US09559444B1
A battery terminal for terminating to a terminal post of a battery. A lever is rotatably mounted to a lever engaging portion and includes an engagement member with a pair of mounting members extending therefrom. The mounting members are spaced apart by a first distance which is greater than a second distance which is the distance that the lever receiving members are spaced from each other. The mounting members are positioned to the outside of the lever receiving members. Camming members extend from the mounting members. The camming members have engaging portions which extend inward from the mounting members. The camming members and the engaging portions have an elastic spring behavior which allows the camming members and the engaging portions to be elastically deformed when the lever is rotated between an open position and a closed position.
US09559443B2
Electrical connectors having field modifiable lugs are provided. In some embodiments, the electrical connectors include a lug having at least two different modification guide features, which assist the user to modify lug from its blank or unmodified state shown in to a modified state while ensuring that the modified connector maintains the desired compliance to the various regulatory and overseeing bodies.
US09559440B2
A lead-through terminal for connecting a conductor so as to conduct electricity includes: a terminal housing having a bearing portion that abuts a wall of an electrical installation when in an installed state, the bearing portion defining on the terminal housing a first housing portion on a first side and a second housing portion on a second side of the bearing portion, a wall feedthrough being provided on the bearing portion; and a pivotable actuation device being provided on the terminal housing to clamp the conductor in a contact position on a current bar and to release the conductor when in an open position. The actuation device is located on the first side to a greater extent when in the contact position than when in the open position, in which the actuation device extends through the wall feedthrough onto the second side at least in part.
US09559438B2
A connector assembly for connecting a first pair of wires associated with a DC power source to a second pair of wires associated with a DC powered device. The connector assembly includes a run portion having insulation piercing contacts for electrically engaging the first pair of wires. A tap portion of the connector assembly may also include insulation piercing contacts for electrically engaging the second pair of wires. The run portion and the tap portion may be provided in separate housing assemblies that are releasably engageable or may be provided in an integrated housing assembly.
US09559430B2
An antenna array includes a plurality of antenna elements configured in a flare such that each of the plurality of antenna elements is uniformly spaced apart from at least one adjacent antenna element. Each of the plurality of antenna elements is coupled in a common area, and each of the plurality of antenna elements extends radially outward from the common area. A method of arranging antenna elements in an antenna array includes configuring a plurality of antenna elements in a flare such that each antenna element is uniformly spaced apart from at least one adjacent antenna element, and each of the plurality of antenna elements extends radially outward from a common area; and coupling each of the plurality of antenna elements in the common area.
US09559429B2
The present disclosure relates to feeding networks for base station antenna. Embodiments of the disclosure may comprise first and second phase shifters, and a 3-way power divider, including an input terminal, a first output terminal for feeding a first unit, a second output terminal connecting to the first phase shifter, and a third output terminal connecting to the second phase shifter. The feeding network may also comprise a first 2-way power divider, including an input terminal connecting to the first phase shifter, a first output terminal for feeding a second unit, and a second output terminal for cascading a third phase shifter. In addition, the feeding network may comprise a second 2-way power divider, including an input terminal connecting to the second phase shifter, a first output terminal for feeding a third unit, and a second output terminal for cascading a fourth phase shifter.
US09559426B1
A switchable Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) in which the switchable elements are Plasma-shells. Plasma-shells as described herein allow for control or ‘reconfiguration’ of the FSS electromagnetic (EM) properties.
US09559421B2
An antenna comprising a coreless coil formed by winding a conductor wire, a relay member connected to the coil, and a magnetic plate member covering the coil and part of the relay member; the relay member comprising a substrate having a notch for lead wires of the coil, and a pair of terminal members formed on the substrate; each terminal member comprising an internal terminal portion connected to an end of each lead wire, an external terminal portion connected to an external circuit, and a line portion connecting the internal terminal portion to the external terminal portion; the coil and part of the relay member disposed on the magnetic member being fixed to a first adhesive layer on the non-transmission side of the coil; and the internal terminal portion being positioned in a region overlapping the magnetic member, or in a region surrounded by the notch of the magnetic member.
US09559417B1
A particular computer-implemented method includes receiving sensed data from sensors of a sensor array, where data from each sensor is descriptive of waveform phenomena detected at the sensor. The method also includes determining an estimated spatial spectrum of the waveform phenomena based at least partially on the sensed data. The method further includes determining an estimated covariance matrix of the waveform phenomena based on the estimated spatial spectrum. The method includes determining adaptive beamforming weights using the estimated covariance matrix.
US09559416B2
The invention is about a method and apparatus for grouping multiple satellite transponders with both (LP) polarization formats in different frequencies through Wave-Front (WF) Multiplexing (muxing) techniques for ground terminals with incompatible (CP) polarization formats. As a result of this invention, linear polarized (LP) transponders can be accessed and efficiently utilized by circularly polarized (CP) ground terminals and vice versa. This invention consists of conventional ground terminals, a unique organization of space assets, and a unique polarization alignment processor. The applications of wavefront multiplexing techniques to satellite communications offer many potential advantages, including improved flexibility and utility efficiency of existing space assets. Our proposed “Polarization Utility Waveforms” is an entirely new concept in VSAT and Earth Station Antenna diversity. The implementation enables antennas to switch between different polarization formats at the press of a button, and provides teleport operators with greater flexibility in how they manage their assets.
US09559415B2
The disclosure discloses a method and device for realizing Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) control, in both of which phase shifters can be provided on a metal ground edge of a wireless terminal, and an induced current of the metal ground edge can be altered by applying the phase shifters, so as to reduce an antenna near field radiation characteristic of an SAR. The method and device of the disclosure can alter current phase and amplitude distribution of the metal ground without affecting the reception and transmission performance of the terminal, so as to reduce a local SAR peak value and lessen the harm of radiation to human bodies. Furthermore, the disclosure does not require any major change in a structure, circuit, and, antenna of a designed model, and can save space. The disclosure bears great flexibility and adaptability in an application, thereby realizing the objective of miniaturized design of the wireless terminal.
US09559413B2
An antenna feed circuit includes: a first hybrid circuit having a reference phase second terminal and 90° lagging phase third terminal; second hybrid circuit having a first terminal connecting to first hybrid circuit second terminal, reference phase second terminal, and 90° lagging phase third terminal; a first polarization converter/second polarization converter pair outputting at second hybrid circuit second terminal phase; third polarization converter/fourth polarization converter pair outputting at second hybrid circuit third terminal phase; third hybrid circuit having a first terminal connecting to first hybrid circuit third terminal, reference phase second terminal, and 90° lagging phase third terminal; fifth polarization converter/sixth polarization converter pair outputting at third hybrid circuit third terminal phase; and seventh polarization converter/eighth polarization converter pair outputting at third hybrid circuit second terminal phase rotated by 180°.
US09559407B2
The invention provides a lighting device (104) and a luminaire (200). The lighting device comprises a light emitter (110) thermally connected to a heat sink (120). The lighting device further comprises a communication circuit (130) coupled to the heat sink for transmitting and/or receiving a communication signal. A first conductive part (122) of the heat sink comprises at least a first pole (142) of a dipole antenna (140) for transmitting and/or receiving the communication signal via the heat sink. This first pole of the dipole antenna may be induced via a primary radiator (160) to activate the gap (170).
US09559402B2
The combiner includes a printed board, first and second conductor plates, and first and second conductor parts. The printed board includes a hole passing from a first surface to a second surface opposite to the first surface. The first conductor plate is made of a copper plate and mounted on the first surface of the printed board to close the hole. The second conductor plate is made of a copper plate and mounted on the second surface of the printed board to close the hole. The first conductor part is opposed to the first conductor plate with a predetermined space between the first conductor part and the first conductor plate. The second conductor part is opposed to the second conductor plate with a predetermined space between the second conductor part and the second conductor plate.
US09559400B2
A waveguide circulator for an electro-magnetic field having a wavelength is provided. The waveguide circulator includes: N waveguide arms, where N is a positive integer; a ferrite element having N segments protruding into the N respective waveguide arms; at most (N−1) quarter-wave dielectric transformers attached to respective ends of at most (N−1) other segments; a first quarter-wave dielectric transformer attached to an end of the first segment; and a coaxial-coupling component. The N waveguide arms include a first-waveguide arm and (N−1) other-waveguide arms. The N segments include a first segment protruding into the first-waveguide arm and (N−1) other segments protruding into respective (N−1) other-waveguide arms. The coaxial-coupling component is positioned within a quarter wavelength of the electro-magnetic field from the first quarter-wave dielectric transformer positioned in the first-waveguide arm.
US09559399B2
The present invention provides a dielectric waveguide input/output structure for connecting to a coaxial connector a plurality of dielectric waveguide resonators each comprising an approximately parallelepiped-shaped dielectric block, wherein the plurality of dielectric waveguide resonators include a first dielectric waveguide resonator and a second dielectric waveguide resonator each having an exterior coated with an electrically conductive film, except for a coupling window, wherein each of the coupling window is formed with a probe composed of an electrically conductive film, the probe having one end connected to a feeding point, and the other end connected to the electrically conductive film, and wherein the first dielectric waveguide resonator and the second dielectric waveguide resonator are arranged in such a manner that the one side surfaces thereof are located in opposed relation to each other.
US09559394B2
Device for contacting electrical energy storage cells of an energy store, which are each connected at their poles to a printed circuit board via an electrically and thermally conductive contact element, said printed circuit board being provided to separate an electrical current, received by the respective energy storage cell via the contact element, from a heat flow received via the contact element.
US09559392B2
A battery pack includes a plurality of battery modules; at least one space that is formed between the battery modules that are adjacent to each other, and that serves as a flow path for a heat carrier; and a plurality of protrusions that protrude toward an inside of the space, and that are arranged on surfaces of opposing surfaces that oppose each other and that define the space. The plurality of protrusions that are arranged on one surface of the opposing surfaces and the plurality of protrusions that are arranged on the other surface of the opposing surfaces are arranged in positions that oppose each other across the space.
US09559384B2
An exterior body of a secondary battery includes an insertion portion for insertion of a third electrode including metal lithium. An injection and expelling portion through which an electrolyte solution can be replaced is further provided. Specifically, a nonaqueous secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, an electrolyte solution, a separator, and an exterior body covering the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the electrolyte solution. The exterior body includes a positive electrode terminal to which the positive electrode is electrically connected, a negative electrode terminal to which the negative electrode is electrically connected, and an insertion portion for insertion of a third electrode including metal lithium.
US09559383B2
The present invention provides a sealed lithium secondary battery in which redox shuttle reactions of an aromatic compound that is an overcharge inhibitor are inhibited, and the aromatic compound decomposes appropriately, and a desired amount of gas can be generated more stably than in conventional instances, even in high-temperature environments. In the sealed lithium secondary battery (100), an electrode assembly (80) and an electrolyte are accommodated in a battery case (50) that is provided with a current interrupt device (30). The electrolyte comprises a compound that is capable of suppressing drops in viscosity of the electrolyte as a result of a rise in temperature in a temperature region up to 100° C., and an aromatic compound capable of generating hydrogen gas when a predetermined battery voltage is exceeded.
US09559376B2
Disclosed is a fuel cell in which an electrolyte membrane-electrode structure is held between the first separator and a second separator. The electrolyte membrane-electrode structure comprises a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, a cathode-side electrode and an anode-side electrode. An end portion of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane projects outwardly beyond end portions of gas diffusion layers, and the both surfaces of the end portion of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane are held between the first protective film and a second protective film. The thickness of the first protective film is set to be thinner than the thickness of the second protective film.
US09559372B2
A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with enhanced current density or power density is fabricated using high temperature (HT) proton exchange membrane (PEM). The MEA can be utilized in high temperature PEM fuel cell applications. More specifically, the MEA is modified with the addition of one or more of selected materials to its catalyst layer to enhance the rates of the fuel cell reactions and thus attain dramatic increases of the power output of the MEA in the fuel cell. The MEA has application to other electro-chemical devices, including an electrolyzer, a compressor, or a generator, purifier, and concentrator of hydrogen and oxygen using HT PEM MEAs.
US09559370B2
Provided is a lithium air battery system, and more particularly, a lithium air battery system capable of stably and continuously operating a lithium air battery by recovering an electrolytic solution evaporated in the lithium air battery and injecting the recovered electrolytic solution into the lithium air battery.
US09559368B2
A fuel cell system having an ejector includes a stack for generating electricity by using air and fuel gas being supplied thereto. A fuel gas circulating line re-circulates the fuel gas from an outlet of the stack to an inlet of the stack. An ejector is mounted to the fuel gas circulating line for supplying fresh fuel gas and circulating the fuel gas. The ejector includes a vacuum suction pipe having one side connected to the fuel gas re-circulating line and a fuel gas spray nozzle mounted to the vacuum suction pipe for spraying the fuel gas to form a vacuum. An inner housing through which the fuel gas sprayed from the fuel gas spray nozzle passes. An outer housing is arranged on an outside of the inner housing to construct a condensed water space with the inner housing. The inner housing drains water from an inside of the inner housing to the condensed water space.
US09559366B2
In some embodiments, a solid oxide fuel system is provided. The solid oxide fuel cell system may include a chromium-getter material. The chromium-getter material may react with chromium to remove chromium species from chromium vapor. The solid oxide fuel cell system may also include an inert substrate. The chromium-getter material may be coated onto the inert substrate. The coated substrate may remove chromium species from chromium vapor before the chromium species can react with a cathode in the solid oxide fuel cell system.
US09559363B2
Provided are a method for preparing a catalyst layer by an in-situ sol-gel reaction of tetraethoxysilane, and a fuel cell including the catalyst layer prepared thereby. Addition of silica mitigates specific adsorption of sulfonate groups contained in a Nafion ionomer on a Pt catalyst layer in a high-voltage region where the role of a catalyst predominates, resulting in improvement of ORR performance.
US09559360B2
A variety of compositions that include a metal oxide, films and batteries comprising one or more of the compositions, and methods of making the same.
US09559331B2
The present invention provides an OLED package method and an OLED package structure. The method comprises steps of: step 1, providing a package cover plate (1), and a substrate (5), and the package cover plate (1) is formed with a spreading location (8) for spreading sealant (2); step 2, manufacturing a seal ring (7 or 7′) on the package cover plate (1) outside the spreading location (8); step 3, spreading the sealant (1) in a round on the spreading location (8) of the package cover plate (1); step 4, oppositely attaching the package cover plate (1) and the substrate (5); step 5, employing an UV light source to irradiate and curing the sealant (2) to accomplish the package to the substrate (5) with the package cover plate (1).
US09559330B2
An organic light emitting diode display includes: a substrate; an interlayer insulating layer on the substrate; driving source and drain electrodes on the interlayer insulating layer and facing each other; a planarizing layer on the interlayer insulating layer; a pixel electrode on the planarizing layer and including a reflective electrode; a pixel defining layer on an edge portion of the pixel electrode and the planarizing layer, and including an opening for exposing the pixel electrode and a reflective hole for exposing a part of the interlayer insulating layer; an organic emission layer on the pixel electrode within the opening; a common electrode on the organic emission layer and the pixel defining layer and within the reflective hole, and including a transparent electrode; and an optical sensor under the substrate, in which the reflective hole moves light emitted from the organic emission layer to the optical sensor under the substrate.
US09559326B2
A light emitting element is disclosed, including a substrate layer, a first metal layer and a second metal layer stacked sequentially on the substrate layer, and an organic material layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. The first metal layer includes a first metal portion and a second metal portion that cover a surface of the substrate layer, and an opening portion disposed between the first metal portion and the second metal portion and exposes a portion of the surface. The organic material layer emits light having a wavelength within a first range. A first coupling generated between the first metal portion and the second metal layer shifts the light from the first range to a second range. A second coupling generated between the second metal portion and the second metal layer shifts the light from the first range to a third range.
US09559320B2
Described is a modulatable injection barrier and a semiconductor element comprising same. More particularly, the invention relates to a two-terminal, non-volatile programmable resistor. Such a resistor can be applied in non-volatile memory devices, and as an active switch e.g. in displays. The device comprises, in between electrode layers, a storage layer comprising a blend of a ferro-electric material and a semiconductor material. Preferably both materials in the blend are polymers.
US09559316B2
A first organic resin layer is formed over a first substrate; a first insulating film is formed over the first organic resin layer; a first element layer is formed over the first insulating film; a second organic resin layer is formed over a second substrate; a second insulating film is formed over the second organic resin layer; a second element layer is formed over the second insulating film; the first substrate and the second substrate are bonded; a first separation step in which adhesion between the first organic resin layer and the first substrate is reduced; the first organic resin layer and a first flexible substrate are bonded with a first bonding layer; a second separation step in which adhesion between the second organic resin layer and the second substrate is reduced; and the second organic resin layer and a second flexible substrate are bonded with a second bonding layer.
US09559313B2
To provide a light-emitting element which uses a fluorescent material as a light-emitting substance and has higher luminous efficiency. To provide a light-emitting element which includes a mixture of a thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance and a fluorescent material. By making the emission spectrum of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance overlap with an absorption band on the longest wavelength side in absorption by the fluorescent material in an S1 level of the fluorescent material, energy at an S1 level of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance can be transferred to the S1 of the fluorescent material. Alternatively, it is also possible that the Si of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance is generated from part of the energy of a T1 level of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance, and is transferred to the S1 of the fluorescent material.
US09559311B2
An anthracene derivative is represented by a formula (1) below, in which at least one of Ar1, Ar2, Ar3, L1, L2 and L3 is a group derived from a skeleton represented by a formula (10) below,
US09559308B1
A method of forming carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is disclosed. The method includes dispersing a plurality of substantially semiconductor pure carbon nanotube (CNT) seeds on a substrate to provide a seeded substrate, ozonating the seeded substrate to remove defects on end faces of the plurality of substantially semiconductor pure CNT seeds, and growing carbon extensions on the end faces of the plurality of substantially semiconductor pure CNTs seeds to form a plurality of substantially pure CNTs.
US09559307B2
A composition comprising a polymer and a phosphorescent material wherein the polymer comprises repeat units of formula (I): wherein A is a heteroaryl group containing a nitrogen atom, and A may be unusubstituted or substituted with one or more substituents; R1 in each occurrence is independently a substituent; and n is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.
US09559306B2
Methods and materials for preparing organic semiconducting layers include, for example, one used in an organic semiconductor device including a substrate with a nano structured surface and an organic semiconductor film overlying the nanostructured surface. The semiconductor film is typically formed from macroscopically ordered polymer fibers made from selected conjugate polymer compounds. Such polymer fibers synthesized from selected conjugated polymer compounds and directionally aligned in organic semiconductor devices can provide these devices improved functional properties, including for example, unexpectedly high field effect saturation mobilities.
US09559305B2
The invention relates to novel conjugated polymers comprising in their backbone one or more divalent donor units, like for example benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl (BDT), that are linked on both sides to an acceptor unit, to methods of preparing the polymers and educts or intermediates used in such preparation, to polymer blends, mixtures and formulations containing the polymers, to the use of the polymers, polymer blends, mixtures and formulations as semiconductors organic electronic (OE) devices, especially in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and organic photodetectors (OPD), and to OE, OPV and OPD devices comprising these polymers, polymer blends, mixtures or formulations.
US09559299B1
A solid state memory comprises a top electrode, a bottom electrode and an insulating switching medium that is disposed at a thickness based on a predetermined function. The insulating switching medium generates a conduction path in response to an electric signal applied to the device. The thickness of the insulating switching medium is a function of a filament width of the conduction path and operates to prevent rupture of a semi-stable region. The semi-stable region maintains filament structure over time and does not degrade into retention failure. The solid state memory can comprise one or more conducting layers that can operate to control the conductance at an on-state of the memory and offer oxygen vacancies or metal ions to the switching medium. The function of the thickness of the insulating switching medium can vary depending upon the number of conduction layers disposed at the insulating switching medium.
US09559297B2
The present disclosure relates to a method of making a memory on semiconductor substrate, comprising: at least one data line, at least one selection line, at least one reference line, at least one memory cell comprising a select transistor having a control gate connected to the selection line, a first conduction terminal connected to a variable impedance element, the select transistor and the variable impedance element coupling the reference line to the data line, the select transistor comprising an embedded vertical gate produced in a trench formed in the substrate, and a channel region opposite a first face of the trench, between a first deep doped region and a second doped region on the surface of the substrate coupled to the variable impedance element.
US09559291B2
An acoustic wave device includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across the piezoelectric film, at least one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode including a first conductive film and a second conductive film formed on the first conductive film; an insulating film sandwiched between the first conductive film and the second conductive film and having a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant opposite in sign to a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant of the piezoelectric film; and a third conductive film formed on edge surfaces of the insulating film and the second conductive film and causing electrical short circuits between the first conductive film and the second conductive film.
US09559288B2
An apparatus including polymer configured to have a first state or a second state, wherein the volume of the polymer in the first state is different to a volume of the polymer in the second state; an actuator configured to be controlled by an input signal to cause the polymer to change between the first state and the second state; and a constraint configured to constrain the polymer in at least a first direction when the polymer changes between the first state and the second state.
US09559278B2
Embodiments provide light emitting device package including a package body, a first lead frame and a second lead frame disposed on the package body, and a light emitting device electrically connected to the first lead frame and the second lead frame via respective conductive adhesives. At least one of the conductive adhesives has the smallest width at a central region thereof.
US09559277B2
A light emitting diode module structural and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The manufacturing method includes the steps as follows. A base and a light emitting diode die are provided. The light emitting diode die may include a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer. The light emitting diode die is disposed on the base. A buffer layer is formed to cover the light emitting diode die. A first opening and a second opening are formed on the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, respectively. The second opening exposes the second semiconductor layer by penetrating the first semiconductor layer. A conductive pattern layer is formed on the buffer layer, and is electrically connected with the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer via the first opening and the second opening, respectively.
US09559262B2
Provided is a vertical type light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same. A transparent electrode having high transmittance with respect to light in the entire range and constructed by using a resistance change material of which resistance state is to be changed from a high resistance state to a low resistance state if a voltage exceeding a threshold voltage inherent in a material is applied so that conducting filaments are formed is formed between an electrode pad and a semiconductor layer of a light emitting device. The transparent electrode has high transmittance with respect to the light in a UV wavelength range as well as in a visible wavelength range generated in the light emitting device. Since the conductivity of the transparent electrode is heightened due to the formation of the conducting filaments, the transparent electrode has good ohmic contact characteristic with respect to a semiconductor layer.
US09559257B2
A light emitting device may include a first conductive type semiconductor layer, an active layer including a quantum well and a quantum wall on the first conductive type semiconductor layer, an undoped last barrier layer on the active layer; an AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1)-based layer on the undoped last barrier layer; and a second conductive type semiconductor layer on the AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N-based layer. The undoped last barrier layer may be provided between the AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1)-based layer and a last quantum well which is closest to the second conductive type semiconductor layer among the quantum well and may include a first Inp1Ga1-p1N (0
US09559256B2
A method for manufacturing at least one semiconductor structure, and a component including a structure formed with the method, the method including: providing a substrate including at least one semiconductor silicon surface; forming an amorphous silicon carbide layer in contact with at least one part of the semiconductor silicon surface; forming the at least one semiconductor structure in contact with the silicon carbide layer, the structure including at least one part, as a contact part, in contact with the surface of the silicon carbide layer, which includes gallium.
US09559253B2
A method of manufacturing a nitride semiconductor element includes preparing a wafer having a nitride semiconductor layer which includes p-type dopants, forming an altered portion by condensing laser beam on the wafer, and after the forming an altered portion, forming a p-type nitride semiconductor layer by subjecting the wafer to annealing.
US09559248B2
The disclosure includes a laser soldering method of connecting crystalline silicon solar batteries. Methods can include placing conductive soldering strips and crystalline silicon solar batteries on a lower press plate and aligning the conductive soldering strips on metal electrodes of crystalline silicon solar batteries. Methods can also include placing an upper press plate on the conductive soldering strips and the crystalline silicon solar batteries and vacuuming between the upper and lower press plates such that absolute pressure between the upper and lower press plates is less than atmospheric pressure. Methods can also include laser soldering the conductive soldering strips and the crystalline silicon solar batteries.
US09559246B2
Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using silicon nano-particles and the resulting solar cells are described. In an example, a method of fabricating an emitter region of a solar cell includes forming a region of doped silicon nano-particles above a dielectric layer disposed above a surface of a substrate of the solar cell. A layer of silicon is formed on the region of doped silicon nano-particles. At least a portion of the layer of silicon is mixed with at least a portion of the region of doped silicon nano-particles to form a doped polycrystalline silicon layer disposed on the dielectric layer.
US09559234B2
Disclosed is a solar cell apparatus. The solar cell apparatus includes a substrate including a transmission area and a non-transmission area extended in one direction, respectively, and disposed in parallel to each other, a solar cell disposed in the non-transmission area, and a refractive part provided in the transmission area and refracting at least a portion of an incident light to the non-transmission area.
US09559229B2
The disclosure provides a multi-junction solar cell structure and the manufacturing method thereof, comprising a first photovoltaic structure and a second photovoltaic structure; wherein at least one of the first photovoltaic structure and the second photovoltaic structure comprises a discontinuous photoelectric converting structure.
US09559228B2
Solar cells with doped groove regions separated by ridges and methods of fabricating solar cells are described. In an example, a solar cell includes a substrate having a surface with a plurality of grooves and ridges. A first doped region of a first conductivity type is disposed in a first of the grooves. A second doped region of a second conductivity type, opposite the first conductivity type, is disposed in a second of the grooves. The first and second grooves are separated by one of the ridges.
US09559227B2
Provided are a nanostructure and an optical device including the nanostructure. The nanostructure is formed on a two-dimensional material layer such as graphene and includes nanopatterns having different shapes. The nanopattern may include a first nanopattern and a second nanopattern and may be spherical; cube-shaped; or poly-pyramid-shaped, including a triangular pyramid shape; or polygonal pillar-shaped.
US09559225B2
The present application is directed to a solid state device for detecting neutrons. The device includes a semiconductor substrate having pores. The device also includes a p- or n-type doping layer formed on a surface of the pores. Moreover, a layer of fill material is formed on the p- or n-type doping layer. The present application also is directed to a method of making a solid state device. Further, the present application is directed to a method of detecting efficiency of solid state detector devices.
US09559220B2
A solar cell is discussed. The solar cell includes a substrate of a first conductive type, an emitter region which is positioned at a front surface of the substrate and has a second conductive type different from the first conductive type, a front passivation region including a plurality of layers which are sequentially positioned on the emitter region, a back passivation region which is positioned on a back surface opposite the front surface of the substrate and includes three layers, a plurality of front electrodes which pass through the front passivation region and are connected to the emitter region, and at least one back electrode which passes through the back passivation region and is connected to the substrate.
US09559210B2
A thin film transistor is provided as follows. A first gate electrode and a second gate electrode are stacked on each other. A semiconductor layer is interposed between the first and second gate electrodes. A source electrode and a drain electrode are interposed between the semiconductor layer and the second gate electrode. A connection electrode connects electrically the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode. A first insulating film is interposed between the first gate electrode and the semiconductor layer. A second insulating film includes a first part interposed between the semiconductor layer and the second gate electrode and a second part interposed between the second gate electrode and the drain electrode. A third insulating film includes a first part interposed between the connection electrode and the second gate electrode.
US09559209B2
Semiconductor devices and methods of forming the same are provided. A first source/drain layer is formed over a substrate. A channel layer is formed over the first source/drain layer. A second source/drain layer is formed over the channel layer. The first source/drain layer, the channel layer, and the second source/drain layer are patterned to form a fin-shaped structure. A gate stack is formed on a sidewall of the fin-shaped structure. The fin-shaped structure is patterned to expose a top surface of the first source/drain layer.
US09559204B2
In a method for forming a semiconductor device, a gate electrode is formed over a semiconductor body (e.g., bulk silicon substrate or SOI layer). The gate electrode is electrically insulated from the semiconductor body. A first sidewall spacer is formed along a sidewall of the gate electrode. A sacrificial sidewall spacer is formed adjacent the first sidewall spacer. The sacrificial sidewall spacer and the first sidewall spacer overlying the semiconductor body. A planarization layer is formed over the semiconductor body such that a portion of the planarization layer is adjacent the sacrificial sidewall spacer. The sacrificial sidewall spacer can then be removed and a recess etched in the semiconductor body. The recess is substantially aligned between the first sidewall spacer and the portion of the planarization layer. A semiconductor material (e.g., SiGe or SiC) can then be formed in the recess.
US09559200B2
A semiconductor device is provided. The device includes a substrate having a first conductivity type. The device further includes a drain region, a source region, and a well region disposed in the substrate. The well region is disposed between the drain region and the source region and having a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type. The device further includes a plurality of doped regions disposed within the well region. The doped regions are vertically and horizontally offset from each other. Each of the doped regions includes a lower portion having the first conductivity type, and an upper portion stacked on the lower region and having the second conductivity type.
US09559198B2
A semiconductor device comprises a first contact layer, a first drift layer adjacent the first contact layer, a buried body layer adjacent the first drift layer and a second contact layer. A first vertical trench and a second vertical trench are provided, the first and second vertical trenches being spaced with respect to each other and extending from the second contact layer to substantially beyond the buried body layer. A second drift layer is also provided and sandwiched between the buried body layer and the second contact layer.
US09559184B2
Devices and structures that include a gate spacer having a gap or void are described along with methods of forming such devices and structures. In accordance with some embodiments, a structure includes a substrate, a gate stack over the substrate, a contact over the substrate, and a spacer disposed laterally between the gate stack and the contact. The spacer includes a first dielectric sidewall portion and a second dielectric sidewall portion. A void is disposed between the first dielectric sidewall portion and the second dielectric sidewall portion.
US09559182B2
A device having an epitaxial region and dual metal-semiconductor alloy surfaces is provided. The epitaxial region includes an upward facing facet and a downward facing facet. The upward facing facet has a first metal-semiconductor alloy surface and the downward facing facet has a second metal-semiconductor alloy surface, wherein the first metal-semiconductor alloy is different than the second metal-semiconductor alloy.
US09559176B2
A method of forming a source/drain region with abrupt vertical and conformal junction and the resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include forming a first mask over a fin of a first polarity FET and source/drain regions of the first polarity FET; forming spacers on opposite sides of a fin of a second polarity FET, the second polarity being opposite the first polarity, on each side of a gate electrode; implanting a first dopant into the fin of the second polarity FET; etching a cavity in the fin of the second polarity FET on each side of the gate electrode; removing the first mask; performing rapid thermal anneal (RTA); epitaxially growing a source/drain region of the second polarity FET in each cavity; forming a second mask over the fin of the first polarity FET and source/drain regions of the first polarity FET; and implanting a second dopant in the source/drain regions of the second polarity FET.
