US09729903B2

A device for transmitting a packet includes a first processor configured to generate a first packet based on a first content; a second processor configured to generate a second packet independently from the first processor based on a second content; a signaling processor configured to generate a signaling packet based on the first content and the second content; and a communication interface configured to transmit the first packet, the second packet, and the signaling packet, wherein the first processor, the second processor, and the signaling processor respectively generate the first packet, the second packet, and the signaling packet in parallel.
US09729893B2

The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for encoding and decoding video. A video decoding method comprises reconstructing a residual value by entropy-decoding received bitstream and dequantizing and inverse-transforming residual value information, generating a final prediction unit by performing inter prediction on a prediction unit which is partitioned from a coding unit into at least two prediction units by asymmetric motion partitioning (AMP), the two partitioned prediction units comprising a first partitioned prediction unit and a second partitioned prediction unit, and reconstructing a picture by adding the final prediction unit to the residual values.
US09729887B2

A device for encoding video data includes a memory configured to store at least a portion of a multi-layer bitstream of video data and one or more processors configured to determine that a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message applies to more than one layer of the multi-layer video data; determine that the SEI message references a syntax element that has multiple instances associated with the more than one layer of the multi-layer video data; and set all of the multiple instances to a same value.
US09729882B1

Coding a video stream having a plurality of frames is disclosed. A frame of a video stream is processed to determine if direct motion prediction can be applied to the macroblocks of the frame. Macroblocks to which direct motion can be applied are grouped into superblocks. The distribution of superblock size and configuration is analyzed to determine variable-length codes that can vary for each frame or segment encoded using direct prediction superblocks, thereby reducing the number of bits used to indicate superblock encoding in the encoded video stream.
US09729880B2

An information processing apparatus includes a quantization unit that further quantizes a quantized first code, and hence generates a second code; an inverse quantization unit that inversely quantizes the second code quantized by the quantization unit, and hence generates a third code; a calculating unit that calculates a difference between the first code and the second code; a first encoding unit that encodes the second code; and a second encoding unit that encodes the difference calculated by the calculating unit.
US09729874B2

A filtering method according to the present invention is for filtering a plurality of blocks included in an image, and comprises: determining whether each of the blocks is an IPCM block or not; filtering a non-IPCM block that is not an IPCM block among the blocks to generate filtered data; outputting the filtered data as pixel values of the non-IPCM block, and outputting pixel values of the unfiltered IPCM block as pixel values of the IPCM block.
US09729868B2

Testing a video transmission system includes generating an optical signal and varying the colour by sweeping through a colour range. A first optical sensor captures the optical signal at intervals to generate frames. Transmitted frames are received by a second communication device. Received frames are provided to a display of the second communication device to reconstruct the frames. Colour information of frames displayed is obtained by a second optical sensor. Colour information of successive reconstructed frames is compared to determine deviation in capture rate of two successive frames of the first optical sensor, delay between capturing a frame by the first optical sensor and displaying the frame by the display, deviation in display rate of two successive frames displayed by the display and/or a loss of a frame. Audio information may be utilized in video and, conversational latency, synchronization between video and audio, and audio synchronization measurements.
US09729857B2

Techniques for generating 3D images using multi-resolution camera clusters are described. In one example embodiment, the method includes, disposing a multi-resolution camera set including a central camera, having a first resolution, and multiple camera clusters, having one or more resolutions that are different from the first resolution, that are positioned substantially surrounding the central camera. Images are then captured using the camera set. A high resolution depth map is then computed using a hierarchical approach on the captured images. The 3D image of the captured image is then generated using the computed high resolution depth map.
US09729856B2

The present invention relates to a method and system for reliable 3D shape extraction of a metal surface. In this method, images are acquired at the same time by simultaneously irradiating interference-free polarized lights to a metal object. A photometric stereo method is then applied based on the images except for images which make the extraction of a 3D shape of the metal object inaccurate.
US09729839B2

A discharge lamp drive device includes a resonant circuit section connected to a discharge lamp, a power conversion section configured to convert direct-current power into alternating-current power, and supply the discharge lamp with the alternating-current power via the resonant circuit section, and a control section configured to supply the discharge lamp with the alternating-current power having a first frequency and a second frequency higher than the first frequency in a lighting start period until the discharge lamp reaches a steady lighting state, the first frequency is a frequency for causing a resonance of the resonant circuit section, and the second frequency is a quasi-resonant frequency.
US09729834B2

An invention for identifying a spatial location of an event within video image data is provided. Disclosed are embodiments for detecting an object and obtaining trajectory data of a trajectory of the object within the video image data from a sensor device; converting the trajectory data into a contour-coded compressed image; generating, based on the trajectory data, a searchable code that contains a set of locations traversed by the trajectory of the object within the video image; associating the searchable code with the contour-coded compressed image in a database; and returning, in response to a query having a selected location that corresponds a location of the set of locations in the searchable code, an image of the trajectory data corresponding to the object based on the contour-coded compressed image in the database.
US09729833B1

A system and method that caregivers, central monitoring companies and other persons to monitor whether individuals entering patients' rooms take appropriate steps to mitigate the spread of healthcare associated infections to the patients receiving healthcare services. In one non-limiting the system and method determine whether an individual who has entered the room of a patient has wash his or her hands prior to approaching the patient. A live video feed from the monitored rooms can be displayed on a centralized monitoring primary display which can be located remote to the monitored rooms. When it is determined that an individual in a specific room from the monitored rooms is approaching a patient and has not washed his or her hands an alert, notification and/or a live video feed for the specific room can be displayed on a centralized monitoring alert display which can also be preferably located remote to the monitored rooms.
US09729830B2

A near real time content streaming system can use a playlist file, in one embodiment, that includes an indicator of the type of content represented by the playlist file. The type can be indicated by a parameter, such as Video on Demand (VOD) or live, or event, that specifies the type of playlist file, and a client device can process the playlist file based upon the type of playlist file indicated by the parameter. For example, the client device, after determining the type of playlist from a playlist file can make efficiency optimizations when processing the playlist file. For example, the client, knowing the playlist file is a VOD playlist, can save the previously used variant playlist when switching to a new variant playlist rather than discarding the previously used variant playlist.
US09729827B2

Systems and methods are provided for dynamically selecting one or more networked cameras for providing real-time camera feeds to a video conference. The systems and methods may include identifying one or more networked cameras associated with an area of a conference participant. A server may analyze real-time camera feeds from the identified cameras, and select a video feed having a view of the participant. The server may provide the selected feed to the video conference via a conference bridge, and continue monitoring camera feeds of cameras associated with the participant's area for another camera feed having a better view of the participant. Networked cameras may include fixed and mobile cameras owned and operated by individuals that are not associated with the participant, but who have registered their cameras with the server for use in video conferences.
US09729823B2

A meeting management system for managing the conduct of a meeting online provides the functionality to arrange order of the presenters during a meeting (208), to show the participants in the meeting (206-213) and the content presented by them (216), the 5 relative order of the participants as regards the meeting progress, the timeline of the meeting, and to legally record the total proceedings of the meeting. The participants appear as a rotatable “carousel” of icons.
US09729822B2

Content presented in association with a transmitting endpoint is obtained by the transmitting endpoint and transmitted to a receiving endpoint of a videoconference, along with associated information regarding interaction of a presenter with the content at the transmitting side. The receiving endpoint presents the presented content obtained from the transmitting endpoint similar to the presentation format at the transmitting side. Where the original presentation format is not suitable for transmission, a video image of the content in the original presentation format may be transmitted. An intermediate control unit, such as a multipoint control unit, may relay content and associated information between transmitting and receiving endpoints.
US09729820B1

Systems and methods for superimposing the human elements of video generated by computing devices, wherein a first user device and second user device capture and transmit video to a central server which analyzes the video to identify human elements, superimposes these human elements upon one another, and transmits the newly created superimposed video back to at least one of the user devices.
US09729819B2

A mobile terminal including a camera; a display; a wireless communication unit; and a controller configured to control the wireless communication unit to transmit a first signal requesting a video call to provide a virtual reality (VR) image to an external device, the VR image having an angle of view equal to or greater than a preset degree, generate the VR image based on a plurality of images obtained using the camera, control the wireless communication unit to receive a preset second signal from the external device, and control the wireless communication unit to transmit a third signal including the generated VR image to the external device in response to the second signal.
US09729816B1

A component for controlling playback of digital media objects using a single control input receives, from a server, a plurality of feature vectors, each feature vector representing one of a plurality of media objects, and receives one or more skip requests from the single control input. In response to a first skip request, the component selects a feature vector from among the plurality of feature vectors and instructs a media object playback device to playback a media object represented by the selected feature vector. In response to a second or successive skip request, the component selects another feature vector from among the plurality of feature vectors that is a distance away from the previously selected feature vector and instructs the media object playback device to playback another media object represented by the selected other feature vector.
US09729812B2

Included are: a front side unit including a display and a bezel, the display being configured to allow an image to be displayed on a display screen, and the bezel supporting the display from a peripheral side and including an attached protrusion; and a rear side unit including a back chassis and an attachment frame, the back chassis being disposed on an opposite surface side to the display screen of the display, and the attachment frame being attached to a surface on a display side of the back chassis and including an attaching protrusion. The front side unit is configured to be butted against the rear side unit and slid with respect to the rear side unit in a surface direction of the display screen, allowing the attached protrusion to be engaged with the attaching protrusion to allow the front side unit to be connected to the rear side unit.
US09729809B2

A driving method of a semiconductor device that takes three-dimensional images with short duration is provided. In a first step, a light source starts to emit light, and first potential corresponding to the total amount of light received by a first photoelectric conversion element and a second photoelectric conversion element is written to a first charge accumulation region. In a second step, the light source stops emitting light and second potential corresponding to the total amount of light received by the first photoelectric conversion element and the second photoelectric conversion element is written to a second charge accumulation region. In a third step, first data corresponding to the potential written to the first charge accumulation region is read. In a fourth step, second data corresponding to the potential written to the second charge accumulation region is read.
US09729803B2

An apparatus and a method for multispectral imaging that may, comprising a cyclopean camera arrangement comprising at least two spaced apart imaging sensors operating at a first waveband, an image combiner arranged to combine images from the at least two spaced apart imaging sensors to provide a first cyclopean image of a scene from a first virtual position, a further imaging sensor operating at a second waveband different from the first and arranged to provide a second image of the scene from a second position, and a second image combiner arranged to combine the first and second images of the scene to provide a multispectral image, wherein the first virtual position of the cyclopean camera arrangement and the second position of the further sensor are arranged to be substantially the same.
US09729800B2

An image generation system includes a light detector configured to detect light from a sample; a super-resolution image component transmitter including an objective, configured to transmit the light from the sample including a super-resolution image component that exceeds a cut-off frequency of the objective to the light detector; and an image processor configured to enhance the super-resolution image component of an image of the sample in accordance with an output signal from the light detector. The super-resolution image component transmitter includes a light polarization converter that is placed in an optical path of illumination light for illuminating the sample and that is configured to convert a polarization state of the illumination light to make a polarization direction distribution in the light flux of the illumination light symmetric with respect to an optical axis of the illumination light.
US09729797B2

A shutter lag from when a shutter button is fully pressed to when an exposure is actually performed may be reduced by performing a precedence operation for a state transition of a shutter when the shutter button is half pressed.
US09729795B2

A mobile terminal including a camera; a display capable of display an image captured by the camera in real-time; and a controller capable of display a plurality of frames generated using images captured continuously since a start of the image capturing, and execute a function on the mobile terminal associated with one or more of the generated frames while the camera captures the image.
US09729785B2

A computing device includes one or more camera systems, each camera system including software and/or hardware to provide various different camera-related capabilities. The camera system maintains one or more profiles, each profile identifying different capabilities of the camera system that the computing device is configured to use concurrently. The one or more profiles are provided to a program on the computing device, allowing the program to know which capabilities the computing device is configured to use concurrently. If a profile provided by the camera system indicates that the computing device is configured to use certain capabilities concurrently (e.g., capturing images and recording video at certain resolutions), then the program allows a user to select options for using those capabilities concurrently. However, if no such profile exists, the program does not allow a user to select options for using those capabilities concurrently.
US09729777B2

A photographing apparatus of the present invention, having a lens section including a photographing optical system for guiding photographing light flux and a body section capable of being attached to and detached from the lens section, comprises an image sensor having imaging pixels and pairs of focus detection pixels, a first memory for storing information relating to incident angle range of imaging light flux, a second memory, arranged in the body section, for storing information on light receiving sensitivity characteristic of the focus detection pixels, and a control amount calculate section for calculating information for focus adjustment control based on information that has been read out from the first memory and the second memory, wherein the information relating to incident angle range includes information relating to shape of a plurality of arcs based on openings of a plurality of lens groups contained in the photographing optical system.
US09729774B2

An imaging device includes a first imaging optical system; a first imaging unit that converts an optical image of a subject formed via the first imaging optical system into an electrical signal and produces an image signal of a first imaged image; a second imaging optical system; a second imaging unit that converts an optical image of the subject formed via a second imaging optical system into an electrical signal and produces an image signal of a second imaged image; and a control unit that independently control the first imaging optical system and the second imaging optical system and performs individually a focus adjustment of the first imaged image and the second imaged image.
US09729765B2

A virtual cinematography system (SmartVCS) is disclosed, including a mobile tablet device, wherein the mobile tablet device includes a touch-sensor screen, a first hand control, a second hand control, and a motion sensor. The SmartVCS including a motion tracking camera configured to track the movements of the motion sensor and generate motion tracking information and a computer operatively coupled to the motion tracking camera configured to receive the motion tracking information and to transmit the motion tracking information to the first mobile tablet device, wherein the first mobile device is configured to overlay the motion tracking information onto a virtual landscape.
US09729760B2

The image forming apparatus including: a controller controlling the image forming unit to form a test image, controlling the measurement unit to measure the test image on the image bearing member, and controlling the transfer unit to transfer the test image to the sheet; a reception unit receiving a user instruction; a second generation unit generating the conversion condition based on the user instruction and the measurement result of the test image, wherein the sample image includes a first sample image, a second sample image, and a third sample image, a color difference between the first and second sample images is smaller than a threshold value, a color difference between the second and third sample images is larger than the threshold value, density of the first sample image is higher than density of the second sample image and density of the third sample image.
US09729759B1

A print job is analyzed to determine what page locations can use optional colors and different image quality increase values of different optional colors at the page locations are calculated. Only one of the optional colors is selected, based on which optional color produces the highest print job image quality increase for all of the page locations of the print job. Each individual page of the print job is evaluated to determine if use of the selected optional color increases image quality of the individual page to identify page exceptions. Instructions to mount a selected replaceable printing module corresponding to the selected optional color are displayed, and the print job is printed using the selected replaceable printing module.
US09729756B2

An image forming system prints an image including a plurality of objects. At least a part of the objects overlap with one another. The image forming system includes a computer and an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a rendering circuit. When the rendering circuit processes the image object, the rendering circuit enhances a resolution of a part corresponding to the object in the image object based on a shape of the object overlapped at an upper side in the image object. When the rendering circuit enhances the resolution of the part corresponding to the object in the image object, the rendering circuit decides a color of the boundary based on the color information.
US09729755B2

As set forth herein, methods and systems for automated image defect detection. An input image is subjected to skew detection and contaminant detection. Upon detection of skew of and/or contaminants in the image data, correction data, including indicia of the contaminants/skew, correction angles and directions are calculated and displayed on an electronic representation of the document. Automatic correction may then be performed to correct the detected defects, allow the defects to remain, or re-scan the original document to generate new image data without the detected defects.
US09729745B2

A mechanism for fixing a transmission cable enables a wiring shape of a flat cable to be held relatively reliably when the cable is acted upon by torsion force, tensile force and the like from the outside without the cable skin sustaining damage. A foldable insulation sheet is joined in folding surfaces, and a position of the flat cable is regulated by at least the fold portion thereof and joint portion. The mechanism is includes a flat cable, a foldable insulation sheet, and joint portions for joining folding surfaces of the insulation sheet. At least one of the fold portion of the insulation sheet and the joint portions is disposed in a position for regulating the flat cable. Thus, the flat cable is nipped by the folding surfaces of the insulation sheet, and its wiring shape is held by the fold portion or the joint portion.
US09729736B2

An information processing apparatus connectable to one or more devices via a network. The apparatus includes a measuring unit measuring an inclination of the apparatus; a determining unit determining whether the inclination of the apparatus relative to a given surface of one of the one or more devices is within a predetermined inclination range; a receiving unit that receives radio waves; an obtaining unit obtaining identification information from the radio waves; a radio wave strength measuring unit measuring strength of the radio waves; a selection unit determining whether to select a given one of the one or more devices based on the strength of the radio waves; and a connection unit connecting the information processing apparatus to one of the one or more devices selected by the selection unit and for which the inclination of the apparatus is within the predetermined inclination range.
US09729734B2

An information processing apparatus includes an accepting unit, a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, and a storing unit. The accepting unit accepts a transmission destination of input information for inputting setting information about a setting for the information processing apparatus. The transmitting unit transmits the input information to the transmission destination accepted by the accepting unit. The receiving unit receives the setting information transmitted from an external apparatus. The storing unit stores the setting information in a storage medium as a setting for the information processing apparatus. The setting information is received by the receiving unit.
US09729729B2

A system and method for providing digital data content to a wireless device. Although a fee is typically charged for access to the digital data content, e.g., electronic books, the system and the method provides controlled access to this content for free while the wireless device is accessing the content in a specified location, e.g., a retail location. A content control server receives a request from the wireless device requesting access to the digital data content. The request is received over a secure connection, preferably a virtual private network (VPN). The content control server monitors how much of the digital data content has been provided to the wireless device, and/or an amount of time the wireless device has been accessing the digital data content. This content control server uses this monitored data to control, throttle, the provision of the digital data content to the wireless device.
US09729728B2

A network device receives business logic for Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) policies and automatically generates a policy list based on the business logic. The network device receives signaling messages for user equipment and determines, based on the policy list, policy decisions that are responsive to each of the signaling messages. The network device further logs a decision flow associated with each of the signaling messages and corresponding policy decisions; determines, based on the logging, if the policy list can be structured more efficiently; and automatically updates the policy list when the policy list can be structured more efficiently.
US09729727B1

A method and corresponding apparatus for automatically detecting and preventing fraudulent calls on a communication network. At least one example embodiment may include collecting CDRs on the communication network for a given time period, aggregating the plurality of call features for each of the collected call detail records by destination number, and utilizing machine learning to generate a decision model for determining if a destination number and/or a call to that destination number may be fraudulent. According to another aspect of the example embodiment, the decision model may be implemented on the communication network to detect and prevent fraudulent calls.
US09729726B2

In various embodiments, a corpus of codecs may be correlated with different, partially overlapping ranges of transmission characteristics. As channel conditions degrade or improve, the system may select a new codec with which to continue the connection based upon the corresponding overlapping range. Codecs may not be switched immediately when the transmission characteristics enter overlapping ranges, to avoid degrading the user's experience. If the characteristics remain in the overlap, or manifest a likely progression toward another region, then the transition may be effected.
US09729725B2

The invention relates to a method for establishing a telecommunications link (C1, C2, C3), controlled by a control program (28), with a second communications terminal (D1), according to which a CTI service is made available to the first communications terminal (36) by a CTI server (20) in a CTI domain allocated to said CTI server (20), and the second communications terminal (D1) is located outside the CTI domain and by way of a proxy (Trk2) situated within the CTI domain is linked to the CTI server (20). The control program (28) is linked to the CTI server (20) by way of an intermediate functional unit (30, 32). The intermediate functional unit (30, 32) signals to the control program (28) that the second communications terminal (D1) instead of the proxy (Trk2) is linked into the established telecommunications link (C1, C2, C3) as the telecommunications terminal. The intermediate functional unit (30, 32) instructs the CTI server (20) to carry out the CTI service on the proxy (Trk2) in accordance with the control program (28). Furthermore, an intermediate functional unit (extra domain device, CSP) can be implemented as additional server or middleware. The invention further provides a corresponding system.
US09729723B1

A method and apparatus are disclosed of transmitting live event notification information to a user device. One example method may include retrieving event user preference information from an event user database based on prestored user preferences. The method may also include transmitting an initial event notification message to an end user communication device based on the event user preference information to notify the end user of an upcoming event and receiving a response message from the end user communication device indicating a current availability of the end user. The user device may receive notification information via more than one communication channel and respond in a number of different ways.
US09729714B1

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for initiating and handling an emergency IP request using an IP enabled device having GPS capability. The IP enabled device is monitored for one or more emergency criteria. If the emergency criteria are satisfied, global positioning data is obtained using the GPS capability and the emergency IP request is sent to an address server. The address server receives the emergency IP request, obtains local emergency services data based on the global positioning data, dials a call center station based on the local emergency services data and passes an emergency call from the IP enabled device to the call center station. This invention can be implemented as a computer program embedded in a computer readable medium wherein the steps are performed by one or more code segments.
US09729712B2

According to one embodiment, an electronic device, which can be fitted on a body of a user, estimates action of the user by using one or more sensors. The electronic device receives first notification information detected by an external device, and filtering information indicative of an action type for which notification of the first notification information should be permitted or prohibited. The electronic device executes, when the estimated action is of the action type for which notification of the first notification information is permitted, processing for notifying the user of the first notification information.
US09729703B2

A mobile terminal, a non-transitory computer readable recording medium, and a notification method are disclosed. A proximity sensor detects the proximity of an object. An illumination sensor detects an illumination. A processor provides a specific notification upon detection of a touch operation when the proximity sensor detects the proximity of the object and the illumination is smaller than a predetermined value.
US09729702B2

In some implementations, a computing device may determine a location of the computing device. The computing device may have an associated first phone number. The computing device may determine that the location of the computing device is outside a geographic area in which a carrier associated with the first phone number provides service. The computing device may send a registration request to a local network indicating that the computing device is operating in an over the top mode. The computing device may originate an outgoing call from the computing device. The outgoing call appears to a called party to originate from a second phone number that is different from the first phone number.
US09729699B2

An apparatus to control an external device includes a connector to electrically connect with the external device, a connection detector to determine whether the external device is electrically connected to the connector, and a controller to obtain level information corresponding to the external device from the connector, to determine a type of the external device based on the level information, and to control execution of a function of the apparatus based on the determined type, wherein the level information is different according to the type of the external device.
US09729697B2

An electronic device and a method of controlling the same are provided. The electronic device includes a wearable band. The electronic device is controlled to operate in a different mode depending on the way the user is wearing the band, and a user interface for each operation mode is provided. Accordingly, the electronic device with the wearable band can be easily used in various ways.
US09729693B1

Systems and methods determining measurement confidence for data collected from sensors of a wearable device are herein disclosed. In an implementation, a confidence measurement that a wearable device is worn by a user can be determined by determining that the wearable device is not in motion, comparing sample voltages collected using a light emitter to thresholds indicative of a surface on which the light is being reflected, calculating a signal quality metric using data collected using a pulse oximeter, and comparing the signal quality metric to thresholds indicative of typical biometric data measurements. Other implementations for confidence measurement can include frequency transforming signal data stored in a buffer, performing probabilistic modelling on the frequency transformed data, and determining a confidence measurement using a signal quality estimation based on the modelled data.
US09729692B2

A cable for providing electric power from a power source to a mobile device, the cable having a first connector at a first end of the cable for connecting the cable to a mobile device and with a second connector at a second end for connecting the cable to the power source, wherein the cable comprises a memory module for backup and bidirectional transfer of data to and from the mobile device.
US09729688B2

A mobile terminal includes: a body in which an electronic component is installed; and a movement unit fastened to the body in at least a portion thereof, configured to output information processed in the mobile terminal, and the movement unit being flexible on the body as curvature of the body is varied, wherein the body includes a varied portion whose curvature is varied and fixed portions formed on both ends of the varied portion and having curvature which is not changed, wherein the varied portion includes a plurality of micro blocks formed in a movement direction and configured to form a predetermined curvature and an elastic member formed in the micro blocks and enabling the micro blocks to form a predetermined curvature when external force is applied or when external force is removed.
US09729685B2

Accurate and reliable techniques for determining information of an accessory device in relation to an electronic device are described.
US09729665B2

A content transmission method including: searching, when a first information processing device receives a transmission request for a first content from a second information processing device, for a third information processing device within information processing devices, at least one of the information processing devices having a connection with the second information processing device and currently transmitting a second content to the second information processing device; and transmitting to the third information processing device, by the first information processing device, the first content and an instruction to transmit the transmitted first content from the third information processing device to the second information processing device in accordance with the transmission request.
US09729659B2

The subject disclosure is directed towards using primary data deduplication concepts for more efficient access of data via content addressable caches. Chunks of data, such as deduplicated data chunks, are maintained in a fast access client-side cache, such as containing chunks based upon access patterns. The chunked content is content addressable via a hash or other unique identifier of that content in the system. When a chunk is needed, the client-side cache (or caches) is checked for the chunk before going to a file server for the chunk. The file server may likewise maintain content addressable (chunk) caches. Also described are cache maintenance, management and organization, including pre-populating caches with chunks, as well as using RAM and/or solid-state storage device caches.
US09729645B2

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided in order to obtain an image from a remote computer with the image being associated with the current location of a mobile terminal via which a user provides input soliciting the image. In the context of a method, the user input representative of a request to obtain an image from a remote computer may be received. The method may then determine a current context including a location of a mobile terminal and may cause the current context to be transmitted to the remote computer. The method may also receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context of the mobile terminal. In this regard, the image is associated with the location of the mobile terminal upon receiving the user input. The method may also cause the image received from the remote computer to be stored.
US09729644B1

An event venue with a performance area (e.g., a stage, a sport field) and an eventgoer area (e.g., a stadium seating section) may include beacons and cameras throughout the performance area. The beacons and cameras may each record event occurrence data (e.g., audiovisual data) of particular occurrences (e.g., sport goals, songs played) during an event (e.g., sports game, concert) at the event venue. Other data, such as sports injury data and sports player replacement data, may also be gathered before or during the event. The beacons and cameras may send the event occurrence data and the other data to a transmission system. The transmission system may convert the event occurrence data to a transmittable format and may then output it through one or more local wireless transmitters. Eventgoers mobile devices in the transmission zones of these transmitters may then receive the data.
US09729635B2

Data provided on a first computing device is represented by a graphical object displayed on a screen. A user can initiate an “attach event” with a gesture to enable the graphical object to be associated and/or virtually attached to the user and/or a user's hand/fingers. An image capture component can view/track user movements. Based on the viewed/tracked movements, the graphical object representing the data on the first computing device can be moved on a screen of the first computing device to correspond to the movement of the user's hand/finger. The graphical object also can be moved to a position on a screen of a second computing device when the user moves a hand/fingers to an area corresponding to the position. A user may initiate a “release event” with a gesture and can end the association and enable the data to be sent to the second computing device.
US09729634B2

A distributed storage system that includes memory hosts. Each memory host includes non-transitory memory and a network interface controller in communication with the memory and servicing remote direct memory access requests from clients. The memory receives a data transfer rate from each client in communication with the memory host through remote direct memory access. Each memory host also includes a data processor in communication with the memory and the network interface controller. The data processor executes a host process that reads each received client data transfer rate, determines a throttle data transfer rate for each client, and writes each throttle data transfer rate to non-transitory memory accessible by the clients through remote direct memory access.
US09729630B2

A network media delivery system includes client devices and a host device. Each client device has a network interface, an engine for processing media data, and a media interface. The host device, which can be a computer, establishes network communication links with the client devices, which can be networked media stations, and sends media data to the client devices. The media data can be sent wirelessly as packets of media data transmitted at intervals to each client device. In one embodiment, the host device controls processing of media data such that processed media is delivered in a synchronized manner at each of the client devices. In another embodiment, the host device controls processing of media data such that processed media is delivered in a synchronized manner at the host device and at least one client device.
US09729629B2

A computer implemented method includes the steps of establishing a plurality of storage control sessions, wherein each storage control session associates at least one primary storage controller and at least one secondary storage controller with a predetermined path through a data transport network that interconnects the primary and secondary storage controllers; identifying storage control sessions that have data available to be transferred from primary storage controllers to secondary storage controllers; accumulating available data for each session and determining transfer time through the network for each data element to estimate prospective bandwidth utilization; and determining, for a predetermined time interval, whether transferring the available data would fully occupy available bandwidth of the data transport network for the predetermined time interval. When available bandwidth would be fully occupied, the available data accumulated during predetermined time intervals prior to the predetermined time interval in which fully occupied bandwidth was detected is transferred.
US09729627B2

The present disclosure relates to a method for use in a Peer to Peer (P2P) streaming system over a mobile network, the method comprising: receiving from a P2P tracker of said at least one P2P tracker a notification message indicating a first mobile peer to be served by the first P2P proxy and request information of the first mobile peer indicating a first media content requested by the first mobile peer and peers where the first media content is available, the peers being not served by the first P2P proxy; checking whether the first media content is buffered in the first P2P proxy; initiating a P2P session with at least one or more peers among the peers to fetch the first media content, when the first media content is not buffered in the first P2P proxy; and sending the fetched first media content to the first mobile peer.
US09729623B2

A conformance checker is received on a system that contains hostable content, and is executed. One or more results provided by the conformance checker are evaluated; and the hostable content is migrated to a destination host in accordance with the evaluating step.
US09729616B2

A CCN network node use reputation values for one or more interfaces to determine how to forward an Interest. During operation, the network node can receive an Interest or Content Object via a network interface, determines one or more candidate outbound faces for forwarding the Interest by performing a longest-prefix-matching lookup in a forwarding information base (FIB) using the Interest's name or name prefix as input. A respective FIB entry maps a name prefix to a forwarding rule that includes a corresponding outbound face for the name prefix. The node can determine a reputation value for each of the candidate outbound faces based on reputation information stored in association with the Interest's name or name prefix, and selects a candidate outbound face with a reputation value exceeding a first predetermined threshold. The node can then forward the received Interest via the selected outbound face.
US09729614B2

The present document is directed to data backup and data archiving and data synching and data sharing over disparate networks for the purpose of allowing private and commercial computing device users to back up, archive, synchronize and share data, including data files, on remote data-storage facilities via a network-based application. In particular, the teachings of the present document facilitate the end to end process through the utilization of a resilient data node without compromising the system itself, or the data stored therein security or privacy.
US09729613B2

A method and apparatus for realizing a web service. The apparatus having binary web service interface to communicate with nodes operationally connected to the apparatus using a binary web service, the nodes having one or more resources, the binary web service interface receives from a node a registration message including information on the address of the node, a flag indicating that at least part of the resources of the node are defined in a template, and a node type identification; a second interface for retrieving template information on the basis of the node type identification and a resource component for storing information on nodes, node addresses, node resources and template information.
US09729604B2

Verifying a location of a tag is provided. A request for content associated with the tag is received from a client device that scanned the tag. It is determined whether location data was received from the client device. In response to determining that the location data was received from the client device, it is determined whether a current location of the tag is a predefined location for the tag based on the location data received from the client device. In responsive to determining that the current location of the tag is the predefined location for the tag based on the location data received from the client device, the content associated with the tag is sent to the client device.
US09729598B2

