| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07730546B2 |
Method and apparatus for authenticating usage of an application
A method and apparatus for determining a current user by receiving an application-level usage indicator; determining a user identifier by consulting a pre-established set of one or more user profiles according to the application-level usage indicator; and executing the application when the determined user identifier is associated with a user that is entitled to use the application. |
| US07730545B2 |
Test access control for secure integrated circuits
Test access to an integrated circuit 2 is controlled by the use of test access enabling keys. A plurality of different test access enabling levels may be supported corresponding to different keys. The test access control may be performed by dedicated hardware or software executing a secure privilege mode. |
| US07730542B2 |
Protecting software from unauthorized use by converting source code modules to byte codes
A method for anti-piracy protection of a software application by obfuscation of the execution of portions of the applications code is described. The method includes providing a language specification and library to implement the functions of the language, providing a compiler to translate the language into byte codes, and providing an interpreter to execute the byte codes using the library. The method further includes providing the language specifications, library, compiler, interpreter, and instructions to a software publisher, where the software publisher embeds the library and interpreter in the application to be protected, and selects and prepares application code segments for processing into byte codes by the compiler. The application is then executed using the embedded library and interpreter, where the execution of the application is obfuscated by the use of byte codes. |
| US07730540B1 |
Method for scanning protected components of electronic messages
An security module includes a detection module for determining that an electronic message received for scanning includes a protected component. The security module also includes a parsing module for parsing the electronic message to identify potential passwords for the protected component. The security module further includes an analysis module for attempting to access the protected component of the electronic message using the identified potential passwords. A submission module submits potential passwords to a decomposition module for accessing the protected component. If the correct password is found, the decomposition module opens the protected component and/or extracts the contents of the archive. An analyzer module analyzes or scans the contents of the protected component. |
| US07730538B2 |
Combining virus checking and replication filtration
Data in backup systems can be effectively protected against viruses, even if definitions for certain viruses are found after infected data have been backed up to a backup server. In one implementation, a combined filter that includes antivirus and replica filtering components can identify and process I/O system calls (e.g., including writes to files). If a virus is present, the antivirus component of the combined filter can mark the file and/or file write (and cleanse the file/file write), and pass that information to the replica component. If the file write is associated with a file to be backed up, the replica component can then pass along the antivirus filter's indications with a copy of the file write. The backup server can also identify that previous versions of the file stored at the backup server may have been infected, and can thus perform any appropriate actions. |
| US07730536B2 |
Security perimeters
A security system that is associated with a customer network includes first, second, and third security perimeters. The first security perimeter includes a set of content delivery network (CDN) devices configured to provide first protection against a network attack associated with the customer network. The second security perimeter includes a set of mitigation devices configured to provide second protection in terms of mitigation services as a result of a network attack associated with the customer network. The third security perimeter includes a set of hierarchy devices configured to provide third protection against a network attack associated with the customer network. |
| US07730534B2 |
Enterprise video intelligence and analytics management system and method
A wireless surveillance system and methods of operating same including a server software application that enables automated and centralized video analytics data storage and reporting capabilities as well as digital video management and/or recording device (DVM) and camera management capabilities for multiple DVMs and digital input capture devices (ICDs) such as cameras. The system includes at least one server computer operable via user interface selections that activate corresponding functions associated with the software application and the camera(s) and DVM(s) connected and operable within the system via wireless communication with each other and the server through a network and authorized access thereto. In a method for using the system, a user adds DVMs to the system by selecting a subset or the complete group of cameras related to each DVM to be added to the server application. Then, the user selects at least one of the cameras to be managed and displayed, the selection being made by the user in the user interface. |
| US07730532B1 |
Automatic tracking cookie detection
A tracking cookie detection manager accurately detects tracking cookies. The tracking cookie detection manager identifies a third party cookie, and generates at least two requests that result in separately downloading the third party cookie. The tracking cookie detection manager examines the separately downloaded third party cookies, and determining whether they each include a unique user identifier. If the separately downloaded third party cookies do each include a unique user identifier, the tracking cookie detection manager determines that the third party cookie comprises a tracking cookie. On the other hand, if the third party cookies do not each include a unique user identifier, the tracking cookie detection manager determines that the third party cookie is not a tracking cookie. |
| US07730528B2 |
Intelligent secure data manipulation apparatus and method
A data manipulation appliance can be installed or plugged into a computer network between business partners, and can perform many of the difficult and tedious data manipulation operations in a substantially automated manner. Examples of operations that can be performed by an embodiment of the apparatus include, but are not limited to, encryption, authentication, auditing, shaping data to a common intermediate format for exchange between partners, other auditing of data exchanges in transaction logs, filtering data for privacy compliance and risk management, error detection and correction, mapping internal non-standard data elements to external standard code sets, proxy and protocol re-writing, and so on. The appliance can be embedded with various tools to perform these operations, and therefore appears to be “intelligent.” |
| US07730524B2 |
Dynamic collation of domain for user authentication on existing devices
Improved network authentication process (NAP) allows omission of difficult-to-remember credentials, such as domain names/contexts, when users log on to a device via a local user interface (UI). Embodiments receive some authentication credentials, such as username and password, and obtain and parse reply data containing additional authentication credentials, such as domain name or context associated with the user, from a network directory server. The process sends now-complete authentication credentials to the authentication server, and authentication results are returned to the authentication service, which trickles the information to the local UI used to enter credentials. |
| US07730522B2 |
Self-registering objects for an IPC mechanism
In response to receiving a communication from a first process directed to a second process, a trusted entity determines if an object reference in the communication refers to an object owned by a first process which is being exported to a second process or if the communication refers to an object not owned by the first process which is being passed to the second process. The trusted entity generates a second object reference for use by the second process. Use of a naming convention identifies the reference as a reference to an object which is foreign to or owned by the processes. |
| US07730518B2 |
Method and apparatus for graph-based partition of cryptographic functionality
Techniques are disclosed for partitioning of cryptographic functionality, such as authentication code verification or generation ability, so as to permit delegation of at least one of a number of distinct portions of the cryptographic functionality from a delegating device to at least one recipient device. The cryptographic functionality is characterizable as a graph comprising a plurality of nodes, and a given set of the nodes is associated with a corresponding one of the distinct portions of the cryptographic functionality. Information representative of one or more of the nodes is transmitted from the delegating device to the recipient device such that the recipient device is thereby configurable for authorized execution of a corresponding one of the distinct portions of the cryptographic functionality. Advantageously, the invention provides a particularly efficient mechanism for the provision of cryptographic functionality in accordance with a subscription model. |
| US07730517B1 |
Signalling of bouquet information in a digital transmission system
A method of transmission of digital information in a digital communication network, the network comprising at least one transport stream carrying one or more bouquet related tables such as BAT tables (53, 54) containing information regarding the services provided in a commercial bouquet and characterised in transmitting at least one table (51) comprising a list of bouquet identity values of some or all of the bouquet association tables together with an indication of the or each transport stream carrying that table or tables. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the table (51) containing a list of bouquet identity values may correspond to the Network Information Table of a network. The present invention also extends to the identification of any fixed PID, TID tables that may only be distinguished by their TID extension values. The present invention is particularly applicable to digital television systems conforming to the MPEG-2 and DVB proposed standards. |
| US07730515B1 |
Digital receiver demultiplexer
The present invention relates to the demultiplexing of a digital data stream in a receiver so as to retain only those parts of the digital data stream required by the receiver. Such demultiplexing is particularly useful when applied to a receiver circuit in a television system having a digital set-top-box.A memory in the receiver stores packet identifiers of data packets required by the receiver, which are stored in the memory under the control of a first control circuit. A second control circuit extracts packet identifiers from incoming data packets in an input digital data stream. A third control circuit receives the extracted packet identifier and determines whether this matches one of the packet identifiers stored in the memory. A match signal is set by the third control circuit to the second control circuit responsive to a match. The second control circuit demultiplexes the input data packet responsive to the match signal. |
| US07730514B1 |
Method and system for providing a home cable network
A system for converting digital signals in a cable network is provided. A cable head end provides a plurality of digital signals. The plurality of digital signals are grouped into a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being in a first frequency band and the second portion being in a second frequency band. The system includes a digital channel remapping module configured to select one or more digital signals from the first portion and remap the selected one or more digital signals into a first plurality of analog signals and a digital-to-analog translator configured to convert the digital signals in the second portion to a second plurality of analog signals. The first and second plurality of analog signals are combined and delivered to at least one analog device. Some or all of the second plurality of analog signals are within the first frequency band. |
| US07730510B1 |
Methods and systems for conditionally managing entertainment systems
Methods and systems for controlling entertainment systems are described. In accordance with one embodiment, one or more conditional directives are developed and injected from externally of an entertainment system into the system. The conditional directives direct the entertainment system to conditionally perform some action that is directed to enhancing the user's experience. Typically, the conditional directives come from an external third party. A conditional directive comprises one or more conditions and one or more actions. The conditions define conditions that are to be met before an action is performed. The actions define actions that are to be performed in the event that one or more associated conditions are met. |
| US07730509B2 |
Asset delivery reporting in a broadcast network
A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise equipment devices (CPEs) of the network users via a broadcast network interface. Based on the received signals, broadcast assets (e.g., programming, advertisements etc.) are selected from a collection of available asset options. Accordingly, at least a portion of the selected assets are inserted into a content stream of the broadcast network. Once the content stream is broadcast over a broadcast network interface, at least a portion of the selected assets area available for receipt by at least a portion of the CPEs. The CPEs generate reports regarding assets delivered such that asset providers can be billed based on guaranteed targeted impressions. |
| US07730508B2 |
Data injection
A data transport device for transporting a data stream, the device including: a data stream processing unit for receiving an input data stream including a plurality of data items, performing processing in dependence on the content of the items and forming an output data stream including at least some of the data items; and a data item injection unit including a memory for storing a plurality of injection data items and associated with each injection data item an injection action, and an injection processor arranged to retrieve the injection action for each of the injection data items in turn and in dependence on the retrieved injection action to inject the associated injection data item into the output data stream. |
| US07730504B2 |
Disc cartridge
A disc cartridge is provided. The disc cartridge in which is housed an optical disc includes a main cartridge body unit, rotatably housing an optical disc, and having an aperture for a head part for exposing a part of the optical disc to outside across the inner and outer rims of the optical disc, and a shutter unit mounted for movement to this main cartridge body unit for opening/closing the aperture for the head part. A recess into which is introduced a portion of a head part of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus is formed in continuation to the aperture for the head part in a surface of the main cartridge body unit on which slides a shutter unit in an area opposite to the area of movement of the shutter unit with the aperture for the head part in-between. |
| US07730502B2 |
Disc changer having disc discharge mechanism
There is provided a disc changer for a disc drive unit, including: a disc accommodation section capable of accommodating plural discs: a disc pushing mechanism that pushes a disc from a specific rack of the disc accommodation section to a disc discharge position within the disc drive unit; and a disc discharge mechanism that securely sends the disc at the disc discharge position, to a disc insertion/discharge opening of the disc drive unit. The disc exchanger further includes a disc guiding device that has: an upper and a lower guiding members, which are provided in an area within the disc drive unit adjacent to the disc insertion/discharge opening, and guide the disc pushed by the pushing mechanism, to the disc insertion/discharge opening; and a drive mechanism of the guiding members, that opens the lower guiding member from the upper guiding member, when the pushing mechanism pushes the disc. |
| US07730501B2 |
Method for parallel processing of events within multiple event contexts maintaining ordered mutual exclusion
Techniques for parallel processing of events within multiple event contexts include dynamically binding an event context to an execution context in response to receiving an event by storing arriving events into a global event queue and storing events from the global event queue in per-execution context event queues are described. The techniques associate event queues with the execution contexts to temporarily store the events for a duration of the binding and thus dynamically bind the events received on a per-event basis in the context queues. |
| US07730500B2 |
Application programming interface techniques for accessing operating system resources
An operating system includes APIs developed in part to support recent innovations in computer hardware and in part to provide enhanced services to application programs. Among their other features, these APIs provide access to operating system functionality in a manner that is comprehensive, efficient, usable, extendible and, in some cases, reusable. |
| US07730497B2 |
Interface driver program for computer and recording medium therefor
The present invention provides a common interface among device drivers 5 operating in the kernel 8, for increasing data transfer speeds and improving data integrity. A common interface driver 7 is provided among device drivers 5, which control devices 6 connected to a computer. The common interface driver 7 operates in the kernel mode 8 and provides an interface with the application program 4. The common device driver 7 receives and analyzes commands from the application program 4 and outputs instructions to each of the device drivers 5. |
| US07730492B1 |
Method and system for running multiple virtual machines in a single process
A method and system for running a Java ME application on a computer system are described. The Java ME application is a software program designed for execution on a resource-constrained platform. A first virtual machine is launched in a process, the first virtual machine being is caused to run an application emulator. A second virtual machine is launched in the process, the second virtual machine being caused to run the Java ME application. The application emulator interfaces with application programming interfaces of the second virtual machine to interface with inputs and outputs of the Java ME application and redirect the inputs and outputs to local devices controlled by the application emulator. |
| US07730490B2 |
System with user access-control information having signature and flow setting information for controlling order of performance of functions
An image-forming apparatus configured to be controlled based on access-control information and to perform a flow which includes performance a plurality of functions of the image forming apparatus based on flow setting information, where flow setting information designates an order of performance of the plurality of functions of the image forming apparatus. The image-forming apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire the access-control information based on a signature included in the flow setting information if the flow setting information includes the signature, and a flow-performing unit configured to perform the flow based on the access-control information acquired by the acquisition unit. |
| US07730485B2 |
System and method for advertising to a Wi-Fi device
A method is disclosed for providing information related to goods available for purchase in a building. The method includes establishing a plurality of boundary zones within a Wi-Fi network and storing product information related to the goods available for purchase that are located within each of the plurality of boundary zones. In a particular embodiment, a first set of product information is provided to a Wi-Fi device. The first set of product information can be specific to goods that are located in the same boundary zone as the Wi-Fi device. The location of the Wi-Fi device is monitored and movement of the Wi-Fi device between a first boundary zone and a second boundary zone is detected. A second set of product information can be provided to the Wi-Fi device after detecting the Wi-Fi device moving to the second boundary zones. |
| US07730483B2 |
Storage of project-planning data in an automation system
The invention relates to a system and also method for storage of project-planning data in an automation system containing automation devices. To simplify changes within the automation system the project-planning data is stored in a generic, expandable data storage format, with parts of the project-planning data being assigned runtime data in each case, with the runtime data being assigned at least one automation device in each case, with the runtime data being executable parts of programs on the automation devices assigned to it and with the parts of the project-planning data being stored distributed in parallel to the runtime data assigned to it in each case in the automation devices assigned to the runtime data in each case. |
| US07730479B2 |
Cell-phone terminal, program management method and computer program of same
