US09448939B2

A transactional execution of a set of instructions in a transaction of a program may be initiated to collect memory operand access characteristics of a set of instructions of a transaction during the transactional execution. The memory operand access characteristics may be stored upon a termination of the transactional execution of the set of instructions. The memory operand access characteristics may include an address of an accessed storage location, a count of a number of times the storage location is accessed, a purpose value indicating whether the storage location is accessed for a fetch, store, or update operation, a count of a number of times the storage location is accessed for one or more of a fetch, store, or update operation; a translation mode in which the storage location is accessed; and an addressing mode.
US09448930B2

A method and system for allocating memory to a memory operation executed by a processor in a computer arrangement having a first processor configured for unified operation with a second processor. The method includes receiving a memory operation from a processor and mapping the memory operation to one of a plurality of memory heaps. The mapping produces a mapping result. The method also includes providing the mapping result to the processor.
US09448924B2

In one embodiment, storage arrays of solid state drives (SSDs) coupled to a node are organized as redundant array of independent disks (RAID) groups. Each storage array includes one or more segments. Each segment has contiguous free space on the SSDs. Data and metadata is organized on the SSDs with a sequential log-structured layout, with the data organized as variable-length extents of one or more logical units (LUNs). Segment cleaning is performed to clean a selected segment by moving the extents of the selected segment that contain valid data to one or more different segments so as to free the selected segment. Additional extents are written as a sequence of contiguous range write operations to the entire free segment with temporal locality to reduce data relocation within the SSDs as a result of the write operations.
US09448923B2

An information processing device includes: an SSD storage controlling unit for storing a physical address of a storage region of data stored in an SSD (Solid State Drive) and a number of updates of the storage region, as SSD update information into the SSD; a backup storage controlling unit for storing copy data of the data stored in the SSD, and copy update information obtained by copying the SSD update information, in association with each other into a backup storage part; an acquiring unit for acquiring the copy update information corresponding to data associated with the SSD update information acquired from the SSD, from the backup storage part; and a deciding unit for deciding the data to be stored into the backup storage part based on the acquired SSD update information and the acquired copy update information.
US09448922B2

A memory storage system that includes at least a storage controller, a first non-volatile, solid-state memory and a second non-volatile, solid-state memory. The storage controller has an interface to receive commands from a host system. The first non-volatile, solid-state memory device is coupled with the storage controller to at least store data received from the host system. The second non-volatile, solid-state memory is coupled with the storage controller to store context information corresponding to the data stored in the first non-volatile, solid-state memory device.
US09448921B2

Technologies are described herein for allocating pages in a flash memory. Some example technologies may receive multiple data elements and a write request to write the multiple data elements to the flash memory. Example technologies may identify a correlation between a subset of the data elements based on correlation criteria. Example technologies may allocate neighboring pages of the flash memory for storing the subset of the data elements. Example technologies may write the subset of the data elements into the allocated pages.
US09448912B2

A method and system are provided for providing a service address space for diagnostics collection. The method includes: providing a service co-processor attached to a main processor, wherein the service co-processor maintains an independent copy of the main processor's address space in the form of a service address space; and updating the service address space by receiving storage update packets from the main processor and applying the storage update packets to the service address space.
US09448909B2

A system and method for efficiently performing program instrumentation. A processor processes instructions stored in a memory. When the processor processes a given instruction of a given instruction type, the processor updates a corresponding performance counter. When the performance counter reaches a threshold, the processor generates an interrupt and compares a location of the given instruction with stored locations in a given list. If a match is not found, then the processor processes an instruction following the given instruction in the computer program without processing intermediate instrumentation code. If a match is found, then the processor processes instrumentation code. Regardless of whether or not the instrumentation code is processed, when control flow returns to the computer program, the corresponding performance counter is initialized with a random value.
US09448906B2

An improved method is provided for evaluating service quality of a software application residing in a computing environment. The method includes: monitoring first and second metrics indicative of performance of the software application; evaluating the first metric in relation to a first evaluation criterion; evaluating the second metric in relation to a second evaluation criterion different than the first evaluation criterion; and determining the state of service for the software application based in part on the evaluation of the second metric. Over time, the second evaluation criterion is adapted based on the outcome of the evaluation of the first metric.
US09448905B2

A method of controlling a storage device comprises monitoring whether a quality of service (QoS) of the storage device satisfies a quality condition set through a host, and adjusting a current setting of at least one operation metric of the storage device related to the QoS, according to a result of the monitoring.
US09448893B1

A method for backing up a client data set on a computer by generating a manifest of the client data set and storing the manifest on a remote server along with a server data set corresponding to the client data set; taking a snapshot of the server manifest and data set; and comparing the manifest to the remote server data set and synchronizing the client dataset if a difference is detected.
US09448879B2

An apparatus and method are described for detecting and correcting instruction fetch errors within a processor core. For example, in one embodiment, an instruction processing apparatus for detecting and recovering from instruction fetch errors comprises, the instruction processing apparatus performing the operations of: detecting an error associated with an instruction in response to an instruction fetch operation; and determining if the instruction is from a speculative access, wherein if the instruction is not from a speculative access, then responsively performing one or more operations to ensure that the error does not corrupt an architectural state of the processor core.
US09448875B2

An integrated circuit includes one or more portions having error detection and error correction circuits and which is operated with operating parameters giving finite non-zero error rate as well as one or more portions formed and operated to provide a zero error rate.
US09448873B2

A method, apparatus, and/or computer program product analyzes data processing. Dependency metadata, which is used for representing dependency on data among at least two components of an application, is acquired. Error information, which is used for describing errors that occurred while running the application, and data output, which includes data output by components used to run the application, are acquired. Based on the error information, dependency metadata and data output relevant to the error information are analyzed to provide an analysis result. The analysis result includes at least one of: a reason why an error occurs, a prompt for an error correction method, a relevant dependency metadata leading to an occurrence of an error, and relevant data output leading to an occurrence of an error.
US09448871B2

An information processing device includes a memory, and a plurality of processors coupled to the memory and including cache memories, and configured to select a processor where a capacity of the cache memory is the smallest among the plurality of processors, the selected processor executes memory dump processing for the memory.
US09448870B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for handling a request received in an agent designed in accordance with a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) specification using PCI Express™ semantics. More specifically, responsive to determining that the agent does not support the request, an unsupported request detection register of the agent can be updated, and a response sent from the agent to indicate that the agent does not support the request. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09448866B2

A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of data input/output pads configured to transmit and receive data to and from memory cells, an alert pad configured to output data error information while the data is transmitted and received, and a monitoring device configured to output the data error information to the alert pad in a first mode and to output monitoring information to the alert pad in a second mode.
US09448864B2

A message processing apparatus that processes a message between processors according to an embodiment of the present invention solves a problem that occurs when a message is processed by using interrupt or polling processing by processing messages having priorities that are transmitted between transmission and receiving processors that use a shared memory by using a polling thread and a kernel module, thereby providing a priority-based message processing method without applying a load to a system.
US09448859B2

Methods and devices for detecting suspicious or performance-degrading mobile device behaviors may include performing behavior monitoring and analysis operations to intelligently, dynamically, and/or adaptively determine the mobile device behaviors that are to be observed, the number of behaviors that are to be observed, and the level of detail or granularity at which the behaviors are to be observed. Such behavior monitoring and analysis operations may be performed continuously (or near continuously) in a mobile device without consuming an excessive amount of processing, memory, or energy resources of the mobile device by identifying hot application programming interfaces (APIs) and hot action patterns that are invoked or used most frequently by software applications of the mobile device and storing information regarding these hot APIs and hot action patterns separately and more efficiently.
US09448858B2

An environment manager includes a set of consolidated and integrated utilities which allow an administrator direct, remote access to information technology resources. The environment manager allows the administrator to control many aspects of the information technology environment including backup and archival of data systems, monitoring of systems, opening and closing of information technology systems, server fail-overs and virtual server environments, managing expert application, desktop management and security and system security.
US09448852B2

Tools and techniques for managing virtual machines, including without limitation virtual machines running in a cloud computing environment. Certain tools provide a user interface that allows a user to browse machine images to find an image that meets the user's needs. In some aspects, these tools and techniques can provide the ability for users to customize machine images to meet their own needs and/or to share their customized machine images with other users. In other aspects, these tools and techniques can provide users with the ability to export virtual machines for use on an actual computer system.
US09448848B2

A resource management node includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory includes computer readable program code that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations. The operations can include, for each of a plurality of guest virtual machines (VMs), determining operational resources of physical host machines available in a distributed computing system that are needed to provide the guest VM. The operations can further include determining an amount of infrastructure of a distributed computing system used by a defined placement of physical host machines in racks of the distributed computing system.
US09448847B2

An architecture for a load-balanced groups of multi-stage manycore processors shared dynamically among a set of software applications, with capabilities for destination task defined intra-application prioritization of inter-task communications (ITC), for architecture-based ITC performance isolation between the applications, as well as for prioritizing application task instances for execution on cores of manycore processors based at least in part on which of the task instances have available for them the input data, such as ITC data, that they need for executing.
US09448843B2

A technique for allocating a global resource in a distributed grid environment includes: a master resource manager (MRM) that receives from slave resource managers use and demand data associated with a global resource by each consumer in a region controlled by a respective slave resource manager. The MRM computes an allocation of the resource for each consumer and for each region by determining a total amount of the resource to allocate, estimating a need by each consumer for the resource based on the use and demand data, determining an allocation of the total amount of the resource among the consumers based on the estimated need; subdividing the allocation for each consumer among each region where the consumer utilizes the resource; and computing a total allocation of the resource for each region.
US09448840B2

A runtime management system is described herein that allows a hosting layer to dynamically control an underlying runtime to selectively turn on and off various subsystems of the runtime to save power and extend battery life of devices on which the system operates. The hosting layer has information about usage of the runtime that is not available within the runtime, and can do a more effective job of disabling parts of the runtime that will not be needed without negatively affecting application performance or device responsiveness. The runtime management system includes a protocol of communication between arbitrary hosts and underlying platforms to expose a set of options to allow the host to selectively turn parts of a runtime on and off depending on varying environmental pressures. Thus, the runtime management system provides more effective use of potentially scarce power resources available on mobile platforms.
US09448832B2

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for validating application deployment topology in a cloud environment. There is provided an apparatus for validating application deployment topology in a cloud environment comprising: a topology skeleton generator configured to generate, based on multiple VMs and script packages running on the VMs created by a user and required to deploy an application as well as running order of script packages and data dependency between script packages set by the user, a topology skeleton that comprises at least scripts of script packages of respective VMs and running order of the script packages; and a simulator configured to simulate a runtime environment in the cloud environment at the apparatus, thereby validating the running order and data dependency with respect to the topology skeleton, wherein the simulator is installed in the apparatus by using a simulator installation package retrieved from the cloud environment.
US09448829B2

A heterogeneous processor architecture is described. For example, a processor according to one embodiment of the invention comprises: a set of two or more small physical processor cores; at least one large physical processor core having relatively higher performance processing capabilities and relatively higher power usage relative to the small physical processor cores; virtual-to-physical (V-P) mapping logic to expose the set of two or more small physical processor cores to software through a corresponding set of virtual cores and to hide the at least one large physical processor core from the software.
US09448815B2

Examples of systems and methods are provided for server-side computing from a remote client device. A system may allow rendering at a local client side a composite view including a local graphical user interface and a remote application view associated with a remote application running at a remote server. The system may comprise a local view module configured to generate a local graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling the remote application remotely from the local client side, configured to receive one or more user inputs to the local GUI, configured to determine a function corresponding to the one or more user inputs, configured to generate a command message based on the determined function, and configured to direct the command message to the remote server. A composite view comprising the local GUI and the remote application view may be provided to a local display at the client device.
US09448811B2

A microprocessor device comprises at least one reset management module. The at least one reset management module is arranged to detect a reset event comprising a first reset level, determine if at least one reset condition has been met upon detection of the reset event comprising the first reset level, and cause a reset of a second reset level upon determining that the at least one reset condition has been met.
US09448808B2

Certain aspects direct to BIOS update with a service processor (SP) without access through a serial peripheral interface (SPI). In certain embodiments, the system includes a SP, which includes a processor, a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory and a system interface. The SP receives a BIOS image from a remote management computer, and stores the BIOS image in the volatile memory. When the SP receives, from a BIOS executed at a central processing unit (CPU) of a host computer through the system interface, a request for the BIOS image, the SP sends a copy of the BIOS image in response to the request for the BIOS image to the host computer through the system interface such that the BIOS executed at the CPU of the host computer replaces a current BIOS image stored in a BIOS chip with the copy of the BIOS image.
US09448805B2

The invention relates to the method of prefetching data in micro-processor buffer under software controls.
US09448799B2

Out-of-order CPUs, devices and methods diminish the time penalty from stalling the pipe to rebuild a rename table, such as due to a misprediction. A microprocessor can include a pipe that has a decoder, a dispatcher, and at least one execution unit. A rename table stores rename data, and a check-point table (“CPT”) stores rename data received from the dispatcher. A Re-Order Buffer (“ROB”) stores ROB data, and has a dynamic mapping relationship with the CPT. If the rename table is flushed, such as due to a misprediction, the rename table is rebuilt at least in part by concurrent copying of rename data stored in the CPT, in coordination with walking the ROB.
US09448797B2

Restricted instructions are prohibited from execution within a transaction. There are classes of instructions that are restricted regardless of type of transaction: constrained or nonconstrained. There are instructions only restricted in constrained transactions, and there are instructions that are selectively restricted for given transactions based on controls specified on instructions used to initiate the transactions.
US09448789B2

A synchronized media project, synchronization SDK, and synchronization service enable multiple users to produce a media composition collaboratively. A media project includes composition assets that reference media assets. A synchronization SDK enables multiple applications to edit the media project independent of an internal organization of the project. A project synchronization service synchronizes copies of media projects located on clients with a server-based versioned master project. User-selectable project synchronization modes determine whether media project assets are stored on clients, on the server, or on both, and when media assets are transferred. Synchronized media projects include composition assets in proprietary formats and in interoperable formats. Interoperable composition assets are rendered from proprietary composition assets on a track-by-track basis.
US09448786B1

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method for updating an operating system (OS) without a memory reset. The method includes launching a Virtual Execution Environment (VEE) under a host OS of a computer system. The VEE can be a VM or a Container. Next, a snapshot of the VEE is generated, including snapshotting user process data, of any processes that run under the VEE. A new OS is loaded onto the computer system, and control is given to the new OS without performing the memory reset. It is ensured that the user process data that is part of the snapshot is unaffected by the loading of the new OS and that the user process data remains in its original location. The VEE is re-launched under the new OS. User process data is restored from the snapshot into a random access memory.
US09448781B2

A system includes a designation information transmitter and an application installer transmitter. The designation information transmitter is configured to transmit a designation information to a computer. The application installer transmitter is configured to transmit an application installer to the computer and includes an install function, for installing the application identified by the application identification information in the computer, and a storing function, for storing a scheme information in the computer.
US09448779B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for translating application programs written using a parallel programming model for execution on multi-core graphics processing unit (GPU) for execution by general purpose central processing unit (CPU). Portions of the application program that rely on specific features of the multi-core GPU are converted by a translator for execution by a general purpose CPU. The application program is partitioned into regions of synchronization independent instructions. The instructions are classified as convergent or divergent and divergent memory references that are shared between regions are replicated. Thread loops are inserted to ensure correct sharing of memory between various threads during execution by the general purpose CPU.
US09448778B2

A computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for performing object collocation on a computer system are provided. The method includes analyzing a sequence of computer instructions for object allocations and uses of the allocated objects. The method further includes creating an allocation interference graph of object allocation nodes with edges indicating pairs of allocations to be omitted from collocation. The method also includes coloring the allocation interference graph such that adjacent nodes are assigned different colors, and creating an object allocation at a program point prior to allocations of a selected color from the allocation interference graph. The method additionally includes storing an address associated with the created object allocation in a collocation pointer, and replacing a use of each allocation of the selected color with a use of the collocation pointer to collocate multiple objects.
US09448772B2

A program development framework (PDF) is described herein which allows a user to produce a program in piecemeal fashion by successively specifying program fragments. The PDF creates a new program fragment by receiving keyword information from the user that describes a new program fragment, and then identifies context information that pertains to a programmatic context in which the new program fragment appears within the overall program being created. The PDF then generates a set of candidate program fragments that satisfy the keyword information and the context information, and ranks those candidate program fragments based on ranking information. At least part of the ranking information may be based on statistical information that is produced by analyzing a corpus of previous programs produced by one or more users. The PDF then provides the ranked program fragments to the user using various user-friendly presentation strategies.
US09448771B2

A system, method, and computer program product for generating a lightweight source code for implementing an image processing pipeline is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a specification for an image processing pipeline based on configuration settings associated with a user interface of a viewer application, generating a graphics language (GL) representation of the image processing pipeline based on the specification, and code for causing the GL representation to be compiled via a compile service to generate a binary executable instantiation of the image processing pipeline for execution on one or more graphics processing unit (GPU) cores.
US09448769B1

In one embodiment, a method for editing and testing computer programming code is provided. The method includes receiving a first file comprising computer programming code, and a first code overlay comprising one or more modifications to be applied to the computer programming code of the first file. The method further includes determining a first location within the computer programming code of the first file, at which to apply the first code overlay. The method further includes generating a second file comprising uncompiled composite computer programming code, the uncompiled composite computer programming code comprising the computer programming code of the first file modified by the one or more modifications applied at the first location. The method further includes testing the uncompiled composite computer programming code of the second file.
US09448767B2

A predictive adder produces the result of incrementing and/or decrementing a sum of A and B by a one-bit constant of the form of the form 2k, where k is a bit position at which the sum is to be incremented or decremented. The predictive adder predicts the ripple portion of bits in the potential sum of the first operand A and the second operand B that would be toggled by incrementing or decrementing the sum A+B by the one-bit constant to generate and indication of the ripple portion of bits in the potential sum. The predictive adder uses the indication of the ripple portion of bits in the potential sum and the carry output generated by evaluating A+B to produce the results of at least one of A+B+2k and A+B−2k.
US09448766B2

An arithmetic logic stage in a graphics pipeline includes a number of arithmetic logic units (ALUs). The ALUs each include, for example, a multiplier and an adder. The ALUs are interconnected by circuitry that, for example, routes the output from the multiplier in one ALU to both the adder in that ALU and an adder in another ALU.
US09448765B2

A method of an aspect includes receiving a floating point scaling instruction. The floating point scaling instruction indicates a first source including one or more floating point data elements, a second source including one or more corresponding floating point data elements, and a destination. A result is stored in the destination in response to the floating point scaling instruction. The result includes one or more corresponding result floating point data elements each including a corresponding floating point data element of the second source multiplied by a base of the one or more floating point data elements of the first source raised to a power of an integer representative of the corresponding floating point data element of the first source. Other methods, apparatus, systems, and instructions are disclosed.
US09448762B2

The subject disclosure is directed towards a pre-cognitive interactive music system that dynamically generates and adjusts music based on a user's interactions with a videogame or other interactive system. When a user is predicted as getting close to an upcoming event, audio clips are dynamically selected (e.g., via metric modulation) based upon an estimated time to reach the event. The audio clips are stitched together and played as prelap music as the user approaches the event, and the clips may be varied if the estimated time changes due to user interaction. Drawdown music is similarly selected as the user completes or moves away from an event. Also described is the changing of the playing rate to adjust the music, and the use of harmonic modulation to change the music's key over time to increase or lower perceived suspense as the user approaches the event or moves away from it, respectively.
US09448761B2

An approach is provided for providing audio-based control for at least one device based on changes in the rendering of audio information. A control platform causes, at least in part, a transmission of audio information from at least one device to an audio playback assembly for rendering. The control platform further determines at least one indication of a change in the rendering, wherein the at least one indication is based, at least in part, on one or more controls associated with the audio playback assembly. The control platform also processes and/or facilitates a processing of the at least one indication to cause, at least in part, an execution of at least one function for controlling the rendering of the audio information.
US09448760B2

Remote desktop servers include a display encoder that maintains a secondary framebuffer that contains display data to be encoded and transmitted to a remote client display and a list of display primitives effectuating updated display data in the secondary framebuffer. The display encoder submits requests to receive the list of drawing primitives to a video adapter driver that receives and tracks drawing primitives that, when executed, update a primary framebuffer.
US09448756B2

Embodiments of systems and methods for managing multiple overlapping electronic displays are disclosed, including the electronic displays of electronic paper, electronic books, computer monitors, and other electronic display devices. In one embodiment, a method includes sensing an overlap area of a first display and a second display relative to a specified view location, determining a nearest unobstructed display to the specified view location, and displaying within the overlap area of the nearest unobstructed display a highest priority information from among first and second information.
US09448753B2

A communicating apparatus receives a request command which requires a response, and determines whether the communication mode of a partner apparatus corresponding to the request command matches a communication mode executed by the self communicating apparatus. If it is determined that the communication mode of the partner apparatus matches the communication mode executed by the self communicating apparatus, the communicating apparatus transmits a response command to the request command. If it is determined that the communication mode of the partner apparatus does not match the communication mode executed by the self communicating apparatus, the communicating apparatus transmits no response command to the request command.
US09448743B2

A storage controller is provided that contains multiple processors. In some embodiments, the storage controller is coupled to a flash memory module having multiple flash memory groups, each flash memory group corresponding to a distinct flash port in the storage controller, each flash port comprising an associated processor. Each processor handles a portion of one or more host commands, including reads and writes, allowing multiple parallel pipelines to handle one or more host commands simultaneously.
US09448739B1

Various systems and methods can be used to perform backup to tape. For example, one method involves detecting an amount of storage in a tape drive that is available for concurrent access. The method then compares the size of a plurality of backup images to the amount of storage prior to initiating an archive operation. The method then involves adding information identifying a backup image to a list of backup images to be included in an archive operation and performing the archive operation, which involves writing the backup images to tape drive.
US09448737B2

An operating method for a memory. The method includes obtaining a first address via an address bus and a first command via a command bus from a controller, obtaining a second address via the address bus and a second command via the command bus from the controller after the first command is obtained, and combining the first address and the second address to obtain a valid address. The valid address is a row address when each of the first command and the second command is an active command, and the valid address is a column address when the second command is an access command.
US09448736B2

Provided are an electronic storage module, a method for assigning contacts of an electronic storage module and a method for implementing an assignment. Exemplary modules include chip cards such as SIM cards (Subscriber Identification Modules), in particular but not limited to cards that use six contacts. The electronic storage module has a plurality of contacts, including at least one reset contact and at least one first set of contacts forming a first communication interface between the electronic storage module and an electronic device including the electronic storage module. The set of contacts constitutes at least one second communication interface. The reset contact makes it possible to indicate which one of the first or second communication interfaces the first set of contacts uses at a given time.
US09448734B1

Embodiments of the present invention generally provide for multi-dimensional disk arrays and methods for managing same and can be used in video surveillance systems for the management of real-time video data, image data, or combinations thereof.
US09448721B2

A method of determining user-selections from at least one touch at a touch-sensitive input surface of an electronic device includes determining a first user-selection based on touch attributes, detecting changes in the touch attributes including a change in size and a change in the location, and determining a second user-selection based on a direction of the change in location.
US09448717B2

An exemplary display area includes a scroll image display region for displaying a scroll target image. When at least either one of a result of a determination as to whether or not a touch position on the display area by a user has continuously been detected for a predetermined time on a first region which is located in a first direction (scrolling direction) with respect to a reference position or a result of a determination as to whether or not the touch position has shifted in a direction different from the first direction, is positive, the scroll target image is scrolled and displayed in the first direction.
US09448709B2

A method for coarsely and finely controlling contents via respective main and auxiliary sliders, and a portable terminal supporting the same are provided. The portable terminal includes: a display unit displaying a main slider including a slidable path of a predetermined length for designating a predetermined region of contents and an auxiliary slider extending at least a part of a slidable path of the main slider; a touch screen detecting a signal for selectively displaying the auxiliary slider; and a controller for performing a control operation to display the auxiliary slider according to generation of the signal.
US09448693B2

Embodiments described herein provide various features for a unified and simplified user experience. A first feature (or set of features) provides icons for launching or accessing applications and business flows. A second feature provides a unified menu system including an icon bar with thumbnails of a selected icon arranged adjacent to the icon bar. A third feature provides a framework for a menu that can expose application objects from diverse sources.
US09448688B2

A device is provided for visually indicating a replay status of media items on a media device. Aspects of the device include displaying in a graphical user interface (GUI) of the media device a representation of a first media item; displaying a profile score of the first media item that is based on user preferences; and displaying a replay score for the first media item.
US09448679B2

Provided is a touch detection device, touch detection method, and touch screen panel, which detects a touch signal by detecting a driving back phenomenon occurring in a touch pad by a driving voltage applied to a driving capacitor, and a display device with a built-in touch screen panel. The touch detection device that is added on top of a display device and detects occurrence of a touch capacitance (Ct) by an approach of a bodily finger (25) or a touch input instrument such as a conductor similar to the bodily finger, the touch detection device comprising: a touch pad (10) that forms the touch capacitance (Ct) between the touch input instrument and the touch pad; a driving capacitor (Cdrv) whose one side is connected to the touch pad (10) and to the other side of which a driving voltage for detection of a touch input is applied; a common voltage detector that detects a common voltage generated from the display device; a driving voltage generator that generates the driving voltage in synchronization with the common voltage; and a touch detector that is connected to the touch pad (10), and that detects a touch signal by using a driving back phenomenon when the touch capacitance (Ct) is added to the driving capacitor (Cdrv) according to occurrence or non-occurrence of a touch in the touch input instrument. A touch signal is detected while avoiding a point in time of a change of a common voltage state, and a driving voltage is applied through a driving capacitor connected to a touch detector, to thus detect whether or not a driving back phenomenon occurs in the touch detector and to thereby acquire a touch signal. Accordingly, an influence due to parasitic capacitance generated by noise, coupling phenomenon or other factors is minimized, to thus acquire a touch signal stably.
US09448678B2

A capacitive transparent touch sheet has excellent visibility and durability without changing the sensitivity, size, or the like of a touch panel. The capacitive transparent touch sheet comprises: a first conductive sheet including a first substrate to be adhered to the hard substrate, and a plurality of strip shaped first electrodes formed separately on a surface of the first substrate to be adhered to the hard substrate; a second conductive sheet including a second substrate disposed to oppose the first substrate, a plurality of strip shaped second electrodes formed on a surface of the second substrate opposing the first substrate and arranged to cross the first electrodes, and at least one insulation part formed continuously with the second electrodes, the at least one insulation part having a thickness the same as that of the second electrodes; and an adhesive layer that bonds the first and second conductive sheets together.
US09448677B2

An operating device has an input element with haptic feedback and with a rigid printed circuit board. The printed circuit board has a stationary first printed circuit board region and a second printed circuit board region adjacent to the first printed circuit board region and deflectable relative to the second circuit board region. The first printed circuit board region has a first electrode of a capacitor and the second printed circuit board region has a second electrode of the capacitor, and the input element is operatively connected to the second printed circuit board region such that an actuation of the input element deflects the second printed circuit board region relative to the first printed circuit board region so as to vary the distance of the first electrode from the second electrode.
US09448675B2

Embodiments of the present invention generally provide an input device including a display device having an integrated capacitive sensing device. The input device includes a plurality of select line blocks, a plurality of gate low voltage lines, a gate high voltage line coupled to at least one select line included in at least one of the select line blocks, a plurality of transmitter electrodes, and a processing system coupled to the plurality gate low voltage lines and the plurality of transmitter electrodes. Each select line block includes a plurality of select lines. Each gate low voltage line is coupled to a different select line block. The processing system is configured to drive the plurality of transmitter electrodes for capacitive sensing, receive resulting signals from the plurality of gate low voltage lines, and determine positional information based on the resulting signals.
US09448664B2

A touch detection apparatus includes a sensor pad to output a signal based on a touch state in response to an alternating voltage in a floating state after being charged, an operational amplifier including a first input connected to an output of the sensor pad and a second input to receive the alternating voltage, a level shift detection unit to detect a touch signal based on a difference between a voltage variation at an output end of the operational amplifier caused by the alternating voltage and a voltage variation at the output end of the operational amplifier caused by occurrence of a touch, and a switching unit including a first switch to control an electric potential between a first input and the output end of the operational amplifier and a second switch to connect or not the sensor pad and the first input of the operational amplifier.
US09448657B2

A drive circuit of an in cell type touch panel includes a thin film transistor that controls whether to pass a signal to drive a counter electrode when a finger touches and a thin film transistor that controls whether to pass a counter electrode voltage in display. The drive circuit raises a gate voltage applied to the thin film transistor when the drive signal is passed more than a gate voltage applied to the thin film transistor when the counter electrode voltage is passed.
US09448644B2

A touch control system is provided and connected to a display surface, including a stylus and at least two sensing devices. The stylus includes a housing, a first opening, a second opening, a contacting member, and a reflecting member. The housing has a first end and a second end opposite to the first end. The first opening is formed at the first end. The second opening is formed between the first end and the second end. The contacting member protrudes from the first opening. The reflecting member is disposed in the housing, situated between the first opening and the second opening, and connected to the contacting member. When the contacting member contacts the display surface and moves along a direction from the first opening toward the second opening, the reflecting member is exposed to the second opening and reflects a light signal emitted from the sensing devices.
US09448642B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for rendering soft keyboard layouts for a touchscreen display that are based on the unique finger characteristics of different individual users by taking into account and accommodating unique hand characteristics of different individual users and/or different user preferences for positioning of the user's two hands on the touch screen. The disclosed systems and methods may be implemented in one example to render a custom soft keyboard layout for a user on a touch screen display having a touch display area that is larger than a standard keyboard layout.
US09448641B2

A gesture input apparatus that includes a command determination portion provided in a vehicle and determining a command according to a gesture of a first region in an upper limb of an operator who rides on the vehicle, a command output portion outputting the command determined by the command determination portion, a speed detection portion detecting a movement speed of a second region that is positioned nearer to a shoulder of the operator than the first region in the upper limb, and an output prohibition portion prohibiting an output of the command by the command output portion when the movement speed detected by the speed detection portion is equal to or more than a predetermined speed is provided.
US09448636B2

Systems and method described herein present techniques for identifying a gesture using gesture data compressed by principal joint variable analysis. A classifier of a gesture recognition system may receive a frame comprising a set of gesture data points identifying locations of body parts of a subject. The classifier may determining that a subset of the set of gesture data points is sufficient to recognize a first gesture. The subset may be stored into a database in reference to the first gesture. A recognizer may receive a new frame of new gesture data points identifying locations of body parts of a new subject. The recognizer may recognize that the gesture of the new subject corresponds to the first gesture responsive to comparing at least one new gesture data point from the new frame to at least one gesture data point of the subset.
US09448632B2

A view may be displayed on a multi-touch display based on force from a detected touch to a tactile point and an indentation of a clear layer. A detailed view related to the view may also be displayed on the multi-touch based on a detected further indentation of the tactile point.
US09448618B2

