US09204166B2

An intra prediction mode decoding method includes reconstructing an intra prediction mode group indicator and a prediction mode index, constructing an MPM group including three intra prediction modes using valid intra prediction modes of left and top blocks of the current block, determining the intra prediction mode corresponding to the prediction mode index in the intra prediction group corresponding to the intra prediction mode group indicator, and assigning the lowest mode numbers to non-directional modes. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of information for encoding the intra prediction mode of the current block by using intra prediction modes having higher possibility of being equal to the intra prediction mode of the current block. Also, it is possible to reduce the amount of information by assigning lowest mode numbers to the non-directional modes.
US09204165B2

An intra prediction mode decoding method includes reconstructing an intra prediction mode group indicator and a prediction mode index, constructing an MPM group including three intra prediction modes using valid intra prediction modes of left and top blocks of the current block, determining the intra prediction mode corresponding to the prediction mode index in the intra prediction group corresponding to the intra prediction mode group indicator, and assigning the lowest mode numbers to non-directional modes. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of information for encoding the intra prediction mode of the current block by using intra prediction modes having higher possibility of being equal to the intra prediction mode of the current block. Also, it is possible to reduce the amount of information by assigning lowest mode numbers to the non-directional modes.
US09204162B2

A method and apparatus for encoding and decoding motion information. The encoding method includes determining whether motion information of spatial prediction units that are spatially collocated to a current prediction unit and motion information of temporal prediction units that are temporally collocated to the current prediction are available; when the number of the motion information of the spatial prediction units and the motion information of the temporal prediction units is less than a predetermined number, generating additional candidate motion information by using the available motion information of the spatial prediction units and the motion information of the temporal prediction units such that the total number of pieces of candidate motion information is the predetermined number; and decoding motion information of the current prediction unit by using the ‘n’ pieces of motion information.
US09204149B2

A motion compensation module can be used in a video encoder for encoding a video input signal that includes a sequence of images that are segmented into a plurality of macroblocks. The motion compensation module includes a shared memory and a motion search module that generates a motion search motion vector for a plurality of subblocks for a plurality of partitionings of a macroblock of a plurality of macroblocks and generates a selected group of the plurality of partitionings and stores the selected group of partitionings and the corresponding motion search motion vectors in the shared memory. A motion refinement module retrieves the selected group of partitionings and the corresponding motion search motion vectors from the shared memory, that generates a refined motion vector for the plurality of subblocks for the selected group of the plurality of partitionings of the macroblock of the plurality of macroblocks, based on the motion search motion vector for each of the plurality of subblocks of the macroblock of the plurality of macroblocks.
US09204141B2

An eyewear device which adjusts a transmitted light amount to a left eye and a right eye of a viewer to perform an assistance operation, which assists the viewer in viewing images so that the viewer stereoscopically perceives the images, comprising: a receiver configured to receive a synchronization signal in synchronization with display of the images; and a controller which analyzes a signal configuration of the synchronization signal after power supply is started for the assistance operation, and switches a control mode between a first control mode and a second control mode, which is different from the first control mode, based on an analysis result of the signal configuration.
US09204135B2

Embodiments of the invention pertain to a method and apparatus for controlling what non-3D glass wearers see from a 3D display. Such control is accomplished by controlling the images displayed on a 3D display, which allows a 3D-glass wearer to see a 3D image and/or video content while controlling one or more of the following: the content of the right eye image, the left eye image, the timing of displaying the right eye image, the timing of displaying the left eye image, the polarization of the right eye image (for polarization based 3D), the polarization of the left eye image (for polarization based 3D), the shuttering of the right lens (for shutter based 3D), the shuttering of the left lens (for shutter based 3D), and other images displayed not available to the 3D glass wearer, and/or controlling other aspects of the presented images and/or presentation of the presented images.
US09204131B2

A method comprising: capturing, by a device equipped with a camera, at least one image about a physical object; recognizing the physical object on the basis of the at least one captured image; retrieving a 3-dimensional (3D) model of the physical object from a memory; and showing the 3D model of the physical object on a display of the device.
US09204129B2

A non-contact sensing system is provided for acquiring three-dimensional contour information of an object. The system is comprised of: a light source subsystem operable to scan a point of light in an area of illumination; a first imaging device having a field of view arranged to intersect with the illumination area and operable to capture image data; and a second imaging device having a field of view arranged to intersect with the illumination area and operable to capture image data. A first control module is in data communication with the first imaging device to determine contour information for an object in the field of view of the first imaging device and report the contour information for the object in a common coordinate system. A second control module is in data communication with the second imaging device to determine contour information for the object in the field of view of the second imaging device and report the contour information for the object in the common coordinate system. Moreover, the light source subsystem is calibrated to report position of the point of light in the common coordinate system.
US09204127B1

Stereoscopic image processing methods and apparatus are described. Left and right eye images of a stereoscopic frame are examined to determine if one or more difference reduction operations designed to reduce the luminance and/or chrominance differences between the left and right frames is within a range used to trigger a difference reduction operation. A difference reduction operation may involve assigning portions of the left and right frames to different depth regions and/or other region categories. A decision on whether or not to perform a difference reduction operation is then performed on a per regions basis with at the difference between the left and right eye portions of at least one region being reduced when a difference reduction operation is to be performed. The difference reduction process may, and in some embodiments is, performed in a precoder which processes left and right eye images of stereoscopic frames prior to stereoscopic encoding.
US09204105B2

A preliminary image is obtained by irradiating illumination light, whose light quantity distribution is set at a standard state, to a specimen obtained by injecting fluid into a well from an illuminator capable of arbitrarily setting the light quantity distribution, for example, by a liquid crystal shutter, and a luminance distribution of the preliminary image is detected. As a result, luminance nonuniformity in the preliminary image is canceled by performing imaging with a light quantity distribution of illumination light to be incident on the well set such that an incident light amount is larger in a part with lower luminance.
US09204102B2

The solution of the ad delivery platform described herein provides for the marketing and monetizing of media assets via the delivery of advertisement with on-demand video. The ad platform optimizes the delivery of ads by controlling the insertion frequency and format of the ad delivered with video streams. The ad platform provides flexible and configurable ad insertion rules to specify the insertion frequency and format for the composition of ads during playback of on-demand video media. The ad insertion rules may be based on a user profile, user behavior history, topic of the stream to be delivered, duration of the video or ad, and/or the popularity rating of the video or ad. The ad platform includes a reporting tool and usage reports to measure the effectiveness of the ad insertion rules in delivering ads to market and monetize the video media.
US09204099B2

In a teleconferencing system, multiple parties participate in a teleconference from different locations. The system is configured such that a filmstrip containing simultaneous images or icons representing the participants are displayed on one or more display screens at a conference location in a spatial relationship that represents their real-world or virtual-world spatial relationships.
US09204096B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving data associated with a local endpoint that is configured to participate in a video conference. The local endpoint can be configured to detect a signal generated by a local end user device and to relay the signal to a local manager element. The method also includes transmitting the signal over a network to a remote manager element at a remote location. In more specific embodiments, the method includes receiving an additional signal from the remote manager element, and determining a selected local endpoint to receive the additional signal from the remote manager element.
US09204094B2

Controlling a videoconference based on gestures received to a touch interface. A gesture may be received to a touch interface. In response to the gesture, a videoconference action may be performed. For example, a first gesture may be received to mute the videoconference and in response, the videoconference may be muted. As another example, a second gesture may be received to adjust the volume of the videoconference, and the volume may be correspondingly adjusted. Further, various gestures may be received for controlling one or more cameras in a videoconference, accessing settings in a videoconference, interacting with a presentation, etc.
US09204092B2

A first user device establishes a video telephony session with a second user device over a best effort network. The voice quality for the video telephony session is upgraded by establishing a voice call with the second user device over a telephony network providing a quality of service guarantee for the voice call, and coupling the voice call over the telephony network with the video telephony session.
US09204088B2

Systems and methods for operating a plurality of communication devices configured to be associated with a user group. Each communication device of the plurality of communication devices may be configured to communicate with one or more servers both as an individual communication device with an individual unique identifier assigned thereto and as the user group with a group unique identifier assigned thereto.
US09204079B2

A method for automatically providing an appreciation object based on a user's interest and a video apparatus using the method are provided. The method includes providing the appreciation object if it is determined that a user is less interested in a viewing object currently being provided. Therefore, it is possible to promote appreciation of the appreciation object created based on currently stored content, and to provide the user with entertainment through appreciation of the appreciation object.
US09204076B2

An imaging apparatus includes a clock generation unit that generates a plurality of phase signals having phases different from one another, a signal transmission unit provided to correspond to the plurality of phase signals and having a plurality of signal transmission circuits, and a latch unit having a plurality of latch circuits that latches the phase signals transmitted by the signal transmission unit at a timing of an end of a comparison process performed by a comparison unit. A configuration of the signal transmission circuit that transmits a first phase signal is substantially the same as a configuration of the signal transmission circuit that transmits a second phase signal different from the first phase signal. A configuration of the latch circuit that latches the first phase signal is substantially the same as a configuration of the latch circuit that latches the second phase signal.
US09204075B2

A solid-state imaging device and a camera system are provided. The solid-state imaging device capable of performing an intermittent operation includes a pixel unit and a pixel signal readout unit for reading out a pixel signal from the pixel unit in units of a plurality of pixels for each column. The pixel signal readout circuit includes a plurality of comparators and a plurality of counters whose operations are controlled by outputs of the comparators. Each of the comparators includes an initializing switch for determining an operating point for each column at a start of row operation, and is configured so that an initialization signal to be applied to the initializing switch is controlled independently in parallel only a basic unit of the initialization signal used for a horizontal intermittent operation, and the initializing switch is held in an off-state at a start of non-operating row.
US09204068B2

According to one embodiment, a solid-state imaging device includes: a photodiode which is provided in a pixel region in which each pixel in a pixel forming region above a substrate is disposed; an interconnection layer which includes interconnections to connect the photodiode to peripheral circuits and an interlayer insulating film to insulate the interconnections from each other, and is provided above the photodiode; a color filter which is provided above the interconnection layer corresponding to the pixel region, and limits a wavelength of light incident on the photodiode. A light incident position correcting layer is provided between the color filter corresponding to the pixel disposed in at least the outer peripheral portion of the pixel forming region and the interconnection layer, and includes an anti-reflection film which is provided above the interconnection layer, and materials which have a negative refraction index and provided above the anti-reflection film.
US09204063B2

A first optical system irradiates a target with a detecting wave and making the detecting wave that is transmitted through the target incident upon the electrooptical crystal. A second optical system slants a pulse plane of a probe wave relative to a pulse plane of the detecting wave and making the probe wave incident upon the electrooptical crystal. A camera detects the probe wave passing through the electrooptical crystal. The first or second optical system includes a compensating component which partitions a beam cross section of the detecting wave or the probe wave into unit areas. The optical component makes different an optical path length of a beam passing each unit area and compensates a phase shifting between the pulse plane of the detecting wave and the pulse plane of the probe wave at positions in a crossing direction of a surface of the electrooptical crystal and the virtual plane.
US09204058B2

A method for setting a camera exposure time of a camera is disclosed. A moving indicator is overlaid in a video sequence of images. The speed of the moving indicator corresponds to an exposure time below which objects that move at an angular speed which is slower than the indicator will be imaged by the camera as sharp. The speed of the moving indicator is adjusted such that it moves at the same speed as a moving object in the video sequence of images. The camera exposure time is then set based on the exposure time that corresponds to the speed of the moving indicator after the speed adjustment.
US09204057B2

There is provided an imaging apparatus including an image sensor that converts an optical image captured through a lens into an electrical signal, and a shutter that has blade members to be opened and closed at a time of photographing. Correction of shading that is generated by an operation of the shutter is performed on a basis of an elliptical shape, and the elliptical shape is inclined in a direction according to an operation direction of the blade members.
US09204045B2

An image capture method is provided for a portable communication device having a display unit, which real-time displays an image at least including an object to be shot. The method includes sensing a moving acceleration of the portable communication device based on a first gravity-sensing threshold value. A touch focus signal is received so that the portable communication device focuses on one of the objects to be the focus-lock object. Then, according to the touch focus signal, the first gravity-sensing threshold value is changed to a second gravity-sensing threshold value, which is larger than the first gravity-sensing threshold value. The image at least including the focus-lock object is captured.
US09204042B2

An imaging system comprising a panoramic visual image display, an associated directional sound playback device, and an associated motion reproduction device is disclosed. The imaging system conveys visual, sound and motion information related to a particular viewing direction to provide a realistic experience for the viewer. The imaging system can also comprise a panoramic visual image recording device capable of recording panoramic images, an associated directional sound capturing device capable of recording sound, and an associated directional motion capturing device capable of recording motion. Recorded panoramic images, sound and motion can be synchronously recorded to a common time code for simultaneous playback.
US09204040B2

A mobile platform generates a panoramic map by rotating a camera and stores the panoramic map. The mobile platform performs a computer vision operation on the panoramic map while continuing to generate the panoramic map. The mobile platform may determine the location of the camera when the panoramic map is generated, produce an annotation on the panoramic map and transmit the determined location, annotation, and portion to a storage device. In another example, the mobile platform may receive an annotation, a portion of a source panoramic map associated with the annotation, and a location where the source panoramic map was generated. The mobile platform may compare the portion of the source panoramic map to the panoramic map to identify a position on the panoramic map that corresponds to the portion of the source panoramic map, and display the annotation based on the determined position on the panoramic map.
US09204039B2

An image processing method and an apparatus are provided. The image processing method includes receiving information of starting a first camera and a second camera simultaneously to perform photographing; using the first camera to photograph and obtain a first image, and using the second camera to photograph and obtain a second image; and displaying the first image and the second image simultaneously. In the embodiments of the present invention, two cameras are started simultaneously to perform bidirectional photographing, and the images taken by both cameras are displayed simultaneously, so that front and back scene images are captured simultaneously and a panoramic image is obtained.
US09204036B2

An apparatus to permit a viewer of a digital microscopy original image to manipulate the display and/or the microscope to obtain an enhanced view of a region of interest within the original image. In one preferred embodiment a spotlight mode matches the gray shade scale for a spotlight region-of-interest to the pixel intensity variation present in the spotlight region. The gray shade scale used for the spotlight mode may then be generalized to the original image. In a preferred embodiment, spotlight mode provides an easy mechanism for permitting a user to command a re-imaging of a selected spotlight region from a displayed image. Such re-imaging may permit the use of imaging parameter selections that better fit the spotlight region.
US09204029B2

An aspect of the present invention provides an interchangeable lens camera having a camera body and a lens unit that is freely attachable and detachable to the camera body. In the interchangeable lens camera, a communications unit in the camera body sends via communications terminals (MT_MOSI and MT_MISO) an INTR_BUSY control instruction that instructs whether to make notification with a busy signal (INTR_BUSY signal) for any operation out of a plurality of types of operations that can be executed, and the lens unit or camera body communications unit sets the busy signal (INTR_BUSY) to an ON state (low level) only during the period of operation of the type indicated by the INTR_BUSY control instruction.
US09204019B2

A method for calculating response time of an electronic device is provided. The method includes: obtaining a video file recording a process of change of interface displayed from an original interface to a new interface chosen by a user, the video file comprises a series of video frames; searching for a key video frame among all the video frames of the video file, the image of the key video frame indicates the point of demarcation between the original interface and the new interface displayed; and calculating a time interval from a first video frame of the video file to the key video frame, according to timestamps of the first video frame and of the key video frame, so as to determine the actual response time of the electronic device. A related measuring device is also provided.
US09204010B2

An image forming apparatus includes a document reading section, a recording medium size selecting section, a large-size document identifying section, and an image forming area setting section. The recording medium size selecting section is configured to select a size of recording media for use in forming images from image data sets of original documents. The large-size document identifying section is configured to identify an image data set greater in document size than a predetermined document size. The image forming area setting section is configured to, for the image data set of greater document size, set an entire imagable area of a recording medium to an image forming area and, for the image data set of the predetermined document size, set one half of the imagable area of a recording medium to an image forming area in a layout for booklet printing.
US09204008B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, an image receiving unit, an aggregate printing process unit, a size receiving unit, a size judgment unit, and an aggregate sheet number determination unit. In the case where the size judgment unit judges that an aggregate printing process is executable in such a manner that the smallest size (aggregate smallest size) of characters included in an aggregate print image formed on a sheet by the aggregate printing process is not smaller than the lower limit value (lower limit size) of the size of characters included in the aggregate print image received by the size receiving unit, the aggregate sheet number determination unit determines the aggregate sheet number in such a manner that the aggregate smallest size is not smaller than the lower limit size, and the aggregate printing process unit executes the aggregate printing process using the aggregate sheet number.
US09203990B2

An information processing apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store information representing a plurality of screens in each of a plurality of groups to which priorities are previously set, a determination unit configured to determine a group which is assigned the highest priority, and a control unit configured to display on a display unit a representative screen of the group assigned the highest priority.
US09203987B2

This invention has as its object to allow an authentication process that avoids unnecessary information from being stored in a digital camera irrespective of whether or not a digital camera connected to the printer has a direct print function. To this end, in this invention, in an early stage of connection between a digital camera DSC and PD printer, the PD printer side requests an object which contains a keyword as authentication information of those which are stored and held by the DSC (S29). As a result, after it is determined the returned information contains authentication information, the printer notifies the DSC of its own authentication information (S33).
US09203985B2

A function setting control system includes: an image forming apparatus including a control unit, a setting information storage unit, and a function setting information transmitting unit; and a mobile terminal device including a mobile-side display unit, a mobile-side receiving unit, and a display control unit. The setting information storage unit associates a plurality of pieces of setting item information and a plurality of pieces of setting content information with each other and stores the associated information as first function setting information. The function setting information transmitting unit transmits second function setting information including at least a part of the pieces of setting item information included in the first function setting information and corresponding pieces of setting content information. The display control unit associates the setting content information and the setting item information included in the received second function setting information and displays the associated information on one screen.
US09203965B1

System, method, and device are disclosed for providing a notification of a new message. According to certain embodiments, a device may receive a message via at least one communication interface; determine an attribute associated with the message based on contents of the message; determine a notification feature based, at least in part, on the attribute; and generate a notification according to the notification feature.
US09203963B1

In a call center, a caller's geographical position may be mapped together with a geographical position of a call agent allocated to handle the call. A map may display tags depicting the respective positions of the caller and the call agent with a visual link indicating the call connection. The call agent may be selected dependent on the relative proximity to the caller.
US09203962B2

Systems, methods, and media for analyzing fraud patterns and creating fraud behavioral models are provided herein. In some embodiments, methods for analyzing call data associated with fraudsters may include executing instructions stored in memory to compare the call data to a corpus of fraud data to determine one or more unique fraudsters associated with the call data, associate the call data with one or more unique fraudsters based upon the comparison, generate one or more voiceprints for each of the one or more identified unique fraudsters from the call data, and store the one or more voiceprints in a database.
US09203960B1

A method, apparatus and computer program product is provided for processing the status of phone devices having a phone number. A synthetic communication server receives updated status of a target phone device referencing a normalized phone number that specifically identifies the target phone device on a synthetic communication network. Accordingly, the server stores the updated status of the target phone device in a status area referenced by the normalized phone number. The server identifies a subset of phone devices from phone devices on the synthetic communication network interested in the status of the target phone device. For each of the phone devices in the subset, the server pushes the updated status of the target phone device to each phone device in the subset.Yet another aspect of the invention concerns monitoring status of the phone devices in a status list of normalized phone numbers on a phone device. The phone device monitors other phone devices and also provides individual status. Accordingly, the method and system sends the status list and updated status of the phone device that includes a normalized phone number identifying the phone device on the synthetic communication network. Subsequently, the method and system receives the status updates of the one or more other phone devices in the status list. The status updates received are also referenced using the corresponding normalized phone numbers for each of the other phone devices. These status updates of the one or more other phone devices are processed by the method and system and then displayed in a display area of the phone device.
US09203958B1

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for communication channel-independent business flow management. In use, input associated with a communication is received over a communication channel. Additionally, a communication channel-independent business flow is initiated in response to the input. Furthermore, the input is provided to a communication channel-specific backend system, using the communication channel-independent business flow.
US09203951B1

A mobile telephone is adapted for use with one hand. In one embodiment, the mobile phone comprises a pressure-sensitive detector situated along a side edge portion. An object of interest to the phone's user is detected (for example, using a gaze-point tracker) from among at least one object displayed on the display surface, and invocable operation(s) are determined for that object. A graphical representation of a respective one of the operations is positioned on the display screen in proximity of the current location of each contacting finger of the user, where each positioned graphical representation is operable to invoke the respective operation in response to the user indicating a selection (for example, by applying relatively more pressure thereto) of the positioned graphical representation.
US09203947B2

Provided is a message service providing method and portable device supporting the same, which includes generating at least one of a key input signal and a sliding sensor signal; and writing a message by activating a message write window set according to an environment of an application program which is being activated depending on generation of at least one of the key input signal and the sliding sensor signal.
US09203946B2

The powered portable handle remote system wirelessly controls a mobile communications device's application using wireless technology. It serves as a remote for the mobile communications device and as a handle to stabilize and hold the mobile communications device while using the mobile communications device. The powered portable handle remote system is a 3 piece system including a mobile communications device case, a powered handle remote, and a detachable section. The case has a unique built-in feature allowing it to be attached to the powered handle remote and the detachable section. The powered handle remote functions as a remote control using a set of buttons or a joystick to wirelessly control the mobile communications device. The powered handle remote separates into 2 pieces revealing a detachable section, such as a tripod adaptor, used to attach the case to a camera tripod or to support the mobile communications device case in itself.
US09203935B2

A communication apparatus includes a communication interface, a processor, and a memory. The communication interface uses a first interface standard and a second interface standard. The memory stores computer-readable instructions therein. The processor executes the computer-readable instructions, which instruct the communication apparatus to perform various processes in accordance therewith. The computer-readable instructions instruct the communication apparatus to transmit a response packet to an external device in response to receiving a request packet from the external device when a condition is satisfied. The response packet complies with a specific protocol. The condition is satisfied when the request packet is received using the first interface standard and complies with the specific protocol. The condition is not satisfied when the request packet is received using the second interface standard and complies with the specific protocol.
US09203930B2

A frame device has a display region (e.g., an LCD) surrounded with a border region modeled to resemble a traditional picture frame. Each frame device is connected to an interconnection fabric to obtain image data from a repository and then display that data according to criteria established by an authorized user. The data repository is populated with image data via the image collection process. A user may specify filter criteria which establishes what network addresses (e.g., picture mail address) are authorized to populate the data repository. The filter criteria and other information such as the behavior characteristics of each frame device are established and/or managed via a user interface.
US09203928B2

A method for data forwarding storage and retrieval in a network of interconnected computer system nodes may include directing data to a computer memory, continuously forwarding the data, from one computer memory to anther computer memory in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing on any physical storage device in the network, and retrieving the data in response to an activity.
US09203927B1

A content scheduler for scheduling content publication is provided. The content scheduler may include instructions to generate a time window and a quota. For example, the instructions may cause a processor to generate a first time window for placing a first article of content. The instructions may also include a first quota indicating a first total number of impressions. The content scheduler may also include an analyzer configured to be run by the processor. The analyzer may be configured to determine when first and second articles of content should be scheduled to be published. The analyzer may be configured to determine a first average number of impressions per unit of time needed to deliver the total number of impressions required by the first quota. The analyzer may be configured to determine whether there is a period of overlapping time between the first and second articles of content.
US09203923B2

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention provide an interface to facilitate the communication between systems. A source system translates data into an XML format and transmits the data to a synchronizer interface tool. The synchronizer tool stores the data in a persistent intermediate storage, such as a queue, allowing the source system to go offline or perform other tasks while the data is transmitted to the target system. The synchronizer tool initiates the transmission of the data to the target system. If the target system indicates that it received the data, then the synchronizer tool sends an acknowledgement to the source system indicating the data was received. If the target system does not receive the transmission, the synchronizer tool maintains the data in the persistent intermediate storage and reinitiates transmission of the data to the target system.
US09203919B1

In one embodiments, one or more first computing devices receive updated values for user data associated with a plurality of users; and for each of the user data for which an updated value has been received, determine one or more second systems that each have subscribed to be notified when the value of the user datum is updated and each have a pre-established relationship with the user associated with the user datum; and push notifications to the second systems indicating that the value of the user datum has been updated without providing the updated value for the user datum to the second systems.
US09203905B1

A method for sessionization of visitor activity includes receiving a first activity of a first client and a first client identifier from the first activity of the first client; the first client identifier stored at the first client; creating a first session from the first activity and the first client identifier; receiving a session link associated with the first activity; and creating a visitor-identified session based on the first client identifier, the first activity, and the session link.
US09203900B2

A storage area network (SAN)-attached storage system architecture is disclosed. The storage system provides strongly consistent distributed storage communication protocol semantics, such as SCSI target semantics. The system includes a mechanism for presenting a single distributed logical unit, comprising one or more logical sub-units, as a single logical unit of storage to a host system by associating each of the logical sub-units that make up the single distributed logical unit with a single host visible identifier that corresponds to the single distributed logical unit. The system further includes mechanisms to maintain consistent context information for each of the logical sub-units such that the logical sub-units are not visible to a host system as separate entities from the single distributed logical unit.
US09203897B1

A system for facilitating assistance requests may comprise at least one subsystem that receives an assistance request from a requester, at least one subsystem that identifies a current location of the requester, and at least one subsystem that identifies members of an assistance network that are within a particular area relative to the current location of the requester.
US09203889B2

A bandwidth management system for multiple-service mobile networks for use with a plurality of instances of mobile communications devices. A plurality of communications silo each provide at least one communications service using a mobile network wherein at least one communications service from at least one communications silo involving the transport of real-time two-way video or other high bandwidth communications. Call/session state information from the communications silos and packet-level network transport measurement information responsive to packet-level network transport processes in the mobile network are used by a control system to create control messages transmitted to the communications silos for controlling call/session admission application QoS parameters responsive to traffic and network operation.
US09203880B2

Positions of avatars in a virtual world may be communicated to clients using multiple bitcode resolutions to minimize required communication bandwidth between a virtual world server and virtual world clients, thereby allowing transmission of all avatars' positions to every other player. Lower resolution bitcodes may be based on a lower resolution grid overlaid on the virtual world, whereas higher resolution bitcodes may be based on a higher resolution grid overlaid on the virtual world. In one example, a virtual world server may determine the bitcode resolution to use based on a distance between an avatar to which the position information is to be sent and other avatars in the virtual world. Resolution may include spatial resolution, where nearer avatars' locations are provided with higher resolution bitcodes, or temporal resolution, where the transmission frequency of position information is greater for nearer avatars. Position information in a transmission stream may further be condensed by using run length encoding.
US09203879B2

A communications system including one or more alert gates and an alert controller. Each alert gate is configured to detect a different type of alert feed corresponding to a particular kind of alert. The alert controller is connected to the alert gates and operable to receive detected alerts from the alert gates and to deliver the detected alerts to a user of the communications system.
US09203875B2

In one example embodiment, a method is provided and includes monitoring a display status associated with a client device that is participating in a meeting being conducted over a network (wired, wireless, etc.). The method also includes reporting the display status to a server associated with the meeting. For example, the server could be responsible for controlling at least a portion of meeting resources for the client device (or the client device itself could include software to perform these management functions). The method also includes receiving reduced meeting resources based, at least in part, on the display status.
US09203867B1

An identity management system incorporates privacy management processes that enable the user to exercise privacy controls over the disclosure of user identity information within the context of an authentication process. A combination includes an identity selector, a privacy engine, and a ruleset. The identity selector directs the release of a user identity as a security token to satisfy the requirements of a security policy. Before releasing the user identity, the engine conducts a privacy enforcement process that examines the privacy policy of the service provider and determines if it is acceptable. The engine evaluates a ruleset against the privacy policy. A preference editor enables the user to construct, in advance, the ruleset containing the user's privacy preferences regarding the disclosure of identity information. Based on the evaluation results, the user can either approve or disapprove the privacy policy, and so decide whether to proceed with disclosure of the user identity.
US09203864B2

Systems and methods of dynamic categorization of applications for network use and access in a mobile network are disclosed. Using application profile information, applications can be categorized into one of multiple categories that define restrictions on the application's access to the wireless network or cellular network. One example of such categories is the concept of black, white and grey listings. The “white” listed applications may be always allowed access, “black” listed application may never or almost never be granted network access (e.g., application may be malware like or otherwise consumes large amounts of network/device resources), and grey listed applications may be granted access based on one or more criteria.
US09203853B2

Some embodiments of cloud-based gateway security scanning have been presented. In one embodiment, some data packets are received sequentially at a gateway device. The data packets constitute at least a part of a file being addressed to a client machine coupled to the gateway device. The gateway device forwards an identification of the file to a remote datacenter in parallel with forwarding the data packets to the client machine. The datacenter performs signature matching on the identification and returns a result of the signature matching to the gateway device. The gateway device determining whether to block the file from the client machine based on the result of the signature matching from the datacenter.
US09203846B2

A user may access a subscription-based service via a system comprising one or more devices with one or more separate domains where each domain may be owned or controlled by one or more different local or remote owners. Each domain may have a different owner, and a remote owner offering a subscription-based service may have taken ownership of a domain, which may be referred to as a remote owner domain. Further, the user may have taken ownership of a domain, which may be referred to as a user domain. In order for the user to access the subscription-based service, registration and credential roll-out may be needed. An exemplary registration and credential roll-out process may comprise registration of the user, obtaining credentials from the remote owner and storing the credentials.
US09203843B2

A mobile device enabled tiered data exchange via a vehicle is disclosed. A mobile device can access profile information related to a tiered-data sharing profile. The tiered-data sharing profile can associate data with a sharing tier designating security, privacy, or authorization constraints on sharing the associated data. A sharing tier can further designate obfuscation of the data as a constraint on sharing the data. The mobile device can enable access to the data subject to the constraints of the tiered-data sharing profile. In an embodiment, tiered data can be shared from the mobile device to an external service device via vehicle device. In another embodiment, tiered data can be shared from the mobile device to a service device of the vehicle.
US09203842B2

A server is configured to establish connections for secure element communication sessions. The server receives a request from a device to establish a first secure connection, and establishes the first secure connection with the device in response to the received request. The server sends a request to a Trusted Service Manager (TSM). The sent request instructs the TSM to establish a second secure connection between the TSM and a secure memory. The server receives an authentication request from the TSM to establish the second secure connection, and forwards the authentication request to the device over the first secure connection.
US09203839B2

A user authentication method and apparatus are disclosed. One embodiment of the invention can provide a method for authenticating a user from a server that includes: (a) transmitting a one-time server certification message in response to an authentication request including a user ID of a client terminal, and receiving a one-time terminal certification message from the client terminal; and (b) authenticating the user by verifying the one-time terminal certification message by using a hash value stored beforehand in correspondence to the user ID.
US09203837B2

A system and method to detect and prevent fraud in a system is provided. The system may uniquely identify physical devices connecting to a network, register unique devices, track end-user logins, associate end-user accounts with specific devices, and share information with multiple network service providers is described.
US09203836B2