In a cell-phone terminal for receiving an event and detecting an application corresponding to the event to notify and manage the event, a conflicting condition and a return priority are set to each of multiple applications in advance. On receiving the event making a request for activation of an application later in a status of having an application running in advance, an application management portion suspends the application based on a conflicting condition about the application, and stores return information on the application necessary to activate it again for each return priority in the case of operating the application. When the application is finished, the application management portion reads the return information in lowering order of the return priority and activates a corresponding application by using the return information. |
| US07730477B2 |
System and method for propagation in a web portal system
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for determining an ordering for propagating changes to an application between a first environment and a second environment. These mechanisms and methods can enable embodiments to propagate changes from a first application instance in a first environment to a second application instance in a second environment even when the order of applying the changes is complex or not readily apparent to the propagating device. For example, an embodiment can determine an ordering to apply changes made to a test version in a test environment, tested and then propagated to a production version of the application residing in a production environment. The ability of embodiments to determine an ordering for propagating changes to an application between a first environment and a second environment enable easy capture and transferal of changes to an application. |
| US07730470B2 |
Binary code instrumentation to reduce effective memory latency
A system for binary code instrumentation to reduce effective memory latency comprises a processor and memory coupled to the processor. The memory comprises program instructions executable by the processor to implement a code analyzer configured to analyze an instruction stream of compiled code executable at an execution engine to identify, for a given memory reference instruction in the stream that references data at a memory address calculated during an execution of the instruction stream, an earliest point in time during the execution at which sufficient data is available at the execution engine to calculate the memory address. The code analyzer generates an indication of whether the given memory reference instruction is suitable for a prefetch operation based on a difference in time between the earliest point in time and a time at which the given memory reference instruction is executed during the execution. |
| US07730468B1 |
System and method providing on-demand generation of specialized executables
A system and method is provided for generating and executing specialized code executables. The system includes a virtual subsystem that processes a generic code image and logs information relating to an operating environment of the virtual subsystem. The logged information is employed as feedback to generate a specialized native executable, wherein the specialized native executable is utilized to provide improved performance of the virtual subsystem. The specialized native executable is selected for execution by the virtual subsystem by matching a current operating environment setting with the logged information. |
| US07730465B2 |
Mixed types
The present invention provides a system and/or method that facilitates programming within Common Language Runtime (CLR) for a C++ programmer by employing a mixed type. An inheritance component creates the mixed type from received code such that the mixed class type is allocated into memory into a pure native part and a pure managed part. Furthermore, construction, destruction and function calls for mixed types are provided facilitating programming within Common Language Runtime (CLR). |
| US07730460B1 |
Code execution visualization using software fingerprinting
A system, method, and computer program for analyzing code execution and software performance characteristics are disclosed. Samples of executing code may be taken based on any of a number of various triggers. For example, samples may be triggered based on function calls, such as malloc calls. Alternatively, samples may be triggered based on occurrence of a specified event. Code execution is graphically displayed such that certain patterns may be easily identified. Multiple redundant function calls and areas of code having excessively deep function calls can be readily spotted. Such areas represent opportunities for performance optimization. |
| US07730456B2 |
Methods and apparatus for handling processing errors in a multi-processing system
Methods and apparatus are provided for: monitoring processor tasks and associated processor loads therefor that are allocated to be performed by respective sub-processing units associated with a main processing unit; detecting whether a processing error has occurred in a given one of the sub-processing units; re-allocating all of the processor tasks of the given sub-processing unit to one or more participating sub-processing units, including other sub-processing units associated with the main processing unit, based on the processor loads of the processor tasks of the given sub-processing unit and the processor loads of the participating sub-processing units; and at least one of: (i) shutting down, and (ii) re-booting the given sub-processing unit. |
| US07730455B2 |
Method and apparatus for enforcing safety properties of computer programs by generating and solving constraints
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for generating and solving constraints. In one embodiment, the method comprises modifying program code by inserting one or more dynamic annotations having unsolved variables, generating one or more constraints based on the one or more dynamic annotations using a verifier, solving the one or more generated constraints; and modifying the program code by inserting a dynamic annotation in place of an annotation containing an unsolved variable. |
| US07730451B2 |
Source server
A method and system for accessing at debug time the source code used to create a binary. During or shortly after compilation, an extractor extracts the names of source code files used to create the binary, communicates with a version control server to obtain information that identifies the versions of source code files used to create the binary, and stores the information in the binary or in a file associated with the binary. At debug time, the information is retrieved and used to obtain copies of the source code files from the version control server. The copies of the source code files are placed in a directory where the debugger expects to find them. The debugger may then show the source code corresponding to the binary instructions of the binary during debugging. |
| US07730447B2 |
System and methods for providing a declarative syntax for specifying SOAP-based web services
A system and methods are provided that make compile-time declarative modeling available for SOAP-based data transmission(s). The declarative modeling minimizes the amount of coding required of a developer. The underlying details regarding the SOAP protocol, dispatching to the appropriate object and function, marshaling and un-marshaling of XML and generating the SOAP response are hidden from the developer when implementing SOAP-based Web services. The task of creating a SOAP-based web service is thus greatly simplified by reducing the number and complexity of considerations required of the developer when generating SOAP-based Web services. In one embodiment, attributes for Visual C++ are utilized as a framework for a declarative syntax for SOAP-based Web services, which Visual C++ attributes have access to type and marshaling information. |
| US07730446B2 |
Software business process model
A business software framework includes an application framework that has a process model. The process model provides desired services to the business components. The process model arranges operations into activities. The process model can also use an agent/service arrangement. |
| US07730445B2 |
Pattern data verification method for semiconductor device, computer-readable recording medium having pattern data verification program for semiconductor device recorded, and semiconductor device manufacturing method
A pattern data verification method for a semiconductor device, including extracting, from design data, design data corresponding to an edge portion of a mask pattern to obtain an edge portion of a pattern on a substrate to be processed, when the pattern is obtained on the substrate to be processed by using at least two masks each having the mask pattern corresponding to the design data, setting allowable errors with respect to the extracted design data and the design data which is not extracted, respectively, calculating a pattern formed on the substrate to be processed by using at least one mask by process simulation, and comparing an error between the pattern calculated by the simulation and the design data with the allowable error set for the design data. |
| US07730436B2 |
Verification using simultaneous and inductive SAT algorithms
A simultaneous satisfiability algorithm, or SSAT, allows simultaneous checks to be made efficiently for a number of literals, x1, . . . ,xn whether x1 is true under any satisfying assignments of a formula (written in conjunctive normal form) built from the variables of these literals and other variables (or, equivalently whether x1 is a logical consequence of the formula). Thus, several related satisfiability checks are performed simultaneously in SSAT. Temporal induction algorithms allow the verification of the sequential behavior of finite state machines, e.g., hardware. Temporal induction algorithms may employ a SSAT solver to perform simultaneous model checking of several invariant (or safety) properties efficiently. These SSAT-based temporal induction algorithms are double-incremental, such that all learned clauses in the SSAT solver are re-used both across verified properties as well as across time frames. |
| US07730435B2 |
Automatic test component generation and inclusion into simulation testbench
Methods and apparatus are provided for efficiently generating test components for testing and evaluating a design under test. As a design is being configured, generated test components are made available. In one example, test components are automatically generated and included in a simulation testbench based on selected components in the design. Generally, the test components complement the selected components in the design. Moreover, the test components can be automatically seeded with initial contents. |
| US07730430B2 |
High density cursor system and method
A method for enhancing a mouse cursor is presented. During the mouse cursor update display cycle, a test on the current mouse speed is made. If the mouse cursor's speed exceeds a predetermined threshold, an enhanced mouse cursor is generated and displayed on the computer screen. According to one embodiment, an enhanced mouse cursor is generated by increasing the size of a standard mouse cursor in proportion to the speed of the mouse cursor. According to an alternative embodiment, an enhanced mouse cursor is generated by interpolating the mouse cursor's path and adding a motion-blur effect along the interpolated path. According to yet another embodiment, an enhanced mouse cursor is generated by interpolating the mouse cursor's path and a plurality of mouse cursor images are displayed along the interpolated path. |
| US07730423B2 |
Method and system for organizing document information
A graphical user interface that presents document organization in terms of objects readily familiar to the user is provided by the present invention. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing documents in a computer system includes a step of producing a representation of a document that indicates to the user the contents of the document. A step of associating the representation with the document in the memory of the computer is also part of the method. The method includes a step of displaying a document closet image on the display. The document closet image can include a plurality of document images. A step of selecting a document image from the document closet in response to an input from the user is also part of the method. The method can also include turning the document image selected for display to the user so that the user can readily view the representation of the document's contents. |
| US07730419B2 |
Communication between browser windows
A system for communication between browser windows includes a first web page configured to enable a first browser window into which the first web page is loaded to write a first message into a cookie; a second web page configured to enable a second browser window into which the second web page is loaded to retrieve the first message from the cookie; wherein the second web page is configured to enable the second browser window into which the second web page is loaded to write a second message into a the cookie; and wherein the first web page is configured to enable the first browser window into which the first web page is loaded to retrieve the second message from the cookie. |
| US07730418B2 |
Size to content windows for computer graphics
Described is a method and system by which a computer program window is sized based on the content to display. The window may automatically resize itself as content changes. When laying out an element tree of elements that contain the content, the elements provide desired size information to a parent container, and so on, up to the root element (e.g., a window). If a window property is set to size to the content, a window size is computed during layout, having a height and/or width based on the child elements plus X and Y deltas for a window non-client area and borders. Logic attached to window message handling controls changes to the content/window, such as to automatically resize for changed content, and to selectively turn off or persist the size to content property. Sizing to content may be programmatically limited to one dimension, with the other dimension fixed. |
| US07730417B2 |
Terminal apparatus, network system, window display method, and computer program
Upon reception of data updating information from a server apparatus (14) in a situation in which a presentation window is “closed” or “minimized” on a display unit (24) of each of terminal apparatuses (11-13), that presentation window is displayed on the display unit (24). The user who uses each of the terminal apparatuses (11-13) can always recognize a change in situation of the presentation system. |
| US07730415B2 |
State machine function block with a user modifiable state transition configuration database
A control system, a safety system, etc., within a process plant may each use one or more state machine function blocks that can be easily integrated into a function block diagram programming environment. Such a state machine function block may include one or more inputs, which may cause a state machine implemented by the state machine function block to change states. The state machine function block may determine a next state to which it is to transition based, at least in part, on data indicative of the next state to which to transition, if any. The configuration data may be retrieved from a database based on the current state of the state machine and at least one of the inputs. The state machine function block may also include one or more outputs that are generated based on the state of the state machine. |
| US07730414B2 |
Graphical display
A device may include logic configured to store a number of media files. The media files may include audio files, video files, image files or multimedia files. The device may also include a display configured to display a graphical representation illustrating information associated with the media files. |
| US07730413B1 |
Display method for multiple layered screens
A method of displaying data or images on a multi-level screen display, assigns screen designation codes to respective software components, to determine the physical screen on which the corresponding images or software components are displayed. The screens may include layered liquid crystal displays. The method allows a user to see overlaying objects at the same time, e.g., toolbars or menus can be displayed on a front screen, and a drawing image can be displayed on a background screen. |
| US07730404B2 |
Electronic device and method of messaging meeting invitees
A method of composing an email message at an electronic device and an electronic device operable to carry out the method are provided. The method includes receiving an email command from a user input of the electronic device through a calendar user interface, the email command relating to at least one of a plurality of intended attendees of a calendared meeting, and providing an email composition interface in response to receiving the email command. The email composition interface includes a user-editable portion of an address field. The user-editable portion of the address field is automatically populated with email address information for the at least one of the plurality of intended attendees. |
| US07730402B2 |
Input method, system and device
A method and system are provided for entering input into a computing system. The method involves detecting one or multiple input movements using a sensing panel associated with the computing system and classifying each detected input movement as being of a particular type. Each detected input movement is translated to an instruction signal by consulting a knowledge database. The instruction signals are transmitted to the computing system for execution. Translation of a detected input movement to an instruction signal involves a main process and one or more sub-processes, wherein each sub process is invoked by the main process in response to a particular type of detected input movement. |
| US07730401B2 |
Touch screen with user interface enhancement
The present invention is a graphical user interface in a computing device having a processor running an operating system and a display. The graphical user interface comprises a touch screen and a driver coupling the touch screen to the operating system. The driver can display a plurality of icons on the touch screen, or a plurality of screen images having at least one icon, with each of the icons associated with operations on the display and/or the touch screen. Other embodiments include the touch screen having unactivated and activated states, as well as the presence of an application programming interface that enables an application to display at least one image on the touch screen. |
| US07730400B2 |
Display unit with touch panel, method of controlling the same, and computer products
A display unit includes a touch point locus detector that detects a locus of a touch point on the touch panel, and a suspended touch detector that detects that the touch is suspended when the touch point remains at rest at one spot for at least a predetermined time period while the locus is detected. The display unit also includes a graphics identifying section that identifies a graphics indicated by the locus when the suspended touch is detected, and a graphics display section that displays the locus on a display screen, erases the displayed locus after the graphics identification is finished, and displays a graphics obtained through the identification on the display screen. |
| US07730396B2 |
Systems and methods for converting legacy and proprietary documents into extended mark-up language format
A system and method that converts legacy and proprietary documents into extended mark-up language format which treats the conversion as transforming ordered trees of one schema and/or model into ordered trees of another schema and/or model. In embodiments, the tree transformers are coded using a learning method that decomposes the converting task into three components which include path re-labeling, structural composition and input tree traversal, each of which involves learning approaches. The transformation of an input tree into an output tree may involve decomposing the input document, labeling components in the input tree with valid labels or paths from a particular output schema, composing the labeled elements into the output tree with a valid structure, and finding such a traversal of the input tree that achieves the correct composition of the output tree and applies structural rules. |
| US07730395B2 |
Virtual tags and the process of virtual tagging
The present invention relates to a method and system for transformation of an electronic document through learning transformation rules during training from the original electronic document using visual user feedback and applying the learned transformation rules to either the original electronic document or a second electronic document having a similar structure as the original document or all future instances of the original electronic document. Accordingly, the transformed document is customized to the user's preference learned during training. Preferably, the transformed document is created in a queriable form. For example, the original electronic document can be defined any type of mark-up language or electronic document generation language, such as Hypertext mark-up language (HTML), extended mark-up language (XML), portable data file (PDF) or Microsoft® Word, and the like and the transformed document is defined in a queriable language such as (XML) views and the like. For example, a virtual page can be a customization of an instance of a Web page which can be used to transform all future instances of the original Web page. Alternatively, the virtual page is formed form a customization of an original electronic document, such as a chapter in a book, which is applied to a second electronic document having a similar structure, such as all chapters in the book. |
| US07730393B2 |
System and method for providing fee-based data services to mobile users