A method for signaling a time and/or clock through a header station generating a transport datastream from video and/or audio data to at least one receiver of the transport datastream calculates the time information (PCRN+1; RTPN+1; TN+1) integrated in a transport data packet of the transport datastream iteratively from the time information (PCRN; RTPN; T1) of the transport data packet last transmitted in the transport datastream with integrated time information, from a transmission time of data bits transmitted since the last transmitted transport data packet with integrated time information in the transport datastream and from a clock (fPCR; fSys). The time information (PCRN+1, PCRN; RTPN+1, RTPN; TN+1, T1) serves in each case for the signaling of times or a clock, and, in each case, contains a pulse number counted up to the transmission time of the respective transport data packet of the clock (fPCR; fSys).
US09729596B2

Methods and arrangements are provided for the generation and assembly of content pods for playback within an online streaming media service. A content pod is assembled to contain personal content that is relevant to an end user. In some embodiments, personal content can consist of traffic updates, voicemail messages, text messages, social media updates, and personal status updates. A content delivery system determines what personal content is available on the user device through connecting to available information sources. The delivery system then assembles the content pod from these elements in addition to invitational content from content providers. In some embodiments, a bumper message is included in the content pod to provide a context for the elements that are being assembled in combination with each other. Once the content pod is generated, it is sent to the user device to be played during content breaks within the online streaming playback.
US09729588B2

Managing Security Parameter Information (SPIs) to prevent race condition failures begins where a system negotiates SPIs along with associated expiration times, and re-negotiates new SPIs as necessary. The system prevents race conditions that would otherwise occur when both an old SPI and a new SPI are active at the same time. The system accomplishes this by managing the storage and deletion of old SPIs such that only active SPIs are stored on the system for use by a User Equipment (UE) or Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF).
US09729572B1

A device may determine that a file of a client device is a malicious file. The device may obtain remote access to the client device using a connection tool. The connection tool may provide access and control of the client device. The remote access may include access to a file location of the malicious file. The device may determine file information associated with the malicious file using the remote access to the client device. The device may select one or more remediation actions based on the file information. The device may cause the one or more remediation actions to be executed using the remote access to the client device.
US09729571B1

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for detecting and measuring changes in network behavior of communication networks utilizing real-time clustering algorithms. In use, network traffic associated with at least one communication network is received. Additionally, the network traffic is characterized and classified based on similarities in the network traffic utilizing one or more real-time clustering algorithms. Further, changes in network behavior of the at least one communication network are detected and measured utilizing information associated with the classified network traffic.
US09729567B2

A shadow network, which can be a virtual reproduction of a real, physical, base computer network, is described. Shadow networks duplicate the topology, services, host, and network traffic of the base network using shadow hosts, which are low interaction, minimal-resource-using host emulators. The shadow networks are connected to the base network through virtual switches, etc. in order to form a large obfuscated network. When a hacker probes into a host emulator, a more resource-intensive virtual machine can be swapped in to take its place. When a connection is attempted from a host emulator to a physical computer, the a host emulator can step in to take the place of the physical computer, and software defined networking (SDN) can prevent collisions between the duplicated IP addresses. Replicating the shadow networks within the network introduces problems for hackers and allows a system administrator easier ways to identify intrusions.
US09729566B2

In a vehicle communication network, some vehicles may be used by attackers to send false information to other vehicles which may jeopardize the safety of other vehicles. Vehicles should be able to detect malicious communications activities and to mitigate the impact of malicious vehicles by evicting (eliminating) suspected malicious vehicles from the system. Evicting a vehicle is to ignore the messages sent from the vehicle for a specified time period. Voting and sacrifice principles are combined using a mathematical model based on the “Mafia Game”. The Mafia Game model focuses on the relative size of the group of attackers within a neighborhood necessary to dominate the entire network in the neighborhood (i.e., to eventually evict all the innocent vehicles).
US09729563B2

Transferring metadata is disclosed. Information about a network interaction is processed to generate metadata describing the network interaction. Based on the metadata it is determined whether the metadata is to be transferred to an aggregator. In the event that the metadata is to be transferred, one or more aggregators are determined to which the metadata is to be transferred. The metadata is transferred to the one or more aggregators.
US09729555B2

Techniques for managing groups on a mobile platform, comprising a mobile groups application. The mobile groups application including a groups management component to manage at least one group for a corresponding social networking application of a social networking system; and a groups rendering component to render a groups user interface (UI) view comprising at least one selectable group user interface element representative of the at least one group, the at least one selectable group UI element comprising a first selectable group UI element, wherein the first selectable group UI element is representative of a first group of the at least one group and the first group comprises at least one group member.
US09729554B2

A system may include a first network in which user device(s) and a HIP server are communicably coupled. The first network may include a secure data administrator, such as a medical data system, that stores secure data. In some implementations, at least one of the user devices may include a web module and communicate with a web server through a second network. At least one of the user device may be restricted from communicating with the secure data administrator, so the user device may request data stored in the secure data administrator through the HIP server. The user device may base the requests for the data on information received from the web server.
US09729550B2

Disclosed is technology relating to a device and method for detecting bypass access and account theft. In the method for detecting bypass access from a client to a server according to the present invention: a server receives access data comprising data about hops on the route from the client to the server by using a route tracing agent; region data is extracted from the IP address(es) of the hop(s) comprised in the received access data; a judgment is made as to whether the extracted region data belongs to a pre-set access-permitted region; and the server detects whether the access from the client is bypass access, in accordance with the judgment results.
US09729548B2

The invention is about an identification process of an individual or object, in a system comprising a control server and a management server of a database comprising N indexed data of N stored individuals,in which, to identify the individual or object, its datum is compared to each of the N data of the base. The process comprises steps during which: the control server acquires the datum of the individual or object to be identified, the reference data of the base and the datum of the individual or object to be identified are converted into simplified data of lesser size, a set of p index of simplified data of the base, p being less than N, having the most similarities to the simplified datum of the individual or object to be identified, securely between each of the N simplified data of the database and the simplified datum of the individual or object to be identified, the management server scrambles the N reference data of the database, and transfers to the control server p scrambled data corresponding to the simplified data identified previously, from the p scrambled data the control server determines, by secure multi-party computation between each of the p scrambled data and the datum of the individual or object, the index or the indices of one or more scrambled data whereof the corresponding reference data have a rate of similarity to the datum of the individual or object, which exceeds a predetermined threshold.
US09729542B2

Techniques are provided for generating a logical application by grouping multiple physical distributions of an application for programming a plurality of electronic devices. A logical application can run separate commands through a single interface, lessening the number of connections needed between different user's electronic devices (e.g., smart phones, tablets, workstations, wearable computers) and a company's various servers. In certain embodiments, different physical distributions of the application may correspond to different operating systems versions of the application. Compiled code for each of these operating systems and device types is controlled and assigned to select users' devices from vastly different distribution architectures. In certain embodiments, a particular version (i.e., physical distribution) of the logical application to be installed to the device is determined based on the operating system of the device and the appropriate version of the logical application is installed on the device.
US09729534B2

Apparatus and method for in situ authentication and diagnostic repair of a data storage device in a multi-device user environment. In accordance with some embodiments, the method includes detecting an error condition associated with a selected data storage device in the multi-device user environment. A first level of user authentication is established by providing a challenge value generated by the selected data storage device to a remote device over a network associated with the selected data storage device. A first diagnostic tool stored on the selected data storage device is executed responsive to receipt of the first level of user authentication. A second level of user authentication is established by providing a second challenge value generated by the selected data storage device to the remote device. An output from the first diagnostic tool is used to execute a second diagnostic tool stored on the selected data storage device.
US09729533B2

There is provided a system and method for human verification by a contextually iconic visual public Turing test. There is provided a method comprising receiving a request to verify whether a client is human controlled, selecting, by contextual criteria, a plurality of images each having one or more associated tags from a database, generating a challenge question and a corresponding answer set based on associated tags of a subset of the plurality of images, presenting the plurality of images and the challenge question to the client, receiving a submission to the challenge question from the client, and responding to the request by verifying whether the submission is contained in the answer set to determine whether the client is human controlled. The contextual criteria may comprise subject matter, branding, or intended audience of a content provider sending the request, thereby facilitating human responses while deterring automated systems.
US09729532B2

A user identity authenticating method and device for preventing malicious harassment are described. The method includes: after a user logs in an internet website, unique first authentication code information is generated and stored; the first authentication code information and a Short Message (SMS) Uplink (UL) service number used for identifying the internet website uniquely are displayed on a website page; after the user sends an SMS including second authentication code information input by the user to the corresponding SMS UL service number, an acquired second authentication code is matched with a stored first authentication code, if the matching succeeds, then the authentication succeeds. The embodiments in the disclosure can avoid possible malicious harassment effectively, thus avoiding legal risks which a website service provider may confront to some extent, and improving the satisfaction of its service. In addition, the increase of processing load and performance influence of the website service provider's server, which are caused by triggering the sending of a large number of authentication codes maliciously, can be avoided in the disclosure.
US09729526B2

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may perform, for example, providing an upload request to a mobile communication device to cause a secure device processor of the mobile communication device to perform a modification of data according to a data protection key to generate modified data and to perform an encryption of the modified data according to an upload transport key to generate encrypted modified data where the secure device processor is separate from and in communication with a secure element of the mobile communication device, and where the secure element receives master keys from a remote management server and stores the master keys to enable the upload transport key and the data protection key to be generated by the secure element without providing the master keys to the secure device processor. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09729525B1

Techniques of performing queries involve adapting a query to whether query data is encrypted. Along these lines, a data sensitivity policy defines which types of data is encrypted prior to storage in a data analytics database and which other types of data remain unencrypted. When a client formulates a query, the client encrypts a query input and then conceals the encrypted query input and query function to form concealed query logic. When the concealed query logic is received by a data analytics server, the data analytics server determines whether the query data to be input into the concealed query logic is encrypted or unencrypted. If the query data is unencrypted, then the concealed query logic is unconcealed and the query input unencrypted so that the data analytics server may evaluate the query function without concealment to produce a query result.
US09729523B2

A method, network element, and mobile station (MS) are disclosed. The method includes: obtaining information that a plug-in card of the MS does not support a first encryption algorithm; deleting the first encryption algorithm from an encryption algorithm list permitted by a core network element according to the information that the plug-in card of the MS does not support the first encryption algorithm; sending the encryption algorithm list excluding the first encryption algorithm to an access network element, so that the access network element selects an encryption algorithm according to the encryption algorithm list excluding the first encryption algorithm and the MS capability information sent from the MS and sends the selected encryption algorithm to the MS. By using the method, network element, and MS, errors due to the fact that the plug-in card of the MS does not support an encryption algorithm may be avoided during the encryption process.
US09729522B2

Various aspects of a system and a method for device authentication are disclosed herein. The system comprises one or more processors in a first communication device. The one or more processors are operable to detect a second communication device within a communication range of the first communication device. The first communication device is in an unlocked state and the second communication device is in a locked state. The first communication device communicates authentication data to unlock the detected second communication device.
US09729510B2

An apparatus, comprising an enhanced function block and a stateless function block; main routing means for routing, based on a header of a data packet and an incoming port, the data packet to one of the enhanced function block and the stateless function block; wherein the enhanced function blocks comprises providing means for providing an information comprised in the data packet to a control device; an enhanced function means for executing an enhanced function on the data packet to obtain a first processed data packet addressed to a destination address, wherein the enhanced function is based on an instruction for the data packet received in response to the provided information; and a first routing means for routing the first processed data packet to the destination address; and the stateless function blocks comprises a stateless function means for executing a stateless function on the data packet, wherein the stateless function is not based on an instruction for the data packet received in response to providing information comprised in the data packet to a control device, in order to, thus, obtain a second processed data packet; and returning means for returning the second processed data packet to the main routing means.
US09729508B2

Methods and systems for processing application-level content of network service protocols are described. According to one embodiment, a firewall maintains multiple configuration schemes, each defining a set of administrator-configurable content filtering process settings. The firewall also maintains a security policy database including multiple firewall security policies. At least one of the firewall security policies includes an associated configuration scheme and an action to take with respect to a particular network session based on a set of source Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, a set of destination IP addresses and/or a network service protocol. Policy-based content filtering of network sessions is performed by: (i) identifying a firewall security policy matching traffic associated with the network session; (ii) identifying content filtering processes to be performed on the traffic based on the configuration scheme associated with the matching firewall security policy; and (iii) applying the identified content filtering processes to the traffic.
US09729504B2

A method of near real-time global geographical IP address automated lookup utilizes an automated system continually performing a plurality of IP address location discovery techniques including traceroute automation, global server triangulation other geo IP discovery techniques and rolling cross checks across the system to build and maintain a global geo IP database with known geo locations of IP addresses. The geo IP database may be utilized to request the geo location of a specific IP address, and if the geo location of the specific IP address is unknown the system attempts to acquire the geo location of the specific IP address using the IP address location discovery techniques.
US09729502B2

A system and method for scaling a session initiation protocol communication system that allows components of the system to be distributed and/or scaled across multiple and different hardware, networks, systems, and locations.
US09729499B2

Disclosed are a browser and a method for domain name resolution by the same. The method comprises: starting the browser and calling DNS acceleration data information, wherein the DNS acceleration data information comprises several domain names obtained in advance and IP address information corresponding to each domain name; receiving an access request for a certain URL initiated by a user, parsing the access request and extracting the domain name corresponding to the URL; and detecting whether the domain name corresponding to the URL is contained in the DNS acceleration data information, and if yes, obtaining the IP address information corresponding to the domain name, and utilizing the IP address information for access processing. By conducting statistics on some primary domain names in advance to form DNS acceleration data information, the disclosure may implement webpage browsing acceleration when the DNS acceleration data information is called by a user-side browser. Such a procedure of acceleration processing consumes a short time, and improves the efficiency of DNS acceleration.
US09729498B2

A network device within a data communication network includes a plurality of network interfaces, each programmed with a respective set of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) routing entries for correlating network addresses with physical addresses. Each network interface is further programmed with an additional respective set of Longest Prefix Match (LPM) routing entries for correlating other network addresses with designated network interfaces to enable traffic matching one of the LPM routing entries to be forwarded to the appropriate designated network interface within the network device.
US09729493B1

In a computer-implemented method for communicating messages over a social network to members of a virtualization infrastructure, a message comprising a command is received at a first member of a virtualization infrastructure. The message is communicated over a social network from a second member of said virtualization infrastructure, wherein a plurality of members of the virtualization infrastructure are mapped to the social network, such that at least some of the members of the virtualization infrastructure are also members of the social network. The command is executed by the first member of the virtualization infrastructure.
US09729489B2

An electronic message may be reconfigured to effect an enhanced notification using an input interface to receive at least one electronic message created by or on behalf of a message source for delivery to an intended recipient. A matching engine determines whether the electronic message corresponds to a predetermined definition of an enhanced notification. An enhancement engine reconfigures the electronic message to the enhanced notification if stored information related to the intended recipient indicates that the intended recipient is subscribed to receive the enhanced notification. Reconfiguring the electronic message may include reconfiguring the message to provide special handling, routing or presentation.
US09729484B2

The present invention relates to a method of processing data regarding connection to a platform (2) of an internet site by a server (1) comprising at least one data processing unit and data storage means, the method being characterized in that it comprises steps of: (a) identification of a situation of a user connected to said platform (2) via an item of equipment (3) from among a list of reference situations, each reference situation being associated with at least one strategy, each strategy comprising one or more situational engines chosen from among a library of situational engines, each situational engine being able to implement a given processing on a situation of a user so as to obtain a message having a hoped-for effect on the situation; (b) for at least one of the strategies associated with said identified situation, implementation by the data processing means of the server (1) of the situational engines of said strategy on said situation so as to obtain at least one stack of messages; (c) dispatching to the item of equipment (3) of said user and/or of the platform (2) of a subset of messages of said at least one stack of messages.
US09729483B2

A device provides for display, to a first user device, information associated with a potential contact, and an option to communicate with the potential contact. The device receives a selection of the option from the first user device, and obtains, based on the selection, an identifier for a second user device associated with the potential contact. The device provides a communication request and the identifier to a message server to cause the message server to selectively cause a communication session to be established between the first user device and the second user device. An indication that the communication session is denied may be provided to the first user device when the second user device does not accept the communication request. The communication session may be established, without revealing the identifier to the first user device, when the second user device accepts the communication request.
US09729481B1

In one general aspect, a tangible computer-readable storage medium can be configured to store instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform a process. The instructions can include instructions to receive an indicator that at least a portion of a source message has been produced using a source module, and instructions to send to the source module, in response to the indicator, an extraction module configured to assign an attribute value to content of the source message. The attribute value can represent a contextual function of the content within the source message. The instructions can include instructions to receive a content package including the content and the attribute value assigned to the content, and produce a plurality of endpoint-specific messages associated with a plurality of endpoints based on a plurality of message templates and the attribute value assigned to the content within the content package.
US09729478B2

An example network server computer includes communication circuitry configured for internet communication with electronic devices; memory configured to store friend lists for respective users and user data comprising status data for respective users; and a processor configured to control the network server computer to perform operations including: receiving, via the communication circuitry, status data including activity information indicative of current activities of users of two or more electronic devices; updating the user data based on the received status data; and providing, to a user, status data indicative of respective current activities of one or more friends on the friend list of the user even if the current activities of the user and the one or more friends are different.
US09729462B2

There is provided a transmission apparatus including: a buffer provided with a queue for each of user flows, the buffer configured to store data in the queue for the user flow to which the data belongs; a storage unit configured to store a link list indicating an output order of the user flows; an issuing unit configured to issue a predetermined output permissible amount to the queue for the user flow by referring to the link list; and an output control unit configured to output data from the queue to which the output permissible amount is issued.
US09729460B2

A method for managing port bandwidth in network devices. The method includes determining a first and a second ingress bandwidth of a first and a second network chip, respectively, determining an egress bandwidth of an egress port of a third network chip, determining a first and a second weight for the first and the second network chip, respectively, where the first and the second weight are determined based on a bandwidth including the first and second ingress bandwidth, processing a first data packet, received by a first ingress port administrated by the first network chip, based on the first weight and the egress bandwidth, and processing a second data packet, received by a second ingress port administrated by the second network chip, based on the second weight, and the egress bandwidth, where the destination of the first and the second data packet is the egress port.
US09729457B2

A computer-implemented method for dynamic adjustment of quality of service parameters is described. In one embodiment, one or more quality of service (QoS) parameters of a client of a mesh network is set based on an expected bandwidth for the mesh network. An actual bandwidth for the mesh network is measured. One or more QoS parameters of the client is automatically changed in response to the actual bandwidth differing from the expected bandwidth. The change in the QoS parameters may be configured to compensate for the difference between the actual bandwidth and the expected bandwidth.
US09729455B2

Techniques are described for specifying and constructing multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) rings. Routers may signal membership within MPLS rings and automatically establish ring-based label switch paths (LSPs) as components of the MPLS rings for packet transport within ring networks. In one example, a router includes a processor configured to establish an MPLS ring having a plurality of ring LSPs. Each of the ring LSPs is configured to transport MPLS packets around the ring network to a different one of the routers operating as an egress router for the respective ring LSP. Moreover, each of the ring LSPs comprises a bidirectional, multipoint-to-point (MP2P) LSP for which any of the routers can operate as an ingress to source packet traffic into the ring LSP for transport to the respective egress router for the ring LSP. Separate protection paths, bypass LSPs, detours or loop-free alternatives need not be signaled.
US09729450B2

The present invention relates to a method of managing congestion in a multi-path network, the network having a plurality of network elements arranged in a plurality of switch stages and a plurality of network links interconnecting the network elements, the method comprising the steps of detecting congestion on a network link, the congested network link interconnecting the output port of a first network element with a first input port of a second network element in a subsequent switch stage; identifying an uncongested network link connected to a second input port of said second network element; and directing future data packets on a route across the multi-path network which includes the identified uncongested network link. Also provided is a multi-path network and an Ethernet bridge or router incorporating such a multi-path network.
US09729442B1

A method of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) switching. A packet of a flow is received onto a SDN switch via a NFX circuit. The NFX circuit determines that the packet matches a flow entry stored in any flow table in the NFX circuit, counts the number of packets of the flow received, and determines that the number of packets of the flow received is above a threshold value. The NFX circuit then forwards the packet to a NFP circuit in the SDN switch. The NFP circuit determines that the packet matches a flow entry stored in the flow table in the NFX and generates a new flow entry that applies to a relatively narrow subflow of packets that is forwarded to and stored the flow table in the NFX circuit. A subsequent packet of the flow is switched by the SDN switch without forwarding the packet to the NFP.
US09729441B2

A packet forwarding method that includes receiving a packet from a traffic classifier at a host that comprises a virtual machine (VM), and a first hypervisor for the host that provides a first set of routing instructions that provides routing instruction to forward the packet to a port of the VM, and wherein the VM comprises a plurality of virtual network functions (VNFs), and a second hypervisor for the VM that provides a second set of routing instructions that provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the plurality of VNFs based on an input, processing, by the host, the packet using the plurality of VNFs in accordance with the first set of routing instructions and the second set of routing instructions, and forwarding, by the host, the processed packet to a network device.
US09729439B2

An intermediate node obtains a lead packet of a plurality of packets in a session having a unique session identifier, modifies the lead packet to identify at least the intermediate node, and then forwards the lead packet toward the destination node though an intermediate node electronic output interface to the IP network. The intermediate node also receives, through an intermediate node electronic input interface in communication with the IP network, a backward message from a next node having a next node identifier. The backward message includes the next node identifier and the session identifier. The intermediate node forms an association between the next node identifier and the session identifier, stores the association in memory to maintain state information for the session, and obtains (e.g., receives) additional packets of the session. Substantially all of the additional packets in the session are forwarded toward the next node using the stored association.
US09729437B2

Apparatus comprises: first and second transmitter interfaces, each configured to transmit data over a respective communications path including one or more logical connections; first and second transmit buffers forming part of the first and second transmitter interfaces respectively, the first and second transmit buffers being configured to store packets of data for transmission over their respective communication path; one or more path capability determining modules configured to determine a measure of capability of each of the communications paths to transmit data; an input data buffer configured to store data for provision to the first and second transmit buffers for subsequent transmission; and a data handling module configured to respond to determining the presence of data in the input buffer for transmission by: using the measured capabilities of the communication paths and measures of the quantity of data stored in the transmit buffers to select one of the first and second transmitter interfaces for transmitting data; and providing at least one packet of data to the transmit buffer of the selected one of the first and second transmitter interfaces.
US09729430B2

A system, device, and method are provided to control dense-mode multicast traffic across a multilayer system containing an upper network and a tunnel across a lower network. An upstream multicast tunneling edge device (MTED) may indicate to downstream MTEDs, via control messages, the presence of a multicast source, group (SG) pair. The MTEDs may serve as routers or as intelligent bridges in the upper network. Each downstream MTED may create a forwarding state for the SG pair, determine tunnels for which the downstream MTED is to serve as an exit device and configure the tunnels to deliver the traffic. Lower network MTEDs of a tunnel may determine whether to transport multicast data for each SG pair such that multicast traffic routed by a corresponding MTED is carried. An MTED may be able to receive, through the tunnel, multicast traffic for one SG pair even after pruning itself for another SG pair.
US09729427B2

A method for programming route hardware in network devices. The method includes: receiving, by a network device, route updates, selecting from the route updates, a set of selected routes to be used for routing, assigning multiple timestamps to the set of selected routes, programming the set of selected routes into a software-implemented forwarding information base (FIB), segmenting the set of selected routes in the software-implemented FIB into at least a first batch of routes and a second batch of routes, programming the first batch of routes into a hardware-implemented FIB, after the programming, determining a last timestamp, where the last time stamp is the oldest timestamp of the timestamps where all routes associated with the last timestamp have been successfully programmed into the hardware-implemented FIB, and advertising all routes of the first batch that are associated with a timestamp that is no older than the last timestamp.
US09729425B2

An OpenFlow (OF) adaptor comprising at least one OF port configured to communicate with an OF Controller, at least one Non-OF (NOF) port configured to communicate with a NOF switch, and at least one processor coupled to the OF port and the NOF port and configured to receive a first OF message comprising network data from the OF controller via the OF port, translate the first OF message into a first NOF message, wherein the first NOF message comprises network data analogous to the first OF message network data encoded in a format supported by the NOF switch, and transmit the first NOF message toward the NOF switch via the NOF port.
US09729423B1

A multi-sector antenna system is disclosed that includes two or more flat panel antennas facing different directions and configured to communicate with two separate sites using millimeter wave RF signals. A processing module is communicatively coupled to each of the flat panel antennas. In some embodiments, the processing module may be configured to receive incoming RF signals from a first site via a first flat panel antenna, convert the incoming RF signals to outgoing RF signals, and transmit the outgoing RF signals to a second site via the second flat panel antenna. The flat panel antennas may be configured to transmit and receive RF signals at frequencies in the range of about 57 GHz to 86 GHz. The multi-sector antenna system may be utilized in a mesh network system.
US09729420B2

Decreasing interference of a first device operating according to high speed serial bus standard on a second device operating according to another different communication standard is provided. The method can include obtaining a first signal strength received by the second device before connection of the first device. The method can include obtaining a second signal strength received by the second device after connection of the first device and comparing the first signal strength and the second signal strength. If decrease of the second signal strength in comparison with the first signal strength exceeds a predetermined threshold, a command can be sent to the first device to enable the first device to operate at a lower bandwidth than the high speed serial bus standard.
US09729419B2

A streams manager monitors performance of a streaming application on a physical machine, and determines operators that are underperforming and operators that are overperforming. When the performance needs to be improved, the streams manager automatically modifies the flow graph to deploy one or more operators of the streaming application that are overperforming to a virtual machine in a cloud. Moving the overperforming operators off of the physical machine to a VM leaves additional resources for the underperforming operators that are left on the physical machine to improve performance of the streaming application.
US09729418B2

Communication networks in general may benefit from appropriate policy based management. More particularly, heterogeneous networks or HetNets may benefit from methods for policy based management. A method according to certain embodiments includes detecting a reportable event. The method also includes determining whether or how to report the event based on a probability criterion. The method further includes taking an action with respect to reporting the event based on whether the probability criterion is met.
US09729416B1

Embodiments are directed to monitoring network traffic in a network. A device relation model that may be comprised of two or more nodes and one or more edges stored in memory of the network computer may be provided to a network monitoring computer (NMC), such that each node represents an agent and each edge represents a relationship between two agents. If error signals are detected by the NMC, the NMC perform further actions to process the error signals. The device relation model may be traversed to identify agents associated with the error signals. The network traffic associated with the error signals and the agents may be analyzed by the NMC. If the error signals are associated with anomalies in the network traffic, users may be notified. The device relation model may be updated upon discovery of new computing devices, new applications, or new associations between agents.
US09729413B2

A machine includes a processor and a memory connected to the processor. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to preserve a second level domain, track requests for subdomains of the second level domain, determine the size of encoded subdomain data and determine the size of response data for subdomain requests. When the ratio of the number of unique subdomains versus the number of subdomain requests is over a first threshold a first satisfied condition is established. It is determined, in response to the first satisfied condition, when the size of the subdomain data exceeds a second threshold and the size of response data exceeds a third threshold to establish a second satisfied condition corresponding to deemed domain name system tunnel activity. It is determined, in response to the first satisfied condition, when the size of the subdomain data exceeds the second threshold to establish a third satisfied condition corresponding to deemed domain name system data exfiltration activity.
US09729412B2

An index calculation unit calculates a periodicity determination index for determining the presence of periodicity on the basis of the differential between each segment of the frequency distribution of input numerical data and a frequency distribution in accordance with a baseline distribution provided ahead of time. A determination unit uses the periodicity determination index calculated by the index calculation unit to determine the presence of periodicity including one or more periodic components present in the numerical data.
US09729410B2

A method and system for capturing web content from a web server includes a capturing server establishing an active link between a client device and the capturing server that allows the client device to remotely control an active web browsing session, between the capturing server and the web server, to select web content. The method also includes establishing the active web browsing session between the capturing server and the web server. The capturing server further receives the web content from the web server, without the web content being routed through the client device, and captures the web content.
US09729408B2

A network captured traffic distribution device may receive captured data packets including original destination information. The captured data packets may then be encapsulated with, for example, new address information so that they may be transmitted toward a destination intended by the network capture traffic distribution device and not the original destination. Captured data packets may also be reformatted by the network capture traffic distribution device in order to, for example, be compatible with one or more devices communicatively coupled to the network capture traffic distribution device. Optionally, the encapsulated and/or reformatted captured data packets may further be encrypted prior to transmission toward their intended destination.
US09729404B2

The invention provides a quality of service monitoring device (12) for use with a user equipment comprising a base platform (14); and an external communication module (24) adapted to receive from an external source one or more listener modules and/or detector modules for incorporation into the base platform (14). The base platform (14) is coupled to the external communication module (24) to receive one or more listener modules (20) and detector modules (22) and is adapted to install received modules to extend the functionality of the base platform (14) so as to perform the functionality of the installed modules. A corresponding method is provided. There is also provided a quality of service monitoring apparatus, for use on the network side, as well as a corresponding method.
US09729393B2

The present invention concerns a device comprising a first network interface, a wireless network interface and a network configuration module adapted to configure the wireless network interface, so that, when the wireless network interface is disabled, if the device is connected to a second device through the first network interface, the second device comprising a wireless access point interface compatible with the wireless network interface, configuring the wireless network interface into a wireless access point mode of operation, and if the device is not connected to the second device through the first network interface, configuring the wireless network interface into a wireless client mode of operation and connecting the wireless network interface to the wireless access point interface.
US09729384B2

A method and wireless communication system may be used for transferring management information. An access point (AP) may transmit a management information base (MIB) information request including a category field and an action details field to a wireless transmit/receive (WTRU). In response to receiving the information request, the WTRU may determine whether or not to provide management information to the AP. When the WTRU provides management information to the AP, the WTRU may compile management information stored in a MIB located in the WTRU and transmit a MIB information report to the AP. The MIB may list a plurality of tables containing information associated with radio resource management (RRM) and at least one table containing physical layer measurements. The AP may include a MIB for storing MIB information of the WTRU. The AP may transmit the stored MIB information of the WTRU in response to a request.
US09729380B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for presenting content items. In one aspect, a method includes identifying an opportunity to present a content item at a device and in a manner that precludes a user from accessing content of one or more applications executing on the device. Data relating to a status of each of the one or more applications are identified. A level of urgency for a user to access content of the one or more applications is determined based on the data. A response to the opportunity to present a content item is selected based on the level of urgency for the user to access content of the one or more applications. The response is selected from a first response that causes presentation of the content item and a second response that precludes presentation of the content item.
US09729379B2

A method for maintaining a media stream through a first network equipment while suspending the associated media stream connection in a communication network, comprising receiving within a second network equipment a trigger for suspending a media stream, sending a signalling command for maintaining the media stream and blocking the maintained media stream is provided.
US09729374B2