A start-up architecture of a redundant power supply system is provided. The redundant power supply system is electrically connected to a load, and includes N+M power supplies, where N≧1 and M≧1. The start-up architecture includes a power integration backboard electrically connected to the power supplies, and a mode switching member. The power integration backboard includes an activation circuit, and has a synchronous booting mode in which the power supplies are simultaneously activated and a sequential booting mode in which the power supplies are sequentially activated. The mode switching member is electrically connected to the activation circuit, and receives a manual switching of a user to output a synchronous booting signal that controls the power integration backboard to enter the synchronous booting mode and to output a sequential booting signal that controls the power integration backboard to enter the sequential booting mode.
US09448616B2

An anti-leakage supply circuit which avoids any power leakage to earth includes an interface, a management chip configured to detect a working state of a computer, a motherboard power supply configured to supply power to the interface and the management chip, and a control circuit coupled to the management chip. The control circuit is coupled between the motherboard power supply and the interface. The management chip is configured to output a signal to the control circuit when the computer is in standby state which disconnects the motherboard power supply and the interface.
US09448607B2

An irregularity detection device for a power switch determines if a temperature-dependent resistance on a current path of the power switch is abnormal according to if a voltage on the current path is greater than or equal to a configuration value when the power switch is turned on, and generates an irregularity alarm associated with the power switch based on the determination result.
US09448603B2

Embodiments of the disclosure may include a system for transferring power, the system having a donor mobile device. Such a donor mobile device may include processor(s) and a donor wireless power transfer mechanism coupled to the processor(s). In addition, the donor mobile device may include software application(s) that: (i) configure the donor wireless transfer mechanism on the donor mobile device to initiate power transfer; and (ii) transfer power using the donor wireless transfer mechanism. The system may also have a receptor mobile device including processor(s) and a receptor wireless power transfer mechanism coupled to the processor(s). Further, the receptor mobile device may include software application(s) that: (i) configure the receptor power transfer mechanism on the receptor mobile device to receive power; and (ii) receive and convert received power into electric current using the receptor power transfer mechanism.
US09448601B1

A system for storing data includes a rack and one or more data storage modules coupled to the rack. The data storage modules may include a chassis, two or more backplanes coupled to the chassis, one or more mass storage devices coupled to the backplanes, and one or more data control modules mounted in one or more inlet air plenums extending upstream of one or more of the backplanes in the chassis interior. A data control module can be mounted in one or more air plenums extending beneath one or more of the backplanes in the chassis interior. A data control module can be mounted in one or more air plenums extending above one or more of the backplanes. A data control module mounted in a data storage module may access the mass storage devices in one or more of the data storage modules coupled to the rack.
US09448594B2

An electronic device includes an enclosure, a display module, a key part, and a water proof structure. The water proof structure seals a first gap between the display module and enclosure and a second gap between the display module and the key part and drains water which flows into the enclosure to the outside of the enclosure.
US09448592B2

A flexible display panel including: a flexible substrate including a first region, second regions that extend from the first region and that have a curved surface, and a third region folded towards the second regions; a first display region in the first region of the flexible substrate; a second display region in the second regions of the flexible substrate; a plurality of non-display regions outside the first display region or the second display regions, wherein at least one of the plurality of non-display regions is in the third region of the flexible substrate; and an encapsulation member for encapsulating the first display region and the second display regions.
US09448586B2

An electronic device includes a housing, a pair of doors, and a memory. The doors are elastically and rotatably connected to the housing to shield the opening. Each door defines a guiding groove. When the memory card is inserted into the housing from the opening, the doors are rotated to open the opening, and the memory card is received in the guiding groove. When the memory card is removed from the housing, the doors shield the opening again so as to prevent contaminants from entering into the housing.
US09448585B2

A clamping structure includes an object, a clamping component and an elastic component. The object has a hole and a containing space, wherein the containing space is connected to the hole. The clamping component includes a pillar, a bump and a head portion, wherein the bump and the head portion are connected to the pillar, and the pillar is adapted to be inserted into the hole and rotated such that the bump moves to the containing space. When the bump is located in the containing space, the elastic component is compressed between the object and the head portion, and the bump is positioned at the containing space by elastic force of the elastic component, such that the clamping component is fastened to the object.
US09448584B2

A mounting apparatus for securing a display includes a base; a clipping device attached to the base, a first positioning device attached to the base, and a second positioning device attached to the base. The clipping device includes a first securing member and a second securing member. The clipping device is moveable relative to the base between a locked position and an unlock position. When the clipping device is located on the locked position, the first securing member and the second securing member are configured to secure to a display. When the clipping device is located on the unlock position, the first securing member is engaged with the first positioning device, the second securing member is engaged with the second positioning device, thereby the first securing member and the second securing member are configured to remove from the display.
US09448569B2

A system for controlling the cooling fan within an electronic display based on the amount of ambient light present. An ambient light sensor is used to measure the amount of ambient light which is contacting the display. To anticipate a temperature rise and lower the thermal inertia of the display, the fan speed is increased when high ambient light levels are measured at the exterior of the display. The ambient light sensor data may be used to apply a temperature correction factor to a temperature sensor within the display. Alternatively, the ambient light sensor data may be used to apply a fan speed correction factor to a desired fan speed (calculated based on a temperature sensor within the display). Multiple systems or methods can be used simultaneously within the display to cool several components which may heat and cool at different rates relative to one another. The various systems can have similar or different logic depending on the amount of cooling needed and the manner in which the cooled-components produce/absorb heat.
US09448567B2

A thermostat includes a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire connectors for receiving a plurality of HVAC control wires corresponding to an HVAC system. The thermostat also includes a thermostat processing and control circuit operative to at least partially control the operation of the HVAC system and a powering circuit coupled to the HVAC wire connectors and configured to provide an electrical load power to the thermostat processing and control circuit. The thermostat includes circuitry and methods for maximizing efficiency of energy harvested from the HVAC system connected to the thermostat, and depending on which system is connected to the thermostat, different power schemes can be implemented in order to obtain power from the HVAC system.
US09448566B2

A fluid pressure regulating system includes an auxiliary fluid circuit having a high pressure region and a low pressure region, a pump connected to the auxiliary fluid circuit and configured to discharge fluid into the high pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit, and a check valve connecting the high pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit to a main fluid interface line. The fluid pressure regulating system also includes a pressure regulating valve connecting the high pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit and the low pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit. The pressure regulating valve includes an aperture defining a fluid path from the high pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit to the low pressure region of the auxiliary fluid circuit. The aperture has a variable area as a function of fluid pressure within the main fluid interface line.
US09448564B2

A wave generation component during an off cycle when the on-off valve is closed to build pressure from the process gas in an accumulation volume. During an on cycle when the on-off valve is open the wave generation component releases the process gas according to a time constant. A flow restrictor installed downstream in a throat of the on-off valve, outputs the rapid square waves to the conduit at a predefined magnitude. The flow restrictor is selected to have an impedance that is high enough to significantly raise the time constant during the on cycle such that pressure decay in each square wave pulse over the on cycle decreases to within a tolerance, wherein the time constant is at least in part a function of the flow restrictor impedance.
US09448562B1

Systems and methods disclosed utilize acceleration information in landing an unmanned aerial vehicle. In particular, one or more embodiments include methods and systems that determine a UAV is landing, identify an acceleration spike relative to the UAV, and modify operation of the UAV while landing based on the acceleration spike. For example, in one or more embodiment, systems and methods identify an acceleration spike, compare the acceleration spike to a pattern indicative of contact with another object, and reduce the rate of rotation of rotors utilized by the UAV for flight based on the comparison of the acceleration spike to the pattern.
US09448557B2

The invention relates to a control system for at least one actuator (6) for the cowlings of a thrust inverter in a turbojet engine, that comprises an assembly of actuation and/or control components. A control means (9) is provided for detecting the failure of an actuation and/or control component (7, 16, 13), for determining the blocking or non-blocking character of the failure for the system operation and, in case of a non-blocking failure, for switching from a nominal operation mode to a failure-adaptation operation mode in which the failure of the actuation and/or control component (7, 16, 13) is compensated at least partially by a modified instruction of the other actuation and/or control components (7, 16, 13).
US09448548B2

A method of displaying fault tolerant Ethernet (FTE) status in a process control system having FTE devices in a FTE community including a plurality of Enhanced Universal Control Networks (EUCNs) each having an Enhanced Network Interface Module (ENIM). FTE cable status data is collected from the FTE devices during system operation. Responsive to receiving user's request, generating diagnostic display view data filtered by a FTE Device index including FTE status for any combination of the FTE devices or second FTE diagnostic display view data filtered by EUCN node number including FTE status for FTE devices in a user selected EUCN. The first FTE diagnostic display view data or second FTE diagnostic display view data are transmitted to a device of the user, and is then displayed on a user's display.
US09448544B2

Systems and methods of monitoring, analyzing, optimizing and controlling data centers and data center operations are disclosed. The system includes data collection and storage hardware and software for harvesting operational data from data center assets and operations. Intelligent analysis and optimization software enables identification of optimization and/or control actions. Control software and hardware enables enacting a change in the operational state of data centers.
US09448539B2

An electronic timepiece has a receiver device that receives at least a first satellite signal containing a first leap second value and a second satellite signal containing a second leap second value; a timekeeping device that keeps time according to the current leap second; an evaluation condition setting unit that sets an evaluation condition of the correctness of the first leap second value and the second leap second value based on the timing of first satellite signal and second satellite signal reception; and a leap second correction unit that corrects the current leap second based on the first leap second value or the second leap second value when the first leap second value and the second leap second value satisfy the set evaluation condition.
US09448538B2

An electronic timepiece efficiently receives satellite signals, reduces power consumption, and displays the correct time. A GPS wristwatch 1 has a satellite signal reception unit 10A that receives satellite signals and acquires time information contained in the satellite signals; a time information adjustment unit 25 that keeps times and adjusts the kept time based on the time information acquired by the automatic receiving unit 24; a reception result memory unit 313 that stores the reception result of the reception process performed by the automatic receiving unit 24; and a reception time setting unit 21 that sets the reception start time at which the reception process starts based on the reception result stored in the reception result memory unit 313. The automatic receiving unit 24 executes the reception process when the kept time reaches the reception start time set by the reception time setting unit 21.
US09448535B2

A rigid decorative member of the present invention is a rigid decorative member comprising a base and a rigid coating layer laminated on or above the base, wherein the rigid coating layer comprises a reaction compound of raw metal, in which a metal M1 and a metal M2, and in addition, selectively a metal M3 are combined, and of a non-metallic element selected from one or two or more of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, or comprises an alloy in which a metal M1 and a metal M2, and in addition, selectively a metal M3 are combined; the metal M1 is selected from one or two of Mo and W; the metal M2 is selected from one or two or more of Nb, Ta, and V; and the metal M3 is selected from one or two or more of Cr, Ti, Hf, and Zr.
US09448533B2

The invention relates to a barrel spring (2) including: an inner end (5) and an outer end; a first portion (50) having a first height (H); a second portion (52) having a second height (h) that is smaller than the first height (H) and being located near the inner end (5); and, at the second portion, e.g. at the inner end, a first attachment element (51) suitable for being attached to the barrel shaft, wherein the second portion is to be inserted into a circumferentially extending groove provided on the barrel shaft.
US09448527B1

A driving force transmission mechanism includes a body that includes a transmission member, which transmits a driving force and includes a rotatable first surface and two first projections, and an installation unit that includes a receiving member including a second surface, which faces the first surface and which is rotatable by receiving the force when the installation unit is installed, and two second projections, which receive the force from the first projections by contacting the first projections when the first surface rotates, and that is removably installed in the body in a direction, in which the second surface moves parallel to the first surface, to couple the transmission member and the receiving member. The body includes a contact member that contacts, to rotate the receiving member, one of the second projections when the installation unit is installed while a line segment connecting the second projections is intersecting an installation direction.
US09448526B2

When an operation member is moved in a state in which a cartridge is mounted to an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus, a cartridge supporting member is rotated away from a transfer member so that the cartridge is rotated and enters a state in which the cartridge is inclined at an angle θ1 with respect to the transfer member, and an exposure device is rotated away from the transfer member and enters a state in which the exposure device is inclined at an angle θ2 higher than the angle θ1 with respect to the transfer member.
US09448519B2

A motor control device includes a motor device, a speed command section, and a load detecting section. The motor control device includes: a motor configured to drive a rotating body and output a speed notification signal having an oscillation frequency corresponding to a rotational speed of the rotating body; and a driver IC configured to control a rotational speed of the motor. The speed command section is provided outside the motor device and configured to output a speed command signal designating a rotational speed of the motor to the driver IC. The load detecting section is provided outside the motor device and configured to derive a phase difference between the speed command signal and the speed notification signal and detect a load on the motor based on the phase difference.
US09448517B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming part to form an image on a recording medium, an apparatus body, a sheet container detachably attachable to the apparatus body and accommodating the recording medium, a sheet conveying path through which the recording medium is conveyed toward the image forming part, a sheet reentry path disposed above the sheet container and through which the recording medium having the image thereon is conveyed again to the sheet conveying path, a swing unit to swingably move a bottom plate of the sheet reentry path between a first position and a second position, a lock releasing unit to lock and release the bottom plate with respect to the first position of the swing unit, and a release operating unit to cause the lock releasing unit to release the bottom plate from the first position of the swing unit.
US09448516B2

A fixing device temperature control method is performed by a fixing device including a heat conductor contacting and heating an unfixed toner image formed on a recording medium, a heater disposed opposite and heating the heat conductor, and a pressing roller pressed against the heat conductor to form a fixing nip between the heat conductor and the pressing roller through which the recording medium is conveyed. The method includes detecting a temperature of the pressing roller and controlling an input voltage to the heater based on the detected temperature of the pressing roller to maintain a temperature of the recording medium discharged from the fixing nip at a target temperature.
US09448509B2

A developing device and image forming apparatus are provided. The developing device includes a chassis; a developer carrying member; a thickness regulating member; a supply member; and a conveying member. In a state in which the developing device is attached to a main body an opening of the chassis faces upward; the thickness regulating member pressure-contacts the developer carrying member from below the developer carrying member; the conveying member is disposed below the developer carrying member; the supply member overlaps a portion of the conveying member in a horizontal direction; and a portion of the conveying member is disposed within a vertical projection plane between a pressure-contact position of the thickness regulating member to the developer carrying member, and a contact position of the supply member to the developer carrying member. The image forming apparatus includes a main body; a plurality of photosensitive members; and a plurality of developing devices.
US09448508B2

A development device includes a developer container, a developer bearing member, a mixing/transporting member, an opening/closing member, and a drive mechanism. The developer container contains a developer. The developer bearing member is rotatably supported by the developer container. The developer bearing member also has a surface facing an image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is to be formed. The developer is borne on the surface of the developer bearing member. The mixing/transporting member mixes and transports the developer in the developer container. The opening/closing member opens and closes a developer outlet for discharging an excess of the developer in the developer container. The drive mechanism drives the opening/closing member in association with driving of the developer bearing member or the mixing/transporting member to open the developer outlet.
US09448498B2

A photoconductor and method of forming a photoconductor for an electrophotographic device comprising forming a charge generation material comprising a plurality of quantum dots, and forming an active region comprising one or more photoconductor layers comprising the charge generation material including the surface modified quantum dots.
US09448490B2

An EUV lithography system 1 comprises an EUV beam path and a monitor beam path 51. The EUV beam path comprises a mirror system 13, which has a base and a multiplicity of mirror elements 17 having concave mirror surfaces, the orientation of which relative to the base is respectively adjustable.The monitor beam path 51 comprises at least one monitor radiation source 53, a screen 71, the mirror system 13, which is arranged in the monitor beam path 51 between the monitor radiation source 53 and the screen 71, and a spatially resolving detector 77. In this case, each of a plurality of the mirror elements generates an image of the monitor radiation source in an image plane assigned to the respective mirror elements, distances B between the image planes assigned to the mirror elements and the screen have a maximum distance, distances A between each of the plurality of mirror elements and the image plane assigned to it have a minimum distance, and the maximum distance B is less than half of the minimum distance A.
US09448483B2

Pattern shrink methods comprise: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate comprising one or more layers to be patterned; (b) providing a resist pattern over the one or more layers to be patterned; (c) coating a shrink composition over the pattern, wherein the shrink composition comprises a polymer and an organic solvent, wherein the polymer comprises a group containing a hydrogen acceptor effective to form a bond with an acid group and/or an alcohol group at a surface of the resist pattern, and wherein the composition is free of crosslinkers; and (d) rinsing residual shrink composition from the substrate, leaving a portion of the polymer bonded to the resist pattern. Also provided are pattern shrink compositions, and coated substrates and electronic devices formed by the methods. The invention find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices for providing high resolution patterns.
US09448481B2

Techniques for reducing the number of shots required by a radiation beam writing tool to write a pattern, such as fractured layout design, onto a substrate. One or more apertures are employed by a radiation beam writing tool to write a desired pattern onto a substrate using L-shaped images, T-shaped images, or some combination of both. By reducing the number of shots required to write a pattern onto a substrate, various implementations of the invention may reduce the write time and/or write complexity of the write process.
US09448479B2

The purpose of the present invention is to provide the following: a photosensitive epoxy resin composition that, via photolithography, can form a high-resolution, low-stress image that has vertical side walls and resists moisture and heat, and/or a resist laminate using said photosensitive epoxy resin composition; and an article or articles obtained by curing said photosensitive epoxy resin composition and/or resist laminate. The present invention is a photosensitive resin composition containing the following: an epoxy resin (A), a polyhydric phenol compound (B) having a specific structure, a cationic-polymerization photoinitiator (C), a silane compound (D) containing an epoxy group, and a reactive epoxy monomer (E) having a specific structure. The epoxy resin (A) contains the phenol derivative represented by formula (1), an epoxy resin (a) obtained via a reaction with epihalohydrin, and an epoxy resin (b) that can be represented by formula (2). The reactive epoxy monomer (E) is a bisphenol epoxy resin.
US09448476B2

A photoresist composition includes about 0.1 to about 30 parts by weight of a photo-initiator, about 1 to 50 parts by weight of a first acrylate monomer including at least five functional groups, about 1 to 50 parts by weight of a second acrylate monomer including at most four functional groups with respect to about 100 parts by weight of an acryl-copolymer.
US09448475B2

A photoresist composition comprising a resin having an acid-labile group, an acid generator, and a compound represented by formula (I0).
US09448474B2

A positive photosensitive resin composition, a pattern forming method, a thin film transistor array substrate, and a liquid crystal display device are provided. The positive photosensitive resin includes a novolac resin (A), an alkali-soluble resin (B), an ester (C) of an o-naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid, and a solvent (D). The alkali-soluble resin (B) includes a first alkali-soluble resin (B-1) produced by polymerizing a mixture. The mixture includes an epoxy compound (i) and a compound (ii), wherein the epoxy compound (i) has at least two epoxy groups, and the compound (ii) has at least one carboxylic acid group and at least one ethylenically unsaturated group.
US09448469B2

To provide a process for producing an EUV mask blank, whereby mixing at each interface between layers constituting a Mo/Si multilayer reflective film during a step involving heating, is suppressed, and a process for producing a reflective layer-coated substrate to be used for the production of the EUV mask blank. A process for producing a reflective layer-coated substrate for EUV lithography (EUVL), which has a step of forming a Mo/Si multilayer reflective film by alternately forming a molybdenum (Mo) layer and a silicon (Si) layer on a film-forming surface of a substrate, wherein after forming each Si layer except for a Si layer as the uppermost layer among Si layers constituting the Mo/Si multilayer reflective film, the surface of such each Si layer is exposed to a nitrogen-containing atmosphere held in a plasma state without being exposed to the air atmosphere, and then, a Mo layer is formed.
US09448460B2

A system for imaging an object is provided. The system includes a light source configured to emit light having a predetermined wavelength towards the object. The system further includes a metalens including a metallic film having a plurality of slits defined therethrough, the plurality of slits having a width a and a periodicity d that are both less than the predetermined wavelength, wherein the object is positioned between the light source and the metalens. The system further includes a detector configured to acquire measurements indicative of light transmitted through the metalens, and a computing device communicatively coupled to the detector and configured to reconstruct an image of the object based on the acquired measurements.
US09448459B2

An autostereoscopic display device includes an adjuster for adjusting a direction of a light beam. The adjuster has an off-state and on-state, and includes a stack of layers. The stack includes first and second solid material layers having first and second optic axes, respectively, and a switchable birefringent material. Further, the stack includes a first interface between the first solid material layer and the birefringent material, and a second interface between the second solid material layer and the birefringent material. In the off-state, the birefringent material at the first and second interfaces are configured to have optic axes parallel to the first and second optic axes, respectively. In the on-state, the birefringent material at the first and second interfaces are configured to have optic axes perpendicular to the first and second optic axes, respectively.
US09448447B2

A lateral electric field type liquid crystal display device includes substrates, liquid crystal put between the substrates, scan lines and data lines arranged on one of the substrates, and pixels each of whose boundary is defined by two scan lines and two data lines. In each pixel, a strip-shaped electrode and a common electrode are formed with an insulating film put thereamong, and the pixel electrode is arranged to extend close along one of the data lines. In each pixel, a part of the common electrode covering one of the data lines overlaps with the pixel electrode, the pixel electrode partially projects from the overlapping area, and a side edge of the projecting part of the pixel electrode is separated from a side edge of a part of the common electrode covering the other data line so as to generate a lateral electric field to drive the liquid crystal.
US09448444B2

A display device includes: a first insulation substrate; an insulating layer disposed on the first insulation substrate; a pixel electrode including a first subpixel electrode including a first subregion electrode disposed on the insulating layer and a second subregion electrode disposed below the insulating layer, and a second subpixel electrode disposed on the insulating layer, wherein a first voltage is applied to the first subpixel electrode and a second voltage is applied to the second subpixel; a second insulation substrate facing the first insulation substrate; and a common electrode disposed on the second insulation substrate and configured to receive a common voltage, wherein the second subregion electrode overlaps a portion of the second subpixel electrode.
US09448435B2

In a first substrate, a reflective first common electrode is located on the first and second source lines and extending toward a region between the first and second source lines so as to form an aperture portion. A transmissive pixel electrode is arranged in a pixel defined by the first gate line, the second gate line, the first source line and the second source line and electrically connected with a switching element. The transmissive pixel electrode includes a first end extending along the first and second source lines so as to face the first common electrode. A second substrate includes a second common electrode arranged facing the pixel electrode and set to the same potential as the first common electrode. A liquid crystal layer is held between vertical alignment films formed on the first substrate and the second substrate.
US09448434B2

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a liquid crystal display panel and a method of driving the same. A subpixel unit includes a transmissive portion and a reflective portion, the transmissive portion comprises a transmissive portion thin film transistor and a transmissive pixel electrode connected to a drain of the transmissive portion thin film transistor, the reflective portion comprises a reflective layer, a reflective portion thin film transistor and a reflective pixel electrode connected to a drain of the reflective portion thin film transistor, a gate of the transmissive portion thin film transistor and a gate of the reflective portion thin film transistor each are connected to a gate line of the subpixel unit, and a source of the transmissive portion thin film transistor and a source of the reflective portion thin film transistor are connected to different data lines.
US09448432B2

It is an object to provide a display having high visibility and a transflective type liquid crystal display device having a reflection electrode having a concavo-convex structure formed without especially increasing the process. During manufacturing a transflective liquid crystal display device, a reflection electrode of a plurality of irregularly arranged island-like patterns and a transparent electrode of a transparent conductive film are layered in forming an electrode having transparent and reflection electrodes thereby having a concavo-convex form to enhance the scattering ability of light and hence the visibility of display. Furthermore, because the plurality of irregularly arranged island-like patterns can be formed simultaneous with an interconnection, a concavo-convex structure can be formed during the manufacturing process without especially increasing the patterning process only for forming a concavo-convex structure. It is accordingly possible to greatly reduce cost and improve productivity.
US09448429B2

Disclosed is a method for fabricating a lightweight and thin liquid crystal display (LCD) device, using a supplementary substrate for processing of a thin glass substrate. Inactive gas is sprayed onto the surface of the substrate to thus remove OH groups from the surface, before the thin glass substrate and the supplementary substrate are attached to each other. Under such configuration, the supplementary substrate can be easily separated from a completed liquid crystal panel which is in an attached cell state, without any damages.
US09448426B2

A Mach-Zehnder modulator includes: a conductive semiconductor region disposed on a substrate; a first waveguide arm disposed on the conductive semiconductor region; a second waveguide arm disposed on the conductive semiconductor region; a first electrode disposed on the first waveguide arm, the first electrode receiving a first drive signal applied to the first waveguide arm; a second electrode disposed on the second waveguide arm, the second electrode receiving a second drive signal applied to the second waveguide arm; a first ground electrode disposed on the conductive semiconductor region, the first ground electrode being electrically connected to a reference potential; and a second ground electrode disposed on the conductive semiconductor region. The first and second drive signals constitute a differential signal. The second ground electrode is electrically connected to the first ground electrode via the conductive semiconductor region.
US09448420B2

An eyeglasses temple comprises a first portion, having an end hingeable to a front rim of the eyeglasses and a fastening end, and a second portion, having an end designed to rest on a wearer's ear and a fastening end, the fastening ends being connectable by a snap-in connection; a first of the fastening ends comprises an elongate member extending in a longitudinal direction and having a tongue from which a tooth projects transversely to the longitudinal direction, the tongue being elastically deformable to allow the tooth to move in a locking direction transversal to the longitudinal direction; the second of the fastening ends comprises a socket having an opening to guide the insertion and extraction of the member into and from the socket in the longitudinal direction, and internally defines, on a wall which delimits the socket, a recess shaped to receive the tooth.
US09448414B2

Disclosed is a display device that may include a display panel; a polarization control unit on the display panel, the polarization control unit including: a first substrate; a second substrate opposite the first substrate; a first electrode on a surface of the first substrate opposing the second substrate; a second electrode on a surface of the second substrate opposing the first substrate; and a partition wall and a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal layer between the first and second electrodes, wherein liquid crystal molecules of the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal layer are arranged in a space defined by the partition wall.
US09448412B2

A color filter substrate, a fabrication method thereof, and a display device are provided. The color filter substrate includes: a substrate and a color filter film formed on a light incidence side of the substrate. At least one light refraction structure is continuously formed on a light incidence side of the color filter substrate, and each light refraction structure corresponds to a set of field of views (FOVs). The set of FOVs includes a left-eye FOV and a right-eye FOV, light rays from the left-eye FOV pass through a portion of the light refraction structure to which the left-eye FOV corresponds into a left-eye view zone, and light rays from the right-eye FOV pass through the other portion of the light refraction structure to which the right-eye FOV corresponds into a right-eye view zone.
US09448407B2

A head-mounted display device for enabling a user to simultaneously visually recognize a virtual image and an outside scene includes a warning-information generating unit configured to generate warning information, which is an image for calling the user's attention and an image display unit configured to cause the user to visually recognize the warning information as the virtual image.
US09448405B2

Disclosed herein is a head mounted display including: an enclosure accommodating a presentation section adapted to present a three-dimensional image and located in front of the eyes of a viewer when worn on the head of the viewer; and an imaging element provided in the enclosure and adapted to turn light external to the enclosure into an image, in which the imaging element images light that is vertically downward relative to the enclosure and forward in the direction of line of sight of the viewer when the enclosure is worn on the head of the viewer.
US09448398B2

An etalon has a pair of transparent components; a ring-shaped piezoelectric member which is provided between the pair of transparent components, which is bonded to the pair of transparent components, and which is provided with metal films on the surfaces which face the transparent component sides; and the external connecting terminals which are provided on the transparent components and which are connected to the metal films.
US09448388B2

A five-piece optical lens for capturing image and a five-piece optical module for capturing image, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, include a first lens with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a second lens with refractive power; a third lens with refractive power; a fourth lens with refractive power; and a fifth lens with negative refractive power; and at least one of the image-side surface and object-side surface of each of the five lens elements are aspheric. The optical lens can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras.
US09448386B2

An imaging lens includes a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; and a third lens group having negative refractive power, arranged in this order from an object side to an image plane side. The first lens group includes a first lens having positive refractive power, a second lens having negative refractive power, and a third lens having positive refractive power. The second lens group includes a fourth lens and a fifth lens. The third lens group includes a sixth lens having positive refractive power and a seventh lens having negative refractive power. The first to third lenses and the sixth to seventh lenses have specific Abbe's numbers.
US09448385B2

A photographing lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element have refractive power. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric, and at least one of the surfaces thereof has at least one inflection point thereon. The sixth lens element with negative refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric, and at least one of the surfaces thereof has at least one inflection point.
US09448380B2

An assembly for guiding and protecting optical fiber cables or wave guides, which comprises a first number of first guide tubes and a second number of second guide tubes where each of the first and second guide tubes are adapted to receive an optical fiber cable along its complete length. The assembly further comprises an elongated first tubular shell, and an elongated second tubular shell where the first number of first guide tubes is supported within and in parallel relationship with the first tubular shell, and the second number of second guide tubes is supported within and in parallel relationship with the second tubular shell. The assembly further comprises a first connecting strip which interconnects the first and second tubular shells, which defines a separation between the first and second tubular shells, and which positions the first number of first guide tubes and the second number of second guide tubes in parallel. The first and second tubular shells and the first connecting strip originate from a single extrusion process which establishes an interference fitting between the first and second guide tubes and the first and second tubular shells, respectively.
US09448376B2

High-bandwidth push cables configured for high speed data communication, such as that used in video signal transmission between a camera head and a cable reel or other device, are disclosed.
US09448371B2

One embodiment is directed to a system comprising a panel comprising a plurality of openings. The system is configured to selectively couple a panel contact for each opening to an RFID reader. The system further comprises a plurality of optical adapters. Each optical adapter comprises: at least one radio frequency identifier (RFID) antenna; at least one adapter contact that is electrically connected to the RFID antenna; and at least one conductor configured to electrically connect the adapter contact to respective one of respective panel contacts when the optical adapter is inserted into one of the openings of the panel. The RFID antenna of each connector is configured to be positioned near an RFID tag attached to the connector when the connector is inserted into the body of the optical adapter. The system is configured to selectively couple the RFID reader to each of the panel contacts. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09448370B2

A connector for coupling with an adapter, comprising: at least one connector body each having a first end capable of being inserted into the adapter; at least one locking mechanism; and a boot movably engaged with the connector body. Each of the at least one locking mechanism comprising: a slanting arm extending slantingly and upwardly from the respective connector body; at least one locking protrusion configured to extend from sides of the slanting arm to lock the connector body into locking grooves of the adapter; and a driving arm having a first end connected to the slanting arm. Wherein a second end of the driving arm is connected to the boot and is movable together with the boot to drive the slanting arm connected with the first end of the driving arm to approach a horizontal direction. When an angle between the slanting arm and the horizontal direction becomes smaller than a predetermined angle, the locking protrusion starts to be separated from the locking groove of the adapter, so that an interlock between the connector body and the adapter is unlocked.
US09448369B1