The present invention is directed to a system and method to allow users to access and use data services, and then charge for such services using a point of sale system. Information about various services capable of being performed by a multifunction peripheral device is provided to the user, as well as the available payment options. The user selects the services to be performed and then selects the appropriate payment option. The user then provides selected information about the service the user wants to be performed. The user is then presented with the total cost of the service. Upon the user accepting the charges, the service is performed. The details of the transaction are archived and the user is billed for the service. The multifunctional peripheral device submits an authorization request to the point of sale server. The point of sale server authorizes or rejects the transaction request. If the transaction is authorized, the transaction details are transmitted to the point of sale server. The transaction request is then closed and a confirmation is transmitted to the multifunctional peripheral device. |
| US07730388B2 |
Converting an enhanced metafile into a chronologically independent object property list for conversion into a PDF document
An electronic paper file is generated from an enhanced metafile such that data may be converted from multiple applications with different data descriptions to a single electronic paper format having a particular data description. The enhanced metafile includes a series of individual records that provide a sequence of graphic instructions to render properties associated with objects in the document in an output format. The enhanced metafile is parsed into a series of state independent objects to generate an intermediary representation of the document. The objects and corresponding identifying information are temporarily stored in an object storage structure before using the objects to generate the electronic paper file. The object storage structure provides a stateless model of the enhanced metafile such that the objects may be randomly accessed and applied to any output format. |
| US07730387B2 |
Data transmission method and apparatus using multiple scrambling codes
A packet including data and a cyclic redundancy check code is encoded by using a selectable one of N scrambling codes (N>1). The encoded packet is transmitted and received, then decoded N times by using the N scrambling codes. The cyclic redundancy check code is used to decide which one of the N scrambling codes enabled the encoded packet to be decoded correctly, and the correctly decoded data are used. Packets with different formats, in particular with headers of different lengths, can be distinguished by the use of different scrambling codes, so that different formats can be employed without the need to transmit extra data to indicate which format has been used. |
| US07730386B2 |
Digital television transmitter/receiver and method of processing data in digital television transmitter/receiver
The present invention relates to a digital television (DTV) transmitter/receiver. In the DTV transmitter, enhanced data is pre-processed by coding the enhanced data for forward error correction (FEC) and expanding the FEC-coded enhanced data. Enhanced data packets are generated including the pre-processed enhanced data and known data is inserted to at least one of the enhanced data packets. The enhanced data packets are multiplexed main data packets including main data. An RS encoder RS-codes the multiplexed main and enhanced data packets, the RS encoder adding systematic parity data to each main data packet and adding RS parity place holders to each enhanced data packet. The RS encoder may also insert non-systematic RS parity data or null data into the RS parity place holders included in each enhanced data packet. |
| US07730384B2 |
Method and apparatus for evaluating performance of a read channel
Methods and apparatus are provided for measuring the performance of a read channel. A number of detection techniques, such as SOVA and maximum-a-posteriori (MAP) detectors, produce a bit decision and a corresponding reliability value associated with the bit decision. The reliability value associated with the bit decision may be expressed, for example, in the form of log likelihood ratios (LLRs). The reliability value can be monitored and used as a performance measure. The present invention provides a channel performance measure that generally correlates directly to the BER but can be collected in less time. |
| US07730383B2 |
Structure and method for detecting errors in a multilevel memory device with improved programming granularity
An error detection structure is proposed for a multilevel memory device including a plurality of memory cells each one being programmable at more than two levels ordered in a sequence, each level representing a logic value consisting of a plurality of digits, wherein the structure includes means for detecting errors in the values of a selected block of memory cells; the structure further includes means for partitioning the digits of each memory cell of the block into a first subset and a second subset, the digits of the first subset being unchanged in the values of a first and a second ending range in the sequence, the means for detecting errors only operating on the digits of the second subset of the block. |
| US07730382B2 |
Method and system for managing memory in a communication system using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
A method and system for managing memory using Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request in a communication system is provided. The method includes storing a retransmitted burst in a memory. The retransmitted burst includes plurality of bits. One or more of memory address of the retransmitted burst and the information corresponding to the retransmitted burst is recorded in a location table. The location table records memory addresses and the information corresponding to a plurality of bursts stored in the memory. The method further includes determining one or more preceding bursts corresponding to the retransmitted burst stored in the memory using location table. Thereafter, a combined burst is generated using the retransmitted burst and one or more preceding burst, if one or more preceding bursts corresponding to the retransmitted burst are stored in the memory. The combined burst includes the plurality of bits. |
| US07730381B2 |
Erasure detection and power control for a transport channel with unknown format in a wireless communication system
Erasure detection and power control are performed for an intermittently active transport channel with unknown format. A receiver processes each received block and determines whether it passes or fails CRC. For each received block with CRC failure, the receiver performs erasure detection by computing a symbol error rate (SER) and energy of the received block, comparing the computed SER against an SER threshold, comparing the computed energy against an energy threshold, and declaring an erasure if the computed SER is less than the SER threshold and the computed energy exceeds the energy threshold. The SER and energy thresholds may be adjusted based on the average SER and the average energy for prior received blocks with CRC failures. For power control, an SIR target is increased by an UP step whenever an erased block is detected for the transport channel. |
| US07730379B2 |
Method and apparatus for error code correction
Methods and apparatuses for ECC (error code correction) are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, for example, a method for ECC can include receiving a data stream, decoding the data stream according to a first directional ECC scheme, and decoding the data stream according to a second directional ECC scheme. The method also includes outputting an indication of ECC failure if an error count of the first directional ECC scheme or the second directional ECC scheme is below a first threshold value. The method further includes outputting an indication of ECC failure if an unmodified count of the first directional ECC scheme or the second directional ECC scheme is below a second threshold value. |
| US07730377B2 |
Layered decoding of low density parity check (LDPC) codes
A system for decoding in layers data received from a communication channel, comprising a first adder module adapted to determine an extrinsic estimate using a probability value estimate and a check node value estimate, the probability value estimate and the check node value estimate associated with a parity check matrix. The system also comprises a plurality of parity check update modules (PCUMs) in parallel with each other, coupled to the first adder module and adapted to update the check node value estimate, and a second adder module coupled to the plurality of PCUMs and adapted to update the probability value estimate using the extrinsic estimate and the updated check node value estimate. The PCUMs process at least some columns of at least some rows of the parity check matrix in a serial fashion. |
| US07730374B2 |
Self test circuit for a semiconductor intergrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit that self-tests the skew margin of the clock and data signals in an LVDS. A clock signal CKB1 is held in flip-flop circuit 105 synchronously with checking clock signal A1. Checking pattern signal PAT_A is held in flip-flop circuit 104 synchronously with checking clock signal A2. When the skew margin of clock signal CKA_IN and data signal DA_IN are checked, the checking signal TCKA of flip-flop circuit 105 is input instead of clock signal CKA_IN, and the checking signal TDA of flip-flop circuit 104 is input instead of clock signal DA_IN. The timing relationship between clock signal CKB7 and checking timing signal A1 and the timing relationship between clock signal CKB7 and checking timing signal A2 are controlled independently by timing control circuit 109. |
| US07730373B2 |
Test data compression method for system-on-chip using linear-feedback shift register reseeding
A method includes obtaining an equivalent core of multiple cores in a System-on-Chip circuit, and applying linear-feedback shift register LFSR reseeding for compressing test data of the equivalent core. |
| US07730370B2 |
Apparatus and method for disk read checking
An apparatus and method for controlling a disk drive is provided. A disk lubricant sweep component for periodically initiates a disk lubricant spreading action. A disk data read check component checks data at one or more LBAs during the disk lubricant sweep. The apparatus may cache data from LBAs that have been checked by the disk data read check component and found correct and record LBAs that have been found correct, so that they can be omitted from subsequent operation of the read check component. The apparatus may further comprise an error checking and correcting component for checking and correcting data found incorrect by reason of a soft error, and an error reporting component for reporting on one or more LBAs that have been checked and found incorrect by reason of a hard error. |
| US07730368B2 |
Method, system and computer-readable code for testing of flash memory
Methods, systems and devices for testing flash memory dies are disclosed. According to some embodiments, during the post-wafer sort stage of device manufacture, a plurality of flash memory devices, each of which includes a flash controller die and at least one flash memory die associated with a common housing, are subjected to a testing process, for examples, a batch testing process or a mass testing process. During testing, a respective flash controller residing on a respective flash controller die executes at least one test program to test one or more respective flash memory dies of the respective flash device. A testing system including at least 100 of the flash memory devices and a mass-testing board is disclosed. Furthermore, flash memory devices where the flash controller is operative to test one or more of the flash memory dies are disclosed. Exemplary testing includes but is not limited to bad block testing. |
| US07730365B1 |
Workload management for maintaining redundancy of non-data computer components
A computer system takes redundancy into account when allocating hardware resources to workloads in the event of a failure of a non-data-handling component. |
| US07730359B2 |
Repair of network communication files
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide method and devices for repairing computer files that impair network communications. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: extracting information corresponding to settings for network communications from a local resource file, wherein the local resource file is embedded within an application executed by a computer for repairing the files impairing network communication on the computer; and replacing information within a registry of the computer with at least a portion of the extracted information, wherein the replaced information includes settings pertaining to facilitation of network communications on the computer. Other methods and devices are also provided. |
| US07730356B2 |
Method and apparatus for testing mathematical algorithms
A method and apparatus for testing mathematical programs where code coverage is exceedingly difficult to hit with random data test vectors (probability <2−64) is provided. To enable testing of the mathematical program, instructions in the mathematical program are trapped. Errors are injected through the use of any status/control flag where an error can be created and be rectified later by a reversible operation so that the result of the mathematical operation is not modified by the injected error. |
| US07730354B2 |
Control microcomputer verification device and vehicle-mounted control device
The present invention offers an advanced control software verification technology, particularly, an assertion-based verification technology, by providing a control microcomputer verification device and vehicle-mounted control device that exhibit improved verification efficiency. Assertion-based verification is performed with a verification device that has a hardware configuration in which the verification device is independent of a CPU core of a microcomputer but operates in parallel with the CPU core of the microcomputer, which sequentially executes control software. The hardware to be employed to achieve the above purpose is a finite state machine based on microprogrammed control. An interrupt factor is branched immediately before an interrupt controller for the microcomputer and used as a transition input. When an abnormal transition is detected, a warning is output to the microcomputer as an interrupt or output to the outside in the form of a signal. |
| US07730351B2 |
Per file dirty region logging
A method for dirty region logging of a file that includes receiving a request to open the file, determining each of a plurality of component files associated with the file, opening each of the plurality of component files, writing to a region of the at least one of the plurality component files, and updating a dirty region log (DRL) associated with the one of the plurality of component files to reflect the write to the region. |
| US07730347B1 |
Data recovery system and method including a disk array architecture that provides recovery of data to any point of time
A storage architecture is disclosed for maintaining data in the event of data storage failure. The storage architecture includes a plurality of disks in a redundant disk array, a time-recovery disk, and an encoder system. Each of the plurality of disks in the redundant disk array includes a parity output bit that provides an indication of the parity of the data in each respective disk. The time-recovery disk is in communication with at least one of the redundant disk arrays. The encoder system is coupled to the parity output bit of the at least one of the disks and is coupled to the time-recovery disk for providing encoding data regarding whether a block of data in the at least one disk has been changed. |
| US07730341B1 |
System and method for transitioning from a logical state to any other logical state by modifying a single state element
A system for transitioning from a first logical state to any second logical state of a plurality of logical states includes a first circuit. The first circuit is associated with a first clock domain. The first circuit includes a first state machine. The first state machine includes a plurality of logical states. Each of the plurality of logical states is associated with a plurality of physical states. A single state element in one of the plurality of physical states associated with a first logical state is modified to transition from the first logical state to any second logical state. |
| US07730340B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic voltage and frequency scaling
A machine learning technique is used to improve dynamic prediction of processor utilization for multi-threaded user-level applications in a dynamic run-time environment based on processor utilization history. Processor supply voltage and processor clock frequency may be dynamically scaled based on the predicted processor utilization in order to reduce processor power consumption. |
| US07730339B2 |
Remote wake-up from an energy-saving mode
A method and apparatus for communicating with a device is provided. A user views a graphical user interface displayed on a client. For example, the graphical user interface may correspond to a web page or a graphical user interface of an operating system. The graphical user interface may display an icon. The display of the icon may indicate, to the user, whether a device, associated with the icon, is in an energy-saving mode. The user may configure the icon to cause the client to issue requests to the device. A request, sent from the client to the device, may instruct the device to exit the energy-saving mode. In this way, the user may instruct a device to exit the energy-saving mode (i.e., to “wake-up”) prior to issuing a request for the performance of a service (such as a request to print an electronic document) to the device. |
| US07730338B2 |
Interface circuit system and method for autonomously performing power management operations in conjunction with a plurality of memory circuits
A memory circuit power management system and method are provided. In use, an interface circuit is in communication with a plurality of memory circuits and a system. The interface circuit is operable to interface the memory circuits and the system for autonomously performing a power management operation in association with at least a portion of the memory circuits. |
| US07730337B2 |
Method and apparatus for asserting a hardware pin to disable a data bus connecting a processor and a chipset during power saving state
A power saving method is disclosed. A halt instruction is issued to enable transition from an operational state to a power saving state. The processor broadcasts a message to a chipset. The chipset receives the sleep message and enters a power saving state, and asserts a hardware pin to disable a data bus connecting the processor and the chipset. It is determined whether a request for data transaction required during the power saving process is issued to the chipset. If the request is issued to the chipset, the chipset deasserts the hardware pin to enable the data bus, transmits the request to the processor; and, when data transaction is complete, asserts the hardware pin by the chipset to disable the data bus. |
| US07730333B2 |
Intermittent computing
An intermittent computing system state and intermittent computing module is described for a power-constrained personal computer. In the intermittent computing system state, the power-constrained personal computer may transition between sub-states of the intermittent computing system state according to an intermittent computing schedule. Each intermittent computing sub-state may be associated with hardware power sets and software power sets. Altering power supply to hardware components referenced by hardware power sets may alter power consumed in associated intermittent computing sub-states. A caching mechanism may be configured to make it likely that software components referenced by software power sets are loaded into powered storage types during associated intermittent computing sub-states. In the intermittent computing system state, periods of high functionality may be available over extended periods without the high power consumption associated with a continuous working system state. Average power consumption may be adjusted by varying the intermittent computing schedule. |
| US07730331B2 |
Method for controlling power in mobile phone, and mobile phone implementing the same
Disclosed herein is a method of controlling power consumption of a mobile communication terminal, and a mobile communication terminal in which the method is implemented. The mobile communication terminal, having peripheral devices, such as a speaker, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a camera, and a diversity unit for implementing a diversity function, includes a power measurement unit and a control unit. The power measurement unit measures power consumed in the diversity unit. The control unit controls the power consumption of the peripheral devices based on the amount of consumed power read from the power measurement unit. Accordingly, the power consumption of the peripheral devices is appropriately controlled, so that unnecessary power consumption can be reduced, therefore the lifespan of a battery can be prolonged. |
| US07730329B2 |
Digital rights management (DRM) encryption and data-protection for content on device without interactive authentication
To render content on a medium, a device obtains a table from the medium, obtains a private key of the device (PR-PD), indexes into an entry of the table based thereon, obtains (PU-PD(RND)) from the indexed-into entry of the table, and applies (PR-PD) to (PU-PD(RND)) to expose a random key (RND). Then, the device obtains (RND(PR-PM)) from the table, applies (RND) to (RND(PR-PM)) to expose a private key of the medium (PR-PM), obtains (PU-PM(KD)) from the license, applies (PR-PM) to (PU-PM(KD)) to expose a content key (KD), obtains (KD(content)) from the storage medium, applies (KD) to (KD(content)) to expose the content. |
| US07730327B2 |
Managing the encryption of data
Embodiments of methods, devices and/or systems for managing the encryption of data are described. |
| US07730321B2 |
System and method for authentication of users and communications received from computer systems
