US09450021B1
This technology provides an electronic device. An electronic device in accordance with an implementation of this document includes a semiconductor memory, and the semiconductor memory includes a variable resistance structure including a material having a resistance that is changed by formation or dissipation of conductive filaments; and a Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) structure inserted in the variable resistance structure and comprising a first magnetic layer having a pinned magnetization direction, a second magnetic layer having a variable magnetization direction, and a tunnel dielectric layer interposed between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer.
US09450018B2
There are provided a light-emitting device and a light-emitting device package capable of simultaneously controlling brightness and correlated color temperature (CCT) of an illumination apparatus using the same. The light-emitting device includes a plurality of light-emitting units each including an active layer of multi quantum wells (MQW) and an electrode unit electrically connected to the light-emitting units. Brightness and CCT of light components generated by the plurality of light-emitting units simultaneously change in accordance with an amount of current applied by an external input power source connected to the light-emitting units through the electrode unit.
US09450016B2
A flat panel detector comprises a photoelectric conversion layer and a pixel detecting element disposed under the photoelectric conversion layer. The pixel detecting element comprises: a pixel electrode for receiving charges, a storage capacitor for storing the received charges, and a thin film transistor for controlling outputting of the stored charges. The storage capacitor comprises a first electrode and a second electrode. The first electrode comprises an upper electrode and a bottom electrode that are disposed opposite to each other and electrically connected. A second electrode is sandwiched between the upper electrode and the bottom electrode. It is insulated between the upper electrode and the second electrode and between the second electrode and the bottom electrode.
US09450014B2
A die includes a first plurality of edges, and a semiconductor substrate in the die. The semiconductor substrate includes a first portion including a second plurality of edges misaligned with respective ones of the first plurality of edges. The semiconductor substrate further includes a second portion extending from one of the second plurality of edges to one of the first plurality of edges of the die. The second portion includes a first end connected to the one of the second plurality of edges, and a second end having an edge aligned to the one of the first plurality of edges of the die.
US09450009B2
There is provided a solid-state imaging device including a wafer in which a guard ring with conductivity in an insulation film layered on a first conductivity type substrate is formed between an edge portion of at least a first chip, out of the first chip and a second chip of a layered chip, and a scribe line region, at least two second conductivity type layers are formed at an interval within a region corresponding to the guard ring, in the first conductivity type substrate, and the guard ring includes a first guard ring part connected to one of the second conductivity type layers on a chip edge portion side, and a second guard ring part connected to another one of the second conductivity type layers on a scribe line side.
US09450008B2
A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a plurality of phase difference detection pixels configured adjacent to one another; and an isolation structure arranged so as to isolate light entering each of light-receiving units of the plurality of phase difference detection pixels, in which the isolation structure is formed so as to have a inclined side wall surface whose cross section is tapered.
US09449988B2
A semiconductor device has a small area and constitutes a CMOS 3-input NOR circuit by using surrounding gate transistors (SGTs) which are vertical transistors. In the 3-input NOR circuit including six MOS transistors arranged in a line, the MOS transistors constituting the NOR circuit have the following configuration: Planar silicon layers are disposed on a substrate. The drain, the gate, and the source of the MOS transistors are arranged in a vertical direction, and the gate surrounds a silicon pillar. The planar silicon layers include a first active region having a first conductivity type and a second active region having a second conductivity type. The first and second active regions are connected to each other via a silicide layer disposed on surfaces of the planar silicon layers. In this way, a semiconductor device constituting a NOR circuit with a small area is provided.
US09449985B1
A non-volatile storage device with memory cells having a high-k charge storage region, as well as methods of fabrication, is disclosed. The charge storage region has three or more layers of dielectric materials. At least one layer is a high-k material. The high-k layer(s) has a higher trap density as compared to Si3N4. High-k dielectrics in the charge storage region enhance capacitive coupling with the memory cell channel, which can improve memory cell current, program speed, and erase speed. The charge storage region has a high-low-high conduction band offset, which may improve data retention. The charge storage region has a low-high-low valence band offset, which may improve erase.
US09449980B2
The band gap structure of a tunneling dielectric can be tailored to facilitate programming and erasing of stored information, while enhancing charge storage during states without electrical bias between a semiconductor channel and charge storage elements. The tunneling dielectric includes a layered stack including at least, from outside to inside, a dielectric metal oxide layer and a silicon oxide layer. Upon application of electrical bias for programming or erasing, the band gap structure of the tunneling dielectric provides a lower tunneling barrier than an ONO stack of a comparable effective oxide thickness. Additionally, due to higher capacitive coupling to the channel with high-k metal oxide layer(s) in the tunneling dielectric, the efficiency of program, erase and read operations can be improved. During a zero-bias state, the tunneling dielectric can provide a higher energy barrier than the ONO stack, thereby providing enhanced data retention than the ONO stack.
US09449977B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate and a plurality of storage nodes on the substrate and extending in a vertical direction relative to the substrate. A lower support pattern is in contact with the storage nodes between a bottom and a top of the storage nodes, the lower support pattern spaced apart from the substrate in the vertical direction, and the lower support pattern having a first maximum thickness in the vertical direction. An upper support pattern is in contact with the storage nodes above the lower support pattern relative to the substrate, the upper support pattern spaced apart from the lower support pattern in the vertical direction, and the lower support pattern having a second maximum thickness in the vertical direction that is greater than the first maximum thickness of the lower support pattern.
US09449974B2
A semiconductor device including, in cross section, a semiconductor substrate; a gate insulating film on the semiconductor substrate; a gate electrode on the gate insulating film, the gate electrode including a metal, a side wall insulating film at opposite sides of the gate electrode, the side wall insulating film contacting the substrate; a stress applying film at the opposite sides of the gate electrode and over at least a portion of the semiconductor substrate, at least portion of the side wall insulating film being between the gate insulating film and the stress applying film and in contact with both of them; source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at the opposite sides of the gate electrode, and silicide regions at surfaces of the source/drain regions at the opposite sides of the gate electrode, the silicide regions being between the source/drain regions and the stress applying layer and in contact with the stress applying layer.
US09449970B2
A semiconductor device includes first and second gate structures extending in a first direction and spaced apart from each other in a second direction intersecting the first direction, a third gate structure extending in the first direction and provided between the first and second gate structures, a first contact connected to the first gate structure and having a first width in the second direction, a second contact connected to the second gate structure and having a second width in the second direction, and a third contact connected to the third gate structure and having a third width in the second direction. The first, second, and third contacts may be aligned with each other in the second direction to constitute one row. The first and second widths may be greater than the third width.
US09449958B2
A light-emitting diode device includes a carrier having at least one cavity, a light-emitting diode chip is arranged in a manner at least partly recessed in the at least one cavity, and an ESD protection element, which is formed by a partial region of the carrier. Furthermore, a light-emitting diode device includes a carrier having at least one cavity, a light-emitting diode chip arranged on the carrier, and an electrical component arranged at least partly recessed in the at least one cavity. Furthermore, the light-emitting diode device includes an ESD protection element, which is formed by a partial region of the carrier.
US09449957B2
According to an exemplary implementation, a power quad flat no-lead (PQFN) leadframe includes U-phase and W-phase power switches situated on the PQFN leadframe and respectively connected to a U-phase output strip and a W-phase output pad of the PQFN leadframe. The PQFN leadframe further includes a common integrated circuit (IC) including a driver circuit and a control circuit where the common IC is connected to the U-phase output strip and to the W-phase output pad of the PQFN leadframe. The PQFN leadframe can also include a V-phase power switch situated on the PQFN leadframe where the V-phase power switch is connected to a V-phase output strip of the PQFN leadframe.
US09449947B2
A first package is bonded to a first substrate with first external connections and second external connections. The second external connections are formed using materials that are different than the first external connections in order to provide a thermal pathway from the first package. In a particular embodiment the first external connections are solder balls and the second external connections are copper blocks.
US09449941B2
A package-on-package (PoP) comprises a substrate with a plurality of substrate traces, a first function chip on top of the substrate connected to the substrate by a plurality of bond-on-trace connections, and a second function chip on top of the first function chip, directly connected to the substrate. Another package-on-package (PoP) comprises: a substrate with a plurality of substrate traces, a first function chip on top of the substrate connected to the substrate by a plurality of solder mask defined (SMD) connections formed on SMD bonding pads connected to solder bumps, and a second function chip on top of the first function chip, directly connected to the substrate by a plurality of bond-on-trace connections.
US09449940B2
Methods of forming a semiconductor structure include exposing a carrier substrate to a silane material to form a coating, removing a portion of the coating at least adjacent a periphery of the carrier substrate, adhesively bonding another substrate to the carrier substrate, and separating the another substrate from the carrier substrate. The silane material includes a compound having a structure of (XO)3Si(CH2)nY, (XO)2Si((CH2)nY)2, or (XO)3Si(CH2)nY(CH2)nSi(XO)3, wherein XO is a hydrolyzable alkoxy group, Y is an organofunctional group, and n is a nonnegative integer. Some methods include forming a polymeric material comprising Si—O—Si over a first substrate, removing a portion of the polymeric material, and adhesively bonding another substrate to the first substrate. Structures include a polymeric material comprising Si—O—Si disposed over a first substrate, an adhesive material disposed over the first substrate and at least a portion of the polymeric material, and a second substrate disposed over the adhesive material.
US09449936B2
A method and device for input/output connections is provided. Devices and methods for connection structure are shown with improved mechanical properties such as hardness and abrasion resistance. Land grid array structures are provided that are less expensive to manufacture due to reductions in material cost such as gold. Ball grid array structures are provided with improved resistance to corrosion during fabrication. Ball grid array structures are also provided with improved mechanical properties resulting in improved shock testing results.
US09449930B2
A semiconductor device, a semiconductor package, and a package stack structure include a semiconductor substrate, a first bonding pad disposed on a first surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a first pillar disposed on the first bonding pad. An upper surface of the first pillar has a concave shape. Side surfaces of the first pillar are substantially planar.
US09449928B2
A layer arrangement in accordance with various embodiments may include: a wafer; a passivation disposed over the wafer; a protection layer disposed over at least a surface of the passivation facing away from the wafer; and a mask layer disposed over at least a surface of the protection layer facing away from the wafer, wherein the protection layer includes a material that is selectively etchable to a material of the passivation, and wherein the mask layer includes a material that is selectively etchable to the material of the protection layer.
US09449926B2
In a back surface hole injection type diode, by more effectively securing the effect of hole injection from the back surface of a semiconductor substrate, the performance of a semiconductor device is improved. In the semiconductor device, in a diode formed of a P-N junction including an anode P-type layer formed in the main surface of a semiconductor substrate and a back surface N+-type layer formed in the back surface of the semiconductor substrate, a back surface P+-type layer is formed in the back surface, and a surface P+-type layer is formed in the main surface right above the back surface P+-type layer to thereby promote the effect of hole injection from the back surface.
US09449924B2
A multi-level device includes at least one device region and at least one contact region. The contact region has a stack of alternating plurality of electrically conductive layers and plurality of electrically insulating layers located over a substrate. The plurality of electrically conductive layers form a stepped pattern in the contact region, where each respective electrically insulating layer includes a sidewall and a respective underlying electrically conductive layer in the stack extends laterally beyond the sidewall.
US09449917B2
In accordance with an embodiment, a semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor die, an interposer, and conductive bumps bonding the semiconductor die to the interposer. The semiconductor die comprises a first metallization layer, and the first metallization layer comprises a first conductive pattern. The interposer comprises a second metallization layer, and the second metallization layer comprises a second conductive pattern. Some of the conductive bumps electrically couple the first conductive pattern to the second conductive pattern to form a coil. A magnetic layer is positioned within the coil. In another embodiment, a coil is formed on a single substrate, wherein a magnetic layer is positioned within the coil. Other embodiments contemplate other configurations of coils, inductors, and/or transformers, and contemplate methods of manufacture.
US09449906B2
Methods for making semiconductor devices are disclosed herein. A method configured in accordance with a particular embodiment includes forming one or more openings in a front side of the semiconductor device and forming sacrificial plugs in the openings that partially fill the openings. The method further includes further filling the partially filled openings with a conductive material, where individual sacrificial plugs are generally between the conductive material and a substrate of the semiconductor device. The sacrificial plugs are exposed at a backside of the semiconductor device. Contact regions can be formed at the backside by removing the sacrificial plugs.
US09449903B2
An integrated circuit package includes a substrate having first and second surfaces and a plurality of conductive traces therebetween and a semiconductor die mounted on the first surface of the substrate. A plurality of wire bonds connect the semiconductor die to ones of the conductive traces of the substrate and an encapsulant encapsulates the wirebonds and the semiconductor die. A heat spreader has a cap, at least a portion of the cap extending inwardly toward and being spaced from the semiconductor die. The encapsulant fills the space between the portion of the cap and the semiconductor die. The heat spreader further has at least one sidewall extending from the cap, the at least one sidewall disposed on the substrate. A ball grid array is disposed on the second surface of the substrate, bumps of the ball grid array being in electrical connection with ones of the conductive traces.
US09449890B1
Methods for temporary bussing of semiconductor package substrates are disclosed and may include metal plating regions of a packaging substrate utilizing a plurality of bussed traces, which may be decoupled by forming debuss holes at intersections of the bussed traces. The decoupled traces may then be electrically tested, and the packaging substrate may be singulated into a plurality of substrates utilizing a sawing process through singulation areas in the packaging substrate. The traces may be electrically coupled via plating bars in the substrate. The plating bars may be located in the singulation areas. The intersections of the bussed traces may be in a Y pattern, which may be repeated along the singulation areas. The debuss holes may be formed utilizing mechanical drilling or lasing. The regions of the packaging substrate may be metal plated utilizing an electroplating process. The plurality of bussed traces may be biased for the electroplating process.
US09449887B2
A method of forming a transistor device includes forming an interfacial layer and a dielectric layer over a substrate; and forming a workfunction metal layer over the dielectric layer, the workfunction metal layer comprising a titanium-aluminum-carbon-oxygen (TiAlCO) layer.
US09449885B1
FinFET structures are formed on silicon germanium fins having high germanium content. Silicon germanium source/drain regions formed in fin recesses in nFET regions are provided with arsenic or phosphorus-doped germanium caps. Uniform tensile strain is obtained through the use of ungraded silicon germanium in the n-type source/drain regions. Location of the germanium caps above the fin structure ensures they have no materially negative impact on strain. Boron doped germanium source/drain regions are formed in fin recesses in pFET regions and provide for compressive strain. Contact formation using the same material in both nFET and pFET regions of the same substrate facilitates fabrication.
US09449884B1
A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor fin arranged on a substrate, a gate stack arranged over a channel region of the fin, a spacer arranged in contact with sidewalls of the gate stack, a trench partially defined by the spacer, the fin, and a flowable oxide material, an epitaxially grown source/drain region formed on the fin in the trench, and a contact metal arranged on the source/drain region in the trench, the contact metal substantially filling the trench.
US09449875B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor substrate having a front surface and a back surface; a conductive via passing through the semiconductor substrate; and a metal feature on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate. The metal feature includes a metal pad overlying and contacting the conductive via, and a metal line over the conductive via. The metal line includes a dual damascene structure. The integrated circuit structure further includes a bump overlying the metal line.
US09449869B2
Various embodiments provide interconnect structures and fabrication methods. A carbon-containing dielectric layer can be formed on a substrate. A protective layer can be formed on the carbon-containing dielectric layer to prevent carbon loss from the carbon-containing dielectric layer by performing a surface treatment to the carbon-containing dielectric layer using a gas at least containing silicon and hydrogen. A hard mask layer can be formed on the protective layer. A through hole can be formed in the carbon-containing dielectric layer using the hard mask layer as a mask to expose a surface of the substrate for forming a contact plug in the through hole.
US09449864B2
A system for orienting a semiconductor wafer. The system includes a wafer retaining device configured to retain a semiconductor wafer, a light source configured to emit light toward an edge exclusion area of the wafer, and a lens configured to direct and focus light emitted from the light source at a subsurface first part of a first portion of the wafer to alter a crystalline structure of the subsurface first part and form a subsurface mark that is detectable using light of a predetermined wavelength, a predetermined transmittance through the wafer, and at a predetermined reflectance angle relative to an axis of rotation of the wafer and based on the predetermined wavelength.
US09449862B2
A system for processing surfaces of substrates having a process module having a process module frame and a plurality of process elements to process the substrate surfaces without contacting the substrate surfaces. A plurality of substrate holder assemblies, each having a number of substrate holders, each of which is removably coupled to the process module frame, each substrate holder configured to hold a substrate. The process module frame has alignment features aligning the substrate holders in the substrate holder assembly in repeatable alignment with respect to each of the process elements with each of the process elements located between the substrates. A loader module is configured to unload processed substrates from each of the substrate holder assemblies and load unprocessed substrates to each of the substrate holder assemblies. A transporter is configured to transport the substrate holder assemblies to and from the process module and the loader module.
US09449857B2
A substrate processing apparatus is provided including: a liquid processing unit that processes a substrate with a processing liquid; a carry-in port formed in the liquid processing unit and configured to carry-in the substrate in a dry-state before the substrate is processed with the processing liquid; a carry-out port formed in the liquid processing unit and configured to carry-out the substrate in a wet-state after completing the liquid processing; a supercritical dry processing unit that performs a dry processing for the substrate using a supercritical fluid; a first substrate transport unit that transports the substrate in a dry-state before the substrate is processed with the processing liquid to the carry-out port of the liquid processing unit; and a second substrate transport unit that transports the substrate in a wet-state after completing the liquid processing from the carry-out port of the liquid processing unit to the supercritical dry processing unit.
US09449850B2
Systems, chambers, and processes are provided for controlling process defects caused by moisture contamination. The systems may provide configurations for chambers to perform multiple operations in a vacuum or controlled environment. The chambers may include configurations to provide additional processing capabilities in combination chamber designs. The methods may provide for the limiting, prevention, and correction of aging defects that may be caused as a result of etching processes performed by system tools.
US09449849B2
Provided is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using a heating device capable of suppressing shearing of a holder due to thermal deformation of the heating element included in the heating device. The method includes: loading a substrate into a process chamber surrounded by a heating device including a heating element; and increasing temperature of the heating element including a mountain part and a valley part alternately connected in plurality to form a meander shape with both ends thereof being fixed to an insulating body installed at an outer circumference of the heating element wherein the heating element is fixed to the insulating body by a holding body disposed in a holding body receiving part installed at end of the valley part having a cutout part having a width larger than that of the valley part to heat the substrate in the process chamber.
US09449843B1
Methods of selectively etching metals and metal nitrides from the surface of a substrate are described. The etch selectively removes metals and metal nitrides relative to silicon-containing layers such as silicon, polysilicon, silicon oxide, silicon germanium, silicon carbide, silicon carbon nitride and/or silicon nitride. The etch removes material in a conformal manner by including an oxidation operation which creates a thin uniform metal oxide. The thin uniform metal oxide is then removed by exposing the metal oxide to a metal-halogen precursor in a substrate processing region. The metal oxide may be removed to completion and the etch may stop once the uniform metal oxide layer is removed. Etches described herein may be used to uniformly trim back material on high aspect ratio features which ordinarily show higher etch rates near the opening of a gap compared to deep within the gap.
US09449837B2
Disclosed herein is a package having a first redistribution layer (RDL) disposed on a first semiconductor substrate and a second RDL disposed on a second semiconductor substrate. The first RDL is bonded to the second RDL. The package further includes an insulating film disposed over the second RDL and around the first RDL and the first semiconductor substrate. A conductive element is disposed in the first RDL. A via extends from a top surface of the insulating film, through the first semiconductor substrate to the conductive element, and a spacer is disposed between the first semiconductor substrate and the via. The spacer extends through the first semiconductor substrate.
US09449828B2
An aspect of this description relates to a method that includes partially filling an opening in a dielectric material with a high-dielectric-constant material. The method also includes partially filling the opening with a first metal material over the high-dielectric-constant material. The method further includes filling the opening with a capping layer over the first metal material. The method additionally includes partially removing the first metal material and the capping layer in the opening using a wet etching process in a solution including one or more of H2O2, NH4OH, HCl, H2SO4 or diluted HF. The method also includes fully removing the remaining capping layer in the opening using a wet etching process in a solution includes one or more of NH4OH or diluted HF. The method further includes depositing a second metal material in the opening over the remaining first metal material.
US09449825B2
A first flash heating is performed in which a lower flash lamp irradiates a back surface of a semiconductor wafer with flashes of light, so that heat conduction from the back surface to a surface of the semiconductor wafer raises the temperature of the surface from the room temperature to an intermediate temperature. Then, a second flash heating is performed in which an upper flash lamp irradiates the surface of the semiconductor wafer with flashes of light, to raise the temperature of the surface of the semiconductor wafer from the intermediate temperature to a target temperature. Since only the irradiation with flashes of light emitted from the lower flash lamp and the upper flash lamp is used to cause the semiconductor wafer having the room temperature to reach the target temperature, all heat treatments can be completed in an extremely short time of one second or less.
US09449820B2
Techniques for reducing nanowire dimension and pitch are provided. In one aspect, a pitch multiplication method for nanowires includes the steps of: providing an SOI wafer having an SOI layer separated from a substrate by a BOX, wherein the SOI layer includes Si; patterning at least one nanowire in the SOI layer, wherein the at least one nanowire as-patterned has a square cross-sectional shape with flat sides; growing epitaxial SiGe on the outside of the at least one nanowire using an epitaxial process selective for growth of the epitaxial SiGe on the flat sides of the at least one nanowire; removing the at least one nanowire selective to the epitaxial SiGe, wherein the epitaxial SiGe that remains includes multiple epitaxial SiGe wires having been formed in place of the at least one nanowire that has been removed.
US09449817B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a buffer layer on the substrate, and a plurality of nitride semiconductor layers on the buffer layer. The semiconductor device further includes at least one masking layer and at least one inter layer between the plurality of nitride semiconductor layers. The at least one inter layer is on the at least one masking layer.
US09449811B2
The present disclosure relates a method of forming a back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) metallization layer having an air gap disposed between adjacent metal interconnect features, which provides for an inter-level dielectric material with a low dielectric constant, and an associated apparatus. In some embodiments, the method is performed by forming a metal interconnect layer within a sacrificial dielectric layer overlying a substrate. The sacrificial dielectric layer is removed to form a recess extending between first and second features of the metal interconnect layer. A protective liner is formed onto the sidewalls and bottom surface of the recess, and then a re-distributed ILD layer is deposited within the recess in a manner that forms an air gap at a position between the first and second features of the metal interconnect layer. The air gap reduces the dielectric constant between the first and second features of the metal interconnect layer.
US09449803B2
A mass spectrometer interface, having improved sensitivity and reduced chemical background, is disclosed. The mass spectrometer interface provides improved desolvation, chemical selectivity and ion transport. A flow of partially solvated ions is transported along a tortuous path into a region of disturbance of flow, where ions and neutral molecules collide and mix. Thermal energy is applied to the region of disturbance to promote liberation of at least some of the ionized particles from any attached impurities, thereby increasing the concentration of the ionized particles having the characteristic m/z ratios in the flow. Molecular reactions and low pressure ionization methods can also be performed for selective removal or enhancement of particular ions.
US09449802B2
The methods described herein generally relate to characterization of large analytes, such as biomolecules, by molecular mass analysis. Specifically, the methods are directed to molecular mass analysis of singly- or multiply-charged ions by selective ion filtering carried out by a digital thresholding process.
US09449801B2
The invention relates to the detection of fatty acids. In a particular aspect, the invention relates to methods for detecting very long chain fatty acids and branched chain fatty acids by mass spectrometry.
US09449790B2
A cross-sectional shape or a three-dimensional shape of a circuit pattern is estimated and evaluated only from a planar image of the circuit pattern observed from the above of a wafer. The present invention includes a process of obtaining an observation image of an upper surface of a solid structure, by causing the upper surface of a substrate to be irradiated and scanned with a converged energy beam from a direction substantially perpendicular to a main surface of the substrate having the structure formed on the upper surface thereof, and detecting and/or measuring intensities of a secondary energy beam generated in the substrate and the structure or an energy beam reflected or scattered from the substrate or the structure, a process of obtaining uncertainty information regarding an intensity of scattering caused by an irregular shape of a surface of the structure, from an irradiation position of the converged energy beam in the observation image of the upper surface and the measured intensity, a process of obtaining an inclination angle θ of the surface of the structure, based on the obtained uncertainty information; and a process of estimating a solid shape of the structure, based on the obtained inclination angle θ.
US09449783B2
The present disclosure is directed towards the prevention of high voltage instabilities within X-ray tubes. For example, in one embodiment, an X-ray tube is provided. The X-ray tube generally includes a stationary member, and a rotary member configured to rotate with respect to the stationary member during operation of the X-ray tube. The X-ray tube also includes a liquid metal bearing material disposed in a space between the shaft and the sleeve, a seal disposed adjacent to the space to seal the liquid metal bearing material in the space, and an enhanced surface area material disposed on a side of the seal axially opposite the space and configured to trap within the enhanced surface area material liquid metal bearing material that escapes the seal.
US09449782B2
An x-ray tube includes a frame enclosing a high vacuum, a cathode positioned within the enclosure, and a target assembly. The target assembly includes a target cap, a focal track material positioned on the target cap to receive electrons from the cathode, and a foam material positioned within a cavity of the target cap and positioned proximate the focal track. The x-ray tube also includes a bearing assembly attached to the frame and configured to support the target assembly.
US09449781B2
This disclosure presents systems for x-ray illumination that have an x-ray brightness several orders of magnitude greater than existing x-ray technologies. These may therefore useful for applications such as trace element detection or for micro-focus fluorescence analysis. The higher brightness is achieved in part by using designs for x-ray targets that comprise a number of microstructures of one or more selected x-ray generating materials fabricated in close thermal contact with a substrate having high thermal conductivity. This allows for bombardment of the targets with higher electron density or higher energy electrons, which leads to greater x-ray flux. The high brightness/high flux x-ray source may then be coupled to an x-ray optical system, which can collect and focus the high flux x-rays to spots that can be as small as one micron, leading to high flux density.
US09449780B2
An x-ray tube includes a target on which electrons impinge to form a diverging x-ray beam. The target has a surface formed from first and second target materials, each tailored to emit a respective x-ray energy profile. A first x-ray optic may be provided for directing the beam toward the sample spot, the first x-ray optic monochromating the diverging x-ray beam to a first energy from the energy emitted by the first target material; and a second x-ray optic may be provided, for directing the beam toward the sample spot, the second x-ray optic monochromating the diverging x-ray beam to a second energy from the energy emitted by the second target material. Fluorescence from the sample spot induced by the first and second monochromated energies is used to measure the concentration of at least one element in the sample, or separately measure elements in a coating and underlying substrate.
US09449771B1
A keyboard module includes a pressing layer, a switch circuit board, a base plate and plural glue dots. The pressing layer includes plural key parts. The switch circuit board includes plural first wiring patterns, plural second wiring patterns and plural spacing dots. The plural glue dots are disposed on a lower wiring plate of the switch circuit board. The plural glue dots and the plural spacing dots are staggered. Due to the plural glue dot, the non-bonding zones of the lower wiring plate without the glue dots are bendable. When the key part is pressed, the lower wiring plate corresponding to the pressed key part is bent. Consequently, the first wiring pattern is inserted into the region between the corresponding spacing dots and contacted with the corresponding second wiring pattern.
US09449767B2
The invention relates to a switch contact subassembly (1) having a switch contact bridge (2) and a resilient element (3), for example, for an operating current of a switching element which switches an electric or hybrid motor vehicle. In order to be able to produce the switch contact subassembly (1) in a cost-effective and simple manner, there is provision according to the invention for the switch contact subassembly (1) to have a contact bridge retention member (4), the contact bridge retention member (4) having a securing base (14) for securing to an actuation member (15) for the switching element and at least one retention member (17) for positioning the switch contact bridge (2).
US09449755B2
An exemplary arrangement includes blocks arranged between the inner winding, the individual barriers and the outer winding in order to maintain defined spacing's along the circumference. At least two coils are arranged axially one above the other on a common core limb. Each coil has at least two windings arranged radially one above the other and barriers are provided between the windings. The barriers of adjacent coils are radially offset with respect to one another, and the edge regions of the barriers engage one another in a comb-like manner.
US09449742B2
An electrode component includes a ceramic substrate, two electrode layers formed on two opposite surfaces of the ceramic substrate, two pins respectively connected to the two electrode layers, and an insulating layer enclosing the ceramic substrate, the electrode layers and a portion of each pin. Each electrode layer is formed of two or more base metal materials or alloys thereof, and the concentrations of the base metal materials progressively vary across the electrode layer. Accordingly, the production cost is lowered, environmental pollution caused by evaporation and thermal dissolution of organic solvent can be prevented, risk of separable electrode interface at high-voltage discharge is mitigated, and the fabrication process of the electrode layer is shortened while maintaining bonding strength between the electrode layers and the ceramic substrate and solderability between the electrode layers and the pins.
US09449734B2
The present invention relates to a conductive metal ink composition, comprising: a first metal powder having conductivity; a non-aqueous solvent; an attachment improving agent; and a polymer coating property improving agent, and a method for forming a conductive pattern by using the conductive metal ink composition, and the conductive metal ink composition can be appropriately applied to a roll printing process and a conductive pattern exhibiting more improved conductivity and excellent attachment ability with respect to a board can be formed.
US09449725B2
The invention relates to a method of loading radioactive elements (8) in a package comprising the following steps: (a) placement of a plurality of radioactive elements (8) in a storage basket (30) provided with radiological protection means (32), in the pool; (b) extraction of the basket (30) containing the radioactive elements (8) out of the pool; and (c) loading said basket (30) containing the radioactive elements (8), into the package.
US09449722B2
A system for gripping an inner tube and locking/unlocking it into and from an outer tube concentric with the inner tube. The system according to the invention is provided with one or more catching devices which allow both sealed locking/unlocking of the inner tube to the gripper member and of the inner tube in the outer tube, achieving this with only a translational movement of the gripper member over a travel A or a travel B. The system according to the invention advantageously constitutes a system for inserting and extracting a specimen holder tube intended to house a specimen of nuclear materials, such as nuclear fuels, into and from a measurement instrumentation holder tube intended to house measurement sensors and a cooling system.
US09449715B2
A semiconductor device having a capability of generating chip identification information includes: an SRAM macro having a plurality of memory cells arranged in rows and columns; a test address storage unit configured to store a test address; a self-diagnostic circuit configured to output the test address based on a result of confirmation of operation of the memory cell selected by the test address; and an identification information generation circuit configured to generate chip identification information based on the test address which is output by the self-diagnostic circuit.
US09449713B2
A method includes over-programming thin film storage (TFS) memory cells on a semiconductor wafer with a first voltage that is higher than a highest voltage used to program the memory cells during normal operation of the memory cells. With the memory cells in an over-programmed state, the wafer is exposed to a first temperature above a product specification temperature for a period of time sufficient to induce redistribution of charge among storage elements in the memory cells.
US09449709B1
A volatile and one-time program (OTP) compatible asymmetric memory cell may include a first pull-up transistor having a first threshold voltage. The asymmetric memory cell may also include a second pull-up transistor having a second threshold voltage that differs from the first threshold voltage. The asymmetric memory cell may further include a switch coupled to a well of the first pull-up transistor and the second pull-up transistor to alternate between a program voltage (Vpg) and a power supply voltage. The asymmetric memory cell may also include a peripheral switching circuit to control programming of the asymmetric memory cell.
