US09862164B2

Methods for manufacturing composite panels for use in the interior of an aircraft are disclosed, specifically, methods of manufacturing joggled composite panels comprising metal inserts and the resulting composite panels and inserts.
US09862159B2

A method for controlling the manufacturing of tires for wheels of vehicles includes: extracting a cured tire from a curing station, in which the cured tire has accumulated heat during a curing process; and verifying the presence of possible defects or imperfections in that cured tire. The verification includes detecting first electromagnetic radiations representative of a heat emission from different portions of the cured tire while the cured tire frees the accumulated heat; providing at least one output signal representative of the first electromagnetic radiations detected to allow an analysis of the cured tire and to verify the presence of the possible defects or imperfections. A plant for the manufacturing of tires for wheels of vehicles is also described.
US09862151B1

A structure including a hollow porous material with an architected fluid interface to the hollow porous material and methods of forming the same. The architected fluid interface may be in the form of a manifold with tapered openings, each providing a gradually narrowing transition to the hollow channels within which fluid may flow through the hollow porous material. The material may be formed by forming an open-celled sacrificial scaffold, immersing one surface of the open-celled sacrificial scaffold in a bonding agent, attaching a face sheet to the surface to form a sacrificial scaffold assembly, coating the assembly with a coating material, and removing the sacrificial scaffold assembly.
US09862150B2

A three-dimensional printing apparatus and a printing method thereof are provided. The three-dimensional printing apparatus includes a tank, a movable platform, a light source module, and a controller. The bottom of the tank includes an irradiated area and a non-irradiated area. The movable platform is movably disposed above the tank. The light source module is disposed under the tank and only provides light to the irradiated area to irradiate a liquid-formation material. The controller controls the movable platform to move along a first axis direction, such that at least one layer object of a three-dimensional object is cured on the movable platform layer by layer. The layer object is composed of object sections. During a period of forming one layer object, the controller controls the movable platform to move on a horizontal plane, such that the object sections of the layer object are cured sequentially above the irradiated area.
US09862143B2

A pull tab for zippers is formed by a cord having a cord retaining member attached to one end of the cord and a plug attached to other end of the cord. The cord retaining member has an internal cavity, a first aperture on a proximal end next to the cord and a second aperture on a distal end. The cavity and first and second apertures are sized so that when the cord is wrapped around the plug, the plug fits through the second aperture and cavity but does not fit through the first aperture. The pull tab is assembled by feeding the plug through a zipper tab and then the first aperture, the cavity and the second aperture, wrapping the cord around the plug, and pulling the cord to force the plug with the cord wrapping back into the cavity.
US09862136B2

A method of spirally winding a thermoplastic profile in the manufacture of welded plastic tubes and a winding apparatus for manufacturing a spirally wound tube. A thermoplastic profile is received on a plurality of sliding members being arranged in an axial direction of the tube to be manufactured and defining an essentially cylindrically shaped winding surface with a diameter essentially corresponding to the inner diameter of the tube. The profile is directed along a spiral path towards the previous turn of the profile in order to force opposite edges of the profile together for welding. The radial position of the sliding member is adjusted to control the tension in the thermoplastic profile and the force with which it constricts itself around the winding surface as defined by the sliding member.
US09862135B2

A method of manufacturing a composite profile having a non-circular cross section, comprising the steps of—actuating a string of mandrel sections (1) having a non-circular cross section to move axially in a one way motion through one or more orbital winding stations (3) that are rotationally disposed about to the longitudinal axis of the mandrel in one or more passes, —continuously helically winding in one or more winding stations tape comprising a bundle of parallel longitudinally extending fibers in a thermoplastic matrix material onto the mandrel sections or a previously wound layer to form layers (4) of a wall of a thin walled profile having a closed cross section including at least one planar surface, and—cutting the thin walled profile into profile sections that are carried on one or more mandrel section sections, wherein the layer is consolidated with the previous layer prior to cutting. FIG.1
US09862128B2

Methods and systems for co-extruding multiple polymeric material flow streams into a mold having a plurality of cavities to produce a plurality of multi-layer polymeric articles each having a consistent coverage of an interior core layer are disclosed herein. In an example method, a flow rate of a first skin material into a cavity is individually controlled for each cavity before initiation of co-injection of a second core material into the cavity, which may address inconsistent interior core layer coverage for articles from different cavities.
US09862117B2

A bamboo splitter has an outer support ring with an interior mounted inner ring blade. A plurality of base blades are radially arranged around the inner ring blade and both the inner ring blade and the base blades have v-shaped cutting surfaces. Attached to each base blade is a pair of slat blades that attach to the base blades at a vertex and have a left and right slat blade. The angle between the vertex and the left and right blades is chosen so that adjacent left slat blades are parallel to adjacent right slat blade forming a parallel cutting space which produces bamboo slats that have orthogonal edges which makes them much more amenable to traditional building methods. A different number of slat blades may be used depending on the size of the bamboo being used and the size and number of the slats being produced.
US09862107B2

A shaving apparatus (1000) in which a rotary cutter (300) and a fixed blade (350) are used to shear a user's hairs there between during a shaving process. Rotation of the rotary cutter is driven by an electric motor (400). In certain embodiments, the rotary cutter comprises a cutting tube (301) that comprises a plurality of apertures (305) that are defined by cutting edges (307) which form a closed-geometry. In other embodiments, a lubricating element (800) is coupled to the rotary cutter, in further embodiments, the apertures are arranged in a pattern to control the number and selection of apertures that are capable of being active to shear hairs at any one time. In even further embodiments, the fixed blade is integrally formed with the housing of the head; the housing is formed by a plurality of stacked flat plate segments: the rotary cutter is formed by a plurality of stacked flat plate segments; and/or the fixed blade can reciprocate.
US09862105B2

Disclosed is a folding knife with safety device, which includes a main knife, a revolving shaft, a first liner plate, a first rivet, a switch lock sheet, a first handle part, a second handle part, a second liner plate and a spacer sleeve. The first liner plate is provided with a resilient lock sheet, an elongated slot, a stopper portion, a first rivet, a second rivet and a third rivet; the switch lock sheet is provided with a first rivet slot, a skidproof rack, a second rivet slot, a labor-saving slot, a locking contact, and a buckle; and the first handle part is provided with an axle hole, a holding slot, a holding hole and a screw hole. The present invention has advantages of simple structure, easy of use and stable performance.
US09862102B2

An example robotic gripping apparatus includes a robotic wrist and a motor contained within the robotic wrist. The motor includes a drive shaft that rotates about a primary axis during motor operation. The robotic gripping apparatus also includes a cylindrical worm gear, connected to the drive shaft, that encircles the motor and rotates about the primary axis during motor operation. Additionally, the robotic gripping apparatus includes two or more robotic fingers, each having a proximal end and a distal end. The robotic gripping apparatus further includes two or more spur gears corresponding to the two or more robotic fingers. Each spur gear is attached to the proximal end of the corresponding robotic finger. Each spur gear engages the cylindrical worm gear and rotates the corresponding robotic finger when the cylindrical worm gear rotates about the primary axis.
US09862094B2

A numerical controller and a robot controller share interpolation level move data obtained by recording position information for each interpolation period of a robot in association with an index. Based on the interpolation level move data, a preceding position of the robot after the passage of a time (lead time) for calculating a next preceding position since a reference time for interference check is calculated. And, based on the robot preceding position and a preceding position (machine preceding-position) of an axis of the machine after the passage of the lead time, interference between a machine and the robot is checked.
US09862091B2

An orientation designated in advance as an orientation that a grip unit is to take to grip an object having a shape of rotational symmetry with respect to at least one axis is acquired as a reference orientation. The relative position and orientation of the object and grip unit when the grip unit grips the object is acquired as a taught position and orientation. The position and orientation of the object is recognized from an image, and an initial position and initial orientation in which the grip unit grips the object are derived based on the recognized and taught positions and orientations. A grip orientation to grip the object is decided based on the reference and the initial orientation, and a grip position and orientation in which the grip unit grips the object is decided based on the grip orientation and the initial position.
US09862089B2

Methods and systems for allocating tasks to robotic devices are provided. An example method includes receiving information associated with task logs for a plurality of robotic devices and in a computing system configured to access a processor and memory, determining information associated with a health level for the plurality of robotic devices based on the information associated with the task logs. A health level for a given robotic device may be proportional to a current level of ability to perform a function, which may change over a lifespan of the given robotic device. Information associated with a plurality of tasks to be performed by one or more or the robotic devices may also be determined. The computing system may optimize an allocation of the plurality of tasks such that a high precision task may be allocated to a robotic device having a greater current health level than another robotic device.
US09862088B2

Systems, method and apparatus for a fixturing platform having a frame assembly configured to couple to a support assembly with a plurality of surface plates configured to couple to the frame assembly in a number of configurations are described in this disclosure. The configurations include a continuous configuration with abutting surface plates forming a continuous working surface and a spaced configuration with spaced surface plates forming a spaced working surface, the spaced configuration have one or more working gaps between surface plates.
US09862082B2

A tool for installing or removing valve keepers is disclosed. One end of the tool is configured to easily remove valve keepers, while the other end of the tool is configured to easily install valve keepers. This valve tool can be further connected to an engine-mounted lever assembly for increasing leverage on the tool during use.
US09862081B2

A rebuild tool for a motorcycle fuel tank quick connect fuel tank fitting has a mandrel tool with at least one post extending from a body portion. The post has an internal bore and an axial groove. A generally cylindrical bushing has an internal bore enabling the bushing to be disposed on the at least one post. The bushing forms an axial slit. At least one O-ring capture hook may be installed onto the mandrel tool within the axial groove and locked into place by rotating the bushing on the post. The assembled mandrel tool including the bushing and the O-ring hook is dimensioned to be inserted into the fuel tank fitting for removing at least one of the O-rings. A sleeve element has a bore enabling the sleeve element to be disposed on the post, and a stem element has an enlarged head and a reduced diameter stem section.
US09862076B2

A ratchet wrench includes a handle and a head through which a hole is defined. A recess is defined in the inner periphery of the hole. A driving member is rotatably received in the hole. A pawl and a positioning member are respectively located in two respective ends of the recess. A spring is connected between the pawl and the positioning member. The pawl has a slot defined in a lateral side thereof so as to be connected to one end of the spring. The positioning member is a resilient member and has an engaging portion and a curved portion. An opening is defined between the engaging portion and the curved portion. The other end of the spring is engaged with the opening. The spring linearly biased between the pawl and the positioning member to engage the pawl with the driving member.
US09862073B2

Systems and related methods are provided for adjusting the position and orientation of an end effector of a multi-axis machine (e.g., a manipulable cutting head of a fluid jet cutting machine) relative to a base reference frame. Systems include an adjustable tool mount having a base structure that includes portions or regions that are selectively deformable to adjust a position and an orientation of a tool supported by the adjustable tool mount.
US09862071B2

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a polishing pad. The method of the invention includes the steps of forming a polishing layer from a polyurethane solution has a solid content more than about 90 wt % and drying the polyurethane solution at a temperature from about 130° C. to about 170° C. The invention also provides a polishing pad manufactured by the method mentioned above. The defect of scraping the surface of the substrate to be polished due to polishing particles remaining is avoided when applying the polishing pad according to the invention, and the flatness of the substrate to be polished is raised and the defective rate is eliminated also.
US09862057B2

A method of injecting laser-blocking material into a workpiece includes communicating molten laser-blocking material through the workpiece as the workpiece is subjected to at least a partial vacuum within an enclosed environment such that the partial vacuum expands any air bubbles in the laser-blocking material and transports the air bubbles out of the workpiece.
US09862054B2

Additive friction stir methods for repairing substrates, coating substrates, fabricating/adding/attaching ribs, joining substrates, stiffening and enhancing structures, surface modification, enhancing surface properties, welding, coating, and extrusion are described. An additive friction stir fabrication method and system is described which may be used to fabricate and join a rib to a substrate or to repair a defect in a substrate through extrusion. The method may be carried out with or without the addition of preformed ribs. One such method involves feeding a friction-stir tool with a consumable filler material such that interaction of the friction-stir tool with the substrate generates plastic deformation at an interface between the friction-stir tool and a substrate to bond the plasticized filler and substrate together and extrude this material through a forming cavity to form a rib joined to the substrate. Further described is a system for fabricating a rib joined to a substrate through extrusion.
US09862052B2

A welding-type power supply includes a controller, a preregulator, a preregulator bus, and an output converter. The controller has a preregulator control output and an output converter control output. The preregulator receives a range of inputs voltages as a power input, and receives the preregulator control output as a control input, and provides a preregulator power output signal. The preregulator includes a plurality of stacked boost circuits. The preregulator bus receives the preregulator output signal. The output converter receives the preregulator bus as a power signal and receives the output converter control output as a control input. The output converter provides a welding type power output, and includes at least one stacked inverter circuit.
US09862034B2

A round hole machining method and a round-hole machining device in which machining can be accurately performed regardless of a residual stress caused by casting. An out-of-round hole machining device, which carries out inner diameter machining for a bore in a cast cylinder block includes the following: a stress deformation amount correspondence table that stores, for each portion of the cylinder block, a stress deformation amount based on stress that resides in the cylinder block during casting; a machining shape prediction section that predicts the machining shape on the basis of the stress deformation amount read from the stress deformation amount correspondence table; and a motor control unit that reverses the predicted machining shape with respect to a target shape and carries out reverse machining on a workpiece.
US09862033B2

The invention relates to an indexing chuck comprising a chuck body having an opening; a pivoting ring disposed in the opening, the pivoting ring having at least three clamping jaws that can be advanced radially, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the chuck body; an advancing device which is disposed in the pivoting ring and by means of which the clamping jaws can be moved synchronously; and two pivot pins, supported in the chuck body and forming a pivot axis, wherein the advancing device comprises a synchronizing ring which is movable relative to the pivoting ring, a driving surface extending at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the chuck body where it contacts a clamping jaw, and a contact surface on the respective clamping jaw which interacts with the driving surface of the synchronizing ring such that the clamping jaws are moved radially.
US09862030B2

Provided are alloy flakes for rare earth sintered magnet, which achieve a high rare earth component yield after pulverization with respect to before pulverization and a uniform particle size after pulverization, and a method for producing such alloy at high energy efficiency in an industrial scale. The method includes (A) preparing an alloy melt containing R composed of at least one element selected from rare earth metal elements including Y, B, and the balance M composed of Fe, or of Fe and at least one element selected from transition metal elements other than Fe, Si, and C, (B) rapidly cooling/solidifying the alloy melt to not lower than 700° C. and not higher than 1000° C. by strip casting with a cooling roll, and (C) heating and maintaining, in a particular temperature range, alloy flakes separated from the roll by rapid cooling and solidifying in step (B) before the flakes are cooled to not higher than 500° C., to obtain alloy flakes having a composition of 27.0 to 33.0 mass % R, 0.90 to 1.30 mass % boron, and the balance M.
US09862025B2

A method for repairing a die-casting sleeve comprising a ceramic-made inner cylinder shrink-fit in a metal-made outer cylinder, comprising the steps of detaching the used inner cylinder from the outer cylinder by heating; forming a diameter-increasing layer on a peripheral surface of the outer cylinder before or after shrink-fitting a new inner cylinder in the outer cylinder; assembling a new inner cylinder in the outer cylinder; and then machining the diameter-increasing layer to a cylindrical shape.
US09862023B2

A method for manufacturing a shell mold for the production by lost-wax casting of bladed elements (1) of an aircraft turbine engine, including the following steps: creating an assembly (200) including a wax pattern (100) as well as a device for forming a cup for pouring metal (32b) and having an end surface (40a); depositing a hot wax coating layer on at least one portion of the end surface (40a); forming the shell mold around the assembly (200). In addition, the method includes, between steps b) and c), the implementation of a step of structuring the coating layer intended for reinforcing the adhesion between the layer (46) and the shell mold, and including the production of recesses (62) and projections (60) on the still-malleable coating layer.
US09862022B2

Provided is a casting method using lost foam capable of forming a small highly-finished hole with a diameter of 18 mm or less and a length of 50 mm or more by casting. A casting method using lost foam of the present embodiment includes the steps of embedding, in foundry sand, a casting pattern formed by applying a mold wash with a thickness of 1 mm or more to a surface of the foam pattern, the foam pattern having a hole with a diameter of D (mm); replacing the foam pattern with molten metal by pouring the molten metal into the casting pattern and losing the foam pattern; and forming a casting having a small hole with a diameter of 18 mm or less and a length of 50 mm or more by cooling the molten metal, and the method satisfies the following formulas (0) and (1): 2
US09862020B2

Method and apparatus for assembling, with fasteners, components of a structure having an outboard side, an inboard side, and a supporting frame. The components are placed together on the frame. An electromagnet having a core with multiple openings is positioned on the outboard side. A magnetically attractive member is placed against the inboard side opposite and aligned with the electromagnet. When activated, the electromagnet is attracted towards the magnetically attractive member and the two hold the components together. Multiple drill members pass through the openings in the core of the electromagnet and multiple openings are drilled simultaneously through the components. Subsequently, multiple rivets or huck bolts are simultaneously inserted into the drilled openings.
US09862018B2

A forming apparatus comprises: a machine bed; a tool holder mounted movably relative to the machine bed; a drive unit connected to the tool holder; a disconnector unit; a machine control for operating the drive unit; and a monitoring device to monitor movements of the tool holder and to activate the disconnector unit. The monitoring unit includes two distance measuring systems that respectively generate first and second position signals at different rates for determining a position of the tool holder relative to the machine bed. At least one radiation beam detector is deactivated in response to a different between the first and second position signals undershooting a predetermined value.
US09862013B2

An equal channel angular extrusion tool comprising a punch assembly, a die set assembly, a base assembly, and a bottom slider assembly. The punch assembly comprises a punch, a punch nose, and a punch trolley. The die set assembly comprises an inlet channel and a removable core. The base assembly comprises a lifting mechanism which further comprises a die lift cylinder and a hold down ram. The bottom slider assembly comprises an ejection ram. The tool also includes a billet. The billet may be disposed in the bottom slider assembly. Severe plastic deformation is applied to the billet in the bottom slider assembly.
US09862009B2

The invention relates to a method for cleaning a structured surface (1) of a press tool (2), in particular a press plate or an endless press belt, the contaminations on the surface being burnt away by at least one laser beam and combustion residues being subsequently removed from the surface by means of an air or gas stream.
US09861997B2

A belt conveyor including a conveyor belt that has hollow injectors for injecting a process fluid into a conveyed layer of bulk products and a method for injecting a process fluid into a layer of bulk products conveyed on a conveyor belt.
US09861982B2

In one embodiment, a removable pneumatic connector, comprises a body having a plurality of bores passing through, each bore surrounded by a sealing member on an inner surface of the body. A plurality of gas lines may be placed within a corresponding bore. A vacuum port is disposed on the inner surface of the body, and an outer seal on the inner surface of the body surrounds the sealing members and the vacuum port. A vacuum line may be placed within the vacuum port, and configured to deliver negative pressure to the vacuum port. A vacuum holding area is created in the volume between the outer seal and each of the sealing members when the inner surface of the body is placed against a substrate. When the vacuum line is activated, a vacuum is created within the vacuum holding area, creating a positive seal between the body and the substrate.
US09861980B2

The specification generally discloses systems and methods for mixing and delivering fluids in microfluidic systems. The fluids can contain, in some embodiments reagents that can participate in one or more chemical or biological reactions. Some embodiments relate to systems and methods employing one or more vent valves to controllably flow and/or mix portions of fluid within the microfluidic system. Advantageously, fluid control such as a sequence of fluid flow and/or a change in flow rate, can be achieved by opening and closing one or more vent valves and by applying a single source of fluid flow (e.g., a vacuum) operated at a substantially constant pressure. This can simplify the operation and use of the device by an intended user.
US09861967B2

A catalyst for the dehydroaromatization of lower alkanes comprising boron in an amount of less than 1 wt % is supported on an inorganic support. The catalyst is useful in the production of aromatics from lower alkanes.
US09861964B1

The present disclosure relates to zero-PGM (ZPGM) catalysts including variations of Nickel-doped Copper-Manganese spinel for improved catalyst performance at the stoichiometric condition for use within three-way catalyst (TWC) applications. The ZPGM catalyst material compositions within the aforementioned ZPGM catalysts are expressed with general formulas of Cu1-XNiXMn2O4 (A-site substitution) and Cu1Mn2-XNiXO4 (B-site substitution). The ZPGM catalysts are subjected to a TWC isothermal steady-state sweep test to assess the catalytic performance (e.g., NO conversion). Test results indicate the ZPGM catalysts exhibit higher NO conversions, at stoichiometric condition and lean conditions, when Ni substituted the B-site cation of the Cu—Mn spinel as compared to Ni substituted the A-site cation of the Cu—Mn spinel. Additionally, NO conversions of the ZPGM catalysts are significantly affected, at the stoichiometric condition, by the molar ratio of the Ni dopant within the A or B-site cation of the Cu—Mn spinel.
US09861963B2

A process for preparing a hydrocarbon conversion catalyst that comprises a specially made silica-alumina composition and a metal or metal compound selected from Group VIB and Group VIII metals. The silica-alumina composition is made by preparing an aqueous mixture containing aluminum sulfate followed by adding alkali metal aluminate to the mixture to inhance the pH to within specified range and then adding aluminum sulfate to the mixture to lower the pH. Then alkali metal silicate is added followed by several other pH swings to provide a mixture containing silica-alumina. The resulting mixture is treated with an alkaline solution to provide a precipitate solid that is recovered to obtain a silica-alumina composition containing of from 30 to 70% wt silica and of from 70 to 30% wt of alumina.
US09861959B2

An exhaust gas purifying catalyst of the present invention includes: a first metal oxide selected from the group of praseodymium oxide, terbium oxide, and a combination thereof; a second metal oxide that is neodymium oxide; a third metal oxide that is zirconia or a combination of zirconia and ceria; and a fourth metal oxide selected from the group of lanthanum oxide, yttrium oxide, barium oxide, calcium oxide, strontium oxide, silicon oxide and a combination thereof.
US09861954B2

Interpenetrated polyolefin network for use in recovering or containing hydrocarbons such as hydrocarbons contained in oil, are disclosed. Advantageously, the interpenetrated polyolefin networks absorb the hydrocarbon, including viscous hydrocarbons and crude oils, to form a gel that can be collected and processed by heat to release the collected hydrocarbons.
US09861951B2

A dynamic thermochemical module is disclosed which includes an array of reactors, a network of interconnecting pipes and valves connected to each reactor in the array so that every reactor within the array can communicate to one another and other reactors in a different module having the same structure, a plurality of storage tanks connected to each reactor and interconnecting tubes and valves so that an output from each reactor is stored therein and distributed to each reactor in the array, a plurality of sub-functional modules connected to the array of reactors via the network of interconnecting tubes and valves, a plurality of condensers connected to the array of reactors, and a plurality of gas conditioning and storage and distribution sub-modules connected to the outputs of the condensers.
US09861949B2

A process for producing an anti-erosion coating on an inner or outer metal wall of a chamber of a fluid catalytic cracking unit, comprising: (i) the shaping of a honeycomb metal anchoring structure, said anchoring structure being formed from a plurality of strips connected in pairs by joining assembly portions of these strips so as to form a plurality of cells between two adjacent strips, (ii) the fastening of said anchoring structure by welding to said metal wall, so that each cell of the anchoring structure is welded to the wall of the chamber at least at the junctions between the contiguous assembly portions of two adjacent strips, and (iii) the insertion of a composite material into the cells from the metal wall and at least up to the upper longitudinal edge of each strip.
US09861941B2

Described herein are modified sulfonated block copolymers which comprise at least two polymer end blocks A and at least one polymer interior block B, wherein each A block contains essentially no sulfonic acid or sulfonate functional groups and each B block comprises sulfonation susceptible monomer units and, based on the number of the sulfonation susceptible monomer units, from about 10 to about 100 mol % of a functional group of formula (I) —SO2—NR1R2  (I) or of a salt thereof, methods of making them as well as methods of using them, e.g., as membrane materials for electrically or osmotically driven applications.
US09861940B2

Provided is an interfacial polymerization process for preparation of a thin film composite membrane, which can be used for nanofiltration, forward osmosis, or reverse osmosis, particularly for use with brackish water or seawater. The process includes contacting a porous support membrane with an aqueous phase containing a polyamine to form a coated support membrane, and applying an organic phase containing a polyfunctional acyl halide to the coated support membrane to interfacially polymerize the polyamine and the polyfunctional acyl halide to form a discrimination layer of a thin film composite membrane, where during formation of the membrane, the polyfunctional acyl halide is purified in situ by removal of hydrolyzed acyl halide through addition of a salt rejection-enhancing additive that includes a biguanide compound, dicarbonate compound, pentathiodicarbonate compound, or salt thereof. Also provided are the membranes prepared by the methods and reverse osmosis modules containing the membranes.
US09861928B2

A method for controlling two contaminants in a gas stream, comprising a system with two adsorption vessels, and analyzers for determining the concentration of the two contaminants is provided. The method includes purifying a gas stream with a first vessel placed in an adsorption mode and placing a second vessel in a standby mode. Then opening a second purge valve on the second vessel if the concentration of either contaminant is equal to or greater than predetermined threshold levels, thereby allowing a first portion of the purified gas exiting the first vessel to flow through the second vessel and exiting through the second purge valve. Then closing the second purge valve after a predetermined period of time when the concentration of both contaminants are less than or equal to a predetermined threshold level. Then switching the vessels and repeating the process.
US09861925B2

A air cleaner includes a main body, a sensor, a clean module and a fan. The main body further has at least one main body air inlet and at least one main body air outlet. The sensor located inside the main body for detecting air quality of a first air entering the main body further includes at least one sensor's air-inlet and at least one sensor's air-outlet. The clean module located inside the main body is to purify the first air. The fan located inside the main body is to draw the first air into the main body via the main body air inlet. After the first air passes the clean module to form a second air, the purified second air is then sent out of the main body via the main body air outlet.
US09861913B2

A separator provides mechanical separation of suspended particles or debris within a fluid. The separator includes a cylindrical body having an inlet pipe for directing the fluid generally tangentially into the cylindrical body, causing the fluid to spin around the inside diameter of the cylindrical body. An outlet pipe, having an outer diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the cylindrical body, can extend from a top end of the cylindrical body into the cylindrical body. Directional blades can be disposed on an outer surface of the outlet pipe, with a gap between the directional blades and the inside surface of the cylindrical body. A baffle dome disposed an a lower end of the cylindrical body slows down the fluid flow, causing the particles and debris to remain below the baffle and settle. The fluid then exits out the outlet pipe as a cleaned fluid.
US09861906B1

An electrical toy block apparatus, system, and a method for making the same are provided. The electrical toy block has a housing block with a power supply housed within and an external terminal assembly for forming an electrical circuit within the electrical toy block. The electrical toy block is constructed by forming a pocket within the housing block, inserting the power supply within the pocket, securing the external terminal assembly to the housing, and connecting the external terminal assembly to the power supply in an electrically conductive relationship. The external terminal assembly of the electrical block is magnetic so that additional toy blocks can be attached to the housing block to form electrical circuits made up of various arrangements of toy blocks. An external device may then be connected to the circuit to power the external device.
US09861905B2

A realistic simulation of the dynamic sounds of a full-sized vehicle are created on a moving R/C Scale Model. A mounting apparatus supports an audio exciter in a model vehicle without any modification to the exciter. A full range of volume of sound may be produced by the exciter without limiting the range of movement of the exciter as volume is increased or decreased. The apparatus may limit the mechanical excursion of the exciter to prevent physical damage to the exciter. The present invention also provides a method and apparatus for operating the audio exciter in a model vehicle.
US09861899B1

A mobile application is disclosed enabling a first sporting event spectator to efficiently record game actions and a second sporting event spectator to simultaneously record real-time video of the game actions. Using a mobile device having a touch screen, the first user can efficiently, and with limited user interaction, indicate fast paced game actions of players engaged in a sport. Using a separate mobile device, or a video system in communication with a network, the second user can record video of a presently occurring game in which the game actions occur. A system in communication with the first and second users' devices can receive indications of game actions, and receive video of the game, and associate each indicated game action with a portion of the video of the game action. The system may, for example, use these associations to generate an index that enables users to view descriptions of the game actions and jump to corresponding video clips.
US09861888B2

A vehicle simulation such as for example a driving game can be provided by displaying an image of a steering wheel on a touch sensitive screen. Touch inputs are used to control the rotational orientation of displayed steering wheel. The rotational orientation of the displayed steering wheel is used to apply course correction effects to a simulated vehicle. Selective application of driver assist and different scaling of touch inputs may be provided.
US09861882B2

An augmented reality (AR) game system is disclosed wherein real-world objects are transformed into AR terrain elements and AR events generate real-world impact. The game environment is set up using real-world objects that include everyday objects and game pieces on a field of play. When viewed on the screen of a computing device executing the modules of the game system, the everyday objects are transformed into elements of an AR terrain while the game pieces can be augmented with various controls. Multiple viewing modes, for example, a third person view, a first person view or “POV” view from a selected game piece or a split screen view are contemplated for viewing the field of play. A subset of the augmented controls can be activated by the user to execute AR events some of which can have real-world impact. The AR events are executed based on game rules.
US09861875B2

An accident preventing system for sports, for preventing an accident to a user who uses a sport facility involving movement from a first zone including a starting spot to a second zone including an arrival spot, includes a safety equipment that a user wears to use the sport facility, an entry sensing unit installed in the first zone and determining that the user enters the starting spot, a binding sensing unit installed in the first zone and determining whether the safety equipment is bound, and a controller determining whether to operate the sport facility upon receiving signals checked by the entry sensing unit and the binding sensing unit.
US09861874B2

A tennis swing training apparatus is provided, which is a spherical spacer with a strap with a fastening device to hold the strap on the arms, to prevent the spherical spacer from switching position or falling out during the process of the swing, which when put in between a limb from a body part or strategically placed on the body it separates or holds the arm and swing into position to maintain proper position by having the player squeeze or feel the feedback of the apparatus. The apparatus can be used to help fix most of swings and shots used in tennis including one handed forehand, two-handed backhand, forehand and backhand volley, forehand slice, one-handed backhand slice, overhead, and the serve.
US09861871B2

The present invention is directed to a selectable weight assemblies for insertion into a golf club shaft. An embodiment of the selectable weight assembly includes a plug, a sleeve, a socket, a primary weight, and a bushing coaxially assembled in order along a major axis corresponding to the central axis of the golf shaft interior. The plug includes a flange and threaded shaft, the flange including a circumferential lip portion operative to contact the upper surface of the shaft and provide a positive lock for securely keeping the selectable weight assembly secured to the golf club. The threaded shaft extends downwardly and distally from the flange section. The sleeve section is adjacent the plug and substantially cylindrical, with an opening extending therethrough. The sleeve further includes at least one slot extending longitudinally generally in the same direction as the primary axis, facilitating radial expansion of the sleeve. The socket is adjacent to the sleeve and further distal to the plug, the socket having an opening extending therethrough, the width of its upper end sized to slidably fit within the opening of said bottom end of the sleeve. The primary weight is adjacent the socket and further distal to the sleeve, with the width of its upper end sized to slidably fit within the opening of said socket. The bushing is adjacent the primary weight and further distal to the socket, composed of compliant, flexible material and dimensioned for slidable receipt of the slug, providing dampening and positive locking of the selectable weight assembly.
US09861853B2