A system and method allows a user to authenticate a communication from a computer system, a computer system to authenticate a user, or both. When a user requests a web page from the web site, customization information that is recognizable to the user is provided to allow the user to authenticate the web site. A signed, encrypted persistent file stored on the user's computer system or installed on a different computer system, or a trusted computing subsystem allows the web site to authenticate the user. If the user is using a system that will not allow that user to be authenticated, the user may instruct the system to continue providing information without the user's customization information. The system and method may be used to allow the user to authenticate an e-mail message or its source, and Flash movies or other computer code may be used if the user's e-mail client does not employ cookies. |
| US07730320B2 |
Method for generating data for detection of tampering, and method and apparatus for detection of tampering
In a target apparatus which stores at least one piece of domain key information in a first area and a plurality of pieces of content key information each associated with any one of the domain key information in a second area, a method for generating data for detecting tampering of the content key information. The method comprises the steps of encrypting the content key information associated with one of the domain key information using a chain encryption technique, extracting data at predetermined positions in the encrypted content key information, concatenating the pieces of data extracted at the predetermined positions in the encrypted content key information to obtain concatenated data, performing a hash calculation with respect to the concatenated data to obtain a hash value, storing check values corresponding to the data at the predetermined positions in plain text, in the target apparatus, and storing the hash value in the target apparatus. |
| US07730317B2 |
Linear predictive coding implementation of digital watermarks
Z-transform calculations may be used to encode (and/or decode) carrier signal independent data (e.g., digital watermarks) to a digital sample stream. Deterministic and non-deterministic components of a digital sample stream signal may be analyzed for the purposes of encoding carrier signal independent data to the digital sample stream. The carrier signal independent data may be encoded in a manner such that it is restricted or concentrated primarily in the non-deterministic signal components of the carrier signal. The signal components can include a discrete series of digital samples and/or a discreet series of carrier frequency sub-bands of the carrier signal. Z-transform calculations may be used to measure a desirability of particular locations and a sample stream in which to encode the carrier signal independent data. |
| US07730316B1 |
Method for document fingerprinting
Methods and computer program products for creating sketches of a document, which are compared with sketches of other documents, in order to determine the documents' degree of similarity. A sketch is a digest of information from random locations within a document. A document is divided into a set of shingles. Each shingle is converted into a set of fingerprints. A sketch is determined based on one bit fingerprints thus created. In order to create additional sketches of the document, a new set of fingerprints are created by randomization techniques. |
| US07730312B2 |
Tamper resistant module certification authority
Methods and apparati for securely loading one or more computer software applications onto a tamper resistant module (TRM) (107) and for securely deleting one or more applications from the TRM. An embodiment of the invention comprises a method for determining, based at least upon an encrypted personalization data block, whether a TRM (107) is part of a qualified set of TRM's to accept loading of an application. Thereafter, the method provides for loading the application onto the TRM (107) only after the first step determines that the TRM (107) is qualified to accept the loading of the application. Another embodiment comprises a method for determining, based at least upon an encrypted personalization data block, whether a TRM (107) is part of a qualified set of TRM's to accept deleting of an application. Thereafter, the method provides for deleting the application from the TRM (107) only when the first step determines that the TRM (107) is qualified to accept the deleting of the application. |
| US07730305B2 |
Authentication method for link protection in Ethernet passive optical network
An authentication method for link protection between an OLT and an ONU newly connected thereto in an EPON, which is implemented in a data link layer to which cryptography is applied. First, an authentication key is distributed to both the OLT and an ONU. The OLT (or ONU) generates first and second random values, generates an authentication request frame containing the random values, and transmits it to the ONU (or OLT). The ONU generates a first hash value according to a hash function using the random values contained in the request frame, and transmits an authentication response frame containing the first hash value to the OLT. The OLT compares the first hash value with a second hash value calculated by it according to the has function using the two random values and an authentication key distributed to it, and transmits an authentication result frame to the ONU. |
| US07730303B2 |
Enhanced content resolution method
A method of providing automatically verifiable trust in a content resolution process in which a PDR resolves a content reference identifier (CRID) identifying a content item using a resolution authority record (RAR) to obtain a locator identifying a location where the PDR can obtain the content item. Preferably, the measure comprises computing a digital signature over at least part of the contents of the CRID, the locator and/or the RAR. The method may also comprise encrypting at least a data portion of the CRID, RAR or locator. Digital rights needed to access the content item can be provided with the CRID, RAR or locator. |
| US07730301B2 |
Method and system for encrypting transmissions of communication data streams via a packet-oriented communication network
A collective packet generator forms collective Internet Protocol (IP) data packets, each of which contains several IP data packets of different communication data streams, for encrypted transmission of each of the communication data streams as a sequence of IP data packets. A particular collective IP data packet is encrypted by an encryption module for encrypting IP data packets. The encrypted collective IP data packets are then transmitted via a communication network. |
| US07730300B2 |
Method and apparatus for protecting the transfer of data
According to one embodiment, a method for scrambling and descrambling program data comprises the receipt of a mating key generator message including a manufacturer identifier. The mating key generator message is transmitted to a first remote source identified by the manufacturer identifier. In response, a mating key is received from the first remote source. Then, the mating key is supplied to a second remote source, the mating key being subsequently used to encrypt a service key used for scrambling program data. |
| US07730299B2 |
System and method for providing secure internetwork services via an assured pipeline
A system and method for the secure transfer of data between a workstation connected to a private network and a remote computer connected to an unsecured network. A secure computer is inserted into the private network to serve as the gateway to the unsecured network and a client subsystem is added to the workstation in order to control the transfer of data from the workstation to the secure computer. The secure computer includes a private network interface connected to the private network, an unsecured network interface connected to the unsecured network, wherein the unsecured network interface includes means for encrypting data to be transferred from the first workstation to the remote computer and a server function for transferring data between the private network interface and the unsecured network interface. |
| US07730296B2 |
Method and system for providing synchronous running encoding and encryption
Aspects of the invention provide a method and system for coding information in a communication channel. More particularly, aspects of the invention provide an method and system for synchronous running encryption and/or encoding and corresponding decryption and decoding in a communication channel or link. Aspects of the method may include encoding and/or encrypting a first data using a first or second encoding table and/or a first or second encryption table. The method may indicate which one of the first or second encoding tables or which one of the first or second encryption tables were utilized for encoding and/or encrypting the said first data. The encoded and/or encrypted first data may subsequently be transferred downstream and decoded by synchronous decoder/decryptor using a corresponding decoding and/or decryption table. The corresponding decoding and/or decryption table may be determined based on the indicated first and/or second encoding and/or encrypting tables. |
| US07730295B1 |
Updating firmware of a peripheral device
An embodiment of the present invention comprises a method of updating firmware of a peripheral device coupled to a computer system. A first boot operation is executed for loading an operating system into the computer system, and an update routine is installed for loading updated firmware into the peripheral device. The operating system is modified so that the update routine is executed early during a second boot operation for loading the operating system into the computer system. The second boot operation is executed, during which the update routine is executed to load the updated firmware into the peripheral device. In one embodiment, the update routine comprises an update driver having a DriverEntry code segment for loading the updated firmware into the peripheral device. |
| US07730294B2 |
System for geographically distributed virtual routing
A system for managing a distributed MetaHop that is administered, managed, and monitored as a single entity. If a new gateway is added to a MetaHop, the gateway can be provisioned with membership credentials by an administrator who indicates relatively basic information for the new gateway to join the MetaHop. Once provisioned with relatively basic information, the new gateway can be shipped to a relatively remote site where it automatically seeks out an entry point to the MetaHop. After connecting to an entry point (or entry points), the new gateway is automatically provisioned with any other information used to join the MetaHop. In one embodiment, the joined gateway is automatically enabled to forward traffic. In another embodiment, a new gateway is disabled for traffic forwarding until the administrator enables it for such forwarding on the MetaHop. |
| US07730292B2 |
Parallel subword instructions for directing results to selected subword locations of data processor result register
In the context of a microprocessor and a program, the invention provides parallel subword compare instructions that store results in a selectable intra-register subword location. In a targeting approach, an instruction permits the location to be specified; alternatively, there can be plural instructions, each associated with one of the locations. In a replicating approach, plural replicas are stored in the alternative locations. In a shifting approach, the instruction moves prior results, so that the number of subsequent iterations of the instruction determines the location of a result. The invention provides for overwriting and content-preserving instructions, and for overlapping and separate locations. The invention allows results from multiple parallel subword compare operations with relatively few instructions. The invention also provides for other parallel subword instructions. |
| US07730291B2 |
Symmetric multiprocessor operating system for execution on non-independent lightweight thread contexts
A multiprocessing system, including a multithreading microprocessor and a multiprocessor operating system (OS), is disclosed. The microprocessor includes a plurality of thread contexts (TCs), each having a program counter and a general purpose register set for executing a thread. The OS includes a data structure having an entry for each of the plurality of TCs, each entry containing information describing capabilities of the corresponding one of the plurality of TCs. Each entry further comprises a TC identifier field for identifying a corresponding one of the plurality of TCs. The OS populates the TC identifier field for each of the entries with a unique identifier value. |
| US07730290B2 |
Systems for executing load instructions that achieve sequential load consistency
A method is disclosed for executing a load instruction. Address information of the load instruction is used to generate an address of needed data, and the address is used to search a cache memory for the needed data. If the needed data is found in the cache memory, a cache hit signal is generated. At least a portion of the address is used to search a queue for a previous load instruction specifying the same address. If a previous load instruction specifying the same address is found, the cache hit signal is ignored and the load instruction is stored in the queue. A load/store unit, and a processor implementing the method, are also described. |
| US07730289B2 |
Method for preloading data in a CPU pipeline
A method for preloading data in a CPU pipeline is provided, which includes the following steps. When a hint instruction is executed, allocate and initiate an entry in a preload table. When a load instruction is fetched, load a piece of data from a memory into the entry according to the entry. When a use instruction which uses the data loaded by the load instruction is executed, forward the data for the use instruction from the entry instead of from the memory. When the load instruction is executed, update the entry according to the load instruction. |
| US07730278B2 |
Chunk-specific executable code for chunked java object heaps
A mechanism is disclosed for storing one or more chunk-specific sets of executable instructions at one or more predetermined offsets within chunks of a chunked heap. The mechanism provides for storing a chunk-specific set of executable instructions within a portion of a chunk, where the set of executable instructions begins at a predetermined offset within the range of virtual memory addresses allocated to the chunk. The set of executable instructions, when executed, is operable to perform one or more operations that are specific to the chunk. |
| US07730274B1 |
Preventing undesired trespass in storage arrays
Procedures and systems for avoiding undesired trespass may be deployed in host processors that use storage arrays with automated fail-back and fail-over functions. In one embodiment, a method may synchronize path records in a storage array with path records in a host processor. The method may detect a failure of a first data path through a first controller on the storage array to a logical unit (LUN) on the storage array. In response to the failure, the host processor may initiate a failover on the storage array of the LUN, so that the LUN is accessed through a backup controller on the storage array. The host processor may also issue commands to pin the failed-over LUN to the backup controller. For example, the host processor may issue commands to set the default owner of the LUN to be the backup controller. |
| US07730273B2 |
Method for securing data blocks in an electrically programmable memory
A method for securing a memory area comprising data blocks, wherein at least two control bits are associated with each data block, is provided. The method comprises a step of reading the control bits associated with a current data block intended to be replaced with the new data block, before the writing of a new data block in the memory area. A securing action for securing the memory area is begun if the two control bits have the same value. Upon each write of a new data block in the memory area, control bits having opposite values are written in the memory area. The method may be applied, for example, to the securization of a binary counter. |
| US07730272B2 |
Non-volatile memory device and method of encrypting data in the same
A non-volatile memory device includes an input/output terminal mixing section configured to couple data input/output terminals of the memory device to data input/output terminals of a page buffer in accordance with a user selection. A user data authenticating section is configured to transmit a control signal to the input/output terminal mixing section so that the input/output terminal mixing section couples the data input/output terminals of the memory device to the data input/output terminals of the page buffer in accordance with the user selection. A spare cell is configured to store the coupling configuration of the data input/output terminals of the memory device and the data input/output terminals of the page buffer in accordance with the user selection. |
| US07730271B2 |
Data security in an automated data storage library
An automated data storage library accesses data stored on storage media contained in cartridges in response to commands from an external host. The cartridges include cartridge memory and a component in the library includes a cartridge memory interface for reading data from and/or writing data to the cartridge memory. When a cartridge is to be stored in the library, the library modifies the contents of the cartridge memory such that the data stored on the cartridge becomes inaccessible, thereby preventing access to the data outside of the library. To perform an authorized access, the library restores the contents of the cartridge memory or provides a correction or correction algorithm to allow access to the data without removing the access protection of the storage media. The cartridge memory may also or alternatively include an identifier which permits access to the data only by the identified physical and/or logical library(s). |
| US07730270B2 |
Method combining once-writeable and rewriteable information storage to support data processing
An information storage arrangement that combines rewriteable storage with one-time programmable (OTP) storage is managed in a manner that makes judicious use of the OTP storage. It is therefore possible to exploit the economic advantage associated with OTP storage, while also avoiding storage capacity losses that would otherwise be associated with OTP storage. |
| US07730269B2 |
Load management to reduce communication signaling latency in a virtual machine environment
A computer implemented method for reducing communication signaling protocol latency. An acceptable level of latency is specified. Automatic memory management activities are monitored based on specified parameters to calculate a level of activity that determines whether a reduction of activity is required. |
| US07730263B2 |
Future execution prefetching technique and architecture
A prefetching technique referred to as future execution (FE) dynamically creates a prefetching thread for each active thread in a processor by simply sending a copy of all committed, register-writing instructions in a primary thread to an otherwise idle processor. On the way to the second processor, a value predictor replaces each predictable instruction with a load immediate instruction, where the immediate is the predicted result that the instruction is likely to produce during its nth next dynamic execution. Executing this modified instruction stream (i.e., the prefetching thread) in another processor allows computation of the future results of the instructions that are not directly predictable. This causes the issuance of prefetches into the shared memory hierarchy, thereby reducing the primary thread's memory access time and speeding up the primary thread's execution. |
| US07730259B2 |
Method, computer and system for managing a storage subsystem configuration
Provided is a storage subsystem configuration management method for use in a computer system, comprising: obtaining storage configuration information and hardware resource use information; determining, based on the obtained hardware resource use information, a configuration of a storage subsystem so that a load is not concentrated on a specific hardware resource; transmitting a configuration change instruction to make a change to the determined configuration to the storage subsystem; and making a configuration change based on the configuration change instruction received from the management computer through the first interface. |
| US07730258B1 |
System and method for managing hard and soft lock state information in a distributed storage system environment
A system and method manages lock state information in a storage system. A meta-data volume node includes a lock state database which is a comprehensive source for lock state information about data containers in the system. A plurality of data volume nodes include local lock caches, which contain information about locks. Lock state messaging between the meta-data volume node and the data volume nodes is used to assign locks and to update local lock caches. The meta-data volume node is configured to determine whether input/output requests should be allowed or denied and to instruct the data volume nodes of this input/output operation result. Lock information is also sent to the data volume nodes for storage in local lock state caches to the extent the data volume nodes have the network capacity locally. |
| US07730254B2 |
Memory buffer for an FB-DIMM
A memory buffer for an FB-DIMM having a first input/output interface for communicating with a memory controller at a first payload data rate and a second input/output interface for communicating with memory packages at a second payload data rate, wherein a relation of the first payload data rate to the second payload data is greater than 10. |
| US07730247B2 |
Information processing apparatus
A bus of a SoC (system on chip) includes a system arbiter for controlling not only a command arbiter but also a read information arbiter, a write data control circuit, a write complete notice arbiter and the like. A sequential table containing a series of system operations including activation processing and application processing and an operation clock information circuit or the like that becomes effective when a SoC bus region is divided by an operation clock frequency are utilized in assignment of priority of buses of the system arbiter. Thus, the information transfer efficiency of the whole system bus and the information transfer efficiency of every transfer originator can be improved. |