US09449706B2
A memory device in which data can be retained for a long time is provided. The memory device includes a memory element and a transistor which functions as a switching element for controlling supply, storage, and release of electrical charge in the memory element. The transistor includes a second gate electrode for controlling the threshold voltage in addition to a normal gate electrode. Further, the off-state current of the transistor is extremely low because an active layer thereof includes an oxide semiconductor. In the memory device, data is stored not by injection of electrical charge to a floating gate surrounded by an insulating film at high voltage but by control of the amount of electrical charge of the memory element through the transistor whose off-state current is extremely low.
US09449698B1
Techniques are provided for erasing a memory device. In one aspect, different zones of a block can be separately erased and subject to a verify test. Erase parameters can be optimized for each zone, so that endurance is improved. If one zone is found to be too slow to erase, it can be marked as being bad while other zones remain available for use. In another aspect, the zone-based erase occurs after a block based erased when a criterion is met, such as the block-based erase being too slow or failing to complete within an allowable number of program loops. The zone-based erase can occur after the block-based erase in the same erase operation, or in a subsequent, new erase operation.
US09449681B2
A circuit includes a signal generating circuit that generates a pre-charge signal based on a clock signal and a column select signal for a column of memory cells associated with the signal generating circuit. A first state of the pre-charge signal depends on a first state of the column select signal, and the first state of the column select signal corresponds to selection of the column of memory cells. The circuit also includes a charge circuit associated with the signal generating circuit and a first data line coupled to the charge circuit. The charge circuit charges the first data line in response to the first state of the pre-charge signal and allows the first data line to float in response to a second state of the pre-charge signal.
US09449677B2
A semiconductor device may include a semiconductor substrate with first and second spaced apart source/drain regions defining a channel region therebetween and a control gate structure on the channel region between the first and second spaced apart source/drain regions. More particularly, the control gate structure may include a first gate electrode on the channel region adjacent the first source/drain region, and a second gate electrode on the channel region adjacent the second source/drain region. Moreover, the first and second gate electrodes may be electrically isolated. Related devices, structures, methods of operation, and methods of fabrication are also discussed.
US09449675B2
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to identifying an extremum value using sensing circuitry. An example method can include determining a location of an extremum value of a set of N data values stored as vectors in a memory array. A number of operations to determine the location of the extremum value can remain constant with respect to a value of N.The method can include determining the value of the extremum by reading memory cells coupled to the sense line based on the determined location of the extremum value.
US09449673B2
A memory device includes a memory cell array, a multi-purpose register (MPR) and a control unit. The memory cell array includes a plurality of memory blocks. The multi-purpose register (MPR) stores physical address information for each of the plurality of memory blocks. The control unit outputs the physical address information stored in the multi-purpose register in response to an MPR read command received from a memory controller.
US09449671B2
Examples are disclosed for probabilistic dynamic random access memory (DRAM) row repair. In some examples, using a row hammer limit for DRAM and a maximum activation rate for the DRAM a probabilistic row hammer detection value may be determined. The probabilistic row hammer detection value may then be used such that a probability is acceptably low that a given activation to an aggressor row of the DRAM causes the row hammer limit to be exceeded before a scheduled row refresh is performed on one or more victim rows associated with the aggressor row. Other examples are described and claimed.
US09449668B2
A high speed, low power method to control and switch the magnetization direction of a magnetic region in a magnetic device for memory cells using spin polarized electrical current. The magnetic device comprises a pinned magnetic layer, a reference magnetic layer with a fixed magnetization direction and a free magnetic layer with a changeable magnetization direction. The magnetic layers are separated by insulating non-magnetic layers.A current can be applied to the device to induce a torque that alters the magnetic state of the device so that it can act as a magnetic memory for writing information. The resistance, which depends on the magnetic state of the device, can be measured to read out the information stored in the device.
US09449665B1
A semiconductor system includes a first semiconductor device and a second semiconductor device. The first semiconductor device outputs data, a data strobe signal, an external command, and a clock signal. The second semiconductor device aligns the data in synchronization with the data strobe signal to generate first and second alignment data and latches the first and second alignment data to generate first and second latch data in response to a latch signal which is generated by dividing the data strobe signal.
US09449664B2
A system including a processor and a memory device. The memory device includes a memory array having a plurality of memory elements connected to a bit-line and a quantizing circuit. The quantizing circuit includes a combination circuit configured to combine an analog input signal with an analog feedback signal to produce a delta signal. The quantizing circuit also includes an integrator configured to receive and integrate the delta signal to produce a sigma signal. The quantizing circuit also includes an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the sigma signal and compare the sigma signal with a reference signal to produce a digital output signal.
US09449663B2
A circuit includes a supply voltage circuit, a voltage adjustment circuit, and a timing adjustment circuit. The supply voltage circuit is coupled to a memory device configured to provide a voltage level to the memory device during a write data operation. The voltage adjustment circuit is coupled to the supply voltage circuit, and is configured to provide at least one voltage level control signal to control one of a plurality of different voltages. At least one of the plurality of different voltages has a voltage level lower than a specified nominal supply voltage level. The timing adjustment circuit is coupled to the supply voltage circuit, and is configured to provide at least one voltage transition timing control signal to the supply voltage circuit. The supply voltage circuit is configured to provide at least one of the plurality of different voltages to the memory device during the write data operation.
US09449658B2
A semiconductor apparatus includes a first memory bank configured to store data transmitted through a first data line; and a precharge block configured to precharge the first data line to a level of a first voltage or a second voltage.
US09449656B2
A memory includes a plurality of bit cells. Each bit cell includes a bit line and a storage cell coupled to the bit line. A header PMOS transistor is coupled to the storage cell in each bit cell. The header PMOS transistor is at least partially turned off during a write operation by a header control signal.
US09449649B1
A disk drive includes a disk that has a data side and an unread side. A first read head faces and is adjacent the data side. The disk drive also includes a cylindrical shroud wall that is substantially orthogonal to the unread side and that completely encircles the disk outer periphery. A radial spacing between the cylindrical shroud wall and the disk outer periphery nowhere exceeds 1 mm. The disk drive does not include any read head that faces and is disposed adjacent the unread side.
US09449647B2
Methods and apparatus are provided to establish temporal alignment of media clips. In an example embodiment, first and second media clips each contain an audio portion and the method comprises: determining an estimated global offset between the first and second clips; choosing a first test region of the first clip and identifying a corresponding second test region in the second clip based at least in part on the estimated global offset. The first and second test regions are compared to determine a local offset.
US09449645B2
A video compilation greeting system which allows a number of collaborators to provide video segments for use in a combined video greeting or presentation. The video is submitted by the individual invitee collaborators and is automatically reformatted by the system into the desired format. The original organizer, who may optionally also be a collaborator, has several options for further customizing the final video product, such as adding credits or personalized messages at the end of the main feature, or titles and graphics to the beginning of the video. The final result is a video greeting to a recipient comprising multiple video submissions into a single video output.
US09449643B1
A test deck may be employed as part of a data storage component testing system. A test deck can consist of at least a bottom cover mating to a top cover to define an enclosed testing region configured to house a data storage medium, transducing head, and head suspension. The top cover may have an access port occupied by a door providing access to the enclosed testing region.
US09449642B2
A record carrier has a servo track indicating an information track intended for recording information blocks. The servo track has a variation of a physical parameter, referred to as wobble. The wobble is modulated for encoding record carrier information, such as addresses. The servo track is subdivided in modulated parts in which the frequency and/or phase of the variation deviates from the wobble frequency, and non-modulated parts. The slope of the wobble is substantially continuous at transitions between the modulated and non-modulated parts by using wobbles starting at the maxima or minima of the wobble in a first part of the modulated parts.
US09449632B2
A method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium including at least a non-magnetic substrate, a soft magnetic underlayer, an orientation control layer that controls an orientation of an immediate upper layer, and a perpendicular magnetic layer in which a magnetization easy axis is mainly perpendicularly oriented with respect to the non-magnetic substrate so as to be laminated one another on the non-magnetic substrate. The perpendicular magnetic layer includes two or more magnetic layers, and each layer is subjected to a crystal growth such that each crystal grain composing each magnetic layer forms a columnar crystal continuous in a thickness direction together with the crystal grains composing the orientation control layer. The orientation control layer, formed of a Co—Cr alloy, is formed by the reactive sputtering using a mixture of a sputtering gas and nitrogen.
US09449627B2
An apparatus has an input surface configured to receive energy emitted from an energy source in a first mode. A mode order converter is configured to convert the energy from the first mode to a second mode. The waveguide of the apparatus has an input end disposed proximate the input surface and configured to receive the energy in the first mode. The waveguide has an output end disposed proximate a media-facing surface and configured to deliver energy in the second mode. The output end is at an oblique angle to a cross-track line at an intersection of the media-facing surface and a substrate-parallel plane.
US09449624B2
A tail pad portion is provided in a flexure tail including a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. Tail terminals are arranged in the tail pad portion. The metal base is made of stainless steel, and includes a frame structure having a first frame and a second frame. An opening is formed between the first frame and the second frame. The tail terminals are arranged parallel to each other between the first frame and the second frame. A bridge portion is formed between the first frame and the second frame. The bridge portion includes at least one bridge element which is a part of the metal base. The at least one bridge element is arranged at a position which does not overlap the tail terminals in the thickness direction.
US09449615B2
Acoustic noise in an audio signal is reduced by calculating a speech probability presence (SPP) factor using minimum mean square error (MMSE). The SPP factor, which has a value typically ranging between zero and one, is modified or warped responsive to a value obtained from the evaluation of a sigmoid function, the shape of which is determined by a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which is obtained by an evaluation of the signal energy and noise energy output from a microphone over time. The shape and aggressiveness of the sigmoid function is determined using an extrinsically-determined SNR, not determined by the MMSE determination.
US09449611B2
A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions is described for extracting a reference representation from a mixture representation that comprises the reference representation and a residual representation wherein the reference representation, the mixture representation, and the residual representation are representations of collections of acoustical waves stored on computer readable media.
US09449601B2
An audio decoding method and apparatus and an audio encoding method and apparatus which can efficiently process object-based audio signals are provided. The audio decoding method includes receiving a downmix signal and object-based side information, the downmix signal comprising at least two downmix channel signals; extracting gain information from the object-based side information and generating modification information for modifying the downmix channel signals on a channel-by-channel basis based on the gain information; and modifying the downmix channel signals by applying the modification information to the downmix channel signals.
US09449596B2
Provided are a sound generation system and a sound recording system, which are placed in a room to adjust sound. A columnar body is disposed around a sound source to adjust how much sound of a low-tone range, as well as of a middle- and high-tone range, is absorbed and diffused. Moreover, a columnar body is disposed around a recording device to adjust how much sound of a low-tone range, as well as of a middle- and high-tone range, is absorbed and diffused. The columnar bodies may be made of a combination of different diameters and/or lengths. The arrangement distances may be random. With the columnar body disposed at the most appropriate location, it is possible to adjust sound in a wide band.
US09449593B2
Disclosed is a computer system comprising an audio processing module, an echo cancellation module and a control module. The audio processing module is configured to process an audio signal and output the processed audio signal to e.g. a speaker (or similar) of the system. The echo cancellation module is configured to cancel echo from an audio signal received via e.g. a microphone (or similar) of the system. The control module is configured to detect a condition indicative of nonlinear amplitude processing by the audio processing module and control said echo cancellation by the echo cancellation module based on the detected condition.
US09449591B2
Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of visual and/or acoustic privacy features. For example, exemplary embodiments are disclosed that include visual and/or acoustic privacy features for furniture (e.g., office chair, desk, table, cubicle, etc.). The visual and/or acoustic privacy features are movable relative to the user and/or furniture between at least a first configuration and a second configuration. In the first configuration, the visual and/or acoustic privacy features may be configured such that they do not inhibit the user from interacting with others. In the second configuration, the visual and/or acoustic privacy features may be configured to provide the user with at least some visual and/or acoustic privacy and isolation from others.
US09449590B1
Remote objects, which may include cars and locomotives, rolling stock and or fixed objects in a model railroad layout, convey sound and/or other digital information to a Sound and Control Centers, Local Sound and Control Units and or walk-around throttles to produce sound and operations that enhances the model train experience. Preferably, remote objects may communicate with the sound and control center by wireless means, and over separate communication channels. Sound information and related data from the separate channels can be processed, combined, enhanced or used to fetch additional sounds from memory, in order to drive at least one speaker that is separate from the remote objects. The speaker(s) may be especially advantageous to produce or enhance low frequency audio sounds coordinated with activity at the remote object(s).
US09449586B2
A keyboard device includes: key units each including a coupler and white or block keys coupled to the coupler at their rear ends; and a key frame assembled to the key frame and supporting the couplers stacked on each other. The coupler of one of the key units is provided with a hook having an engaging portion. The coupler of each of at least one other key unit has a through hole at a position corresponding to the hook. The key frame has a through hole at a position corresponding to the hook. The couplers of the key units are secured on the key frame using the engaging portion in a state in which the hook extends through the through hole of the coupler of each of the at least one other key unit and the through hole of the key frame.
US09449577B2
Disclosed is a display device that may include a first data driver and a second data driver, each checking availability of a data transmission with a timing controller upon receiving a power voltage; a synchronization unit that outputs a power management signal when both the first and second data drivers become available for their data transmission with the timing controller; and a power module that supplies a high-potential voltage to the first and second data drivers in response to the power management signal output from the synchronization unit.
US09449561B1
An ambient light sensor may be used to measure ambient light in an environment that surrounds a device. The measured ambient light may be used to adjust display settings employed by the device, and thereby improve a user experience during interaction with the device in the environment. During use of the device that includes an ambient light sensor, the ambient light sensor may become obscured (blocked, covered, etc.) by a user's finger, a cover, dirt, and/or by another object that obstructs the ambient light sensor's ability to detect light from the environment. Various techniques may be used to determine obstruction of the ambient light sensor. In some embodiments, changes in display settings may be compared to measured changes in ambient light to determine whether a light sensor is obstructed. In some embodiments, use of a second light sensor may validate whether a first light sensor is obstructed.
US09449559B2
In a data driving apparatus, a DAC converts digital data output from a holding latch into an analog data voltage. An operational amplifier operates as a buffer which outputs the analog data voltage of the DAC to the signal line during a display period and operates as a comparator which compares the voltage of the signal line with the analog data voltage of the DAC during a sensing period. In addition, a sensing controller controls the holding latch to change the data stored in the holding latch according to a comparison value of the comparator.
US09449555B2
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention include a display device including: a display unit comprising a plurality of scan lines that extend in a row direction, a plurality of data lines that extend in a column direction, and a plurality of pixels coupled to the scan lines and the data lines; a scan driver configured to sequentially apply a scan signal of a gate-on voltage to the scan lines during a writing period for applying a data voltage to the pixels; and a data driver configured to apply a data voltage to the data lines during the writing period, wherein a first power source voltage supplying a driving current of the pixels is applied to the data lines during a period other than the writing period.
US09449547B2
An organic light emitting display includes an image display unit having a plurality of pixels, and first and second pixel power lines that receive pixel-driving voltages from first and second power supplies, respectively. The second pixel power lines are interleaved with the first pixel power lines. Adjacent pixels of the same color from among the plurality of pixels provided in the image display unit are coupled to pixel power lines corresponding to different power supplies. This is to solve or mitigate the problem of non-uniform brightness of the entire image display unit due to voltage drops in the pixel power lines.
US09449538B2
A display system, a display process, and an engagement feature are disclosed. The display system includes a first display arrangement, a second display arrangement, and a flexible support extending from the first display arrangement to the second display arrangement. The first display arrangement engages the second display arrangement by movement of the flexible support.
US09449537B2
In order to provide a dimensional display system which is easy to use, quick to execute, and inexpensive, the dimensional display system contains a backboard sign, at least one offset sign having a size smaller than the backboard sign, and at least one spacer assembly. The spacer assembly contains a first fastening element, which is adapted to be attached to the backboard sign, and a second fastening element, which is adapted to be attached to the offset sign. The first and second fastening elements form corresponding components of a fastening mechanism to affix the offset sign to the backboard sign at a predefined distance thus creating a three-dimensional effect.
US09449536B1
A removable message board can include an attachment piece including a message displayed on a front side and a back side opposite the front side. A coiled spring can include a first end that directly contacts the back side of the attachment piece and a second end opposite the first end that is wound along a length of the coiled spring to form a concentric circular shape configured to press against a chair back. A top surface of the coiled spring can be oriented towards a bottom surface of the coiled spring. The coiled spring can be disposed behind the attachment piece such that the coiled spring can be substantially covered by the attachment piece when viewed from a position perpendicular to a length and width of the attachment piece.
US09449535B2
A label assembly having a first configuration comprising a facestock layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, an adhesive layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface of the adhesive disposed adjacent to the lower surface of the facestock layer, a tack varnish layer overlying the upper surface of the facestock, a liner assembly comprising a release liner overlying the adhesive layer, the release liner comprising a liner layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface comprising a release coating layer, the release coating layer being disposed adjacent to the adhesive layer, and a tack coating layer overlying the lower surface of the liner layer.
US09449527B2
A system, apparatus, method, and computer program product for implementing at least one break-fix simulation are disclosed. A processor implements the at least one break-fix simulation by invoking a virtualization of a product that is configured to provide a service, executing one or more scripts that are configured to break the virtualization of the product so that at least a portion of the service fails, receiving first input via a user interface that is configured to access one or more tools for restoring the at least a portion of the service to working order, and restoring the at least a portion of the service to working order with the one or more tools utilizing the first input.
US09449524B2
The disclosure provides a computer-based learning system that minimizes the “distance” between applications (for which instructions are provided) and the instructions themselves. That is, the instructional material provided is dynamically integrated with a “state” of one or more applications, which constantly change as a user interacts with the application. Further, the instructional information is visually presented within a common screen, window, or focus region as the application, in a minimally intrusive manner. For example, the instruction window can be an overlay that is designed to “hide from” or to avoid obscuring application content of particular interest to a user. Various techniques can be used to ensure the instructions are provided unobtrusively, including use of transparency settings to make instructions legible, resizing techniques, variable shading, font size/contrast/style adjustments, and the like.
US09449520B2
A system and method providing passive verification of participant—typically a physician—exposure to Material equivalent to attendance at an Investigator Meeting prefatory to Clinical Trial is taught. The invention provides for rendering media capture of Investigator Meeting education into computer deliverable sessions, and further into segments, where segments are the product of randomly generated visual requests to which participant need provide response in some prescribed time interval to confirm visual attention to Material. To ensure participant visual exposure to Material, during computer mediated display of Material, visual prompts appear at random points in the display. For any successful participant response, session advances, and in absence of successful response, display of Material resets to last successful response point in Material. In an alternate embodiment, groups of viewers may be tracked corresponding to a group viewing of Material. The system provides real-time tracking of completion of visual exposure to Investigator Meeting Material and enables Clinical Trial sponsor to dynamically update enrolled participant data, and actively encourage physician completion of Investigator Meeting equivalent attendance, so as to expedite Clinical Trial launch.
US09449514B2
A computer-implemented method includes connecting to a remote system and requesting data relating to a quality of air level in the vicinity of a known vehicle location. The method further includes receiving data relating to the quality of air level and comparing the data to one or more predetermined threshold levels of tolerance. If the data exceeds at least one threshold level of tolerance an automatic vehicle computing system response is instructed. In this example, the method also includes activating one or more vehicle systems in response to the data exceeding the at least one threshold level of tolerance.
US09449513B1
Traffic signs that facilitate portability are disclosed. In certain embodiments, they are designed to be lighter and have fewer steps involved in their set up, preferably involving only one person. The design of certain embodiments also allows multiple signs to be transported together, and facilitates air flow through the signs. Certain embodiments include generally horizontal panels with breakaway or fracture paths so as to improve crashworthiness and safety of the traffic sign.
US09449512B2
Technologies for optimized vehicle parking include a parking management computing device and a number of advanced vehicles, each having an in-vehicle computing system. The parking management computing device establishes a secure control channel with each of the in-vehicle computing systems. Each of the in-vehicle computing systems may send a parking request to park or access the vehicle to the parking management computing device. The parking management computing device queries a number of the advanced vehicles that are already parked for positional or sensor data and determines an optimized parking configuration based on the parking request. The parking management computing device transmits movement requests to the in-vehicle computing systems to implement the optimized parking configuration. Each in-vehicle computing system may perform the movement request by using an autonomous driving capability, by using a remote control capability, or by notifying an operator. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09449505B2
Provided is a traffic congestion prediction method which is able to perform a prediction process using floating information with higher accuracy. The traffic congestion prediction method includes: a step of receiving information by a prediction device; a step of predicting a route of each floating car based on the current position information and destination information received; a step of calculating, for the each floating car, a first passing time group which is a set of respective passing times at a plurality of predetermined spots on the route predicted; a step of calculating the number of existing floating cars per link based on the first passing time group, if any of a plurality of floating cars exists on the link at a predetermined time; and a step of calculating a second passing time group by use of the number of existing floating cars and a predetermined calculation technique.
US09449482B2
A method for using a security system to monitor a secured area is provided. The method includes a first processor of the security system providing a status of the security system, including an active status output signal and a disarmed status output signal, a video system monitoring the secured area by capturing and locally saving images, and a second processor of the video system activating one or more video cameras of the video system monitoring an interior space of the secured area upon receipt of the active status output signal and deactivating the one or more video cameras upon receipt of the disarmed status output signal.
US09449478B2
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for visually and audibly indicating the setup and maintenance of a system.
US09449475B2
An emergency location device with a deployable rescue balloon is presented. The balloon is housed in tube body in its stowed state with a frangible foil holding it in place at the proximal edge of the tube body. The device includes a ball valve attached to the opposite end of the balloon and further coupled to a charger valve. The charger valve includes a piercing needle configured to pierce a helium pressure tank thereby deploying and inflating the rescue balloon. The helium tank, the charger valve, and the ball valve are all enclosed in the lumen of the tube body. The balloon is attached to the inside of the tube body via a lanyard, which unravels when the balloon is deployed. A threaded cap coupled to the distal end of the tube body, which is also used to deploy the balloon, secures the helium pressure tank in the tube body.
US09449474B2
A sales data processing device of the present invention accepts operations by an operator, opens a drawer, and is provided with a history acquisition unit, a reference information acquisition unit and an irregularity detection unit. The history acquisition unit acquires a history of operations by the operator. The reference information acquisition unit acquires, from references of standard operations set in advance for each of operations that cause the drawer to open, the standard operation references for operations specified in the history. For each of the operations specified in the history, the irregularity detection unit finds a difference from the standard operation reference acquired by the reference information acquisition unit, and if the difference is of at least a predetermined level, detects that the operation is an irregular drawer operation.
US09449470B2
A gaming system includes one or more input devices, display devices, processors, and memory devices. At least one of the memory devices store instructions that cause the system to receive a wager and to display at least one array having a plurality of columns. An outcome is randomly selected, in response to the wager, in which a first column is stacked with a stack of symbols of a first rank and a second column is stacked with a stack of symbols of a second rank. The first rank is compared with the second rank to determine a high rank and a low rank according to a predetermined pay table. The stack of symbols of the low rank is upgraded to a stack of symbols of the high rank.
US09449466B2
A networked gaming system is provided, including an entertainment software controller connected by a network to a game world controller, the entertainment software controller constructed to: present a first presentation of a skill-based game; transmit a player action of the skill-based game; receive a modified game status update; present a second presentation based on the modified update; the game world controller connected by the network to a game server, the game world controller constructed to: receive the player action; generate a wager; transmit the wager; receive a wager result; transmit, to a game server, the player action; receive a game state update based on the player action; generate the modified game state update; and transmit, to the entertainment software controller, the modified game state update; and the real world controller connected to the game world controller, and constructed to: receive the wager; and provide a wager result.
US09449463B2
A gaming system comprises a display controlled by the gaming system to display a prior jackpot value of a jackpot corresponding to a value of the jackpot when a previous jackpot trigger event occurred. The gaming system is arranged to receive wagers on one or more games playable in the gaming system, increment a current value of the jackpot pool in memory of the gaming system based on the wagers, determine a jackpot event value of the jackpot responsive to a jackpot event occurring, the jackpot event value being the current value of the jackpot upon the jackpot event occurring and the jackpot event being independent of incrementing the jackpot, upon the player winning the jackpot responsive to the jackpot event, make an award to the player of the jackpot event value, and upon the player not winning the jackpot responsive to the jackpot event, set the jackpot event value as a new prior jackpot value and control the display to display the new prior jackpot value until the next jackpot event.
US09449456B2
Gaming chairs and wagering game systems and machines with a gaming chair are presented herein. A gaming chair is disclosed for a wagering game system with a controller operable to output signals associated with a wagering game. The gaming chair includes a backrest portion, a seat portion, and a base for supporting the seat and backrest portions. The base includes a height adjustment mechanism. The gaming chair also includes a motion-enabling mounting assembly that is attached to the seat portion and has at least one actuator configured to selectively move the seat portion in response to signals from the controller. The mounting assembly is movably mounted on the height adjustment mechanism of the base such that the mounting assembly, seat portion, backrest portion, and actuator(s) can be unitarily repositioned between a plurality of distinct heights.
US09449455B2
A gaming method of conducting a wagering game includes receiving, via one or more input devices, an input indicative of a wager, displaying, via one or more display devices, a plurality of symbols to indicate a randomly selected outcome of a wagering game in a display area, and determining, via at least one of one or more processors, one or more award amounts for the randomly selected outcome. The one or more award amounts are based on the wager and the symbols of the randomly selected outcome. The method further includes determining an aggregate award amount based on the one or more award amounts, comparing the aggregate award amount to a predetermined threshold amount, awarding the aggregate award amount if the aggregate award amount is less than the predetermined threshold amount, and awarding an override-award amount if the aggregate award amount is greater than the predetermined threshold amount.
US09449447B2
A control method for anti-theft is provided. The method is running to a vehicle. The control method includes: allocating a calculation factor dynamically; calculating a high-frequency compensation value according to the calculation factor; adding the high-frequency compensation value to a frequency value of the high-frequency signal to obtain a first frequency value of the high-frequency signal; switching a high-frequency receive unit to a new channel being able to receive a high-frequency signal having a frequency value that is equal to the first frequency value of the high-frequency signal; receiving a high-frequency signal when a frequency value of the high-frequency signal is equal to the first frequency value of the high-frequency signal; and unlocking the vehicle according to the high-frequency signal.
US09449444B2
A door lock apparatus is provided. The door lock apparatus includes a first interface configured to communicate with a plurality of external apparatuses; a near field communicator configured to perform authentication for opening a door; a second interface configured to communicate with a display apparatus; and a controller configured to control the first interface to receive status information on each of the plurality of external apparatuses from the plurality of external apparatuses, control the second interface to transmit the received status information to the display apparatus to be displayed in response to the authentication being performed by the near field communicator.
US09449438B2
Methods of predicting a speed brake fault in an aircraft having a speed brake system including multiple control surfaces, a handle for setting the position of the multiple control surfaces, and at least one control surface position sensor, the methods include receiving a position signal from the at least one position sensor, determining a variation in the position signal and predicting a fault in the speed brake system.
US09449427B1
An electronic device can utilize one or more sensors and/or imaging elements to determine the relative position of at least one light source relative to the device. In various embodiments, the intensity of light can be determined in various directions around the device. By determining the relative intensity around the device, an approximate direction of one or more light sources can be determined. Utilizing the relative position of each light source, the electronic device can properly light or shade a graphical object to be rendered by the device, or otherwise process image information captured by the device.
US09449422B2
A device, system, and method for displaying seismic image data may include computing, from a wide-azimuth data set, a discrete data set associated with an image function at a seismic image point. The discrete data set may be mapped onto a continuous curved three-dimensional surface. The mapped data set may be projected onto a continuous planar surface. The projected data may be displayed as a planar disk. A plurality of continuous planar surfaces, each representing a single image point, may be assembled to form a three-dimensional body, representing a seismic gather of image points. The three-dimensional body may be displayed. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09449415B2
Method and system for presenting a lesson plan having a plurality of keyframes is provided. The method includes initializing a fixed variable for a first keyframe; detecting an input from a user at an interactive display device; correlating the input with a gesture from a gesture set and one or more of database domains from among a plurality of database domains; displaying an image at the interactive display device when all mutable variables for the first keyframe content are determined based on the input; manipulating the image using a gesture associated with the displayed image and any associated database domains; and transitioning to a next keyframe using animation.
US09449414B1
Embodiments of collaborative presentation systems are provided. An example collaborative presentation system includes a display device, an image sensor, a network interface, a logic device, and a storage device holding instructions executable by the logic device to retrieve a presentation file that is executed to display a presentation on the display device, receive image frames from the image sensor, the image frames including the display device, the displayed presentation, and a presenter, and extract the presenter from the image frames to generate an extracted presenter image. The instructions are further executable to adjust an appearance of the extracted presenter image to form an adjusted presenter image, generate an updated presentation file, the updated presentation file being executable to display the presentation overlaid with the adjusted presenter image, and transmit, via the network interface, the updated presentation file to a remote presentation participant device.
US09449413B2
A video image capture component includes a light source operable in a first spectrum, a first image detector operable in the first spectrum, a second light source operable in a second spectrum, and a second image detector operable in the second spectrum. A filtering component generates a combination image by filtering a first image obtained by the first image detector with a high-contrast filter, resulting in a high-contrast image, and masking a second image obtained by the second image detector using the high-contrast image. A compositing component creates a composite image from the combination image and a selected image. A display component displays the composite image.Alternative systems and methods for creating a combination image include techniques involving thermal imaging, laser detection, and narrow band frequency detection.
US09449410B2
This disclosure describes techniques for supporting intra-frame timestamps in a graphics system that performs tile-based rendering. The techniques for supporting intra-frame timestamps may involve generating a timestamp value that is indicative of a point in time based on a plurality of per-bin timestamp values that are generated by a graphics processing unit (GPU) while performing tile-based rendering for a graphics frame. The timestamp value may be a function of at least two of the plurality of per-bin timestamp values. The timestamp value may be generated by a central processing unit (CPU), the GPU, another processor, or any combination thereof. By using per-bin timestamp values to generate timestamp values for intra-frame timestamp requests, intra-frame timestamps may be supported by a graphics system that performs tile-based rendering.
US09449409B2
Some aspects relate to display of a plurality of graphical indicators on a display, each of the plurality of graphical indicators associated with a respective time interval, wherein, for each of the plurality of graphical indicators, a length of the displayed graphical indicator represents a value of a metric associated with the respective time interval of the graphical indicator, wherein first ends of each of the plurality of graphical indicators substantially trace an arc of a circle, and wherein, for each graphical indicator, a position of the first end of the graphical indicator on the arc of the circle indicates the respective time interval associated with the graphical indicator.
US09449405B2
According to some embodiments, for a set of elements a plurality of dependencies between source elements and target elements may be determined. It may also be determined that a first subset of elements are associated with a first group and that a second subset of the elements are associated with a second group. A first grouping shape, representing the first group, may be displayed on a user interface along with a second grouping shape representing the second group. Moreover, within the second grouping shape indications of the second subset of elements may be displayed. A dependency line may be displayed between the first grouping shape and the second grouping shape based on a dependency between a particular element in first subset and a particular element in the second subset, and the dependency line may intersect the second grouping shape at an intersection point. A dependency line may also be displayed from the intersection point to the indication representing the particular element in the second subset.
