US10032896B2

The surface of an interlayer insulating film formed over an emitter coupling portion and the surface of an emitter electrode formed over the interlayer insulating film are caused to have a gentle shape, in particular, at the end of the emitter coupling portion, by forming the emitter coupling portion over a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and integrally with trench gate electrodes in order to form a spacer over the sidewall of the emitter coupling portion. Thereby, stress is dispersed, not concentrated in an acute angle portion of the emitter coupling portion when an emitter wire is coupled to the emitter electrode (emitter pad), and hence occurrence of a crack can be suppressed. Further, by forming the spacer, the concavities and convexities to be formed in the surface of the emitter electrode can be reduced, whereby the adhesiveness between the emitter electrode and the emitter wire can be improved.
US10032893B2

A bipolar transistor comprises a semiconductor body including a collector region and a base region arranged on top of the collector region. The base region has a first crystalline structure and is at least partly doped with dopants of a first doping type. The collector region is laterally enclosed by a trench isolation and is doped with dopants of a second doping type. The transistor further comprises a conductive base contact layer laterally enclosing the base region which is doped with dopants of the first doping type. The base contact layer comprises a part with the first crystalline structure and a part with a second crystalline structure, wherein the part with the second crystalline structure laterally encloses the part with the first crystalline structure. The transistor further comprises an emitter region arranged on the base region.
US10032889B2

A method includes forming a semiconductor fin, performing a first passivation step on a top surface of the semiconductor fin using a first passivation species, and performing a second passivation step on sidewalls of the semiconductor fin using a second passivation species different from the first passivation species. A gate stack is formed on a middle portion of the semiconductor fin. A source or a drain region is formed on a side of the gate stack, wherein the source or drain region and the gate stack form a Fin Field-Effect Transistor (FinFET).
US10032888B2

To provide a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor layer with high and stable electrical characteristics, the semiconductor device is manufactured by forming a first insulating layer, forming oxide over the first insulating layer and then removing the oxide n times (n is a natural number), forming an oxide semiconductor layer over the first insulating layer, forming a second insulating layer over the oxide semiconductor layer, and forming a conductive layer over the second insulating layer. Alternatively, the semiconductor device is manufactured by forming the oxide semiconductor layer over the first insulating layer, forming the second insulating layer over the oxide semiconductor layer, forming the oxide over the second insulating layer and then removing the oxide n times (n is a natural number), and forming the conductive layer over the second insulating layer.
US10032887B2

A method includes forming a first gate structure in a dielectric layer over a substrate, wherein the first gate structure includes a first gate stack and spacers along sidewalls of the first gate stack; recessing the first gate stack to form a first trench defined by the spacers, wherein upper portions of the spacers are exposed within the first trench; forming a first capping layer in the first trench, wherein the first capping layer has a first portion disposed along sidewalls of the upper portions of the spacers and a second portion disposed over the recessed first gate stack; applying a first implantation to convert the second portion of the first capping layer into a second capping layer; selectively removing the first portion of the capping layer to expose the upper portions of the spacers; and selectively removing the upper portions of the spacers.
US10032886B2

A semiconductor device includes a fin-type pattern including a first short side and a second short side opposed to each other, a first trench in contact with the first short side, a second trench in contact with the second short side, a first field insulating film in the first trench, the first field insulating film including a first portion and a second portion arranged sequentially from the first short side, and a height of the first portion being different from a height of the second portion, a second field insulating film in the second trench, and a first dummy gate on the first portion of the first field insulating film.
US10032885B2

A method includes removing a top portion of a substrate after implantation of a punch through stopper into the substrate; epitaxially growing undoped material on the substrate, thereby forming a channel; filling a top portion of the channel with an intermediate implant forming a vertically bi-modal dopant distribution, with one doping concentration peak in the top portion of the channel and another doping concentration peak in the punch through stopper; and patterning fins into the channel and the punch though stopper to form a finFET structure.
US10032879B2

A thin film transistor (TFT) substrate includes an insulating layer, an electrode on the insulating layer, and a main buffering layer connecting a side surface of the electrode to an upper surface of the insulating layer.
US10032877B2

A FinFET device and a method of forming the same are provided. A method includes forming a patterned mask stack over a substrate, features of the patterned mask stack protecting the substrate having a uniform width. Unprotected portions of the substrate exposed by the patterned mask stack are removed to form a plurality of recesses in the substrate, unremoved portions of the substrate interposed between adjacent recesses forming a plurality of fins. Portions of the plurality of fins are removed, a width of a first fin of the plurality of fins being less than a width of a second fin of the plurality of fins.
US10032875B2

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a first semiconductor layer formed over the substrate, a second semiconductor layer formed over the first semiconductor layer, a third semiconductor layer formed over the second semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode that are formed over the third semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer includes a first nitride semiconductor. The second semiconductor includes a second nitride semiconductor. The third semiconductor layer includes a third nitride semiconductor. The concentration of oxygen included in the second semiconductor layer is less than 5.0×1018 cm−3. The concentration of oxygen included in the third semiconductor layer is greater than or equal to 5.0×1018 cm−3.
US10032871B2

A MOSFET using a SiC substrate has a problem that a carbon-excess layer is formed on a surface by the application of mechanical stress due to thermal oxidation and the carbon-excess layer degrades mobility of channel carriers. In the invention, (1) a layer containing carbon-carbon bonds is removed; (2) a gate insulating film is formed by a deposition method; and (3) an interface between a crystal surface and the insulating film is subjected to an interface treatment at a low temperature for a short time. Due to this, the carbon-excess layer causing characteristic degradation is effectively eliminated, and at the same time, dangling bonds can be effectively eliminated by subjecting an oxide film and an oxynitride film to an interface treatment.
US10032869B2

A semiconductor apparatus including a substrate having a substrate major surface, a dielectric material on the substrate major surface and having a second major surface distanced from the substrate major surface, and a plurality of fins extending from the substrate major surface through the dielectric material where the plurality of fins includes a first subset of fins and a second subset of fins, the first subset of fins located closer to a center of the plurality of fins than the second subset of fins, and an amount of heat generated during operation of the semiconductor device by each fin of the first subset of fins is less than an amount of heat generated by each fin of the second subset of fins during operation of the semiconductor device.
US10032857B2

Capacitor structures for integrated circuit devices are provided. Capacitors include proximate dense or highly dense etchstop layers. The dense or highly dense etchstop layer is, for example, a high-k material. Capacitors are, for example, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors and are useful in DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and eDRAM (embedded dynamic random access memory) structures.
US10032849B2

An organic light emitting diode display includes a substrate, a semiconductor, a gate electrode, a source electrode connected to a first portion of the semiconductor, a drain electrode connected to a second portion of the semiconductor, and a pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode. Each of the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the pixel electrode includes a barrier metal layer, a low resistance metal layer, a metal oxide layer, and a contact assistant layer disposed between the low resistance metal layer and the metal oxide layer. The source electrode, the drain electrode, and the pixel electrode each have a step shape.
US10032844B2

An organic light emitting display device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided that may reduce the resistance of a second electrode and may prevent corrosion and metal migration of a pad electrode without adding a separate mask process, or while reducing the number of mask processes. In the organic light emitting display device, an auxiliary line is connected to a second electrode through an auxiliary electrode, which is provided in the same layer as a first electrode, and a pad cover electrode is configured to cover an upper surface and a side surface of a pad connection electrode so as to prevent the pad connection electrode connected to a pad from being exposed outward.
US10032839B2

A display device is disclosed. In one aspect, the display device includes a display area including a plurality of pixel circuits arranged in a first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction. The display device also includes a plurality of gate lines extending in the first direction and electrically connected to the pixel circuits, and a gate driver electrically connected to the gate lines and disposed in the display area.
US10032830B2

An organic light emitting display device reduces a grayscale-based color difference of the organic light emitting display device. The organic light emitting display device includes opposite first and second electrodes on a substrate and a plurality of emission parts between the first and second electrodes. At least one among the plurality of emission parts includes a first emission layer and a second emission layer having different wavelength ranges. A dopant content in the first emission layer is lower than a dopant content in the second emission layer.
US10032828B2

A method for fabricating a semiconductor memory device is provided. The method includes: etching a first region of the semiconductor memory device to expose a first capping layer; forming a second capping layer on the first capping layer; etching a portion of the first capping layer and a portion of the second capping layer to form a first trench reaching a first metal line; and forming a second metal line in the first trench to contact the first metal line.
US10032819B2

An image sensor includes a substrate including a plurality of pixel regions and having a trench between the pixel regions, a photoelectric conversion part in the substrate of each of the pixel regions, and a device isolation pattern in the trench. The device isolation pattern defines an air gap. The device isolation pattern has an intermediate portion and an upper portion narrower than the intermediate portion.
US10032813B2

Fabrication and use of an X-ray detector scan interface having separate enable and reset lines for each line (e.g., row) of pixels is described. In certain implementations, the respective enable and reset lines are connected such that activation of an enable line for a given line of pixels is concurrent with activation of a reset line for a different (e.g., preceding) row of pixels. In this manner, readout of one row of pixels is performed in conjunction with resetting the row of pixels readout in the preceding operation. In another technical implementation, a non-rectangular detector is divided into quadrants, with alternating quadrants configured for scan module or data module operations such that no quadrant has overlapping scan and data interconnections at the connection finger regions.
US10032812B2

A method is presented for fabricating an array of sensors on an object having a non-developable surface. The method includes: growing an epitaxial structure on a substrate; bonding, without the use of an adhesive, the epitaxial structure to a flexible membrane to form a device structure; forming an array of sensors from the epitaxial structure of the device structure using photolithographic techniques; cutting the device structure into segments; and bonding the segments onto the target object.
US10032802B2

A display device including: a lead wiring layer pattern 207, made from metal, that extends outside a light emission region on a substrate; a passivation layer 216 covering the lead wiring layer pattern, a contact hole 216a in the passivation layer outside the light emission region; a connecting wiring layer pattern 237 that is continuous across the passivation layer, an inner circumference of the contact hole, and the lead wiring layer pattern in the contact hole; an electrically-conductive sealing layer pattern 217 on the connecting wiring layer pattern, covering a portion of the connecting wiring layer pattern in the contact hole; an electrically-conductive upper sealing layer pattern 219 covering and in contact with a portion of the sealing layer pattern; and a contact prevention layer pattern 218, 236 between the electrically-conductive upper sealing layer pattern and a periphery of the sealing layer pattern.
US10032797B2

Disclosed are an oxide semiconductor-based transistor and a method of manufacturing the same. The oxide semiconductor-based transistor includes: a substrate provided with a bottom electrode; an insulator layer formed on the substrate; an active layer formed on the insulator layer; an electron transport layer formed on the active layer; and a top electrode formed on the electron transport layer. Since the oxide semiconductor-based transistor has a hybrid channel of PBD formed along with indium-zinc oxide (IZO), it is possible to improve mobility of electric charges and stability of electric devices and control a threshold value.
US10032793B2

A method for forming a semiconductor device. It includes forming fin structures on a substrate, where the fin structure defines source and drain regions. It also includes forming a gate stack in contact with the fin structure, depositing an insulator on the substrate, and applying an etching process to remove portions of the insulator to form a trench to the source region. It also includes implanting a damaged epitaxial material into the trench and to the source regions, and applying a second etching process to remove portions of the insulator to form a trench in the insulator to the drain regions. Finally, the method includes growing an epitaxial junction material over the source and drain regions, and depositing a metal over the substrate.
US10032787B2

A three-dimensional semiconductor memory device includes stacked structures, vertical semiconductor patterns, common source regions, and well pickup regions. The stacked structures are disposed on a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type. Each stacked structure includes electrodes vertically stacked on each other and is extended in a first direction. The vertical semiconductor patterns penetrate the stacked structures. The common source regions of a second conductivity type are disposed in the semiconductor layer. At least one common source region is disposed between two adjacent stacked structures. The at least one common source region is extended in the first direction. The well pickup regions of the first conductivity type are disposed in the semiconductor layer. At least one well pickup region is adjacent to both ends of at least one stacked structure.
US10032781B2

In a region just below an access gate electrode in an SRAM memory cell, a second halo region is formed adjacent to a source-drain region and a first halo region is formed adjacent to a first source-drain region. In a region just below a drive gate electrode, a third halo region is formed adjacent to the third source-drain region and a fourth halo region is formed adjacent to a fourth source-drain region. The second halo region is set to have an impurity concentration higher than the impurity concentration of the first halo region. The third halo region is set to have an impurity concentration higher than the impurity concentration of the fourth halo region. The impurity concentration of the first halo region and the impurity concentration of the fourth halo region are different from each other.
US10032780B2

A semiconductor device may include a plurality of dummy wirings formed on a substrate at different vertical levels and electrically floated and a plurality of dummy contact plugs each electrically connected between two adjacent dummy wirings of the plurality of dummy wiring of the plurality of dummy wirings. No dummy wiring of the plurality of dummy wirings is electrically connected to a terminal of any one of a plurality of transistors included in the substrate.
US10032779B2

An increase in chip area and a deterioration of delay performance are reduced without dummy cells or dummy gates for plasma damage, suppressing an increase in the capacitance of dummy cells or dummy gates and a deterioration of wiring. In the case where bit wires or bit contacts used for the DRAM cell region of a circuit block are used as wires and contacts for a logic circuit region, gate electrodes affected by plasma damage are automatically analyzed after the completion of placement and routing. The well contact region (well potential diffusion layer) of the logic circuit region contains dummy contacts for plasma damage.
US10032767B2

According to an embodiment of a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having a main surface, the semiconductor body including a drift region of a first band-gap material, the drift region being of a first conductivity type, and a metallization arranged at the main surface. In a cross-section which is substantially orthogonal to the main surface, the semiconductor body further includes a contact region of the first band-gap material directly adjoining the drift region and the metallization, and an anode region of a second band-gap material having a lower band-gap than the first band-gap material. The contact region is of a second conductivity type. The anode region is in ohmic contact with the metallization and forms a heterojunction with the drift region.
US10032766B2

VDMOS transistors, Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) devices including VDMOS transistors, and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with such devices are provided. In an example, a BCD device having a VDMOS transistor includes a buried layer over a substrate and an epitaxial layer over the buried layer and having an upper surface. Deep trench isolation regions extend from the upper surface of the epitaxial layer, into the substrate, and isolate a VDMOS region from a device region. In the VDMOS region, a source region is adjacent the upper surface, a vertical gate structure extends into the epitaxial layer, a body region is located adjacent the vertical gate structure and forms a channel, and a VDMOS conductive structure extends through the epitaxial layer and into the buried layer, which is a drain for the VDMOS transistor. The VDMOS conductive structure is a drain contact to the buried layer.
US10032763B2

In an aspect of the disclosure, a MOS device for using bulk cross-coupled thin-oxide decoupling capacitor is provided. The MOS device may include a pMOS transistor and an nMOS transistor. The MOS device may include a first set of transistor body connections adjacent the pMOS transistor and the nMOS transistor. The first set of transistor body connections may couple a first voltage source to the pMOS transistor body. The first set of transistor body connections may further couple a second voltage source to the nMOS transistor body. The MOS device may include a second set of transistor body connections adjacent the pMOS transistor and the nMOS transistor. The second set of transistor body connections may couple the nMOS transistor gate to the pMOS transistor body. The second set of transistor body connections may further couple the pMOS transistor gate to the nMOS transistor body.
US10032761B1

Electronic devices and methods of producing such electronic devices are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, a method of producing an electronic device includes forming a protected circuit and an ESD circuit, where the ESD circuit is configured to discharge an electrostatic discharge (ESD) to a ground such that the ESD bypasses the protected circuit. An ESD transistor is formed in the ESD circuit, where the ESD transistor includes a source and a drain. The ESD transistor also includes a gate with a gate width perpendicular to a gate length, where the gate length is measured across the gate from the source to the drain. A trigger voltage of the ESD transistor is set by adjusting the gate width.
US10032759B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a material above a substrate and respectively forming separate gate electrode lines on opposite sidewalls of the material. As such, a width of cut between the gate electrode lines can be minimized. This shortens a height of cell of the semiconductor device, increasing a cell density of the semiconductor device.
US10032757B2

A light-emitting diode (LED) projector includes an LED display panel and a projection lens arranged in front of LED display panel and configured to collect and project light emitted by the LED display panel. The LED display panel includes an LED panel and a micro lens array arranged over the LED panel. The LED panel includes a substrate, a driver circuit array on the substrate and including a plurality of pixel driver circuits arranged in an array, and an LED array including a plurality of LED dies each being coupled to one of the pixel driver circuits. The micro lens array includes a plurality of micro lenses each corresponding to and being arranged over at least one of the LED dies.
US10032751B2

Capacitive coupling of integrated circuit die components and other conductive areas is provided. Each component to be coupled has a surface that includes at least one conductive area, such as a metal pad or plate. An ultrathin layer of dielectric is formed on at least one surface to be coupled. When the two components, e.g., one from each die, are permanently contacted together, the ultrathin layer of dielectric remains between the two surfaces, forming a capacitor or capacitive interface between the conductive areas of each respective component. The ultrathin layer of dielectric may be composed of multiple layers of various dielectrics, but in one implementation, the overall thickness is less than approximately 50 nanometers. The capacitance per unit area of the capacitive interface formed depends on the particular dielectric constants κ of the dielectric materials employed in the ultrathin layer and their respective thicknesses. Electrical and grounding connections can be made at the edge of the coupled stack.
US10032750B2

DC-DC power converters with GaN switches, magnetic inductors and CMOS power drivers integrated through face-to-face wafer bonding techniques are provided. In one aspect, an integrated DC-DC power converter includes: a Si CMOS chip having at least one Si CMOS transistor formed thereon; a GaN switch chip, bonded to the Si CMOS chip in a face-to-face manner, having at least one GaN transistor formed thereon; and an on-chip magnetic inductor present either on the Si CMOS chip or on the GaN switch chip. A method of forming an integrated DC-DC power converter is also provided.
US10032748B2

A semiconductor package structure and a method for making a semiconductor package. As non-limiting examples, various aspects of this disclosure provide various semiconductor package structures, and methods for making thereof, that comprise a connect die that routes electrical signals between a plurality of other semiconductor die.
US10032735B2

A device package and methods of forming are provided. The device package includes a logic die and a first passivation layer over the logic die. The device package also includes a memory die and a molding compound extending along sidewalls of the logic die and the memory die. The device package also includes a conductive via extending through the molding compound, and a first redistribution layer (RDL) structure over the molding compound. The molding compound extends between a top surface of the memory die and a bottom surface of the first RDL structure. A top surface of the first passivation layer contacts the bottom surface of the first RDL structure.
US10032733B2

A fan-out semiconductor package includes: a first interconnection member having a through-hole; a processor chip disposed in the through-hole; a memory chip disposed in the through-hole and including a plurality of dies stacked on each other; an encapsulant encapsulating at least portions of the first interconnection member, the memory chip, and the processor chip; and a second interconnection member disposed on the first interconnection member, an active surface of the memory chip, and an active surface of the processor chip. The first interconnection member and the second interconnection member respectively include redistribution layers electrically connected to connection pads of the processor chip and connection pads of the memory chip, and the connection pads of the processor chip and the connection pads of the memory chip are electrically connected to each other by the redistribution layer of the second interconnection member.
US10032727B2

Electrical package including bimetal lid. The electrical package includes: an organic substrate; a semiconductor chip electrically connected to electrical pads on a surface of the organic substrate via a plurality of solder balls; and a lid for encapsulating the semiconductor chip on the organic substrate, wherein (i) an inner surface of a central part of the lid is connected to a surface of the semiconductor chip via a first TIM, (ii) an inner surface of an outer part of the lid is hermetically connected to the surface of the organic substrate, and (iii) the lid has a bimetal structure including at least two different metals. A circuit module is also provided.
US10032725B2

A semiconductor structure includes a plurality of devices, each of the plurality of devices includes a first surface disposed with an active component; and a molding disposed between the plurality of devices and including a first surface, wherein one of the plurality of devices has substantially different height from another one of the plurality of devices, and the first surface of the molding includes a recessed portion recessed from one of the first surfaces of the plurality of devices.
US10032724B2

On a first epitaxial layer of a first conductivity type or a second conductivity type provided on a front surface of a silicon carbide substrate, a mark indicating a crystal axis direction of the silicon carbide substrate within a margin of error of one degree is provided. The mark is created on the silicon carbide substrate by forming the first epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type or the second conductivity type on the front surface of the silicon carbide substrate, detecting a stacking fault from the first epitaxial layer, and confirming the crystal axis direction of the silicon carbide substrate from the detected stacking fault.
US10032723B2

Version circuitry for use with a semiconductor chip having multiple layers includes multiple status bits. The versioning circuitry includes, for each status bit, gate circuitry, first selector circuitry in a first layer, and second selector circuitry in a second layer. The gate circuitry generates a value for the status bit based at least on a first input and a second input. The first selector circuitry is coupled to the gate circuitry and is configured to select a value for the first input. The second selector circuitry is coupled to the gate circuitry and is configured to select a value for the second input. The gate circuitry generates a default value for the status bit when the first input and the second input each have a default value and generates an opposite value for the status bit when either the first input or the second input has an opposite value.
US10032719B2

A method of forming a semiconductor structure comprises forming pools of acidic or basic material in a substrate structure. A resist is formed over the pools of acidic or basic material and the substrate structure. The acidic or basic material is diffused from the pools into portions of the resist proximal to the pools more than into portions of the resist distal to the pools. Then, the resist is exposed to a developer to remove a greater amount of the resist portions proximal to the pools compared to the resist portions distal to the pools to form openings in the resist. The openings have wider portions proximal to the substrate structure and narrower portions distal to the substrate structure. The method may further comprise forming features in the openings of the resist. The features have wider portions proximal to the substrate structure and narrower portions distal to the substrate structure.
US10032714B2

A semiconductor switch includes an insulating film on a semiconductor substrate. A switching circuit is on a first portion of the insulating film. The switching circuit is configured to switch a path of a high-frequency signal. A wiring layer is provided on the insulating film. The wiring layering includes a signal wire and a ground wire. A conductive layer is between the wiring layer and the insulating film. The conductive layer, in some embodiments, includes a first conductive region between the high-frequency wiring and the insulating film and a second conductive region between the grounding wiring and the insulating film.
US10032712B2

One or more embodiments of techniques or systems for forming a semiconductor structure are provided herein. A first metal region is formed within a first dielectric region. A cap region is formed on the first metal region. A second dielectric region is formed above the cap region and the first dielectric region. A trench opening is formed within the second dielectric region. A via opening is formed through the second dielectric region, the cap region, and within some of the first metal region by over etching. A barrier region is formed within the trench opening and the via opening. A via plug is formed within the via opening and a second metal region is formed within the trench opening. The via plug electrically connects the first metal region to the second metal region and has a tapered profile.
US10032710B2

An integrated circuit (IC) system includes an IC coupled to a package. The package, in turn, is coupled to a ball grid array. The integrated circuit is electrically coupled to the ball grid array by a plurality of package through-hole (PTH) vias that penetrate through the package. Each PTH via includes a conductive element associated with a differential signaling pair. The conductive elements within a given differential signaling pair are disposed in the package at specific locations, relative to other conductive elements in other differential signaling pairs, to reduce crosstalk between those differential signaling pairs. At least one advantage of technique described herein is that the conductive elements within the package can be densely packed together without inducing excessive crosstalk. Therefore, the package can support a large number of differential signaling pairs, allowing high-throughput data communication.
US10032709B2

Systems and methods are provided for the embedding of thin chips. A well region is generated in a substrate that includes a conductive material disposed on a flexible polymer. The standoff well region can be generated by pattern the conductive material, where the thin chip is embedded in the standoff well region. A cavity can be generated in the polymer layer to form a polymer well region, where the thin chip is embedded in the polymer well region.
US10032708B2

A circuit board and a smart card module and a smart card employing the circuit board are provided. The circuit board includes a substrate and a pad region provided on the substrate. The pad region is configured for mounting an electronic component, and comprises a plurality of pads spaced from each other and traces connected to their respective pads. At least one of the pads has an arc edge. In the present invention, the distance between the pads is easy to be controlled during fabrication, and the stability of the adhesion between the chip and pad region is enhanced.
US10032705B2

A semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor package. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide a semiconductor package, and method of manufacturing thereof, that comprises a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and comprising at least one first recess portion formed in a direction ranging from the first surface toward the second surface, a plurality of first recess conductive patterns formed in the first recess portion, and a first passive element inserted into the first recess portion of the substrate and having a first electrode and a second electrode electrically connected to the plurality of first recess conductive patterns.
US10032696B2

A microelectronic package includes an interposer with through-silicon vias that is formed from a semiconductor substrate and one or more semiconductor dies coupled to the interposer. A first signal redistribution layer formed on the first side of the interposer electrically couples the one or more semiconductor dies to the through-silicon vias. A second redistribution layer is formed on a second side of the interposer, and is electrically coupled to the through-silicon vias. In some embodiments, a mold compound is connected to an edge surface of the interposer and is configured to stiffen the microelectronic package.
US10032695B2

A semiconductor package includes a substrate, an integrated circuit disposed on the substrate, a memory support disposed on the integrated circuit, stacked memory disposed on the memory support and in communication with the integrated circuit, and a lid connected to the substrate. The integrated circuit has a low power region and a high power region. The memory support is disposed on the low power region of the integrated circuit and is configured to allow a flow of fluid therethrough to conduct heat away from the low power region of the integrated circuit. The lid defines a first port, a second port, and a lid volume fluidly connecting the first port and the second port. The lid volume is configured to house the integrated circuit, the memory support, and the stacked memory, while directing the flow of fluid to flow over the integrated circuit, the memory support, and the stacked memory.
US10032694B2

A power electronics assembly includes a semiconductor device stack having a wide bandgap semiconductor device, a semiconductor cooling chip thermally coupled to the wide bandgap semiconductor device, and a first electrode electrically coupled to the wide bandgap semiconductor device and positioned between the wide bandgap semiconductor device and the semiconductor cooling chip. The semiconductor cooling chip is positioned between a substrate layer and the wide bandgap semiconductor device. The substrate layer includes a substrate inlet port and a substrate outlet port. An integrated fluid channel system extends between the substrate inlet port and the substrate outlet port and includes a substrate fluid inlet channel extending from the substrate inlet port into the substrate layer, a substrate fluid outlet channel extending from the substrate outlet port into the substrate layer, and one or more cooling chip fluid channels extending into the semiconductor cooling chip.
US10032678B2

Nanowire channel structures of continuously stacked nanowires for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices are disclosed. In one aspect, an exemplary CMOS device includes a nanowire channel structure that includes a plurality of continuously stacked nanowires. Vertically adjacent nanowires are connected at narrow top and bottom end portions of each nanowire. Thus, the nanowire channel structure comprises a plurality of narrow portions that are narrower than a corresponding plurality of central portions. A wrap-around gate material is disposed around the nanowire channel structure, including the plurality of narrow portions, without entirely wrapping around any nanowire therein. The exemplary CMOS device provides, for example, a larger effective channel width and better gate control than a conventional fin field-effect transistor (FET) (FinFET) of a similar footprint. The exemplary CMOS device further provides, for example, a shorter nanowire channel structure than a conventional nanowire FET.
US10032676B1

A method is presented for forming a semiconductor structure. The method includes forming a plurality of fins over a source/drain region, forming a first spacer within troughs defined by the plurality of fins and depositing a high-k dielectric layer, a work function material layer, and a conducting layer. The method further includes etching the high-k dielectric layer, the work function material layer, and the conducting layer to form recesses between the plurality of fins, depositing a liner dielectric, and etching portions of the liner dielectric to form a plurality of second spacers having a U-shaped configuration. The method further includes forming an epitaxial layer over the plurality of fins such that a gap region is defined between the plurality of second spacers and the epitaxial layer.
US10032670B2

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming an active region in a first side of a silicon carbide substrate, the silicon carbide substrate having a second side opposite the first side and forming a contact pad at the first side. The contact pad is coupled to the active region. The method further includes forming an etch stop layer over the contact pad and plasma dicing the silicon carbide substrate from the second side. The plasma dicing etches through the silicon carbide substrate and stops on the etch stop layer. The diced silicon carbide substrate is held together by the etch stop layer. The diced silicon carbide substrate is attached on a carrier. The diced silicon carbide substrate is separated into silicon carbide dies by cleaving the etch stop layer.
US10032666B2

A semiconductor memory device is disclosed. The semiconductor memory device includes a substrate including cell and peripheral regions, a stack on the cell region, vertical channel portions vertically penetrating the stack, a contact structure penetrating the stack, an insulating structure on the peripheral region, an impurity region in the peripheral region of the substrate, and a first contact penetrating the insulating structure and connected to the impurity region. The stack includes gate electrodes sequentially stacked on the substrate, and the contact structure is spaced apart from the vertical channel portions. A top surface of the first contact is positioned at a lower level than that of the contact structure.
US10032659B2

A system for preventing an unsafe operation of at least one machine communicatively coupled to a computing device. The system includes the computing device which includes a processor coupled to a memory. The memory contains processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computing device to perform the steps of storing, in the memory, a first state of a first machine of the at least one machine, generating a first pending output to be issued to the first machine, determining whether an unsafe condition would result if the first pending output is issued to the first machine in the first state, and issuing the first pending output upon determining that issuing the first pending output would not result in an unsafe condition and blocking the first pending output from being issued upon determining that issuing the first pending output would result in an unsafe condition.
US10032656B2

A substrate processing apparatus configured to rotate a substrate, such as a wafer, is disclosed. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a substrate holder configured to hold and rotate a substrate; a natural frequency calculator configured to determine a natural frequency of the substrate; and a processing controller configured to control a rotational speed of the substrate based on the natural frequency of the substrate. The processing controller is configured to control the rotational speed of the substrate such that the substrate is rotated at a rotational speed that is different from a rotational speed corresponding to the natural frequency of the substrate.
US10032653B2

The invention relates to a mold for encapsulating electronic components mounted on a carrier, with at least two mold parts which are displaceable relative to each other for engaging with a mold cavity round electronic components, and at least one feed for encapsulating material recessed into the mold parts and connecting to the mold cavity. The invention also relates to a carrier with encapsulated electronic components. The invention further relates to a method for encapsulating electronic components and to the thus manufactured encapsulated separated components. The carrier is provided with a plurality of recessed through-openings located at a distance from the electronic components and an encapsulation arranged round the electronic components, wherein through-openings are recessed into the encapsulating material and wherein some of the through-openings recessed into the carrier coincide at least partially with the through-openings recessed into the encapsulating material.
US10032650B2

A die mounting system in which die supply device is set on component mounter and dies supplied from die supply device are mounted on circuit board by mounting head of component mounter, determines the next die transfer position is determined such that the longer of time required for die transfer preparation operation (die imaging and image processing, die pickup operation, and movement and vertical inverting operation of a supply head) of die supply device and time required for die mounting operation (movement and vertical motion at the mounting position of mounting head) of component mounter is made shorter, and the difference (which corresponds to the waiting time at the die transfer position) between the two times decreased, such that the cycle time is shortened.
US10032637B2

A technique relates to protecting a tunnel junction. A first electrode paddle and a second electrode paddle are on a substrate. The first and second electrode paddles oppose one another. A sacrificial shorting strap is formed on the substrate. The sacrificial shorting strap connects the first electrode paddle and the second electrode paddle; The tunnel junction is formed connecting the first electrode paddle and the second electrode paddle, after forming the sacrificial shorting strap. The substrate is mounted on a portion of a quantum cavity. The portion of the quantum cavity is placed in a vacuum chamber. The sacrificial shorting strap is etched away in the vacuum chamber while the substrate is mounted to the portion of the quantum cavity, such that the sacrificial shorting strap no longer connects the first and second electrode paddles. The tunnel junction has been protected from electrostatic discharge by the sacrificial shorting strap.
US10032633B1

An EUV lithographic structure includes an EUV photosensitive resist layer disposed on a hardmask layer, wherein the EUV lithographic structure is free of an antireflective coating. An organic adhesion layer can be provided between the hardmask layer and the EUV photosensitive resist layer. The hardmask layer can include an uppermost oxide hardmask layer, an intermediate hardmask layer, and a lowermost oxide hardmask layer, wherein the EUV photosensitive resist layer is disposed on the uppermost oxide hardmask layer. Also described are methods for patterning the EUV lithographic structures.
US10032632B2