Systems (100) and methods for co-channel separation of communication signals. The methods involve: simultaneously receiving a plurality of communication signals transmitted at disparate relative Doppler frequencies from different locations within a multi-access system; performing matched filtering operations to pre-process each of the plurality of communication signals so as to generate pre-processed digitized samples using a priori information contained in pre-ambles (302, 304) of messages present within the plurality of communication signals; using estimated signal parameters to detect the plurality of communication signals from the pre-processed digitized samples; and demodulating the plurality of communication signals without using a Viterbi decoder.
US09729371B2

In a method of generating an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a plurality of information bits is encoded to generate a plurality of coded bits. The plurality of information bits corresponds to a first bandwidth, while the OFDM symbol includes a number of data tones corresponding to a second bandwidth. The coded bits are mapped to a plurality constellation symbols. The constellation symbols are mapped to a first plurality of data subcarriers corresponding to a first portion of the OFDM symbol and to a second plurality of data subcarriers corresponding to a second portion of the OFDM symbol. A subset of data subcarriers in the first plurality of data subcarriers and in the second plurality of data subcarriers are set to one or more predetermined values. The OFDM symbol is then generated to include at least the first plurality of data subcarriers and the second plurality of data subcarriers.
US09729368B2

System and method embodiments are provided for high efficiency wireless communications. In an embodiment, a method in a network component for transmitting a frame of two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes includes generating a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different FFT sizes, wherein the frame comprises a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion comprises a first FFT size and the second portion comprises a second FFT size; and transmitting the frame during a single transmission opportunity.
US09729351B2

An indication is used to control how message service information is routed over different domains. For example, an access terminal may be configured with an indication that indicates that a message service is preferred to be invoked over an IP domain or that the message service is not be invoked over the IP domain. The access terminal then delivers message service information based on the value of the indication. In some cases, a network entity generates the indication and sends the indication to the access terminal. In some cases, a domain for delivery of message service information is selected based on a domain that was selected for particular type of traffic.
US09729350B1

Technologies are described herein for maintaining packet order in network flows over an autonomous network. A sequence number is generated for each data packet in the network flow. The data packets are transmitted from a source endpoint to a destination endpoint accompanied by the sequence number. When a data packet is received at the destination endpoint, the sequence number is utilized to determine whether the packet has arrived out-of-order. If the received data packet is out-of-order, the packet is buffered for a specific period of time, or until the next sequential packet in the network flow is received. If the next sequential packet is received within the time period, the received packet and any buffered packets are delivered in sequence number order to a program executing on the destination endpoint. If the time period expires before receiving the next sequential data packet, the buffered packet(s) are delivered to the program.
US09729346B2

Each switch in a switch cluster is implemented as two logical switches—a logical UNI switch and a logical NNI switch implementing a Backbone Edge Bridge (BEB). The logical UNI switch handles forwarding to UNI receivers. The logical NNI switches are treated as independent switches by the SPB control plane and handle forwarding to NNI receivers. The two logical switches exchange packets through UNI/NNI and NNI/UNI translations (Mac-in-MAC encapsulation/decapsulation). The Inter-Switch Trunk is viewed as two logical channels—a UNI logical channel and an NNI logical channel. The logical UNI switch will forward packets having NNI receivers to the logical NNI switch. The logical NNI switch will forward packets having UNI receivers to the logical UNI switch only if the packet has a B-VID matching a B-VID assigned to the node of the switch cluster.
US09729345B2

A noise suppression circuit comprises a switchable transistor and an amplifier having a first amplifier input terminal electrically coupled to an output terminal of the switchable transistor for sensing a voltage thereat, and an amplifier output terminal electrically coupled to a control terminal of the switchable transistor for outputting a control voltage thereto. The amplifier is configured, based on the sensed voltage and a transition mode threshold voltage of the switchable transistor which defines a boundary between operation modes of the switchable transistor, to set the voltage at the transistor output terminal to at least the transition mode threshold voltage such that for noise frequencies below or corresponding to the switching frequency of the switchable transistor a resistive path is provided between the transistor output terminal and the transistor reference terminal and for noise frequencies above the switching frequency of the switchable transistor the resistive path is substantially interrupted.
US09729343B2

For one disclosed embodiment, a controller comprises communication circuitry to communicate over one or more data lines with a downstream device external to an upstream device having the controller and detection circuitry to detect on at least one of the one or more data lines a voltage having a value in excess of a reference value. The detection circuitry is to deactivate a supply of power over one or more power lines to the downstream device in response to detection on at least one of the one or more data lines of a voltage having a value in excess of the reference value. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US09729334B2

Provided is an apparatus for generating a digital value that may generate a random digital value, and guarantee time invariance of the generated digital value. The apparatus may include a digital value generator to generate a random digital value using semiconductor process variation, and a digital value freezing unit that may be connected to the digital value generator and fixed to one of a first state and a second state based on the generated digital value, to freeze the digital value.
US09729333B2

The invention relates to a device for validating data using a root certificate, wherein a plurality of root certificates is stored in the device, each root certificate having a rank. The device is configured to receive revocation information indicating at least one revoked root certificate, to validate the revocation information using one of the root certificates stored in the device and to block the use of the revoked root certificate if the revocation information is successfully validated using a root certificate having a higher rank than the revoked root certificate. Moreover, the invention relates to a method for revoking a root certificate stored in a device.
US09729331B2

A request associated with a revocation of a key may be received. A hash value corresponding to the key that is stored in a memory may be identified. Furthermore, the hash value that is stored in the memory may be corrupted in response to the request associated with the revocation of the key.
US09729318B2

This disclosure involves the notion of using physical objects to generate public key-based authenticators and, in particular, to use “everyday” physical objects to create a generator seed for a key generator that will use that seed to generate a key pair comprising a public key, and its associated private key. In a preferred approach, the physical object is used to create a digital representation (of the physical object) that, together with some uniqueness associated to the user, gives rise to a key generator seed value. Without knowledge of (a) the physical object itself, (b) how the physical object characteristic is converted (to a digital representation), and (c) the uniqueness value, an attacker cannot reproduce the key generator seed (or the key(s) generated from that seed).
US09729301B2

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a process that includes adjusting a filter in electrical communication between an input terminal and a demodulator. The filter is applied to an information bearing signal, e.g., to mitigate interference, received at the input terminal, resulting in a filtered signal. An error signal is received, indicative of errors detected within information obtained by demodulation of a modulated carrier of the filtered signal. A modified filter state is determined in response to the error signal and the filter is adjusted according to the modified filter state, e.g., to improve mitigation of the interference. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09729297B2

Provided are an apparatus and a method for executing an uplink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in a carrier aggregation system. The method transmits data to a base station from an uplink subframe of a second cell, and receives, from the base station, an acknowledgement/not-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) or scheduling information for the data from a downlink subframe of a first cell, wherein if the timing relationship between the uplink subframe of the second cell and the downlink subframe of the first cell does not match the timing relationship for when the first cell is being used exclusively, then the scheduling information is received from the downlink subframe of the first cell.
US09729285B2

A communication device includes a processor configured to generate OFDMA packets using various OFDMA packet structures and to transmit such OFDMA packets, via a communication interface, to at least one other communication device. The processor is also configured to receive, interpret, and process such OFDMA packets. One example of an OFDMA packet includes common SIG for two or more other wireless communication devices modulated across all sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet. The common SIG is followed by first SIG and first data for a first other wireless communication device modulated across first subset of the sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet and is also followed by second SIG and second data for a second other wireless communication device modulated across second subset of the sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet. Another example of an OFDMA packet includes the common SIG followed directly by first data and second data modulated as described above.
US09729284B2

Embodiments of a high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) station, access point (AP), and method for communication in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the HEW AP may transmit a resource allocation message to indicate an allocation of sub-channels to one or more HEW stations for uplink data transmissions. Information included in the resource allocation message may include various indicators related to full or partial allocation of the sub-channels and whether equal allocations are made for each of the HEW stations. A sub-channel mapping block may also be included to indicate how the sub-channels are assigned to the HEW stations. In some cases, the length of the sub-channel mapping block may vary based at least partly on the indicators included in the message.
US09729281B2

A method for modulating data for transmission within a communication system. The method includes establishing a time-frequency shifting matrix of dimension N×N, wherein N is greater than one. The method further includes combining the time-frequency shifting matrix with a data frame to provide an intermediate data frame. A transformed data matrix is provided by permuting elements of the intermediate data frame. A modulated signal is generated in accordance with elements of the transformed data matrix.
US09729280B2

A method and apparatus for improving performance in communication systems is provided. In order to maintain the real time constraints of the communication systems, time intervals and indication signals are used in various implementations to indicate and/or force subsequent transmissions of encoded data. An indication signal can include, for example, modulation modification information for subsequent transmissions. In various other implementations, a quality metric is computed for the communication channel and is used to provide modified modulation scheme information to be subsequently used on the communication channel.
US09729279B2

Provided are a packet transmission and reception system, apparatus, and method. The packet transmission and reception system for distributing and transmitting data through a plurality of multi-lanes includes a first transmission and reception apparatus configured to include a plurality of first physical lanes and a plurality of first logical lanes connected to the plurality of first physical lanes, and a second transmission and reception apparatus configured to include a plurality of second physical lanes and a plurality of second logical lanes connected to the plurality of second physical lanes.
US09729274B2

A method and apparatus for improving performance in communication systems is provided. In one implementation received encoded data is decoded using an inner rateless decoder to produce a series of decoded rateless outputs. The series of decoded rateless outputs is combined to produce a block, and the block is decoded using an outer block decoder. In another implementation, encoded data for a data block encoded with a rateless code is received. It is determined that an initial amount of mutual information for the data block has been received, the initial amount being an amount expected to allow decoding of the received encoded data. Additional encoded data for the data block is received. It is determined that an extra amount of mutual information for the data block has been received beyond said initial amount of mutual information.
US09729272B2

Methods and devices provide a feedback message having unequal error protection. The feedback message may include channel quality indicators. The channel quality indicators may have different levels of error protection based on a transmission property.
US09729269B2

A data transmission method is provided, including adjusting a data transmission speed when a number of retransmission of a data transmission unit reaches a predetermined number, wherein the retransmission is performed when a transmission failure occurs, transferring the data transmission unit at the adjusted data transmission speed, and readjusting the adjusted data transmission speed to a basic data transmission speed when data transmission is successful, and reducing the basic data transmission speed when at least one of a retransmission rate and a number of the transmission failure satisfies a predetermined threshold condition.
US09729268B2

Embodiments of a wireless communication device and method for multi-MCS OFDM transmissions at different transmission power levels are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may have a multi-MCS OFDM transmitter that is configured to encode data for transmission over two or more RF channels with a single encoding scheme to generate an encoded data stream. The transmitter may segment bits of the encoded data stream into a bit stream for each of the RF channels based on a selected modulation level for each of the two or more RF channels. A separate time-domain multicarrier waveform may be concurrently transmitted on each of the two or more RF channels at a power level that is selected not to exceed a maximum allowable transmit power level for that RF channel. The modulation level for each RF channel may be selected based at least in part on the maximum allowable transmit power level for that RF channel.
US09729252B2

Information is communicated to an individual by directing an acoustic signal transcranially to a target region in the brain. The target region is stimulated to produce a cognitive effect, and the cognitive effect is modulated or encoded to carry the desired information.
US09729250B2

Systems, devices and techniques for receiving a signal comprising a quadrature duobinary modulated signal include performing channel equalization of the received signal using a constant multi-modulus to obtain a set of channel estimation coefficients and a stream of symbols, partitioning, based on modulus, the stream of symbols into three partitions, estimating carrier frequency based on the partitioned stream of symbols, recovering a phase of the signal using a maximum likelihood algorithm, and decoding the partitioned stream of symbols to recover data.
US09729248B2

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded for a causing a processor to execute a demodulation process. The demodulation process includes detecting a preamble of a wireless signal transmitted from a first transmission station by way of a short wavelength carrier wave, extracting a first signal superimposed on the short wavelength carrier wave, the first signal being extracted from a wireless signal that is identified in accordance with the detection of the preamble, extracting a second signal superimposed on a carrier wave transmitted from a second transmission station, and performing demodulation on a target demodulation signal obtained by superimposing the first signal on the second signal.
US09729242B2

The present invention provides an optical module capable of achieving downsizing and high densification, and reducing crosstalk as compared to a conventional optical module. An optical module includes: an optical device including multiple light receiving elements; a control device which transmits and receives signals to and from the optical device; and a substrate including multiple lines which allow passage of the signals. Anode terminals of the multiple light receiving elements are connected to different lines by first wires, respectively. Cathode terminals of the multiple light receiving elements are connected to different lines by second wires, respectively. Each first wire and the corresponding second wire cross each other and are disposed out of contact with each other. The wires connecting each light receiving element and the control device, namely, the wires of each channel cross each other.
US09729241B2

A telecommunication system employs dynamic shaping across a plurality of access modules of an access node using a dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithm that is based on current load conditions for each of the access modules in order to achieve a fair allocation of network bandwidth at the access node. In one exemplary embodiment, access modules at an access node communicate via a control channel with shaper control logic that receives load information from each of the access modules. Using such load information, the shaper control logic dynamically controls the shaper rates for the access modules so that a fair allocation of network bandwidth is achieved across all of the access modules. Specifically, the shaper rates are controlled such that packet flows for services of the same class achieve the same or similar performance (e.g., average data rate) regardless of which access module is communicating each respective packet flow.
US09729240B2

The present invention is directed to data communication system and methods. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention provide a communication interface that is configured to transfer data at high bandwidth using nDSQ format(s) over optical communication networks. In certain embodiments, the communication interface is used by various devices, such as spine switches and leaf switches, within a spine-leaf network architecture, which allows large amount of data to be shared among servers.
US09729235B2

Systems and methods presented herein provide for improved access to data. In one embodiment, a communication system includes an RF communication link that is operable to receive first communications from a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or other “user equipment”). The communication system also includes a processor operable to determine a location of the mobile device based on the first communications and a plurality of directional communication links. Each directional communication link is operable to transfer data to the mobile device based on the location of the mobile device as determined by the processor. The processor is also operable to coordinate the transfer of data from each of the directional communication links to the mobile device.
US09729230B2

A system for centralized automatic bias control for a plurality of modulators, including a coupler for coupling output of each of the plurality of modulators to generate a combined modulator output. A pilot insertion device inserts a pilot tone into each of the plurality of modulators such that a different pilot tone frequency is inserted for each of the plurality of modulators. A monitoring device iteratively monitoring power (Pt) of each inserted pilot tone over time to determine whether a current modulator bias is optimal for each of the plurality of modulators, and an adjuster device iteratively adjusts the modulator bias for each of the plurality of modulators for which the current modulator bias is determined to be sub-optimal until a threshold condition has been met.
US09729227B2

The present invention contemplates a variety of improved techniques including methods and apparatus for coordinating a plurality of devices, and more specifically, a method and apparatus for coordinating a plurality of devices to estimate or calculate various distances, relative positions, device attitudes, and other absolute and/or relative kinematic data.
US09729217B2

Disclosed is a transmission scheme for transmitting a first modulated signal and a second modulated signal over the same frequency at the same time. According to the transmission scheme, a precoding weight multiplying unit multiplies a baseband signal after a first mapping and a baseband signal after a second mapping by a precoding weight and outputs the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal. In the precoding weight multiplying unit, precoding weights are regularly hopped.
US09729211B2

A base device for a portable source device includes an output device and a proximity sensor configured (i) to receive a proximity signal associated with the portable source device when the portable source device is disposed in proximity thereto and (ii) to generate a proximity event notification in response to receiving the proximity signal. The base device includes a controller disposed in electrical communication with the proximity sensor and configured to, in response to receiving the proximity event notification from the proximity sensor, transmit a command signal to the portable source device. The command signal is operable to configure the portable source device to automatically send content to the output device via a wireless communication link.
US09729208B2

Removable cases for portable electronic devices incorporating memory tags (e.g., NFC memory tags) capable of being read by an electronic reading device are disclosed. The memory tags may be pre-programmed or programmable to contain one or more readable items of identification data associated with the custodian of the device or protective case. The memory tags may also or alternatively include code or executable commands that effectuate certain functionality (e.g., go into silent or airplane mode, call home or a particular person, turn off, check email, set alarm, play music or video, etc.) in another of the user's device. The protective case may protect, shield, and or conceal the tag visually in part or in whole while allowing the tag to be read and the tags position visually identified. Systems and methods to recover lost or misplaced electronic devices using information contained in the memory tag of the protective enclosure are also disclosed.
US09729207B2

Provided are a heat radiation member and a mobile terminal having the same, in which the heat radiation member includes: a heat radiation sheet configured to disperse and radiate transferred heat and block and insulate transferred heat; and a passage formed in the heat radiation sheet and configured to pass a communication radio signal, wherein the passage comprises at least one punching area penetrating the heat radiation sheet.
US09729205B2

There is described a method for establishing an NFC connection between a subscriber identity module (SIM) and an NFC device (RDR). The subscriber identity module (SIM) is connected to a telecommunications system (CELL_P) through contacts (VCC, RST, CLK, D+, GND, SWP, IO, D−) of the telecommunications system (CELL_P). The telecommunications system (CELL_P) comprises a chipset (CHP) and an NFC circuit (NFCC). The method comprises measuring the level of charge of a battery (BATT) powering the telecommunications system (CELL_P) with a battery gauge. Based on the measurement, the method selects the source for supplying power to the subscriber identity module (SIM) and configures the wiring of the subscriber identity module (SIM). The disclosure also relates, in particular, to a telecommunications system, to a computer program, and to a storage medium.
US09729202B2

A first component (CMP1) is connected to the antenna (ANT) and to an impedance matching circuit (CAI) configurable on command and connected to the antenna, and in the absence of another component (CMP2) connected to the antenna, the impedance matching circuit is placed in a first configuration in which it forms with the first component and the antenna a resonant circuit having a first resonant frequency compatible with a carrier frequency. In the presence of a second component (CMP2) connected to the antenna, the impedance matching circuit is placed in a second configuration in which it forms with the first component, the second component and the antenna a resonant circuit having a second resonant frequency compatible with the carrier frequency.
US09729199B2

A method is for processing an analog signal coming from a transmission channel. The analog signal may include a useful signal modulated on a sub-set of carriers. The method may include analog-to-digital converting of the analog signal into a digital signal, and synchronization processing the digital signal. The synchronizing may include determining, in a time domain, a limited number of coefficients of a predictive filter from an autoregressive model of the digital signal, and filtering the digital signal in the time domain by a digital finite impulse response filter with coefficients based upon the limited number of coefficients to provide a filtered digital signal. The method may include detecting of an indication allowing a location in the frame structure to be identified, using the filtered digital signal and a reference signal.
US09729198B2

A conditioning device for conditioning a data channel of a cell of a multicell electric energy store is designed to condition a signal frequency, suitable for transmitting data via the data channel, and/or an alternating current resistance of the data channel.
US09729192B2

A transceiver or RF front end employing a transformer with a low loss transmit/receive (T/R) switch circuit in the ground path. In various embodiments, differential outputs of a power amplifier are coupled to the first winding of the transformer, while the input of a low noise amplifier is coupled to the second side of the transformer via a matching inductor. The T/R switch circuit, which may be a thin oxide CMOS transistor, is coupled between the second side of the transformer and ground. In operation, the T/R switch circuit may be enabled during transmit mode operations of the power amplifier, such that a low impedance path to ground is provided at the input of the low noise amplifier, thereby protecting it from high voltage swings generated by the power amplifier.
US09729180B2

A system, a computer program product and a method associate service licenses with a wireless device. A device identifier (device ID) which identifies the wireless device and a Subscriber Identity Module identifier (SIM ID) identifying a SIM card currently inserted in the wireless device are received. If the SIM ID is not currently associated with the device ID, a listing of service licenses associated with the SIM ID is aggregated with a listing of service licenses associated with the device ID. The wireless device is authorized to use service licenses listed in the aggregate listing of service licenses. If the SIM ID was currently associated with a second device ID, the service licenses associated with the SIM ID are removed from a listing of service licenses associated with the second device ID and the second wireless device is deauthorized from using these service licenses.
US09729174B2

A transmitting apparatus is provided. The transmitting apparatus includes: an encoder configured to generate a low-density parity check (LDPC) codeword by LDPC encoding based on a parity check matrix; an interleaver configured to interleave the LDPC codeword; and a modulator configured to map the interleaved LDPC codeword onto a modulation symbol, wherein the modulator is further configured to map a bit included in a predetermined bit group from among a plurality of bit groups constituting the LDPC codeword onto a predetermined bit of the modulation symbol.
US09729162B1

In one form, a signal chain circuit includes a signal chain processing circuit between an input for receiving a differential input signal having a first common-mode voltage, and an output for providing a differential output signal having a second, different common-mode voltage. It includes an amplifier with a differential output stage coupled to a differential input stage and having positive and negative output terminals forming its output, and positive and negative feedback terminals. The differential output stage provides a first voltage drop between the positive output terminal and the positive feedback terminal, and a second voltage drop between the negative output terminal and the negative feedback terminal. The common-mode feedback circuit regulates a common-mode voltage between the positive and negative feedback terminals to the second common-mode voltage. In another form, an analog-to-digital converter includes a range extending logic circuit to extend the range of a ring oscillator based analog-to-digital converter.
US09729155B2

A method for an FPGA includes coupling a first electrode of a first resistive element to a first input voltage, coupling a second electrode of a second resistive element to a second input voltage, applying a first programming voltage to a shared node of a second electrode of the first resistive element, a first electrode of the second resistive element, and to a gate of a transistor element, and changing a resistance state of the first resistive element to a low resistance state while maintaining a resistance state of the second resistive element, when a voltage difference between the first programming voltage at the second terminal and the first input voltage at the first terminal exceeds a programming voltage associated with the first resistive element.
US09729152B2

A mechanism relates a superconductor circuit. A Δ circuit includes a first node connecting a Purcell capacitor to a qubit coupling capacitor, a second node connecting the Purcell capacitor to a readout coupling capacitor, and a third node connecting the qubit coupling capacitor to the readout coupling capacitor. A qubit is connected to the first node and has a qubit frequency. A readout resonator connects to the third node combining with the Purcell capacitor to form a filter. Capacitance of the Purcell capacitor is determined as a factor of the qubit frequency of the qubit and blocks emissions of the qubit at the qubit frequency. Capacitance of the Purcell capacitor causes destructive interference, between a first path containing Purcell capacitor and a second path containing both the qubit coupling capacitor and readout coupling capacitor, in order to block emissions of the qubit at the qubit frequency to the external environment.
US09729131B2

Apparatuses and methods for correcting a duty cycle of a clock signal are described. An example apparatus includes: a duty cycle corrector (DCC) that receives an input clock signal and a control signal and produces an output clock signal responsive, at least in part, to the input clock signal and the control signal; a circuit that divides a frequency of the input clock signal by a positive even integer and generates an intermediate clock signal; and a phase detector that generates the control signal responsive, at least in part, to a difference in phase between the output clock signal and the intermediate clock signal.
US09729128B2

A multi-bit flip-flop (MBFF) includes a plurality of 1-bit flip-flops, each having an input data selection circuit that receives a data signal and a scan data signal. The MBFF also includes a local signal generation circuit that receives a global clock signal and a global scan enable signal, and in response, provides local control signals, wherein each of the local control signals is generated in response to both the global clock signal and the global scan enable signal. The local control signals are provided to the input data selection circuits, and exclusively control the input data selection circuits to route either the input data signal or the scan input data signal as a master data bit, reducing transistor requirements. Local clock signals may be generated by the local signal generation circuit in response to the global clock signal, and may exclusively control data transfer within the flip-flops, improving setup time.
US09729121B2

The present invention discloses an LC tank capable of reducing electromagnetic radiation by itself and the manufacturing method of the same. An embodiment of said LC tank comprises: a first tank area whose boundary is defined by a first part of an inductance; a second tank area whose boundary is defined by a second part of the inductance in which the second part includes a gap; a cross-interconnection structure operable to electrically connect the first and second parts of the inductance and distinguish the first tank area from the second tank area; and at least one capacitance formed inside at least one of the first and second tank areas, wherein the area ratio of the first tank area to the second tank area is between 20% and 80%.
US09729117B2

A system that utilizes an amplified signal is disclosed that includes a plurality of first switches coupled to a plurality of first impedances. A plurality of second switches coupled to a plurality of second impedances. An amplifier having a first input coupled to the plurality of first switches and a second input coupled to the plurality of second switches. A leakage current offset source coupled to the first input of the amplifier, wherein the leakage current offset source cancels a leakage current component of a first current provided from the plurality of first switches to the first input.
US09729093B2

A method for controlling a U-shape single phase synchronous permanent magnetic motor having a rotor and a stator and coupled to a single phase alternating current (AC) power source through a switch includes estimating back-electromotive force and the position of the rotor based on a voltage feedback signal, a current feedback signal, and a phase feedback signal indicative of a zero-crossing of the single phase AC power source. Once the speed and position of the rotor are determined, a controller can trigger a switch to supply power to the motor.
US09729090B2

A cleaner includes a BLDC motor and a power unit. The BLDC motor includes a rotor and a stator provided with a DC coil and an AC coil in a separate manner. The power unit is configured to supply DC power and AC power to the DC coil and the AC coil, respectively.
US09729089B2

A method of operating a brushless direct current motor is provided that generates a rotor position dependent pulse width modulation waveform. The waveform can improve motor efficiency and reduce torque variation.
US09729088B2

A method of starting-up a switched reluctance, SR, motor is provided. The method comprises simultaneously energizing a plurality of phases at a first time point with respective phase voltages that are substantially the same, until the motor rotor is stabilized in alignment with either one of the plurality of phases; simultaneously de-energizing the plurality of phases at a second time point that follows the first time point; monitoring a decrease of respective phase currents in the plurality of phases from a third time point that follows the second time point by a first predetermined time interval; determining a phase of alignment of the rotor using evaluation of the decrease of the phase currents following simultaneous de-energizing of the plurality of phases; and, initiating rotation of the rotor from the determined phase of alignment of the rotor.
US09729085B2

Systems related to controlling a DC/AC converter. A control system uses a nonlinear adaptive observer to estimate the state variables inverter current and converter voltage using a sensed grid current and a bus voltage as inputs. For non-observable points (such as when the duty cycle=0.5), the required information can be found from the DC bus voltage.
US09729083B2

A power supply system that comprises an electrical storage device; a power conversion circuit configured to convert a power from the electrical storage device into converted DC power; and a power control unit configured to receive the converted DC power and output AC power. The converted DC power is controlled such that the output AC power is a predetermined AC power.
US09729079B1

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method that including receiving a sensed signal corresponding to a current flowing through an energy transfer module in response to an on/off state of a forward-type triode for alternating current (TRIAC), determining the TRIAC on/off state based on the sensed signal, and controlling the energy transfer module based on the determined TRIAC on/off state.
US09729077B2

A power controller monitors and controls supply of AC power to a load. A power supply derives DC power supply voltages from the input AC power. The power supply includes power dissipation circuit that dissipates excess power as a function of one of the supply voltages. A voltage sensing circuit provides a voltage sense signal that is a function of the voltage of the input AC power. A digital processor controls a switch that connects a load to the AC power based upon the voltage sensed signal.
US09729074B2

A multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) is arranged in a safe area (20), and is applied to an electronic apparatus (40) arranged in a dangerous area (30). The multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) includes a microprocessor (108) and a power supply unit (116). The microprocessor (108) determines whether internal functions of the multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) are normal or not to obtain a first judgment value. The electronic apparatus (40) sends an input signal (42) to the microprocessor (108). The microprocessor (108) determines whether functions of the electronic apparatus (40) are normal or not to obtain a second judgment value according to the input signal (42). The microprocessor (108) controls whether the power supply unit (116) supplies a driving power (122) to the electronic apparatus (40) or not according to the first judgment value and the second judgment value.
US09729073B1

A power conversion apparatus includes a power conversion circuit, a synchronous rectification transistor, a synchronous rectification control circuit, a feedback circuit, and a cable loss compensation circuit. The power conversion circuit converts an input voltage into an output voltage and provides it to a load. The synchronous rectification transistor is coupled in series to a current path on a secondary side of the power conversion circuit and switched according to a synchronous rectification control signal. The synchronous rectification control circuit generates the synchronous rectification control signal for controlling the switching of the synchronous rectification transistor. The feedback circuit generates an output indication current associated with the output voltage. The cable loss compensation circuit draws a compensation current from the feedback circuit according to the synchronous rectification control signal, so as to compensate for the output voltage based on a sum of the compensation current and the output indication current.
US09729070B2

Provided are methods and circuits for a resonant converter comprising at least one switch-controlled capacitor, wherein the at least one switch-controlled capacitor controls a resonant frequency of the resonant tank circuit. Provided are constant and variable switching frequency embodiments, and full-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor embodiments. Also provided are interleaved resonant converters based on constant and variable switching frequency, and full-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor resonant converter embodiments. Interleaved embodiments overcome load sharing problems associated with prior interleaved resonant converters and enable phase shedding to improve light load efficiency.
US09729057B1

The present disclosure describes apparatuses and techniques of fast transient response for switching power regulators. In some aspects, a capacitor is disconnected from an output of a feedback amplifier of a switching power regulator that is operating in a discontinuous mode. This can be effective to prevent a voltage of the capacitor from discharging while the switching power regulator operates in the discontinuous mode. Responsive to the switching power regulator transitioning from the discontinuous mode to a continuous mode to provide an increased amount of current, the capacitor is connected to the output of the feedback amplifier. Connecting the non-discharged capacitor can be effective to enable the switching power regulator to provide the increased amount of current to the load more quickly.
US09729053B2

Light-load control devices and methods implemented in applications such as voltage converters. In some embodiments, a control system for a voltage converter can be configured to determine whether the voltage converter is in a first load state such as a light-load state. The control system can be further configured to generate a first driving signal when the voltage converter is in the light-load state. The control system can be further configured to route the first driving signal to a control element of the voltage converter when the voltage converter is in the light-load state, and to route a second driving signal to the control element when the voltage converter is in a second load state such as a heavier-load state. Such a control system can yield reduced power consumption of the control element when the voltage converter is in the light-load state.
US09729051B2

A power control circuit includes: a differential voltage monitor configured to monitor a differential voltage between a first voltage and a second voltage, and control a switching element to be turned on and off, wherein the differential voltage monitor controls the switching element in such a manner that in a case where the differential voltage is increased, when the differential voltage is lower than a first reference voltage, the switching element is turned off, and when the differential voltage is equal to or higher than the first reference voltage, the switching element is turned on, and in a case where the differential voltage is decreased, when the differential voltage is higher than a second reference voltage, the switching element is turned on, and when the differential voltage is equal to or lower than the second reference voltage, the switching element is turned off.
US09729047B2

A voltage multiplier includes a supply voltage, at least two multiplier stages electrically connected together, each stage having a trigger voltage terminal, an input terminal, an output terminal, and a capacitor, and each stage connected to the supply voltage, an input stage electrically connected to a first of the at least two multiplier stages, and an output stage electrically connected to a final of the at least two multiplier stages.
US09729030B2

A method for manufacturing a stator for a rotary electric machine, capable of reducing a space on an end surface of a stator core on an inner diameter side to reduce a size in an axial direction to realize a compact size by maintaining an insulating distance corresponding to a potential difference. In the stator for the rotary electric machine a coil portion includes a coil main-body portion (21) and a second connecting wire (23). The second connecting wire (23) includes a first bent portion (24) and a second connecting-wire end portion (23A). The second connecting wire (23) is configured so that a differential value of a length z in the axial direction of the stator to a length r in the radial direction of the stator is Δz/Δr>0.
US09729017B2