A turbine damping device is mounted on a fitness device, and has a housing assembly, a turbine assembly, and a regulating unit. The turbine assembly is mounted inside the housing assembly and has a turbo casing, a turbo wheel, and an adjusting plate. The turbo casing has an exhaling hole. The adjusting plate is controlled by the regulating unit and mounted movably in the exhaling hole. The turbo wheel is mounted rotatably inside the turbo casing. The turbo casing and the turbo wheel generate an airflow resistance that is an exercising load for users using the fitness device. The adjusting plate regulates an opening size of the exhaling hole to adjust the airflow resistance. The turbine damping device has a simple structure and maintenance thereof is easy. A user adjusts the exercising load easily by controlling the adjusting plate. The fitness device with airflow resistance is helpful to environmental protections.
US09861851B1

A hand speed training device comprised of a tight fitting sleeve which is worn on the forearm of the user. The sleeve is made of a neoprene material or other elastic material. The device has one or more elongated pockets on the outside of the sleeve. Each pocket has a slot in it. Also each pocket is attached along its periphery to the hand speed trainer. In an alternate embodiment the pockets are each attached along their periphery to the hand speed trainer however one end is left open. The pockets are oriented so they are parllel with the longitudinal axis of the device. A weight made of lead or other dense material is inserted in the pockets. The device is worn by the user during exercises. It is particularly helpful in developing upper body strength and coordination for sports such as baseball, tennis, or golf where such strength is advantageous.
US09861850B1

An exercise machine has a main frame and a user support movably mounted relative to the main frame for movement between a start position and an end position during an exercise. At least one user engagement device is movably mounted relative to the main frame for engagement and actuation by a user during an exercise, and a connecting linkage translates movement of the user engagement device to movement of the user support. A lifting arm is movably mounted relative to the main frame and associated with at least one of the user support, user engagement device, and connecting linkage so as to move during an exercise. A load associated with the lifting arm provides exercise resistance.
US09861843B2

The anchoring element serves to anchor the bracket to a substrate, and the pressure element is intended to interact with the firestop collar. The pressure element can be moved relative to the anchoring element. An expansion element made of intumescent material is arranged between the anchoring element and the pressure element.
US09861842B2

A system for reducing oxygen in a target room, particularly for the purpose of controlling or preventing fire, wherein the system comprises an enclosed buffer space which is fluidly connectable or connected to the target room for the as-needed introduction of at least a portion of the room air of the buffer space into the target room. The system moreover comprises an oxygen-reducing mechanism allocated to the buffer space for setting and maintaining a reduced oxygen content in the spatial atmosphere of the buffer space compared to the normal earth atmosphere such that the oxygen content in the spatial atmosphere of the buffer space is lower than the oxygen content in the spatial atmosphere of the target room. The system moreover comprises a mechanism for introducing room air from the buffer space into the target room as needed.
US09861836B2

Epicardial fat pad ablation is conducted using a catheter inserted through the chest wall, using ultrasound ablation, or using a catheter fitted with a directional ultrasound transducer and capable of being aligned with the epicardium. The epicardial fat pad locations are determined using noninvasive imaging methods, or using electrical maps. These locations are then displayed on maps or images of the heart, and thus targeted for minimally invasive or non invasive therapy. The methods of the present invention are less invasive than conventional methods of ablation, and permit flexible access to substantially any point on the epicardium.
US09861832B2

Methods for LED generated low-level light therapy (LLLT) in the red, blue, and IR ranges are described to effectively inhibit fibroblast proliferation in vitro without altering viability, and may be used as therapy for the treatment of scars and other proliferative skin diseases.
US09861831B2

Described are methods and systems for reshaping a cartilage structure. Such methods comprise treating the cartilage structure with electromagnetic energy and fitting a device to the cartilage structure to retain it in the desired place, form, and/or orientation. Systems comprise an emitter of electromagnetic energy and a device to the cartilage structure to retain it in the desired place, form, and/or orientation.
US09861822B2

A method, device and/or system for generating arbitrary waveforms of a desired shape that can be used for generating a stimulation pulse for medical purposes such as for spinal cord stimulation therapy.
US09861813B2

A system and method for securing an implantable medical device to an anatomical feature, such as bony structures and/or soft tissues near the spine. The system includes a tissue fixation device and a tissue fixation device delivery tool. The tissue fixation device includes at least one bone or tissue anchor and a connecting element coupled thereto. The tissue fixation device optionally includes a flexible anchoring strap for engaging the implantable medical device. The bone or tissue anchor are configured to be deployed into the anatomical feature, and the connecting element is tightened to secure the implantable medical device to the anatomical feature.
US09861808B2

An active implantable medical device (AIMD) lead implanted into a patient's body may include at least one conductive filer electrically coupled to a distal electrode and a polymer jacket for insulating the conductive filer. A conductive multi-layer polymer catheter may be disposed around an outside of the insulating polymer jacket to reduce, or entirely eliminate, the conductive filer's exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
US09861806B2

An electrode system includes a gel deployment receptacle configured to release a conductive gel onto a body of a subject and a fluid pump in fluid communication with the gel deployment receptacle.
US09861805B2

The breakaway assembly includes a first breakaway subassembly and a second breakaway subassembly. The subassemblies are configured to connect, which causes bellows sheaths in each subassembly to compress and open pores, allowing fluid to flow through the subassemblies. The subassemblies can be connected to luer tip. The luer tips can be connected to the an intravenous (IV) fluid line or other types of lines used in the medical field to move fluids. This allows the movement of fluid from a fluid-holding component to a patient. Unless the subassemblies are locked together, the subassemblies will be disconnected under the correct amount of pressure. This disconnection closes the pores on the subassemblies, which keeps fluid from leaking, and prevents the contamination of the IV line. Luer tips may also be connected to the subassemblies. Some of the luer tips allow for the quick connection of the luer tip to the subassembly through a flange being inserted into a notch or flange acceptor. This allows for the quick and easy replacement of components of a fluid transfer assembly.
US09861799B2

A shunt for at least partial implantation into a patient that includes an elongated conduit having at least one lumen therethrough and a second lumen concentric about the first lumen along at least part of the first lumen, that includes a proximal end for receipt of bodily fluids for flow through the shunt and a distal end for discharge of the bodily fluids from the shunt, and a long term source of at least one occlusion resistant agent, wherein said at least a portion of the at least one occlusion resistant agent can permeate through at least a portion of the elongated conduit. The invention also includes kits and systems.
US09861796B2

The present invention is a production method for an expansion balloon (2) for use in a balloon catheter (1), including the steps of; forming a balloon tube (8) by extrusion molding so as to have a cross section orthogonal to an axial direction with the shape of a circle on the outside and the shape of a polygon having a circumcircle on the inside; and placing the balloon tube (8) in a mold to perform biaxially-stretched blow molding to obtain the balloon, whereby it is possible to produce the expansion balloon (2) that has no unevenness in film thickness of a straight pipe part (4) and allows stable folding control by simple processes with favorable molding yields.
US09861790B2

The present invention provides a bi-directional catheter with nearly double the throw in its catheter tip deflection. In particular, the travel path of each the puller wire includes a U-turn or doubling-back around a pulley which minimizes the offset angle between the puller wire and the longitudinal axis of the control handle while maximizing the travel distance of that puller wire for any given distance traveled by the pulley drawing the puller wire. In one embodiment, the catheter has an elongated catheter body, a catheter tip section with first and second diametrically-opposed off-axis lumens, and a control handle which includes a steering assembly having a lever structure carrying a pair of pulleys for simultaneously drawing and releasing corresponding puller wires to deflect the tip section of the catheter.
US09861787B2

An elongate medical device with independently-deflectable segments and a handle for manually deflecting those segments can include a shaft having a distal segment and proximal segment, at least one proximal segment deflection wire adapted to deflect the proximal segment, at least one distal segment deflection wire adapted to deflect the distal segment independent of the proximal segment, and a handle portion. The handle portion may comprise a first manual actuation mechanism coupled to the at least one distal segment deflection wire and a second manual actuation mechanism coupled to the at least one proximal segment deflection wire. Actuation of the first manual actuation mechanism may impart a tensile force on the distal segment deflection wire to cause the distal segment to deflect, and actuation of the second manual actuation mechanism may impart a tensile force on the proximal segment to cause the proximal segment to deflect.
US09861784B2

A shieldable needle device including a shield assembly having a first shield member extending from a first side of a hub and a second shield member extending from a second side of the hub, the second side being substantially opposite the first side is disclosed. The shield assembly is pivotable between an open position in which a needle cannula is exposed and the first shield member is spaced apart from the second shield member and a shield position in which the first shield member contacts the second shield member and at least a portion of the first shield member and the second shield member are disposed over the distal end of the needle cannula. In one embodiment, the hub, the first shield member, and the second shield member form an integral component.
US09861779B1

An improved oscillating positive expiratory pressure (“OPEP”) device, for respiratory therapy having a self sterilizing flow valve capable of insertion into the curved OPEP body without tools or aids. The flow valve is also tear resistant and incorporates a flared reinforced proximal end. To maximize the benefit to patients, the adjustable therapy selector is constrained from withdrawal and is dimensioned to accept commercially available, standardized respiratory fittings adaptors, mouthpieces and “Tees” that are capable of connection to multiple respiratory therapy devices or medicated aerosol delivery units. The aesthetics have been altered by the addition of an arced handle.
US09861778B2

An apparatus for humidifying a flow of pressurized, breathable air includes varying a first pressure of the flow of breathable gas to vary a level of thermal engagement between the conductive portion of the reservoir and the heater plate, varying a height of the variable portion varies a level of thermal engagement between the conductive portion of the reservoir and the heater plate, use of a humidifier reservoir base component with a maximum water capacity substantially equal to the predetermined maximum volume of water of the humidifier reservoir or the use of intersecting inlet and outlet axes.
US09861776B2

An inflatable balloon cuff may be adapted to seal a patient's trachea when associated with an endotracheal tube. These cuffs may include features that facilitate detection or visualization of the cuff, for example with ultrasound devices, to ensure proper placement of the cuff and the tube. Such surface features may include particular types of materials or shaped or protruding features that may be detected in the environment of the trachea.
US09861761B2

The present invention is directed to a safety needle assembly having the high safety and high operability, comprising: a hub; a cannula; a collar; a protector; and a sheath. The sheath includes an opening of housing the cannula; a cannula fixing part of locking the cannula housed in the opening; an attachment part of rotatably supporting the sheath attached to the hub or the collar; and a protrusive stopper which a user pushes by a finger to pivot the sheath thereby to house the cannula in the opening of the sheath. Herein, the stopper is arranged at a vicinity of a central portion of the sheath in a longitudinal direction at the opposite side of the aperture of the opening, or arranged at a portion closer to a distal end side than the central portion of the sheath.
US09861759B2

Apparatus is described for administering a substance to a subject. A vial contains the substance and a stopper is disposed within the vial and is slidably coupled to the vial. A first threaded element is (a) rotatable with respect to the vial and (b) substantially immobile proximally with respect to the vial during rotation of the first threaded element. A second threaded element is threadedly coupled to the first threaded element. At least a distal end of the second threaded element is substantially non-rotatable with respect to the vial, and the distal end of the second threaded element defines a coupling portion that couples the second threaded element to the stopper. The first threaded element, by rotating, linearly advances the stopper and at least the distal end of the second threaded element toward a distal end of the vial. Other embodiments are also described.
US09861750B2

Processes and devices for delivering a fluid by chemical reaction are disclosed. A chemical reaction is initiated in a reaction chamber to produce a gas, and the gas acts upon a piston to deliver the fluid. Preferred devices typically include an upper chamber, a lower chamber, a fluid chamber, a piston between the lower chamber and the fluid chamber, and a barrier between the upper chamber and the lower chamber. When the barrier is broken, reagents in the upper chamber and the lower chamber are mixed together to generate the gas.
US09861748B2

Infusion systems, infusion devices, and related operating methods are provided. An exemplary method of operating an infusion device capable of delivering fluid to a user involves storing alert configuration information for the user, identifying an alert condition while operating the infusion device to deliver the fluid based at least in part on the alert configuration information for the user, and in response to identifying the alert condition, providing a user notification in accordance with the user's stored alert configuration information.
US09861747B2

Described and illustrated is a system for management of diabetes that includes an infusion pump, glucose sensor and controller with a method programmed into the controller. The infusion pump is configured to deliver insulin to a subject. The system provides the user with the ability to understand the effects of bolus insulin dosing upon their glucose levels. Specifically, the system provides a message that must include: (a) the trend of the user's glucose; (b) the recommended bolus; and (c) the actual bolus.
US09861735B2

Embodiments of the invention relate to an extracorporeal perfusion apparatus comprising an extracorporeal blood circuit for conveying blood, a filtrate circuit for conveying blood plasma, and a controller, wherein the filtrate circuit is connected to the extracorporeal blood circuit by means of a filter, wherein the filter has a sieving coefficient of 5% for substances having a molar mass of 340,000 g/mol (relative molecular mass of 340 kDa), and wherein a depletion agent comprising a first carrier having a neutral, hydrophobic surface is arranged in the filtrate circuit, wherein the perfusion apparatus comprises a dispensing means for feeding an endotoxin-binding lipopeptide into the extracorporeal blood circuit, wherein the endotoxin-binding lipopeptide is selected from the group consisting of polymyxins, polymyxin derivatives, prodrugs thereof, and a combination thereof.
US09861732B2

A medical treatment system, such as peritoneal dialysis system, may include control and other features to enhance patient comfort and ease of use. A fluid trap of a peritoneal dialysis cycler may have a valved connection to a vacuum source or a positive pressure source. The fluid trap can be connected to the vacuum source in order to sealingly engage a flexible membrane of a pumping cassette to a control surface of the cycler during a therapy. Any fluid entering a space between the membrane and control surface can be drawn away and collected in the fluid trap. The fluid trap alternatively can be connected to a positive pressure source in order to aid in separating the membrane from the control surface to facilitate removal of the pumping cassette from the cycler. The fluid trap may include a liquid detection sensor.
US09861731B2

Endoluminal devices are provided for the treatment of heart failure which include a central body adapted to permit the passage of interatrial blood, at least one anchor attached to the central body adapted to keep the endoluminal device in position within a defect present in the atrial septum of a patient's heart, and at least one control element engaged with the central body in a rotating manner. The rotation of the control element in relation to the central body creates a two-way flow of interatrial blood which allows the reduction of high pressure in the right side and in the left side of the heart.
US09861729B2

A blood pump system includes two blood pumps, which may be implanted into a patient. The blood pumps may comprise VAD pumps. Control devices and methods operate the pumps such that they can function as a total artificial heart.
US09861727B2

Embodiments of the invention include drug delivery coatings and devices including the same. In an embodiment, the invention includes a drug delivery coating including a polymeric layer. The polymeric layer can include a hydrophilic outer surface. The coating can also include a matrix contacting the hydrophilic outer surface. The matrix can include a particulate hydrophobic therapeutic agent and a cationic agent. The polymeric layer can further include a hydrophilic polymer having pendent photoreactive groups and a photo-crosslinker including two aryl ketone functionalities. Other embodiments are also included herein.
US09861725B2

A multilayer protein film has a mass of greater than 0.5 μg/cm2 and consists essentially of protein. A drug delivery device comprises the multilayer protein film onto which a pharmaceutically active agent can be loaded. A biomedical implant comprises an implant substrate and the multilayer protein film on at least a portion of the implant substrate surface. A method of making a multilayer protein film having a mass of greater than 0.5 μg/cm2 comprises contacting a substrate with a protein solution at a temperature of from about 30° C. to about 95° C, wherein a multilayer protein film having a mass of greater than 0.5 μg/cm2 is formed on the substrate.
US09861714B2

The present invention relates to compounds that are useful as metal ligands and which can be bound to a biological entity such as a molecular recognition moiety and methods of making these compounds. Once the compounds that are bound to a biological entity are coordinated with a suitable metallic radionuclide, the coordinated compounds are useful as radiopharmaceuticals in the areas of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging. The invention therefore also relates to methods of diagnosis and therapy utilizing the radiolabelled compounds of the invention.
US09861712B2

Provided are a preparation method of iron oxide-based paramagnetic or pseudo-paramagnetic nanoparticles, iron oxide-based nanoparticles prepared by the same, and a T1 contrast agent including the same. More particularly, the disclosure describes a method for preparation of iron oxide nanoparticles having a extremely small and uniform size of 4 nm or less based on thermal decomposition of iron oleate complex, iron oxide-based paramagnetic or pseudo-paramagnetic nanoparticles prepared by the same, and a T1 contrast agent including iron oxide-based paramagnetic or pseudo-paramagnetic nanoparticles.
US09861710B1

A system is provided which includes the composite nanoparticles configured to bind with a target analyte, the composite nanoparticles including a polymer matrix; nanoparticles at least one type; reporter labels at least one type; and targeting entities at least one type, wherein the nanoparticles at least one type, the reporter labels at least one type and the targeting entities at least one type are encapsulated in the polymer matrix; a body-mountable device mounted on an external surface of a living body and configured to detect a target analyte binding response signal transmitted through the external surface, wherein the target analyte binding response signal is related to binding of the composite nanoparticles with one or more target analytes; and a processor configured to non-invasively detect the one or more target analytes based on the target analyte response signal. Composite nanoparticles and methods for use and for making are also provided.
US09861708B2

Novel modulators, including antibodies and derivatives thereof, and methods of using such modulators to treat proliferative disorders are provided.
US09861702B2

L-Rhamnose antigen-lipid conjugates for recruitment of the immune system to sites of tumor growth for initiating an anti-tumor antigen response. Methods for introducing L-rhamnose antigen-conjugated lipids into cell membranes such that L-rhamnose antigens are displayed on the cell surface. The cells can be tumor cells and more specifically can be melanoma cells. Cells are contacted with one or more L-rhamnose antigen-lipid conjugates such that L-rhamnose antigen-lipid conjugates are inserted into the cell membrane. The cells can be contacted for example by intratumoral injection. Pharmaceutical compositions containing the L-rhamnose antigen-lipid conjugates and therapeutic methods employing the conjugates and compositions.
US09861701B2

Fragmented polysaccharide based hydrogel compositions and methods of making and using the same are provided. The subject polysaccharide based hydrogel compositions are prepared by combining a polysaccharide component with a hydrophilic polymer and a cross-linking agent. Also provided are kits and systems for use in preparing the subject compositions.
US09861699B2

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition that provides long-term stability of a hydrolytically labile antipsychotic agent.
US09861686B2

The present invention provides a method of treating, delaying the onset, delaying progression of, reducing the incidence of or reducing the severity of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a subject, the method comprising administering to a subject an agent, which interferes with IgG-A2BG2 expression, IgG-A2BG2 function or IgG-A2BG2 interaction with CD16 in said subject.
US09861685B2

Methods of alleviating the symptoms of hemoglobinopathies, including, but not limited to, sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia, and hemoglobin H disease are provided. In some embodiments, the methods comprise administering an inhibitor selected from a β-arrestin1/2 inhibitor and/or a GRK2 inhibitor to the subject. Methods of inhibiting adhesion of sickle red blood cells to endothelial cells and adhesion to and activation of leukocytes are also provided.
US09861677B2

A composition having a curcuminoid and an essential oil of turmeric. A composition having a curcuminoid and an essential oil of turmeric, wherein the essential oil is present in an amount sufficient to cause an enhancement of bioavailability of curcumin when the composition is administered to a human as compared to bioavailability of curcumin obtained upon administration of a composition prepared without adding essential oil to the curcuminoid. A method to prepare a composition having a curcuminoid and an essential oil of turmeric.
US09861661B2

The present invention relates to the use of immunogenic peptides comprising a T-cell epitope derived from a viral vector antigen and a redox motif such as C-(X)2-[CST] or [CST]-(X)2-C in the prevention and/or suppression of immune responses to viral vectors and in the manufacture of medicaments therefore.
US09861659B2

A pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is used for improving health, cure abnormalities and degenerative disease; achieve anti-aging effect of therapy and therapeutic effect on mammals. The pharmaceutical composition includes a pharmaceutical carrier and an isotope selective ingredient including at least one of a chemical element and a chemical compound containing the chemical element whereby isotope distribution in the at least one of the chemical element and the chemical compound containing the chemical element is different from natural distribution of at least one of isotopes wherein the part of selected isotope of the chemical element ranges from 0 to 100%. A method of the present invention uses the inventive pharmaceutical composition to improve health, cure abnormalities and degenerative disease and achieve therapeutic effect on mammals.
US09861656B2

Sperm mobility and impregnation of an oocyte is enhanced by placing sperm in an aqueous solution of phospholipids prior to in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination. The aqueous phospholipid solution can also be used during storage or cryopreservation of the sperm. Also, the motility of sperm produced or ejaculated and the environment into which it is placed is enhanced my ingestion of the phospholipid composition by the male or female, or a vaginal placement of compositions containing the phospholipids.
US09861652B2

2′-Fluoro-nucleoside compounds are disclosed which are useful in the treatment of hepatitis B infection, hepatitis C infection, HIV and abnormal cellular proliferation, including tumors and cancer. The compounds have the general formulae: wherein Base is a purine or pyrimidine base; R1 is OH, H, OR3, N3, CN, halogen, CF3, lower alkyl, amino, loweralkylamino, di(lower)alkylamino, or alkoxy; R2 is H, phosphate, or a stabilized phosphate prodrug; acyl, or other pharmaceutically acceptable leaving benzyl, a lipid, an amino acid, peptide, or cholesterol; and R3 is acyl, alkyl, phosphate, or other pharmaceutically acceptable leaving group; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US09861645B2

Provided herein are sulfate free and/or sodium chloride free scalp treatment compositions comprising corticosteroid, combinations containing these compositions, kits and methods, particularly for treating and/or preventing itchy scalp.
US09861640B2

A medicament for therapeutic and/or preventive treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which comprises a combination of a retinoic acid receptor (RAR) agonist such as Am80 and a retinoid X receptor (RXR) agonist such as HX630.
US09861635B2

Compounds of the formula I in which X, Y, Q1, M, Q2 and B have the meanings indicated in Claim 1, are inhibitors of GCN2, and can be employed, inter alia, for the treatment of cancer.
US09861634B2

Described herein are compounds of Formula (I)-(III), pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. Also provided are particles (e.g., nanoparticles) comprising compounds of Formula (I)-(III) and pharmaceutical compositions thereof that are mucus penetrating. Methods of using the compounds or pharmaceutical compositions thereof for treating and/or preventing diseases are also provided.
US09861630B1

1-[2-(2,4-dimethylphenylsulphanyl)phenyl)]piperazine exhibits potent activity on SERT, 5-HT3 and 5-HT1A and may as such be useful for the treatment of cognitive impairment, especially in depressed patients.
US09861622B2

The present invention provides methods and compositions for treating hyperlipidemia and/or hypercholesterolemia comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of an MTP inhibitor to inhibit hyperlipidemia and/or hypercholesterolemia in said subject, wherein said administration comprises an escalating series of doses of the MTP inhibitor. In some embodiments the method comprises administering at least three step-wise, increasing dosages of the MTP inhibitor to the subject. In some embodiments, the method further comprises the administration of one or more other lipid modifying compounds.
US09861621B2

The present invention provides, inter alia, a composition containing a compound of formula (I): or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, optionally, in combination with at least one immune checkpoint inhibitor compound. Kits containing the composition, and methods of using the composition for ameliorating or treating the effects of a disease such as a cancer, in a subject, are also provided herein.
US09861619B2

Compositions and methods are provided for treating or inhibiting a bacterial infection involving at least one antibiotic and a compound that potentiates the antibiotic activity of the antibiotic. In certain embodiments the antibiotic is a beta lactam. In further embodiments, the antibiotic is oxacillin. In additional embodiments, the potentiating compound is an inhibitor of vraSR operon expression. In specific embodiments, the bacterial infection involves an antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
US09861607B2

Methods of preventing early awakenings, and improving sleep efficiency in hours 7 and 8 of a period of sleep, by administration of low doses of doxepin (e.g., 1-6 mg).
US09861599B2

β-Substituted β-amino acids, β-substituted β-amino acid derivatives, and β-substituted β-amino acid analogs and (bio)isosteres and their use as chemotherapeutic agents are disclosed. The β-substituted β-amino acid derivatives and β-substituted β-amino acid analogs and (bio)isosteres are selective LAT1/4F2hc substrates and exhibit rapid uptake and retention in tumors expressing the LAT1/4F2hc transporter. Methods of synthesizing the β-substituted β-amino acid derivatives and β-substituted β-amino acid analogs and methods of using the compounds for treating cancer are also disclosed. The β-substituted β-amino acid derivatives and β-substituted β-amino acid analogs exhibit selective uptake in tumor cells expressing the LAT1/4F2hc transporter and accumulate in cancerous cells when administered to a subject in vivo. The β-substituted β-amino acid derivatives and β-substituted β-amino acid analogs and (bio)isosteres exhibit cytotoxicity toward several tumor types.
US09861591B2

Provided is a nitric oxide-releasing wound treatment film containing S-nitroglutathione, which is a nitric oxide donor to be spontaneously formed in the human body, has mechanical characteristics enabled to be applied to the human body, slowly releases nitric oxide and inhibits a pathogen, which is the main cause of wound infection, and can quickly heal a wound, and thus the film can be useful for treating a wound.
US09861590B2

The present disclosure relates to self-supporting films for delivery of a therapeutic agent containing at least one hydrophobic polymer and at least one therapeutic agent. Methods of forming the self-supporting films are also disclosed.
US09861589B2

The instant invention provides for novel cationic lipids of Formula A that can be used in combination with other lipid components such as cholesterol and PEG-lipids to form lipid nanoparticles with oligonucleotides. It is an object of the instant invention to provide a cationic lipid scaffold that demonstrates enhanced efficacy along with lower liver toxicity as a result of lower lipid levels in the liver. The present invention employs low molecular weight cationic lipids with one short lipid chain coupled with inclusion of hydrolysable functionality in the lipid chains to enhance the efficiency and tolerability of in vivo delivery of siRNA.
US09861587B2

A method for prophylactic treatment of ketosis in a calving cow, the method including orally administering to the cow within a time period of about 12 hours after calving an effective dose of from 20 to 30 g of rumen protected methionine. If the cow falls into a risk category, the cow is administered the dose of rumen protected methionine once a day on the second, third, fourth, and fifth days after calving. Also, a composition including a gelatin capsule and rumen-protected methionine contained within the gelatin capsule that may be administered to a calving cow for the prophylactic treatment of ketosis. The composition may further contain within the gelatin capsule one or more other compounds known to have efficacy on fat or glucose metabolism, such as glucose, propylene glycol, niacin, choline, chromium, calcium propionate, and glucocorticoids.
US09861578B1

A device for self-administration of fractional amounts of a total volume dose of liquid medicament supplied from a capsule over a period of time for delivery to the sublingual area of a patient. The device contains an inner chamber and a track within which confines a moveable ball. The space between the chamber wall and track permits liquid medication from the capsule to flow past the ball and be available for discharge through an exit port when the ball is not seated upon the exit port.
US09861572B2

The invention relates to water-free compositions, having: at least one oil, and a combination of thickeners, including: a) at least one silicone elastomer, b) at least one straight-chained or branched, saturated or unsaturated alcohol having more than 18 carbon atoms, and c) at least one clay mineral mixture modified with quaternary ammonium compounds. The water-free compositions are suitable in particular as soft solid preparations for use on the human skin. In particular, the compositions are suitable as a soft solid antiperspirant composition.
US09861542B2

A lift-assist chair is provided. The presently-disclosed lift-assist chairs can comprise a seat frame, a seat base that is pivotally coupled to the front edge of the seat frame and can be moved between a depressed position and an extended position, an arm support having a proximate end that is coupled to a lateral edge of the seat frame and a distal end that extends from the top side of the seat frame, an arm that is pivotally coupled to the arm support about a point located between a front end and a rear end of the arm, and an arm connector coupling the arm to the seat base and disposed towards the rear end of the first arm relative to the first arm support. Movement of the seat base between a depressed position and an extended position can assist an individual when sitting or standing from the chair.
US09861541B2

A swing arm assembly for a foldable wheelchair consisting of a camber tube and adapters is disclosed. The adapters mount to the frame of the wheelchair and receive the ends of the camber tube. One end of the camber tube is pinned into an adapter such that it pivots. The other end is pinned in an adapter using a quick release pin. The camber tube improves the stability of the foldable wheelchair. When desired to fold the wheelchair, the quick release pin is removed and the camber tube is rotated approximately 90 degrees, thereby allowing the wheelchair to fold. The adapters may be mounted to the wheelchair frame or to stub axles if used. The swing arm assembly adds substantial stiffness and stability to a folding wheelchair.
US09861537B2

A gown dispenser system has a plurality of hospital gowns, each having a back region, the gowns folded and stacked back region facing up, such that, pulling on the back region of a gown on top of the stack removes that gown from the stack and exposes the back region of the next gown in the stack, an enclosure containing the stack of gowns, the enclosure having an opening exposing the back region of the gown at the top of the stack, enabling a user to grasp the exposed back region and pull the topmost gown from the enclosure, exposing the next gown in the stack, and an interface mechanism attached to the enclosure, enabling the enclosure to be suspended on a substantially vertical surface, with the opening facing outward from the substantially vertical surface. Gowns are drawn from the enclosure one-at-a-time, at need.
US09861534B2

System and method to use a virtual frame of reference to evaluate and control a manufacturing system. Electronic images from a vision system may be analyzed using the virtual frame of reference to control the phasing of devices in the manufacturing system and to generate alerts.
US09861528B2

A protective mask for sports use that includes a front frame for the retention of at least one lens, a nasal support element, the fit of the nasal support element being adjusted, by adaptation of the frame to the shape of the face in the nasal support region. The support element is structurally independent of the front frame and at least one appendage is mounted to be rotatable on the front frame, at the nasal support region, about an axis of rotation and also acting on the nasal support element, in order to displace the support relative to the front frame, the at least one appendage being reversibly locked in a selected angular position relative to the frame, about the axis, so as to improve the adaptation of the nasal support element to the shape of the nasal region of the face.
US09861522B2

An ophthalmic surgical hand piece comprises a driver coupled to a horn. The horn is coupled to a needle. An aspiration pump is integral with the hand piece and is located close to the needle. A rigid length of aspiration line is located between the aspiration pump and the needle. An optional pressure sensor is located between the aspiration pump and the needle as well.
US09861515B2