US09559168B2
Semiconductor devices and methods of forming the same are provided. A first gate stack is formed over a substrate, wherein the first gate stack comprises a first ferroelectric layer. A source/channel/drain stack is formed over the first gate stack, wherein the source/channel/drain stack comprises one or more 2D material layers. A second gate stack is formed over the source/channel/drain stack, wherein the second gate stack comprises a second ferroelectric layer.
US09559161B2
A compound semiconductor device includes a III-nitride buffer and a III-nitride barrier on the III-nitride buffer. The III-nitride barrier has a different band gap than the III-nitride buffer so that a two-dimensional charge carrier gas channel arises along an interface between the III-nitride buffer and the III-nitride barrier. The compound semiconductor device further includes a source and a drain spaced apart from one another and electrically connected to the two-dimensional charge carrier gas channel, a gate for controlling the two-dimensional charge carrier gas channel between the source and the drain, and a patterned III-nitride back-barrier buried in the III-nitride buffer. The patterned III-nitride back-barrier extends laterally beyond the gate towards the drain and terminates prior to the drain so that the patterned III-nitride back-barrier is laterally spaced apart from the drain by a region of the III-nitride buffer.
US09559155B2
Disclosed is an organic light emitting display device. The organic light emitting display device includes a white organic light emitting diode (OLED) formed in an emission area of each of a plurality of sub-pixels, a driving thin film transistor (TFT) configured to supply a driving current to the white OLED, a storage capacitor configured to include a first terminal coupled to the driving TFT and a second terminal coupled to an anode electrode of the white OLED, and a color filter formed in the emission area. At least one of a top metal of the storage capacitor and a top metal of the driving TFT is formed to not overlap the color filter.
US09559151B2
A device that may be used as a multi-color pixel is provided. The device has a first organic light emitting device, a second organic light emitting device, a third organic light emitting device, and a fourth organic light emitting device. The device may be a pixel of a display having four sub-pixels. The first device may emit red light, the second device may emit green light, the third device may emit light blue light and the fourth device may emit deep blue light.
US09559150B2
In various embodiments, lighting systems include an electrically insulating carrier having a plurality of conductive elements disposed thereon and a light-emitting array. The light-emitting array is disposed over the carrier and includes a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are interconnected in parallel in a first direction and interconnected in series in a second direction different from the first direction.
US09559141B2
Hydrogen plasma processing is performed on a semiconductor wafer having a wiring formed in a region except a photodiode formation region of a pixel part and in a peripheral circuit part, from the side of a face where the wiring is formed. The hydrogen plasma processing uses a plasma etching apparatus which applies high-frequency power to an upper electrode for exciting hydrogen plasma and applies high-frequency power to a lower electrode for supplying hydrogen ions existing in the hydrogen plasma to the semiconductor wafer by electric field drift. Thereby, in the photodiode formation region of the pixel part, hydrogen ions become likely to be supplied by the electric field drift, and, in the region except the photodiode formation region and in the peripheral circuit part, the wiring restricts the movement of hydrogen ions and hydrogen ions become difficult to be supplied.
US09559139B2
Various embodiments of a structure implemented in an X-ray imaging system are described. In one aspect, a structure implemented in an X-ray imaging system includes a silicon wafer including a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The silicon wafer also includes an array of photodiodes on the first side of the silicon wafer with the photodiodes electrically isolated from each other as well as an array of grid holes on the second side of the silicon wafer. Each grid hole of the array of grid holes is aligned with a respective photodiode of the array of photodiodes. The structure also includes a layer of scintillating material disposed over the array of grid holes on the second side of the silicon wafer. The structure further includes a layer of reflective material disposed on the layer of scintillating material.
US09559134B2
An image sensor employing deep trench spacing isolation is provided. A plurality of pixel sensors is arranged over or within a semiconductor substrate. A trench is arranged in the semiconductor substrate around and between adjacent ones of the plurality of pixel sensors, and the trench has a gap located between sidewalls of the trench. A cap is arranged over or within the trench at a position overlying the gap. The cap seals the gap within the trench. A method of manufacturing the image sensor is also provided.
US09559132B2
A semiconductor substrate is provided with a plurality of photosensitive regions on a first principal surface side. An insulating film has a third principal surface and a fourth principal surface opposed to each other, and is arranged on the semiconductor substrate so that the third principal surface is opposed to the first principal surface. A cross section parallel to a thickness direction of the semiconductor substrate, of a region corresponding to each photosensitive region in the first principal surface is a corrugated shape in which concave curves and convex curves are alternately continuous. A cross section parallel to a thickness direction of the insulating film, of a region corresponding to each photosensitive region in the third principal surface is a corrugated shape in which concave curves and convex curves are alternately continuous corresponding to the first principal surface. The fourth principal surface is flat.
US09559131B2
A solid-state imaging device includes a first-conductivity-type semiconductor well region, a plurality of pixels each of which is formed on the semiconductor well region and is composed of a photoelectric conversion portion and a pixel transistor, an element isolation region provided between the pixels and in the pixels, and an element isolation region being free from an insulation film and being provided between desired pixel transistors.
US09559124B2
A display panel includes a first base substrate that includes an upper surface to which an external light is incident and a lower surface facing the upper surface and includes a plurality of pixel areas and a peripheral area adjacent to the pixel areas when viewed in a plan view, a plurality of pixels disposed on the lower surface of the first base substrate to respectively correspond to the pixel areas, and a black matrix layer disposed between the pixels and the lower surface of the first base substrate to overlap the peripheral area. The black matrix layer includes a low reflection layer disposed on the lower surface of the first base substrate and a light blocking layer disposed on the low reflection layer.
US09559116B2
A semiconductor device may include an insulating layer provided in one body on a substrate, a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode disposed on the insulating layer, the first and second gate electrodes extending in a first direction parallel to a top surface of the substrate, a first channel structure penetrating the first gate electrode and the insulating layer so as to be connected to the substrate, a second channel structure penetrating the second gate electrode and the insulating layer so as to be connected to the substrate, and a contact penetrating the insulating layer between the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode. The contact may be connected to a common source region formed in the substrate, and the common source region may have a first conductivity type. Further, the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode may be spaced apart from each other in a second direction at the same level from the substrate, wherein the second direction intersects the first direction and is parallel to the top surface of the substrate.
US09559111B2
A three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor memory device and a method for fabricating the same, the device including insulating layers stacked on a substrate; horizontal structures between the insulating layers, the horizontal structures including gate electrodes, respectively; vertical structures penetrating the insulating layers and the horizontal structures, the vertical structures including semiconductor pillars, respectively; and epitaxial patterns, each of the epitaxial patterns being between the substrate and each of the vertical structures, wherein a minimum width of the epitaxial pattern is less than a width of a corresponding one of the vertical structures.
US09559108B2
A method for processing a carrier accordance with various embodiments may include: forming a structure over the carrier, the structure including at least two adjacent structure elements arranged at a first distance between the same; depositing a spacer layer over the structure, wherein the spacer layer may be deposited having a thickness greater than half of the first distance, wherein the spacer layer may include electrically conductive spacer material; removing a portion of the spacer layer, wherein spacer material of the spacer layer may remain in a region between the at least two adjacent structure elements; and electrically contacting the remaining spacer material.
US09559104B2
A mask read-only memory array is provided. The mask read-only memory array includes a semiconductor substrate having a surface; and a heavily doped layer formed on the surface of semiconductor substrate. The mask read-only memory array also includes a plurality of lightly doped discrete regions formed on the heavily doped layer, and a metal silicide layer formed on the lightly doped discrete regions. Wherein the metal silicide layer and the plurality of reverse type lightly doped discrete regions form a plurality of Schottky diode memory cells. Further, the mask read-only memory array includes conductive vias formed one a partial number of the plurality of Schottky diode memory cells for applying column selecting voltage to select certain memory cells.
US09559097B2
A semiconductor device configured with one or more integrated breakdown protection diodes in non-isolated power transistor devices and electronic apparatus, and methods for fabricating the devices.
US09559095B2
A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first transistor on a first side of a shallow trench isolation (STI) region and a second transistor on a second side of the STI region. The first transistor includes a first conductive portion having a second conductivity type formed within a well having a first conductivity type, a first nanowire connected to the first conductive portion and a first active area, and a first gate surrounding the first nanowire. The second transistor includes a second conductive portion having the second conductivity type formed within the well, a second nanowire connected to the second conductive portion and a second active area, and a second gate surrounding the second nanowire. Excess current from an ESD event travels through the first conductive portion through the well to the second conductive portion bypassing the first nanowire and the second nanowire.
US09559088B2
An apparatus includes a substrate having a land side having a plurality of contact pads and a die side opposite the land side. The apparatus includes a first die and a second die wherein the first die and second die are embedded within the substrate such that the second die is located between the first die and the land side of the substrate.
US09559086B2
Semiconductor devices having modified current distribution and methods of forming the same are described herein. As an example, a memory die in contact with a logic die can be configured to draw a sum amount of current from a current source. The memory die can include a plurality of through-substrate vias (TSVs) formed in the memory die and configured to provide the sum amount of current to the memory die from the current source. The memory die can include at least two interconnection contacts associated with a first TSV closer to the current source that are not connected. The memory die can include an electrical connection between at least two interconnection contacts associated with a second TSV that is further in distance from the current source than the first TSV.
US09559077B2
A method for forming a packaged semiconductor device includes attaching a first major surface of a semiconductor die to a plurality of protrusions extending from a package substrate. A top surface of each protrusion has a die attach material, and the plurality of protrusions define an open region between the first major surface of the semiconductor die and the package substrate. Interconnects are formed between a second major surface of the semiconductor die and the package substrate in which the second major surface opposite the first major surface. An encapsulant material is formed over the semiconductor die and the interconnects.
US09559076B2
An embodiment package includes a conductive pillar mounted on an integrated circuit chip, the conductive pillar having a stepper shape, a metal trace partially embedded in a substrate, the metal trace having a bonding pad portion protruding from the substrate, and a solder feature electrically coupling the conductive pillar to the bonding pad portion of the metal trace.
US09559073B2
To prevent bumps on the circuit side of a bump-bearing wafer from getting crushed when grinding the back side of said wafer while protecting the circuit side with a surface-protection sheet, and also to minimize the formation of dimples and cracks on the side being ground.[Solution] This base film for a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet bonded to a semiconductor wafer comprises: (A) a layer obtained by using energy rays to cure a formulation containing a urethane (meth)acrylate oligomer and a thiol-group-containing compound; and (B) a layer comprising a thermoplastic resin.
US09559066B2
The present disclosure outlines various systems and methods for detecting an optical fault injection within an electronic device and/or preventing the optical fault injection from introducing an exploitable abnormality within the electronic device. These various systems and methods can include systems and methods that can detect or prevent laser injection attacks, which can include one or more small footprint complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) light detection circuits, or structures that can shield one or more transistors from a bottom side laser injection attack.
US09559065B2
A semiconductor arrangement includes upper and lower contact plates and basic chip assemblies. Each chip assembly has a semiconductor chip having a semiconductor body with upper and lower spaced apart sides. An individual upper main electrode and an individual control electrode are arranged on the upper side. The chip assemblies have either respectively a separate lower main electrode arranged on the lower side of the semiconductor chip of the corresponding basic chip assembly, or a common lower main electrode, which for each of the chip assemblies is arranged on the lower side of the semiconductor body of that chip assembly. An electrical current between the individual upper main electrode and the individual or common lower main electrode is controllable by its control electrode. The chip assemblies are connected to one another with a material bonded connection by a dielectric embedding compound, forming a solid assembly.
US09559064B2
A package includes a bottom substrate and a bottom die over and bonded to the bottom substrate. A metal-particle-containing compound material is overlying a top surface of the bottom die, wherein the metal-particle-containing compound material comprises metal particles. A molding material molds at least a lower part of the bottom die therein, wherein the molding material is overlying the bottom substrate.
US09559059B2
One illustrative method disclosed herein includes, among other things, forming an opening in a layer of insulating material so as to thereby expose at least a portion of a conductive contact, performing a selective deposition process to selectively form a layer of conductive material in the opening and on the conductive contact, performing an anneal process, depositing at least one conductive material above the selectively formed conductive material layer so as to over-fill the opening, and performing at least one planarization process so as to remove excess materials to thereby define a conductive via that is positioned in the opening and conductively coupled to the conductive contact.
US09559055B2
A semiconductor device includes a fuse element that can be cut and removed by laser irradiation. The fuse element has a large width portion having a large sectional area to be irradiated with a laser spot, and two small width portions having a small sectional area connected to opposite sides of the large width portion. Penetration of moisture is suppressed even after cutting of the fuse element since the large width portion is removed by the laser irradiation and only the small width portions having the small sectional area remain as exposed cut surfaces.
US09559052B2
A semiconductor device includes an interlayer insulating film INS2, adjacent Cu wirings M1W formed in the interlayer insulating film INS2, and an insulating barrier film BR1 which is in contact with a surface of the interlayer insulating film INS2 and surfaces of the Cu wirings M1W and covers the interlayer insulating film INS2 and the Cu wirings M1W. Between the adjacent Cu wirings M1W, the interlayer insulating film INS2 has a damage layer DM1 on its surface, and has an electric field relaxation layer ER1 having a higher nitrogen concentration than a nitrogen concentration of the damage layer DM1 at a position deeper than the damage layer DM1.
US09559049B1
Provided is a memory device including a plurality of first conductive line layers, a plurality of support structures, and a charge storage layer. Each of the first conductive line layers extends along a plane defined by a first direction and a second direction. Each of the first conductive line layers includes a plurality of first conductive lines extending along the first direction. The support structures are located between the adjacent first conductive line layers. The charge storage layer covers upper surfaces, lower surfaces, and two side surfaces of the first conductive lines and surfaces of the support structures.
US09559037B2
Embodiments include a synthetic jet device formed within layers of a package substrate, such as to provide a controlled airflow for sensing or cooling applications. The jet device includes an electromagnetically driven vibrating membrane of conductive material between a top and bottom cavity. A top lid with an opening covers the top cavity, and a permanent magnet is below the bottom cavity. An alternating current signal conducted through the membrane causes the membrane to vibrate in the presence of a magnetic field caused by the permanent magnet. By being manufactured with package forming processes, the jet (1) is manufactured more cost-effectively than by using silicon chip or wafer processing; (2) is easily integrated as part of and with the other layers of a package substrate; and (3) can be driven by a chip mounted on the package. Embodiments also include systems having and processes for forming the jet.
US09559033B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate having an edge, a semiconductor layer provided on a substrate, an electrode pad provided on the semiconductor layer, an inorganic insulating film having a first opening through which an upper surface of the electrode pad is exposed, and a resin film provided on the inorganic insulating film, the resin film having a second opening and a third opening separated from each other, where the upper surface of the electrode pad is exposed through the second opening, where the third opening is located between the second opening and the edge of the substrate, and where a bottom of the third opening is constituted by the resin film or the inorganic insulating film.
US09559031B2
A method for fabricating an epi wafer according to the embodiment comprises depositing an epi layer on a wafer in a first chamber; transferring the wafer to a second chamber connected to the first chamber; forming a protective layer on the wafer in the second chamber; and cooling the wafer in the second chamber.Further, an apparatus for fabricating an epi wafer according to the embodiment comprises a first chamber comprising an epi deposition part; a second chamber comprising a protective layer forming part and a cooling part; and a wafer transfer apparatus connected to lower portions of the first chamber and the second chamber.
US09559025B2
The disclosure describes a novel method and apparatus for testing different types of TSVs in a single die or different types of TSV connections in a stack of die. The testing is facilitated by test circuitry associated with each type of TSV. The test circuitry includes a scan cell adapted for testing TSVs.
US09559024B2
A power semiconductor module, including a housing and a substrate having at least one conductive path is located, at least one power semiconductor device arranged on said conductive path at least one contact, a self-sustaining system for detecting a physical parameter or a chemical substance, a device for wireless transmitting data provided by the sensor, and an energy source. The sensor detects at least one of current, voltage magnetic fields, mechanical stress, and humidity. The power semiconductor module may be part of an electronic device.
US09559022B1
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, includes: forming a film, wherein the act of forming a film includes: transferring a substrate to a process chamber; supplying a first gas to the substrate; and supplying a second gas to the substrate by converting the second gas to plasma with a first high-frequency wave; and performing an adjustment after the act of forming the film, wherein the act of performing includes: measuring a charging condition of the substrate, setting a second high-frequency wave based on the measured charging condition, supplying a third gas to the substrate by converting the third gas to plasma with the second high-frequency wave, and adjusting the charging condition of the substrate.
US09559007B1
A method of forming a plurality of semiconductor packages includes providing an array of unsingulated semiconductor packages that are at least partially encapsulated in an encapsulant. The array of unsingulated semiconductor packages may be coupled with a lead frame or a substrate. A first plurality of singulation lines are simultaneously etched in the encapsulant through slits in an etch mask using a plasma etching process and a fixture coupled with the array. A second plurality of parallel singulation lines may also be etched. The first and second pluralities of singulation lines may include substantially straight or arcuate lines. The second plurality of parallel singulation lines may be substantially perpendicular to the first plurality of parallel singulation lines and be formed using the plasma etching process, the fixture, and an etch mask. The formation of singulation lines in the array singulates the array into a plurality of singulated semiconductor packages.
US09559006B2
A light emitting device includes a semiconductor light emitting element including a semiconductor stacked-layer body and an electrode disposed on a first surface of the semiconductor stacked-layer body; a resin member disposed on a first surface side of the semiconductor stacked-layer body; and a metal layer disposed in the resin member and electrically connected to the electrode. A recess is defined in an upper surface of the resin member. The metal layer is projected from the upper surface of the resin member, and is disposed to surround at least a portion of the recess.
US09559000B1
The method includes forming a first opening in a dielectric layer exposing a source drain region of an SRAM device and forming a second opening in the dielectric layer exposing a source drain region of a logic device, forming a third opening in the dielectric layer exposing a gate of the SRAM device and forming a fourth opening in the dielectric layer exposing a gate of the logic device, forming a first sidewall spacer in the third opening and forming a second sidewall spacer in the fourth opening, recessing a portion of the first sidewall spacer without recessing the second sidewall spacer, forming a strapped contact in the first and third openings, the strapped contact creates an electrical connection between the source drain region of the SRAM device and the gate of the SRAM device, the electrical connection is directly above a remaining portion of the first sidewall spacer.
US09558997B2
Embodiments described herein provide approaches for interconnect formation in a semiconductor device. Specifically, a Cu layer is removed to a top surface of an Ru layer using CMP, the Cu layer is removed to form a recess within each of a plurality of trenches of a dielectric of the semiconductor device, and the Ru layer is removed using an etch process (e.g., a wet etch). An additional CMP is performed to reach the desired target trench height and to planarize the wafer.
US09558991B2
Embodiments of present invention provide a method of making well isolations. The method includes forming a hard-mask layer on top of said substrate; forming a first resist-mask on top of a first portion of the hard-mask layer and applying the first resist-mask in forming a first type of wells in a first region of the substrate; forming a second resist-mask on top of a second portion of the hard-mask layer and applying the second resist-mask in forming a second type of wells in a second region of the substrate; applying the first and second resist-masks in transforming the hard-mask layer into a hard-mask, the hard-mask having openings aligned to areas overlapped by the first and second regions of the substrate; etching at least the areas of the substrate in creating deep trenches that separate the first and second types of wells; and filling the deep trenches with insulating materials.
US09558987B2
Gap-fill methods comprise: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate having a relief image on a surface of the substrate, the relief image comprising a plurality of gaps to be filled; (b) applying a gap-fill composition over the relief image, wherein the gap-fill composition comprises a non-crosslinked crosslinkable polymer, an acid catalyst, a crosslinker and a solvent, wherein the crosslinkable polymer comprises a first unit of the following general formula (I): wherein: R1 is chosen from hydrogen, fluorine, C1-C3 alkyl and C1-C3 fluoroalkyl; and Ar1 is an optionally substituted aryl group that is free of crosslinkable groups; and a second unit of the following general formula (II): wherein: R3 is chosen from hydrogen, fluorine, C1-C3 alkyl and C1-C3 fluoroalkyl; and R4 is chosen from optionally substituted C1 to C12 linear, branched or cyclic alkyl, and optionally substituted C6 to C15 aryl, optionally containing heteroatoms, wherein at least one hydrogen atom is substituted with a functional group independently chosen from hydroxyl, carboxyl, thiol, amine, epoxy, alkoxy, amide and vinyl groups; and (c) heating the gap-fill composition at a temperature to cause the polymer to crosslink. The methods find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices for the filling of high aspect ratio gaps.
US09558985B2
A vacuum chuck is disclosed for holding and positioning wafers more stably and securely. The vacuum chuck includes a supporting assembly having a receiving groove and at least one first vacuum aperture defined in the receiving groove. A seal unit includes a seal ring bulging to form a vacuum trough. The seal ring is fixed in the receiving groove of the supporting assembly and has at least one second vacuum aperture communicating with the first vacuum aperture. A chuck connector fastened with the supporting assembly has at least one vacuum port and at least one vacuum orifice communicating with the vacuum port. At least one vacuum hose connects the first vacuum aperture, the second vacuum aperture with the vacuum orifice and the vacuum port of the chuck connector for evacuating the air of the vacuum trough to hold and position the wafer on the seal ring and the supporting assembly.
US09558974B2
A semiconductor processing station is provided. The semiconductor processing station includes a first platform, a second platform and a vacuum tunnel, wherein the first platform has a first load lock and a first plurality of chambers, and the second platform has a second load lock and a second plurality of chambers, and the vacuum tunnel connects the first and the second load locks.
US09558970B2
The invention relates to a device for at least partially drying separated electronic components comprising: a carrier for the electronic components; a moisture-absorbing material; and a holder covered with the moisture-absorbing material, wherein the holder and the carrier are displaceable relative to each other such that the electronic components for drying can be brought into contact with the moisture-absorbing material.
US09558959B2
Stable aqueous polishing compositions that can selectively polish silicon nitride (SiN) films and nearly stop (or polish at very low rates) on silicon oxide films are provided herein. The compositions comprise an anionic abrasive, a nitride removal rate enhancer containing a carboxyl or carboxylate group, water, and optionally, an anionic polymer. The synergistic combination of anionic (negatively charged) abrasives and the nitride removal rate enhancer provide beneficial charge interactions with the dielectric films during CMP, a high SiN rate and selectivity enhancement (over oxide), and stable colloidal dispersed slurries.
US09558951B2
An integrated circuit chip is formed with a circuit layer, a trap rich layer and through-semiconductor-vias. The trap rich layer is formed above the circuit layer. The through-semiconductor-vias are also formed above the circuit layer. In some embodiments, the circuit layer is included in a wafer, and the trap rich layer and through-semiconductor-vias are included in another wafer. The two wafers are bonded together after formation of the trap rich layer and through-semiconductor-vias. Additionally, in some embodiments, yet another wafer may also be bonded to the wafer that includes the trap rich layer and through-semiconductor-vias. Furthermore, in some embodiments, another circuit layer may be formed in the wafer that includes the trap rich layer and through-semiconductor-vias.
US09558949B2
Three-dimensional (3D) non-volatile memory arrays having a vertically-oriented thin film transistor (TFT) select device and methods of fabricating such a memory are described. The vertically-oriented TFT may be used as a vertical bit line selection device to couple a global bit line to a vertical bit line. A select device pillar includes a body and upper and lower source/drain regions. At least one gate is separated horizontally from the select device pillar by a gate dielectric. The gates overlie the global bit lines with one or more insulating layers therebetween to provide adequate isolation between the gates and the global bit lines. Processes for fabricating the vertical TFT select devices utilize a gate dielectric and optional dielectric bases to provide isolation between the gates and bit lines.
US09558948B1
A semiconductor body having a first surface is provided. A deep doped region of the semiconductor body is formed using masked ion implantation to implant dopant atoms into a discrete region within the semiconductor body. A structured anti-reflective coating region is formed on a portion of the first surface that is aligned with the deep doped region in a lateral direction of the semiconductor body, the lateral direction being parallel to the first surface. A laser thermal anneal of the deep doped region of the semiconductor body is performed through the anti-reflective coating region thereby activating the implanted dopant atoms in the deep doped region.
US09558947B2
Techniques are disclosed for realizing a two-dimensional target lithography feature/pattern by decomposing (splitting) it into multiple unidirectional target features that, when aggregated, substantially (e.g., fully) represent the original target feature without leaving an unrepresented remainder (e.g., a whole-number quantity of unidirectional target features). The unidirectional target features may he arbitrarily grouped such that, within a grouping, all unidirectional target features share a common target width value. Where multiple such groupings are provided, individual groupings may or may not have the same common target width value. In some cases, a series of reticles is provided, each reticle having a mask pattern correlating to a grouping of unidirectional target features. Exposure of a photoresist material via the aggregated series of reticles substantially (e.g., fully) produces the original target feature/pattern. The pattern decomposition techniques may be integrated into any number of patterning processes, such as litho-freeze-litho-etch and litho-etch-litho-etch patterning processes.
US09558945B2
According to one embodiment, the array chip includes a three-dimensionally disposed plurality of memory cells and a memory-side interconnection layer connected to the memory cells. The circuit chip includes a substrate, a control circuit provided on the substrate, and a circuit-side interconnection layer provided on the control circuit and connected to the control circuit. The circuit chip is stuck to the array chip with the circuit-side interconnection layer facing to the memory-side interconnection layer. The bonding metal is provided between the memory-side interconnection layer and the circuit-side interconnection layer. The bonding metal is bonded to the memory-side interconnection layer and the circuit-side interconnection layer.
US09558940B2
A method of forming a silicon film in grooves formed on a surface of an object to be processed, the method including forming a first silicon film containing impurities so as to embed the first silicon film in the grooves of the object to be processed; doping the impurities in the vicinity of the surface of the first silicon film; expanding opening portions of the grooves by etching the first silicon film thereby forming expanded openings having grooves; and forming a second silicon film so as to embed the second silicon film in the grooves of the expanded openings is provided.
US09558939B1
A method for making a semiconductor device may include forming a plurality of spaced apart structures on a semiconductor substrate within a semiconductor processing chamber, with each structure including a plurality of stacked groups of layers. Each group of layers may include a plurality of stacked base silicon monolayers defining a base semiconductor portion and at least one oxygen monolayer constrained within a crystal lattice of adjacent base silicon portions. Furthermore, the oxygen monolayers may be formed using N2O as an oxygen source.
US09558937B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: (a) forming a first film containing a metal element on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: (a-1) supplying a first precursor gas being a fluorine-free inorganic gas containing the metal element to the substrate; and (a-2) supplying a first reactant gas having reducibility to the substrate; (b) forming a second film containing the metal element on the first film by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: (b-1) supplying a second precursor gas containing the metal element and fluorine to the substrate; and (b-2) supplying a second reactant gas having reducibility to the substrate; and (c) forming a film containing the metal element and obtained by the first film and the second film being laminated on the substrate by performing the (a) and (b).
US09558936B2
In one embodiment, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes an accommodation module configured to accommodate a substrate. The apparatus further includes a first flow channel including first openings configured to emit a first gas into the accommodation module. The apparatus further includes a second flow channel including second openings configured to emit the first gas into the accommodation module, a number or a size of the second openings being different from a number or a size of the first openings. The apparatus further includes a controller configured to control supplying of the first gas to the first and second flow channels such that the first gas is emitted from the first openings at a first flow velocity and the first gas is emitted from the second openings at a second flow velocity different from the first flow velocity.
US09558934B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide hydrogen-free dielectric films and methods of fabrication. A hydrogen-free precursor, such as tetraisocyanatosilane, and hydrogen-free reactants, such as nitrogen, oxygen (O2/O3) and nitrous oxide are used with chemical vapor deposition processes (PECVD, thermal CVD, SACVD, HDP CVD, and PE and Thermal ALD) to create hydrogen-free dielectric films. In some embodiments, there are multilayer dielectric films with sublayers of various materials such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitride. In embodiments, the hydrogen-free reactants may include Tetra Isocyanato Silane, along with a hydrogen-free gas including, but not limited to, N2, O2, O3, N2O, CO2, CO and a combination thereof of these H-Free gases. Plasma may be used to enhance the reaction between the TICS and the other H-free gasses. The plasma may be controlled during film deposition to achieve variable density within each sublayer of the films.
US09558918B2
A cold plasma treatment device for delivery of a cold plasma to patient treatment area. Gas is fed to a gas compartment where it is energized by an electrode coupled to a pulse source to thereby generate a cold plasma. A dielectric barrier is sandwiched between the gas compartment and the electrode to form a dielectric barrier discharge device. The cold plasma exits the gas compartment via a bottom member having a plurality of holes. Gases that can be used include noble gases such as helium or combinations of noble gases.
US09558916B2
At least one method of manufacturing articles and at least one lithography system are provided herein. A lithography system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes a drawing apparatus that includes a plurality of optical systems and draws a pattern on a substrate with beams having been respectively shaped by the plurality of optical systems, and a transmission unit configured to select pattern data to be used by the drawing apparatus from a plurality of types of pattern data commonly used by the plurality of optical systems and configured to transmit the selected pattern data to the drawing apparatus. The pattern data is a set of data including a plurality of sub pattern data, and a width of a stripe-shaped drawing region corresponding to one sub pattern data piece is equivalent to a length obtainable by dividing a drawing width of the beams by an integer value.
US09558915B2
The present invention provides apparatus for an imaging system comprising a multitude of imaging elements upon a substrate. In some embodiments the substrate may be approximately round with a radius of approximately one inch. Various methods relating to using and producing an imaging system are discussed.
US09558902B2
A trigger device for a power switch includes a bi-metal which is arranged near to a current path of a power switch in order to control triggering, as well as a bi-metal mounting device into which the bimetal is inserted and which is designed to enclose the bi-metal, in an arrangement substantially parallel to a current path of a power switch, such that heat radiated from the current path heats the bi-metal more or less across its whole length.
US09558901B2
A bus bar forming die (1) includes an upstream-side die block (25) configured to shape an upstream-side fuse-element portion (9) of a bus bar (23), a downstream-side die block (27) configured to shape a downstream-side fuse-element portion (15) of the bus bar (23), and a fixation portion die block (29) configured to shape fixation portions (21) of the bus bar (23). The upstream-side die block (25), the downstream-side die block (27), and the fixation portion die block (29) are configured to shape the bus bar (23) while placed in respective predetermined positions. Each of the upstream-side die block (25), the downstream-side die block (27), and the fixation portion die block (29) is replaceable in accordance with an intended shape of the bus bar (23).