A support system for a dynamoelectric machine is disclosed. In one embodiment, the support system includes: a mounting pad having a first face and a second face, the second face including a pair of slots; a pair of spring bars bolted to the mounting pad at the pair of slots; a collar welded or brazed to the first face of the mounting pad; and a key bar between and affixed to the pair of spring bars.
US09729015B2

Body-worn wireless electronic devices may be powered by one or more wireless power sources. These wireless power sources may comprise body-worn wireless power sources and non body-worn wireless power sources. The sources are detected by the electronic device and are either prioritized based on being body-worn or non body-worn. The selection of sources for powering the electronic device(s) may alternatively be made based on predetermined parameters associated with the power sources. Optimal power transfer is thus obtained for the electronic devices while being worn.
US09729013B2

A wireless power transmission system, and a method for controlling wireless power transmission and wireless power reception are provided. According to an aspect, a method for controlling a wireless power transmission may include: detecting a plurality of target devices used to wirelessly receive power; selecting a source resonating unit from among a plurality of source resonating units, based on the amount of power to be transmitted to one or more of the plurality of target devices, a coupling factor associated with one or more of the plurality of target devices, or both; and wirelessly transmitting power to a target device using the selected source resonating unit.
US09729008B2

A variable speed genset system is provided that may include a primary power source, an electric machine, an energy storage device, a boost converter, and a controller. The electric machine may be coupled to the primary power source and electrically coupled to a load through a common bus. The boost converter may be in electrical communication with the common bus and the energy storage device. The controller may determine a State of Health (SOH) for the energy storage device, selectively engage the energy storage device to provide a first power amount to the common bus, and selectively change the operating speed of the primary power source to provide a second power amount to the common bus, the speed based on the SOH, a temperature of the energy storage device, and the load demand. The combination of the first and second power amounts substantially meet a load power demand.
US09729003B1

Disclosed is a wireless charging device and a method facilitating wireless charging of one or more portable electronic devices. The wireless charging device may include a battery assembly comprising a receiving unit electrically coupled with the transmitting unit. A first set of charging coils within the receiving unit may wirelessly receive, via an electromagnetic induction, electrical energy from a second set of charging coils within an external power source. A third set of charging coils within the transmitting unit may wirelessly transmit, via an electromagnetic induction, the electrical energy received by the receiving unit to one or more portable electronic devices positioned within a predetermined transmission distance from the transmitting unit. A fourth set of charging coils within the one or more portable electronic devices may receive the electrical energy from the transmitting unit thereby facilitating charging of one or more batteries of the one or more portable electronic devices.
US09728996B2

A high efficiency charging apparatus, includes a power supply which is a source for supplying electricity for charging; a speed setting unit setting an oscillating frequency and outputting an electrical self-oscillating signal having a frequency corresponding to the oscillating frequency; a switching unit having a plurality of switches which are driven by the electrical self-oscillating signal supplied from the speed setting unit; and a power transmitting unit supplying a current from the power supply to a capacitor multiple times according to a drive state of the plurality of switches of the switching unit and discharging the current charged in the capacitor at one time to supply the discharged current to the battery. The charging apparatus improves charging efficiency and reduces a charging time of a lead or nickel battery used in a vehicle or the like.
US09728995B2

Because a rechargeable battery has an increased number of uses (e.g., cycles), the battery's internal impedance can increase and the efficiency of the battery can become degraded. This internal resistance can cause cutoff voltage thresholds and cutoff current thresholds to prematurely stop a phase of battery charging, as these cutoff values can be based on low-cycle count batteries. New cutoff values can, instead, be based on battery impedance. Use of an adjusted cutoff current threshold during a constant voltage cycle can increase the capacity of high-cycle count batteries. Use of an adjusted cutoff voltage threshold in step charging can increase the charging speed of high-cycle count batteries. These increases in efficiency by using adjusted cutoff values can increase as the battery is further high-cycle count, in comparison with low-cycle count cutoff values used with high-cycle count batteries.
US09728993B2

A rechargeable battery includes a plurality of interconnected battery cells which are connected to at least one pole connection of the battery by at least one circuit element such that the plurality of interconnected battery cells can be electrically decoupled from the at least one pole connection. A control circuit for monitoring and controlling the battery comprises at least one first cell monitoring device and at least one second cell monitoring device which are configured to detect operational parameters of at least one battery cell of the plurality of interconnected battery cells and to guide the operational parameters to a control device. The at least one first cell monitoring device is connected to a first control device by a first interface, and the at least one second cell monitoring device is connected to a second control device by a second interface.
US09728989B2

Methods and apparatus for charging a battery in an electronic device In one exemplary method for charging the battery in the electronic device includes detecting a charging input from a plurality of external devices, and when detecting the charging input, charging the battery with power supplied from the external devices using a plurality of charging modules.
US09728985B2

A charging device of an aspect of the present disclosure includes couplers and control circuitry that controls a charging operation. If the number of one or more secondary battery-equipped devices to be charged is smaller than a set number, the control circuitry charges each of the one or more secondary battery-equipped devices to be charged with a continuous current. If the number is greater than or equal to the set number, the control circuitry intermittently repeats charging of each of the one or more secondary battery-equipped devices to be charged with a stopping interval placed between charging operations while selectively and sequentially switching the one or more secondary battery-equipped devices to which a charging current is supplied at the same time, and the control circuitry increases the charging current and shortens an application duration of the charging current per charging with an increase in the number of secondary battery-equipped devices to be charged.
US09728984B2

An insulation rib is provided above a charging circuit and a plurality of heat radiation ribs are provided on the left side of the charging circuit. A space part is formed by the insulation rib. Little of the heat generated by the charging circuit is transferred to an upper sidewall portion of a case main body portion due to a heat insulation effect of the space part. Further, heat generated by the charging circuit is likely to be transferred to a left sidewall portion of the case main body portion due to a high heat dissipation effect of the heat radiation ribs. In this way, the generation of locally heated areas in the case main body portion can be reduced through balancing of the flow of heat generated by the charging circuit.
US09728981B2

A fully integrated feedback controlled coil driver is disclosed for inductive power transfer to electronic devices. For efficient power transfer, a voltage across a switch that switchably couples the coil between a DC input power source and ground is sampled and compared with a preselected reference voltage to generate an error voltage. The error voltage is integrated over time and compared to a voltage ramp. The value of the integrated error voltage relative to the voltage ramp is used to obtain an optimal on time for the switch such that coil current is maximized for a given DC input power. The coil driver can also provide ASK modulation on the coil current by changing the size of the switch according to input data.
US09728976B2

A method for allocating energy to a plurality of devices, wherein each device is configured to consume, store and/or supply energy, the method includes the steps of: assigning each device to a group of devices; assigning an aggregation node device to each group of devices; for a selection of devices transmitting local power cost functions of the devices and/or power usage profiles of the devices with respect to a predetermined time slot to the assigned aggregation node device; at the aggregation node device, generating aggregated data as a function of the received local power cost functions and/or power usage profiles; transmitting the aggregated data to a central processing device; at the central processing device, optimizing a global cost function for allocating power to the devices as a function of the aggregated data.
US09728969B2

Systems, methods, and computer program products for providing an inertial response by a wind power system to power fluctuations in an electrical grid. The system includes a synthetic inertial response generator configured to generate a power offset in response to fluctuations in grid voltage. The power offset signal is generated by determining a quadrature component the grid voltage using an internal reference voltage having an angular frequency and phase angle that is synchronized to the electrical grid by a control loop. The quadrature component is used to determine a synchronous power level. A control loop error signal is produced by the difference between the synchronous power level and the wind turbine system power output. Changes in the grid frequency produce an error signal that is added to the power set point of wind turbine system output controllers to provide a power system inertial power output response.
US09728968B2

The invention provides a device for operative connection between a subsea step out cable far end and subsea loads such as pumps, compressors and control systems, distinctive in that the device is a rotating frequency stepper device, more specifically a rotating step up or step down device, and it comprises: a motor and a generator operatively connected so that the motor drives the generator, at least one gas and/or liquid filled vessel into which at least one of the motor and generator are arranged, and the step out length is long, which means long enough to cause problems due to the Ferranti effect at frequency and power levels feasible for subsea pump and compressor motors, and where the device via the step out cable receives input electrical power at a low enough frequency to have stable transmission and the device, operatively connected to the subsea motor, delivers an output electrical frequency, amperage and voltage feasible for operation of the connected motors. System for pressure boosting of hydrocarbon fluid or other fluid subsea, comprising the device.
US09728950B2

A cryogenic cable termination connector having a small heat inflow from the outside and stable electrical insulation properties. The cryogenic cable termination connector includes a lead-out conductor led out from a site at a very low temperature to a site at room temperature via a liquid refrigerant layer, a refrigerant gas layer, and an oil layer. The lead-out conductor includes a capacitor-cone insulator in which plural metal foils for dividing an electric field from a high voltage level down to the ground voltage level are stacked through an insulator. Among electric field tilting portions in which voltage changes gradually from the high voltage level to the ground voltage level, an electric field tilting portion positioned at a lower part is located in the liquid refrigerant layer and an electric field tilting portion positioned at an upper part is located in the oil layer.
US09728945B2

A cable guide for guidance of at least one cable through a patch panel system, including a housing having front, back, left, and right sides, and at least one patch panel device including a tray and one or more adapters, the cable guide comprising an advancing member having a first end for coupling to the back side of the housing, a second end for coupling to the tray of the patch panel device, and a guide member disposed between the first and second ends, wherein the advancing member is transitionable between a first and second state, wherein, when the first and second ends are coupled respectively to the back side and the tray, in the first state, the guide member is positioned at least partially external to the housing at one of the left or right sides; and in the second state, the guide member is positioned within the housing.
US09728944B2

Disclosed is a system comprising an apparatus and method to aid electricians or other workers desiring to pass a wire, cord, or other such material through an inaccessible area inside a wall, above a ceiling, or below a floor of a residential home or commercial building. The apparatus consists of two elastic poles with the first pole containing a magnet at its distal end and the second pole containing a void space along its longitudinal axis wherein a string of a length substantially longer than the length of the second pole is passed through the string having a magnet at one end so when fully passed through the magnet is at the distal end of the second pole. The method comprises the steps of passing the first pole through a first opening cut into the wall, ceiling, or floor; passing the second pole through a second opening cut into the wall, ceiling, or floor; manipulating first and second poles such that the magnets on their distal ends magnetically bond with each other; withdrawing first pole from first opening so that the string defines a path between the openings where a wire may be drawn through.
US09728943B2

A device which can slide up and down on a chain or cable, can be loosened to attach to the chain or cable, but does not have any parts that come free when the part is loosened. The device includes first and second pieces, each made of structural material, the first and second pieces fitting together at concave and convex surfaces, to form an interlock forms inner surfaces with a through hole of a first shape that can slide along either a cable or a chain.
US09728941B2

A corona igniter (20) includes a metal shell (32) with a corona reducing lip (38) spaced from an insulator (26) and being free of sharp edges (40) to prevent arcing (42) in a rollover region and concentrate the electrical field at an electrode firing end (48). The corona reducing lip (38) includes lip outer surfaces (88) being round, convex, concave, or curving continuously with smooth transitions (90) therebetween. The corona reducing lip (38) includes lip outer surfaces (88) presenting spherical lip radii (r1) being at least 0.004 inches. The corona igniter (20) also includes shell inner surfaces (104) and insulator outer surfaces (75) facing one another being free of sharp edges (40).
US09728931B2

An injector arrangement for providing an electron beam. The injector arrangement comprises a first injector for providing electron bunches, and a second injector for providing electrons bunches. The injector arrangement is operable in a first mode in which the electron beam comprises electron bunches provided by the first injector only and a second mode in which the electron beam comprises electron bunches provided by the second injector only.
US09728920B2

This disclosure provides connectors for smart windows. A smart window may incorporate an optically switchable pane. In one aspect, a window unit includes an insulated glass unit including an optically switchable pane. A wire assembly may be attached to the edge of the insulated glass unit and may include wires in electrical communication with electrodes of the optically switchable pane. A floating connector may be attached to a distal end of the wire assembly. The floating connector may include a flange and a nose, with two holes in the flange for affixing the floating connector to a first frame. The nose may include a terminal face that present two exposed contacts of opposite polarity. Pre-wired spacers improve fabrication efficiency and seal integrity of insulated glass units. Electrical connection systems include those embedded in the secondary seal of the insulated glass unit.
US09728918B2

The invention relates to a distribution strip for distributing electrical energy for equipment, device and/or server cabinets. The distribution strip has an inner chamber which is defined by an upper, lower, two lateral side faces and two end faces. A feed cable is provided on one of the end faces. An end face forms, with a side face, an inner angle of greater than 105°.
US09728905B2

A male connector includes a male body and a male conductor. The male body includes an outer face including a first curved surface and a housing space on an inner side of the first curved surface of the male body. The male conductor is provided inside the housing space and includes a functional part. The functional part is a male communication antenna, a male power-transmission antenna, or a male power-reception antenna. A female connector includes a female body and a female conductor. The female body includes a connection hole, an inner wall surface of the connection hole, the inner wall surface including a first curved surface, a housing space on an outer side of the first curved surface of the connection hole of the female body. The female conductor is provided inside the housing space and includes a functional part. The functional part is a female communication antenna, a female power-reception antenna, or a female power-transmission antenna.
US09728899B2

An electrical connector includes an insulating body, a middle shielding sheet disposed in the insulating body, at least one row of terminals disposed in the insulating body and located on one side of the middle shielding sheet, an inner metal shell arranged on the insulating body, and an outer metal shell, enclosing the insulating body and the inner metal shell to form a mating cavity. The row of terminals includes at least one ground terminal. The ground terminal is projected laterally to form an urging portion. The inner metal shell at least partially encloses the terminals and the middle shielding sheet, and is in contact with the plate edge of the urging portion.
US09728894B2

A device connector (1) is provided in a device unit that has plural devices arranged in parallel and is to be connected to a wire-side connector (30). The device connector (1) has terminal accommodating portions (12) provided respectively for the devices and arranged in parallel along a direction (A) in which the devices are arranged. A holding portion (22) collectively holds the terminal accommodating portions (12). Positioning plates (18) are provided individually on the terminal accommodating portions (12), and positioning recesses (25) are at positions of the holding portion (22) corresponding respectively to the positioning plates (18) with the terminal accommodating portions (12) collectively held and configured to position the terminal accommodating portions (12) and the holding portion (22) by engaging the positioning plates (18).
US09728890B2

The connector is provided with a connector housing (3) having a holder accommodating chamber (31c), and a rear holder (32A), with an electric wire (21) inserted into an electric wire insertion hole (39) thereof, accommodated within the holder accommodating chamber (31c). The external diameter dimension (D1) of the electric wire (21) is larger than the internal diameter dimension (D2) of the electric wire insertion hole (39) of the rear holder (32A), and the internal diameter dimension (D4) of the holder accommodating chamber (31c) of the connector housing (3) is smaller than the external diameter dimension (D3) of the rear holder (32A) with the electric wire (21) accommodated within the electric wire insertion hole (39).
US09728883B1

An electrical connector includes an insulating body having a first insulator and a second insulator, and multiple terminals disposed on the insulating body. A gap space is formed between the first and second insulators. The gap space is filled with air. Each terminal has a mating segment located above the first insulator, a first fixing segment extending downward from the mating segment and insert-molded into the first insulator, a connecting segment extending downward from the first fixing segment and exposed to the gap space, a second fixing segment extending downward from the connecting segment and insert-molded into the second insulator, and a positioning segment extending downward from the second fixing segment and located below the second insulator. The width of the first and second fixing segment is less than the width of at least one of the mating segment, the connecting segment and the positioning segment.
US09728875B2

A multiple connector, in particular, for connecting to a printed circuit board. The multiple connector includes a base plate with essentially surrounding walls that project from the base plate and form a connector skirt. Electrical connecting tabs project through the base plate and pass through the base plate in the interior of a connector skirt, wherein Between at least two adjacent connector skirts, the base plate is interrupted by a contour projecting out from the plane of the base plate.
US09728866B2

An electrical connector comprises a plurality of terminal blocks arranged along a transverse direction. The terminal block includes a vertical insulative plate, a pair of first terminals, and a pair of second terminals. The first terminal includes a first deflectable contacting arm and a first connecting foot. The second terminal includes a second deflectable contacting arm and a second connecting foot. The first deflectable contacting arm and the second deflectable contacting arm are arranged one by one along the transverse direction. The first deflectable contacting arms of the pair of first terminals bend in a face to face style to form an inserting space in the vertical direction. The second deflectable contacting arms of the pair of second terminals bend in a face to face style to form the inserting space in the vertical direction.
US09728864B2

An electrical contact terminal includes a base portion for positioning and retaining the electrical contact terminal within a connector housing, an insulation displacement connecting portion extending upwardly from the base portion and comprising a pair of spaced apart arms defining an opening therebetween for receiving and making electrical contact with an electrical conductor, and a contact portion extending downwardly from the base portion and configured to float when the electrical contact terminal is retained and positioned within a connector housing. The contact portion includes a first arm, a second arm, and an arcuate base portion. The first arm extends downwardly and includes a first end attached to the base portion and an opposite second end. The second arm extends downwardly and includes a free first end closer to the base portion and an opposite second end farther from the base portion. The second arm is configured to deflect when making electrical contact with a mating contact pin. The arcuate base portion connects the second ends of the first and second arms.
US09728857B2

An antenna structure includes a feed end plate, a ground end plate, a first radiator, a second radiator, and a metallic plate. The first radiator is coupled to the feed end plate. The second radiator is coupled to the ground end plate. The metallic plate is spaced from the first radiator and is couple the second radiator. The metallic plate includes a main sheet and at least one side sheet connected to the main sheet, a gap is defined between the main sheet and the first radiator, and the second radiator is coupled to the at least one side sheet.
US09728847B2

An antenna includes a plurality of upper electrodes in a first metal layer, a plurality of lower electrodes in a second metal layer, a plurality of side electrodes connecting the upper electrodes with the lower electrodes, and a ground structure. The upper electrodes, the lower electrodes and the side electrodes form one continuous electrode. The continuous electrode extends in a first direction away from a reference plane over a substrate. The upper electrodes extend in a second direction different from the first direction. The upper electrodes, the lower electrodes, and the side electrodes are embedded within a waveguide structure that includes a dielectric material. The substrate has a length extending in the first direction greater than a length the continuous electrode extends in the first direction. The waveguide structure includes a portion of the substrate in a region beyond the length of the continuous electrode in the first direction.
US09728844B2

A high-gain digitally tuned antenna system comprises a modified swept-back fractal (MSBF) radiator element, with the fractal preferably being a Sierpinski carpet fractal based on a parallelogram. A digital tuning circuit coupled to the radiator comprises an array of inductors which can be selectively connected to form a network which tunes the antenna system to a selected tuning frequency. The system is preferably arranged to selectively connect the inductors in series such that the combined inductances substantially cancel the capacitance of the radiator at a selected tuning frequency. The antenna system is preferably arranged to operate over the 30-88 MHz, 108-174 MHz, and 225-600 MHz bands, with a radiator height of 15″ or less.
US09728838B2

Approaches for an on-chip antenna are provided. A method includes forming an antenna in an insulator layer at a front side of a substrate. The method also includes forming a trench in the substrate underneath the antenna. The method further includes forming a fill material in the trench. The substrate is composed of a material having a first dielectric constant. The fill material has a second dielectric constant that is less than the first dielectric constant.
US09728831B2

Favorable isolation characteristics are obtained over a wide band in a non-reciprocal circuit element. A non-reciprocal circuit element includes: a magnetic material 10 to which a DC magnetic field is applied by a permanent magnet; and a plurality of center electrodes disposed on the magnetic material 10 so as to intersect each other in an insulated state. Of the plurality of center electrodes, a first center electrode 21 is connected at one end thereof to a first input/output port P1, and a second center electrode 22 is connected at one end thereof to a second input/output port P2. A resistance element R is connected in series between the ports P1 and P2, and a phase-shift circuit (a parallel resonant circuit composed of an inductance element L5 and a capacitance element C5) is connected in series with the resistance element R.
US09728821B2

A power storage apparatus, electric device, electric vehicle, and power system are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a power storage apparatus includes a battery block comprising a plurality of battery cells and an isolating unit that enables wireless information transfer regarding battery information of the battery block.
US09728819B2

A non-aqueous electrolyte battery system includes a battery voltage output section for outputting a voltage of a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and a freezing determination section for performing freezing determination to a non-aqueous electrolyte. In the freezing determination, the freezing determination section executes freezing determination current control for supplying a current at a freezing determination current value at a freezing determination time in a direction to charge the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery. When a voltage value output from the battery voltage output section exhibits a transition that rises once to a peak value during execution of the freezing determination current control, and then decreases with time, it is determined that the non-aqueous electrolyte is in a frozen state.
US09728816B2

The invention relates to a lithium-rich electrode plate of a lithium-ion battery and a preparation method thereof. The electrode plate includes a collector; a film containing an active material and forming on the collector, and forming an elementary electrode plate together with the collector; and a porous lithium sheet covering on the film, so that a resulting capacity of the porous lithium sheet matches a planned lithium-supplemental capacity to an anode of a lithium-ion battery. The electrode plate can accurately control lithium supplemental quantity to the anode, improve lithium-supplemental uniformity, improve the first coulombic efficiency, energy density, and electrochemical performance of the battery, and decrease deformation of the cell. Furthermore, the method can be performed simply and the cost thereof is low.
US09728808B2

The main object of the present invention is to provide an all solid state battery in which compatibility between battery performance and safety is intended. The present invention attains the object by providing an all solid state battery comprising a cathode layer containing a cathode active material, an anode layer containing an anode active material, and a solid electrolyte layer formed between the cathode layer and the anode layer, containing a first sulfide solid electrolyte material, characterized in that a ratio of ion resistance of the whole all solid state battery to ion resistance of the solid electrolyte layer is 3.8 or less, and the ion resistance of the solid electrolyte layer is 7.6 Ω·cm2 or more and 16 Ω·cm2 or less.
US09728774B2

A storage structure of an electrical metal-air energy storage cell is provided including an active storage material and an inert material, wherein particles of the inert material have an aspect ratio of less than 0.7, and wherein subregions of the inert particles are incorporated in a grain volume of grains of the active storage material.
US09728773B2

A durable electrode material suitable for use in Li ion batteries is provided. The material is comprised of a continuous network of graphite regions integrated with, and in good electrical contact with a composite comprising graphene sheets and an electrically active material, such as silicon, wherein the electrically active material is dispersed between, and supported by, the graphene sheets.
US09728772B2

Positive active material pastes for flooded deep discharge lead-acid batteries, methods of making the same and lead-acid batteries including the same are provided. The positive active material paste includes lead oxide, a sulfate additive, and an aqueous acid. The positive active material paste contains from about 0.1 to about 1.0 wt % of the sulfate additive. Batteries using such positive active material pastes exhibit greatly improved performance over batteries with conventional positive active material pastes.
US09728771B2

An apparatus comprises an anode formed of graphene oxide from an acidic pH; a cathode from a pH greater than the acidic pH of the anode; and charge collectors deposited on the anode and the cathode. The anode comprises graphene oxide, the graphene oxide comprising an ink and having a pH of about 1 to about 4.
US09728770B2

In manufacture of a storage battery electrode containing graphene as a conductive additive, the efficiency of reduction of graphene oxide is reduced with high efficiency under mild conditions, and cycle characteristics and rate characteristics of a storage battery are improved. Provided is a manufacturing method of a storage battery electrode. In the manufacturing method, a paste containing an active material, a binder, graphene oxide, and a solvent is formed; the paste is applied to a current collector and the solvent contained in the paste is evaporated to form an active material layer; the active material layer is immersed in a liquid containing alcohol; and the active material layer is taken out from the liquid and heated so that the graphene oxide is reduced.
US09728764B2

The present invention provides a heat suppressing alkaline storage battery including a positive electrode lead having a downsized portion that incorporates a PTC thermistor. A battery includes a positive electrode lead having a first lead half body, a second lead half body, and a PTC thermistor, the first and second lead half bodies overlap end portions formed in a portion where the first and second lead half bodies overlap with each other, the overlap end portions being larger than the PTC thermistor as viewed from a plane and being in contact with the PTC thermistor, the PTC thermistor is fitted in a fitting recessed portion formed in the overlap end portion of the first lead half body, and an exposed portion of the PTC thermistor is covered with a protective material.
US09728751B2

An organic light emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting diode includes an anodic conductive layer, an organic EL layer, and a cathodic conductive layer formed from Ag or an alloy of Ag, or the like, sequentially laminated on a substrate, such that a two-dimensional lattice structure is provided on a surface of the cathodic conductive layer on an organic EL layer side, an extraction wavelength and a distance between centers of concave portions or convex portions in the two-dimensional lattice structure are within a region surrounded by specific coordinates in a graph illustrating a relationship between the light extraction wavelength and the distance, and the depth of the concave portions or a height of the convex portions is 12 nm to 180 nm.
US09728750B2

A radiation-emitting device includes a substrate, at least one layer sequence arranged on the substrate and adapted to generate electromagnetic radiation, including at least one first electrode surface, at least one second electrode surface, and at least one functional layer between the first electrode surface and the second electrode surface, wherein the functional layer is adapted to generate electromagnetic radiation in a switched-on operating state, at least one transparency region transparent to at least one partial spectrum of electromagnetic radiation at least in a switched-off operating state, and at least one non-transparency region non-transparent to the partial spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, wherein the transparency region and the non-transparency region are arranged such that electromagnetic radiation from the partial spectrum can pass through the radiation-emitting device through the transparency region.
US09728749B2

The present invention provides an OLED array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, an OLED display panel and an OLED display device. The OLED array substrate comprises a substrate and a plurality of pixel units provided thereon, each pixel unit comprising a TFT, and a first electrode, an organic light-emitting layer, a second electrode and an optical coupling layer sequentially arranged on the TFT, wherein the optical coupling layer comprises a bottom contacting with the second electrode and an arched top protruding towards a light-exiting direction. By forming the optical coupling layer of each pixel unit on the OLED array substrate to be the arched top optical coupling layer, the OLED array substrate, the manufacturing method thereof, the OLED display panel and the OLED display device of the present invention attenuates total reflection of light inside the optical coupling layer, thereby improving light extraction efficiency.
US09728748B2

According to one embodiment, an organic semiconductor device includes a supporting substrate, a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements, a first barrier layer, a flattening layer, and a second barrier layer. The flattening layer exists sporadically and makes gentle in inclination steep elevation change present in the surface of the first barrier layer. The first barrier layer and the second barrier layer are made of moisture penetration preventive material.
US09728747B2

According to one embodiment, an organic semiconductor device includes a supporting substrate, a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements, a first barrier layer, a flattening layer, and a second barrier layer. The flattening layer exists sporadically and makes gentle in inclination steep elevation change present in the surface of the first barrier layer. The first barrier layer and the second barrier layer are made of moisture penetration preventive material.
US09728744B2

An organic light emitting diode display is provided that may include a first substrate, a plurality of electrodes on the first substrate and spaced apart from each other, a pixel defining layer on the plurality of electrodes, spacers on the pixel defining layer, and a second substrate on the spacers. The pixel defining layer includes a plurality of openings spaced apart from each other and respectively open to the plurality of electrodes. The spacers on the pixel defining layer are at crossing points of a plurality of virtual lines, the spacers crossing spaces between adjacent openings of the plurality of openings.
US09728743B2

An organic light emitting diode display includes a display substrate including an organic light emitting element and a driving circuit part, an encapsulation substrate sealing the display substrate, and a sealing portion between the display substrate and the encapsulation substrate, the sealing portion including a plurality of sealing frame portions around the display substrate, and a first sealing frame portion of the plurality of sealing frame portions being adjacent to a pad portion, wherein at least one of a width of an edge of the sealing portion and a width of the first sealing frame portion is wider than a width of a sealing frame portion other than the first sealing frame portion.
US09728742B2

A display panel assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: an upper mother substrate; a lower mother substrate disposed opposing the upper mother substrate and including a plurality of thin film transistor (TFT) arrays; a sealing member formed between the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate and formed with a closed loop shape to surround the thin film transistor array; and a seal pattern formed on an edge region of the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate to bond the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate and in which an open region is formed to connect the inside and outside of the bonded upper mother substrate and lower mother substrate.
US09728740B2

Provided are an organic light-emitting display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same. The organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a first substrate; an organic light-emitting device provided on the first substrate and including a first electrode, a second electrode, and an intermediate layer positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode; a second substrate covering the organic light-emitting device and disposed to face the first substrate; and a sealant bonding the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein at least a portion of the sealant is a intermixing region which is formed as an inorganic material permeates an organic material.
US09728739B2

The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device and a method of preparing the same. More particularly, the organic light emitting device according to the present invention includes: a substrate; an organic light emitting unit in which a first electrode, an organic material layer, and a second electrode are sequentially stacked on the substrate; and an encapsulating unit configured to seal an external side of the organic light emitting unit, in which a protecting unit is provided on at least a partial region of the substrate, on which the organic light emitting unit and the encapsulating unit are not provided, and at least a partial region in a lateral surface region of the substrate.
US09728736B2

An organic thin film photovoltaic device (1) includes: a substrate (10); a first electrode layer (11) disposed on the substrate; a hole transport layer (12) disposed on the first electrode layer; a bulk heterojunction organic active layer (14) disposed on the hole transport layer; a second electrode layer (16) disposed on the bulk heterojunction organic active layer; a sealing glass (40) configured to be opposed to the substrate 10, and configured to seal a laminated structure composed of the first electrode layer, the hole transport layer, the bulk heterojunction organic active layer, and the second electrode layer; and a glass frit (36) disposed between the sealing glass and the substrate and configured to seal the laminated structure. There is provided: an inexpensive organic thin film photovoltaic device of which durability is improved, allowing further weight saving and thin-layering; and a fabrication method of such an organic thin film photovoltaic device.
US09728727B2

An organic electroluminescence device having a layer of an organic light emitting medium which comprises (A) a specific arylamine compound and (B) at least one compound selected from specific anthracene derivatives, spirofluorene derivatives, compounds having condensed rings and metal complex compounds and is disposed between a pair of electrodes and an organic light emitting medium comprising the above components (A) and (B) are provided. The organic electroluminescence device exhibits a high purity of color, has excellent heat resistance and a long life and efficiently emits bluish to yellowish light. The organic light emitting medium can be advantageously used for the organic electroluminescence device.
US09728722B2

Socket structures that are configured to use area efficiently, and methods for providing socket regions that use area efficiently, are provided. The staircase type contact area or socket region includes dielectric layers between adjacent planar electrodes that partially cover a portion of a planar electrode that does directly underlie an adjacent planar electrode. The portion of a dielectric layer between adjacent planar electrodes can be sloped, such that it extends from an edge of an overlying planar electrode to a point between the edge of an underlying planar electrode and a point corresponding to an edge of the overlying planar electrode.
US09728720B2