| US07730246B2 |
Opportunistic transmission of software state information within a link based computing system
A method is described that involves determining that software state information of program code is to be made visible to a monitoring system. The method also involves initiating the writing of the software state information into a register. The method also involves waiting for the software state information to be placed onto a link within a link based computing system. |
| US07730245B2 |
Method and system for setting addresses for slave devices in data communication system
A system for setting addresses includes a master device, a plurality of slave devices, and a bus. The master device includes a broadcasting module, a reading module, a responding module, an address assigning module, and a first judging module. Each slave device includes a performing module and a requesting module. The broadcasting module is configured to send messages to the slave devices. The performing module is configured to put the slave device be in an address setting mode. The reading module is configured to read a time assignment for each slave device from a timing module. The requesting module is configured to send an address request. The responding module is configured to respond to the address request. The address assigning module is configured to assign an address to the slave device. The first judging module is configured to check if all the time windows for the slave devices have elapsed. |
| US07730243B2 |
KVM switch system with a simplified external controller
A KVM switch system with external control functionality is described. A KVM switch is able to be controlled from an external device. The external device can either include a single button dedicated to controlling the desktop KVM switch or indicate a state of the KVM switch. The external device can be connected to the desktop KVM switch through a plurality of communication media. The external device can be small in size and attached to an object on a user's desktop. |
| US07730238B1 |
Buffer management method and system with two thresholds
A method comprises providing a free buffer pool in a memory including a non-negative number of free buffers that are not allocated to a queue for buffering data. A request is received to add one of the free buffers to the queue. One of the free buffers is allocated to the queue in response to the request, if the queue has fewer than a first predetermined number of buffers associated with a session type of the queue. One of the free buffers is allocated to the queue, if a number of buffers in the queue is at least as large as the first predetermined number and less than a second predetermined number associated with the session type, and the number of free buffers is greater than zero. |
| US07730234B2 |
Command decoding system and method of decoding a command including a device controller configured to sequentially fetch the micro-commands in an instruction block
A command decoding system includes a main processor, an instruction memory, a memory controller, and a device controller. The main processor provides a command, and the instruction memory stores an instruction block corresponding to the command. The instruction block includes micro-commands for executing the command. The memory controller controls an access to the instruction memory, and the device controller receives the command, and sequentially fetches the micro-commands included in the instruction block corresponding to the command through the memory controller to execute the fetched micro-commands. |
| US07730231B2 |
Data transfer interface for a direct transfer of data from a first device to a second device
A data transfer interface system is provided that directly transfers data from one data storage drive to another data storage drive under the control of a host. The host and data storage drives are jointly connected to one another with data lines and control lines. Each data storage drive is connected separately to the host with a read/write command line. The host initializes the data storage drives providing initialization data to the drives where the data may include position information and commend information. After initialization, the host concurrently instructs one data storage drive to read the data from the drive while the other data storage drive writes the data to memory. |
| US07730228B2 |
System for dual use of an I/O circuit
A system provides dual use of a general purpose input/output (I/O) line. In an embodiment, the system comprises a controlling circuit having a dual purpose I/O line that is selectively operable in a serial transmit mode or an I/O mode. A first circuit that receives a serial data stream when the controlling circuit operates in the serial transmit mode is coupled to the I/O line. A second circuit that generates and transmits a signal when the controlling circuit operates in the I/O mode is also coupled to the I/O line. Finally, a third circuit is disposed between the second circuit and the I/O line. In an embodiment, when the controlling circuit operates in the serial transmit mode, the third circuit maintains the second circuit in an idle state, and when the controlling circuit operates in the I/O mode, the third circuit permits the second circuit to transmit the signal to the controlling circuit. |
| US07730225B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information transmission method, and control program therefor
An information processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire, from a plurality of image forming apparatuses, application information indicating a type of each application program installed on the plurality of image forming apparatuses, an application selection receiving unit configured to receive selection of an application program corresponding to the acquired application information, a setting information selection receiving unit configured to receive selection of setting information used in the application program whose selection has been received, an apparatus selection receiving unit configured to receive selection of an image forming apparatus as a destination to which to transmit the setting information from among image forming apparatuses installed with the application program whose selection has been received, and a transmission control unit configured to control processing for transmitting, to the image forming apparatus whose selection has been received, the setting information whose selection has been received. |
| US07730222B2 |
Processing storage-related I/O requests using binary tree data structures
The disclosed technology can be used to develop systems and perform methods that receive and process I/O requests directed to at least a part of a logical unit of storage. The I/O requests can be associated with different times corresponding to when such I/O requests were received. Nodes that include non-overlapping address ranges associated with the logical unit of storage can be formed in response to receiving the I/O requests and such nodes can be subsequently organized into a tree data structure. The tree data structure can serve as a basis for determining address overlap, for example to enable processing a first operation associated with a first one of the I/O requests in accordance with the first I/O request's receipt time, while one or more other operations associated with a different I/O request may be processed irrespective of that different I/O request's receipt time. This can be useful in a system in system operations are improved by easy access to information about whether pending I/O requests are directed to overlapping units of storage. |
| US07730210B2 |
Virtual MAC address system and method
A method for creating a virtual MAC address, the method includes receiving an Internet Protocol address that is to be associated with a virtual MAC address. The method creates a virtual MAC address by setting an OUI portion of the virtual MAC address to an OUI value and setting the non-OUI portion of the virtual MAC address to a subset of the Internet Protocol (IP) address. In one embodiment, the lower three bytes of the IP address are used. Additionally, a method of migrating a virtual MAC address includes detecting a migration event on a first system; creating a virtual MAC address on a second system; and issuing a gratuitous ARP packet containing the virtual MAC address. |
| US07730208B2 |
Method and system for centrally exchanging terminal information over a meshed network
An approach is provided for communicating in a meshed network including a first terminal and a second terminal. A request from the first terminal for obtaining address information of the second terminal is submitted to a hub. The hub generates a response including the address information and the context information that specifies capabilities of the second terminal. This arrangement has particular applicability to a satellite network (e.g., Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network) that provides data communication services. |
| US07730207B2 |
Routing in peer-to-peer networks
Routing in a peer-to-peer network is described. In an implementation, a method includes receiving at one of a plurality of nodes in a peer-to-peer network, an indication of a change in membership in the peer-to-peer network by another node in the peer-to-peer network. A report is broadcast that describes the change. The report is for receipt by each node referenced in a routing table included in the one node. |
| US07730205B2 |
OS agnostic resource sharing across multiple computing platforms
Methods, apparatus, and systems for sharing resources across a plurality of computing platforms. Firmware provided on each platform is loaded for operating system runtime availability. Shared resources are presented to operating systems running on the platforms as local resources, while in reality they are generally hosted by other platforms. An operating system resource access request is received by a requesting platform and rerouted to another platform that actually hosts a target resource used to service the resource access request. Global resource maps are employed to determine the appropriate host platforms. Communications between the platforms is enabled via an out-of-band (OOB) communication channel or network. A hidden execution mode is implemented to effectuate data rerouting via the OOB channel such that the method is performed in a manner that is transparent to operating systems running on the platforms. The shared resources include storage, input, and video devices. The method can be used to support shared KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) resources. |
| US07730200B2 |
Synthetic bridging for networks
A method of creating a synthetic bridge (100) has select data (406) logically extracted from an application layer of a first network (12A) which contains one or more first data streams to be transported to a second network (12B). Select data (406) is logically extracted from an application layer of the second network (12B). Select data (406) is logically extracted from an application layer of the second network (12B) which contains one or more second data streams to be transported to the first network (12A). The two or more first and second data streams are transported over separate sets of non-network media link interfaces (130-133) that only allow for limited information encoding and inherently prevent any network protocol information from being passed with the two or more first and second data streams until after the two or more first and second data streams are in the control of the opposite network from which they were transported. |
| US07730199B2 |
Method and system of processing a data stream
Methods and systems of processing a data stream are disclosed. A developer may develop a service only by programming a Service Unit (SU) including a service logic (SL) and including a Service Unit Description Language (SUDL) file, so that the developer may not need to program complicated stream processing code, such as stream source connection code, network input/output (I/O) code, and buffering code. In addition, the stream source connected dynamically to the service and a service execution mode (such as push and pull modes) may be converted by simply changing setting files based on the service model. The system includes modules for managing and processing the stream in reality, such as stream source connection modules, network I/O processing modules, and stream buffering modules, the modules operating the developed program through the service model. |
| US07730197B2 |
Server-based acquisition and usage of dynamic MAC addresses in a virtualized ethernet environment
Methods and systems for dynamically acquiring MAC addresses in a virtualized Network environment. A server may be partitioned into a plurality of logical partition. Each logical partition may be associated with a logical adapter to provide network access to the partition. A MAC address may be dynamically allocated to a logical adapter from a predefined range of MAC addresses. Furthermore, the MAC addresses may be unique within a particular subnet, therefore the same MAC address may be assigned to adapters in different subnets. |
| US07730196B2 |
Efficient transfer of messages using reliable messaging protocols for web services
The present invention provides for flow and congestion control mechanisms in accordance with a Reliable Message protocol for Web Services (RM-WS). For flow control, one endpoint informs another endpoint of its available buffer size by including buffer size information in response messages. The response messages, typically RM-WS infrastructure messages, are then used to determine an upper limit on the number of messages that can be sent to the acceptor in order to prevent resending messages due to buffer overrun. In the case of congestion control, embodiments provide for increasing the number of in-flight messages until a failure point is found. The last successful rate below the failure point is the closest known point to the optimum point. Example embodiments then reset and try again raising the rate back to the last known good point and fine tuning from there using an algorithm that asymptotes the optimum rate. |
| US07730183B2 |
System and method for generating virtual networks
A system and method for generating and/or managing virtual network(s) is provided. The system provides an interface for end-user(s) to create a virtual network (e.g., on-demand). The virtual network comprises a plurality of servers that allow the user to, for example, develop and/or test software, migrate applications, apply tasks and/or troubleshoot scenarios in a simulated, distributed environment.A user can communicate with the system via an interface (e.g., web-based) to create and/or manage the virtual network. Additionally, the system can employ a common infrastructure to facilitate creation and/or management of a variety of virtual deployment configurations. The common infrastructure can be designed, for example, by administrator(s) having knowledge of hardware and/or software available for employment within the virtual network.The system can further provide a load-balancing mechanism to determine and/or distribute workload to computer(s) with available resource(s). Additionally, the system can expire virtual session(s) that are no longer in use thereby releasing resources for other user(s) and/or session(s). |
| US07730180B1 |
Resolving multiple master node conflict in a DDB
In a multinode computer network, a directory database (DDB) in each of the nodes, contents of the DDB being replicated throughout the network through use of one of its nodes having been appointed as master node. The master node updates each DDB in each node in its network or domain configuration when the configuration changes. A global administrator has authority to replace or select a master node and to configure a domain, and performs these and other functions by way of computer terminal screen dialogs offered by a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the computer network. In the case of multiple master nodes attempting to be master for the same nodes in the same network at the same time, this conflict is resolved in one embodiment of the present invention by allowing the most recently selected purported master node to be the actual master node. After resolution of this conflict the result is communicated by the prevailing master node to all nodes in the network. This resolution takes into account a global network with varying time zones, and further takes into account the remote possibility of a simultaneous appointment of two masters. |
| US07730175B1 |
Systems and methods for identifying the services of a network
A packet transmitted on a network is read and decoded. A network device and its operating system are identified by analyzing the decoded packet. If more than one operating system is identified from the decoded packet, the operating system is selecting by comparing confidence values assigned to the operating systems identified. A service running on the network device is identified from the decoded packet or subsequent packets that are read, decoded and analyzed. The network topology of a network is determined by reading, decoding, and analyzing a plurality of packets. A flow between two network devices is determined by reading, decoding, and analyzing a plurality of packets. Vulnerabilities are assigned to operating systems and services identified by reading, decoding, and analyzing packets. Network configuration policy is enforced on operating systems and services identified by reading, decoding, and analyzing packets. |
| US07730173B2 |
Detecting nearby devices in a network environment
In a networked environment, an inferred proximity of one or devices to another device is determined. The inferred proximity is determined, for a particular one of the one or more devices, based at least in part on which port of a network switch the particular device and the other device are coupled to. |
| US07730172B1 |
Method and apparatus for reactive and deliberative service level management (SLM)
Method and apparatus for service level management, wherein business processes are composed of services. A state of the service is defined by one or more service parameters, and the service parameters depend upon performance of network components that support the service, e.g., component parameters. The state of the service may depend, for example, on a collection of service parameter values for availability, reliability, security, integrity and response time. A service level agreement is a contract between a supplier and a customer that identifies services supported by a network, service parameters for the services, and service levels (e.g., acceptable levels) for each service parameter. |
| US07730171B2 |
Decoupled logical and physical data storage within a database management system
The subject matter herein relates to database management systems and, more particularly, to decoupled logical and physical data storage within a database management system. Various embodiments provide systems, methods, and software that separate physical storage from logical storage of data. These embodiments include a mapping of logical storage to physical storage to allow data to be moved within the physical storage to increase database responsiveness. |
| US07730170B2 |
Method and system for identifying network connected devices such as personal computers
A method for identifying a device such as a computer in a network includes providing a storage containing a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a device connected to the network and comprising a plurality of stored attributes for the device, receiving from the device a set of current attributes associated to the device, for each among a plurality of entries in the storage, generating a similarity metric between current attributes of the received set and respective stored attributes comprised in the entry, the similarity metric taking into account both matches between respective attributes and mismatches between respective attributes. A candidate entry is determined for which the higher similarity metric is obtained. If the similarity metric is higher than a given recognition threshold, identifying the device as the one to which the candidate entry corresponds. |
| US07730169B1 |
Business method and system for serving third party software applications
A method and system for serving software applications to remote clients across the interne, for example, is disclosed that preferably utilizes standard, SMB (server message block), protocols, which are available in commercial operating systems. Further, an associated business method is described in which subscribing institutions can out-source the application serving to a third party institution, transparently. Finally, a port proxy system is provided that enables tunneling through firewalls that are configured to block communications from SMB ports. |
| US07730164B1 |
Bootstrap approaches to downloading data in response to a download indication
Transferring data is disclosed. An indication to transfer an executable set of data to a destination device is received. A first set of data is transferred to the destination device. Transfer of a second set of data to the destination device is initiated. The first set of data is associated with the second set of data and is usable independent of the second set of data. The executable set of data is transferred to the destination device based at least in part on the second set of data. |
| US07730161B2 |
Information exchange system and method
A system and method for providing on demand information exchange between a data store and a portable recipient data storage device includes a source of data and a data transfer initiator, coupled to the source of data and configured for initiating the transfer of data from the source of data to a portable recipient data storage device. A data transfer port is provided to couple the data source with the portable recipient data storage device, and configured for transmitting, on request by the recipient, data from the source of data to the portable recipient data storage device. |
