US09209575B2
The high-voltage connector comprises an insulating body (1, 2) with a first internal channel (3) and a second internal channel (4), configured to receive a bushing or a fixed base of a high-voltage equipment. The connector comprises at least one sensor (5, 6, 7, 8) of an electric feature at least partially embedded inside the insulating body.
US09209555B2
In a connector (10) with a first housing (11) made of resin and including a first terminal portion (42A) connected to a first device and a second housing (25) made of resin and including a second terminal portion (42B) connected to a second device, the first and second housings (11, 25) are coupled and united by a coupling portion (30) made of rubber and formed by insert molding or two-color molding. A method for manufacturing the connector (10) of the present invention includes a uniting step of coupling and uniting the first and second housings (11, 25) by the coupling portion (30) made of rubber by insert molding or two-color molding.
US09209553B2
A plug-in connector includes a plug-in connector housing having first and second housing parts. The first housing part has electrical components and a blade-like part. The second housing part is connectable to the first housing part and has a recess through which an electrical line can pass to connect with the electrical components. The blade-like part covers a portion of the recess and constricts the recess to a relatively smaller feed-through region when the housing parts are connected together.
US09209550B2
A battery wiring module to be attached to a cell group includes a plurality of cells each having positive and negative electrode terminals. The battery wiring module includes a busbar connecting the electrode terminals, a voltage sensing terminal overlapped with the busbar and connected to one of the electrode terminals, and an insulation protector including a housing and a wire guiding groove. The voltage sensing terminal is configured to sense a state of the cell group. The busbar and the voltage sensing terminal are housed in the housing. The wire guiding groove is configured to guide a sensing wire that extends from the voltage sensing terminal to extend out of the housing. In the housing, a bus bar lock tab and a sensing terminal lock tab are formed on one elastic locking piece.
US09209547B2
Connector adapters that may allow contacts in a connector insert to form electrical connections with contacts in an incompatible connector receptacle. One example may provide a connector adapter for providing a connection between a connector insert and an incompatible connector receptacle. The connector adapter may be a magnetic connector providing a magnetic connector receptacle at a first end to accept a connector insert having an attraction plate. This connector adapter may further provide a connector insert having an attraction plate at a second end to insert into a magnetic connector receptacle on an electrical device.
US09209543B2
A connector includes a plurality of contacts, which are held by a holder member and are arranged in a pitch direction perpendicular to a front-rear direction. Each contact has a terminal portion to be connected and fixed to an object and a connection portion which is, at least in part, held by a plate-like portion of the holder member and is positioned forwards of the terminal portion in the front-rear direction. The connection portion has a first contact portion, a second contact portion and a rear connection portion. The first contact portion is, at least in part, exposed on the first surface. The second contact portion is, at least in part, exposed on the second surface. The rear connection portion connects a rear of the first contact portion with a rear of the second contact portion and is connected to the terminal portion. When the connector is mated with a mating connector, one of the first contact portion and the second contact portion electrically connects a mating contact of the mating connector to the terminal portion.
US09209539B2
Communication system including a circuit board having opposite board sides and mounting areas located on at least one of the board sides. The circuit board includes conductive traces that extend along the circuit board between corresponding mounting areas. The circuit board has mounting holes extending therethrough. The communication system also includes board connectors mounted to the circuit board at the mounting areas. The board connectors are communicatively coupled to one another through the conductive traces. The communication system also includes cable connectors secured to the circuit board and positioned at the mounting holes. The communication system also includes communication cables interconnecting corresponding cable connectors to one another.
US09209535B2
The present invent concerns a portable object comprising at least a middle part and a back cover for confining an electronic module, said electronic module including a plate provided with a housing arranged for receiving an electrical energy accumulator, said electronic module including at least one circuit with at least one electrical contact area, and a connecting contact member for providing an electrical connection between said accumulator and said at least one contact area, said contact member being elastically deformable.
US09209533B2
A coaxial connector includes a contact, a housing, and a shell. The contact includes a contact portion adapted to be connected to a mating contact of a mating connector and a connecting portion adapted to be connected to a signal conductor. The shell includes a first shell portion having a shell contact portion adapted to be connected to a mating shell of the mating connector and a second shell portion having a shell connecting portion adapted to be connected to a ground conductor. When connecting to a connection object, by sandwiching the connection object between the connecting portion of the contact and the shell connecting portion of the shell, the contact portion of the contact is connected to the signal conductor while the shell contact portion of the shell is connected to the ground conductor.
US09209526B2
A broadband dual-polarized omni-directional antenna and a feeding method using the same are provided. By setting a vertically polarized antenna and a horizontally polarized antenna each in co-axial, the horizontally polarized antenna is attached to an upper surface and a lower surface of the attaching plate respectively by two arms of a folded dipole and the two arms connect to an inner conductor and an outer conductor of a feed line so that the dual-polarized antenna may have a comparatively broad bandwidth. At the same time, since the dual-polarized ceiling antenna has a good isolation effect and coverage balance, it may work as the MIMO antenna in the LTE and WLAN systems effectively and may be used in the 2G and 3G networks to improve the data transmission rate.
US09209523B2
Multiple radio frequency (RF) modules can be arranged in a multi-sector configuration. Each RF modules may have a wedge-like shape such that the RF modules may be adjacently affixed to one another in spherical cluster, thereby providing multi-sector coverage while maintaining a relatively compact active antenna installation. Additionally, multiple clusters of RF modules can be arranged in an array to provide beamforming and/or other advances antenna functionality.
US09209507B1
Various embodiments may provide a termination element for a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier module. The termination element may include a resistive body having a first end, a second end, and first and second edges running from the first end to the second end opposite one another. The termination element may further include a first ground contact coupling the first end of the resistive body to a ground potential, and a second ground contact coupling the second end of the resistive body to the ground potential. The termination element may further include a conductive contact extending into the resistive body through the first edge, wherein an end of the conductive contact that is closest to the second edge is remotely disposed from the second edge by a gap.
US09209504B2
A microwave resonator with impedance jump, comprises at least one line of high characteristic impedance of a determined length and one line of low characteristic impedance, at least the line of high characteristic impedance comprising a first line cut, a first link wire of a first determined impedance ensuring an electrical link for the passage of the signal from one side to the other of the first line cut. A method for producing a microwave resonator comprising an adjustment step is also provided.
US09209500B2
A temperature controlling system for a battery includes a converter, a DC linker, and an inverter. The converter includes a plurality of converter switches and an inductor. The converter is configured to be coupled to the battery to raise or drop a voltage output of the battery. The DC linker includes a capacitor and is configured to stabilize an output voltage of the converter. The inverter includes a plurality of inverter switches, at least one inductor, and an inductor switch coupled to the at least one inductor. The inverter is configured to invert the output voltage of the converter, wherein the inductor switch and at least one of the inverter switches are configured to form a current path for a current through the at least one inductor to the battery.
US09209499B2
A battery pack includes a plurality of battery modules including at least a first group of the battery modules and a second group of the battery modules, a first coolant flow pathway through the battery modules of the first group and the second group, a second coolant flow pathway along an exterior of the battery modules of the first group, and a converging coolant flow pathway connected with the first coolant flow pathway, the converging coolant flow pathway being disposed downstream of the first group of the battery modules, the converging coolant flow pathway joining the second coolant flow pathway with the first coolant flow pathway.
US09209496B2
A battery cell sorting machine includes an inserting unit into which a battery cell is inserted, a measuring unit on which the inserted battery cell is placed, an open circuit voltage (OCV) measuring unit configured to measure an OCV of the battery cell placed on the measuring unit, a loading unit configured to discharge the battery cell placed on the measuring unit, a discharge voltage measuring unit configured to measure a discharge voltage of the battery cell discharged by the loading unit, and a control unit configured to sort battery cells placed on the measuring unit into different groups, wherein the control unit is configured to calculate a voltage differential between the OCV and the discharge voltage of each of the battery cells and to sort the battery cells having corresponding voltage differential ranges between the OCV and the discharge voltage into one group.
US09209489B2
An electrochemical cell 10 includes a case 12 serving as an insulating tube, an inner container 13 disposed on the inside wall of the case 12, a separator 14 separating the inside of the case 12 into a positive electrode chamber 20 and a negative electrode chamber 30, a mixed molten liquid 22 which is stored in the positive electrode chamber 20 and which contains a positive electrode active material and a supporting electrolyte, and a negative electrode active material 32 stored in the negative electrode chamber 30. The mixed molten liquid is a liquid obtained by mixing a radical compound having a nitroxyl radical site and serving as an active material and a metal salt having a fluoroalkylsulfonyl site and serving as a supporting electrolyte.
US09209487B2
A lithium ion battery cell. The lithium ion battery cell includes a lithium-based anode, a cathode, and a solid-state electrolyte positioned between the lithium-based anode and the cathode. The cathode comprises alkylammonium cation lithium phthalocyanine anion complex. The solid-state electrolyte comprises an alkoxyalkylammonium cation lithium phthalocyanine anion complex.
US09209486B2
An all-solid-state cell contains a combination of an electrode active material and a solid electrolyte, and has a plate-shaped fired solid electrolyte body of a ceramic containing a solid electrolyte, a first electrode layer (e.g. a positive electrode) integrally formed on one surface of the fired solid electrolyte body by mixing and firing an electrode active material and a solid electrolyte, and a second electrode layer (e.g. a negative electrode) integrally formed on the other surface of the fired solid electrolyte body by mixing and firing an electrode active material and a solid electrolyte. The solid electrolyte materials added to the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer comprise an amorphous polyanion compound.
US09209483B2
A lithium-ion battery module includes a housing having a plurality of partitions configured to define a plurality of compartments within the housing. The battery module also includes a lithium-ion cell element provided in each of the compartments of the housing. The battery module further includes a cover coupled to the housing and configured to route electrolyte into each of the compartments. The cover is also configured to seal the compartments of the housing.
US09209479B2
Disclosed is a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a sultone compound represented by the Formula 1 below (wherein R1 to R4 respectively represent a hydrogen, a fluorine, a hydrocarbon group with 1 to 12 carbon atoms that may contain fluorine atom(s), n represents an integer of 0 to 3, and when n is 2 or 3, the two or three R3 groups are independent from each other and the two or three R4 groups are independent from each other), and an ethylene carbonate having a hydrogen atom substituted by a fluorine atom. Also disclosed is a lithium secondary battery employing the nonaqueous electrolyte solution. This nonaqueous electrolyte solution does not cause an increase in the internal resistance of a nonaqueous electrochemical device and improves the lifespan characteristics of the device. The lithium secondary battery containing the nonaqueous electrolyte solution exhibits greatly improved cycle charge/discharge characteristics at high temperature, and has excellent charge/discharge load characteristics.
US09209477B2
An energy storage cell for a multi-cell energy storage device is disclosed. The energy storage cell comprises a cell information storage device adapted to store cell information regarding the energy storage cell.
US09209471B2
The present invention relates to a fuel cell assembly and method of manufacturing same, and a bonding part manufacturing method and device. For instance, in a resin frame, a depression part is subsidence formed from a lower-end face toward an upper-end face, and a housing hole is pass-through formed from a top surface of the depression part toward the upper-end face. For instance, the depression part, a cathode-side electrode and an electrolyte film are housed, and in such a circumstance, an anode-side electrode is housed in the housing hole. A portion of the resin frame permeates a gas diffusion layer which configures the anode-side electrode and is a porous body. Via the permeated site, the resin frame and the gas diffusion layer (anode-side electrode) are integrally bonded.
US09209470B2
There is a manufacturing apparatus for an electrolyte membrane with gaskets by laminating an electrolyte membrane having a predetermined region on which a catalyst layer is formed and a gasket formed with an opening shaped to match the shape of the region of the catalyst layer. The manufacturing apparatus for an electrolyte membrane with gaskets includes a laminating roller that abuts on the gasket to laminate the electrolyte membrane and the gasket. The laminating roller has a surface on which a protrusion is formed. The protrusion is shaped to fit in the opening of the gasket. The manufacturing apparatus for an electrolyte membrane with gaskets includes a roller controller that operates the laminating roller such that the electrolyte membrane and the gasket are laminated while the protrusion is fitted in the opening of the gasket.
US09209469B2
To provide a solid oxide fuel cell device for preventing excess temperature rises inside a fuel cell module during the startup process. During a startup process, a control unit controls the supplied amounts of fuel gas, oxidant gas, and steam supplied to a reformer based on cell stack temperature and reformer temperature and causes transition to a generating process after transitioning to a POX process, an ATR process, and a SR process, and controls to cause a transition to the next process if in each process the cell stack temperature and reformer temperature meet transition conditions set for each; when control unit determines a temperature rise assist state, it controls to cause a transition to the generating process in a state of reduced fuel gas supply amounts compared to when it does not determine a temperature rise assist state.
US09209464B2
A current collector and an electric double layer capacitor including a current collector. The current collector has a conductive layer with an electrode-facing surface and an opposing second surface, each surface having an area, and a textured coating formed over and in contact with at least a majority of the electrode-facing surface.
US09209463B2
Disclosed is a secondary battery which includes an electrode assembly comprising inner stacked electrodes and at least one outermost electrode positioned on at least one end of the inner stacked electrodes; and a case configured to house the electrode assembly. Herein, the at least one outermost electrode comprise an inactive material.
US09209461B2
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of particles comprising at least one compound according to general formula (I) M1aM2bM3cOoNnFf (I) wherein M1, M2, M3 O, N, F, a, b, c, o, n and f have the following meanings: M1 at least one alkaline metal, M2 at least one transition metal in oxidation state +2, M3 at least one non-metal chosen form S, Se, P, As, Si, Ge and/or B, O oxygen, N nitrogen, F fluorine, a 0.8-4.2, b 0.8-1.9, c 0.8-2.2, o 1.0-8.4, n 0-2.0 and f 0-2.0, wherein a, b, c, o, n and f are chosen to ensure electroneutrality of the compound according to general formula (I), and carbon, comprising at least the following steps: (A) providing an essentially aqueous mixture comprising at least one compound comprising M1, at least one compound comprising M2 having at least partially an oxidation state higher than +2, optionally at least one compound comprising M3, at least one compound comprising N, if present, and/or at least one compound comprising F, if present, at least one polysaccharide comprising glucose having a molecular weight M of at least 50000 g/mol as carbon precursor and at least one reducing agent, (B) drying the mixture provided in step (A), in order to obtain a solid particle and (C) calcining the solid particle obtained from step (B) at a temperature of 300 to 950° C.
US09209459B2
A secondary battery 100 includes a positive electrode current collector 221 and a positive electrode mixture layer 223 which is coated over the positive electrode current collector 221. The positive electrode mixture layer 223 includes a positive electrode active material 610, an electrically conductive material 620, and a binder 630. In addition, the positive electrode active material 610 has secondary particles 910 formed by an aggregation of a plurality of primary particles of a lithium transition metal oxide, a hollow portion 920 formed in the secondary particle 910, and through holes 930 penetrating the secondary particles 910 so as to connect the hollow portion 920 and the outside. A ratio (Vbc/Va) of an inner volume Vbc of holes formed inside the positive electrode mixture layer 223 to an apparent volume Va of the positive electrode mixture layer 223 satisfies 0.25≦(Vbc/Va). In addition, in a section of the positive electrode mixture layer 223, a ratio (Vb/Vc) of an inner volume Vb of holes B formed inside the positive electrode active material 610 to an inner volume Vc of holes C formed outside the positive electrode active material 610 satisfies 0.05≦(Vb/Vc)≦2.5.
US09209449B2
A rechargeable battery including an electrode assembly including a first electrode, a second electrode, and a separator between the first and second electrodes; a case housing the electrode assembly; a cap plate covering an opening of the case; an electrode terminal extending through the cap plate; a lead tab including a fuse part and connecting the electrode terminal and the electrode assembly; and an auxiliary discharge path between opposite sides of the fuse part and having a second electrical resistance value greater than a first electrical resistance value of the fuse part.
US09209432B2
A secondary battery has: an electrode group which includes sheet-form positive and negative electrode plates each including a metallic foil having an active material applied onto both sides of the metallic foil, and a separator disposed between the positive and negative electrode plates, wherein the positive and negative electrode plates and the separator are spirally wound together around a winding core into a flattened shape, wherein the electrode group has, at the both ends thereof as viewed in the winding core direction, respectively formed metallic foil exposed portions of the positive and negative electrode plates onto which the active material is not applied; a battery container which contains the electrode group therein, wherein the battery container has a battery casing and a battery cap; and positive and negative external terminals electrically connected to the metallic foil exposed portions of the positive and negative electrode plates, respectively. Winding end portions in the metallic foil exposed portions of the positive and negative electrode plates are arranged opposite to the inner surface of the battery container through respective conducting members.
US09209430B2
A cylindrical battery including: a battery case having a cylindrical shape; an electrode group disposed in the battery case, including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator, and having a pair of flat outer side surfaces opposed to each other; and a spacer disposed between an inner peripheral surface of the battery case and each of the flat outer side surfaces of the electrode group. The spacer has a case contact portion that extends continuously from a first axial end to a second axial end and is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the battery case, and the case contact portion is formed with a communicating portion that communicates spaces partitioned by the case contact portion.
US09209428B2
Disclosed herein is a secondary battery constructed in a structure in which pluralities of electrode tabs, protruding from an electrode assembly, are connected to corresponding electrode leads, and the electrode assembly is mounted in a receiving part, wherein a battery case is multi-formed, such that the battery case presses the upper end of the electrode assembly by a predetermined width, thereby preventing the upward movement of the electrode assembly, mounted in the receiving part, at the upper end space region of the receiving part, where the electrode assembly is spaced apart from the upper end of the receiving part, for the connection between the electrode tabs and the corresponding electrode leads, during the repetitive charge and discharge of the battery. Consequently, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit of the battery due to external impacts, such as the dropping of the battery, and to prevent the occurrence of an internal short circuit of the battery due to the expansion of the battery case caused by the repetitive charge and discharge of the battery, whereby the safety of the secondary battery is improved.
US09209416B2
Disclosed are an electroluminescent element, a display device and a method for preparing the electroluminescent element. The electroluminescent element comprises a substrate (101) and an anode layer (102), a light-emitting layer (103) and a cathode layer (104) that are disposed in sequence on the substrate (101). At least one insertion layer (105) for adjusting electron mobility is disposed within the light-emitting layer (103). By disposing an insertion layer (105) in the light-emitting layer (103), the effect of a voltage on the recombination of electrons and holes in the light-emitting layer (103) can be reduced, the level of the recombination of carriers such as electrons and holes in the light-emitting layer (103) can be increased, and the ratio of electrons and holes that are combined can be increased.
US09209402B2
A method of manufacturing an EL display device having a light emitting part, in which a plurality of pixels are arrayed, and a thin-film transistor array device to control light emission of the light emitting part, includes a luminance measurement step of obtaining luminance data of pixel, with the light emitting part being lit. The luminance measurement step includes a first luminance measurement step and a second luminance measurement step. In the first luminance measurement step, a first imaging apparatus obtains luminance data by measuring light emission of the each pixel. The first apparatus has a resolution corresponding to that of the pixels of the light emitting part. In the second luminance measurement step after the first step, a second imaging apparatus measures light emission of a plurality of the pixels to correct the luminance data of the each pixel obtained in the first luminance measurement step. The second imaging apparatus is lower in resolution than the first imaging apparatus.
US09209398B2
There is provided a process for vacuum drying. The process includes the steps of: depositing a liquid composition containing a film-forming material and at least one solvent onto a workpiece to form a wet layer; placing the wet layer on the workpiece into a vacuum chamber including a condenser; and treating the wet layer at a controlled temperature in the range of −25 to 80° C. and under an applied vacuum in the range of 10−6 to 1,000 Torr for a period of 1-100 minutes; wherein the condenser is maintained at a temperature at which the solvent will condense as a liquid at the applied vacuum.
US09209392B1
The present disclosure relates to a resistive random access memory (RRAM) cell having a bottom electrode that provides for efficient switching of the RRAM cell, and an associated method of formation. In some embodiments, the RRAM cell has a bottom electrode surrounded by a spacer and a bottom dielectric layer. The bottom electrode, the spacer, and the bottom dielectric layer are disposed over a lower metal interconnect layer surrounded by a lower inter-level dielectric (ILD) layer. A dielectric data storage layer having a variable resistance is located above the bottom dielectric layer and the bottom electrode, and a top electrode is disposed over the dielectric data storage layer. Placement of the spacer narrows the later formed bottom electrode, thereby improving switch efficiency of the RRAM cell.
US09209389B2
According to one embodiment, a memory device includes first interconnects, second interconnects, and a first memory cell. The first memory cell is located in an intersection of one of the first interconnects and one of the second interconnects. The first memory cell includes a first multilayer structure and a first variable resistance layer, the first multilayer structure including a first electrode, a first selector, and a first insulator which are stacked. The first selector and the first variable resistance layer are electrically connected in series between the one of the first interconnect and the one of the second interconnect. The first variable resistance layer is formed on a portion of a side surface of the first insulator to cover the portion without covering a residual portion.
US09209388B2
Some embodiments include a memory cell that has an electrode, a switching material over the electrode, a buffer region over the switching material, and an ion reservoir material over the buffer region. The buffer region includes one or more elements from Group 14 of the periodic table in combination with one or more chalcogen elements. Some embodiments include methods of forming memory cells.
US09209382B2
A piezo electrical component has a stack of piezo electrical layers arranged over each other and electrode layers arranged therebetween. The stack has at least one first piezo electrical layer having a first piezo electrical charge constant and, directly adjacent thereto, at least one second piezo electrical layer having a second piezo electrical charge constant. The piezo electrical charge constant describes an expansion of the piezo electrical layer perpendicular to an electrical field at a voltage 6 applied to the electrode layers. The first piezo electrical charge constant is different from the second piezo electrical charge constant.
US09209381B2
A quartz crystal unit comprises a quartz crystal tuning fork resonator having a quartz crystal tuning fork base, and first and second quartz crystal tuning fork arms. Each of the first and second quartz crystal tuning fork arms has a first main surface and a second main surface opposite the first main surface, and at least one groove formed in at least one of the first and second main surfaces of each of the first and second quartz crystal tuning fork arms. At least one mounting arm having a width less than 0.45 mm protrudes from the quartz crystal tuning fork base, and the overall length of the quartz crystal tuning fork resonator is less than 2.1 mm.
US09209371B2
A semiconductor structure and its manufacturing method including multiple steps are provided. First, a patterned circuit board having a substrate and a patterned circuit layer is provided. The substrate includes a first surface, a second surface, at least one connecting channel, and at least one conductive through hole, wherein patterned circuit layer is disposed on the first surface, a second surface, and the inside wall of the conductive through hole. Then, the patterned circuit board is disposed on a carrier, and the patterned circuit layer disposed on one of the first surface and the second surface is touched with the carrier. Then, a filling process is applied. A filling material flows to the conductive through hole via the first surface or the second surface from the connecting channel. Then, a package material is provided to produce a semiconductor structure.
US09209367B2
An electrical component includes a closed lead frame with a passage opening at least one electrical component arranged within the passage opening, the electrical component including a first contact pad on one side of the electrical component and a second contact pad on a second side of the electric component, wherein the second side faces the first side and the second contact pad is electrically coupled to the lead frame; and an encapsulation which mechanically couples the electrical component to the lead frame, wherein the lead frame includes a recess on one side, the recess extending from an edge of the lead frame to the passage opening and connecting at least one electrical connecting element from the edge of the lead frame to the component arranged in the passage opening.
US09209364B2
A light emitting device includes a light emitting element and a substrate including a flexible base, a plurality of wiring portions, a groove portion, and a reflective layer. The flexible base extends in a first direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of the substrate. The wiring portions are arranged on the flexible base. The groove portion is formed between the wiring portions spaced apart from each other. The groove portion includes a first groove portion extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The reflective layer is arranged on the plurality of wiring portions. The light emitting element is disposed near the reflective layer and electrically connected to the plurality of wiring portions. The light emitting element is spaced apart from the first groove portion.
US09209358B2
Disclosed are a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same. A light emitting diode (LED) includes a conductive substrate, and a gallium nitride (GaN)-based semiconductor stack positioned on the conductive substrate. The semiconductor stack includes an active layer that is a semi-polar semiconductor layer. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an LED having improved light emitting efficiency.
US09209352B2
Phosphors formed using silicon nanoparticles are provided. The phosphors exhibit bright fluorescence and high quantum yield, making them ideal for lighting applications. Methods for making the silicon phosphors are also provided, along with lighting devices that incorporate the silicon phosphors.
US09209345B2
Photosensitive devices and associated methods are provided. In one aspect, for example, a photosensitive imager device can include a semiconductor layer having multiple doped regions forming a least one junction, a textured region coupled to the semiconductor layer and positioned to interact with electromagnetic radiation. The textured region can be formed from a series of shallow trench isolation features.
US09209341B2
A solar cell device and a method of fabricating the device is described. The solar cell is fabricated by forming a back contact layer on a front side of a substrate, forming an absorber layer on the back contact layer, applying a protective layer on a back side of the substrate, depositing a buffer layer on the absorber layer. Excess buffer materials are deposited on the substrate back side, and the protective layer with excess buffer materials are removed.
US09209337B2
Photosensing transistors, display panels employing a photosensing transistor, and methods of manufacturing the same, include a gate layer, a gate insulation layer on the gate layer, a channel layer on the gate insulation layer, an etch stop layer on a partial area of the channel layer, a source and a drain on the channel layer and separated from each other with the etch stop layer being interposed between the source and the drain, and a passivation layer covering the source, the drain, and the etch stop layer, wherein the source is separated from the etch stop layer.
US09209336B2
An embodiment of array of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes, wherein each photodiode is formed by a body of semiconductor material, having a first conductivity type and housing an anode region, of a second conductivity type, facing a top surface of the body, a cathode-contact region, having the first conductivity type and a higher doping level than the body, facing a bottom surface of the body, an insulation region extending through the body and insulating an active area from the rest of the body, the active area housing the anode region and the cathode-contact region. The insulation region is formed by a first mirror region of polycrystalline silicon, a second mirror region of metal material, and a channel-stopper region of dielectric material, surrounding the first and second mirror regions.
US09209330B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a first member including a chip mounting region and a peripheral region, a semiconductor chip mounted in the chip mounting region, and a second member fixed to the first member to cover the semiconductor chip, includes adhering, to the second member, the peripheral region of the first member in a state that the semiconductor chip is mounted in the chip mounting region, using an adhesive, and generating a stress between the first member and the second member, after the adhesive starts to cure, to locally form a gap in at least one of a portion between the first member and the adhesive, and a portion between the second member and the adhesive.
US09209329B2
A cell for a silicon based photoelectric multiplier may comprise a substrate of a second conductivity type, a first layer of a first conductivity type, and/or a second layer of the second conductivity type formed on the first layer. The first layer and the second layer may form a first p-n junction, and the substrate may be configured such that in operation of the photoelectric multiplier from a quantity of light propagating towards a back side or side walls of the photoelectric multiplier, a negligible portion returns to a front side of the photoelectric multiplier.
US09209317B1
Nonvolatile memory devices including three transistor unit cells are provided. The nonvolatile memory device includes a selection transistor having a first terminal and a second terminal, a first charge trap transistor electrically connected in series to the first terminal of the selection transistor, a second charge trap transistor electrically connected in series to the second terminal of the selection transistor, and a word line electrically connected to gate electrodes of the selection transistor, the first charge trap transistor and the second charge trap transistor. Related methods are also provided.
US09209304B2
As will be appreciated in more detail herein, the present disclosure provides for FinFET techniques whereby a FinFET channel region has a particular orientation with respect to the crystalline lattice of the semiconductor device to provide enhanced mobility, compared to conventional FinFETs. In particular, the present disclosure provides FinFETs with a channel region whose lattice includes silicon atoms arranged on (551) lattice plane. In this configuration, the sidewalls of the channel region are particularly smooth at the atomic level, which tends to promote higher carrier mobility and higher device performance than previously achievable.
US09209301B1
Methods of fabricating a semiconductor structure include providing a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate including a base substrate, a strained stressor layer above the base substrate, a surface semiconductor layer, and a dielectric layer between the stressor layer and the surface semiconductor layer. Ions are implanted into or through a first region of the stressor layer, and additional semiconductor material is formed on the surface semiconductor layer above the first region of the stressor layer. The strain state in the first region of the surface semiconductor layer above the first region of the stressor layer is altered, and a trench structure is formed at least partially into the base substrate. The strain state is altered in a second region of the surface semiconductor layer above the second region of the stressor layer. Semiconductor structures are fabricated using such methods.
US09209287B2
A power semiconductor device may include: a first conductivity-type first semiconductor region; a second conductivity-type second semiconductor region disposed above the first semiconductor region; a trench gate penetrating through the second semiconductor region and a portion of the first semiconductor region; a third semiconductor region disposed on both sides of the trench gate and disposed on an inner side of an upper portion of the second semiconductor region; and a device protective region disposed in the third semiconductor region.
US09209286B2
According to one embodiment, the pair of semiconductor regions are provided respectively on a pair of side walls of the second semiconductor layer having the fin configuration to form tunnel junctions with the second semiconductor layer. The gate electrode is provided on two sides of the second semiconductor layer at the pair of side walls to oppose the tunnel junctions with the semiconductor regions interposed between the gate electrode and the tunnel junctions. The third semiconductor layer is separated from the second semiconductor layer and the semiconductor regions by the first semiconductor layer to be adjacent to the first semiconductor layer.
US09209282B2
The present invention includes at least a step forming a source electrode (32) and a drain electrode (33), each of which is a multilayer film of a first conductive film (32a), (33a) made of titanium or molybdenum, a second conductive film (32b), (33b) made of copper, and a third conductive film (32c), (33c) made of titanium oxide, a step of forming passivation film (18), which is an inorganic insulating film, on an oxide semiconductor layer (13), the source electrode (32) and drain electrode (33), and an annealing step of annealing the oxide semiconductor layer (13).
US09209273B1
A method for fabricating a metal gate structure includes providing a substrate on which a dielectric layer, a first trench disposed in the dielectric layer, a first metal layer filling up the first trench, a second trench disposed in the dielectric layer, a second metal layer filling up the second trench are disposed, and the width of the first trench is less than the width of the second trench; forming a mask layer to completely cover the second trench; performing a first etching process to remove portions of the first metal layer when the second trench is covered by the mask layer; and performing a second etching process to concurrently remove portions of the first metal layer and portions of the second metal layer after the first etching process.
US09209271B1
A vertical III-V nanowire Field-Effect Transistor (FET). The FET includes multiple nanowires or nanopillars directly connected to a drain contact, where each of the nanopillars includes a channel of undoped III-V semiconductor material. The FET further includes a gate dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of nanopillars and a gate contact disposed on a gate metal which is connected to the gate dielectric layer. Additionally, the FET includes a substrate of doped III-V semiconductor material connected to the nanopillars via a layer of doped III-V semiconductor material. In addition, the FET contains a source contact directly connected to the bottom of the substrate. By having such a structure, electrostatic control and integration density is improved. Furthermore, by using III-V materials as opposed to silicon, the current drive capacity is improved. Additionally, the FET is fabricated using nanosphere lithography which is less costly than the conventional photo lithography process.