In general, the invention relates to a method for performing a command on a token. The method includes receiving a first command authentication message digest (CAMD), a command, and scrambled data from a sender, and making a first determination that the sender is allowed to send commands to the token. The method further includes, based on the first determination, generating a second CAMD on the token using the command, the scrambled data, and an Administrative Command Authentication Secret (ACAS), making a second determination that the first CAMD and the second CAMD match, and based on the second determination, performing the command by the token.
US09203834B2

A method of operation of a computing system includes: providing a portable authorization module having a module enclosure and an identification unit, the module enclosure completely covering unit contacts of the identification unit; receiving operation power wirelessly for operation of the portable authorization module; and transmitting an identification signal from the portable authorization module for identifying communication from a device.
US09203824B1

A secure authentication method allowing a user to automatically switch between a web application running on a desktop computer and a mobile device is disclosed. The system includes a communications channel using a Quick Response or “QR” code to securely encode login credentials that may be captured by a mobile device for validation by a web application server. Once validated, a browser on the mobile device is redirected to a webpage displaying the last known workspace session in the web application, thereby allowing the user to resume their workplace session in an uninterrupted manner.
US09203823B2

Methods of operating a communications service are provided in which a communication that is addressed to a user of a communication service is received. A determination is made that end user authentication is required before the communication may be delivered to a first recipient electronic device. A request for end user authentication may then be forwarded to the first recipient electronic device in response to determining that end user authentication is required. End user authentication information may be received from the first recipient electronic device. The received end user authentication information may be compared to stored end user authentication information for the user. The communication may be forwarded over a network to the first electronic device in response to determining that the received end user authentication information matches the stored end user authentication information for the user.
US09203822B2

A method for processing data with a terminal and a system connected to the terminal via a network, which includes the steps of executing a process according to a request transmitted from the terminal via the network, performing a first user authentication with respect to the terminal by using the terminal or an authentication apparatus connected to the terminal via the network, storing first authentication data used for the first user authentication in association with second authentication data used for a second user authentication in a storage unit, and performing the second user authentication with respect to the system. In a case where at least a portion of the first authentication data is authenticated by the first user authentication, the second user authentication is performed by using the first and second authentication data stored in the storage unit and the portion of the first authentication data.
US09203818B1

Session-specific information stored to a cookie or other secure token can be selected and/or caused to vary over time, such that older copies will become less useful over time. Such an approach reduces the ability of entities obtaining a copy of the cookie from performing unauthorized tasks on a session. A cookie received with a request can contain a timestamp and an operation count for a session that may need to fall within an acceptable range of the current values in order for the request to be processed. A cookie returned with a response can be set to the correct value or incremented from the previous value based on various factors. The allowable bands can decrease with age of the session, and various parameter values such as a badness factor for a session can be updated continually based on the events for the session.
US09203808B2

There are provided a method of automated managing an ordered set of security rules implemented at a plurality of security gateways and a system thereof. The method comprises obtaining data characterizing a connectivity request which may become allowable only upon changes of an initial rule-set, thus giving rise to an unfitting connectivity request; analyzing routing tables of the plurality of the security gateways; generating ranking the security gateways in accordance with their relevance to the unfitting connectivity request; selecting one or more security gateways with the highest ranking; and implementing a configuration change required in order to facilitate allowance of the unfitting connectivity request at the one or more selected security gateways.
US09203807B2

A method and system for use with a public cloud network is disclosed, wherein the public cloud network includes at least one private cloud server and at least one smart client device in communication therewith. The method and system comprise setting up the at least one private cloud server and the at least one smart client device in a client server relationship. The at least one private cloud server includes a message box associated therewith. The first message box is located in the public network. The at least one smart client includes a second message box associated therewith. The second message box is located on the public network. The method includes passing session based message information between the at least one private cloud server and the at least one smart client device via the first message box and the second message box in a secure manner. The session base information is authenticated by the private cloud server and the at least one smart client device. The smart client device and the private cloud server can then communicate with each other after the session based information is authenticated.
US09203797B2

The present invention relates to a network comprising one or more devices, each device having an address, said address comprising a device address being unique for each device within said network and a network address being common to all devices within said network.The present invention further relates to a root device and a method for assigning the network address to the devices.
US09203796B2

A messaging system facilitates communication between users through various messaging channels. The messaging system supports multiple communication channels and includes a messaging module that automatically selects one or more of the messaging channels for delivering a message to a recipient of the message using, for example, a set of policy rules or a trained model. The messaging module may also provide, in a user interface for sending and receiving messages, a visual indication of the selected messaging channel to the sender of the message to provide the user with transparency about how the message will be delivered. Additionally, the message may be delivered via multiple messaging channels, where the messaging module may rescind messages from some of the messaging channels upon receiving a reply from the recipient of the message or other confirmation that the recipient has seen the message via one of the communication channels.
US09203791B1

Embodiments are directed towards hiding selected dialogues and/or contacts from display on a client computer while they are in a secret chat mode (SCM). A dialogue may be selected by a user, such as through the dialogue or through a list of previous dialogues. SCM may be activated by a user setting/providing a password. Activation of SCM may hide the dialogue and/or the contacts associated with the dialogue from being displayed. SCM for a hidden dialogue may be deactivated when user-provided password matches the set password. Deactivation of SCM may cause the hidden dialogue associated with that password to be unhidden and displayed. A notification that received password is valid may be displayed on the client computer regardless of whether the received password is valid or invalid. A replacement notification may be generated and provided to the user for received messages associated with hidden dialogues in SCM.
US09203771B1

Embodiments are directed towards improving the performance of network traffic management devices by optimizing the management of hot connection flows. A packet traffic management device (“PTMD”) employs a data flow segment (“DFS”) and control segment (“CS”). The CS performs high-level control functions and per-flow policy enforcement for connection flows maintained at the DFS, while the DFS performs statistics gathering, and per-packet policy enforcement, on connection flows maintained at the DFS. The DFS may include high-speed flow caches and other high-speed components. Making efficient use of the high speed flow cache capacity may be improved by maximizing the number of hot connection flows based on unique service and network traffic characteristics through adaptive feedback pattern learning together with administrator configurable service preferences that may have flow control data for most bandwidth hungry and desired hot services offloaded to the high-speed flow cache, at appropriate time.
US09203767B1

Bandwidth is assigned to subscribers of a data network by applying logic of one or more network devices to sample bits of information communicated over a network communication medium to identify if there is a network congestion condition or an extremely lightly loaded condition. The maximum bandwidth assigned to a subscriber is below a normative maximum bandwidth assigned to the subscriber if the network is congested and the logic of the one or more network devices identifies the subscriber as a heavy bandwidth user. The maximum bandwidth assigned to a subscriber is above the normative maximum bandwidth if the network is extremely lightly loaded and the subscriber is a heavy bandwidth user.
US09203766B2

A method, computer readable medium and serving node includes an interface configured to exchange data with a user equipment and with a gateway node of a network; and a processor. The processor is configured to implement a classifier function for intercepting a request from the user equipment, and for analyzing whether the request complies with pre-established categorization rules, a request analyzer function for analyzing the request when the request complies with the pre-established categorization rules and for selecting one mode of plural available modes, and an application function for requesting a quality of service, QoS, bearer to be established between the serving node and the user equipment when the selected mode includes a QoS requirement.
US09203762B2

Information handling system network traffic is managed by populating a DCBX client framework with application network parameters associated with predetermined applications. Network devices, such as information handling system clients and servers, retrieve a TLV from a switch to obtain application network parameters for an application and apply the parameters so that the application executing on the device tags network communications with the associated parameters, such as bandwidth, loss less behavior, priority, latency, through put and CPU utilization.
US09203751B2

The present invention relates to a method for improving IP fragmentation and transmission of user payload between a User Equipment, UE (10), and a Peer Node, PN (14). The payload is transmitted through a transmission path enabled by at least a first (17,18) and a second (17,18) established tunnel, said tunnels connecting a first (11), (13) and a second (11, 13) node in a Packet Core Network, PCN. The method comprises the steps of: The first node (11,13) fragments (19) at least one received payload packet (15) into fragments (16) on the basis of a minimum Maximum Transmission Unit, MTU, for an upper IP layer of the transmission path. The first node (11,13) encapsulates (20) said fragments at the entry of the first tunnel (17, 18). What particularly characterizes the method is that it further comprises a step where the first node (11,13) determines (21) the MTU for the upper IP layer of the transmission path on the basis of an MTU of a lower IP layer of the transmission path and on the basis of the size of at least one additional tunnel header for the encapsulated fragments (16).
US09203736B2

Techniques for providing resilient multicast traffic processing in a network element are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, a network element separately joins equivalent multicast traffic streams at a first and second interface respectively. During uninterrupted operation, the network element processes the packets of the multicast traffic stream it receives at the first interface and drops the packets of the equivalent multicast traffic stream it receives at the second interface. Upon an interruption of the packets of the multicast traffic stream being received at the first interface, the network element transitions to processing the packets of the equivalent multicast traffic stream it receives at the second interface. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.
US09203734B2

Embodiments describe enhancing bi-directional communication in an information centric computer network through a piggyback session, which comprises mapping requests for data received to content, sending at least one piggyback packet to a remote node, wherein a piggyback packet is a data packet comprising a request field and a content field, receiving at least one piggyback packet from the remote node, and processing the piggyback packets. Processing may comprise splitting the request field and the content field in at least one received piggyback packet, sending the content extracted from the received piggyback packet to a client application running on the computing apparatus and setting one or more events to trigger the processing of at least one piggyback packet. Additional embodiments describe the structure of a piggyback packet and the management of a piggyback session at a router device by validating incoming piggyback packets and determining a recipient accordingly.
US09203723B2

Network devices facilitate network tracing using tracing packets that travel through the network devices. The network devices may be switches, routers, bridges, hubs, or any other network device. The network tracing may include sending tracing packets down each of multiple routed paths between a source and a destination, at each hop through the network, or through a selected subset of the paths between a source and a destination. The network devices may add tracing information to the tracing packets, which an analysis system may review to determine characteristics of the network and the characteristics of the potentially many paths between a source and a destination.
US09203721B2

An approach to facilitating in-vehicle services through attendant devices, user-provided devices, and/or an in-vehicle computer system is provided. In one implementation, one or more communication sessions with the in-vehicle computer system may be facilitated by an attendant device. Passenger information relating to one or more passengers of a vehicle and service information relating to one or more services to be provided to the one or more passengers may be obtained by the attendant device from the in-vehicle computer system via the one or more communication sessions. The passenger information and the service information may be provided by the attendant device. An indication that at least one service is in progress or is complete is received by the attendant device.
US09203720B2

A system for monitoring the “analytics health” or “tracking health” of a web page can include one or more modules that render analytics code on the web page. In one implementation, a monitoring service downloads one or more web pages from a web server. The monitoring service can attempt to render any analytics code on the web pages to see if the analytics code renders or executes as expected. The monitoring service can also perform basic text searches to identify analytics code, even if it cannot be rendered, and to determine if such code is present and correctly written in the web page. For web pages that require form input, the monitoring service can prompt the user for corresponding input, or retrieve pre-recorded user input from a store. The monitoring service can determine analytics health for web pages of interest in real-time.
US09203718B2

A frame loss measurement device including a receiving unit which receives a measurement frame for measuring a communication path, a measurement unit which, based on the measurement frame received, measures performance of the communication path where the measurement frame is transmitted, and an allocation unit which secures resources of the frame loss measurement device to allocate to the measurement frame to be received.
US09203715B1

Systems and methods are disclosed which facilitate the management of host computing devices through the utilization of a host computing device control component. The host computing device control component includes a state monitoring component that monitors operating states of the control component and a group of associated host computing devices. The state monitoring component includes a power supply separate from the control component power supply, a state processing component, a visual indicator interface, and a separate communication component to facilitate communication with other state monitoring components. Utilizing consensus type algorithms, the state monitoring components can decide information related to the set of host computing devices, such as a state monitoring component authoritative for the grouping of the host computing devices.
US09203701B2

Some embodiments provide a controller for managing several managed switching elements that forward data in a network. The controller includes an interface for receiving input logical control plane data in terms of input events data. The controller includes an input scheduler for (1) categorizing the input events data into different groups based on certain criteria and (2) scheduling supplying of the input event data into a converter based on the groups so that the converter processes a group of input events data together. The controller includes the converter for converting the input logical control plane data to output logical forwarding plane data. The controller includes a network information base (NIB) data structure module for storing the output logical forwarding plane data. The logical forwarding plane data is for subsequent translation into physical control plane data.
US09203699B2

A distributed network switch includes multiple switch modules connected by one or more physical cables. One switch module may determine which connector port of a remote switch module is connected by physical cable based on information received from the remote switch module, including link identifiers, and further based on a physical topology predetermined about the type of remote switch module.
US09203695B2

Systems and methods for providing registration at a remote site that may include, for example, a monitoring module that may communicate with a remote site. A registration protocol may be used by the monitoring module and the remote site in generating the messages communicated during the registration process. The monitoring module may gather and generate various identification information to be included in the registration protocol messages. The registration information provided by the monitoring module maybe stored at the remote site in a database server having a database. A confirmation message may be communicated from the remote site to the monitoring module that may either acknowledge successful registration or report that an error occurred during the registration process.
US09203693B2

A resource requirements method and system is provided. The method includes identifying dependencies and calculating a utilization value for a source server. The source server is mapped to an application and a source infrastructure is compared to a target infrastructure. Deficiencies and differences associated with the target infrastructure are determined and dependency requirements for fulfillment in the target infrastructure are generated. The utilization value is compared to a resource capability of the target server and resource requirements for fulfillment on the target server are generated.
US09203687B2

Method and system are provided for providing access to string-based message headers in network protocol messages. The method includes: converting header names into canonical form, wherein a canonical key represents one or more equivalent header names including alias forms, and wherein a canonical key has a string and an integer value; providing a mapping between the header names and the canonical keys; and searching for a header name using the canonical key by sequential search using integer comparison.
US09203684B1

Methods and systems for reducing web page load time using HTTP header compression are provided. A method for reducing web page load time includes preloading HTTP header keywords into a compression dictionary. The method also includes compressing one or more fields in an HTTP header corresponding with a web page request using the compression dictionary. The method further includes transmitting the compressed HTTP header over a network. A system for reducing web page load time includes a compression dictionary preloaded with HTTP header keywords. The system also includes a header compressor to compress one or more fields in an HTTP header using the compression dictionary, and a transmitter to transmit the compressed HTTP header over a network.
US09203682B2

In one embodiment, a coherent optical receiver has a digital signal processor that processes one or more digital I/Q-signal pairs to recover data carried by a modulated optical signal in a manner that mitigates, based on calibration data retrieved from a memory or on appropriate performance measures and feedback mechanisms, the detrimental effects of frequency-dependent imbalances between the I and Q sub-channels of at least one of the I/Q channels of the receiver. In various embodiments, the calibration data can be generated and written into the memory at the fabrication facility or in situ while the receiver is being operated in a calibration mode. Alternatively or in addition, the calibration data can be generated and dynamically adjusted online during normal operation of the receiver.
US09203680B2

A system and methods that accommodate for nonlinear interference in a multi-carrier communications system are provided. A first signal is received by a receiver. The first signal comprises a source signal transmitted on a carrier over a communications channel. The first signal reflects a source symbol mapped to one of a plurality of signal constellation points, and each signal constellation point is associated with a different one of a plurality of signal clusters. A received representation of the source signal with respect to the source symbol is acquired from the first signal. A plurality of likelihood metrics are determined, where each likelihood metric is based on the received representation of the source signal with respect to the source symbol and a different one of a plurality of core parameters, wherein each core parameter is based on a centroid estimate with respect to a different one of the signal clusters.
US09203678B2

The present technology relates to a receiving device, a receiving method, a program, and a receiving system which may improve reception performance in the case of receiving a signal with a variable frequency band. A receiving device according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a demodulation unit configured to convert a received signal to a baseband signal in the case where a first frequency differs from a second frequency, wherein the first frequency is a center frequency in a band of the received signal, the second frequency is a center frequency in a band of a desired signal included in a part of the band of the received signal, and a DC component of the baseband signal is to be a frequency in the vicinity of the second frequency. The present technology may be applied to a receiver which receives an OFDM signal of DVB-C2.
US09203664B2

Measurement of intermodulation products of digital signals. One or more devices, within a communication system, having and analog to digital converter (ADC) with a sufficiently wide frequency response as to capture not only a signal of interest, but many other signals simultaneously, allows for appropriate signal processing of such captured samples to identify one or more intermodulation products that may exist as a function of the relationship of one or more frequencies. For example, composite second order (CSO) or composite triple beat (CTB), or even higher ordered signals, may occur within various communication systems. These effects may be caused by any of a number of sources including nonlinearities in the system, such as affects associated with laser clipping, amplifier compression, corroded connectors, etc. Appropriate processing is performed determine the existences of such intermodulation product signals, and, if desired, subsequent signal processing and/or fixing of such effects therein is performed.
US09203657B2

To maintain linear operation of a signal processing circuit, such as a low noise amplifier, a peak detector detects a peak of a signal associated with the signal processing circuit and compares the detected peak signal with a threshold. When the detected peak signal is greater than the threshold, a fixed current source biases the signal processing circuit to place the signal processing circuit in a different mode of operation. The signal processing circuit may thereby process a larger input signal while operating in an acceptable linear region.
US09203652B2

A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for assessing and/or controlling call routing for VoIP/VioIP calls. According to one such method, endpoint devices are used to monitor and/or assess the call-quality. The assessment is sent to a centralized server arrangement and call-routing is controlled therefrom. Endpoint devices employ a decentralized testing mechanism to further monitor and assess call quality including the use of test connections. Aspects of call quality are analyzed and attributed to endpoint devices and/or local connections or networks to distinguish intermediate routing issues from local/endpoint issues.
US09203641B2

A mobile backhaul inter-mesh communication point forms an interface between a wireless mesh network on a first level and a wireless mesh network on a second, higher bandwidth, level. The two wireless networks are differentiated, e.g., by causing the mesh networks to be formed using different spectra, protocols or coding, or antennae. The mobile intra-mesh communication point functions as an access point in the lower level mesh network and as a relay point in the upper level mesh network. Utilizing mobile inter-mesh communication points facilitates deployment of wireless network access points while enabling the location of access points to follow the concentration of network users. Mobile inter-mesh communication points may be deployed in personal vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles, public transportation vehicles such as busses, trains, and aircraft, emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances, and many other types of vehicles.
US09203640B2

Messages on controller area network (CAN) buses are communicated over subsea links. Repeaters couple CAN buses to each end of a subsea link. The subsea link may be, for example, a twisted pair or a single wire with a sea ground. The repeater detects a direction of transmission, that is, whether a signal began on the CAN bus coupled to the repeater or on the subsea link coupled to the repeater. Signals from the CAN bus are conditionally transmitted to the subsea link depending on the detected direction of transmission. Signals from the subsea link are conditionally transmitted to the CAN bus depending on the detected direction of transmission. The repeater can operate at the physical layer without analyzing contents of the CAN bus communications.
US09203637B2

A device translates a script command related to audio streaming in a network, and generates or receives an audio stream based on the translated script to test the network.
US09203630B2

A method for seamlessly transferring a dual-party call into a conference includes receiving a conference room creation request from a first terminal, and creating a conference room according to the conference room creation request. The method also includes establishing and starting a first voice channel between the first terminal and the conference room, a second voice channel between the second terminal and the conference room, and a third voice channel between a third terminal and the conference room while maintaining a dual-party voice channel between the first terminal and a second terminal in an on state. After starting the first voice channel and the second voice channel, the method includes simultaneously releasing the dual-party voice channel.
US09203627B2

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for batching OCSP requests and caching corresponding responses. An intermediary between a plurality of clients and one or more servers receives a first client certificate during a first SSL handshake with a first client and a second client certificate during a second SSL handshake with a second client. The intermediary may identify that the statuses of the client certificates are not in a cache of the intermediary. An OCSP responder of the intermediary may transmit a single request to an OCSP server to determine the statuses. The intermediary may determine, from a single response received from the OCSP server, whether to establish SSL connections with the clients based on the statuses. The intermediary may store the statuses to the cache for determining whether to establish a SSL connection in response to receiving a client certificate from the first client.
US09203622B2

A cryptographic processing system and method to decrease the sizes of public parameters and a master secret key, and shorten the time taken for the generation process of the secret key to be supplied to the user and the encryption process. A generation device generates a basis B and a basis B* that form public parameters and a master secret key using a sparse matrix in which each row and each column have at least one value other than 0. An encryption device generates a vector in the basis B, the vector being embedded with predetermined information, as a cipher vector. A decryption device, by treating a predetermined vector in the basis B* as a key vector, conducts a pairing operation for the cipher vector and the key vector, to decrypt the cipher vector.
US09203621B2

Compliance to a policy about how to treat data in a computer network environment is ensured by checking that conditions in the policy are satisfied by the entity before access to the data is provided.
US09203615B2

A method and apparatus for personalizing a smart card coupled with a communication device of a user who is a subscriber of a first telecommunication network and wishes to become a subscriber of a second telecommunication network is disclosed. A first authentication key is stored in both the smart card and in an first application server included in the first telecommunication network. A secure session is established with a second application server included in the second telecommunication network via the first telecommunication network by negotiating with the first application server and the second application server in order that the smart card and the second application server agree on an second authentication key. Shared values and shared functions according to a secure multiparty computation protocol are used to compute a second authentication key which replaces the first authentication key in the smart card.
US09203606B2

A clock recovery circuit for recovering a clock signal from a clock-embedded data signal, a data receiving device for recovering a clock signal and a data signal from a clock-embedded data signal, and a data transmitting and receiving system for improving the protocol of a clock-embedded data signal. The data transmitting and receiving system includes a data transmitting device configured to transmit a clock-embedded data signal in which an embedded clock signal is embedded in a data signal; and a data receiving device configured to recover a clock signal corresponding to the embedded clock signal from the clock-embedded data signal.
US09203584B2

Methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided for receiving a first group of resource blocks, frequency multiplexed in a transmission subframe, where the first group of resource blocks spans less than a full transmission bandwidth and includes a UE control channel in a first time interval, a relay control channel and a first quantity of dedicated reference symbols in a second time interval, and a shared data channel and a second quantity of dedicated reference symbols in a third time interval.This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, it is to be understood that it should not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US09203577B2

Embodiments of an enhanced base station and method for communicating through an enhanced distributed antenna system (eDAS) are generally described herein. The eDAS includes geographically-separated antenna nodes and each of the antenna nodes has a plurality of antenna elements. The base station may perform physical-layer baseband processing for each of the antenna nodes at a centralized processing location, and may cause the antenna nodes to transmit reference signals in accordance with a multiplexing scheme to allow user equipment to perform channel estimation for the antenna elements of any one or more of the antenna nodes. The base station may also cause the antenna nodes to transmit signals having synchronization codes to allow the user equipment to synchronize with the antenna elements of any one or more of the antenna nodes. In some embodiments, the base station may communicate with the antenna nodes over a physical-layer interface.
US09203576B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for estimating one or more channel properties of a downlink from a cellular communications network based on quasi co-located antenna ports with respect to the one or more channel properties. In one embodiment, a wireless device receives a downlink subframe including a downlink control channel from the cellular communications network. The wireless device estimates one or more large-scale channel properties for an antenna port of interest in the downlink control channel based on a subset of reference signals that correspond to antenna ports in the cellular communications network that are quasi co-located with the antenna port of interest with respect to the one or more large-scale channel properties. As a result of using the quasi co-located antenna ports, estimation of the one or more large-scale channel properties is substantially improved.
US09203574B2

A method of UE RSRQ measurement precaution for interference coordination is provided. The UE receives radio signals of a neighbor cell under measurement. The neighbor cell applies a TDM silencing pattern for inter-cell interference coordination (TDM ICIC). The UE determines a measurement pattern that includes multiple subframes. The UE performs RSRQ measurements of the cell over multiple subframes and obtains multiple RSRQ measurement samples. The UE derives RSRQ measurement result by estimating the multiple RSRQ samples and applying a weighted average. RSRQ samples estimated to be more applicable are taken into account to more extent (e.g., applied with more weight), and/or RSRQ samples estimated to be less applicable are taken into account to less extent (e.g., applied with less weight, or discarded with zero weight). With UE precaution, a more predictable RSRQ measurement result is produced.
US09203573B2

A method and a base station serving a first cell of a cellular network, for controlling interference coordination with at least one neighboring cell. The base station obtains transaction related information pertaining to a forthcoming data transaction involving at least one wireless terminal in the first cell, and estimates a transaction magnitude (TM) for said data transaction, based on the obtained transaction related information. The base station then controls employment of an Inter-Cell Interference Coordination scheme for the forthcoming data transaction, based on the estimated transaction magnitude.
US09203570B2

A setting unit sets a communication mode for different one or more counterpart communication apparatuses to a non-spatial multiplexing mode or a spatial multiplexing mode. Setting unit switches the setting of the communication mode for the different one or more counterpart communication apparatuses from the non-spatial multiplexing mode to the spatial multiplexing mode, on the basis of a capability of a communication system having an own apparatus and the different one or more counterpart communication apparatuses. A transmitting unit processes a transmitting signal to the different one or more counterpart communication apparatuses to output the processed signal to a plurality of antennas, on the basis of the set communication mode.
US09203558B1

Methods, systems, and devices are described for soft-decision decoding of data received from optical signals and encoded using a forward error correction (FED) code. A first reliability information is determined for a subset of the bits corresponding to each symbol transmitted using differentially-encoded 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16-Qam). A second reliability information is determined for a remaining subset of the bits. The first reliability information is based on log likelihood ration (LLR) calculations used for soft-decision FEC decoding of data transmitted using differentially-encoded Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK), while the second reliability information is based on LLR calculations used for soft-decision FEC decoding of data transmitted using coherently-encoded 16-QAM. The second reliability information may be pre-calculated and accessed from a lookup table based on a location of the respective symbol in a complex in-phase and quadrature plane. They symbols are then decoded using the two sets of reliability information.
US09203555B2

A system/method for data transport, including encoding one or more streams of input data using one or more Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoders; employing one or more signal constellations obtained using an optimum signal constellation design (OSCD); determining an optimum mapping rule by comparing cost functions of each of a plurality of mapping rules; combining one or more LDPC-coded OSCD signal constellation data streams with coherent optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) coded modulation to achieve channel capacity; and mode-multiplexing and transmitting one or more independent LDPC-coded optimum signal constellation design (OSCD) data streams over a transmission medium.
US09203547B1

A simplified apparatus for positively preventing the use of mobile personal communication devices by the operator of a vehicle in “hand held” mode, and permitting use of such devices in “handsfree” mode. The apparatus includes a signal jammer operable to block at least one of the incoming and outgoing signals associated with the personal mobile communication device; a power supply associated with the signal jammer; a motion responsive sensor in the vehicle, which is configured to activate the signal jammer while the vehicle is in motion; and a pairing signal detector, which is configured to de-activate the signal jammer while a handsfree pairing signal is present.
US09203540B2

In order to improve the link adjacency discovery in an Optical Transport Network, a method and related network nodes are provided. A first network node (21) has a first discovery agent (216) and a second network node (22) has a second discovery agent (226). A discovery message (210) is transmitted from a first interface of the first network node (21) over one or more subsequent network links (25, 26, 27) to a second interface of the second network node (22). The discovery message (210) contains information indicative of an discovery agent identifier associated with the first discovery agent (216) and of a termination connection point identifier associated with the first interface. In order to transmit the discovery message (210), the first interface is configured to perform a tandem connection source function (217) using a reserved field in an overhead portion of signal frames to be transmitted. The second interface is configured to perform a Tandem Connection Monitoring function (227) on the same reserved field of received signal frames. The discovery message is sent using a Trail Trace Identifier (TT!) byte available in the reserved field.
US09203537B2

Changes to spot blocks to be broadcast via terrestrial stations can cause paid spots to be removed from corresponding spot blocks on a streaming station. If the streaming station has other spot blocks that are under-filled, the bumped spots can be automatically placed in under-filled spot blocks, allowing the bumped to be placed in an under-filled spot block faster than if human intervention was required. A media traffic system can keep track of the bumped spots, and in response to a request by a media automation system, provide a list of potential spots available for inclusion in the under-filled spot blocks. The automation system selects desired spots for placement in under-filled spot blocks, and notifies the traffic system about which potential spots have been placed. The traffic system removes the spots from its list of available spots to prevent selected spots from being included in future responses.
US09203511B2

The carrier phase of a carrier wave modulated with information symbols is recovered with a multi-stage, feed-forward carrier phase recovery method. A coarse phase recovery is performed to determine a first phase angle which provides a first best estimate of the information symbol corresponding to the digital signal. Using the first best estimate as input, a second stage of estimation is then performed to determine a second phase angle which provides an improved (second) best estimate of the information symbol. Additional stages of estimation can be performed.
US09203506B2

A system includes a central controller to transmit a plurality of synchronization codes through a transmission medium and a plurality of satellite controllers, each satellite controller configured to recognize one or more synchronization codes of the plurality of synchronization codes, each satellite controller comprising a synchronous clock signal generator to generate a synchronous clock signal each time the satellite controller recognizes the one or more synchronization codes of the plurality of synchronization codes.
US09203496B2

A communication system is provided that switches the communication of multi-antenna transmitter and receiver terminals between MIMO and frequency-bundle modes. In MIMO mode all transmitter and receiver antennas operate in the same frequency channel while in frequency-bundle mode each pair of one transmitter antenna and one receiver antenna is tuned to a different frequency channel. The communication system includes one or more control modules that collect, analyze, and apply configurations to the terminals and switch the operation of one or more transmit/receive terminal pairs between the MIMO and frequency-bundle modes based on the collected information and metrics. The monitored information and metrics include the availability of idle frequency channels in the available frequency band, propagation channel conditions, peak throughput demand by different users, power consumption budget and battery lives of different terminals, distance between transmitter and receiver antennas in each communicating transmitter/receiver pair, and overall traffic demand by terminals.
US09203488B1

A first communication device transmits a data unit configured to prompt a second communication device to transmit a non-sounding data unit with a number of spatial streams equal to a number of transmit antennas available at the second communication device, wherein the second communication device does not support implicit transmit beamforming. Responsive to the data unit transmitted from the first communication device, the non-sounding data unit is received from the second communication device. The first communication device develops an estimate of a reverse channel via which the non-sounding data unit traveled based on the non-sounding data unit. The first communication device develops a transmit beamforming matrix based on the estimate of the reverse channel, the transmit beamforming matrix for the first communication device to utilize when transmitting via a forward channel.
US09203483B2

A reception apparatus includes a plurality of reception antennas configured to receive transmission signals transmitted from a plurality of transmission antennas, a first interference processing section configured to perform a weighting processing of imparting a weight to reduce a multipath interference component corresponding to an intersymbol interference based on a multipath while leaving an inter-antenna interference component corresponding to an interference component imparted by a transmission signal from one transmission antenna on the transmission signal from another transmission antenna among the plurality of transmission antennas with respect to each of a plurality of reception signals received by the plurality of reception antennas, and a second interference processing section configured to remove the inter-antenna interference component with respect to each of the plurality of reception signals on which the weighting processing is performed.
US09203480B2

