US09978972B2
A quantum dot light emitting device includes a base plate and an anode, a hole transportation layer, a light emissive layer, an electron transportation layer, and a cathode arranged on the same side of the base plate. The anode and the cathode are opposite to and spaced from each other and receive the hole transportation layer, the light emissive layer, and the electron transportation layer to be interposed therebetween. The hole transportation layer is connected to the anode. The light emissive layer and the electron transportation layer are sequentially stacked on the hole transportation layer that is distant from the anode. The electron transportation layer is connected to the cathode. The light emissive layer includes a quantum dot light emitting material and a small-molecule organic light emitting material, which is filled in gaps present in the quantum dot light emitting material.
US09978966B2
A display device includes a stretchable display panel including a first display area and a second display area, the second display area extending from the first display area in a horizontal direction substantially parallel to the first display area, and a frame including a first coupling part and a second coupling part spaced apart from the first coupling part in the horizontal direction, the second coupling part being moveable in a vertical direction normal to the horizontal direction, wherein the first and second display areas are respectively coupled to the first and second coupling parts, and the second display area is elongated in the vertical direction when the second coupling part moves in the vertical direction.
US09978964B2
An organic light-emitting component includes an organic light-emitting diode which has at least one organic layer arranged to generate light and a printed circuit board with electrical conductor tracks. The printed circuit board is an integral component of the organic light-emitting diode. At least one of the electrical conductor tracks of the printed circuit board is connected in electrically conductive manner to the organic layer of the organic light-emitting diode. The printed circuit board is electrically contactable from the side remote from the organic light-emitting diode.
US09978960B2
An organometallic iridium complex that has high emission efficiency and a long lifetime and emits deep red light (emission wavelength: around 700 nm) is provided. The organometallic iridium complex has a ligand that is represented by General Formula (G0) and has at least a dimethyl phenyl group and a quinoxaline skeleton. In the formula, R1 to R3 separately represent an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a phenyl group, or a phenyl group having an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms as a substituent.
US09978956B2
A compound having a structure of Formula I: is provided. In the structure of Formula I, each one of X1 to X16 is independently CRX or N; each RX and R are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, deuterium, halogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, heteroalkyl, arylalkyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, amino, silyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, heteroalkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, acyl, carbonyl, carboxylic acids, ester, nitrile, isonitrile, sulfanyl, sulfinyl, sulfonyl, phosphino, carbazole, azacarbazole, dibenzofuran, dibenzothiophene, dibenzoselenophene, azadibenzofuran, azadibenzothiophene, azadibenzoselenophene, triphenylene, azatriphenylene, and combinations thereof; and any adjacent RX can join to form fused or unfused rings. Formulations and devices, such as an OLEDs, that include the compound containing a structure of Formula I are also described.
US09978951B2
The present disclosure relates to perylene-based molecules and their use in photoelectric conversion layer(s) and/or an organic or hybrid image sensor. The present disclosure also relates to absorption layer(s) and photoelectric conversion layer(s) comprising a molecule according to the present disclosure. The present disclosure also relates to a device, comprising a photoelectric conversion layer comprising at least one perylene-based molecule. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to an organic image sensor or a hybrid Silicon-organic image sensor comprising photoelectric conversion layer(s) according to the present disclosure.
US09978949B2
The application relates to a compound of a formula (I) which is suitable for use as functional material in electronic devices.
US09978943B2
The present invention provides an electronic component or device comprising a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode, wherein said component or device further comprising an organic semiconducting (OSC) material that is provided between the source and drain electrode, wherein the OSC material comprises (a) a polymer represented by formula: (I), and (b) a compound of formula (II). High quality OFETs can be fabricated by the choice of a semiconductor material, which is comprised of a polymer represented by formula I and (b) a compound of formula II.
US09978937B2
Some embodiments include methods utilizing atomic layer deposition to form material containing silicon and nitrogen (e.g., silicon nitride). The atomic layer deposition uses Sil4 as one precursor and uses a nitrogen-containing material as another precursor. Some embodiments include methods of forming a structure in which a chalcogenide region is formed over a semiconductor substrate; and in which Sil4 is used as a precursor during formation of silicon nitride material directly against a surface of the chalcogenide region.
US09978927B2
An elastic wave element has a piezoelectric substrate; an excitation electrode which is located on an upper surface of the piezoelectric substrate and generates an acoustic wave, and two reflectors which are located on the upper surface of the piezoelectric substrate and sandwich the excitation electrode in the propagation direction of the acoustic wave. The excitation electrode has a main region located between the two end parts of the propagation direction and outer regions located on two sides of the main region. When the number of the electrode fingers of the outer region is “m”, an electrode finger interval of the main region is “a”, and an interval between the electrode finger of the main region on the outer region side and the reflector electrode finger of the reflector is “x”, 0.5×a×(m+1)
US09978924B2
A process for manufacturing a nanocomposite thermoelectric material having a plurality of nanoparticle inclusions. The process includes determining a material composition to be investigated for the nanocomposite thermoelectric material, the material composition including a conductive bulk material and a nanoparticle material. In addition, a range of surface roughness values for the insulating nanoparticle material that can be obtained using current state of the art manufacturing techniques is determined. Thereafter, a plurality of Seebeck coefficients, electrical resistivity values, thermal conductivity values and figure of merit values as a function of the range of nanoparticle material surface roughness values is calculated. Based on these calculated values, a nanocomposite thermoelectric material composition or ranges of compositions is/are selected and manufactured.
US09978916B2
An optoelectronic component includes a carrier, and a light source arranged on a surface of the carrier, said light source including at least one luminous surface formed by at least one light-emitting diode, wherein a transparent converter-free spacer is arranged on the luminous surface such that a distance is formed between the luminous surface and a spacer surface of the spacer facing away from the luminous surface, and wherein the light source is potted by a potting compound such that the spacer surface is formed extending flush with a potting compound surface facing away from the surface of the carrier and a surface formed by a spacer surface and the potting compound surface is plane.
US09978912B2
A carrier for an LED is disclosed. In an embodiment, the carrier includes a main body, wherein the carrier has an upper side on which a first contact area for attaching an LED is arranged, and wherein a protective device for protecting the LED from electrostatic discharges is integrated in the main body.
US09978904B2
InGaN-based light-emitting devices fabricated on an InGaN template layer are disclosed.
US09978901B2
Solar cells that include quantum dots are provided. In particular, a solar panel is provided, the solar panel comprising: a first solar cell comprising: a first set of quantum dots in a first semiconductor, the first semiconductor configured to receive one or more of ambient light and sunlight and emit first wavelengths a first range of about 450 nm to about 480 nm, the first set of quantum dots configured to convert the first wavelengths to a first electric output; and, a second solar cell comprising: a second set of quantum dots in a second semiconductor, the second semiconductor configured to receive one or more of the ambient light and the sunlight and emit second wavelengths a second range of about 600 nm to about 700 nm, the second set of quantum dots configured to convert the second wavelengths to a second electric output.
US09978900B2
A heliostat includes a heliostat frame and a plurality of reflective surfaces, each reflective surface is movably mounted within the heliostat frame. The heliostat also includes a plurality of actuators, wherein each individual actuator of the plurality of actuators is associated with a single reflective surface of the plurality reflective surfaces and capable of moving the single reflective surface.
US09978896B2
Various improved approaches to prevent solar cell motion during manufacturing of PV laminates and modules are described herein. Disclosed contactless heating methods comprise positioning a plurality of solar cells on a layer of encapsulant and heating an encapsulant bonding region within the first encapsulant layer to a temperature sufficient to adhere the plurality of solar cells to the superstrate. Compared to some heat-tacking methods and manual taping, the contactless heating methods described herein provide an accurate, high-throughput approach to inhibiting solar cell shifting during PV module manufacture.
US09978886B2
The present disclosure relates to a microelectronics package with optical sensors and/or thermal sensors. The disclosed microelectronics package includes a module substrate, a thinned flip-chip die with an upper surface that includes a first surface portion and a second surface portion surrounding the first surface portion, and a first mold compound component. The thinned flip-chip die is attached to the module substrate and includes a device layer with sensor structure integrated at a top portion of the device layer. Herein, the sensor structure is below the first surface portion and not below the second surface portion. The first mold compound component is formed over the second surface portion to define a first cavity over the upper surface of the thinned flip-chip die. The first mold compound component is not over the first surface portion, and the first surface portion is exposed at the bottom of the first cavity.
US09978881B2
An integrated circuit device includes a substrate, first and second fin active regions formed on the substrate and extending in a first direction parallel to a top surface of the substrate, a first gate structure disposed on a side surface of the first fin active region, a pair of first impurity regions respectively formed on a top portion and a bottom portion of the first fin active region, a second gate structure disposed on a side surface of the second fin active region, and a pair of second impurity regions respectively formed on a top portion or a bottom portion of the second fin active region, wherein the pair of first impurity regions vertically overlap each other, and the pair of second impurity regions do not vertically overlap each other.
US09978879B2
A high-performance semiconductor device with high reliability is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first transistor, a second transistor, a first metal oxide covering at least part of the first transistor, an insulating film over the first transistor and the second transistor, and a second metal oxide over the insulating film. The first transistor includes a first gate electrode, a first gate insulating film, a first oxide, a first source electrode, a first drain electrode, a second gate insulating film, and a second gate electrode. The second transistor includes a third gate electrode, a third gate insulating film, a second oxide, a second source electrode, a second drain electrode, a fourth gate insulating film, and a fourth gate electrode. The first gate insulating film and the second gate insulating film are in contact with the first metal oxide.
US09978871B2
A method for forming a semiconductor device comprises forming a fin in a bulk semiconductor substrate and depositing a first insulator layer over portions of the bulk semiconductor substrate adjacent to the fin. The method further includes removing portions of the first insulator layer to reduce a thickness of the first insulator layer and expose a sidewall of the fin. An etch stop layer is deposited on the first insulator layer. A gate stack is formed over a channel region of the fin and over portions of the etch stop layer. A portion of the bulk semiconductor substrate is removed to expose portions of the etch stop layer and the fin, and a second insulator layer is deposited over exposed portions of the fin and the etch stop layer.
US09978869B2
A semiconductor device includes an n channel conductivity type FET having a channel formation region formed in a first region on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and a p channel conductivity type FET having a channel formation region formed in a second region of the main surface, which second region is different from the first region. An impurity concentration of a gate electrode of the n channel FET has an impurity concentration greater than an impurity concentration of the gate electrode of the p channel FET to thereby create a tensile stress in the direction of flow of a drain current in the channel forming region of the n channel FET. The tensile stress in the flow direction of the drain current in the channel forming region of the n channel FET is greater than a tensile stress in the direction of flow of a drain current in the channel forming region of the p channel FET.
US09978865B2
A semiconductor device includes first source/drain regions disposed at both sides of a first gate structure and including dopants of a first conductivity type, counter regions being in contact with upper portions of the first source/drain regions and under both end portions of the first gate structure, and first halo regions in contact with bottom surfaces of the first source/drain regions. The counter regions include dopants of a second conductivity type that is different from the first conductivity type. The first halo regions include dopants of the second conductivity type.
US09978864B2
A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate including a first conductive type well region; a gate structure; a lightly-doped drain region and a lightly-doped source region disposed at two opposite sides of the gate structure; a second conductive type first doped region disposed in the lightly-doped drain region, wherein the doping concentration of the second conductive type first doped region is less than the doping concentration of the lightly-doped drain region; a heavily-doped source region disposed in the lightly-doped source region; and a heavily-doped drain region disposed in the second conductive type first doped region. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device.
US09978863B2
A semiconductor arrangement comprises a substrate region and a first semiconductor column projecting from the substrate region. The semiconductor arrangement comprises a second semiconductor column projecting from the substrate region. The second semiconductor column is separated a first distance from the first semiconductor column. The first distance is between about 10 nm to about 30 nm.
US09978852B2
An embodiment of a complementary GaN integrated circuit includes a GaN layer with a first bandgap. A second layer with a second bandgap is formed on the GaN layer, resulting in a 2DEG in a contact region between the GaN layer and the second layer. The second layer has a relatively thin portion and a relatively thick portion. A third layer is formed over the relatively thick portion of the second layer. The third layer has a third bandgap that is different from the second bandgap, resulting in a 2DHG in a contact region between the second layer and the third layer. A transistor of a first conductivity type includes the 2DHG, the relatively thick portion of the second layer, and the third layer, and a transistor of a second conductivity type includes the 2DEG and the relatively thin portion of the second layer.
US09978839B2
Occurrence of short-channel characteristics and parasitic capacitance of a MOSFET on a SOI substrate is prevented.A sidewall having a stacked structure obtained by sequentially stacking a silicon oxide film and a nitride film is formed on a side wall of a gate electrode on the SOI substrate. Subsequently, after an epitaxial layer is formed beside the gate electrode, and then, the nitride film is removed. Then, an impurity is implanted into an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate with using the gate electrode and the epitaxial layer as a mask, so that a halo region is formed in only a region of the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate which is right below a vicinity of both ends of the gate electrode.
US09978838B2
The present disclosure relates to a substrate structure with a buried dielectric layer for post-processing silicon handle elimination. The substrate structure includes a silicon handle layer, a first silicon oxide layer over the silicon handle layer, a buried dielectric layer over the first silicon oxide layer, where the buried dielectric layer is not formed from silicon oxide, a second silicon oxide layer over the buried dielectric layer, and a silicon epitaxy layer over the second silicon oxide layer. The buried dielectric layer provides extremely selective etch stop characteristics with respect to etching chemistries for silicon and silicon oxide.
US09978833B2
A semiconductor device and a method to form the semiconductor device are disclosed. An n-channel component of the semiconductor device includes a first horizontal nanosheet (hNS) stack and a p-channel component includes a second hNS stack. The first hNS stack includes a first gate structure having a plurality of first gate layers and at least one first channel layer. A first internal spacer is disposed between at least one first gate layer and a first source/drain structure in which the first internal spacer has a first length. The second hNS stack includes a second gate structure having a plurality of second gate layers and at least one second channel layer. A second internal spacer is disposed between at least one second gate layer and a second source/drain structure in which the second internal spacer has a second length that is greater than the first length.
US09978831B2
Various improvements in vertical transistors, such as IGBTs, are disclosed. The improvements include forming periodic highly-doped p-type emitter dots in the top surface region of a growth substrate, followed by growing the various transistor layers, followed by grounding down the bottom surface of the substrate, followed by a wet etch of the bottom surface to expose the heavily doped p+ layer. A metal contact is then formed over the p+ layer. In another improvement, edge termination structures utilize p-dopants implanted in trenches to create deep p-regions for shaping the electric field, and shallow p-regions between the trenches for rapidly removing holes after turn-off. In another improvement, a dual buffer layer using an n-layer and distributed n+ regions improves breakdown voltage and saturation voltage. In another improvement, p-zones of different concentrations in a termination structure are formed by varying pitches of trenches. In another improvement, beveled saw streets increase breakdown voltage.
US09978830B2
An IGBT region includes a collector layer, a first drift layer, a first body layer, an emitter layer, and a trench gate reaching the first drift layer through the first body layer from a front surface side of a semiconductor substrate. A diode region includes a cathode layer, a second drift layer, and a second body layer. A lifetime control region which includes a peak of a crystal defect density is provided in the first drift layer and the second drift layer that are located between a depth of a lower end of the trench gate and surfaces of the first drift layer and the second drift layer. A silicon nitride film is further provided above the trench gate on the front surface side of the semiconductor substrate.
US09978823B2
The organic light emitting display device includes a flexible substrate, a thin-film transistor on the flexible substrate, a first anode on the thin-film transistor, a second anode on the same plane with the first anode and spaced apart from the first anode so as to surround the first anode, an organic light emitting layer on the first anode and the second anode, and a cathode on the organic light emitting layer. The second anode includes an opening where the first anode is encompassed therein. The shape of the first anode and the second anode and arrangement thereof reduces a segment length of an anode in a bending direction of the organic light emitting display device, and, thus, occurrence of cracks in the anode can be minimized.
US09978814B2
An organic light-emitting display device. A substrate is divided into a plurality of subpixels generating different colors of light. A light leakage prevention layer is disposed on a portion of the substrate corresponding to a light-emitting area of at least one subpixel of the plurality of subpixels. An overcoat layer is disposed on a portion of the substrate corresponding to at least one subpixel of the plurality of subpixels, and includes microlenses having a plurality of concave portions or a plurality of convex portions. An organic electroluminescent device is disposed on the overcoat layer.
US09978813B2
An organic light-emitting display apparatus including: a pixel including a first region realizing an image and a second region through which external light is transmitted, a driving circuit unit disposed in the first region, a wire area including a third region and a fourth region, a wire for transferring a signal to the driving circuit unit, a first electrode disposed in the first region and electrically connected to the driving circuit unit, a pixel defining layer disposed in the first region and including a first opening and a second opening, a second electrode disposed in the first region opposite the first electrode, an organic emission layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and an insulating structure disposed between the substrate and the pixel defining layer and including at least one insulating layer that includes a third opening corresponding to the second region and the fourth region.
US09978805B2
Methods for forming image sensor structures are provided. The method includes forming an isolation structure in a substrate and forming a first light sensing region and a second light sensing region. The method further includes forming a first gate structure and a second gate structure, and the first gate structure and the second gate structure are positioned at a front side of the substrate. The method further includes forming a first source/drain structure adjacent to the first gate structure and a second source/drain structure adjacent to the second gate structure and forming an interlayer dielectric layer over the front side of the substrate. The method further includes forming a contact trench through the interlayer dielectric layer and forming a contact in the contact trench.
US09978800B2
Provided is a solid-state image pickup device including: a plurality of pixels, each of which includes a photoelectric conversion portion and a pixel transistor formed in a front surface side of a substrate, wherein a rear surface side of the substrate is set as a light receiving plane of the photoelectric conversion portion; and an element, which becomes a passive element or an active element, which is disposed in the front surface side of the substrate so as to be superimposed on the photoelectric conversion portion.
US09978788B2
A method for forming a photosensitive module is provided. The method includes providing a sensing device. The sensing device includes a conducting pad located on a substrate. A first opening penetrates the substrate and exposes the conducting pad. A redistribution layer is in the first opening to electrically connect to the conducting pad. A cover plate is located on the substrate and covers the conducting pad. The method also includes removing the cover plate of the sensing device. The method further includes bonding the sensing device to a circuit board after the removal of the cover plate. The redistribution layer in the first opening is exposed and faces the circuit board. In addition, the method includes mounting an optical component corresponding to the sensing device on the circuit board. A photosensitive module formed by the method is also provided.
US09978786B2
A high degree of phase difference detection accuracy can be obtained using a phase difference pixel (2B) with a simpler configuration. A solid-state image-capturing device includes a pixel array unit in which a plurality of pixels including a phase difference pixel (2B) which is a pixel for focal point detection and an image-capturing pixel (2A) which is a pixel for image generation are arranged in a two-dimensional array. In this case, a predetermined layer (50) between a light shielding layer (47) and a micro lens (52) formed in the image-capturing pixel has a higher refraction index than a refraction index of the predetermined layer (51) formed in the phase difference pixel. The technique of the present disclosure can be applied to, for example, a back-illuminated-type solid-state image-capturing device and the like.
US09978782B2
The present invention provides a manufacturing method of an array substrate, an array substrate and a display apparatus. The manufacturing method comprises steps of: forming a thin film transistor and a signal line on a glass substrate, and forming an organic insulating layer above the thin film transistor and the signal line correspondingly; forming a passivation insulating layer on the organic insulating layer, wherein, before forming the passivation insulating layer, the manufacturing method further comprises a step of: performing a pre-heating process on the glass substrate on which the organic insulating layer is formed.
US09978779B2
A display device having a display area and a non-display area includes a substrate, a pixel at the display area, a signal line on the substrate and electrically connected to the pixel, and a static electricity prevention capacitor at the non-display area and including a lower pattern having a first region and a second region that have different electrical conductivities from each other, an insulating layer on the lower pattern, and an upper pattern including a portion of the signal line and overlapping the first region of the lower pattern in a plan view.
US09978770B2
According to an embodiment, a semiconductor memory device comprises a substrate, a plurality of first conductive layers, a memory columnar body, a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer and a contact. The plurality of first conductive layers are stacked upwardly of the substrate. The memory columnar body extends in a first direction intersecting an upper surface of the substrate and a side surface of the memory columnar body is covered by the first conductive layers. The first semiconductor layer is connected to a lower end of the memory columnar body and extends in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The second conductive layer is provided between the first semiconductor layer and the first conductive layers. The second conductive layer is connected to the memory columnar body and extending in the second direction. The contact is connected to the second conductive layer and extends in the first direction.
US09978767B2
According to one embodiment, a non-volatile memory device includes electrodes, an interlayer insulating film, at least one semiconductor layer, conductive layers, first and second insulating films. The electrodes are arranged in a first direction. The interlayer insulating film is provided between the electrodes. The semiconductor layer extends in the first direction in the electrodes and the interlayer insulating film. The conductive layers are provided between each of the electrodes and the semiconductor layer, and separated from each other in the first direction. The first insulating film is provided between the conductive layers and the semiconductor layer. The second insulating film is provided between each of the electrodes and the conductive layers, and extends between each of the electrodes and the interlayer insulating film adjacent to the each of the electrodes. A width of the conductive layers in the first direction is narrower than that of the second insulating film.
US09978760B2
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device may include the following steps: providing a spacer structure on a first side of a stack structure, wherein the stack structure includes a mask and a conductor; providing an etch stop layer, wherein a portion of the etch stop layer directly contacts both the mask and a portion of the spacer structure; providing a dielectric material member on the etch stop layer; partially removing the first dielectric material member to expose the portion of the etch stop layer; removing the portion of the etch stop layer to expose the portion of the spacer structure; removing the portion of the spacer structure to expose a side of the mask and to form a first spacer; and providing a second spacer, which directly contacts both the first spacer and the side of the mask.
US09978757B2
A first transistor including a channel formation region, a first gate insulating layer, a first gate electrode, and a first source electrode and a first drain electrode; a second transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer, a second source electrode and a second drain electrode, a second gate insulating layer, and a second gate electrode; and a capacitor including one of the second source electrode and the second drain electrode, the second gate insulating layer, and an electrode provided to overlap with one of the second source electrode and the second drain electrode over the second gate insulating layer are provided. The first gate electrode and one of the second source electrode and the second drain electrode are electrically connected to each other.
US09978753B2
A semiconductor device includes a lower electrode on a substrate, a capacitor dielectric layer on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode on the capacitor dielectric layer. The capacitor dielectric layer includes a base layer on the lower electrode and a dielectric particle layer in at least a portion of the base layer. The base layer includes a first dielectric material, and the dielectric particle layer extends at least partially continuously along a thickness direction of the capacitor dielectric layer and includes a second dielectric material different from the first dielectric material.
US09978752B2
A three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor memory device may include a substrate including a cell array region and a connection region, an electrode structure including pluralities of first and second electrodes that are vertically and alternately stacked on a surface of the substrate, extending in a first direction that is parallel to the surface of the substrate, and may include a stair step structure on the connection region, first and second string selection electrodes that extend in the first direction on the electrode structure and spaced apart from each other in a second direction that is parallel to the surface of the substrate and perpendicular to the first direction. The first and second string selection electrodes may each include an electrode portion on the cell array region and a pad portion that extends from the electrode portion in the first direction and on the connection region. Widths in the second direction of the pad portions may be different from widths in the second direction of the respective electrode portions.
US09978745B2
A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) includes a semiconductor substrate and a first isolation structure. The semiconductor substrate includes a first fin structure disposed in an emitter region, a second fin structure disposed in a base region, and a third fin structure disposed in a collector region. The first, the second, and the third fin structures are elongated in a first direction respectively. The base region is adjacent to the emitter region, and the base region is located between the emitter region and the collector region. The first isolation structure is disposed between the first fin structure and the second fin structure, and a length of the first isolation structure in the first direction is shorter than or equal to 40 nanometers. An effective base width of the BJT may be reduced by the disposition of the first isolation structure, and a current gain of the BJT may be enhanced accordingly.
US09978744B2
A passive device and method of fabricating the passive device are disclosed herein. The capacitor structure incorporates a resistor and a capacitor. An exemplary method includes receiving a substrate that has undergone front end of line (FEOL) processing, and performing back end of line (BEOL) processing on the substrate, wherein a capacitor structure is formed over the substrate during the BEOL processing, the capacitor structure incorporating a resistor with a capacitor. The BEOL processing can include performing a first metallization process to form a bottom plate of the capacitor structure; forming a dielectric spacer of the capacitor structure over the bottom plate; forming a top plate of the capacitor structure over the dielectric spacer; and performing a second metallization process to form contacts coupled to the top plate and the bottom plate of the capacitor structure.
US09978738B2
The n-type to p-type fin-FET strength ratio in an integrated logic circuit may be tuned by the use of cut regions in the active and dummy gate electrodes. In some examples, separate cut regions for the dummy gate electrodes and the active gate electrode may be used to allow for different lengths of gate pass-active regions resulting in appropriately tuned integrated logic circuits.
US09978736B1
A method for manufacturing a memory having at least one stacked integrated circuit chip is firstly to remove a plurality of transitional weld structures from a first IC chip. A varied insulation layer is then formed on the first IC chip. The varied insulation layer is then processed by a laser beam to form a plurality of metal-disposed portions. A plurality of chip-conductive structures are then formed on the metal-disposed portions. A plurality of manufactured weld structures is formed on the chip conductive structures. A second IC chip having a plurality of original weld structures is then provided to the first IC chip. The original weld structures of the second IC chip are connected to the chip conductive structures of the first IC chip to form a stacked IC chip. The stacked IC chip is then mounted onto a memory substrate component to form a memory having the stacked IC chip.
US09978733B2
An optoelectronic semiconductor component includes an optoelectronic semiconductor chip with a first surface and a second surface. The component also includes a protective chip which has a protective diode, a first surface and a second surface. The semiconductor chip and the protective chip are embedded in a molded body. A first electrical contact and a second electrical contact are arranged on the first surface of the semiconductor chip. A third electrical contact and a fourth electrical contact are arranged on the first surface of the protective chip. The first electrical contact is electrically connected to the third electrical contact. In addition, the second electrical contact is electrically connected to the fourth electrical contact.
US09978728B2
A display apparatus and a fabricating method thereof are provided. The display apparatus includes a substrate, a light emitting diode, a first bump, a first insulating layer and a second insulating layer. The light emitting diode has a first surface and a second surface opposite each other, wherein the first surface faces the substrate. The light emitting diode is bonded to the substrate through the first bump. The first insulating layer is disposed on a periphery of the first bump and the light emitting diode, and contacts the first bump and the first surface. The second insulating layer is disposed on the substrate and surrounds at least a portion of the first insulating layer.
US09978727B2
A display apparatus including a light emitting diode part including a plurality of regularly arranged light emitting diodes, and a thin-film transistor (TFT) panel part including a plurality of TFTs configured to drive the light emitting diodes disposed on the TFT panel part. The light emitting diode part further includes a transparent substrate disposed on the light emitting diodes, and a phosphor layer disposed on the transparent substrate and configured to emit at least one of blue light, green light, and red light by converting at least a portion of a wavelength of light emitted from the light emitting diodes, in which a thickness of the transparent substrate is less than a thickness of the phosphor layer.
US09978725B2
Provided is an LED lamp using a nano-scale LED electrode assembly. The LED lamp using the nano-scale LED electrode assembly may solve limitations in which, when a nano-scale LED device according to the related art stands up and is three-dimensionally coupled to an electrode, it is difficult to allow the nano-scale LED device to stand up, and when the nano-scale LED devices are coupled to one-to-one correspond to electrodes different from each other, product quality is deteriorated. Thus, the nano-scale LED device having a nano unit may be connected to the two electrodes different from each other without causing defects, and light extraction efficiency may be improved due to the directivity of the nano-scale LED devices connected to the electrodes. Furthermore, deterioration in function of the LED lamp due to the defects of a portion of the nano-scale LEDs provided in the LED lamp may be minimized, and the LED lamp may have a flexible structure and shape by using the nano-scale LED electrode assembly of which a portion is deformable according to the used purpose or position of the LED lamp.
US09978716B2
A package structure includes a molding material, at least one through-via, at least one conductor, at least one dummy structure and an underfill. The through-via extends through the molding material. The conductor is present on the through-via. The dummy structure is present on the molding material and includes a dielectric material. The underfill is at least partially present between the conductor and the dummy structure.
US09978712B2
A multichip module (MCM) device include a first die including functional circuitry bonded by a plurality of inter-die bond wires (bond wires) to a second die having functional circuitry. A first channel (Channel A) and second channel (Channel B) each have separate top and bottom signal paths (signal paths) including one of the bond wires. A failure of any of the signal paths does not affect functionality of the device. The first die includes input pins including a first input pin (P1), a second input pin (P2), and coupling circuitry including cross-channel test circuitry positioned between the input pins and the functional circuitry. The coupling circuitry provides for Channel A and Channel B a first configuration for normal mode operation and a second configuration for test mode operation for single bond wire testing for checking continuity of any of the bond wires.
US09978710B2
A method for producing a stack of semiconductor devices and the stacked device obtained thereof are disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes providing a first semiconductor device comprising a dielectric layer with a hole, the hole lined with a metal layer and partially filled with solder material. The method also includes providing a second semiconductor device with a compliant layer having a metal protrusion through the compliant layer, the protrusion capped with a capping layer. The method further includes mounting the devices by landing the metal protrusion in the hole, where the compliant layer is spaced from the dielectric layer. The method includes thereafter reflowing the solder material, thereby bonding the devices such that the compliant layer is contacting the dielectric layer.
US09978709B2
A method of producing a solder bump joint includes heating a solder bump comprising tin above a melting temperature of the solder bump, wherein the solder bumps comprises eutectic Sn—Bi compound, and the eutectic Sn—Bi compound is free of Ag. The method further includes stretching the solder bump to increase a height of the solder bump, wherein stretching the solder bump forms lamellar structures having a contact angle of less than 90°. The method further includes cooling down the solder bump.
US09978688B2
A semiconductor package comprises a substrate, a grounding layer, a encapsulant, a shielding layer, and a conductive element. The substrate includes a chip. The encapsulant encapsulates the grounding layer and the chip, wherein the encapsulant has an upper surface. The shielding layer is formed on the upper surface of the encapsulant. The conductive element surrounds a waveguide cavity and extends to the grounding layer. The grounding layer, the shielding layer and the conductive element together form a waveguide antenna.