US09558898B2
A contactless control switch that is resistant to influence from external magnetic fields is disclosed. The switch includes a switch housing, a button moveably mounted to the housing that has at least one protrusion formed on an underside thereof, a circuit board mounted to the housing and including at least one magnet sensor, and a magnet holder positioned adjacent each respective magnet sensor, the magnet holder housing a positive field magnet and a negative field magnet therein and being rotatably mounted to the housing. A respective protrusion interacts with the magnet holder responsive to an actuation of the button by a user, so as to position one of the positive field magnet and the negative field magnet proximate to its respective sensor and the other of the positive field magnet and the negative field magnet distal to its respective sensor.
US09558893B2
A power storage device that includes an electrolyte retaining layer between a first internal electrode and a second internal electrode. The electrolyte retaining layer retains an electrolyte. The first internal electrode has a first current collector and a first active material layer. The first active material layer is on a surface of the first current collector, which is closer to the second internal electrode. The second internal electrode has a second current collector and a second active material layer. The second active material layer is on a surface of the second current collector, which is closer to the first internal electrode. At least one of the electrolyte retaining layer, first active material layer, and second active material layer is exposed at the first and second end surfaces of the power storage device.
US09558879B2
The present invention provides a teardrop-shaped magnetic core having excellent manufacturing efficiency, a large initial inductance, and stable DC superposition characteristics and a coil device using this teardrop-shaped magnetic core. A teardrop-shaped magnetic core according to the present invention is a magnetic core that is made from a magnetic material and is to be used in a coil device 20, the magnetic core including a first rectilinear portion 11 and a second rectilinear portion 15 that have a straight-line shape and are connected to each other at one end via a bent portion 16 that is bent at a right angle, and a circular arc portion 17 that has a circular arc shape and connects the first rectilinear portion and the second rectilinear portion to each other at the other end. A coil device according to the present invention is configured by winding a wire around the teardrop-shaped magnetic core 10.
US09558876B2
Electromagnetic Halbach array device with substantially contiguous vertical and horizontal cores. The device is equipped with horizontal cores having protrusions which establish substantial contiguity between horizontal and vertical cores.
US09558875B1
An electronic device may have a source of magnetic field such as a magnet that produces a static magnetic field. A flexible printed circuit may have a flexible tail that surrounds a central portion. The central portion may overlap the magnet. Electrical components may be mounted to the central portion. To prevent undesired vibrations and noise due to interactions between magnetic fields induced by signals flowing in signal lines in the flexible printed circuit and the static magnetic field, the signal lines may be vertically stacked or may be routed along a curved path that does not overlap the magnet. The tail may serve as a service loop that allows a portion of a housing for the device and electrical components mounted to the central portion in alignment with windows in the housing to be detached for servicing.
US09558868B2
Disclosed is the use of a curable composition for padding-free encapsulation of instrument transformers comprising (a) a cycloaliphatic epoxy resin, (b) a polyoxyalkylene diglycidylether (c) an OH-terminated polysiloxane, (d) a cyclic polysiloxane and (e) a non-ionic, fluoroaliphatic surface-active reagent, (f) a filler, (g) a hardener selected from anhydrides, (h) a curing accelerator selected from accelerators for anhydride curing of epoxy resins.
US09558867B2
A flame-retardant thermoplastic elastomer compound is disclosed having polyphenylene ether, a hydrogenated styrene block copolymer, at least one solid non-halogenated phosphorus containing flame retardant, and a nucleated olefinic polymer. The compound has a before-aging tensile elongation of >200% and an after-aging tensile elongation residual of at least 75%, according to the UL 62 test, which makes it useful as an insulation layer, a jacketing layer, or both for protected electrical lines such as alternating current wire and cable products, accessory cables, and variety of injection molded electrical or electronic parts.
US09558861B2
The invention relates to novel block copolymers that enable a good dispersion of nanofillers in water and also to a dispersion of nanofillers obtained owing to these block copolymers. This dispersion may be used as a transparent electrode in organic solar cells or other photoemitter or photoreceptor devices.
US09558858B2
The inspection of a sample with VUV light from a laser sustained plasma includes generating pumping illumination including a first selected wavelength, or range of wavelength, containing a volume of gas suitable for plasma generation, generating broadband radiation including a second selected wavelength, or range of wavelengths, by forming a plasma within the volume of gas by focusing the pumping illumination into the volume of gas, illuminating a surface of a sample with the broadband radiation emitted from the plasma via an illumination pathway, collecting illumination from a surface of the sample, focusing the collected illumination onto a detector via a collection pathway to form an image of at least a portion of the surface of the sample and purging the illumination pathway and/or the collection pathway with a selected purge gas.
US09558833B2
A three dimensional stacked nonvolatile semiconductor memory according to an example of the present invention includes a memory cell array comprised of first and second blocks. The first block has a first cell unit which includes a memory cell to be programmed and a second cell unit which does not include a memory cell to be programmed, and programming is executed by applying a program potential or a transfer potential to word lines in the first block after the initial potential of channels of the memory cells in the first and second cell units is set to a plus potential. In the programming, the program potential and the transfer potential are not applied to word lines in the second block.
US09558832B2
To maintain constant an output voltage of a boosted voltage circuit even when a program current of a nonvolatile memory increases; in a boosted voltage circuit provided in a semiconductor device, an output voltage of a charge pump is detected by a voltage dividing circuit, and on-off control is performed on an oscillation circuit for driving the charge pump so that the detected output voltage becomes constant. Further, an output current of the charge pump is detected, and a control current according to a magnitude of the detected output current is generated. The control current is fed into or drawn from a coupling node between a plurality of series-coupled resistance elements configuring the voltage dividing circuit.
US09558827B2
A semiconductor memory device is provided. The semiconductor memory device includes memory strings including drain-side memory cells connected between a bit line and a pipe transistor, and source-side memory cells connected between the pipe transistor and a source line, and a peripheral circuit suitable for applying a pipe gate voltage to a pipe gate of the pipe transistor before applying pass voltages to turn on non-selected memory cells among the drain-side memory cells and the source-side memory cells during a read operation.
US09558825B1
Described is a system for detecting and encoding indirect associations in associative memory. The system receives a data storage input in a content-addressable memory (CAM), the data storage input comprising an association between a first data pattern A and a second data pattern B. At least one indirect association related to the data storage input is identified with an inductive logic unit (ILU) interfaced with the CAM, and the indirect association is stored for later recall. A query is generated from the ILU to the CAM to determine whether either of the first data pattern A or the second data pattern B is stored as part of an existing association in the CAM. If either the first data pattern A or the second data pattern B are known, then a new indirect association for the known data pattern is stored.
US09558819B1
Disclosed are methods, systems and devices for operation of non-volatile memory devices. In one aspect, a non-volatile memory device may be placed in any one of multiple memory states in a write operation by controlling a current and a voltage applied to terminals of the non-volatile memory device. For example, a write operation may apply a programming signal across terminals of non-volatile memory device having a particular current and a particular voltage for placing the non-volatile memory device in a particular memory state.
US09558817B2
A method for conditioning at least one Phase Change Memory, PCM, cell. The PCM cell is characterized by a number of pre-defined characteristics or properties. For pre-conditioning, at least one conditioning pulse is applied to the PCM such that at least one selected characteristic of the number of pre-defined characteristics is changed to a desired value.
US09558812B2
A multi-memory cell operator includes a non-destructive memory array, an activation unit and a multiple column decoder. The non-destructive memory array has first and second bit lines per column. The activation unit activates at least two cells in a column of the memory array at the same time thereby to generate multiple Boolean function outputs of the data and of complementary data of the at least two cells on the first bit line and different multiple Boolean function outputs of the data and of the complementary data on the second bit line. The multiple column decoder at least activates the first and second bit lines of multiple selected columns for reading or writing. The multiple column decoder also includes a write unit to write the output of the first bit line, the second bit line or both bit lines of the selected columns into the memory array.
US09558809B1
A column of a static random access memory (SRAM) array includes a first subarray including a first plurality of SRAM cells and a second subarray including a second plurality of SRAM cells. Each of the first and second plurality of SRAM cells includes first through fourth source active regions by which source regions of transistors thereof are formed. The column of the SRAM array includes a first bitline formed by the third source active regions of the first plurality of SRAM cells, a second bitline formed by the third source active regions of the second plurality of SRAM cells and spaced apart from the first bitline, and a third bitline formed by a metal layer extending over the third source active regions of the first and second plurality of SRAM cells and electrically connected to the second bitline but not to the first bitline.
US09558806B1
The number of terminals included in a semiconductor device which is included in an electronic device is reduced. The electronic device includes: a first semiconductor device having first and second input terminals; a second semiconductor device having a first output terminal and a first driver circuit to drive the first output terminal; and a wiring substrate over which the first and second semiconductor devices are mounted. The first and second input terminals are commonly coupled to the first output terminal via a first line formed on the wiring substrate. A composite resistance value of first and second termination resistors coupled to the first and second input terminals, respectively, is equivalent to a drive impedance of the first driver circuit.
US09558805B2
A memory module includes a plurality of memory devices and a buffer chip. The buffer chip manages the memory devices. The buffer chip includes a refresh control circuit that groups a plurality of memory cell rows of the memory devices into a plurality of groups according to a data retention time of tire memory cell rows. The buffer chip selectively refreshes each of the plurality of groups in each of a plurality of refresh time regions that are periodically repeated and applies respective refresh periods to the plurality of groups, respectively.
US09558804B2
A technique for erasing a ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) memory circuit comprising a plurality memory cells comprising FeFETs is described. Each FeFET comprises a gate stack, a source, a drain, a channel and a bulk substrate region, where the gate stack comprises a gate and a ferroelectric layer disposed between the gate and the channel. A positive or a negative voltage is applied to the source and drain regions of at least one FeFET memory cell depending on the channel type. The gate and bulk substrate regions are held at a ground state during said applying of the positive voltage to the source and drain regions of the FeFET memory cell to cause erasure of the at least one FeFET memory cell. In addition, a FeFET is described with a charge storage layer disposed adjacently to the ferroelectric layer within the gate stack.
US09558790B1
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to hermetic electrical connectors used in hard disk drives. The hermetic electrical connector includes a barrier structure having a first plurality of connecting pads disposed on a first surface of the barrier structure and a second plurality of connecting pads disposed on a second surface of the barrier structure opposite the first surface. A plurality of conductors is disposed within the barrier structure, and each conductor is coupled to a connecting pad of the first plurality of connecting pads and a corresponding connecting pad of the second plurality of connecting pads. The barrier structure further includes a dielectric material between the first and second surfaces, and one or more layers embedded in the dielectric material. The addition of the layers helps choke the helium gas flow, thus improving sealing of the electrical connector while maintaining high-speed electrical transmission.
US09558781B1
A cylindrical array of tightly spaced optical discs are each positioned vertically on edge to form a horizontal stack. Lifting a subset of optical discs enables that subset of optical discs to be grasped by their perimeters with much more room for robotic grippers between adjacent optical discs. An optical disc storage container includes a molded tray for vertically aligning a plurality of optical discs into the cylindrical array. The molded tray includes a bottom surface and side surfaces to support the optical discs and one or more openings formed in the bottom surface. A lifting mechanism is positioned along the one or more openings and is configured to lift the subset of optical discs a short distance relative to the remaining optical discs in the array, thereby enabling robotic grippers to grab the portion of the lifted optical disc protruding from the non-lifted optical disc array.
US09558778B2
A lubricant compound is contained in a lubrication layer of a magnetic disk in which at least a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubrication layer are sequentially provided on a substrate, and the lubricant compound contains a component A represented by Chemical formula 1 and a component B represented by Chemical formula 2: wherein X in Chemical formula 1 represents OH wherein X in Chemical formula 2 represents OCH2CH(OH)CH2OH, and the lubricant compound further contains a component C made of a specific compound having a phosphezene ring in the structure thereof.
US09558775B2
An apparatus comprises a slider of a magnetic recording head, a submount, and an interface defined between the slider and the submount. A laser diode is connected to the submount. A metal layer is provided at the interface between the slider and the submount. The metal layer connects at least about 30% of the surface area of the submount at the interface to the slider and serves as a thermal conduction pathway between the submount and the slider.
US09558771B2
Various embodiments concern a gimbaled flexure having a dual stage actuation structure. The flexure comprises a gimbal on which a motor is mounted. The motor comprises a first terminal, one or more layers of piezoelectric material, and a metal stiffener disposed directly on the first terminal. The stiffener comprises a layer of metal defining a majority of a top side of the motor. The first terminal can be gold sputtered on the piezoelectric material while the stiffener can be nickel plated on the gold. The stiffener can cause the motor, and the flexure on which it is mounted, to curl upon electrical activation of the motor.
US09558766B1
While a heat-assisted, magnetic recording medium is being read from, power is applied to a write coil of a read/write head to control a spacing between a read transducer and the recording medium via thermal expansion induced by a write pole magnetically coupled to the write coil. A coefficient of thermal expansion proximate the read transducer is higher than a coefficient of thermal expansion proximate the write pole to increase a deformation at the read transducer relative to the write pole. Optionally, a media-facing surface of the read/write head may include a recess encompassing at least the write pole to prevent contact between the write pole and the recording medium while controlling the spacing.
US09558763B1
A magnetic write apparatus has a media-facing surface (MFS), a pole, side shield(s), a side gap and coil(s) for energizing the pole. The pole includes main and assist portions. The main portion is ferromagnetic, includes a pole tip and includes side surface(s) having a flare angle from the MFS. The pole tip occupies a portion of the MFS. The flare angle is nonzero and acute. The assist portion adjoins the main portion, extends from the main portion in a direction having a component in a cross-track direction, and has a depth of not more than three hundred nanometers. The side shield(s) occupy another portion of the MFS, have a back surface, and are between the assist portion and the MFS. The assist portion is conformal with the back surface of the side shield(s). The side gap is between the main portion of the pole and the side shield(s).
US09558756B2
A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, receive user speech captured at a second end user device during a communication session between the second end user device and a first end user device, apply speech recognition to the user speech, identify an unclear word in the user speech based on the speech recognition, adjust the user speech to generate adjusted user speech by replacing all or a portion of the unclear word with replacement audio content, and provide the adjusted user speech to the first end user device during the communication session. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09558754B2
In one embodiment, an audio decoder for decoding an encoded audio bitstream is disclosed. The audio decoder is capable of being operated in at least three different decoding modes. The audio decoder includes a demultiplexer for obtaining audio data and control information from the encoded audio bitstream. The audio decoder also includes a first audio decoder configured to operate in a first decoding mode using a first decoding technique and a second audio decoder configured to operate in a second decoding mode using a second decoding technique. The audio decoder also includes a pitch predictor integrated into the second audio decoder. The pitch predictor includes a long-term prediction filter and a short-term prediction filter. The audio decoder further includes a selector for selecting one of the at least three different decoding modes based on at least some of the control information.
US09558752B2
This encoding device (100) is provided with: a CELP encoding unit (102) that decodes CELP encoded data resulting from CELP encoding an input signal, generating a CELP decoded signal; a transform encoding unit (106) that generates a decoded signal spectrum by decoding transform encoded data resulting from using the spectrum of the input signal and the suppression spectrum of suppressing using a first suppression factor to transform encode the amplitude of the spectrum of the CELP decoded signal, and that outputs an index of the transform encoded frequency component; a pulse index recording unit (107) that forms and records an array using the index; and a CELP component suppression unit (109) that uses a second suppression factor and the array to suppress the amplitude of the spectrum resulting from adding the decoded signal spectrum and the suppression spectrum.
US09558751B2
A system, method, and apparatus for media content marking and tracking are disclosed. An example method includes determining an identification code responsive to a request from a third-party client, generating an audio file including the identification code, transmitting the audio file to the third-party client enabling the third-party client to embed the audio file including the identification code into media content, receiving content information associated with the media content from the third-party client, storing the content information in correspondence to a stored copy of the identification code, receiving a message including the identification code from a consumer device that detected the identification code within the media content, determining the identification code corresponds to the content information, transmitting the content information to the consumer device, receiving an event from the consumer device based on the content information, and making data associated with the event graphically available for the third-party client.
US09558746B1
This invention describes methods for implementing human speech recognition. The methods described here are of using sub-events that are sounds between spaces (typically a fully spoken word) that is then compared with a library of sub-events. All sub-events are packaged with it's own speech recognition function as individual units. This invention illustrates how this model can be used as a Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition System.
US09558745B2
A system and method for implementing a server-based speech recognition system for multimodal automated interaction in a vehicle includes receiving, by a vehicle driver, audio prompts by an on-board human-to-machine interface and a response with speech to complete tasks such as creating and sending text messages, web browsing, navigation, etc. This service-oriented architecture is utilized to call upon specialized speech recognizers in an adaptive fashion. The human-to-machine interface enables completion of a text input task while driving a vehicle in a way that minimizes the frequency of the driver's visual and mechanical interactions with the interface, thereby eliminating unsafe distractions during driving conditions. After the initial prompting, the typing task is followed by a computerized verbalization of the text. Subsequent interface steps can be visual in nature, or involve only sound.
US09558742B2
The claimed subject matter includes a system and method for recognizing mixed speech from a source. The method includes training a first neural network to recognize the speech signal spoken by the speaker with a higher level of a speech characteristic from a mixed speech sample. The method also includes training a second neural network to recognize the speech signal spoken by the speaker with a lower level of the speech characteristic from the mixed speech sample. Additionally, the method includes decoding the mixed speech sample with the first neural network and the second neural network by optimizing the joint likelihood of observing the two speech signals considering the probability that a specific frame is a switching point of the speech characteristic.
US09558737B2
Disclosed herein are methods for presenting speech from a selected text that is on a computing device. This method includes presenting text on a touch-sensitive display and having that text size within a threshold level so that the computing device can accurately determine the intent of the user when the user touches the touch screen. Once the user touch has been received, the computing device identifies and interprets the portion of text that is to be selected, and subsequently presents the text audibly to the user.
US09558736B2
An electronic device includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including determining whether a text prompt received from a wireless device corresponds to first synthesized speech data stored at the memory. The operations include, in response to a determination that the text prompt does not correspond to the first synthesized speech data, determining whether a network is accessible. The operations include, in response to a determination that the network is accessible, sending a text-to-speech (TTS) conversion request to a server via the network. The operation further include, in response to receiving second synthesized speech data from the server, storing the second synthesized speech data at the memory.
US09558730B2
An audio processing system includes an audio receiving module, a sound source separation module and a noise suppression module. The audio receiving module receives at least two audio signals. The sound source separation module receives a plurality of space features of the audio signals and obtains a main sound source signal separated from the audio signals based on the space features. The noise suppression module processes the main sound source signal based on an averaged amplitude value of noise in the main sound source signal so as to suppress noise in the main sound source signal. Each audio signal of the at least two audio signals includes signals from a plurality of sound sources.
US09558727B2
An electronic music instrument and music performance method mainly comprises the following steps: a, selecting a music score to be played in an electronic music score management unit, and selecting a played voice part and/or an automatic accompaniment voice part, the type of a music instrument, a corresponding input device, a performance music instrument, an output device and a reference voice part; b, starting an electronic music instrument performance device for playing said music score, transmitting a performance control signal to a digital music instrument unit under the control of a performance control unit to enable the digital music instrument unit to carry out corresponding performance actions or transmitting the performance control signal to a signal output unit.
US09558722B2
A non-geared linear tuning and anchoring system for strings of a stringed musical instrument employing plug-ended strings inserted into the shaft of a string retainer and tensioned by retracting the slidable string retainer within a channel aligned with the strings.
US09558720B2
A tileable display panel includes an illumination layer, a display layer, and a screen layer. The display layer is disposed between the screen layer and the lamp layer and includes pixelets. Each of the pixelets is positioned to be illuminated by lamp light from the illumination layer and to project a magnified image sub-portion onto the screen layer such that the magnified image sub-portions collectively blend together to form a unified image on the screen layer. Each of the pixelets includes core pixels and peripheral pixels surrounding the core pixels on one or more sides which provide a higher image resolution in overlap regions on the screen layer when the magnified image sub-portions overlap on the screen layer.
US09558716B2
An approach is provided for enabling a contextual query based on visual elements and user input in augmented reality at a device. The approach includes a method for receiving at least one input specifying content information, wherein the input is received via at least one user interface presenting image data. The method further includes processing and/or facilitating a processing of the image data to cause, at least in part, an identification of one or more visual elements. The method also includes causing, at least in part, a construction of at least one query based, at least in part, on the content information and the one or more visual elements.
US09558710B2
A method and system for transitioning operation between display screens of a computing device, with a user interface. The device further includes primary and secondary touch screen displays, an ambient lighting brightness sensor, a memory storing instructions and an e-book having content displayable according to a series of digitally constructed pages. The method comprises receiving, at a screen transition interface presented on one of the primary display screen and the secondary display screen, selections of an upper and a lower brightness threshold limits of ambient lighting, sensing a brightness level of ambient lighting, activating the secondary display screen for operation only if one of: (i) the ambient lighting brightness level exceeds the upper threshold limit and (ii) the ambient lighting brightness level is less than the lower threshold limit, and transitioning operation of the computing device to the secondary display screen by rendering the pages of e-book content thereon.
US09558709B2
A mobile terminal is provided as a solution to a problem in which ease use is low. Display part 1A is provided on casing A, while display part 1B is provided on casing B. Detector 2 detects the attitude of at least one of casings A and B and the opening/closing angle between casings A and B. Execution section 3 executes an application. Controller 4 displays a view of the application on at least one of display parts 1A and 1B in a display style according to detection results detected by detector 2.
US09558706B2
An imaging device comprising comprises a matrix of pixels, at least one data conductor connected to several pixels of the matrix, organized row-wise and successively transporting signals delivered by respectively the pixels of the row and an electronic current generator supplying several pixels, each of the pixels comprising: a transistor delivering at the node of the pixel, the signal delivered by the pixel considered and wherein can flow a bias current from the current generator, and a first electronic switch connecting the node of the pixel to the data conductor associated with this pixel as a function of a selection signal of the pixel. Each of the pixels comprises a second electronic switch, distinct from the first electronic switch, joined to the node of the pixel, the current arising from the generator to be made to flow in the transistor as a function of the selection signal for the pixel.
US09558686B2
Disclosed is a combination mounting and storing device for a vehicle safety flag that is used to mark an oversized load. The device includes a hollow cylindrical housing having an interior volume and a bobbin disposed therein. The bobbin includes a reel that is adapted to retract and extend an elongated cord that is attached to the vehicle safety flag. The device further includes a magnet that allows a user to removably mount the device onto the inside of a truck bed or trunk. When the device is in use, the cord is extended outward so as to allow a user to secure the safety flag onto the extreme rear of the projecting load. The device can be mounted to the rear of the vehicle when transporting an oversized load and can be easily stored in a glove compartment when it is not in use.
US09558678B1
A training device includes a base formed of a thermoplastic elastomeric material that transmits near-infrared radiation and which re-seals after being punctured by a needle of the type used to draw blood from veins. A plurality of simulated veins is formed in the thermoplastic elastomeric material. Each simulated vein is an elongate cylindrical void or lumen formed in the thermoplastic elastomeric material. A blood-simulating and near-infrared absorbing fluid is disposed in each lumen of the plurality of simulated veins. A first simulated vein is formed near a top surface of the thermoplastic elastomeric material, a second simulated vein is positioned further from the top surface, and a third simulated vein is positioned still further from the top surface. A white-in-color cover overlies the base to reflect a computer projected image representing underlying near-infrared absorbing structures that simulate veins that are detectable by near-infrared vein imagers.
US09558676B2
The invention relates to a method for simulating the movements of a virtual vehicle, a user being in physical contact with a simulator including a force-feedback haptic interface, wherein said physical contact corresponds to at least one physical point of contact between the haptic interface and the body of the user that is representative of a virtual point of contact between the user and the virtual vehicle. Said method comprises at least two steps. A first step involves determining a linear acceleration vector (formula (I)) and a linear velocity vector (formula (II)) at the virtual point of contact between the user and the virtual vehicle, said vectors being representative of the movement of the vehicle at said point. A second step involves deducing a three-dimensional force vector (formula (III)) from the linear acceleration vector (formula (I)) and linear velocity vector (formula (II)), said force vector being predetermined by a linear combination of said linear acceleration and velocity vectors, the corresponding force being applied via the haptic interface substantially at the physical point of contact. The invention also relates to a device for simulating movements of a vehicle.
US09558669B2
A system and method are provided for prioritizing incoming datalink messages. When a datalink message is received in an aircraft, it is parsed into individual information elements. The relevance of the received datalink message is then assessed from the individual information elements. The received datalink message is then categorized into one of a plurality of playback priority categories, based on the assessed relevance of the received datalink message.
US09558665B2
Disclosed is a system and method for alerting users on how to avoid receiving parking violation citations. A location determining apparatus identifies a location of a user. A database stores historical parking violation citations, real-time crowdsourced parking violation citations, and other parking violation related information with a verification algorithm and an inference algorithm. Parking intent is determined by a user's location and speed and once the determination is made, the database is polled to identify whether potential parking violations exist, where an alert will be sent. A forum functionality allows information exchange and idea sharing about parking violation citations and avoidance thereof. Crowdsourced parking violation related data is gathered using an incentive method with rewards and a parking ticket payment module collects parking violation-related information for the database. Historical weather data is used to predict the impact on current parking situations.
US09558661B2
The disclosure includes a method for traffic flow prediction based on data mining on spatio-temporal correlations. The method includes establishing a prediction model, data mining on spatio-temporal correlations, and traffic flow prediction based on spatio-temporal correlated data. The prediction model can be a linear regression model with multiple variables. The data mining on spatio-temporal correlations is based on a multi-factor linear regression model and by means of the optimization method in terms of sparse representation. The data from the spatio-temporal correlated sensors that are relevant to the prediction task are determined automatically. The traffic flow prediction based on spatio-temporal correlated data refers to that the prediction is performed with the input to the prediction model to be the data from the spatio-temporal correlated sensors.
US09558658B2
Disclosed herein is a method. A relationship between a first probe type and a second different probe type is determined. The first probe type includes one of a deficient probe or an abundant probe. The second different probe type includes the other of the deficient probe or the abundant probe. A time estimate based on data corresponding to the deficient probe and/or the abundant probe is provided. Abundant probe information is converted to deficient probe information based on the time estimate.
US09558656B1
A driving analysis server may be configured to receive vehicle operation data from vehicle sensors and telematics devices of a first vehicle, and may use the data to identify a potentially high-risk or unsafe driving behavior by the first vehicle. The driving analysis server also may retrieve corresponding vehicle operation data from one or more other vehicles, and may compare the potentially high-risk or unsafe driving behavior of the first vehicle to corresponding driving behaviors in the other vehicles. A driver score for the first vehicle may be calculated or adjusted based on the comparison of the driving behavior in the first vehicle to the corresponding driving behaviors in the other vehicles.
US09558647B1
A hygiene assurance system utilizing a plurality of individual sensors having a correlating fixture or entrance, a keypad for identifying the user and a plurality of audible signals to ensure a user of a bathroom facility washes ones hands before leaving the area. Additionally the present invention provides sensors having individual controls for what predetermined parameters must be met to activate said sensor.
US09558646B2
A prompt circuit in a drinking cup includes a processor, temperature sensing and weight sensing units, and a prompt unit. The temperature sensing unit displays to a user the temperature of the liquid. The weight sensing unit detects a weight of liquid in the cup, and transmits the weight to the processor. The prompt unit includes a communication unit and a speaker unit. When any change of the weight of liquid in the cup within a first preset time is less than a preset value, the processor outputs a first control signal, to control the speaker unit to output an alarm. When the weight of liquid in the cup in unchanged for a preset time period after the speaker unit has output the alarm, the processor outputs a second control signal to the communication unit and the communication unit outputs a reminding message to a user.
US09558644B2
The present disclosure relates to approaches for detecting and monitoring for earthquakes using a control unit of a security system. A security system may include a plurality of sensors that detect alarm conditions and send alarm condition messages to a control unit for the security system. The control unit may be communicatively coupled to the sensors and configured to receive the alarm condition messages from the sensors. The security system may also include an earthquake sensor that senses earthquake conditions and sends an earthquake condition message to the control unit if it detects the earthquake condition. The control unit may include an alarm module. The control unit causes the alarm module to generate an alarm in response to receiving the earthquake condition message from the earthquake sensor.
US09558641B2
An apparatus is provided for monitoring a person. The apparatus is configured for identifying one or more undesirable conditions, by analyzing data from a sensor unit associated with the person's bed, the data being indicative of the person's presence in or absence from the bed. Upon identification of at least one undesirable condition, the apparatus emits a local alarm and transmits an alert signal to a remote apparatus, which is configured for notifying one or more responders about the undesirable condition. If one or more responders responds to the notification, or if the apparatus is reset locally, the local alarm is stopped.
US09558639B2
Systems and methods of the disclosed embodiments provide a sensor to detect a side from which a door or window is being opened, and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor to determine the side from which the door or window is being opened, and to generate a security exception based on the determination of the side from which the door or window is being opened.
US09558636B1
A bank server allows a user of one ATM to reserve cash at another, nearby ATM when the first ATM has an inadequate cash inventory to serve the user's requested transaction. The user attempts to withdraw cash from the first ATM, but the first ATM has insufficient cash to perform the withdrawal transaction. Through the first ATM, the bank server offers the user a cash reservation at the other ATM. The bank server causes the other ATM to reserve a requested amount of cash for the user, possibly refusing to dispense cash to other users if doing so would leave the other ATM with insufficient cash to dispense the reserved cash. The user travels a short distance to the other ATM and withdraws the reserved cash. In effect, the other ATM can now perform the withdrawal transaction requested of the first ATM when the first ATM couldn't.
US09558634B2
A method of gaming in a gaming system comprise selecting a plurality of symbols for display on a display of the gaming system at a plurality of display positions, each display position comprising a plurality of borders, each display position having a least one common border with at least two other display positions. The method involves determining with the gaming system, whether there are one or more groups of at least three symbols corresponding to a designated winning symbol combination displayed at respective ones of a plurality of display positions linked in a contiguous group, the determination being based on the display positions sharing a common border. An award corresponding to a determined group is made.