An optical fiber connector including a connector housing having a front portion and a rear portion is disclosed. A ferrule is disposed in the connector housing such that it projects from the front portion of the connector housing. The rear portion of the connector housing includes a first channel configured to receive an optical fiber of an optical cable and to couple the optical fiber to the ferrule, and a second channel configured to receive a strength member of the optical cable. The optical fiber connector may be an ingress protected optical fiber connector, and may have an outside diameter less than about 15.8 mm, such as about 14 mm.
US09448365B2

Trunk gland adapters include an adapter body having an internal bore that is sized to receive a trunk cable gland so that a front end of the trunk cable gland extends through a front opening of the internal bore and a plurality of attachment clips that are configured to releasably attach the adapter body to a mounting aperture in a wall of a fiber optic enclosure. Related trunk gland units and methods of routing a trunk cable into an enclosure are also disclosed.
US09448363B2

The invention relates to a device for compensating the temporary scattering applied to the generation of ultra-short light pulses, said device including two identical and parallel optical diffraction gratings RA, RB and two identical prisms PA, PB that are placed inside the above-mentioned optical diffraction gratings RA, RB, given that the above-mentioned optical diffraction gratings RA, RB are volume phase gratings that function, during transmission, on the principle of Bragg diffraction. The outer surfaces FeA, FeB of the above-mentioned prisms PA, PB are parallel to the above-mentioned optical diffraction gratings RA, RB, and the inner surfaces FiA, FiB of the above-mentioned prisms PA, PB are parallel therebetween.
US09448357B2

An illuminated window arrangement having insulating glazing is described. The illuminated window arrangement has: composite glass pane, at least one circumferential connection element between the composite glass pane and a lower pane, and LED housing fastened to a side edge of the lower pane, an LED printed circuit board fastened to the LED, an electrical connector fastened to the LED printed circuit board, and sheathing of the LED, the LED printed circuit board, and the electrical connector.
US09448352B2

A surface light source apparatus includes an end face for taking in light emitted from a light source and a main surface for emitting the light. The surface light source apparatus further includes a plurality of structure bodies formed on an opposed surface disposed opposite to the main surface in the surface light source apparatus, each of which has a reflecting surface facing the point light source. Each structure body has a cut-off portion which removes a portion on the reflecting surface in a longitudinal direction of the structure body and in a height direction.
US09448336B1

The fabrication of small-scale structures is disclosed. A unit-cell of a small-scale structure with non-planar features is fabricated by forming a membrane on a suitable material. A pattern is formed in the membrane and a portion of the substrate underneath the membrane is removed to form a cavity. Resonators are then directionally deposited on the wall or sides of the cavity. The cavity may be rotated during deposition to form closed-loop resonators. The resonators may be non-planar. The unit-cells can be formed in a layer that includes an array of unit-cells.
US09448328B2

A system, for calculating an object location within a portal, includes a portal map formed by a plurality of infra-red beams. The system further includes a broken beam detector for detecting and recording, in response to an object moving through the portal map, data indicative of one or more broken beams of the plurality of infra-red beams. The data includes first data indicative of an initial position of the object within the portal, second data indicative of a subsequent position of the object within the portal, and third data including one or more time records. The system also includes at least one broken beam analyzer for obtaining the data from the broken beam detector, the broken beam analyzer calculating the object location based on at least one of the first data, the second data, and the third data.
US09448327B2

A logging tool is for determining a property of a subsurface formation having a borehole therein and includes a housing to fit within the borehole. An x-ray generator is carried by the housing and includes at least three extractor electrodes, an electron emitter to emit electrons toward the extractor electrodes, and a target downstream of the extractor electrodes. The extractor electrodes have independently selectable potentials so as to allow direction of an electron beam, formed from the electrons emitted by the electron emitter, toward different longitudinal and lateral regions of the target, the target to emit x-rays into the subsurface formation when struck by the electron beam. A radiation detector is carried by the housing to detect incoming radiation resulting from interactions between the x-rays and the subsurface formation. Processing circuitry is coupled to the radiation detector to determine the property of the subsurface formation based upon detected incoming radiation.
US09448325B2

The present invention discloses apparatus and method for ray scanning imaging. The apparatus comprises a plurality of ray generators and a ray detection device. The plurality of ray generators are arranged uniformly along a circular arc and emit ray beams in sequence or simultaneously to an object to be inspected within a single scanning period. The ray detection device may be either in a multi-segmental semi-closed configuration composed of a plurality of linear arrays of ray detectors or in a circular arc configuration where a plurality of ray detectors arranged uniformly along a circular arc. During the inspection, the apparatus is advantageous in obtaining the complete ray projection values without rotation thereof, so as to effectively shorten the inspection time.
US09448324B2

A method for obtaining gain compensated electromagnetic logging while drilling propagation measurements includes rotating an electromagnetic logging while drilling tool having first and second transverse transmitter antennas whose moments are orthogonal to one another and first and second transverse receiver antennas whose moments are orthogonal to one another in a subterranean wellbore. Electromagnetic voltage measurements are acquired from the first and second transverse receiver antennas while rotating. The acquired voltage measurements are processed to compute harmonic voltage coefficients. Ratios of selected ones of the harmonic voltage coefficients are in turn processed to compute a gain compensated quantity including a transverse term.
US09448322B2

A system determines a volumetric fraction of oil in a formation penetrated by a borehole, the formation comprising an unconventional reservoir. The system includes a carrier configured to be conveyed through the borehole and a geochemical tool disposed at the carrier and configured to determine a mineral makeup of the formation and excess carbon not apportioned to any mineral of the mineral makeup, the excess carbon being associated with kerogen and oil in the formation. An NMR tool disposed at the carrier determines porosity of fluid in the formation, the fluid excluding the kerogen in the formation. A density tool disposed at the carrier determines bulk density of the formation, and a processor determines the volumetric fraction of oil in the formation based on the excess carbon, the porosity of the fluid in the formation, and the bulk density of formation.
US09448315B2

Computing device, computer instructions and method for denoising marine seismic data recorded with first and second seismic sensors. The method includes receiving first seismic data recorded with the first sensor in a time-space domain; receiving second seismic data recorded with the second sensor in the time-space domain, wherein the first and second seismic data are recorded at the same locations underwater; calculating with a processor models of the first and second seismic data in a transform domain that is different from the time-space domain; performing a wavefield separation using the first and second datasets in the transform domain; determining a noise in the transform domain corresponding to the second seismic data based on the wavefield separation; reverse transforming the noise from the transform domain into the time-space domain; and denoising the second seismic data by subtracting the noise in the time-space domain from the second seismic data.
US09448312B1

An apparatus for sensing a parameter beneath a surface of the earth includes an optical fiber disposed beneath a surface of the earth and comprising at least one fiber Bragg grating sensor configured to sense the parameter and a wide-band light source disposed beneath the surface of the earth and configured to emit light in a wide band of wavelengths to illuminate the at least one fiber Bragg grating. An optical interrogator is disposed beneath the surface of the earth and configured to receive light reflected by the at least one fiber Bragg grating sensor and to transform a shift in wavelength of the reflected light into a variation of light intensity. A photo-sensor is configured to measure intensity of light received from the optical interrogator. Electronics are coupled to the photo-sensor and configured to measure a voltage representing the light intensity at the photo-sensor to sense the parameter.
US09448307B2

The invention, in some embodiments, relates to the field of global navigation satellite systems, and more particularly to the field of methods and devices for improving accuracy of position determination by receivers of global navigation satellite systems. Some embodiments of the invention relate to methods for generating a three-dimensional (3-D) representation of an urban area by a receiver of a global navigation satellite system using blocked lines of sight to satellites of the system. Additional embodiments of the invention relate to methods for transmitting a three-dimensional (3-D) representation of an urban area by a receiver of a global navigation satellite system for improving calculation of location by the global navigation satellite system receiver.
US09448300B2

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to apparatuses and methods involving the detection of signal characteristics. As may be implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments, an apparatus includes a radar or sonar transceiver that transmits signals and receives reflections of the transmitted signals. A data compression circuit determines a compression factor based on characteristics of the signals, such as may relate to a channel over which the signal passes and/or related aspects of an object from which the signals are reflected (e.g., velocity, trajectory and distance). Data representing the signals is compressed as a function of the determined compression factor.
US09448292B2

Provided is a cryoprobe using a closed gas loop for a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus, including: superconducting magnets providing a magnetic field; a rotor rotatably disposed between the superconducting magnets in the state of a sample being put therein, the rotor being rotated by a driving gas; a coil configured to generate a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum according to a resonance phenomenon of the sample by applying a radio frequency to the rotor; and a gas loop configured to cool the driving gas in a cryogenic condition while circulating it in a closed-loop condition and to supply the driving gas to the rotor, wherein the gas loop supplies the driving gas to the rotor while cooling it in a cryogenic condition, thereby rotating the rotor.
US09448276B2

A method of testing a device. The method comprises determining a computational window. The computational window is a time period of device testing activity below an activity threshold. The at least one computational window occurs during the device testing activity. The method further comprises creating and executing a decision tree during the computational window. The decision tree comprises a scheduled test analysis of test results and a selection of test control actions scheduled to execute in response to the test analysis.
US09448272B2

A mechanism is described for determining whether or not a ground connection is properly earthed by determining whether or not a potential difference exists between a voltage measuring point and a ground connection. A first capacitor is connected between the ground connection and a first power line and a first duplicating capacitor (having the same capacitance as the first capacitor) is connected between the voltage measuring point and the first power line. If the determining step determines that the potential difference does not exist, then it is determined that the ground connection is not properly earthed.
US09448271B2

One embodiment is a diagnostic method for a system including setting a first diagnostic code based upon a condition of a DC bus of a variable frequency drive during a first drive state, setting at least one additional diagnostic code based upon a condition of at least one motor phase current during a second drive state, outputting first diagnostic information indicating a malfunction of the variable frequency drive if the first diagnostic code indicates a first error, and outputting second diagnostic information indicating a malfunction of a motor or a connector coupling the motor and the drive if the at least one additional diagnostic code indicates a second error.
US09448270B2

A coupling clamp-type pulse injection apparatus, which can couple a high-voltage wideband pulse having a peak voltage of several tens of kV and having a rising time of several hundreds of ps or less to a cable without causing dielectric breakdown and a 50 ohm impedance mismatch, is provided. The pulse injection apparatus includes an input connector, an output connector, and a main body including an inner plate connected at a first end thereof to the input connector and at a second end thereof to the output connector, and a coupling plate connected to the inner plate and configured to fix a cable to the inner plate and to couple a high-power electromagnetic pulse input through the input connector to the cable.
US09448259B2

Apparatuses and methods to distinguish proprietary, non-floating and floating chargers for regulating charging current are disclosed. In one aspect, a charger detection circuit is provided in a portable electronic device. The charger detection circuit is configured to detect whether a connected Universal Serial Bus (USB) charger is compliant with a USB battery charging specification. If the connected USB charger is non-compliant with the USB battery charging specification, the charger detection circuit is configured to further detect if the non-complaint USB charger is a non-compliant floating USB charger or a non-compliant proprietary USB charger. If the connected USB charger is determined to be a non-compliant proprietary USB charger, the portable electronic device can be configured to draw up to a maximum charging current according to the USB battery charging specification.
US09448254B2

The invention is an apparatus and a process, the apparatus of the invention is an intelligent system configured to test the efficacy of electrostatic discharge devices that includes a touch screen display, a microcomputer, and resident persistent non-volatile memory. Preferred embodiments use the persistent resident memory to store a plurality of test data from a plurality of tests correlated as a data base. The apparatus of the invention in certain embodiments operates as a WEB host wherein remote users may view ESD test data in various ways. The process of the invention relates to the configuration of the apparatus of the invention to at least display test data from a plurality of electrostatic dissipation device tests. The process of the invention may also include the configuration of test settings, or email notification metrics.
US09448245B2

A specimen transportation system is configured from linear modules, turn modules, and connection modules, wherein adjacent modules are connected to one another, and the modules form multiple paths through which specimen racks outputted from one specimen output device are transported to multiple analysis devices. Each path is associated with a node signal indicating whether said path can be used for transportation, and a node signal sequence comprising multiple node signals of the paths is configured. In the specimen transportation system, the node signal sequence is transferred from the downstream side to the upstream side, and problems such as the detention of a specimen rank in the specimen transportation system are dealt with by using said node signal sequence.
US09448244B2

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a chelate color former which can measure the concentration of iron with high sensitivity and with low blank values when measuring the concentration of iron, and an iron concentration measurement method and kit that use this chelate color former. The present invention relates to: a compound represented by following formula [1] or a salt thereof wherein, R1 and R2 each independently represent —SO3H or —CO2H; an iron concentration measurement method in which the compound is used as a chelate color former, the compound is brought into contact with iron in a sample, and the concentration of iron in the sample is measured on the basis of the degree of resulting color development; and a kit to be used therein.
US09448238B2

A monoclonal antibody for detecting or capturing an exosome, selected from the group consisting of a monoclonal antibody or antibody fragments thereof that recognize amino acid numbers 113 to 195 of the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, a monoclonal antibody or antibody fragments thereof that recognize amino acid numbers 104 to 202 of the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, a monoclonal antibody or antibody fragments thereof that recognize amino acid numbers 36 to 54 of the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 3, and a monoclonal antibody or antibody fragments thereof that recognize amino acid numbers 113 to 201 of the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 3, each capable of detecting or capturing an exosome. The monoclonal antibody for detecting an exosome of the present invention is capable of detecting CD9, CD63 or CD81 on the exosome in a living body with an excellent sensitivity and specificity.
US09448231B2

Embodiments of a system, method, and kit for visualizing a nucleus are disclosed. A tissue sample is pretreated with a protease to permeabilize the nucleus, and then incubated with a nanoparticle/DNA-binding moiety conjugate. The DNA-binding moiety includes at least one DNA-binding molecule. The conjugate binds to DNA within the nucleus, and the nanoparticle is visualized, thereby visualizing the nucleus. Computer and image analysis techniques are used to evaluate nuclear features such as chromosomal distribution, ploidy, shape, size, texture features, and/or contextual features. The method may be used in combination with other multiplexed tests on the tissue sample, including fluorescence in situ hybridization. Kits for performing the method include a protease enzyme composition, a nanoparticle/DNA-binding moiety conjugate, and a reaction buffer.
US09448228B2

A cell analyzing apparatus includes: a histogram acquirer which is configured to perform measurement of a number of nuclear stained cells, and which, by using a result of the measurement, is configured to acquire a histogram indicating a fluorescence intensity; and an analysis controller which is configured to apply frequency analysis on data of the histogram acquired by the histogram acquirer, and which is configured to determine existence/nonexistence of cancer cells based on a result of the frequency analysis.
US09448224B2

A disposable cartridge adapted to be used with a sensor-dispensing instrument comprises a housing, test sensors, a mechanical mechanism and moveable seals. The housing forms at least one opening therethrough. The test sensors are stacked in the housing. The test sensors are adapted to assist in testing at least one analyte. The mechanical mechanism is adapted to urge the test sensors in a first direction. One of the test sensors is positioned for ejection from the cartridge. The moveable seals is adapted to be in a closed position that seals the at least one opening so as to provide a substantially moisture-proof and a substantially air-tight cartridge, and one of the moveable seals is adapted to be in an open position that allows one of the test sensors to be moved therethrough.
US09448209B2

Method for testing a pipe for carrying hydrocarbons. The pipe has at least one internal sealing sheath made of polymer material, incorporating elements of reactive compound capable of reacting with corrosive gases contained in the hydrocarbons which diffuse radially through the sheath. The reaction forms a first layer, extending radially from the internal surface, in which the elements of reactive compound have reacted with the gases. A second layer, extends between the first layer and the external surface, in which the elements of reactive compound have not yet reacted with the gases. The method uses ultrasound to determine the position of an interface between the first and second layers to measure the progression of the diffusion of the gases through the sheath.
US09448208B2

An airborne ultrasonic testing system includes two sets of ultrasound transmitters and receivers, an ultrasound frequency generator, a computer analyzer, and a controller. The ultrasound transmitters and opposing receivers are fixedly mounted at oblique angles from a support. A seal-receiving slot is defined between the transmitters and receivers, and is sized to receive a sealed edge portion of a container to be tested. The ultrasound transmitters preferably emit respective ultrasound streams that encounter a top surface of a sealed edge portion of the container at an angle between approximately 0-45 degrees, and most preferably, approximately 45 degrees. The angle of ultrasound emission of the first transmitter may be inverse of the angle of emission of the second transmitter. The signal response of each pair of receivers can be processed individually or combined to produce a summary test result of the two measurements that eliminates systematic variation associated with material variation.
US09448200B2

Apparatus (2) for sensing at least one parameter in water, which apparatus (2) comprises: (i) a dissolved oxygen sensor (4) for sensing dissolved oxygen in the water; and which apparatus (2) is such that: (ii) the dissolved oxygen sensor (4) has a working electrode and a reference electrode; and (iii) a voltage signal is applied between the working electrode and the reference electrode, and the voltage signal provides a conditioning waveform, then a wait time, and then a measurement function.
US09448198B2

Microsensors that include an integrated thermal energy source and an integrated temperature sensor are capable of providing localized heating and temperature control of individual sensing regions within the microsensor. Localized temperature control allows analyte detection to be carried out at the same temperatures or substantially the same temperatures at which the sensor is calibrated. By carrying out the sensing near the calibration temperature, more accurate results can be obtained. In addition, the temperature of the sensing region can be controlled so that chemical reactions involving the analyte in the sensing region occur near their peak reaction rate. Carrying out the sensing near the peak reaction rate improves the sensitivity of the sensor which is important as sensor dimensions decrease and the magnitude of the generated signals decreases.
US09448197B2

A meter for determining the concentration of an analyte in a fluid sample comprises a memory device, electrical circuitry and a detection device for distinguishing between an alternative site test and a standard site test. The memory device is adapted to store information. The electrical circuitry is adapted to determine the analyte concentration of the fluid sample located on a test sensor. The electrical circuitry is in electronic communication with the memory device. The electrical circuitry communicates the determined analyte concentration to the memory device for storage.
US09448193B2

A method determining heat loss coefficient K of a premises, includes: in unoccupied premises, performing a campaign of measurements of at least one temperature inside the premises Tik at closely-spaced time intervals over at least two successive time periods Dk corresponding to distinct heating powers Ptotk of the premises; determining temperature of outside air Tek at the same closely-spaced times; for each time period Dk, on the basis of evolution Tik(t) of a quantity Tik as a function of time, selecting a time interval Δtk for which the evolution Tik(t) is substantially linear, then determining the slope αk of the tangent to the evolution Tik(t) over this time interval Δtk, and deducing the value of the heat loss coefficient K of the premises on the basis of the slopes αk.
US09448187B2

Methods and systems may image an object of interest using one or more probes. More specifically, such exemplary methods and systems may deliver electromagnetic energy (e.g., microwave energy) using a transmitting antenna to the object while activating a probe to interact with the scattered field and sampling the resulting scattered field using one or more receiving antennas. The sampled electromagnetic energy may then be used to reconstruct an image of the object.
US09448177B2

A flame photometric detector (FPD) for use in a gas chromatography (GC) apparatus is described. The FPD has an emission block that is maintained in a first temperature range, and a transfer line that is maintained in a second temperature range that is greater than the first temperature range. The FPD is coupled to a light detector, such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT).
US09448173B2

The invention provides dendrimers, conjugates thereof, and methods of using dendrimer conjugates. In one embodiment, the invention provides novel polymeric dendrimers as a new class of fluorescent labels. The labels can include multiple fluorescent dye molecules conjugated to a single polymeric backbone or core, such as a dendrimer. The dendrimers can have regular or irregular branched polymeric network structures that allow for the chemical attachment of multiple dye molecules, multiple color dyes, and/or multiple functional groups, in a combinatorial fashion. The fluorescent dendritic nanoprobes (FDNs) thus provide a new class of fluorescent reporters for fluorescence microscopy and imaging.
US09448172B2

The invention describes a method for the identification of compounds which bind to a target component of a biochemical system or modulate the activity of the target, comprising the steps of: a.) compartmentalizing the compounds into microcapsules together with the target, such that only a subset of the repertoire is represented in multiple copies in any one microcapsules; and b.) identifying the compound which binds to or modulates the activity of the target. The invention enables the screening of large repertoires of molecules which can serve as leads for drug development.
US09448167B2

A measurement device and method for the detection of airborne particles. The device includes a nozzle designed to produce a laminar flow of air with a flow path beyond the nozzle, a first laser and a second laser being positioned for emitting time-amplitude modulated laser light with intersecting laser beams with a laser beam intersection region in a region of the air flow path, and two photodetectors positioned for the detection of laser light scattered in the laser beam intersection region by airborne particles contained in the laminar air flow. The lasers are designed for emission of time-amplitude modulated laser light of identical laser emission wavelength, and the photodetectors are positioned and designed each for the detection of scattered laser light from both lasers.
US09448165B2

In a noninvasive system for detection/measurement of glucose and other analytes in a medium such as tissue, illumination is directed to the medium and corresponding radiation from the medium is collected. Spectral energy changes associated with fragment(s)/feature(s) obtained from the collected radiation are determined using collision computing. Such spectral energy changes generally represent analyte concentration. The collection of radiation and/or illumination is controlled either to target a particular volume of the medium or such that the spectral energy changes become directionally monotonic with respect to analyte concentration, or both. The collection parameters include: duration of collection, location and/or a size of a collection spot on the medium surface, and angle of a collector relative to the medium surface. The illuminated and/or collection spots may be treated to improve accuracy of analyte measurement.
US09448161B2

An optical device, particularly a polarimeter, is provided for analyzing a liquid sample, having: a light-generating system for generating light for the surface irradiation of the sample; a detection system which is set up for the spatially resolved detection of light which originates from the transmission of the light provided for the surface irradiation through the sample; a telecentric optical system with a lens between the sample and the detection system and with an aperture diaphragm in the focal plane of the lens between the lens and the detection system.
US09448158B2

Light collectors for fluorescence microscopy include slab light guides having a specimen volume such as a specimen well configured to retain a specimen. The specimen volume is bounded by a surface of the slab light guide that permits laterally propagating fluorescence to enter the slab light guide and propagate toward a detection or imaging system. Typically, the slab light guide has an elliptical perimeter and the sample volume is situated at a first focus of the elliptical perimeter. A reflector such as a conical reflector is situated at the second focus so as to direct the collected fluorescence to exit the slab light guide.
US09448153B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor analysis microchip configured to detect a fine particle in a sample liquid, including a semiconductor substrate, a first flow channel provided in the semiconductor substrate, to which the sample liquid is introduced, and a pore provided in the first flow channel and configured to pass the fine particle in the sample liquid.
US09448152B2

A Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Device which includes a plurality of calibrated sample containers in a case, such that each calibrated sample container contains a calibrated sample, wherein each calibrated sample is a sample with a known suspended solids concentration prepared from a site sample, such that said TSS device is configured to allow a discharge sample in a discharge sample container to be visually compared to each of the calibrated samples in the calibrated sample containers in said case, where the discharge sample is a sample of a liquid discharge from a site.
US09448151B2

Apparatus and methods for monitoring platelet quality are disclosed. A bag of platelet concentrate is oriented in a desired manner on a transparent surface that is illuminated from one side with a light source. A clamp applies pressure to a desired portion of the bag to temporarily manipulate a predetermined portion of the bag and therefore the fluid in the bag in a known and repeatable manner. A flow inducing member applies pressure to the bag to thereby cause a turbulent flow of the fluid from the bag through a flow path. A detector records optical characteristics of light diffracted by the flowing particles, which is analyzed by software to derive a score correlating to the quality of the platelets. Platelet swirl is scored as a measure of platelet quality where more resting, discoid platelets result in a higher score.
US09448138B2

Methods and apparatus for a vehicle wheel alignment service procedure and an for acquisition of vehicle measurements, which imparts a gravity-induced rolling movement to a vehicle on a vehicle support structure to transition the vehicle from a first vehicle support surface over a descending roll ramp to a resting position on a second vehicle support surface.
US09448130B2

A sensor arrangement for sensing an environmental property of an environment of the sensor arrangement, the sensor arrangement comprising: a carrier; an active sensor component arranged at the carrier and configured for providing a sensor signal being indicative of the environmental property; a molding structure encapsulating at least a part of an exterior surface of the carrier and comprising an access recess exposing the active sensor component with regard to the environment; wherein the access recess is arranged asymmetrically with regard to the carrier.
US09448129B2

Disclosed is a torque sensor unit including a magnetic member fixed to a first output shaft member, a pair of first and second yoke members fixed to an input shaft member and surrounding an outer circumferential side of the magnetic member and a magnetic sensor adapted to detect a magnetic flux passing through between the yoke members. The magnetic member is provided with a sleeve and a permanent magnet. The sleeve is formed of a metal material in a substantially cylindrical shape and has a plurality of radially extending support portions and a plurality of axially extending engagement protrusions between the support portions. The permanent magnet is formed into an annular shape and has a plurality of axially extending engagement grooves cut in an inner circumferential surface thereof. The permanent magnet and the sleeve are coupled via a resin-based filling material.
US09448127B2

A device and method for measuring the pressure exerted at different points of a flexible, pliable and/or extensible fabric capable of being worn as a garment, lapel, or the like, which provides three stacked layers including a first insulating layer comprising an arrangement of insulating fibers and at least one row of at least one conductive yarn in contact with a first surface of a piezoresistive layer of fibers of a piezoresistive material, and a second insulating layer comprising an arrangement of insulating fibers, including at least one row of at least one conductive yarn, in contact with a second surface of the piezoresistive layer, and an electronic circuit capable of measuring the electric resistance variation when a pressure is exerted on the fabric, the pressure being a function of the resistance variation.
US09448120B2

A positional deviation between a phase distribution in a wavefront sensor and a compensation phase pattern in a wavefront modulator is corrected in a short time and with high accuracy by a method including a first step of causing the wavefront modulator to display a singularity generation pattern, a second step of measuring in the sensor an adjustment wavefront shape when an optical image modulated by the singularity generation pattern enters the wavefront sensor, a third step of detecting a position of a singularity in the adjustment wavefront shape from a measurement result in the sensor, and a fourth step of adjusting a positional deviation between a wavefront shape measured in the wavefront sensor and a compensation pattern displayed on the wavefront modulator based on a positional deviation of the position of the singularity.
US09448119B2

A radiation thermometer utilizing an off-focus telecentric lens arrangement in chemical vapor deposition reactors. An object assembly of one or more optical components is positioned at a distance equal to its focal length from an aperture stop. The aperture stop is dimensioned so that the chief rays are substantially parallel with the optical axis of the object assembly, and so that the rays that pass through the aperture stop define a narrow solid angle about the chief rays. The off-focus telecentric arrangement thus configured is focused at infinity, but is utilized to capture radiation from a relatively proximate target (e.g., within a couple meters) that is out of focus. The capture of collimated radiation from the target diminishes the contribution of stray radiation, particularly with targets having a highly specular surface.
US09448117B2

An infrared thermometer includes a proximity sensor, an infrared sensor and a micro controller unit. The micro controller unit determines whether or not the infrared thermometer has contact with an object to be measured, using the proximity sensor. The micro controller unit measures the amount of infrared radiation using the infrared sensor at a time when determining that the infrared thermometer has contact with the object to be measured. The micro controller unit calculates a temperature of the object to be measured, based on the amount of infrared radiation.
US09448106B2

To provide an optical sensor that can ensure accuracy of positions of a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit in a case. The optical sensor includes a case, an integrated light projecting module that includes a light emitting unit and a light projecting lens, a light receiving unit configured to receive reflected light of light projected from the light projecting module, and a light receiving lens unit configured to form an image of the reflected light on the light receiving unit. The light projecting module, the light receiving unit, and the light receiving lens unit are each independently and directly fixed to the case.
US09448101B2

An ultrasonic measurement device includes an ultrasonic transducer device, a flexible substrate and an integrated circuit device. The ultrasonic transducer device has a substrate, an ultrasonic element array, a plurality of signal electrode lines formed on the substrate and electrically connected to the ultrasonic element array, and a plurality of signal terminals arranged on the substrate. In the flexible substrate, a plurality of signal lines are formed along a first direction. Each of the signal electrode lines has an electrode layer in which at least one signal electrode among some of the ultrasonic elements extends on the substrate. A long side direction of the integrated circuit device extends along a second direction which intersects with the first direction, and each of terminals of the integrated circuit device is connected to a corresponding one of the signal lines of the flexible substrate.
US09448100B2

Provided is a signal processing apparatus including: a transducer that performs scanning through the interior of an object and acquires received waveform data of a plurality of scanlines; an intensity screening unit that outputs a high intensity position at which signal intensity calculated from the received waveform data is higher than a first predetermined value; a correlation calculation unit that calculates a correlation value in a constant-width division for received waveform data of a first scanline and of a second scanline having a predetermined correlation with the first scanline; a position extraction unit that extracts, as a candidate position of a singular region, a position which corresponds to a high intensity position and for which the correlation value is lower than a second predetermined value; and an image processor that performs signal processing of generating image data of the object on the basis of the received waveform data.
US09448098B2

Methods and systems for inferring a fuel level in a fuel tank based on temperature changes in a carbon canister are disclosed. In one example approach a method comprises, indicating a fuel level in a fuel tank based on a temperature change of adsorbent in a carbon canister during refueling.
US09448095B2

A volume metering dispenser comprises a body having a fluid cavity therein. The body further has a body wall, at least a portion of which is transparent or translucent, thereby permitting the operator to see the level of fluid within at least a portion of the fluid cavity. A valve is disposed within the body portion, the valve comprises a seal. The seal is selectively engaged to the body in order to selectively dispense fluid. The volume metering dispenser further comprises a resilient member. The resilient member is elastically deformable and the valve is attached to the resilient member.
US09448094B2

There is provided a meter (200; 350) for measuring the mass flow rate of a gas. The meter comprises a conduit (206) through which the gas flows in use. The conduit has a flow restriction orifice (212) through which choked flow occurs in use. The flow restriction orifice divides the conduit into an upstream portion (214) upstream of said orifice and a downstream portion (216) downstream of said orifice. The meter further comprises a sensor assembly (204), the sensor assembly including a piezoelectric crystal oscillator (218) in said upstream portion such that said piezoelectric oscillator is in contact with said gas when the meter in use. The sensor assembly is arranged: to drive the piezoelectric crystal oscillator such that the piezoelectric crystal oscillator resonates at a resonant frequency; to measure said resonant frequency of said piezoelectric crystal oscillator; and to determine, from the resonant frequency, the mass flow rate through the orifice.
US09448084B2

Systems and methods may provide for implementing a dynamic navigation service. In one example, the method may include generating user behavior data for a user, generating community user behavior data, generating a user suggested route, and generating a community user suggested route.
US09448064B2