Selective gas etching for self-aligned pattern transfer uses a first block and a separate second block formed in a sacrificial layer to transfer critical dimensions to a desired final layer using a selective gas etching process. The first block is a first hardmask material that can be plasma etched using a first gas, and the second block is a second hardmask material that can be plasma etched using a second gas separate from the first gas. The first hardmask material is not plasma etched using the second gas, and the second hardmask material is not plasma etched using the first gas.
US10032626B2

A semiconductor device manufacturing method includes: vertically arranging and storing a plurality of substrates in a processing container and forming a condition where at least an upper region or a lower region relative to a substrate disposing region where the plurality of substrates are arranged is blocked off by an adaptor; and while maintaining the condition, forming films on the plurality of substrates by performing a cycle including the following steps a predetermined number of times in a non-simultaneous manner: supplying source gas to the plurality of substrates in the processing container from the side of the substrate disposing region; discharging the source gas from the interior of the processing container via exhaust piping; supplying reaction gas to the plurality of substrates in the processing container from the side of the substrate disposing region; and discharging the reaction gas from the interior of the processing container via the exhaust piping.
US10032617B2

RF ion guides are configured as an array of elongate electrodes arranged symmetrically about a central axis, to which RF voltages are applied. The RF electrodes include at least a portion of their length that is semi-transparent to electric fields. Auxiliary electrodes are then provided proximal to the RF electrodes distal to the ion guide axis, such that application of DC voltages to the auxiliary electrodes causes an auxiliary electric field to form between the auxiliary electrodes and the ion guide RF electrodes. A portion of this auxiliary electric field penetrates through the semi-transparent portions of the RF electrodes, such that the potentials within the ion guide are modified. The auxiliary electrode structures and voltages can be configured so that a potential gradient develops along the ion guide axis due to this field penetration, which provides an axial motive force for collision damped ions.
US10032607B2

A method of frequency tuning an electrical generator for supplying electrical power to a plasma is provided. Also provided is a plasma processing system and a computer program product. The method, the electrical generator, the plasma processing system, and the computer program product may have the advantage that the stability of the plasma with respect to repeated and essentially identical high and low power pulses is used to reduce the controlling effort and to check the stability of the plasma process.
US10032602B2

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer is provided. The method includes positioning the semiconductor wafer in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The method further includes producing images of at least a portion of a test region that is designated on a process surface of the semiconductor wafer. The method also includes adjusting the condition of a charged particle beam of the SEM at a check point selected in the test region. In addition, the method includes producing images of another portion of the test region after the condition of the charged particle beam is adjusted.
US10032601B2

A platen support structure adapted to thermally insulate a heated platen portion from a cold base plate while providing substantially leak-free gas transport therebetween and while allowing thermal expansion and contraction of the platen portion. Various examples provide of the support structure provide a tubular flexure having an internal gas conduit, a platen portion mounting tab connected to the flexure and having an internal gas input slot that is in fluid communication with the internal gas conduit of the flexure, the platen portion mounting tab being adapted for connection to a platen portion of a platen, and a base plate mounting tab connected to the flexure and having an internal gas output slot that is in fluid communication with the internal gas conduit of the flexure, the base plate mounting tab being adapted for connection to a base plate of the platen.
US10032599B2

A method of investigating a specimen using charged particle microscopy, comprising the following steps: Using a primary source to produce a pulsed beam of charged particles that propagate along a beam path; Providing a specimen at an irradiation position in said beam path; Using a secondary source to produce repetitive excitations of the specimen; Using a detector to register charged particles in said beam that traverse the specimen after each said excitation, wherein: Said primary source is configured to produce a train of multiple pulses per excitation by said secondary source; Said detector is configured to comprise an integrated array of pixels, each with an individual readout circuit, to register a time-of-arrival of individual particles in said train.
US10032587B2

In some embodiments, a DC relay includes a pair of fixed contacts fixedly installed on one side of a frame, a movable contact movably installed below the pair of fixed contacts and brought into contact with the pair of fixed contacts or separated therefrom, an insulating plate installed below the movable contact, a contact spring provided between the movable contact and the insulating plate, a plate installed below the insulating plate and including a through hole formed in a central portion thereof, a fixed core inserted from above the plate through the through hole and including a shaft hole formed at the center thereof, an anti-noise pad provided between the fixed core and the insulating plate, a movable core installed to be linearly movable below the fixed core, and a shaft installed to penetrate through the through hole.
US10032582B2

A pair of fixed arc electrodes are arranged facing each other within a sealed container that is filled with arc-extinguishing gas 1. There are provided: a compression puffer chamber for accumulating pressurized gas that is obtained by elevating the pressure of the arc-extinguishing gas; and an insulated nozzle that directs the pressurized gas towards the arc discharge from the compression puffer chamber. A buffer chamber is provided, in which hot exhaust gas generated by the heat of the arc discharge is temporarily accumulated. A pressurized gas through-flow space is provided, communicating with the compression puffer chamber. In the pressurized gas through-flow space, an opening/closing section prevents inflow of hot exhaust gas by assuming a closed condition during the earlier half of the current interruption period, and in the latter half of the current interruption period the opening/closing section 41 is opened to allow flow of pressurized gas.
US10032581B2

A coupling element is provided for an electric switching device wherein the coupling element includes a first switching contact for opening and closing an electric contact by a second switch contact. The coupling element has an oblong winding body having two ends that are opposite in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal axis thereof, wherein the first switch contact is arranged on one end. The coupling element furthermore includes a rotation body through which the winding body extends and that is provided for coupling to a drive to carry out a rotation movement by the drive, wherein the rotation body includes two sides of which one faces one end (of the winding body and the other faces the other end of the winding body.
US10032577B2

The present invention provides an illuminated keyboard, including a plurality of keys, a metal plate, a thin film circuit board, and a backlight module. The metal plate includes a plurality of metal domes, disposed below the keys, and correspondingly located above a plurality of electrical contact parts of the thin film circuit board. When a user presses each of the keys downward, the metal dome properly moves downward to get in contact with the corresponding electrical contact part to conduct the electrical contact part and generate a corresponding key signal. The backlight module is disposed below the thin film circuit board, and a plurality of light beams emitted from the backlight module is projected to the keys.
US10032573B2

An operating or command element has a key plate having a substantially flat or slightly curved basic form and having a plurality of surface elevations, which are formed on the basic form and which can be tactilely sensed using a fingertip so that the position of the fingertip on the key plate can be sensed. Both in a horizontal and in a vertical installation position of the operating or command element, the key plate can be free of recesses in which liquids can accumulate. Other installation angles are also possible, for example in the case of installation in an inclined console housing.
US10032559B2

An electronic component is provided with an element body and terminal electrodes. The terminal electrodes include sintered metal layers and conductive resin layers. A first length, which is a length of the sintered metal layers in a first direction at end portions of a side surface in a second direction, is shorter than a second length, which is a length of the sintered metal layers in the first direction at central portions of the side surface in the second direction. A third length, which is a length of the conductive resin layers in the first direction at the end portions, is shorter than a fourth length, which is a length of the conductive resin layers in the first direction at the central portions. A difference between the fourth length and the third length is larger than a difference between the second length and the first length.
US10032551B2

A solenoid is latched in an energized position by a residual magnetic field established by a pulse of current. A degaussing current is selectively applied from a capacitor to unlatch the solenoid. Fail-safe return to the de-energized position occurs when the supply of power is lost.
US10032549B2

A superconducting coil device includes a superconducting flat conductor having one or more torsional turns. The flat conductor is wound around a winding support to define multiple turns of the conductor around the support. In at least one of the turns, the flat conductor is twisted through approximately 180 degrees about a longitudinal axis of the flat conductor, to thereby switch a contact side of the flat conductor from radially inwardly facing to radially outwardly facing, or vice versa. The contact side of the flat conductor at an inner turn faces a center of the winding and, and at an outer turn faces away from the center of the winding. The inwardly-facing contact side of the strip at an inner turn may be coupled to an inner contact element, and the outwardly-facing contact side at an outer turn may be conductively coupled to an outer contact element.
US10032546B2

Systems and methods for providing electrical bushings for maintaining a seal during severe incidents are provided. The bushings provide for relatively large gap formations and seal spacings by using one or more self-modulating seals. In certain configurations, the bushings provide for relatively large gap formations and seal spacings by using a wider or narrow top portion adjacent to a relatively narrower middle portion. The systems and methods can be also applied to other apparatus when deemed proper.
US10032543B2

An alternating current (AC) power cable includes a conductor surrounded by at least an inner semiconductive layer including a first semiconductive composition, an insulation layer including a polymer composition, an outer semiconductive layer including a second semiconductive composition, and optionally a jacketing layer including a jacketing composition, in that order. The polymer composition of the insulation layer includes an unsaturated low density polyethylene (LDPE) copolymer of ethylene with one or more polyunsaturated comonomers and a crosslinking agent. The polymer composition of the insulation layer has a dielectric loss expressed as tan δ (50 Hz) of 12.0×10−4 or less, when measured at 25 kV/mm and 130° C. according to “Test for Tan δ measurements on 10 kV cables”.
US10032536B2

One aspect of this copper alloy for an electronic device is composed of a binary alloy of Cu and Mg which includes Mg at a content of 3.3 to 6.9 atomic %, with a remainder being Cu and inevitable impurities, and a conductivity σ (% IACS) is within the following range when the content of Mg is given as A atomic %, σ≤{1.7241/(−0.0347×A2+0.6569×A+1.7)}×100. Another aspect of this copper alloy is composed of a ternary alloy of Cu, Mg, and Zn which includes Mg at a content of 3.3 to 6.9 atomic % and Zn at a content of 0.1 to 10 atomic %, with a remainder being Cu and inevitable impurities, and a conductivity σ (% IACS) is within the following range when the content of Mg is given as A atomic % and the content of Zn is given as B atomic %, σ≤{1.7241/(X+Y+1.7)}×100, X=−0.0347×A2+0.6569×A and Y=−0.0041×B2+0.2503×B.
US10032535B2

A system and method of disposing nuclear waste and other hazardous waste includes means for, and the steps of, blending a waste stream, which includes either a radioactive waste or a hazardous waste (or both), with a liquid and, optionally, a solid material to produce a dense fluid and pumping the dense fluid into a tubing string of an injection boring. The dense fluid then exits a perforation in a casing of the injection boring and enters a fracture in a rock strata, where it continues to propagate downward until it reaches an immobilization point. The dense fluid may be a slurry formed by a metal and a cross-linked polymer gel or hydrated clay slurry. The metal can be one that has a melting temperature less than the temperature at the bottom of the injection boring. The solid material could also be other nuclear waste or a radionuclide.
US10032527B2

A method for fabricating assemblies includes providing first and second components that include ceramic, metal, or composite; positioning a multiphase joining interlayer between the first and second components, wherein the joining interlayer includes a first phase that melts at a first temperature and a second phase interspersed throughout the first phase, and wherein the second phase melts at a second temperature that is lower than the melting temperature of the first phase; and heating the joining interlayer to a temperature in the range of 725° C. to 1450° C. for a predetermined period of time to soften the first phase and melt the second phase, wherein the first phase remains in a solid or a semi-solid state, and wherein the second phase segregates to the boundaries of the first phase and transforms the joining interlayer into a substantially porosity-free adherent material that joins the first component to the second component.
US10032522B2

An OTP (One-Time Programmable) memory cell in an array has a programming MOSFET and symmetrically placed access transistors on either side of the programming MOSFET. The balanced layout of the memory cell improves photolithographic effects with a resulting improved process results. Results of programming the memory cell is also improved.
US10032516B2

Disclosed is a content addressable memory (CAM). The content addressable memory array includes a memory array and a data match module. The memory array includes multiple memory rows. Each memory row is configured to store a first data word and a second data word. The data match module includes a first match circuitry configured to compare a first match word to the first data word of a memory row, and to generate a first match output based on the comparison between the first match word and the first data word of the memory row. The data match module further includes a second match circuitry configured to compare a second match word to the second data word of the memory row, and to generate a second match output based on the comparison between the second match word and the second data word of the memory row.
US10032511B1

For a memory array including a plurality of bit lines, and a set of write drivers having a number N members configured for connection in parallel to a selected set of N bit lines in the plurality of bit lines, write logic is coupled to the set of write drivers which enables a permissible number less than said number N of said members of the set of write drivers to apply a write pulse in parallel in a write operation. The write logic can dynamically assign permissible numbers to iterations in an iterative write sequence. A power source, such as charge pump circuitry, coupled to the set of write drivers can be utilized more efficiently in systems applying permissible bit write logic, enabling higher throughput or utilizing lower peak power.
US10032509B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell including a variable resistance element, a first circuit including a first resistance element and a first transistor, a first bit line, a second transistor, and a sense circuit. The memory cell and the first circuit are connected to the first bit line. One end and the other end of the second transistor are connected to the first bit line and the sense circuit respectively. During a first operation before reading data of the memory cell a voltage of the first bit line falls to a first voltage and the first and second transistors are turned off in response to a fall of the voltage of the first bit line to the first voltage.
US10032493B2

Examples of the present disclosure provide apparatuses and methods for determining a length of a longest element in a memory. An example method comprises determining, using a controller to control sensing circuitry, a length of a longest element of a plurality of variable length elements of a vector stored in a memory array.
US10032483B2

An embodiment of the present invention provides a summary image browsing system and method. A summary image browsing method of the present invention may comprise the steps of: tracking motion trajectory of an object from an input video; extracting the object from the input video and then generating a series of object segments; and synthesizing the series of object segments with a background image along the motion trajectory of the object and generating a summary image having a thickness according to an occurrence time interval for each object extracted from the input video.
US10032478B2

A video replay system which allows for the playback of video files from a buffer in random access memory and from disk to minimize the delay between capturing and replaying a desired video portion. In one embodiment, a portion of RAM is allocated to provide a buffer for holding video files in memory before the files are written to a hard drive or other non-volatile storage. An index of key frames is also stored in the buffer. The computer system executes software that is responsive to an operator's commands to read the video files and index and playback desired video portions in a variety of modes and speeds, including slow motion, reverse, fast-forward, and slow or fast reverse.
US10032474B2

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems, methods, and computer readable media to handle unsuccessful movements of removable storage media in an automated removable media system. In a particular embodiment, a method provides receiving one or more user provided parameters that indicate one or more types of unsuccessful media move operations that should be reported as successful. The method further provides receiving a first request to move a first item of removable storage media from a first position in the automated removable media system to a second position in the automated removable media system and initiating a first move operation of the first item from the first position to the second position by at least one changer device. The method then provides determining that the first move operation resulted in one of the one or more types of unsuccessful media move operations and indicating that the first move operation was successful in response to the first request.
US10032473B2

A data recording apparatus including: a data reading device configured to read data from a first recording medium and configured to store data and first management data for managing the data by file; a data recording device configured to record data on a second recording medium; a management data producing device configured to produce second management data for managing data recorded on the second recording medium based on the first management data of the first recording medium on which the data recorded on the second recording medium has been recorded; a data determining device configured to determine data unrecorded on the second recording medium by comparing the first management data read by the data reading device from the first recording medium with the second management data recorded on the second recording medium; a control device configured to read the data determined by the data determining device from the first recording medium and cause the recording device to record the read data onto the second recording medium; and a display device configured to display the recording status of data, managed by the first management data read by the reading device from the first recording medium, on the second recording medium, wherein the recording status includes one of recording of data complete, recording of data in progress, and recording of data yet to begin.
US10032471B2

An apparatus according to one embodiment includes a head having at least two modules, each having an array of transducers. Axes of the arrays are about parallel and are spaced from one another in an intended direction of tape travel thereacross. The array of a first of the modules is offset from the array of a second of the modules in a first direction parallel to the axis of the array of the second module such that the transducers of the first module and the transducers of the second module are positioned to fill a contiguous data band with written tracks in multiple passes. All of the transducers of the first module are positioned on a first side of an imaginary line oriented in the intended direction of tape travel, and all of the transducers of the second module are positioned on a second side of the imaginary line.
US10032469B2

A PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) head includes a tapered write pole that is fully surrounded by wrapped-around magnetic shields, including laterally disposed side shields, a trailing shield and a leading shield. A layer of high magnetic saturation material (high Bs) is formed on the leading edge of the trailing shield and extends rearward, away from the ABS plane to define a cross-sectional write gap shape that is not conformal with the shape of the tapered write pole. The cross-sectional shape of this shield layer enables it to absorb flux from the write pole so that the flux for writing is enhanced and concentrated at the area of the recording medium being written upon and does not extend to adjacent tracks or to downtrack positions at which such flux is not desired.
US10032464B2

A system, method, and apparatus for detecting drones are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a digital sound sample and partitioning the digital sound sample into segments. The method also includes applying a frequency and power spectral density transformation to each of the segments to produce respective sample vectors. For each of the sample vectors, the example method determines a combination of drone sound signatures and background sound signatures that most closely match the sample vector. The method further includes determining, for the sample vectors, if the drone sound signatures in relation to the background sound signatures that are included within the respective combinations are indicative of a drone. Conditioned on determining that the drone sound signatures are indicative of a drone, an alert message indicative of the drone is transmitted.
US10032461B2

An apparatus includes microphone receivers configured to receive microphone signals from a plurality of microphones. A comparator configured to determine a speech similarity indication indicative of a similarity between the microphone signal and non-reverberant speech for each microphone signal. The determination is in response to a comparison of a property derived from the microphone signal to a reference property for non-reverberant speech. In some embodiments, the comparator is configured to determine the similarity indication by comparing to reference properties for speech samples of a set of non-reverberant speech samples. A generator is configured to generate a speech signal by combining the microphone signals in response to the similarity indications. The apparatus may be distributed over a plurality of devices each containing a microphone, and the approach may determine the most suited microphone for generating the speech signal.
US10032459B2

Provided is a method and apparatus for encoding/decoding an audio signal. Sections which are not used to output noise components near important spectral components and sub-bands which are not used to output noise components, are determined to be encoded or decoded, so that the efficiency of encoding and decoding an audio signal increases, and sound quality can be improved using less bits.
US10032453B2

A system, for implementation at a vehicle of transportation, having multiple arrangements of occupant-zone-specific acoustic equipment in the vehicle. Each arrangement is positioned at a respective occupant-specific acoustic zone of the vehicle. Each arrangement is configured to communicate with a hardware-based processing unit that, when executing code of a hardware-based storage device in operation of the system, interacts, via the arrangement, primarily only with a vehicle occupant occupying a corresponding occupant-specific acoustic zone. In some implementations, along with or instead of the acoustic equipment, the system includes multiple arrangements of occupant-zone-specific acoustic equipment in the vehicle. In various embodiments, based on identification of occupants at respective vehicle zones in operation of the vehicle, operations are performed, such as provision of media, vehicle-occupant conversation, and customized HVAC delivery.
US10032452B1

A system of multi-modal transmission of packetized data in a voice activated data packet based computer network environment is provided. A natural language processor component can parse an input audio signal to identify a request and a trigger keyword. Based on the input audio signal, a direct action application programming interface can generate a first action data structure, and a content selector component can select a content item. An interface management component can identify first and second candidate interfaces, and respective resource utilization values. The interface management component can select, based on the resource utilization values, the first candidate interface to present the content item. The interface management component can provide the first action data structure to the client computing device for rendering as audio output, and can transmit the content item converted for a first modality to deliver the content item for rendering from the selected interface.
US10032451B1

Systems, methods, and devices for recognizing a user are disclosed. A speech-controlled device captures a spoken utterance, and sends audio data corresponding thereto to a server. The server determines content sources storing or having access to content responsive to the spoken utterance. The server also determines multiple users associated with a profile of the speech-controlled device. Using the audio data, the server may determine user recognition data with respect to each user indicated in the speech-controlled device's profile. The server may also receive user recognition confidence threshold data from each of the content sources. The server may determine user recognition data associated that satisfies (i.e., meets or exceeds) a most stringent (i.e., highest) of the user recognition confidence threshold data. Thereafter, the server may send data indicating a user associated with the user recognition data to all of the content sources.
US10032433B2

Mechanisms for managing output of an HDMI source are provided. In accordance with some implementations of the disclosed subject matter, a method for controlling output of an HDMI source is provided, the method comprising: establishing a connection between the HDMI source and an HDMI sink at a first address of a consumer electronic control bus of the HDMI sink; sending a request for an identity of the active source connected to the HDMI sink; monitoring signals on the consumer electronic control bus; receiving a message over the consumer electronic control bus identifying a second address on the consumer electronic control bus different from the first address as an address of an active source; setting a status of the HDMI source as inactive in response to receiving the message; and inhibiting output of video from the HDMI source to the HDMI sink in response to the status being set as inactive.
US10032428B2

To prevent an influence of normally-on characteristics of the transistor which a clock signal is input to a terminal of, a wiring to which a first low power supply potential is applied and a wiring to which a second low power supply potential lower than the first low power supply potential is applied are electrically connected to a gate electrode of the transistor. A semiconductor device including the transistor can operate stably.
US10032426B2

A display apparatus includes a gamma data generator comprising a spatial pattern having at least a high gamma and a low gamma corresponding to a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in a matrix array in a space division configuration, a temporal pattern having the high gamma and the low gamma corresponding to the plurality of sub-pixels in a time division configuration and a spatio-temporal pattern having the high gamma and the low gamma corresponding to the plurality of sub-pixels in both a space and time division configuration, and configured to generate gamma data of a sub-pixel using the spatial pattern, the temporal pattern and the spatio-temporal pattern in a cascade configuration.
US10032418B2

According to an aspect, a display apparatus includes: a plurality of light sources; a display device that includes a display area provided with n1 pixels and that is irradiated with light from the light sources; a light source controller controlling an operation of the light sources; and a display controller controlling an output gradation value of part or all of the pixels. The display area includes a plurality of partial areas, the partial areas corresponding to the light sources on a one-to-one basis. The light source controller determines the amount of light emitted from each light source corresponding to a corresponding one of the partial areas based on luminance of light required for the corresponding partial area. The display controller performs first correction and second correction when the amounts of light emitted from two light sources corresponding to two adjacent partial areas are different.
US10032416B2

The present disclosure relates to the display technologies, which provides a GOA unit, a GOA circuit, a display driving circuit and a display device, for outputting a gate driving signal and a reset signal of a pixel electrode through a GOA unit, to simplify the display driving circuit. The GOA unit comprises a first node control module, a second node control module, a third node control module, a first output module and a second output module, wherein the first output module outputs the gate driving signal under the control of the node voltage of a first node, the node voltage of a second node and a second input signal inputted at a second input terminal; and the second output module outputs the reset signal of the pixel electrode under the control of the node voltage of the second node, the node voltage of the third node and a third input signal inputted at a third signal input terminal.
US10032406B2

The present invention provides a method of eliminating OLED display panel Mura. The compensation gray scale which should be utilized is calculated according to the target brightnesses, the actual brightnesses, the present display gray scales of the respective sub pixels and the gamma value of the OLED display panel, and then the OLED display panel is made to show the present compensation gray scale captured at present to determine whether the preset condition of ending the calculation of the compensation gray scale is achieved, and if the preset condition of ending the calculation is not achieved, the actual brightness of the sub pixel at the compensation gray scale is captured to calculate again for obtaining the compensation gray scale which should be utilized next time, and the iterative computation does not stop until the preset condition of ending the calculation of the compensation gray scale is achieved.
US10032402B2

System, method, and device for maximizing brightness of solid-state illuminators while minimizing power usage based on individual scene contents. An embodiment varies power to each of the solid-state illuminators (red, green, & blue) based on the scene content that is being displayed optimizing the non-linear brightness response of solid-state illuminators.
US10032401B2

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a pixel structure, a display substrate and a display apparatus. The pixel structure includes a plurality of repeated units, each of the repeated units including a first portion, a second portion, a third portion, and a fourth portion which are arranged in a shape of a matrix of two rows by two columns. Each of the first through fourth portions includes four rows by four columns of sub-pixels, and includes, in each of the rows, the columns, and diagonals thereof, first through fourth sub-pixels which are different in color from one another. Two sub-pixels, which have the same color, and are in the same row in any left-right adjacent two of the first through fourth portions, are in an odd-numbered column of one of the two portions and an even-numbered column of the other of the two portions, respectively; and two sub-pixels, which have the same color, and are in the same column in any up-down adjacent two of the first through fourth portions, are in an odd-numbered row of one of the two portions and an even-numbered row of the other of the two portions, respectively.
US10032385B2

According to some embodiments, information may be retrieved from an employee database that stores, for each of a plurality of employees, a current leadership value and a business unit association. Information about an employee leadership training event may be determined (including a number of slots associated with a first business unit and a number of slots associated with a second business unit), and, based on the information about the employee leadership training event and information in the employee database, including the current leadership values and business unit associations, a subset of the employees may be automatically selected to participate in the employee leadership training event. An indication of the automatically selected subset of employees may then be transmitted to at least one remote device.
US10032382B2

A method includes receiving, at a data capture device associated with a control display unit (CDU) and with a flight management computer (FMC), a first FMC data request from the CDU to the FMC and sending the first FMC data request from the data capture device to the FMC. The method also includes receiving, at the data capture device, first FMC data from the FMC responsive to the first FMC data request. The method further includes sending the first FMC data from the data capture device to the CDU via a communication interface and sending data generated based on the first FMC data from the data capture device to a portable electronic device via a wireless interface of the data capture device.
US10032381B2

A marine threat monitoring and defense system and method protects a target vessel in icy or other marine regions. The system uses communications, user interfaces, and data sources to identify marine obstacles (e.g., icebergs, ice floes, pack ice, etc.) near a target vessel performing set operations (e.g., a stationed structure performing drilling or production operations or a seismic survey vessel performing exploration operations with a planned route). The system monitors positions of these identified marine obstacles over time relative to the target vessel and predicts any potential threats. When a threat is predicted, the system plans deployment of support vessels, beacons, and the like to respond to the threat. For example, the system can direct a support vessel to divert the path or break up ice threatening the target vessel.
US10032376B2

A venue is associated with various parking lots, and a user may purchase a space in one of the parking lots. A venue management system associated with the venue stores an association between the user and the parking lot. Based on a location of a client device associated with the user, the venue management system communicates navigation directions to the client device for presentation to the user. The directions communicated to the client device account for traffic conditions within a threshold distance of the parking lot, and the venue management system may modify stored directions to the parking lot based on the traffic conditions and communicate the modified directions to the client device for presentation to the user. Additionally, the traffic conditions used by the venue management system include information describing on current usage of various parking lots associated with the venue to allow the user to bypass congestion.
US10032375B2

The invention is to specify a poor visibility portion by using only a sensor standardly mounted on a connected car without any special measurement device or equipment and provide information thereon to a driver or an automatic driving device. A traffic information providing apparatus includes a data reception unit for receiving sensor data from a plurality of connected cars, a moving object detection/loss position calculation unit for calculating at least a position where the sensor has detected or lost a moving object on the basis of the sensor data of the connected cars, an information addition unit for adding a calculation result obtained by the moving object detection/loss position calculation unit to map information, a driver assistance information preparation unit for preparing driver assistance information on the basis of the map information to which information has been added by the information addition unit, and a data transmission unit for transmitting the driver assistance information prepared by the driver assistance information preparation unit to connected cars.
US10032369B2

A vision and alert system of a vehicle includes a plurality of cameras configured to be disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vision and alert system so as to have respective fields of view exterior of the vehicle. The plurality of cameras, when disposed at the vehicle, includes a forward camera having a field of view forward of the vehicle. An image processor is operable to process image data captured by at least the forward camera. Responsive to image processing of captured image data when the cameras are disposed at the vehicle, the image processor is operable to determine a traffic condition on the road being traveled by the equipped vehicle. Responsive to the determined traffic condition being indicative of a threshold level of a traffic jam, the vision and alert system transmits a traffic alert communication to a remote system.
US10032365B1

An apparatus, system and method is described for controlling one or more consumer electronic devices that is performed by a smart device in cooperation with a universal controlling device. The smart device causes a particular consumer electronic device template to be displayed to a user in response to receiving an indication of a particular key that was touched by the user on the universal controlling device. The template comprises one or more graphical elements, each for performing a particular operation in association with the particular consumer electronic device. The smart device then causes an action to be performed when the user selects one of the graphical elements by pressing one of the keys on the universal controlling device.
US10032359B2

The present invention provides a hand sanitizer system that includes a proximity detector, a dispensing system and an alarm feature, and is operative to provide an indication corresponding to a person in proximity of the system failing to dispense antiseptic or other solution from the dispenser within a predetermined period of time after moving within a predetermined range of the detector.
US10032356B1

A display card protection circuit monitoring structure includes: a display card body; at least one protection circuit module, configured on the display card body, and adapted to generate an open-circuit state when the display card body is abnormal; at least one monitoring device, configured on the display card body and in electric connection with the protection circuit module, and adapted to monitor a use state of the protection circuit module; at least one power supply, respectively in electric connection with and supplying power to the protection circuit module and monitoring device; and at least one warning module, in electric connection with the monitoring device, and driven by the monitoring device to issue warning when the open-circuit state happens. Whereby, the protection circuit module is used to prevent the abnormality or damage of the display card body, and the motoring device can drive the warning module to issue warning.
US10032355B2

A leak detection device that detects leaks of an electrically conductive substantive between any installed device and any mounting surface upon which the installed device has been placed such that the leak detection device is disposed between the installed device and the mounting surface such that when the conductive substance completes an electrical circuit between a first detection conductor and a second detection conductor disposed on the substrate a circuit is completed to allow a leak detection alarm signal to be operatively communicated to an alarm generating device.
US10032354B2

A multi-sensory sensor comprises at least a first and a second sensor element, wherein the multi-sensory sensor is adapted for attachment to a movable structure in a building. The multi-sensory sensor is operatively associated with a controller that is configured to receive input from said first sensor element, wherein the input is indicative of a movement of the movable structure. The controller is further configured to receive input from the second sensor element, and indirectly identify a human behavioural action in the building based on a combination of the input from the first sensor element and the input from the second sensor element. It is further configured to determine a function to be taken based on the identified action, and cause the function to be taken to be executed. In one embodiment the first sensor is a movement sensor element for sensing a movement and the second sensor element is an audio sensor element for sensing audio.
US10032341B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and apparatus for operating a gaming device having at least one winning event and at least one related award that is generated according to a set of rules associated with the game. The game is driven to present a predefined winning outcome and an award is generated as if the winning event and award were generated according to the rules. Also provided are rules and/or conditions for determining when to generate the predefined wining event, including rules that take into account player value to the casino and game volatility preference.
US10032339B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided that include an enhanced symbol upgrade feature. In an embodiment, if a triggering event occurs in association with the play of the game, such as a slot game, where the triggering event includes a first special symbol of the plurality of special symbols stopping on a payline at a first symbol position on a first reel of the first reel set, the first special symbol is superimposed at a symbol position on a second reel of the second reel set corresponding to the first symbol position on the first reel, and the second reel continues to rotate during the superimposition of the first special symbol thereover.
US10032332B2

A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include determining that a sound problem would occur if first content were to be presented simultaneously with second content via one or more output devices of a wagering game machine. In some examples, the first content is provided by a first application and the second content is provided by a second application independent from the first application. In some embodiments, the operation can further include modifying one or more characteristics of one or more of the first content and the second content based on the determining that the sound problem would occur.
US10032330B2

A gambling hybrid game with a gambling integrated game is disclosed. The gambling hybrid game includes an entertainment system engine that provides a dice game as an entertainment game to a user, a real world engine that provides gambling games to one or more users, and a game world engine that monitors the entertainment game and provides gambling games when appropriate. The entertainment system engine provides a dice game that includes die roll events. When a die roll event occurs in the dice game, the entertainment system engine resolves the die roll event and provides the results of the die roll event to the game world engine. The game world engine receives the results of the die roll event and determines gambling results based upon the results of the die roll event.
US10032320B1

A computer implemented method for determining a driving pattern from raw telematics data is presented. A data server may receive, via a computer network, a plurality of telematics data corresponding to a trip of a vehicle, wherein the plurality of telematics data originates from a client computing device. The data server may also identify a first primary movement window of the vehicle trip and one or more constant speed and idling windows of the vehicle trip. The data server may further estimate gravity from the telematics data in the first primary movement window of the vehicle trip and generate a pitch and a roll angle from the first primary movement window of the vehicle trip, as well as one or more yaw angle estimates from the first primary movement window of the vehicle trip. The data server may further determine a driving pattern using at least constant speed times, idling times, acceleration, breaking, vehicle turns and relate that to estimate driving risk and insurance premium.
US10032319B2