US09449401B2
A system, method, and article of manufacture for decompressing a bit stream of compressed data representing a plurality of image blocks. A plurality of bits of compressed input data relating to AC codes are retrieved from the bit stream and a first decoding operation executed to generate first output data. If sufficient space for the first output data exists, the first output data is outputted. Otherwise, a second decoding operation generates second output data. The first decoding operation includes performing a look-up in a look-up table based on the input data. A pointer is retrieved from a data segment that corresponds to the input data and a routine corresponding to the retrieved pointer is executed. The payload of the data segment is processed in the executed routine to generate the first output data.
US09449400B2
The subject of the present invention is a method for characterizing the distribution of the volumes of the surface of the skin of an individual, more particularly applicable in the evaluation of the effect of firming cosmetic products. This method uses the isolines and the gradients of the slopes computed from a three-dimensional representation of the surface of the skin.
US09449399B2
The present invention discloses recognizing methods of flaky or blocky prohibited articles, explosives or drugs. Specifically, the method for recognizing flaky prohibited articles, explosives or drugs comprises steps of: (1) reading in tomogram data of an object to be inspected for one tomogram; (2) pre-processing the tomogram data; (3) splitting the pre-processed tomogram data into a plurality of regions that have similar physical properties; (4) analyzing whether each of the split regions is a flaky region; (5) determining whether the flaky region recognized in the current tomogram can be merged with the flaky region detected from the previous tomogram, so as to form a flaky target; (6) determining whether each detected flaky target is complete or finished; (7) repeating steps (1)-(6) and processing each tomogram data layer by layer, until all of the tomogram data have been processed.
US09449393B2
A plane detection apparatus for detecting at least one plane model from an input depth image. The plane detection apparatus may include an image divider to divide the input depth image into a plurality of patches, a plane model estimator to calculate one or more plane models with respect to the plurality of patches including a first patch and a second patch, and a patch merger to iteratively merge patches having a plane model a similarity greater than or equal to a first threshold by comparing plane models of the plurality of patches. When a patch having the plane model similarity greater than or equal to the first threshold is absent, the plane detection apparatus may determine at least one final plane model with respect to the input depth image using previously merged patches.
US09449390B1
A position of a mirror in or on a vehicle can be detected by receiving a first image and a second image, and comparing the first image to the second image. The comparison is used for determining whether the vehicle mirror has moved from one of an extended state and a non-extended state.
US09449387B2
An inner wall extractor extracts the inner wall of a vital tissue based on medical image data. An outer wall extractor extracts the outer wall of the vital tissue based on the medical image data. A first raised portion calculator obtains information including the presence of a first raised portion in which the inner wall of the vital tissue is raised inward, based on the extracted inner wall of the vital tissue. A second raised portion calculator obtains information including the presence of a second raised portion in which the outer wall of the vital tissue is raised outward, based on the extracted outer wall of the vital tissue. A display controller superimposes the information of the first raised portion and the information of the second raised portion on an image of the vital tissue, and causes the image to be displayed on a display.
US09449385B2
An apparatus is provided to reconstruct an image using combined third-generation energy-integrating computed tomography projection data and fourth-generation spectrally resolved computed tomography projection data. The apparatus includes processing circuitry configured to obtain first projection data representing projection data from an energy-integrating detector; obtain second projection data representing projection data from a photon-counting spectrally discriminating detector; and reconstruct a first combined-system basis image and a second combined-system basis image by solving a combined-system matrix equation using the first projection data and the second projection data.
US09449381B2
Methods, systems, and media for generating and/or analyzing medical images having elongated structures are provided. In some embodiments, a method for analyzing medical images is provided, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of images, wherein each of the plurality of images includes a portion of an elongated structure; receiving a location of interest within a least one of the plurality of images; determining an orientation of the elongated structure in response to receiving the location of interest; adjusting image planes of each of the plurality of images to correspond with the orientation of the elongated structure; and causing the elongated structure to be displayed in the adjusted image planes.
US09449379B2
A inspection method for a solution discharge device includes a discharge step, a imaging step, an acquisition step, and a judgement step of identifying a main drop among deposits found to have a deposit surface area falling within a deposit surface area standard for each imaging area. An upper bound and a lower bound of the deposit surface area standard are determined according to timing of imaging in the imaging step, such that the values applied to deposits in an imaging area imaged at a second imaging time that is later than a first imaging time are smaller than those applied to deposits in an imaging area imaged at the first imaging time.
US09449377B2
One aspect of the invention provides an imaging method including: (a) acquiring a first fluorescent image of an object of interest impregnated with fluorescent nanodiamonds; (b) applying a magnetic field to the fluorescent nanodiamonds in order to decrease fluorescence of the fluorescent nanodiamonds; (c) acquiring a second fluorescent image of the object of interest; and (d) subtracting the second fluorescent image from the first fluorescent image to produce a resulting image. Another aspect of the invention provides an imaging method including: (a) applying a time-varying magnetic field to an object of interest impregnated with fluorescent nanodiamonds to modulate the fluorescence of the fluorescent nanodiamonds; (b) acquiring a plurality of fluorescent images of the object of interest; and (c) for each corresponding pixel in the plurality of fluorescent images, calculating a fluorescence intensity using a lock-in technique.
US09449374B2
Methods, devices, and computer program products for multi-frame termporal de-noising using image alignment are describe. In one aspect, a method of capturing an image using a multi-frame temporal de-noising is described. The method includes capturing a plurality of frames and aligning the captured plurality of frames with each other. The method further includes determining a subset of frames of the captured plurality of frames, the subset determined based upon a focus quality of each frame of the plurality of frames. Finally, the method includes combining the subset of frames into a single image using a motion filter to reduce blurriness and ghosting.
US09449371B1
To denoise video data, a temporal IIR filter is applied to video data. The temporally filtered frame is used as a guide to spatially filter the video data without introducing temporal artifacts. The spatially filtered frame can then be temporally filtered again using a temporal IIR filter. The results of the second temporal filtering can then be used as a guide to eliminate noise that the spatial filter did not eliminate.
US09449364B2
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an acquisition unit configured to acquire a moving image generated through imaging by an imaging apparatus having a view angle of 180° or more, and a virtual space generation unit configured to generate a three-dimensional virtual space including one or more objects having a curved inner surface and a curved outer surface, on the basis of a plurality of frame images included in the moving image. The virtual space generation unit generates the three-dimensional virtual space in a manner that, for each of the one or more objects, a frame image included in the plurality of frame images is mapped on at least one of the curved inner surface and the curved outer surface.
US09449362B2
Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for reducing storage access bandwidth requirements in retrieving a texture image from a storage for applying textures to rendered objects by rendering the texture image itself into the storage to reduce the storage space in which the texture image is stored and to arrange portions of the texture image to be retrieved with fewer accesses. A device to render images includes a processor component; a color analyzer to determine a clear color of a texture image stored as source texture data; and a rendering routine to render the texture image into a storage as reduced texture data, the rendering routine to selectively store in the reduced texture data pixel color values retrieved from the source texture data that are associated with pixels of the texture image not colored with the clear color. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09449356B2
Systems and methods of monitoring progress of delivery of a patient-specific medication are disclosed. A patient/medication identification (ID) device is provided on a package containing the medication, the patient/medication ID device comprising medication/patient information indicative of the medication and the patient. At least one location ID device is provided at a location, the at least one location ID device comprising a unique location ID associated with the location. The medication/patient information and the patient/medication ID are read. Delivery progress information indicative of a last-known read location where at least one of the medication/patient ID information and the unique location identifier was read is generated. The delivery progress information is stored in a database. The delivery progress information is accessed from the database in response to the request. A delivery status of the medication is indicated to the user.
US09449355B2
An exemplary method includes a chronic care solutions provider system 1) maintaining data representative of a chronic care plan for a patient with a chronic medical condition, 2) receiving data representative of a biometric reading acquired by a biometric device associated with the patient, 3) generating a plurality of actionable tasks based on the biometric reading and in accordance with the chronic care plan, and 4) concurrently presenting, within a patient portal accessible by the patient, a plurality of graphical task cards each representative of a distinct actionable task included in the plurality of actionable tasks. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.
US09449347B2
Systems and methods of processing expense receipts are provided. Images of expense receipts are received from a user device. The images are processed to obtain receipt information. A list of user expenses is generated based on the receipt information.
US09449346B1
Systems and methods for programmatic access of external financial service systems. An application proxy instance is created that simulates an application of an external financial service system. A normalized account request is received for financial data of the external financial service system for a specified account. The normalized account request is provided by an external financial application system by using a financial data API of the financial platform system. Responsive to the normalized account request, communication is negotiated with the external financial service system by using the application proxy instance to access the requested financial data from the external financial service system by using a proprietary Application Programming Interface (API) of the external financial service system. The financial data is provided to the external financial application system as a response to the normalized account request.
US09449344B2
Various embodiments of systems and methods to dynamically retrain prediction models based on real time transaction data are described herein. In one aspect, real time application data and status data associated with an entity are obtained. The obtained application data is inputted to a prediction model to produce an assessment of a risk. The obtained status data with the assessed risk are compared. When the obtained payment status data does not match the determined risk, the prediction model is retrained.
US09449343B2
A consumer user can perform a number of augmented reality shopping operations using a local client shopping application executable on a mobile device. Features related to implementations of the current subject matter can include, but are not limited to, the ability to view an augmented reality depiction of a shopping display using the mobile device and to execute various “e-commerce” functions accessible via the augmented reality depiction. Related methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and the like are described.
US09449340B2
A computer-implemented method is disclosed herein. The method includes the step of receiving, with a processing device of a commerce server, one or more shopping list signals from an electronic computing device to establish a shopping list of a plurality of items offered for sale in a retail store. The method also includes the step of transmitting, with the processing device, a first item signal to an augmented reality device worn by a consumer within the retail store. The first item signal corresponds to one of the plurality of items. The method also includes the step of receiving, with the processing device, one or more movement signals from the augmented reality device worn by the consumer corresponding to movement of the consumer. The method also includes the step of changing, with the processing device, from transmitting the first item signal to transmitting a second item signal different from the first item signal in response to the step of receiving the one or more movement signals.
US09449324B2
A TV with various licensable components including, e.g., an ATSC demodulator requests a license for a component upon detection of a physical condition implicating use of the component, such as plugging a cable into a particular port, or upon receipt of a user-input command requiring use of the component, such as a request to autoscan channels.
US09449318B2
Systems and methods are provided for facilitating payments between users of the system such as person-to-person payments using a payment hotspot. A payment hotspot or payspot may be generated by a first user device of a first user to facilitate a transfer of funds between the first user and the second user. The payspot may be a virtual payment portal that allows secure payment between the users without either of the users having to provide identifying information to the other user. The payspot may be accessed by the second user based on the proximity of a second user device of the second user to the first user device or the first user may provide an identification code of the payspot to the second user. The second user may access the payspot by communicating with a payment server with the second user device, through the first user device.
US09449313B2
Apparatuses and methods to facilitate customer to supplier funds transfer via premium messages. In one aspect, an apparatus to electronically transfer funds from a customer to a supplier includes: a server component connected to a network; and a database coupled to the server component. The server component is configured to: transmit a plurality of premium rate mobile terminating text messages to the mobile cellular telephone to effect a payment from the customer to the supplier after the customer has placed an order with a supplier; populate the database with an identification of the telephone number of the customer; populate the database with at least one transaction record related to the premium rate text messages; and facilitate access to the transaction record by the customer via the telephone number of the customer.
US09449309B2
Some example embodiments include a method for managing emails The method includes identifying a plurality of emails having a same subject The method also includes determining an inclusion relationship among the plurality of emails The method includes providing a user interface at an email client end The method includes graphically displaying on the user interface the plurality of emails and the inclusion relationship among the plurality of emails, wherein the graphically displaying of the inclusion relationship comprises identifying content that is duplicated across at least two emails within the plurality of emails.
US09449308B2
Embodiments provide visual programming constructs including icons representing conditions and actions for processing incoming data streams. A user selects icons corresponding to at least one of the conditions and at least one of the actions to define a rule. The selected condition relates to at least one element possibly present in the incoming data stream. Without compilation of the rule, at least one incoming data stream is analyzed based on the condition to detect a presence of the element within the incoming data stream. The action is performed based on the analysis. In some embodiments, formatting of the incoming data streams is altered according to the conditions and actions to personalize the incoming data stream.
US09449307B2
In one aspect, a method related to a limited-use electronic mail account. In addition to the foregoing, other method and system and program product aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present application.
US09449300B2
A multiple employer city government jobs posting system includes at least one server connected to a public wide area network that hosts a website accessible over the network. The website includes software that allows multiple city governments to register for use of the website, to post and manage job announcements and prospective job announcements and allows multiple prospective employees to register for use of the website, prepare and save electronic resumes, and submit the electronic resumes to the city governments in response to the prospective job announcements. Electronic job applications are provided and prospective employees can submit online to city governments. The website requires city governments to provide a city profile and links to city government web pages. The system allows prospective employees to search for posted job announcements, prospective job announcements, city hyperlinks and profiles. The system allows city governments to search electronic resumes and to contact prospective employees.
US09449296B2
A pharmacy kit is managed by defining multiple rules for determining whether a segment of a pharmacy kit is satisfactorily stocked, selecting at least one rule among the multiple rules according to a kit stocking contingency, an prompting a user to stock the segment of the pharmacy kit according to the selected at least one rule.
US09449295B2
An RFID device may include one or more manually activated RFID tags configured to transmit unique RFID signals in response to a manual activation thereof. A transaction may be defined upon receiving a confluence of multiple RFID signals at the same time, or at nearly the same time, at an RFID reader. A transaction may also be defined upon receiving multiple RFID signals or confluences of such signals in a predetermined series or sequence. The RFID devices may include a single manually activated RFID tag, or two or more of such tags, which may be individually activated by one or more manual interactions from a user.
US09449287B2
The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for human personality prediction by analyzing information collected from different sources such as social media, call detail record (CDR), email etc. using DISC (dominance, inducement, submission, and compliance) profiling and Big Five personality techniques (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are further capable of using a self-learning model which learns from user response to the prediction.
US09449285B2
A system for prospectively identifying media characteristics for inclusion in media content is disclosed. A neural network database including media characteristic information and feature information may associate relationships among the media characteristic information and feature information. Personal characteristic information associated with target media consumers may be used to select a subset of the neural network database. A first set of nodes, representing selected feature information, may be activated. The node interactions may be calculated to detect the activation of a second set of nodes, the second set of nodes representing media characteristic information. Generally, a node is activated when an activation value of the node exceeds a threshold value. Media characteristic information may be identified for inclusion in media content based on the second set of nodes.
US09449284B2
Methods and systems for displaying dependencies within data and illustrating differences between a plurality of data sets are disclosed. In accordance with one such method, a plurality of data sets are received for the generation of a plurality of dependency networks in accordance with a graphical modeling scheme. The method further includes receiving a selection of a value of a parameter that adjusts a number of differences between the dependency networks in accordance with the graphical modeling scheme. In addition, at least one version of the dependency networks is generated based on the selected value of the parameter. Further, the one or more versions of the dependency networks is output to permit a user to analyze distinctions between the dependency networks.
US09449278B2
Troubleshooting a technical problem on a user device using a network-based remediation platform. Receiving problem statements relating to technical problems associated with a user device, activating a domain of cases, assigning a score for the cases based on a scoring algorithm, and determining one or more remediation actions to suggest based on the score.
US09449276B2
According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a graphical model-driven system includes a graphical knowledge pattern system coupled to a modeler interface. The graphical knowledge pattern system has a graphical knowledge pattern library for the storage of a plurality of graphical knowledge patterns that are configured to classify information according to one or more information related criteria. The modeler interface is operable to receive a request for information from the user interface and retrieve information from one or more knowledge based systems according to one or more information related criteria of a particular graphical knowledge pattern.
US09449272B2
A method of frequency discrimination associated with the Doppler effect is presented. The method includes mapping a first signal to a first plurality of frequency bins and a second signal to a second plurality of frequency bins. The first signal and the second signal corresponding to different times. The method also includes firing a first plurality of neurons based on contents of the first plurality of frequency bins and firing a second plurality of neurons based on contents of the second plurality of frequency bins.
US09449270B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing structural plasticity in an artificial nervous system. One example method for altering a structure of an artificial nervous system generally includes determining a synapse in the artificial nervous system for reassignment, determining a first artificial neuron and a second artificial neuron for connecting via the synapse, and reassigning the synapse to connect the first artificial neuron with the second artificial neuron. Another example method for operating an artificial nervous system, generally includes determining a synapse in the artificial nervous system for assignment; determining a first artificial neuron and a second artificial neuron for connecting via the synapse, wherein at least one of the synapse or the first and second artificial neurons are determined randomly or pseudo-randomly; and assigning the synapse to connect the first artificial neuron with the second artificial neuron.
US09449265B1
An Integrated Circuit (IC) for an RFID tag includes at least two antenna ports for coupling to at least two antennas. The IC may be configured to determine the port from which it receives an input signal, and provide a first functionality if it receives the input from a first port and a second functionality if it receives the input from a second port. The IC may be configured to determine and/or offer a functionality based on the receiving port.
US09449260B2
Methods and systems are described for building and using a support vector machine for classifying a new sample. Training samples of one class or another class are used to build the machine by mapping the angle space to a set of angle vectors and, for each angle vector, finding candidate hyperplanes that are orthogonal to a vector at the angle vector and radiating from an origin point to the hyperplane. An optimal pair of candidate hyperplanes at one of the angle vectors is selected on the basis of the distance between the pair and the number of samples between them. The selection may be based on hard margin or soft margin approaches. A matrix-based implementation is presented. New training samples may be added, removed, or reclassified without requiring recalculation of the entire support vector machine.
US09449253B2
Embodiments relate to automatic rendering of images according to a painting style. A procedural painting system, controlled by one or more parameters is used. Classifiers are trained using machine learning to return a score related to how well an image fits a given painting style. Parameters of the procedural painting system are optimized to maximize the score returned by the classifiers, and an output image is rendered.
US09449251B2
An image processing apparatus that extracts colors of patches from a photographed image data of a chart image is provided. The image processing apparatus includes: a position extraction unit configured to extract information indicating a position of the chart image in the photographed image data; an acquisition unit configured to acquire information indicating a patch position of each patch images in the chart image based on the chart image; a setting unit configured to set an extraction range in accordance with the patch position of each of the patch images in the photographed image data based on the information; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the set extraction range fits inside each of the patch images; and a color extraction unit configured to extract a color of each patch image.
US09449250B1
Techniques for providing an image download protection may be provided. In particular, an original image may be protected from being downloaded by providing a substitute image in its place, identified by a plurality of layers that are configured to look substantially similar to the original image. However, when a user device attempts to quickly store the image (e.g., by right-clicking on the image and selecting “save”), the user device can be hindered from downloading the substantially similar looking image because only one layer may be stored on the user device. In some examples, the layer of the image looks substantially distinct from the original image, but the layer in combination with a plurality of other layers can look substantially similar to the original image.
US09449249B2
Various methods are described for improving the compression of location information during a visual search. One example method may comprise identifying one or more features of a source query image for a visual search. The method may further comprise generating a histogram map comprising one or more histogram bins, wherein the histogram map represents the location of the one or more features of the source query image. Additionally, the method may comprise generating a context for at least one of the one or more histogram bins, wherein the context comprises a first context value based on information related to one or more neighboring bins located a first distance from the respective histogram bin and a second context value based on information related to one or more neighboring bins located a second distance from the respective histogram bin. Similar and related methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are also provided.
US09449247B2
An input to set a correction contour line inside one region from an operator is received, and a contour line of the one region is corrected so that the correction contour line becomes a part of a contour line after correction. In this case, when a start point of the correction contour line is located on a unique contour line of each region and an end point thereof is located on a contour line shared by the two regions, the contour line of the other region is maintained, and when the start point is located on the shared contour line and the end point is located on the unique contour line, the contour line of the other region is also corrected so that the correction contour line becomes the shared contour line in the contour lines of the two regions after the correction.
US09449243B2
An image process apparatus is operative to obtain an image with high visual recognition property. A linear structural object incorporated into the original image is distinguished by two methods. A first method produces an evaluation image (P3) that evaluates whether each pixel is a linear structural object in the original image. A second method produces the difference image (P6) incorporating a linear structural object by obtaining the difference between the linear structural object incorporated into the original image and the portion other than the linear structural object. Since the linear structural object in the original image is extracted from an original image (P0) holding the contrasting density in the original image based on the two images related to the linear structural object produced by such different methods, and the apparatus provides an image having high visual recognition property.
US09449237B2
To make it possible to significantly reduce a burden on a user at a time of a classification of image files added or updated, for example, and thus facilitate association with other content data. An image detector/register (20) detects an image file that is unregistered or updated, and structures and manages a list of the image files. A face rectangular detector (21) detects a face rectangle in the image files detected, associates information on the face rectangle with the image file, and stores the information. A similar face classification section (22) calculates an amount of feature of the face rectangle, compares the amount of feature calculated with amounts of feature of different face rectangles already calculated and classified into groups, calculates a similarity between the face rectangle and the face rectangles of the different face rectangles in the respective groups, and classifies and manages the face rectangles in accordance with a result of the similarity calculation. A similar face display section (23) displays at least one image file including the face rectangle classified into the same group on a display screen.
US09449230B2
A solution is provided for object tracking in a sports video is disclosed. A determination whether a position of the object was identified in a previous video frame is made. If the position of the object was identified in the previous video frame, a new position of the object is identified in a current video frame based on the identified position of the object in the previous video frame. An expected position of the object is identified based on the identified position of the object in the previous video frame and a trained object classification model. A determination is made whether the new position is consistent with the expected position; if the new position is consistent with the expected position, the new position is stored as the position of the object in the current frame.
US09449229B1
The various embodiments described herein include methods, devices, and systems for categorizing motion event candidates. In one aspect, a method includes receiving and processing video frames that include a motion event candidate. The processing includes: (a) obtaining background factors corresponding to a background in at least a subset of the video frames; (b) utilizing the background factors to identify one or more motion entities; (c) for each motion entity, obtaining one or more representative motion vectors based on a motion track of the respective motion entity; (d) identifying one or more features in at least a subset of the video frames; and (e) aggregating the background factors, the representative motion vectors, and the features to generate motion features. The method further includes sending the motion features to an event categorizer, where the event categorizer assigns a motion event category to the motion event candidate based on the received motion features.
US09449228B1
Systems and methods are disclosed for determining the location where an image was captured. In general, a device such as a smartphone may capture one or more images from a location, such as images of buildings, street signs and the like, and a central system may compare the submitted images to images in an image library to identify matches. The location of the match may then be provided back to the smartphone.
US09449227B2
Systems/apparatuses and methods are provided for creating aerial images. A three-dimensional point cloud image is generated from an optical distancing system. Additionally, at least one two-dimensional street level image is generated from at least one camera. The three-dimensional point cloud image is colorized with the at least one two-dimensional street level image, thereby forming a colorized three-dimensional point cloud image. The colorized three-dimensional point cloud image is projected onto a two-dimensional plane, using a processor, thereby forming a synthetic aerial image.
US09449226B2
To provide an information processing device for outputting estimated nutrition value information on at least one dish or a drink through simplified processing. The information processing device holds as reference information a captured image of at least one dish or a drink and nutrition value information set for the item of food or drink included in the image so as to be correlated to each other, receives an image including at least one dish or a drink, and retrieves a plurality of images similar to the image received from among the reference information held. Further, the information processing device calculates a statistic of a plurality of nutrition value information pieces correlated to the plurality of respective images retrieved, and outputs the statistic calculated.
US09449216B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for detection of cast members in video content such as movies, television shows, and other programs. Data indicating cast members who appear in a video program is obtained. Each cast member is associated with a reference image depicting a face of the cast member. A frame is obtained from the video program, and a face is detected in the frame. The detected face in the frame is recognized as being a particular cast member based at least in part on the reference image depicting the cast member. An association between the cast member and the frame is generated in response to the detected face in the frame being recognized as the cast member.
US09449210B2
Method and system for detecting a correction pattern in a QR code are disclosed. In the detection of a correction pattern, coordinates of the correction pattern is at first roughly estimated according to the detected coordinates of the detection patterns and different QR code versions, then a square region is specified around the coordinates of the correction pattern, in which a search is performed repeatedly. Finally, in conjunction with the characteristic of the correction pattern itself, i.e., having a line segment meeting a predetermined ratio, the correction pattern may be accurately located in the predetermined area, without the need of searching patterns meeting a 1:1:1 ratio line by line in the entire QR code image.
US09449209B1
A 3D-structured pattern reading system, including: an object having a front face formed with a 3D-structured pattern for representing predetermined data; and a reading device including a camera unit and a liquid lens unit, wherein the liquid lens unit has a variable focal length controlled by the camera unit to scan the 3D-structured pattern to derive the predetermined data with the object being placed at a distance not exceeding a maximum limit of the variable focal length from the liquid lens unit.
US09449205B2
A system and method for identifying a specific RFID tag includes RFID reader circuitry, such as within an RFID reader, configured for sending and receiving RF signals to detect RFID tags and for obtaining signal parameter information associated with the RFID tags. Processing circuitry is configured for using the signal parameter information for one or more tags of the RFID tags and calculating a tag score for the one or more RFID tags. The processing circuitry is further configured for determining a specific RFID tag using the tag scores for the one or more RFID tags.
US09449196B1
A formal verification approach verifies data access and data propagation paths in a circuit design by proving the unreachability of path cover properties of the circuit design. A security path verification system receives an original circuit model of a circuit design, along with parameters identifying a first location within the circuit design that is a source of tainted data and a second location within the circuit design that is coupled to the first location. The security path verification system also receives a selection of portions of the circuit design to be excluded from the verification analysis. Using an abstracted version of the exclude portions, the security verification system generates a second circuit model of the circuit design for use in determining whether the tainted data can reach the second location from the first location within the circuit design.
US09449195B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a process for displaying a graphical indicator on an Internet enabled device which conveys relationships between an entity associated with a website and third party entities with respect to the website entity. One example method may include obtaining the relationship data from a credential service provider, using a portion of a uniform resource identifier as a key to access the relationship data on the credential service provider, and rendering a representation of the relationship data, wherein the rendering of the relationship data is performed in a graphical user interface of a web browser, and wherein the web browser displays a rendering of the representation of the relationship data such that there is a relationship between an entity associated with the uniform resource identifier and a third party entity.
US09449183B2
An online file storage system comprising individual secure file drawers and safes is disclosed for securely storing and sharing confidential files. The system comprises a web-based user interface, tools for setting up server-side encryption method and client-side encryption method, tools for synchronizing encryption between different computers, tools for uploading files, tools for tracking files, tools for granting the right of access to files to the owners of other safes, and tools for generating authenticity certificates for proving the upload time and the substance of the files in a future time.
US09449182B1
A method and apparatus for controlling access to documents retained by a document management and collaboration system is disclosed. The document management and collaboration system may generate one or more suggested privileges associated with one or more users. An access control policy may specify whether system-generated user privileges may be enforced. If they are enforced, access to one or more document may be made subject to the generated privileges.
US09449174B2
Disclosed are systems and methods for fingerprint analysis for anti-virus scanning. In an embodiment, a method of scanning for infected data items is disclosed. The method provides identifying a plurality of changed data items on a server machine. The method further provides, from a data system in communication with the server machine, performing a virus scan on the plurality of changed data items. The method further provides that the data system maintains a list of data items that the virus scan found to be infected.
US09449173B2
Various embodiments are directed enabling anti-malware software to co-exist with protective features of an operating system. An apparatus may include a processor component including an IDT register storing an indication of size of an IDT; a monitoring component to retrieve the indication and compare the indication to a size of a guard IDT in response to modification of the IDT register to determine whether the guard routine is to inspect the IDT and a set of ISRs; and a cache component to overwrite the IDT and set of ISRs with a cached IDT and cached set of ISRs, respectively, based on the determination and prior to the inspection to prevent the guard routine from detecting a modification by an anti-malware routine, the cached IDT and cached set of ISRs generated from the IDT and set of ISRs, respectively, prior to the modification. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09449155B2
A license consumption system includes an information device on which application software operates based on a given license; and a function providing server which grants the license to the information device. The function providing server stores the license and an operating condition for granting the license, when attempting to start the application software, the information device transmits to the function providing server a licensing request of the application software and an operating environment of the information device, and the function providing server compares an operating condition of the application software corresponding to the requested license with the operating environment of the information device, and grants the license to the information device when the operating environment satisfies the operating condition.
US09449146B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for evaluating cardiovascular treatment options for a patient. One method includes creating a three-dimensional model representing a portion of the patient's heart based on patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart or vasculature; and for a plurality of treatment options for the patient's heart or vasculature, modifying at least one of the three-dimensional model and a reduced order model based on the three-dimensional model. The method also includes determining, for each of the plurality of treatment options, a value of a blood flow characteristic, by solving at least one of the modified three-dimensional model and the modified reduced order model; and identifying one of the plurality of treatment options that solves a function of at least one of: the determined blood flow characteristics of the patient's heart or vasculature, and one or more costs of each of the plurality of treatment options.
US09449136B2
An integrated circuit layout structure and method thereof establishes cell rows with different cell heights for accommodating cells with corresponding heights, such that an area of an integrated circuit can be fully utilized. Therefore, it reduces an area wasted by an unnecessary uniform cell height, so as to improve integration of the integrated circuit.
US09449134B1
A method for dynamically reconfiguring logic circuits on an FPGA includes the steps of: classifying a general function into sets of static functions and modal functions to be implemented on the FPGA; for each of the modal functions, generating a list of one-active actions; devising a circuit topology including at least a subset of look-up tables (LUTs) such that any one of the modal functions can be implemented at a time on the devised circuit topology; for each modal function, associating the devised circuit topology with a controller adapted to load a LUT configuration corresponding to a prescribed one of the one-active actions; implementing a single fixed circuit on the FPGA including devised circuit topologies for each of the modal functions; and updating contents of LUTs corresponding to the LUT configuration in the devised circuit topology when a change in modal function to be implemented on the FPGA is required.
US09449122B2
A system for performing time conversions that includes a processor configured to generate a set of target time-series data from a set of source time-series data and a memory containing specification information relating to the set of target time-series data and also containing information relating to the set of source time-series data. The source time-series specification and the target time-series specification include time intervals between data values. The system also includes a time alignment algorithm used by the processor for converting the set of source time-series data to the set of target time-series data. The converting includes calculation of a set of cubic-spline interpolation constants and the cubic-spline constants.
US09449113B2
Browser storage management techniques are described. In one or more implementations, inputs are received at a computing device that specify maximum aggregate sizes of application and database caches, respectively, of browser storage to be used to locally store data at the computing device. For example, the inputs may be provided using a policy, by an administrator of the computing device, and so on. The maximum aggregate sizes are set of application and database caches, respectively, of browser storage at the computing device to the sizes specified by the inputs.
US09449103B2
Described are a conference management system and method for displaying a contact list of an application on a computing system. A contact list of an application is provided. Context information related to a user of the contact list is detected. At least one rule is applied to the context information. User contacts in the contact list arranged in a display order in response to the at least one rule.