US09978687B1
A semiconductor substrate includes a first exposure shot region, a second exposure shot region aligned with the first exposure shot region in a first direction, first overlay marks, second overlay marks, and a scribe lane. The first overlay marks are disposed in a first peripheral part of the first exposure shot region. The second overlay marks are disposed in a second peripheral part of the second exposure shot region. The scribe lane is disposed between a first center part of the first exposure shot region and a second center part of the second exposure shot region. A center point of the first overlay mark disposed within the scribe lane and a center point of the second overlay mark which is closest to the first overlay mark are arranged in a second direction different from the first direction for increasing the distance between the first and the second overlay marks.
US09978682B1
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) (CMOS) standard cell circuits employing metal lines in a first metal layer used for routing, and related methods are disclosed. In one aspect, a CMOS standard cell circuit includes first supply rail, second supply rail, and metal lines disposed in the first metal layer. One or more of the metal lines are dynamically cut corresponding to a first cell boundary and a second cell boundary of the CMOS standard cell such that the metal lines have cut edges corresponding to the first and second cell boundaries. Metal lines not cut corresponding to the first and second cell boundaries can be used to interconnect nodes of the CMOS standard cell circuit. Dynamically cutting the metal lines allows the first metal layer to be used for routing, reducing routing in other metal layers such that fewer vias and metal lines are disposed above the first metal layer.
US09978675B2
A package includes an insulating member, first electrically conductive members, and a second electrically conductive member. Each of the first electrically conductive members includes a first terminal portion that forms a part of a first surface, and a second terminal portion that is positioned on a side of a side surface with respect to the first terminal portion and forms a part of the side surface. The second electrically conductive member includes an embedded portion embedded in the insulating member, third terminal portions each of which forms a part of the first surface and is connected to the embedded portion, and a fourth terminal portion that forms a part of a second surface and is connected to the embedded portion.
US09978672B1
A package comprising an at least partially electrically conductive chip carrier, a first transistor chip comprising a first connection terminal, a second connection terminal and a control terminal, and a second transistor chip comprising a first connection terminal, a second connection terminal and a control terminal, wherein the first transistor chip and the second transistor chip are connected to form a half bridge, and wherein the second connection terminal of the first transistor chip is electrically coupled with the first connection terminal of the second transistor chip by a bar section of the chip carrier extending between an exterior edge region of the first transistor chip and an exterior edge region of the second transistor chip and maintaining a gap laterally spacing the first transistor chip with regard to the second transistor chip.
US09978663B2
According to some embodiments of the present invention, a display device includes: a display panel; and an integrated circuit (IC) assembly coupled to the display panel, the IC assembly comprising: a flexible substrate; a first flexible thermally conductive layer on the flexible substrate; and an IC chip on the flexible substrate and thermally coupled to the first flexible thermally conductive layer.
US09978658B2
Semiconductor packages and methods for forming a semiconductor package are disclosed. The method includes providing a wafer having first and second major surfaces. The wafer is prepared with a plurality of dies and a plurality of external electrical contacts disposed on the first major surface of the wafer. The method includes processing the wafer. Processing the wafer includes separating the wafer into a plurality of individual dies. An individual die includes first and second major surfaces and first and second sidewalls, and the external electrical contacts are formed on the first major surface of the die. An encapsulant material is formed. The encapsulant material covers at least a portion of the first and second sidewalls of the die.
US09978650B2
A transistor device includes a substrate having a first region and a second region, a first semiconductor layer of a first semiconductor material having a first portion over the first region and a second portion over the second region, the first portion being separated from the second portion, a second semiconductor layer of a second semiconductor material over the second portion of the first semiconductor layer, a first transistor of a first conductivity type, the first transistor disposed within the first region and having a first set of source/drain regions formed in the first semiconductor layer, and a second transistor of a second conductivity type, the second transistor disposed within the second region and having a second set of source/drain regions formed in the second semiconductor layer. The second conductivity type is different than the second conductivity type, and the second semiconductor material is different from the first semiconductor material.
US09978648B2
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a semiconductor structure, including a substrate having a top surface; a first doped region in proximity to the top surface; a non-doped region positioned in proximity to the top surface and adjacent to the first doped region, having a first width; a metal gate positioned over the non-doped region and over a portion of the first doped region, having a second width. The first width is smaller than the second width, and material constituting the non-doped region is different from material constituting the substrate.
US09978646B2
An interconnect structure is provided. The interconnect structure includes a substrate; and at least a first interconnect component having a first contact region and a second interconnect component having a second contact region. The interconnect structure also includes an interlayer dielectric layer formed on the semiconductor substrate at a same layer as the first interconnect component and the second interconnect component. Further, the interconnect structure includes an interconnect line layer electrically connecting the first contact region and the second contact region formed inside the interlayer dielectric layer.
US09978642B2
Characteristics of a semiconductor device are improved. A semiconductor device includes a voltage clamp layer, a channel base layer, a channel layer, and a barrier layer on a substrate. A trench extends to a certain depth of the channel layer through the barrier layer. A gate electrode is disposed on a gate insulating film within the trench. A source electrode and a drain electrode are provided on the two respective sides of the gate electrode. A coupling within a through-hole that extends to the voltage clamp layer electrically couples the voltage clamp layer to the source electrode. An impurity region containing an impurity having an acceptor level deeper than that of a p-type impurity is provided under the through-hole. The voltage clamp layer decreases variations in characteristics such as threshold voltage and on resistance. The contact resistance is reduced through hopping conduction due to the impurity in the impurity region.
US09978637B2
Various embodiments of mechanisms for forming through a three-dimensional integrated circuit (3DIC) structure are provided. The 3DIC structure includes an interposer bonded to a die and a substrate. The interposer has a conductive structure with through silicon vias (TSVs) connected to a patterned metal pad and a conductive structure on opposite ends of the TSVs. The pattern metal pad is embedded with dielectric structures to reduce dishing effect and has regions over TSVs that are free of the dielectric structures. The conductive structure has 2 or more TSVs. By using a patterned metal pad and 2 or more TSVs, the reliability and yield of the conductive structure and the 3DIC structure are improved.
US09978621B1
Embodiments include a real time etch rate sensor and methods of for using a real time etch rate sensor. In an embodiment, the real time etch rate sensor includes a resonant system and a conductive housing. The resonant system may include a resonating body, a first electrode formed over a first surface of the resonating body, a second electrode formed over a second surface of the resonating body, and a sacrificial layer formed over the first electrode. In an embodiment, at least a portion of the first electrode is not covered by the sacrificial layer. In an embodiment, the conductive housing may secure the resonant system. Additionally, the conductive housing contacts the first electrode, and at least a portion of an interior edge of the conductive housing may be spaced away from the sacrificial layer.
US09978600B2
A method of manufacturing an electronic device comprises: providing a layer of semiconductor material comprising a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion, the third portion connecting the first portion to the second portion and providing a semiconductive channel for electrical current flow between the first and second portions; providing a gate terminal arranged with respect to said third portion such that a voltage may be applied to the gate terminal to control an electrical conductivity of said channel; and processing at least one of the first and second portions so as to have an electrical conductivity greater than an electrical conductivity of the channel when no voltage is applied to the gate terminal. In certain embodiments, the processing comprises exposing at least one of the first and second portions to electromagnetic radiation. The first and second portions may be laser annealed to increase their conductivities.
US09978596B2
The present disclosure provides forming nanostructures with precision dimension control and minimum lithographic related errors for features with dimension under 14 nanometers and beyond. A self-aligned multiple spacer patterning (SAMSP) process is provided herein and the process utilizes minimum lithographic exposure process, but rather multiple deposition/etching process to incrementally reduce feature sizes formed in the mask along the manufacturing process, until a desired extreme small dimension nanostructures are formed in a mask layer.
US09978593B2
A plasma processing device, a plasma processing method and a manufacturing method of an electronic device with excellent uniformity, are capable of performing heating and high-speed processing for a short period of time as well as controlling the distribution of heating performances in a linear direction (amounts of heat influx to a substrate). In an inductively-coupled plasma torch unit, coils, a first ceramic block and a second ceramic block are arranged, and a chamber has an annular shape. A plasma P is applied to a substrate at an opening of the chamber. The chamber and the substrate are relatively moved in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the opening. Plural gas jetting ports jetting a gas toward a substrate stage are provided side by side in a direction of a line formed by the opening, thereby controlling the distribution of heating performances in the linear direction and realizing plasma processing with excellent uniformity.
US09978592B2
Disclosed is a method for repairing an oxide thin film, including repairing the oxide thin film by forming a repairing material that contains an oxide at a defect of the oxide thin film.
US09978579B2
The present invention relates to a method for determining at least one parameter related to charged particles emitted from a particle emitting sample, e.g. a parameter related to the energies, the start directions, the start positions or the spin of the particles. The method comprises the steps of guiding a beam of charged particles into an entrance of a measurement region by means of a lens system, and detecting positions of the particles indicative of said at least one parameter within the measurement region. Furthermore, the method comprises the steps of deflecting the particle beam at least twice in the same coordinate direction before entrance of the particle beam into the measurement region. Thereby, both the position and the direction of the particle beam at the entrance of the measurement region can be controlled in a way that to some extent eliminates the need for physical manipulation of the sample. This in turn allows the sample to be efficiently cooled such that the energy resolution in energy measurements can be improved.
US09978576B2
Systems and methods are provided for time-of-flight analysis of a continuous beam of ions by a detector array. A sample is ionized using an ion source to produce a continuous beam of ions. An electric field is applied to the continuous beam of ions using an accelerator to produce an accelerated beam of ions. A rotating magnetic and/or electric field is applied to the accelerated beam to separate ions with different mass-to-charge ratios over an area of a two-dimensional detector using a deflector located between the accelerator and the two-dimensional detector. An arrival time and a two-dimensional arrival position of each ion of the accelerated beam are recorded using the two-dimensional detector. Alternatively, an electric field that is periodic with time is applied in order to sweep the accelerated beam over a periodically repeating path on the two-dimensional rectangular detector.
US09978567B2
Provided are an apparatus and a method of treating a substrate using process gas. The apparatus may include a chamber configured to provide a treatment space, in which a process of treating a substrate is performed, a detection unit configured to detect an amount of reaction by-products attached on an inner surface of the chamber. The detection unit may include a window member provided on the inner surface of the chamber, and a light source member configured to emit and receive light through the window member.
US09978560B2
A system for performing nano beam diffraction (NBD) analysis, includes a focused ion beam (FIB) device for preparing a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample, a broad beam ion mill for milling the TEM sample to remove a surface portion of the TEM sample, and a strain analyzer for performing NBD analysis on the milled TEM sample to acquire diffraction data.
US09978559B2
A method of time-resolved pump-probe electron microscopy, comprises the steps of irradiating a sample (1) with a photonic pump pulse (2) being directed on a pump pulse path (3) from a photonic source to the sample (1), irradiating the sample (1) with an electron probe pulse (4) being directed on an electron pulse path (5) from an electron pulse source (10) to the sample (1), wherein the photonic pump pulse (2) and the electron probe pulse (4) arrive at the sample (1) with a predetermined temporal relationship relative to each other, and detecting a sample response to the electron probe pulse (4) irradiation with a detector device (20), wherein the photonic source comprises a photonic lattice structure (30) being arranged adjacent to the electron pulse path (5), and the photonic pump pulse (2) is created by an interaction of the electron probe pulse (4) with the photonic lattice structure (30). Furthermore, an electron microscopy apparatus, configured for time-resolved pump-probe electron microscopy, and a sample supply device (200) for an electron microscopy apparatus (100) are described.
US09978556B2
Provided herein are approaches for controlling a charged particle beam using a series of electrodes including a plurality of different shapes. In one approach, an electrostatic optical element includes a first set of electrodes having a first electrode shape for parallelizing and deflecting the charged particle beam using a first set of electrodes having a first electrode shape, such as a concave or convex profile. The electrostatic optical element further includes a second set of electrodes adjacent the first set of electrodes for accelerating or decelerating the charged particle beam along a beamline, wherein the second set of electrodes include a cylindrical shape. In one approach, a power supply is electrically connected to the first and second sets of electrodes, the power supply arranged to enable independent voltage/current control.
US09978554B1
An ion source having dual indirectly heated cathodes is disclosed. Each of the cathodes may be independently biased relative to its respective filament so as to vary the profile of the beam current that is extracted from the ion source. In certain embodiments, the ion source is used in conjunction with an ion implanter. The ion implanter comprises a beam profiler to measure the current of the ribbon ion beam as a function of beam position. A controller uses this information to independently control the bias voltages of the two indirectly heated cathodes so as to vary the uniformity of the ribbon ion beam. In certain embodiments, the current passing through each filament may also be independently controlled by the controller.
US09978543B1
Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to keyboards for computing devices. For example, rather than using a dome, the keycap may include one or more magnets. In one example, a second magnet may be placed adjacent to a switch or magnetic sensor on a circuit board. The magnets may be arranged so that they repel one another in order to force the keycap away from the switch. Webbing between the keycaps may be used to keep the keycaps from falling off of the device. To keep the keycap from moving laterally, the keycap may include two or more flanges held in place by rails. Other arrangements of magnets or magnetic plates may also be used. If a magnetic sensor is used, it may be calibrated to adjust the sensitivity of the keys, for example, how far a user must press the keycap in order to have the pressing register.
US09978541B2
A rechargeable grinder includes a brushless motor, a main body housing configured to accommodate the brushless motor, a main switch and a micro switch configured to distribute power to the brushless motor, and a switch lever capable of moving with respect to the main switch and the micro switch, wherein a lock off lever capable of operating the micro switch in association with movement of the switch lever toward a switch is provided so as to be movable between a lock release position in which the micro switch can be operated and a lock position in which the micro switch cannot be operated.
US09978536B2
Electroconductive paste is applied onto an electronic component body to form an external electrode by supplying the electroconductive paste to a first groove on an outer circumferential surface of a roller to extend along a circumference of the roller, disposing the electronic component body such that a second main surface of the electronic component body and an outer circumferential surface of the roller are opposed to each other while a first edge portion defined by the second main surface and a first end surface of the electronic component body is in the first groove when viewed in plan, and pressing the electronic component body against the outer circumferential surface of the roller so that the first edge portion is located in the first groove in a depth direction of the first groove.
US09978534B2
An electrode structure includes a rolled graphene film which is wound about a central axis, and a nanomaterial dispersed on a surface of the rolled graphene film.
US09978531B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor that includes a positive external electrode electrically connected to a core part of a valve-acting metal base included in a capacitor element, a first conductive layer in direct contact with the core part of the valve-acting metal base and covering one end surface of the valve-acting metal base and at least a part of an exterior located around the end surface.
US09978524B2
A multilayer ceramic capacitor that includes a laminated body of multiple dielectric layers and internal electrodes laminated alternately therewith. The dielectric layers contain Ba, Sr, Ti, Ca, Zr, Mg, and R, where R represents at least one element of Y, La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb. When Ti is 100 parts by mol, the dielectric layers contain Sr at 0.5 to 3.0 parts by mol; Ca at 3 to 15 parts by mol; Zr at 0.05 to 3.0 parts by mol; Mg at 0.01 to 0.09 parts by mol; and R at 2.5 to 8.4 parts by mol.
US09978520B2
A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a body portion and an external electrode. The body portion has an active region in which capacitance is formed by a plurality of stacked internal electrodes having dielectric layers therebetween, a cover region disposed above the topmost and below the bottommost internal electrodes, and a side margin region disposed laterally adjacent to the active region. The plurality of internal electrodes are not formed in the cover and side margin regions. The body portion may have different additive concentrations depending on a thickness direction, and a concentration of the additive in a region of the side margin laterally adjacent to a dielectric layer of the body portion may be higher than a concentration of the additive in another region of the side margin laterally adjacent to an internal electrode of the body portion.
US09978517B2
An electro-polarizable compound has the following general formula: Core1 is an aromatic polycyclic conjugated molecule having two-dimensional flat form and self-assembling by pi-pi stacking in a column-like supramolecule, R1 is a dopant group connected to Core1; a number m of R1 groups is 1, 2, 3 or 4. R2 is a substituent comprising one or more ionic groups connected to Core1; a number p of ionic groups R2 is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. The fragment marked NLE has a nonlinear polarization effect. Core2 is an electro-conductive oligomer self-assembling by pi-pi stacking in a column-like supramolecule, a number n of such oligomers is 0, 2, or 4. R3 is a substituent comprising one or more ionic groups connected to Core2; a number s of the ionic groups R3 is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. R4 is a resistive substituent providing solubility of the compound in a solvent and electrically insulating the column-like supramolecules from each other. A number k of substituents R4 is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8.
US09978515B2
An electronic component unit includes a substrate including principal surfaces opposing each other and side surfaces between the principal surfaces, and components mounted on the principal surface of the substrate. The side surfaces include first side surfaces formed before the components are mounted and second side surfaces formed after the components are mounted. As viewed from a line normal to the principal surface of the substrate, distances between the first side surfaces and the components are different from distances between the second side surfaces and the components.
US09978506B2
A coil component of the present invention includes a magnetic core containing magnetic powder, a coil element embedded in the magnetic core and having an end projecting from the magnetic core, and a retaining member for retaining the end of the coil element. The retaining member has a main surface having a recess therein sinking toward the magnetic core. The retaining member has a ridge projecting from a bottom surface of the recess and extending linearly along the bottom surface. The ridge has a portion that intersects with the end of the coil element. The portion of the ridge is welded to the end of the coil element.
US09978501B2
A coil electronic component includes a magnetic body having an internal coil part embedded therein, in which the internal coil part includes an insulating substrate, a first insulator, a coil conductor, and a second insulator. The first insulator is disposed on at least one of first and second main surfaces of the insulating substrate and has a groove formed therein. The coil conductor is formed inside the groove. The second insulator encloses the insulating substrate, the first insulator, and the coil conductor. The first insulator may be formed to a thickness larger than (and no more than 40 μm thicker than) a thickness of the coil conductor on the insulating substrate. The first insulator may be formed to a width of 3 μm to 50 μm. Further, the second insulator may extend to a thickness 1 μm to 20 μm larger than that of the first insulator on the insulating substrate.
US09978495B2
The subject matter herein pertains to a current transformer, comprising a secondary coil, connection contacts for establishing electrically conductive contact with the secondary coil from the outside, and a housing having a housing body and a housing head, wherein the secondary coil is accommodated in the housing body and/or is attached to the housing body, and the connection contacts of the secondary coil are provided on the housing head. According to one implementation, a connecting mechanism is provided, by means of which the housing head and the connection contacts can be mechanically or electrically conductively detachably connected to the housing body and to the secondary coil. A current transformer is therefore provided, which is cost-effective to produce and is flexible in terms of the use thereof.
US09978491B2
A choke coil including a coil (6) and a core (1) including a first core part (5) inserted into a central hole of the coil (6) and a plurality of second core parts (4) disposed along the outer periphery of the coil. The first core part (5) and the second core part (4) form a closed magnetic path. The second core parts (4) are shaped so that the total sum of the areas of cross sections thereof perpendicular to the axis of the coil is greater than the area of a cross section of the first core part (5). A gap part (G) is formed in the second core parts (4), and a ferrite magnet (7) that applies a magnetic bias is disposed in the gap part (G).
US09978487B2
An article for magnetic heat exchange includes a functionally-graded monolithic sintered working component including La1-aRa(Fe1-x-yTyMx)13HzCb with a NaZn13-type structure. M is one or more of the elements from the group consisting of Si and Al, T is one or more of the elements from the group consisting of Mn, Co, Ni, Ti, V and Cr and R is one or more of the elements from the group consisting of Ce, Nd, Y and Pr. A content of the one or more elements T and R, if present, a C content, if present, and a content of M varies in a working direction of the working component and provides a functionally-graded Curie temperature. The functionally-graded Curie temperature monotonically decreases or monotonically increases in the working direction of the working component.
US09978486B2
A resistor support assembly includes first, second, third, and fourth support members. Each of the first and second support members includes one or more resistor contact regions and apertures extending therethrough. Each third support member is at least partially disposed within one of the apertures of one of the first support members and one of the apertures of one of the second support members. Recesses may be formed in the resistor contact regions of the first and the second support members, and one or more load resistors may be at least partially disposed within the recesses. The resistor support assembly may be used to mount one or more load resistors to a printed circuit board, without obstructing airflow through hollow portions of the load resistors. To reduce parasitic capacitance and inductance, the first support members and the second support members are formed from non-conductive materials.
US09978480B2
A cable includes a jacket surrounding first and second insulated conductors and a first dielectric tape, wherein the first insulated conductor is twisted with the second insulated conductor with the first dielectric tape residing therebetween to form a first twisted pair. The cable's jacket may also surround additional twisted pairs, which are similarly formed. In alternative or supplemental embodiments of the invention, the first dielectric tape has a hollow core possessing a gas or material with a lower dielectric constant and/or at least a first side of said first dielectric tape facing to said first insulated conductor includes a plurality of ridges and valleys.
US09978479B2
An electrode coating composition that includes at least one crosslinkable monomer; at least one hydrophobic monomer; and at least one dielectric constant enhancing agent selected from dielectric enhancing monomers, ferroelectric particulates, and electroactive polymers. Coatings including the polymer of compositions, and articles including electrically isolating layers are also disclosed.
US09978475B2
Provided by the present invention is a conductive resin composition which has, by adding small amount of a carbon nanotube thereto, high conductivity and superior processability including moldability while keeping original physical properties owned by the thermoplastic resin itself. Provided is a method for producing a conductive resin composition, that is, a method for producing a conductive resin composition which contains a carbon nanotube and a thermoplastic resin, wherein the method contains following steps of (A) and (B); namely, (A) a step of mixing and dispersing the carbon nanotube, a solvent, and the thermoplastic resin, thereby obtaining a carbon nanotube resin mixture, and (B) a step of removing the solvent while kneading the carbon nanotube resin mixture. Provided further is a conductive resin composition obtained by the said production method.
US09978469B1
A radiation area monitor device/method, utilizing: a radiation sensor having a directional radiation sensing capability; a rotation mechanism operable for selectively rotating the radiation sensor such that the directional radiation sensing capability selectively sweeps an area of interest; and a processor operable for analyzing and storing a radiation fingerprint acquired by the radiation sensor as the directional radiation sensing capability selectively sweeps the area of interest. Optionally, the radiation sensor includes a gamma and/or neutron radiation sensor. The device/method selectively operates in: a first supervised mode during which a baseline radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor; and a second unsupervised mode during which a subsequent radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor, wherein the subsequent radiation fingerprint is compared to the baseline radiation fingerprint and, if a predetermined difference threshold is exceeded, an alert is issued.
US09978462B2
A data storage device includes a non-volatile memory and a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory. The controller includes an error correction coding (ECC) decoder. The non-volatile memory is configured to sense hard bit data and soft bit data corresponding to multiple ECC codewords from a word line of the non-volatile memory and to sense soft bit data for the multiple ECC codewords. The soft bit data includes sub codes for each of the multiple ECC codewords. The non-volatile memory is configured to send less than all of the sensed soft bit sub codes to the ECC decoder.
US09978460B2
A memory module includes a first memory device including a first one-die termination circuit for impedance matching of a signal path and a second memory device sharing the signal path with the first memory device and including a second on-die termination circuit for impedance matching of the signal path, wherein the signal path corresponds to a command or address signal path provided from a host, and the first and second on-die termination circuits are individually controlled according to control of the host.
US09978456B2
Techniques are presented to reduce the amount of read disturb on partially written blocks of NAND type non-volatile memory, both for when determining the last written word line in a block and also for data read. In both cases, non-selected word lines that are unwritten or, in the case of finding the last written word line, may be unwritten are biased with a lower read-pass voltage then is typically used. The result of such reads can also be applied to an algorithm for finding the last written word by skipping a varying number of word lines. Performance in a last written page determination can also be improved by use of shorter bit line settling times than for a standard read.
US09978448B2
To perform refresh without saving data, and prevent corruption of data in non-volatile memories. A number-of-write-operations information holding unit holds number-of-write-operations information, which is the number of write operations of a non-volatile memory to which access is made in units of pages which are divided by a page size. A determination unit determines whether or not refresh, which is reversing of values of all memory cells constituting the pages, is necessary on the basis of the held number-of-write-operations information. A write control unit further performs the refresh in addition to writing when the refresh is necessary on the basis of a result of the determination at a time of the writing with respect to the pages.
US09978446B2
A memory device includes: memory cells arranged in rows and columns; and regulated ground circuits corresponding to the columns. Each regulated ground circuit includes: a column ground node; at least three low-side voltage sources; at least three switches, each of the at least three switches being coupled between the column ground node and a corresponding one of the at least three voltage sources; and each of the at least three switches being controlled by a corresponding one of different control signals; Each memory cell includes: a high-side voltage source; an internal ground node coupled to the column ground node; and a cross latch having output and output_bar nodes. The cross latch is coupled between the high-side voltage source and the internal ground node, and is configured to selectively connect the output and output_bar nodes to corresponding bit and bit_bar lines.
US09978444B2
A memory and a method for operating the memory are presented. The memory includes a memory cell, a sense amplifier configured to sense read data from the memory cell, a write driver configured to provide write data to the memory cell, a first circuit configured to enable the sense amplifier during a time period, and a second circuit configured to enable the write driver during at least a portion of the time period. The method includes enabling a sense amplifier to sense read data from a memory cell during a time period and enabling a write driver to provide write data to the memory cell during at least a portion of the time period. Another memory and method for operating the memory are presented. The memory and method further include an address input circuit configured to receive a write address while the sense amplifier is enabled.
US09978442B2
A memory is disclosed. The memory includes a memory array having a plurality of memory cells. The memory also includes an address decoder configured to assert a wordline to enable the memory cells. Additionally, the memory includes a tracking circuit configured to vary a duration of asserting the wordline as a function of which one of the memory cells is accessed. A method is also disclosed. The method includes asserting a wordline to enable the memory cells and varying a duration of asserting the wordline as a function of which one of a plurality of memory cells is accessed.
US09978437B2
Apparatuses and methods for dynamic voltage and frequency switching for dynamic random access memory
According to one embodiment, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a first power supply having a first fixed voltage, a second power supply having a second fixed voltage, a plurality of circuits coupled to the first power supply via a first switch and the second power supply via a second switch, and a power control circuit configured to selectively enable one of the first switch and the second switch responsive to power demand information.
US09978435B1
A memory device includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells coupled to a plurality of bitlines and a plurality of wordlines and a plurality of sense amplifier circuits coupled to the plurality of bitlines. Each sense amplifier circuit includes a sense amplifier configured to sense and amplify a voltage difference between two of the bitlines coupled thereto. The memory device further includes an address decoder to receive and decode addresses of memory cells to enable corresponding bitlines and wordlines, a refresh controller to control data refreshing of the memory cells, and a mode controller to control the memory device to operate in different operating modes including a deep power down (DPD) mode. The mode controller controls data of a group of the memory cells, sensed by corresponding ones of the sense amplifier circuits, to be latched in the corresponding sense amplifier circuits when entering the DPD mode.
US09978432B2
Apparatus, systems, and methods for write operations in spin transfer torque (STT) memory are described. In one embodiment, a memory comprises at least one spin-transfer torque (STT) memory device, temperature sensor proximate the STT memory device and a controller comprising logic, at least partially including hardware logic, to monitor an output of the temperature sensor, implement a first write operation protocol when the output of the temperature sensor fails to exceed a threshold temperature, and implement a second write operation protocol when the output of the temperature sensor exceeds the threshold temperature. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US09978430B2
A memory system includes at least one memory device and a memory controller. The at least one memory device includes a refresh request circuit that generates refresh request signals at timings based on data retention times of memory cells, such as based on individual data retention times of a memory cell row. The memory controller schedules operation commands for the at least one memory device in response to the received refresh request signals.
US09978428B2
In a semiconductor device, some regions of a memory cell array region may be used as reservoir regions. A semiconductor device may include at least one reservoir cell disposed with the memory cells in a cell array region.
US09978418B2
Systems and methods for automating testing of multiple SATA hard drives with multiple motherboards are described herein. In certain embodiments any number of SATA drives may be switchably connected to any number of motherboards, and any number of tests may be performed on combinations of the SATA drives and motherboards without or with only minimal manual intervention between tests. In one embodiment, the system may include an automated selector having a controller adapted to receive a testing instruction and transmit the received testing instruction and a mainboard in communication with the controller. The mainboard may include a logic device to receive the testing instruction from the controller and/or a switch for pairing and unpairing motherboards with SATA storage devices.
US09978417B1
The disclosed technology provides a system and method that improves command completion time in a shingled magnetic recording device system. In one implementation, the system and method include receiving a write command to write data to a first track in a band in a recording medium, seeking to a first track, reducing an on-cylinder limit (OCLIM) from a default OCLIM to a reduced OCLIM by a predetermined amount on the first track, performing write operations on the first track with the reduced OCLIM, and determining if a transfer of data to the first track band in the write operations has been substantially completed. Upon determining that a transfer of data to the first track in the write operations has been substantially completed, the OCLIM is restored from a reduced OCLIM to a default OCLIM and write operations are performed on tracks adjacent to the first track.
US09978416B2
A reproducing device (100) includes (i) an optical pickup (6) for irradiating, with reproduction light, an optical disk (1) which is a super-resolution medium, (ii) an RF signal processing circuit (9) for converting, into a reproduction signal, light which reflected off optical disk (1), (iii) an i-MLSE detecting section (141) for evaluating quality of the reproduction signal, and (iv) a spherical aberration correcting section (142) for correcting a spherical aberration by using a result of evaluation of the quality of the reproduction signal.
US09978415B2
In a case where (i) a reflectance calculated from a reflected light amount obtained from a longest pit (P1max) or a longest space (S1max) in a first pit row is defined as a first reflectance and (ii) a reflectance calculated from a reflected light amount obtained from a longest pit (P2max) or a longest space (S2max) in the second pit row is defined as a second reflectance, the first pit row is formed such that the first reflectance becomes substantially identical with the second reflectance.
US09978399B2
A system includes a head and torso simulation (HATS) system configured to play back pre-recorded audio commands while simulating a driver head location as an output location. The system also includes a vehicle speaker system and a processor configured to engage a vehicle heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. The processor is also configured to play back audio commands through the HATS system while playing back pre-recorded vehicle environment noises through the speaker system. The processor is further configured to determine if the audio command, recorded by a vehicle microphone, is recognizable in the presence of the environment noises and HVAC noises. Also, the processor is configured to repeat the engagement, playback of commands and noises, and determination, recording the results of the determination for each command in a set of commands.
US09978388B2
A method for restoring distorted speech components of an audio signal distorted by a noise reduction or a noise cancellation includes determining distorted frequency regions and undistorted frequency regions in the audio signal. The distorted frequency regions include regions of the audio signal in which a speech distortion is present. Iterations are performed using a model to refine predictions of the audio signal at distorted frequency regions. The model is configured to modify the audio signal and may include deep neural network trained using spectral envelopes of clean or undamaged audio signals. Before each iteration, the audio signal at the undistorted frequency regions is restored to values of the audio signal prior to the first iteration; while the audio signal at distorted frequency regions is refined starting from zero at the first iteration. Iterations are ended when discrepancies of audio signal at undistorted frequency regions meet pre-defined criteria.