A vehicle is provided that determines a need for communication with a third party vendor, retrieves a user rule from the memory (the user rule defines to which third party vendor the vehicle can send a first communication to address the need and defines a geographic location of the third party vendor relative to a current location of the vehicle, a monetary amount the vehicle can pay to a third party vendor for a product or service to address the need, and a time limit for the third party vendor to provide the product or service to address the need), based on the user rule, selects a third party vendor from among multiple possible third party vendors, and when determined by the user rule, automatically sends the first communication to the selected third party vendor to address the need. The first communication is associated with an order for the product or service, and the processor provides an authorization to the selected third party vendor to complete the order. The vehicle uses different antennas positioned at different physical locations on an exterior of the vehicle to provide the first communication and authorization to the selected third party vendor.
US10032316B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and a mechanism for manipulating images generated by radiotherapy machines used in radiation diagnostic and treatment applications. In one embodiment, a method is provided for intelligent automatic propagation of real-time alterations across graphical structures of an image by mapping the relativity between the structures; determining the correlation between the structures and a manually edited structure; referencing a deformation map that maps a correspondence for each point in the original structure with a point in the edited structure and applying a similar relative change throughout the remaining structures in the image.
US10032305B2

A system includes hardware processor(s), an HMD, an input device, and an onion skin animation module. The animation modules is configured to receive a character rig of a 3D character, receive a first 3D animation of the 3D character, the first 3D animation defines a motion sequence of the 3D character based on the character rig, create a virtual time bar within the virtual environment, the virtual time bar displaying a timeline associated with the first 3D animation, identify a first animation time within the first 3D animation, the first animation time is a point in time during the motion sequence, create a first pose object of the 3D character in the virtual environment, pose the first pose object based on the first 3D animation at the animation time, and positioning the first pose object within the virtual environment proximate the first animation time on the virtual time bar.
US10032302B2

A sub-image of data of a first full image may be selected. The sub-image of data may at least partially obscure an object within the first full image. A request to replace the sub-image of data may be transmitted over a network. The request may include transmitting the full image and transmitting metadata associated with the first full image to one or more of a server computing device. The server computing device may analyze a history of images and select one or more images of the history of images that match one or more attributes of the metadata. The server computing device may replace the sub-image of data using the one or more images to generate at least a second full image that includes the object, wherein the object is not obscured. The second full image may be received over the network.
US10032299B2

An apparatus and a method for displaying an image on a portable image device are provided. The method includes receiving a first input indicative of an input associated with an application, generating a first image object in a buffer of the portable image device, storing the first image object in a memory of the portable image device, generating a first image using the first image object stored in the memory of the portable image device, and displaying the first image on an image display device of the portable image device.
US10032298B2

An image display control apparatus according to an embodiment includes, for example, includes a region identification portion distinguishing between a first region corresponding to a window in a vehicle inside image and a second region in the vehicle inside image excluding the first region, an image generation portion generating an image at least for a display range displayed at a display device, the image including a composite image where the vehicle inside image at the second region and a vehicle outside image conforming to the second region are superimposed on each other with a specified ratio and a vehicle outside image at the first region, a display range decision portion configured to change the display range, and a display control portion controlling the display device so that the image generated by the image generation portion is displayed at the display range which is decided by the display range decision portion.
US10032297B2

In a simulation system in which a terminal device employed in a spectacle shop and a display device for visually recognizing by a prospective spectacle lens wearer, are connected to a server device so as to capable of communication: the server device includes an image generation unit that achieves a state in which a simulation image reflecting lens visual performance of a spectacle lens can be output for each of plural partial visual field areas, and an information storage unit that stores explanatory information regarding characteristics of the lens visual performance for each of the plural partial visual field areas; the display device includes a display screen unit that selectively displays the simulation images in the partial visual field areas; and the terminal device includes an information output unit that outputs the explanatory information corresponding to the partial visual field area being displayed on the display screen unit.
US10032290B2

The invention discloses a method for synthesizing dynamic virtual figure, including: a synthesis server end receives a user request sent by a user and, according to information of the user request, obtains image files of all the components for synthesizing the required virtual figure; reading the corresponding image files of a component one by one according to layer numbers and transforming obtained component image files into a prescribed format; synthesizing the formatted component and previously synthesized middle figure; judging whether all components are synthesized, if all components are synthesized, writing the synthesized virtual figure into a virtual figure image file; otherwise, continuing to read corresponding image files of a component one by one according to layer numbers and transforming obtained component image files into the prescribed format. Adopting this method can implement the synthesis of dynamic virtual figures and thus provide better service for users.
US10032286B2

Systems and methods track one or more points between images. A point for tracking may be selected, at least in part, on a determination of how discriminable the point is relative to other points in a region containing the point. A point of an image being tracked may be located in another image by matching a patch containing the point with another patch of the other image. A search for a matching patch may be focused in a region that is determined based at least in part on an estimate of movement of the point between images. Points may be tracked across multiple images. If an ability to track one or more points is lost, information about the points being tracked may be used to relocate the points in another image.
US10032285B1

A method and apparatus for analyzing a sequence of images. Signal-to-noise ratios are identified for potential tracks using a tree having hierarchies of nodes identifying potential positions for an object over a period of time and using the sequence of images. Each hierarchy in the hierarchies of nodes represents a time and the potential positions in the tree form the potential tracks for the object. A potential track is selected from the potential tracks as an established track for the object using the signal-to-noise ratios, and a detection of the object is reported.
US10032283B2

There is provided a method, a device and a system for modifying at least one parameter used by a video processing algorithm, such as a motion detection algorithm, an object detection algorithm, or an object tracking algorithm, for monitoring of a scene (102). The method comprises: receiving a first (105a) and a second (105b) video sequence of the scene (102), wherein the first video sequence (105a) is captured using a thermal camera (104a) such that the first video sequence (105a) comprises thermal information being indicative of temperatures in the scene (102), and applying the video processing algorithm to the second video sequence (105b), wherein at least one parameter used by the video processing algorithm is modified based on the thermal information comprised in the first video sequence (105a).
US10032278B2

Sensor information acquisition section acquires surrounding information including three dimensional information of respective surrounding positions of subject vehicle, and positional information of subject vehicle. Road surface information extraction section generates road surface image in which acquired surrounding information is projected onto road surface on which subject vehicle is travelling. Environment image generation section generates environment image in which three dimensional information of respective surrounding positions included in surrounding information has been appended to positions corresponding to surrounding positions in generated road surface image. Based on acquired positional information of subject vehicle, stored image acquisition section acquires stored image corresponding to positional information of subject vehicle from database. Image matching section matches generated environment image against acquired stored image. Estimation section estimates amount of displacement in positional information of subject vehicle based on obtained matching result.
US10032272B2

A workstation, a medical imaging apparatus including the same, and a control method for the same includes an input unit that receives information about a contour of an organ in a medical image obtained by imaging a subject and a control unit that corrects the contour of the organ in such a manner that the contour of the organ does not cross contours of one or more other organs located inside or outside the organ.
US10032263B2

Systems, methods, and computer readable media to improve the operation of a display system are disclosed. Techniques disclosed herein selectively darken a region of an image so that when text or other information is rendered into that region, the contrast between the text or other information and the underlying image in that area is sufficient to ensure the text or other information is visible and readable. In one embodiment, a region into which information is to be rendered may be combined or blended with tone mapped values of those same pixels in accordance with a given function, where the function gives more weight to the tone mapped pixel values the closer those pixels are to the midline of the region and more weight to untone-mapped image pixel values the further those pixels are from the midline of the region.
US10032244B2

An apparatus and method are described for implementing a nearest neighbor search on a graphics processing unit. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: a host processor; and a graphics processor unit (GPU) to execute a nearest neighbor (NN) tree build operation and a NN tree search operation in response to signals from the host processor; the NN tree build operation comprising dividing a first set of data points to define each tree node to form a plurality of buckets, each bucket comprising at least one of the first set of data points, the number of buckets to be limited based on a threshold value, resulting in at least some buckets with multiple data points; and the NN tree search operation comprising traversing the tree by comparing each of a second set of input data points to data points in the tree to identify a bucket and then comparing one of the second data points to data points in the bucket to identify a nearest neighbor data point in the bucket.
US10032239B2

Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products are provided for initiating shipment of and payment for shipping a parcel. For example, in one embodiment, a customer/user can receive a message on a user device from a carrier that includes an authorization code for shipping a parcel. After the customer/user ships the parcel, the carrier can charge a variety of accounts for the shipping charges, including a wireless services provider associated with the user device. In another embodiment, the customer/user can interact with a kiosk to ship the parcel. In this embodiment, the carrier can also charge a variety of accounts for the shipping charges, including a wireless services provider.
US10032234B2

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a plurality of search results based on a search query from a user. A computing system determines a plurality of scores for each search result, each score generated by applying a distinct scoring function of a plurality of scoring functions to the search result. The computing system generates a plurality of diversity groups, each diversity group corresponding to a scoring function of the plurality of scoring functions, each diversity group including at least a subset of the plurality of search results ordered according to the scores generated by applying the scoring function to the at least the subset of the plurality of search results. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of search results from each diversity group and sending the selected search results to the user.
US10032233B2

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving first information about a proximity of a first user, the first information comprising one or more images or one or more sounds of at least a portion of the proximity, the first information having been obtained from the proximity by a client computing device of the first user automatically and with one or more sensors of the client computing device; identifying a second user within the proximity of the first user based at least in part on the first information; retrieving second information about the second user from a graph of a social-networking system, the graph comprising a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, at least one node in the graph corresponding to the first user, at least one node in the graph corresponding to the second user; and sending the second information about the second user to the first user.
US10032231B2

Payment card account transaction data sets and mobile device travel profiles are compared with each other to detect matches in terms of times and locations of use and/or presence. Such an analysis may link two or more payment card accounts to the same mobile device. Consequently, common ownership of the two or more payment card accounts may be reasonably inferred. Based on the inference of common ownership, marketing related analysis may be performed on a combined transaction data set that reflects transactions in both commonly owned payment card accounts.
US10032230B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products for auditing of transactions involving the sale of travel services by an indirect seller. An auditing module receives data defining a transaction proposed by the indirect seller. The module compares a quoted price for the transaction to a correct price for the transaction to determine if there is a pricing discrepancy. If a discrepancy exists, the module classifies the transaction and searches a business rules database maintained by a travel service provider for business rules relevant to the classification. The audit module further queries a historical sales deviation database to retrieve seller history data, and selects the relevant business rule having the best match to the seller history data. The audit module then determines whether to allow or block the transaction, issue a warning, or suggest an Agency Debit Memo based on an action defined by the business rule having the best match.
US10032227B2

An exercise apparatus includes a base, an operating unit movable relative to the base, a motor coupled to the operating unit, a sensor operable to detect engagement of a user with the operating unit, and a controller in communication with the operating unit and the sensor. A communication interface is in communication with the controller, wherein the controller is configured to generate a non-validated exercise use data in response to movement of the operating unit relative to the base and the sensor does not detect engagement of the user with the operating unit, wherein the controller is further configured to generate a validated exercise use data in response to movement of the operating unit relative to the base and the sensor does detect engagement of the user with the operating unit, and wherein the controller transmits the validated exercise use data to the communication interface.
US10032223B2

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods, and computer program products for assessing retirement planning based on a retirement score. The system is configured to compile projected retirement information of a first user, wherein the retirement information comprises a user profile of the first user. Based on the user profile of the first user, the system generates a projected retirement score. After generating the projected retirement score, the system receives a request to link a user profile for a second user to the user profile of the first user. The system projected retirement information of the second user and combines the projected retirement information of the first user with the projected retirement information of the second user, thus resulting in combined projected retirement information. Using both the projected retirement information, the system updates the projected retirement score.
US10032220B2

Techniques for managing and routing market orders across a global trading system. Each trading node can be associated with one or more markets and each node can be configured to provide market access to each market associated with a node in the system. Each trading node can be connected, via a network, to a global switching layer. The global switching layer can route requests, such as orders and the like, from an end user associated with one of the plurality of nodes to a corresponding exchange or market. The global switching layer can be configured to dynamically provide, to each end user, a user interface element corresponding to each trading node.
US10032217B2

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for reconciliation needed to enable access to accelerated contribution funded accounts (CFAs). An embodiment operates by configuring a management database to store a linked CFA associated with a CFA and a CFA on demand (CFAOD). A contribution processing system of a provider may receive a contributions file from an employer. The contribution processing system may delay contribution reconciliation of the linked CFA until a contribution amount is received. During contribution reconciliation, the contribution processing system may resolve the CFAOD using the received contribution amount such that the amount borrowed is minimized before funding the CFA with a remaining contribution amount. Upon resolution of the CFAOD, the contribution processing system may concurrently send information to a bank server and a card server to reconcile the respective bank and card accounts with the linked CFA at the provider.
US10032209B2

Disclosed are various embodiments for shopping using a messaging system. A message from a user includes a plurality of line items. At least one item may be identified corresponding to at least one of the plurality of line items. The at least one item may be included in a list associated with a user account.
US10032206B2

Disclosed are various embodiments for collaborative electronic commerce. For example, a first network site is implemented in at least one server that sells a first plurality of items via a network. A relationship is identified in the at least one server between a second network site and an aspect of the first network site, where the second network site is configured to sell a second plurality of items via the network. A reference to the second network site is presented to the user in association with a transaction that involves the aspect of the first network site.
US10032197B2

Methods and apparatuses are provided to allow a customer to acquire product information from a scanning system. For example, in some embodiments, a method performed by a control circuit comprises establishing a wireless communication connection between a user's personal mobile device and a portable scanning system configured to optically scan identification codes of distinct products; wirelessly receiving at the mobile device product identifying information from the scanning system of each product scanned by the scanning system and available for purchase at the retail store; associating, at the mobile device, a plurality of the product identifying information received from the scanning system with each of a plurality of user specified product information locally accessible through the mobile device; and communicating from the mobile device to a checkout system, during a checkout process, the product identifying information received from the scanning system of each product scanned by the scanning system.
US10032192B2

In various example embodiments, a system and method for automatic localization of advertisements is provided. In example embodiments, a transmission signal is received. A portion of the transmission signal is identified. A determination of whether localized advertisement data corresponds to the identified portion is performed. Localized advertisement data that correspond to the identified portion of the transmission signal is retrieved. The localized advertisement data is then inserted into the identified portion of the transmission signal to generate an altered signal. The altered signal is transmitted to a user device.
US10032183B2

Web page data is generated for rendering coupons, for a currency of value available to a user for increasing a value of the coupons and for one or more activities that can be used to increase the currency of value. When at least one of the activities has been completed by the user, the currency of value is increased by an amount specified by the activity that has been completed. A selection is received of a coupon whose value is to be increased. Additional web page data is generated to including dollar amounts to which the coupon may be increased. When the user selects one of the dollar amounts, a number of the currency of value is determined corresponding to the selected dollar amount. The value of the coupon is increased by the selected dollar amount. The currency of value available to the user are decreased by the number of the currency of value corresponding to the dollar amount.
US10032181B1

A network system, such as a transport management system, efficiently allocates resources by monitoring the geospatial and topological locations of a rider responsive to receiving a trip request. A trip management module matches a rider with an available driver based in part on an comparison of the estimated times of arrival of the rider and the driver at the pickup location. A client positioning module monitors the rider's progress through nodes and edges in a topological graph associated with the origin location based on radio signatures received at the rider client device. A client ETA module calculates a rider ETA based on the rider's rate of travel through the origin location represented by nodes in the topological graph. Responsive to determining that the rider ETA and the driver ETA vary by over a threshold amount of time, the trip management module matches the rider with a second available driver.
US10032180B1

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for managing a sales pipeline, and in some embodiments, generating demand based on real time demand and predicted demand. An example method comprises generating a virtual promotion, wherein the virtual promotion comprises a combination of a category or sub-category, a location, and a price range, calculating a probability that a particular consumer would buy the virtual offer in a predetermined time period, wherein the probability is generated at least based on historical data related to the particular consumer and one or more related consumers, determining an estimated number of units to be sold for the virtual offer as a function of at least the probability, the estimated number of units representing a predicted demand, calculating a real time demand, wherein the real time demand is generated based on a plurality of generated identification pairs for the predetermined time period, and determining, using a processor, total demand by summing the predicted demand and the real time demand.
US10032179B2

Usage data representing the access of a set of resources on a network is accessed. The usage data is based at least in part on information received from client systems sent as a result of beacon instructions included with the set of resources. First and second sets of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a first type and a second type, respectively, are determined based on the accessed usage data. Counts of unique visitors accessing the network resources from each of the first and second types of client systems, based on the first and sets of usage data, respectively, are each determined. A total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first and second types of client systems is determined based on data representing the usage overlap of devices of the first type with devices of the second type.
US10032173B2

The present invention, which is applicable to the field of electronic anti-counterfeiting technology, provides an electronic anti-counterfeiting system and an electronic anti-counterfeiting method using the same. The electronic anti-counterfeiting system comprises: a server disposed in a data center, the server comprising a database which stores the information about the logistics code and the anti-counterfeiting code of goods and the goods' production, transportation, sales and authenticity information corresponding to the information about the logistics code and the anti-counterfeiting code; at least one sales terminal in communication with the server, the sales terminal, after reading the logistics code of the goods, sending to the server such information that the goods is sold; and at least one query terminal in communication with the server, the query terminal, after reading the anti-counterfeiting code of the goods, sending the anti-counterfeiting code to the server to gain access to query result information returned from the server. In this way, the present invention improves the reliability of electronic anti-counterfeiting of goods.
US10032164B2

A system and method for facilitating electronic commerce over a network, according to one or more embodiments, includes communicating with a user via a user device over the network, distributing a resident application to the user device over the network, displaying a service icon on the user device, and receiving an authentication request from the user via the user device over the network. The service icon is linked to the resident application, and the authentication request includes user credentials inputted by the user via user selection of the service icon and resulting user access of the resident application. The system and method includes communicating with the resident application on the user device to request user confirmation of the authentication request, receiving user confirmation from the user via the user device over the network, authorizing the authentication request, and notifying the user of the authorized authentication request over the network via the resident application.
US10032162B2

A secure non-volatile solid state memory data key appears similar to a conventional USB flash drive modified to have a physical shape resembling a door key with an eyelet for attaching the data key to a key ring or lanyard. The data key includes a USB port, a microprocessor (effectively serving as the “chip” in the chip-and-pin configuration), and a secure memory for holding secure transaction information, such as credit and debit card numbers, verified personal identification (federated ID), and other secure data. The data key may include a dual-purpose electrical contact that serves both as a four-pin USB contact and an eight-pin chip-and-pin contact. Another example is a data key with a near-field communication (NFC) receiver that allows to data key to turn a smartphone, laptop or other computer into an NFC merchant terminal.
US10032157B2

A method and system for payments for mobile phone payments with a disabling feature is disclosed. The method includes activating a mobile phone containing contactless payment systems, and having a timeout feature disable the contactless payment systems after a set period of time.
US10032153B2

A transaction processing system suitable for processing a merchant transaction includes a computer having a processor, a memory, a plurality of connections over a network for receiving and settling the merchant transaction; and a separator module operative to separate funds associated with the merchant transaction. The separator module further includes a revenue settlement module operative to settle a revenue portion of the merchant transaction in favor of a first account accessible over the network, the first account being associated with the merchant; a tax settlement module operative to settle the tax portion associated with the merchant transaction in favor of a second account accessible over the network, the second account being different than the first account; and a fee resolution module operative to resolve fees associated with operation of the tax settlement module, such that an amount equal to the tax portion is settled in favor of the second account.
US10032144B1

Systems and methods for enhanced dining experiences, and other experiences, using a mobile device are disclosed. In one embodiment, the system (1) monitors providing at least one good or service to the customer during the event; the system (2) performing processing to determine cardless payment feature availability including: (a) determining a probable spend of the customer for the event; (b) determining a probable spend acceptable threshold (PSAT) for the event; (c) comparing the probable spend of the customer versus the PSAT, and based on such comparing, determining that the probable spend is within PSAT and, based on such determination, determining that the cardless payment feature is available to the customer; the system (3) generating an invoice; (4) transmitting the invoice to the customer's messaging address; (5) receiving, over the at least one network, an approval for the invoice; and the system (6) charging the customer's account.
US10032143B2

A method and a system for payment support are provided. The payment support method may include creating an account used for a payment service via a wallet server apparatus, connecting to the wallet server apparatus using the account, registering personal identification information including hardware information of a terminal device in the account, and associating at least one payment option with the personal identification information stored in the wallet server apparatus.
US10032142B2

A method is disclosed for reprinting a paper copy of a receipt at a physical store location. The receipt printing may be based off of an electronic receipt. A customer may provide receipt identification to a returns associate at a POS terminal in a store location. Information may be sent to a server or computer system to request that a receipt be reprinted. The server may then process the request and transmit receipt information to the POS terminal where a paper copy of the receipt is printed for the returns associate. A modified receipt may be printed which includes receipt information for additional transactions. A modified receipt may be printed which includes additional information regarding items on the receipt.
US10032134B2

The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for decision making. One example method includes receiving a request for a decision at a decision manager system, the received request associated with a unique identifier, classifying the request based on metadata associated with the received request, identifying a decision approval rule set based on the classified request, the decision approval rule set identifying a set of approvers, identifying at least one prior approval associated with the unique identifier, the at least one prior approval associated with the at least one approver, and applying the at least one prior approval to the decision associated with the received request and updating the set of approvers by removing the at least one approver from the set of approvers.
US10032127B2

Techniques for determining a clinician's intent to order an item may include processing a free-form narration, of an encounter with a patient, narrated by a clinician, using a natural language understanding engine implemented by one or more processors, to extract at least one clinical fact corresponding to a mention of an orderable item from the free-form narration. The processing may comprise distinguishing between whether the at least one clinical fact indicates an intent to order the orderable item or does not indicate an intent to order the orderable item. In response to determining that the at least one clinical fact indicates an intent to order the orderable item, an order may be generated for the orderable item.
US10032124B1

Case management systems and techniques are disclosed. In various embodiments, a hierarchical permission model is received, comprising for each of at least a subset of case nodes comprising a hierarchical data model associated with a case model a corresponding set of case roles to be afforded permissions with respect to that case node and for each such case role a set of permissions to be associated with that case role with respect to that case node. The hierarchical permission model is used to enforce with respect to one or more case instances associated with the case model the permissions defined in the hierarchical permission model.
US10032121B2

A method of implementing a procedure in one or more organizations includes storing content messages relating to procedures (such as best practices). A procedure to be performed by one or more responsible persons is identified. A workflow timeline for the procedure is generated. The workflow timeline includes actions for the procedure, a sequence for the actions, and responsible persons assigned to the actions. An activation for the workflow timeline is received from a timeline initiator. Times or due dates for performing actions on the workflow timeline, a responsible person to perform at least one of the actions, and content messages for at least one of the actions are automatically determined. The content messages provide information relating to the procedure. Content messages for one or more of the actions are automatically sent to the responsible person determined for the one or more actions.
US10032120B2

A communication system for workforce management is formed of a system controller managing a plurality of badges associated with workplace devices and employees within the workplace. The controller receives event indicators from the badges. These event indicators are analyzed by the controller to determine whether a task should be created and performed by at least one of the workplace devices and/or at least one of the employees. Task lists and device assignments are dynamically updated in response to current workplace conditions.
US10032118B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may operate, for example, obtaining a number of blogs including an initial set of annotated blogs and unannotated blogs. The initial set of annotated blogs are annotated as being either relevant to a selected media program or not relevant to the selected media program. A set of features is determined associating the selected media program with the unannotated blogs and a trained classifier is generated based on the set of features. The trained classifier is applied to the blogs to identify a subset of blogs relevant to the selected media program. An analysis is performed on the selected blogs to determine a trend related to the selected media program and a graphical user interface is presented that concurrently presents the selected blogs, the trend, and the selected media program. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US10032117B2

A method for developing machine operation classifiers for a machine is disclosed. The method includes receiving training data associated with the machine from one or more on-board engineering channels associated with the machine and determining one or more training features based on the training data values. The method also includes determining one or more training labels associated with the one or more training features and building a predictive model for determining machine operation classifiers using a computer. Building the predictive model may include feeding the one or more training features and the one or more training labels associated with the one or more training features to a machine learning algorithm and determining a predictive model from the machine learning algorithm. The predictive model may be used for receiving new data associated with the machine and determining a predicted label based on the new data.
US10032115B2

A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes identifying a storage volume comprising a plurality of files, calculating a file level input/output operations per second (IOPS) value for each of a subset of the plurality of files within the storage volume, creating a predictive model for the storage volume, using metadata determined for the subset of the plurality of files and the IOPS values calculated for each of the subset of the plurality of files within the storage volume, estimating file level IOPS values for each of the plurality of files in the storage volume, utilizing the predictive model, combining the estimated and calculated file level IOPS values and comparing the combined values to a calculated volume level IOPS value for the storage volume, conditionally adjusting one or more of the estimated file level IOPS values, based on the comparing, and returning the estimated file level IOPS values.
US10032111B1

A system includes a machine learning engine. The machine learning engine is configured to receive training data including a plurality of first input conditions and a plurality of first response maneuvers associated with the first input conditions. The machine learning engine is configured to train a learning system using the training data to generate a second response maneuver based on a second input condition.
US10032110B2

Methods and systems for receiving a request to implement a neural network comprising an average pooling layer on a hardware circuit, and in response, generating instructions that when executed by the hardware circuit, cause the hardware circuit to, during processing of a network input by the neural network, generate a layer output tensor that is equivalent to an output of the average pooling neural network layer by performing a convolution of an input tensor to the average pooling neural network layer and a kernel with a size equal to a window of the average pooling neural network layer and composed of elements that are each an identity matrix to generate a first tensor, and performing operations to cause each element of the first tensor to be divided by a number of elements in the window of the average pooling neural network layer to generate an initial output tensor.
US10032109B2

A device embodiment includes, but is not limited to, a deformable substrate; a sensor assembly including an identity sensor configured to generate identity sense signals associated with a physical characteristic of an individual subject; circuitry including an identity comparison module configured to compare the identity sense signals to reference data indicative of one or more physical characteristics associated with an identity of at least one individual to determine whether the identity sense signals correspond to the identity of the at least one individual, the circuitry including an authorization comparison module configured to compare at least one of the identity sense signals or the identity with one or more authorization parameters; and a reporter configured to generate one or more communication signals associated with a comparison of at least one of the identity sense signals with the authorization parameters or the identity with the one or more authorization parameters.
US10032102B2

Excess radio-frequency (RF) power storage in RF identification (RFID) tags, and related systems and methods are disclosed. The RFID tag is configured to operate with RF power received in wireless RF signals from a RFID tag antenna if received RF power meets or exceeds an operational threshold power for the RFID tag. The RFID tag is also configured to store excess energy derived from excess received RF power in an energy storage device if the received RF power exceeds the operational threshold power for the RFID tag. Thus, when RF power received by the RFID tag is not sufficient for operation, the RFID tag can operate from power provided by previously stored excess energy in the energy storage device.
US10032098B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit that outputs an image to a transfer medium on the basis of a job and a control unit that controls the image forming unit. The control unit is capable of outputting all sheets and outputting designated sheets in outputting the job and, when outputting the designated sheets, changes output control content according to whether the designated sheets are output as sheets for replacement media.
US10032095B2

Systems and methods for modifying imposition parameters using dynamically loaded media sizes. A print job is received into a computerized device comprising a marking device. The print job comprises an electronic document and print job attributes and imposition defining an arrangement of images in the electronic document for predefined dimensions of continuous feed print media. A change in print media being fed into the marking device is automatically detected, using the computerized device. The print job attributes are automatically modified, using the computerized device, based on the change in the print media, without further operator intervention.
US10032089B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for processing inputs using an image processing neural network system that includes a spatial transformer module. One of the methods includes receiving an input feature map derived from the one or more input images, and applying a spatial transformation to the input feature map to generate a transformed feature map, comprising: processing the input feature map to generate spatial transformation parameters for the spatial transformation, and sampling from the input feature map in accordance with the spatial transformation parameters to generate the transformed feature map.
US10032088B2

An automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. The method includes the steps of arranging a digital camera on a vehicle body, operating the digital camera to provide an image file depicting an image of a scene related to vehicle operation on a road, in a computer memory, receiving from the memory the image file depicting pixels of an image of the scene related to vehicle operation on a road, and using an analysis of the pixels to generate an illumination invariant image of the scene. A further process step includes using the illumination invariant image to analyze the road scene for painted road markings.
US10032080B2

Models are generated from objects identified in video. Each model is evaluated based on knowledge of the objects determined from video analysis, and preferred models are identified based on the evaluations. In some examples, each model could be evaluated by tracking a movement of each object in the video by using each model to track the object from which it was generated, evaluating an ability of each model to identify the objects in the video that are similar to the object from which it was generated, and determining an amount of false identifications made by each model of different objects in different video that does not include the object from which it was generated.
US10032076B2

A method for displaying images includes clustering similar images in an album into a plurality of image groups when receiving an instruction for opening the album, selecting representative images from the image groups, and displaying the representative images.
US10032074B2

A system mounted within eyewear or headwear to unobtrusively produce and track reference locations on the surface of one or both eyes of an observer is provided to improve the accuracy of gaze tracking. The system utilizes multiple illumination sources and/or multiple cameras to generate and observe glints from multiple directions. The use of multiple illumination sources and cameras can compensate for the complex, three-dimensional geometry of the head and the significant anatomical variations of the head and eye region that occurs among individuals. The system continuously tracks the initial placement and any slippage of eyewear or headwear. In addition, the use of multiple illumination sources and cameras can maintain high-precision, dynamic eye tracking as an eye moves through its full physiological range. Furthermore, illumination sources placed in the normal line-of-sight of the device wearer increase the accuracy of gaze tracking by producing reference vectors that are close to the visual axis of the device wearer.
US10032072B1

Approaches provide for identifying text represented in image data as well as determining a location or region of the image data that includes the text represented in the image data. For example, a camera of a computing device can be used to capture a live camera view of one or more items. The live camera view can be presented to the user on a display screen of the computing device. An application executing on the computing device or at least in communication with the computing device can analyze the image data of the live camera view to identify text represented in the image data as well as determine locations or regions of the image that include the representations. For example, one such recognition approach includes a region proposal process to generate a plurality of candidate bounding boxes, a region filtering process to determine a subset of the plurality of candidate bounding boxes, a region refining process to refine the bounding box coordinates to more accurately fit the identified text, a text recognizer process to recognize words in the refined bounding boxes, and a post-processing process to suppress overlapping bounding boxes to generate a final set of bounding boxes.
US10032069B2

An exercise analysis apparatus includes a feature point detection unit that detects a feature point in a user's running by using a detection result from an inertial sensor, and an exercise information generation unit that analyzes the user's running with a timing at which the feature point detection unit detects the feature point as a reference by using the detection result from the inertial sensor, so as to generate exercise information of the user.
US10032068B2

A method of making an image in a digital camera comprises capturing a digital image of a scene into which the camera user is to be inserted, and superimposing a symbol (subject locator) onto the scene image representing at least a part of a human subject. The subject locator is scaled to a desired size and moved to a desired position relative to the scene image. Next a digital image of the user is captured, and at least the part of the user image represented by the subject locator is extracted. The part of the user image represented by the subject locator is scaled (before or after extraction) to substantially the same size as the subject locator and inserted into the first image at the position of the subject locator. In a second embodiment the method comprises displaying a preview image of a scene into which the camera user is to be inserted, and superimposing the subject locator on the preview image. The subject locator is scaled to a desired size and moved to a desired position relative to the edges of the preview image. Face detection detects the camera user entering the scene displayed by the preview image. The preview image is scaled and panned to bring the part of the preview image represented by the subject locator to substantially the same size and position as the subject locator. Finally, a digital image of the scene is captured.
US10032065B2

