US09246526B2
A convolutional deinterleaving apparatus includes a memory and a control module. The control module stores a plurality of sets of data into the memory according to a deinterleaving rule. The plurality of sets of data are of a same group. After determining a representative channel state indicator according to an N number of channel state indicators corresponding to an N number of sets of data in the group, the control module stores the representative channel state indicator into the memory. The N number of sets of data of the same group correspond to a same carrier frequency.
US09246525B2
A device for predistortion and pulse shaping filtering in a communication system includes input scaling means arranged for scaling an applied transmit symbol with an adaptable input gain scaling factor, and a pulse shaping filter and a predistortion unit arranged for applying on the input gain scaled transmit symbol in either order a filtering operation and a non-linear predistortion operation to obtain a predistorted signal. The non-linear predistortion operation is represented by a set of parameter values selectable among a plurality of given sets of parameter values. The predistortion unit is arranged for selecting the set of parameter values exploiting a given performance measure. The device includes output scaling means arranged for scaling the predistorted signal with an output gain scaling factor to obtain a transmit signal. The adaptable input gain scaling factor and the output gain scaling factor are precalculated values corresponding to the selected set of parameter values.
US09246521B2
Provided is a transmission device including a transmission unit that includes an antenna coil and performs communication with an external device by electromagnetic coupling, a signal output unit that generates a signal of a predetermined frequency and outputs the generated signal to the transmission unit, a communication monitor unit that monitors information about a current flowing through the antenna coil and determines a communication state based on the monitored information, and a communication correction unit that corrects a communication characteristic based on a determination result of the communication state in the communication monitor unit.
US09246518B2
In a multi-antenna communication system using LDPC codes, a simple method is used to effectively improve the received quality by performing a retransmittal of less data without restricting applicable LDPC codes. In a case of a non-retransmittal, a multi-antenna transmitting apparatus transmits, from two antennas, LDPC encoded data formed by LDPC encoding blocks. In a case of a retransmittal, the multi-antenna transmitting apparatus uses a transmission method, in which the diversity gain is higher than in the previous transmission, to transmit only a part of the LDPC encoded data as previously transmitted. For example, the only the part of the LDPC encoded data to be re-transmitted is transmitted from the single antenna.
US09246502B2
The present invention relates to a control method of a D/A converter, a D/A converter, a control method of an A/D converter, and an A/D converter that can suppress an existing n-th harmonic without using a large-scale circuit, such as a bootstrap. A D/A converter (10) of the present invention is a D/A converter (10) that can suppress the generation of an existing n-th harmonic (n is an integer of 2 or more) of an analog output signal. The D/A converter (10) includes a D/A conversion unit (11) that converts an input digital signal into an analog signal and a control unit (12) that arbitrarily controls the timing of the sampling phase and the integral phase of the D/A conversion unit (11). The D/A conversion unit (11) is configured to generate an arbitrary n-th harmonic and superimpose the arbitrary n-th harmonic on an analog output signal including the existing n-th harmonic.
US09246501B2
A device having a first oscillator circuit configured to generate a first signal with a first frequency based on an analog input and external characteristics, and a second oscillator circuit configured to generate a second signal with a second frequency based on a constant voltage and the external characteristics. The device also having one or more discrete logic gates configured to generate a digital composite signal based on the first signal and the second signal, such that a number of transitions in the digital composite signal over a period of time, based on the first frequency of the first signal, are indicative of the analog input.
US09246497B1
Circuits and techniques for operating an integrated circuit (IC) are disclosed. A disclosed circuit includes a divider circuit that is operable to receive a first signal at a first speed and output a second signal at a second speed based on the first signal. A recovery circuit is coupled to the divider circuit. The recovery circuit is operable to determine the frequency of the second signal and is further operable to generate a first ready signal and a recovered clock signal based on the second signal. A phase aligner circuit, operable to align a phase of the second signal with a phase of the recovered clocks signal based on the first ready signal, is coupled to the recovery circuit.
US09246496B2
A semiconductor device includes a code generation block configured to generate an output clock by delaying a reference clock which is inputted from an exterior, control a delay value of the output clock based on a result of comparing phases of the reference clock and a feedback clock, and generate a first control code corresponding to the delay value of the output clock, a voltage generation block configured to generate an internal voltage with a voltage level corresponding to the first control code, a clock generation block configured to generate an internal clock with a frequency corresponding to the first control code, and a feedback delay block configured to generate the feedback clock by delaying the output clock by a delay value corresponding to a second control code.
US09246493B2
A level shift circuit includes: a latch circuit (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8) including first (Q5, Q7) and second (Q6, Q8) inverter circuits; a first input MOS transistor (Q1) operating in accordance with an input signal; a second input MOS transistor (Q2) operating in accordance with an inversion signal of the input signal; and a current-voltage control MOS transistor (Q9). The latch circuit (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8) outputs a voltage having been converted from the input voltage in level. Each of the first and second input MOS transistors (Q1, Q2) receives the input signal at its gate terminal, and drives the latch circuit (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8) in accordance with the input signal. The current-voltage control MOS transistor (Q9) is provided between the input MOS transistor (Q1, Q2) and the latch circuit (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8), and is driven in accordance with an inversion operation of the latch circuit by receiving an input of the control voltage at its gate terminal.
US09246489B1
The disclosure provides an ICG (integrated clock gating) cell that utilizes a low area and a low power latch. The ICG cell includes a first logic gate that receives an enable signal and generates a latch input. A latch is coupled to the first logic gate and receives the latch input and a clock input. The latch includes a tri-state inverter and an inverting logic gate. The tri-state inverter is activated by a control signal generated by the inverting logic gate. A second logic gate receives the control signal and generates a gated clock.
US09246487B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for user configurable pressure sensitive keys and techniques for controlling these keys for keyboards. User configuration information, including information for user configurable granularity scales for pressure levels, can be communicated from a host system to the keyboard and stored for later use by a keyboard controller to control the operation of the pressure sensitive keys. In this way, greater control of the pressure sensitive keys can be provided. This configurability is of particular use for applications such as where the keyboard is being used for gaming by a user running a gaming application on an information handling system.
US09246470B2
A vibrating element has a drive mode, and first and second detection modes in which the vibrating element vibrates in a direction orthogonal to a vibration direction in the drive mode. In frequency-temperature characteristic curves representing a change in frequency due to a change in temperature in the respective modes with a horizontal axis representing an ambient temperature and a vertical axis representing a change in frequency, when a turnover temperature of the frequency-temperature characteristic curve in the drive mode is Ta [° C.], a turnover temperature of the frequency-temperature characteristic curve in the first detection mode is Tb [° C.], and a turnover temperature of the frequency-temperature characteristic curve in the second detection mode is Tc [° C.], Ta is lower than Tb and Tc, or Ta is higher than Tb and Tc.
US09246467B2
An integrated resonator apparatus includes a piezoelectric resonator and an acoustic Bragg reflector formed adjacent the piezoelectric resonator. The integrated resonator apparatus also includes a mass bias formed over the Bragg reflector on a side of the piezoelectric resonator opposite the piezoelectric resonator.
US09246463B2
The present invention generally relates to the field of network communication, and more specifically to networks for crosstalk reduction/compensation and communication connectors which employ such networks. In some embodiments, the present invention employs an orthogonal network implemented within a communication jack to compensate for crosstalk which occurs within a communication plug and at the plug/jack interface.
US09246460B2
A power management system, which includes a parallel amplifier circuit and a switch mode power supply converter, is disclosed. The switch mode power supply converter cooperatively operates with the parallel amplifier circuit to form the power management system. The power management system operates in one of a high power modulation mode, a medium power modulation mode, and a low power average power tracking mode. Further, during the high power modulation mode and the medium power modulation mode, the power management system controls a power amplifier supply voltage to a radio frequency power amplifier to provide envelope tracking. During the low power average power tracking mode, the power management system controls the power amplifier supply voltage to the radio frequency power amplifier to provide average power tracking.
US09246459B2
A method may include applying an input differential voltage to input terminals of an amplifier, a first input terminal coupled to a gate of a first transistor and a second input terminal coupled to a gate of a second transistor. The method may also include varying a gain of the amplifier by varying at least one of: a resistance of a first resistor, the first resistor coupled between a source of the first transistor and a source of the second transistor; and a resistance of a second resistor, the second resistor coupled between a source of a third transistor and a source of a fourth transistor; wherein: the third transistor is coupled at its drain to the drain of the first transistor; and the fourth transistor is coupled at its drain to the drain of the second transistor and a gate of the third transistor and coupled at its gate to the drain of the third transistor.
US09246458B2
An instrumentation amplifier includes first and second resistors for gain setting. The operational amplifiers within the instrumentation amplifier include selectively enabled current drive sources coupled to the amplifier output. The first and second resistors have variable resistances. A control circuit is configured to select the variable resistances of the first and second resistors to implement a fixed gain for the instrumentation amplifier and further selectively enable the current drive sources. The control circuit receives an indication of a downstream programmable gain (for example, from a downstream programmable gain amplifier). The variable resistances of the first and second resistors are selected to be scaled inversely with respect to the downstream programmable gain and the current drive sources are enabled proportionately with respect to the downstream programmable gain.
US09246453B2
A tunable RF filter, comprising: an emitter follower stage (2); and a common emitter stage (4); the common emitter stage (4) providing feedback to the emitter follower stage (2). The common emitter stage (4) may comprise a first transistor (Ti) being the only transistor of the common emitter stage (4); and the emitter follower stage (2) may comprise a second transistor (T2) being the only transistor of the emitter follower stage (2). A further tunable RF filter provides improved linearity, comprising: an emitter follower stage (22); a joint common emitter and emitter follower stage (24); and a gain stage (26); a common emitter output of the joint common emitter and emitter follower stage (24) providing feedback to the emitter follower stage (22), and an emitter follower output of the joint common emitter and emitter follower stage (24) providing an input to the gain stage (26).
US09246450B2
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus comprising at least two operational amplifiers, a first and a second current input, at least one voltage output, and at least two resistors, wherein a first current source is connectable to the first current input, and a test current source is connectable to the second current input, and wherein the first current input is connected to an inverting input of the first operational amplifier and the second current input is connected to an inverting input of the second operational amplifier, and a first feedback resistor is connected between the output and the inverting input of the first operational amplifier and a second feedback resistor is connected between the output and the inverting input of the second operational amplifier, and wherein the voltage output is connected to the outputs of the first and the second operational amplifier.
US09246448B2
An amplification circuit includes a first power supply; a first bipolar transistor whose collector is connected to the first power supply; a first resistor one terminal of which is connected to an emitter of the first bipolar transistor; a second bipolar transistor whose collector is connected to the other terminal of the first resistor; a second power supply; a third bipolar transistor whose collector is connected to the second power supply; a second resistor one terminal of which is connected to an emitter of the third bipolar transistor; and a fourth bipolar transistor whose collector is connected to the other terminal of the second resistor. An emitter of the second bipolar transistor is directly connected to an emitter of the fourth bipolar transistor, thereby becoming an output terminal.
US09246447B2
A multipath power amplifier device, configured to operate in a high power mode and a low power mode, includes a high power path, a low power path and an output switch. The high power path includes a high power mode (HPM) amplifying circuit for amplifying an input signal in the high power mode. The low power path includes a low power mode (LPM) amplifying circuit for amplifying the input signal in the low power mode. The output switch is configured to isolate the low power path from the high power path in the high power mode.
US09246440B2
A differential amplifier with cascade transistors connected in series to switching transistors is disclosed. The base bias of the cascade transistors is set higher than the output LOW level of the cascade transistors by a preset amount of 0.1 to 0.2V, or lower than the input HIGH level of the switching transistors by the preset amount adding to a forward voltage of a junction diode, to provide a discharge current of the base-emitter junction Cbe from the bias control, or from the upstream stage to drive the differential circuit.
US09246439B2
A transimpedance amplifier includes a current regulator having a first current mirror of a first conduction type and a first current mirror of a second conduction type. The first current mirror stage of a first conduction type receives a reference current. The first current mirror stage of a second conduction type is connected to the first current mirror stage of the first conduction type, and receives an output current from the first current mirror stage of the first conduction type, and to generate a current to be used as a current source by a transimpedance amplifier. Each of the current mirror stages includes a first transistor and a second transistor of the same conduction type having their gate terminals connected wherein the first transistor receives an input current and the second transistor provides an output current that is a factor of the received input current.
US09246429B2
A method of controlling torque ripple in a switched reluctance motor (SRM) includes splitting each phase winding of the SRM into an AC winding and a DC winding. The AC winding of each phase winding is excited with symmetrically displaced sinusoidal currents that may be projected into a reference frame that moves synchronously with the SRM rotor.
US09246425B2
A system is provided for engine and generator control. The system includes a compound AC generator, a generator control unit (GCU) module and an engine electronic controller (EEC) module. The compound AC generator includes a shaft, and a permanent magnet generator (PMG) configured to be driven by the shaft to generate an AC power signal. The GCU module is configured to control the compound AC generator. The PMG is coupled to the GCU module and the EEC module such that it is configured to simultaneously supply the AC power signal to the GCU module and to the EEC module.
US09246424B2
Stepper motor winding current regulation methods and apparatus continuously and bi-directionally sense winding current to determine both the magnitude of the winding current and the slope of a waveform representing the winding current. The magnitude and slope information is used to more precisely control periods of current rise and characteristics of fast and slow current decay during pulse-width modulation (“PWM”) regulation cycles. Winding current rise and decay shaping is based upon the sensed magnitude of the winding current, the magnitude of the winding current regulation set-point ITRIP, whether the sensed winding current is greater than or less than ITRIP at a selected sampling time, whether the sensed winding current is increasing or decreasing when a waveform of the sensed winding current crosses over ITRIP, and whether or not the magnitude of ITRIP changes during a PWM cycle in response to a receipt of a subsequent DAC code.
US09246421B2
An electronic circuit for a power tool includes a plurality of high-side and low-side switches connected in series between terminals of a power source and coupled to a load, a bootstrap circuit comprising a plurality of bootstrap capacitors arranged to provide sufficient amount of drive voltage to turn ON and OFF the plurality of high-side switches, and a control unit configured to turn ON and OFF the plurality of low-side switches in succession to sequentially charge the bootstrap capacitors.
US09246416B2
A braking apparatus for a three-phase brushless motor is provided in a motor-driven appliance, and includes a switching circuit having six switching elements and a brake control device. The brake control device executes two-phase short-circuit control in braking control in which a braking force is generated in the motor. In the two-phase short-circuit control, an on/off state of each of the switching elements is set in such a manner that two out of three conduction paths constituting one of a positive electrode side conduction path that connects three terminals of the motor and a positive electrode side of a direct current power source and a negative electrode side conduction path that connects the three terminals and a negative electrode side of the power source are in a conducting state and other of the three conduction paths is in a non-conducting state.
US09246414B2
A piezoelectric power generator including a resonator having a first weight member supported on a base member by a spring; a second weight member; and a generating device having a vibrating plate with a piezoelectric element attached to a surface thereof. Further, the vibrating plate has one end secured to the first weight member and the other end being a free end attached to the second weight member. The generating device is capable of bending and vibrating in an up-and-down direction, such that the first weight member can swing at a predetermined frequency about an axis perpendicular to a bending vibration plane of the generating device.
US09246412B2
A technique decouples a MEMS device from sources of strain by forming a MEMS structure with suspended electrodes that are mechanically anchored in a manner that reduces or eliminates transfer of strain from the substrate into the structure, or transfers strain to electrodes and body so that a transducer is strain-tolerant. The technique includes using an electrically insulating material embedded in a conductive structural material for mechanical coupling and electrical isolation. An apparatus includes a MEMS device including a first electrode and a second electrode, and a body suspended from a substrate of the MEMS device. The body and the first electrode form a first electrostatic transducer. The body and the second electrode form a second electrostatic transducer. The apparatus includes a suspended passive element mechanically coupled to the body and electrically isolated from the body.
US09246410B2
A monolithically integrated power semiconductor component includes a semiconductor body having first and second regions each extending from a first surface of the semiconductor body to a second opposing surface of the body. A power field effect transistor structure formed in the first region has a first load terminal on the first surface and a second load terminal on the second surface. A power diode formed in the second region has a first load terminal on the first surface and a second load terminal on the second surface. The second load terminals of the power field effect transistor structure and power diode are formed by a common load terminal. An edge termination structure is arranged adjacent to the first surface and in a horizontal direction between the first load terminal of the power field effect transistor structure and the first load terminal of the power diode.
US09246408B2
The power conversion apparatus includes an inverter circuit which converts a DC current into an AC current and have a U-phase, V-phase, and w-phase power semiconductor modules, and a capacitor module for smoothing the DC current. Each of the power semiconductor modules is configured separately and connected to a first bus bar. The first bus bar is configured with a first positive side bus bar, a first negative side bus bar, and a first insulation member arranged between the first positive side bus bar and the first negative side bus bar. The first bus bar includes a first to third terminals to which the U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase power semiconductor modules are connected, respectively, and a fourth terminal connected to a terminal of the second bus bar protruding from a surface of sealing material of a second bus bar.
US09246401B2
A method of fabricating a device includes forming a moveable plate over a substrate. The method further includes forming an energy harvesting coil in the moveable plate. The method further includes forming at least one connector connecting the movable plate with the substrate, wherein a portion of the energy harvesting coil extends along the at least one connector. The method further includes enclosing the movable plate using a capping wafer.
US09246392B2
A controller for use in a power converter includes a drive circuit coupled to generate a drive signal to control switching of a power switch to control a transfer of energy from a power converter input to a power converter output. The controller also includes an input for receiving an enable signal including enable events responsive to the power converter output. The drive circuit is coupled to turn ON the power switch in response to the enable events and turn OFF the power switch in response to a power switch current reaching a current limit threshold. A current limit threshold generator is coupled to receive the drive signal from the enable events of the enable signal. The current limit threshold may be a ramp signal and the ramp signal along with the time between enable events may be used to modulate the drive signal.
US09246391B2
A controller for a power converter and method of operating the same. In one embodiment, the controller includes a peak detector, coupled to a circuit element of the power converter, configured to produce a signal corresponding to a peak current through a circuit element. The controller also includes an adjustable reference circuit responsive to a difference between the signal and a reference signal corresponding to a desired peak current to produce a corrected signal corresponding to the peak current.
US09246388B2
An integrated circuit for converting a high voltage level to a low voltage level comprises a high side driver, a low side driver electrically coupled with the high side driver, a circuit electrically coupled with the high side driver and a first node between the high side driver and the low side driver, and a false signal filter electrically coupled with the circuit. The circuit is configured to substantially turn off the high side driver if the high side driver leaves a cutoff region of the high side driver during a tri-state mode. The false signal filter is configured to screen signals that are outside of the tri-state mode.
US09246382B2
Some embodiments include apparatuses and methods having an input node to receive a first voltage, an output node to provide an output voltage, and a charge pump to generate the output voltage based on the first voltage. The charge pump can include a control node to receive a control signal for controlling at least one switch of the charge pump, such that the output voltage includes a value greater than a value of the first voltage. The control signal can include a level corresponding to a second voltage having a value greater than the value of the output voltage. Additional apparatus and methods are described.
US09246381B2
In one embodiment, an active power factor correction (APFC) control circuit, configured to generate a pulse-width modulation (PWM) control signal to control the operation of a power converter, can include: (i) an inductor current zero crossing detection circuit coupled to a common node between a power switch of the power converter and a first switch that are coupled in series, where the inductor current zero crossing detection circuit is configured to generate a comparison signal based on a voltage signal at the common node; (ii) the comparison signal being activated when an inductor current of the power converter decreases to zero; and (iii) the APFC control circuit being configured as a source driver, wherein a control terminal of the power switch is coupled to a constant voltage supply.
US09246380B2
A control circuit module for a power factor corrector is provided to convert the operation mode of the inductor current from the boundary conduction mode (BCM) to the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) when a transistor element is operated under the valley inductor current, thus reducing the switching frequency and increasing system efficiency, also to maintain the operation mode of the inductor current in the BCM when the transistor element is operated under the peak inductor current, thus maintaining system efficiency.
US09246369B2
An electric motor includes a rotor and a stator. The stator surrounds the rotor, has a top half, a bottom half, and wire windings, and is fixed with respect to the drive-unit housing. The stator is cooled by gravity feed via a fluid supplied by an external source and flowing onto and past the top half. The motor also includes a fluid dam fixed relative to the stator. The fluid dam is configured to guide the fluid around the stator and shield the rotor from the fluid flowing past the stator thereby limiting an amount of the fluid between the rotor and the stator such that spin losses in the electric motor are controlled. An electro-mechanical drive-unit employing the above described electric motor is also disclosed.
US09246365B2
A brushless motor may comprise a rotor comprising a shaft, a back yoke fixed on the shaft, a permanent magnet disposed at an outer circumference of the back yoke and first and second resin portions. The first resin portion may be formed at one ends of the back yoke and the permanent magnet and the second resin portion may be formed at other ends. The first and second resin portions may be fixed the back yoke and the permanent magnet. A communication hole communicating one end side and another end side in the shaft axis direction may be formed through the back yoke or between the shaft and the back yoke. A third resin portion connecting with the first and the second resin portions may be formed within the communication hole. The first, second and third resin portions may be formed integrally.
US09246364B2
In one embodiment, a permanent magnet rotor is provided. The permanent magnet rotor includes at least one permanent magnet and a substantially cylindrical rotor core including an outer edge and an inner edge defining a central opening. The rotor core includes a radius R, at least one pole, and at least one radial aperture extending radially though the rotor core from the outer edge to a predetermined depth less than the radius. The at least one radial aperture is configured to receive the at least one permanent magnet. The rotor further includes at least one protrusion extending into the at least one radial aperture, the at least one protrusion positioned substantially along a bottom of the at least one radial aperture and configured to facilitate retention of the at least one permanent magnet within the at least one radial aperture.
US09246356B2
A contactless power supply has a dynamically configurable tank circuit powered by an inverter. The contactless power supply is inductively coupled to one or more loads. The inverter is connected to a DC power source. When loads are added or removed from the system, the contactless power supply is capable of modifying the resonant frequency of the tank circuit, the inverter frequency, the inverter duty cycle or the rail voltage of the DC power source.
US09246355B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first p-channel laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) transistor formed over the semiconductor substrate and additional p-channel LDMOS transistors formed over the semiconductor substrate. First drain and gate electrodes are formed over the substrate and are coupled to the first LDMOS transistor. Additional drain and gate electrodes are formed over the substrate and are coupled to the second LDMOS transistor. A common source electrode for the first and second LDMOS transistors is also formed over the substrate.
US09246354B2
An electricity storage device for a solar energy harvesting device comprising at least a first electricity storage unit, at least a second electricity storage unit, a battery monitoring unit and a power converter. The second electricity storage unit is for coupled to an exterior power supply system which charges/discharges the second electricity storage unit in a predetermined voltage. The battery monitoring unit controls the power converter according to the output voltage of the first electricity storage unit for converting the electricity of the first electricity storage unit to the second electricity unit. When the output voltage of the first electricity storage unit is larger than a start voltage, the electricity of the first electricity storage unit is converted to the second electricity storage unit. When the output voltage of the first electricity storage unit is less than a stop voltage, the battery monitoring unit disables the power converter.
US09246352B2
A portable terminal is provided. The portable terminal includes a shielding member disposed on an external part, a first coil disposed on a surface of the shielding member that faces the external part, and a second coil disposed on the surface of the shielding member, and surrounding the first coil on a same plane.
US09246346B2
A power saving device includes a first switch coupled between an input node and an output node, wherein the input node is coupled to a power source and the output node is coupled to an electronic device, a detection unit detecting the magnitude of a current, a charge unit coupled to the output node, wherein the charge unit correspondingly generates a detection signal in response to magnitude of the current, a battery pack coupled to the charge unit, a second switch disposed between the output node and the battery pack and a controller. When magnitude of the current in response to the detection signal is lower than a threshold current and battery capacity of the battery back is higher than a predetermined capacity, the controller outputs a set of control signals to turn off the first switch and turn on the second switch.
US09246340B2
An apparatus may comprise a battery system. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09246339B2
A battery includes a wireless unit, a battery unit, a charging unit, and a control unit. The wireless unit is configured to capture electromagnetic wave in the air. The charging unit is configured to convert the electromagnetic wave captured by the wireless unit to the charging current, and provide the charging current to the battery unit to charge the battery unit. The control unit is configured to detect a parameter value of the battery unit, control the wireless unit to capture the electromagnetic wave according to the parameter value of the battery unit, and further control the charging unit to convert the electromagnetic wave captured by the wireless unit to the charging current to charge the battery unit.
US09246333B2
Disclosed is an electric power supply system which has: a common power source which stores and supplies a power via a local power grid; and a distributed power source which supplies a power to buildings and a surplus to the common power source. The electric power supply system further includes a first power meter measuring the amount of power supplied from a commercial power source, a second power meter measuring the amount of power received from and supplied to the common power source via the local power grid, and a distribution control device which distributes a power from the common power source to the area based on the amounts of power as measured by the first power meter and the second power meter.
US09246325B2
The present invention relates to a transformer substation (6) comprising high-voltage switchgear (1), a low-voltage switchboard (3) and a transformer (2) which are electrically interconnected on the upper cover (5) of the transformer (2) through a shielded direct single-pole connection. The high-voltage electric connection (4) is carried out by means of a connection device (8) which, in combination with a control/protection device (10), allows carrying out the safe and integral protection of people and property against possible malfunctions in the transformer substation (6), limiting said malfunctions and preventing disturbances of the high-voltage and low-voltage network.
US09246322B2
Aspects of the innovations herein relate to surge protection devices. Such surge protection devices may have an arrester. The arrester may produce an equalization between different potentials and arrest a surge current during use. A sensor may be provided on the arrester, said sensor generating an electric switch-off signal. A switching device may receive the switch-off signal and separate the arrester from an electric circuit, the switching device and arrester being arranged in a physically separate manner from each other.
US09246315B2
A number of devices (floor grommets) for providing an air seal of an aperture through which one or more cables or conduits pass are disclosed. The devices (1, 90) include a frame (6) and at least first and second opposing sealing members (91, 92) defining sealing faces mounted in the frame. At least one of the sealing members (91, 92) is movable between a position in which the aperture is substantially closed and a position in which the aperture is substantially open. The sealing members (91, 92) includes resilient flexible compressible foamed plastics or polymeric material or the like. The sealing members provide a substantial air seal across the frame opening in use with said resilient flexible compressible foamed plastics or polymeric material forming the sealing members deforming and conforming around any cables or conduits or the like extending through the frame.
US09246310B2
A laser source based on a quantum cascade laser array (QCL), wherein the outputs of at least two elements in the array are collimated and overlapped in the far field using an external diffraction grating and a transform lens.
US09246302B2
Embodiments of an ultra-stable frequency reference generating system and methods for generating an ultra-stable frequency reference using a two-photon Rubidium transition are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a cavity-stabilized reference laser comprising a laser source is locked to a stabilized cavity. A Rubidium cell is interrogated by a stabilized laser output to cause at least a two-photon Rubidium transition and a detector may detect fluorescence resulting from spontaneous decay of the upper state Rubidium transition. The output of the detector is provided at a wavelength of the fluorescence to lock the cavity-stabilized reference laser to generate a stabilized laser output. A frequency comb stabilizer may be locked to the stabilized laser output to generate a super-continuum of optical wavelengths for use in generating an ultra-stable frequency reference.
US09246301B1
In a CO2 gas-discharge slab-laser comprising an unstable resonator constrained by a waveguide formed by planar discharge-electrodes, parasitic side-lobes appear on either side of a delivered main mode in a direction perpendicular to the electrode plane. A rotationally adjustable aperture is provided for transmitting the main mode and blocking the parasitic side-lobes.
US09246299B2
An economical slab laser for high power applications. The laser is a lamp driven slab design with face-to-face beam propagation and an end reflection that redirects the amplified radiation back out the input surface. Also presented is a side-to-side larger amplifier configuration, permitting very high average and peak powers due to the electrical efficiency of converting and getting energy into the crystal, optical extraction efficiency, and scalability of device architecture. Cavity filters adjacent to pump lamps convert the unusable UV portion of the pump lamp spectrum into light in the absorption band of the slab laser thereby increasing the overall pump efficiency. The angle of the end reflecting surface is changed to cause the exit beam to be at a different angle than the inlet beam, thereby eliminating the need to separate the beams external to the laser with the subsequent loss of power.
US09246294B2
A tool for changing first and second parts of a connector from a pre-assembly relationship into an assembled relationship. The tool is portable and has a frame with an operating mechanism thereon. The operating mechanism has a plunger that is movable to thereby change the relationship of the connector parts. The operating mechanism is operable by a pressurized fluid within a container that is connected to the frame.
US09246290B1
A swivel cord-connector having a swivel head and a swivel tail connected via a swivel core. In an embodiment, a head assembly of the swivel core is enclosed in the swivel head and a tail assembly of the swivel core is enclosed in the swivel tail. In an embodiment, the swivel core includes at least a central conductor rod and one or more concentric conductor tubes, which may rotate along the longitudinal axis. In an embodiment, the swivel head has an asymmetrical structure for providing counter torque forces. In an embodiment, the swivel is waterproof and/or can float on water surface.
US09246289B2
The invention is a sliding contact and also a method for the production thereof. The sliding contact arrangement has two parts mounted to rotate relatively to one another. The first part has a metallic carrier ring with radial inner and outer sides, which is monolithically connected to at least one spring arm, which ends freely on one side on the inner side or outer side. The spring arm extends longitudinally relative to the inner or outer side at least in certain sections. The spring arm ends at a spring arm head having a contact surface facing away from the carrier ring, which is in sliding contact with a contact surface of the second part.
US09246282B1
A corrosion resistant, environmentally sealing, swaged-on conductive fitting for a coaxial cable is provided. The cable has inner and external conductors. A stepped intermediate ring is fitted over exposed lengths of trimmed layers of the inner conductor and abuts a trimmed end of a jacket that covers the inner conductor. An inner ring having a socket with interior recessed circumferential grooves is placed over and swaged against the intermediate ring so that the grooves overlap the cable's jacket and are embossed into and anchor the inner ring to the jacket. The external conductor is anchored between the inner ring and an outer ring when the outer ring is swaged. An electrically conductive path is provided from said external conductor through the inner and intermediate rings to the inner conductor without exposing the inner conductor to a corrosive environment.
US09246264B2
An electrical receptacle assembly having an outer body and a faceplate. The outer body can include at least one driven feature disposed on an outer surface of the outer body. The faceplate can include a number of terminal receivers and at least one driving feature, where the terminal receivers traverse the faceplate and are configured to receive a number of terminals of an electrical plug, and where the at least one driving feature is disposed on a bottom side of the faceplate. The faceplate can rotate between a first position and a second position. The driving feature of the faceplate can couple to the driven feature of the outer body when the faceplate is out of the first position. The faceplate can rotate from the first position to the second position using the electrical plug when the terminals are disposed in the terminal receivers.