US09978383B2
Method and apparatus are provided for reconstructing a noise component of a speech/audio signal. A bitstream, is received and decoded to obtain a speech/audio signal. A first speech/audio signal is determined according to the speech/audio signal. A symbol of each sample value in the first speech/audio signal and an amplitude value of each sample value in the first speech/audio signal is determined. An adaptive normalization length and an adjusted amplitude value of each sample value are determined according to the adaptive normalization length and the amplitude value of each sample value. A second speech/audio signal is determined according to the symbol of each sample value and the adjusted amplitude value of each sample value.
US09978372B2
A method for analyzing data from a microphone, the microphone being arranged to continuously record audio data, the method comprising: continuously storing the recorded audio data in a buffer, receiving a first triggering signal at a first point in time, the first triggering signal pertaining to a request for analyzing the audio data presently being recorded by the microphone, transferring a predefined amount of recorded audio data stored prior to the first point in time and audio data stored after the first point in time to a conversation analyzing unit. The method is advantageous as the information that was momentarily available during a conversation in the form of sound waves is now analyzed and thus may be converted to a format compatible with information available from other sources of relevance to the user.
US09978369B2
A method and apparatus for voice control of a mobile device are provided. The method establishes a connection between the mobile device and a voice-control module. Responsive to establishing the connection, the mobile device enters into an intermediate mode; and the voice-control module monitors for verbal input comprising a verbal command from among a set of predetermined verbal commands. The voice-control module sends instructions to the mobile device related to the verbal command received; and the mobile device acts on the received instructions. An apparatus/voice control module (VCM) for voice control of a mobile device, wherein the VCM includes a connection module configured for establishing a connection between the VCM and the mobile device; a monitoring module configured for monitoring for a verbal command from among a set of predetermined verbal commands; and a communications module configured for sending instructions to the mobile device related to the verbal command received.
US09978368B2
Because an information providing system according to the present invention generates recognition object words for selecting one headline from a plurality of headlines in such a way that the recognition object words do not overlap one another, the information providing system can select a headline uniquely through the user's utterance, and present information (content) corresponding to the headline selected thereby, and therefore the convenience to the user is improved.
US09978365B2
A classifier voice interface of a user terminal may receive a query, may parse the query to identify an attribute, and may process the query to select a first domain-specific voice interface of a plurality of domain-specific voice interfaces based on the attribute, wherein each of the domain-specific voice interfaces comprises specialized information to process queries of different types. The classifier voice interface may further instruct the first domain-specific voice interface to process the query.
US09978348B2
A thumb guard apparatus comprising a flat panel portion with a front and back side is disclosed. In one embodiment, the thumb guard apparatus comprises a curved portion or lip contiguous to the flat panel portion, wherein the curved portion or lip extends from the flat panel portion and curves away from the back side of the flat panel portion creating a channel. The channel creates a space which guards the thumb of a guitar player and prevents the thumb from moving on or over the top of the neck of the guitar. The flat panel portion of the apparatus may be attached to the back of the neck of the guitar. A method of use is also disclosed.
US09978343B2
Performance counters provided in a graphics processor unit (GPU) are used to provide values used to make a determination of GPU activity so that power management can be exercised. In preferred embodiments counter values relating to computation unit idle times, computation unit stall times, DRAM bandwidth and computation unit stall times due to a sampler wait are utilized to determine performance level. If performance is above a minimum level but the GPU is above certain idleness determinations provided by those values, the GPU can have portions powered down to reduce power consumption while not having a noticeable effect on operations. Based on the various counter values, portions of the GPU can be turned off or disabled to reduce power consumption without having a noticeable effect on perceived GPU performance.
US09978342B2
An information processing device communicably connected to a head mounted display including a display device displaying an image and a sight line detector detecting a user's line of sight is caused to function as a drawing control part. The drawing control part controls drawing of the image such that the drawing is simplified in a peripheral region of a user's gaze point as compared to a vicinity region of the gaze point based on information on the user's line of sight detected by the sight line detector.
US09978341B2
A visual data processing method applied to a visual data processing system. The visual data processing method comprises: (a) detecting a gazing point position of a user on a display; and (b) performing at least one process operation to visual data according to at least one distance between at least one display location for the visual data on the display and the gazing point position.
US09978337B2
A wireless device supporting Wi-Fi Direct service includes: a display; a communication unit; and a controller configured to cause: transmitting resolution information including a plurality of resolutions that are supported by the wireless device to a second wireless device; receiving an entire image including a first image and a second image from the second wireless device if a resolution of the first image is not one of the plurality of resolutions; displaying the first image by removing the second image from the received entire image when the entire image is received; and receiving the first image from the second wireless device without the second image if the resolution of the first image is included in the resolution information, the second image being an image that is added to the first image such that a resolution of the received entire image corresponds to one of the plurality of resolutions.
US09978330B2
The embodiment of the present invention provides a display driving method relating to the field of display, which can reduce the coupling effect due to the rapid changes of the voltage on the gate line and improve stability of display. The display driving method uses overlapping scan mode, wherein in the display panel two gate lines are arranged between two rows of pixel units for driving the two rows of pixel units respectively, the display driving method comprising: providing a switching voltage signal to the odd gate lines in the gate line group sequentially; providing a switching voltage signal to the even gate lines in the gate line group sequentially; and wherein for every two adjacent gate lines, when the switching voltage signal on an odd gate line has a falling edge, the switching voltage signal on an adjacent even gate line has a rising edge.
US09978319B2
Provided is a display device including: a first panel of which light transmittance is controlled; a second panel of which light transmittance is controlled, the second panel being disposed on the rear surface side of the first panel; a light emitting unit of which brightness is individually controlled for each divided area, the light emitting unit being disposed on the rear surface side of the second panel; a second panel control unit configured to control the transmittance of the second panel based on a brightness distribution of the light emitting unit so that the brightness of the transmitted light of the second panel becomes uniform; and a first panel control unit configured to control the transmittance of the first panel based on image data.
US09978315B2
An image display apparatus includes: a first light modulation device that includes a plurality of display pixels and modulates light based on input first image information; an illumination unit that includes a plurality of light adjustment elements and emits adjusted light to the first light modulation device; an illumination distribution storage unit that stores an illumination range in which the light emitted from the light adjustment elements illuminates the display pixels of the first light modulation device; and a light adjustment information decision unit that decides light adjustment information to control the light adjustment elements of the illumination unit based on a feature amount of the first image information corresponding to the display pixels of the illumination range stored in the illumination distribution storage unit.
US09978314B2
A display device includes a display panel having a curved side or a polygonal side, the display panel including a plurality of pixels in a display region, a gate driver including a plurality of normal stages connected to each other for outputting gate signals to the pixels via a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of dummy stages between some of the normal stages, and a data driver providing data signals to the pixels via a plurality of data lines.
US09978312B2
The present invention provides a pixel circuit and a driving method thereof, a display device. The pixel circuit comprises a display driving module, a compensation module, a light emitting module and a fingerprint identification module. The compensation module is connected with the display driving module, a first signal terminal, a second signal terminal, a third signal terminal, a first voltage terminal, a data signal terminal and a common voltage terminal respectively. The display driving module is further connected with the light emitting module. The light emitting module is further connected with an enable signal terminal, the first voltage terminal and a second voltage terminal. The fingerprint identification module is connected with a fourth signal terminal, a fifth signal terminal and a readout signal line respectively.
US09978298B2
A display panel including a plurality of digital code display units is provided. The digital code display units respectively display digital codes. Each of the digital code display units includes a plurality of display segments. The display segments are at least grouped into a first group and a second group. A signal waveform of at least one of a plurality of common voltage signals that drive the first group is the same as a signal waveform of at least one of a plurality of common voltage signals that drive the second group. Furthermore, a driving method of the display panel is also provided.
US09978297B2
A local priority-based scanning scheme that focuses scanning to areas of a display panel whose measured characteristics are under continuous change (e.g., aging or relaxation). The algorithm identifies areas or regions needing compensation, using a current measurement from a single pixel in an area as a candidate to determine whether the rest of the region needs further compensation. The algorithm thus detects newly changed areas quickly, focusing time-consuming measurements on those areas that need high attention. Optionally, neighboring pixels sharing the same state (e.g., aging or overcompensated) as the measured pixel can be adjusted automatically given the likelihood that the neighboring pixels will also require compensation if the measured pixel needs compensation.
US09978295B1
A gateway display fixture includes first and second side display unit and a transom display unit. The first side display unit includes a first primary frame including two threaded cavities along a top surface thereof. The second side display unit is spaced from the first side display unit. The transom display is unit selectively coupled with and extends across each of the first display unit and the second side display unit to form a pathway under the transom display unit. The transom display unit includes a bottom segment having a first pair of coupling apertures near a first end of the bottom segment. The display fixture is adjustable between a first configuration, where the first side display unit extends substantially in line with the transom display unit, and in the second configuration, where the first side display unit is rotated out of line with the transom display unit.
US09978294B1
Embodiments of the present invention relate to integrated modular display panels. In one embodiment, modular display panel includes a a shell with a first thermally conductive material, a printed circuit board disposed in the shell, and a plurality of LEDs attached to a first side of the printed circuit board. A driver circuit is disposed in the shell and coupled to the plurality of LEDs from a second side of the printed circuit board. The panel further includes a power supply unit for powering the LEDs. The printed circuit board are disposed between the power supply unit and the plurality of LEDs. A second thermally conductive material is disposed between the power supply unit and an outer back side of the panel. A protective structure is disposed over the first side of the printed circuit board, where a display side of the panel, opposite the outer back side, is waterproof.
US09978293B2
A display device. A back cover supports a rear surface of a display panel. A pair of support members are disposed on a left side and a right side of the back cover with respect to a central portion of the rear surface of the back cover. Outer ends of the pair of support members are fixed to the back cover. A curvature-changing unit is coupled to the central portion of the rear surface of the back cover to support the pair of support members in a lateral direction of the back cover and change a curvature of either the display panel or the back cover.
US09978286B2
A system and method for the avoidance of one or more obstacles by an aircraft, and a related computer program product, electronic system and aircraft are disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes a) generating an alert by a warning system on detection of an obstacle and b) if no manual avoidance maneuver is detected for a time period longer than a first determined time and if the alert is maintained during this first time period, automatically activating an automatic avoidance guide mode to determine an obstacle-avoidance guidance rule. The method further including c) if an autopilot device of the aircraft is coupled to the automatic avoidance guide mode, transmitting to the autopilot device the avoidance guidance rule determined in step b) for automatic performing of a maneuver to avoid the obstacle.
US09978285B2
A navigation system including a vehicle dynamic model (VDM) that serves as the main process model within a navigation filter is described. When used in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the navigation system may work in communication with inertial measurement units (IMUs) and environment dependent sensors such as GNSS receivers. Particularly, the navigation system is beneficial in the case of GNSS signal reception outages, where conventional IMU coasting drifts quickly. Yet, the navigation system may also be employed in other scenarios, for example during GNSS presence for improved positioning, velocity and attitude determination, or in combination with GNSS when no IMU is available by design or due to a failure. In the navigation system, a solution to VDM equations provides an estimate of position, velocity, and attitude, which can be updated within a navigation filter based on available observations, such as IMU data or GNSS measurements.
US09978272B2
A vehicle communication system includes a plurality of user accounts, each user account corresponding to a user. A server is programmed to receive communication invitations from inviting vehicles, and is programmed to transmit the communication invitations to invitee vehicles to facilitate inter-vehicle communication.
US09978267B2
A method and a system for remote controlling one or more service providing devices, including a mobile device operative to control a service providing device within a first range, where the mobile device is operative to interrogate the one or more service providing devices within a second range being smaller than the first range, where, responsive to the interrogation by the mobile device, the service providing device identifies itself to the mobile device, and where the mobile device is operative to present to a user a list including one or more of the service providing devices within the second range.
US09978250B2
The present technology relates to apparatuses, methods and systems for detecting hygiene compliance, particularly in hospital and clinical settings, where hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are of concern. A temperature signature can be determined and then used to ascertain whether a user is compliant with a given hygiene standard. The present technology also relates to sanitizing compositions used in conjunction with such apparatuses, methods and systems.
US09978249B1
In the embodiments of the present invention, by respectively acquiring a first mass of a taxi when the taxi stops running in an empty state, a second mass of the taxi when the taxi is switched from the empty state to a passenger carrying state, a third mass of the taxi when the taxi is switched from a running state to a stopped state in the passenger carrying state, and a fourth mass of the taxi when the taxi is switched from the empty state to the passenger carrying state; and comparing a first difference between the first mass and the fourth mass with a second difference between the second mass and the third mass, if the first difference is less than the second difference, then it is determined that a passenger's article is left in the taxi and thus an alarm in the taxi will be triggered to warn.
US09978246B2
A portable, self-contained flood alarm which alleviates the shortcomings of the alarms of the prior art and offers an easy-to-use and reliable flood and water level alarm which will adequately warn users of potential flood conditions and possibly save their personal belongings, equipment and lives.
US09978245B2
An ultrasonic pool occupant sensing device capable of using ultrasonic pulses to analyze the occupancy level of a swimming pool. An ultrasonic transducer sends and receives ultrasonic pulses. A front end electronics has a driver for controlling the transducer, a pre-amplifier, band-pass filter, and amplifier combination for filtering received signals. The digital processing unit contains a timer unit for generating pulses, an AD converter for digitizing received pulses, a signal processor for determining data about the return pulse, and an I/O unit for transmitting data to the central processing unit. The data may be an estimate of the number of people in the sensor range, or it may be data about the return pulse that can be analyzed by the central processing unit.
US09978241B2
Disclosed are a safety service system and a method thereof. The safety service system comprises: a collection unit for collecting position information and image information related to a protected person who is registered by a protector; and a service providing unit for providing the position information and the image information to one or both of the protector and a security company upon detection of a signal that the protected person is in danger.
US09978238B2
This patent specification relates to apparatus, systems, methods, and related computer program products for providing home security/smart home objectives. More particularly, this patent specification relates to a plurality of devices, including intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected devices, that communicate with each other and/or with a central server or a cloud-computing system to provide any of a variety of useful home security/smart home objectives.
US09978229B2
There is provided a tamper detection device comprising a laminate; a contact lead attached to the laminate; and a detection module connected to the contact lead. It is advantageous that the laminate is configured to conform to an application surface, and to move the contact lead. A method of installing the device is also disclosed.
US09978219B2
A method for providing a casino cribbage game includes receiving a bet from a player, dealing a plurality of player cards from at least one deck of cards to the player, dealing one or more crib cards from the at least one deck to a crib hand, receiving at least one discard from the player cards to define a player hand from the player cards remaining, moving the at least one discard to the crib hand, exposing a starter card from the at least one deck of cards, totaling a value of the player hand in conjunction with the starter card, totaling a value of the crib hand in conjunction with the starter card, and determining a payout by comparing at least one of the value of the player hand and the value of the crib hand to a pay table.
US09978216B2
A method of gaming comprising conducting one or more paid game rounds initiated in response to the payment of a wager by a player and a series of one or more free game rounds initiated in response to a free game series trigger event, the method comprising: in each paid game round, selecting a set of paid game round symbols for display to the player, determining a paid game round outcome based on the selected symbols, and incrementing a jackpot by a paid game jackpot increment; in each free game round, selecting a set of free game round symbols for display to the player, determining a free game round outcome based on the selected symbols, and incrementing the jackpot by a free game jackpot increment; and awarding the jackpot on the occurrence of a jackpot award event.
US09978214B2
A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines is provided. The gaming system includes a plurality of progressive awards arranged in a hierarchy. Upon the occurrence of a triggering event or qualifying condition, a bonus game is started. A player can win a next higher progressive award by accumulating award values. If the player's total award value is greater than or equal to a trigger value for a progressive award, the player wins the progressive award. Unless a termination condition occurs, the bonus game continues. The total award value is set to the progressive award value. Alternatively, the progressive award value is added to the player's total award value. The trigger value for a progressive award can be the startup value for that progressive award.
US09978211B1
An approach to facilitating event-based currency is provided. A first virtual currency usable by users of a game space to purchase in-space benefits may be managed. An event in the game space that is conducted during an event time period may be managed such that, during the event time period, an event virtual currency may be distributed to one or more of the users as a reward for certain operations and/or achievements performed in the game space during the event time period. Exchanges of in-space benefits associated with the event virtual currency may be effectuated for one or more of the users. In some implementations, the event virtual currency may not available to the users after the event time period, while the first virtual currency may be available to the users during and after the event time period.
US09978208B2
A method of triggering a multi-player game, comprising: determining a current number of eligible gaming machines; communicating current hit rate data based on the current number of eligible gaming machines to at least each eligible gaming machine; determining at each eligible gaming machine whether to trigger the multi-player game at a hit rate based on the current hit rate data.
US09978207B2
A game environment where an operation status of a player's own station machine can be easily monitored and operated and an operation status of other station machines can be also easily monitored. A game machine capable of executing a specified game by connecting a plurality of station machines to enable communications between them, wherein each station machine includes a display panel that displays an image indicating progress of the game including a player's own operation status; and wherein the station machine is configured to be capable of: generating a first display image including the player's own operation status; generating a second display image including the player's own operation status and an operation status of other station machines; and switching between a first display mode to display the first display image on the display panel and a second display mode to display the second display image on the display panel.
US09978201B2
A gaming system having a first skill, partial skill, or pseudo skill based game having a plurality of individually activatable designated components and a plurality of second chance based games each respectively associated with a different one of the individually activatable components of the skill based game. When each designated component of the first game is activated through one or player inputs, a corresponding chance based game associated with that designated component is activated. Each chance based game randomly determines whether the player wins an award. In one embodiment, the likelihood of activating each designated component is different and the chance based game associated with each different designated component is different.
US09978198B2
A change machine management apparatus includes an interface to a change machine that discharges money based on discharge data received through the interface, a display unit, and a processor programmed to create a screen display on the display unit including first, second, and third areas, each displaying a number of bills and coins for each denomination, and control the display unit to display in the first area, the number of bills and coins stored in the storage unit for each denomination, display in the second area, the number of bills and coins to be stored as a change reserve amount in the storage unit for each denomination, and display in the third area, the number of bills and coins for each denomination according to a difference between the number of bills and coins displayed in the first area and the number of bills and coins displayed in the second area.
US09978192B1
A method of providing an electronically generated key includes the steps of generating an account for a resident; allowing the resident to access a software application; receiving a request from the resident for an electronic pass; and generating the electronic pass. The method further includes the steps of electronically detecting the electronic pass at a reader; determining whether the electronic pass is valid; and activating a relay if the electronic pass is valid. A device for receiving the request and for activating the relay is also provided.
US09978191B2
A Driver Risk Assessment System and Method Having Calibrating Automatic Event Scoring is disclosed. The system and method provide robust and reliable event scoring and reporting, while also optimizing data transmission bandwidth. The system includes onboard vehicular driving event detectors that record data related to detected driving events and selectively store or transfer data related to said detected driving events. If elected, the onboard vehicular system will score a detected driving event, compare the local score to historical values previously stored within the onboard system, and upload selective data or data types to a remote server or user if the system concludes that a serious driving event has occurred. Importantly, the onboard event scoring system, if enabled, will continuously evolve and improve in its reliability by being periodically re-calibrated with the ongoing reliability results of manual human review of automated predictive event reports. The system may further respond to independent user requests by transferring select data to said user at a variety of locations and formats.
US09978186B2
Operational data are transmitted, by each of a plurality of material handling vehicles at a facility, into a communications system. A computer connected to the communications system processes the operational data and presents reports on a monitor screen. The computer operates in an impact report mode which provides reports about material handling vehicle impacts with objects, a maintenance report mode for reports pertaining to vehicle maintenance, a verify report mode presenting reports about vehicle inspections, and a metrics report mode for reports describing amounts of work performed by the vehicles, and an overview mode summarizes information from each of other report modes. Each report mode has different display modes which summarize data for a group of the vehicles or provide detailed information about one particular vehicle or one specific vehicle operator.
US09978183B2
Appropriate reduction of transferred data volume is used to deliver interruption-free video to a user, minimizing viewing discomfort. A head-mounted display secured to the head of a user and a video generating device that generates a video for presentation to the user by the head-mounted display are combined in a video system. In the head-mounted display, a presentation unit presents the video to the user, an imaging unit captures an image of the user's eye, the first communication unit sends the captured image to the video generating device, and receives the video from the video generating device. In the video generating device, a second communication unit receives captured images from the head-mounted display and sends a video to the head-mounted-display, a gaze point acquisition unit acquires, based on the captured images, the gaze point of the user in the video, a calculation unit defines a designated region based on the acquired gaze point, and generates the video, wherein the data volume per unit pixel count used for the exterior of the designated region is reduced compared to the data volume used for the interior of the designated region.
US09978180B2
Motion vector estimation is provided for generating and displaying images at a frame rate that is greater than a rendering frame rate. The displayed images may include late stage graphical adjustments of pre-rendered scenes that incorporate motion vector estimations. A head-mounted display (HMD) device may determine a predicted pose associated with a future position and orientation of the HMD, render a current frame based on the predicted pose, determine a set of motion vectors based on the current frame and a previous frame, generate an updated image based on the set of motion vectors and the current frame, and display the updated image on the HMD. In one embodiment, the HMD may determine an updated pose associated with the HMD subsequent to or concurrent with generating the current frame, and generate the updated image based on the updated pose and the set of motion vectors.
US09978176B2
A mesh simplification system receives three-dimensional (3D) polygonal mesh of a 3D object. The mesh simplification system identifies a component of the (3D) polygonal mesh, having a first surface area size being less than a second surface area size of the 3D polygonal mesh, wherein the component comprises a set of topologically interconnected surfaces that are modeled as a separate structure from the 3D polygonal mesh. The mesh simplification system then automatically generates a simplified version of the component by removing a back surface from the component, wherein the simplified version the component comprises fewer polygons than the component.
US09978171B2
A method, system, and computer program product for controlling a sample mask from a fragment shader are disclosed. The method includes the steps of generating a fragment for each pixel that is covered, at least in part, by a primitive and determining coverage information for each fragment corresponding to the primitive. Then, for each fragment, the method includes the steps of generating a sample mask by a fragment shader, replacing the coverage information for the fragment with the sample mask, and writing, based on the sample mask, a result generated by the fragment shader to a memory. The method may be implemented on a parallel processing unit configured to implement, at least in part, a graphics processing pipeline.
US09978170B2
An approach is provided for providing perspective-based content placement. A content placement platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more models of one or more objects associated with a geographical area to cause, at least in part, a decomposition of the one or more models into one or more simplified surfaces. The content placement platform further causes, at least in part, a selection of one or more portions of the one or more simplified surfaces as one or more content placement layers based, at least in part, on one or more viewpoints, with the one or more content placement layers supporting a perspective-based rendering of one or more content items associated with the one or more objects.
US09978162B1
A method and associated apparatus for generating a radial causality visualization including accessing a data store storing a first set of data and a second set of data, the first set of data and the second set of data being in a predetermined hierarchical relationship with each other, plotting the first set of data as nodes disposed on a first shape (e.g., circle, ring, rectangle, etc.) of a plurality of concentric shapes of a displayed visualization, plotting the second set of data as nodes on a second shape of the plurality of concentric shapes of the displayed visualization, wherein the second shape is disposed radially further outward from a center of the plurality of concentric shapes compared to the first shape, and displaying on the displayed visualization respective connecting lines that connect nodes disposed on the first shape with nodes disposed on the second shape.
US09978156B2
A system implements multiple coding formats for coding pixels within a picture. The formats may be selected based on one or more of the input picture and encoding variables. The coding formats may have varying chroma sampling densities. Filtering may be applied to convert among the various formats or to convert a sampled input to a specific chroma sampling density. The format associated with various groups within a coded bitstream may be changed to adapt to evolution of the one or more variables or inputs.
US09978152B2
A method for a system to generate a recipe for performing wafer alignment, includes: generating first and second alignment data sets, the first alignment data set including image information regarding a first site on a wafer and coordinates of characteristic points at the first site, and the second alignment data set including image information regarding a second site different than the first site on the wafer and coordinates of characteristic points at the second site; and saving the generated first and second alignment data sets as a recipe for wafer alignment; wherein the generating of the first alignment data set includes: selecting, as the first site, a site including a characteristic pattern on the wafer; determining first and second characteristic points at the selected site; and recording coordinates of the determined first and second characteristic points.
US09978149B1
Described is a system for door detection for use with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system receive a video input image from a single monocular camera. Edge points are detected in the video, with the edge points connected to form long edge lines. Orientations of the long edge lines are determined, such that long edge lines having a substantially vertical orientation are designated as initial door line candidates and long edge lines having a non-vertical, non-horizontal orientation are designated for use in detecting a vanishing point. A vanishing point is then detected in the video frame. Thereafter, intensity profile and line properties of the door line candidates are calculated. Finally, it is verified if the door line candidates are real world door lines and, if so, an area between the real world door lines is designated as an open door.
US09978140B2
The present disclosure relates to a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that can cause a processor to process image data defining an image of a vascular structure of temporal vascular arcades of a retina to estimate a location of the fovea of the retina in the image by transforming received image data such that the vascular structure in the image defined by the transformed image data is more circular than the vascular structure defined by the image data; calculating, for each of a plurality of pixels of the transformed image data, a respective local orientation vector indicative of the orientation of any blood vessel present in the image; calculating a normalized local orientation vector for each of the pixels; operating on an array of accumulators; and estimating the location of the fovea in the image of the retina using the location of a pixel of the transformed image data.
US09978136B2
A medicine packet inspection apparatus is provided. The medicine packet inspection apparatus includes a transfer unit configured to transfer medicine packets containing medicines, a photographing unit configured to photograph each medicine packet, a lighting unit configured to provide light to the medicine packet, and a controller configured to control the lighting unit to sequentially provide lights of different colors to the medicine packet and to control the photographing unit to photograph the medicine packet plural times corresponding to the lights of different colors.
US09978135B2
Described are methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products for determining the presence of an object on a target surface. A machine vision system includes a first image capture device configured to image a first portion of a target surface from a first viewpoint and a second image capture device configured to image a second portion of the target surface from a second viewpoint. The machine vision system is configured to acquire a first image from the first image capture device, a second image from the second image capture device, rectify the first image and second image, retrieve a disparity field, generate difference data by comparing, based on the mappings of the disparity field, image elements in the first rectified image and a second image elements in the second rectified image; and determine whether the difference data is indicative of an object on the target surface.
US09978126B2
A method performed under control of a storage manager may include identifying a subject of an image; determining a resolution value for the image based, at least in part, on the identified subject; and modifying a resolution of the image in accordance with the determined resolution value.
US09978125B1
Systems and methods for generating and distributing photo filters are described. A photo filter publication application receives filter data and object criteria and generates a photo filter based on the filter data. The photo filter is associated with satisfaction of the object criteria. A photo filter engine then identifies that a client device has taken a photograph. The photo filter engine then provides the photo filter to the client device based on the photograph including an object that satisfies the object criteria. The photo filter may then be displayed as an option on a user interface of the client device. The object criteria may include associations between an object and a source of image data, for example, a brand of a merchant in which case the associated photo filter may include images associated with the brand of the merchant.
US09978117B2
A semiconductor apparatus pertaining to one embodiment has: a first processor that operates by a first program and reads pixel data from a storage unit; a second processor that operates by a second program, performs processing to the pixel data, and writes the processed pixel data back to the storage unit; and a buffer circuit that transfers the pixel data from the first processor to the second processor.
US09978107B2
Embodiments described herein provide numerous applications and implementations of a social network to facilitate individuals to resolve various life issues. These issues may include issues that arise when individuals or families relocate, including logistic problems, assimilation of family members in a community, and roommate pairings. As will be described, embodiments described herein greatly facilitate corporations in relocating their employees logistically, and also assist employees and their families with life issues that may determine whether the employees' relocation will be a success.
US09978097B1
A facility for conveying accrual amounts through an intermediary service is described. The facility permits vendors to each upload unbilled amounts for one or more matters for a client according to vendor-specific matter identifiers. The facility maps the vendor-specific identifiers for the uploaded unbilled amounts to client-specific identifiers. When the facility receives a request from the client to be you unbilled amounts for one or more matters, the facility displays to a client user the unbilled amounts for the requested matters according to the client-specific identifiers associated with the requested matters.
US09978095B2
An illustrative implementation of the technology includes three primary components: a desktop application, a mobile phone application, and connections to retailer inventory and pricing APIs (e.g., for Walmart and/or Best Buy). The experience begins with the consumer going to an online retailer's website (e.g., Amazon) to search for a product. The desktop application automatically searches for product matches using the APIs of affiliated retailers. If matches and near-matches of the product are found, the product name, model, price, and local availability at affiliate locations is shown. With a mobile phone camera-scan of the product page, relevant information is transferred to the consumer's phone. From there, the consumer can interact with the options on the mobile phone to be directed to the nearby brick and mortar store of choice carrying that product at the price they want. Along the way, the retailer can present offers and additional product information directly to the consumer. A great variety of other technologies and arrangements are also detailed.
US09978085B2
Disclosed is an approach for implementing an improved system, method, and computer program product for a marketing automation product, where an external content service is integrated with the marketing automation tool.
US09978082B1
A mobile terminal includes a touch screen display, a camera, a power button and an activation button for turning on the touch screen display. The mobile terminal has a first function and a second function to perform in response to user input and provides user settings for configuring at least one of the first and second functions such that the at least one of the first and second functions is performed along with turning on the touch screen display when pressing of the activation button is detected while the touch screen display is turned off. The mobile terminal is configured to perform the first and second functions depending upon length of pressing of the activation button in addition to turning on the touch screen display.
US09978077B2
Disclosed herein is a method for performing an integrated payment using Near Field Communication (NFC). The method is performed using a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag information from a payment system in an NFC scheme. The mobile terminal analyzes the received RFID tag information, and then extracts an integrated payment application which corresponds to the RFID tag information. The mobile terminal drives the integrated payment application and transmits discount benefit information to the payment system.
US09978074B2
Various embodiments are generally directed to an automated A/B testing system using a combination of classical and alternative statistical analysis to control the performance A/B tests. An apparatus includes a processor circuit; and logic to commence collection of a specified number of samples of user responses to multiple versions of a user interface in a test, employ an alternative statistical analysis to analyze the samples as they are collected, determine whether a proposed version elicits a statistically significant improvement in user response over a control version, terminate the test before the specified number of samples are collected in response to a statistically significant improvement over the control version elicited by the proposed version, and complete collection of the specified number of samples and employ a classical statistical analysis to analyze the samples in response to the proposed version not eliciting the statistically significant improvement. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09978072B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for automatically adding advertisements into a slide show data feed. The disclosure includes receiving a request for a slide show data feed and generating a modified slide show data feed from the original data feed. One or more advertisements are selected and inserted as slides into the modified slide show data feed. The modified slide show data feed is then transmitted to the requester. When rendered on the requestor's device, the modified slide show data feed displays the slides of the originally requested data feed along with the advertisements.