Handwriting verification methods and related computer systems, and handwriting-based user authentication methods and related computer systems are disclosed. A handwriting verification method comprises obtaining a handwriting test sample containing a plurality of available parameters, extracting geometric parameters, deriving geometric features comprising an x-position value and a y-position value for each of a plurality of feature points in the test sample, performing feature matching between geometric features of the test sample and a reference sample, determining a handwriting verification result based at least in part on the feature matching, and outputting the handwriting verification result. Techniques and tools for generating and preserving electronic handwriting data also are disclosed. Raw handwriting data is converted to a streamed format that preserves the original content of the raw handwriting data. Techniques and tools for inserting electronic handwriting data into a digital image also are disclosed.
US10032063B2

A representation of variations in elevation of friction ridges in a friction ridge pattern of a subject may be generated. A sequence of images captured over a time period may be obtained. Individual images in the sequence of images may indicate areas of engagement between an imaging surface and the friction ridge pattern of the subject when the individual images are captured. Temporal information may be obtained for the individual images. The temporal information for the individual images may be used to aggregate the individual images in the sequence of images into an aggregated representation of the friction ridge pattern. The aggregation may be accomplished such that the aggregated representation depicts the areas of engagement of the friction ridge pattern with the imaging surface at different elevations of the friction ridge pattern.
US10032062B2

A fingerprint recognition method includes receiving an input partial image corresponding to a partial image of a fingerprint of a first user; partitioning the input partial image into a plurality of blocks; performing a comparison operation based on the plurality of blocks and the enrolled partial images corresponding to partial images of an enrolled fingerprint; and recognizing the fingerprint of the first user based on a result of the comparison operation.
US10032059B2

In an image analyzing apparatus, identifying a barcode image includes: determining a bar candidate area representing a candidate for a bar having a first width in a target image, the bar candidate area containing a feature-matching area that matches a feature concerning two or more different widths of bars in a one-dimensional barcode; searching for first and second blank areas having lengths longer than or equal to a threshold value at first and second sides of the bar candidate area in a specific direction; when the first or second blank area is found, determining, as a first or second end position of the one-dimensional barcode, a boundary between the first or second blank area and a non-background area; and by using the first and second end positions, identifying an area containing the bar candidate area as the barcode image.
US10032055B2

An information code reader is provided to read an information code, such as a QR code (registered trademark). In this reader, a marker light irradiating unit is provided in a position farther away from a reading opening than a reflective mirror is, and disposed such that an optical axis of a marker light is parallel to an optical axis that is a center of an imaging area of a light receiving sensor and the marker light is close to (or in proximity to) an upper edge (outer edge) of the reflective mirror.
US10032036B2

Example embodiments of the systems and methods of multidimensional encrypted data transfer disclosed herein also introduce novel and unobvious methods to store and access information. In example embodiments of the systems and methods of multidimensional encrypted data transfer disclosed herein, a multidimensional data structure is developed. For example, at least one additional dimension is added to a 2D data structure. Data may be encoded within multiple facets. Example embodiments of the multidimensional encoding include non-limiting examples of stacking or providing images or tiles in a very short period of time and moving a 3-dimensional object in space. In one example application, a number of distinct 2D data structures are presented over a time period in a .gif file.
US10032028B2

A Unified Extensible Firmware Interface protocol installer utilizes and modifies a list of global unique identifiers corresponding to Unified Extensible Firmware Interface protocols to determine whether to install a UEFI protocol.
US10032024B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment that includes receiving in an external handler an event notification associated with an event in a virtual partition. A thread in the process in the virtual partition that caused the event can be parked. Other threads and processes may be allowed to resume while a security handler evaluates the event for potential threats. A helper agent within the virtual partition may be instructed to execute a task, such as collecting and assembling event context within the virtual partition, and results based on the task can be returned to the external handler. A policy action can be taken based on the results returned by the helper agent, which may include, for example, instructing the helper agent to terminate the process that caused the event.
US10032022B1

Embodiments of the presently disclosed invention provide a method and system for providing self-protecting code. In particular, embodiments provide security modules that may be embedded in a plurality of apps installed on one or more devices. In one embodiment, a central app security system is provided that facilitates the deployment and management of the formation of apps embedded with the security module. With the help of the embedded security modules, the plurality of apps, which may be referred hereinafter as a “secured formation” of apps, perform automated and dynamic scans of other apps within the same formation to ensure the integrity of each app is maintained. Each app in the secured formation may also detect viruses, malware, spyware, and other malicious software contained in the secured formation and perform curative operations in response. In this manner, the apps in any given secured formation collectively ensure that sensitive user information is protected.
US10031999B2

A communication section receives a connection request from a game controller to connect the game controller with an information processing apparatus. A registered user information holding section holds biometric information of a user registered in the information processing apparatus. A biometric authentication portion compares biometric information of a user included in a taken image with biometric information held in the registered user information holding section to determine whether the imaged user is a user registered in the information processing apparatus. After the imaged user is found to be a user registered in the information processing apparatus, a login controller executes login processing of the user, or to be more specific, stores information for identifying a device included in the taken image and information for identifying the user into a login user storage portion by relating these items of information with each other.
US10031996B2

A method is provided for facilitating an integrated circuit design layout. The method includes receiving a netlist including a plurality of subnets. For each subnet, the method also includes obtaining a Steiner net length value and related net delays in a signal path for a metal wiring layer using timings of all involved circuits of the subnet, and determining whether the net delay is smaller than a predefined value. On a negative outcome of the determination, a wire delay is ascertained for the named metal wiring layer based on a maximum buffer distance retrieved from a cycle reach table, and determining whether the ascertained wire delay is below the related net delay. On a positive outcome of the second determination, a next increased metal wire width is selected and a metal wire based wire delay for the named metal wiring layer including a buffer is ascertained.
US10031990B1

The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for electronic design verification. The method may include receiving, using a processor, an electronic design at a verification environment and generating a symbolic constant for use with the verification environment. The method may further include identifying a plurality of X sources associated with the verification environment and modifying the plurality of X sources based upon, at least in part, the symbolic constant. The method may also include running a first target node and if the first target node is proven, run at least one additional target node until all target nodes are proven.
US10031989B2

Disclosed are a system and a method for integrated circuit (IC) performance modeling, wherein a design layout of an IC is analyzed to identify a first conductive shape (e.g., an internal local interconnect or contact bar shape) on a diffusion boundary shape of a semiconductor device and to also identify the first conductive shape's connectivity to any second conductive shapes (e.g., a via, via bar, or external local interconnect shapes) inside and/or outside the limits of the diffusion boundary shape. A condensed resistance model for the first conductive shape is selected from a model library based on the previously identified connectivity. The selected condensed resistance model will have a lesser number of nodes and/or resistive elements than a full resistance model for the conductive shape. The selected condensed resistance model is used to construct a condensed netlist, which is used in a combined netlist to simulate IC performance.
US10031988B2

A method of performing transistor simulation with improved sensitivity to parasitic by model order reduction in transistor-level timing is disclosed. The method includes reducing a number of derivative calculations during transistor simulation by representing parasitics as a reduced-order model, wherein the reducing includes: compressing the parasitics to a reduced-order model; simulating with load which is replaced with the reduced-order model; differentiating results of the simulation with respect to reduced-order model parameters; differentiating parameters of the reduced-order model with respect to parasitic values; differentiating the parasitic values with respect to statistical parameters; and computing the differential results of the simulation with respect to the statistical parameters via chain ruling.
US10031984B2

A processor calculates, in accordance with a convex hull configuration algorithm, an interface of a fluid model expressing the fluid as a collection of particles according to an input boundary condition and initial condition. The processor calculates surface energy of the calculated interface. The processor calculates surface tension of the interface according to the calculated surface energy. The processor outputs, for each predetermined time interval, a state of the fluid according to the calculated surface tension.
US10031981B2

A method and associated system for converting both a tabbed table in an XML format and a collapsible section in the XML format to forms configured for storage in a relational database and use by a web-based application. The tabbed table is a first type of unstructured rich text information in the XML format that is tabbed table specific. The collapsible section is a second type of unstructured rich text information in the XML format that is collapsible section specific. The tabbed table in the XML format is transformed to an XHTML format. The tabbed table in the XHMTL format is exported from the relational database to the web-based application. Storage of the collapsible section in the XHTML format in the relational database is initiated. The collapsible section in the XHMTL format is exported from the relational database to the web-based application.
US10031978B1

A system for providing a search service application is disclosed and includes an application builder component that provides a search model for a first object of a plurality of objects. The search model is based at least on an end-user input field corresponding to a first attribute of the first object and a search result output field corresponding to a second attribute of the first object. The search model is also associated with a backend data store that supports a storage structure that stores information relating to the first object. The system also includes a deployment engine that automatically configures a search engine system associated with the backend data store to generate new search indexes based on the search model, and to place a portion of indexed data into a first partition and to place another portion of indexed data into at least another partition based on the search model.
US10031977B1

A method, system and product for filtering out data content on a computing device that is integrated into the operating system of the computing device, comprising receiving, by the computing device and in response to a network request by an application, an object associated with content identifiers. The method, system and product further comprise determining, by the computing device and based on an indication of selected filter criteria, a respective weighted probability for the object, and determining, by the computing device, a graphical element for the application based on the weighted probabilities. The method, system and product further comprise outputting, by the computing device and at the graphical user interface of the computing device, the graphical element.
US10031975B2

Search results are prioritized based on the size of the content sources from which the search results were obtained. Such content sources may include, for instance, a user's local sources (e.g., a hard drive associated with a user's computer), a user's online content sources (e.g. a user's cloud storage), and the entire web. Search results which are obtained from smaller content sources (i.e., those containing fewer resources) are presented to the user before search results which are obtained from larger content sources (i.e., those containing a greater number of resources).
US10031971B2

A system and associated methods for responding to a request for a web page containing dynamic content by generating and delivering a static version of the requested page and content. Specifically, embodiments are directed to a system and methods for receiving a request for dynamic web content at a server, instantiating a virtual browser within an execution environment running on the server, loading the requested dynamic web content into the virtual browser, executing the executable content of the requested dynamic web content (thereby creating a corresponding static version of the requested dynamic web content), and delivering the static version in response to the request.
US10031968B2

A system and method of processing a search request is provided. Identification of a desired content item is based on comparing a topic of the search request to previous user input. The method includes providing access to a set of content items with metadata that describes the corresponding content items and providing information about previous searches. The method further includes receiving a present input from the user and determining a relatedness measure between the information about the previous searches and an element of the present input. If the relatedness measure is high, the method also includes selecting a subset of content items based on comparing the present input and information about the previous searches with the metadata that describes the subset of content items. Otherwise, the method includes selecting a subset of content items based on comparing the present input with the metadata that describes the subset of content items.
US10031959B2

The preservation of the user interface state of first application on a first device allows, in one embodiment, a user to resume use of at least a portion of the user interface state on a second application on second devices. The first and second applications can be the same or different (with some common user interface UI features or elements and other UI features that are different). Other embodiments are also described.
US10031958B2

Systems, methods, and software are disclosed that provide enhanced replication for message services. In one implementation, updates to a replication source are replicated to replication targets. The replication is monitored to identify an individual health of the replication for each of the replication targets. A composite health of the replication is determined based on the individual health of the replication for each of the replication targets. The updates to the replication source are then controlled based on the composite health of the replication.
US10031956B2

Database systems and methods that implement a data aggregation framework are provided. The framework can be configured to optimize aggregate operations over non-relational distributed databases, including, for example, data access, data retrieval, data writes, indexing, etc. Various embodiments are configured to aggregate multiple operations and/or commands, where the results (e.g., database documents and computations) captured from the distributed database are transformed as they pass through an aggregation operation. The aggregation operation can be defined as a pipeline which enables the results from a first operation to be redirected into the input of a subsequent operation, which output can be redirected into further subsequent operations. Computations may also be executed at each stage of the pipeline, where each result at each stage can be evaluated by the computation to return a result. Execution of the pipeline can be optimized based on data dependencies and re-ordering of the pipeline operations.
US10031953B1

A server receives a query identifying one or more attributes of an entity. The server accesses a set of candidate templates for answering the query based on the one or more attributes of the entity, each candidate template having one or more fields, wherein each field is associated with at least one constraint. The server obtains a set of information that answers the query and selects a template from the set of candidate templates, where the selected template has a maximum number of fields with constraints that are satisfied by the set of information. The server then generates a phrase by adding the set of information to the one or more fields of the selected template, such that the phrase comprises an answer to the query. Finally, the server communicates the phrase to a client device.
US10031941B1

Systems and methods of evaluating search query terms in a computer network environment are provided. A data processing system can obtain, from a computing device via a computer network, a first search query and a second search query, and can determine a relationship between the first search query and the second search query. The data processing system can generate a structured search query representative of the first search query and the second search query, and can select, based on the structured search query, a content item for display by the computing device. The data processing system can receive an indication of a click on the content item, and can provide, to a content publisher computing device, a representation of the structured search query and the indication of the click on the content item.
US10031936B2

Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include receiving a request to fabricate, for a database including multiple tables, a respective target number of data records for each of the tables, and receiving one or more intra-database rules for the multiple tables. Examples of the intra-database rules include cross-record rules and cross-table rules. Upon identifying one or more referential integrity constraints for the multiple tables, the respective target number of data records for each of the multiple tables are fabricated in response to the request. In embodiments of the present invention, the fabricated data records comply with the one or more referential integrity constraints and the one or more intra-database rules.
US10031931B2

An automation system is provided to automate any administrative task in a distributed database, such that the end user can input a goal state (e.g., create database with a five node architecture) and the automation system generates and executes a plan to achieve the goal state without further user input. According to another aspect, bringing existing database systems into automated management can be as complex as designing the database itself. According to some embodiments, the automation system is configured to analyze existing database systems, capture and/or install monitoring components within the existing database, and generate execution pathways to integrate existing database systems into automation control systems. Based on the current state information, the automation system is configured to generate an installation pathway of one or more intermediate states to transition the existing system from no automation to a goal state having active automation agents distributed throughout the database.
US10031930B2

Embodiments include methods and devices for identifying record schemas in a non-relational database by assigning a record to a schema bucket according to structural characteristics of the record and identifying a record schema of the record within the schema bucket so that records with isomorphic record schemas in the non-relational database can be determined. Aspects also include encoding keys of a lowest level of a record according to a global codemap, sorting the keys of the lowest level that belong to different parent keys respectively and updating key names of corresponding parent keys in the parent level of a children level according to the codes of the keys of the children level.
US10031928B2

The described embodiments relate to method and products for organizing a plurality of images. Specifically, the methods and products can automatically organize a plurality of images into a plurality of groups of images using allocation criteria. The allocation criteria for each image include a similarity distance between that image and at least one other image that measures how similar those images are. Each image can be allocated to at least one similar image group based on the similarity distance. The methods and products can also be used to visualize and display representative images for each of the groups of images.
US10031927B2

A facial recognition search system identifies one or more likely names (or other personal identifiers) corresponding to the facial image(s) in a query as follows. After receiving the visual query with one or more facial images, the system identifies images that potentially match the respective facial image in accordance with visual similarity criteria. Then one or more persons associated with the potential images are identified. For each identified person, person-specific data comprising metrics of social connectivity to the requester are retrieved from a plurality of applications such as communications applications, social networking applications, calendar applications, and collaborative applications. An ordered list of persons is then generated by ranking the identified persons in accordance with at least metrics of visual similarity between the respective facial image and the potential image matches and with the social connection metrics. Finally, at least one person identifier from the list is sent to the requester.
US10031922B2

A method for query evaluation comprises receiving a query over a set of distributed data sources, decomposing the query into a set of sub-queries of the query, evaluating each sub-query in the set of sub-queries with respect to each data source in the set of distributed data sources, wherein evaluating comprises determining which data sources in the set of distributed data sources are capable of answering each sub-query and at what cost, computing a set of distributed plans by composing one or more of the sub-queries in one or more of the data sources, evaluating each plan in the set of distributed plans, selecting a sub-set of plans from the set of distributed plans to be executed for responding to the query, executing the selected sub-set of plans, and returning results of the query.
US10031920B1

Techniques are shown for enabling a network system to index data stored on a third-party server without having to access the raw data on the third-party server. Metadata consisting of one or more of indexable text or indexable html or some combination of indexable text and indexable html is associated with the data stored on a third-party server. An indexing utility processes the metadata at the network system from the third-party server and arranges the metadata on the network system in a manner that is searchable by searching functionality of the network system.
US10031917B2

The illustrative systems and methods use a special-purpose volume-replicating server(s) to offload client computing devices operating in a production environment. The production environment may remain relatively undisturbed while production data is replicated to a geographically distinct destination. Replication is based in part on hardware-based snapshots generated by a storage array that houses production data. The illustrative volume-replicating server efficiently moves data from snapshots on a source storage array to a destination storage array by transferring only changed blocks for each successive snapshot, i.e., transferring incremental block-level changes. Periodic restore jobs may be executed by destination clients to keep current with their corresponding source production clients. Accordingly, after the source data center goes offline, production data may be speedily restored at the destination data center after experiencing only minimal downtime of production resources. By employing block-level techniques, the disclosed solutions avoid the file-based data management approaches of the prior art, which tend to be too time-consuming and resource-intensive for the present scenario.
US10031916B2

Methods and systems for virtualizing and managing cloud storage sources are disclosed. The method includes detecting devices in communication with a docking station and identifying a file on one of the devices. The method also includes identifying a plurality of cloud storage sources and calculating a weighted value for each storage source among the plurality of storage sources. The method further includes selecting a storage location within the plurality of cloud storage sources based on the calculated weighted values and storing the file at the selected storage location.
US10031907B2

An aspect of auto-completion of text entered by a user includes configurable data collection components that collect from software applications text data and metadata representing an initial state of each of the applications and text data and metadata representing changes to the state of one or more of the applications. A central text matching component receives and stores the text data and metadata. A sending component sends text entered by the user in a text-entry field and any metadata associated with it to the central text matching component. A comparison component compares the entered text and associated metadata to the stored text data and metadata and locates matching text strings. A weighted ordering component ranks the matching text strings using the metadata and its configuration settings. A completion component completes the entered text at the text-entry field based on a selection of one of the located matching text strings.
US10031905B2

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for displaying and managing spreadsheets on mobile devices. An optimized search can be performed. A selection is received from a user to open a spreadsheet. A find selection is received from the use along with keywords for which to the user wishes to search. Any matching keywords are found in the spreadsheet and the cell location of the keywords is retrieved. A results page is constructed that shows search result listings with the keywords along with data surrounding the one or more keywords. The results page is displayed. Navigation options are provided for allowing a user to navigate around the spreadsheet. Right, left, downward, and upward navigation options can be used to change the current view of the spreadsheet by a pre-defined number of cells. Techniques are described for optimizing the display of charts in the spreadsheet.
US10031902B1

Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for modifying a search results display are provided. A particular method includes receiving a list including one or more search results generated in response to a query. Each of the one or more search results is associated with a document. A selection of a first document associated with a first search result of the one or more search results is received. Access is provided to content of the first document via a user interface. User input identifying at least a first portion of the first document is received via the user interface. A search results display including at least a portion of the list of the one or more search results is generated. The first portion of the first document is displayed with the first search result in the search results display.
US10031900B2

Embodiments relate to text editing. An aspect includes receiving a range specifying operation for performing range specification for at least part of the text displayed on a display device of the computer. Another aspect includes causing a storing unit to store therein specific text including text in the range specified by the received range specifying operation and other text relating to the specified range. Another aspect includes receiving a changing operation for changing the text in the specified range. Another aspect includes determining whether or not a change beyond a specific criterion has occurred in the text in the range specified by the received range specifying operation. Another aspect includes displaying the specific text stored in the storing unit on the display device based on determining that a change beyond the specific criterion has occurred in the text in the range.
US10031889B2

A device and method of precise distance measurement of a transmission line to any object below it is disclosed, along with a network of such devices. The technique employs ultrasonic or laser sensor technology to measure the distance to the nearest object, be it vegetation or a crossing conductor below, and reports that distance wirelessly to the system operator or transmission asset owner. The ultrasonic measurement package may be part of a Transmission Line Security Monitor, which mounts to a transmission line conductor and is powered by the transmission line, transmitting the data by radio links. The technology is equally applicable to encroachment of objects from the side (for example, other transmission lines), as well as to other electrical lines, such as distribution lines, or to other sensing. A built-in transceiver allows the device to communicate with other devices and forward alerts from these devices in a daisy-chain fashion to the intended recipient.
US10031886B2

Described herein are methods of transferring arrays of data information by remote data memory access (RDMA). According to the method, data information in data arrays in a local place identified. The intended data and garbage data are identified. Contiguous intended data and garbage data are copied to a remote place when the amount of garbage data is below a threshold garbage data criteria, and only intended data is copied to the remote place when the amount of garbage data is above the threshold garbage data criteria amount. Copying relies on scatter/gather input/output of RDMA. The garbage data transferred to the remote place is forwarded to a free list of the remote place.
US10031885B2

A wireless network performance management system and method. The system includes at least one collection agent for collecting data related to at least one of service coverage; service quality; and usage of public and/or private data networks for enterprise clients, and a reporting unit to graphically represent the collected data to at least one of track, troubleshoot, and analyze the one of the service coverage; the service quality; and the usage of public and/or private data networks for the enterprise clients.
US10031874B2

A universal input/output circuit for building automation is provided that may avoid issues related to capacitor soakage, thereby giving more accurate measurements of electric resistance. To mitigate capacitor soakage, the voltage between the input/output terminals is held constant. A programmable source drives a current through a resistor that connects to the input/output terminals. The circuit then measures a value of electrical resistance. The measurement yields a voltage signal which is transferred from the input of an analog-to-digital converter to the input of a digital-to-analog converter. A unity gain amplifier applies the output voltage of the digital-to-analog converter D/A to one of terminals. The circuit is configured such that the voltage signal at the output of the amplifier matches or substantially matches the voltage obtained from the resistance measurement.
US10031867B2

A memory bus comprising a plurality of latches arranged sequentially between a source node and a destination node of a channel of the memory bus; and a pulse generator. The pulse generator is operable to generate a sequence of pulses, each sequential pulse to be simultaneously received by the plurality of latches. A pulse is generated for each edge of a clock signal. A first latch of the plurality of latches is operable to pass on a first data sample while a first pulse is received by the first latch of the plurality of latches. A second latch of the plurality of latches is operable to pass on a second data sample towards the first latch of the plurality of latches while the first pulse is simultaneously received by the first and second latches of the plurality of latches.
US10031863B2

A first component associated with an access controlled memory region receives a transaction request including a protocol header from a second component. The first component sends, to the second component, a negative acknowledgment in response to determining that the second component is not authorized to access the access controlled memory region, based on information in the protocol header.
US10031853B2

In-memory caching can include providing, in a data node, a pinned memory space for caching data in a distributed file system. The data that is cached in the pinned memory space is prevented from being swapped out. A virtual address is assigned to the data. The virtual address is mapped to a memory address of the data in the pinned memory space for accessing the data by an application.
US10031846B1

The present embodiments relate to an address generator circuit for addressing a storage circuit. The address generator circuit may generate address signals for read and write access operations at the storage circuit. The write access operation may store a two-dimensional array in the storage circuit and the read access operation may retrieve a transpose of the two-dimensional array from the storage circuit. The address generator circuit may include a status flag generation circuit that generates status flag signals, a modulo adder circuit that receives first and second signals and computes a modulo adder output signal, and an address processing circuit. The address processing circuit may receive the modulo adder output signal from the modulo adder circuit and the plurality of status flag signals from the status flag generation circuit and provide the first and second signals to the modulo adder circuit.
US10031844B2

For data management by a processor device in a computing storage environment, a threshold for an amount of Non Volatile Storage (NVS) space to be consumed by any particular logically contiguous storage space in the computing storage environment is established based on at least one of a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) type, a number of point-in-time copy source data segments in the logically contiguous storage space, and a storage classification. Establishing the threshold for the amount of NVS to be consumed based on the number of point-in-time copy source data segments in the logically contiguous storage space further includes considering resources needed to perform a Copy Source To Target (CST) operation required prior to the point-in-time copy source data segments being destaged.
US10031842B2

A method including measuring an initial precision measurement of at least one value of a number with a decimal point, measuring an infinite precision measurement of a value of the number with a decimal point, where a format of the number with a decimal point or of a primitive operation manipulating a number with a decimal point is first replaced with a predetermined optimal format. Additionally, manipulating, for at least one instruction, at least one number with a decimal point, including writing at least one variant performing the same function as the at least one instruction, and measuring, for each variant, at least one value of the at least one number with a decimal point obtained with the variant, and selecting the optimal variant as a function of the measured value and the initial precision and infinite precision values and replacing the at least one instruction with the selected variant.
US10031839B2

A device may obtain text to be processed to extract constraints corresponding to an object in the text. The constraints may define values permitted to be associated with the object. The device may extract the constraints based on identifying patterns in the text. The device may generate, based on the constraints, positive test data and negative test data for testing values for the object. The positive test data may include a first value that satisfies each of the constraints, and the negative test data may include a second value that violates at least one of the constraints. The device may provide information that identifies the positive test data and the negative test data.
US10031836B2

In a method of service emulation, a plurality of messages communicated between a system under test and a target system for emulation are recorded in a computer-readable memory. Ones of the messages are clustered to define a plurality of message clusters, and respective cluster prototypes are generated for the message clusters. The respective cluster prototypes include a commonality among the ones of the messages of the corresponding message clusters. One of the message clusters is identified as corresponding to a request from the system under test based on a comparison of the request with the respective cluster prototypes, and a response to the request for transmission to the system under test is generated based on the one of the message clusters that was identified. Related computer systems and computer program products are also discussed.
US10031834B2

Recording a replay-able trace of execution of an executable entity using cache data includes executing one or more threads of the executable entity concurrently across one or more processing units of the one or more processors. During execution of the one or more threads, a separate replay-able trace is recorded for each thread independently. Recording includes, for each thread, recording initial processor register state for the thread. Recording also includes, for each thread, and upon detecting a processor data cache miss, recording at least one line of cache data imported into the processor data cache. Recording also includes recording the occurrence of at least one event by recording its side effects.
US10031829B2

There is disclosed a method of monitoring an infrastructure comprising managed units, the method comprising the steps of: acquiring data associated with a first performance indicator from a first managed unit; determining a first quantized distribution function of at least a subset of pieces of data of the acquired data of the first managed unit; determining if the first quantized distribution function verifies one or a plurality of predefined rules describing particular distribution functions of performance indicators.
US10031822B2

Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for determining whether one node of a HA group is able to take over for another. An apparatus includes a model derivation component to derive a model correlating node usage level to node data propagation latency through and to node resource utilization from a first model of a first node of a storage cluster system and a second model of a second node of the storage cluster system, the first model based on a first usage level of the first node under a first usage type, and the second model based on a second usage level of the second node under a second usage type; and an analysis component to determine whether the first node is able to take over for the second node based on applying to the derived model a total usage level derived from the first and second usage levels.
US10031817B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, computer program product, and computer system for leveraging checkpoint restart. The method includes determining a first set of work stages within a first computation algorithm. A set of permissions associated with the first set of work stages are identified, and the work stages are stored as checkpoints in either a public location or a private location. Upon deployment of a second computation algorithm, a second set of work stages within the second computation algorithm is compared to the first set of work stages. If the second set of work stages match with the first set of work stages, the second computation algorithm is executed using the checkpoint associated with the matching work stages.
US10031816B2

The disclosed computer-implemented method for healing images in deduplication storage may include (i) detecting that a data segment stored within deduplication storage is corrupted by executing an algorithm on the data segment to generate a numerical identifier for the data segment and determining that the numerical identifier does not match a previously stored numerical identifier for the data segment, (ii) checking, during a backup operation, whether a digital fingerprint of a data segment of an image being backed up matches a digital fingerprint of the corrupted data segment that was taken prior to corruption and that is already stored within the deduplication storage, and (iii) appending the data segment from the image being backed up to a container that already contains the corrupted data segment rather than replacing the corrupted data segment. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US10031807B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems, and program products for concurrent data retrieval from multiple loud storage devices. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to retrieve stripes of target data from at least a first network device, retrieve redundancy data of the target data from a second network storage device that is different from the first network storage device concurrently and reconstructing the target data based on the stripes of the target data and the redundancy data.
US10031805B2

A computing device includes an interface configured to interface and communicate with a dispersed storage network (DSN), a memory that stores operational instructions, and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and to the memory such that the processing module, when operable within the computing device based on the operational instructions, is configured to perform various operations. The computing device determines characteristic(s) of encoded data slices (EDSs) of a data object and determines a first estimated class for the EDSs based on the characteristic(s) of the EDSs of the data object. The computing device then selects storage locations within storage units (SUs) of the DSN for the EDSs to be distributedly stored based on the first estimated class and collects write and/or delete request analytics associated with the EDSs. Based on updated information regarding the analytics, the computing device may then update/move/change the storage locations of the EDSs.
US10031799B1

A system for mitigating operational impairment of a computer system includes a plurality of computing nodes. Each of the computing nodes includes a processor and memory coupled to the processor. The computing nodes are configured to: implement a plurality of computing devices; identify an impairment in operation of a first of the computing devices; execute a first remediation operation to mitigate the impairment; analyze operation of the first of the computing devices after execution of the first remediation operation to determine whether the first remediation operation is effective to mitigate the impairment; and change a frequency with which the first remediation operation is applied to mitigate the impairment based on whether the first remediation operation is deemed effective to mitigate the impairment.
US10031794B1

A method, computer program product, and computing system for monitoring the availability of multiple redundant data sources within a high-availability data environment. The inaccessibility of at least one of the multiple redundant data sources is detected, thus defining at least one inaccessible data source. Which software applications are impacted by the at least one inaccessible data source is determined, thus defining at least one impacted software application. A notification is provided to one or more parties associated with the at least one impacted software application concerning the inaccessibility of the at least one inaccessible data source.
US10031793B2

An apparatus-implemented method according to one embodiment includes detecting an error while writing data to a tape volume on a tape and repositioning the tape in response to detecting the error. A determination whether a rewrite of data associated with the error to the tape volume is allowed is made based on a current position of the tape after the repositioning. The data is rewritten to the tape volume in response to determining that the rewrite of data associated with the error to the tape volume is allowed. A computer program product for protecting overwrite of a tape volume according to another embodiment includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a controller to cause the controller to perform the foregoing method.
US10031775B2

Backfill scheduling for embarrassingly parallel jobs. A disclosed method includes: receiving an initial schedule having a plurality of jobs scheduled over time on a plurality of nodes, determining that a first job can be split into a plurality of sub-tasks that can respectively be performed in parallel on different nodes, splitting the first job into the plurality of sub-tasks, and moving a first sub-task from its position in the initial schedule to a new position to yield a first revised schedule.
US10031774B2

An implementation of the disclosure provides a scheduler for scheduling multi-phase computing jobs where each phase utilizes different amount of resources for executing the jobs in that phase. To schedule the jobs, the scheduler receives a profile for a computing job describing the execution phases associated with one more complied executable modules. The profile includes a plurality of job phase definitions. Each job phase definition includes an estimated amount of computing resources utilized by executing a respective job phase. An identifier of the computing job is appended to a job queue. A combination of one or more computing jobs is selected from the job queue. Thereupon, this combination is scheduled for execution, if it is determined that a total of the estimated amount of computing resources for executing computing jobs in each of one or more of the respective jobs phases satisfies a threshold resource amount associated with the combination.
US10031769B2

A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing coherent accelerator function isolation for virtualization in an input/output (IO) adapter in a computer system. A coherent accelerator provides accelerator function units (AFUs), each AFU is adapted to operate independently of the other AFUs to perform a computing task that can be implemented within application software on a processor. The AFU has access to system memory bound to the application software and is adapted to make copies of that memory within AFU memory-cache in the AFU. As part of this memory coherency domain, each of the AFU memory-cache and processor memory-cache is adapted to be aware of changes to data commonly in either cache as well as data changed in memory of which the respective cache contains a copy.
US10031768B2

The current document is directed to methods for aggregating host computers into distributed computing systems and to distributed computing systems created by the methods. In a described implementation, host computers are aggregated into two or more clusters, at a first distributed-computing-system level, each managed by a second-level management server. The two or more clusters are then, in turn, aggregated into a hierarchical distributed computing system managed by a top-level management server. The top-level management server is interconnected to, and accesses, the second-level management servers through a host-gateway appliance that includes host-gateway control logic implemented within a server computer. In order to achieve scalability and efficiency, the top-level management server provides a subset of the native management commands to system administrators and other users who access a management interface provided by the top-level management server.
US10031758B2