US09558628B2
An apparatus and method allow a value of a credit balance on a gaming device to be determined. If the value is not less than a predetermined threshold, a benefit is provided to the player of the gaming device. In various embodiments, the benefit may be, e.g., an increase in the player's credit balance.
US09558624B2
Systems are provided including: a player's device constructed to: communicate device information; receive an authorization message; communicate an authorization to commence a SWig session; communicate updated device information; and receive an authorization revocation; a geographical location server constructed to: receive the device information; determine a geographical location of the player's device; and communicate the geographical location; and the SWig server connected to the player's device and the geographical location server by a network, and constructed to: receive the device information; receive the geographical location of the player's device; when the geographical location of the player's device is within a real credit wagering jurisdiction, communicate the authorization message; receive the authorization to commence the SWig session; initiate the SWig session; receive the updated device information; determine if the player's device has changed location; and when the player's device has changed location, revoke authorization of real credit wagering.
US09558622B2
A lottery data transfer method for processing lottery ticket data piggybacks on a merchant's existing debit or credit card interchange system. A BIN is assigned to lottery tickets that is unique in the merchant's credit or debit card interchange, the BIN associated with a lottery data blob also provided on the lottery ticket. The lottery BIN and data blob are into the merchant's existing credit or debit card activation barcode protocol to initiate transfer of the lottery data to a central lottery site via the interchange. At a processor within the interchange, the unique lottery BIN is flagged to initiate special routing to and further processing of the lottery data blob at the lottery central site, wherein the lottery data blob is processed outside of the interchange's debit or credit card data transfer and processing procedures.
US09558618B2
A gaming machine, such as a video slot or video poker machine, may be configured to use a message-oriented protocol. An application on the gaming machine may request subscription to a topic managed by a message broker. The application may receive a message published to the topic by another application and alter its execution in response.
US09558615B2
An overlay for a nonportable amusement device is provided. The nonportable amusement device has a housing, a display, a memory and a controller. The overlay includes one or more panels selectively attachable to and removable from the housing of the nonportable amusement device.
US09558606B2
A system for controlling access to one or more enclosed areas comprises at least one access card reader and controller powered via a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) interface, each access card reader and controller being capable of controlling access through a particular entrance to a particular enclosed area and an access control server in communication with the at least one access card reader and controller, the access control server being capable of controlling the operation of the at least one access card reader and controller, and a signal converter disposed between the access card reader and the access control server. In a network mode of operation, the access control server is configured to perform authentication of a card identifier (ID) received from the at least one access card reader and controller and to signal the at least one access card reader and controller to unlock a door at the particular entrance to the particular enclosed area when the access control server has successfully authenticated the received card ID. In a standalone mode of operation, the at least one access card reader and controller is configured to perform local authentication of a received card ID independently of the access control server and to unlock a door at the particular entrance to the particular enclosed area when the at least one access card reader and controller has successfully authenticated the received card ID.
US09558605B2
Systems and methods are provided for authorizing access to facilities. In connection therewith, a first request comprising data indicative of a card number is received at a first node. When the first request comprises a request for access to a facility, a set of rules associated with the card number are identified and access to the requested facility is authorized in accordance with the identified set of rules. In addition, a second request comprising data indicative of the card number is received at a second node. When the second request comprises a payment request, a payment provider associated with the card number is identified and the payment request is transmitted to the payment provider.
US09558581B2
A method for representing virtual information in a view of a real environment is provided that includes the following steps: providing a system setup comprising at least one display device, determining a position of a viewing point relative to at least one component of the real environment, providing a geometry model of the real environment, providing at least one item of virtual information and its position, determining a visualization mode of blending in the at least one item of virtual information on the display device according to the position of the viewing point and the geometry model, calculating a ray between the viewing point and the item of virtual information, and determining a number of boundary intersections by the ray, wherein if the number of boundary intersections is less than 2, the item of virtual information is blended in a non-occlusion mode, otherwise in an occlusion mode.
US09558568B2
A visualization method is provided that allows for the unfolding of a human skeleton from a medical image scan and providing increased efficiency for interacting with the image scan and whole body bone reading from such scans. That is, a full head-to-toe unfolded skeleton view (e.g., a 2D unfolded view) is realized for improved visualization and diagnostic capabilities.
US09558562B2
An information handling system includes a display for displaying an image and a processor. The processor is configured to receive an input image, determine if a pixel is in an edge region, generate an anti-reflective image by applying an edge preserving blue noise pattern to pixels within the edge region, and applying a mean persevering blue noise pattern to pixels outside of the edge region. The anti-reflective image is provided to the display. When displayed, the anti-reflective image reduces artifacts caused by reflection or glare on the display.
US09558554B1
A system, method and computer program product for determining an accuracy of a reconstructed image relative to a reference image. The method includes decomposing a reference image into a plurality of basis functions; reconstructing the image using the plurality of basis functions; determining differences between the reference image and reconstructed image; using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to quantify existence of statistically significant regions of excursion in the determined differences; determining, based on the quantified regions of excursion, a minimum number of basis functions to reconstruct the image; and storing the determined number. The difference image is used as input to a univariate statistical test at every pixel to calculate an image of the test statistic which is then modeled as a multiGaussian random field. Quantities are calculated from the test statistic image for comparison to expected values to determine if the reconstructed image is an accurate representation of the reference image, or whether the number of basis functions used in the reconstruction is to be increased.
US09558547B2
An apparatus is scanned to obtain a 3-dimensional image of the apparatus. A 2-dimensional cross-sectional image for a section of the 3-dimensional image is generated using a processor. The 2-dimensional cross-sectional image is compared with the processor to a preferred 2-dimensional cross-sectional image or to preferred dimensions for the 2-dimensional cross-sectional image. The processor determines if the apparatus or the process for making the apparatus is acceptable based on the comparison.
US09558544B2
A method includes: capturing an image of a coin, locating an acquisition area of the image using a landmark of the coin, the acquisition area comprising a feature unique to the coin and generating a digital representation of the acquisition area.
US09558533B2
Three-dimensional (3D) asset performance enhancement is disclosed. In various embodiments, the 3D assets may be retrieved from a specific folder, each 3D asset describing one or more 3D models. The 3D assets may be processed at build-time of an application to enhance the performance of the 3D assets at runtime of the application by performing one or more enhancements on the 3D assets before adding the enhanced 3D assets to a bundle of the application.
US09558532B2
An image decoder includes a base layer to decode at least a portion of an encoded video stream into a first image having a first image format. The image decoder can generate a color space prediction by scaling a color space of the first image from the first image format into a color space corresponding to a second image format. The image decoder includes an enhancement layer to decode the encoded video stream to generate a second image in the second image format based, at least in part, on the color space prediction.
US09558530B2
Novel method and system for distributed database ray-tracing is presented, based on modular mapping of scene-data among processors. Its inherent properties include matching between geographical proximity in the scene with communication proximity between processors.
US09558513B2
Querying for business service processing status information is disclosed, including: receiving a query reference message from a server, wherein the query reference message includes information associated with a set of processing nodes associated with a business service, a sequence associated with the set of processing nodes, and a set of predicted measures of time corresponding to the set of processing nodes; determining a next information query time associated with a current processing node of the set of processing nodes based at least in part on a predicted measure of time of the set of predicted measures of time corresponding to the current processing node; in response to occurrence of the next information query time, sending an information query request to the server; and receiving an information query response from the server, wherein the information query response includes a current business service processing status information associated with the business service.
US09558507B2
Provided is a computer implemented process for reminding users of offers that were discovered by the user at one location when, at a later time, the user is at another location, the process including: displaying, with a mobile device, an offer and a reminder interface to indicate that the user requests themselves or another reminder recipient to be reminded of the offer when near another computing device of the reminder recipient; receiving an interaction with the reminder interface by the user and, in response, storing a reminder request in memory, the reminder request identifying the offer; obtaining data identifying the other computing device, a geographic area of the other computing device, or a wireless environment of the other computing device; detecting, with a processor of the mobile device, that the reminder recipient has interacted with the other computing device, entered the geographic area, or entered the wireless environment; and in response to the detection, presenting a notification reminding the reminder recipient of the offer.
US09558500B2
A method and apparatus for providing advertising service in a computer network is provided. This method and apparatus further comprises receiving a request from a user via this computer network to view a Web page, providing conditions to the user for viewing this Web page, delivering this Web page to the user, determining if the user has met the conditions required for viewing this Web page, and terminating access of the user to this Web page if these conditions are not met.
US09558499B2
A method for assessing a pre-cognitive emotional response from a test subject, using responses obtained during the first moments of brain activity after presentation of a stimulus, includes exposing the test subject to a visual stimulus for between approximately 500 milliseconds and approximately 1 second, and receiving an input from the subject while the subject is exposed to the visual stimulus or within approximately 300 milliseconds after the subject is first exposed to the stimulus. The method further includes storing, in response to receiving the input, a user response that identifies one of a plurality of emotional reactions that is associated with the visual stimulus. Each of the exposing, receiving, and storing acts is repeated for a plurality of visual stimuli. The method further includes determining, based on each of the stored user responses, one or more dominant emotional characteristics of the subject.
US09558496B2
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system accesses transaction documents. A unique code is generated for each transaction for one or more products, wherein the unique code is associated with a transaction document including transaction information and each product is associated with a product code. The system stores the unique code and corresponding one or more product codes associated with each transaction, and accesses one or more transaction documents based on an identifier of at least one product associated with a corresponding transaction of the one or more transaction documents. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for accessing transaction documents in substantially the same manners described above.
US09558495B1
A computer-implemented method and system for managing transaction card accounts involves enabling a transaction card account by a card issuer for use with pre-defined categories of providers of goods/services and goods/services sold and issuing a transaction card and establishing an associated pre-qualified category card account. Upon receiving data for a transaction with the transaction card at a transaction terminal by a processing platform of the card issuer via a card association processing network, the category of the provider and goods/services is interrogated to determine whether or not the transaction can be posted on the pre-qualified category card account of the cardholder, and the transaction is approved and posted to the pre-qualified category card account if the transaction falls within the pre-qualified category of the cardholder.
US09558492B2
A registered provider device encrypts provider input related to a transaction between the provider device and one of many registered user devices to create an encrypted one-time-use provider code (the encryption is performed using an encryption key produced, in part, using a uniquely sequenced number generated by a sequencer maintained by the provider device). Similarly, the user device encrypts user input to create an encrypted one-time-use user code using an encryption key produced, in part, using a uniquely sequenced number generated by a user sequencer maintained by the user device. The provider and user devices independently transmit their different encrypted one-time-use codes to an intermediate entity, which decrypts the encrypted codes. This decryption is performed using one-time-use encryption keys produced using sequencers maintained by the intermediate entity, and this decryption generates an authorization request. The intermediate entity obtains an authorization decision regarding the authorization request from the authorization entity.
US09558490B2
According to some embodiments, an acquiring party prediction platform may receive transaction information about a plurality of transactions associated with a merchant, and different transactions may be associated with different acquiring parties. The transaction information may be analyzed to generate a prediction that a particular acquiring party may be associated with a transaction volume below a threshold volume in the future. An indication associated with the prediction may then be transmitted.
US09558488B2
A bank customer's electronic debit or credit card (“e-card”) is interrogated by the customer's CE device to report transaction information including interrogations the e-card receives from a point of sale (POS) apparatus.
US09558486B2
A method and system for authenticating and processing a transaction request using a vehicle based wireless system is provided. A vehicle may include a wireless tag or transponder, and a wireless system at a service station or fuel station can detect the presence of the wireless tag in a predefined general wireless service area. The wireless system can transmit vehicle information based on the detection of the wireless tag or vehicle. A user may enter an authenticator at a specific fuel dispenser within the general wireless service area. In response to entry of the authenticator, an authenticator processor may then associate a fueling authorization request with the specific fuel dispenser. In response to successful authorization of the transaction, a transaction authorization may be transmitted to the specific fuel dispenser where the authenticator was presented, which may be used to enable the specific fuel dispenser for use.
US09558478B2
Systems and methods for providing multi-platform, in-application payments include transferring funds, by a payment service provider device, from a funding source to a payment account in response to receiving a first fund transfer instruction from one of a first user device and a second user device over a network. The payment service provider device then associates the payment account with a first platform application in response to receiving a first association instruction from the first user device over the network, and associates the payment account with a second platform application in response to receiving a second association instruction along with the user account information from a second user device over the network. The payment service provider device will pay for each of a first in-application purchase associated with the first platform application and a second in-application purchase associated with the second platform application using the payment account.
US09558476B2
Disclosed herein are methods and devices for associating a first workspace data object with a first workspace service and for determining characteristics of the association of the first workspace data object with the first workspace service. The methods and devices described herein relate to receiving touch-screen based input in a plurality of display areas of a display to make the associations.
US09558475B2
A method and apparatus for determining when to remind a user about a task in a to-do list based on the user's current geo-location are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment employs a to-do list in which tasks have an associated geo-location, and optionally, a priority and/or a due date. The illustrative embodiment determines whether to remind the user about a task in the to-do list based on information including the following: the user's current location; the user's speed and direction of travel; the geo-locations of tasks in the to-do list; the priorities of tasks in the to-do list; and the due dates of tasks in the to-do list.
US09558474B2
Provided are techniques for the specification of templates for the orchestration of workflows such as, but not limited to, computer system server, storage, network, virtualization and cloud infrastructure management operations and tasks. The disclosed techniques support non-scripted native representations of the workflows, the addition of new object types or operation sets or services, atomicity, transactional semantics of workflows and the ability to configure parameters for execution of workflow.
US09558473B2
A solution for managing a set of collaborative contacts is provided. Each collaborative contact includes one or more collaboration capabilities, each of which corresponds to a unique collaboration tool (e.g., voice over IP, instant messaging, email, and/or the like). Identifying text can be used to search the set of collaborative contacts and obtain a set of candidate contacts. An availability status for each collaboration capability of each candidate contact can be requested and a display can be generated that includes the set of candidate contacts. In one embodiment, the display can include an indication of the collaboration capabilities for one or more of the candidate contacts, and/or the availability status for one or more collaboration capabilities. A user can use the display to request a collaboration session between the user and one or more of the candidate contacts.
US09558472B1
This application describes fabric storage totes, as well as techniques for use of fabric totes in an infrastructure that uses mechanical systems to transport the fabric totes and/or access inventory items in the fabric totes. The fabric totes may include a fabric base and side walls, with a hardened material support structure. Additionally, the fabric totes may include two handles made of a substantially hard material. The fabric totes may be accessed and transported, manually and/or mechanically, via interaction with the handles.
US09558469B2
Computationally implemented methods and systems that are designed for receiving one or more package delivery directives that direct a transportation vehicle unit to deliver one or more packages; receiving one or more end user transport directives that direct the transportation vehicle unit to transport one or more end users; and verifying that the one or more end user transport directives do not conflict with the one or more package delivery directives such that transport of the one or more end users by the transportation vehicle unit in accordance with the one or more end user transport directives will not violate one or more package delivery obligations of the transportation vehicle unit to deliver the one or more packages in accordance with the one or more package delivery directives. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.
US09558468B2
Monitoring systems in accordance with the disclosure store one or more reporting behavior profiles that include parameters that determine when a monitoring device associated with a shipping container initiates transmission of a status message to a remote location, e.g., an operations center, a government interface, or a commercial interface. At least a portion of the parameters of the reporting behavior profiles are dependent on a location of the monitoring system. The reporting behavior profiles can cause the monitoring device to initiate a message based on many conditions. For example, the report conditions can include when the present location deviates from a predetermined route of the reporting behavior profile, when the present location of the container remains unchanged for a certain time, when a security condition of the container changes, when an environmental condition of the container changes, etc.
US09558461B2
Network presence is used to assign a worker to a task. In today's networked environment, workers may be remotely located but still accomplish tasks. As long as workers have network access, the workers may be assigned tasks for completion. As tasks are completion, the network presences of the workers are determined, and the tasks may be assigned based on the network presences.
US09558458B2
A method for allocating spatial resources including steps of: providing a store layout; assigning categories to locations in the store layout, calculating a total score for the first store layout; and implementing the category assignments in a store.
US09558455B2
A method for touch classification includes obtaining frame data representative of a plurality of frames captured by a touch-sensitive device, analyzing the frame data to define a respective blob in each frame of the plurality of frames, the blobs being indicative of a touch event, computing a plurality of feature sets for the touch event, each feature set specifying properties of the respective blob in each frame of the plurality of frames, and determining a type of the touch event via machine learning classification configured to provide multiple non-bimodal classification scores based on the plurality of feature sets for the plurality of frames, each non-bimodal classification score being indicative of an ambiguity level in the machine learning classification.
US09558444B2
The subject matter disclosed herein provides methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for neural-based processing. In one aspect, there is provided a method. The method may include reading, from a first memory, context information stored based on at least one connection value; reading, from a second memory, an activation value matching the at least one connection value; sending, by a first processor, the context information and the activation value to at least one of a plurality of microengines to configure the at least one microengine as a neuron; and generating, at the at least one microengine, a value representative of an output of the neuron. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.
US09558431B2
An optical scanning apparatus includes an optical box having a top surface that is constituted by a single lid. A first surface of the top surface is disposed closer to a rotary polygon mirror than a second surface and is disposed closer to a bottom surface of the optical box than an edge portion of a light deflector positioned farthest from the bottom surface. A third surface of a convex portion of the top surface is positioned farther from the bottom surface than the first surface. A lower edge portion of the convex portion is disposed outside a circumscribed circle of the rotary polygon mirror.
US09558428B1
An automatic image editing system is a sophisticated and intelligent computer-based image editing system that automatically applies edits to attributes of captured images in accordance with the preferences and editing style of any given user. The system initially learns a user's image editing style with examples of user-edited images. The system continues to learn or adjust to the user's evolving image editing style through feedback of subsequent manual edits by the user to attributes of computer implemented automatically edited images.
US09558426B2
Techniques are provided that include identifying robust features within a training image. Training features are generated by applying a feature detection algorithm to the training image, each training feature having a training feature location within the training image. At least a portion of the training image is transformed into a transformed image in accordance with a predefined image transformation. Transform features are generated by applying the feature detection algorithm to the transformed image, each transform feature having a transform feature location within the transformed image. The training feature locations of the training features are mapped to corresponding training feature transformed locations within the transformed image in accordance with the predefined image transformation, and a robust feature set is compiled by selecting robust features, wherein each robust feature represents a training feature having a training feature transformed location proximal to a transform feature location of one of the transform features.
US09558424B2
A method determines motion between first and second coordinate systems by first extracting first and second sets of keypoints from first and second images acquired of a scene by a camera arranged on a moving object. First and second poses are determined from the first and second sets of keypoints. A score for each possible motion between the first and the second poses is determined using a scoring function and a pose-transition graph constructed from training data where each node in the post-transition graph represents a relative pose and each edge represents a motion between two consecutive relative poses. Then, based on the score, a best motion is selected as the motion between the first and second coordinate systems.
US09558419B1
Some aspects of the invention relate to a mobile apparatus including an image sensor configured to convert an optical image into an electrical signal. The optical image includes an image of a vehicle license plate. The mobile apparatus includes a license plate detector configured to process the electrical signal to recover information from the vehicle license plate image. The mobile apparatus includes an interface configured to transmit the vehicle license plate information to a remote apparatus and receive a location of a vehicle service center corresponding to the vehicle license plate image in response to the transmission.
US09558417B2
A system for document processing including decomposing an image of a document into at least one data entry region sub-image, providing the data entry region sub-image to a data entry clerk available for processing the data entry region sub-image, receiving from the data entry clerk a data entry value associated with the data entry region sub-image, and validating the data entry value.
US09558414B1
A method for calculating a response time is described. The response time is required in order to direct the attention of a vehicle's driver at the traffic on the road. The driver is monitored by sensors and a state of attentiveness of the driver is ascertained. The state of attentiveness is used to calculate a value, to which an anticipated response time is assigned. Further a method for operating a motor vehicle, a computer program product and a correspondingly equipped motor vehicle are described.
US09558407B1
Methods, systems, and media detecting and/or presenting related media content are provided. In some embodiments, methods for detecting and presenting related media content are provided, the methods comprising: receiving, using a hardware processor, a query media content item corresponding to a query episode; selecting a portion of the query media content item; receiving at least one reference media content item; determining whether the reference media content item and the query media content item contain matching content; and identifying a related episode corresponding to the reference media content item in response to determining that the reference media item and the query media content item contain matching content.
US09558399B1
A device configured to provide biofeedback on arm swing during walking, running, or other movement activities is disclosed herein. The device includes motion sensing means configured to sense the motion of an arm of a user during a movement activity and output one or more signals based upon the sensed arm motion; computational means configured to compute an arm swing angle of the arm of the user using the one or more signals outputted by the motion sensing means; and one or more signaling devices operatively coupled to the motion sensing means and computational means, the one or more signaling devices configured to emit one or more signals to the user that are based upon the computed arm swing angle of the user so as to provide biofeedback to the user regarding arm swing. The use of two devices, one on each arm of a user is also disclosed herein.
US09558395B2
There is provided an image correction device including a flash band detection unit configured to detect a flash band, the flash band being a step occurred between levels for respective lines in a frame by a flash of light, the step being occurred by a difference in exposure time between the lines of a video signal output for each frame from pixels included in a rolling shutter image sensor, a shutter operation determination unit configured to determine whether or not shutter operation has been performed in an imaging device including the image sensor, and a flash band correction unit configured to, when the shutter operation determination unit determines that shutter operation has been performed and the flash band detection unit has detected the flash band, output a video signal of a previous frame output from the image sensor earlier than a frame containing the detected flash band.
US09558392B2
Provided is a finger vein authentication which recognizes, compares and distinguishes a user's finger vein at low capacity/high speed through a method for analyzing a level set curvature.In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a finger vein authentication system including a light source unit configured to emit near-infrared light; an optical filter unit configured to allow only light with a specific wavelength in light incident from the light source unit to penetrate therethrough; a CCD camera unit configured to capture an image including an user's finger and then to convert the captured image into an electrical signal; a memory unit configured to store a level set curvature program, the level set curvature program performing an operation for extracting a finger vein pattern from the image including the finger using a level set curvature; and a control unit configured to drive the level set curvature program.
US09558391B2
An identification recognition device includes a light emission module, a light sensing module, a pulse scanning unit, a fingerprint scanning unit and a controller. The light sensing module is used to generate first light currents and second light currents according to first reflecting light and second reflecting light. The pulse scanning unit is used to generate data of current variance of the object and the fingerprint scanning unit is used to generate features of fingerprint of the object. The controller is used to control the light emission module to emit the first incident light and to emit the second incident light when the object has a pulse according to the data of current variance of the object, and determine if the object passes the identification recognition test according to the features of fingerprint of the object.
US09558388B2
In order to increase safety, a computer-implemented method is proposed for determining the position of a lift cabin in a lift shaft with the aid of a coding device, wherein a section of the code band and/or of the bearing device is recorded with an optical detection device as a pixel image consisting of pixels and the instant of the recording being measured and assigned to the pixel image, wherein the position is determinable analytically from position markers of the code band by way of an algorithm and wherein at least one checking method which uses, inter alia, a calculated extrapolated position is carried out.
US09558386B2
An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal can comprise a microprocessor, a memory, and an EIR device including a two-dimensional imager. The EIR device can be configured to output raw message data containing an encoded message and/or outputting a decoded message corresponding to an encoded message. The EIR terminal can be configured, responsive to acquiring an image containing decodable indicia, to pre-process the acquired image and transmit the pre-processed image to an external decoding computer for decoding the decodable indicia.
US09558385B2
The present invention provides a method and system for verifying and tracking identification information. In an embodiment of the invention, a system for delivering security solutions is provided that includes at least one of the following: a radio frequency (RF) identification device, an identification mechanism (e.g., a card, sticker), and an RF reader.
US09558383B2
When multiple readers for RF transponders have to be placed in close proximity, such as in adjacent lanes of a highway toll barrier, they can be set to operate at different frequencies. When signals from two adjacent ones of the readers interfere, the resulting signal includes interference terms whose frequencies equal the sum of the reader frequencies and the difference between the reader frequencies. To remove such interference terms while passing the desired terms, a tag includes a low-pass or other frequency-selective filter.
US09558379B2
A card reader may include a conveying passage; a magnetic head structured to abut with a magnetic stripe on the card; a head moving mechanism structured to move the magnetic head in a widthwise direction of the conveying passage between an abutting position and a retreated position; an IC contact block having a plurality of IC contact springs to contact a plurality of external connection terminals of an IC chip formed on the card; and a contact block moving mechanism structured to move the IC contact block between a contact position retreated position. The conveying passage may be formed with an opening part through which the magnetic head is passed. The magnetic head may be located at the head abutting position and is abutted with the one face of the card at a time when the IC contact springs and the external connection terminals are contacted with each other.
US09558369B2
The present invention provides an information processing device that enables a reduction in the processing cost of verifying anonymity during anonymization when multi-dimensional data is the subject of anonymization. The information processing device is provided with: a unit which generates information indicating the correspondence between a record contained in a data set and a class specifying a unique combination of quasi-identifier attribute values; a unit which verifies the anonymity of each record on the basis of the class thereof indicated in the information; and a unit which, on the basis of the results of verifying the anonymity, updates the information in a manner such that whether or not the record satisfies the anonymity can be identified and outputs the record-class correspondence information.
US09558354B2
A firmware image is received at an information handling system. A symmetric key is generated and stored at a trusted platform module (TPM). The firmware image is encrypted using the symmetric key. The encrypted firmware image is stored in a non-volatile memory.
US09558347B2
A method for detecting abnormal behavior of users is disclosed. Processors identify from a log of user activity, a first number of actions performed by a user over a first time period that match a pattern of user activity for a task associated with one or more roles of the users. Processors also identify from the log of user activity, a second number of actions performed by the user over a second time period that match the pattern of user activity. Processors calculate an amount of deviation between the first number of actions and the second number of actions. The deviation identifies a difference between amounts of time spent in the one or more roles. Processors then determine whether the amount of deviation between the first number of actions and the second number of actions exceeds a threshold for abnormal behavior.
US09558346B1
An information processing system implements a security system. The security system comprises a classifier configured to process information characterizing events in order to generate respective risk scores, and a data store coupled to the classifier and configured to store feedback relating to one or more attributes associated with an assessment of the risk scores by one or more users. The classifier is configured to utilize the feedback regarding the risk scores to learn riskiness of particular events and to adjust its operation based on the learned riskiness, such that the risk score generated by the classifier for a given one of the events is based at least in part on the feedback received regarding risk scores generated for one or more previous ones of the events.
US09558345B2
An electronic device includes an authentication section that authenticates a user of the electronic device, an operation section that includes a display section and operates the electronic device, a storage section that stores programs that each cause the electronic device to perform a job in accordance with a preliminarily set content, and a program processing section that generates a program associated with the user authenticated in the authentication section. Using the operation section, a first user specifies a program to be shared and a second user permitted to use the shared program. As such, the first user who permits to share the program shares the program with the second user.
US09558340B2
The invention prevents robots from browsing a Web site beyond a welcome page. When an initial request from an undefined originator is received, the Web site responds to it with a welcome page including a challenge. Then, on receiving a further request from the undefined originator, the Web site can check whether the challenge is fulfilled or not. If fulfilled, the undefined originator is assumed to be a human being and authorized to go on. If the challenge is not fulfilled, the undefined originator is assumed to be a robot, in which case site access is further denied.The invention prevents Web site contents from being investigated by robots while not requiring users to have to log on.
US09558337B2
Methods of creating a corpus of spoken CAPTCHA challenges are disclosed. The methods involve training a computing system with samples of human voices and computer synthesized voices articulating a set of reference challenge items, scoring the reference challenge items based on differences in articulation between human and machine articulation of each challenge item, and selecting suitable challenge items from among the reference challenge items based on the score.
US09558336B2
A user-wearable device includes a housing and a band that straps the housing to a portion of a user's body (e.g., wrist). One or more skin contact sensors in and/or on the housing can sense biometric information of a user wearing the device. An authentication module performs or receives results of an authentication determination that compares the sensed biometric information to baseline biometric information to determine whether they match. An on-body detector uses one or more of the sensors to determine whether the device is being worn by a user. After a user is authenticated based on a match between the sensed and baseline biometric information, the authentication module continually concludes that the user is authenticated for at least a period of time, without an additional comparison between sensed and baseline biometric information, if the on-body detector detects that the user-wearable device is still being worn by the user.
US09558335B2
A method includes receiving, from a user via an electronic device, input representing a password to be utilized for an account; automatically determining, utilizing a processor, a complexity value for the input password; automatically determining, based on the determined complexity value, security settings for the account; receiving, from a user via an electronic device, input representing an attempt to login to the account, the input representing an attempt to login to the account including an attempted password; automatically determining that the attempted password does not match the password to be utilized for the account; and determining a course of action to take in response to the determination that the attempted password does not match the password to be utilized for the account, the course of action being determined based at least in part on the automatically determined security settings for the account.
US09558332B1
Systems and methods for virtual communication device interfaces are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving identification from a resident (e.g., an inmate or prisoner) of a controlled-environment facility (e.g., a jail or prison) and authenticating the resident based upon the identification. The method may also include retrieving, from one or more of a plurality of electronic information sources over a computer network, information associated with the resident. The method may further include subjecting the information to a security protocol, the security protocol configured to identify a first portion of the information that is suitable for disclosure to the resident and a second portion of the information that is unsuitable for disclosure to the resident. The method may then include withholding the second portion of the information from the resident and providing the first portion of the information to the resident.
US09558331B2
Centralized systems execute one or more applications for monitoring and operating a plurality of network enabled medical devices. An indication to start a selected application at the centralized system or at a network enabled medical device is received at the centralized system/network enabled medical device. The selected application may require a license to operate and, at the time the indication is received, may have a first license available. Instead of using the first license, the centralized system/network enabled medical device may determine to inherit at least a portion of a second license to operate the selected application. The centralized system/network enabled medical device may inherit at least the portion of the second license to form an inherited license, where the inherited license enables features of the selected application. Using the inherited license, the selected application is started with the enabled features. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09558329B2
Methods and systems for license management using a basic input/output system (BIOS) may involve performing license activation, monitoring, and enforcement. The BIOS may store license information to manage licenses for hardware and/or software components of an information handling system. License management by the BIOS may include monitoring a system clock of the information handling system for changes to avoid tampering with license durations.
US09558327B2
A portable media device includes a processor and a memory. The memory stores instructions that when executed cause the processor to access a media file stored in the portable media device based on a trial access term for the media file, determine that a trial period within the trial access term for the media file has expired, and set the media file as inaccessible to the portable device in response to determining that the trial period within the trial access term has expired.
