to transmit the transport stream via white space.
US09166632B1
A receiver including a mixer, a clock generator, a plurality of capacitances, a plurality of resistances, and a controller. The mixer includes a plurality of switches. The clock generator is configured to generate clock signals to drive the plurality of switches of the mixer. The plurality of capacitances couples the clock signals to respective inputs of the plurality of switches. The plurality of resistances couples to the respective inputs of the plurality of switches. The controller is configured to output a first signal to the plurality of resistances. The first signal determines one or more attributes of the clock signals. One or more switching characteristics of the plurality of switches of the mixer are based on the one or more attributes of the clock signals.
US09166622B2
The present invention is a programmable QC LDPC encoder for encoding user data. The encoder may be configurable for implementation with a read channel. The encoder may include a plurality of barrel shifter circuits. The barrel shifter circuits are configured for generating a plurality of parity bits based on interleaved user bits received by the encoder. The barrel shifter circuits are further configured for outputting the parity bits. The encoder may further include an encoder interleaver memory. The encoder interleaver memory may be communicatively coupled with the barrel shifter circuits and may receive the parity bits output from the barrel shifter circuits. The encoder interleaver may be configured for interleaving the parity bits. Further, the encoder may be configured for outputting the interleaved parity bits to a multiplexer. The barrel shifter circuits may generate the plurality of parity bits via an encoding algorithm: p=u*GT.
US09166616B2
A signal conversion method including converting an input signal into a 1-bit pulse train representing an analog signal is provided. The 1-bit pulse train has a pulse rising waveform frise and a pulse falling waveform ffall. The pulse rising waveform frise includes a first distortion component with respect to an ideal pulse rising waveform, and the pulse falling waveform ffall includes a second distortion component with respect to an ideal pulse falling waveform. The first distortion component and the second distortion component are substantially line-symmetric with respect to a time axis.
US09166614B2
The ramp-signal generator circuit includes a reference voltage generator that changes the voltage of a reference signal Vr to a comparator setting voltage VR for compensating for a voltage difference between a reference signal Vr and an analog input signal (Vs1-Vsn) before comparison by an analog-to-digital converter circuit and outputs a ramp signal whose slope starts from the comparator setting voltage VR in response to a start of the comparison. The ramp-signal generator circuit is configured to add a predetermined enhanced voltage VA to the comparator setting voltage VR before the comparison.
US09166610B2
The invention relates to an arrangement and a method for the identification of parameters in a nonlinear model of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC 17) and the use of this information to reduce the nonlinear distortions of the ADC. A parameter estimator determines an AD parameter vector PAD which describes the nonlinearities of the ADC (17). According to the invention the ADC is excited by a perturbed input signal y′A generated by adder 77 which combines the analog input signal yA with perturbation signal s1 provided by generator. The nonlinear system identification uses intermodulation distortion generated in the digital ADC output signal y′D which are not found in the analog input signal yA. A nonlinear AD compensation element compensates based on parameter vector PAD the nonlinear distortion generated by the ADC and generates the linearized output signal yD. Digital control information PP,1 are used to generate the perturbation signal s1 in generator and to remove the perturbation signal the compensation element. The linearized ADC (is the basis for linearizing digital-analog-converters (DAC), amplifiers and other hardware components.
US09166600B2
A standard cell used for the logic synthesis and the routing of layout is configured by a logic circuit on an output side and a logic circuit on an input side, and a driving capacity of the logic circuit on the output side is made large while gate input capacitance of the logic circuit on the input side is made small.
US09166589B2
Method and circuitry for implementing high speed multiple-data-rate interface architectures for programmable logic devices. The invention partitions I/O pins and their corresponding registers into independent multiple-data rate I/O modules each having at least one pin dedicated to the strobe signal DQS and others to DQ data signals. The modular architecture facilitates pin migration from one generation of PLDs to the next larger generation.
US09166587B2
A field programmable gate array (FPGA) includes configuration RAM (CRAM) including at least one non-hardened portion and at least one hardened portion having an SER resilience greater than an SER resilience of the non-hardened portion.
US09166573B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, in a semiconductor device, a plurality of commands for specifying a circuit configuration of an analog front-end unit are transmitted from a processing unit to the analog front-end unit, an analysis is performed on the plurality of commands received by the analog front-end unit, and when a circuit configuration of the analog front-end unit which is to be updated and is determined according to the plurality of commands includes a forbidden condition that has been previously set, updating processing of the circuit configuration according to the plurality of commands is stopped.
US09166568B2
A sensor interface circuit is provided for resolving sensor signals from a plurality of sensors into a digital sensor signal. The sensor interface circuit includes a relaxation oscillator that receives and pre-processes the sensor signals to generate an analog sensor signal. The relaxation oscillator includes one or more dynamic circuits. The sensor interface circuit also includes a monitoring module for receiving the analog sensor signal and generating the digital sensor signal in response thereto. There is also provided a sensor system front-end and a relaxation oscillator.
US09166567B2
A power-gating circuit and devices including the same are provided. The power-gating circuit includes a flip-flop configured to receive a first power supply voltage and a gated clock signal to operate and a switch circuit connected between a first power supply voltage source configured to supply the first power supply voltage and a second power supply voltage source configured to supply a second power supply voltage. The switch circuit includes a first switch configured to be connected between the first power supply voltage source and the second power supply voltage source and to operate in response to a clock enable signal and a second switch configured to be connected between the first power supply voltage source and the second power supply voltage source and to operate in response to the first power supply voltage.
US09166565B2
An output driver configured to drive an output node includes a pull-down section having a plurality of legs and a pull-up section having a plurality of pull-up legs. Each leg and pull-up leg includes a data path and a calibration path. The data paths in the pull-down section are configured to conduct to ground responsive to an assertion of a complement data output signal whereas the data paths in the pull-up section are configured to conduct to a power supply node responsive to a de-assertion of the complement data output signal.
US09166562B2
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for reducing harmonic emissions. One aspect of the disclosure provides a transmitter apparatus. The transmitter apparatus includes a driver circuit characterized by an efficiency and a power output level. The driver circuit further includes a filter circuit electrically connected to the driver circuit and configured to modify the impedance of the transmit circuit to maintain the efficiency of the driver circuit at a level that is within 20% of a maximum efficiency of the driver circuit when the impedance is within the complex impedance range. The filter circuit is further configured to maintain a substantially constant power output level irrespective of the reactive variations within the complex impedance range. The filter circuit is further configured to maintain a substantially linear relationship between the power output level and the resistive variations within the impedance range.
US09166561B1
Embodiments provide a variable-impedance transmission line. In some embodiments, a variable-impedance transmission line may include one or more conductors that may be isolated or configured as parts of forward or return paths based on states of switches of the variable-impedance transmission line. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US09166560B2
A decoupling circuit comprises an output buffer that includes a transistor, and a capacitor that has an end thereof connected to an output node of the output buffer and the other end thereof connected to a power supply line, and a logic level outputted by the output node of the output buffer is fixed.
US09166555B2
A phase shifter using a Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators (BAWR) is provided. The phase shifter using a BAWR may use a property of a phase shift with respect to a frequency of the BAWR, and also use at least one capacitor, at least one inductor, and the like.
US09166552B2
A filter includes one or a plurality of parallel resonators coupled in parallel and one or a plurality of a film bulk acoustic resonators coupled in series, the film bulk acoustic resonator having a substrate, a lower electrode, a piezoelectric membrane, and an upper electrode, wherein: at least one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode has a thick membrane region having a thickness larger than that of a center portion of a resonance region at an edge of the resonance region, the resonance region being a region where the lower electrode and the upper electrode face with each other through the piezoelectric membrane; and a width of the thick membrane region is smaller than a wavelength of an acoustic wave propagating in a direction crossing a thickness direction of the piezoelectric membrane.
US09166546B2
An apparatus for processing an input sound signal, the apparatus including: gain circuitry configured to control a gain based on a plurality of respective sub-signals of the input sound signal; and an amplification apparatus configured to adjust the amplification of all the plurality of amplitudes based on the gain.
US09166539B2
A wireless transmitter includes an RF signal generation circuit, a driver amplifier, and a class-D amplifier. The RF signal generation circuit detects an amplitude signal and a phase signal based on a digital baseband signal subjected to orthogonal modulation, thus generating a pulse phase signal which is High in response to the phase ranging from 0° to 180° but is Low in response to the phase ranging from 180° to 360°. The amplitude signal is subjected to sigma-delta modulation in synchronism with the pulse phase signal and further mixed with the pulse phase signal, thus producing an RF pulse signal. The RF pulse signal is input to the class-D amplifier via the driver amplifier, thus outputting a pulse voltage signal based on a reference voltage. Thus, it is possible to achieve a small-size wireless transmitter with good noise/distortion characteristics and high power efficiency.
US09166533B2
Techniques for monitoring and controlling bias current of amplifiers are described. In an exemplary design, an apparatus may include an amplifier and a bias circuit. The amplifier may include at least one transistor coupled to an inductor. The bias circuit may generate at least one bias voltage for the at least one transistor in the amplifier to obtain a target bias current for the amplifier. The bias circuit may generate the at least one bias voltage based on a voltage across the inductor in the amplifier, or a current through a current mirror formed with one of the at least one transistor in the amplifier, or a gate-to-source voltage of one of the at least one transistor in the amplifier, or a voltage in a replica circuit replicating the amplifier, or a current applied to the amplifier with a switched mode power supply disabled.
US09166524B2
The invention includes an apparatus for mounting a photovoltaic (PV) module on a structure where the apparatus includes a base portion, a stud portion, and a coupling portion. The coupling portion includes a male portion that acts as a spring under load and a clip portion that penetrates the PV module frame to create a grounding bond. The apparatus includes a lower jaw, shaped to pry open a groove, and a key portion that can compress to allow for tolerances. The invention further includes a clip with one or more tabs and one or more teeth. The invention further includes a replacement roof tile which includes a support structure with a horizontal flange, a vertical component, a horizontal component, a flashing with an upper surface and a lower surface, and a tile-shaped metal surface having a curvilinear shape that reflects the shapes of adjacent tiles.
US09166517B2
A motor controller comprises a PWM demodulation processor for restoring speed command value Vr from PWM command signal Si, a rotation control section for generating drive value Dd of a motor according to the speed command value Vr, a power drive section for generating driving voltages Uo, Vo and Wo to energize and drive a motor winding according to the drive value Dd, a rotation speed calculating section for generating detected speed value Vd as an information signal to be transmitted to outside, and a PWM modulation processor for generating PWM information signal Fp pulse-width modulated by detected speed value Vd. The PWM modulation processor outputs the PWM information signal Fp generated in synchronization with the PWM command signal.
US09166513B2
Provided is an inverter apparatus 20 configured to switch a current winding to an optimal winding when a rotation speed of a rotor of an AC electric motor 40 is within a hysteresis region defined by first and second switch timings for switching a state of an armature winding between a first winding and a second winding and when the current winding differs from the optimal winding.
US09166510B1
A rocket propelled vehicle includes a controllable voltage AC generator configured to be connected to a power generation turbine shaft and configured to convert rotational energy to electrical energy, wherein the controllable voltage AC generator is configured to output a desired voltage irrespective of a change in a rotational speed of the power generation turbine shaft, an AC electric motor pump configured to pump at least one of fuel or oxidizer to a combustion chamber of the rocket propelled vehicle, and an AC bus connecting the controllable voltage AC generator to each of the AC electric motor pump.
US09166506B2
Control of rotational speed of a motor is provided using an apparatus and method that provides a staging and a driving mode. A processor controls speed of the motor in three different modes to provide different control that is appropriate for different situations. Control-input indications are received by a processor indicating that a stepping mode is selected. In stepping mode, a sequence of commutation states are chosen in succession at a given stepping frequency for a given control selection. In an active-holding mode, the same phase in the commutation sequence is pulsed at low power to hold a motor location. In a closed-loop motor-control mode, the commutation state is sensed and state transition time is controlled relative to neutral timing. These modes may be used to advantage to simulate a drag race. An operator controls a remote-control vehicle in a stepping mode to drive toward a first beam at a drag start line. When the first beam at the start line is broken, but a second beam is not broken, the ESC begins to perform motor control to actively hold the vehicle in position until the race starts. After the race starts, the ESC receives a control-input indication to drive the motor in a closed-loop motor-control mode.
US09166500B2
A power conversion system is disclosed including a DC bus for receiving DC power, a power converter for converting the DC power to AC power, and a controller. The controller includes an active power regulator for generating a phase angle command signal, a reactive power regulator for generating a voltage magnitude command, and an active power (P) and reactive power (Q) decoupling unit for decoupling interaction between the active and reactive power regulators. The PQ decoupling unit includes an active power compensation element and a reactive power compensation element. The active power compensation element is used for generating a phase angle compensation signal based on a reactive power error signal, to compensate the phase angle command signal. The reactive power compensation element is used for generating a voltage magnitude compensation signal based on an active power error signal, to compensate the voltage magnitude command signal.
US09166498B2
A hybrid diode-less power converter topology of the present invention converts power from an AC power source to a variable load with high efficiency. The power converter includes a non-symmetrical arrangement of rectifying switches for rectifying an input AC voltage and shaping switches for shaping an input AC current. The shaping switches are operated in Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) based on an input AC current. Operation of each of the rectifying switches and shaping switches are further controlled wherein a commutation time for the shaping switches is associated with a first voltage rise and fall time (e.g., less than 10 ns), and a commutation time for the rectifying switches is associated with a second voltage rise and fall time (e.g., at least 100 ns), wherein the first voltage rise and fall time is less than the second voltage rise and fall time by a factor of nine or more.
US09166490B2
The present invention provides a full-bridge driving controller and a full-bridge converting circuit, which have the function of soft switch, to provide a DC output voltage. The present invention employs a resonant unit to oscillate the current flowing through the converting circuit at a resonant frequency. The full-bridge driving controller switches four full-bridge transistor switches at an operating frequency higher than the resonant frequency, so as to achieve the function of soft switch.
US09166489B2
The present invention relates to multi-phase parallel-interleaved converter circuits with each phase having two or more transformers and two or more rectifiers electrically coupled to the two or more transformers, and layouts of the transformers and the rectifiers of the multi-phase parallel-interleaved converter circuits. In the layouts, the multiple transformers and the multiple rectifiers of the multi-phase converters are interleavingly arranged to be symmetrical to common output polarized capacitor(s) so as to ensure the rectifier outputs of each phase relative to the common output polarized capacitors is symmetrical, thereby reducing the output ripples of the current of the output capacitors.
US09166477B2
A control circuit of a power converter includes: a zero current detection circuit for detecting a current flowing between an inductor and a voltage output terminal of the power converter to generate a zero current detection signal; an adjusting circuit for generating an adjustment signal according to the zero current detection signal; a clock signal generating circuit for adjusting a frequency of a clock signal according to the adjustment signal; a periodical signal generating circuit for generating a periodical signal according to the clock signal; an error detection circuit for generating an error signal; and a control signal generating circuit for generating a control signal to control operations of a power switch. If the and amount of pulses generated by the zero current detection circuit satisfy a predetermined condition, the adjusting circuit switches the power converter's operation mode from DCM to CCM.
US09166475B2
Techniques are provided that can extend the efficiency of a switching regulator further into the low current region by making use of the available knowledge on predictable load variations and voltage ripple tolerance across different states, providing improved efficiency and reducing total current consumption. The load current requirement in low power states is provided using switch mode rather than linear regulation, the switch mode operation being controlled by a mode dependent control circuit so as to minimize the energy cost of the switching operation in each mode and thus obtain improved efficiency from the power source.
US09166470B2
A method and circuit for correcting a power factor in an alternating current/direct current power transformer. The circuit has an inductor fed by a rectified AC voltage, and a switch by which the inductor can be charged and discharged by closing and opening the switch, and further has a diode by which the discharge current of the inductor is fed to the output of the circuit. During the discharge phase, a voltage corresponding to the output voltage is measured, and the measured values are stored. It is further determined when the discharge current reaches or crosses the zero line at the end of a discharge phase. Switch-on and switch-off signals for actuating the switch are generated by analyzing the information determined. The switch should not be switched on again until a particular minimum switch-off time has been reached.
US09166465B2
A power controller controls power to a load and includes a primary conductor, a current divider, first and second current sensors, and a controller. The primary conductor carries a primary current to the load. The current divider is connected between the primary conductor and the load and includes a first conductor and a second conductor. The second conductor has a greater impedance than the first conductor. The first current sensor provides a first output representative of the primary current, and the second current sensor provides a second output representative of a secondary current in the second conductor of the current divider. The controller determines the primary current to the load based upon the first output when the primary current is less than a threshold value, and based upon the second output when the primary current is greater than the threshold value.
US09166464B2
A magnetic gear device including: an internal rotor and an external rotor in which a plurality of magnetic pole pairs are each placed in a circumferential direction substantially at equal intervals; and a holding member that is placed between the internal rotor and the external rotor and holds a plurality of magnetic materials in the circumferential direction substantially at equal intervals, wherein the number of magnetic materials is a difference between or a total of the numbers of magnetic pole pairs, the holding member includes a plurality of circular rings that hold the magnetic materials, and connecting rods that are placed in the circumferential direction substantially at equal intervals and connect the plurality of circular rings, the plurality of circular rings face each other via the magnetic materials, and each number of magnetic pole pairs is set to have the number of connecting rods as a divisor.
US09166456B2
A mechanical soft-start type coupling is used as an interface between a line start, synchronous motor and a heavy load to enable the synchronous motor to bring the heavy load up to or near synchronous speed. The soft-start coupling effectively isolates the synchronous motor from the load for enough time to enable the synchronous motor to come up to full speed. The soft-start coupling then brings the load up to or near synchronous speed.
US09166454B2
An electric motor includes a stator, a case surrounding the stator, and a rotor rotatably disposed with respect to the stator. The rotor includes a rotor core having a plurality of poles and slots, a shaft coupled to a central portion of the rotor core, a rotor coil wound on the rotor core, and coil supporting members provided at the rotor core. The coil supporting members are configured to support the rotor coil such that the rotor coil is prevented from being separated from the rotor core in a radial direction when the rotor rotates. Under such a configuration, a short-circuit of the rotor coil due to a centrifugal force when the rotor rotates, can be prevented.
US09166452B1
A spindle motor includes a base portion, a stationary portion, and a circuit substrate disposed in the base portion. The base portion includes a flat plate portion positioned below the rotary portion and a through-hole extending from an upper surface to a lower surface of the flat plate portion. The flat plate portion includes a first surface positioned between the upper surface and the lower surface of the flat plate portion and disposed within the through-hole. The circuit substrate includes a land portion to which a lead wire extending from a plurality of coils is electrically connected. The land portion is disposed on the first surface. The lead wire is connected to the land portion by solder within the through-hole.
US09166450B2
A permanent magnet rotor has a rotor core positioned about a rotation shaft. The permanent magnet rotor also has permanent magnet embedment slots located at equally spaced positions from the rotation shaft, with permanent magnets inserted into each of the respective permanent magnet embedment slots. The permanent magnet embedment slots each have both a magnet storing portion, and a buffer and other members storing portion which extends to the magnet storing portion. Once a permanent magnet is stored inside the magnet storing portion, a buffer member, and a pushing member are used to secure the permanent magnet inside the rotor core.