A dispatcher circuit receives sets of instructions from an instructing entity. Instructions of the set of a first type are put into a first queue circuit, instructions of the set of a second type are put into a second queue circuit, and so forth. The first queue circuit dispatches instructions of the first type to one or more processing engines and records when the instructions of the set are completed. When all the instructions of the set of the first type have been completed, then the first queue circuit sends the second queue circuit a go signal, which causes the second queue circuit to dispatch instructions of the second type and to record when they have been completed. This process proceeds from queue circuit to queue circuit. When all the instructions of the set have been completed, then the dispatcher circuit returns an “instructions done” to the original instructing entity.
US10031755B2

A pipelined run-to-completion processor includes no instruction counter and only fetches instructions either: as a result of being prompted from the outside by an input data value and/or an initial fetch information value, or as a result of execution of a fetch instruction. Initially the processor is not clocking. An incoming value kick-starts the processor to start clocking and to fetch a block of instructions from a section of code in a table. The input data value and/or the initial fetch information value determines the section and table from which the block is fetched. A LUT converts a table number in the initial fetch information value into a base address where the table is found. Fetch instructions at the ends of sections of code cause program execution to jump from section to section. A finished instruction causes an output data value to be output and stops clocking of the processor.
US10031754B2

A pipelined run-to-completion processor includes no instruction counter and only fetches instructions either: as a result of being prompted from the outside by an input data value and/or an initial fetch information value, or as a result of execution of a fetch instruction. Initially the processor is not clocking. An incoming value kick-starts the processor to start clocking and to fetch a block of instructions from a section of code in a table. The input data value and/or the initial fetch information value determines the section and table from which the block is fetched. A LUT converts a table number in the initial fetch information value into a base address where the table is found. Fetch instructions at the ends of sections of code cause program execution to jump from section to section. A finished instruction causes an output data value to be output and stops clocking of the processor.
US10031751B2

A processing device includes an instruction control unit outputting an instruction fetch request; a primary cache having a request port for the instruction fetch request and a cache processing unit that outputs instruction data for the instruction fetch request; and a secondary cache returning the instruction data to the primary cache. The request port has a primary port provided in common to threads and storing information on the instruction fetch requests of the threads, secondary ports provided for each threads, and each storing entry numbers of the primary port, and a request determination unit determining, from among the entered instruction fetch requests, an instruction fetch request to be input to the primary cache, with priority on an instruction fetch request waiting for being input to the primary cache, in an order of the instruction fetch requests of the respective threads that are output from the instruction control unit.
US10031748B2

An interrelated set of tools and methods are disclosed for recording the identity of software components responsible for creating files, recording the identity of software components that access software files, reasoning about the dependency relationships between software components, identifying and reporting undesirable dependencies between them, and reporting other useful information about a large-scale software architecture by instrumenting a software build process or test process.
US10031738B2

An example system includes a similarity module, a selection module, and a messaging module. The similarity module may receive a first set of application identifiers identifying applications downloaded or installed on at least one digital device, compare the first set of application identifiers to a second set of application identifiers identifying applications of at least one other user, generate a similarity value based on the comparison, and when the similarity value exceeds a similarity threshold, determine that the first and second sets are sufficiently similar. If the first and second sets are sufficiently similar, the selection module may determine at least one application identifier in the second set that is not in the first set. The messaging module may provide a recommendation to the first user, the recommendation including the at least one application identifier in the second set that is not in the first set.
US10031734B2

A method of a server and an electronic device are provided. The method includes receiving a package generated with an intermediate representation from a first electronic device; receiving build environment information on at least one third electronic device from a second electronic device; and generating an application package to be executed in the at least one third electronic device, based on the package or the build environment information. The electronic device includes a build unit configured to generate a Central Processing Unit (CPU-independent) binary and build information for CPUs involved in two or more third electronic devices; a package generation unit configured to generate a CPU-independent application package using the generated CPU-independent binary and the generated build information; and a package registration unit configured to transmit the generated CPU-independent application package to a server.
US10031729B1

In general, the disclosed technology relates to a method for generating a web application. The method includes selecting a webpage in the web application and implementing a custom UI action on the webpage. Implementing the custom UI action on the webpage may include creating a hidden component on the webpage, associating a custom user interface (UI) action with the hidden component, specifying at least one input for the hidden component based on the custom UI action, specifying at least one target output for the hidden component based on the custom UI action, and associating the hidden component with a custom UI action trigger event. The method further includes deploying the web application after implementing the custom UI action on the webpage.
US10031717B2

Multiple simultaneous calls are controlled. At least one processor is used to display an interface including indicators corresponding to at least two audio presentation devices. Each interface includes call contextual controls which change according to the state of a call. A swap control swaps an active call between the audio presentation devices corresponding to the indicators.
US10031715B2

A plurality of zone players, including at least a first player and a second zone player, wherein the first zone player is designated as a master device of a synchrony group, a method comprising: determining, by the first zone player, that the second zone player should be designated as the master device of the synchrony group; instructing, by the first zone player, the second zone player to be designated as the master device of the synchrony group; and causing, at the first zone player, the first zone player to lose its designation as the master device of the synchrony group.
US10031714B2

The present disclosure provides a method and device for processing audio files. The method can include the follows. A setting instruction from a user is received. Preset styles of spliced songs are set in accordance with the setting instruction. N pieces of audio files are read out and analyzed to obtain styles thereof. The start time and the end time of each paragraph corresponding to each of the styles of the N pieces of audio files are determined. The N pieces of audio files are clipped in accordance with the start time and the end time determined, so as to obtain K pieces of clipped paragraph, and all or part of the K pieces of clipped paragraph are spliced in accordance with the order of the preset styles to obtain audio files of the spliced songs; wherein N, K≥1 and are integers.
US10031712B2

A computing system that supports the use of multiple displays in display mirroring mode and extended display mode may automatically determine a display mode in which to configure the system (with little or no user input) based on various characteristics of the displays in the system. For example, the system may determine that a television, projector, or other presentation type display is connected in the system, and in response, may determine that the system should be configured in a display mirroring mode, rather than in an extended display mode. The system may also determine that the presentation type display is the preferred display, and may render image content in a best (or preferred) mode for that display using its native resolution, aspect ratio or color profile. The system may then scale the rendered image content for display on other (non-preferred) displays, such as an internal display, without re-rendering it.
US10031709B2

Devices and methods for managing print jobs on a printing device having a plurality of output media trays are disclosed. The method includes monitoring a print job in an active state, the print job is associated with a predetermined output media tray. The print job being switched from the active state to a held state is detected based on a status of at least one of a first set of printing resources, print input conditions, and print output conditions being negative for the print job. A new incoming print job received at the printing device is identified. A second set of printing resources, print input conditions, and print output conditions are determined for the new incoming print job. Finally, the printing device is triggered to print the new incoming print job for producing prints via an alternate output media tray while the print job is in the held state.
US10031704B2

A printing system that is capable of saving time for inputting authentication information at the time of instructing job process from the portable terminal. A printing system comprises a printing apparatus and a portable terminal. The printing apparatus comprises an NFC tag, an authentication unit, a writing unit that writes data including user information about a user whose authentication succeeds into the NFC tag when the user authentication succeeds, a reception unit that receives print data, and a processing unit that processes the print data based on the user information included in the print data received. The portable terminal comprises a reading unit that read data from the NFC tag, an extraction unit that extracts the user information from the data read, a generation unit that generates print data using the user information extracted, and a transmission unit that transmits the print data generated to the printing apparatus.
US10031698B2

A method of wear leveling for a data storage device is provided. The data storage device includes a non-volatile memory having a plurality of blocks. A portion of the blocks not having any valid data are defined as spare blocks, and the spare blocks are associated with a spare pool. The method includes the steps of: maintaining a management table recording a plurality of physical block numbers and a plurality of block statuses corresponding to the blocks; selecting a first spare block having a first smallest physical block number as a current temporary block; receiving a write command from a host; determining whether data in the write command shall be written into the current temporary block; if false, selecting a second spare block having a second smallest physical block number as a next temporary block; and writing the data into the next temporary block.
US10031693B1

Whether a replication relationship is established between a first and a second storage device is determined. If it is determined that the replication relationship is established between the first and second storage device, then whether data in the first region of the first storage device has changed since a previously completed asynchronous data replication process is determined. If the data in the first region of the first storage device has changed since the previously completed asynchronous data replication process, then whether the changed data in the first storage device is data copied from the second region of the first storage device is determined. If the changed data in the first region of the first storage device is data copied from the second region of the first storage device, then data from the second region of the second storage device is replicated to the first region of the second storage device.
US10031692B2

A method includes computing, in a local storage system having a local volume with a plurality of local regions, respective local checksum signatures over the local regions, and computing, in a remote storage system having a remote volume with remote regions in a one-to-one correspondence with the local regions, respective remote checksum signatures over the remote regions. A given remote region is identified, the given remote region having a given remote signature and a corresponding local region with a given local signature that does not match the given remote signature. The data in the given remote region is then replaced with data from the corresponding local region.
US10031689B2

In general, techniques are described for stream management in storage devices. A storage device comprising a memory device and a processor may be configured to perform the techniques. The processor may detect a stream collision in which a host device writes a first version of a logical block (LB) to a first stream, and writes a second version of the same LB to a second stream. The processors may compare a first blockset sequence number (BSN) associated with a first collection of physical blocks referenced by the first stream to a second BSN associated with a second collection of physical blocks referenced by the second stream. Based on the comparison of the first BSN to the second BSN, the processor may write, to the mem device, the second version of the LB to the first stream.
US10031688B2

A computer-implemented method includes identifying a storage reallocation plan associated with a primary storage volume, a secondary storage volume, and one or more client computing devices; determining a systematic importance indicator associated with the primary storage volume; and determining a systematic connectivity indicator associated with the storage reallocation plan and the one or more client computing devices. The computer-implemented method further includes determining a storage reallocation conclusion based on the systematic importance indicator and the systematic connectivity indicator. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed.
US10031684B2

Examples include techniques for a write zero operation. Example techniques include forwarding a write 0 command to a memory device to cause internal activations of column select lines of one or more blocks of memory to cause bit values or contents of the one or more blocks to have or store a value of 0.
US10031682B1

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and computing device that receives metadata for a block associated with an object from a source storage node. The metadata comprises a source object identifier and the object is associated with a source volume of a source aggregate owned by the source storage node. A determination is made when another block associated with the object has been previously received. A destination object identifier is obtained based on the source object identifier, when the determining indicates that the other block associated with the object has been previously received. A new aggregate block number is assigned to the block based on the destination object identifier and another portion of the metadata. Ownership of the source volume is transferred upon receipt of an indication of a cutover from the source storage node in order to migrate the source volume to a destination volume of a destination aggregate.
US10031678B2

An operation method of a data storage system including storage devices includes transmitting a packet to a host including information indicating whether the storage devices are capable of resource sharing; transmitting ID information of the storage devices capable of resource to the host; transmitting by a requesting device among the capable storage devices a resource sharing request message to the remaining storage devices capable of resource sharing; and performing the resource sharing on at least one of the remaining storage devices.
US10031677B1

Disclosed herein are techniques for implementing high-throughput low-latency hybrid memory modules with improved data backup and restore throughput, enhanced non-volatile memory controller (NVC) resource access, and enhanced mode register setting programmability. Embodiments comprise a command replicator to generate sequences of one or more DRAM read and/or write and/or other commands to be executed in response to certain local commands from a non-volatile memory controller (NVC) during data backup and data restore operations. Other embodiments comprise an access engine to enable an NVC in a host control mode to trigger entry into a special mode and issue commands to access a protected register space. Some embodiments comprise a mode register controller to capture and store the data comprising mode register setting commands issued during a host control mode, such that an NVC can program the DRAM mode registers in an NVC control mode.
US10031673B2

A cost function is obtained where an amount of over-provisioning associated with solid state storage is an input of the cost function and a cost for a given amount of over-provisioning is an output of the cost function. An amount of over-provisioning is determined using the cost function and the amount of over-provisioning for the solid state storage is set to be the determined amount.
US10031670B2

According to one embodiment, a control unit writes data in a write buffer to a first semiconductor storage device, and requests the first semiconductor storage device to start a background operation. The control unit writes the data to a second semiconductor storage device, and requests the second semiconductor storage device to start a background operation. When the first semiconductor device is in a busy state because of the write operation or the background operation, the control unit reads data from either the second semiconductor storage device or the write buffer.
US10031669B2

A computing device includes an interface configured to interface and communicate with a dispersed storage network (DSN), a memory that stores operational instructions, and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and memory such that the processing module, when operable within the computing device based on the operational instructions, is configured to perform various operations. The computing device determines to facilitate migration of encoded data slices (EDSs) from a first storage unit (SU) pool to a second SU pool and identifies storage resources associated with the EDSs to be migrated. The computing device then generates a migration schedule for the EDSs based on performance information associated with storage resources and facilitates the migration of the plurality of EDSs based on the migration schedule using the storage resources based on an aggression factor and adapts the aggression factor as deemed necessary based on the performance information.
US10031655B2

A DLNA device for performing a DLNA service scenario, comprises a display unit, an input unit, a communicator and a controller. The display unit is configured to display a user interface for performing the DLNA service scenario. The input unit is configured to receive, from a user, an operational instruction for the user interface. The communicator is configured to communicate with a DLNA network. The controller is configured to control the user interface displayed on the display unit and control the communicator. The user interface is configured to include a main layer providing an interface for media content selection, a first sublayer providing an interface for media server selection, and a second sublayer providing an interface for media player selection. The first sublayer and the second sublayer are displayed temporarily on at least a portion of the main layer according to the operational instruction.
US10031653B2

A mobile terminal including a display unit configured to switching between an On state and an Off state, a touch sensor configured to sense touch on the display unit in the On or Off state, and a controller configured to switch at least a portion of the display unit to the On state when displacement of a drag input, dragging a pointer in a predetermined direction, in a first direction reaches a first reference value, output first information in a first area of the display unit when at least the portion of the display unit turns to the ON state, and switch the display unit to the Off state when the pointer, which has dragged in the predetermined direction, is released from the display unit after the display unit is switched to the On state. Further, the display unit is maintained in the On state after the display unit is switched to the On state in response to the drag input while the pointer, which has dragged in the predetermined direction, is touching the display unit.
US10031651B2

An interactive conference is supplemented based on terminology content. Terminology content from a plurality of devices connected to the interactive conference is monitored. A set of words from the terminology content is selected. Supplemental media content at an external source is identified based on the selected set of words, and selectively made available to a device connected to the interactive conference.
US10031645B2

Systems, computer products, and methods are described herein for determining the applications and/or devices that a user users, or has used in the past, through a user computer system. The system categorizes the applications and/or devices related to one or more potential targets in which the user maybe interested and presents the targets to the user for selection by the user. The system monitors and aggregates information from the applications and/or devices related to the one or more desired targets and provides suggestions to aid in achieving the desired targets. The system allows the user to control, or may automatically control, the applications and/or devices related to the one or more desired targets in a central location. The aggregated information and/or one or more desired targets may be pushed to systems, applications, and devices, in order to act as filters or additional information for providing additional output to the user.
US10031642B2

Methods and systems for configuring a tab in a tab control are described. An application creates the tab control, and the user is presented with a tab control including multiple tabs. At least one special tab includes a text label that suggests it can be user defined, such as “Other.” When the user presses this tab, the tab shows a pressed state momentarily and then morphs into a text field. The user can then type in text, and the text is recorded for that tab. If the user decides that he or she wants to change the text in the special tab, the user can select the special tab again to enter new text.
US10031634B2

A system and method are provided to enable the indication positions of respective indicators (e.g., fingers) to be detected (multiple-point detection) and also to enable detection of the users of the indicators (user detection). Signal generators for generating different signals for respective users are provided, and the signals from the signal generators are supplied to a sensor section through indicators. In a multi-touch and multi-user detecting device 1, a transmitting section 200 supplies determined signals to respective transmitting conductors 11Y. Respective receiving conductors 12X receive the signals from the transmitting conductors 11Y and also the signals from the signal generators of the users. Based on these signals, a user-and-position identifying circuit 33A and a position detecting circuit 34A in a receiving section 300A function to detect indication positions indicated by the respective indicators as well as the users using the indicators.
US10031626B2

A display device with an integrated touch screen includes a panel including m (m is a natural number) electrodes and m lines; a display driver IC applying a common voltage to the m electrodes; and a touch IC generating a touch scan signal to apply the touch scan signal to the m electrodes and receiving touch sensing signals according to the touch scan signal to detect a location of a touch input on the panel, wherein at least one of the m electrodes includes touch electrode portions and non-touch electrode portions.
US10031620B2

A method of differential self-capacitance measurement is used to enhance a signal-to-noise ratio of sense lines in a touch panel display, thereby improving touch sensor accuracy. The differential self-capacitance measurement is implemented for a touch panel using charge sharing between adjacent sense lines of the touch panel matrix. Sequential differential self-capacitance measurements can be compared with one another by computing the difference |CS1−CS2|−|CS2−CS1| to sense a change caused by an intervening event. By scanning the entire touch panel matrix, events can be tracked across the touch panel.
US10031617B2

A touchscreen includes a plurality of X electrodes extending in a first direction and arranged in parallel in a second direction, a plurality of Y electrodes extending in the second direction so as to intersect the X electrodes and arranged in parallel in the first direction, and pedestal layers formed at respective intersections between the plurality of X electrodes and the plurality of Y electrodes, wherein an intersection portion of each Y electrode is formed under the pedestal layer, wherein a part of an intersection portion of each X electrode is formed on the pedestal layer and both ends thereof are electrically connected to adjacent electrode portions of the X electrodes, and wherein a profile of a portion of the pedestal layer intersecting the intersection portion of the X electrode has a nonlinear shape when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the substrate.
US10031615B2

The embodiment of the disclosure discloses a touch substrate, a touch display panel and a method for calculating touch pressure. The touch substrate comprises at least two semiconductor pressure sensors, a bias voltage applying circuit and a voltage detecting circuit, wherein the bias voltage applying circuit is used for applying bias voltage to each semiconductor pressure sensor; the voltage detecting circuit is used for acquiring strain voltages of each semiconductor pressure sensor. A first straight line connecting the first connecting terminal and the second connecting terminal intersects a second straight line connecting the third connecting terminal and the fourth connecting terminal. According to the technical scheme of the disclosure, the semiconductor pressure sensors can be integrated inside the touch display panel.
US10031612B2

Provided is a capacitive touch switch panel on which it is possible to form a transparent sensor electrode having high quality design shape and reduced reflection of visible light, and which moreover has excellent appearance and ample environmental resistance. This capacitive touch switch panel 1 is provided with a glass substrate 2, and with a sensor part 3 formed on this glass substrate 2. The sensor part 3 has a sensor electrode 4, this sensor electrode 4 comprising an Al thin film formed by sputtering or vacuum deposition into a switch configuration on the glass substrate 2 at the opposite surface side 2b from a touch surface 2a, the sensor part 3 having an intermediate layer between the glass substrate 2 and at least a portion of the Al thin film. This intermediate layer comprises a thin film that includes at least one metal selected from Cr, Mo, and W.
US10031598B1

An adjustable effective electrode surface area stylus configured to operate with a capacitive touch sensitive device and coordinate detection method therefor is provided. The stylus comprises an electrode structure comprising a main electrode segment, a sub-electrode segment, a shielding, a switch, and a processing system. The main electrode segment has a main effective electrode surface area and the main electrode segment and sub-electrode segment together form an adjusted effective electrode surface area. The processing system drives the electrode structure to output one stimulation signal having one frequency and a flag and adjust between the output of a main projection of the main electrode surface area having a main central point and an adjusted projection of the adjusted electrode surface area having an adjusted central point. The main central point and adjusted central point projected from the electrode structure is used to calculate tilt and orientation of the stylus.
US10031593B2

Embodiments of the invention provide a human interface device including an inner sphere, wherein the inner sphere has a center point. The human interface device can further include an outer sphere, and the outer sphere may be compressible. The human interface device may also include a plurality of pressure sensors between the inner sphere and the outer sphere for detecting localized compression of the outer sphere, a first three-axis-accelerometer located within the inner sphere, and a second three-axis-accelerometer located within the inner sphere, wherein the first three-axis-accelerometer and the second three-axis-accelerometer-accelerometer are each located at least a predetermined distance from the center point.
US10031588B2

A tracking system generates a structured light pattern in a local area. The system includes an array of lasers that generate light. The array of lasers includes a plurality of lasers and an optical element. The plurality of lasers are grouped into at least two subsets of lasers, and each of the at least two subsets of lasers is independently switchable. The optical element includes a plurality of cells that are each aligned with a respective subset of the array of lasers. Each cell receives light from a corresponding laser of the array of lasers, and each cell individually applies a modulation to the received light passing through the cell to form a corresponding portion of the structured light pattern that is projected onto a local area.
US10031587B2

An electronic device and method are disclosed, the electronic device including a variable detection module operable in a plurality of modes, each of the plurality of modes configuring the variable detection module to detect a different external signal; and a controller. The controller may implement the method, including operating the variable detection module in one of the plurality of operating modes, and executing a function of the electronic device in response to a signal detected by the variable detection module.
US10031586B2

Approaches to enable a computing device, such as a phone or tablet computer, to use sensor information obtained from sensors of the computing device to interpret one or more gestures and/or other input provided by the user. In particular, the computing device may use information about the movement of the device gathered from an accelerometer or gyroscope in combination with input data detected by the touch screen or cameras of the device in order to disambiguate between several different types of gestures for the device.
US10031582B2

One illustrative system disclosed herein includes a processor configured to determine an ESF-based haptic effect and transmit a haptic signal associated with the ESF-based haptic effect. The illustrative system also includes an ESF controller in communication with the processor, the ESF controller configured to receive the haptic signal, determine an ESF signal based at least in part on the haptic signal, and transmit the ESF signal. Further, the illustrative system includes an inducing electrode configured to receive the ESF signal and induce an electric charge on an induced electrode, wherein the inducing electrode does not contact the induced electrode, and wherein the induced electrode is configured to output the ESF-based haptic effect to a surface.
US10031580B2

One illustrative system disclosed herein includes a processor configured to receive a sensor signal from a neural interface configured to detect an electrical signal associated with a nervous system. The processor is also configured to determine an interaction in with a virtual object in a virtual environment based on the sensor signal. The processor is also configured to determine a haptic effect based at least in part on the interaction with the virtual object in the virtual environment. The processor is also configured to transmit a haptic signal associated with the haptic effect. The illustrative system further includes a haptic output device configured to receive the haptic signal and output the haptic effect.
US10031574B2

A computing system includes a multi-core processor and a core controller. The core controller is for: monitoring utilization of the multi-core processor; calculating a target performance index according to the utilization of the multi-core processor, a target utilization and a first performance index, wherein the first performance index is associated with a first entry of a dynamic voltage frequency scaling (DVFS) table that corresponds to a current setting for the multi-core processor; and selecting a second entry of the DVFS table that corresponds to a target-setting according to the target performance index and a second performance index that is associated with the second entry. The target-setting is used to configure the multi-core processor.
US10031570B2

A system for performing computing operations in a data center includes one or more sets of computer systems, one or more primary power systems, and a reserve power system. The primary power systems include at least one power distribution unit that supplies power to at least one of the sets of computer systems. The reserve power system automatically supplies power to at least one of the sets of computer systems if a condition is met (such as a failure of the primary power system).
US10031569B2

One of a first voltage and a second voltage may be selected based on input from a basic input/output system (BIOS). One of the selected voltage and no voltage may be output to a carrier detect (CD) pin and a ring Indicator (RI) pin of a serial communication port, based on the input from the BIOS.
US10031555B2

An information handling system includes a flexible display screen, first and second display platforms, and a plurality of micro-beads. The flexible display screen is movably mounted to the first and second display platforms. The plurality of micro-beads is coated on the flexible display screen, and the plurality of micro-beads comprises a protective layer of increase hardness relative to the flexible display screen.
US10031553B2

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an electronic device having a noise blocking structure comprising: a first electronic component including a noise source; a first connecting portion disposed on one side of the noise source and grounded to a first grounded portion; and a second connecting portion disposed on the other side (such that the noise source is between the second connecting portion and the first connecting portion) and grounded to a second grounded portion. By means of a first grounded region formed by the first connecting portion and a second grounded region formed by the second connecting portion, the noise generated from the noise source is prevented from emanating at least to a second electronic component nearby so as to prevent a degradation in the performance of nearby electronic components.
US10031550B2

Provided is a display device, including: a display unit (31); a touch panel (32) stacked on a front part of the display unit (31); and a case for housing the touch panel (32) and the display unit (31). The case includes: a rear case (21); and a front case (22) removably attached to the rear case (21), which has an opening portion for exposing a touch detection region and a visible region of the touch panel (32) and the display unit (31) stacked together. The display unit (31) is mounted to the rear case (21), and the touch panel (32) is mounted to the front case (22).
US10031541B1

In one example, a circuit includes a pass module, a first sensing module, a second sensing module, a decision module, and a control module. The pass module is configured to modify, based on a control signal, a resistance of a channel that electrically connects an input voltage and a load. The first sensing module is configured to generate a first sensed current. The second sensing module is configured to generate a second sensed current. The decision module is configured to generate a first decision current, generate a second decision current, and generate a composite sensed current based on a summation of the first decision current, the second decision current, the first sensed current, and the second sensed current. The control module is configured to generate the control signal based on the composite sensed current.
US10031536B2

A circuit for improving instantaneous current flow in an AC-to-DC power supply for an electronic device, said circuit positioned immediately prior to an AC input for the AC-to-DC power supply and providing a reserve of electrical charge independent of the inductive impedance of the AC power line.
US10031534B1

A thermostat set point insight providing method and system that receives thermostat set point information for a reference population for a user, receives at least one thermostat setting for the user, identifies the set point insight for the user based on the thermostat set point information for the reference population and the at least one thermostat setting for the user, and provides the set point insight to the user.
US10031529B2

Unmanned vehicle (UV) control may include receiving a UV work order and generating a mission request based on the UV work order. The mission request may identify an objective of a mission, assign a UV and a sensor to the mission from a fleet of UVs and sensors, and assign a first movement plan to the mission based on the identified objective of the mission. The assigned UV may be controlled according to the assigned first movement plan, and communication data may be received from the assigned sensor. The communication data may be analyzed to identify an event related to the mission. The identified event and the first movement plan may be analyzed to assign a second movement plan to the mission based on the analysis of the identified event and the first movement plan to meet the identified objective of the mission.
US10031527B2

A robotic work tool system (200) comprising a robotic work tool (100) comprising a collision detection sensor (190), said collision detection sensor (190) comprising a first sensor element (191) and a plurality of second sensor elements (192), wherein said first sensor element (191) is movably arranged with respect to said plurality of second sensor elements (192), wherein said robotic work tool (100) is configured to detect that said first sensor element (191) is proximate a peripheral second sensor element (192) and in response thereto determine that a collision has been detected, and detect that said first sensor element (191) is not proximate any peripheral second sensor element (192) and in response thereto determine that a lift has been detected.
US10031524B2

A method and a device for controlling a gait of a biped robot. The method includes: selecting gait controlling parameters, and acquiring a movement trajectory of a center of mass when a zero moment point of the biped robot is located within a steady area; obtaining first numerical values of each of the gait controlling parameters of the center of mass and second numerical values of the center of mass; setting a first constraint condition when the step starting phase ends by using the first numerical values, and setting a second constraint condition when the step ending phase starts by using the second numerical values; calculating the movement trajectories of the center of mass in the step starting phase and the step ending phase on the basis of the first constraint condition and the second constraint condition, respectively; and controlling a walking of the biped robot.
US10031522B2

This patent application discloses methods and systems for alerting computerized motor-vehicles about predicted accidents. In an example method, a motor vehicle alerts another motor vehicle about a predicted accident, even though that accident is between the alerting car and a third motor vehicle—for example, the alert is transmitted by non-visual electromagnetic (EM) radiation. When an adjacent motor vehicle receives such accident alert and determines it might itself be hit, it will react so as to minimize its chances of being hit or at least to minimize the damage if it is being hit. Optionally, one or more of the motor vehicles has an onboard device for measuring a blood-alcohol level of a human driver thereof. The measured blood-alcohol level may be used to compute a probability of an occurrence of an accident and/or may be included in one or more of the transmitted accident alerts.
US10031518B1

Various techniques are described to facilitate controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and viewing feedback received from a UAV. A graphical user interface (GUI) is provided that allows a user to view a display window. The display window may indicate structures or portions of structures in which additional image data is desired by highlighting these portions within the display window. Static imagery may be leveraged to provide smooth and consistent feedback transitions. When a delay exists between the time the UAV sends live video data and the time it may be displayed in the GUI, the static images may be shown in the display window initially until the live video data may be displayed. The opacity of structures included in an initial display window may also transition to a greater opacity over time, with the live video eventually being displayed.
US10031514B2

A method for servo locking control is provided. A servo enters a first lock state, and determines whether the current angular deflection values of the servo in a first preset period are all greater than a preset angular deflection value. When the current angular deflection values of the servo in the first preset period are all greater than the preset angular deflection value, the servo enters a second lock state, and determines whether the current angular changing values of the servo in a second preset period are all less than a preset angular changing value. When the current angular changing values of the servo in the second preset period are all less than the preset angular changing value, the servo enters the first lock state. A servo for performing the method for servo locking control is also provided.
US10031510B2

Computer-based methods and system perform root-cause analysis on an industrial process. A processor executes a hybrid first-principles and inferential model to generate KPIs for the industrial process using uploaded process data as variables. The processor selects a subset of the KPIs to represent an event occurring in the industrial process, and divides the selected data into time series. The system and methods select time intervals from the time series based on data variability and perform a cross-correlation between the loaded process variables and the selected time intervals, resulting in a cross-correlation score for each loaded process variable. Precursor candidates from the loaded process variables are selected based on the cross-correlation scores, and a strength of correlation score is obtained for each precursor candidate. The methods and system select root-cause variables from the selected precursor candidates based on the strength of correlation scores, and analyze the root-cause of the event.
US10031508B2

This machine tool is provided with an arithmetic control unit that: controls a motor so as to measure the positions of raw material holes in a boom using an imaging camera held on a main shaft (S111-S113); calculates the positions of the center axes of the raw material holes on the basis of the information about the positions of the raw material holes captured by the imaging cameras (S114, S115); calculates distances between two center axes of interest (S116); and, when at least one of the calculated distances does not meet a prescribed value (S117), calculates the most suitable positions for process holes from minimum holes that comply with formulae (1111-1) to (1114-1) and (1141-1) to (1144-1) on the basis of equations (1101), (1111) to (1114), and (1141) to (1144) (S121); and controls the motor so as to form process holes in the positions calculated as the most suitable and cuts raw material holes using a tool held on the main shaft (S122, S123).
US10031486B2

A method of setting/calibrating a feature or function in a setting/calibrating mode of an electronic device comprising at least one actuatable selector, wherein the setting/calibrating of the feature or function requires an actuation of the at least one selector, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one indicator hand coupled to an actuation mechanism that rotates the at least one indicator hand in at least one of a clockwise and counterclockwise direction, wherein the method comprises the steps of using the at least one indicator hand to indicate the actuatable selector for actuation; setting/calibrating the feature or function; and exiting the setting/calibration mode. An electronic device that carries out the foregoing method is also disclosed.
US10031475B2

An image formation apparatus having a recording medium held between a photosensitive drum and a transfer belt and transferring a toner image from the photosensitive drum to the recording medium includes: a first heating unit to which power is supplied directly from outside when power of the apparatus is off; a second heating unit used in heating control when the power of the apparatus is on; a humidity detection unit configured to detect humidity inside the apparatus; and a control unit configured to, when the power of the apparatus is on, heat the transfer belt by controlling the first heating unit and the second heating unit on the basis of output of the humidity detection unit, wherein the transfer belt is heated by the first heating unit when the power of the apparatus is off.
US10031473B2