A method operational on a receiver device for decoding a codeword is provided. At least a portion of a composite code mask is obtained, via a receiver sensor, and projected on the surface of a target object. The composite code mask may be defined by a code layer and a carrier layer. A code layer of uniquely identifiable spatially-coded codewords may be defined by a plurality of symbols. A carrier layer may be independently ascertainable and distinct from the code layer and may include a plurality of reference objects that are robust to distortion upon projection. At least one of the code layer and carrier layer may have been pre-shaped by a synthetic point spread function prior to projection. The code layer may be adjusted, at a processing circuit, for distortion based on the reference objects within the portion of the composite code mask.
US09448063B2

In a method for detecting a position of a substrate transfer device including a substrate supporting unit, the light-transmitting optical sensor is moved with respect to a detection target provided at a predetermined relative position with respect to a position where a substrate is to be transferred by the substrate transfer device, and a vertical dimension of the detection target that blocks the optical axis is measured by setting the substrate supporting unit in a first orientation and relatively moving up or down the optical sensor with respect to the detection target. A vertical dimension of the detection target that blocks the optical axis is measured by setting the substrate supporting unit in a second orientation and relatively moving the optical sensor with respect to the detection target. Horizontal coordinates of a reference position of the detection target are obtained based on the measured vertical dimensions in the respective orientations.
US09448055B2

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method that includes receiving, at first and second input terminals, first and second input voltages and maintaining the direction of the first and second input voltages and doubling the first and second input voltages. The method also includes measuring, by a Wheatstone bridge, an applied physical parameter; outputting, to a capacitor, and to first and second operational amplifiers, first and second signals substantially indicative of the physical parameter; reducing, by the capacitor, a DC component of the first and second signals; amplifying, by the first and second operational amplifiers, the first and second signals; and adjusting, by a gain resistor, a differential output between first and second output voltages that correspond to the first and second signals output from the Wheatstone bridge. Finally, the method includes outputting, by first and second output terminals, the first and second output voltages.
US09448046B2

An apparatus for mounting a vane with respect to a shaft of an arrow and/or a bolt. A fletching system includes a sleeve and at least one vane, preferably a plurality of vanes, extending away from the sleeve. In a mounted position of the sleeve with respect to an arrow shaft, the sleeve is removably secured with respect to the arrow shaft. In some embodiments, a stop extends from the sleeve and interferes and/or makes frictional contact with the arrow shaft to prevent movement of the sleeve with respect to the arrow shaft. In other embodiments, an adhesive structure, such as an adhesive tape, contacts the sleeve and the arrow shaft to prevent movement of the sleeve with respect to the arrow shaft.
US09448043B2

An interactive target assembly is disclosed and claimed herein wherein the target assembly is meant to provide real-time feedback to a shooter or other remote onlooker. The shooter or other party can visually detect a strike to the target by way of a high powered LED light that is in wired communication with a target control module. The target control module is thereby in wireless communication via a multi-channel receiver with a remote control and an impact detection module. The impact detection module detects an impact to the target, sending a signal to the target control module, which illuminates a light to indicate a strike.
US09448040B2

A method for guiding a gun-fired or mortared round towards an intended target. The method including: capturing image data from an image pick-up device during a descent of the round; transmitting the image data to a control platform remotely located from the round; receiving the image date at the control platform; displaying the image data to a user at the control platform; manually identifying one or more features in the image data on the monitor; and stabilizing the image on the monitor based on the one or more identified features.
US09448036B2

Provided are devices for determining the correct aiming point of a low velocity projectile and methods and systems for using the devices. For example, the devices can be attached to a bow and used to improve accuracy for hunting game.
US09448030B2

Covers for key lock mounting systems on small arms such as the AR or M4 family of rifles and carbines can provide protection for the firearm, comfort for the operator, and electrical power to firearm accessories. The cover has keyhole grips that are pressed into the key lock mounting points in mounting system. The cover is held seated against the surface of the mounting system by the shape and resilience of keyhole grips. V-notch keyhole grips can attach to keyhole shaped mounting points and slot shaped mounting points. The covers have connectors and internal circuitry such that covers lined up edge to edge are electrically connected. Firearm accessories can be electrically powered the connectors.
US09448029B1

A method for operating a weapon system including the steps of transporting said weapon system to a desired location, wherein said weapon system comprises an intermodal shipping container, providing power to said weapon system, activating a computer processing unit of said weapon system by a remote operator, assembling said weapon system by means of said computer processing unit, raising an unmanned weapons unit by means of a lifting system, wherein a top flap of said intermodal shipping container is opened and wherein said lifting system is capable of raising and lowering said unmanned weapons unit, and transmitting images from a camera system, wherein said camera system coordinates with said unmanned weapons unit.
US09448026B2

Projectiles with sealed propellant are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, a projectile includes a body having a nose portion and a tail portion, a plurality of propellant charges contained within the body, a plurality of selectable initiators contained within the body for ignition of respective propellant charges, one or more ports for exit of ignition gases produced by the charges for propulsion of the projectile from the weapon, and one or more inductors for inducing a firing current, where at least one initiator only initiates on receiving a firing current which is different from the firing signal required to initiate the other initiators.
US09448018B2

An expansion relief header is disclosed for use in an HVAC heat transfer coil. The expansion relief header includes a main body adapted to be secured to bends in fluid coils of the HVAC fluid tube system. The main body includes holes in alignment with holes formed in the bends to enable fluid to pass from the bends into the expansion relief header. The expansion relief headers include one or more relief devices, such as valves, that automatically open, preferably in response to pressure exceeding a predetermined threshold value or temperature falling below a predetermined value, to release fluid from the expansion relief header and then reseat themselves.
US09448017B2

The present invention refers to a temperature control system for an electrochemical voltage source. It is planned that the temperature control system comprises a fluid moving device for moving a fluid for controlling the temperature of the voltage source.
US09448012B2

A method for making a cooling body for a lighting device may include: a) Providing multiple aluminum nitride ceramic radiators; b) Putting the multiple aluminum nitride ceramic radiators into a mold; c) Closing the mold, and injecting a melting metal into the mold so that the metal encloses a portion of each of the aluminum nitride ceramic radiators, wherein the metal has a melting point lower than that of the aluminum nitride ceramic radiators; and d) Opening the mold, and obtaining the cooling body.
US09448008B2

An air conditioner is provided. The air conditioner includes at least one outdoor unit, a plurality of indoor units, and at least one remote controller to receive operation commands for the plural indoor units. One of the plural indoor units may be selected as a power-supplying indoor unit to supply electric power to the at least one remote controller, based on voltage values of electric power to be supplied from the plural indoor units to the at least one remote controller. The selected indoor unit supplies electric power to the at least one controller. The air conditioner enables a supply of electric power with a sufficiently high voltage to a remote controller by supplying electric power to the remote controller by one indoor unit exhibiting a highest voltage value of electric power to be supplied to the remote controller, as compared to other indoor units.
US09448007B2

A shelving assembly includes ladder rails mounted within spaced elongated pockets formed in the rear wall of a refrigerator compartment. Each ladder rail presents a front, side, rear wall portions. Adjacent the front wall portion, a vertical slot is defined, at least in part, by an in-turned portion of the front wall portion. Offset from the slot, the in-turned portion is formed with a plurality of vertically spaced and rearwardly projecting hooks. Each shelf of the assembly includes arms, each having an anchoring pin and a support foot. In mounting the shelf, the support foot and the anchoring pin of each arm are placed through a cutout formed in the front wall portion of a respective ladder, the shelf is arranged in a desired vertical position with the arm sliding within the slot, and then the anchoring pin is supported upon a respective one of the hooks.
US09448004B2

A refrigerator is disclosed. The disclosed refrigerator includes a body having a storage chamber, a first door pivotably provided at a front side of the body, to open or close the storage chamber, the first door having an opening, and at least one door pocket provided at the opening, a second door pivotably provided at a front side of the first door, to open or close the opening, the second door pivoting in the same direction as the first door, a first upper hinge and a first lower hinge respectively coupled to upper and lower surfaces of the body, to pivotably support the first door, and a second upper hinge and a second lower hinge respectively coupled to upper and lower surfaces of the first door, to pivotably support the second door.
US09447995B2

In some embodiments, a regulated thermal transfer device for a storage container includes: a phase change material unit, the phase change material unit including one or more walls surrounding a phase-change material region, and an aperture in the one or more walls; a heat pipe with a first end positioned within the phase change material unit, and a second end; a thermoelectric unit thermally connected to the second end of the heat pipe; a heat sink connected to the thermoelectric unit, and positioned to radiate heat away from the thermoelectric unit; and an electronic controller operably connected to the thermoelectric unit; wherein the regulated thermal transfer device is of a size and shape to be positioned so that the phase change material unit is within a storage region of a temperature-stabilized storage container, and the thermoelectric unit is positioned adjacent to an external surface of the temperature-stabilized storage container.
US09447985B2

A system and method for operating an HVAC system having a cooling system and ventilation system to vent outside air within a structure is disclosed. The method includes monitoring an interior temperature of the structure, monitoring an exterior temperature of ambient air outside of the structure, defining a first time range and a second time range, associating one or more operating parameters of the HVAC system with the first time range, associating one or more operating parameters of the HVAC system with the second time range, monitoring operational time and operational load of the cooling system for the first time range, and controlling the ventilation system during the second time range based upon the monitored operational time and operational load of the cooling system in the first time range, and the monitored interior and exterior temperatures.
US09447979B2

The invention relates to a sucking means, preferably vortex generator or tornado suction means, preferably for a suction hood, which pulls the air into a suction hood by generating an at least substantially circular, cyclone, vortex or helix movement, wherein the sucking means comprises a, preferably ring shaped, area with at least substantially tangential channels and/or channels with a tangential component which are separated from each other by separating elements, preferably blades, for generating the at least substantially circular, cyclone, vortex or helix movement, a suction hood and a method for generating an air suction by means of a suction hood.
US09447973B2

A combustion chamber of a gas turbine includes an external combustion chamber wall and at least one shingle that is mounted at the same, as well as a base plate and a combustion chamber head, characterized in that the shingle extends over the entire length of the combustion chamber and is held at its frontal end area, as it appears with respect to the flow direction of the combustion chamber, inside a groove of the base plate, and at its back end area inside a groove of the external combustion chamber wall.
US09447964B2

A portable catalytic combustion heater, wherein fuel vapor (11) and air (10) are supplied to a catalyst (6) which promotes the flameless combustion of fuel and releases that. The fuel is supplied as a liquid, passes through a selectively permeable membrane (8) such that fuel vapor exits the membrane and is fed to the catalyst (6). Additional features include porous supports and means of enhancing and diminishing the catalytic rate of combustion and controlling the heat output.
US09447960B2

A lighting fixture has a lighting fixture body in which a light device is mounted, the lighting fixture body including a positional information transmission part that transmits positional information of the lighting fixture to a wireless terminal; a terminal information reception part that receives identification information of the wireless information and the positional information from the wireless terminal that has received the positional information; a terminal information transmission part that transmits the identification information and the positional information to a management server which manages a position of the wireless terminal; and a voltage conversion part that converts a voltage supplied by an external power source and supplies the converted voltage to the positional information transmission part, the terminal information reception part and the terminal information transmission part.
US09447952B2

An electronic device includes a base, and a lighting apparatus mounted to the base. The lighting apparatus includes a bracket mounted to the base, a pivoting member pivotably attached to the bracket, and a lighting unit fixed in the pivoting member. The pivoting member is pivoted out of the bracket to expose and turn on the lighting unit. The pivoting member is pivoted into the bracket to cover and turn off the lighting unit.
US09447948B2

The present disclosure involves a street light. The street light includes a base, a lamp post coupled to the base, and a lamp head coupled to the lamp post. The lamp head includes a housing and a plurality of LED light modules disposed within the housing. The LED light modules are separate and independent from each other. Each LED light module includes an array of LED that serve as light sources for the lamp. Each LED light module also includes a heat sink that is thermally coupled to the LED. The heat sink is operable to dissipate heat generated by the LED during operation. Each LED light module also includes a thermally conductive cover having a plurality of openings. Each LED is aligned with and disposed within a respective one of the openings.
US09447947B2

An illumination device includes a primary light unit for the emission of primary light, a phosphor element for the conversion of an excitation light part of the primary light and as a result the emission of conversion light, and a coupling element, to supply the excitation light part of the primary light to the phosphor element. The element has a first conversion region, which is configured to emit a first conversion light, and a second conversion region, which is configured to emit a second conversion light, which differs in its spectral properties from the first conversion light. The primary light unit, the element, and the coupling element are arranged such that in operation, the excitation light part is supplied to the phosphor element via the coupling element, wherein simultaneously a useful light part of the primary light is also supplied, guided via the coupling element, conversion-free to an illumination application.
US09447945B2

A light-emitting apparatus includes a substrate, a light source configured to emit light and arranged on the substrate, a phosphor layer being apart from the light source and configured to convert the light into forward transmitted light and backward transmitted light, and an optic device, being narrower than the substrate and having a transparent side wall, configured to direct at least a portion of the backward transmitted light through the transparent side wall and toward the substrate. In another aspect, a light-emitting apparatus includes a transparent base, a light source on the transparent base, a transparent material covering the light source, a phosphor layer on the transparent material, and a transparent wall on the phosphor layer.
US09447940B2

A vehicle headlamp includes a first LED light source, a first light guide plate optically coupled to the first LED light source, a second LED light source, a second light guide plate optically coupled to the second LED light source, and a light barrier sheet interposed between the first and second light guide plates. The first light guide plate is configured to guide light emitted from the first LED light source onto a predetermined area thereby creating a second light distribution pattern. The second light guide plate is configured to guide light emitted from the second LED light source onto a predetermined area thereby creating a second light distribution pattern. The light barrier sheet is configured to prevent light transmission between the first and second light guide plates.
US09447933B2

A visible light communication system includes a light transmitter including a group III nitride semiconductor laser element and a wavelength converter provided to face a light exit surface of the nitride semiconductor laser element and containing a fluorescent material. The visible light communication system further includes a wavelength filter configured to remove light emitted from the fluorescent material and a light receiving element configured to receive light emitted from the group III nitride semiconductor laser element via the wavelength filter.
US09447927B2

A device that emits light in response to an electrical or optical excitation, such as LEDs, displays, e-readers, device includes at least one anisotropic flat colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal whose smallest dimension, namely the thickness, is smaller than the other two by a factor of at least 1.5, the emitted light having an intensity and a polarization that vary according to the angle formed by the light emitting direction and the normal to the largest surface of the flat nanocrystal. The device allows to realize a light-emitting device exhibiting simultaneously a high emission spectral finesse and allows proper control of the wavelength, the directivity and/or polarization of the emitted light, and thus increases the brightness and color gamut of displays composed of such a device. Such devices are found for example in displays, televisions, mobile phones, tablets, or computers. The various embodiments of these devices are also presented.
US09447920B2

A drip pan apparatus for use in a helicopter includes a drip pan and a frame having a plurality of frame sides and a plurality of frame corners that define an inwardly-facing peripheral surface. A first frame angle is formed between a first inwardly-facing surface and a second inwardly-facing surface. The first frame angle is an acute angle. The drip pan has an outwardly-facing peripheral surface. The outwardly-facing peripheral surface defines a plurality of sides, including a first side and a second side, to cooperate with the inwardly-facing peripheral surface of the frame. A first angle is formed between the first side and the second side. The first angle is an acute angle. A method of installing a drip pan includes modifying at least a portion of a skirt on the helicopter and then securing the frame to one or both of the modified skirt and the helicopter structure.
US09447919B2

An oil slinger for a blower is provided. The oil slinger provides many unique features including, but not limited to, being removably mounted to a rotatably mounted shaft. Such removable mounting can be accomplished through use of an adapter sleeve mounted over a shaft, a slinger hub onto which is mounted an oil slinger, and a lock nut with retaining element. In one form the adapter sleeve includes a outer frustoconical surface which engages an inner frustoconical surface of the slinger hub.
US09447918B2

An invention is provided for a grease gun attachment apparatus for attaching a grease gun to a metal surface. The apparatus includes a housing having a plurality of side panels, and a magnet housing that forms a portion of the housing. The magnet housing is capable of holding a magnet, which is disposed within the magnet housing. In addition, at least one fastener is connected to the housing. The fastener allows the housing to be attached to a grease gun body of a grease gun, and can be connected to the housing via the plurality of side panels.
US09447913B2

An adjusting mechanism for a display is disclosed in the present invention. The adjusting mechanism includes a supporter, a bridging component installed on the supporter, a holder for holding the display, a driving component movably disposed on the bridging component, and an actuating component disposed between the driving component and the holder. The driving component moves relative to the bridging component along a first direction to rotate the actuating component, and the actuating component moves the holder relative to the bridging component along a second direction different from the first direction when rotating, so as to adjust a distance between the supporter and the holder.
US09447903B2

An improved hose clamp having an annular band having an inner face, tensioning means, and an annular spring liner; the spring liner having a circumferential shoulder near an edge of the liner; and a central, cylindrical, flat, contact portion of smaller circumference than the shoulder, and of smaller width than the inner face of the band. The shoulder is adapted to abut the inner face and the contact portion is adapted to contact a hose or other article to be clamped.
US09447893B2

A method is disclosed for controlling a valve having a spring with a spring force, an actuator with an actuator force opposing the spring force, and a pin that is actuated by the actuator, a seal element that can be coupled with the pin, and a seal seat, the valve being closed when the seal element sits against the seal seat. The method includes determining an expected natural opening time when the seal element is lifted off the seal seat based on a pressure difference in front and behind the valve, impressing a specified current on the actuator at a point in time within a specified interval prior to the natural opening time, the seal element sitting against the seal seat at the point in time such that the pin contacts the seal element and the actuator force matches the spring force, which is reduced by a specified value.
US09447888B2

An encapsulated valve system includes a first housing portion having a first facing surface, the first facing surface comprising a plurality of branch pathways formed as a recess within the first facing surface. The valve system further includes a second housing portion having a second facing surface, the second facing surface comprising a plurality of branch pathways formed as a recess within the second facing surface. A disposable conduit is configured to be interposed between the first and second housing portions and disposed within the recess of the first facing surface and the recess of the second facing surface. The disposable conduit is thus sandwiched between the first and second facing surfaces. A plurality of pinch valve actuators are mounted on one or both of the first housing portion and the second housing portion, the plurality of pinch valve actuators configured to pinch the disposable conduit at selective branch pathways.
US09447886B2

A sealing device is provided with a floating ring between an outer periphery of a rotating shaft and an inner periphery of a casing and is characterized in that a turn-stopping means is provided to a single point in a circumferential direction of the floating ring, and a groove for generating dynamic pressure is provided in unequal distribution in the circumferential direction to an inner peripheral surface of the floating ring, wherein a dynamic pressure is generated by a dynamic pressure groove provided to the inner peripheral surface of the floating ring and is employed to thereby match together the center of the rotating shaft and the floating ring.
US09447885B2

A double mechanical seal device, comprising a rotating ring, a first static ring, a second static ring, and a seal cover. A first bellows seal device is provided between the first static ring and the seal cover, and the first bellows seal device comprises a first bellows part capable of expanding and contracting in an axial direction, a first cover-side adapter, and a first static ring-side adapter. The first bellows seal device and the first static ring are disposed so that in a state where there is no pressure difference between the inside and outside of the first bellows part, a balance line of the first bellows part passes through a cross section of an O ring and a first static seal surface.
US09447871B2

Various devices and methods are provided for a multiple pressure ratio valve assembly that can be used in a plurality of systems requiring different operating pressures. In one embodiment, a multi-pressure ratio valve is provided, the valve having a fluid bypass portion and being configurable into a plurality of pressure ratio configurations by selectively blocking a portion of the fluid bypass such that the pressure ratio of the valve assembly may be varied. Embodiments of the invention may also include a valve sleeve configured for use in a plurality of transmissions, the multi-pressure ratio valve being configured to be slidably disposed within the sleeve.
US09447866B2

A shift control device for an automatic transmission comprises a shift control member configured for manipulation by an operator to control a shift mechanism of a vehicle transmission, and an artificial feel mechanism coupled to the shift control member for providing tactile feedback. The artificial feel mechanism comprises a sensor, a controller, and a piezoelectric element. The sensor is configured for detecting a position of the shift mechanism and sending a signal that is indicative of the position. The controller is configured for receiving the signal, determining a control voltage, and providing the control voltage to the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is configured and arranged so as to receive the control voltage and to apply a mechanical force that depends upon the control voltage and that is configured and applied so as to mechanically resist movement of the shift control member relative to the shift control bracket.
US09447857B2

A torque converter assembly having a hub for connection with an input shaft of a gearbox, a lock-up clutch module for selective connection with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, a turbine module of a torque converter rigidly connected to the lock-up clutch module and rotatable with respect to the hub, and a spiral spring isolator to resiliently connect the hub with the lock-up clutch module and the turbine module.
US09447855B2

An electric actuator is capable of easily achieving reduction in weight and size when compared to a hydraulic cylinder device, capable of being used in place of the hydraulic cylinder device, and capable of freely extending in response to a suddenly-applied impact load. An electric actuator converts rotation of an electric motor into advancing/retracting motion of an output rod using a screw shaft and a nut member mounted to the screw shaft. The output rod includes: a drive cylinder, to which the nut member is provided, the drive cylinder being arranged around the screw shaft; and a movable cylinder arranged to overlap the drive cylinder around the screw shaft and freely advancing and retreating with respect to the drive cylinder. The electric actuator further includes a releasing mechanism provided between the drive cylinder and the movable cylinder, for engaging the movable cylinder with the drive cylinder.
US09447849B1

An example torque controlled actuator includes a frame, and one or more timing belt stages coupled in serial on the frame. The timing belt stages include an input stage for coupling to a motor and an output stage for coupling to a load, and the timing belt stages couple rotation of the motor to rotation of an output of the output stage. The torque controlled actuator also includes one or more belt idlers coupled to the frame that contact a timing belt of the output stage, and a strain gauge coupled to the frame to determine a tension of the timing belt of the output stage based on force applied by the timing belt of the output stage to the one or more belt idlers.
US09447841B2

A pedestal and a laundry processing apparatus having the same. The pedestal includes a frame portion on which a plurality of legs coupled to a bottom surface of a laundry processor are seated, a housing configured to surround the frame portion, and a plurality of seat portions recessively formed on an upper portion of the housing to form a plurality of leg seat points.
US09447839B2

The invention relates to a support structure and support module, for instance for use in a lithography system, comprising a frame and a support for supporting a load, wherein said support is moveable relative to said frame, said support structure further comprising a force compensation spring assembly connecting said support to said frame for at least partially supporting said support and/or said load, wherein said force compensation spring assembly comprises a first spring having a negative stiffness characteristic over a predefined range of motion of said spring, and a second spring having a positive stiffness.
US09447838B2

A fluid-filled vibration damping device including: first and second mounting members elastically connected by a main rubber elastic body; a tubular fitting member externally slipped around the second mounting member and drawn so as to be externally fitted thereto in a fluid-tight manner; a sealing rubber layer fixed to at least one of an outer peripheral face of the second mounting member and an inner peripheral face of the tubular fitting member so as to be compressed therebetween about an entire circumference; and at least one pressure-relieving lip protruding from the sealing rubber layer and extending toward openings of the second mounting member and the tubular fitting member so as to be pressed against one of the outer peripheral face of the second mounting member and the inner peripheral face of the tubular fitting member in a direction of protrusion.
US09447831B2

An actuator for an electrical parking brake system can decrease the number of components and reduce noise generated in an operation of the actuator. The actuator includes a case, a motor installed in the case to provide power, a driving gear provided to a rotary shaft of the motor, a pair of transmission members installed inside the case to reduce torque of the driving gear and transmit the reduced torque, and an output gear provided to an output shaft to additionally reduce the reduced torque transmitted through the transmission member and output the additionally reduced torque through the output shaft.
US09447830B2

An electric brake actuator includes first and second electric motors and an actuator output, a first cycloidal speed reducer having a first reducer input rotatable about a first reducer axis and operatively connected to the first motor output gear to receive a first driving force, and a first reducer output rotatable about the first reducer axis and operatively connected to the actuator output to transfer the first driving force to the actuator output, and a second cycloidal speed reducer having a second reducer input rotatable about a second reducer axis and operatively connected to the second motor output gear to receive a second driving force and a second reducer output rotatable about the second reducer axis and operatively connected to the actuator output to transfer the second driving force to the actuator output.
US09447826B2

A fail-safe friction clutch assembly for a vehicle accessory, particularly to drive a vehicle cooling pump or cooling fan. The friction clutch assembly includes a friction plate member connected to a central rotatable shaft member used for operating the vehicle accessory. A pair of friction lining members arc positioned on opposite sides of the friction plate member. An armature member is spring biased to axially force the friction plate member and friction lining member against a housing or cover which is rotating at input speed. A solenoid assembly is used to overcome the spring bias and pull the armature and friction plate member away from the housing.
US09447823B2

A rotary connector has a sleeve body having an end region, an opening, an inner surface with clamping surfaces, spokes, levers acting to press the clamping surface against an axle when the rotary connector is rotating, individual masses forming the outer body of the rotary connector, azimuthal gaps and radial gaps for allowing the individual masses to clamp or release an axle inserted into the rotary connector.
US09447822B2

An outer bearing race for use in a generator housing includes a body having a radially inner surface for contacting bearings. The radially inner surface has a right side and a left side with a chamfer attaching to the right side of the radially inner surface for leading the bearings into contact with the radially inner surface. A right surface extends radially outwardly from the chamfer and a left surface extends radially outwardly from the left side. A ledge extends axially from the left surface and parallel and in register with the radially inner surface. A first angled surface extends radially outwardly from the right side surface and axially towards the left surface and a second angled surface extends radially outwardly from the ledge and axially towards the right side surface. A first extension extends radially outwardly from and attaches to the first angled surface and the second angled surface.
US09447819B2

The invention relates to a thrust washer (I) having a central hole (2) for pushing onto a bolt or a shaft, wherein the thrust washer (I) has lubricant pockets (4, 4′) on the two flat thrust surfaces (3, 3′) thereof, characterized in that at least one lubricant pocket (4) is assigned a corresponding lubricant pocket (4′) on the opposite thrust surface (3′), and at least one lubricant pocket (4, 4′) is connected to the corresponding lubricant pocket (4, 4′) thereof by way of at least one channel (6) which runs axially through the thrust washer (I) and is formed, in particular, in each case by a hole.
US09447814B1

Fastener apparatus including a self-adjusting and automatically self-leveling head separate from a threaded shank portion. An embodiment self-leveling head portion defines an annular recess and lip portion sized to receive a seal. A threaded shank resides within an annular cup center of the self-leveling head and has a thread-free portion seated by the compressed seal creating a water tight seal. Embodiments for sheet metal screw and bolt fasteners not requiring seals are disclosed.
US09447813B2

A bonding washer for making electrical connection between two metal pieces that are to be mechanically fastened together. The washer, to be interposed between the two metal pieces, may be constructed so as to fasten to one of the pieces before the two pieces are joined. Teeth on the washer, positioned at right angles to the plane of the washer, are forced into each of the two metal pieces when the fastener is tightened, making electrical connection between the two metal pieces.
US09447792B2

A centrifugal blower provided with a spiral shaped scroll chamber where a bottom part of the scroll chamber gradually expands downward in the axial direction of the fan well along with expansion of the spiral and where a flow area gradually expands toward an air outlet from a spiral start part of the casing, the centrifugal blower having an initial slant angle θ0 at the spiral start part of the bottom part of the scroll chamber of a range of angle of 5.2° to 27.5° or setting a backflow prevention rib at the fan outlet.
US09447789B2

A fan assembly including a housing, a supporting member, a driving device and a passive impeller. The supporting member is disposed in the housing, and the driving device is disposed on the supporting member. The passive impeller includes a first hub and a plurality of first passive blades encircling the first hub. The active impeller includes a second hub and a plurality of active blades encircling the second hub and actuated to rotate by the driving device. In an axial direction, the first hub is disposed between the driving device and the second hub, and through rotation of the active impeller, airflow is produced which actuates the passive impeller to rotate.
US09447788B2

A linear pump and motor system includes a motor, rotary-to-linear mechanism, pressure compensation device (PCD), and gas mitigation assembly. The rotary-to-linear mechanism may translate rotation of a motor into linear motion to provide a pumping action. A PCD may minimize a pressure differential between lubrication fluids and external fluids. A gas mitigation assembly may provide a mechanism that mechanically opens a valve. In some embodiments, a PCD may be utilized separately from the linear pump. In some embodiments, a gas mitigation assembly may be utilized separately from the linear pump.
US09447782B2

A compressor system and method for the isothermal compression of industrial gases includes a compression cylinder into which an industrial gas having impurities can be introduced and compressed via a displacement fluid, and an expansion space for the desorption of impurities from at least part of the displacement fluid after the displacement fluid sorbs impurities from the gas during compression in the compression cylinder. The displacement fluid may compress the gas and sorb contaminants from the gas, and following the compression, at least a portion of the displacement fluid may be conducted to an expansion chamber to desorb the impurities from the fluid and remove the impurities from the system.
US09447778B2

A method of detecting a fault mode of a sensor is provided. The sensor may be, for example, a bending moment sensor and may sense a bending moment of a blade on a wind turbine generator (WTG). The method includes comparing data output by a first sensor with reference data indicating what is expected to be output by the first sensor to produce a first comparison result and comparing data output by the first sensor with data output by a second sensor to produce a second comparison result. A determination of whether the first sensor has entered a fault mode is made based at least in part on the first and second comparison results.
US09447777B2

A turbine power plant is disclosed for generating electrical energy from a fluid flow, comprising a gondola rotatably mounted on a pedestal, particularly a tower, comprising a drivetrain, designed for converting the energy applied to the rotor into electrical energy by a rotor driven by the fluid flow and by means of functional components designed for supporting the rotor and/or for supporting the gearbox and/or for converting energy. At least one of the functional components listed above has an operationally fixed connection for transmitting static and dynamic loads from the drivetrain to the tower.
US09447774B2

In an embodiment of the invention, a non-rotating wind energy generator uses the fluid flow principles of vortex shedding and transverse galloping to generate oscillatory motion of a beam, and alternators, optionally located near both ends of the beam, generate electrical power when the beam is in motion.
US09447771B2

A system and method for a piezoelectric-based vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) are disclosed. The piezoelectric-based VAWT may generate electricity in response to a deformation (e.g., a stretching or bending) of piezoelectric material. For example, the piezoelectric material may be included on or within a wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade may be struck by an object or may hit an object. Such an action may cause the wind turbine blade to vibrate and subsequently cause the piezoelectric material to deform and generate electricity.
US09447762B2

The invention relates to a fuel injection system, in particular a common rail injection system, in which fuel is conducted from a distributor pipe via high-pressure lines to injectors, by means of which the fuel can be injected during an injection cycle with a number of injection pulses, wherein each of the high-pressure lines is provided with at least one damping device for damping pressure pulsations. In order to simplify the production of the damping device, the damping device has a pipe, in which a core that is held at a distance via spacers so as to form an annular gap is provided.
US09447761B2