US09166447B2
A wireless electric power transmission apparatus as an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: two antennas having the ability to transmit electric power by a non-contact method via resonant magnetic coupling, one of the two antennas being a series resonant circuit, of which the resonant frequency is fs, the other antenna being a parallel resonant circuit, of which the resonant frequency is fp; an oscillator which is connected to one of the two antennas that transmits RF power; and a control section which controls a transmission frequency according to the magnitude of the electric power to be transmitted from one of the two antennas to the other. If a coupling coefficient between the two antennas is k, then fs and fp are set so as to satisfy the inequality fs/fp<−0.6074×k2+0.0466×k+0.9955.
US09166446B2
A wireless power transmission controlling apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus includes a power amplifier that receives a source power, amplifies the received source power, and outputs a wireless power transmission signal from the amplified received source power, a band pass filter that filters the wireless power transmission signal, and passes a harmonic wave corresponding to a communication frequency band, and a communication unit that transmits a wireless power transmission control signal using the harmonic wave corresponding to the communication frequency band.
US09166445B2
Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter provide methods of operating an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) configured to provide power to a load from first and second power sources, e.g., from a utility source and a battery or other backup source. The methods include operating the UPS to momentarily provide an altered voltage waveform in coordination with a transition of the load between first and second power sources. For example, the altered voltage waveform may provide a momentarily increased voltage rate of change to compensate for a transient current demand presented by the load.
US09166436B2
A portable electronic device including a battery, a direct current (DC) power source, a first device that consumes a first amount of power during operation, a second device that consumes a second amount of power during operation, the second amount of power being more than the first amount of power, a first switch provided in a charging path between the DC power source and the battery, a second switch provided in a path for supplying power from the battery to the second device, and a charging control circuit that controls charging the battery by connecting the first switch when external power is supplied via the DC power source, and control the second switch to be connected and the first switch to be disconnected when the second device is operated during the charging.
US09166430B2
Provided is a battery charge circuit including a charging power supply unit configured to generate an internal voltage using an external power supply; a charging unit configured to measure voltages of a plurality of batteries, output measurement signals, and selectively charge at least one among the plurality of batteries in response to charge control signals; and a control unit configured to select charging methods corresponding to the measurement signals, and generate the control signals corresponding to the charging methods.
US09166427B2
A jacket device is configured to be used with a mobile communication device. The jacket device includes a sidewall and a baseplate, wherein the sidewall and the baseplate cooperate to form a receiving chamber for receiving the mobile communication device. The jacket device also includes a rocker bar having a pressing portion connected to a rack portion, wherein the rack portion extends through the sidewall. A transmission is disposed on the baseplate and connected with the rocker bar. An electric generator is disposed on the baseplate. An electric generator includes a rotor coupled with the transmission and a stator fixed on the baseplate. When the pressing portion is pressed, the rack portion drives the rotor to rotate via the transmission so that electric power is generated by the electric generator.
US09166420B2
A battery pack controller is provided having electric wires of the main wiring lines of a precharge circuit laid on the front surface of a base plate. LA terminals (i.e., ring terminals) connected to the electric wires are clamped by screws and the main-circuit bus bars to the relay terminal portions of a main relay mounted on the rear surface. Further, each of the LA terminals (i.e., ring terminals) has a wing portion protruding beyond the protuberant height of an electric-wire connection portion. An electric wire is bent and disposed to extend from the front surface side of the base plate toward the relay terminal portion, a terminal accommodation portion in which the LA terminals (i.e., ring terminals) are accommodated is provided at a part extending from the electric-wire bent portion to the relay terminal portion, and bottom grooves are formed in the terminal accommodation portion into which the wing portions are inserted.
US09166417B2
A charger of the present invention includes a plurality of battery connection parts to which battery packs can be connected to charge, with each battery connection part having an indicator. The indicators can be configured such that when charging is expected to be completed more quickly in a first battery connection part compared to a second battery connection part, the indicator of the first battery connection part is displayed differently from the indicator of the second battery connection part.
US09166406B2
Power source switching circuit and power source switching system with power source switching circuit
A power source switching circuit, includes a first and second contact, a first, second, and third relay. The first contact includes a first normally open main contact and a first normally closed auxiliary contact. The second contact includes a second normally open main contact and a second normally closed auxiliary contact. The first, second, third normally open contacts of the first, second, third relays, connected in series, are connected between three phrase lines of the main power source and the second normally closed auxiliary contact. The second normally closed auxiliary contact is connected to a zero line of the main power source. The first, second, third normally closed contacts, connected in parallel, are connected between three phrase lines of the auxiliary power source and the first normally closed auxiliary contact. The first normally closed auxiliary contact is connected to a zero line of the auxiliary power source.
US09166400B2
An electrical system responsive to overheating and/or electric arcing of an electrically conductive member, e.g. a heating member of an aircraft windshield, includes a first switch in a first current path, and a second switch in a second current path. The first current path is from an electrical power supply through the first switch, through an arc sensor to the heating member to the power supply. The second current path is from a temperature sensor monitoring the temperature of the heating member through the second switch to a temperature controller. When the temperature of the heating member is at or above a predetermined value, the temperature controller causes the first switch to open. When there is arcing, the second switch is moved to the open position. The temperature controller senses that the second switch is open and causes the first switch to open.
US09166399B2
A lithium battery protection circuit coupled to a lithium battery is provided. The lithium battery protection circuit includes an over-charge protection circuit and a logic circuit coupled to over-charge protection circuit. The logic circuit has a first logic output and a second logic output. The lithium battery protection circuit also includes a level shift circuit coupled to the logic circuit through the first logic output and the second logic output, and the level shift circuit is configured to convert the first logic output and the second logic output to high voltage levels in an over-charge protection state. Further, the lithium battery protection circuit includes a substrate switching circuit coupled to the level shift circuit and a power transistor coupled between a negative end of the lithium battery and an external circuit negative electrode. The level shift circuit includes a first inverter coupled to the second logic output, a plurality of PMOS transistors, at least one of which has high source-drain voltage and low gate-source voltage, and a plurality of NMOS transistors, at least one of which is a low-voltage NMOS transistor.
US09166395B2
This document discloses, among other things, apparatus and methods for dimmer control. In an apparatus example, a circuit can include an input configured to receive a control signal, a controller configured to modulate a pulse width of a pulse train using the control signal when the controller is enabled, an output configured to provide the pulse train to a driver, and first and second current limit detectors configured to receive load current information of the driver and to terminate an active pulse of the controller when a value of the load current information exceeds a threshold.
US09166391B1
An early streamer emission terminal is disclosed. According to some embodiments, the early streamer emission terminal can create an upward propagating streamer earlier than conventional lightning protection systems and/or devices. In particular, the early streamer emission terminal can collect ground charges during an initial phase of thunderstorm development. When a thunderstorm begins to generate downward step leaders, the ambient electric field around a grounded lightning protection system can induce a current into the grounded lightning protection system. The induced current can include a flow of negative charge toward the ground, while a positive charge can be released to form an upward streamer. The construction of the early streamer emission terminal can trigger the flow of positive upward charge microseconds earlier than traditional lightning rods or other similar devices.
US09166389B2
The invention essentially relates to an assembly (11) comprising: a raceway (12) comprising one or more channels (13) intended to receive a harness or harnesses (16) comprising bundles of electrical cables, and a branching device (14) routing a branch (15) that extends outside the raceway (12) and comes from a bundle located in a channel (13) of the raceway (12), characterized in that the branching device (14) comprises: a system for fastening (17) said branching device on the channel (13) containing the bundle from which the branch (15) comes, and a retention system (18) immobilizing the branch (15) relative to the branching device; this retention system (18) is laterally clear so that, in a top view, it is located outside the channel to which the fastening system is attached.
US09166386B2
There is provided subsea repair apparatus for performing repair of a subsea cable located beneath the sea, said apparatus comprising: an environment capsule capable of providing a substantially water-free environment within the capsule; and repair equipment located within the environment capsule arranged to repair said subsea cable without the need for a person to be located within the environment capsule.
US09166375B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes a pump light source, a gain structure, and an out-coupling mirror. The gain structure is comprised of InGaN layers that have resonant excitation absorption at the pump wavelength. Light from the pump light source causes the gain structure to emit light, which is reflected by the out-coupling mirror back to the gain structure. A distributed Bragg reflector causes internal reflection within the gain structure. The out-coupling mirror permits light having sufficient energy to pass therethrough for use external to the device. A frequency doubling structure may be disposed between the gain structure and the out-coupling mirror. Output wavelengths in the deep-UV spectrum may be achieved.
US09166374B1
An optical device includes a gallium and nitrogen containing substrate comprising a surface region configured in a (20-2-1) orientation, a (30-3-1) orientation, or a (30-31) orientation, within +/−10 degrees toward c-plane and/or a-plane from the orientation. Optical devices having quantum well regions overly the surface region are also disclosed.
US09166373B1
Laser devices formed on a semipolar surface region of a gallium and nitrogen containing material are disclosed. The laser devices have a laser stripe configured to emit a laser beam having a cross-polarized emission state.
US09166369B2
A broad area semiconductor diode laser device includes a multimode high reflector facet, a partial reflector facet spaced from said multimode high reflector facet, and a flared current injection region extending and widening between the multimode high reflector facet and the partial reflector facet, wherein the ratio of a partial reflector facet width to a high reflector facet width is n:1, where n>1. The broad area semiconductor laser device is a flared laser oscillator waveguide delivering improved beam brightness and beam parameter product over conventional straight waveguide configurations.
US09166363B2
Structures and methodologies to obtain lasing in indirect gap semiconductors such as Ge and Si are provided and involves excitonic transitions in the active layer comprising of at least one indirect gap layer. Excitonic density is increased at a given injection current level by increasing their binding energy by the use of quantum wells, wires, and dots with and without strain. Excitons are formed by holes and electrons in two different layers that are either adjacent or separated by a thin barrier layer, where at least one layer confining electrons and holes is comprised of indirect gap semiconductor such as Si and Ge, resulting in high optical gain and lasing using optical and electrical injection pumping.
US09166356B2
In one aspect a power amplifier comprises a first plurality of laser disks disposed in a first vertical plane and a second plurality of laser disks disposed in a second vertical plane, opposite the first vertical plane, wherein the plurality of laser disks are disposed in a central horizontal plane, and a first plurality of reflecting mirrors disposed in the first vertical plane and a second plurality of reflecting mirrors disposed in the second vertical plane, wherein a first set of reflecting are disposed in a lower horizontal plane and a second set of reflecting mirrors are disposed in an upper horizontal plane, wherein respective laser disks and reflecting mirrors adjacent along an optical axis are positioned to provide a 1:1 imaging system therebetween. Other aspects may be described.
US09166352B2
An electrical coupling system for use in a wellbore that enables insertion and removal of an electrically operated device in a wellbore includes an electrical receptacle mounted at a selected axial position along a tubing disposed in the wellbore. The receptacle includes at least one insulated electrical conductor coupled to an electrical contact inside the receptacle and extending to the well surface. An electrical coupler is disposed on an exterior of the electrically operated device. The coupler includes at least one electrical contact disposed proximate the receptacle contact when the coupler is mated to the receptacle. The coupler including at least one flow passage enabling wellbore fluid flow from below the coupler to an annular space between the electrically operated device and an interior of the tubing.
US09166348B2
A coaxial connector includes a body, a post, a coupling nut, and a sealing member. The sealing member is axially compressed between a rear end facing surface of the coupling nut and a front end facing surface of the hollow body in order to facilitate improved grounding and RF shielding characteristics.
US09166333B2
It is an object of the present invention to prevent damages to a contact. A contact 130 having penetrated the substrate 110 is inserted into the female housing 30, and is electrically connected to a female contact 40. When the slider 1 is pressed down ward during this state, the first movable body 70 and the second movable body 80 are pressed down by the slider 1. This causes a lower stage 73 of the first movable body 70 and a lower stage 83 of the second movable body 80 to move below an upper wall 94 of the housing 90, and outer surfaces of the lower stages 73 and 83 no longer contact the upper wall 94. Then, expansion of a spring 120 moves the first movable body 70 and the second movable body 80 away from the contact 130.
US09166329B2
The invention relates to an electrical connector (100) for producing a plug-in connection with a mating connector (200). The electrical connector (100) has a housing (110), a seal (160) arranged on the housing (110), and a seal holder (170) arranged on the housing (110) and associated with the seal (160). The seal holder (170) is arranged movably on the housing (110), in order to be moved in the direction of the seal (160) upon the production of the plug-in connection with the mating connector (200) and to be pressed against the seal (160). The invention furthermore relates to a connector system comprising such an electrical connector (100) and a mating connector (200) which can be plugged with the electrical connector (100).
US09166324B2
A coaxial cable connector structure including a sleeve and an annular nut on the front end of the sleeve is presented, wherein an inner tube is disposed inside the sleeve for connecting the coaxial cable, and a spring is disposed between the inner tube and the inner threads on the annular nut, the spring having a first end positioned proximate the bottom of the annular nut and a second end positioned forward of the front end of the inner tube for the end surface of the connection base towards the annular nut to contact the spring and electrically connect the inner tube when the annular nut is at least partially screwed onto the connection base, so that the coaxial cable connector structure can transmit signals when it is not completely screwed onto the connection base, and provide the effect of vibration suppression from the compressed spring having its two ends abutted against the bottom of the annular nut and the end surface of the connection base by the elastic restoring force when the connection base is completely screwed onto the connection base.
US09166323B2
An electrical connector is provided comprising a female member configured to couple with male member. The female member includes a female receptacle having an opening, and a female electrode is at least partially disposed within the female receptacle. A resilient member is configured to enhance electrical connection between the female electrode and a male connector electrode.
US09166309B1
An electrical system includes a bus bar having a plurality of layers including a conductive power layer and a conductive ground layer. The bus bar has a front edge with a plurality of tabs extending therefrom at spaced-apart locations. Each tab includes a power finger extending from the power layer and a ground finger extending from the ground layer. The bus bar also includes a connector shroud coupled to the front edge of the bus bar. The connector shroud has a base, a mating end, and a cavity defined therebetween. The cavity receives one of the tabs through the base. The mating end is configured to mate with an electrical connector. The cavity is configured to receive power and ground contacts of the electrical connector therein for electrical connection to the respective power and ground fingers of the tab.
US09166305B2
Good signal transmission characteristics can be stably obtained by a simple structure. A pressure-contact surface of a cover inner surface of a shell cover part 13b, which is openably/closably coupled to a cylindrical opening of an external conductor shell 13a, and an insulative pressing plate 11d is provided with a void part 14, which separates at least one of them from the other one. By virtue of this, it is configured that the characteristic impedance about the cable-shaped signal transmission medium SC can be adjusted by the void part 14, and the matching degree (VSWR) of the characteristic impedance with respect to transmission signals can be easily and appropriately matched.
US09166304B2
A screwless quick connection system for connecting a lead connector to a generator of an active implantable medical device is shown and described. The connector head includes a housing receiving a plug of a lead connector. A mechanism for locking the plug into the housing is provided by a U-folded leaf spring. Each branch of the U is provided with a respective hole sized so that the plug passes through the holes on both branches when it is inserted into the housing. The blade is deformable between a free state, in the absence of plug, and a deformed state, with the plug inserted therein. In the free state, both holes are misaligned, while in the deformed state they are aligned. In this way, an edge of both holes exerts by reaction a radial stress force against the smooth outer surface of the plug inserted therein.
US09166298B2
According to one embodiment, a wireless device includes a circuit board, a semiconductor chip, a nonconductive layer, and a conductive film. The semiconductor chip includes a transmitting/receiving circuit and is mounted on the circuit board. The nonconductive layer is to seal the semiconductor chip. The conductive film is to cover a surface of the nonconductive layer, the conductive film being provided with a plurality of apertures serving as radiating elements. At least one aperture of the plurality of apertures is fed with power.
US09166286B2
A communication device includes a housing, an opening, an NFC antenna and a contactless charging coil. The NFC antenna is arranged to surround the opening. The communication device further includes a first magnetic sheet which is arranged between the NFC antenna and a main board and between the opening and the main board, and a second magnetic sheet which is arranged between the contactless charging coil and the main board.
US09166285B2
A high-frequency module includes a switch IC and a matching circuit. The high-frequency module includes a multilayer body. The switch IC and an inductor of the matching circuit are mounted on a top surface of the multilayer body. A top-surface land electrode on which a common terminal of the switch IC is mounted is connected to one end of a wiring conductor through a via-conductor. The other end of the wiring conductor is connected to a top-surface land electrode on which a terminal electrode at one end of the inductor is mounted, through a via-conductor. An end portion of the inductor on the side connected to the common terminal of the switch IC is disposed near the common terminal. Thus, the length of the wiring conductor is shortened and a parasitic capacitance is decreased.
US09166283B1
The present invention is directed to a monopole/dipole symmetric radiator structure that includes a symmetric planar radiator. When the symmetric radiator is part of an operative monopole or dipole antenna, the antenna exhibits a wide or broad bandwidth, a VSWR of less than about 3:1, a relatively constant gain perpendicular or broad-side to the plane of the radiator, and is vertically polarized. In one embodiment, the symmetric planar radiator has an outer edge that is bilaterally symmetrical. In another embodiment, the outer edge of the symmetric planar radiator is bilaterally symmetric and a closed inner edge of the radiator that defines a void is also bilaterally symmetric.
US09166279B2
A wireless electronic device may include antenna structures and antenna tuning circuitry. The device may include a display mounted within a housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the display and housing. Dielectric-filled gaps may divide the peripheral conductive member into individual segments. A ground plane may be formed within the housing. The ground plane and the segments of the peripheral conductive member may form antennas in upper and lower portions of the housing. The antenna tuning circuitry may include switchable inductor circuits and variable capacitor circuits for the upper and lower antennas. The switchable inductor circuits associated with the upper antenna may be tuned to provide coverage in at least two high-band frequency ranges of interest, whereas the variable capacitor circuits associated with the upper antenna may be tuned to provide coverage in at least two low-band frequency ranges of interest.
US09166277B2
An antenna assembly comprises a computer expansion card comprising a metallic layer which forms a radiating element or a metallic shield which forms the radiating element and a feed line coupled to the radiating element. Other embodiments may be described.
US09166276B2
A multifunction antenna is described in which the multifunction antenna is divided into a first segment and a second segment by an impedance circuit that produces low impedance at a low frequency and high impedance at a high frequency. A high frequency radio frequency (HF-RF) signal may be transmitted or received using only the first segment of the multifunction antenna from a HF-RF transceiver by blocking the HF-RF signal from the second segment by the impedance circuit. A low frequency radio frequency (LF-RF) signal may be received using both the first segment and the second segment of the multifunction antenna by passing the LF-RF signal through the impedance circuit.
US09166269B2
A rotatable coupler for dielectric wave guides is described. A first dielectric wave guide (DWG) has an interface surface at a one end of the DWG. A second DWG has a matching interface surface at an end of the second DWG. A rotatable coupling mechanism is coupled to the two DWG ends and is configured to hold the interface surface of the first DWG in axial alignment with the interface surface of the second DWG while allowing the interface surface of the first DWG to rotate axially with respect to the interface surface of the second DWG.
US09166265B2
A signal transmission device includes substrates and resonance sections resonating at the predetermined resonance frequency. At least one of the substrates is formed with two or more resonators in the second direction, and the remaining one or two or more of the substrates are each formed with one or more resonators in the second direction, and at least one of the resonance sections is configured by a plurality of resonators opposing one another in the first direction between the substrates, the opposing resonators form a coupled resonator resonating as a whole at the predetermined resonance frequency through electromagnetic coupling in a hybrid resonance mode, and in a state that the substrates are separated away from one another to fail to establish electromagnetic coupling thereamong, the resonators forming the coupled resonator resonate at any other resonance frequency different from the predetermined resonance frequency on the substrate basis.