A distributed wireless communication system includes multiple access points, each with one or more antennas. The access points do not necessarily have synchronized transmitting and receiving radio frequency oscillators. Approaches to channel estimation between the access points and one or more wireless clients account for the lack of synchronization, and do not necessarily require capabilities at the clients that go beyond required or optional features of standard wireless Ethernet (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11g, or 802.11a), thereby supporting “legacy” clients while supporting high data throughput approaches that provide coherent transmission from the multiple antenna of the access points.
US09203469B1

An apparatus including narrowband receivers and a controller. The narrowband receivers are deployed geographically within a grid, where each of the narrowband receivers is configured to receive transmissions from a least one of a plurality of automated meter reading (AMR) meters, and where each of the plurality of AMR meters transmits identical data on each of a plurality of frequency bands that are hopped according to an unknown hopping sequence, but a known hop rate. The controller is coupled to the narrowband receivers, and is configured to control the narrowband receivers such that the each of the plurality of AMR meters is identified, and is configured to control the narrowband receivers such that corresponding data from the each of the AMR meters is received on at least one of the plurality of frequency bands.
US09203461B2

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for wideband frequency and bandwidth tunable filtering are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a wideband frequency and bandwidth tunable filter that splits a filter input signal into first and second input signals, modifies the first input signal to produce a first output signal, modifies the second input signal to produce a second output signal having an intermediate frequency response, and combines the first and second output signals while adjusting their relative phases and/or amplitudes to produce a filter output signal with the target frequency response. Adjustment includes splitting the second input signal into third and fourth input signals, which are modified and then combined to produce the second output signal having the intermediate frequency response.
US09203455B2

An apparatus and method enable a full duplex system with self-interference cancellation. Receiving circuitry forming a signal receiving path is arranged for transferring communication signals received via air interface. Transmitting circuitry forming a signal transmission path is arranged for transferring communication signals to be transmitted via air interface. Interference cancellation circuitry is in operable connection between the signal receiving path and the signal transmission path. The receiving circuitry and the transmitting circuitry are arranged to receive and transmit communication signals at the same time and at the same frequency. The interference cancellation circuitry comprises resistance, inductance and capacitance arranged to constitute a center frequency of an isolation range between the signal receiving path and the signal transmission path which substantially falls into the center of a communication band for the signals received and/or to be transmitted via air interface.
US09203452B2

The invention provides an adaptive harmonic rejection (HR) receiving device, including a low noise amplification module; at least one HR mixer; at least one non-harmonic rejection (NHR) frequency mixer; and a control device. A received signal passes through the low noise amplification, and then passes through the at least one HR mixer or the at least one NHR mixer; the control device measures a receiving signal strength index (RSSI) after the received signal passes through the at least one HR mixer or the NHR mixer, and selects an NHR mixer or an appropriate HR mixer for the received signal according to a result of the measurement. The adaptive HR receiving device of the present invention is capable of adaptively judging whether to implement HR or determining which HR to implement according to features of the received signal, thereby improving the reception flexibility and reception performance.
US09203447B2

In a distortion compensating unit, a threshold calculating unit calculates a clip threshold to be set in an adjusting unit based on an address value generated by an address generating circuit. For example, the threshold calculating unit calculates the clip threshold by identifying the maximum value of address values generated by the address generating circuit in each adjustment unit period and subtracting a certain offset value from the identified maximum value. The adjusting unit adjusts a distortion compensation coefficient based on an address value received from the address generating circuit and a magnitude relationship with the set clip threshold.
US09203439B2

A method of generating a sequence of display frames for display on a display device, wherein the sequence of display frames are derived from a data string which is encoded to include error correction in order to enable recreation of the data string at a receiving device, includes dividing the data string to be encoded into a plurality of source segments; encoding the plurality of source segments to generate a plurality of codewords, each codeword comprising a plurality of codeword bits; and positioning codeword bits in the sequence of frames.
US09203437B2

A circuitry is proposed for the correction of errors in a possibly erroneous binary word v′=v′1, . . . , v′n relative to a codeword v=v1, . . . , vn, in particular 3-bit errors containing an adjacent 2-bit error (burst error). The circuitry comprises a syndrome generator and a decoder. A modified BCH is used wherein n′ column vectors of a first BCH code submatrix are paired as column vector pairs so that a componentwise XOR combination of the two column vectors of each column vector pair produces an identical column vector K that is different from all column vectors of the first BCH submatrix. A second BCH submatrix comprises corresponding column vectors as the third power, according to Galois field arithmetic, of the column vector in the first BCH submatrix. The syndrome generated by the syndrome generator can be checked against the columns of the first and second submatrices.
US09203416B2

Various configurations and arrangements of systems and methods for compensating for variations in VCO output frequencies are described. A system in accordance with the disclosure can include an oscillator circuit including an oscillator, a first variable capacitance diode coupled to the oscillator and a second variable capacitance diode coupled to the oscillator. The system further includes a voltage source configured to apply a first voltage to the oscillator circuit to cause the output signal to comprise a selected frequency, the selected frequency being based on a received reference voltage. The system further includes a controller circuit configured to compare an operating voltage of the oscillator to the reference voltage while the first voltage is applied to the oscillator; and apply a second voltage to the oscillator circuit based on the comparison. The second voltage compensates for a difference between the reference voltage and the first voltage.
US09203414B2

A device comprising, a mirror which is configured to oscillate in response to an oscillation signal, wherein the device is configured such that oscillation of the mirror will induce a signal; and a circuit in operable cooperation with the mirror such that an induced signal can be measured by the circuit and wherein the circuit is configured to provide an oscillation signal proportional to the measured induced signal; wherein the device is configured such that the mirror can receive the oscillation signal so that the oscillation signal is filtered due to oscillation limitations of mirror, to provide a filtered signal.
US09203399B2

A driving circuit for a switching element includes a main current wiring and a substrate. The main current wiring has a flat surface and carries a main current. The substrate has a flat surface mounted on the flat surface of the main current wiring and includes a coil disposed inside. The coil is disposed so as to interlink with a magnetic flux generated depending on the main current of the switching element and is electrically connected such that the coil receives the pulse signal of the signal source and transmits the pulse signal to a control terminal of the switching element.
US09203397B1

For an integrated circuit (IC) that is designed to execute user defined operations after initialization, a sequencing circuitry in the IC that delays the start of the user design execution until a set of initial condition has been computed and propagated is provided. The sequencing holds the first group of circuits at an initial state while a second group of circuits computes and propagates a set of initial conditions based at least partly on the initial state of the first group of circuits. The circuits in the first group when being held disregard their inputs and do not change their outputs. The first group of circuits is released from its initial state after the second group of circuits has completed computation and propagation of the set of initial conditions. The circuits in the first group when released are freed to store or clock-in new inputs and produce new outputs in order to perform the user defined operations in conjunction with the second group of circuits.
US09203386B2

Examples of analog delay lines and analog delay systems, such as DLLs incorporating analog delay lines are described, as are circuits and methods for adaptive biasing. Embodiments of adaptive biasing are described and may generate a bias signal for an analog delay line during start-up. The bias signal may be based in part on the frequency of operation of the analog delay line.
US09203385B2

A method includes providing a first local oscillator signal having a first duty cycle to a first mixer unit and providing a second local oscillator signal having a second duty cycle to a second mixer unit. At least one of the first duty cycle or the second duty cycle is greater than fifty percent. A frequency of the first local oscillator signal approximately equals a frequency of the second local oscillator signal. The method may also include generating a modulated output signal based on an output signal of the first mixer unit and based on an output signal of the second mixer unit.
US09203375B2

The invention relates to a band rejection filter comprising a piezoelectric substrate and a serial connection of at least two pi-elements which are arranged on the substrate. The pi-elements respectively comprise at least two electro-acoustic parallel resonators and at least one electro-acoustic serial resonator, and are connected by a first series inductance. Said serial connection comprises, on a first inlet, a second series inductance and on an outlet, a third series inductance. Said resonators have a pole-zero plot of approximately 9% or more.
US09203370B2

A broadband circuit between an antenna operating in a first service band and a power feeding unit and allowing the antenna to operate in a second service band wider than the first service band, includes a first line connected to the power feeding unit, a second line connected to a ground surface, a first capacitor between the first and second lines, a third line connected to the ground surface and parallel to the first line, a fourth line connected to the antenna and parallel to the second line, a second capacitor between the first and third lines, a first inductor between the first and third lines and closer to the first and third lines than the third capacitor, a fourth capacitor between the second and fourth lines, and a second inductor between the second and fourth lines and closer to the second and fourth lines than the fourth capacitor.
US09203369B2

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for operating, designing, testing and verifying the performance of wireless communication devices. Specifically, the present systems and methods can passively attenuate unwanted electromagnetic interference (EMI) without degrading signal quality of predetermined frequency using a novel versatile module including a RF absorbing material in a composite medium surrounding the conducting signal lines. Utilizing varying permeability media, the present invention offer a robust platform to eliminate unwanted noise while maintaining a desirable control and power interfaces used for testing of wireless communication systems.
US09203368B2

A power amplifier includes: a first transistor having a gate, a drain, and a source that is grounded; a second transistor having a gate, a drain, and a source that is connected to the drain of the first transistor; a capacitor connected between the gate of the second transistor and a grounding point; an idling current control circuit having a positive temperature coefficient and making an idling current flowing through the first transistor proportional to an ambient temperature; and a drain voltage control circuit having a positive temperature coefficient and making a drain voltage on the first transistor proportional to the ambient temperature.
US09203341B2

Control apparatus includes an inverter having a plurality of switches arranged to generate a plurality of different voltage phases, and a switch arrangement having a rectifier arranged to be coupled to the respective plurality of coil windings. The rectifier is arranged to rectify an alternating current flowing in respective coil windings and provide the rectified AC current to a DC output, and a switch is coupled across the DC output. The switch is operable to electrically isolate the plurality of coil windings from each other. A controller is arranged to operate the switch to electrically isolate the plurality of coil windings upon a failure of an inverter switch or upon detection of a current flow in the inverter or the switch that is greater than a predetermined threshold.
US09203335B2

A control device 1 for an electric motor of the present invention includes: a current control unit 4 configured to calculate voltage command values vd*, vq* used to drive an electric motor 100, on the basis of a state quantity for voltage command value calculation and q and d-axis current detection values id, iq, the state quantity calculated from a torque command value T*; and an over-modulation processing unit 16 configured to determine whether the electric motor 100 is stable or unstable in an over-modulation state, on the basis of the voltage command values vd*, vq*, current control constants, and electric motor constants, and to drive the electric motor 100 in the over-modulation state when determining that the electric motor 100 is stable.
US09203332B2

A motor drive device is provided which allows control to be performed depending on a position of magnetic poles of a rotor even when a motor rotor angle sensor malfunctions. The device controls a motor for driving a wheel of an electric vehicle, depending on the position of the magnetic poles by using an angle sensed by the angle sensor provided at the motor. The device includes an estimator estimating an angle of a rotor of the motor without using a rotation sensor; a sensor malfunction determiner determining a malfunction of the angle sensor; and a switcher causing control to be performed using a angle estimated by the estimator instead of the angle sensed by the angle sensor once the determiner determines that the angle sensor malfunctions.
US09203327B2

A rectifier bridge circuit is described for rectifying the phase voltage generated by a generator, including a positive half-bridge having multiple rectifier elements and a negative half-bridge having multiple rectifier elements. The rectifier elements each have a controllable switch having a diode connected in parallel. A control circuit is provided for switching the switches on and off. The switch-on time tswitch on setpoint and/or the switch-off time tswitch off setpoint of the switch is/are computed based on a characteristic map or a mathematical function.
US09203324B2

A method for limiting an output power of an inverter having an output bridge and an upstream boost converter includes determining a first measurement variable representative of a bridge temperature and a second measurement variable representative of an output power of the inverter. The method also includes determining a third measurement variable representative of a generator voltage at generator connections of the inverter or a fourth measurement variable representative of an output voltage at a power output of the inverter, and reducing the output power supplied to a power supply grid to a reduced power value. The reduced power value is determined based on the first measurement variable, the second measurement variable and at least one of the third and fourth measurement variables. A control device having such functionality is also disclosed.
US09203323B2

The invention is an electrical power conversion topology. The preferred embodiment is as a three-phase, on-line Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). The desired AC output voltage waveform is formed on each output line or phase of the UPS, using pulse modulation techniques and a smoothing output filter inductor. A semiconductor switching matrix is used to switch the power converter side of each output filter inductor between three voltage potentials, a positive battery potential, a negative battery potential and a third intermediate and varying AC potential synchronized with the desired output voltage. The invention potentially provides the same performance as that of a multi-level inverter topology approaching an infinite number of DC levels.
US09203322B2

The power correction method corrects transmitted power, which is transmitted between a primary side circuit and a secondary side circuit which is connected to the primary side circuit via a reactor and magnetically coupled with the primary side circuit via a transformer and is adjusted according to a phase difference between switching of the primary side circuit and switching of the secondary side circuit. The method includes a switching step of turning on first transistor and second transistor; a voltage applying step of applying a predetermined voltage; a switching step of turning on a third transistor and a fourth transistor; a delay time measurement step of measuring delay time; a slope measurement step of measuring slope of the current; and a correction step of correcting the transmitted power.
US09203321B1

A light fixture includes a housing, a non-isolated driver circuit with a boost type voltage doubler output stage, and a light source. The load or light source may be a plurality of LEDs. The housing supports the light source and the driver circuit, and the housing may include a lens for the one or more LEDs of the light source. The driver circuit provides power from the power source to the light source. The light source provides light in response to receiving power. The boost type voltage doubler output stage is a voltage doubler output stage having a boost inductor connected between an input (e.g., connected to an output of an inverter of the driver circuit) and an output (e.g., connected to the load or light source) of the boost type voltage doubler output stage.
US09203306B2

In a digital control power supply, a mode control unit measures a first frequency and a second frequency for a difference between a second digital value and a target value. Based on the measured first frequency and second frequency and a predetermined threshold set to the first and second frequencies, the mode control unit determines whether an amplification factor for use in amplification processing by an amplifier is maintained at a current amplification factor or is changed to an amplification factor which is larger or smaller by 1 than the current amplification factor. This contributes to an improvement in noise resistance of the digital control power supply and prevents an output voltage from being unstable.
US09203302B2

The present application provides a method of calculating DC-DC converter power losses without the requirement for a measurement of input current. The application also describes the use of such a calculation to determine the optimum point for switchover between a single phase mode or dual phase mode in a two phase DC-DC power supply.
US09203300B2

A system for controlling a power converter having an inductive component is disclosed. The system includes a low pass filter electrically coupled to the inductive component for producing a source referenced voltage proportional to a current flowing through the inductive component. The system also includes a control device electrically coupled to the low pass filter for calculating the current through the inductive component using the source referenced voltage and controlling the power converter using the calculated current.
US09203298B2

A three-phase interleave converter with a TSSC includes: a filter circuit, a PFC circuit, a star connection between the filter circuit and the PFC circuit, and a second capacitor 7; where an output end of the filter circuit is connected to an input end of the PFC circuit by using a conducting wire; the star connection is set on the conducting wire connecting the filter circuit and the PFC circuit; one end of the star connection is connected to the conducting wire and the other end of the star connection is connected to one end of the second capacitor 7; and the other end of the second capacitor 7 is connected to an input wire. By using the foregoing solution, the number of capacitors is reduced from the original three to one. Therefore, fewer capacitors are used, and the volume is further reduced, thereby increasing the power density.
US09203292B2

An EMI emission suppressing system, apparatus and method that enables the EMI produced by high frequency switching of a switching circuit to be suppressed via the transfer of the higher order harmonic emissions to a frequency range below the standard EMI bandwidth of less than 150 KHz by applying low frequency modulation or jitter into the feedback of a switching signal of the switching circuit. The EMI suppression is achieved with minimal added ripple on the output signal of the switching circuit by using discontinuous modulations in the form of only applying the low frequency modulation when the switch or higher order harmonic producing element of the switching circuit is accessing, or drawing power from, the main power supply.
US09203275B2

A stator of a rotating machine includes a stator core, a plurality of winding wires wound on the stator core, a first bus ring, a second bus ring, and a holder device. The first bus rings each has a first radial dimension and selectively connects electrically with each of the wires. The second bus ring has a second radial dimension different from the first radial dimension and selectively connects electrically with each of the wires. The holder device holds the first and the second bus rings. The holder device includes a first and a second support portion. The first support portion supports a plurality of the first bus rings aligned along an axial direction of the stator core. The second support portion supports the second bus ring on a radially outward or inward side of the first bus rings.
US09203274B2

A stator is provided with a tooth, an insulator attached to the tooth, and a coil wound around the insulator. The insulator is provided with a winding barrel around which the coil is wound in a plurality of layers, a flange projecting in a radial direction from one end of the winding barrel, and a notch formed in the flange and through which the line material of the coil is inserted. Projecting lengths of the flange from the winding barrel on the both sides of the notch are set different from each other. When the line material of the coil is guided from the outside of the flange to the winding barrel through the notch for winding the coil on the winding barrel, by supporting and bending the line material at a portion having a longer projecting length of the flange, the line material passes the notch easily.
US09203268B2

A rotary electric starter machine including an electric motor, a housing surrounding the motor, and a pinion connected to the motor, at least one of the motor and the housing comprising a magnetically active portion of the machine, wherein the magnetically active motor portion is made of an enhanced performance steel material having a flux density at a given magnetizing force level that is at least about 20% less than the flux density at the given magnetic force level of a conventional low carbon steel material chosen from the group consisting of AISI 1008 and AISI 1010 steel.
US09203262B2

Power generating elements output electromotive force. A path switching unit switches a path for connecting arbitrary power generating elements among the power generating elements. A voltage converting unit is a DC-DC converter that converts voltage levels of outputs of some of the power generating elements. A path switching control unit controls the path switching unit such that a set of power generating elements where a sum of maximum power point voltages falls within a range of an appropriate charging voltage of a storage element is connected to a short-circuit path and the other power generating elements are connected to a transformation path. A voltage conversion control unit controls a transformation rate of voltage conversion in the voltage converting unit such that a voltage in the transformation path and a voltage in the short-circuit path become equal to each other.
US09203257B1

The portable wind and solar power generator is a portable system for charging rechargeable batteries and providing power for external devices from wind and solar energy. The portable wind and solar power generator includes a housing for receiving at least one turbine and at least one electrical generator. At least one solar panel is mounted on the housing. The housing is rotatably mounted on an upper surface of a hollow base which houses at least one rechargeable battery. The at least one rechargeable battery is in electrical communication with the at least one electrical generator and the at least one solar panel for charging thereof. A wind vane mounted on a rear end of the housing causes ambient wind to rotate the housing, with respect to the hollow base, such that the ambient wind impinges upon the at least one turbine to drive the at least one electrical generator.
US09203237B2

Circuit protection is provided. In accordance with one or more example embodiments, a thyristor-based circuit and a diode-based circuit are connected in series between an internal circuit terminal and reference terminal, for protecting the internal circuit terminal against circuit stresses such as overvoltage and/or overcurrent, as may be associated with electrostatic discharge. The thyristor and diode-based circuits operate in a first mode at which leakage current is limited by the thyristor, and in a second (protection) mode in which a voltage at the internal terminal exceeds a threshold level at which the thyristor-based circuit operates in a forward-biased mode and the diode operates in a breakdown mode, for shunting current between the internal circuit terminal and reference terminal.
US09203235B2

A method is used to monitor a disconnection device of a battery system having a battery with a plurality of battery cells. The method includes using a monitoring device, which is connected to the disconnection device, to detect a negative voltage or a positive voltage which is applied to connections of the disconnection device. The method also includes evaluating the detected applied negative voltage or positive voltage to establish a functional state of the disconnection device. The method also includes initiating measures to protect the battery system against manipulation of its disconnection device when a value of detected applied negative voltage or positive voltage exceeds a predetermined threshold value.
US09203226B2

Methods and apparatus for cutting a trench (e.g., for a fiber optic cable or wire conductors) in an existing covering surface (e.g., a road surface), wherein the trench has a depth of approximately 10 to 12 inches and a width of approximately 0.5 to 1.25 inches. Debris from the cut trench is evacuated (e.g., vacuumed) from the trench as the trench is cut. The trench may be backfilled by flowing a non-shrinking composition into at least a portion of the trench and, after hardening of the non-shrinking composition, applying a topping material to a remaining portion of the trench. In one example, the non-shrinking composition is configured to rigidify within one hour of being flowed into the trench, be substantially impermeable thereafter (e.g., having a hydraulic permeability of less than 0.0000001 cm/s upon drying), and be non-compressible and non-expanding.
US09203222B2

A weatherproof cover assembly for an electrical device such as an electrical outlet has a base and hinged cover that encloses the base when a cord or plug is connected to the electrical outlet. The base has a cord access opening to allow the cord to pass between the base and the cover when the cover is closed. An outer guard partially encloses the access opening in the base to inhibit water, dirt and insects from entering the internal cavity of the base. The outer guard has an open portion with a center axis that is misaligned with the axis of the access opening to form a diverging path through the open portion of the guard and the access opening in the base. The open portion in the guard has a closure member that can move between a closed position when not in use and an open position to allow a cord to pass through the guard to the access opening in the base.
US09203221B2

A storing box is formed with a unit storing room storing an electronic control unit. The storing box is formed with a latching part by which an electric wire or a connector connected to one end of the electric wire is caught. The electric wire passes through an inner side of the unit storing room and is drawn out from a storing opening which is an entrance for storing the electronic control unit.
US09203215B2

A wavelength-tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with the use of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology is provided as a swept source for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). The wavelength-tunable VCSEL comprises a bottom mirror of the VCSEL, an active region, and a MEMS tunable upper mirror movable by electrostatic deflections. The bottom mirror comprising a GaAs based distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) stack, and the active region comprising multiple stacks of GaAs based quantum dot (QD) layers, are epitaxially grown on a GaAs substrate. The MEMS tunable upper mirror includes a membrane part supported by suspension beams, and an upper mirror comprising a dielectric DBR stack. The MEMS tunable quantum dots VCSEL can cover an operating wavelength range of more than 100 nm, preferably with a center wavelength between 250 and 1950 nm, and the sweeping rate can be from a few kHz to hundreds of kHz, and up to a few MHz.
US09203213B2

A semiconductor light-emitting device includes a first heat sink and a second heat sink both formed of an insulating member and facing and thermally connected to each other, and a semiconductor light-emitting element. The semiconductor light-emitting element is held in a cavity between the first heat sink and the second heat sink. The second heat sink has a first electrode and a second electrode on a surface facing the first heat sink, and a third electrode and a fourth electrode on a surface opposite to the surface facing the first heat sink. The first electrode is connected to a lower electrode of the light-emitting element. The second electrode is connected to an upper electrode of the light-emitting element. The first electrode and the third electrode are connected to each other, and the second electrode and the fourth electrode are connected to each other.
US09203212B2

A semiconductor laser module includes: a semiconductor laser element having at least one semiconductor laser; a first support member on which the semiconductor laser element is mounted; a first temperature-adjusting element adjusting a temperature of the first support member; a semiconductor optical element having a semiconductor optical amplifier amplifying a laser light outputted from the semiconductor laser element; and a second support member on which the semiconductor optical element is mounted.
US09203211B2

An optical network component is provided comprising a semiconductor optical amplifier with an input and an output, wherein the input is connected to a light source, wherein the output is connected to an amplitude modulator, wherein the semiconductor optical amplifier converts an amplitude modulated signal from the amplitude modulator to a phase modulated signal and provides the phase modulated signal at its output. Also, a transmitter comprising at least one such optical network component is suggested.
US09203205B2

A fiber laser device includes: a pumping light source that emits pumping light; an amplification optical fiber that amplifies signal light using the pumping light and emits the signal light; a first FBG that is provided on one side of the amplification optical fiber and reflects the signal light; a second FBG that is provided on the other side of the amplification optical fiber and reflects the signal light at a reflectance lower than a reflectance of the first FBG; a detecting unit that detects with priority to light in a wavelength range between a wavelength 15 nm below and above the maximum reflection wavelength range, in which the reflectance of the first FBG is at the maximum, among lights at the other wavelengths in the light passed through the first FBG from the amplification optical fiber side.
US09203196B2

An electrical coaxial connector comprising a signal-joining contacting conductor having a body portion to be connected with a signal joining conductor of a mating coaxial connector, a grounding contacting conductor having an annular portion placed around the body portion of the signal joining contacting conductor to be connected with a grounding conductor of the mating coaxial connector, and an insulating base member for supporting the signal-joining contacting conductor and the grounding contacting conductor to be isolated from each other, wherein the body portion of the signal-joining contacting conductor is formed into a cylindrical shape with a slit extending to surround an imaginary central axis of the cylindrical shape of the body portion and provided with a base part and an engaging part opposite to each other with the slit between and connected with each other by a connecting part of the body portion at which the slit is not formed.
US09203192B2

An electrical connector includes a front wire terminal and a rear wire terminal. The front wire terminal and the rear wire terminal are configured to couple to a conductor of a cable. A front signal trace is coupled to the front wire terminal. A rear signal trace is coupled to the rear wire terminal. The front signal trace is positioned adjacent to the rear signal trace. A front mating contact is coupled to the front signal trace. A rear mating contact is coupled to the rear signal trace. The front signal trace conveys an electrical signal between the front wire terminal and the front mating contact. The rear signal trace conveys an electrical signal between the rear wire terminal and the rear mating contact. An electro-mechanical compensation is positioned between the front signal trace and the rear signal trace to control crosstalk between the front signal trace and the rear signal trace.
US09203184B1

A connector system includes a connector plug and a connector receptacle. The connector plug includes a tapered surface, one or more plug-side electrical contacts on the tapered surface, and electrically insulating portions on the tapered surface. The connector receptacle includes a tapered socket and one or more socket-side electrical contacts. The socket-side electrical contacts electrically couple with corresponding plug-side electrical contacts when the connector plug is coupled in the socket. One or more of the socket-side electrical contacts or the plug-side electrical contacts extends around one of the tapered surfaces such that the electrical contract electrically couples with a mating electrical contact regardless of the orientation of the connector plug in the connector socket.
US09203181B2

The present invention relates to an electrical connection system of a means for generating electrical energy from regenerative sources, in particular from a wind turbine, comprising a first connection piece which can be joined to an end of a first cable, a longitudinal axis of the first cable determining a first longitudinal axis and a second connection piece which can be joined to an end of a second cable or to a second end of the first cable, a longitudinal axis of the first or second cable determining a second longitudinal axis, wherein the first connection piece has a seat, formed for a projection of the second connection piece, and the second connection piece has the projection corresponding to the seat, and wherein the projection can be arranged in the seat to form an electrically conductive connection between the connection pieces. To facilitate assembly, it is proposed that the seat is formed by a groove extending in a plane vertical to the first longitudinal axis, the groove passing through the first connection piece in its extension direction, that the projection extends in a plane vertical to the second longitudinal axis, that a first groove wall is inclined in the direction of the first longitudinal axis and that a lateral surface of the projection is inclined in the direction of the second longitudinal axis.
US09203179B2

A waterproof connector includes a flexible flat cable formed in a flat plate shape and having a plurality of conductors and an insulating film covering the plurality of the conductors, terminals contacted to the conductors of the flexible flat cable respectively, a cable holding part integrally formed to the flexible flat cable so as to include joint parts between the conductors and the terminals, and a connector housing. A hole is formed between the conductors of the flexible flat cable, and a slit is formed in an end portion of the flexible flat cable in a width direction thereof. The cable holding part includes a sealing part integrally formed to the conductors and the terminals so as to include the joint parts and a holding part integrally formed to the flexible flat cable and covering the sealing part.
US09203165B2

Electrical connector including a connector body having an engagement side and a contact cavity that opens to the engagement side. The contact cavity includes a wire-receiving slot that is shaped to receive a wire conductor and a board-receiving slot that is shaped to receive a circuit board. The electrical connector also includes an electrical contact held by the connector body within the contact cavity. The electrical contact includes a spring member and an insulation displacement contact (IDC) channel. The spring member extends into the board-receiving slot to engage the circuit board. The IDC channel opens to the wire-receiving slot to receive the wire conductor.
US09203146B2

An antenna includes a substrate and a conductive top plate over the substrate. A feed line is connected to the top plate, and the feed line comprises a first through-silicon via (TSV) structure passing through the substrate. The feed line is arranged to carry a radio frequency signal. A method of designing an antenna includes selecting a shape of a top plate, determining a size of the top plate based on an intended signal frequency, and determining, based on the shape of the top plate, a location of each TSV of at least one TSV contacting the top plate. A method of implementing an antenna includes forming a first feed line through a substrate, the first feed line comprising a TSV, and forming a top plate over the substrate, the top plate being electrically conductive and connected to the first feed line.
US09203145B2

Provided are an antenna-device substrate which is capable of flexibly adjusting multiple resonance frequencies and can also be made small and thin and an antenna device provided with the same. The present invention is provided with a substrate main body (2), first to third elements (3 to 5), a ground plane (GND), and a ground connection pattern (6), wherein the first element is provided with a feed point (FP) at the base end and extends while having a power feeding-side passive element (P0), a first connecting portion (C1), and an antenna element (AT); the second element extends while being connected to the first element via a second connecting portion (C2); and the third element extends while being connected to the first element via a third connecting portion (C3). The first element extends while being spaced apart from the second and third elements and the ground plane such that a stray capacitance can be generated between the first element and each of the second and third elements and the ground plane; and at least one of the first to third elements is patterned from the surface to the rear surface of the substrate main body via a through-hole.
US09203129B2

A Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) tuned band reject filter using one or more Shunt YIG resonators provides for much wider minimum rejection bandwidths without increasing maximum 3 db bandwidths or spurious response. Various configurations of a tunable shunt YIG tuned band reject filter achieves a wide rejection bandwidth at the low end of the tuning range while keeping the maximum 3 db bandwidth, normally occurring at the high end of the tuning range, to a minimum.
US09203126B2

Provided is a method in which, when discarded batteries such as lithium-ion batteries are treated by a dry process, slag having a reduced viscosity is obtained to heighten the recovery of valuable metals. The method for recovering valuable metals includes a dry process (S20) which includes a melting step (ST21), a slag separation step (ST22), and an alloy separation step (ST23), the slag having an aluminum oxide content of 5 mass % or higher but less than 20 mass % and an iron content in terms of metallic iron amount of 20-40 mass %. Furthermore, silicon oxide and calcium oxide are added as a flux in the melting step (ST21) so that the slag has a melting point of 1,400° C. or lower, and the melting step (ST21) is conducted at 1,400° C. or lower. Thus the recovery of the alloys can be heightened.
US09203121B2

A system includes multiple power supplies connected in series and an active balancing circuit. The active balancing circuit includes an LC resonance circuit and multiple switches configured to selectively couple different ones of the power supplies to the LC resonance circuit. The LC resonance circuit includes an inductor, a capacitor, and an additional switch. The inductor is configured to store energy to be transferred between two or more of the power supplies. The additional switch is configured to selectively create a resonance between the inductor and the capacitor in order to reverse a direction of a current flow through the inductor. The active balancing circuit can transfer energy between individual power supplies or groups of power supplies.
US09203120B2