Methods for the synthesis and use of several variations of styrene maleic acid-based polymers and the hydrogel tissue bridges that can be formed from such polymers. Specifically, a method is disclosed for synthesizing a styrene maleic acid-based polymer that can be dissolved in DMSO and injected into the vasa deferentia of male subjects, creating a hydrogel tissue bridge. This hydrogel tissue bridge can occlude the vas deferens, thus forming an effective male contraceptive. Additionally, this male contraceptive can be reversed by injecting the lumen of the vas deferens with a basic buffer solution to dissolve and remove the hydrogel tissue bridge.
US09861507B2

A thin-walled scaffold includes a radiopaque marker connected to a link. In a first example, the marker is retained on the strut by a head at one or both ends by swaging. In a second example of a thin-walled scaffold the link is modified to avoid interference during crimping. In a third example a distal end of the thin-walled scaffold is modified to improve deliverability of the thin-walled scaffold. These features are combined in a fourth example.
US09861505B2

An endograft includes a main body having a wall separating interior and exterior surfaces and adapted to be inserted within the vessel. The main body is characterized by a single proximal opening and two distal openings and at least one aperture extending through the wall. At least one stent is secured to the main body that upon expansion pressure fits the main body into the vessel. An open tunnel is secured to the interior surface of the main body around the main body aperture and secured somewhere along the tunnel length to provide fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces of the main body through the aperture and with the vascular branch in proximity to the main body aperture. The insertion of a sleeve positioned partly within the tunnel and extending beyond the exterior surface of the main body into the vascular branch assures to the vascular branch.
US09861504B2

A method for treating a patient diagnosed with a cardio-renal disease or disorder, the method comprising selecting a span of a renal artery having a first internal diameter, an artery wall; selecting a self-expanding stent having a cylindrical outer surface, the stent being configured to have a first external diameter in an unexpanded condition and being capable of expanding to have a second external diameter; implanting the stent in the span of the renal artery, and applying pressure to the at least one renal nerve with the stent, thereby at least partially modulating a function of the at least one renal nerve; then, reducing an elastic modulus of the stent when the stent has the second external diameter.
US09861503B2

The present invention relates to a stent graft and to an insertion system for the stent graft according to the invention. The stent graft includes a stent graft portion with a self-expanding stent having successive rings of meandering supports and a first prosthesis material secured on the rings. On at least one of its rings, the stent graft portion has two loop-shaped fixing elements which are attached via a common fixing area and which are attached to the supports of the rings in such a way that, due to the fact that they are guided in opposite directions around the hollow cylindrical body, the latter is compressible. Furthermore, the insertion system according to the invention also has a pin element with which the loop-shaped fixing elements can be threaded on.
US09861493B2

An endoprosthetic device for replacement of a diseased or damaged scapular glenoid fossa. The device includes a glenosphere or a glenosocket member, or provides the option of mating a glenosphere or glenosocket member via a Morse taper. The device also features opposing fixation plates that grip resected scapular area anteroposteriorly to fixate the device through use of a plurality of setscrews. An Oblique setscrew that engages the scapular body inferiorly may be added for improved fixation. A porous mesh surface treatment on the inner faces of the fixation plates may be utilized to improve osteoconductivity.
US09861492B2

A medical device includes an implant anchor comprising first and second opposing end portions. The implant anchor may also include a fixation element to configured to couple the implant anchor to an implant, and an anchor element configured to couple the implant anchor to bone. At least a portion of the implant anchor has a porous structure.
US09861489B2

The invention relates to a knee prosthesis with a tibial part (1) that has concave or plane condylar bearing surfaces (2, 3). According to the invention, the lateral condylar bearing surface (2) merges into a preferably convex end portion (4) that falls away in the dorsal direction.
US09861476B2

The present invention relates to apparatus for methods for endovascularly replacing a patient's heart valve. The apparatus includes an expandable anchor with leaflet engagement elements on the proximal end of the anchor and a replacement valve. The leaflet engagement elements can be used to prevent distal migration and insure proper positioning of the apparatus.
US09861474B2

Cardiac repair prostheses, sets, and methods for implanting in an aorta are disclosed. Cardiac repair prosthesis sets can include a radially expandable support supporting a unidirectional valve that is configured for implantation into the aortic valve region of a patient and a second radially expandable support for a substantially blood impervious stent having a size and shape for implantation into the ascending aorta of said patient where the unidirectional valve and stent are configured for integration within the patient by at least one joining element. Cardiac repair prostheses can include a radially expandable support supporting a unidirectional valve configured for implantation into the aortic valve region of a patient and a second radially expandable support for a substantially blood impervious stent having a size and shape for implantation into the ascending aorta of said patient where the unidirectional valve and stent are joined by at least one joining element.
US09861468B2

The present invention provides a novel split barbed fixation device for tenodesis, soft tissue reattachment of tendons and ligaments to bones. The insertion device is adapted for an entirely arthroscopic approach while achieving fixation strength with ultimate pullout resistance comparable to interference screws. The device includes an integrated tendon grasper that provides for easy manipulation of the tendon arthroscopically while eliminating the need for external whip stitching of the tendon, thereby reducing preparation time. The device further includes elements that prevent the fixation implant from being destabilized or rotating during deployment and manipulation, including: a depth limiting sheath, a first implant retainer, a first implant retaining step, a tendon grasping needle tube, and an implant keyway for mating the implant to the tube. The implant itself comprises two separate portions mating along a diagonal and having barbed surface features in opposite directions, only one of which contacts the tendon.
US09861460B2

An implantable prosthesis for the treatment of incontinence is disclosed having a support element designed to be placed under the urethra in order to prevent the urethra from moving away in the direction of the lower pelvis and to prevent any uncontrolled intra-urethral flow. A surgical instrument used to implant the prosthesis is also disclosed as is a method of implantation.
US09861459B2

This toothbrush is intended to create healthy gums while cleaning teeth. This toothbrush with its unique combination of bush geometry, specific rotational directions, and brush movement from gums to teeth crowns, will not loosen gums and will correctly position gums as the brush rotational motion and brush movement is always in the direction of gum growth, from gums to teeth crowns. All present toothbrushes, electric and manual on the market, tend to loosen gums as they brush across the direction of gum growth causing loose gums, receding gums, sensitive teeth, gum-line cavities, diseases as gingivitis, loss of teeth. When a dentist and/or hygienist clean under gums, or when a dentist does gum-line fillings, tooth extractions, tooth implants, and receding gum repair, gums need correct alignment to be maintained for a period of time while gums reattach. This toothbrush will be the only brush on the market capable of maintaining gum alignment for a period of time while gums reattach, avoiding tooth problems listed above. With a camera attached, gums can be viewed to insure correct gum positioning as well as spot cleaning teeth. The viewing device uses a type of cell phone most buyers already will have.
US09861456B2

A device for detecting the three-dimensional geometry of objects (9), in particular teeth, includes a handpiece (1) which is provided with at least one position sensor (12) for detecting the change of the spatial position of the handpiece (1), and an optical device (2) having at least one camera (5, 6) for capturing images and at least one light source (3) for at least one projector (4). The position sensor (12) in the handpiece (1) initially determines the size of the change of the spatial position of the device. It is determined therefrom, how many pictures the camera (5, 6) can take in a defined time unit.
US09861455B2

An improved dental system is disclosed for implanting into a jawbone of a patent comprising a dental implant having a coronal end and a small apical end with an orifice extending from the coronal end toward the apical end. An orientation portion is disposed in the orifice for aligning an abutment relative to the dental implant. A threaded portion is disposed in the orifice for receiving a threaded portion of the abutment for securing the abutment to the dental implant. Preferably, the orifice extends at least one-half the length of the dental implant.
US09861453B2

An orthodontic bracket extension system for orthodontic braces, the orthodontic bracket extension system including a plurality of bracket base extensions each having an aperture in which a corresponding one of a plurality of bracket base can be disposed to increase a bracket bonding surface area for greater securement of each of the plurality of brackets to each of a corresponding plurality of teeth.
US09861452B2

Liquid radiation curable resin compositions for additive manufacturing comprising: from about 5 to about 30 wt % of an oxetane; a (meth)acrylate component; a cationic photoinitiator; a free-radical photoinitiator; and from about 50 to about 80 wt % of an epoxy, which further comprises a cycloaliphatic epoxy component, and an epoxy component having an aromatic glycidyl ether group, wherein the majority of the epoxy is the cycloaliphatic epoxy component are described and claimed. Also described and claimed is a process for using the liquid radiation curable resins for additive manufacturing to create molds for dental aligners, and the three-dimensional molds made from the liquid radiation curable resins for additive manufacturing.
US09861442B2

The present invention provides a laser system and laser handpiece and process for skin treatment. The system includes components for producing a continuous or pulse laser beam, and components for delivering a substance to the damaged region of skin. The system is designed to control and utilize the laser beam for damaging small volume of skin tissue and using a disposable tip to deliver a substance which is applied simultaneously or with some delay producing a combination of laser action with the action of named substance at the same time.
US09861440B2

The present invention relates to comprehensive systems, devices and methods for delivering energy to tissue for a wide variety of applications, including medical procedures (e.g., tissue ablation, resection, cautery, vascular thrombosis, treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and dysrhythmias, electrosurgery, tissue harvest, etc.). In certain embodiments, systems, devices, and methods are provided for delivering energy to difficult to access tissue regions (e.g. peripheral lung tissues), and/or reducing the amount of undesired heat given off during energy delivery.
US09861429B2

A surgical instrument includes a housing having an elongated shaft that extends therefrom and a handle pivotable relative thereto. An end effector assembly is attached to a distal end of the shaft and includes first and second jaw members. The first jaw member is pivotably attached to a distal end of the shaft and the second jaw member extends along a longitudinal axis defined therethrough and fixed to the distal end of the shaft by a living hinge. The first jaw member, upon actuation of the handle, is movable relative to the second jaw member between spaced-apart position, an approximated position for grasping tissue, and a second position for over-compressing tissue grasped between jaw members. A knife is disposed within a channel defined within the second jaw member and is exposed to cut tissue when the first jaw member over-travels to over-compress the second jaw member.
US09861401B2

A device for straightening and stabilizing the vertebral column, particularly for stabilizing broken vertebrae, includes a supporting implant which is plastically expandable by internal pressure. The supporting implant can be placed into the interior of a vertebral body which has been fractured under compression or between adjacent vertebral bodies. A pressure balloon to which pressure fluid can be admitted may be arranged in the interior of the supporting implant for producing the internal pressure.
US09861399B2

An interspinous process implant is disclosed that includes an elongated threaded implant body defining a longitudinal axis and having a main body portion with opposed proximal and distal end portions, and a removable body portion operatively connected to the proximal end portion of the main body portion, a distal anchor assembly including two deployable anchor blades mounted for pivotal movement between a stowed position located within an interior cavity of the main body portion and a deployed position radially extending from the main body portion, and a proximal anchor assembly including an anchor collar mounted for longitudinal movement along the longitudinal axis of the implant body between a first position spaced apart from the distal anchor assembly and a second position approximated with the distal anchor assembly.
US09861395B2

A spinal fixation system includes a rod and anchor devices that include a bone engaging fastener having a head defining a spherical socket. A ball insert is placed within the socket and rotated so that the ball insert is juxtaposed with the socket. The anchor device further includes a yoke defining a yoke channel for receiving the rod and a stem engaged to the ball insert captured within the socket. A sleeve disposed between the yoke channel and the fastener head supports the rod. A set screw is operable to clamp the rod against the sleeve and draw the insert into engagement within the socket. A releasable detent defined between the yoke and the fastener head is configured to releasably retain the yoke in at least one discrete position relative to the fastener. Portions of the releasable detent may also exert a frictional retention force against the fastener head.
US09861389B2

A spinal rod includes a central connector and first and second legs. The central connector has first and second ends. The first leg has first, second, and third sections. The first section of the first leg is directly coupled to the first end of the central connector. The second leg has first, second, and third sections. The first section of the second leg is directly coupled to the second end of the central connector. The second leg is spaced apart from the first leg to define a gap therebetween. The spinal rod defines a longitudinal axis and each of the second sections is parallel to the longitudinal axis in first and second planes that are orthogonal to one another. The first plane passes through each of the second sections which are each offset from the longitudinal axis. The second plane passes through the central connector and bisects the spinal rod.
US09861387B2

A method of preparing a knee joint for a prosthesis in a patient includes mating a patient-specific three-dimensional curved inner surface of a femoral alignment guide onto a corresponding three-dimensional femoral joint surface of the patient. The patient-specific three-dimensional curved inner surface is preoperatively configured from medical scans of the knee joint of the patient. First and second holes are drilled into an anterior portion of the femoral joint surface through corresponding first and second guiding apertures of the femoral alignment guide.
US09861383B2

A needle assembly has a needle hub that has a body to which are formed two plates at opposite sides thereof in a parallel relationship. The plates have respective upper edges and lower edges that lie substantially along respective planes, so that the needle hub may be stably placed onto a surface by means of the respective edges. The plates also prevent the rolling of the needle between the fingers of the clinician when the clinician holds the needle assembly by means of the plates. A partition is formed orthogonally proximate to the front ends of the parallel plates. The connector at the proximal portion of the needle hub is configured to have a non-conventional configuration that allows it to mate only with a counterpart connector that has a complementary non-conventional configuration.
US09861379B2

An approximator device is provided. The approximator device may include an elongate member having a working end and a control end, at least two prongs disposed on the working end configured to engage tissue and longitudinally interface with one another, and a control mechanism disposed at the control end operatively coupled to one or more of the prongs and configured to longitudinally move the one or more prongs between an open position and an approximating position.
US09861378B2

A surgical instrument includes an elongated shaft having a distal portion and a proximal portion coupled to a housing. An inner shaft member extends at least partially through the elongated shaft and is selectively movable in a longitudinal direction. An end effector is supported by the distal portion of the elongated shaft. The end effector includes upper and lower jaw members pivotally coupled to the distal portion of the elongated shaft about a pivot axis and including a pair of laterally spaced flanges. The pairs of flanges of the jaw members are arranged in an offset configuration such that one flange of the upper jaw member is positioned on a laterally exterior side of a corresponding flange of the lower jaw member, and the other flange of the upper jaw member is positioned on a laterally interior side of the other flange of the lower jaw member.
US09861373B2

An elongated-shaped chisel used for bone manipulation during oral surgery. The chisel has a body with a top edge at one end that is configured to interface with a hammer, and a pointed edge at the other end to interface with the bone. An elongated-shaped sleeve surrounds the body of the chisel. A movement-control mechanism that is configured to control the movement of the chisel in relationship to the sleeve, wherein the movement-control mechanism comprises a first section that is associated with the elongated-shaped chisel and a second section that is associated with the elongated-shaped sleeve.
US09861362B2

A surgical device including a first jaw and a second jaw is presented. The surgical device also includes a biasing element that biases the distal end of the first jaw towards the distal end of the second jaw. The device also includes a first driver disposed in the second jaw and coupled to the first jaw. The first driver is configured to cause separation of the first jaw and the second jaw. The device further includes at least one of a cutting element and a stapling element disposed within the second jaw, preferably a blade rotatably mounted on a wedge. A second driver is configured to move the cutting element and/or the stapling element proximally from a distal end toward the proximal end of the second jaw to at least one of cut and staple a section of tissue disposed between the first and second jaws.
US09861361B2

A fastener cartridge assembly for use with a surgical end effector. The fastener cartridge assembly can comprise a cartridge body, fasteners, and a layer of material releasably secured to the cartridge body. The layer of material can be a tissue thickness compensator. The cartridge body, the fasteners, the tissue thickness compensator and/or the end effector can comprise various features to releasably secure the tissue thickness compensator relative to the cartridge body. For example, the cartridge body can comprise slots, projections, cavities, drivers, locks, and/or keys, the fasteners can comprise barbs, and/or the tissue thickness compensator can comprise mounts and/or connectors.
US09861357B2

A staple comprising: a bridge configured to be elastically stretchable; a first leg connected to said bridge and configured to be elastically bendable; and a second leg connected to said bridge and configured to be elastically bendable; said first and second legs being connected to said bridge so that they are angled toward one another when they are in an unstrained state; such that when said bridge is elastically strained into an elongated condition, and said first and second legs are elastically strained so that they extend substantially parallel to one another, and said first and second legs are disposed in appropriate holes on opposing sides of a fracture line, and when the strain on said staple is thereafter released, compression will be provided across the fracture line by both said bridge and said first and second legs.
US09861355B2

A surgical device includes a first member, deformable to move a pair of opposing projections toward one another. The projections are received in a pair of opposing openings in a second member, so the first member can pivot relative to the second member about an axis defined by the projections. In another aspect, a surgical instrument includes a first pinless joint pivotably coupling a first jaw to a second jaw, a second pinless joint coupling a distal end of an actuating member to the first jaw, and a third pinless joint coupling a handle to a proximal end of the actuating member. The third pinless joint translates movement of the handle into axial movement of the actuating member, and the second pinless joint translates axial movement of the actuating member into pivotable movement of the first jaw relative to the second jaw about the first pinless joint.
US09861354B2

Methods for repairing a meniscus, and particularly a torn meniscus. A method of repairing a meniscus may include using a suture passer to pass a suturing element from the region between the superior surface of the meniscus and the femoral condyle, through the meniscus tissue, into the region between the inferior surface of the meniscus and the tibial plateau, across the inferior surface of the meniscus, and back to the superior surface of the meniscus, without deeply penetrating the posterior capsular region of the knee. Equivalently, the suture element may be passed from the inferior surface of the meniscus to the superior surface and back to the inferior surface.
US09861351B2

Methods of attaching a soft tissue to an adjacent bone at a defect site are provided. An adjustable loop region of a flexible construct contained in a bore defined by a fastener is passed through a tissue. The adjustable loop is passed through the tissue. The fastener is passed back through the adjustable loop to fold the adjustable loop upon itself. The fastener is attached to the bone. An adjusting arm on the flexible construct is engaged to reduce the size of the adjustable loop and secure the soft tissue to the bone.
US09861350B2

Described herein are devices and methods for delivering implants that have multiple coupled anchors. The anchors have an elongate form following a curved arcuate path in a single turning direction. Each anchor has two legs arranged to diverge away from each other, where each leg has a substantially non-constant radius of curvature and a substantially straight distal tip. The anchors are secured to tissue using a multi-opening guide tunnel that is configured to releasably retain one or more portions of the implant located between two of the anchors. The releasable retention of one or more intervening portions of the implant maintains the position of the implant and the guide tunnel until the implant is secured to the tissue. One variation of a multi-opening guide tunnel has releasable retention flaps and an aperture capable of deploying a fluid contrast medium into a patient without interfering with anchor delivery.
US09861346B2

The present invention provides a device for occluding an anatomical aperture, such as an atrial septal defect (ASD) or a patent foramen ovale (PFO). The occluder includes two sides connected by a central tube. In some embodiments, the occluder is formed from filaments that are joined together to define a substantially cylindrical form with openings defining struts. Upon the application of force, the struts deform into loops. The loops may be of various shapes, sizes, and configurations, and, in at least some embodiments, the loops have rounded peripheries. The occluder further includes a catch system that maintains its deployed state in vivo. When the occluder is deployed in vivo, the two sides are disposed on opposite sides of the septal tissue surrounding the aperture and the catch system is engaged so that the occluder closes the aperture.
US09861342B2

An adjunctive ultrasound mammography system and associated methods use an adjunctive ultrasound display configured for quick, intuitive, interactive viewing of volumetric ultrasound scans, displayed near a conventional x-ray mammogram display. Preferred navigations among a thick-slice image array, a selected enlarged thick-slice image, and planar ultrasound views are described, including a mode in which the planar ultrasound views are updated in real time as a cursor is moved across an active thick-slice image. In one example the thick-slice images are inverted prior to display, with non-breast areas of the image preferably segmented out and reset to dark. The inverted thick-slice images are of more familiar significance to radiologists as they are more like conventional x-ray mammograms and allow benign features to be more easily dismissed as compared to non-inverted thick-slice images. Preferred embodiments emphasize larger mass lesions and that compensate for mass lesions that straddle thick-slice region borders.
US09861335B2

This invention relates to a mammographic tomography test object (hereinafter referred to as a phantom) and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a mammographic tomography test phantom for use in the verification of image reconstruction positions in digital breast tomosynthesis. The phantom includes a body made from an approximately tissue equivalent x-ray attenuating material; an upper spacer located on top of the body, and a lower spacer located below the body, the spacers being made from a substantially non-compressible material; and a plurality of x-ray opaque granules located at predetermined positions within the body.
US09861334B2

The present invention provides a radiographic imaging system, a radiographic imaging device, a handheld terminal device and a radiographic imaging method that may improve convenience for a user, in a case in which handheld terminal device is used for radiographic imaging. In a case where a radiographic image is imaged without using a console, the radiographic imaging device generates an image ID and transmits to the handheld terminal device. The handheld terminal device associates the received image ID with a patient ID and memorizes in a memory section. Meanwhile, the radiographic imaging device associates image data of the imaged radiographic image with the image ID and memorizes in a memory section. After imaging is completed, the console separately receives the associated image ID and patient ID from the handheld terminal device and receives the associated image ID and image data from the radiographic imaging device.
US09861330B2

The present invention relates to differential phase-contrast imaging, in particular to a structure of a diffraction grating, e.g. an analyzer grating and a phase grating, for X-ray differential phase-contrast imaging. In order to provide enhanced phase-gradient based image data, a diffraction grating (14, 15) for X-ray differential phase-contrast imaging, is provided with a first sub-area (23) comprising at least one portion (24) of a first grating structure (26) and at least one portion (28) of a second grating structure (30). The first grating structure comprises a plurality of bars (34) and gaps (36) with a first grating orientation GO1 (37), being arranged periodically, wherein the bars are arranged such that they change the phase and/or amplitude of an X-ray radiation and wherein the gaps are X-ray transparent. The second grating structure comprises a plurality of bars (40) and gaps (42) with a second grating orientation GO2 (44), being arranged periodically, wherein the bars are arranged such that they change the phase and/or amplitude of an X-ray radiation and wherein the gaps are X-ray transparent. The first grating orientation GO1 is different than the second grating orientation GO2. Thus, phase-gradient based image information can be acquired for different directions without the necessity to rotate or pivot any of the respective gratings between the acquisition steps, for example.
US09861328B2

A mobile X-ray imaging apparatus and method of controlling the same, the mobile X-ray imaging apparatus including a movable main body, an X-ray source installed on the main body via an arm, a tilt angle and rotation angle of the arm being adjustable, a portable X-ray detector configured to detect X-rays emitted from the X-ray source, a position information acquirer configured to acquire position information indicating a position of the X-ray source relative to the portable X-ray detector, and a position controller configured to control the X-ray source to move to a position corresponding to the portable X-ray detector based on the acquired position information.
US09861324B2

A system and method that comprises an X-ray source configured to emit an X-ray beam; an object positioned to receive the X-ray beam; a detector configured to receive an attenuated beam of the X-rays through the object for measuring projection data from various orientations that can be used to generate spectral images in terms of energy-dependent linear attenuation coefficients, and a detector, as described above, comprising one or more energy-integrating detector elements and one or more photon counting detector elements in one or more detectors array or separate detector arrays. The photon counting detector elements may also use dynamic thresholds to define energy windows.
US09861321B2

A system that monitors various conditions of a plurality of hospital beds located in different rooms of a healthcare facility is provided. Alternatively or additionally, other types of equipment may be monitored by the system. Various configurations of network interface units that are coupleable to or integrated into a hospital bed are also disclosed. The system receives data from the hospital beds and/or other equipment and initiates a communication to a wireless communication device of at least one designated caregiver in response to the received data being indicative of an alarm condition.
US09861309B2

A mechanism to adjust variable focus lenses using monitored glucose levels is provided. A glucose sensor provides current blood glucose levels to a controller for the variable focus lenses. The controller determines appropriate adjustment control information for the variable focus lenses based upon the reported glucose levels. This adjustment control information is provided to the lenses, which are adjusted accordingly.
US09861307B2

The present systems and methods provide a mechanism to assess viewer behavior, features of stimuli, and the interaction between viewer behavior and stimuli. The systems and methods described herein for quantifying blink response and blink inhibition provide moment-by-moments measurements of viewer engagement by measuring what is or is not engaging enough to warrant viewers' inhibition of blinking. The present disclosure describes measures of visual scanning, eye movements, blink data, and blink timing data to derive a measure of how engaged a person is with what he or she is looking at. Blink-related data as a measure of viewer engagement provides a mechanism for determining the most engaging spatial and temporal aspects of a stimulus.
US09861303B2

An exemplary apparatus for measuring the concentration of a test substance in an organism disclosed herein includes: a measurement system which measures first and second concentrations that are concentrations of the test substance at positions A and B, respectively, where the positions A and B are located inside of the organism but outside of the blood vessel of the organism, and the position B is located more distant from the blood vessel than the position A is; and a decision circuit which determines, based on the first and second concentrations, whether or not an equilibrium has been established yet between a concentration of the test substance inside of the blood vessel and a concentration of the test substance measured at a position inside of the organism but outside of the blood vessel of the organism.
US09861300B2

An interactive virtual care system may include a user sensory module to acquire multi-modal user data related to user movement. A data analysis module may compare the multi-modal user data to predetermined historical user data and/or statistical norm data for users to identify an anomaly in the user movement.
US09861279B2

The invention relates to a method and device for determining eye position, wherein a light pattern is produced on the surface of an eye by means of a light source and an image of the light pattern produced on the eye is recorded by means of an image recording apparatus, wherein points of the transition region between the sclera and the iris of the eye are determined from the image of the light pattern by means of an image processing apparatus. The coordinates of the calculated points are calculated by triangulation or stereovision, and the position of the iris plane or a plane oriented parallel thereto is determined from said coordinates. The limbus of the eye and the center thereof can also be determined in three dimensions.
US09861269B2

Disclosed embodiments integrate a camera into an intraoral mirror. Integrating a camera into an intraoral mirror provides an efficient way to record and display what is visible to the healthcare provider in the mirror.
US09861268B2

Computerized information processing methods for processing data from a medical device, such as an ingestible probe. In one embodiment, the method includes processing data obtained by the probe so as to produce a plurality of image frames, and further processing the frames to identify a plurality of frames of potential interest to a reviewer based on at least an evaluation of portions of the frame(s) such as pixels or groups of pixels, and using the identified frames to form a preview of the entire data set. In one implementation, the processing of the data includes processing of pixel intensity and/or color (which can be correlated to various physiologic conditions) to help identify the frames of potential interest.
US09861263B2

The invention provides an endoscopic video camera having a polymeric knob assembly, wherein the polymeric material used for manufacturing the knob assembly includes polyphenylsulfone resin, titanium dioxide, tin oxide, and colored metallic additives, is capable of withstanding sterilization, and has a metallic cosmetic appearance. The invention also provides methods of manufacturing the knob assembly by plastic injection molding processes, wherein undesirable molding characteristics are concentrated on portions of the knob assembly that are removed by secondary machining or post machining.
US09861254B2

A dish washing machine including a drive unit to drive a vane. The drive unit includes a motor to generate driving force, a belt connected to a drive pulley and an idle pulley to transfer the driving force of the motor to the vane the motor, a rail to guide movement of the vane, a rear holder to rotatably support the drive pulley, the rear holder being coupled to one end of the rail by tension of the belt, and a front holder to rotatably support idle pulley, the front holder being coupled to the other end of the rail by the tension of the belt.
US09861253B2

A water softening apparatus having an improved structure to provide a function of an air brake, a dishwasher including the same and a control method thereof, the water softening apparatus having an air brake assembly and a regeneration tank and configured to soften wash water being supplied from a tub, wherein the air brake assembly including a water supply valve allowing wash water to be introduced therethrough, an ion exchange tank to accommodate an ion exchange resin therein, and a plurality of valves installed on a first path allowing wash water being introduced through the water supply valve to flow toward the ion exchange tank, wherein the regeneration tank is connected to the air brake assembly and accommodates regeneration material configured to purify the ion exchange resin.
US09861232B2

A non-electric stovetop toaster that functions on various types of cooktops and is accommodative of various sizes and thicknesses of food contents. It folds flat to occupy a small, book sized volume and is designed for small kitchens (e.g. boats, motorhomes, cottages, apartments . . . ) where countertop space is too limited for an electric toaster. As with an electric toaster, both sides of the food contents are toasted simultaneously whereby good, even toasting results are produced through the combined action of A) IR diffusers, B) IR reflective sidewalls and C) an air filled heat shield.
US09861225B1

The disclosure presents a single cup coffee brewer comprised of a dripper component, a drip rate control component, and a plunger assembly. The dripper component has a cylindrical brewing container and a removable cylindrical tube that enables an appropriately sized standard basket filter to be inserted snugly in the cylindrical brewing container. The drip rate control component, attached to the dripper component, has a lever that controls the drip control rate of the dripper component from a zero drip rate to a maximum value. The coffee brewer may therefore be used similar to a cone dripper, but with a user controlling the drip rate, or as an infuser perhaps followed by a dripper. The plunger assembly converts the dripper component and the drip rate control component into an Espresso plunger by allowing the user to force brewing coffee through the basket filter into a cup. Various embodiments are presented.
US09861211B2

A variable shelf organizer system for displaying merchandise thereon including a roller glide floor member, a standard track glide floor member, a plurality of removably adjustable divider members and a front wall member. The divider members and front wall member are engageable with both floor members and when multiple divider members are engaged with either floor member, product channels are formed therebetween for holding and securing products of varying size and shape on either floor member. The roller glide floor member is best suited for heavier packaged products such as six-pack or twelve pack products and the track glide floor member is best suited for standard products. The width of the shelf system may be increased or decreased by joining or detaching similarly constructed floor members in a side-by-side relationship and the length of the shelf system may be increased by attaching one or more floor extension members to the floor members.
US09861208B2

Embodiments of mattress systems comprise a mattress base, a multifunctional foam layer having a substantially planar top side and a non-planar bottom side contacting a top side of the mattress base, and wherein at least one air passage is present in spacing formed between the top side of the mattress base and the non-planar bottom side of the multifunctional foam layer, and a thermo-regulating gel layer affixed to at least a portion of the top side of the multifunctional foam layer.
US09861203B2

A seat assembly for task-oriented seating comprises a seat support and a seat coupled to the seat support. The seat is movable under load, such as from the user's weight and movements, relative to the seat support. The seat has a cushion molded over a supporting armature with multiple bias elements. The seat and seat support are configured to deflect by predetermined amounts at defined locations over an extent of the seat assembly. In this way, the seat assembly provides for a range of comfortable and effective positions for users engaged in different active motions and having different preferences and sizes.
US09861202B2