An image forming apparatus has an image forming station, a mounting portion, and a fixing portion that includes a first rotatable member, a second rotatable member, a rubbing rotatable member configured to rub a surface of the first rotatable member during a rubbing treatment, and a storing portion capable of storing number information. A number of recording materials fed to the fixing portion is counted, written into the storing portion, and used to determine whether to execute the rubbing treatment. In a case in which, in sequence, the recording material is fed to the mounted fixing portion, the mounted fixing portion is removed and replaced with another fixing portion, and the removed fixing portion is remounted, both number information acquired from the storing portion and the number of recording materials fed to the remounted fixing portion are used to determine whether to execute the rubbing treatment.
US10031463B2

A belt control device includes a holder to movably support a rotation shaft of at least one of the plurality of rotators around which a belt is looped, a contact part to contact an end of the belt as the belt moves in a belt width direction, a stationary frame part disposed facing the holder, a shaft moving device to move the rotation shaft as the belt moves, and at least one projection disposed on one of the stationary frame part and the holder. The projection is to contact the other of the stationary frame part and the holder. The projection includes a long projection having a contact portion extending in a shaft moving direction in which the rotation shaft moves, and the contact portion is contactable with the other of the stationary frame part and the holder.
US10031450B2

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit configured to perform image formation in a first mode, in which image formation is performed by a plurality of image forming stations, or a second mode, in which image formation is performed by a predetermined image forming station among the plurality of image forming stations; and a controller configured to: control the image forming unit to perform a preparation operation in accordance with color mode information; set a restricted operation state in which the controller prohibits the image formation in the first mode and permits the image formation in the second mode when any one image forming station, except for the predetermined image forming station, is incapable of performing image formation; and prevent the image forming unit from performing the preparation operation when the first mode is set as the color mode information and the restricted operation state is set.
US10031443B2

A developer supply device includes: a device main body having a fixed portion; a developer accommodating member including a stationary portion fixed to the fixed portion, a rotary portion, and a seal member provided on one of an outer circumferential portion of the rotary portion and the stationary portion and being in contact with the other, a developer to be supplied to a developing device being accommodated in the rotary portion; and a motor that rotates the rotary portion, wherein the developer supply device has a first torque mode in which the motor rotates the rotary portion with a first rotational torque and a second torque mode in which the motor rotates the rotary portion with a second rotational torque higher than the first rotational torque when the motor rotates the rotary portion after a preset time or more elapses since the rotary portion stops rotating.
US10031437B2

A light-emitting device including a light-emitting element and causing the light emitting element to emit different light amounts. The light-emitting device includes: a measurement unit, a predetermined value storage unit, and a driving signal calculation unit. The measurement unit measures a surrounding temperature of the light-emitting element. The predetermined value storage unit stores a predetermined value of a driving signal for causing the light-emitting element to emit light. The driving signal calculation unit executes calculation of a value of the driving signal for causing the light-emitting element to emit a desired light amount by applying a correction factor in accordance with the measured surrounding temperature and the desired light amount to the predetermined value of the driving signal.
US10031436B2

A high voltage generation apparatus that supplies a DC voltage to a load includes a current detection circuit that detects a DC flowing through the load. The current detection circuit includes an operational amplifier, and the current detection circuit detects the DC flowing through the load, as a voltage generated in a current detection resistor. The high voltage generation apparatus further includes a voltage detection circuit that detects a DC voltage supplied from a rectification circuit to the load. The current detection circuit includes a bypass circuit that causes a current to flow from a connection portion between the voltage detection circuit and a first input terminal of the operational amplifier to an output terminal of the operational amplifier in a case where the detected value of the DC that flows through the load drops below a predetermined value.
US10031430B2

An electrophotographic photosensitive member including a surface layer containing a specific polyester resin is provided. The polyester resin contains specific structures.
US10031428B2

A system is disclosed for reducing overlay errors by controlling gas flow around a patterning device of a lithographic apparatus. The lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam. The lithographic apparatus further includes a movable stage comprising a support structure that may be configured to support a patterning device. The patterning device may be configured to impart the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam. In addition, the lithographic apparatus comprises a plate (410) positioned between the movable stage (401) and the projection system (208). The plate includes an opening (411) that comprises a first sidewall (411a) and a second sidewall (411b). The plate may be configured to provide a gas flow pattern (424) in a region between the movable stage and the projection system that is substantially perpendicular to an optical axis of the illumination system.
US10031426B2

A method for overlay monitoring and control is introduced in the present disclosure. The method includes selecting a group of patterned wafers from a lot using a wafer selection model; selecting a group of fields for each of the selected group of patterned wafers using a field selection model; selecting at least one point in each of the selected group of fields using a point selection model; measuring overlay errors of the selected at least one point on a selected wafer; forming an overlay correction map using the measured overlay errors on the selected wafer; and generating a combined overlay correction map using the overlay correction map of each selected wafer in the lot.
US10031420B2

Wet-strippable antireflective compositions comprising one or more silicon-containing polymers that are free of Q-monomers and hydridosilanes as polymerized units are provided. These compositions are useful in the manufacture of various electronic devices.
US10031419B2

There is provided a pattern forming method comprising (i) forming a film on a substrate using an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition which contains (A) a resin which decomposes due to an action of an acid to change its solubility with respect to a developer and (C) a specific resin, (ii) forming a top coat layer using a top coat composition which contains a resin (T) on the film, (iii) exposing the film which has the top coat layer to actinic rays or radiation, and (iv) forming a pattern by developing the film which has the top coat layer after the exposing.
US10031418B2

A photosensitive resin composition includes (A) an acrylic-based binder resin including a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 1, wherein in Chemical Formula 1, each substituent is the same as defined in the detailed description; (B) a cardo-based binder resin including a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 2-1 and a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 2-2, wherein in Chemical Formula 2-1 and 2-2, each substituent is the same as defined in the detailed description; (C) reactive unsaturated compound; (D) an initiator; (E) a colorant; and (F) a solvent. A photosensitive resin film using the same and a color filter is also provided.
US10031412B1

A pellicle assembly is provided. The pellicle assembly includes a frame and a membrane connected to the frame. The pellicle assembly also includes housing connected to the frame. The pellicle assembly further includes capping member passing through an upper opening of the housing and movable along a longitudinal axis of the housing. In addition, the pellicle assembly includes fastening member connected to the capping member and movable along a direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. When the capping member is in a released position, the fastening member is located within the housing, and when the capping member is in a fastening position, a portion of the fastening member is moved to the outside of the housing for fixing a mask.
US10031408B2

This disclosure discloses a screen device. The screen device includes a screen part used for displaying an image, at least one polyhedron including a plurality of planes used as the screen part for displaying the image, and a first drive device configured to rotate the at least one polyhedron around at least one axis.
US10031406B2

The image projection apparatus includes a light modulator configured to perform modulation of light based on an image signal, a projection optical system configured to project the light modulated by the light modulator, an illumination optical system configured to illuminate multiple divided illumination areas of the light modulator, multiple light source units provided corresponding to the divided illumination areas, a light source controller configured to control light quantities of the respective light source units so as to change illuminances of the divided illumination areas independently, and a light detector configured to detect a non-projection light component that is not projected through the projection optical system. The light source controller is configured to control the light quantities of the respective light source units depending on the image signal and a detection result of the non-projection light component by the light detector.
US10031405B2

A light source device includes: a phosphor unit that is provided with a phosphor; an excitation light source that supplies excitation light that excites the phosphor; a reducing optical system that reduces the luminous flux diameter of the excitation light; and a light condensing optical system that condenses, on the phosphor unit, excitation light for which the luminous flux diameter was reduced by the reducing optical system. The reducing optical system includes: a plurality of lenses including two lenses having positive power; and a lens-moving section that moves the lens back and forth along the direction of the optical axis. The lens is disposed on the excitation light source side, and has a lower power than the lens. The refractive index of the lens is equal to or smaller than the refractive indexes of the other lenses of the reducing optical system.
US10031400B2

An image recording device having a projected viewfinder is described that projects individual, or multiple sets of synchronized framing beams onto a target image that are coaxially aligned with the field of view of the camera. The set of framing beams is projected onto the target image beyond the scope of the field of view being recorded by the image recording device but still within the field of vision of the operator of the device. In this way, the operator of the image recording device will be able to clearly see the framing beams identifying the limits of the recorded areas, while not having any portion of the field of view of the image recording device obscured by the framing beams themselves.
US10031399B1

A pumping beam L1 enters from a pumping beam projector 3 into one end surface 2a of a nonlinear crystal 2, the pumping beam L1 and idler wave L2 are generated from another end surface 2b of the nonlinear crystal 2. The pumping beam L1 emitted from the other end surface 2b of the nonlinear crystal 2 is reflected and re-enters as a pumping beam L′ into the other end surface 2b and the idler wave L2 generated from the other end surface 2b of the nonlinear crystal is reflected by the reflection optical system 6 and re-enters as a seed beam L2′ into the other end surface 2b. The idler wave L2 enters as the seed beam L2′ together with the pumping beam L1′ into the nonlinear crystal and thus a terahertz wave with a large output and including a plurality of wavelengths can be generated.
US10031397B2

A method and a controller for operating an array of variable optical retarders are disclosed. Neighboring pixels of the array of variable optical retarders are driven with disordered temporal bit sequences. An optical beam illuminating the pixels tends to integrate time-domain modulation caused by individual pixels driven in a non-coordinated or disordered fashion, which reduces the overall time-domain modulation amplitude of the optical beam.
US10031394B2

There is provided an electrophoretic particle which contains a core material particle formed of a composition containing a resin, a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound having any one of an imino group, a methylol group and an alkoxymethyl group in the molecule and a heterocyclic ring having a nitrogen atom, and a coloring agent.
US10031392B2

Provided is a novel display panel that is highly convenient or highly reliable, a novel input/output device that is highly convenient or highly reliable, or a method for manufacturing a novel display panel that is highly convenient or highly reliable. The present inventors conceived a structure including a first intermediate film, a first electrode including a region in contact with the first intermediate film, a pixel that includes a first display element including the first electrode and a pixel circuit electrically connected to the first display element, a signal line electrically connected to the pixel, and a terminal that includes a third conductive film electrically connected to the signal line and a second intermediate film including a region in contact with the third conductive film.
US10031387B2

A liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate on which a plurality of pixel areas are formed; first to fourth color filter layers comprising a plurality of color filters disposed in the pixel areas and having four different colors in four adjacent pixel areas; a plurality of pixel electrodes disposed on the color filter layers corresponding to the respective pixel areas; a second substrate coupled to and facing the first substrate; and a common electrode disposed on one of the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the first to fourth color filter layers are disposed in a 2×2 matrix, and wherein at least one color filter from among the color filters is wider in a row direction and a column direction of the first substrate than the remaining color filters so as to cover a contact point at which the four adjacent pixel areas meet.
US10031383B2

In a liquid crystal display device, a common electrode is formed on an organic passivation film, an interlayer insulating film is formed on the common electrode, a pixel electrode with a slit is formed on the interlayer insulating film, and a through hole is formed in the organic passivation film and the interlayer insulating film, so that the pixel electrode is connected to a source electrode of a TFT through the through hole. Further, the taper angle around the upper base of the through hole is smaller than the taper angle around the lower base. Thus, the alignment film material can easily flow into the through hole when the diameter of the through hole is reduced to connect the pixel and source electrodes, preventing display defects such as uneven brightness due to the absence of the alignment film or due to the alignment film irregularity around the through hole.
US10031379B2

A liquid crystal display device includes: a first substrate; a pixel electrode formed on the first substrate; a second substrate corresponding to the first substrate; and a common electrode formed on the second substrate. The pixel electrode includes: a central electrode, an outer portion connected to the central electrode and extending along an edge of the pixel electrode; and a fine branch portion extending from a side of the central electrode and spaced apart from the outer portion, wherein a cross-shaped opening is formed in the common electrode.
US10031378B2

An array substrate, a display panel and a display device are disclosed. The array substrate includes a plurality of pixel areas defined by a plurality of gate lines intersecting a plurality of data lines. Each pixel area includes: a pixel electrode (2), strip-shaped common electrodes (3) which cooperate to generate electric fields with the pixel electrode (2), and an insulating layer (4) disposed between the pixel electrode (2) and strip-shaped common electrodes (3). The strip-shaped common electrodes (3) are only disposed over the pixel electrode (2) to reduce coupling capacitance formed between the data line and the common electrodes.
US10031370B2

A liquid crystal display device includes: a pair of substrates; a liquid crystal layer between the pair of substrates; and an alignment film between at least one of the pair of substrates and the liquid crystal layer, wherein the alignment film includes a first and second component, wherein the first component is a polymer in which at least two types of liquid crystal orientation side chains are bonded to a polysiloxane main chain, wherein the second component is made of at least one of a polyamic acid and a polyimide, wherein the at least two types of liquid crystal orientation side chains include a first side chain having on an end thereof a fluorine atom, and a second side chain that does not have on an end thereof a fluorine atom, wherein a proportion of the first component to a total amount of the second component is 2 mass % or greater, and wherein, in the liquid crystal display device, liquid crystal is sealed between the pair of substrates by a One Drop Fill scheme.
US10031366B2

The present invention provides a color filter substrate and a liquid crystal display panel. Both comprises a color filter layer (11) having a plurality of red filters, green filters, blue filters (R, G, B) and color change filters (C) aligned in matrix, and a first transparent electrode (41) and a second transparent electrode (42) are respectively positioned at two sides of the color change filter (C), and material of the color change filter (C) is electrochromic material. The color change filter (C) is applied with voltage signals via the first transparent electrode (41) and the second transparent electrode (42) to control color change of the color change filter (C) for conveniently achieving high brightness and high color saturation display; as appearing to be transparent, the transmission is high to satisfy the demand of high brightness display; as the color change filter (C) appears to be a specific color which is not red, green, blue, such as cyan, four colors display can be realized to promote the color expression ability to satisfy the demand of high color saturation display.
US10031357B2

A display device includes a first substrate defining a top surface thereof, a bottom surface thereof facing the top surface, and side surfaces thereof connecting the top and bottom surfaces to each other. The side surfaces included: a first side surface defined by: a first patterned surface including a first pattern of which a length thereof extends in a diagonal direction in a plan view of the first patterned surface, and a second patterned surface which extends obliquely from an upper end of the first patterned surface, the second patterned surface including a second pattern of which a length thereof extends in a perpendicular direction from the upper end of the first patterned surface in a plan view of the second patterned surface.
US10031351B2

Systems and methods for creating fully custom products from scratch without exclusive use of off-the-shelf or pre-specified components. A system for creating custom products includes an image capture device for capturing image data and/or measurement data of a user. A computer is communicatively coupled with the image capture device and configured to construct an anatomic model of the user based on the captured image data and/or measurement data. The computer provides a configurable product model and enables preview and automatic or user-guided customization of the product model. A display is communicatively coupled with the computer and displays the custom product model superimposed on the anatomic model or image data of the user. The computer is further configured to provide the customized product model to a manufacturer for manufacturing eyewear for the user in accordance with the customized product model. The manufacturing system is configured to interpret the product model and prepare instructions and control equipment for the manufacturing of the customized product.
US10031345B2

A slip-resistant eyewear system comprising an eyewear frame generally comprises a nosepiece comprising a nosepiece material configured to couple to a bridge of an eyewear frame. The frame comprises first and second hinges coupled to the eyewear frame which are also coupled to first and second spring-loaded tension adjusters. First and second bows are coupled to first and second tension adjusters. A first bow extension element is coupled to the first bow and comprises a first fastening element at a first end of the first bow extension element and a second bow extension element is coupled to the second bow and comprises a second fastening element at a first end of the second bow extension element that is configured to mate with the first fastening element to secure the first and second bow extension elements together.
US10031344B2

This disclosure describes techniques and apparatuses for rotational alignment of a circular display and a circular lens. In one or more implementations, a display device, such as a smart watch, includes a circular lens assembly that overlays a circular display assembly. The display device includes at least two alignment points positioned along the perimeter of the circular display assembly that enable a machine vision system to rotationally align the circular display assembly to the circular lens assembly. At least one of the alignment points includes a target mark on the perimeter of the circular lens assembly that is viewable by the machine vision system through a corresponding alignment hole on the perimeter of the circular display assembly. The alignment hole is within a border region of the circular display assembly, but is sized and positioned so that it does not impact the structure of the circular display assembly.
US10031339B2

An optical combiner includes an off-axis spatially multiplexed lens optically coupled to receive image light and direct the image light in an eye-ward direction. The off-axis spatially multiplexed lens includes a first sub-lens multiplexed with a second sub-lens. The first sub-lens and the sub-lens are configured to direct the image light to designated eyeward-regions.
US10031334B2

A phase-adjusting element configured to provide substantially liquid-invariant extended depth of field for an associated optical lens. One example of a lens incorporating the phase-adjusting element includes the lens having surface with a modulated relief defining a plurality of regions including a first region and a second region, the first region having a depth relative to the second region, and a plurality of nanostructures formed in the first region. The depth of the first region and a spacing between adjacent nanostructures of the plurality of nanostructures is selected to provide a selected average index of refraction of the first region, and the spacing between adjacent nanostructures of the plurality of nanostructures is sufficiently small that the first region does not substantially diffract visible light.
US10031326B2

According to one aspect, the invention concerns a method for microscopy of a thick sample arranged on a sample support, with edge-illumination of the sample. The method comprises, in particular, emitting at least one illumination beam (1), forming, from the illumination beam, an illumination surface, focusing the illumination surface in the sample by means of a microscope lens (120) and deflecting the illumination surface originating from the microscope lens, in order to form a transverse illumination surface, located in a plane substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the microscope lens. The method further comprises forming, by means of said microscope lens (120), the image of an area of the sample illuminated by the transverse illumination surface on a detection surface (131) of a detection device (130), scanning the illumination beam, allowing the transverse illumination surface to move along the optical axis of the microscope lens, and superimposing the object imaging surface and the transverse illumination surface, by focusing means comprising means separate from the means for the relative axial movement of the microscope lens and the sample.
US10031324B2

A projection optical system is constituted by, in order from the reduction side, a first optical system for forming an image displayed by image display elements as an intermediate image, and a second optical system for forming the intermediate image on a magnification side conjugate plane. The second optical system is constituted by, in order from the reduction side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a first optical path bending means that bends an optical path with a reflective surface, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, a second optical path bending means that bends an optical path with a reflective surface, and a third lens group having a negative refractive power. Conditional Formulae (1) and (2) below are satisfied. 0.05<|f23|/D223<0.50  (1) 5.0
US10031319B2

A six-piece optical lens for capturing image and a six-piece optical module for capturing image are provided. In the order from an object side to an image side, the optical lens along the optical axis includes a first lens element with refractive power, a second lens element with refractive power, a third lens element with refractive power, a fourth lens element with refractive power, a fifth lens element with refractive power and a sixth element lens with refractive power. At least one of the image-side surface and object-side surface of each of the six lens elements is aspheric. The optical lens can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras.
US10031314B2

To compensate for a focal plane shifting away from an image plane due to a temperature change, an integrated image sensor and lens assembly includes an optical component and an optics compensator including passively actuating elements. The passively actuating elements couple the optical component to the inner surface of the lens mount. The passively actuating elements and the optics component are configured such that the focal plane is maintained to coincide with or substantially coincide with the image plane. The passively actuating elements and the optics component adjust the distance an incident ray travels in the optics compensator when the temperature changes to thereby maintaining the focal plane to coincide with or substantially coincide with the image plane.
US10031313B2

A lens aligning device includes: a decentering detection mechanism for measuring a first lens decentering amount; a aligning position calculation control mechanism for calculating a target inter-lens decentering amount by using Formula (1); an adjustment mechanism for moving at least one of a first lens and a second lens so that the inter-lens decentering amount matches the target inter-lens decentering amount. Inter-lens decentering amount=First lens decentering amount×−2  (1)
US10031307B2

An optical splitter module (140) can be carried on a cover (120) of an enclosure (100) between a contoured surface (129) and a row of optical adapters (130). Output pigtails (165) from the splitter module (140) are routed to the optical adapters (130). In certain examples, a significantly longer input fiber (161) is routed from the splitter module (140) to a splice region (114) at a base (110) of the enclosure (100). Certain types of splitter modules (140) are mounted to the cover (120) at an angle relative to an insertion axis for a feeder cable (170). A certain type of splitter module (140) curves about a minor axis (A2) so that one major surface (142) has a concave curvature and another major surface (143) has a convex curvature.
US10031301B2

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a communications cable, which comprises a support separator providing a plurality of channels for receiving transmission media, said support separator comprising a first polymeric material, at least one optical fiber disposed in one of said channels, at least an electrical conductor capable of carrying at least about 10 watts of electrical power disposed in another one of said channels, an insulation at least partially covering said electrical conductor, a jacket surrounding said support separator and said transmission media, said jacket comprising a second polymeric material. In some embodiments, the first and second polymeric materials can be the same material, and in other embodiments, they can be different materials.
US10031288B2

An optical structure and a system includes a Hyperuniform Disordered Solid (“HUDS”) structure and a waveguide. The HUDS structure is formed by walled cells organized in a lattice.
US10031287B1

A photonic neural component including optical transmitters, optical receivers, inter-node waveguides formed on a board, multiplexers configured to multiplex input optical signals onto the inter-node waveguides, transmitting waveguides configured to receive optical signals emitted from the optical transmitters and transmit the received optical signals to the inter-node waveguides via the multiplexers, mirrors to partially reflect optical signals propagating on the inter-node waveguides, receiving waveguides configured to receive reflected optical signals produced by the mirrors and transmit the reflected optical signals to the optical receivers, and filters configured to apply weights to the reflected optical signals. The transmitting waveguides and receiving waveguides are formed on the board such that one of the transmitting waveguides and one of the receiving waveguides crosses one of the inter-node waveguides with a core of one of the crossing waveguides passing through a core or clad of the other.
US10031282B2

An optical fiber containing alkali metal elements or the like in which Rayleigh scattering loss can be reduced is provided. An optical fiber includes a core composed of silica glass and a cladding which surrounds the core, has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core, and is composed of silica glass containing fluorine. The core contains a first group of dopants and a second group of dopants having a diffusion coefficient lower than a diffusion coefficient of the first group of dopants. The difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of residual stress in the optical fiber is 150 MPa or less.
US10031279B2

The disclosure discloses a display component of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), wherein the display component is assembled with a mainboard of a mobile terminal for use. The display component includes: a rubber frame, arranged on an LCD; an adhesion material, arranged in the rubber frame; a lamp strip of which two sides are provided with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps, a circuit for controlling the LED lamps and a conductor for connecting the circuit with the mainboard of the mobile terminal being further arranged on the lamp strip; and a light guide plate, arranged between the LED lamps in the rubber frame. By the technical solutions, the technical problems of influence of sandwiching of the light guide plate between the LCD and a Capacitive Touch Panel (CTP) on a lamination process and bright lines in an area close to characters of the whole screen are solved, lamination yield of the LCD and the CTP is improved, and the bright lines in the area close to the characters of the whole screen are eliminated.
US10031274B2

A light guide plate includes a diffusing surface that diffuses incident light having a concave cylindrical surface shape with curvature in a first direction, and an exit surface having a convex cylindrical surface shape with curvature in the first direction. The light guide plate is constituted such that a pattern provided behind the diffusing surface is visible from the exit surface side. The light guide plate has an incident surface on at least one end of the light guide plate in the first direction, and prisms that are formed in the diffusing surface and reflect visible light from a light source that enters the light guide plate from the incident surface toward the exit surface. Each prism has a reflecting surface oriented toward the incident surface side, and an angle between the reflecting surface and the diffusing surface increases, the further the prism is from the incident surface.
US10031256B2

A method of operating a radiographic inspection system is disclosed for a system in which a conveyor chain with identical modular chain segments transports articles under inspection. Two operating modes of the radiographic inspection system includes a calibration mode in which calibration data characterizing the radiographic inspection system with an empty conveyor chain are generated; and an inspection mode in which raw image data of articles under inspection with the background of the conveyor chain are acquired and arithmetically processed with calibration data into a clearer output image, without the interfering background of the conveyor chain.
US10031254B2

An example system includes an electrode-based tool for deployment in a downhole environment. The electrode-based tool has a plurality of current electrodes, at least one voltage monitoring electrode, at least one return electrode, and electronics to collect one or more voltage measurements from the at least one voltage monitoring electrode as current from at least one of the plurality of current electrodes is injected into the downhole environment and flows to the at least one return electrode. The system also includes at least one processor to estimate leakage current between at least one of the plurality of current electrodes and the at least one return electrode based on the collected one or more voltage measurements and a predetermined internal impedance model or table. The at least one processor is configured to derive a corrected downhole environment parameter based at least in part on the estimated leakage current.
US10031253B2

Buried object locators including an omnidirectional antenna array and a gradient array are disclosed. A locator display may include information associated with a buried object based on both omnidirectional antenna array signals and gradient antenna array signals.
US10031252B2

A device for detecting objects such as mines placed in a zone to be explored, the device being placed on a vehicle moving at a velocity V and including a panel on which a radiation set is arranged to transmit signals at an illumination frequency and to receive signals reflected from the zone, and a processing circuit to provide information about the presence of the objects after processing of the reflected signals, wherein the radiation set includes an alignment of antennas arranged transverse to the velocity V of displacement of the vehicle.
US10031251B2

Systems and methods for shielding a metal detector head include placement of conductive shielding around the coils of the head to reduce the effects of capacitance variation between the coils and their surroundings.
US10031224B2

A radar device which receives reflected waves from objects, and derives still targets, includes: a determining unit that determines whether any other still target exists at a position in the vicinity of a reference target which is a still target existing at a position closest to a position of a vehicle in a longitudinal direction; and a setting unit that makes it easy to determine the reference target as a roadblock, in a case where the number of other still targets existing at positions in the vicinity of the reference target is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
US10031216B2

A method uses an underwater vehicle travelling along an underwater surface projecting high frequency sound at the underwater surface to produce an image of the underwater surface with sufficient along track and cross track resolution to be able to identify cracks or other irregularities in the underwater surface.
US10031214B2

A LIDAR system is provided. The LIDAR system comprises at least one processor configured to: control at least one light source in a manner enabling light flux to vary over a scan of a field of view using light from the at least one light source; control at least one light deflector to deflect light from the at least one light source; use first detected reflections associated with a scan of a first portion of the field of view to determine an existence of a first object in the first portion at a first distance; determine an absence of objects in a second portion of the field of view at the first distance; alter a light source parameter; and use second detected reflections in the second portion of the field of view to determine an existence of a second object at a second distance greater than the first distance.
US10031211B2

A radar apparatus which includes a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, an I signal generating circuit, a Q signal generating circuit, a peak detecting circuit, a target detecting unit, and a distortion judging unit. The transmitting unit transmits a radar wave which is frequency-modulated along a time axis in a specified cycle, and the receiving unit receives an incoming wave which is a reflected wave of the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting means and amplifies it in an amplifier. The I signal generating circuit generates an I signal which is a real number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving means with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit. The Q signal generating circuit generates a Q signal which is an imaginary number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving unit with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit with a phase being shifted by π/2 [rad].
US10031207B2

A compensation filter is operable to receive a received signal in response to a transmitted signal, the received signal having a time duration. The compensation filter is operable to generate a compensated signal. The compensation filter changes shape of an associated transfer function during the time duration of the received signal to result in the compensated signal having an improved spectral flatness throughout the time duration of the received signal. The compensation filter can be used in a sonar system. A method, which can be used in a sonar system, uses the compensation filter.
US10031204B2

The present invention discloses a method for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging comprising: acquiring at least two MR images with different motion-weighting originating from a RF and gradient pulse sequence causing signal attenuation from diffusion but not flow (flow-compensated data); acquiring at least two MR images with different motion-weighting originating from a RF and gradient pulse sequence causing signal attenuation from diffusion and flow (non-compensated data); performing a model fit to the flow-compensated and non-compensated data in which at least one of the adjustable parameters are constrained to be the same for both sets of data; and obtaining quantitative information on microscopic flow by extracting at least one parameter of the intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) effect from the model fit, said method being directed to diffusion-perfusion.
US10031201B2

To enable improved reconstruction of magnetic resonance (MR) image data from MR scan data acquired from an examination object using dynamic shimming in an MR scanner that has a shim unit with at least one shim channel, an examination region of the object is divided into multiple sections, a B0 field of the examination region is scanned, and a B0 field map is thereby generated, a number of shim parameter sets are determined for the shim channel using the B0 field map, with a first shim parameter set of the number of shim parameter sets being determined for a first section of the multiple sections, and a second shim parameter set of the multiple shim parameter sets is determined for a second section of the multiple sections. MR scan data of the examination region are acquired, but before acquiring the MR scan data from the first section, the shim channel is adjusted using the first shim parameter set and, before acquiring the MR scan data from the second section, the shim channel is adjusted using the second shim parameter set. MR image data are reconstructed from the MR scan data using the first B0 field map and the number of shim parameter sets.
US10031199B2

In a method and magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus for implementing an MR examination of an examination subject with a predetermined MR measurement protocol at several different bed positions of the bed of the MR apparatus, a respective anatomical structure of the examination subject is determined for each of the several bed positions and a respective specific absorption rate is determined for each of the several bed positions as a function of the respective anatomical structure of the examination subject at the corresponding bed position and the predetermined MR measurement protocol. The specific absorption rates for the several bed positions are determined before electromagnetic fields are generated according to the respective predetermined MR measurement protocol. The specific absorption rates are compared with an absorption rate threshold value and a notification is output if at least one of the specific absorption rates exceeds the absorption rate threshold value.
US10031197B2

In a method and magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus for acquiring MR signals of an examination object, an excitation pulse is radiated while a first gradient switching operation is activated, a refocusing pulse is radiated, a second gradient switching operation is activated with the second gradient switching operation having an opposite polarity to the first gradient switching operation. At least one of the first gradient switching operation and the second gradient switching operation has an amplitude modulation during radiation of the excitation pulse or the refocusing pulse. MR signals are acquired from nuclear spins in a body of the examination object that were excited by the excitation pulse and refocused by the refocusing pulse.
US10031188B2

A system for estimating the state of health (SOH) of a battery of an electric vehicle includes a charger recognition unit, a discharge instruction unit, and an SOH estimator. The charge recognition unit generates a charge recognition signal based on a charge state of the battery. The discharge instruction unit receives the charge recognition signal when the battery reaches at least one predetermined charge voltage value, temporarily stops charging of the battery, and discharges the battery to a certain level. Discharge is performed by operating at least one function of the electric vehicle. The SOH estimator estimates the SOH of the battery based on a voltage change measured during discharging of the battery based on the at least one predetermined current value.
US10031185B2

Determining a state of charge (SOC) of a rechargeable battery includes using a first process to determine a first value for the SOC of the battery and using a second process to determine a second value for the SOC of the battery and deriving the SOC as a weighted average of the first value for the SOC and the second value for the SOC. During a charging cycle of the battery an input charge of the battery is determined from an input current flowing into the battery and a charging time. During a discharging cycle an output charge of the battery is determined from an output current flowing out of the battery, a discharging time and an actual capacity of the battery is the sum of the input charge over charging cycles minus the sum of the output charge over discharging cycles.
US10031181B1

Aspects of the disclosure include an integrated circuit (IC) that includes a first input port configured to receive a test pattern, a second input port configured to receive a signature pattern, a set of interconnected circuit elements, and a comparison circuit. The signature pattern is indicative of an expected test output pattern in response to the test pattern. The set of interconnected circuit elements is configured to generate a test output pattern in response to the test pattern being passed through the set of interconnected circuit elements. The comparison circuit is configured to compare the test output pattern to the signature pattern, generate a test result based on a comparison result of the test output pattern to the signature pattern, and output the test result to the test apparatus.
US10031175B1

Method for determining a light-emission capacity of a light emitting diode, referred to as a LED. The method includes the following steps: reverse biasing the LED so as to cause an accumulation of an electric charge by the LED, said LED being subjected to a light source incident to the LED; causing a discharge of the electric charge accumulated by the LED; obtaining a value representing a time taken for discharging the charge from the LED; determining the light-emission capacity of the LED according to the discharge time obtained.
US10031169B2

The present disclosure provides a method and a phase lock detection apparatus for detecting whether a phase of an output signal is locked to the phase of a reference signal. The apparatus includes a first divider that individually frequency-divides first and second pulse signals, a phase frequency detector that outputs third and fourth pulse signals that correspond to a phase difference between the frequency-divided first and second pulse signals, a second divider that individually frequency-divides the third and fourth pulse signals, and a determiner that determines whether a phase of the second pulse signal is locked, based on the frequency-divided third and fourth pulse signals.
US10031168B2