A control apparatus for a vehicle, wherein a detection signal, indicating the connection state of an external power feeding device 100 to an external charging connection unit 5 of a vehicle 1, is supplied from a connection state detection signal generating unit 11 to a storage device management control unit 10 and a power converter control unit 8. When detection signal indicating that an operation to release a lock mechanism 108, which locks the external power feeding device 100 connected to the external charging connection unit 5, has been performed is received from the connection state detection signal generating unit 11, the power converter control unit 8 controls a power converter 7, which feeds power from the external power feeding device 100 to an electric storage device 3, to a power feeding shutoff operation mode, independently of a charging control command received from the storage apparatus management control unit 10.
US09203115B2

Provided is a method of manufacturing a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery. The method includes: forming an electrode assembly including a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate disposed with a separator interposed therebetween; arranging the electrode assembly and a nonaqueous electrolyte containing LiBOB (lithium bis(oxalato)borate) and LiPF2O2 (lithium difluorophosphate) inside an outer body; and configuring the concentration of the LiBOB to be larger than that of the LiPF2O2 and to be smaller than that of the LiPF2O2 by charge and discharge.
US09203113B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a nonaqueous electrolytic solution capable of improving low-temperature load characteristics after high temperature charging storage, an electrochemical element using it, and a 1,2-dioxypropane compound used for it.The nonaqueous electrolytic solution of the present invention comprises an electrolyte salt dissolved in a nonaqueous solvent, and contains a 1,2-dioxypropane compound represented by the above-mentioned general formula (I). (wherein R1 and R2 each represent a hydrogen atom, or an alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; X1 represents a group selected from —S(═O)—, —S(═O)2—, —C(═O)—, —CR3R4—, —P(═O)(OR5)— and —SiR6R7—; R3 and R4 each represent a hydrogen atom, or an alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; R5 to R7 each represent an alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms. Y1 represents an alkylsulfinyl group, an alkenylsulfinyl group, an alkynylsulfinyl group, an arylsulfinyl group, an alkylsulfonyl group, an alkenylsulfonyl group, an alkynylsulfonyl group, or an arylsulfonyl group; Z1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkylsulfinylmethyl group, an alkenylsulfinylmethyl group, an alkynylsulfinylmethyl group, an arylsulfinylmethyl group, an alkylsulfonylmethyl group, an alkenylsulfonylmethyl group, an alkynylsulfonylmethyl group, or an arylsulfonylmethyl group; provided that at least one hydrogen atom on the carbon atom of X1, Y1 and Z1 may be substituted with a halogen atom).
US09203108B2

An electrolyte solution for a rechargeable lithium battery that includes a lithium salt; a non-aqueous organic solvent including ethyl acetate; and an additive including a sultone-based compound, wherein the sultone-based compound is included in an amount ranging from 0.1 to 5 wt % based on the total amount of the electrolyte solution is provided.
US09203101B2

A method of manufacturing a fuel cell includes: growing carbon nanotubes substantially perpendicular to a substrate formed by loading a growth catalyst on a base material; arranging the substrate and a polymer electrolyte membrane so as to oppose to each other and combining the carbon nanotubes with the polymer electrolyte membrane; and dissolving and removing part of the substrate by immersing the substrate in a solution which dissolves the substrate, after the carbon nanotubes and the polymer electrolyte membrane are combined.
US09203100B2

The disclosure provides a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack and an electrical control unit configured to adjust operating parameters of the fuel cell stack to optimize operation of the fuel cell system based on a standard deviation of voltage outputs from a plurality of cells in the fuel cell stack.
US09203089B2

A positive active material for a rechargeable lithium battery including a lithium-nickel cobalt manganese composite metal oxide; and 0.18 to 0.25 wt % of sulfur is provided.
US09203085B2

An anode active material for a lithium secondary battery includes a silicon alloy that includes silicon and at least one kind of metal other than silicon, the silicon alloy allowing alloying with lithium. A volume of an inactive region in the silicon alloy, which is not reacted with lithium, is 50 to 75% of the entire volume of an active material. The anode active material has a large capacity in comparison to carbon-based anode active materials, and also ensures small volume expansion and high capacity retention ratio after charging/discharging, resulting in excellent cycle characteristics.
US09203084B2

Provided is a cathode (positive electrode) of a lithium battery and a process for producing this cathode. The electrode comprises a cathode active material-coated graphene sheet and the graphene sheet has two opposed parallel surfaces, wherein at least 50% area (preferably greater than 80%) of one of the two surfaces is coated with a cathode active material coating. The graphene material is in an amount of from 0.1% to 99.5% by weight and the cathode active material is in an amount of at least 0.5% by weight (preferably greater than 80% and more preferably greater than 90%), all based on the total weight of the graphene material and the cathode active material combined. The cathode active material is preferably an inorganic material, an organic or polymeric material, a metal oxide/phosphate/sulfide, or a combination thereof. Also provided is a lithium battery, including a lithium-ion, lithium-metal, or lithium-sulfur battery.
US09203082B2

The present invention provides electrochemical energy storage systems comprising metallolyte composites, iron fluoride composites and iron oxyfluoride composites. The present invention further provides methods for fabricating metallolyte composites.
US09203055B2

An organic light emitting display device includes a first electrode formed on a substrate, a second electrode facing the first electrode, a blue emission layer formed between the first and second electrodes, a capping layer formed on the second electrode, and a front sealing layer formed on the capping layer and comprising an inorganic barrier layer and an organic barrier layer alternately formed at least once, wherein a luminescent dopant included in the blue emission layer has a maximum photoluminescence wavelength of 465 nm or less, and blue light generated from the blue emission layer and emitted via the front sealing layer or the substrate has a Y color coordinate (CIEy) of 0.055 or less.
US09203052B2

An organic light emitting diode (OLED) device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the OLED device includes: i) a substrate and ii) a first thin film formed on the substrate, wherein the first thin film comprises first and second surfaces opposing each other, wherein the first surface contacts the substrate, and wherein a plurality of protrusions and depressions are alternately formed on the second surface of the first thin film. The OLED device may further include a second thin film formed on the protrusions and depressions of the first thin film, a first electrode formed on the second thin film, a light emitting member formed on the first electrode and a second electrode formed on the organic light emitting member.
US09203046B2

An organic electroluminescent device including a substrate, the substrate includes, laminated thereon, an anode layer; an organic structure including at least one light-emissive layer or at least one light-emissive unit having at least one light-emissive layer; a low resistance electron-transporting layer including a mixed layer of an electron-donating metal dopant and an organic compound; an organometallic complex-contained layer including an organometallic complex compound containing at least one metal ion selected from the group having an alkaline metal ion, an alkaline earth metal ion and a rare earth metal ion; a reducing reaction generating layer; and a cathode layer, in that order. At least one of the anode layer and the cathode layer is transparent. The reducing reaction generating layer is a layer produced by depositing on the organometallic complex-contained layer a thermally reducible metal capable of reducing a metal ion in the organometallic complex compound in a vacuum to the corresponding metal, followed by causing an oxidation-reduction reaction therebetween.
US09203043B2

An organic electroluminescence device 1 includes: an anode 3, a cathode 4 opposed to the anode 3 and an emitting layer 5 provided between the anode 3 and the cathode 4. The emitting layer 5 contains first and second host materials and a luminescent material. The first host material has a partial structure represented by at least one of the following formulae (1) and (2) while the second host material has a partial structure represented by the following formula (3). Az represents a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group containing a nitrogen-containing six-membered ring. WCN is an aromatic hydrocarbon group substituted by at least one cyano group (CN) or an aromatic heterocyclic group substituted by at least one cyano group (CN). Ar1 is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon group or a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group, but is not an aromatic heterocyclic group containing a nitrogen-containing six-membered ring. —Az—(WCN)p  (1) —Az—(CN)q  (2) —Ar1—(CN)r  (3)
US09203040B2

There are provided a driving circuit board and a method of manufacturing the same as well as a display unit and an electronic apparatus in which a number of forming steps is small and usage efficiency of materials is improved. The display unit includes: a pair of source-drain electrodes; an organic semiconductor layer forming a channel region in contact with the source-drain electrodes; an insulating layer having a through hole penetrating to the source-drain electrodes, and the insulating layer on the organic semiconductor layer and the source-drain electrodes; a gate electrode provided at a position corresponding to the channel region; and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the source-drain electrodes through the through hole, the pixel electrode being made of a same material as the gate electrode with a same film thickness as the gate electrode, and the pixel electrode on the insulating layer.
US09203038B2

An electronic device, such as a thin-film transistor, includes a semiconducting layer formed from a semiconductor composition. The semiconductor composition comprises a polymer binder and a small molecule semiconductor. The semiconducting layer has been deposited on an alignment layer that has been aligned in the direction between the source and drain electrodes. The resulting device has increased charge carrier mobility.
US09203036B2

A compound of the invention is represented by a formula (1) below. In the formula (1), at least one of A1 and A2 represents a substituted or unsubstituted nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocyclic group. A material for an organic electroluminescence device contains the compound represented by the formula (1). The material for an organic electroluminescence device includes an organic thin-film layer between an anode and a cathode, in which the organic thin-film layer contains the compound represented by the formula (1).
US09203033B2

The present disclosure provides a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound and an organic electronic device comprising the same. The organic electronic device according to the present disclosure shows excellent characteristics in terms of efficiency, driving voltage and lifespan.
US09203028B2

A method for producing a vapor deposition mask capable of satisfying both enhancement in definition and reduction in weight even when a size is increased, and a method for producing an organic semiconductor element capable of producing an organic semiconductor element with high definition are provided. A vapor deposition mask is produced by the steps of preparing a metal plate with a resin layer in which a resin layer is provided on one surface of a metal plate, forming a metal mask with a resin layer by forming a slit that penetrates through only the metal plate, for the metal plate in the metal plate with a resin layer, and thereafter, forming a resin mask by forming openings corresponding to a pattern to be produced by vapor deposition in a plurality of rows lengthwise and crosswise in the resin layer by emitting a laser from the metal mask side.
US09203026B2

A quantum interference device includes a wiring board, a second unit including a gas cell in which metal atoms are sealed, a first unit that includes a light emission unit emitting light, which includes a resonance light pair for resonating the metal atoms, toward the metal atoms, and a supporting plate that has a plate shape, supports the first unit and the second unit on one surface side thereof, and is connected to the wiring board on the other surface side thereof. In addition, a second supporting portion supporting the second unit of the supporting plate includes a portion separated from the wiring board.
US09203024B2

A phase change memory cell may include two or more stacked or unstacked series connected memory elements. The cell has a higher, adjustable threshold voltage. A copper diffusion plug may be provided within a pore over a copper line. By positioning the plug below the subsequent chalcogenide layer, the plug may be effective to block copper diffusion upwardly into the pore and into the chalcogenide material. Such diffusion may adversely affect the electrical characteristics of the chalcogenide layer.
US09203017B2

A method and system for providing a magnetic junction usable in a magnetic device are described. The magnetic includes a pinned layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer, a free layer, and package structure(s). The pinned layer has a pinned layer perimeter and a top surface. The nonmagnetic spacer layer is on at least part of the top surface and between the pinned and free layers. The free layer has a free layer perimeter. The package structure(s) are ferromagnetic and encircles at least one of the free layer and the pinned layer. The package structure(s) are ferromagnetically coupled with the pinned layer. The magnetic junction is configured such that the free layer is switchable between stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction.
US09203016B2

A method is described for manufacturing a magnetic sensor module (100, 200, 300, 400) having magnetic sensor elements (130, 330, 430) monolithically integrated at a semiconductor chip (110) which comprises an integrated circuit. The described method comprises (a) providing a composite semiconductor arrangement (105) comprising (i) the semiconductor chip (110), (ii) contact elements (112) for the integrated circuit, which are formed on the semiconductor chip (110), and (iii) a dielectric layer (120) formed over the semiconductor chip (110) and over the contact elements (112), (b) forming a magnetic sensor layer providing the material for the magnetic sensor elements (130, 330, 430) monolithically over the dielectric layer (120), (c) exposing the contact elements (112) by removing a part of the dielectric layer (120) which part is located above the contact elements (112), and (d) forming an electric conductive protection layer (140, 240, 340, 440) over either the formed magnetic sensor layer or the exposed contact elements (112) in order to prevent negative interactions between (i) the step of forming the magnetic sensor elements (130, 330, 430) resulting from the magnetic sensor layer and (ii) the step of exposing the contacting elements (112). It is further described a magnetic sensor module (100, 200, 300, 400) which is manufactured by the above described method.
US09203015B2

According to one embodiment, a magnetic storage device includes an insulating region, a lower electrode including a first portion formed in a hole provided in the insulating region and a second portion protruded from the insulating region, a spacer insulating film formed on a side surface of at least the second portion of the lower electrode, a magnetic tunneling junction portion formed on a top surface of the lower electrode, and an upper electrode formed on the magnetic tunneling junction portion.
US09203012B2

An ultrasound probe including a backing layer provided with grooves in which a piezoelectric member is allowed to be installed and a manufacturing method thereof. The ultrasound probe includes the piezoelectric member, and the backing layer disposed on a rear-side surface of the piezoelectric member and provided, on a front-side surface thereof, with grooves in which the piezoelectric member is installed.
US09203002B2

Disclosed herein are polysiloxane compositions that include a first polysiloxane and a second polysiloxane. The first and second polysiloxanes may be immiscible, and may exhibit differing refractive indices. The polysiloxane compositions may further include a curing agent and a catalyst. In some embodiments, the polysiloxane compositions significantly reflect light in at least the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Reflectors and light emitting diode sources including the polysiloxane compositions are also disclosed.
US09202998B2

A semiconductor light-emitting device, and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor light-emitting device, in which light propagating through a light-emitting layer and reaching an edge surface of a semiconductor film can be extracted to the exterior in an efficient manner. The semiconductor light-emitting device comprises a semiconductor film including a light-emitting layer made from a group III nitride semiconductor. The semiconductor film has a tapered edge surface inclined diagonally with respect to a light extraction surface. The light extraction surface has a relief structure comprising a plurality of protrusions having a shape originating from the crystal structure of the semiconductor film. The average size of the protrusions in a first region in the vicinity of an edge section of the light extraction surface is smaller than the average size of the protrusions in a second region.
US09202997B2

A semiconductor nanocrystal-polymer micronized composite that includes: at least one semiconductor nanocrystal; and a polymer surrounding the at least one semiconductor nanocrystal, wherein the polymer includes at least one functional group reactive with the semiconductor nanocrystal, and wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal-polymer micronized composite has a particle diameter of less than or equal to about 70 micrometers (μm) with a standard deviation of less than or equal to about 20 micrometers (μm), and an aspect ratio of more than about 1.0 and less than or equal to about 10.
US09202993B2

The invention relates to a method for applying a polychromatizing layer which contains at least one luminescent means on a semiconductor substrate, which layer is suitable for producing a monochromatic light. The polychromatizing layer is applied with a printing process, especially with a micro-contact printing process. Preferably the polychromatizing layer is applied structured.
US09202982B2

A semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting unit, a first and second electrode, a first and second metal pillar, a sealing unit, a rectifying element, and a first and second interconnection. The light emitting unit includes a first and second semiconductor layer, and a light-emitting layer. The light-emitting layer is provided on the first semiconductor layer. The second semiconductor layer is provided on the light-emitting layer. The first electrode is provided on the first semiconductor layer. The second electrode is provided on the second semiconductor layer. The first metal pillar is electrically connected to the first electrode. The second metal pillar is electrically connected to the second electrode. The sealing unit seals the first metal pillar and the second metal pillar. The rectifying element is provided below the first semiconductor layer, including a rectifying unit.
US09202981B2

An LED array having N light-emitting diode units (N≧3) comprises a permanent substrate, a bonding layer on the permanent substrate, a second conductive layer on the bonding layer, a second isolation layer on the second conductive layer, a crossover metal layer on the second isolation layer, a first isolation layer on the crossover metal layer, a conductive connecting layer on the first isolation layer, an epitaxial structure on the conductive connecting layer, and a first electrode layer on the epitaxial structure. The light-emitting diode units are electrically connected with each other by the crossover metal layer.
US09202976B2

The present invention provides a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device in which a flat semiconductor layer is grown on a sapphire substrate provided with an uneven shape, and a method for producing the same. When the area ratio R of the flat surface area S on the main surface to the total area K of the sapphire substrate is 0.1 or more to less than 0.5, in formation of the semiconductor layer on the sapphire substrate having an uneven shape on the main surface thereof, at least two types of gases: a raw material gas containing a Group III element and a raw material gas containing Group V element are supplied so as to satisfy the equation 1,000≦Y/(2×R)≦1,200. In the equation, Y is the partial pressure ratio of the raw material gas containing Group V element to the raw material gas containing Group III element.
US09202972B2

The present invention relates to a light emitting device including at least three pairs of half-wave light emitting units, each pair including a terminal of a first half-wave light emitting unit connected to a terminal of a second half-wave light emitting unit, the terminals having the same polarity, a polarity of the connected terminals of one half-wave light emitting unit pair being opposite to the polarity of the connected terminals of an adjacent half-wave light emitting unit. The light emitting device also includes at least two full-wave light emitting units each connected to adjacent pairs of half-wave light emitting units. The half-wave light emitting units and the full-wave light emitting units each have at least one light emitting cell, the half-wave light emitting units each have a first terminal and a second terminal, the full-wave light emitting units each have a third terminal having the same polarity as the first terminal and a fourth terminal having the same polarity as the second terminal, and the third terminal of each full-wave light emitting unit being connected to the second terminal of adjacent half-wave light emitting units and the fourth terminal of each half-wave light emitting unit being connected to the first terminal of adjacent half-wave light emitting units.
US09202970B2

A light emitting device includes a nano-structure, a first semiconductor layer on the nano-structure, an active layer on the first semiconductor layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer on the active layer. The nano-structure includes a graphene layer provided under the first semiconductor layer to make contact with the first semiconductor layer; and a plurality of nano-textures extending from a top surface of the graphene layer to the first semiconductor layer and in contact with the first semiconductor layer.
US09202963B2

A Dual-Side Illumination (DSI) image sensor chip includes a first image sensor chip configured to sense light from a first direction, and a second image sensor chip aligned to, and bonded to, the first image sensor chip. The second image sensor chip is configured to sense light from a second direction opposite the first direction.
US09202958B2

Certain example embodiments relate to building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) or building adapted photovoltaic (BAPV) systems and components thereof. In certain example embodiments a component includes an asymmetric glass substrate that includes at least first, second, and third surfaces. The third surface can be laminated to a photovoltaic sub-assembly. The first surface can structured to be angled away from a vertical plane of a building at an angle of between 5 and 40 degrees. The first surface may be longer than the second surface.
US09202954B2

Nanostructures and photovoltaic structures are disclosed. Methods for creating nanostructures are also presented.
US09202948B2

A solar cell includes a substrate, a selective emitter region which is positioned at the substrate and includes a lightly doped region and a heavily doped region, a first dielectric layer which is positioned on the selective emitter region and includes a plurality of first openings, which are separated from one another, and a plurality of second openings positioned around the plurality of first openings, a first electrode connected to the selective emitter region through the plurality of first openings and the plurality of second openings, and a second electrode which is positioned on the substrate and is connected to the substrate. The plurality of first openings and the plurality of second openings each have a different plane shape. The plane shape of the first opening has a line shape, and the plane shape of the second opening has a dot shape.
US09202946B2

The present technology generally relates to methods for metallizing an aluminum paste comprising contacting the aluminum paste with a cleaner, contacting the aluminum paste with an oxidation inhibiting deposit solution to deposit a layer of an oxidation inhibiting composition onto the aluminum paste and contacting the aluminum paste with conductive metal deposit solution to deposit a layer of a conductive metal onto the aluminum paste. Specifically, the present technology includes methods metallizing an aluminum paste comprising contacting the aluminum paste with an acidic cleaner, contacting the aluminum paste with an acid zincate solution to deposit zinc onto the aluminum paste and contacting the aluminum paste with an electroless nickel deposit solution to coat the aluminum paste with a nickel-phosphorus layer.
US09202944B2

A polarized light detection system includes a detection apparatus, a power source, and a photoresistor. The detection apparatus, power source and photoresistor are electrically connected with wires to form a galvanic circle. The photoresistor includes a photosensitive material layer with a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a first electrode layer located on the first surface of the photosensitive material layer, and a second electrode layer located on the second surface of the photosensitive material layer. The first electrode layer includes a carbon nanotube film structure.
US09202935B2

A semiconductor device such as a Zener diode includes a first semiconductor material of a first conductivity type and a second semiconductor material of a second conductivity type in contact with the first semiconductor material to form a junction therebetween. A first oxide layer is disposed over a portion of the second semiconductor material such that a remaining portion of the second semiconductor material is exposed. A polysilicon layer is disposed on the exposed portion of the second semiconductor material and a portion of the first oxide layer. A first conductive layer is disposed on the polysilicon layer. A second conductive layer is disposed on a surface of the first semiconductor material opposing a surface of the first semiconductor material in contact with the second semiconductor material.
US09202932B2

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a dielectric layer structure and a control gate layer can be formed sequentially on a substrate. The control gate layer can be partially etched to form a plurality of control gates. A gate spacer and a sacrificial spacer sequentially can be stacked on a sidewall of the control gate and on a portion of the dielectric layer structure. The dielectric layer structure can be partially etched using the sacrificial spacer and the gate spacer as an etching mask to form a plurality of dielectric layer structure patterns. The sacrificial spacer can be removed. An insulating interlayer can be formed on the substrate to form an air gap. The insulating interlayer can cover the dielectric layer structure pattern, the gate spacer and the control gate. The air gap can extend between the adjacent gate spacers and between the adjacent dielectric layer structure patterns.
US09202927B2

An object is to provide a transistor in which the state of an interface between an oxide semiconductor layer and an insulating film (gate insulating layer) in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer is favorable; and a method for manufacturing the transistor. In order to obtain the transistor, nitrogen is added to a region of the oxide semiconductor layer in the vicinity of the interface with the gate insulating layer. Specifically, a concentration gradient of nitrogen is formed in the oxide semiconductor layer, and a region containing much nitrogen is provided at the interface with the gate insulating layer. By the addition of nitrogen, a region with high crystallinity can be formed in the region of the oxide semiconductor layer in the vicinity of the interface with the gate insulating layer, so that a stable interface state can be obtained.
US09202925B2

A structure is employed in which a first protective insulating layer; an oxide semiconductor layer over the first protective insulating layer; a source electrode and a drain electrode that are electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor layer; a gate insulating layer that is over the source electrode and the drain electrode and overlaps with the oxide semiconductor layer; a gate electrode that overlaps with the oxide semiconductor layer with the gate insulating layer provided therebetween; and a second protective insulating layer that covers the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the gate electrode are included. Furthermore, the first protective insulating layer and the second protective insulating layer each include an aluminum oxide film that includes an oxygen-excess region, and are in contact with each other in a region where the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the gate electrode are not provided.
US09202916B2

Embodiments for forming a semiconductor device structure are provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a substrate and a gate stack structure formed on the substrate. The semiconductor device structure also includes gate spacers formed on sidewalls of the gate stack structure. The semiconductor device structure further includes an isolation structure formed in the substrate and a source/drain stressor structure formed adjacent to the isolation structure. The source/drain stressor structure includes a capping layer which is formed along the (311) and (111) crystal orientations.
US09202910B2

A lateral power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having a first surface and a second opposite surface, a first main electrode, a second main electrode, a plurality of switchable semiconductor cells and at least one curved semiconductor portion. The first main electrode includes at least two sections and is arranged on the first surface. The second main electrode is arranged on the first surface and between the two sections of the first main electrode. The plurality of switchable semiconductor cells is arranged between a respective one of the two sections of the first main electrode and the second main electrode and is configured to provide a controllable conductive path between the first main electrode and the second main electrode. The curved semiconductor portion is between the first main electrode and the second main electrode and has increasing doping concentration from the first main electrode to the second main electrode.
US09202908B2

A protection diode includes a semiconductor substrate; a gate side well region of a first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate; a grounding side well region of the first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate and joined to the gate side well region; a gate side diffusion region of a second conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate and joined to the gate side well region; a grounding side diffusion region of the second conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate, separated from the gate side diffusion region, and joined to the grounding side well region; a gate side electrode connected between a gate of a transistor and the gate side diffusion region; and a grounding electrode connected to the grounding side diffusion region. Dopant impurity concentration in the grounding side well region is lower than dopant impurity concentration in the gate side well region.
US09202907B2

A protection diode includes: a semiconductor substrate; a well region of a first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate; a gate side diffusion region of a second conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate and joined to the well region; a grounding side diffusion region of the second conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate, separated from the gate side diffusion region, and joined to the well region; a gate side electrode connected between a gate of a transistor and the gate side diffusion region; a grounding electrode connected to the grounding side diffusion region; and an insulating film on the well region. The grounding electrode extends to the well region on the insulating film.
US09202905B1

Embodiments include apparatuses and methods related to an HFET. In embodiments, one or all of the buffer layer, the back-barrier layer, or the barrier layer may be formed of a digital alloy. In embodiments, the digital alloy may include alternating layers of alloys of aluminum, gallium, and nitrogen. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed herein.
US09202904B2

According to example embodiments, a power device chip includes a plurality of unit power devices classified into a plurality of sectors, a first pad and a second pad. At least one of the first and second pads is divided into a number of pad parts equal to a number of the plurality of sectors. The first pad is connected to first electrodes of the plurality of unit power devices, and the second pad is connected to second electrodes of the plurality of unit power devices. The unit power devices may be diodes. The power device chip may further include third electrodes in the plurality of unit power devices, and a third pad may be connected to the third electrodes. In this case, the unit power devices may be high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Pad parts connected to defective sectors may be excluded from bonding.
US09202898B2

Fabricating a vertical transistor includes providing a structural polymer layer on a substrate. A patterned inorganic thin film is formed on the structural polymer layer, leaving exposed portions of the structural polymer layer not under the inorganic thin film. Exposed portions of the structural polymer layer and portions of the structural polymer layer between the patterned inorganic thin film and the substrate are removed to form a structural polymer post having an inorganic cap that extends beyond an edge of the structural polymer post defining a reentrant profile. A conformal conductive gate layer and a conformal dielectric layer on the gate layer are formed in the reentrant profile. A conformal semiconductor layer is formed on the dielectric layer. First and second electrodes are formed in contact with a first portion (over the cap) and a second portion (not over the post) of the semiconductor layer.
US09202896B2

A method of manufacturing a thin film transistor (TFT), including forming an oxide semiconductor pattern including a first region, a second region and a third region on a substrate, directly plasma processing the first region and the second region of the oxide semiconductor pattern, forming an insulating layer on the substrate to cover the oxide semiconductor pattern, forming a gate electrode on the insulating layer to overlap the third region, and forming a source electrode and a drain electrode that are insulated from the gate electrode and that contact the first region, the second region being disposed between the first region and the third region.
US09202895B2

A method of producing a functional device according to the present invention includes, in this order: the functional solid material precursor layer formation step of applying a functional liquid material onto a base material to form a precursor layer of a functional solid material; the drying step of heating the precursor layer to a first temperature in a range from 80° C. to 250° C. to preliminarily decrease fluidity of the precursor layer; the imprinting step of imprinting the precursor layer that is heated to a second temperature in a range from 80° C. to 300° C. to form an imprinted structure on the precursor layer; and the functional solid material layer formation step of heat treating the precursor layer at a third temperature higher than the second temperature to transform the precursor layer into a functional solid material layer.
US09202893B2

A method for forming a U-shaped semiconductor device includes forming trenches in a crystalline layer and epitaxially growing a U-shaped semiconductor material along sidewalls and bottoms of the trenches. The U-shaped semiconductor material is anchored, and the crystalline layer is removed. The U-shaped semiconductor material is supported by backfilling underneath the U-shaped semiconductor material with a dielectric material. A semiconductor device is formed with the U-shaped semiconductor material.
US09202890B2

A method for manufacturing a dummy gate in a gate-last process is provided. The method includes: providing a semiconductor substrate; growing a gate oxide layer on the semiconductor substrate; depositing bottom-layer amorphous silicon on the gate oxide layer; depositing an ONO structured hard mask on the bottom-layer amorphous silicon; depositing top-layer amorphous silicon on the ONO structured hard mask; depositing a hard mask layer on the top-layer amorphous silicon; forming photoresist lines having a width ranging from 32 nm to 45 nm on the hard mask layer; and etching the hard mask layer, the top-layer amorphous silicon, the ONO structured hard mask and the bottom-layer amorphous silicon in accordance with the photoresist lines, and removing the photoresist lines, the hard mask layer and the top-layer α-Si. Correspondingly, a dummy gate in a gate-last process is also provided.
US09202879B2

In a replacement gate scheme, after formation of a gate dielectric layer, a work function material layer completely fills a narrow gate trench, while not filling a wide gate trench. A dielectric material layer is deposited and planarized over the work function material layer, and is subsequently recessed to form a dielectric material portion overlying a horizontal portion of the work function material layer within the wide gate trench. The work function material layer is recessed employing the dielectric material portion as a part of an etch mask to form work function material portions. A conductive material is deposited and planarized to form gate conductor portions, and a dielectric material is deposited and planarized to form gate cap dielectrics.
US09202876B2

A β-Ga2O3-based single crystal, including a first region that has side and bottom surfaces and is controlled so as to have a first donor concentration; and a second region that surrounds the side and bottom surfaces of the first region and is controlled so as to have a second donor concentration lower than the first donor concentration.
US09202875B2

A method comprises depositing a first layer comprising aluminum nitride over a substrate. The method further comprises depositing a second layer comprising aluminum gallium nitride over the first layer. The method also comprises depositing a third layer comprising indium gallium nitride over the second layer. The method additionally comprises removing some of the third layer leaving a first portion of the third layer and a second portion of the third layer. The method further comprises reducing an aluminum content of at least the first layer by drawing aluminum atoms from the first layer into at least the second layer beneath the first portion and the second portion of the third layer. The method also comprises depositing a source contact over the first portion of the third layer and a drain contact over the second portion of the third layer.
US09202866B2

A semiconductor device and methods of formation are provided herein. A semiconductor device includes a conductor concentrically surrounding an insulator, and the insulator concentrically surrounding a column. The conductor, the insulator and the conductor are alternately configured to be a transistor, a resistor, or a capacitor. The column also functions as a via to send signals from a first layer to a second layer of the semiconductor device. The combination of via and at least one of a transistor, a capacitor, or a resistor in a semiconductor device decreases an area penalty as compared to a semiconductor device that has vias formed separately from at least one of a transistor, a capacitor, or resistor.
US09202865B2

A semiconductor device includes an oxide film structure having different thicknesses depending on where the oxide film structure is formed. In the semiconductor device, a wall oxide film is formed to have different thicknesses depending on locations of sidewalls of an active region. The semiconductor device includes an active region, a first wall oxide film disposed over a first sidewall of the active region that extends along a first direction of the active region, the first wall oxide film having a first thickness, and a second wall oxide film disposed over a second sidewall of the active region that extends along a second direction of the active region, a second wall oxide film having a second thickness that is different from the first thickness.
US09202861B1