US09558320B2
Disclosed herein are compositions and methods relevant to a novel Drug Metabolism Reserve Physiotype to determine the metabolic capacity of a human individual. The Drug Metabolism Reserve Physiotype allows the determination of the innate metabolic capacity of the patient relevant to antidepressant and stimulant treatment and can be predicted and diagnosed simply from a blood sample. In the disclosed method, an individual is genotyped for a plurality of polymorphisms in a gene encoding CYP2C9, a gene encoding CYP2C19 and a gene encoding CYP2D6, and the genotypes are used to produce four novel indices, which relate to the metabolic capacity of the human individual.
US09558319B1
A method of processing sequencing data obtained with a polymer sequencing system identifies the most likely monomer sequence of a polymer, regardless of stochastic variations in recorded signals. Polymer sequencing data is recorded and two or more distinct series of pore blocking signals for a section of the polymer are recorded. A value is assigned to each series of pore blocking signals to obtain multiple trial sequences. The probability that each of the trial sequences could have resulting in all of trial sequences is calculated to determine a monomer sequence with the highest probability of resulting in all of the trial sequences, termed the first iteration sequence. The first iteration sequence is systematically altered to maximize the combined probability of the first iteration sequence leading to all the trial sequences in order to obtain a most likely sequence of monomers of the polymer.
US09558318B2
Systems and methods are described for quantifying the response of a biological system to one or more perturbations. First and second datasets corresponding to a response of a biological system to first and second treatments are received. A plurality of computational network models that represent the biological system are provided, each model including nodes representing a plurality of biological entities and edges representing relationships between the nodes in the model. A first set of scores is generated, representing the perturbation of the biological system based on the first dataset and the plurality of models, and a second set of scores representing the perturbation of the biological system based on the second dataset and the plurality of computational models. One or more biological impact factors are generated based on each of the first set and second set of scores that represent the biological impact of the perturbation on the biological system.
US09558308B2
Embodiments that design integrated circuits using a 1×N compiler in a closed-loop 1×N methodology are disclosed. Some embodiments create a physical design representation based on a behavioral representation of a design for an integrated circuit. The behavioral representation may comprise RTL HDL with one or more 1×N building blocks. The embodiments may alter elements of the 1×N building block by using logic design tools, synthesis tools, physical design tools, and timing analysis tools. Further embodiments comprise an apparatus having a first generator to generate a behavioral representation of a design for an integrated circuit, a second generator to generate a logical representation of the design, and a third generator to generate a physical design representation of the design, wherein the representation generators may create updated versions of the representations which reflect alterations made to 1×N building block elements.
US09558300B2
A stochastic computational model parameter synthesis system comprising at least one processor capable of executing processor executable code, and a non-transitory computer memory operably coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor executable code, which when executed by processor, causes processor to synthesize at least one parameter of a stochastic computational model to satisfy one or more behavioral specifications of properties observed in a modeled system. The processor generates and searches randomized projections of a first parameter space having n dimensions into one or more second abstract parameter space having d dimensions, where d is less than n, and outputs a signal indicative of a synthesized parameter value to the user.
US09558297B1
Techniques for memory management are described. A memory management data structure may include a tree structure of nodes each representing a free memory portion of a size used as a key value. The tree may be a modified AVL tree with nodes sorted based on key values corresponding to free memory portion sizes. The data structure may include a first list representing a memory map corresponding to different memory portions where each entry of the first list represents a memory portion with an associated memory address range that is not contiguous with respect to any other memory address range of any other memory portion represented by an entry on the first list. Each entry of the first list representing a free memory portion may be associated with a node of the tree structure.
US09558290B2
A modification platform for dynamically modifying hover information associated with on-screen field of an application is disclosed. The modification platform stores the hover information in a row of a database. The row is associated with the on-screen field to which the hover information applies. The modification platform initiates a programmatic script to retrieve the hover information when the application is running. The programmatic script queries the database to retrieve the hover information. Further, a user interface is presented for editing and storing the hover information in the database.
US09558286B2
Methods, systems, and products simplify widgets for graphical mashups, such as digital dashboards and other user interfaces. When a software widget is a component of a graphical mashup, the widget is completely defined using a single file. The single file specifies both source data and presentation of the source data. Because the widget is completely defined by the single file, the single file allows faster processing of the widget.
US09558280B1
When a contact of a user tags a location, a posted comment, or a shared item, the location tag may be used to boost ad scores and/or annotate content such as advertisements. The location tag may be used to annotate ads to indicate that the contact has tagged a location associated with the ad. Persons other than contacts of the user may also tag and have their location tags be counted in annotations as well. Advertisers may specify locations that are associated with their ads. Location tags may be stored in a table, and used by an ads server to boost scores of ads that have been location tagged. An annotation server may also use location tags to construct annotations that are sent to a client device operated by the user. The annotations may be based on one or more location tags made by one or more users.
US09558275B2
Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for building an action catalogue, generating an action frame for an action within the action catalogue, and/or executing an action. In an example, an action may be included within the action catalogue based upon descriptive text associated with an application indicating that the application is capable of performing the action (e.g., a movie app may be capable of performing an order movie tickets action). A parameter (e.g., a movie name) and/or an execution endpoint (e.g., a uniform resource identifier used to access movie ticket ordering functionality) may be used to generate an action frame for the action. In this way, user intent to perform an action may be identified from user input (e.g., a spoken command), and the action may be performed (e.g., on behalf of the user with minimal additional user input) by using the action frame.
US09558273B2
Methods and systems for generating influence scores are disclosed. A plurality of opinions of a selected topic are retrieved from a database. Influencers each associated with at least one opinion from the plurality of opinions are determined using the processor. A score is automatically generated for each influencer using the processor, the score related to the selected topic.
US09558272B2
A computer-implemented method of matching of a first incoming audio track with an indexed audio track, the method executable at a server, the method comprising: selecting the indexed audio track as a candidate audio track from a plurality of indexed audio tracks; validating the candidate audio track against the first audio track.
US09558264B2
Mechanisms are provided for identifying commonalities between candidate answers generated by a Question and Answer (QA) system in response to an input question. The mechanisms receive a plurality of candidate answers for an input question from the QA system and identify terms present in the candidate answers. The mechanisms determine relationships between terms in each of the candidate answers and determine a common relationship between a first term and a second term, the common relationship being common amongst at least a subset of the plurality of candidate answers, based on the determined relationships between terms in each of the candidate answers. The mechanisms present the plurality of candidate answers and the common relationship to a user.
US09558257B2
Systems for synchronizing data between a first-database and a second-database are presented including: a memory; and a client configured for determining whether a retrieval request requires a synchronization of the second-database before processing the received retrieval request, where the system partially synchronizes the second-database from the first-database with only that portion of the first-database associated with the retrieval request in response to determining whether synchronization is required and for processing the retrieval request from the second-database.
US09558250B2
A decision-support tool is provided to evaluate operational and financial performance for dispatchers in power grid control centers associated with utility systems. A scheduler engine is coupled to a comprehensive operating plan that applies after the fact analysis for performance metrics, root-cause impacts and process re-engineering. A relational database is coupled to a data archiver that captures actual system and resource conditions and then supplies the system and resource conditions to the relational database. The scheduler engine receives the actual system and resource conditions from the relational database and processes it to calculate system performance. A user interface is configured to display at least one of, transmission evaluation application displays, reference and scenario cases and associations between them, results presented with a graphical or tabular displays, comparison results between scenario cases and a reference case, a family of curves where each curve is a performance metric, comparison of scenario input data, study results and statistical analysis and historical data.
US09558247B2
A storage device may include a main storage part including one or more memories; and a controller configured to control an overall operation of the main storage part. The controller includes a filter manager configured to store data format information and a filtering condition provided from a host; one or more stream filters configured to search and project data stored in the one or more memories in parallel in response to a control of the filter manager to produce searched and projected data; and a merge filter configured to merge the searched and projected data of the one or more stream filters in response to the control of the filter manager.
US09558244B2
Computer-implemented systems, methods, and media for making a recommendation or a non-recommendation to a user comprising: a software module configured to calculate a social distance between a first and a second user; a software module configured to allow the first and the second user to rate a plurality of items using a gamified rating model; a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between the first and the second user based on the ratings of the plurality of items by the first and the second user; a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the first user based on the social distance and the degree of similarity between the first and the second user, and the ratings of the plurality of items; and a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation in a manner that comprises a ranked list.
US09558238B2
In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, systems and methods are provided for generating a reduced segment of a population set for a course of activities based on one or more distinction entities. The systems and methods may be configured to determine the population set for the course of activities. The population set may include a first number of members identified by a first distinction entity. The systems and methods may be configured to select a second distinction entity related to the first number of members of the population set. The systems and methods may be configured to generate the reduced segment of the population set for the course of activities by selecting a second number of members from the first number of members identified by the second distinction entity based on predetermined criteria.
US09558232B1
Techniques are described for performing a copy operation. A first request is received to perform a copy operation. The first request includes a set of parameters in accordance with a defined interface and include a source area and a target area. The source area includes source ranges and source devices. Each of the source ranges identifies a portion of a logical address range of a different one of the source devices. The target area includes target ranges and target devices. Each of the target ranges identifies a portion of a logical address range of a different one of the target devices. The first request is partitioned in to a plurality of other requests each of which is a request to copy a portion of source data located in the source area to a corresponding location in the target area. The other requests are then issued.
US09558223B2
An extensible file system format for portable storage media is provided. The extensible file system format includes the specification of primary and secondary directory entry types that may be custom defined. The primary and secondary directory entry types can be further classified as critical and benign directory entries. The directory entry types can define whether a cluster chain corresponding to a file can be contiguously allocated.
US09558222B1
Systems and methods for blending dissimilar, ordered populations into a single selection for users are disclosed herein. In an aspect, content items belonging to distinct parent populations which display a large disparity in the value which is used for ranking purposes, can be displayed together in a single continuously ranked list for simple browsing and selection by users. Further, a score can be assigned to the respective media content items based at least in part on a median value of a distribution of media content items corresponding to the respective parent populations and this score can be used as a normalized, universal value with which to rank content from all dissimilar populations together.
US09558219B2
The computer retrieves a list of the data elements contained in a database. The computer performs a static and dynamic analysis on the list to determine which data elements have been active in a static or dynamic Structured Query Language (SQL) statement, then removes active data elements from the list. The computer performs a dependency test to determine which data elements on the list are depended on by data objects not on the list and removes those data elements which are depended on. The computer analyzes application code to extract SQL statements and determine whether data elements on the list are active in application code SQL. Any data elements on the list which are active in application code SQL are removed from the list and the remaining data elements on the list are sorted in descending order based on size.
US09558217B2
New data storage devices and techniques are provided. In some aspects of the invention, a new remote supplementation based media and system are provided. A local file and control system comprises a data density distribution that varies depending on Media Depth. A remote supplementation source and control system are also provided in a common network with the local control system. The local control system reports local file attributes, authorization and factors impacting media depth in real time, and the supplementation control system delivers permanent and streaming data corrections, supplementation and format updates to the local control system. In additional aspects of the invention, a patterned reference media device aids in building the local data density distribution. In some embodiments, the 3D arrangement, or other attributes, of structural storage device elements may serve as the patterned reference device.
US09558213B2
Visual incongruity in search result sets may be reduced at least in part by searching an optimized visually significant subset of a category tree that categorizes a collection of content. The category tree may be optimized at build time at least in part by pruning with respect to visual coherence and by the size of the content collection subset referenced by particular categories. Content collection subset sizes both too large and too small can detract from the visual significance of a particular category. The visually significant subset of the category tree may be further optimized at query time by intersecting the visually significant subset with the query-associated sub-tree(s) and further pruning categories in the visually significant subset that have child categories in the visually significant subset. Searching with respect to the optimized visually significant subset can also improve search efficiency.
US09558211B1
Aspects of the invention relate generally to updating interconnected feature data stored in a repository while maintaining highly consistent views of the data. More specifically, aspects relate to updating some features in bulk while providing for incremental updates for others which are not completely independent of the bulk edits. Features which may be updated incrementally may contain references to other features and may be validated on an as-needed basis. These “incremental” features may also be associated with “backreferences,” which link two features together and are used in the validation process. For example, where feature A contains a link to feature B and feature B does not also include a link to feature A, if any edits are performed on feature B, a backreference may direct the server to determine whether the references in A are still consistent with the edits to B before the edit goes into a live state.
US09558203B2
Performing data backup for a client includes receiving, at a host other than the client, volume information including data indicating a physical data storage location of at least a part of a volume comprising one or more stored objects associated with the client; and determining at the host, based at least in part on the volume information, a stored object information for a stored object included in the volume, the stored object information including data associated with a physical data storage location of the stored object.
US09558196B2
Systems and methods are described herein for logging system events within an electronic machine using an event log structured as a collection of tree-like cause and effect graphs. An event to be logged may be received. A new event node may be created within the event log for the received event. One or more existing event nodes within the event log may be identified as having possibly caused the received event. One or more causal links may be created within the event log between the new event node and the one or more identified existing event nodes. The new event node may be stored as an unattached root node in response to not identifying an existing event node that may have caused the received event.
US09558193B2
Activity data is analyzed or evaluated to detect behavioral patterns and anomalies. When a particular pattern or anomaly is detected, a system may send a notification or perform a particular task. This activity data may be collected in an information management system, which may be policy based. Notification may be by way e-mail, report, pop-up message, or system message. Some tasks to perform upon detection may include implementing a policy in the information management system, disallowing a user from connecting to the system, and restricting a user from being allowed to perform certain actions. To detect a pattern, activity data may be compared to a previously defined or generated activity profile.
US09558192B2
Data storage systems and methods for storing data are described herein. An intermediate storage system is coupled with a High Performance Computing (HPC) system. A plurality of burst engines of the intermediate storage system are directly connected to compute nodes of the HPC. The burst engines are operative to receive file level data from the compute nodes at data transfer rates that at least match to the burst mode output rate of the compute node. The burst engines store the data to high bandwidth storage devices of the intermediate storage system at a data rate that at least matches the burst output rate of the compute node. During a compute phase of the compute node, data is replayed from the intermediate storage devices to a primary storage system at a lower data transfer rate.
US09558191B2
An automatic identification of one or more content books system and method are provided in which the one or more content books are identified based on holidays or events selected by the user.
US09558178B2
A method is provided in a computer processing system that reads and displays a social media stream accessible by a plurality of users. A system is also provided that reads and displays a social media stream accessible by a plurality of users. The method includes receiving, by a processor-based dictionary manager, at least one dictionary configuration. Each dictionary configuration specifies at least one dictionary from a set of dictionaries and respective settings for the at least one dictionary. The method further includes filtering, by a filter, the social media stream using the at least one dictionary configuration to provide at least one filtered social media stream. The respective settings for the at least one dictionary include a respective dictionary influence polarity and a respective polarity magnitude for the respective dictionary influence polarity.
US09558171B2
The subject matter disclosed herein provides methods for formatting a table for display on a computing device. A table having one or more rows and one or more columns may be accessed. The rows may correspond to one or more data records. The data records may have one or more data values distributed across the columns. The columns may be associated with one or more column labels and one or more priority values. A size of a display screen on a computing device may be determined. A table may be formatted by moving a column label and a data value in at least one column into an area between successive data records. The formatting may be based on the display screen size and an associated column priority value. The formatted table may be caused to be displayed on the computing device. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described.
US09558163B1
A method for accelerated developing of mobile device specific webpages using a hypertext generator and a domain free interface traverser to collect predefined data from one or more third party servers, store the collected data, and maintain consistency throughout with a plurality of rules for a consistent look and feel. A replication step verifies consistence of predefined data. The method includes use of a document processor to merge predefined data into a webpage document template creating a mobile device specific webpage by one or more untrained webpage developers and generate a consistent look.
US09558162B2
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for producing mixed media. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention are configured to provide users the ability to play one or more multimedia files and mix the files in real time (live) according to user manipulation of system controls and or manipulation of user defined presets, thus producing a mixed media mashup. Further embodiments of the present invention are configured to allow users to record, save, replay, and share the mixed media mashup.
US09558157B2
A sensor system, having a plurality of sensor elements configured such that they sense at least to some extent different primary measured variables use at least to some extent different measurement principles, a signal processing device. The signal processing device is configured to evaluate the sensor signals from the sensor elements at least to some extent collectively and rates the information quality of the sensor signals, wherein the signal processing device provides a piece of information about the accuracy of at least one datum of a physical variable. The signal processing device is configured such that the information about the accuracy is described in at least one characteristic quantity or a set of characteristic quantities.
US09558154B2
A measuring device for suppressing an interference signal contains a mixer, an analog-digital converter, a scaling device and a substitution device. The mixer is embodied to mix a first signal with a first intermediate frequency and to mix a second signal with a second intermediate frequency. The analog-digital converter is embodied to digitize the first signal mixed with the first intermediate frequency to form a first test signal and to digitize the second signal mixed with the second intermediate frequency to form a second test signal is embodied to displace at least the first test signal and/or the second test signal in its frequency in such a manner that they provide a common mid-frequency. The substitution device is embodied to combine the first test signal and the second test signal with a removal of interference-signal peak-value regions which correspond to the interference signal, to form a combined test signal.
US09558152B2
A synchronization method is executed by a multi-core processor system. The synchronization method includes registering based on a synchronous command issued from a first CPU, CPUs to be synchronized and a count of the CPUs into a specific table; counting by each of the CPUs and based on a synchronous signal from the first CPU, an arrival count for a synchronous point, and creating by each of the CPUs, a second shared memory area that is a duplication of a first shared memory area accessed by processes executed by the CPUs; and comparing the first shared memory area and the second shared memory area when the arrival count becomes equal to the count of the CPUs, and based on a result of the comparison, judging the processes executed by the CPUs.
US09558150B2
Embodiments of a multi-processor array are disclosed that may include a plurality of processors, and controllers. Each processor may include a plurality of processor ports and a sync adapter. Each sync adapter may include a plurality of adapter ports. Each controller may include a plurality of controller ports, and a configuration port. The plurality of processors and the plurality of controllers may be coupled together in an interspersed arrangement, and the controllers may be distinct from the processors. Each processor may be configured to send a synchronization signal through its adapter ports to one or more controllers, and to pause execution of program instructions while waiting for a response from the one or more controllers.
US09558142B2
A method of and apparatus for communicating between a host and an agent. The method includes the step of performing a first transaction between a host controller and a hub. The hub is operable to perform a single transaction with an agent based on the first transaction. The method then includes the step of performing a second transaction between the host controller and the hub. The second transaction is based on the single transaction.
US09558137B2
A computer system includes at least one mother board and a number of control cards monitored by the motherboard via an I2C bus. Each control card has a unique ID. The computer system connects one of the control cards to the I2C bus using a card control device installed in each of the control cards to monitor each of the control cards via the single I2C bus.
US09558123B2
Systems and methods are provided that facilitate retrieval of a hash index in an electronic device. The system contains an addressing component that generates a hash index as a function of an exclusive-or identity. The addressing component can retrieve the hash index as a function of a tag value. Accordingly, required storage area can be reduced and electronic devices can be more efficient.
US09558118B2
A memory race recorder (MRR) is provided. The MRR includes a multi-core processor having a relaxed memory consistency model, an extension to the multi-core processor, the extension to store chunks, the chunk having a chunk size (CS) and an instruction count (IC), and a plurality of cores to execute instructions. The plurality of cores executes load/store instructions to/from a store buffer (STB) and a simulated memory to store the value when the value is not in the STB. The oldest value in the STB is transferred to the simulated memory when the IC is equal to zero and the CS is greater than zero. The MRR logs a trace entry comprising the CS, the IC, and a global timestamp, the global timestamp proving a total order across all logged chunks.
US09558106B1
The techniques described herein provide software testing of a candidate software system. In some examples, a testing service compares at least one candidate response to at least a first control response to obtain one or more candidate test differences. The testing service may compare at least a second control response of the plurality of control responses to at least one of the first control response of the plurality of control responses or a third control response of the plurality of control responses to obtain one or more control test differences. The testing service may then analyze the one or more candidate test differences based on the one or more control test differences to generate an evaluation of whether one or more of the candidate test differences are due to differences between the candidate software system and the control software system that generated the first control response.
US09558096B2
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method to support performance analysis. The method includes compiling bytecodes to generate native codes corresponding to the bytecodes in an electronic device, generating a file to include the bytecodes and the corresponding native codes in the file, collecting symbol information to map symbols in the bytecodes with offsets of corresponding native codes, and including the symbol information in the file to enable profiling.
US09558093B2
Visual tools are provided for failure analysis in distributed systems. Errors from synthetic measurements and usage data associated with a cloud based service are aggregated by a management application. The errors are processed to create a distribution that segments the errors based on components of the cloud based service. A failed component that generates a subset of the errors associated with a failure is highlighted. The failed component is one of the components of the cloud based service. The distribution is provided in a visualization to identify the failure by emphasizing the failed component with a failure information in proximity to the failed component.
US09558089B2
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates testing of an insecure computing environment. During operation, the system obtains a real data set comprising a set of data strings. Next, the system determines a set of frequency distributions associated with the set of data strings. The system then generates a test data set from the real data set, wherein the test data set comprises a set of random data strings that conforms to the set of frequency distributions. Finally, the system tests the insecure computing environment using the test data set.
US09558086B2
A System on Chip (SOC) is disclosed. The SOC comprises a first UART controller, a second UART controller, a debug controller, a processor, a UART port, a first multiplexer and a second multiplexer. The first UART controller and the second UART controller have different baud rates. The UART port has a R×D pin coupled to a R×D pin of the second UART controller. The debug controller generates a control signal with a first state and checks whether a received data from the UART controller is equal to a keyword after power-up or a hardware reset. When the received data from the second UART controller is equal to the keyword, the debug controller generates the control signal with the second state, and starts parsing and executing at least one debug command from the second UART controller.
US09558085B2
An administrator provisions a virtual disk in a remote storage platform and defines policies for that virtual disk. A virtual machine writes to and reads from the storage platform using any storage protocol. Virtual disk data within a failed storage pool is migrated to different storage pools while still respecting the policies of each virtual disk. Snapshot and revert commands are given for a virtual disk at a particular point in time and overhead is minimal. A virtual disk is cloned utilizing snapshot information and no data need be copied. Any number of Zookeeper clusters are executing in a coordinated fashion within the storage platform, thus increasing overall throughput. A timestamp is generated that guarantees a monotonically increasing counter, even upon a crash of a virtual machine. Any virtual disk has a “hybrid cloud aware” policy in which one replica of the virtual disk is stored in a public cloud.
US09558083B2
Storing recovery data includes providing chunks of data to a remote destination, where each chunk of data represents data written before a first time and after a second time and where the second time for one of the particular chunks corresponds to a first time for a subsequent one of the particular chunks, providing synchronous data to a local destination, and providing an indicator to the local destination in connection with creation of a new chunk of data for storage at the remote destination. The local destination may maintain a plurality of maps, where each of the maps associates synchronous data being provided thereto with a specific chunk of data. In response to receiving an indicator in connection with creation of a new chunk of data, the local destination may point to a new map. There may be two maps or more than two maps.
US09558068B1
A method is used in recovering from metadata inconsistencies in storage systems. A metadata inconsistency is detected in a portion of a file system. The file system is managed by upper-layer component. The portion of the file system is recovered. Lower-layer component recovers the portion of the file system. The portion of the file system is validated. The upper-layer component validates the portion of the file system.
US09558066B2
Providing access to an external memory controller to internal error correction bits from a memory device for use as metadata bits by the memory controller. In a first mode the memory device applies internal error correction bits for internal error correction at the memory device. In a second mode the memory device provides access to the internal error correction bits to the memory controller to allow the memory controller to use the data.
US09558065B2
According to one embodiment, a memory system comprises a first storage device containing a nonvolatile semiconductor memory and a controller configured to control the first storage device. Data from a data processor is written to the first storage device, the data is written to a second storage device. The controller transmits information indicating that data to be read is absent in the first storage device to the data processor when a read error occurs, the read error disables reading of data from the first storage device in response to a read request supplied from the data processor.
US09558064B2
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods for estimating an error rate associated with memory. A number of embodiments include sensing data stored in a memory, performing an error detection operation on the sensed data, determining a quantity of parity violations associated with the error detection operation, and estimating an error rate associated with the memory based on the determined quantity of parity violations.
US09558047B1
Described are techniques for event processing. Notification is received at a navigation service of a first navigation event. The notification includes a set of parameters and information identifying a target navigation point in the application. Responsive to receiving the notification, the navigation service performs first processing including: identifying first target code of the application to be invoked to update the user interface to include a content view associated with the target navigation point; updating location information and payload information in accordance with a target path in a hierarchical navigation structure of the application, wherein the payload information is updated to include additional information identifying the set of parameters; and transferring control to the first target code whereby the location information and the payload information are provided as inputs to the first target code.
US09558045B2
A method and device for realizing graph processing based on the MapReduce architecture is disclosed in the invention. The method includes the steps of: receiving an input file of a graph processing job; predicting a MapReduce task execution time distribution of the graph processing job using an obtained MapReduce task degree-execution time relationship distribution and a degree distribution of the graph processing job; and dividing the input file of the graph processing job into input data splits of MapReduce tasks according to the predicted MapReduce task execution time distribution of the graph processing job.
US09558036B1
We describe a high-level computational framework especially well suited to parallel operations on large datasets. In a system in accordance with this framework, there is at least one, and generally several, instances of an architecture deployment as further described. We use the term “architecture deployment” herein to mean a cooperating group of processes together with the hardware on which the processes are executed. This is not to imply a one-to-one association of any process to particular hardware. To the contrary, as detailed below, an architecture deployment may dynamically spawn another deployment as appropriate, including provisioning needed hardware. The active architecture deployments together form a system that dynamically processes jobs requested by a user-customer, in accordance with customer's monetary budget and other criteria, in a robust and automatically scalable environment.
US09558023B2
Provided are techniques for comparing a first fileset associated with a first operating system (OS) with a second fileset associated with a second OS; determining, based upon the comparing, that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS; in response to the determining that the second OS is a more current version of the first OS, moving, in conjunction with live application mobility, a virtual machine (VM) workload partition (WPAR) on the first LPAR to a second LPAR, the moving comprising determining a set of overlays associated with the WPAR corresponding to the second OS; removing from the WPAR any overlays associated with the first OS; applying to the WPAR a set of overlays corresponding to the second OS; check pointing processes associated with the WAPR; and copying live data associated with the LPAR from the first LPAR to the second LPAR.
US09558021B2
A method is provided for downloading and running a non-native application designed for a source operating system (OS) on a target device having a target OS, the method includes: connecting the target device to a source device having the application in a paring operation; transferring a shareable provisional profile containing characteristics related to the application, including information on the source OS needed to run the application from the source device to the target device; and obtaining the source OS on the target device. Once the source OS is present on the target device, the method downloads the application from the source device to the target device, executes the source OS as a virtual machine on the target device, and runs the application within the source OS virtual machine.
US09558017B2
In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, systems and methods are provided for managing software component dependencies for applications using declarative constraint definitions, including enabling specification of constraint definitions using a declarative language to analyze and detect software component dependencies on one or more libraries that meet certain criteria, identifying and checking software component dependencies on the one or more libraries that violate the constraint definitions, and implementing an algorithm for analyzing applications and resolving software component dependencies on the one or more libraries that violate the constraint definitions.
US09558006B2
Described herein are mechanisms for continuous automatic tuning of code regions for optimal hardware configurations for the code regions. One mechanism automatically tunes the tunable parameters for a demarcated code region by calculating metrics while executing the code region with different sets of tunable parameters and selecting one of the different sets based on the calculated metrics.
US09557996B2
In a digital signal processor comprising at least one vector execution unit and at least a first memory unit a third unit is arranged to provide addressing data in the form of an address vector to be used for addressing the first memory unit, said third unit being connectable to the first memory unit through the on-chip network, in such a way that data provided from the third unit can be used to control the reading from and/or the writing to the first memory unit. This enables fast reading from and writing to a memory unit of data in any desired order.
US09557988B2
A workflow-based application generator to generate a workflow application based upon at least one received workflow process. The application generator is to generate, based on the received workflow process, workflow configuration rules that include a list of determined workflow pages based on a required functionality, and configuration routing rules that include an order of the workflow pages and dependency information pertaining to the workflow pages. The workflow-based application generator is to generate a workflow context according to the workflow configuration rules, the configuration routing rules, and the retrieved workflow pages. Based upon the generated workflow context, the workflow-based application generator is to build a workflow application.
US09557985B2
A method and apparatus for performing a software upgrade are disclosed. The method determines a plurality of mobile endpoint devices affected by a wireless network access software upgrade, and schedules a deployment of the wireless network access software upgrade. The method transmits a notification to the plurality of mobile endpoint devices, wherein the notification is configured to cause each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices to store user settings in a memory of each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices. The method downloads the wireless network access software upgrade wirelessly to the plurality of mobile endpoint devices, wherein the wireless network access software upgrade is configured to cause each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices to install the wireless network access software upgrade and to restore the user settings from the memory of each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices.
US09557983B1
Programming methods and products are described for developing and producing installation and/or upgrade software for systems where multiple versions of software are available. Information is stored representing the version of software that is being installed, the version of software being installed having an updated feature. Groups of commands enable the transition from a present version of the software to another version of software having another version of the feature. An example of such a feature is deployment of logical volume partitions. A state machine is executed that consults the stored information to access one or more of the groups of commands. The one or more groups of commands is executed to transition from the present version of the software to the version of software that is being installed having the updated feature. If an error occurs during the execution of a group of commands, then recovery information including remediation commands is executed.
US09557980B2
A seamless application integration apparatus and method are provided. The seamless application integration apparatus includes a seamless integration server that is installed in a host virtual machine so as to provide a seamless application integration (SAI) environment in a virtualization system that comprises the host virtual machine and at least one guest virtual machine. The apparatus also includes a dynamic reconfiguration unit determines whether a seamless integration client that corresponds to the seamless integration server has been installed in the guest virtual machine, and that may install the seamless integration client in the guest virtual machine according to the determination result.
US09557979B2
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to application installation and provide a method, system and computer program product for autonomic application installation. In one embodiment of the invention, an autonomic application installation method can be provided. The method can include initiating an installation of an application onto a target computing system, remotely retrieving a configuration for the target computing system previously established for other computing systems installing the application, applying the remotely retrieved configuration to the target computing system prior to installing the application onto the target computing system, and installing the application onto the target computing system.