US09166264B2
A dual mode filter (200, 500, 900) comprising an input (Pin) and an output port (Pout) and a non-conducting substrate (205, 505), and first (215, 510, 902) and second (210, 540, 901) conductors which connect the input port to the output port. The conductors are arranged on or in the substrate, and the first conductor is longer than the second conductor by 50%. Either the first or the second conductor comprises a perturbation element (208, 530, 915) at a central position. The first conductor is arranged between the input port and the output port with a number of sections (216-222; 511-519; 931-933, 936-938), at least some of which are parallel to each other, and arranged so that the current in a section which has one or more other sections in parallel to it always flows in the same direction as the current in the most adjacent of said other sections.
US09166263B2
An anode for a lithium air battery including an anode active material layer including an anode active material; a first protective layer disposed on the anode active material layer; and a second protective layer disposed on the first protective layer, wherein the first protective layer includes a liquid electrolyte having a viscosity of 5 centipoise or less at a temperature of 20° C., and the second protective layer includes an ion conductive solid electrolyte membrane.
US09166250B2
The separator for a battery according to the present invention is a separator for a battery including an insulator layer containing a fibrous material having a heat resistant temperature of equal to or higher than 150° C., insulating inorganic fine particles and a binder, or a separator for a battery including a porous layer formed of a thermal melting resin and an insulator layer containing insulating inorganic fine particles and a binder, wherein water content per unit volume is equal to or smaller than 1 mg/cm3 when the separator is held for 24 hours in an atmosphere with a relative humidity of 60% at 20° C. The use of the separator for a battery according to the present invention makes it possible to provide a lithium secondary battery that has favorable reliability and safety and is excellent in storage characteristics and charge-discharge cycle characteristics.
US09166248B2
A manufacturing method of a battery pack includes a restraining process of restraining single cells at a maximum restraint contact pressure Pd of the battery pack in a complete state, after compressing the single cells at a maximum compression contact pressure Pc that satisfies 0.8≦Pd/Pc≦0.9, with respect to the maximum restraint contact pressure Pd; a standing process of then leaving the single cells to stand for a predetermined number of days in an electrically open state; and a short-circuit testing process of then testing for an internal short in the single cells.
US09166246B2
A method of operating a high temperature fuel cell system containing a plurality of fuel cell stacks includes operating one or more of the plurality of fuel cell stacks at a first output power while operating another one or more of the plurality of the fuel cell stacks at a second output power different from the first output power.
US09166243B2
A flow battery includes a first liquid-porous electrode, a second liquid-porous electrode spaced apart from the first liquid-porous electrode, and an ion-exchange membrane arranged between the first liquid-porous electrode and the second liquid-porous electrode. First and second flow fields are adjacent to the respective first liquid-porous electrode and second liquid-porous electrode. Each of the flow fields includes first channels having at least partially blocked outlets and second channels having at least partially blocked inlets. The second channels are interdigitated with the first channels. The flow fields provide a configuration and method of operation for relatively thin electrodes with moderate pressure drops and forced convective flow through the liquid-porous electrodes.
US09166238B2
A system and method for regulating the pressure within a volume between a pressure regulator and an injector that injects hydrogen gas into the anode side of a fuel cell stack. The method includes delaying a copy of the a pulsed signal that controls the opening and closing of the injector a predetermined period of time and provides a bias signal from a look-up table that is determined by a desired average mass flow of the hydrogen gas flow to the fuel cell stack and the pressure at an upstream location of the hydrogen gas flow from the pressure regulator. The method selects the bias signal as a pressure regulator control signal that controls the pressure regulator when the delayed pulse injector signal is high and selects an arbitrary value at or near zero as the pressure regulator control signal when a delayed pulse injector is low.
US09166232B2
A solid oxide fuel cell includes unit cells, a first side plate and a second side plate respectively attached to opposite lateral surfaces of the unit cells, and a first electricity collector and a second electricity collector arranged between the unit cells. Each of the unit cells includes a support body block. The support body block includes a first surface, a second surface parallel to the first surface, a plurality of first channels and a plurality of second channels existing between the first channels. Each of the unit cells further includes air electrodes formed on inner surfaces of the first channels, fuel electrodes formed on inner surfaces of the second channels, a first electricity collecting layer formed on the first surface and electrically connected to the air electrodes and a second electricity collecting layer formed on the second surface and electrically connected to the fuel electrodes.
US09166209B2
A battery unit is provided which includes an assembled battery module equipped with a plurality of cells, a control board on which a charging/discharging controller is mounted, a storage case in which the assembled battery module, and the control board are disposed, and a swell limiter. The assembled battery module includes a battery body in which the cells are stacked over a bottom plate The swell limiter is located on the opposite side of the assembled battery module than the bottom plate is. The swell limiter is separate from the battery body when any of the cells is not swelling and works to make physical contact with the battery body when any of the cells has swollen to suppress swelling of the cell.
US09166198B2
An optical film and a light emitting device are provided. The optical film includes a substrate, a resin layer, and a plurality of porous particles. The resin layer is located on the substrate. The porous particles are distributed in the resin layer, and each of the porous particles includes a particle body and a plurality of holes. A refractive index of the particle body is different from a refractive index of the resin layer, and the refractive index of the particle body is different from a refractive index of air in the holes. The light emitting device includes a light emitting element and an optical film. The light emitting element has a light emitting surface, and the optical film is located on the light emitting surface of the light emitting element.
US09166197B2
The invention provides an organic light emitting diode (OLED), having a substrate, an anode layer of silver or gold, wherein the anode layer is treated with CF4 plasma to enhance the hole injection of the semitransparent anode layer.
US09166180B2
The present invention has an object of providing a light-emitting device including an OLED formed on a plastic substrate, which prevents degradation due to penetration of moisture or oxygen. On a plastic substrate, a plurality of films for preventing oxygen or moisture from penetrating into an organic light-emitting layer in the OLED (“barrier films”) and a film having a smaller stress than the barrier films (“stress relaxing film”), the film being interposed between the barrier films, are provided. Owing to a laminate structure, if a crack occurs in one of the barrier films, the other barrier film(s) can prevent moisture or oxygen from penetrating into the organic light emitting layer. The stress relaxing film, which has a smaller stress than the barrier films, is interposed between the barrier films, making it possible to reduce stress of the entire sealing film. Therefore, a crack due to stress hardly occurs.
US09166165B2
A memory cell and a method of making the same, that includes insulating material deposited on a substrate, a bottom electrode formed within the insulating material, a plurality of insulating layers deposited above the bottom electrode and at least one of which acts as an intermediate insulating layer. A via is defined in the insulating layers above the intermediate insulating layer. A channel is created for etch with a sacrificial spacer. A pore is defined in the intermediate insulating layer. All insulating layers above the intermediate insulating layer are removed, and the entirety of the remaining pore is filled with phase change material. An upper electrode is formed above the phase change material.
US09166158B2
Apparatuses and methods of manufacture are disclosed for phase change memory cell electrodes having a conductive barrier material. In one example, an apparatus includes a first chalcogenide structure and a second chalcogenide structure stacked together with the first chalcogenide structure. A first electrode portion is coupled to the first chalcogenide structure, and a second electrode portion is coupled to the second chalcogenide structure. An electrically conductive barrier material is disposed between the first and second electrode portions.
US09166156B2
Some embodiments include memory cells which have multiple programmable material structures between a pair of electrodes. One of the programmable material structures has a first edge, and another of the programmable material structures has a second edge that contacts the first edge. Some embodiments include methods of forming an array of memory cells. First programmable material segments are formed over bottom electrodes. The first programmable material segments extend along a first axis. Lines of second programmable material are formed over the first programmable material segments, and are formed to extend along a second axis that intersects the first axis. The second programmable material lines have lower surfaces that contact upper surfaces of the first programmable material segments. Top electrode lines are formed over the second programmable material lines.
US09166154B2
Fabrication methods using Ion Beam Etching (IBE) for MRAM cell memory elements are described. In embodiments of the invention the top electrode and MTJ main body are etched with one mask using reactive etching such as RIE or magnetized inductively coupled plasma (MICP) for improved selectivity, then the bottom electrode is etched using IBE as specified in various alternative embodiments which include selection of incident angles, wafer rotational rate profiles and optional passivation layer deposited prior to the IBE. The IBE according to the invention etches the bottom electrode without the need for an additional mask by using the layer stack created by the first etching phase as the mask. This makes the bottom electrode self-aligned to MTJ. The IBE also achieves MTJ sidewall cleaning without the need for an additional step.
US09166143B1
The present invention is directed to a magnetic random access memory element comprising a first magnetic reference layer, a first insulating tunnel junction layer, a first magnetic free layer, a first coupling layer, a second magnetic free layer, a second coupling layer, a third magnetic free layer, a second insulating tunnel junction layer, and a second magnetic reference layer formed in sequence. The first and second magnetic reference layers have respectively a first and second fixed magnetization directions that are substantially perpendicular to respective layer planes and are substantially opposite to each other. The first, second, and third magnetic free layers have respectively a first, second, and third variable magnetization directions that are substantially perpendicular to respective layer planes. The second variable magnetization direction may be parallel or anti-parallel to the first and third variable magnetization directions.
US09166139B2
A method of thermally cycling an object includes alternately contacting the object with vapor from each of a first liquid-vapor two-phase system and of a second liquid-vapor two-phase system of a working fluid, each of the systems two-phase including a liquid phase and a separate vapor phase. The first system two-phase is at a higher temperature and pressure than the second system two-phase. The object can include one or more layers of an electrically or magnetically polarizable material. The object can be housed in a chamber thermal and alternately contacted with vapor from the first liquid-vapor two-phase system and the second liquid-vapor two-phase system contained in a first reservoir and in a second reservoir, respectively.
US09166130B2
A first contact surface of a semiconductor laser chip can be formed to a first target surface roughness and a second contact surface of a carrier mounting can be formed to a second target surface roughness. A first bond preparation layer comprising a first metal can optionally be applied to the formed first contact surface, and a second bond preparation layer comprising a second metal can optionally be applied to the formed second contact surface. The first contact surface can be contacted with the second contact surface, and a solderless securing process can secure the semiconductor laser chip to the carrier mounting. Related systems, methods, articles of manufacture, and the like are also described.
US09166116B2
The present invention relates to a light emitting device comprising a transparent substrate which light can pass through and at least one LED chip emitting light omni-directionally. Wherein the LED chip is disposed on one surface of the substrate and the light emitting angle of the LED chip is wider than 180°, and the light emitted by the LED chip will penetrate into the substrate and at least partially emerge from another surface of the substrate. According to the present invention, the light emitting device using LED chips can provide sufficient lighting intensity and uniform lighting performance.
US09166115B2
A semiconductor light emitting device package including a main body including a supporting member and an outside member on the supporting member; at least one semiconductor light emitting device disposed on the supporting member in which the outside member at least partially surrounds the at least one semiconductor light emitting device; first and second electrodes, at least one electrode of the first and second electrodes at least partially extending under the at least one semiconductor light emitting device; a metallic member disposed under the at least one semiconductor light emitting device and extending beyond outside edges of the at least one semiconductor light emitting device; a first molding part surrounded by the outside member and covering the at least one semiconductor light emitting device; and a second molding part disposed on the first molding part, the second molding part formed in a domed shape.
US09166106B2
A LED structure includes a support and a plurality of nanowires located on the support, where each nanowire includes a tip and a sidewall. A method of making the LED structure includes reducing or eliminating the conductivity of the tips of the nanowires compared to the conductivity of the sidewalls during or after creation of the nanowires.
US09166101B2
The present invention provides a light-emitting element comprising: a carbon layer comprising a graphene; a plurality of fine structures having grown toward the upper side of the carbon layer; a thin film layer for coating the fine structures; and a light-emitting structure layer formed on the thin film layer.
US09166100B2
Disclosed is a semiconductor light emitting device. The semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting structure having a first conductive semiconductor layer, a second conductive semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the first and second conductive semiconductor layers. The active layer includes a plurality of well layers and barrier layers. An outermost barrier layer of the barrier layers includes a plurality of first layers; and a plurality of second layers.
US09166096B2
A method for manufacturing a dopant layer of a solar cell according to an embodiment of the invention includes: ion-implanting a dopant to a substrate; and heat-treating for an activation of the dopant. In the heat-treating for the activation, the substrate is heat-treated at a first temperature after an anti-out-diffusion film is formed at a temperature lower than the first temperature under a first gas atmosphere.
US09166090B2
A solid-state image pickup device capable of suppressing the generation of dark current and/or leakage current is provided. The solid-state image pickup device has a first substrate provided with a photoelectric converter on its primary face, a first wiring structure having a first bonding portion which contains a conductive material, a second substrate provided with a part of a peripheral circuit on its primary face, and a second wiring structure having a second bonding portion which contains a conductive material. In addition, the first bonding portion and the second bonding portion are bonded so that the first substrate, the first wiring structure, the second wiring structure, and the second substrate are disposed in this order.Furthermore, the conductive material of the first bonding portion and the conductive material of the second bonding portion are surrounded with diffusion preventing films.
US09166081B2
An optical sensor includes a light receiving portion, a definition portion, and a selection portion. The definition portion defines an incident angle of an incident light that enters the light receiving portion. The selection portion selects a wavelength of the incident light that enters the light receiving portion. The definition portion has a light shielding film disposed above the light receiving portion, and an opening formed in the light shielding film. The selection portion has a slit formed in the light shielding film disposed within a region surrounded by the opening.
US09166074B2
A method of fabricating single-crystalline metal silicide nanowires for anti-reflective electrodes for photovoltaics is provided that includes exposing a surface of a metal foil to oxygen or hydrogen at an elevated temperature, and growing metal silicide nanowires on the metal foil surface by flowing a silane gas mixture over the metal foil surface at the elevated temperature, where spontaneous growth of the metal silicide nanowires occur on the metal foil surface, where the metal silicide nanowires are post treated for use as an electrode in a photovoltaic cell or used directly as the electrode in the photovoltaic cell.
US09166066B2
A micromechanical sensor apparatus having a movable gate includes a field effect transistor that has a movable gate, which is separated from a channel region by a cavity. The channel region is covered by a gate insulation layer.
US09166061B2
Provided is a transistor which includes an oxide semiconductor film and has stable electrical characteristics. In the transistor, over an oxide film which can release oxygen by being heated, a first oxide semiconductor film which can suppress oxygen release at least from the oxide film is formed. Over the first oxide semiconductor film, a second oxide semiconductor film is formed. With such a structure in which the oxide semiconductor films are stacked, the oxygen release from the oxide film can be suppressed at the time of the formation of the second oxide semiconductor film, and oxygen can be released from the oxide film in later-performed heat treatment. Thus, oxygen can pass through the first oxide semiconductor film to be favorably supplied to the second oxide semiconductor film. Oxygen supplied to the second oxide semiconductor film can suppress the generation of oxygen deficiency, resulting in stable electrical characteristics.
US09166059B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a thin film transistor, an array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, and a display panel. The thin film transistor comprises: an active layer pattern, a source electrode, a drain electrode and a gate electrode. The gate electrode is positioned above the active layer pattern, the source electrode is connected with the active layer pattern, the drain electrode is connected with the active layer pattern, and the source electrode and the drain electrode are disposed in an adjacent layer of the active layer pattern.
US09166052B1
A multiple gate semiconductor structure is disclosed having a thin segment of semiconductor with first and second major surfaces that are opposite one another, a first gate on the first major surface of the segment, a second gate on the second major surface of the segment opposite the first gate, a first differential input coupled to the first gate, and a second differential input coupled to the second gate. Preferably the semiconductor structure is symmetrical about a plane that extends through the thin segment between the first and second major surfaces. When a first voltage of a first polarity is applied to the first input and a second voltage of the same magnitude as that of the first voltage but of opposite polarity is applied to the second input, a virtual ground is established in the structure near its center of the segment.
US09166049B2
Methods and structures for increasing strain in fully insulated finFETs are described. The finFET structures may be formed on an insulating layer and include source, channel, and drain regions that are insulated all around. During fabrication, the source and drain regions may be formed as suspended structures. A strain-inducing material may be formed around the source and drain regions on four contiguous sides so as to impart strain to the channel region of the finFET.
US09166048B2
A lateral semiconductor device and/or design including a space-charge generating layer and electrode located on an opposite side of a device channel as contacts to the device channel is provided. The space-charge generating layer is configured to form a space-charge region to at least partially deplete the device channel in response to an operating voltage being applied to the contacts to the device channel.
US09166041B2
In an SOI substrate having a semiconductor layer formed on the semiconductor substrate via an insulating layer, a MISFET is formed in each of the semiconductor layer in an nMIS formation region and a pMIS formation region. In power feeding regions, the semiconductor layer and the insulating layer are removed. In the semiconductor substrate, a p-type semiconductor region is formed so as to include the nMIS formation region and one of the power feeding regions, and an n-type semiconductor region is formed so as to include a pMIS formation region and the other one of the power feeding regions. In the semiconductor substrate, a p-type well having lower impurity concentration than the p-type semiconductor region is formed so as to contain the p-type semiconductor region, and an n-type well having lower impurity concentration than the n-type semiconductor region is formed so as to contain the n-type semiconductor region.
US09166040B2
A semiconductor device disclosed herein is provided with: a source electrode; a gate electrode; a drain electrode; a first region of a first conductivity type formed in a range exposed at an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate a second region of a second conductivity type; a third region of the first conductivity type; and a fourth region of the first conductivity type. The fourth region includes: a first drift region formed in a range exposed at the upper surface; a second drift region having a first conductivity type impurity concentration higher than that of the first drift region, and adjacent to the first drift region; and a low concentration drift region having a first conductivity type impurity concentration lower than that of the first drift region. The first drift region is projected to a second region side than the second drift region.
US09166039B2
A transistor component includes an active transistor region arranged in the semiconductor body. And insulation region surrounds the active transistor region in the semiconductor body in a ring-shaped manner. A source zone, a drain zone, a body zone and a drift zone are disposed in the active transistor region. The source zone and the drain zone are spaced apart in a lateral direction of the semiconductor body and the body zone is arranged between the source zone and the drift zone and the drift zone is arranged between the body zone and the drain zone. A gate and field electrode is arranged over the active transistor region. The dielectric layer has a first thickness in a region near the body zone and a second thickness in a region near the drift zone.
US09166024B2
A process for fabricating a fin-type field effect transistor (FinFET) structure is described. A semiconductor substrate is patterned to form a fin. A spacer is formed on the sidewall of the fin. A portion of the fin is removed, such that the spacer and the surface of the remaining fm together define a cavity. A piece of a semiconductor compound is formed from the cavity, wherein the upper portion of the piece of the semiconductor compound laterally extends over the spacer.
US09166021B2
Stable electrical characteristics and high reliability are provided for a miniaturized semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, and the semiconductor device is manufactured. The semiconductor device includes a base insulating layer; an oxide stack which is over the base insulating layer and includes an oxide semiconductor layer; a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer over the oxide stack; a gate insulating layer over the oxide stack, the source electrode layer, and the drain electrode layer; a gate electrode layer over the gate insulating layer; and an interlayer insulating layer over the gate electrode layer. In the semiconductor device, the defect density in the oxide semiconductor layer is reduced.