A capacitor including a substrate, a conductive layer, a middle dielectric material layer, a first dielectric material layer, and a second dielectric material layer is provided. The conductive layer includes a first electrode and a second electrode, and the conductive layer is located over the substrate. The middle dielectric material layer is located between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first dielectric material layer is located between the middle dielectric material layer and the first electrode. The second dielectric material layer is located between the middle dielectric material layer and the second electrode. The dielectric constant of the middle dielectric material layer is different from the dielectric constants of the first dielectric material layer and the second dielectric material layer.
US09202858B2

Disclosed herein is a display apparatus has a pixel array section including: pixel circuits which are each provided with a driving transistor and an electro-optical device and are laid out to form a matrix; and a draw wire provided in each of the pixel circuits to serve as a wire connecting the driving transistor to a power-supply providing line, wherein the resistance of the draw wire is relatively large in the pixel circuit close to a source applying a power-supply voltage to the power-supply providing line.
US09202851B2

The semiconductor device includes a driver circuit including a first thin film transistor and a pixel including a second thin film transistor over one substrate. The first thin film transistor includes a first gate electrode layer, a gate insulating layer, a first oxide semiconductor layer, a first oxide conductive layer, a second oxide conductive layer, an oxide insulating layer which is in contact with part of the first oxide semiconductor layer and which is in contact with peripheries and side surfaces of the first and second oxide conductive layers, a first source electrode layer, and a first drain electrode layer. The second thin film transistor includes a second gate electrode layer, a second oxide semiconductor layer, and a second source electrode layer and a second drain electrode layer each formed using a light-transmitting material.
US09202839B2

A solid-state imaging device includes a semiconductor substrate, a connection portion, and one or more first photoelectric conversion units formed in the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate has a back side and a front side. The back side is a light incident surface, and the front side is a circuit-forming surface. The connection portion is connected to a contact plug that transfers signal charges generated on the back side of the semiconductor substrate into the semiconductor substrate. The connection portion has a peak of an impurity concentration distribution near an interface of the semiconductor substrate on the back side of the semiconductor substrate.
US09202837B2

An image-sensor device includes a first semiconductor substrate. The image-sensor device further includes a second semiconductor substrate under the first semiconductor substrate. The first semiconductor substrate has a first dopant concentration less than a second dopant concentration of the second semiconductor substrate. A ratio of a first resistance of the first semiconductor substrate to a second resistance of the second semiconductor substrate is larger than or equal to about 100. The image-sensor device also includes a diffusion layer positioned between the first semiconductor substrate and the second semiconductor substrate. A ratio of a first thickness of the diffusion layer to a second thickness of the first semiconductor substrate ranges from about 0.1 to about 1.
US09202832B2

An integrated circuit arrangement is provided, including a transistor including a gate region; and a wavelength conversion element, wherein the wavelength conversion element may include the same material or same materials as the gate region of the transistor.
US09202827B2

The silicon nitride layer 910 formed by plasma CVD using a gas containing a hydrogen compound such as silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) is provided on and in direct contact with the oxide semiconductor layer 905 used for the resistor 354, and the silicon nitride layer 910 is provided over the oxide semiconductor layer 906 used for the thin film transistor 355 with the silicon oxide layer 909 serving as a barrier layer interposed therebetween. Therefore, a higher concentration of hydrogen is introduced into the oxide semiconductor layer 905 than into the oxide semiconductor layer 906. As a result, the resistance of the oxide semiconductor layer 905 used for the resistor 354 is made lower than that of the oxide semiconductor layer 906 used for the thin film transistor 355.
US09202826B2

A pixel structure including a substrate, an active device located on the substrate, a second reflective pattern, and a third reflective pattern is provided. The active device includes a gate, a channel, a source, and a drain. The source and the drain are connected to the channel and are separated from each other. The channel and the gate are stacked in a thickness direction. The second reflective pattern and the third reflective pattern are electrically connected to the drain of the active device. The second reflective pattern has second contact openings. The third reflective pattern is stacked on the second reflective pattern and covers the second contact openings of the second reflective pattern. The second reflective pattern is located between the third reflective pattern and the substrate. Moreover, other kinds of pixel structures are also provided.
US09202825B2

A semiconductor device having a high aperture ratio, including a capacitor with increased capacitance, and consuming low power is provided. The semiconductor device includes pixels defined by x (x is an integer of 2 or more) scan lines and y (y is an integer of 1 or more) signal lines, and each of the pixels includes a transistor, and a capacitor. The transistor includes a semiconductor film having a light-transmitting property. The capacitor includes a dielectric film between a pair of electrodes. In the capacitor between an (m−1)-th (m is an integer of 2 or more and x or less) scan line and an m-th scan line, a semiconductor film on the same surface as the semiconductor film having a light-transmitting property of the transistor serves as one of the pair of electrodes and is electrically connected to the (m−1)-th scan line.
US09202820B1

Improved 14 nm cells, as depicted in FIGS. 1-53, realize reduced pattern complexity, high yield, high performance, and improved compactness (one poly-stripe smaller than existing designs for the disclosed cells). The invention relates to ICs made using these cells (or topologically equivalent variants thereof), as well as processes for makings such ICs using said cells (or their variants).
US09202818B1

A method of manufacturing a three-dimensional (3D) stacked semiconductor structure is provided, comprising. A multi-layer on a substrate is formed, and the multi-layer comprises plural first dielectric layers and second dielectric layers arranged alternately. The multi-layer is then patterned to form plural first patterned stacks and spaces between the first patterned stacks, wherein one of the first patterned stacks has a width of F0 while the one of the spaces has a width of Fs. In one embodiment, F0 is equal to or more than 2 times Fs. Parts of the second dielectric layers of one of the first patterned stacks are removed, so as to form plural first cavities in the first patterned stack. Then, the first cavities in the first patterned stack are filled with conductors.
US09202815B1

According to various embodiments, a method for processing a carrier may include: doping a carrier with fluorine such that a first surface region of the carrier is fluorine doped and a second surface region of the carrier is at least one of free from the fluorine doping or less fluorine doped than the first surface region; and oxidizing the carrier to grow a first gate oxide layer from the first surface region of the carrier with a first thickness and simultaneously from the second surface region of the carrier with a second thickness different from the first thickness.
US09202805B2

An LED package structure includes: an insulating substrate that has a front bonding pad assembly; a dark-colored die-attach adhesive; blue and green LED chips mounted on the front bonding pad assembly via the dark-colored die-attach adhesive; and a dark-colored and light-transmissible encapsulant that is disposed on the insulating substrate and that encapsulates the blue and green LED chips. The encapsulant has a light transmittance that ranges from 7% to 28% for the blue light and has a light transmittance that ranges from 9% to 30% for the green light.
US09202799B2

A method includes filling a trench formed in a first integrated circuit carrier with temporary bonding material to form a temporary bonding layer. At least one chip is bonded over the temporary bonding layer.
US09202798B2

Disclosed herein is a power module package including an external connection terminal; a substrate in which a fastening unit allowing one end of the external connection terminal to be insertedly fastened thereinto is buried at a predetermined depth in a thickness direction; and a semiconductor chip mounted on one surface of the substrate.
US09202796B2

A semiconductor package offers improved product reliability by supplying a power voltage and a ground voltage to a semiconductor chip in a secured manner using a redistribution layer (RDL) structure. The semiconductor package includes a first semiconductor chip disposed on a substrate, a second semiconductor chip disposed on the first semiconductor chip, a plurality of redistribution lines disposed on the first semiconductor chip and electrically connecting the first semiconductor chip to the second semiconductor chip, and a redistribution wire disposed on the first semiconductor chip and electrically connecting one of the redistribution lines to another.
US09202794B2

A pad structure usable with a semiconductor device may include an insulating layer pattern structure, a plug, and a pad. The insulating layer pattern structure has a plug hole and at least one via hole. The plug is formed in the plug hole. The pad is formed on the insulating layer pattern structure. The pad is electrically connected with the plug and has a lower surface and an uneven upper surface. The lower surface includes a protruded portion inserted into the via hole. The uneven upper surface includes a recessed portion and an elevated portion- to provide high roughness and firm connection.
US09202791B2

An ESD protection device includes a semiconductor substrate including input/output electrodes and a rewiring layer located on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate. An ESD protection circuit is provided in the top layer of the semiconductor substrate, and the input/output electrodes are connected to the ESD protection circuit. The rewiring layer includes interlayer wiring lines, in-plane wiring lines, and post-shaped electrodes. First ends of the interlayer wiring lines provided in the thickness direction are connected to the input/output electrodes provided on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate and the second ends are connected to first ends of the in-plane wiring lines extending in the plane direction. The distance between the centers of the first and second post-shaped electrodes is larger than the distance between the centers of the first and second input/output electrodes.
US09202787B2

A substrate member includes a substrate and a plurality of chip regions formed on the substrate across a scribe line. Each of the plurality of chip regions includes a first region that has contact with the scribe line and in which a plurality of first pattern elements are formed, and a second region that is surrounded by the first region and in which a plurality of second pattern elements are formed. A minimum value of a size of the first pattern elements is greater than a minimum value of a size of the second pattern elements and/or a minimum value of an interval between adjacent first pattern elements is greater than a minimum value of an interval between adjacent second pattern elements.
US09202784B2

A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a substrate structure layer including a substrate having a well and a diffusion region thereon, an interconnect layer including a pair of power supply lines arranged at a preset spacing from the substrate structure layer; the interconnect layer also including an input side interconnect and an output side interconnect between the pair of power supply lines, a standard cell having a logic circuit on the substrate; the logic circuit being electrically connected to the pair of power supply lines, the input side interconnect and the output side interconnect, and one or more capacitances arranged between the substrate structure layer and the interconnect layer and arranged in a region between the pair of power supply lines, the region being inclusive of a region superposed with the pair of power supply lines.
US09202783B1

A printed circuit board (PCB) may include antipads, used to provide clearance for backdrilling, which may be sized to allow backdrilling in a way that minimizes the presence of stubs. The PCB may include pads to connect a component to the PCB and vertically disposed vias connected to at least some of the pads. The PCB may further include horizontally disposed signal layers, electrically connected by the vias, to route signals from the component, received from the vias, to an edge of the component, in which signals associated with the component closer to an inner portion of the component are routed to the edge of the component on higher ones of the signal layers than signals associated with the component further from the inner portion of the component.
US09202777B2

A semiconductor package system includes: providing a leadframe having inner frame bars, outer frame bars, a die pad, tiebars, and rows of leads, the inner frame bars being coplanar with outer frame bars; attaching a semiconductor chip to the die pad; attaching bond wires between the semiconductor chip and the rows of leads; encapsulating the semiconductor chip, the bond wires, the inner frame bars, the outer frame bars, the die pad, the tiebars, and the rows of leads in an encapsulant; cutting a groove to remove the inner frame bars; and singulating the leadframe and the encapsulant to remove the outer frame bars.
US09202776B2

A stackable multi-chip package system is provided including forming an inter-chip structure adjacent to an external interconnect having both a base and a tip; connecting a first integrated circuit die and an outer portion of the base with the first integrated circuit die mounted over the inter-chip structure, connecting a second integrated circuit die and an inner portion of the base with the second integrated circuit die mounted under the inter-chip structure, and molding the first integrated circuit die, the second integrated circuit die, and the external interconnect partially exposed.
US09202773B2

Provided is a semiconductor module. The semiconductor module includes a substrate including a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. A semiconductor device is disposed on the first surface of the substrate. An airflow guide is disposed on the second surface of the substrate. The airflow guide includes a plate including an end portion distantly from the second surface.
US09202771B2

A semiconductor chip structure including a semiconductor chip having a pair of electrodes is disclosed. The electrodes have different conductivity types for electrical connection, respectively. A thermoelectric cooling material layer is disposed within each of the pair of electrodes, respectively.
US09202768B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor module has a substrate, two nonvolatile memories disposed on a first surface of the substrate, a controller to control the nonvolatile memories, disposed on the first surface of the substrate and between the two nonvolatile memories, and a plurality of terminals that are electrically connected to the two nonvolatile memories and to the controller, disposed on a second surface of the substrate.
US09202759B2

A semiconductor manufacturing method includes exposing on a photoresist film a first partial pattern of a contact hole, overlapping a part of a gate interconnection in alignment with an alignment mark formed simultaneously with forming the gate interconnection, exposing on the photoresist film a second partial pattern, overlapping a part of an active region in alignment with an alignment mark formed simultaneously with forming the active region, developing the photoresist film to form an opening at the portion where the first partial pattern and the second partial pattern have been exposed, and etching an insulation film to form a contact hole down to the gate interconnection and the source/drain diffused layer.
US09202755B2

Provided are a circuit connecting material able to provide good bonding with an opposing electrode, and a semiconductor device manufacturing method using the same. The present invention uses a circuit connecting material, in which a first adhesive layer to be adhered to the semiconductor chip side, and a second adhesive layer having a lowest melting viscosity attainment temperature higher than that of the first adhesive layer are laminated. When the semiconductor chip on which the circuit connecting material is stuck is mounted on a circuit board, a thickness of the first adhesive layer is within a range satisfying formula (1), thereby providing good bonding with the opposing electrode.
US09202750B2

A memory can include a plurality of memory blocks, including a first block and a second block disposed over the first block. An isolation layer is disposed in this structure, between the first and second blocks to isolate the vertical conductors in the memory kernels of the first and second blocks. Access conductors are provided outside the kernels, such as adjacent the memory blocks or through regions of the blocks that only include decoding element. The access conductors are coupled to the decoding elements in the first and second blocks, and provide for connection of the memory cells to peripheral circuits.
US09202743B2

A graphene and metal interconnect structure and methods of making the same are disclosed. The graphene is a multiple layer graphene structure that is grown using a graphene catalyst. The graphene forms an electrical connection between two or more VIAs or components, or a combination of VIAs and components. A VIA includes a fill metal, with at least a portion of the fill metal being surrounded by a barrier metal. A component may be a routing track, a clock signal source, a power source, an electromagnetic signal source, a ground terminal, a transistor, a macrocell, or a combination thereof. The graphene is grown, using a graphene catalyst, from both solid and liquid carbon sources using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at a temperature between 300° C.-400° C. The graphene catalyst can be an elemental form of, or alloy including, nickel, palladium, ruthenium, iridium or copper.
US09202735B2

A substrate transport system includes a substrate cart inside a chamber and a linearly driven shuttle outside the chamber configured to levitate the substrate cart into a non contact, spaced relationship with respect to outwardly opposing sides of an interior wall of the chamber and to linearly drive the substrate cart within the chamber.
US09202728B2

A substrate mounting mechanism on which a target substrate is placed is provided. The substrate mounting mechanism includes a heater plate, which has a substrate mounting surface on which the target substrate is placed and has a heater embedded therein to heat the substrate to a deposition temperature at which a film is deposited. The substrate mounting mechanism also includes a temperature control jacket, which is formed to cover at least a surface of the heater plate other than the substrate mounting surface and adjusts the temperature to a non-deposition temperature below the deposition temperature.
US09202727B2

A substrate supporting assembly in a reaction space includes a heater, a substrate support member, and a shim positioned between the heater and the substrate support member. The shim may be removably secured between the heater and the substrate support member. The shim may further include an inner surface defining a perimeter of a gap. The gap may be further defined by a bottom surface of the substrate support member and a top surface of the heater. The substrate support member may further include a shoulder positioned radially outside of a substrate support position and wherein the shim inner surface is radially aligned with the substrate support member shoulder.
US09202722B2

A pattern forming method includes forming a spin on dielectric film on a substrate, washing the spin on dielectric film by using a washing liquid, drying a surface of the spin on dielectric film after the washing, forming a photosensitive film on the dried coating type insulation film, emitting energy rays to a predetermined position of the photosensitive film in order to form a latent image on the photosensitive film, developing the photosensitive film in order to form a photosensitive film pattern which corresponds to the latent image, and processing the spin on dielectric film with the photosensitive film pattern serving as a mask.
US09202719B2

Displacement devices comprise a stator and a moveable stage. The stator comprises a plurality of coils shaped to provide pluralities of generally linearly elongated coil traces in one or more layers. Layers of coils may overlap in the Z-direction. The moveable stage comprises a plurality of magnet arrays. Each magnet array may comprise a plurality of magnetization segments generally linearly elongated in a corresponding direction. Each magnetization segment has a magnetization direction generally orthogonal to the direction in which it is elongated and at least two of the magnetization directions are different from one another. One or more amplifiers may be connected to selectively drive current in the coil traces and to thereby effect relative movement between the stator and the moveable stage.
US09202701B1

A method for manufacturing a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon non-volatile memory cell includes following steps. An implant region is formed in a substrate. A first oxide layer, a nitride layer, and a second oxide layer are formed and stacked on the substrate. A density of the second oxide layer is higher than a density of the first oxide layer. A first photoresist pattern is formed on the second oxide layer and corresponding to the implant region. A first wet etching process is then performed to form an oxide hard mask. A second wet etching process is performed to remove the nitride layer exposed by the oxide hard mask to form a nitride pattern. A cleaning process is then performed to remove the oxide hard mask and the first oxide layer exposed by the nitride pattern, and a gate oxide layer is then formed on the nitride pattern.
US09202691B2

In one embodiment, a method includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a trench disposed thereon and forming a plurality of layers in the trench. The plurality of layers formed in the trench is etched thereby providing at least one etched layer having a top surface that lies below a top surface of the trench. In a further embodiment, this may provide for a substantially v-shaped opening or entry to the trench for the formation of further layers.
US09202688B2

Preparation of semiconductor nanocrystals and their dispersions in solvents and other media is described. The nanocrystals described herein have small (1-10 nm) particle size with minimal aggregation and can be synthesized with high yield. The capping agents on the as-synthesized nanocrystals as well as nanocrystals which have undergone cap exchange reactions result in the formation of stable suspensions in polar and nonpolar solvents which may then result in the formation of high quality nanocomposite films.
US09202687B2

A method that includes implantation of dopants while a III-nitride body is being grown on a substrate, and an apparatus for the practice of the method.
US09202686B2

Apparatus and methods of forming the apparatus include a dielectric layer containing barium strontium titanium oxide layer, an erbium-doped barium strontium titanium oxide layer, or a combination thereof. Embodiments of methods of fabricating such dielectric layers provide dielectric layers for use in a variety of devices. Embodiments include forming barium strontium titanium oxide film using atomic layer deposition. Embodiments include forming erbium-doped barium strontium titanium oxide film using atomic layer deposition.
US09202670B2

A method of investigating a wavefront of a charged-particle beam that is directed from a source through an illuminator so as to traverse a sample plane and land upon a detector, an output of the detector being used in combination with a mathematical reconstruction technique so as to calculate at least one of phase information and amplitude information for the wavefront at a pre-defined location along its path to the detector, in which method: Said beam is caused to traverse a particle-optical lens system disposed between said sample plane and said detector; At a selected location in the path from said source to said detector, a modulator is used to locally produce a given modulation of the wavefront; In a series of measurement sessions, different such modulations are employed, and the associated detector outputs are collectively used in said mathematical reconstruction.
US09202668B2

The electrical charging by a primary electronic is inhibited to produce a clear edge contrast from an observation specimen (i.e., a specimen to be observed), whereby the shape of the surface of a sample can be measured with high accuracy. An observation specimen in which a liquid medium comprising an ionic liquid is formed in a thin-film-like or a webbing-film-like form on a sample is used. An electron microscopy using the observation specimen comprises: a step of measuring the thickness of a liquid medium comprising an ionic liquid on a sample; a step of controlling the conditions for irradiation with a primary electron on the basis of the thickness of the liquid medium comprising the ionic liquid; and a step of irradiating the sample with the primary electron under the above-mentioned primary electron irradiation conditions to form an image of the shape of the sample.
US09202663B2

A flat filament includes a first electron emission surface, a first current supply leg, a second current supply leg, a second electron emission surface disposed laterally of the first electron emission surface and connected to a first end region of the first electron emission surface, a third current supply leg, a third electron emission surface disposed laterally of the first electron emission surface, opposite from the second electron emission surface, and connected to a second end region of the first electron emission surface, and a fourth current supply leg.
US09202661B2

An electron beam device having a tubular body of elongate shape with an electron exit window extending in the longitudinal direction of the tubular body. The tubular body is at least partly forming a vacuum chamber, the vacuum chamber comprising therein a cathode comprising a cathode housing having an elongate shape, and at least one electron generating filament and a control grid both extending along the elongate shape of the cathode housing. The control grid and the cathode housing are attached to each other by attachment mechanisms. Free longitudinal end portions of either the control grid or the cathode housing are bent in a direction towards each other to form bulge-like shapes for the formation of electron beam shaping electrodes. The invention is further comprising a method of manufacturing the electron beam device.
US09202655B2

The trip unit (10) according to the invention is capable of being connected to a circuit breaker and includes a first block (12) and a second block (14). The first block (12) comprises a first case (16) and a circuit breaker trip member (20) accessible from outside the first case (16). The second block (14) comprises a second case (26) and at least one member (28) for detecting an electric fault. The first block (12) and the second block (14) are two distinct blocks relative to one another and the first case (16) and the second case (26) are capable of being mechanically assembled to one another in an assembled configuration of the trip unit (10). Each contact end (62) is capable of mechanically cooperating with the trip member (20), when the corresponding detecting member (28) detects an electric fault.
US09202652B2

An electromagnetic contactor has a pair of fixed contacts disposed maintaining a predetermined interval and a movable contact disposed to be capable of connecting to and separating from the pair of fixed contacts; and an electromagnet unit that drives the movable contact. The electromagnet unit includes a magnetic yoke enclosing a plunger drive portion; a movable plunger in which a leading end is protruding through an aperture formed in the magnetic yoke, and urged by a return spring; and an annular permanent magnet enclosing a peripheral flange portion formed on a protruding end side of the movable plunger, and magnetized in a moving direction of the movable plunger.
US09202648B2

Electrical device with axial control, such as switch, double-pole switch, toggle switch, inverter or the like, including a box-like containment structure (20) in insulating material, in which are housed: at least two connection terminals (31, 32), at least one fixed electrical contact (35) connected to one (31) of the connection terminals, at least one rocker arm element (36) carrying at least one mobile electrical contact (37) and connected electrically to another (32) of the connection terminals, and an axial actuation member (70) kinematically connected via a first oscillating support (50) to the rocker arm element (36), so as to make it oscillate between two predetermined stable positions, wherein on the first oscillating support (50) acts a second oscillating support (60) which is made to oscillate in one direction or in the other at each actuation of the axial actuation member (70).
US09202646B2

The present invention is directed to a circuit breaker lockout. The circuit breaker lockout includes a base, a screw positioned within the base and a jaw. The base has a top and a bottom. The jaw has a top, a bottom and sides that define an open center having a first length. The base is positioned between the sides of the jaw in the open center. The bottom of the base extends in the open center and the top of the base extends above the top of the jaw. The jaw slides with respect to the base when the screw is actuated to decrease the first length of the open center to a second length thereby enabling the lockout to surround the switch of a circuit breaker.
US09202642B2

Disclosed is a magnetic contactor. A free space in which a DC converting circuit is provided is in a product can be secured by changing shapes of the movable core and the fixed core, and thus, in association with a low-capacity product, external AC power may be converted into DC power even without enlarging a size of a product. Also, a normal position member may be included in a movable core, and may induce the movable core to the original position, and thus, a mechanical mechanism relationship between the switch manipulating part included in the movable core and the other element is maintained.
US09202636B2

A photoelectric conversion element comprising: a substrate; a first electrode; a photoelectric conversion layer comprising a semiconductor layer containing a dye and a semiconductor and a charge transport layer; and a second electrode, in this order, wherein the photoelectric conversion layer comprises a compound represented by Formula (1), wherein R1 and R2 each represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group which may have a substituent, X, Y and Z each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, wherein at least one of X, Y and Z is an electron withdrawing group.
US09202634B2

The present invention makes it possible to increase the thickness of a sintered body. Thus, the present invention provides a production method that is suitable for the production of anode electrode materials with high capacitance useful for medium- to high-voltage aluminum electrolytic capacitors, that does not involve an etching treatment, and that enables desired formation of the resulting electrode material for aluminum electrolytic capacitor into the desired shape.Specifically, the present invention provides a method for producing an electrode material for aluminum electrolytic capacitor, comprising the steps of: (1) forming, in a sintering mold, an unsintered laminate in which a substrate is held between compositions comprising a powder of at least one member selected from the group consisting of aluminum and aluminum alloys; and (2) sintering the unsintered laminate in the sintering mold, wherein the method does not comprise an etching step.
US09202630B2

There is provided a multilayer ceramic capacitor including a ceramic body, first and second capacitor parts, first and second internal connection conductors, and first to fourth external electrodes, wherein the first capacitor part is connected to the first connection conductor in series, and the second capacitor part is connected to the second connection conductor in series, the second connection conductor being connected to the first connection conductor in series.
US09202629B2

There is provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component including, a ceramic body including dielectric layers, internal electrodes disposed in the ceramic body to face each other with the dielectric layers interposed therebetween, and having an average thickness of 1.0 μm or less, and external electrodes formed on outer surfaces of the ceramic body and electrically connected to the internal electrodes, wherein at least one of the internal electrodes is formed of only a conductive metal.
US09202620B2

In a coil component, a shortest distance from a longitudinal wall of a flange portion of a drum core to a wire fixing portion is smaller than a shortest distance of the longitudinal wall to an electrode wire connecting portion by a convex portion formed at the longitudinal wall of the flange portion. That is, since a gap between the flange portion of the drum core and the wire fixing portion is small (or there is no gap), the wire fixing portion can be sufficiently bent. Accordingly, the wire can be securely fixed by a wire fixing portion of a metal terminal.
US09202614B2

Apparatus, consisting of a substrate and planar tapes which have respective mutually-opposing first and second faces. The tapes have edges connecting the faces, and each tape has a superconducting material on at least the first face thereof. The tapes may be arranged on the substrate so as to define at least a first set of at least one of the planar tapes overlying a surface of the substrate so that the edges of adjacent sections of the tapes in the first set butt together along a first direction over the surface. The tapes may also be arranged so that a second set of at least another one of the planar tapes overly the first set so that the edges of adjacent sections of the tapes in the second set butt together along a second direction that is different from the first direction.
US09202611B2

An arrangement is provided with three superconductive phase conductors each with a conductor, a dielectric and an electrically conductive screen surrounding the dielectric. The three phase conductors are arranged in a cryostat which conducts a cooling agent and which is made from a pipe with a thermal insulation. The screens of each of the conductors are for forming three, or a whole number multiple of three, sections arranged successively in the longitudinal direction by partial screens in a first, a second and a third section at two locations or at two locations spaced apart from each other. The partial screen of a first section of each phase conductor is electrically conductively connected in series to the partial screens of the second section and further to the third section of the two other phase conductors.
US09202610B2

A cable component that comprises a main body where at least a part of the main body is formed of an insulation material, and at least one non-flammable portion is disposed in the insulation material of the main body. The non-flammable portion forms at least about 25% by volume of the cable component, is flexible, and reduces the amount of the insulation material of the main body, thereby reducing the fuel load in the cable component.
US09202607B2

A resin material is provided which comprises at least one thermoset resin, carbon conductive additive material, and at least one thermoplastic polymer resin. The thermoplastic polymer resin dissolves in the thermoset polymer resin and phase separates upon cure. There is also provided a method of making the resin material, and additionally a composite material that comprising said resin material in combination with a fibrous reinforcement. The resin material and composite material may each be used in an uncured or cured form, and may find particular use as a prepreg material.
US09202606B2

The present disclosure relates to multilayered materials that are designed to roll spontaneously into micron-sized, cylindrical “jelly roll” or scroll structures. Specifically in this disclosure, at least one of the layers is comprised of a nanosheet material.
US09202600B2

The present invention relates to an universal method for the large scale production of high-purity carrier free or non carrier added radioisotopes by applying a number of “unit operations” which are derived from physics and material science and hitherto not used for isotope production. A required number of said unit operations is combined, selected and optimized individually for each radioisotope production scheme. The use of said unit operations allows a batch wise operation or a fully automated continuous production scheme. The radioisotopes produced by the inventive method are especially suitable for producing radioisotope-labelled bioconjugates as well as particles, in particular nanoparticles and microparticles.
US09202598B2

A fuel bundle for a nuclear reactor core is provided. The fuel bundle may include a plurality of rods comprised of nuclear fuel rods and/or isotope production rods. Each rod includes a plurality of interconnected rod segments, wherein at least two of the rod segments of at least one rod have different outside diameters. The fuel bundle may additionally include a plurality of rod spacer grids securely retained between axially adjacent, interconnected rod segments. The rod spacer grids interconnected between axially adjacent rod segments form an array of substantially equally spaced rods. The fuel bundle may further include an elongate tubular channel in which the arrayed rods are housed.
US09202593B1

Techniques for determining broken word lines in non-volatile memory arrays are presented, which are particularly applicable to 3D NAND memory, such as that of the BiCS type. One set of techniques uses test program operation that alternates a standard staircase waveform with an elongated verify operation. This allows for a more accurate verify of under-programmed broken word lines relative to the standard verify operation. Another set of techniques looks at the ramp rate along the interconnect between the word line decoding circuitry and the main part of the word line. These techniques can also be used for determining defective select gate lines of an array with a NAND type structure.
US09202586B2

Some embodiments include a memory device and a method of programming memory cells of the memory device. One such method can include applying a signal to a line associated with a memory cell, the signal being generated based on digital information. The method can also include, while the signal is applied to the line, determining whether a state of the memory cell is near a target state when the digital information has a first value, and determining whether the state of the memory cell has reached the target state when the digital information has a second value. Other embodiments including additional memory devices and methods are described.
US09202579B2

Techniques for sensing the threshold voltage of a memory cell during reading and verify operations by compensating for changes, including temperature-based changes, in the resistance of a bit line or other control line. A memory cell being sensed is in a block in a memory array and the block is in a group of blocks. A portion of the bit line extends between the group of blocks and a sense component and has a resistance which is based on the length/distance and the temperature. Various parameters can be varied with temperature and the group of blocks to provide the compensation, including bit line voltage, selected word line voltage, source line voltage, sense time and/or sense current or voltage.
US09202576B2

A method of programming a non-volatile memory device includes; defining a set of verification voltages, setting a maximum verification voltage among verification voltages that are less than or equal to a first target programming voltage to be a target verification voltage, calculating a number of extra pulses based on the target verification voltage and the first target programming voltage, verifying whether a threshold voltage of the memory cell is equal to or greater than the target verification voltage by applying an incremental step pulse program (ISPP) pulse to the memory cell and then applying at least one verification voltage in the set of verification voltages to the memory cell, and further applying the ISPP pulse to the memory cell a number of times equal to the number of extra pulses when the threshold voltage is verified to be equal to or greater than the target verification voltage.
US09202566B2