US09449091B1
Professional and employee social networks and social media systems. Questions and answers are organized in different categories for easy selection to assist in the personality profile definition and subsequent behavioral model development. The Question-Answer creator, Matching Engine, and Personal and Group Relations Manager have the potential to provide career matching and career counseling services to individuals. Individuals using this infrastructure are able to determine career opportunities available to them in their Personal Matching Network and Group Matching Network. They are able to complete an assessment of their skills and provide these to employers with transparent or masked identity. This network determines the nodes that are enabled to be viewed at a certain degree of connectivity. The social media system may provide access to multiple groups or sub social networks based on match between profile data such as an email address domain name and an access control list.
US09449074B1
According to certain aspects, a computer system may be configured to obtain information indicating a plurality of groupings of data stored in a data source, the information indicating a number of data items included in each of the plurality of groupings; determine a first grouping of the plurality of groupings including one or more data items that have changed by comparing a first number of data items included in the first grouping and a historical first number of data items included in a corresponding local version of the first grouping; access data items included in the first grouping from the data source; compare the data items included in the first grouping to data items of the corresponding local version of the first grouping to determine which data items have changed; extract the changed data items of the first grouping; and forward the extracted data items to a destination system.
US09449073B2
A processor-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product measures and displays facets in context-based conformed dimensional data gravity wells. Conformed dimensional objects and synthetic context-based objects are parsed into n-tuples. A virtual mass of each parsed object is calculated, in order to define a shape of multiple context-based conformed dimensional data gravity wells that are created when data objects that are pulled into each of the context-based conformed dimensional data gravity well frameworks on a context-based conformed dimensional gravity wells membrane. Data from the multiple context-based conformed dimensional data gravity wells then populates nodes in a data model. A displayed appearance of the particular context-based conformed dimensional data gravity well is dynamically adjusted according to how many parsed synthetic context-based objects are pulled into the particular context-based conformed dimensional data gravity well.
US09449066B2
A Social Network Service (SNS) account management server transmits, when phone number change schedule information is received from a user terminal, a phone number change schedule message to user terminals respectively corresponding to friend accounts included in a friend list of the corresponding account; confirms, when authentication of the new SNS account is requested from the user terminal, whether or not the account is an account of the changed phone number for the new authentication request based on the previously transmitted phone number change schedule information; transmits, if the account is of the changed phone number, a phone number change notification message to user terminals corresponding to friend accounts included in a friend list of the account of the changed phone number; and updates the changed phone number of the user terminal in a database of each friend account.
US09449062B2
A computer device displays a graph of a data set. The computer device includes a hybrid data analysis and visualization tool to query implicit properties of data items in the data set that are not evident upon visual inspection of the graph of the data set itself. The hybrid data analysis and visualization tool combines the graph of the data set with analog representations of data query results for visual data exploration.
US09449060B2
Handling extract-transform-load (ETL) job mismatches as “exceptions.” Exception handling may include the following steps: (i) determining a mismatch while running an extract-transform-load job with the mismatch being a mismatch of at least one of the following types: design time information mismatch, and/or operational metadata mismatch; and (ii) responsive to determining the mismatch, handling the mismatch as an exception.
US09449058B2
Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for presenting instances of selected records in a vertical, side-by-side arrangement. According to one embodiment, presenting a view of data from a table of a database can comprise presenting a first tabular view of the data. In this first tabular view, each of a plurality of records of the table can be presented as a row of the tabular view and each field of each record can be presented as a column. Additionally, each column can include a heading associated with and identifying the fields of the records. A selection of two or more records of the plurality of records can be received and a second tabular view of the data of the selected records can be generated. The headings and rows from the first tabular view can comprise columns of the second tabular view.
US09449053B2
In some examples, systems and techniques can determine a respective visit likelihood for each respective destination of a plurality of destinations based at least in part on a respective distance between the respective destination and a geographic location from a location history associated with a user and a comparison between a time associated with the geographic location and a visit likelihood distribution across time. The systems and techniques can then sort at least some of the plurality of destinations. In other examples, systems and techniques can determine whether a user is likely to visit a place during a future instance of a timeslot based at least in part on a location history associated with the user. The systems and techniques can then output information relating to the place prior to the beginning of the future instance of the timeslot.
US09449052B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for distributing content are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes accessing data specifying a plurality of search queries. Content distribution campaigns (“campaigns”) in which distribution of at least one content item is conditioned on a distribution parameter matching one of the search queries are identified. Two or more similar campaigns are identified, and a search query that matches a distribution parameter in at least one of the similar campaigns is identified as a candidate content distribution parameter. A trend score for the candidate content distribution parameter is determined based on a change in a submission rate of search queries that match the candidate distribution parameter. Suggestion data suggesting the candidate content distribution parameter as an additional content distribution parameter for at least one of the similar campaigns is provided based on the trend score.
US09449047B2
A method for dynamically modifying a database schema in a streaming database management system receives a new database schema, compares the new schema to an existing schema, identifies the differences between the new schema and the existing schema, and applies the identified differences to the database in a single transaction, thereby producing a database organized according to the new database schema.
US09449046B1
A constant-vector computation system and method are provided that exploit constant-value blocks during data processing in a database. The system and method may be implemented in any data processing system that processes data at a vector or block granularity.
US09449039B2
A distributed data warehouse system maintains data blocks on behalf of clients, and stores primary and secondary copies of data blocks on different disks or nodes in a cluster. The data warehouse system may back up data blocks in a key-value backup storage system. In response to a query targeting a data block previously stored in the cluster, the data warehouse system may determine whether a consistent, uncorrupted copy of the data block is available in the cluster (e.g., by applying a consistency check). If not (e.g., if a disk or node failed), the data warehouse system may automatically initiate an operation to restore the data block from the backup storage system, using a unique identifier of the data block to access a backup copy. The target data may be returned in a query response prior to restoring primary and secondary copies of the data block in the cluster.
US09449038B2
A distributed data warehouse system may maintain data blocks on behalf of clients in multiple clusters in a data store. Each cluster may include a single leader node and multiple compute nodes, each including multiple disks storing data. The warehouse system may store primary and secondary copies of each data block on different disks or nodes in a cluster. Each node may include a data structure that maintains metadata about each data block stored on the node, including its unique identifier. The warehouse system may back up data blocks in a remote key-value backup storage system with high durability. A streaming restore operation may be used to retrieve data blocks from backup storage using their unique identifiers as keys. The warehouse system may service incoming queries (and may satisfy some queries by retrieving data from backup storage on an as-needed basis) prior to completion of the restore operation.
US09449026B2
Sketch-based image search may include receiving a query curve as a sketch query input and identifying a first plurality of oriented points based on the query curve. The first plurality of oriented points may be used to locate at least one image having a curve that includes a second plurality of oriented points that match at least some of the first plurality of oriented points. Implementations also include indexing a plurality of images by identifying at least one curve in each image and generating an index comprising a plurality of oriented points as index entries. The index entries are associated with the plurality of images based on corresponding oriented points in the identified curves in the images.
US09449025B1
Subjective user-generated data can be utilized to determine visually similar items. Various item descriptors can be determined for a pair of items, which can provide an objective measure of visual aspects of those items, such as how similar those items are in color, style, material, or texture. The ways in which users interact with data for those items, either explicitly or implicitly through user behavior, can provide a level of perceived visual similarity on behalf of these users. The perceived, subjective visual similarity data from the users can be used to adjust a weighting of the various item descriptor factors for a pair of items, or otherwise adjust a visual similarity score, such that items selected as being visually similar more accurately reflect the subjective opinions of the users.
US09449024B2
Kinship between electronic files among personal networked devices may be ascertained between the files by determining an operational relationship between the files and with a similarity measurement.
US09449020B2
A method for a smart card to process a CAP file, including the following steps: a smart card establishing a connection with an external terminal, performing initialization, receiving an APDU command corresponding to a CAP file, storing the data contained in the APDU command in a communication cache area, judging the value of a first state flag bit of the card, and performing different operations with respect to the value of a different second state flag bit. The method for a smart card to process a CAP file provided herein can effectively utilize the storage resources of a smart card and improve the download speed of the CAP files and ensure the integrity of the contents in the CAP files and the smart card.
US09449018B1
A method includes receiving, by a data processing apparatus, a plurality of file operation requests, each file operation request including a priority, a deadline, and an operation type and representing a request to perform an operation on at least one file maintained in a distributed file system; identifying, by the data processing apparatus, a group of file operation requests to be executed together from the plurality of file operation requests, the identification based at least in part on at least one of: the file operations in the group of file operations being directed to a same storage system, or file operations in the group of file operations sharing a common operation type; and sending a request to execute the group of file operation requests to a system configured to perform the group of file operation requests.
US09449010B2
In order to manage stale data on a network of computer systems, a file harvester agent may be configured with a list of stale data files to be deleted. The file harvester agent may be deployed to the computer systems of a network. When executed in a computer system, the file harvester agent searches the file system of the computer system to locate any files or data indicated in the file list. Any located data files are deleted. Once the agent has finished processing the file list on a computer system, the agent can copy or replicate itself to other computer systems of the network in accordance with a pre-configured itinerary.
US09449007B1
A method is used in controlling access to XAM metadata. An object derived from a set of content is stored in an object addressable data storage system. The object has an object identifier. Storage system specific metadata is added to the object. The storage system specific metadata is accessible when the object is retrieved using the object identifier. Based on sub-object access control, a retrieving application is allowed to have access to only a subset of the object.
US09448994B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for rating participants based on emotive feedback. In one aspect, a method includes identifying a first resource that includes a form associated with a particular action, identifying, using one or more computers, a second resource that references the form of the first resource, identifying anchor text in the second resource that references the form, and adding the identified anchor text to a set of phrases that is used for generating an action initiation grammar associated with the particular action.
US09448991B2
Context-based corrections of voice recognition results are provided by displaying text-based result from a speech-to-text conversion operation on a display screen of an electronic client device. One or more element categories associated with corresponding portions of the text-based result are identified. Graphical icons corresponding to the element categories are also displayed on the display in areas where the corresponding portions of the text-based result are also displayed. A user selection of one of the graphical icons is then detected, and an edit operation is enabled for the portion of the text-based result associated with the selected graphical icon. An updated version of the text-based results is then displayed on the display.
US09448988B2
An authoring tool for authoring wrap packages of cards. The authoring tool includes a set of tools that enable an author to create a new card of a wrap selected from a variety of card templates. In various embodiments, the card templates include textual, video, image/photo, document, gallery, chat, widgets, global components, location/GPS, transact, appointment, and end-of-wrap card templates. When a particular card template is selected, the template is then duplicated to create the new card. Thereafter, the author may author the card to include various components, content, attributes, layouts, styles triggers and/or behaviors. As the cards of the wrap are created, the authoring tool provides the author with the ability to order the sequence of the cards. The authoring tool thus enables authors to selectively create wrap packages that include media that conveys a narrative story and application functionality.
US09448971B2
A content management system (CMS) includes a rendering mechanism that receives a desired rendering action for a selected object in the repository, determines from defined rendering rules which elements in the selected object correspond to the desired rendering action, determines which of a plurality of applications corresponds to the desired rendering action, and renders one or more elements in the selected object that correspond to the desired rendering action in the application corresponding to the desired rendering action. The rendering mechanism may insert rendering markers in an object that define a type of data for each element in the object. In addition, nested elements may be rendered by invoking multiple applications that are active at the same time to simultaneously render different types of data.
US09448962B2
In one embodiment, a method includes determining, relative to a base user experience (UX), one or more modifications to one or more graphical elements of a user interface (UI) for display to a particular user. The modifications are configured to personalize the UI individually to the particular user and based on a computational determination of one or more categories applicable to the particular user. The method also includes applying the modifications to the UI; and providing the UI as modified for display to the particular user.
US09448961B1
A computer-implemented method includes identifying, with a computer system that has a network interface, one or more primary categories of content from a social networking system that are of primary relevance to a user of a computing device, as compared to one or more secondary categories of content from the social networking system that are of lower importance to the user of the computing device; causing content from the primary categories to be downloaded from the social networking system to the computing device automatically and without user interaction with a social networking application that is arranged to display the downloaded content; and causing content from the secondary categories to be downloaded from the social networking system to the computing device separately from the content from the primary categories, and in response to a defined user interaction with a social networking application that corresponds to the social networking system.
US09448958B2
Network resource management system utilizing physical network identification for bridging operations
The disclosed network resource management system employs a hardware configuration management (HCM) information handling system (IHS) that may couple to a single administered IHS or to multiple administered IHSs via an administrative network. An HCM tool in the HCM IHS may generate, modify and store hardware configuration information, including physical network identifications (PNet IDs), in an HCM database and share the HCM database with the administered IHSs. The administered IHS may be a bridging IHS. A bridging tool may extract hardware configuration information, including PNet IDs, from the HCM database. The bridging tool may utilize the hardware configuration information, including PNet IDs, to enable the bridging IHS to bridge networks internal to the bridging IHS with networks external to the bridging IHS.
US09448955B2
A method of controlling interrupts in the process of data transmission used for transmitting data between an information processing device and a storage device having a flash memory includes: receiving a write request sent by the information processing device using the storage device; in response to the write request, writing data to the flash memory; sending a message to the information processing device, to indicate completion of the write request, and calculating the number of times of sending messages to the information processing device within the predetermined time interval; in which, if the number is larger than the predetermined threshold, stopping the sending messages to the information processing device.
US09448953B2
The present invention provides a computer system including a CPU and a memory subsystem connected via a system bus to communicate with each other. The computer system 100 includes a bus monitor 50 connected to the system bus 10 to monitor the frequency of access requests from the CPU 20 to the memory subsystem 30, and a latency changing means 60 for sending a control signal to the memory subsystem to change the latency of the access requests in response to the frequency of the access requests received from the bus monitor.
US09448952B2
A method includes receiving first data at a first I/O module from a second I/O module, where the first data defines a programmable device configuration. The method also includes configuring a programmable device in the first I/O module based on the first data, where the programmable device is associated with a first I/O channel of the first I/O module. The method further includes receiving second data at the first I/O module from the second I/O module, where the second data is associated with a second I/O channel of the second I/O module. In addition, the method includes synchronizing the first I/O channel with the second I/O channel based on the second data.
US09448947B2
In an embodiment, a stacked package-on-package system has a memory die and a logic die. The memory die comprises a first memory and a second memory, each operated independently of the other, and each having an inter-chip interface electrically connected to the logic die. The logic die has two independent clock sources, one to provide a first clock signal to the first memory, and the other clock source to provide a second clock signal to the second memory.
US09448943B2
A computer-implemented method for accessing data stored in a virtual tape storage (VTS) system, according to one embodiment, include receiving a mount request to access at least one host data record in a VTS system, issuing a locate command to position the sequential access storage medium having the logical volume stored therein to about a position where the physical block having at least a portion of the requested at least one host data record therein is located; creating a partial virtual volume in a tape volume cache; and copying the physical block having the at least a portion of the requested at least one host data record therein from the sequential access storage medium to the partial virtual volume in the tape volume cache. An amount of data copied from the logical volume to the partial virtual volume is less than the amount of data in the logical volume.
US09448942B2
A data processing system having a first processor, a second processor, a local memory of the second processor, and a built-in self-test (BIST) controller of the second processor which can be randomly enabled to perform memory accesses on the local memory of the second processor and which includes a random value generator is provided. The system can perform a method including executing a secure code sequence by the first processor and performing, by the BIST controller of the second processor, BIST memory accesses to the local memory of the second processor in response to the random value generator. Performing the BIST memory accesses is performed concurrently with executing the secure code sequence.
US09448935B2
Techniques are disclosed for performing memory access operations. A texture unit receives a memory access operation that includes a tuple associated with a first view in a plurality of views. The texture unit retrieves a first hash value associated with a first texture header in a plurality of texture headers, where the first texture header is related to the first view. The texture unit retrieves a second hash value associated with a second texture header in the plurality of texture headers, where the second texture header is related to a second view. The texture unit determines whether the first view is potentially aliased with the second view, based on the first and second hash values. If so, then the texture unit invalidates a cache entry in a cache memory associated with the second texture header. Otherwise, the texture unit maintains the cache entry.
US09448932B2
A system for caching data in a distributed data processing system allows for the caching of user-modifiable data (as well as other types of data) across one or multiple entities in a manner that prevents stale data from being improperly used.
US09448931B2
An endian conversion method is executed by a CPU, and includes executing a program that includes endian conversion setting; and performing, when accessing an address of a main memory indicated in the endian conversion setting, endian conversion of data specified by the address of the main memory.
US09448919B1
A data storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory comprising a plurality of memory segments. A first write command is received from a host comprising first data and a first logical block address (LBA). The first data is written to a first memory segment and the first LBA is first mapped to a first physical block address (PBA) of the first memory segment. During a garbage collection operation, the first data is copied from the first memory segment to a second memory segment and the first LBA is second mapped to a second PBA of the second memory segment. After the garbage collection operation, a read command is received from the host comprising the first LBA. A selection is made between the first and second memory segments, and at least part of the first data is read from the selected memory segment.
US09448898B2
A service appliance is installed between production servers running service applications and service users. The production servers and their service applications provide services to the service users. In the event that a production server is unable to provide its service to users, the service appliance can transparently intervene to maintain service availability. To maintain transparency to service users and service applications, service users are located on a first network and production servers are located on a second network. The service appliance assumes the addresses of the service users on the second network and the addresses of the production servers on the first network. Thus, the service appliance obtains all network traffic sent between the production server and service users. While the service application is operating correctly, the service appliance forwards network traffic between the two networks using various network layers.
US09448896B2
Torn write mitigation circuitry determines if a write operation to memory is in progress at or about a time of power loss. In response to the write operation being in progress at or about the time of the power loss, the torn write mitigation circuitry causes torn write data and metadata to be stored to a non-volatile cache. The torn write data comprise data left in a degraded or uncorrectable state as a result of the loss of power. The metadata describe the torn write data.
US09448895B2
A technique for failure monitoring and recovery of a first application executing on a first virtual machine includes storing machine state information during execution of the first virtual machine at predetermined checkpoints. An error message that includes an application error state at a failure point of the first application is received, by a hypervisor, from the first application. The first virtual machine is stopped in response to the error message. The hypervisor creates a second virtual machine and a second application from the stored machine state information that are copies of the first virtual machine and the first application. The second virtual machine and the second application are configured to execute from a checkpoint preceding the failure point. In response to receipt of a failure interrupt by the second application, one or more recovery processes are initiated in an attempt to avert the failure point.
US09448891B2
A method of performing a data write on a storage device comprises instructing a device driver for the device to perform a write to the storage device, registering the device driver as a transaction participant with a transaction co-ordinator, executing a flashcopy of the storage device, performing the write on the storage device, and performing a two-phase commit between device driver and transaction co-ordinator. Preferably, the method comprises receiving an instruction to perform a rollback, and reversing the data write according to the flashcopy. In a further refinement, a method of scheduling a flashcopy of a storage device comprises receiving an instruction to perform a flashcopy, ascertaining the current transaction in relation to the device, registering the device driver for the device as a transaction participant in the current transaction with a transaction co-ordinator, receiving a transaction complete indication from the co-ordinator, and executing the flashcopy for the device.
US09448890B2
A method and a processing device are provided for sequentially aggregating data to a write log included in a volume of a random-access medium. When data of a received write request is determined to be suitable for sequentially aggregating to a write log, the data may be written to the write log and a remapping tree, for mapping originally intended destinations on the random-access medium to one or more corresponding entries in the write log, may be maintained and updated. At time periods, a checkpoint may be written to the write log. The checkpoint may include information describing entries of the write log. One or more of the checkpoints may be used to recover the write log, at least partially, after a dirty shutdown. Entries of the write log may be drained to respective originally intended destinations upon an occurrence of one of a number of conditions.
US09448878B2
A method for serial interface clock domain crossing includes identifying a data communication command received over a serial interface. An address is decoded to determine whether the address falls within a direct latch address range of a register bank. Data is communicated over the serial interface. A multiplexed output clock is generated, for writing to and reading from the register bank, based on at least one of a current system operating state and a refresh control signal from a host processor.
US09448874B2
An apparatus and method that prevent a bit error in a static random access memory (SRAM)-based Physically Unclonable function (PUF). The method for preventing an error in a PUF includes selecting any value, from a physically unclonable function based on a volatile memory device, as an input value, and checking a response corresponding to the selected input value, classifying cells having a plurality of bits corresponding to the response depending on frequency of error occurrence, calculating a number of white cells, in which an error does not occur, from classified results, and determining whether the number of white cells is greater than a preset threshold number of white cells, and selecting an input value of the physically unclonable function based on results of determination.
US09448872B2
Systems and methods of utilizing a hardware state data logger to debug in silicon. One or more hardware state data loggers are incorporated into a circuit design and fabricated along with the functional units of the circuit into a fabricated chip. When a problem is encountered during testing of the fabricated chip, a hardware state data logger is enabled to capture and store with a final sequence of events that led to the error. The stored data is then extracted from the fabricated chip and used to determine the underlying cause of the failure.
US09448869B2
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to error detection for files. In aspects, before allowing updates to a clean file, a flag marking the file as dirty is written to non-volatile storage. Thereafter, the file may be updated as long as desired. Periodically or at some other time, the file may be marked as clean after all outstanding updates to the file and error codes associated with the file are written to storage. While waiting for outstanding updates and error codes to be written to storage, if additional requests to update the file are received, the file may be marked as dirty again prior to allowing the additional requests to update the file. The request to write a clean flag regarding the file may be done lazily.
US09448867B2
A method is described that includes detecting that a memory access of system management mode program code is attempting to reach program code outside of a protected region of memory by comparing a target memory address of a memory access instruction of the system management program code again information that defines confines of the protection region. The method also includes raising an error signal in response to the detecting.
US09448854B2
Exemplary method, system, and computer program product embodiments for full exploitation of parallel processors for data processing are provided. In one embodiment, by way of example only, a set of parallel processors is partitioned into disjoint subsets according to indices of the set of the parallel processors. The size of each of the disjoint subsets corresponds to a number of processors assigned to the processing of the data chunks at one of the layers. A transition function is devised from the indices of the set of the parallel processors at one time steps to the indices of the set of the parallel processors at a following time step.
US09448846B2
A computer system having a plurality of processing resources, including a sub-system for scheduling and dispatching processing jobs to a plurality of hardware accelerators, the subsystem further comprising a job requestor, for requesting jobs having bounded and varying latencies to be executed on the hardware accelerators; a queue controller to manage processing job requests directed to a plurality of hardware accelerators; and multiple hardware queues for dispatching jobs to the plurality of hardware acceleration engines, each queue having a dedicated head of queue entry, dynamically sharing a pool of queue entries, having configurable queue depth limits, and means for removing one or more jobs across all queues.
US09448845B2
Embodiments include methods, systems and computer program products for providing an extendable job structure for executing instructions on an accelerator. The method includes creating a number of data descriptor blocks, each memory location addresses and a pointer to a next of the number of the data descriptor block. The method further includes creating a last data descriptor block having memory location addresses and a last block indicator. Based on determining that additional memory is required for executing instructions on the accelerator, the method includes modifying the last data descriptor block to become a data extender block having a pointer to one of one or more new data descriptor blocks and creating a new last data descriptor block.
US09448838B2
There is disclosed a method for controlling a terminal including starting to record tasks, creating a task list by recording the tasks, when a plurality of tasks are implemented sequentially, ending the recording of the task, wherein the task list comprises an interrupt task configured to pause the task implementation and to allow the next task implemented when there is an additional input, such that the task list configured of the series of the tasks used by the user frequently may be created and the task list may be implemented automatically, only to perform the functions used frequently performed quickly.
US09448831B2
Systems and methods may provide for identifying an assigned address space of a virtual machine (VM), wherein the assigned address space is associated with a graphics memory. Additionally, the assigned address space may be ballooned to disable usage by the VM of a remaining address space in the graphics memory that is not assigned to the VM. In one example, a view of the assigned address space by the VM may be identical to a view of the assigned address space by a virtual machine monitor (VMM) associated with the VM.
US09448822B2
A system and method for providing an abstraction of the VM environment for management and control of one or more VMs without being tied to a particular hardware platform or construct.
US09448821B2
The present document discloses a method and system for realizing virtual machine mobility, comprising: in a process of establishing communication with a second virtual machine, a first virtual machine subscribing to a media access control (MAC) address change notification of the second virtual machine from an address resolution server (ARS) through a first virtual switch in a physical server where the first virtual machine is located; after the second virtual machine migrates, a second virtual switch in a physical server, to which the second virtual machine migrates, registering a corresponding relationship between an IP address of the second virtual machine and a MAC address of the second virtual switch itself to the ARS; and the ARS updating the MAC address corresponding to the IP address of the second virtual machine, and notifying the first virtual machine of the updated MAC address according to the subscription of the first virtual machine.
US09448818B2
One or more of the classes is defined using an attribute or keyword that indicates that the one or more classes may be defined as singleton classes or non-singleton classes (a class that may be instantiated more than once). A compiler system converts the class to a singleton class when the compiler system receives a command or request indicating that the class is to be defined as a singleton class. Various optimizations may be performed when one or more of the classes in the source code are defined as singleton classes. The compiler system may not convert the class to a singleton class when the compiler system receives a command or request indicating that the class is to be defined as a non-singleton class.
US09448813B2
A method and apparatus is provided for operating a mobile device having stored thereon a plurality of applications (“apps”) that are each configured to capture an image. The method includes receiving first user input data requesting invocation of a given one of the applications. The given application is launched by the user. After launching the given application a user interface is presented which serves as an entry point through which ail of the image capture applications stored on the mobile device are made available to the user.
US09448812B2
Schema information is provided with transmission of a data object. When a data object is converted to a transmission format, schema information for the object type is added to the transmission format element. The unmarshalling code uses the schema information to update a schema registry at the receiving end. The schema registry may then be used as a tool for converting the transmission format element back to the data element. The next time an object of that object type is sent to the recipient, the schema information is not added to the transmission format element.
US09448792B2
Techniques are described herein that are capable of performing automatic risk analysis of software. An automatic risk analyzer may determine correlations between binaries of the software and source files of the software, between the source files and functions (i.e., sub-routines) of the software, between changes to source code of the software and defects, new features, and/or feature enhancements in the software, between attributes of the software (e.g., attributes associated with the changes to the source code), etc. at various time instances. The automatic risk analyzer may compare the correlations corresponding to a first time instance and the correlations corresponding to a second time instance to determine any of a variety of temporal relationships regarding underlying factors, including but not limited to new feature(s), feature enhancement(s), defect(s), churn rate, code coverage, code complexity, etc. The automatic risk analyzer may determine risk(s) for the software based on the temporal relationships.
US09448785B1
Disclosed are systems and method or updating full disk encryption (FDE) software on a computer. An example method comprises: blocking operations of the FDE software on a boot drive of the computer; installing one or more components of the updated FDE software; deploying an updated pre-boot compatibility verification component of updated FDE software; rebooting the computer and executing, before booting of an operating system, the updated pre-boot compatibility verification component; determining, by the updated pre-boot compatibility verification component, a compatibility of the boot disk with the updated FDE software without decrypting and encrypting the boot disk of the computer by the updated FDE software; if the boot disk is determined to be compatible with the updated FDE software, authenticating a computer user and booting the operating system of the computer; and unblocking one or more operations of the updated FDE software on the boot drive.
US09448774B2
A data processing and displaying apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus and method may visualize and display interactive contents to be easily recognized where a number of nodes is large or branches are complex for visualized graph-typed input data. The data processing apparatus and method may also selectively display a portion of nodes or conditions desired by a user based on a particular user input.
US09448773B2
In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided systems and methods for implementing a uniform application user interface across a hosted computing environment, such as an on-demand or cloud computing environment which utilizes multi-tenant database technologies, client-server technologies, traditional database technologies, or other computing architecture in support of the hosted computing environment. According to a particular embodiment such a system includes a processor and a memory to execute instructions at the system; a foundation layer to define a plurality of components; the plurality of components, each to define one or more features to be consumed by an arbitrary application built from the features; wherein the one or more features are to each incorporate one or more of the components defined by the foundation layer and further wherein each of the one or more features have visibility to one or more interfaces available for the respective features to connect with but have no visibility to or about any arbitrary application that will consume them; a glue logic layer to link the features to the arbitrary application built from the features, wherein the arbitrary application built from the features has a one-way view of the features consumed through the glue logic layer without permitting the features visibility to or about the arbitrary application built; and wherein the arbitrary application built from the features is to execute within the host organization. Other related embodiments are disclosed.
US09448759B2
A method and assembly for sharing information in a conference space, the assembly comprising a display configuration including presentation surface area juxtaposed within the conference space for viewing by an audience, the surface area including at least first and second adjacent presentation sub-spaces, a processor programmed to perform the steps of presenting an interface on the surface area useable to generate session images within at least one of the sub-spaces, the interface including a panel section in which a separate panel icon for each of the session images created during a session is presented, the interface further including a separate space on the surface area associated with each of the sub-spaces, the interface facilitating selection and dragging of panel icons to locations associated with the sub-spaces to control the images presented in each of the sub-spaces, wherein, when a panel icon is dragged to a space, an image currently associated with the sub-space is replaced at the sub-space.
US09448749B1
A method for determining imaging device locations within an organization includes determining a plurality of recent users of an imaging device based upon a user log thereof; identifying an assigned location of each of the plurality of recent users in the organization via communication with a user location directory; and associating a location of the imaging device to an area in the organization that is common among the assigned locations of the recent users.
US09448746B2
A control method for controlling a printing system that includes selectively executing an inline job and an offline job, where the inline job is for executing post-processing on a sheet printed by a printing apparatus by using a post-processing apparatus and the offline job is for executing post-processing on a sheet without executing printing by the printing apparatus by using the post-processing apparatus. The method includes detecting that a sheet has been set in a paper feed unit, setting whether to execute an offline job that uses the sheet if the sheet is detected as being set in the paper feed unit, and controlling the post-processing apparatus to automatically start post-processing corresponding to the offline job in a case where both the system is set to execute the offline job and the system detects that the sheet has been set in the paper feed unit.
US09448745B2
A method of writing host data to a storage device including a central processing unit (CPU), a self-organized fast release buffer (FRB), and a non-volatile memory, the storage device being in communication with a host, the method including receiving a command from the CPU to write the host data to a location in the non-volatile memory, the host data being associated with a first plurality of codewords (CWs), allocating space in a buffer memory of the FRB for storage of the first CWs, storing the first CWs into the allocated space in the buffer memory, extracting data from the stored first CWs, organizing the extracted data and the host data into a second plurality of CWs, transferring a second CWs to a physical addresses in the non-volatile memory, and sending the plurality of physical addresses to the CPU to update a logical-to-physical table.
US09448727B2
Provided is a technique for improving file load times with dynamic storage usage. A file made up of data blocks is received. A list of storage devices is retrieved. In one or more iterations, the data blocks of the file are written by: updating the list of storage devices by removing any storage devices with insufficient space to store additional data blocks; generating a performance score for each of the storage devices in the updated list of storage devices; determining a portion of the data blocks to be written to each of the storage devices based on the generated performance score for each of the storage devices; writing, in parallel, the determined portion of the data blocks to each of the storage devices; and recording placement information indicating the storage devices to which each determined portion of the data blocks was written.