US09166020B2
A method for manufacturing a metal gate structure includes providing a substrate having a high-K gate dielectric layer and a bottom barrier layer sequentially formed thereon, forming a work function metal layer on the substrate, and performing an anneal treatment to the work function metal layer in-situ.
US09166012B2
Provided are a semiconductor memory device and a method of fabricating the same, the semiconductor memory device may include a semiconductor substrate with a first trench defining active regions in a first region and a second trench provided in a second region around the first region, a gate electrode provided on the first region to cross the active regions, a charge storing pattern disposed between the gate electrode and the active regions, a blocking insulating layer provided between the gate electrode and the charge storing pattern and extending over the first trench to define a first air gap in the first trench, and an insulating pattern provided spaced apart from a bottom surface of the second trench to define a second air gap in the second trench.
US09166005B2
A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having a main surface. In a vertical cross-section which is substantially orthogonal to the main surface the semiconductor body includes a vertical trench, an n-type silicon semiconductor region, and two p-type silicon semiconductor regions each of which adjoins the n-type silicon semiconductor region and is arranged between the n-type silicon semiconductor region and the main surface. The vertical trench extends from the main surface at least partially into the n-type silicon semiconductor region and includes a compound semiconductor region which includes silicon and germanium and is arranged between the two p-type silicon semiconductor regions. The compound semiconductor region and the two p-type silicon semiconductor regions include n-type dopants and p-type dopants. An integrated concentration of the n-type dopants of the compound semiconductor region is larger than an integrated concentration of the p-type dopants of the compound semiconductor region.
US09165997B2
A semiconductor structure includes a substrate, a resist layer, a dielectric material, two U-shaped metal layers and two metals. The substrate has an isolation structure. The resist layer is located on the isolation structure. The dielectric material is located on the resist layer. Two U-shaped metal layers are located at the two sides of the dielectric material and on the resist layer. Two metals are respectively located on the two U-shaped metal layers. This way a semiconductor process for forming said semiconductor structure is provided.
US09165991B2
Disclosed is a display device and an electronic apparatus incorporating the display device. The display device includes a transistor and a planarization film over the transistor. The planarization film has an opening where an edge portion is rounded. The display device further includes a first electrode over the planarization film and an organic resin film over the first electrode. The organic resin film also has an opening where an edge portion is rounded. The organic resin film is located in the opening of the planarization film. The first electrode and the transistor are electrically connected to each other through a conductive film. The first electrode is in contact with a top surface of the conductive film. Over the first electrode, a light-emitting member and a second electrode are provided.
US09165986B2
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) package includes a substrate, an OLED die mounted on the substrate and an encapsulation layer encapsulating the OLED die. The OLED package further includes a protecting layer formed on the OLED die. The encapsulation layer has a multi-layered structure and is deposited on the protecting layer. Refractive indexes of a cathode of the OLED die, the protecting layer and the encapsulation layer are gradually decreased in the sequence. A barrier layer for blocking moisture from entering the OLED package is formed on a bottom surface of the substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing the OLED package.
US09165985B2
An organic light-emitting display device includes a first substrate having transmitting regions and pixel regions separated from each other by the transmitting regions, a plurality of thin film transistors on the first substrate in the pixel regions, a passivation layer covering the plurality of thin film transistors, a plurality of pixel electrodes on the passivation layer and electrically connected to the thin film transistors, the pixel electrodes being in the pixel regions and overlapping the thin film transistors, an opposite electrode in the transmitting regions and the pixel regions, the opposite electrode facing the plurality of pixel electrodes and being configured to transmit light, an organic emission layer interposed between the pixel electrodes and the opposite electrode, and a color filter in corresponding pixel regions.
US09165983B2
An organic light emitting diode display includes a substrate including a plurality of subpixel areas, a plurality of pixel electrodes positioned corresponding to each of the plurality of subpixel areas on the substrate, a white emission layer formed on the plurality of pixel electrodes; a common electrode covering the white emission layer, a plurality of capping layers positioned corresponding to each of the plurality of subpixel areas on the common electrode, and a color filter layer including a plurality of filter layers corresponding to each of the plurality of subpixel areas. At least two capping layers among the plurality of capping layers have any one of a refractive index and a thickness different from each other.
US09165974B2
An electronic device may include a first semiconductor layer, a first electrode layer on the semiconductor layer, an adhesive insulating layer on the first electrode layer, a second electrode layer on the adhesive insulating layer, a second semiconductor layer. The first electrode layer may include a first plurality of electrodes, the first electrode layer may be between the adhesive insulating layer and the first semiconductor layer, and the adhesive insulating layer may include at least one of SiOCN, SiBN, and/or BN. The second electrode layer may include a second plurality of electrodes, the adhesive insulating layer may be between the first and second electrode layers, and the second electrode layer may be between the adhesive insulating layer and the second semiconductor layer.
US09165973B2
Solid state imaging device, method of producing solid state imaging device, and electronic apparatus
A solid state imaging device includes: a substrate; a photoelectric conversion unit that is formed on the substrate to generate and accumulate signal charges according to light quantity of incident light; a vertical transmission gate electrode that is formed to be embedded in a groove portion formed in a depth direction from one side face of the substrate according to a depth of the photoelectric conversion unit; and an overflow path that is formed on a bottom portion of the transmission gate to overflow the signal charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion unit.
US09165964B2
An image sensor in which each pixel includes a first sub-pixel including a first semiconductor layer, a second sub-pixel including a second semiconductor layer having a polarity different from a polarity of the first semiconductor layer, a third semiconductor layer having a polarity equal to the polarity of the first semiconductor layer, and a microlens, and which includes a plurality of pixels in which the first semiconductor is included in the second semiconductor layer, and the second semiconductor layer is included in the third semiconductor layer, wherein a center of gravity position of a light-receiving surface defining the first semiconductor layer is different from a center of gravity position of a light-receiving surface defining both the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer.
US09165954B2
The present invention provides an array substrate and a method for manufacturing the same, and a display device. In the method for manufacturing the array substrate, a one-time patterning process is employed to form a channel region, a source electrode and a drain electrode of the array substrate. Specifically, a channel region, a source region and a drain region that are consisted of a metal oxide layer are formed via a one-time patterning process, and a heat treatment is carried out on the metal oxide layer of the source region and the drain region in hydrogen gas, thereby forming a conducting source electrode and a conducting drain electrode, respectively. By the technical solution of the invention, the manufacturing process of the array substrate can be simplified, and the manufacturing cost of the array substrate can be lowered.
US09165939B2
A method for fabricating a nonvolatile memory device includes forming a first insulation layer and a first conductive layer on a substrate including a first region and a second region, forming a first isolation trench in the first region by etching the first conductive layer, the first insulation layer, and the substrate, forming a first isolation layer filled in the first isolation trench, forming a second insulation layer and a conductive capping layer, etching the capping layer and the second insulation layer, forming a second conductive layer, and forming first gate patterns by etching the second conductive layer, the capping layer, the second insulation layer, the first conductive layer, and the first insulation layer of the first region, and forming a second isolation trench in the second region by etching the second conductive layer, the first conductive layer, the first insulation layer, and the substrate.
US09165933B2
A 3D memory array having a vertically oriented thin film transistor (TFT) selection device that has a channel extension, otherwise referred to as a gate/junction offset, is disclosed. The vertically oriented TFT selection device with channel extension serves as a vertical bit line selection device in the 3D memory array. A vertical TFT select device having a channel extension has a high breakdown voltage and low leakage current. The channel extension can be at the top junction or bottom junction of the TFT. Depending on whether the memory elements undergo a forward FORM or reverse FORM, either the bottom or top junction can have the channel extension. This provides for a high voltage junction where needed.
US09165930B2
A semiconductor device includes a memory block including a transistor region and a memory region. A variable resistance layer of the memory region acts as a gate insulating layer in the transistor region.
US09165923B2
Disclosed herein is a device that includes: a plurality of first standard cells arranged on a semiconductor substrate in a first direction, each of the first standard cells including at least one field-effect transistor; and a first power supply wiring extending in the first direction along one end of the first standard cells in a second direction. The field-effect transistor including a gate electrode formed on a gate wiring layer. The first power supply wiring being formed on the gate wiring layer.
US09165918B1
A device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first constituent transistor including a first plurality of transistor structures in the semiconductor substrate connected in parallel with one another, and a second constituent transistor including a second plurality of transistor structures in the semiconductor substrate connected in parallel with one another. The first and second constituent transistors are disposed laterally adjacent to one another and connected in parallel with one another. Each transistor structure of the first plurality of transistor structures includes a non-uniform channel such that the first constituent transistor has a higher threshold voltage level than the second constituent transistor.
US09165916B2
A semiconductor package and a method of fabricating the same. The method may include mounting a lower stack including a plurality of lower semiconductor chips on a substrate and mounting an upper stack including a plurality of upper semiconductor chips on the lower stack. According to example embodiments of the inventive concept, the semiconductor package can be easily fabricated.
US09165900B2
A package carrier includes: (a) a dielectric layer defining a plurality of openings; (b) a patterned electrically conductive layer, embedded in the dielectric layer and disposed adjacent to a first surface of the dielectric layer; (c) a plurality of electrically conductive posts, disposed in respective ones of the openings, wherein the openings extend between a second surface of the dielectric layer to the patterned electrically conductive layer, the electrically conductive posts are connected to the patterned electrically conductive layer, and an end of each of the electrically conductive posts has a curved profile and is faced away from the patterned electrically conductive layer; and (d) a patterned solder resist layer, disposed adjacent to the first surface of the dielectric layer and exposing portions of the patterned electrically conductive layer corresponding to contact pads. A semiconductor package includes the package carrier, a chip, and an encapsulant covering the chip and the package carrier.
US09165895B2
Method for separating a plurality of dies and a processing device for separating a plurality of dies
A method for separating a plurality of dies is provided. The method may include: selectively removing one or more portions from a carrier including a plurality of dies, for separating the plurality of dies along the selectively removed one or more portions, wherein the one or more portions are located between the dies; and subsequently forming over a back side of the dies, at least one metallization layer for packaging the dies
US09165893B2
A semiconductor device is disclosed including a through electrode. The semiconductor device may include a first semiconductor chip including a transceiver circuit formed on a first surface, a first coupling conductive pattern which is formed on a second surface opposite the first surface, and a through electrode which connects the transceiver circuit and the first coupling conductive pattern. There may be a transceiver located on a second semiconductor chip and including a second coupling conductive pattern facing the first coupling conductive pattern which communicates wirelessly with the first coupling conductive pattern.
US09165890B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a chip package which includes: a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and an opposite second surface; a device region disposed in the substrate; a dielectric layer located on the first surface of the semiconductor substrate; a plurality of conducting pads located in the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the device region; at least one alignment mark disposed in the semiconductor substrate and extending from the second surface towards the first surface.
US09165875B2
An interposer includes a substrate having a contact pad structure and a stud operably coupled to the contact pad structure. A solder ball is seated on the contact pad structure and formed around the stud. The stud is configured to regulate a collapse of the solder ball when a top package is mounted to the substrate.
US09165871B2
In some aspects of the invention, semiconductor unit can produce chips performing uniform parallel operation and a low-thermal-resistance. Aspects of the invention can include a plurality of small semiconductor chips of one and the same kind formed by use of an SiC substrate, which is a wide gap substrate are sandwiched between two conductive plates. In this manner, there can be provided a high-reliability semiconductor unit in which parallel operation of the semiconductor chips is uniformized so that breakdown caused by current concentration can be prevented.
US09165868B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor chip, and a lead frame. The semiconductor chip is mounted over a die pad. Four suspension leads are connected with the die pad and at least one of them is provided between first and second lead groups and is deformed to protrude toward the first lead group. At least one of the leads of the second lead group which is nearer to the deformed suspension lead is deformed to be apart from remaining leads of the second lead group.
US09165865B2
A packaged power transistor device (100) having a leadframe including a flat plate (110) and a coplanar flat strip (120) spaced from the plate, the plate having a first thickness (110a) and the strip having a second thickness (120a) smaller than the first thickness, the plate and the strip having terminals (212; 121a). A field-effect power transistor chip (210) having a third thickness (210a), a first and a second contact pad on one chip side, and a third contact pad (211) on the opposite chip side, the first pad being attached to the plate, the second pad being attached to the strip, and the third pad being coplanar with the terminals. Encapsulation compound (130) filling the thickness difference between plate and strip, and spaces between chip and terminals, wherein the compound has a surface (101) coplanar with the plate surface (111) and the opposite surface (102) coplanar with the third pad (211) and the terminals (212; 212a), the distance (104) between the surfaces being equal to the sum of the first (110a) and third (210a) thicknesses.
US09165862B1
A semiconductor device package such a as Ball Grid Array (BGA), includes a die attached to a substrate. The substrate has a series of plated through holes (PTH) that include a copper pad at each of their ends. The PTH are located in a mold gate region at a corner of the substrate beyond the periphery of the die. Each PTH contains a rivet. The PTH with the pads and rivets stabilize the substrate at the mold gate region, which reduces the possibility of substrate delamination upon degating following an encapsulation process.
US09165861B2
A method for producing at least one through-silicon via inside a substrate may include forming a cavity in the substrate from a first side of the substrate until an electrically conductive portion is emerged onto. The method may also include forming an electrically conductive layer at a bottom and on walls of the cavity, and at least partly on a first side outside the cavity. The process may further include at least partially filling the cavity with at least one phase-change material. Another aspect is directed to a three-dimensional integrated structure.
US09165860B2
A multi-chip semiconductor apparatus includes a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked and packaged therein, wherein each of the semiconductor chips includes: a through-silicon via (TSV) formed through the semiconductor chip; a probe pad exposed to an outside of the semiconductor chip so as to enable a probing test; a bump pad exposed to the outside of the semiconductor chip and electrically connected to the TSV; and a conductive layer electrically connecting the probe pad and the bump pad inside the semiconductor chip.
US09165857B2
A heat dissipation lid that includes a plate having a first surface, an opposing second surface, and at least one sidewall extending from the plate second surface. The heat dissipation lid also includes at least one fluid delivery conduit and at least one fluid removal conduit, each extending between the plate first and second surface, and at least one spacing projection extending from the plate second surface to establish and maintain a desired distance between the plate second surface and a microelectronic device, when the heat dissipation lid is positioned to remove heat from the microelectronic device.
US09165848B2
This semiconductor device includes: a first metal plate; a plurality of semiconductor elements mounted on the first metal plate; a spacer that is connected to a surface on the opposite side to the surface where the plurality of semiconductor elements are mounted on the first metal plate; a second metal plate that is connected to a surface on the opposite side to the surface where the spacer is connected to the semiconductor elements; and an encapsulating resin between the first plate and the second plate that seals the plurality of semiconductor elements. Stress due to contraction that occurs in the encapsulating resin between the plurality of semiconductor elements is relaxed to a greater extent than stress due to contraction that occurs in the encapsulating resin in the locations other than the location between the plurality of semiconductor devices.
US09165842B2
A method of operating a wire bonding machine is provided. The method includes: detecting a short tail condition after formation of a wire bond formed using a wire bonding tool; providing a bond head assembly of a wire bonding machine at an xy location of the wire bonding machine, the bond head assembly carrying the wire bonding tool; lowering the bond head assembly toward a contact surface at the xy location with a wire clamp of the wire bonding machine closed; opening the wire clamp; decelerating the bond head assembly as it is lowered toward the contact surface such that a portion of a wire extends below a tip of the wire bonding tool; closing the wire clamp; and performing a test to determine if an end of the portion of the wire extending below the tip of the bonding tool is in contact with the contact surface.
US09165841B2
A method of processing semiconductor chips includes measuring locations of semiconductor dies placed on a carrier with a scanner to generate die location information. The method includes applying a dielectric layer over the semiconductor dies and communicating the die location information to a laser assembly. The method includes aligning the laser assembly with the carrier and laser structuring the dielectric layer with the laser assembly based on the die location information generated by the scanner.
US09165837B1
Methods of forming a defect free heteroepitaxial replacement fin by annealing the sacrificial Si fin with H2 prior to STI formation are provided. Embodiments include forming a Si fin on a substrate; annealing the Si fin with H2; forming a STI layer around the annealed Si fin; annealing the STI layer; removing a portion of the annealed Si fin by etching, forming a recess; forming a replacement fin in the recess; and recessing the annealed STI layer to expose an active replacement fin.
US09165835B2
Provided is a method and structure for utilizing advance channel substrate materials in semiconductor manufacturing. Advanced channel substrate materials such as germanium and Group III-V channel substrate materials, are advantageously utilized. One or more capping films including at least a nitride layer are formed over the channel substrate prior to patterning, ion implantation and the subsequent stripping and wet cleaning operations. With the capping layers intact during these operations, attack of the channel substrate material is prevented and the protective films are easily removed subsequently. The films are dimensioned in conjunction with the ion implantation operation to enable the desired dopant profile and concentration to be formed in the channel substrate material.
US09165826B2
A method of making a semiconductor device includes forming a high-k dielectric layer over a substrate; and forming a titanium nitride layer over the high-k dielectric layer. The method further includes performing a silicon treatment on the titanium nitride layer to form at least one silicon monolayer over the titanium nitride layer. The method further includes annealing the semiconductor device to form a TiSiON layer over a remaining portion of the titanium nitride layer.
US09165817B2
A method of grinding a substrate is provided. A substrate including a first main surface having a semiconductor layer formed thereon and a second main surface opposed to the first main surface is prepared. A support film is attached to the first main surface using a glue. The second main surface of the substrate is ground so as to reduce a thickness of the substrate. The support film is removed from the first main surface by applying force to the support film in a non-traverse direction.
US09165811B2
An automated warehouse includes an apparatus main body a transfer device. The apparatus main body includes a plurality of stationary shelves arranged horizontally and vertically, and having upper surfaces on which cassettes can be placed. The transfer device transfers the cassette by holding a flange of the cassette. The transfer device includes a vertical rail and a transfer head. The vertical rail includes an upper end adjacent to a supporting surface of a top stationary shelf. The transfer head is a member vertically movable along the vertical rail. The transfer head includes a vertical arm having a length such that the vertical arm can hold the flange of the cassette placed on the top stationary shelf.
US09165809B2
A side roller moves up and down and a substrate transport device including the same prevents a substrate from being broken due to a foreign material decreasing wear of the side roller by transportation of the substrate. The side roller improves a yield of a transportation process.
US09165798B2
A substrate processing apparatus comprises a single-substrate processing apparatus for processing substrates one by one, and an anti-static liquid storage part for storing an anti-static liquid having electrical resistivity maintained at target electrical resistivity higher than the electrical resistivity of an SPM liquid. A plurality of substrates held in a cartridge are immersed in the anti-static liquid inside the anti-static liquid storage part and both main surfaces of the substrate entirely come into contact with the anti-static liquid. From the substrates, static electricity is relatively gently removed. Then, after the static elimination process are finished, a processing liquid supply part supplies the SPM liquid onto an upper surface of the substrate and an SPM process is thereby performed. It is thereby possible to prevent a large amount of electric charges from rapidly moving from the substrate to the SPM liquid and also possible to prevent any damage to the substrate.
US09165796B2
Methods and apparatuses for a attaching a first substrate to a second substrate are provided. In some embodiments, a first substrate has a protective layer, such as a solder mask, around a die attach area, at which a second substrate is attached. A keep-out region (e.g., an area between the second substrate and the protective layer) is a region around the second substrate in which the protective layer is not formed or removed. The keep-out region is sized such that a sufficient gap exists between the second substrate and the protective layer to place an underfill between the first substrate and the second substrate while reducing or preventing voids and while allowing traces in the keep-out region to be covered by the underfill.