US09978066B2
A computer system, computer program codes and computerized methods certify with privacy protection whether a particular check has been legitimately issued, cashed or deposited. As a result of the certification, all types of fraud associated with checks are prevented.
US09978062B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for implementing a mobile tokenization hub with a common tokenization capabilities (CTC) module that may provide tokenization for various entities in various contexts. For example, the CTC module can provide and store tokens for mobile payment transactions, transit transactions, digital wallet applications, merchant point of sale (POS) applications, personalization services, and the like.
US09978061B2
A method for processing a transaction using a dynamic PAN (Primary Account Number), performed by a payment device that provides a card reader with ISO (International Standardization Organization) standards of track 2 information. A PAN area of the track 2 information is divided into a first area, in which a BIN (Bank Information Number) is included, and a second area, in which the BIN is not included. A dynamic area is formed by encrypting the second area and a dynamic PAN area is formed by combining the first area with the dynamic area. Track 2 information (which includes the dynamic PAN area) is provided to the card reader.
US09978050B2
An object recognizing is provided, which comprises a storing unit for storing feature values of objects in each classification of plural objects, wherein the feature value is used as a reference for specifying an object, an object recognizing unit for photographing an object placed within a prescribed area with a photographing device to specify a placing position of the object from an image of the photographed object, and referring to the feature values stored in the storing unit to recognize the classification of the photographed object, and a recognition result indicating unit for making a light emitting device emit light toward the specified placing position of the object to indicate whether or not the object recognizing unit has recognized the classification of the object photographed by the photographing device.
US09978048B2
A method and system for providing a connected sales associate service application via a mobile device. The application provides for an integrated platform upon which various tools for providing support to a sales associate are built. The application includes a database of information regarding the operation of a retail establishment, and a database of reference materials. The application provides a user interface for allowing several sales associate to access a central server for the retail establishment on multiple mobile devices. The user interface displays information regarding sales and inventory information and reference materials for products, such as user's manuals, which enable the sales associate to answer questions posed by customers. A sales associate can thus search for and find all store products which meet a customer's specifications.
US09978046B2
A computer-implemented method for displaying a plurality of bill due dates, the method comprising: displaying an account identifier for each bill in the plurality of bills; showing a timeline with a due date indicator for each bill in the plurality of bills, the timeline disposed proximate to the account identifier; and wherein each of the account identifiers and timelines are disposed along an axis relative to the other account identifiers and timelines.
US09978036B1
Method and systems for product inventory are described. In one embodiment, an inventory surface unit retains a plurality of products in an unordered state. An inventory identification unit acquires information for an orientation, and location of the plurality of products on the inventory surface unit. The inventory identification unit is disposed above the inventory surface unit. An inventory pick unit is adapted to pick a product among the plurality of products from the inventory surface unit based on the orientation and location acquired by the inventory identification unit. The inventory pick unit is disposed proximal the inventory surface unit, and the inventory pick unit is communicatively connected to the inventory identification unit. Additional methods and systems are disclosed.
US09978035B2
Methods, media, apparatus, and systems are described for improved and enhanced node location determination related to one of a plurality of nodes in a wireless node network. A first and second other node in the network are instructed to detect any message broadcast from the one node over a period of time. The server receives a first indication from the first other node, where the first indication relates to a characteristic of all messages broadcast from the one node that are detected by the first other node during the time period. The server receives a second indication from the second other node, where the second indication relates to the characteristic of all messages broadcast from the one node that are detected by the second other node during the time period. The server then determines a location of the one node based upon a difference in the first and second indications.
US09978032B2
Method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment and actions of individuals
A method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment (PPE) and actions of individuals includes the following steps. An article of PPE configured with a smart tag is provided to an individual prior to performance of a task. After the individual performs the task, the article of PPE is processed. Information is retrieved from the smart tag during at least one of: before, during and after processing the article of PPE. After the performance of the task, the individual's data is read and the individual enters into a designated area.
US09978026B1
A system and method is disclosed for computing optimal inventory targets in bill of materials in a multi-echelon supply chain. The system includes one or more memory units and one or more processing units collectively configured to determine a delay time from at least one second plan level node in an at least second indenture plan level to at least one first plan level node in a first indenture plan level. The one or more memory units and one or more processing units is further collectively configured to determine a delay time from the at least one first plan level node in the first indenture plan level to a finished good.
US09978022B2
A social networking system provides relevant third-party content objects to users by matching user location, interests, and other social information with the content, location, and timing associated with the content objects. Content objects are provided based on relevance scores specific to a user. Relevance scores may be calculated based on the user's previous interactions with content object notifications, or based on interests that are common between the user and his or her connections in the social network. Context search is also provided for a user, wherein a list of search of results is ranked according to the relevance score of content object associated with the search results. Notifications may also be priced and distributed to users based on their relevance. In this way, the system can provide notifications that are relevant to user's interests and current circumstances, increasing the likelihood that they will find content objects of interest.
US09978008B2
A transaction card is provided. The transaction card includes a card frame having a card inlay and a card housing. The transaction card also includes a magnetic stripe disposed inside the card frame between the card inlay and the card housing.
US09978007B2
A thermal scale radio frequency label which includes a top layer of thermal paper of 20-60 lb weight with an RF antenna mounted on the thermal paper. The RF antenna includes a single turn inductor coil having a width of not less than 5 mm and not more than 13 mm. The inductor coil has a thickness in the range of 30-60 um and covers an area of at least 55×49 mm. A capacitative layer is provided having a thickness in the range of 30-60 um. A dielectric layer is positioned between the capacitative layer and the inductor coil. A plurality of electrical connections are provided between the capacitative layer and the inductor coil. The electrical connections are capable of being deactivated by RF energy.
US09978003B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for segregating target individuals represented in a probe digital image from background pixels in the probe digital image. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods train a neural network based on two or more of training position channels, training shape input channels, training color channels, or training object data. Moreover, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods utilize the trained neural network to select a target individual in a probe digital image. Specifically, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods generate position channels, training shape input channels, and color channels corresponding the probe digital image, and utilize the generated channels in conjunction with the trained neural network to select the target individual.
US09977995B2
An image clustering method, an image clustering system, and an image clustering server are provided. The method includes: extracting a GIST feature of a first image and a GIST feature of a second image; obtaining an image fingerprint of the first image based on the GIST feature of the first image, and obtaining an image fingerprint of the second image based on the GIST feature of the second image; calculating a similarity between the first image and the second image, based on the image fingerprint of the first image and the image fingerprint of the second image; and determining whether the similarity between the first image and the second image is larger than a predetermined similarity threshold, and classifying the two image as a same category of image if the similarity between the first image and the second image is larger than the predetermined similarity threshold.
US09977992B2
Points of interest are identified in an image to characterize that image by dividing the image tiles consisting of adjacent pixels; finding within each tile the position of a pixel with an extremum value and ascribing that extremal value to the tile; identifying a tile with an extremal value which is more extreme than that of all adjacent tiles; and selecting as a point of interest the position within the image of the pixel with the extremum value in that identified tile.
US09977990B1
A cognitive system and method for visual classification of similar planar objects is disclosed. The method uses a query image and a list of candidate templates as the input, and produces the most probable candidate for the query image. The system uses the mutual saliency among a sample of points in the query templates, and selects those points with the highest saliency. The corresponding candidate templates to the points with the highest saliency are then compared to the query image, and those with the highest similarity are kept. The system has applications to industrial and commercial settings where processes require object recognition from image data.
US09977977B2
An apparatus includes a hardware sensor array including a plurality of pixels arranged along at least a first dimension and a second dimension of the array, each of the pixels capable of generating a sensor reading. A hardware scanning window array includes a plurality of storage elements arranged along at least a first dimension and a second dimension of the hardware scanning window array, each of the storage elements capable of storing a pixel value based on one or more sensor readings. Peripheral circuitry for systematically transfers pixel values, based on sensor readings, into the hardware scanning window array, to cause different windows of pixel values to be stored in the hardware scanning window array at different times. Control logic coupled to the hardware sensor array, the hardware scanning window array, and the peripheral circuitry, provides control signals to the peripheral circuitry to control the transfer of pixel values.
US09977958B2
The present invention relates to a method for assisting a user in determining a medical condition in a subject from one or more medical images by presenting the user with a list of questions, LOQ, about the subject that are to be answered with an affirmative indication (Y), a negative indication (N) or an unknown indication (X) by input by the user. In response to receiving an answer to one question, the method presents the user with a ranked list of conditions, LOC, and also with an updated LOQ wherein at least the answered question has been removed i.e. the LOQ iteratively collapses or reduces in length. An earlier step of selecting a foundation observation, FO, about the subject reduces the initial LOQ and the possible conditions.
US09977952B2
Methods and systems are presented for organizing images. In one aspect, a method can include generating a correlation value indicating a likelihood that a face included in a test image corresponds to a face associated with a base image, determining that a correlation threshold exceeds the correlation value and that the correlation value exceeds a non-correlation threshold, generating a similarity score based on one or more exposure values and one or more color distribution values corresponding to the test image and the base image, combining the similarity score with the correlation value to generate a weighted correlation value, and determining that the test image and the base image are correlated when the weighted correlation value exceeds the correlation threshold.
US09977938B2
The disclosed methods and apparatus relate generally to the use of electronic devices to interact with electronic tags associated with objects, services, places, people, or animals (“objects”) in order to access programming material related to these objects. The invention discloses the input of keywords, phrases, preferences, or interests into a user's device to search a plurality of electronic tags within a given physical range to access programming material from the tags—or via data links provided in the tags—that matches the keywords, phrases, preferences, or interests. Furthermore, the invention locates, maps, and labels the objects associated with this programming material on the user's display.
US09977922B2
Examples disclosed herein relate to a multi-tier storage based on data anonymization. A processor may store data in a first data tier. The processor may anonymize the data according to a first anonymization level and store the anonymized data in a second data tier. The processor may associate a first user with the first data tier and associate a second user with the second data tier.
US09977919B2
One or more terminals that are coupled to a packet-based network are installed with a first instance and/or a second instance of a communication client application of a first user. At times, the communication client application can be configured to enable the first user to communicate with other users using a first communication system implemented over the packet-based network. In some cases, a controller coupled to the packet-based network can be used to maintain separate privacy settings for each of the first and second instances, and thereby control the privacy of the first user in relation to the other users within the first communication system in dependence on which of the first and second instances is active.
US09977916B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for a row level security. One of the methods includes receiving, by a computer device executing at least part of a functional logic tier of an application, a request from a user for one or more objects present in the functional logic tier. The method includes determining that a type of the requested objects is associated with an object representative of instance level security. The method includes in response to determining that the type is associated with the object, determining access is authorized to at least some of the objects, determining access comprising accessing, by a computer device executing at least part of a data tier of the application, a link data structure that links the user with at least some of the objects. The method also includes providing the at least some of the objects to the user.
US09977913B2
A device (e.g., a phone) can be provided by an entity (e.g., a business) to a user (e.g., an employee). The device includes a profile manager that allows the user to configure a personal profile comprising any of applications, settings, and stored data. The device is also configurable with an entity profile determined by the entity that also may include applications, settings, and stored data. The user can select from operating modes comprising at least a personal mode, and a unity mode; an entity mode also may be available for selection. The profile manager, based on the selected mode, determines whether entity profile data and applications are available to the user, and which applications from either profile may conduct user-perceptible activities. The profile manager may periodically verify entity profile rights with a server, and if verification fails, then the profile manager can restrict entity profile data and applications access, regardless of operating mode.
US09977902B2
A system may include a host that may include a processor coupled to a non-volatile memory over a secure communication protocol. As a result, prior to release for manufacturing, a binding code may be established between the host and the non-volatile memory. In some embodiments, this binding code may be stored on the non-volatile memory and not on the host. Then during a boot up of the system, the boot up process may be initiated by the host using code associated with the host, followed by secure booting using the secure protocol using code stored on the non-volatile memory.
US09977898B1
The present embodiments relate to security in a virtualized operating system environment with an active host based Intrusion Detection System (IDS). More specifically, the IDS identifies any infected container operating on the shared kernel and remedies the infected container. In an operating system virtualization, one or more containers are started in virtual memory utilizing the same operating system kernel. When a container starts any resource not specified in the container configuration is shared with the host operating system. The shared IDS provides security of the namespaces of all containers operating on the shared kernel.
US09977894B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for selecting a virtual machine to perform a task corresponding to a client request and performing the task at the virtual machine. After performing the task at the virtual machine, an indicator corresponding to a shutdown of the virtual machine is detected. After detecting the indicator and prior to the shutdown of the virtual machine, a memory space is preserved corresponding to the virtual machine. The preserved memory space is then scanned for malware.
US09977889B2
Disclosed is a checking device that is intended to check the authenticity of a fingerprint of a finger and which includes, among other things, a capture system for capturing an image of the finger and of the fingerprint, and acquisition means for acquiring a three-dimensional model of the finger. The checking device also includes means for determining the core on the image of the fingerprint, for locating the crown of the three-dimensional model, for determining the orientation and position of the end of the finger and for determining the relative positions of the end, the crown and the core. From these elements, the checking device can decide whether the fingerprint is real or false.
US09977885B2
A method and apparatus for providing authentication using an adaptive liquid lens are disclosed. For example, in one embodiment, the method receives a request for authentication from a mobile endpoint device of a user, wherein the request comprises a first retinal image of the user captured using an adaptive liquid lens of the mobile endpoint device. The method obtains a second retinal image of the user, wherein the second retinal image is a stored retinal image of the user. The method authenticates the first retinal image against the second retinal image. In another embodiment, the method captures a first retinal image of a user via a mobile endpoint device of the user, wherein the mobile endpoint device comprises an adaptive liquid lens. The method then sends a request for authentication from the mobile endpoint device over a network, wherein the request comprises the first retinal image.
US09977881B2
Methods, apparatus and systems are described for securely authenticating a person at an appropriate level of security depending on context without having to enter any passwords. In some embodiments, a meta-wallet processor receives a request for user authentication from a user device which includes a meta-wallet identifier, an entity identifier, a context identifier and user biometric data and/or user personal assets data, and/or user social media data. The meta-wallet processor determines that the user is registered meta-wallet user and is engaging in a predetermined type of activity, selects an authentication protocol, determines that the user biometric data and/or user personal assets data, and/or user social media data matches stored personal meta-wallet data and satisfies the authentication protocol, and then transmits a user authentication confirmation message to one of the user device and an entity computer associated with the entity identifier.
US09977876B2
Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided that allow a user to draw and edit a chemical structure using one or more gestures performed on an input interface, such as a touch pad or touch screen. For example, the user may rotate the chemical structure representation in the graphical display by performing one or more rotation gestures.
US09977875B2
Devices, systems, and methods for use in managing treatment of a chronic disorder with pharmaceutical or therapeutic compounds by tracking symptoms associated with the disorder. Methods include inputting patient attributes, factors and various and other data relating to the patient in conjunction with one or more symptoms into a symptom tracking system and outputting a report of the data tracked over time to any of the patient, a medical professional and a drug developer to improve identification of a relapse of the chronic condition and improve management of the treatment regimen for any and all patients.
US09977867B2
System and method for reducing healthcare costs by improving care and encouraging healthy behaviors. A web-based or telephonic program using health plan sponsor funded financial incentives, offered to patients and providers for declaring or demonstrating adherence or providing a reason for non-adherence to performance standards. Financial incentives are contingent upon patient's and provider's agreement to allow the other to confirm or acknowledge the other's declaration or demonstration of adherence or non-adherence reason. Combining financial incentives with a set of checks and balances motivates participation in the program and adherence to the performance standards. Performance standards include evidence-based treatment guidelines, information therapy, wellness and prevention solutions, care management, and other methods proven to control costs by improving behaviors and healthcare. The system and method achieves improved health and more affordable healthcare by aligning the interests of providers, patients/consumers, and health plan sponsors in a win-win-win arrangement.
US09977865B1
A system includes a plurality of RFID chips affixed to a medical item, a data collection engine device, and a server device. The data collection engine wirelessly transmits power to a first one of the RFID chips and receives first medical data from the first RFID chip while the first RFID chip is activated by the power receiver. The data collection engine generates a first message indicative of the first medical data to be sent to the server device. The server device can determine aspects of the medical item based upon the first medical data.
US09977864B2
Provided are a system and method for efficiently creating patient health records with help of expert clinical decision support. The system and method also ensures the doctor's documentation and diagnosis comply with the government healthcare quality measures.
US09977853B2
Systems and methods for application specific integrated circuit design using Chronos links are disclosed. A Chronos Link is an ASIC on-chip and off-chip interconnect communication protocol that allows interfaces to transmit and receive information. The protocol may utilize messages or signals to indicate the availability and/or readiness of information to be exchanged between a producer and a consumer allowing the communication to be placed on hold and to be resumed seamlessly. A method includes inserting gaskets and channel repeaters connected to interfaces of multiple intellectual property (IP) blocks in order to replace traditional links with Chronos Links; performing simplified floorplanning; performing simplified placement; performing simplified clock tree synthesis (CTS) and routing; and performing simplified timing closure.
US09977837B2
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and software for redirecting relational data queries to previously generated graphs. In one example, a method of operating a graph redirect system includes identifying a relational data query and identifying whether at least one previously generated graph in a group of one or more previously generated graphs relates to the relational data query based on similarity data. The method further provides, in response to identifying that at least one previously generated graph relates to the relational data query, directing the relational data query to the at least one previously generated graph, and responding to the relational data query using the at least one previously generated graph.
US09977833B2
Disclosed herein is a graphical user interface (GUI) for filtering items of interest. In various embodiments, the GUI may be implemented as a method on a hardware-based system such as a computer server or other computing device. In one embodiment, the method includes defining a library of available criteria to be used in filtering a population of items for an end-user to identify items of interest. Each of the available criteria has a graphical representation. A GUI is presented to the end-user of the filtering criteria for constructing a graphical filter builder. An indication is received of each of the selected set of criteria from the end-user to construct and display a graphical representation of the filter. A query is constructed to identify the items of interest using the selected set of criteria. The identified items of interest are generated and displayed to the end-user.
US09977829B2
A combinatorial summarizer includes a plurality of summarization engines, a processor in selective communication with each summarization engine, and computer readable instructions executable by the processor and embodied on a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium. Each summarization engine is to select a respective plurality of sentences, and generate a relative rank and an associated weight for each sentence of the respective plurality of sentences. The computer readable instructions include instructions to determine a combined weight for each sentence of each respective plurality of sentences. The combined weight is based upon the respective associated weight and a respective relative human rank for each sentence in a set of sentences, including all sentences of each respective plurality of sentences. The computer readable instructions further include instructions to determine a total weight for each summarization engine based, respectively, upon the combined weights for each sentence of each respective plurality of sentences.
US09977828B2
Handling event data received by a mobile device includes filtering out at least a subset of event data based on pre-determined filtering rules, forming groups of event data by grouping at least some of the event data that has not been filtered out based on pre-determined grouping rules, and storing, based on pre-determined auto-filing rules, at least one of: groups of event data and non-filtered event data that is not included with any groups of event data. The event data may include photos, videos, recorded voice notes, phone calls, voice mails, user location data, messaging data, calendar entries, email messages, wireless data transmissions, and/or events scheduled from software applications and online services. The filtering rules may be based on a filtering criteria such as time, location, keyword match, semantic similarity, and/or relations to known events.
US09977824B2
Disclosed is a system and method for converting a voluminous stream of unstructured short text messages into event-objects of specific event type that may be of potential interest to users at far away locations. The method of structuring involves detecting long tail of events in spite of their sparsity. This is followed by extracting and correlating detected short text messages that describe same event type to create structured event objects.
US09977821B2
A method of automatically generating a test artifact is disclosed. The method involves executing a business process comprising one or more web services; monitoring the business process to identify process modules of the business process invoking the at least one web service, wherein the one or more process modules invoking the at least one web service corresponds to one or more integration points; mapping the one or more integration points to one or more corresponding nodes of a business process model associated with the business process; mapping data parameters associated with each node upstream of the one or more mapped nodes of the business process model to one or more request data fields of a test script; and generating, by the hardware processor, the test artifact by automatically populating the request data fields with test data corresponding to the data parameters associated with the one or more request data fields.
US09977814B2
A database system that supports associating a custom metadata type with loosely coupled triggers may be implemented to include instructions to receive a definition of a custom metadata type, the definition comprising at least one relationship field associated with a triggerable database object. The database system may also include instructions to associate the definition of the custom metadata type with a loosely-coupled trigger, and to cause the loosely-coupled trigger to execute based on generating a custom metadata record of the custom metadata type. The custom metadata record including a triggerable database object value for the relationship field.
US09977809B2
One embodiment provides a system that facilitates a single interface for file I/O and network communication. During operation, the system receives from a local application a first command to create content. The first command includes a content name and access control information that indicates how the content may be accessed. The content name is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level. The system creates a first manifest which is a content object that indicates a set of content objects by a name and a digest. The first manifest name is the content name corresponding to the first command, and access to the manifest is based on the access control information included in the first command. The system transmits to the local application the first manifest and an indicator of success for creating the first manifest.
US09977807B1
An apparatus including a processor to: receive search criteria including a data value; in response to receiving the search criteria, generate a hash value from the data value of the search criteria, and for each data cell of a super cell, compare the hash value to hash values within a hash values vector in the corresponding cell index to determine whether the data cell includes at least one data record meeting the search criteria, and in response to determining that the data cell includes at least one of such data record, search the data records to identify one or more data records meeting the search criteria; and in response to identifying at least one data record within at least one data cell of the super cell meeting the search criteria, provide results data indicative of the super cell including at least one of such data record.
US09977800B2
A method and apparatus is disclosed that transmits a plug-in module to a web browser of a client computer. The web browser displays web content in a main window. The plug-in module, when activated, causes the web browser to display a user interface to a user of the client computer. The user interface is separate from the main window of the web browser, displays at least a portion of the web content, and is configured to enable the user to operate on the displayed at least a portion of the web content.
US09977795B1
Disclosed are systems and methods for operating a peer-to-peer multiplayer gaming architecture. Scripts are provided to define multi-player game environments and scenarios. The operation of the multiplayer game is accommodated by the transmission of high-level game events among the multiple players. One player is designated host and charged with maintaining the consistency among the game players. The host role is transferred from one player to another quickly and seamlessly, as needed.
US09977787B2
The present description provides data analysis for machine maintenance scheduling. For example, dynamic maintenance intervals are assigned for each machine being scheduled. Then, a system is provided for implementing a particle swarm optimization for finding an optimized maintenance schedule. In the optimization, an objective function is defined for maximizing production while minimizing relative maintenance cost.
US09977783B2
Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are provided for generating an arrangement of a user's media files. For example, a user of a first device may use the first device to access a second device. The second device may provide the user with the option to select a profile stored in the second device. The user may then use the first device to communicate, to the second device, a selection of a profile along with a list of music stored in the first device. The second device may then generate a playlist using music identified in the list received from the first device. The second device may generate the playlist based on the selected profile. The second device may then communicate the playlist back to the first device. The profile used by the second device to generate the playlist may be based on a particular theme or on the music preferences of a particular person.
US09977778B1
A system and method for dialog state tracking employ an ontology in which a set of values are indexed by slot. A segment of a dialog is processed to detect mentions. Candidate slot values are extracted from the ontology, based on the detected mentions. The candidate slot values are ranked. A dialog state is updated, based on the ranking of the candidate slot values, which may be conditioned on the output of a temporal model, which predicts whether the value of the slot has been instantiated, modified, or is unchanged.
US09977773B1
The exemplary embodiments described herein are related to techniques for automatically generating narratives about data based on communication goal data structures that are associated with configurable content blocks. The use of such communication goal data structures facilitates modes of operation whereby narratives can be generated in real-time and/or interactive manners.
US09977772B1
Methods and systems for organizing information in a grid. Aspects of this grid may be easily manipulated via user interface operations. This grid may be easily manipulated to create or edit a hierarchy. Grid elements may be expanded or collapsed alternatively to show or hide hidden elements. A canvas may contain objects that may be easily moved and/or repositioned via user interface operations.
US09977770B2
One embodiment of the present invention discloses a method, computer program product, and system for converting a Microsoft® PowerPoint® file to Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). A document converter receiving a command from a client device to convert one or more PowerPoint slides to DITA, wherein the PowerPoint has been formatted for conversion to DITA. Starting with the first PowerPoint slide, metadata tags, PowerPoint slide and notes text, and file names of grouped images are compiled into a string parsed with DITA markup. If the next slide does not begin a new topic, then that slide's metadata tags, PowerPoint slide and notes text, and grouped image file names are compiled into a string parsed with DITA markup and appended to the previous slides string. If the next slide begins a new topic, then the string is exported to a DITA topic. This process is repeated throughout the PowerPoint presentation.
US09977761B2
A method for testing a client service locally using a shared memory transport is presented. The method may include recording a plurality of interactions between the client service located in a local host and a real server. The method may include generating a virtual server based on the recorded plurality of interactions. The method may include deploying the generated virtual server in the local host. The method may include executing the client service. The method may include receiving a TCP/IP request from the client service. The method may include converting the received TCP/IP request to a shared memory request. The method may include sending the shared memory request to the virtual server. The method may include receiving a shared memory reply from the virtual server. The method may include sending the shared memory reply to the client service.
US09977741B2
A reconfigurable cache architecture is provided. In processor design, as the density of on-chip components increases, a quantity and complexity of processing cores will increase as well. In order to take advantage of increased processing capabilities, many applications will take advantage of instruction level parallelism. The reconfigurable cache architecture provides a cache memory that in capable of being configured in a private mode and a fused mode for an associated multi-core processor. In the fused mode, individual cores of the multi-core processor can write and read data from certain cache banks of the cache memory with greater control over address routing. The cache architecture further includes control and configurability of the memory size and associativity of the cache memory itself.
US09977738B2
In a system having non-uniform memory access architecture, with a plurality of nodes, memory access by entities such as virtual CPUs is estimated by invalidating a selected sub-set of memory units, and then detecting and compiling access statistics, for example by counting the page faults that arise when any virtual CPU accesses an invalidated memory unit. The entities, or pairs of entities, may then be migrated or otherwise co-located on the node for which they have greatest memory locality.
US09977736B2
A method for managing memory operations in a storage device having a plurality of data blocks, the method including steps for determining a number of page reads for each of the plurality of data blocks and determining a dwell time for each of the plurality of data blocks. In certain aspects, the method further includes steps for associating the plurality of data blocks with a plurality of rank groups based on the number of page reads and the dwell time associated with each of the plurality of data blocks and selecting a data block, from among the plurality of data blocks, for memory reclamation based on the associated rank group and the selected data block. A storage system and computer-readable media are also provided.
US09977734B2
According to one embodiment, an information processing device includes a nonvolatile memory, assignment unit, and transmission unit. The assignment unit assigns logical address spaces to spaces. Each of the spaces is assigned to at least one write management area included in a nonvolatile memory. The write management area is a unit of an area which manages the number of write. The transmission unit transmits a command for the nonvolatile memory and identification data of a space assigned to a logical address space corresponding to the command.
US09977729B1
A system and method are provided for testing the performance of applications. By way of example only, the method may include training a neural network with documents containing text elements that are arranged in accordance with a defined format and using the neural network to determine the predictability of the value of individual text elements within a test document. When the neural network indicates that the value of a text element is unlikely, the value may be modified and the modified document may be used to test an application that processes documents in accordance with the defined format.
US09977727B2
A remote debug session for a server group is provided. A server group including multiple servers that perform workload sharing receives a request to debug code executed at the server group. The code is executed on behalf of a client of a database associated with the server group. At least one of the servers of the group initiates a debugging session and establishes a communication connection with the client. The server group maintains the connection open with the client for the duration of the debugging session. Subsequent requests related to the debug session can be handled in a number of ways by the server group, and all communication to the client about processing the requests is through the connection.
US09977716B1
Techniques relating to performing an incremental backup of a database relative to a previous backup are disclosed. The incremental backup may include initiating monitoring of a dirty list indicative of one or more portions of the database that have been modified since the previous backup, causing a reset of the dirty list, obtaining a copy of the dirty list, and backing up only portions of the database identified by the copy of the dirty list. The copy may be representative of the dirty list immediately prior to the reset.
US09977713B2
An operation method for a low density parity check (LDPC) decoder which includes performing an initial update operation to variable nodes by updating a codeword to the variable nodes, performing a decoding operation to the codeword based on an original parity check matrix, generating a modified parity check matrix by changing data of rows of the original parity check matrix corresponding to check nodes with dummy data, performing a node update operation based on the modified parity check matrix and performing a predetermined number of single iterations of the above processes until the decoding operation is successful.
US09977702B2
A hybrid event processing network (EPN) having at least one event processing agent (EPA) consists of a first set of EPAs defined declaratively and a second set of EPAs defined dynamically at runtime via an interface. Deploying the hybrid EPN includes loading the hybrid EPN, constructing an EPN structure, and creating indexes of nodes of the EPN structure. Deploying the hybrid EPN further includes representing an event in a hybrid EPN, and, in response to the event occurrence at an event source, receiving a notification from the hybrid EPN based on the event, and publishing the notification in an event channel. Embodiments of the invention includes propagating the event received within the hybrid EPN, determining a subsequent EPA associated with the event within the hybrid EPN, and propagating the event to the subsequent EPA in the hybrid EPN until the last element of the hybrid EPN is reached.
US09977700B2
In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for deploying a service bus artifact from a local development environment to a service bus instance in a cloud environment. A deployment API can be plugged into the local development environment to perform a plurality of steps required for deploying the service bus artifact, including enabling communication from the local development environment to pass through a corporate firewall. The plurality of steps can be wrapped in a single service call to the service bus instance; and can include creating a session, uploading the service bus artifact, importing the uploaded service bus artifact, executing customization, and activating the session. In the event of a failure of any step, the service call can abort. The deployment API is generic and can be plugged into a plurality of development products.
US09977696B2
A technique, as well as select implementations thereof, pertaining to adaptive memory preparation is described. The technique may involve analyzing memory usage data of a plurality of child processes of a parent process. The technique may also involve determining whether a shared memory space is to be prepared by the parent process for use by at least a first child process based at least in part on the analyzing.