US09448723B2
A jog control for navigating a media program having a plurality of frames and a method for using the navigation control is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the control comprises a radial control at one of a plurality of user-selectable radial distances from a center of the jog control, the radial distance indicative of a jog control scale factor, wherein selection of the radial control selects and fixes the jog control scale factor until the control area is unselected, and wherein rotation of the selected radial control about a center of the jog control commands navigation through the plurality of media program frames at a rate determined by the selected jog control scale factor and an angular rate of the selected radial control about the center of the jog control.
US09448718B2
After marketplace listings are returned via a search, an indication of two or more of the marketplace results to pin and compare is received. A travel cost for any pinned local marketplace result to compare is calculated by determining a travel distance between the electronic device and the location in the pinned local marketplace result to compare and estimating a cost associated with traveling the travel distance. A true purchase price is calculated for each pinned local marketplace result to compare by adding the price for the product, the sales tax, and the travel cost. A true purchase price for each pinned online marketplace result to compare by adding the price for the product, the sales tax, and the shipping cost, these true purchase prices are then displayed side-by-side in the user interface.
US09448711B2
It is disclosed a method for displaying previously visited hypermedia pages in a hypermedia browser application executing on a mobile communication terminal comprising a display. The method comprises the steps of: rendering a first hypermedia page on said display, accepting a first input to modify rendering of said first hypermedia page according to a first content display mode, rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first content display mode, accepting a second input to render a second hypermedia page, rendering a second hypermedia page, accepting a third input to again render said first hypermedia page, and rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first content display mode.
US09448706B2
Some embodiments provide a system that facilitates graphical object creation in an electronic design automation (EDA) application. During operation, the system uses a cursor to obtain a sequence of points from a user for creating a graphical object in a layout. Next, the system detects a loop in the graphical object based at least on the sequence of points and a current position of the cursor. Finally, the system modifies the sequence of points to remove the loop from the graphical object.
US09448704B1
One or more embodiments of a digital content system allow a user to conveniently search and/or navigate through a collection of digital content items. In particular, a user can interact with a client device to search for and identify one or more digital content items within a collection of digital content items. For example, the digital content system may provide a photo from a collection of photos via a graphical user interface. The digital content system can receive a user input identifying a selection of one or more visual features within the photo. Based on the selected visual feature(s), the digital content system may identify photos from the collection of photos that include the identified visual feature(s) and provide access to the identified photos via the graphical user interface.
US09448703B2
Information processing device, method, and storage medium for excluding a region selection in a form
An information processing device includes a first region extracting unit that extracts a first region from a background image, the first region which should not be hidden in the background image; a second region extracting unit that extracts a second region from a form to be composed with the background image, a position of the second region being fixed in the form; and a controller that, when a form is selected and when a background image and a form are composed, if the composite meets a condition relating to overlap of the first region in the background image and the second region in the form, provides control so that a form including the second region is not allowed to be selected.
US09448695B2
A method, system, and computer program product for selecting web page content based on user permission for collecting user-selected content within web pages (FIG. 4, 400) may comprise accessing web page data associated with a currently viewed web page (FIG. 4, 400), the web page data comprising a popular selection of content on the currently viewed web page (FIG. 4, 408) (505), with an electronic client device, presenting the popular selection of content of the currently viewed web page (FIG. 4, 400) to a user (535), and prompting the user to agree to the use of the user's selected content within a number of web pages in exchange for use of the popular selection of content on the web page (FIG. 4, 400). The web page content is selected, based on the user's response.
US09448694B2
Technologies are provided in embodiments to provide a graphical user interface to navigate applications on a mobile device. At least one embodiment is configured to receive a request to display a rotatable menu of applications on a computing device and to generate the rotatable menu comprising a first set of one or more content cards, where at least one of the content cards of the first set represents at least one application in the computing device. The embodiment is also configured to provide the rotatable menu in a first orientation for display on the computing device. Embodiments may be configured to receive an indication of input to rotate the rotatable menu, rotate the rotatable menu to a second orientation, and cause, at least in part, actions that result in display of the rotatable menu in the second orientation.
US09448687B1
A device may be configured to generate a display of a content in a view region. The view region has a given boundary, and the content is provided for display at a first size. The device may be configured to receive a size-adjusting input for adjusting a size of the content. The device may be configured to cause the size of the content to change from the first size to a second size. The device may be configured to receive an indication of ending the size-adjusting operation, and in response to receiving the indication, cause the size of the content to change to a third size that is between the first size and the second size. In addition, or alternative, to receiving the size-adjusting input, the device may also receive a position-adjusting input and, in response, adjust the position and/or size of the content within the given boundary.
US09448686B2
A mobile terminal including a touchscreen configured to display a keypad including keys for inputting and sending a chat content to at least one chat counterpart; a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate the chat content with the at least one chat counterpart; and a controller configured to receive a touch action on a specific key of the keypad, determine if the touch action corresponds to a preset touch manner that is different than a single short touch action on the specific key, send or input the chat content if the touch action is the single short touch action on the specific key, and provide an editing function of the chat content rather than sending or inputting the chat content if the touch action corresponds to the preset touch manner that is different than the single short touch action.
US09448682B2
A computer-implemented method for selectively displaying a content to a user of a social network, including maintaining in a computer system for each user of the social network a profile including data on individual preferences and/or interests of the user and the significance of each preference and/or interest for the user; providing input data including content; receiving a request of the user for displaying content; and selectively displaying filtered content to the user in response to the request, in which the filtered content is displayed in accordance with the profile of the user.
US09448676B2
The present invention provides a touch display driving circuit, a driving method and a display device. The touch display driving circuit comprises a data writing control unit, a storage unit, a touch sensing unit, a driving compensation control unit, a driving unit, a light-emitting control unit and a light-emitting unit. The data writing control unit is used for controlling a voltage signal of a data line, the storage unit is used for providing a voltage for the driving unit, the light-emitting, control unit is used for controlling the light-emitting unit, the driving unit is used for providing a touch detecting current and a driving current, the driving compensation control unit is used for compensating a voltage value of the storage unit, and the touch sensing unit is used for outputting the touch detecting current and changing the voltage value of the storage unit.
US09448673B2
Provided is a touch detection device, including: a plurality of resonant circuits arranged along a touch detection surface; an input signal line for inputting, to each of the plurality of resonant circuits, an input signal for causing resonance; and a detecting unit for detecting frequencies of a plurality of output signals output from the plurality of resonant circuits.
US09448665B2
A display device includes: a first display panel; a second display panel facing the first display panel and including an optical sensor; an electro-optical active layer positioned between the first display panel and the second display panel; and a sensing gate driver including a first sensing gate driver and a second sensing gate driver, the sensing gate driver configured to transmit a sensing gate signal to the optical sensor, in which a first sensing gate off voltage applied to the first sensing gate driver is substantially the same as a second sensing gate off voltage applied to the second sensing gate driver.
US09448660B2
A flexible display apparatus includes a flexible display, a sensor which senses bending of the flexible display, and a controller which determines a screen activation region and a screen inactivation region from among a plurality of display regions of the flexible display based on the sensed bending, and displays a predetermined screen on the screen activation region.
US09448650B2
A display device for punching and/or pressing machines. The display device can be constructed to be modular and of compact size so as to be positioned as desired on new and existing machine designs. The display device is formed with displays, which are configurable to provide a plurality of qualitative and quantitative information. The display device can be configured to be function with consoles of punching and pressing machines so as to be one or more of a supplemental device, an interfacing device, and an interactive device.
US09448635B2
Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are provided for use with a system configured to detect gestures. In one embodiment, a method includes detecting a first user gesture meeting a first condition to enter a mode of operation. The method may further include exiting the mode of operation. The method may further include detecting a second user gesture meeting a second condition to reenter the mode of operation based on the detecting the first user gesture, wherein the second condition is less stringent than the first condition.
US09448634B1
A system and method for providing rewards to a user in a virtual space based on the user performance of gestures is disclosed. Gesture parameters may be obtained for physical actions performed by virtual space users in the real world. Gestures and corresponding gesture commands in the virtual space may be identified based on the gesture parameters. User performance of an identified gesture may be qualified by one or more gesture metrics. The gesture metrics may be determined based on the obtained gesture parameters. Access to reward content may be provided to the user based on user performance of the identified gestures as qualified by the determined gesture metrics.
US09448633B2
A method, system, and computer program product for moving objects such as a display window about a display frame by combining classical mechanics of motion. A window nudging method commences by receiving a discrete user interface gesture from a human interface device such as a mouse click or a keystroke, and based the discrete user interface gesture, instantaneously accelerating the window object to an initial velocity. Once the window is in motion, then the method applies a first animation to animate the window object using realistic motion changes. Such realistic motion changes comprise a friction model that combines sliding friction with fluid friction to determine frame-by-frame changes in velocity. The friction model that combines sliding friction with fluid friction can be applied to any object in the display frame. Collisions between one object and another object or between one object and its environment are modeled using a critically-damped spring model.
US09448621B2
A method comprising receiving visual identification information from a separate apparatus, identifying the separate apparatus based, at least in part, on camera visual information and the visual identification information, determining that the separate apparatus is perceivable through a see through display, and causing display of program interaction information on the see through display such that the program interaction information corresponds with at least part of the separate apparatus viewable through the see through display based, at least in part, on the identification of the separate apparatus is disclosed.
US09448617B2
System and method embodiments are provided for messaging-based System-on-a-chip (SoC) power gating. The embodiments enable fine granularity SoC power gating without introducing significant latency and substantially maximizes SoC power reduction. In an embodiment, a method in a first SoC resource for messaging-based power gating includes receiving at the first SoC resource a wakeup notification message (WNM) from a second SoC resource, wherein the WNM comprises a time at which a result message from the second SoC resource is expected to arrive at the first SoC resource; determining with the first SoC resource a wake-up time according to the time at which the result message from the second SoC resource is expected to arrive at the first SoC resource; setting a wake-up time timer to expire at the wake-up time; and waking up the first SoC resource when the wake-up time timer expires when the first SoC resource is asleep.
US09448610B2
A vehicle mount computer having a configurable behavior controlled by a vehicle's ignition switch. A user can configure the computer to perform an action, switch modes, or execute a software application in response to the ignition switch being pressed or the position of the ignition switch being adjusted. For example, the computer can be configured to switch to a standby mode or hibernation mode, shutdown, prompt the user to select an action, or do nothing in response to the ignition switch being placed in an off position. The ignition switch can be electrically coupled to an input of the computer so that the computer's operating system or another application can monitor the status of the ignition switch. The operating system or application can cause the computer to perform the configured response upon detecting a change in the ignition switch's position or an actuation of the ignition switch.
US09448605B2
A redundant power supply system providing rapid start of backup includes at least one primary power supply, at least one secondary power supply and a power integration panel. The secondary power supply includes a voltage regulation and energy saving element which has regulation potential after the secondary power supply being booted up. When the secondary power supply is triggered to shut down and the regulation potential is lower than a low voltage judgment criterion, it enters a standby working mode in which the secondary power supply is restarted for a transient working period to charge the voltage regulation and energy saving element. The power integration panel is electrically connected to the primary power supply and the secondary power supply, and inspects output status of the primary power supply and the secondary power supply in regular conditions to determine to boot up or shut down the secondary power supply.
US09448604B2
A powered device is electronically connected to power sourcing equipment (PSE), to receive voltage signals from the PSE. The powered device comprises a rectifier unit, a recognition unit, a control unit, a converter and a powered circuit. The recognition unit identifies that the PSE is an Ethernet PSE or a DC PSE. The control unit controls whether the control unit output a negative voltage signal output by the rectifier unit, according to a positive voltage signal output by the rectifier unit and a identified result output by the recognition unit. The converter converts the negative voltage signal and the positive voltage signal to a working voltage of the powered circuit, to drive the powered circuit. To feed power by a single interface and identify that the PSE is the Ethernet PSE or the DC PSE, according to a simple circuit architecture.
US09448602B2
Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with traditional approaches to cooling information handling resources are provided. A method for cooling information handling resources, may include conveying a flowing fluid proximate to one or more information handling resources such that the flowing fluid is thermally coupled to the one or more information handling resources and heat generated by the one or more information handling resources is transferred to the flowing fluid. The method may also include conveying the flowing fluid to a cooling unit such that heat is transferred from the flowing fluid.
US09448596B2
A system can include a display unit that includes extremely high frequency (EHF) radio frequency band communication circuitry; a base unit that includes extremely high frequency (EHF) radio frequency band communication circuitry; a mechanism that releasably couples the display unit and the base unit to define a coupled state; a hinge that orients the display unit with respect to the base unit in the coupled state; and a polymer ribbon waveguide that interconnects the communication circuitry of the display unit and the communication circuitry of the base unit in the coupled state. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
US09448595B2
An electronic device may includes a housing including a portion that is transitionable between a pop-up state and a non-pop-up state, a locker for holding the portion of the housing in the non-pop-up state, and a pop-up device for popping up the portion of the housing when the locker releases the portion of the housing such that transitioning between the pop-up and non-pop-up states is allowed.
US09448588B2
A holder for an electronic device includes a head configured to removably receive and securely hold the electronic device. The head includes a first portion and a second portion that is slidably movable with respect to the first portion for adjustment to a size of the electronic device, wherein the first and second portions are biased toward each under a force of a spring. A damper is operatively positioned between the first portion and the second portion so as to dampen the movement of the second portion with respect to the first portion under the bias of the spring.
US09448578B1
An interface supply circuit includes a power supply unit, a first and a second control circuit, and a detection unit coupled to an interface. The detection unit is configured to output a first control signal upon detecting a corresponding device is inserted into the interface and output a second control signal upon detecting no device is inserted into the interface. The first control circuit is configured to switch off in event receiving the first control signal and switch on in event receiving the second control signal. The second control circuit is configured to switch on in event the first control circuit is switched off and switch off in event the first control circuit is switched on. The power supply unit is configured to supply power to the interface after the second control circuit is switched on and be disconnected from the interface after the second control circuit is switched off.
US09448576B2
Methods of powering a radio that is mounted on a tower of a cellular base station are provided in which a direct current (“DC”) power signal is provided to the radio over a power cable and a voltage level of the output of the power supply is adjusted so as to provide a substantially constant voltage at a first end of the power cable that is remote from the power supply. Related cellular base stations and programmable power supplies are also provided.
US09448558B2
Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to measuring, via at least one sensor, at least one of a damage and a compromise associated with a vehicle, determining at least one of a region and a location of the at least one of a damage and a compromise and a level of the at least one of a damage and a compromise, and adapting an operational envelope for the vehicle based on the determined at least one of a region and a location of the at least one of a damage and a compromise and the level of the at least one of a damage and a compromise.
US09448550B2
Method for managing the energy of a building, comprising one or more occupants likely to be present therein, each determining a comfort desire for a given period, characterized in that it comprises a step for determining an overall comfort parameter for a given period on the basis of the comfort desire of each occupant present in the area of the building in the given period, this global comfort parameter being used to manage the energy on the basis of the comfort desires of the only occupants present in the building.
US09448546B2
The embodiments described herein include one embodiment that provides a control method including determining a linear approximation of a pre-determined non-linear model of a process to be controlled, determining a convex approximation of the nonlinear constraint set, determining an initial stabilizing feasible control trajectory for a plurality of sample periods of a control trajectory, executing an optimization-based control algorithm to improve the initial stabilizing feasible control trajectory for a plurality of sample periods of a control trajectory, and controlling the controlled process by application.
US09448537B2
A reversible object holder. More specifically, the invention relates to a reversible coin holder for securely clamping various sizes of coins.
US09448525B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a transfer device, a first charging device, a static elimination device, a second charging device, a light exposure device, and a development device. The transfer device transfers a developer image of a first polarity onto a recording medium from the image bearing member by receiving a transfer bias of a second polarity. The first charging device charges a region of the image bearing member that has undergone transfer to the first polarity by receiving a first charging bias of the first polarity. An absolute value of the first charging bias is greater during charging of a first region of the image bearing member than during charging of a second region of the image bearing member. The first region includes a trailing end contact section. The second region does not include the trailing end contact section or a leading end contact section.
US09448524B2
Provided is an image forming apparatus, including first and second drive portions respectively transmitting a drive force to first and second photosensitive drums, the first and second drive portions each including: a transmission gear rotated by the drive force; an idler gear rotated in mesh with the transmission gear; and a drive gear rotated in mesh with the idler gear. When a meshing angle of the idler gear is an angle from a meshing position between the idler gear and the transmission gear to a meshing position between the idler gear and the drive gear with respect to a rotation center of the idler gear, the meshing angles of the idler gears of the first and second drive portions are substantially equal to each other, and rotational phases of the idler gears of the first and second drive portions match with each other.
US09448518B2
An image forming apparatus includes an operation panel to preview an image page by page. The image forming apparatus stores a feature of an image of a page previewed on the operation panel and extracts a regularity from the stored feature of the image. When a feature of an image of a page previewed on the operation panel does not agree with the extracted regularity, the image forming apparatus displays a menu for correcting the feature that does not agree.
US09448504B2
A roller (1) is provided, which is free from imaging failures even if being used as a developing roller, for example, in combination with a toner including highly spherical toner particles or a lower-melting-point toner. The roller (1) includes a tubular body made of a crosslinking product of a rubber composition containing a crosslinkable rubber component, and having a heat conductivity of 0.4 to 2.0 W/m·K and a Type-A durometer hardness of 50 to 70.
US09448494B2
A gas knife configured to dry a surface in an immersion lithographic apparatus is optimized to remove liquid by ensuring that a pressure gradient is built up in the liquid film on the surface being dried.
US09448492B2
A multilayer mirror for use in device lithography is configured to reflect and/or pattern radiation having a wavelength in the range of about 6.4 nm to about 7.2 nm. The multilayer mirror has a plurality of alternating layers of materials. The plurality of alternating layers of materials include first layers of materials and second layers of materials. The second layers have a higher refractive index for the radiation than the first layers. The materials of the first layers and the materials of the second layers are mutually chemically unreactive at an interface therebetween at temperatures less than 300° C. This may allow the mirrors to have a narrow boundary region of intermingled materials from alternating layers between the layers, for example of 0.5 nm or less in width, which may improve sharpness of the boundary region and improve reflectivity.
US09448491B2
A system of an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is disclosed. an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system includes an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) reflection-type mask having a patterned flare-suppressing-by-phase-shifting (FSbPhS) layer disposed over a patterned absorption layer. The system also includes a radiation to expose the EUV mask and a projection optics box (POB) to collect and direct the radiation that reflects from the EUV mask to expose a target.
US09448489B2
The invention relates to an optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and to a microlithographic exposure method. An optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises at least one mirror arrangement having a plurality of mirror elements, wherein these mirror elements can be adjusted independently of one another for changing an angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement, and a polarization-influencing optical arrangement which is arranged downstream of the mirror arrangement in the light propagation direction, wherein the polarization-influencing optical arrangement reflects a light beam incident on the arrangement in at least two reflections, which do not occur in a common plane, for at least one angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement.
US09448486B2
Provided are compositions and methods for trimming a photoresist pattern. The photoresist pattern trimming composition comprises: a matrix polymer comprising a unit formed from a monomer of the following general formula (I): wherein: R1 is chosen from hydrogen, fluorine, C1-C3 alkyl and C1-C3 fluoroalkyl; R2 is chosen from C1-C15 alkylene; and R3 is chosen from C1-C3 fluoroalkyl; an aromatic acid that is free of fluorine; and a solvent. The compositions and methods find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
US09448485B2
[Object] To provide a composition enabling to form a fine negative photoresist pattern free from troubles, such as, surface roughness, bridge defects, and resolution failure; and also to provide a pattern formation method using that composition.[Means to Solve the Problem] A fine pattern-forming composition is used for miniaturizing a resist pattern by fattening said pattern in a process of formation of a negative resist pattern using a chemically amplified resist composition. The fine pattern-forming composition comprises a polymer comprising a repeating unit having a structure of the following formula (A), (B) or (C): and a solvent. This composition is cast on a negative resist pattern obtained by development with an organic solvent developer, and then heated to form a fine pattern.
US09448482B2
There is provided a pattern forming method including (1) forming a film by an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition containing a resin (A) capable of increasing the polarity by the action of an acid so that a solubility thereof in a developer containing an organic solvent is decreased, (2) exposing the film, (3) developing the film by a developer including an organic solvent to form a negative pattern having a space part obtained by removing a part of the film and a residual film part which is not removed by the developing, (4) forming a resist film for reversing a pattern, on the negative pattern, so as to be embedded in the space part in the negative pattern, and (5) reversing the negative pattern into a positive pattern by removing the residual film part in the negative pattern by using an alkaline wet etching liquid.
US09448480B2
The present invention provides a novel resist underlayer film formation composition for lithography. A resist underlayer film formation composition for lithography comprising: a polymer having a structure of Formula (1) at a terminal of a polymer chain; a cross-linking agent; a compound promoting a cross-linking reaction; and an organic solvent; (where R1, R2, and R3 are each independently a hydrogen atom, a linear or branched C1-13 alkyl group, a halogeno group, or a hydroxy group; at least one of R1, R2, and R3 is the alkyl group; Ar is a benzene ring, a naphthalene ring, or an anthracene ring; two carbonyl groups are bonded to respective two adjacent carbon atoms of Ar; and X is a linear or branched C1-6 alkyl group optionally having a C1-3 alkoxy group as a substituent).
US09448478B2
A chemically amplified positive-type photosensitive resin composition for thick-film application capable of forming a resist pattern having a nonresist section with a good rectangular cross-sectional shape under a low exposure level even when a resist pattern having a film thickness of 10 μm or more is formed. A chemically amplified positive-type photosensitive resin composition for thick-film application comprising an acid generator and an organic solvent, in which an acrylic resin is added that contains a constituent unit derived from an acrylic acid ester comprising an —SO2-containing cyclic group or a lactone-containing cyclic group as a resin whose solubility in alkali increases under the action of acid.
US09448467B2
A system and method comprising providing a layout of an integrated circuit design, generating, by a processor, a plurality of multiple patterning decompositions from the layout, determining a maximum mask shift between the first mask and the second mask and simulating a worst-case performance value for each of the plurality of multiple patterning decompositions using one or more mask shifts within a range defined by the maximum mask shift. Further, each of the plurality of multiple patterning decompositions comprise patterns separated to a first mask and a second mask of a multiple patterning mask set.
US09448458B2
An optical communication device has a pair of Mach-Zehnder optical modulators; a voltage monitor configured to monitor a voltage component acquired by optical-to-electric conversion of combined light output from the Mach-Zehnder optical modulators; a power monitor configured to monitor a power component acquired by square law detection of the optical-to-electric converted combined light from the Mach-Zehnder optical modulators; a first controller configured to control a substrate bias voltage or a driving amplitude applied to one of two waveguides of each of the Mach-Zehnder optical modulators based upon an output of the power monitor, and a second controller configured to control the substrate bias voltage or the driving amplitude applied to the other of the two waveguides of each of the Mach-Zehnder optical modulator based upon an output of the voltage monitor.
US09448456B2
A liquid crystal optical device has a layered structure with split liquid crystal layers having alignment surfaces that define in a liquid crystal material pre-tilt angles of opposite signs. Four liquid crystal layers can provide two directions of linear polarization. In the case of a lens, the device can be a gradient index lens, and the alignment surfaces can have a spatially uniform pre-tilt.
US09448453B2
A liquid crystal display device includes upper and lower pixels; gate lines in electrical connection with the adjacent pixels and extending in a row direction, and data lines which cross the gate lines; and a reference voltage line including a vertical portion which passes through the adjacent pixels, and horizontal portions which alternately extend from the vertical portion. Each of the adjacent pixels includes first and second thin film transistors (TFTs) each in electrical connection with a gate line and a data line which correspond to a respective pixel; and a pixel electrode including a first subpixel electrode in connection with an output terminal of the first TFT, and a second subpixel electrode in connection with an output terminal of the second TFT. The horizontal portions of the reference voltage line are in electrical connection with the second subpixel electrodes of the adjacent pixels.
US09448450B2
A display device is provided with high definition and improved display capabilities. The display device includes a plurality of pixels, each of the plurality of pixels being arranged with a thin film transistor and a condenser; wherein the condenser includes a protruding portion arranged at a certain height above a substrate, a first electrode arranged on the protruding portion, an insulation film arranged on the first electrode, and a second electrode arranged on the insulation film.
US09448445B2
An electrode structure comprises an introduction electrode and a body electrode, and a first isolating layer and a second isolating layer arranged between the introduction electrode and the body electrode. A first via hole is formed in the first isolating layer, a second via hole is formed in the second isolating layer. The hole axes of the first via hole and the second via hole are on the same straight line passing through the body electrode, so that a part of the body electrode is exposed via the first and the second via holes. The introduction electrode is electrically connected with the body electrode through the part of the body electrode. The diameter of the first via hole is smaller than that of the second via hole, and the first isolating layer extends to completely cover the hole wall of the second via hole.
US09448442B2
To improve the reliability of a display device, a liquid crystal display device includes a substrate having a back surface, a substrate having a front surface opposing the back surface, a display functional layer arranged between the substrate and the substrate, and a sealing section SL that adhesively fixes the substrates around the display functional layer in a plan view. The sealing section SL includes a member PS extending along an outer edge of the display functional layer and sealing materials adjacently arranged on both sides of the member PS and continuously surrounding the periphery of the display functional layer in a plan view. The member PS includes a plurality of portions PS1 having a height TK1 and a plurality of portions PS2 arranged among the plurality of portions PS1 and having a height TK2 smaller than the height TK1.
US09448424B2
An optical module connected to an optical fiber for transmitting light includes: a substrate; a ferrule that is formed from a material capable of transmitting therethrough light having a predetermined wavelength, accommodates an end of the optical fiber, and is fixed on the substrate with a fixing agent cured by being irradiated with the light capable of passing through the material; and a semiconductor chip that is disposed on the substrate and modulates light emitted from the end of the optical fiber accommodated in the ferrule.
US09448419B2
The process of manufacturing of a coated spectacle frames is characterized by the following three main manufacturing processes: A—Bonding of at least one outer layer of coating material (A, C) on at least an inner layer of material having a structural function (B). The result is a coated panel (D); B—Cutting of the spectacle frame (E) from that covered panel (D); C—Bending and shaping of the previously cut spectacle (F). The layers that form the particular coated panel (D) may origin from different combinations of different materials, as indicated in the description and claims.
US09448418B2
A zoom lens includes: a positive first lens group; a negative second lens group; and a positive third lens group. The first through third lens groups move such that the distance between the first lens group and the second lens group is greater, and the distance between the second lens group and the third lens group G3 is smaller at a telephoto end compared to a wide angle end. The third lens group is constituted by a positive 3-1 lens group and a 3-2 lens group. The 3-1 lens group is fixed when camera shake occurs and during focusing operations. The 3-2 lens group includes a shake preventing lens group that moves in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis to correct camera shake, and a focusing lens group provided toward an image side of the shake preventing lens group that moves along the optical axis during focusing operations.
US09448415B2
An image projector includes a spatially-interleaved polarization converter having an input and output lenslet array, and may transmit light thereon as converted linearly-polarized light. The image projector also includes a lens unit and a projector assembly having a pixel array and being capable of reflecting the converted light. The output lenslet array, the lens unit, and the projector assembly form an imaging system that images the input lenslet array to a top surface of the pixel array. A method for converting light to an output light beam having a single common polarization state includes transmitting the light as a plurality of beamlets each having an s-polarized component and a p-polarized component, splitting each beamlet into a transmitted p-polarized beamlet and a reflected s-polarized beamlet, converting each p-polarized beamlet to a first s-polarized output beamlet, and spatially interleaving the s-polarized beamlets with the first s-polarized output beamlets.
US09448410B2
The invention relates to a device for converting laser radiation (21) into laser radiation having an M profile, comprising separating means (34), which can separate the laser radiation (21) into at least two partial beams (22, 23) which, at least in some sections or partially, move in different directions or are arranged offset from one another, and optics means (38), which can introduce the at least two partial beams (22, 23) in a working plane and/or can, at least in some sections, superimpose the at least two partial beams (22, 23) in the working plane, wherein the separating means (34) comprise a lens array (39, 41) having at least two lenses (40, 42).
US09448403B2
An optical scanner includes: a movable portion that is provided with a light reflection portion and is swingable around a first axis; a frame body portion that is swingable around a second axis; a first shaft portion that connects the movable portion and the frame body portion; a fixed portion; a second shaft portion that connects the frame body portion and the fixed portion; a strain detection element that is disposed in the second shaft portion to detect deformation of the second shaft portion; a first signal processing portion to which a detection signal of the strain detection element is input and that outputs a signal based on bending deformation of the second shaft portion; and a second signal processing portion to which a detection signal of the strain detection element is input and that outputs a signal based on torsional deformation of the second shaft portion.
US09448401B2
A layered micro-electronic and/or micro-mechanic structure comprises at least three alternating electrically conductive layers with insulating layers between the conductive layers. There is also provided a via in a first outer layer, said via comprising an insulated conductive connection made of wafer native material through the layer, an electrically conductive plug extending through the other layers and into said via in the first outer layer in order to provide conductivity through the layers, and an insulating enclosure surrounding said conductive plug in at least one selected layer of said other layers for insulating said plug from the material in said selected layer. It also relates to micro-electronic and/or micro-mechanic device comprising a movable member provided above a cavity such that it is movable in at least one direction. The device has a layered structure according to the invention. Methods of making such a layered MEMS structure is also provided.
US09448394B2
Various aspects as described herein are directed to apparatuses, methods, and systems including a sandwiched arrangement having a light-access port, a scanning mirror, an optics region, and a spacer. The spacer provides a light-directing optical region that separates the scanning mirror and the optics region, and includes a mirrored surface that reflects light between the light-access port and the optics region. Additionally, the optics region includes a curved-shaped window that provides a field of view by communicating beams of light between a target region. The optics region also includes a curved-shaped mirror having a surface that reflects light between the scanning mirror and the mirrored surface. Light beams, as conveyed between the light-access port and the curved-shaped window, are folded by being reflected off the scanning mirror, the curved-shaped mirror and the mirrored surface.
US09448389B1
A camera can include a housing, two lenses, a prism-shaped reflector, a reflector support surface, and an optical sensor. The two lenses are coupled to the housing in substantially opposing directions. The prism-shaped reflector has two parallel surfaces and three additional surfaces comprising: a first and a second reflective surfaces and a support plane. The reflector support surface is bonded to the prism-shaped reflector at the support plane. The optical sensor includes a surface upon which two non-overlapping image circles are concurrently projected; one from each of the two lenses. Each image circle results from a light path from a respective one of the two lenses being reflected off one of the first and second reflective surfaces onto the surface of the optical sensor.
US09448384B2
The invention relates to an arrangement for mounting an optical element, in particular in an EUV projection exposure apparatus, comprising a weight force compensation device for exerting a compensation force on the optical element, wherein the compensation force at least partly compensates for the weight force acting on the optical element, wherein the weight force compensation device has a passive magnetic circuit for generating a force component of the compensation force acting on the optical element, and wherein at least one adjustment element is provided via which the force component generated by the passive magnetic circuit is continuously adjustable.
US09448375B2
Embodiments of the present invention recite a data collector with expanded functionality and a method of enhancing revenue generation using a data collector with expanded functionality. In one embodiment, a central unit of a data collector is configured to receive a replaceable unit such that any one of a variety of replaceable units can be configure to be attached to said central unit.