US09246262B2
An electrical connector can includes a connector housing that includes a housing body and further includes at least one fulcrum supported by the housing body. The electrical connector further includes at least one electrical contact supported by the connector housing, the at least one electrical contact configured to mate with a complementary electrical contact of a complementary electrical connector. The electrical connector further includes a latch assembly. The latch assembly can include an actuator and a latch. The actuator can have an actuator portion, an attachment portion, and at least one arm that extends between the actuator portion and the attachment portion. The latch can have a latch body that defines an attachment portion that is configured to be attached to the attachment portion of the actuator, such that movement of the actuator in a predetermined direction causes the pivot member to ride along the fulcrum, thereby pivoting the latch from a latched position to an unlatched position.
US09246248B2
A motor vehicle power conductor (1) is described and illustrated, in particular a battery conductor of a motor vehicle, having a first end (3) on the battery side and having a second end (4), wherein the motor vehicle power conductor (1) has a metallic flat conductor (2) and an insulation (8) enclosing the metallic flat conductor (2). In order to provide a connection means for a jump-start device in a simple and cost-effective way, it is proposed that the motor vehicle power conductor (1) is formed in one area as a jump-start connection point (5).
US09246247B2
A surface mount connector includes one or two spaced conductive contacts. Each conductive contact(s) include a substantially flat base portion suitable for soldering to a pad or land on a printed circuit board (PCB), At least one vertical finger extends substantially normally from each flat base portion and each terminates in a point or hook formed with a piercing tip at the free end thereof remote from the that base portion. The vertical finger(s) and flat base portion(s) define a space for receiving an insulated conductor arranged in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the flat base portion(s). The finger(s) are directed inwardly at their free end(s) proximate to the piercing tip(s) and configured to deflect inwardly in a curling action when forced downwardly and crimped to pierce an associated insulated conductor positioned on the flat base portion(s).
US09246240B2
An electrical cable connector assembly comprising a top pivot shaft and a base pivot hub having an insert with fixture conductor channels form fitted on the base pivot hub to hold the fixture conductor wires. The top pivot shaft interlocks with the base pivot hub at one end and upon rotation at ninety degrees the connector assembly is closed completely. Upon closure with nominal hand force, a pair of metal conductor pins molded to the top inside end of the top pivot shaft easily penetrates the fixture conductor wires held in the insert and the source conductor wire held in the source conductor wire channel in the base pivot hub, to connect the two sets of conductors electrically. The small diameter of circumference at the mid section of the uniquely designed cable connector allows for the use of an optional closure to secure the cable connector in place.
US09246229B2
An antenna arrangement comprising at least a first and a second elongated structure, e.g., a coaxial cable, for guiding an electromagnetic wave is provided. Each of said structures comprises a plurality of radiation elements. The structures are positioned alongside each other in their longitudinal direction of extension forming a bundle. The elongated structures are arranged within the bundle such that the radial positions of said structures are alternated in the longitudinal direction of extension.
US09246224B2
A broadband antenna system is disclosed. The antenna system relates to a cylindrical structure, wherein the feed region comprises segmented radiators with tapered feed points, distributed around the circumference of the structure, and a balun that is co-planar with the cylindrical structure. This allows a plurality of feed lines, cables, piping, or other structures to be run through the center of the antenna without interfering with the performance of the antenna system. Segmentation of the radiators permits the integration of a corporate feed network, suppresses overmoding, and permits operation without the need for a ground plane. The invention further relates to a stacked broadband antenna system wherein additional antenna elements or devices may be stacked collinearly on the antenna structure and operated via the plurality of feed lines or other structures. The overall system thus provides a wide range of transmitting, receiving, sensing and other capabilities over a virtually infinite bandwidth.
US09246217B2
An adjusting mechanism includes a base, a supporter, a connecting component and a jointing component. A slide slot is formed on the base. The supporter is pivotally connected to the base via a shaft. The connecting component is rotatably and slidably disposed on the slide slot on the base. A curved slot is formed on the connecting component. The jointing component is disposed on the supporter and slidably inserts to the curved slot on the connecting component. The connecting component slides relative to the supporter via the jointing component along a direction of the curved slot to simultaneously rotate the supporter relative to the base.
US09246216B2
A system may include a modifiable mobile device having at least two antennas coupled to fractional amplifiers, with returned power detectors. A beamformer unit provides adaptive beam shaping pattern, and a baseband processor provides beam pattern requirements, wherein the beamformer unit modifies the beam pattern requirements with return loss sampling information to shape the adaptive beam pattern so that a transmitted beam pattern minimizes transmitted power reflected back to the mobile device. A method may include regularly measuring a return power level, if output power is greater than a specific absorption rate level, comparing the return power level to a first threshold, else implementing mobile transmit diversity (MTD), and repeating. If the return power level is greater than the first threshold, implementing a MTD combined with reflection-based beamforming that modifies beam pattern requirements of the mobile device with return loss sampling information to create an adaptive beam pattern.
US09246215B1
Antenna structures of electronic devices and methods of operating the electronic devices with the antenna structures are described. One apparatus includes a RF feed coupled to a split-feed antenna element of an antenna structure. The antenna structure also includes a parasitic grounding element coupled to a ground plane. The split-feed antenna element is configured to operate as a feeding structure to the parasitic grounding element that is not conductively connected to the RF feed. The antenna structure is disposed on at least two sides of an antenna carrier.
US09246205B2
A signal transmission device comprises a high-frequency signal waveguide. The high-frequency signal waveguide is configured to transmit a high-frequency signal emitted from an electronic device. When the electronic device is at least proximate to a flat surface of the high-frequency signal waveguide, the high-frequency signal is directly coupled from the electronic device to the high-frequency signal waveguide and transmitted via the high-frequency signal waveguide.
US09246200B2
Disclosed is a battery module receiving apparatus of a rectangular parallelepiped shape having an inner space with the open front and rear, in which a plurality of battery cell insertion slots are formed at corresponding locations on the upper plate and the lower plate constituting the inner space to erectly insert a plurality of battery cells, and a plurality of heat transfer plate insertion slots are formed adjacent to a plurality of the battery cell insertion slots to erectly insert a plurality of heat transfer plates. A battery pack and a stack-type power storage system may be implemented by inserting a battery module through the front of the battery module receiving apparatus and a battery module thermostat through the rear of the battery module receiving apparatus.
US09246194B2
Disclosed herein is a folding device to manufacture a stacked/folded type electrode assembly having unit cells sequentially stacked in a state in which a separation film is disposed between the respective unit cells, the folding device including a web supply unit to supply a web having plate-shaped unit cells arranged at the top of a separation film at predetermined intervals, a winding jig to rotate the unit cells while holding a first one of the unit cells of the web so that the unit cells are sequentially stacked in a state in which the separation film is disposed between the respective unit cells, and a Y-axis directional rotary shaft compensation unit to compensate for a position of a rotary shaft of the winding jig in a direction (Y-axis direction) perpendicular to an advancing direction of the web, wherein the Y-axis directional rotary shaft compensation unit periodically changes the position of the rotary shaft in the direction (Y axis) perpendicular to the advancing direction (X axis) of the web to minimize vertical amplitude of the web during winding.
US09246192B2
According to one embodiment, a nonaqueous electrolyte battery includes a nonaqueous electrolyte, a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a separator. The nonaqueous electrolyte includes an asymmetric sulfone-based compound and a symmetric sulfone-based compound. The positive electrode includes a composite oxide represented by Li1−xMn1.5−yNi0.5−zMy+zO4 (0≦x≦1, 0≦y+z≦0.15, and M is at least one kind of element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Al, Ti, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Nb, Sn, Zr and Ta). The negative electrode includes a Ti-containing oxide which is capable of absorbing and releasing lithium. The separator includes a nonwoven fabric.
US09246191B2
A lithium secondary battery has an anode, a cathode, a separator between the anode and the cathode and a non-aqueous electrolyte. The non-aqueous electrolyte includes a lithium salt; and a non-linear carbonate-based mixed organic solvent in which (a) a cyclic carbonate compound, and (b) a propionate-based compound are mixed at a volume ratio (a:b) in the range from about 10:90 to about 70:30. The cathode has a capacity density in the range from about 3.5 to about 5.5 mAh/cm2 and a porosity in the range from about 18 to about 35%. This battery may be manufactured as a high-loading lithium secondary battery.
US09246185B2
An electrochemical cell including a folded electrode layer and a folded separator, a battery including the electrochemical cell, and methods of forming the electrochemical cell and battery are disclosed. The electrode layer is folded in a first direction and the separator is folded in a second direction, such that the first direction and second direction are orthogonal each other.
US09246183B1
A composition of matter is configured for use as at least a part of an energy source when combined with water. The composition of matter includes a metal comprising gallium and aluminum that is alloyed with the metal. The metal comprising gallium is liquid at a room temperature of 70° F. and at a standard atmospheric pressure of 14.7 psi.
US09246177B2
Compositions and methods of preparing a bimetallic alloy having enhanced electrocatalytic properties are provided. The composition comprises a PtNi substrate having a surface layer, a near-surface layer, and an inner layer, where the surface layer comprises a nickel-depleted composition, such that the surface layer comprises a platinum skin having at least one atomic layer of platinum.
US09246174B2
It is an object of this exemplary embodiment to provide a lithium ion battery using a lithium manganese complex oxide, in which the dissolution of manganese and resistance increase are inhibited, and which is excellent in life characteristics at high temperature. One aspect of this exemplary embodiment is a lithium ion battery comprising at least a positive electrode comprising a positive electrode active material, and an electrolytic solution, wherein the positive electrode active material is a lithium manganese complex oxide, the positive electrode comprises a bismuth oxide, and a metal compound attached to part of a surface of the lithium manganese complex oxide, and a dissolution rate of a metal of the metal compound in the electrolytic solution is lower than a dissolution rate of manganese of the lithium manganese complex oxide.
US09246169B2
A positive electrode active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode active material particle and a compound containing a rare earth element and a carbonate, the compound having a particle size of 1 to 100 nm and being adhered to a surface of the positive electrode active material particle. The ratio of the compound relative to the positive electrode active material particle is 0.005% to 0.4% by mass on a rare earth element basis. The positive electrode active material particle is composed of a lithium transition metal oxide having a layered structure.
US09246165B2
A cathode composite material includes a cathode active material and a coating layer coated on a surface of the cathode active material. The cathode active material includes a spinel type lithium nickel manganese oxide. The coating layer includes a lithium metal oxide having a crystal structure belonging to C2/c space group of the monoclinic crystal system. The present disclosure also relates to a lithium ion battery including the cathode composite material.
US09246159B2
An electrode for lithium ion batteries, the electrode having a metal film which is inert to lithium ions and having a plurality of silicon nanowires protruding from the film, which are arranged on at least one flat side of the film, wherein sections of the nanowires are enclosed by the metal film.
US09246158B2
The disclosure is related to battery systems. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosure provide a nanostructured conversion material for use as the active material in battery cathodes. In an implementation, a nanostructured conversion material is a glassy material and includes a metal material, one or more oxidizing species, and a reducing cation species mixed at a scale of less than 1 nm. The glassy conversion material is substantially homogeneous within a volume of 1000 nm3.
US09246157B2
According to one embodiment, a sealed secondary battery is provided with a container body having an opening and accommodating an electrode assembly and an electrolyte, a sealing plate which seals the opening of the container body, the sealing plate having an injection hole which is formed penetrating the sealing plate and through which the electrolyte is injected into the container body, and a sealing body positioned with an annular vacant space above a surface region of the sealing plate around the injection hole therein and welded at a peripheral edge portion thereof to the sealing plate, thereby sealing the injection hole.
US09246143B2
A rechargeable battery module, including unit cells that are adjacent to each other, each of the unit cells being configured as a rechargeable battery and including a first electrode terminal, a second electrode terminal, and a case that is electrically connected to the second electrode terminal, an insulation film on at least one side among all sides of the unit cells, and a conductive member on a side of the insulation film, the conductive member being electrically connected to the first electrode terminal of at least one of the unit cells.
US09246135B2
An organic layer deposition apparatus, a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device by using the same, and an organic light-emitting display device manufactured using the method, and in particular, an organic layer deposition apparatus that is suitable for use in the mass production of a large substrate and enables high-definition patterning, a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device by using the same, and an organic light-emitting display device manufactured using the method.
US09246124B2
Provided is a carrier for a flexible substrate which is capable of handling a flexible substrate during a flexible substrate processing process, while allowing the flexible substrate to be easily separated. Also provided is a substrate processing apparatus, including the carrier, and a method of manufacturing a flexible display apparatus. The carrier includes a substrate supporting portion having a top surface including a mounting surface, an outer circumferential surface, surrounding the mounting surface, and a first heat cutting portion. The first heat cutting portion is located outside the mounting surface so as to be exposed on the top surface and generates heat when a current flows through the first heat cutting portion.
US09246122B2
An organic light emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting diode includes an anodic conductive layer, an organic EL layer, and a cathodic conductive layer formed from Ag or an alloy of Ag, or the like, sequentially laminated on a substrate, such that a two-dimensional lattice structure is provided on a surface of the cathodic conductive layer on an organic EL layer side, an extraction wavelength and a distance between centers of concave portions or convex portions in the two-dimensional lattice structure are within a region surrounded by specific coordinates in a graph illustrating a relationship between the light extraction wavelength and the distance, and the depth of the concave portions or a height of the convex portions is 12 nm to 180 nm.
US09246114B2
Various embodiments may relate to an organic optoelectronic component with a layer structure for generating and separating charge carriers of a first charge carrier type and charge carriers of a second charge carrier type, the layer structure including a hole-conducting transparent inorganic semiconductor.
US09246110B2
An organic material represented by the following General Formula (1): where in the General Formula (1), R1 and R2, which may be identical to or different from each other, each represent an alkyl group having 4 to 24 carbon atoms, X represents a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon group, Y represents an aromatic hydrocarbon group, an alkoxyl group, or an alkyl group, which may be substituted with a substituent, and n represents an integer of 1 to 3.
US09246107B2
A compound for an organic optoelectronic device, an organic light emitting diode, and a display device, the compound including moieties represented by the following Chemical Formula 1; Chemical Formula 4; and one of Chemical Formulae 2 and 3;
US09246101B2
A deposition mask is used to pattern a thin film 3 on a substrate 10 by depositing deposition particles through a plurality of openings K having a stripe pattern. The deposition mask includes a frame 65; a plurality of mask layers 70 provided in the frame so as to overlap each other; and a support layer 71 provided between the mask layers 70. Each of the mask layers 70 is formed by arranging a plurality of mask wires 72 in a stripe pattern in a tensioned state, and the support layer 71 is formed by arranging a plurality of support wires 74 in a tensioned state so as to cross the mask wires 72. A plurality of gaps 73 in each of the plurality of mask layers 70 overlap each other to form a plurality of through gaps 73a that linearly extend through all of the plurality of mask layers 70. The openings K are formed by the through gaps 73a.
US09246098B2
A Ge—Sb—Te film forming method includes a Sb source material introducing process, a first purging process, a Te source material introducing process, a second purging process, a Ge source material introducing process, a third purging process. An additive gas containing at least one of ammonia, methylamine, dimethylamine, hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, dimethylhydrazine and pyridine is introduced in at least one of the Sb, Te and Ge source material introducing processes and the first to third purging processes.
US09246096B2
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to nonvolatile memory devices and methods for manufacturing such memory devices. The methods for forming improved memory devices, such as a ReRAM cells, provide optimized, atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes for forming a metal oxide film stack which contains at least one hard metal oxide film (e.g., metal is completely oxidized or substantially oxidized) and at least one soft metal oxide film (e.g., metal is less oxidized than hard metal oxide). The soft metal oxide film is less electrically resistive than the hard metal oxide film since the soft metal oxide film is less oxidized or more metallic than the hard metal oxide film. In one example, the hard metal oxide film is formed by an ALD process utilizing ozone as the oxidizing agent while the soft metal oxide film is formed by another ALD process utilizing water vapor as the oxidizing agent.
US09246089B2
A memory cell according to the present invention comprises a bottom conductor, a doped semiconductor pillar, and a top conductor. The memory cell does not include a dielectric rupture antifuse separating the doped semiconductor pillar from either conductor, or within the semiconductor pillar. The memory cell is formed in a high-impedance state, in which little or no current flows between the conductors on application of a read voltage. Application of a programming voltage programs the cell, converting the memory cell from its initial high-impedance state to a low-impedance state. A monolithic three dimensional memory array of such cells can be formed, comprising multiple memory levels, the levels monolithically formed above one another.
US09246088B2
A plurality of first conductive layers are stacked at a predetermined pitch in a first direction perpendicular to a substrate. A memory layer is provided in common on side surfaces of the first conductive layers and functions as the memory cells. A second conductive layer comprises a first side surface in contact with side surfaces of the first conductive layers via the memory layer, the second conductive layer extending in the first direction. A width in a second direction of the first side surface at a first position is smaller than a width in the second direction of the first side surface at a second position lower than the first position. A thickness in the first direction of the first conductive layer at the first position is larger than a thickness in the first direction of the first conductive layer at the second position.
US09246085B1
Filament size and shape in a ReRAM stack can be controlled by doping layers of a variable-resistance stack to change the crystallization temperature. This changes the density of the grain boundaries that form during annealing and provide minimal-resistance paths for the migration of charged defects. Hf, Zr, or Ti decreases the crystallization temperature and narrows the filament, while Si or N increases the crystallization temperature and widens the filament. Tapered filaments are of interest: The narrow tip requires little energy to break and re-form, enabling the cell to operate at low power, yet the wider body and base are insensitive to entropic behavior of small numbers of defects, enabling the cell to retain data for long periods.
US09246077B2
An ultrasonic transducer device includes an ultrasonic transducer element array, a first signal terminal, and a second signal terminal. The ultrasonic transducer element array has a 1st element group to a kth element group (where k is a natural number such that k≧2). The first signal terminal is connected with a control section configured and arranged to perform at least one of receiving and transmitting of signals. The second signal terminal is connected with the first signal terminal via the ultrasonic transducer element array. Each of the 1st element group to the kth element group includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements electrically connected in series. The 1st element group to the kth element group are electrically connected in parallel between the first signal terminal and the second signal terminal.
US09246069B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting element, a phosphor layer, and a fluorescent reflection film. The phosphor layer has a transparent medium, a phosphor dispersed in the transparent medium, and a particle dispersed in the transparent medium. The phosphor is excited by the excitation light so as to emit a fluorescence. The particle is a magnitude of not more than 1/10 a wavelength of the excitation light. The particle has a different refractive index from a refractive index of the transparent medium. The fluorescent reflection film is provided between the light emitting element and the phosphor layer. The fluorescent reflection film has a higher reflectance with respect to a fluorescent wavelength of the phosphor, than a reflectance with respect to the wavelength of the excitation lights.
US09246061B2
A light emitting diode (LED) structure has semiconductor layers, including a p-type layer, an active layer, and an n-Type layer. The p-type layer has a bottom surface, and the n-type layer has a top surface though which light is emitted. A copper layer has a first portion electrically connected to and opposing the bottom surface of the p-type layer. A dielectric wall extends through the copper layer to isolate a second portion of the copper layer from the first portion. A metal shunt electrically connects the second portion of the copper layer to the top surface of the n-type layer. P-metal electrodes electrically connect to the first portion, and n-metal electrodes electrically connect to the second portion, wherein the LED structure forms a flip chip. Other embodiments of the methods and structures are also described.
US09246056B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a light-emitting device in which, even when a material with high reflectivity such as aluminum is used for an electrode, a layer containing oxygen can be formed over the electrode without increasing contact resistance and a manufacturing method thereof. According to the present invention, a feature thereof is a light-emitting element having an electrode composed of a stacked structure where a conductive film having high reflectivity such as aluminum, silver, and an alloy containing aluminum or an alloy containing silver, and a conductive film composed of a refractory metal material is provided over the conductive film, or a light-emitting device having the light-emitting element.
US09246055B2
According to one embodiment, a crystal growth method is disclosed for growing a crystal of a nitride semiconductor on a major surface of a substrate. The major surface is provided with asperities. The method can include depositing a buffer layer on the major surface at a rate of not more than 0.1 micrometers per hour. The buffer layer includes GaxAl1-xN (0.1≦x<0.5) and has a thickness of not smaller than 20 nanometers and not larger than 50 nanometers. In addition, the method can include growing the crystal including a nitride semiconductor on the buffer layer at a temperature higher than a temperature of the substrate in the depositing the buffer layer.
US09246051B2
Solid state lighting devices and associated methods of manufacturing are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a solid state lighting device includes a substrate material having a substrate surface and a plurality of hemispherical grained silicon (“HSG”) structures on the substrate surface of the substrate material. The solid state lighting device also includes a semiconductor material on the substrate material, at least a portion of which is between the plurality of HSG structures.
US09246044B2
A photovoltaic device is disclosed. In one aspect, the device is formed in a semiconductor substrate. It has a radiation receiving front surface and a rear surface. The device may have a first region of one conductivity type, a second region with the opposite conductivity type adjacent to the front surface, and an antireflection layer. The rear surface is covered by a dielectric layer covering also an inside surface of the via. The front surface has current collecting conductive contacts. The rear surface has conductive contacts extending through the dielectric. A conductive path is in the via for photogenerated current from the front surface. By having the dielectric all over, no aligning and masking is needed. The same dielectric serves to insulate, provide thermal protection, and helps in surface and bulk passivation. It also avoids the need for a junction region near the via, hence reducing unwanted recombination currents.
US09246043B2
A manufacturing method includes a step of forming an impurity diffusion layer by diffusing an impurity element in a surface of a silicon-based substrate; and an etching step of removing the impurity diffusion layer in at least a portion of a first-surface side of the silicon-based substrate, wherein the etching step includes an etching-fluid supplying step of, on the first-surface side, supplying an etching fluid that flows to an outer edge portion of the silicon-based substrate from a supply position, and an air supplying step of, on a second-surface side, which is opposite to the first-surface side, of the silicon-based substrate, supplying air in a same direction as the etching fluid in accordance with supply of the etching fluid at the etching-fluid supplying step.
US09246036B2
A method of preparing a surface for deposition of a thin film thereon, wherein the surface including a plurality of protrusions extending therefrom and having shadowed regions, includes locally treating at least one of the protrusions.
US09246034B2
A method of manufacturing a solar cell, including: forming a first conductivity type semiconductor layer extending along a predetermined direction on aback surface of a semiconductor substrate that has a light-receiving surface and the back surface opposite to the light-receiving surface, the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer being divided into plural island-shaped sections arranged side by side in the predetermined direction; forming a semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type in the predetermined direction on the back surface; and forming conductive layers respectively on the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer and the second-conductivity-type semiconductor layer by using a conductive paste, the conductive layer to be formed on the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer being formed by a printing method such that the conductive layer to be formed on the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer extends on a line of the plural island-shaped sections to bridge adjacent two of the plural island-shaped sections.
US09246031B1
An optoelectronic device configured to operate at an electromagnetic radiation frequency having metal wire electrodes that are optically transparent as a result of the wires having an effective plasma frequency that is equal to or lower than the electromagnetic frequency at which the device operates. The effective plasma frequency of the wire is lowered by configuring the path of the wire between the terminal ends to be meandering, serpentine, U-shaped and in other non-linear configurations.
US09246030B2
A conductive silver via paste comprising particulate conductive silver, a vanadium-phosphorus-oxide and an organic vehicle is particularly useful in providing the metallization of the holes in the silicon wafers of MWT solar cells. The result is a metallic electrically conductive via between the collector lines on the front side and the emitter electrode on the back-side of the solar cell. The paste can also be used to form the collector lines on the front-side of the solar cell and the emitter electrode on the back-side of the solar cell. Also disclosed are metal-wrap-through silicon solar cells comprising the fired conductive silver paste.
US09246029B2
A method for manufacturing an interdigitated back contact solar cell, comprising steps of: (a) providing a doped silicon substrate; (b) doping the rear surface of the substrate homogeneously with boron in a blanket pattern, thereby forming a p+ region on the rear surface of the silicon substrate; (c) forming a silicon dioxide layer on the front and rear surface; (d) depositing a phosphorus-containing doping paste on the rear surface in a second pattern; (e) heating the silicon substrate to locally diffuse phosphorus into the rear surface of the silicon substrate, thereby forming an n+ region on the rear surface of the silicon substrate through the second pattern, wherein the p+ region and the n+ region on the rear surface collectively form an interdigitated pattern; and (f) removing the second silicon dioxide layer from the silicon substrate.
US09246027B2
A method of manufacturing a solar electrode comprising steps of:(a) stencil printing a conductive paste onto a front side of a semiconductor substrate through a printing mask comprising: (i) 60 wt % to 95 wt % of a conductive powder, (ii) 0.1 wt % to 10 wt % of glass frit, (iii) 3 wt % to 30 wt % of an organic medium, (iv) 0.4 wt % to 1.7 wt % of an amide compound, based on the total weight of the conductive paste and (b) firing the applied conductive paste to form an electrode.
US09246025B2
A photovoltaic device (e.g., solar cell) includes: a front substrate (e.g., glass substrate); a semiconductor absorber film; a back contact including a first conductive layer of or including copper (Cu) and a second conductive layer of or including molybdenum (Mo); and a rear substrate (e.g., glass substrate). The first conductive layer of or including copper is located between at least the rear substrate and the second conductive layer of or including molybdenum, and wherein the semiconductor absorber film is located between at least the back contact and the front substrate.
US09246016B1
A silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor device having a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and integrated with an anti-parallelly connected Schottky diode includes: a substrate, an n-drift layer, a plurality of doped regions, a gate dielectric layer, a gate electrode, an inter-layer dielectric layer, a plurality of source openings, a plurality of junction openings, a plurality of gate openings, a first metal layer and a second metal layer. The second metal layer at the junction openings forms the Schottky diode.
US09246014B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nonvolatile semiconductor memory element including: a semiconductor substrate including: a source region; a drain region; and a channel region; a lower insulating film that is formed on the channel region; a charge storage film that is formed on the lower insulating film and that stores data; an upper insulating film that is formed on the charge storage film; and a control gate that is formed on the upper insulating film, wherein the upper insulating film includes: a first insulting film; and a second insulating film that is laminated with the first insulating film, and wherein the first insulating film is formed to have a trap level density larger than that of the second insulating film.
US09246012B2
A display unit includes: an oxide semiconductor layer configured to form a channel; a first layer having electrical insulation or electrical conductivity; and a second layer including a hydrogen absorbent and disposed between the oxide semiconductor layer and the first layer.
US09246008B2
There is provided a method of manufacturing a thin-film device, the method including forming a first substrate on a supporting base by a coating method, the first substrate being formed by using a resin material; forming a second substrate on the first substrate by using any one of a thermosetting resin and energy ray-curable resin; forming an active element on the second substrate; and removing the supporting base from the first substrate. The resin material used to form the first substrate has a glass transition temperature of at least 180° C.
US09246005B2
Effective transfer of stress to a channel of a fin field effect transistor is provided by forming stress-generating active semiconductor regions that function as a source region and a drain region on a top surface of a single crystalline semiconductor layer. A dielectric material layer is formed on a top surface of the semiconductor layer between semiconductor fins. A gate structure is formed across the semiconductor fins, and the dielectric material layer is patterned employing the gate structure as an etch mask. A gate spacer is formed around the gate stack, and physically exposed portions of the semiconductor fins are removed by an etch. Stress-generating active semiconductor regions are formed by selective epitaxy from physically exposed top surfaces of the semiconductor layer, and apply stress to remaining portions of the semiconductor fins that include channels.
US09246004B2
A strained structure of a semiconductor device is disclosed. An exemplary structure for a semiconductor device comprises a substrate comprising a major surface; a gate stack on the major surface of the substrate; a shallow trench isolation (STI) disposed on one side of the gate stack, wherein the STI is within the substrate; and a cavity filled with a strained structure distributed between the gate stack and the STI, wherein the cavity comprises one sidewall formed by the STI, one sidewall formed by the substrate, and a bottom surface formed by the substrate, wherein the strained structure comprises a SiGe layer and a first strained film adjoining the sidewall of the STI.
US09246003B2
A semiconductor structure may include a semiconductor fin, a gate over the semiconductor fin, a spacer on a sidewall of the gate, an angled recess region in an end of the semiconductor fin beneath the spacer, and a first semiconductor region filling the angled recess. The angled recess may be v-shaped or sigma shaped. The structure may further include a second semiconductor region in contact with the first semiconductor region and the substrate. The structure may be formed by forming a gate above a portion of the semiconductor fin on a substrate, forming a spacer on a sidewall of the gate; removing a portion of the semiconductor fin not covered by the spacer or the gate to expose a sidewall of the fin, etching the sidewall of the fin to form an angled recess region beneath the spacer, and filling the angled recess region with a first epitaxial semiconductor region.
US09246002B2
A semiconductor device and a method of forming the same are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, and a source region and a drain region formed in the substrate. The semiconductor device further includes an impurity diffusion stop layer formed in a recess of the substrate between the source region and the drain region, wherein the impurity diffusion stop layer covers bottom and sidewalls of the recess. The semiconductor device further includes a channel layer formed over the impurity diffusion stop layer and in the recess, and a gate stack formed over the channel layer. The impurity diffusion stop layer substantially prevents impurities of the substrate and the source and drain regions from diffusing into the channel layer.
US09245999B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate having a drift layer of a first conductivity type, a body layer of a second conductivity type formed on a surface of the drift layer, and a source layer formed on a portion of a surface of the body layer; a gate insulation film formed on an inner wall of a trench that extends from the surface of the semiconductor substrate through the source layer and the body layer to the drift layer; and a gate electrode housed in the trench and covered with the gate insulation film, the gate electrode including, in a region located at a drift layer side of a boundary between the body and drift layers, at least one first semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type and at least one second semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type that are alternately disposed and joined to each other.
US09245996B2
A LDMOS transistor device includes a substrate including a first insulating structure formed therein, a gate formed on the substrate and covering a portion of the first insulating structure, a drain region and a source region formed in the substrate at two respective sides of the gate, a base region encompassing the source region, and a doped layer formed under the base region. The drain region and the source region include a first conductivity type, the base region and the doped layer include a second conductivity type, and the second conductivity type is complementary to the first conductivity type. A top of the doped layer contacts a bottom of the base region. A width of the doped layer is larger than a width of the base region.
US09245993B2
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device can include forming a III-N semiconductor layer in a reactor and injecting a hydrocarbon precursor into the reactor, thereby carbon doping the III-N semiconductor layer and causing the III-N semiconductor layer to be insulating or semi-insulating. A semiconductor device can include a substrate and a carbon doped insulating or semi-insulating III-N semiconductor layer on the substrate. The carbon doping density in the III-N semiconductor layer is greater than 5×1018 cm−3 and the dislocation density in the III-N semiconductor layer is less than 2×109 cm−2.