US09209265B2
A device includes a semiconductor substrate, and an insulation region extending from a top surface of the semiconductor substrate into the semiconductor substrate. The device further includes a first node and a second node, and an Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) device coupled between the first node and the second node. The ESD device includes a semiconductor fin adjacent to and over a top surface of the insulation region. The ESD device is configured to, in response to an ESD transient on the first node, conduct a current from the first node to the second node.
US09209263B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor layer, a control gate electrode, and an organic molecular layer provided between the semiconductor layer and the control gate electrode and having an organic molecule including a porphyrin structure.
US09209241B2
Semiconductor devices are provided. Each of the semiconductor devices may include a substrate including an active region that includes first and second regions. Each of the semiconductor devices may include a device isolation layer between the first and second regions of the active region. Each of the semiconductor devices may include a contact hole defined by recessed portions of the device isolation layer and the first region of the active region, respectively. Moreover, a topmost surface of the first region of the active region may define a bottommost portion of the contact hole. Related methods of forming semiconductor devices are also provided.
US09209240B2
A capacitor from a Metal-Oxide-Metal (“MoM”) process may include a plurality of metal layers arranged with different design structures. The metal layers may be connected with vias. The metal layers may include wires, such as rows and/or fingers that are arranged for maximizing capacitance between adjacent fingers, as well as between fingers of different metal layers. As the spacing of the fingers is increased, the reliability, yield of final product, and ease of manufacturing both increase. The capacitor increases the spacing of wires/fingers while either maintaining or improving the capacitance per unit area.
US09209237B1
An organic light-emitting display device includes a plurality of organic light-emitting diodes which shares a cathode, a plurality of switching elements which is connected to the cathode, a plurality of capacitors, each comprising a first electrode which is connected to each of the switching elements, respectively, and a second electrode and a power bus line which is connected to the second electrode, wherein each of the plurality of switching elements controls a connection between the cathode and the first electrode.
US09209230B2
Optical films, and organic light-emitting display apparatuses employing the same, include a high refractive index pattern layer including a first surface and a second surface facing each other, wherein the first surface includes a pattern having a plurality of grooves. The plurality of grooves each have a curved surface and a depth greater than a width thereof. The high refractive index pattern layer is formed of a material having a refractive index greater than 1. The optical films, and the organic light-emitting display apparatuses, further include a low refractive index pattern layer formed of a material having a refractive index smaller than the refractive index of the material constituting the high refractive index pattern layer. The low refractive index pattern layer includes a filling material for filling the plurality of grooves.
US09209223B2
The present invention relates to a light emitting device. The light emitting device comprises a substrate, an N-type semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, and a P-type semiconductor layer formed on the N-type semiconductor layer, wherein a side surface including the N-type or P-type semiconductor layer has a slope of 20° to 80° from a horizontal plane. Further, a light emitting device comprises a substrate formed with a plurality of light emitting cells each including an N-type semiconductor layer and a P-type semiconductor layer formed on the N-type semiconductor layer, wherein the N-type semiconductor layer of one light emitting cell and the P-type semiconductor layer of another adjacent light emitting cell are connected to each other, and a side surface including at least the P-type semiconductor layer of the light emitting cell has a slope of 20° to 80° from a horizontal plane.
US09209221B2
An image sensor system has an input from a photosensor, receiving photogenerated electricity, and coupling said photogenerated electricity to a first photodiode to integrate the photogenerated electricity. The photodiode can be a pinned diode, configured to act integrate charge.
US09209209B2
To provide a photoelectric conversion device with low power consumption and a method for operating the photoelectric conversion device. The photoelectric conversion device includes a charge storage capacitor portion, a photodiode, and a plurality of transistors. The charge storage capacitor portion is charged after being reset. Then, the charge storage capacitor portion is discharged through the photodiode or a current mirror circuit connected to the photodiode for a given period of time, and after that, the potential of the charge storage capacitor portion is read. Since power is consumed only at the time of charging, power consumption can be reduced.
US09209208B2
Provided is a display device, including: an insulation substrate; a thin film transistor positioned on the insulation substrate; a pixel electrode connected with the thin film transistor; a first alignment layer positioned on the pixel electrode; a second alignment layer spaced apart from the first alignment layer by a microcavity; a common electrode positioned on the second alignment layer; a roof layer on the common electrode; a liquid crystal injection hole in the common electrode and the roof layer to extend to a part of the microcavity; a liquid crystal layer filling the microcavity; and an overcoat on the roof layer to cover the liquid crystal injection hole to seal the microcavity. Each of the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer includes a plurality of heterogeneous layers.
US09209206B2
A pulse converter circuit includes a logic circuit to which a first signal is input and from which a second signal is output. The logic circuit includes a p-channel transistor which determines whether a voltage of the second signal is set to a first voltage depending on a voltage of the gate; and an n-channel transistor which determines whether the voltage of the second signal is set to a second voltage, which is higher than the first voltage, depending on a voltage of the gate. The p-channel transistor includes a semiconductor layer containing an element of a group 14. The n-channel transistor includes an oxide semiconductor layer.
US09209200B2
A method for forming a semiconductor device includes forming gate stacks on a crystalline semiconductor layer; depositing a spacer layer over a top and sidewalls of the gate stacks; recessing the semiconductor layer between the gates stacks; and depositing a non-conformal layer over the gates stacks and within the recesses such that the non-conformal layer forms a pinch point over the recesses. The non-conformal layer is etched at a bottom of the recesses through the pinch point to expose the semiconductor layer. Dopant species are implanted at the bottom of the recesses through the pinch point in the semiconductor layer. The non-conformal layer is stripped, and source and drain material is grown in the recesses. The dopant species are activated to form PN junctions to act as a junction butt between portions of the semiconductor layer.
US09209199B2
A hollow-channel memory device comprises a source layer, a first hollow-channel pillar structure formed on the source layer, and a second hollow-channel pillar structure formed on the first hollow-channel pillar structure. The first hollow-channel pillar structure comprises a first thin channel and the second hollow-channel pillar structure comprises a second thin channel that is in contact with the first thin channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the first thin channel comprises a first level of doping; and the second thin channel comprises a second level of doping that is different from the first level of doping. In another exemplary embodiment, the first and second levels of doping are the same.
US09209197B2
Embodiments described herein generally relate to landing gate pads for contacts and manufacturing methods therefor. A bridge is formed between two features to allow a contact to be disposed, at least partially, on the bridge. Landing the contact on the bridge avoids additional manufacturing steps to create a target for a contact.
US09209187B1
A method of forming an array of gated devices includes forming a plurality of semiconductor material-comprising blocks individually projecting elevationally from a substrate and spaced from one another along rows and columns. A gate line is formed laterally proximate each of two opposing sidewalls of the blocks along individual rows of the blocks. After forming the gate lines, semiconductor material of the blocks is removed laterally between the gate lines to form pairs of pillars from the individual blocks that individually have one of the gate lines laterally proximate one of two laterally outermost sidewalls of the pair and another of the gate lines laterally proximate the other of the two laterally outermost sidewalls of the pair. Other methods are disclosed.
US09209185B2
The present disclosure provides a method for fabricating a fin-like field-effect transistor (FinFET). The method includes forming a first fin structures over a substrate, forming a patterned oxidation-hard-mask (OHM) over the substrate to expose the first fin structure in a first gate region of a n-type FET region, forming a semiconductor oxide feature in a middle portion of the first fin structure in the first gate region, forming a second fin structure in a PFET region, forming dummy gates, forming source/drain (S/D) features, replacing the dummy gates by a first high-k/metal gate (HK/MG) in the NFET region and a second HK/MG in the PFET region.
US09209179B2
A semiconductor device is provided. A substrate includes first and second active fins disposed in a row along a first direction. The first and second active fins are spaced apart from each other. A first dummy gate and a second dummy gate are disposed on the substrate and are extended in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The first dummy gate covers an end portion of the first active fin. The second dummy gate covers an end portion of the second active fin facing the end portion of the first active fin. A first dummy spacer is disposed on a sidewall of the first dummy gate. A second dummy spacer is disposed on a sidewall of the second dummy gate. The sidewall of the second dummy gate faces the sidewall of the first dummy gate. The first dummy spacer is in contact with the second dummy spacer.
US09209174B2
A transistor includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region, a gate electrode and a layer of a stress-creating material. The stress-creating material provides a stress that is variable in response to a signal acting on the stress-creating material. The layer of stress-creating material is arranged to provide a stress in at least the channel region. The stress provided in at least the channel region is variable in response to the signal acting on the stress-creating material. Layers of stress-creating material providing a stress that is variable in response to a signal acting on the stress-creating material may also be used in circuit elements other than transistors, for example, resistors.
US09209166B2
Stacked semiconductor devices, semiconductor assemblies, methods of manufacturing stacked semiconductor devices, and methods of manufacturing semiconductor assemblies. One embodiment of a semiconductor assembly comprises a thinned semiconductor wafer having an active side releasably attached to a temporary carrier, a back side, and a plurality of first dies at the active side. The individual first dies have an integrated circuit, first through die interconnects electrically connected to the integrated circuit, and interconnect contacts exposed at the back side of the wafer. The assembly further includes a plurality of separate second dies attached to corresponding first dies on a front side, wherein the individual second dies have integrated circuits, through die interconnects electrically connected to the integrated circuits and contact points at a back side, and wherein the individual second dies have a thickness of approximately less than 100 microns.
US09209165B2
An assembly component and a technique for assembling a chip package using the assembly component are described. This chip package includes a set of semiconductor dies that are arranged in a stack in a vertical direction, which are offset from each other in a horizontal direction to define a stepped terrace at one side of the vertical stack. Moreover, the chip package may be assembled using the assembly component. In particular, the assembly component may include a pair of stepped terraces that approximately mirror the stepped terrace of the chip package and which provide vertical position references for an assembly tool that positions the set of semiconductor dies in the vertical stack during assembly of the chip package.
US09209159B2
A strengthened semiconductor die substrate and package are disclosed. The substrate may include contact fingers formed with nonlinear edges. Providing a nonlinear contour to the contact finger edges reduces the mechanical stress exerted on the semiconductor die which would otherwise occur with straight edges to the contact fingers. The substrate may additionally or alternatively include plating traces extending at an angle from the contact fingers. Extending at an angle, at least the ends of the plating traces at the edge of the substrate are covered beneath a lid in which the semiconductor package is encased. Thus, when in use with a host device, contact between the ends of the plating traces beneath the lid and contact pins of the host device is avoided.
US09209144B1
A substrate for use in semiconductor device assembly has an electrically insulating body with a die mounting surface and an opposite grid array surface. An array of external electrical connection pads is located in the grid array surface. Substrate bond padsare located in the die mounting surface. Interconnects in the insulating body selectively interconnect the substrate bond padsto the external electrical connection pads. Tertiary bond pads are located in the die mounting surface and are electrically isolated from the external electrical connection pads.
US09209130B2
Semiconductor devices having a ground shield structure and methods for their formation are provided herein. An exemplary semiconductor device can include a substrate, a ground ring, a ground shield, an electronic device, and/or an insulation layer. The ground ring can be disposed over the substrate. The ground shield can be disposed over the substrate and surrounded by the ground ring. The ground shield can include a plurality of coaxial conductive wirings and a metal wire passing through the plurality of coaxial conductive wirings along a radial direction. The metal wire can be connected to the ground ring. The electronic device can be disposed over the ground shield. The insulation layer can be disposed between the ground shield and the electronic device.
US09209129B2
Self-aligned via interconnects using relaxed patterning exposure. In accordance with a first method embodiment, a method for controlling a computer-aided design (CAD) system for designing physical features of an integrated circuit includes accessing a first pattern for first metal traces on a first metal layer, accessing a second pattern for second metal traces on a second metal layer, vertically adjacent to the first metal layer and accessing a precise pattern of intended interconnections between the first and second metal traces. The precise pattern of intended interconnections is operated on to form an imprecise via pattern that indicates a plurality of general areas in which vias are allowed. The imprecise via pattern is for use in an integrated circuit manufacturing process to form, in conjunction with operations to form the first and second metal layers, a plurality of self-aligned vias for interconnecting the intended interconnections.
US09209125B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device using a graphene film comprises a catalytic metal layer formed on a groundwork substrate includes a contact via, and a multilayered graphene layer formed in a direction parallel with a surface of the substrate. The catalytic metal layer is formed to be connected to the contact via and covered with an insulation film except one side surface. The multilayered graphene layer is grown from the side surface of the catalytic metal layer which is not covered with the insulation film.
US09209121B2
Various embodiments of an integrated device package are disclosed herein. The package may include a leadframe having a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The leadframe can include a plurality of leads surrounding a die mounting region. A first package lid may be mounted on the first side of the leadframe to form a first cavity, and a first integrated device die may be mounted on the first side of the leadframe within the first cavity. A second integrated device die can be mounted on the second side of the leadframe. At least one lead of the plurality of leads can provide electrical communication between the first integrated device die and the second integrated device die.
US09209115B2
A quad flat no-lead (QFN) packaging structure. The QFN packaging structure includes a metal substrate, a first outer die pad formed on the metal substrate, and a first die coupled to a top surface of the first outer die pad. The QFN packaging structure also includes a plurality of I/O pads formed on the metal substrate, and a first metal layer containing a plurality of inner leads corresponding to the plurality of I/O pads and extending to proximity of the die. The first metal layer is formed on the metal substrate by a multi-layer electrical plating process such that a lead pitch of the plurality of inner leads is significantly reduced. Further, the QFN packaging structure includes metal wires connecting die and the plurality of inner leads, and a second metal layer formed on a back surface of the plurality of I/O pads and the die pad.
US09209114B2
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 formed to penetrate in a thickness direction thereof, and a semiconductor chip mounted on one surface of the substrate.
US09209113B2
A voltage generated in any of a plurality of semiconductor chips is supplied to another chip as a power supply voltage to realize a stable operation of a semiconductor device in which the semiconductor chips are stacked in the same package. For example, two chips are stacked with each other, first to third pads are disposed along corresponding sides of the respective chips, which are arranged close and in parallel to each other, and these pads are commonly connected to each other with first to third metal wires, respectively. In another example, fourth and fifth pads are disposed along a side different from a side along which the first to third pads are disposed, and further connected to each other with a fourth metal wire directly between the chips.
US09209106B2
A method of assembling a semiconductor chip device is provided. The method includes providing a first circuit board that has a plurality of thermally conductive vias. A second circuit board is mounted on the first circuit board over and in thermal contact with the thermally conductive vias. The second circuit board includes first side facing the first circuit board and a second and opposite side.
US09209098B2
A method of determining the reliability of a high-voltage PMOS (HVPMOS) device includes determining a bulk resistance of the HVPMOS device, and evaluating the reliability of the HVPMOS device based on the bulk resistance.
US09209081B2
A semiconductor grid array package has a first housing member with a cavity that has a cavity floor and cavity walls. A semiconductor die is affixed to the cavity floor. A second housing member is molded to the first housing member and covers an interface surface of the die. Electrically conductive runners are mounted to an external surface of the second housing member. The runners have a wire contacting area and an external connector contacting area. Bond wires are selectively bonded to the external connection pads of the semiconductor die and selectively connected to the wire contacting area of the runners. External electrical connectors are mounted to a designated external connector contacting area.
US09209075B2
Methodologies enabling integration of optical components in ICs and a resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include: providing a first substrate layer of an IC separated from a second substrate level by an insulator layer; providing a transistor on the second substrate layer; and providing an optical component on the first substrate layer, the optical component being connected to the transistor.
US09209074B2
Embodiments of the invention provide processes for depositing a cobalt layer on a barrier layer and subsequently depositing a conductive material, such as copper or a copper alloy, thereon. In one embodiment, a method for depositing materials on a substrate surface is provided which includes forming a barrier layer on a substrate, exposing the substrate to dicobalt hexacarbonyl butylacetylene (CCTBA) and hydrogen to form a cobalt layer on the barrier layer during a vapor deposition process (e.g., CVD or ALD), and depositing a conductive material over the cobalt layer. In some examples, the barrier layer and/or the cobalt layer may be exposed to a gas or a reagent during a treatment process, such as a thermal process, an in situ plasma process, or a remote plasma process.
US09209073B2
Presented herein is a method for electrolessly forming a metal cap in a via opening, comprising bringing a via into contact with metal solution, the via disposed in an opening in a substrate, and forming a metal cap in the opening and in contact with the via, the metal cap formed by an electroless chemical reaction. A metal solution may be applied to the via to form the metal cap. The metal solution may comprises at least cobalt and the cap may comprise at least cobalt, and may optionally further comprise tungsten, and wherein the forming the cap comprises forming the cap to further comprise at least tungsten. The metal solution may further comprise at least hypophosphite or dimethylaminoborane.
US09209062B1
A removable air flow control housing having a chamber for holding a substrate which is rotatable with and attachable by vacuum to a spin chuck of a spin coating apparatus. The housing has a lid in a top wall that can be hinged, screwed, magnetically secured or frictionally held in place. The chuck is nestable within a cutout region disposed within a central inner portion of the housing while an outer portion of the housing has a toroidal shape beyond edges of the chuck for reducing air turbulence and capturing excess coating fluid. The cutout region forms a shape that corresponds to the chuck shape. An upper cutout wall has vacuum holes in vertical alignment with vacuum holes of the chuck. The housing is attachable by vacuum to the chuck when the chuck is nested within the cutout region and the substrate is positioned on an upper surface of the upper cutout wall. The housing and substrate are rotatable with the chuck about a chuck axis of rotation as a coating solution is dispensed onto the substrate.
US09209058B2
An apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device comprises a platform comprising a carrier and a roller system, a positioning unit above the platform and comprising a circular opening, and an elevating unit connecting the platform and the positioning unit.
US09209049B2
In one embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber having an interior volume with an upper portion and a lower portion, a cooling source disposed in the upper portion of the interior volume, a heating source opposing the cooling source, a magnetically movable substrate support that moves between the upper portion and the lower the portion, and a plurality of sensors coupled to the chamber to detect the position of the substrate support relative to the heating source and the cooling source.
US09209046B2
A method of manufacturing a WLP semiconductor structure includes several operations. One of the operations is providing a carrier and the carrier includes a top surface. One of the operations is covering a portion of the top surface with a plurality of active dies. One of the operations is disposing a protrudent band on a periphery of the carrier, wherein the protrudent band includes a rim shaped along the contour of the carrier. One of the operations is forming a molding compound on the carrier to cover the plurality of active dies.
US09209034B2
In a plasma etching method for etching a metal layer of a substrate to be processed through a hard mask by using a plasma etching apparatus, a first step in which a first etching gas comprising a mixed gas of O2, CF4 and HBr is used as an etching gas, and a second step in which a second etching gas comprising a mixed gas of O2 and CF4 is used as an etching gas, are continuously and alternately repeated a plurality of times. At this time, a first high-frequency power of a first frequency and a second high-frequency power of a second frequency, which is lower than the first frequency, are applied to a lower electrode, and the first high-frequency power is applied in a pulse form.
US09209033B2
A gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) etching method for adjusting a fin height in finFET devices is described. The method includes providing a substrate having a fin structure and a gap-fill material layer completely overlying the fin structure and filling the regions between each fin of the fin structure, wherein each fin includes a cap layer formed on a top surface thereof, and planarizing the gap-fill material layer until the cap layer is exposed on at least one fin of the fin structure. Additionally, the method includes setting a target fin height for the fin structure, wherein the fin height measured from an interface between the cap layer and the fin structure, and exposing the substrate to a GCIB and recessing the gap-fill material layer relative to the cap layer until the target fin height is substantially achieved.
US09209029B2
An asymetric gate MOS device is disclosed. The gate is a metal gate, and the metal gate has a different work function on the source side from that on the drain side of the MOS device, so that the overall performance parameters of the MOS device are more optimized. A method of making an asymetric gate MOS device is also disclosed. In the method, dopant ions are implanted into the gate of the MOS device, so as to cause the gate to have a different work function on the source side from that on the drain side of the MOS device. As a result, the overall performance parameters of the MOS device are more optimized. The method can be easily implemented.
US09209028B2
Provided are methods of forming an ion implanted region in a semiconductor device. The methods comprise: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of regions to be ion implanted; (b) forming a photoresist pattern on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the photoresist pattern is formed from a chemically amplified photoresist composition comprising a matrix polymer having acid labile groups, a photoacid generator and a solvent; (c) coating a descumming composition over the photoresist pattern, wherein the descumming composition comprises: a matrix polymer; an acid generator chosen from thermal acid generators, photoacid generators and combinations thereof; and a solvent; (d) exposing the coated semiconductor substrate to conditions to generate an acid in the descumming composition from the acid generator; (e) contacting the coated semiconductor substrate with a rinsing agent to remove residual descumming composition and scum from the substrate; and (f) ion implanting the plurality of regions of the semiconductor substrate using the photoresist pattern as an implant mask. The methods find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
US09209019B2
Methods and systems to manufacture a semi-conducting backplane are described. According to one set of implementations, semi-conducting particles are positioned in a supporting material of the semi-conducting backplane utilizing perforations in the supporting material or perforations in a removable support member upon which the semi-conducting backplane is constructed. For example, semi-conducting particles are deposited in perforations on a supporting member such that a portion of the semi-conducting particles protrudes from the supporting member. Suction is applied to the semi-conducting particles to retain the semi-conducting particles in the perforations and a layer of encapsulant material is applied onto the supporting member to cover the protruding portion. The supporting member is then removed from the semi-conducting particles and the layer of encapsulant material, which together form an assembly of the semi-conducting particles and the layer of encapsulant material. The portion of the semi-conducting particles is then planarized.
US09209016B1
A wafer-level coating method and a coating system are provided. A strip-shaped sprayer is disposed above the wafer, and a length of the strip-shaped sprayer is larger than a diameter of the wafer. Then, a coating process is performed by spraying a material from the strip-shaped sprayer to form a material layer covering a top surface of the wafer and moving the strip-shaped sprayer relative to the wafer in a direction vertical to a length direction of the strip-shaped sprayer for at least a distance equal to or larger than the diameter of the wafer. Next, the moving strip-shaped sprayer and the spraying of the material are stopped after the material layer is formed.
US09209009B2
The invention provides chunk polycrystalline silicon having a concentration of carbon at the surface of 0.5-35 ppbw. A process for cleaning polycrystalline silicon chunks having carbon contaminations at the surface, includes a thermal treatment of the polycrystalline silicon chunks in a reactor at a temperature of 350 to 600° C., the polycrystalline silicon chunks being present in an inert gas atmosphere during the thermal treatment, and the polycrystalline silicon chunks after the thermal treatment having a concentration of carbon at the surface of 0.5-35 ppbw.
US09208988B2
The present invention is a shielded anode having an anode with a surface facing an electron beam and a shield configured to encompass the anode surface. The shield has at least one aperture and an internal surface facing the anode surface. The shield internal surface and anode surface are separated by a gap in the range of 1 mm to 10 mm. The shield of the present invention is fabricated from a material, such as graphite, that is substantially transmissive to X-ray photons.
US09208985B2
A high energy radiation generator utilizes sliding friction in a low pressure environment to generate high energy radiation, for example x-rays. The sliding friction may be generated by sweeping one material against a second material, for example rotating a surface of a rotor against a membrane, in the presence of an electron target, which may be one of the first material or the second material, or a different material.
US09208974B2
In one aspect of the present invention, a disk type off-circuit tap changer includes a switch base and a rotation shaft, where an upper end of the rotation shaft is connected to an operation positioning mechanism, a lower end of the rotation shaft is connected to moving contacts, the moving contacts fit with fixed contacts circumferentially arranged at a lower side of the switch base, and the fixed contacts are directly embedded into the switch base to form a whole body with the switch base.
US09208973B2
An electrical sliding contact switch comprises a contact transmitter element with a first and a second rigidly interconnected sliding contact, which are pressed against a corresponding surface designed for a common sliding section by respective contact areas in the same direction, while there is an insulated segment and a contact segment for each sliding contact within the common sliding section respectively, whereby one insulated segment is slid over by a contact area of a sliding contact, when the corresponding other sliding contact is sliding over its contact segment with its contact area, whereby a notch is arranged within the insulating segment which is slid over by a contact area of a sliding contact in case the other sliding contact is sliding over its contact segment.
US09208969B2
A dispensing switch in an appliance and a method of controlling a dispensing assembly based on a plurality of outputs of the dispensing switch is provided. A dispensing assembly can dispense ice cubes and/or water from the appliance when the dispensing switch is actuated. The dispensing switch can have a plurality of outputs. For instance, the dispensing switch can provide outputs through a common terminal, a normally open terminal, and a normally closed terminal. When the dispensing switch is actuated, a controller can monitor the plurality of terminals to determine whether a change in the outputs has occurred. After the controller determines that a change in the outputs of the dispensing switch has occurred, the controller can control the dispensing assembly based on the outputs of the dispensing switch.
US09208968B2
This is directed to a dome switch that may prevent liquid from coming into contact with circuit elements of the switch. A deformable dome may include a conductive inner surface region and may be placed over a conductive contact pad such that the dome may deform and the conductive elements may contact each other. At least one sheath may be positioned between the conductive region of the dome and the contact pad positioned below the dome for preventing liquid external to the one or more sheaths from contacting the conductive portions of the switch. In some embodiments, a first sheath may be coupled to the inner surface of the dome about the conductive inner surface region and a second sheath may be coupled to a mounting surface about the conductive contact pad, such that when a user deforms the dome, one of the sheaths may extend into the other sheath.
US09208967B2
A switching device that causes a force to act on an arc to diffuse the arc, has a magnet that generates a magnetic field in a direction orthogonal to a direction of the arc, the arc being generated at moment at which a movable member is brought into contact with or separated from a contact of a fixed member to switch between electric conduction and electric cutoff. The magnet is a plastic magnet in which metal is exposed to a surface of the magnet.
US09208959B2
Disclosed is a super capacitor and method of manufacture thereof. This invention relates to a solid state super capacitor comprising a solid state polymer electrolyte and a modified carbonaceous electrode. Said modified carbonaceous electrode comprises a conductive carbonaceous material covered with active ingredients. Said modified carbonaceous electrode and said solid state polymer electrolyte are layered on top of each other to form a sandwich-like structure. Said super capacitor performs much better than known super capacitor comprising liquid or gel-form electrolytes. Said super capacitor has higher conductivity, therefore can be manufactured without a current collector. Since said super capacitor contains solid state polymer electrolyte, the method of manufacturing said super capacitor is more environmentally friendly and has a higher safety level.
US09208955B2
A dye-sensitized solar cell fabricating kit for fabricating a dye-sensitized solar cell includes a semiconductor electrode having a semiconductor layer carrying a dye, an opposite electrode disposed opposite the semiconductor electrode, an electrolytic solution made by dissolving electrolyte in a solvent and caused to fill between the semiconductor electrode and the opposite electrode during an initial assembly, the electrolytic solution being supplemented when decreased after assembly, so that an electrolyte concentration at the time of supplement is lower than an electrolyte concentration of the electrolytic solution supplied during the initial assembly, and a sealing member detachably attachable to an inlet through which the electrolytic solution is supplied between the semiconductor electrode and the opposite electrode to close the inlet.
US09208954B2
An electrolytic capacitor includes a capacitor element, an electrolyte solution with which the capacitor element is impregnated, and an outer package enclosing the capacitor element and the electrolyte solution. The capacitor element includes an anode foil having a dielectric layer on a surface thereof, a cathode foil, a separator disposed between the anode foil and the cathode foil, and a solid electrolyte layer in contact with the dielectric layer of the anode foil and the cathode foil. The electrolyte solution contains a low-volatile solvent that is at least one of polyalkylene glycol and a derivative of polyalkylene glycol.
US09208940B2
There is provided a winding structure, a coil winding, a coil part, and a coil winding manufacturing method, which are capable of preventing occurrence of an extra space due to existence of a connecting wire part when two winding parts and a connecting wire part connecting the winding parts are formed.
US09208934B1
A system relating to improved magnetization of flexible magnetic sheet material, such as magnetic rubber. More particularly, this invention relates to providing a system for magnetization of printed or printable flexible magnetic sheet material.
US09208918B2
Apparatus for collimating an X-ray beam, the apparatus including a multi-slit rotatable collimator including a semi-tubular structure extending coaxially along a longitudinal axis and being formed out of an X-ray impermeable material, with at least two slits formed in the semi-tubular structure, wherein the at least two slits extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the semi-tubular structure, a mount for rotatably supporting the semi-tubular structure in the path of an X-ray beam, and a drive mechanism for selectively rotating the semi-tubular structure about the longitudinal axis of the semi-tubular structure, whereby to selectively (i) position one slit in the path of the X-ray beam so as to tailor the X-ray beam to the width of that slit, and (ii) position a solid portion of the semi-tubular structure in the path of an X-ray beam so as to block an X-ray beam.
US09208917B2
In certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, three-dimensional micro-mechanical devices and/or micro-structures can be made using a production casting process. As part of this process, an intermediate mold can be made from or derived from a precision stack lamination and used to fabricate the devices and/or structures. Further, the micro-devices and/or micro-structures can be fabricated on planar or nonplanar surfaces through use of a series of production casting processes and intermediate molds. The use of precision stack lamination can allow the fabrication of high aspect ratio structures. Moreover, via certain molding and/or casting materials, molds having cavities with protruding undercuts also can be fabricated.
US09208914B2
A system, method and apparatus for providing radiation shielding to a ventilated cask for holding high level radioactive materials. In one aspect, the tubular shell is positioned to circumferentially surround the cask so that an annular gap exists between the tubular shell and a sidewall of the cask. The tubular shell includes a first air flow inlet and a second air flow inlet. An air flow barrier is placed within the annular gap, separating the annular gap into a first chamber and a second chamber. A first air flow into the first air flow inlet passes through the first chamber and into the inlet vent of the cask, a second air flow into the second air flow inlet passes through the second chamber and to an opening at the top end of the tubular shell, and the air flow barrier prohibits cross-flow of air between the first and second chambers.
US09208913B2
The present invention relates to a wave-absorbing metamaterial, comprising a substrate which is provided with two opposite lateral surfaces, wherein a plurality of periodically arranged artificial metal microstructures are attached on at least one of the two opposite lateral surfaces; when an electromagnetic wave having an incident direction vertical to the two opposite lateral surfaces of the substrate is transmitted to the wave-absorbing metamaterial, a relative permittivity of the metamaterial is substantially equal to a relative magnetic conductivity of the metamaterial. A wave-absorbing principle different from that of a conventional wave-absorbing material is employed on the wave-absorbing metamaterial; an ideal wave-absorbing effect is achieved by periodically arranging various artificial metal microstructures on the substrate and adjusting the artificial metal microstructures; and the wave-absorbing metamaterial has the advantages of minor weight, small thickness and simply adjustable electromagnetic parameters.
US09208912B2
The present invention is directed to composite metal foams comprising hollow metallic spheres and a solid metal matrix. The composite metal foams show high strength, particularly in comparison to previous metal foams, while maintaining a favorable strength to density ratio. The composite metal foams can be prepared by various techniques, such as powder metallurgy and casting.