US09977688B2
Techniques are described for migrating virtual machines (VMs) across virtual switches. To migrate a VM, a destination distributed virtual switch module may, prior to migration, instantiate a distributed virtual port on a destination VM host and reserve the distributed virtual port for each virtual network adapter of the VM. Further, a configuration file for the VM specifying the distributed virtual ports reserved for the virtual network adapters may be copied from a source VM host to the destination VM host or created in the destination VM host. As part of the migration, network state data of the distributed virtual ports used by the VM at the source VM host is copied and applied to the appropriate reserved distributed virtual ports on the destination host. Then, when the migrated VM is powered on at the destination host, the VM configuration specifying the reserved distributed virtual ports is used to attach the virtual network adapters of the VM to the reserved distributed virtual ports.
US09977685B2
Some embodiments provide a method of operating several logical networks over a network virtualization infrastructure. The method defines a managed physical switching element (MPSE) that includes several ports for forwarding packets to and from a plurality of virtual machines. Each port is associated with a unique media access control (MAC) address. The method defines several managed physical routing elements (MPREs) for the several different logical networks. Each MPRE is for receiving data packets from a same port of the MPSE. Each MPRE is defined for a different logical network and for routing data packets between different segments of the logical network. The method provides the defined MPSE and the defined plurality of MPREs to a plurality of host machines as configuration data.
US09977681B2
In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for supporting partition and resource group shutdown and startup in an application server environment. A method can provide one or more partitions, wherein each partition provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of a domain, and one or more resource groups, wherein each of the one or more resource groups is associated with one of the one or more partition. The method receive, from an administrator, a request to perform a startup or shutdown, the startup or shutdown action being targeted to one of the one or more partition. The method can provide a lifecycle object, at an administration server, the lifecycle object associated with the one of the one or more partitions. The method can provide a monitoring object where the monitoring object can allow the administrator to monitor a status of the startup or shutdown action.
US09977680B2
A system and a method of clock-gating for multicycle instructions are provided. For example, the method includes enabling a plurality of logic blocks that include a subset of multicycle (MC) logic blocks and a subset of pipeline logic blocks. The method also includes computing a precise enable computation value after a plurality of cycles of executing an instruction, and disabling one or more of the subset of multicycle (MC) logic blocks based on the precise enable computation value. Also, at least the subset of pipeline logic blocks needed to compute the instruction remains on.
US09977676B2
Vector processing engines (VPEs) employing reordering circuitry in data flow paths between execution units and vector data memory to provide in-flight reordering of output vector data stored to vector data memory are disclosed. Related vector processor systems and methods are also disclosed. Reordering circuitry is provided in data flow paths between execution units and vector data memory in the VPE. The reordering circuitry is configured to reorder output vector data sample sets from execution units as a result of performing vector processing operations in-flight while the output vector data sample sets are being provided over the data flow paths from the execution units to the vector data memory to be stored. In this manner, the output vector data sample sets are stored in the reordered format in the vector data memory without requiring additional post-processing steps, which may delay subsequent vector processing operations to be performed in the execution units.
US09977675B2
A graphics processing unit core 26 includes a plurality of processing pipelines 38, 40, 42, 44. A program instruction of a thread of program instructions being executed by a processing pipeline includes a next-instruction-type field 36 indicating an instruction type of a next program instruction following the current program instruction within the processing thread concerned. This next-instruction-type field is used to control selection of to which processing pipeline the next instruction is issued before that next instruction has been fetched and decoded. The next-instruction-type field may be passed along the processing pipeline as the least significant four bits within a program counter value associated with a current program instruction 32. The next-instruction-type field may also be used to control the forwarding of thread state variables between processing pipelines when a thread migrates between processing pipelines prior to the next program instruction being fetched or decoded.
US09977670B2
Aspects of the disclosure are directed to providing access to the contents of a computing platform definition. A computing platform definition includes entries indicating devices and executables to deploy to a computing platform. An orchestration engine is communicatively connected to a computing platform that implements the computing platform definition. An interface includes callable units that provide access to the computing platform definition which may be invoked by the orchestration engine during execution of a stage of an orchestration pipeline performed with respect to the computing platform. The interface receives from the orchestration engine a request indicating one of the callable units. In response to the request, the interface retrieves the portion of the computing platform definition that is associated with the callable unit indicated and provides that portion of the computing platform definition to the orchestration engine for use during execution of the stage of the orchestration pipeline.
US09977666B2
Adding an instance to a series in a fashion that preserves the series for both modern and legacy systems, even when the addition would not ordinarily be compatible with the legacy system. A method includes identifying a master message. The master message includes default values for events in the series. The method further includes identifying user input for a new event in the series. The user input identifies exceptions to the default values. The method further includes creating an instance message that includes default values from the master message for which there are no exceptions identified in the user input and includes the exceptions from the user input.
US09977664B2
An application process is switched between asymmetric processor cores having no compatibility in instruction set architectures so that the process can be continuously executed. In an information processing device, when a request to switch an execution subject is generated while a first processor core is executing an application program, a switch process code makes the first processor core specify a basic block being executed at present. The switch process code makes the first processor core execute a first execution code until a branch instruction at the end of the specified basic block, and makes a second processor core execute a second execution code from an instruction at the head of a basic block to be executed next to the specified basic block.
US09977658B2
A process and associated system for code validation using content assist. A first list of items is presented to a code developer who is writing software code during operation of a content assist in an integrated development environment (IDE). Each item of the first list of items is enabled for validation. An item selected by the developer from the first list of items is received during the operation of the content assist. A result for the selected item is generated by (i) executing the selected item using at least one value received as input from the developer during the operation of the content assist and (ii) ascertaining whether executing the selected item requires prior initialization of a value of a variable. During the operation of the content assist, the result is displayed to the developer.
US09977656B1
This disclosure relates to methods and systems for providing software components for developing software applications. In one embodiment, a method for providing software components for developing software applications is provided. The method comprises receiving user input requirements associated with the software application; determining a requirements matching score for every software component existing in an application development environment, based on a comparison between the received requirements and a requirements model, wherein the requirements model is generated based on historic user requirements and usage; determining a performance score based on a response time associated with the software components; determining weights corresponding to the requirements matching score and the performance score based on the requirements matching score; determining a combined score based on the determined scores and associated weights; selecting software components for developing the software application based on the determined combined scores; and providing the selected software components to the user.
US09977644B2
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for conducting interactive sound propagation and rending for a plurality of sound sources in a virtual environment scene are disclosed. According to one method, the method includes decomposing a virtual environment scene containing a plurality of sound sources into a plurality of partitions and forming a plurality of source group clusters, wherein each of the source group clusters includes two or more of the sound sources located within a common partition. The method further includes determining, for each of the source group clusters, a single set of sound propagation paths relative to a listener position and generating a simulated output sound at a listener position using sound intensities associated with the determined sets of sound propagation paths.
US09977636B1
Methods and systems for the imposition of a print job. A grid composed of a 2D matrix of a group of logical cells can be graphically displayed in a graphical user interface. Each logical cell can be defined by a contiguous rectangular region made up cells of equal sized cells and wherein the grid directs the imposition of a print job. Graphical elements are also displayed in the graphical user interface, which when selected by a user allows for the merging of the logical cells across rows and columns of the grid for the imposition of the print job.
US09977634B2
In a communication system, an image forming apparatus sends an address of a receiving section to a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives a selection of an image data among plural thumbnails displayed on a display section, and wirelessly sends the selected image data to the image forming apparatus with the address. The image forming apparatus receives the selected image data sent with the address by the mobile terminal, and prints an image based on the selected image data. A communication between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus is performed wirelessly with an IEEE 802.11 standard. The image forming apparatus continuously performs a second printing, when the receiving section receives a selected image data again in a condition that the communication with the mobile terminal is continuously established by the receiving section after the printing of the received image data is finished.
US09977633B1
Method and apparatus of processing information in an environment with multiple devices and resources
A method and apparatus are disclosed that provide processing data associated with a job request. In one example, the job request may be a printer job to print a particular document based on predefined settings. The data processing operation may include determining at least one job specific resource available to fulfill the job request, and performing at least one of a prioritization computation, a job specific requirement computation, and a geographical determination computation. Additional operations may include selecting at least one appropriate device to fulfill the job request based on the at least one computation operation and the at least one available job specific resource, and processing and completing the job using the at least one appropriate device based on the at least one computation.
US09977630B2
An image forming apparatus capable of communicating with an external apparatus includes a storage unit having a folder, a setting unit configured to set a printing condition corresponding to the folder, and a printing unit configured to print a printing target file transmitted from the external apparatus and stored in the folder based on the printing condition set by the setting unit.
US09977624B2
In a storage control apparatus, a control unit determines whether prefetching data on a first data amount basis from a plurality of storage devices to a storage unit causes an imbalance in the numbers of commands issued to the storage devices. When determining that the prefetching causes the imbalance, the control unit prefetches the data on a second data amount basis such as to balance the numbers of commands issued to the storage devices. With this approach, the storage control apparatus creates a different imbalance of the number of read commands issued for each execution of prefetch staging, so as to prevent a fixed imbalance in which more read commands are always issued to a specific storage device.
US09977623B2
A data storage device includes a non-volatile memory and a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory. The controller is configured to receive a first command from an access device, the first command associated with a first logical block address (LBA). The controller is also configured to, after receiving the first command, receive a second command and a third command from the access device. The second command is associated with a second LBA that precedes the first LBA, the third command is associated with a third LBA that succeeds the first LBA. The controller is further configured to determine that the first command, the second command, and the third command correspond to a sequential command stream.
US09977614B2
A method of operation of an automatic back-up system includes: providing a mobile device; coupling a removable media device to the mobile device; automatically launching an application on the mobile device; and backing-up user data selected by the application from the mobile device to the removable media device.
US09977613B2
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem comprising a pool of storage and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The at least one disk system controller may be configured to create a plurality of zones in the pool of storage, each zone comprising a plurality of stripes, each of the plurality of stripes striped across all of the physical disks within a logical disk comprising the zone, and manage pages of write input/output operations in order to group pages of write input/output operations together within the plurality of stripes of a zone.
US09977604B2
A memory system includes: a first memory device including a first memory and a first memory controller suitable for controlling the first memory to store data; a second memory device including a second memory and a second memory controller suitable for controlling the second memory to store data; and a processor suitable for executing an operating system (OS) and an application, and accessing data storage memory through the first and second memory devices.
US09977598B2
The present invention provides a method for managing memory space in an electronic device including: selecting a candidate page from a first memory space for swapping the candidate page out of the first memory space into the second memory space; compressing the candidate page to obtain a first compressed page and a first hash value of the first compressed page; performing a comparison using the first hash value of the first compressed page and the hash values of the pages stored in a second memory space to find whether the pages have the same content as the first compressed page or the candidate page; and if a page is found to have the same content as the first compressed page or the candidate page, mapping a virtual address of the first compressed page or the candidate page to the found page.
US09977584B2
A computing device can periodically acquire a current track time for a media content item being played. The device can periodically compare the current track time with a respective start time and a respective end time for each line (or segment) in a plurality of lines of text (or segments of text) associated with the media content item. If the device determines that the current track time is between start and end times for a given line of text, then the device can display the given line of text. A user of the device can scroll through the lines of text associated with the media content item. If the user selects a particular line of text, the device can identify a start time for the selected line of text. The device can then play the media content item at the identified start time of the selected line of text.
US09977582B2
A window display method and apparatus of an electronic device is provided for displaying windows according to a signal input from an external input device. When a predetermined input of a function key is received for generating a new window within a display screen from the external input device, during a window generation mode, generating and displaying the new window including at least one of menu items, icons, and files that are preselected when such a request for generating a window is received from the external input device.
US09977579B2
An electronic device with a display can receive an alert comprising information, and in response to receiving the alert, issue a perceptual output. The device can detect a user input and determine whether the user input was detected within a predetermined time interval after the perceptual output. In accordance with a determination that the user input was detected within the predetermined time interval, the device can display a notification on the display, wherein the notification comprises a first portion of the information. If the device continues to detect the user input after a second predetermined time period, the device can display a second portion of the information, where the second portion is different from the first portion.
US09977575B2
Techniques are described to implement a user interface for a display of a mobile device. In an implementation, the user interface may include a chromeless menu configured to be displayed when menu-based user input to the mobile device is available; a system tray configured to be displayed on the display when a notice containing status information affecting operability of the mobile device is available; and a task switcher module operable to cause a chromeless overlay be displayed over an active application being executed by the mobile device to allow selection of one or more applications of the mobile device.
US09977569B2
Systems and methods for omnidirectional application navigation are provided. In example embodiments, a navigation icon associated with a first user interface context is caused to be displayed on a device. A change is sensed, by a device, of a change from the first user interface context to a second user interface context. A graphics database is accessed. From the graphics database, a graphic which is associated with the second user interface context is identified. Responsive to the change from the first user interface context to the second user interface context, the navigation icon is changed using the identified graphic from the graphics database.
US09977568B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method, non-transitory computer readable medium and computing device for optimizing arrangement of an icon on a display unit of a device. The method comprises determining a cumulative position score of each of plurality of grids on the display unit. The method further comprises determining a cumulative acquaintance score of the icon on the display unit. The method further comprises deriving a compatibility score between each of the plurality of grids and the icon based on the cumulative position score and the cumulative acquaintance score. The method further comprises optimizing the arrangement of the icon on the display unit based on the compatibility score.
US09977554B2
A touch display panel includes a substrate, a first electrode layer, and a second electrode layer. The first and second electrode layers are disposed on the substrate. The second electrode layer electrically connects to the first electrode layer and includes a plurality of sensing electrodes. Each sensing electrode includes a plurality of first conductive lines and a plurality of second conductive lines connected to each other. The first and second conductive lines are respectively arranged along first and second directions, wherein the second direction is different from the first direction. In one of two adjacent sensing electrodes, the outermost first conductive line has at least one first edge and at least one second edge connected to the first edge. The first edge corresponds to one of the second conductive lines of the other one of the two adjacent sensing electrodes, and has a curved shape.
US09977551B2
Apparatuses and methods of converting a capacitance measured on a sense element to a digital value are described. One apparatus includes a modulator having a modulator capacitor, a sense element selectively coupled in a feedback loop of the modulator to operate as a switching capacitor. The apparatus also includes a first switch coupled between a voltage source and a first node of the switching capacitor and a second switch coupled between the first node of the switching capacitor and a first node of the modulator capacitor. The switching capacitor provides a charge current to the modulator capacitor via the second switch. The modulator measures a capacitance of the sense element and converts the measured capacitance to a digital code representing the capacitance.
US09977542B2
Provided is an electronic device, a calibration method, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium that increase user-friendliness of a touch sensor. An electronic device includes a physical key sensor which is configured to detect an operation to a pressable physical key, a touch sensor, which is disposed in vicinity of the physical key sensor, and a controller. The controller performs calibration of the touch sensor in accordance with releasing of the physical key.
US09977527B2
A touch sensing device includes a touch screen coupled with a display panel including data lines, gate lines crossing the data lines, and pixels arranged in a matrix form, and a touch sensing circuit which supplies a driving signal to lines of the touch screen and senses a touch input. The touch sensing circuit detects an optimum sensing time, in which changes in a voltage change of the gate lines are maintained within a previously determined allowable range, in a touch screen drive period in which data is not written to the pixels of the display panel. The touch sensing circuit supplies the driving signal to the lines of the touch screen only in the optimum sensing time of the touch screen drive period.
US09977515B2
A display device including an image input unit that receives image data from an image supply device, a display unit that displays a display image on a display surface based on image data, a location detection unit that detects a pointed location with respect to the display image on the display surface, a coordinate calculation unit that calculates first coordinates as coordinates of the pointed location in a displayable area on the display surface, a drawing unit that draws an image based on the first coordinates calculated by the coordinate calculation unit, and an output unit that outputs the coordinates to the image supply device based on the first coordinates.
US09977514B1
The invention provides a digital painting apparatus and method that captures the natural textures in physical painting tools. It is comprised of a plurality of sensors below a painting surface and a light source arranged such that reflective objects near the sensors are imaged, with the nearer parts of the objects forming brighter parts of those images. The images are thresholded to include only the parts of those objects nearest the painting surface and accumulated in a display buffer to leave painted strokes that preserve those textures as the objects are moved. A display is located below the painting surface, substantially coincident with the sensors, and feedback from the display is substantially removed from the sensor images before they are thresholded, providing more uniform sensitivity.
US09977513B1
An interactive element for use with an interactive touch screen comprises a conductive body element and a lens. The conductive body element is adapted to interactively engage the interactive touch screen. The lens is supported by the conductive body element. The conductive body element supports the lens relative to the interactive touch screen such that light emitted by the interactive touch screen enters a first portion of the lens and is visible at a second portion of the lens. The conductive body interacts with the interactive touch screen to cause the interactive touch screen to emit light such that light enters the first portion of the lens.
US09977510B1
An introduction method can begin with gesture event data being received by a client application of a gesture-driven introduction system running on a user device of a first human actor. The gesture event data can comprise a gesture and ancillary conditions regarding performance of the gesture by a second human actor. The first human actor and the second human actor can be registered members of the gesture-driven introduction system. The received gesture event data can be assessed with respect to introduction definitions created by the first human actor. An introduction definition can define triggering parameters for exchanging predetermined introduction data. When the gesture event data satisfies the triggering parameters expressed in an introduction definition, the predetermined introduction data can be automatically transmitted to a user device of the second human actor. The transmission can occur without direct physical or verbal interaction between the first and second human actors.
US09977509B2
A method and an apparatus for gesture recognition and a wearable device for gesture recognition are described. A method of gesture recognition involves using a processor to detect a motion artifact from an output signal of a biosignal sensor and generating a control signal to control a function of a target device that corresponds to a reference signal pattern in response to a signal pattern of the detected motion artifact corresponding to the reference signal pattern.
US09977508B2
In one embodiment, an electronic device to be worn on a user's forearm includes a display and a set of one or more sensors that provide sensor data. In one aspect, a device may detect, using sensor data obtained from a set of sensors, that a first activity state of a user is active. The device may determine, while the first activity state is active, that the sensor data matches a watch check rule associated with the first activity state. Responsive to the detected match, the device may cause a change in visibility of the display.
US09977506B2
A primary user input mechanism is recommended to an application that executes on a computing device which supports a plurality of different user input mechanisms that users of the computing device can utilize to input information into the computing device. The utilization of each of the user input mechanisms is monitored on an ongoing basis, where this monitoring includes weighting each of the user input mechanisms based on its frequency of use. Upon receiving an indication to launch the application on the computing device, a one of the user input mechanisms currently having the highest weight is recommended to the application as being the primary user input mechanism. The weighting of each of the user input mechanisms is also provided to the application.
US09977489B2
Aspects of a low power memory buffer are described. In one embodiment, a sampling rate of a signal is adjusted to identify extrema of a signal. An extrema pulse is generated and, in response to the extrema pulse, a time segment and potential value of the signal are stored in a memory. In other aspects, rising and falling slopes of the signal are tracked to identify a local maximum and a local minimum of the signal. In this scenario, an extrema pulse is generated for each of the local maximum and minimum, and time segment and potential values are stored for the local maximum and minimum. Generally, the storage of analog values of the signal at an adjusted sampling rate is achieved with low power, and the signal may be reconstructed at a later time.
US09977488B1
Described herein are a method and a system for smart power management in electronic devices. Specifically, an electronic device with multiple processors is designed for fitness and health monitoring of a subject. When the device receives a task, it determines whether the task is high power consuming. In response to the determining that the task is high power consuming; the device enables a high-speed processor for the task. Otherwise the device enables a low-speed processor to perform the task.
US09977470B2
Embodiments of this disclosure pertain to a strengthened glass article including a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface defining a thickness (t) of about less than about 1.1 mm, a compressive stress layer extending from the first surface to a depth of compression (DOC) of about 0.1·t or greater, such that when the glass article fracture, it breaks into a plurality of fragments having an aspect ratio of about 5 or less. In some embodiments, the glass article exhibits an equibiaxial flexural strength of about 20 kgf or greater, after being abraded with 90-grit SiC particles at a pressure of 25 psi for 5 seconds. Devices incorporating the glass articles described herein and methods for making the same are also disclosed.
US09977459B1
A clock generating circuit includes: a generating circuit, a reference circuit and an adjusting circuit. The generating circuit generates a clock signal. The reference circuit is coupled to the generating circuit, and generates a reference signal to the generating circuit according to the clock signal, wherein a frequency of the clock signal is varied according to the reference signal when the reference signal is received by the generating circuit. The adjusting circuit generates an adjusting signal and a trigger signal to the generating circuit, wherein the generating circuit refers to the trigger signal to decide whether to adjust the clock signal frequency according to the adjusting signal.
US09977458B2
According to one embodiment, a calculation data printing apparatus includes a printer and a processor. The processor is configured to execute processes of inputting a plurality of calculation data in accordance with a user operation; causing the printer to print, as first print data, the plurality of calculation data, and calculation result data of the plurality of calculation data; changing at least one of the plurality of calculation data in accordance with a user operation; and causing the printer to print, as second print data, at least one calculation data including the changed calculation data and calculation result data of the plurality of calculation data at least one of which is changed, without printing at least one of the plurality of calculation data printed as the first print data.
US09977445B2
An electronic device disclosed herein includes a linear output stage configured to generate an output voltage to an output node as a function of an input voltage, and a buck output stage configured to generate the output voltage to the output node as a function of the input voltage. Control circuitry is configured to enable the linear output stage and disable the buck output stage if a current demanded by a load to maintain the output voltage at a desired level is less than a limit current, and enable the buck output stage and disable the linear output stage a delay period of time after enabling the buck output stage, if the current demanded by the load to maintain the output voltage at the desired level is greater than the limit current.
US09977444B1
A power management system comprises an input power detector configured to generate a first enablement signal by detecting whether a first voltage is supplied; a first output stage connected to the input power detector and configured to receive and regulate the first voltage upon receiving the first enablement signal; an error operational amplifier is connected to the first output stage, a first input port of the error operational amplifier is configured to receive a first reference voltage, a second input port of the error operational amplifier is connected to a connection point of a first resistor and a second resistor, the first resistor is connected to the first output stage, the second resistor is connected to ground, and a system output port is located at the connection of the output port of the first output stage and the first resistor, to drive a load.
US09977439B2
Various embodiments of methods and systems for energy efficiency aware thermal management in a portable computing device that contains a heterogeneous, multi-processor system on a chip (“SoC”) are disclosed. Because individual processing components in a heterogeneous, multi-processor SoC may exhibit different processing efficiencies at a given temperature, energy efficiency aware thermal management techniques that compare performance data of the individual processing components at their measured operating temperatures can be leveraged to optimize quality of service (“QoS”) by adjusting the power supplies to, reallocating workloads away from, or transitioning the power mode of, the least energy efficient processing components. In these ways, embodiments of the solution optimize the average amount of power consumed across the SoC to process a MIPS of workload.
US09977437B1
An electropneumatic proportional flow control device improves flow control because it incorporates two internal valves in parallel: a first electronically controlled, miniature proportional valve manipulated in parallel with a second and larger pilot -operated valve. The miniature valve allows for precision control of the low-end of the full scale output; the larger mechanical valve allows for the high-end of the full scale output. These valves are encompassed within a valve assembly comprising a valve manifold, a pilot-operated diaphragm, electronic control circuitry, and a flow restrictor.
US09977433B1
A pool cleaner is provided including a top housing, a chassis and a computing system. The computing system can include a PID control module for maintaining a process variable at a setpoint value. The PID control module can receive the setpoint value for the process variable and can monitor the process variable to calculate the phase difference between the setpoint value of the process variable and the present state of the process variable. The PID control module can automatically tune the PID control module to account for the pool surface the pool cleaner is cleaning by using the phase difference previously calculated.
US09977428B2
A method may include monitoring location information associated with a drone. The method may also include comparing the location information with an authorized zone. The method may also include, based on the comparison, determining a violation by the drone of a rule associated with the authorized zone. The method may include, in response to the violation, augmenting control of the drone to alter operation of the drone. The location information may include at least one of a current or predicted future location of the drone.
US09977427B2
A system and method for assisted EVA self-return is provided herein. The system estimates a crewmember's navigation state relative to a fixed location, for example on an accompanying orbiting spacecraft, and computes a guidance trajectory for returning the crewmember to that fixed location. The system may account for safety and clearance requirements while computing the guidance trajectory. According to at least one embodiment, the system actuates the crewmember's safety jetpack to follow the prescribed trajectory to the fixed location. In another embodiment, the system provides the crewmember with a directional cue (e.g., a visual, auditory, or tactile cue) corresponding to the prescribed trajectory back to the fixed location. The system may be activated by the crewmember or remotely by another crewmember and/or system.
US09977425B1
Method, and corresponding system, for producing an alert during manufacture of a part formed by a plurality of layers. The method includes determining the sensor data values at the working tool positions of each of the plurality of layers based on a correlation of the values of the sensor data relative to time and the working tool positions of each of the plurality of layers relative to time. During the manufacturing process, the sensor data values at the working tool positions of at least one of the plurality of layers are compared to reference data values at the working tool positions for the at least one layer to determine a comparison measure for the at least one layer. An alert is transmitted if the determined comparison measure of a layer is not within a defined range. A defined action is applied to the manufacturing process based on the transmitted alert.
US09977422B2
A machinery health monitoring module processes machine vibration data based on vibration signals and provides the machine vibration data to a distributed control system. A distributed control system operator computer executes a software user interface that filters relevant configuration parameters based on a selected machine measurement type so that only those parameters that are applicable to the selected measurement type appear on the user interface screen. Further, configuration parameters for individual measurement values within the measurement type are made available only when a particular measurement value is selected for acquisition. This greatly simplifies the information that is displayed on the configuration user interface.
US09977418B2
A user can cause a servo motor to perform desired operation without occurrence of overshoot and hunting while being unconscious of a maximum torque that can be output from the servo motor. A control device that implements model following control includes a feedforward controller that implements sliding mode control.
US09977407B2
A safety relay configuration system for configuring safety functions to be carried out by a safety relay is provided. The configuration system comprises a number of features that facilitate intuitive and simplified configuration of an industrial safety relay, including but not limited to features that guide the user through the configuration process using an intuitive sequential procedure that provides feedback and prompts based on user interaction, enforce design consistency throughout the configuration project by intelligently limiting user selections, and visually organize configuration and status information in a manner that efficiently utilizes display space and allows the user to quickly evaluate available configuration options.
US09977398B2
An image forming device is provided. The device includes a main body which includes a main controller controlling operations of the image forming device, a consumable unit mounted on the main body to enable communication with the main controller, and a CRUM chip which is provided in the consumable unit and stores usage information of the consumable unit and characteristics information The main controller and the CRUM chip transmit and receive signals which include data and integrity detection data between each other. The integrity detection data is generated by accumulating and reflecting integrity detection data included in a previous signal.
US09977393B2
A drive transmission device includes a first rotary body coupled to a drive source, a second rotary body that receives a drive force transmitted from the drive source, a coupling that couples the first rotary body and the second rotary body, and a spring that presses the coupling toward the second rotary body. Each of the first rotary body and the second rotary body includes a plurality of grooves. The coupling has axially opposed first end and second end coupled to the first rotary body and the second rotary body, respectively. The coupling includes a plurality of couplers on a circumferential surface of each of the first end and the second end. The plurality of couplers are axially movable into and out of the plurality of grooves of each of the first rotary body and the second rotary body. The coupling has a spherical end face at the second end.
US09977387B2
A fixing apparatus including: an acquiring portion that acquires a difference value between a detection temperature of a first temperature detecting member and a detection temperature of a second temperature detecting member; and an alarming portion that sends a notification of an abnormality in the apparatus. The alarming portion sends the notification of an abnormality in the apparatus according to an amount of change in the difference value acquired during a fixing process.
US09977385B2
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing film for fixing a toner image formed on a recording material, and first and second fixing heaters configured to heat the fixing film. The first fixing heater has a high heat generation region at a center portion in a width direction of a fixing nip portion and the second fixing heater has a high heat generation region at an end portion in the width direction of the fixing nip portion. A center portion temperature detection unit detects a center portion temperature of a center portion of the fixing film in the width direction. An end portion temperature detection unit detects an end portion temperature of an end portion of the fixing film in the width direction. A size detection unit detects a size of the recording material. A control unit controls a heat generation amount of the fixing heaters.
US09977384B2
An image forming apparatus includes a printer unit including a sheet ejection tray located on an upper surface of the printer unit; a scanner unit spaced above the sheet ejection tray of the printer unit in a vertical direction; an operation unit disposed at a front end portion of the scanner unit, the operation unit including a touchscreen; a cover covering a bottom side of the touchscreen in the vertical direction; and a fixing portion fixing the cover to the front end portion of the scanner unit. The cover includes a support portion that, when projected on an imaginary horizontal surface, overlaps a part of the touchscreen. The support portion is shaped like a box extending in the vertical direction and is coupled to a portion of the upper surface of the printer unit adjacent to the sheet ejection tray.
US09977374B2
A transfer unit includes a transfer target member, a first transfer device, and a holding member. The transfer target member has an image region to which an image is transferred and a non-image region to which the image is not transferred and which exists along an edge of the transfer target member. The transfer target member is transported in a path passing through a contact position where the transfer target member is brought into contact with an image holding body, which has a surface on which the image is held, so as to allow the image to be transferred to the transfer target member. The first transfer device transfers the image from the image holding body to the transfer target member. The holding member is brought into contact with the non-image region so as to hold the transfer target member without contact with the image region.
US09977370B2
A chip for a cartridge with dispensable material may be provided. In one aspect, the chip may comprise a non-volatile memory for storing a number tracking amount of dispensable material in the cartridge, a key storage for storing an encryption key, a signature verification module and circuit components. The circuit components may be configured to receive and process a first message, receive and validate a second message, and update the amount of dispensable material if the validation of the second message succeeds. The first message may comprise a first command and an operation input value for a print job at the cartridge, and to process the first message may comprise decreasing the amount of dispensable material. The second message may comprise a second command to increase the amount of dispensable material, and may be validated using the signature validation module and the encryption key.
US09977369B2
A developer conveying apparatus for conveying a developer that develops an electrostatic latent image includes a rotation unit which rotates around a rotation shaft extending in an axial direction and parallel to a developer conveying direction, a first developer conveying portion which is provided in the rotation unit and which has an opening configured to convey the developer in a first axial direction of the rotation shaft, and a second developer conveying portion which is provided in the rotation unit and which has an opening configured to convey the developer in a second axial direction opposite to the first axial direction. A distance from the rotation shaft to the opening in the first developer conveying portion is different than a distance from the rotation shaft to the opening in the second developer conveying portion.
US09977367B2
A toner includes a toner base particle including a binder resin; a release agent; and an inorganic fine particle, and an external additive. The inorganic fine particle is silica having an average abundance ratio at the surface of the toner base particle of from 70% to 90%. The toner base particle has a BET specific surface area of from 1.0 m2/g to 2.5 m2/g after the external additive is removed from the toner.