The present application discloses a chair with a bi-directional controllable air rod valve including a chair leg, a seat cushion, and a compression air rod that connects the chair leg and the seat cushion, where two sides of a cavity of the seat cushion are each provided with a set of valve control members. The set of valve control members disposed in the cavity of the seat cushion enables a user to adjust the chair with both left and right hands conveniently, which greatly facilitates the operation, and in addition, the hidden design of the valve control members prevents the exposed valve control members from hurting a mover or a user and meanwhile, protects the valve control members.
US09861199B2

An adjustable shelf system for a household appliance includes at least one shelf assembly having at least one support structure, wherein each support structure of the shelf assembly includes upper and lower coupling elements outwardly extending from the support structures. A track member is coupled to a sidewall of an internal compartment of the appliance. The track member includes an outer surface with at least one longitudinal channel disposed therein. The longitudinal channel further includes a plurality of spaced-apart receiving notches disposed along a vertical length the channel. The upper and lower coupling elements of the support structures are configured to be received in the longitudinal channels of the track members and nested within the receiving notches thereof.
US09861198B2

The present application provides various examples of bracket for mounting a shelf to a flat vertical surface such as a wall. Examples and configurations disclosed herein provide brackets that have a high ratio of weight-supporting capacity to visibility relative to previous wall-mountable shelf-support apparatuses. One or more elongate members may extend through one or more apertures in a metal base. The proximal end(s) of the one or more elongate members may be welded to the back of the metal base around a cross-sectional perimeter of a cross-sectional shape that is shared by the proximal ends of the elongate members and the back ends of the apertures.
US09861190B2

Disclosed is a wood gang form including: a placing plate made with wood; a frame joined to the edge of one side of the placing plate; and a plurality of joist members which are arranged on one side of the placing plate at a predetermined interval from each other, are joined to one of the placing plate and the frame to reinforce the placing plate or the frame.
US09861189B2

Reconfigurable paint brush containers provide both display packaging and an edging tool. The container has a painting edge aligned with bristles of the paint brush and a fulcrum on which the paint brush rests. The fulcrum initially spaces the bristles of the paint brush away from the painting edge in a resting state. The painting edge is aligned with a wall corner, where paint is to be applied and a force is applied to the paint brush in the direction of the fulcrum. The force overcomes the spacing effect and brings the bristles into contact with the painting edge such that paint on the bristles is applied in a straight line to a portion of the wall exposed to the bristles at the painting edge.
US09861188B2

An oral care implement having a cover member. In one aspect, the invention is an oral care implement comprising: a body comprising a handle and a head coupled the handle, the head comprising a first coupling element, and the handle comprising a second coupling element; a store of oral care material located within the body; an outlet located on the head; a cover member comprising a cap portion, a mounting portion, and a third coupling element, the cover member alterable between: (1) a first state in which the first and third coupling elements cooperate with one another to detachably couple the cover member to the head to seal the outlet; and (2) a second state in which the second and third coupling elements cooperate with one another to detachably couple the cover member to the handle so that the mounting portion can operate as a stand.
US09861178B1

A system and method for attaching a device to a user includes securing a first plate to a user. The first plate can be secured to the user, for example, via one or more straps and/or a hook and loop fastener. The system and method further include securing a second plate to the first plate, wherein an article of the user's clothing is sandwiched in between the first plate and the second plate. The first plate and second plate may be secured to each other by a magnetic connection, by engagement of a sliding pin that pierces a portion of the first plate and the second plate, or a combination of a magnetic connection and an engagement of a sliding pin.
US09861168B2

A free arm umbrella includes a fixing plate (1), an upper nest (2), a lower nest (3), umbrella ribs (5) and support ribs (6). The umbrella ribs (5) are hinged with the upper nest (2) and the two ends of the support rib (6) are hinged with the lower nest (3) and the umbrella rib (5) respectively. The free arm umbrella also includes a control mechanism (7), a support rod (9), a first strut rod (10) and a second strut rod (20). The two ends of the first strut rod (10) are hinged with the lower nest (3) and the upper portion of the fixing plate (1) respectively. One end of the second strut rod (20) is hinged with the upper nest (2) and the other end is provided with a support block (21). The middle part of the first strut rod (10) is hinged with the middle part of the second strut rod (20). The two ends of the support rod (9) are hinged with the second strut rod (20) and the fixing plate (1) respectively. The control mechanism (7) is fixed on the fixing plate (1). The support block (21) is moveably fixed on the control mechanism (7). A rotating lockout mechanism (8) can also be set on the free arm umbrella so that the umbrella cover can be rotated easily. The free arm umbrella has advantages of simple structure, convenience of use, economic practicality, and being applicable to narrow space.
US09861167B2

An ornament holder includes a frame body and a presser plate attachable to the frame body. The frame body includes a plate-like portion and locking shafts extending upright from the first plate-like portion. The presser plate is formed with a hole into which the locking shafts are inserted for attaching the presser plate to the frame body. The locking shafts include horizontally protruding locking portions. The presser plate includes locked portions adjacent to the hole and configured to engage with the locking portions of the locking shafts The locking shafts are elastically deformable so as to approach each other when being inserted into the hole of the presser plate.
US09861166B2

A cleat for footwear. The cleat includes a base layer that attaches to the outsole of the footwear, a cushioning layer and a traction element layer. The traction element layer is attached to the base layer solely by the cushioning layer. Each of the cleat layers provides friction with the ground when the cleat engages the ground. The durometer of the base layer and the durometer of the traction element layer are greater than the durometer of the cushioning layer. When a user steps on a surface wearing a shoe outfitted with these cleats, the resilience of the cushioning layer at once both lessens the impact of the traction elements on the ground surface and lessens the reaction force on the user's foot transmitted through the shoe's outsole. The user's comfort is thereby enhanced.
US09861156B2

A luminous shoe of the disclosure includes a sole and a light-emitting device located at the sole. The light-emitting device includes a control box, a controller located in the control box, and a light belt exposed out of the control box and electrically connected with the control box. The light belt includes a housing, a FFC received in the housing, N first circuit boards located on the FFC and electrically connected to the controller, N luminous elements located on the first circuit boards and electrically connected to the controller. The controller drives the N luminous elements lighting based on a first pre-defined lighting mode, a second pre-defined lighting mode, and a third pre-defined lighting mode randomly.
US09861150B2

An assembly is presented for covering a head of a wearer of an eye mask. The eye mask includes a mask strap to secure the eye mask around the head. The assembly includes a head covering to cover at least a portion of the head, with a first slot extending from a left side to a right side of the covering. A strap is received within the first slot such that opposing ends of the strap are operatively connected to the mask strap on the left side and right side of the covering. The head covering may also include a second slot that extends along a rear side of the covering to receive the mask strap such that the mask strap extends from a left side to a right side of the covering through the rear slot. A method is also presented for wearing the head covering and the eye mask.
US09861149B1

A deployable head covering device for selectively covering a portion of a user's head includes a band that has opposing ends. The band is resilient. The band is arcuate such that the opposing ends are proximately positioned. The device includes a panel with a top end that is complementary to the band. The top end is coupled to the band. The panel is flexible. The panel is reversibly positionable between furled and unfurled configurations. The opposing ends are configured to reversibly separate, such that the band is configured to reversibly couple to a head of a user. The panel is configured for selective positioning in the unfurled configuration, such that the panel selectively covers a portion of the head of the user.
US09861145B2

Described herein are combination bag/vests which, in a bag configuration, serve as a functional bag and which, in a vest configuration, include a system for attaching one or more modular accessories to the vest in a desired configuration. Also described herein are such combination bag/vests wherein the vest configuration operates as a tactical personal body armor vest and the bag configuration conceals the tactical vest portion while permitting the one or more modular accessories to remain in the desired configuration.
US09861139B2

A manufacturing machine and a method for producing a cartridge for an electronic cigarette comprising a supporting base and at least one electrode fitted to the supporting base are disclosed: a conveyor, which comprises a pocket for feeding the supporting base along a conveying path; a gripping device for gripping the electrode; and an actuating device, which moves the gripping device cyclically back and forth in a fitting direction perpendicular to the conveying path, so as to fit the electrode gripped by the gripping device to the supporting base during a forward stroke and to detach the gripping device from the electrode fitted to the supporting base during a return stroke.
US09861121B2

The present invention provides a protein composition comprising a milk basic protein fraction; and at least one stabilizer selected from the group consisting of soybean polysaccharides, xanthan gum, pectin, gum arabic, gum ghatti, carrageenan, locust bean gum, sodium caseinate, lecithin, and carboxymethylcellulose. The protein composition significantly improves the heat resistance of the milk basic protein fraction. The present invention achieves heat treatment of a protein composition and food, beverage, feed, and pharmaceutical comprising such a protein composition at a temperature exceeding 90° C. without deactivation of the milk basic protein fraction.
US09861117B2

The invention is directed to an animal feed suitable for feeding mammals, birds and fish, comprising an alkyl ester of a fatty acid, wherein said fatty acid has a chain length of 5-12 carbon atoms, and wherein the dosage of said ester in said animal feed is 50 ppm by weight or higher, based on the total weight of said animal feed.
US09861115B2

Methods, compositions, and articles of manufacture for preparing frozen beverages are described. The methods and articles generally include first and/or second frozen pellets. Upon mixing the frozen pellets with an appropriate liquid for a sufficient time, a frozen beverage is obtained. Articles of manufacture including frozen pellets, as well as optional objects such as straws, spoons, and mixing containers are disclosed. Methods, compositions, and articles of manufacture for preparing frozen pellets are also described.
US09861108B2

A sealing member that includes an upstream first end and an opposite downstream second end. The upstream first end is located upstream of a feed member that supplies food product to the food forming member, and the downstream second end is located downstream of the feed member. The upstream first end includes a multitude of recesses and convexities. Food product that is transported by the food forming member towards the sealing member is guided toward or into product cavities defined in rows around the surface of the food forming member with the convexities and the recesses. Each of the recesses has a shape that generally corresponds to a shape of the product cavities, and each of the recesses are aligned with the product cavities extending in one of the rows. Each of the convexities are aligned with the surface of the food forming member located between the product cavities.
US09861103B2

Presented is a composition comprising pethoxamidand picloram. The composition exerts asynergistical effect.
US09861100B2

Structurants for agrochemical oil based active formulations, and in particular for use in agrochemical concentrate and diluted concentrates, for suspending solids in oil based formulations. The solids are one or more agrochemical actives and/or nutrients which are dispersed in the formulations. The structurant is polyamide formed from a dicarboxylic acid comprised from a dimer acid compound, and one or more diamine compounds. The present invention also includes methods of treating crops with such micronutrient formulations.
US09861098B2

Disclosed is a method which can readily design an agricultural chemical-containing resin composition having a desired release rate history and can produce the agricultural chemical-containing resin composition. Specifically disclosed is a method for producing an agricultural chemical-containing resin composition, including: respectively selecting an acetamiprid content AcSA and a hydrophilic white carbon content CaSA in the composition relative to the total mass of acetamiprid, a styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer or a styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer-mixed resin, and hydrophilic white carbon, so as to satisfy the inequations of: 0.524×AcSA+1.422×CaSA−6.009≦40% by mass, 5% by mass≦AcSA≦35% by mass, and CaSA≧0.1% by mass; and mixing the acetamiprid, the styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer or the styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer-mixed resin, and the hydrophilic white carbon, so that the thus selected contents AcSA and CaSA can be achieved.
US09861097B2

Composite materials that are palatable to a wood-destroying pest species and also pesticidal to the pest species can be used in pest control devices and can be used as wood substitutes for structural components, which are resistant to destruction by wood-destroying pests. The composite materials include a thermoplastic polymer, a food material for the pest and a pesticide. The composite material is formed by mixing a thermoplastic polymer, wood fragments or other cellulosic materials and a quantity of pesticide, and thereafter creating a molten material within a mixer, compounder, extruder or the like. The molten material is extruded or molded to form the desired shape.
US09861092B2

A boundary control device, a boundary control system, and a method of conditioning the behavior of animals are provided. The boundary control device includes a base member configured to be positioned adjacent a boundary, a sound emitter coupled to the base member and configured to emit a sound upon activation, a light emitter coupled to the base member and configured to emit a light upon activation, and a boundary sensor coupled to the base member and configured to sense an object disposed adjacent the boundary. The sound emitter and the light emitter are activated upon sensing of the object by the boundary sensor.
US09861085B2

A brake device for a dual bearing real, includes a one-way clutch, an operating member and a pressing member. The one-way clutch has an inner race, an outer race and a rolling element, and receives rotation of a spool shaft only in a fishing-line casting direction through the outer race. The outer race is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the inner race, and is rotatable with respect to a reel unit. The rolling element is disposed between the inner race and the outer race. The operating member is disposed on the outer peripheral side of an end of the spool shaft, and is engaged with the reel unit so as to be movable in a spool shaft direction. The pressing member is configured to press the outer race. The outer race is restricted from moving oppositely to the pressing member in the spool shaft direction.
US09861084B2

A rotor for a spinning reel for fishing, includes a cylindrical portion, a first rotor arm, a second rotor arm and a reinforcement portion. The cylindrical portion has a rear end opening that is open. The first rotor arm extends forward from an outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion and configured to couple to a first bail support portion including a line roller. The second rotor arm is at a position opposing the first rotor arm, extending forward from the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion, and configured to couple to a second bail support portion holding an end of a bail that extends from the first bail support portion. The reinforcement portion has a wall portion that is thicker than a surrounding portion, and is disposed on an inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion in a position at which the first rotor arm is disposed.
US09861081B2

The invention regards an animal monitoring system for determining feed consumption of one or more animals feeding at a feeding area, comprising an imaging unit for range imaging the feeding area, identification means configured to uniquely identify each feeding animal, and processing means configured for assessing the amount of feed consumed by each identified animal by determining the reduction of feed in subsequent images of the feeding area in front of each identified animal.
US09861078B1

A leash pack has first and second storage compartment panels that includes storage compartments for holding pet walking articles. First and second connector straps connect top edges of the first and second storage compartment panels for hanging the leash pack on a leash. Connectors are disposed on inner surfaces for removably joining the first and second storage compartment panels.
US09861075B2

Systems and methods are provided for guiding a target object with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in an environment. The UAV may be able to recognize and locate the target object. The UAV can be configured to communicate the actions and behavior of the target object to a user through a user device in communication with the UAV. The UAV can provide positive and negative stimuli to the target object to encourage an action or behavior. The UAV can be configured to recognize and manage waste generated by the target object.
US09861073B2

An outrigger for supporting an elongate electrical conductor from a support. The outrigger has a first elongate limb 11 and a second elongate limb 12. An elongate electric conductor 13 is suspended from a first support device 14 located at a distal end 15 of the first limb 11. In use, the second limb 12 is attached by a first connector 16 to a length portion of an elongate element 18 so that the second limb 12 is rotatable about an axis that is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the elongate element 18. The first limb 11 is connected to the second limb 12 by a second connector 24. The first limb 11 is rotatable relative to the second limb 12 about a pivot axis of the second connector 24. A restrictor 36 limits rotation of the first limb with respect to the second limb about the pivot axis.
US09861069B2

A claw (C) for a milking machine includes an enclosure having an upper part (1) and a lower part (2) and enclosing an inner space (3) for a milk flow during a milking operation. The lower part includes a bottom surface (4) facing the inner space. An outlet nipple (12), connected to a long milk conduit (13), extends outwardly from the upper part. A suction tube (20) connects the inner space to the outlet nipple, and includes a lower tube section close to the bottom surface. Three support legs extend from the lower tube section and abut the bottom surface, thereby forming a gap between the lower tube section and the bottom surface. Each support leg has an end point, which end points are located in a common lower plane. The common lower plane is inclined to the center axis.
US09861066B2

The present invention is in the field of soybean variety CC1415432 breeding and development. The present invention particularly relates to the soybean variety CC1415432 and its seed, cells, germplasm, plant parts, and progeny, and methods of using CC1415432 in a breeding program.
US09861065B1

A novel maize variety designated X05H223 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X05H223 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X05H223 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X05H223, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X05H223. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X05H223.
US09861062B1

A novel maize variety designated X13H963 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X13H963 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X13H963 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X13H963, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X13H963. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X13H963.
US09861061B1

A novel maize variety designated X13H943 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X13H943 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X13H943 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X13H943, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X13H943. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X13H943.
US09861059B1

A novel maize variety designated X08H842 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X08H842 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X08H842 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X08H842, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X08H842. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X08H842.
US09861053B1

The invention relates to the soybean variety designated XR36AC15X. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety XR36AC15X. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety XR36AC15X and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety XR36AC15X with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US09861050B2

The present invention is in the field of soybean variety SJ1313185 breeding and development. The present invention particularly relates to the soybean variety SJ1313185 and its seed, cells, germplasm, plant parts, and progeny, and methods of using SJ1313185 in a breeding program.
US09861038B2

A dual function tree pruner and fruit harvester that uses the same equipment for pruning and for harvesting. The Fruit Tree Pruner and Harvesting Machine features: a Self-Propelled-Vehicle (SPV), computer controlled robotic arms, a Digital Imaging System (DIS), a Radar Ranger System (RRS), Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) Guidance System, Geographic Information System (GIS), a Power Pruner or Power Stem Cutter as appropriate, a fruit vacuum system, a fruit catcher, a fruit handling system, and a fruit bin loader. The operation is automated and the operator monitors and sets parameters. The Fruit Tree Pruner and Harvesting Machine can prune a tree to a predetermined profile. The tree can be shaped per the orchard's requirements. The Fruit Tree Pruner and Harvesting Machine utilizes data obtained during the pruning process to find the fruit, and to remove the fruit while maintaining the fruit quality suitable for the fresh market.
US09861030B2

A volumetric metering system for metering a product in an agricultural machine includes a roller element, a drive mechanism configured to rotationally drive the roller element to convey the product along a conveyance path to a product receiving component, and a guide element disposed on a side of the roller element. The guide element is configured to guide the product along the conveyance path, and is biased towards the roller element.
US09861025B2

A seed meter includes a seed disc rotatable in a direction of rotation. The seed disc has a plurality of seed apertures defining a circular path as the seed disc rotates and on which seeds from a seed source are entrained. A singulator is disposed along to the circular path. The singulator has a plurality of outer lobes and a first orientation lobe located downstream of the outer lobes. As the entrained seeds rotate along the circular path, the first orientation lobe contacts the entrained seeds to change their orientation. In some embodiments, the first orientation lobe may be disposed to remove excess seeds from the apertures and a second orientation lobe may change the orientation of the entrained seed.
US09867318B2

A system for managing air flow computing devices in a rack includes a stall and filler elements. The stall includes a stall top panel and two side panels spaced apart from one another. The stall accommodates a rack computing system. The filler elements fill gaps between the computing devices of the rack computing systems and the panels of the stalls. An air moving system moves air from the cold aisle through cold-aisle facing air inlets of the computing devices. The filler elements inhibit air moving toward the cold aisle-facing inlets from leaking through gaps between the computing devices of the rack computing systems and the stall panels such that the filler elements inhibit air moving toward inlets in the computing devices from leaking through the gaps between the computing devices in the rack and the stall panels.
US09867309B2

Apparatus and methods that employ divider walls that are configured for insertion and proper positioning within a cavity of an information handling system chassis enclosure in a mechanically non-interfering manner prior to securement of the divider wall in a fixed position within the cavity. A divider wall may be provided that is shorter than the height of a corresponding chassis enclosure cavity to allow the divider wall to be freely inserted and fixed in position within the chassis cavity in perpendicular relationship between two opposing cavity interior surfaces without any resulting compressive forces being applied to the respective ends of the divider wall by the opposing interior surfaces of the chassis enclosure cavity.
US09867303B1

A modular circuit device is provided with a first circuit module including a circuit board and first and first bridge elements. The circuit board includes a substrate, a female header, and a pin header. The substrate includes a first projection at one end with the female header disposed thereon, and a second projection at the other end with the pin header disposed thereon. The first bridge member includes a bottom recess, two cavities on two sides of the bottom recess respectively, and a socket on one end of the first bridge member. The first bridge element includes a bottom recess, two cavities on two sides of the bottom recess respectively, and a projecting element at the other end of the first bridge element. The first projection is disposed in the cavities of the first bridge member. The second projection is in the cavities of the first bridge element.
US09867301B2

This is directed to systems and methods for cover assembly retention of a portable electronic device. In some embodiments, a cover assembly and/or housing of an electronic device can include one or more retention features such as detents, hooks, tabs, extensions, screw plates, screw holes, shuttles, latches, or any combination of the above, for retaining the cover assembly to the housing. In some embodiments, one or more retention features can be included on an internal platform of the electronic device to retain the cover assembly. In some embodiments, a hidden screw feature can be included in a SIM tray slot of the electronic device. Once a SIM tray has been inserted into the SIM tray slot, the screw feature can be hidden from sight and may become unapparent to an end user of the electronic device.
US09867300B1

A container may be provided. The container may comprise a first surface and a second surface concentric with the first surface. The first surface and the second surface may define a volume. The volume may house a concentric length of multiple parallel conductors. The multiple parallel conductors may pass through a restricting mechanism to restrict the multiple parallel conductors to pass at the same rate and at the same length.
US09867299B2

An electrical connection box that is applied to a wire harness includes: a housing that includes a housing space portion that is formed therein and houses therein a first electronic component, and a housing recessed portion that is partitioned below the housing space portion in a vertical direction by a partition wall portion, closed on one side in a horizontal direction, provided with an opening on the other side in the horizontal direction, and houses therein a second electronic component; and a latch mechanism that is positioned within the housing recessed portion and latches the second electronic component and the housing in a state that the second electronic component is housed in the housing recessed portion.
US09867294B2

A waveguide. The waveguide may include a first waveguide region that includes a signal trace with a first width. The waveguide may further include a second waveguide region that includes the signal trace with a second width. The first width may be different from the second width. The signal trace may be configured to transmit an electrical signal. The signal trace with the second width may be configured to couple with an integrated circuit.
US09867277B2

Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide improved electrical performance of components, such as chip dice, for example, disposed on different layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB). In an example, the components may be embedded within layers of the PCB. An insulating layer located between two component layers or sets of layers includes a conductive portion that may be strategically located to provide electrical connectivity between the components. The conductive portion may also be arranged to improve thermal conductivity between points of the PCB.
US09867274B2

A circuit board includes a plate member capable of holding a printed circuit board, the printed circuit board including an electronic component, and a cooling member provided on the electronic component, the printed circuit board and the electronic component being positioned between the plate member and the cooling member; and a circuit provided to the plate member and allowed to be electrically connected with the printed circuit board.
US09867271B2

Methods for generating a multiple-energy X-ray pulse. A beam of electrons is generated with an electron gun and modulated prior to injection into an accelerating structure to achieve at least a first and specified beam current amplitude over the course of respective beam current temporal profiles. A radio frequency field is applied to the accelerating structure with a specified RF field amplitude and a specified RF temporal profile. The first and second specified beam current amplitudes are injected serially, each after a specified delay, in such a manner as to achieve at least two distinct endpoint energies of electrons accelerated within the accelerating structure during a course of a single RF-pulse. The beam of electrons is accelerated by the radio frequency field within the accelerating structure to produce accelerated electrons which impinge upon a target for generating Bremsstrahlung X-rays.
US09867257B2

A light emitting device display, its pixel circuit and its driving technique is provided. The pixel includes a light emitting device and a plurality of transistors. A bias current and programming voltage data are provided to the pixel circuit in accordance with a driving scheme so that the current through the driving transistor to the light emitting device is adjusted.
US09867255B2

A light emitting arrangement is adapted to produce white output light of a total luminous intensity Itot and having an emission peak in the wavelength range of from 400 to 440 nm, comprising: a first light emitting element adapted to emit light of a first luminous intensity I1 and having an emission peak in a first wavelength range of from 440 to 460 nm; and a second light emitting element adapted to emit light of a second luminous intensity I2 and having an emission peak in a second wavelength range of from 380 to 440 nm, wherein the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element are independently controllable such that I2 can be adjusted independently of I1. The possibility of controlling the contribution of deep blue light allows a natural appearance of a crisp white light source at all emission intensities, and may also be used to enhance perception of contrast.
US09867253B2

A preferred embodiment relates to controlling the amount of backlight power in an electronic display to account for the temperature in the backlight cavity. Another embodiment relates to a system for controlling the amount of backlight based on both the temperature of the backlight and the amount of ambient light.
US09867252B2

A system and method for operating one or more light emitting devices is disclosed. In one example, the intensity of light provided by the one or more light emitting devices is adjusted responsive to current feedback from the one or more light emitting devices.
US09867251B1

A silicon controllable dimming full-range flickfree circuit includes a dimming circuit and a flick elimination circuit which includes a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) connected with an output terminal of the dimming circuit. The dimming circuit and the flick elimination circuit are combined, and the dimming circuit is provided with a silicon controllable dimming chip. Thus, when the MOS is worked at the constant current zone, the voltage of the source and the gate of the MOS is kept at a constant value, so that the current passing through the source and the drain of the MOS is kept at a constant value, to perform a flickfree feature of the full-power range of the high power factor, to stabilize the operation of the LED circuit, and to prevent the user's eyes from being hurt by the flick of the LED circuit.
US09867249B2

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method and apparatus includes an input having a first input terminal and a second input terminal for receiving an input waveform. In one example, the apparatus includes a capacitor having a first capacitor terminal and a second capacitor terminal, wherein the first capacitor terminal is coupled to the first input terminal, and at least one light-emitting diode coupled in series with the capacitor between the second capacitor terminal and the second input terminal, such that the light-emitting diode generates light in conformity with at least one of an amplitude modulation and a frequency modulation of the input waveform.
US09867247B2

An LED driver of an LED tube includes: an AC-to-DC converting module converting an AC voltage received from a ballast into an intermediate DC voltage that is smaller than or equal to a predetermined threshold voltage, and a DC-to-DC converting module converting the intermediate DC voltage into a DC output voltage for driving LEDs of the LED tube.
US09867244B2

In accordance with certain embodiments, lighting systems feature lightsheets including multiple illumination units or modules electrically interconnected such that unremoved illumination units or modules remain energized upon removal of at least a portion of one or more illumination units or modules.
US09867236B2

The present invention relates to a cooking hob with a mobile upper part and a stationary or mobile lower part. The upper part includes at least one panel (10) arranged at its top side. The upper part includes at least one induction coil (12) arranged below the panel (10). The upper part includes at least one rechargeable battery (14). The upper part includes at least one inverter circuit for generating the alternating current for the induction coil (12). The lower part includes a base plate (18). The lower part includes a power supply circuit (16) arranged on the base plate (18) and connected or connectable to the grid. The upper part is attachable on and removable from the lower part by a user.
US09867234B2

The invention relates to a method for determining and regulating the temperature of an article with inductive properties which is heated inductively by means of an induction device, wherein the induction device contains an induction coil, means for producing an induction resonant circuit and a support element arranged above the induction coil and having a first side, which acts as support face for the article, and a second side, which is directed towards the inductive coil. At least one temperature sensor is fitted to the second side. The resonant frequency of the induction resonant circuit is measured via detection means and the temperature of the article is calculated from the measured resonant frequency, wherein the resonant frequency is related to the temperature of the article by virtue of a mathematical function, and the function is determined by determining at least two absolute temperature calibration values of the article at respectively different resonant frequencies. The temperature calibration values are calculated from temperature measured values of the sensor.
US09867233B2

The present invention relates to a vitroceramic article intended in particular to cover or receive heating elements, said article being provided with at least one luminous zone, in particular for display, comprising at least one luminous pattern, said article comprising at least one vitroceramic substrate, at least one light source, and at least one enamel coating which covers at least a part of said zone and within which an uncovered region is formed in the shape of said pattern, the composition of said enamel comprising at least one glass frit and at least one pigment, the glass frit comprising the following constituents: SiO240-55% Al2O3 0-10% B2O325-55% Na2O 0-5% K2O 0-5% Li2O 0-10%, the rate of pigment or pigments being from 40 to 65% by weight of the frit/pigment mixture, the article furthermore comprising a diffusing zone facing the enamel coating.
US09867229B2

A method and a user equipment (“UE”), for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (“HSDPA”) de-activation, the method determining whether a number of serving HSDPA cell changes of the UE exceeds a threshold within a predetermined time period; and; sending a transition indication from the UE to a network node to deactivate HSDPA if the threshold is exceeded for within the predetermined time period. Also, a method and a network node, for High Speed Downlink Packet Access de-activation, the method determining whether a number of serving HSDPA cell changes of a user equipment communicating with the network node exceeds a threshold within a predetermined time period; and; deactivating HSDPA for the UE if the threshold is exceeded within the predetermined time period.
US09867228B2

In a wireless communication system including a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and at least one Node-B, a method and apparatus is used to selectively enable reception of at least one downlink (DL) enhanced uplink (EU) signaling channel established between the WTRU and the Node-B(s). During the operation of an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH), the WTRU monitors at least one DL EU signaling channel established between the WTRU and the Node-B(s) only when it is necessary, based on the WTRU's knowledge of at least one established standard procedure. The WTRU coordinates and consolidates DL signaling channel reception requirements of a plurality of channel allocation and/or data transmission procedures carried out by the WTRU in accordance with the established standard procedure. The WTRU determines whether to enable reception of at least one specific DL signaling channel based on the consolidated DL signaling channel reception requirements.
US09867222B2

A wireless communication system includes a transmission device, a relay device, and a reception device and is configured to execute direct communication of directly transmitting a wireless signal from the transmission device to the reception device without routing through the relay device and indirect communication of indirectly transmitting a wireless signal from the transmission device to the reception device through the relay device. The wireless communication system includes a controller configured to estimate a disconnection continuation time that is a time during which the direct communication is not executable in a case where the direct communication is not executable while the direct communication is repeatedly executed, continue to execute the direct communication when the disconnection continuation time is shorter than a threshold time, and execute the indirect communication when the disconnection continuation time is longer than the threshold time.
US09867213B2

A method and apparatus for coordinating access to a shared transmission medium in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), in order to minimize the risk for collisions. The method includes identifying a station associated with a first basic service set (BSS), and providing access opportunity to the station on the shared transmission medium in one or more time slots, which time slots are assigned dependent on a traffic pattern of the station.
US09867210B2

Embodiments of a transmission signaling structure for HEW are defined to carry packet information to configure OFDMA receivers for demodulation of a specific portion of the packet and/or to configure receivers for transmission using specific OFDMA and MU-MIMO resources. In some embodiments, the specific portion of the packet comprises one or more minimum bandwidth units of one or more 20 MHz channels. Each 20 MHz bandwidth structure may comprise several minimum bandwidth units to allow each 20 MHz channel to have a have smaller granularity than 20 MHz.
US09867189B2

A wireless device receives a frame including a first Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield including resource information for a first frequency area and indicating a first number of user fields in a first channel that correspond to the first frequency area, and a second RU allocation subfield including resource information for a second frequency area and indicating of a second number of user fields in a second channel that correspond to the second frequency area. When the first and second frequency areas are a same RU, the wireless device determines, using both the RU allocation subfields, a number of users allocated to the same RU. A wireless device generates and transmits a frame including first and second RU allocation subfields as described above. When the first and second frequency area are a same RU, both the RU allocation subfields indicates a number of users allocated to the same RU.
US09867188B2