US09208911B2
This invention relates to a computational system and method for performing a safety analysis of a postulated Loss of Coolant Accident in a nuclear reactor for a full spectrum of break sizes including various small, intermediate and large breaks. Further, modeling and analyzing the postulated small break, intermediate break and large break LOCAs are performed with a single computer code and a single input model properly validated against relevant experimental data. Input and physical model uncertainties are combined following a random sampling process, e.g., a direct Monte Carlo approach (ASTRUM-FS) and advanced statistical procedures are utilized to show compliance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 CFR 50.46 criteria.
US09208901B2
A memory device, and a method of operating same, utilize a memory buffer associated with a memory array to maintain information to be available subsequent to a program-fail event associated with the memory array.
US09208896B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a write control unit that performs a first write operation with respect to a first threshold distribution, a first verify operation on the first threshold distribution, and a second write operation on the basis of a result of the first verify operation, and then starts a third write operation with respect to a second threshold distribution.
US09208893B2
Read margin measurement circuitry for measuring the read margin of floating-gate programmable non-volatile memory cells. In some embodiments, the read margin of a cell with a floating-gate transistor in a non-conductive state is measured by periodically clocking a counter following initiation of a read cycle; a latch stores the counter contents upon the cell under test making a transition due to leakage of the floating-gate transistor. Logic for testing a group of cells in parallel is disclosed. In some embodiments, the read margin of a cell in which the floating-gate transistor is set to a conductive state is measured by repeatedly reading the cell, with the output developing a voltage corresponding to the duty cycle of the output of the read circuit.
US09208890B2
An operating method of a semiconductor device includes repeating an erase loop operable to lower threshold voltages of memory cells in a selected memory block by applying an erase voltage to the selected memory block and performing an erase verification to determine whether the threshold voltages of the memory cells in the selected memory block are less than or equal to a target level, wherein an erase voltage is increased by a voltage difference wherein the voltage difference is increased between successive applications of two or more of the erase loops, and repeating a program loop including applying a program voltage to a selected word line to increase threshold voltages of memory cells electrically coupled to the selected word line and performing a program verification to determine whether the threshold voltages are greater than or equal to a target level, wherein a program voltage is increased by a voltage difference wherein the voltage difference is increased between successive applications of two or more program voltages.
US09208872B2
A semiconductor device includes; a memory device configured to take a plurality of resistance states that are distinguishable from one another; a bias application section configured to apply, in a bias application period, a bias signal to the memory device; and a determination section configured to determine a resistance state of the memory device on the basis of a detection signal, in which the detection signal is generated in the memory device to which the bias signal is applied. The bias application section sets a length of the bias application period in accordance with a resistance value of the memory device, when the resistance state determined by the determination section is predetermined one of the resistance states.
US09208863B1
A controller performs a coding process based on a first frame including data of a plurality of pages connected to first word lines being a predetermined number of consecutive word lines in a block, and performs, when padding data is written to a plurality of pages connected to second word lines being the predetermined number of word lines subsequent to the first word lines, the coding process based on a second frame obtained by excluding the padding data from a frame including data of the pages connected to the second word lines.
US09208859B1
A memory circuit configured for reducing dynamic read power is disclosed that includes a first read global bit line connected to a first sense amp and a second read global bit line connected to a second sense amp. The second read global bit line is adjacent to the first read global bit line. The memory circuit further includes a third read global bit line and logic circuitry connected to the first read global bit line, the second read global bit line, and the third read global bit line. The logic circuitry is configured to determine when both the first read global bit line and the second read global bit line are evaluated as in a high state, and in response to the determining, toggle the third read global bit line to the high state.
US09208858B1
A static random access memory (SRAM) includes a first port word line, a second port word line, a first port bit line and a first port complementary bit line, a second port bit line and second port complementary bit line, and a memory cell having a data node coupled to the first and second port bit lines and a complementary data node coupled to the first and second port complementary bit lines. The first and second port word lines control access to the dual port memory cell. A circuit couples the second port bit line to a high voltage supply node during a write logic high operation to the data node through the first port bit line and couple the second port complementary bit line to the high voltage supply node during a write logic high operation to the complementary data node through the first port complementary bit line.
US09208854B2
A three dimensional dual-port bit cell generally comprises a first portion of a latch disposed on a first tier, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of first port elements. A second portion of the latch is disposed on a second tier that is vertically stacked with respect to the first tier using at least one via, wherein the second portion includes a plurality of second port elements.
US09208853B2
In one embodiment, a memory cell circuit for storing data includes a pair of cross-coupled inverters for storing states of the memory cell circuit. Access devices provide access to the pair of cross-coupled inverters. The memory cell circuit also includes a set of electrically inactive p-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) devices that are coupled to the pair of cross-coupled inverters. The set of electrically inactive PMOS devices in combination with a portion (e.g., PMOS devices) of the pair of cross-coupled inverters enables a continuous p-type diffusion layer for the memory cell circuit.
US09208846B2
The invention provides a multibit magnetic memory structure comprising a stack of two or more magnetic plaquettes, each of which has at least three distinct magnetic states. The invention provides for a new type of vertical memory where each layer encodes information in two degrees of freedom, which has the potential to increase the theoretical storage capacity by factor 4n. The information is read, through the resonant frequency of the stack or through a combination of the resonant frequency and resistance.
US09208843B2
Internal address generation circuits are provided. The internal address generation circuit includes an aging detector and an address decoder. The aging detector generates an aging signal enabled when the number of times that an internal command signal for accessing memory cells is inputted is equal to or more than a reference number. The address decoder decodes an address signal in response to the aging signal to generate an internal address signal.
US09208839B2
Apparatus for data processing and a method of data processing are provided. Shift circuitry performs a shift operation in response to a shift instruction, shifting bits of an input data value in a direction specified by the shift instruction. Bit location indicator generation circuitry and comparison circuitry operate in parallel with the shift circuitry. The bit location indicator indicates at least one bit location in the input data value which must not have a bit set if the shifted data value is not to saturate. Comparison circuitry compares the bit location indicator with the input data value and indicates a saturation condition if any bits are indicated by the bit position indicator for bit locations which hold set bits in the input data value. A faster indication of the saturation condition thus results.
US09208832B2
A method of testing large-scale integrated circuits including multiple instances of memory arrays, and an integrated circuit structure for assisting such testing. In one embodiment, voltage drops due to parasitic resistance in array bias conductors are determined by extracting layout parameters, and subsequent circuit simulation that derives the voltage drops in those conductors during operation of each memory array. In another embodiment, sense lines from each memory array are selectively connected to a test sense terminal of the integrated circuit, at which the array bias voltage at each memory array is externally measured. Feedback control of the applied voltage to arrive at the desired array bias voltage can be performed.
US09208817B1
System and method are disclosed for managing storage space of a magnetic storage device. The system may read data from a sector of the storage space and determine whether the data are successfully read from the sector. If it is determined that the data are not successfully read from the sector, the system may retrieve an address of the sector. The system may further determine whether the sector is subject to media fatigue based on the address. If it is determined that the sector is subject to media fatigue, the system may reallocate the sector subject to media fatigue to a spare sector.
US09208812B2
There is provided a soft magnetic alloy for a perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a low coercive force, high amorphous properties, high corrosion resistance, and a high hardness; and a sputtering target for producing a thin film of the alloy. The alloy comprises in at. %: 6 to 20% in total of one or two of Zr and Hf; 1 to 20% of B; and 0 to 7% in total of one or two or more of Ti, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Ni, Al, Si, and P; and the balance Co and/or Fe and unavoidable impurities. The alloy further satisfies 6≦2×(Zr%+Hf%)−B%≦16 and 0≦Fe%/(Fe%+Co%)<0.20.
US09208805B1
A method for evaluating bit error rate for a magnetic head by using a quasi-static test system, includes step (a), measuring a noise characteristic curve for a magnetic head, and the noise characteristic comprising noise amplitude and maximum noise amplitude; step (b), constructing a noise waveform by appropriately scaling a signal noise ratio of the magnetic head based on the noise characteristic curve measured in step (a); and step (c), injecting the noise waveform constructed in step (b) into a model comprising a transmitter module and a receiver module to evaluate a bit error rate. The method saves testing time, reduces manpower, and obtains accuracy testing result.
US09208803B2
A magnetic head includes a first electrode layer, a metal magnetic layer, an organic molecular having a pi conjugated structure, an inorganic layer, and a second electrode layer.
US09208799B2
The present invention relates to a method for estimating a pattern, in particular a pitch and/or a fundamental frequency, in a signal having a periodic, quasiperiodic or virtually periodic component, wherein the signal is transformed from a time-domain to a frequency-domain to obtain a spectrum of the signal, the spectrum is processed to obtain a zero-phase spectrum of the signal, the spectrum of the signal is transformed to the time-domain to obtain a correlation signal, the spectrum and the correlation signals are combined to a combined spectrum, and the pattern is estimated on the basis of the combined spectrum.
US09208791B2
An orthogonal transform apparatus computes either one of the real and imaginary components of the quadrature mirror filter coefficient contained in a first subinterval of a plurality of subintervals among which a coefficient sequence containing a plurality of quadrature mirror filter coefficients is divided so that the values of basis functions are symmetrically placed, by computing a sum of products of the plurality of modified discrete cosine transform coefficients and the basis functions corresponding to the subinterval, computes the other one of the real and imaginary components of the quadrature mirror filter coefficient contained in the first subinterval and the real and imaginary components of the quadrature mirror filter coefficient contained in another subintervals by performing a butterfly operation using a computed value produced as a result of the sum of products and computes each quadrature mirror filter coefficient by combining the real component and imaginary component thereof.
US09208789B2
An audio encoder configured to encode an audio signal to generate a bitstream having E-AC-3 format, including by determining a first control parameter indicative of an allocation of available mantissa bits for quantized audio content of the signal. The encoder is configured to perform transcoding simulation to determine a second control parameter in a manner based at least in part on statistical analysis of results of E-AC-3 bit allocation processing of audio data assuming a first target data rate, and of AC-3 bit allocation processing of the data assuming a second target data rate, and to include the second control parameter in the bitstream for use by a converter to convert the bitstream into a second bitstream having AC-3 format at the second target data rate. Other aspects are converters configured to perform transcoding on a bitstream using such a second control parameter, and methods performed by any embodiment of the inventive encoder or converter.
US09208786B2
An automatic speech recognition system includes an audio capture component, a speech recognition processing component, and a result processing component which are distributed among two or more logical devices and/or two or more physical devices. In particular, the audio capture component may be located on a different logical device and/or physical device from the result processing component. For example, the audio capture component may be on a computer connected to a microphone into which a user speaks, while the result processing component may be on a terminal server which receives speech recognition results from a speech recognition processing server.
US09208785B2
Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed for synchronizing distributed speech recognition (‘DSR’) that include receiving in a DSR client notification from a voice server of readiness to conduct speech recognition and, responsive to the receiving, transmitting by the DSR client, from the DSR client to the voice server, speech for recognition.
US09208780B2
The processing efficiency and estimation accuracy of a voice activity detection apparatus are improved. An acoustic signal analyzer receives a digital acoustic signal containing a speech signal and a noise signal, generates a non-speech GMM and a speech GMM adapted to a noise environment, by using a silence GMM and a clean-speech GMM in each frame of the digital acoustic signal, and calculates the output probabilities of dominant Gaussian distributions of the GMMs. A speech state probability to non-speech state probability ratio calculator calculates a speech state probability to non-speech state probability ratio based on a state transition model of a speech state and a non-speech state, by using the output probabilities; and a voice activity detection unit judges, from the speech state probability to non-speech state probability ratio, whether the acoustic signal in the frame is in the speech state or in the non-speech state and outputs only the acoustic signal in the speech state.
US09208777B2
Personalization for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is associated with a particular device. A generalized i-vector clustering method is used to train i-vector parameters on utterances received from a device and to classify test utterances from the same device. A sub-loading matrix and a residual noise term may be used when determining the personalization. A Universal Background Model (UBM) is trained using the utterances. The UBM is applied to obtain i-vectors of training utterances received from a device and a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is trained using the i-vectors. During testing, the i-vector for each utterance received from the device is estimated using the device's UBM. The utterance is then assigned to the cluster with the closest centroid in the GMM. For each utterance, the i-vector and the residual noise estimation is performed. Hyperparameter estimation is also performed. The i-vector estimation and hyperparameter estimation are performed until convergence.
US09208769B2
An adaptive noise-cancelling headphone including an earcup housing having a driver for outputting sound to a user positioned therein. The headphone further including an active noise control assembly. The active noise control assembly may include an ambient microphone capable of detecting an ambient noise outside of the housing and an error microphone capable of detecting an earcup noise inside of the housing. Based on the detected noise, active noise cancellation within the headphone is either enabled or disabled. The headphone may further include a passive noise control assembly. The passive noise control assembly may include an acoustic valve associated with an acoustic vent formed within the earcup housing. The acoustic valve is capable of being modified between an open configuration to decrease sound attenuation and a closed configuration to increase sound attenuation in response to the detected ambient noise so as to improve an acoustic performance of the earcup.
US09208737B2
A shift register circuit has a plurality of shift registers. Each of the shift registers has at least four input terminals, a signal input terminal, an output terminal, a pull-up circuit, a driving circuit, a stability driving circuit, and a pull-down circuit. The signal input terminal receives an input signal, and the pull-up circuit is configured to pull up a voltage level of a node of the shift register. The driving circuit outputs a gate driving signal according to the voltage level of the node. The pull-down circuit is configured to pull down the voltage level of the node. The stability driving circuit can pull down the voltage of the output terminal according to the voltages of the four input terminals, and, thus, can reduce the response time of the shift register circuit and increase the operation region of the shift register circuit.
US09208736B2
A display device includes a display panel having gate lines and data lines, a signal controller driving the display panel, a graphic processing unit transmitting input image data to the signal controller, a gate driver driving the gate lines, and a data driver driving the data lines. The display panel is driven at a first frequency when displaying a moving image and driven at a lower frequency when displaying a still image. The signal controller includes a frame memory storing the input image data, a calculator calculating a representative value of image data stored in the frame memory, a line memory storing the representative value, and a kick-back corrector generating auxiliary image data by correcting the representative value according to a kick-back voltage. The data driver applies an auxiliary voltage corresponding to the auxiliary image data to the data lines in a vertical blank period when displaying the still image.
US09208725B2
A display device includes a pixel array. The pixel array includes multiple pixel elements. At least one pixel element includes an OLED, a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a first capacitor and a second capacitor. The first transistor has a first terminal coupled to an anode of the OLED for driving the OLED. The second transistor is coupled between a second terminal of the first transistor and a reset voltage and has a control terminal receiving a reset signal. The third transistor is coupled between the anode of the OLED and a control terminal of the first transistor and has a control terminal receiving a compensation signal. The first capacitor is coupled between the control terminal of the first transistor and the anode of the OLED. The second capacitor is coupled to the first capacitor and the control terminal of the first transistor.
US09208706B1
A prefabricated sign assembly that is self-supporting once set in the ground. The sign assembly has a base post. The base post has a bottom ground spike and a top free end. An extender post is provided. The extender post slides over the top of the base post. An internal support post is provided. The bottom of the internal support post slides over the top of the extender post. A sign board is provided having a first face panel and a second face panel. The two face panels are joined at a spine panel. A polygonal hole is disposed through the spine panel. The internal support post extends through the hole, wherein the internal support post and the hole rotationally interlock. The first face panel and the second face panel of the sign board are folded against the internal support post and are secured with fasteners.
US09208704B2
Hybrid signage capable of self illumination and having an active backlight. The signage includes a turning film having a structured surface for redirecting light in order to passively illuminate a printed graphic or shaped sign when the backlight is off. In the shaped sign, the shape provides the content, such as letters, to be conveyed to the viewer instead of a graphic. The signage can be actively illuminated when the backlight is on to supplemental the passive illumination.
US09208695B2
A composition in the target language is parsed into plural different linguistic components, including sound level, grammar level and at least one functional grammar level component. The linguistic components are then expressed on different facets of an n-sided block device representation system according to predefined sets of rules. The facets of the block device may then be selectively examined by the learner to visualize how the target language functions to express the composition with respect to the way sounds, grammar and functional grammar are used. The block device representation system may be computer-implemented, rendering the facets on display panels associated with physical blocks, or as computer-generated images upon a display device.
US09208678B2
A computer-implemented method, system, and program includes a behavior processing system for capturing a three-dimensional movement of a monitored user within a particular environment monitored by a supervising user, wherein the three-dimensional movement is determined by using at least one image capture device aimed at the monitored user. The behavior processing system identifies a three-dimensional object properties stream using the captured movement. The behavior processing system identifies a particular defined adverse behavior of the monitored user represented by the three-dimensional object properties stream by comparing the identified three-dimensional object properties stream with multiple adverse behavior definitions. In response to identifying the particular defined adverse behavior from among the multiple adverse behavior definitions, the behavior processing system triggers a warning system to notify the supervising user about the particular defined adverse behavior of the monitored user through an output interface only detectable by the supervising user.
US09208664B1
A structure of a device, such as a surface coating, is composed of one or more materials that are arranged to change one or more characteristics in response to a stimulus, such as an electrical signal, a magnetic field, application of thermal energy, and so forth. The changed characteristics may include a tactile characteristic, a visual characteristic, or other type of characteristic that is perceivable by a user of the device. A state for the adjustable structure may be determined based on user preference data that is stored on the device or input by a user through a user interface. The state for the adjustable structure may also be automatically determined based on device motion, orientation, environment factors, and so forth.
US09208663B2
An input apparatus includes a panel (11), a piezoelectric element (13) on the panel (11), an output detection unit (18) that detects output of the piezoelectric element (13) corresponding to pressure on a touch face (11a) of the panel (11) and determines whether the output satisfies a standard for providing a tactile sensation, a piezoelectric element drive unit (15) that drives the piezoelectric element (13), when the output is determined to satisfy the standard, so that the tactile sensation is provided to an object pressing the touch face (11a), and a control unit (17) that controls the start timing of the determination by the output detection unit (18), thereby, after the piezoelectric element (13) is driven, the control unit (17) controls the output detection unit (18) to resume the determination when a predetermined period elapses after detection of the output by the output detection unit (18) enters a resumable state.
US09208659B2
A positioning structure, which fixes an operating unit (1) by a fixing bracket (4) and an adjusting bracket (2) provided with stoppers (3), easily performs the positioning that prevents the positions of the stoppers (3) from being displaced due to a customer's pressing force acted to the operating unit (1). Inclined rectangular holes (6) are formed at the adjusting bracket (2), and the adjusting bracket is fixable after fastening positions of fixing screws (5) are adjusted along the rectangular holes (6). Alternatively, step shaped rectangular holes (16) are formed, and the adjusting bracket is fixable after fastening positions of the fixing screws 5 are adjusted along the rectangular holes (16).
US09208643B2
A game playing information integration system which outputs the operation state of game units installed in a gaming facility, the proportions of visitors by type, and the trends of the greatest common preferences of visitors seen from the proportion and other information so that such information can be grasped in real time, and provides useful information for appropriately managing the operation and management of the gaming facility while achieving greater harmony of players and the gaming facility (shop) is provided.
US09208634B2
A smart card (40) is distributed to a cardholder in a non-operative form, with a digital token. The token is sent, via a near field communication interface, to a wireless communication device (10) and forwarded to a verification entity (30) via a wireless communication interface. The communication device (10) receives content for the smart card and sends the content to the smart card (40) to render it into an operative form. A transaction on a cardholder's account is authorized by a process which comprises sending a notification of the transaction to a wireless communication device and notifying the user of the transaction via a user interface of the device. A user can approve the transaction by bringing the smart card within range of the communication device and sending a card identifier via a near field communication interface.
US09208633B2
There is provided an information processing device including a receiving unit for receiving a command to be input to a first operating system and a command to be input to a second operating system different from the first operating system, a storage unit for storing a table in which given information included in the given command received by the receiving unit and information for identifying an application are related to each other, a generation unit for generating an application selection command for selectively executing the application based on the given command received by the receiving unit and the table stored in the storage unit, and an execution unit for executing the application selection command generated by the generation unit to selectively execute the application.
US09208632B2
A bill recognizing and counting apparatus includes an operation unit that receives setting of bill processing modes including a denomination mode, a counting mode, a different-denomination recognition mode, and an authenticity determination mode; a feeding and transporting mechanism; and a control unit that performs control for changing a processing speed according to the bill processing mode. When the bill processing mode is in the counting mode, the different-denomination recognition mode, or the authenticity determination mode, the control unit increases the processing speed by setting the feeding and transporting mechanism to a higher speed than the speed set in the denomination mode. The increase in speed is in accordance with a reduced time necessary to process a reduced amount of data associated with the denomination mode.
US09208622B2
According to one embodiment, a resistance estimation apparatus includes a first detection unit, a second detection unit, a third detection unit and a first calculation unit. The first detection unit detects, as an output value, an output of a driving source of a vehicle. The second detection unit detects, as a braking value, a strength of a braking force. The third detection unit detects a speed of the vehicle. The first calculation unit calculates a traveling resistance resulting from a road surface that the vehicle has traveled during a traveling period, using a vehicle characteristic, the output value, the braking value and the speed, the traveling period including a period from a first time point when the vehicle starts and the speed changes from zero to a second time point when the vehicle stops and the speed changes to zero.
US09208617B2
A shape data generation method includes: identifying, from among a plural vertices of a first shape to be transformed, one or plural first vertices satisfying a predetermined condition including a condition that a normal line of a vertex to be processed crosses with a second shape that is a shape of a transformation target, which is identified from image data; transforming the first shape so as to move each of the one or plural identified first vertices a predetermined distance toward a corresponding normal direction of the identified first vertex; and storing data concerning the plural vertices of the transformed first shape after the identifying and the transforming are executed the predetermined number of times.
US09208614B2
Wearable display system that displays previous runners as virtual objects on a current runner's path
There is provided a display control device including an action information acquisition unit that acquires, at an action position of one actor, action information regarding a past action of another actor, an object generation unit that generates a virtual object for virtually indicating a position of the other actor during an action of the one actor based on the acquired action information, and a display control unit that causes a display unit displaying a surrounding scene to superimpose and display the generated virtual object during the action of the one actor.
US09208611B2
A display system and method using texture mapping is provided. The display system, including: a texture maintenance unit maintaining a texture generated based on a characteristic of an object; a texture selection unit selecting a texture based on an object to be displayed; and a texture application unit repeatedly applying the selected texture to at least a portion of a three-dimensional (3D) texture corresponding to the object to be displayed.
US09208598B2
In a multi-participant modeled virtual reality environment, avatars are modeled beings that include moveable eyes creating the impression of an apparent gaze direction. Control of eye movement may be performed autonomously using software to select and prioritize targets in a visual field. Sequence and duration of apparent gaze may then be controlled using automatically determined priorities. Optionally, user preferences for object characteristics may be factored into determining priority of apparent gaze. Resulting modeled avatars are rendered on client displays to provide more lifelike and interesting avatar depictions with shifting gaze directions.
US09208596B2
A processor-implemented method for merging a plurality of visualizations is provided. The method may include receiving the plurality of visualizations. The method may further include analyzing a plurality of elements within the plurality of visualizations. Additionally, the method may include unifying the plurality of elements to generate at least one unified visualization, the at least one unified visualization being based on the analyzing of the plurality of elements. The method may also include producing a single output visualization based on the assembling of the at least one unified visualization.
US09208594B2
A method, apparatus and computer readable medium are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the method includes providing polysemous symbols for selection on an initial electronic screen overlay displayed on a display, a plurality of the provided polysemous symbols including a visual indicator indicating a link to a different next level electronic screen overlay; storing, in a memory and in association with each one of the plurality of polysemous symbols, a pointer identifying display of the next level electronic screen overlay which is different from the initial electronic screen overlay; and displaying the next level electronic screen overlay which is different from the initial electronic screen overlay on the display, in response to initial selection of a respective one of the plurality of polysemous symbols including the visual indicator, the next level electronic screen overlay being the electronic screen overlay associated with the selected polysemous symbol.
US09208584B2
A method and apparatus for describing an image are disclosed. The method for describing an image according to an embodiment of the invention includes: transforming an image from a BGR color space into a Gaussian derivative color model; and transforming the image from the Gaussian derivative color model into an optical reflection invariant color space, wherein the process of transforming the image from the Gaussian derivative color model into the optical reflection invariant color space includes: determining, for each pixel on the image, color channels of the pixel corresponding to the optical reflection invariant color space according to a first coefficient and a second coefficient of the pixel in the Gaussian derivative color model. The embodiments of the invention can alleviate an error in a description of an image of the same contents but with a significant change in color.
US09208583B2
A device with enhanced augmented reality functionality and methods therefor, are provided. An identifier of an object is rendered, at a display of a device, at a first position associated with the object. An object tracked device is used to track the object. When the object moves, a processor of the device smoothly transitions the identifier from the first position to a second position at the display using animation, the second position associated with a new position of the object.
US09208582B2
An image analysis system that analyzes an image of an object's organ having an anatomically symmetric shape includes: an image data read means that reads image data of the organ, a memory means that is connected to the image data read means, and stores the read image data, a display means that is connected to the memory means, and displays the image data as an image, a centerline setting means that is connected to the memory means, and sets a centerline of the organ in the image displayed on the display means, a region-of-interest setting means that is connected to the memory means, and uses the centerline to set a plurality of or at least one pair of regions of interest at anatomically symmetric opposite positions in the image of the organ, and an input means that is connected to the region-of-interest setting means, and inputs conditions for setting of the regions of interest in the image.
US09208580B2
Various arrangements for identifying a location of a hand of a person are presented. A group of pixels may be identified in an image of a scene as including the person. A reference point may be set for the group of pixels identified as the person. The hand may be identified as using a local distance maximum from the reference point. An indication, such as coordinates, of the location of the hand may be output based on the local distance.
US09208564B2
In a method and system for navigating an endoscopy capsule in a patient, wherein the endoscopy capsule includes a camera, a first image of an object in the interior of the patient is obtained with the camera, in which a re-identifiable structural feature of the object is identified. Successive images of the interior of the patient are then automatically obtained with the camera, and the endoscopy capsule is controlled, for each image, so that the position of the structural feature remains unchanged in the individual images while the image scale is intentionally enlarged or reduced.
US09208554B2
A system for detecting a class of objects at a location, for example humans on a conveyor belt. A thermal camera may be used to detect objects and to detect the variance of the heat distribution of objects to classify them. Objects detected in an image from one camera may be detected in an image from another camera using geometric correction. A color camera may be used to detect the number of edges and the number of colors of an object to classify it. A color camera may be used with an upright human body classifier to detect humans in an area, and blobs corresponding to the detected humans may be tracked in a thermal or color camera image to detect if a human enters an adjacent forbidden area such as a conveyor belt.
US09208540B2
An image producing method is provided. The method includes acquiring regular-interval parallel-beam projection data whose intervals in a channel direction are the same and parallel to each other in a plurality of view directions by applying interpolation processing in a view direction, rearrangement processing, and interpolation processing in the channel direction to fan-beam projection data, and reconstructing an image by applying back projection processing to the acquired regular-interval parallel-beam projection data, wherein the interpolation processing in the view direction includes interpolation processing which is performed along a curve or a first straight line made by deforming or rotating a second straight line parallel to the view direction so as to be proximate to a trajectory drawn by dots corresponding to a desired position in a Scan Field Of View region on a sinogram of the collected fan-beam projection data in the plurality of views.
US09208538B2
Methods for drawing a rotated rectangle on an electronic device are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving content configured for display and analyzing the content to identify a skew angle associated with the content. The method also includes receiving an input request to draw a rectangle overlaid upon the content, and providing, for display, the rectangle overlaid upon the content based upon the input request, the rectangle rotated according to the skew angle. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.
US09208537B1
A super-resolution reconstructing method includes: providing an original image including multiple original image pixel points arranged in an array; performing edge detecting on the original image by Canny_H method and considering pixel edge information of 4*4 area image range; performing 2*2 times interpolation zooming to edge pixel points and determining a type of the 4*4 area image as pure color entity area or non-pure color entity area according to the pixel edge information; performing a conditional interpolation individually on pure color entity area and non-pure color entity area; and obtaining a pixel 2*2 times interpolation zoomed super-resolution image. In pure color entity area, interpolation is performed according to edge information of 4*4 area image range to maintain border sharpness of pure color entity area and reduce jaggies. In non-pure color entity area, BiCubic_H interpolation is performed to enhance smoothness and sharpness of image.
US09208532B2
Disclosed are a watermark processing device, a method thereof, and an image capturing apparatus capable of reducing a processing time and a calculation amount while inserting a watermark into an image. The watermark processing method includes creating a watermarked image by inserting a predetermined watermark into a virtual wavelet image; and creating a synthesized image by synthesizing an input image and the watermarked image.
US09208528B2
Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for expense management are disclosed. A user may submit receipts for one or more transactions into an expense management system. The expense management system may extract information from the receipts and match the extracted information to one or more of a plurality of Records of Charge (ROCs). The expense management system may match the extracted information to a ROC based on vendor name, location, time stamp, and the like. The expense management system may further assign a ROC to an expense category. The expense management system may assign a ROC to an expense category based on a standard industrial classification (SIC) code of a merchant, a category assigned to a different ROC, and a location associated with the ROC. An expense report for all submitted receipts may be generated.
US09208527B2
A web service for automatically determining accounting entries that are affected by the deletion of a journal, formulating reverse accounting entries, and sending the reverse entries back to the source system is described. The service can use transaction identification keys to map and track which accounting entries are affected by the deletion of the journal. The web service can use extensible markup language (XML) among other formats.
US09208523B2
A financial market data network having a lowered overall latency includes communication interfaces, specialized switches having internal switching fabric, and feed handlers that all facilitate communications between financial exchanges and consumers of financial market data therefrom. A feed handler is situated within or proximate a specialized switch and is arranged to receive raw financial market data directly from financial exchanges without the data first traveling through any switching fabric. The feed handler is adapted to process the received raw financial market data into a normalized format before the normalized financial market data is ever routed through any switching fabric, prior to being sent to consumers. The communication interfaces can include I/O ports located on the specialized switches, and the feed handlers can include one or more computer processors or servers. Additional internal switch components can include packet processors and storage components that store network protocols and/or layer tables.
US09208520B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for shelf life expiration date management for smart refrigerators. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for shelf life expiration date management for smart refrigerators is provided. The method includes identifying a consumer during a point of sale transaction for purchasing different food items by a point of sale computer system, for example by scanning a bar code or reading a magnetic strip of a loyalty program card or reading a radio frequency identification (RFID) dongle. A list of the different food items can be provided to the smart refrigerator, for example from storage in the loyalty program card or RFID dongle, or as transmitted from the point of sale computer system to the smart refrigerator over a computer communications network. Finally, expiration dates can be determined for the food items in the list and stored in the smart refrigerator.
US09208519B2
The invention includes a system, apparatus, and method for storing media content within a service provider network. The system includes multi-service servers associated with access points adapted to allow end-user devices to access the service provider network. Each multi-service server includes a common storage partition adapted for storing media content and a plurality of end-user storage partitions adapted for maintaining associations to media content. The system includes media servers that communicate with the multi-service servers for providing media content to the multi-service servers. In response to a request for media content received from one of a plurality of end-user devices, the requested media content stored in the common storage partition is associated with a selected one of the end-user storage partitions associated with the end-user. The request for media content is received in response to end-user directed advertisements received at any of the plurality of end-user devices.