A resistive random access memory device and a method for fabricating the same are presented. The resistive random access memory device includes a first electrode having a first dopant within. A second electrode is disposed on the first electrode. A resistive switching layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
US09728717B2

A method of magnetic tunnel junction patterning for magnetoresistive random access memory devices using low atomic weight ion sputtering. The method includes: providing a magnetoresistive random access memory device including a hard mask metal, a MTJ element, and a semiconductor substrate, wherein the hard mask metal is disposed on the MTJ element and, wherein the MTJ element is disposed on the semiconductor substrate; and etching back the MTJ element into a plurality of MTJ element pillars using a low atomic weight ion sputtering. A magnetoresistive random access memory device using low atomic weight ion sputtering. The device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of MTJ element pillars disposed on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the plurality of MTJ element pillars is etched from a MTJ element using a low atomic weight ion sputtering; and a hard mask metal disposed on the MTJ element pillars.
US09728715B2

A storage element includes a storage layer, a fixed magnetization layer, a spin barrier layer, and a spin absorption layer. The storage layer stores information based on a magnetization state of a magnetic material. The fixed magnetization layer is provided for the storage layer through a tunnel insulating layer. The spin barrier layer suppresses diffusion of spin-polarized electrons and is provided on the side of the storage layer opposite the fixed magnetization layer. The spin absorption layer is formed of a nonmagnetic metal layer causing spin pumping and provided on the side of the spin barrier layer opposite the storage layer. A direction of magnetization in the storage layer is changed by passing current in a layering direction to inject spin-polarized electrons so that information is recorded in the storage layer and the spin barrier layer includes at least a material selected from oxides, nitrides, and fluorides.
US09728695B2

A mount substrate includes: an insulation substrate containing resin and glass; connection conductors formed on a surface of the insulation substrate; a first white resist layer that covers the connection conductors; and a second white resist layer that covers the first white resist. Each of the connection conductors includes a copper foil and a plating layer partly formed on the copper foil. The plating layer is formed of metal having oxidation-resistant and corrosion-resistant characteristics higher than those of copper. The first white resist layer is formed with first openings that respectively expose the plating layers of the connection conductors. The second white resist layer covers a periphery of each plating layer of the connection conductors in planar view.
US09728686B2

A light emitting device and a method of fabricating the same is provided. The device includes an LED chip having a first main surface, a second main surface opposing the first main surface, and one or more side surfaces extending between the first and second main surfaces. A reflective side layer surrounds the one or more side surfaces of the LED chip. The reflective side layer has a first main surface and a second main surface opposing the first main surface extending in a first direction, and an opening extending between the first and second main surfaces in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The opening surrounds the chip. A phosphor film overlies the first main surface of the chip and the first main surface of the reflective side layer. At least one electrode is disposed on the second main surface of the chip.
US09728684B2

Provided is a light emitting apparatus that causes no lateral light leakage, enables easy assembly, and allows free selection of the shape of a reflection frame. The light emitting apparatus includes an LED device which is flip-chip mounted on a substrate, a phosphor layer placed on a light emitting surface of the LED device, a reflective resin having a recessed portion formed on the upper surface thereof, the reflective resin covering the side surface of the LED device and the side surface of the phosphor layer, and a reflection frame having a protruded portion formed on the lower surface thereof, the reflection frame being fixed on or above the phosphor layer and the reflective resin by engaging the protruded portion with the recessed portion of the reflective resin.
US09728677B2

A deep ultraviolet LED with a design wavelength of λ is provided that includes a reflecting electrode layer, a metal layer, a p-type GaN contact layer, and a p-type AlGaN layer that are sequentially stacked from a side opposite to a substrate, the p-type AlGaN layer being transparent to light with the wavelength of λ; and a photonic crystal periodic structure that penetrates at least the p-type GaN contact layer and the p-type AlGaN layer. The photonic crystal periodic structure has a photonic band gap.
US09728661B2

Example embodiments relate to optoelectronic devices. An optoelectronic device may include a photoactive layer between first and second electrodes, and a ferroelectric layer corresponding to at least one of the first and second electrodes. At least one of the first and second electrodes may include graphene. The photoactive layer may include a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor. The optoelectronic device may further include a third electrode, and in this case, the ferroelectric layer may be between the second electrode and the third electrode. The second electrode, the ferroelectric layer, and the third electrode may constitute a nanogenerator.
US09728650B1

A thin film transistor array panel includes a first conductive layer including a gate electrode; a channel layer disposed over the gate; and a second conductive layer disposed over the channel layer. The second conductive layer includes a multi-layered portion defining a source electrode and a drain electrode, which includes a first sub-layer, a second sub-layer, and a third sub-layer sequentially disposed one over another. Both the third and the first sub-layers include indium and zinc oxide materials. An indium to zinc content ratio in the first sub-layer is greater than that in the third sub-layer. The content ratio differentiation between the first and the third sub-layers affects a lateral etch profile associated with a gap generated in the second conductive layer between the source and the drain electrodes, where the associated gap width in the third sub-layer is wider than that that in the first sub-layer.
US09728646B2

Operations in fabricating a Fin FET include providing a substrate having a fin structure, where an upper portion of the fin structure has a first fin surface profile. An isolation region is formed on the substrate and in contact with the fin structure. A portion of the isolation region is recessed by an etch process to form a recessed portion and to expose the upper portion of the fin structure, where the recessed portion has a first isolation surface profile. A thermal hydrogen treatment is applied to the fin structure and the recessed portion. A gate dielectric layer is formed with a substantially uniform thickness over the fin structure, where the recessed portion is adjusted from the first isolation surface profile to a second isolation surface profile and the fin structure is adjusted from the first fin surface profile to a second fin surface profile by the thermal hydrogen treatment.
US09728632B2

A vertical DMOS device implements one or more deep silicon via (DSV) plugs, thereby significantly reducing the layout area and on-resistance (RDSON) of the device. The DSV plugs extend through a semiconductor substrate to contact a conductively doped buried diffusion region, which forms the drain of the vertical DMOS device. Methods for fabricating the vertical DMOS device are compatible with conventional sub-micron VLSI processes, such that the vertical DMOS device can be readily fabricated on the same integrated circuit as CMOS devices and analog devices, such as lateral double-diffused MOS (LDMOS) devices.
US09728621B1

A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit is provided. According to the method, a layered fin including a plurality of sacrificial layers and semiconductor layers wherein two adjacent semiconductor layers are separated by the sacrificial layer is provided on a semiconductor substrate. A gate over the layered fin and a spacer surrounding a sidewall of the gate are then formed. The sacrificial layers are subsequently removed to provide a structure in which two adjacent semiconductor layers are separated by a gap. The method further includes forming an insulator in the gap and forming source and drain regions located on the layered fin. The insulator includes a high-K dielectric material surrounded by a low-K dielectric material, both of which are in contact with the two adjacent semiconductor layers.
US09728618B2

A semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor layer formed of a nitride semiconductor on a substrate, a second semiconductor layer formed of a nitride semiconductor on the first semiconductor layer, a gate trench formed in the second semiconductor layer or in the second and first semiconductor layers, a gate electrode formed at the gate trench, and a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on the second semiconductor layer. The gate trench has terminal parts of a bottom of the gate trench formed shallower than a center part of the bottom. A part of a sidewall of the gate trench is formed of a surface including an a-plane. The center part of the bottom is a c-plane. The terminal parts of the bottom form a slope from the c-plane to the a-plane.
US09728616B2

The present invention provides a high-voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor device and a manufacturing method thereof. First, a semiconductor substrate is provided and a dielectric layer and a conductive layer sequentially stacked on the semiconductor substrate. Then, the conductive layer is patterned to form a gate and a dummy gate disposed at a first side of the gate and followed by forming a first spacer between the gate and the dummy gate and a second spacer at a second side of the gate opposite to the first side, wherein the first spacer includes an indentation. Subsequently, the dummy gate is removed.
US09728611B2

A semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a first GaN layer on the substrate and containing carbon; a second GaN layer on the first GaN layer and containing transition metal and carbon; a third GaN layer on the second GaN layer and containing transition metal and carbon; and an electron supply layer on the third GaN layer and having a larger band gap than GaN. A transition metal concentration of the third GaN layer gradually decreases from that of the second GaN layer from the second GaN layer toward the electron supply layer and is higher than 1×1015 cm−3 at a position of 100 nm deep from a bottom end of the electron supply layer. A top end of the second GaN layer is deeper than 800 nm from the bottom end. A carbon concentration of the third GaN layer is lower than those of the first and second GaN layers.
US09728610B1

There are disclosed herein various implementations of a semiconductor component with a multi-layered nucleation body and method for its fabrication. The semiconductor component includes a substrate, a nucleation body situated over the substrate, and a group III-V semiconductor device situated over the nucleation body. The nucleation body includes a bottom layer formed at a low growth temperature, and a top layer formed at a high growth temperature. The nucleation body also includes an intermediate layer that is formed substantially continuously using a varying intermediate growth temperature.
US09728608B2

A semiconductor device according to embodiments described herein includes a p-type SiC layer, a gate electrode, and a gate insulating layer between the SiC layer and the gate electrode. The gate insulating layer includes a first layer, a second layer, a first region, and a second region. The second layer is between the first layer and the gate electrode and has a higher oxygen density than the first layer. The first region is provided across the first layer and the second layer, includes a first element from F, D, and H, and has a first concentration peak of the first element. The second region is provided in the first layer, includes a second element from Ge, B, Al, Ga, In, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Y, La, and lanthanoid, and has a second concentration peak of the second element and a third concentration peak of C.
US09728601B2

Semiconductor devices may include a plurality of active fins each extending in a first direction on a substrate, a gate structure extending on the active fins in a second direction, and a first source/drain layer on first active fins of the active fins adjacent the gate structure. At least one of two opposing sidewalls of a cross-section of the first source/drain layer taken along the second direction may include a curved portion having a slope with respect to an upper surface of the substrate. The slope may decrease from a bottom toward a top thereof.
US09728598B2

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type region including a first conductivity type impurity. A first gate structure is on the semiconductor substrate overlying the first conductivity type region. A second conductivity type region including a second conductivity type impurity is formed in the semiconductor substrate. A barrier layer is located between the first conductivity type region and the second conductivity type region. The barrier layer prevents diffusion of the second conductivity type impurity from the second conductivity type region into the first conductivity type region.
US09728596B1

A semiconductor structure includes a first magnetic layer, an insulative oxide layer, an oxygen trapping layer and a cap layer. The insulative oxide layer is over the first magnetic layer. The oxygen trapping layer is over the insulative oxide layer. The oxygen concentration of the oxygen trapping layer is less than an oxygen concentration of the insulative oxide layer. The cap layer is over the oxygen trapping layer.
US09728587B2

An organic light emitting diode device is disclosed. The organic light emitting diode device includes a color calibration layer which is applied to the white sub-pixel. The color calibration layer selectively absorbs light in a given wavelength region thereby increasing luminance due to the white sub-pixel while simultaneously preventing the deformation of white color coordination. The contrast ratio may also be improved by reducing the reflection of external light, thereby minimizing the need for a polarizer, and the thickness of the device may thus be decreased and processing costs may be reduced.
US09728586B2

An organic photoelectronic device includes a first electrode having a plurality of nanopatterns arranged at a regular interval, a second electrode facing the first electrode and an active layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, the active layer absorbing light in at least one wavelength of a visible ray region.
US09728578B2

A pixel arrangement includes a photodiode, a reset transistor configured to be controlled by a reset signal and coupled to a reset input voltage, a transfer gate transistor configured to transfer charge from the photodiode to a node, wherein the transfer gate transistor is controlled by a transfer gate voltage, and a source follower transistor controlled by the voltage on the node and coupled to a source follower voltage. A capacitor is coupled between the node and an input voltage. During a read operation the input voltage is increased to boost the voltage at the node. The increased input voltage may, for example, be one the reset input voltage, said source follower voltage, said transfer gate voltage and a boosting voltage.
US09728576B2

A solid-state image pickup element including: a photoelectric conversion region; a transistor; an isolation region of a first conductivity type configured to isolate the photoelectric conversion region and the transistor from each other; a well region of the first conductivity type having the photoelectric conversion region, the transistor, and the isolation region of the first conductivity type formed therein; a contact portion configured to supply an electric potential used to fix the well region to a given electric potential; and an impurity region of the first conductivity type formed so as to extend in a depth direction from a surface of the isolation region of the first conductivity type in the isolation region of the first conductivity type between the contact portion and the photoelectric conversion region, and having a sufficiently higher impurity concentration than that of the isolation region of the first conductivity type.
US09728573B2

A back side illuminated (BSI) image sensor device, includes: a substrate including a front side and a back side opposite to the front side; a radiation-sensing region disposed in the substrate; and a deep trench isolation (DTI) grid disposed in the substrate and defining the radiation-sensing region. The DTI grid extends from the back side toward the front side, and includes a segmented strip in a top view from the back side.
US09728572B2

A semiconductor device includes a lower device and an upper device disposed on the lower device. The lower device includes a lower substrate, a lower plug pad disposed on the lower substrate, and a lower interlayer dielectric layer on the lower plug pad. The upper device includes an upper substrate, an etch-delay structure in a lower portion of the upper substrate, an upper plug pad disposed on a bottom surface of the upper substrate, an upper interlayer dielectric layer on the upper plug pad, and a via plug configured to penetrate the upper substrate and contact the upper plug pad and the lower plug pad. The via plug includes a first portion in contact with the upper plug pad and the first etch-delay structure, and a second portion in contact with the lower plug pad.
US09728564B2

A solid-state imaging device includes a photoelectric conversion section which is disposed on a semiconductor substrate and which photoelectrically converts incident light into signal charges, a pixel transistor section which is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and which converts signal charges read out from the photoelectric conversion section into a voltage, and an element isolation region which is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and which isolates the photoelectric conversion section from an active region in which the pixel transistor section is disposed. The pixel transistor section includes a plurality of transistors. Among the plurality of transistors, in at least one transistor in which the gate width direction of its gate electrode is oriented toward the photoelectric conversion section, at least a photoelectric conversion section side portion of the gate electrode is disposed within and on the active region with a gate insulating film therebetween.
US09728554B2

An array substrate of display panel comprises a substrate, a first and second transistors disposed on the substrate. The first and second transistors are electrically connected and share a semiconducting layer which comprises a first lateral portion, a turning portion and a bottom portion. The turning portion connects to the first lateral portion. The bottom portion connects to the turning portion. In one embodiment, a first outer edge extending line of the first lateral portion, a second outer edge extending line of the bottom portion and a third outer edge of the turning portion defines a first region. A first inner edge extending line of the first lateral portion, a second inner edge extending line of the bottom portion and a third inner edge of the turning portion defines a second region. The area of the first region is smaller than that of the second region.
US09728537B2

A technique for forming a semiconductor device is provided. Sacrificial mandrels are formed over a hardmask layer on a semiconductor layer. Spacers are formed on sidewalls of the sacrificial mandrels. The sacrificial mandrels are removed to leave the spacers. A masking process leaves exposed a first set of spacers with a second set protected. In response to the masking process, a first fin etch process forms a first set of fins in the semiconductor layer via first set of spacers. The first set of fins has a vertical sidewall profile. Another masking process leaves exposed the second set of spacers with the first set of spacers and the first set of fins protected. In response to the other masking process, a second fin etch process forms a second set of fins in semiconductor layer using the second set of spacers. The second set of fins has a trapezoidal sidewall profile.
US09728522B2

Packages and methods of manufacture thereof are described. A package may include a first package and a die structure disposed over the first package. The first package may include: a first encapsulant; a first via structure within the first encapsulant; a first die within the first encapsulant, at least a portion of the first encapsulant being interposed between a sidewall of the first die and a sidewall of the first via structure; a second die within the first encapsulant, an active side of the second die facing an active side of the first die; and a first via chip within the first encapsulant, the first via chip comprising one or more through vias, wherein the first via chip is disposed at the active side of the first die, and between the second die and the first via structure.
US09728520B2

An enhanced Flash chip and a method for packaging chip are provided to solve the problems of high design complexity. The enhanced Flash chip comprises: a FLASH and a RPMC packaged integrally, wherein the same IO pins in the FLASH and in the RPMC are mutually connected and are connected to the same external sharing pin of the chip; an external instruction is transmitted to the FLASH and the RPMC through the external sharing pin of the chip, and the controller of the FLASH and the controller of the RPMC respectively judge whether to execute the external instruction; and the FLASH and the RPMC further comprise internal IO pins, respectively, the internal IO pins of the FLASH and the internal IO pins of the RPMC are mutually connected, and internal mutual communication between the FLASH and the RPMC is performed through the pair of mutually connected internal IO pins.
US09728505B2

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes forming a fin structure on a substrate; forming a dummy gate over the fin structure; forming spacers on sides of the dummy gate; forming a doped region within the fin structure; replacing the dummy gate with a metal gate; replacing an upper portion of the metal gate with a first dielectric layer; forming a conductive layer directly on the doped region; replacing an upper portion of the conductive layer with a second dielectric layer; removing the first dielectric layer thereby exposing a sidewall of the spacer; removing an upper portion of the spacer to thereby expose a sidewall of the second dielectric layer; removing at least a portion of the second dielectric layer to form a trench; and forming a conductive plug in the trench.
US09728502B2

A method is disclosed to form a metal-oxysilicate diffusion barrier for a damascene metallization. A trench is formed in an Inter Layer Dielectric (ILD) material. An oxysilicate formation-enhancement layer comprising silicon, carbon, oxygen, a constituent component of the ILD, or a combination thereof, is formed in the trench. A barrier seed layer is formed on the oxysilicate formation-enhancement layer comprising an elemental metal selected from a first group of elemental metals in combination with an elemental metal selected from a second group of elemental metals. An elemental metal in the second group is immiscible in copper or an alloy thereof, has a diffusion constant greater than a self-diffusion of copper or an alloy thereof; does not reducing silicon-oxygen bonds during oxysilicate formation; and promotes adhesion of copper or an alloy of copper to the metal-oxysilicate barrier diffusion layer. The structure is then annealed to form a metal-oxysilicate diffusion barrier.
US09728498B2

Provided is a package structure including a die, an encapsulant, a through via, a first dielectric layer, a conductive line structure, an adhesion promotion layer, a second dielectric layer and a connector. The encapsulant is formed aside the die. The through via is formed aside the die and penetrates through the encapsulant. The first dielectric layer is formed overlying the die, the encapsulant and the through via. The conductive line structure includes a pad over the first dielectric layer. The adhesion promotion layer overlays a first portion of a top surface and a sidewall of the pad and overlying the first dielectric layer. The second dielectric layer overlays the adhesion promotion layer. The connector is in contact with a second portion of the top surface of the pad. The second portion of the top surface of the pad is exposed by the adhesion promotion layer.
US09728493B2

A semiconductor device package includes a leadframe and a semiconductor chip mounted to the leadframe. The semiconductor device package further includes a molded encapsulant configured to cast-in-place the leadframe. A surface area of the leadframe remains exposed by the encapsulant. An electrically insulating covering layer extends over a part of the surface area and is configured to divide the surface area in at least two zones.
US09728484B2

Disclosed relates to a power module package and a method for manufacturing the same. The power module package includes a lower substrate on which a pattern is formed, a power semiconductor element and a ribbon which are separated apart from each other at a predetermined distance to be mounted on an upper surface of the lower substrate, a first spacer attached to an upper portion of the power semiconductor element via a first adhesive layer, a second spacer attached to an upper portion of the ribbon via a second adhesive layer, and an upper substrate attached to an upper portion of each of the first and second spacers via a third adhesive layer.
US09728483B2

An integrated circuit and method of forming the integrated circuit, including the steps of forming channels partially into a thickness of a semiconductor layer or through the thickness of the semiconductor layer and partially through a thickness of a substrate layer on which the semiconductor layer was formed. The method may then include underfilling or overfilling the channels with diamond. If underfilled, a remainder of the channels may be filled in with nucleation buffer layers or additional semiconductor material. If overfilled, the diamond may be selectively polished down to form a planar surface with the semiconductor layer. Next, the method may include forming an active device layer over the semiconductor material and diamond. The method may also include thinning the substrate layer down to the diamond and then placing a heat sink in physical contact with the diamond in the channel.
US09728479B2

A multi-chip package structure includes a first chip, a second chip, a circuit layer, a plurality of first conductive bumps, a plurality of second conductive bumps and an underfill. The first chip has a chip bonding region, a plurality of first inner pads and first outer pads. The circuit layer is disposed on the first chip and includes a plurality of insulating layers and at least one metal layer. The insulating layers have a groove disposed between the first inner pads and the first outer pads and surrounding the first inner pads. The first conductive bumps are disposed on the first outer pads. The second chip is flipped on the chip bonding region. Each first inner pad is electrically connected to a second pad of the second chip through the second conductive bump. The underfill is disposed between the first and second chips and covers the second conductive bumps.
US09728478B2

A first resin encapsulated body (25) and a second resin encapsulated body (26) are stacked to form a resin-encapsulated semiconductor device. The first resin encapsulated body (25) includes: a first semiconductor element (2); an external terminal (5); inner wiring (4); and a first resin (6) for covering those components, at least a rear surface of the external terminal (5), a rear surface of the semiconductor element (2), and a surface of the inner wiring (4) are exposed from the first resin (6). The second resin encapsulated body (26) includes: a second semiconductor element (7) having an electrode pad formed on a surface thereof; a second resin (8) for covering the second semiconductor element; and a metal body connected to the electrode pad, and is partly exposed from the second resin. The inner wiring and the metal body are electrically connected to each other.
US09728471B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and method for reducing non uniformity during thermal processing. One embodiment provides an apparatus for processing a substrate comprising a chamber body defining a processing volume, a substrate support disposed in the processing volume, wherein the substrate support is configured to rotate the substrate, a sensor assembly configured to measure temperature of the substrate at a plurality of locations, and one or more pulse heating elements configured to provide pulsed energy towards the processing volume.
US09728470B1

In an embodiment, a method for evaluating a surface of a semiconductor substrate includes directing an incident light beam having multiple wavelengths at a position of a layer having a surface profile configured to form an optical diffraction grating, the layer including a Group III nitride, detecting a reflected beam, reflected from the position, and obtaining a spectrum of reflected intensity as a function of wavelength, the spectrum being representative of the surface profile of the position of the layer from which the beam is reflected, comparing the spectrum obtained from the detected beam with one or more reference spectra stored in memory, and estimating at least one parameter of the surface profile.
US09728469B2

Disclosed herein is a method of forming a stress relieved film stack, the method comprising forming a film stack on a first side of a substrate, the film stack comprising a plurality of film layers and creating a plurality of film stack openings according to a cutting pattern and along at least a portion of a buffer region. The plurality of film stack openings extend from a top surface of the film stack to the substrate. A deflection of the substrate may be determined, and the cutting pattern selected prior to creating the film stack openings based on the deflection of the substrate. The substrate may have a deflection of less than about 2 μm after creating the plurality of film stack openings. And at least one of the plurality of film layers may comprise one of titanium nitride, silicon carbide and silicon dioxide.
US09728466B1

Semiconductor devices having vertical FET (field effect transistor) devices with metallic source/drain regions are provided, as well as methods for fabricating such vertical FET devices. For example, a semiconductor device includes a first source/drain region formed on a semiconductor substrate, a vertical semiconductor fin formed on the first source/drain region, a second source/drain region formed on an upper surface of the vertical semiconductor fin, a gate structure formed on a sidewall surface of the vertical semiconductor fin, and an insulating material that encapsulates the vertical semiconductor fin and the gate structure. The first source/drain region comprises a metallic layer and at least a first epitaxial semiconductor layer. For example, the metallic layer of the first source/drain region comprises a metal-semiconductor alloy such as silicide.
US09728464B2

Techniques are disclosed for customization of fin-based transistor devices to provide a diverse range of channel configurations and/or material systems within the same integrated circuit die. In accordance with one example embodiment, sacrificial fins are removed and replaced with custom semiconductor material of arbitrary composition and strain suitable for a given application. In one such case, each of a first set of the sacrificial fins is recessed or otherwise removed and replaced with a p-type material, and each of a second set of the sacrificial fins is recessed or otherwise removed and replaced with an n-type material. The p-type material can be completely independent of the process for the n-type material, and vice-versa. Numerous other circuit configurations and device variations are enabled using the techniques provided herein.
US09728462B2

A technique for a multiple voltage threshold transistor structure is provided. A narrow channel and long channel are formed on a fin. An epitaxial layer is formed on the fin, and an interlayer dielectric layer is formed on the epitaxial layer. Spacers on the fin define the narrow channel and the long channel. A high-k dielectric material is deposited in the narrow and long channels. A metal layer is deposited on the high-k dielectric material in the narrow and long channels. A height of the high-k dielectric material in the narrow channel is recessed. The metal layer is removed from the narrow and long channels. A work function metal is deposited in the narrow and long channels. A gate conduction metal is deposited to fill the narrow channel and long channel. A capping layer is deposited on the top surface of the structure.
US09728459B2

A method for singulating an assemblage (1) into a plurality of semiconductor chips (10) is specified, wherein an assemblage comprising a carrier (4), a semiconductor layer sequence (2) and a metallic layer (3) is provided. Separating trenches (45) are formed in the carrier. The assemblage is subjected to mechanical loading, with the result that the metallic layer breaks along the separating trenches and the assemblage is singulated into semiconductor chips, wherein the singulated semiconductor chips each have part of the semiconductor layer sequence, of the carrier and of the metallic layer. A semiconductor chip (10) is furthermore specified.
US09728458B2

Methods of fabricating a semiconductor structure include bonding a carrier wafer over a substrate, removing at least a portion of the substrate, transmitting laser radiation through the carrier wafer and weakening a bond between the substrate and the carrier wafer, and separating the carrier wafer from the substrate. Other methods include forming circuits over a substrate, forming trenches in the substrate to define unsingulated semiconductor dies, bonding a carrier substrate over the unsingulated semiconductor dies, transmitting laser radiation through the carrier substrate and weakening a bond between the unsingulated semiconductor dies and the carrier substrate, and separating the carrier substrate from the unsingulated semiconductor dies. Some methods include thinning at least a portion of the substrate, leaving the plurality of unsingulated semiconductor dies bonded to the carrier substrate.
US09728455B2

A method for fabricating semiconductor device includes the steps of: providing a substrate having a gate structure thereon and an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer surrounding the gate structure; forming a sacrificial layer on the gate structure; forming a first contact plug in the sacrificial layer and the ILD layer; removing the sacrificial layer; and forming a first dielectric layer on the gate structure and the first contact plug.
US09728451B2

The present invention provides a semiconductor wafer, a semiconductor chip and a semiconductor package. The semiconductor wafer includes a first pad, a first inter-layer dielectric and a second pad. The first pad is disposed on a top surface of a semiconductor substrate and has a solid portion and a plurality of through holes. The first inter-layer dielectric covers the first pad. The second pad is disposed on the first inter-layer dielectric and has a solid portion and a plurality of through holes, wherein the through holes of the first pad correspond to the solid portion of the second pad.
US09728449B2

Semiconductor devices and structures, such as phase change memory devices, include peripheral conductive pads coupled to peripheral conductive contacts in a peripheral region. An array region may include memory cells coupled to conductive lines. Methods of forming such semiconductor devices and structures include removing memory cell material from a peripheral region and, thereafter, selectively removing portions of the memory cell material from the array region to define individual memory cells in the array region. Additional methods include planarizing the structure using peripheral conductive pads and/or spacer material over the peripheral conductive pads as a planarization stop material. Yet further methods include partially defining memory cells in the array region, thereafter forming peripheral conductive contacts, and thereafter fully defining the memory cells.
US09728443B2

A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate heating unit arranged to heat the underside of a substrate while supporting the substrate thereon and an attitude changing unit arranged to cause the substrate heating unit to undergo an attitude change between a horizontal attitude and a tilted attitude. In an organic solvent removing step to be performed following a substrate heating step of heating the substrate, the substrate heating unit undergoes an attitude change to the tilted attitude so that the upper surface of the substrate becomes tilted with respect to the horizontal surface.
US09728442B2

A workpiece holding apparatus, including: a rigid body having a vent; a suction pad adhered onto the lower end face of rigid body and having an opening communicating with vent, being configured to suck and hold a workpiece; an air controlling mechanism communicating with the vent, being configured to aspirate or discharge air through vent to aspirate or discharge air from opening; and a swelling portion being configured to be supplied with air by air controlling mechanism through the vent to swell out at least part of an area of suction pad to be in contact with the workpiece toward the workpiece in detaching workpiece from suction pad; wherein suction pad is configured to suck and hold workpiece by bringing the opening into contact with workpiece while aspirating air by air controlling mechanism through opening, and is configured to detach the workpiece from suction pad by discharging air from opening.
US09728440B2

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer where an opaque layer is located on a surface of a handling wafer is used so the surface of the handling wafer may be detected through optical sensors. The opaque layer may be modified, or oriented, to allow light to pass through unobstructed.
US09728420B2

An organic film composition including a compound represented by the following general formula (1), wherein n1 and n2 each independently represent 0 or 1; “W” represents a single bond or any of structures represented by the following formula (2); R1 represents any of structures represented by the following general formula (3); m1 and m2 each independently represent an integer of 0 to 7, with the proviso that m1+m2 is 1 to 14. There can be provided an organic film composition for forming an organic film having dry etching resistance as well as advanced filling/planarizing characteristics.
US09728415B2

A semiconductor device has a substrate including a plurality of conductive vias formed vertically and partially through the substrate. An encapsulant is deposited over a first surface of the substrate and around a peripheral region of the substrate. A portion of the encapsulant around the peripheral region is removed by a cutting or laser operation to form a notch extending laterally through the encapsulant to a second surface of the substrate opposite the first surface of the substrate. A first portion of the substrate outside the notch is removed by chemical mechanical polishing to expose the conductive vias. A second portion of the substrate is removed by backgrinding prior to or after forming the notch. The encapsulant is coplanar with the substrate after revealing the conductive vias. The absence of an encapsulant/base material interface and coplanarity of the molded substrate results in less over-etching or under-etching and fewer defects.
US09728405B2

A semiconductor device is provided, including two semiconductor nanowires superimposed one on top of the other or arranged next to one another, spaced one from the other and forming channel regions of the semiconductor device, a dielectric structure entirely filling a space between the nanowires and which is in contact with the nanowires, a gate dielectric and a gate covering a first of the nanowires, sidewalls of the nanowires and sidewalls of the dielectric structure when the nanowires are superimposed one on top of the other, or covering a part of the upper faces of the nanowires and a part of an upper face of the dielectric structure when the nanowires are arranged next to one another, and wherein the dielectric structure comprises a portion of dielectric material with a relative permittivity greater than or equal to 20.
US09728399B1