| US07730153B1 |
Efficient use of NVRAM during takeover in a node cluster
A server storage system operating in a cluster mode, and a method for operating the server system that provides additional memory for use by a non-failed server to store log records while taking over the operations of a failed server. |
| US07730142B2 |
Electronic mail system with functionality to include both private and public messages in a communication
An e-mail system is disclosed that overcomes many deficiencies of, but is backward compatible with, existing e-mail systems. Embodiments of the system may include various features, including but not limited to: (1) secure transfer of e-mail messages, without the need for users to replace existing e-mail clients or to change e-mail addresses; (2) tracking of all actions performed in connection with an e-mail transmission; (3) the ability for a recipient to view information about an e-mail message, optionally including information about how other addressees have responded to it, before deciding whether to retrieve the e-mail message; (4) the aggregation of entire e-mail conversations into a single threaded view; (5) the ability to include both private and public messages in a single e-mail communication; (6) sender control over downstream actions performed in connection with an e-mail message; (7) flexible control over cryptographic methods used to encrypt emails messages for storage. |
| US07730141B2 |
Graphical interface for defining mutually exclusive destinations
A user defines mutually exclusive inbox and spam folders to which emails are routed based on a rating assigned to each email. A variable user-defined range defines a mapping of the ratings to each folder. Incoming emails are routing to one of the folders according to the range. A reference set of emails is designated, each having a rating and either an inbox label or a spam label. A display indicates the number the reference emails in each folder if the reference emails are routed to one of the folders according to their ratings and according to the user-defined range. |
| US07730140B2 |
Bifurcation of messages in an extensible message transfer system
Within a mail transfer agent of a message transfer system, a message is received and if the recipient entity resolves to a number of recipients exceeding a specified quantity, the original message is not processed. Instead, at least two messages are created, with each of the created messages addressed to a subset of the original set of recipients. The created messages are returned to the calling module for processing. |
| US07730139B2 |
Asynchronous tamper-proof tag for routing e-mails and e-mail attachments
A method of automatically processing e-mails wherein the e-mail is tagged by the sender with a unique identifier so that the e-mail can be automatically routed or filed. The unique identifier is encrypted to protect it from unauthorized tampering or decoding to avoid misidentification or fraudulent labelling of the e-mails. |
| US07730131B2 |
Controlling publication of presence information
A user interface is configured to identify and display each of the one or more service providers servicing the user's computing system. The interface also identifies the presence information that is being supplied to the service providers by the user's computing system for publication. The presence information that is provided to the service providers can include, but is not limited to, the name, alias, location, and network status of the user. A user can make global or discrete customized changes to the presence information that is provided to each of the service providers through the user interface. Modifications made to the presence information can also be made automatically to reflect a new condition or status in the user's presence on a network that is provided by a service provider. |
| US07730127B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for video sharing
A method for video sharing, which realizes video sharing between an originating UE and a terminating UE when the terminating UE is not IMS core network registered. The method includes the following steps: an originating UE sends a video sharing request containing a URI of callee to an application server; the application server determines that the terminating UE of the callee is not IMS core network registered and notifies the terminating UE to register; the terminating UE activates a GPRS connection and registers with the IMS core network; the originating UE and the registered terminating UE set up a sharing session via the application server; the originating UE and the terminating UE share video information. A system and apparatus for practicing this method is also disclosed. |
| US07730118B2 |
Multiply-accumulate unit and method of operation
An arithmetic unit for selectively implementing one of a multiply and multiply-accumulate instruction, including a multiplier, addition circuitry, a result register, and accumulator circuitry. The multiplier arranged to receive first and second operands and operable to generate multiplication terms. The addition circuitry for receiving multiplication terms from the multiplier and operable to combine them to generate a multiplication result. The result register for receiving the multiplication result from the adder. The accumulator circuitry connected to receive a value stored in the result register and an accumulate control signal which determines whether the arithmetic unit implements a multiply or a multiply-accumulate instruction. |
| US07730115B2 |
System, microcontroller and methods thereof
A microcontroller for securing data. The microcontroller may be included within a system. The microcontroller reads first and second data from first and second storages, respectively. The microcontroller compares the read first and second data. The microcontroller permits execution of a command based on a result of the comparison. |
| US07730114B2 |
Computer file system
A file system that does not conflate item lifetime with the item's inclusion in an organizational structure of the file system is described herein. In addition, the file system's organizational structure is not limited to directory trees, but instead may use any directed acyclic graph (DAG). Items, once stored into the file system, may be maintained until affirmatively deleted by a client of the file system, regardless of whether the item is part of a DAG or not. Items may be placed in file regions, which are conceptual workspaces for a client to control item lifetime and to organize items into any DAG structure of the user's choosing. Items may be concurrently stored in multiple DAGs, and each file region may have one or more independent DAGs. An item's placement in a DAG may also be used to govern file properties such as namespace, security, privacy, and read/write attributes. |
| US07730109B2 |
Message catalogs for remote modules
A system and method for incorporating message catalogs in remote modules. The system and method comprise a container server that identifies one or more modules for use with a container document, receives a module specification from a remote server, and serves the container document with module data based on the module specification, wherein the module data comprises a message reference that identifies a message catalog. |
| US07730108B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method, and program
Disclosed herein is an apparatus for processing information about a network including a plurality of nodes, wherein m attributes (m represents an integer of 2 or more) assignable to each of the nodes are defined depending on the relationship to another node which can be connected to the each of the nodes, the apparatus including: identifier generating means for converting attributes assigned to each of n nodes (n represents an integer of 3 or more) per relationship to the other node connected thereto into numerical values with respect to motifs extracted from the network as predetermined patterns of the connected relationship of the n nodes, and generating identifiers identifying the motifs using the numerical values. |
| US07730106B2 |
Compression of encrypted data in database management systems
The subject matter herein relates to database management systems and, more particularly, compression of encrypted data in database management systems. Various embodiments provide systems, methods, and software that compress encrypted column values stored tables. Some other embodiments include declaring tables with column encrypt and compress attributes. |
| US07730104B2 |
Extraction of information from structured documents
A method of extracting information from a structured document includes the steps of assigning a partial tree identifier inclusive of a tag identifier to a selected partial tree wherein the tag identifier includes a name of a tag corresponding to a root of the selected partial tree, a name of at least one format attribute of the tag, and a value of the at least one format attribute, arranging names of format attributes in a predetermined order in the tag identifier if the at least one format attribute of the tag includes two or more format attributes, and identifying a partial tree having a partial tree identifier identical to the partial tree identifier of the selected partial tree from a list of partial tree identifiers of partial trees that exist in the structured document after updating thereof. |
| US07730103B2 |
Apparatus and method for efficient encoding of application definition using contiguous arrays
A system and method for the simplification of data structures, particularly those used for wireless communications, encodes data structures for efficient storage and access. Wireless devices are provisioned with user applications for accessing remote services, such as World Wide Web services. The user applications comprise a plurality of component definitions which typically describe complex data structures for execution by a runtime environment. The runtime environment is conditioned to use a manner to encode such data structures in flat arrays of primitive types. |
| US07730101B2 |
Implementing a tree data storage structure in a distributed environment
Tree data storage structures are implemented on respective computers in a distributed environment, such as on a network, so that information associated with nodes of one computer's tree data storage structure may be read or written to by another computer in the network. To promote efficiency, a cache may be employed on the computers in the network such that each computer caches information associated with nodes of tree data storage structures located on the computers in the network. A lock service may implement a caching protocol to provide efficient concurrency of caching operations while ensuring that current information associated with the nodes is available to all computers in the network. |
| US07730100B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium
An information processing apparatus for searching for a desired content from a storage unit storing a plurality of contents to which a plurality of attributes is set classifies stored contents by each of the attributes. The information processing apparatus then counts the number of registered contents classified by each of the attributes and determines an attribute as a criterion for classifying contents. |
| US07730099B2 |
Storage and retrieval of richly typed hierarchical network models
A Composite Pattern with BLOB data types is used to model a hierarchical network, and includes a path-like construct for locating each component within the network model. Database procedures are used to efficiently search, modify and retrieve individual nodes from the network model using the database server's memory pool so that client applications are not required to retrieve and deserialize the entire Composite-BLOB hierarchy in order to make modifications or search for individual elements, thereby substantially reducing the transfer of data between the application layer and database. To avoid the need for dynamic memory restructuring during deserialization, the size required to store component data at each composite is stored when the composite is serialized, and during deserialization, the size is retrieved and used to obtain sufficient memory for the deserialized composite. |
| US07730098B2 |
Method for supporting ontology-related semantic queries in DBMSs with XML support
A method for supporting semantic matching queries in a database management system (DBMS) by extracting and storing the transitive/subsumption relationships from a given ontology data in a DBMS with native XML support. These transitive relationships are transformed into a set of XML documents that are natural mappings of the hierarchical structure of the transitive relationships. A table function construct expresses semantic matching queries in a declarative manner. The semantic matching queried are automatically rewritten or translated into standard SQL/XML search operators such as XQuery, XPath and XMLExists, and executed by the SQL/XML DBMS on the given instance data and the extracted transitive relationships data. |
| US07730095B2 |
Controlling transactions in accordance with role based security
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for controlling transactions in accordance with role based security. A first transaction related component receives a transaction related message from a second transaction related component. The transaction related message indicates a request by the second transaction related component to perform a transaction related operation that is to involve the first transaction related component. The first transaction related component authenticates the second transaction related component. The first transaction related component refers to transaction control information indicating roles the second transaction component is permitted to assume relative to the first transaction related component. The transaction related operation indicated in the request is compared to the permitted roles for the second transaction related component. The transaction related operation is implemented in accordance with the results of the comparison. |
| US07730092B2 |
System and method for managing user profiles
A system and a method for managing user and data profiles utilizing a web-enabled interactive database to organize, store and retrieve the information to create a consistent security model through centralized administration, are disclosed. The system captures various rules and pre-determined methodologies to provide on-line, up-to-date decisions to the users when users request access to a set of specific data or an application. The system further provides the capability to the user to request access to information that the user currently does not have access to, tracks the status of the request, obtains approval/disapproval decision from the data owner, implements the decision, and notifies requester within a reasonable time. |
| US07730088B2 |
Queriable hierarchical text data
There is disclosed a method, apparatus and computer program product for generating a queriable text. User role map information is applied to the source hierarchical text. The role mapped text is separated into a structure component and a content component. The content component is compressed. A method for processing intermediate and original form query also is disclosed. |
| US07730086B1 |
Data set request allocations to computers
A method of allocation a computer to service a request for a data set in a system having a plurality of computers. The method is implemented on a neural network having only an input layer having input nodes and an output layer having output nodes, where each output node is associated with a specific computer. Connecting the input nodes to the output nodes are weights w(j,k). The method includes the steps of receiving a request for data set “I” and inputting to the input layer a vector R(I) dependent upon the number of requests for the requested data over a predetermined period of time and selecting a computer assignment associated with of one of the output nodes to service the data request, where the output node selected is associated with a specific weight selected to minimize a predetermined metric measuring the distance between the vector entry R(I) and the weights(I,k). |
| US07730084B2 |
Nested queries with index
Values for virtual recursive attributes are generated for distinguished name entries in a lightweight directory access protocol directory by navigating through the directory tree starting at the distinguished name entry specified by an input value. An attribute list of the values for the virtual recursive attributes may be cached or indexed. In another aspect, attribute lists are generated for all branches of the directory tree. |
| US07730083B2 |
Method of using a code to track user access to content
A method for tracking user internet surfing involving a first step of providing a computer hosting contents from content hosts. The computer is configured with the required software and hardware to control all interfacing with the user; and, to request and receive data from the content hosts. Additional steps include storing on the computer storage medium an identification of the user to enable the user to log in to the computer; enabling a logged-in user to access the computer through the requesting client to view a content in the plurality of contents; maintaining a user list comprising the surf-code reference of the content viewed by the logged-in user; enabling the logged-in user to access the user list to identify the content viewed by the logged-in user; and, presenting the content viewed by the logged-in user to the requesting client based on the user list. |
| US07730076B2 |
Technique for auto filling values in a user interface
Disclosed is a method and system to receive a first value of a first attribute in a user interface and create a value pattern for a second attribute in the user interface based on the first value dynamically. A second value for the second attribute is automatically proposed from the created value pattern. |
| US07730071B2 |
Data management system and data management method
A file system transfer designation section for transferring the file system matching with file system transfer rules from the first volume of the first storage apparatus to the second volume of the second storage apparatus based on the first file system transfer rules, a file system storage information manager for updating storage information of the file system in accordance with transfer of the file system by the file system transfer designation section, and transmitting the updated file system storage information, and a search information manager for updating search information for searching the files based on a file search request from the client apparatus using the file system storage information sent by the file system storage information manager are provided. |
| US07730068B2 |
Extensible data collectors
Automated sampling and aggregation of performance or other dynamically varying data facilitates user productivity by making data available for a wide range of uses. An automated sampling and aggregration system includes one or more types of data collectors, including a dedicated data collector per machine, multiple data collectors per machine, or an instance-less data collector. |
| US07730067B2 |
Database interaction
Database interaction is facilitated by graphically presenting database objects in groups that are not necessarily dictated by object types of the database objects. In an example implementation, database navigation is facilitated by determining object dependency groups for a database in which each object dependency group corresponds to a database source object and includes at least those database objects that depend directly or indirectly from the corresponding database source object. When these data source object-based dependency groups are graphically displayed, selecting a database object thereof provides access thereto. In another example implementation, a user can designate an attribute associated with database objects by which the database objects are to be grouped. Thus, the database objects are grouped by various values that the user-designated associated attribute takes. These designated attribute-based value-driven groups may also be graphically displayed to enable navigation of and access to the different database objects assigned to them. |
| US07730066B2 |
Methods, apparatus and computer program products for processing claims
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for processing of an original batch of documents in which any document of the original batch that fails to comply with the predefined specification is identified to be a non-compliant document. At least one non-compliant batch is then formed that contains the non-compliant documents. The non-compliant batch is distinct from at least one compliant batch that contains any documents that do comply with the predefined specification. At least one of the non-compliant and compliant batches advantageously includes a plurality of documents. The complaint batch(es) may then be forwarded for further processing without awaiting rework of the non-compliant documents included in the non-compliant batch(es). |
| US07730064B2 |
System and method for managing models and model dependencies within a computerized simulation environment
A system and method for viewing models and model variables within a sophisticated modeling environment is disclosed. The system provides varying levels of insight into a modeling infrastructure to help the user understand model and model variable dependencies, usage, distribution, and/or the like. The method includes storing model and model variable data within a relational database system, receiving a request from a user interfacing with the system via a web interface, extracting search criteria and presentation preferences from the request, formulating and executing one or more queries on the database to retrieve the required data, formatting the data in accordance with the request, and retuning the data to the requesting user in the form of a web page. |
| US07730062B2 |
Cap-sensitive text search for documents