US09245980B2
One illustrative method disclosed herein includes, among other things, performing an epitaxial deposition process to form an epi SiGe layer above a recessed layer of insulating material and on an exposed portion of a fin, wherein the concentration of germanium in the layer of epi silicon-germanium (SixGe1-x) is equal to or greater than a target concentration of germanium for the final fin, performing a thermal anneal process in an inert processing environment to cause germanium in the epi SiGe to diffuse into the fin and thereby define an SiGe region in the fin, after performing the thermal anneal process, performing at least one process operation to remove the epi SiGe and, after removing the epi SiGe, forming a gate structure around at least a portion of the SiGe region.
US09245976B2
A method for fabricating vertical channel transistors includes forming a plurality of pillars which have laterally opposing both sidewalls, over a substrate; forming a gate dielectric layer on both sidewalls of the pillars; forming first gate electrodes which cover any one sidewalls of the pillars and shield gate electrodes which cover the other sidewalls of the pillars and have a height lower than the first gate electrodes, over the gate dielectric layer; and forming second gate electrodes which are connected with upper portions of sidewalls of the first gate electrodes.
US09245962B1
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a sacrificial pattern, forming a first stacked structure including first material layers and second material layers alternately stacked on the sacrificial pattern, forming first semiconductor patterns passing through the first stacked structure and dielectric multi-layers surrounding the first semiconductor patterns, forming a slit passing through the first stacked structure and exposing the sacrificial pattern, forming a spacer on an inner wall of the slit, forming a first opening by removing the sacrificial pattern through the slit, forming a second opening by partially removing the dielectric multi-layers through the first opening to expose lower portions of the first semiconductor patterns, and forming a connection pattern in contact with the first semiconductor patterns in the first and second openings.
US09245958B2
A highly reliable semiconductor device exhibiting stable electrical characteristics is provided. Further, a highly reliable semiconductor device is provided. Oxide semiconductor films are stacked so that the conduction band has a well-shaped structure. A second oxide semiconductor film having a crystalline structure is provided over the first oxide semiconductor film and a third oxide semiconductor film is provided over the second oxide semiconductor film. The bottom of a conduction band in the second oxide semiconductor film is deeper from a vacuum level than the bottom of a conduction band in the first oxide semiconductor film and the bottom of a conduction band in the third oxide semiconductor film.
US09245949B2
Semiconductor devices are formed using a thin epitaxial layer (nanotube) formed on sidewalls of dielectric-filled trenches. In one embodiment, a semiconductor device is formed in a semiconductor layer on a semiconductor substrate of opposite conductivity type and having trenches formed therein where the trenches extend from the top surface to the bottom surface of the semiconductor layer. The semiconductor device includes a first epitaxial layer formed on sidewalls of the trenches where the first epitaxial layer is substantially charge balanced with adjacent semiconductor regions. In another embodiment, a semiconductor device is formed in a first semiconductor layer having trenches and mesas formed thereon where the trenches extend from the top surface to the bottom surface of the first semiconductor layer. The semiconductor device includes semiconductor regions formed on the bottom surface of the mesas of the first semiconductor layer.
US09245947B2
High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) including a cavity below a drain and methods of manufacturing HEMTS including removing a portion of a substrate below a drain.
US09245946B2
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes defining a curved active region by forming a plurality of trenches over a semiconductor substrate, forming an insulating layer to fill the plurality of trenches, and forming a pair of gate lines crossing the curved active region, so that it is possible to prevent leaning of an active region by forming a curved active region.
US09245943B2
A semiconductor body comprised of a semiconductor material includes a first monocrystalline region of the semiconductor material having a first lattice constant along a reference direction, a second monocrystalline region of the semiconductor material having a second lattice constant, which is different than the first, along the reference direction, and a third, strained monocrystalline region between the first region and the second region.
US09245932B2
Discussed is an organic light emitting display panel and an organic light emitting display device including the same. In the organic light emitting display panel, each of a plurality of unit pixels includes first to third driving transistors respectively connected to the first to third organic light emitting diodes, a first contact hole connected to one electrode of the first organic light emitting diode, a second contact hole connected to one electrode of the second organic light emitting diode, and a third contact hole connected to one electrode of the third organic light emitting diode, and are arranged in a matrix.
US09245928B2
According to an embodiment, a nonvolatile memory device includes: a first interconnection layer extending in a first direction; a second interconnection layer extending in a second direction crossing the first direction, the second interconnection layer including a metal-containing layer and a metal ion source layer, and the metal ion source layer being provided on the first interconnection layer side; and a resistance change layer provided in a position where the first interconnection layer and the second interconnection layer cross each other and a metal ion released from the metal ion source layer being capable to be diffused into the resistance change layer. At least part of the second interconnection layer protrudes to the first interconnection layer side in a cross section of the second interconnection layer cut perpendicularly to the second direction.
US09245927B2
Some embodiments include a construction having oxygen-sensitive structures directly over spaced-apart nodes. Each oxygen-sensitive structure includes an angled plate having a horizontal portion along a top surface of a node and a non-horizontal portion extending upwardly from the horizontal portion. Each angled plate has an interior sidewall where an inside corner is formed between the non-horizontal portion and the horizontal portion, an exterior sidewall in opposing relation to the interior sidewall, and lateral edges. Bitlines are over the oxygen-sensitive structures, and have sidewalls extending upwardly from the lateral edges of the oxygen-sensitive structures. A non-oxygen-containing structure is along the interior sidewalls, along the exterior sidewalls, along the lateral edges, over the bitlines, and along the sidewalls of the bitlines. Some embodiments include memory arrays, and methods of forming memory cells.
US09245926B2
Some embodiments include apparatuses and methods having a memory cell, first and second conductive lines configured to access the memory cell, and a switch configured to apply a signal to one of the first and second conductive lines. In at least one of such embodiments, the switch can include a phase change material. Other embodiments including additional apparatuses and methods are described.
US09245921B2
The performance of a semiconductor device is improved by preventing 1/f noise from being generated in a peripheral transistor, in the case where the occupation area of photodiodes, which are included in each of a plurality of pixels that form an image pickup device, is expanded. In the semiconductor device, the gate electrode of an amplification transistor is formed by both a gate electrode part over an active region and a large width part that covers the boundary between the active region and an element isolation region and the active region near the boundary and that has a gate length larger than that of the gate electrode part.
US09245915B2
The invention relates to a radiation detection device including a silicon substrate and an infrared photodiode made of a material optimized for infrared detection. The substrate comprises a photosensitive area, readout circuits, and interconnects formed in an electrically-insulating material. The interconnects and the metal contact connect the readout circuits, the photosensitive areas, and the infrared photodiode. The detection device also comprises an infrared radiation filtering structure which covers the photosensitive area without covering the infrared photodiode.
US09245910B2
According to one embodiment, provided is an array substrate that can effectively prevent an oxide conductive film and a silicon nitride film on the oxide conductive film from peeling without deteriorating reliability. A method for manufacturing the array substrate includes a surface treatment step and a nitride film forming step. In the surface treatment step, by plasma discharge, the oxide conductive film is cleaned without being reduced, and surface layers of the insulating film layer not covered by the oxide conductive film and portions of the insulating film layer in the regions covered by the oxide conductive film are etched to form recesses leading to portions under the oxide conductive film. In the nitride film forming step, successively from the surface treatment step, the silicon nitride film is formed by plasma CVD so as to cover the recesses and the oxide conductive film.
US09245904B2
The thickness of a rear surface-side inorganic film (9) formed from the same material as that of each of front surface-side inorganic films (11, 13, and 16) and provided at a rear surface side of a resin substrate (10) having a heat resistance is set in a predetermined range with respect to the total thickness of the front surface-side inorganic films (11, 13, and 16) so that the curvature diameter calculated based on the linear elastic modulus, the coefficient of linear expansion, and the thickness of the resin substrate (10); the linear elastic moduli, the coefficients of linear expansion, and the total thickness of the front surface-side inorganic films (11, 13, and 16); and the linear elastic modulus, the coefficient of linear expansion, and the thickness of the rear surface-side inorganic film (9) is 20 mm or more or −20 mm or less.
US09245903B2
An electrical device including a first semiconductor device in a first region of the SOI substrate and a second semiconductor device is present in a second region of the SOI substrate. The first semiconductor device comprises a first source and drain region that is present in the SOI layer of the SOI substrate, raised source and drain regions on the first source and drain regions, and a first gate structure on a channel region portion of the SOI layer. The second semiconductor device comprises a second source and drain region present in a base semiconductor layer of the SOI substrate and a second gate structure, wherein a gate dielectric of the second gate structure is provided by a buried dielectric layer of the SOI substrate and a gate conductor of the second gate structure comprises a same material as the raised source and drain region.
US09245900B2
A semiconductor device of the present invention has a first insulating film formed between a control gate electrode and a semiconductor substrate and a second insulating film formed between a memory gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate and between the control gate electrode and the memory gate electrode, the second insulating film having a charge accumulating part therein. The second insulating film has a first film, a second film serving as a charge accumulating part disposed on the first film, and a third film disposed on the second film. The third film has a sidewall film positioned between the control gate electrode and the memory gate electrode and a deposited film positioned between the memory gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate. In this structure, the distance at a corner part of the second insulating film can be increased, and electric-field concentration can be reduced.
US09245892B2
Embodiments for the present invention provide a semiconductor device and methods for fabrication. In an embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor structure comprises a first conductor horizontally formed on a semiconductor substrate. A second conductor is vertically formed in a semiconductor stack that includes the semiconductor substrate. An oxidized region is formed proximate to the first conductor. The second conductor is formed in a manner to be in electrical communication with the first conductor. The first conductor is formed in a manner to be laterally connected to the second conductor. The first conductor is formed in a manner to not traverse beneath the oxidized region. The first conductor is formed in a manner to have a reduced link-up resistance with adjacent epitaxial material included in the semiconductor structure.
US09245881B2
Methods and devices of a capacitor in a semiconductor device having an increased capacitance are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a method of forming a capacitor is disclosed. A section of a first insulating material between a first metal contact element and a second metal contact element is removed to form a channel. A second insulating material is deposited in the channel between the first metal contact element and the second metal contact element.
US09245877B2
A LED device is provided. The LED comprises a frame, a housing, a LED chip and a protection component. The frame comprises a first lead frame and a second lead frame disposed along a first direction and isolated from each other. The housing partially covers the first and second lead frames, and has a receiving portion exposing parts of the surfaces of the first and second lead frames. The LED chip is disposed in the receiving portion on the exposed surface of the first lead frame, and electrically connected to the first and second lead frames. The protection component is disposed on a surface of the second lead frame that is covered by the housing and electrically connected to the first lead frame. None of the sides of a vertical projection of the protection component on the second lead frame is parallel or perpendicular to the first direction.
US09245859B2
A wireless module includes a first board (2), in which an electronic component is mounted on one board (2a) and a ground layer (GND1) is formed on the other board (2b), a second board (3) which is laminated on the first board, a connecting member (8) which electrically connects the first board to the second board, a wiring pad (4) which electrically connects the first board to the connecting member, and a wiring pad (4b) which is provided on a bonded surface of the one board and the other board. A signal path of the connecting member has predetermined impedance which is determined depending on a distance between the second wiring pad and the ground layer.
US09245845B2
A semiconductor device includes a first wiring layer stacked over element electrodes above a silicon substrate and a second wiring layer stacked over the first wiring layer. The first wiring layer includes first source electrode wires and first drain electrode wires. The second wiring layer includes second source electrode wires and second drain electrode wires. The first wiring layer includes a first region and second regions. In the first region, each of the first source electrode wires and the first drain electrode wires is continuous. In each of the second regions, each of the first source electrode wires and the first drain electrode wires is discontinuous. Second source electrode wires and second drain electrode wires are arranged to alternately over the first regions and the second regions in one direction. External connection terminals are not connected over the second regions, and are connected over the first regions.
US09245844B2
A pitch-halving IC process is described. Parallel base line patterns are formed over a substrate, each being connected with a hammerhead pattern at a first or second side of the base line patterns, wherein the hammerhead patterns are arranged at the first side and the second side alternately, and the hammerhead patterns at the first or second side are arranged in a staggered manner. The above patterns are trimmed. A spacer is formed on the sidewalls of each base line pattern and the corresponding hammerhead pattern, including a pair of derivative line patterns, a loop pattern around the hammerhead pattern, and a turning pattern at the other end of the base line pattern. The base line patterns and the hammerhead patterns are removed. A portion of each loop pattern and at least a portion of each turning pattern are removed to disconnect each pair of derivative line patterns.
US09245837B1
An electronic RF power device includes a transistor chip, a device input terminal and a device output terminal. Further, the electronic RF power device includes an output impedance transformation circuit, an output contact clip bonded to the transistor chip and to the output device terminal and at least one bond wire bonded to the output impedance transformation circuit and to the transistor chip.
US09245834B2
A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die. The semiconductor die has a contact pad. A first conductive layer is formed over the contact pad. A conductive shell having a hollow core is formed over the first conductive layer. A compliant material is deposited in the hollow core. The semiconductor die is mounted over a substrate with the conductive shell electrically connected to a conductive trace on the substrate. A second conductive layer is formed over the conductive shell. The compliant material is an insulating material. A bump material is deposited around the conductive shell. A pre-solder material is deposited over the conductive trace. The conductive shell has a cross-sectional width less than 7 micrometers. The second conductive layer is a conductive lip. Mounting the semiconductor die over the substrate further includes mounting the semiconductor die over the substrate in a bump on lead (BOL) configuration.
US09245827B2
A three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor device may include a stack of chips, including a master chip and one or more slave chips. I/O connections of slave chips need not be connected to channels on a motherboard, and only electrode pads of a master chip may be connected to the channels. Only the master chip may provide a load to the channels. A through-substrate via (TSV) boundary may be set on a data input path, a data output path, an address/command path, and/or a clock path of a semiconductor device in which the same type of semiconductor chips are stacked.
US09245821B2
A cooling device for a semiconductor module supplying a coolant from outside into a water jacket and cooling a semiconductor element, includes a heat sink thermally connected to the semiconductor element; a first flow channel extending from a coolant introducing port and including a guide section having an inclined surface for guiding the coolant toward one side surface of the heat sink; a second flow channel disposed parallel to the first flow channel and extending toward a coolant discharge port; a flow velocity adjusting plate disposed in the second flow channel and formed parallel to the other side surface of the heat sink at a distance therefrom; and a third flow channel formed to communicate the first flow channel and the second flow channel. The heat sink is disposed in the third flow channel.
US09245818B2
In one embodiment, a biasing device is actuated using an actuator which is aligned with the biasing device along an alignment axis. A first frame is thereby biased toward a second frame along the alignment axis to bias an integrated circuit package toward a socket. The actuator also latches the first and second frames together and biased towards each other with the integrated circuit package and the socket biased toward each other. Other aspects and features are also described.
US09245814B2
A substrate assembly including a photosensitive etching glass substrate; and a first substrate and a second substrate for interposing both main surfaces of the photosensitive etching glass substrate between them. One of the main surfaces of the photosensitive etching glass substrate is thermally bonded to the first substrate, and the other main surface of the photosensitive etching glass substrate is bonded to the second substrate. When a thermal expansion coefficient of the photosensitive etching glass substrate is defined as C0, and a thermal expansion coefficient of the first substrate is defined as C1, and a thermal expansion coefficient of the second substrate is defined as C2, C1/C2 satisfies a relation of 0.7 or more and 1.3 or less, and at least one of a relation of C0/C1 satisfying less than 0.7 or larger than 1.3, and a relation of C0/C2 satisfying less than 0.7 or larger than 1.3 is satisfied.
US09245811B2
A method for treating a semiconductor wafer having a basic doping is disclosed. The method includes determining a doping concentration of the basic doping, and adapting the basic doping of the semiconductor wafer by postdoping. The postdoping includes at least one of the following methods: a proton implantation and a subsequent thermal process for producing hydrogen induced donors, and a neutron irradiation. In this case, at least one of the following parameters is dependent on the determined doping concentration of the basic doping: an implantation dose of the proton implantation, a temperature of the thermal process, and an irradiation dose of the neutron irradiation.
US09245807B2
A transistor region of a first semiconductor layer and a capacitor region in the first semiconductor layer are isolated. A dummy gate structure is formed on the first semiconductor layer in the transistor region. A second semiconductor layer is formed on the first semiconductor layer. First and second portions of the second semiconductor layer are located in the transistor region, and a third portion of the second semiconductor layer is located in the capacitor region. First, second, and third silicide regions are formed on the first, second, and third portions of the second semiconductor layer, respectively. After forming a dielectric layer, the dummy gate structure is removed forming a first cavity. At least a portion of the dielectric layer located above the third silicide region is removed forming a second cavity. A gate dielectric is formed in the first cavity and a capacitor dielectric in the second cavity.
US09245805B2
An integrated circuit structure includes an n-type fin field effect transistor (FinFET) and a p-type FinFET. The n-type FinFET includes a first germanium fin over a substrate; a first gate dielectric on a top surface and sidewalls of the first germanium fin; and a first gate electrode on the first gate dielectric. The p-type FinFET includes a second germanium fin over the substrate; a second gate dielectric on a top surface and sidewalls of the second germanium fin; and a second gate electrode on the second gate dielectric. The first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are formed of a same material having a work function close to an intrinsic energy level of germanium.
US09245804B2
Consistent with an example embodiment, there is a semiconductor device, with an active device having a front-side surface and a backside surface; the semiconductor device of an overall thickness, comprises an active device with circuitry defined on the front-side surface, the front-side surface having an area. The back-side of the active device has recesses f a partial depth of the active device thickness and a width of about the partial depth, the recesses surrounding the active device at vertical edges. There is a protective layer of a thickness on to the backside surface of the active device, the protective material having an area greater than the first area and having a stand-off distance. The vertical edges have the protective layer filling the recesses flush with the vertical edges. A stand-off distance of the protective material is a function of the semiconductor device thickness and the tangent of an angle (θ) of tooling impact upon a vertical face the semiconductor device.
US09245802B2
Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. A method includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer, the mask including a layer covering and protecting the integrated circuits. The mask and a portion of the semiconductor wafer are patterned with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask and to form trenches partially into but not through the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. Each of the trenches has a width. The semiconductor wafer is plasma etched through the trenches to form corresponding trench extensions and to singulate the integrated circuits. Each of the corresponding trench extensions has the width.
US09245793B2
Methods and apparatus for processing using a remote plasma source are disclosed. The apparatus includes an outer chamber enclosing a substrate support, a remote plasma source, and a showerhead. A substrate heater can be mounted in the substrate support. A transport system moves the substrate support and is capable of positioning the substrate. The plasma system may be used to generate activated species. The activated species can be used to treat the surfaces of low-k and/or ultra low-k dielectric materials to facilitate improved deposition of diffusion barrier materials.
US09245786B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and methods for positioning a substrate in a processing chamber using capacitive sensors. One embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for processing a substrate. The apparatus includes first and second capacitive sensors disposed in an inner volume. The first capacitive sensor is positioned to detect a location of an edge of the substrate at a first angular location. The second capacitive sensor is positioned to detect a vertical position of the substrate.
US09245784B2
A substrate retaining device comprising: a support mechanism configured to change a pitch at which a plurality of substrate retaining units are arranged, urging mechanisms provided for the respective substrate retaining units and configured to urge the movable units to cause movable retaining members to press-hold substrates, and a push back mechanism configured to release the press-holding of the substrates by the movable retaining members. A push back portion of the push back mechanism is positioned at a standby position, at which the push back portion makes no contact with the movable units.
US09245779B2
A method of preparing a thin film includes coating a thin film-forming composition on a substrate, and heat-treating the coated thin film-forming composition under a pressure less than 760 Torr. The thin film includes a compact layer having a thickness in a range of greater than 50 Å to about 20,000 Å and a refractive index in a range of about 1.85 to about 2.0.
US09245776B2
A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber in which a target substrate is processed; an application electrode and a facing electrode provided to face each other in the processing chamber, a plasma generation space being formed between the application electrode and the facing electrode; and an RF power supply connected to the application electrode, an RF power being supplied from the RF power supply to the application electrode. At least one of the application electrode and the facing electrode includes a base formed of a metal, and a dielectric body inserted into the base, one or more metal plate electrodes being buried in the dielectric body.
US09245767B2
An anneal module for annealing semiconductor material wafers and similar substrates reduces particle contamination and oxygen ingress while providing uniform heating including for 500° C. processes. The anneal module may include a process chamber formed in a metal body having internal cooling lines. A hot plate has a pedestal supported on a thermal choke on the body. A gas distributor in the lid over the hot plate flows gas uniformly over the wafer. A transfer mechanism moves a hoop to shift the wafer between the hot plate and a cold plate.
US09245766B2
A semiconductor process for manufacturing particular patterns includes the steps of forming a target layer and evenly-spaced core bodies on a substrate, conformally forming a hard mask layer, forming a first photoresist covering a predetermined region on the hard mask layer wherein the predetermined region encompasses at least two core bodies, performing a first etch process to remove a portion of the hard mask layer outside the predetermined region and expose a number of core bodies, removing the exposed core bodies, forming a second photoresist at least encompassing all the recesses in the predetermined region, and performing a second etch process to pattern the target layer.
US09245763B2
The present disclosure provides a method for forming patterns in a semiconductor device. In accordance with some embodiments, the method includes providing a substrate, a patterning-target layer over the substrate, and a hard mask layer over the patterning-target layer; forming a first pattern in the hard mask layer; removing a trim portion from the first pattern in the hard mask layer to form a trimmed first pattern; forming a first resist layer over the hard mask layer; forming a main pattern in the first resist layer; and etching the patterning-target layer using the main pattern and the trimmed first pattern as etching mask elements to form a final pattern in the patterning-target layer. In some embodiments, the final pattern includes the main pattern subtracting a first overlapping portion between the main pattern and the trimmed first pattern.
US09245753B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the steps of: forming a semiconductor layer on a first main surface of a semiconductor substrate made of crystals having a wide band gap; forming lattice defects on a second main surface on a side opposite to the first main surface of the semiconductor substrate; and emitting a laser beam having a longer wavelength than an absorption edge wavelength which is a wavelength of a light having the lowest energy which the crystals absorb, to a lower surface of the semiconductor substrate after the step of forming the lattice defects; and forming an electrode on the second main surface of the semiconductor substrate after the step of emitting the laser beam.
US09245751B2
A system and method for anti-reflective layers is provided. In an embodiment the anti-reflective layer comprises a floating component in order to form a floating region along a top surface of the anti-reflective layer after the anti-reflective layer has dispersed. The floating component may be a floating cross-linking agent, a floating polymer resin, or a floating catalyst. The floating cross-linking agent, the floating polymer resin, or the floating catalyst may comprise a fluorine atom.
US09245748B2
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing semiconductor materials comprising epitaxial growing of group III-V materials, for example gallium arsenide (GaAs), on for example a non III-V group material like silicon (Si) substrates (wafers), and especially to pre-processing steps providing a location stabilization of dislocation faults in a surface layer of the non III-V material wafer in an orientation relative to an epitaxial material growing direction during growing of the III-V materials, wherein the location stabilized dislocation fault orientations provides a barrier against threading dislocations (stacking of faults) from being formed in the growing direction of the III-V materials during the epitaxial growth process.
US09245747B2
A method for releasing a semiconductor layer with a reduced active area from a base substrate is provided. A patterned release layer is first formed between a semiconductor layer comprised of an III-V compound semiconductor material and formed by a lateral epitaxial overgrowth technique and a base substrate. The patterned release layer is in contact with a Group III nitride surface. The patterned release layer is composed of a material having a lower fracture toughness than that of the III-V compound semiconductor material and that of the base substrate so that a crack will initiate in the pattern release layer during the controlled spalling process. The semiconductor layer is released from the underlying base substrate along a spalling plane located at a portion of the semiconductor layer enclosing the patterned release layer and the base substrate.
US09245745B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, includes: forming a film containing a predetermined element on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: supplying a first precursor containing the predetermined element and a halogen group to the substrate; supplying a second precursor containing the predetermined element and an amino group to the substrate; and supplying a reducing agent not containing halogen, nitrogen and carbon to the substrate.
US09245736B2
A semiconductor wafer can include a substrate, a poly template layer, and a semiconductor layer. The substrate has a central region and an edge region, the poly template layer is disposed along a peripheral edge of the substrate, and a semiconductor layer over the central region, wherein the semiconductor layer is monocrystalline. In an embodiment, the poly template layer and the monocrystalline layer are laterally spaced apart from each other by an intermediate region. In another embodiment, the semiconductor layer can include aluminum. A process of forming the substrate can include forming a patterned poly template layer within the edge region and forming a semiconductor layer over the primary surface. Another process of forming the substrate can include forming a semiconductor layer over the primary surface and removing a portion of the semiconductor layer so that the semiconductor layer is spaced apart from an edge of the substrate.
US09245722B2
SMS probe imaging systems, methods of use thereof, and the like are disclosed. Embodiments of the present disclosure can use direct interrogation of objects (e.g., cells or tissue) within a small pool/droplet of liquid, optional thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical and chemical manipulation, followed immediately by liquid sampling, optional sample conditioning, and soft ionization of biomolecules.
US09245713B2
A charged particle beam apparatus for processing a tip end portion of a sample into a needle shape, includes an ion beam irradiation unit that irradiates the tip end portion with ion beams, an electron beam irradiation unit that irradiates the tip end portion with electron beams, a secondary electron detection unit that detects secondary electrons generated at the tip end portion by the irradiation with the electron beams, and an EBSD detection unit that detects diffracted electrons generated at the tip end portion by the irradiation with the electron beams.
US09245710B2
A charged particle beam device that appropriately maintains a throughput of the device for each of specimens different in a gas emission volume from each other is provided. A scanning electron microscope includes an electron source, a specimen stage, a specimen chamber, and an exchange chamber, and further includes a vacuum gauge that measures an internal pressure of the exchange chamber, a time counting unit that counts time taken when a measurement result by the vacuum gauge has reached a predetermined degree of vacuum, and an integral control unit that performs comparative calculation and determination based on a measurement result by the time counting unit and integral control based on a process flow. And, the integral control unit controls changing of a content of a subsequent process based on a shift of the degree of vacuum of the exchange chamber.
US09245708B2
A system using an energy beam to expose patterns on a wafer includes first mirror elements, a multiplexer element, and second mirror elements. The first and second mirror elements are dynamically controlled to reflect the energy beam to the wafer. The first mirror elements are configured in a first chain having a first data input and a first data output. The multiplexer element includes a second data input, a third data input, a select input, and a second data output. The third data input is coupled to the first data output. The second mirror elements are configured in a second chain having a fourth data input.
US09245701B2
An actuating device for actuating a function on a motor vehicle includes a touch surface actuated by a user. The touch surface is arranged in such a way that it can be moved under pressure from a first end position to a second end position. An elastic reset urges the touch surface into the first end position. A contact switch is arranged between the touch surface and a support surface. A guide sleeve and a guide pin guide the touch surface when actuated. When moving the touch surface, the guide pin is moved in an axial direction into the sleeve and is secured against lateral movement in a small diameter section of the pin. However, the guide pin can be tipped in the sleeve about a pivot point in the small diameter section, thus preventing the touch surface from being jammed in the event of a decentralized impact.
US09245695B2
In an embodiment of the invention, an energy storage device is described including a pair of electrically conductive porous structures, with each of the electrically conductive porous structures containing an electrolyte loaded into a plurality of pores. A solid or semi-solid electrolyte layer separates the pair of electrically conductive porous structures and penetrates the plurality of pores of the pair of electrically conductive porous structures. In an embodiment of the invention, an electrically conductive porous structure is formed on a substrate, the electrically conductive porous structure containing a plurality of pores. An electrolyte is then loaded into the plurality of pores, and an electrolyte layer is formed over the electrically conductive porous structure. In an embodiment, the electrolyte layer penetrates the plurality of pores of the electrically conductive porous structure.
US09245693B2
A method of manufacturing an electrode includes printing an electrode ink on a portion of a substrate using a rotary lithographic printer. The electrode ink is allowed to dry on the substrate. A separator material is printed on the portion of the substrate using the rotary lithographic printer. A sealant wall is printed around the portion of the substrate using the rotary lithographic printer.
US09245692B2
Disclosed is a dye-sensitized solar cell which includes a working electrode having a porous titanium oxide layer on a conductive substrate capable of transmitting light, a counter electrode disposed so as to face the working electrode, a photosensitizing dye supported on the porous titanium oxide layer of the working electrode, and an electrolyte disposed between the working electrode and the counter electrode. The porous titanium oxide layer includes a rutile crystal-containing layer containing an anatase crystal-type titanium oxide composed of an anatase crystal and a spherical rutile crystal-type titanium oxide composed of a rutile crystal, and a content of the rutile crystal-type titanium oxide in the rutile crystal-containing layer is from 3 to 15% by mass.
US09245690B2
There is provided a multilayer ceramic capacitor including: a ceramic body including a plurality of dielectric layers; a plurality of first and second internal electrodes disposed in the ceramic body to be alternately exposed to the third and fourth end surfaces, having the dielectric layers interposed therebetween; and first and second external electrodes electrically connected to the first and second internal electrodes, wherein the first and second external electrodes include: first and second conductive glass layers; first and second conductive resin layers containing copper and an epoxy; and first and second insulating layers.
US09245683B2
An inductive coupler apparatus have a first inductive coupler with a first magnetic center shaft having a recessed portion, a first outer magnetic layer disposed around the first magnetic center shaft, and a first coil disposed around the first magnetic center shaft and disposed within the first outer magnetic layer and a second inductive coupler with a second magnetic center shaft having a recessed portion, a second outer magnetic layer disposed around the second magnetic center shaft, and a second coil disposed around the second magnetic center shaft and disposed within the second outer magnetic layer. When the first and second inductive couplers are in the coupled position the inductive couplers can provide for the transmission of power and/or communication between downhole tools in a bottom hole assembly.
US09245681B2
In a common-mode choke coil, first annular conductors are helically defined from the lower layer to the upper layer, and first annular conductors are helically defined from the upper layer to the lower layer. Further, second annular conductors are helically defined from the lower layer to the upper layer, and second annular conductors are helically defined from the upper layer to the lower layer. The first annular conductors and the second annular conductors are disposed alternately in a lamination direction. The first annular conductors and the second annular conductors are disposed such that substantial portions of the annular conductors adjacent to each other in the layer direction do not overlap in a planar view. This structure achieves a compact common-mode choke coil with which the loss of normal-mode signals is small, and which is highly capable of removing common-mode noise.