In one aspect of the invention, a method for fabricating an advanced metal conductor structure includes a conductive line pattern including a set of conductive line trenches in a dielectric layer. Each conductive line trench of the conductive line pattern has parallel vertical sidewalls and a horizontal bottom. A surface treatment of the dielectric layer is performed. The surface treatment produces an element enriched surface layer in which a concentration of a selected element in a surface portion of the parallel sidewalls and horizontal bottoms of the conductive line trenches is increased. A first metal layer is deposited on the element enriched surface layer. A first thermal anneal is performed which simultaneously reflows the first metal layer to fill a first portion of the conductive line trenches and causes a chemical change at interfaces of the first metal layer and the element enriched surface layer creating a liner which is an alloy of the first metal and selected element. A second metal layer is deposited. A second thermal anneal is performed which reflows the second metal layer to fill a remaining portion of the conductive line trenches. Another aspect of the invention is a device formed by the process.
US09728397B1

A semiconductor device and a method of forming the same, the semiconductor device includes fin shaped structures and a recessed insulating layer. The fin shaped structures are disposed on a substrate. The recessed insulating layer covers a bottom portion of each of the fin shaped structures to expose a top portion of each of the fin shaped structures. The recessed insulating layer has a curve surface and a wicking structure is defined between a peak and a bottom of the curve surface. The wicking structure is disposed between the fin shaped structures and has a height being about 1/12 to 1/10 of a height of the top portion of the fin shaped structures.
US09728390B2

A mass analyzing electromagnet is provided. The mass analyzing electromagnet includes an analysis tube having an internal zone formed as a passage for the ion beam; and a shield member mounted to an inner wall surface of the analyzing tube, a portion of the shield member intersecting with a direction perpendicular to a traveling direction of an ion beam and a mass-based separation direction of the ion beam so as to block a portion of the ion beam.
US09728389B2

A concentric APCI surface ionization probe, supersonic sampling tube, and method for use of the concentric APCI surface ionization probe and supersonic sampling tube are described. In an embodiment, the concentric APCI surface ionization probe includes an outer tube, an inner capillary, and a voltage source coupled to the outer tube and the inner capillary. The inner capillary is housed within and concentric with the outer tube such that ionized gas (e.g., air) travels out of the outer tube, reacts with a sample, and the resulting analyte ions are sucked into the inner capillary. A supersonic sampling tube can include a tube coupled to a mass spectrometer and/or concentric APCI surface ionization probe, where the tube includes at least one de Laval nozzle.
US09728387B2

Methods, systems and devices that provide fluid devices with at least one SPE bed adjacent (upstream of) a separation channel which may be in communication with an inlet of a Mass Spectrometer. The fluid device can be configured to operate using independently applied pressures to a BGE reservoir and a sample reservoir for pressure-driven injection that can inject a discrete sample plug into a separation channel that does not require voltage applied to the sample reservoir and can allow for in-channel focusing methods to be used. The methods, systems and devices are particularly suitable for use with a mass spectrometer but optical or other electronic detectors may also be used with the fluidic devices.
US09728384B2

A method of mass spectral analysis in an analytical electrostatic trap (14) is disclosed. The electrostatic trap (14) defines an electrostatic field volume and includes trap electrodes having static and non-ramped potentials. The method comprises injecting a continuous ion beam into the electrostatic field volume.
US09728381B2

An etching chamber 1 incorporates a focus ring 9 so as to surround a semiconductor wafer W provided on a lower electrode 4. The plasma processor is provided with an electric potential control DC power supply 33 to control the electric potential of this focus ring 9, and so constituted that the lower electrode 4 is supplied with a DC voltage of e.g., −400 to −600 V to control the electric potential of the focus ring 9. This constitution prevents surface arcing from developing along the surface of a substrate to be processed.
US09728371B2

A magnetic system for uniformly scanning an ion beam across a semiconductor wafer comprises a magnetic scanner having ac and dc coil windings each of which extend linearly along internal pole faces of a magnetic core. The ac and dc coil windings are mutually orthogonal; a time dependent magnetic component causes ion beam scanning while a substantially static (dc) field component allows the ion beam to be bent in an orthogonal plane. The current density in the ac and dc coil windings is uniformly dispersed along the pole faces leading to an improved beam spot uniformity at the wafer. The magnetic system also includes a collimator having first and second mutually opposed symmetrical dipoles defining an aperture between them. The poles of each dipole have a pole face varying monotonically and polynomially in a direction perpendicular to a central axis of the collimator: an increasing pole gap is formed towards that central axis.
US09728363B2

A pre-fuse assembly designed to protect certain components within a vehicle electrical system against short circuits and to provide a user with easy access to a jump post for jump starting a dead battery. The pre-fuse assembly is a current-limiting electrical device that is mounted on top of the vehicle battery and includes fuses for limiting the current from the vehicle battery to a power distribution device and includes a horizontal jump post for providing easy access when jump starting a dead battery without increasing the overall height of the device. In one embodiment, the pre-fuse assembly includes a lower housing, an upper housing, a battery post connector, a master fuse, a fastener, a horizontal jump post and any number of other components.
US09728360B2

A power relay for a vehicle has a housing and two connecting bolts that are introduced into the housing so as to contact a load current circuit. The power relay further having a coil assembly that is arranged in the housing, the coil assembly contains a magnetic coil and a magnetic armature that is coupled by way of a force-transferring member to a contact bridge that can be moved in a reversible manner between a closed position and an opened position and can be displaced in the housing under the effect of a magnetic field that is generated by the magnetic coil. The contact bridge supports two contact elements that together with the mating contacts of the connecting pin form a first contact pair and a second contact pair. The contact pairs form a three point bearing arrangement in the closed position.
US09728358B2

A control device for an enclosure is disclosed, where the control device includes a first portion positioned proximate to a back side of an enclosure surface of the enclosure, and a second portion positioned proximate to a front side of the enclosure surface. The first portion can include a plunger having a proximal end and a distal end, where the proximal end is adjacent to the enclosure surface. The first portion can also include a first magnet having a first polarity and disposed at the proximal end of the plunger. The first portion can further include at least one contact in communication with the distal end of the plunger, where the at least one contact has a first state and a second state. The second portion can include a second magnet having a second polarity, where the second magnet has an engaged position and a disengaged position.
US09728353B2

A key for user input having superior tactile qualities. The key is suspended by a magnetic field force to improve the smoothness of motion. Two compact interleaved members link a keycap to a key base to provide highly precise parallel travel with reduced tilt and flexion, and improved durability.
US09728336B2

A body of a multilayer ceramic capacitor includes an inner layer portion and first and second outer layer portions sandwiching the inner layer portion therebetween. The inner layer portion includes an area extending from a conductive layer positioned closest to a first main surface to a conductive layer positioned closest to a second main surface in the stacking direction. The height of the body is smaller than the width of the body. The height of the inner layer portion is smaller than the width of the inner layer portion. The first outer layer portion includes a dielectric layer positioned closest to the first main surface. The second outer layer portion includes a dielectric layer positioned closest to the second main surface, and is thicker than the first outer layer portion. The total height of the first and second outer layer portions is smaller than the height of the inner layer portion.
US09728322B2

An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine is equipped with an assembly of a connector casing and a coil body. The coil body includes a primary winding wound around a primary spool. The connector casing has terminals each of which is equipped with a conductor fastener. The conductor fastener has a slit in which one of ends of the primary winding is fit to make an electric connection between the terminal and the primary winding. The primary spool has conductor guides and a backup support to establish alignment of each of the ends of the primary winding with one of the conductor fasteners and also to facilitate insertion of each of the ends of the primary winding into one of the conductor fasteners when the coil body is fitted into the connector casing, thereby ensuring the stability of electric connection between the primary winding and the terminal.
US09728311B2

A method for preparing a Nd—Fe—B-based sintered magnet. The method includes: 1) providing a master alloy and an auxiliary alloy, the master alloy being a Nd—Fe—B alloy ingot or cast strip, the auxiliary alloy being a heavy rare earth alloy; 2) breaking up the master alloy using a hydrogen decrepitation process to yield a crude powder, conducting hydrogen absorption treatment on the auxiliary alloy and breaking up the hydrogenated auxiliary alloy to yield hydride particles; 3) uniformly mixing and stirring the crude powder of the master alloy and the hydride particles of the auxiliary alloy to yield a mixture; 4) milling the mixture obtained in step 3) to yield powders; 5) uniformly stirring the powders obtained in step 4) and conducting orientation forming treatment on the powders, to yield a raw body of a Nd—Fe—B based magnet; and 6) sintering the raw body of the Nd—Fe—B based magnet.
US09728309B2

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a variable resistance and a manufacturing method thereof, and the variable resistance is a variable resistance with continually adjustable resistance value. This variable resistance comprises: an elastic insulation envelope and conductive particles filled in the elastic insulation envelope. The manufacturing method of the variable resistance comprises: filling conductive particles into an elastic insulation envelope with an opening; and sealing the opening of the elastic insulation envelope.
US09728307B2

An elbow arrester with a T-body is disclosed capable of coupling with an apparatus for protection from transient over voltage, and coupling with additional cable accessories, without having to loosen the initial connection with the coupled apparatus. The elbow body of the T-body arrester has a first portion, and a second portion protruding from an intermediate section of the first portion to define a T-body. A receiving feature is located within the first portion extending towards a first end, while a male feature is coupled to a second end of the first portion, opposite from the receiving feature. A coupling fastener is integrally molded into the first portion, providing for an apparatus coupled to the coupling fastener to be decoupled without loosening the connection of another apparatus connected to the T-Body elbow. Further, decoupling the other apparatus does not loosen the apparatus coupled to the coupling fastener.
US09728303B2

A shielded cable includes two signal wires, each of which having a signal conductor covered with an insulator, and a shield conductor having a metal clad resin tape spirally wrapped around the two signal wires in a lump. The insulator is configured so that a section thereof is to be deformable by an external force. A residual diameter ratio of the signal wire is 80% or greater and 95% or less when load of 1 kg is applied to the signal wire for 30 minutes.
US09728297B2

A mobile electronic device comprising at least one part made of a polymer composition [composition (C), herein after] comprising at least one part made of a polymer composition [composition (C), herein after] comprising from at least one polyaryletherketone polymer [(PAEK) polymer], and at least one nitride (NI) of an element having an electronegativity (∈) of from 1.3 to 2.5, as defined in <>, CRC Press, 64th edition, pages B-65 to B-158, based on the total weight of the composition (C).
US09728294B2

A resin composite material includes: fine graphite particles including plate-like graphite particles, an aromatic vinyl copolymer which is adsorbed on the plate-like graphite particles, and which contains a vinyl aromatic monomer unit represented by the following formula (1): —(CH2—CHX)—  (1) (in the formula (1), X represents a phenyl group, a naphthyl group, an anthracenyl group, or a pyrenyl group, provided that these groups may have each a substituent), and at least one hydrocarbon chain which is bonded to the aromatic vinyl copolymer, and which is selected from the group consisting of alkyl chains, oligoolefin chains, and polyolefin chains.
US09728291B2

A packaging unit or a container for transport and/or storage of items that require orientation control, comprising an outer housing element and an inner retaining element, the retaining element being held within the housing element and capable of moving independently of the housing element about at least one axis the retaining element being adapted to retain the item and comprising a means for biasing the orientation of the inner retaining element with respect to a fixed external orientation.
US09728285B2

Provided is a water jet peening apparatus and a water jet peening method including: a clamping cylinder (201) which is able to be disposed at the outer peripheral side of an instrumentation nozzle (83) with a predetermined gap therebetween; a clamping piece (210) which is able to fix the clamping cylinder (201) to the instrumentation nozzle (83); a nozzle guide (221) which has a cylindrical shape, is provided inside the clamping cylinder (201), and is positioned to a position adjacent to the upper end of the instrumentation nozzle (83); an inner surface WJP nozzle (105) which is movable upward and downward inside the nozzle guide (221); and a drainage hole (224) which radially penetrates the nozzle guide (221). Accordingly, it is possible to improve the safety of the operation by preventing a thimble tube from being popped out due to a water jet peening operation.
US09728282B2

Provided is a remotely operated manipulator which can be applied to a space which is wider on a back side than at an opening part, which has a simple structure, high stiffness, and high reliability. The remotely operated manipulator of the present invention includes: a circular base fixed to a wall surface; a beam which rotates on the circular base; a trolley which moves on the beam; and a mast which is raised and lowered with respect to the trolley and is mounted with a tool unit at a tip. Stiffness is improved by directly fixing the beam to the wall surface by a beam fixing device. Further, a work region is expanded by mounting a bending mast on the tip of the mast.
US09728281B2

A nuclear reactor includes an internal steam generator and a nuclear core disposed in a containment structure. A condenser is disposed outside the containment structure, and includes a condenser inlet line tapping off a steam line connected to the steam generator outside the containment structure, and a condensate injection line conveying condensate from the condenser to the integral steam generator. Isolation valves are located outside the containment structure on a feedwater line, the steam line, and the condensate injection line. The valves have an operating configuration in which the isolation valves on the feedwater and steam lines are open and the isolation valve on the condensate injection line is closed, and a heat removal configuration in which the isolation valves on the feedwater and steam lines are closed and the isolation valve on the condensate injection line is open.
US09728279B2

A method is provided for operating a memory device. The method includes counting, from among memory cells, a number of first off-cells with respect to a first reading voltage and a number of second off-cells with respect to a second reading voltage, comparing the number of first off-cells and the number of second off-cells, and determining, based on a result of the comparing, whether a programming error exists in a storage region in which the memory cells are included.
US09728278B2

The present disclosure is related to a threshold voltage margin analysis. An example embodiment apparatus can include a memory and a controller coupled to the memory. The controller is configured to determine a previous power loss of a memory to be an asynchronous power loss, and identify a portion of the memory last subject to programming operations during the determined asynchronous power loss. The controller is further configured to perform a threshold voltage (Vt) margin analysis on the portion of the memory responsive to the determined asynchronous power loss.
US09728276B2

An embodiment of the invention provides an integrated circuit including a core circuit and a memory. The core circuit executes operations of the integrated circuit. The memory stores a subsystem and a repair system. When the repair system runs, the repair system detects whether there is a defect in the memory. When the repair system detects the defect, the repair system repairs the defect, and when the repair system does not detect the defect, a fake defect is injected in the memory to verify whether the repair system runs correctly.
US09728275B2

A memory system includes a plurality of pins for connection to the outside of the memory system, one of the pins being configured to receive a command signal, a memory cell array including a plurality of first memory blocks and a second memory block in which status data indicating which of the first memory blocks is defective, is stored, and a control circuit configured to determine whether or not a first memory block targeted by the command signal is indicated as being defective in the status data. The control circuit allows an operation to be performed on the targeted first memory block in accordance with the command signal when the targeted first memory block is not indicated as being defective, and blocks the operation to be performed on the targeted first memory block when the targeted first memory block is indicated as being defective.
US09728274B2

A technique is provided for system reliability. An input is received, and a computation operation on the input is repeated to generate multiple output values. The multiple output values are stored in a table along with a number of hits for each distinct output value in the multiple output values, and the number of hits indicates a number of times each distinct output value was generated by the repeating. A reliability circuit checks whether the number of hits for any one distinct output value meets a confidence threshold. Based on meeting the confidence threshold for the number of hits, the any one distinct output value is output. Based on the number of hits for the any one distinct output value not meeting the confidence threshold, the computation operation is continuously repeated on the input until the number of hits for the any one distinct output value meets the confidence threshold.
US09728265B2

There are provided a storage device and an operating method thereof. A storage device includes a string including a plurality of memory cells, peripheral circuits for, in a read operation of a selected memory cell, applying a read voltage to a selected word line electrically coupled to the selected memory cell, and selectively applying a first pass voltage and a second pass voltage higher than the first pass voltage to unselected word lines electrically coupled to the other unselected memory cells according to a position of the selected word line, and a controller for controlling the peripheral circuits.
US09728252B2

A method for operating a memory device includes sensing a change in temperature of the memory device, adjusting a level of a reference current for a read operation, and reading data from memory cells of the memory device based on the adjusted level of the reference current. The level of the reference current is adjusted from a reference value to a first value when the temperature of the memory device increases and is adjusted from the reference value to a second value when the temperature of the memory device decreases. A difference between the reference value and the first value is different from a difference the reference value and the second value.
US09728249B1

Various implementations described herein are directed to a circuit for memory applications. The circuit may include a data storage structure having column multiplexor transistors coupled to complementary bitlines. The circuit may include a wordline shape enhancer having a pair of passgate transistors coupled between the complementary bitlines and a capacitive load.
US09728246B2

Disclosed herein is a device includes a command generation circuit that activates first and second command signals, an internal circuit that includes a plurality of transistors that are brought into a first operation state when at least one of the first and second command signals is activated, and an output gate circuit that receives a first signal output from the internal circuit, the output gate circuit being configured to pass the first signal when the second command signal is deactivated and to block the first signal when the second command signal is activated.
US09728242B1

According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a spin transfer torque magnetoresistive element including a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, a temperature detecting unit detecting an ambient temperature of the magnetoresistive element, and a write voltage generating unit generating a write voltage for the magnetoresistive element in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature detecting unit.
US09728234B1

A method for operating a semiconductor memory device includes receiving input/output signals including a command, an address and data, through input/output lines; and receiving a first control signal and a second control signal, wherein, regardless of a state of the second control signal, when the first control signal which is enabled is received, the input/output signals received through the input/output lines are recognized as the command.
US09728233B2

An apparatus has magnetic logic units a logic circuit configured to receive a serial input bit stream at an input node. Individual bits of data from the serial input bit stream are serially written into individual magnetic logic units without buffering the serial input bit stream between the input node and the individual magnetic logic units. Individual bits of data from individual magnetic logic units are serially read to produce a serial output bit stream on an output node without buffering the serial output bit stream between the individual magnetic logic units and the output node.
US09728229B2

For video searching, a set of objects and a relationship between objects in the set of objects is determined in a portion of a script for creating a video. From a collection of video clips, a set of video clips is selected based on matching an object from the set of objects to an object specified in a metadata of a video clip that is selected in the set of video clips. A duration of the relationship in the portion is computed. video analysis is performed on the video clip to determine whether the video clip includes the relationship. When the video clip includes the relationship, a determination is made whether the relationship in the video clip is at least of the duration. When the relationship is at least of the duration, the video clip is selected as a fit for the portion of the script.
US09728220B2

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to magnetic recording systems having a spindle motor and, more particularly, to an optimized lubricant for bearings within the spindle motor. A lubricant used in a fluid dynamic bearing motor has an antioxidant additive and a charge control agent dissolved in a diester base oil. The charge control agent is chemically attached to the same diacid reactant used in the diester lubricant base oil, and is prepared through an esterification reaction. The charge control agent is then dissolved in the lubricant base oil. The charge control agent is soluble in the lubricant, and is resistant to free radical oxidation. The charge control agent effectively controls the charge of the lubricant by creating electron donor/acceptor sites in the lubricant, facilitating an independent electronic pathway through the lubricant.
US09728214B2

A disk drive according to an embodiment includes a disk, a first actuator having a first arm, a second actuator having a second arm, and a head. The head includes a write head and a read head. In addition, the disk drive includes a control unit calculating an amount of shift from an initial value of offset in a radial direction of the disk between the read head and the write head. The control unit controls the second actuator and corrects a position of the head to a position where the shift amount is reduced.
US09728212B1

The embodiments of the invention improve the traditional disk drives by eliminating the mechanical actuator assembly that moves the read-write head attached to the actuator assembly, and replacing it with multiple read-write heads mounted over one or more rotating platters. The number of the read-write heads is preferably sufficiently large so that the read-write heads cover all tracks on the one or more rotating platters. In one embodiment, a disk includes a rotatable platter, a central spindle to rotate the rotatable platter arounds an axis, an electric motor to drive the central spindle, and multiple read-write heads mounted over the rotatable platter. In one embodiment, the platter includes multiple tracks arranged in form of concentric circles, where each of the read-write heads performs read-write operations on one of the tracks, and each track is assigned at least one of the multiple read-write heads.
US09728206B2

A storage device includes a transducer head including a first write element configured to write data at a first write width and a second write element configured to write data at a second write width less than the first write width. According to one implementation, the first write element writes data at a first linear density and to alternating data tracks and the second write element writes data at a second linear density and to data tracks interlaced with the alternating data tracks.
US09728204B2

The present invention is applicable to the technical field of noise maps and provides a method for drawing a noise map and device, the method for drawing a noise map comprises: obtaining an environmental noise uploaded by a terminal, the environmental noise includes a noise value, a time information, and a position information; when the terminal uploads a picture corresponding to the environmental noise, detecting whether the picture is a valid picture or not; when the picture is a valid picture and the position where the picture is taken lies indoor, identifying the environmental noise as an indoor environmental noise; when the picture doesn't exist, identifying the environmental noise as an outdoor environmental noise, or when the picture is invalid, identifying the environmental noise as an outer door environmental noise, or when the picture is a valid picture and the position where the picture is taken lies outdoor, identifying the environmental noise as the outdoor environmental noise; drawing a noise map according to the indoor environmental noise and the outdoor environmental noise. The present invention can not only improve drawing accuracy of the noise map, but also increase reliability of the noise map.
US09728199B2

A method for decoding an encoded audio bitstream in an audio processing system is disclosed. The method includes extracting from the encoded audio bitstream a first waveform-coded signal including spectral coefficients corresponding to frequencies up to a first cross-over frequency and performing parametric decoding at a second cross-over frequency to generate a reconstructed signal. The second cross-over frequency is above the first cross-over frequency and the parametric decoding uses reconstruction parameters derived from the encoded audio bitstream to generate the reconstructed signal. The method further includes extracting from the encoded audio bitstream a second waveform-coded signal including spectral coefficients corresponding to a subset of frequencies above the first cross-over frequency and interleaving the second waveform-coded signal with the reconstructed signal to produce an interleaved signal. The interleaved signal is then combined with the first waveform-coded signal.
US09728196B2

A method and apparatus to encode and decode an audio/speech signal is provided. An inputted audio signal or speech signal may be transformed into at least one of a high frequency resolution signal and a high temporal resolution signal. The signal may be encoded by determining an appropriate resolution, the encoded signal may be decoded, and thus the audio signal, the speech signal, and a mixed signal of the audio signal and the speech signal may be processed.
US09728182B2

A method of renormalizing high-resolution oscillator peaks, extracted from windowed samples of an audio signal, is disclosed. Feature vectors are generated for which variations in both fundamental frequency and time duration of speech are substantially mitigated. The feature vectors may be aligned within a common coordinate space, free of those variations in frequency and time duration that occurs between speakers, and even over speech by a single speaker, to facilitate a simple and accurate determination of matches between those AFDVs generated from a sample of the audio signal and corpus AFDVs generated for known speech at the phoneme and sub-phoneme level. The renormalized feature vectors can be combined with traditional feature vectors such as MFCCs, or they can be used exclusively to identify voiced, semi-voiced and unvoiced sounds.
US09728180B2

A method of and a system for generating an acoustic wave representing reverberations from a desired acoustic environment are described including having a recording surface (11) defined by a spatial distribution of recording transducers (o) and an emitting surface defined by a spatial distribution of emitting transducers (x), wherein the emitting surface (12) defines a volume within which the recording surface (11) is located, recording an acoustic wave (14) originating from within a volume defined by the recording surface (11) using the recording transducers (x), extrapolating the recorded wave (14) to the emitting surface using wavefield propagator system (IS) representing the desired acoustic environment, and emitting the extrapolated wave from the emitting transducers (o).
US09728174B2

An optoelectronic pickup for a musical instrument includes at least one light source which directs light to impinge a sound generating element of the musical instrument in at least one photoreceiver located to detect the reflected light, so as to generate an electrical signal that is responsive to sound generating element movement.
US09728172B1

A system and method for interfacing and controlling multiple musical instrument effects modules on a common platform. The system includes: a system processor; a backplane coupled with the system processor; a plurality of musical instrument effects modules removably inserted into the backplane, each of the plurality of musical instrument effects modules including an audio input signal interface and an audio output signal interface, at least one of the musical instrument effects modules including a programmable potentiometer and/or programmable switch to modify an audio output signal; and a user interface configured to enable a user to apply a desired setting on the programmable potentiometer of the musical instrument effects modules via the system processor and the backplane.
US09728169B2

A viscoelastic polymer matrix is used for configuration and adjustment of acoustical properties of a musical string for bowed and plucked instruments; the polymer matrix is not covering the surface of the string but is provided between the core and the at least one sheath or between wound sheaths around the core: The polymer matrix comprises a polymeric binding agent and insoluble, sub-micrometer size, nano-scale solid state particles embedded in the binding agent.
US09728168B2

An image is displayed without impairing visibility, even in the case of a screen having a limited size. A display setting unit includes a target image display unit that displays an image of a workpiece on an LCD, an image selection unit that, in accordance with a selection operation, selects all or part of the image of the workpiece displayed on the LCD, a menu display unit that displays a menu image so as to be overlapped with the image of the workpiece in a translucent state, the menu image being made up of a plurality of parts that are partial images for displaying information or receiving an input operation, and a display switching unit that, in accordance with a switching instruction given via the operation unit, switches the size of the area occupied by the menu image on the LCD.
US09728163B2

An electronic device and an operation mode switching method thereof are described. The operation mode switching method is applied to an electronic device that includes a display unit, and the electronic device has a first operation mode and a second operation mode. The display unit has a first light-transmittance in the first operation mode and a second light-transmittance in the second operation mode such that the first high light-transmittance is higher than the second light-transmittance. The method includes detecting to obtain a trigger event; judging whether or not the trigger event satisfies a predefined condition to get a judgment result and, when the judgment result indicates that the trigger event satisfies the predefined condition, generating a switching instruction, and according to the switching instruction, switching the electronic device between the first operation mode and the second operation mode.
US09728157B2

A television receiver segments a part of an image depending on image information received from a communication device and pixel information representing the number of pixels in a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction of the image. The television receiver judges a size between the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction and that in the lateral direction in the pixel information, and when it is judged that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is larger than that in the lateral direction, displays two screens in which the segmented image and another image are juxtaposed on a display unit. Meanwhile, when it is judged that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is not larger than that in the lateral direction, the television receiver receives a signal designating the number of screens to be displayed on the display unit and displays the two screens in which the segmented image and another image are juxtaposed or one screen of the segmented image on the display unit depending on the received signal.
US09728150B2

A display panel includes a display unit with a first area and a second area, first gate lines on the first area and the second area that extend in a first direction in the first area and in a third direction in the second area, while sections extending in the first direction and in a second direction are repeated, and second gate lines on the second area that extend in the third direction while sections extending in the first direction and in the second direction are repeated. The second gate line includes a plurality of sub gate lines that extend in the second direction in the second area, and one end of each of the plurality of sub gate lines is connected to one end of each of the plurality of second gate lines.
US09728149B2

A display panel includes pixels connected to each of gate lines and data lines. Each of the pixels includes a first transistor connected between a corresponding data line among the data lines and a first node and configured to deliver a data signal of the corresponding data line to the first node in response to an input signal received through a corresponding gate line among the gate lines, a reflective element circuit connected to the first node, and configured to implement the reflective mode in response to a signal of the first node when a first mode selection signal indicates a reflective mode, an emissive element circuit connected to a second node, and configured to implement the emissive mode in response to the signal of the first node when the mode selection mode indicates an emissive mode.
US09728147B2

The present invention provides a GOA circuit of LTPS semiconductor TFT, employed for forward-backward bidirectional scan transmission, comprising a plurality of GOA units which are cascade connected, and N is set to be a positive integer and an Nth GOA unit utilizes a plurality of N-type transistors and a plurality of P-type transistors and comprises a transmission part (100), a transmission control part (200), an information storage part (300), a data erase part (400), an output control part (500) and an output buffer part (600). The transmission gate is employed to perform the former-latter level transferring signal, and the NOR gate logic unit and the NAND gate logic unit are employed to convert the signals, and the sequence inverter and the inverter are employed to save and transmit the signals to solve the issues that the stability of the circuit is poor, and the power consumption is larger as concerning the LTPS with single type TFT elements, and the problem of TFT leakage of the single type GOA circuit to optimize the performance of the circuit. The ultra narrow frame or frameless designs can be realized.
US09728145B2

A method performed by a processor of a electronic device, including rendering (402), on an electronic display, a line segment having a first direction and moving in a second direction. The method also includes a step of determining (404) whether the direction of the line segment (the first direction) is in the same direction that the line segment is moving (the second direction). If the processor determines that the line segment is not moving in the same direction of the direction of the line segment (the first direction), then the processor performs (408) a first action, such as adjusting the color intensity of the line segment. If the processor determines that the line segment is moving in the same direction of the direction of the line segment (e.g., the two directions are substantially parallel to each other), then the processor performs (406) a second action.
US09728143B2

A system and method of driving an electrowetting display device including a plurality of sub-pixels are presented. A sub-pixel in the plurality of sub-pixels is determined to be in an open state or a closed state and a target reflectance value is determined for the sub-pixel. For the sub-pixel in the open state, the target reflectance value is determined to be less than a first threshold value, and a reflectance value of the sub-pixel is set to either a minimum reflectance value or the first threshold value. For the sub-pixel in the closed state, the target reflectance value is determined to be less than a second threshold value, and the reflectance of the sub-pixel is set to either the minimum reflectance value or the second threshold value.
US09728141B2

A projection display device is disclosed herein. The projection display device includes an image processing module and a light source driver. The image processing module is configured for receiving an image data and generating a display signal which includes an image period and a black state period. The light source driver is configured for generating a light driving signal to drive a projection light source, wherein the light driving signal includes a first segment and a second segment in the black state period, and the average amplitude of the light driving signal in the second segment is lower than the average amplitude of the light driving signal in the image period. A driving method is disclosed herein as well.
US09728137B2

According to one embodiment, a display device includes a display panel in which pixel units are arranged, and a controller configured to generate image signals by multiplying display data externally supplied to each line by a luminosity adjustment factor, to supply the generated image signals to the pixel units, to accumulate power consumption of each line, and to execute black insertion if the accumulated power consumption is determined to be greater than power consumption of one previous display frame by a predetermined value, wherein the luminosity adjustment factor is acquired by substituting the power consumption of one previous frame to a decreasing function, and a display pattern including a plurality of continuing black display lines is synchronized with supply of the image signals and is displayed moving the same direction of a screen scanning direction of the display panel during the black insertion.
US09728134B2

A pixel and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display using the pixel are disclosed. The pixel includes a driving transistor for transmitting a driving current, an OLED configured to receive a first portion of the driving current and a bypass transistor configured to receive a second portion of the driving current.
US09728130B2

An EL display apparatus according to the present invention includes EL device adapted to emit light at a luminance corresponding to a current fed thereto. A source driver outputs a current higher than a current corresponding to an image signal to the EL device through a source signal line. This operation charges/discharges a parasitic capacitance present in the source signal line. A transistor formed between the EL device and the source driver operates so that the EL device is fed with the current for only a part of a one-frame period. As a result, the El device emits light for only the part of the period.
US09728125B2

The present invention provides an AMOLED pixel circuit. The third thin film transistor (T3) are located between the first, the second thin film transistors (T1, T2), and the control line (Control) is employed to input the control signal for controlling on and off of the third thin film transistor (T3), and thus controlling the AMOLED pixel circuit to measure the drive current with the current measurement circuit (1) and correcting the signal voltage with the signal voltage drive circuit (2), or displaying normally. The drive current entering the organic light emitting diode (D) in respective pixels can be corrected to solve the issues of unstable brightness and uneven display caused by the properties of the organic light emitting diode (D), which is changing along with the time and temperature, and to improve the display effect.
US09728122B2