The invention discloses a dual-channel piezoelectric injector, including a dual-channel injector body, its bottom in turn is connected with an upper intermediate, a lower intermediate and a dual-channel needle valve body. At the top of the dual-channel injector body there are two tubing interfaces, and each tubing interface has a tubing fuel duct. There are two laminated piezoelectric actuators and two spray fuel ducts connected to two tubing fuel ducts respectively inside the dual-channel injector body. The upper intermediate and lower intermediate connected with each other to form the middle connection body. From top to bottom of the middle connection body, there is an external control fuel duct, an external spray fuel duct, an internal control fuel duct and internal fuel spray duct. Inside the double-channel needle valve body, there is the sleeve structure of the needle valve hole, at the bottom of double-channel needle valve body there is an internal fuel spray nozzle connecting the internal casing hole which is outside the body, and an external fuel spray nozzle connecting to the external casing hole which is outside the body. Through the two laminated type piezoelectric actuators, control is realized for the pressure difference between the fuel pressure of the fuel control cavity and the fuel pressure of the inner pressure chamber or outer pressure chamber. So it is also realized to control the open or close state of the internal or external needle valve, in turn to control the injection action of the internal fuel spray nozzle or external fuel spray nozzle. The present invention has a simple structure and a low manufacturing cost.
US09447760B2

A drive device for an injection valve may include an actuator configured for exerting a force along a first force action axis, a lever device coupled to the actuator, an output element coupled to the lever device and configured for absorbing a force from the lever device along a second force action axis, wherein the first and second force action axes are arranged offset with respect to one another, and a transmission element arranged between the actuator and the lever device. The transmission element may be coupled to the actuator in a first contact region and to the lever device in a second contact region. The first contact region of the transmission element may be arranged such that it is penetrated by the first force action axis. The second contact region of the transmission element may be arranged such that it is penetrated by the second force action axis.
US09447756B2

An ambient air intake duct of a static gas turbine is provided, having at least one filter, which is arranged in the intake duct, for cleaning the ambient air (A) that can flow through the intake duct. A method for operating a static gas turbine which is equipped with a filter for cleaning the ambient air (A) is also provided. To rapidly provide a higher level of gas turbine power to a generator, it is provided that, by means of a bypass or by means of flaps arranged downstream of the filter, partially to completely unfiltered ambient air (A) can temporarily flow into the compressor inlet.
US09447740B2

A fuel injector is disclosed for use in an engine system. The fuel injector may have a body defining a gas inlet, an oil inlet, and an oil outlet. The fuel injector may also have a nozzle connected to the body and having a base end in fluid communication with the gas inlet, and an injection tip located opposite the base end. The fuel injector may also have a valve check disposed in the nozzle and movable to selectively block and unblock the injection tip of the nozzle, and a plunger disposed in the body between the oil inlet and the oil outlet. The plunger may be movable between a flow-passing position and a flow-blocking position to cause movement of the valve check through the injection tip. The injector may further have a solenoid actuator configured to selectively move the plunger.
US09447732B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards a system that includes a recirculation system. The recirculation system includes a compressor discharge air line extending from a compressor to an air intake. The compressor discharge air line is configured to flow a compressor discharge air flow, and the air intake is configured to supply an air flow to the compressor. An ejector is disposed along the compressor discharge air line between the compressor and the air intake. The ejector is configured to receive and mix the compressor discharge air flow and a turbine exhaust flow to form a first mixture.
US09447731B1

A supersonic inlet includes a supersonic section including a cowl which is at least partially elliptical, a ramp disposed within the cowl, and a flow inlet disposed between the cowl and the ramp. The ramp may also be at least partially elliptical.
US09447716B2

A honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure part having porous partition walls which form a plurality of cells having a hexagonal cross-sectional shape and extending through the honeycomb structure part from an inflow end surface to an outflow end surface to become through channels of a fluid, and having an outer peripheral wall which is positioned at an outermost periphery. A porosity of the partition walls is from 35 to 60%, an average pore diameter of the partition walls is from 1 to 5 μm, and among the cells, incomplete cells which are the cells formed by the partition walls and the outer peripheral wall are plugged from the inflow end surface to the outflow end surface.
US09447714B2

A system includes at least one coalescer, a blow-by input module, and a boost air module. The at least one coalescer is configured to receive a blow-by mixture, to remove oil from the blow-by mixture to provide an oil drain supply, and to remove gas from the blow-by mixture to provide a gas vent supply. The coalescer is configured to receive an operational air supply. The blow-by input module is operably coupled to the at least one coalescer and configured to receive the blow-by mixture from a crankcase of an internal combustion engine and provide the blow-by mixture to the at least one coalescer. The boost air module is operably coupled to the at least one coalescer and configured to receive an air supply from an intake conduit of the internal combustion engine and to provide the air supply as the operational air supply to the at least one coalescer.
US09447708B2

An electro-hydraulic valve train is configured to change valve lift and valve opening/closing timing according to operation state of an engine. The electro-hydraulic valve train includes a valve stem having a valve head formed at a lower end thereof and a big-diameter stem formed at a middle portion thereof, the big-diameter stem having a larger diameter than the other portion, a swing arm having a roller contacting with a cam of a camshaft and an end connected to the valve stem, the one end being adapted to pivot with respect to the other end according to a rotation of the cam so as to move the valve stem upwardly or downwardly, a first brake unit enclosing the valve stem and adapted to perform brake operation in a case that the valve stem moves upwardly, and a second brake unit mounted at the other end of the swing arm and adapted to selectively move the other end of the swing arm upwardly or downwardly and to perform brake operation in a case that the other end of the swing arm moves downwardly.
US09447695B2

A diffuser seal for an aft end of a high pressure compressor of a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The diffuser seal includes a flow guide carrier coupled to the diffuser case. The flow guide carrier is also coupled to a static seal. The static seal engages a rotary seal and permits air flow through the static and rotary seals in the aft direction. The flow guide carrier is also coupled to a fairing and a fairing/hub support. The flow guide carrier supports the fairing in a spaced-apart position with respect to the rear hub so that air flowing through the static and rotary seals passes between a forward surface of the fairing and the rear hub. The fairing/hub support extends forward from the flow guide support and engages an aft surface of the fairing thereby limiting movement of the rear hub and fairing in the aft direction. This design helps to prevent parts or debris from piercing the rear hub and entering the high pressure turbine in the even of a fan blade-out or fan blade-off event.
US09447693B2

A compliant assembly includes an airfoil and a platform section from which the airfoil extends. The platform section includes a compliant attachment that is configured to secure the platform section to another structure different than the airfoil. The compliant attachment includes a compliant material.
US09447682B2

The present invention relates to carbon-based fluorescent nano-agent tracers for analysis of oil reservoirs. The carbon-based fluorescent nano-agents may be used in the analysis of the porosity of a formation. The nanoagents are suitable for injection into a petroleum reservoir and may be recovered from the reservoir for the determination of hydrocarbon flow rates and retention times.
US09447676B2

An electronically activated tool (50) comprising a tool body, cutter blocks and sensors with means for attachment to a drilling support and rotation so as to permit the simultaneous underreaming and measurement of the diameter of a wellbore (especially in oil and gas drilling) characterized by a means of activation using an electronic signal sent by mud-pulse, fiber-optics, wireless transmission or other means which may also communicate commands and receive data from the underreamer during drilling, at least one radially extendable cutter block (62) incorporating positional sensors adapted to measure the relative position of the cutter block to the tool, at least one calliper means (76) to measure wellbore diameter, all of which are inter-linked by a means of communication using receivers, sensors and microprocessors and a system that optimizes underreaming or expansion (22) by simultaneously comparing and correlating wellbore diameter data (22) and underreaming parameters in real-time or in memory.
US09447667B2

An apparatus, system, and method for controlling combustion gas output in direct steam generation for oil recovery. A direct combustion steam generator burns a fuel and an oxygen-containing gas mixture to produce combustion products including steam, CO2 and N2. Supplemental oxygen is separately supplied to the combustion steam generator to adjust the oxygen content of the oxygen-containing gas mixture during the combustion process in order to adjust the ratio of CO2 to N2 produced in the combustion products.
US09447665B2

In a well extending from the surface of the earth to a deposit of production fluid there beneath, a system for delivering the contents of the deposit to the earth's surface. The system comprising a rod string capable of being driven by a source of motive power at the earth's surface, including an internally overshot assembly rod at the end of the rod string; a downhole assembly, including a pump and receiver with a shaft extending upwardly from the downhole assembly, the receiver shaft being connectable to the overshot assembly such that rotation of the rod string and overshot assembly drives the pump to push the production fluid to the surface of the earth.
US09447662B2

The invention presents a method for plugging and abandoning spent wells. An expandable liner hanger having sealing elements positioned thereon, is run-in and expanded, creating at least one seal against fluid migration. A redundant seal is created using a swellable annular sealing device, such as a swell packer. The swell packer and liner hanger are run-in and expanded. A bottom valve is closed and the expansion and running tools released from the liner hanger. After pulling out of the running tool, the wellbore is cemented creating an effective plug.
US09447661B2

An apparatus and method allow gravel pack slurry to be placed in a borehole annulus from the toe towards the heel to reduce the pressure acting upon the heel of the borehole during the gravel placement operation. By reducing the pressure on the heel, the gravel pack slurry may be placed in longer sections of the borehole in a single operation. Additionally, excess slurry in the inner string can be disposed in the borehole annulus around the shoe track of the apparatus, and fluid returns can flow up the apparatus through a bypass.
US09447655B2

A system comprises a casing; a liner that is disposed in the casing and that is concentric with the casing; and a layer of material disposed between the liner and the casing; where the layer of material forms a first bond with the liner and a second bond with the casing thereby enabling the liner to hang from the casing. A method for hanging the liner from the casing comprises disposing in a borehole a system comprising a casing; a liner that is disposed in the casing and being concentric with the casing; and a layer of material disposed between the liner and the casing; heating the system at a point proximate to the layer of material; and forming a first bond between the layer of material and the liner and a second bond between the layer of material and the casing.
US09447650B2

A milling system includes an elongate body having a first end, a second end, and a mill window defined through a portion of the body between the first and second ends. A mill is movably arranged within the body, and a whipstock assembly is arranged at least partially within the body and configured to guide the mill out of the body through the mill window in order to mill a casing exit. A torque sleeve is coupled to the body and extends over a portion of the body between the first and second ends so as to increase a torsional resistance of the body.
US09447648B2

A gripper mechanism for a downhole tool is disclosed that includes a linkage mechanism. In operation, an axial force generated by a power section of the gripper expands the linkage mechanism, which applies a radial force to the interior surface of a wellbore or passage. For certain expansion diameters, the expansion force can be primarily transmitted from a roller-ramp interface expanding the linkage. For other expansion diameters, the expansion force can be primarily provided by expansion of the linkage, in which during a first stage the expansion force is primarily provided by a first link and during a second stage the expansion force is primarily provided by a second link. Thus, the gripper can provide a desired expansion force over a large range of expansion diameters.
US09447647B2

A method of controlling pressure in a well can include transmitting an instruction to change flow through an annulus formed radially between a drill string and a wellbore, and adjusting a pressure setpoint in response to the transmitting. A well drilling system can include a flow control device which varies flow through a drill string, and a control system which changes a pressure setpoint in response to an instruction for the flow control device to change the flow through the drill string. A method of controlling pressure in a well can include transmitting an instruction to divert flow from a drill string, and adjusting a pressure setpoint in response to the transmitting.
US09447646B1

A combination unit for vacuuming, cleaning and conditioning fluids. The unit may comprise a vacuum pump circuit and tank, a mixing tank and a centrifuge system. The invention also includes a combination tank comprising a vacuum tank partially incorporated into a mixing tank. A mixing tank may comprise a system of mixing conduits and mixing apparatuses to shear drilling fluids and additives, the mixing tank including a rounded base and a drain to cycle the fluid back through to the mixing tank.
US09447645B2

Break out wrench assemblies are provided that can include: a first subassembly, the first subassembly including a first pair of opposing arms linked by a first actuator configured to extend or compress a distance between the first pair of opposing arms; a second subassembly aligned with the first subassembly to receive a longitudinal member there between and rotate axially along the longitudinal member in relation to the first subassembly, the second subassembly including a second pair of opposing arms linked by a second actuator configured to extend or compress another distance between the second pair of opposing arms; at least one axial actuator coupled to the second subassembly and configured to rotate the second subassembly axially in relation to the first subassembly along the longitudinal member; and a controller coupled to the actuators and mechanically coupled to at least one of the subassemblies. Methods for separating linked longitudinal sections are also provided.
US09447644B2

A tubular component for a drill stem that can be cabled includes a first end zone, a second end zone, a sheath, the sheath extends between the first end zone and the second end zone, and a liner fixed in a bore of the first end zone. The liner includes at least one take-up chamber for a cable disposed in the sheath.
US09447633B2

The present invention discloses a device for rolling up and unrolling a material web (2) on a shaft (1, 15). The device is distinguished by the fact that a first radial spacing (R1) of the material web (2) from a rotational axis of the shaft (1, 15), which first radial spacing (R1) is assigned to any desired unrolled length (L) of the material web (2), differs from a second radial spacing (R2) of a tensioning cable (3, 16) from the rotational axis of the shaft (1, 15), which second radial spacing (R2) is assigned to said unrolled length (L), with the result that the direction and magnitude of a first torque which is exerted on the shaft (1, 15) via the material web (2) differ from those of a second torque which is exerted on the shaft (1, 15) via the tensioning cables (3, 16), in such a way that, on account of the torque difference between the first torque and the second torque, the shaft (1, 15) is driven by a force (F) which is transmitted by means of the tensioning cables (3, 16).
US09447632B2

A window shade lifting apparatus that includes a tube disposed vertically on the window shade; a lifting cord disposed in the compression tube; a ladder structure including a vertical leg and a plurality of rungs, the ladder structure being connected to the tube; and connection rings, each connection ring connecting the ladder structure to the window shade.
US09447627B2

A window assembly may include a vacuum insulated glass unit and a frame assembly. The vacuum insulated glass unit may include first and second glass substrates defining a space therebetween that is at a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure. One of the first and second glass substrates may include a vacuum port extending outward therefrom. The vacuum port may define a passage in communication with the space. The frame assembly supports the glass unit and may include a base member and a glazing member. The base member and the glazing member cooperate to define a slot in which an edge portion of the glass unit is received. The glazing member may include a cavity receiving the vacuum port. The glazing member and the base member may define a plurality of pockets that hinder thermal conductivity through the frame assembly.
US09447619B2

An electronic device includes a housing having an external surface and a magnet within the housing that moves from a first position where the magnetic axis is substantially parallel to the external surface to a second position where the magnetic axis is substantially perpendicular to the external surface. The magnet may be configured to move in the presence of an external magnetic field of another magnet, thereby engaging the two magnets.
US09447614B2

A lid lock apparatus having a housing to be fixed to a vehicle body with limited space. The lid lock apparatus includes a locking pin, a cable, a linking member, a housing, a mating and fixing part, and a coil spring. The housing includes a locking pin housing part, which houses the locking pin, and a link housing part, which houses the linking member. The housing further includes a space that is interposed between the locking pin housing part and the link housing part is formed, and when the housing is rotated and thereby fixed to a fixed target, the link housing part is, at a fixed ending period, moved into a position of the space which has been defined at a fixed starting period.
US09447608B2

A locking cartridge including a housing, first and second plates rotatably mounted in the housing, a blocking member, and a movable member. The cartridge also includes a cam interface which urges the first plate toward the second plate when the plates are rotated. The blocking member is configured to move among a blocking position and an unblocking position in response to engagement with a first cut on a key. When in the blocking position, the blocking member blocks the first plate from moving toward the second plate. With the second plate blocked from moving toward the first plate, the cam interface prevents rotation of the first plate. The movable member is configured to move among a first position and a second position in response to engagement with a second cut on the key. In certain embodiments, the movable member may be a control pin or a second blocking member.
US09447593B2

A skimmer device for removal of debris and other contaminants from the surface of a body of liquid; said device including a central debris and contaminant collection element supported by outrigger buoyancy elements; said buoyancy elements ballasted by controlled charging of each of said elements with a volume of ballast liquid, and wherein an adjustment of buoyancy is provided by varying a volume of residual air retained in said buoyancy elements.
US09447591B2

A tool for finishing an outside corner comprises a handle and a V-shaped blade coupled to the handle. The V-shaped blade has a pair of planar blade surfaces which each extend from a vertex thereof. A retaining mechanism releasably retains a sponge against the surfaces of the V-shaped blade.
US09447582B2

An ice dam prevention shield is a device that is installed onto a roof to prevent interior water damage due to the formation of an ice dam and to allow the user to easily remove the ice dam by striking an ice dam that has formed on top of the device with a striking tool. The device features a water-impermeable panel that is installed over the roof shingles and is secured to the roof via a set of roofing fasteners and a set of low head profile fasteners. A cushioning layer may be present in between the water-impermeable panel and the roof in order to allow the water-impermeable panel to flex when struck and facilitate the removal of the ice dam. A bottom anchoring strip is present in order to allow an ice dam to form on top of the water-impermeable panel rather than on top of the roof.
US09447577B2

Disclosed are a sound absorbing sheet having a micro resonant structure and capable of improving sound absorption performance up to the low frequency band by means of the micro resonance principle, a method for manufacturing same, and a sound absorption type soundproof panel using same. The sound absorbing sheet according to the present invention has multiple uneven patterns configured to have convex parts and concave parts on one surface of a porous base material, and the area ratio of the concave part determined by the following formula 1 is 40 to 99%. The area corresponding to the concave part has a lower air permeability than the area corresponding to the convex part. Area ratio of concave portion=[area portion of concave portion]/[area portion of porous base material].  [Formula 1]
US09447567B2

A flow adjustable bubble aerator is formed by a water tank, an outer casing, a rear tank, an adjustment assembly, a rear seat, a ball-shaped connector and a joint seat. The adjustment assembly includes an upper fixing plate, a lower plate base and an adjustment bolt. A bottom of the adjustment bolt is provided with a tool operation part, such that a tool can be used to adjust the discharge capacity outside the bubble aerator, thereby complying with the requirements of water saving and water usage.
US09447565B2

The invention relates to a sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, consisting of property-defining components in a sandwich-like arrangement in the direction of flow which comprise at least one screen attachment, one diffuser plate assembly as well as a shell body having segments of stream-forming openings extending across its cross-sectional surface. The property-defining components are exchangeable and combinable so as to realize adaptability to different user and user requirements. A locking means is provided e.g. on the inner circumference of the shell body for this purpose as is a corresponding counter-locking means on the outer circumference of the diffuser plate assembly. The diffuser plate assembly exhibits, at least on its exterior, a flow rate class-specifying optical code and the shell body exhibits a stream type-specifying, namely laminar or aerated, optical code.
US09447559B2

Pick hole guards are provided for use in guarding pick holes on manhole covers. In some embodiments of the present invention, the pick hole guards can have a base, biasing member, and guard member. The biasing member can be attached to the base and guard member, and can bias the guard member toward a pick hole on the manhole cover to guard the pick hole. In other embodiments, the pick hole guards do not have movable guard members, but instead have retaining surfaces to serve as a receptacle for catching waste disposed through a pick hole.
US09447552B2

A paving screed to be employed on a road finisher comprises a base screed, the operating width of which may be modified by protractable extending units and/or separate removable bolt-on extensions. The paving screed also includes a plurality of side plates, each being mountable on an outer end of the base screed or an extending unit or a bolt-on extension and which delimit the operating width. At least one reference element for determining the operating width is provided on one of the side plates, and that the at least one reference element is detectable by one or more sensor units when the side plates are each mounted on the outer ends of the base screed, an extending unit or a bolt-on extension.
US09447551B1

A new and improved apparatus, system and method for leveling asphalt in road construction that may include at least one laser pointer, at least one alignment target, and at least one visual reference guide attached to a paving machine screed where it is contemplated to project a beam generally parallel with the existing surface to be matched by the newly laid asphalt such that the screed may be adjusted by the beam hitting the screed and the screed moved up and or down accordingly to keep in line with the laser beam that is already positioned in a desired parallel manner.
US09447544B2

The invention relates to a security feature having a luminescent component and a component camouflaging the luminescent component. The invention starts out from a security feature having a luminescent component having at least one luminophore consisting of a doped host lattice, and a component camouflaging the luminescent component, in which the camouflaging component has at least two substances, the first substance of the camouflaging component having an X-ray diffractogram which hides the X-ray diffractogram of the luminescent component, and the second substance of the camouflaging component having at least one cationic element of the luminescent component and at least one cationic element of the first substance of the camouflaging component, with the luminescent component and the first substance of the camouflaging component being formed of different cationic elements.
US09447542B2

A sealing-strip system has a sealing strip for sealing a suction zone of a suctioned roller in a machine for manufacturing and/or processing a fibrous web. The sealing strip has a wear volume which is successively removed by tribological contact with the roller, and a wear-indication unit which is formed by at least one tube which is configured in or on the sealing strip and which is at least in part disposed on or in the sealing strip in the region of the wear volume.
US09447541B2

The present invention relates to a process for purifying a slurry comprising cellulose, such as microfibrillated cellulose, wherein the process comprises the following steps: —providing a slurry comprising cellulose and liquid, —subjecting the slurry to an electric field inducing the liquid of the slurry to flow, —separating the liquid from the cellulose thus obtaining a liquid depleted slurry, —adding a washing liquid, such as an organic solvent, to the liquid depleted slurry—subjecting the liquid depleted slurry to an electric field inducing the washing liquid of the slurry to flow and—separating the washing liquid from the cellulose, thus obtaining a purified cellulose. The invention also relates to cellulose such as microfibrillated cellulose obtainable from said process.
US09447539B2

The present invention provides compositions and methods for the pretreatment of lignocellulosic material. The present invention further provides for pretreated lignocellulosic material that can be used to produce useful products, such as fermentable sugars.
US09447528B1

A hybrid cut-resistant fabric is a triple weave having non-metallic yarns on a top and bottom face and a metal wire that is integrally co-woven into a derivative weave structure. The top face and the bottom faces are secured to each other by top and bottom interface loops and the metal wire, that extends between the to and bottom faces, is secured to the top and bottom faces by top and bottom wire coupler loops. The metal wires extend in the warp and fill directions to create an integral wire grid that resists cut through. The hybrid cut-resistant fabric is flexible and cut resistant making it suitable for a variety of applications including luggage, apparel and sports equipment, for example.
US09447526B2

Techniques produce intertwining knots in a multifilament thread. In such techniques, an air stream pulse is generated by a nozzle channel opening into a treatment channel periodically with an interval between successive air stream pulses. During an interval, the air stream pulse is directed transversely onto the thread guided in the treatment channel so that a continuous sequence of intertwining knots is produced in the running thread. An auxiliary air stream is generated continuously or discontinuously and the auxiliary air stream and the air stream pulse are blown in together into the treatment channel.
US09447524B2

An islands-in-sea fiber includes island components and a sea component arranged to surround the island components, wherein the island components and the sea component are composed of at least two polymers and are provided on a fiber cross-section in a direction perpendicular to the fiber axis. The islands-in-sea fiber is a raw yarn for a combined filament yarn, which can be used to produce a cloth having good tension and drape and an excellent color-developing property. An islands-in-sea fiber in which at least two types of island components having different diameters are arranged on the same fiber cross section, the islands-in-sea fiber characterized in that at least one type of the island components have diameters of 10-1000 nm and have fluctuations in diameters of 1.0-20.0%.
US09447517B2

Provided is an inexpensive seed material for liquid phase epitaxial growth of silicon carbide. A seed material 12 for liquid phase epitaxial growth of a monocrystalline silicon carbide includes a surface layer containing a polycrystalline silicon carbide with a 3C crystal polymorph. Upon Raman spectroscopic analysis of the surface layer with an excitation wavelength of 532 nm, a peak other than a TO peak and an LO peak is observed as a peak derived from the polycrystalline silicon carbide with a 3C crystal polymorph.
US09447515B2

The present invention relates to novel metallic composites that are useful as coinage materials. These composites are produced through a multi-ply plating process and are designed to overcome difficulties associated with calibrating vending machines that can result in fraud. In one embodiment, the metallic composite comprises a steel core over which nickel and then a non-magnetic metal such as copper, brass or bronze is deposited as a layered pair. The magnetic and non-magnetic metals may also be applied in the reverse order, with the copper, brass or bronze applied directly over the steel and then covered by the nickel. The electromagnetic signature (EMS) of the composite is controlled by defining the thickness of the deposited metal layers. Advantageously, the invention overcomes problems associated when different coins are made from the same alloy and have similar sizes, and therefore cannot be distinguished by vending machines.
US09447510B2

Processes for the production of chlorine by multi-stage oxidation, for example, by thermal reaction of hydrogen chloride with oxygen using catalysts or by non-thermal activated reaction of hydrogen chloride with oxygen, in which the gas mixture formed in the reaction, comprising the target products chlorine and water, unreacted hydrogen chloride and oxygen, and possibly other secondary constituents, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen, (a) is cooled to condense hydrochloric acid as an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride and (b) the aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride formed is separated from the gas mixture, characterised in that (c) the separated aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride is fed at least partially to an electrochemical oxidation in which at least part of the hydrogen chloride is oxidised to chlorine, (d) the chlorine gas occurring in step d) is optionally added to the gas mixture occurring in step c), (e) the residues of water present in the gas mixture from steps c) and e), in particular by washing with sulfuric acid, are removed, (f) the chlorine-rich gas mixture forming is freed of oxygen and optionally of secondary constituents.
US09447508B2

A hydrogen production device of the present invention includes a photoelectric conversion portion having a light-receiving surface and a back surface, a first electrolysis electrode provided on the back surface, and a second electrolysis electrode provided on the back surface. As a result of reception of light by the photoelectric conversion portion, a potential difference is generated between a first area on the back surface and a second area on the back surface, the first area becomes electrically connected to the first electrolysis electrode, and the second area becomes electrically connected to the second electrolysis electrode. When the first electrolysis electrode and the second electrolysis electrode contact an electrolyte solution, the first electrolysis electrode forms a hydrogen generation portion that generates H2 from the electrolyte solution using an electromotive force generated as a result of reception of light by the photoelectric conversion portion and the second electrolysis electrode forms an oxygen generation portion that generates O2 from the electrolyte solution using the electromotive force.
US09447500B2

The invention relates to a CVD reactor having a process chamber (23) and a substrate holder support (1) arranged therein, said support comprising at least one bearing surface (4), wherein a plurality of gas inlet lines (7, 8) open out into the bearing surface (4′). The CVD reactor further has a substrate holder (2), the back side thereof facing the bearing surface (4′), wherein the gases fed through the gas inlet lines (7,8) into the space between the bearing surface (4′) and back side form a gas cushion (19) supporting the substrate holder (2). According to the invention, the gas cushion comprises a plurality of zones (A, C) that each can be fed through an associated gas inlet line (7, 8) and that are separated from each other by a means (15) preventing gas exchange between the zones (A, C). At least one inner zone (C) is associated with a gas discharge line (13, 14), via which the gas fed into the inner zone (C) by way of the inlet line (7, 8) can be discharged. Gases having different heat conduction properties are fed into the zones.
US09447494B2

A physical vapor deposition apparatus and a physical vapor deposition method for forming a film of a substance which is hard to be made fine particles even when it is heated by plasma, arc discharge, or the like are provided. It has an evaporation chamber 10 provided inside it with an evaporation source material 15 and a heating part 16 for heating the evaporation source material 15, a powder supply source 20 provided inside it with a powder, and a film forming chamber 30, wherein the evaporation source material 15 is heated by the heating part 16 to produce fine particles (nanoparticles), the fine particles and powder are sprayed out of a supersonic nozzle 35, are placed on a supersonic gas stream, and are deposited on a substrate for film formation 33 by physical vapor deposition.
US09447493B2

A high production rate plasma sputtering process for producing particles having a size of 10 μm or less is disclosed. The process causes ionization of at least a part of the sputtered target atoms and is performed at such parameters that the pick-up probability of ionized sputtered target atoms on the surface of grains is high.
US09447479B2

A method of treating recyclable raw materials containing valuable metals is provided, the method including the steps of feeding recyclable raw materials (W) containing valuable metals into a rotary kiln furnace (2) in which a refractory product having an Al2O3—Cr2O3 content of 70% or greater is used for an inner wall; feeding an additive (A) containing SiO2 as a major component into the rotary kiln furnace (2) so as to increase a viscosity of a slag (S) flowing along the inner wall, thereby the recyclable raw materials (W) are attached on the slag (S) having a high viscosity such that at least part of the recyclable raw materials (W) is exposed to the inside of the rotary kiln furnace; and burning/melting the recyclable raw materials (W) attached on the slag (S) in the rotary kiln furnace (2).
US09447478B2

[Object] To efficiently recover tungsten from an object containing tungsten by a simple treatment process using a microorganism with reduced environmental load.[Solution] A method for recovering a tungsten compound is provided which includes the step of preparing a tungsten compound solution in which tungsten-containing polyatomic ions are dissolved, by eluting the metal component of an object containing tungsten into an alkaline solution; the adsorption step of adsorbing the tungsten-containing polyatomic ions to a microorganism by introducing the microorganism to the tungsten compound solution and adjusting the tungsten compound solution to an acidic level; and the collecting and washing step of collecting the microorganism to which the tungsten-containing polyatomic ions are adsorbed and washing the microorganism.
US09447477B2

A process for the production of fat-liquored, tanned leather or pelt is provided. The process comprises the steps of fat-liquoring and tanning, wherein an animal hide, skin or pelt is fat-liquored with a substituted acylaminopolyorganosiloxane (A) in the presence of a surfactant or surfactant mixture (B), which is an anionic or nonionic surfactant or mixture of anionic or/and non-ionic surfactants, before, during or/and after tanning, wherein the substituted acylaminopolyorganosiloxane (A) is a polyorganosiloxane containing substituted acylamino groups linked to silicon atoms of the polysiloxane skeleton via alkylene bridges or mono- or oligo-[alkylene-amino or alkylene-(substituted acyl)amino]-alkylene bridges. Also provided are tanned pelt or leather, certain substituted acylaminopolyorganosiloxanes (A′) and related processes and compositions.
US09447469B2

The present disclosure provides a method for identifying whether a subject is more or less likely to be responsive to VEGF-based therapy, comprising screening a nucleic acid sample obtained from the subject to provide output information which identifies the presence or absence of an allelic variant, wherein the presence or absence of an allelic variant indicates whether the subject is more or less likely to be responsive to VEGF-based therapy.
US09447468B2

The present invention provides methods of identifying compounds that selectively induce an oxidative stress response in a biological sample. The present invention further provides methods of treating a subject having a disease associated with oxidative stress using compounds that selectively induce an oxidative stress response in the subject. The invention further provides methods of selectively inducing an oxidative stress response in a cell.
US09447454B2