Methods for forming non-volatile storage elements in a non-volatile storage system are described. In some embodiments, a plurality of forming operations may be performed in which non-volatile storage elements located near the far end of a plurality of word line fingers associated with a word line comb are formed prior to forming other non-volatile storage elements. In one example, non-volatile storage elements may be formed in each of the plurality of word line fingers in parallel and in an order that forms non-volatile storage elements in each of the plurality of word line fingers that are located near the far ends of the plurality of word line fingers before forming other non-volatile storage elements. Each non-volatile storage element that is formed during a forming operation may be current limited while a forming voltage is applied across the non-volatile storage element.
US09202565B2

A write method for writing to a variable resistance nonvolatile memory element, comprising applying a set of strong recovery-voltage pulses at least once to the variable resistance nonvolatile memory element when it is determined that the resistance state of the variable resistance nonvolatile memory element fails to change to a second resistance state, remaining in a first resistance state, the set of strong recovery-voltage pulses including pulses: (1) a first strong recovery-voltage pulse which has a greater amplitude than a normal second voltage for changing the resistance state to the first resistance state, and has the same polarity as the second voltage; and (2) a second strong recovery-voltage pulse which follows the first strong recovery-voltage pulse and has a longer pulse width than the pulse width of the normal first voltage for changing the resistance state to the second resistance state, and has the same polarity as the first voltage.
US09202563B2

A storage controlling apparatus includes a command decoder and command processing section. The command decoder decides whether or not a plurality of access object addresses of different commands included in a command string correspond to words different from each other in a same one of blocks of a memory cell array which have a common plate. The command processing section collectively and successively executes, when it is decided that the access object addresses of the commands correspond to the words different from each other in the same block of the memory cell array, those of operations in processing of the commands in which an equal voltage is applied as a drive voltage between the plate and a bit line.
US09202552B2

Dual port static random access memory (SRAM) bitcell structures with improve symmetry in access transistors physical placement are provided. The bitcell structures may include, for example, two pairs of parallel pull-down transistors. The bitcell structures may also include pass-gate transistors PGLA and PGRA forming a first port, and pass-gate transistors PGLB and PGRB forming a second port. The pass-gate transistors PGLA and PGLB may be adjacent one another and a first side of the bitcell structure, and pass-gate transistors PGRA and PGRB may be adjacent one another and a second side of the bitcell structure. Each of the pass-gate transistors PGLA and PGLB may be connected with one of the pull-down transistors of one of the pairs of parallel pull-down transistors. Similarly, each of the pass-gate transistors PGRA and PGRB may be connected with one of the pull-down transistors of the other pair of parallel pull-down transistors.
US09202545B2

A magnetoresistance effect element including a recording layer of high thermal stability to perform perpendicular magnetic recording within a film surface, and a magnetic memory using the element. The element includes: a first ferromagnetic layer of an invariable magnetization direction; a second ferromagnetic layer of a variable magnetization direction; a first non-magnetic layer between the first and second ferromagnetic layers; current supply terminals connected to the first and second ferromagnetic layers; a non-magnetic coupling layer on a surface of the second ferromagnetic layer opposite the first non-magnetic layer; a third ferromagnetic layer of a variable magnetization direction on a surface of the non-magnetic coupling layer opposite the second ferromagnetic layer; and a second non-magnetic layer on a surface of the third ferromagnetic layer opposite the non-magnetic coupling layer. The second and third ferromagnetic layers have the same magnetization direction and are reversed in magnetization by spin injection with a current.
US09202542B2

Examples of circuits and methods for compensating for power supply induced signal jitter in path elements sensitive to power supply variation. An example includes a signal path coupling an input to an output, the signal path including a delay element having a first delay and a bias-controlled delay element having a second delay. The first delay of the delay element exhibits a first response to changes in power applied thereto and the second delay of the bias-controlled delay element exhibits a second response to changes in the power applied such that the second response compensates at least in part for the first response.
US09202535B2

In a particular embodiment, a method includes modifying an output impedance associated with the input receiver. In response to modifying the output impedance, the method restricts an output voltage at an output node of the input receiver. Particular embodiments of an input receiver circuit are also disclosed.
US09202533B2

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises: a memory cell array including first interconnections, second interconnections intersecting the first interconnections, and memory cells having a variable resistance element and being provided at respective intersections of the first interconnections and the second interconnections, the memory cell array being divided into bays including a predetermined number of the memory cells; and a control circuit configured to execute a first write step and a second write step executed after the first write step at a data writing operation, wherein the control circuit is configured to change over the number of simultaneously selected bits and/or the number of simultaneously selected bays depending upon whether a write step is the first write step or the second write step.
US09202526B2

A portable computing device for enabling user to view video content of sports activity such as basketball or ice hockey. The computing device is configured to receive video content, video clips, statistics of the game as well as spatial position data of players and position data of for example a ball used in the game as functions of time. Spectators can use the portable computing device to view spatial position of the players and the ball at given time of the game or view spatial position of the players and/or the ball based on set filters by the user. User can for example select to see spatial position of players in at the times when the team scored or according to other statistics. The user/spectator can use the user interface to select an icon of a player to see corresponding video clip of actions in the sports field.
US09202523B2

A method and apparatus for providing information related to broadcast programs are provided. According to an example, objects are detected from broadcast scenes and keywords. Each of the objects include an object name and information regarding the meaning of the object, are generated. Then, scene sections are set based on the keywords and related information is searched for each scene section. The related information identified by the search is synchronized with the corresponding scene section and then provided to a user.
US09202514B1

An apparatus for calibrating a noise predictive filter includes a noise-predictive filter operable to filter digital data samples to yield filtered data samples, a calibration circuit operable to calculate tap coefficients for the noise-predictive filter based at least in part on the digital data samples, and a gating circuit operable to select a portion of the digital data samples for use by the calibration circuit in calculating the tap coefficients.
US09202512B2

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a data storage device comprising a motor having a stator is disclosed. The stator may include a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; and a n-phase winding arrangement having n phase windings; wherein each phase winding comprises m flat fractional-pitch coils arranged on the first surface of the substrate such that the coils are spaced apart uniformly along a closed loop and connected in series; wherein each coil together with an angular section of the substrate between the coil and an adjacent coil of the same phase winding defines a stator pole-pair; and wherein m is an integer larger than 1.
US09202511B1

Provided is an apparatus including a motor configured to rotate a rotating member at a rotational speed based on an applied current; and a controller configured to modify one or more operating parameters in response to determining whether a change in an environment has occurred based on the applied current.
US09202510B2

Methods and apparatus for vibration cancellation are disclosed. Vibration data from one or more vibration detectors associated with a storage device is collected. The vibration data represents vibrations experienced by the storage device. In response to the vibration data from the one or more vibration detectors, one or more movements for respective ones of one or more counter-vibration actuators to at least partially cancel of the vibrations experienced by the storage device is calculated. The one or more counter-vibration actuators perform the one or more movements.
US09202503B2

According to various embodiments, a lubricating layer for providing lubrication to a magnetic recording medium includes a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) represented by: X—CF2CF2O(C3F6O)mCF2CF2—X, wherein m is in a range from 4 to 8 on average, and wherein X is This lubricating layer may be used in a magnetic disk, which includes a recording layer positioned above a nonmagnetic substrate, a protective film layer positioned above the recording layer, and the lubricating layer positioned above the protective film layer. In another embodiment, a method for forming a magnetic disk includes forming a recording layer above a nonmagnetic substrate, forming a protective film layer above the recording layer, and forming a lubricating layer above the protective film layer, the lubricating layer comprising a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) represented by: X—CF2CF2O(C3F6O)mCF2CF2—X, wherein m is in a range from 4 to 8 on average, and wherein X is
US09202502B2

An aspect of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing magnetic particles, which comprises adding a carboxylic acid compound to a water-based magnetic liquid, wherein the water-based magnetic liquid comprises magnetic particles dispersed in an acidic water-based solvent, and the carboxylic acid compound is selected from the group consisting of aromatic compounds and aliphatic compounds having one or more carboxylic acid (salt) groups denoted by: —COOM wherein M denotes a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom, when the number of the carboxylic acid (salt) group contained within the molecule thereof is 1, the number of carbon atoms, excluding the carboxylic acid (salt) group portion, ranges from 1 to 13; and then collecting the magnetic particles from the water-based magnetic liquid to obtain the magnetic particles the surfaces of which have been modified by being coated with the carboxylic acid compound.
US09202500B2

A slider that includes a slider body, the slider body having a trailing edge surface and an opposing leading edge surface; an air bearing surface (ABS) between the trailing edge surface and the leading edge surface; a read/write head located on the trailing edge surface of the slider body; an electrode array located on the trailing edge surface of the slider body, the electrode array including at least a first electrode and at least a second electrode; and first and second bias circuits, wherein the first bias circuit is electrically coupled to the at least first electrode and the second bias circuit is electrically coupled to the at least second electrode.
US09202493B1

A mode converter for use in a Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) read head to couple or bend light (e.g., from an external laser diode) into a tapered waveguide, and subsequently, to a near field transducer is provided. The mode converter may have an ultra-sharp tip, e.g., less than 200 nm to achieve a desired optical output. Manufacturing such a mode converter involves a two-pattern transform process, where overlay control (using a first edge, such as a right edge, as a reference layer relative to which positioning of a second edge, such as a left edge, is measured) allows for aligning of the right and left edges of a tip portion of the mode converter to ultimately create the ultra-sharp tip.
US09202491B2

An apparatus (e.g., a heat assisted magnetic recording read/write element) that has an optical component that extends to a location adjacent a media-facing surface of a slider body. The apparatus further includes a planar plasmon antenna that is disposed between the tip portion of the magnetic write pole and the optical component. The planar plasmon antenna can be formed of a plasmonic material operationally capable of a plasmonic excitation in response to an evanescent coupling with an optical mode of the optical component. In some instances, the planar plasmon antenna includes an enlarged region spaced from the optical component and a peg region formed in the enlarged region. The peg region has a thickness in a direction substantially transverse to the optical component that is less than a thickness of a portion of the enlarged region that spaces the peg region from the optical component.
US09202486B2

In one embodiment, a method for providing ESD protection to an element of an electronic device includes preventing formation of agglomerates of electrically conductive fillers in an ESD adhesive that includes a polymeric thin film, the electrically conductive fillers dispersed therein, and a solvent by subjecting the ESD adhesive to high-energy mixing during formation thereof, applying the ESD adhesive across exposed leads, such as leads of a cable, PCB, or other substrate, and evaporating solvent from the ESD adhesive.
US09202475B2

In one embodiment, a directional microphone array having (at least) two microphones mounted on opposite sides of a device generates forward and backward base signals from two (e.g., omnidirectional) microphone signals using diffraction filters and equalization filters. Each diffraction filter implements a (possibly different) transfer function representing the response of an audio signal traveling from a corresponding microphone around the device to the other microphone. A scale factor is applied to, for example, the backward base signal, and the resulting scaled backward base signal is combined with (e.g., subtracted from) the forward base signal to generate a first-order differential audio signal. After low-pass filtering, spatial noise suppression can be applied to the first-order differential audio signal. Microphone arrays having one (or more) additional microphones can be designed to generate second- (or higher-) order differential audio signals.
US09202470B2

A speech recognition module includes an acoustic front-end module, a sound detection module, and a word detection module. The acoustic front-end module generates a plurality of representations of frames from a digital audio signal and generates speech characteristic probabilities for the plurality of frames. The sound detection module determines a plurality of estimated utterances from the plurality of representations and the speech characteristic probabilities. The word detection module determines one or more words based on the plurality of estimated utterances and the speech characteristic probabilities.
US09202463B2

A method is disclosed for generating a voice-activated responsive action, such as a pulse or a measurement, with improved speed and time resolution. First, an operator calls an arming command to prepare the application, and then calls a trigger command to initiate the responsive action. The responsive action is generated immediately upon detecting the leading edge of the trigger command, resulting in an extremely fast response with precise timing. The particular responsive action may be determined by the type of sound detected, or by other information contained in the trigger command, or by the arming command, or by another prior command. Other types of preparatory events are disclosed. Efficient methods for identifying commands are disclosed. For all applications requiring an extremely prompt, precisely timed, hands-free response to a voice command, this invention is enabling.
US09202458B2

A method for model adaptation for a speech recognition system includes determining an error rate, corresponding to either recognition of instances of a word or recognition of instances of various words, without using a transcript of words input to the system. The method may further include adjusting an adaptation, of the model for the word or various models for the various words, based on the error rate. Apparatus are disclosed for identifying possible errors made by a speech recognition system without using a transcript of words input to the system. An apparatus for model adaptation for a speech recognition system includes a processor adapted to estimate an error rate, corresponding to either recognition of instances of a word or recognition of instances of various words, without using a transcript of words input to the system. The apparatus may further include a controller adapted to adjust an adaptation of the model for the word or various models for the various words, based on the error rate.
US09202438B2

Image data may be color graded, distributed and viewed on target displays. Mappings that preserve mid-range points and mid-range contrast may be applied to view the image data for color grading and to prepare the image data for display on a target display. The image data may be expanded to exploit the dynamic range of the target display without affecting mid-tone values.
US09202436B2

A display device 10 according to the present invention includes a plurality of pixels 40 each including a plurality of sub pixels 42, a plurality of auxiliary capacitance lines 36 forming an auxiliary capacitance 56 with the sub pixels 42, and an auxiliary capacitance driver 34 configured to supply an auxiliary capacitance drive signal to the auxiliary capacitance lines 36 and to apply a voltage to the auxiliary capacitance. In the display device 10, the auxiliary capacitance driver 34 includes a plurality of connection terminals 64 each connected to each of the auxiliary capacitance lines 36.
US09202429B2

A 3D-capable image display device includes: a display panel having a plurality of pixels and a plurality of data lines; a gamma reference voltages generator for generating a plurality of gamma reference voltages including positive gamma reference voltages and negative gamma reference voltages; a data lines driver for converting an image signal into corresponding data line drive voltages based on the plurality of gamma reference voltages; and a signal controller operating according to a mode selection signal including information for selecting one of different 3D driving methods, wherein when a gap between the positive gamma reference voltages and the negative gamma reference voltages is referred to as a black gap, and size of the black gap is variable based on the selected 3D driving method.
US09202425B2

A driving circuit includes a pair of operational amplifiers, one producing an analog voltage output of positive polarity, the other producing an analog voltage output of negative polarity. An output switching circuit interchanges these outputs between a pair of data lines. One or both of the operational amplifiers includes a parasitic diode having one terminal connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier and another terminal normally connected to a power supply voltage of the operational amplifier. When the output of the operational amplifier is switched, a protective switching circuit temporarily disconnects the parasitic diode from the power supply of the operational amplifier and instead connects it to a power supply line carrying a voltage high enough, or low enough, to ensure that the parasitic diode is not forward biased by the existing voltage on the data line to which the output is switched.
US09202421B2

A display device has a display panel and a backlight unit. The backlight unit includes first and second light source units, and a control unit that outputs a drive signal to the light source units to drive the first and second light source units during first and second drive periods in one frame period respectively. The control unit drives the light source units so that the one frame period has an overlapped period, in which the first and second drive periods overlap. The control unit outputs PWM signals to turn the light source units on and off to the light source units respectively. The control unit shifts a phase of the PWM signal to be outputted to the first light source unit and a phase of the PWM signal to be outputted to the second light source unit from each other.
US09202402B2

The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image display device and a driving method thereof.A three-dimensional image display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a display panel assembly including a display panel including a plurality of pixels alternately displaying a left eye image and a right eye image and a data driver transmitting a data voltage to the plurality of pixels; and a shutter member including a left eye shutter and a right eye shutter, wherein a display period of an insertion image is positioned between a display period of the left eye image and a display period of the right eye image, a minimum gray of the left eye image or the right eye image is a first gray that is greater than 0 gray, and a gray of the insertion image is a second gray that is smaller the first gray.
US09202399B2

A nanophosphor sheet is presented. The nanophosphor sheet may include a base layer, a plurality of core-shell phosphors dispersed in the base layer, and a coating layer surrounding at least one core-shell phosphor among the plurality of core-shell phosphors. Also presented is a backlight device that includes a light source emitting light, a light guide plate receiving the light, and a plurality of core-shell phosphors positioned to receive the light and convert the light to white light. The core-shell phosphors may be incorporated into the light guide plate or be positioned on the light guide plate as a separate layer.
US09202398B2

A display module of a display device includes a display panel, a middle frame configured to seat and fix the display panel, an upper receiving frame including a front part covering an edge part of an upper surface of the display panel and a side part covering the side surfaces of the display panel and the middle frame and a one-sided conductive rubber pad located between the upper receiving frame and the display panel. The one-sided conductive rubber pad includes a conductive first surface and a non-conductive second surface facing each other, the first surface faces the display panel, and the second surface is in contact with the upper receiving frame.
US09202395B2

A curved frame is provided for securing therein a display panel and an optionally curved backlight unit. The curved frame includes an upper frame part, a lower frame part, a left frame part and a right frame part. The upper frame part has a first set of curved guide rails formed thereon, which guide rails are bent in accordance with first curvatures of upper sides of the display panel and the backlight unit. The lower frame part has a second set of guide rails formed thereon, which guide rails are bent in accordance with second curvatures of lower sides of the display panel and the backlight unit. The left frame part is combined with each of first edge portions of the upper and lower frame parts. The right frame part is combined with each of second edge portions of the upper and lower frame parts.
US09202390B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed which include receiving an indication of a floor plan of a building project; receiving an indication of an inspection report, the inspection report associated with an inspection type; identifying a forecast date associated with each room in the floor plan, the forecast date indicating when an inspection type associated with the respective room is to be completed; for each room, determining how close each room's forecast date is to a present date, and if the room's forecast date is past the present date; generating a visual map of the floor plan; associating a color of each room in the floor plan based on the determining; and providing the visual map with the associated color of each room for display.
US09202388B2

Certain examples provide systems, methods, and apparatus for patient care and support. An example three-dimensional printed model of a portion of a patient anatomy is to be formed for the patient based on image data obtained of the patient. The three-dimensional printed model includes an output device to provide an output from the three-dimensional printed model that is perceptible to the patient. The three-dimensional printed model includes a communication device to facilitate exchange of information between the three-dimensional printed model and one or more external systems. The three-dimensional printed model includes a controller to facilitate exchange of information, via the communication device, between the three-dimensional printed model and the one or more external systems. The controller is also to provide feedback to the patient via the output device with respect to a condition affecting the portion of the patient anatomy represented by the three-dimensional printed model via the output device.
US09202378B2

A driving assistance apparatus includes: an assistance control apparatus that accumulates vehicle stopping position information, which is information indicating an actual stopping position, i.e. a position in which a vehicle stops, in relation to a reference stopping position, calculates an estimated variation distance between the actual stopping position and the reference stopping position on the basis of the accumulated vehicle stopping position information, and creates a target vehicle travel condition in which a timing at which to start stopping assistance is varied on the basis of the estimated variation distance; and an assistance apparatus that is capable of outputting driving assistance information to assist driving of the vehicle on the basis of a target travel condition quantity of the vehicle.
US09202374B2

An event warning system is provided. The innovation can provide real time, personalized and meaningful alert warnings to either or both a machine operator/driver and pedestrians who are in harm's way, or are potentially approaching harm's way. Different from generic warnings such as backup alarms and flashing lights, the innovation's personalized alarm and notification functionality minimizes alarm complacency and maximizes their effectiveness.
US09202370B2

For each first tracker in a first subset there exists a respective second tracker in a second subset such that a distance between the first tracker and the second tracker is shorter than each distance between the second tracker and each of the other first trackers in the subset by more than a threshold distance. In a first time slot, data is wirelessly transmitted using a same first frequency from each of the first trackers in the subset of the first trackers to the respective second tracker in the subset of the second trackers. In a subsequent time slot, the data is wirelessly transmitted from each of the second trackers in the subset of the second trackers to a final destination data collector.
US09202369B2

A method of wireless communication includes providing a matrix of trackers. The matrix includes rows and columns of trackers. A number of rows and a number of columns in the matrix is determined. If the number of rows is substantially greater than the number of columns, then vertical sweeping is performed including passing data along each of the columns of trackers to an end tracker in each column. If the number of rows is substantially less than the number of columns, then horizontal sweeping is performed including passing data along each of the rows of trackers to an end tracker in each row. If the number of rows is substantially equal to the number of columns, then diagonal sweeping is performed including passing data diagonally across each of the rows and columns of trackers to an end tracker in each row and each column. The data is passed along the end trackers to a final destination data collector.
US09202368B1

A system for remote control of lights and small appliances utilizing miniature remote control units, and a method for easily and simply setting which remote controls control which item(s). Unlike conventional remote controls which are moved from place to place, these miniature remote controls are so small they may be removably mounted at each location needed, unobtrusively or even hidden. Receivers for the remote signal are described manufactured within a lamp socket assembly, a very short light bulb socket adapter, the light bulb itself, a wallswitch dimmer and an outlet adapter. One remote control can control multiple receivers, or vice versa, or any other combination, without conflict and with the combination set up or changed more intuitively than in completing systems. Appliances may be turned on or off and lights may be dimmed precisely or set flashing in unison to summon help.
US09202365B2

The invention relates to a training method for a device for controlling home automation apparatuses in a building, said method including: a display screen on which each home automation apparatus is represented by any apparatus icon or, failing that, by an apparatus-type icon combined with an apparatus name, an information reception means, characterized in that an action at a control means specific to a home automation apparatus results, at the control device, in the initiation of a step for the automatic search for and selection of the apparatus or apparatus-type icon representing said home automation apparatus.
US09202364B2

The invention relates to an alarm device for detecting and communicating environment and device-specific states, comprising a communication interface for the wireless transmission of information G to one or more destination addresses B, wherein the communication interface is designed in particular as a WLAN interface and/or as a mobile radio interface, wherein the communication interface is designed in terms of program and/or circuitry to establish and/or maintain access to the public Internet (A) in order to transmit the information (G) to one or more destination addresses (B).
US09202362B2

An infrastructure monitoring system and method that comprises multiple monitoring devices and/or multiple output devices. Each monitoring device includes at least one sensor for collecting data, a data storage device for storing the data, a processor for analyzing the data, and a communications device for transmitting and receiving data. The system may also include an operations center for controlling and receiving data from the plurality of devices.
US09202361B2

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in a portable electronic device for handling fall detection, the method comprising: detecting a suspected fall; and, preventing or suspending, at least temporarily, a triggering of a fall process based on a status and/or historical status of the electronic device, the status and/or historical status being at the time the suspected fall was detected. A portable electronic device and computer readable medium may also be provided.
US09202358B2

A method and system of video surveillance by using existing street light, traffic light and other household or outdoor light assemblies. A video camera is mounted in the light assembly and is powered through power lines of the light assembly. A converter is used to convert images captured by the video camera into Internet Protocol (IP) video data. A combiner then combines the IP video data into the power stream for transmission through the power lines. Both the converter and the combiner are housed in the light assembly. The IP video data travels through the power lines and is separated from the power stream at a collection point. The separated IP video data is transmitted wirelessly or through existing cables over the Internet for viewing.
US09202357B2

A method for generating information related to a first object based on sensor data associated with a second object includes determining a containment hierarchy between the first object and the second object. Sensor data associated with the second object is determined using the containment hierarchy. A quality of data index is determined for the sensor data associated with the second object using the containment hierarchy. Information related to the first object is generated based on the sensor data associated with the second object and the quality of data index.
US09202347B2

Provided is a slot machine capable of reducing unfairness which may result between a player who has made an investment and a player who has not made an investment and allowing a player to proceed with a game by making an investment in expectation of a jackpot at ease. Each money amount which is constant is accumulated independently of a number of bets each time betting is conducted, and upon winning a jackpot, a money amount calculated by multiplying a money amount accumulated until then by a multiplying factor based on the number of bets is provided.
US09202346B2

In one embodiment of the present invention, the player must wager a number of paylines to qualify for one of a plurality of bonus games. The highest required number of paylines qualifies the player to pay the main or most elaborate bonus game. The main or first bonus game preferably has the highest average payout per credit wagered. This provides an incentive to the player to play the highest required number of paylines. In an embodiment, any number of paylines less than the highest required number or max lines qualifies the player to play a second bonus game. The second bonus game has an average payout per credit wagered that is slightly less than the main bonus game. This allows the incentive or disparity between payouts to be set by the game designer so that the player not wagering max lines or the highest required number is not overly disadvantaged.
US09202342B2

An electronic gaming machine configured to allow play of at least two hands of video poker where the two hands intersect and share a common card between the hands. The electronic gaming machine comprises at least one display device, at least one input device, a memory and at least one computer processor configured to display at least a first hand and a second hand of at least three cards. After the at least two hands are displayed, the player is provided an opportunity to slide the cards in either or both hands to select the common card shared between the two hands to optimize the combination of cards in either or both hands.
US09202338B2

A method of gaming is disclosed wherein progressive award values may be increased in response to certain pre-established game outcomes, wager amounts or random events. The increased progressive award values may be based on a primary game or secondary game outcome. Another innovation is the resetting of progressive awards upon completion of a bonus event whether or not award actually won in said bonus event. Player tracking systems permit progressive award values to be linked to a particular player such that the progressive award values remain personal to the player. Re-setting increased progressive award values is also disclosed.
US09202332B2

A method of enabling a user to play an online fantasy sports game that provides an opportunity to play the game when the user visits a lottery site, provides a plurality of fantasy sports selections in a time window, the plurality of fantasy sports selections corresponds to an option to select a plurality of related actual sports games specified in the time window for that fantasy sport selection, receives the one or more fantasy sports selections that completes a lottery submission before the time window begins, determines a fantasy performance score for each of the plurality of corresponding actual sports games, determines which users have won the game based on each user's selections and each of the determined corresponding fantasy performance scores, and transmits an electronic message indicating one or more winners of corresponding lottery submissions when certain users are identified to have won the game.
US09202330B2

A smart portable object including a safety component and a display, wherein the display is directly or indirectly interactive between a user and the safety component. The smart portable object also relates to implementing an electronic transaction, including a display step for displaying all or some of the information that is useful to a user for the transaction and/or a step of interacting with the user, wherein the display and/or interaction step is carried out via the interactive display.
US09202323B2

A latch, or tag that can be used on luggage, baggage, trunks, rail cars, trailers or any compartment that can be opened and closed that establishes profile data that is associated with the latch or tag and is adapted to store personal data and an identifier in the latch mechanism or on the tag. The profile data can be used to establish a risk factor with the luggage or compartment and/or a person associated with the luggage or compartment.
US09202316B1

At least one environmental parameter is received from at least one environmental sensor located in or at a vehicle. Based upon the at least one environmental parameter, a determination is made as to whether an abnormal condition exists within or at a vehicle. When the abnormal condition exists, at least one vehicle component is actuated until the abnormal condition no longer exists within the vehicle.
US09202311B2

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method for accessing map tiles. The method includes receiving a first request from a computing device for a portion of a map. The portion of the map includes combined map tiles that are a combination of corresponding ones of first map tiles from a first type of map and second map tiles from a second type of map. The method further includes providing first tile version identifiers and second tile version identifiers to the computing device in response to receiving the first request. The method further includes providing instructions to the computing device for using the first tile version identifiers and the second tile version identifiers to request the combined map tiles.
US09202309B2

Methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for stereo drawing that enable the creation of stereoscopic image pairs. A stereo drawing system may present 3D shape(s) via a user interface (UI). The user can position and rotate a 3D shape, for example via direct manipulation technology such as motion tracking technology. A drawing surface may be mapped to an input device via which input strokes may be applied to the surface. The input strokes are mapped locally onto the surface, thereby allowing the user to draw onto a well-defined shape in 3D space. The stereo drawing system maps what is drawn onto the drawing surface; the geometry of the drawing surface provides depth information so that stereoscopic image pairs can be automatically generated.
US09202300B2

A method for deformation transfer of a source three-dimensional (3D) geometry to a target 3D geometry for computer-implemented blendshapes animation includes solving a linear system equation in which blendshapes deformation transfer with a virtual triangular mesh is performed, where the virtual triangular mesh having a plurality of virtual triangles is assigned to a prescribed region of an animated figure that are presented by a computer-generated mesh, and/or in which blendshapes deformation transfer is performed with Laplacian smoothing.
US09202299B2

Hint-based spot healing techniques are described. In one or more implementations, techniques are described in which a user may provide input as a hint used to automatically determine features in an image to process for application of a selected image editing operation. The user may select a feature in an image exposed for editing using touch input or another input technique. The image is then processed based on the hint to identify additional features that match a spot pattern of the user selected feature. A visual representation of feature set that includes the selected feature and the additional features is presented and an option to designate (e.g., de-select or select) features on an individual basis is provided to refine the feature set. The image editing operation is then applied to the designated features in the feature set.
US09202294B2

A method of clinical collaboration between a clinical site and an analysis site includes receiving scan data from a scanner via a first reconstruction computer system at the clinical site, implementing a reconstruction procedure on the received scan data using a second reconstruction computer system at the analysis site and configured in accordance with a reconstruction configuration parameter, the analysis site being remote from the clinical site, and transmitting data indicative of the reconstruction configuration parameter to the first reconstruction computer system to configure the first reconstruction computer system in accordance with the reconstruction configuration parameter.
US09202281B2

An integrated interactive segmentation with spatial constraint method utilizes a combination of several of the most popular online learning algorithms into one and implements a spatial constraint which defines a valid mask local to the user's given marks. Additionally, both supervised learning and statistical analysis are integrated, which are able to compensate each other. Once prediction and activation are obtained, pixel-wised multiplication is conducted to fully indicate how likely each pixel belongs to the foreground or background.
US09202276B2

Methods and systems are described for hair transplantation and other surgical procedures on a body surface. Specifically, methods and systems for computer-implemented and/or robotic hair transplantation and other surgical procedures, using time constrained image processing techniques are described. In various examples, multiple images of a body surface may be divided into overlapping sub regions for comparison. In various other cases, a percentage of an image of a body surface to be processed may be adjusted based on a time constraint. In some implementations, the output of one of these methods may be used as input for the other method.
US09202270B2

In accordance with one aspect of this invention, a pattern inspection apparatus includes an optical image acquisition unit configured to acquire optical images regarding dies of a target object to be inspected on which the dies having a same pattern formed therein is arranged; a sub-optical image division unit configured to divide an optical image of the optical images regarding a die of the dies positioned in a non-resolved pattern region into sub-optical images using non-resolved pattern region information capable of recognizing the non-resolved pattern region in which a non-resolved pattern that is not resolved is formed; a first comparison unit configured to compare the sub-optical images divided from the optical image of the same die regarding the non-resolved pattern region pixel by pixel; and a second comparison unit configured to compare optical images of the optical images regarding different dies of the dies pixel by pixel.
US09202249B1

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a data analysis system that may automatically generate memory-efficient clustered data structures, automatically analyze those clustered data structures, and provide results of the automated analysis in an optimized way to an analyst. The automated analysis of the clustered data structures (also referred to herein as data clusters) may include an automated application of various criteria or rules so as to generate a compact, human-readable analysis of the data clusters. The human-readable analyzes (also referred to herein as “summaries” or “conclusions”) of the data clusters may be organized into an interactive user interface so as to enable an analyst to quickly navigate among information associated with various data clusters and efficiently evaluate those data clusters in the context of, for example, a fraud investigation. Embodiments of the present disclosure also relate to automated scoring of the clustered data structures.
US09202243B2