US09557978B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selection of ranked configurations. In one aspect, a method includes providing a plurality of class definitions for selection, each class definition modeling a respective data or functional component of a cloud-based environment using a group of configurable class parameters, each class definition supporting instantiation and inheritance of the class definition in a configuration specification for a cloud-based deployment; deriving respective performance metrics associated with each of the plurality of class definitions based on aggregated performance of multiple cloud-based deployments, wherein the multiple cloud-based deployments had been carried out according to respective configuration specifications that require instantiation of the class definition or a new class definition derived from the class definition; and utilizing the respective performance metrics associated with each of the plurality of class definitions in ranking the plurality of class definitions.
US09557976B2
A method for accelerating processing of program code in a heterogeneous system may be provided. It may include identifying at runtime a code region having an acceleration potential, creating a dependency graph of the program code, expanding the dependency graph based on a first set of predefined rules to generate variants of the code region, and determining segments within the variants based on a second set of predefined rules. The segments may be dedicated and assigned and compiled for use to/by a specific execution unit such that a cost function is minimized.
US09557973B2
A compiler for compiling a server application is disclosed wherein the server is configured to automatically generate an API (Application Programming Interface) for use is a client device. The API allows communication between the client device and the compiled server application.
US09557972B2
Disclosed is a system for code recommendation and share, including: an editor plug-in extracting source code unit information of a developer by interlocking with an editor of the developer; and a code recommendation server including a code repository storing code data, wherein the code recommendation server selects recommendation code data in the code repository through a code recommendation algorithm based on the source code unit information of the developer extracted in the editor plug-in.
US09557962B2
According to an illustrative embodiment, an information processing apparatus is provided. The information processing apparatus includes a communication device to receive plural pieces of tag information corresponding to respective positions within a target area, the target area having a position defined by the position of the apparatus; and an output device to output a plurality of sounds such that for each sound at least a portion of the sound overlaps with at least a portion of another of the sounds, each of the sounds being indicative of a respective piece of tag information.
US09557961B2
A wearable electronic device including a wireless communication unit configured to be wirelessly connected to a projector for projecting a stored presentation onto a screen of an external device; a main body configured to be worn by a user; a microphone integrally connected to the main body; a display unit configured to be attached to the main body; and a controller configured to match voice information input through the microphone with corresponding contents of the stored presentation, and display at least a following portion of content that follow the corresponding contents on the display unit.
US09557956B2
An information processing apparatus is provided which includes a metadata extraction unit for analyzing an audio signal in which a plurality of instrument sounds are present in a mixed manner and for extracting, as a feature quantity of the audio signal, metadata changing along with passing of a playing time, and a player parameter determination unit for determining, based on the metadata extracted by the metadata extraction unit, a player parameter for controlling a movement of a player object corresponding to each instrument sound.
US09557953B2
Techniques related to viewing a private image are described herein. The techniques may include a public device including a processor and a public display to display a display image. The techniques may also include an input receiver to receive input at the public device, and a privacy controller to alter the display image from the public display when the display image is private. Techniques may further include a transmitter to transmit the display image to a private device when the display image is private.
US09557940B2
Provided is image forming system wherein an image forming apparatus (IFA) being able to print a document even when a battery exhaustion attacks on a mobile communication terminal (MCT). A battery residual electric charge detection part of the MCT is configured to detect a residual electric charge of the battery. A print operation process part of the MCT is configured to transmit, prior to transmitting print setting data, a document priority transmission signal and the document data to the IFA, in a case where, based on the detected residual electric charge of the battery and a data size of the document data, the residual electric charge of the battery is recognized insufficient. A remote control operation receiving part of the IFA is configured to, when receives the document priority transmission request, receive the document data prior to receiving an unreceived data based on another transmission request.
US09557934B2
An IC card is provided with an IC module. The IC module is provided with a memory section and a control section. The memory section stores information that shows a file structure. The control section receives a first command, transmits a first response containing the information showing the file structure in response to reception of the first command, receives a second command which is transmitted in response to the first response and which includes a first data searched from the information showing the file structure, and sets up the first data in response to reception of the second command.
US09557928B2
Various embodiments for autonomic reclamation of data stored on at least one sequential storage media are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, active data is identified, read out, and stored in a sequential order by starting at a beginning block address of the at least one sequential storage media. At least one of a start address, an end address, and a data length of all original blocks of the active data in a backup application is defined. A new start address for each original block of active data to be written to the backup application is generated. A mapping is yielded and sent from the backup application to a sequential storage media device having the at least one sequential storage media, and the active data is read from each original block address in sequential order.
US09557927B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a data processing device and a data processing method. In the data processing device and the data processing method provided by the embodiments of the present invention, first data in a memory is written into a first non-volatile storage unit in a log file form, and a log file of the first data written into the first non-volatile storage unit is written into a second non-volatile storage unit. Because a data write speed of the first non-volatile storage unit is higher than a data write speed of the second non-volatile storage unit, fast backup of the data in the memory can be achieved, and when the data in the memory is lost in an abnormal situation, security of the data in the memory can be ensured.
US09557904B2
When an information processing apparatus detects an operation in which three different points on a displayed image are touched and, while fixing one of the three points, the remaining two points are moved, the information processing apparatus displays side by side the image enlarged or reduced in response to the movement of the two points and the image neither enlarged nor reduced.
US09557901B2
Systems and methods for providing multimedia highlight segments featuring real-life action related to fantasy sports competition. Links to highlight segments are provided in conjunction with fantasy sports contest information. A Highlight Center is provided with links to compilations of highlight segments featuring the best action culled from a pool of highlight segments. The user may be alerted of newly available highlight segments affecting fantasy scoring while the user watches a fantasy sports related television broadcast.
US09557898B2
Systems and methods are provided for syndicating slideshow content in a web feed. Data is obtained for a content feed associated with a web page in response to a request by a user of a content feed reader. A slideshow within the web page is identified based on analysis of the obtained data according to a schema definition for syndication of slideshow content. A first set of properties for the slideshow is extracted from the obtained data, based on the schema definition. A set of slides of the slideshow is identified based on the first set of properties. A second set of properties for the set of slides is also extracted from the obtained data. The content feed including the set of slides of the slideshow and one or more properties of the second set are displayed to the user via the content feed reader.
US09557866B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a capacitive touch panel and a touch display apparatus, which includes a substrate and at least a transparent electrically conductive layer; the transparent electrically conductive layer includes a plurality of electrode groups, each of electrode groups includes a plurality of electrodes in series, each of electrode groups connects to a sensing lead at one side, at lease one of the electrode groups is arranged along a direction away from the sensing lead, and capacitances formed between the electrodes of the at least one of the electrode groups and common electrodes are reduced gradually along the direction. The capacitive touch panel and touch display apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention are configured such that the farther away from the sending lead the electrode is, the smaller the capacitance of the electrode is, thus the signal delay of the electrode far away from the sending lead is improved and the touch sensitivity is improved.
US09557859B2
Method of making a touch sensor including one or more multilayer electrodes and an underlayer disposed on a substrate. The underlayer is disposed between the multilayer electrodes and the substrate. The multilayer electrodes including at least two transparent or semitransparent conductive layers separated by a transparent or semitransparent intervening layer. The intervening layer includes electrically conductive pathways between the first and second conductive layers to help reduce interfacial reflections occurring between particular layers in devices incorporating the conducting film or electrode.
US09557857B2
Devices and methods are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. The devices and methods utilize a first electrode disposed on a first substrate, a second electrode coupled to a first side of a piezoelectric material and a third electrode coupled to a second side of the piezoelectric material. The second electrode and the third electrode are configured to facilitate actuation of the piezoelectric material, while the first electrode and the second electrode define at least part of a variable capacitance that facilitates force determination. A spacing element is coupled to the first substrate and defines a spacing between the first electrode and the second electrode. A transmission element is coupled to the third electrode and configured such that a force biasing the transmission element causes the second electrode to deflect relative to the first electrode, thus changing the variable capacitance.
US09557856B2
An optical detector (110) is disclosed, the optical detector (110) comprising: at least one spatial light modulator (114) being adapted to modify at least one property of a light beam (136) in a spatially resolved fashion, having a matrix (132) of pixels (134), each pixel (134) being controllable to individually modify the at least one optical property of a portion of the light beam (136) passing the pixel (134); at least one optical sensor (116) adapted to detect the light beam (136) after passing the matrix (132) of pixels (134) of the spatial light modulator (114) and to generate at least one sensor signal; at least one modulator device (118) adapted for periodically controlling at least two of the pixels (134) with different modulation frequencies; and at least one evaluation device (120) adapted for performing a frequency analysis in order to determine signal components of the sensor signal for the modulation frequencies.
US09557854B2
A display device includes a display panel, and an electrostatic capacitive type touch panel which is formed in an overlapping manner with the display panel. A plurality of X electrodes and a plurality of Y electrodes intersecting with the X electrodes. A first signal line supplies signals to the X electrodes, a second signal line supplies signals to the Y electrodes, and the first signal line and the second signal line are formed on a flexible printed circuit board. A dummy electrode is formed adjacent to an electrode portion of each X electrode and electrode portion of each Y electrode, the dummy electrode does not overlap the X electrode and the Y electrode, and the dummy electrode does not electrically connect with the first and second signal lines.
US09557853B2
A touch detecting circuit includes a discharging circuit, a detecting circuit, and a calibration circuit that is configured with a calibration capacitor connected to a terminal and a current source which is connected to the terminal and can be controlled so as to be on and off, that can be connected via the terminal to a sensing capacitor which is disposed on a touch panel, is provided. In the beginning, the sensing capacitor is charged to a predetermined voltage by the charging circuit, thereafter, in a process of discharging, a portion of charge amount that is discharged is used to charge the calibration capacitor, and another portion is discharged via the current source, and the rest is input to the detecting circuit. The detecting circuit measures the charge amount that is input.
US09557851B2
An entertainment system control arrangement for a motor vehicle includes a graphical LCD with a configurable touch screen. The graphical LCD is disposed on the steering wheel. A processor is communicatively coupled to the graphical LCD. The processor prompts a user to select a function to assign to the configurable touch screen. The processor assigns the selected function to the configurable touch screen.
US09557850B2
One embodiment describes an electronic display. The electronic display includes display driver circuitry that display an image frame on the electronic device using a first display pixel and a second display pixel, touch sensing circuitry that detect user interaction with the electronic display, and a timing controller. The timing controller receives image data, in which the image data describes a target grayscale value of the first pixel and the second pixel to display the image frame, instructs the display driver circuitry to display a first portion of the image frame by writing the image data to the first display pixel, instructs the touch sensing circuitry to determine whether a user touch is present on a surface of the electronic display after the first portion of the image frame is displayed, determines grayscale value displayed by the second display pixel to display a previous image frame, and instructs the display driver circuitry to display a second portion of the image frame by writing adjusted image data to the second display pixel when the displayed grayscale value differs from the target grayscale value of the second pixel by more than a threshold amount.
US09557841B2
An electronic device has a touch screen comprising a transparent substrate having a first supporting side and an opposing second supporting side. The first supporting side of the touch screen has at least one electrically-conductive pattern, and a dry outermost polymeric coating disposed over at least part but not all of the electrically-conductive metal pattern. The dry polymeric coating has a dry thickness of less than 5 μm, an integrated transmittance of at least 80%, and a non-crosslinked thermoplastic polymer having a glass transition temperature (Tg) that is equal to or greater than 65° C.
US09557840B2
A touch screen display may include gate line driver circuitry coupled to a display pixel array. The display may be provided with intra-frame pausing (IFP) capabilities, where touch or other operations may be performed during one or more intra-frame blanking intervals. In one suitable arrangement, a gate driver circuit may include multiple gate line driver segments each of which is activated by a separate gate start pulse. Each gate start pulse may only be released at the end of an IFP interval. In another suitable arrangement, dummy gate driver units may be interposed among active gate driver units. Gate output signals may propagate through the dummy gate driver units during the IFP internal. In another suitable arrangement, each active gate driver unit may be provided with a buffer portion that protects at least some transistor in the gate driver unit from undesired stress.
US09557837B2
This invention provides several touch input apparatuses and operating methods. One touch input apparatus includes two carbon nanotube (CNT) layers, a plurality of contact pads and a processing circuit. The CNTs of the two CNT layers are respectively disposed to two different arrangement directions. The contact pads are divided into two groups to electrically connect the edges of the two CNT layers respectively. Each group of the contact pads is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the corresponding carbon nanotubes. The processing circuit provides a comparison voltage to one group of the contact pads and reads out the voltages on the other contact pads. When one CNT layer receives an external force so that the forced position on one CNT layer is electrically connected to the other CNT layer, the processing circuit calculates the strength of the external force according to the readout voltage values.
US09557836B2
Depth image compression is described for example, to enable body-part centers of players of a game to be detected in real time from depth images or for other applications such as augmented reality, and human-computer interaction. In an embodiment, depth images which have associated body-part probabilities, are compressed using probability mass which is related to the depth of an image element and a probability of a body part for the image element. In various examples, compression of the depth images using probability mass enables body part center detection, by clustering output elements, to be speeded up. In some examples, the scale of the compression is selected according to a depth of a foreground region and in some cases different scales are used for different image regions. In some examples, certainties of the body-part centers are calculated using probability masses of clustered image elements.
US09557831B2
An optical navigation method includes: detecting inertia of an image of a feature point; and determining an effective sensing region of an image sensing array according to the detected inertia for reducing power consumption. Besides, an optical navigation apparatus includes a detecting circuit and a determining unit. The detecting circuit is arranged for detecting a moving inertia of a feature point. The determining circuit is coupled to the detecting circuit, and arranged for determining an effective sensing region of an image sensing array according to the detected moving inertia for reducing power consumption.
US09557827B2
A digitizer system including a substrate having a position-unique photoluminescent indicia pattern. A stylus component receives optical signals indicative of the indicia pattern and determines therefrom the position of the stylus relative to the substrate. Methods of disposing indicia on the substrate, and styli suitable for sensing photoluminescent indicia are also described.
US09557821B2
A gesture recognition apparatus detecting a gesture from an image and generating for an object device an instruction corresponding to the gesture, the gesture recognition apparatus comprises an image acquiring unit configured to acquire an image; an object part extracting unit configured to extract an object part performing a gesture; an object part shape identifying unit configured to identify a shape of the extracted object part; a representative point determining unit configured to set a representative point that is a point representing a position of the object part; a gesture recognizing unit configured to recognize a gesture, based on a motion of the representative point; and a command generating unit configured to generate an instruction corresponding to the recognized gesture, wherein the representative point determining unit determines a position of a representative point corresponding to the object part, using the identified shape of the object part.
US09557820B2
Methods and systems for commencing a process based on motion detection are provided. First, a first electronic device obtains an input, and receives motion information from a second electronic device, wherein at least one sensor detects a motion of the second electronic device to generate the motion information. The first electronic device determines whether the motion information conforms to the input. When the motion information conforms to the input, a process on the first electronic device is performed.
US09557814B2
Methods and systems for applying biometric data to an interactive program executed by a portable device are provided. According to embodiments of the invention, raw bio-signal data is captured and filtered so as to determine the bio-signal of the user of the interactive program. The bio-signal is analyzed so as to determine biometrics of the user, which are applied as input to the interactive program. A setting or state of the interactive program is modified based on the biometrics. An updated state of the interactive program is rendered to the user, reflecting the modification of the setting or state of the interactive program.
US09557813B2
One variation of a method for reducing perceived optical distortion of light output through a dynamic tactile interface includes: rendering an image on a digital display coupled to a substrate opposite a tactile layer, the tactile layer defining a tactile surface, a peripheral region, and a deformable region adjacent the peripheral region, disconnected from the substrate, and operable between a retracted setting and an expanded setting, the deformable region substantially flush with the peripheral region in the retracted setting and offset above the peripheral region in the expanded setting; estimating a viewing position of a user relative to the digital display; transitioning the deformable region from the retracted setting into the expanded setting; and modifying the portion of the image rendered on the digital display according to the estimated viewing position of the user and a profile of the tactile surface across the deformable region in the expanded setting.
US09557811B1
Input can be provided to a computing device based upon relative movement of a user or other object with respect to the device. In some embodiments, infrared radiation is used to determine measurable aspects of the eyes or other of a user. Since the human retina is a retro-reflector for certain wavelengths, using two different wavelengths or two measurement angles can allow user pupils to be quickly located and measured without requiring resource-intensive analysis of full color images captured using ambient light, which can be important for portable, low power, or relatively inexpensive computing devices. Various embodiments provide differing levels of precision and design that can be used with different devices.
US09557808B2
A display apparatus and a method for recognizing a motion thereof are provided. The method includes setting an active area in which the externally input motion is recognizable, wherein the active area corresponds to a portion on a screen of the display apparatus, changing the display apparatus from an overall area motion recognition mode to a partial area motion recognition mode configured to only recognize the externally input motion in the active area, recognizing the externally input motion in the active area, and disabling the partial area motion recognition mode in response to the recognized externally input motion being a disabling motion configured to disable the partial area motion recognition mode.
US09557800B2
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods for sequence power control. A number of embodiments include executing a number of sequences associated with a number of commands, wherein a number of logical unit (LUN) controllers execute the number of sequences by locating power consumption information and a starting address of the number of sequences stored in a data structure on the number of LUN controllers.
US09557795B1
A multi-processor system with dynamic power optimization for an integrated circuit and methods thereof are described. An input rate control signal is generated responsive to at least one input data stream. An output rate control signal is generated responsive to an output of the plurality of processors. The input rate control signal and the output rate control signal are monitored. The at least one input data stream is partitioned in response to the input rate control signal. The partitioned data is distributed to at least a portion of the plurality of processors. The plurality of processors is operated in a plurality of modes responsive to the monitoring.
US09557789B2
A power control device includes a connector, a detecting module, a control module, a first output module, a second output module, a first switch module, and a second switch module. The detecting module measures a current and outputs different signals according to a comparison result between the current and a preset value. The first output module and the second output module are selectively used to supply power for the connector according to a value of the current.
US09557787B2
A reset controller is adopted which performs control for causing an external reset terminal to be shared for external output of a reset signal and input of a reset signal from outside, allowing a reset input from the external reset terminal in a state in which a power supply voltage is stable, and causing, when a reset factor due to turn-on of a power supply voltage or a reduction in the level of the power supply voltage is detected by a detection circuit, an input/output buffer to output a reset signal to the external reset terminal and masking the inflow of the reset signal from the input/output buffer to its input path, using a signal detected by the detection circuit. A mask period is assumed to be a period longer than a period from reset instructions to a reset release.
US09557785B2
A computer device with at least one heat-dissipation channel includes a master unit and a peripheral unit. A case of the master unit includes a first connection surface including a first hole. The first hole communicates to an external space through a first heat-dissipation channel inside the master unit. A case of the peripheral unit includes a second connection surface including a second hole. The second hole communicates to the external space through a second heat-dissipation channel. A fan is located inside the second peripheral unit channel. When the first connection surface and the second connection surface are aligned to connect with each other, the first heat-dissipation channel, the first hole, the second hole and the second heat-dissipation channel are sequentially communicated in space to form an integrated heat-dissipation channel for guiding a cooling airflow driven by the fan to pass therethrough.
US09557783B2
An example computer chassis can include a first card slot, a second card slot, and a rear wall. The first card slot can be configurable to a full height position. The second card slot can be configurable to one of a full height position and a low profile position.
US09557781B2
A device may include a touch sensor for determining portions of a touchscreen display that receive touch inputs, and a motion sensor for identifying device motions of the device. Additionally, the device may include a processor to identify coordinates of a portion of the touchscreen display that receives a touch input, identify an input instant at which the touchscreen display receives the touch input, and determine a change of device motion that affects an accuracy of the coordinates of the touch input based on the input instant. In addition, the processor may adjust the coordinates based on the determined change of device motion.
US09557775B2
In one general aspect, a method can include obtaining, by a computing device, a lid accelerometer vector for a lid accelerometer included in a lid portion of the computing device, and obtaining, by the computing device, a base accelerometer vector for a base accelerometer included in a base portion of the computing device. The method can include calculating a value for a lid angle based on the lid accelerometer vector and the base accelerometer vector, and identifying an operating mode for the computing device based on the calculated value of the lid angle, the operating mode being one of a laptop mode and a tablet mode.
US09557769B2
A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a display module mounted to a terminal body, and having a window coupled thereto; a fixing unit configured to couple the window and the display module to each other; and a case covering one side surface of the display module, and forming an appearance of the terminal body, wherein the fixing unit extends from one point between the window and the display module, to a side surface of the display module, such that the display module is coupled to the case.
US09557768B2
An automatically-lockable, shock absorbing dock for a portable computer, the dock comprising: a top plate configured to receive a portable computer, said top plate comprising: an automatic locking mechanism for securing the portable computer to said top plate, a set of connectivity ports, and a port replicator configured to connect the portable computer to the set of connectivity ports; and multiple pairs of shock absorbers connected to a bottom surface of said top plate and configured to connect to a target surface, wherein each pair of shock absorbers is coaxially-positioned and connected to opposite sides of said bottom surface, and wherein each shock absorber has an essentially equal resiliency in its x, y and z axes.
US09557762B2
An accelerator pedal apparatus with a variable pedal effect may include an intermediate bush installed to be moved along an interior space of a pedal housing, a pair of first conductors fixedly installed on one surface of the intermediate bush and a spring plate facing the one surface of the intermediate bush, respectively, a first coil spring installed such that opposite ends of the first coil spring are supported by the first conductors and a third conductor is integrally coupled substantially over an entire surface of the first coil spring, a pair of second conductors fixedly installed on the other surface of the intermediate bush and an end of the interior space of the pedal housing facing the other surface of the intermediate bush, a second coil spring installed such that opposite ends of the second coil spring are supported by the second conductors and a fourth conductor is integrally coupled substantially over an entire surface of the second coil spring, and a controller for controlling supply of a current to the first conductors, a current to the second conductors, directions of the currents, and intensities of the currents.
US09557743B2
A smoke ventilation system comprising a system controller connected to window actuators of different building areas, and control points associated with the window actuators of different building areas, the system controller comprises a power supply module powering the window actuators and the control points, wherein the control points are connected to the system controller by a common serial bus comprising power supply and communication lines for communicating serial control signals to activate the associated window actuators of a building area.
US09557740B2
The invention disclosed with this Application is a autonomous mobile system comprising: a means of achieving mobility, a means of navigating, a means of providing autonomous power, and a means of providing general purpose computing.In some embodiments, the system comprises a base unit capable of sensing its environment and computing navigation instructions to direct the system to move to particular locations and execute particular functions, as directed by a set of programmed instructions.In some embodiments, a coupling exists on the base unit to attach additional structures and mechanisms. These structures may comprise a means for carrying packages or other items, robotic manipulators that can grab and move objects, interactive audio and video displays for telepresence applications, a means for serving food and drink, etc. These extensions may be designed to be detachable and interchangeable, or may be designed to be permanently attached to the base unit.
US09557738B2
Disclosed is a configuration to control automatic return of an aerial vehicle. The configuration stores a return location in a storage device of the aerial vehicle. The return location may correspond to a location where the aerial vehicle is to return. One or more sensors of the aerial vehicle are monitored during flight for detection of a predefined condition. When a predetermined condition is met a return path program may be loaded for execution to provide a return flight path for the aerial vehicle to automatically navigate to the return location.
US09557737B1
The present disclosure is directed to autonomous vehicle having a vehicle control system. The vehicle control system includes a processing system that receives input values that indicate attributes of an object within a threshold distance of the autonomous vehicle and variance values indicating uncertainty associated with the input values. The processing system also provides a plurality of outcomes that are associated with combinations of split decisions. A given split decision indicates whether a particular input value is above or below a threshold value associated with the given split decision. The processing system further determines (i) a probability that the particular input value is above a threshold value and (ii) a probability that the particular input is below the threshold value for a given split decision. Additionally, the processing system determines one or more likelihoods associated with a given outcome. Further, the processing system provides instructions to control the autonomous vehicle.
US09557730B2
Provided is a driving apparatus for driving an object. The driving apparatus includes a driving device configured to displace the object; a detector configured to detect a displacement amount of the object by the driving device; and a controller configured to control the driving device based on an output of the detector. The controller is configured to obtain a thrust characteristic of the driving device with respect to the displacement amount and to set a reference with respect to the displacement amount based on the obtained thrust characteristic.
US09557726B2
A ladder program display device includes: a display-direction determining unit that determines whether a ladder program is caused to be displayed in a display direction that is vertically displayed writing or horizontally displayed writing; and a display unit that displays the ladder program vertically or horizontally in accordance with an instruction from the display-direction determining unit, wherein the display-direction determining unit compares how a ladder program is displayed in a case of vertically displayed writing and how a ladder program is displayed in a case of horizontally displayed writing for each orientation of the display unit that is a portrait-oriented state or a landscape-oriented state, selects a display direction in accordance with the orientation based on a comparison result, and instructs the display unit to display a ladder program in selected display direction.
US09557723B2
A system for intelligent monitoring and management of an electrical system is disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component, a power analytics server and a client terminal. The data acquisition component acquires real-time data output from the electrical system. The power analytics server is comprised of a real-time energy pricing engine, virtual system modeling engine, an analytics engine, a machine learning engine and a schematic user interface creator engine. The real-time energy pricing engine generates real-time utility power pricing data. The virtual system modeling engine generates predicted data output for the electrical system. The analytics engine monitors real-time data output and predicted data output of the electrical system. The machine learning engine stores and processes patterns observed from the real-time data output and the predicted data output to forecast an aspect of the electrical system.
US09557721B2
An input device includes a coordinate input unit including capacitance detectors, a capacitance measuring unit that measures the capacitances of the capacitance detectors and outputs them as measurement signals by performing A/D conversion, and a control unit that controls the capacitance measuring unit, obtains the signals while associating them with coordinate information of the capacitance detectors, calculates first data signals that are difference values between the measurement signals and a reference value, performs a calculation for the first data signals, outputs control signals based on the calculation result, performs a first calculation in which the first data signals obtained after performing a noise removal process are associated with the coordinate information as second data signals and a second calculation in which the second signals obtained after performing a smoothing process are associated with the coordinate information as third data signals, and calculates an operation position using the third data signals.
US09557694B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit including first and second photosensitive members, and first and second developer carriers; a re-conveyance mechanism configured to convey a recording sheet discharged from the image forming unit towards the image forming unit; a separation/stop mechanism configured to switch a developing unit between an image formation mode in which the first developer carrier contacts the first photosensitive member and a separation mode in which the first developer carrier is separated from the first photosensitive member and the second developer carrier is separated from the second photosensitive member, and a control device configured to switch the developing unit from the image formation mode to the separation mode while the re-conveyance mechanism conveys a first recording sheet after the image forming unit forms an image on a first surface of the first recording sheet.
US09557685B2
A nozzle receiver is to be arranged in a powder container used in an image forming apparatus. The nozzle receiver includes a nozzle receiving opening, in which a conveying nozzle for conveying powder supplied from the powder container is inserted in the image forming apparatus; an opening/closing member to open and to close the nozzle receiving opening; and a supporter to support the opening/closing member. The opening/closing member includes a sealing portion to seal the nozzle insertion opening. The supporter includes an end surface portion perpendicular to a moving direction of the opening/closing member. The projection area of the end surface portion in the moving direction of the opening/closing member is smaller than a projection area of the sealing portion in the moving direction of the opening/closing member.
US09557682B2
Object of the present invention is to provide a resin-coated carrier for an electrophotographic developer with reduced carrier weight, carrier beads carry over is prevented, and further, excellent in carrier strength and stable charging property in endurance printing. To achieve the object, the carrier having a coated resin layer on the surface of a porous ferrite core material and the pore volume and the peak pore size of the porous ferrite core material are 55 to 160 mm3/g and 0.2 to 0.7 μm, respectively, and an electrophotographic developer using the resin-coated carrier is adopted.
US09557679B2
A light source array includes a first group of light sources having laser elements and a second group of light sources having laser elements. A first laser driver drives the laser elements and a second laser driver drives the laser elements. The first group of light sources and the second group of light sources execute multiple exposure. For example, the second group of light sources executes a first exposure and the first group of light sources executes a second exposure. In other words, the first group of light sources and the second group of light sources are driven by the first laser driver and the second laser driver, respectively, so as to expose the same position.
US09557678B2
A charging device includes a charging member that is opposed to and contacts a charged body, the charging member extending axially and rotating in response to rotation of the charged body, a cleaning member that extends axially along the charging member, and contacts a surface of the charging member to clean the charging member, a holding member that holds the charging member and the cleaning member in a manner allowing their displacement by a substantially constant amount while maintaining a distance between their axes, multiple bearing members provided to the holding member with their rotation being arrested, the bearing members individually supporting the shafts of the charging member and cleaning member in a manner allowing their rotation, the bearing members being displaced to follow a change in orientation of the shafts, and an urging member that urges the holding member to press the charging member onto the charged body.
US09557677B2
Provided is an image forming apparatus that can correct variation in printing agent residual quantity and can extend the period being able to support full color printing based on original image data. A printing agent residual quantity detecting part detects printing agent residual quantity. A color scheme selection tendency management part manages an amount of the printing agent. A remaining number calculation part computes printable number of sheets for each color. Adjustment request screen generating part generates, when variation of the printable number of sheets for each color is greater than or equals to a fixed quantity, a printing agent using amount adjustment requesting screen for accepting the conversion condition to correct the variation. An image processing part performs color balance conversion of the image data. A printing part prints the image data performed the color balance conversion.
US09557668B2
The present invention is to provide a toner which has an excellent balance between heat-resistant storage stability and low-temperature fixability and which is excellent in printing durability even under a wide range of temperature and humidity environments from a low temperature and low humidity environment to a high temperature and high humidity environment. Disclosed is a toner for developing electrostatic images, containing colored resin particles containing a binder resin, a colorant, a softening agent and a retention aid, and an external additive, wherein the retention aid is a copolymer of at least one of acrylic acid ester and methacrylic acid ester and at least one of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid, and wherein the copolymer has an acid value of 0.5 to 7 mgKOH/g, a weight average molecular weight Mw of 6,000 to 50,000, and a glass transition temperature of 60 to 85° C.
US09557666B2
A toner prepared by a method comprising granulating while polymerizing a ring-opening polymerizable monomer with a catalyst under the presence of a surfactant and a colorant in a compressible fluid.