A base station including: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configure to: when scheduling a plurality of terminals based on non-orthogonal multiple access in which a same radio resource having a same time and a same frequency is allocable to two or more terminals of the plurality of terminals, calculate each metric of each of selected terminal combinations and each terminals of the plurality of terminals, each of the selected terminal combinations including two or more terminals of the plurality of terminals, and determine to allocate each radio resource to each of the selected terminal combinations and each terminals of the plurality of terminals based on each metric, wherein the selected terminal combinations are obtained by selecting, from among all terminal combinations of the plurality of terminals, each terminal combination that satisfies a first condition.
US09867186B2

A wireless communication method, a base station and a wireless communication device. The wireless communication method includes: in case that communication devices which are to perform communication are estimated to satisfy a condition for device-to-device direct communication, transmitting a control signaling from a base station to the communication devices, the control signaling allocating a carrier for the device-to-device direct communication; and performing the device-to-device direct communication between the communication devices using the allocated carrier, wherein the base station allocates the carrier for the device-to-device direct communication from conventional carrier, stand-alone new-type carrier and non-stand-alone new-type carrier, wherein the new-type carrier has a reduced number of control channels as compared with the conventional carrier.
US09867185B1

A first network device including a radio frequency (RF), baseband, and medium access control (MAC) modules. The RF module: based on a predetermined primary mode, selects a first band from bands including a sub-1 GHz, IEEE 802.11ah, and IEEE 802.11af bands; in the first band, receives a radio or intermediate frequency signal; and converts the radio or intermediate frequency signal to a baseband signal. The baseband module: based on the primary mode, selects a secondary mode and a first bandwidth from multiple bandwidths, where the secondary mode has a corresponding data rate and the bandwidths include a bandwidth downclocked from an IEEE 802.11ac or 1 MHz bandwidth; receives the baseband signal from the RF module, where the baseband signal has the first bandwidth; and based on the baseband signal, outputs a frame included in the baseband signal. The MAC module receives the frame from the baseband module at the data rate.
US09867183B2

Provided are a method and an apparatus for supporting a variable bandwidth in a wireless communication system. A wireless device receives first system information in a base band and receives second system information in a limited band. The first system information comprises information indicating the limited band.
US09867176B2

The present invention provides a method for processing an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH), a network-side device, and a user equipment. The method includes: notifying a user equipment (UE) of M physical resource block (PRB) sets used for EPDCCH transmission and N reference signal (RS) configurations used for EPDCCH downlink control information (DCI) rate matching and/or EPDCCH resource mapping, and notifying the UE of correspondence between the M PRB sets and the N RS configurations, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, and M is a positive integer; and performing the EPDCCH DCI rate matching and/or the EPDCCH resource mapping according to the correspondence between the M PRB sets and the N RS configurations.
US09867174B2

A method and apparatus may be used to enable reception of a downlink (DL) shared channel in a cooperative multipoint transmission (CoMP). The method and apparatus may determine whether CoMP is applied to a transmission. The method and apparatus may acquire other CoMP related information. The method and apparatus may apply to non-transparent CoMP scenarios.
US09867167B2

Airtime usage may be used as a factor in controlling network traffic flow to and from client devices via a wireless network interface. Received packets or other data are assigned to a quality of service profile. Additionally, a cost value for communicating the received data is determined at least in part based on an actual or estimated airtime usage for the received packet. The cost value is used to allocate wireless network airtime to data. The allocation of wireless network airtime may be varied dynamically based on operating conditions. The cost value may be based on factors including the airtime used to communicate data; whether the data is a retransmission; and wireless network overhead. The cost value of data may also be different depending on whether the data is being sent from a client device or to a client device.
US09867149B2

In response to a user equipment (UE) sending data to a first network side device over a first channel and to a second network side device over a second channel, a method includes determining that the first channel separately overlaps the second channel and a third channel. The method further includes allocating, according to priorities of the first channel and the second channel, a first transmit power to the first subframe j and a second transmit power to the second subframe i. The first transmit power is less than or equal to a first power upper limit. A sum of the first transmit power and the second transmit power is less than or equal to a first threshold. A sum of third transmit power of the third subframe i+1 and the first power upper limit is less than or equal to a preset second threshold.
US09867147B2

Techniques for transmit power control for multiple antenna transmissions in an uplink are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) generates at least one input stream for transmission and applies a gain factor to each channel. The gain factor is determined based on a reference channel power estimate. The WTRU generates at least two data streams from the input stream for transmission via a plurality of antennas and applies weights to the data streams. The gain factor and/or the weights are controlled such that a transmit power on each antenna is within a maximum allowed value. The WTRU may perform power scaling on a condition that a transmit power on any antenna exceeds the maximum allowed value. The WTRU may scale down an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) dedicated physical data channel (E-DPDCH) first before other channels. For multiple E-DCH streams, the WTRU may calculate an E-DPDCH power offset based on an additional power offset factor due to multiple stream transmission.
US09867145B2

Channel estimation accuracy is improved by adjusting the power level of a physical control channel allocated to a receiver based on the transmission rate and/or transport format of a corresponding physical data channel allocated to the same receiver. The physical control channel may be a DPCCH, E-DPCCH or other type of physical control channel allocated to a receiver for facilitating uplink or downlink communication. In one embodiment, control channel symbols are transmitted for use in channel estimation by adjusting the power level of a physical control channel allocated to a receiver based on the transmission rate and/or transport format of a physical data channel allocated to the receiver (200). Control channel symbols are transmitted to the receiver over the physical control channel at the adjusted power level (202). The receiver uses the control channel symbols to perform channel estimation (204).
US09867138B2

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for a terminal controlling uplink power in the wireless communication system, comprising the steps of: configuring an uplink subframe (UL SF) of a first set and a UL SF of a second set; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format including a bitmap for indicating transmit power control (TPC) for a plurality of terminals; and controlling transmit power of an uplink channel by using TPC information on the terminals from the bitmap, wherein the TPC information is used for controlling transmit power of an uplink channel transmitted from the UL SF of the first set when the DCI format comprises a first identifier, and the TPC information is used for controlling transmit power of an uplink channel transmitted from the UL SF of the second set when the DCI format comprises a second identifier.
US09867133B2

A communication device is provided comprising a radio frequency circuit configured to receive a first radio frequency signal and a second radio frequency signal. A baseband circuit configured to determine a gain level based on the first radio frequency signal. A clock circuit configured to generate a clock signal. The radio frequency circuit is configured to determine a gain adjusted signal based on the second radio frequency signal and on the gain level. The baseband circuit is configured to synchronize the clock signal based on the gain adjusted signal.
US09867131B2

A wake-up control method and apparatus, and a terminal device are provided. The method includes determining, by a wake-up control apparatus, whether a network of a terminal device is in a connected state; and if the wake-up control apparatus determines that the network of the terminal device is not in the connected state, stopping, by the wake-up control apparatus, wake-up of the terminal device by N application wake-up timers, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. The wake-up control apparatus shields some application wake-up timers, such that the shielded application wake-up timers do not wake up the terminal device.
US09867128B2

The present document relates to a power reduction mode operation of a STA in a wireless communication system. To this end, during the STA's power saving mode operation, the TIM (traffic indication map) reception, the PS poll signal transmission, and the data reception are performed through one of a downlink oriented channel and a general channel distinguished from the downlink oriented channel, and the STA may previously acquire information on whether the TIM reception, the PS poll signal transmission, and the data reception are performed through one channel of the downlink oriented channel and the general channel.
US09867124B2

According to one embodiment of the invention, wireless spectrum and battery power conservation is achieved through an adaptable multicast group communication scheme. This involves a method for controlling the multicast transmission rate based on a first operation of receiving information from a multicast receiving device that is a member of a multicast group. Based on this information and potentially other information from other member devices, the modulation and coding rate for the multicast group is altered.
US09867121B2

A network accessing method includes selecting a group representative dynamically from each machine to machine (M2M) terminal group, wherein terminals in the M2M terminal group not selected as the group representative serve as group members. The method also includes requesting, by the group representative, network access from a base station, and serving, as a group member automatically after entering an idle state or entering another cell. This enables multiple M2M terminals to access a network at the same time while avoiding network access congestion.
US09867120B2

Methods and apparatuses indicate and identify quasi co-located reference signal ports. A method of identifying by a UE includes identifying, from downlink control information, a CSI-RS port that is quasi co-located with a DM-RS port assigned to the UE. The method includes identifying large scale properties for the assigned DM-RS port based on large scale properties for the CSI-RS port. The method includes performing channel estimation and/or time/frequency synchronization using the identified large scale properties for the DM-RS port. Another method for identifying by a UE includes identifying, from downlink control information, a CRS port that is quasi co-located with a CSI-RS port configured for the UE. The method includes identifying large scale properties for the configured CSI-RS port based on large scale properties for the CRS port. The method includes performing channel estimation and/or time/frequency synchronization using the identified large scale properties for the CSI-RS port.
US09867119B2

A method and apparatus for performing a device-to-device (D2D) specific access control in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment (UE) receives D2D specific barring parameters from a network, and checks whether access to a cell is allowed according to the received D2D specific barring parameters. The D2D specific barring parameters may include a D2D specific barring factor and a D2D specific barring time.
US09867118B2

Disclosed are an system and method of regulating mobile device communications while operating a motor vehicle. One example method may include determining a speed event indicating that a speed of the motor vehicle has performed at least one of exceeded a first threshold above which mobile device usage restriction policies are invoked and fallen below a second threshold allowing the mobile device restriction policies to be removed. The first threshold may be equal to or greater than the second threshold. As a result of obtaining the speed event, the method may also provide transmitting the speed event to a remote edge gateway server located remotely from the motor vehicle, which stores the speed event for reference purposes when determining a policy for routing a particular mobile device call, text message and/or mobile data session.
US09867117B2

Systems and methods for managing a network are disclosed. One method can comprise determining a first modulation rate associated with a network device. A beacon can be transmitted at a second modulation rate, wherein the second modulation rate is greater than the first modulation rate. A user device can be associated with the network device based on the beacon if the user device is configured to support the second modulation rate.
US09867116B2

Systems and methods for managing a network are disclosed. One method can comprise detecting a triggering event at a node. Location information of the node can be transmitted to a routing device in response to the triggering event. Location information of the node can be transmitted to a management device. The management device can be configured to control an operation of one or more of the node and the routing device in response to the location information.
US09867113B2

A system and method of enabling a mobile device to communicate with a local IP network host and an external IP network host using a femto cellular access point on a femto cellular access network. A local gateway is coupled to the femto cellular access network for receiving data packets transmitted on the femto cellular access network and for routing the data packets to one of a local IP network and an external IP network, based on a destination address associated with the data packets. The femto cellular access network includes an LTE network, an EVDO network connected to an EPC, or a WiMax 802.16e/m network connected to the EPC.
US09867108B2

A wireless parameter control device comprises: a serving cell prediction unit (11) which predicts a wireless cell which is a connection destination of a first wireless terminal within a first wireless cell upon assuming that an offset value which is added to the wireless quality which the first wireless terminal measures for each wireless cell is changed to a prescribed candidate value; a communication speed index prediction unit (12) which predicts a communication speed index of the first wireless terminal upon assuming that the offset value is changed to the prescribed candidate value and/or a communication speed index of a second wireless terminal within a second wireless cell which is present in the periphery of the first wireless cell; and a coverage control unit (13) which, on the basis of the result of the prediction of the communication speed index, controls the coverage of the first wireless cell and/or the coverage of the second wireless cell.
US09867105B2

A method and apparatus for transmitting a message in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment (UE) determines that a first cell, serving the UE currently, is not preferred, and transmits a message, to the first cell, including a request for a handover from the first cell to a second cell.
US09867093B2

The embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for establishing a cell reselection list is provided. A network and a terminal establish frequency indexes for the cell reselection list, so that when a network side delivers an RAT and frequency priority information, the priority information may be delivered according to frequency indexes in a frequency list, thus implementing cell reselection that is based on the priority for the terminal.
US09867087B2

A method configures a communication between a base station, a first user equipment adapted to operate with a first system bandwidth and a second user equipment adapted to operate with a second system bandwidth. The first system bandwidth is broader than the second system bandwidth. The base station, the first user equipment and the second user equipment are located within a cellular network system. The method includes providing first common channels or signals within the first system bandwidth and providing second common channels or signals within the second system bandwidth, wherein a part of the first common channels or signals and a part of the second common channels or signals are superpositioned. The method further includes configuring at least one of the common channels or signals of the part of the first common channels or signals to be used by the first user equipment and the second user equipment.
US09867084B2

The present disclosure relates to a pre-5th-Generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates Beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for anchoring of a terminal in a wireless communication system. The method for anchoring the terminal in the wireless communication system may include receiving attribute information indicating whether at least one gateway operating as an anchor for at least one default Packet Data Network (PDN) connection supports session persistence, detecting a new flow generated by an application, determining whether a further PDN connection is required for the flow on the basis of the attribute information indicating whether at least one gateway supports session persistence, and if no further PDN connection is required for the flow, using an Internet Protocol (IP) address allocated by the at least one gateway as a source IP address of the flow.
US09867073B2

An embodiment for user equipment that receives a plurality of measurement gap repetition patterns from a network. Each measurement gap repetition pattern may be assigned to a different frequency of the network. The plurality of measurement gap repetition patterns may include skipping measurement patterns. Further embodiments may include the user equipment receiving a repetition period in a measurement object frame or receiving a plurality of measurement gap repetition patterns in which the measurement gaps are non-colliding with measurement gaps of other repetition patterns assigned to the user equipment.
US09867068B2

TCP sessions passing through a network, such as a wireless network, may be optimized based on conditions corresponding to the radio interface of the wireless network. In one implementation, a method may include monitoring, by a base station, performance parameters relating to a radio access network (RAN); determining, based on the performance parameters, one or more protocol data units (PDUs) to retransmit; determining one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) sessions and packet sequence numbers corresponding to the one or more PDUs; and transmitting, to a network device, an indication to retransmit packets corresponding to the one or more TCP sessions and packet sequence numbers.
US09867051B2

A system and method of verifying integrity of software for verifying the integrity of software installed on a mobile terminal is provided. The system includes the mobile terminal configured to transmit mobile terminal information including a first software hash value and a software identification (ID) with respect to the software, and an office trust software monitor server configured to transmit the software ID transmitted from the mobile terminal to a software publishing server, receive a second software hash value with respect to the software corresponding to the software ID from the software publishing server, compare the first software hash value and the second software hash value, and verify the integrity of the software.
US09867047B2

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for notifying authenticity information of a caller identifier (ID) in a wireless access system, comprising: receiving, from a second network node, a first call message including a caller ID of a second UE (UE2), determining whether the caller ID of UE2 has been authenticated or not by detecting a trust level of authenticity information in the first call message, and transmitting, to a first UE (UE1), a second call message including the caller ID and an indication message indicating one or authentication levels out of an authenticated, a spoofed, or an unauthenticated level, wherein the authenticated indicates the caller ID is authenticity and the spoofed indicates the caller ID is not guaranteed to correspond to the UE2.
US09867046B2

Briefly, embodiments of methods and/or systems of services access through progressive registration via a mobile device.
US09867044B2

A system and method is described that enables autonomic discovery of wireless network security mechanisms by mobile devices. Stateful monitoring of wireless devices facilitates identification of pending network connectivity loss, enabling a handoff server to proactively advertise new points of access and their associated security mechanisms to devices before connectivity is lost. As a result, devices may seamlessly transition between secure networks. Stateful monitoring of device reachability may be used together with device certificates and/or tokens to decrease the potential of MAC spoofing and further secure the network. Stateful monitoring of device connectivity status during network transitions facilitates the identification of rogue access points. The token or certificate on the device may be used to authenticate the device while transitioning between networks by a centralized entity, managing the initiation and the execution of the handover for the device.
US09867040B2

Embodiments enable privacy protection for increasing service anonymity. A method comprises receiving a service discovery frame from a wireless device operating synchronously in a neighbor awareness network cluster, including scrambled values associated with service names, each of the scrambled values being a hash of an argument comprising the service name and a component value selected based on a current synchronous time shared with the wireless device. The received scrambled values are compared with scrambled values associated with maintained service names, each being a hash of an argument comprising a valid service name of a known service and a component value selected based on the current synchronous time. If any of the received scrambled values satisfies the comparison with a scrambled value associated with the service name, then the received scrambled value is determined to be associated with the known service.
US09867035B2

A device is provided for use with a database having stored therein, a plurality of signatures corresponding to a plurality of actions, respectively. The device includes: a mode determining component that determines whether the device is in a predetermined mode; a device location determining component that determines whether the device is located in a predetermined location; a parameter detecting component operable to detect a predetermined parameter and to generate an action signature based on the detected predetermined parameter; an accessing component operable to access one of the plurality of signatures from the database; and a mode controlling component operable to modify operation of the device based on the comparison signal when said mode determining component determines that the device is operating in the predetermined mode and when the location determining component determines that the device is located in the predetermined location.
US09867034B2

Disclosed are a BBU and a method of obtaining RRU information, which comprises, in a heterogeneous cell environment in which a macro cell and small cell coexist, a BBU receiving, from a terminal and via a serving RRU of the terminal connected to the BBU, a measurement reporting message that includes information on an RRU transmitting, to the terminal, a reference signal at an intensity equal to or stronger than a threshold value, and determining the RRU as a neighboring RRU of the serving RRU by using information included in the measurement reporting message.
US09867028B2

The first mobile device determining that the first mobile device is lost and the first mobile device, in response to determining that the first mobile device is lost, activating a secure mode on the first mobile device. The first mobile device making the first mobile device discoverable to other mobile devices. The first mobile device electronically binding to a second mobile device. The first mobile device sending information relating to the first mobile device to the second mobile device. The first mobile device receiving an indication that the first mobile device is no longer lost. The first mobile device, in response to receiving the indication that the first mobile device is no longer lost, unbinding from the second mobile device.
US09867023B2

Various embodiments concern method of providing emergency messaging service to one or more users of one or mobile electrical devices. The method can include: using a first mobile electrical device to send a emergency trigger message, using the first mobile electrical device to send a emergency trigger message can include: receiving a location of the first mobile electrical device from a global positioning module, the global positioning module miming on the first mobile electrical device; receiving a first trigger message from a user of the first electrical device; and wirelessly transmitting the first trigger message and the location of the first mobile electrical device to a emergency response module running on at least one second processor of a first server; receiving the first emergency trigger message in emergency response module; determining a first emergency response unit associated with the first location of the first mobile electrical device; and transmitting the first emergency trigger message to the first emergency response unit associated with the location of the first mobile electrical device. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09867021B1

In some embodiments, the present invention provides for a computer system which includes at least the following components: a plurality of computing devices associated with a plurality of users associated with a plurality of users; where each computing device of the plurality of computing devices is configured to: electronically receive software which, when being executed, cause such computing device to display a plurality of instances of a specifically programmed graphical user interface (GUI); where each instance of the GUI is configured to display a real-time updatable meeting information representative of a direct electronic proximity-based communication between at least two computing devices associated with at least two users who desire to meet at a particular location to engage in a transaction of at least one good, at least one service, or both, whose marketable value lasts for a period of 30 seconds to 60 minutes.
US09867019B2

Disclosed is a method of establishing connection of an electronic device using Wi-Fi P2P to at least one another electronic device, the method includes creating a stability value of the electronic device based on internal state information of the electronic device. The method also includes determining an intent value of the electronic device in response to the stability value. The method also includes receiving an intent value of the at least one another electronic device. The method also includes comparing the intent value of the electronic device with the intent value of the at least one another electronic device. The method also includes forming a Wi-Fi P2P group acting as any one of a group owner (GO) and a group client (GC).
US09867018B2

A method for providing a network service to a plurality of mobile terminals inside a service area, the mobile terminals being arranged to communicate with a cellular communication network and the service area being a part of a geographical area that is covered by the cellular communication network, the method comprising the steps of defining a grid with grid lines, the grid covering the service area with one or more tiles framed by the grid lines; determining whether there is at least one split tile that results from splitting the one or more tiles along closer grid lines and that does not overlap with the service area; splitting the one or more tiles along the closer grid lines based on the determining; and providing the network service in the split tiles that cover the service area.
US09867014B2

Techniques are described for providing a meeting notification and automatic modification service. A system may be configured to identify an appointment in a calendar application, identify a geographic location of the appointment, and identify, before the appointment time, a geographic location of a first participant of the appointment. Based on the geographic information, the system may identify a route extending from the geographic location of the first participant to the geographic location of the appointment, and may identify a travel time associated with the route. Based on the travel time and the appointment time, the system may determine whether the first participant is estimated to arrive at the appointment on time and, based on the determination, the system may send a message to participants of the appointment or dynamically reschedule the appointment.
US09867009B2

A system and method for multi-beacon management including: determining occurrence of a trigger event; determining a beacon to be acted upon; determining the settings to be assigned; assigning the settings to the beacon; and operating the beacon according to the settings.
US09866999B1

Systems and methods are described for location based messaging. In one embodiment a mobile device is configured to receive a first recipient selection input identifying a second mobile device, a first content message associated with the first recipient selection input, and a first geofence input associated with the first content message, wherein the first geofence input identifies a first delivery area. The mobile device then initiates communication of the first content message from the mobile device to the second mobile device via a network, wherein the first content message is configured for presentation on the second mobile device when the second mobile device is within the first delivery area.
US09866994B2

A communication network of the present disclosure can determine a location of a communication device, such as a mobile communication device, a wireless access point, and/or a base station to provide some examples, within its geographic coverage area based upon one or more communication signals that are communicated within the communication network and/or between the communication network and another communication network. The communication network can implement a multilateration technique to determine the location of the communication device based upon the one or more communication signals as received over various signal pathways. In an embodiment, the communication device can include multiple receiving antennas for receiving the one or more communication signals over multiple first signal pathways. The multilateration technique can use the one or more communication signals as received over the multiple first signal pathways to estimate a coarse location of the mobile communication device. Thereafter, the multilateration technique can, optionally, be used to effectively refine the coarse location based upon the one or more communication signals as received over multiple second signal pathways within the communication network to estimate a fine location of the mobile communication device.
US09866993B2

Disclosed are methods, devices, systems, apparatus, servers, computer-/processor-readable media, and other implementations, including a method, performed at a processor-based wireless mobile device, that includes receiving, by the mobile device, signals that include at least one message comprising antenna information for a first wireless node transmitting the signals, and transmitting, by the mobile device, an information message including the antenna information for the first wireless node to a remote device configured to receive and store antenna data for multiple wireless nodes obtained by one or more wireless devices while visiting respective areas covered by the multiple wireless nodes.
US09866992B2

A communication device may monitor an establishment of a first type of communication link between a communication device and an external device while the communication device is in a first state in which a P2P mode of an NFC standard is active and a first mode of the NFC standard is active. The communication device may send first data to the external device by using the first type of communication link. The first data may include a command for causing the external device to execute an activation of a particular application. The communication device may change the state of the communication device from the first state to a second state in which the P2P mode is active, and perform the two-way communication with the external device that operates the particular application by using a second type of communication link.
US09866988B2

Systems and methods for remote device customization and modification are provided. Various embodiments remove the need for a carrier to source multiple types of the same user equipment. In some embodiments, the user equipment can be customized upon activation using network communications. Historically, a carrier might have a variant of a phone for each mobile virtual network operator. However, management of the inventory and custom builds can be difficult and expensive. Some embodiments provide for a single global SKU and a single blank-slate device from an original equipment manufacturer. Carrier detection can be used when the phone is activated to create customized phone settings. For example, the look and feel can be updated to match preferences of a carrier (e.g., wallpaper, ringtones, default apps, etc.), corporate client, family, or another specified group of users.
US09866984B2

A method includes extracting a difference value through extraction of features of a front audio channel signal and a surround channel of multichannel sound content by setting the front audio channel signal and the surround channel as input and output channel signals, respectively, training a deep neural network (DNN) model by setting the input channel signal and the difference value as an input and an output of the DNN model, respectively, normalizing a frequency-domain signal of the input channel signal by converting the input channel signal into the frequency-domain signal, and extracting estimated difference values by decoding the normalized frequency-domain signal through the DNN model, deriving an estimated spectral amplitude of the surround channel based on the front audio channel signal and the difference value, and deriving an audio signal of a final surround channel by converting the estimated spectral amplitude of the surround channel into the time domain.
US09866977B2

The application relates to a portable electronic device comprising a) a folded substrate carrying components of the device, and b) another, separate component having a fixed outer contour, and c) a housing for enclosing said folded substrate and said separate component, said housing having an inner contour, wherein said folded substrate is folded from a planar substrate along a folding line, said folded substrate exhibiting outer edges comprising a folded edge following said folding line. The application further relates to a method of manufacturing a folded substrate. The object of the present application is to facilitate miniaturization of a portable electronic device, such as a hearing aid. The problem is solved in that the folded substrate is shaped to provide that at least one of said outer edges follow(s) the fixed outer contour of the separate component and/or the inner contour of said housing. This has the advantage of providing a larger area on the substrate to place components and soldering points thereby improving the use of the available space in the portable electronic device. The invention may e.g. be used in electronic devices where volume utilization is an important design parameter, e.g. hearing aids comprising a part adapted for being mounted in an ear canal of a user, e.g. in the bony part of the ear canal.
US09866973B2

A method for maintaining battery balancing of a hearing aid in an electronic device is provided. The method includes establishing a connection with a first hearing aid, determining whether the connection with the first hearing aid is maintained for more than a specific period, and if the connection with the first hearing aid is maintained for more than the specific period, establishing a connection with a second hearing aid.
US09866968B2

A microphone includes a plurality of vibration membrane electrodes, and a plurality of fixing membrane electrodes that respectively faces the plurality of vibration membrane electrodes and forms a plurality of unit capacitors along with the facing vibration membrane electrodes, wherein the plurality of unit capacitors generates a plurality of unit output signals according to inputs of a power source and a sound source, and outputs a signal combining the plurality of unit output signals as an output signal corresponding to the sound source.
US09866967B2

A diaphragm for a loudspeaker drive unit or for a microphone includes a rigid dome-shaped member having a thickness that varies from a first thicker thickness at a first location at the periphery of the dome-shaped member to a second thinner thickness at a second location, which is nearer to the center of the dome-shaped member. There is a step-wise change in thickness at a location between the first location and the second location. Having greater thickness at the periphery of the dome-shaped member may improve stiffness of the diaphragm and may allow for an increased break-up frequency. Having thinner material elsewhere in the dome-shaped member may allow the mass of the diaphragm to be kept low and may result in better acoustic sensitivity.
US09866966B2

A wireless audio system may be configured with a mobile communication device that is concurrently wirelessly connected to first and second monitors, respectively, via first and second wireless pathways. The first and second wireless pathways can be different and provide stereo audio reproduction with the first and second monitors with 5 ms of latency or less.
US09866964B1

A computing system with multiple audio devices local to an environment to provide synchronized audio output to a user. A remote system receives a local audio signal representing sound captured from an environment from a local audio device and a remote audio signal representing sound captured from the environment from the remote audio device. The server determines a delay associated with the local audio signal and a delay associated with the remote audio signals and, based on the delays, synchronizes the audio being output by the local and remote devices.
US09866963B2

An audio enhancement system can provide spatial enhancement, low frequency enhancement, and/or high frequency enhancement for headphone audio. The spatial enhancement can increase the sense of spaciousness or stereo separation between left and right headphone channels. The low frequency enhancement can enhance bass frequencies that are unreproducible or attenuated in headphone speakers by emphasizing harmonics of the low bass frequencies. The high frequency enhancement can emphasize higher frequencies that may be less reproducible or poorly tuned for headphone speakers. In some implementations, the audio enhancement system provides a user interface that enables a user to control the amount (e.g., gains) of each enhancement applied to headphone input signals. The audio enhancement system may also be designed to provide one or more of these enhancements more effectively when headphones with good coupling to the ear are used.
US09866962B2

A system may include a left ear piece having an ear piece housing, a short range transceiver disposed within the ear piece housing, and a speaker disposed within the ear piece housing. The system may further include a right ear piece having an ear piece housing, a short range transceiver disposed within the ear piece housing, a speaker disposed within the ear piece housing. The system is adapted to play stereophonic audio using the left ear piece and the right ear piece.
US09866959B2

A self-biasing output booster amplifier having an input amplifier stage, an output amplifier stage being operatively connected to an output of the input amplifier stage, and first and second current copying circuits. The second current copying circuit is biased from an output of the self-biasing output booster amplifier. The first and second current copying circuits are configured to copy at least a portion of the current through the output amplifier stage. The sum of the output of the second current copying circuit and the output of the output amplifier stage provides the output current of the self-biasing output booster amplifier, Finally, the input amplifier stage is biased from the output of the second current copying.
US09866955B2

Provided are methods and systems for enhancing the intelligibility of an audio (e.g., speech) signal rendered in a noisy environment, subject to a constraint on the power of the rendered signal. A quantitative measure of intelligibility is the mean probability of decoding of the message correctly. The methods and systems simplify the procedure by approximating the maximization of the decoding probability with the maximization of the similarity of the spectral dynamics of the noisy speech to the spectral dynamics of the corresponding noise-free speech. The intelligibility enhancement procedures provided are based on this principle, and all have low computational cost and require little delay, thus facilitating real-time implementation.
US09866954B2

Performance metric based stopping criteria for iterative algorithm techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a training dataset is processed by one or more computing devices using an iterative algorithm having a cost function. The processing includes, for a plurality of iterations of the iterative algorithm, computing a cost for the iterative algorithm using the cost function and a value for each of a plurality of performance metrics that are usable to infer accuracy of the iterative algorithm for a respective one of the iterations. Responsive to the processing, a particular one of the plurality of iterations is identified as a stopping criterion based at least in part on the computed values for the plurality of performance metrics and the stopping criterion is output to configure the iterative algorithm to use the stopping criterion for subsequent processing of data by the iterative algorithm.
US09866948B2

Techniques described herein generally relate to generating an audio signal with a speaker. In some examples, a speaker device is described that includes a membrane and a shutter. The membrane can be configured to oscillate along a first directional path and at a first frequency effective to generate an ultrasonic acoustic signal. The shutter can be positioned about the membrane and configured to modulate the ultrasonic acoustic signal such that an audio signal can be generated.
US09866946B2

A wireless headset with a headband that is constructed and arranged to fit over a user's head. The headband includes an antenna that is adapted to transmit and receive wireless signals, and electronic signal processing hardware that is electrically matched to the antenna. The headset also includes earcups carried by the headband, each earcup arranged to sit on, over or near one ear of the user. Each earcup has an audio transducer.
US09866941B2