A method for single-phase islanding detection in a three-phase electricity network, can include supplying power into a three-phase electricity network (EN) by a power supply assembly (PSA), the electricity network (EN) having a network voltage, and providing a stimulus signal into a positive sequence electric quantity of the electricity network, the positive sequence electric quantity being current, power or a derived quantity thereof. A magnitude and/or a rate of change of an indicative element of a negative sequence component of the network voltage is monitored, a frequency domain of the indicative element including a frequency corresponding to the stimulus signal. A single phase islanding condition is detected in the electricity network (EN) if the magnitude and/or rate of change of the indicative element exceeds a predetermined limit value.
US10031156B2

The embodiments described herein provide microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, such as three-axis MEMS devices that can sense acceleration in three orthogonal axes (e.g., x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis). In general, the embodiments described can provide decoupling between the sense motions of all three axes from each other. This decoupling is facilitated by the use of an inner frame, and an outer frame, and the use of rotative spring elements combined with translatory spring elements that have asymmetric stiffness. Specifically, the translatory spring elements facilitate translatory motion in two directions (e.g., the x-direction and y-direction) and have an asymmetric stiffness configured to compensate for an asymmetric mass used to sense in the third direction (e.g., the z-direction).
US10031155B2

The piezoelectric sensor is formed in a semiconductor material chip having a surface defining a plane and integrating a structure for sensing forces acting in the plane. The chip is formed by a substrate defining a cantilever having a first end, constrained to an anchorage portion of the substrate, and a second end, which is free to bend under the action of external forces. The cantilever has first and second longitudinal halves, each carrying a respective strip element of piezoelectric material, which extends parallel to the chip plane.
US10031149B2

A robotic system is provided for accurately and quickly sorting sample tubes within or between sample tube racks.
US10031148B2

An automated system for handling core samples in and out of an imaging device retrieves the samples from a staging area. During handling, the identity of each core sample is known to the system so that the imaging results are correlated appropriately. The system positions the core sample so the vertical and slab side orientations of the core sample discernable during handling. Core samples are staged in a location, and the automated system includes a robotic arm, which senses the core sample to discern its vertical and slab slot orientations, and then loads the core sample into the imaging device. When imaging is complete, the automated system removes the core sample from the imaging device; and in designated circumstances, transfers the core sample to a location for further analysis. In one example the further analysis is based on analyzing areas of interest identified in the core sample.
US10031145B2

Disclosed is a method for quantifying HDL2 cholesterol in a test sample without requiring laborious operations. The method for quantifying cholesterol comprises allowing phospholipase to act on HDL to quantify cholesterol. Also disclosed is a method comprising: a first step of transferring cholesterols other than high-density lipoproteins in a test sample to the outside of the reaction system; and a second step of quantifying high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol among the high-density lipoproteins remaining in the reaction system; wherein, by performing the second step by the above method, high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol in the test sample can be quantified.
US10031142B2

Methods for generating a chemiluminescent enzyme substrate in situ, in aqueous or other assay conditions. Also disclosed are methods to use the substrates to generate light, detect and/or quantify enzymes, antigens, and/or nucleic acids. Kits relating to these methods are also disclosed.
US10031139B2

The present invention provides a staining method in which the fluorescent staining properties in a fluorescently-immunostained specimen are not reduced even when an oil-based mounting medium is used. The present invention also provides a method of preventing deterioration of a fluorescent label caused by irradiation with excitation light and improving the light resistance in a fluorescently-immunostained specimen obtained by the staining method. The biological substance detection method according to the present invention is a biological substance detection method for specifically detecting a biological substance from a pathological specimen, which includes the steps of: immunostaining the specimen with a fluorescent label; immobilizing the thus stained specimen; and mounting the thus immobilized specimen using a mounting medium including an organic solvent not freely miscible with water. In the biological substance detection method, the above-described mounting medium further includes a discoloration inhibitor.
US10031134B2

Disclosed herein are antibody-nanoparticle conjugates that include two or more nanoparticles (such as gold, palladium, platinum, silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, iridium, or an alloy of two or more thereof) directly linked to an antibody or fragment thereof through a metal-thiol bond. Methods of making the antibody-nanoparticle conjugates disclosed herein include reacting an arylphosphine-nanoparticle composite with a reduced antibody to produce an antibody-nanoparticle conjugate. Also disclosed herein are methods for detecting a target molecule in a sample that include using an antibody-nanoparticle conjugate (such as the antibody-nanoparticle conjugates described herein) and kits for detecting target molecules utilizing the methods disclosed herein.
US10031127B2

An ex vivo malignant tumor tissue sample is cleaned, comminuted, suspended in culture medium, subjected to a treatment with collagenase and the collagenase decomposition product is centrifuged. The pellet obtained is re-suspended in culture medium by an absorption instrument, is absorbed and returned several times and transferred to a culture vessel. The re-suspension thus obtained is analyzed under a microscope with phase optics for cell aggregates, which, due to the phenotypic appearance thereof, are identifiable as an aggregate of malignant cells or as an aggregate of endothelial cells or as an aggregate of fibroblasts, and the identified cell aggregates are separated.
US10031126B2

A system for monitoring an exhaled breath of a subject is described. A breath collector can be configured to receive exhaled breath from a subject. One or more sensors can be configured to output a concentration of a first gas compound in the received exhaled breath, and to output a concentration of a second gas compound in the received exhaled breath. The second gas compound is used to normalize the concentration of the first gas based on different physiological states of the subject. A processor operably coupled to the one or more sensors is configured to calculate a ratio of the first gas compound to the second gas compound based on the determined concentrations, and to determine a normalized concentration of the first gas compound. This ratio may be monitored to evaluate an inflammatory state of the subject.
US10031124B2

The present disclosure provides a contamination resistant sensor port which includes one or more sealing members positioned so as to limit and/or prevent internal contamination of the sensor port with fluids and/or particles present in the environment outside the sensor port.
US10031123B2

Provided are methods for the determination of the viability of a mammalian embryo or a potential embryo generated from a mammalian oocyte, comprising applying a mechanical stimulus to the embryo or oocyte, detecting a temporal response of the embryo or oocyte to the mechanical stimulus, and deriving measurements for one or more parameters from the temporal response, the measurements being indicative of viability. Also provided are methods for selecting an embryo for transfer and methods for enhancing the viability of an embryo or oocyte.
US10031118B1

A method of determining and evaluating quality of peanut raw material suitable for processing protein. The method includes the following step: determining fruit shape score, total protein content, leucine content, arginine content, conarachin I content and the mass percentage of the subunit with molecular weight of 23.5 kDa to total protein in the peanut sample to be tested; putting the determined values into formula (1) to obtain the protein powder quality of the peanut sample. The disclosure reduces the analysis step. The disclosure establishes the model of evaluating raw material quality for peanut protein processing, and the peanut protein powder quality can be determined by 6 peanut quality characteristics. The determination of indexes in the model can be predicted by the near infrared analyzer. Through the near infrared analysis of peanut kernel, the indexes in the model can be simultaneously predicted without any damage to the peanut kernel.
US10031115B2

In this system, the carbon component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5) is measured by: heating a sample in a first oven under such conditions as to fractionate the carbon component into carbon fractions; completely converting each carbon fraction into carbon dioxide gas in a second oven; and then measuring the amount of carbon dioxide gas in the carbon fraction precisely. In the system, the problem that a TCD detector cannot measure a low-concentration fraction is solved by using a combustion gas in a non-diluted state, though a combustion gas diluted 150-fold is used in a conventional elemental analyzer. Thus, the present invention develops an international standard instrument in which one standard sample is used and which enables simple standardized measuring acceptable to The International System of Units (SI).
US10031105B2

An apparatus is disclosed for measuring the total organic content of an aqueous stream. The apparatus comprises a platinum electrode for measuring CO2 in an aqueous stream. Methods for measuring the total organic content of an aqueous stream are also disclosed. The methods comprise providing an aqueous stream with oxidized organics therein; providing a platinum electrode, contacting the aqueous stream with the platinum electrode; applying cathodic potential followed by an anodic voltammetric sweep to the platinum electrode, and measuring the amperometric response of the platinum electrode. An apparatus for oxidizing organics in aqueous stream in an aqueous stream is also disclosed.
US10031096B2

A system for performing acoustic thermography inspection of a turbine blade while the blade is in place in an assembled turbine. The system includes an acoustic thermography stack with a cap and a frame that the acoustic thermography stack is slidably mounted to, said frame including an end frame portion that allows the blade to be clamped between the cap and the end frame portion. The system also includes an air cylinder that provides force to move the acoustic thermography stack up and down a rail of the frame such that the turbine blade may be clamped between the cap and the end frame portion and then excited using the acoustic thermography stack, and a casing that encases the air cylinder, a portion of the acoustic thermography stack and a portion of the frame.
US10031095B2

A method for the quantitative analysis of the composition of a gas mixture is specifically suited for the analysis of the atmosphere of a containment in a nuclear installation. Even under difficult conditions, this method enables the simple, reliable and as direct as possible determination of physical parameters, thereby permitting the characteristic definition of the ignition field and the combustion behavior of the gas mixture. A measuring device is provided with a thermal conductivity detector with a first measuring bridge, a thermal tonality detector with a second measuring bridge, and a common evaluation unit. With reference to bridge voltages present on the two measuring bridges, the hydrogen content and the oxygen content are simultaneously determined in the evaluation unit.
US10031091B2

A component imaging system having at least one x-ray tube and an x-ray detector comprises a rotatable platform positioned between the x-ray tube and the x-ray detector. The rotatable platform is rotatable about a first rotational axis. A turntable is mounted on top of the rotatable platform. The turntable comprises: a stage platform for holding a component having an area of interest, the area of interest having a rotational axis; and a mounting plate rotating with the rotatable platform about the first rotational axis. The stage platform is movable in at least a first direction from a starting position to an imaging position to align the rotational axis of the area of interest with the rotational axis of the rotatable platform.
US10031083B2

The purpose of the present invention is to control, with a simple structure and high accuracy, irradiation of excitation light to a multi-nanopore substrate without interrupting a measurement. Irradiation of excitation light is performed concurrently to at least one nanopore and at least one reference object on a substrate mounted in an observation container 103. A position irradiated with the excitation light in a measurement sample is calculated on the basis of a signal generated from the reference object detected by a detector 109, and the measurement and a fixed position control is performed concurrently by performing measurement of the measurement object while a drive control part 115 controlling the position of the irradiation of the excitation light to the measurement sample on the basis of the calculation result, whereby an analysis of the measurement sample can be performed in a short time.
US10031072B2

A heating device for a spectrometry measurement apparatus, wherein it is in the form of a supple optical article, the article comprising a supple flexible support having a top face and a bottom face, the top face being covered with a reflective material in order to form an optical-reflection layer, a flexible heating element being disposed on at least one of the faces of the support.
US10031069B2

Methods and apparatus for concentration determination using polarized light. The apparatus includes a first polarized light source having a first light source polarization axis and a second polarized light source having a second light source polarization axis generally perpendicular to the first light source polarization axis. Also, a first polarized light receiver having a first polarized light receiver polarization axis and configured to measure an intensity of light transmitted from the first light receiver polarizer and a second polarized light receiver having a second polarized light receiver polarization axis substantially perpendicular to the first light receiver polarization axis and configured to measure an intensity of light transmitted from the second light receiver polarizer, wherein the first and second light receiver polarization axes are generally +/−45 degrees relative to the first and second light source polarization axes.
US10031056B2

A method for testing thermal fatigue resistance of a shear cutter includes: engaging the shear cutter with a rotating target cylinder; moving the shear cutter along the rotating target cylinder until the shear cutter is heated to a threshold temperature; cooling the shear cutter in response to heating of the shear cutter to the threshold temperature; and repeating the heating and cooling of the shear cutter.
US10031055B2

A method for manufacturing a tensile test piece according to one or more exemplary embodiments includes: preparing a polymer layer including a non-conductive material; forming a sacrificial layer on the polymer layer; forming a planarization layer on the sacrificial layer; shaping the polymer layer, the sacrificial layer, and the planarization layer into a dog-bone-shaped sample; etching at least a portion of the sample; and drying the sample.
US10031050B2

Embodiments herein describe a universal test platform that includes a universal test station (UTS) coupled to a system under test (SUT) using respective adapters. The adapters include an interface subdivided into portions that are assigned to different data and power standards. In one embodiment, the UTS is coupled to a UTS adapter using a plurality of cables that transmits the different data and power signals between the UTS and the adapter. For example, the interface in the UTS adapter may include a plurality of pins or optical channels that are each coupled to one of the plurality of cables. The SUT is coupled to a SUT adapter which may have the same interface as the UTS adapter. However, the SUT may be coupled to only a sub-portion of the I/O elements in the SUT adapter, and thus, only some of the I/O elements are used when testing the SUT.
US10031044B2

Methods and systems for providing real-time monitoring of a metal surface are provided herein. The system includes a fiber-optic cable disposed alongside a length of a wall that includes the metal surface. A laser source is attached to the fiber-optic cable to transmit light through the fiber-optic cable. An acoustic source is configured to generate acoustic signals in the metal surface, wherein the acoustic signals interact with the fiber-optic cable and influence characteristics of the light. A receiver is attached to the fiber-optic cable to detect the light. The system also includes a signal processing unit configured to determine a location of a change in the metal surface based on changes in the characteristics of the light.
US10031043B2

A method for detecting a structural fault in a structure includes the steps of, (a) performing a Brillouin measurement at a point along a sensing optical fiber which operably cooperates with the structure, to obtain a Brillouin gain spectrum at that point; (b) identifying at least two curves which, when added together, best fit the Brillouin gain spectrum; (c) identifying if peaks of the least two curves occur at different frequencies so as to determine if the structure has a structural fault. There is further provided a corresponding apparatus for detecting a structural fault in a structure.
US10031037B1

A stressroll assembly may comprise a first bracket comprising a first load cell. The first load cell may form a first half of a Wheatstone bridge. A first stressroll wheel may be mounted to a first axle extending between a first arm of the first bracket and a second arm of the first bracket. A second bracket may comprise a second load cell. The second load cell may form a second half of the Wheatstone bridge. A second stressroll wheel may be mounted to a second axle extending between a first arm of the second bracket and a second arm of the second bracket.
US10031033B2

A device for monitoring the freezing state of a biopharmaceutical fluid in a container intended to receive a biopharmaceutical fluid that must pass between the liquid state and the frozen state, includes a peripheral envelope (25) made of plastic, to be connected to a heat treatment receptacle (5), a sensor (19) suitable for detecting a control parameter which is a macroscopic parameter of the container, and an analysis system (62) suitable for determining a freezing state of the biopharmaceutical fluid on the basis of the macroscopic parameter of the container.
US10031025B2

A method is provided for testing a diffusely reflective liquid for color strength, said liquid comprising particles in a carrier medium, e.g. white emulsion paint based on titanium dioxide. The method comprises measuring in situ a lightness parameter of the liquid, of the carrier medium and of the liquid diluted with amounts of carrier medium; and determining from said measurements a dilution parameter indicating the amount of carrier medium needed to produce a predetermined reduction in the lightness parameter of the liquid, said dilution parameter providing an indication of color strength. The lightness parameter may be L* in the CIE L*, a*, b* color space, and the test may be carried out using a diffuse reflection probe (10) configured to direct light from said probe (10) into the liquid and configured to collect a portion of the light from the probe (10) diffusely reflected by the paint for determining the lightness parameter. The results may be used for process control e.g. in emulsion paint manufacture.
US10031014B2

Described is an apparatus (1) for measuring an internal volume of a mold designed for forming hollow glass containers and divisible into two or more pieces (2) comprising: a supporting element (4) configured to support the mold pieces (2) of the mold positioned with respective molding surfaces (3), delimiting the internal volume of the mold, accessible to optical inspection means; a laser scanning device (5) configured to scan the profiles of a surface and obtain information on the distance between the surface and the device (5); a slide (6) movable relative to the supporting element (4) along a longitudinal movement axis having a predetermined position relative to the supporting element (4), the scanning device (5) being connected to the slide (6) and being further movable, relative to the supporting element (4), by rotation about a longitudinal axis of rotation parallel to the movement axis; a control unit connected to one or more actuators to produce a relative translation between the slide (6) and the supporting element (4) and a relative rotation between the scanning device (5) and the supporting element (4).
US10031013B2

A system includes an agricultural metering system with a meter roller configured to meter product from an agricultural product storage compartment to a product distribution system via rotation of the meter roller. The meter roller includes a first meter roller segment having a first plurality of flutes and corresponding recesses, and a second meter roller segment having a second plurality of flutes and a corresponding second plurality of recesses. The flutes of the first meter roller segment are axially separated from the flutes of the second meter roller segment by a gap. The meter roller also includes a dividing ring disposed about the shaft and axially positioned between the first meter roller segment and the second meter roller segment. A width of the dividing ring is substantially equal to the gap.
US10030998B2

A displacement detecting device includes a scale diffraction grating and a detecting head unit. The detecting head unit includes a light source, a first retroreflecting unit that retroreflectes positive first-order diffracted light of light diffracted by the scale diffraction grating, such that the retroreflected light enters the scale diffraction grating again, a second retroreflecting unit that retroreflectes negative first-order diffracted light of the light diffracted by the scale diffraction grating, such that the retroreflected light enters the scale diffraction grating again, and a light receiving unit that receives an interference signal. Each of the first retroreflecting unit and the second retroreflecting unit has a deflecting function of deflecting light incident on the corresponding retroreflecting unit by a predetermined angle and then emitting the light.
US10030997B2

This disclosure is generally drawn to systems, devices, apparatus, and/or methods related to choke systems for drilling environments. Specifically, the disclosed systems, devices, apparatus, and/or methods relate to choke calibration, position, and time display systems for drilling environments. In some examples, a choke display for providing choke status, position, time, and/or calibration information is provided, in some examples, an apparatus may include a circuit board having a right side and a left side, a first set of sensors disposed adjacent the right side of the circuit board, a second set of sensors disposed adjacent the left side of the circuit board, and a display portion configured to display a first mode and/or a second mode based on an actuation of the first set of sensors and an actuation of the second set of sensors.
US10030996B2

A method of determining at least one of a rotational angle position and a rotational speed of a rotating element of a drive train includes arranging at least two sensors in an offset manner in a circumferential direction of the rotating element, recording a measured value indicative of a characteristic of a rotation of the rotating element with each sensor, and determining at least one of a rotational angle position and a rotational speed with reference to the measured values and a distance between the at least two sensors in the circumferential direction.
US10030995B2

A method, apparatus, and aircraft tracker system for reporting state information for an aircraft. A state of the aircraft is identified using sensor data received from an aircraft sensor system in the aircraft. The state information is transmitted at a reporting rate set using the state of the aircraft identified from the sensor data, at least one of a crew command or a ground command when at least one of the crew command is received from a crew interface or the ground command is received from a ground source, and a policy defining priorities for reporting that are based on at least one of the crew command, the ground command, or the state of the aircraft identified from the sensor data.
US10030986B2

Analytic maps may be used to develop and refine law enforcement strategies. Initially, the data assets and associated telemetry information of media recording devices may be stored in a primary database. The data assets include an audio recording, a video recording, or a multimedia recording. The associated telemetry information includes geolocations of the media recording devices at multiple times. References to the data assets and duplicate of the associated telemetry information are stored in a secondary database, in which the secondary database may provide faster data read speed than the primary database. Pre-calculations are performed based at least on the telemetry information as stored in the secondary database according to one or more mapping parameters to generate multiple sets of pre-calculated data. A set of pre-calculated data is then sent for presentation on an analytic map of a dashboard displayed on a remote computing device.
US10030976B2

A gyroscope includes a resonator, a transducer, and a comparator. The comparator is designed to receive an input signal from the transducer and compare the input signal with a reference signal to produce an output signal. Rising and falling edge transitions of the output signal are substantially synchronized with a motion of the resonator along a sense-axis of the transducer.
US10030971B2

A measurement method and system are presented for in-line measurements of one or more parameters of thin films in structures progressing on a production line. First measured data and second measured data are provided from multiple measurements sites on the thin film being measured, wherein the first measured data corresponds to first type measurements from a first selected set of a relatively small number of the measurement sites, and the second measured data corresponds to second type optical measurements from a second set of significantly higher number of the measurements sites. The first measured data is processed for determining at least one value of at least one parameter of the thin film in each of the measurement sites of said first set. Such at least one parameter value is utilized for interpreting the second measured data, thereby obtaining data indicative of distribution of values of said at least one parameter within said second set of measurement sites.
US10030965B2

Methods and systems for monitoring parameters characterizing a set of hot spot structures fabricated at different locations on a semiconductor wafer are presented herein. The hot spot structures are device structures that exhibit sensitivity to process variations and give rise to limitations on permissible process variations that must be enforced to prevent device failures and low yield. A trained hot spot measurement model is employed to receive measurement data generated by one or more metrology systems at one or more metrology targets and directly determine values of one or more hot spot parameters. The hot spot measurement model is trained to establish a functional relationship between one or more characteristics of a hot spot structure under consideration and corresponding measurement data associated with measurements of at least one metrology target on the same wafer. A fabrication process parameter is adjusted based on the value of a measured hot spot parameter.
US10030963B2

A method for measuring a large shaft rotation angle utilizes one or more cams attached to the shaft. Each cam shape is designed to have one or more detectable harmonics when rotated. Multiple harmonics in a single cam or amongst multiple cams may have a particular order. Pairs of fine position sensors, positioned at opposing sense angle positions relative to the cam(s) measure displacement of the cam during rotation. The data from the position sensors is then analyzed, with a processor, to determine the large shaft rotation angle and angular displacement relative to an ideal axis of rotation.
US10030962B2

Disclosed is a precision-positioning drive end pre-tightening device, which comprises a positioning platform (6), an actuator (14), a capacitive sensor (4), a capacitive sensor bracket (3), a pre-tightening block (12) and a film force sensor (13), wherein a sliding groove is provided in the middle of the positioning platform (6), and said pre-tightening block (12), said film force sensor (13) and said actuator (14) are provided in the sliding groove in sequence; the capacitive sensor bracket (3) is fixed on the positioning platform (6), and three connecting rods (3-1) which are connected in sequence via compliant hinges are axially provided at one end of the bracket body of the capacitive sensor bracket (3); an end surface of the capacitive sensor (4) and an upper side surface of the pre-tightening block (12) are parallel to each other, and a gap exists therebetween; and a two-stage pre-tightening device for pre-tightening the pre-tightening block (12) are also provided on the positioning platform (6). The technical means of the device is simple and easy, and the device can satisfy the requirements in related fields of precision positioning, precision and ultra-precision machining, precision operating, precision measurement, micro-electro-mechanical system, etc. for the precision-locating drive end pre-tightening device.
US10030960B2

The invention relates to a calibration device (1) and to a coordinate measuring system for measuring the signal-inducing sensing deflection ITr of tactile measuring probes (2). A reference surface (8) of the reference element (7) is arranged with respect to the field of view (9) of the detector (5) in such a way that, in the event of signal-inducing contact of the sensing surface (4) of the sensing element (3) with the reference surface (8), the sensing surface (4) or parts of the sensing surface (4) lies or lie in the field of view (9) of the detector (5), the detector (5) and the calculation unit (6) being able to calculate the precise position of the sensing element (3) from the detected part of the sensing surface (4).
US10030954B2

An enhanced slide and a circumferential stop assembly for use with a bowfishing arrow may include matching shapes for engaging one another in use. The engagement of such matching shapes offers many improvements over conventional slide and stop assemblies, including an even circumferential distribution of impact between the slide and the stop as well as inhibiting relative longitudinal or rotational movement between the slide and stop assemblies. The stop assembly may further include a nock adapter for engaging a nock, thereby serving as a dual purpose adapter. For ease of use and installation, the stop assembly may be an outsert, meaning that it is adapted to fit snugly over an arrow shaft.
US10030952B1

A deployable shroud provides an aerodynamically smooth surface to minimize the drag otherwise experienced by blunt nose projectiles. The shroud comprises multiple petals mounted at the nose of the projectile that are released at a set time during flight. The deployment mechanism assembly of the shroud provides deployment of the petals without the generation of shock waves into the projectile and comprises a fusible link powered by a thermal source. The shroud assembly is self-powered and does not require energy input from the projectile.
US10030949B1

A mechanical broadhead, which has blades movable from a retracted mode to a deployed mode, is provided with ball and socket members that hold the blades in the retracted mode, and selectively release the blades to the deployed mode. The ball and socket members, which can be on the blades and/or on a retainer element, can be snapped together to provide an audible snap confirming locking of the blades in the retracted mode. The mechanical broadhead can include first and second ferrule portions removably joined with one another. The second ferrule portion can acquire a blocking mode to block a removal opening of a ferrule slot defined in the first ferrule portion so that blade cannot be removed from respective ferrule slots. The second ferrule portion can achieve a removal mode so that the blades can be removed from the slots.
US10030938B2

A cover for a receiver of a gun that may include an elongated member having a first longitudinal axis, the elongated member including a distal end portion which may include a leading edge which is configured and dimensioned to connect with a gun part, and a proximal end portion which is spaced from the distal end portion along the first longitudinal axis. The elongated member may include a first locking mechanism adjacent the proximal end wall. The first locking mechanism may be secured to a recoil spring guide of the gun. Also, the elongated member may include a second locking mechanism adjacent the distal end portion. The second locking mechanism may be secured to a rear sight base of the gun. The elongated member may include an accessory rail.
US10030933B2

A gas spring assembly includes an interior piston tube disposed within an interior pressure chamber of a piston. A bushing is slideably disposed between an annular wall of the piston and the interior piston tube. A catch is attached to the interior pressure tube, and includes a body having a cylindrical portion defining a circular cross section perpendicular to and concentric with a longitudinal axis of the piston. The body of the catch includes an exterior surface defining an outer diameter. A bore extends along a bore axis into the cylindrical portion of the body, and defines a circular cross section having a bore diameter, perpendicular to and concentric with the bore axis. The bore diameter of the bore is less than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion of the body. The catch is formed by plunging an end mill into the cylindrical portion of the catch.
US10030930B2

A two-piece barrel nut includes an internal nut with an externally threaded portion on one end and a plurality of engageable members on the opposite end, and an external nut with an internally threaded portion on one end that receives the externally threaded portion of the internal nut and one or more receptacles on the other end that each may receive a fastener that engages at least one of the plurality of engageable members on the internal nut to lock the external nut to the internal nut. A method for using the barrel nut to attach a barrel to a firearm is also disclosed.
US10030927B1

A firing mechanism for a firearm is provided for reducing maximum trigger pull weight attributable to a sear and for reducing trigger pre-travel and over-travel distances. The firing mechanism includes a sear actuator with a trigger engagement leg that engages with a trigger bar at a reduced trigger travel distance. The firing mechanism also includes an increased trigger bar contact distance, thus reducing trigger pull weight.
US10030923B1

Aspects of a magazine for use with a repeating firearm are described. One unique aspect is that the magazine is fabricated completely from a translucent polymer, particularly a polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and, preferably, an unreinforced PPSU that is highly resistant to mechanical, chemical, and thermal failures commonly affecting magazines. Another aspect of the magazine is the inclusion of a coupling system fully integrated into the housing that allows magazines to be securely joined together without the use of tools or additional components. A further aspect of the magazine is the easy release button design allowing the magazine to be disassembled by large or gloved fingers without need for a tool to depress the release button.
US10030867B2

An insert for a radiant tube of a furnace including a first section adapted to absorb heat from combustion gases passing through the radiant tube and radiantly transfer the heat to a wall of the radiant tube and a second section for directing heat and gases in the radiant tube toward the first section of the insert and a system including a radiant tube and one or more such inserts. Also, a method of improving heat transfer from a radiant tube of a furnace to the material being heated including supplying an insert as described above and placing the insert into the radiant tube such that the first section corresponds to a portion of the radiant tube that is closest to the material being heated. Also, an insert for a radiant tube of a furnace including a ceramic body and a metal deposited on the surface of the ceramic body.
US10030866B2

A boiler system equipped with a boiler group mixedly provided with a step value control boiler and a proportional control boiler. A boiler number control device is configured to control the number of boilers in the boiler group, and includes an output controller configured to control a combustion state of the boiler group so as to cause the proportional control boiler to output steam equivalent to a required steam flow according to a required load, and an output switcher configured to switch, under a condition that a steam flow outputted from the proportional control boiler reaches a predetermined steam flow exceeding a steam flow at a possible combustion point of the step value control boiler, output of the steam flow at the combustion point from the proportional control boiler to the step value control boiler.
US10030865B2

The invention relates to the nuclear energy field, including systems for passive heat removal from the pressurized water reactor through the steam generator. The invention increases heat removal efficiency, coolant flow stability and system reliability. The system includes at least one coolant circulation circuit comprising a steam generator and a section heat exchanger above the steam generator in the cooling water supply tank and connected to the steam generator through the inlet and outlet pipelines. The heat exchanger is divided into parallel sections wherein L/D≤20, L being the half-section length, D being the header bore, and includes an upper and lower header interconnected by heat-exchange tubes, startup valves with different nominal bores are installed on the outlet pipeline. The inlet and outlet pipeline sections of the circulation circuit comprise a set of branched parallel pipelines individually connected to each of the above heat exchanger sections.
US10030861B2

A cooling assembly for cooling at least one light source of a light fixture is provided with at least a cooling fan configured to generate a cooling air flow; and at least with a flow-guiding element configured to convey the cooling air flow of the cooling fan and divide it into a primary flow adapted to mainly cool a first zone of the light source and at least a secondary flow adapted to mainly cool a second zone of the light source, at least partially distinct from the first zone.
US10030856B2

A method of assembling a luminaire includes providing a housing rear section, a first housing middle section, and a housing front section. The housing rear section includes a control component. The first housing middle section is configured to removably connect to the housing rear section. The first housing middle section has a first light emitter. The housing front section is configured to removably connect to the first housing middle section and removably connect to the housing rear section. The housing front section has a second light emitter. The method further includes selectively connecting the housing front section to the housing rear section or connecting the first housing middle section to the housing rear section and the housing front section to adjust the light output of the assembled luminaire.
US10030849B2

A lighting apparatus includes a first body including a first inner circumferential surface and a first outer circumferential surface, a cover disposed on and fastened to the first body and including an open bottom surface, an optical member disposed between the first body and the cover and exposed at the open bottom surface of the cover, and a light source member including a circuit board disposed between the cover and the optical member along an edge of the cover and at least two light sources mounted on the circuit board to face each other.
US10030842B1

A light for incorporating in a pendant includes a rim with an inner surface, a housing protecting a light source and a lens with major and minor lateral surfaces and top and bottom surfaces. Light beams from the light source (such an array of LEDs) enters the lens and hit the side of the rim. In addition, the light beams are refracted by dimples up and down from the lens.
US10030839B2

Promotional items with enhanced advertising messaging. More specifically, embodiments are directed to a metallic-finished promotional item with a laser-engraved message that is illuminated or backlit by incorporating a light source into the promotional item. The light source acts to illuminate or brighten the laser-engraved message when the light source is powered on. Furthermore, according to embodiments, when the light source is not in use, the laser-engraved message remains appealing, hereinafter referred to “daylight appeal”, due to its enhanced contrast with the surrounding metallic finish.
US10030834B2

A light device for a vehicle improves viewability by giving variations to the appearance at the time of lighting without increasing the light quantity. The light device includes first light sources oriented to an irradiation direction of the light device, second light sources oriented opposite to the irradiation direction, a first base plate that mounts the first light sources and a second base plate that mounts the second light sources, and a lens that allows irradiation light of the first light sources and the second light sources to permeate therethrough. The base plates are disposed perpendicularly to the irradiation direction of the light device. A reflector reflects the irradiation light of the second light sources to the irradiation direction and an extension section surrounds the first light sources and stands so as to be oriented to the irradiation direction.
US10030827B2