US09165795B2
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is disclosed. In one embodiment a semiconductor die is formed overlying a substrate. The semiconductor die is flip chip mounted to the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of conductive traces. The semiconductor die and substrate are encapsulated with an encapsulating material. A top side of the encapsulating material is subjected to one of polishing, etching, and grinding to expose a top side of the semiconductor die. Finally, the bottom side of the substrate is subjected to one of polishing, etching, and grinding to remove the substrate and to reduce a thickness of the plurality of conductive traces.
US09165785B2
An etching method in which bowing or lateral etching is reduced or minimized, particularly with respect to bowing which can occur in etching of an oxide layer in high aspect ratio structures. It has been recognized that such bowing typically occurs in the upper portion of the oxide layer in terms of its location, but that the timing at which the bowing occurs is during the etching of the lower regions of the oxide layer and also during etching of a poly-Si or SOI layer located under the oxide layer. In a preferred form, a thicker passivation layer is formed in the upper region of the oxide layer and a thinner passivation layer is formed when etching the lower portion of the oxide layer or deeper in the etch trench. As a result, reduction in the passivation layer in the upper region which can occur during etching of the lower or deeper region of the trench can be accommodated by the increased thickness passivation layer. In addition, the bowing can be additionally reduced by accelerating the poly-Si or SOI etch, for example, by poly-Si simultaneously using both argon and nitrogen during the etch.
US09165782B2
It is aimed to enhance adhesiveness between a resist pattern formed on a resist underlayer film and to reduce an undercut of the resist pattern. An additive for a resist underlayer film-forming composition, including: a polymer having a structural unit of Formula (1): (where R1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; L is a divalent linking group; X is an acyloxy group having an amino group protected with a tert-butoxycarbonyl group or a nitrogen heterocycle protected with a tert-butoxycarbonyl group).
US09165780B2
Provided is a plasma processing apparatus, which includes a table unit installed within a processing vessel and configured to receive a substrate thereon, a gas supply unit configured to supply a process gas into the processing vessel, a plasma generating unit configured to turn the process gas to plasma, a magnetic field forming mechanism installed at a lateral side of the table unit and configured to form magnetic fields in a processing atmosphere in order to move electrons existing in the plasma of the process gas along a surface of the substrate; and an exhaust mechanism configured to exhaust gas from the interior of the processing vessel. The magnetic fields are opened at at-least one point in a peripheral edge portion of the substrate such that a loop of magnetic flux lines surrounding the peripheral edge portion of the substrate is not formed.
US09165774B2
A semiconductor device includes a plurality of transistors formed over a substrate, a support body including a horizontal portion and protrusions, wherein the horizontal portion covers at least one of the transistors, and the protrusions are formed over the horizontal portion and located between the transistors, and conductive layers and insulating layers alternately stacked over the support body and protruding upwardly along the sidewalls of the protrusions.
US09165772B2
An ion implantation method includes reciprocally scanning an ion beam, mechanically scanning a wafer in a direction perpendicular to the ion beam scanning direction, implanting ions into the wafer, and generating an ion implantation amount distribution in a wafer surface of an isotropic concentric circle shape for correcting non-uniformity in the wafer surface in other semiconductor manufacturing processes, by controlling a beam scanning speed in the ion beam scanning direction and a wafer scanning speed in the mechanical scanning direction at the same time and independently using the respective control functions defining speed correction amounts.
US09165767B2
A semiconductor structure includes a bulk silicon substrate and one or more silicon fins coupled to the bulk silicon substrate. Stress-inducing material(s), such as silicon, are epitaxially grown on the fins into naturally diamond-shaped structures using a controlled selective epitaxial growth. The diamond shaped structures are subjected to annealing at about 750° C. to about 850° C. to increase an area of (100) surface orientation by reshaping the shaped structures from the annealing. Additional epitaxy is grown on the increased (100) area. Multiple cycles of increasing the area of (100) surface orientation (e.g., by the annealing) and growing additional epitaxy on the increased area are performed to decrease the width of the shaped structures, increasing the space between them to prevent them from merging, while also increasing their volume.
US09165764B2
A plasma treatment device includes a dielectric window containing SiO2. The insulating film to be etched comprises silicon carbonitride. In a first plasma treatment step, a processing gas which contains no oxygen gas and contains CH2F2, etc, is used to deposit a protective film. In a second plasma treatment step, a processing gas which contains oxygen gas and contains CH3F, etc. is used to etch away the top and other portions of a part having a convex cross-sectional shape.
US09165763B2
A substrate is rotated at a first rotation number (first step). The rotation of the substrate is decelerated to 1500 rpm that is a second rotation number and the substrate is rotated at the second rotation number for 0.5 seconds (second step). The rotation of the substrate is further decelerated to a third rotation number and the substrate is rotated at the third rotation number (third step). The rotation of the substrate is accelerated to a fourth rotation number and the substrate is rotated at the fourth rotation number (fourth step). A resist solution is continuously supplied to a center portion of the substrate from a middle of the first step to a middle of the third step.
US09165759B2
An etching composition includes about 1 wt % to about 7 wt % of hydrogen peroxide, about 20 wt % to about 80 wt % of phosphoric acid, about 0.001 wt % to about 1 wt % of an amine or amide polymer, 0 wt % to about 55 wt % of sulfuric acid, and about 10 wt % to about 45 wt % of deionized water.
US09165758B2
A peeling system includes: a carry-in/carry-out station that loads/unloads substrates to be processed, support substrates, or stacked substrates in which these are made to adhere; a peeling process station that carries out prescribed processing on substrates to be processed, support substrates and stacked substrates; and a transport station provided between the carry-in/carry-out station and the peeling process station. The peeling process station has a peeling device that peels the stacked substrates, a first washing apparatus that washes peeled substrates to be processed, and a second washing apparatus that washes the peeled support substrates. The pressure inside the transport station is a positive pressure in relation to the pressure inside the peeling device, the pressure inside the first washing apparatus, and the pressure inside the second washing apparatus. The pressure inside a transport apparatus is a positive pressure in relation to the pressure inside the peeling device and the pressure inside the first washing apparatus.
US09165748B2
A plasma CVD method uses an electrode array in a reaction chamber, the electrode array including a plurality of inductively coupled electrodes, each electrode being folded back at the center so that each electrode is substantially U-shaped with two parallel straight portions, the electrodes are arranged such that all of the parallel straight portions are arranged parallel to each other in a common plane, each of the electrodes having at least a portion with a diameter of 10 mm or less, and a phase controlled power supply for feeding high frequency power to the feeding portions so as to establish a standing wave of a half wavelength or natural number multiple of a half wavelength between a feeding portion and a folded back portion and between a grounded portion and the folded back portion, and is controlled to have a phase difference between adjacent two feeding portions.
US09165744B2
An ion beam scanning assembly includes a set of scanning electrodes defining a gap to accept an ion beam and scan the ion beam in a first plane, and a multipole electrostatic lens system comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged along a portion of a path of travel of the ion beam bounded by the pair of scanning electrodes, the multipole electrostatic lens system configured to shape the ion beam in a direction perpendicular to the first plane.
US09165743B2
An electron microscope is disclosed which has a laser-driven photocathode and an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) laser system (“laser”). The laser produces a train of temporally-shaped laser pulses of a predefined pulse duration and waveform, and directs the laser pulses to the laser-driven photocathode to produce a train of electron pulses. An image sensor is used along with a deflector subsystem. The deflector subsystem is arranged downstream of the target but upstream of the image sensor, and has two pairs of plates arranged perpendicular to one another. A control system controls the laser and a plurality of switching components synchronized with the laser, to independently control excitation of each one of the deflector plates. This allows each electron pulse to be directed to a different portion of the image sensor, as well as to be provided with an independently set duration and independently set inter-pulse spacings.
US09165740B2
The invention relates generally to sample ionization, and provides ionization probe assemblies, systems, computer program products, and methods useful for this purpose.
US09165738B2
A light source device having a large cooling action on the base member of a discharge lamp. A connector on the sides of the power supply and the air blower and the base-side connector of a discharge lamp are connected to each other through a connection cable having a power cable in which an air blow pipe is contained. An electric power is supplied from the power supply to a base part through the power cable of the connection cable, the base-side connector and a flow passage bending member. The cool air from the air blower is supplied to the groove part of the base part through the air blow pipe of the connection cable, the base-side connector and an air blow passage in the flow passage-bending member.
US09165735B2
A high reliability, high voltage electronically controllable switch is created from a combination of relays of different types, with different characteristics, such as an electromechanical relay and an optoelectronic relay. The relays are closed and/or opened in accordance with a sequence that avoids actuating an electromechanical relay of such a compound switch to close or open under conditions that degrade the operating life of the electromechanical relay, even if the compound switch is hot switched under high voltage conditions. The switching sequence ends with the relays in a state that provides low on resistance, low crosstalk, low capacitance and/or low leakage. The switch can be relatively compact, enabling construction of an instrument serving as a switch matrix for an automatic test system.
US09165734B2
A microgripper (2) comprises a pair of opposed actuator devices (4, 6) connected to an electronic control unit (8). Each actuator (4, 6) includes an actuator body 10 of transparent flexible epoxy based photoresist material forming a “hot” arm (12) and a “cold” arm (14) joined together at their ends, and an electrical heating element wire (18) is embedded in the “hot” arm (12). A gripper arm (32) extends from the substrate and has a gripping portion (34) such that the gripper portions of the two gripper arms (32) face each other. When electrical current is supplied to the heating element (18), electrical heating of the “hot” arm (12) occurs, as a result of which thermal expansion of the “hot” arm (12) causes its length to become greater than that of the “cold” arm (14). Because the “hot” and “cold” arms (12, 14) are joined together at their ends, the increased length of the “hot” arm (12) as a result of its thermal expansion causes the actuator bodies (10) to flex, as a result of which the gripper portions (34) of the gripper arms (32) move closer together.
US09165729B2
A keyboard device is located in an accommodating space of a housing having first openings and a second opening. The keyboard device includes a flexible body and a transparent liquid. The flexible body is located in the accommodating space, and includes a main body, first pressing portions, patterns, and a second pressing portion. The first pressing portions are respectively located in the first openings. The patterns are located on the main body or the first pressing portions and are respectively exposed through the first openings. The second pressing portion is located in the second opening. The main body, and the first and second pressing portions have an enclosure space therein. The transparent liquid is located in the enclosure space. When the second pressing portion is pressed, the first pressing portions expand to protrude from the first openings, such that the patterns are enlarged.
US09165728B2
A switch with contacts includes a housing formed by snap-fit connection of an upper cover and a base, an operating lever and a movable contact holder, the operating lever and the moveable contact holder being movably-fit to one other. A stop device with a lock mechanism is provided in the housing, the lock mechanism being disposed between the stop device and the movable contact holder. An unlock mechanism is arranged between the stop device and the operating lever. The movable contact holder has positions at each of its two ends with the movable contact holder located in the positions of the two ends. The stop device and the movable contact holder are locked and stopped by the unlock mechanism.
US09165726B2
A tap changer for uninterrupted switching over between winding taps of a tapped transformer has two load branches each for a respective phase to be switched. Each load branch has a vacuum switching contact acting as main contact and parallel thereto at least one series connection of a switch-over resistance and a respective further vacuum switching contact. The two load branches are connected with a common load shunt or connectable by mechanical switching elements. Two respective vacuum switching contacts of each load branch are constructionally combined to form a single vacuum switching tube with two separate movable contacts actuatable independently of one another and a common fixed contact. The common fixed contact is connected with the common load shunt or connectable mechanical switching contacts.
US09165725B2
In one aspect of the invention, an off-circuit tap changer includes a switch base and a rotation shaft penetrating the switch base. An upper end of the rotation shaft is connected to an operation positioning device, a lower end of the rotation shaft is disposed with moving contacts, and fixed contacts corresponding to the moving contacts are circumferentially disposed at a spacing on the switch base; the moving contacts are radial elastic rolling moving contacts, and the radial elastic rolling moving contacts span between two adjacent fixed contacts and closely contact the fixed contacts.
US09165723B2
Embodiments of switches (10) include first and second electrical conductors (34, 36) suspended within an electrically-conductive housing (28), and a contact element (16) having an electrically-conductive portion (53b) that establishes electrical contact between the first and second electrical conductors (34, 36) when the contact element (16) is in a closed position. The electrically-conductive portion (53b) is electrically isolated from a ground plane (27) of the switch (10) by adjacent electrically-insulative portions (53a, 53c) of the contact element (16).
US09165722B2
A method for producing a capacitor including an array of nanocapacitors, in which the following operations are performed using a mold having a sealed surface, as a lower surface, and a top surface through which a network of pores extend: (a) filling the pores of the mold and covering a top surface of the mold with an electrically conductive material, to form a structure including an array of nanoscale objects connected by a single substrate; (b) removing the mold; (c) depositing, on an outline of the structure obtained at the end of (b), at least one bilayer including a first layer of an electrically insulating material and a second layer of an electrically conductive material; and then (d) locally removing the at least one bilayer deposited in (c) from the substrate to form the electrical contact.
US09165716B2
A high capacitance single layer ceramic capacitor having a ceramic dielectric body containing one or more internal electrodes electrically connected to a metallization layer applied to the side and a top or bottom surface and a metallization pad electrically isolated from the metallization side and the top or bottom surface by a castellation or a via or separated by a dielectric insulating band positioned between the electrodes around the perimeter of the ceramic body and separating the top and bottom surfaces.
US09165709B2
A current measuring transducer for measuring the current flowing through an electrical cable, with a ring probe, a sensor and an evaluation device for recording the current value obtained by the ring probe and the sensor, wherein the ring probe has an annular core, wherein the ring probe is divided into a basic ring section and at least one movable ring section, wherein the movable ring section defines an open and a closed state, wherein in the open state, a radial cable insert opening is opened, and wherein a circularly closed arrangement is created in the closed state of the movable ring section in which the annular core surrounds the cable, wherein the radial insertion of a cable extending axially relative to the current measuring transducer into the inside area of the ring probe transfers the ring section from one to the other state, and measurement of the current in the cable inserted into the inside area is made possible in the closed state.
US09165702B2
A thermally-protected varistor (TPV) device that includes a voltage-sensitive body; a first conductive lead frame adjacent the voltage-sensitive body; a second conductive lead frame adjacent the voltage-sensitive body and including a raised pad; a first conducting terminal including an end portion for contacting the raised pad when the TPV device is in a first, conducting position; a fusible material releasably connecting the end portion to the raised pad of the second conductive lead frame when the TPV device is in a first, conducting position; and a biasing element biasing the end portion such that the end portion of the first conducting terminal is configured to move away from the raised pad of the second lead frame when the temperature-sensitive fusible material releases the end portion of the first conducting terminal from the raised pad in response to heat generated by the voltage-sensitive body.
US09165701B2
A resistance heating element includes a positive temperature coefficient resistance heating layer having a positive temperature coefficient, and a negative temperature coefficient resistance heating layer, which is connected to the positive temperature coefficient resistance heating layer and has a negative temperature coefficient.
US09165692B2
A glass radiation-source with customized geometries to maximize receipt of radiation into treatment areas that is formed from either neutron-activated glass, radioisotopes molecularly bonded to glass, or radioisotopes encased within glass.
US09165691B2
Example embodiments are directed to materials useable as burnable poisons in nuclear reactors, components using the same, and methods of using the same. Example embodiment burnable poison materials produce desired daughter products as they burn out, thereby permitting placement and use for neutronic characteristic improvement and/or neutron flux shielding in locations conventionally barred as uneconomical. Example embodiment burnable poison materials may include natural iridium and enriched iridium-193. Example embodiment components may be fabricated, shaped, and placed to provide desired burnable poison effects in the reactor core in conventional locations and locations not conventionally used due to economic infeasibility. Example methods include use of example embodiment components, including determining locations benefiting from burnable poison effects, fabricating example embodiment components of a desired amount of example embodiment burnable poison materials, placing the example embodiment components, exposing example embodiment components to flux within the operating nuclear reactor, removing and harvesting example embodiment burnable poison components for desired daughter products produced from example embodiment burnable poison materials.
US09165681B2
In an embodiment, a defective memory block is replaced with a non-defective memory block, and a voltage-delay correction is applied to the non-defective memory block that replaces the defective memory block based on the actual location of the non-defective memory block.
US09165679B2
Provided is a method of preventing simultaneous activation of redundancy memory line or spare word lines, the method including: programming a fail address of a memory line determined to be defective; reprogramming the fail address if a first spare line for the memory line is determined to be defective; storing additional information with respect to the reprogrammed fail address; and activating a second spare line and inactivating the first spare line, referring to the additional information.
US09165678B2
A semiconductor memory device includes an operation control block suitable for controlling an entrance/escape to/from a test public mode and a test application mode in response to a first preset command and an address signal that is inputted through an address pad, a test normal input block suitable for receiving the address signal as a test operation signal in response to the first preset command in the test application mode, a test public input block suitable for receiving a data signal, which is inputted through a data pad as the test operation signal in response to a second preset command in the test public mode, and an internal circuit suitable for performing a preset test operation in response to the test operation signal in the test application mode.
US09165674B1
Semiconductor devices are provided. The semiconductor device may include a control signal generator and a fuse array portion. The control signal generator may generate a power control signal, disable the power control signal to a ground voltage signal level during a power-up period, and enable the power control signal to a power supply voltage signal level from a moment that the power-up period terminates until a moment that a mode register set operation terminates. The fuse array portion may execute a boot-up operation while the power control signal is enabled. The fuse array portion may generate fuse data according to an electrical open/short state of a fuse. The fuse may be selected by a level combination of address signals during the boot-up operation.
US09165673B2
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array configured to store data including a verification code; a sensing unit configured to sense the stored data including the verification code; and a verification unit configured to determine whether the sensing unit is able to sense the stored data based on a sensing condition, wherein the verification unit is configured to determine whether the sensing unit is able to sense the stored data based on the sensing condition and a value of the verification code sensed by the sensing unit.
US09165663B2
The invention relates to a non-volatile memory device comprising: an input for providing external data to be stored on the non-volatile memory device; a first non-volatile memory block and a second non-volatile memory block, the first non-volatile memory block and the second non-volatile memory block being provided on a single die, wherein the first non-volatile memory block and second non-volatile memory block are of a different type such that the first non-volatile memory block and the second non-volatile memory block require incompatible external attack techniques in order to retrieve data there from; and—an encryption circuit for encrypting the external data forming encrypted data using unique data from at least the first non-volatile memory block as an encryption key, the encrypted data at least being stored into the second non-volatile memory block. The invention further relates to method of protecting data in a non-volatile memory device.
US09165659B1
Techniques are provided for programming memory cells while reducing the effects of detrapping which cause a downshift in the threshold voltage distribution. Detrapping is particularly problematic for charge-trapping memory cells such as in a 3D stacked non-volatile memory device. During programming, a temporary lockout mode is provided for memory cells which pass a verify test. During a checkpoint program-verify iteration, all memory cells of a target data state are subject to the verify test. The memory cells in the temporary lockout mode are therefore subject to the verify test a second time. Memory cells that fail the verify test in the checkpoint program-verify iteration are programmed further. A normal or slow programming mode is used for a memory cell depending on whether it had reached the temporary lockout mode. Threshold voltage distributions are narrowed by reprogramming some of the memory cells.