US09208503B2
An information processing apparatus determines a threshold value of the number of times of use of a keyword on the basis of the number of times of use of the keyword in each unit period included in a cycle period. Next, the information processing apparatus identifies a period in which the numbers of times of use exceeds the threshold value in the cycle period as a candidate of a popularity period of the keyword. Next, the information processing apparatus excludes the identified period from the popularity period if a situation in which the numbers of times of use in the identified period exceed the threshold value is different from a situation based on a periodic popularity of the keyword. When the identified candidate period is not excluded from the popularity period, the information processing apparatus determines the identified period to be the popularity period.
US09208502B2
Data is received from multiple data sources. At least one of the data sources is an active audio or video communication. The received data is analyzed by extracting instances of a keyword from the received data and analyzing contextual data near the keyword. Sentiment about the extracted keyword is gauged based on the contextual data. The derived sentiment data from the multiple data sources is aggregated, and an aggregated view of the derived sentiment data is presented.
US09208501B2
An electronic computing device, a personalized information providing method thereof, and a non-transitory machine-readable medium thereof are provided. The electronic computing device establishes a first and a second tree structure data according to a first data of a first user and a second data of a second user arranged in a period respectively by using an ontology construction algorithm, and calculates a similarity between the first and the second tree structure data by using a similarity evaluating algorithm, and then analyzes the similarity to subsume the first and the second tree structure data into a group by using a clustering algorithm. The electronic computing device determines difference between the first and the second tree structure data according to the group and generates recommending information corresponding to the first user which is arranged in the period according to the difference, and then enables a monitor to display the recommending information.
US09208500B2
Computer-based systems and methods for a multi-state advertisement displayed at a fixed position on a primary display space of a display device. The fixed position advertisement remains in its fixed position in view of the user as the user scrolls the web page in various directions. A plurality of events trigger a change in the state of the multi-state advertisement, with the change in state resulting in a change of the advertisement content, shape, size, style and appearance. An embodiment deploys an initial video in combination with a billboard. When the interstitial video ends, the fixed position advertisement is sized down to a less obtrusive size, with the billboard and the interstitial video replaced with a navigation bar.
US09208494B2
A system, method, and apparatus for using code based tracking are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a database including a product data structure configured to store (i) information indicative of a manufacturer of a woven carpet, (ii) information indicative of employees of the manufacturer that produced the woven carpet including a name and an age of each employee, (iii) information indicative of a certification inspection of the woven carpet, and (iv) information indicative of the woven carpet passing through customs. The example apparatus also includes a server configured to associate a code with the woven carpet, store the information of items (i) to (iv) to the product data structure, and make the information of items (i) to (iv) available a consumer upon receiving a message from a user device of the consumer indicative that the code was accessed by the user device.
US09208493B2
A transaction method, system and apparatus of the present invention employs two electromagnetically read cards. A first card is employed for accessing account data of a corresponding account. A second card effectively carries identity data of the owner/account holder of the first card. During a transaction, the two cards must be used sufficiently in tandem or in proper series order, in order for the card processing center to authorize the subject transaction. In particular, use of the first card accesses a corresponding account to determine if the account is active versus in a halted state (e.g., due to a reported stolen or lost card). Use of the second card spaced apart (in time and/or in distance) from the first card then verifies identity of the user as an authorized person to be accessing the corresponding account and hence authorized user of the first card. As such the second card verifies, validates, authenticates or otherwise confirms identity of the first card owner (also referred to as the corresponding account owner) and serves as an identity data member.
US09208488B2
Embodiments are directed to performing a transaction using a third party mobile wallet, performing a transaction using a third party point of sale (POS) system and to making a purchase from a third party mobile wallet provided by a third party mobile wallet provider. In one scenario, a cloud-based transaction platform is provided, which receives communication from an agent terminal over a communication channel connected to the cloud-based transaction platform. The agent communication indicates that a customer desires to perform a mobile wallet transaction using their third party mobile wallet. The cloud-based transaction platform sends the agent communication to a third party mobile wallet platform, receives communication from the third party mobile wallet platform confirming processing of the transaction, and sends communication to the agent terminal over a communication channel connected to the cloud-based transaction platform, where the communication indicates confirmation of the processing of the transaction.
US09208465B2
A system and method for visualizing performance metrics are disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component which collects information related to a set of agents operating in a work environment, a performance metric computation component which computes, for one of the agents, values for a performance metric at each of a plurality of times within a selected time period, and a representation generator which generates a representation for display to the agent, the representation providing the agent with information on the agent's current value for the performance metric. A processor implements the data acquisition component, the performance metric computation component, and the representation generator.
US09208464B2
Methods, apparatus and systems including a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium (memory), and at least one input/output (I/O) interface for evaluating a quality of a first locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility. First information relating to the first locate and/or marking operation is compared to second information relating to at least one second locate and/or marking operation different from the first locate and/or marking operation. One or more indications of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation is automatically generated based on such a comparison, and the one or more indications of the quality assessment are electronically stored on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitted via the at least one I/O interface, so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
US09208463B1
One or more processing devices access a service definition for a service provided by one or more entities that each produce machine data or about which machine data is generated. The service definition identifies the entities that provide the service and, for each entity, identifying information for locating machine data pertaining to that entity. The processing devices access a key performance indicator (KPI) for the service that is defined by a search query that produces a value derived from the machine data pertaining to the entities identified in the service definition. The value indicates how the service is performing at a point in time or during a period of time and indicates a state of the KPI. A graphical interface is displayed and an indication of at least one threshold, which defines an end of a range of values representing a state of the KPI, for the KPI is received.
US09208457B2
A method and apparatus for flight planning. Routes from a start point to an end point are identified for a flight of an aircraft from a database of routes. A plurality of different types of routes is present in the database of routes. A number of characteristics of the aircraft are applied to the routes to identify a performance of the aircraft for the routes using a number of weather conditions for the flight. The routes are ranked based on the performance of the aircraft on the routes in meeting a number of goals for the flight to form ranked routes. A portion of the ranked routes are displayed.
US09208449B2
Embodiments relate to a method, system, and computer program product for a process model. The method includes extracting data associated with a process execution trace of a running process and extracting any prior knowledge data relating to the running process. The method also includes calculating at least one transition confidence parameter for the prior knowledge data; and identifying any existing process models relating to the running process. A confidence trace bias is also generated for any existing process model identified. An enhanced bias value is then calculated by combining the confidence trace bias value and value of the transition confidence parameter. Using as input the extracted process execution trace data, the prior knowledge data, the identified existing model and the enhanced bias value, a learned process model is then generated.
US09208443B2
In selected embodiments a recommendation generator builds a network of interrelationships between venues, reviewers and users based on their attributes and reviewer and user reviews of the venues. Each interrelationship or link may be positive or negative and may accumulate with other links (or anti-links) to provide nodal links the strength of which are based on commonality of attributes among the linked nodes and/or common preferences that one node, such as a reviewer, expresses for other nodes, such as venues. The links may be first order (based on a direct relationship between, for instance, a reviewer and a venue) or higher order (based on, for instance, the fact that two venue are both liked by a given reviewer). The recommendation engine in certain embodiments determines recommended venues based on user attributes and venue preferences by aggregating the link matrices and determining the venues which are most strongly coupled to the user.
US09208441B2
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus including an evaluation information extraction section configured to extract evaluation information including an object targeted to be evaluated and an evaluation of the object targeted to be evaluated from a linguistic expression given as information expressed linguistically by a user of interest; an identification section configured to identify whether the evaluation information is of a first type regarding content or of a second type regarding another user; and an evaluation prediction section configured to predict the evaluation by the user of interest regarding the content, based on the evaluation information of the first type given by the user of interest and on the evaluation information given by the other user in the evaluation information of the second type given by the user of interest.
US09208440B2
A mathematical model to represent multiple role events of a threat scenario, and a methodology to score the events given the data or evidence contained in a knowledge base is provided. The multiple role event can include any action encompassed by an independent clause having multiple syntactical roles (subject, object, location, etc. . . . ) and containing multiple entities (person A, person B, object C, place D, etc. . . . ). Multiple role events are represented as elements of a tensor space, and are scored using tensor operators built from the semantic graph associated with the knowledge base.
US09208436B2
The model selection device comprises a model optimization unit which optimizes a model for a mixed distribution, wherein related to an information criterion of complete data, with respect to a hidden variable post-event distribution of the complete data, the model optimization unit optimizes an expected information criterion of the complete data for a pair of a model and a parameter of a component which satisfies a predetermined condition.
US09208430B2
Computer-implemented systems for simulated intelligence information processing comprising: a digital processing device comprising an operating system configured to perform executable instructions and a memory; a computer program including instructions executable by the digital processing device to create a hierarchical software architecture comprising: a software module a functional interpretation of the prosencephalon, or parts thereof; a software module a functional interpretation of the mesencephalon, or parts thereof; and a software module a functional interpretation of the rhombencephalon, or parts thereof; wherein the software architecture simulates vertebrate, mammalian, primate, or human neuroanatomy. In some embodiments, the systems create simulated intelligence.
US09208425B2
An RFID tag including an inlay having a sheet-like shape and including an antenna and an IC chip electrically connected to the antenna, an outer covering member that covers the inlay, the outer covering member having a planar shape and including a main surface and a rear surface, and a frame part arranged on at least one of the main surface and the rear surface. The frame part is erected in a thickness direction of the outer covering member. The frame part surrounds the IC chip in a plan view.
US09208417B2
An image processing apparatus configured to generate print data used for recording image data expressing halftone dots by an image forming apparatus includes an input unit configured to input image data expressing halftone dots, an obtaining unit configured to obtain color tone information indicating color tone for each pixel or for each area including a plurality of pixels in the image data, a conversion unit configured to perform multivalue conversion of the image data based on a degree of smoothing according to the color tone information, a color separation processing unit configured to perform color separation on the image data which has been multi-valued by the conversion unit, and a halftone processing unit configured to convert image data which has been color-separated by the color separation processing unit into print data.
US09208412B2
Setting change for an image forming device may include determining whether the image forming device is currently performing print processing. In some examples, if the image forming device is currently performing print processing, the setting change may be delayed. In other examples, the setting change may be implemented irrespective of the print processing. In one arrangement, the setting change may be specific to a particular entity (e.g., a user).
US09208411B2
A paper attribute designated by a suspended job which has been stored in a print job queue and printing of which has not been executed is acquired. When executing replacement of paper supplied to the printing apparatus is executed, a screen in which a user can designate a paper attribute candidate after paper replacement is displayed so that the acquired paper attribute is preferentially displayed out of candidates which the user can select as the paper attribute candidate. An image is printed on printing paper after the replacement, based on a paper attribute designated by the user in the screen.
US09208410B2
An image processing apparatus wirelessly communicates with an information processing apparatus without passing through an access point, provides a print service in which predetermined printing is performed in response to a print request from the information processing apparatus via a wireless communication unit, and enables a setting that is used for providing the print service if the setting is disabled when the information processing apparatus establishes communication with the image processing apparatus via the wireless communication unit.
US09208404B2
In techniques for object detection with boosted exemplars, weak classifiers of a real-adaboost technique can be learned as exemplars that are collected from example images. The exemplars are examples of an object that is detectable in image patches of an image, such as faces that are detectable in images. The weak classifiers of the real-adaboost technique can be applied to the image patches of the image, and a confidence score is determined for each of the weak classifiers as applied to an image patch of the image. The confidence score of a weak classifier is an indication of whether the object is detected in the image patch of the image based on the weak classifier. All of the confidence scores of the weak classifiers can then be summed to generate an overall object detection score that indicates whether the image patch of the image includes the object.
US09208402B2
A method includes receiving an image of a face to match with images of known faces, extracting blocks multiple blocks from the received image, calculating local binary pattern histograms for each block, generating matching scores for each block against block of the images of known faces, determining a top number, N, of matching scores less than the number of blocks, and matching the received image to an image of a known face as a function of the top number of matching scores.
US09208395B2
An apparatus comprises: extraction means for extracting an occluded region in which illumination irradiated onto the target object is occluded in an obtained two-dimensional image; projection means for projecting a line segment that constitutes a three-dimensional model onto the two-dimensional image based on approximate values of position/orientation of the target object; association means for associating a point that constitutes the projected line segment with a point that constitutes an edge in the two-dimensional image; determination means for determining whether the associated point that constitutes an edge in the two-dimensional image is present within the occluded region; and measurement means for measuring the position/orientation of the target object based on a distance on the two-dimensional image between the point that constitutes the projected line segment and the point that constitutes the edge, the points being associated as the pair, and a determination result.
US09208369B2
A system including an imaging device configured to capture one or more images of a designated area with illumination at a low optical transmission wavelength which makes a latent print or a contaminant within the designated area visible in a visible spectrum in the one or more captured images with clarity to determine an identification from the latent print or contaminant in the one or more images, and a computing system configured to create a three-dimensional image from the one or more images to provide a composite image of the designated area with the latent print or contaminant visible with clarity to determine an identification from latent print or contaminant in the composite image is disclosed. A method and a non-transitory processor readable storage medium are also disclosed.
US09208368B2
The recognition rate is improved and recognition errors are suppressed when recognizing magnetic ink characters. A character recognition unit 80 calculates the difference between the reference waveform data of each character in a character set and the character waveform data of a read magnetic ink character 101, and defines the characters with the smallest differences to the read character as first and second candidate characters. If scaling the reference waveforms of the first and second candidate characters creates waveforms that are similar with a smaller difference therebetween than before scaling, and the ratio between the difference B between the waveform of the second candidate and the read character, and the difference A between the waveform of the first candidate and the read character, is greater than or equal to a specific value, the character recognition unit scales and adjusts the reference waveforms to recognize the magnetic ink character 101.
US09208363B2
Methods, systems, and products self-identify an electronic device to a remote control. The remote control queries the electronic device, and the electronic device sends a response. A collision avoidance mechanism is invoked to determine if the response self-identified the electronic device.
US09208362B1
A system for radio frequency identification (RFID) includes an enclosure defining an interior region interior to the enclosure, and a feed for generating an electromagnetic field in the interior region in response to a signal received from an RFID reader via a radio frequency (RF) transmission line and, in response to the electromagnetic field, receiving a signal from an RFID sensor attached to an item in the interior region. The structure of the enclosure may be conductive and may include a metamaterial portion, an electromagnetically absorbing portion, or a wall extending in the interior region. Related apparatuses and methods for performing RFID are provided.
US09208335B2
A network security system that employs space-time separated and jointly-evolving relationships to provide fast network access control, efficient real-time forensics capabilities, and enhanced protection for at-rest data in the event of a network breach. The network security system allows, in part, functionality by which the system accepts a request by a user to access the data stored in the database, identifies a sequence of security agents to participate in authenticating and protecting the access of the data by the user, generates a sequence of pseudorandom IDs and space-time varying credentials, checks at each one of the security agents a corresponding one of the credentials, determines that the user is permitted to access the data using access control logs if all the security agents accept the corresponding credentials, and varies the credentials based on a space-time relationship.
US09208333B2
A method and apparatus for securely encrypting data is disclosed. Conventional protections against the loss or theft of sensitive data such as full disk encryption are not effective if the device is, or has recently been, running when captured or found because the keys used for full disk encryption will still be in memory and can be used to decrypt the data stored on the disk. Some devices, such as devices which gather sensitive data in use, must run in environments in which they might be captured by a person seeking access to the sensitive data already recorded by the device. An encryption method is proposed in which files on a recorder's persistent memory are initialised with pseudo-random masking data whilst the recorder is in a relatively secure environment. One or more parameters which can be used to re-create the pseudo-random masking data are encrypted with a public key using a public-key encryption algorithm and stored on the recorder. The device's memory is then purged to remove the one or more parameters. Later, when miming in a relatively insecure environment, the sensitive data is encrypted (414) using a symmetric encryption algorithm, and combined (418) with the masking data previously stored in the storage file. When the encrypted files are transferred to a reader device with access to the corresponding private key, the masking data can be recreated, the symmetric encryption reversed and the sensitive data recovered. However, an adversary without the private key cannot recreate the masking data, and is thus unable to recover the sensitive data even with the symmetric encryption key which he might successfully extract from the recorder's volatile memory.
US09208327B2
Adware and viruses are examples of objects that may be embedded in a web page or linked to a web page. When such an object is detected to be associated with a web page loading on a browser, an analysis may be performed to determine a trust level for the object. The object is suppressed based on the trust level. A prompt is displayed to advise a user that the object has been suppressed, and to provide an opportunity to interactively accept or decline activation of an action for the object.
US09208325B2
A password protection application is executed on a mobile device and provides an interface by which an authorized user can define and configure a “data protection profile” for the device. This profile defines at least one security event (criteria or condition) associated with the device, and at least one protection action that should occur to protect data on the device upon the triggering of the event. Once defined in a profile, the application monitors for the occurrence of the security event. Upon the occurrence of the specified event, the protection action is enforced on the device to protect the data.
US09208319B2
The subject disclosure is directed towards partitioning a code base of a program into a trusted portion and an untrusted portion. After identifying sensitive data within the code base using annotation information, one or more program elements that correspond to the sensitive data are automatically transformed into secure program elements that can be retained in the untrusted portion of the code base. Cryptographic techniques are used to minimize a potential size of the trusted portion of the code base. Source files for the trusted portion and the untrusted portion are generated.
US09208310B2
A system and computer-implemented method for securely managing enterprise related applications and associated data on one or more portable communication devices is provided. The system comprises one or more appboxes, residing on the one or more portable communication devices, configured to secure, monitor and collect information related to at least one of: one or more applications and associated data and the one or more portable communication devices. The system further comprises a server configured to facilitate one or more administrators to monitor and manage overall functionality of at least one of: the one or more applications and associated data and the one or more portable communication devices using the collected information.
US09208308B2
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing aircraft software parts. In one embodiment, a computer implemented method creates an alternate parts signature list part having a set of signatures for a set of stored aircraft software parts. The alternate parts signature list part is distributed to the aircraft data processing system. Each signature for a set of stored aircraft software parts on the aircraft data processing system is replaced with a corresponding signature in the alternate parts signature list part to form a set of current signatures on the aircraft data processing system.
US09208299B2
Generally, this disclosure provides systems, devices, methods and computer readable media for secure user authentication with improved OTP verification. The device may include an attribute collection module configured to collect attributes associated with the device; a client trust module configured to identify a user of the device, associate a user ID with the user and transmit the user ID and the collected attributes to a trust broker system; the client trust module further configured to receive a device ID from the trust broker system, the device ID associated with a pairing of the user ID and the attributes; and a client OTP generation module configured to generate an OTP and further configured to transmit the OTP and the device ID to an authentication server.
US09208289B2
A computer-implemented method includes registering at least one medical condition associated with a vehicle occupant. The method also includes monitoring environmental conditions for the onset of a trigger likely to cause complications with regards to the medical condition. The method further includes warning the vehicle occupant about the onset of the trigger. The method also includes adjusting a vehicle component or system, via the VCS, in response to the onset of the trigger.
US09208286B2
A method for transmitting physiological detection signals through a mobile phone device via a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi communication system includes steps of providing at least a physiological signal detector for performing a physiological examination on a subject so as to generate at least one physiological detection signal which is transmitted to a built-in Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module of a mobile phone of a subject through a communication interface and a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module at a detection end. The physiological detection signal is encoded by the mobile phone of the subject to be a message or a signal code containing a data transmission command and a data format protocol and is transmitted to a mobile phone or an App ID of a remote caretaker, so that the caretaker is able to instantly control a physiological state of the subject.
US09208282B1
In a system and method that simulates a design including a third party IP component, a driver for the IP component is compiled and executed in a workstation implementing the simulation platform for the design. The source code for the driver is modified to allow the simulation to reroute certain functions that would cause the simulator to hang until an event occurs that would unlock the simulation. The rerouting includes storing instruction location, state information, and any other context information needed to restore a paused function. The saved information is stored in a stack that is traversed upon detection of the event.
US09208277B1
In one aspect, a method for providing a circuit design includes defining an interconnect network comprising a plurality of wire connections, the defining performed after modification of the interconnect network and before completion of the interconnect network. An adjustment technique is applied to the wire connections of the defined interconnect network before completion of the interconnect network.
US09208265B2
A system for designing a customized ring may include a ring style selection component, a ring top design component, a ring side design component, and an image panel component where, the components support an interface for monitoring the progress of the ring design and an image panel may show an image of the ring that is periodically updated based on customization input. A system for creating and displaying ring assets may include an extraction component, a rendering component, and a display component. A system for displaying customized bezel text may include a text mapping module configured to receive bezel parameters, map text in a two dimensional space, map text in a three-dimensional space defined by bezel geometry, develop code for displaying the text, and displaying the text.
US09208251B2
The invention relates to a method and system for selecting personalized content for a user, the method being performed by an evaluation tool instantiated on a computing device and comprising the evaluation tool. The evaluation tool creates a content selection rule for the user for finding and filtering content items, such as advertising content. The tool generates a content selection algorithm from the content selection rule for determining which content items to present to the user and presents the content item to the user based on the content selection algorithm and allows the user to interact with the presented content item. The tool also monitors the user's interaction with the presented content item for determining a modification of the content selection algorithm based on the user's interaction and presents the content item to the user based on the modified selection algorithm. The tool also enables the user to view and modify the selection rule and the content selection algorithm.
US09208237B2
A method for providing personalized content suggestions for subscribers of a channel of a content sharing platform is disclosed. The method includes determining that a user accessing a page of a channel of a content sharing platform is a subscriber of the channel. The method also includes accessing a viewing history of the user, the viewing history identifying content items of the content sharing platform that have been accessed by the user. The method further includes providing a user interface on the page of the channel, the user interface tailored to the user and the channel based on the user being a subscriber of the channel and the accessed viewing history of the user.
US09208232B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating synthetic descriptive text. One of the methods includes identifying a group of linking resources, wherein each of the linking resources includes a link to a respective target resource; determining, from a search engine index, that at least some of the target resources are associated with seed queries; generating term location information that identifies, for each seed query, locations of terms from the seed query in the linking resource that links to the target resource associated with the seed query; generating synthetic descriptive text for the target resources based on the term location information; and associating the synthetic descriptive text with the target resources in the search engine index.
US09208228B1
In one aspect, a system includes: an indexing engine for indexing a plurality of sources of content, receiving a search query and returning search results; a ranking engine for ranking search results to produce ranked results, the ranking engine coupled to receive search results from the indexing engine; a modification engine for generating modified results using information from additional sources and the ranked results, the modification engine coupled to receive the ranked results from the ranking engine, the modification engine coupled to receive the information from the additional sources; and a presentation engine for sending modified results and an annotation, the presentation engine coupled to receive modified results and the annotation from the modification engine, the presentation engine coupled to provide the modified results and the annotation to a client device. The present disclosure also includes a method for retrieving social videos.
US09208225B1
Apparatus, systems and methods provide incentive-based usage of an audio recognition system. In an aspect, a system is provided that includes a query component configured to receive an audio sample from a device and a recognition component configured to determine an identification of the audio sample. The system further includes a reward component configured to identify a reward associated with the identification of the audio sample, wherein the query component is further configured to provide a query result to the device, the query result comprising the identification of the audio sample and the reward associated therewith.
US09208219B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for performing duplicate document analyses to identify texturally identical or similar documents, which may be electronic documents stored within an electronic discovery platform. A process is described which includes representing each of the documents, including a target document, as a relatively large n-tuple vector and also as a relatively small m-tuple vector, performing a series of one-dimensional searches on the set of m-tuple vectors to identify a set of documents which are near-duplicates to the target document, and then filtering the near set of near duplicate documents based upon the distance of their n-tuple vectors from that of the target document.
US09208211B2
A node in a data grid receives a client request to store an object in a database, the request including the object. The node divides the object into a plurality of key value pairs and links the plurality of key value pairs. The node then stores the plurality of key value pairs in the data grid.
US09208208B2
A device receives, in a technical computing environment (TCE), a first variable with a first data type and a particular number of rows, and receives a second variable with a second data type and the particular number of rows. The second data type may be different than the first data type. The device receives a command to create a table based on the first variable and the second variable, and creates, based on the command, a heterogeneous table that includes the first variable and the second variable. The device stores the heterogeneous table, and/or provides the heterogeneous table for display.
US09208195B2
A method, system and computer program product for retrieving information from a relational database using user defined facets in a faceted query may include receiving a faceted query and receiving at least one user defined facet group query. The method may also include filtering out facets in the faceted query that relate to metadata in the relational database. The method may additionally include associating each remaining facet in the faceted query with a corresponding user defined facet group query of the at least one user defined facet group query to provide a set of user defined facet groups. An SQL query may be generated for the faceted query using the set of user defined facet groups. Information from the relational database may be retrieved responsive to the SQL query.
US09208190B2
A node a data grid receives a prepare request identifying data to lock for a first transaction. The prepare request indicates a locking order that is different from a locking order indicated by a prior prepare request of a second transaction using the same data. The node identifies keys that correspond to the data. The keys are co-located on the node. The node ranks the keys to define an order for acquiring locks for the data based on key identifiers that correspond to the keys. The defined order matches a locking order used by the second transaction. The node acquires locks for the data using the defined order.
US09208185B2
A method for processing a search query according to one embodiment includes receiving a search query containing terms; combining at least some consecutive terms in the search query to create biwords; looking up at least some of the terms and biwords in a search index for identifying sections of documents containing the at least some of the terms and/or biwords; generating a content score for each of the identified sections based at least in part on a number of the terms and biwords found in the sections of each document, wherein the biwords are given a higher priority than matched terms, wherein the priority affects the content score; and selecting and outputting an indicator of at least one of the sections, or portion thereof, based at least in part on the content score.
US09208175B2
Defining and matching segments is disclosed. In some embodiments, defining and matching segments includes receiving a user defined segment via a user interface input; and determining a matching effort (e.g., which can include a set of Geographic Positioning System (GPS) data) to the segment using a processor. In some embodiments, the data associated with the effort includes one or more of the following: heart rate, speed, time, and power. In some embodiments, defining and matching segments further includes storing data associated with the matching effort with the segment. In some embodiments, the user defined segment is based at least in part in uploaded GPS data. In some embodiments, the user defined segment is based at least in part on selected points on a map application.
US09208164B2
Presenting changes to versioned files. The method can include presenting a first view comprising a plurality of indicators, each of the indicators corresponding to a respective version of a file. A selection of a particular version of a file can be detected. A selection of another version of the file can be detected. In response to the selection of the other version of the file, the versions of the file can be compared to identify differences between the versions. Comparison information based on the differences can be generated. The comparison information can be filtered so that the comparison information fits within a second view having a desired size.
US09208149B2
According to one embodiment, a machine translation apparatus includes a translation unit, an acquisition unit, a first calculation unit, a reverse translation unit, a second calculation unit and a selection unit. The acquisition unit acquires, at least one second forward-translated word different from the first forward-translated word, to obtain candidate words. The reverse translation unit obtains at least one reverse-translated word for each of the candidate words by reverse-translating each candidate word into the first language. The selection unit selects a corrected forward-translated word to be replaced with the first forward-translated word from among the candidate words based on the semantic similarity and fluency.
US09208141B2
Embodiments of the present invention enable the generation and display of active reports. Applications of the present invention include its use in embodiments of a web-based product for managing an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure although the present invention is not limited to such applications. In embodiments, an active report is an active report file comprising report data and a user interface (UI) reference to a network location of code that defines an interactive UI comprising graphical user interface (GUI) components to be rendered when displaying the report data. In embodiments, the interactive UI is defined by UI code (such as an Adobe Flash Small Web Format (SWF) file) that also defines the UI of a rich internet application (RIA). In embodiments, the UI reference may be a link designating a location to the location of the UI code on a network, such as the Internet.
US09208138B2
Embodiments relate to text editing. An aspect includes receiving a range specifying operation for performing range specification for at least part of the text displayed on a display device. Another aspect includes causing a storing unit to store therein specific text including text in the range specified by the received range specifying operation and other text relating to the specified range. Another aspect includes displaying, at a time of performing text pasting processing, the specific text stored in the storing unit together with the text in the specified range on the display device. Another aspect includes performing, based on a changing operation for changing the text in the specified range being received, paste processing by changing the text to be pasted in accordance with the changing operation.
US09208137B2
A method identifying an element in a document corresponding to an edit selected from a list of available edits to distinguish the selected edit from the other edits in the list. The identifying may reflect the type of edit, or otherwise demonstrate the change to the element effectuated by the edit. Multiple edits may be selected and temporarily highlighted or otherwise identified in chronological order to demonstrate the effect of multiple edits on the elements of the document.
US09208134B2
Methods and systems for tokenizing multilingual textual documents are provided. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure, includes determining an attribute of a current character in input text, the attribute of the current character indicating one or more classes of characters the current character is assigned thereto. The method further includes determining one or more attributes of one or more next characters in the input text, the one or more attributes of the one or more next characters indicating the one or more classes the one or more next characters are assigned thereto. The method further includes constructing a token of the input text that includes the current character and the one or more next characters, the attribute of the current character and the one or more attributes of the one or more next characters intersecting with each other.
US09208133B2
A method is provided for displaying a page of content contained in an optimized document. In some embodiments, an optimized document is obtained, where the optimized document contains at least one page of content. A compressed page record in the optimized document that corresponds to a page to be displayed may be located. The compressed page record may be decompressed using a decompression counterpart to a technique used to compress the page record. An unfiltering may be performed on each set of values in the page record according to a filter determined to be applied to the particular set of values. Thereafter, the decompressed content may be displayed.
US09208123B2
Mobile device having content caching mechanisms integrated with a network operator for traffic alleviation in a wireless network and methods therefor are disclosed. One embodiment includes a method of integration of content caching with a network operator for traffic alleviation a wireless network, which may be embodied on a mobile device, including determining whether a cache element stored in a local cache on the mobile device for an application poll on the mobile device is valid and forwarding the application poll to an external entity to service the application poll in response to determining that the cache element is no longer valid. The external entity is in part managed by the network operator of the wireless network and can be in part or in whole, a component of an infrastructure of the network operator or external to an infrastructure of the network operator.
US09208121B2
A periodic control window is embedded in a link layer data stream to be sent over a serial data link, where the control window is configured to provide physical layer information including information for use in initiating state transitions on the data link. The link layer data can be sent during a link transmitting state of the data link and the control window can interrupt the sending of flits. In one aspect, the information includes link width transition data indicating an attempt to change the number of active lanes on the link.
US09208117B2
The present invention discloses a method of accessing stored information in multi-framed data transmissions, comprising at least one control interface and at least one elastic store, wherein the control interface accesses the elastic store through a mailbox communications method. The control interface accesses the elastic store via the mailbox communications method, which comprises: (a) setting a address for a data location within said elastic store; (b) setting a request to read from, or write to, said data location within said elastic store; (c) issuing a “GO——————” signal to retrieve data information from said data location within said elastic store, by writing said “GO——————” signal to said microprocessor, which causes a circuit to read from said requested data location within said elastic store; (d) waiting for a possible, but not to be expected, de-assertion of a busy signal to be issued from said data location within said elastic store, and then; and then (e) reading back the value of said data information to said control interface. Where a busy signal occurs, the microprocessor must wait and issue a subsequent “GO——————” signal to retrieve the data information from the data location; where a busy signal does not occur the “GO——————” signal causes the circuit to read from the requested data location and send the data information hack to the microprocessor, where the data information is stored in a user-accessible register.