US09245679B1
The magnetic levitation assembly includes at least one electromagnet that is coupled to a support surface. A top coupler is positionable around a top of a beverage container. The top coupler is attracted to the at least one electromagnet. A bottom coupler is positionable on a bottom of the beverage container. The bottom coupler is repelled to the at least one electromagnet. The beverage container is levitated by magnetism via attraction to an electromagnet positioned above or repelled to an electromagnet positioned below a respective coupler.
US09245677B2
An improved system for concentrating magnetic flux of a multi-pole magnetic structure at the surface of a ferromagnetic target uses first pole pieces having a magnet-to-pole piece interface with a first area and a pole piece-to-target interface with a second area substantially smaller than the first area for concentrating flux of the multi-pole magnetic structure at each pole piece-to-target interface, where the target can be a ferromagnetic material, complementary pole pieces, or a gap. The improved system may also include a magnetic circuit having second pole pieces located between the first pole pieces and the target that controls the flux directed from the first pole pieces to the target.
US09245669B2
A high performance communications cable includes core support-separators which define clearance channels to maintain spacing between transmission media or transmission media pairs. The core support-separator can be either interior to a cable jacket or be employed singularly without the benefit of a jacket and extends along the longitudinal length of the communications cable. Alternatively, with no jacket for cable completion, a thin layer of material along the exterior of the support-separator acts as a type of skin for mechanical protection. The core support-separator has a central region that includes flap-tops along the radial edge that are available for partial or complete sealing of the clearance channels during manufacturing operations. The central region may also include a hollow center portion. Each of the defined clearance channels allow for disposal therein of metal conductors and/or optical fibers.
US09245665B2
A conductive metal composition comprising 40 to 88 wt % of silver particles having an average particle size in the range of 10 to 100 nm and having an aspect ratio of 3 to 1:1, 2 to 20 wt % of a poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) resin having a weight-average molar mass of 50,000 to 500,000 and 10 to 58 wt % of a solvent for the poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) resin.
US09245655B2
A method for vitrifying waste to prevent the formation of molybdate secondary phases includes forming a feed mixture that includes the waste, a source of vanadium, and at least one of glass frit or glass forming chemicals and vitrifying the feed mixture in a melter to produce a glass product that includes the waste.
US09245654B2
A fusion device produces fusion of neutral atoms and ions in an “aneutronic fusion” manner without neutrons as products utilizes strong ion-neutral coupling at high neutral densities. Ions and neutrals rotate together in a cylindrical chamber due to frequent collisions. High magnetic forces make the attainment of high rotation energy possible; the magnetic field in a medium can be set at very high values because of the absence of magnetic charges. The repeated acceleration by strong magnetic forces in the azimuthal direction makes possible very high ion velocity. Fusion takes place mainly between neutral particles. This approach can be applied to fusion with neutrons as well. Conventional fusion schemes and neutron sources can be realized using the principles described above in the generation of neutrals of high energies and densities.
US09245652B2
In a complex semiconductor device including embedded memories, the round trip latency may be determined during a memory self-test by applying a ping signal having the same latency as control and failure signals used during the self-test. The ping signal may be used for controlling an operation counter in order to obtain a reliable correspondence between the counter value and a memory operation causing a specified memory failure.
US09245649B2
A nonvolatile sample and hold circuit can include a resistive switching circuit, a sample circuit, a reset circuit, and a converter circuit. The resistive switching circuit can be operable to accept an input voltage Vg, and provide a resistance response Rrs that corresponds to the input signal Vg. The sampling circuit can be operable to sample an input signal such as an input voltage Vin, to provide a sampled voltage Vg. The reset circuit can be operable to reset the resistive switching circuit to a high resistance state. The converter circuit can be operable to convert the resistive switching circuit to an output voltage. The novel sample and hold circuit can have no issues related to charge injection, no settling time and instantaneous sampling time, together with potentially infinite hold time.
US09245648B1
In a one-time-programming (OTP) memory cell, dual-voltage sensing is utilized to determine whether the memory cell has experienced a non/soft breakdown or a hard breakdown. The drain current of the memory cell is read when the gate voltage is at a first predetermined voltage, and if the read drain current is greater than a predetermined current level, then a hard breakdown is detected. One or more additional readings of the current may be obtained to determine that a hard breakdown has occurred. If the read drain current is less than the predetermined current level, then a non/soft breakdown is detected. The threshold voltage of the memory cell may be shifted, and a second reading of the drain current may be obtained when the gate voltage is at a second predetermined voltage in case the memory cell experiences a non/soft breakdown.
US09245644B2
A nonvolatile memory array is divided into multiple memory groups. The nonvolatile memory array receives an erase command to erase a first set of the memory groups, and not a second set of the memory groups. The control circuitry is responsive to the erase command to erase the first set of memory groups, by applying a recovery bias arrangement that adjusts threshold voltages of memory cells in at least one memory group of the second set of memory groups. By applying the recovery bias arrangement to memory cells in at least one memory group of the second set of memory groups, erase disturb is corrected during the recovery bias arrangement, at least in part.
US09245640B2
A memory device includes core memory such as flash memory for storing data. The memory device includes a first power input to receive a first voltage used to power the flash memory. Additionally, the memory device includes a second power input to receive a second voltage. The memory device includes power management circuitry configured to receive the second voltage and derive one or more internal voltages. The power management circuitry supplies or conveys the internal voltages to the flash memory. The different internal voltages generated by the power management circuitry (e.g., voltage converter circuit) and supplied to the core memory enable operations such as read/program/erase with respect to cells in the core memory.
US09245639B1
A NAND flash memory achieves low read latency and avoidance of inadvertent programming and program disturb so that the random access and initial page read speeds of the NAND flash memory are generally comparable to that of a NOR flash memory, while preserving the higher memory density and lower power operation characteristics of traditional NAND flash memory relative to NOR flash memory. The reduction in latency is achieved by a NAND memory array architecture which employs a small NAND string, a dual plane interleaved memory architecture, a partitioned NAND array, selectively coupled local bit lines per each global bit line, and a counter-biasing mechanism to avoid inadvertent programming and program disturb.
US09245636B2
A NAND flash memory unit, an operating method and a reading method are provided. The NAND flash memory unit includes a plurality of gate layers, a tunnel layer, a charge trapping layer, a conductor layer and a second dielectric layer. A first dielectric layer is included between two adjacent gate layers among the gate layers. The tunnel layer, the charge trapping layer, the conductor layer, and the second dielectric layer penetrate the gate layers. The charge trapping layer is disposed between the tunnel layer and the gate layers, and the second dielectric layer is disposed between the conductor layer and the tunnel layer. Therefore, an erasing speed may be increased; the charge trapping layer may be repaired; the controllability of the gate layers may be increased.
US09245635B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory can reduce variations in an amount of current during data writing operation. This allows for the writing of data to memory cells with high precision. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes a plurality of memory cells, word lines connected to the memory cells, and bit lines connected to each of the memory cells. At least two of the bit lines are selected, and a current is simultaneously supplied from a power supply line to those memory cells which are connected to the selected bit lines in order to write data thereto. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory also includes charge amount measurement units for measuring respective amounts of charge stored in the memory cells. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory also includes current path switching circuits connected to the respective bit lines. Those current path switching circuits which are connected to the selected bit lines supply a current from the power supply line to the memory cells or a predetermined terminal depending on a measured value of the amount of charge measured by the charge amount measurement section.
US09245633B2
A storage device, an electronic device, and a corresponding method for programming a memory are provided. The memory includes a plurality of cells. Each of the cells stores a plurality of bits. The bits of the memory are arranged into a plurality of pages of the memory. The method includes the following steps: receiving a host command for programming data into a first page of the memory; and performing 2Plane programming to program the data into the first page and backups the data into a second page of the memory when the first page does not consist of the most significant bits (MSBs) of the cells. The first page and the second page are located in different planes of the memory.
US09245631B2
A storage device includes a controller and a non-volatile memory that includes a three-dimensional (3D) memory. A method performed in the data storage device includes receiving, at the controller, first data to be stored at the non-volatile memory. The method further includes sending, from the controller, the first data, first dummy data, and second dummy data to the non-volatile memory to be stored at respective logical pages of a single physical page in the non-volatile memory. The single physical page includes multiple storage elements that are programmable into multiple voltage states according to a mapping of bits to states. The first dummy data and the second dummy data prevent a storage element of the single physical page from being programmed to a particular voltage state of the multiple voltage states.
US09245629B2
A three-dimensional array of memory elements is formed across multiple layers of planes positioned at different distances above a semiconductor substrate. The memory elements reversibly change a level of electrical conductance in response to a voltage difference being applied across them. The three-dimensional array includes a two-dimensional array of pillar lines from the substrate through the multiple layers of planes. A first set of pillar lines acts as local bit lines for accessing the memory elements together with an array of word lines on each plane. A second set of pillar lines is connected to the word lines. An array of metal lines on the substrate is switchable connected to the pillar lines to provide access to the first and second sets of pillar lines, thereby to provide access respectively to the bit lines and word lines of the three-dimensional array.
US09245623B2
A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including a first wire, a second wire crossing the first wire, and a memory cell connected to both the wires at a crossing portion of the first wire and the second wire, the memory cell including a variable resistance element storing data in a non-volatile manner by a resistance value, and a control circuit setting the variable resistance element in first or second resistance state by application of first or second voltage to the memory cell and reading data from the memory cell by application of third voltage to the memory cell. The control circuit applies to the memory cell at predetermined timing weak write voltage causing the variable resistance element to be held in the first resistance state and the second resistance state.
US09245622B1
Providing for preconditioning of multi-programmable, two-terminal memory for improved endurance and switching functionality is described herein. By way of example, one or more pre-conditioning signals can be applied to a memory cell post-fabrication. The preconditioning signal(s) can have relatively small power, avoiding programming of the memory cell, compared with an associated program signal. The preconditioning signal(s) can facilitate reliable erasure of the memory cell following subsequent programming at normal programming power. Accordingly, switching functionality of the two-terminal memory can be preserved, maintaining the multi-programmable nature of the memory cell.
US09245620B2
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods including drift acceleration in resistance variable memory. A number of embodiments include applying a programming signal to the resistance variable memory cell to program the cell to a target state, subsequently applying a pre-read signal to the resistance variable memory cell to accelerate a drift of a resistance of the programmed cell, and subsequently applying a read signal to the resistance variable memory cell.
US09245616B2
A system and method for storing data uses multiple flash memory dies. Each flash memory die includes multiple flash memory cells. A charge pump is adapted to supply charge at a predetermined voltage to each flash memory die of the flash memory dies, and an interface is adapted to receive instructions for controlling the charge pump.
US09245614B2
A semiconductor device having a high degree of freedom of layout has a first part AR1, in which a plurality of p-type wells PW and n-type wells NW are alternately arranged to be adjacent to each other along an X-axis direction. A common power feeding region (ARP2) for the plurality of wells PW is arranged on one side so as to interpose the AR1 in a Y-axis direction, and a common power feeding region (ARN2) for the plurality of wells NW is arranged on the other side. In the power feeding region (ARP2) for the PW wells, a p+-type power-feeding diffusion layer P+(DFW) having an elongate shape extending in the X-axis direction is formed. A plurality of gate layers GT extending in the X-axis direction to cross the boundary between the PW and NW wells are arranged in the AR1, and a plurality of MIS transistors are correspondingly formed.
US09245613B2
Disclosed is a storage interface apparatus for a solid state drive (SSD) tester which allows a plurality of interfaces to share a single protocol in parts where the protocol is commonly used in a multiple interface for interfacing a storage. The storage interface apparatus for the solid state driver tester includes: a host terminal for receiving a test condition for testing a storage from a user; and a test control unit for generating a test pattern corresponding to the test condition to test the storage. The test control unit includes a storage interface unit for interfacing the storage, and the storage interface unit includes a plurality of interfaces that share a protocol in parts where the protocol is commonly used.
US09245607B2
According to one embodiment, a memory includes first to fourth memory cells aligned in a first direction. Each of the first to fourth memory cells comprises a cell transistor having a gate connected to a word line extending in a second direction crossing the first direction and a resistive memory element having one end connected to a first source/drain region of the cell transistor. A second source/drain region of the cell transistor is connected to one of a first bit line extending in the first direction and a second bit line extending in the second direction. The other end of the resistive memory element is connected to one of the first and second bit lines which is apart from the second source/drain region. The second source/drain regions in the first and second memory cells are shared, and the second source/drain regions in the third and fourth memory cells are shared.
US09245602B2
A memory device with word-line voltage boosting includes a set of first switches that are operable to couple a word-line of the memory device to a supply voltage to pull the word-line up to a rail voltage. A dummy line including a conductive route can be disposed in a vicinity of the word-line to form a parasitic coupling capacitance with the word-line. A second switch is operable to couple the dummy line to the supply voltage to pull the dummy line to the rail voltage. Pulling up the dummy line boosts the word-line voltage above the rail voltage by a boost voltage.
US09245598B2
Disclosed herein are circuitry and methods for transmitting data across a parallel bus using both high common mode and low common mode signaling. The transmitter stages are configured to work with two of three possible power supply voltages: a high Vddq voltage, a low Vssq voltage, and an intermediate Vx voltage. In one embodiment, the odd numbered transmitter stages, that drive the odd numbered outputs to the bus, use the Vddq and Vx supplies, such that the odd numbered outputs comprise high common mode signals. The even numbered transmitter stages, that drive the even numbered outputs to the bus, use the Vx and Vssq supplies, such that the even numbered outputs comprise low common mode signals.
US09245596B1
A charge pump system includes a logic circuit, a signal processing circuit, a charge pump circuit, a switching circuit, a first controllable discharge path, and a second controllable discharge path. The logic circuit receives a program enabling signal and generates a first control signal. The signal processing circuit receives a pump enabling signal, and generates a second control signal and a third control signal. The charge pump circuit receives the third control signal and generates an output signal. The switching circuit has a control terminal receiving the third control signal, a first terminal connected with the output terminal of the charge pump circuit, and a second terminal connected with a reservoir capacitor. The first controllable discharge path receives the first control signal, and the second controllable discharge path receives the second control signal.
US09245589B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor device which can be driven at low voltage is provided. A nonvolatile semiconductor device with low power consumption is provided. A Schmitt trigger NAND circuit and a Schmitt trigger inverter are included. Data is held in a period when the supply of power supply voltage is continued, and a potential corresponding to the data is stored at a node electrically connected to a capacitor before a period when the supply of power supply voltage is stopped. By utilizing a change in channel resistance of a transistor whose gate is connected to the node, the data is restored in response to the restart of the supply of power supply voltage.
US09245588B2
A stack type memory device includes a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of bit lines arranged and stacked on the semiconductor substrate; a plurality of word lines formed on the plurality of bit lines; a plurality of interconnection units, each extending from a respective word line toward a respective one of the plurality of bit lines; and a plurality of memory cells connected between the plurality of bit lines and the interconnection units extending from the plurality of word lines, respectively.
US09245586B2
Various systems and methods for media defect detection.
US09245577B1
A data storage device is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk and a spindle motor configured to rotate the disk, wherein the spindle motor comprises a plurality of windings. The spindle motor is powered with a power voltage generated in response to a supply voltage. A clamping circuit is enabled when sensing a current flowing from the power voltage through at least one of the windings, wherein the clamping circuit is configured to clamp the power voltage to less than a peak voltage of the supply voltage in order to attenuate noise in the power voltage. The clamping circuit is disabled when not sensing the current.
US09245574B2
An optical disk drive including: a housing; a tray installed in the housing; an optical pickup unit mounted in the tray; and a guide shaft mounted in the tray such that the optical pickup unit and the guide shaft are configured such that the optical pickup unit is reciprocally movable along the guide shaft.
US09245564B2
According to one embodiment, a soft underlayer structure includes a coupling layer, at least one outer soft underlayer positioned above and below the coupling layer, and at least one inner soft underlayer positioned above and below the coupling layer between the coupling layer and the associated outer soft underlayer, where the inner soft underlayers have a saturation magnetic flux density and/or a thickness that is different than a saturation magnetic flux density and/or a thickness of the outer soft underlayers.
US09245562B1
A magnetic transducer with a composite main pole and methods for fabricating the magnetic transducer are provided. The magnetic transducer includes a main pole having at least a first portion and a second portion. The first portion includes a first magnetic material and has a first side forming at least a portion of an air bearing surface (ABS) of the main pole. The second portion includes a second magnetic material that is different from the first magnetic material, and the second portion is spaced apart from the ABS. The main pole may further include a third portion, where the second portion and the third portion are each located at one of the trailing side or the leading side of the main pole, with the third portion made of magnetic material that is different from the first magnetic material, and the third portion being spaced apart from the ABS.
US09245561B1
An apparatus comprises a slider that includes a fly height sensor. A signal generator is coupled to the slider. The signal generator is configured to generate an AC electrical signal having a DC offset voltage and to adjust the DC offset of the AC electrical signal to a plurality of DC offset voltages. Circuitry is coupled to the fly height sensor and the signal generator. The circuitry is configured to measure fly height of the slider in response to application of the AC electrical signal with varying DC offset voltages to the slider. The circuitry is further configured to determine an extremum of the measured fly heights and generate an output that includes the DC offset voltage associated with the fly height extremum.
US09245559B2
A method of mitigating an effect of track misregistration on read performance in a system comprising an array-reader includes determining an estimated off-track condition, selecting translation coefficients based on the estimated off-track condition, determining updated equalizer coefficients by applying the translation coefficients to native equalizer coefficients, and applying the updated equalizer coefficients to signals received from the array-reader to output a read signal.
US09245546B1
A contamination mitigation cap for a hard disk drive actuator pivot assembly is affixed to the rotatable carriage of an actuator assembly and, in conjunction with a bearing hub cap, forms a labyrinth seal for retaining pivot bearing contamination. Consequently, the risk of such contamination migrating to the head-disk interface and causing read/write problems is mitigated, especially in the context of sleeveless pivot bearing assemblies. Various shapes of the contamination mitigation cap may be utilized, such as a flat ring, an S-section ring, and an L-section ring.
US09245544B1
A surface forming method for electronic component includes: forming a body that has at least one waveguide, with two ends of the waveguide exposed on a front end surface and a back end surface of the body; forming a photoresist film to cover on the front end surface of the body; irradiating a light from the back end surface of the body to remove a part, of the photoresist film, that covers at least a part of an end surface of the waveguide, thereby forming an exposed area on the end surface of the waveguide; etching the exposed area of the waveguide to form a recess; and removing the photoresist film. The position and size of the pattern could be controlled accurately and efficiently, instead of inefficient complex procedures of alignment.
US09245543B1
A method for providing energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) heads are described. The method and system include providing a substrate, at least one EAMR transducer, an overcoat layer and at least one laser. The substrate has a leading edge and a substrate trailing edge. The EAMR transducer(s) reside in a device layer and on the substrate trailing edge. The overcoat layer includes a plurality of contacts. The device layer is between the overcoat layer and the substrate trailing edge. The laser(s) provide energy to the EAMR transducer. The overcoat layer is between the substrate trailing edge and the laser(s). The laser(s) are electrically coupled to at least a first portion of the contacts. The contacts provide thermal connection through the overcoat layer and through the device layer to the substrate. At least a second portion of the contacts is electrically insulated from the substrate.
US09245539B2
This invention provides a voiced sound interval detection device which enables appropriate detection of a voiced sound interval of an observation signal even when a volume of sound from a sound source varies or when the number of sound sources is unknown or when different kinds of microphones are used together.
US09245530B2
An apparatus for providing one or more adjusted parameters for a provision of an upmix signal representation on the basis of a downmix signal representation and a parametric side information associated with the downmix signal representation has a parameter adjuster. The parameter adjuster is configured to receive one or more parameters and to provide, on the basis thereof, one or more adjusted parameters. The parameter adjuster is configured to provide the one or more adjusted parameters in dependence on an average value of a plurality of parameter values, such that a distortion of the upmix signal representation caused by the use of non-optimal parameters is reduced at least for parameters deviating from optimal parameters by more than a predetermined deviation.
US09245529B2
A method of encoding samples in a digital signal is provided that includes receiving a plurality of samples of the digital signal, and encoding the plurality of samples, wherein an output number of bits is adapted for coding efficiency when a value in a range of possible distinct data values of the plurality of samples is not found in the plurality of samples.
US09245520B2
A reverberator for reverberating an audio signal includes a feedback delay loop processor for delaying at least two different frequency subband signals representing the audio signal by different loop delays to obtain reverberated frequency subband signals.
US09245519B2
Systems and methods to cancel noise in a vehicle are disclosed. A first speaker is positioned forward of a steering wheel of a vehicle. The first speaker generates a first signal configured to acoustically cancel noise produced by operation of the vehicle. A second speaker is positioned forward of the steering wheel. The second speaker generates a second signal to acoustically cancel the noise produced by the operation of the vehicle. The first and the second speakers are capable of generating the first and the second signals independently of one another.
US09245513B1
Radial input waveguide is provided having three consecutive sound wave propagation passageways, virtually divided by two folding regions along its extension from radial input up to substantially rectangular output, each one forming a different type of waves and all three channels shaped between an internal body and a shell housing enclosing it at a distance. The radially expanding initial air channel forms a cylindrical wave front between two input walls. A relatively wide region with parallel walls is available for wave folding at adaptably changeable diameters in this region with a small distance between the folded walls. All individual partial wave fronts on the periphery of the first folding region are traveling along substantially equal, accumulated from the last two air channels, path lengths, to the waveguide output, forming there a common isophase and planar wave front. The middle passageway contains all the physical dimensions necessary to control the waveguide performance, the most important being the height H and the width D, whose ratio controls the wave front output curvature.
US09245509B2
In a musical instrument, such as a piano, having a sound board, the sound board vibrates in response to vibrations of a string responsive to depression of a key. A waveform corresponding to such vibrations of the sound board is detected and recorded into a memory for each of the keys. The recorded vibration waveform is usable for reproduction of a sound based on sound board vibrations. In a sound reproduction apparatus, such as a piano, having a sound board, an excitation device physically excitable in response to an input waveform is provided on the sound board. In response to an operation of a key, a sound board vibration waveform corresponding to the operated key is read out from the memory, and the excitation device is driven in accordance with the read-out waveform signal so that the sound board is vibrated.
US09245489B2
A display apparatus including a gate driving circuit configured to include a plurality of stages connected to each other one after another. An i-th stage of the stages includes an output transistor and a control part. At least one control transistor included in the control part includes a first control electrode to which a switching control signal is applied, and a second control electrode disposed on a layer different from a layer on which the first control electrode is disposed, and to which a reference voltage is applied.
US09245487B2
Systems, methods, and devices for reducing the loss of transmittance caused by column inversion. To provide one example, an electronic display may include a display panel with columns of pixels and driver circuitry to drive the pixels using column inversion. Adjacent columns that are driven at like polarity are spaced more closely than adjacent columns driven at opposite polarities.
US09245479B2
A display device includes: a signal controller which receives an input image signal and generates a changed image signal, where the signal controller divides the inputted image signal into red, green and blue image signals, changes the blue image signal to a first blue image signal or a second blue image signal, matches white balance of the red, green, first blue or second blue image signals, and generates the changed image signal by compensating a gamma value of the red, green, first blue or second blue image signals; a display panel which displays an image corresponding to the changed image signal, where the display panel includes a pixel including red, green, first blue and second blue sub-pixels; and a data driver which receives the changed image signal from the signal controller and applies a data voltage corresponding to the changed image signal to the display panel.
US09245477B2
A display device which displays an image having a size corresponding to a display area exposed outside a housing is disclosed. In one aspect, the display device includes a flexible display panel having a recognition pattern, a housing, and a light-receiving sensor. The recognition pattern includes a plurality of self-luminous indicators arranged according to a first direction, and having different colors or different light-emitting intensities. The housing is coupled to the flexible display panel for entering/discharging of the flexible display panel according to the first direction such that a display area of the flexible display panel is variously exposed. The light-receiving sensor is positioned corresponding to the recognition pattern in the housing and respectively recognizes a plurality of indicators to sense the exposed display area of the flexible display panel.
US09245476B2
A start control circuit is provided, which comprises a first switch unit, a start control unit and a second switch unit; the first switch unit is configured to determine a charging path of the start control unit according to the input signals of different start modes; the start control unit is configured to carry out the corresponding start modes, and start energy of the corresponding start modes is stored during a period of charging time corresponding to the charging path, thereby control the current of the second switch unit at the starting moment; and the second switch unit is configured to control an external circuit by receiving gating signals outputted from the start control unit. The present invention also provides a display panel driving circuit and a display device using the start control circuit.
US09245472B2
A display device including a data mapping unit configured to identify a minimum value of the three-color input data corresponding to red, green, and blue (RGB), to determine white output color data by multiplying the identified minimum value by a gain ratio, and to subtract the white output color data from each of the three-color input data to determine RGB output color data, a gain adjustment unit configured to determine a preliminary gain ratio to minimize standard deviations of each of the white and RGB output color data, and to change a preliminary gain ratio based on an accumulated sum of color data used for respective sub-pixels in a previously displayed image to determine the gain ratio, and a display unit including unit pixels, each including RGB and white sub-pixels, and configured to display an image which corresponds to the and RGB output color data.
US09245471B2
A multi-primary-color liquid crystal display device (100) according to the present invention includes a liquid crystal display panel (10) with a pixel made up of red, green, blue and yellow subpixels (R, G, B, Ye) and a signal conversion circuit (20) which converts an input three-primary-color video signal into a four-color video signal. If the three-primary-color video signal supplied to the signal conversion circuit is indicated as (r, g, b) using the grayscale levels r, g and b (each of which is an integer of 0 through 255) of the three primary colors of red, green and blue and if the luminance of the color white displayed by the pixel in response to a three-primary-color video signal indicated as (255, 255, 255) is supposed to be 100%, the signal conversion circuit adjusts the level of the four-color video signal so that when a three-primary-color video signal indicated as (186, 0, 0) is input, the luminance of the color red displayed by the red subpixel becomes equal to or greater than 6.5%.
US09245470B2
Provided is to secure a data-writing period to a source line and reduce the number of the IC chips used. N image data (e.g., three image data, RGB) are sequentially input to one input terminal. Three switches, three first memory elements, three transfer switches, three second memory elements, and three buffers are connected in parallel to the input terminal. The three switches are turned on respectively. RGB image data are held in the three respective first memory elements. In a selection period of a gate line of an (m−1)-th row, image data of an m-th row are written to the first memory elements. When the three transfer switches are turned on in a selection period of a gate line of an m-th row, the image data are transferred to and held in the second memory elements. Then, the image data are output to each source line through each buffer.
US09245461B1
An interactive greeting card which operates as a faux cuckoo clock. The greeting card contains an opening thereon beneath which is a pop-out character. One or more moveable flaps cover the opening and conceal the pop-out character. A pull tab mechanism is used to open one or more moveable flaps and set forth the pop-out character. The pull tab mechanism may also initiate playback of one or more pre-recorded audio files stored on a memory device within the greeting card.
US09245459B2
A display screen includes a substrate and a fluorescent material. The substrate includes a plurality of pixel regions arranged in an array, wherein each pixel region includes a fluorescent region and a transparent region, and the area of the transparent region is larger than the area of the fluorescent region. The fluorescent material is arranged in the fluorescent region and excited by an excitation light to emit a visible light to form an image. The above-mentioned display screen allows a viewer to see the images formed by the fluorescent region and the environmental image at the other side of display screen. A display system including the above-mentioned display screen is also disclosed.
US09245458B2
Systems and methods for managing toilet training of a person are provided. In one aspect, a method for managing toilet training of a person is provided. The method includes packaging a toilet training product within a container. The method also includes enclosing a post-sale image within the container. The post-sale image is configured to enable a set of enhanced functionality within a user computing device. The set of enhanced functionality is configured to track and record toilet training milestones achieved by the person.
US09245443B2
A passenger services system of an aircraft includes a cabin services system of a passenger service unit in the aircraft. The passenger service unit is associated with a passenger seat of the aircraft. The passenger services system further includes an infrared transmitting unit associated with the passenger seat. The infrared transmitting unit is configured to send signals to control operation of the cabin services system. The passenger services system includes a control unit including an infrared receiver. The control unit is associated with the passenger service unit. The infrared receiver is configured to receive the signals from the infrared transmitting unit. The control unit is configured to control the operation of the cabin services system in response to receiving the signals.
US09245442B2
A method for providing a virtual, universal remote control feature includes displaying a virtual remote interface for an electronic device. A user interaction with an element of the virtual remote interface is detected. The virtual remote interface element is mapped to a device-function code. The device-function code is provided to a code transmitter. The device-function code corresponds to a control command associated with the electronic device.
US09245425B2
A workstation includes a first window located in an upright plane, a second window located in a generally horizontal plane that intersects the upright plane, and a controller operative to read a barcode, and a weighing system having a horizontal platter operative to measure the weight of produce exerting gravitational force on the horizontal platter. The workstation also includes a four-bar apparatus having a front bar, a back bar, a first side bar, and a second side bar all atop the horizontal platter. The four-bar apparatus is operative to be settled into one of a first configuration and a second configuration. The upper edge of each of the front bar, the back bar, the first side bar, and the second side bar has an average height at the second configuration larger than its average height at the first configuration.
US09245423B2
Apparatus and methods are provided for a dual validator self-service kiosk (“SSK”). The SSK may include a first validator. The first validator may examine a deposit inserted into the SSK. The SSK may include a second validator. The second validator may examine a tangible item before the SSK dispenses the tangible item. The SSK may retract the tangible item if the tangible item in not collected by a customer. The second validator may examine the tangible item after being retracted by the SSK. The first validator may apply a first examination routine to the deposit. The second validator may apply a second examination routine before the SSK dispenses the tangible item. The second validator may apply a third examination routine to a tangible item retracted by the SSK.
US09245421B2
A gaming system including a cascading symbol game which utilizes a plurality of adjacent symbol display position grids arranged at different depths. The multiple symbol display position grids at different depths provides that one or more of the symbols of at least a first symbol display position grid at a first depth are displayed to a player while one or more of the symbols of at least a second symbol display position grid at a second depth are not displayed to the player. When one or more symbols are removed from the first symbol display position grid at the first depth, before and/or after shifting the remaining displayed symbols from the first symbol display position grid into created empty symbol display positions of the first symbol display position grid, one or more symbols from the second symbol display position grid at the second depth become exposed.
US09245417B2
A mystery jackpot system having an restricted payout scheme allows a mystery jackpot to be incremented by player wagers in a rapid fashion while providing incentives to players to make larger wagers. The mystery jackpot system may have a primary jackpot pool and a secondary jackpot pool. The primary jackpot pool may be funded by eligible wagers, while the secondary jackpot pool may be funded by smaller ineligible wagers. The amount or value of the primary jackpot pool may be used to determine whether the mystery jackpot is active. For example, the mystery jackpot may be active and awardable only if the primary jackpot pool is above a particular amount and below a maximum amount. A player winning the mystery jackpot may be awarded both the primary and secondary jackpot pools. Only players making eligible wagers may win the mystery jackpot.