US09165655B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises multiple memory strings each including a plurality of first and second groups of serially connected memory cells, and a back gate transistor serially connected between the first and second groups of memory cells, a plurality of word lines, each word line being connected to a control gate of a different memory cell in each of the memory strings, a voltage generating circuit configured to generate control voltages of different voltage levels, and a control circuit configured to control application of control voltages to the word lines and the back gate line. A control voltage applied to the back gate line may be varied depending on how far a selected word line is from the back gate line, and a control voltage applied to unselected word lines may be varied depending on how far the unselected word line is from the selected word line.
US09165650B2
The hybrid dynamic-static encoder described herein may combine dynamic and static structural and logical design features that strategically partition dynamic nets and logic to substantially eliminate redundancy and thereby provide area, power, and leakage savings relative to a fully dynamic encoder with an equivalent logic delay. For example, the hybrid dynamic-static encoder may include identical top and bottom halves, which may be combined to produce final encoded index, hit, and multi-hit outputs. Each encoder half may use a dynamic net for each index bit with rows that match a search key dotted. If a row has been dotted to indicate that the row matches the search key, the dynamic nets associated therewith may be evaluated to reflect the index associated with the row. Accordingly, the hybrid dynamic-static encoder may have a reduced set of smaller dynamic nets that leverage redundant pull-down structures across the index, hit, and multi-hit dynamic nets.
US09165643B2
This nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises a memory cell array configured having a plurality of memory mats arranged therein, each of the memory mats having a memory cell disposed therein at an intersection of a first line and a second line, the memory cell including a first variable resistance element. A third line extends through a plurality of the memory mats. A second variable resistance element is connected between the third line and the second line of each of the plurality of memory mats.
US09165641B2
A memory device biasing circuit is disclosed, the circuit having a pair of semiconductor devices coupled to receive a supply voltage having a supply voltage level suitable for operating a memory device in an active mode and operable for providing an adjustable biased voltage to the memory device that is greater than a minimal voltage level for operating the memory device in a data retention mode. The pair of semiconductor devices includes a first semiconductor device; and, a second semiconductor device that includes an opposite type of semiconductor device than the first semiconductor device such that the pair of semiconductor devices includes each of an N-type semiconductor device and a P-type semiconductor device. The memory device biasing circuit further includes a bias adjustment circuit coupled to the second semiconductor device and configured to adjust the operation of the second semiconductor device based on the supply voltage.
US09165637B2
A method of operating a volatile memory device includes storing address information of weak cell rows. According to some examples, after writing to a weak cell row, a refresh operation is performed on the weak cell row within a predetermined time. According to some examples, the writing operation to a weak cell row may be performed with a longer write recovery time than a write recovery time to normal cell rows.
US09165635B2
A memory controlling device and method are disclosed for controlling a memory having a partial array self refresh (PASR) function and a plurality of memory segments. The memory controlling device comprises an address mapper, an address decoder, an address selector, and a PASR configuration register storing a PASR configuration. The address mapper converts an input address set into a mapped address set according to an address offset. The mapped address set comprises a plurality of consecutive mapped addresses or at least one mapped address within a limited range. The address decoder updates the PASR configuration during writing. The address selector generates an updated address set, which is used for setting at least one mode register of the memory, according to the PASR configuration register under a sleep-or-standby mode in order that the memory can self refresh at least one of the memory segments correspondingly.
US09165632B2
Provided is a memory device with reduced overhead power. A memory device includes a first circuit retaining data in a first period during which a power supply voltage is supplied; a second circuit saving the data retained in the first circuit in the first period and retaining the data saved from the first circuit in a second period during which the power supply voltage is not supplied; and a third circuit saving the data retained in the second circuit in the second period and retaining the data saved from the second circuit in a third period during which the power supply voltage is not supplied. The third circuit includes a transistor in which a channel formation region is provided in an oxide semiconductor film and a capacitor to which a potential corresponding to the data is supplied through the transistor.
US09165623B2
Among other things, techniques and systems are provided for activating a memory cell of a memory arrangement in preparation for at least one of a read operation or write operation. The memory arrangement comprises a word-line driver comprising at least a first input terminal and a second input terminal. The first input terminal is operably coupled to a first decoder and the second input terminal is operably coupled to a second decoder. When the word-line driver senses a first voltage at the first input terminal and a second voltage at the second input terminal, the word-line driver outputs a gate voltage signal which activates the memory cell.
US09165614B2
A memory may include first to Nth cell arrays configured to include a plurality of memory cells and one or more first to Nth data input/output pads respectively corresponding to the first to Nth cell arrays, wherein the one or more first to Nth data input/output pads are configured to input/output data to/from the first to Nth cell arrays.
US09165609B2
A semiconductor device includes a first set of stacked structures including alternately stacked insulating layers and conductive layers disposed on a substrate, and arranged in a generally parallel configuration with respect to each other, a second set of stacked structures including alternately stacked insulating layers and conductive layers disposed on the substrate between the first stacked structures, and arranged in a generally parallel configuration with respect to each other, a first wiring structure configured to electrically couple conductive layers located on the same layer in different stacked structures of the first set of stacked structures, a second wiring structure configured to electrically couple conductive layers located on the same layer in different stacked structures of the second set of stacked structures, and a third wiring structure configured to electrically couple the first wiring structure and the second wiring structure with an operation circuit.
US09165603B2
A method and apparatus for grouping video tracks in a video editing timeline comprises displaying a plurality of video tracks in a video editing timeline; receiving a selection of video tracks to be grouped from the plurality of video tracks that are displayed; displaying the video tracks selected for grouping as a single video track in the video editing timeline; and applying an indicator identifying the video tracks as grouped in the video editing timeline.
US09165602B2
An apparatus and method for reproducing multi-angle data in a seamless manner, even during a change of angle, and an information storage medium on which the multi-angle data is recorded. AV data divided into clips, which are recording units, is recorded on the information storage medium. Additional information regarding jump points is recorded on a space of the information storage medium other than where the clips are recorded. The apparatus for reproducing the multi-angle data includes a reading unit which reads data from the information storage medium, and a reproducing unit which reproduces the data read by the reading unit by searching for and reproducing clips corresponding to the read data when the read data is multi-angle data, and, if there is an angle change command, reproducing clips for a new angle from a jump point of the clip for the new angle.
US09165592B2
A disc device according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of magazines each having a tray that stores a plurality of discs, a plurality of disc drives that performs recording or reproducing of information on or from a disc, respectively, a picker that draws out the magazine tray from one magazine selected from the plurality of magazines and that conveys the magazine tray to a position near the plurality of disc drives, and a disc separating and supplying device that, at the position near the disc drives, holds the plurality of discs stored in the magazine tray, that separates at least one disc from the held plurality of discs, and that supplies the separated disc to the disc drive.
US09165590B2
There is disclosed a minute structure including a sulfur compound and a silicon oxide. There is also disclosed a write-once information recording medium including a substrate and a recording layer formed of a mixed inorganic material and deposited on the substrate, wherein the mixed inorganic material contains a sulfur compound and a silicon oxide.
US09165589B1
A voice coil motor with a lateral attraction force comprising a magnetic device, a lens carrier, a base, a plurality of guide posts, a set of surface coil and a guiding magnetic plate. The first contact structure and the second contact structure of the magnetic device are contacted the plurality of guide posts respectively. There is at least one contacting point between the first contact structure and one of the plurality of guide posts, and there are at least two contacting point between the second contact structure and the other of the plurality of guide posts.
US09165570B2
A magnetic element capable of reading data may generally be configured at least with a magnetic seed lamination disposed between a data reader stack and a magnetic shield. The magnetic seed lamination may be constructed at least with one magnetic layer coupled to the bottom shield and at least one non-magnetic layer decoupling the data reader stack from the at least one magnetic layer.
US09165566B2
Embodiments are disclosed that relate to the use of speech inputs including indefinite quantitative terms as computing device inputs. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of operating a computing device, the method including receiving a speech input comprising an indefinite quantitative term, determining a definite quantity corresponding to the indefinite quantitative term, and applying the definite quantity to an action performed via the computing device in response to the speech input.
US09165560B2
Methods are provided for encoding watermark information into media data containing a series of digital samples in a sample domain. The methods involves: dividing the series of digital samples into a plurality of sections in the sample domain, each section comprising a corresponding plurality of samples; processing the corresponding plurality of samples in each section to obtain a single energy value associated with each section; grouping the sections into groups, each group containing three or more sections; for each group, assigning a nominal bit value according to a bit assignment rule, assigning a watermark bit value and comparing the watermark bit value to the nominal bit value. If the nominal bit value and the watermark bit value do not match, modifying one or more energy values of one or more corresponding sections in the group where re-application of the bit assignment rule would assign the watermark bit value to the group.
US09165555B2
A method and system for training an automatic speech recognition system are provided. The method includes separating training data into speaker specific segments, and for each speaker specific segment, performing the following acts: generating spectral data, selecting a first warping factor and warping the spectral data, and comparing the warped spectral data with a speech model. The method also includes iteratively performing the steps of selecting another warping factor and generating another warped spectral data, comparing the other warped spectral data with the speech model, and if the other warping factor produces a closer match to the speech model, saving the other warping factor as the best warping factor for the speaker specific segment. The system includes modules configured to control a processor in the system to perform the steps of the method.
US09165548B2
A noise cancellation system for transporting a fluid (M) from an inlet in one space (RM1) to an outlet in another space (RM2). A noisy element(VF, HA), e.g. a ventilation fan (VF)or a turbulent noise source (HA),generates acoustic noise. A loudspeaker (L) with a diaphragm (D) is arranged such that a first side (S1) of the diaphragm (D) is in contact with the fluid (M) on a first side (P1) of the noisy element(VF), and a second side (S2) of the diaphragm (D) is in contact with the fluid (M) on a second side (P2) of the noisy element (VF). The loudspeaker diaphragm (D) is arranged to move substantially in anti-phase with at least a part of the noise generated by the noisy element (VF), hereby cancelling the noise from the noisy element (VF). The noisy element may be placed inside a duct system. Especially, the system may be a decentral ventilation system with a noisy ventilation fan (VF) for transporting air between two spaces, e.g. two rooms, or between one room and “free air”.
US09165546B2
In a recording and playback device of the present invention, when input data exceeding a threshold value is supplied, the CPU records input data for an amount of time corresponding to a single beat in an area specified by syllable number SPLIT in an input buffer IB of the RAM, and after incrementing the syllable number SPLIT, waits until the recorded data becomes silent. The CPU repeats this series of processing until the value of the incremented syllable number SPLIT reaches “4”, and thereby stores input data recorded for an amount of time corresponding to a single beat in each input buffer IB(1) to IB(4) corresponding to syllable numbers SPLIT1 to SPLIT4. Then, the CPU copies the input data to the recording area of the RAM such that these input data are sequentially connected and formed into loop data for an amount of time corresponding to a single bar.
US09165535B2
A system, computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for determining a zoom factor of content displayed on a display device is presented. An image is obtained from a camera oriented toward a viewing position of the display device, where the image includes a viewer of the display device. The image is normalized based on specification of the camera to produce a normalized image. The normalized image is analyzed to determine a distance between the display device and the viewer of the display device. A zoom factor for content is determined based on the distance between the display device and the viewer of the display device. Content is displayed on the display device using the zoom factor.
US09165530B2
A signal processor converts an input 3D image signal into a signal in which a left-eye signal and right-eye signal are rearranged temporally alternately. A driver of a liquid crystal display element includes a sub-frame data generator configuring all the sub-frames with step bit pulses and generating sub-frame data by using a drive gradation table in which the last sub-frame reaches a drive state when a drive gradation is “1” and the number of sub-frames reaching the drive state is increased one by one toward ahead of a sub-frame which has already reached the drive state, every time the drive gradation is increased by one. The liquid crystal display element is driven by the driver. An illumination optical system causes illumination light to enter into the liquid crystal display element. A projection lens projects modulated light emitted from the liquid crystal display element.
US09165528B2
A display system may include a system board configured to compare image signals of a current and previous frame and configured to output the image signals of the current frame and a comparison result; a display panel configured to receive data signals in response to gate signals and configured to include pixels for displaying images corresponding to the data signals; a timing controller configured to output image signals and control signals; a gate driving unit configured to provide the gate signals to the pixels in response to the control signals; and/or a data driving unit configured to store the image signals provided from the timing controller and configured to convert the image signals into the data signals in response to the control signals, the data signals being provided to the pixels.
US09165526B2
An apparatus including a display and control logic is provided. In one example, the display includes an array of subpixels having a subpixel repeating group tiled across the display in a regular pattern. The subpixel repeating group comprises n rows of subpixels and n columns of subpixels. Each row of the subpixel repeating group comprises n types of subpixels. Each column of the subpixel repeating group comprises the n types of subpixels. Subpixels along each diagonal direction of the subpixel repeating group comprise at least two types of the n types of subpixels. The control logic is operatively coupled to the display and is configured to receive display data and render the display data into control signals for driving the array of subpixels of the display.
US09165512B2
A method for reducing double images of a frame is disclosed. The frame is divided into a plurality of regions. The method includes generating a plurality of output enable (OE) signals, which are utilized to respectively adjust a plurality of conduction durations of a plurality of gate lines of the corresponding regions. The OE signals are outputted to a gate driver for generating a plurality of scan signals of the corresponding regions. The gate lines, which correspond to the regions, are driven by the gate driver according to the scan signals.
US09165510B2
The techniques of the disclosure are directed to reducing power consumption in a device through adaptive backlight level (ABL) scaling. The techniques may utilize a temporal approach in implementing the ABL scaling to adjust the backlight level of a display for a current video frame in a sequence of video frames presented on the display. The techniques may include receiving an initial backlight level adjustment for the current video frame and determining whether to adjust the backlight level adjustment for the current video frame based on a historical trend. The techniques may also determine the historical trend of backlight level adjustments between the current video frame and one or more preceding video frames in the sequence.
US09165506B2
Organic light emitting display device and method of driving an organic light emitting display device
In a method of driving an organic light emitting display device, a first data signal constituting an image frame is sequentially written into first pixel circuits coupled to first scan-lines by sequentially performing a scanning operation on the first scan-lines in a first direction, a second data signal constituting the image frame is sequentially written into second pixel circuits coupled to second scan-lines by sequentially performing the scanning operation on the second scan-lines in a second direction, and the image frame is displayed by controlling the first and second pixel circuits to simultaneously emit light.
US09165504B2
A method of controlling a dimming operation of an organic light emitting display device that includes an organic light emitting element, a first transistor connected to a data line and a gate line, and a second transistor connected to the first transistor and the organic light emitting element, is provided. By the method, image data is compensated using a plurality of look-up tables respectively corresponding to a plurality of dimming modes, to be outputted compensation data. The compensation data are converted to a data voltage to be provided the organic light emitting element with the data voltage. A level of a current applied to the organic light emitting element is adjusted according to the dimming.
US09165503B2
A pixel structure and a driving method thereof are disclosed. The pixel structure includes a first capacitor, an input unit, a compensation unit, a pixel driving unit, a resetting unit, a light-emitting diode, a light-emitting activation unit and a coupling unit. The input unit controls a voltage on a first terminal of the first capacitor according to a first scanning signal and a data signal. The compensation unit coupled to the first capacitor is configured to control voltages on the terminals of the first capacitor according to a second scanning signal. The pixel driving unit is configured to provide a driving current to the light-emitting diode according to a first reference voltage and the voltage on a second terminal of the first capacitor. The coupling unit is coupled to the light-emitting activation unit, the first terminal of the first capacitor, the input unit and the compensation unit.
US09165498B2
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display including: a display unit including pixels; and a power supply unit including: an output terminal; a reference terminal having an insulated output; and a bias circuit generating a first power source voltage from a received input voltage and supplying a second power source voltage to the reference terminal wherein the first power source voltage and the second power source voltage are voltages driving the plurality of pixels, wherein the bias circuit supplies the second power source voltage to the reference terminal and the plurality of pixels and is referenced to a ground voltage, and wherein a current flowing to the pixels flows to the reference terminal. In the OLED display, one power supply may be used as a power supply powering electroluminescence (EL), and thereby a cost of the OLED display may be reduced and a power efficiency may be improved.
US09165491B2
A display device having multiple viewing zones includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels in a matrix form, each pixel including red, green and blue sub-pixels arranged in a vertical direction; and a light guide panel guiding a first image emitted from the pixels in first columns among the plurality of pixels to a first viewing zone and a second image emitted from the pixels in second columns among the plurality of pixels to a second viewing zone, wherein the first column is adjacent to the second column.
US09165488B1
A support device for a hollow traffic marker utilizing a base having a foot positioned at the ground surface. A boss extends from the base and includes a cavity. A first spacer is held within the boss cavity by a fastener. A flexible sleeve positioned over the outer surface of the boss a hollow traffic marker connected to a second spacer by a fastener lies within the flexible sleeve. A gap within the flexible sleeve separates the first and second spacers.
US09165483B2
An apparatus comprises a main pole being configured to be operable to display at least one flag. At least one illumination source is disposed in a longitudinal length of the main pole. The illumination source is configured to at least illuminate a facing surface of the displayed flag. A switch mechanism is configured to be operable for activating and deactivating the illumination source.
US09165481B2
The invention relates to a labeling device, comprising a modular base carrier (2) designed to be arranged on the container (15) and an attachment element (9) for individually marking a container (15) for drinking liquids, which attachment element has a fastening device (9b). The attachment element (9) is designed as a closure for a container opening (17) of the container (15), and the fastening device (9b) is designed in such a way that the attachment element (9) can be detachably connected in a form-closed and/or force-closed manner to the container (15) in a first position and to the base carrier (2) in a second position.
US09165480B2
A shipping document comprises a first printable portion and a second printable portion attached together by a connecting strip comprising at least one detachable chad, and at least one detachable border strip removably attached to at least one free edge of the first printable portion. When the second printable portion is folded against the first printable portion the border strip extends beyond the second printable portion. When an adhesive is applied to the removable chad and the border strip, the shipping label can be secured to a surface by the adhesive and subsequently removed from the surface by detaching the border strip and the chad from the sheet, while the first and second printable portions remain attached along the connecting strip. The invention includes a method and apparatus for applying the shipping document to a surface.
US09165479B1
A variety of tools for demonstrating the mathematical properties is disclosed. In one embodiment, a demonstrator uses the tools to illuminate geometric relationships between objects in two and three-dimensional space. The tools may be a stationary exhibit or collected into a portable kit. Whether portable or stationary, the tools provide an easy to use, multi-functional, and visually captivating vehicle for demonstration of geometric properties.
US09165476B2
A piano keyboard computer includes a piano-type keyboard adjacent to a display screen. The system allows music tutorials, visualizations and other applications. A docking system allows additional devices to be placed on, adjacent to, or near the piano keyboard computer. The additional device then communicates with the piano keyboard computer to add functionality such as additional speakers, controllers, etc. The piano keyboard computer can act as a controller for other devices.
US09165475B2
A system and method for simulating hazardous environments provides simulated detector readings of hazardous environment for training first responder entry teams by controlling a simulated display provided to hazardous material portable detection simulator clients, such as via a wireless interface. Each simulator client provides detector reading displays for selected environments and allows for two-way interactive response with a master control unit. Simulator clients are configured as modular units comprising a smartphone or similar mass-produced wireless computing device removably integrated with a detector simulator housing and/or keypad interface. The master control unit allows direct control of individual detector displays and scenarios representing various hazardous environments.