A method for enhancing sensor measurements includes performing measurements utilizing sensors of wireless earpieces, analyzing the measurements to determine statistical confidence in the measurements, and determining whether the measurements are accurate utilizing the statistical confidence. The measurements may be biometric measurements of a user utilizing the wireless earpieces. The measurements may be environmental measurements. A wireless earpiece may include a frame for fitting in an ear of a user, a tonic engine controlling functionality of the wireless earpiece, and a plurality of sensor performing biometric measurements of the user. The logic engine perform measurements utilizing a plurality of sensors of the wireless earpiece, analyzes the measurements to determine a statistical confidence interval of the measurements, determines whether the measurements are accurate utilizing the statistical confidence interval, and optimizes the measurements to determine a biometric reading of the user in response to determining the measurements are not accurate.
US09866937B2

A vehicle includes a side wall, a ceiling and a speaker arrangement including at least one speaker. The speaker arrangement is positioned in or at the side wall and is configured such that a main sound emission direction of the speaker arrangement is directed to the ceiling.
US09866934B2

An electronic device includes an elastic member which includes a through hole and a peripheral region surrounding the through hole, a microphone as an acoustic component which covers the through hole and is pressed against the elastic member while the microphone is in contact with the peripheral region, a support member which supports the microphone on a side of the microphone opposite to the elastic member, and a first member which presses the microphone against the elastic member with the support member being interposed.
US09866927B2

Sensor data from multiple sensors associated with a user is received. The sensors may include sensors of a smart phone, and sensors associated with other devices such as fitness trackers, video game consoles, and cameras. The sensor data is processed to identify entities such as persons, locations, and objects that may be of interest to the user. A personal digital assistant application can present information related to the identified entities to the user, and can allow the user to perform various queries with respect to the identified entities, and previously identified entities. In addition, the identified entities can be used to trigger one or more rules including recording when and where a particular entity is identified, and generating an alert when a particular entity is identified.
US09866924B2

Systems and methods for enhanced television interaction are disclosed. For example, one disclosed method includes receiving notification information, the notification information indicating an event associated with video content displayed by a television device; determining a haptic effect associated with the notification information; generating and transmitting a haptic signal to a haptic output device, the haptic signal configured to cause the haptic output device to output the haptic effect.
US09866922B2

A method for controlling playback of video data on a first device (12) by a second device (13) is disclosed, which includes, at the level of the second device, presenting an image corresponding to a section of the video data; and in response to a change of the presentation status of the image, transmitting a command to the first device to adapt the playback status of the section of video data on the first device as a function of the change of the presentation status of the image.
US09866913B1

A binary TV system and a method for a binary TV system are provided. The binary TV system comprises a TV program managing module configured to acquire a user preference for TV programs, and generate messages of recommended actions to be performed by a TV; a content recommender module configured to analyze the user preference and generate a recommendation of TV programs matching the user preference; a channel monitoring module configured to monitor and recognize a current TV program a user is watching; an advertisements (Ads) detecting module configured to detect advertisements in a specific TV channel; and a TV controlling module configured to send the messages generated by the TV controlling module to the TV. The user and the TV is communicated with each other through a binary interaction.
US09866912B2

A method, apparatus, and system are disclosed for controlling a set-top box based on natural input from a user through various types of devices. Input devices are used to collect sensor data that represents natural user input for controlling the set-top box. The sensor data is parsed in order to identify the natural user input, and a user interface event is generated based on the natural user input. The user interface event is one that is supported by the set-top box. The user interface event is subsequently communicated to the set-top box.
US09866911B2

A system for conducting a voice call includes a set-top box operable to control the selection of a television channel for display on a television. The set-top box is also operable to initiate a voice call in response to a selection of a user-interface displayed on the television. The system also includes a wireless set in communication with the set-top box, the wireless set operable to establish a portion of the voice path for the voice call. Signaling for the voice call is initiated by the set-top box.
US09866910B2

A video-on-demand (VOD) content delivery system has a VOD Application Server which manages a database of templates for presentation of video content elements of different selected types categorized in hierarchical order. A web-based Content Management System receives content uploaded online in file formats with metadata for title and topical area, and automatically converts it into video data format compatible with the VOD content delivery system indexed by title and topical area. A User Interface for the system delivers listings data to the viewer's TV indexed by title and topical area specified by the uploaded metadata.
US09866905B1

A system and method for polling a plurality of client devices of different types are provided. A reboot and polling tool pre-polls client devices, where the pre-poll is specific to a type of client device and identifies a state of the client devices. The reboot and polling tool then executes a script on the client devices that changes the state of the plurality of client devices. After the script is executed, the reboot and polling tool post-polls the client devices where the post-poll is specific to the type of client device and the post-poll provides information that identifies changes in the state of the client devices caused by the script.
US09866904B1

Interaction recognition of a television content interaction device is discussed herein. An embodiment operates by receiving, by at least one processor, interaction data from a receiver, wherein the receiver is configured to receive interaction data; determining, by at least one processor, an interaction from the interaction data; storing, by at least one processor, the determined interaction; selecting, by at least one processor, a content modification based upon the determined interaction; and modifying, by at least one processor, content streamed to the receiver according to the selected content modification.
US09866901B1

Tuning data representing a television viewing event associated with a particular household is accessed. Household member data representing information on individual members of the particular household is accessed. Viewing profile data representing information on individual members of other households regarding viewership by the individual members of the other households is accessed. Fractional viewership values for the individual members of the particular household are determined based on the tuning data, the household member data, and the viewing profile data. Household viewership data is determined based on the fractional viewership values.
US09866893B2

Methods and systems for accessing content are provided. A non-tunable device (e.g., a device without the capability to tune to a particular channel) can access a particular channel via a tunable device (e.g., a device with the capability to tune to the particular channel). A computing device can facilitate content tuning. As an example, the non-tunable device can send user information (e.g., a request for content) to the computing device. The computing device can reserve the available tuner and transmit the tuning information (e.g., tuner reservation identifier) to the non-tunable device. Upon receiving the tuning information, the non-tunable device can transmit a tuning request (e.g., all or portion of tuning information, device identifier) to the tunable device. Upon receiving the tuning request, the tunable device can tune to the particular requested channel and transmit a data asset (e.g., requested content, tuning denial) to the non-tunable device.
US09866880B2

Systems and methods for push-based dynamic bandwidth allocation deliver addressable, advertising content in a digital network. Bandwidth is allocated on a push basis in response to receiving a trigger from a content distribution stream. The trigger contains data indicating an addressable break. A portion of bandwidth is then allocated to an addressable content stream based on the data of the trigger. The addressable content stream is then streamed to a receiver during the addressable break and the receiver is tuned from the broadcast stream to the addressable content stream for the duration of the addressable break. The additional bandwidth is de-allocated at the end of the addressable break.
US09866878B2

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of this invention provide for encoding and playing back video at different frame rates using enhancement layers. In a number of embodiments, video is encoded using temporal scalability involving the creation of a base layer at a first frame rate and an enhancement layer including additional frames enabling playback at a second higher frame rate. The second higher frame rate can also be referred to as an enhanced frame rate. In a number of embodiments, the base and enhancement layers are stored in one or more container files that contain metadata describing the enhancement layer. Based on the capabilities of a playback device, it can select the particular frame rate at which to playback encoded video.
US09866870B2

An image processing device including a decoding section configured to decode an image from an encoded stream, a horizontal filtering section configured to apply a deblocking filter to a vertical block boundary within an image to be decoded by the decoding section, a vertical filtering section configured to apply a deblocking filter to a horizontal block boundary within an image to be decoded by the decoding section, and a control section configured to cause the horizontal filtering section to filter in parallel a plurality of vertical block boundaries included in a processing unit containing a plurality of coding units and cause the vertical filtering section to filter in parallel a plurality of horizontal block boundaries included in the processing unit.
US09866869B2

In an example, a method of coding video data includes coding, by a video coder, at least a portion of a picture of an independently decodable non-base layer of a multi-layer bitstream. The method also includes coding, by the video coder, data indicating a picture order count (POC) value reset for a POC least significant bits (LSB) value of the picture only when the picture has a POC LSB value for the picture is equal to zero.
US09866861B2

Method and apparatus for deriving a temporal motion vector predictor are described. A method for deriving a temporal motion vector predictor according to the present invention includes selecting a reference picture for a current block, determining a prediction block that corresponds to a predetermined storage unit block in the reference picture as a reference prediction unit for the current block, and deriving a temporal motion vector predictor from motion information of the determined reference prediction unit. According to the present invention, image compression efficiency can be improved.
US09866859B2

Methods are provided for inter-prediction candidate index coding independent of the construction of the corresponding inter-prediction candidate list, i.e., a merging candidate list or an advanced motion vector predictor list. A maximum allowed number of inter-prediction candidates for an inter-prediction candidate list is used for encoding the inter-prediction candidate index in an encoded bit stream. The maximum allowed number may be pre-determined or may be selected by the encoder and encoded in the bit stream. A decoder may then decode the index using the maximum allowed number of inter-prediction candidates independent of the construction of the corresponding inter-prediction candidate list.
US09866856B2

A reference picture information decoding unit (13) omits decoding of a reference list sorting presence or absence flag and/or a reference list sorting order based on the number of current picture referable pictures.
US09866855B2

A processing control device includes: a process completion map 21 which is a map corresponding to processing units of respective sizes, and in which, when process corresponding thereto is completed, setting indicating completion of the process is performed; a dependence dissolution map 23 which is a map corresponding to the processing units of the respective sizes and in which information indicating that the dependence of each process disappears is set; a controller 10 which, when the process is completed, sets information indicating that the process is completed in an area corresponding to the process within a small size of map in the process completion map 21; and a reflecting circuit 22 which reflects the information set in the process completion map 21 in the dependence dissolution map 23.
US09866852B2

Techniques and systems are provided for decoding and processing video data. For example, a method of decoding video data includes accessing an encoded video bitstream comprising multiple layers. The encoded video bitstream includes multiple access units, with a first access unit including an end of sequence network abstraction layer unit. A second access unit includes an intra random access point picture and is a next subsequent access unit in decoding order following the first access unit. The method further includes reinitializing decoding at the second access unit based on the second access unit being the next subsequent access unit in decoding order following the end of sequence network abstraction layer unit of the first access unit.
US09866842B2

A coding method including dividing pixels of a chrominance component of an input image into blocks having a predetermined size; selecting one among a direct current prediction method, a vertical prediction method, a horizontal prediction method, and a hybrid prediction method according to a user's input; generating a prediction value of each pixel in a current block to be predictively coded, using at least one pixel value among pixel values in an upper reference block adjacent to the current block and in a side reference block adjacent to the current block, according to the selected prediction method; generating a differential value between the prediction value and a corresponding real pixel value in the current block; and coding the differential value and information on the selected prediction method using a predetermined coding method.
US09866838B2

A dual-pass rate control video encoder including a first pass encoder module configured to receive uncompressed input video including a sequence of pictures, the input video including a plurality of contiguous sequences of pictures each referred to as a Group of Pictures (GOP) that, when coded, begin with an I-picture in display order and end with a last picture before a next I-picture, detect scene changes within the input video. The dual-pass rate control video encoder including a second pass encoder module configured to receive the uncompressed input video via a delay unit.
US09866832B2

Provided is a method for decoding an image. The method may include: deciding a prediction mode that corresponds to a chroma component block; deciding a transform skip mode of the chroma component block from a plurality of transform skip mode candidates, according to the prediction mode that corresponds to the chroma component block; and reverse-transforming the chroma component block on the basis of the transform skip mode that is decided.
US09866824B2

A device 120 for processing three-dimensional [3D] image data 122 for display on a 3D display 160, the 3D display being arranged for adjacently emitting, in a viewing cone 180, a series of views 100 of the 3D image data, the series of views enabling autostereoscopic viewing of the 3D image data at multiple viewing positions 182, 184 in the viewing cone by a viewer perceiving two different ones of the series of views, and the device comprising an indicator generator 140 arranged for establishing a graphical shape in the 3D image data for, when being displayed on the 3D display, providing to the viewer a position indicator graphically representing a relative position of the two different ones of the series of views within the series of views.
US09866823B2

A transmission type head mounted display device includes a distance measuring unit that measures a distance to a specific point in an outside scene, an image display unit that is capable of transmitting the outside scene and displays an image, and an image setting unit that controls the image display unit such that the image can be stereoscopically displayed at the position of measured distance, and in a case where the measured distance is changed, sets the image stereoscopically displayed at the position of the distance measured before the change as the image to be stereoscopically displayed at the position of the distance measured after the change over a time longer than a time required for the measured distance be changed.
US09866817B2

A camera module is provided. The camera module includes a number of camera assembles. Each of the camera assembles includes a lens unit and an electromagnetic driving unit. The electromagnetic driving unit includes at least one magnetic element for controlling the movement of the corresponding lens unit. The distance between two of the magnetic elements, which are closest to each other and respectively positioned in two of the camera assemblies, is greater than the distance between two of the light through holes, to which the two of the camera assemblies are arranged to correspond.
US09866814B2

A method of synchronizing reference image with additional image in digital broadcasting includes generating at least one frame having predetermined identifier for providing notice of the start time of the reference image to receiver in advance; and transmitting at least one frame having the predetermined identifier to the receiver. Alternatively, the method of synchronizing reference image with additional image of includes generating signaling information containing additional image interlocking information at a transmission side in order to prepare for the additional image interlocked with the reference image at a reception side in advance; and providing the signaling information to the receiver. Therefore, it is possible to accurately and effectively perform the synchronization of 3D reference image with 3D additional image stored in the receiver or a streamed 3D additional image.
US09866801B2

This application discloses a home video capturing and monitoring system including a video camera, an executable application, and a remote server. The video camera further includes a camera configured to capture video data, a wireless antenna, a wireless transceiver coupled to the wireless antenna and configured to wirelessly communicate video data captured by the camera to a mobile phone, and one or more infrared light emitting diodes configured to illuminate a field of view with infrared light upon a determination that ambient light is low. The application is executed by the mobile phone, and configured to receive the video data captured by the camera and display the captured video data for review by a user of the mobile phone. The remote server is configured to receive, store and analyze the video data communicated from the video camera, and alert the user based on the analysis of the received video data.
US09866799B1

An embodiment of a video monitoring system has at least one video camera directed at a detection system for obtaining video of the detection system. The detection system has a light source. A controller is coupled to the at least one video camera. The controller is configured to determine that the light source illuminates from the video of the detection system obtained by the at least one video camera. The controller is further configured to indicate an alarm in response to determining that the light source illuminates.
US09866797B2

Various embodiments concern a system for monitoring a patient in a bed, the system comprising a camera, a user interface comprising a screen, and a computing system. The computing system can be configured to monitor, with the camera, for motion within each of a plurality of zones, the plurality of zones comprising a one or more inner zones extending adjacent along the bed, one or more outer zones extending adjacent along the one or more inner zones, and one or more end zones. Motion within the inner zones can trigger a fall alert while motion within the outer or end zones can suspend one or more functions to prevent the fall alert from being issued. The end zones can comprise a bottom zone and one or more top zones.
US09866795B2

A videoconferencing system and method using personalized, 3D interactive animations across screen barriers. Via auditory, behavior, visual, or computer-inputted cues, preloaded images, sounds, and gestures as well as customized images, sounds, and gestures can be manipulated and sent into and across one or more videoconference feeds in the form of animated sequences. These images, sounds, and gestures can be mapped onto the images of users' faces or other features within the video feed frame.
US09866787B2

A method for configuring a plurality of networked cameras includes sending a request to the plurality of networked cameras requesting information relating to enabled storage type of each networked camera, receiving a response from networked cameras. The response includes information relating to storage type enabled in networked camera. The method further includes determining storage type to use for each networked camera that are enabled to autonomously store images at a storage means, where the determining of storage type is performed based on the information relating to enabled storage types received from these networked cameras, and sending a storage instruction to each camera for which a storage type has been determined. The storage instruction instructs a camera to store captured images on a storage means of a specific type.
US09866783B2

A mobile terminal and a method for a mobile terminal are provided. The mobile terminal includes a display unit, a controller to separate a main screen and a sub screen from video data, the main screen to be displayed on an external display device and the sub screen to be displayed on the display unit, and an interface to wirelessly transmit the main screen to the external display device for display while the sub screen is displayed on the display unit.
US09866782B2

Network connectivity is used to share relevant visual and other sensory information between vehicles, as well as delivering relevant information provided by network services to create an enhanced view of the vehicle's surroundings. The enhanced view is presented to the occupants of the vehicle to provide an improved driving experience and/or enable the occupants to take proper action (e.g., avoid obstacles, identify traffic delays, etc.). In one example, the enhanced view comprises information that is not visible to the naked eye and/or cannot be currently sensed by the vehicle's sensors (e.g., due to a partial or blocked view, low visibility conditions, hardware capabilities of the vehicle's sensors, position of the vehicle's sensors, etc.).
US09866772B2

A method for correcting and presenting a barrel distorted image is disclosed. In the method an output image is created having a user-defined aspect ratio (AR), and the method comprises acquiring a continuous flow of barrel distorted images in a video camera and processing the image in an image processing unit. The processed image is added as an output image to an image stream, and the actual processing includes applying a barrel distortion correction so as to form a corrected image having a smallest width (w′) and a smallest height (h′), and generating the output image by cropping the corrected image to a height exceeding or equaling the smallest height (h′) and having the user-defined aspect ratio (AR).
US09866770B2

In time-delay-and-integrate (TDI) imaging, a charge-couple device (CCD) integrates and transfers charge across its columns. Unfortunately, the limited well depth of the CCD limits the dynamic range of the resulting image. Fortunately, TDI imaging can be implemented with a digital focal plane array (DFPA) that includes a detector, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and counter in each pixel and transfer circuitry connected adjacent pixels. During each integration period in the TDI scan, each detector in the DFPA generates a photocurrent that the corresponding ADC turns into digital pulses, which the corresponding counter counts. Between integration periods, the DFPA transfers the counts from one column to the next, just like in a TDI CCD. The DFPA also non-destructively transfers some or all of the counts to a separate memory. A processor uses these counts to estimate photon flux and correct any rollovers caused by “saturation” of the counters.
US09866767B2

Embodiments facilitate in-time registration of temporally separated image acquisition sessions to obtain highly comparable images without physical restraint of the camera and/or subject. For example, while displaying a live view being acquired of a subject in real time in a viewfinder window of an image acquisition system, a live position of the system can be measured, a real-time offset can be computed between the live position and a guide position (corresponding to a position from which a prior image of the subject was acquired at a prior acquisition time), and a guide can be overlaid on the viewfinder window to indicate a real-time positional offset between the live view and the prior image according to the real-time offset. A present image of the subject can be acquired when the guide indicates an in-time registration between the live view and the prior image.
US09866766B2

A method and a multi-camera system for obtaining pictures with improved image quality. At least two cameras are used for each capturing an image, and a fast shooting mode is employed. The fast shooting mode may work in a preprocessing mode, in which the captured image of highest sharpness is acquired as a final picture, or may work in a post processing mode, in which multiple captured images are acquired, and are then post-processed to obtain a final picture of high image quality. In both modes it may be automatically determined, whether to activate the fast shooting mode or not. The determination is based on a relative movement of the multi-camera system to an object of interest, or is based on a shooting behavior of the user.
US09866762B2

Provided is a method for controlling a video lens in an image capture device which uses a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. A vertical sync (Vsync) signal and a horizontal sync (Hsync) signal are separately generated and then synthesized. Thereafter, the resulting signal is synthesized with a DC level mode luminance signal to generate a lens control signal for controlling the video lens.
US09866761B2

Provided is an image processing device including an obtaining unit configured to obtain image data, a first modulator that multiplies a first coefficient by a reflection-absorption component, which is based on a difference between a pixel value of a pixel of interest among the image data and an illumination component of the pixel of interest, to modulate the reflection-absorption component, a second modulator that multiplies a second coefficient by the illumination component to modulate the illumination component, and an adding unit that adds the reflection-absorption component after modulation to the illumination component after modulation.
US09866760B2

This application discloses a lighting emitting diode (LED) illumination system that operates at least in a boost mode and a bypass mode. The LED illumination system includes a plurality of LEDs and bypass elements. Each bypass element is coupled in parallel with one or more LEDs, and configured to bypass them selectively in the bypass mode. A boost converter is configured to drive the LEDs. The boost converter includes a boost controller that is configured to enable the boost mode in response to a boost enable signal. In the boost mode, the boost controller is electrically coupled to control the boost converter to drive the LEDs by a boosted drive voltage, and in the bypass mode, the boost controller is deactivated to allow the boost converter to drive a subset of the LEDs by a regular drive voltage that is substantially lower than the boosted drive voltage.
US09866757B2

A system including at least first and second wearable mobile devices and optionally one or more smartphones or other computing devices for allowing a wearable mobile device wearer, an on-site observer, and a remote observer to research and test usability of products in mobile settings, mobile applications, mobile devices, and wearable mobile devices, desktop usability settings, and other settings and devices. The devices nm a software application for generating first-person video and third-person video, transmitting the video to the other devices, marking the videos with time stamps, and allowing the remote observer to send messages and other information to the other devices.
US09866749B2

A system for publishing digital images wherein a mobile device (14) that stores at least one digital image generates output signals in response to operator commands. The mobile device (14) communicates with a source of digital instructions (18) thorough a communication network (16) such that digital instructions are downloaded to the mobile device. The mobile device is thereafter in selective communication with a server (12) that stores digital images, maintains a user profile corresponding to the user of the mobile device, and publishes digital images to at least one digital address (24, 26, 28, 30).
US09866740B2

An apparatus is described that includes an image sensor having a first output port and a second output port. The first output port is to transmit a first image stream concurrently with a second image stream transmitted from the second output port.
US09866738B2

A manufacturing method of an image pickup apparatus includes a step of manufacturing an image pickup device chip, a step of manufacturing a wiring board having first terminals and second terminals disposed on both sides of a first primary surface with a central flexible portion intervened in between, a step of joining a heat conductive block to a second primary surface of the wiring board, a step of joining the image pickup device chip to the first terminals of the wiring board, a step of performing solder joining of core wires of a cable to the second terminals of the wiring board by conducting heat generated by a heat tool through the heat conductive block, a step of bending the wiring board, and a step of performing housing inside a frame member, and sealing with sealing resin.
US09866737B2

An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging optical system provided on a front side of the imaging apparatus facing a subject and configured to collect light from a field of view area; an image sensor configured to receive the light collected from the field of view area via the imaging optical system to generate image data; an optical sighting unit configured to transmit the light from the field of view area collected by the imaging optical system and to produce a virtual image of a light beam or a sighting mark in an area where the light from the field of view area transmits; and an imaging control unit configured to perform imaging under imaging control corresponding to driving of the optical sighting unit when the optical sighting unit is driven.
US09866735B2

A camera module of the present invention, provided by adhering a glass substrate to the cover body so that the glass substrate covers an opening of a sensor cover for covering an image pickup element mounted on a wiring substrate, which opening is provided above the image pickup element, the camera module includes: an image pickup package having an internal space provided by the glass substrate, the sensor cover, and the glass substrate; and an image pickup lens provided above the glass substrate of the image pickup package, wherein at least one ventilation groove (G) for allowing the internal space to communicate with open air is provided on an adhesive surface of the glass substrate of the sensor cover.
US09866728B2

An information processing apparatus includes a first near field communication unit that transmits a first wireless signal for performing first near field communication; a second near field communication unit that transmits a second wireless signal for performing second near field communication; and a communication control unit that controls the first and second near field communication units such that the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal are alternately transmitted, identification information of a user is acquired from a terminal device via the first near field communication when connection via the first near field communication is established in response to transmitting the first wireless signal, and identification information of the information processing apparatus is transmitted to the terminal device via the second near field communication when connection via the second near field communication is established in response to transmitting the second wireless signal.
US09866723B2

A printing apparatus to which an option unit can be connected includes a storage unit configured to store an update program for updating an option unit program, and an update unit configured to, if an option unit has been connected to the printing apparatus, update the option unit program using an update program stored by the storage unit.
US09866717B2

An image forming apparatus including a wireless communication circuitry configured to make a wireless communication with a portable information processing device including a display unit; and a computer and a memory storing a program causing the computer to execute: a recognition step recognizing a portable information processing device that is within a communicable range through communication via the wireless communication circuitry; a job setting step receiving a job setting, and a job control step receiving a start instruction and executing the job in response to the start instruction, wherein the job setting step receives the job setting, which is made in the portable information processing device, via the wireless communication circuitry after the portable information processing device falls within the communicable range.
US09866713B2

A reading device includes a first housing, and a second housing capable of being attached and detached in relation to the first housing, in which the first housing includes a reading unit which reads a document according to a reading mode, and a power transmission circuit which wirelessly supplies power to the second housing according to the reading mode, and in which the second housing includes a power reception circuit which wirelessly receives power from the power transmission circuit.
US09866707B2

A volume adjustment method and apparatus, and a terminal is presented. Perform analysis on the collected sound signal surrounding a user terminal, to obtain composition information, where the composition information includes sound types included in the sound signal and proportions of sounds of the various types, and the sound types include blank sound, human sound, and noise; determine a current scene mode of the user terminal according to the composition information; and adjust volume of the user terminal according to the determined scene mode, thereby significantly reducing occurrence of a case, caused by mistaken determining of the scenario, in which play volume adjustment does not conform to the scenario, and enhancing user experience.
US09866688B1

A method for providing file-based media on hold (MOH) services in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system includes selecting an MOH file and streaming digital content of the MOH file to a communication device while a call is on hold. If the call is removed from hold and placed back on hold a second time, the digital content of the MOH file is streamed to the communication device while the call is on hold the second time. The digital content is streamed from substantially a beginning of the MOH file to a first stopping point while the call is on hold the first time, and from substantially the first stopping point to a second stopping point while the call is on hold the second time.
US09866686B2

An electronic device is provided, which includes a removable SIM, a secure memory configured to store at least one profile, a processor configured to select at least one of the removable SIM and the secure memory, to be used for packet data transmission and reception, in response to an occurrence of a data service change event, and a communication interface configured to perform network registration through the selected at least one of the removable SIM and the secure memory and to transmit and receive packet data through the registered network.
US09866685B2

A method and system for displaying and producing computer based documents seamlessly to users that relate to their telephone calls is provided. The invention is able to be used with social media, where the mobile station searches for the social media page of the caller based on the Caller ID and displays it to the recipient of the call on the mobile station screen, possibly with other Internet search results. The method and system allow the user to obtain the newest public information about the person who calls him or he decides to call, or any documents that might be intermittent between the people. The system adds “bandwidth”, i.e. speed, efficiency and more dimensions to personal communication, as the users of the inventive system can also visually see by documentation what is going on in the relationship between two or more people.
US09866680B2

A communication device and system are disclosed for providing communication and data services to residents of a controlled facility. The device can be restricted to communicating only using an internet protocol so as to restrict the device communication to an internal intranet. Wireless access points may be disposed throughout the environment to route calls and data between the device and a central processing center. By converting a protocol of the communications received from the device to a protocol used by the central processing center, minimal modifications to the central processing center are needed to support a wireless communication infrastructure. Many restrictions and safeguards may be implemented within the phone and system in order to prevent improper use.
US09866678B2

The disclosure discloses a method and device for unlocking a mobile terminal, which relate to the technical field of mobile terminals. The method includes the following steps that: when a mobile terminal is in a locking state, a time length for an object to stay close to a screen of the mobile terminal and to be maintained within a pre-determined distance range is determined; a corresponding unlocking signal is generated according to the time length; and the mobile terminal is unlocked according to the unlocking signal. According to the disclosure, the mobile terminal can be encrypted and unlocked by using a distance sensor, which brings both great practicability and high confidentiality.
US09866676B1

A case for portable electronic devices including smartphones includes a feature to prevent glare from a flash from affecting images and video captured by a camera lens and also a battery to extend battery life of the electronic device. Smartphones have telephony, Internet connectivity, and camera and video features. Photos and video can be uploaded through the Internet or sent to other phones. The case has a hole for a camera flash of the smartphone to pass through. The edging of the hole is colored black or another dark color to prevent glare from appearing in the photos or video taken by the smartphone when using the camera flash.
US09866669B2

The present disclosure discloses a mobile device and a method of controlling the same. In this case, the mobile device according to the present invention includes a sensor unit configured to detect a first action and a second action of a user to fold the mobile device, a control unit configured to control a folding indicator to be outputted on a screen according to the detected first action of the user, configured to control a function corresponding to the detected second action to be executed, configured to control data resulted from executing the function to be outputted on the screen, configured to control the mobile device based on the outputted data, and a display configured to output the folding indicator and the data resulted from executing the function.
US09866668B2

Devices, systems, and methods are described for allowing a user to transfer information at desired levels by providing the user with real-time feedback regarding the level of information that has been transferred. The devices, systems, and methods establish a communication link with a target device, cause information to be transferred to the target device via the communication link, and cause an indication of a level of the information transferred to be provided to a user during transfer of the information such that the user is provided with a real time indication of the level of information that has been transferred prior to transfer of a maximum level of information that is transferable.
US09866657B2

A system network switching with layer 2 switch communicatively coupled co-resident data-plane and network interface controllers embodying a method for, receiving a packet from a communication network at the layer 2 switch; parsing the packet; and determining in accordance with a content of the parsed packet whether the packet is to be switched to one of one or more medium access controllers, or one of one or more packet input processors, or one of one or more network interface controllers of a network interface resource comprising the one or more packet input processors, one or more packet output processors, the one or more network interface controllers, and the layer 2 switch, implemented on a chip are disclosed.
US09866647B2

A method of operating a first cache device may include receiving, at the first cache device, a request to send a first asset to a second device; determining whether the first asset is stored at the first cache device; and when the determining determines that the first asset is not stored at the first cache device, obtaining, at the first cache device, the first asset, comparing, at the first cache device, a moving average of a marginal value of the first asset with respect to the first cache device and a characteristic marginal value of the first cache device, calculating a cost associated with the first asset, selectively storing the first asset at the first cache device based on the comparison, and sending the obtained first asset and the calculated cost to the second device.
US09866643B2

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing location services. Consistent with disclosed embodiments, disclosed systems and methods may include a beacon registering device for providing location services. The beacon registering device may include a non-transitory memory storing instructions. The beacon registering device may also include one or more processors that execute the stored instructions to perform operations comprising: receiving beacon information, the beacon information comprising connection information for a first beacon; updating at least one beacon entry stored in a database based on the received beacon information, the beacon entry including a beacon location, beacon connection information, and beacon metadata; receiving a beacon request from a user device, the beacon request indicating a user location; selecting beacons based on the beacon entry and the beacon request, the selected beacons including at least the first beacon; providing selected beacon information to the user device for registering the first beacon with the user device, the selected beacon information including the connection information for the first beacon.
US09866637B2