US09208116B2
Multiple variants of a data processing system, which maintains I/O priority from the time a process makes an I/O request until the hardware services that request, will be described. In one embodiment, a data processing system has one or more processors having one or more processor cores, which execute an operating system and one or more applications of the data processing system. The data processing system also can have one or more non-volatile memory device coupled to the one or more processors to store data of the data processing system, and one or more non-volatile memory controller coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more non-volatile memory controller enables a transfer of data to at least one non-volatile memory device, and the priority level assigned by the operating system is maintained throughout the logical data path of the data processing system.
US09208113B2
A data processing system includes, in one embodiment, at least a first processor and a second processor and an interrupt controller, and the system provides a deferred inter-processor interrupt (IPI) that can be used to wake up the second processor from a low power sleep state. The deferred IPI is, in one embodiment, delayed by a timer in the interrupt controller, and the deferred IPI can be cancelled by the first processor if the first processor becomes available to execute a thread that was made runnable by an interrupt which triggered the deferred IPI.
US09208112B1
An add-in card allocates memory from a host computer. An option ROM on the add-in card includes a first interrupt handler for handling an interrupt for resetting a mass storage device that reads a system address map, modifies the system address map by adding an entry for an amount of host memory to be allocated to the add-in card, and stores the modified system address map as a destination system address map. The first interrupt handler also changes the address of an interrupt handler for providing the system address map to the address of a second interrupt handler also stored in the option ROM of the add-in card. When an interrupt is generated that requests the system address map, the second interrupt handler reads the destination system address map, which includes a memory allocation for the add-in card, and provides the destination system address map to the requestor.
US09208104B2
A method for replacing, refreshing, and managing content in a communication network is provided. The method defines an object policy mechanism that applies media replacement policy rules to defined classes of stored content objects. The object policy mechanism may classify stored content objects into object groups or policy targets. The object policy mechanism may also define metric thresholds and event triggers as policy conditions. The object policy mechanism may further apply replacement policy algorithms or defined policy actions against a class of stored content objects. The media replacement policy rules are enforced at edge content storage repositories in the communication network. A computing device for carrying out the method, and a method for creating, reading, updating, and deleting policy elements and managing policy engine operations, are also provided.
US09208102B2
An apparatus includes a translation lookaside buffer (TLB). The TLB includes at least one entry that includes an entry virtual address and an entry page size indication corresponding to an entry page. The apparatus also includes input logic configured to receive an input page size indication and an input virtual address corresponding to an input page. The apparatus further includes overlap checking logic configured to determine, based at least in part on the entry page size indication and the input page size indication, whether the input page overlaps the entry page.
US09208101B2
A method and system for virtual cache memory extension in a data storage device are disclosed herein. The storage device may include a memory that serves as a cache to a primary memory. The method for the storage device may include maintaining mapping information of one or more logical block addresses associated with data stored in the cache memory and maintaining mapping information of one or more logical block addresses associated with data not stored in the cache memory. Data stored in the cache memory may be selected for eviction when the available capacity of the cache memory changes, e.g., due to storing resume data in a hibernate operation. Data selected for eviction may be transferred to the primary memory but still tracked as being part of a virtual extended cache, and thus can be quickly restored into the cache memory when the resume data is no longer needed.
US09208099B2
A controller receives a request to perform a release space operation. A determination is made that a new discard scan has to be performed on a cache, in response to the received request to perform the release space operation. A determination is made as to how many task control blocks are to be allocated to the perform the new discard scan, based on how many task control blocks have already been allocated for performing one or more discard scans that are already in progress.
US09208094B2
Systems and methods are provided for managing storage cache resources among all servers within the cluster storage environment. A method includes partitioning a main cache of a corresponding node into a global cache and a local cache, sharing each global cache of each node with other ones of the nodes of the multiple nodes, and dynamically adjusting a ratio of an amount of space of the main cache making up the global cache and an amount of space of the main cache making up the local cache, based on access latency and cache hit over a predetermined period of time of each of the global cache and the local cache.
US09208092B2
A coherent attached processor proxy (CAPP) includes transport logic having a first interface configured to support communication with a system fabric of a primary coherent system and a second interface configured to support communication with an attached processor (AP) that is external to the primary coherent system and that includes a cache memory that holds copies of memory blocks belonging to a coherent address space of the primary coherent system. The CAPP further includes one or more master machines that initiate memory access requests on the system fabric of the primary coherent system on behalf of the AP, one or more snoop machines that service requests snooped on the system fabric, and a CAPP directory having a precise directory having a plurality of entries each associated with a smaller data granule and a coarse directory having a plurality of entries each associated with a larger data granule.
US09208081B1
A processing thread obtains an initial status of a reference field associated with an object having data stored in memory. The reference field represents, at least in part, a status of current modification operations (e.g., a status of moving the object from one location in memory to another), if any, applied to the object. The processing thread applies a sequence of instructions to data retrieved from the object to produce computational results for storage in the object. Prior to storing the computational results in the object, the processing thread can confirm whether the reference field has changed since obtaining the initial status.
US09208075B2
Non-volatile memory devices and methods of their operation are provided. One such non-volatile memory device has an interface and a control circuit. The non-volatile memory device is adapted to identify itself as a boot memory in response to receiving an interrogation request on the interface.
US09208074B2
A mapping table H2F update technique for a FLASH memory is disclosed. In the disclosed data storage device, when a master buffer block selected from a plurality of blocks of a FLASH memory to buffer write data from a host is full, the controller updates a logical-to-physical address mapping table for the master buffer block in separated update sub-intervals. Between the separated update sub-intervals, the controller responds to commands from the host. In this manner, commands from the host are responded to in a timely manner, without being postponed by a time-consuming mapping-table update of an entire buffer block.
US09208072B2
A mechanism is provided for improved firmware storage and maintenance. For each master device in a plurality of master devices: an amount of flash memory space required by the master device is identified and the amount of Flash memory space from a Flash component is allocated to the master device as a virtual Flash memory allocation. An initial sector location of the virtual Flash memory allocation in a data structure is recorded as an offset into the Flash component and a length of the virtual Flash memory allocation and device information is also recorded in the data structure. Data that allows the master device to boot up is then loaded into the virtual Flash memory allocation.
US09208066B1
A method includes, in a processor that executes instructions of program code, identifying a region of the code containing one or more segments of the instructions that are at least partially repetitive. The instructions in the region are monitored, and an approximate specification of register access by the monitored instructions is constructed for the region. Execution of the segments in the region is parallelized using the specification.
US09208065B1
Methods and arrangements for testing mobile applications. A mobile application for testing is input at a mobile device. The mobile application is automatically tested using a test script, wherein the testing requires data from an out-of-band channel. The testing includes: invoking a listener module based on the mobile application; using the listener module to automatically obtain data from an out-of-band channel; and communicating the automatically obtained data to the mobile application. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.
US09208064B2
Methods and systems for declarative testing using dependency injection are described. In one embodiment, a computing system inspects a first annotation that declares an injection point in source code of a test subject and a second annotation that declares a set of test values to be injected at the injection point. The first and second annotations are metadata in an input domain and are added in a designated place in the source code. The computing system executes a test runner that creates a set of one or more tests during a configuration phase based on the inspection of the source code, including the first and second annotations. Each of the set of tests includes one of the test values injected at the injected point as declaratively provided by the second annotation. The set of tests are to be executed during a run phase.
US09208060B1
Systems, methods and computer program products are described that enable a diagnostic tool, such as a debugger, to evaluate an expression based on the state of a target program process where the expression to be evaluated includes a call to a first function that exists in the target program process but where evaluation of such first function requires evaluation of a second function that does not exist in the target program process. For an expression such as this, the diagnostic tool emulates execution of the first function within a process other than the target program process, such as within the diagnostic tool process. In other embodiments, the emulation capability of the diagnostic tool is leveraged to enable a user thereof to simulate a modification of the target program process without making actual changes to the target program process.
US09208037B2
The present invention provides a duplexed operation processor control system that includes operation processors, an I/O device, and at least one communication path that couples the operation processors to the I/O device, and at least one communication path that couples the operation processors with each other. The duplexed operation processor control system switches over either of the operation processors to be a primary operation processor that executes a control operation for a control target, and the other to be a secondary operation processor that is in a stand-by state, and the secondary operation processor snoops control data synchronously when the primary operation processor acquires the control data from the control target.
US09208034B2
A system and method provide for backing up and restoring using patch level data for operating system and application files. Patch level data for the files in the backup image may be displayed along with current patch level data. Further, files in a backup image may be replaced based on current patch level data indicating a patched version of the file in the backup image is available. Further, upon a restore, if a patched file is available for a corresponding file in a backup image, the patched file may be retrieved from a patch source and used in place of the file that would have been restored from the backup image.
US09208028B2
A method managing execution of recovery code in a memory system includes; upon detecting a read error using a CPU and firmware to execute recovery code defining a read recovery operation including a read retry operation, during execution of the recovery code, generating a read request directed to the read retry operation, and immediately thereafter terminating execution of the recovery code, and thereafter, only upon receiving an asynchronous interrupt from the memory controller following completion of the read retry operation, the CPU resumes execution of the recovery code by the firmware, otherwise the CPU performs another task unrelated to execution of the recovery code.
US09208017B2
A method for protecting against fan failure in a server uses a storage unit and a plurality of fans in the server. The method includes the following steps. A rotation speed of each of the plurality of fans is detected. A continuous working time period of each fan is timed. The rotation speed reading and the continuous working time period reading of each fan is compared with predefined rotation speed values and predefined continuous working time periods stored in the storage unit. The results of comparisons are made. A countdown is started when any of the results of comparison falls into one of predefined failure conditions for the fans. Unless a renew or other countdown-amending signal is received, the server is counted down to zero and then shut down. A server equipped to be able to carry out the protecting method is also provided.
US09208014B2
An improved method provides fault handling in a distributed IT environment. The distributed IT environment executes at least one workflow application interacting with at least one application by using interface information about the at least one application. The method comprises: storing at least one fault handling description in a implementation-independent meta language associated with the at least one application; associating the interface information with the at least one fault handling description based on at least one defined fault handling policy, created based on at least one service definition; and the workflow application if a fault response from the at least one application is received: retrieving at least one associated fault handling description based on at least one fault handling policy, and interpreting and executing a particular meta language code of the at least one associated fault handling description in order to continue the defined workflow application.
US09208012B2
A display processing system (1) includes a display unit (114) that displays occurrence status information of heat accumulation of a server, which provides a service for a predetermined period of time, and occurrence status information of a failure, which has occurred due to the heat accumulation for the predetermined period of time, according to a level of the effect of the failure on the service.
US09207998B2
In an embodiment, a method is presented for providing managerial access to a managed system. In this method, a definition of a procedure to be performed on the managed system is received into a managing system. A request to perform the procedure is received into the managing system from a user of the managing system. The procedure is performed in response to the request. The performing of the procedure includes initiating a plurality of functions resident in the managed system. Results indicative of the performing of the procedure are presented to the user of the managing system.
US09207996B2
Technologies related to active lock information maintenance and retrieval are generally described. In some examples, a computing device may be configured to maintain active lock information including lock identifiers for active locks, lock access identifiers corresponding to a number of times a lock has been placed and/or released, and/or lock owner identifiers corresponding to threads placing locks. The computing device may provide an active lock information system configured to return active lock information including some or all of the lock identifiers for active locks, lock access identifiers, and/or lock owner identifiers in response to active lock information requests.
US09207994B2
Embodiments of apparatus, computer-implemented methods, computing devices, systems, and computer-readable media (transitory and non-transitory) are described herein for scheduling a plurality of tasks among a plurality of processor cores. A first processor core of a plurality of processor cores of a computing device may be transitioned to a shielded state, in which no new tasks are to be assigned to the first processor core and tasks already assigned to the first processor core are executed to completion, in response to a determination that a criterion has been met. In various embodiments, the criterion may be based on a condition of the computing device, such as power available to the computing device or a temperature associated with the computing device. In various embodiments, the first processor core may transition to a reduced-power state after the tasks already assigned to the first processor core execute completion.
US09207993B2
An optimization framework for hosting sites that dynamically places application instances across multiple hosting sites based on the energy cost and availability of energy at these sites, application SLAs (service level agreements), and cost of network bandwidth between sites, just to name a few. The framework leverages a global network of hosting sites, possibly co-located with renewable and non-renewable energy sources, to dynamically determine the best datacenter (site) suited to place application instances to handle incoming workload at a given point in time. Application instances can be moved between datacenters subject to energy availability and dynamic power pricing, for example, which can vary hourly in day-ahead markets and in a time span of minutes in realtime markets.
US09207986B2
In one embodiment, a computing device identifies a portion of a display object to pre-generate. The device may monitor a thread to identify the next upcoming window of idle time (i.e., the next opportunity when the thread will be idle for a minimum period of time). The device may add one or more selected pre-generation tasks to a message queue for execution by the thread during the window. The device may execute the one or more selected pre-generation tasks in the message queue by pre-generating at least one selected element of a display object with content for a portion of the content layout, and then return the display object.
US09207983B2
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus that monitor one or more capacity related factors of one or more servers providing one or more services to one or more client computing devices to obtain one or more values. An adaption factor for at least one of the one or more client computing devices is determined based on the one or more obtained values for the one or more monitored capacity related factors and one or more adaption rules. The adaption factor may further be determined based on obtained user profile information. The determined adaption factor to adapt operation of the one or more provided services at the at least one of the one or more client computing devices is provided.
US09207979B1
A method for pipelined data stream processing of packets includes determining a task to be performed on each packet of a data stream, the task having a plurality of task portions including a first task portion. Determining the first task portion is to process a first packet. In response to determining a first storage location stores a first barrier indicator, enabling the first task portion to process the first packet and storing a second barrier indicator at the first location. Determining the first task portion is to process a second next-in-order packet. In response to determining the first location stores the second barrier indicator, preventing the first task portion from processing the second packet. In response to a first barrier clear indicator, storing the first barrier indicator at the first location, and in response, enabling the first task portion to process the second packet.
US09207978B2
The present disclosure provides methods for concurrently executing ordered and unordered tasks using a plurality of processing units. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure may store the ordered and unordered tasks in the same processing queue. Further, processing tasks in the processing queue may comprise concurrently preprocessing ordered tasks, thereby reducing the amount of processing unit idle time and improving load balancing across processing units. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also dynamically manage the number of processing units based on a rate of unordered tasks being received in the processing queue, a processing rate of unordered tasks, a rate of ordered tasks being received in the processing queue, a processing rate of ordered tasks, and/or the number of sets of related ordered tasks in the processing queue. Also provided are related systems and non-transitory computer-readable media.
US09207977B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide improved systems and methods for grouping instruction entities. In one embodiment, a system comprises a processing cluster to execute software, the processing cluster comprising a plurality of processing units, wherein the processing cluster is configured to execute the software as a plurality of instruction entities. The processing cluster is further configured to execute the plurality of instruction entities in a plurality of execution groups, each execution group comprising one or more instruction entities, wherein the processing cluster executes a group of instruction entities in the one or more instruction entities in an execution group concurrently. Further, the execution groups are configured so that a plurality of schedule-before relationships are established, each schedule-before relationship being established among a respective set of instruction entities by executing the plurality of instruction entities in the plurality of execution groups.
US09207967B2
A method includes identifying a set of instructions to be executed as a transaction that is to access a section of memory, prior to executing the set of instructions as the transaction, facilitating a non-speculative access to a data cache, the data cache comprising a plurality of cache lines, each cache line comprising a lock to lock a respective portion of the memory, determining if the section of memory is available for the transaction in view of locks of the plurality of cache lines, and in response to a determination that the section of memory is not available, causing the non-speculative access to the data cache to be repeated.
US09207964B1
Distribution of various processing tasks is performed for a plurality of comparison objects, such as videos and/or other media content in a matching system. The plurality of comparison objects can include at least one feature that is compared to at least one feature of a plurality of reference objects to determine whether a match occurs in the comparison. Task descriptions corresponding to the processing tasks are distributed with the different processing tasks to a task pool. Matching components select at least one task from the task pool based on the task descriptions.
US09207958B1
In one general aspect, a system includes an abstract machine instruction stream, a virtual machine coprocessor configured to receive an instruction from the abstract machine instruction stream and to generate one or more native machine instructions in response to the received instruction, and a processor coupled to the virtual machine coprocessor and operable to execute the native machine instructions generated by the virtual machine coprocessor. The virtual machine coprocessor is operable to generate one or more native machine instructions to explicitly control the virtual machine coprocessor.
US09207957B2
A method for adapting execution of an application on a mobile device may be performed by a mobile device including a processor and a memory. The method may include receiving an application context, a process context, and one other context. The method also includes analyzing at least one of the application context or the process context together with the one other context. The method also includes dynamically adapting execution of the application on the mobile device based on the analysis. Adapting execution of the application may include transferring processing related to the application to a backend server for processing.
US09207955B2
A monitoring system captures the behavior of distributed applications and also provides a framework for augmenting functionality of the application in response to user interactions and different states of the application and network. Network events exchanged between an application and an application server are captured and the local client events on the client device are also selectively captured. The different disparate network events and client events are then combined together during a replay operation to simulate the user experience during the previous application session.
US09207949B2
A storage device includes a nonvolatile memory device including a variable resistance memory, and a controller configured to control the nonvolatile memory device. At a booting operation, the controller stores booting information in the variable resistance memory of the nonvolatile memory device. At a rebooting operation, the controller selectively performs a warm boot operation using the booting information stored in the variable resistance memory, based on a comparison result between a booting setting condition associated with the booting operation and a rebooting condition associated with the rebooting operation.
US09207942B2
Embodiments of systems, methods and apparatuses for execution a NAME instruction are described. The execution of a VPBZHI causes, on a per data element basis of a second source, a zeroing of bits higher (more significant) than a starting point in the data element. The starting point is defined by the contents of a data element in a first source. The resultant data elements are stored in a corresponding data element position of a destination.
US09207938B2
Embodiments herein relate to forwarding an instruction based on predication criteria. A predicate state associated with a packet of data is to be compared to an instruction associated with the predication criteria. The instruction is to be forwarded to an execution unit if the predication criteria includes or matches the predicate state of the packet.
US09207937B2
A data processing apparatus comprises a processing circuit and instruction decoder. A bitfield manipulation instruction controls the processing apparatus to generate at least one result data element from corresponding first and second source data elements. Each result data element includes a portion corresponding to a bitfield bf of the corresponding first source data element. Bits of the result data element that are more significant than the inserted bitfield have a prefix value that is selected, based on a control value specified by the instruction, as one of a first prefix value having a zero value, a second prefix value having the value of a portion of the corresponding second source data element, and a third prefix value corresponding to a sign extension of the bitfield of the first source data element.
US09207921B2
A compilation method is provided for correcting compiler errors that include compiler internal errors and errors produced by running a validation suite. The method includes running a compiler on a computer and storing a set of optimization levels in memory accessible by the compiler. The method includes receiving a source file with the compiler that includes a user-defined optimization level to be used in compiling the source file. The method includes identifying a set of functions within the source file and using compiler components to compile these functions using the original optimization level. When the compiling results in an internal error occurring and being reported for one or more of the functions, the method includes using an optimization adjustment module to process the internal error and assign an adjusted or lower optimization level to the one or more functions and recompiling of these functions again with the lower optimization level.
US09207919B2
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for. The method includes the steps of executing a block of translated binary instructions by multiple threads and gathering profiling data during execution of the block of translated binary instructions. The multiple threads are then synchronized at a barrier instruction associated with the block of translated binary instructions and the block of translated binary instructions is replaced with optimized binary instructions, where the optimized binary instructions are produced based on the profiling data.
US09207911B2
A system and method of generating a one-way function and thereby producing a random-value stream. Steps include: providing a plurality of memory cells addressed according to a domain value wherein any given domain value maps to all possible range values; generating a random domain value associated with one of the memory cells; reading a data value associated with the generated random domain value; generating dynamically enhanced data by providing an additional quantity of data; removing suspected non-random portions thereby creating source data; validating the source data according to a minimum randomness requirement, thereby creating a validated source data; and integrating the validated source data with the memory cell locations using a random edit process that is a masking, a displacement-in-time, a chaos engine, an XOR, an overwrite, an expand, a remove, a control plane, or an address plane module. The expand module inserts a noise chunk.
US09207907B1
Disclosed is a method of creating and updating schedules. The method comprises receiving a plurality of initial events associated with a plurality of entities, generating an initial schedule that identifies the plurality of initial events, receiving a plurality of subsequent events, processing each initial event of the plurality of initial events to identify a subset of the plurality of initial events that should be maintained based on which entity of the plurality of entities is associated with the initial event, and generating an updated schedule that identifies only the subset of the plurality of initial events and the plurality of subsequent events.
US09207906B2
A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a microphone configured to receive a first voice input; a touchscreen display; a controller configured to convert the first voice input into first text, display the first text on the touchscreen display, receive a selection signal indicating a selection of the displayed first text, receive a second voice input via the microphone, convert the second voice input into second text, combine the first text and the second text, and display the combined text on the touchscreen display.
US09207903B2
A computing system that supports the use of multiple displays in display mirroring mode and extended display mode may automatically determine a display mode in which to configure the system (with little or no user input) based on various characteristics of the displays in the system. For example, the system may determine that a television, projector, or other presentation type display is connected in the system, and in response, may determine that the system should be configured in a display mirroring mode, rather than in an extended display mode. The system may also determine that the presentation type display is the preferred display, and may render image content in a best (or preferred) mode for that display using its native resolution, aspect ratio or color profile. The system may then scale the rendered image content for display on other (non-preferred) displays, such as an internal display, without re-rendering it.
US09207900B2
A method and system for controlling the rendering of graphical data for remote display, e.g. for delivery over a network (6) to a remote client (7). At a source computer (1), graphical data is rendered and transmitted to the remote computer (7). At the remote computer (7), the transmitted rendered graphical data is received and presented for display. The rate of presenting at the remote computer (7) of the graphical data is monitored and the rate at which graphical data are rendered at the source computer (1) is controlled in response to the monitored rate of presenting at the remote computer (7).
US09207886B2
A relaying device is configured to obtain first data received from one of an image processing apparatus and a server apparatus via a communication unit, convert the first data having a first format to second data having a second format, transmit the second data to the other of the image processing apparatus and the server apparatus. When the transmission process is abnormally terminated, process identification information is transmitted to the image processing apparatus, and the process identification information and the second data are stored in associated manner, and a re-start instruction including the process identification information identifying the transmission process to be re-started is received from the image processing apparatus. When the transmission process is abnormally terminated and the re-start instruction is received, second data associated with the process identification information is obtained, which is transmitted to the other of the image processing apparatus and the server apparatus.
US09207885B2
An image forming system includes mobile terminals and image forming apparatuses, in which one image forming apparatus receives setting information to be used in order to use the image forming apparatus, the setting information being stored in one mobile terminal and able to be transmitted to another mobile terminal that will use another image forming apparatus based on the setting information. The one image forming apparatus determines whether the setting information is to be changed based on a comparison between the ability of the image forming apparatuses and, when determining that the setting information is to be changed, changes the setting information and send the changed setting information to the other mobile terminal.
US09207875B2
Described herein is a system and method for retaining deduplication of data blocks of a resulting storage object (e.g., a flexible volume) from a split operation of a clone of a base storage object. The clone may comprise data blocks that are shared with at least one data block of the base storage object and at least one data block that is not shared with at least one data block of the base storage object. The data blocks of the clone that are shared with the base storage object may be indicated to receive a write allocation that may comprise assigning a new pointer to a indicated data block. Each data block may comprise a plurality of pointers comprising a virtual address pointer and a physical address pointer. As such, data blocks of the clone comprising the same virtual address pointer may be assigned a single physical address pointer. Thus, a new physical address pointer is assigned or allocated once to a given virtual address pointer of data blocks of a clone.
US09207865B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an information processing method and a terminal device, where the method includes: receiving an input character input by a user; displaying, according to the input character and in a ring arrangement around the input character, candidate characters corresponding to the input character; receiving selection information so as to select one candidate character as a to-be-processed character; receiving, according to correspondence between the selection information and a candidate character position, a candidate character in the position corresponding to the selection information as the to-be-processed character; and processing the to-be-processed character.
US09207853B2
A mobile terminal including a display; a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other electronic device; and a controller configured to receive a request signal for requesting an exchange of content data between at least one first electronic device that stores content data and at least one second electronic device that reproduces content data, and to display the at least one first electronic device and the at least one second electronic device on particular areas of the display that intuitively indicate a direction of the exchange of content data.
US09207851B1
A matrix of light emitting diodes is positioned behind a liquid crystal layer of a display device. The light emitting diodes operate in both light emitting and light detecting modes. Consequently, the display device is able to sense objects or fingers approaching or in contact with a front display surface of the display device based on changes in incident light on the matrix that are observed by one or more of the light emitting diodes operating in the light detecting mode.
US09207844B2
An electronic device with one or more processors and memory displays a first user interface including a plurality of audio tracks, detects a first user input selecting one of the plurality of audio tracks, and, in response to detecting the first user input, displays a second user interface for recording a video clip. The device also detects a second user input to initiate recording of the video clip and detects a third user input to stop recording of the video clip. The device further detects a fourth user input to publish the media item based on the video clip and the selected audio track and, in response to detecting the fourth user input, publishes the media item to a server, including sending to the server information identifying the selected audio track, the video clip, and information related to synchronization of the selected audio track and the video clip.
US09207842B2
A system comprises a display and logic coupled to the display. The logic automatically begins playing a video clip associated with an icon that is in focus on the display.
US09207839B2
A device for displaying a multitude of planar objects arranged in at least one stack, includes a display area, e.g., a touchscreen, for displaying the stack; a processing unit to generate and modify graphics data of the objects; and a proximity ascertainment device for detecting an operating element in a proximity region in front of the display surface or an input device. The processing unit is arranged such that the graphics data of the objects are generated so that the at least one stack is displayed on the display area in different display states, i.e., a first mode, preferably a pure display mode; a second mode, in which an operating element is detected in the proximity region in front of the display area or an input device; and a third mode, following the touching or selection of the display area or an object displayed on the display area.
US09207838B2
While in a first mode, a first electronic device displays on a touch-sensitive display a first application view that corresponds to a first application. In response to detecting a first input, the electronic device enters a second mode, and concurrently displays in a first predefined area an initial group of application icons with at least a portion of the first application view adjacent to the first predefined area. While in the second mode, in response to detecting a first touch gesture on an application icon that corresponds to a second application, the electronic device displays a popup view corresponding to a full-screen-width view of the second application on a second electronic device. In response to detecting one or more second touch gestures within the popup view, the electronic device performs an action in the second application that updates a state of the second application.
US09207832B1
In one embodiment, a method includes within a graphical user interface (GUI) presented to a user of a software application, presenting a watchlist associated with the user, the watchlist comprising first content related to one or more first events associated with one or more entities within an organization, the one or more entities having a relationship with the user within a social graph maintained at least in part by the software application. The method further includes receiving asynchronous notifications of second content for inclusion in the watchlist, the second content related to one or more second events occurring after the first events, and automatically and without input from the user, updating the watchlist to include the second content, the update comprising organizing the watchlist with the first and second content to visually indicate an order of relevance of the first and second content to the user.
US09207820B2
A touch sensor capable of detecting multiple touches thereto is coupled with a digital device having multi-touch decoding capabilities. These multi-touch decoding capabilities comprise touch data acquisition, touch identification, touch tracking and processed touch data output to a device associated with the touch sensor. Touch identification comprises touch location(s) peak detection, touch location(s) nudging and touch location(s) interpolation. Touch data acquisition locates potential touches on the touch sensor. Peak detection identifies where potential touch locations are on the touch sensor. Once a potential touch location(s) has been identified, touch location nudging examines each adjacent location thereto and interpolation examines the adjacent touch location values to generate a higher resolution location of the touch. Touch tracking compares time sequential “frames” of touch identification data and then determines which touches are associated between frames for further processing, e.g., determining gesturing actions.
US09207817B2
Exemplary embodiments are disclosed of touchscreen devices for thermostats and other electronic devices. In an exemplary embodiment, a capacitive touchscreen device includes a touchscreen having touch regions. Each touch region is coupled with at least one first capacitor and at least one second capacitor. The second capacitors are connected in parallel and have smaller capacitance than the first capacitors. The capacitive touchscreen device may be configured to be operable in a standby mode in which the second capacitors are charged and an active mode in which the first capacitors are charged.
US09207812B2
A method for adjusting the position of a light curtain emitted by an illumination assembly over a surface, comprises determining a position of the light curtain; calculating a difference between the determined position of the light curtain and a desired position of the light curtain; and adjusting the position of the illumination assembly based on the calculated difference.
US09207811B2
An optical imaging system includes a display panel, a light source module, a touch object, a first image capturing module, a second image capturing module and a control module. The touch object moves from a first position at a first time to a second position at a second time. The first image capturing module and the second image capturing module respectively capture light reflected from the touch object, so as to generate a first signal, a second signal, a third signal and a fourth signal corresponding to the touch object at the first time and the second time. The control module computes a moving direction of the touch object according to variation of the first signal, the second signal, the third signal and the fourth signal.
US09207808B2
According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus capable of accessing a first storage medium and acquiring at least one of groups related to a correspondence between one symbol and at least one stroke data, includes an input device and a processor. The input device is configured to input an image. The processor is configured to, if a partial image of the image input by the input device corresponds to a first symbol in a first group or a first image generatable from first stroke data in the first group, associate the partial image and the first stroke data.
US09207806B2
A virtual mouse input device is created in response to a placement of a card on a touch surface. When the card is placed on the touch surface, the boundaries of the card are captured and a virtual mouse appears around the card. The virtual mouse may be linked with a user through an identifier that is contained on the card. Other controls and actions may be presented in menus that appear with the virtual mouse. For instance, the user may select the type of input (e.g. mouse, keyboard, ink or trackball) driven by the business card. Once created, the virtual mouse is configured to receive user input until the card is removed from the touch surface. The virtual mouse is configured to move a cursor on a display in response to movement of the card on the touch surface.
US09207805B2
A computer-readable recording medium stores a correction processing program causes a computer including a touch panel and a temperature sensor to execute a process. The process includes determining whether a temperature measured by the temperature sensor is lower than a predetermined threshold when a first event completing contact with the touch panel is detected, waiting for a second event starting contact with the touch panel and a third event moving a contact position with the touch panel for a predetermined period of time when it is determined that the measured temperature is lower than the predetermined threshold, and discarding the first event and the second event and notifying an application of the third event, when the second event and the third event are detected during the predetermined waiting period of time.
US09207803B2
A voltage generating unit includes an output transistor arranged as a first-terminal side extension of a path that includes a first terminal, a first resistive film, and a second terminal, and is configured to apply a first bias voltage to the first terminal. A current detection unit includes a detection transistor connected to the output transistor such that they form a current mirror circuit, a detection resistor arranged on a path of the detection transistor, and an amplifier circuit configured to amplify the difference between a voltage drop across a detection resistor and a predetermined voltage, and to output the difference thus amplified as a value which represents a panel current.