The present invention provides methods for purifying RNA molecules interacting with an RNA binding protein (RBP), and the use of such methods to analyze a gene expression profile of a cell. The invention also provides sequences of RNA molecules that mediate binding to an RBP, proteins encoded by the sequences, a method of identifying the sequences, and the use of the sequences in a screen to identify bioactive molecules. The invention also provides RNA motifs found among the sequences and compounds that bind the RNA motifs. In addition, the invention provides methods of treating diseases associated with a function of an RNA binding protein.
US09447451B2

Provided herein are methods and devices for single object detection. The methods and devices can be used to identify a plurality epigenetic markers on a genetic material, or a chromatin, encompassing fragments thereof. The invention provides for the characterization of the genetic material flowing through a channel in a continuous body of fluid based on detection of one or more properties of the genetic material. The methods and systems provided herein allow genome-wide, high-throughput epigenetic analysis and overcome a variety of limitations common to bulk analysis techniques.
US09447448B1

A drone-based microbial analysis system includes an electronic drone control facility including an electronic storage memory device. The storage memory device stores information including a location of at least one possible contaminated area previously determined to contain at least one positively-tested microbe. At least one drone vehicle is in signal communication with the drone control facility and autonomously navigates to the at least one possible contaminated area to collect a specimen. The drone control facility performs a microbial analysis based on the collected specimen and confirms the at least one possible contaminated area is a positively contaminated area that contains at least one microbe based on the microbial analysis.
US09447447B2

In the present invention, a cardiomyocyte cluster is disposed on a transparent substrate, and the quality of the cardiomyocytes is evaluated from the response of the cells to a forced pulsation stimulus applied to the cardiomyocytes. The cardiomyocyte cluster is disposed on the transparent substrate, and is exposed to the flow of a liquid containing an agent in a manner so that the agent acts on the cells, which configure a network. The extent of cardiac toxicity resulting from the agent is evaluated from measuring the fluctuations obtained from a comparison of adjacent cardiomyocytes of the network.
US09447446B2

Provided is a device having one or more lipid multilayer arrays of lipid multilayer structures on a substrate. Each lipid multilayer structure encapsulates an encapsulated material that may be delivered to a cell that is in contact with the lipid multilayer structure to determine the cellular response of the cell to the encapsulated material.
US09447444B2

The disclosure relates to a nucleic acid molecule isolated from a Papaver somniferum cultivar that produces the opiate alkaloid noscapine which comprises 10 genes involved in the biosynthesis of opiate alkaloids.
US09447436B2

Recombinant bacterial microorganisms are provided which comprise heterologous fatty acyl reductases (“FAR”) polypeptides wherein said microorganisms have been engineered to produce increased amounts of saturated fatty alcohols and methods of making saturated fatty alcohols using the recombinant bacterial microorganisms.
US09447434B2

Gene targeting is a technique to introduce genetic change into one or more specific locations in the genome of a cell. For example, gene targeting can introduce genetic change by modifying, repairing, attenuating or inactivating a target gene or other chromosomal DNA. In one aspect, this disclosure relates to methods and compositions for gene targeting with high efficiency in a cell. This disclosure also relates to methods of treating or preventing a genetic disease in an individual in need thereof. Further disclosed are chimeric nucleases and vectors encoding chimeric nucleases.
US09447426B2

By analyzing a Jatropha genome, NF-YB-encoding genes of SEQ ID NOs: 1 to 11, fragments of NF-YB-encoding genes of SEQ ID NOs: 12 and 13, and genes relating thereto were found. By transforming Jatropha with these NF-YB-encoding genes and the like, it is possible to overexpress a NF-YB polypeptide and so on, and to significantly improve the productivity of protein synthesis involved by the NF-YB polypeptide, and to significantly improve the dry stress resistance, for example. As a result, it is possible to create dry stress resistant Jatropha capable of ensuring high growth even under water deficient conditions.
US09447421B2

The present invention provides methods for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of sugar cane (Saccharum spp.) comprising introducing a nucleotide sequence of interest into a sugar cane callus tissue or cell thereof via Agrobacterium mediated delivery, wherein the sugar cane callus tissue is less than 28 days post-initiation. The invention further provides methods for transforming a sugar cane callus tissue or cell thereof comprising inoculating the sugar cane callus tissue that is less than 28 days post-initiation with an Agrobacterium comprising a nucleotide sequence of interest to produce an Agrobacterium-inoculated sugar cane tissue or cell thereof; and co-cultivating the Agrobacterium and the sugar cane callus tissue to produce a transformed sugar cane callus tissue or cell thereof.
US09447413B2

Compounds, compositions and methods are provided for modulating the expression and function of small non-coding RNAs. The compositions comprise oligomeric compounds, targeted to small non-coding RNAs. Methods of using these compounds for modulation of small non-coding RNAs as well as downstream targets of these RNAs and for diagnosis and treatment of disease associated with small non-coding RNAs are also provided.
US09447409B2

The present teachings relate to the extraction of nucleic acid from solid materials. Provided are useful compositions, methods and kits for obtaining nucleic acids from a solid biological sample or an adhesive material having a biological material adherent or embedded within the adhesive substrate. The extracted nucleic acid can be used in downstream applications such as genotyping, detection, quantification, and identification of the source of the biological material.
US09447404B2

The present invention relates to novel mutants with cyclase activity and use thereof in a method for biocatalytic cyclization of terpenes, such as in particular for the production of isopulegol by cyclization of citronellal; a method for the preparation of menthol and methods for the biocatalytic conversion of further compounds with structural motifs similar to terpene.
US09447403B2

The present invention relates to peptides of the enolase protein from Staphylococcus aureus as well as nucleic acid and nucleic acid sequence homologs encoding the peptides. The present invention also relates to a composition, particularly a S. aureus vaccine, comprising one or more of the enolase peptides described herein or a fragment, derivative or variant thereof capable of generating an immune response that induces a protective antibody response or opsonophagocytic activity of human neutrophils for S. aureus. The present invention also encompasses methods of treating and/or reducing the likelihood of a Staphylococcus infection by administering a composition of the invention.
US09447391B2

The disclosure relates to the field of human genetics, particularly the field of peripheral neuropathy, particularly inherited peripheral neuropathy. Specifically, the disclosure relates to methods and materials to detect hereditary peripheral neuropathy, more particularly autosomal recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
US09447383B2

Disclosed is a Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK)-derived cell line. The MDCK-derived cell line is derived from MDCK cells deposited under accession number ATCC CCL-34. The MDCK-derived cell line can be prepared by serum-free culture and suspension culture. Preferably, the MDCK-derived cell line has low or no tumorigenicity. The MDCK-derived cell line is preferably selected from MDCK Sky1023, MDCK Sky10234 and MDCK Sky3851. Further disclosed are a culture method for growing the MDCK-derived cells and a method for producing a vaccine virus using the MDCK-derived cells.
US09447372B2

A detector arrangement is disclosed for a blood culture bottle incorporating a colorimetric sensor which is subject to change of color due to change in pH or CO2 of a sample medium within the blood culture bottle. The detector arrangement includes a sensor LED illuminating the colorimetric sensor, a reference LED illuminating the colorimetric sensor, a control circuit for selectively and alternately activating the sensor LED and the reference LED, and a photodetector. The photodetector measures reflectance from the colorimetric sensor during the selective and alternating illumination of the colorimetric sensor with the sensor LED and the reference LED and generates intensity signals. The reference LED is selected to have a peak wavelength of illumination such that the intensity signals of the photodetector from illumination by the reference LED are not substantially affected by changes in the color of the colorimetric sensor.
US09447369B2

The present invention is directed towards a method and apparatus for making soap. According to one embodiment, a soap making apparatus comprises a water vessel that holds water, an oil vessel that holds an oil mixture, a lye container that accepts enclosed lye capsules and a microcontroller that controls a mixture of ingredients that is discharged from the water vessel, oil vessel and lye vessel to produce one or more soap bars made.
US09447366B2

Organic cleaner/detergent compositions, formulations and solutions, and methods of cleaning using such compositions, formulations and solutions and manufacturing such compositions, formulations and solutions are disclosed. More particularly, compositions; formulations and solutions used for the cleaning and/or cleansing of a variety of industrial, domestic and/or communal hard surfaces, fiber/soft surfaces, including all natural, organic, synthetic and blended fibers, and organic surfaces, including, but not limited to, human skin and hair and animal skin and hair are disclosed. Such compositions, formulations and solutions are useful as laundry detergents, automatic dishwasher detergents, hard surface cleaners, hand soaps, human shampoos, and animal shampoos.
US09447364B2

A method of providing a fragrant odor to an application, comprising the addition thereto of at least one compound of the formula I wherein X and Y are independently selected from the group consisting of —CR1R2R3, —NR4R5 and —OR6, wherein R1 to R5 are selected from H and essentially hydrocarbon moieties that optionally comprise at least one oxygen, nitrogen or silicon atom, and R6 is selected from essentially hydrocarbon moieties that optionally comprise at least one oxygen, nitrogen or silicon atom; and, A is an essentially hydrocarbon moiety that optionally comprises at least one oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen or silicon atom, with the proviso that the compound A-CHO is a fragrant aldehyde. The use of these compounds in laundry, household and personal care products confers a long-lasting freshness.
US09447356B2

Dihydrocarbyl diazene dicarboxamides (DHCDD) have been found to effectively reduce the ignition delay and/or as effective cetane number improvers in diesel fuels and is suitable for use in modern engines.
US09447349B2

A method comprises providing a bio-based feedstock; contacting the bio-based feedstock with a solvent in a hydrolysis reaction to form an intermediate stream comprising carbohydrates; contacting the intermediate stream with an apr catalyst to form a plurality of oxygenated intermediates, wherein a first portion of the oxygenated intermediates are recycled to form the solvent; and processing at least a second portion of the oxygenated intermediates to form a fuel blend.
US09447332B2

A method of producing olefins and aromatic compounds from a feedstock includes introducing a hydrocarbon feedstock and a catalyst composition that is suitable for converting the feedstock to at least one of olefins and aromatic compounds within a reactor. The reactor has a reactor flow path having a length L between the inlet and outlet. The temperature in the reactor is monitored in at least one location that is at or adjacent to the inlet at a temperature-monitoring distance that is from 0.3 L or less from the inlet. In response to the monitored temperatures one or more parameters are modified. At least a portion of the feedstock is allowed to be converted to at least one of olefins and aromatic compounds within the reactor, which are removed as a product stream.
US09447313B2

A hydration system configured to selectively enable a continuous process or a batch process of an additive for a hydraulic fracturing fluid, the hydration system including a hydration tank having a plurality of compartments, wherein the hydration tank is configured to enable movement of a material through the plurality of compartments in the continuous process. The hydration tank is configured to substantially restrict movement of the material between the plurality of compartments in the batch process. Also included is a method of selectively hydrating an additive in a batch process or a continuous process using a hydration system configured to enable both the batch process and the continuous process.
US09447310B2

Amines and amine derivatives that improve the buffering range, and/or reduce the chelation and other negative interactions of the buffer and the system to be buffered. The reaction of amines or polyamines with various molecules to form polyamines with differing pKa's will extend the buffering range, derivatives that result in polyamines that have the same pKa yields a greater buffering capacity. Derivatives that result in zwitterionic buffers improve yield by allowing a greater range of stability.
US09447304B2

Coatings for a surface, especially a priming coating, of the present invention have been found to be durable, resistant to oxidative degradation, erosion and depolymerization, stable to sterilization and low particulating, and are easily applied to the required surface of a substrate in a surface-independent manner. Such coatings, when used as priming coatings to be coated with a subsequent coating, in at least some embodiments, form exterior coatings which are also highly durable and are stable to sterilization and aging.
US09447301B2

Fusing nanowire inks are described that can also comprise a hydrophilic polymer binder, such as a cellulose based binder. The fusing nanowire inks can be deposited onto a substrate surface and dried to drive the fusing process. Transparent conductive films can be formed with desirable properties.
US09447287B2

Described herein are compositions for depositing a carbon-doped silicon containing film wherein the composition comprises a first precursor comprising at least one compound selected from the group consisting of: an organoaminoalkylsilane having a formula of R5Si(NR3R4)xH3−x wherein x=1, 2, 3; an organoalkoxyalkylsilane having a formula of R6Si(OR7)xH3−x wherein x=1, 2, 3; an organoaminosilane having a formula of R8N(SiR9(NR10R11)H)2; an organoaminosilane having a formula of R8N(SiR9LH)2 and combinations thereof; and optionally a second precursor comprising a compound having the formula: Si(NR1R2)H3. Also described herein are methods for depositing a carbon-doped silicon-containing film using the composition wherein the method is one selected from the following: cyclic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD) and plasma enhanced CCVD (PECCVD).
US09447285B2

The present invention relates to a coating composition. More particularly, the present invention relates to a composition capable of forming a plastic film which exhibits high hardness and excellent processability. According to the coating composition of the present invention, a plastic film with the rare occurrence of curling and high hardness can be provided.
US09447283B2

The present invention relates to a method for producing a compound that comprises a pseudolaminar silicate of natural origin, which is at least one clay of the paligorskite-sepiolite group, characterized in that said method comprises the following steps: defibrillating the microfiber bundles of the at least one clay in water; dispersing the defibrillated clay in an organic or inorganic liquid solvent until a stable gel is formed; adding to the dispersion at least one clay-surface-modifying agent; removing the solvent from the dispersion by means of a solid-liquid separation process and/or drying process; and deagglomerating the final compound until a powdered product is obtained. A further object of the present invention is the compound that can be obtained using said method, as well as the use of the compound as an additive or filler in composite polymeric materials in order to enhance the properties thereof, the composite polymeric material likewise being encompassed within the present invention.
US09447263B2

The invention relates to rubber mixtures comprising at least in each case one nonpolar rubber, carbon black, and short-chain alkyl esters of glycerol, production of these, use, and the vulcanizates thus obtainable.
US09447253B2

A shape memory composition includes a high temperature ionomer having a glass transition temperature or a melting temperature of 100° C. or greater and a modulus at room temperature of 1×108 Pa or greater, the high temperature ionomer including a polymer with ionic units either within the backbone of the polymer or pendant to the backbone or both. The shape memory composition includes crystalline or glassy domains of a low molecular weight non-polymeric compound dispersed in the high temperature ionomer and interacting the ionic units of the high temperature ionomer to form a secondary network characterized by being a reversible network in that it is compromised by the heating of the low molecular weight non-polymeric compound to change out of its crystalline or glassy phase.
US09447250B2

The present invention provides a method for reducing level of titanium in an aqueous solution of polyester in a safe and effective way, while avoiding hydrolysis of the polyester.
US09447245B2

The invention relates to the preparation of an organic transition metal complex cross-linked into a multi-dimensional network, comprising the performance of a first reaction, which comprises a first reactant in the form of an organic metal complex and a second reactant for the formation of a multi-dimensional network, where the organic metal complex is cross-linked to form the multi-dimensional-network during the reaction.
US09447238B2

A polyphenylene oxide resin belongs to a polymerized and/or modified thermosetting polyphenylene oxide resin, having a structure represented by formula (I): The polymerized and/or modified thermosetting polyphenylene oxide resin has better flame retardancy, thermal resistance, dielectric constant, dissipation factor, toughness, reactivity, viscosity and solubility. Therefore, the polyphenylene oxide resin is suitable for producing prepregs, resin films, laminates, printed circuit boards and other articles. A method of preparing polyphenylene oxide resins, a prepolymer thereof and a resin composition containing the polyphenylene oxide resin are also provided.
US09447236B2

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing polyalkylene carbonate. More specifically, the method of manufacturing polyalkylene carbonate includes solution-polymerizing an epoxide compound and carbon dioxide in the presence of a cobalt complex having a neutral singe-site as a catalyst and a solvent, thereby providing stability and adjusting degree of polymerization and being advantageous for performing a post-treatment process after polymerization.
US09447234B2

Provided is an aliphatic polycarbonate copolymer including repeating units of Formula 1 described in the specification. In Formula 1, A is a substituted or unsubstituted C3-C60 alkylene or a substituted or unsubstituted C3-C60 heteroalkylene and the O-A-O units in one polymer chain may be identical to or different from each other, B is a substituted or unsubstituted C5-C20 arylene or a substituted or unsubstituted C5-C20 heteroarylene and the —C(O)—B—C(O)— units in one polymer chain may be identical to or different from each other, and x and y are real numbers representing mole fractions.
US09447230B2

A process for producing a copolyester through the production of an AB monomer of isoidide - Isodide 2-(4-carbomethoxyphenyl) ether. In certain aspects, the AB monomer is produced by performing the steps of: protecting the 2-position of isosorbide with a protecting group; functionalizing the 5-position of isosorbide with a suitable leaving group to form a reactive ester; nucleophilicly displacing the leaving group in a reaction with an alkali metal alkoxide or phenoxide to give an isoidide ether through a stereochemical inversion of the 5-position; and removing the protective moiety to create the AB monomer. In certain embodiments, the copolyester is produced by melting the AB monomer and a polyester, optionally with a catalyst.
US09447217B2

A hydrophilic cross-linked polymer obtainable by copolymerisation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers that give a cross-linked hydrophilic polymer on polymerisation; a monomer including a strongly ionic group; and water is useful as the membrane in an assembly that can be used in an electrolyter or fuel cell.More generally, a membrane electrode assembly comprises electrodes and an ion-exchange membrane which comprises a hydrophilic polymer including a strongly ionic group.A method for producing a membrane electrode assembly comprising electrodes and an ion-exchange membrane, comprises introducing between the electrodes a material or materials from which the membrane can be formed, and forming the membrane in situ.
US09447212B2

The production method for a vinyl ether polymer of the present technology comprises the step of subjecting a vinyl ether monomer to radical polymerization in a mixed solvent to form a vinyl ether polymer. The mixed solvent is a mixed solvent in which the mass ratio of isopropyl alcohol to dimethylformamide is from 93:7 to 75:25, or a mixed solvent in which the mass ratio of isopropyl alcohol to water is from 50:50 to 5:95, and a mass ratio of the vinyl ether monomer to the mixed solvent is from 3:100 to 45:100.
US09447198B2

This invention relates to a field of pharmaceutical chemistry, relates to a process of extracting high water soluble polysaccharides from higher plants or fungi. The present invention discloses a process of extracting higher plants and fungi polysaccharides based on a microwave chemistry method, comprising: putting the residue or pulverized higher plants and fungi after being degreased by an organic solvent into a microwave reaction chamber to react with an acid solution; and then distilling to remove excess acid or washing with organic solvent to remove the acid; adding water solution for extraction, subjecting the extracting solution after concentration to alcohol precipitation, separating precipitates aka polysaccharides therefrom.The present invention has significant advantages like fast processing rate, high polysaccharides yield, low organic acid consumption and efficient and easy to recycle, low water consumption, low power consumption, etc., and obtained polysaccharides have high yield and purity, good water solubility, and good biological activity.
US09447194B2

The invention is directed to a bispecific chimeric antigen receptor, comprising: (a) at least two antigen-specific targeting regions; (b) an extracellular spacer domain; (c) a transmembrane domain; (d) at least one co-stimulatory domain; and (e) an intracellular signaling domain, wherein each antigen-specific targeting region comprises an antigen-specific single chain Fv (scFv) fragment, and binds a different antigen, and wherein the bispecific chimeric antigen receptor is co-expressed with a therapeutic control. The invention also provides methods and uses of the bispecific chimeric antigen receptors.
US09447188B2

The present invention relates to a method of controlling quality and quantity of posttranslational modification of a recombinantly produced polypeptide/protein (glycoprotein), wherein the posttranslational modification affects the glycosylation profile and/or the acidic variants profile, as manifested in CEX profiles, wherein the polypeptide/protein (glycoprotein) production is in eukaryotic host cells, the method comprising the following steps: a) cultivating the eukaryotic cells in a suitable medium under conditions which allow the expression of the polypeptide/protein, wherein the content of the dissolved CO2 (pCO2) in the medium is at a first value during the initial growth phase of the eukaryotic cells, allowing the eukaryotic cells to grow, and b) increasing or decreasing the content of the dissolved CO2 (pCO2) in the medium during the production phase of the eukaryotic cells to a second value.
US09447186B2

Methods are provided for treating metastatic cancer in patients having metastatic cancer or for preventing metastasis in cancer patients at risk for metastasis comprising administering to the patient an antibody to B7x, or an active antibody fragment that binds B7x, in an amount effective to treat or prevent metastasis.
US09447183B2

Proteins that bind IL-1α and IL-1β are described along with their use in compositions and methods for treating, preventing, and diagnosing IL-1-related disorders and for detecting IL-1α and IL-1β in cells, tissues, samples, and compositions.
US09447182B2

The invention concerns antibodies directed against CD127, I.e. the alpha chain of the receptor for interleukin7 (IL-7), especially the receptor for human IL-7 expressed on human cells (designated human IL-7R alpha or IL-7Ra) or the TSLP receptor. The antibodies of the invention have cytotoxic activity against CD127 positive cells. The invention also relates to the use of these antibodies in order to deplete subpopulations of T lymphocytes as a result of cytotoxic action of the antibodies, through ADCC and optionally through CDC. Accordingly the invention concerns the use of the antibodies in the treatment of transplant rejection, autoimmune diseases, allergic diseases, lymphoma or cancer when these pathologies are associated with CD127 positive cells.
US09447179B2

This invention concerns affinity tools for oligomeric forms of tau protein. It relates to the field of neurodegeneration, more particularly to the field of tau-related diseases and tauopathy. The invention provides novel tau antibodies and antibody fragments, nucleic acids encoding such antibodies and antibody fragments, cell lines producing such antibodies and antibody fragments, antibody compositions, and kits for the detection of aggregated tau and for the diagnosis of diseases involving aggregated tau. The invention further provides methods for the detection of aggregated tau, for the diagnosis of diseases involving aggregated tau, and for the identification of compositions interfering with the formation and/or stability of tau aggregates.
US09447171B2

A process for purification of a fragment antibody from a culture medium also comprising at least one impurity is provided. The purification is carried out after the pH of the culture medium has been reduced to a pH at which the fragment antibody is soluble, but one or more of the impurities are insoluble. A process for the preparation of a fragment antibody employing such a purification process is also provided.
US09447170B2

The invention provides novel scaffold proteins for the display of peptides such as peptide aptamers. The novel scaffold proteins are modifications of Stefin A or STM (a variant of Stefin A) and are useful as scaffold proteins and as display systems.
US09447159B2

The present invention generally relates to antigen-specific immunoconjugates for selectively delivering effector moieties that influence cellular activity. More specifically, the invention provides novel immunoconjugates comprising a first antigen binding moiety, an Fc domain and a single effector moiety. In addition, the present invention relates to polynucleotides encoding such immunoconjugates, and vectors and host cells comprising such polynucleotides. The invention further relates to methods for producing the immunoconjugates of the invention, and to methods of using these immunoconjugates in the treatment of disease.
US09447144B2

The present invention discloses the identification and isolation of novel MHC class II epitopes derived from the cancer antigen, NY ESO-1. The novel MHC class II epitopes from NY-EsO-1 are recognized by CD4+ T lymphocytes in an HLA class II restricted manner, in particular HLA-DR or HLA-DP restricted. The products of the gene are promising candidates for immunotherapeutic strategies for the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of patients with cancer.
US09447139B2

The present invention relates to SHIP inhibitor compounds and methods for using these compounds. In particular, the present invention discloses the following methods: (i) a method of treating graft versus host disease in a subject; (ii) a method of inhibiting a SHIP1 protein in a cell; (iii) a method of selectively inhibiting a SHIP1 protein in a cell; (iv) a method for treating or preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in a recipient of an organ or tissue transplant; (v) a method of modulating SHIP activity in a cell expressing SHIP1 or SHIP2; (vi) a method of ex vivo or in vitro treatment of transplants; (vii) a method of inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis in a subject; (viii) a method of treating a hematologic malignancy in a subject; (ix) a method of inducing apoptosis of multiple myeloma cells; (x) a method of treating multiple myeloma in a subject; (xi) a method of inhibiting the proliferation of a human breast cancer cell; and (xii) a method of treating breast cancer in a subject.
US09447132B2

A deuterated nucleoside analog of the formula and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are provided by this disclosure. The disclosure also includes pharmaceutical compositions comprising a compound or salt of the formula and a carrier. Compounds and salts of this formula are useful for treating viral infections, including HCV infections. A method for treating a host afflicted with hepatitis C or other disorders is also presented that includes administering an effective treatment amount of a nucleoside or nucleotide that has deuterium with at least 50% enrichment at the 5′-position of the nucleoside or nucleotide.
US09447120B2

The invention relates to the production of zinc trisodium pentetic acid (Zn-DTPA) and to new crystalline forms of said salt.
US09447113B2

Novel heterocyclic materials are disclosed. The materials contain a fused tetracyclic structure that can improve the properties of OLED devices when the novel heterocyclic materials are incorporated into such devices.
US09447102B2

The present invention relates to a novel family of inhibitors of protein kinase of formula 1 and process for their production and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to inhibitors of the members of the Tec, Src and Btk protein kinase families.
US09447092B2

The present invention relates to compounds of formula I: wherein R1 and R2 are as defined herein, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof. The compounds of formula I are inhibitors of aurora kinase and/or FLT3. The present invention also relates to processes for the preparation of these compounds, to pharmaceutical compositions comprising them, and to their use in the treatment of proliferative disorders, such as cancer, as well as other diseases or conditions in which aurora kinase and/or FLT3 activity is implicated.
US09447085B2

In its many embodiments, the present invention provides certain C2-ring-substituted iminothiadiazine compounds, or a tautomers thereof, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of said compounds and said tautomers. The novel compounds of the invention are as BACE inhibitors and/or for the treatment and prevention of various pathologies related thereto. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising one or more such compounds (alone and in combination with one or more other active agents), and methods for their preparation and use, including for the possible treatment of Alzheimer's disease, are also disclosed.
US09447078B2

The present invention relates generally to compositions and methods for treating neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, particularly ophthalmic diseases and disorders. Provided herein are substituted heterocyclic amine derivative compound and pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds. The subject compositions are useful for treating and preventing ophthalmic diseases and disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt's Disease.
US09447073B2

The instant invention describes tetrazole compounds having metalloenzyme modulating activity, and methods of treating diseases, disorders or symptoms thereof mediated by such metalloenzymes.
US09447072B2

General formula (I): The present invention pertains to: a pyridone derivate or a salt thereof represented by general formula (I); or a medicine containing the pyridone derivative or salt thereof as an active ingredient. [In the formula, ring A, R1, R2, R3 and R4 are specific groups.]
US09447056B2

The invention relates to novel crystalline salts of 5-[(1Z,2E)-2-methyl-3-phenylpropenylidene]-4-oxo-2-thioxo-3-thiazolidineacetic acid and a novel betaine cocrystal of 5-[(1Z,2E)-2-methyl-3-phenylpropenylidene]-4-oxo-2-thioxo-3-thiazolidineacetic acid. The preparation and characterization of the novel crystalline salts and cocrystal according to various embodiments of the invention is described. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing the novel crystalline salts and cocrystal and the therapeutic use of the novel crystalline salts and cocrystal to treat and/or prevent various conditions, including treating and/or preventing diabetic complications, inhibiting aldose reductase, and affording cardioprotection in patients who may be non-diabetic.
US09447035B2

The invention relates to compounds of formula I: wherein R1, R2, and n are defined in the detailed description and claims. In particular, the present invention relates to the compounds of formula I for use in the manufacture and delivery of conjugated moieties such as small molecules, peptides, nucleic acids, fluorescent moieties, and polymers which are linked to VLA-4 integrin antagonists to target cells expressing VLA-4.
US09447028B2

The present invention pertains generally to the field of therapeutic compounds, and more specifically to certain aryl-amido-aryl compounds of the following formula (for convenience, collectively referred to herein as “AAA compounds”), which, inter alia, are (selective) retinoic acid receptor α (RARα) agonists. The present invention also pertains to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds, and the use of such compounds and compositions, both in vitro and in vivo, to (selectively) activate RARα, and in the treatment of diseases and conditions that are mediated by RARα, that are ameliorated by the activation of RARα, etc., including cognitive disorders, memory impairment, memory deficit, senile dementia, Alzheimer's disease, early stage Alzheimer's disease, intermediate stage Alzheimer's disease, late stage Alzheimer's disease, cognitive impairment, and mild cognitive impairment.
US09447020B2

There are provided compounds of formula (I): wherein X1 is O, NH, or S; X2 is O, NH, or S; and X3 is O, NH, or S; and wherein R, R1, T1 and T2 can represent various entities. Such compounds can be useful, for example, for preventing, palliating or treating various diseases such as heart diseases, respiratory diseases, treating inflammatory abnormalities, metabolic disorders or diabetes.
US09447017B2

The present invention relates to an improved process for the production of 4-alkanoyloxy-2-methylbutanoic acid, as well as to the use of such compounds in organic syntheses, especially in processes forming intermediates (building blocks) for the synthesis of organic compounds comprising isoprene (isoterpene) units, such as β-carotene or other carotenoids (e.g. canthaxanthin, zeaxanthin or astaxanthin) or as vitamin E or vitamin A as well as other structurally similar compounds.
US09447015B1

The invention relates to a novel class of (S)-2′-vinyl-substituted-abscisic acid derivatives, and to methods of synthesizing and using the derivatives.
US09447014B2

The present invention provides tromethamine salt of 7-[3,5-Dihydroxy-2-(3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-pent-1-enyl)-cyclopentyl]-hept-5-enoic acid in crystalline and amorphous form. This compound is may also be referred to as “tromethamine salt of bimatoprost acid.” The invention crystalline form is useful for solid ocular implant or topical formulations, utilized in the treatment of various ocular conditions, such as, for example, ocular hypertension.
US09447007B2

A process for fluorinating hydrocarbon compounds, which comprises: A. providing a compound selected from the group consisting of straight-chain, branched-chain and cyclic alkanes, straight-chain, branched-chain and cyclic ethers, said compound comprising at least one carbon-hydrogen bond and being free from —C(O)— functional groups; B. reacting said compound with fluorine in the presence of at least one (per)haloolefin comprising at least one carbon-carbon double bond and having at least one fluorine or chlorine atom on either one of the carbon atoms of said double bond, to obtain a compound wherein at least one carbon-hydrogen bond has been replaced by a carbon-fluorine bond. Compositions of partially fluorinated compounds obtained with the process are also disclosed.
US09447002B2

A method for retarding polymerization of vinyl monomers comprising adding a quinone methide to a liquid comprising the vinyl monomers is described.
US09446992B2

The invention is directed to methods and compositions for increasing a growth characteristic of a plant, increasing nutrient use efficiency of a plant, or improving a plant's ability to overcome stress comprising applying a composition comprising ketosuccinamate, a derivative thereof, or a salt thereof, to the plant or to a propagation material of the plant.
US09446991B2