US09557665B2
A toner includes a polymeric resin, a colorant, and a small molecule crystalline aromatic monoester having a molecular weight less than 1,000 g/mol. The polymeric resin may be an amorphous resin and a mixture of the amorphous resin and the crystalline aromatic monoester may be characterized by a reduction in glass transition temperature from that of the resin and by the lack of a melting point for the crystalline aromatic monoester as determined by differential scanning calorimetry, the enthalpy of fusion for the crystalline aromatic monoester in the mixture being measured to be less than 10% of the enthalpy of fusion of the crystalline aromatic monoester in pure form. Furthermore, the toner may be configured to have a crease fix minimum fusing temperature (MFT) less than or equal to the crease fix MFT of a benchmark ultra-low-melt emulsion aggregation toner. Suitable crystalline aromatic monoesters may include 2-Naphthyl benzoate.
US09557662B2
An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive substrate and a single-layer photosensitive layer which is provided on the conductive substrate and contains a binder resin, at least one charge generating material selected from a hydroxygallium phthalocyanine pigment and a chlorogallium phthalocyanine pigment, a first electron transporting material defined in the specification, a second electron transporting material defined in the specification, and a hole transporting material defined in the specification, wherein a total content of all electron transporting materials is greater than or equal to 4 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of a total solid content of the photosensitive layer, and an average loss elastic modulus E″ of the photosensitive layer, which is obtained by measuring dynamic viscoelasticity at a temperature of from 35° C. to 50° C. and a frequency of 0.5 Hz, is less than or equal to 1.000×106.
US09557661B2
A support material for printing a support structure with an electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system, the support material including a composition having a charge control agent and a thermoplastic copolymer having aromatic groups, (meth)acrylate-based ester groups, carboxylic acid groups, and anhydride groups, with a high anhydride conversion. The composition is provided in a powder form having a controlled particle size, and the support material is configured for use in the electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system having a layer transfusion assembly for printing the support structure in a layer-by-layer manner, and is at least partially soluble in an aqueous solution.
US09557648B2
Articles are prepared to have a substrate and a silver-containing composition on either or both supporting sides of the substrate. The silver-containing composition can comprise either reducible silver ions or silver nanoparticles, complexed with a reactive polymer. The reactive polymer comprises: (a) greater than 1 mol % of recurring units comprising sulfonic acid or sulfonate groups, (b) at least 5 mol % of recurring units comprising a pendant group capable of crosslinking via [2+2] photocycloaddition, and optionally (c) at least 1 mol % of recurring units comprising a pendant amide, hydroxyl, lactam, phosphonic acid, or carboxylic acid group. Some other articles have a water-insoluble complex of reacted (crosslinked) polymer with reducible silver ions or silver nanoparticles on either or both supportive sides of the substrate. Such reacted polymer is derived from the noted reactive polymer.
US09557646B2
The present invention relates to new polymers that contain phenolic groups spaced from a polymer backbone and photoacid-labile group. Preferred polymers of the invention are useful as a component of chemically-amplified positive-acting resists.
US09557629B2
An aspect of the present invention provides an interchangeable lens camera having a camera body and a lens unit that is freely attachable and detachable to the camera body. In the interchangeable lens camera, a communications unit in the camera body sends via communications terminals (MT_MOSI and MT_MISO) an INTR_BUSY control instruction that instructs whether to make notification with a busy signal (INTR_BUSY signal) for any operation out of a plurality of types of operations that can be executed, and the lens unit or camera body communications unit sets the busy signal (INTR_BUSY) to an ON state (low level) only during the period of operation of the type indicated by the INTR_BUSY control instruction.
US09557625B2
The present invention relates to a frequency comb article includes an oscillator; a fiber amplifier; a frequency doubler; a nonlinear fiber; and an interferometer, wherein the fiber amplifier and the nonlinear fiber include a polarization maintaining fiber, and the oscillator, frequency doubler, and interferometer are entirely polarization maintaining.
US09557623B2
The present invention is directed to an electrophoretic display device which is suitable for passive matrix driving. The electrophoretic fluid may comprise two types of charged pigment particles wherein the two types of charged pigment particles carry opposite charge polarities, have contrasting colors and have different levels of charge intensity. Alternatively, there may be a third type of particles added to the fluid.
US09557619B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to display devices and electronic devices incorporating a data line distribution segment between neighboring pixel electrodes. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure employ a uniformly distributed data line distribution segment coupled to a data line so as to cause a substantially uniform data line-to-pixel electrode capacitance with the neighboring pixel electrodes even when the data line is disposed closer to one of the neighboring pixel electrodes than the other.
US09557610B2
Provided is a display device capable of preventing a liquid crystal from being left outside a microcavity. The display device includes: a substrate; a pixel electrode formed on the substrate; a roof layer formed on the pixel electrode so as to be spaced apart from the pixel electrode with a plurality of microcavities therebetween; a light blocking member positioned between two microcavities of the plurality of microcavities, overlapping with a first edge of one microcavity of the two microcavities, and not overlapping with a second edge of the other microcavity; an injection hole exposing a part of the microcavity; a liquid crystal layer filling the microcavity; and an encapsulation layer formed on the roof layer so as to cover the injection hole to seal the microcavity.
US09557606B2
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device having a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, and a sealing member formed in a peripheral portion of at least one of the substrates. The method includes forming the sealing member, disposing the liquid crystal layer inside the sealing member, and bonding the first substrate to the second substrate. In forming the sealing member, a ring-shaped portion that seals the liquid crystal layer inside the sealing member, a first sealing layer and a second sealing layer that face each other to be separated from each other are formed. In the bonding of the first substrate to the second substrate, a junction portion is formed in which the first and second sealing layers are pressed and joined outside the sealing member so as to form the ring-shaped portion.
US09557602B2
A display device includes a display unit, a light source disposed on a back surface side of the display unit and that irradiates light to the display unit, an optical member disposed between the display unit and the light source, and a support member disposed so that the light irradiated from the light source is incident to a side surface of the support member and so that the light incident to the side surface is transmitted through the support member. The support member supports the optical member from a back surface side of the optical member, and the support member includes an entrance portion comprising an inclined surface that refracts the light incident to the side surface and a light guide portion that guides the light refracted at the inclined surface to an optical member side of the support member.
US09557601B2
The present invention provides a backlight module and a display apparatus. The backlight module comprises a substrate, a plurality of light sources disposed on the substrate; and a light guide sheet disposed on the substrate, wherein the light guide sheet includes a plurality of curved recesses, and the light sources are received in the curved recesses. The present invention can decrease an amount of the light sources.
US09557599B2
A display device and a method of manufacturing the same. The display device includes: a substrate; and a reflection member that is disposed on a surface of the substrate and has a first thickness in a first reflection region corresponding to a light-emitting region and a second thickness in a second reflection region corresponding to a non-light-emitting region.
US09557598B2
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a display apparatus comprising: a display panel having a first side and a second side in opposite to the first side; a first polarizer arranged on the first side of the display panel; and a second polarizer arranged on either of the first side and the second side of the display panel, wherein an angle between a direction of a light transmission axis of the second polarizer and a direction of a light transmission axis of the first polarizer is adjustable.
US09557591B2
An electronic device includes a case frame including a component receiving space, a substrate assembly received in the component receiving space of the case frame, and a display module electrically connected to the substrate assembly and coupled to the case frame to form an exterior of the electronic device. Thus, the electronic device can lower a production cost by reducing the number of the components, increase production efficiency by reducing the assembly processes, and achieve slimness and lightness compared to a conventional electronic device.
US09557588B2
A display device includes a housing, a screen connected to the housing and being configured to display data in grey-scale on a first portion of the screen, and at least one light source connected to the housing. The light source is configured to project color content on a second portion of the screen. The screen may be flexible and/or rollable on a roller included in the housing. The screen may be electrophoretic and/or reflective. The display device may also include optics or a light guide-to-guide light from the light source to the screen. Further, optics may be provided to detect light reflected from the screen and direct more light to portions of the screen having reduced illumination.
US09557585B1
A phased array that comprises a predetermined number of emitter/receiver elements; said emitter/receiver elements being arranged on a array formed of stacked rows, wherein the emitter/receiver elements in each row of the array are distributed according to a pseudo-random pattern; and the heights of the rows vary according to a pseudo-random pattern.
US09557577B2
A method of preparing an ophthalmic lens (30) to be fitted into a surround of a spectacle frame, includes: acquiring a longitudinal profile (50) of the surround; centering the longitudinal profile; acquiring the geometry of at least one part of an optical face of the ophthalmic lens; calculating a treatment setpoint for treating the ophthalmic lens; and treating the ophthalmic lens. The acquiring operation includes a step of calculating the bidimensional coordinates of a plurality of measurement points (P′i, P″i) situated along two distinct longitudinal strands (51, 52) which are chosen in such a way that they define between them a band which extends along the longitudinal profile, and a step of examining the ophthalmic lens to acquire the tridimensional coordinates for the measurement points with a view to calculating the treatment setpoint.
US09557576B2
An image pickup apparatus includes a shake detecting unit configured to detect a shake of the image pickup apparatus; a first and a second optical correcting unit configured to move in a direction different from an optical axis so as to correct optically an image shake; a first position detecting unit configured to detect a position of the first optical correcting unit and output a first position detection signal; a second position detecting unit configured to detect a position of the second optical correcting unit and output a second position detection signal; and a controlling unit configured to control the first optical correcting unit and the second optical correcting unit. A range for detecting a position of the first position detecting unit is different from that of the second position detecting unit.
US09557572B2
An image display device includes a display panel and a liquid crystal lens. The liquid crystal lens includes first and second zones equally distant from a center of the liquid crystal lens. The first zone, positioned at a left of the center, includes first linear electrodes. The second zone, positioned at a right of the center, includes second linear electrodes. A number of the first linear electrodes is equal to a number of the second linear electrodes. Bus lines are electrically connected to the first and second linear electrodes. A number of the plurality of bus lines is less than a sum of the number of the first linear electrodes and the number of the second linear electrodes.
US09557570B2
A display device includes a display panel and a liquid crystal lens panel. The liquid crystal lens panel includes a first substrate and a second substrate that face each other; a first electrode layer disposed on the first substrate; a second electrode layer disposed on the second substrate; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The first electrode layer includes a plurality of first linear electrodes and a plurality of second linear electrodes, the liquid crystal layer includes first liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the first linear electrode that are pre-tilted in a first direction, and second liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the second linear electrodes that are pre-tilted in a second direction opposite the first direction.
US09557550B2
The invention relates to a method for operating a microscope device having a first and a second zoom microscope, wherein a zoom adjustment of the second zoom microscope is carried out in dependence upon a zoom adjustment of the first zoom microscope. It is provided according to this method that, in order to set a determined magnification ratio between the zoom microscopes, the zoom adjustment of the second zoom microscope is automatically carried out on the basis of a coupling function or that, in order to carry out a size comparison between specimens brought into beam paths of the two zoom microscopes, the zoom adjustment of the first zoom microscope and the zoom adjustment of the second zoom microscope are carried out as desired by a user and a magnification ratio between the zoom adjustments carried out is determined in dependence upon these zoom adjustments and on the basis of a coupling function, through which an assignment of zoom adjustments of the first zoom microscope to zoom adjustments of the second zoom microscope is produced. In addition the invention relates to a microscope device with two zoom microscopes.
US09557543B2
Provided is a zoom lens including a plurality of lens units, in which an interval between adjacent lens units changes during zooming. The zoom lens includes: a first lens subunit having a positive refractive power; a second lens subunit having a positive refractive power, which is arranged adjacent to an image side of the first lens subunit; and at least one lens unit on an object side of the first lens subunit. Lens systems arranged on the object side of the first lens subunit have a negative combined focal length over an entire zoom range. The second lens subunit moves along an optical axis to the image side during focusing from an object at infinity to a proximate object. A focal length of the first lens subunit and a focal length of the second lens subunit are appropriately set.
US09557538B2
A projection zoom lens constituted by: a negative first lens group; a positive final lens group; and moving lens groups between the first and the final lens groups that move independently while changing magnification, satisfies the conditional formulae below: 1.00<(Rf2−Rr2)/(Rf2+Rr2) (1) 0.00≦(Rr2−Rf3)/(Rr2+Rf3)<0.15 (2) 2.5
US09557536B2
A first lens group includes a plano-concave and negative first lens, a catoptric element having a flat object side surface and a flat image side surface, and a first cemented lens, for example. Here, the first cemented lens includes a negative second lens and a positive third lens in order from an object side. A second lens group includes an aperture stop and a positive second cemented lens, for example. The second cemented lens includes a positive fourth lens, a negative fifth lens, and a positive sixth lens in order from the object side. A zoom lens satisfies a conditional expression 1.59
US09557535B1
A photographing optical system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface. The third lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface. The fourth lens element has positive refractive power. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface, wherein the image-side surface of the fifth lens element comprises at least one convex shape thereon, and two surfaces of the fifth lens element are aspheric.
US09557534B1
A photographing optical lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with negative refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The fourth lens element has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The sixth lens element with negative refractive power has an object-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof and an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof, wherein the image-side surface of the sixth lens element has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof, and both two surfaces thereof are aspheric. The first through sixth lens element are all single and non-cemented lens elements.
US09557533B2
A five-piece optical lens for capturing image and a five-piece optical module for capturing image, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, include a first lens with positive refractive power, wherein an object-side surface thereof can be convex; a second lens with refractive power; a third lens with refractive power; a fourth lens with refractive power; and a fifth lens with negative refractive power, wherein an image-side surface can be concave, and at least one surface of the fifth lens has an inflection point; both surfaces of each of the five lenses are aspheric. The optical lens can increase aperture value and improve the imaging quality for use in compact cameras.
US09557530B2
A photographing optical lens assembly includes, in order from the object side to the image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element, the second lens element and the fourth lens element have positive refractive power. The third lens element has refractive power. The fifth lens element has negative refractive power. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof and having at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof. An object-side surface and an image-side surface of the sixth lens element both are aspheric. Both of an absolute value of a focal length of the fourth lens element and that of the fifth lens element each are greater than those of the other lens elements.
US09557507B2
A device is provided and includes a first catch plate and a retention ring. The first catch plate includes a plurality of first catch plate gripping slots spaced apart from each other and disposed about a circumference thereof. Each of the plurality of first catch plate griping slots include a wire receiving opening extending through a thickness of the first catch plate. The retention ring is removably secured to a periphery of the first catch plate.
US09557501B2
An optical transceiver of the CFP type having a gasket set within the slot is disclosed. The optical transceiver provides the slots in respective sides of the housing to pass the screws therein for fastening the optical transceiver to an electrical plug prepared in the host system. A support is also set within the slot so as to extend along the outer wall of the slot and not to interfere with the screw. The support pushes the gasket against the outer wall so as to cover a gap inherently formed between the top housing and the bottom housing.
US09557500B1
An optical transmitter-receiver assembly includes an optical transmitter-receiver device coupled via first optical fiber to optical splitter, plurality of second optical fibers each having a first end and a second end. The first ends is coupled to the optical splitter, the second ends are respectively coupled to plurality of optical connectors. The optical transmitter-receiver device includes main body and rubber sleeve. Space in the main body is divided into top portion and bottom portion by partition. Receiver is disposed in the top portion and coupled via fiber array to the first optical fiber. The receiver coupled via amplifier to flexible circuit board. Plurality of coaxial lasers is disposed in the bottom portion. Each of the plurality of coaxial lasers has an emitting end coupled to the first fiber, and the plurality of coaxial lasers coupled via inflexible circuit board to flexible circuit board.
US09557497B2
A fiber connector is provided. In exemplary embodiments, a fiber connector may comprise an outer housing for securing a fiber cable within the housing, the housing comprising a top wall; a bottom wall disposed opposite the top side wall; a right side wall and a left side wall, each side wall having a through opening formed to receive a latch, the side walls comprising a straight portion for maintaining the latch within the through opening; and a pair of release members slidably coupled with the side walls, each release member comprising a release mechanism for releasing the fiber connector from the latch by sliding along the side walls and forcing the latch out of the through openings with the release mechanism.
US09557489B2
An optoelectronic component for receiving light. A housing including an axially extending cavity is arranged to receive an incoming beam. At least one adjustable arrangement includes at least one lens and a first adjustment module configured to adjust a focal point of the lens relative to an end surface of an optical fiber connectable to the housing. A first body is arranged to influence a position of the lens. A second body contacting the first body is journalled in the housing. The first adjustment module is arranged to act on the first body to rotate the first body spherically around a distant point and to alter the position of the lens, in order to locate a focal point of the lens on an end surface of the optical fiber.
US09557487B2
An arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer/demultiplexer includes an array of optical waveguides ordered in sequence from a shortest waveguide up to a longest waveguide, and identical phase shifters configured to be controlled by a same control signal. Each phase shifter increases/decreases an optical path of an optical waveguide by the same quantity based on the control signal.
US09557483B2
A fiber coupler is provided, which includes a tubular enveloping structure and several optical fibers arranged in the enveloping structure, each of which has a fiber core and a fiber cladding surrounding same, in order to conduct laser radiation, and each of which extends from the first as far as the second end of the enveloping structure. The enveloping structure includes a tapering section which is tapered in a first direction from the first as far as the second end. In the tapering section, both a first ratio of the diameter of the fiber core to the diameter of the fiber cladding and also a second ratio of the diameter of the mode field of the laser radiation conducted in the optical fiber to the diameter of the fiber core, increases in the first direction for each optical fiber.
US09557477B2
A coated glass fiber 1 comprising a glass fiber 10 and one or more coating layers each composed of an ultraviolet curable resin on the outer circumference of the glass fiber 10, wherein the ultraviolet curable resin constituting at least one of the coating layers is formed of an ultraviolet curable coating material containing a silane coupling agent and a photoacid generator. The coated optical fiber 1 coated optical fiber having a high dynamic fatigue coefficient since adhesion between the surface of the glass fiber and the resin coating layer is satisfactory.
US09557473B2
A reflective display includes a reflective spatial light modulator and a front light having a lightguide formed by an array of film-based lightguides coupled into a lightguide region of the lightguide. One or more light sources emit light into the array of lightguides, with light extraction features frustrating totally internally reflect light within the lightguide region such that the light exits the lightguide through a cladding region toward a light redirecting optical element that redirects the light toward a reflective spatial light modulator.
US09557465B2
A light guide plate includes: an annular part formed in an annular shape along an element array of multiple light emitting elements; and an annular inner part formed on an annular inside of the annular part continuously with the annular part. The annular part includes: an element array-facing part which is a part facing the element array and which has an incident surface to allow light emitted from the light emitting elements to enter; and a first reflecting part which is a part located closer to the annular inner part than the element array-facing part, and which has a reflecting surface for reflecting the light entering from the incident surface toward the annular inner part. The first reflecting part includes a first light scattering region having a light scattering treatment applied thereto.
US09557462B2
A technology that allows improvement in the performance of an optical element a representative example of which is a polarizing element is provided. In a split wire element according to an embodiment of the invention, each of a plurality of split wires (SPW) has gaps formed in a y direction at a period Λ, and the period Λ is greater than or equal to a Rayleigh wavelength (λ/n). According to the thus configured split wire element of the embodiment of the invention, optical performance can be improved as compared with a wire-grid element formed of straight wires having no periodic structure in the y direction.
US09557459B2
A display apparatus comprises a display panel. The display panel emits a green light having a green energy and a green point of the CIE 1931 xy chromaticity under the operation of the highest gray level of a green image, and emits a blue light having a blue energy and a blue point of the CIE 1931 xy chromaticity under the operation of the highest gray level of a blue image. The ratio of the green energy to the blue energy is between 0.7 and 1.2. In the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram, the coordinates of the blue point are bounded by the equation: y=−168.72x2+50.312x−3.635 and the equation: y=−168.72x2+63.81x−5.9174, while y is between 0.04 and 0.08.
US09557458B2
The invention relates to a grating coupler comprising: —an optical substrate arranged to transfer a light beam, and —a diffraction grating arranged on, or imbedded in, the surface of said optical substrate, said diffraction grating comprising diffraction grating elements comprising each a coating arranged asymmetrically on said diffraction grating elements. The grating coupler is further arranged to satisfy the condition: (n1×sin(IαI)+η2)/λ×P>1, wherein n1 is the refractive index of the optical medium to the incident light side of the diffraction grating elements, n2 is the refractive index of the optical medium to the diffracted light side of the diffraction grating elements, lal the absolute value of the incident angle of the light beam incident on the grating coupler λ is the vacuum wavelength of the diffracted light, and P is the period of the diffraction grating elements.
US09557451B2
A diffusing plate includes a microlens array in which a plurality of microlenses are arranged, wherein the microlenses have such a shape that a curvature of a sectional shape including a center line of the microlenses varies depending on a direction of the center line, and wherein microlenses that are different in the direction of a center line where the curvature of the outline is largest are arranged.
US09557449B2
UV curable coating composition includes a non hydrolyzed epoxy- alkoxy-silane, polyfunctional acrylate and/or epoxy compounds and a cationic and/or free-radical photo-initiator; with polyfunctional acrylate and/or epoxy compounds representing more than 40 weight % of the total dry matter and the composition being without any hydrolyzed epoxy-alkoxy-silane. This composition is coated and cured on an optical substrate.
US09557443B2
A photosensitive resin composition, a black matrix, a color filter, and a liquid crystal display device including the resin composition are provided. The photosensitive resin composition includes an alkali-soluble resin (A), a compound (B) containing an ethylenically unsaturated group, a photo initiator (C), a solvent (D), and a black pigment (E). The compound (B) containing an ethylenically unsaturated group includes a compound (B-1) represented by the following formula (1). In formula (1), a represents an integer of 1 to 20; each of Ra and Rb independently represents an acryloyloxy phenyl group, an acryloyloxy alkyl group having 4 to 20 carbons, a methacryloyloxy phenyl group, a methacryloyloxy alkyl group having 5 to 20 carbons, an alkenyl group having 3 to 20 carbons, or an alkenyl aryl group having 8 to 30 carbons; when a is 2 or more, a plurality of Ra and Rb are the same or different.
US09557442B2
A method of simulating a borehole acoustic response in an anisotropic formation of the crust of the earth includes formulating a geometric model of the formation. The geometric model includes a plurality of layers definable in a cylindrical coordinate system defined by an axial direction normal to each of the layers, a radial direction relative to the axial direction, and a circumferential direction relative to the axial direction. The method also includes formulating a computational model of wave propagation in the formation. The computational model includes field variables and a wave equation describing a behavior of the field variables. The field variables are represented as respective Fourier series expansions of Tr-periodic harmonics in the circumferential direction. The method also includes numerically solving the computational model.
US09557439B2
Permanent electromagnetic (EM) monitoring of the regions around and between wells may employ a casing string positioned within a borehole through the subsurface formations of interest. At least two passivated electrodes are mounted on the casing string to sense electric fields in the formation. Though only capacitively coupled to the formation, the passivated electrodes nevertheless provide a potential difference to an electro-optical transducer, which in turn modifies a property of the light passing along an optical fiber attached to the casing string. An interface unit senses the modified property to derive a measure of the electric field between each pair of passivated electrodes. The passivated electrodes have a contact surface that is conductive but for one or more layers of non-reactive (and thus electrically insulating) materials. Illustrative materials include metal oxides, polymers and ceramics, but the layers are preferably kept very thin to maximize the coupling capacitance with the formation.
US09557437B2
A geohydrology monitoring system is disclosed. In one example, the system includes a heating mechanism assembly including an array of heating elements disposed longitudinally within a fluid-containing environment so that portions of the heating mechanism assembly are at different positions lengthwise within the fluid-containing environment. The heating mechanism assembly is configured to impart energy to the fluid-containing environment such that heating provided at some locations varies from heating provided at other locations. The system includes a fiber optic distributed temperature sensor (DTS) disposed in proximity to the heating mechanism assembly and configured to sense temperature at a plurality of positions and at multiple times along the length of the fluid-containing environment. Based on output from the DTS, processing logic generates an output that indicates properties of, and movement of fluid within, the fluid-containing environment.
US09557435B2
Acoustic isolators are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a transmitter to transmit an acoustic signal. The example apparatus also includes an acoustic isolator substantially surrounding a receiver, and the receiver is to receive the acoustic signal via an opening in the acoustic isolator. The transmitter and the acoustic isolator are coupled to a base. The acoustic isolator includes a first layer coupled to a second layer defining a plurality of spaces. The second layer is to provide an acoustic impedance mismatch.
US09557433B2
Disclosed herein are various embodiments of methods and systems for providing a graphical skeletonization representation of fractures and faults in a subsurface of the earth. According to some embodiments, as fracturing fluid is pumped into a target geologic formation through a well bore, and as the formation fractures or faults in response to the fracturing fluid being pumped under high pressure therein, seismic wavefronts are generated at points of fracture related to movement of a fluid pressure wave induced by fracturing or other fluids moving through the formation, or the extraction of fluids such as gas and/or oil from the formation, which are detected by surface and/or downhole sensors. Data corresponding to signals generated by the surface and/or downhole sensors are recorded and subsequently analyzed to determine in near real-time the locations of the fractures or faults using skeletonization data processing techniques and methods.
US09557420B2
A method performed in connection with a handheld communication device for monitoring a context in a battery efficient manner and for detecting a vehicular context, the handheld communication device comprising a GPS hardware component, a network-based position estimation component and a data processor, the method comprising: acquiring a sequence of location data readings using the network-based position estimation component; identifying a non-vehicular context based on changes in the acquired sequence of the location data readings; when the non-vehicular context is not identified, powering on the GPS hardware component and acquiring speed data using the GPS hardware component, determining whether the acquired speed is within predetermined vehicular speed ranges and identifying either a vehicular context or the non-vehicular context; when the vehicular context is not identified, powering off the GPS hardware component to save battery power.
US09557419B2
Accuracy information for an ionosphere model is generated. Phase residual information of a parameter estimation procedure is obtained and coordinates of pierce points are computed on a sphere around the earth. The coordinates indicate where signals pierce the sphere. Phase residual information is mapped for each pierce point. A grid of equidistant points is put on the sphere and the pierce points are identified. For each selected grid point, vertical accuracy information is computed based on vertical residual information, and a scale factor is computed based on the vertical accuracy information. The accuracy information for the ionosphere model is generated based on the vertical accuracy information computed for the selected grid points and an overall scale factor computed based on computed scale factors.
US09557413B2
A system for detecting object movement including a sensory network having at least one sensory device using modulated radar for detecting an object in proximity to the sensory network. The sensory network including a wireless transmission system and a base station having a computer processing system located remote from the sensory network and including a wireless transmission system to communicate with the sensory network. The base station having a computer readable program code for causing the computer processing system to analyze data received from the sensory network to determine motion characteristics of the object in proximity to the sensory network.
US09557410B2
A radar reception device is provided. The device includes a reception signal acquirer, a signal processor, a PPI-scope generator, an A-scope generator, a display output unit, and a user interface. The reception signal acquirer acquires, in an Rθ-coordinate system, a reception signal received by an antenna that rotates at a predetermined cycle. The signal processor performs signal processing on the reception signal in the Rθ-coordinate system according to a distance, and outputs the processed signal in the Rθ-coordinate system. The PPI-scope generator converts the processed signal from the Rθ-coordinate system into an XY-orthogonal coordinate system and generates a radar image in a PPI-scope. The A-scope generator generates a radar image where the reception signal before being signal-processed is illustrated in an A-scope. The display output unit displays the PPI-scope radar image and the A-scope radar image on a display unit simultaneously. The user interface accepts a user input.
US09557403B2
A method is described of using the mobile device so as to control the drain of power from the power source of the mobile device, the mobile device having at least two location determination techniques having respective power drain characteristics, the method includes selecting the location determination technique having a lower power drain characteristic the greater the determined distance of the mobile device from a predetermined location or area, and selecting the location determination technique having the greater power drain characteristic the smaller the determined distance of the mobile device from a predetermined location or area. The method thus uses the least accurate technique when furthest away and the most accurate technique when closer to a predetermined location or area.
US09557398B2
A method is proposed for the simultaneous optimization of an arbitrary number of electromagnetic pulses, which act in a cooperative way, or mutually compensate each other's errors. The method generally relates to pulses which can have improved properties when cooperating with each other compared to single pulses. In experiments with several scans, undesired signal contributions can be suppressed by COOP pulses, which complements and generalizes the concept of phase cycling. COOP pulses can also be used in individual scans. COOP pulses can be optimized efficiently with the aid of an extended version of the optimal-control-theory-based gradient ascent pulse engineering (GRAPE) algorithm. The advantage of the COOP pulse method is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally for broadband and band-selective excitation and saturation pulses.
US09557382B1
An integrated circuit (IC) chip includes a first circuit block, a second circuit block, an inter-block circuit and a control circuit. The first circuit block is configured to form a first scan chain to set states of flip-flops in the first circuit block. The second circuit block is configured to form a second scan chain to set states of flip-flops in the second circuit block. The inter-block circuit interfaces the first circuit block and the second circuit block. The control circuit is configured to load a first portion and a second portion of a test pattern separately to the first scan chain and the second scan chain to set states of flip-flops in the first circuit block and the second circuit block, enable a test of the inter-block circuit to capture a test result, and unload the test result from the first scan chain and the second scan chain.
US09557368B2
The present disclosure relates to a method for measuring thermal electric characteristics of a semiconductor device, including the steps of: providing at least one current to the LED device over a time interval; recording a voltage transient response of the LED device, wherein the voltage transient response has a plurality of time segments different in gradient; computing a voltage difference from one of the plurality of time segments in the voltage transient response; and determining whether the LED device is defective based on the voltage difference, wherein the voltage difference is thermal dependent. The present disclosure also provides a testing method for defining a plurality of time segments.
US09557363B2
A large scale automated test system employs one or more relay boxes that contain and support one or more relay boards. Each relay board is operated to selectively communicate an item being designed, for example a cell phone, an automobile, or an aircraft, with two or more electrical components being considered in the design of the item to evaluate the performance of each electrical component in the item being designed.
US09557355B2
An integrated circuit is provided with a voltage sag detector (VSD) within the integrated circuit package. The VSD is coupled to a voltage reference and to the power distribution bus within the integrated circuit. The VSD has an output for indicating when a voltage level on the power distribution bus sags below a voltage level provided by the voltage reference.
US09557352B2
A current detection structure includes a plurality of busbars arranged in parallel, and a plurality of magnetic detection elements each provided for corresponding one of the plurality of busbars so as to measure a strength of a magnetic field generated by a current flowing through the corresponding busbar. The plurality of magnetic detection elements are mounted on a single circuit board.