An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. The OLED display includes a substrate, a scan line on the substrate and configured to transfer a scan signal, a data line crossing the scan line and configured to transfer a data signal, a driving voltage line crossing the scan line or the data line and configured to transfer a driving voltage, a switching thin film transistor (TFT) connected to the scan line and the data line, a driving TFT connected to the switching TFT and the driving voltage line, an OLED connected to the driving TFT, and a storage capacitor connected to the driving voltage line and a driving gate electrode of the driving TFT. The storage capacitor includes a first storage capacitor plate that overlaps the driving voltage line.
US09728103B2

A welding training system includes a camera configured to capture video data corresponding to a welding training operation. The welding training system also includes a storage device configured to store the video data, and to store welding parameter data corresponding to the welding training operation. The welding training system includes a welding training software configured to retrieve the video data from the storage device, to retrieve the welding parameter data from the storage device, to synchronize the video data with the welding parameter data, and to provide the synchronized video and welding parameter data to a display device.
US09728101B2

A computer-implemented mental and emotional life efficacy development system and method are disclosed which assist lay individuals to measure and improve their mental health and emotional capabilities and life skill deficits to increase the individual's ability to achieve life efficacy. A scoring subsystem measures competencies or deficits in a breadth of critical life skills. The system provides feedback concerning personality traits and mental and emotional deficits and compares the user's scores to the scores of those who are successfully navigating a particular life step. This pinpoints deficits for which the user can receive training and treatment tailored to that user's personality and individual difficulties. Through the collection and aggregating of such symptoms, a preliminary diagnosis is made of the user's mental health and life skills. This diagnosis is subsequently refined before it is used to offer emotion and/or mental health care treatment and life skills training for life efficacy competency.
US09728099B2

Progressive systems and methods for enabling music students to easily notate the pitch and/or rhythm of musical compositions using three-dimensional manipulative members representing musical notation symbols. The members are adapted to removably affix to a workspace, such as a magnetic white board surface to notate a musical composition.
US09728097B2

The disclosure generally relates to physical figures having wireless communication devices implanted therein to capture evidence relating to real-world activities that may be required to progress in real-world and/or virtual spaces. For example, the wireless communication devices implanted in the physical figures may confirm proximity to other users and capture evidence indicating that progress has been achieved in real-world missions that may involve teamwork, competition, outdoor activities, and/or other real-world interaction. In one embodiment, the physical figures may have one or more sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc.) that can measure activities performed with the physical figures such that the wireless communication devices implanted therein may exchange the sensor measurements in relation to the cooperative and/or competitive interaction therebetween.
US09728081B2

A wireless network for providing commands to a plurality of electronic devices that receive an infrared signal is provided with an at least one sprocket for receiving a wireless transmission command via Bluetooth signals and/or infrared signals and a Bluetooth remote for sending the Bluetooth signal to the at least one sprocket. The Bluetooth remote is provided with a Bluetooth remote power source, a software application for providing command logic to the Bluetooth remote, and a Bluetooth signal transmitter. The at least one sprocket is provided with a sprocket shell housing, a corresponding sprocket lid, and a sprocket command assembly that is housed by the sprocket shell housing and the corresponding sprocket lid.
US09728079B2

Electronic measuring instrument equipped with a removable intelligent processing and radio communication interface. The interface allows managing additional features such as bidirectional communication of commands and measurement data with printers, computers or other external devices, as well as the transmission of instructions or measurement programs to the instrument. The radio interface may be connected with several measuring instruments such as callipers, micrometers, comparators or height gauges. It is integrated into the lid of the battery compartment of the instrument, so that it can be installed and removed easily and without impairing the seal. The cover also includes an extra battery for the processing and radio transmission interface.
US09728077B1

A system comprising a camera sensor, a circuit and an identification device. The camera sensor may be configured to generate video data of an environment. The circuit may be configured to (A) communicate with a network through a wireless connection, (B) provide an electrical connection to (i) a plurality of components and (ii) the camera sensor and (C) enable at least one of (i) the components and (ii) the camera sensor in response to an authentication signal. The identification device may be configured to generate the authentication signal. The plurality of components may be configured to implement a virtual receptionist. The video data may be transmitted to the network. The authentication signal may be transmitted using the network. The notifications may be generated by the components.
US09728066B2

An electric fence monitor is operable to provide an audible and/or visual indicator of an operating condition (i.e., falter no-fault) of an electric fence and electric fence box. The electric fence monitor is operable to remain continuously connected between the electric fence and earth ground during normal operation of the fence. The electric fence monitor includes a gas discharge lamp light source for providing the visual indicator of the operating condition of the electric fence and electric fence box.
US09728062B2

A method for safeguarding the health of a user by automatically notifying a personal emergency is applied in a wearable device worn around a user's body or part. The method includes ultrasonic signals being periodically transmitted through the user's body and received by a receiver. A state of health of the user' body is determined according to the ultrasonic signals and a signal notifying a personal emergency is generated if the state of health of the user's body is abnormal. The signal is transmitted to at least one base station, to inform the base station to determine location of the wearable device for assistance-rendering purposes.
US09728059B2

Systems and methods for determining a sedentary state of a user are described. Sensor data is collected and analyzed to calculate metabolic equivalent of task (MET) measures for a plurality of moments of interest. Based on the MET measures and a time period for which the MET measures exceed a threshold value, it is determined whether the user is in a sedentary state. If the user is in the sedentary state, the user is provided a notification to encourage the user to perform a non-sedentary activity.
US09728058B2

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for detecting smoke in a computer system. The system detects smoke via a first smoke detector located at an airflow inlet of the system or a second smoke detector located at an airflow outlet of the system. Next, the system determines whether the smoke originates from inside of the system or outside of the system to yield a determination of an originating location of the smoke. Based on the determination of the originating location of the smoke, the system then generates a response to the smoke.
US09728055B2

A computer-implemented method for monitoring activity at a location, provides receiving a first data signal and a second data signal, wherein the first and second data signals are related to activities detected at a location, and reproducing the first and second data signals in a chronology that indicates relative timing of receipt of the first and second data signals via a user interface. This may accelerate review and inspection of multiple data signals recorded over time, including data signals of various types. The coincidence of patterns in the data signals may be detected and brought to the user's attention for closer review, such as via transmission of a message or transmission of a segment of recorded data.
US09728052B2

A digital signage system and a method of providing information using the digital signage system are disclosed. The digital signage terminal includes an emergency detection unit, an emergency detection message generation unit, a communication unit, and an emergency alert message processing unit. The emergency detection unit collects the surrounding emergency-related information of the digital signage terminal. The emergency detection message generation unit generates an emergency detection message including the collected emergency-related information. The communication unit transmits the generated emergency detection message to a digital signage server, and receives an emergency alert message including an emergency alert corresponding to an emergency situation from the digital signage server. The emergency alert message processing unit parses the emergency alert message, and provides the emergency alert included in the emergency alert message to a user.
US09728051B2

A method and system for determining restricted apparatuses with respect to a location is provided. The method includes determining that a user is in possession of a restricted apparatus. A video based process and a global positioning system (GPS) based process is executed with respect to the restricted apparatus and a location associated with a user. Restrictions associated with the restricted apparatus with respect to the location associated with the user are determined based on results of the video based process and the GPS based process. The restrictions are presented to the user.
US09728043B2

Embodiments of the present concept provide gaming devices and gaming systems that are configured to implement means for enhancing game play. Here, various embodiments of this concept use game insertion techniques to enhance the game play experience for players. These game insertion techniques include placing bonus spins, free games, or other incentives within traditional game play. In one model, a gaming device may use a bonus spin routine to replace a losing game outcome with a winning game outcome. Here, the player may be shown the initial losing game outcome and then be notified that a bonus spin has been awarded, which ultimately results in the winning game outcome.
US09728041B2

A layout pattern of a plurality of possible layout patterns for wagering game machines is determined. An input indicating a location of a wagering game machine within the layout patter is received. A mapping of the wagering game machine to the location within the layout pattern is stored.
US09728035B2

A gaming machine including housing in which a game sequence controller, at least one display device for displaying a gaming unit and at least one switching element, actuatable by a user and in contact with the game sequence controller, are arranged. At least one electromagnetic device coupled to the game sequence controller is associated with the switching element and, if the switching element is actuated, generates information that can be detected tactilely by the user in the form of a vibration and/or a change of the actuating resistance depending on the course of the game.
US09728034B2

Games such as reel-type slot games may have various features, including: an attribute accumulate feature which a player attempts to form combinations of collectable special symbols; a geometric pattern feature in which symbols within a geometric pattern or area may take on special attributes or features; a moving trigger feature; a symbol-triggered game transformation feature using logical rules; a player symbol selection in which reel symbols are player selected; and a reel-locking feature.
US09728026B2

A door includes a door panel and an electric lock device including a solar energy module, a biometric verification module, a control module and an electric lock. The solar energy module converts solar energy into an electricity output. The biometric verification module receives a biometric input signal relative to a biometric feature, determines whether the biometric feature conforms with a set of pre-established data, and generates a conforming signal if the determination is affirmative. The control module receives the conforming signal to generate a control signal and an unlocking signal. The electric lock receives the control signal and the unlocking signal. The electric lock operates to unlock the door panel.
US09728021B2

A system that includes a building information model (BIM) defined by a set of geographic coordinates of a secured area embodied in a memory, a plurality of security devices located within the secured area where each of the plurality of security devices has a short range wireless transceiver and a portable user device having a wireless transceiver, a global positioning system (GPS) and a programmed processor that interrogates the short range wireless transceiver of each of the plurality of security devices for identification and functional information of the security device as a user of the portable user device traverses the secured area and saves the identification and functional information along with geographic coordinates of each of the plurality of security devices under the BIM into a memory.
US09728019B2

A car control system is disclosed. The car control system for controlling a car by being linked with a car control device (electronic control unit, ECU) that is installed inside the car for electronic control of the car can include: an authentication server configured to perform access authentication for a user terminal and configured to generate an authentication result based on least one of terminal information of the user terminal and vehicle identification information; and a car access device configured to be directly connected with the car control device through an internal network of the car and configured to determine whether a car control request for control of the car by the user terminal is to be relayed to the car control device according to the authentication result of the user terminal.
US09728018B2

Methods and apparatus are provided to dynamically configure a passive entry, passive start system to issue passive and active commands upon authentication of a remote keyless fob with a body control module in a given vehicle selected from a fleet of vehicles. In particular, a UID secret key data field is generated in the FOB data store using a fleet secret key data field and a vehicle secret key field retrieved from the BCM data store. A wakeup pattern data field stored in the FOB data store is generated with a fleet wakeup pattern data field and a master wakeup pattern data field retrieved from the BCM data store such that an approach wakeup pattern data field stored in the BCM data field is written to an approach wakeup pattern data field in the FOB data store when the remote fob is authenticated with the body control module.
US09728012B2

An object-image alignment data generating method for use in an object recognition system is presented. The method obtains a 3D model and a set of 2D images of the object. Each 2D image from the set is captured based on a particular camera point of view. The method then uses the 3D model of the object to generate multiple silhouettes of the object according to different camera point of views. Each silhouette is then matched and aligned with a 2D image based on the corresponding camera point of view. The method also derives at least one descriptor from the 2D images and compiles feature points that correspond to the descriptors. Each feature point includes a 2D location and a 3D location. The method then generates an object-image alignment packet by packaging the 2D images, the descriptors, and the feature points.
US09728009B2

A capability for managing a representation of a smart environment is presented herein. The capability for managing a representation of a smart environment is configured to support augmented reality (AR)-based management of a representation of a smart environment, which may include AR-based generation of a representation of the smart environment, AR-based alignment of the representation of the smart environment with the physical reality of the smart environment, and the like.
US09728006B2

A safety critical, time sensitive data system for projecting safety/mission critical data onto a display pair of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) light weight projection glasses or monocular creating an immersive omnidirectional HUD (Heads Up Display) system with 6 degrees of freedom movement with user immersion and user inputs & outputs. The system includes the display, haptic glove, haptic suit, vestibular interface, temperature emulation, smell emulation, and omnidirectional sound, the workstation, the application software, and inputs containing the safety/mission critical information (Current User Position, Total Collision Avoidance System—TCAS, Global Positioning System—GPS, Magnetic Resonance Imaging—MRI Images, CAT scan images. Weather data. Military troop data, real-time space type markings etc.). The workstation software processes the incoming safety/mission critical data and converts it into a three dimensional space for the user to immerse into the environment. Selecting any of the images may display available information about the selected item or may enhance the image, or moving hand or body will generate enhanced environmental perception & awareness, as well as inputs and outputs. Predicted position vectors may be displayed as well as 3D terrain.
US09728005B2

This method of calibration comprising the reconstruction of a 3D mapping of 3D landmarks of an environment on the basis of digital images of the environment captured by the computer-based vision system (10) during the movement of the craft (2) along a trajectory. It comprises the optimization of at least one 3D mapping corresponding to a first sequence of images by considering at least one extrinsic parameter and/or at least one intrinsic parameter and/or at least one parameter of poses and/or one parameter of 3D landmarks as constant and the optimization of at least one 3D mapping corresponding to a second sequence of images, longer than the first image sequence and including the first image sequence, by considering said at least one extrinsic parameter and/or said at least one intrinsic parameter and/or said at least one parameter of poses and/or said at least one parameter of 3D landmarks as variable so as to estimate it.
US09728004B2

A method for identifying and measuring a feature on tessellated geometry may include providing an image of a part on a display using an electronic representation of the part. The part may include a tessellated geometry. The electronic representation of the tessellated geometry of the part may include a collection of triangles defined by vertices of each triangle. The method may also include receiving selection of a feature on the tessellated geometry of the part. A first triangle of the collection of triangles that is associated with the selected feature is chosen and at least a first vertex and a second vertex of the first triangle are determined. A predefined normal to each of the vertices is also determined. The predefined normals from at least two of the vertices are used to identify and measure the feature of the part.
US09728000B2

An apparatus and a method of using an acceleration structure in ray tracing, and a method of ray tracing are provided. The method involves setting a bit stack value of a level of an acceleration structure, moving to a child node among the ray-crossing child nodes and setting a route value of a corresponding level of the acceleration structure, and determining a pop level based on one or more bit stack values.
US09727999B2

A system for visualizing a flow within a volume of a 3-dimensional (3-D) image includes a first transfer unit for applying a first transfer function, which assigns a renderable property to each location of a first plurality of locations within the volume based on a flow pattern assigned to the location. A second transfer unit is provided for applying a second transfer function, which assigns a renderable property to each location of a second plurality of locations within the volume based on a value of the 3-D image assigned to the location. Further, the system also includes a mixing unit for computing a 2-dimensional (2-D) image based on the renderable property assigned to each location of the first plurality of locations and on the renderable property assigned to each location of the second plurality of locations, where the 2-D image visualizes the flow pattern and the 3-D image.
US09727996B2

A display device may be provided and may be configured to present a virtual field of view comprising a virtual object superimposed on a real-world scene. A controller may be provided and configured to modify display of the virtual object by the display device based on a first color of a real-world object in the real-world scene. The virtual object in the virtual field of view may be superimposed over the real-world object. A lumen output of the display device for displaying the virtual object may be decreased.
US09727995B2

An invention for generating an alternative representation of virtual content in a virtual universe is provided. In one embodiment, there is an alternative representation tool, including a visual component configured to determine a visual capacity of a user of a virtual universe. The alternative representation tool further includes an alternative component configured to provide an alternative representation of a virtual content renderable in the virtual universe based on the visual capacity of the user of the virtual universe.
US09727989B2

A chart element representing a chart modification for a standard chart may be provided pictorially by a computing device. The standard chart may be modified using the chart element through the presentation of a first gallery representing a feature of the standard chart for possible modification. The feature may include a horizontal axis title and a vertical axis title. A selection of the vertical axis title for possible modification from the first gallery may be received. A set of visual representations of how the vertical axis title could be modified in a second gallery may then be presented. The visual representations may include options for not displaying an axis title and for displaying an axis title in a rotated orientation. One of the options may be selected to modify the standard chart. The modified chart may then be displayed by the computing device.
US09727988B2

A logging data about a signal identifier of the I/O signals which changed in on/off state are stored in a ring buffer. A logging screen includes identifier display parts, logic-graph display parts and first and second cursors. The logic-graph display parts display logic graphs associated with signal identifiers, respectively. When any one of the identifier display parts displayed on the logging screen is clicked, the logging screen is changed to an input window. If a desired input identifier is input in the input window, the logging data associated with the signal identifier is read from the ring buffer and the logic graph is displayed in the logic-graph display parts. The logic graph can be modified.
US09727986B2

A CT alignment system includes a central processing unit (CPU) that processes a plurality of CT images. The CPU determines a location of a main carina from the plurality of CT images and sets the main carina as a point of origin. An x-coordinate, a y-coordinate, and a z-coordinate is calculated for each pixel in each CT image among the plurality of CT images based on the point of origin. A 3D model is rendered from the plurality of CT images and the x-coordinate, the y-coordinate, and the z-coordinate for each pixel in each CT image is associated with a corresponding voxel in the 3D model. The x-coordinate, the y-coordinate, and the z-coordinate for each corresponding voxel in the 3D model is stored as voxel position data. A graphics processing unit (GPU) renders a three dimensional (3D) model based on the plurality of CT images and the voxel position data which is displayed on a display.
US09727981B2

A method that facilitates optimization analysis and sensitivity analysis of a data model comprises: receiving first data identifying a value function, parameters for the value function, and one or more specific parameter values for one or more of the parameters; storing a data model based on the value function and the specific parameter values; determining which parameters of the data model are capable of taking variable values; receiving second data identifying one or more selected parameters; receiving third data specifying a value selection approach for each of the selected parameters; determining a plurality of result values by substituting, based on the value selection approach, a plurality of input values for each of the selected parameters and evaluating the value function using the selected parameters and the substituted values; and generating and causing displaying a table of the result values.
US09727977B2

A system and method for sampling-based color extraction for augmented reality are described. A viewing device includes an optical sensor to capture an image of a real-world object. A color extraction software divides the captured image into multiple regions or recognizes pre-defined regions and identifies a color value for each region. A color-based augmented reality effect module retrieves a virtual content based on the color values for the regions, and delivers the virtual content in the viewing device.
US09727975B2

A method for medical image segmentation includes accessing and updating a knowledge-base. A medical image is received and a sparse landmark signature is computed based on the medical image. Either a representative or a cohort average reference image set is selected. A portion of either representative reference image set or the cohort average reference image set is deformed to generate mappings to the medical image set. A segmentation for each structure of interest of the medical image set is determined. The knowledge-base is searched for representative matches to form a plurality of sub-volume base sets comprising a plurality of reference image set sub-volumes. A portion of the plurality of reference image set sub-volumes is deformed to generate mappings from the plurality of sub-volume base sets to corresponding structures of interest of the medical image set. A weighted-average segmentation for the structures of interest in the medical image set is calculated.
US09727970B2

A method of generating a hologram includes receiving three-dimensional (3D) image data, dividing 3D image data into data groups which are independent from one another, by a first processor; calculating, from at least one of the data groups, hologram values to be displayed at respective positions on a hologram plane, by the first processor; calculating, from at least another one of the data groups, hologram values to be displayed at the respective positions on the hologram plane by a second processor, and summing the calculated hologram values for each of the respective positions on the hologram plane, by the first processor or the second processor, or by the first processor and the second processor in parallel.
US09727964B2

This image processing device operates by identifying a region that is in a similar image and has a pattern which is the same as a pattern appearing in a section of a reference image, and repeating an operation several times and the section and the region are superposed to generate a reduced-noise fragment, after which the reduced-noise fragments obtained for all of the regions of the reference image are combined to generate a reduced-noise image. When such an operation actually is attempted with an image processing device the regions corresponding to the sections in the reference image cannot be found from the similar image. Therefore, with the present invention the reduced-noise fragments are generated by performing spatial processing on the sections. Thus, reduced-noise fragments can be obtained reliably for all of the regions of the reference image, and noise can be removed from the reference image more reliably.
US09727963B2

Methods and apparatuses provide improved navigation through tubular networks such as lung airways by providing improved estimation of location and orientation information of a medical instrument (e.g., an endoscope) within the tubular network. Various input data such as image data, EM data, and robot data are used by different algorithms to estimate the state of the medical instrument, and the state information is used to locate a specific site within a tubular network and/or to determine navigation information for what positions/orientations the medical instrument should travel through to arrive at the specific site. Probability distributions together with confidence values are generated corresponding to different algorithms are used to determine the medical instrument's estimated state.
US09727962B2

The invention relates to a system for visualizing characteristic tissue with a colorant in a surgical region. The system contains a detection unit which detects light from at least one object point in the surgical region. The system has a computer unit which is connected to the detection unit and drives a visualization unit which displays an image of an area in the surgical region. The computer unit determines the color coordinate in a color space with respect to the light from a point from the object point in the surgical region. Depending on the position of the color coordinate determined with respect to the object point, the computer unit calculates a color coordinate information (“0”, “1”) for controlling the visualization unit by comparing information concerning the determined color coordinate of the object point with information concerning a characteristic reference color coordinate.
US09727952B2

A control device includes a flatness calculator and control-value logic. The flatness calculator calculates flatness of an image corresponding to an image signal. The control-value logic determines a control value based on the flatness. The control value controls a size of an operation region on which a first-order infinite impulse response (IIR) filter is to process the image signal to reduce noise.
US09727938B1

A system and method for transmitting medical data. In one embodiment, a computer system receives filter criteria from a user of a first computer. Furthermore, the computer system may receive schedule information defining a schedule for checking for medical data. Depending on the embodiment, either the computer system or a remote server periodically selects, based upon the received schedule, medical data satisfying the received user-specific rules. The selected medical data is then transmitted to the computer system.
US09727932B1

Disclosed is a system to validate promotional offers in the nature of a reduction or rebate of certain travel expenses through a network of local merchants who offer to offset travel costs in exchange for patronage. The system allows verification of the travel and the purchases.
US09727925B2

Disclosed is a method, system, and computer program product for semantically analyzing the content within an internal social network. Using the results of the analysis, the executives can gain a better understanding of, and insight into, the organization and its employees. A dashboard tool may be used in some embodiments of the invention to visualize the results of the semantic analysis.
US09727923B2

A time attendance tracking method is provided by which a hand-held device is set as a primary device and/or a secondary device based on inherent mobile identity of the hand-held device and operable in either a first mode and/or a second mode. The first mode permits the user to clock-in and/or clock-out for attendance recording for the user tied account while the second mode restricts the user to clock-in and/or clock-out for attendance recording for the user tied account.
US09727922B1

Peril analysis is performed for carsharing insurance, i.e., peer-to-peer vehicle sharing insurance. The peril analysis is used to calculate the rate of and/or price insurance for carsharing. A renter may purchase insurance for carsharing (fully, as a supplement or going above and beyond a standard offering, or filling a gap between the minimal level a carsharing company provides and what a driver desires to provide for himself and vehicle's occupants, including comprehensive, collision, or a combination) using a mobile device, an embedded device, a vehicle, or an in-dash unit in the vehicle.
US09727914B2

Certain embodiments provide systems, methods, and apparatus for directed graph-based strategy trading tools. In some embodiments, opportunities for altering a trading strategy position are visually represented by a tool as a directed graph. In some embodiments, a tool to facilitate trading strategy leg conversions is provided.
US09727898B2

A system and method are provided for managing battery discharge during critical peak pricing (CPP) intervals. The method provides an alternating current (AC) client with a fluctuating AC grid demand, and a direct current (DC)-to-AC inverter having an input connected to a battery and selectable inversion power output levels connected to the AC client. In response to receiving a CPP warning for a first time interval, a present battery capacity state of charge (SoC) is determined. Also determined is a target peak demand for the AC client over a second time interval that includes the first time interval. The target peak demand defines a desired maximum threshold AC grid demand. In response to determining the present battery capacity SoC and the target peak demand, excess battery capacity is determined, and the excess battery capacity is used to supply auxiliary energy to the AC client during the CPP first time interval.
US09727892B1

A method, system, and program product, for determining related search terms for a domain, comprising: receiving a request for related search terms for a domain, obtaining click data on the domain for initial related search terms determined for the domain, obtaining revenue generation data for each of a plurality of the initial related search terms; determining a first set of the initial related search terms with a highest revenue or ad clicks generation; generating a second set of new related search terms, comprising: obtaining keywords that are semantically relevant, obtaining how many advertisements are targeted to the respective keyword, and obtaining for each of multiple of the respective keywords an amount that advertisers have paid over a period of time for use of the respective keyword.
US09727889B2

A client device detects a QR code (or NFC tag). The client device decodes the QR code. The client device determines that the data encoded within the QR code includes a URL. Based on the URL, the client device sends a first request to a first server identified by the URL. In response to the first request, the client device receives from the first server data configured to cause the client device to display, to a user of the client device, at least one of: a video or an interactive web page. Responsive to the data encoded in the QR code, the client device sends to a coupon server: identification data associated with a user of the client device, and a request for the coupon server to distribute a digital coupon for an offer associated with an identifier encoded within the QR code to an account associated with the user.
US09727881B2

The present disclosure provides a method for incenting potential contributors for creating content in response to a posting. The method comprises: posting a task to a first crowdsource with the task having a first expiry period of δ1; waiting for δ1 period to expire; determining whether the task is complete; reposting the task if not complete including a second expiry period of δ2; waiting for the second period of δ2 to expire; reposting the task if not yet complete including an increased reward and a third expiry period of δ3; waiting for the third period of δ3 to expire; and, reposting the task if still not complete, wherein the reposting includes a second crowdsource.
US09727879B2

An approach is provided for providing tag-based content installation. The content manager causes, at least in part, reading of tag information from one or more memory tags, the one or more memory tags compliant with at least one protocol for automated content installation. Next, the content manager processes and/or facilitates a processing of the tag information to determine at least one link to one or more content items. Then, the content manager causes, at least in part, retrieval, installation, or a combination thereof of the one or more content items according to the at least one protocol.
US09727878B2

Multiple filtering criteria derived from consumer surveys can be used to adjust an advertising schedule to achieve improved performance. Historical performance data related to performance factors, such as gross rating points, can be filtered using the multiple filtering criteria. The filtered data can then be used as the basis for predicting future performance of an advertisement or advertising campaign. The historical data can be updated as new performance data becomes available, and the predicted future performance updated. An advertising schedule can be adjusted to maintain performance factors within designated upper and lower limits.
US09727871B2

A construction project document system and method for managing a construction project including storing a signed lien waiver document, executed by a payee in a construction project, to a computer-readable memory. A payment to the payee from a payor in the construction project is facilitated after the lien waiver document has been executed. The payor is provided electronic access to the signed lien waiver document.
US09727867B2

The invention provides methods for determining whether a transaction has taken place in geographic proximity to a wireless device. Upon receiving a notification to authenticate the use of an identity at a transaction location, where the identity is associated with a wireless terminal, the method determines an approximate location of the wireless terminal based on cached position information, GPS location, cellular geo-location, and/or Wi-Fi geolocation, and determines whether one or more of these is in geographic proximity to the location of the transaction.
US09727866B2

Computerized methods, systems and computer program products for determining how an identity of a consumer can be verified during a transaction involving the consumer and a merchant. Embodiments access and analyze data of an account the consumer has with an online social network to derive a challenge question response options. The social-network based challenge question and response options are presented to the consumer, and the consumer's selection of certain response options is used to confirm that the consumer is the person named on a credit card or other payment instrument or that other identification or verification information should be requested by the merchant before completing the transaction.
US09727865B2

A first request for a transfer of data is transmitted in response to the use of a user device; it is determined that the first request for the transfer of data has been declined; an event is detected that indicates that the transfer of data in response to the use of the user device can be accepted; and a second request for the transfer of data is transmitted in dependence on detecting that the event has occurred.
US09727863B2

A method is used in a system that includes a financial service provider coordinating accounts issued by an issuer to cardholders requesting credit from merchants. Each merchant has an acquirer with whom the financial service provider also coordinates the accounts. The method can be performed by a merchant sending a transmission to its acquirer including a request for a transaction against one account to which the merchant receives a denial or prior to receiving such a denial. The merchant then requests information from the financial service provider who responds by sending the requested information, upon which the merchant determines whether to extend the credit. When the method is performed by a financial service provider, in response to the denial received by one merchant or prior to such denial, the financial service provider receives a transmission from the merchant including a request for information about the account. In response, the financial service provider sends the merchant the requested information.
US09727862B2

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for using a payment processing network as an authorization engine to access secure physical areas, such as college dormitories, office buildings. A keycard with a cryptogram generator is presented by a user to an access device, and the access device or associated computer sends an access request message formatted like a payment authentication request message to an aggregator/acquirer and payment processing network. The payment processing network validates the cryptogram and returns an access response message, again formatted like a payment authorization response message, indicating that the keycard is authentic. The gate, door, turnstile, or other barrier is then temporarily unlocked to let the user through.
US09727861B1

A multiple currency rate consolidator addresses the needs of multi-national companies that do business in different currencies and tax localities. A consolidated view of financial data may be provided in real time. The multiple currency rate consolidator allows each subsidiary within a subsidiary hierarchy to enter and manage transactional data as well as budget/forecast data in a corresponding localized functional currency. The multiple currency rate consolidator allows different consolidation levels to view localized, consolidated values of subsidiary transactions. The multiple currency rate consolidator also accommodates statutory, ad hoc and management reporting consolidation using different subsidiary configurations for the same time periods, as well as the versioning of the subsidiary hierarchy to accommodate structural changes across different time periods.
US09727860B1

Systems and methods which operate to reserve an amount of value associated with a value bearing indicia (VBI) request or requests are shown. Embodiments facilitate completion of a multiple VBI session without failing due to insufficient value balance once the session has begun. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments facilitate later or subsequent (e.g., scheduled) completion of a VBI session, whether a session for a single VBI or multiple VBI, without failing due to insufficient value balance. Value reservations may be made automatically and/or manually. Embodiments provide various reservation priority levels, such as to individual users, user groups, user systems, sessions, types of sessions, jobs, etc., in order to facilitate completion of various desired operations without failure due to insufficient value. Value reservation techniques according to embodiments do not introduce additional transactions into a normal VBI session flow.
US09727859B1

A method includes performing operations as follows on at least one processor: receiving credentials from a shopper, the credentials being associated with a purchase from a merchant, receiving an open approval for advancing funds for the purchase from a financial institution, matching the open approval with the credentials received from the shopper, and notifying the merchant that payment has been approved.
US09727846B2

Arrangements described relate to associating a meeting room with a meeting. A meeting invitation being accessed by a first recipient can be identified, wherein the meeting invitation is sent to a plurality of recipients. A location associated with the first recipient of the meeting invitation can be identified, and whether the location associated with the first recipient is similar to a location associated with a sender of the meeting invitation can be determined. Responsive to determining that the location associated with the first recipient is not similar to the location associated with a sender of the meeting invitation, the first recipient can be prompted to reserve a meeting room at the location associated with the first recipient. Responsive to receiving from the first recipient an indication of the meeting room being reserved, an association between the meeting and the meeting room can be created.
US09727845B2