US09977366B2
An image forming apparatus may include a photosensitive member, a developing device including a developing roller, pressing members configured to engage with the developing device and springs configured to urge the pressing members. In some examples, each of the pressing members may be configured to contact and move the developing device between various positions based on the urging of the springs. Additionally or alternatively, various ends of a contact surface of the developing roller configured to contact developer may be disposed relative to an axis line of the developing roller and pressing surfaces of the pressing members.
US09977363B2
The image forming apparatus includes a control unit configured to selectively execute an operation for applying a voltage with a polarity opposite to an original charging polarity of a toner to a first charging member and a second charging member and an operation for applying a voltage with the polarity opposite to the original charging polarity of the toner to one of the first charging member and the second charging member and a voltage with the same polarity as the original charging polarity of the toner to another of the first charging member and the second charging member as a cleaning operation for charging a secondary transfer residual toner to the polarity opposite to the original charging polarity of the toner by using the first charging member and the second charging member to transfer the secondary transfer residual toner onto an image bearing member.
US09977352B2
A device manufacturing method forms a liquid immersion area under a projection system via which an exposure light is projected, while supplying a liquid via a liquid supply inlet of a liquid retaining member and collecting the supplied liquid along with a gas via a liquid recovery outlet of the liquid retaining member. The liquid retaining member surrounds a tip portion of the projection system, which has a last optical element having a surface. The liquid retaining member has a surface opposite to the surface of the last optical element with a gap between the surfaces. A substrate is exposed with the exposure light through the liquid of the liquid immersion area, while moving the substrate below and relative to the projection system and the liquid retaining member. One of the liquid and the gas is separated from the other which have been collected via the liquid recovery outlet.
US09977349B2
A support device configured to support a first part relative to a second part, minimizing the transfer of vibration between the two parts, includes a supporting system configured to use gas under pressure to provide a support force between the first and second parts; a gas chamber connected to the supporting system and configured to contain the gas under pressure and provide the gas under pressure to the supporting system; and a section of acoustic damping material, arranged at a location within the gas chamber so as to separate a first gas containing region and a second gas containing region within the gas chamber, wherein the section of acoustic damping material has a first side and a second side, wherein the first gas containing region is on the first side and the second gas containing region is on the second side.
US09977343B2
Fringe-projection autofocus system devoid of a reference mirror. Contributions to error in determination of a target surface profile caused by air non-uniformities measured based on multiple measurements of the target surface performed at different wavelengths, and/or angles of incidence, and/or grating pitches and subtracted from the measured profile, rendering the system substantially insensitive to presence of air turbulence. Same optical beams forming a fringe irradiance pattern on target surface are used for measurement of the surface profile and reduction of measurement error by the amount attributed to air turbulence.
US09977342B2
A lithography stepper alignment and control method, comprising: providing a test template having a plurality of field sizes, and deriving a set of overlay values for each field size (S1); calculating a set of compensation amounts for the overlay value of each field size (S2); and, comparing a set of estimated alignment compensation values for a product with each compensation amount for each field size, selecting as the product alignment compensation values the set of compensation amounts of a field size closest to the set of estimated alignment compensation values, and, using the product alignment compensation values to perform alignment compensation on said product (S3).
US09977341B2
A position control system includes a position measurement system including a first position measurement configuration arranged to determine a position of an object in a first operating area and a second position measurement configuration to determine a position of the object in a second operating area; and a control unit configured to control a position of the object, the control unit including a first and a second controller, the first and second controllers being arranged to convert an input signal representing a position of the object to a respectively first and second control signal, the control unit being arranged to determine a combined control signal for controlling the position of the object in an overlapping area of the first and second operating area, wherein the combined control signal is obtained by applying a continuous weight function to the first and second control signal.
US09977336B2
A liquid immersion exposure apparatus in which a substrate is exposed with an exposure beam, includes a projection optical system by which the substrate is exposed to the exposure beam, a first inlet disposed at a first position, which is capable of supplying a first liquid to a space adjacent to a bottom surface of the projection optical system, and a second inlet disposed at a second position which is different from the first position, the second inlet being capable of supplying a second liquid that is different from the first liquid to the space.
US09977335B2
An illumination optical unit for projection lithography illuminates an illumination field, in which an object field of a downstream imaging optical unit and an object to be illuminated are arrangeable, with illumination light of an EUV light source. The illumination optical unit includes two facet mirrors for reflecting, overlaid guidance of partial beams of a beam of the EUV illumination light via exactly one facet of one of the two facet mirrors in each case. The facet mirror is a distance from a pupil plane of the illumination optical unit. Individual mirrors of the other facet mirror, which is arranged in, or in the vicinity of, a field plane that is conjugate to the object field, may be grouped into individual mirror groups which are tiltable together.
US09977331B2
A resist overlayer film forming composition for use in a lithography process in semiconductor device production does not intermix with a resist, blocks undesirable exposure light particularly in EUV exposure, for example, UV and DUV and selectively transmits EUV alone, and can be developed with a developer after exposure. A resist overlayer film forming composition includes: a polymer (P) including unit structures of Formula (1) and Formula (2) and having a weight average molecular weight, measured by gel permeation chromatography, of 500 to 2,000; and a C8-16 ether compound as a solvent
US09977328B2
A chemically amplified positive-type photosensitive resin composition for a thick film including an acid generator which is capable of producing an acid when irradiated with an active beam or radiation and includes a compound having a carboxyl group; a resin whose solubility in alkali increases under the action of an acid and which includes an acrylic resin containing a structural unit derived from acrylic ester having a cyclic group containing —SO2— or a cyclic group containing lactone; and an organic solvent.
US09977324B2
A method of forming a pattern includes: preparing a target substrate including a photoresist layer on a base substrate; aligning a phase shift mask to the target substrate, the phase shift mask including a mask substrate comparted into a first region including a first sub region and second sub regions at sides of the first sub region, and second regions at sides of the first region, the phase shift mask including a phase shift layer on the mask substrate corresponding to the first region; fully exposing the photoresist layer at the first sub region and the second regions by utilizing the phase shift mask; and removing the photoresist layer at the first sub region and the second regions to form first and second photoresist patterns corresponding to the second sub regions. Transmittance of the phase shift layer is selected to fully expose the photoresist layer in the first sub region.
US09977319B2
A light source device includes a plurality of first solid-state light emitting elements configured to emit first beams. a light splitting mirror provided in correspondence to the first solid-state light emitting elements and configured to split the first beams, which are incident from a first direction, by penetration and reflection, and a reflection mirror provided in correspondence to the light splitting mirror and configured to reflect one first beams split at the light splitting mirror in the same direction as the other first beams split at the light splitting mirror.
US09977318B2
A projector includes a light source section that outputs first light, a power supply section that generates electric power in both a case where the power supply section is connected to a commercial AC power supply having first power supply voltage and a case where the power supply section is connected to a commercial AC power supply having second power supply voltage lower than the first power supply voltage, a light source drive section that controls the amount of first light, and a control section that allows execution of a function of controlling the amount of first light in the case where the power supply section is connected to the commercial AC power supply having first power supply voltage and restricts the execution of the function in the case where the power supply section is connected to the commercial AC power supply having second power supply voltage.
US09977317B2
An illumination system and a projection device are disclosed. The illumination system includes laser light sources, a color wheel element and light combiners. The laser light sources provide laser lights of different colors. One of the laser light sources is disposed on an optical axis. The color wheel element is disposed on the optical axis and on a transmission path of the laser lights, and adjusts wavelengths of the laser lights. The light combiners are disposed on the optical axis and between the laser light source and the color wheel element. The light combiners are pervious to the laser lights or reflect the laser lights to combine the laser lights on the optical axis. The illumination system uses the laser light sources to provide lights of different colors, and in collaboration with a configuration structure of the optical elements thereof, the laser lights with a wider color gamut are provided.
US09977315B2
A projector includes a projector main body disposed in an attic above a ceiling plate and configured to project image light on a screen located in a room interior below the ceiling plate, a cover member set on the ceiling plate and configured to cover the projector main body, and a projection window provided in the cover member and configured to transmit the image light projected from the projector main body to the room interior side. The projection window is disposed further on the attic side than the ceiling plate to tilt with respect to the ceiling plate.
US09977309B2
This invention relates to electrophoretic fluids comprising a solvent, a dye, white particles, and colored particles selected from red, green, blue, magenta, cyan, yellow particles, and mixtures thereof, and electrophoretic display devices comprising such fluids.
US09977301B2
The present invention discloses an array substrate, comprising a first storage capacitor and a second storage capacitor, and the first storage capacitor and the second storage capacitor are coupled in parallel to form a total storage capacitor of the array substrate to increase the total storage capacitor of the array substrate, so as to avoid the issues of the cross talk and the image residue due to the over small total storage capacitor for promoting the quality of the array substrate. The present invention further discloses a display panel utilizing the array substrate and a liquid crystal display panel utilizing the array substrate.
US09977298B2
A display panel includes an upper plate including a first substrate, a first electrode layer formed on an inner surface of the first substrate, and an absorptive polarizing film formed on an outer surface of the first substrate and having a first polarization axis, a lower plate including a second substrate, a second electrode layer formed on an inner surface of the second substrate, and a reflective polarizing film formed on an outer surface of the second substrate and having a second polarization axis perpendicular or parallel to the first polarization axis, an LC layer filled between the upper plate and the lower plate, and an LC driving power supply connected between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer and configured to selectively provide an LC driving voltage to the LC layer changing a polarization direction of incident light in the LC layer.
US09977292B2
A display apparatus includes a first substrate including a display area and a non-display area, a gate driver positioned in the non-display area of the first substrate and including a plurality of stages cascaded, and at least one spacer disposed on the gate driver, where each of the plurality of stages includes a transistor including a first electrode connected to a clock terminal to which a clock signal is input, a second electrode connected to an output terminal which outputs a gate signal, and a gate electrode, and a capacitor including a first capacitor electrode connected to the gate electrode of the transistor and a second capacitor electrode connected to the output terminal, and the at least one spacer is disposed on the capacitor.
US09977283B2
A backlight module includes a light guide plate; a first light source arranged along a first side of the light guide plate; a plurality of second light sources arranged along at least one of the two sides perpendicular to the first side, wherein the plurality of second light sources have different color temperatures, and values of the color temperatures of the second light sources at different positions are determined according to the light absorption characteristics of the light guide plate so as to compensate for the light absorbed by the light guide plate corresponding to the color temperature of the second light source.
US09977278B2
A polarizing member includes a base layer, a first reflection preventing layer and a second reflection preventing layer. A base layer polarizes light, generating polarized light. A first reflection preventing layer is disposed on the base layer, diffusing the polarized light and generating first diffused light. A second reflection is disposed on the first reflection preventing layer, diffusing the first diffused light and generating second diffused light.
US09977276B2
An array substrate and a display panel are disclosed. The display panel includes: a color filter substrate; an array substrate; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the color filter substrate and the array substrate. The color filter substrate is divided into opaque regions and light-transmissive regions by a black matrix. The array substrate includes pixel regions defined by gate lines and data lines, pixel electrodes, first signal lines, and common electrodes. The common electrodes and the first signal lines are electrically connected through bridge structures. Each bridge structure includes a first part, a second part, and a third part. The first part is connected to one of the first signal lines, the third part is connected to one of the common electrodes, and a projection of the second part falls within a projection of one of the data lines or one of the gate lines.
US09977273B2
A display panel includes a first substrate and a second substrate arranged opposite from one another; a liquid crystal layer arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate; a first film layer arranged between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer, and a second film layer arranged between the second substrate and the liquid crystal layer, where the first film layer includes a first optical alignment base material and a first carbon nanotube layer, where the first carbon nanotube layer includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes extending along a first direction and is adhered to a side of the first substrate closer to the liquid crystal layer through the first optical alignment base material; and a plurality of first touch electrodes electrically connected to the first carbon nanotube layer.
US09977272B2
An in-cell touch display panel structure includes upper and lower substrates configured therebetween a display material layer, a black matrix sensing electrode layer, a sensing electrode trace layer, and an insulation layer. The black matrix sensing electrode layer is composed of a plurality of opaque conductor lines, which are patterned to form a plurality of sensing electrodes. The sensing electrode trace layer is composed of a plurality of trace conductor lines. The insulation layer is disposed between the sensing electrode trace layer and the black matrix sensing electrode layer. Each sensing electrode is connected with at least one trace conductor line. The plurality of trace conductor lines are disposed at positions corresponding to those of the plurality of opaque conductor lines of the black matrix sensing electrode layer.
US09977269B2
Disclosed are designs and methods of fabrication of silicon carrier-depletion based electro-optical modulators having doping configurations that produce modulators exhibiting desirable modulation efficiency, optical absorption loss and bandwidth characteristics. The disclosed method of fabrication of a modulator having such doping configurations utilizes counter doping to create narrow regions of relatively high doping levels near a waveguide center.
US09977268B2
An optical processing system providing a rapid optical response, the system including: a first optical material sensitive to an effective refractive index change under photon absorption; a first optical pump for optically pumping the first optical material at a first frequency so as to cause the first optical material to undergo an effective refractive index change by means of photon absorption; a second optical pump for optically pumping the first optical material at a second frequency so as to cause the first optical material to undergo a rapid second refractive index change by means of stimulated emission.
US09977265B2
Provided is a glasses type information terminal, which is not only configured to deliver information to a wearer without hindering everyday activities, but is also capable of easily delivering an intention or the like of the wearer to a surrounding area. Chip LEDs capable of selectively emitting a plurality of colors of light are arranged on a glasses frame. The chip LEDs are configured to radiate light toward an end portion of glasses lenses. A control module and a communication module configured to perform near field communication to and from a mobile terminal that generates personalized information on the wearer are accommodated in the glasses frame. The control module is configured to perform light emission control of the chip LEDs based on information from the mobile terminal.
US09977258B2
Methods and apparatus to enhance levels of oxygen in tear fluid under a worn advanced contact lens are described. The contact lens may include an encapsulated hard lens element which is impermeable to fluid flow across its body. The method of enhancement may include creating pores through the hard lens element, creating channels in portions of the contact lens body, including layers of absorptive material, and creating means of moving tear fluid under the contact lens.
US09977257B2
A multifocal ophthalmic lens has an optic zone that includes at least one first zone having a dioptric power that satisfies a distance refraction need of a patient; and at least one second zone having a dioptric power that is greater than the dioptric power of the at least first zone. The at least one first zone and the at least one second zone are configured so that 1) an image quality on the retina of the patient is superior to the image quality both in front of the retina and behind the retina, and 2) an image quality in front of the retina of the patient is superior to the image quality behind the retina. The multifocal ophthalmic lens prevents and/or slows myopia progression.
US09977255B2
An embodiment includes a bobbin provided at an outer circumferential surface thereof with a first coil, a first position sensor disposed on the outer circumferential surface of the bobbin and spaced apart from the first coil, a first magnet disposed so as to be opposite to the first position sensor, a second magnet disposed so as to be opposite to the first coil, the second magnet being configured to move the bobbin in a direction parallel to an optical axis via electromagnetic interaction with the first coil, a housing configured to support the first magnet and the second magnet; and upper and lower elastic members coupled to the bobbin and the housing, wherein the first position sensor is moved along with the bobbin.
US09977250B2
The description relates to lenses. One example can include a refraction element defining a lens axis and a registration element extending from an edge of the refraction element in a direction that is generally parallel to the lens axis.
US09977244B2
An optical device, including a light waves-transmitting substrate has two major surfaces and edges, optical means for coupling light into the substrate by total internal reflection, and a plurality of partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) carried by the substrate. The partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) are parallel to each other and are not parallel to any of the edges of the substrate, one or more of the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) being an anisotropic surface. The optical device has dual operational modes in see-through configuration. In a first mode, light waves are projected from a display source through the substrate to an eye of a viewer. In a second mode, the display source is shut off and only an external scene is viewable through the substrate.
US09977243B2
A method for providing safety-related information of a vehicle using smart glasses includes performing wireless connection with the vehicle, determining whether a driver does not remain focused on the road, requesting the safety-related information from the vehicle upon determination of inattention to the road, and displaying the safety-related information upon reception of the safety-related information from the vehicle.
US09977238B2
An intermediate image is formed inside a first prism, and an image light, which is reflected on the order of a third surface, a first surface and a second surface, is transmitted through the first surface and reaches the eyes of the observer, therefore it is possible to make the entire optical system small and light in weight by making the first prism thin, and realize a high performance display device with a wide angle of view. Further, when an external light is passed through, for example, the first surface and the third surface and observed, a diopter scale is set to approximately zero, and thereby reducing the defocus or distortion of the external light when observed in a see-through manner. And, it is possible such that the shape of the first prism conforms to the face of the observer, the center is also close to the face.
US09977234B1
A display device includes a first support plate and an opposing second support plate. A wall is formed on the first support plate. A portion of the wall is associated with an electrowetting pixel. A distal end of the wall portion forms a non-planar contact surface having a first surface feature. A spacer is positioned between the second support plate and the wall portion. The spacer has a distal end forming a non-planar contact surface with a second surface feature complementary to the first surface feature. The non-planar contact surface of the spacer contacts the non-planar contact surface of the wall portion.
US09977222B2
An optical imaging lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The fourth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof. The sixth lens element has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, and the image-side surface of the sixth lens element has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof.
US09977209B2
An optical communication cable is provided. The optical communication cable includes an outer cable layer and a plurality of optical fiber bundles surrounded by the outer cable layer. Each optical fiber bundle includes a bundle jacket surrounding a plurality of optical fiber subunits located within the bundle passage. The plurality of optical subunits are wrapped around each other within the bundle passage forming a wrapped pattern. Each optical fiber subunit includes a subunit jacket surrounding a elongate optical fiber located within the subunit passage. The cable jacket, bundle jacket and subunit jacket may be fire resistant, and strength strands of differing lengths may be located in the bundles and the subunits.
US09977207B2
An optical communication cable and related systems and methods are provided. The optical cable includes a plurality of wrapped core elements, and the outer surfaces of adjacent wrapped core elements are joined together by discrete bond sections. The discrete bonds sections may be structures such as laser welds, ultrasonic welds, or adhesive material. The discrete bonds hold the wrapped core elements together in the wrapped pattern, such as an SZ stranding pattern.
US09977204B2
A printed circuit board includes a main body of laminate structures, and a metal piece. The main body has a first opening and a second opening. The metal piece is held by the laminate structures of the main body. The metal piece has a first face and a second face opposite to the first face. The first opening and the second opening respectively extend to the first face and the second face of the metal piece. A semiconductor optical device can be mounted on the first face of the metal piece, in the first opening.
US09977189B2
Apparatus and methods are described herein for cleaving an optical element at a defined distance from a splice (or other reference point/feature) of the optical element within a desired precision and/or accuracy. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an indication of a location of a feature in an intermediate optical assembly visible within an image of the intermediate optical assembly. The feature can be for example, a splice. A position of the intermediate optical assembly is translated relative to a cleave unit based on the indication. After translating, the intermediate optical assembly, the intermediate optical assembly is cleaved to form an optical assembly that has an end face at a location disposed at a non-zero distance from the location of the feature. In some embodiments, the location of the feature can be determined with an image recognition system.
US09977188B2
A method of fabricating a waveguide mode expander includes providing a substrate including a waveguide, bonding a chiplet including multiple optical material layers in a mounting region adjacent an output end of the waveguide, and selectively removing portions of the chiplet to form tapered stages that successively increase in number and lateral size from a proximal end to a distal end of the chiplet. The first optical material layer supports an input mode substantially the same size as a mode exiting the waveguide. One or more of the overlying layers, when combined with the first layer, support a larger, output optical mode size. Each tapered stage of the mode expander is formed of a portion of a respective layer of the chiplet. The first layer and the tapered stages form a waveguide mode expander that expands an optical mode of light traversing the chiplet.
US09977186B2
A semiconductor device including an optical waveguide and a p-type semiconductor portion is configured as follows. The optical waveguide includes: a first semiconductor layer formed on an insulating layer; an insulating layer formed on the first semiconductor layer; and a second semiconductor layer formed on the insulating layer. The p-type semiconductor portion includes the first semiconductor layer. The film thickness of the p-type semiconductor portion is smaller than that of the optical waveguide. By forming the insulating layer between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, control of the film thicknesses of the optical waveguide and the p-type semiconductor portion is facilitated. Specifically, when the unnecessary second semiconductor layer is removed by etching in a step of forming the p-type semiconductor portion, the insulating layer which is the lower layer functions as an etching stopper, and the film thickness of the p-type semiconductor portion can be easily adjusted.
US09977185B2
An optoelectronic device includes an integrated circuit including electronic devices formed on a front side of a semiconductor substrate. A barrier layer is formed on a back side of the semiconductor substrate. A photonics layer is formed on the barrier layer. The photonics layer includes a core for transmission of light and a cladding layer encapsulating the core and including a different index of refraction than the core. The core is configured to couple light generated from a component of the optoelectronic device.
US09977182B2
The present invention generally relates to the field of fiber optics, and more specifically to optical fibers, methods of manufacturing optical fibers, and methods of classifying optical fibers. In an embodiment, the present invention is a multimode optical fiber which comprises a core and clad material system where the refractive indices of the core and cladding are selected to minimize chromatic dispersion in the 850 nm wavelength window and the refractive index profile is optimized for minimum modal-chromatic dispersion in channels utilizing VCSEL transceivers. Multimode optical fibers according to this embodiment may have increased channel bandwidth.
US09977181B2
Provided is an optical device whose resin member is less likely to reach a high temperature, as compared with that of a conventional optical device. The optical device (1) includes (i) an optical fiber (11) in which a jacket-removed section (I1) is provided and (ii) a resin member (12) in which the jacket-removed section (I1) is embedded. The jacket-removed section (I1) is a section in which a part of a jacket (112) covering an outer surface of a cladding (111b) is removed so that only a part of the outer surface of the cladding (111b) is exposed in a cross section of the optical fiber (11).
US09977172B2
A light guide plate (LGP) and a display device are disclosed. The LGP comprises at least one mesh point; each mesh point is provided with a plurality of microstructures; and all the microstructures on each mesh point are arranged on the same curved surface. The LGP can solve the problem that incident light is subjected to total reflection in the LGP so that the luminous uniformity of the LGP can be improved.
US09977158B2
A hybrid optical device for compressing light, including a first part which receives incident light shining on the device, wherein the first part is formed into sections along at least one direction thereof, wherein the sections receive respective portions of the light received by the first part, and individually compress and redirect the received portions of light, a second part which includes plural reflective surfaces which receive the compressed light from the sections of the first portion and further compress and redirect the portions of light, and a third part which receives the further compressed portions of light from the sections of the second part, and redirects same such that the light is output from the device.
US09977155B2
A microscope apparatus includes an objective and a photodetector, and projects a pupil of the objective onto a light-receiving surface of the photodetector. The microscope apparatus further includes an optical element that is arranged between the objective and the photodetector. The optical element has a plurality of refractive surfaces which are arranged in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis of the optical element and to which light fluxes emitted from the pupil of the objective at different angles are incident.
US09977152B2
Various embodiments include a display panel with integrated micro lens array. The display panel typically includes an array of pixel light sources (e.g., LEDs) electrically coupled to corresponding pixel driver circuits (e.g., FETs). The array of micro lenses are aligned to the pixel light sources and positioned to reduce the divergence of light produced by the pixel light sources. The display panel may also include an integrated optical spacer to maintain the positioning between the micro lenses and pixel driver circuits.
US09977147B2
An optical module includes a carrier, a light-emitting component disposed over the carrier, an optical sensor disposed over the carrier, a housing, and a lens. The housing is disposed over the carrier and encircles the light-emitting component and the optical sensor. The housing defines a first accommodation space including a first aperture and a second aperture below the first aperture. The housing includes a first sidewall surrounding the first aperture, a second sidewall surrounding the second aperture, and a first support portion where a bottom end of the first sidewall and a top end of the second sidewall meet. The lens is located in the first aperture and is supported by the first support portion. One of the light-emitting component or the optical sensor is located in the first accommodation space.
US09977145B2
A wellbore survey tool and methods for estimating a direction of highest gamma ray intensity of a gamma ray distribution are provided. The tool includes a body having a center axis. The body is configured to be placed within a wellbore. The tool further includes a plurality of gamma ray detectors within the body. Each detector of the plurality of gamma ray detectors has a direction of maximum gamma ray sensitivity with the direction having a non-zero component perpendicular to the center axis. The non-zero components of the plurality of gamma ray detectors are spaced circumferentially about the center axis.
US09977139B2
An apparatus (T) and method for correcting detector (104) measurement data for errors caused by imperfections in the detector (104) that effect the accuracy of the detector readings.
US09977136B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for 3D imaging of in vivo and ex vivo tissues. The disclosed systems and methods employ an autoradiographic approach where particles emitted by a radioactive composition within the tissue are detected. Once detected, a 3D representation of the source of particles within the tissue is reconstructed for viewing and analysis.
US09977128B2
The invention relates to a method for recording a scene (3) using at least two time-of-flight cameras (1, 2), which respectively comprise a light source (5) and an image sensor (6), wherein image recording operations which comprise a measuring operation for determining depth information are carried out using each of the at least two time-of-flight cameras (1, 2), wherein the measuring operation comprises the emission of modulated light (11) by the light source (5), the detection of modulated light (12) after the reflection on objects (4) of the scene (3) using the image sensor (6), and the calculation of depth information from the propagation time of the modulated light between the emission and the detection.In order to increase the image quality, a first time-of-flight camera (1) uses the measurement results of the measuring operation carried out by said camera to determine the extent to which modulated light from a second time-of-flight camera (2) was also detected in this measuring operation in addition to the light (11) emitted by its own light source (5), and the first time-of-flight camera (1) changes the recording mode thereof on the basis of the result of this determination.
US09977124B2
A system and associated methodology determines the porosity and water saturation of a cavity using a joint inversion of gravity and ground penetrating radar data. The system exhibits high accuracy. In one embodiment, the cavity is spherical.
US09977121B1
A radio frequency identification (RFID) system includes an RFID interrogator and an RFID tag having a plurality of information sources and a beamforming network. The tag receives electromagnetic radiation from the interrogator. The beamforming network directs the received electromagnetic radiation to a subset of the plurality of information sources. The RFID tag transmits a response to the received electromagnetic radiation, based on the subset of the plurality of information sources to which the received electromagnetic radiation was directed. Method and other embodiments are also disclosed.
US09977117B2
A system for providing integrated detection and countermeasures against unmanned aerial vehicles include a detecting element, a location determining element and an interdiction element. The detecting element detects an unmanned aerial vehicle in flight in the region of, or approaching, a property, place, event or very important person. The location determining element determines the exact location of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The interdiction element can either direct the unmanned aerial vehicle away from the property, place, event or very important person in a non-destructive manner, or can cause disable the unmanned aerial vehicle in a destructive manner.
US09977108B2
The invention relates to a method of parallel MR imaging, wherein a reference scan is performed by means of a stimulated echo sequence including i) at least two preparation RF pulses (α) radiated toward a portion of a body (10) during a preparation period (21), and ii) one or more reading RF pulses (β) radiated toward the portion of the body (10) during an acquisition period (22) temporally subsequent to the preparation period (21). One or more FID signals (I1) and one or more stimulated echo signals (I2) are acquired during the acquisition period (22). The spatial receive and/or—if applicable—transmit4 sensitivity profiles of at least two RF coils (11, 12, 13) are derived from the acquired FID signals (I1) and/or from the acquired stimulated echo signals (I2). The parameters of the stimulated echo sequence are selected such that it is robust against susceptibility-induced artifacts. Moreover, 10 the invention relates to a MR device (1) and to a computer program for a MR device (1).
US09977107B2
An atlas-free magnetic resonance imaging method images at least one part of a brain. An MRI sequence configured for acquiring two image volumes of the part at different inversion times within a single acquisition is combined to a fat-water separation method for acquiring a fat-water separated image. For each echo time two image volumes are acquired, respectively a first image volume and a second image volume at the first echo time, and a first image volume and a second image volume at the second echo time, and combined to a uniform image. The acquired images are combined to form a final uniform image, a final fat-water separated image, and a final second image volume that are fed into a multichannel image segmentation algorithm using a Markov random field model for segmenting the part into multiple classes of cranial tissues, in order to obtain a segmented image of said part.
US09977105B2
Restriction on echo intervals is to be reduced in the Dixon's method without sacrificing separation performance and image quality. An image is reconstructed from echo signals measured at three or more different echo times. First and second peak frequency distributions in which aliasing (folding) due to echo time intervals is removed are calculated from the obtained images, and the first and second peak frequency distributions are used to obtain an offset frequency distribution. Note that these first peak frequency distribution and second peak frequency distribution are a distribution of peak frequencies obtained on the assumption that all of the pixels are the first substance and a distribution of peak frequencies obtained on the assumption that all of the pixels are the second substance, respectively. The offset frequency distribution and the obtained images are used to separate an image of the first substance from an image of the second substance.
US09977100B2
A coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the imaging system being for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region, the coil arrangement including at least three coils for at least one of transmitting, receiving or transceiving an electromagnetic field, each coil being provided on a coil geometry and being substantially orthogonal.
US09977099B2
A RF conductive member for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) resonator includes an opening, a butterfly pickup loop, and a sensor cable. The RF conductive member has a length, a width, and a depth, and is configured to conduct a RF conductive member current. The opening passes through the depth of the RF conductive member and is disposed along the length of the RF conductive member. The butterfly pickup loop is disposed within the opening and configured to detect the RF conductive member current. The butterfly pickup loop includes a first loop and a second loop. The second loop is proximate the first loop and co-planar with the first loop. The sensor cable extends from the butterfly pickup loop and is configured to communicably couple the butterfly pickup loop with at least one processing unit.
US09977098B2
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is configured to carry out sequential imaging, to acquire an actual SAR measurement value at a predetermined timing during the sequential imaging, and to update a subsequent predicted SAE value each time the actual SAR measurement value is acquired.
US09977097B1
A magnetometer has a resonating structure which is naturally resonant in at least first and second resonant modes, a resonant frequency of the second mode being at least an order of magnitude greater than a resonant frequency of the first mode, the resonating structure having two sense electrodes disposed on opposing major surfaces of the resonating structure and having a conductive path formed as a loop, the loop being disposed near or at edges of the resonating structure and the two sense electrodes being formed inwardly of the edges of the resonating structure and also inwardly of said loop. First and second oscillators are provided, the first oscillator being coupled to the loop for applying an oscillating current to the loop, the oscillating current having a frequency essentially equal to the resonant frequency of the first mode of the resonating structure, the second oscillator being coupled to said sense electrodes, the second oscillator oscillating with a fundamental frequency corresponding to the resonant frequency of the second mode of the resonating structure, the second oscillator also producing sidebands indicative of the magnetometer sensing an external magnetic field.