An improved composition comprising substantial spherical UFP particles and an active agent, such as NBPT, and optionally other components is used as an additive for liquid and solid fertilizers, typically containing urea. Methods of making the compositions and their use are also disclosed.
US09446984B2

To provide a method and facility for enabling CO2 gas generated in a cement manufacturing facility to be separated and recovered at a high concentration. To this end, according to the present invention, the calcination of a cement material and the recovery of CO2 gas generated in a calciner are performed by one of the following steps of: [1] superheating the cement material before calcination to at least the calcination temperature thereof in a superheating furnace and then mixing the superheated cement material with a new cement material before calcination in a mixer/calciner; [2] mixing, in the mixer/calciner, the cement material before calcination with a part of high-temperature cement clinker discharged from a cement kiln; and [3] using an externally heated calciner.
US09446972B2

The object is to provide an activated sludge treatment method whereby production of excess sludge is brought substantially to zero; and a method for upgrading existing waste water treatment equipment, employing this method. The method includes a step (1) in which sludge (2) produced in a sedimentation tank is supplied to a waste water aeration-conditioning tank for activated sludge treatment; a step (2) in which waste water into which the sludge (2) has been mixed is subjected to aeration-conditioning to bring the oxidation-reduction potential to a positive value, and supplied to a pressurized flotation concentration-separation tank; a step (3) in which the sludge (1) produced through treatment in the pressurized flotation concentration-separation tank is supplied to the bioreactor; a step (4) in which the treated waste water (1) separated from the pressurized flotation concentration-separation tank is supplied to a dilute activated sludge aeration tank; a step (5) in which released water and the sludge (3) produced by treatment in the bioreactor are supplied to the dilute activated sludge aeration tank; and a step (6) in which the treated waste water (2) separated from the dilute activated sludge aeration tank is supplied to the sedimentation tank.
US09446967B2

The invention provides a system for preparing specific sized particles, the system comprising a continuous stir tank reactor adapted to receive reactants; a centrifugal dispenser positioned downstream from the reactor and in fluid communication with the reactor; a particle separator positioned downstream of the dispenser; and a solution stream return conduit positioned between the separator and the reactor. Also provided is a method for preparing specific sized particles, the method comprising introducing reagent into a continuous stir reaction tank and allowing the reagents to react to produce product liquor containing particles; contacting the liquor particles with a centrifugal force for a time sufficient to generate particles of a predetermined size and morphology; and returning unused reagents and particles of a non-predetermined size to the tank.
US09446965B2

A nanostructure that includes a multi-layered fullerene-like nano-structure composed of a plurality of layers each having a metal chalcogenide composition that has a molecular formula of MX2, in which M is a metallic element selected from the group consisting of titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), technetium (Tc), ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh), palladium (Pd), silver (Ag), cadmium (Cd), hafnium (Hf), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), rhenium (Re), osmium (Os), iridium (Ir), platinum (Pt), gold (Au), mercury (Hg) and combinations thereof, and X is a chalcogen element selected from the group consisting of sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), oxygen (O) and combinations thereof. An outer layer of the multi-layered fullerene-like structure includes at least one sectioned portion that extends along a direction away from the curvature of the multi-layered fullerene-like nano-structure.
US09446963B2

A material includes a first lithium metal oxide (LMO) component formed using a spray-dry technique and a second LMO component formed using a co-precipitation technique. In particular, the LMO components may include lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC). The material may further include a binder and a conductive component.
US09446961B2

The present invention provides an improved method for manufacturing high quality porous crystalline MCM-56 material. It also relates to the MCM-56 material manufactured by the improved method, catalyst compositions comprising same and use thereof in a process for catalytic conversion of hydrocarbon compounds. One such conversion process involves production of monoalkylated aromatic compounds, particularly ethylbenzene and cumene, by the liquid or partial liquid phase alkylation of alkylatable aromatic compound, particularly benzene.
US09446958B2

The present invention is directed to a condensed phase batch process for synthesis of trisilylamine (TSA). An improved synthesis process that incorporates a solvent to help promote a condensed-phase reaction between ammonia gas (or liquid) and liquified monochlorosilane (MCS) in good yields is described. This process facilitates the removal of the byproduct waste with little to no reactor down time, substantial reduction of down-stream solids contamination and high-purity product from first-pass distillation.
US09446948B1

A method of fabricating a MEMS device provides a device substrate, forms a plurality of trenches in/on the substrate, and forms a sacrificial material on the substrate (e.g., growing or depositing the sacrificial material) to form a plurality of etch channels. Each trench defines one etch channel, and each etch channel forms an interior configured to channel etchant. The method also bonds a handle substrate to the sacrificial material of the device substrate, and removes at least a portion of the sacrificial material.
US09446939B2

A functional element includes a first electrode section, a second electrode section, a first wiring line connected to the first electrode section, and a second wiring line connected to the second electrode section, the first wiring line is provided with at least one first intersecting section intersecting with a wiring line other than the second wiring line, the second wiring line includes at least one second intersecting section intersecting with a wiring line other than the first wiring line, and a difference between a number of the first intersecting sections and a number of the second intersecting sections satisfies a condition one of equal to and lower than 50% with respect to larger one of the number of the first intersecting sections and the number of the second intersecting sections.
US09446938B2

A capacitance type physical quantity sensor includes: a first substrate; and a second substrate bonded to the first substrate through an insulating film. The second substrate includes first and second groove portions at a place of the second substrate facing an end portion of the first and second support units formed on the first substrate on a side opposite to the movable unit. A part of the end portion of the first support unit protrudes over the first groove portion. A part of the end portion of the second support unit protrudes over the second groove portion.
US09446937B2

A functional device includes: a substrate; and a movable section configured to be held by the substrate and to be movable along a first direction in a surface of the substrate, in which the movable section includes a plurality of first shaft portions with relatively high rigidity, the plurality of first shaft portions are arranged side by side to extend along the first direction and to be line-symmetric to one another, and protrusions configured to brake the movable section are provided on substantially extended lines of the first shaft portions.
US09446936B2

A pneumatically operated opener device includes a holding unit, an air valve unit, an air injection unit, and a mounting member. The holding unit includes a hollow grip and a high pressure nitrogen bottle. The air valve unit includes a valve seat and a compressed nozzle module. The air injection unit includes a hollow air duct, a hollow push rod, and an air injecting needle. The mounting member has a through hole and a hollow slot, and the hollow push rod of the air injection unit is extended through the through hole of the mounting member. Thus, the cork is pushed upward by the thrust force of nitrogen from the high pressure nitrogen bottle and is detached from the wine bottle smoothly so that the cork will not be broken and will not produce chips during the opening process.
US09446934B2

The present invention provides a detecting and monitoring device of the hook angle and its crane; a preferred embodiment thereof is to lengthen the two side-fenders of a movable pulley of the crane raising pulley assembly by equal amounts so that a platform can be fixed on the vacant space between the inner sides of the lengthened fenders. The platform is installed in such a way that the platform surface is a horizontal plane when the hook deviation angle is 0 degree. An angle measuring instrument is disposed on the platform surface and used to detect hook angle in real-time. The hook angle is shown in crane operator's cab by a wireless transmitter to control the crane, eliminate the hook angle deviation, and provide the basis of the vertical lifting. The embodiment can be applied to stand-alone lifting, double machine hoisting, or main and auxiliary machine hoisting. The device can be suitably installed on mobile cranes.
US09446931B2

An elevator may include: an elevator car; a traction sheave that includes grooves; a hoisting machine configured to drive the traction sheave; and/or hoisting ropes configured to interact with the traction sheave to move the elevator car. An overall contact between the traction sheave and hoisting ropes may exceed a contact angle of 180°. A diameter of the traction sheave may be less than 320 mm. Each hoisting rope may include steel wires twisted together to form strands. The strands of each hoisting rope may be twisted together to form the hoisting rope. A thickness of each hoisting rope may be less than 8 mm. An average of wire thicknesses of the steel wires may be greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 0.4 mm. A strength of the steel wires may be greater than 2,300 N/mm2 and less than 3,000 N/mm2.
US09446924B2

The present invention is directed to a system and method for ensuring a controlled supply source of web material 34 to be dispensed through at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24. The method involves providing at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 to a web material provider 26 or 28 at reduced or no charge, providing exhausting means 14, 16 or 18 to the web material provider 26 or 28 for periodically activating at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 in return for consideration 40, transferring at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 from the web material provider 26 or 28 to an end user 32 at reduced or no charge to the end user 32, wherein the web material provider 26 or 28 provides web material 34 to be dispensed from at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 to the end user 32 in return for consideration and transferring the exhausting means 14, 16 or 18 to the end user 32 for periodically activating at least one dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 in return for consideration 40 from the end user 32 which consideration is built into the consideration the end user gives to the product provider 26 or 28 so that the additional consideration for the activation means is transparent to the end user 32. The system comprises a dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 for dispensing web material 34, a credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18 for storing a predetermined number of credits 36 corresponding to a predetermined amount of web material 34 to be dispensed by a dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24, wherein the credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18 interacts with the dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 to provide credit information to the dispenser 2, 4, 6 or 24 corresponding to at least a portion of the credits 36 on the credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18, a reading device 42 interacting with the credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18 for reading at least a portion of the credit information 36 stored on the credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18 and an activation device 44, in communication with the reading device 42, selectively activating the dispenser in response to credit information received from the credit carrying device 14, 16 or 18.
US09446920B2

A slider moving in a sliding direction between first and second positions shifts a second path-defining member, relative to a first path-defining member, between first and second states. A pair of movable members each disposed on a corresponding side of a slider in a width direction is movable individually in the sliding direction to shift between third and fourth states. The movable members, when both in the third state, position the slider to the first position and, when both in the fourth state, position the slider to the second position. Each movable member supports a corresponding widthwise end of the slider immovably in the sliding direction and movably in the width direction. A support frame supporting the second path-defining member supports a widthwise central portion of the slider movably in the sliding direction and rotatably on a plane parallel to the sliding direction and the width direction.
US09446915B2

A method and apparatus for improving the separating efficiency of a separating device of a pneumatic material conveying system, such as of a waste conveying system, in which the material to be transported, is separated from the transporting air, and/or for preventing blocking of the output aperture for the transporting air of the separating device. The transporting air and the material coming with it are initially brought into a rotating movement in the chamber space of the separating device. The transporting air is deflected in the chamber space of the separating device, and is conducted into the output channel. The flow of transporting air is acted upon in the chamber space of the separating device or in the output channel by bringing about a guiding effect for the transporting air in the opposite direction with respect to its direction of rotation.
US09446911B2

An apparatus for transferring receptacles between a plurality of receptacle-receiving structures disposed at different locations adjacent a transport track. The apparatus includes a receptacle carrier operatively engaged with the transport track and adapted to carry a receptacle and translate along the transport track. The receptacle carrier is further adapted to selectively stop at a transfer station with respect to any of the receptacles-receiving structures. The receptacle carrier includes a receptacle moving mechanism adapted to move a receptacle with respect to the receptacle carrier to move a receptacle into and/or out of the receptacle carrier. The apparatus further includes a transfer position locating system to automatically determine a location of a transfer position of the receptacle carrier with respect to each of the receptacle-receiving structures, thereby enabling the receptacle carrier to transfer a receptacle between the receptacle carrier and the receptacle-receiving structures.
US09446906B2

A spindle conveyor for conveying workpieces, in particular vehicle wheels, having a rail system that includes at least one support rail. Multiple conveyor carriages have a chassis that can be moved on the support rail in a conveying direction and a supporting device for workpieces which is entrained by the chassis. Each workpiece can be mounted on a workpiece spindle which is part of the supporting device which has a pair of workpiece spindles mounted so as to be rotatable as a unit relative to the chassis about a vertical axis of rotation and can be moved at least into a first rotational position and a second rotational position. Also a station for treating workpieces, in particular vehicle wheels, with such a spindle conveyor which allows the workpieces to be conveyed through the station.
US09446903B2

Provided is a conveying apparatus configured that a rope member is extended between pulleys and a work is suspended on a rope member through a hook member. The object of the present invention is to provide the conveying apparatus making the rope member hard to come off the pulleys and including a bend part. The conveying apparatus for conveying the work along a predetermined conveying route includes a plurality of pulleys, a rope member, and a support member. The hook member is flexible, including a hold part which is a hole into which the rope member is inserted, held by the rope member by inserting the rope member into the hold part. The support member is joined to the hook member, and is suspended on the rope member by inserting the rope member into the hold part.
US09446897B2

The invention relates to a bag for transporting and handling liquid or quasi liquid substances, that comprises at least a bottom and four sides and optionally a lid. The bag is provided with a sealed inner envelope including filling and optionally draining members. The bag also includes reinforcement plates integrated in the sides and the lid of the bag and optionally in the bottom of the bag. The bag is further provided with members for lifting same. The bag is particularly characterised in that the four sides of the bag include at the upper portions thereof an overhanging collar (2) oriented towards the inside, the four tails of the collar being connected at their adjacent edges along common ridges (3) oriented as in a pyramid, and in that the lifting members include, on the one hand, lifting straps (7) including a section (7d) sawn on the above-mentioned ridges (3) of the collar so that each strap, also sawn on the vertical ridges of the four corners of the bag (7a), includes a section (7d) oriented back into the bag along said ridge (3) and, on the other hand, a tube or duct (8) connected at least to the straps grouped by pairs.
US09446887B2

Devices and systems for facilitating a user's grip around the neck of a bottle such that the contents of the bottle may be poured quickly and efficiently, with minimal stress on the use's body. Furthermore, such systems and methods may be configured to extend the neck of a bottle such that an attached pour spout is positioned at a desired height. Such a device may comprise a body to couple with the neck of the bottle, the body having an exterior surface configured to facilitate a secure grip therearound.
US09446883B2

A wire mesh safety net for enclosing an overhead device fabricated from a wire strand formed into a bag and having a closed bottom and an open mouth with a line engaging the open mouth for opening and closing the bag around the device and having wire mesh extending and retracting structure for increasing and decreasing the extent of the wire mesh bag.
US09446872B2

A device for opening a piping bag for pre-filling comprises first and second gripping surfaces, adapted for clamping an openable end of the piping bag therebetween, wherein the gripping surfaces, while in clamping engagement with the piping bag, are movable relative to each other in a direction substantially parallel with said gripping surfaces. A method for opening a piping bag for prefilling is also disclosed.
US09446871B2

A trolley for supporting the plate during vertical rolling of the plate is provided. In one embodiment, the trolley can include a support body configured to provide support for the trolley; a plurality of wheels configured to allow the trolley to move across a floor; a lifting arm supported by the support body, wherein the lifting arm is movable about a first position and a second position; a pump handle configured to raise the lifting arm between the first position and the second position; and a plate holder configured to move with the lifting arm and hold the plate in place relative to the trolley.
US09446856B1

A system for improving the maintenance of aircraft where a head-worn computer with a head up display and communication and control capabilities similar to Google Glass, except for increased ability to access RFID tags, is used to aid an avionics technician by providing visually and aurally information for the technician to perform services in less time with increased quality of service.
US09446853B2

The present invention relates to a system for monitoring the wing anti-icing valve, comprising: time record device configured to record the time for opening or closing the anti-icing valve; data acquisition device configured to obtain the time for opening or closing the anti-icing valve recorded by the time record device; and message generation device configured to generate the anti-icing valve performance message according to the time for opening or closing the anti-icing valve obtained by the data acquisition device.
US09446852B2

Aircraft systems and methods for detecting non-compliant pilot action are provided. The method includes analyzing an outbound communication from an aircraft to recognize a word or phrase corresponding to a parameter associated with a prior request for pilot action. If the word or phrase is recognized, the method further includes storing data corresponding to the outbound communication in a data storage device. The stored data and pilot action taken are compared to determine if there is a discrepancy between the pilot action and the stored data. A discrepancy alert is outputted if the discrepancy is determined to exist. A predetermined time interval is timed from the outbound communication. A timeout alert is outputted at a timeout of the predetermined time interval unless the requested pilot action is taken within the predetermined time interval.
US09446846B1

A cargo loading system may comprise a non-transitory memory communicating with a processor, the non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may comprise partitioning a cargo hold into a forward partition and an aft partition, reading a first input from a first joystick and a second input from a second joystick, mapping the first input to a first power drive unit (PDU) in the forward partition, and mapping the second input to a second PDU in the aft partition.
US09446845B2

An aerial vehicle including self-autonomous deployable arms and methods of deploying the vehicle are disclosed. The arms may include patterns located thereon that allow the arms to transition between wrapped, flat, and deployed configurations autonomously without the need for direct intervention by a user.
US09446844B2

Disclosed is a flying object system performing ground traveling, which travels on the ground and flies in the air. The flying object system travels with three or more wheels connected to a main body, generates flying force through wings symmetrically installed at both sides of the main body, and is provided with plural propellers, operated by a control lever and installed on the wings and at least a part of the main body, each of the wings being divided into a plurality of compartments to be folded or be changed in shape by pressure of gas or air. Therefore, the flying object system travels on a road on the ground and takes off and flies in the air in traffic congestion, and flies in the air and lands and travels on a road on the ground if necessary, thus rapidly moving to a destination without the effects of traffic congestion.
US09446836B2

A method for managing a flight control surface system. A leading edge device is moved on a leading edge from an undeployed position to a deployed position. The leading edge device has an outer surface, an inner surface, and a deformable fairing attached to the leading edge device such that the deformable fairing covers at least a portion of the inner surface. The deformable fairing changes from a deformed shape to an original shape when the leading edge device is moved to the deployed position. The leading edge device is then moved from the deployed position to the undeployed position, wherein the deformable fairing changes from the original shape to the deformed shape.
US09446835B2

A wing including a spar, a box shaped sleeve in the spar running substantially the entire length of the wing, a skin affixed to spar and to the corners of the sleeve and shaped to from a leading edge and trailing edge of the wing, a spoiler affixed to an upper surface of the trailing edge of the spar, a vent affixed to the lower surface of the trailing edge of the spar below the spoiler.
US09446831B2

Watercraft automation and aquatic data utilization for aquatic efforts are utilized for fishing and network communication. Current aquatic effort data and prior aquatic effort data are obtained. An update is received for the prior aquatic effort data. The update is sent to a mapping service.
US09446829B1

A transmission is for an outboard marine engine. The transmission comprises a rotatable input shaft that is rotated by an internal combustion engine, a rotatable output shaft that powers a propulsor, a forward gear that causes forward rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, a reverse gear that causes reverse rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, a clutch that is movable between a forward clutch position wherein the forward gear causes the forward rotation of the output shaft and propulsor and a reverse clutch position wherein the reverse gear causes the reverse rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, and an internal ring gear that couples the output shaft to one of the forward gear and the reverse gear.
US09446813B2

A bicycle shifter for pulling and releasing a control cable connected to a gear change mechanism mountable at or near an end of the handlebar that returns to a neutral position after each shift operation to decrease aerodynamic drag encountered by the rider. The shifter includes a takeup member, a control mechanism, a holding mechanism and a return assembly. The takeup member is rotatable about a shift axis for winding and unwinding the control cable thereon in a cable-pull direction and a cable-release direction. The control mechanism is movable in a first direction to rotate the takeup member in the cable-pull direction and in a second direction to rotate the takeup member in the cable-release direction. The holding mechanism retains the takeup member in a selected position and the return assembly returns the control mechanism to the neutral position after each shift operation.
US09446810B2

The present invention generally relates to snowmobiles. More particularly, the present invention relates to the components of a snowmobile such as the frame, running boards and various other assemblies.
US09446806B2

A rubber crawler has: an endless rubber belt that is entrained about plural wheels; plural rubber projections that are disposed on the rubber belt and spaced apart from one another in a crawler circumferential direction, project toward an inner peripheral side of the rubber belt, and come into contact with the wheels to limit the movement of the wheels in a crawler width direction; and a low-hardness rubber portion that configures part of an inner peripheral surface of the rubber belt, is disposed between mutually adjacent rubber projections, and is formed by a rubber having a lower hardness than the rubber projections.
US09446800B2

There is provided in a preferred embodiment a vehicle cross-support member for positioning in a generally transverse orientation to a length of a vehicle, the cross-support member including a jointed portion extending from a first end to a second end, wherein the jointed portion includes a first elongated member and a second elongated member mechanically coupled to the first elongated member. The first elongated member includes an axially open socket end portion, and the second elongated member includes a mating end portion sized for fitted placement within the socket end portion in frictional engagement therewith in a mechanically coupled position.
US09446799B2

The invention relates to a support (2, 3) used as a vehicle component and comprising a longitudinal extension which corresponds to a multiple of the transverse extension thereof. Said support (2, 3) comprises a reinforced transverse profile section. For this purpose, the support (2, 3) comprises at least one reinforced element (7, 8) which follows the longitudinal extension of the support (2, 3), is connected to the support in a positive and material fit manner and in a tension and shear-resistant manner, with the insertion of a separation layer (12) between the longitudinal extension of the support (2, 3).
US09446794B2

First bracket including first upper wall wherein first leg extending downward from, first flange extending from lower end of first leg; second bracket including second upper wall overlapped on first upper wall, second leg extending downward from second upper wall, and second flange extending from lower end of second leg. First and second flanges are fixed to vehicle body member, and upper portion of fender panel is connected to second upper wall. Second leg includes structure that deforms when impact load is input from fender panel to second upper wall to cause second upper wall together with fender panel to be displaced horizontally. Fender panel support structure includes connector coupling first and second upper walls together with certain clamping force that when certain impact load is input from fender panel to second upper wall, second upper wall is displaced against clamping force until it is separated from first upper wall.
US09446790B2

An electric power steering system includes: an electric motor that generates assist torque; an auxiliary power supply device including a capacitor connected to a main power supply and discharging electric power to the electric motor; and a control device that controls the auxiliary power supply device. There is a plurality of modes of connection between the main power supply and the auxiliary power supply device. The control device switches the mode of connection between the main power supply and the auxiliary power supply device, depending on the situation.
US09446776B2

An inspection system for use with a rail vehicle includes a database containing vehicle route data and at least one location of track to be inspected. The database may be accessed by rail vehicles with on-board inspection systems so that they may inspect the location of track to be inspected.
US09446768B2

Vehicle operating systems are autonomously operated. A transient in an upcoming path of the vehicle is determined from a comparison of vehicle path data and vehicle status data to a threshold of mechanism first operating system. Operational parameters for one of first and second operating systems are selected according to the comparison. The selected operational parameters are applied to the operation of the one of the first and second operating systems.
US09446765B2

Systems and methods use cameras to provide autonomous navigation features. In one implementation, a system includes at least one image capture device configured to acquire at least one image of an area forward of the vehicle. The area includes a plurality of traffic lamp fixtures each including at least one traffic light. The system further includes at least one processing device configured to use at least one indicator of vehicle position, as determined from the at least one acquired image, to determine a relevance to the vehicle of each of the plurality of traffic lamp fixtures. The at least one processing device may determine, based on the at least one acquired image, a status of a traffic light included in at least one traffic lamp fixture determined to be relevant to the vehicle, and cause a system response based on the determined status.
US09446749B2

The brake ECU applies the target braking force by controlling the hydraulic pressure braking force generating device and the regeneration braking force generating device and the brake ECU further controls the advance speed of the output piston so that a drawn-into of a brake operating member can be prevented upon supplying the wheel cylinders from the master cylinder with the brake fluid by advancing the output piston thereby to improve the brake operating feeling of the brake operating member by preventing the brake operating member from being drawn into.
US09446747B2

A brake controller is disclosed for a towed vehicle braking system. The controller is adapted to be mounted in a towing or a towed vehicle having a longitudinal axis for generating a braking control signal to the towed vehicle braking system. The controller comprises an inertial sensor including plural sensor axes adapted to be mounted in an undefined orientation relative to the longitudinal axis for generating sensor data associated with each sensor axis. The controller also comprises a memory device for storing the sensor data associated with each sensor axis and a processor for processing the sensor data with the braking control signal to evaluate orientation of the inertial sensor relative to the longitudinal axis. In particular the brake controller is adapted to control activation of the towed vehicle braking system in a manner that is relatively insensitive to acceleration of the vehicle in a lateral direction and to orientation of the inertial sensor without prescribing a mounting orientation of the brake controller relative to the towing or towed vehicle. A method of operating a brake controller for a towed vehicle braking system is also disclosed.
US09446736B2

A pillar garnish includes a body, a sliding plate, a mounting base, and a bridging portion. The body includes a decorative surface facing an inner side of a compartment of a vehicle and a back surface opposite from the decorative surface. The body extends in an extending direction of a pillar of the vehicle and mounted to the pillar with space between the back surface thereof and the pillar. The sliding plate is slidable along the back surface. The mounting base on the back surface is for mounting the body to the pillar. The bridging portion on the body is for retaining space in which the sliding plate is inserted between the back surface and the mounting base and for holding the mounting base.
US09446727B2

A bracket is provided that may be welded to the interior surface of a vehicle fascia. The bracket has a flange and a mounting boss. The flange is slotted to form flexible fingers that conform to the interior surface of the fascia. The fingers are welded to the fascia to attach the bracket to the interior surface of the fascia. A vehicle component, such as an impact sensor, is attached to the mounting boss to secure it to the fascia.
US09446720B1

An adjustable bracket for mounting an electronic media device (EMD) in a vehicle includes a rigid housing mountable to an instrument panel substrate. A linear rail is fixedly attached to the housing. A lower arm is pivotally connected to the housing and rotatable between a lower arm stowed position with the lower arm parallel to the rail and a lower arm extended position with the lower arm perpendicular to the rail. An upper arm assembly is adjustably connected to the rail and has a hinged upper arm rotatable between an upper arm stowed position with the upper arm parallel to the rail and an upper arm extended position with the upper arm perpendicular to the rail. In the respective extended positions, the lower arm and the upper arm are to engage and retain the EMD with an EMD display visible to an occupant of the vehicle during vehicle operation.
US09446719B2

A holder for mobile device includes a holding structure and a mounting structure. The holding structure includes a holding member and a supporting member coupled to the holding member. The holding member is configured to hold the mobile device. The mounting structure includes a mounting structure, a latching assembly and a sliding support coupled to the latching assembly. The mounting structure defines a compartment. The sliding support is slidably engaged with in the compartment and transitionable between: an enclosed configuration in which the sliding support is received in the compartment to allow the latching assembly to be received in the compartment; and an exposed configuration in which the sliding support and the latching assembly are exposed to outside of the compartment to allow the latching assembly to detachably latch with the supporting member.
US09446712B2

A motor vehicle has at least one electronic rearview mirror, particularly an exterior and/or side mirror, that has an indicator apparatus, particularly a display, for images recorded by an exterior camera that is provided particularly outside the motor vehicle. The indicator apparatus is in the form of a touchscreen, particularly one with multitouch capability.
US09446701B2

A mounting device includes a slope including: a main plate for mounting a wheelchair; a vehicle-side plate provided between a vehicle and an edge of the main plate and having at least one plate; and a ground to be contacted-side plate provided between a surface of ground to be contacted and the other edge of the main plate and having at least one plate. The main plate can be raised and lowered between low and high positions when the ground to be contacted-side plate is in contact with the ground. The mounting device is also provided with: an electric winch that can tow the wheelchair along the slope; a slope driving mechanism that drives the main plate; and a control unit that, on the basis of the drive state of one of the slope driving mechanism and the electric winch, controls the drive state of the other.
US09446699B2

Disclosed is a footrest for an operating room on which the operator can rest his foot in order to balance his body when he is operating in the operating room, or working on a slope, etc. The footrest for a construction machine operating room according to the present invention includes: a footrest support having one end pivotably attached to a front pillar member of the operating room by means of a hinge pin; a fixing grip arranged on the pillar member below the hinge pin so as to detachably fix the footrest support; and a fixing pin fastened to a bracket arranged at the pillar member to hold the footrest, the fixing pin being attached to the bracket so as to be moved forward and backward, so that the fixing pin may move forward to press the upper surface of the footrest support when pivoting the footrest support horizontally.
US09446696B2

Provided is a vehicle seat that improves a sitting feeling while having a high followability with respect to an occupant sitting on the seat. A seat cushion of a vehicle seat includes right and left side frames, a pan frame connecting the front portions of the side frames to each other, and an occupant support member connecting the side frames to each other at the rear side of the pan frame. The front end of the occupant support member inclined backward is disposed higher at the upper position than the rear end of the pan frame. A thigh support portion at the center of the pan frame extends toward the occupant support member more than both right and left ends.
US09446686B2

A vehicle seating assembly includes a front seat and a rear seat, each having a backrest and a squab. The front and rear seats are arranged in a staggered duplex overlapping relationship. A portion of a front edge of the rear seat squab overlaps a portion of a rear edge of the front seat squab. An inboard edge of the rear seat squab overlaps a portion of an inboard edge of the front seat squab. A longitudinal distance measured from a front edge of the front seat squab to a rear edge of the rear seat squab is less than the sum of the longitudinal lengths of the front and rear seat squabs. A transverse distance measured from an outboard edge of the front seat squab to an outboard edge of the rear seat squab is less than the sum of the widths of the front and rear seat squabs.
US09446683B2

A system and method for controlling torque of an engine of a motor vehicle based on rotational velocity and depression of an acceleration pedal. The system for controlling torque of an engine helps to propel a motor vehicle and includes: sensors configured to measure a rotational velocity and depression of an acceleration pedal, a mechanism for determining a torque setpoint capable of determining a torque setpoint that increases with the rotational velocity and starts with a reference torque for a reference rotational velocity, and the mechanism for determining being connected to an output of the electric engine.
US09446676B2

A charging post at a charging station for charging an electric vehicle can be lowered into the ground by a lifting device such that it does not become a physical obstacle or optically impair the environment and is not damaged by external influences.
US09446674B2

Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for communicating with a charging system comprising a plurality of charging stations configured to charge an electric vehicle. At least one first signal is transmitted to the charging system via a first communication link while the electric vehicle is a first distance from at least one charging station of the plurality of charging stations. The at least one first signal is indicative of a vehicle identifier of the electric vehicle. At least one second signal is received from the at least one charging station of the plurality of charging stations via a second communication link while the electric vehicle is a second distance from the at least one charging station, the second distance less than the first distance. The at least one second signal is indicative of a charging station identifier of the at least one charging station.
US09446673B2

A lock mechanism, when a restricting member is being moved to a predetermined position which corresponds to one of a locked state or an unlocked state, imparts a torque, using a motor, to move the restricting member from an inner-side position near the predetermined position to the predetermined position using a toggle spring disposed between the restricting member and a vehicle body side.
US09446665B2

A display and operator control system for a motor vehicle includes: an instrument cluster configured to display operating parameters of the motor vehicle, the instrument cluster having a plurality of displays adhesively bonded under a common covering pane, the plurality of displays including: (i) a first display configured to display the speed of the motor vehicle, and (ii) a second display embodied as a touchscreen for representing and activating operator control functions; and an operator control system configured to control devices of the motor vehicle.
US09446664B2