US09207798B2
A touch sensor (touch panel) which can be formed over the same substrate as a display portion is provided. Alternatively, a touch sensor (touch panel) which does not cause degradation in the quality of an image displayed on a display portion is provided. The touch panel includes a light-emitting element and a microstructure in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is isolated with an insulating material. As the insulating material, an elastic material or a material having a hole is used so that a filler layer formed using the insulating material can be deformed when a movable portion operates. It is preferable to use a material which is softened or hardened by certain treatment (e.g., heat treatment or chemical treatment) after formation.
US09207797B2
A system and method are disclosed that determines the location of an object touching a display screen. The system and method modifies already existing display technology, including using the underlying structure of many types of existing displays as the touch detecting structure. The systems and methods are applicable to virtually all LCD and LCD-like displays, including emissive displays (OLED, PLED, quantum dot displays, etc.), electronic paper, and others.
US09207787B2
Methods and apparatus for protecting the thin films during chemical and/or thermal edge strengthening treatment. In one embodiment, a portion of each individual sheet is laminated. Pairs of sheets are then sealed together such that the thin film sides face inward to form a thin film sandwich. In some embodiments, the sandwich in then immersed in a chemical strengthener. In other embodiments, a localized treatment is applied to the unstrengthened edges.
US09207786B2
A mouse house comprises a foam material for surrounding a computer mouse and providing a platform for a user's hand to rest on. The mouse house is wide enough to support all of a person's fingers in a neutral hand position and has side walls to prevent the mouse from tipping laterally. Viscoelastic foam may be used for the top surface for user comfort. The leading edge of the mouse house is set back from the operating keys of the mouse. The mouse house may have a bottom cavity with side fingers for securely gripping a wide variety of computer mice placed therein.
US09207767B2
A gesture system executes actions or commands based on gesture inputs. The system includes a detection subsystem and a gesture processing device. The detection subsystem monitor a plurality of gesture spheres, including a participant gesture sphere and a guide gesture sphere. The participant gesture sphere corresponds to a first user and a participant domain on a display device. The guide gesture sphere corresponds to a second user. The gesture processing device implements a guide mode to execute an action within the participant domain based on a gesture from the guide gesture sphere.
US09207761B2
The present invention relates to an eye-gaze based control device. The eye-gaze based control device of the present invention may control a control target device according to an eye-gaze point of a user. Here, the eye-gaze based control device controls the control target device by controlling a size of an image displayed to the user, thereby more precisely controlling the control target device.
US09207759B1
A method and apparatus for creating an adaptive mosaic pixel-wise virtual Bayer pattern. The method may include receiving a plurality of monochromatic images from an array of imaging elements, creating a reference ordered set at infinity from the plurality of monochromatic images, running a demosaicing process on the reference ordered set, and creating a color image from the demosaiced ordered set. One or more offset artifacts resulting from the demosaicing process may be computed at a distance other than infinity, the ordered set may be modified in accordance with the computed offsets, and a demosaiced image may be regenerated in accordance with modified ordered set. The regenerating process may be repeated for one or more of the one or more offsets.
US09207755B2
A system provides a user an interactive graphic software interface to navigate to an image representative of any particular emotion from within a matrix containing representations of a continuous range of emotional states. The user can then send the selected image to one or more other users or to aggregator servers in order to communicate emotions or to tag or rate various things with emotional significance, so that quantitative statistics on emotional significance can be computed for those things. The system can also be used to track emotional state through a range of time periods or geospatial locations.
US09207740B2
A network interface includes a physical layer device coupled to a network link. A media access control module communicates with a link partner over the network link. An energy controller monitors a link utilization level of the network link and transitions, in response to the monitoring, the media access control module and the physical layer device to a low power idle mode, wherein the low power idle mode includes periodic transmission of a plurality of refresh frames in a refresh cycle and wherein at least one of the plurality of refresh frames is modified to include at least one first data payload.
US09207737B2
An information processing apparatus (MFP) according to this invention cyclically inquires, of a server, whether to activate the power source during the stop of the second power source functioning as the main power source of the MFP. The NIC of the MFP that operates by using the first power source as a power source establishes a link for an inquiry to the server, and calculates an electric energy consumed for the inquiry based on the link rate of the established link and the time taken for the inquiry. Further, the NIC adjusts the cycle of the inquiry so that the average power consumption of the MFP in the state in which the second power source is stopped, that is determined by the calculated consumed electric energy, does not exceed a threshold corresponding to a target power.
US09207735B2
A smart power grid system and power management system including at least one intelligent user-side power management device (PMD) to eliminate power theft and efficiently provide clean energy to the users of the grid while helping the grid to do smart demand response management, particularly for renewable energy based grids that need to efficiently manage the slack due to the large variability in power generation through these energy sources, the PMD including a controller, a circuit protection device, a metering device, a local power storage device, a grid communication interface, and switches to prevent overloading and illegal consumption of power.
US09207727B2
A method of determining a condition of a filter located within a system is provided. The method may include determining a first air flow measurement value for a first air flow through the filter, determining a first energy consumption value associated with generating the first air flow through the filter, determining a first ratio between the first air flow measurement value and the first energy consumption value, determining a second air flow measurement value for a second air flow through the filter, determining a second energy consumption value associated with generating the second air flow through the filter, and determining a second ratio between the second air flow measurement value and the second energy consumption value. The filter may then be replaced based on a comparison between the determined first and the determined second ratio.
US09207725B2
The present invention discloses a disassembly mechanism including a plate, at least one guiding component, at least one constraining component and a pushing component. The plate is installed on a circuit board of an electronic device, at least one opening and a slot are formed on the plate. The slot sheathes a socket on the circuit board. The at least one guiding component is for guiding the plate to move in a guiding direction. The at least one constraining component is disposed on the at least one guiding component for constraining movement of the plate in the guiding direction. The pushing component is connected to the plate and is for moving with the plate synchronously, so as to push the expansion card to separate from the socket.
US09207714B2
A support includes a device-receiving groove for receiving a portable electronic device. A center of gravity of the support being selected to bias the support to remain in a device-receiving position when no portable electronic device is received therein and bias the support to remain in an upright position when the portable electronic device is received therein.
US09207711B2
A display device stand includes a base, a first member supported by the base, and a second member supported by the first member. The first member is moveable between a collapsed position and at least one extended position, and the base provides a passage under and between opposite ends of the first member with the first member in the collapsed position.
US09207709B2
A storage device assembling module for assembling a storage device in an electronic apparatus includes a main frame, an adapter, and at least one handgrip. The main frame includes a chute forming a receiving space for receiving the storage device and positioning. The adapter is combined with the main frame and includes a first connecting port connected electrically to the storage device and a second connecting port connected electrically to a circuit board. The location of the first connecting port is closed to the chute, and the connecting direction of the first connecting port is substantially perpendicular to the connecting direction of the second connecting port. Each handgrip is connected pivotally to at least one side of the main frame which is away from the circuit board. The storage device assembling module can substantially be perpendicularly detached from the circuit board by pulling the at least one handgrip.
US09207707B2
An automated system and method that includes at least two cooperating electrical components, each having a time counter. The electrical components being coupled to one another via signals for cyclically transmitting process data via a signal network, and are synchronized with one another based on global, relative time information as a reference quantity.
US09207701B2
A supply voltage generating circuit that enables a reduction in chip area includes: a booster for outputting a boosted voltage upon generating the boosted voltage by charge pumping of a capacitor element; a power-supply step-down unit for stepping down voltage of an external power supply to a voltage within a breakdown-voltage range of the capacitor element, and applying the stepped-down voltage to the power supply of the booster; and a switch element for switching between application of the external power supply to the power supply of the booster directly or via the power-supply step-down unit. The booster comprises multiple stages of booster circuits. The thicknesses of gate oxide films of capacitor elements constituted by MOS transistors included in respective ones of the booster circuits are the same and are made smaller than the thickness of a gate oxide film of a MOS transistor included in a load circuit having the output of the booster at its power supply.
US09207691B2
A control apparatus for driving a semiconductor switch of an inverter. A drive circuit generates a driver signal on the basis of a switching signal generated by a control regulation system of the inverter. A driver circuit which is coupled between the drive circuit and a control input of the semiconductor switch is configured to receive the driver signal and to generate, on the basis of the driver signal, a control signal which drives the semiconductor switch. The control signal is fed into the control input of the semiconductor switch. A regulation circuit is coupled to the drive circuit and is configured to detect a voltage signal dependent on the voltage across the semiconductor switch, to generate a regulation signal which is dependent on the voltage signal and is intended to regulate the driver signal, and to feed the regulation signal into the drive circuit.
US09207688B2
An aircraft bleed system includes a low pressure supply port for delivering a first fluid at a first pressure. Also included is a high pressure supply port for delivering a second fluid at a second pressure, the second pressure greater than the first pressure. Further included is a feedback circuit in operable communication with the high pressure supply port for receiving the second fluid. The feedback circuit includes a first branch configured to route the second fluid to a high pressure control piston for manipulating the high pressure control piston between a high pressure closed position and a high pressure open position. The feedback circuit also includes a second branch configured to route the second fluid to a low pressure control piston moveably disposed within the high pressure control piston for manipulating the low pressure control piston between a low pressure closed position and a low pressure open position.
US09207679B1
Aspects of the invention relate generally to autonomous vehicles. The features described improve the safety, use, driver experience, and performance of these vehicles by using ground markers to determine the position of the surrounding objects. In particular, the autonomous vehicle is capable of detecting nearby objects, such as vehicles and pedestrians, and is able to determine the position of these objects based on whether they have passed over ground markers.
US09207675B1
An automatic timing measurement system that provides a measure of time of passage of a watercraft through a water course. Algorithms based on inertial or other estimates augmented by GPS speed/position measurements and/or image processing techniques on images provided by one or more cameras are used to track position of a watercraft. The position estimates and image processing techniques are used to allow the locations of water courses to be mapped and memorized. Algorithms are then used to allow the system to automatically detect passage of a watercraft through mapped courses for the purpose of measuring and reporting time of passage of said watercraft past key points in said course, and for modifying the behavior of the speed control portion of the apparatus if necessary at certain points in the mapped course. A measure of accuracy of driver steering can be provided along with the ability to automatically steer the watercraft through the course if “steer-by-wire” mechanism is available. GPS speed control is augmented with a secondary velocity measurement device that measures speed over water resulting in an optional user selectable real-time compensation for water current. Furthermore, GPS is used as the key input to produce boat speed-based pull-up profiles.
US09207673B2
A finger-mounted remote control device capable of wirelessly transmitting a travel request signal to a materials handling vehicle. The finger-mounted remote control device includes a rigid mounting structure adapted to be mounted over at least one finger of an operator's hand; a mounting strap coupled to said rigid mounting structure for securing said rigid mounting structure to the at least one finger; a wireless transmitter/power pack unit coupled to said rigid mounting structure; and control structure coupled to said mounting structure and comprising a switch adapted to be actuated by an operator's thumb so as to cause said wireless transmitter/power pack unit to generate a travel request signal to the materials handling vehicle.
US09207668B2
A robot having a force sensor and a tool fixture for operating on a workpiece that may have a complex surface contour is programmed by an operator first teaching the robot by a suitable technique such as lead through teaching a few gross points of the contour. These points, known as guiding points, are used to generate a program to be followed by the robot under the control of the robot controller and using force control during which the robot finalizes the guiding points and teaches one or more points on the contour intermediate adjacent guiding points. The controller or other computing device uses the points so taught to generate the path the robot tool fixture will follow when the tool is to operate on the workpiece.
US09207660B2
A computer system comprising a Web site and/or a cloud array of computers wherein the system is configured to have a connection to a smartphone or other mobile computer device and the system is configured to use the device to control a configuration of: computer-controlled bladders, compartments, chambers and/or internal sipes located in footwear soles of a device user. The system is further configured to control the configuration of bladders, compartments, chambers and/or internal sipes by using the device and the connection to: transmit data to the system for storage and/or shared or independent processing and/or analysis: process data received from the sensors located in footwear soles of the device user and a sensor including a gyroscope and/or an accelerometer in the device; and use the processed data to alter a configuration of the bladders, compartments, chambers and/or internal sipes.
US09207657B2
A manufacturing center configured for use with a plurality of tools and a plurality of nests. The manufacturing center includes a base configured for coupling with one of the plurality of nests. The base includes a base electrical connector. The manufacturing center also includes an arm configured for coupling with one of the plurality of tools. The arm has an end movable with respect to the base, and the end includes an arm electrical connector. A controller is operable to control movement of the arm and is in communication with the base electrical connector and the arm electrical connector. The controller is operable to identify which one of the plurality of tools is coupled with the arm and which one of the plurality of nests is coupled with the base at least in part by way of communication with the arm electrical connector and the base electrical connector.
US09207654B2
A servo controller is provided. The servo controller includes a reference model unit which inputs a reference to generate a model output and a model input; a feedback control unit which generates a feedback input so that a control output of a plant follows the model output; and an adder which adds the model input and the feedback input. The reference model unit includes a mathematical model which simulates characteristics of the plant, and generates the model output and a state variable from the model input; a model input memory which outputs a past model input; a model controller which inputs the reference, the state variable, and the past model input to generate the model input; and a model controller determining unit which determines the model controller based on the reference, the state variable, and the past model input.
US09207653B2
A control system includes a controller. The controller repeatedly excites a control loop characterized by parameters having randomly selected values for each excitation and scores a response of the control loop to each excitation relative to a target signal until the scores no longer achieve a value less than a minimum of the scores for a predefined number of excitations occurring after the excitation yielding the minimum of the scores to auto-tune the control system.
US09207652B2
A method and system for adaptively configuring a remote control includes analyzing a log of events, maintained by the remote control, which indicate how the remote control and the devices it controls are used by a user. Once the analysis is performed, the system and method can suggest alternative configurations of the remote control to the user. The range and type of alternative configurations is not particularly limited and can include changing which devices are employed for various user activities and/or how those activities are performed, the placement and hierarchy of commands in a menu tree and/or troubleshooting and set up configurations. The analysis can be performed either partially or totally within the remote control, or at, or in conjunction with, a service to which the remote control connects through a network.
US09207649B2
An analog electronic timepiece including: a radiowave receiver that receives radiowaves from positioning satellites, acquires preassigned target data from the received radiowaves and outputs the acquired target data; a hand that is provided to be rotatable; a time calculator that calculates a turnaround time from input of a reception command for the radiowaves to the radiowave receiver to output of the acquired target data; and a notification controller that instructs the hand to carry out a predetermined notification movement during reception of the radiowaves and finish the notification movement at a timing when the turnaround time elapses.
US09207644B2
The present invention relates to a method of making a timepiece plate. This method is characterized in that it includes the following steps: a) taking (A1, A2) the material forming the plate including at least one metallic element; b) forming (B1, B2) the plate; c) cooling (C) everything so as to obtain the timepiece plate in an at least partially amorphous state; and d) retrieving (D) the plate.
US09207643B2
A striking mechanism, particularly for a watch, includes at least one gong fixed to a gong-carrier, at least one hammer for striking the gong at predetermined times, and a device to select at least one mode of vibration of the gong. The selection device includes at least one selector element arranged in contact on a part of the gong and held on a vibration node of a mode of vibration of the gong to be selected so as to block other modes of vibration. The selector element can be moved on the gong by a mechanical or magnetic movement device.
US09207635B2
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a housing having an opening through which a recording medium passes, the housing comprising a container unit configured to support at least a part of the recording medium passed through the opening; a feed roller configured to feed the recording medium supported in the container unit to an image formation unit; and a fan configured to cause air in the housing to flow, wherein the container unit comprises: a stacker part to support at least the part of the recording medium; and a pair of side parts disposed to sandwich the stacker part between the pair of side parts, in an orthogonal direction perpendicular to a feeding direction of the feed roller, and the fan is disposed at one of the pair of side parts and at a position closer to the opening relative to the feed roller in the feeding direction.
US09207633B2
A fixing device includes a rotary fixing member, a sensor, a grinder, and a controller. The rotary fixing member fixes an image on a recording medium. The sensor detects a surface state of the rotary fixing member. The grinder is disposed opposite the rotary fixing member to slide against a surface of the rotary fixing member and grind the surface of the rotary fixing member. The controller controls the grinder to contact or separate from the rotary fixing member, in accordance with a detection result of the surface state detected with the sensor in a recording medium edge passage area of the rotary fixing member over which an edge of a recording medium passes in a direction perpendicular to a feed direction of the recording medium fed with rotation of the rotary fixing member.
US09207629B2
An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body including positioning faces; a detachably attachable unit including receiving parts and contact parts; and a biasing member to press the receiving parts of the detachably attachable unit to the positioning faces disposed on the apparatus body. The biasing member is rotatably disposed to the apparatus body, contacts the contact parts disposed on the detachably attachable unit, presses the receiving parts against the positioning faces, and is elastically deformable in a direction separating from a rotary supporting point of the biasing member; and when the biasing member is rotated to a locked state from a release state, the biasing member is hooked to the contact parts, so that the receiving parts are pressed toward the positioning faces by the biasing member.
US09207626B2
An image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming units arranged in parallel with each other at intervals in a predetermined direction toward a first side from a second side of the image forming apparatus, each image forming unit including a photoconductive drum, and a charger configured to charge the photoconductive drum, a frame body configured to support the plurality of image forming units, and a regulating member disposed between a first-side image forming unit of the plurality of image forming units that is closest to the first side in the predetermined direction and a first-side end portion of the frame body in the predetermined direction, the regulating member configured to regulate an air current and urge the first-side image forming unit.
US09207624B2
A cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade includes a strip-shaped elastic blade. At least the tip edge portion of the elastic blade, which is to be contacted with the surface of a moving object to remove a powdery material from the surface of the moving object, includes an ultraviolet crosslinked resin, which includes an acrylate or methacrylate unit including a fluorine-containing group, and another acrylate or methacrylate unit having a tricyclodecane or adamantane skeleton, from the surface of the tip edge portion to a depth of not less than 5 μm.
US09207617B2
A disclosed apparatus includes a first unit upstream of a first path to transfer a sheet; a second unit upstream of a second path to transfer another sheet from opposite side of the first path; a third unit on a combined path of the first and second paths to transfer the sheets downstream; and a first member provided where the first and second paths meet to guide the sheets to the combined path. The third unit is a nip unit including elements forming a nip. One of the elements on the second path side is a belt unit. The first member has a downstream edge extending in a sheet width direction. The downstream edge has a first part facing the nip part and a second part not facing the nip part. The second part is located downstream of the first part in the sheet transfer direction.
US09207616B2
An automatic original cover operator of a copying machine, includes a hinge part and a driving part. The hinge part includes a mounting member attached to the main body of the copying machine, a supporting member rotatably mounted on the mounting member via a main shaft, a lifting member rotatably mounted on side plates of the supporting member via a drive shaft, a part for controlling rotation of the hinge part, the part for controlling rotation serving to urge the supporting member in an opening direction of the original cover and the lifting member to overlap the supporting member, and a rotation controlling mechanism for the lifting member. The driving part includes a drive case, a drive motor mounted in the drive case, and a reduction mechanism mounted in the drive case for transmitting a rotation drive force from the drive motor to the main shaft.
US09207587B2
The invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming device using at least four color toners of yellow, magenta, cyan and black, and having a fixation step of fixing a toner image on a recording medium using a fixing unit, wherein the total of a dust emission amount from each toner is controlled to be not more than a specific level, and wherein just before the fixation step where the three color toners of yellow, magenta and cyan are laminated on the recording medium, a dust emission amount from the toner to be the outermost layer on the recording medium and a dust emission amount from the toner to be the lowermost layer thereon are controlled to be in a specific relationship therebetween.
US09207586B2
An image forming device has multiple image forming units that form developing agent images, an intermediate transfer member to which developing agent images are transferred from selected image forming units, and a transfer member for transferring the developing agent images from the intermediate transfer member to a recording medium, using a voltage supplied from a voltage supply unit. The voltage supply unit varies the voltage supplied to the transfer member, either before or after or both before and after the developing agent images are transferred from the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium, according to the number of selected image forming units or their disposition.
US09207577B2
A toner cartridge for use in an image forming device according to one example embodiment includes a housing having a reservoir for containing toner therein. The housing has an exit port in fluid communication with the reservoir. A shutter is positioned at the exit port that is movable between an open position and a closed position. The shutter is biased toward the closed position. A linkage is operatively connected to the shutter to open the shutter upon being actuated by a first engagement feature in the image forming device. An interlock is operatively engaged with the linkage and biased toward a locked position preventing the linkage from opening the shutter. The interlock is movable to an unlocked position that is disengaged with the linkage when the interlock is actuated by a second engagement feature in the image forming device permitting the linkage to open the shutter.
US09207576B2
A toner conveying unit includes a toner case, an intermediate unit, and a developing unit. The intermediate unit removably supports the toner case. The intermediate unit includes a toner inlet, a toner outlet, a toner conveying path and a shutter. The toner outlet discharges the toner received from the toner inlet toward the developing unit. The toner conveying path connects the toner inlet with the toner outlet. The shutter opens/closes the toner inlet and the toner outlet in linkage with an operation of attaching/detaching the toner case. The shutter integrally includes an inlet sealing member capable of opening/closing the toner inlet, and an outlet sealing member linked with the inlet sealing member and capable of opening/closing the toner outlet.
US09207555B1
An assembly for an electrophotographic image forming device according to one example embodiment includes a charge roll and a bracket that extends along an axial length of the charge roll. First and second bearing retainers are positioned on a first axial end and a second axial end of the bracket, respectively. First and second bearings are pivotally mounted to the first and second bearing retainers, respectively. Each of the first and second bearings has a charge roll opening that supports a respective axial end of a shaft of the charge roll. First and second biasing members act on the first and second bearings, respectively. The first and second biasing members bias the charge roll toward an operative position for charging a photoconductive drum. A direction of force from the first biasing member on the first bearing and from the second biasing member on the second bearing is toward the bracket.
US09207549B2
An exposure apparatus is equipped with a table which holds a wafer and is movable along an XY plane and has a grating provided on its rear surface, an encoder which irradiates a first measurement beam on the grating from below, receives a return light, and measures a first position information of the table when the table moves in a predetermined range, and another encoder which has a head section provided in a frame and irradiates a second measurement beam on a different grating on the table from the head section, receives a return light, and can measure a second position information of the table, concurrently with measurement of the first position information by the encoder when the table moves in predetermined range. A controller drives the table, based on position information having a higher reliability of the first and the second position information.
US09207546B2
An exposure method includes a step of moving a photomask by a predetermined distance and switching a first mask pattern group to a second mask pattern group when an exposure to a first exposure area on an object to be exposed by the first mask pattern group of the photomask formed by arranging the first and the second mask pattern groups corresponding to an exposure patterns at predetermined intervals in a conveying direction of the object to be exposed is completed, and a step of performing an exposure on the second exposure area on the object to be exposed by the second mask pattern group, in which a moving speed of the photomask is controlled so that a moving distance of the object to be exposed is longer than a moving distance of the photomask in a period of time when switching the first and the second mask pattern groups.
US09207543B2
A substrate table of an immersion lithographic apparatus is disclosed which comprises a barrier configured to collect liquid. The barrier surrounds the substrate and is spaced apart from the substrate. In this way any liquid which is spilt from the liquid supply system can be collected to reduce the risk of contamination of delicate components of the lithographic projection apparatus.
US09207541B2
The disclosure concerns an arrangement for mirror temperature measurement and/or thermal actuation of a mirror in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The mirror has an optical effective surface and at least one access passage extending from a surface of the mirror, that does not correspond to the optical effective surface, in the direction of the effective surface. The arrangement is designed for mirror temperature measurement and/or thermal actuation of the mirror via electromagnetic radiation which is propagated along the access passage. The electromagnetic radiation is reflected a plurality of times within the access passage.
US09207539B1
The present application discloses methods, systems and devices for using charged particle beam tools to pattern and inspect a substrate. The inventors have discovered that it is highly advantageous to use write and inspection tools that share the same or substantially the same stage and the same or substantially the same designs for respective arrays of multiple charged particle beam columns, and that access the same design layout database to target and pattern or inspect features. By using design-matched charged particle beam tools, correlation of defectivity is preserved between inspection imaging and the design layout database. As a result, image-based defect identification and maskless design correction, of random and systematic errors, can be performed directly in the design layout database, enabling a fast yield ramp.
US09207528B2
Improved techniques are disclosed for fabrication of touch panels using thin sheet glass. Thin touch sensor panels each having a thickness of substantially less than approximately one-half millimeter can be produced. A thin mother glass sheet having a thickness of substantially less then approximately one half millimeter can be used. A thin film can be coupled to a surface of the thin mother glass sheet, and the thin film can be photolithographically patterned, while avoiding breakage of the thin mother glass sheet. The thin mother glass sheet can be singulated into the thin touch sensor panels.
US09207519B1
A self-photographing mount device for holding a camera equipped user device at a distance from a user, comprising: a mounting structure having at least two corner mounting elements for mounting a camera equipped user device in parallel to a mounting plane; an extendable shaft having a handle at a proximal end thereof; and a hinge mounted on one of the at least two corner mounting elements to allow pivotal rotation of the extendable shaft from a folded position to an open position; when in the folded position, the extendable shaft is adjacent to the mounting plane and parallel to a diagonal of a back panel of the camera equipped user device; and when in the open position, the extendible shaft forms a wide angle with the mounting plane.
US09207517B2
An optical isolator for optically isolating an optical system, the optical system outputting electromagnetic radiation at predetermined ranges of frequencies, the optical isolator including a filter, and a Raman shifter, the filter is optically coupled with the output of the optical system and allows electromagnetic radiation of at least the predetermined ranges of frequencies to pass therethrough, the Raman shifter is optically coupled with the output of the filter for shifting the frequencies of the electromagnetic radiation through Raman scattering, the filter filtering back reflected portions of the shifted frequencies electromagnetic radiation.
US09207511B2
An object is to provide a liquid crystal display device in which low power consumption can be achieved. A first substrate includes a terminal portion, a switching transistor, and a pixel circuit including a pixel electrode is provided. A second substrate includes a counter electrode. A liquid crystal element is interposed between the pixel electrode and the counter electrode. A potential to be input to the counter electrode is supplied from a terminal portion through the switching transistor. A semiconductor layer included in the switching transistor is an oxide semiconductor layer.
US09207510B2
In one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The first substrate includes a first gate line and a second gate line respectively extending in a first direction. A main pixel electrode is arranged between the first gate line and the second gate line and extending in a second direction orthogonally crossing the first direction. A pair of sub-common electrodes respectively faces the first gate line and the second gate line through an insulating layer and extends in the first direction. The second substrate includes a main common electrode electrically connected with the sub-common electrode and arranged on both sides sandwiching the main pixel electrode. A liquid crystal layer is held between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US09207508B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a TFT array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, and a display apparatus. The TFT array substrate comprises upper and lower layer electrodes insulating from each other, wherein the upper layer electrode has slits, the slits comprising at least one pair of angles of less than or equal to 90°; the lower layer electrode is a whole-plane electrode. The lower layer electrode has absent regions, and each of the absent regions corresponds to the corresponding angle of less than or equal to 90° of the slits of the upper layer electrode.
US09207496B2
A manufacturing method for a display panel includes: forming a first display panel including a plurality of pixel electrodes, gate lines and data lines connected to the pixel electrodes, a first pad unit connected to the gate lines, and a second pad unit connected to the data lines; forming a second display panel including a common electrode; forming a first short point connected to the first pad unit; forming a second short point connected to the second pad unit; adhering the first display panel and the second display panel; dividing the second display panel into a plurality of regions insulated from each other, a first region corresponding to the first short point, a second region corresponding to the second short point, and a third region; and applying a first voltage to the first region, a second voltage to the second region, and a third voltage to the third region.
US09207494B2
A display device includes a display area and a non-display area, a first alignment layer disposed on a first substrate, a second alignment layer disposed on a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer; and a groove disposed in the non-display area of the second substrate to correspond to at least a portion of an end portion of the second alignment layer. The groove is provided along at least one side of the display area and is configured to be filled by an alignment solution used to from the second alignment layer and prevent the alignment solution from dispersing to other areas of the second substrate.
US09207482B2
A capacitive touch sensor laminate for use in a display panel device includes: a dielectric central substrate structure made of a transparent resin material and formed to have flat surfaces, respectively, on opposite sides thereof; a at least one-layer structured coat layer made of a transparent material, formed on each of the flat surfaces, and including at least one refractive index adjusting layer for suppressing visibility of an electrode pattern formed by the transparent electrically conductive layer; and a transparent electrically conductive layer formed on and in adjacent relation to the coat layer. The at least one-layer structured coat layers formed on respective ones of the flat surfaces are configured such that thicknesses of corresponding layers therein on respective opposite sides of the dielectric central substrate structure are set to allow the corresponding layers to become mutually symmetrical across the dielectric central substrate structure.
US09207474B2
A lower case for a display apparatus includes a receiving part and a sidewall part. The receiving part has a planar bottom plate extending in a first direction and a side portion substantially perpendicular to and extending from the bottom plate in a second direction normal to the bottom plate. The sidewall part is disposed along an edge of the bottom plate that forms a first receiving space with the bottom plate for receiving a backlight assembly having a light source assembly. The sidewall part further includes a first sidewall not adjacent to the light source unit, a second sidewall adjacent to the light source unit, and a third receiving space surrounding the first receiving space for receiving a wire.
US09207471B2
A mono domain vertical alignment type liquid crystal display apparatus to be multiplex driven is provided whose display uniformity at a large pretilt angle (near 90°) is improved. Waveform A is applied to a liquid crystal cell of a mono domain vertical alignment type, the waveform A having a duty not lower than 4 and a frame frequency of f. The frame frequency f is determined from a pretilt angle θp, and is a frequency not lower than 60 Hz at a pretilt angle of 88.5°≦θp<89.6° or a frequency not lower than [120×(θp−89.6)+60] Hz at a pretilt angle of 89.6°≦θp≦89.9°.
US09207465B1
A thin eyeglasses joint structure includes a glasses frame, a temple, and a joint member. The glasses frame includes a first joint portion having a joint section and a fixture section formed at an outer end of the joint section. The temple includes a second joint portion. The joint member includes two spaced connecting slots and a fixing slot. The joint section and the fixture section of the glasses frame are held in the connecting slots and the fixing slot of the joint member, respectively. The joint member has an axle hole penetrated by and coupled with the second joint portion of the temple to develop the thin eyeglasses joint structure without requirement of any screw.
US09207442B2
A zoom lens includes, a lens unit Lp having the highest positive refractive power, a lens unit Ln having negative refractive power, and a lens unit Lp2 having positive refractive power. In a first region, focusing from an infinite distance to a predetermined finite distance and zooming are able to be performed. In a second region in which macro driving is performed from a telephoto end to a macro end, two or more lens units are moved during macro driving so that the lens unit Lp is located closer to the object side than at a wide-angle end, a distance between the lens unit Lp and the lens unit Ln is larger at the macro end than at the wide-angle end, and a distance between the lens unit Ln and the lens unit Lp2 is smaller at the macro end than at the wide-angle end.