US09165473B2
A system for interactive online instruction includes an instructional subscription website and video management system configured to process video recordings. The video recordings may include (i) student videos uploaded by a student and (ii) instructor videos providing feedback to said student videos. A method of interactive online instruction is also disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing prerecorded course materials on an instructional subscription website including video lessons accessible by subscribing students, and providing a video management system configured to process video recordings including (i) student videos submitted by a student and (ii) instructor videos providing feedback to said student videos.
US09165472B2
A method and system provides for electrophysiological data analysis in a networked processing environment. The method and system includes receiving, via a networked connection, electrophysiological data of a patient and electronically performing, via at least one network processing device, a data analysis on the electrophysiological data. The method and system includes generating at least one report based on the data analysis, wherein the at least one report includes determination of one or more intervention options for the patient and therein transmitting the report to a recipient device across the network connection for utilization with the patient. The results of the report direct the user to apply from within the same system non-invasive brain stimulation, neurofeedback, and biofeedback modalities. Re-assessment can occur from within the same system following the training or modulation of electrophysiology and thereby generate a comparison report showing functional changes from the provided intervention or combined interventions.
US09165468B2
A system for longitudinal and lateral control of a vehicle. The system includes a camera generating a plurality of images representative of a field of view in front of the vehicle, and a controller receiving the plurality of images. The controller detects an object in the plurality of images, extracts a plurality of features from the plurality of images, generates a reference feature depiction based on the plurality of features from one or more of the plurality of images, generates a comparison feature depiction based on the plurality of features from one of the plurality of images, compares the reference feature depiction and the comparison feature depiction, and determines a longitudinal position of the vehicle relative to the object based on differences between the reference feature depiction and the comparison feature depiction.
US09165464B2
A method for providing assistance during a parking maneuver of a motor vehicle into a parking space. The parking space and a boundary object located in the area of the parking space being detected by a sensor array while the vehicle is driving by the parking space. To simplify the parking maneuver, a boundary object type is assigned to the detected boundary object, and parking information relating to the feasibility of a parking maneuver into the parking space is generated. Furthermore, a device for providing assistance during a parking maneuver of a motor vehicle, into a parking space, having a sensor array for detecting a parking space and a boundary object located in the area of the parking space while the vehicle is driving by the parking space, having an analyzer unit connected to the sensor array, and having a memory unit.
US09165462B2
A system and a method for controlling traffic, the method comprising: when a sensing terminal sends a wireless signal, the intensity of the wireless signal sent by the sensing terminal is determined by wireless sensor nodes (101) located on both sides of a road, and the determined intensity is passed to an information processing module (102); the information processing module (102); the information processing module (102) controls the state of a traffic light according to the change in the intensity determined by the wireless sensor nodes (101). By means of the present application, the state of pedestrians crossing the road can be automatically determined, and the traffic light can be automatically adjusted, so as to ensure the safety of pedestrians effectively.
US09165461B1
A traffic flow control system that includes a display device, an image acquisition module, an user interactive device, and a server having a processor. The processor is configured to obtain, by a data aggregation module, at least one of a first, second, third, fourth set of data, compute, by a computation module, a travel score for a travel direction of an intersection by weighing each of the first, second, third, and the fourth set of data with respect to one another, determine whether the travel score is a highest travel score of the intersection, and, if the travel score is the highest travel score of the intersection, enable traffic flow in the travel direction using the display device.
US09165456B2
Systems and methods for distributing a firmware upgrade within a mesh network are provided. In one implementation, a firmware upgrade distributing system comprises a utility provider, which is configured to provide utility services to a plurality of customers, a plurality of meters, and a plurality of nodes. Each meter is configured to measure utility usage data of a respective customer. The nodes are configured to transmit the utility usage data from the plurality of meters to the utility provider. When at least one of the meters is scheduled to receive a firmware upgrade, the utility provider is configured to forward the firmware upgrade to at least one of the plurality of nodes. The at least one node is configured to receive and store the firmware upgrade and, after storing the firmware upgrade, is further configured to forward the firmware upgrade to at least one of the plurality of meters.
US09165448B2
An aperture member (15) is configured to be mounted to a receiving portion (22) provided to a main body (2), and includes a lower surface portion (15a) formed into an arc shape. The receiving portion (22) of the main body (2) includes a bottom surface portion (22a) formed into a shape corresponding to the arc shape of the lower surface portion (15a) of the aperture member (15) so as to be brought into contact with the lower surface portion (15a) of the aperture member (15). The aperture member (15) includes a light passage opening (15e) formed so that a center position (15ea) thereof substantially matches with a position of a center of curvature of the arc shape of the lower surface portion (15a).
US09165447B2
An anti-theft system that has a first component that is an attractive and light-weight smart charm that uses an accessory attachment device to attach to a wearable accessory such as a bracelet or necklace, an item of clothing, or user. The system has a second component that is an object monitor for attaching or combining with a mobile object, such as a wallet or purse. The smart charm and object monitor communicate proximity information between each other, and set off a perceptible alarm through one or more sensory alert mechanisms when the separation distance between the smart charm and object monitor exceeds a threshold alert criterion.
US09165435B2
This concept is directed to methods of operating a gaming device to analyze game information that is part of a gaming event having a player interaction in advance of the player interaction to make a determination about the game play. These methods may be used for a variety of gaming devices such as slot machines, video keno devices, video poker machines, electronic table games, internet gaming terminals, etc. In each type of gaming device, these operation methods evaluate future game information during game play to determine one of multiple manners by which the game play will continue. These continuation manners may include changing the speed of game play, determining display characteristics of the game and outcome, providing tips or information to the player about the future game information, automatically initiating a subsequent game, or otherwise altering an aspect of the game play parameters in response to the evaluated game information.
US09165429B2
A gaming method and device includes a game, at least one non-qualifying outcome in the game, and at least one qualifying outcome in the game, wherein a player qualifies for a multi-player tournament to be held in the future when the player achieves the at least one qualifying outcome.
US09165420B1
The invention generally pertains to a system and method for determining if a player has placed a bet in a bet spot on a gaming table, such as, for example, a main bet spot or a progressive or proposition bet spot. By way of example, the tabletop of a gaming table has a plurality of player positions having one or more bet spots positioned in proximity to each player position on the top surface. The tabletop has a light sensor associated with each bet spot and positioned beneath the gaming table layout to detect light intensity through the layout. A plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) are associated with each light sensor. The plurality of LEDs are located beneath the gaming table layout so as to illuminate through the material of the gaming table layout. More specifically, the LEDs are configured to illuminate through the layout when a gaming chip is detected in the bet spot, which causes a change in the light intensity detected by the light sensor associated with the bet spot because the bet spot is covered by a gaming chip.
US09165417B2
The method includes using a voting computer to represent the user selected voting options gathered by a voting application running in the voting computer, using an element that has a machine readable format such as a barcode, recording then the element in a physical media using a printing device connected to the voting computer, so that it is suitable to be delivered by the user using a physical channel such as a postal service to the electoral officers. Once the delivered physical media is received by the intended destination (e.g., election officials), the method introduces the step of reading the element information contained in the physical media using a reading device connected to a retrieving computer. Finally, the method introduces a process for generating a physical ballot in the retrieving computer using the information delivered by the voter and a printing device.
US09165414B2
Methods and systems for operating an avionics system on-board an aircraft are provided. A plurality of signals representative of a current state of the aircraft are received. A future state of the aircraft is calculated based on the plurality of signals representative of the current state of the aircraft. An indication of the future state of the aircraft is generated with the avionics system on-board the aircraft.
US09165409B2
This disclosure includes a method for creating a database stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising: receiving a first plurality of images of variations of a first consumer product layer, each of the first plurality of images depicting a variation of the first consumer product layer, each of the variations comprising at least one surface. The method also includes receiving a second plurality of images of variations of a second consumer product layer, each of the second plurality of images depicting a variation of the first consumer product layer, each of the variations comprising at least one surface. The method further includes providing a first depth attribute to the first consumer product layer and a second depth attribute to the second consumer product layer. The method also includes storing the first plurality of images, the second plurality of images, the texture maps, and the plurality of textures in the database.
US09165398B2
Data analysis of a food item based on one or more digital images of the food item is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises displaying, on a display unit of the smart device, first and second digital images of a meal, where the first digital image is captured before the second digital image. The method also comprises determining a volume of each food item in the first digital image and a volume of each food item in the second digital image by analyzing the first digital image and the second digital image using a digital image processing technique. The method further comprises generating, on the display unit, an amount of intake for the meal based on a difference between the volume of each food item in the first digital image and the volume of each food item in the second digital image.
US09165393B1
A computer-implemented method for measuring the stereoscopic quality of a computer-generated object in a three-dimensional computer-generated scene. The computer-generated object is visible from at least one camera of a pair of cameras used for creating a stereoscopic view of the computer-generated scene. A set of surface vertices of the computer-generated object is obtained. A stereoscopic transformation on the set of surface vertices is computed to obtain a set of transformed vertices. A translation vector and a scale vector are computed and applied to the set of transformed vertices to obtain a ghosted set of vertices. The ghosted set of vertices is approximately translational and scale invariant with respect to the set of surface vertices. A sum of the differences between the set of surface vertices and the set of ghosted vertices is computed to obtain a first stereo-quality metric.
US09165382B2
The present invention relates to a system for providing traffic information using augmented reality, and comprises: an AR server for providing a virtual image which is obtained by processing transfer information on transfer locations at stops for transportation means and information according to the transportation means, using characters and graphics; and a personal portable communication device which displays the virtual image received from the AR server while overlapping the virtual image on a real-captured image of a transfer location obtained through a camera. According to the present invention, a virtual image which displays transfer information on transfer locations such as bus platforms, subway stations, airports and the like and information according to transportation means and the like is displayed while being overlapped on an actual real-captured mage, thereby making it possible for a user to easily and simply obtain information on the detailed traffic flow at transfer locations or the surroundings thereof.
US09165381B2
A system and method are disclosed for augmenting a reading experience in a mixed reality environment. In response to predefined verbal or physical gestures, the mixed reality system is able to answer a user's questions or provide additional information relating to what the user is reading. Responses may be displayed to the user on virtual display slates in a border or around the reading material without obscuring text or interfering with the user's reading experience.
US09165378B2
The present disclosure related to acquisition of color calibration charts. In at least some examples herein, an image of a calibration color chart is processed. A lighting condition of the color calibration chart may be automatically determined.
US09165358B2
A subject component removed signal is obtained from an image signal representing an image by performing, with respect to a first direction and/or a second direction that is different from the first direction, one-dimensional filtering processing using a subject component removal filter that removes a low frequency component including a subject component of the image to roughly remove the subject component. Further, frequency components corresponding to the periodic pattern in the subject component removed signal are detected with respect to both of the first direction and the second direction.
US09165355B1
An inspection method comprising, virtually dividing a sample, in which a plurality of chip patterns are formed, into a plurality of strip-shaped stripes along a predetermined direction to acquire an optical image of the chip pattern in each of the stripes, performing filtering based on design data of the chip pattern to produce a reference image corresponding to the optical image, comparing the chip pattern using a die-to-database method and comparing a repetitive pattern portion in the chip pattern using a cell method, obtaining at least one of a dimension difference and a dimension ratio between a pattern of the optical image and a pattern of the reference image compared to the pattern of the optical image by the die-to-database method; and obtaining a dimension distribution of the plurality of chip patterns from at least one of the dimension difference and the dimension ratio.
US09165353B2
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRT) method for jointly estimating an image degradation and reconstructing an image of a subject in which that image degradation is mitigated is provided. The MRI system is operated to acquire multiple different k-space data sets that are acquired with different acquisition parameters so as to modulate the image degradation to be estimated. Using an iterative process, the image degradation is estimated while jointly reconstructing an image in which the estimated image degradation is mitigated.
US09165347B2
An apparatus, system, method, and article to continue border lines into an unknown region of an image from a known background; determine segments, based on the continued borders, for the unknown region of the image; and propagate pixels from a known area of the image to the unknown area based on the determined segments and continued borders.
US09165344B2
An image processing apparatus and method are disclosed. The apparatus may include: a wavelet transform device for performing wavelet transform on an input image to decompose the input image into a plurality of levels of different scales, each level including a low frequency component and a plurality of high frequency components; a compensation template generating device for generating a compensation template for each level according to the plurality of high frequency components in the level, the compensation template reflecting combination feature of the plurality of high frequency components; a de-noising device for de-noising the low frequency component of each level and performing edge compensation on the low frequency component with the compensation template to acquire a compensated low frequency component; and a wavelet inverse transform device for performing inverse wavelet transform with the compensated low frequency component and the high frequency components of each level to acquire a de-noised image.
US09165339B2
In one aspect, a map is provided for display by one or more computing devices. The map includes one or more polygons. The one or more computing devices receive a zoom request for viewing the map. The one or more computing devices then determines whether a visual threshold has been reached based at least in part on the zoom request. When the visual threshold has been reached, the one or more computing devices identify a polygon of the one or more polygons. The one or more computing devices then provide for display alternate imagery corresponding to the polygon on the map.
US09165336B2
A method includes checking a specified security feature of a value document which is present in a specified security-feature region of the value document. The security feature includes captured pixel data which describe spatially resolved with a specified optical spatial resolution, an optical image at least of the security-feature region of the value document, and there are captured ultrasound data which describe an ultrasonic property of the value document at least in the security-feature region, spatially resolved with a specified ultrasonic spatial resolution. The ultrasonic spatial resolution is lower than the optical spatial resolution. From the pixel data there are established first reduced-resolution pixel data for reduced-resolution pixels of the first reduced-resolution image which describe a reduced-resolution optical image at least of the security-feature region of the value document, whose optical spatial resolution corresponds to the ultrasonic spatial resolution.
US09165324B1
Methods are disclosed for providing leads for insurance market participants. A method may include a broker providing for consideration, their clients' insurance risk to be considered by multiple insurance capital providers. The broker can be provided with potential carrier matches based on analysis of broker and carrier insurance preferences, and previous transactions. Similarly, methods may include carriers disclosing their risk appetites, in the form of insurance products and services for consideration. The carrier may also be provided with potential broker and/or client matches based on analysis of the broker and carrier insurance preferences and previous transactions. Systems and apparatuses are also disclosed to implement the disclosed methods.
US09165320B1
Systems and methods enable the selection of one or more recipes by a user. Items available for purchase from an electronic marketplace can be selected based on the recipe selection. In some instances, the selected items can be automatically placed or added to a virtual shopping cart such that a user can quickly and conveniently purchase the items. In other instances, a purchase transaction for the selected items can be automatically initiated following the selection of the items.
US09165316B2
The invention refers to a system and a process for the measure and collection of consumables consumption and performance data to build a reliable, real-time database and to monitor the consumption and performance of a consumable tool through its life cycle. A system according to the invention comprises a) first storage means to store data concerning the consumables; b) means to capture the performance data; c) second storage means to store performance data during operation of the consumable when is mounted on a machine; d) means to transfer in real-time the performance data to the said second storage means; e) process means to assess the performance of the tool and on the basis of the said assessment to instruct or not the withdrawal of the tool; and output means to deliver the said instruction to a user of the system. A process according to the invention, comprises the following steps: a) capture performance data during operation of the tool when the tool is mounted on a machine; b) transfer in realtime the performance data to the management system; c) assess the performance of the tool; d) on the basis of said assessment instruct or not the withdrawal of the tool; and e) deliver the instruction to withdraw the tool to the user via output means.
US09165313B2
Mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, may be capable of recommending to a user various providers of one or more solicited services, e.g., by identifying a user location and identifying providers near the user location that provide the services, and by initiating a call between the user and a selected provider. However, the equipment and service costs of such devices may be prohibitive, particularly for mid-range mobile communication devices that may appeal to cost-conscious users. The prohibitive costs may be diminished by redirecting part or all of the cost of providing the recommendation service from the providers, e.g., by charging the provider a service cost upon initiating a call from the user to the provider, or upon representing the provider in a provider database. In one such embodiment, all service costs may be borne by providers, providing to the user a free recommendation service via the mobile communication device.
US09165306B2
A method for receiving and presenting user-generated designs and sets of terms for portable consumer devices. The method provides for allowing a first person to create a customized design for a portable consumer device, and share the design with other consumers via a host site. Similarly, the method provides for allowing a first person to create and share a customized set of terms for the portable consumer device. Methods for receiving and distributing feedback for customized designs and sets of terms are included.
US09165299B1
In various embodiments, systems, methods, and techniques are disclosed for generating a collection of clusters of related data from a seed. Seeds may be generated based on seed generation strategies or rules. Clusters may be generated by, for example, retrieving a seed, adding the seed to a first cluster, retrieving a clustering strategy or rules, and adding related data and/or data entities to the cluster based on the clustering strategy. Various cluster scores may be generated based on attributes of data in a given cluster. Further, cluster metascores may be generated based on various cluster scores associated with a cluster. Clusters may be ranked based on cluster metascores. Various embodiments may enable an analyst to discover various insights related to data clusters, and may be applicable to various tasks including, for example, tax fraud detection, beaconing malware detection, malware user-agent detection, and/or activity trend detection, among various others.
US09165297B2
The virtual account and token-based digital cash token protocols use a combination of blind digital signatures and pseudonym authentication with at least two pairs of public and private keys. A user has one master pair of private and public keys and many pseudonym pairs of private and public keys. The new protocols combine blind digital signature and pseudonym-based authentication. Blind digital signatures based on the master pair of keys are used to withdraw digital cash from the user's bank account under the user's real identity. A pseudonym pair of keys is used for depositing digital cash with a digital cash issuer. Pseudonym key pairs are used for spending the digital cash. Digital cash includes digital cash tokens in virtual accounts, which can be managed from a user's fixed or mobile computing platform.
US09165285B2
When an outgoing communication sent to one or more recipients contains a supported attachment type, a shared workspace that contains a shared version of the original attachment is provisioned. A modified version of the original outgoing communication is delivered to internal recipients including both a link to the shared document and the original attachment.
US09165284B2
A method and system for sharing content in an instant messaging application are disclosed. According to one embodiment a computer-implemented method comprises logging content accessed by a first client, and a list of accessible content is updated and provided to the first client. A request is received from the first client to share first content of the list of accessible content with a second client, and a message is delivered to the second client, the message containing a link to the first content.
US09165277B2
According to an embodiment, a computer-implemented method of managing inventory includes receiving, at an antenna operatively coupled to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader, product identification information encoded in an RF signal transmitted by a plurality of RFID tags. Each of the RFID tags is associated with a respective one of a plurality of products. The method further includes processing, by a processor and using the product identification information, information contained in a portion of the encoded RF signal to compare apparent location information associated with the RFID reader with prior location information associated with at least one of the products, and updating, by the processor, the apparent location information to match the prior location information where the apparent location information is different than the prior location information.
US09165274B2
A method for tracking events using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may include reserving a bit window in a memory on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the bit window having multiple bits, randomly marking one of the bits in the bit window each time a RFID event occurs, counting a number of marked bits in the bit window, and determining a number of the RFID events using the counted number of the marked bits and a size of the bit window.