Enabling text searching that accommodates a search criteria corresponding to a capitalization characteristic. One or more search terms are received, and a determination is made as to a capitalization characteristic of at least one search term. One or more documents are identified from a collection of documents. The identification is based at least in part on the determination of the capitalization characterization of the search term, so that the search result satisfies the criteria of the capitalization characteristic. |
| US07730060B2 |
Efficient evaluation of object finder queries
The subject disclosure pertains to a class of object finder queries that return the best target objects that match a set of given keywords. Mechanisms are provided that facilitate identification of target objects related to search objects that match a set of query keywords. Scoring mechanisms/functions are also disclosed that compute relevance scores of target objects. Further, efficient early termination techniques are provided to compute the top K target objects based on a scoring function. |
| US07730059B2 |
Cube faceted data analysis
Methods, systems, and computer readable medium for displaying results of a search query. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a query, obtaining documents that satisfy the query, constructing a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query, creating a cube structure based on the facet hierarchy, and displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the cube structure. |
| US07730058B2 |
Searching for information utilizing a probabilistic detector
A probabilistic detector is utilized to query a database. Utilization of a probabilistic detector provides assurance with 100 per cent probability that a search expression in the query is not in the database index. The probabilistic detector is implemented in the form of a Bloom filter. The probabilistic detector is created by hashing expressions in the database index and mapping the resulting hash values into the probabilistic detector. Upon receiving a query, expressions of the query are hashed. The probabilistic detector is queried using these hash values. If the results of querying the probabilistic detector indicate that searched for information may be in the database, the database is not queried. If the results of querying the probabilistic detector indicate that the information may be in the database, the database is queried for the information using the original query. This technique is advantageous in mitigating detrimental effects of denial of service attacks. |
| US07730056B2 |
Software and method for utilizing a common database layout
This disclosure provides various embodiments of software for utilizing a common database layout. In one aspect, a first database table having a first layout and a generic index is accessed using a first instance of a query, and a second database table having a second layout and the generic index is accessed using a second instance of the query. Some implementations may have a generic index that consists of a globally unique identifier. Other implementations may have a generic index that is a combination of database table fields. In some implementations, the first and second database tables may be resident in a first data repository, and the software may access a third database table having a third layout and the generic index using a third instance of the query, wherein the third database table is resident in a second data repository. |
| US07730055B2 |
Efficient hash based full-outer join
In a database system, a full outer join is computed using a hash-based join. |
| US07730054B1 |
Systems and methods for providing searchable prior history
A system may obtain search results associated with a search performed using a search query. The system may modify the search results, if necessary, based at least in part on information associated with prior document accesses by a user and present the modified search results to the user. The modification of the search results might including adding, deleting, and/or reordering items in the search results. One or more advertisements relevant to the search query may also be presented to the user along with the modified search results. |
| US07730052B2 |
System and method for providing a virtual item context
A virtual item set representing a subset of items stored within an original data structure. The system includes a virtual item set processor configured to generate a plurality of virtual items that are a subset of items in the original data structure, and a virtual item set including the plurality of virtual items. Each virtual item includes a data field containing a data item from the original data structure and a metadata field, the meta field data including position information representing the position of the data field within an original data structure. |
| US07730051B2 |
System and method for embedded expression assignment
A system for generating embedded expressions configured to generate a result. The system includes an embedded expression generation engine configured to generate a root expression, including at least one parameter. The parameter includes an assigned embedded expression configured to generate a result based on one or more input parameters. The system further includes an embedded expression user interface configured to display the root expression and associated parameters and embedded expressions and provide expression generation tools allowing the user to modify the root expression. |
| US07730048B2 |
Systems and methods for transforming query results into hierarchical information
A computerized system and method for transforming (formatting or aggregating) the results of a query into a hierarchical information stream, such as an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data stream is disclosed. A database server receives a query and generates a rowset. A rowset processor, using the mode specified in the query, processes the rowset and query to generate the XML data stream. For the “auto1” mode, the rowset processor transforms a rowset into an XML data stream using primary-foreign key information specified in the query to determine nesting. For the “auto2” mode, the rowset processor transforms a rowset into an XML data stream using table ordering information included in the query to determine nesting. For the “explicit” mode, the rowset processor transforms a rowset into an XML data stream using the explicit organizational information specified in the query. In one embodiment, it is easier for a developer to compose expressions to generate nested hierarchical structures than previous formulations and simpler semantics are provided without implicit hierarchy inference. The syntax of an embodiment of the hierarchical formatting function includes optional arguments including a name option, a root option, map option, namespace options and a null option. |
| US07730047B2 |
Analysis of media content via extensible object
A system and method are provided for analyzing media content and generating related metadata as it is provided to a computer. In one embodiment, the system includes an extensible analysis object managing a plurality of plug-ins for analyzing the media content and generating metadata related to the media content. |
| US07730044B2 |
Log data store and assembler for large objects in database system
A mechanism works in conjunction with a DB2® Log and an analysis tool, such as BMC's Log Master™, to handle logged data for Large Objects (LOBs) stored in tables of a DB2 database system. A plurality of controls track data logged for the LOBs. The mechanism reads log records from a DB2 Log and uses the controls to determine which of the tracked LOBs is associated with the log records and obtains data from those associated log records. The mechanism builds keys to index the data and stores the keys and the data in a Virtual Storage Access Method store having Key Sequenced Data Sets maintained separate from the log record store for the DB2 Log. When requested by the analysis tool, the data in the store can be reassembled using the keys and map records in the first store that map the logged data for the tracked LOBs. |
| US07730040B2 |
Feedback-driven malware detector
Embodiments of a feedback-driven malware detector are directed to protecting a computer from programs that perform actions that are malicious or not expected by a user. In one embodiment, the feedback-driven malware detector performs a method that initially determines whether the state of an application program scheduled to be added to an extensibility point on a computer is already known. If the state of the object is not already known, the user is informed that an application program is being installed on the computer and that the application program is being added to an extensibility point. Then, input is obtained from the user that assists in determining whether the application program is malware. |
| US07730039B2 |
Enhanced trade compliance system: advanced shipment notice
Methods and systems for proactively processing errors in customs data transmitted to a customs broker are disclosed. A computer receives multiple sets of customs data from multiple importers, each set of data having its own format. The customs data are intercepted by the computer at a central processing division before the customs data are delivered to customs brokers from each of the importers. The computer converts the customs data to have a universal format, then processes the data to detect errors. Information about a detected errors, including correction data to resolve the error, may be transmitted to a customs broker before the customs broker detects the error in his own set of customs data received from the importer. |
| US07730038B1 |
Efficient resource balancing through indirection
A method for locating a resource involves maintaining a capacity object configured to store server information for a plurality of servers, transmitting a resource request from a client to an indirection server comprising the capacity object, selecting one of the plurality of servers to service the resource request using server associated with the capacity object to obtain a selected server, and redirecting the resource request from the indirection server to the selected server. |
| US07730037B2 |
Fragile watermarks
Disclosed is a fragile watermarking scheme for detecting and localizing malicious alterations made to a database relation with categorical attributes without introducing distortions to cover data. A watermark for a tuple group may be inserted by selectively switching the position of tuples in tuple pairs using a tuple hash associated with each tuple in the tuple pair; and a corresponding bit in a watermark derived from the tuple group using a embedding key, a primary key and hash functions. |
| US07730036B2 |
Event-based digital content record organization
Various embodiments of the present invention pertain to the organizing of digital content by events, so that retrieval of such digital content in a manner meaningful and logical to users is achieved. In this regard, an event may be defined at least by event boundaries, such as a span of time, a geographic area, an acquirer of digital content, or a subject of digital content. Digital content that can be deemed to accord with the event boundaries may be associated with the event and made available for access and retrieval. |
| US07730034B1 |
Providing entity-related data storage on heterogeneous data repositories
Techniques are described for storing and accessing data on heterogeneous types of data repositories, such as by a distributed software system that uses multiple data repositories on multiple computing nodes, including to transfer groups of data between multiple heterogeneous types of data repositories. In some situations, the techniques may be used by a system that stores various types of data regarding users or other entities that are modeled by the system, such as to transfer a group of data that represents an entity. The transfer of data may be facilitated by use of an abstraction interface that provides a uniform interface for accessing the multiple data repository types, such as an abstraction interface provided by one or more storage management components that further provide functionality to translate data between various data formats used by the multiple data repository types, such as via use of a common data format. |
| US07730030B1 |
Resource based virtual communities
This invention disclosed a system and method for resource based virtual communities. Any resources that can be shared or used by multiple people, including Internet resources, software or other resources can be the basis for the community, whose members are users of the resource. Web resources include web sites, web pages, news groups or discussion forums. Other types of resources include software products, bulletin boards, games or other products. The community composes of the current resource users such as web page readers, bulletin board posters, game players, software users. Whenever a person accesses or uses the resource, the user is automatically joined as part of the community. At the same time they are using the resource, they can access all services provide by the community, such as talking with other members, collaborating with others, publishing comments, or even adding new community services. |
| US07730024B2 |
Distributed data mining using analysis services servers
An Analysis Services server component that facilitates data mining using Analysis Services in a distributed environment is provided. The Analysis Services server component can be a component of a distributed Analysis Services system for distributed data mining. The distributed Analysis Services system can provide support for collaboration between multiple Analysis Services server components having similar models that can be shared for collaborative work.Data can be distributed to a plurality of Analysis Services server components so that multiple data mining models can be built on the server components based on certain parameters (e.g., number of servers to use, accuracy details etc. as algorithmic parameters). Based on that when a model is being processed, data can be shipped across multiple Analysis Services server components and multiple models can be built. During prediction these analysis services server components can collaborate between them to give the prediction results by different mechanisms. |
| US07730023B2 |
Apparatus and method for strategy map validation and visualization
A computer-readable medium to direct a computer to function in a specified manner includes executable instructions to construct a strategy map characterizing a presumed causal link between a first business metric and a second business metric. A first pattern within data associated with the first business metric is identified; a second pattern within data associated with the second business metric is located. Any relationship between the first pattern and the second pattern is specified. |
| US07730022B2 |
Data processing system and method for supply chain management
The data processing system has an online transactional processing (OLTP) system for receiving of reporting data from work centers of a production line. The production line is logically divided into shop areas. At the exits of each shop area where an intermediate product is completed one reporting point serves as exit point in order to report the completion of an intermediate production step. This data is stored in the OLTP system and retrieved at a later point of time in order to generate a table containing aggregated intermediate product quantities per shop area. This table is transferred to a financial data server for calculation of the value of work in progress. |
| US07730018B2 |
System and method for processing event predicates
Described is a method comprising initializing a first set of bits corresponding to a first plurality of predicate indices to a first value, and initializing a second set of bits corresponding to a second plurality of predicate indices to a second value. A subscription is processed. The subscription includes a plurality of subscription predicates, each of the subscription predicates associated with corresponding predicate indices in one of the first and second pluralities. An event is processed. The event includes an event predicate. When the event predicate matches a first predicate index in the first plurality, a first bit associated with the first predicate index is toggled to the second value. When the event predicate matches a second predicate index in the second plurality, a second bit associated with the second predicate index is toggled to the first value. When each bit associated with the corresponding predicate indices is the second value, the event is outputted to a source of the subscription. |
| US07730012B2 |
Methods and systems for managing data
Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata. In one exemplary method, metadata from files created by several different software applications are captured, and the captured metadata is searched. The type of information in metadata for one type of file differs from the type of information in metadata for another type of file. Other methods are described and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described. |
| US07729993B2 |
Methods, apparatus, media, and signals for billing utility usage
Methods, apparatus, computer readable media, and signals for managing utility usage are disclosed. Generally, each involves receiving a representation of a utility service usage at a load, receiving and storing a usage range representation, and producing a control signal for use by a utility service interrupter, when the usage is outside of the usage range representation. The control signal is operable to cause the utility service interrupter to interrupt a supply of the utility service to the load. Each also involves receiving a control signal indicating that a usage of the utility service at the load is outside of a usage range representation, and interrupting the supply of the utility service to the load in response to the control signal. Systems and methods for monitoring subscriber usage of a utility service and for billing a subscriber for utility service usage are also disclosed. |
| US07729991B2 |
Method and system for electronic voter registration and electronic voting over a network
A method and system are described for completing and submitting an electronic voter registration form and an electronic ballot over a network. In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a blank registration form is transmitted, upon request at a first computer, via a transaction mediator, to the first computer. Registration information is transmitted from the first computer, via a transaction mediator, to a computer database that resides on a transaction repository server, all of which are networked together, to establish a registered voter. Upon request by a registered voter at a second computer, a blank electronic ballot is transmitted from the computer database that resides on the transaction repository server, via a transaction mediator, to the second computer. A voted electronic ballot is transmitted from the second computer, via the transaction mediator, to the computer database that resides on the transaction repository server. |
| US07729989B1 |
Method and apparatus for message correction in a transaction authorization service
A transaction processing and authorization service. A transaction initiation message received from a source entity by the service may include one or more errors. The service may, in response to receiving an incorrect transaction initiation message, contact the source entity via a second communications channel and allow the source entity to correct the faulty transaction initiation message during the communication session. The service may allow the source entity to correct only incorrect or missing portions of the transaction initiation message, and thus the source entity may not be required to re-enter the entire message. Correction of the transaction initiation message may be performed as part of an authorization contact from the service to the source entity on a communications channel, and thus the correction may not require any extra communications attempts or sessions between the service and the source entity. |
| US07729985B1 |
Method for enabling an online social community account for banking services
A system and method for depositing salary payments directly into an account that is associated with at least one of a communications service and an Internet feature, such as auction, search, communication, hosting, social community, content aggregation, media downloading or streaming, whereafter the deposited money is available to be used in electronic commerce or to be otherwise withdrawn. The account may be maintained either by a communication service provider associated with the account or by a financial service provider (e.g., a bank) in partnership with a provider of communications and/or Internet services or with the ability to support such communications/Internet offerings. |
| US07729980B2 |
Systems and associated methods for providing projected incentive based loans
An incentive based loan method and related system provides a loan to a purchaser in association with the purchase of goods or services. An amount of purchases to be made by a purchaser, such as a small business, is projected over a period of time. The purchases can be goods or services, such as package shipping services. Based on the amount of the projected purchases, an incentive rate is agreed upon by the seller of the goods or services and the purchaser. In lieu of receiving the discounted rate on the goods or services during the period of time, the present value of the total incentives to be earned over the projection period is loaned to the purchaser. The purchaser thereafter pays list price for the goods or services, and the incentives earned are applied to the required loan payment. |
| US07729978B2 |
System and method for dynamically changing an electronic trade order quantity
A system and methods for dynamically changing a trade order quantity in an electronic trading environment are described herein. According to one example embodiment, an automated trading tool determines if a leaned on quantity of a trading strategy has increased or decreased and if so, dynamically changing a desired order quantity to reflect the change in the leaned on quantity. Dynamically changing an order quantity may be more profitable for a trader as order queue position may be maintained and portion of the desired order quantity may get filled; rather than a trader losing their order queue position and/or taking a chance of not getting any of their order quantity filled. |