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a human resource management platform that includes applications targeted to solve a variety of human resource and benefits administration management problems. Applications of the human resource management platform include business applications such as benefits administration that may provide a single solution for facilitating employee benefits management and organizational efficiencies through automation of benefit management functions, measurement of benefit provider effectiveness, and the like.
US09727838B2

A system to be installed on a merchandising unit having one or more inventory zones, one or more units of product, one or more product sensors, a mounting structure, and an electromagnetic signal processor. The one or more inventory zones can present the one or more units of product in several different arrangements. The one or more product sensors, each at least associated operatively with one of the one or more inventory zones, converts a sensed quantity of the one or more units of product into a respective analog electromagnetic signal. The mounting structure secures the one or more product sensors to the merchandising unit relative to the one or more units of product so that the one or more product sensors sense a quantity of the one or more units of product. The electromagnetic signal processor in communication with the one or more product sensors can sample output from the one or more product sensors periodically and converts the analog signal into a digital signal.
US09727835B2

A method and system for remotely managing business processes via a mobile device is provided. The method includes enabling, for a user, an application integrated with analytic models and geo-positioning technology. The user and a location of the user are identified. Preferences associated with the user are identified and a status of business processes associated with the entity at the location is monitored. In response, a status of the entity at the location is determined. Status data associated with the status is presented to the user via the mobile device. The status data is based on the preferences. The user may initiate an escalation process based on the status provided.
US09727834B2

A portable measurement system is described herein that provides accurate real-time data for a subject object at a job site. The acquired data may include photos, laser mapping, thermal images, sonar imaging, electronic measurements, or other types of measurement data. The system leverages commonly available remote control helicopters or other flying vehicles mounted with a camera or other equipment to acquire images or other measurement data that would be difficult to obtain without climbing onto a target structure or placing personnel in other dangerous situations. A portable platform is described herein that can include helicopters as well as other types of portable measurement devices that can fly or otherwise maneuver to capture measurement data at a job site. In many cases, these connected devices can provide near instant availability of captured data to a processing center or other remote location, reducing delays that are typical today.
US09727829B2

Systems and methods are provided to schedule clinical tasks involving multiple sub-tasks and multiple resources in a clinical enterprise. An example method includes identifying a slot for a task defined by a task duration and one or more resources, the task including a plurality of sub-tasks, each sub-task having a sub-task duration utilizing one or more of the one or more resources, wherein each sub-task to be performed consecutively based on resource constraints; selecting a time slot for the task based on resource availability, the plurality of sub-tasks in the task, and a duration associated with each sub-task, wherein resource availability information is obtained from a clinical information system, and wherein each resource is scheduled only for one or more sub-tasks in which the resource is involved; displaying the schedule including the task and the plurality of sub-tasks; and facilitating access to view and modify the schedule.
US09727826B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for using contrarian machine learning models to compensate for selection bias. Both a primary machine learning model and a contrarian machine learning model may be trained for selecting sets of items based at least in part on the same training data. However, the contrarian machine learning model is specially trained to avoid selecting items that are selected by the primary machine learning model. Items selected by the primary model and items selected by the contrarian model are presented to users as recommendations. Both models are updated based at least in part on user selections of items. Ultimately, the use of the contrarian model avoids causing the primary model to degenerate to picking random items due to reinforcement resulting from a bias in favor of selecting items that have been recommended.
US09727822B1

The present invention provides a system and method for providing an alert notification prior to occurrence of a consequent event. The present invention provides a decision maker with the means to reconstitute his unfiltered operational environment such that the information needed to make an informed decision is extracted from a vast array of data available and presented in a manner that allows the decision maker to focus on the aspects of the decision that are most important to arriving at the best course of action under the exigent circumstances that are present when a response to an unexpected and possibly deleterious event is required.
US09727819B2

In an embodiment, an improved computer-implemented method of efficiently determining actions to perform based on data from a streaming continuous queries in a distributed computer system comprises, at a central control computer, receiving a streaming continuous query and a rule-set; wherein the rule-set comprises decision data representing decisions based on attributes produced by the query, and action data representing end actions based on the decisions, wherein the attributes comprise data processed by one or more networked computers; separating the streaming continuous query into a sub-query executable at one or more edge computers; categorizing end actions from the set based on decisions requiring attributes available from the sub-query into a set of one or more edge expressions that are configured to be evaluated at an edge agent to cause an action; providing the set of edge expressions and the sub-query to at least one edge computer with instructions to process visible attributes on the edge computer and to evaluate the set of one or more edge expressions independently from the central control computer; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.
US09727817B2

The present technique relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, a recording medium, and a program capable of extracting the structure of time series data. An acquisition unit acquires time series data, a conversion unit converts the obtained time series data into an RAR model, and a prediction unit predicts the future of an event that is currently in progress using the RAR model. The present technique can be applied when predicting the future of a phenomenon that changes with time such as weather, earthquake, natural environment, human health, and economy from time series data.
US09727815B2

Embodiments are discussed herein related to radio frequency identification (“RFID”) and, more particularly, to systems, methods, apparatuses, computer readable media products and other means for integrating two transponders into a tag, where each transponder functions independent from and does not couple with the other transponder. In some embodiments, one of the transponders can be a near field RFID transponder and the other a far field transponder. The near field RFID transponder can be used to, among other things, authenticate the far field RFID transponder. In some embodiments, the far field RFID transponder can be encoded to transmit generic information, while the near field RFID transmits more detailed or user-specific information. Additionally, in some embodiments, the near field and far field RFID transponders can operate in accordance with the same wireless protocol and include their own circuitry and antenna.
US09727807B2

An image processing system for executing a plurality of processes includes a process execution control apparatus, and image generation-output control apparatuses of different types. The process execution control apparatus includes a process execution controller to control the processes, and to transmit a command information to the image generation-output control apparatuses. Each of the image generation-output control apparatuses includes a command information converter to convert the command information to a format processable by the image generation-output control apparatus, an imposition convertor to convert initial designation information to imposition process information processable by the image generation-output control apparatus, and an image drawing information generator to generate image drawing information.
US09727803B2

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can identify a set of regions corresponding to a geographical area. A collection of training images can be acquired. Each training image in the collection can be associated with one or more respective recognized objects and with a respective region in the set of regions. Histogram metrics for a plurality of object categories within each region in the set of regions can be determined based at least in part on the collection of training images. A neural network can be developed based at least in part on the histogram metrics for the plurality of object categories within each region in the set of regions and on the collection of training images.
US09727793B2

Methods and systems for determining a vehicle location and pose are provided. A vehicle localization system may determine a location and pose estimate for the vehicle. The system may retrieve three-dimensional map data based on the location and pose estimate. The system may obtain a camera image from a vehicle mounted camera. The system may project the three-dimensional map data onto the camera image based on the location and pose estimate. The system may compare the projected three-dimensional map data to the camera image. The system may then determine the vehicle location and pose based on the comparing.
US09727792B2

A method is provided for tracking-based visibility range estimation for a vehicle, the method including a step of tracking an object detected in a first image at a first point in time and in a second image at a second point in time, a step of ascertaining a first object luminance of the object and a first distance to the object at the first point in time and also ascertaining a second object luminance of the object and a second distance to the object at the second point in time, and also a step of determining an atmospheric extinction coefficient using the first object luminance, the second object luminance, the first distance, and the second distance, the atmospheric extinction coefficient being in direct correlation to visibility range.
US09727791B2

A system for distinguishing a first group of persons from a second group of persons among plural persons who are present inside an area, and the system includes processing circuitry that: detects first positions of the plural persons who are present inside the area based on a heat image; detects second positions of the second group of persons who are present inside the area based on identification signals transmitted from portable wireless terminals of the second group of persons; and determines, as the first group of persons, those who are present at positions different from the second positions based on the first and second positions.
US09727788B2

In an embodiment, a data store storing a first image and a second image; a computer processor coupled to the data store and programmed to: generate a first fingerprint of the first image based on a first plurality of pixels from the first image stored in the data store; generate a second fingerprint of the second image based on a second plurality of pixels from the second image stored in the data store; determine a closeness value between the first fingerprint and the second fingerprint; determine, based on the closeness value, whether the first image matches the second image.
US09727786B2

System, apparatus, method, and computer readable media for on-the-fly captured image data object tracking. An image or video stream is processed to detect and track an object in concurrence with generation of the stream by a camera module. In one exemplary embodiment, HD image frames are processed at a rate of 30 fps, or more, to track one or more target object. In embodiments, object detection is validated prior to employing detected object descriptor(s) as learning data to generate or update an object model. A device platform including a camera module and comporting with the exemplary architecture may provide 3A functions based on objects robustly tracked in accordance with embodiments.
US09727778B2

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and apparatus that provides feedback to a user for interacting continuously without any disconnect. It gives real time visual clues and gestures based on application need. This solves the problem of a disconnected user found in current system and applications as user will be continuously aware whether and how much he is being tracked by the application that will allow him to continuously interact with the application. The requirements from various applications like FBT (Full body Tracking), HBT (Half Body Tracking), LTO (Leg Tracking Only), HTO (Hand Tracking Only), STO (Specific Tracking only) is sent to the CFBTE (Continuous Full Body Tracking Engine). The CFBTE process the requirements and generates the visual clues and gesture events. In visual clues the tracking level/intensity is continuously displayed, which will guide the user on system readiness and effectiveness for interaction.
US09727774B2

Methods, systems, and programming for user identification and authentication are presented. In one example, an apparatus for user authentication is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a surface on which an object is placed; a light source configured for providing light illuminating a first portion of the surface; a brightness measuring unit configured for measuring brightness distribution in a second portion of the surface, wherein the brightness distribution is caused by the object that spreads the light from the first portion to the second portion; and a determiner configured for determining whether the object is an organic body part based on the brightness distribution.
US09727773B2

To extract a fingerprint core for alignment of a fingerprint image for fingerprint matching. The present invention comprises: a core extraction unit which has an endpoint processing function of generating an endpoint image by extracting bifurcations in skeleton image and subjecting the respective bifurcations to endpoint processing; and a skeleton image generation/extraction unit which extracts skeletons of a density-inverted image formed by inverting the density colors of the generated end point image from white to black and vice versa, and performs processing for generating the skeleton image, the core extraction unit being provided with a core determination function of specifying a skeleton pixel having the highest value of a loop score indicating the degree of a bend in a skeleton shape in the density-inverted image, and defining this skeleton pixel as the finger print core.
US09727768B2

A method of operating an indicia reader includes reading at least one indicia, the indicia having an encoded executable software program; storing the encoded executable software program into memory of the indicia reader; and running the encoded executable software program.
US09727755B2

A method and system for processing information. An apparatus divides target information into N pieces of divided data using a secret sharing scheme in which a predetermined number (K) of pieces of the N pieces of divided data is required to restore the target information, wherein N>K. The apparatus is an information processing device or an external storage device. The apparatus selects M pieces from the N pieces (KM−K).
US09727754B2

Some embodiments include a method for processing a scan chain in an integrated circuit, the method comprising receiving, in the integrated circuit, the scan chain, wherein the scan chain includes a secret key pattern; separating the secret key pattern from the scan chain; storing the scan chain in a first plurality of latches; storing the secret key pattern in a second plurality of latches; comparing the secret key pattern to a reference key pattern, the reference key pattern stored in a third plurality of latches; determining, based on the comparing the secret key pattern to the reference key pattern, that the secret key pattern does not match the reference key pattern; and generating a signal indicating that the secret key pattern does not match the reference key pattern.
US09727753B2

A digital file is associated with a security attribute related to watermarking criteria. The digital file content is encrypted, and may not be decrypted by a receiving computer unless the watermarking criteria is met. The receiving computer may decrypt only the encrypted portion of the security attribute unless the watermarking criteria are continuously met at the receiving computer. Improved security and reduction of pirating of the digital content is therefore provided.
US09727751B2

An approach is provided for applying privacy policies to structured data. A privacy policy management infrastructure receives a request for an exchange of structured data among a plurality of devices. The privacy policy management infrastructure determines one or more elements of the structured data. The privacy policy management infrastructure also determines one or more privacy policies corresponding to the structured data, respective ones of the one or more elements, or a combination thereof. The privacy policy management infrastructure further determines to apply the one or more privacy policies to the structured data, respective ones of the one or more elements, or a combination thereof when initiating the exchange.
US09727748B1

An apparatus, method, and a computer program are provided to secure one or more sections of a document. For example, one or more sections of the document may be converted into secured content. The secured content may then be removed from the document, and replaced with replacement content in the document. This may prevent a viewer with no privileges from viewing secured content.
US09727740B2

Embodiments herein relate to accessing secure information over a network. The secure information is read and/or modified based on a request received over the network, regardless of an operating state of an operating system (OS) of the device and/or a power state of the device.
US09727739B2

Techniques are provided for decrypting an encrypted file within an enterprise network. The techniques include identifying by a password collecting module a password entered during a file encryption procedure performed at a terminal and storing the password; receiving an encrypted file by a data leakage protection (DLP) module; and attempting to decrypt the encrypted file with the password by the DLP module.
US09727737B1

Computing devices are disclosed that include functionality for providing a trustworthy indication of software integrity. The computing devices include a hardware trust evaluation device capable of determining the trustworthiness of computer programs executing on the devices. At least one trust indicator is also connected to the hardware trust evaluation device for providing an external indication of the trustworthiness of a computer program. Additional security information regarding the trustworthiness of the computer program may be displayed on the primary display device of the computing device. The display of the security information is triggered by a user of the computing device submitting a request through a secure mechanism, where the request is unobservable and inaccessible to programs executing on the computing device. Additional secure mechanisms, such as a unique user interface for displaying the security information, can be utilized to ensure the authenticity of the displayed security information.
US09727732B2

An apparatus and a method for identifying security of an electronic device are provided. The method includes identifying a security state of a system binary loaded to a memory of the electronic device based on booting of the electronic device in a second operating system of the electronic device, and sending security state information to a first operating system in the second operating system based on a request from the first operating system of the electronic device.
US09727730B2

Techniques are disclosed for presenting and collecting end user license agreement acceptance for software applications or firmware components executed on a computing appliance. A sentry component allows only certain commands to be executed before the relevant end user license agreements are accepted, e.g., commands to configure a network interface and web server on the appliance executed on a shell over a serial interface. Once configured the web server is used to provide a rich interface for presenting end user license agreements and obtaining acceptance thereof. Once the user accepts the terms of the relevant license agreements, then the appliance is made active and all configuration commands become operational, including commands needed to configure the device and start services which would otherwise be prohibited by the sentry component prior to license acceptance.
US09727723B1

Techniques to reduce false positives in detecting anomalous use of resources are disclosed. In various embodiments, resource access data indicating for each resource in a set of resources respective usage data for each of one or more users of the resource is received. Cluster analysis is performed to determine one or more clusters of users. For each cluster, a set of recommended resources to be associated with the cluster is determined. For each of at least a subset of users, a temporal behavior based model for each user that reflects one or more resources included in the set of recommended resources associated with a corresponding cluster of which the user is a member is generated.
US09727722B2

A technique for detecting unauthorized manipulation of a circuit. In one embodiment, a test data channel of a boundary scan system of a circuit is monitored while the circuit is in operation. By monitoring the test data channel, a monitoring module determines the presence of a signal on the test data channel. During operation, activity on this channel may represent a potential unauthorized manipulation attempt. An alarm condition may therefore be created if a signal is detected.
US09727721B2

Disclosed is a method for unlocking an electronic equipment, and the method includes: the electronic equipment detects periodically whether there is an unlocking key in its surrounding environment, and when there is an unlocking key in the surrounding environment, transmits an unlocking request to the unlocking key; the unlocking key receives the unlocking request, determines in accordance with the unlocking request whether the electronic equipment matches the unlocking key, and when it is determined that the electronic equipment matches the unlocking key, transmits an unlocking signal to the electronic equipment so as to unlock the electronic equipment. Further disclosed are a device for unlocking an electronic equipment and an unlocking key for unlocking an electronic equipment. By means of the present disclosure, the unlocking key is enabled to automatically unlock an electronic equipment when it is disposed near the electronic equipment.
US09727708B2

Systems and methods related to DRM content usage mechanisms for both online and offline usage of content are disclosed, including systems providing secure access to data regardless of network state or connectivity state to the networked access control mechanism. An access control mechanism having a secondary offline access control mechanism is presented, further including multiple implementations for data encapsulation, as well as providing a method for writes to files and to the filesystem itself by externally created applications with no API or modification to their operation.
US09727703B2

The present invention provides for a method and apparatus for distributing digital information, such as software applications, to application users. By providing the digital information on unused memory space of a computer system, and providing a process for authorizing access to the information, the information can be efficiently and cost effectively transferred to users. Traditional inventory and distribution channel difficulties are avoided.
US09727702B2

A computer-implemented method for identifying and assessing public health events, and a corresponding system and apparatus, includes capturing public health-related information from structured and unstructured sources, where the information is contained in one or more documents, extracting meta-data from the captured public health-related information, creating an index of the extracted meta-data; archiving the meta-data and the documents, where the index links meta-data to its associated document, processing the extracted meta-data according to one or more detection algorithms to determine if an anomaly exists, and where an anomaly exists, providing a public health event notification, and monitoring and evaluating the responses to the public health events.
US09727694B1

A system for confidentially retrieving data from a person, such as by authorized personnel. One embodiment provides a data carrier item such as jewelry, having encrypted data imparted upon the item in manner that is only intelligible after being unencrypted. Such data can be encrypted and/or invisibly disposed such that the data is not identifiable by the public, but can be quickly and accurately retrieved by authorized personnel.
US09727689B2

A method and apparatus for establishing a wire network for a platform. The apparatus for establishing a wire network for an aircraft comprises a wire manager and a layout manager. The wire manager sorts a plurality of wires for the aircraft into a plurality of bundles based on a plurality of categories established for the plurality of wires with respect to operation of the aircraft. The plurality of categories includes an essential category and the plurality of bundles includes a primary bundle corresponding to the essential category. The layout manager generates a primary layout output for the primary bundle based on an available space within the aircraft. Forming and installing a primary wire harness corresponding to the primary bundle in the aircraft based on the primary layout output independently of a remaining portion of the plurality of bundles improves a build efficiency of the aircraft.
US09727688B2

A computer program, method, and system for locksmithing. The computer program, method, and system receive vehicle information, obtain a key code for a lock based on the vehicle information, decrypt the key code to determine key specification data, and provide the key specification data to a user, such that a duplicate key corresponding to the lock can be formed.
US09727666B2

Querying a data store can include receiving a query defined by a number of phrases. Querying a data store can include identifying within the data store service component metrics, service component logs, and service component events associated with the query. Querying a data store can include displaying the identified service component metrics, service component logs, and service component events.
US09727664B2

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for grouping records in buckets distributed across nodes a distributed database system to perform comparison of the grouped records. Upon receiving a record, data in the received record is processed to determine at least one containing bucket having attributes matching those of the received record, wherein the at least one containing bucket comprises at least one of a plurality of buckets, and wherein the buckets are assigned to the local node and the external nodes. A determination is made of at least one of the containing buckets assigned to at least one of the external nodes. At least a portion data in the received record is forwarded to each of the determined at least one external node to perform comparison matching with other records in the containing bucket at the external node.
US09727661B2

A display device accessing a broadcast receiver via a web browser according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a user interface unit configured to receive an input signal from a user, a broadcast service module configured to receive a broadcast signal, a communication module configured to perform data communication with a server and the broadcast receiver, a display module configured to display at least one or more contents and a controller, the controller configured to access a web address corresponding to the broadcast receiver via the web browser, the controller configured to receive an IP (internet protocol) address information mapped to the web address from a DNS (domain name server), the controller configured to access the broadcast receiver using the received IP address, the controller configured to receive data of content displayed on the broadcast receiver and control the data to be displayed on a screen of the display device.
US09727653B2

Methods and systems for learning models of the preferences of members drawn from some population or group, utilizing arbitrary paired preferences of those members, in any commonly used ranking model are disclosed. These methods and systems utilize techniques for learning Mallows models, and mixtures thereof, from pairwise preference data.
US09727634B2

An event-related media management system contextualizes media content. The event-related media management system associates media content with contextual event-related data to associate the media content with the events and information about the events. The contextual event-related data can then be used to provide access to the media content, such as through relevant search results or by presenting the media content in organized displays for contextual browsing and navigation. In some embodiments the event-related media management system generates contextualized media content for contextual search, discovery, and advertising.
US09727625B2

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system uses parallel transaction messages for database replication. The system receives transaction messages from a source system via a plurality of parallel send queues in a receive queue. Each transaction message includes a message identifier indicating a commit order for that transaction. The system reads transaction messages in the receive queue in order in which they were committed against a source database based on the message identifier, and applies changes described by the transaction messages to a target database. Two or more transaction messages in the receive queue are applied to the target database in parallel. The system deletes transaction messages from the receive queue asynchronously to applying changes described by those transaction messages to the target database. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for parallel transaction messages in substantially the same manners described above.
US09727623B1

A development platform system is disclosed that provides a development platform configured to create new and modified web-based applications. The development platform may be configured to search for and select a design layout template from available design layout templates stored on a database library. The development platform may further be configured to search for and select a data visualization template from available data visualization templates stored on a database library. The development platform may further be configured to generate a data visualization modification interface and accept a client device customization input to modify attributes of a data visualization. Templates that are modified by the development platform may be stored for subsequent look-up on a database library according to metadata describing attributes of the templates.
US09727607B2

Various embodiments include systems and methods for generating query rewrite records which may be used to generate standardized query rewrites for a search engine. Such records may identify rewrite triggers as well as constraints and other metadata flags which may be associated with certain rewrites in query rewrite identification (QRIL) records. In certain embodiments, such records may be analyzed with other QRIL records or rewrite information to prevent rewrite conflicts and to generate standardized rewrites. This information may then be used by a search engine to generate responses to user queries.
US09727606B2

Techniques are described for performing filter and project operations. In an embodiment, a set of predicates that specify criteria for filtering results to a query is received. Based on a particular predicate of the set of predicates, a predicate result for at least one portion of a particular column is generated. The predicate result identifies rows within the first column that satisfy the particular predicate. Rows are selected and returned as results to the query based at least in part on the predicate result. In an embodiment, the predicate result is a bitvector where each bit of the bitvector corresponds to a particular row within the particular column and identify whether the particular row satisfies the particular predicate.
US09727602B2

New data messages for updating a database can indicate a latency tolerance. The latency tolerance can constrain new data records based on such new data messages to also indicate the latency tolerance. Latency-tolerant data records can be constrained to remain in the working database for a minimum duration. Data records present in the working database can be prioritized according to prioritization criteria that increases priority of data records indicating latency tolerance. Matching incoming data messages with the data records present in the working database can be based on such prioritization. A matched data record can be updated or deleted upon successful match with an incoming data message. The latency tolerance can be applied to trading systems for financial instruments or interests as a long-life order that rests in an order book without being able to be cancelled or updated for the minimum duration in exchange for priority during order matching.
US09727600B2

A data consistency management system may include a memory storing machine readable instructions to receive a query, and determine a suitability of the query for processing by a NoSQL data store, or a RDBMS. The memory may further include machine readable instructions to rank data tables based on a combination of read queries and query patterns suitable for the NoSQL data store. Based on the ranking, the memory may further include machine readable instructions to determine data tables that are to be managed by the NoSQL data store, or by the RDBMS, determine whether the query is for a data table managed by the NoSQL data store, and based on a determination that the query is for a data table managed by the NoSQL data store, translate the query to NoSQL API calls for using the NoSQL data store to respond to the query.
US09727594B2

The technique described herein provides a way to summarize data and can also minimize unnecessary accesses to a data store. In one embodiment, the technique creates and stores an adaptive range filter that contains a compact summary of the contents of an index for a data store in the form of a trie data structure. Before accessing the index of the data store in response to a query, the technique checks the filter to determine whether the data store does not contain any keys for a specific range of data. If the adaptive range filter indicates that the index contains no keys satisfying the query predicate, the index of the data store and the data itself is not accessed. The adaptive range filter of the technique supports both range predicates and equality predicates. It is adaptive to changes in data and queries by learning the query and data distribution.
US09727591B1

One or more trust characteristics are obtained. The one or more trust characteristics are attributable to a storage infrastructure from which one or more data sets stored in one or more data repositories are obtained. The one or more trust characteristics attributable to the storage infrastructure are associated with the one or more data sets such that the one or more data sets are characterized as having a trustworthiness reflective of the one or more trust characteristics. The one or more trust characteristics and the association with the one or more data sets are stored as metadata in the one or more data repositories.
US09727590B2

In one embodiment, a distributed database system supporting flexible configuration of data clusters is disclosed. The system includes a cluster manager, an index, and a dataset distributed over one or more database clusters. Where the nodes of the clusters may report ownership of a particular range, the index contains an alternate range. The cluster manager receives requests to access a range of data within database and queries the index to determine the appropriate nodes and/or clusters with which to connect. The cluster manager then directs the requestor to connect to the specified nodes and/or clusters.
US09727580B2

There is provided an information processing device including: a global map acquiring unit that acquires at least a part of a global map representing positions of objects in a real space where a plurality of users are in activity; a local map generating unit that generates a local map representing positions of nearby objects detectable by a device of one user among the plurality of users; and an updating unit that updates the global map based on position data of objects included in the local map.
US09727575B2

To provide an operation that can quickly copy or rearrange a file, a file system allows stored data to be shared among two or more files or within a file. The file system provides an operation that allows an extent from one file to be copied into an extent of another file, or into a different extent in the same file if the extents do not overlap. To support such an operation, the file system tracks the storage locations for stored data for extents of a file, and whether the stored data for an extent of a file is shared with any other file or by another portion of the same file. When stored data is shared, writing to an extent of a file that refers to the shared stored data invokes a write operation to a new extent on the storage device, and the tracked information for the affected extents is updated.
US09727571B2

A file replacement system includes a storage device, a host, and a server. In a file replacement transaction one or more files that are stored in the storage device are replaced in the storage device by one or more files that are provided by the server. The storage device monitors access to the files stored therein and updates an access tracking table with segment access information that pertains to access to segments of the files. While the file replacement transaction is in progress, the storage device delivers the segment access information to the server, and, based on the segment access information and file replacement criteria, the server determines a credit to which the end-user is entitled for the replaced files. The server calculates an outstanding balance for the file replacement transaction from the credit owing to the end-user for the replaced files and from the cost of the replacement files.
US09727568B2

A method comprises receiving a call to a method in response to detection of a game event in a user device, responsive to said call, generating a data file, said data file comprising identity information associated with said game event and a value of at least one parameter; and storing said data file in a data store.
US09727566B2

A content adaptation method includes: obtaining a primary metadata profile associated with a particular time point of primary content; obtaining secondary metadata profiles each associated with corresponding secondary content of a plurality of secondary content; identifying one of the plurality of secondary content associated with a secondary metadata profile having a desired similarity value with the primary metadata profile associated with the primary content; and matching the identified secondary content with the particular time point of the primary content.
US09727565B2

In one embodiment, a set of tags that has been generated by performing computer vision analysis of image content of a visual media item may be obtained, where each tag of the set of tags has a corresponding probability. In addition, a set of information that is independent from the image content of the visual media item may be obtained. The probability of at least a portion of the set of tags may be modified based, at least in part, upon the set of information.
US09727561B1

A method of contextual activity awareness content selection operates a switch to release a document viewer activation control to a first selector, operate the first selector to select the application location for the application interface, selects document view logs, associated with application location, operates document prioritization logic to calculates average document view rate, calculates an average view rate for each document at the application location, normalizes, weights, and rank average view rates document relevance set, operates a second selector to select matching documents and release to the document viewer, configures the document viewer to prioritize rendering based on document relevance set, operates the switch to release a document view signal to a compiler, in response to a document viewing in the document viewer, and operates the compiler to generate a new document view entry for the document viewing.
US09727559B2

A cost-effective, durable and scalable archival data storage system is provided herein that allow customers to store, retrieve and delete archival data objects, among other operations. For data storage, in an embodiment, the system stores data in a transient data store and provides a data object identifier may be used by subsequent requests. For data retrieval, in an embodiment, the system creates a job corresponding to the data retrieval and provides a job identifier associated with the created job. Once the job is executed, data retrieved is provided in a transient data store to enable customer download. In various embodiments, jobs associated with storage, retrieval and deletion are scheduled and executed using various optimization techniques such as load balancing, batch processed and partitioning. Data is redundantly encoded and stored in self-describing storage entities increasing reliability while reducing storage costs. Data integrity is ensured by integrity checks along data paths.
US09727543B2

A method of processing an interactive document is enclosed.
US09727539B2

A computer-implemented method and system for enabling communication between networked users based on search queries and common characteristics is disclosed. Particular embodiments relate to receiving a search query from a first user and establishing a communication link between the first user and a second user based on the first user's search query. Particular embodiments relate to receiving a first search query from a first user, receiving a second search query from a second user, determining if the first user and the second user fit within match criteria, and establishing a communication link between the first user and the second user if the first user and the second user fit within match criteria. Particular embodiments relate to receiving a first search query from a first user, receiving a second search query from a second user, determining if the first search query and the second search query fit within match criteria, determining if the first user and the second user fit within match criteria, and establishing a communication link between the first user and the second user if the first search query and the second search query fit within match criteria and if the first user and the second user fit within match criteria.
US09727538B2

A user command selecting a whole or part of a discrete document of the fragmented document is received at a computing device. The fragmented document includes a group of discrete documents connected by a set of links, each link being located within one discrete document and connecting to another different discrete document. An edit command to edit the selected whole or part of the discrete document is received. Each other discrete document connected to the selected whole or part of the discrete document is accessed by a link within the selected whole or part of the discrete document. The accessed discrete documents are edited according to the edit command.
US09727533B2

Embodiments are disclosed for detecting anomalies in time series using statistical models. In some embodiments, a linear regression model is built for the time series for predicting future values of the time series. Furthermore, the standard deviation of the difference between a prediction and an ideal value of the time series at any point is then estimated. An anomaly is detected when the difference between the prediction and the observed value is greater than a certain threshold based on the estimated standard deviation.
US09727525B2

Data exchange section 104 has a step of determining whether or not pairs of the transmission selecting conditions and reception selecting conditions satisfy a standard for exchanging, through a determined pair, data between a transmission user who corresponds to a transmission selecting condition in the determined pair and a reception user who corresponds to a reception selecting condition in the determined pair. Data exchange system 100 exchanges data satisfying both the transmission selecting condition and the reception selecting condition in the determined pair between the transmission user and the reception user, respectively corresponding to the transmission selecting condition and the reception selecting condition in the determined pair.
US09727524B2

A method for RDMA optimized high availability for in-memory storing of data includes receiving RDMA key-value store write requests in a network adapter of a primary computing server directed to writing data to an in-memory key-value store of the primary computing server and performing RDMA write operations of the data by the network adapter of the primary computing server responsive to the RDMA key-value store write requests. The method also includes replicating the RDMA key-value store write requests to a network adapter of a secondary computing server, by the network adapter of the primary computing server. Finally, the method includes providing address translation data for the in-memory key-value store of the primary computing server from the network adapter of the primary computing server to the network adapter of the secondary computing server.
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