A method for comparing decision options includes storing a set of decision options. The method includes determining for each decision option of the set of decision options, a plurality of factors, wherein each of the plurality of factors defines a respective metric. The method includes receiving a plurality of user preference indicators, each indicator corresponding to a respective factor of the plurality of factors. The method includes ranking the set of decision options in response to receiving a first user preference indicator. The method includes providing the user with a ranked list of the set of decision options in response to receiving the first user preference indicator. The method includes reranking the set of decision options in response to receiving a second user preference indicator and providing the user with a reranked list of the set of decision options in response to receiving the second user preference indicator.
US09202239B2

Billing usage of a cloud computing environment is described. Usage is metered of one or more resources within the cloud computing environment by one or more users. The one or more users may be associated with at least one entity. The metered usage of one or more cloud resources is converted to a revenue-generating value. The revenue-generating value is billed to the at least one entity associated with the one or more users. Revenue is collected from the at least one entity for the metered usage of one or more cloud resources. The collected revenue is shared with a plurality of parties.
US09202234B2

Globally assembled, locally interpreted conditional digital signage playlists allow a global administrator with knowledge of content provider intentions but without knowledge of local data collection methods or local customs at digital signage deployments to assemble a conditional playlist on a global basis and be ensured that content items from the playlist will be displayed at all deployments in a manner conformant with content provider intentions, local data collection methods and local customs.
US09202218B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for processing email and/or reply emails. A contact entry associated with a user issue is created. The contact entry is associated with an issue category based upon a context of the contact entry. A unique email token associated with the contact entry is generated. Emails sent to the user are generated with a reply-to address that incorporates the email token.
US09202217B2

Systems and methods to facilitate the management of multiple pay for performance advertisements. In one embodiment, a method includes: generating a user interface to show a plurality of advertisements simultaneously and to allow editing of any of the plurality of advertisements; and updating an advertisement database according to input received in the user interface. In one embodiment, the each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements is charged for according to a price bid in response to a communication lead generated from the advertisement. In one embodiment, the plurality of advertisements are selected from advertisements of more than one user.
US09202216B2

An Internet based system for executing transactions is described. The system may include transaction data, a database, a business logic manager and user profiles. A rules may also be included, and store information about system responses to modifications of the data. The user profiles may be configured to store information concerning the availability of information and displays depending upon the user.
US09202210B2

A portable storage device includes a mechanism for receiving a value of an identification parameter from a receiving device, a non-volatile memory for storing digital content, a licensing policy, and a license for viewing the digital content on the receiving device as identified by the identification parameter, and a controller that is operative, in response to the identification parameter and the license, to provide a controlled feeding of at least a portion of the digital content to the receiving device, in accordance with the licensing policy.
US09202206B2

Methods for purchasing of goods or services over the internet. A customer has a customer account set up at a bank with associated account information. The account information includes verification information for verification parameters, such as authorized computer identification, authorized delivery addresses, authorized global positioning satellite or other secure location information, authorized user identification, authorized telephone caller identification, and/or other account information. An order is placed by a user via an ordering computer which provides order information. Such order information includes verification variables used by the bank. Verification and/or authentication using one or more variables of the customer account information is used by the bank to validate the order before assuring payment to the merchant.
US09202200B2

Some embodiments provide a credibility system that computes credibility scores to quantify the credibility of different businesses and to coalesce the generated credibility scores into various indices. The indices comparatively present the credibility of a particular business relative to other businesses along one or more dimensions. Based on the indices, the system identifies trends in the credibility of a particular business. The system derives preliminary credibility for a new business for which credibility data has not yet been obtained based on credibility that has been previously established for other businesses in an index associated with the new business. The system provides automated services for monitoring credibility of a business and for generating alerts to notify the business that its credibility has reached various thresholds. The system identifies business practices that improve upon or adversely affect the credibility of a particular business.
US09202195B1

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus, system and method using an identification card with a coded frame displayed thereon that includes one or more hot corners with embedded hyperlinks or icons, activated for display when image capturing means scans the coded frame. Upon activation, consumer may access and determine the mail status for a mailed item. In some embodiments, consumer may use the activated hyperlink or icon for controlling media content pursuant to a control command associated with the one icon or hyperlink and for two-way communications with a government agency, e.g. fire and rescue, police department to communicate information to such agencies. Conversely, the government agency may publish information as media content, e.g. public service announcements, to the consumer when the coded frame is scanned and the icons or hyperlinks in any one hot corner are engaged for retrieving corresponding media content.
US09202189B2

A system and method are provided for detecting fraud and/or misuse of data in a computer environment through generating a rule for monitoring at least one of transactions and activities that are associated with the data. The rule can be generated based on one or more criteria related to the at least one of the transactions and the activities that is indicative of fraud or misuse of the data. The rule can be applied to the at least one of the transactions and the activities to determine if an event has occurred, where the event occurs if the at least one criteria has been met. A hit is stored in the event has occurred and a notification can be provided if the event has occurred. A compilation of hits related to the rule can be provided.
US09202188B2

A method for impact analysis of change requests of a computing system is provided. The method includes, identifying artifacts and tasks that are impacted by a change request on a target project based on a change request repository, an artifact dependency network and a task-artifact mapping repository. The method further includes, determining an impact analysis priority for each of the identified tasks based on associations among the change request and the identified artifacts and tasks, and a project status tracking repository. The method further includes analyzing an impact of the change request on each of the identified tasks according to the determined impact analysis priority. The method further includes obtaining requirements, requirement dependencies and requirement constraints of the project scope to identifying artifacts and tasks that are impacted by a change request on the target project of the project scope.
US09202187B2

A plant operation support system of one embodiment includes a condition setting unit, a characteristic data storage unit, and a predicting unit. The condition setting unit sets a power supply amount to be supplied from the plant to an outside, and a target recovery rate of carbon dioxide to be generated by the thermal power generation facility. The characteristic data storage unit stores characteristic data representing a capability of recovering carbon dioxide by the carbon dioxide recovery facility, which varies according to operating output of the thermal power generation facility. The predicting unit predicts a fuel consumption amount in the thermal power generation facility and a recovery amount of carbon dioxide in the carbon dioxide recovery facility based on contents set by the condition setting unit and contents stored in the characteristic data storage unit.
US09202185B2

A model is used to provide a user interface to track flows through at least one application of a computer system. The model relates the structural aspects of the at least one application to a behavioral model such as a business transaction hierarchy. The structural part of the model includes linked Vertex and Edge records. Vertex records for different instances of a component can be aggregated to provide a single vertex or node for display in a user interface. A Vertex record is linked to an Agent record and a Metric Path record. The Edge records identify tail and head components of a call. A set of Edge records can be associated with a Transaction record in the behavioral part of the model. A Transaction record can be associated with a Business Transaction Record, and a Business Transaction record can be associated with a Business Service Record.
US09202183B2

A method and system for auditing information technology used to handle financial statement accounts to secure sensitive financial information against the exploitation of vulnerabilities and ineffective configuration standards. By working with the client organization, an audit team evaluates the way the client organization controls sensitive IT systems. The audit team is able to assess the client organization's internal control processed and recommend improvements.
US09202181B2

Optimal charting patterns for charting of raw rolls/sheets from flat sheet industry are produced with a processing system and includes the steps of: (a) receiving user selected business objectives; (b) receiving user selected business preferences; (c) setting targets for user selected business preferences; (d) establishing charting constraint sets; (e) generating charting patterns based on user selected business objectives and targets for user selected business preferences; and (f) selecting charting patterns based on targets for user selected business preference using an objective function, wherein the objective function includes terms related to the user selected business objectives. Target driven charting assists users in knowing the bounds (upper and/or lower) of the values for various business objectives for an individual charting run. The analysis of bounds allows for explicit understanding of the trade-offs between various business objectives and enables users to prioritize their business goals separately for each charting batch or run.
US09202168B2

A method of identifying at least one event zone subject to an event in a substation environment of an electrical grid. Thereby, data from multiple intelligent electronic devices can be synthesized in real-time whereby an operator can be presented with a single conclusion describing the event attributes thereby helping the operator to determine the mitigation actions as needed. The method includes receiving first event related data from the intelligent electronic devices, and based on the first event related data, determining whether the at least one monitoring zone subject to the event is a primary monitoring zone of at least one of the intelligent electronic devices or a non-primary monitoring zone for all of the intelligent electronic devices using ensemble decision making and probabilistic methods. It is also presented a system for carrying out the method.
US09202165B2

The invention relates to a device for counting objects fed as bulk material, comprising a first feeding unit for pre-counting a first fixed subset of a target quantity of objects and a second feeding unit for preferably separately feeding a second subset of the target quantity of objects, wherein the device (1, 7, 10) is designed such that the quantity of objects of the first subset is transmitted to a control apparatus (5), which controls the second feeding unit such that the second subset of objects is fed enough objects that the second subset of objects corresponds to the difference between the first subset and the target quantity of objects, and the first subset of objects is poured into the second subset of objects.
US09202164B2

A dose counter includes a housing having an indicator member rotatably mounted in the housing. A drive gear is associated with the indicator member. The drive gear and a flexible support member include interfacing indexing features, with at least a portion of the support member being moveable toward and away from the drive gear. In another aspect, a movement limiter is operably engaged with the indicator member to prevent any rotation of the indicator member in response to actuations occurring between a predetermined number of actuations greater than one. In another aspect, a drive member includes a pawl portion and a biasing portion. The biasing portion is engageable with indicator member and biases the pawl outwardly relative to the indicator member along the axial direction as the drive member is moved from a preassembled position to an assembled position. Medicament devices including containers of medicament, together with methods of use and assembly, are also provided.
US09202159B2

A USB flash drive, comprising a housing comprising internal walls defining a receiving space, at least one of the internal walls having an engagement component, a memory main body disposed in the receiving space and comprising a hook slot component, and a fastener disposed in the receiving space comprising a protrusion component and a hook component, the hook component engaged with the hook slot component of the memory main body, and the protrusion component engaged with the engagement component of the housing, thereby fastening the memory main body to the housing.
US09202155B2

A bidimensional graphic matrix code 1 has a plurality of words orientated along a first direction (D1), each word (2) formed from characters (3) arranged along a line which is parallel to the first direction (D1). Each character is formed from a first dot matrix, each dot (5) having a determined level of luminosity. Delimiting elements delimit each word, the delimiting elements orientated along a second direction (D2) which is perpendicular to the first direction (D1). Each delimiting element is formed by a line of dots arranged parallel to the second direction (D2). Each delimiting element is identifiable as groups arranged in a line, each group (8) comprising dots (5) having predetermined levels of luminosity, the delimiting elements interposed between adjacent words, such that identification of a delimiting element (6) enables identification of an initial or a final part of a word (2) adjacent to the delimiting element.
US09202154B2

When a user instructs re-execution of a print job based on history information of the executed print job, even if user information of the history information of the print job does not correspond to user information of the user who instructed re-execution of the print job, if authentication of the user who instructed the re-execution of the print job succeeds, the print job is re-executed based on the history information of the print job.
US09202152B2

A communication apparatus having a wired interface configured to communicate with another communication apparatus via a wired communication includes a switching unit configured to switch between a first mode enabling a power-saving function in the wired interface and a second mode disabling the power-saving function, a processing unit configured to perform predetermined processing using data received via the wired interface from the other communication apparatus, and a limitation unit configured to limit the switching performed by the switching unit when the processing unit is performing the predetermined processing.
US09202150B2

A print control system includes: a color reference generation unit that generates color reference information defining a color reference for reproducing a color characteristic of a first output device by a second output device designated as a print destination using a first output profile representing a color reproduction characteristic of the first output device serving as a reference of color matching; a first color conversion unit that applies color conversion to image data designated as a print target using the color reference information and a second output profile representing a color reproduction characteristic of the second output device; and a transmission unit that transmits the converted image data to the second output device and requests printing.
US09202148B2

An image processing apparatus renders a stroke formed by paths. A first obtaining unit obtains shape information representing a shape of a path, a second obtaining unit obtains end-point information representing a modification method for an end point, and a third obtaining unit obtains line-width information representing a line-width of the stroke. A generation unit generates stencil data of the stroke based on the shape, the line-width, and the end-point information. The generation unit includes a first generator to generate basic stencil data by fattening the path represented by the shape information based on the line-width information, and a second generator to generate end-point stencil data based on the end-point information. The generation unit merges the end-point stencil data into the basic stencil data in generating the stencil data. The end-point information represents one of a butt, a square, and a round as the modification method for the end point.
US09202142B1

An electronic book system includes an assessment module that determines how suitable a particular book is for conversion to audio presentation format. The extent of image content is determined and compared with the amount of text in the book. Images are categorized and then weighted based on factors including image size, context of image with respect to surrounding text, and repetition of the image. An overall assessment score is generated as a metric for how suitable the book is for conversion to audio format. Image weightings are also usable to determine which images may be provided to users along with the audio version.
US09202140B2

Described herein is a technology for facilitating classification of an object. In one implementation, at least one quotient appearance manifold mapping is constructed from a sample image to untangle appearance fiber bundles. A feature characteristic of the sample image may then be extracted based on the quotient appearance manifold mapping. A classifier may further be trained based on the extracted feature, and adapted for associating the object with an object class.
US09202138B2

Various embodiments of methods and apparatus for feature point localization are disclosed. A profile model and a shape model may be applied to an object in an image to determine locations of feature points for each object component. Input may be received to move one of the feature points to a fixed location. Other ones of the feature points may be automatically adjusted to different locations based on the moved feature point.
US09202136B2

Methods and arrangements involving portable user devices such smartphones and wearable electronic devices are disclosed, as well as other devices and sensors distributed within an ambient environment. Some arrangements enable a user to perform an object recognition process in a computationally- and time-efficient manner. Other arrangements enable users and other entities to, either individually or cooperatively, register or enroll physical objects into one or more object registries on which an object recognition process can be performed. Still other arrangements enable users and other entities to, either individually or cooperatively, associate registered or enrolled objects with one or more items of metadata. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
US09202124B2

An image information acquiring apparatus of the present invention includes an acoustic wave detector having, disposed on a reception surface thereof, a plurality of elements that detect acoustic waves generated by an object corresponding to a reconstruction area; an acoustic signal generator that generates acoustic signals that are used in image reconstruction, from the detected acoustic waves; an element selector that selects elements that are used in image reconstruction; and a reconstructor that performs image reconstruction of a point of interest using acoustic signals based on the acoustic waves detected by the selected elements, the image information acquiring apparatus being configured such that, for each selected element, there exists another selected element located at a symmetrical position with respect to a point at which the reception surface is intersected by a perpendicular line drawn from the point of interest to the reception surface.
US09202123B2

A camera image processing subsystem processes image data corresponding to observations taken through a lens of focal point f using a spherical pin-hole model that maps the image data through a perspective center of a pin-hole prospective plane located within the lens onto a model sphere that is a focal length f in diameter and has its center at the perspective center of the pin-hole prospective plane. The subsystem models systematic distortion as rotation about coordinate axis of the pin-hole prospective plane, and maps all of the data, over the entire field of view of the lens, to corresponding spherical coordinates.
US09202119B2

A method for determining user liveness is provided that includes extracting, by a processor, overlapping differential signals from a first differential signal. Moreover, the method includes calculating principal component analysis coefficients for each extracted differential signal, selecting a subset of the principal component analysis coefficients for each extracted differential signal, and generating an activity result for each extracted differential signal based on the principal component analysis coefficient subset.
US09202110B2

In selected embodiments, one or more wearable mobile devices provide videos and other sensor data of one or more participants in an interaction, such as a customer service or a sales interaction between a company employee and a customer. A computerized system uses machine learning expression classifiers, temporal filters, and a machine learning function approximator to estimate the quality of the interaction. The computerized system may include a recommendation selector configured to select suggestions for improving the current interaction and/or future interactions, based on the quality estimates and the weights of the machine learning approximator.
US09202089B2

An interface device is for coupling a payment card to an electronic device so as to allow the electronic device to access the payment card. The interface device includes a housing, a switching unit movably connected to the housing, a circuit board brought to move relative to the housing by the switching unit, a card interface disposed on the circuit board, and a connecting interface to be coupled to the electronic device. The connecting interface and the circuit board cooperate to define a card slot for containing the payment card therein. The interface device is operable to switch between a retracted state, in which the connecting interface is contained in the housing, and an exposed state, in which the connecting interface protrudes from the housing.
US09202084B2

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for syndication and management of structured and unstructured data to assist institutional healthcare delivery, healthcare providers' practices, healthcare providers' group practices, collaborative academic research and decision making in healthcare, including through the utilization of medical devices and healthcare pools.
US09202079B2

A method, system, and computer-readable memory containing instructions include employing a tokenizing authority to obtain a tokenized query term that represents a query term, using the tokenized query term to perform a lookup against a tokenized term database, determining whether the tokenized query term exists in the database. The method, system, and computer-readable memory may further include returning an encryption or decryption key corresponding to an encrypted record of information associated with the query term and corresponding to the tokenized query term.
US09202069B2

The disclosure relates to accessing information, and more specifically to accessing information wherein the information is protected by access rules. In particular, the invention relates to a search system comprising integrated access request routines. The disclosure also relates to a search system and to a corresponding computer program.
US09202065B2

An owner of sensitive data is provided with a notification that the sensitive data has been located. To achieve this, the sensitive data is first modified to include one or more data strings that may appear to be suspect but are otherwise benign. These data strings, which are referred to herein as benign pseudo virus signatures (BPVSs), preferably are embedded throughout a piece of sensitive data according to a frequency distribution. When the sensitive data is examined by virus checking software, the benign pseudo virus signatures are detected as potential computer viruses. By using information associated with the signatures, the owner is identified, preferably using the assistance of an intermediary entity that acts as a registry for the BPVSs. Once the owner is identified, a notification is provided to the owner that the sensitive data has been located. Appropriate remedial action can then be taken.
US09202060B2

The present invention relates to a method for a self-boot of an electronic device, wherein an external component is accessible through an interface of the electronic device (101), the method comprising, determining a boot mode for booting the electronic device, wherein the determined boot mode is defined as a secure boot mode; disabling the interface, thereby prohibiting access to the component through the interface, thereby defining a secure state of the electronic device; loading a first code comprising a sequence of executable instructions to be executed for booting the electronic device; loading a second code, the second code being encrypted; and decrypting the second code and executing the second code, thereby enabling the interface, and switching the electronic device from the secure state to a debugging state.
US09202058B1

Techniques to perform root volume encryption in a para-virtualized virtual machine are described. A disk layout supports the root volume encryption, set key flow, and normal boot flow of the para-virtualized virtual machine. An implementation for performing encryption for a cloud-based service is disclosed.
US09202054B1

Various techniques for exploit detection based on heap spray detection are disclosed. In some embodiments, exploit detection based on heap spray detection includes executing a program in a virtual environment, monitoring a heap of a memory while executing the program in the virtual environment, and detecting a potential heap spray attack based on detecting a burst allocation of a first plurality of blocks in the heap of the memory, in which each of the first plurality of blocks is stored in the predefined address range of the memory.
US09202053B1

Emulation software executes upon an operating system of a computer and creates an emulated computer. Bootstrapping code is read into this emulated computer from a sector (such as a master boot record) of a mass storage device. Instructions in the bootstrapping code are executed by an instruction emulator (also using an emulated CPU, emulated memory and an emulated hard disk) and these instructions and behavior are collected as each instruction executes. Access to the actual hard disk may be allowed. The collected information is then compared to a virus signature or behavior rules indicating malware and a conclusion is drawn as to whether the bootstrapping code includes malicious software.
US09202050B1

A computer-implemented method for detecting malicious files may include determining that a file on a client system may be subject to a security assessment, generating an initial fingerprint of the file, the generation of the initial fingerprint excluding at least part of the file, sending the initial fingerprint to a server and receiving a response from the server including an indication that the initial fingerprint matches at least one known malicious file but that the file from which the initial fingerprint was generated may not match the malicious file, generating an additional hash of the file on the client system based at least in part on the part of the file excluded in the generation of the initial fingerprint, sending the additional hash to the server, and receiving a response indicating that the file on the client system is malicious. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09202048B2

A method for analyzing a computing system includes the steps of at a first moment in time, scanning the resources of the computing system for indications of malware, at a second moment in time scanning the resources of the computing system for indications of malware and determining the system executable objects loaded on the computing system, determining malware system changes, identifying a relationship between the malware system changes and the system executable objects loaded on the computing system, and identifying as suspected malware the system executable objects loaded on the computing system which have a relationship with the malware system changes. The malware system changes include differences between the results of scanning the resources of the computing system for indications of malware at the second and first moment of time.
US09202044B2

Disclosed is a system and method for retrofitting defensive technology that transforms potentially dangerous computer programs into safe programs. The present disclosure involves applying software rewriting and/or randomization algorithms to monitored application launches and/or API calls. The present disclosure provides systems and methods for understanding and manipulating how untrusted software will behave upon execution, thereby thwarting any chance the untrusted software could launch and/or institute a weaponized malicious software attack. The present disclosure can apply a light-weight binary rewriting and in-lining system to tame and secure untrusted binary programs. The disclosed systems and methods can also implement binary stirring by imbuing native code of software with the ability to self-randomize its instruction addresses each time it is launched.
US09202036B2

A notebook computer includes a main body and a display device. The main body includes a first touch layer sensing a touch track of a user, a memory pre-storing an authorizing track, and a processor connected between the first touch layer and the memory. The processor compares the touch track with the authorizing track to determine if the user is authorized. The display device is jointed to be pivoted to the main body, wherein the display device is turn on when the user is authorized.
US09202028B2

A method of authenticating users to reduce transaction risks includes indicating a desire to conduct a transaction and determining whether the transaction requires access to protected resources. Moreover, the method determines whether inputted information is known, determines a state of a communications device when the inputted information is known, and transmits a biometric authentication request from a server to an authentication system when the state of the communications device is enrolled. Additionally, the method includes validating the communications device, capturing biometric authentication data in accordance with a biometric authentication data capture request with the communications device, biometrically authenticating the user, generating a one-time pass-phrase and storing the one-time pass-phrase on the authentication system when the user is authenticated, comparing the transmitted one-time pass-phrase against the stored one-time pass-phrase, and granting access to the protected resources when the transmitted and stored one-time pass-phrases match.
US09202023B2

The present invention discloses a kind of management method for digital rights, wherein, it comprises the following steps: Step S1: the original electronic file is encrypted on the server-side, and in the meantime, the flow code, the file unique identifier, the authorization locations and verification information is injected; Step S2: obtaining flow codes, file identifier, authorization locations and verification information from the encrypted file, and then conducting integrality verification thereon; step S3: After it is verified that there is no error, the related information is sent to the authorization server; S4: after receiving the injection information about the encrypted file, the authorization server conducting integrality verification firstly, then judging the type of encryption file according to the flow code, and generating an authorization file and sending the same according to the type; Step S5: a decryption tool obtaining the authorization file to conducting integrality verification on the authorization information, and then decrypting, parsing, using same under the right control. By means of the above method of the present invention, a user can self-define the file encryption intensity under the condition of no changing or very little changing of an encryption/decryption tool.
US09202017B2

A first network device is configured to receive information regarding a quality of service application that is part of an application stored on a device. The first network device is configured to further receive a request for a network to apply the level of quality service to the application stored on the device. The first network device is configured to further send an authorization request to the second network device. The first network device is configured to further receive an authorization result from the second network device. The first network device is configured send a first message to a third network device and receiving a response from the third network device that the level of quality of service is applied to the information; and send a message to the provider that the level of quality of service is applied to the information.
US09202014B2

The Application of equations of state to experimental and literature data permits the formation of a model and phase diagram(s) that show under what conditions polyethylene is likely to precipitate out of a high pressure solution of polyethylene in supercritical ethylene. This then permits a better definition to run a high pressure reactor to reduce the likelihood of phase separation, loss of cooling and potentially decomposition of the reactor contents.
US09202009B2

The present invention is to present a diagnostic support apparatus for diabetes including a diagnostic support information generating unit which generates diagnostic support information of a patient based on a biological model for reproducing a pseudo-response which simulates a result of a glucose tolerance test for the patient. The biological model comprises a plurality of simulated organ blocks which are configured in such manner that inflow and outflow of glucose and/or inflow and outflow of insulin are reciprocally produced between each of the simulated organ blocks. The plurality of the simulated organ blocks respectively calculate at least one of a cumulative quantity and a concentration of glucose and/or at least one of a cumulative quantity and a concentration of insulin in the respective simulated organ blocks, based on a quantity of inflow and outflow of glucose and/or a quantity of inflow and outflow of insulin in the respective simulated organ blocks.
US09202006B1

The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for visualization in an electronic design. The method may include providing an electronic design and receiving a selection of at least one pin associated with the electronic design at a first graphical user interface. The method may further include generating a stub for each of the selected pins at the first graphical user interface. The method may also include providing a second graphical user interface configured to allow for the assignment of a signal name to each stub. The method may include extending the stub for each of the selected pins to reach a target destination associated with the electronic design. The method may also include displaying the signal name for each stub on at least one of the first graphical user interface and the second graphical user interface.
US09202003B2

Methods and apparatus for a gate-length biasing methodology for optimizing integrated digital circuits are described. The gate-length biasing methodology that changes a nominal gate-length of a transistor to a biased gate-length, where the biased gate-length includes a bias length that is small compared to the nominal gate-length.
US09202002B2

A system for designing Network-on-Chip interconnect arrangements includes a Network-on-Chip backbone with a plurality of backbone ports and a set of functional clusters of aggregated IPs providing respective sets of System-on-Chip functions. The functional clusters include respective sub-networks attachable to any of the backbone ports and to any other functional cluster in the set of functional clusters independently of the source map of the Network-on-Chip backbone.
US09201996B2

A behavioral synthesis apparatus includes a determination unit that determines whether or not a loop description should be converted into a pipeline, and a synthesis unit that performs behavioral synthesis while setting a stricter delay constraint for a loop description that is converted into a pipeline than a loop description that is not converted into a pipeline.
US09201994B1

Disclosed below are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for performing power analysis during the design and verification of a circuit. Certain exemplary embodiments include user interfaces and software infrastructures that provide a flexible and powerful environment for performing power analysis. For example, embodiments of the disclosed technology can be used to construct complex and targeted power queries that quickly provide a designer with power information during a circuit design process. The disclosed methods can be implemented by a software tool (e.g., a power analysis tool or other EDA tool) that computes and reports power characteristics in a circuit design (e.g., a system-on-a-chip design or other integrated design).
US09201989B2

Embodiments include a method, system, and computer program product for performing time alignments. The method includes receiving a specification request for generating a set of target time-series data from a set of source time-series data and obtaining specification information relating to the set of target time-series data and relating to the set of source time-series data. The specification also includes time intervals between data values. The method also includes converting the set of source time-series data to the set of target time-series data, wherein said converting includes calculating a set of cubic-spline interpolation constants.
US09201985B2

Various embodiments of systems and methods for context aware annotations are described herein. A user request is received to visualize a dataset according to a user selected visualization type. A visualization of the dataset is created according to the user selected visualization type and the created visualization is displayed on the computer screen. The context information of each region of the displayed visualization is compared with the context information stored in annotations stored in the memory. Based on the comparison, a determination is made whether the context information stored in any of the annotations matches with the context information of any of the regions. The annotation is displayed on the region of the visualization, which has the same context information. In one embodiment, a list of annotations is displayed to the user. The information related to a selected annotation from the list of annotations is displayed to the user.
US09201979B2

The present application discloses improved capabilities for aggregating user behavioral data across multiple wireless operators and delivering content to a mobile communication facility based on that aggregation, among other factors.
US09201974B2

An approach is provided for incorporating media elements from content items into associated locations presented by a location-based view. A media element platform determines one or more locations associated with at least one location-based view. The media element platform further determines one or more content items associated with the one or more locations. The media element platform also processes the one or more content items to extract one or more media elements. The media element platform further causes a presentation of the one or more media elements in the at least one location-based view.
US09201971B1

A method includes determining a plurality of social objects, each social object having a link to a link object on a network. The method further includes applying a filter to the determined social objects in order to determine a plurality of filtered social objects, retrieving a copy of each of the link objects linked to by the plurality of filtered social objects, and generating, using the retrieved copies of the link objects linked to by the plurality of filtered social objects, a matrix comprising a plurality of vectors. The method further includes generating a singular value representation of the matrix by performing Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) on the matrix and storing the singular value representation of the matrix in one or more memory units.
US09201967B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for item categorizer. The item categorizer is configured to parse, in at least one computing device, at least a plurality of product descriptions of a like item category for identifying a plurality of keywords with regard to the like item category. Furthermore, the item categorizer selects a plurality of subsets of keywords from the plurality of keywords, each subset of keywords comprises a unique combination of the plurality of keywords with respect to each other. Moreover, the item categorizer is configured to generate a respective rule for each corresponding subset of keywords, wherein an application of each respective rule specifies a respective binary result depending upon whether the corresponding subset of keywords is included in a seller product description.
US09201962B2

Techniques for identifying and linking related content are provided. A principal content network node is received having principal-defined content organized around a principal-defined topic. Local content of the principal is also acquired. The principal-defined content and the local content are evaluated to derive relationships associated with principal identities, principal reputations, and the principal-defined topic. A content network is established that links the principal content network node to other content network nodes having the local content; the links are maintained in response to the relationships.
US09201961B2

Supporting of web multitasking via a single web browser is important, especially for small sized communication device where a displayed web browser is a precious resource. The supporting of the web multitasking improves efficiency for user to utilize the web browser for daily works, for example, while a person accessing a streaming video in a storage space across world wide web, the person also needs to handle an emergent incoming email. The supporting of the web multitasking is also an important step towards creating a web based computer user work environment for any type of operating system.
US09201953B2

A method for filtering user information takes into account not only specific keywords in the user information, but also related user-characteristic data (e.g., user activity data), and allows targeted user characteristics to be determined from multiple aspects of user activities. In one aspect, the disclosed method adopts different filtering schemes for different types of targeted users to improve the recognition accuracy with respect to the target user information. The method determines a suitable filtering scheme using a correspondence relationship between the filtering scheme and keywords and user-characteristic data. The method uses modeling of sample users and multiple candidate filtering schemes to formulate targeted filtering scheme. An apparatus for implementing the method is also disclosed.
US09201949B2

A system for index searching comprises a first index, a second index, a processor, and a memory. The processor is configured to determine, using a Bloom filter for the second index of fingerprints, whether the Bloom filter indicates that an entry corresponding to a segment has been previously stored in the second index. The processor is further configured to, in the event that the Bloom filter indicates that an entry corresponding to the segment has been previously stored in the second index, retrieve a second index entry associated with the segment that has been previously stored. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.
US09201945B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for training recognition canonical representations corresponding to named-entity phrases in a second natural language based on translating a set of allowable expressions with canonical representations from a first natural language, which may be generated by expanding a context-free grammar for the allowable expressions for the first natural language.
US09201943B2