US09245412B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a gaming system and method providing a game having a plurality of activatable award indicators. Generally, in various embodiments, the gaming system enables a player to play any of a plurality of different games, each of which is associated with a different activatable award indicator of an award generator that is associated with a plurality of awards. For each different game, when a particular award indicator activation event occurs during play of that game, the gaming system activates the award indicator associated with that game. When an award determination triggering event occurs, the gaming system indicates a different award of the award generator for each active award indicator and provides the indicated awards to the player. The gaming system of the present disclosure thus enables the player to activate different award indicators through play of different games.
US09245408B2
A short-range wireless network is established by direct communication between wireless devices and wireless access points to permit gambling within a casino. The short communication range of the access points assures that the wireless device is in the casino. A gaming communication link is used to exchange game play data (e.g., betting, card dealing, etc.) between a gaming controller and one or more wireless devices. Game play may be conducted between a player and the house or between a plurality of payers. In one embodiment, all communication is routed between players using the gaming controller so that the house controls the transmission of all game play data.
US09245407B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a gaming system and method for determining one or more awards based on quantities of symbols included in one or more strings of related symbols. The gaming system is configured to operate a game associated with a plurality of symbols each associated with one of a plurality of first characteristics and one of a plurality of second characteristics. The gaming system displays a plurality of the symbols. The gaming system determines whether a set of the symbols displayed along a payline path associated with a payline forms a string of related symbols. Symbols are related if the symbols share at least one of: (a) a same one of the set of first characteristics, and (b) a same one of the set of second characteristics. The gaming system determines any award based on a length of the string of related symbols.
US09245400B2
A sensor for checking value documents is arranged to carry out a self-test for testing its functionality. The sensor in the self-test reacts to at least one malfunction that is ascertained during the self-test and hinders the check of the value documents by the sensor automatically employing for checking the value documents, instead of the operating mode provided for checking the value documents. A modified operating mode employs at least one other measured value of the sensor for checking the value documents than is determined in the operating mode provided for checking the value documents. In contrast to the hitherto customary function failure of the sensor, the sensor can continue being operated for checking the value documents despite the malfunction.
US09245398B2
An interactive door system is able to validate a first user who seeks access through the door and simultaneously alerts a plurality of devices associated with a second user when the first user is present at the door. The system includes a base unit operably connected to the door and able to unlock a locking mechanism of the door. The base unit includes a monitor, a keypad, a speaker, a camera, a microphone, a biometric scanner, and a communication system able to simultaneously alert the plurality of devices associated with the second user when the first user is present at the door and allow the second user to engage in two-way voice or data communications between any one of the plurality of devices and the base unit. The system allows the second user to determine whether to provide door access to the first user.
US09245388B2
Embodiments are disclosed that relate to operating a user interface on an augmented reality computing device comprising a display system. For example, one disclosed embodiment includes displaying a virtual object via the display system as free-floating, detecting a trigger to display the object as attached to a surface, and, in response to the trigger, displaying the virtual object as attached to the surface via the display system. The method may further include detecting a trigger to detach the virtual object from the surface and, in response to the trigger to detach the virtual object from the surface, detaching the virtual object from the surface and displaying the virtual object as free-floating.
US09245382B2
Described is a technology by which a user interacts with a surface representative of a point cloud data to correct for imperfect scan data. The surface is reconstructed based on the interaction. Real time viewing of the image is facilitated by parallel surface reconstruction. For example, the user may draw strokes to reduce topological ambiguities in poorly-sampled areas. An algorithm automatically adds new oriented sample points to the original point cloud based on the user interaction. Then a new isosurface is generated for the augmented point cloud. The user also may specify the geometry of missing areas of the surface. The user copies a set of points from another point cloud, and places the points around the target area. A new isosurface is then generated.
US09245380B2
The present invention provides a local multi-resolution 3-D face-inherent model generation apparatus, including one or more 3-D facial model generation cameras for photographing a face of an object at various angles in order to obtain one or more 3-D face models, a 3-D face-inherent model generation unit for generating a 3-D face-inherent model by composing the one or more 3-D face models, a local photographing camera for photographing a local part of the face of the object, a control unit for controlling the position of the local photographing camera on the 3-D face-inherent model, and a local multi-resolution 3-D face-inherent model generation unit for generating a local multi-resolution face-inherent model by composing an image captured by the local photographing camera and the 3-D face-inherent model, a local multi-resolution 3-D face-inherent model generation using the local multi-resolution 3-D face-inherent model generation apparatus, and a skin management system.
US09245378B1
Present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for generating surface data are disclosed. An image generator is configured to receive navigation data; retrieve first surface data representative of a plurality of elevations; retrieve second surface data representative of location and elevation information (and possibly dimensions and the locations of at least one surface feature) of at least one reference point; determine shading data as a function of the first surface data; modify the first surface data as a function of the second surface data; and generate image data as a function of the modified first surface data and the shading data, where the image data is representative of a three-dimensional perspective of a scene outside a vehicle comprised of at least one flattened surface feature area having one elevation and to which the shading represented in the shading data is applied.
US09245377B1
A method for rendering radiance for a volumetric medium is provided. A photon simulation produces a representation of photon beams in a scene. The photon beams are rendered with respect to a camera viewpoint, by computing an estimated radiance associated with the photon beams. A global radius scaling factor can be applied to obtain different radii for the photon beams. Over multiple applications of these steps, the global radius scaling factor can be decreased, thereby reducing overall error by facilitating convergence. Finally, the renderer can be efficiently implemented on the GPU as a splatting operation, for use in interactive and real-time applications.
US09245376B2
A system has a server with a processor, a storage medium and coded instructions executable on the processor causing the server to display a video game to a player operating a computer, the video game comprising a virtual world having objects with surfaces, movable in the space of the virtual world by the player, and one or more light sources, create and manage a voxel grid associated with the player, compute an occupancy value for individual ones of the cells of the grid, compute an illumination value for cells of the grid by consideration of position and direction of the light sources, the occupancy value of the cell, and illumination values of immediately adjacent cells in the voxel grid, and determine brightness for pixels in display of surfaces of objects in frames of the video game based on the illumination values of cells proximate to the surfaces of the objects.
US09245370B2
An image drawing apparatus includes a drawing position judging unit configured to judge a figure drawn on the scan line to be processed and extract each of vertexes constituting the judged figure, an vertex information reading unit configured to read vertex information, an image generating unit configured to generate graphics data of the scan line, and a line buffer configured to store the graphics data, wherein the vertex information reading unit includes a cache memory, a cache tag configured to store an address storing the vertex information when the vertex information is stored in the cache memory, and a control unit configured to refer to the cache tag, and read the vertex information from the address of the cache memory when the address is stored, and store the vertex information in the cache memory and store the address in the cache tag when the address is not stored.
US09245359B2
Methods and apparatuses for generating a blur model of a detector, and methods and apparatus for generating a medical image are provided. A method of generating a blur model of a detector may involve: changing locations of linear gamma ray sources along at least one line and obtaining signals emitted from the linear gamma ray sources; obtaining a point spread function (PSF) with respect to at least one voxel included in the at least one line; and generating a blur model of the detector from the PSF.
US09245355B2
3D mesh models are represented by three types of data: connectivity data, geometry data and property data. The surface of a 3D object is a triangle mesh. 3D meshes contain huge amounts of data that need to be compressed efficiently. Additionally to the common world coordinate system for the complete model and local coordinate system for a single triangle, an individual component coordinate system for each connected component is used. The component coordinate system is used to normalize the orientation of the respective component for quantization and de-quantization. This improves the accuracy of encoded 3D mesh models after quantization/de-quantization, particularly if a 3D mesh model comprises one or more distinct components.
US09245353B2
An encoder generating encoded data. The encoder comprising an analysis unit for analysing portions of data to be encoded, and for directing the portions to one or more encoding units, the encoding units are operable to encode the data portions to generate encoded data. The one or more encoding units are operable to employ mutually different encoding algorithms when encoding the one or more portions. At least one encoding unit of the one or more encoding units is operable to compute data values present in each portion received thereat, to sub-divide the data values into at least two sets, to compute at least one aggregate value for a given set derived from the data values present in the given set. A corresponding decoder for decoding data generated by the encoder executes an inverse of encoding steps employed in the encoder.
US09245347B2
Image cropping suggestion is described. In one or more implementations, multiple croppings of a scene are scored based on parameters that indicate visual characteristics established for visually pleasing croppings. The parameters may include a parameter that indicates composition quality of a candidate cropping, for example. The parameters may also include a parameter that indicates whether content appearing in the scene is preserved and a parameter that indicates simplicity of a boundary of a candidate cropping. Based on the scores, image croppings may be chosen, e.g., to present the chosen image croppings to a user for selection. To choose the croppings, they may be ranked according to the score and chosen such that consecutively ranked croppings are not chosen. Alternately or in addition, image croppings may be chosen that are visually different according to scores which indicate those croppings have different visual characteristics.
US09245344B2
A method of acquiring geometry of a specular object is provided. Based on a single-view depth image, the method may include receiving an input of a depth image, estimating a missing depth value based on connectivity with a neighboring value in a local area of the depth image, and correcting the missing depth value. Based on a composite image, the method may include receiving an input of a composite image, calibrating the composite image, detecting an error area in the calibrated composite image, and correcting a missing depth value of the error area.
US09245337B2
An image-based biomarker is generated using image features obtained through object-oriented image analysis of medical images. The values of a first subset of image features are measured and weighted. The weighted values of the image features are summed to calculate the magnitude of a first image-based biomarker. The magnitude of the biomarker for each patient is correlated with a clinical endpoint, such as a survival time, that was observed for the patient whose medical images were analyzed. The correlation is displayed on a graphical user interface as a scatter plot. A second subset of image features is selected that belong to a second image-based biomarker such that the magnitudes of the second image-based biomarker for the patients better correlate with the clinical endpoints observed for those patients. The second biomarker can then be used to predict the clinical endpoint of other patients whose clinical endpoints have not yet been observed.
US09245334B2
Methods and systems are disclosed for assessing a quantitative image volume from an individual subject comprising comparing the image from the subject to images from a control group of subjects using voxel-wise comparison. The methods allow detection of pathologies or lesions in the individual subject being assessed.
US09245332B2
An improved lighting technique via a lighting technique utilizing a light source invisible to the subject is provided herein. The improved lighting technique capability blends image data from an image detector sensitive to visible light with corresponding image data from an image detector sensitive to light not visible to humans to create an improved image.
US09245331B2
A system and method for image contrast enhancement using sub-segments. A coarse piecewise linear transform is formed based on the intensity distribution in an image, the segments of the piecewise linear transform selected to produce, when the piecewise linear transform is applied to the image, an improved intensity distribution, e.g., one approximating a Rayleigh distribution. A fine piecewise linear transform is formed by forming sub-segments at each of the breakpoints of the coarse piecewise linear transform.
US09245327B2
A method for the reduction of noise in an image including identifying neighboring pixel values in pixels proximate to a subject pixel; comparing the neighboring pixel values to a preset tolerance range; using neighboring pixel values within the tolerance range to calculate a pixel intensity correction value; and applying the pixel intensity value to the subject pixel.
US09245325B2
A method and an apparatus for generating images are provided. The method includes generating a first sinogram for a state of an object from among states of the object based on a motion of the object, and a second sinogram for the states, based on data obtained from the object, and determining a region of interest (ROI) of the object based on the first sinogram. The method further includes extracting, from the second sinogram, third sinograms corresponding to the ROI, and estimating motion information of the ROI based on the third sinograms. The method further includes correcting the data based on the motion information.
US09245313B2
A semiconductor device 1 includes an image input unit 11 and an image output unit 12. The image input unit 11 receives first image data from a camera 91 and outputs second image data to a memory unit 93 through a shared bus 130. The image output unit 12 receives the second image data stored in the memory unit 93 through the shared bus 130 and outputs third image data to a monitor 92. The third image data is generated by performing an affine-conversion on the first image data. Magnification processing in the affine-conversion is not performed in the image input unit 11. In this way, it is possible to provide an excellent semiconductor device suitable for image processing or the like.
US09245311B2
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for actuating an electromechanical systems (EMS)-based light modulator. An actuator for an EMS-based light modulator can be formed from the combination of a drive electrode, an anchored shutter electrode, and a suspended shutter electrode. A parallel plate portion of the drive electrode along with the suspended shutter electrode form a parallel plate portion of the actuator. A zipper portion of the drive electrode and the anchored shutter electrode form a zipper portion of the actuator.
US09245304B2
A system for manufacturing a plurality of separable pouches comprising a means for forming sealed pouches, a center cut blade and a means for segregating each sealed pouch with the center cut blade is described. The means for forming the sealed pouches includes placing a plurality of different tablets corresponding to different medications into each sealed pouch. The center cut blade includes a side cut on each end of the blade, a center cut in the middle of the blade, and at least one perforation cut between each side cut and the center cut. The means for separating each sealed pouch with the center cut blade provides each sealed pouch with a sealed top end, a sealed bottom end, and two sides, in which at least one side is also sealed.
US09245299B2
A stratified or segmented composite portfolio can be formed by selecting a group of investment securities, stratifying or segmenting them according to attributes that correlate to a specific asset risk, and assigning relative portfolio weights to the components based on their stratified or segmented positions. The attributes are selected from a universe of possible values. Further positive and negative biases can be applied at any arbitrary point or position, including to individual assets, groups of arbitrarily selected assets, or arbitrary positions.
US09245296B2
A system and method for processing receipt image data is disclosed. The system includes an image capture device and an image splitting module. In one embodiment, the image capture device is augmented to capture in a single scan four images arranged in a 2×2 grid pattern, nine images arranged in a 3×3 grid pattern, twelve images arranged in a 3×4 grid pattern or sixteen images arranged in a 4×4 grid pattern. The image splitting module recognizes scans of the image capture device that include multiple images and splits the images for the proper processing by the rest of the system.
US09245277B1
A computer implemented method for categorizing neighborhoods based on cardholder transactions is provided. The method is implemented using a computing device having a processor communicatively coupled to a memory. The method includes receiving a plurality of payment transactions from a plurality of cardholders, generating a list of cardholders based on the plurality of payment transactions, determining one or more life stage segments for each cardholder based on the plurality of payment transactions, determining one or more geographic regions based in part on the plurality of payment transactions where each geographic region contains a plurality of cardholders, determining a lifestyle category for at least one geographic region of the one or more geographic regions based on the one or more life stage segments of each of the cardholders associated with the corresponding geographic region, and providing a lifestyle report for the at least one geographic region.
US09245270B2
An apparatus including an input device for inputting transaction information regarding a transaction on an account involving an individual, a camera for obtaining a photograph of the individual which photograph is stored as a digital photograph file, a processing device which processes information regarding the transaction and generates a message containing information regarding the transaction and the digital photograph file, and a transmitter which transmits the message to a communication device associated with an individual account holder. The message is transmitted to the communication device via, on, or over, a communication network and the message is transmitted to the communication device independently of any processing of the transaction by a central transaction authorization processing computer.
US09245266B2
A set of methods, and systems, for enabling the audit tracking of user agreement with policies, such as privacy policies in an authenticated fashion is disclosed herein. The method and system make use of third party signatures of privacy policies to show user approval of the policy as it pertains to released data.
US09245258B2
A system and method of electronic interpersonal communication includes receiving a selection of a recipient for communication. A user profile for the selected recipient is accessed. The user profile includes a plurality of communication traits of the selected recipient. A graphical display presents at least one communication trait of the selected recipient from the user profile. An electronic communication to the selected recipient is received. The electronic communication is sent to the selected recipient.
US09245257B2
Disclosed are systems, apparatus, and methods for generating a user profile interface based on skill information associated with a user. Skill information associated with the user may be received. The skill information may include data values that identify at least one skill associated with the user, and that further identify a skill level associated with the at least one skill. A plurality of user interface components may be generated based on the received skill information. The plurality of user interface components may be configured to display a graphical representation generated based on at least some of the skill information. An input may be received. The input may identify a configuration of the plurality of user interface components and may further identify a representation of the skill information within the plurality of user interface components. The plurality of user interface components may be rendered and displayed on a display device.
US09245255B2
A method and a system comprise monitoring one or more devices associated with a subject to generate one or more activity alerts for the subject. The activity alerts at least indicating the subject is active within their environment. The activity alerts are transmitted to a system unit for processing, in which the system applies a set of rules in determining a triggering event and notifies an interested party of activity of the subject and of inactivity of the subject.
US09245247B2
A method and system for analyzing a queue comprising: obtaining a first image acquired at a first time of a first position within a queue; obtaining a second image acquired at a second time of a second position within the queue; detecting a queue member within the first image; detecting a queue member with the second image; determining that the queue member detected within the second image is the same as the queue member detected within the first image; and determining a trajectory of the queue member within the queue based on a difference between the first time and the second time.
US09245244B2
A comprehensive platform for developing digital products. A standardized process is applied to a product development effort and an online portal provides tools to aid the product development, assessment, funding and commercializing products. Project management, workflow and data security functionality enable consistent, efficient and secure interactions between users. Business rules, workflows, valuation models and rating methods may be user defined or based upon marketplace, industry or technology standards.
US09245240B2
A digital signage network employs a common data model and a subscription system to disseminate data gathered from a plurality of data sources to a number of displays. The network nodes interact with each other as content sources, content consumers, or both, with some systems acting as consumers to upstream sources and acting as sources to downstream consumers. The presentation of the data on a digital signage display allows for real-time binding of live data to provide a rich display effect.
US09245236B2
A service layer is provided that is concerned with providing a service. Also, a network layer is provided that is concerned with communicating with devices. The concerns of each layer are separate. For example, the service layer performs the service without worrying about any network dependencies. Also, the network layer is concerned with communicating with devices without worrying about the services that are being performed. These layers, however, are configured to work together such that a result of the service layer is used by the network layer. For example, a service may be performed by the service layer and then the result of the service is communicated to a device using the network layer.
US09245235B2
A system and method for analysis of complex systems which includes determining model parameters based on time series data, further including profiling a plurality of types of data properties to discover complex data properties and dependencies; classifying the data dependencies into predetermined categories for analysis; and generating a plurality of models based on the discovered properties and dependencies. The system and method may analyze, using a processor, the generated models based on a fitness score determined for each model to generate a status report for each model; integrate the status reports for each model to determine an anomaly score for the generated models; and generate an alarm when the anomaly score exceeds a predefined threshold.
US09245234B2
A recognition dictionary generating device includes a unit that acquires plural reference vectors each containing an offset value indicating a degree of importance; a unit that selects a first reference vector belonging to the class same as an input vector and having the minimum distance from the input vector, and a second reference vector belonging to a class different from the input vector and having the minimum distance from the input vector; a unit that acquires a first distance value indicating a distance between the input vector and the first reference vector and a second distance value indicating a distance between the input vector and the second reference vector; a unit that corrects the first reference vector and the second reference vector using a coefficient changing in accordance with a relationship between the first distance value and the second distance value, the first distance value, and the second distance value; and a determining unit that determines a reference vector to be excluded from a recognition dictionary in accordance with the offset value of the corrected first reference vector and second reference vector.
US09245232B1
A machine generated service cache that utilizes one or more machine learning classifiers is trained using service requests directed to a human-generated service and service responses generated by the human-generated service in response to the service requests. Once the machine generated service cache has been trained to a predetermined level of performance, the machine generated service cache can be utilized to process actual service requests directed to the human-generated service. The machine generated service cache might be utilized to process service requests for which it is not essential that the returned service response be identical to a response that would be generated by the human-generated service.
US09245230B2
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, helps determine an unknown user's preferences through the use of internet based social interactive graphical representations on a computer facility by performing the steps of (1) ascertaining preferences of a plurality of users who are part of an internet based social interactive construct, wherein the plurality of users become a plurality of known users; (2) determining the internet based social interactive graphical representation for the plurality of known users; and (3) inferring the preferences of an unknown user present in the internet based social interactive graphical representation of the plurality of known users based on the interrelationships between the unknown user and the plurality of known users within the graphical representation.
US09245229B2
Systems and methods are described for predicting and/or detecting occupancy of an enclosure, such as a dwelling or other building, which can be used for a number of applications. An a priori stochastic model of occupancy patterns based on information of the enclosure and/or the expected occupants of the enclosure is used to pre-seed an occupancy prediction engine. Along with data from an occupancy sensor, the occupancy prediction engine predicts future occupancy of the enclosure. Various systems and methods for detecting occupancy of an enclosure, such as a dwelling, are also described.
US09245221B2
In accordance with one embodiment, an RFID sensor assembly comprises an RFID chip, an antenna, a sensor, a substrate, and a laminated layer. The RFID chip is in electrical communication with the antenna and the sensor. The RFID chip, antenna, and sensor are secured to the substrate. The laminated layer is arranged as to create a generally airtight pouch between the substrate and the laminate layer. The laminated layer is further arranged to facilitate a post manufacturing method for exposing the contents of the pouch to the environment surrounding the RFID sensor assembly.
US09245202B2
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for detecting a tampering event of a component. In a step, an exemplary embodiment encapsulates a fluorescent dye in one or more microcapsules. In another step, an exemplary embodiment embeds the one or more microcapsules in a translucent polymeric resin. In another step, an exemplary embodiment secures at least part of a component in the translucent polymeric resin. In another step, an exemplary embodiment detects a fluorescence of the fluorescent dye from a microcapsule in the translucent polymeric resin that is ruptured during a tampering with a light source that causes the fluorescent dye to fluoresce.
US09245201B1
A computer-implemented method and system register plural images using a computer processor and computer memory, where computer code stored in the computer memory causes the computer processor to perform the registration. The registration includes receiving a reference image; receiving a sensed image; computing an approximate image transformation between the reference image and the sensed image; finding plural candidate tie points by utilizing template matching; applying radiometric filtering to at least a portion of the plural candidate tie points; applying geometric filtering to at least a portion of the plural candidate tie points; computing a calculated image transformation using candidate points of the plural candidate points that were not filtered out by the radiometric and geometric filtering; transforming the sensed image using the calculated image transformation; and registering the sensed image with the reference image.
US09245200B2
An embodiment is a computer-implemented method for detecting a straight line in a digital image comprising a plurality of pixels comprising the steps: detecting an edge in the digital image, generating a first straight line which passes through a first pixel of the detected edge, generating a second straight line which passes through a second pixel of the detected edge, which is different from the first pixel, determining at least two intersections with a boundary of the digital image for each generated straight line, determining a set of two parameter values for each generated straight line based on the respective determined at least two intersections, wherein the set of two parameter values uniquely determines the respective generated straight line, and detecting the straight line in the digital image based on the determined sets of two parameter values.
US09245197B2
An image processing apparatus is disclosed, including a modification part, a model creation part, and a division part. The modification part instructs modification of a portion of a foreground area or a background area which is erroneously divided as a result of dividing predetermined image data into the foreground area being an extraction target and the background area being an out-of-extraction target. The model creation part creates a foreground model of the foreground area and a background model of the background area which are modified, based on first pixel values of a predetermined line segment where the modification is instructed and second pixel values of the foreground area and the background area which are divided. The division part divides the image data into the foreground area and the background area by using the foreground model and the background model which are created by the model creation part.
US09245188B2
Provided is a lane detection system and method. The lane detection method includes extracting feature points of a driving lane from an input road image, extracting candidate start points and candidate end points from candidate control points selected from among the feature points, selecting a left start point and a right start point of the driving lane from among the candidate start points based on information corresponding to a width of the driving lane, and selecting a left end point and a right end point of the driving lane from among the candidate end points based on a number of the candidate control points between each of the left start point and the candidate end points and the right start point and the candidate end points.
US09245181B2
A method and a system for resolution conversion of textual content or Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) content in an image are provided. The method includes receiving image data of the image, the image data having a plurality of image planes having essentially the same resolution, wherein at least one of the plurality of image planes includes textual image data configured to be rendered by a print engine with an output resolution different from the remaining image planes; processing the at least one of the plurality of image planes to identify one or more characters contained therein and to obtain character encoding data and positional information for the one or more identified characters; and processing the obtained character encoding data and the obtained positional information to generate an output data at the output resolution for the at least one of the plurality of image planes.
US09245171B2
A gaze point detection device includes a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute, capturing an image of at least part of a scene around a vehicle; detecting a direction of a line of sight of a person in the vehicle; determining an intersection between a plane and a line of sight of the person in the vehicle, the plane being along a running direction of the vehicle and apart from the vehicle by a given distance; and presenting a resultant projected point on the image as a gaze point.
US09245170B1
An image processing system comprising a data repository and an image processor. The data repository is configured to store image data. The image processor is configured to place the image data into a three-dimensional mesh. The image processor is further configured to identify vectors of the image data in the three-dimensional mesh. The image processor is further configured to identify a number of clusters in the vectors of the image data in the three-dimensional mesh.
US09245160B2
A system having multiple short-range transmission devices, each of which is assigned a unique identity and is positioned at a respectively different location within a three dimensional space. The assignment of the identity is according to signals broadcast by short-range device(s) as sensed unambiguously by a listening device or devices proximate to the short-range transmission device(s) and further associating the identity with a reference point.
US09245159B2
A method, system and tag for low power radio frequency communication is described. In one embodiment, the RF tag comprises: an access point comprising: a first antenna; a first radio coupled to the first antenna; a central processing unit coupled to the first radio; a backscatter adapter coupled to the access point via a wired communication interface, the backscatter adapter comprising a backscatter radio and a second antenna coupled to the backscatter radio for use in communicating with an RF tag in the network via backscatter.
US09245152B2
A method for authentication, by a host device, of a storage device having a plurality of unit storage areas comprises acquiring information on the distribution of locations of defect referenceive areas to be used for uniquely identifying the storage device, sampling the unit storage areas of the storage device, identifying the distribution of locations of physically defective areas among the sampled areas, determining the similarity between the acquired distribution of locations and the identified distribution of location, and authenticating the storage device according to the result of the determination.
US09245150B2
Disclosed herein is a method for determining a security classification for data that includes generating a classification signature for data based on a semantic interpretation of the data. The classification signature is associated with a security classification for the data. The method also includes comparing the generated classification signature to a predetermined classification signature associated with the security classification. Further, the method includes verifying the generated classification signature matches the predetermined classification signature.
US09245144B2
Systems and methods may provide for identifying web content and detecting an attempt by the web content to access a local data store. Additionally, a determination may be made as to whether to permit the attempt based on a context-based security policy. In one example, the context-based security policy is obtained from one or more of a user profile, a multi-user data source and a cloud service.
US09245135B2
Systems and methods that filter Charging Data Records (CDRs) before sending the CDRs to a virtual operator, such as a Network Unaffiliated Virtual Operator (NUVO). In one embodiment, a communication network provides services to subscribers of a virtual operator. The communication network includes a reporting entity comprising a CDR database configured to store CDRs for subscribers of the virtual operator. The reporting entity also includes a filtering node configured to filter the CDRs to remove fields that are not authorized to be shared with the virtual operator, and to report the filtered CDRs to the virtual operator.
US09245122B1
Technologies are described herein for anti-malware support within firmware. Through the utilization of the technologies and concepts presented herein, malicious software protection may be extended down to the firmware level. Detecting malicious firmware or software, removing it from firmware, and actively preventing it from exploiting known security vulnerabilities may be supported. Application level anti-malware software may interface with, and be supported by, one or more firmware level anti-malware modules. Firmware level anti-malware modules can actively prevent malicious software from affecting the system firmware. For example, the anti-malware modules may monitor or block access to the firmware. Anti-malware modules may be available at both boot-time and run-time. Thus, a wider range of malicious software attacks or infiltrations may be mitigated.
US09245117B2
An application is implemented in the production environment in which the application will be used. Two or more backend systems are used to implement different versions of the application using the production environment in which the application will actually be used and accessed. Actual user data is received. A first portion of the actual user data is routed and processed in the production environment using a first version of the application and a first backend system of the two or more backend systems. A second portion of the actual user data is also routed and processed in the production environment but using a second version of the application and a second backend system of the two or more backend systems. The results data is then analyzed to evaluate the various versions of the application in the production environment.
US09245110B2
A computer processor receives a plurality of execution items corresponding to a computer process. The computer processor allocates a first memory portion corresponding to a first stack, wherein the first stack corresponds to a first class of execution items. The computer processor allocates a second memory portion corresponding to a second stack, wherein the second stack corresponds to a second class of execution items. The computer processor identifies a first execution item of the plurality of execution items and determining a class corresponding to the first execution item.
US09245108B1
Approaches for an operating system to ascertain whether files stored its file system have been deemed trustworthy. When an operating system receives a request to perform an operation involving a file that is stored within the file system maintained by the operating system, the operating system requests the file from a driver. In turn, the driver consults a set of trust data to identify whether the file has been previously deemed trustworthy. Upon the driver determining that the file has been deemed trustworthy, the driver provides the file to the operating system in a first format. On the other hand, upon the driver determining that the file has not been deemed trustworthy, the driver provides the file to the operating system in a second format that is different than the first format. Advantageously, the file is stored in a single format in the file system.
US09245105B1
A method of controlling access to one or more data resources may include receiving, from a client device by an authentication server device, a request to access a data resource. The request may include a job identifier associated with a job. The method may include transmitting, by the authentication server device to a scheduling server device, the job identifier, receiving, by the authentication server device from the scheduling server device, job information associated with the job, determining, by the authentication server device, whether at least a portion of the job information satisfies an access policy associated with the data resource, and granting the job access to the data resource in response to the at least a portion of the job information satisfying the access policy.
US09245098B2
The present disclosure relates to parent-child guidance support for social networks. A method for providing controlled access to an online resource via a child account comprises (a) when said child account is registered for said online resource, providing access to said online resource via said child account, and at least one of the following steps: (b) in response to a user request via said child account, registering said child account for said online resource only when an age specification of the child account is higher than an average age specification of user accounts currently registered for said online resource, and (c) when registering said child account for access to said online resource in response to a user request via said child account, also registering at least one parent account associated with said child account for said online resource.
US09245097B2
A system and method for locking an application to specific hardware device without storing device or user information on server. A lock registration is performed during the first usage of the application where the application sends a unique value to the server through secured channel. This unique value is combination of user specific information and device information. The server receives the unique value, and sends the encrypted value to the device, which is stored in predefined location of device. During lock validation, which is initiated during every request to the server or on every session creation, the device unique value and encrypted value is sent to the server. The server receives it, decrypts the encrypted value, and compares with the received unique value. If both the values are same, the server validates application instance by sending the response to the device else error message is sent to the device.