The present invention relates to an LED lamp having an integrally injection-molded heat conductive plastic part and loading power substrate, comprising a lamp shell and LED modules, the lamp shell being injection-molded from heat conductive plastic material, the LED modules which are connected by injection being provided in the lamp shell; and each of the LED modules comprises an aluminum substrate and a power circuit module, and LED beads are provided on the aluminum substrate and in ON-connection with the power circuit module. Since the LED modules have been connected by injection during the injection of the lamp shell of the LED lamp of the present invention, this may greatly simplify the subsequent assembly processes, significantly improve the production efficiency and obviously reduce the number of operators for assembling.
US10030823B2

Provided is a light emitting apparatus. The light emitting apparatus includes a substrate; a light emitting device on the substrate; a fluorescent layer formed on the substrate and the light emitting device to surround the light emitting device; an encapsulant resin layer formed on the substrate and the fluorescent layer to surround the fluorescent layer; and a lens disposed on the light emitting device and supported by the substrate, wherein the lens includes a lens body having a first recess formed at a center of a top surface of the lens body and a second recess formed at a center of a bottom surface of the lens body, and a lens supporter provided at the bottom surface of the lens body to support the lens body such that the lens body is spaced apart from the substrate.
US10030809B1

A beam-receiving masonry unit bears an outdoor condenser component of a split air conditioning system. The masonry unit generally includes first and second faces each having at least one opening defined by one or more structurally supportive edges. The first face, the second face, and the space between them are sized to incorporate the unit into a block wall or foundation. The openings are positioned to receive a condenser support beam, and the structurally supportive edges in the faces bear the condenser support beam. The unit resists rotation of the beam after the unit is incorporated into a block wall or foundation. A fill opening allows cementitious fill to enter into the unit to bond the unit to a block wall or foundation.
US10030808B2

The disclosed invertible structures rely on combinations of translational movements to effect inversion. An exemplary invertible structure includes a track operable to be slidably coupled to a connector element of a longitudinal structure. In an embodiment, the connector element may include at least two connectors at least partially disposed in a slot defined in the track, which may have a plurality of translational axes for translational movements of the connectors of the longitudinal structure that would effect the inversion of the longitudinal structure.
US10030800B2

A push-to-press inflation adaptor is provided for use with an English valve and includes a valve connector, a connection barrel, a coupler, an air tube, and a spring. The valve connector includes a first movement hole, a positioning cavity, a communication compartment, a valve opening and a constraint opening. The connection barrel is coupled to the valve connector. The connection barrel includes a second movement hole and an air tube opening. The coupler is received in the first movement hole and the second movement hole of the valve connector and the connection barrel and is reciprocally movable through application of a force thereto. The air tube is received through the air tube opening into the connection barrel to be jointed to the coupler. The spring is supported between the coupler and the connection barrel to provide a preloading force to bias the coupler in a direction toward the constraint opening.
US10030795B2

A crimp connection arrangement for pressurized pipes with a compression sleeve and a pipe, wherein an end piece of the pipe is insertable into the compression sleeve and wherein by an application of an external force to a pressing portion of the compression sleeve, a connection is achievable between the compression sleeve and the end piece of the pipe.
US10030786B2

An adjustable damping valve arrangement for a vibration damper includes a main stage valve with a main stage valve body which is guided in a damping valve housing so as to be axially movable. The damping valve housing has a housing insert which is separate from the damping valve housing and in which the main stage valve body is guided.
US10030784B2

A high pressure ball valve seal assembly utilizes primary, secondary, and tertiary seals to withstand debris, caustic fluids, high pressure, and high temperature. The seal assembly comprises first and second inner seats and first and second outer seats which are retained within the valve body. First inner and outer seats are mounted on a first side of a closure member in the valve cavity and second inner and outer seats mounted on a second side of the closure member opposite the first side. A plurality of sealing rings are provided, whereby the sealing rings may be arranged to provide a tertiary upstream seal physically located on the downstream side of the ball valve.
US10030783B2

In order to reduce a pressure loss in a check valve and simplify a manufacturing process, a check valve (10) configured to be disposed in piping of fluid is provided, which includes a valve housing (31) including a valve element (52) and a valve seat (54) therein, a casing (20) that is configured to place the valve housing therein, in which a casing flow path (60) is provided between the casing and the valve housing to make a flow of the fluid in an axial direction of the valve housing. In the valve housing, a communicating hole (38) and sealing portion (34) are formed. The communicating hole that is formed through the valve housing in a thickness direction thereof introduces the fluid, which flows through between the valve element and the valve seat at the open position of the check valve, into the casing flow path. The sealing portion that is provided on an outer surface of the valve housing upstream of the communicating hole in a flow direction of the fluid in the casing flow path, is configured to come into contact with an inner surface of the casing to seal the casing flow path and position the valve housing in a radial direction perpendicular to the axial direction relative to the casing.
US10030775B2

A ring arrangement with a synthetic material sealing ring between an outer radial guiding ring and an inner radial guiding ring, wherein the outer guiding ring has a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than the inner guiding ring, so that an effective volume expansion coefficient of an annular gap between the guiding rings is greater than the volume expansion coefficient of the synthetic material of the synthetic material sealing ring. Through a large effective coefficient of thermal expansion for the annular gap volume, as achieved via different coefficients of expansion of the outer and inner guiding rings, fluctuation of the axial clamping forces of the synthetic material sealing ring can be limited.
US10030773B2

A piston ring for a piston of a reciprocating internal combustion engine. The piston ring comprises a body having an outer contact surface. A tribological coating is formed on the outer contact surface of the body. The tribological coating comprises a quaternary Cr—V—Ti—N system. In one form, the tribological coating is deposited on the outer contact surface of the body as a stack of multiple layers.
US10030765B2

A vehicle includes a prime mover, transmission, drive axle, and controller. The controller identifies clutches involved in establishing or maintaining a requested gear state, and detects an impending fault condition of the transmission. The controller also executes a pre-remedial control action in response to the impending fault condition, and places the transmission in a hydraulic default mode when the remedial control action does not clear the fault condition after a calibrated duration. A system includes the transmission and controller. A method for providing pre-remedial control of a transmission includes identifying clutches of the transmission that are involved in establishing or maintaining a requested gear state, and detecting an impending fault condition. The method further includes executing a pre-remedial control action in response to the impending fault condition and placing the transmission in a hydraulic default mode if the remedial control action does not clear the fault condition.
US10030764B2

A system for a vehicle includes a powertrain system including an engine, a transmission, a drive shaft, and a final drive. The system also includes a controller communicably coupled to the powertrain system. The controller is structured to: receive vehicle operation data during operation of a vehicle; receive route data for a route of the vehicle, wherein the route data is received in advance of the vehicle traveling the route; determine a cylinder deactivation event has occurred based on the vehicle operation data; determine an adjustment to a shift schedule for the transmission based on at least one of the cylinder deactivation event and the route data; and provide a command to implement the adjustment with the transmission.
US10030762B2

A gear selector assembly includes a shift gate including a plurality of gates, a gear selector movable between the plurality of gates and including a pawl, and a gate blocker positioned to restrictively interact with the pawl of the gear selector to selectively restrict movement of the gear selector through a first gate to a second gate. The gate blocker includes a biasing member configured to bias the gate blocker towards a nominal position. The gate blocker is configured to not restrictively interact with the pawl to allow the gear selector to move from the first gate to the second gate when the gate blocker is in the nominal position. Each gate of the shift gate is associated with a mode of operation of a vehicle.
US10030755B2

A torque vectoring device for a vehicle is provided, comprising an electrical motor (110) being connected to a differential mechanism (20) via a transmission (120), wherein the torque vectoring device further comprises at least one control means (130, 150) for changing the torque path of the transmission (120) between a first mode, in which the transmission connects the electrical motor (110) to the input shaft of the differential mechanism (20) for hybrid drive mode, and a second mode, in which the transmission connects the electrical motor (110) to the output shaft of the differential mechanism (20) for torque vectoring mode.
US10030751B2

A variable transmission includes various powerpath layouts consisting in either; a single mode with approximately symmetrical reverse and forward speeds and includes an input shaft, one or two planetary gear sets, or a planetary gear set and a compound gear set when the RTS (ring-to-sun) ratio of the planetary gear set is not physically possible; or a dual mode with each mode being selected by closing a clutch/brake and releasing the other. A first up-speed planetary gear set on the input side of a variator, and a second planetary gear set on the output side of the variator, both configured to split the torque when drivingly engaged with a variator comprising, a first ring assembly, and a second ring assembly. Various up-speed ratio arrangements are shown that tend to increase the speeds and decrease the torque acting on the CVP, allowing a decrease in the variator size.
US10030750B2

A drive device serves for adjusting an operating element for a valve, a throttle, a blow-out preventor or the like, in particular in the field of gas and oil production, the operating element being actively connected to at least one driving motor via a drive train, and at least one transmission changing unit being arranged in the drive train for converting a revolution of the driving motor into a revolution of the operating element and/or a revolution/linear motion converter being arranged for converting the revolution of the driving motor into a linear motion of the operating element. In order to also have a very compact design in case of a high possible performance and to simultaneously permit a good thermal distribution within the drive device, so that separate cooling devices for carrying off the generated lost heat are superfluous, the drive train comprises at least one essentially disk- or wheel-shaped revolution introducing device which is actively connected with at least two drive shafts driven by separate driving motors.
US10030747B2

A wave energy conversion system is provided including a pod, multi-radius energy transmission mechanism, and an electrical generating device. The pod is rotatably supported by a platform structure and the multi-radius energy transmission mechanism is in mechanical communication with the pod. The multi-radius energy transmission mechanism is configured to transmit a variable torque over a range of motion and is in mechanical communication with the electrical generating device.
US10030745B2

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) includes a power transmission mechanism and at least one conical disk. The power transmission mechanism has a contact surface, and the power transmission mechanism includes a plurality of engaging elements. The plurality of engaging elements are retractably disposed on the contact surface. The disk surface of the conical disk has a plurality of engaging walls capable of engaging with the engaging elements. The continuously variable transmission is able to transmit power by way of engagement, such that the coupling between the power transmission mechanism and the conical disk is more stable. Thus, the continuously variable transmission is adaptable to high torsion application.
US10030743B2

A chain tensioner includes a blade assembly operatively connected to a bracket. The blade assembly includes a plastic blade and a spring, with a first spring end located in a first slot and a second spring end located in a second slot. The first spring end contacts a first lower wall at a first contact location and the second spring end contacts a second lower wall at a second contact location. A pivot end spring force vector SFP acts on the first lower wall at the first contact location and a free end spring force vector SFR acts on the second lower wall at the second contact location. A chain is in contact with the outer surface of the blade. The blade assembly is mounted on the bracket with a bracket pin located in the pivot bore and with the foot of the blade supported on a bracket ramp. A pivot pin force vector FP acts on an inside diameter of the pivot bore through the pivot axis. A ramp force vector FR acts on the blade foot at a ramp contact location. The ramp force vector FR and the free end spring force vector SFR are aligned and coincident with each other.
US10030742B2

A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle may include an input shaft receiving torque of an engine, an output shaft outputting torque, a first planetary gear set, a second planetary gear set, a third planetary gear set, a fourth planetary gear set, a first shaft directly connected with the input shaft, a second shaft, a third shaft, a fourth shaft, a fifth shaft selectively connectable with each of the first shaft and the second shaft, a sixth shaft selectively connectable with the third shaft, and directly connected with the output shaft, and a seventh shaft selectively connectable with the second shaft.
US10030741B2

A narrow chain with alternating inside link positions in a 3×1 lacing arrangement provides improved noise-vibration-harshness (NVH) characteristics relative to conventional narrow-laced chains in an oil pump drive application. The two inside links are offset with respect to each other, with one of the two being aligned with the two guide plates in the guide row. The chain design is preferably used as an oil pump drive chain or in other auxiliary drive applications.
US10030730B2

A vehicle brake system, including: an electric brake device including a friction member, a rotor, a motor, and a driven member; and a wear detector including a data obtaining section to obtain a forward movement amount of the driven member and a pressing force by which the driven member presses the friction member, a detecting section to detect a contact start position of the driven member, and an estimating section to estimate a remaining thickness of the friction member, wherein the wear detector includes an uneven-wear detecting section to detect uneven wear of the friction member, by comparing: a relationship between the forward movement amount and the pressing force; and a relationship therebetween in a case where it is supposed that a thickness of the friction member is equal to the remaining thickness that would be estimated in a state in which the friction member is evenly worn.
US10030729B2

A spring (48) includes successively a portion (50) for fixing the spring to the disk brake, a rigid branch (B2) connected to the fixing portion (50) by a bend (P1) plastically deformable about a first deformation axis (A1), another rigid branch (B3) connected to the aforementioned rigid branch (B2) by a second plastically deformable bend (P2), and a further rigid branch (B4) connected to the aforementioned rigid branch (B3) by a third plastically deformable bend (P3) that cooperates directly or indirectly with an associated portion of the brake shoe, each rigid branch (B2, B3, B4) being a strip that lies in a plane parallel to the first deformation axis (A1).
US10030721B2

A method for controlling a dual clutch transmission (DCT) may include: determining, by a state determination unit, whether a clutch of the DCT is stuck; disabling, by a control unit, the clutch when it is determined that the clutch is stuck; controlling, by the control unit, the driving unit to control the disabled clutch through a reference operation; determining, by the state determination unit, whether the disabled clutch is normally operated, when a vehicle is stopped; and enabling, by the control unit, the clutch when it is determined that the disabled clutch is normally operated.
US10030716B2

When a control unit starts to supply power to an electromagnetic coil in a first direction, a magnetic force generated by a non-attracting magnetic circuit becomes larger than a magnetic attraction force generated by an attracting magnetic circuit. As a result, a movable member is guided by a guide portion of a yoke and moves to a second position from a first position. When the control unit starts to supply power to an electromagnetic coil in a second direction, the magnetic attraction force generated by the attracting magnetic circuit becomes larger than the magnetic force generated by the non-attracting magnetic circuit. As a result, the movable member is guided by the guide portion and moves to the first position from the second position. Accordingly, the movable member can reliably perform a moving operation when turning ON/OFF.
US10030712B2

A composite material torque disc which comprises a support layer, and a reinforcing fiber secured to the support layer, the support layer being embedded within a polymer matrix material.
US10030699B2

An aerostatic bearing includes a base having a foundation layer and a plurality of ventilation bodies protruding from the foundation layer, the ventilation bodies being made of a porous material; and a sealing layer covering the base and revealing at least one of the ventilation bodies.
US10030697B2

A ball ramp plate and a ball ramp assembly including the ball ramp plate are provided. The ball ramp plate comprises a stamped metal plate formed with ramped ball pockets on a first side at a ball ramp pitch radius and a thrust bearing support on a second side of the plate. The thrust bearing support has a first support surface at a first pitch radius greater than the ball ramp pitch radius and a second support surface at a second pitch radius less than the ball ramp pitch radius.
US10030694B2

In at least one illustrative embodiment, an adjustable joint comprises a housing, a pair of wedges arranged in the housing, and a threaded fastener engaged with at least one of the pair of wedges. The housing may include a first cavity that is sized to receive a spherical end of a shaft and a second cavity that is sized to receive a tube. The pair of wedges may be arranged between the first and the second cavities. The threaded fastener may be configured to (i) move the pair of wedges away from one another when rotated in a first direction and (ii) move the pair of wedges toward one another when rotated in a second direction opposite the first direction.
US10030691B2

In a cable connection structure in which a roughly spherical cable end disposed at the tip of an inner wire is connected to a movable member, the movable member is provided with a pair of wing pieces that hold the inner wire, a cable insertion opening that guides the cable end to a space between the wing pieces, and a roughly elliptical cable end passage part that displaceably supports the cable end. The long axis of the roughly elliptical shape of the cable end passage part roughly coincides with the direction of insertion of the cable.
US10030678B2

A pressure compensated load sense hydraulic system and method is disclosed where a first pressure compensated valve controls flow between a pump and a first function based on a highest function load; and a second pressure compensated valve controls flow between the pump and a second function based on the highest function load. First and second operator controls activate the first and second functions, respectively. When the first function is stalled and the second function is activated, the controller closes the first valve to remove the first function load from the load sense circuit and prevent flow to or from the first function. The controller can determine the first function is stalled when a timer exceeds an initialization period. When the controller closes the first valve, it can cycle the first valve between a shutoff period where the valve is closed, and a refresh period where the valve is opened.
US10030674B2

A sterile liquid pump, having replaceable single use components, with a first and second chamber, and a gas valve assembly to selectively communicate gas pressure and vacuum with the chambers, and a resilient tubing liquid manifold loop with a sequence of four ports located within a manifold receiver that supports four pinch actuators aligned to engage and selectively pinch-off flow through the manifold between adjacent pairs ports, and, a controller that operates the valve assembly to alternatingly couple pressure and vacuum to the pump chambers, and that also operates to alternatingly actuate pairs of the pinch actuators to sequentially pump fluid from pump chambers under gas pressure, and through an opposing pair of ports in the resilient tubing manifold.
US10030670B2

A pump for pumping liquid, the pump including a drive unit and a heat sink arranged to carry off heat that is generated in the drive unit, the drive unit including a motor compartment that in the radial direction is delimited by a motor casing and that accommodates an electric motor having a stator, a coupling compartment that at least partly is delimited by a pump top casing and that accommodates a power supply component, an upper partition that is arranged between the motor compartment and the coupling compartment. The motor casing includes an outer jacket that is connected to and that in the axial direction extends between the upper partition and the heat sink, an inner stator housing that extends between the stator and the heat sink, and a gas filled gap that in the radial direction separates the outer jacket and the inner stator housing.
US10030654B2

A liquid ring screw pump includes a housing with a suction inlet section and a pressure outlet section. Within the housing an Archimedes screw rotor is driven by a motor via a shaft. The inlet section and outlet section are each provided with connecting structure for suction and pressure piping respectively. The displacement CD of the screw rotor in relation to the center axis of the housing is determined by an equation based on the screw rotor radius, a minimum screw rotor core radius, and a variable k that is between 0.14 and 0.29.
US10030653B2

A screw compressor housing having screw rotor bores, screw rotors, a drive for the screw rotors, and a slider in a slider receptacle for adjusting a volume ratio of the screw compressor and which extends in a direction towards the high-pressure outlet in a guide trough of the slider receptacle that is open towards the screw rotor bores and which is capable of being positioned in a first position and a second position, wherein the volume ratio of the screw compressor is greater in one of the positions than in the other of the positions, the slider connected to a first cylinder element and cooperates with a second cylinder element, the cylinder elements being at least partially arranged in the insertion space and arranged following the slider in the displacement direction thereof on a side of the slider that is opposite the high-pressure outlet.
US10030650B2

A valve body is provided with a discharge relief portion. A relief valve outlet is formed in an end face thereof on a central axis of the valve body. Discharge valve inlets are point-symmetrically formed with respect to the central axis. A discharge valve outlet is formed in another end face thereof and relief valve inlets are point-symmetrically formed with respect to the central axis. A discharge valve outlet and the discharge valve inlets communicate with each other. A flow of fuel from a pressurization chamber to a fuel discharge port is restricted by a discharge valve member capable of closing the discharge valve outlet. The relief valve outlet and the relief valve inlets communicate with each other. A flow of fuel from the fuel discharge port to the pressurization chamber is restricted by a relief valve member capable of closing the relief valve outlet.
US10030641B2

A valve comprising a base plate defining an inlet and outlet passageway. A cover plate is disposed on the base plate and defines a first and second channel. A pressure plate is disposed on the base plate and includes a first anchoring portion, a first sealing portion, and a first biasing portion connecting the first anchoring portion and the first sealing portion. Furthermore, a suction plate is disposed on the base plate and includes a second anchoring portion, a second sealing portion, and a second biasing portion connecting the second anchoring portion to the second sealing portion. The valve is movable between a first configuration, where the first sealing portion is distal to first channel and the second sealing portion is proximal to inlet passageway, and a second configuration, in which the first sealing portion is proximal to first channel, and second sealing portion is distal to inlet passageway.
US10030640B2

A cryopump includes a first cryopanel including a radiation shield and a plate member across a shield opening and a second cryopanel enclosed by the first cryopanel and cooled to a lower temperature than that of the first cryopanel. The plate member includes a plate main portion and a plate peripheral portion adapted to attach the plate main portion to the radiation shield. The plate main portion includes a gas passing region having a multitude of pores through which gases pass to be condensed on the second cryopanel and a gas shielding region formed at a different position in the plate main portion from that of the gas passing region.
US10030634B2

A wind power generation system according to an embodiment includes a blade; a lightning protection device; an electric device; a voltage application mechanism; a first lightning arrester element; and a second lightning arrester element. The lightning protection device includes a receptor provided at the blade and guides a current of lightning to the ground from the receptor via a lightning conductor. The electric device is installed at the blade and includes a first electric conductor and a second electric conductor provided apart from each other. The voltage application mechanism applies a voltage between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor. The first lightning arrester element has one end thereof electrically connected to the first electric conductor and has the other end thereof grounded. The second lightning arrester element has one end thereof electrically connected to the second electric conductor and has the other end thereof grounded.
US10030631B2

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for removing or substantially reducing negative damping effects on a floating wind turbine. An operating point signal is received and a gain scheduling parameter is determined based on the received operating point signal. An input signal is then gain scheduled by the gain scheduling parameter and based on at least the gain scheduled input signal the negative damping effects on a floating wind turbine can be removed or substantially reduced.
US10030627B2

The present invention provides improved methods, apparatus, and manufacture for an Archimedes Screw using a strake design as a blade to increase the volume of water raised or lowered by about 10%. The invention, in part, alters the shape of the blades within the screw from a helicoid shape to a strake shape. A helicoid blade in an Archimedes Screw has been used since antiquity and has not changed since then, limiting the efficiency and manufacturing process. The strake shape allows a greater quantity of water to be contained within the screw and is a developable surface that enables easier fabrication than the helicoid shape.
US10030626B2

A stop-start vehicle and a method of controlling a stop-start vehicle include a controller configured to, in response to a power-reset event, inhibit an engine auto-stop function. The controller is additionally configured to, in response to a successful key start event subsequent the power-reset event, cease the inhibiting of the engine auto-stop function.
US10030617B2

Various methods for controlling EGR rate are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises routing at least a portion of exhaust from a first exhaust manifold to an intake manifold, and not to atmosphere, the first exhaust manifold exclusively coupled to a first cylinder group. The method further includes routing exhaust from at least one additional exhaust manifold coupled to a corresponding at least one additional cylinder group to atmosphere, and during a first engine operating condition where an engine fuel demand is below a threshold demand, not injecting fuel to each of a subset of cylinders in the first cylinder group while injecting fuel to a subset of all cylinders coupled to the at least one additional exhaust manifold, where a number of cylinders of the subset of cylinders in the first cylinder group decreases in response to an increase in a target EGR rate.
US10030615B2

A cooling system of a motor vehicle may include a coolant circuit including an exhaust-gas recirculation path and an exhaust-gas recirculation cooler arranged therein. A pressure detection device may be provided for detecting a coolant pressure in the coolant circuit. An actuating device may be connected communicatively to the pressure deduction device. A valve device may be connected communicatively to the actuating device and configured to control an exhaust-gas stream passing into the cooler. The actuating device may be configured to at least partially close the valve device and reduce the exhaust-gas stream flowing to the cooler in response to the pressure detection device detecting a predefined pressure drop.
US10030614B1

An assembled support for supporting an adsorbent according to an embodiment of the present invention may include two or more core members configured to be coupled in the longitudinal direction and configured to include: a cylindrical body configured to have a plurality of first partitions formed therein to enable ventilation; at least one pair of first coupling protrusions configured to be provided on the rim of one end of the body to face each other; and at least one pair of first coupling protrusion receiving portions configured to be provided on the rim of the other end of the body to face each other, wherein the first coupling protrusions of one core member are received in the first coupling protrusion receiving portions of another core member in order to thereby couple the core members to each other, and wherein the surfaces of the core members are coated with hydrocarbon adsorbents.
US10030604B2

A piston for a premixed spark-ignited or premixed dual fuel internal combustion engine is disclosed. The piston may be configured to reciprocate along a longitudinal axis of a combustion chamber defined by a cylinder of the engine. The piston may comprise a piston head, a top annular groove configured to receive a top annular ring, and a skirt having a pin bore extending along a pin bore axis that is configured to receive a wrist pin for connecting the piston to a connecting rod. The piston may further comprise a top land formed in the piston head that is chamfered in a direction perpendicular to the pin bore axis such that the top land does not contact an inner wall of the cylinder when the piston rocks about the pin bore axis. The top land may be non-chamfered in a direction parallel to the pin bore axis.
US10030598B2

Aspects of the present invention relate to the pull away from rest of a motor vehicle on a slope. The vehicle includes an automatic transmission and internal combustion engine with an electronic controller. The engine torque response to the accelerator pedal input is modified accounting for the slope to improve consistency of pull away on different slopes and reduce the dead pedal feeling on steep slopes.
US10030592B2

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting the amount of secondary fluid being injected into an engine. In one example, a method may include adjusting an amount of secondary fluid injected at an engine cylinder based on a secondary fluid injection amount estimated from outputs of an exhaust oxygen sensor. For example, the secondary fluid injection amount may be estimated based on a first change in pumping current of the exhaust oxygen sensor between a first and second reference voltage when only fuel is injected into the engine cylinder and a second change in pumping current of the exhaust oxygen sensor between the first and second reference voltage when fuel and the secondary fluid are injected into the engine cylinder.
US10030591B2

The embodiments relate to a method and to a device for operating a system including a generator and an internal combustion engine driving the generator, wherein a rotational speed of the generator is controlled by a rotational speed controller. In the method, the rotational speed controller outputs a target torque as manipulated variable, and an additional torque is imposed on the target torque, wherein the additional torque is calculated or is determined based on a measured value picked up from the system.
US10030588B2

In an embodiment, a method includes performing a turbine combustor diagnostic routine including operating a first turbine combustor of a plurality of turbine combustors at a substantially steady state of combustion; adjusting an operational parameter of the first turbine combustor to cause a change in combustion products produced by the first turbine combustor; identifying a first sensor response of a first subset of a plurality of sensors disposed within or downstream from a turbine fluidly coupled to the turbine combustor, the first sensor response being indicative of the change in the combustion products, and wherein the first subset comprises one or more first sensors; correlating the first subset of sensors with the first turbine combustor; and diagnosing a condition of the first subset of the plurality of sensors, the first turbine combustor, or a combination thereof, based on the first sensor response.
US10030587B2

An annular airflow control system for a gas turbine engine includes a sync ring rotatable to move a multiple of contra-rotating variable vanes between an open position and a closed position to throttle an airflow through said multiple of contra-rotating variable vanes.
US10030586B2

A gas turbine engine typically includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. A speed reduction device such as an epicyclical gear assembly may be utilized to drive the fan section such that the fan section may rotate at a speed different than the turbine section so as to increase the overall propulsive efficiency of the engine. In such engine architectures, a shaft driven by one of the turbine sections provides an input to the epicyclical gear assembly that drives the fan section at a speed different than the turbine section such that both the turbine section and the fan section can rotate at closer to optimal speeds providing increased performance attributes and performance by desirable combinations of the disclosed features of the various components of the described and disclosed gas turbine engine.
US10030585B2

A shaft seal system which is disposed axially between a first chamber and a second chamber is disclosed. The shaft seal system includes a shaft, a casing that surrounds the shaft, and a seal which is disposed axially closer to the second chamber where the first chamber has a fluid and the second chamber is to be protected from the fluid. In this arrangement, the seal includes a pressure booster.
US10030584B2

A solid state spark device that operates as a two terminal spark gap in a CDI exciter of an aircraft ignition system. The device includes a triggering transformer, a triggering circuit, and a control circuit. The triggering circuit is electrically connected to a first coil of the transformer and includes circuit elements connected to supply current to the first coil upon charging of the triggering circuit up to a triggering voltage. This current through the first coil of the triggering transformer induces an output in a second coil of the transformer. The control circuit is electrically connected to the second coil and includes a switch controlled by the output from the second coil. The switch, when activated by the triggering circuit, discharges energy from the exciter into an igniter of the aircraft ignition system.
US10030582B2

A cooling structure for a gas turbine engine comprises a gas turbine engine structure defining a cooling cavity. A cooling component is configured to direct cooling flow in a desired direction into the cooling cavity. A bracket supports the cooling component and has an attachment interface to fix the bracket to the gas turbine engine structure. A first orientation feature associated with the bracket. A second orientation feature is associated with the gas turbine engine structure. The first and second orientation features cooperate with each other to ensure that the cooling component is only installed in one orientation relative to the gas turbine engine structure. A gas turbine engine and a method of installing a cooling structure are also disclosed.
US10030565B2

An exhaust purification device includes an adding valve that adds an additive to exhaust gas. A first partition plate includes a first hole-formation region, which includes a main flow hole extending through a central portion and sub-flow holes surrounding the main flow hole, and a first hole-free region surrounding the first hole-formation region. A second partition plate located at a downstream side of the first partition plate includes a second hole-free region, which includes a portion overlapping the main flow hole, and a second hole-formation region surrounding the second hole-free region. An injector injects the additive in a circumferential direction of the first hole-free region from a position opposing the first hole-free region in the extending direction and opposing a projection of the first hole-formation region in a cross-sectional direction.
US10030559B2

Provided is: an oxidation catalyst having excellent ability to combust diesel fuel intermittently sprayed from a nozzle disposed in an exhaust pipe, the oxidation catalyst being incorporated into an exhaust gas purification device having a diesel particulate filter (DPF) or a catalyst soot filter (CSF) for collecting particulate matter from a diesel engine; and an exhaust gas purification device that uses the oxidation catalyst. An oxidation catalyst for exhaust gas purification in which a precious metal component is carried on an inorganic matrix, wherein the inorganic matrix is one or more inorganic oxides selected from the group consisting of alumina, titania, zirconia, silica, and silica-alumina, the oxidation catalyst being characterized in the use of a material in which the activation energy of diesel fuel combustion performance is 72 kJ/mol or less.
US10030556B2

A diesel soot filter includes a substrate having a surface disposed at least partially within a fluid path of the diesel soot filter. A glass catalyst is disposed on the surface of the substrate such that an exhaust gas contacts at least a portion of a surface of the glass catalyst as the exhaust gas moves within the diesel soot filter. The glass catalyst comprises a plurality of alkali metal ions disposed within the glass catalyst and releasable to the surface of the glass catalyst at a controlled rate and the alkali metal ions combust with the soot as the exhaust gas travels along the fluid path. An oxide basis of the glass catalyst comprises Silicon (Si), Potassium (K), Cesium (Ce), and Zirconium (Zr).
US10030543B2

A gas turbine engine includes a fan including a plurality of fan blades rotatable about an axis, a compressor section, a combustor in fluid communication with the compressor section, a turbine section in fluid communication with the combustor, a geared architecture arranged in a housing and driven by the turbine section for rotating the fan about the axis, and a support member that supports the geared architecture within the gas turbine engine. The support member includes an inner portion and an outer portion. One of the inner and outer portions is configured to be coupled to the geared architecture and the other of the inner and outer portions is configured to be coupled to the housing. A plurality of removal features each have at least one engaging surface to facilitate a pulling force on the support member in a direction parallel to the axis. The engaging surfaces on each of the removal features are oriented relative to each other to resist any bending moment on the support member during application of the pulling force. A gear system and method are also disclosed.
US10030539B2

A compressor of a gas turbine engine includes a plurality of rotors rotatable about a central longitudinal axis, a plurality of stators, and a circumferential inner case wall located outwardly of the plurality of rotors and the plurality of stators. The inner case wall includes a plurality of first slots located in a first section of the circumferential inner case wall and a plurality of second slots located in at least one second section of the circumferential inner case wall. A first area of each of the first slots is greater than a second area of each of the second slots. A circumferential manifold is located outwardly of the inner case wall including a port. At least one of the plurality of second slots is located proximate to the port.
US10030535B2

An improved composite structure and method for making same has been provided. The provided improved composite structure has locally strengthened areas within a reinforcement region. The locally strengthened areas within the reinforcement region have load distribution devices to redistribute load in order to (i) locally strengthen an area around damage induced by an initial momentary and direct transmitted load, and (ii) limit growth and propagation of damage induced by an initial momentary and direct transmitted load during a subsequent unbalance load. The improved composite structure reduces the impact of the fan blade out phenomenon in a weight efficient manner.
Patent Agency Ranking