US09448374B2
Optical communication apparatus includes a PCB, a photoelectric unit electrically connected to the PCB, a supporting member positioned on the PCB, a coupler supported on the supporting member, and an optical fiber unit. The coupler optically couples the photoelectric unit to the optical fiber unit. The supporting member defines a through stepped hole having a larger first hole and a smaller second hole. The supporting member includes a step portion between the first hole and the second hole. The second hole is closer to the PCB than the first hole. One of the supporting member and the coupler defines a plurality of wedged positioning holes, the other of the supporting member and the coupler comprises a plurality of wedged positioning poles corresponding to positioning holes, and the coupler is connected to the supporting member by inserting the positioning poles into the corresponding positioning holes.
US09448372B2
An optical coupling element, for coupling a light emitting element to a light transmission element, includes a light guide element. The light guide element has a light incident part, a total reflection surface and a light output part. The light incident path is formed at the light incident part corresponding to the light emitting element. The light reflection path is formed at the light output part corresponding to the light transmission element. The first included angle θ1 is formed between the light incident path and the total reflection surface and is not equal to 45 degrees. The light emitting element is adapted to emit a beam toward the total reflection surface along the light incident path by passing through the light guide element from the light incident part. Moreover, the beam is reflected by the total reflection surface and is outputted toward the light transmission element.
US09448366B2
A connector housing apparatus for allowing field engineers or technicians to run cable point to point, and to protect the connection in an environmentally sealed, crush resistant housing is provided. The connector housing apparatus includes a connector housing body, two sealing boots, two sealing elements, two seal nuts, a fiber optic adapter, a fiber optic adapter insert that holds the fiber optic adapter and two fiber optic pigtails connected to two fiber optic cables. Each boot has two seal points. The first seal is between the fiber optic cable, the sealing element, the seal nut and the tapered portion of the sealing boot. The second seal is between the snap finger on the sealing boot and the receiving catch on the connector housing body.
US09448364B2
An optical waveguide lens includes a substrate, and a planar waveguide and a media grating formed on the substrate in sequence. The media grating includes a first group of gratings located adjacent to the light source and a second group of gratings away from the light source. The first group of gratings and the second group of gratings each include a plurality of strip-shaped films arranged in parallel. The first group of gratings and the planar waveguide under the first group of gratings cooperatively define a first waveguide section. The second group of gratings and the planar waveguide under the second group of gratings cooperatively define a second waveguide section. Light radiated from a light source passes through the optical waveguide lens and is successively converged by the first waveguide section and the second waveguide section. An optical coupling module incorporating the optical waveguide lens is also provided.
US09448359B2
The invention relates to an optical fiber as an optical waveguide for the single-mode operation. The present invention proposes a fiber having a microstructure, by which the propagation of modes of a higher order are selectively suppressed in the optical waveguide. At the same time, the propagation of transversal modes of a higher order is dampened more strongly than the propagation of the fundamental modes of the optical waveguide.
US09448358B2
Provided is a multi-core optical fiber which is capable of achieving the same level of light receiving capacity as that of a single-core plastic optical fiber, while being reduced in bending loss. A multi-core optical fiber according to the present invention has a plurality of cores and sea portions that are formed around each core. This multi-core optical fiber satisfies at least condition (1) or condition (2) below: (Condition 1): The occupancy rate of the total cross-sectional area of cores is 80˜95% of the outer region in the cross section of a multicore optical fiber. (Condition 2): The occupancy rate of the total cross-sectional area of cores is 82˜93% of the cross section of a multicore optical fiber.
US09448353B2
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for illumination devices. In one aspect, an illumination device having a longitudinal axis includes a light source and a light guide. The light guide has a peripheral edge, a transmissive illumination surface, a center portion, and an upper surface. The transmissive illumination surface is oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and disposed between the center portion and the peripheral edge. The upper surface is oriented relative to the illumination surface to define an angle α therebetween. In some implementations, the angle α can be greater than 15 degrees, for example.
US09448351B2
A reflector configured for guiding light emitted from a light emitting diode (LED) light source includes four reflective walls. The reflective walls are connected side-by-side to cooperatively define a cavity. The cavity has a first opening and a second opening at opposite ends thereof. An inner diameter of the cavity gradually decrease as it extends from the second opening toward the first opening. The LED light source is located at the second opening of the cavity. Light emitted from the LED light source enters into the cavity and is reflected by the at least one reflective wall toward the first opening of the cavity. An illuminating device and a backlight module using the reflector are also provided.
US09448347B2
The present disclosure relates to a polarizing plate including: a polarizer; an acrylic film attached to at least one surface of the polarizer via an adhesive layer; and a primer layer formed on at least one surface of the acrylic film, wherein the primer layer is formed of a primer composition including a water dispersible resin containing a sulfonic acid group, water dispersible particles, and water, and a weight ratio of the water dispersible resin to the water dispersible particles is in a range of 1:0.01 to 5:1.
US09448343B2
An apparatus for inspecting a photomask, comprising an illumination source for generating a light which illuminates a target substrate, objective optics for receiving and projecting the light which is reflected from the target substrate, the objective optics includes a first mirror arranged to receive and reflect the light which is reflected from the target substrate, a second mirror which is arranged to receive and reflect the light which is reflected by the first mirror, a third mirror which is arranged to receive and reflect the light which is reflected by the second mirror, and a segmented mirror which is arranged to receive and reflect the light which is reflected by the third mirror. The segmented mirror includes at least two mirror segments. The apparatus further includes at least one sensor for detecting the light which is projected by the objective optics.
US09448341B2
The view angle-restricting sheet includes an optically functional layer including: a plurality of first light transmission sections that are rectangular in cross section and arranged in a multi-stripe fashion; and one or more second light transmission section(s) that is/are each arranged between adjacent first light transmission sections. The first light transmission sections contain a light diffusing agent and a resin matrix. The proportion of the surface area occupied by the first light transmission sections with respect to the surface area of the optically functional layer is no less than 5% and no greater than 40%. The ratio (T1/W1) of the thickness (T1) to the width (W1) of the first light transmission section is preferably no less than 4 and no greater than 40. The average distance between adjacent first light transmission sections is preferably no less than 6 μm and no greater than 400 μm.
US09448340B2
An optical device comprises an optical diffuser structure embedded between media of substantially the same optical refractive index. The structure comprises a partially reflective optical coating at the interface between the two media. The partially reflective optical coating comprises a relief profile such that, in use, the optical diffuser structure diffuses light in reflection from the partially reflective optical coating and delivers substantially no optical deflection in transmission.
US09448339B2
The present invention relates to a substrate for an organic electronic element that enables surface resistance to be reduced and light-extraction efficiency improved, the substrate including: a base substrate; a scattering layer which is formed on the base substrate and includes an conductive pattern for reducing the surface resistance of an electrode, scattering particles for scattering light and a binder, and which forms an uneven structure in the surface opposite the base substrate; and a planarizing layer which is formed on the scattering layer and flattens the surface undulations caused by the uneven structure of the scattering layer, wherein the refractive index (Na) of the scattering particles and the refractive index (Nb) of the planarizing layer satisfy the relationship in formula 1 below. [Formula 1] |Na—Nb|≧0.3. In the formula as used herein, Na signifies the refractive index of the scattering particles and Nb signifies the refractive index of the planarizing layer.
US09448338B2
In an embodiment, a method of aligning elements in a manufacturing process includes placing a middle element onto a base element, the base element forming first alignment features, the middle element forming apertures therethrough corresponding to the first alignment features. The method also includes placing second alignment features of an upper element onto the first alignment features such that the first and second alignment features cooperate, through the apertures, to align the upper element with the base element. An infrared lens assembly includes a lens formed of an infrared transmitting material that is disposed within a carrier of a base material, the lens being molded within the carrier with at least one feature that secures the lens to the carrier.
US09448320B2
A downhole tool for acoustically imaging a subterranean formation having a transmitter and receiver and which includes an acoustic isolator between the transmitter and receiver. The acoustic isolator includes attenuation elements with rounded ends and that are connected in series by compression fittings. The compression fittings include sleeves that threadingly engage lock nuts and compressively engage the rounded ends. The contact interfaces between the compression fittings extend along a curved path thereby limiting acoustic transmission along the series of attenuation elements.
US09448318B2
Techniques are described for determining particle displacement or particle velocity data from particle acceleration measurements. In an embodiment, an apparatus comprises an interface configured to received particle acceleration data, one or more processors, and one or more storage media. The one or more storage media store instructions for determining one or more of particle velocity data or particle displacement data, based upon the particle acceleration data, by processing the particle acceleration data using a filter that at least approximates a Wiener filter and that uses one or more damping factors selected to provide stability in the presence of noise in the particle acceleration data.
US09448313B2
Microseismic mapping using buried arrays with the integration of passive and active seismic surveys provides enhanced microseismic mapping results. The system is initially set up by recording seismic data with the buried array installation while shooting a significant portion of the 3D surface seismic survey. The 3D surface seismic survey provides the following data: shallow 3D VSP data from the buried arrays; P-wave and converted wave data for the area covered by the buried array that benefits from the planned data integration processing effort; and microseismic data and associated analysis.
US09448310B2
Provided is an apparatus for spectrum estimation. The apparatus includes a threshold setter which sets at least one threshold in order to separate a spectrum into at least one energy bin; a reference value setter which sets one of the at least one threshold as a reference threshold; a threshold adjuster which adjusts the at least one threshold based on a predetermined condition; a comparer which compares the reference threshold with the adjusted threshold; and an output unit which outputs a spectrum in which the adjusted threshold is set, when a value which is determined based on the comparison result corresponds to a predetermined maximum value.
US09448308B2
An implementation of a system, device and method for communicating location data of a mobile station, enhancing location data, optimally communicating Assistance Data, and/or reducing rebids of Measure Position Request messages in a wireless network.
US09448302B2
In a method for operating a MIMO radar, an influence of an object motion on an angle estimate is substantially eliminated, and a time multiplex schema having a transmission sequence and transmission instants of transmitters of the MIMO radar is identified by optimizing the following mathematical relationship: d _ pulses , opt = arg max d _ pulses [ Var S ( d _ pulses ) - ( Cov S ( d _ pulses , t ) ) 2 / Var S ( t _ ) ] in which: dpulses,opt is optimized positions of the transmitters in the sequence in which they transmit; dpulses is positions of the transmitters in the sequence in which they transmit; t is transmission instants; VarS is sample variance; and CovS is sample covariance.
US09448298B2
Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support one or more operations or techniques for a relatively faster time-to-first-fix, such as for use in or with a mobile communication device. Briefly, in accordance with at least one implementation, a method may include transmitting a first message to a mobile device, the first message comprising abbreviated positioning assistance data; receiving a second message from the mobile device, the second message comprising an indication of a coarse location of the mobile device; and transmitting a third message to the mobile device, the third message comprising a detailed tiled radio heat map obtained based, at least in part, on the received indication of the coarse location of the mobile device.
US09448290B2
A hyperpolarization and multiple irradiation probe head, suitable for use in connection with magnetic resonance techniques (DNP-NMR, photo-DNP-NMR, ENDOR-EPR, MRI, DNP-MRI), comprising a RF transducer for generating and detecting a RF signal, wherein said RF transducer has a conducting element (2) allowing, together with at least one fully or partially connected grid polarizer made of conducting grid elements (1) which are reciprocally spaced so as the grid is at least partially transparent to a given microwave beam (3), controlled RF current paths and a substantially uniform RF magnetic field inside the RF transducer, wherein the grid polarizer (1) and the conducting element (2) forming the RF transducer are shaped and oriented to conform to said microwave beam phase fronts, said grid polarizer and said conducting element surrounding a sample (8), which is apt to be irradiated also by said microwaves (3); the probe head being also suited for a simultaneous irradiation of the sample with THz, FIR, IR, visible, and UV electromagnetic radiation.
US09448284B2
An embodiment provides a circuit for testing an integrated circuit. The circuit includes an input converter that receives N scan inputs and generates M pseudo scan inputs, where M and N are integers. A scan compression architecture is coupled to the input converter and generates P pseudo scan outputs in response to the M pseudo scan inputs. An output converter is coupled to the scan compression architecture and generates Q scan outputs in response to the P pseudo scan outputs, wherein P and Q are integers. The input converter receives the N scan inputs at a first frequency and generates the M pseudo scan inputs at a second frequency and the output converter receives the P pseudo scan outputs at the second frequency and generates the Q scan outputs at the first frequency.
US09448281B2
A methodology and circuits for integrated circuit design are provided. A first electronic design file for an integrated circuit is provided. The first electronic design file for the integrated circuit has a timing measurement circuit thereon. Based on the first electronic design file, a number of integrated circuits are manufactured. These manufactured integrated circuits have respective timing measurement circuits arranged at predetermined locations thereon. The timing measurement circuits are used to measure a number of respective timing delay values, which are subject to manufacturing variation, on the integrated circuits. The measured timing delay values are used to set how an auto-place and route tool arranges blocks in a second electronic design file, which is routed after the timing delay values are measured, to account for any measured manufacturing variation.
US09448280B2
A testing system and method incorporate a test signal generator for generating a test signal with multiple tones uniformly distributed across a wideband having a specific bandwidth. This test signal is generated based on user-specified test signal parameter(s) (e.g., using an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) spread spectrum technique) and processed (e.g., converted from digital to analog or shifted to a different wideband having the same bandwidth), as necessary, so that it is suitable for application to a specific device under test and so that the tones account for the full range of frequencies with the wideband operation of that device under test. After it is applied to the device under test, the resulting output signal is captured, processed (e.g., converted back to digital or shifted back to the initial wideband), as necessary, and analyzed in order to determine the frequency responses associated with each of the tones.
US09448279B2
A test system may be provided for performing wireless communications testing of electronic devices in a building. The test system may include a mobile cart that transports the device under test to test stations in the building. The test system may include a visible guide track having visible test station indicators. The mobile cart may include an optical sensor for detecting the visible guide track and the visible test station indicators. The mobile cart may transport the device under test to the test stations along the visible guide track. The mobile cart may include a rotating stage to which the device under test may be mounted. The rotating stage may be used to rotate the device under test while the device under test transmits test data to wireless communications equipment in the building during wireless communications testing of the device under test.
US09448263B2
A power quality monitoring apparatus is developed for a railway power system. The apparatus is calculating the energy flow and the power consumption and recording the by using the voltage and current sensors at AC and DC power source in the various industrial fields. The voltage and current phases are detected for the AC power. The direction of current is detected to calculate the power consumption for the DC power. Then, the detected data is analyzed. It is possible to monitor the variation of the voltages and current values of the railway vehicle in real time. It is possible to display the variations of the vehicle loads, the AC power output, the voltage and current value fluctuations, the power consumption and power flows in a form of the graphic or text format. Thereby, it is possible to easily understand the overall status of the overhead line's environment.
US09448256B2
It is intended to reduce manufacturing cost in a current sensor including a primary conductor having a U-shaped current path. A current sensor includes a primary conductor having a U-shaped current path, a support portion for supporting a magneto-electric conversion element, and a lead terminal connected to the support portion, and wherein the current path is not overlapped with the support portion in a plan view, while being formed so as to have a height different from that of the support portion in a side view.
US09448253B2
A system, method and a non-transitory compute readable medium for evaluating a high aspect ratio (HAR) hole having a nanometric scale width and formed in a substrate, including obtaining, during an illumination period, multiple measurement results by an electrostatic measurement device that comprises a probe tip that is placed in proximity to the HAR hole; wherein multiple locations within the HAR hole are illuminated with a beam of charged particles during the illumination period; and processing the multiple measurement results to determine a state of the HAR hole.
US09448252B2
Apparatus and method for nano-identification a sample by measuring, with the use of evanescent waves, optical spectra of near-field interaction between the sample and optical nanoantenna oscillating at nano-distance above the sample and discriminating background backscattered radiation not sensitive to such near-field interaction. Discrimination may be effectuated by optical data acquisition at periodically repeated moments of nanoantenna oscillation without knowledge of distance separating nanoantenna and sample. Measurement includes chemical identification of sample on nano-scale, during which absolute value of phase corresponding to near-field radiation representing said interaction is measured directly, without offset. Calibration of apparatus and measurement is provided by performing, prior to sample measurement, a reference measurement of reference sample having known index of refraction. Nano-identification is realized with sub-50 nm resolution and optionally, in the mid-infrared portion of the spectrum.
US09448249B2
A dispensing apparatus includes: a dish mounting portion having a mounting surface configured to be mounted with a dish having a bottom surface and a side surface surrounding the bottom surface; a syringe, arranged above the dish mounting portion, having a nozzle configured to discharge liquid toward an interior of the dish; and a first driving portion configured to rotate an inner bottom surface of the dish mounted on the dish mounting portion with respect to a first axis as a center of rotation, wherein the first axis is parallel to the mounting surface of the dish mounting portion.
US09448236B2
The disclosure generally relates to a particulate composition formed from a conductive polymer (e.g., conductive polyanilines, polypyrroles, polythiophenes) bound to magnetic nanoparticles (e.g., Fe(II)- and/or Fe(III)-based magnetic metal oxides). The particulate composition can be formed into a biologically enhanced, electrically active magnetic (BEAM) nanoparticle composition by further including a binding pair member (e.g., an antibody) bound to the conductive polymer of the particulate composition. Methods and kits employing the particulate composition and the BEAM nanoparticle composition also are disclosed.
US09448225B2
The invention provides a compound of formula (I): (wherein: R1 is an optionally substituted 2-(1-azathiaxanthone); each —R2 is independently of the formula —CH2—C(═O)—R4, wherein R4 is an amino acid or a salt thereof, attached to the remainder of R2 through the nitrogen atom of the amino group; and R3 is hydrogen or a C1-6 alkyl group); or (wherein: R1 is an optionally substituted 2-(1-azaxanthone); each R2 is independently an optionally substituted glutaric or succinic acid, or a salt or ester thereof; and R3 is hydrogen or a C1-6 alkyl group).
US09448216B2
A gas sensor device may include a gas sensor integrated circuit (IC) having a gas sensing surface, and bond pads adjacent to the gas sensing surface, and a frame having gas passageways extending therethrough adjacent the gas sensing surface. The gas sensor device may include leads, each having a proximal end spaced from the frame and bonded to a respective bond pad, and a distal end extending downwardly from the proximal end, and encapsulation material filling the space between the proximal ends of the leads and the frame.
US09448211B2
A method and system of measuring non-methane hydrocarbons in exhaust gas. The method includes sampling exhaust gas, wherein the exhaust gas includes native carbon dioxide, non-methane hydrocarbons and methane. The native carbon dioxide present in the exhaust gas is removed followed by oxidation of the non-methane hydrocarbons to produce carbon dioxide. The concentration of carbon dioxide is then measured and provides a direct indication of the non-methane hydrocarbon concentration.
US09448203B2
Systems and techniques for cleaning a corona discharge point are described. A controller (150) can be operatively coupled to a corona discharge point (108) to control the operation of the corona discharge point (1089. The controller (150) and the corona discharge point (108) can be included with, for example, an ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) system (100). The controller (150) can be used to operate the corona discharge point (108) at an operating voltage for a first time interval, with or without an additional higher pulse voltage, to produce a corona discharge, and to operate the corona discharge point (108) at a cleaning voltage greater than the operating voltage for a second time interval subsequent to the first time interval to produce a corona discharge. The effectiveness of the corona discharge point (108) can be monitored by, for instance, measuring a voltage necessary to produce a corona discharge at the corona discharge point (108), measuring a current produced at the corona discharge point (108) from a corona discharge, and so forth.
US09448202B2
There is provided an electrolyte solution for extending useful electrophoresis life of an electrophoresis gel containing Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (TRIS), at least one zwitterion, and water. The electrolyte solution may be used in buffer systems for gel electrophoresis, such as SDS-PAGE.
US09448201B2
A process combustion transmitter is provided. The transmitter includes a process probe extendible into a flow of process combustion exhaust. The process probe has a measurement cell and a diffuser that define a chamber within the process probe. Electronic circuitry is coupled to the measurement cell and is configured to provide an indication relative to a combustion process based on an output signal of the measurement cell. A pressure sensor is coupled to the electronic circuitry and is fluidically coupled to the chamber. The electronic circuitry is configured to provide an adjusted calibration based on pressure measured within the chamber during a calibration.
US09448191B2
An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer irradiates a measurement sample 1 with primary X rays from an X-ray source, and excites an element in the sample 1 to emit fluorescence X rays, and the primary X-rays are partially scattered as scattered X rays from the sample 1. A spectroscopic system is placed so that a first spectroscopic unit, a second spectroscopic unit, and a single X-ray detector form an optimized optical system. The first spectroscopic unit disperses the fluorescence X rays to collect the resultant X rays onto the X-ray detector. The second spectroscopic unit disperses the scattered X rays to collect the resultant X rays onto the X-ray detector. In this manner, the spectroscopic system disperses the fluorescence X rays and the scattered X rays so that the intensity of the fluorescence X rays and the intensity of the scattered X rays can be detected by the single X-ray detector 24.
US09448189B2
An apparatus for determining fluid phase fraction of a multiphase fluid mixture (13) comprises: —a x-ray generator (20) arranged to emit a x-ray radiation spectrum comprising a low energy region and a high energy region, the high energy region including a Bremsstrahlung spectrum; —a pipe section (27) through which the multiphase fluid mixture (13) flows comprising a measurement section (28), said measurement section (28) being coupled to said x-ray generator (20); —a detector (30) coupled to said measurement section (28) and arranged to detect x-ray radiation that has passed through said multiphase fluid mixture (13), the detector (30) being coupled to a multichannel analyzer (32) producing a measurement output comprising a low energy (LE) and high energy (HE) measurement counts; wherein the measurement output further comprises a low energy (LV) and high energy (HV) control counts, in a low energy and high energy control windows located on an edge of the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, respectively; and wherein the apparatus further comprises an electrical parameter control arrangement (33) coupled to the x-ray generator (20) and the detector (30), the electrical parameter control arrangement (33) being arranged to calculate a first ratio of the high energy control count relative to the low energy control count (RV=HV/LV) and a second ratio of the high energy measurement count relative to the low energy measurement count (RE=HE/LE), and to adjust the electrical operation of the x-ray generator (20) based on an electrical parameter control function (FC(V)) of said ratios that minimize a dependence of the electrical operation of the x-ray generator on the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture (13) flowing in the measurement section (28).
US09448185B2
A system for inspecting a body, which includes a first end side, a second end side, and cells extending through the body from the first end side to the second end side, is provided. The system includes at least one light source configured to project light through and out of at least one corresponding group of the cells, a target configured to display the light projected through and out of the at least one corresponding group of the cells, an imaging system configured to determine at least one location of the displayed light on the target, and a system processor configured to compare the determined at least one location of the displayed light with a location of the at least one light source and calculate, from the comparison thereof, at least one of a pointing angle and a pointing vector for the at least one corresponding group of the cells.
US09448184B1
Determination of one or more optical characteristics of a structure of a semiconductor wafer includes measuring one or more optical signals from one or more structures of a sample, determining a background optical field associated with a reference structure having a selected set of nominal characteristics based on the one or more structures, determining a correction optical field suitable for at least partially correcting the background field, wherein a difference between the measured one or more optical signals and a signal associated with a sum of the correction optical field and the background optical field is below a selected tolerance level, and extracting one or more characteristics associated with the one or more structures utilizing the correction optical field.
US09448182B2
The present invention is generally in the field of measuring and indicating techniques and relates to a time-temperature indicating device and methods of manufacturing and reading this device. More specifically, the time-temperature indicator (TTI) device comprises at least one active reactant being at least a part of a component that is configured to be either an electrical component or transformable into an electrical component, said at least one active reactant being selected to be affectable by a chemical and/or physical reaction effecting a change in at least an electrical property of said electrical component at a rate that is time-temperature dependent.
US09448175B2
The present invention relates to a method for compensating for the breakdown of a reagent stored in an aqueous phase comprising at least one fluorescent compound and enabling the identification of particles, including the steps of: (i) measuring the fluorescence level FLUOm(t) of particles marked with said reagent; (ii) measuring the absorbance at at least one wavelength of a solution of said reagent, at a time t close to the time of said fluorescence level FLUOm(t) measurements, so as to determine at least one current optical density DO(t) of the reagent; and (iii) calculating a correction of the fluorescent level measurements using said at least one current optical density DO(t) and at least one initial optical density DO(0) of the reagent that has not been broken down. The invention also relates to a biological analysis device implementing the method.
US09448174B2
The invention relates to fluorometry, and in particular to methods and apparatus for time-delayed detection of fluorescence in a sample, for example for use in a clinical setting. Exemplary embodiments disclosed relate to a fluorometer (100) comprising a light source (101), a light detector (102), a sample holder (103) disposed between the light source and light detector, a motor (104); and a light transmission modulator (105) disposed around the sample holder and comprising a pair of plates (106, 107) attached to the motor for rotation about a common axis (108), the pair of plates arranged to allow transmission from the source to the sample in a first rotated position, to allow transmission from the sample to the detector in a second rotated position and to block direct light transmission between the source and detector in both first and second rotated positions.
US09448160B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method (200) of providing image data for constructing an image of a region of a target object, comprising detecting, by at least one detector (40), at least a portion of radiation scattered by a target object (30) with the incident radiation (10) or an aperture at a predetermined probe position, determining an offset vector (203) for reducing an error associated with the probe position (201), estimating a wavefront (210) based on a probe function having the offset vector applied to the probe position, and providing image data responsive to the detected radiation.
US09448146B2
An automated sample processing system includes a sample input adapted to receive at least one sample container holder manually provided by a user, a consumable input adapted to receive one or more unused consumable supplies manually provided by a user, a waste output adapted to receive used consumable supplies, an automated processing apparatus, and a sample output, wherein the automated processing apparatus includes a decapper adapted to remove a lid from the at least one sample container, at least one agitator adapted to agitate and thereby homogenize the contents of the at least one sample container, a sample collector adapted to remove fluid specimen from the at least one sample container and transfer the specimen to at least one output carrier, and a capper adapted to replace the lid on the at least one sample container.
US09448137B2
A test system includes an actual machine including a test piece that is a mechanical element of a vehicle, the actual machine being installed in a first location; a control device that is installed in the first location, and controls the actual machine; a model installed in a second location away from the first location; and a data processor that is installed in the second location, and is connected to the actual machine or the control device via a communication line so that data communication is performed, the data processor acquiring data from the actual machine via the communication line so that an operation test is performed. The data processor calculates a target value for controlling the actual machine based on an output acquired by inputting the acquired data to the model, and the control device controls the actual machine based on the target value.
US09448135B2
A vehicle may include a powertrain having an engine and a generator coupled to a driveshaft, an inverter configured to provide phase currents to the generator, and a controller programmed to output a fault condition based on first and second generator torques, the first generator torque being based on an engine torque and the second generator torque being based on no more than two phase currents of the generator.
US09448126B2
A transducer structure including a carrier with an opening and a suspended structure mounted on the carrier which extends at least partially over the opening in the carrier is disclosed. The transducer structure may further include configuring the suspended structure to provide an electrostatic field between the suspended structure and the carrier by changing a distance between the suspended structure and the carrier. Alternatively, the suspended structure may be configured to change the distance between the suspended structure and the carrier in response to an electrostatic force provided between the suspended structure and the carrier.
US09448125B2
A method, in one embodiment, can include modeling and calibrating two types of sensors that are part of a semiconductor device. In addition, the method can include determining a temperature and voltage based on data received from the two sensors.
US09448123B2
Provided is a temperature sensor that includes a pair of lead frames, a sensor portion connected to the pair of lead frames, and an insulating holding portion which is fixed to the pair of lead frames and holds the lead frames. The sensor portion includes an insulating film having a strip shape, a thin film thermistor portion pattern-formed at the center portion of the surface of the insulating film, a pair of comb electrodes which have a plurality of comb portions and are pattern-formed on at least one of the top or the bottom of the thin film thermistor portion with facing each other and a pair of pattern electrodes, of which one end is connected to the pair of comb electrodes and the other end is connected to the pair of lead frames at both ends of the insulating film, pattern-formed on the surface of the insulating film.
US09448122B2
A multi-point temperature sensing method for integrated circuit chips and a system of the same are revealed. The system includes at least one slave temperature sensor embedded at preset positions for measuring temperature of a block and a master temperature sensor embedded in an integrated circuit chip and electrically connected to each slave temperature sensor. Variations of the slave temperature sensor induced by variations of process, voltage and temperature are corrected by the master temperature sensor. Thus the area the temperature sensors required on the integrated circuit chip is dramatically reduced and the stability of the temperature control system is improved. The problem of conventional System-on-a-Chip that only a limited number of temperature sensors could be used due to the area they occupied can be solved.
US09448113B2
A measurement apparatus includes a terahertz wave generating unit configured to generate a terahertz wave in response to incidence of pump light thereon; a terahertz wave detecting unit configured to detect the terahertz wave in response to incidence of probe light thereon; an adjusting unit configured to adjust an optical path length difference to adjust a timing at which the terahertz wave and the probe light reach the terahertz wave detecting unit; an amount-of-change detecting unit configured to detect an amount of change in the optical path length difference; a vibration obtaining unit configured to obtain information about a magnitude of vibration of the adjusting unit; a determining unit configured to determine whether the magnitude is within a range of an allowable value; and an output unit configured to output a measurement start trigger in a case where the determining unit determines the magnitude is within the range.
US09448110B2
A system for three-dimensional hyperspectral imaging includes an illumination source configured to illuminate a target object; a dispersive element configured to spectrally separate light received from the target object into different colors; and a light detection and ranging focal plane array (FPA) configured to receive the light from the dispersive element, configured to acquire spatial information regarding the target object in one dimension in the plane of the FPA, configured to acquire spectral information in a second dimension in the plane of the FPA, wherein the second dimension is perpendicular to the first dimension, and configured to obtain information regarding the distance from the FPA to the target object by obtaining times of flight of at least two wavelengths, thereby imaging the target object in three dimensions and acquiring spectral information on at least one 3D point.
US09448092B1
The clamp-on ultrasonic fluid flow meter system is an apparatus that includes structures that filter out a pipe structure-borne ultrasonic wave component. The clamp-on ultrasonic fluid flow meter system provides pipes that are modified to rely on Bragg resonance to attenuate the pipe structure-borne ultrasonic wave component. In a first embodiment, the fluid flow pipe is modified with corrugations so that the periodicity of the corrugations defines a pipe wall corrugation wavelength that is one-half the wavelength of the structure-borne ultrasonic wave component, satisfying Bragg's condition and preventing propagation of structure-borne noise that might interfere with the ultrasonic fluid flow meter. In a second embodiment, a pipe clad material having periodic corrugations as described above is adhesively or magnetically attached to the fluid flow pipe. In a third embodiment, alternating materials at a periodic rate satisfying Bragg's condition are attached to the exterior of the fluid flow pipe.
US09448091B2
A venturi flow meter for an EGR apparatus includes an inner wall defining an interior space including a converging inlet section, a throat section, and a diverging outlet section and an outer wall surrounding the inner wall and attached to the inner wall, the outer wall being spaced from the inner wall to define an insulating space between the inner wall and the outer wall.