A PTO transmission system in a vehicle for transmitting power to a PTO shaft driving an implement comprises a planetary drive unit having first and second input and output coupled to the PTO shaft. The first and second inputs are coupled to an output shaft of the vehicle engine and to an output shaft of a drive motor, respectively. A control system controls the transfer of power from a power source to the drive motor. The power source is a variable power generating source driven by the PTO shaft. The drive motor is configured and adapted to decrease or increase the rotational speed of the output of the planetary drive unit on an increase or decrease of the power transferred to it, respectively.
US09446660B2

A vehicle grill shutter includes an actuator, a flap member which is configured to rotate between a closed position and an open position by the actuator, and an attachment position regulation mechanism which connects the actuator and the flap member, and is configured such that the flap member is connected to the actuator only when the flap member is positioned at a regular position with respect to the actuator.
US09446658B2

An agricultural tractor comprises an engine and a cooling package supported in front of a cab. The cooling package comprises a radiator and fan disposed between the engine and cab, the radiator having a major surface which is aligned longitudinally so that an airflow forced through the radiator by the fan is generally transverse with respect to the tractor's forward direction of travel. The orientation of the radiator provides for a narrower front end installation which improves the driver's field of view and relaxes limitations on steering angles and cooling package size.
US09446657B2

A vehicle driving device that includes a rotary electrical machine that functions as a driving force source of a wheel along with an internal combustion engine; a transmission device that is disposed side by side with respect to the rotary electrical machine in an axial direction, the axial direction being a direction in which a rotation axis center of the rotary electrical machine extends; a case including a first case section that accommodates the rotary electrical machine and a second case section that accommodates the transmission device; an inverter device that controls the rotary electrical machine; and a wiring member that connects the rotary electrical machine and the inverter device.
US09446653B2

An adjustable wheel suspension for the wheels of an axle of a motor vehicle is disclosed, wherein each wheel is guided by means of wheel guide elements and each wheel is operatively connected to an adjustable torsion bar, the torsion bars associated with the respective wheels being partially aligned with each other and each torsion bar being associated with an adjusting device that can be regulated and/or controlled by a controller for adjustment and each torsion bar being mounted on an auxiliary frame via its adjusting device and the controller. The adjusting devices and the adjusting mechanism are mounted in a common housing, which can be mounted on the auxiliary frame as an integral structural component.
US09446634B2

A tire pressure sensor for motor vehicles includes a housing accommodating an integrated circuit (sensor IC), wherein the sensor IC has a microcontroller and a pressure sensor. The microcontroller, transfers pressure measurement values acquired by the pressure sensor to a receiver by wireless communication. The sensor IC has an internal memory, in which executable instructions and data can be stored, which, when executed, result in the acquisition and transference of the pressure measurement data. The sensor IC is coupled to an auxiliary memory module disposed in the housing. Numerous different data packets, with respective instructions or data, are stored in the memory module which can be activated via the microcontroller, in order to copy a selected data packet into the internal memory. The microcontroller controls the power supply for the auxiliary memory module such that the auxiliary memory can be switched over to an energy saving mode.
US09446628B2

A tire for a motorized two-wheeled vehicle comprising a reinforcing structure of the carcass type, made up of reinforcing elements, anchored on each side of the tire to a bead the base of which is intended to be mounted on a rim seat, each bead being extended radially outwards by a sidewall, the sidewalls radially towards the outside joining to a tread comprising incisions. The length of the incisions is less than 1.2 times the width of the area of the contact patch and at least one incision has at least one end which ends in a cut in the tread the width of which is greater than 2.5 mm and the length of which is between 2.5 and 10 mm.
US09446626B2

A vehicle wheel hub assembly comprising an axle element that is rotationally stationary about an axial axis, and a hub shell element rotatable about the axle element, including a first end portion and a second end portion axially spaced from said first end portion. The axle element includes a control shaft that is axially displaceable relative to the hub shell element between an axially extended position and an axially retracted position. The control shaft includes an engagement end and a control end. In the extended position, the engagement end is axially distal from the second end portion and, in the retracted position, the engagement end is axially proximal to the second end portion relative to said extended orientation. Including a releasable axial retaining means to control the axial movement of the control shaft relative to the hub shell.
US09446607B2

A printer including a print head, a transport belt, and a spacer. The print head may include a plurality of jets configured to eject ink. The transport belt may be positioned below the print head. The spacer may be positioned above the transport belt. The spacer may include a first surface, and a distance between a portion of the first surface and the transport belt may decrease moving in the direction that the transport belt moves.
US09446603B2

A flexible manufacturing system for an article of footwear includes a printing system for printing graphics onto the footwear. The flexible manufacturing system also includes a projection system for aligning a projected graphic with a predetermined portion of the article prior to printing the graphic to the article. The graphic can include a masked portion that corresponds to a design element on the article.
US09446602B2

A method and equipment to form a digital image on a surface by applying a powder layer including color pigments on the surfaces, bonding a part of the powder and removing the non-bonded powder from the surface.
US09446600B2

Novel methods for calibrating a thermal printer by adjusting a look up table comprising the steps of receiving a test pattern to be printed on a receiver medium, printing the test pattern on the receiver medium, using a sensor to measure a depletion amount of donor material, and using a processor to adjust the lookup table based on the measured depletion amount are disclosed.
US09446593B2

A flow-path member has a flow path to supply liquid to each head main body having nozzle openings through which liquid is ejected. The flow path of the flow-path member includes a mainstream portion and a plurality of tributary portions which branch off from the mainstream portion. Each of the plurality of tributary portions includes a vertical flow path which is connected, on an outlet port side, to a manifold portion of the head main body. Furthermore, in the vertical flow path, the cross-sectional area changes in the middle thereof. In addition, in the respective vertical flow paths, positions at which the cross-sectional areas change are different from each other.
US09446588B2

A liquid ejecting head includes a piezoelectric element including a first electrode, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric layer between the first and the second electrodes. The piezoelectric layer includes a buffer layer disposed on the first electrode and containing Bi and an element selected from Al, Si, Cr, and Mn and a complex oxide layer disposed on the buffer layer and having a perovskite structure containing Bi, Fe, Ba, and Ti.
US09446576B2

An adhesive agent comprising a condensation resin having a structural unit obtained by polycondensing a polymerizable monomer containing a monomer (A) having 2 or more carboxyl groups and a monomer (B) having 2 or more amino groups, and meeting at least one of the following (1) and (2), and the following (3): (1) at least one selected from the group consisting of the monomer (A), an anhydride of the monomer (A). and the monomer (B) is liquid at 25° C.; (2) the condensation resin has a polyoxyalkanediyl group; and (3) the monomer (A) contains an isophthalic acid.
US09446569B2

A window bonding apparatus is provided. The window bonding apparatus includes a resilient display panel supporter supporting a flexible display panel thereon, a holding member supporting and squeezing inwardly opposed ends of the display panel supporter so as to attain a desired degree of curvature, a first jig disposed under the display panel supporter and having a rigid first face with which the bottom face of the display panel supporter comes into contact when pressed from above, and a second jig disposed above the display panel supporter and having a second face to which the window is releaseably attached, the second jig being movable toward the display panel, wherein the second jig is moved to the first jig to attach the window to the display panel in a manner which progressively increases contact area between the window and the display panel.
US09446542B2

A molding system includes a plurality of injection heads each configured to inject molten polymer into a mold cavity. Each injection head has an outer body, a piston disposed within the outer body and defining a polymer chamber on a first side of the piston and a pressure chamber on an opposite second side of the piston. The piston moves from a retracted position to an extended position responsive to pressurization of the pressure chamber. Molten polymer is injected from the polymer chamber into the mold cavity as the piston moves from the retracted position to the extended position. Such systems may be used to mold relatively large articles of manufacture.
US09446537B1

Methods and apparatuses for cutting thin film solar cells are provided. According to various implementations, the methods involve cutting a substrate having thin film solar cell materials deposited thereon by inducing a tear along the cutting line. Simultaneously with the tearing, the torn edges may be plastically deformed to produce a desired torn edge cross-sectional profile. Such a fracture may be induced by clamping regions of the substrate while simultaneously displacing the clamped regions relative to each other through the thickness of the substrate as the substrate is fed through the clamps providing the clamping. Apparatuses for cutting are also provided. According to various implementations, the apparatus may have cutter rollers and support rollers configured with an adjustable radial overlap.
US09446536B2

A safety component is provided for a power saw that includes a rear guard pivotably mounted to the saw assembly. The rear guard is generally U-shaped to straddle the cutting blade in a deployed position. The rear guard includes arms that contact the workpiece during the cutting operation so that as the saw blade moves downward to perform the cut the rear guard pivots upward while maintaining protection of the rear portion of the saw blade.
US09446535B2

An articulating band saw apparatus provides a frame that includes a vertically extending section having upper and lower end portions. An elevator moves between the upper and lower end portions of the frame. A first hydraulic actuator is supported on the elevator for movement therewith. A first arm provides arm end portions, the first arm supported by the first hydraulic actuator. An end of the first arm supporting a second hydraulic actuator that is spaced away from the first hydraulic actuator. The second hydraulic actuator supports a second arm. An endless band type saw is mounted on the free end of the second arm generally opposite the second actuator. The band saw is movable by articulation of the first and second actuators and resulting movement of the first and second arms. In one embodiment, the band saw is a diamond wire saw.
US09446529B2

Technical problem: a low sawing precision of tubular bodies of an apparatus comprising a transverse sawing station (30), in particular said apparatus equipped with a chip-forming saw means (35), a support (11′,11″) arranged to maintain the tubular bodies (1) in rotation during the sawing step, and also comprising a carriage means (50) for carrying the tubular body (1) along the direction of its own longitudinal axis (16) towards the sawing station (30), in particular preserving the possibility of removing chips produced during the sawing from the inside of the tubular body (1), such low sawing precision, in terms of length and smoothness of the end of the portions depending upon possible small longitudinal translation movements of the tubular body (1) along the support (11′,11″).Solution: providing a carriage means (50) that comprises a holding means (14) for longitudinally holding the tubular body (1), the holding means (14) comprising a rotatable element (71) arranged to relatively rollingly engage with a surface portion (18) of the tubular body (1), in particular the rotatable element (71) is arranged to engage by rolling and pressing onto an inner surface portion (18) of said tubular body (1) proximate to said first end (5′) and radially corresponding to a surface portion of the tubular body (1) to contact a counter-support element (72) and radially corresponding to a surface portion of said tubular body (1) that is in contact with a counter-support element (72).
US09446528B1

A ring includes a ring body having a shoulder, a neck extending from the shoulder, and a cap extending from the neck and spaced apart from the shoulder, thereby defining a gap between the cap and the shoulder. A blade is mounted in both the cap and neck, and the blade has a curved edge extending from the head to the shoulder and into the gap.
US09446517B2

A robotic system has arms, arm processors, arm supervisor, and system supervisor. Each arm includes nodes for controlling motors in the arm. Each node, including each arm processor, detects faults affecting the node, places the node into a safe state upon detecting a fault, propagates a fault notification, diagnoses the fault and classifies it, and sends an error message to the supervisor processor. The arm supervisor may detect faults affecting an arm and also perform fault reaction activities. The system supervisor handles the fault as either a system or local fault depending upon its class. For system faults, a fault notification is sent to the arm processors of non-failed arms so that the non-failed arms are placed in the safe state. For local faults, a degraded operation option is provided to a user and if the fault is classified as recoverable, a recovery option is provided to the user.
US09446516B2

A method for designating and/or controlling a manipulator process for a manipulator configuration having at least one manipulator, in particular, an industrial robot, wherein the manipulator process includes a given oriented manipulator path for the manipulator configuration. The method includes designating or executing at least one action by the manipulator configuration, in particular, differently, in response to a reverse movement running counter to the oriented manipulator path, and/or a return movement running in the same direction as the oriented manipulator path.
US09446497B2

A multilayer chemical mechanical polishing pad is provided, having: a polishing layer having a polishing surface, a counterbore opening, a polishing layer interfacial region parallel to the polishing surface; a porous subpad layer having a bottom surface and a porous subpad layer interfacial region parallel to the bottom surface; and, a broad spectrum, endpoint detection window block comprising, comprises an olefin copolymer; wherein the window block exhibits a uniform chemical composition across its thickness; wherein the polishing layer interfacial region and the porous subpad layer interfacial region form a coextensive region; wherein the multilayer chemical mechanical polishing pad has a through opening that extends from the polishing surface to the bottom surface of the porous subpad layer; wherein the counterbore opening opens on the polishing surface, enlarges the through opening and forms a ledge; and, wherein the window block is disposed within the counterbore opening.
US09446494B2

A device for grinding and/or polishing of, in particular, precision-optical spherical lens surfaces has a machine frame, a tool spindle for rotational drive of a tool about a tool axis of rotation and a workpiece spindle for rotational drive of a workpiece about a workpiece axis of rotation. The tool spindle and workpiece spindle are capable of axial relative adjustment in first and second directions extending perpendicularly to one another and in addition pivotable about a pivot axis in a pivot plane relative to one another. Equipment for cross-grinding adjustment is provided, which has an adjusting mechanism to position the workpiece spindle in a third direction extending perpendicularly to the first and second directions. A clamping mechanism activatable independently of the adjusting mechanism serves the purpose of fixing the workpiece spindle, once positioned, with respect to the machine frame.
US09446492B2

A processing apparatus includes two feed drums, each having an outer periphery formed with a spirally extending threaded guide surface and adapted to be driven to rotate, disposed so as to extend parallel to each other, and the feed drums are used to pass a roller through between the feed drums by the rotation thereof while the roller is caused to rollingly contact the mutually opposed threaded guide surface, and also includes a grinding stone for processing a crowned portion of the roller passing thorough between the feed drums. The threaded guide surface of the feed drums is divided into two axially juxtaposed divided threaded surface areas so that an outer peripheral surface of the roller can be supported at two anteroposterior locations.
US09446488B2

Blind inserts for use with sandwich panels and methods for manufacturing the same. A blind insert can include a nut arranged in an insert. The insert can include a cavity at an end of the nut. When a screw is screwed into the nut, the screw can enter the cavity and dig into the insert. The interference between the insert and the screw can provide friction that prevents the screw from loosening in a vibrating environment. The blind insert can be made by placing a mandrel into the nut. The mandrel includes a nose that extends past the end of the nut. When the insert is molded around the nut, the mandrel prevents mold material from entering a threaded aperture of the nut and forms the cavity in the insert. The blind insert can also be made by placing a cap that defines the cavity on the end of the nut. The insert can be molded around the cap and the nut.
US09446487B2

A heat sink, and cooled electronic structure and cooled electronics apparatus utilizing the heat sink are provided. The heat sink is fabricated of a thermally conductive structure which includes one or more coolant-carrying channels coupled to facilitate the flow of coolant through the coolant-carrying channel(s). The heat sink further includes a membrane associated with the coolant-carrying channel(s). The membrane includes at least one vapor-permeable region, which overlies a portion of the coolant-carrying channel(s) and facilitates removal of vapor from the coolant-carrying channel(s), and at least one orifice coupled to inject coolant onto at least one surface of the coolant-carrying channel(s) intermediate opposite ends of the channel(s).
US09446486B2

A heat exchanger is provided for a motor vehicle air-conditioning system with an inner tube and with an outer tube, which at least in regions encloses the inner tube in the region of a line portion subject to forming an intermediate space in tube longitudinal direction through which a heat exchanger medium can flow. The intermediate space at least in portions is subdivided into at least three flow channels with at least three webs running in tube longitudinal direction, which open into a distribution or manifold space formed through radial expansion of the outer tube, in which the webs compared with the line portion have a smaller extension in radial direction.
US09446477B2

A bonding head 6 is provided with a tool base 8 in a housing 6A and a laser for transmitting laser beam L is configured such that the laser beam L transmitted through this tool base 8 can heat an electronic component 3 and bond the same to a substrate 2. A surface of a heat-radiating member 15 is provided in contact with a surface of the tool base 8 on which the laser beam L impinges. This heat-radiating member 15 has a light transmittance for transmitting the laser beam L and also has a thermal conductivity higher than the thermal conductivity of the tool base 8. The tool base 8 is heated during bonding treatment, but heat transmitted to the tool base 8 rapidly escapes to the heat-radiating member 15 having a higher thermal conductivity.
US09446476B2

Backing arrangement for supporting a welded seam extending on a curved path which is formed between two curved work pieces by friction stir welding with a welding tool separate from the backing arrangement, which backing arrangement comprises a backing body which is intended to bear upon the work pieces opposite said welding tool to assume at least a part of the compression force that is exerted by the welding tool against the work pieces to keep the material plasticized during the welding operation in the area of the welded seam The backing body is equipped with a shoulder which exhibits a bottom surface turned outward, via which the backing body is equipped to bear on the work pieces. A driving mechanism is situated to rotate and/or oscillate the shoulder so that the bottom surface of the shoulder can thereby be made to carry out a rotating and/or oscillating motion against the work pieces for creating fictional heat in them.
US09446470B2

A magnetically impelled arc butt (MIAB) welding device heats facing ends of a pair of wellbore tubulars and a force application device compressively engages the facing ends to form a welded joint. The device may be positioned on the rig floor. The MIAB welding device may include a device configured to hold facing ends of the two wellbore tubulars at a specified distance away from one another, a high frequency arc ignition device configured to generate an arc between the facing ends and to revolve the arc around the circumference of the facing ends, and a magnetic field generator configured to superimpose a magnetic field at the facing ends. The MIAB welding device may be configured to melt at least a surface of the facing ends.
US09446469B2

An installation for welding top plugs on to nuclear fuel rods comprising a device for axially holding the rod and setting it in rotation and a weld chamber, where the device comprises a gripper and structure to close the gripper on the rod, where the structure comprise a pusher to apply an axial force on to the gripper, a linear actuator of axis parallel to the lengthways axis of the device, a yoke translationally secured to the pusher, and able to rotate freely around a fixed axis orthogonal to the lengthways axis which is not secant with the latter, where the yoke is connected and able to pivot relative to the linear actuator around a fixed axis parallel to the orthogonal axis such that the linear actuator causes the yoke to rotate around the first orthogonal axis and causes the pusher to slide, closing the gripper on the rod.
US09446461B2

A cutter for cutting a formed gutter discharged from a seamless gutter machine. The cutter may be positioned to cut a back wall of a formed gutter below a front upper edge of a front wall of the gutter. In turn, a gutter may be mounted to a building (e.g., a fascia board thereof) to achieve additional lift, thereby providing increased pitch over a given length of gutter while maintaining overlap between a gutter apron and a back upper edge of the back wall of the formed gutter.
US09446457B2

A drill main body of an indexable drill is disposed first and second spiral flutes on a column-shaped outer circumferential surface with an inner blade tip cutting a hole center side mounted on a tip portion of the first spiral flute and an outer blade tip cutting a hole outer circumferential side mounted on a tip portion of the second spiral flute and the drill main body discharges chips through the first spiral flute and the second spiral flute toward a shank while hole machining is performed with the inner blade tip and the outer blade tip. The drill is a deep hole machining drill having a length of the first spiral flute and the second spiral flute equal to or greater than 4D relative to a drill diameter D that is an outer diameter of the outer blade tip.
US09446455B2

A drilling apparatus for drilling from inside a conduit having at least one service entrance is described. The drilling apparatus comprises a robot; an elongated flexible appliance having a first end and a second end, the elongated flexible appliance connected to the robot; a rotatable drill head connected to the second end of the elongated flexible appliance; the elongated flexible appliance driven by the robot to extend the rotatable drill head inside the service entrance by at least 8 cm and to retract the rotatable drill head out of the at least one service entrance. The apparatus further comprises means to bend the elongated flexible appliance to orient the drill head connected thereto perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the conduit.
US09446454B2

A segmented orbital drill includes a segmented portion with a semi-finishing cutting portion and a plurality of finishing cutting portions. The semi-finishing cutting portion and finishing cutting portions are separated by grooves formed by a front wall and a rear wall. The segmented portion allows for a fresh cutting edge (i.e., rear wall of the groove) to be revealed as the orbital drill wears in the axial direction. The segmented portion also causes less contact with the workpiece, which reduces power consumption and minimizes deflection of the orbital drill. The segmented orbital drill also includes an optional pilot at one end of the drill, and a clearance neck portion between a shank and the segmented portion. A method of machining a workpiece using the segmented orbital drill is also disclosed.
US09446453B2

A drive center constituting a machine tool accessory being used on a lathe for holding workpieces that are mounted between the headstock and the tailstock (between centers). The drive center includes a head having an adjustable spring-loaded center point and a number of removable, adjustable spurs that are capable of penetrating a workpiece sufficiently to provide torque for the turning process. The head is attached to a shank with a standard taper to fit the spindle of a lathe. A cylindrical guard is supported coaxially by the external surface of the head so that the guard radially encircles the head and the spurs but is able to slide axially and rotationally with respect to the head. A spring causes the guard to extend axially beyond the spurs except when pushed back by the workpiece.
US09446452B2

There are provided a workpiece and a gripping mechanism capable of shortening the handling time not involved in machining, shortening the overall time required for producing a plurality of finished members, accurately positioning the workpiece even if there is an axial dimension error, lessening waste of a material and reducing the burden of disposal of discharged chips. The workpiece has a shape in which plural raw blanks that become products by material removal are integrally molded. The gripping mechanism comprises a free moving means that relatively and freely moves a gripper and the workpiece, and a positioning means for defining the axial gripping position of the gripper and the workpiece.
US09446449B2

The invention relates to a method for reprofiling wheelsets (1) rotatably mounted in axle bearing housings (6) on rail vehicles on underfloor wheelset lathes (12; 14) equipped with machining tools, a machine control for the machining tools, drive rollers (15), axial guide rollers (17), measuring rollers (13) as well as clamping devices (21; 22) to engage the axle bearing housings (6). The method is characterised in that the wheelset (1) is lifted off the rail using the drive rollers (15), weighing it in the process, the axle bearing housings (6) are fixed between the drive rollers (15) and the clamping devices (21; 22), an axial guide roller (17) is adjusted to touch the inner side (16) of each of the two wheels (3; 4) of the wheelset (1) and fixed in this position, an additional force (20) is applied to the drive rollers (15), that the actual diameter (8) and the wear profile of each wheel (3; 4) is determined by means of a measuring roller (13), that the smaller actual diameter is determined based on the measurement results and, it having been modified by a specified machining allowance, entered as the nominal diameter (11) into the machine control for the machining tools.
US09446447B2

A method and device for producing motor vehicle chassis parts is provided. The motor vehicle chassis parts can be subjected to tensile stress, compressive stress and torsion and the mechanical strength of the motor vehicle chassis parts can be adjusted over the respective cross-section. The motor vehicle chassis parts have high ductility and temperature stability and are made of an AlSiZnMg alloy by permanent mould casting.
US09446436B2

A selective removal of metal and its anion species that are detrimental to subsequent hydrothermal hydrocatalytic conversion from the biomass feed in a continuous or semi-continuous manner prior to carrying out catalytic hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis/hydrodeoxygenation of the biomass that does not reduce the effectiveness of the hydrothermal hydrocatalytic treatment while minimizing the amount of water used in the process is provided.
US09446425B2

The device (110) for dispensing a fluid composition includes: a container (30) containing a heterogeneous mixture (14); a member (34) for dispensing the fluid composition; a delivery element (32) including: a fluid guide conduit (42) defining an axis (A-A′) for the flow of fluid through a central passage (50); a filtration member (44) configured so that the heterogeneous mixture (14) inserted into the guide conduit (42) passes through the filtration member (44); the filtration member (44) including at least one openwork filtration wall (56) delimiting a plurality of filtration openings (58); the heterogeneous mixture (14) including particles (20) in suspension, the filtration openings (58) having a transverse expanse smaller than the mean diameter of the particles (20) in suspension; and the particles (20) in suspension being formed by beads.
US09446422B2

An adhesive dispensing module and method of spraying a plurality of droplets of a liquid adhesive includes a dispenser assembly and a nozzle. The nozzle includes a nozzle body, a dispersion baffle, and at least one channel. The nozzle body includes a nozzle outlet for discharging a liquid adhesive and at least partially defines a gas inlet, a gas outlet, and a gas passage extending therebetween. The dispersion baffle is positioned within the gas passage to define a dispersion chamber and a consolidation chamber. The at least one channel extends through the dispersion baffle to fluidly connect the dispersion chamber to the consolidation chamber to restrict the pressurized gas received within the dispersion chamber and distribute the pressurized gas into the consolidation chamber according to a predetermined flow distribution. Thereby, the pressurized gas sprays a plurality of droplets of the liquid adhesive according to a predetermined pattern.
US09446416B2

The invention provides methods and compositions for improving a froth flotation type separation. The method uses a thickener to improve the effectiveness of an emulsifier. The improvement allows for low dosages of emulsifier to work well so the emulsifier does not cancel out the effectiveness of other additives in the slurry such as collectors, frothing agents, regulators, depressors, deactivators, and/or activators.
US09446399B2

One exemplary embodiment can be a process for regenerating catalyst in a fluid catalytic cracking unit. Generally, the process includes providing a feed to a riser of a reaction vessel, and providing a stream to a distributor positioned within a void proximate to an inlet receiving unregenerated catalyst in a regenerator. The feed can include at least one of a gas oil, a vacuum gas oil, an atmospheric gas oil, a coker gas oil, a hydrotreated gas oil, a hydrocracker unconverted oil, and an atmospheric residue.
US09446398B2

A stripping vessel for removing hydrocarbons from a catalyst and a process for removing hydrocarbons from a catalyst. In an FCC unit, the stripping vessel includes first and second stripping sections. The first stripping section includes at least one grid having a plurality of interesting members and openings therebetween. The second stripping section includes structured packing such as a plurality of ribbons. The one or more grids are spaced from the structured packing, and from each other, so as to minimize the accumulation of catalyst within the stripping vessel, preferably between about 0.91 m (3 ft) to about 1.5 m (5 ft).
US09446392B2

The invention relates to a method for preparing particles comprising a material capable of catalyzing the reduction of oxygen or the oxidation of hydrogen, said particles being functionalized by polymers comprising at least one repeating unit bearing at least one proton-conducting group, and said particles being covalently bonded to a carbon material, said method comprising: a step a) of contacting particles, comprising a material capable of catalyzing the reduction of oxygen or the oxidation of hydrogen, with a polymer comprising at least one repeating unit bearing at least one proton-conducting group and comprising at least one portion corresponding to an organic radical of a compound that is an initiator for ATRP polymerization, said radical comprising at least one group capable of being grafted onto the surface of said particles, whereby particles, onto which polymers comprising at least one repeating unit bearing at least one proton-conducting group are grafted, are obtained.
US09446386B2

The present invention relates to methods for producing metal-supported thin layer skeletal catalyst structures, to methods for producing catalyst support structures without separately applying an intermediate washcoat layer, and to novel catalyst compositions produced by these methods. Catalyst precursors may be interdiffused with the underlying metal support then activated to create catalytically active skeletal alloy surfaces. The resulting metal-anchored skeletal layers provide increased conversion per geometric area compared to conversions from other types of supported alloy catalysts of similar bulk compositions, and provide resistance to activity loss when used under severe on-stream conditions. Particular compositions of the metal-supported skeletal catalyst alloy structures can be used for conventional steam methane reforming to produce syngas from natural gas and steam, for hydrodeoxygenation of pyrolysis bio-oils, and for other metal-catalyzed reactions inter alia.
US09446384B2

The present invention provides a process for regeneration of the sulfur capturing spent adsorbents after sulfur capturing using a hydrolyzing agent under adiabatic conditions. In accordance with the process of the present invention hydrolyzing agent is introduced to the spent adsorbent in a controlled manner such that the exothermic heat generated within the adsorbent bed does not rise above the predetermined temperature limit.
US09446377B1

A continuous reactor vessel for a rotary reactor having a first disk and a second disk separating three zones wherein the first disk includes a material feed opening spaced from its peripheral edge by an inlet peripheral spacing and configured to receive a material inlet tube, the second disk including an axial extension spaced from the second peripheral edge having at least one axially extending side wall and an end cap with at least one reaction zone discharge opening in the extension. The at least one opening allowing for a continuous and controlled reactor discharge rate of the associated granular product from the reaction zone into the discharge zone, the discharge opening being spaced from the second peripheral edge by an outlet peripheral spacing such that the peripheral spacings define a controlled depth of a dead bed accumulation of the associated granular product in the reaction zone.
US09446364B2

Systems and methods for storing and handling slurries are provided. The surge drum system for storing a slurry can include a storage vessel having a first end, a second end, and at least one wall surrounding an internal volume between the first and second ends. The system can also include a slurry inlet and a slurry outlet, both in fluid communication with the internal volume. A recirculation inlet can be in fluid communication with the internal volume at the first end of the storage vessel. The system can also include a pump having a suction line in fluid communication with the outlet. A discharge line of the pump can be in fluid communication with an outlet valve and a recirculation valve that can be in fluid communication with the recirculation inlet.
US09446353B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst for treating exhaust gas adapted not only to remove CO and VOCs based on unsaturated hydrocarbons such as C2H4 but also to accelerate a decomposition reaction of saturated hydrocarbons such as propane and to provide a method for producing such a catalyst for treating exhaust gas. The present invention provides a catalyst for treating an exhaust gas containing carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, the catalyst comprising a substrate containing a NOx removal catalyst component and a porous inorganic compound layer containing a noble metal, the layer being applied to the substrate.
US09446351B2

A filtration medium comprises a textile substrate and a mercury abatement coating on a least a portion of the surface of the textile substrate. The mercury abatement coating comprises a copper salt, a binder, and other optional components. A process for removing mercury from a gaseous stream uses the filtration medium.
US09446346B2

There is provided an acidic gas absorbing agent that is large in absorption amount and high in absorption rate of an acidic gas per unit volume and can prevent the diffusion of ingredients of the absorbing agent. The acidic gas absorbing agent includes an amino acid salt of formula 1 or formula 2 and an amine compound of formula 3. wherein COOMe represents a carboxylate group; Me represents an alkali metal. R1 and R2 represent an C1-4 alkylene chain; R3 represents a cycloalkyl group; R4 represents a hydrogen atom or an C1-4 alkyl group; and R5 represents a hydroxyalkyl group.
US09446341B2

In order to minimize the amount of contaminants that pass through a pump, or that are allowed to accumulate therein, a sub-atmospheric pressure gas scrubber suitable for use upstream of a vacuum pump is provided. The gas scrubber comprising a vessel and means for forming a spray of cleaning solvent within the vessel, the vessel comprising an inlet and an outlet for the gas to be cleaned at sub atmospheric pressure, the inlet and outlet being arranged to cause the gas to be cleaned to pass through the spray of cleaning solvent, the means for forming a spray comprising a cleaning solvent inlet connected to at least one spray nozzle and a cleaning solvent outlet through which used solvent can be pumped from the vessel using a pump, wherein the pump is arranged to recirculate the used solvent back to the cleaning solvent inlet.
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