Techniques are described for distributed processing of Internet of Things (IoT) device data by edge systems co-located within a globally-distributed set of co-location facilities deployed and managed by a co-location facility provider. For example, a method includes selecting, by at least one of a plurality of edge computing systems co-located within respective co-location facilities each deployed and managed by a single co-location facility provider, a selected edge computing system of the plurality of edge computing systems to process data associated with events generated by an IoT device. The method also includes provisioning, at the selected edge computing system, an application programming interface (API) endpoint for communication with the IoT device, receiving, by the selected edge computing system at the endpoint, the data associated with the events generated by the IoT device, and processing, by the selected edge computing system, the data associated with the events generated by the IoT device.
US09866628B1

Methods, systems, and computer program products for online content referral are provided. A computer-implemented method may include receiving a request for content comprising an attribution tag associating a first user with the content where the request is received to provide the content to a second user, determining that the first user referred the content to the second user by analyzing the attribution tag in the request, and storing a record of the first user's referring of the content to the second user.
US09866624B2

Access to content may be enabled by receiving an instruction indicating a client request to access content, accessing a list of content sources capable of rendering the content for which access is requested by the client, determining a performance metric for at least two of the content sources, and selecting among the content sources based on the performance metric to identify a content source to be accessed by the client.
US09866622B1

Methods, apparatus, and computer-accessible storage media for remotely managing a gateway that serves as an interface between processes on a customer network and a service provider, for example to store data to a remote data store. The gateway sends a connection request to a gateway control server. The server holds the connection until the server receives information (e.g., information from the customer sent via the service provider) for the gateway. The server sends the information as requests via the gateway-initiated connection, and continues to hold the connection. If a server receives information for a gateway to which it does not hold a connection, the server sends the information to the server that does hold the connection. The server may either discover the appropriate server via a registration service that registers connections to gateways or broadcast the information to peer servers identified through a registration service.
US09866611B2

A display apparatus includes a detecting unit that detects terminal position information including information concerning a position of another display apparatus with respect to the display apparatus; and a display unit that displays a part of a given image based on the terminal position information detected by the detecting unit.
US09866610B2

A method for selecting a codec pair includes obtaining a first performance metric indicating a condition of a first network connected to the network node via a first communication interface, the first network including a first endpoint. A second performance metric indicating a condition of a second network connected to the network node via a second communication interface is obtained. The second network includes a second endpoint. A codec selection model is generated or updated based on the first and second performance metrics. A first codec is selected from a plurality of codecs compatible with the first endpoint based on the codec selection model. A second codec is selected from a plurality of codecs compatible with the second endpoint based on the codec selection model. The first and second codecs are used to communicate a portion of a communication session between the first endpoint and the second endpoint.
US09866593B2

An automated conversion of service information that includes endpoint addresses of service providers and security policies between independent enterprise information technology (IT) management domains is performed using a federated gateway within each of the independent enterprise IT management domains that bridges the independent enterprise IT management domains. The automated conversion of the service information allows at least one service consumer application executing within a first independent enterprise IT management domain to use a local service definition format to access at least one remote service provider application with a remote service interface defined using a different remote service definition format for execution in a second independent enterprise IT management domain. Service provider application endpoint translation is dynamically performed, in response to at least one service request for the at least one remote service provider application, using the federated gateway within each of the independent enterprise IT management domains.
US09866584B2

The method analyzes unauthorized intrusion into a computer network. Access is allowed to a virtualized operating system running on a hypervisor operating system hosted on a network device. A network attack is intercepted on the virtualized operating system using an introspection module with a virtual-machine-based rootkit module and its associated userland processes running on the hypervisor operating system. The network attack includes attack-identifying information. Forensic data is generated on the network attack from the attack-identifying information.
US09866583B2

A security device may receive a request, from a client device and intended for a server device, to provide a resource. The resource may be associated with information stored by the server device. The security device may identify the request as being associated with a malicious script. The malicious script may execute on the client device and may include a script that performs one or more undesirable tasks directed to the server device. The security device may receive, from the server device, a response to the request. The response may include information associated with the requested resource. The security device may modify the response to form a modified response. The response may be modified in an attempt to cause the malicious script to experience an error. The security device may provide the modified response to the client device.
US09866579B1

A non-transitory machine-readable media embodying instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a method is provided. In one aspect, the method includes receiving, from a first computing device associated with a first account, a request for interaction with a second computing device associated with a second account, wherein the first account is assigned a quota for interacting with one or more accounts. The method includes determining a cost associated with the interaction. The method includes, when the quota exceeds the cost, determining that the interaction is allowed and deducting the cost from the quota. Systems and methods are also provided.
US09866569B2

A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product are provided for facilitating individual-specific content management. For example, a method is provided that includes receiving information regarding at least one prerequisite condition relating to at least one individual, receiving information regarding the at least one individual, determining whether the at least one prerequisite condition is satisfied, and causing individual-specific content associated with the at least one individual to be transmitted. At least a portion of the individual-specific content comprises protected content configured to be unviewable and/or unmodifiable. The method further includes receiving at least one access credential and causing at least a portion of the protected content to be viewable and/or modifiable.
US09866565B2

Methods and apparatus for controlling data permission are disclosed herein, and embodiments include generating a relational database that includes entity objects, corresponding user identifications and obligatory relationships of corresponding permission information. The obligatory relationships include time interval information. Some methods further include receiving a request to access an entity object, and the access request comprises identification of an accessing user and an accessing timestamp. The method further includes rendering the permission information of the corresponding entity object if the identification of the accessing user is substantially similar to the corresponding identification of the entity object and the accessing timestamp is within the time interval in response to the accessing request.
US09866561B2

A business intelligence and reporting solution can include a databook interface that acts as both as a reporting mechanism and an interface for providing data visualization parameters. In some embodiments, the databook includes a plurality of palettes whereby visualization parameters can be specified through a drag-and-drop interaction with the databook. The databook can include a tab interface to select between data views, graphic visualizations of data currently in the databook, and a composite visualization mechanism that provides output to place one or more rows in context to other data in the databook and/or to forecast trends for one or more databook values. The databook may rely on an underlying dataset collected from multiple distinct sources, such as different databases. The solution may include a security policy restricting access to certain fields, records, and/or columns based on a user's role in an organization, data content, and/or a defined access hierarchy for different data items.
US09866558B2

The present disclosure provides a device, method, and system for enabling multiple wireless communication devices to communicate with a trusted network over a secure connection. The device includes a communication interface configured to communicate with the wireless communication devices and local area networks (LANs) and a processor configured to: broadcast a non-trusted service set identifier (SSID); in response to detecting a non-secure connection to a wireless communication device of the wireless communication devices using the non-trusted SSID, establish a connection to a local area network (LAN) of the LANs. In response to establishing a connection to the LAN: the processor establishes a secure connection to the trusted network; discontinues broadcast of the non-trusted SSID; and broadcasts a trusted SSID to the wireless communication devices to enable the wireless communication devices to wirelessly connect to the network device to communicate with the trusted network using the secure connection.
US09866555B2

Various embodiments are generally directed to an apparatus, method, and other techniques to maintain user authentications with common trusted devices. If a user is in possession of a first computing device (e.g., a smartphone), an unlocked state of the first trusted device is maintained if the user is using a nearby trusted device (e.g., a computer) within a certain amount of time. If the first trusted device is in a pocket or other container, a longer span of time is granted to the user to register an on-body state.
US09866551B2

Disclosed are a one time password generation device and an authentication method. The one time password generation device includes: a reference information generator that generates reference information; a virtual input means generator that generates a virtual input means in which a blank is provided; and a password generator that generates a one time password using an initial value, reference information and a blank.
US09866550B2

A method includes receiving, from a first device at a second device, a message indicating that the first device is available to share a resource. The method includes transmitting, from the second device to the first device, a request to use the resource. The method includes, in response to acceptance of the request, transmitting data to the first device, wherein a multimedia capture setting of a multimedia capture device is adjusted based on the data. The method also includes receiving multimedia content at the second device, the multimedia content captured by the multimedia capture device based on the multimedia capture setting.
US09866547B2

A discovery bundle component is applied in a virtual image deployed within a virtual environment, wherein the discovery bundle automatically discovers asset information about one or more application bundles applied to the virtual image. The discovery bundle component sends, to a discovery product service, the asset information wrapped with a trusted signed certificate for the discovery product service, wherein the discovery product service is located outside the virtual environment.
US09866530B2

A method and apparatus is shown for provision of a secure connection via a public network. In a particular implementation, a communication session may be established between an apparatus and a client device to enable the client device to receive access to one or more portions of a public network via one or more communication links. In response to receipt of a request message received from the client device, access may be established to the one or more portions of the public network using one or more identifiers from the client device to emulate the client device on the one or more portions of the public network. In response to detection of the established access to the one or more portions of the public network, an encrypted virtual private network (VPN) communication session may be established to one or more remote devices via the one or more portions of the public network.
US09866528B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes exchanging a session descriptor associated with a network connection and an application on a host, correlating the session descriptor with a network policy, and applying the network policy to the network connection. In alternative embodiments, the session descriptor may be exchanged through an out-of-band communication channel or an in-band communication channel.
US09866526B2

A system and method for the generation and presentation of candidate domain names are presented. The method includes receiving, by at least one server communicatively coupled to a network, a request to access or purchase access to a software application, the request being received from a user. Keywords associated with at least one of the user, a website of the user, and a business of the user are generated and a candidate domain name relevant to the keywords is generated. A user interface is displayed including the candidate domain name. The user interface enables the user to register the candidate domain name. A plurality of candidate domain names may be generated and organized into carousels or stacks according to a common theme. The candidate domain names may be displayed on a user interface and arranged thereon according to a relevance score of the domain name bundles.
US09866525B2

A proxy and method for performing source destination network address translation are presented. The method includes receiving a first message from a node communicatively connected to a first network to access a resource communicatively connected to a second network, wherein the first message contains at least a source address and a destination address used within the first network; translating the destination address designated in the first message to an address of the resource; generating a unique address for the destination address designated in the first message, wherein the unique address is an address not in use on the second network; providing a translated message including the translated destination address and the unique address; and forwarding the translated message to the resource communicatively connected to the second network.
US09866521B2

A determination is made whether to forward a request for communication services associated with a specific number range from a physical telephone number mapping service server to a virtual telephone number mapping service server. Responsive to determining to forward the request, a determination is made whether a virtual telephone number mapping service instance has been provisioned to handle requests associated with the specific number range.
US09866519B2

A method is provided, in one embodiment, which is performed on a client computing device, the method comprising: connecting the client with a plurality of segments of a private network, wherein the private network comprises a plurality of name resolving servers; registering the client as primary name resolving server for serving name requests for names in the private network received from applications on the client; and then forwarding the received name requests simultaneously to the plurality of name resolving servers.
US09866515B2

In one embodiment, a computing device receives an indication of a first user action by a first user. The computing device determines a topic of the first user action based on analyzing content associated with the first user action, and determines whether the first user has a preference to exclude posts associated with the topic or a category associated with the topic. If the first user has not indicated any preference to exclude posts associated with the topic or the category, then the computing device identifies a second user action by a second user and related to the topic, and determines whether the first user has indicated a preference to exclude posts associated with the second user. If the first user has not indicated any preference to exclude posts associated with the second user, the first user is provided with access to the second user action.
US09866511B2

A method, system and computer program product for ensuring that the composed message is being sent to the appropriate recipient. A message being composed by an author is detected. The intended recipient(s) to receive the composed message are identified. The composed message is then analyzed to identify one or more of the following characteristics: a topic, a greeting, a dialect, a conversation pattern and a language pattern. A profile for the intended recipient storing information regarding the characteristics of the recipient (e.g., social group, historical topics discussed, conversation pattern) is obtained. A score is generated based on the consistency between the characteristics of the analyzed message with the characteristics of the recipient obtained from the recipient's profile. A notification may then be issued to the author if the score is less than a threshold value to ensure that the intended recipient is the correct recipient to receive the composed message.
US09866507B2

A client system for monitoring elders in a residential setting, the client system comprising communication apparatus operative for sending real time localization data and elder body motion data toward at least one server configured for performing at least one elder-supporting backend service responsive to at least one of THE real time localization data and elder body motion data; and at least one real-time location subsystem including: at least one wearable (“tag”) including at least one ultra-wide-band (UWB) communication transceiver and an accelerometer operative for sensing at least one body motion of an elder wearing the tag thereby to provide the elder body motion data; and at least one anchor device for deployment in an elder's domicile including an ultra-wide-band (UWB) communication transceiver operative for real time sub-meter localization of the tag, thereby to provide the real time localization data.
US09866505B2

Implementations generally relate to configuring presence and notifications in persistent conversations. In one implementation, a method includes receiving a presence state associated with a user and causing the presence state to be selectively displayed to one or more target users. The method also includes determining that an event has occurred for which a notification is to be sent to the user, and selectively delivering the notification to the user based on the configured presence state.
US09866498B2

Technologies for identifying a cache line of a network packet for eviction from an on-processor cache of a network device communicatively coupled to a network controller. The network device is configured to determine whether a cache line of the cache corresponding to the network packet is to be evicted from the cache based on a determination that the network packet is not needed subsequent to processing the network packet, and provide an indication that the cache line is to be evicted from the cache based on an eviction policy received from the network controller.
US09866497B2

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of communications technologies, and disclose a lossless adjustment method of ODUflex channel bandwidth and ODUflex channel. The lossless adjustment method includes: respectively adjusting, according to bandwidth adjustment indication request information, a time slot occupied by an ODUflex frame in a higher order optical channel data unit at an egress side of each network node on an ODUflex channel; and adjusting, according to rate adjustment indication information, a transmission rate of the ODUflex frame of each network node on the ODUflex channel, to enable the transmission rate of each network node on the ODUflex channel to be unified.
US09866486B2

A method and a network device for transmitting a data stream are provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, can ensure the effective transmission of the data stream, and enhances the quality of service of the network. The method for transmitting a data stream includes: determining, according to a forwarding table, candidate forwarding ports for transmitting the data stream; determining, according to a priority level of the data stream and priority levels of the candidate forwarding ports, forwarding ports for transmitting the data stream; transmitting the data stream through a first forwarding port of the forwarding ports; when the first forwarding port is congested, transmitting the data stream through a second forwarding port of the forwarding ports. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be adopted to transmit the data stream.
US09866476B2

A first packet and a first direction associated with the first packet are received. The first packet is forwarded to an output port of a plurality of output ports of the first router based on the first direction associated with the first packet. A second direction associated with the first packet is determined. The second direction is based at least on an address of the first packet. The first packet and the second direction are forwarded through the output port of the first router to a second router.
US09866474B2

A system for managing server switches includes a plurality of leaf switches, a plurality of spine switches connected to each of the plurality of leaf switches, and a switch manager. The switch manager is connected to the plurality of leaf switches and the plurality of spine switches, and is configured to provide an individual controller as a virtual machine for each leaf switch and for each spine switch.
US09866462B2

An information processing system includes: a communication device; and a management device configured to manage the communication device, wherein the management device: acquires traffic information on a port of the communication device at a plurality of time points from the communication device; calculates a plurality of autocorrelation coefficients based on the traffic information at the plurality of time points; calculates a plurality of weights based on the plurality of autocorrelation coefficients; and calculates a weighted average of traffic at the plurality of time points based on the plurality of weights and the traffic information at the plurality of time points.
US09866461B2

A method includes monitoring network activity corresponding to a user device to detect a period of inactivity and generating additional network activity that is different from the network activity in response to detecting the period of inactivity. The additional network activity obscures a profile of a user. The profile is generated by a remote user tracking engine.
US09866460B2

One embodiment of the present disclosure sets forth a technique for convergence and automatic disabling of access points in a wireless mesh network. Specifically, an access point within a wireless mesh network computes one or more network metrics to determine whether the metrics are unfavorable or favorable. If the network metrics are favorable, then the access point disables the access point's network connection. An access point turns the network connection back on based on whether a routing was lost for at least a preset amount of time, utilization of one or more neighboring access points is above a preset value, or one or more network metrics have degraded by a certain percentage value. One advantage of this approach is that cost savings may be achieved when the number of access points dynamically changes to accommodate varying communications conditions.
US09866457B2

For supporting an access to a destination network by a mobile device via a wireless access network, the mobile device generates a predetermined request, which is addressed to a connectivity test server in the destination network. The predetermined request is transmitted to the wireless access network. In case the predetermined request reaches the connectivity test server, it generates a predetermined response and transmits it to the mobile device via the wireless access network. The mobile device determines whether a response to the predetermined request is received from the wireless access network and whether a received response corresponds to the predetermined response.
US09866455B2

A status inquiry message is generated at a first machine, wherein the status inquiry message is directed to one of a second machine or a service operating on the second machine. A status inquiry message is transmitted to the second machine. The first machine receives a status response message; the status response message indicating management information from the second machine.
US09866450B2

In one embodiment, a processor-readable medium can be configured to store code representing instructions to be executed by a processor. The code can include code to receive a request to change a value representing a number of data center units included in a set of data center units assigned to a user. Each of the data center units from the set of data center units can be associated with hardware resources managed based on a set of predefined hardware resource limit values. The code can include code to determine, in response to the request, whether hardware resources of a data center unit mutually exclusive from hardware resources of the set of data center units and managed based on the set of predefined resource limit values is available for assignment to the user when the request to change is an increase request.
US09866444B2

Embodiments herein provide for a method of dynamically converting servers and a computer and storage readable medium configured to do the same. In the method a first server enters a server conversion while a second server performs one or more network services. A current physical hardware configuration and logical hardware configuration of a first server and a second server is verified. Possible conversions are calculated of one or more valid logical hardware configurations and one or more valid physical hardware configurations based on the current hardware configurations of the first server and the second server. A valid physical hardware configuration is selected for both servers from the calculated possible conversions. The physical hardware is updated for the conversion of the physical hardware configuration of the first server. The current logical configuration of the first server converts to a valid logical hardware configuration based on the calculated possible conversions.
US09866443B1

Apparatus and methods are described for configuring data switches with server data port information. In a first embodiment of the invention, a computing device is provided. The computing device includes a network interface controller (NIC) card coupled to a data network, a central processing unit (CPU), and a basic input/output system (BIOS) with a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) service. In the computing device, the CPU is configured for receiving a signal indicating a change at the NIC card and configuring the CPU to initiate a BIOS session in response to the signal. Further, the BIOS session is configured to allow the BIOS to perform, via the CPU, operations for the LLDP service including transmitting to a data switch of the data network via the NIC card a LLDP packet including information for the NIC card based on the change.
US09866442B2

Methods and systems for embedding VI demands in a software-defined network include mapping virtual nodes over physical nodes in a network topology. An auxiliary graph including virtual links between physical nodes that have a residual capacity sufficient to meet a virtual infrastructure demand is constructed. Virtual links over physical links are mapped to maximize use of existing optical channels and to minimize switching of a virtual link between a wavelength division multiplexing layer and an IP layer. New optical channels with a maximum spectral efficiency are established. A set of potential solutions for embedding a set of virtual infrastructure demands is determined. A solution is selected from the set of potential solutions that maximizes a weighted average of spectrum needed to support the set of virtual infrastructure demands and a cost of provisioning the virtual infrastructure demands.
US09866430B2

The present invention addresses apparatuses, methods and computer program product for providing enhanced improved network management. When a communication failure between an Element Management System and a super-ordinate Network Management System occurs, the Element Management System is switched over to forward event reports to a pre-defined peer Element Management System. In case the communication is re-established, the usual functionality is restored and the re-routing of event reports to the peer Element Management System is stopped.
US09866429B2

Novel tools and techniques for implementing Transparent PSTN Failover. In some embodiments, a VoIP switch might receive a call request for connection between a calling party at a calling telephone number (“TN”) and a called party at a called TN. Based on a determination that connection via a session border controller (“SBC”) between the VoIP switch and an Internet Protocol (“IP”) gateway has been lost, the VoIP switch might route the call request to a PSTN redirect TN through the PSTN. One of the Class 5 switch of the PSTN or the IP gateway might replace the redirect TN with the called TN, based on a determination that the redirect TN represents a PSTN failover. The IP gateway may then route the call request to an IP PBX for terminating (establishing) the call connection between calling party and called party, without interception by an operator, receptionist, or auto attendant.
US09866428B2

A network device includes a first and a second control board, with each control board having a separate control plane and fabric plane. The network device is configured to establish an active control plane on the first control board and an active fabric plane on the second control board. The network device is configured to establish a standby fabric plane on the first control board and a standby control plane on the second control board. The network device is configured to detect a failure on the first control board or the second control board and switch the status of the control plane on the second control board from standby to active, when the failure is on the first control board, and switches the status of the fabric plane on the first control board from standby to active when the failure is on the second control board.
US09866418B2

A computing device operating according to a frequency division multiplexed protocol in which communication occurs over a signal formed from a plurality of sub-channels selected from anywhere in a frequency spectrum. A computing device may select sub-channels cognitively by using information about sub-channels previously deemed suitable or unsuitable by that computing device or other computing devices. A described technique for determining sub-channel suitability includes analyzing radio frequency energy in the sub-channel to detect signals generated by another computing device or high noise levels. Information may also be used to cognitively select sub-channels to be analyzed, such as by first selecting for analysis previously-used sub-channels.
US09866414B2

A RF-digital hybrid mode power amplifier system for achieving high efficiency and high linearity in wideband communication systems is disclosed. The present invention is based on the method of adaptive digital predistortion to linearize a power amplifier in the RF domain. The present disclosure enables a power amplifier system to be field reconfigurable and support multi-modulation schemes (modulation agnostic), multi-carriers and multi-channels. As a result, the digital hybrid mode power amplifier system is particularly suitable for wireless transmission systems, such as base-stations, repeaters, and indoor signal coverage systems, where baseband I-Q signal information is not readily available.
US09866407B2

A cloud server acquires a stop period indicating a period during which a management server refrains from providing services; transmits connection requests to said management server if not in the stop period; establishes first communication session when establishment requests including the same address information as address information of connection destination included in the connection request are received from a relay device receiving connection requests forwarded from the management server after transmission of connection requests; transmits jobs to a control target device via first communication session; after first communication session is established, in response to acquisition of result of jobs executed by the control target device, if in the stop period, disconnects first communication session after the stop period finished; and if jobs are generated in the stop period, transmits to the control target device jobs generated in the stop period, via first communication session established before the stop period starts.
US09866406B2

The present invention discloses an overlay switch (OSW) and a method used by the same. A received unicast packet needs to pass a waypoint chain including a number of waypoints. A network address of a first waypoint of the waypoint chain and an underlay network address of a second OSW connected to the first waypoint are obtained. In response to a determination that the second OSW is not the first OSW the unicast packet is encapsulated into a first underlay network packet according to a specification of an overlay network. A field of a destination header of the first underlay network packet includes the underlay network address of the second OSW. The first underlay network packet is sent to the second OSW.
US09866402B2

A remote care system for an apartment building includes: a home electric appliance installed in a housing unit structuring an apartment building; a sensor that is provided in the home electric appliance and senses the behavior of a resident in the housing unit; and a remote monitoring apparatus that remotely controls the home electric appliance installed in each of a plurality of housing units based on sensing information transmitted from the sensor. This realizes implementation and operation of a remote care system for an apartment building using a major appliance used in ordinary households.
US09866393B1

A system and method for generating a signature for a document using an identity verification token. The identity verification token receives a request that includes a set of credential data from a signatory, obtains a document identifier that identifies the document to a service provider, and obtains a token identifier that identifies the identity verification token to the service provider. The identity verification token generates the signature based at least in part on the obtained document identifier, the received set of credential data, and obtained the token identifier, and provides the signature.
US09866392B1

A web of trust in a distributed system is established. A root of trust for at least two components in the distributed system validates information for the distributed system. The validated information is then used to create additional information for the distributed system. Versions of the information are usable to validate subsequent versions of the information such that validation of a version of the information can be performed by using one or more previous versions to verify that the version is a valid successor of a previously validated previous version.
US09866378B2

An encryption method includes displaying encryption target data on a display screen as an image, performing first acceptance in which designation of an at least partial region of the displayed image is accepted, performing second acceptance in which designation regarding splitting of the designated at least partial region is accepted, and splitting data that is included in the encryption target data and corresponds to the designated at least partial region in accordance with the designation regarding the splitting under a secret sharing scheme.
US09866377B2

A system and method is disclosed for performing unified broadcast encryption and traitor tracing for digital content. In one embodiment a media key tree is divided into S subtrees, the media key tree including media keys and initial values, which may be random values. The digital content is divided into a plurality of segments and at least some of the segments are converted into a plurality of variations. The random values are transformed into media key variations and a separate media key variant is assigned to each of the subdivided subtrees. A unified media key block including the media key tree is stored on the media.
US09866372B2

An encryption apparatus includes a setting generator configured to generate an increasing function parameter regarding a predetermined one-way increasing function and a secret key necessary for encryption, and an encryptor configured to generate a first order-preserving encryption area regarding a plaintext using the one-way increasing function where the increasing function parameter is applied, generate a second encryption area regarding the plain text using the secret key, and generate a ciphertext by concatenating the generated first encryption area and the generated second encryption area.
US09866371B2

A cryptographic calculation includes obtaining a point P(X,Y) from a parameter t on an elliptical curve Y2=f(X) and from polynomials satisfying: −f(X1(t))·f(X2(t))=U(t)2 in the finite body Fq, irrespective of the parameter t, q=3 mod 4. A value of the parameter t is obtained and the point P is determined by: (i) calculating X1=X1 (t), X2=X2(t) and U=U(t); (ii) testing whether the term f(X−1) is a squared term in the finite body Fq and, if so, calculating the square root of the term f(X1), the point P having X1 as abscissa and Y1, the square root of the term f(X1), as ordinate; (iii) otherwise, calculating the square root of the term f(X2), the point P having X2, as abscissa and Y2, the square root of the term f(X2), as ordinate. The point P is useful in encryption, scrambling, signature, authentication or identification cryptographic applications.
US09866362B2

Method and system for searching network in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) slave mode are provided. The method includes: determining whether the number of frequency points to be measured is greater than N, wherein N is a positive integer; if the number is greater than N, ordering the frequency points to be measured according to their signal strength; selecting, from the ordered frequency points to be measured, N frequency points whose signal strength is greater than other ordered frequency points as optimally selected frequency points; and performing cell search based on the optimally selected frequency points. Based on the above method, the cell search is performed by measuring the N optimally selected frequency points. In this way, the number of measured frequency points is reduced, and a time period for measuring each optimally selected frequency point is prolonged. Therefore, the possibility of finding a cell may be increased.
US09866361B2

A radio communication device includes an oscillation circuit and a modulation path. The oscillation circuit is configured to perform PLL control by using a reference frequency oscillated by a reference oscillator. The modulation path is configured to modulate a reference signal outputted from the reference oscillator, by a signal of a comparison frequency as a modulation wave.
US09866357B2

The present invention provides a method and device for transmitting a reference signal sequence. The method includes: determining a position of an eCCE or an eREG mapped to an ePDCCH in a resource block pair; determining, according to corresponding relationship between the position of the eCCE or the eREG in the resource block pair and the antenna port of the reference signal; and transmitting a reference sequence over the antenna port of the reference signal, herein, the corresponding relationship between the position of the eCCE or the eREG in the resource block pair and the antenna port of the reference signal includes that the positions of at least two eCCEs or at least two eREGs correspond to one of the antenna ports of the reference signal.
US09866355B2

Methods, arrangement and network nodes for supporting inter-cell coordination of scheduling of radio resources subjected to inter cell interference. The methods involve identifying one or more radio resources which are subjected to inter-cell interference between a first cell and a second cell. The methods further involve deriving a respective service value related to service that could be provided in the respective first and second cell by use of the one or more radio resources. Further, transmissions in the one or more radio resources are controlled based on comparison of the service values, thus enabling inter-cell service value-based scheduling of the one or more radio resources, prioritizing services having the highest value per radio resource.
US09866353B2

A method and apparatus for signaling scheduling information in a spatial multiplexing wireless communications system, as well as corresponding methods and apparatus for processing such signaling information, are disclosed. Signaling scheduling information includes scheduling first and second transport blocks for simultaneous transmission during a first transmission interval on first and second data substreams, respectively, and assigning a single re-transmission process identifier for the first transmission interval and transmitting first scheduling information for the first transmission interval. The first scheduling information includes the re-transmission process identifier and first disambiguation data. Additionally, at least one of the first and second transport blocks is scheduled for re-transmission during a second transmission interval. Second scheduling information for the second transmission interval is also transmitted; the second scheduling information including the re-transmission process identifier and second disambiguation data.
US09866351B2

A network includes first through third communication apparatuses. The second communication apparatus identifies, from packets received from the first communication apparatus, forwarding packets that are packets to be transmitted to the third communication apparatus, and measures the interval in receiving the forwarding packets. The second communication apparatus forwards the forwarding packets to the third communication apparatus. The second communication apparatus receives report information that reports the reception state of forwarding packets from the third communication apparatus, and uses the report information to select target packets that are packets for which success of reception has not been reported from the third communication apparatus in the packets that were forwarded to the third communication apparatus. When the interval in receiving forwarding packets from the first communication apparatus exceeds a threshold, the second communication apparatus retransmits the target packets to the third communication apparatus in a format available for error correction.
US09866342B2

A mobile communication system comprises: a user terminal that receives a desired wave signal from a serving cell and an interference wave signal that is a signal to another user terminal; and a first base station that manages the serving cell. The first base station includes: a control unit configured to generate configured to an interference replica signal corresponding to the interference wave signal and to superpose the interference replica signal on the desired wave signal; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the desired wave signal superposed with the interference replica signal to the user terminal. The control unit generates the interference replica signal such that the interference replica signal received by the user terminal cancels the interference wave signal received by the user terminal.
US09866341B2

Disclosed is a data transmitter, including: a demultiplexer configured to demultiplex a data subcarrier, and a training sequence or a pilot subcarrier included in a signal which needs to be frequency-shifted among a plurality of signals; a frequency shift unit configured to frequency-shift the demultiplexed data subcarrier based on a predetermined frequency; a superposition unit configured to generate a polarization signal by superimposing the demultiplexed training sequence or pilot subcarrier, and the frequency-shifted data subcarrier; and a polarization antenna configured to transmit a signal which need not be frequency-shifted and the generated polarization signal among the plurality of signals.
US09866340B2

The invention concerns an underwater transceiver device, communications system and method of communicating sensor data underwater. The transceiver device comprises a sensor unit or a sensor connection for an external sensor unit for providing a sensor value and a communication unit functionally connected to the sensor unit or connection and comprising means for wirelessly transmitting the sensor value to another underwater device as data packets according to a timing scheme. According to the invention, the communication unit further comprises means for wirelessly receiving data packets of other underwater devices, and means for adjusting the timing scheme based on data packets received so as to avoid simultaneous transmitting of underwater devices. The invention enables energy-efficient and robust communications between diving equipment.
US09866334B2