US09557346B2
An accelerometer has E-shaped resilient beams to isolate stress and reduce deformation. A top cap silicon wafer and a bottom cap silicon wafer are both coupled with a measurement mass to form a capacitor. The measurement mass has a mass, range-of-motion stops, and resilient beams located within a support frame. The range-of-motion stops are coupled to the support frame by connection beams, and the mass is coupled with the range-of-motion stops by groups of E-shaped resilient beams. The ends of each resilient beam are connected to the range-of-motion stops, and the middle of each resilient beam is connected to the mass.
US09557344B2
A sensor for measuring flow speed of a fluid, comprising: a light-absorbing optical fiber having a fiber Bragg grating inscribed in the fiber; wherein light is emitted into the light-absorbing optical fiber to heat the optical fiber and the fiber Bragg grating, and when the fluid passes over the sensor, the flow speed of the fluid is determined by the rate of heat loss from the sensor, and the temperature of the sensor is determined from the wavelength shift of the central wavelength of the fiber Bragg grating.
US09557339B2
The present invention is to provide a nucleic acid molecule having a binding affinity to a rodent-derived IgG antibody, which can be prepared easier than an antibody and has a binding affinity equivalent or superior to that of an antibody, a binder using the nucleic acid molecule, a detection reagent, and a detection kit. The nucleic acid molecule of the present invention has a binding affinity to a rodent-derived IgG antibody and has a dissociation constant of 1 μM or less. The binder for a rodent-derived IgG antibody of the present invention includes the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention. The detection reagent for detecting a rodent-derived IgG antibody of the present invention includes the binder for a rodent-derived IgG antibody of the present invention. The detection kit for detecting a rodent-derived IgG antibody of the present invention includes the detection reagent for detecting a rodent-derived IgG antibody of the present invention.
US09557337B2
Described herein are aqueous soluble polymersomes that encapsulate one or more hydrophobic fluorescent polymers and methods of their preparation and use.
US09557332B2
Disclosed are glucose-sensitive nanoparticles which includes a phenylboronic acid derivative and a biocompatible polymer, and is prepared as an amphiphilic conjugate having chemical binding between the phenylboronic acid derivative and the biocompatible polymer. The use of the composition can effectively collect glucose in the cancer tissue, thereby simultaneously performing diagnosis and therapy of cancer.
US09557328B2
A sensor device (1) for detecting the presence of a target molecule (20) in a sample, is disclosed. The sensor device comprises a measurement sensor (2) comprising a first moiety (16) for forming a binding couple with a first further moiety comprising the target molecule (20) and a detectable label (40) and a reference sensor (3) comprising a second moiety (50) for forming a further binding couple with a second further moiety comprising a further detectable label (40′). The sensor device is adapted to generate a first detection signal (14) from the detection of the detectable label (40) in the first further moiety bound to the first moiety (16) and to generate a second detection signal (14′) from the detection of the further detectable label (40′) in the second further moiety bound to the second moiety (50), wherein at least during operation of the sensor device the second further moiety is expected to be present in a predefined amount such that the value of the second detection signal (14′) falls within an expected signal value window when the binding reaction of the second further moiety to the second moiety takes place as expected. An apparatus comprising such a sensor device, methods of operating the sensor device and apparatus and a sample for use with the sensor device are also disclosed.
US09557317B2
Systems, apparatus, methods, and kits are provided for automated mass spectrometric analysis of small volumes of liquid samples, such as biological samples. The systems, apparatus, and kits may be used in facilities where high throughput of samples, as well as reliable and repeatable assay results with little training of staff, are needed. Such facilities include hospital emergency wards.
US09557315B2
Apparatus and methods for measuring confining pressure, axial strain and radial strain of zonal isolation materials are described. This information is useful for evaluating these materials and predicting seal performance and potential failures of these materials.
US09557313B2
The safety and proper performance of jet aircraft engines requires that any contamination of jet fuel, for example by water or by improper contaminants, be filtered (removed) before delivery of the fuel, through hoses, to the fuel tanks of the aircraft. Coalescing devices and filters in the fuel delivery system are used to attain this result. A typical problem is that filter materials chemically react with surfactants, and this causes the filter subsequently to “disarm” or fail to perform its function of removing water, which can lead to delivery of fuel containing excessive water. A solution to this problem is to pre-test the fuel for such surfactants by feeding a small fuel sample that has been mixed with “challenge water” through a smaller ‘representative’ test filter and monitor the performance. Using a fluorescent dye in the “challenge water,” the amount of water that passes the test filter is detected, compared with a baseline data and fuel quality determination is made. From the result of the small-scale test, the fuel condition can be inferred and, based thereon; action can be taken to treat the fuel, prior to further distribution, such that it will not disarm field filter-coalescers in a typical fuel distribution system. The use of a fluorescent dye enhances the ability to make this determination of very small representative fuel filters. The fuel evaluation process is fully automated, thereby avoiding human-factor variables and assuring repeatable results.
US09557300B2
Systems and methods for determining whether mechanical fatigue exists in a downhole cable using thermally-induced acoustic waves are disclosed herein. A cable fatigue monitoring system includes a thermal source, one or more light sources, one or more photodetector arrays, and a computing system comprising a processor, a memory, and a cable distortion module. The cable distortion module is operable to generate acoustic waves in a cable using the thermal source, direct light from the one or more light sources toward the cable, detect light from the one or more light sources transmitted past the cable at the one or more photodetector arrays, and determine, based on the detected light transmitted past the cable, whether a change in velocity of the acoustic waves has occurred in the cable.
US09557296B2
Described herein is an approach using inexpensive, disposable chemical sensor probes that can be mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and used to analyze a site (such as one known or suspected to contain explosive residue, spilled material or contaminated soil) without the need for a person to conduct ground operations at the site. The method involves contacting a soil or a surface with a filter paper wetted with a solvent, then subjecting the filter paper to voltammetry and/or spectroscopy, thus detecting a possible variation indicative of one or more analytes, wherein the solvent is selected from the group consisting of polar aprotic or protic solvents having a boiling point of at least 100° C., room temperature ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents.
US09557293B2
This invention relates to methods and apparatus of a combination of multi-laser wave mixing technology with diagnostic flow system with embodiments describing capillary electrophoresis. The unique combination of these technologies along with minute detection levels not yet been seen in the field.
US09557292B2
Physical parameters of macromolecules are determined by measuring electrical current I over time for translocation events as the macromolecules in solution move between two liquid compartments that are separated by and fluidically coupled through a synthetic nanopore. Values of charge, volume, shape, rotational diffusion coefficient, ad dipole moment are derived from the measurements.
US09557276B2
An inspection method of vitreous silica crucibles includes: a measurement step of measuring an infrared absorption spectrum or a Raman shift of a measurement point on an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible; a determining step of predicting whether or not a surface-defect region occurs at the measurement point based on an obtained spectrum to determine a quality of the vitreous silica crucible.
US09557264B2
To enable determination of if there is an influence of foreign-body reactions on the result of quantitative determination conducted with a scattered light measurement method. Proposed is an automatic analysis device including a light source configured to irradiate a reaction solution with light, a plurality of light receivers configured to receive scattered light generated from the reaction solution at different light-receiving angles, a first data processing unit configured to process reaction process data measured by one of the light receivers to quantitatively determine a concentration of a substance in the reaction solution, and a second data processing unit configured to determine if the quantitative determination of the concentration of the substance has been performed normally on the basis of a ratio of a plurality of computed values, the plurality of computed values having been calculated from a plurality of pieces of reaction process data measured by the respective light receivers.
US09557261B2
The present invention improves an S/N ratio and light intensity resolution provided by an A/D converter, and an analyzer includes: a measurement cell irradiated with light during sample measurement; a dimming element irradiated with the light during reference measurement; an amplifier configured to amplify an analog light intensity signal outputted from a light detector; an A/D converter configured to convert the analog light intensity signal into a digital light intensity signal; and an arithmetic device configured to calculate absorbance using a digital sample light intensity signal outputted from the A/D converter during the sample measurement and a digital reference light intensity signal outputted from the A/D converter during the reference measurement, wherein an amplification factor of the amplifier is set such that the analog reference light intensity signal and the analog sample light intensity signal become less than or equal to a full scale of the A/D converter.
US09557252B2
A fabric phase sorptive extractor (FPSE) is a sampling device where a flexible fabric is coated with at least one sol-gel derived film that includes at least two of a metal oxide portion, a siloxy portion, and an organic portion, where the gel has at least some amorphous portions. The FPSE is flexible such that it can be used in an extended form or draped over a solid surface to contact a gaseous, liquid, or solid environment and can be manipulated for placement in a container where the absorbed analyte can be removed from the FPSE for instrumental analysis. The FPSE can have specific functionalities that bind to specific analytes or can provide a general sorbent medium for extraction of a wide range of analytes, such that the sampling device can be employed for sampling analytes with biological, environmental, food, pharmaceutical, bio-analytical, clinical, forensic, toxicological, national security, public health, and/or safety implications.
US09557251B2
Cell tubes that can be used both for pathology collection and subsequent cell processing include a tube with a cell bed at a lower portion of the tube. The tube can include a base member that can be detachable from the tube body. The tubes can be used to form cell (cytology) blocks that incorporate the cell bed. The cell bed can be an inert cell bed of paraffin.
US09557250B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for particle-imprinted polymer films, methods of making particle-imprinted polymer films, methods for separating particles, devices or systems for separating particles, and the like.
US09557248B2
In a method for operating a medical imaging system and a medical imaging system operating according to such a method, a measurement sequence is divided into a number of partial sequences, with each of the partial sequences resulting in a loading of at least one of these system components when the measurement sequence is executed. The partial sequences are evaluated, in terms of their number and duration, using a computerized model in order to determine whether a load limit for the at least one of the system components is exceeded. If so, the number or duration of the partial sequences is modified, and a check using the computer model is again implemented. A number or respective duration of the partial sequences that results in the load limit not being exceeded is then used as a final output in order to operate the medical imaging system.
US09557229B2
A dynamic strain sensor includes a strain sensitive transistor and a light emitting diode coupled to the strain sensitive transistor. The dynamic strain sensor can include a piezoelectric layer incorporated into the structure of the strain sensitive transistor. The dynamic strain sensor can sense dynamic strain and can measure and monitor the dynamic strain wirelessly.
US09557225B2
A quick connect temperature sensing assembly for measuring the surface of a structure includes a thermocouple device, a docking device and a spring loaded adapter to connect the thermocouple device with the docking device. The docking device can be made of a magnetic material so that the assembly can be quickly connected and disconnected from the surface of a structure for sensing the temperature of the surface. When disconnected, the end of the thermocouple device extends beyond the bottom surface of the docking device. When the bottom surface of the docking device engages the surface of the structure, the end of the thermocouple is retracted and the spring loaded adapter maintains a biasing force on the thermocouple to maintain the end of the thermocouple in contact with the surface.
US09557223B2
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure based on a doubly-corrugated spoofed surface plasmon polariton (DC-SSPP) waveguide is presented. The dependence of phase change on the dielectric loading of the DC-SSPP structure causes the output from both arms to interfere and enhance features on the transmission spectrum of the MZI. The proposed MZI structure can be used for tag-free bio-molecular sensing. The highly localized electro-magnetic field at frequencies close to SSPP resonance is shown to reduce the sample amount needed to produce interference patterns without affecting the selectivity of the sensing structure.
US09557219B2
A method of comb-based spectroscopy for measuring a CW source at time-bandwidth limited resolution by using frequency combs with a high degree of mutual coherence (<1 radian phase noise).
US09557214B2
An illumination device and method is provided herein for calibrating individual LEDs in the illumination device, so as to obtain a desired luminous flux and a desired chromaticity of the device over changes in drive current, temperature, and over time as the LEDs age. The calibration method may include subjecting the illumination device to a first ambient temperature, successively applying at least three different drive currents to a first LED to produce illumination at three or more different levels of brightness, obtaining a plurality of optical measurements from the illumination produced by the first LED at each of the at least three different drive currents, obtaining a plurality of electrical measurements from the photodetector and storing results of the obtaining steps within the illumination device to calibrate the first LED at the first ambient temperature. The plurality of optical measurements may generally include luminous flux and chromaticity, the plurality of electrical measurements may generally include induced photocurrents and forward voltages, and the calibration method steps may be repeated for each LED included within the illumination device and upon subjecting the illumination device to a second ambient temperature.
US09557205B2
A redundant level measuring system comprises a chamber for fluidic coupling to a process vessel whereby material level in the vessel equalizes with material level in the chamber. A float including a magnet in the chamber rises and falls with material level in the chamber. A magnet actuated visual indicator is mounted to the chamber for indicating level of the magnet in the chamber. A measurement instrument includes an antenna and a measurement circuit. The instrument is mounted atop the chamber with the antenna extending downwardly into the chamber. The measurement circuit measures time of flight of a through air signal representing level of the material in the chamber. A shield in the chamber isolates the float from the antenna.
US09557204B2
A metering apparatus for determining a characteristic of a fluid, such as the volumetric flow rate, flowing through a non-linear section of a pipe is disclosed having a first strain gauge mountable to the non-linear section of the pipe offset from the bending neutral axis of the non-linear section of the pipe, to detect a bending force on the non-linear section of the pipe induced by the inertia of the fluid flowing through the pipe. A second strain gauge is mountable to the pipe disposed on the bending neutral axis of the non-linear section of the pipe, to detect at least one of the hoop strains, longitudinal strains and radial strains imparted on the pipe by the pressure of the fluid flowing through the pipe. A controller is configured to determine the mass flow rate of fluid flowing through the pipe based on the bending force determined by the first strain gauge and the at least one of the hoop strains, longitudinal strains and radial strains determined by the second strain gauge.
US09557202B2
An air mass meter has a sensor element, across which an air mass flow to be measured moves. The sensor element is a micro-electro-mechanical system having a membrane, on which a heating element is formed. An electrical measuring resistor and at least two electrical comparison resistors are arranged upstream and downstream of the heating element. A first temperature sensor element is formed with a measuring resistor upstream of the heating element and two comparison resistors arranged downstream of the heating element. The second temperature sensor element is formed with a measuring resistor arranged downstream of the heating element and two comparison resistors arranged upstream of the heating element.
US09557195B2
Various embodiments include apparatus and methods to measure a parameter of interest using a fiber optic cable. The parameters can be provided by a process that provides for multiplexed or distributed measurements. A multiplexed or a distributed architecture can include acoustic sensor units placed selectively along an optical fiber such that the acoustic sensor units effectively modulate the optical fiber with information regarding a parameter to provide the information to an interrogator coupled to the optical fiber that is separate from the acoustic sensor units.
US09557193B2
An optical encoder according to the present invention includes a light source that emits light; a scale including scale gratings each having a predetermined pitch; a light source grating disposed between the light source and the scale and having a predetermined pitch; and an interference fringe detector that detects an interference fringe generated by the light source grating and the scale. The scale gratings are disposed side by side, and the adjacent scale gratings are displaced from each other by a ½ period.
US09557192B2
A clockspring assembly is provided having means to indicate that the clockspring assembly is properly centered upon installation in a motor vehicle. The clockspring assembly includes a hub and a rotor that is rotatable relative to the hub. A ribbon cable is wound about the rotor and provided with one end attached to the rotor and another end attached to the hub. An electronic centering indicator is mounted to the hub and is configured to indicate a centered position of the hub relative to the rotor as a result of a condition occurring when the hub becomes centered with the rotor. Upon the occurrence of the condition, the centering indicator is configured to provide an electronic signal indicating that the clockspring is properly centered.
US09557187B2
A navigation system comprises a processing resource configured to receive destination data representative of a destination, to determine an expected travel time to the destination, and to determine a departure time in dependence upon the expected travel time to the destination, and an output device for providing the departure time to a user.
US09557186B2
The present disclosure relates to an electronic device capable of providing route information and a control method thereof. An electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a user input unit configured to receive destination information, a retrieval unit configured to retrieve an eco-driving route capable of minimizing the fuel consumption amount of a vehicle among driving routes for reaching a location corresponding to the destination information, and a controller configured to modify a prestored fuel table based on an actually consumed fuel amount while driving the vehicle, wherein the retrieval unit retrieves the eco-driving route using the modified fuel table.
US09557183B1
A backend system can store a network resource map that indicates network coverages areas for a plurality of base stations over a given region. The system can receive a pick-up request from a requesting user seeking transportation from a pick-up location to a destination, and instruct an automated vehicle (AV) to service the pick-up request. The system can further determine a plurality of possible routes from the pick-up location to the destination, and perform an optimization operation to determine an optimal route by utilizing the network resource map. The system can then transmit route data for the optimal route to the selected AV.
US09557181B2
A vehicle navigation system has a processing device. The processing device receives entries in a first data structure that are generated and are respectively associated with one tile of a tiling. The processing device may compare a three-dimensional terrain on the respective tile with at least one pre-defined tile pattern. Either an identifier for a pre-defined tile pattern or data describing the terrain on the respective tile may be stored by the processing device in the entry.
US09557179B2
Method, computer program product, and apparatus for providing navigation guidance to vehicles are disclosed. In some implementations, a navigation device can be configured to determine a dynamic speed limit for a vehicle based on the location of the vehicle in a road segment, and displays the dynamic speed limit in a display of the navigation device.
US09557175B2
Embodiments described herein provide for a method of modulating an input light beam of an interferometric fiber optic gyroscope (IFOG). The method includes intermittently jumping a phase step to suppress dead band. If a bit flip was clocked into a digital to analog converter generating the feedback signal at the beginning of a cycle in which the jumped phase step is implemented, the method includes at least one of re-introducing a rate difference corresponding to the bit flip, altering the timing of the bit flip, or altering the timing of the generating a feedback signal based on the jumped phase step.
US09557170B2
A method of determining the angular position of a roll includes: (a) detecting signals generated by an accelerometer attached to an end of a rotating roll; (b) determining whether a signal generated in step (a) has reached a pre-trigger threshold, and repeating step (a) if the signal has not reached the pre-trigger threshold; (c) if the signal is determined in step (b) to have reached the pre-trigger threshold, detecting a subsequent signal generated by the accelerometer; (d) determining whether the signal detected in step (c) has reached a trigger threshold, and repeating step (c) if the signal has not reached the trigger threshold; and (e) if the signal has reached the trigger threshold, establishing the angular position of the roll based on the signal that has reached the trigger threshold.
US09557169B2
This invention allows tracking of a defect across multiple inspections. The inventive solution translates every inspection record into a common set of fields that are first archived into a relational database. Then the defect coordinates from the inspection records of the same mask are all transformed into a common reference frame having the same origin and orientation with respect to the mask coordinate system. Following this, the defect having coordinates within a given tolerance distance are paired up and reported to the user.
US09557161B2
Method and apparatus for measuring sizes of objects by using photograph. Method includes taking photograph by using camera; recognizing reference scale in photograph and measuring size of reference scale; measuring vertical direction angle and horizontal direction angle between the camera and the objects by using image properties of the recognized reference scale; recognizing the objects in the photograph and measuring vertical sizes and horizontal sizes of the objects; and acquiring actual vertical sizes and actual horizontal sizes of the objects by compensating the measured vertical size and the measured horizontal size of the objects based on the size of the reference scale, the actual size of the reference scale, and the vertical and horizontal direction angles. Therefore, heights and widths of objects distributed throughout a wide area may be precisely measured regardless of positions of the objects by using a reference scale for comparatively measuring sizes of the objects.
US09557150B2
A grenade round 10 comprises a projectile 12, a case 14 and a high-low propellant propulsion system 16. The system 16 includes a propellant chamber assembly 30 for holding a propelling charge 32. The assembly 30 comprises a chamber body insert 38 which defines an internal cavity and a base plate insert 42 which closes off the internal cavity. The insert 38 is screwed into the case, while the insert 42 is screwed into the insert 38. The insert 42 defines a circumferential flange 60 which extends beyond and abuts a rim formation of the insert 38. The inserts define a high strength housing for the propelling charge which is able to withstand the high pressures resulting from combustion of the propelling charge. The flange provides a relatively large area for dissipation of energy resulting from combustion of the propelling charge, into the interface between the base plate insert and the case.
US09557147B1
An adaptor for mounting arrowheads to arrow shafts is disclosed. Example embodiments include a collar assembly portion that engages the outer surface of a hollow arrow shaft, and an adaptor with an inner centerpin attachment portion that engages the inner surface of the hollow arrow shaft. Other embodiments may include single-piece adaptors configured to receive the end of a hollow arrow shaft, and adaptors with arrowhead receiving portions.
US09557146B2
A wire neutralizing system for use with a vehicle including a frame adapted to be hitched to a vehicle. At least one wheel supports the frame while a bottom of the wheel rolls over terrain having buried wires. The system also includes a blade movable between a stowed position in which the blade is above the bottom of the wheel and a deployed position in which the blade is below the bottom of the wheel, such that the blade plows through the terrain to disable buried wires when in the deployed position.
US09557143B2
A protective garment system fabricated from ballistic textiles having a V50 on 2 grain RCC of at least 300 fps as measured by Mil-Spec 662F provides good ballistic and fragmentary protection, and can be worn in lieu of conventional clothing without discomfort to the wearer. Embodiments overcome prior art ballistic fabric limitations by incorporating novel construction, such as plaiting and/or twill or satin weaving, as well as novel yarn selection, to enable comfortable skin contact, and by applying coatings to improve abrasion resistance, UV resistance, and color acceptance. Embodiments incorporate layers of ballistic fabric in critical areas, either by overlapping protective clothing articles, and/or by incorporating multiple layers of protective fabric into an individual protective garment. Embodiments provide good moisture transport for long term comfort. In certain embodiments, substantially all of the garment's mass is protective, including pockets, lapels, load carriage, and any other “folded” features.
US09557139B1
An article of apparel includes a concealed weapon pocket positioned at a location on the article of apparel which allow for easy access by a user, such as a lower side portion of a coat or jacket, for example. The front panel includes an upper portion that is releasably secured about its top edge and upper side edges to the main panel, and a lower portion that is fixably secured about its bottom and lower side edges to the main panel. A flap associated with a front cargo pocket may be grasped by hand and moved in a generally forward and downward direction to expose the upper portion of the concealed weapon pocket. The user may then grasp and deploy a weapon disposed in the pocket with minimized structural interference from any portion of the pocket or surrounding apparel structure.
US09557137B2
An adjustable free-float forend/handguard mounting assembly for a small arms weapon, for attaching a forend/handguard to the small arms weapon. The assembly includes a barrel nut having internal female threads at a forward end and internal female threads at an opposite rearward end and having a plurality of radial utility holes. The assembly further includes a jam ring having internal cylindrical surfaces and having a plurality of threaded radial mounting holes, a washer, and a jam bolt having a hollow cylindrical body with a rearwardly extending externally male threaded portion and a forward external collar portion. The jam ring is rotatingly supported on its internal cylindrical surfaces for free rotation about the male threaded portion and the forward external collar portion of the jam bolt. The washer and the jam ring have similar internal diameters and are each similarly mounted on the jam bolt. The rearwardly extending externally male threaded portion of the jam bolt is adapted to engage with the internal female threads at the forward end of the barrel nut.
US09557131B1
A shooting rest includes first and second poles each having a length, and a gun rest assembly for holding the first and second poles in selected angular relationships and at selected locations along the lengths thereof. The gun rest assembly includes a swivel connecting a first rest component mounted to the first pole for reciprocal movement along the length thereof, and a second rest component mounted to the second pole for reciprocal movement along the length thereof. A first clamp assembly is carried by the first rest component and a second clamp assembly is carried by the second rest component. The first and second clamp assemblies are configured for independently locking and releasing the respective first and second rest components relative to the respective first and second poles.
US09557128B2
Disclosed is a reversible safety selector switch for an AR15-type firearm including a control shaft and a control lever. The control shaft is pivotably mountable about an axis in a lower receiver and has a cam portion with first and second cam surfaces and a detent portion having a surface and first and second detent grooves with detent sockets at each end of each groove. The first detent groove extends circumferentially approximately 90 degrees along the surface and the second detent groove extending circumferentially less than 90 degrees along the surface. A control lever is connectable to an end of the control shaft and configured for manipulation outside the receiver by a user to axially rotate the control shaft. When the selector is installed in the receiver, a detent pin in the receiver engages one of the detent grooves and prevents axial rotation beyond a detent socket, the first cam surface and first detent groove are positioned to allow axial rotation of the shaft between “safe” and “fire” positions in approximately 90 degrees of rotation and the second detent groove being positioned to allow axial rotation of the shaft between “safe” and “fire” positions in less than 90 degrees of rotation when installed with the detent pin engaging the second detent groove.
US09557124B2
A device for cocking a weapon (11) having an axially movable actuating element (2) that can be coupled to a cocking element (11.1) on the weapon for the purpose of cocking the weapon (11) may include a control device (3) that couples the actuating element (2) to a safety locking element (11.2) on the weapon, whereby the weapon (11) is simultaneously made safe and is armed by actuation of the actuating element.
US09557119B2
A heat transfer sheet [60,160,260,360] for a rotary regenerative heat exchanger is shaped to include sheet spacing features [59], which provide spacing between adjacent heat transfer sheets [60,160,260,360], and undulation surfaces [68,70] (corrugations) in the sections between the sheet spacing features [59]. The undulation sections [68,70] are constructed of regularly spaced lobes [64,72] extending at an angle with respect to the spacing features [59]. The undulating sections [68,70] impart turbulence in the air or flue gas flowing between the heat transfer sheets [60, 160, 260, 360] to improve heat transfer. The heat transfer sheets [60,160,260,360] may include undulating surfaces that differ in angle of their lobes [64,72].
US09557118B2
An apparatus and a method are provided. Use is made of a wick structure configured to receive a liquid and generate vapor in when such wick structure is heated by heat transferred from heat sources to be cooled off. A vapor channel is provided configured to receive the vapor generated and direct said vapor away from the wick structure. In some embodiments, heat conductors are used to transfer the heat from the heat sources to the liquid in the wick structure.
US09557114B2
The invention relates to a dental furnace wherein a firing chamber is heated up in a first heating-up period at a first heating-up rate of more than 501 K/min, in particular more than 1001 K/min, which heats the furnace to at least 10001 C, in particular to 1100-12501 C. The first heating-up period is followed by an intermediate heating period, which is at least five minutes long, in particular at least ten minutes long, the gradient or heating-up rate of which is adapted to the material to be sintered in the dental furnace (10), and wherein this is followed by an end heating-up period (44) during which heating up is effected at a heating-up rate of more than 301 K/min, in particular approximately 501 K/min, and wherein during this the furnace temperature is held for at least five minutes, in particular for at least 25 minutes, above the temperature toward the end of the first heating-up period, and wherein forced cooling of the furnace (10) is performed after this.
US09557082B1
A stand alone venting apparatus for an enclosed space that converts open door and closed door emissions of a steam and hot air oven into cooler air and condensate, the apparatus comprising an expansion chamber, a condensing chamber and a chilling chamber. A capture hood is provided for capturing the open door emissions. An emissions inlet is provided for capturing the closed door emissions. The condensing chamber includes condensing tubes with each tube containing an interior and an exterior. The open door emissions are directed over the exterior of the condensing tubes and the closed door emissions are directed within the interior of the condensing tubes. The expansion chamber and chilling chambers work with the condensing chamber to further cool and condense the emissions. All emissions may be re-circulated back into the enclosed space without requiring ductwork to vent outside the enclosed space.
US09557079B2
A thermal energy storage system includes a container positioned within a surrounding body of water and comprising a container wall. The wall has an interior surface exposed to and defining an internal volume of the container and has an exterior surface opposite the interior surface and exposed to the surrounding body of water. The internal volume is substantially full of water, and the container is configured to thermally separate water within the internal volume along the interior surface from water of the surrounding body of water along the exterior surface. A thermal source in thermal communication with the water within the internal volume is configured to transfer a thermal potential to the water within the internal volume.
US09557078B2
This invention refers to an improved solar fluid heater with respect to the one submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, which main improvement consist of a protective elastic membrane in the solar collector, allowing for the heating of any kind of liquid besides water, in which the solar collector design allows for the reception of solar radiation in its surface both, vertical and horizontal, wherein the horizontal surface heat is conveyed to the fluid through a central tubular axle with ribs, in which the air in the gap between the solar collector and the transparent cover has been replaced by argon, wherein the check valves have been designed with an anti-clogging system, that the cold and hot water supply system have been optimized and wherein the overpressure system is now powered by a photovoltaic panel built-in the solar heater object this invention. The purpose of this invention is to simplify and improve the design submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, allowing for its commercialization at a more affordable price to the consumer than the current solar fluid heaters.
US09557077B2
In one embodiment a solar collector is provided. The collector has a modular heat transfer component, which includes a heat transfer core to heat up a heat transfer fluid. The collector makes use of the heat transfer fluid itself to prevent heat loss through radiation.
US09557076B2
By a feedback arithmetic operation based on a temperature deviation, an input number is set which corresponds to a requested heat quantity generation, which is a controlled object, to a hot water supply apparatus. The temperature deviation is calculated by correcting a deviation of a tapping temperature with respect to a set hot water temperature with use of a Smith compensation temperature calculated by a Smith compensator for predicting a variation in a tapping temperature prior to an elapse of a dead time corresponding to a detection lag of the tapping temperature. The Smith compensator calculates a Smith compensation temperature to be used in the next control cycle based on the input scale number, the present Smith compensation temperature, and a time constant set in accordance with a flow rate of the hot water supply apparatus.
US09557072B2
A vent cover for covering an opening in a building structure to vent its interior is provided. The vent cover includes a hollow cover member with an open bottom for positioning over and covering the opening in the building and a front end with an opening. A grill is removably secured in the opening in the front end of the cover member. The grill has a plurality of partitions. Each of the partitions is defined by intersecting members, which have a tapered cross section for accelerating the flow of air through the grill. The grill also has a splash guard and an overhang structure optimal for preventing rain, snow and water from entering the grill and the opening in the building structure. The cover member may be aerodynamically shaped for use atop vehicles such as trailers and RVs.
US09557067B2
An air conditioning system includes a heat pump section performing indoor air-warming by using a vapor-compression refrigeration cycle, a separate heat source section performing indoor air-warming by using a heat source separate from the heat pump section, and a control unit configured to control actions of the heat pump section and the separate heat source section. When an operation is switched from a separate heat source air-warming operation to a heat pump air-warming operation, the control unit starts the heat pump air-warming operation while the separate heat source air-warming operation is continued, and after an overlapping air-warming ending condition is met, the control unit ends the separate heat source air-warming operation. The overlapping air-warming ending condition is that a temperature difference resulting from subtracting a target indoor temperature from an indoor temperature is equal to or greater than an overlapping air-warming ending air temperature difference.