US09245079B1
A computer implemented method for performing extraction is provided in the present invention. First, a layout of a semiconductor circuit having a resistor is imported by using a computer wherein a device region is defined in the layout and the resistor is located within the device region. Next, the device region of the layout are extracted, and a compensation value of Rs (Rc) is obtained according to the extracting step. An adjustment process is performed according to Rc to obtained a refined R value.
US09245074B2
A method and system to obtain a physical design of an integrated circuit from a logical design are described. The method includes performing a baseline synthesis to obtain a baseline physical design using timing constraints and an overall power budget. The method also includes computing power assertions, performing a re-synthesis using the timing constraints and the power assertions to obtain a new physical design, comparing the new physical design with the baseline physical design to determine a degradation of the new physical design in comparison with the baseline physical design, and reducing a weighting of the power assertions relative to the timing constraints based on the degradation. The executing the performing the re-synthesis, the comparing, and the reducing are done iteratively until the degradation is below a threshold value.
US09245059B2
A system and method for determining a location within a physical structure are described. The location within the physical structure can be determined by storing a model of a physical structure comprising a plurality of nodes connected by a plurality of struts, each of the nodes and struts of the model corresponding to respective nodes and struts of the physical structure; assigning a non-unique ID to each node of the model according to a pseudo-random sequence, wherein each node of the physical structure encodes the non-unique ID assigned to the corresponding node of the model; receiving a set of non-unique IDs encoded onto respective nodes of a contiguous subset of nodes of the physical structure; locating a set of non-unique IDs in the model corresponding to the received set of non-unique IDs; and determining a location in the physical structure from the located set of non-unique IDs in the model.
US09245053B2
A system for ensuring that serialization is maintained between separate transactions while searching and/or modifying a variable length queue is system includes a computer processor and logic executable by the computer processor. The logic is configured to implement a method. The method includes searching, by a processing device, a queue using a transaction. A first sequence number is retrieved from a queue header and a second sequence number is retrieved from local storage for the transaction. The first sequence number is compared with the second sequence number according to embodiments. The search of the queue is resumed using an address of a next element saved from a previous transaction responsive to the first sequence number matching the second sequence number. The search of the queue is restarted at a first element responsive to the first sequence number not matching the second sequence number.
US09245043B2
Embedded Media Markers (EMM) are optical-filter-like overlaid marks that can be printed on a part of a paper document that signify the existence of media associated with that part of the document. Users take a picture of an EMM-signified document patch using a cell phone camera, and the media associated with the EMM-signified document location is retrieved and displayed on the phone. Unlike bar codes, EMMs are nearly transparent and thus do not interfere with the document contents. Retrieval of media associated with an EMM is based on image local features of the captured EMM-signified document patch. A semi-automatically technique places an EMM at a location in a document, in such a way that the EMM encompasses sufficient identification features with minimal disturbance to the original document.
US09245039B2
A method, system, and processor-readable storage medium are directed towards generating a report derived from data, such as event data, stored on a plurality of distributed nodes. In one embodiment the analysis is generated using a “divide and conquer” algorithm, such that each distributed node analyzes locally stored event data while an aggregating node combines these analysis results to generate the report. In one embodiment, each distributed node also transmits a list of event data references associated with the analysis result to the aggregating node. The aggregating node may then generate a global ordered list of data references based on the list of event data references received from each distributed node. Subsequently, in response to a user selection of a range of global event data, the report may dynamically retrieve event data from one or more distributed nodes for display according to the global order.
US09245038B2
In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving an unstructured text query, identifying nodes and edges from a social graph that correspond to n-grams in the text query, and then generating structured queries that include references to the identified nodes and edges.
US09245030B2
A hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request that includes embedded scripted code that specifies requested data search, search result data manipulation, and manipulated search result data visualization processing is received at a server. The received embedded scripted code that specifies the requested data search, search result data manipulation, and manipulated search result data visualization processing is executed. Visualized manipulated search results are generated as output of the execution of the received embedded scripted code. The visualized manipulated search results are returned in response to receiving the HTTP request that includes the embedded scripted code.
US09245029B2
A search system and method for searching for electronic documents, and providing a search result in response to a search query. In one embodiment, the search system includes a processor, a user interface module adapted to receive a search query from a user that includes a search query term, a search engine that electronically searches for electronic documents that satisfy the search query term, and a query processing module that identifies at least one alternative term for the search query term, and provides the alternative term to the user interface module for display to the user, and also provides the alternative term to the search engine to search for electronic documents that satisfy the alternative term.
US09245024B1
A method, implemented on a processor, provides content segments to a first resource, the first resource having a first video. The method includes identifying and extracting contextual information from one or more second resources, the second resources having one or more associated second videos; processing the extracted contextual information in relation to a set of criteria, the set of criteria based on a content of the first video; selecting one or more content segments based on the set of criteria; and providing, to the first resource one or more of the selected content segments to be displayed with the first video.
US09245022B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for finding person names in electronic resources. In one embodiment, a search query is received. Electronic resources are identified satisfying the search query. A plurality of person names is identified in the resources, wherein each person name is associated with at least one of the resources. A subset of person names is selected from the plurality of person names based on a predetermined metric configured to identify a relative importance of at least one of the person name or resource. A listing of the subset of person names adapted for presentation on a user interface is generated. In certain aspects, multiple person identities can be identified as being associated with person names in the listing. The listing can include resources associated with one of the person identities corresponding to a particular person name in the listing.
US09245018B2
A method for providing name pronunciation guides includes storing a plurality of audio files in a database, each audio file representing a particular pronunciation of one of a plurality of names, receiving user information from the first user via a communication network, the user information including name information of the first user, searching the database to find one or more audio files corresponding the name information, providing the first user with one or more audio files in the database corresponding to the name information via the communication network for the first user's listening and selection, creating a user profile for the first user, the user profile comprising the user information and the selected audio file, storing the user profile in the database, allowing a second user-initiated search for names, providing a second user with first user profiles indicating the first user's name and name pronunciation preferences.
US09245017B2
A method for the real-time metatagging and captioning of an event. The method for the real-time metatagging and captioning of an event may include embedding metatag information in a caption file provided by a captioner. The embedded metatag information may allow a user to access additional information via the text of the captioned event. The metatag information may be embedded using a captioning device that creates both the text code and embeds the metatag code.
US09245010B1
A system may include a machine-implemented data extractor and correlator configured to retrieve data from at least one data source. The data extractor and correlator may extract information from unstructured data within the retrieved data and correlate the extracted information with previously stored structured data to generate additional structured data. The system may also include a storage device configured to store the previously stored structured data and the additional structured data.
US09244998B2
Analytic workflows for performing data analysis and other related operations are stored in an analytic workflow library and provided to a user upon selection of data from a data store. A workflow manager may rank the workflows based on a number of ranking algorithms prior to presentation. User selected workflows are executed in conjunction with relevant external applications and the analysis result provided to the user through the user's client application used to select the data. Workflows and associated interfaces may be received from a variety of sources and integrated into the workflow framework for enhancing data analysis.
US09244993B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for synchronizing application state information across devices. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosure are related to generating and storing of application state information. Key-value pairs are stored on a client device and synchronized with an application synchronization service.
US09244984B2
Location-based conversational understanding may be provided. Upon receiving a query from a user, an environmental context associated with the query may be generated. The query may be interpreted according to the environmental context. The interpreted query may be executed and at least one result associated with the query may be provided to the user.
US09244983B2
A continuous stream data (e.g., messages, tweets) is received by ingest nodes of a platform. The ingest nodes may analyze the data to create a transaction of graph updates, assign a sequence number to the transaction, and distribute the graph updates with the sequence number to graph nodes of the platform. The graph nodes may store graph updates from ingest nodes, and then the ingest nodes may report graph update progresses in a progress table. A snapshot may be taken based on the progress table, and then graph-mining computation may be implemented. Tolerate failures and decaying may be supported and incremental expansion may be allowed to cope with increasing update rates and computation needs.
US09244978B2
Techniques for partitioning data streams are provided. In some examples, a query for processing at least a portion of a data stream may be identified. The data stream may be associated with a user. Additionally, in some examples, code identifying an attribute of the identified stream may be received. The code may be capable of configuring the query based at least in part on the attribute. Further, in some aspects, the code may be configured to partition the data stream into at least a sub-stream based at least in part on the attribute.
US09244975B2
As file systems reach the petabytes scale, users and administrators are increasingly interested in acquiring high-level analytical information for file management and analysis. Two particularly important tasks are the processing of aggregate and top-k queries which, unfortunately, cannot be quickly answered by hierarchical file systems such as ext3 and NTFS. Existing pre-processing based solutions, e.g., file system crawling and index building, consume a significant amount of time and space (for generating and maintaining the indexes) which in many cases cannot be justified by the infrequent usage of such solutions. User interests can often be sufficiently satisfied by approximate (i.e., statistically accurate) answers. A just-in-time sampling-based system can, after consuming a small number of disk accesses, produce extremely accurate answers for a broad class of aggregate and top-k queries over a file system without the requirement of any prior knowledge. The system is efficient, accurate and scalable.
US09244965B2
A method and system for sharing data between software systems is provided. A graph data structure is maintained in storage of a computing device. The graph data structure has data items and relationships therebetween that are semantically described. A request received from a first software system is stored. The request is for requested data that is semantically described, and an address declared by the first software system. The requested data is semantically resolved to at least one of the data items in the graph data structure. The address is called, and a value of one of the at least one data items is passed to the first software system when the value is updated.
US09244956B2
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for recommending data sources. A request to provide recommendations of data enrichments for a database is received at a recommendation engine. The recommendation engine may perform static and dynamic analysis of data associated with the database and may further refine recommendations based on policies. The recommendation engine may then provide the recommendations, if any, of data enrichments to allow a software developer, for example, to indicate whether the data enrichments are to be used.
US09244955B1
Methods and apparatus are provided for generating a database layout. A layout for a database is generated by receiving a user specification of a database vendor, purpose and environment for the database; receiving a user configuration of layout options for the database in a context of the given database vendor and purpose and for an indicated protection type; receiving a user selection of a storage profile for the database; and determining a correct size and product model for storing the database with the configured layout based on a quantitative profile factor assigned to the database vendor, purpose and environment and a quantitative layout factor assigned to the protection type. The quantitative profile factor can be based on a target layout complexity factor. The quantitative layout factor can be based on whether specified file types need to be stored on one or more tiers of a tiered storage system.
US09244948B2
A computer tool is presented. The computer tool has, for example, a working memory to receive input data, an auxiliary memory to store several approximation dictionaries, a reducer arranged for the iterative calculation of the approximation data of the input data. The successive iterations are of the “matching pursuit” type. The computer tool also has, for example, a selector arranged to choose an approximation dictionary in the auxiliary memory based on a selection ruled based on at least some of the preceding iterations, in which the reducer calls the selector in each iteration, and uses the dictionary thus selected in the adaptive matching.
US09244942B1
An apparatus includes a first memory, a second memory, and a memory interface. The first memory may be configured to store an entire image. The second memory may be configured to store a portion of the image during an image processing operation. The memory interface may be configured to transfer the portion of the image (i) from a source area of the first memory to the second memory prior to the image processing operation and (ii) from the second memory to a destination area of the first memory following the image processing operation based upon how the source area and the destination area overlap in the first memory.
US09244934B2
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to architectures, methods and systems and structures that facilitate the sharing and synchronization of electronically stored files among and between cloud entities and a number of computers, systems, devices and/or users. One particular exemplary architectural aspect includes the serial processing and ordering of work items associated with file system changes such that correct parallel execution of the work items may proceed resulting in the synchronization of the cloud file system and the client computer file system.
US09244933B2
A method for disk image access in a storage system comprises receiving an input/output (I/O) request to a disk image in a file system of a storage system, and in response to the I/O request to the disk image in the file system, reconstructing a file system request. Introspection is performed on the disk image to determine an original file system request based on the I/O request to the disk image. The method further includes laying out a disk image in the file system of the storage system, and performing type-specific introspection on the disk image. Based upon the results of the introspection, data ranges in the disk image are mapped to block or files within the file system. A mapping of disk image data ranges to block or files in the file system is maintained for responding to further I/O requests.
US09244932B1
Various systems and methods for detecting and resolving a reparse point conflict are disclosed. One method involves receiving a request to perform a file operation, where the file operation includes generation of a reparse point associated with the file. In response to receipt of the request, the method includes detecting a reparse point conflict, where detection of the reparse point conflict indicates a conflict between the reparse point and an existing reparse point. In response to detection of the reparse point conflict, the reparse point conflict is resolved.
US09244930B1
A system and method for geotagging hashtags. Geographic location information related to a hashtag is determined, and a geolocation is assigned to the hashtag based on the determined geographic location information. The assigned geolocation is stored in association with the hashtag in a data store. The hashtag may be provided for display on a map based on the assigned geolocation stored in the data store.
US09244921B2
Various embodiments provide for altering relevancy of a document by adding (e.g., to an index associated with the document) one or more term relationships (which may result, for example, in adding one or more non-obvious terms). Other embodiments provide for altering relevancy of a search query by adding to the search query one or more terms based upon one or more determined term relationships (in one example, the added term(s) may be one or more non-obvious terms).
US09244920B2
Embodiments of the inventive concept can extract digital document information related with a specific individual to achieve a work load reduction associated with evidentiary material preparation for litigation. Recorded digital information can be displayed and user-specifying information can be set for each of a plurality of document files. The user-specifying information shows which user contained in user information one or more document files is related with. A recording unit can record the set user-specifying information. At least one user is selected, and a document file where user-specifying information which corresponds to the selected user was set is searched. Additional information showing whether or not the searched document file is related with the litigation is set via a display unit. A document file which is related with litigation is outputted based on the additional information.
US09244915B2
Controlling a consumer electronic applicant through a mobile terminal to execute functionality appropriate for processing a consumer product is performed by obtaining a device specification of the consumer electronic device and product information on the product to be processed, and generating a command that controls the consumer electronic device to execute the appropriate functionality for processing the product.
US09244912B1
Examples of methods, systems, apparatus, and machine-readable storage media are provided to facilitate access and control of a remote desktop of a remote machine by a windows web browser of a client device through a web server without installing proprietary plug-ins or protocols on the client device. A web server may translate user input requests from a web browser into input calls compatible with a remote desktop display protocol. The web server may receive remote desktop drawing commands from the remote machine and translate the remote desktop drawing commands into web browser drawing updates compatible with the windows web browser. A web server may communicate with the windows web browser via HTTP and communicate with the remote machine via a remote desktop display protocol.
US09244911B2
A semantic search engine is enhanced to employ user preferences to customize answer output by, for a first user, extracting user preferences and sentiment levels associated with a first question; receiving candidate answer results of a semantic search of the first question; weighting the candidate answer results according to the sentiment levels for each of the user preferences; and producing the selected candidate answers to the first user. Optionally, user preferences and sentiment levels may be accumulated over different questions for the same user, or over different users for similar questions. And, supplemental information may be retrieved relative to a user preference in order to further tune the weighting per the preferences and sentiment levels.
US09244909B2
A system for extracting ontological information from a body of text is disclosed. The system parses one or more sentences from the body of text into parse tree format to generate a set of parsed sentences. The system further performs named-entity-recognition by identifying a subset of parsed sentences from the set of parsed sentences. A subset of noun phrases from the subset of parsed sentences are identified and the noun phrases are examined to classify the noun phrases as an entity or as a property. The system also identifies and outputs a conceptual relationship between the entity and the property based at least partially on grammatical relationship of the entity and the property.
US09244908B2
A corpus of textual listings is received and main concept words and attribute words therein are identified via an iterative process of parsing listings and expanding a semantic model. During the parsing phase, the corpus of textual listings is parsed to tag one or more head noun words and/or one or more identifier words in each listing based on previously identified main concept words or using a head noun identification rule. Once substantially each listing in the corpus has been parsed in this manner, the expansion phase assigns head noun words as main concept words and modifier words as attribute words, where possible. During the next iteration, the newly identified main concept words and/or attribute words are used to further parse the listings. These iterations are repeated until a termination condition is reached. Remaining words in the corpus are clustered based on the main concept words and attribute words.
US09244907B2
Various embodiments provide a method that comprises receiving a set of segments from a text field, analyzing the set of segments to determine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments, and identifying a set of candidate emoticons where each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. The method may further comprise presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection at a current position of an input cursor, receiving an entry selection for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons, and inserting the set of selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor.
US09244894B1
Methods, apparatus and computer program products for interactive reports are disclosed herein. In some examples, a method for generating an output report that is an interactive report may include identifying one or more messages to be hyperlinked in an output report, wherein the one or more messages are data structures that are configured to linguistically describe at least a portion of raw input data; determining one or more interactive responses based on the one or more messages to be hyperlinked; determining one or more words in a phrase specification that are related to the one or more messages to be hyperlinked; and generating the output report, wherein the one or more words are hyperlinked in the output report such that when selected at least one of the one or more interactive responses is performed.
US09244892B2
An information display apparatus that includes a judgment unit that, in the even of receiving the input of the position coordinate through the operation unit while one page of the image data is being displayed on the display screen, judges which area is selected from areas in the page being displayed on the display screen on the basis of the received position coordinate; and a display controller that displays an image of a first area which is determined to be selected by the judgment unit with remaining the position when the area is indicated through the operation unit, hides an image of the area other than the first area, and display an image of next page of the page being displayed in an area where then image of the area other than the first area is hidden.
US09244891B2
A system may aggregate highlighting information associated with a document that includes a number of elements. The highlighting information may identify one or more of the elements that have been highlighted by a group of users. The system may determine weight values for the one or more elements, generate information associated with the document based on the weight values, and provide the information.
US09244886B1
A minimum resource FFT design may calculate the FFT for an input data series using minimal logic resources to implement the FFT. In one implementation, the FFT design may include a butterfly component for performing one or more complex addition and multiplication operations and outputting a plurality of results; a first memory coupled to the butterfly component, the first memory including a number of memory banks equal in number to the number of the plurality of the results; a second memory coupled to the butterfly component, the second memory including a number of memory banks equal in number to a number of the plurality of the results; and a control component to control reading and writing from the first and second memories and the butterfly component using a ping-pong access technique that reads and writes intermediate values to the first and second memories to implement the FFT.
US09244882B2
A network appliance sends a configuration request to multiple different servers, each of which is associated with a different environment. A response is received from at least one server. Each received response includes configuration data that pertains to an environment associated with the server from which the response is received. The network appliance is then configured based on the configuration data included in the response to enable the network appliance to operate in the environment associated with the server from which the response originated.
US09244872B2
A communications controller includes a physical interface and an internal transmit and receive circuit. The physical interface has a port for connection to a communication medium, an input, and an output, and operates to receive a first sequence of data bits from the input and to transmit the first sequence of data bits to the port, and to receive a second sequence of data bits from the port and to conduct said second sequence of data bits to the output. The internal transmit and receive circuit is coupled to the physical interface, and has an internal architecture to conduct a first plurality of symbols at a first rate in a low frequency mode and a second plurality of symbols at a second rate in a low latency mode, wherein the first plurality is greater in number than the second plurality, and the second rate is higher than the first rate.
US09244868B2
A method and system for IO processing in a storage system is disclosed. In accordance with the present disclosure, a controller may take long term “lease” of a portion (e.g., an LBA range) of a virtual disk of a RAID system and then utilize local locks for IOs directed to the leased portion. The method and system in accordance with the present disclosure eliminates inter-controller communication for the majority of IOs and improves the overall performance for a High Availability Active-Active DAS RAID system.
US09244865B2
Systems, methods, and apparatuses are provided to obtain diagnostic information from a storage device. A read command may be transmitted to a storage device, where the read command conforms to a block level storage protocol and is directed to an unused logical unit of storage memory included in the storage device, to an invalid logical block address, and/or to a mode page. The unused logical unit may be a predetermined logical unit of the storage memory that is not allocated by a file system. Diagnostic data may be received from the storage device in response to the read command. The diagnostic data may be information related to operation of the storage device and/or a component of the storage device.
US09244863B2
Computing device with a processing system including a plurality of user sub-systems, a plurality of user sub-system identifiers respectively identifying one user sub-system of the plurality of user sub-systems, a processor configured to run the processing system, a cryptography unit configured to provide at least one cryptographic mechanism, a cryptography unit secret key assigned to the cryptography unit, and a binder configured to bind the cryptography unit secret key to the user sub-system identifier of a currently running user sub-system.
US09244862B2
A communication and security device for a portable computer is disclosed including a housing, a connector provided on the housing for physical connection to the portable computer, a computer interface coupled to the connector for communicating data with the portable computer, a wireless modem coupled to the computer interface for communicating data between the portable computer and a remote device via a wireless network, a regulator operable to regulate power in the communication and storage device, and a processor coupled to control the regulator, the processor coupled to the wireless modem and arranged to process at least one security command received by the wireless modem to control the regulator in response to the received command.
US09244861B2
Cluster data is generated based on a history of storage operations. The cluster data may include an address range and an access history. The access history may comprise a bit pattern that represents a history of storage operations associated with a cluster. A prefix or counter may identify the number of storage operations identified in the bit pattern. The bit pattern and/or address range may be updated to reflect new storage operations associated with the cluster. The bit pattern then may determine when to cache data in a cache memory.
US09244860B2
A method for managing a memory stack provides mapping a part of the memory stack to a span of fast memory and a part of the memory stack to a span of slow memory, wherein the fast memory provides access speed substantially higher than the access speed provided by the slow memory.
US09244848B2
A host based caching technique may be used to determine caching policies for a hybrid hard disk drive. Because the host based caching may make use of knowledge about what data is being cached, improved performance may be achieved in some cases.
US09244842B2
A data storage device may include an interface that is arranged and configured to interface with a host, a command bus, multiple memory devices that are operably coupled to the command bus and a controller that is operably coupled to the interface and to the command bus. The controller may be arranged and configured to receive a read metadata command for a specified one of the memory devices from the host using the interface, read metadata from the specified memory device and communicate the metadata to the host using the interface.
US09244839B2
A processing device features a processing unit, a memory management system, and persistent memory in a persistent memory domain. The processing device provides an enhanced write-back (WB-E) memory space for an application running on the processing unit. The memory management system maps the WB-E memory space to the persistent memory. The application creates WB-E data by executing an instruction to store data to an address in the WB-E memory space. The WB-E data is automatically stored in a cache associated with the processing unit in response to creation of the WB-E data by the application. In response to execution of a commit instruction by the application after the application has created WB-E data for multiple memory addresses, the memory management system automatically ensures that all of the WB-E data for the application has been saved to the persistent memory domain. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09244832B1
A computer-executable method, system, and computer program product for managing a flash cache, having modes of cache management, the computer-executable method, system, and computer program product may be enabled to optimize flash cache by using a model to determine an optimized mode for the flash cache.
US09244814B1
A computer implemented method of debugging with enriched message log capability may include, for each instance during an execution of a program to be debugged in which a message is issued, automatically analyzing the program code included in a scope of the program relating to the message to identify one or a plurality of variables. The method may also include saving on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium a value at that instance of each of said one or a plurality of variables. The method may further include causing a message log that includes the message to be presented on a display device, associating the value of each said one or a plurality of variables with the message.
US09244810B2
A debugger graphical user interface (GUI) system, method, and computer program product are provided. In use, a list of constructs is displayed a first portion of the GUI of the debugger. Further, waveforms corresponding to the constructs or source code corresponding to the constructs is displayed in a second portion of the GUI of the debugger.
US09244804B2
Techniques for gauging performance of services are provided. A client agent is configured to process on a client and simulates operations of a transaction as instructed by a server agent. The client agent also gathers metrics for each of the operations as they process on the client and passes the metrics back to the server agent. The server agent analyzes the metrics in accordance with a policy and takes one or more actions in response thereto.
US09244801B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, one or more computer processors determine a source for a performance indicator of a target service element is known. The one or more computer processors select, at run time, a source for the performance indicator that has a least amount of information gaps. The one or more computer processors determine information associated with the performance indicator from the source. The one or more computer processors determine whether the determined information associated with the performance indicator is more current than a quality indicator periodicity value that is associated with the target service element. In response to determining that the determined information associated with the performance indicator is more current than a quality indicator periodicity value that is associated with the target service element, the one or more computer processors selecting the performance indicator.
US09244799B2
A bus interface selects bit-lanes to allocate as spares by testing the performance margins of individual bit-lanes during initialization or calibration of the bus interface. The performance margins of the individual bit-lanes are evaluated as the operating frequency of the interface is increased until a number of remaining bit-lanes that meet specified performance margins is equal to the required width of the interface. The bit-lanes that do not meet the required performance margins are allocated as spares and the interface can be operated at the highest evaluated operating frequency. When an operating bit-lane fails, one of the spare bit-lanes is allocated as a replacement bit-lane and the interface operating frequency is reduced to a frequency at which the new set of operating bit-lanes meets the performance margins. The operating frequency of the interface can be dynamically increased and decreased during operation and the performance margins evaluated to optimize performance.
US09244793B1
A method, system, and computer program are disclosed. Statistics are read from a data dictionary on a target system. The statistics include statistics for a table in a database in the target system. The statistics are exported to a test system separate from the target system. A command is received to use the statistics in emulation. In response the statistics are copied to a cache in the test system and the target system is emulated on the test system using the statistics in the test system's cache.
US09244786B2
A secondary storage controller receives metadata that uniquely identifies a source volume of a primary storage controller. Data stored in the source volume of the primary storage controller is synchronously copied to a target volume of the secondary storage controller. The secondary storage controller receives a command from a primary host to write selected data to the source volume. In response to receiving the command at the secondary storage controller, the selected data is written to the target volume of the secondary storage controller.
US09244780B2
A storage device is detected as being decoupled from an apparatus. At least one partition of the storage device is part of a storage volume that includes an array of separate storage devices in an initial configuration prior to being decoupled. In response to the storage device being recoupled to the apparatus, a universally unique identifier (UUID) of the storage device is detected. In response to determining the UUID of the storage device was previously associated with the storage volume, the storage volume is reconfigured/restored to include the at least one partition of the storage device in the initial configuration.
US09244778B2
A method for managing physical resources of a storage system, the method may include transmitting, to a remote site, first information representative of a first snapshot of a logical entity; wherein the first snapshot is associated with first data that is stored in first physical addresses of the storage system; wherein the first physical addresses are mapped to first logical addresses; receiving from the remote site a first acknowledgment indicating that the first information was fully received by the remote site; and disassociating, in response to a reception of the first acknowledgement, the first snapshot from the first physical addresses while maintaining a logical association between the first snapshot and the first logical addresses.
US09244775B2
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system reduces re-reading of database logs by persisting long running transaction data. The system processes the database log records of the database transaction log; generates a snapshot of the database log records at periodic intervals, wherein each snapshot includes database log records for pending transactions; and in response to an interruption in processing of the database log records, utilizes a snapshot to restore database log records for the pending transactions and resume processing of the database transaction log from a position succeeding the database log records of the selected snapshot.
US09244773B2
An information processing apparatus that performs a startup control of redundantly configured modules includes a memory to retain abnormality information regarding an abnormality that occurs at time of startup control of the modules, and a startup controller section executing a startup process by sequentially executing the process, generating the abnormality information, determining whether a reduced operation is possible or not when the module in which an abnormality occurs at the time of startup control is detected, completing an execution of the process block in progress when it is determined that the reduced operation is possible, executing a restart process on a module selected from all the modules in which abnormalities occur at the time of startup control based on the abnormality information and completing an execution of the process block in progress after completing the restart process when determined that the reduced operation is not possible.
US09244767B1
A data storage device includes a memory die. The memory die includes parity circuitry and a memory having a three-dimensional (3D) memory configuration. The memory includes a first block, a second block, and a third block. A method includes generating parity information based on first data associated with a first word line of the first block and further based on second data associated with a second word line of the second block. The parity information is generated by the parity circuitry. The method further includes writing the parity information to a third word line of the third block.
US09244759B2
An error-recovery method to enable error-free message transfer between nodes of a computer network. A first node of the network sends a packet to a second node of the network over a link between the nodes, and the first node keeps a copy of the packet on a sending end of the link until the first node receives acknowledgment from the second node that the packet was received without error. The second node tests the packet to determine if the packet is error free. If the packet is not error free, the second node sets a flag to mark the packet as corrupt. The second node returns acknowledgement to the first node specifying whether the packet was received with or without error. When the packet is received with error, the link is returned to a known state and the packet is sent again to the second node.
US09244757B1
A method of performing root cause identification for a failure on an integrated circuit with a logic built-in self-test (LBIST) system and an LBIST system to perform root cause identification are described. The system includes one or more channel scan paths, each of the one or more macros associated with each of the one or more channel scan paths being executed during a test cycle, and a processor to initiate one or more of the test cycles via an LBIST controller, identify a failing test cycle among the one or more of the test cycles, identify a failing channel scan path among the one or more channel scan paths for the failing cycle, identify the one or more macros associated with the failing channel scan path, and iteratively check each of the one or more macros associated with the failing channel scan path to perform the root cause identification.
US09244756B1
A method of performing root cause identification for a failure on an integrated circuit with a logic built-in self-test (LBIST) system and an LBIST system to perform root cause identification are described. The method includes completing one or more cycles of test with the LBIST system, each of the one or more cycles implementing one or more macros associated with each of one or more channel scan paths. The method also includes identifying, using a processor, a failing cycle among the one or more cycles of test, identifying a failing channel scan path among the one or more channel scan paths associated with the failing cycle, and identifying the one or more macros associated with the failing channel scan path. The method further includes iteratively checking each of the one or more macros associated with the failing channel scan path to perform the root cause identification.
US09244740B2
An information processing device includes: a measurement unit 10 for measuring respective use rates of a plurality of coprocessors each for executing a job, respective use rates of a plurality of interface cards each for passing data input or output by each of the plurality of coprocessors, and respective latencies and respective throughputs in communication between the plurality of coprocessors and the plurality of interface cards; and a determination unit 20 for determining a coprocessor that is to execute the job from among the plurality of coprocessors, based on a result of the measurement by the measurement unit 10.
US09244737B2
A parallel distributed processing system includes multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers which stores data blocks pre-divided in a storage device and executes tasks processing the data blocks in parallel, and a management computer controlling the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers. The management computer collects resource use amounts of the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, acquires states of data blocks and tasks held by the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, selects a second parallel distributed processing execution server transferring a data block to the first parallel distributed processing execution server, based on processing progress situations of the data blocks held by the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers and the resource use amounts of the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, and transmits a command to transfer the data block to the first parallel distributed processing execution server, to the selected second parallel distributed processing execution server.
US09244734B2
A system and method for enhancing barrier collective synchronization on a computer system comprises a computer system including a data storage device. The computer system includes a program stored in the data storage device and steps of the program being executed by a processor. The system includes providing a plurality of communicators for storing state information for a barrier algorithm. Each communicator designates a master core in a multi-processor environment of the computer system. The system allocates or designates one counter for each of a plurality of threads. The system configures a table with a number of entries equal to the maximum number of threads. The system sets a table entry with an ID associated with a communicator when a process thread initiates a collective. The system determines an allocated or designated counter by searching entries in the table.