US09207438B2
A zoom lens includes, in order from the object side to the image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, a third lens unit having a negative refractive power, and a rear lens group including a plurality of lens units and having a positive refractive power as a whole. The distances between adjacent lens units are changed during zooming. The third lens unit is moved during focusing. The focal length, fw, of the entire zoom lens system at the wide-angle end; the focal length, ft, of the entire zoom lens system at the telephoto end; the combined focal length, f12w, of the first and second lens units at the wide-angle end; and the combined focal length, f12t, of the first and second lens units at the telephoto end are appropriately set to satisfy predetermined conditions.
US09207437B2
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an imaging lens includes, in an ordered way from an object side, a first lens having negative (−) refractive power, a second lens having negative (−) refractive power, a third lens having positive (+) refractive power, a fourth lens having positive (+) refractive power, a fifth lens having negative (−) refractive power, and a sixth lens having negative (−) refractive power, wherein, a conditional expression of 0.5
US09207431B2
An imaging lens system includes a first lens that includes a convex object-side surface and has a positive refractive power; a second lens that includes a concave image plane-side surface and has a negative refractive power; a third lens; a fourth lens that includes two spherical surfaces and has a negative refractive power; a fifth lens that includes a convex image plane-side surface and has a positive refractive power; and a sixth lens that has a negative refractive power, wherein the first through sixth lenses are arranged in order from an object side to an image plane side.
US09207430B2
An image-forming lens includes, from an object side to an image side in order: a first lens group; an aperture; and a second lens group with a positive refractive power, the first lens group including, from the object side in order: a first F lens group with a negative refractive power; and a first R lens group with a positive refractive power, the first F lens group including, from the object side in order: a first negative lens; and a second negative lens, and the first R lens group including: any one of a positive lens and a cemented lens with a positive refractive power as a whole, wherein a distance from a surface on a most object side of the first lens group to an image plane in a state of focusing on an object at infinity: L, and a maximum image height: Y′ satisfy Conditional expression 1: 2.8
US09207419B2
A process for manufacturing fiber optic overhead ground wire cable may include: providing an optical core; providing a reinforcing structure consisting of at least one layer of wires onto the optical core, wherein at least part of the wires are clad with first metallic material; extruding an outer layer onto the reinforcing structure, wherein the outer layer is made of second metallic material having a softening point substantially similar to a softening point of the first metallic material; and cooling the outer layer immediately after extruding the outer layer. A fiber optic overhead ground wire cable may include: an optical core comprising a plurality of optical fibers housed in an inner tube; and a reinforcing structure consisting of at least one layer of wires stranded onto the optical core. The cable may be substantially devoid of interstices between the at least one layer of wires and the inner tube.
US09207409B2
An optical fiber head includes an optical fiber, a lens, and a casing which accommodates and holds the optical fiber and the lens. The casing has a crimping portion which accommodates and holds the optical fiber when a part of the crimping portion in the axial direction of the casing is plastically deformed such that the crimping portion is virtually equally reduced in diameter in a circumferential direction. The part of the optical fiber which is held by the crimping portion has a coating to coat the core wire. The crimping portion is provided at a back end side of the casing at a distance from the place where a leading end face of the optical fiber is positioned along the axial direction of the casing.
US09207408B1
A method and apparatus use a photonic-crystal fiber having a very large core while maintaining a single transverse mode. In some fiber lasers and amplifiers having large cores problems exist related to multiple-modes and mode hopping that result from the use of large-diameter waveguides, and these are addressed. By using multiple small waveguides in parallel, large amounts of energy can be passed through a laser, but with better control such that the aforementioned problems can be reduced. Some embodiments obtain a single beam by combining beams from a plurality of laser waveguides, each having a different wavelength; for example, by using one or more diffraction gratings.
US09207403B2
The present invention relates to a total reflection type optical switch using polymer insertion type silica optical waveguides and a manufacturing method thereof. The total reflection type optical switch forms a trench in an intersecting point of the silica optical waveguides having two optic routes, and inserts a polymer into the trench. A total reflection type optical switch has a heater which heats the polymer. The polymer is made of thermo-optic material, and totally reflects an optical signal as a refraction index falls when heated by the heater. In addition, when not heated by the heater, the polymer transilluminates the optical signal. When the polymer is made of electric-optic material, the total reflection type optical switch may have upper and lower electrodes for applying an electric field in the polymer instead of the heater. In this case, the total reflection type optical switch is capable of high speed switching, and is not limited to usages of an optical switch, and may be used as a variable optical attenuator by adjusting the voltage and current being applied. According to the present invention, it is possible to use the difference of the refraction indexes of the silica optical waveguides and the polymer due to temperature changes to transilluminate or totally reflect an optical signal according to changes of the refraction index of the polymer, thereby improving loss characteristics of the optical signal.
US09207402B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus may include an optical fiber that may have a surface non-normal to a longitudinal axis of a distal end portion of the optical fiber. The surface may define a portion of an interface configured to redirect electromagnetic radiation propagated from within the optical fiber and incident on the interface to a direction offset from the longitudinal axis. The apparatus may also include a doped silica cap that may be fused to the optical fiber such that the surface of the optical fiber may be disposed within a cavity defined by the doped silica cap.
US09207397B2
A light-diffusing optical fiber that includes a core region in the fiber that comprises a core glass composition; and an inner cladding in the fiber that surrounds the core region and comprises a cladding glass composition that substantially differs from the core glass composition. The core glass composition comprises a doped, low-melting point silica glass having less than 90% by weight SiO2, and the numerical aperture of the fiber is greater than or equal to 0.4. Further, light-diffusing optical fiber bundles that include a jacket comprising a scattering element; and a plurality of the light-diffusing optical fibers arranged within the jacket. Also, light-diffusing optical fiber bundles that include a transparent jacket; and a plurality of the light-diffusing optical fibers arranged within the jacket, the fibers further configured with an outer cladding having a plurality of scattering elements.
US09207394B2
A liquid crystal module is disclosed. The liquid crystal module includes a light source, a light guiding device, and a coupling device. The light guiding device is arranged at a light emitting side of the light source and is spaced apart from the light guiding device by a distance. The coupling device is installed between the light source and the light guiding device for controlling a coupling distance therebetween. The coupling device keeps the coupling distance between a light guiding plate and a light source to remain a predetermined value. In this way, the coupling efficiency of the liquid crystal module is not affected by the difference of LEDs or heat inflation so as to enhance the coupling efficiency.
US09207390B2
Light guide structures that include a transparent plate having a first end and a second end; and a plurality of transparent light guide members, each transparent light guide member extending from the first end to the second end along one surface of the transparent plate and being configured to emit white light in response to light applied thereto are described.
US09207387B2
A back light module is provided, which includes a light guide plate, a first light source device and a second light source device. The light guide plate has a first side surface, a second side surface and a third side surface, wherein the first side surface is opposite to the third side surface, and the second side surface is orthogonal to the first and third side surfaces. The first lighting device is disposed at two sides of an intersection corner of the first and second side surfaces and faces the first and second side surfaces. The second light source device is disposed at two sides of an intersection corner of the second and third side surfaces and faces the second and third side surfaces.
US09207386B2
A backlight unit for a display device includes a light guide plate; a reflective sheet under the light guide plate; a lamp at least one side of the light guide plate and providing a light into the light guide plate; and an optical sheet disposed on the light guide plate and including a first lenticular sheet, the first lenticular sheet including a base film for diffusing the light through the light guide plate, a first lenticular lens disposed on a front surface of the base film and having a half-cylinder shape and a first printing pattern on at least one edge of a rear surface of the base film.
US09207379B2
A light guide plate, a backlight module and a display device both comprising the light guide plate are disclosed. The light guide plate comprises a light emitting surface and multiple side surfaces perpendicular to and connected to the light emitting surface, the side surfaces including at least one first side surface and at least one second side surface. The light guide plate further comprises at least one set of folded surfaces perpendicular to and connected to the light emitting surface. Each set of folded surfaces is connected between a pair of first side surface and second side surface which are adjacent with each other. Each set of folded surfaces includes multiple light incident surfaces which are connected one by one. In the light incident surfaces in same set of folded surfaces, any two adjacent light incident surfaces form an acute angle opened toward inside of the light guide plate.
US09207373B2
A retroreflective device securable to a highway by bonding thereto preferably with a viscous strip applied to the highway prior to solidifying cure of the strip includes a generally globular glass central member, a desirably pigmented adhesive layer over the central member and a plurality of peripheral globular glass members connected to the central member by the pigmented adhesive layer. A method for fabricating the retroreflective device is also disclosed.
US09207365B2
According to one embodiment, an imaging lens includes a first optical system and a microlens array. The first optical system includes an optical axis. The microlens array is provided between the first optical system and an imaging element. The microlens array includes microlens units provided in a first plane. The imaging element includes pixel groups. Each of the pixel groups includes pixels. The microlens units respectively overlap the pixel groups when projected onto the first plane. The first optical system includes an aperture stop, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and a fourth lens. The first lens is provided between the aperture stop and the microlens array. The second lens is provided between the first lens and the microlens array. The third lens is provided between the second lens and the microlens array. The fourth lens is provided between the third lens and the microlens array.
US09207364B2
An optical lens includes a lens member and two shade layers on opposite sides of the lens member. The lens member respectively has a lens portion on each side thereof. Each shade layer has an aperture above the corresponding lens portion of the lens member to serve the function of aperture. A method uses optical lithography technique to make such optical lens in a fast way, and the shade layers will have a strong bonding strength with the lens member.
US09207362B2
The present invention relates to: a copolymer comprising repeating units (I) and (II) in its molecule, wherein the content of the repeating units (I) and (II) are 5 to 90 mol % and 95 to 10 mol %, respectively, and a 0.5 g/dl methylene chloride solution of the copolymer having a reduced viscosity (ηsp/c) at 20° C. of 0.3 to 2.0 dl/g; an optically anisotropic article comprising one type or two or more types of the copolymer, or a mixture that includes one type or two or more types of the copolymer, and an additional polymer; and an oriented polymer film obtained by stretching the film-like optically anisotropic article.
US09207350B2
Buried object locators including various antenna configurations and safety features are disclosed. In one embodiment a locator includes a body, one or more antenna nodes coupled to the body, and a safety light assembly disposed on or within the body. The locator may further include a surface light assembly and camera and/or one or more GPS and/or ISM antennas and receiver/sensor modules. The antenna nodes may be gradient and/or dodecahedral antenna nodes.
US09207341B2
Sensors used in mapping strata beneath a marine body are described, such as used in a flexible towed array. A first sensor is a motion sensor including a conductive liquid in a chamber between a rigid tube and a piezoelectric motion film circumferentially wrapped about the tube. A second sensor is a traditional acoustic sensor or a novel acoustic sensor using a piezoelectric sensor mounted with a thin film separation layer of flexible microspheres on a rigid substrate. Additional non-acoustic sensors are optionally mounted on the rigid substrate for generation of output used to reduce noise observed by the acoustic sensors. Combinations of acoustic, non-acoustic, and motion sensors co-located in rigid streamer housing sections are provided.
US09207335B2
A self-powered neutron detector having an emitter with a slightly negative bias voltage that assures that an increase in the electrons that enter the insulator are counted and decreases or eliminates the gamma induced prompt signal. Variations in the size of the bias is used as a diagnostic tool to estimate the gamma induced prompt signal.
US09207327B2
A stolen asset locating and recovery system comprises: a first locating device (LD) associated with a first asset. The first LD has a first wireless communication unit comprising a public mobile radio network (PMRN) enabled communication unit for communicating over a PMRN such as a GSM/GPRS network with any of: an operations control center; a second LD associated with a second asset; or a mobile location tracking system. The first LD has a second wireless communication unit. The second wireless communication unit uses a different wireless technology or protocol to that of the PMRN enabled communication unit. In the case where the second communication unit is a private radio frequency network (PRFN) operated by the asset location system service provider, the first LD is configured to use said second communication unit to communicate directly over said PRFN with the second LD in order to convey information such as a preprogrammed sequence of signals which assists locating and recovering said asset. In the event that the second communication unit is enabled for communication on a public radio network (PRN), the first LD is configured to communicate with any of the operations control center, the second LD, or the mobile location tracking system on a PRN such as an IEEE802.11 enabled wireless local area network (WLAN) or an IEEE802.16 enabled wireless metropolitan area network when it is determined at the first LD that the communication cannot be transmitted between said first LD and any of the operations control center, the second LD, or the mobile location tracking system using the PMRN.
US09207323B2
Example methods and systems for detecting weather conditions including wet surfaces using vehicle onboard sensors are provided. An example method includes receiving laser data collected for an environment of a vehicle. The method also includes determining laser data points that are associated with one or more objects in the environment, and based on laser data points being unassociated with the one or more objects in the environment, identifying an indication that a surface on which the vehicle travels is wet. The method may further include receiving radar data collected for the environment of the vehicle that is indicative of a presence of the one or more objects in the environment of the vehicle, and identifying the indication that the surface on which the vehicle travels is wet further based on laser data points being unassociated with the one or more objects in the environment indicated by the radar data.
US09207315B1
A metal detector has a motion sensor such as an accelerometer to determine direction, speed, duration and acceleration of search loop motion. The search loop motion information from the motion sensor is utilized in mode selection, signal processing, target analysis, and information display.
US09207313B2
A radar system includes a transmit antenna array having subarrays disposed at predetermined positions. An orthogonal waveform signal is directed to a corresponding one of the subarrays. On receive, an adaptive processor derives a plurality of adaptive weight factors from a plurality of receive signals and applies them to the receive signals to obtain a jammer cancelled signal. That signal is separated into its orthogonal waveform components by passing it through a bank of correlators. The correlator system provides a plurality of unique receive signals substantially corresponding one-to-one to the unique transmit subarrays. The receive beamformer derives an angular estimate of at least one target relative to boresight from the unique receive signals.
US09207306B2
A process measurement instrument includes a fiducial and is adapted for detection of the fiducial. The instrument includes an interface circuit comprising a drive circuit for transmitting a pulse signal at the fiducial and at a target of interest and a receive circuit receiving reflected echoes of the pulse signal and developing an analog receive signal representative of the reflected echoes. A processing circuit is operatively coupled to the interface circuit for receiving the analog receive signal and comprising a threshold detector detecting if the analog receive signal is above a select threshold value. A controller is operatively coupled to the processing circuit and responsive to leading and trailing edges of the reflected echo for the fiducial and determining an average of the leading and trailing edges to determine location of the fiducial.
US09207290B2
A magnetic field sensor for sensing an external magnetic field is disclosed. The magnetic field sensor includes at least two magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) elements disposed on an underlying electrode. Each of the MTJ elements is formed by a synthetic antiferromagnetic layer, a barrier layer and a free layer sequentially stacked together. A top electrode is then connected to the free layers. The free layer can be a single free layer, a composite free layer, a synthetic antiferromagnetic free layer or an alloy free layer. When a current is applied to a metal circuit passing over or below the MTJ elements, free magnetic moments generated by the MTJ elements are anti-parallel to each other along a reference axis, and the angles between the magnetic moments created by the MTJ elements and the reference axis are 40 to 50 degrees and 130 to 140 degrees, respectively.
US09207279B2
A system and method for improved voltage contrast inspection is disclosed. In one embodiment the temporal response to voltage contrast is considered to find an optimal acquisition time. In another embodiment, multiple optimal acquisition times are identified. The identified acquisition times are used in voltage contrast inspection of semiconductor fabrication, and are well-suited to SOI technology.
US09207278B2
An electronic package that has an array of pins may be tested for shorts and continuity in a parallel manner. The array of pins are allocated to four or more groups of pins such that each pin in each group is not adjacent to a pin from its own group of pins. One of the groups of pins is tested for continuity while placing a reference voltage level on all of the pins in the other groups of pins. A separate current source is coupled to each pin and a resultant voltage is measured. A short between one of the pins in the first group and a pin in one of the other groups can be detected when the resultant voltage on one of the pins in the first group is approximately equal to the reference voltage. Group-wise testing is repeated until all groups have been tested.
US09207267B2
Methods, apparatus, and systems are provided for measuring the supply of a consumable product/energy source, such as electrical power, to a facility over time and analyzing the measurements to determine the consumption or supply of the product by one or more loads and/or sources in the facility, and to determine induced and residual heat flow through the facility's envelope. Various aspects compare the measured supply of the consumable product to a database of consumption signatures, which characterize access to the consumable product by particular users. Operating conditions and facility characteristics, such as temperatures, load factors, insulation factors, etc., may be further considered in determining a particular user's access of the consumable product. To aid in the controlling of energy use, thermal resistance factors of the building are determined, which are based on the induced and residual heat flow through the facility.
US09207255B2
A signal processing device includes: an amplifier, a bandwidth of which can be switched, and a controller which is configured to perform control to operate the amplifier in a wide bandwidth for a constant time after start of a signal input to the amplifier and then operate the amplifier in a narrow bandwidth thereafter.
US09207254B2
The invention relates to a microelectro-mechanical structure (MEMS), and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods of compensating effect of thermo-mechanical stress on a micro-machined accelerometer by incorporating and adjusting elastic elements to couple corresponding sensing electrodes. The sensing electrodes comprise moveable electrodes and stationary electrodes that are respectively coupled on a proof mass and a substrate. At least one elastic element is incorporated into a coupling structure that couples two stationary electrodes or couples a stationary electrode to at least one anchor. More than one elastic element may be incorporated. The number, locations, configurations and geometries of the elastic elements are adjusted to compensate an output offset and a sensitivity drift that are induced by the thermo-mechanical stress accumulated in the MEMS device.
US09207253B2
A pitot tube includes a substantially cylindrical body portion and a tip portion extending along a pitot tube axis from the body portion. The tip portion includes an inlet opening and a radially tapering outer surface extending from the body portion toward the inlet opening. Another pitot tube includes a substantially cylindrical body portion and a tip portion extending along a pitot tube axis from the body portion. The tip portion includes an inlet opening. One or more electrical coils including one or more coil wraps are located at an interior of the pitot tube. One or more bulkheads are located between a forwardmost coil wrap and a drainage feature to limit travel of particles ingested into the interior.
US09207247B2
The present invention relates, in general, to biomarkers of musculoskeletal disease and, in particular, to methods of diagnosing musculoskeletal disease, and/or predicting disease progression, by assaying for such biomarkers. The invention further relates to compounds and compositions suitable for use in such methods.
US09207246B2
A composition of matter for use in an immunoassay devices and method comprising a signal antibody, e.g., FAB fragment, covalently linked to a first nucleotide; and one or more signal elements, e.g., signal enzymes such as ALP or fluorescent dyes, each covalently linked to a second nucleotide, wherein the first nucleotide has one or more repeated sequences, and the second nucleotide is bound to one of the one or more repeated sequences on said first nucleotide, and wherein the ratio of the signal antibody to the signal element is controlled by the number of repeated sequences.
US09207242B2
Compositions and methods for diagnosing, treating and/or preventing cancers characterized by CDH17 overexpression based on the detection of CDH17 or the use of CDH17 as a target for therapeutic intervention or prophylactic intervention are provided. Methods for diagnosing and/or monitoring liver cancers using the expressing of CDH17 involve detecting and/or quantitating the CDH17 protein or encoding nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) in a biological sample such as urine from the subject. Methods for treating liver cancers using CDH17 as a target and of sensitizing cells with aberrant expression of CDH17 have also been developed. The methods include suppression or knockdown of the expression of CDH17 by administering an effective amount of a CDH17 inhibitor.
US09207239B2
The present invention provides kits, apparatus and methods for determining a biological condition in a mammalian subject, the method includes incubating a specimen from a patient with at least one composition in a kit for a predetermined period of time to form at least one reaction product, when the subject has said biological condition, and receiving an indication of the at least one reaction product responsive to at least one reporter element in the kit thereby providing the indication of the biological condition in the subject.
US09207223B2
A calibration device for a breath alcohol testing device includes a pump providing a controlled air flow at a predetermined rate, a chamber in fluid communication with the pump that receives the air flow from the pump, and an outlet opening in fluid communication with the chamber that allows the air flow to exit the chamber in which the chamber and/or outlet opening can be heated to a predetermined maintainable temperature during operation of the pump. The calibration device is releasably connected to or brought in fluid communication with a breath alcohol testing device such that the air flow exiting the outlet opening passes into the testing device. The calibration device receives a sealed cartridge containing a predetermined alcohol concentration in the chamber and further includes a lid for opening/closing the chamber wherein the cartridge can be pierced such that the air flow provided by the pump to the chamber will pass through the cartridge.
US09207217B2
This invention relates generally to ultrasonic inspection of welds and more particularly, to apparatus and methods for ultrasonic inspection of welds on access hole covers found in boiling water reactors having jet pumps. The apparatus includes a base, a center frame coupled to the base and projecting vertically relative to the access hole cover, a radial arm structured to rotate on the center frame and having attached thereto a first pneumatic linear thruster and a second pneumatic linear thruster, and a skew motor assembly and transducer are attached to the first pneumatic linear thruster for scanning the access hole cover weld. The skew motor assembly is structured to control the angle of the transducer and the first pneumatic linear thruster is structured to raise and lower the transducer.
US09207216B2
As a transmitting horn or a receiving horn attached to a transmission element or a reception element of an ultrasonic sensor, a horn enclosure with two acoustic horn bodies having a dimensional difference ΔLh of a quarter λ/4 of the wavelength λ of an ultrasonic wave U in the propagation direction X of the ultrasonic wave U or a reflection wave R is used. Then, the amplitude of a diffraction wave A1 and the amplitude of a diffraction wave A2 in opposite phase between a transmission side and a reception side are caused to match with each other so as to cancel out both the diffraction waves A1, A2 in a common sound space of the horn enclosure, which is not partitioned for each acoustic horn body by a screen, on a front of the reception element.
US09207215B2
The evaluation method includes a first step, by using measurement means M1 which can measure force F acting between a swing subject and the sport hitting tool or a specific directional component F1 thereof, obtaining measured value Vf of the force F or the force F1 at time after the impact, and a second step of determining the hit feeling on the basis of the measured value Vf at least at the one time. Preferably, the force F or the force F1 is force Fs containing a component in a shear direction. Preferably, in the first step, the measured values Vf in a specific interval Z 12 from time T1 to T2 after the impact are obtained chronologically. Preferably, the evaluation is made based on a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of the measured values Vf.
US09207213B2
An ultrasonic sensor assembly detects a characteristic of a pipe. The ultrasonic sensor assembly includes first and second transducer rings spaced apart along a length of the pipe. Each of the first and second transducer rings can transmit a first wave longitudinally along the pipe and receive a reflection of the transmitted first wave from the characteristic. The first transducer ring can use results related to the reflection of the transmitted first wave to guide a second wave along the pipe that is received by the second transducer ring. Methods of detecting a characteristic of the pipe are also provided.
US09207212B2
Method for operating a resonant measurement system, especially a Coriolis mass flow meter, so as to be excitable in a linear operating range, the driving terminal current triggered by an electric excitation signal and the driving terminal voltage of the electromagnetic drive triggered by the electric excitation signal are measured. The driving power is determined from the driving terminal current and the driving terminal voltage, and if the driving terminal current exceeds a given maximum driving terminal current, and/or if the driving terminal voltage exceeds a given maximum driving terminal voltage and/or if the driving power exceeds a given maximum driving power, the electric excitation signal is limited to a threshold value such that the driving terminal current remains below the given maximum driving terminal current, and/or the driving terminal voltage remains below the given maximum driving terminal voltage, and/or the driving power remains below the maximum driving power.
US09207209B2
A smoke detection sensor ion chamber has a leakage current that is dependent upon the permittivity of the ionized gas (air) in the chamber. Smoke from typical fires is mainly composed of unburned carbon that has diffused in the surrounding air and rises with the heat of the fire. The permittivity of the carbon particles is about 10 to 15 times the permittivity of clean air. The addition of the carbon particles into the air in the ion chamber changes the permittivity thereof that is large enough to detect by measuring a change in the leakage current of the ion chamber.
US09207197B2
A coil for facilitating magnetic induction tomography imaging of a specimen, such as a human tissue specimen, using a single coil is provided. The coil can include a plurality of concentric conductive circular loops. The concentric conductive loops can be connected in series with connection traces without allowing the connection traces to distort the fields produced by the plurality of concentric conductive circular loops. The plurality of concentric conductive loops can be arranged in multiple planes (e.g. on a multilayer printed circuit board) as a two layer stack. The spacing between the planes or the plane separation distance can be selected such that mathematically the plurality of conductive loops can be treated as being located in a common plane for purposes of a quantitative analytical model used for magnetic induction tomography imaging.
US09207194B2
A neutron imaging system detects both the phase shift and absorption of neutrons passing through an object. The neutron imaging system is based on either of two different neutron wavefront sensor techniques: 2-D shearing interferometry and Hartmann wavefront sensing. Both approaches measure an entire two-dimensional neutron complex field, including its amplitude and phase. Each measures the full-field, two-dimensional phase gradients and, concomitantly, the two-dimensional amplitude mapping, requiring only a single measurement.
US09207178B2
A double-light cabinet for testing a biological sample labeled with fluorochrome includes a case, in which a light unit and a diffusion unit are received. The light unit has two spot light sources to emit spot lights with specified wavelengths according to the test, and the diffusion unit diffuses the spot lights into surface lights, to which that the biological sample is exposed. The present invention further includes an amber filter unit to filter the surface light to enhance the signal of biological samples. Using the lights with specified wavelengths, the present invention may serve both functions of excitation and illumination of the biological sample.
US09207166B2
A cytometer cartridge insert includes a micro-molded component and a plastic laminate component. The micro-molded component is embedded in the plastic laminate component.
US09207163B2
A glass-cell vial is provided which can examine specimen without causing any hindrance even when as minimum as possible specimen is used, and prevents mixture of foreign substances from causing examination errors.A vial is provided which comprises function of cell capable of optical examination, and the inner surface of bottom of the vial is formed to be a round-state convex part upwardly and the outer surface of the bottom is formed to be in convex state. When a small amount of liquid specimen is introduced into this cell vial, a part which can be a light irradiation part for optical examination can be positioned between the meniscus part of the liquid specimen and the upper end of the inner bottom. Consequently, it becomes possible to examine light quantity variation even though the specimen is in small amount.
US09207157B2
A system for determining a state of compaction of a work material includes a roller having a vibration system. A controller is configured to determine the speed of the machine, determine an inclination of the machine, and determine an inclination power change based upon the inclination and the speed of the machine. The controller is also configured to determine the gross power loss resulting from the compaction operation, determine a vibration compensation factor based upon vibration characteristics of the vibration system, and determine the state of compaction of the work material based upon the inclination power change, the power loss, and the vibration compensation factor.
US09207155B1
A cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) liner inspection system used to inspect a resin level in a CIPP liner that has been impregnated with resin using an inspection chamber having an optical sensor. The CIPP liner inspection system is also used to identify zones within an installed CIPP liner having lower mechanical strength due to inadequate distribution of resin using a robotic unit having an optical sensor. The optical sensor measures an optical property, which is used to determine a resin level or a mechanical property based on predetermined correlations between the optical property and the resin level and predetermined correlations between the optical property and the mechanical property.
US09207151B2
A method for desorption of a blood sample from a dried blood spot on a medical test sheet, for the purpose of biomedical analysis, comprises the steps of: interposing the test sheet inbetween first and second clamping heads; clamping the first and the second clamping heads onto the interposed test sheet; and flushing a desorption area of the clamped test sheet with a sample elution fluid. The clamping heads are transmitting compressive forces to parts of the test sheet. The compressive forces create an imprinted sealing area of the test sheet, which imprinted sealing area has a closed loop shape surrounding a desorption area of the test sheet. The desorption area is contained in a space enveloped by first and second outer surfaces of the first and second clamping heads, respectively, and sealed by the imprinted sealing area.
US09207141B2
The invention relates to a burst pressure monitoring device intended to be employed in a pressure transmitter (1), said pressure transmitter comprising a body (10), an inlet duct (11) formed on the body and intended to receive a fluid, a sensor member on which the inlet duct emerges, said sensor member being intended to measure a pressure and to deliver an output electrical signal representative of the measured pressure, said burst pressure monitoring device being intended to be positioned inside the inlet duct (11) of the pressure transmitter (1) and comprising two parts (21a, 21b) assembled together, the two assembled parts forming an internal fluid flow channel (22) comprising one or more successive chicanes (220).
US09207133B2
An apparatus is disclosed comprising a platform operable to support a human. The apparatus also includes at least one cable suspending the platform. The apparatus also includes an elongation sensor engaged with the at least one cable. The elongation sensor is operable to emit a signal in response to elongation of the at least one cable. A method of using the apparatus is also disclosed. The method includes the step of positioning the platform adjacent to one of a machine and a path along which the machine moves. The method also includes the step of detecting a mass on the platform by emitting the signal from the elongation sensor in response to elongation of the at least one cable. The method also includes the step of disengaging the machine in response to the detecting step.
US09207125B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form a measurement image on a sheet, a measurement unit configured to emit light to the measurement image, and measure light reflected from the measurement image, a selection unit configured to select one of a first mode for feeding a sheet, forming a measurement image on the sheet with the image forming unit, and measuring the measurement image on the sheet with the measurement unit, and a second mode for feeding a chart on which a measurement image has already been formed, and measuring the measurement image on the chart with the measurement unit without performing image formation with the image forming unit, and a control unit configured to control the measurement unit to perform measurement of the measurement image according to the mode selected by the selection unit.
US09207117B2
Methods of measuring a sample characteristic and accessories for infrared (IR) spectrometers are provided. An accessory includes an input port and an output port having an optical path therebetween, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) structure for contacting a sample, a mirror system, and an optical element for producing collimated light. The SPR structure produces internally reflected light responsive to broadband IR light, modified by a SPR between the SPR structure and the sample. The mirror system directs the broadband IR light from the input port to the SPR structure and directs the internally reflected light from the SPR structure to the output port, producing output light indicative of a characteristic of the sample associated with the SPR. The optical element is disposed along the optical path between the input port and the output port.
US09207116B2
A light sensor is provided that includes an exposed light transducer for accumulating charge in proportion to light incident thereon over an integration period; and a light-to-pulse circuit in communication with the exposed light transducer, the light-to-pulse circuit operative to output a pulse having a pulse width based on the charge accumulated by the exposed light transducer. The light-to-pulse circuit may include a one shot logic circuit that contributes to generation of the pulse. The light sensor may include an input/output pad, a capacitor provided at the input/output pad for blocking static electricity, an input low pass filter provided at the input/output pad for blocking electromagnetic interference, and/or a bandgap voltage reference circuit connected to a power source having a supply voltage level in a range of about 3.3V to about 5.0V, and for generating a set of stable reference voltages throughout the supply voltage level range.
US09207115B2
Methods and systems are described herein. One method includes scanning, using a sensor, a first wavelength range of refracted light emitted from a flame, revising a position of a prism and/or the sensor based on the scan of the first wavelength range, and scanning, using the sensor after revising the position of the prism and/or the sensor, a second wavelength range of refracted light emitted from the flame.