US09977095B2
A method and a device for the diagnosis of faulty light emitting diodes in a string (2) formed of at least two light emitting diodes. The light emitting diodes (3) are divided into at least two groups and an electrical measured variable is determined for each group with respective measurement units. Differences between the measured variable and a reference value are established per group and, by way of a diagnosis unit that is connected to the measurement units, a defect of a light emitting diode is identified on the basis of the ratio of the differences in the groups and signaled.
US09977084B2
A method and system for determining core losses in a permanent magnet synchronous motor, comprising a measurement of the losses of the motor with the motor not connected to a load, and a deduction of the core losses of the motor from the losses of the motor. The motor is placed in an over-fluxing state during the measurement of the losses.
US09977083B2
A sampling circuit monitors a high voltage level in an electric vehicle drive. A resistor ladder receives a drive voltage to be sampled and provides sufficient isolation to allow use of low cost switching devices. An N-channel MOSFET is connected between the ladder and a reference resistance. A junction between the source terminal of the MOSFET and the reference resistance provides a sampled voltage output adapted to be input to an analog-to-digital converter. A discrete optocoupler has an output side with a collector and an emitter. The collector is coupled to the resistor ladder, and the emitter is connected to a gate terminal of the MOSFET and coupled to the ground reference by a load resistor.
US09977075B1
Embodiments detailed herein include an apparatus that includes a reliability assessment engine (RAE) stored in non-volatile memory and processing circuitry to execute the RAE to: receive data of at least one physical condition from a plurality of intra-die variation monitoring circuits, apply the received data least one to at least one reliability physics model, and calculate at least one of an estimated amount of lifetime consumed and an estimated amount of lifetime remaining.
US09977072B2
An integrated circuit (IC) and a method for operating the IC are provided. The IC comprises a device under test and a first heater. The first heater is located at a first side of the device and provides heat to control a temperature of the device. The first heater comprises a semiconductor device having a first doped region and a second doped region having a conductivity type opposite to that of the first doped region, the first doped region interfacing with the second doped region.
US09977071B2
A test device includes: a testing unit connected with a measurement line, and configured to apply bias to the measurement line and measure the measurement line; a plurality of switching units configured to electrically connect the measurement line and the plurality of samples; and a control unit configured to sequentially turn on the plurality of switching units to sequentially apply the bias to the plurality of samples. The control unit determines whether a corresponding device sample has a defect based on a first measurement value according to measurement by the testing unit when the bias is applied to each of the plurality of samples.
US09977065B2
In at least one embodiment, an apparatus for performing a high voltage (HV) short circuit diagnosis and an impedance analysis for a vehicle is provided. The apparatus includes a controller configured to measure a first voltage associated with a battery and a first current that varies based on a HV power net during the pre-charge operation and to perform the short circuit diagnosis based on the first voltage and the first current. The controller is further configured to determine a difference between the first voltage and a pre-charge voltage across one of a capacitor and the HV power net and to measure a second current based at least on the difference. The controller is further configured to perform the impedance analysis for the vehicle based on the second current.
US09977053B2
A wafer probe alignment system and method for aligning a probe to a chip wafer for testing a chip on the wafer are provided. At least two corners of the probe are adjustable in a same direction in relation to a primary corner of the probe. The alignment approach includes providing a grid of signal pins for corresponding contact pads of the chip under test, determining for each signal pin whether an electrical contact is established to a corresponding contact pad of the chip under contact force, and adjusting a position of each of the at least two corners by a corner individual delta position value with respect to the direction depending on a result of the determining in order to establish an electrical contact between each of the pins and the corresponding contact pads of the chip under test.
US09977048B2
A method for examining signals. The method comprises a step of reading in a signal (204), a step of comparing the signal (204) to an interference signal characteristic characterizing an interference signal in order to determine whether the signal (204) represents the interference signal, and a step of buffering the signal (204) at least for a predetermined time interval in order to obtain a buffered signal (222).
US09977044B2
An optical velocity measuring apparatus which can restrict the effect of rotational motion of a moving object and estimate a velocity of its own with high accuracy, for a moving object with no wheels or a moving object of which the wheels slip includes an imager, provided in a moving object, for imaging a traveling surface such that a shift amount of each pixel at a time when an imaging target surface has shifted varies depending on a position of the pixel within an image, and the optical velocity measuring apparatus acquires a pixel shift amount gradient, which is a change in the shift amount of each pixel with respect to a predetermined axis, from a plurality of images captured by an image capturing device in a time series and a velocity of the moving object from the pixel shift amount gradient is acquired.
US09977039B2
Provided are devices, systems and methods for evaluation of hemostasis. Also provided are sound focusing assemblies.
US09977032B2
We describe a method of monitoring the state of a cell, tissue, organ or organism. The method comprises establishing, for a sample of micro-particles from the cell, tissue, organ or organism, a ratio. The ratio is of a selected polypeptide in microparticles which comprise GM1 gangliosides, preferably which bind to Cholera Toxin B (CTB) (“GM1 ganglioside microparticle polypeptide”) to the selected polypeptide in microparticles which comprise exposed phosphotidylserine, preferably which bind to Annexin V (“Annexin V microparticle polypeptide”). The GM1 ganglioside microparticle polypeptide to Annexin V microparticle polypeptide ratio so established may be indicative of the state of the cell, tissue, organ or organism.
US09977029B2
Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease characterized by granulomatous inflammation in affected organs. The present invention discloses kits and a system for a blood test using mycobacterial catalase-peroxidase that has a high positive predictive value for confirming a diagnosis of sarcoidosis.
US09977025B2
Finding biologically relevant cancer markers is key to developing an effective treatment. Once specific antigens have been identified that are present on the cell population responsible for propagating tumors, T cells can be genetically altered to target these antigens and then used for personalized T cell therapy. A method to identify and select peptide antigens that effectively associate with and are presented by host HLA surface molecules originating from tumor cells responsible for the persistence and propagation of a cancer has been developed. The system of using these data to produce T cells engineered to express T cell receptors recognizing the peptide antigens is used in the production of a personalized adoptive T cell therapy for cancer that eliminates the cells capable of tumor propagation and cancer progression. The system is especially useful in the production of cancer treatments to achieve complete durable remission of cancers of epithelial origin.
US09977023B2
The present invention relates to a composition comprising a probe for detecting six representative causative viruses of acute enteritis (norovirus genogroup I and genogroup II, rotavirus, hepatitis A virus, coxsackievirus, astrovirus, and adenovirus), and a DNA microarray, a kit, and a detection method comprising the composition. The present invention is effective due to high specificity and sensitivity to viruses. In addition, since the causative viruses can simply be detected at low cost compared to conventional detection methods, without expensive diagnosis devices or specialists, the present invention may be effectively used as a method for diagnosing viruses causing acute enteritis.
US09977018B2
An electrochemical lateral flow biosensor (ELFB) includes an ELFB strip and electronic detector unit coupled to the strip. The strip includes a polymeric hydrophobic membrane, conjugation pad, sampling pad, screen-printed electrode (SPE), and wick pad. The membrane provides a solid support and enables capillary flow along the strip. The conjugation pad is placed on the membrane at one end of the strip and contains adsorbed dehydrated labelled conjugate particles that are coated with the biorecognition element and coated or filled with the electrochemically active component. The sampling pad is placed on the conjugation pad and provides adsorption of the liquid sample. The SPE is coated with immobilized capture antibodies. The wick pad is placed on the SPE and provides absorption of excess reagents maintaining a lateral flow along the strip. The ELFB can be used for rapid and early detection and quantity analysis of biological liquids and wastewater.
US09977015B2
Systems and methods are provided for detecting or measuring binding affinity between different compositions. The methods include contacting one or more magnetic beads having a surface including a first composition with a substrate having a surface including a second composition; applying a rotating magnetic field to the one or more magnetic beads effective to cause the one or more magnetic beads to move across the surface of the substrate; measuring the movement of the one or more magnetic beads across the substrate surface to determine a translational velocity; and determining a binding affinity between the first and second compositions from the translational velocity.
US09977012B2
A method for cryopreservation of adherent cells attached to a substrate and a method for identifying one or more extracellular matrix (ECM) components and/or matricellular proteins that improves viability and retention of the cryopreserved cells on the substrate. The method for cryopreservation includes treating a substrate with at least one ECM component and/or adding at least one matricellular protein to the substrate or cell culture media, plating the cells on the treated substrate, and cryopreserving the cells. One or more ECM components and/or matricellular proteins that improves cell viability and retention can be identified by evaluating the cells that have been thawed from the cryopreservation temperature to determine cell viability and retention.
US09977002B2
A metal structure including a first metal end region, a second metal end region, and an intermediate region between the first metal end region and the second metal end region, wherein the intermediate region comprises a metal nanostructure having a plurality of pores.
US09977000B2
Monolithic nanoporous material, which is self-standing (i.e. self-supported or cohesive), solid and transparent, essentially devoid of cracks, transparent to UV radiation, obtained by the Sol-Gel process, the material having a basic nature and including a reagent capable of generating a stained product by forming a bond with phenol, a basic compound or mixture of basic compounds and a compound or mixture of oxidant compounds, method for preparation and use in the detection and in the selective depollution of phenol or one of its derivatives.
US09976998B2
Provided is a liquid chromatograph control system for controlling an operation of a liquid chromatograph according to a method file containing a plurality of analysis parameters representing configuration items which determine operational conditions of the liquid chromatograph, including: a) a display section for displaying, for each of the analysis parameters, selectable values of the analysis parameter on a condition-setting screen; b) a grouping section for allowing a user to prepare grouping information for the values of the analysis parameter displayed on the condition-setting screen, the grouping information determining whether or not one value of one analysis parameter and one value of another analysis parameter can be included in one group; and c) a file-creating section for extracting, from the values of the analysis parameters, such values that can be included in one group according to the grouping information, and for creating a method file containing the extracted values.
US09976982B2
The present disclosure provides a bio-field effect transistor (BioFET) and a method of fabricating a BioFET device. The method includes forming a BioFET using one or more process steps compatible with or typical to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The BioFET device includes a substrate, a transistor structure having a treated layer adjacent to the channel region, an isolation layer, and a dielectric layer in an opening of the isolation layer on the treated layer. The dielectric layer and the treated layer are disposed on opposite side of the transistor from a gate structure. The treated layer may be a lightly doped channel layer or a depleted layer.
US09976980B2
A sensor device includes: a housing body delimiting within the housing body: a flow duct, and a bypass that branches off from the flow duct at a branching point, the bypass having a wall with an opening; and a sensor element configured to detect a gas content, the sensor element being arranged in the opening. The sensor element has: a sensor body having a longitudinal axis, an electrode chamber within the sensor body, a heating element embedded in the sensor body and by which a predefined region around the electrode chamber is heatable to a predefined operating temperature, an inlet duct coupled to the electrode chamber and having an inlet on the surface of the sensor body, and a thermal insulation sleeve on the sensor body, the thermal insulation sleeve extending at least axially in the direction of the longitudinal axis over a region of the electrode chamber.
US09976975B2
The method of making thin film humidity sensors uses thermal vapor deposition or drop casting techniques to fabricate nickel phthalocyanine-fullerene-based (NiPc-C60) quick response humidity sensors with negligible hysteresis. Prior to the deposition of aluminum electrodes, a glass substrate is cleaned by using acetone in an ultrasonic bath for 10 minutes. After cleaning, the substrate is washed with de-ionized water and then dried. A gap is created between two electrodes by masking the glass substrate with copper wire. This assembly is plasma-cleaned for 5 minutes in a thermal evaporator. Subsequently aluminum (Al) thin films are deposited on the assembly. Next, a mixture of equal parts NiPc-C60 is deposited onto the gap between the Al electrodes by thermal vapor deposition or by drop casting. A method of forming NiPc-graphene oxide (NiPc-GO) humidity sensors without using instrumentation drop casts an NiPc-GO suspension onto aluminum foil electrodes taped to a substrate.
US09976974B2
Osmolarity-responsive hydrogel sensors, particularly biosensors, containing quaternary ammonium functionality, which are useful for, inter alia, continuous osmolarity monitoring with no pH interference, are disclosed. Methods of using the osmolarity-responsive hydrogels are also disclosed.
US09976967B2
A system and method for detecting defects on an object including forming an image representing the object from signals relating to the object, constructing subdivisions of the image according to auto-adaptive resolutions, and calculating differentials between various subdivisions in order to detect an abnormal subdivision indicating incipient failure.
US09976966B2
To increase the illumination efficiency by facilitating the change of the incident angle of illumination light with a narrow illumination width according to an inspection object and enabling an illumination region to be effectively irradiated with light, provided is a defect inspection method for obliquely irradiating a sample mounted on a table that is moving continuously in one direction with illumination light, collecting scattered light from the sample obliquely irradiated with the illumination light, detecting an image of the surface of the sample formed by the scattered light, processing a signal obtained by detecting the image formed by the scattered light, and extracting a defect candidate, wherein the oblique irradiation of the light is implemented by linearly collecting light emitted from a light source, and obliquely projecting the collected light onto the surface of the sample, thereby illuminating a linear region on the surface of the sample.
US09976959B2
A biological substance detection method for detecting a biological substance specifically in a pathological specimen, comprising a step of immunologically staining the pathological specimen using a fluorescent label, a step of staining the pathological specimen with a staining reagent for morphology observation purposes (eosin) to observe the morphology of the pathological specimen, a step of irradiating the stained pathological specimen with excited light to cause the emission of a fluorescent and detecting the biological substance in the pathological specimen. In the step of immunologically staining the pathological specimen, a special fluorescent particle for which the excitation wavelength appears in a region that is different from the excitation wavelength region of eosin is used as the fluorescent label.
US09976958B2
The present invention relates to a method for detecting curing and/or the local distribution of curing of the binder material, in particular for detection of anomalies of the cured binder, in a mineral fiber product. The present invention also relates to a reagent, in particular for use in such a method and the use of this reagent in the quality control of bonded mineral fiber products.
US09976956B2
A method for determining a variable of a sample is provided. At least one sensor substance is brought into contact with the sample and excited to luminesce by means of an electromagnetic excitation signal. The sensor substance is such that a relaxation time of its luminescence behavior depends on the variable of the sample to be determined. The electromagnetic excitation signal has a defined time-dependence, it is, for example, a frequency-modulated signal or a pulse sequence, in which distances between pulses are varied over the duration of the excitation signal. The time dependence of the luminescence response of the sensor substance is detected and an output signal is generated therefrom by integrating over specified time-intervals. An instant of time, relative to the time-dependence of the excitation signal, is determined, at which a step occurs in the time-dependence of the output signal. The value of the variable is determined from said instant of time. A preceding calibration can be advantageously used for this purpose.
US09976955B2
Optical spectroscopy system and method possessing spectral selectivity sufficient to distinguish isotopic line of the metal of interest. Each of the light beams, counter-propagating through vial with vapor of the sample, has been originated from the same light output of the laser source and modulated at a corresponding judiciously-determined frequency. The light-output, in turn, possesses a carrier frequency and two side-band frequencies defined with respect to a mean value of excitation frequencies of isotopes in the vapor.
US09976951B2
A method detects whether or not a workpiece is coated with a water-soluble protective film. The method includes a preparatory step before detection and a detecting step. The preparatory step includes irradiating with infrared light a first region coated with the water-soluble protective film and a second region not coated with the water-soluble protective film for a reference, receiving the reflected light, and thereby acquiring an intensity of reflection from the first region and an intensity of reflection from the second region; and a threshold determining step of determining a threshold from the intensity of reflection from the first region and the intensity of reflection from the second region at a wavenumber of 3000 cm−1 to 3600 cm−1. The detecting step includes irradiating a surface of the workpiece with the infrared light, receiving the reflected light, and comparing the thus obtained intensity of reflection with the threshold.
US09976950B2
Embodiments of the invention comprise apparatus and methods for detecting the presence of a substance in a test material using a plurality of wavelength-specific couplers (e.g. tilted fiber gratings) which provide a spatially distributed multi-node all-optical measurement system. Each node of the measurement system can comprise an optical module that is sensitive to the intensity of a limited band of wavelengths. The node is thus capable of detecting the presence of an absorption peak in a spectrum without having to obtain the full spectrum. By providing a plurality of optical modules that are sensitive to different wavelengths, the spectral signature of different substances may be monitored without having to measure full spectra. The measurement system may be particularly useful in a process control environment where it is desirable to take measurements of one or more substances in different locations.
US09976945B2
A method for counting blood cells in a sample of whole blood. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a sample of whole blood; (b) depositing the sample of whole blood onto a slide, e.g., a microscope slide; (c) employing a spreader to create a blood smear; (d) allowing the blood smear to dry on the slide; (e) measuring absorption or reflectance of light attributable to the hemoglobin in the red blood cells in the blood smear on the slide; (f) recording a magnified two-dimensional digital image of the area of analysis identified by the measurement in step (e) as being of suitable thickness for analysis; and (g) collecting, analyzing, and storing data from the magnified two-dimensional digital image. Optionally, steps of fixing and staining of blood cells on the slide can be employed in the method.
US09976942B2
A cryogenic tissue sample embedding storage system belongs to the field of cryopreservation of biological tissue samples, which in particular, relates to a cryogenic tissue sample embedding storage system. The present invention provides a cryogenic tissue sample embedding storage system that can avoid the confusion of samples, prevent damage to identifier information in the cutting process, and has high embedding efficiency. The present invention comprises an embedded label, a label cover, and an embedding base, and in terms of its structure, the embedding base is provided with a groove structure for placing and limiting the position of the embedded label, and an embedding enclosure wall flexibly connected to the embedding base is disposed above the groove structure.
US09976941B2
An automated in situ heat induced antigen recovery and staining method and apparatus for treating a plurality of microscope slides. The process of heat induced antigen recovery and the process of staining the biological specimen on the microscope slide are conducted in the same apparatus, wherein the microscope slides do not need to be physically removed from one apparatus to another. The reaction conditions for treating a slide can preferably be controlled independently, including the individualized application of reagents to each slide and the individualized treatment of each slide.
US09976940B2
The present invention relates to a composition for DNA staining, which can be safely used for researchers, can prevent DNA photocleavage, and can be applied to various fields. According to the present invention, when DNA is stained by using a fluorescent protein and a particular peptide bound to DNA, such a fluorescent protein-peptide is safe to researchers, suppresses DNA photocleavage, and allows reversible staining, thereby enabling efficient DNA staining. Therefore, the composition for DNA staining of the present invention can be variously used in DNA-related research.
US09976929B2
An apparatus is provided to verify the integrity of the confinement boundary of a spent nuclear fuel dry storage canister in operation. An external-convection blocking device is used to temporarily isolate the dry storage system or the dry storage canister from the ambient environment to form an isolated space. A gas sampling-and-analyzing device is connected to the isolated space to measure the leak rate or concentration of helium or radioactive gases which release from the dry storage canister. After the leak rate or concentration of helium or radioactive gases is measured, the integrity of the confinement boundary of the dry storage canister can be verified to further enhance the safety of the spent nuclear fuel dry storage.
US09976912B2
Hybrid sensors comprising Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor (S-HWFS) and Zernike Wavefront Sensor (Z-WFS) capabilities are presented. The hybrid sensor includes a Z-WFS optically arranged in-line with a S-HWFS such that the combined wavefront sensor operates across a wide dynamic range and noise conditions. The Z-WFS may include the ability to introduce a dynamic phase shift in both transmissive and reflective modes.
US09976900B2
A spectrometer includes a light detection element provided with a light passing part and a light detection part, a support fixed to the light detection element such that a space is formed between the light passing part and the light detection part, a first reflection part provided in the support and configured to reflect light passing through the light passing part in the space, a second reflection part provided in the light detection element and configured to reflect the light reflected by the first reflection part in the space, and a dispersive part provided in the support and configured to disperse and reflect the light reflected by the second reflection part to the light detection part in the space.
US09976898B2
An optical sensing module capable of providing a multi-directional optical sensing function teaches that the optical sensing module can be fixed on a circuit board via a bridging medium. The optical sensing module includes a supporter, a photosensitive component and a connecting component. The supporter includes a base and several lateral portions. The lateral portions are bent from edges of the base to form an accommodating space. The photosensitive component is disposed inside the accommodating space to receive an optical signal passing into an opening of the accommodating space. The connecting component is disposed on the supporter and includes a conductive terminal. The supporter is connected with the bridging material via the conductive terminal to stand on the circuit board by one of a plurality of sensing directions.
US09976897B2
A radiation imaging apparatus includes a radiation detection panel configured to detect radiation irradiated by a radiation generation unit, a first member and second member arranged on the incident direction side of the radiation, and a third member and fourth member arranged on a side opposite to the incident direction of the radiation. The second member is arranged between the first member and the radiation detection panel, and the third member is arranged between the radiation detection panel and the fourth member. The second member and the third member are lower in elastic modulus than the first member and the fourth member, and the elastic modulus of the second member is equal to or lower than that of the third member.
US09976894B2
Disclosed are optical devices and methods of manufacturing optical devices. An optical device can include a substrate; an optical emitter chip affixed to the front surface of the substrate; and an optical sensor chip affixed to the front surface of the substrate. The optical sensor chip can include a main sensor and a reference sensor. The optical device can include an opaque dam separating the main optical sensor and the reference sensor. The optical device can include a first transparent encapsulation block encapsulating the optical emitter chip and the reference optical sensor and a second transparent encapsulation block encapsulating the main optical sensor. The optical device can include an opaque encapsulation material encapsulating the first transparent encapsulation block and the second transparent encapsulation block with a first opening above the main optical sensor and a second opening above the optical emitter chip.
US09976887B1
A mass flow meter utilizes both positive and negative slopes of operating curves for first and second thermal sensors for a wider dynamic range. First and second interfaces receive first and second signal readings from first and second thermal sensors. A selection module identifies a zone from the first and second output signals and determines an assigned thermal sensor for the zone from the zone table, regardless of whether the thermal sensor output signals from a positive or negative slope of an operating curve.
US09976868B2
A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon is provided. The computer executable instructions include a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes alternative routes generated by at least one mission planner for a vehicle. An MDF parser extracts the mission data for the alternative routes from the MDF and maps the mission data into a temporal data structure describing the alternative routes. The temporal data includes a route list to describe the alternative routes for the vehicle and a route segment list to describe an estimated time between each of the waypoints for each segment of the route list. A waypoint list describes a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude for each of the waypoints and a mission plan constructor generates a network topology of a mission plan depicting the alternative routes for the vehicle over time.
US09976864B2
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for providing a recommendation and/or a travel interface based upon a predicted travel intent. For example, a set of user signals (e.g., search queries, calendar information, social network data, etc.) may be evaluated to determine the predicted travel intent for a user to travel to a destination. A recommendation may be provided based upon the predicted travel intent. For example, images, news stories, advertisements, events, attractions, travel accommodation (e.g., hotel, car, and/or flight reservation functionality) and/or other information and functionality associated with the destination may be provided through the recommendation. The recommendation may be provided through an alert, a mobile app, a website, a travel interface, and/or a variety of other interfaces. The predicted travel intent may be used to modify information provided by a website, an operating system, and/or apps (e.g., a news app may display information about the destination).
US09976854B2
Embodiments provide for a geodetic instrument comprising a scanning head, a reflecting optical element, a radiation source, a control unit and an electronic distance measurement (EDM) unit. The scanning head is rotatable about a first axis. The reflecting optical element mounted in the scanning head and rotatable about the same first axis. The radiation source is adapted to emit light to be output along a light beam path from the geodetic instrument via light reflection against the reflecting optical element. The control unit is adapted to adjust an angular displacement profile of the reflecting optical element about the first axis relative to an angular displacement profile of the scanning head such that an angular displacement of the light beam path about the first axis as a function of time presents a stair-like profile. The EDM unit is adapted to determine a distance to a target during a flat portion of the stair-like profile.
US09976848B2
A dimensioning system including a computing device running an alignment software program is disclosed. The alignment software uses range information from a range sensor in order to generate alignment messages. The alignment messages may help a user define a frame of reference and align the dimensioning system's range sensor for improved dimensioning performance.
US09976847B2
Example embodiments relate to an optical shutter including a first polarization filter having a nanopore-cholesteric liquid crystal layer, which includes a cholesteric liquid crystal matrix and a plurality of liquid crystal nanopores embedded in the cholesteric liquid crystal matrix, and having a reflective wavelength band that varies according to electrical control, and a second polarization filter that is parallel to the first polarization filter, includes a nanopore-cholesteric liquid crystal layer, which includes a cholesteric liquid crystal matrix and a plurality of liquid crystal nanopores embedded in the cholesteric liquid crystal matrix, and has a reflective wavelength band that varies according to electrical control.
US09976843B2
The invention relates to a method and a corresponding apparatus for measuring distance and optionally speed, in particular for multiscale distance measurement. The method comprises generating a first and a second frequency comb signal (201, 202), wherein the first and second frequency comb signals (201, 202) have different line spacings; a reference measurement comprising superimposing the at least one part of the first frequency comb signal (201) and at least one part of the second frequency comb signal (202) in a reference beam path (103) and detecting the superimposition signal propagated by the reference beam path; a first measurement comprising superimposing at least one part of the second frequency comb signal (202) on the at least one part of the first frequency comb signal (201), injecting the superimposition signal into a measurement beam path (104) and detecting the superimposition signal propagated by the measurement beam path; and determining the path difference between the reference beam path (103) and the measurement beam path (104) from the detected superimposition signals.
US09976839B2
A method for generating power in a gravity dropped munition. The method including: attaching a cable from a generator associated with the munition to a portion of an aircraft; separating the munition from the aircraft to pull the cable from the munition; converting the pulling of the cable to a rotation; producing power from the rotation; and providing the power to an internal component of the munition.
US09976833B2
A bayonet mounting fixture can adapt a rifle having a mounting rail to also have a bayonet mount. Previously, bayonets were often mounted to a firearm by passing the barrel through a hole in the guard and then attaching the rear end of the bayonet to a bayonet mount or mounting lug further back. The bayonet mounting fixture can have a forward mount and a rear mount attached to the mounting rail. The forward mount has a round piece that can go inside the hole in the bayonet's guard. The rear mount can have a mounting lug to which the rear end of the bayonet is attached.
US09976825B2
A magazine for storing and feeding ammunition cartridges to a small arms weapon which comprises a casing, a floor plate, a follower, and a magazine spring inside the casing. The magazine spring may comprise a first end connected to the follower, a second end connected to the floor plate, and a plurality of coils. Each of the plurality of coils may include a first segment having a first radius, a second segment having a first length adjoining the first segment, a third segment having a second radius adjoining the second segment, the second radius being greater than the first radius, and a fourth segment having a second length adjoining the third segment, the second length being approximately equal to the first length.
US09976815B1
A method of manufacturing a heat exchanger including a heat exchanger core of a first material, the method including additive manufacturing a sacrificial scaffold of a second material, the sacrificial scaffold corresponding in shape to that of the heat exchanger core, coating the sacrificial scaffold with a layer of the first material, and removing the sacrificial scaffold to leave behind the heat exchanger core with an integrated self-aligned passage.
US09976814B2
An apparatus includes a heat pipe with a fluid path. A first part of the fluid path is thermally coupled to a first region of a higher temperature and a second part of the fluid path thermally is coupled to a second region of a lower temperature. A difference between the higher temperature and the lower temperature induces a flow of a magnetic fluid in the fluid path. A switchable magnetic device is magnetically coupled to the fluid path. Activation of the switchable magnetic device reduces the flow of the magnetic fluid in the fluid path, which reduces heat transfer from the first region to the second region.
US09976806B2
A method for manufacturing reduced iron using the same, and more particularly, to a burning apparatus heating a coal briquette to manufacture reduced iron, which includes a first burning furnace heating the coal briquette while moving the truck accommodating the coal briquette along a linear movement path; a second burning furnace connected to the other side of the first burning furnace, and heating the coal briquette while moving the coal briquette discharged from the truck along an annular path; and a cooling device connected to the second burning furnace, and cooling the reduced iron while moving reduced iron reduced in the second burning furnace along an annular path. The burning apparatus circulates exhaust gases generated in the burning furnace and cooling device to control a temperature and an oxygen concentration and thus improves a metallization rate of the reduced iron.
US09976788B2
A refrigeration appliance includes a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment. An ice maker with an ice mold is disposed within the fresh food compartment for freezing water into ice pieces. A refrigeration system includes a system evaporator and an ice maker evaporator dedicated to cooling the ice mold. A frame rotatably supports the ice mold within the fresh food compartment between an ice-forming position and an ice-harvesting position. The frame supports the ice maker evaporator at a stationary position that serves as a pivot axis for the ice mold so the ice mold can rotate around the ice maker evaporator between the ice-forming position and the ice-harvesting position, while the ice maker evaporator remains stationary. In one example, a heater is rotatable with the ice mold, and a drip tray is located underneath ice mold and rotatable with the ice mold.
US09976784B2
An evaporator has a first longitudinal direction and includes first and second header tanks. The first header tank includes a first surrounding wall projecting from at least one of a first end portion and a second end portion along a first longitudinal direction to define a first recess to surround the first recess at at least one of the first end portion and the second end portion. The first surrounding wall has at least one first drain opening to drain water from the first recess. The second header tank has a second longitudinal direction and is disposed apart from the first header tank so that the first longitudinal direction is substantially parallel to the second longitudinal direction. The second header tank has a second surrounding wall having at least one second drain opening to drain water from the second recess.
US09976779B2
In a cryogenic refrigerator, a displacer defines an internal space, and circulates a working fluid in the internal space. A cylinder houses the displacer such as to enable it to reciprocate, and, at an interval from the bottom side of the displacer, forms an expansion space for the working fluid. A cooling stage is provided along an outer circumferential and bottom portion of the cylinder, in a location corresponding to the expansion space. A heat exchanger is arranged inside the expansion space and is thermally connected to the cooling stage. An end portion of the displacer on its expansion-space side has an opening that serves as an entry/exit port between the internal space and the expansion space for the working fluid. A working-fluid flow channel connects the internal space and the expansion space via the heat exchanger.
US09976770B2
A filter module configured for exhaust application, and a method and apparatus for testing the same are provided. In one embodiment, the filter module includes a downstream sampling port configured to allow a technician to sample flow, downstream of the filter module, from the cleanroom side of a filter module. In another embodiment, a shroud adapted to sealing engage a filter module under test is provided and includes a tube, disposed in the shroud, that couples a port to a downstream sampling port of the filter module.
US09976765B2
A method controls an operation of an air-conditioning system generating airflow in a conditioned environment. The method updates a model of airflow dynamics connecting values of flow and temperature of air conditioned during the operation of the air-conditioning system. The model is updated interactively iteratively to reduce an error between values of the airflow determined according to the model and values of the airflow measured during the operation. Next, the method models the airflow using the updated model and controls the operation of the air-conditioning system using the model.