Systems and programs for improving the efficiency of a sorting process in a computer system are disclosed. Data is provided in an input file external to the central processing unit of the computer system. In one embodiment, the implemented process involves investigating the contents of the input file in order to identify presorted portions thereof; incorporating the identified presorted portions of the input file into a second file external to the central processing unit, performing this step by rearranging directory information, without physically transferring the presorted portions from the input file. In sort processes involving both a string generation phase and a merge phase, the techniques described may be used in either or both phases, as well as in any output phase. Rearranging directory information rather than physically transferring data provides for greater efficiency in disk I/O.
US09201941B1

In some embodiments, a method for detecting a shared data element comprises providing a first feature of a first data element associated with a first storage device, detecting a second feature of a second data element associated with a second storage device, wherein the second feature is the same as the first feature, providing a challenge to a remote device associated with the second storage device, receiving a response to the challenge, providing the challenge to a second remote device via a digital network, receiving a correct response via the digital network, wherein the correct response includes a hash that has been calculated, determining whether the response is acceptable, wherein determining whether the response is acceptable includes determining whether the response is compatible with the correct response, and generating a reference to the first data element, if it is determined that the response is acceptable.
US09201933B2

Systems and methods of the present disclosure facilitate managing information technology (IT) infrastructure. The system can include a server configured to retrieve data records for first and second IT assets, each asset comprising at least one of a computing device, a software application, an end user, a business unit, a piece of networking hardware, or an agreement for an IT service. The server can select a template comprising a relationship between the first and second data records. The system can include a link generator configured to generate a different relationship, absent from the template, between the first and second data records. The system can include a search engine configured to identify third and fourth IT assets that satisfy the second relationship, determine an indices of completeness for the third and fourth IT assets, and rank the third and fourth IT assets based on the indices to generate an ordered list.
US09201932B2

A method and apparatus are disclosed that identify a motor vehicle operation and whether a driver is operating a mobile device. One example of operation may include a method that includes receiving vehicle data based on active operation of a vehicle and compiling a candidate driver identification profile (DIP) based on the received vehicle data. The method may also include comparing the candidate DIP to a pre-stored DIP and determining a match between the candidate DIP and the pre-stored DIP. The method may also include applying a restriction to a mobile station operated by a driver of the vehicle responsive to the match determination.
US09201927B1

System and methods are disclosed for quantitatively assessing information in natural language contents related to an object name, or a concept or topic name, and for determining the relevance between a text content and one or more concepts or topics. The methods include identifying the grammatical or semantic attributes and other contextual information of terms in the text content, and retrieving an object-specific dataset related to the object name, or an equivalent to a concept or a topic name. The data set includes property names and association-strength values. The methods further include matching the terms in the text content with the property terms in the dataset, and calculating a score as a quantitative measure of the relevance between the text content and the concept or topic.
US09201924B1

A server system having one or more processors and memory receives a first query from a requestor and obtains a first query-processing plan including a first plurality of query-processing steps for processing the query. Supported query-processing steps comprise query-processing steps in a set of supported query-processing steps, and unsupported query-processing steps comprise query-processing steps not in the set of supported query-processing steps. In accordance with a determination that the first plurality of query-processing steps includes one or more of the supported query-processing steps and one or more unsupported query-processing steps including a respective unsupported query-processing step, the server system performs the one or more supported query-processing steps to produce intermediate results and generates a first response to the first query that includes the intermediate results and a representation of the respective unsupported query-processing step. The server system transmits the first response to the requestor.
US09201923B2

Embodiments of a configurable content optimizer for use in dialog systems are described. In one embodiment, the content optimizer is a configurable component that acts as an intermediary between a dialog management module and a knowledge management module of a dialog system during the query process. The content optimizer module makes extensive use of the system ontology and organizes items returned by the knowledge base and makes adjustments to the query so that a reasonable number of responses are returned. Each query is broken down into a number of constraints, the constraints are characterized by type, and adjustments are made by strategies that include relaxing or tightening constraints in the query. Generic strategies for the potential adjustments are represented in a configurable manner so that the content optimizing module can be easily applied to new domains.
US09201916B2

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method, system and computer readable medium for providing a scalable bio-informatics sequence search on cloud. The method comprises the steps of partitioning a genome data into a plurality of datasets and storing the plurality of data sets in a database. Receiving at least one sequence search request input and searching for a genome sequence in the database corresponding to the search request input and scaling of the sequence search based on the sequence search request input.
US09201910B2

Systems and methods of dynamically processing an event using an extensible data model are disclosed. One embodiment includes, specifying attributes of the event in a data model; the data model being extensible to add properties to the event as the dataset is streamed from the source to the sink.
US09201907B2

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object. These mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object can allow for centralized management of a team in association with an object. For example, members of the team may be automatically identified (e.g. without manual intervention) for receiving notifications in association with an object.
US09201903B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for processing queries made up of images. In one aspect, a method includes indexing images by image descriptors. The method further includes associating descriptive n-grams with the images. In another aspect, a method includes receiving a query, identifying text describing the query, and performing a search according to the text identified for the query.
US09201902B2

A technique for searching for an image includes calculating wavelet features of a plurality of images. A keyword included in radiographic interpretation information is extracted for each of the stored images. The calculated wavelet features and the extracted keywords are stored in association with the respective stored images. A newly taken image is acquired and a wavelet feature of the acquired image is calculated. A keyword included in radiographic interpretation information corresponding to the acquired image is extracted and a search for similar radiographic interpretation information from the stored keywords is performed. A wavelet feature-based spatial distance between the acquired image and each of images corresponding to the radiographic interpretation information found is calculated. A search result of any images for which the calculated wavelet feature-based spatial distance is shorter than a predetermined value is output, in ascending order of the calculated wavelet feature-based spatial distance.
US09201891B2

Duplicate storage elimination is performed in units of block data generated by dividing a data stream into arbitrary-sized blocks. Further, sub-block data is generated by further dividing the block data into a plurality of pieces of data, and sub-address data based on the data content of each of the pieces of sub-block data is stored in a predetermined storage device. As such, duplicate storage elimination is also performed in sub-block data units based on the sub-address data.
US09201882B2

A device may include a network interface for communicating with another device over a network, a storage unit to store content, and a processor. The processor may be configured to receive a request from a user to change usable storage space on the storage unit, send a message that describes the request to a service provider, receive a reply allowing the user to change the usable storage space from the service provider, provide at least one option to the user in response to the reply, receive information from the user selecting a first one of the at least one option, and set a size of the usable storage space to a value corresponding to the first option.
US09201877B1

Techniques allow for applying a retention policy to a composite object. For each composite object type there is a description of the composite object structure and rules that determine how the retention policy is to be applied. A retention application can review the descriptions and rules and, based on the review, apply the appropriate retention policy to each of the objects that make up the composite object.
US09201874B2

A nominal type framework can be configured to efficiently correlate different nominal types together based on a minimum set of common type shapes or structures. In one implementation, a developer identifies a number of different nominal types of interest (source types), and identifies the minimum set of common type shapes to be accessed by an application program. The minimum set of common type shapes can then be used to create an intermediate type (target type) to which each of the other different source types can be mapped. For example, one or more proxies can be created that map shapes of the one or more source types to corresponding shapes of the created target type. The application program created by the developer, in turn, can access, operate on, or otherwise use the mapped data of each different source type through a single target type.
US09201866B2

Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for determining an overall mood score of a document. For example, the document is received from a computer-readable medium. A text segment in a document is identified to be indicative of a mood of the document. The text segment is mapped to a mood scale among a predetermined set of mood scales. A mood weight associated with the mood scale for the text segment is generated. An overall mood score of the document is determined based at least in part on the mood weight.
US09201865B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing automated assistance for a user by receiving a user request for assistance and determining semantics of the user request and identifying at least one domain, at least one task, and at least one parameter for the user request. The systems and methods can include searching a semantic database on the Internet for the at least one matching domain, task, and parameter and responding to the user request.
US09201864B2

Disclosed herein is a method and system for producing a term association vector space on demand for a client given a document set in electronic form. The method extracts terms from the document set, stripping out words that do not convey meaning and adding important phrases within the context of the document set to the terms. Associations between terms are calculated, subjected to further analytical processes, and collected in a matrix, whose rows are vectors defining the vector space. Additional associational data can be added by matrix arithmetic, and documents can be rendered as further vectors in the space.
US09201858B2

First, second, and third sets of spreadsheet cells are defined in a display, the first and second sets being separated by a first boundary having a selected orientation, the second and third sets being separated by a second boundary having the selected orientation. A selected scrolling function is disabled within selected sets among the first, second and third sets of cells in accordance with an alternating pattern.
US09201837B2

A system comprising a unified interconnect network, a plurality of process memory modules, and a plurality of processor modules configured to share access to the memory modules via the unified interconnect network. Data may be communicated between a plurality of processor modules and a plurality of shared resource pools via a unified interconnect network, wherein the communications comprise a protocol that is common to all resource pools, and wherein each resource pool comprises a plurality of resource modules each configured to perform a common function. Further, a network interface controller (NIC) module may be configured to receive data from a plurality of processor modules via a unified interconnect network, and provide core network connectivity to the processor modules.
US09201836B2

A social graph, which records the actions of users in a social networking system platform, may be modeled at least in part as a collection of claims that may be exported to other systems, such as third party publishers, based on permissions granted by users and entities. The social networking system may also act as a publisher, enabling web applications and mobile applications to publish claims to a variety of audiences based on the permissions granted by users and entities, or agents of the social networking system. Permissions may be granted based on agreed-upon terms of service between agents, agents and publishers, agents and the social networking system platform, and publishers and the social networking system.
US09201835B2

Methods and apparatus for aggregating communication channels. In one exemplary embodiment an aggregation device is required only on one side of the set of communication channels being aggregated. Advantageously, no modifications to the source and/or destination of data transfers are required for operation of the invention. In one embodiment utilized for data transfers in the downstream direction, object download requests can be fulfilled by sending a sequence of partial download requests through the set of communication channels being aggregated, and forwarding the resulting partial data objects received to the original requester in the proper order. In another embodiment utilized for upstream data transfers, traffic is bifurcated to travel along a set of communication channels, and the bifurcated traffic is reassembled either at the network layer or the transport layer.
US09201832B2

The disclosure provides an electronic device with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface and a method for starting USB communication for a USB interface, so as to solve the problem that a mobile phone terminal device can be damaged easily when a charger shares one interface with USB communication in the conventional art. A control pin of the control circuit of the device is connected with a VCHG pin of a power management chip; an output pin of the control circuit is connected with a USB_VBUS pin of a USB interface chip; a power pin of the control circuit is connected with a fixed voltage input end which inputs a high level; and the control circuit is configured to output a fixed voltage from the output pin of the control circuit when detecting that the voltage of the control pin is more than a set threshold and output a low level from the output pin of the control circuit when detecting that the voltage of the control pin is less than the set threshold. The charging voltage (VCHG) of the handheld terminal product is only used as the control signal which is isolated from the voltage output to the USB_VBUS pin, so that the damage to the device is avoided.
US09201831B2

A method and system for communicating data between two devices are described herein. The method detects an electrical signal of a first protocol from a first device in a repeater, wherein the first protocol comprises single-ended signaling. The method also determines the speed of the electrical signal. Additionally, the method converts the electrical signal of the first protocol into an electrical signal of a second protocol based on the speed of the electrical signal. The second protocol comprises differential signaling. Furthermore, the method sends the electrical signal of the second protocol to a second device. In addition, the method stops the electrical signal of the second protocol to the second device when the electrical signal of the second protocol indicates an end of data flow.
US09201829B2

A tracking buffer apparatus is disclosed. A tracking buffer apparatus includes lookup logic configured to locate entries having a transaction identifier corresponding to a received request. The lookup logic is configured to determine which of the entries having the same transaction identifier has a highest priority and thus cause a corresponding entry from a data buffer to be provided. When information is written into the tracking buffer, write logic writes a corresponding transaction identifier to the first free entry. The write logic also writes priority information in the entry based on other entries having the same transaction identifier. The entry currently being written may be assigned a lower priority than all other entries having the same transaction identifier. The priority information for entries having a common transaction identifier with one currently being read are updated responsive to the read operation.
US09201825B1

A flash controller includes a PCIe interface, a DMA engine module, a memory control module, and a flash control module. The PCIe interface communicates with a host device and receives first data from the host device. The first data is formatted using a native PCIe protocol and includes a first key-value pair that is to be stored in first memory. The first memory includes flash memory. The first key-value pair includes a first unique number and the first data. The PCIe interface receives second data from the first memory and transmits the second data from the host device. The second data is formatted using the native PCIe protocol and includes a second key-value pair. The second key-value pair includes a second unique number and the second data. The DMA engine module transfers the first and second data between the PCIe interface, the first memory and second memory.
US09201817B2

The present invention relates to a method for allocating addresses to data buffers in a distributed buffer chipset, in which a memory controller informs a central buffer of the beginning of address allocation through a Command/Address channel (CA), and then the central buffer informs through a data control channel all the data buffers of preparing for receiving address parameters through respective data channels, and in this way, each data buffer receives and latches the respective address parameter from the memory controller through the respective data, thus avoiding the defect in the prior art that the size of the data buffer and the size of the entire distributed buffer chipset is bigger as several address pins need to be additionally configured in each data buffer to allocate the respective address parameter.
US09201810B2

Eviction priority technologies provide for the prioritized eviction of memory pages from a first memory, such as a DRAM, in a mobile computing device that have been copied from a second memory, such as flash memory. Eviction priority is based on eviction costs for the memory pages. The eviction cost for a page is based on page-in costs, page-out costs, the priority of a process associated with the page, page access probability and combinations thereof. Page-in costs include read costs, fixup costs and decompression costs, and page-out costs include write-back costs and compression costs. Page lists allow for the sorting of pages by page type (e.g., read only, read/write) and can be used to keep track of eviction costs. Pages are evicted from the first memory in order of increasing eviction cost.
US09201806B2

In a particular embodiment, a method of anticipatorily loading a page of memory is provided. The method may include, during execution of first program code using a first page of memory, collecting data for at least one attribute of the first page of memory, including collecting data about at least one next page of memory that interacts with the first page of memory for a historical topology attribute of the first page of memory. The method may also include, during execution of second program code using the first page of memory, determining a second page of memory to anticipatorily load based on the historical topology attribute of the first page of memory.
US09201804B1

A multi-queue cache is configured with an initial configuration, where the initial configuration includes one or more queues for storing data items. Each of the one or more queues has an initial size. Thereafter, the multi-queue cache is operated according to a multi-queue cache replacement algorithm. During operation, access patterns for the multi-queue cache are analyzed. Based on the access patterns, an updated configuration for the multi-queue cache is determined. Thereafter, the configuration of the multi-queue cache is modified during operation. The modifying includes adjusting the size of at least one of the one or more queues according to the determined updated configuration for the multi-queue cache.
US09201790B2

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods of matching data rates. In a particular embodiment, a device includes a first data bus and a controller having a first output coupled to the first data bus to provide data to the first data bus. The device also includes a first memory of a first type coupled to the first data bus. The first memory may have a first input to receive data from the controller via the first data bus. The device also includes logic coupled to the first data bus. The logic may have a second input coupled to the first data bus to receive data from the controller via the first data bus. The device may also include a second data bus coupled to the logic. The logic may have a second output coupled to the second data bus to provide data to the second data bus. The logic may also include a second memory of a second type coupled to the second data bus. The second memory may have a third input to selectively receive data from the logic via the second data bus. The logic may be adapted to receive data and select the first memory or the second memory to store data.
US09201787B2

A computing system a storage device and a file system. The storage device includes a storage area having flash memory. The file system is configured to divide the storage area into multiple zones, multiple sections and multiple blocks, and to write a log in each block. The file system includes a block allocation module. The block allocation module is configured to allocate a target block, in which a log is to be written, by a continuous block allocation method according to which a block having a continuous address with a most recently selected block is set as the target block. The block allocation module is further configured to find a free section from the multiple sections when it is not possible to allocate the target block by the continuous block allocation method, and to set a block in the found free section as the target block.
US09201776B1

System, method, and non-transitory medium for utilizing divergent routes identified in runs of test scenarios to manipulate a test scenario template, including: identifying runs of test scenarios run by users belonging to the different organizations; receiving a run of a test scenario instantiated from a first test scenario template defining a first template route that instantiations of the first test scenario template are supposed to follow; identifying that the run follows a divergent route that diverges from the first template route; storing the divergent route in a database; receiving a second template route belonging to a second test scenario template; counting number of divergent routes in the database that are similar to the second template route; and manipulating the second test scenario template according to the similar divergent routes.
US09201774B1

System, method, and non-transitory medium for generating a test scenario template from data collected from users running test scenarios to test vendor-customized packaged application modules. Analysis by a module analyzer of descriptions of vendor-customized packaged application modules is utilized to identify similar customizations to the modules. Additionally, a component analyzer identifies, based on the similar customizations, similar components in the modules. Given a specific run of a test scenario run to test a second instance of a certain module, and a description of similar components that include an indication of at least one component of the second instance that is similar to at least one component of a first instance of the certain module, a template generator may generate a test scenario template for testing the first instance. A data cleaner may be used to remove from the generated test scenario template proprietary data.
US09201773B1

Systems, methods, and non-transitory medium for generating a test scenario template based on similarity between descriptions associated with different organizations. A monitoring module is used to monitor users and to identify runs of test scenarios run on software systems belonging to the different organizations. A processor receives a description of a certain organization (e.g., setup files) and descriptions of the different organizations and identifies, based on similarity between the certain description and the descriptions, organizations that are similar to the certain organization. The processor also identifies a run of a specific test scenario that is utilized by one or more of the organizations. A template generator is used to generate the test scenario template based on the run of the specific test scenario. Additionally, a data cleaner is used to remove from the test scenario template proprietary data associated with at least one of the different organizations.
US09201767B1

A system and method for implementing a testing framework including a testing unit that receives test instructions; generates a mock consumer request for a web service from a web server and a mock provider response based on the test instructions; transmits the mock consumer request to a tested unit; receives a modified consumer request from the tested unit; and transmit the mock provider response to the tested unit.
US09201752B2

A method includes receiving at a computing system empirical data related to one or more information technology entities. The method further includes receiving at the computing system one or more user experience indicators, the user experience indicators indicative of a user's experience using a computer application. The method further includes correlating by the computing system the empirical data with the one or more user experience indicators to determine a quality of service delivered to a user for a plurality of time periods. The method further includes determining by the computing system, based on the correlation, whether one or more issues with one of the one or more information technology entities are related to the quality of service delivered to the user.
US09201751B1

Technologies are described for implementing a default migration mechanism in a storage system containing multiple tiers of storage with each tier having different cost and performance parameters. Data that is accessed more frequently can be migrated toward higher performance storage tiers while data that is accessed less frequently can be migrated towards lower performance storage tiers. Default migration behavior can be overridden by user-specified values for tier age residency policy, demotion policy, tier occupancy of volumes, and tier assignment. Data migration can be paused by the user and resumed by the user.
US09201746B2

A method for of accelerating database log hardening using specific per block data protection and damage control is provided. A per write specification is implemented to determine when database log data is mirrored synchronously or asynchronously. Synchronous mirroring is performed upon reaching a predetermined threshold, based on one or more parameters such as transaction value, both individual and cumulative, and the quantity of data written since the last synchronous mirroring. As data is added to the database log, it is written specifying asynchronous mirroring to the primary log file. Once a threshold is met, a write specifying synchronous mirroring is performed to both the primary and secondary log files, thereby hardening the log file in both primary and secondary storage subsystem.
US09201743B2

This backup SIP server (BSS) comprises: means (LMM) for detecting whether an Internet protocol link is not working, and enabling the use of a backup SIP signaling link to the main site via a SIP gateway and a public telephone network when the Internet protocol link is not working; means for transferring SIP signaling information on this backup link; means for, when receiving a registration request from a terminal of the remote site while the Internet protocol link is not working, registering this terminal locally and forwarding the registration request to the main site via the backup link; means (PQM) for storing policies defining what services, supplied by the main SIP server, are compatible with said backup SIP signaling link, and for altering the content of at least one field in each SIP signaling message addressed to the main SIP server before transferring this SIP signaling message on the backup link, this content being altered according to said policies.
US09201737B1

A computer readable medium and method for providing checkpointing to Windows application groups. The checkpointing may be triggered asynchronously using Asynchronous Procedure Calls. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system. The computer-executable instructions may be for reviewing one or more command line arguments to determine whether to start at least one of the application groups, and when determining to start the at least one of the application groups, creating a process table in a shared memory to store information about each process of the at least one of the application groups. Further, the instructions may be for registering with a kernel module to create an application group barrier, creating a named pipe for applications of the application group to register and unregister, triggering a checkpoint thread to initiate an application group checkpoint; and launching an initial application of the applications of the application group.
US09201735B1

Embodiments are directed towards managing the distribution of tasks in a storage system. An execution path for tasks may be generated based on the type of the task and characteristics of the storage system such that the execution path includes storage computers in a storage system. The tasks may be provided to each storage computer in the execution path. A working set of intermediate results may be generated on the storage computer in the execution path. If there is more than one storage computer in the execution path, working sets may be iteratively communicated to a next storage computer in the execution path such that the next storage computer employs a previously generated working set to generate a next working set until each storage computer in the execution path has been employed to generate a working set. The results may be stored on the storage computers.
US09201731B2

Systems and techniques relating to fault tolerant data storage in storage devices, such as storage devices that employ Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) and/or storage devices that employ solid state memory, include a method, in some implementations, including: receiving, at a storage controller, a data request for a storage device; reading, in response to the data request, data from discrete units of storage in the storage device, the data comprising stored data read from two or more of the discrete units of storage and parity data read from at least one of the discrete units of storage; detecting an error in the stored data from the reading; and recovering stored data for at least one of the discrete units of storage using the parity data and the stored data read from one or more remaining ones of the two or more of the discrete units of storage.
US09201712B2

Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for selecting interprocess communication mechanism. In one aspect, the system collects information about resources used by two or more processes involved in an interprocess communication in which a first process can transfer data to a second process using one of a synchronous and asynchronous data transfer methods; analyzes the collected information to determine which data transfer method achieves at least one of minimizing time of the data transfer between processes, maximizing utilization of resources used for the data transfer, minimizing standstill time during the data transfer, minimizing effect of other processes of the operating system on the data transfer; and based on the determination, selects one of the synchronous or asynchronous method of interprocess communication to transfer the data between the first and second processes.
US09201710B1

A software and implementable system which provides bi-directional communication between engineering, through software add-ins, and other applications within an ERP system. Such a system provides efficiency enhancements and provides improved data flow and communication between engineering and others. While not required, the system is well suited for application in association with manufacturing of equipment, and in particular, manufacturing of custom equipment.
US09201707B2

A distributed system includes: a plurality of ordinary nodes provided with reduced-power states having different times of recovery to a normal operating state; and a management node for assigning a job to an ordinary node for carrying out the job. The management node has: node select means for selecting an ordinary node from ordinary nodes each put in one of the reduced-power states, assigning a job to the selected ordinary node and driving the selected ordinary node to carry out the assigned job; and node control means for executing control to restore an ordinary node selected by the node select means to the normal operating state. The node select means selects an ordinary node from the ordinary nodes each put in one of the reduced-power states having different times of recovery to the normal operating state in accordance with an ordinary-node order starting with an ordinary node existing in a reduced-power state and having a short time of recovery to the normal operating state.
US09201705B2

Various embodiments comprise apparatuses and methods including a method of reconfiguring partitions in a memory device as directed by a host. The method includes managing commands through a first interface controller to mapped portions of a first memory not having an attribute enhanced set, and mapping portions of a second memory having the attribute enhanced set through a second interface controller. Additional apparatuses and methods are described.
US09201703B2

Sharing kernel services among kernels, including receiving, by a partition manager from an application in a logical partition, a first system call for a kernel service from a first kernel, the first system call having form and content compatible with the first kernel, generating, in dependence upon the first system call, a second system call for the kernel service from a second kernel, the second system call having form and content compatible with the second kernel, and sending the second system call through the partition manager to the second kernel for execution.
US09201698B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for collocating VMs based on memory sharing potential. In an embodiment of the invention, a VM co-location method has been claimed. The method includes selecting a VM from amongst different VMs for server colocation. The method additionally includes computing an individual shared memory factor for each of a set of the VMs with respect to the selected VM. The method yet further includes determining a VM amongst the VMs in the set associated with a highest computed shared memory factor. Finally, the method includes co-locating the determined VM with the selected VM in a single server.
US09201692B2

A system and method for generating a plan to complete a task by providing a framework facilitating use of heterogeneous data sources without altering a planning algorithm are disclosed. The method includes using a first dataset of logical atoms represented in predicate schema and second dataset of database atoms represented in non-predicate schema, and modifying a grammar rule, a domain definition, and a problem definition, and selecting and executing task methods and task operators to complete a task. Execution of task operator includes verifying a precondition, assigning variables with values when the precondition is valid, and modifying (delete and add) a plan state. Execution of the task method includes verifying a precondition of the task method, assigning variables with values when the precondition is valid, decomposing the task into sub-tasks, assigning arguments of task method to sub-tasks, and adding sub-tasks to a task list. Thereafter, a plan is generated.
US09201691B2

A task coordination apparatus in a computing system having a distributed shared memory (DSM) coordinates the execution of two related tasks, wherein the second task has an execution variable which is modified by the first task. The task coordination apparatus creates a snapshot of a memory space in the distributed shared memory assigned to the first task and a cooperation watching area of the second task. The cooperation watching area contains a memory address pointing to a location where the execution variable of the second task is stored in the memory space assigned to the first task. The first task is allocated to a first computing node for execution, and the memory space assigned to it is updated according to the execution result. After updating the memory space, the second task is allocated to a second computing node for execution using the execution variable updated by the first task.
US09201690B2

Systems and methods for resource aware scheduling of processes in a distributed computing environment are described herein. One aspect provides for accessing at least one job and at least one resource on a distributed parallel computing system; generating a current reward value based on the at least one job and a current value associated with the at least one resource; generating a prospective reward value based on the at least one job and a prospective value associated with the at least one resource at a predetermined time; and scheduling the at least one job based on a comparison of the current reward value and the prospective reward value. Other embodiments and aspects are also described herein.
US09201685B2

A set of techniques are described for transactional cache versioning and data storage in a distributed data grid environment. A transaction coordinator maintains a commit version for each transaction. This version is updated over the course of the transaction. In addition, each cluster member maintains a local current version that is updated as messages are received from the client. When a client serving as a transaction coordinator sends a message, the transaction coordinator includes an associated transaction's current version value with the message. On receiving a message, the receiving member process sets its current version to be the maximum of its own value and the received value. The receiving member process includes its current version in the return message to the sender. On receiving the return messages, the client sets the transaction's commit version to be greater than the maximum of its own value and the received value.
US09201681B2

A method and controller device for sharing computing resources in a virtualized environment having a plurality of virtual machines. The method includes assigning a portion of the computing resources to the plurality of virtual machines. The method also includes leasing by a first virtual machine at least a portion of the assigned computing resources of at least one second virtual machine. The first virtual machine leases computing resources from the at least one second virtual machine when the first virtual machine needs additional computing resources and at least a portion of the assigned computing resources of the at least one second virtual machine are not being used by the at least one second virtual machine.
US09201680B2

A system and method for display power management in a virtualized environment are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, a hypervisor that is executed by a first computer system receives a notification that a host operating system of a second computer system has received a command to dim a video display of the second computer system, and forwards the notification to a guest operating system of a virtual machine hosted by the first computer system. The hypervisor receives from the guest operating system a first signal that indicates that the hypervisor is to notify the host operating system to refrain from executing the command. The hypervisor then transmits a second signal that notifies the host operating system to refrain from executing the command.
US09201671B2

Novel methods and systems for construction a distributed adaptive server computing network system. Virtual Appliance platforms of a network service server are configured on a local computer of a registered user. Machine to machine communication channels are established through the Virtual appliance platforms and the local computer of the user is enabled to function as a part of the network service server. Direct streaming communications between users are enabled.
US09201654B2

Disclosed are a processor and a processing method incorporating an instruction pipeline with direction prediction (i.e., taken or not taken) for conditional branch instructions. In the embodiments, reading of a branch instruction history table (BHT) and a branch instruction target address cache (BTAC) for branch direction prediction occurs in parallel with the current instruction fetch in order to minimize delay in the next instruction fetch. Additionally, direction prediction is performed in the very next clock cycle based either on an initial direction prediction for the specific instruction, as stored in the BHT, or, if applicable, on a prior entry for the specific instruction in the BTAC. An override bit associated with each entry in the BTAC is the determining factor for whether or the BTAC or BHT is controlling. Override bits in the BTAC can be pre-established based on the branch instruction type in order to ensure prediction accuracy.
US09201642B2

An approach is provided in which a computer system generates a current hash value of a computer program in response to receiving a request to execute the computer program. Next, the computer system determines that the current hash value fails to match a reference hash value that was previously generated subsequent to installing the computer program on the computer system. Since the two hash values do not match each other, the computer system matches the current hash value to an updated hash value that was previously generated in response to modifying the computer program on the computer system. In turn, the computer system executes the computer program when the current hash value matches the updated hash value.
US09201630B2

Random numbers are generated according to a variety of solutions. A particular solution relates to a method for generating the random number. A common start signal is provided to each of a plurality of inverter components of a ring oscillator circuit. This causes the ring oscillator circuit to enter a metastable mode. At least a first bit and a second bit of a random number are both generated in parallel. The parallel generation of the bits involves the generation of the first bit from entropic properties of a signal of a first one of the plurality of inverter components and the generation of the second bit from entropic properties of a signal of a second one inverter components.
US09201629B2

A machine instruction is provided that includes an opcode field to provide an opcode, the opcode to identify a perform pseudorandom number operation, and a register field to be used to identify a register, the register to specify a location in memory of a second operand to be used. The machine instruction is executed, and execution includes obtaining a modifier field of a register associated with the machine instruction; based on the modifier field having a first value, performing a deterministic pseudorandom number seed operation, which includes obtaining seed material based on information stored in the second operand; using a 512 bit secure hash technique and the seed material to provide one or more seed values; and storing the one or more seed values in a parameter block.
US09201626B2

Methods and devices for selectively presenting a user interface in a dual screen device. More particularly, the method includes providing a gallery for the dual screen device. The gallery can present one or more images in a user interface. The gallery user interface can adapt to changes in the device configuration. Further, the gallery can display images or videos in the various configurations.
US09201624B2

Disclosed are a display apparatus, a client, an image display system including the same, and an image display method. The display apparatus includes a communication unit which communicates with at least one client; and a controller which receives server software for displaying a sharing image and at least one personal image from an exterior server, and executes the server software so that the sharing image is displayed on one of the display unit and the at least one client and the at least one personal image is displayed on the other of the display unit and the at least one client.
US09201622B2

Systems, devices, and methods for device communication receive, at a proxy device, an image of a barcode that was sent from a mobile device, wherein the barcode includes device information for an image-forming device, and wherein the device information identifies a network of the image-forming device; send the device information from the proxy device to one or more support devices; and at the one or more support devices, determine if the respective support device is connected to the network of the image-forming device, and in response to determining that the respective support device is connected to the network of the image-forming device, generate an output queue for the image-forming device on the support device that is connected to the network of the image-forming device.
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