US09448088B2
A magnetic rotary encoder for the fine resolution of the rotational angle of a shaft (1) includes an exciter unit which images the rotation to be monitored and rotates about an axis of rotation (20), a stationary fine resolution sensor unit (2) for fine resolution of each revolution, and an electronic processing means. It is characterized in that the exciter unit includes two first permanent magnets (7, 7) which are disposed symmetrically with respect to the axis of rotation at a mutual spacing such that their magnetization vectors (21, 21) which extend through their respective center of gravity extend in the same direction in relation to the common field lines and form a central field space (9) which directly connects the permanent magnets, and at least the fine resolution sensor unit is so arranged that it can use the field (10) of the central field space for measurement.
US09448085B2
A live dynamic map that provides for increased convenience for a user at a venue is disclosed. The live dynamic map may be branded for a venue, shows points of interest and paths between locations, includes a messaging capability, and allows users to be social with one another as well as venue management. Live branded mapping may allow for similar engagement on a region-by-region, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, or even brand-by-brand basis. By engaging on a hyper-local level, the present mapping platform can better target user and payload delivering and improve upon business to consumer brand engagement.
US09448083B2
A system includes a processor configured to discover charging station locations within a predefined proximity to a route for which vehicle-charging is required to complete. The processor is also configured to determine a charging cost at each discovered station, including at least battery-damage resulting from a charge. The processor is further configured to present a plurality of charging stations, including the charging costs and an estimated total route time for each station. Also, the processor is configured to receive a station selection and present a route including a stop at the selected station.
US09448079B2
An approach is provided for connecting at least one first device with at least one second device proximate to at least one destination for navigation guidance. The approach involves determining at least one destination associated with at least one first device, at least one first user associated with the at least one first device, or a combination thereof. The approach also involves determining at least one second device, at least one second user associated with the at least one second device, or a combination thereof within at least one proximity threshold of the at least one destination. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, a transmission of at least one navigation assistance request from the at least one first device, that least one first user, or a combination thereof to the at least one second device, the at least one second user, or a combination thereof, wherein the at least one navigation assistance request seeks, at least in part, navigation guidance information related to the at least one destination, at least one point of interest associated with the at least one destination, or a combination thereof from the at least one second device, the at least one second user, or a combination thereof.
US09448068B2
A placing member is configured to be supported from an outside by a terminal electrically connected to a terminal electrode, and an X-axis-direction extended portion, a Y-axis-direction extended portion, and a Z-axis-direction extended portion are provided in the terminal. This configuration provides an angular velocity sensor, in which a problem such that Y-axis-direction and Z-axis-direction vibrations applied from the outside cannot be damped is eliminated, and all the vibrations in three axis directions can be damped.
US09448066B2
In exemplary implementations of this invention, a jammable structure functions as an HCI interface. A user provides input by changing the shape of a flexible layer of the jammable structure (e.g., by pressing against it or stretching, twisting or bending it) and receives haptic feedback (e.g., varying stiffness). Sensors are used to determine the shape of the flexible layer. The sensors output data that is indicative of electromagnetic waves that have traveled through the jammable media or of electrical or magnetic phenomena that are produced by the waves. For example, visible or infrared light may be shone through a transparent jammable media to the flexible layer and reflect back to a camera. The media may comprise granular particles (e.g., glass beads) and a liquid (e.g., oil) with matching indices of refraction. Or capacitive sensing may be used to detect the shape of the flexible layer.
US09448057B2
A wavelength selector (5) selects a wavelength of a broadband light source (4). A light director (BS1, BS2) directs light from the wavelength selector along a measurement path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface, such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere to produce an interferogram. A controller (20) controls the wavelength selector to change the wavelength selected by the wavelength selector. A recorder (63) records successive images, each image representing the interferogram produced by a respective one of the wavelengths selected by the wavelength selector. A data processor (18, 180) processes the recorded images to produce at least one of a surface profile and a surface height map of at least a part of the sample surface. The reference path may be controlled to compensate for environmental effects such as vibration, thermal effects and air turbulence. The data processor may use a graphics processing unit to enable pixel data to be processed in parallel.
US09448051B2
An interrupter for use with a wellbore tool may include a housing having an interior and a fusible body disposed in the housing interior. The fusible body may be solid below a specified temperature and liquid above the specified temperature. The fusible body communicates a first high-order detonation to a detonator only when liquid. The communicated the first high-order detonation is at a magnitude sufficient to cause the detonator to produce a second high-order detonation.
US09448050B1
An assembly for supporting gun magazines includes a plurality of pouches each adapted to receive and hold at least one gun magazine therein. At least one first pivot assembly portion and at least one second pivot assembly portion are mounted on each of the plurality of pouches. A first pivot assembly portion on one pouch is pivotally connectable to a second pivot assembly portion on an adjacent pouch.
US09448047B1
A selectable color smoke grenade for producing different color smokes from a single grenade canister. Each grenade canister includes an upper chamber that holds gas producing material and a fuze, one or more dye chambers with dye containing compartments and bypass chambers, a plug positioned between the one or more dye chambers and the upper chamber, and a mixing chamber to receive smoke from the one or more dye chambers and having holes to release the smoke to the environment. Each dye chamber has one or more compartments containing a different color dye. Holes in the plug are used to selectively channel the gases from the upper chamber into one or more of the dye containing compartments. Color selectivity is achieved by changing the alignment between the holes in the plug and the dye containing compartments by rotating the plug and dye chamber relative to each other about a common axis.
US09448024B1
This invention is directed to a firearm safety device that has a chamber block for being received in a chamber of a firearm. An internal area is defined in the chamber block and can receive a bullet so that the bullet biases the outer walls outward. A visual indicator is attached to a distal end of the chamber block and is received in the bore of the barrel and extending outward past the muzzle providing a visual indication that the firearm is in a safe condition. In one embodiment, the chamber block can be inserted into the muzzle and the visual indicator extends through the barrel and chamber and out of the ejection port of magazine well. The visual indicator can be modifiable in length to accommodate various lengths of barrels and can be flexible.
US09448022B2
Magazine floor plates have a tubular body defining an elongated passage and having a lower end and an upper end, a floor plate element connected to the lower end, a follower movable within the elongated passage, a spring within the passage having a first end contacting the floor plate element, and having an opposed second end contacting and biasing the follower toward the upper end of the body. Downward force exerted by the spring on the floor plate element retains the floor plate element in an installed position relative to the lower end of the body. The floor plate element may have a width narrower than the elongated passage. The floor plate element may be connected to the lower end of the body by rails on the lower end of the body. The floor plate element may have an upward protrusion.
US09448020B1
Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for repeating and semi-automatic cone-breech firearm systems, including barrel extension and bolt carrier systems, are provided. A semi-automatic cone-breech firearm system may, for example, comprise a tapered semi-automatic seven (7) or eight (8) lug bolt having a cartridge channel that facilitates engagement of an ammunition cartridge with a cartridge seat and/or a plunger-style ejector and may comprise a barrel extension and mating bolt carrier for housing and accepting the bolt.
US09448019B2
Implementations of the present invention relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods for firing a belt-fed closed-bolt firearm by delivering an impulse from an impulse source along a first axis to a firing pin on a second axis. The first axis and second axis are not coaxial, allowing the impulse source to be disposed away from and not in direct contact or alignment with the firing pin.
US09448016B2
A baffle and a heat exchanger with the baffle are provided. The baffle is disposed inside a header pipe of the heat exchanger, and divides the header pipe into two sections along the axial direction. The baffle supports a refrigerant duct which is set inside the header pipe along the axial direction. The baffle is a split type, and includes a first baffle member and a second baffle member connected together via an engagement structure. The installation efficiency of the baffle and the installation quality of the refrigerant duct are enhanced, and the reliability of the heat exchanger is also improved.
US09448005B2
Provided are a guard assembly that is rotatably installed at a rear side of a door of a refrigerator and the refrigerator including the same. The guard assembly in accordance with an embodiment, is installed at a rear side of a door of a refrigerator. The guard assembly includes a body portion which is placed at the rear side of the door and to which a supporting tray is coupled, and a rotation unit that causes the body portion to be rotatably coupled to the door. The rotation unit includes a guide member having a coupling hole and coupled to one side of the rear side of the door, and a hinge member having one side coupled to the body portion and another side rotatably coupled to the coupling hole.
US09448002B2
A ball is provided forming an inside structure of the snow person, the ball having an inner and outer surface. The ball is a unitary work piece that is free and unconnected to other work pieces. An adhesion surface is disposed on the outer surface of the ball, the adhesion surface provided with nodules that extend away from the surface of the ball to adhere snow while the ball is rolled. Light units are integrated into the surface of the ball and having light emitting portions that extend away from the surface of the ball. A light output of the light units is selected to transmit light through a layer of snow. Connections between the light units situated within the ball connect the light units together.
US09447998B2
A refrigerant recovery unit with improved charging accuracy is provided. In some embodiments, the contamination of charging refrigerant can be prevented while also providing greater refrigerant flow control. In addition, methods associated therewith for servicing refrigerant containing refrigeration systems are provided. In some aspects, the methods include steps that can be used to achieve more accurate assessments of the refrigerant that is charged into the refrigeration systems during servicing.
US09447994B2
Temperature control systems and methods can be designed for controlling the interior climate of a vehicle or other the climate of another desired region. The temperature control system for a vehicle can have a thermoelectric system providing heating and/or cooling, including supplemental heating and/or cooling. The thermoelectric system can transfer thermal energy between a working fluid, such as liquid coolant, and comfort air upon application of electric current of a selected polarity. The thermoelectric system can supplement or replace the heat provided from an internal combustion engine or other primary heat source. The thermoelectric system can also supplement or replace cold energy provided from a compressor-based refrigeration system or other primary cold energy source.
US09447984B2
A control parameters adjustment method of an air conditioning system has the following steps: (a) building up a comparison table; (b) determining an objective output power; (c) determining whether there is only one preferred operation point by searching the comparison table; (d) when there is only one preferred operation point, adjusting the control parameters based on the preferred operation point; (e) when there are a plurality of preferred operation points, executing a retrieval procedure for selecting one of the preferred operation points, and adjusting the control parameters based on the selected preferred operation point. The method adjusts the control parameters according to the comparison table for ensuring that the air conditioning system can be operated with the minimum power consumption.
US09447982B2
A turbine ventilation system includes at least one fan configured to provide a first air flow into a gas turbine enclosure, a fan bypass configured to circumvent the at least one fan to provide a second air flow into the gas turbine enclosure, and an eductor configured to draw the first or second air flows through and out of the gas turbine enclosure.
US09447981B2
A combination cooling and heating device is provided with a cooling fan including an outlet including a mouth; and a heater including a mouth member complimentarily connected to the mouth of the outlet of the cooling fan, an indicator, a shell member including heating elements, a blade assembly, a micro switch, a spring biased trigger member, a front louver, and a frame secured to both the louver and the shell member. The trigger member is attached to the micro switch. The blade assembly is rotatably secured to the trigger member. In a heating operation, the fan activates to produce airflow which rotates the blade assembly, the blade assembly rotates to pull the trigger member, and the trigger member turns on the micro switch which activates the heating elements, thereby taking heat generated by the heating elements out of the louver.
US09447972B2
A cooled combustor seal having a plurality of channels enabling cooling air to pass from outside of a combustion chamber to cool an area inside the combustion chamber around the seal is disclosed. The channels may be provided through a slider, a housing, and/or a washer of the combustor seal. One set of channels or multiple of sets of channels may be provided in the combustor seal. Each of these sets of channels may be in the slider, housing, or washer. The cooled combustor seal may be used in conjunction with an igniter to purge a cavity between the seal and the igniter.
US09447968B2
A combustion-heating system includes a plurality of combustion heaters connected to each other, a combustion heater including: a heating plate; an arrangement plate; an annular outer peripheral wall; a partition plate; a combustion chamber in which fuel gas collides with a flame-holding part constituting part of the outer peripheral wall, and thereby holding flames; an inflow path through which the fuel gas flows into the combustion chamber; and an outflow path through which exhaust gas flows from the combustion chamber toward the outside thereof, the outflow path to preheat the fuel gas by heat of the exhaust gas through the partition plate. The combustion-heating system includes a communication path communicating combustion chambers thereof with each other. The flame-holding part and the communication path are provided in series in a direction in which the heating plate and the arrangement plate face to each other.
US09447962B2
The disclosure relates to a board on which a user rides and enjoys riding for exercise and leisure purposes and, more particularly, to a reflective light-emitting board which allows various decorations for enjoyment and safety at night. The disclosure includes a transparent plate (100) having a form of plate and including reflective holes (110) formed therein, and light-emitting elements (10) for irradiating the plate (100), wherein light emitted from the light-emitting elements (10) are reflected by the reflective holes (110) thus providing the board with a visually attractive appearance.
US09447956B2
A light emitting device includes at least one light emitting unit configured to emit light, a body unit supporting the at least one light emitting unit, and a support unit disposed on the body unit defining a light emitting position of the at least one light emitting unit. The support unit has a conical shape and is configured to support the at least one light emitting unit.
US09447949B2
Provided is a light fixture comprising: a) a body for attaching one or more ballast; b) a bracket having a first and a second end that is pivotally attached at the first end to the body; and c) a reflector for placement of one or more LED (light emitting diode) strips attached to the bracket. The fixture can further comprise a door with a lens pivotally attached to the body, wherein the ballast is accessed by pivoting the reflector and the door in opposite directions.
US09447946B2
The present invention relates to an optical member, comprising: a light incidence surface; and a light-emitting surface which comprises a patterned portion intended for adjusting the intensity of light and formed at an area corresponding to a light source, and an adhesive portion disposed in an area other than the patterned portion. When the optical member of the present invention is applied to a backlight unit, the patterned portion, which diffuses the light from the light source, is formed in the area corresponding to the light source so as to effectively diffuse the light from the light source into the peripheral area. Also, the optical member and a diffusion plate are stacked via an air layer in the area corresponding to the light source (the area in which the patterned portion is disposed), and the optical member and the diffusion plate closely contact each other without an air layer in the remaining area, such that the intensity of the light transmitted between a light source portion and the peripheral portion may be adjusted with an improvement in the balance of brightness and uniformity.
US09447943B2
A lens configured to a lighting device, comprising an optical part (1) and a mechanical part (2) surrounding the optical part (1), wherein, the mechanical part (2) comprises a blocking protrusion (3) protruding in a direction parallel to the optical axis (4) of the lens, surrounding the optical part (1) and spaced apart from the optical part (1). This type of lens can effectively prevent the optical part from being damaged, for example, in a low pressure molding process, by a hot liquid glue, improve the yield of the lighting device, and have fine waterproof ability at the same time. Also disclosed is a lighting device having this type of lens, and the lighting device has beautiful appearance and fine waterproof effect. A method configured to make this lighting device is also disclosed.
US09447942B2
A condensing system and method with a plurality of LEDs is disclosed. The LEDs are positioned on the same plane. A first condensing lens is disposed at front of each LED, a second condensing lens is disposed at front of each first condensing lens, a third condensing lens is disposed at front of each second condensing lens, and a fourth condensing lens is disposed at front of all the third condensing lenses. After the light emitted by each LED is condensed by the corresponding first condensing lens, second condensing lens and third condensing lens, the divergence angle of the light becomes smaller, forming a bunch of nearly parallel light beams. The bunches of nearly parallel light beams simultaneously transmit through the fourth condensing lens, and then combine. The condensing system can be used as the light source with imaging lenses disposed therebehind to form an imaging system.
US09447930B1
Multi function LED light bulbs and luminairs includes interchangeable optical components.
US09447929B2
An LED tube lamp including a glass lamp tube, an LED light strip disposed inside the glass lamp tube, and an end cap attached over an end of glass lamp tube is disclosed. The glass lamp tube is covered by a heat shrink sleeve. The inner surface of the glass lamp tube is formed with a rough surface or a light scattering region. The glass lamp tube includes a main body region, a rear end region, and a two-arc-shaped transition region connecting the main body region and the rear end region. The LED light strip includes a bendable circuit sheet being longer than the glass lamp tube to form a freely extending end portion.
US09447925B2
The present invention provides methods, systems, assemblies, and articles for extracting restrained liquid (e.g., surface tension-restrained liquid) from open wells in a chip, where the restrained liquid does not flow out of the wells due to gravity when the wells are held upside down. For example, the present invention provides extraction fixtures that may be attached to, and/or held adjacent to, a chip such that any restrained liquid that is forced out of the open wells is collected by, or flows through, the extraction fixtures. Also for example, the present invention provides assemblies composed of a extraction fixture attached to, and/or held adjacent to, a chip, and methods of subjecting such assemblies to a force such that at least a portion of the restrained liquid in the open wells is forced out and collected by, or flows through, the extraction fixture.
US09447923B2
The present invention refers to replaceable upper or handle (2) and lower or support/base ring (4) elements for a pressurized container having an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein said upper and lower rings elements are manufactured from a thermostable material, a thermosetting material or a combination thereof, e.g. polyurethane, and comprise fastening means to releasably engage the ring elements with projections (3, 5) provided on the upper and lower portions of said pressurized container. The invention also refers to a pressurized container having said replaceable ring elements.
US09447917B1
A hanger bar assembly includes a first hanger bar member and a second hanger bar member. The first hanger bar member includes a first rail segment, a first channel segment including a first channel, and a first stoppage tab extending up above an edge of the first channel segment. The second hanger bar member includes a second rail segment positioned in the first channel of the first channel segment and a second channel segment that includes a second channel. The first rail segment is positioned in the second channel. The second hanger bar member further includes a second stoppage tab extending out in a horizontal direction. The first stoppage tab and the second stoppage tab are designed to abut against each other to prevent unintended disengagement of the first hanger bar member from the second hanger bar member.
US09447911B2
An adjustable frame assembly for filter modules includes a lower base arrangement, an upper base arrangement, and an adjustable frame structure connected between the lower and upper base arrangements. Both the lower and upper base arrangements include mounts for positioning and supporting the filter modules. At least one of the base arrangements includes a piping system for supplying fluid to and/or receiving fluid from the filter modules. The adjustable frame structure is moveable between a first position, in which the lower and upper base arrangements are spaced a smaller first distance apart, and a second position, in which the lower and upper base arrangements are spaced a larger second distance apart. Filter modules may be mounted to the adjustable frame assembly when the adjustable frame structure is in the second position to form a filter apparatus.
US09447910B2
A temporary night pipe cap is disclosed. The pipe cap has a gasket, a plate, a pressure relief valve and a plurality of high pressure clamps. The system is removably installed over a water pipe opening at street level or in the ground so that water pressure can be restored for the time period when work on the water pipe ends for the day.
US09447902B2
Disclosed herein is wastewater pipe having a shape that is operable to flow both small and large volumes of wastewater. The wastewater pipe includes a bottom portion with a different diameter than to top portion. The top and bottom portions of the wastewater pipe are connected by side walls that extend tangentially from the bottom portion and intersect tangentially with the top portion. The pipes may also variously include alignment tabs.
US09447901B2
A flow connector creates a fluid connection between a port in a wall of a reactor vessel and an axial flow path of the reactor vessel. The flow connector has a wall defining a flow path of the flow connector. The flow path terminates in a first end opening and a second end opening. The first end opening is configured to connect to the axial flow path of the reactor vessel, and the second end opening is configured to connect to the port in a wall of the reactor. The flow connector includes a passageway extending through the wall of the flow connector to provide access to the flow path of the flow connector. A cover is dimensioned for sealing the passageway. The passageway may be dimensioned such that a person may traverse the passageway to access the flow path of the flow connector.
US09447892B2
A valve having a first housing including a first lumen extending therethrough and a first disk-facing surface, a second housing including a second lumen extending therethrough and a second disk-facing surface, where the second housing is coupled to the first housing so that the second disk-facing surface faces the first disk-facing surface. A flexible disk has at least a portion of an outer edge of the disk extending away from a plane of a central portion of the disk, the outer edge contacting the first disk-facing surface, the disk including a slit extending therethrough which, when acted upon by a fluid pressure of at least a threshold level opens to permit fluid flow between the first and second lumens and which, when acted upon by a fluid pressure less than the threshold level, prevents fluid flow between the first and second lumens.
US09447890B2
A sealing apparatus for a back pressure regulator includes: a body defining a process surface, and including: at least one process void communicating with the process surface; a recess disposed in the process surface; a floating support hub disposed in the recess, carrying an O-ring; a vent void communicating with the recess; an inlet port disposed in fluid communication with the at least one process void and adapted to be coupled in fluid communication with a fluid at a process pressure; and an outlet port disposed in fluid communication with the vent void; and a diaphragm having opposed reference and process sides, the diaphragm disposed against the body such that the process side is substantially coplanar with the process surface.
US09447884B2
A sliding part assembly includes a plurality of circumferentially separated sealed-fluid-accommodating blocks formed on a sealing face of either the stationary ring or the rotating ring so as to communicate with a sealed-fluid-accommodating space. Pumping areas for generating a pumping action due to the stationary and rotating ring sliding in relative rotation are formed on the bottom of the plurality of sealed-fluid-accommodating blocks. The pumping areas formed on the bottom of the plurality of sealed-fluid-accommodating blocks are provided with intake pumping areas operating in a direction so as to draw in the sealed fluid and outflow pumping areas operating in a direction so as to expel the sealed fluid. A seal dam area on the sealing face on which said sealed-fluid-accommodating blocks are formed is formed from a high-lubricity sliding material, the seal dam area being on the opposite side of the sealing face relative to the sealed-fluid side.
US09447883B2
A seal for sealing around a shaft includes a radially outer clamp-in element to be clamped into a housing, an intermediate membrane part extending radially inwardly (toward the shaft) at an angle from the clamp-in element, and an angled base part at a radially inner end of the intermediate membrane part. A spring is received in a receiving groove that forms a spring pocket in the base part, and the spring exerts a contact pressure of a seal lip of the base part against the shaft. In a pressureless state without a pressure differential across the seal, the spring pocket has a width larger than the sectional diameter of the spring and thus forms a free play space for the spring in the pocket.
US09447881B2
Provided is a seal that can ensure a satisfactory sealing property and can be easily separated from a sealing surface even in the case in which the seal is used for a long period of time under the conditions of a high temperature and a high pressure. The seal includes a seal body mounted in a seal groove that is formed in a first member and a second member is made to be in pressure contact with the first member to form a sealing part. The sealing part that comes into contact with the second member at the entire surface of the sealing part is formed along the entire circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the seal. A step portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the seal in such a manner that an area of a contact surface is smaller for the sealing part as the contact area is closer to the bottom side of the seal groove.
US09447877B2
The arrangement is applied to a compressor which comprises: a crankcase, carrying a cylinder provided with a lateral slot and in which is housed a piston provided with two radial holes and with an eccentric axial hole; a connecting rod connected to a crankshaft driven by an electric motor and having a smaller eye mounted in the piston; and a wrist pin having a first end turned to the bearing hub of the crankcase, a second end turned to the lateral slot of the cylinder and a diametrical hole, adjacent to the second end in which is provided an engaging means, for the axial and rotational coupling of a tool for mounting and indexing the wrist pin, in the interior of the piston, in a position in which the diametrical hole is axially aligned with the eccentric axial hole, so as to allow an elastic pin to be introduced in said diametrical hole and in said eccentric axial hole.
US09447867B2
A park shift assist mechanism of a shift lever assembly for a vehicle is provided. The park shift assist mechanism includes a pressing portion configured to apply a pressing force and a follower configured to cause rotation of a gear shift lever from a reverse position to a park position when the gear shift lever is positioned between the reverse position and the park position in response to the pressing force being applied to the follower.
US09447861B2
A component includes a component body which has a toothed section. An adaptive coating is applied, at least in parts, to the toothed section, the coating having a thickness of at least 5 μm. The adaptive coating may have a hardness gradient that has an increasing hardness from an outer coating surface in the direction towards the component body.
US09447859B2
A locking differential gear carrier comprises a gear carrier housing, a first output shaft, a second output shaft differentially linked to the first output shaft, an internal gear affixed perpendicular to the first output shaft and disposed within the gear carrier housing, and a locking actuator assembly. The locking actuator assembly is disposed exterior to the gear carrier housing and includes a locking ring to which a pin is affixed, the locking ring movable by a servo motor toward and away from the gear carrier housing, the pin disposed in parallel with the first output shaft and passing through the gear carrier housing to selectively engage with a recess of the internal gear to lock the first output shaft to the gear carrier housing and cause the first output shaft and the second output shaft to rotate synchronously.
US09447848B2
A transmission which has drive input and output shafts, a housing, two planetary gearsets (PR1, PR2), and at least three shifting elements which produce three gears or ratios. A ring gear of the gearset (PR1) and the input shaft are connected for forming a first shaft, a carrier of gearset (PR1) and the output shaft are connected for forming a second shaft, a ring gear of gearset (PR2) forms a third shaft, sun gears of gearsets (PR1, PR2) are connected for forming a fourth shaft, and carrier of gearset (PR2) couples the housing. The first shifting element is arranged in the force flow between the third shaft and the housing, the third shifting element is arranged in the force flow between the second and third shafts, and the second shifting element is arranged in the force flow either between the first and second shafts or the second and fourth shafts.
US09447847B2
An automated manual transmission includes an input shaft for receiving a rotational force from a power source, a first output shaft and a second output shaft arranged parallel to the input shaft and draw out power, a first planetary gear device and a second planetary gear device arranged on the input shaft, a plurality of driving gears arranged on the input shaft to receive power through the first planetary gear device or the second planetary gear device, a plurality of driven gears arranged on the first output shaft or the second output shaft so as to form different shift stages, respectively, by meshing with the plurality of driving gears, a first brake provided for converting a state of coupling one rotational element of the first planetary gear device, and a second brake provided for converting a state of coupling one rotational element of the second planetary gear device.
US09447842B2
A bicycle wheel including a rim with one or more counterweight assemblies. Each of the one or more counterweight assemblies includes a receiver attached to the rim and a counterweight that is attached to the receiver.
US09447837B2
A fluid-filled vibration damping device including: a primary liquid chamber which gives rise to pressure fluctuations based on deformation of a main rubber elastic body at times of vibration input; an auxiliary liquid chamber which gives rise to pressure fluctuations relative to the primary liquid chamber at times of vibration input; and an orifice passage that allows flow action of a scaled fluid between the primary liquid chamber and the auxiliary liquid chamber. The sealed fluid contains at least 0.03 volume % of a dissolved gas under atmospheric pressure at room temperature. A low-adhesion energy surface with a water contact angle of at least 90 degrees is provided on an inner surface of the primary liquid chamber.
US09447834B2
A gas spring for forming equipment. A casing includes an axially extending side wall, an open end, a transversely extending closed end wall axially spaced from the open end, and a pressure chamber established in part by the side and end walls to receive a gas under pressure. A piston rod is received at least partially in the casing for reciprocation between extended and retracted positions. A piston rod housing is received at least in part in the casing between the piston rod and the casing. An overtravel pressure relief feature includes a vent path that is disposed between the pressure chamber and the outside of the gas spring and that includes a vent passage through the side wall of the casing and a seal that sealingly interrupts the vent path, wherein displacement of the housing into the casing results in opening of the vent path.
US09447824B2
A universal joint includes a first rotating shaft, a second rotating shaft, an outside joint member, an inside joint member, a roller member, and a shaft length variable mechanism. The outside joint member is coupled to one end portion of the first rotating shaft. The inside joint member is provided in the outside joint member and is coupled to one end portion of the second rotating shaft. The inside joint member transmits running torque from a first rotating shaft side to a second rotating shaft side. The roller member is provided in the inside joint member and is to move on a roller guide surface provided inside the outside joint member. The shaft length variable mechanism is provided in the second rotating shaft and is to change a shaft length of the second rotating shaft in an axial direction of the second rotating shaft.
US09447811B2
A fastener and retainer assembly includes a threaded fastener having a head and a retainer projecting laterally from the head to engage adjacent structure and retain the head against rotation during threading. The retainer includes, and preferably consists essentially of, a one-piece metal stamping having raised embossments and/or a raised edge flange to strengthen the retainer against bending during use. The retainer preferably has a generally planar body from which the embossments and/or the edge flange extends.
US09447810B2
A washer comprises a ring and a composite structure attached to the ring. The composite structure has a slotted shape and a hole that is centrally located with respect to an axis passing through the ring.
US09447805B2
The present application provides a hook assembly having a latitudinal axis bisecting a body into an upper portion above the latitudinal axis further comprising a first bi-directional pin engagement slot and a lower portion below the latitudinal axis further comprising a second bi-directional pin engagement slot, wherein both the upper portion and the lower portion and the first bi-directional pin engagement slot and the second bi-directional engagement slot are mirror images of one another.
US09447804B2
A joint for assembling two furniture parts to each other is disclosed. A first furniture part has a male part for co-operation with a female part of a second furniture part. Each of the male and female parts has a number of grooves. At assembly the male part is moved along the female part via co-operation between the grooves of the male and female part, respectively. The co-operating male and female parts have an insertion position and an end position, in which end position the furniture parts are assembled to each other. The grooves of one of the female and male parts are compressed during movement from the insertion position to the end position. The grooves of the pair of co-operating female part and male part are such that the furniture parts are pressed toward each other when the male part is moved along the female part.
US09447802B2
A multi-branch fitting includes at least three branches, molded from a composite material and, more precisely, from a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic or thermoset matrix. The fitting is intended for assembling components which are at an angle to one another. There are at least three flat or substantially flat branches or flanges extending radially from a joining zone, and at least one face or part of a face constituting a bearing face for one or more of the components that are to be attached. The joining zone has a cross section, in the transverse direction, in the shape of a polygon with concave sides. The connection of each of the branches or flanges with another adjacent branch or flange is achieved through a portion in the shape of a curved blade which gives the joining zone one of its concave shapes.
US09447793B2
The invention relates to a centrifugal pump (1) that has a suction-side inlet (3) and at least one pressure-side outlet (4), wherein a rotatably mounted impeller (5) for pumping a pump medium from the inlet (3) to the outlet (4) and an impeller seat (10) are arranged in the pump housing (2).In order to achieve a high degree of sealing and a long service life, the impeller seat (10) is formed in a ring-shaped impeller protector (8) which is made from a corrosion-resistant material and is received in the pump housing (2), wherein an insertion region (7) of the impeller (5) is radially surrounded by the impeller protector (8).This impeller protector (8) protects the coating against damage to the impeller (5) in the impeller seat (10).
US09447791B2
A fan, with fan blades, especially used for the cooling of a motor vehicle, with the fan blades being fixed to a fan hub. In spite of being made of only a small amount of material, the fan is highly resistant to the flow conditions in the motor vehicle, each fan blade being bent rearwards at an angle in the direction of a blade root, an angled region of the fan blade being at least partially bent downwards towards the fan hub.
US09447776B2
A turning device to rotate the rotatable part of a wind turbine that comprises a stationary part and a rotatable part is described. The rotatable part is rotatable with respect to the stationary part of the wind turbine, and the stationary part is located within a nacelle, wherein the nacelle is at least partially enclosed by a housing.The turning device comprises a first lever and a second lever that is detachably attached to the rotatable part of the wind turbine.The first lever and the second lever reach from inside the housing of the nacelle through an opening to the outside of the nacelle, so that the drive is located outside of the housing of the nacelle, when the turning device is attached to the wind turbine.