US09976764B2
The present disclosure generally provides controls, apparatus, systems and methods for controlling a ventilation mechanism to efficiently manage the relative humidity of an area. The controls, apparatus, systems and methods utilize sensed relative humidity information and one or more inputs to provide for efficient automatic and/or manual control a ventilation mechanism in response to high humidity events within the area. The controls, apparatus, systems and methods provided herein efficiently automatically activate a ventilation mechanism through the use of sensed relative humidity information and user input. The controls, apparatus, systems and methods provided herein efficiently automatically deactivate a ventilation mechanism through the use of sensed relative humidity information and user input.
US09976752B2
The invention relates to a cleaner cartridge for cleaning a soiled interior of an appliance, comprising: an integral housing for holding a treatment agent, at least one receptacle for connecting the cleaner cartridge to a water supply, wherein water can be introduced into the housing via the receptacle at a pressure which enables a treatment agent mixture to be sprayed, and at least one spray opening for spraying a treatment agent mixture, wherein the at least one spray opening is arranged as a rotation opening in the circumference-of the housing in such a way that rotation is imparted to the cleaner cartridge as a treatment agent mixture is sprayed. The invention furthermore relates to an appliance having a cleaner cartridge of this kind and to the use of a cleaner cartridge for cleaning appliances.
US09976749B2
A cooking appliance having a coupling structure of components to a control panel. The cooking appliance includes a main body provided with a heating unit, a control panel on at least a portion of the main body, a coupled knob unit for controlling a condition of the heating unit, the knob unit coupled to the control panel, and a bracket coupled to the knob unit to fix a coupling position of the knob unit. Accordingly, during a manufacturing process or a use process, the knob unit can be prevented from being biased with respect to the control panel in an arbitrary one direction.
US09976740B2
A superadiabatic burner has a flame holder formed from a porous medium, a fuel inlet coupled to the flame holder, a fuel outlet coupled to the flame holder, a preheater comprising an inlet and an outlet coupled to the fuel inlet, and a radiating rod coupled to the porous medium. The porous medium comprises a first porous section and a second porous section. Methods of using the burner allow preheated air or other mixtures to be provided to the fuel inlet as part of a fuel air mixture for the burner.
US09976739B2
An air nozzle arrangement for a fluidized bed boiler, comprising an air feed pipe and an air nozzle which limit an air feed duct configured to supply air to the furnace of the fluidized bed boiler. The air nozzle arrangement comprises a surface configured to guide coarse material along said surface. At least part of said surface is thermally insulated from the air nozzle and/or the air feed pipe. Furthermore, at least part of said surface is configured to protect at least part of said air nozzle and/or air feed pipe. Thus, the temperature of said surface is configured to be high when the fluidized bed boiler is in operation, whereby the solidification of molten material of the fluidized bed in the air nozzle arrangement is reduced.
US09976724B2
A portable lighting device adapted to provide an area light, said device including a body having a battery housing to hold batteries to power said device. The device includes a light panel functioning as a lens to act as an area light emitter, characterized in the said light panel is slidable into and out of said body, said light panel being constructed of a substantially flat panel portion.
US09976715B2
A lighting system is configured to provide lighting on an interior of a utility platform. The lighting system comprises a rope light and a power source for installing in or near the utility platform. The rope light includes a plurality of light emitters and a casing. The casing surrounds the plurality of light emitters, which are spread along the rope light. The rope light is configured to provide light to an interior surface of the utility platform. The isolated power source provides electrical power to the rope light, and is configured to prevent a discharge of electricity.
US09976713B2
An apparatus includes a moving mass transducer. The moving mass transducer generates sound by displacement of a surface defined by a piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is displaced in response to an interaction of a first signal with a magnetic field. The piezoelectric element is configured to be separately driving by a second signal.
US09976712B2
A lamp for use in a lighting strip system which includes a support rail, which extends along a longitudinal axis, and supply lines for supplying power to a light source of the lamp. The lamp has a first unit for arrangement on the support rail and for electrical contact to the supply lines, wherein the first unit includes an operating device for supplying power to the light source of the lamp. The lamp also has a second unit which includes the light source, and a plug connection device, having a first and second plug connection element, via which the second unit can be electrically connected to the first unit. The design having two units which are connected to each other enables the entire weight of the lamp to be divided across the two units. The two units can thus each be more easily handled, for assembly on the support rail.
US09976707B2
A mixing optic combines a variety of features to enhance the brightness and uniformity of the light emitted from a combination of different color light emitting sources. The mixing optic may include a parabolic reflector that redirects low-angle emissions, a reflective waveguide that mixes the light spatially, and a diffuser plate that mixes the light angularly. In an embodiment, the output of the mixing optic exhibits a substantially Lambertian output pattern of a substantially uniform mix of colors, exhibiting, for example, the light output pattern of a single white light source.
US09976705B2
A light engine includes a first plurality of diodes coupled in series. The first plurality of diodes includes a first anode end and a first cathode end. A second plurality of diodes is coupled in series. The second plurality of diodes includes a second anode end and a second cathode end. A first terminal is electrically coupled to the first cathode end and said second anode end to form a first node. The second terminal is coupled to said first anode end. A third plurality of diodes is coupled in series. The second plurality of diodes includes a third anode end and a third cathode end. The third terminal is coupled to the third cathode end. A fourth terminal is electrically coupled to the second cathode end and the third anode end to form a first node.
US09976694B2
A mounting base for supporting and rotating an instrument about two perpendicular axes is disclosed. The mounting base includes a vertical column; a rotatable platform attached to the column by a revolute joint; a rail around the column; at least one rod, an end of the at least one rod connecting with the revolute joint; at least one sliding mechanism, connecting with the other end of the at least one rod, the sliding mechanism sliding on the rail. The mounting base is light and easily controlled with arbitrary azimuth.
US09976689B2
The present invention relates to a versatile multi-layer elastomer or thermoplastic elastomer based thermal and/or sound insulation material with improved fire retardant properties together with low smoke generation, the process for manufacturing of such material and the use of such material and resulting composites.
US09976687B2
A breathable, multi-layer exhaust insulation system is provided. The system includes a multi-layer sleeve, wherein the first layer, which is positioned adjacent the exhaust system pipes, is a braided sleeve which may be constructed from high-temperature resistant materials such as e-glass, s-glass, silica or ceramic. Additional braided layers of material may be included, as well. An outside cover of material is preferably a circular knitted fabric that contains glass fibers and resin-based fibers. The knitted fabric forms a tube on the outside of the insulating layers, and may be formed from a core spun yarn, which includes a glass filament core and a high-melt fiber on the wrap. Optionally, the system may also include a perforated or unperforated metal foil layer and/or a tape wrap, and the various components may be configured as desired.
US09976683B2
A fluid connector having a longitudinal axis and selective open and closed conditions, includes an elongate conduit member extending along the longitudinal axis, an annular collar disposed about and having axial movement relative to the conduit member between the connector open and closed conditions, and a plurality of split nut members circumferentially distributed about the conduit member and having axial movement relative to the collar between the connector open and closed conditions. The plurality of split nut members and the collar are jointly rotatably about the longitudinal axis, and each split nut member has a distal end defining a threaded nut segment. The split nut member distal ends in the connector closed condition are constrained by the collar against radially separating movement relative to the longitudinal axis and cooperatively define a nut configured to threadedly engage a mating fluid fitting.
US09976669B2
A container treatment plant and a method for displacing an element of a valve or a diverting unit of a container treatment plant. The container treatment plant comprises at least one element for treating containers. The element is part of a valve or a diverting unit. The container treatment plant also comprises a displacing unit for displacing the element between a first position and a second position, wherein the displacing unit comprises a magnetically operating actuator such that a rotary motion caused by the actuator displaces the element with the aid of a mechanism between its first and second positions.
US09976661B2
The mechanical breather valve includes a valve body, on which is installed one-way air inlet and outlet components. A tank, for environmental protection, is fitted with the breather valve and closed so that no volatile gas will be exhausted, when the pressure within is balanced with the outside. When the pressure within is negative, the one-way air inlet hole will draw air from outside to keep the balance of pressure. When the pressure within is increased, one-way air outlet hole will exhaust the additional air. When the tank is tilted or placed upside down, the breather valve can prevent the oil from flowing out of the tank for safe usage.
US09976659B2
A decompression block assembly for coupling a source of hydraulic pressure to a hydraulically operated attachment. The assembly includes a valve body defining first and second ports that are fluidly connected to first and second couplers that are connectable to hoses of the attachment. The valve body includes a shuttle chamber having an opposed valve seats and a valve element engageable with the valve seats depending on residual pressure in fluid passages. A release member is operable to connect the shuttle valve to a drain port to discharge residual pressure in one or both fluid passages communicating with the attachment. The release member, when operated, opens a check valve in order to discharge residual pressure.
US09976658B2
Provided is a diaphragm valve whose durability is improved by proper caulking. On a bottom surface 2d of a depression 2c of a body 2, an annular inner projection 22 having a relatively small diameter and an annular outer projection 23 having a relatively large diameter are provided. A seat 5 is made of synthetic resin and is inserted between the inner projection 22 and the outer projection 23. Both projections 22, 23 are caulked, whereby the seat 5 is prevented from coming off. The height of the inner projection 22 is less than that of the outer projection 23, and a corner 22a on the outside of the inner projection 22 has a curved surface.
US09976657B2
A slip seal having a double profile provides two barriers to withstand the working pressure of a medium acting against the slip when a plug valve is in the closed position.
US09976651B2
The invention refers to a device to create a hermetic seal for large openings in equipment subject to low pressure. According to the invention it is characterized by at least one sealing cover being provided, which is pressed onto the side wall of the equipment by means of bolts, where the bolts are welded to a strip attached to the side wall at the edge of the opening in the equipment. This provides a good, low-cost and hermetic seal.
US09976647B2
A vehicular shift apparatus includes an operation member configured to be put in five shift positions including a home position, a drive position, a reverse position, a drive-side neutral position, and a reverse-side neutral position. Nine sensing elements are provided to sense a magnet moved by movement of the operation member. The home position is allocated with three sensing elements, and each of the remaining four shift positions is allocated with two sensing elements, wherein two of the sensing elements allocate to the home position are shared by other two of the shift positions. The five shift positions and four intermediate positions between respective two adjacent shift positions are determined, based on combination of outputs of the nine sensing elements.
US09976646B2
An angle regulation device includes a casing, a regulating gear, a driving mechanism, a transmitting mechanism and a powering unit. The regulating gear is pivoted to the casing and is mounted with a radar detector. The driving mechanism includes co-rotatable rotating shaft, and first and second driving members. The transmitting mechanism includes first and second transmitting units each including a transmitting gear that meshes with the regulating gear and that has a gear radius smaller than that of the regulating gear, and a transmitting engaging structure that meshes with a respective one of the first and second driving members. The powering unit is coupled to the rotating shaft for rotating the radar detector relative to the casing.
US09976643B2
A differential device includes: a differential gear mechanism; and an integrated differential case housing the mechanism, the differential case including bearing bosses formed integrally on one and other side portions thereof and aligned on a same axis to be rotatably supported by a transmission case; a work window being provided in the differential case; sleeves rotatably supported by the bosses and connected to side gears of the mechanism liquid-tightly. The sleeves can be passed through an inside of the differential case from the window and fitted and inserted to inner peripheries of the bosses, falling-off prevention devices are provided between the sleeves and the bosses, and seal devices for preventing lubricating oil in the differential case from flowing out are provided between the side gears and the sleeves. Accordingly, when drive shafts are removed from the differential device, the oil in the transmission and differential cases does not flow out.
US09976637B2
A rotary electric component includes: a spring; a rotation body; click pieces; a lever restricting rotation of the rotation body, and has a following part in which a groove is formed and which has an arcuate recessed surface on a part of the lateral surface; a restricting member which has a pin and a drive unit having an arcuate protruding surface as part of the lateral surface, and which constitutes a Geneva drive in which the pin engages in the groove of the lever to rotate the lever and, in a state where the pin has been removed from the groove of the lever, the arcuate protruding surface of the drive unit and the arcuate recessed surface of the following part of lever engage to restrict rotation of the lever; and a housing unit comprising an uneven portion and housing the rotation body, click pieces, lever, and restricting member.
US09976636B2
A locking mechanism for a ram air turbine (RAT) includes a base clevis configured to mount to a housing and to have a base link clevis connector portion defining a plurality of base link clevis connector arms and a base link clevis having a base connector portion defining base connector arms that are configure to movably connect to the base link clevis connector arm. The locking mechanism also includes a pin operatively connecting the base connector portion to the base link clevis connector portion in a rotatable relationship and a spring positioned around the pin, wherein a first spring end abuts the base clevis and a second spring end abuts the base link clevis to bias the base link clevis to an unlocked position. A sleeve is positioned between the spring and the pin to maintain a wind diameter of the spring.
US09976635B2
A contact guard for a belt drive, in which a filling space formed between two pulleys and the belt is filled by a filling body, which includes two sub-bodies that can be moved relative to one another.
US09976633B2
A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission includes an input shaft for receiving an engine torque, an output shaft outputting changed torque, a first planetary gear set including a first, second, and third rotation elements, a second planetary gear set including a fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements, a third planetary gear set including a seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements, a fourth planetary gear set including a tenth, eleventh and twelfth rotation elements, a first shaft connected with the first rotational element, a second shaft interconnecting the second rotational element and the fourth rotational element and connected with the input shaft, a third shaft interconnecting the third rotational element and the tenth rotational element, a fourth shaft interconnecting the fifth rotational element and the eighth element, a fifth shaft connected with the sixth rotational element, and a sixth shaft connected with the seventh rotational element.
US09976632B2
A planetary multi-speed transmission for a vehicle with a housing is proposed. A first shaft is provided as a drive (An) and a second shaft is provided as an output (Ab) and is arranged axially parallel to the drive. Three planetary gear sets and additional shafts, along with six shifting elements are provided, through which the actuation of several gears are realized. Machine elements are provided for transfer of torque between the drive (An) and the output (Ab). The first shaft is connectable, as drive (An) to the planetary gear carrier of the first planetary gear set, to the sun gear of the second planetary gear set, to the ring gear of the first planetary gear set, to the planetary gear carrier of the second planetary gear set and to the first spur gear stage. The second shaft is connected or connectable, as a drive (Ab), to the first machine element and to the second machine element.
US09976629B2
A magneto-rheological servo speed regulator-reducer comprises a power output shaft, a planetary gear (2), an eccentric shaft (3), a left speed reduction main shaft (4), a pin gear housing (5), a cycloidal pin (6), a main bearing (7), a right speed reduction main shaft (8), a signal control line (9), a base housing (10), a clutch end plate (11), a coil iron core (12), an excitation coil (13), an input shaft bracket (14), an input bearing (15), a power input shaft (16), an input shaft oil seal (17), magneto-rheological fluid (18), a transmission clutch disc (19), a clutch cavity (20), a transmission oil seal (21), a clutch oil seal (22), an encoder (23), a transmission bearing (24), a cycloidal gear bearing (25), a cycloidal gear (26), a speed reduction main shaft oil seal (27), an eccentric bearing (28) and a transmission main shaft (29).
US09976627B2
The invention relates to a block lock for connecting two chain ends which comprises two block lock halves which extend in the longitudinal direction and which engage with each other in a positive fit via pins and grooves and lock to form two seating openings, each one to receive a chain link. The seating openings are separated by a crossbar which extends from one of the block lock halves to the opposite block lock half, wherein the block lock halves are coupled so as to rotate about the crossbar and/or on an end of a block lock half, a pin which protrudes in the direction of the opposite block lock half, which engages laterally in one lateral seating groove formed on one end of the opposite block lock half, when carrying out a relative rotational movement of both block lock halves.
US09976623B2
A mounting section mounted on a rod side is provided at one end side of a protective cover in an axial direction. At least the other end side of the protective cover in the axial direction has reduced diameter parts and enlarged diameter parts, the reduced diameter parts and the enlarged diameter parts being alternately formed in the axial direction via small diameter parts in between. An end surface of the other end side of the protective cover is formed by a surface that is cut at a position. The end surface and an outer circumferential surface of a cylinder are situated at a position at which they are not in contact with each other in the radial direction in a state in which the small diameter part closest to the end surface comes into contact with the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder.
US09976622B2
In a damping force controlling shock absorber, a pilot passage and a bypass passage are shared between a cut-out portion formed in a hollow of a pilot disk and a branch groove of a spool guide, thus simplifying a passage structure, simplifying a passage adjustment structure of a spool, and improving productivity and dispersion of products.
US09976621B2
A thermoplastic spring and a method for manufacturing the thermoplastic spring are provided to reduce the effect of creep during use of the spring. The spring is molded and deformed to final dimensions by pre-inducing creep in the molded body.
US09976620B2
The present disclosure is directed to a bushing assembly having a tubular inner metal, a tubular outer metal, a tubular rigid cup disposed over an outer portion of the tubular inner metal, and a tubular pad disposed between the tubular rigid cup and the tubular outer metal. The tubular pad may have a first wall section and a second wall section at least partially circumscribing the first wall section. The first wall section may be configured to be compressed and to expand along an axis parallel to an axial center of the tubular pad, to thus fill the tubular rigid cup and enhance a stiffness of the bushing assembly when the tubular outer metal of the bushing assembly is moved towards a limit of a range of radial travel.
US09976615B2
A force transmitting assembly includes a mounting flange having a central opening to receive a shaft, wherein the mounting flange is mountable on a frame, a rotor disc mountable on the shaft and rotatable with the shaft, the rotor disc having a first planar face and a second planar face, a float plate having a first friction surface engageable with the first planar face, and a pressure plate having a second friction surface engageable with the second planar face. The brake assembly also includes a spring housing, which operates as a piston, and a cylinder coupled to the spring housing to form a fluid pressure chamber, wherein the spring housing moves in a first direction when pressurized fluid enters the fluid pressure chamber and the spring housing moves in a second direction when pressurized fluid exits the fluid pressure chamber. The assembly further includes a plurality of nested tube subassemblies supporting the float plate, the pressure plate, and the spring housing to allow axial movement of at least one of the float plate, the pressure plate, and the spring housing. The nested tube subassemblies also transmit torque from the rotor to the mounting flange during the engaged condition of the brake assembly.
US09976603B2
A parallel link mechanism includes a proximal end side link hub; a distal end side link hub; and three or more link mechanisms that connect the distal end side link hub to the proximal end side link hub in a position-changeable fashion. Each of the link mechanisms has a trinodal structure. Each revolute pair of each of the link mechanisms includes one pair of pair constituent members connected to each other via a bearing. One of the pair constituent members is formed with a shaft portion fitted to an inner periphery of an inner ring of the bearing, and the other of the pair constituent members is formed with an annular inner face forming portion fitted to an outer periphery of an outer ring of the bearing.
US09976600B2
A method of producing a wheel bearing apparatus includes: performing positioning of a slinger of a sealing device with respect to a base shaft portion of a hub spindle by pressing a jig to press-fit the slinger to the base shaft portion, using an inner ring contacted surface, which is a step portion between a small-diameter shaft portion and a large-diameter shaft portion of the hub spindle, as a reference surface; and fitting, after the slinger is press-fitted to the base shaft portion, an inner ring to the small-diameter shaft portion such that the inner ring reaches a position at which the inner ring comes into contact with the inner ring contacted surface, in a state where an outer ring, rolling elements, and the sealing device have been assembled to the hub spindle.
US09976595B2
In one embodiment, a hybrid foil bearing includes a bearing sleeve, multiple inner foils provided within the sleeve, the foils having gas outlets from which pressurized gas can be injected into an interior of the bearing, and integrated gas flow paths that radially extend through the bearing sleeve and deliver the gas to the gas outlets.
US09976590B2
Disclosed is a fastening element, which can be provided in particular as a wheel nut, to be screwed onto a thread. The fastening element includes a nut with an internal thread. In addition, the fastening element includes an expansion sleeve which connects axially to the nut. The expansion sleeve is developed without an internal thread and is realized in one piece with the nut. In addition, the fastening element includes a pressure plate. The pressure plate is arranged on a side of the expansion sleeve remote from the nut and is fastened so as to be captively rotatable on the expansion sleeve.
US09976588B2
A Toilet Flushing Apparatus Locking Nut System characterized by affixing a rigid rod to a securing nut that contains multiple rod receiving holes. The locking nut system maintains a secured position by means of resistance created when the rod contacts the toilet flushing apparatus's lifting arm, preventing rotational movement of the securing nut to less than 360 degrees. Multiple rod receiving holes within the body of the securing nut afford the ability to adjust the rod's position—to further reduce the securing nut's rotation travel to less than 360 degrees.
US09976585B2
The present invention provides a connection structure for a woodware part. Firstly, an implanting hole (4) is drilled at an appropriate location on the contact surface of a second woodware part (5), a through embedding hole (9) is drilled on the side surface of the second woodware part (5), the central lines of the implanting hole and the embedding hole are perpendicular to and intersect with each other, a wooden nut (6) is placed into the implanting hole (4), the central line of a nail penetration hole (8) on the wooden nut (6) and the central line of the embedding hole (9) are overlapped, and a round nail (10) is embedded along the embedding hole and the nail penetration hole; a through bolt hole (2) is drilled at a corresponding location on the contact surface of a first woodware part (3), and finally, the connection of the first and second woodware parts is realized by screwing a bolt (1) into the wooden nut through the bolt hole; the problems that firmness and rapidness of the connection structure are not unified and that the woodware part cannot be recycled between old and new woodware of the same model are solved; and the connection structure has the advantages of improving utilization ratio of wood, saving energy and protecting the environment, and manufacturers can realize carbon trading.
US09976578B2
A system 5 for securely blocking relative translational movement between a cylindrical shaft and an element 112, includes a blocking element 50 in which an immobilization element 55 is arranged, the immobilization element being associated with a viscoelastic fluid 8 disposed between the blocking element 50 and the immobilization element 55 in such a way that translational movement is blocked when the viscoelastic fluid 8 is pressurized in the blocking cylinder and translational movement is possible when the viscoelastic fluid 8 is no longer pressurized. An actuating cylinder equipped with such a secure blocking system is also described.
US09976569B2
Method for recovering energy when compressing a gas using a compressor system with two or more compression stages, with each stage having a compressor element. Downstream from at least two compressor elements there is a heat exchanger having a primary and a secondary part. The coolant is guided successively in series through the secondary part of at least two heat exchangers, and the guiding sequence is chosen such that the temperature at the inlet of the primary part of at least one subsequent heat exchanger is higher than or equal to the temperature at the inlet of the primary part of a preceding heat exchanger, relative to the direction of flow of the coolant. At least one heat exchanger is provided with a tertiary part for a coolant.
US09976566B2
A radial compressor has at least one compressor stage. The compressor stage includes: an impeller having moving blades on a rotor side arranged in a flow channel of the compressor stage. The flow channel is bounded by a hub contour and a housing contour or cover disc contour. Each moving blade has a flow inlet edge and a flow outlet edge. In the region of the compressor stage on the hub contour of the flow channel, initially a curvature change from a first concave curvature into a convex curvature and following this a curvature change from the convex curvature into a second concave curvature is formed; and/or on the housing contour or cover disc contour of the flow channel, initially a curvature change from a first convex curvature into a concave curvature and following this a curvature change from the concave curvature into a second convex curvature is formed.
US09976563B2
An electric device having a casing with an air-outlet, and a main unit disposed inside the casing, includes a first temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature inside the casing, a second temperature sensor installed in the vicinity of the air-outlet, and an electric fan configured to generate an airflow from the air-outlet toward the inside of the casing at the time of the low-temperature startup such that the temperature detected by the first temperature sensor is lower than a preset first threshold value, and the temperature detected by the second temperature sensor is higher than the temperature detected by the first temperature sensor.
US09976555B2
A control method is used with a control system to control a screw pump. The control system includes an electric motor and a motor drive. The control method includes following steps. Firstly, a DC bus voltage is monitored. If the DC bus voltage is smaller than a first threshold value, a potential energy stored in the pump screw and released by a backspin action is converted into a regenerative electrical energy so as to maintain a normal operation of the motor drive. Then, the motor drive drives the electric motor to control the backspin action of the screw pump according to a backspin torque limit strategy. If the electrical power from the power source is not restored and the level of a reverse regenerative torque is smaller than a preset torque value, the backspin action of the screw pump is stopped freely.
US09976544B2
A system for mounting a fluid end (420) of a pump (400) to a power end (410) of the pump (400) includes an upper clamping bar (448) and a clamping assembly (460) that is adapted to removably clamp the fluid end (420) to the upper clamping bar (448). The clamping assembly (460) includes a clamp bar (462) having a first tapered clamping face (462x) that is adapted to contact a correspondingly tapered clamping face (448x) on the upper clamping bar (448) when the fluid end (420) is removably clamped to the upper clamping bar (448).
US09976543B2
A transmission for a motor vehicle includes an input shaft, a transmission pump, a transmission sump and a pump-driving element, which is preferably a drive gear. The drive gear and the transmission pump are located in the transmission sump. Power is transmitted from the input shaft to the transmission pump through the drive gear. In a preferred embodiment, power is transmitted from the input shaft to the drive gear through at least one gear, and from the drive gear to the transmission pump through a pump shaft. The drive gear is preferably at least partially enclosed by a shroud, coupled to the transmission pump, in order to separate the drive gear from transmission fluid located in the transmission sump and thereby reduce drag on the drive gear. The shroud preferably also includes a discharge port so that transmission fluid located in the shroud is expelled through the discharge port when the drive gear rotates.
US09976530B2
An injector bore insert includes a proximate portion adjacent to a combustion face and a distal portion including an upper threaded outer diameter. The injector bore insert further includes an angled conical collar, a remote threaded portion along an upper bore portion, a circumferential slot extending distally from approximately the combustion face, and one or more sealing regions. Each sealing region is positioned on the injector bore insert to facilitate sealing between the injector bore insert and a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine.
US09976523B2
A method and diagnostic facility for checking a plurality of magnetic valves in a high-pressure tank system of a motor vehicle is described. A magnetic valve is activated for opening the magnetic valve. A pressure in a high-pressure tank system is measured while activating the magnetic valve. A valve is determined to be defective if during measuring the pressure a drop in pressure is found.
US09976516B2
A thrust reverser of a turbofan engine has a translating structure and a blocker door device capable of diverting a bypass flowpath for reversing propulsion direction. The translating structure moves axially between a forward position and a rearward position and thereby drives a compound motion of a blocker door of the blocker door device that moves between respective stowed and deployed states. A passive linkage of the blocker door device is orientated between a stationary structure and the blocker door and may be utilized in combination with an extendable linkage that may be orientated between the blocker door and the stationary structure.
US09976514B2
A propulsive force imparted to an object is vectored using rotatable members arranged in one or more arrays disposed in the path of a fluid ejected by a fluid accelerator unit, such as air ejected by a fan driven by a gas turbine engine. The propulsive force is vectored by changing the rotation of one or more of the rotatable members.
US09976512B2
Methods are provided for an engine including modifying fuel injection timing based on engine operating conditions. A delay time period calculation may be based on a comparison of a first engine load with a second engine load. Further, a modified injection start time, based on a delay time period, may include injecting fuel during the compression cycle of an engine.
US09976507B2
Various systems are provided for filtering EMI. In one example, a system comprises a poly-modal filter coupled to a load device, and a shield disposed between the load device and the poly-modal filter. The poly-modal filter comprises an EMI filter and a differential-common mode filter.
US09976493B2
A switchable rocker arm for valve deactivation is provided for a valve train of an internal combustion engine. The switchable rocker arm includes a valve side lever assembly, a cam side lever assembly, and a hydraulically actuated coupling assembly. The valve side lever assembly includes a first housing with a first rocker shaft bore. The cam side lever assembly includes a second housing with a first arm with a second rocker shaft bore and a second arm with a third rocker shaft bore. The first and second arms extend along opposed longitudinal sides of the cam side lever assembly such that the first, second and third rocker shaft bores are axially aligned. The coupling assembly is arranged at an end furthest away from a pivot axis for minimal loading and provides locking and unlocking of the switchable rocker arm to achieve full valve lift and no valve lift modes, respectively.
US09976481B2
A deicing system for an aircraft may comprise a dual pressure regulating valve. The dual pressure regulating valve may comprise a low pressure setting and a high pressure setting. The low pressure setting may supply a relatively lesser supply of bleed air to an aircraft component, and the high pressure setting may supply a relatively greater supply of bleed air to the aircraft component. The dual pressure regulating valve may be switched between the low pressure setting and the high pressure setting based on aircraft or atmospheric conditions to prevent heat damage to the aircraft component.
US09976471B2
The disclosure relates to a method for expediting warm up of an internal combustion engine cylinder block and engine oil utilizing an existing oil coolant circuit. A method for warming up an internal combustion engine with at least one cylinder, a cylinder block which is formed by an upper crankcase half mounted to a lower crankcase half, said lower crankcase half containing an oil sump which is fed, via a supply line, by a coolant jacket, an inlet side of said coolant jacket supplied in turn with oil via the oil sump by an oil pump, the method comprising: releasing oil from the coolant jacket via gravity to reduce a cooling capacity of the internal combustion engine.
US09976468B2
Provided is a construction machine in which the weight of a top plate of an aftertreatment device mount is reduced without reducing the rigidity of the top plate. In a construction machine where a vehicle body frame for mounting an engine is equipped with an aftertreatment device mount for supporting an exhaust gas aftertreatment device, a mount top plate of the aftertreatment device mount includes a support on which the exhaust gas aftertreatment device is placed, a pair of outer walls extending parallel, a groove portion parallel to the outer walls, a connecting portion provided on the support, and an upper reinforcing member orthogonal to the groove portion at a position of the connecting portion. The upper reinforcing member includes a first reinforcing portion for reinforcing the connecting portion and a second reinforcing portion to be fitted in the groove portion.
US09976462B2
The invention relates to a method for the operation of an exhaust gas aftertreatment system in an exhaust tract of an internal combustion engine. The exhaust gas aftertreatment system includes an SCR particle filter, a first reducing agent feed device for introducing the reducing agent into the exhaust tract upstream of the SCR particle filter, continuous regeneration of the SCR particle filter being possible using nitrogen dioxide as oxidizing agent, an SCR catalytic converter element arranged downstream of the SCR particle filter, and a second reducing agent feed device for introducing the reducing agent into the exhaust tract downstream of the SCR particle filter and upstream of the SCR catalytic converter element. A control unit regulates a quantity of reducing agent introduced into the exhaust tract by the first reducing agent feed device and/or by the second reducing agent feed device as a function of the temperature (TSCR-PF) of the SCR particle filter.