Successfully decoded data received from a mobile terminal as well as the transmission format of that data is relayed over the backhaul from a base station receiver that successfully decoded the mobile terminal's transmission to the base stations in the mobile terminal's active set that presumably were unable to decode the mobile terminal's transmission due to inadequate signal-to-noise ratio. A base station that receives this transmission from the relaying base station that did successfully decode and demodulate the mobile terminal's transmission is then able to reconstruct the data and subtract it from the total interference, thereby increasing the signal-to-noise ratio at this base station for its in-cell processing.
US09866326B1

An auto-equalization network device for optical transmitting and receiving is provided. The device includes a network device having an optical transmitter and an optical receiver. The network device is configured to determine a frequency domain forward transmission loss characterization for a signal transmitted by the optical transmitter, looped back and received by the optical receiver. The device is configured to generate a model in the frequency domain having control points based on the characterization, generate and load finite impulse response (FIR) filter taps into a finite impulse response filter based on the model in the frequency domain. The device is configured to iterate transmission of a signal with frequency-dependent preemphasis by the finite impulse response filter, characterization for the frequency-dependent preemphasized signal as looped back and received by the optical receiver, comparison to previous characterization, adjustment of the control points, and reloading the finite impulse response filter taps, until the comparison meets an optimum, so that the network device is auto-equalized for optical transmitting.
US09866322B2

The invention relates to a laser system comprising a laser receiver collaborating with a laser emitter. The laser emitter is designed to provide a laser light plane and includes a control unit connected to a communication signal receiver in order to process and compute incoming communication signals from the laser receiver. The laser receiver comprising a communication signal transmitter for communicating with the laser emitter, a linear laser light photo sensor and an acceleration sensor both connected to a circuitry, which is designed to derive a movement of the laser receiver with respect to the detected laser beam of the laser emitter from computing and correlating the signals of the acceleration senor and the laser light photo sensor. The control unit includes an adjustment unit and adjustment is carried out by the adjustment unit in dependence of the processed and computed incoming communication signals of the laser receiver.
US09866312B2

Systems and methods configured to form and point beams from one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) toward a target coverage area on the ground. One embodiment describes dividing the target coverage area on the ground among multiple UAVs when each UAV antenna system generates static beams. Another embodiment describes dividing the target coverage area on the ground among multiple UAVs when their antenna systems are capable of dynamically steering their respective beams. Another set of embodiments describe systems and method to allow multiple UAVs to provide service in the same area on the ground using the same spectrum.
US09866309B2

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a host node device having a terminal interface that receives downstream channel signals from a communication network and send upstream channel signals to the communication network. An access point repeater launches the downstream channel signals as guided electromagnetic waves on a guided wave communication system and to extract a first subset of the upstream channel signals from the guided wave communication system. A radio wirelessly transmits the downstream channel signals to at least one client node device and to wirelessly receive a second subset of the upstream channel signals from the at least one client node device. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09866301B2

In certain embodiments, a macrocell base station (BS), such as an LSAS BS, estimates its backhaul channels with a small-cell BS (e.g., a relay or repeater) by averaging multiple instances of a received pilot signal repeatedly transmitted by the small-cell BS. Since the macrocell and small-cell BSs are stationary, averaging the received pilot signal transmissions over time results in the zero-temporal-mean time-dependent component of each backhaul channel as well as zero-temporal-mean noise and interference signals from other wireless nodes to substantially cancel out, enabling the macrocell BS to relatively infrequently estimate a relatively time-invariant, dominant component for each backhaul channel. The macrocell BS uses the estimated dominant components to generate user-data-based downlink transmissions to the small-cell BS. In this way, the processing to estimate channel state information (CSI) data for the backhaul channels is greatly reduced compared to conventional techniques.
US09866300B2

Four independent technologies are incorporated in this invention to efficiently and cost effectively implement dynamic last mile connectivity. The four technologies are passive optical networks (PON), Small cell, wavefront multiplexing (or K-muxing), and digital beam forming (DBF). We have filed US patents for communications architectures featuring K-muxing overlaid over low cost of PON. Those inventions relate particularly to resource allocation in passive optical networks (PON) via wavefront multiplexing (WF-muxing or K-muxing) and wavefront demultiplexing (WF-demuxing or K-demuxing). The “WF-muxing in PON” can be configured for performing remote digital beam forming (RDBF) over a service area covered by multiple small cells. The RDBF may generate multiple shaped beams with enhanced connectivity and better isolations over a same frequency slot concurrently to serve multiple users over the coverage area.
US09866297B2

The present invention provides a method of transmitting broadcast signals. The method includes, encoding Data Pipe, DP, data according to a code rate, wherein the encoding further includes Low-Density Parity-Check, LDPC, encoding the DP data, Bit interleaving the LDPC encoded DP data, and mapping the bit interleaved DP data onto constellations; building at least one signal frame by mapping the encoded DP data; and modulating data in the built signal frame by an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, method and transmitting the broadcast signals having the modulated data.
US09866294B1

A method for testing a multiple-input and multiple-output device is described, said device comprising at least two receiving antennas. A first test signal is transmitted via a first transmission antenna. The first test signal is measured via each receiving antenna of said device. At least a second test signal is transmitted via a second transmission antenna. The second test signal is measured via each receiving antenna of said device. Further transmitting signals are transmitted via the transmission antennas in pairs wherein a phase difference is set between the phases of said transmitting signals transmitted via the pair of transmission antennas. Measuring the further transmitting signals via each receiving antenna of said device. A channel matrix of said device is determined. Furthermore, a test system is described.
US09866291B1

For example, an apparatus may include a plurality of Physical layer (PHY) components including circuitry to communicate via a respective plurality of sectorized antennas of a wireless station over a directional frequency band; a plurality of lower Medium Access Control (MAC) components, a lower MAC component of the plurality of lower MAC components configured to control channel access of the wireless station via a respective sectorized antenna of the plurality of sectorized antennas, and to process MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs) to be communicated via the sectorized antenna; and an upper MAC component configured to cause the wireless station to transmit an information element via at least one sectorized antenna of the plurality of sectorized antennas, the information element comprising at least a MAC address of the wireless station, and a field to indicate a plurality of identifiers (IDs) of the plurality of sectorized antennas.
US09866288B2

The present invention relates to a method for operating a base station (11) in a wireless radio network (10). The base station (11) comprises a plurality of antennas for transmitting radio frequency signals between the base station (11) and a user equipment (UE1, UE2). According to the method, at each antenna (12) a training signal sent from the user equipment (UE1, UE2) is received and for each antenna (12) a corresponding configuration parameter is determined based on the training signal. A plurality of payload information blocks (33) is transmitted between the base station (11) and the user equipment (UE1, UE2) using the determined configuration parameters and a predetermined transmission scheme. For at least one payload information block (33) a transmission quality parameter is determined and an adapted transmission scheme is determined based on the determined quality parameter.
US09866285B2

A method and apparatus are provided for performing acquisition, synchronization and cell selection within an MIMO-OFDM communication system. A coarse synchronization is performed to determine a searching window. A fine synchronization is then performed by measuring correlations between subsets of signal samples, whose first signal sample lies within the searching window, and known values. The correlations are performed in the frequency domain of the received signal. In a multiple-output OFDM system, each antenna of the OFDM transmitter has a unique known value. The known value is transmitted as pairs of consecutive pilot symbols, each pair of pilot symbols being transmitted at the same subset of sub-carrier frequencies within the OFDM frame.
US09866284B2

It is presented a method for selecting downlink mode for a UE. The method is executed in a radio network controller, RNC, and comprises the steps of: estimating geometry for the UE; selecting a mode for the UE based on the estimated geometry, the mode being either a multi cell switching mode or a multi cell aggregation mode; and configuring the selected mode for the UE. By using the geometry of the UE for selecting mode, the most appropriate mode in terms of performance, such as capacity. Corresponding methods for an RBS, a UE, along with corresponding RNC, RBS and UE are also presented.
US09866277B2

A vehicle wireless hub includes a vehicle power connector that can draw power from a vehicle battery on a vehicle, a first wireless transmission circuit that can send or receive data with base stations in a long-range wireless network, a second wireless transmission circuit that can provide a short-range wireless network and to transfer data to and from electronic devices, and a network processor that can process data in the first wireless transmission circuit and the second wireless transmission circuit. The vehicle power connector can supply power to the first wireless transmission circuit, the second wireless transmission circuit, and the network processor.
US09866270B2

Data communication having improved electromagnetic interference (EMI) rejection when communicating through a coaxial cable is provided by using differential transmission and/or reception through a common-mode choke and a dissipative element resulting in extremely low radiated emissions and high immunity to external radiation interference in a low-cost way.
US09866259B1

A transmit/receive module includes an integrated control circuit that is configured to operate in transmit and receive modes. In the transmit mode, the integrated control circuit converts a digital input signal into a plurality of phase shifted RF transmit signals. In the receive mode, the integrated control converts an RF receive signal into a digital output signal. The transmit/receive module further includes a plurality of transmit/receive integrated circuits connected. Each of the transmit/receive integrated circuits amplify one of the RF transmit signals using a power amplifier during the transmit mode, and amplify one of the RF receive signals using a low noise amplifier during the receive mode. The integrated control circuit biases the power amplifier and calibrates a power level the power amplifier in the transmit mode. The integrated control circuit protects the integrated control circuit from damage by controlling the low noise amplifier during the receive mode.
US09866256B2

Electronic apparatus is provided with main body, and inner battery cover and additional module which are attachable and detachable in relation to main body. Battery is stored in opening portion of housing, recessed portion is formed in vertical surface which stands substantially vertically from main surface, and first terminal is formed on inner portion of recessed portion. Connecting surface which comes into contact with vertical surface is formed on additional module, and second terminal which is electrically connected to first terminal is formed on connecting surface. In a state in which additional module is attached to main body, second terminal is positioned on an inner portion of recessed portion and is connected to first terminal, and thus, reliable and firm attachment is performed.
US09866248B2

A method for verifying location information of a terminal equipped with a UICC card, connected to a cellular telecommunications network and located in a current cell, said terminal storing in the UICC card an identifier of the current cell and at least one identifier of a previous cell in which the terminal was previously located. This method comprises the following steps, implemented by a processing server connected to the network: receiving said identifiers coming from the terminal via the communication network; determining first location information using the identifier of the current cell; estimating second location information using the identifier of at least one previous cell; detecting a location error if the two items of location information correspond to different geographical positions according to a defined criterion.
US09866242B1

Techniques described and suggested herein include systems and methods for optimizing throughput characteristics for data archives stored on data storage systems using redundancy coding techniques. For example, redundancy coded shards, which may include identity shards that contain unencoded original data of archives, may be configured such that a variable number of the shards can be leveraged to meet throughput requirements or time-to-retrieval limitations for retrieval requests associated with the archives stored and/or encoded therein. Implementing systems may monitor throughput rates, capabilities, and burdens, so as to adaptively account for changes to some or all of the monitored parameters.
US09866240B2

An MAP algorithm-based Turbo decoding method and apparatus. The method includes: iteratively estimating an information symbol by using an MAP algorithm, acquiring an α and β window boundary values of each sliding window by means of window boundary value inheritance, acquiring an α block boundary value and β block boundary value of each sub-block by means of block boundary value inheritance, and recursively calculating posterior probability Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR) values of a whole window and a whole block according to the α boundary values and the β boundary values (101); and performing decoding decision according to the LLR values (102).
US09866232B2

According to an embodiment, an analog-to-digital converter includes a detection circuit, a first conversion circuit, a second comparator, a delay control circuit, a control circuit. A detection circuit detects a differential time signal corresponding to a delay time by using a comparison signal and a delay comparison signal. A first conversion circuit generates a differential voltage by performing time-to-voltage conversion on the differential time signal. A second comparator generates a digital delay determination signal by comparing the differential voltage and an adjustment target voltage. A delay control circuit generates a delay control signal controlling the delay time in accordance with a delay determination signal. A control circuit generates a control signal by using the delay comparison signal in an analog-to-digital conversion period.
US09866228B2

A method for performing background calibration of interleave timing errors in N order Time-Interleaved Analog to Digital Converters (TIADCs), according to which N samples of the input signal are acquired in N different phases and the time-interleave error of each phase is calculated. Then the sign of each of the time-interleave error is extracted and the errors are adjusted by adjusting the timing of erroneous phases. This process is repeated until all the errors are lower than a predefined level.
US09866218B2

Disclosed are methods and devices, among which is a device that includes a finite state machine lattice. The lattice may includes a programmable Boolean logic cell that may be programmed to perform various logic functions on a data stream. The programmability includes an inversion of a first input to the Boolean logic cell, an inversion of a last output of the Boolean logic cell, and a selection of an AND gate or an OR gate as a final output of the Boolean logic cell. The Boolean logic cell also includes end of data circuitry configured to cause the Boolean logic cell to only output after an end of data signifying the end of a data stream is received at the Boolean logic cell.
US09866208B2

Described herein are methods and subsystems for use with a timing generator having an output driver at which a timing signal having timing pulses is output. A method includes controlling the timing generator to cause the output driver to output a timing signal having an expected duty cycle, and filtering the timing signal to produce a DC voltage having a magnitude indicative of an actual duty cycle of the timing signal. The method also includes converting the DC voltage to a digital value indicative of the actual duty cycle of the timing signal. The method can also include comparing the digital value to an expected value corresponding to the expected duty cycle, and using results of the comparing to determine an error associated with the timing generator and/or produce a calibration table that can be used to calibrate the timing generator and/or calibrate a measurement made using the timing generator.
US09866206B2

There is described a driver circuit (100) for providing biasing voltages to a flash memory device, the driver circuit comprising (a) a level shifter latch (110) comprising a first latch input terminal (111), a first latch control terminal (112), a latch voltage supply terminal (113), a first latch output terminal (114), and a second latch output terminal (115), wherein the level shifter latch (110) is adapted to provide, in dependency of a voltage at the first latch input terminal (111), one of a first voltage and a second voltage at the first latch output terminal (114) and the other one of the first voltage and the second voltage at the second latch output terminal (115), wherein the first voltage is dependent on a voltage applied to the latch voltage supply terminal (113) and the second voltage is dependent on a voltage applied to the first latch control terminal (112), (b) a first output stage (120) comprising a first switching element (N11, N12), a second switching element (N13), a first voltage supply terminal (122), a second voltage supply terminal (124), and a first biasing voltage output terminal (126), wherein the first switching element (N11, N12) is adapted to connect the first biasing voltage output terminal (126) to the first voltage supply terminal (122) in dependency of the voltage at the first latch output terminal (114), and wherein the second switching element (N13) is adapted to connect the first biasing voltage output terminal (126) to the second voltage supply terminal (124) in dependency of the voltage at the second latch output terminal (115), and (c) a second output stage (130) comprising a third switching element (N21), a fourth switching element (N22), a third voltage supply terminal (132), a fourth voltage supply terminal (134), and a second biasing voltage output terminal (136), wherein the third switching element (N21) is adapted to connect the second biasing voltage output terminal (136) to the third voltage supply terminal (132) in dependency of the voltage at the first latch output terminal (114), and wherein the fourth switching element (N22) is adapted to connect the second biasing voltage output terminal (136) to the fourth voltage supply terminal (134) in dependency of the voltage at the second latch output terminal (115).There is also described a memory system and a method of operating the driver circuit.
US09866204B1

A latch circuit providing isolated input current paths includes a pair of input transistors that receive a differential input signal. A plurality of steering transistors receive a portion of a differential clock signal. The latch circuit includes a positive output node and a negative output node. A first bypass input current path is associated with the first input transistor and is electrically isolated from the positive output node and the negative output node. A second bypass input current path associated with the second input transistor is also electrically isolated from the positive output node and the negative output node. In a latched state, the clock signal is operative to selectively bias the plurality of steering transistors such that current is steered to one of the first input current path or the second input current path, thereby being isolated from the output nodes.
US09866202B2

Digitally controlled attenuators with low phase shift are provided herein. In certain configurations, a digitally controlled attenuator includes an attenuation circuit electrically connected between an input terminal and an output terminal, a bypass circuit electrically connected in parallel with the attenuation circuit between the input terminal and the output terminal, and a plurality of phase compensation capacitors including a first phase compensation capacitor and a second phase compensation capacitor electrically connected in series between the input terminal and the output terminal. The bypass circuit is configured to receive a mode control signal for selecting the bypass circuit to control an amount of attenuation between the input terminal and the output terminal. Additionally, the phase compensation capacitors are operable to compensate for a phase difference between a first signal path through the attenuation circuit and a second signal path through the bypass circuit.
US09866200B2

A multiple coil spring MEMS resonator includes a center anchor and a resonator body including two or more coil springs extending in a spiral pattern from the center anchor to an outer closed ring. Each pair of coil springs originates from opposing points on the center anchor and extends in the spiral pattern to opposing points on the outer ring. The number of coil springs, the length and the width of the coil springs and the weight of the outer ring are selected to realize a desired resonant frequency.
US09866197B2

RF communications circuitry, which includes a first RF filter structure, is disclosed. The first RF filter structure includes a first tunable RF filter path and a second tunable RF filter path. The first tunable RF filter path includes a pair of weakly coupled resonators. Additionally, a first filter parameter of the first tunable RF filter path is tuned based on a first filter control signal. A first filter parameter of the second tunable RF filter path is tuned based on a second filter control signal.
US09866193B2

Disclosed are apparatus and methodology for increasing the resonance frequency and useful frequency range of surface mount RC equalizer devices. The presently disclosed subject matter provides improved operational characteristics of generally known such RC equalizer devices by implementing a reverse geometry that relocates the internal termination points, as well as external termination points for such devices, along lateral portions of the assembled device. Such reverse geometry achieves improvements by providing a reduction of the equivalent series inductance (ESL) to provide the increased resonance frequency and useful frequency range.
US09866191B2

In some embodiments, a method for processing an audio signal in an audio processing apparatus is disclosed. The method includes receiving an audio signal and a parameter, the parameter indicating a location of an auditory event boundary. An audio portion between consecutive auditory event boundaries constitutes an auditory event. The method further includes applying a modification to the audio signal based in part on an occurrence of the auditory event. The parameter may be generated by monitoring a characteristic of the audio signal and identifying a change in the characteristic.
US09866186B2

An amplifier includes: a package which includes a pair of edge portions; an input terminal which is provided in the edge portion; output terminals which are provided in the edge portion; a first-stage FET chip which includes an input port directly connected to the input terminal by a bonding wire; a first-stage terminal which is provided in the edge portion and is directly connected to an output port of the first-stage FET chip by a bonding wire; a second-stage terminal which is provided in the edge portion; a second-stage FET chip which includes an output port directly connected to output terminals and by a bonding wire; and an impedance matching capacitor element of which one electrode is connected to the second-stage terminal and the input port of the second-stage FET chip.
US09866164B2

Systems and methods for controlling the operating speed and the torque of an electric motor using an operational model are described. An operational model for the electric motor, including a plot of engine performance parameters, is used for reference, and a most efficient output path, which may pass through an optimal operation region in the operational model, is selected. The most efficient output path may be determined, for example, according to locations of a current output state and a to-be-reached target state in the operational model, enabling the operating state of the motor to reach the target state from the current operating state. By selecting a more efficient output path, the operating efficiency of the motor may be optimized, the life of a battery improved and/or the operating mileage of the vehicle may be increased, without significantly reducing the driving experience.
US09866156B2

A motor control device for controlling a brushless DC motor in a PWM control manner using an inverter circuit according to a position-sensorless method includes: a ripple current estimating device; and a control device. When the magnitude of the ripple current is less than or equal to a threshold value, the control device performs balanced-drive switching that a first output terminal of the inverter circuit is repeatedly and alternately connected to high and low voltage sides of a drive power supply, and the second output terminal of the inverter circuit is repeatedly and alternately connected to the low and high voltage sides. When the magnitude of the ripple current exceeds the threshold value, the control device performs unbalanced-drive switching that the first output terminal is repeatedly and alternately connected to the high and low voltage sides, and the second output terminal is connected only to the low voltage side.
US09866154B2

Disclosed is a drive system for induction motor, including a two-phase induction motor, a power source filter circuit, an H-bridge power drive circuit and a controller MCU. The power source filter circuit is configured to filter out harmonic components of a DC power source, and generate a power source midpoint voltage required for driving; the controller MCU is configured to generate a switch control signal required for operation of the H-bridge power drive circuit; the H-bridge power drive circuit is configured to generate a drive current and transfer the drive current to the two-phase induction motor; and the two-phase induction motor is configured to receive the drive current generated by the H-bridge power drive circuit.
US09866145B2

There is described an electrical energy conversion system comprising: at least a first inverter (1) and at least a second inverter (2), whose outputs are connected in parallel; at least a first DC voltage source (PV1) connected to the input of the first inverter (1) and a second DC voltage source (PV2) connected to the input of the second inverter (2); a ground connection of the first inverter (1) and a ground connection of the second inverter (2). The ground connection of said inverters comprises a ground connection branch (1G; 2G) with a current sensor (5/1; 5/2) which supplies a signal proportional to a leakage grounding current (Ileak) measured in said ground connection branch (1G; 2G). Through the signal proportional to the leakage current measured a feedback signal is generated to control the leakage current (Ileak).
US09866141B2

A chopped current input electrical energy converter includes at least one conversion module (K1, K2) generating at least one first output signal (Vout1) and one second output signal (Vout2) and including: a transformer (10), an input switching stage (20) controlling the transfer of electrical energy to the transformer (10), and at least one first output stage (30) and one second output stage (40), the first output stage (30) generating the first output signal (Vout1), and the second output stage (40) generating the second output signal (Vout2); the level of the first output signal (Vout1) reflected at a primary winding (11) of the transformer (10) is greater than the level of the second output signal (Vout2) reflected at the primary winding (11) of the transformer (10).
US09866130B1

A DC-DC converter includes: a clamp capacitor having one terminal connected with a ground terminal of a voltage source; a switching circuit including first and second switches connected with each other in series between a positive terminal and the ground terminal of the voltage source, and third and fourth switches connected with each other in series between both terminals of the clamp capacitor; and a forward-flyback transformer including a plurality of primary coils connected between a first connection node between the first and second switches and a second connection node between the third and fourth switches.
US09866119B2

A DC-DC converter includes an inductor, a switch module, a pull-up circuit and a pull-down circuit. The inductor has a first node and a second node, and the second node is coupled to an output node of the DC-DC converter. The switch module is arranged for selectively connecting an input voltage or a ground voltage to the first node of the inductor according to a driving signal. The pull-up circuit is arranged for selectively providing a first current to the output node of the DC-DC converter. The pull-down circuit is arranged for selectively sinking a second current from the output node of the DC-DC converter. In addition, at least one of the first current provided by the pull-up circuit and the second current sunk by the pull-down circuit is determined based on an inductor current flowing through the inductor.
US09866115B2

Embodiments of a circuit for use with a DC-DC converter are disclosed. In an embodiment, a circuit for controlling frequency variation for a ripple based, constant-on time DC-DC converter, is discloses. The circuit includes a set/reset (SR) latch, a comparator configured to set the SR latch, and an on-time and frequency variation controller configured to reset the SR latch. The on-time and frequency variation controller includes a feedback loop configured to increase the rate at which a ramp voltage increases to reduce the time it takes for the ramp voltage to exceed a threshold voltage. Embodiments of a method for controlling frequency variation for a ripple based, constant-on time DC-DC converter are also disclosed.
US09866112B1

Methods and apparatus providing an ultra-low power bandgap reference using a clocked amplifier are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a clocked comparator to compare a first voltage to a second voltage when a clock signal pulses and output a comparison signal based on the comparison, the comparison signal being (A) a first signal when the first voltage is higher than the second voltage and (B) a second signal when the first voltage is lower than the second voltage; a monoshot to when the comparison signal is a first signal, output a first pulse; and when the comparison signal is a second signal, output a second pulse; and a charge pump to increase an output voltage when the monoshot outputs the first pulse; decrease the output voltage when the monoshot outputs the second pulse; and hold the output voltage when the monoshot is not outputting a pulse.
US09866111B1

Aspects of the disclosure provide a circuit for providing a power supply. The circuit includes a control signal generator circuit and a switch network circuit. The control signal generator circuit is configured to generate a control signal with a voltage level that is a function of an output voltage on a load capacitor. The switch network circuit is coupled with the load capacitor and a flying capacitor to form a charge pump circuit. The switch network circuit is configured to charge the flying capacitor in a charge stage and pump the flying capacitor in a pump stage to generate the output voltage on the load capacitor. The switch network circuit is configured to provide a pump control voltage to the flying capacitor during the pump stage. The pump control voltage has a voltage level that is adjusted based on the control signal to maintain the output voltage to be stable.
US09866110B2

A switched capacitor voltage converter is provided that includes an array of switches configured to alternately switch multiple capacitors between a charge configuration in which the multiple capacitors are coupled in series with each other and in parallel with the source voltage and a discharge configuration in which a first set of capacitors having n capacitors are coupled in parallel with each other and in series with the load and a second set of capacitors having m capacitors coupled in parallel with the load.
US09866101B2

The invention relates to methods for supplying current to an auxiliary power supply for the control circuit of a switching regulator. The auxiliary power supply is connected in parallel to a first switch of the switching regulator. The auxiliary power supply comprises a second switch. During the nonswitching stage of the switching regulator, the second switch has significant impedance so as to power up the auxiliary power supply gradually and to suppress the flow of large or oscillatory currents which may cause damage or create interference. During the switching stage of the switching regulator, the second switch has negligible impedance so as to avoid undue dissipation within the path for the supply of current.
US09866093B2

The brushless DC motor of the present invention comprises a permanent magnet rotor rotating coaxially with and inside of the stator containing the electric windings, separated by a radial, axially extending gap. The rotor can be formed of four or more permanent, e.g., ferrite ceramic magnets, spaced substantially equidistantly circumferentially around the rotor and extending radially along the axial length of the rotor. The preferred ferrite magnets are substantially corrosion resistant, and thus durable in the wet rotor environment, in which it may be used, sufficient to withstand the effects of even hot salt water. Preferably, four of the permanent magnets are bar magnets, i.e., rectangular in cross-section, extending radially and perpendicularly to the adjacent magnets. Most preferably, the bar magnets are separated by generally wedge-shaped, or quadrant-shaped, sections of magnetic material. The permanent magnets are polarized so that the north-south flux lines extend transversely to each adjacent magnet, most preferably forming a so-called Halbach Array. This brushless DC motor is especially useful for driving wet rotor pumps, wherein the particular combination of elements forming the rotor results in a highly efficient, effective and durable motor.
US09866079B2

An electric motor includes a rotor and a wound stator structure. The stator structure includes a housing, a laminated stator core and windings wound around the stator core. The laminations of the stator core have an annular body and a plurality of teeth extending radially inwardly from the annular body. Projections and recesses are formed at the outer edge of the annular body. When assembled, the recesses of one lamination are aligned with the projections of an adjacent lamination such that when fitting the stator into the housing the projections may be deformed into an axially adjacent recess by contact with the housing. Thus the stator core contacts the housing at discrete locations.
US09866078B2

An electric motor is provided including a stator assembly having a stator body and magnets attached to an inner surface of the stator body via an adhesive, and an armature rotatably received within the stator assembly and having an armature shaft on which a commutator is mounted. A brush assembly is provided including a brush card mount disposed around the commutator and a mating housing longitudinally extending from the brush card mount. The mating housing includes a cylindrical wall and a mating surface formed substantially perpendicularly to an inner surface of the cylindrical wall and arranged to mate with an end surface of the stator body. The mating surface of the mating housing includes posts longitudinally extending along the inner surface of the cylindrical wall and recessed surfaces formed therebetween, the posts being mounted on the end surface of the stator body.
US09866056B2

Provided are methods and apparatus for charging a lithium sulfur (Li—S) battery. The Li—S battery has at least one unit cell comprising a lithium-containing anode and a sulfur-containing cathode with an electrolyte layer there between. One method provides controlled application of voltage pulses at the beginning of the charging process. An application period is initiated after a discharge cycle of the Li—S battery is complete. During the application period, voltage pulses are provided to the Li—S battery. The voltage pulses are less than a constant current charging voltage. Constant current charging is initiated after the application period has elapsed.
US09866051B2

An electrical system for charging an electrochemical cell or battery pack is described. The system is configured to dynamically modify the magnitude of the charge power based on the amplitude of the available power source. The system comprises a master control unit which measures the strength of the available incoming power source and dynamically modifies the charge current used to charge an electrochemical cell or battery pack based on the strength of the incoming electrical power available to the system.
US09866045B2

A mobile docking station that includes: a casing; a plurality of openings in the casing; a cord extending through each opening; a plug at a distal end of each cord; and a power cord extending from the casing, where the power cord supplies power to the cords. Preferably each cord is retractable back into each respective opening. In one particular embodiment, the casing preferably accommodates a tissue box and includes an opening to allow dispensing tissues from the tissue box.
US09866041B2

An electric power transmission device contactlessly transmits electric power to an electric power receiving device. The electric power transmission device includes an inverter, a power transmission unit and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to determine whether a current phase of output current flowing from the inverter to the power transmission unit leads output voltage, and adjust a frequency of the AC power in a direction to reduce a lead angle of the current phase when leading of the current phase relative to the output voltage is detected.
US09866033B2

A power transmission apparatus includes the following elements. A position detection coil detects a signal from a power reception coil of a power reception apparatus installed on an installation surface. A position detection circuit determines from the detected signal that the power reception apparatus is installed on the installation surface. A reception circuit receives a wireless signal transmitted from the power reception apparatus via the position detection coil. A switch circuit switches electrical connection of the position detection coil between the position detection circuit and the reception circuit. A power transmission control circuit switches electrical connection of the position detection coil from the position detection circuit to the reception circuit if it is determined that a voltage or a current of the detected signal has been smaller than a reference value for a predetermined period, and causes the reception circuit to receive the wireless signal via the position detection coil.
US09866029B2

Systems and methods for voltage control in an energy distribution system (EDS), including measuring voltage and current at a node in the EDS where a Grid Energy Storage (GES) device is located. A simplified equivalent of the EDS is generated by identifying parameters for the equivalent and calculating phasors corresponding to the measured voltage and current. At least one of a voltage stability index or a voltage sensitivity factor of the EDS is calculated using the equivalent, and at least one of charging or discharging of the EDS is adjusted based on at least one of the voltage stability index or the voltage sensitivity factor to regulate and stabilize voltage of the EDS.
US09866027B2

A device for controlling a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system is provided. The device includes: a communication unit communicating with a control device; a control unit obtaining a databack signal received through the communication unit, checking a data line error and a line connection error based on an obtained databack signal, and outputting a valve control signal based on the databack signal; and an output unit outputting the valve control signal to a valve control device based on control of the control unit.
US09866024B2

An energy control device, an energy management device, an energy control method, and an energy management system are provided. The energy management system includes the energy management device and the energy control device. The energy management device includes an electric power management unit configured to generate an instruction specifying a supply destination for electric power generated by an electric power generator, and includes a communication unit configured to transmit the instruction to the energy control device. The energy control device includes a power conditioner configured to distribute the electric power to the supply destination based on the instruction, and includes a control unit configured to control an operation of the power conditioner.
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