US09447770B2
A method for converting the energy of water waves into electricity by means of a wave power plant, which comprises a floating body (1), a rotator (3) which is supported on the body and rotates around a rotator shaft (2) which is on average vertical, a gyro (5) which rotates around a gyro shaft (4) which is on average horizontal, the gyro and the gyro shaft rotating with the rotator around the rotator shaft (2), and at least one generator (6), which is connected to rotate together with the gyro or the rotator. By means of the rotator's mass (M) is produced a moment rotating the rotator on the one hand by means of the inclination moment generated by the inclination of the body and gravitation, and on the other hand by means of the acceleration moment generated by the horizontal acceleration of the rotator shaft (2). The inclination and acceleration are caused by directing the internal flows of the wave at the submerged part of the body (1). The moment generated by gyro force is used to equalize the said inclination and acceleration moments during the revolution and the kinetic energy of the gyro is used as an energy reserve to equalize the effective output of the wave power plant.
US09447767B2
Aspects of the invention are directed to a single chip igniter such that it is possible to realize a reduction in operating voltage, an increase in noise tolerance, a reduction in size, and a reduction in cost. By reducing the gate threshold voltage of a MOS transistor, and reducing the operating voltages of a current limiter circuit, an overheat detector circuit, a timer circuit, an overvoltage protection circuit, an input hysteresis circuit, and the like, it is possible to reduce the operating voltage of a single chip igniter. In some aspects of the invention, the effective gate voltage of the MOS transistor is 1V or more, and the channel length of the MOS transistor is 4 μm or less. Also, in some aspects of the invention, the thickness of a gate oxide film of the MOS transistor is 5 nm or more, 25 nm or less.
US09447765B2
A vehicle includes an engine, electrical loads, and at least one controller. While the engine is on, the controller calculates the change in current demand of the electrical loads expected from turning the engine off. The decision to command the engine off is then based on the expected change in current demand. Electrical loads that will change state from on to off when the engine is turned off will increase the expected change in current demand. Electrical loads that will change state from off to on when the engine is turned off will decrease the expected change in current demand. Operating conditions associated with the electrical loads, such as operating voltage, temperature, and speed, may affect the expected change in current demand.
US09447758B2
A filter for internal combustion engines of vehicles, comprising: an external casing (11) and an upper closing cover (12), which close an internal chamber (13) having an inlet for the liquid to be filtered and an outlet for filtered liquid; a filter cartridge (20) having a tubular filter means (21) located internally of the internal chamber (13) which separates the chamber (13) into a first zone communicating with the inlet and a second zone communicating with the outlet, and a lower plate (22) joined to a lower end of the filter means (21); the filter means being removably fixed to the casing (11) such as to remain internally of the casing when the casing is separated from the cover; the lower plate comprising hooking teeth (31), developing axially and having an elastic action in a radial direction; the base of the casing comprising a generally cylindrical surface sub-divided into a number of sectors which is equal to a number of hooking teeth (31), each sector defining a hooking zone (43) for axially constraining the hooking teeth (31) in a snap-fastening.
US09447754B1
Systems, methods, apparatus provide improved turbocharging of an internal combustion engine. A single, discrete turbocharger is affixed to each engine combustion cylinder. Turbochargers can be mounted to their associated cylinders in close proximity, thus harvesting higher energy exhaust gases from each combustion cylinder. Tip in and spool up responses can be further improved using low rotational inertia turbochargers that can operate effectively across a wide range of engine operational speeds. Controlled balancing valves between cylinder exhaust lines can deliver exhaust gases from a single cylinder selectively to multiple turbochargers in appropriate operational conditions. Moreover, multiple turbochargers' compressors can be configured in series to achieve pressurization compounding of combustion air for low RPM operation. Nesting of turbochargers relative to one another permits improved mounting of each turbocharger in close proximity to its corresponding combustion cylinder.
US09447753B2
A bypass passage connecting an upstream portion and a downstream portion of a compressor of a turbocharger is provided in an air intake passage of an internal combustion engine. An ejector, which utilizes the intake air flowing in the bypass passage as a drive gas and thereby venting the blow-by gas generated by the internal combustion engine, is installed in the bypass passage. When the internal combustion engine is at a low temperature at which the oil is easily degraded by the blow-by gas, the flow rate of the intake air flowing in the bypass passage, that is, the flow rate of the drive gas of the ejector, is increased.
US09447743B2
Exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine is made to pass through an exhaust gas purification device after passing through a pre-oxidation catalyst. When a first temperature of the exhaust gas on an upstream side of the device is lower than a first set temperature, multistage temperature rise injection is performed. When the first temperature becomes the first set temperature or more, post injection is performed in addition to the multistage temperature rise injection, and feedback control of the post injection is executed so that a second temperature of the exhaust gas on a downstream side of the exhaust gas purification device becomes a second set temperature.
US09447739B2
A variable compression ratio engine includes a variable chamber housing in fluidic communication with a combustion chamber of the engine, a chamber plunger slidably disposed within the variable chamber housing and forming a variable chamber together with the variable chamber housing, a hydraulic pressure cylinder connected with the variable chamber housing, a hydraulic piston slidably disposed within the hydraulic pressure cylinder, having a slider protruded to form first and second operation chambers with the hydraulic pressure cylinder and connected with the chamber plunger, a control plunger connected with the hydraulic piston, a control cylinder for receiving the control plunger and slidable with respect to the control plunger, a compression ratio control portion selectively moving the control cylinder along the length direction, and hydraulic pressure lines supplying control hydraulic pressure to the first or second operation chamber or releasing the control hydraulic pressure from the first or second operation chamber according to relative positions of the control cylinder.
US09447738B2
A method for controlling a variable valve lift apparatus includes: measuring an operation mode switching condition; determining whether the variable valve lift apparatus is in a normal operation condition; controlling the operation of the variable valve lift apparatus depending on a predetermined normal valve lift switching map; determining whether the variable valve lift apparatus is in a mode switching delay or switching disable condition from a high lift mode to a low lift mode or whether the variable valve lift apparatus is in the mode switching delay or switching disable condition from the low lift mode to the high lift mode; controlling the operation of the variable valve lift apparatus depending on a predetermined low oil temperature valve lift switching map; and controlling the operation of the variable valve lift apparatus depending on a predetermined high oil temperature valve lift switching map.
US09447736B2
In a method for switching over a gas turbine plant from gaseous fuel (16, 20) to liquid fuel (18, 22) and vice-versa, in which the gas turbine plant includes a first combustor and a second combustor fed with the flue gases of the first combustor, the first and second combustors are sequentially switched over while the other combustor maintains its operating conditions.
US09447725B2
A compressor includes: a cylinder; a crankcase; a piston arranged within the cylinder and the crankcase; and an outer rotor type motor causing the piston to reciprocate, wherein the outer rotor type motor comprises: a stator; a coil wound around the stator; a rotational shaft; a yoke connected with the rotational shaft; and a permanent magnet secured to the yoke, and the yoke is formed with an air hole.
US09447722B2
Various methods for controlling current supply to a wastegate actuator based on temperature are thus provided. In one example, a method for operating a wastegate comprises limiting a boost amount in response to a current limit based on a temperature of a wastegate actuator. The temperature may be an environmental temperature proximate the wastegate actuator.
US09447720B2
A device for injecting fuel into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine with at least one injector includes an injector body equipped with a high-pressure accumulator, a nozzle needle axially displaceably guided in the injector and surrounded by a nozzle chamber, a high-pressure line connecting the high-pressure accumulator to the nozzle chamber, and a resonator line arranged in parallel with the high-pressure line and communicating with the nozzle chamber and opening into the high-pressure accumulator via a resonator throttle. The resonator line and the high-pressure line, at least in their sections adjacent the high-pressure accumulator, are formed in a retaining body which, on its end face, is screwed into the accumulator pipe forming the high-pressure accumulator.
US09447707B2
The invention relates to a hydraulic support element for valve drive of a combustion engine, with a pot cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical piston guided axially movably therein, the inner end of which is supported via a spring on the bottom wall of the casing, whose outer end projects past the outer margin of the casing and is formed as a hemispherical bearing head, and whose inner space is subdivided by means of a partition element into an axially inner supply-pressure space and an axially outer switching-pressure space.
US09447705B2
In a fossil fuel waste incineration or plasma gasification process, waste heat generated by combustion of waste is captured by a heat transfer fluid and conveyed to an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for energy recovery. In the case of a fossil fuel-fired waste incineration system, the heat transfer fluid captures waste heat from a double-walled combustion chamber, a heat exchanger being used to cool the hot process exhaust (gas cooler). In the case of a plasma waste gasification system, the heat transfer fluid captures waste heat from a plasma torch, a gasification chamber and combustion chamber cooling jackets as well as any other high-temperature components requiring cooling, and then a heat exchanger used to cool the hot process exhaust (gas cooler). The heat exchanger may take on several configurations, including plate or shell and tube configurations.
US09447704B2
A heat recovery system for an internal combustion engine may include a heat transfer device flowed through by a fluidic heat carrier for transferring the heat from a combustion exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine to the heat carrier, a heat power machine flowed through by the heat carrier for converting the heat transferred to the heat carrier into mechanical work, a substantially cyclically closed duct system for connecting the heat transfer device with the heat power machine, at least one displacement pump for conveying the heat carrier through the duct system in a predetermined flow direction, and a pump drive for driving the displacement pump. A reduced wear may result when the heat recovery system is supplemented by an impermeable separating membrane for the fluid-tight separation of the heat carrier from the pump drive.
US09447703B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus of processing material having an organic content. The method comprises heating a batch of the material (“E”) in a batch processing apparatus (16) having a reduced oxygen atmosphere to gasify at least some of the organic content to produce syngas, The temperature of the syngas is then elevated and maintained at the elevated temperature in a thermal treatment: apparatus (18) for a residence time sufficient to thermally break down any long chain hydrocarbons or volatile organic compounds therein. The calorific value of the syngas produced is monitored by sensors (26) and, when the calorific value of the syngas is below a predefined threshold, the syngas having a low calorific value is diverted to a burner of a boiler (22) to produce steam to drive a steam turbine (36) to produce electricity (“H”). When the calorific value: of the syngas exceeds the predefined threshold syngas having a high calorific value is diverted to a gas engine (40) to produce electricity (F”).
US09447702B2
Embodiments of systems that are configured as a closed loop system with a pump, an evaporator, a power generator, and a condenser, the combination of which circulates a working fluid to generate electrical power. The embodiments are configured with a cooling system that can depress the local pressure at or near components that are the target of cooling, which in turn permits the cooling fluid to function at temperatures that can remove heat, even when the ambient temperature rises above desirable levels. In one embodiment, the system is configured with an ejector device that can use energy of the working fluid F in vapor phase to lower the pressure in a housing, or like environment, that encloses critical elements of the generator.
US09447700B2
A system for connecting spaced components of a gas turbine engine includes connecting one end of a T-bar to each of the spaced components. One component is attached to the crossbar portion of the T-bar by trapping the crossbar between the component and a bracket. The second component is attached to the shaft portion using a hanger nut connected to the shaft portion of the T-bar and bolted to the second component. The system may be installed by attaching the crossbar portion, then advancing the first component towards the second component until the shaft portion passes through an aperture in the second component. The hanger nut is attached to the shaft portion and the second component.
US09447698B2
A double-walled turbocharger housing made of sheet metal includes an inner sheet metal shell which conducts hot exhaust gases and a relatively cold outer sheet metal shell which is spaced apart from the inner sheet metal shell via an air gap. The double-walled turbocharger housing is connected to a bearing flange with a circumferential collar via a common welding seam. The bearing flange is provided with a collar on an outside which faces away from the hot exhaust gas. An outer end of the inner sheet metal shell is provided with a collar with which it embraces the outer sheet metal shell. Both sheet metal shells are connected with the collar of the bearing flange via a common welding seam, wherein an air gap is present between the inner sheet metal shell and the outer sheet metal shell up to the outer end of the inner sheet metal shell.
US09447692B1
A turbine rotor blade with a main serpentine flow cooling circuit extending from a leading edge region to a trailing edge region, and a mini serpentine flow cooling circuit in the blade tip region connected between the first and second legs of the main serpentine flow circuit. Exit slots in the trailing edge region are connected to the last leg of the main serpentine flow circuit and to the mini serpentine flow circuit to provide cooling for the trailing edge region.
US09447687B2
A heat engine comprises two coaxial discoidal sectors and a mechanism of control of the rotational speed of the sectors that makes their respective rotational speeds to vary cyclically between a maximum and a minimum speed. The mechanism includes a linked structure provided with four links arranged in a deformable parallelogram and connected to each other by corresponding rotary joints located at their ends, each link including a roller located adjacent one end of the link. The mechanism further includes at least one cam profile for the rollers to follow, the cam profile being the locus of the path followed by the rollers when the sectors follow a motion such that the speed of each sector is kept at a maximum for at least 90% of the duration of a half-cycle, and is kept at a minimum for at least 90% of the duration of the other half-cycle.
US09447684B2
A mine stopping panel is disclosed. The panel includes first and second channel-shaped panel members having a telescoping sliding fit one inside the other. An end cap is fitted in the first panel member. One or more louver connections between the first panel member and the end cap hold the end cap against movement relative to the first panel member when an extending force is applied to the end cap tending to telescopically extend the first panel member relative to the second panel member.
US09447679B2
Systems and methods for generating and monitoring an acoustic response to particular fluid flow conditions in a wellbore include incorporating a sound-producing element into each inflow control device installed in a wellbore. Each of the sound-producing elements generates an acoustic signature that is readily identifiable from each other sound-producing element installed in the wellbore.
US09447670B2
A self-orientating fracturing system including a swivel sub having opposing sections rotatable relative to one another; at least one ported sleeve defining a flowpath and having a ported housing with an outer surface that includes at least one planar engagement surface and at least one port providing a communication path to the interior of said housing, and an insert moveable within the ported housing between a first position and a second position, for opening and closing the ported sleeve. The system includes a centralizer having an outer surface configured to impart rotational force to the centralizer when the centralizer is pushed or culled alone the surface of a wellbore. The sorted sleeve and the centralizer are installed in the assembly on the same side of the swivel sub such that the rotational force imparted to the centralizer is also imparted to the swivel sub.
US09447668B2
Disclosed are systems and methods of injecting steam into a wellbore. One disclosed injection tool includes a body defining an inner bore and a radial flow channel, one or more fluid conduits defined in the body at the radial flow channel, a shroud arranged about the body such that an annulus is defined and in fluid communication with the one or more fluid conduits and the surrounding wellbore environment, a sleeve arranged within inner bore and movable between a first position, where the sleeve occludes the one or more fluid conduits, and a second position, where the one or more fluid conduits are exposed, and first and second seals generated at opposing axial ends of the radial flow channel when the sleeve is in the first position.
US09447664B2
A formation evaluation system and method. A formation evaluation system includes an assembly interconnected as part of a tubular string and displaceable to multiple positions proximate each of multiple zones intersected by a wellbore. The assembly includes at least one formation evaluation instrument for determining a characteristic of formation fluid, and a pump which draws the fluid into the assembly. A method of evaluating multiple subterranean zones during a single trip into a wellbore includes the steps of: interconnecting a formation evaluation assembly in a coiled tubing string; for each of the multiple zones, displacing the formation evaluation assembly to a position proximate the respective zone, receiving formation fluid from the respective zone into the formation evaluation assembly, and determining at least one characteristic of the formation fluid; and performing the multiple displacing, receiving and determining steps during the single trip of the coiled tubing string into the wellbore.
US09447660B2
A subsea containment system for capturing fluids leaking from a subsea well includes a clamping assembly and a storage system. The clamp assembly includes an annular clamp body configured to be disposed about the upper end of the well and a fluid outlet extending from the clamp body. The fluid outlet is in fluid communication with an inner cavity of the clamp body. The storage system is coupled to the fluid outlet of the clamping assembly. The storage system includes a first storage tank having an inlet in fluid communication with the inner cavity of the clamp body and a plurality of vertically spaced outlets.
US09447658B2
A shut off system for a hydrocarbon recovery mandrel includes an inline valve assembly that contains a nipple that includes a chemical flow line. The chemical flow line is operative to transfer fluids from outside the wellbore to a mandrel channel; where the mandrel channel is disposed in the mandrel. A valve assembly includes a cylinder and a piston shaft; where the cylinder contacts the chemical flow line; where the piston shaft reciprocates in the cylinder in response to opposing applied pressures. The piston shaft contacts a sealing object that is operative to facilitate or to prevent fluid flow from the chemical flow line to the mandrel channel. The cylinder includes a port that provides fluid communication from the cylinder to the mandrel channel and an actuating assembly; where the actuating assembly is operative to displace the piston shaft in the cylinder to prevent fluid communication between the chemical flow line and the mandrel channel.
US09447651B2
The present invention relates to sealing method for sealing a zone of a casing in a well, the zone comprising several leaks, perforations and/or weakened casing parts, or other irregularities having a casing characteristic which, when measured, is found to be outside a predetermined interval. The sealing method comprises the steps of measuring the characteristics of the casing, determining a position of the zone, determining an extent of the zone in a longitudinal direction of the casing, determining a part of the zone and an extent of the part whose casing characteristic when measured is within the predetermined interval, the part extending in the longitudinal direction of the casing, positioning a first liner overlapping the first area of the part of the casing, positioning a second liner overlapping the second area of the part of the casing, expanding the first liner, and expanding the second liner.
US09447639B2
A ladder safety device, systems and methods of arresting falls from ladders are provided. The ladder safety device includes a safety guide that extends along the length of an extension ladder. The length of the guide along the length of the ladder extends and contracts in unison with the extension and retraction of the extension ladder, and a tension is maintained on the guide to maintain a load during use of the ladder for climbing.
US09447637B2
A foldable ladder for providing access to an opening including: a first motorized drive mechanism for moving a cover for the opening between a closed position and an open position; a second motorized drive mechanism coupled to a plurality of foldable ladder portions for moving the ladder portions between a folded configuration and an unfolded configuration; such that, in moving the cover between the closed and an open position, the first motorized drive mechanism triggers the second motorized drive mechanism to move the ladder portions between the folded configuration and unfolded configuration.
US09447629B2
Embodiments provide a strip gasket with one or more adhesive strips on the gasket. The strip gasket resists stretching because a non-stretchable carrier is located within an adhesive strip on the gasket which helps prevent the gasket from being stretched. The strip gasket is also able to create a tight seal when it is installed against a desired surface. This tight seal prevents water and other particulate matter from passing around the strip gasket.
US09447625B1
A door lock system includes a door having an inner edge, an outer edge, an inner surface and an outer surface. A frame includes a first vertical section and a second vertical section. The inner edge is hingedly coupled to the first vertical section. The door extends between the first and second vertical sections to define a closed position. A drive assembly is attached to the door and to the frame. The drive assembly is actuated in a first direction to move the door to the closed position and in a second direction to move the door to an open position. An outer switch mounted on an outside surface of the frame is engaged to actuate the drive assembly in the second direction. An inner switch mounted on an inside surface of the frame is engaged to actuate the drive assembly in the first direction.
US09447622B2
A door actuating device, including a housing, at least one drive unit which is disposed in the housing and can be coupled to a door leaf, and at least one spring energy accumulator, which is in operative connection with the drive unit, and which includes a spring disposed therein under spring pretension, wherein the spring pretension of the spring is realized by means of a spring adjusting device, which includes at least one screwed sealing plug, which can be connected to the housing, and an adjusting nut, where a cylinder is configured at the screwed sealing plug and oriented towards the spring, at which cylinder the adjusting nut is linearly guided, where a setting element which is guided by means of the screwed sealing plug and, at least in sections, can be brought non-positively and positively into engagement with the cylinder, and which bears against the adjusting nut, serves for adjusting the spring pretension.
US09447620B2
A hinge mechanism with multiple preset positions is described. According to various embodiments, the hinge mechanism enables a support component to be adjustably attached to an apparatus, such as a computing device. In at least some embodiments, the hinge mechanism utilizes preset hinge positions that enable the support component to be placed at different preset positions. For instance, the hinge mechanism is configured such that an attached support component tends to “snap” into various preset positions. In at least some embodiments, the hinge mechanism includes an emergency escape position that enables the support component to be rotated beyond normal operating positions without damaging the support component.
US09447610B2
A lockset is actuable by pivoting a handle about a longitudinal axis of the lockset by rotating the handle and by pivoting the handle about an axis transverse to the lockset axis, such as by pushing or pulling. The lockset includes an inside handle and an outside handle, each associated with an independent mechanism, each of which can independently actuate the lockset. A locking mechanism prevents actuation of a first one of the independent handle mechanisms without affecting operation of the other handle mechanism. Upon actuation of the other handle mechanism, a retractor engages a surface of the locking mechanism and removes it from engagement with the first locking mechanism. An adjustment ring has a first configuration that centers the lockset in a door having a first standard thickness and a second configuration that centers the lockset in a door having a second standard thickness.
US09447605B1
A plug assembly for a lock includes a generally cylindrical plug body that defines a keyway and a generally cylindrical plug housing that rotatably receives the plug body. A plurality of blocking members are housed in the plug body and are movable into the keyway upon rotation of the plug body relative to the plug housing to obstruct the keyway. A key can be provided that is positionable into the keyway, and the blade of the key defines receptacles for receiving the blocking members when the plug body is rotated so that the lock can be unlocked. However, the blocking members prevent rotation of the plug body when a picking tool or unauthorized key is inserted in the keyway since either the blocking members cannot move into the keyway and remain engaged to the plug housing due to the object in the keyway, or obstruct the keyway and prevent insertion of the picking tool.
US09447604B2
A door handle for motor vehicles includes a handle body and a cover which cooperate to form a handle for a user. An accommodating space for electronic components is formed between the handle body and the cover. A capacitive proximity sensor is arranged in the space. The sensor has an active capacitive face directed towards the cover for detecting approaching movements. The capacitive face is coupled to an evaluation circuit which detects changes in the capacitance of the capacitive face. A sealing element composed of a closed-cell foam is located in the space. The sealing element has at least one continuous opening spaced from an edge. The opening is located above the active face of the proximity sensor and is compressed between the cover and the handle body with the result that at least one area above the active face of the sensor is free of foam.
US09447602B1
A modular screening device includes a flexible first panel that is flexible having a vertical edge and an opposing vertical edge. A first sleeve is coupled to the vertical edge and a second sleeve coupled to the opposing vertical edge. A third sleeve is coupled to the first panel equally distant from the vertical edge and the opposing vertical edge. A first fastener is coupled to the second sleeve. A second flexible panel has a vertical border and an opposing vertical border. A first sheath is coupled to the vertical border and a second fastener is coupled to the opposing vertical border. The second fastener is complimentary to the first fastener. A second sheath is coupled to the second panel equally distant from the vertical border and the opposing vertical border. The device also comprises a plurality of framing tubes, S-hooks, spike anchors, bases, connectors, and support rods.
US09447596B2
The present invention relates to an axially yielding elasto-plastic hysteresis brace including an H-section steel as a steel core, a buckling-restraining member covering an outer periphery of the H-section steel, an unbonded layer filled between the steel core and the buckling-restraining member, and a square steel pipe covering the outer periphery of the buckling-restraining member for reinforcement. For both ends of the H-section steel, one reinforcing plate is welded to each outer surface of each flange so as to be overlapped therewith. The buckling-restraining member is installed so that each reinforcing plate is inserted to the buckling-restraining member through an end thereof by a predetermined length L. And, where the width of the H-section steel as a steel core is given as B and the height thereof is given as H, an insertion length L of each reinforcing plate is set in a range of 2B≦L≦3B and also 2H≦L≦3H.
US09447580B2
A building roof structure includes rafters, purlins, braces, and a suspension fabric. The suspension fabric, which may be part of a fall protection system, insulation support system, and/or vapor barrier system, extends across a bay or other portion of the roof structure such that the suspension fabric is above the rafters and below the purlins. The braces connect at least some of the purlins to at least some of the rafters, and each brace extends through a corresponding slit or other opening in the suspension fabric. Brace covers are provided for some or all of the braces to conceal the fabric opening, to facilitate sealing around the brace near the fabric opening, and/or to provide support for the suspension fabric near the fabric opening.
US09447570B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for a dual flush handle control. A rotary handle assembly for a dual flush toilet system includes a flush stop, a handle lever, a handle switch, and a restriction arm. The handle switch is configured to extend through a surface of the handle lever from an unextended position to an extended position. The restriction arm is configured to engage the handle switch at a proximal end and control engagement with the flush stop to restrict rotation of the handle lever based upon the position of the handle switch.
US09447562B2
A work vehicle includes a boom, an arm, a bucket, an arm cylinder, a direction control valve, a calculation portion, and a speed determination portion. The calculation portion calculates an estimated speed of the arm cylinder based on correlation between an amount of movement of the spool of the direction control valve in accordance with an amount of operation of an arm control lever and a speed of the arm cylinder. The speed determination portion determines a target speed of the boom based on the estimated speed of the arm cylinder. When the amount of operation of the arm control lever is smaller than a prescribed amount, the calculation portion calculates a speed higher than a speed of the arm cylinder in accordance with correlation as the estimated speed of the arm cylinder.
US09447561B2
A machine bucket may include a torque tube having an outer surface. The machine bucket may also include a support plate coupled to the torque tube. The support plate may include a bottom surface. The machine bucket may further include a base edge including a cutting edge. The machine bucket may also include a curved wrapper located between the support plate and the base edge. A ratio of a maximum distance between the curved wrapper and a first line extending from the base edge to the outer surface of the torque tube where the bottom surface of the support plate intersects the outer surface of the torque tube, taken substantially perpendicularly from the first line, relative to a length of the first line, may be about 0.61 to 0.63.
US09447556B2
An anchor system for an erosion control mat is provided. The system includes a bullet anchor comprising a bullet anchor body and a bullet anchor strap integrally molded with and extending from a first side of the bullet anchor body. In embodiments, a lock washer is coupled to the bullet anchor strap. In embodiments, serrations on at least one side of the bullet anchor strap are adapted to prevent the lock washer from traversing the bullet anchor strap in a direction away from the bullet anchor. In embodiments, the lock washer is adapted to couple with an erosion control mat. In embodiments, an anchor tab on a second side of the bullet anchor body secures the bullet anchor body in a ground surface. The anchor system is utilized to secure the erosion control mat to the ground surface and prevent undesired movement of the erosion control mat.
US09447548B2
An industrial mat having a core construction that provides strength and rigidity to the mat, an encapsulation of a durable skin of a thermoplastic, thermosetting or elastomeric material that surrounds the core construction, and upper and/or lower surfaces formed by a plurality of elongated members. The elongated members of the upper and/or lower surfaces are advantageously arranged in spaced relation in at least one layer and are attached together or to the core construction for protecting the durable skin from abrasion and impact during transport, installation and use of the industrial mat. The resulting industrial mat has a load bearing capacity that is able to withstand a load of at least 600 to 1000 psi without permanent deformation. The mats of the invention typically have a width of 2 to 12 feet, a length of 2 to 40 feet and an overall thickness of 2 to 18 inches.
US09447543B2
A method of manufacturing a fibrous web including: preparing furnish of a thick stock component and filtrate, preparing foamed furnish by mixing a surfactant and gas into the furnish, introducing the foamed furnish to a headbox of a fiber web machine, and laying the foamed furnish on a wire or between wires of a wire section of a fiber web machine for forming the fibrous web, wherein the preparation of the foamed furnish by injecting the gas uses an injection liquid to the furnish.
US09447540B2
The present invention relates to a process for dewatering a slurry comprising microfibrillated cellulose wherein the process comprises the following steps of, providing a slurry comprising microfibrillated cellulose and liquid, subjecting the slurry to an electric field inducing the liquid of the slurry to flow and separating the liquid from the microfibrillated cellulose. The invention also relates to microfibrillated cellulose dewatered according to the process.
US09447532B2
Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated manner. For example, shoe parts may be retrieved and temporarily assembled according to preset relative positions to form part stacks. The part stacks may be retrieved with the relative positioning of the shoe parts being maintained and placed at a stitching machine for more permanent attachment via stitching of the parts to form a shoe assembly. Movement during stitching of a conveyance mechanism that transfers the part stack from the stacking surface to the stitching machine and movement of a needle associated with the stitching machine may be controlled by a shared control mechanism such that the movements are synchronized with respect to one another. Vision systems may be leveraged to achieve movement and position information between and at machines and locations.
US09447525B2
An on-line defect detection system for detecting a defect in a fibrous member and related processes are provided. The defect detection system may include first and second fiber contacting members where at least one of the contacting members is shiftable relative to the other contacting member. The defect detection system may also include a defect detection zone defined between at least a portion of the first and second fiber contacting members. The defect detection zone may be configured to receive at least a portion of the fibrous member in a manner such that the fibrous member contacts the first and second fiber contacting members in the defect detection zone. Further, the defect detection zone may also include a sensor configured to sense movement of one of the first and second fiber contacting members and generate an electronic signal based on the sensed movement of the at least one fiber contacting member.
US09447511B2
The present invention relates to catalysts for the production of CO gas through electrochemical CO2 reduction. In particular, the present invention relates to an electrochemical cell comprising an iron porphyrin as the catalyst for the CO2 reduction into CO, a method of performing electrochemical reduction of CO2 using said electrochemical cell thereby producing CO gas, and a method of performing electrochemical reduction of CO2 using said iron porphyrin catalyst thereby producing CO gas.
US09447502B2
Provided is a means for fixing calcium phosphate onto the surface of a metal by a treatment method which uses no acid and produces less residue. A method of producing a calcium phosphate composite in which calcium phosphate is bonded to the surface of a base material, the method including a surface treatment step of bringing the surface of the base material into contact with a surface treating agent, and then into contact with a silane coupling agent, to surface treat the base material; a polymerization step of initiating, after the surface treatment step, polymerization of the silane coupling agent by means of a polymerization initiator; and a bonding step of bonding the silane coupling agent at the surface of the base material after the polymerization step, with calcium phosphate; wherein the base material is a metal, and the surface treating agent is ozone water.
US09447491B2
The present invention relates to a coated cutting tool with a coating comprising a multilayer structure consisting of alternating layers A and B forming the sequence A/B/A/B/A . . . or alternating layers A and B and an intermediate layer C between the alternating layers A and B forming the sequence A/C/B/C/A/C/B . . . . Layer A consists of ZrAlN and layer B consists of TiN. Layer C comprises one or more metal elements from each of layers A and B and is of different composition and structure than layers A and B. A method for forming the coated cutting tool is also provided. The method comprises heat treatment of the coated cutting tool prior to use.
US09447489B2
One aspect of the present invention includes method of making a photovoltaic device. The method includes disposing an absorber layer on a window layer, wherein the absorber layer includes a first region and a second region. The method includes disposing the first region adjacent to the window layer in a first environment including oxygen at a first partial pressure; and disposing the second region on the first region in a second environment including oxygen at a second partial pressure, wherein the first partial pressure is greater than the second partial pressure. One aspect of the present invention includes a photovoltaic device.
US09447486B2
An Ni-based alloy for casting used for a steam turbine of an embodiment contains in percent (%) by mass C (carbon): 0.01 to 0.1, Cr (chromium): 15 to 25, Co (cobalt): 10 to 15, Mo (molybdenum): 5 to 12, Al (aluminum): 0.5 to 2, Ti (titanium): 0.3 to 2, B (boron): 0.001 to 0.006, Ta (tantalum): 0.05 to 1, Si (silicon): 0.1 to 0.5, Mn (manganese): 0.1 to 0.5, and the balance of Ni (nickel) and unavoidable impurities.