US09165268B2
A method for determining a marking material usage estimate for a print job to be performed by a printing system is provided. The method is implemented in a computer system having one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules. The method includes receiving compressed data of an image of the print job, wherein the image has a plurality of image pixels each having an image pixel intensity value, wherein the image pixels are transformed into the compressed data using a compression scheme; obtaining marking material usage statistics by partially decompressing the compressed data so as to obtain average pixel intensity values of the image pixels in the image; and determining the marking material usage estimate for the print job using the obtained marking material usage statistics.
US09165266B2
This invention outlines a method that distributes the decision-making process according to the application owners' needs, through the use of chip management and brokering technologies in an auction-like environment which allows for very fluid business need changes. This disclosure describes a master framework for a family of disclosures which allows consumers to more efficiently obtain, modify, and utilize computing resources from providers. These elemental biddable resources are obtained through several brokering algorithms and associated winning bid strategies which redefine how applications and businesses can receive the most appropriate service for the least cost, at the most appropriate interval. The resource management framework includes business units, buyer's agents, resource unit brokers, resource unit capacity planners, and resource allocation software, and an optional change and configuration manager.
US09165259B2
A personalized activity stream system, method, and device delivers a recommendation that is contextualized basis a selected item in an activity stream and that is personalized for a recommendation recipient consistent with an inference of the recommendation recipient's interests. Contextualization and personalization may be based on an automatic analysis of usage behaviors and/or content. The recommendation may be informed by an inference of an expertise level, and an explanation for the recommendation may be delivered to the recommendation recipient. The recommendation may be in accordance with an automatically determined geographic location associated with a location-aware portable device, as well as environmental conditions proximal to the portable device.
US09165255B1
A given set of videos are sequenced in an aesthetically pleasing manner using models learned from human curated playlists. Semantic features associated with each video in the curated playlists are identified and a first order Markov chain model is learned from curated playlists. In one method, a directed graph using the Markov model is induced, wherein sequencing is obtained by finding the shortest path through the directed graph. In another method a sampling based approach is implemented to produce paths on the digraph. Multiple samples are generated and the best scoring sample is returned as the output. In a third method, a relevance based random walk sampling algorithm is modified to produce a reordering of the playlist.
US09165254B2
The present invention relate to a method and system to predict the likelihood of data topics that may occur from data sources. The likelihood of the data topics may be predicted over other dimensions of time or over other dimensions. In the present invention, a topic means a defining characteristic, usually represented as a data element, of a single feature, activity, subject, behavior, event or an aggregation of such defining characteristics.
US09165252B2
A computerized device for enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system is disclosed. The computerized device comprises a question-answer system comprising software for performing a plurality of question answering processes. A receiver receives a question into the question-answer system. A processor that generates a plurality of candidate answers to the question is connected to the question-answer system. The processor determines a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate answers. The processor evaluates sources of evidence used to generate the plurality of candidate answers. The processor identifies missing information from a corpus of data. The missing information comprises any information that improves a confidence score for a candidate answer. The processor generates at least one follow-on inquiry based on the missing information. A network interface outputs the at least one follow-on inquiry to external sources separate from the question-answer system.
US09165250B2
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing dynamic incident response using advanced analytics are presented. In some embodiments, a computing device may determine that an incident has occurred. The computing device then may load a predefined response template that includes parameters for responding to the incident. Subsequently, the computing device may utilize a big data platform to identify one or more potential responders for the incident based on the predefined response template. In some additional embodiments, the computing device also may contact the identified potential responders and subsequently monitor communications by the identified potential responders that are responsive to the contact. The computing device may also update historical interaction data based on the monitoring, and this historical interaction data may be used to subsequently determine the likelihood that at least one potential responder will respond to a future incident.
US09165245B2
Apparatus and methods for partial evaluation of synaptic updates in neural networks. In one embodiment, a pre-synaptic unit is connected to a several post synaptic units via communication channels. Information related to a plurality of post-synaptic pulses generated by the post-synaptic units is stored by the network in response to a system event. Synaptic channel updates are performed by the network using the time intervals between a pre-synaptic pulse, which is being generated prior to the system event, and at least a portion of the plurality of the post synaptic pulses. The system event enables removal of the information related to the portion of the post-synaptic pulses from the storage device. A shared memory block within the storage device is used to store data related to post-synaptic pulses generated by different post-synaptic nodes. This configuration enables memory use optimization of post-synaptic units with different firing rates.
US09165244B2
Computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for determining functional synapses from given structural touches between cells in a neuronal circuit are described. One computer-implemented method for determining functional synapses from predetermined synapses of connections between two cells in a neuronal circuit, includes determining, from the predetermined synapses, the functional synapses by leaving a portion of the connections unused, e.g. for activation by plasticity mechanisms.
US09165240B2
A dual interface (DI) smart card (100) comprising a chip module (CM), a module antenna (MA), a card body (CB) and a card antenna (CA) having two windings (D,E) connected with reverse phase as a “quasi-dipole”. Capacitive stubs (B,C) connected with an antenna structure (A) of the module antenna (MA). The module antenna (MA) overlaps only one of the windings (D or E) of the card antenna (CA). The card antenna (CA) may be formed from one continuous wire. Ferrite (156) shielding the module antenna (MA) from contact pads (CP) and for enhancing coupling between the module antenna (MA) and the card antenna (CA). The card antenna (CA) may be disposed substantially only in a top half portion of the card body (CB).
US09165235B2
A device for preventing unwanted electromagnetic inquiry of an electronic card storing information thereon by the transmission of a rogue interrogating signal from an RFID skimmer proximate the electronic card. The device comprises a first and a second conductive material layer each operating to detune an antenna associated with the electronic card or to detune front end resonant circuits associated with the electronic card, and one or more third material layers having a greater thickness than the first and second layers and disposed between the first and second layers, the one or more third material layers providing electromagnetic shielding against radio frequency signals emitted from the electronic card.
US09165230B2
An information code includes a code region composed of a plurality of light-color modules and a plurality of dark-color modules. The code region includes a specified area which is preset and disables decoding of the information code by shielding light. The specified area is covered by a covering which exhibits a dark-color reflectance property when light of a first wavelength band is radiated thereto and which is transmissive to light of a second wavelength band. The first and second wavelength bands differ from each other. The light of the first wavelength band is visible light for example. Comparison between information code images imaged respectively on the light of the first and second wavelength bands makes it possible to determine whether the information code or an object with the information code is authentic.
US09165223B2
Systems and methods are provided for compensating for optical brighteners found in print media while calibrating a printer. The system is able to determine reflectance values for a print medium, to determine reflectance values for a colorant applied to the print medium, and to alter the determined reflectance values for the colorant based on the reflectance values of the print medium. The system is further able to calibrate a printer that applied the colorant to the print medium based on the altered reflectance values.
US09165221B2
When an image formation instruction for created document data is received, image data for a preview image corresponding to the document data is generated, the preview image based on the image data is displayed on a display, and an image is formed using data for image formation based on the image data for the preview image.
US09165215B2
Disclosed herein is a method of fast image matching that includes the steps as follows. A template image with a predetermined angular orientation is compared with template images in the range from 0 to 360 degrees to create an angle prediction table. Next, a testing image is acquired and compared with the template image with the predetermined angular orientation to record the similarity at each position, and a plurality of angles corresponding to the similarity is found from the angle prediction table. Afterwards, the template images of the plurality of angles are respectively compared with the testing image to obtain the highest similarity as a comparison result of the position.
US09165205B2
In an image processing device, an edge image generation part detects an edge in an original image and generates an edge image constituted from the detected edge. A connected pixel extraction part extracts connected pixel groups in the edge image. A binary image generation part classifies the connected pixel groups under respective colors of the connected pixel groups, and generates a character image for each color. A background image generation part generates a background image of the original image based on the character image so that a pixel value at the position of the character image in the original image is set by an average value of the pixel values in the original image with regard to at least a portion of pixels around a rectangle circumscribing the connected pixel groups. An image compression part compresses respective image data of the character image and background image by different compression manners.
US09165198B2
A method identifies a first vehicle during vehicle-to-vehicle communication by the first vehicle emitting vehicle data. A second vehicle receives the emitted vehicle data. The first vehicle is detected by environment data detected with an environment sensor of the second vehicle, and identification of the first vehicle with the second vehicle by the vehicle data and the environment data. The vehicle data comprises at least one information item which relates to a visual property of the first vehicle which can be detected from the outside, and the visual property of the first vehicle which can be detected from the outside is checked by the second vehicle by the environment data for identifying the first vehicle.
US09165196B2
Systems and methods directed to augmenting advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) features of a vehicle with image processing support in on-board vehicle platform are described herein. Images may be received from one or more image sensors associated with an ADAS of a vehicle. The received images may be processed. An action is determined based upon, at least in part, the processed images. A message is transmitted to an ADAS controller responsive to the determination.
US09165193B2
A video processing apparatus includes a first detection unit configured to detect that a tracking target moving in a video has split into a plurality of objects, and a determination unit configured to, when the first detection unit detects that the tracking target has split into the plurality of objects, determine a number of objects included in the tracking target before splitting of the tracking target based on a number of the plurality of objects after splitting of the tracking target.
US09165186B1
Disclosed are techniques for providing additional information for text in an image. In some implementations, a computing device receives an image including text. Optical character recognition (OCR) is performed on the image to produce recognized text. One or more topics corresponding to the recognized text is determined. A word or a phrase is selected from the recognized text for providing additional information. One or more potential meanings of the selected word or phrase are determined. One of the potential meanings is selected using the one or more topics. A source of additional information corresponding to the selected meaning is selected for providing the additional information to a user's device.
US09165181B2
An image processing device includes a difference image generation unit which generates a difference image by obtaining a difference between frames of a cutout image which is obtained by cutting out a predetermined region on a photographed image; a feature amount extracting unit which extracts a feature amount from the difference image; and a recognition unit which recognizes a specific movement of an object on the photographed image based on the feature amount which is obtained from the plurality of difference images which are aligned in time sequence.
US09165176B2
Provided are a method, apparatus, and computer-readable recording medium for conveniently recognizing a fingerprint. A fingerprint recognition method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: checking a position-state of a fingerprint sensing unit to set a flag value; collecting a plurality of fingerprint image segments sequentially acquired by the fingerprint sensing unit; and changing a matching order of the fingerprint image segments according to the flag value to perform the fingerprint recognition.
US09165171B2
A preferred embodiment of the invention includes: an identification device (1) for receiving a first signal and transmitting a second signal, the device including: a receiving means (35) for receiving the first signal to generate a voltage; an integrated circuit (37) having a state selection means (41) for selecting whether the device (1) is in a first state or a second state; a connection (39) between the receiving means (35) and the integrated circuit (37); a transmission means (45) for generating the second signal. The invention also includes a system (50) that includes an interrogator (43) for interrogating a plurality of the identification devices (1).
US09165162B2
A processor arrangement is provided. The processor arrangement includes: a first processor; a plurality of second processors, each second processor including a bit-mask generator configured to generate a processor-specific bit-mask sequence; wherein the first processor includes a bit-mask generator configured to generate the processor-specific bit-mask sequences of the second processors; wherein the first processor is configured to bit-mask a data bit sequence to be transmitted to one second processor of the plurality of second processors using a processor-specific bit-mask sequence specific to the one second processor, to thereby generate a processor-specific bit-masked data sequence to be transmitted to the one second processor.
US09165160B1
A system includes a file access manager driver and a kernel file system driver stack in a kernel-mode address space of an operating system (OS). The system also includes session processes, a public file whitelist; a public file whitelist manager; a user/group file whitelist, which is a private whitelist; and a user/group file whitelist manager in a user-mode address space of the OS. A method includes receiving a request for access and/or visibility to a directory and/or file and then determining whether the request is allowed to execute based on whether the file access manager driver identifies that the directory and/or file is allowed in either public or private whitelists.
US09165151B2
Key management for and automount of encrypted files, including recovering a master vault key file from an encoded vault key file, storing the vault key file within a previously mounted crypto key management virtual drive so as to provide a secure scratch pad area for temporary storage of the master vault key file. An open and mount module may then invoke a file mounting procedure by providing the vault key file name and a path corresponding to the crypto key management virtual drive to a virtual drive mounting module. The method of passing the vault key file to the file mounting utility module may comprise passing command line arguments equal to a pathname and filename to the file mounting utility.
US09165143B1
A method relating generally to loading a boot image is disclosed. In such a method, a header of a boot image file is read by boot code executed by a system-on-chip. It is determined whether the header read has an authentication certificate. If the header has the authentication certificate, authenticity of the header is verified with the first authentication certificate. It is determined whether the header is encrypted. If the header is encrypted, the header is decrypted.
US09165135B2
Secure computation environments are protected from bogus or rogue load modules, executables and other data elements through use of digital signatures, seals and certificates issued by a verifying authority. A verifying authority—which may be a trusted independent third party—tests the load modules or other executables to verify that their corresponding specifications are accurate and complete, and then digitally signs the load module or other executable based on tamper resistance work factor classification. Secure computation environments with different tamper resistance work factors use different verification digital signature authentication techniques (e.g., different signature algorithms and/or signature verification keys)—allowing one tamper resistance work factor environment to protect itself against load modules from another, different tamper resistance work factor environment. Several dissimilar digital signature algorithms may be used to reduce vulnerability from algorithm compromise, and subsets of multiple digital signatures may be used to reduce the scope of any specific compromise.
US09165133B2
A method and system for authenticating a device, board, assembly or system includes obtaining or processing test/scan information provided via extraction of ECID or other unique identifying information regarding a board.A re-authentication process is performed to verify that the board contains only legitimate ECID or other uniquely identified devices, via comparison of re-extracted codes of devices at known positions against a reference record, the reference record being established by an initial authentication process that utilizes information regarding authentic/unique ECID or other uniquely identified codes of devices delivered to populate the board to derive the reference record for the device.
US09165128B1
The present invention relates generally to a system and method of securing content from public display on mobile communication devices using an application program to categorize, encrypt and hide data providing added security in the event of loss or misuse, wherein the application program is configured for receiving a command to hide at least one content of a data category; storing and hiding the at least one content responsive to the command into a respective data category in a hidden directory by converting the content into concealed data, unavailable for display unless an alternate command is received and the user's identity is authenticated; displaying all content for the data category while excluding the concealed data from the display; and revealing the concealed data when the display area substantially adjacent to a corresponding icon for the data category is engaged on the display screen and the user's identity is verified.
US09165121B2
A device for controlling a service access authorization for a user device with regard to an access-restricted service includes a service access authorization provider, the service access authorization provider being configured to set a period of time in which the service access authorization is valid, responsive to an authorization message provided with a service-dependent user identifier, and the service access authorization provider being configured to disable an authorization allowing the service access authorization to be extended or reactivated using the previous service-dependent user identifier when at least a predetermined duration has passed since an end of a last authorization time interval for which a service access authorization was determined by the device.
US09165116B2
The present invention provides a data mining framework for mining high-quality structured clinical information. The data mining framework includes a data miner that mines medical information from a computerized patient record (CPR) based on domain-specific knowledge contained in a knowledge base. The data miner includes components for extracting information from the CPR, combining all available evidence in a principled fashion over time, and drawing inferences from this combination process. The mined medical information is stored in a structured CPR which can be a data warehouse.
US09165115B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to arrangements for ascertaining time-dependent associations between inputted comparative effectiveness research (CER) variables from patient data are. Each CER variable is represented via at least one unit time series, and a similarity metric with respect to pairs of CER variables is determined. The determining includes comparing at least one unit time series from each of at least two CER variables.
US09165112B2
System and methods are provided for displaying objects at a treatment display screen coupled to an apparatus for performing a treatment. A first arrangement of the objects is presented at the treatment display screen. At least some objects of the first arrangement of the objects are in a fixed state on the treatment display screen. A rearrangement mode of operation of the treatment display screen is activated. The objects of the first arrangement of the objects are changed from the fixed state to a fluid state that allows for rearrangement of the objects of the first arrangement of the objects to a second arrangement of the objects that is different than the first arrangement of the objects. The treatment is prevented from being performed during operation in the rearrangement mode. The second arrangement of the objects is presented at the treatment display screen during operation in the rearrangement mode.
US09165075B2
Systems and methods for managing user ratings in a web services environment. A method includes storing a comment associated with a web service and storing an influence rating associated with an author of the comment. The method also includes transmitting information associated with the web service, the comment, and the influence rating to a user. Additionally, the method includes receiving feedback from the user, and determining an updated influence rating based upon the feedback and the influence rating.
US09165062B2
A computer-implemented system and method for visual document classification are provided. One or more uncoded documents, each associated with a visual representation, are obtained. Reference documents, each associated with a classification code and a visual representation of that classification code, are obtained. At least one of the uncoded documents is compared to the reference documents and the reference documents similar to the uncoded document are identified based on the comparison. A suggestion for assigning one of the classification codes to the uncoded document based on the classification codes of the similar reference documents is provided, including displaying the visual representation of the suggested classification code placed on a portion of the visual representation associated with the at least one uncoded document. An acceptance of the suggested classification code is received and a size of the displayed visual representation of the accepted classification code is increased.
US09165056B2
Technologies are described herein for generating a mailbox specific frequent word list associated with a mailbox. In one method, an index scan is performed on catalogs to retrieve search data mapping words to emails containing the words. The search data is provided across multiple mailboxes. A universal frequent word list is generated based on the search data. The mailbox specific frequent word list is generated based on the universal frequent word list.
US09165046B2
To synchronize data between a remote database and a local object-graph-and-persistence-framework, a synchronization framework receives messages from the local object-graph-and-persistence-framework indicating that a locally-managed object has been retrieved from a local datastore and instantiated or that the locally-managed object has been created, modified, or deleted. When the synchronization framework determines that the message was instigated by a local user's activity (as opposed to a background synchronization process), the synchronization framework synchronizes the locally-managed object with the remote database.
US09165042B2
Techniques for similarity searching are provided. Structural data in a database is searched against one or more structural queries. A desired minimum degree of similarity between the one or more queries and the structural data in the database is first specified. One or more indices are then used to exclude from consideration any structural data in the database that does not share the minimum degree of similarity with one or more of the queries.
US09165035B2
The techniques discussed herein efficiently perform data-parallel computations on collections of data by implementing a differential dataflow model that performs computations on differences in the collections of data. The techniques discussed herein describe defined operators for use in a data-parallel program that performs the computations on the determined differences between the collections of data by creating a lattice and indexing the differences in the collection of data according to the lattice.
US09165032B2
An enterprise data warehouse or business intelligence system having a plurality of processors and memory resources. The system includes at least a database server, a workload management system, a query compiler, and a query executor. The database server configured to receive a database query from an application at a database client system. The query compiler configured to prepare the execution plan for the query and compute the number of executive server processes (ESPs) in each ESP layer of the query. The workload management system is configured to generate an affinity value, and the query executor is configured to execute the query. As disclosed herein, placement of the executive server process layers of the query onto processors of the computing system is determined using the affinity value. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed.
US09165027B2
Systems and methods for extending the capability of a directory processor by, for example, registering a control are presented. This control can be a non-native control, or a modification to a native control. Further, this disclosure describes example of systems and methods for performing a directory operation, which may include one or more controls. At least some of the one or more controls may be non-native or dynamic controls. In some cases, some of the controls may be native controls.
US09165026B1
Computer systems are managed by providing systems programmers with visual displays and user interfaces that identify certain issues and allow the system programmer to readily apply fixes, patches, and other updates without tediously sifting through a mountain of information and manually addressing those issues. The systems herein, provide a more streamlined approach for the system programmer by reducing the possibility of overlooking a particular issue that may adversely affect the system.