US09244723B2
A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to detect completion of one or more processes executed in at least one of the computer and another computer; determine whether the completion of the one or more processes corresponds to a process completion pattern when a specific transactional operation is completed in at least the one of the computer and the another computer; and determine that the specific transactional operation is completed when it is determined that the completion of the one or more processes corresponds to the process completion pattern.
US09244715B2
A virtualization processing method and apparatuses, and a computer system are provided. Where a computing node includes: a hardware layer, a Host running on the hardware layer, and at least one virtual machine (VM) running on the Host, the hardware layer includes an I/O device, several corresponding virtual function (VF) devices are virtualized from the I/O device, the Host has several VF software instances, the several VF software instances and the several VF devices are in one-to-one correspondence; the Host further has a back-end instance (BE) of an I/O virtual device having the same type with the I/O device, the VM has a front-end instance (FE) of the I/O virtual device; the BE in the Host is bound with an idle VF software instance. The solutions of the embodiments of the present invention are beneficial to optimization of the performance and compatibility of a virtualization system.
US09244713B1
An architecture for sorts and bucketizes alerts in a virtualization environment. A plurality of alerts associated with virtual machines in the virtualization environment is received. A plurality of attributes is identified for the virtual machines, and a plurality of buckets defined for each attribute, into which the received alerts are assigned. The buckets for each attribute are then sorted. The attributes may also be sorted based upon the distribution of alerts in the buckets of the attribute, allowing a system administrator or other personnel to more easily determine which attributes of the virtual machines are correlated with the received alerts, in order to identify potential causes and solutions for the alerts in the virtualization environment.
US09244709B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided that enable web applications to be identified, and that enable the identified web applications to be published to remote servers. Objects are accessed in storage for a developed web application. A feed is received that includes a plurality of signatures that correspond to a plurality of webapp development applications. A webapp development application used to develop the web application is identified by comparing the signatures to the objects. A web deployment package is downloaded for the identified webapp development application. The downloaded web deployment package is applied to enable the web application to be published to a server, such as by modifying settings and/or applying transformations to the objects that defined by the downloaded web deployment package.
US09244708B2
A method for creating an enhanced array is provided. An enhanced compiler generates an instrumented class file for an enhanced array class. The enhanced array class comprises at least one element class. The enhanced runtime loads the instrumented class file of the enhanced array class. The enhanced runtime loads a class file corresponding to the element class of the enhanced array class, and builds an internal data structure corresponding to the enhanced array class. An amount of memory storage is calculated for storing the enhanced array instance, and the amount of memory storage is allocated.
US09244706B2
A code generator tool capable of creating command shell commands at compile time or runtime from a schema such as an XSD schema is provided. The code generator generates classes to represent data defined by a schema and the command shell generation code may use knowledge of the classes to generate appropriate command shell classes to manipulate the data. Plug-ins may be inserted following optimization of a model of classes generated by the code generation tool. The plug-ins can modify the model, insert their own code, or disable code generation and generate their own code from the model.
US09244700B2
The present invention is directed towards methods and systems for delivering applications from a desktop operating system. A delivery module may receive a request from a client device of a user for access to an application, and identify that a desktop session can host the requested application. An agent may extract presentation layer elements of the requested application from presentation layer elements of other components of the desktop session, and provide, via a presentation layer protocol, the isolated presentation layer elements in a first application session to the client device for display. The delivery module may receive a second request from the user for the application, identify that the application is hosted by the desktop session and delivered in the first application session, and provide a second application session of the application from the desktop session to the user responsive to the determination.
US09244693B2
The disclosure is directed to a system and method for booting a plurality of servers from at least one of a primary storage drive and a secondary storage drive. An operating system installation image is stored in a primary storage drive. Snapshots including modifications to the operating system installation image are stored in a plurality of partitions of a secondary storage device. A lookup table directs servers to read unmodified portions of the operating system installation image from the primary storage drive. The lookup table further directs servers to read modified portions of the operating system installation image from the secondary storage drive.
US09244692B2
An information processing apparatus includes a first processing unit, a second processing unit which is different from the first processing unit, a supply unit configured to supply a clock to the first processing unit and the second processing unit, and a control unit configured to control the supply unit in such a manner as to stop a supply of the clock to the second processing unit in response to completion of activation of the second processing unit, and to resume the supply of the clock to the second processing unit in response to completion of activation of the first processing unit.
US09244686B2
An instruction translator receives a conditional load/store instruction that specifies a condition, destination/data register, base register, offset source, and memory addressing mode. The instruction instructs the microprocessor to load data from a memory location into the destination register (conditional load) or store data to the memory location from the data register (conditional store) only if the condition flags satisfy the condition. The offset source specifies whether the offset is an immediate value or a value in an offset register. The addressing mode specifies whether the base register is updated when the condition flags satisfy the condition. The instruction translator translates the conditional load instruction into a number of microinstructions, which varies as a function of the offset source, addressing mode, and whether the conditional instruction is a conditional load or store instruction. An out-of-order execution pipeline executes the microinstructions to generate results specified by the instruction.
US09244677B2
Loop vectorization methods and apparatus are disclosed. An example method includes setting a dynamic adjustment value of a vectorization loop; executing the vectorization loop to vectorize a loop by grouping iterations of the loop into one or more vectors; identifying a dependency between iterations of the loop as; and setting the dynamic adjustment value based on the identified dependency.
US09244674B2
Disclosed is a method of updating software in a computer system using virtualization software, wherein one or more virtual machines are arranged to run respective software modules for providing respective set of software services. A software update relating to a first software module running in a first virtual machine is received. The first software module is stored on a first storage entity associated with the first virtual machine. A copy of the first storage entity is updated in accordance with the received software update to produce a second storage entity containing an updated version of the first software module. A second virtual machine is created within the virtualization environment. The second virtual machine is associated with the second storage entity and arranged to run the updated version of the software module from the second storage entity. The first virtual machine remains operational during the updating step.
US09244672B2
A method and apparatus for optimizing the development of an embedded system for a target device. The method may include selecting a set of packages corresponding to the class of an embedded system from various packages available for installation, and integrating the set of packages into a root file system. The method may further include receiving user input identifying at least one application to be used with the embedded system, integrating packages associated with the identified application into the root file system, and loading an image of the root file system to the target device.
US09244671B2
Automated deployment of a software application to be installed via a software installation package onto different user devices for different users. An initial software installation package, is obtained, along with information representing (a) associations between the users and the user devices, (b) user attributes from which access privilege level information for individual users is determinable, and (c) device attributes for each of the plurality of user devices, including network connectivity information. The initial software installation package is custom-configured for individual user devices based on the information representing (a) and (b) to produce a different specially-configured software installation packages. Each one includes installation parameters that establish functionality for the software application based on the access privilege level of the corresponding user. Data transfer channels are custom-configured for individual user devices based on the information representing (a) and (c).
US09244670B2
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to control a information processing device, wherein the operating system outputs process data to a device driver program, in which, when the device driver program is a first-type device driver program interpreting a first-format process data, the first-format process data is output, and when the device driver program is a second-type device driver program interpreting a second-format process data, the first-format process data is converted into the second-format process data to output, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the information processing device to perform: inquiring of the operating system about the device driver; receiving a inquiry result from the operating system; judging whether the device driver program is the second-type device driver program based on the inquiry result; and performing, when it is judged that it is the second-type device driver program, a process for installing the first-type device driver program.
US09244663B1
A compiler identifies a function call in computer code. A linker directive associates the function call with a single table of contents (TOC) pointer value save placeholder. This single placeholder is the only TOC pointer value save placeholder associated with the function call. When a TOC pointer value save instruction occupies the placeholder, it ensures that the TOC pointer value is saved before the function call. The linker directive is then modified to associate the function call with two or more TOC pointer value save placeholders. When a TOC pointer value save instruction occupies at least one of the placeholders, it ensures that the TOC pointer value is saved before the function call. Under some circumstances, two or more of the placeholders must be occupied by a TOC pointer value save instruction to ensure that the TOC pointer value is saved before the function call.
US09244658B2
Systems and methods for providing auto-completion functionality in a source code editor are described. In accordance with the systems and methods, code entities that are candidates for auto-completion are presented to a user via multiple auto-completion menus that are accessed in steps rather than via a single auto-completion menu. The multiple auto-completion menus include at least a first menu and a second menu. The first menu includes a common portion (e.g., a common prefix) of a subset of the candidate code entities. The second menu includes the subset of the candidate code entities and is presented when the user selects the common portion from the first menu.
US09244638B2
A print server connected to printers includes a job data receiving unit configured to receive job data subject to printing, a first conversion unit, an instruction receiving unit, a second conversion unit, and a transmission unit. The first conversion unit is configured to convert the job data into intermediate image data having a pixel count of a minimum pixel count or less among pixel counts of print data to be input to each of the printers. The instruction receiving unit is configured to, after the job data is received, receive an instruction specifying a printing execution printer. The second conversion unit is configured to generate the print data corresponding to the printing execution printer by converting the intermediate image data to data of the pixel count to be input to the printing execution printer. The transmission unit is configured to transmit the print data to the printing execution printer.
US09244636B1
The illustrative embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for printing a document from a mobile communication device. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a print job sent from the mobile communication device and determining a location of the mobile communication device. The method also includes identifying a printer proximate the mobile communication device and initiating execution of the print job at the identified printer.
US09244625B2
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for RAID Restriping. One method includes selecting an initial RAID device for migration based on at least one score, creating an alternate RAID device, moving data from the initial RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and removing the initial RAID device. The method may be performed automatically by the system or manually. The method may be performed periodically, continuously, after every RAID device migration, upon addition of disk drives, and/or before removal of disk drives, etc. One system includes a RAID subsystem and a disk manager configured to automatically calculate a score for each RAID device, select a RAID device based on the relative scores of the RAID devices, create an alternate RAID device, move data from the selected RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and remove the selected RAID device.
US09244623B1
Parallel de-duplication of data chunks being written to a shared object is provided. A client executing on a compute node or a burst buffer node in a parallel computing system stores a data chunk to a shared data object on a storage node by processing the data chunk to obtain a de-duplication fingerprint; comparing the de-duplication fingerprint to de-duplication fingerprints of other data chunks; and providing original data chunks to the storage node that stores the shared object. A reference to an original data chunk can be stored when the de-duplication fingerprint matches another data chunk. The client and storage node may employ Log-Structured File techniques. A storage node stores a data chunk in the shared object by receiving only an original version of the data chunk from a compute node; and storing the original version of the data chunk to the shared data object on the storage node as a shared object.
US09244621B2
A plurality of data arrays are coupled to a plurality of nodes via a plurality of adapters. The plurality of adapters discover the plurality of data arrays during startup, and information about the plurality of data arrays are communicated to corresponding local nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the local nodes broadcast the information to other nodes of plurality of nodes. A director node of the plurality of nodes determines which data arrays of the plurality of data arrays are a current set of global metadata arrays, based on the broadcasted information.
US09244620B2
A storage device includes a semiconductor memory storing data. A controller instructs to write data to the semiconductor memory in accordance with a request the controller receives. A register holds performance class information showing one performance class required to allow the storage device to demonstrate best performance which the storage device supports, of performance classes specified in accordance with performance.
US09244616B2
A storage system manages a pool to which multiple VVOLs (virtual logical volumes conforming to thin provisioning) are associated, assigns a real area (RA) from any tier in an available tier pattern associated with a write-destination VVOL to a write-destination virtual area (VA), and carries out a reassignment process for migrating data inside this RA to an RA of a different tier than the tier having this RA based on the access status of the RA assigned to the VA. A management system assumes that a specified tier has been removed from the available tier pattern of a target VVOL, predicts the performance of the target VVOL and all the other VVOL associated with the pool to which the target VVOL is associated, determines whether or not there is a VVOL for which the predicted performance is lower than a required performance, and when such a VVOL does not exist, instructs the storage system to remove the specified tier from the available tier pattern of the target VVOL.
US09244612B1
In one example, a method includes outputting, by a computing device and for display, a graphical keyboard comprising a plurality of keys, and receiving, by the computing device, an indication of a gesture detected at a presence-sensitive input device. The method further includes determining, by the computing device, an input posture of the gesture at the presence-sensitive input device, and applying, by the computing device and based at least in part on the input posture, at least one offset to a location associated with a key from the plurality of keys to determine an offset location associated with the key, and in response to receiving the indication of the gesture, selecting, by the computing device and based at least in part on the offset location, the key as a selected key.
US09244610B2
A contextual keyboard allows users to bring in information not normally found on a keyboard, as though that information had been typed in afresh. It also allows users to take information entered on the keyboard, or simply available on the screen, or implicit in information on the screen, and perform actions on it, such as calling a phone number, entering contact or calendar information into a local database on the device, or using the information as search terms in an online query. The central novelty of this invention is moving the functionality into the keyboard layer, so as to be universally accessible on the device.
US09244607B2
Various embodiments of a system and methods for processing digital images using multi-touch gestures are described. A multi-touch gestural input set which comprises a plurality of touch gestures may be applied to a display of an image. The gestural input set may include different gesture types, such as mobile and stationary gestures. Each gesture type may indicate a different image processing constraint that may be applied to modify the digital image. Stationary gestures may indicate constrained regions of the image that are not subject to modification. Mobile gestures may indicate regions of the image which may be subject to modification. Characteristics of the mobile gestures, such as velocity and/or pressure, may also indicate an amount by which an image may be modified over the region indicated by the mobile gesture. Image masks, which separate foreground and background regions of an image, may also be specified by the gestural input set.
US09244606B2
An electronic device includes a touch-sensitive display and one or more programs stored in memory for execution by one or more processors. The one or more programs include instructions for displaying a first application view that corresponds to a first application in a plurality of concurrently open applications. The one or more programs include instructions for detecting a first input, and in response, concurrently displaying a group of open application icons that correspond to at least some of the plurality of concurrently open applications with at least a portion of the first application view. The open application icons are displayed in accordance with a predetermined sequence of the open applications. The one or more programs include instructions for detecting a first gesture distinct from the first input, and in response, displaying a second application view that corresponds to a second application adjacent to the first application in the predetermined sequence.
US09244602B2
A method and apparatus for scrolling a display includes detecting contact relative to a touch pad having a plurality of regions which individually correspond to a plurality of different scrolling directions, and determining which region of the plurality of regions the contact is detected. If the contact is maintained for a first threshold time period, the method further includes scrolling an associated display in a direction corresponding to the previously determined region. Alternatively, scrolling a display includes receiving input responsive to contact relative to a plurality of regions of a touch pad, in which each of the plurality of regions individually correspond to a plurality of different scrolling directions, and scrolling an associated display in a direction corresponding to a scrolling direction associated with a last-contacted region of the plurality of regions.
US09244600B2
Providing a method for creating and displaying portions of videos called video previews. The video previews may be associated with audio, such that when the video previews are activated, the audio may play with the video preview. When multiple video previews are organized to play as a playable group or composite of video previews, a corresponding composite audio file can play in response to an activation of the composite.
US09244597B1
A system, method and computer readable medium including defining, for a rendering, an expression representative of a first relationship between elements based on one or more determined directionalities for the elements; forming a set comprising each of the expressions representative of the first relationships, the set defined as a second relationship based on the direction using position between the elements; and selecting one of the first relationships in the set based on the determined directionality.
US09244596B2
A layout can identify placement of a plurality of content units of a document across one or more pages with each page representing a display area for displaying the content of the document. A scrollbar definition can be generated so as to identify a plurality of equally-sized segments of a scrollbar track, with each segment corresponding to a respective one of the pages of the document. The definition can identify a scrollbar thumb having a body that fills a segment. A scrollbar can be rendered based on the definition. The scrollbar definition can be updated to identify a different number of segments of the scrollbar based on a new number of pages in a new layout generated in response to a change in the size of the display area.
US09244594B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a method for interacting with an application and an electronic apparatus. When an electronic apparatus detects that a to-be-operated object in an application is selected, the electronic apparatus may display a selection identifier. The electronic apparatus may detect whether an input track is generated. The electronic apparatus may determine an operation type corresponding to the input track when the electronic apparatus detects the input track and detects that the input track ends. The electronic apparatus may operate the to-be-operated object according to the operation type.
US09244592B2
Embodiments provide UI coalescing features that can be used in part to compensate for changes in device configurations, but the embodiments are not so limited. In an embodiment, a computer-based method operates to use UI coalescing features to adjust ribbon and/or popover controls to account for different device configurations. A handheld device of an embodiment can include one or more applications configured with UI coalescing heuristics that operate to dynamically adjust one or more ribbon controls and/or one or more popover controls based in part on a device configuration. Computer storage of an embodiment includes executable instructions that operate to dynamically adjust aspects of an application UI based in part on ribbon and popover control priority values. Other embodiments are included.
US09244590B1
Processes for navigating a three-dimensional (3D) environment using a two-dimensional (2D) input are provided. In some examples, a pair of touch points may be detected, and movement of a third touch point may be used to manipulate a 3D object or navigate a view point in 3D space. Different 2D and 3D input modes may also be provided that allow, for example, similar gestures to perform different commands in different modes. Multiple 3D modes may include a first mode that allows the user to navigate in a 3D environment and a second mode that allows the user to manipulate a 3D object using similar commands.
US09244586B2
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing enhanced user interfaces and functionalities for internet radio applications are presented. In some embodiments, a computer system may provide a user interface that includes one or more regions configured to control playback of an internet radio station. The computer system then may determine, based on music purchase history associated with a user account, whether a selected song associated with the internet radio station has been previously purchased. In response to determining that the selected song has not been previously purchased, the computer system may display a user-selectable control that enables the selected song to be purchased. On the other hand, in response to determining that the selected song has been previously purchased, the computer system may display a user-selectable control that enables the selected song to be downloaded.
US09244577B2
A mechanism is described for employing and facilitating placing a sensor cover over an external sensor of a computing device. A method of embodiments of the invention includes sensing, at a sensor of a computing device, user touches to an outer surface of an impregnated sensor cover placed over the sensor, wherein the sensor cover includes a plurality of holes through the outer surface and a plurality of conductive leads corresponding to the plurality of holes, and wherein sensing is performed through one or more of the plurality of holes and their one or more corresponding conductive leads; and facilitating an action in response to each of the sensed user touches.
US09244568B2
A two-dimensional touch sensor comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged in a mesh pattern on a substrate. Each electrode is formed by interconnected metal traces, the metal being intrinsically opaque, but the metal traces being sufficiently narrow to be practically invisible. The metal traces have a width less than or equal to 10 μm and occupy less than or equal to 5% of the area of each electrode. The electrodes can be deposited additively via a printing process, for example using copper as the metal. The narrow width of the tracks allows the film to be highly transparent, since the electric field used in capacitive touch screens can be made to propagate with very low metal densities.
US09244565B2
An electronic device having a plurality of electrodes arranged to detect a touch operation onto an operation plane has a control unit for effecting control such that in a case where a capacity of an electrode arranged at an end portion of an arrangement of the plurality of electrodes is equal to or greater than a first capacity, a process corresponding to the touch operation is executed, and in a case where a capacity of another electrode different from the electrode arranged at the end portion is equal to or greater than a second capacity greater than the first capacity, the process corresponding to the touch operation is executed.
US09244560B2
An in-cell touchscreen panel includes columns of transmit electrodes and rows of sensing electrodes, wherein each row of sensing electrodes comprises a first subset of sensing electrodes coupled to control circuitry via a first subset of receiving traces and a second subset of sensing electrodes coupled to the control circuitry via a second subset of receiving traces. To enable multi-touch functionality, the in-cell touchscreen panel operates in a scanning mode where capacitance is measured at each node where the sensing electrodes intersect the transmit electrodes. During the scanning mode, the control circuitry senses the first and second subsets of receiving traces while applying drive signals to pairs of transmit electrodes. After a drive signal has been applied to each of the transmit electrodes, each of the nodes are measured to detect a capacitance. This capacitance is indicative of a user touch on the in-cell touchscreen panel.
US09244558B2
A display device includes a display having an array of pixels formed on a display layer, the pixels arranged into rows and columns. Two or more electrodes are located over the display layer on an electrode layer different from the display layer and extend across at least a portion of the array of pixels. Each electrode extends exclusively over all of the pixels in a row or column.
US09244550B2
A method includes identifying a first plurality of drive frequencies at which drive electrodes of a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device are driven, wherein the first plurality of drive frequencies includes a first frequency and a second frequency. A first noise value at the first frequency is determined. When the first noise value meets a first threshold value and the first noise value is less than a second threshold value that is greater than the first threshold value, a second noise value at the second frequency is determined by the electronic device and, in response to determining that the second noise value is less than the first threshold value, driving the drive electrodes at the second frequency. When the first noise value meets the second threshold value, a third frequency at which the drive electrodes are driven is identified by the electronic device, wherein the third frequency is not one of the first plurality of drive frequencies.
US09244548B2
A terminal device is provided with a first casing, configured to accommodate the display part of the terminal device; a second casing, configured to accommodate the computation part and the heat dissipation part of the terminal device; a first shaft, provided on one side of the second casing, configured to be connected to the first casing and the second casing, with the first casing being able to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise around the axis of the first shaft; and a touch sensing unit, connected to the first shaft and configured to detect touch inputs from the user, wherein the touch sensing unit is provided between the first casing and the second casing and rotates clockwise or counterclockwise around the first shaft.
US09244547B2
Embodiments of the present invention include a display panel for the blind, a method for manufacturing the same and a display device for the blind. The display panel for the blind includes an array substrate, a touch substrate and an elastic film. The array substrate includes a glass substrate and data lines and gate lines formed on the glass substrate. The data lines and gate lines intersect each other so as to form pixel units, with each of the pixel units including a pixel electrode. The touch substrate includes a flexible film layer and charged columnar structures provided on the flexible film layer. The elastic film layer is provided between the array substrate and the touch substrate. The side of the touch substrate on which the charged columnar structures are formed faces the side of the array substrate on which the pixel electrodes are formed, and the charged columnar structures on the touch substrate correspond to the pixel electrodes on the array substrate one to one.
US09244541B2
An image sensing apparatus comprises at least one sensing pixel and a control circuit. The sensing pixel comprises: a charge storing device; a light sensing device, for respectively generating photoelectrons with a first, second amount in a first, second mode; and a switch device, for determining an amount that the photoelectron can be transmitted to the charge storing device according to a control voltage. The control voltage generates the control voltage to control the amount that the photoelectrons can be transmitted to the charge storing device to be a first charge amount in a first mode and to be a second charge amount in a second mode. The first, second charge amounts are smaller than a maximum charge storing amount for the charge storing device.
US09244535B2
Certain embodiments relate to a protective cover with a housing and a latch mechanism. The latch can be hingeably coupled to a back portion of the housing such that the latch is configured to rotate, via the hinge coupling, from a closed position to an open position. The latch can further be slideably coupled to the housing such that the latch is configured to laterally slide out from the back portion of the housing to an extended position, where the bottom side of the latch can be configured to couple to and secure an input device to the surface of the housing.
US09244531B2
A touch-sensitive sheet member contains a body having predetermined hardness and a sheet shape and a sense-of-touch-representing unit that represents a sense of touch. The sense-of-touch-representing unit has a predetermined size and is arranged at positions of the body or at a predetermined position of the body. The touch-sensitive sheet member also contains a medium-supplying unit that supplies medium to the sense-of-touch-representing unit.
US09244529B2
Point-of-gaze of a user looking at a display is estimated, taking into account rotation of the user's head or rotation of the display. An image of an eye of the user is captured. The image is processed to determine coordinates in the image of defined eye features, sufficient to determine the eye's optical axis. At least one angle is determined, the at least one angle proportional to an angle between (i) a line coincident with an edge of the display and (ii) an intersection of the sagittal plane of the user's head with a plane of the display. An intersection of the eye's line-of-sight with the plane of the display is estimated using the eye's optical axis, and using the at least one angle to account for rotation of the user's head or the display.
US09244526B2
Provided is a display control apparatus controlling display of a transmissive display which includes a screen configured to transmit light arriving from an object located on a side of a first surface so that the object is viewable from a viewpoint position set on a side of a second surface which is an opposite surface to the first surface and which displays a display object to be stereoscopically viewed. The display control apparatus includes an acquisition unit that acquires position information indicating a relative positional relation between the transmissive display and the object, and a display control unit that changes, in accordance with a change in the relative positional relation in the position information, a depth of the display object from the screen perceived from the viewpoint position, the display object being displayed to be stereoscopically viewed by the transmissive display.
US09244525B2
There is provided an interactive device capable of providing input data to a computer program in response to user interactions, the interface device comprising a first position sensor reading a sensed location of the interface device having a free roaming movement in a three-dimensional space, a direction vector determination device determining a direction vector indicating an aiming direction, and a transmission system communicating aim information to an external device implementing the computer program. The transmission system may include a transmitter for the direction vector and/or a transmitter for the sensed location. The computer program can use the aim information and input data to support a projected 3D game environment or other application providing sensory feedback in response to the user interactions. Multiple interactive devices having unique identifiers may also be supported. The interactive device enables significant freedom to roam relative to implementing equipment, as compared to existing interactive devices having only a limited range of movement relative to implementing equipment.
US09244524B2
A surgical instrument includes an end effector, a manipulation unit, a grip detecting unit, a driving unit, and a control unit. When the control unit determines that the end effector is applying the acting force to the target based on the information acquired by the grip detecting unit, the control unit sets an acting force increasing zone of a predetermined range in a first movable range in the first direction of the manipulation unit, sets a neutral zone in a remaining area of the first movable range, controls the driving unit so that the acting force increases with a constant gradient with respect to an amount of manipulation of the manipulation unit in the acting force increasing zone, and controls the driving unit so that the acting force is kept constant regardless of the amount of manipulation of the manipulation unit in the neutral zone.
US09244523B2
A manipulator system includes a master manipulation unit that performs a manipulation input by an operator, a slave motion unit that operates in accordance with the manipulation input, an interlock control unit that analyzes the manipulation input and performs control to operate the slave motion unit, interlocking with the manipulation input, and an interlock permission input unit that is capable of being manipulated by the operator and transmits, to the interlock control unit, an interlock permission mode signal used to enter a mode in which interlock of the slave motion unit is permitted based on the manipulation input of the mater manipulation unit when the operator manipulates the interlock permission input unit.
US09244518B2
Methods and systems input an energy consumption profile for each of a plurality of different sleep modes available for a device, and input a probability distribution of interjob times for the device. The methods and systems then compute the optimal time-out period for each sleep mode based on the energy consumption profile of each sleep mode and the probability distribution of interjob times. Further, such methods and systems monitor the usage of the device to determine the current interjob time, and switch between sleep modes to relatively lower power sleep modes as the current interjob time becomes larger.
US09244512B2
A power supply device having a standby power cutoff structure, comprises: a power supply unit which has a plug connected to a socket, converts an external power for a power supply target device, and generates self-operating power; a connector unit which includes a power supply terminal to supply power to the power supply target device, and opens or blocks a power supply path between the external power and the power supply unit in response to a switching driving signal received from the power supply unit; and a cable for connecting the power supply unit and the connector unit, wherein the power supply unit checks the state of power supplied through a switching unit to output the switching driving signal to the switching unit such that the switching unit cuts off a power supply when the power supply target device is fully charged or the power supply device is turned off.
US09244511B2
Various arrangements for mitigating voltage droop in a direct current circuit configured to power multiple capacitive loads are presented. A voltage source configured to output a direct current voltage to power the multiple capacitive loads may be present. First and second outputs electrically coupled with the voltage source such that the outputs, when electrically coupled with capacitive loads, provide a voltage to the capacitive load may be provided. A transformer module (which may include a transformer and an impedance) electrically coupled with the first output and the second output may also be provided. When the first capacitive load is electrically coupled with the first output, the transformer may be configured to mitigate droop of the first voltage to the first output upon the second capacitive load being connected to the second output and receiving inrush current.
US09244500B2
In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, a method and apparatus is disclosed that includes features of a host computing device, and a wireless power transmission module and a wireless data transmission module both integrated on a circuit board of the host computing device. The host computing device is configured to transmit power and multi-media data to a peripheral device, upon receipt thereof from the wireless power transmission module and the wireless data transmission module, respectively. The peripheral device is configured to receive wirelessly power and multi-media data from a host computing device, and provide the received power and multi-media data to a wireless power reception module and a wireless data reception module, respectively, for processing, both modules being integrated on a circuit board of the peripheral device.
US09244498B2
A portable computer is described including a reverse-mounted touchpad and associated buttons where the touchpad is mounted on the reverse surface of the panel containing the portable computer's display and facing away from the user. One or more associated buttons are mounted on the surface of the display panel facing the user and function as the buttons normally associated with a touchpad, traditionally called the “mouse buttons”. The buttons are mounted in close proximity to the reverse-mounted touchpad such that the user can operate both the touchpad and the buttons simultaneously with a finger and the thumb of the same hand.
US09244497B2
A hinge module is disposed between a first body and a second body. A first bracket is fixed on the first body to fix a shaft. A second bracket is fixed on the second body and passed through by the shaft, so that the second bracket can be rotated relative to the first bracket. An electromagnet is installed on the shaft. A magnetic element is installed on the shaft, and capable of being attracted or repelled with the electromagnet. At least one of the electromagnet and the magnetic element is capable of being moved along the shaft axially but substantially incapable of being rotated with the shaft as an axis. When the electromagnet is activated, at least one of the electromagnet and the magnetic element is axially moved to press the second bracket to increase a torque of a rotation of the second bracket relative to the first bracket.
US09244495B2
In embodiments of mobile computer device binding feedback, an application interface for a device application is displayed on a first display that is integrated in a dual-display mobile device. The application interface can also be displayed on a second display that is integrated in the dual-display mobile device. Binding position data is received from a binding system that movably couples the first display to the second display. Application context data that is associated with the device application is also received. Feedback can then be generated based on the binding position data and the application context data, where the feedback can be generated as audio feedback, video feedback, display feedback, and/or haptic feedback.
US09244494B2
Provided is a modular display device for providing a digital representation of a blueprint. In one example, the device includes an elongated housing having an elongated opening parallel to a longitudinal axis of the housing. A core is configured to fit inside the housing in a rotatable manner. A flexible display is configured to move between one state where a majority of the flexible display is positioned inside the housing and rolled around the core and another state where a majority of the flexible display is moved out of the housing through the opening and positioned outside of the housing to form a viewing surface. A height and a width of the flexible display are sufficient to provide a 1:1 scale view of a drawing having dimensions defined by a drawing standard used in at least one of an architectural industry, an engineering industry, or a construction industry.