US09207112B2
The apparatus serves for weighing and has a placement surface (3) for the object to be weighed. The placement surface (3) is provided by a placement element (2) which is supportable by at least two carrying elements (6) with respect to a steepening surface. The carrying elements (6) are configured identically relative to one another. Each of the carrying elements (6) has at least one load cell (17) for weight acquisition and a levelling device for height adjustment.
US09207110B2
A liquid level detecting device includes a first detecting part that has a first electrode extending in a vertical direction in the tank and opposing to a ground electrode and detects a first electrostatic capacity between the first electrode and the ground electrode, a second detecting part that has a second electrode extending in the vertical direction in the tank and opposing to the ground electrode and detects a second electrostatic capacity between the second electrode and the ground electrode, and a difference calculating part that calculates a difference between the first electrostatic capacity detected by the first detecting part and the second electrostatic capacity detected by the second detecting part as a capacity difference and determines whether the liquid level in the tank is above a warning threshold.
US09207105B2
Systems and methods for incident detection are provided. A system for incident detection includes a network including at least one detector for detecting events in the network, a detection module capable of processing data from the at least one detector, and a calibration module capable of calibrating a plurality of bands for the incident detection based on a plurality of decision variables, wherein the plurality of bands define thresholds that are time-varying for all measurement locations in the network, and the thresholds are estimated using nonparametric quantile regression.
US09207102B2
An anti-lock brake rotor tone ring cartridge has an inner piece and an outer piece. The outer piece fits at least partially within the inner piece so as to prevent the axial movement of the inner piece. A tone ring is located on the inner piece.
US09207100B2
The present disclosure relates to a magnetic position sensor with field direction measurement and a flux collector. The disclosure proposes to measure two magnetic induction components at one and the same point, harmonizing the amplitude of the two magnetic induction components using flux collectors so as to have a ratio of the amplitudes of these two components close to one. For this purpose, the disclosure provides a contactless position sensor including at least one permanent magnet, emitting a magnetic field, at least one detection element sensitive to the direction of the magnetic field, and at least one pair of flux collectors, the permanent magnet being capable of moving in a direction of displacement and having a direction of magnetization that can be continuously varied according to the direction of displacement. Each flux collector has at least one portion, provided with an end, extending substantially along the direction of displacement of the magnet. The ends of a pair of flux collectors define a gap oriented along the direction of displacement of the magnet. The detection element is positioned outside the gap and substantially equidistant from the ends.
US09207097B2
An information system includes a central computer system and at least one user device. The central computer system has a database and an interface for communicating with a user device. The database is designed for storing personalized information with reference to a location and program functions with reference to a location. The database is also designed for synchronizing the personalized information and/or program functions with the respective user device. For this purpose, the user device is configured so as to determine a position of a moveable object as a function of at least one position-measuring signal and to provide, as a function of the determined position, personalized information with reference to a location and/or a program function with reference to a location.
US09207096B2
A method of magnifying a portion of a map displayed on a computing device includes displaying the map at a first zoom level and displaying a magnified portion of the map at a second zoom level. The magnified portion comprises an interactive map element. The magnified portion acts as a localized map magnifier. The magnified portion may be round to resemble a virtual magnifying glass. In certain implementations, multiple map magnifiers may be displayed simultaneously. Map magnifiers may be displayed, for example, at waypoints along a route, at map markers corresponding to points of interest or at the locations associated with search results.
US09207089B2
A processor-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product guides mobility-impaired pedestrians. Mobile tracking readings are received from multiple mobility assistance devices, each of which has an affixed tracking device. Based on these mobile tracking readings, multiple pedestrian routes for mobility-impaired pedestrians, including an optimal pedestrian route that has the highest tracking history to a desired destination, are generated.
US09207080B2
Method of angular measurement by a resonator associated with a vibration setting device and with a vibration detector, which are linked to a processing circuit through which there travel control signals and measurement signals, the method comprising the steps of digitizing the measurement signals and of deducing an angular measurement from the measurement signals. The method comprises the steps of performing a spectral analysis of the digitized measurement signals so as to detect harmonic distortions therein and correcting at least some of the signals travelling through the processing circuit so as to attenuate the non-linearities.
US09207077B2
A construction laser system comprising at least one rotation laser which has a laser unit and a rotatable deflection means, a laser receiver has a laser beam detector which is designed to generate an output signal when the laser beam impinges on the laser beam detector. An evaluation unit for determining the position of the laser receiver relative to the reference surface and an indicator for the determined position. A controller where a known emission pattern is generated over a sequence of a plurality of revolutions by varying the emission of the laser beam in a manner temporally coupled to the revolution period of the deflection means, and the evaluation unit is designed to identify the reference surface using a sequence of output signals which are each generated by the laser beam detector when the rotating laser beam repeatedly successively impinges, which sequence corresponds to the known emission pattern.
US09207074B2
A distance measurement method, includes measuring a distance to an object by means of a distance measurement circuit of a distance measurement apparatus and by scanning a light beam; designating a first mode which controls a projection angle of the light beam so that sampling positions in a given number of successive scans do not overlap, when the distance to the object is greater than or equal to a threshold value, by using the processor; and designating a second mode which controls the projection angle of the light beam so that the sampling positions overlap in each scan, when the distance to the object is less than the threshold value, by using the processor.
US09207073B2
An optical divider is disposed, in front of at least one of the transmitter and receiver elements, therebetween, and at least one of a transmission and reception side, and has a plurality of optical dividing pieces each having an optical deflection surface on which an angle of a detection ray is varied to a plurality of angles for dividing the detection ray toward a plurality of division areas. The optical deflection surface on at least one of the transmission and reception side is set to have a given angle, to assign at least one of the detection ray from the transmitter elements and toward the receiver elements, to a given division area, such that a combination of the transmitter and receiver elements forming one of the division areas is different from a combination of the transmitter and receiver elements forming another one of the division areas.
US09207068B2
A displacement sensor for sensing the displacement of a movable component is provided. The displacement sensor includes a displacement transmission mechanism configured to reduce a large displacement provided at its input into a smaller displacement at its output. The displacement sensor further includes a fiber optic displacement sensor, wherein the output of the displacement transmission mechanism is coupled to the fiber optic displacement sensor.
US09207065B2
A depth sensing apparatus is provided. The depth sensing apparatus may reset, to a reference voltage value, a voltage of each of a first floating diffusion node and a second floating diffusion node of a sensor pixel for a first time period. For a second time period, the depth sensing apparatus may control the first floating diffusion node to store a voltage of a photodiode in a first phase interval, and may control the second floating diffusion node to store the voltage of the photodiode in a second phase interval. The depth sensing apparatus may calculate a difference between the voltage of the first floating diffusion node and the voltage of the second floating diffusion node for a third time period.
US09207063B2
Discloses is an optical coherence tomography (OCT) which uses an active mode-locking fiber laser in order to obtain image information of a sample. An imaging device in accordance with an embodiment comprises: a light source unit; a light separation unit; a reference unit; a diagnostic unit; a light coupling unit; and a signal processing unit. The imaging device removes a high-priced variable filter which has mechanical restrictions by directly delivering a modulation signal to a light source unit, so it can overcome mechanical restrictions and reduce costs.
US09207052B2
A three component bullet with a core retention feature and a method of forming the bullet is described. The bullet can include a jacket surrounding a core and a locking band disposed around a circumference of the jacket and the core. The locking band can be received in a circumferential depression formed in the jacket and the core such as by compressing the core to cause the core and the jacket to expand radially fore and aft of the locking band. The circumferential depression can include shoulders that are in compressive engagement with the locking band to help secure the locking band in place. The circumferential depression can include an inwardly-extending annular band of jacket material which embeds itself into the core material with the result that the core is locked inside the jacket.
US09207051B2
An apparatus for deploying stowed control surfaces of a projectile is disclosed. The apparatus for deploying stowed control surfaces of a projectile includes a first and second hot gas generators, a first and second gas chambers, a piston wedge, a piston and a barrel. Initially, the first hot gas generator discharges a surge of hot gas into the first gas chamber. In response to the surge of hot gas being discharged into the first gas generator, the piston wedge displaces at least one of the control surfaces to break an environmental seal covering the projectile. After a predetermined amount of time has lapsed, the second hot gas generator discharges a surge of hot gas into the second gas chamber. The surge of hot gas displaces the piston and barrel for deploying the control surfaces completely.
US09207046B1
An armor system that includes a reactive armor component including a disruptive layer. The disruptive layer includes a plurality of three-dimensional geometric shapes each defining at least one hollow space and explosive material. The explosive material is deposited in the at least one hollow space. The disruptive layer also includes explosive material surrounding the geometric shapes and a layer of explosive material on top of the geometric shapes. The armor system may further include a non-reactive armor component.
US09207045B2
An optical device for guiding radiation from an object scene to a detector contains an alignment device for pivoting a field of view of the detector relative to a predetermined direction, a detector optical unit and an optical articulation for guiding the beam path from the pivoted field of view into the detector optical unit. In order to achieve a compact configuration of the device, the optical articulation has a reversing prism, in which beams running in the optical axis of the articulation are refracted towards a mirror surface of the reversing prism and are reflected by the reflection surface.
US09207043B2
A method of controlling a target marking system includes emitting a beam with a beam source associated with a target marker. The method also includes sensing movement of the target marker, and modifying operation of the beam source based on the sensed movement. Such modification changes a characteristic of the emitted beam.
US09207041B1
A magazine well grip is configured to be self-retained on the front portion of the magazine well of the lower receiver for an AR type rifle or pistol. The magazine well grip includes a body that generally tapers outward from top to bottom, and includes a rib on an inner surface to contact the magazine well and maintain space between the magazine well and the inner surface of the magazine well grip. At least some of the ribs include an integrally formed retaining feature for engaging the lip of the magazine well which, in conjunction with a retaining tang that protrudes from the top of the body to engage a hinge pin boss, operates to retain the magazine well grip on the magazine well.
US09207035B2
A toy firearm for dispensing chartaceous objects includes a handgun-shaped casing, a front chamber, a dispensing mechanism, a trigger, and a retaining mechanism. The chartaceous objects are inserted into the front chamber so that the retaining mechanism can function as a spring loaded clip to secure the chartaceous objects within the front chamber. The dispensing mechanism allows the users to launch each of the chartaceous objects over a greater distance as the dispensing mechanism is selectively operated from an off-position to an on-position by the use of the trigger.
US09207030B2
A box magazine (10) has a body portion 11 formed from a first section (12) including a side (14) and spaced-apart, upstanding edges (16) and (18) and a second section (20) that has a side (22) and spaced-apart, upstanding rims (24) and (26). A “Z” shaped keys (28) are formed in each of the spaced-apart, upstanding edges (16) and (18) and matching “Z: shaped keyways (30) are formed in each of the spaced-apart, upstanding rims (24) and (26). The keys (28) and keyways (30) engage one another via a sliding action to form the body portion (11). A follower (32) is positioned between the first section (12) and the second section (20), a follower spring (34) is positioned between the first section (12) and the second section (20) and has a first end (36) in contact with the follower (32) and a second end (38) in contact with a floor plate (40) that seals a bottom (42) of the body portion (11) to form the box magazine (10).
US09207029B2
An ammunition magazine follower comprises a main bottom member defining an upper and lower surface. The upper surface comprises a substantially flat portion and a parallel ridge portion, where the flat and ridge portions are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the main bottom member. One or more guides are arranged on the lower surface for guiding the follower in the magazine. An urging member such as a spring, when installed in a magazine, urges the follower away from the magazine bottom. The guide comprises at least one end wall projecting perpendicularly away from the lower surface of the main bottom member. The end wall comprises a moveable tap, where the upper part of the tap is biased and projects partly above the upper surface of the main bottom member.
US09207025B2
Method for promoting nucleate boiling on an interior surface of a vessel for boiling fluid in an industrial process, the method comprising the steps of: providing the vessel having the interior surface; controllably depositing a scale layer having a non-zero thickness onto the interior surface; monitoring an average thickness, x, of the deposit of the layer; and maintaining the average thickness, x, of the layer below a predetermined value or within a predetermined range of values during the operational life of the vessel, wherein x
US09207020B2
A double flow-circuit heat exchange device for periodic positive and reverse directional pumping having at least two bi-directional fluid pumps. The bi-directional fluid pumps produce positive pressure or negative pressure at fluid ports on two sides of the bi-directional heat exchange device to periodically pump the fluid in positive and reverse flowing directions. During operation of the periodically positive and reverse pumping, the directional flow of the fluid in first and second flow fluid circuits are maintained in different flowing directions.
US09207018B2
A cooling system integrating a plurality of evaporative chillers, which each cool water to below ambient wet bulb temperature. In an air-to-air heat exchanger of each chiller, the incoming airstream used to evaporate water from the water stream is first cooled indirectly using the cooled air that is exhausted from a saturator of an adjacent chiller or subunit. By pre-chilling the air without adding moisture, each of the chillers of the cooling system is able to achieve water temperatures below the ambient wet bulb temperature. The system integrates or “daisy chains” multiple sub-wet bulb evaporative chillers or subunits such that the cool air output from one subunit is used to pre-cool the incoming air of another neighboring unit. To this end, adjacent units have their heat exchangers fluidically connected together (e.g., air flow output from each saturator is passed as cool return air through channels of an adjacent heat exchanger).
US09207015B2
A dryer is provided. The dryer may include a second condenser integrally provided with an evaporator and employing a heat pump to maximize a condensation effect so as to enhance heat exchange efficiency, thereby enhancing dehumidifying capability. The dryer may be a circulation type heat pump dryer including a cabinet, a drum, a drying duct to circulate dry air back to the drum, an evaporator having a heat pump, a first condenser, a compressor, an expansion apparatus, and a second condenser to condense refrigerant condensed by the first condenser again so as to supercool the refrigerant during the refrigerant cycle, thereby enhancing dehumidifying capability in the evaporator.
US09207007B1
A method is described for distinguishing non-condensables from refrigerant over-charge, and refrigerant restrictions from refrigerant under-charge of a cooling system and calculating an amount of refrigerant to be added or removed to the cooling system for optimal performance. Expanded target temperature split and target superheat tables and delta superheat tolerances are provided based on laboratory data and mathematical algorithms. The methods may apply to Fixed Expansion Valve (FXV) and Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TXV) systems and may include making and displaying a diagnostic recommendation regarding non-condensables, refrigerant restrictions, or refrigerant adjustment based upon measurements of return-air wetbulb and drybulb temperatures, condenser entering air temperature, refrigerant suction line temperature, refrigerant liquid line temperature, refrigerant vapor and liquid line pressures, and refrigerant superheat and subcooling temperatures.
US09207006B2
A refrigerant recovery unit for accurately filling a refrigerant system with a refrigerant is provided which includes a storage vessel for holding refrigerant, sensors to assist in determining the pressure of the refrigerant in the storage vessel, a controller to control the flow of refrigerant from the storage vessel to the refrigerant system to be serviced, and a heating device to heat the refrigerant, which is activated only if heating is required, as determined by data received by the controller.
US09207005B2
The separating device according to the invention comprises a body delimiting a separating chamber, at least one inlet orifice emerging in the separating chamber and intended to be connected to a discharge orifice of the refrigerant compressor so as to allow a lubricant-refrigerating gas mixture to be introduced into the separating chamber, at least one lubricant outlet orifice emerging in the separating chamber and intended to be connected to a lubricant pan formed in the refrigerant compressor. The separating device comprises a first measuring means arranged to measure the temperature of the lubricant contained in the lubricant pan formed in the refrigerant compressor, and a regulating means arranged to regulate the temperature of the lubricant separated in the separating chamber as a function of the temperature of the lubricant measured by said first measuring means.
US09207001B1
A device and method are provided to improve performance of a vapor compression system using a retrofittable control board to start up the vapor compression system with the evaporator blower initially set to a high speed. A baseline evaporator operating temperature with the evaporator blower operating at the high speed is recorded, and then the device detects if a predetermined acceptable change in evaporator temperature has occurred. The evaporator blower speed is reduced from the initially set high speed as long as there is only a negligible change in the measured evaporator temperature and therefore a negligible difference in the compressor's power consumption so as to obtain a net increase in the Coefficient of Performance.
US09206992B2
The invention relates to a storage configuration having a predeterminable storage atmosphere, comprising a storage chamber for receiving a plurality of storage product carriers for storage product, which can be delivered to a feeding and removal opening for the storage and removal of the storage product using a transport apparatus, and further comprising an air-conditioning apparatus, which associated with the storage chamber and exhausts air from the storage chamber, treats it, and injects it back into the storage chamber via exhaust and injection openings provided on the storage chamber. The exhaust and injection openings are disposed such that the air flows through the storage chamber in the vertical direction.
US09206991B2
A system for, and method of, monitoring and reporting ERV power consumption and service and maintenance needs. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a processor configured to carry out a plurality of monitoring and reporting functions related to ERV power consumption and service and maintenance needs based on a model, and types and locations of sensors, of the ERV, (2) a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store data gathered from the sensors and (3) a commissioning database associated with the memory and configured to contain commissioning data regarding the model of the ERV and the service and maintenance needs.
US09206988B2
A cooking appliance includes a muffle having walls to delimit a cooking chamber. The muffle has a front face provided with a loading opening which is delimited peripherally by a front edge of the muffle. A lighting apparatus has at least one light source which is configured to light up the cooking chamber and/or to display information. The at least one light source is disposed outside the cooking chamber and in front of the front edge of the muffle when the cooking appliance is viewed from the front.
US09206985B2
Methods and apparatus are disclosed regarding a gas range and an integrated cooktop assembly. The integrated cooktop assembly may be formed as a single, continuous surface. Some embodiments of the cooktop assembly may include a bowl portion, a burner portion, a grate portion, and a cooktop portion.
US09206984B2
A heat shield is disclosed. The heat shield may comprise a body having a back surface and an opposite front surface, wherein an opening in the body communicates through the front and back surfaces. The heat shield may further comprise at least one radial rail disposed on the back surface and extending radially outward from the opening for directing cooling air flow.
US09206972B1
A light emitting diode (LED) light bulb device can comprise a semiconductor chip comprising an input coupled to an AC power supply and a plurality of DC power outputs, a plurality of banks of LEDs coupled to the plurality of DC power outputs, and a fan coupled in parallel with a first of the plurality of banks of LEDs. The fan can be coupled to the first bank of LEDs through a filter comprising a diode, a resistor, and a capacitor. The capacitor can be coupled in parallel with the fan and be configured to supply a voltage to the fan while the plurality of banks of LEDs are alternately receiving power. The LED light bulb device can further comprising a WiFi receiver and include a height in a range between 2.5-6.875 centimeters and include a volume small enough to be enclosed in a standard j-box housing.
US09206966B2
A system for enabling controlled plant growth of plants in containers includes linear tracks spaced apart from each other by intervening supporting plates. Each track includes an array of blue and red LEDs affixed to heat sink that can slide along the track to be positioned in a desired arrangement to the container beneath it. A controller for the LEDs is positioned between every other pair of tracks to control adjacent arrays of LEDs. The controller controls the LEDs to provide light to the plants in the containers of desired intensity and wavelength.
US09206963B2
An aroma-diffusing night lamp assembly includes a body holding a coupling socket at the top, a lamp bulb inserted into the coupling socket and electrically connected to the body, a lampshade defining a bottom coupling hole coupled to the coupling socket and a top opening for holding an aroma capsule, and an aroma capsule including a disposable heat-transfer container mounted in the top opening of the lampshade and an aromatic substance contained in the disposable heat-transfer container and heatable by the radiating heat energy of the lamp bulb to release an aromatic smell.
US09206961B1
Disclosed are elevated lights and methods of maintaining illumination in elevated lights for an airfield. The elevated lights have a substrate having a mounting surface, LEDs, a reflector, and an LED driver circuit. The LEDs are disposed on the mounting surface of the substrate and configured such that a primary illumination axis of each LED is oriented along a longitudinal axis of the elevated light. The reflector is configured such that the light emitted from the LEDs is reflected radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the elevated light. The driver circuit is configured to provide a current to the LEDs and detect failure of one or more of the LEDs. Illumination is maintained by providing a current to the LEDs, detecting a voltage change across the LEDs, determining, based on the voltage change, LED failure, and altering the provided electrical current in order to maintain illumination.
US09206955B2
An optical lens includes a first curved surface and a second curved surface. The first curved surface is for receiving a light ray, and includes a first curve, a second curve, a first symmetrical curve and a second symmetrical curve disposed on a first plane, and a third curve and a fourth curve disposed on a third plane. The second curved surface is opposite to the first curved surface, and includes a fifth curve, a sixth curve, a fifth symmetrical curve and a sixth symmetrical curve disposed on the first plane, and a seventh curve and an eighth curve disposed on the third plane. The first plane is perpendicular to the third plane, and the curvatures of all the curves are controlled by a weight factor, so that the light ray is emitted onto a preset area through the optical lens.
US09206937B2
A friction pig 2 and system for monitoring one or more physical properties upstream and/or downstream of the friction pig 2 when in use in a pipe 1 is disclosed. The friction pig comprises at least one sensor 7 connected to the friction pig 2 for sensing and acquiring data related to one or more physical properties concerning the friction pig 2 or fluid upstream and/or downstream of the friction pig 2; means for receiving instructions from a remote control unit 12; means for carrying out instructions; and means for transmitting the acquired data to the remote control unit 12, thus enabling monitoring of one or more physical properties. Friction pigs preferably comprise friction plugs, for example high-friction plugs, for use in pipeline isolation. The invention is also described by a system comprising at least two friction pigs 2, 4 for measuring one or more physical properties when used in a pipe.
US09206932B2
There is provided a tube connector for connecting between a fluid sampling tube and a fluid analyzer, the tube connector includes an end face adapted to identify the tube connector, said end face comprising a reflecting surface having one or more reflective regions adapted to reflect light at a predetermined range of wavelengths.
US09206923B2
Rotary shaft seals are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a valve body and a shaft extending into the valve body. The shaft is to rotate relative to the valve body. The example apparatus also includes a seal. The seal is disposed outside of the valve body and fixedly coupled to the valve body and the shaft to provide a fluid seal between the shaft and a cavity within the valve body.
US09206919B2
An expandable and contractible shield around a bellows in a valve protects the bellows from corrosive gases and solid particles in the valve chamber. In a manifold valve assembly with multiple outlet ports and multiple valves in a common valve chamber, a respective expandable and contractible shield around each respective bellows of each respective valve in the assembly separates each bellows from corrosive gases and solid particles in the common valve chamber regardless of whether one or all of the valves in the assembly is opened or closed.
US09206917B2
A water guiding duct positioning structure in a faucet valve base is disclosed, which may include a valve seat, at least two water guiding ducts, and a position limiting member, wherein a valve chamber is located at upper portion of the valve seat to receive a water control valve, and bottom portion of the valve seat is connected with two water inlet tubes and a water outlet tube, which have horizontal slits located at the outer periphery of the water inlet and outlet tubes for the position limiting member to plug in. The water guiding duct has a connector collar, which is installed with a water sealing ring and has at least one ring slot. The position limiting member has a horizontal holding plate, one end of which has a shoulder portion extending both sides from the holding plate.
US09206916B1
A dual-purpose tire inlet valve connector has a housing, a plunger mounted in a plunger chamber in the housing, multiple steel balls mounted around a periphery of the plunger, a push post and a compression spring mounted inside the plunger, multiple plunger springs mounted between the plunger and the housing, a pressing lever mounted on a top of the housing to abut against a top end of the plunger, and a sealing collar mounted on a bottom of the plunger chamber. The steel balls can be driven by the motion of the plunger and the springs activated by the pressing lever to hold the push post or release the push post for the plunger to abut against and position an American or French tire inlet valve inserted in the dual-purpose tire inlet valve connector to fulfill a universal and fast connection therewith and a smooth air-charging job.
US09206908B2
A pin release mechanism which includes a release pin, a bias spring, a spring guide, a moveable ball retainer and a solenoid assembly. The release pin is axially movable from a first to a second position. The bias spring is connected to the release pin and exerts a force biasing the release pin towards the second position. The spring guide receives the bias spring interacts with ball bearings. The moveable ball retainer is connected to the bias spring and has a locked position in which ball bearings radially interfere with the movement of the release pin and prevents movement of the release pin from the first to the second position by engaging the release pin, and an unlocked position in which the ball bearings may move radially, disengaging the release pin, and engaging the ball retainer, to allow the release pin to move from the first towards the second position.
US09206904B2
A seal member for effecting a seal preventing fluid flow in an axial direction through an annular space formed between two relatively moving components including a rotatable shaft and a stator structure. The seal member includes a plurality of flexible seal strips. Each seal strip includes a planar plate extending radially through the annular space and having a radially outer end supported to the stator structure and a radially inner end defining a tip portion extending widthwise in the axial direction engaged in sliding contact with a peripheral surface of the rotatable shaft. At least one of the seal strips includes a plurality of perforations extending through the seal strip and located between a leading edge and a trailing edge of the seal strip for effecting an increased flexibility of the seal strip adjacent to the tip portion.
US09206900B2
An assembly is disclosed for sealing the sliding interface between two objects capable of sliding or moving with respect to one another, but where the sliding interface must provide a substantial seal against pressure loss therethrough, such as where an assembly seals the sliding interface between a piston and a cylinder or between a rod and a bushing. The sliding interface includes a seal located in a seal groove, wherein the seal ring height is less than the height of the seal groove and the inner diameter of the seal is greater than the base of the groove. In one aspect, the difference in height is set by a shim and a piece of material of the same height as that of the seal ring.
US09206897B2
The present invention provides a method for setting a shift point for shifting a transmission for a powered vehicle between a first gear ratio and a second gear ratio. The method includes determining input power data points based on real-time input torque data. The input torque data includes a maximum input torque. The method also includes calculating a gear step value based on the first gear ratio and second gear ratio. The method further includes determining a first power value and computing a second power value based on the gear step value. The first power value and second power value are compared to one another and adjustments are incrementally made in the first power value speed until the difference between first and second power values meets a threshold. The shift point is therefore based on the result of comparing the first power value and the second power value and the corresponding speed associated with the first power value.
US09206894B2
One of two clutches etc. engaged concurrently with each other to establish a second speed, a third speed, or a fourth speed is determined in advance as an abnormal-time engagement element that is kept engaged when an abnormality occurs in which one different clutch or brake is engaged during concurrent engagement of the two clutches etc. The other of the two clutches etc. is determined in advance as an abnormal-time slipping element that is caused to slip when such an abnormality occurs. During concurrent engagement of the two clutches etc., a hydraulic pressure (target hydraulic pressure) to be supplied to the abnormal-time engagement element is set to be higher than a hydraulic pressure (target hydraulic pressure) to be supplied to the abnormal-time slipping element.
US09206890B2
This swash plate comprises a resin film layer formed on the front surface and the rear surface, and said resin film layer serves as the sliding surface which slides on a shoe. The inner periphery of the resin film layer is a tilted surface which a lubricant can easily cross over. In other words, angle θ1 is 10° or less and angle θ2 of the rising part is set to 20° or less, and when the lubricant is supplied from the inner periphery side of the swash plate, said lubricant easily crosses over said inner periphery which is a tilted surface, and is quickly supplied to the surface (the sliding surface) outside of said inner periphery. Because the lubricant is quickly supplied to the front surface and the rear surface (the sliding surface) of the swash plate, seizure of the swash plate can be prevented.
US09206885B2
An infinitely variable transmission includes a clutch, a brake and a first planetary gear set, including first and second components, and a double planetary gear set, including input and output components and additional third and fourth components. The first component receives power from an engine. The double planetary set sums mechanical power from the first planetary set and an infinitely variable power source (“IVP”). The third component receives mechanical power from a IVP. The second component directly transmits power to the input component. The clutch directly controls power transmission between the first and second components. The brake engages the fourth component to stop its rotation. The output component receives mechanical power directly from the input component and the fourth component. During operation of the engine, controlled actuation of the brake and the clutch causes the output component to be powered by the infinitely variable power source but not by the engine.
US09206883B2
A compressor system and a method for operating a compressor system is provided. The system includes an air compressor and a planetary gear train having an input shaft connected to a planetary carrier of the gear train and an output shaft connected the compressor and a sun gear of the gear train. A first switchable fixing device fixes one of means of which the planet carrier, the sun gear and a ring gear of the gear train with respect to an outer support, and a second switchable fixing device fixes relative to one another the two of components not fixed by the first switchable fixing device of the planetary gear train.
US09206882B2
A wind power plant has a rotor, an integrated medium-speed electric generator, and a planetary transmission. The planetary transmission is arranged to convert a slow rotary motion of the rotor into a rapid rotary motion to operate the generator. The planetary transmission includes a transmission input shaft connected indirectly to the rotor and includes a transmission output shaft connected to the generator indirectly via a generator shaft. A coupling mechanism is arranged between the generator shaft and the planetary transmission to compensate axial, radial and angular misalignment.
US09206877B2
The invention relates to a vibration damping receptacle device for receiving a motor (1) on a fan housing wall (2) having a motor support element (3) on which a plurality of attachments (4) are formed, a plurality of receptacles (6) disposed directly on the housing wall, and a plurality of elastic damping elements (5) disposed between the attachments and the receptacles such that the axial center axes thereof are each oriented at least in sections in the direction of the motor.
US09206872B2
A structure comprises at least two unfurling panels and a knock prevention device intended to prevent the panels from knocking together when they are furled against one another. The knock prevention device comprises a one-piece element comprising two plates and arms connecting the two plates. A first of the two plates is fixed to the first panel. A second of the two plates forms a buffer against which the second panel comes to rest. The arms form an elastic element between the two plates.
US09206865B2
A brake lining for a partially lined disc brake, in particular of a rail vehicle, with lining elements which are connected on a lining carrier and of which each has a carrier plate and friction elements which are fastened to the carrier plate and lie on the rear side in receptacles, wherein the carrier plate is held on the lining carrier such that the carrier plate can be moved in a tilting manner, is configured in such a way that at least one depression which increases the surface area of the carrier plate is provided in the carrier plate, adjacent to the receptacles.
US09206862B2
A dual clutch transmission (DCT) with double-range change. In one embodiment, the dual clutch transmission includes odd and even lay shafts and a separate range change shaft for each, thereby providing a range change for both the odd and even gear sets. The input shaft may include an extension gear that can be selectively driven by the inner input shaft or the outer input shaft to provide additional gear pairings. The extension gear may include a synchronizer on each face to allow it to be coupled to either the outer or inner input shaft. The transmission may include a reverse shaft coupled with the even lay shaft. The transmission may include a dual half synchronizer having a single hub and a split sleeve. The parts of the split sleeve are separately movable to allow independent synchronization of two pairs of rotating components.
US09206860B2
A clutch plate in an annular shape, the clutch plate includes: a plurality of lubricating grooves on one end face and the other end face of the clutch plate in an axial direction; and a plurality of windows passing through the clutch plate in the axial direction. The lubricating grooves are formed with plastic deformation, in a same phase on both the end faces, and extended up to outer peripheral edges and inner peripheral edges of both the end faces. A plurality of intersection points where the lubricating grooves intersect with each other are positioned in other areas than at least one of the outer peripheral edges, radially outer edges of the windows, radially inner edges of the windows, and the inner peripheral edges, of both the end faces.