US09244487B2
A land-grid array die package socket is configured for low- or zero insertion-force assembly with a land-grid array die package. For zero insertion-force assembly, a motion plate applies a force on a land-grid array contact that causes a contact tip to move into protective cover while the die package is inserted into the socket. After zero insertion-force assembly, the motion plate applies a force on the land-grid array contact that causes the contact tip to deflect in a positive-Z direction until a useful contact is made at the contact tip with a land-grid array pad.
US09244486B2
A flexible touch screen panel includes a substrate divided into an active area, a first non-active area, and a second non-active area, a plurality of sensing electrodes in the active area, a plurality of position detecting lines in the first non-active area and connected to the sensing electrodes, a plurality of connecting units in the second non-active area and connected to the plurality of position detecting lines and the connecting units are multiple layer structure wiring lines, a pad unit including a plurality of pads in the second non-active area and the pad unit is connected to the plurality of connecting units, and an insulating layer in the active area, overlapping the first non-active area, and excluded from the second non-active area.
US09244468B2
According to an embodiment, a smoothing device includes a predicting unit, a calculating unit, and a control unit. The predicting unit predicts a calculation load of operation at a first time slot on the basis of weather prediction information of operation areas in which facility devices that perform environmental control according to control values resulting from the operation based on weather information are installed. The calculating unit calculates a calculation load of operation at a second time slot earlier than the first time slot on the basis of the weather information of the operation areas. The control unit controls an executing device that executes the operation so that part of the operation to be executed at the first time slot is executed at the second time slot.
US09244467B2
A system of thermally activated feedback control valves and thermally activated sensors to provide heated fluid within a desired temperature range which operates consistently at high and low flow rates, suitable for control of combination safety shower and eyewash stations.
US09244463B2
The invention relates to an automated guided vehicle and a method for operating an automated guided vehicle. Upon arriving at a destination, then the automated guided vehicle is moved, based on a comparison of signals or data assigned to the environment detected by at least one sensor with signals or data which are assigned to a target position or to a target position and orientation of the automated guided vehicle at the destination, such that the actual position or the actual position and orientation is the same as the target position or target position and orientation at least within a pre-specified tolerance.
US09244458B2
A method of numerical-control scraping of a work piece has a preparing step, a scanning step, a flatness-parameter inputting step, a surface-finishing step, a related-parameter inputting step, an auto-scraping step and an analyzing step. The preparing step comprises preparing a multi-axis machine tool, a laser displacement meter, an auto scraping apparatus and a computer. The scanning step comprises scanning the work piece. The flatness-parameter inputting step comprises inputting a flatness-parameter. The surface-finishing step comprises calculating out the to-be-scraped ranges of the work piece and scraping the work piece. The related-parameter inputting step comprises inputting desired PPI and POP in the computer, calculating out the HOP, the DOS and the oil content to obtain the length, the width and the depth of a single scraping process. The auto-scraping step comprises scraping the work piece to meet the requirement. The analyzing step comprises detecting the 3D-appearance drawing of the work piece.
US09244441B2
Systems and methods for using biometrics to select music preference are provided. A system for using biometrics to select music preferences for a user in a vehicle, comprises a music selection module electrically coupled to at least one biometric sensor in the vehicle, wherein the at least one biometric sensor senses a characteristic of the user and outputs data for the sensed characteristic to the music selection module, and wherein the music selection module selects a music selection for the user based on the sensed characteristic data, and a controller module electrically coupled to the music selection module to control playing of the music selection, wherein the controller module receives an output including the music selection from the music selection module.
US09244437B2
The invention relates to a device for winding a timepiece by means of the crown, said device including: a body having at least two housings inside which are respectively arranged a motor, a rechargeable battery, and an electronic control circuit, means for driving the crown disposed at one of the ends of the body of the device and secured to said motor, intended to rotatably drive said timepiece crown, According to the invention, the device includes a spring placed between said battery and said motor to permit said motor to slide in its housing with said drive means inside the body of said device, said motor being configured to slide into at least two positions, including: a rest position in which said motor is not supplied with power, and an operating position in which said motor is supplied with power in order to start the rotation of said drive means when said drive means are engaged and pressed onto the crown of said watch.
US09244433B2
Timepiece or watch (1000) or music box including an acoustic display mechanism (100), for a striking timepiece (1000), including a plurality of control-pieces (1) for the same time measurement parameter, staged in parallel planes, and further including melody selection means (3), arranged to be operated by a user or by the timepiece movement, controlling or prohibiting, at a given moment, access of the control-pieces (1) to a common snail (2) corresponding to said time measurement parameter, to allow only one of the control-pieces (1) to operate at least one lever (4) controlling the motion of a hammer to play a melody that is specific thereto or to activate at least one gong that is specific thereto.
US09244431B2
A fixing device includes an elastic rotator and a cooler disposed opposite the rotator to cool the rotator with cooling air. A mover contacts and moves the rotator to a first position where the rotator is disposed opposite the cooler with an increased first interval therebetween and a second position where the rotator is disposed opposite the cooler with a decreased second interval therebetween. A rectification plate is movably mounted on the cooler to contact the rotator constantly to guide the cooling air to the cooler.
US09244429B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a main casing; a plurality of cartridges each extending in a first direction substantially perpendicular to a vertical direction; and a supporting member configured to detachably support the plurality of cartridges such that the cartridges are arrayed in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the vertical direction and the first direction. The supporting member is movable between an inner position disposed within the main casing and an outer position disposed outside of the main casing. The supporting member includes: a first side plate; a second side plate positioned opposite to and spaced away from the first side plate in the first direction; and a prescribed number of beam plate connecting between the first side plate and the second side plate, the prescribed number being in a range of from one to not more than a number of the cartridges.
US09244418B2
An image forming apparatus includes a forming unit configured to form a detection patch on a recording material and a detecting unit configured to detect the detection patch on the recording material being conveyed at a first conveying speed. After the detecting unit detects the detection patch, the recording material with the detected detection patch is conveyed at a second conveying speed higher than the first conveying speed.
US09244398B2
In accordance with one embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a heating member configured to heat a recording medium, on the surface of which a toner image is carried, to fix the toner on the recording medium; a pressing member configured to contact with the recording paper from the back side of the recording paper; an induction heating section configured to heat the heating member through induction heating; a temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature nearby the heating member; a driving control section configured to carry out a control based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor so that the temperature of the heating member based on the induction heating section is within an allowable temperature range; a temperature range setting section configured to set the allowable temperature range so that the allowable temperature range is narrowed as time elapses from the start of a fixing processing.
US09244397B2
The image heating apparatus heats a toner image beard on a recording material while conveying the recording material at a nip portion, and includes: a heater; a fixing member; a pressure member; a first temperature detecting member; a second temperature detecting member configured to detect a temperature on non-sheet-passing area; a control device; and an air supplying member supplying an air to the non-sheet-passing area. The air supplying member is started to be drive when a temperature detected by the second temperature detecting member reaches a predetermined temperature which is higher than the target temperature. The control device controls the quantity of the air in response to information related to the power supplied to the heater when a temperature detected by the second temperature detecting member reaches the predetermined temperature.
US09244393B1
An image forming method includes forming an unfixed toner image on a recording medium using a toner that contains a carboxyl group-containing resin having a carboxyl group and an oxazoline group-containing resin having an oxazoline group, fixing the unfixed toner image to the recording medium to form a fixed toner image, and performing a heat treatment on the fixed toner image at a temperature higher than or equal to a fixing temperature.
US09244388B2
In an example, rollers are disclosed, wherein one of the rollers has a resilient outer layer, and one of the rollers comprises a coned portion.
US09244387B2
A developer collecting device includes a suction duct, a collecting box, and a suction mechanism. The suction duct has one end adjacent to a development device and another end. The collecting box is connected to the other end and configured to suction and collect developer around the development device via the suction duct. The suction mechanism is disposed in the middle of the suction duct. The suction mechanism includes a suction port that is openable and closable. The suction mechanism is configured to suction the developer inside the suction duct from an outside of the suction duct.
US09244386B2
A developing device includes a first developer holder and a second developer holder. The first developer holder is disposed so as to face an image holding member and rotates so as to move in a direction opposite to a direction of movement of the image holding member at a first facing portion. The second developer holder is disposed downstream from the first developer holder in the direction of movement of the image holding member so as to face the image holding member and rotates so as to move in the same direction as the image holding member moves at a second facing portion. A value obtained by dividing an amount of developer per unit area held on the first developer holder by a shortest distance between the image holding member and the first developer holder is approximately in a range from 1.00×103 kg/m3 to 1.60×103 kg/m3.
US09244383B2
A toner supplying device includes: a toner container that is tubular, includes a spiral groove at an outer circumferential face, a toner discharge opening at one end in a longitudinal direction, and a depression at the other end in the longitudinal direction, and is rotationally driven to convey toner contained in the toner container along the spiral groove in the longitudinal direction to discharge the toner from the toner discharge opening; a rotational driving unit that engages with the one end of the toner container to rotationally drive the toner container to cause the toner container to discharge the toner; and a projection provided at an interior portion at which the toner container is installed, and having an inclination in which a projection amount increases toward downstream in a rotational direction of the toner container. The projection is formed to fall in the depression of the toner container.
US09244373B2
The present invention provides a toner that exhibits an excellent chromogenicity and provides a method of producing a toner that has an excellent particle size distribution and an excellent chromogenicity, in which a toner containing a binder resin and a colorant that contains a coloring compound with general formula (1), and a method of producing this toner.
US09244367B2
An exposure apparatus is equipped with an encoder system which measures positional information of a wafer stage by irradiating a measurement beam using four heads installed on the wafer stage on a scale plate which covers the movement range of the wafer stage except for the area right under a projection optical system. Placement distances of the heads here are each set to be larger than width of the opening of the scale plates, respectively. This allows the positional information of the wafer stage to be measured, by switching and using the three heads facing the scale plate out of the four heads according to the position of the wafer stage.
US09244365B2
According to one embodiment, a method for measuring pattern misalignment, includes: a first step obtaining image data; a second step specifying a measurement region; a third step calculating a first shift amount (x1, y1); a fourth step determining, after calculating the first shift amount, a first distribution; a fifth step executing a plurality of times the second step, the third step, and the fourth step; a seventh step calculating a second shift amount (x2, y2); an eighth step determining, after calculating the second shift amount, a second distribution; a ninth step executing a plurality of times the sixth step, the seventh step, and the eighth step; and a tenth step calculating a difference (x2−x1, y2−y1) between the second pattern misalignment and the first pattern misalignment.
US09244363B2
An immersion lithography apparatus includes (i) an optical assembly including an optical element, and configured to project a beam onto a substrate through an immersion liquid; (ii) a containment member that surrounds a path of the beam; and (iii) a stage on which the substrate is held, the substrate on the stage being moved below and spaced from a bottom surface of the containment member. The containment member includes: (1) a nozzle outlet via which water as the immersion liquid is released, (2) a recovery channel via which the immersion liquid is recovered from a gap between the containment member and the substrate and/or the stage, and (3) a fluid channel via which water is released to the gap between the containment member and the substrate and/or the stage, the fluid channel being provided radially inward of the recovery channel.
US09244348B2
A polymer comprising recurring units having an acid-eliminatable group on a side chain and aromatic ring-bearing cyclic olefin units is used to formulate a chemically amplified negative resist composition. Any size shift between the irradiated pattern and the formed resist which can arise in forming a pattern including isolated feature and isolated space portions is reduced, and a high resolution is obtained.
US09244341B2
A photomask having a machine-readable identifying mark and suitable for manufacturing integrated circuit devices and a method for forming the photomask and identifying mark are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment includes receiving a design layout corresponding to a pattern to be formed on a photomask blank. A specification of an identifying code is also received along with the photomask blank, which includes a substrate, a reflective layer, and an absorptive layer. A first patterning is performed using the design layout. A second patterning is performed using the specification of the identifying code.
US09244338B2
A projector can prevent a flicker from being caused by rotation of a rotating phosphor plate. The projector includes a solid-state light source that emits excitation light, a rotating phosphor plate that converts the excitation light into phosphor light, a liquid-crystal light modulating device that modulates the light from the rotating phosphor plate, a projection optical system that projects the modulated light onto a screen, and a control device that controls the solid-state light source and the rotating phosphor plate so as to satisfy any one of a conditional expression A=B, a conditional expression A=2B, and a conditional expression |A−B| is greater than or equal to 20 and |A−2B| is greater than or equal to 20, where A represents a pulse width modulation control frequency in hertz of the solid-state light source and B represents a rotation frequency in hertz of the rotating phosphor plate.
US09244320B2
A liquid crystal display includes a transparent insulation substrate, a first polarizer, and a semiconductor layer, a thin film transistor, and a backlight unit. The first polarizer is disposed on the transparent insulation substrate. The first polarizer includes a light blocking film and metal wires. The semiconductor layer, disposed on the light blocking film, has a perimeter aligned with a perimeter of the light blocking film. The thin film transistor, disposed on the semiconductor layer, includes a source region and a drain region disposed in the semiconductor layer. The backlight unit, disposed under the transparent insulation substrate, provides light to the transparent insulation substrate. The blocking film reflects substantially all of the light. Gaps are disposed between the metal wires.
US09244310B2
A liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate, an opposite substrate and a liquid crystal display layer. The array substrate includes a pixel electrode and a lower reactive mesogen layer. The pixel electrode includes a plurality of slit portions disposed on a plurality of domains in different directions. The lower reactive mesogen layer is disposed on the pixel electrode to induce an inclined direction of liquid crystal molecules. The opposite substrate includes an upper substrate. An upper reactive mesogen layer is disposed on a common electrode of the opposite substrate. The liquid crystal layer includes liquid crystal molecules arranged to have a pretilt angle between a surface of the lower reactive mesogen layer and a surface of the upper reactive mesogen layer.
US09244305B2
A liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal panel and a backlight unit are provided. The backlight unit includes an exciting light source and a quantum dot fluorescent material. An emission spectrum of the backlight unit at a wavelength from 400 nm to 500 nm, from 500 nm to 580 nm and from 580 nm to 780 nm has relative maximum brightness peaks BL1, BL2 and BL3, respectively, wherein BL2/BL1>0.65, and BL2/BL3>1. The liquid crystal panel is disposed above the backlight unit, and has red pixel regions, green pixels regions and blue pixel regions. A cell gap in the red pixel regions of the liquid crystal panel is bigger than a cell gap in the green pixel regions of the liquid crystal panel and a cell gap in the blue pixel regions of the liquid crystal panel.
US09244297B2
Variable liquid crystal devices for controlling the propagation of light through a liquid crystal layer use a frequency dependent material to dynamically reconfigure effective electrode structures in the device. The drive signal source uses pulse-width modulation to set a frequency and an amplitude of the drive signal.
US09244292B2
A wireless ad hoc pico network is formed by eyewear having a radio frequency transceiver and other devices such as a computer, a bracelet and a telephone having similar transceivers mounted on them. Master slave relationships are configurable. Other devices, such as a radio, a CD player, a hand held global positioning satellite system and a heart rate monitor, having similar transceivers, can also be connected with the transceiver of the eyewear. The transceivers operate on a globally available, unlicensed radio band of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz).
US09244288B2
A patterned retarder type 3D display includes a display panel including a plurality of unit pixels disposed in a matrix manner and a black matrix, a patterned retarder including a plurality of unit retarder patterns disposed at every row of the plurality of the unit pixels and located in front of the display panel, and a black strip including a main strip disposed as to be overlapped with the black matrix, the black strip being disposed between two unit pixels neighboring in a vertical direction and having a width expanded in any one direction of an upside direction and a down side direction from a border line of the unit retarder pattern, wherein outer lines of the black strips disposed at the each unit pixel are irregularly disposed, wherein the main strip extends in a horizontal direction.
US09244287B2
Optical systems, such as 2-D and 3-D projection systems, may be configured to have a compact back focal length to allow for more compact projection lenses, lower throw ratios, improved contrast, or any combination thereof. In an embodiment, an optical system may include a relay element configured to form an intermediate image having a focal point proximate to a projection lens.
US09244283B2
This invention provides a system and method for expanding the field of view of a vision system camera assembly such that the field of view is generally free of loss of normal resolution across the entire expanded field. A field of view expander includes outer mirrors that receive light from different portions of a scene. The outer mirrors direct light to tilted inner mirrors of a beam splitter that directs the light aligned with a camera axis to avoid image distortion. The inner mirrors each direct the light from each outer mirror into a strip on the sensor, and the system searches features. The adjacent fields of view include overlap regions sized and arranged to ensure a centralized feature appears fully in at least one strip. Alternatively, a moving mirror changes position between acquired image frames so that a full width of the scene is imaged in successive frames.
US09244282B2
Curved bezel-concealing display covers and display devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a bezel-concealing display cover for coupling to a display device having a bezel and a display panel includes a curved perimeter portion having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the curved perimeter portion is configured to be offset from the bezel of the display device by a varying gap GA. The bezel-concealing display cover further includes an array of prisms on at least one of the first surface or the second surface of the curved perimeter portion. The array of prisms extends from an edge of the curved perimeter portion to a distance L. The array of prisms and the curved perimeter portion is configured to shift a portion of an image proximate the bezel produced by the display panel such that the shifted portion of the image appears over the bezel to an observer.
US09244274B2
An aberration corrector and a method to reducing a spherical aberration are disclosed. The aberration corrector has a radial, rotationally symmetric variation of refractive index including a term varying in proportion to a fourth degree of a distance from the optical axis. Since the spherical aberration causes a wavefront deviation proportional to the fourth degree of distance from the optical axis, the spherical aberration can be reduced by the aberration corrector when its thickness causes the exact amount of the phase delay corresponding to the wavefront deviation, but with an opposite sign.
US09244266B2
A tunable optical filter is formed in the structure of an etalon. A thin electro-optic ceramic substrate is fixed between two end substrates. Each end substrate has an inner parallel surface toward said electro-optic ceramic substrate covered by an electrode layer and a reflecting layer. An adhesive which attaches the electro-optic ceramic substrate to each first and second end substrates has a consistency so as to avoid stress on the electro-optic ceramic substrate. A voltage imposed on the electro-optic ceramic substrate by the electrode layers on the inner parallel surfaces of the first and second end substrates effectively controls an optical distance between the reflective coating layers on the inner parallel surfaces of the first and second end substrates of the etalon structure. The electro-optic ceramic substrate is preferably PMN-PT ((1−x)Pb (Mg⅓ Nb⅔) O3-x—Pb Ti O3) and no more than 160 μm thick.
US09244249B2
A double ball rearview device mounting assembly includes a bracket having a windshield engagement surface, an internal sensor receiving aperture, and an external clip engagement wall. A sensor is adapted for reception in the internal sensor receiving aperture. A clip is operably coupled to the bracket to secure the sensor. A bracket cover is configured to slide into secure engagement with the bracket and includes a first mounting ball. A barrel is pivotally coupled to the first mounting ball at one end, and is pivotally coupled to a second mounting ball at the other end. A rearview device is operably mounted to the second mounting ball.
US09244240B2
A multi-core cable includes an insulated electronic wire arranged in the center of a cross-section of the cable, an insulated electronic wire arranged in proximity to the insulated electronic wire and having a diameter smaller than that of the insulated electronic wire, an even number of coaxial electronic wires arranged on the same circumference in the periphery of the insulated electronic wire and the insulated electronic wire, and a tensile strength fiber arranged in gaps between the coaxial electronic wires and the insulated electronic wire and the insulated electronic wire.
US09244236B2
A photonic integrated circuit includes optical circuitry fabricated over an underlying circuitry layer. The optical circuitry includes a dielectric material having recesses disposed within, layers of a light waveguide material deposited within the recesses, and lenses disposed over each layer of waveguide material. The underlying circuitry layer may include, for example, a semiconductor wafer as well as circuitry fabricated during front end of line (FEOL) semiconductor manufacturing such as, for example, sources, gates, drains, interconnects, contacts, resistors, and other circuitry that may be manufactured during FEOL processes. The underlying circuitry layer may also include circuitry manufactured during back end of line semiconductor manufacturing processes such as, for example, interconnect structures, metallization layers, and contacts.
US09244233B2
An optical waveguide includes a printed circuit board, a waveguide, a light emitter, a light receiver, a transparent driver, and a transparent processor. The driver and the processor are received in and mounted to the printed circuit board through a flip-chip method. The light emitter and the light receiver are mounted to the driver and the processor, respectively, through the flip-chip method. The planar waveguide is attached to a side of the printed circuit board opposite to the light emitter and the light receiver. The driver drives the light emitter to emit light according to input signals. This light is directed onto the light receiver through the driver, the planar waveguide, and the processor. The light receiver converts the light into electrical signals. The processor processes the electrical signals to obtain the input signals.
US09244231B2
An optical device includes a first substrate, having first and second surfaces, and a second substrate having a third surface. The first substrate includes: a laser unit, having an active layer and emitting light into the first substrate from the active layer; a reflecting mirror, having a plane obliquely intersecting an optical axis of light emitted from the laser unit, and being formed on the first surface so as to reflect the light toward the second surface; and a convex lens, being formed in a region on the second surface, the region including an optical axis of the light reflected by the reflecting mirror. The second substrate is provided with a grating coupler and an optical waveguide on the third surface, the optical waveguide having light incident on the grating coupler propagating therethrough.
US09244228B2
A female optical connector includes a connector body, a hollow pusher, an optical fiber, lenses, and two elastic shielding plates. The connector body includes a coupling surface. The coupling surface defines a receiving hole with an opening. The connector body further includes an end surface, a first surface, and a second surface in the receiving hole. The end surface faces the opening and is interconnected between the first surface and the second surface. The hollow pusher extends from the end surface and is received in the receiving hole. The hollow pusher is spaced apart from the first and second surfaces. The lens is received in the receiving hole and optically coupled to the optical fiber. The elastic shielding plates have fixed ends fixed to the first surface and the second surface at opposite sides of the receiving hole, and opposite free ends overlappable to cover the opening.
US09244222B2
An optical waveguide device includes a wiring substrate, a connection pad formed in the wiring substrate, an optical waveguide in which a first cladding layer, a core layer, and a second cladding layer are formed of the wiring substrate in this order, an opening portion formed in the second cladding layer in a region including the connection pad, a contact hole formed at least in the first cladding layer on the connection pad, and being communicated with the opening portion of the second cladding layer, an optical element, including a connection terminal, connected to the connection pad through the contact hole, and underfill resin filled in the opening portion of the second cladding layer and the contact hole, and sealing a lower side of the optical element, wherein a part of the opening portion or the second cladding layer is exposed from the optical element.
US09244219B2
The fiber comprises a core (2) having an index N and diameter of 10 μm or more, surrounded by a ring (4) having an index N+Δn and thickness ΔR, and cladding (6) surrounding the ring and comprising for example air gaps (8). According to the invention: Δn≧10−3 and ΔR=α/(Δn)β [1] where: 5×10−4 μm≦α≦5×10−2 μm and 0.5≦β≦1.5. The numbers α and β are dependent on the wavelength λ of the light guided by the fiber, the number of missing gaps therein, the diameter d of the gaps, the spacing Λ thereof and N. To design the fiber, λ, the number of missing gaps, d/Λ, the core doping content, Λ and Δn are chosen; and ΔR is determined using equation [1] so as to obtain a flattened fundamental mode.
US09244216B2
A backlight assembly includes a light guide plate (LGP) having a stepped portion formed at a corner of the LGP, an optical sheet disposed over the LGP and a receiving container receiving the LGP and the optical sheet. The receiving container includes a bottom plate, first through fourth sidewalls and a first LGP fixing portion. The second sidewall is adjacent to the first sidewall. The third sidewall faces the first sidewall. The fourth sidewall faces the second sidewall. The first through fourth sidewalls are extended upwardly from edge portions of the bottom plate. The first LGP fixing portion is formed at the first sidewall such that the LGP fixing portion corresponds to the stepped portion of the LGP. Therefore, a display device is easily assembled. Furthermore, a defilement that may occur during an assembling process may be reduced to enhance productivity.
US09244214B2
A display device properly corrects chromaticity of display images with achieving high brightness. A liquid crystal display device 10 includes a liquid crystal panel 11 and a backlight unit 12. The liquid crystal display device 10 includes a pair of boards 11a, 11b and a liquid crystal layer 11c formed of liquid crystals that change their optical characteristics by implication of an electric field. The backlight unit 12 exits light toward the liquid crystal panel 11. One of the boards 11a, 11b of the liquid crystal panel 11 includes a color filter 19 including color portions R, G, B, Y each in red, green, blue, yellow. The backlight unit 12 includes LEDs 24 as a light source and each of the LEDs includes an LED chip 24a as a light emission source and a phosphor that is excited by light from the LED chip 24a and emits light. The phosphor includes at least a YAG-based phosphor.
US09244210B2
Even though no light source is provided in the vicinity of each curved apex of a main face, the brightness difference depending on the location on the main face is reduced, and a light guide plate that contributes to electric power saving can be provided. A display and a traffic sign including the display that can keep a small brightness difference depending on the location on the main face, and reduce the power consumption. The ratio of the area of the first diffusion dots and second diffusion dots within the second diffusion region is greater than the ratio of the area of the first diffusion dots within the first diffusion region. Even though no light source unit is provided at a curved section, the brightness difference (the unevenness of brightness) depending on the location on the entire main face is reduced, and electric power saving can be achieved.
US09244209B2
Provided is a display device. The display device includes a circuit substrate, a light source electrically connected to the circuit substrate, the light source being disposed under the circuit substrate, and a light conversion member disposed on a light emitting surface of the light source and a side of the circuit substrate, the light conversion member converting a wavelength of light emitted from the light source. Here, the light conversion member is disposed also on a side surface of the circuit substrate and converts a wavelength of light emitted from the light source. Since the light conversion member is disposed on the side surface of the circuit substrate, the light conversion member may be aligned with the light source without interfering with the circuit substrate. Thus, the display device may effectively convert the wavelength of the light emitted from the light source to realize improved brightness and color impression.
US09244199B2
There is provided a cured-film formation composition that forms a cured film having excellent photoreaction efficiency and solvent resistance, and high adhesion, an orientation material for photo-alignment, and a retardation material formed with the orientation material. The cured-film formation composition comprises a component (A) that is a compound having a photo-aligning group and one substituent selected from a hydroxy group, a carboxy group, anvil an amino group, a component (B) that is a hydrophilic polymer having one or more substituents selected from to hydroxy group, a carboxy group, and an amino group; and a component (C) that is cross-linking agent that reacts with the component (A) and the component (B) and reacts at a temperature lower than a sublimation temperature of the component (A), wherein when the component (B) is an acrylic polymer, the cured-film formation composition further comprises a component (E) that is an adhesion enhancing component. The cross-linking agent of the component (C) may be more hydrophilic than the component (A). The orientation material is thrilled by thrilling a cured film with the cured-film formation composition and utilizing photo-alignment technique. The retardation material is obtained by applying a polymerizable liquid crystal on the orientation material and curing it.
US09244184B2
Disclosed are methods and systems for using a rigid-stem lead-in assembly comprising a plurality of interconnected rigid stems in a marine geophysical survey. An embodiment discloses a method of towing a survey device from a survey vessel, comprising: coupling the survey device to the survey vessel with a lead-in comprising a rigid-stem lead-in assembly, the rigid-stem lead-in assembly comprising a plurality of rigid stems that are interconnected and each comprise a stem both defining one or more interior chambers; and towing the survey device through a body of water. Also disclosed are marine geophysical survey methods and marine survey systems.
US09244174B2
Scintillations caused by ionospheric irregularities during Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements are detected and mitigated. Detection is based at least in part on statistical properties of geometry-free combination parameters calculated from input GNSS measurements corresponding to the same navigation satellite and different carrier frequencies. Mitigation is based at least in part on ionosphere-free combination parameters calculated from input GNSS measurements corresponding to the same navigation satellite and different carrier frequencies. Depending on the number of satellites with detected scintillations, different algorithms are used to calculate values of target parameters from a set of ionosphere-free combination parameters or from a set of ionosphere-free combination parameters and the remaining input GNSS measurements. Different algorithms accommodate stand-alone mode code phase measurements, stand-alone mode carrier phase measurements, differential navigation mode code phase measurements, and differential navigation mode carrier phase measurements.
US09244167B1
A system and method of displaying weather data related to weather for an aircraft can include receiving onboard weather data and external weather data. A vertical weather profile is provided on a display based on the onboard weather data and the external weather data. Display includes a first portion associated with a first range closest to the aircraft and a second portion associated with a second range farthest from the aircraft. First images of weather in the first range are provided on the first portion in response to the onboard weather data and second images of the weather in the second range are provided on the second portion in response to the external weather data. Blended images can be provided on a blended portion between the first range and the second range.
US09244165B1
A forward facing sensing system includes a windshield electronics module configured to be attached at and behind a windshield of a vehicle. A radar sensor device and an image sensor are disposed in the module so as to have a sensing/viewing direction forward of the vehicle with the module attached at and behind the windshield. A control includes an image processor that processes image data captured by the image sensor and that analyzes captured image data to detect an object present forward of the vehicle. The detected object is also sensed by a beam of the radar sensor device. The control, responsive at least in part to processing by the image processor of captured image data to detect the object and to sensing by the radar sensor device of the detected object, determines that a potentially hazardous condition may exist in the path of forward travel of the vehicle.
US09244160B2
In some illustrative embodiments, an ultrasonic transducer drive includes a signal generator for producing an outgoing signal and a transducer for converting the outgoing signal to outgoing ultrasound. The transducer may also convert at least a portion of ultrasound reflected by an object to an incoming signal. The transducer may have a transmit side connected conductably to the signal generator during at least a first predetermined period of time and a receive side connected conductably to a signal receiver during at least a second predetermined period of time. A shunt may be connectable between the receive side and a reference potential. The signal generator may generate the outgoing signal during at least substantially the first predetermined period of time while the shunt connects the receive side to the reference potential. The signal receiver may receive the incoming signal during substantially the second predetermined period of time while the shunt is substantially open.
US09244150B2
An approach is provided for providing location information of user devices based on signal frequencies of transmitters. The positioning platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more signals, from one or more transmitters, captured at one or more user devices to determine one or more frequencies of the one or more signals. Next, the positioning platform determines device location information of the one or more user devices based, at least in part, on the one or more frequencies.
US09244135B2
A magnetic sensor device includes a first magnet and a second magnet that are disposed on mutually opposing sides of a conveyance path, and one of poles of the first magnet faces an opposite pole of the second magnet. The first magnet and the second magnet generate a cross magnetic field whose strength in a spacing direction, which is orthogonal to a conveying direction, is within a predetermined range. An AMR element is located in a magnetic field in which the strength of the cross magnetic field in the spacing direction is within a predetermined range, and detects, as change in a resistance value, change in the cross magnetic field caused by an object to be detected. A multilayer board outputs the change in the resistance value detected by the AMR element to a processing circuit.