| US07729977B2 |
Method and system for grouping merchandise, services and users and for trading merchandise and services
This method groups multiple merchandises (products/services) and multiple traders (buyer/sellers/carriers) that share similar properties with a Merchandise Group ID (MGID) and a User Group ID (UGID), respectively. Each MGID and UGID represents one Merchandise Group and Trader Group, respectively. Different MGIDs and UGIDs represent different merchandise and trader groups. The method also utilize a multi-party matching mechanism to trade Merchandise Groups among Trader Groups by having grouped buyers/sellers/carriers place bid/ask/cAsk offers on both the merchandise and any shipping services required to fulfill the transaction. Based on offers received, the system calculates Gap Values in real-time to determine if deals can be closed. Like stock tickers, MGID enables grouped merchandise to be traded like stocks. UGID enables grouped traders to trade desired merchandise with acceptable counterparties through matching both MGIDs and UGIDs. Based on the grouping, matching and gap value calculating mechanism, this method changes “Instance Trading” into “Group Trading”. |
| US07729972B2 |
Methodologies and systems for trade execution and recordkeeping in a fund of hedge funds environment
A system provides automation or semi-automation of trade execution and recordkeeping services for a fund of funds, in particular, a fund of hedge funds. In providing such features for trade execution and recordkeeping, various transaction processes may be automated or semi-automated, thus, reducing an amount of human operator action and introduction of associated delay and possibility of error. Moreover, such a system may have further utility in providing access to lot-level records. |
| US07729969B1 |
Coordinated rebalancing by money manager portfolio management systems and a master overlay manager portfolio management system
A process and system are provided for determining whether to rebalance an investment account having assets associated with one of the plurality of investment styles relative to an allocation rule is determined. The determined drift is compared with a threshold value. A determination is made whether to rebalance the investment account is based on the comparison. |
| US07729966B1 |
Telephone interface to internet payment processing system
A telephone interface to an Internet payment processing system. The interface may be installed on equipment used to process a card transactions. When a request for authorization is initiated, the interface dials a telephone number and establishes a connection to a communications server. The interface creates a message comprising the transaction data that conforms to the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) and transmits it over the telephone line to the communications server. The communications server establishes a TCP/IP connection to a web server and the HTTP message is forwarded to the web server where transaction data is extracted from the HTTP message and formatted for submission to a card transaction processing network. The transaction is submitted and an authorization code approving or denying the request is returned from the network to the web server, to the communications server, and then to the merchant terminal using the telephone line. |
| US07729964B2 |
Methods and systems for anomaly detection in small datasets
A technique for detecting anomalous values in a small set of financial metrics makes use of context data that is determined based upon the characteristics of the target company being evaluated. Context data is selected to represent the historical values of the financial metric for the target company or the simultaneous performance of peer companies. Using the context data, an anomaly score for the financial metric is calculated representing the degree to which the value of the financial metric is an outlier among the context data. This can be done using an exceptional statistical technique. The anomaly score can be used to evaluate the risks associated with business transactions related to the target company. |
| US07729958B2 |
Method and system for determining absorption costs for transfers between a plurality of cost groups
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method for determining absorption costs for transfers between a plurality of cost groups. In one embodiment, a transferable item is identified. A plurality of cost group sets among which the transferable item is transferred is then defined. Then, a processing sequence of the plurality of cost group sets is determined. An iterative process for determining the cost of transfers between the plurality of cost groups is performed based upon the processing sequence. |
| US07729956B2 |
Methods and system for determining the user's interests
The present invention provides systems and methods to allow those offering products and services, for example, via web pages, to collect accurate preferences and requirements with a minimum of effort required from a potential customer. Product information containing priority indicators is presented to a user while the user is viewing product information. By selecting a priority indicator, he user may indicate that he is interested in specific product features associated with each priority indicator. This information may then be used to construct detailed product information, quotations, demonstrations, or other material. Thus, accurate, valuable, and useful customer data may be collected without imposing on potential customers to invest a great deal of effort. |
| US07729955B2 |
Providing information regarding the use of web services in an electronic marketplace
A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by providing an electronic Web service (“WS”) marketplace via which third-party WS providers make their WSes available to third-party WS consumers who locate and purchase access to those WSes via the electronic marketplace. Some or all available WSes may have associated use prices and or non-price use conditions, and if so access to those WSes may be provided only if a consumer requesting access provides appropriate payment and otherwise satisfies the specified use conditions. In some situations, WS consumers may also purchase subscriptions to provide later access to registered WSes. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring it, and is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US07729950B2 |
Method and system for auctioning assets and valuing same
A method and system for conducting, managing and executing over a communication network, an auction of claims or assets to buyers having expressed interest in purchasing claims or assets is presented. The method includes placing an indication of the availability of at least one of said assets at a remote site, wherein said indication is accessible by each of said buyers over said network, notifying at least one buyer predeterminedly expressing interest in items contained within said claims or assets of the availability of said at least one claim or asset, determining a market value of said at least one claim or asset based on historical data of same or similar claims or assets, dynamically adjusting the market value, conducting an interactive bidding process, notifying one of the bidding buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when said bid satisfies predetermined criteria, and recording the accepted bid. |
| US07729940B2 |
Analyzing return on investment of advertising campaigns by matching multiple data sources
In various embodiments, strategies, tools and techniques are provided for processing and analyzing data in an advertising measurement system accessible through a software-as-a-service model or a client-downloaded computer program. The system may be configured to receive and process household media exposure data, product purchase data, advertising data, program data, and demographic data, wherein the data may be obtained from various sources, including from a program delivery source (e.g., a television set-top box) located in a household of a consumer. The data may be matched and cross-correlated for calculating return on advertising investment measurements and other metrics. The data may be used to optimize media placement generally or to address advertising content to specific households. Methods for storing data in the advertising measurement system by distributing the data across multiple shards are also provided. In addition, methods for protecting privacy of communicated data are disclosed. |
| US07729936B2 |
System and method for lot priority adjustment
A system and method for lot priority adjustment. The system includes a database, a calculation unit and an adjustment unit. The database stores at least a committed date for a lot, a throughput rate and a cycle time for respective route operations in a production line, and Work-In-Process (WIP) information of the production line. The calculation unit calculates an x-ratio for the lot on a target route operation according to a current time, the committed date and a remaining cycle time for the lot, calculates a lot weight for the lot according to current loading of a predetermined number of route operations subsequent to the target route operation, and calculates a weighted x-ratio according to the x-ratio and the lot weight. The adjustment unit adjusts a priority for the lot according to the weighted x-ratio. |
| US07729932B2 |
Project assessment system and method
A computer readable storage medium encoded with a project assessment program for assessing a project including a plurality of processes when executed by a computer computing forecasts of the project based on a set of information. At least one scheme by a user input is selected from a group of schemes including an estimation of mutual-correlation of estimated value pattern. Process planning information, up-to-date actual process information and forecast model information of each process included in the project is retrieved. The forecast model information of each process of the project is defined as probability distribution variations of a plurality of parameters of the processes, wherein the probability distribution variations are quantitative values of the project. Estimated values of variations in at least two parameters of the processes using the process planning information, the up-to-date actual process information and the forecast model information are computed. |
| US07729929B2 |
Method and apparatus for delivery of medical items on an electronic prescription
A method for dispensing medical items designated in a prescription, such as an electronic prescription, including providing the electronic prescription to a server, and the server providing the electronic prescription to a pharmacy or other agent that fills the prescription and provides the medical items to the patient. A consent statement is provided by the patient for permission to the pharmacy to receive and fill the prescription and for permission to the server to receive and forward the prescription. Secure communications are provided for key communications to establish trust of identity of the parties and entities. |
| US07729928B2 |
Multiple resource planning system
A system for managing remote doctor medical request workflow may include a workflow module that optimizes assignments of medical requests to remote doctors based on parameterized doctor and scheduling information and may further include a forecasting module that predicts the hospital credentials, state licenses or doctors needed to fulfill a projected volume of future medical requests. In one embodiment, radiologists are parameterized and then matched with requests for radiological readings based on information extracted from DICOM image headers and merged with associated information contained in a medical work order. In this embodiment, the radiologists are parameterized based on their locations, schedules, hospital credentials, state licensing, compensation metrics, and performance metrics and incoming requests for review of CT scans and the like are filtered based on the parameterized radiologist information to identify one or more radiologists who are to fulfill the medical request. |
| US07729924B2 |
Virtual knowledge management system
It is an object of the present invention to provide a virtual knowledge management system which controls the flow of information relating to the performance of business in an enterprise. The flow of information that is intensively administered by a virtual knowledge base 20 is automatically controlled on the basis of information flow control data 40 including document utilization authorization data, mail communications control data, workflow model data, project data and the like. The utilization of document objects by users is controlled in accordance with the document utilization authorization data. The forwarding of and reply to email messages among users is controlled in accordance with the mail communications control data. The order of work among a plurality of users involved in a certain business process is controlled in accordance with the workflow model data. The flow of information among a plurality of users involved in a certain project is controlled in accordance with the project data. The information flow control data 40 is configurable. |
| US07729919B2 |
Combining use of a stepwise markup language and an object oriented development tool
The present invention provides a system and method for combining VoiceXML with an speech application development tool such as SALT. In one aspect of the present invention, a VoiceXML module includes VoiceXML executable instructions. A SALT module includes speech application language tags to execute instructions associated with the VoiceXML module. |
| US07729900B2 |
Method and computer-readable medium for consistent configuration of language support across operating system and application programs
A method and computer-readable medium are provided for consistent configuration of language support between an operating system and application programs. According to the method, an integrated process is provided for receiving and implementing one or more language settings for an operating system and one or more language settings for application programs. The integrated process includes prompting a user for new language settings for both the operating system and the application programs. The language settings for the operating system may include language group support, user interface language, keyboard layout, preferences for standards and formats, and other settings. The language settings for the application programs may include preferences for a user interface language and a default language for use in the application programs. Once the language settings have been received from the user, the new settings may be applied and utilized in future operations of the computer system. |
| US07729897B2 |
Time multiplexed interface for emulator system
An apparatus, circuit arrangement and method for emulating a hardware design by time division multiplexing data communicated between an emulator and a runtime assist unit (RTAU), such as a behavior card. Data from the emulator may be received directly at the general purpose registers of the RTAU. A programmable delay may be used in conjunction with a step generator to initiate concurrent cycle processes. Code executed by the RTAU may be coded in assembly, and external interrupts that might otherwise affect the determined processing time of the RTAU task are disabled. The time multiplexing reduces card port, cabling and processing cycle requirements. |
| US07729891B2 |
Probabilistic regression suites for functional verification
Methods, apparatus and systems are provided that enable the generation of random regression suites for verification of a hardware or software design to be formulated as optimization problems. Solution of the optimization problems using probabilistic methods provides information on which set of test specifications should be used, and how many tests should be generated from each specification. In one mode of operation regression suites are constructed that use the minimal number of tests required to achieve a specific coverage goal. In another mode of operation regression suites are constructed so as to maximize task coverage when a fixed number of tests are run or within a fixed cost. |
| US07729887B2 |
System management user interface providing user access to status information for process control system equipment including a status monitor
A system management human-machine interface application for use in a process control system is described herein that enables users to view/monitor information regarding system status and performance and to initiate changes to the operation of system equipment, checkpoint control stations and execute diagnostics. A system management graphical user interface includes a number of features that address the accessibility of system status information to users. Such features include rendering selectable diagnostic information (e.g., online/offline status) on a system component navigation view. The GUI also provides access to a variety of system information including: alarms, messages, watched system management parameters, and a legend for symbols displayed in a system management navigation tree. Other features include: a search function for locating a device in the system to render detailed information, a navigation tree that displays equipment status via icons, and propagating fault statuses up to a highest level of the navigation tree. |
| US07729885B2 |
Coriolis type flow measuring system with analog to digital converters having an adjustable sampling frequency
Coriolis type flow measuring system for measuring the mass flow rate of a flowing medium, includes a flow tube and sensors associated with the flow tube for generating analog signals corresponding to the movement of the tube, analog to digital conversion elements for converting the analog sensor signals into digitized signals with a sampling frequency, and elements for calculating the mass flow rate from the digitized signals, which system is provided with members for causing the sampling of the sensor signals to take place with a number of different frequencies, elements for continuously measuring the rate at which the flow changes, and elements for selecting a predefined sampling frequency in dependence on the rate of change thus measured. |
| US07729880B1 |
Wireless vehicle service systems using addressable devices
A wireless vehicle service system using addressable devices to avoid interference from similar devices within communications distance. The system includes a host and a plurality of devices that communicate with the host wirelessly. Each of the devices has a unique address, and stores information describing the device, such as the type of the device, a system to which the device is associated, a location of the device, etc. During an enumeration process, each device sends signals including its address and the information describing that device to a host of the vehicle service system. The host stores relationships between the addresses and associated information. For signals sent by the devices and received by the host, the host decodes an embedded address from the signals, and obtains information related to the device sending the signals based on the decoded address and the stored information associated to the decoded address. The host then processes the received signals by referring to the information describing the device sending the signals. |
| US07729878B2 |
Air bridge structures and methods of making and using air bridge structures
A probe card assembly, according to some embodiments of the invention, can comprise a tester interface configured to make electrical connections with a test controller, a plurality of electrically conductive probes disposed to contact terminals of an electronic device to be tested, and a plurality of electrically conductive data paths connecting the tester interface and the probes. At least one of the data paths can comprise an air bridge structure trace comprising an electrically conductive trace spaced away from an electrically conductive plate by a plurality of pylons. |
| US07729877B2 |
Method and system for logic verification using mirror interface
Verification of external interfaces of cores on system-on-chip (SOC) designs frequently entails the purchase of costly standardized software models to test the external interfaces. Typically, the standardized models provide more functionality than is needed. Instead of standardized models, test models may be developed and utilized, but this also incurs cost and delay. The present invention provides an efficient and economical alternative. A mirror interface, or copy of the external interface undergoing verification, is used with a standardized control mechanism to verify the external interface. Because all interface I/O connections can thereby be utilized, a cost-effective and highly reusable way of verifying such interfaces is provided. |
| US07729876B2 |
Diagnostic device for use in process control system
The diagnostic device that detects a failure of a sensor. The sensor includes memory for repeatedly recording pairs of two absolute pressure values, the absolute pressure values being related to absolute pressures in the first and the second impulse lines, respectively. A processor repeatedly computes, from a prescribable number of pairs of the two absolute pressure values, a correlation value representative of the correlation between the two absolute pressure values. The processor can also compare correlation values to at least one correlation threshold value, and generate a diagnostic output depending on the result of the comparison. It is possible to derive the absolute pressure values from one differential pressure measurement and one absolute pressure measurement. |
| US07729868B2 |
Method for analyzing structure of glycoprotein
The present invention provides a simplified method for analyzing a structure of glycoprotein capable of conducting a peptide sequence analysis, a sugar chain sequence analysis, and an analysis of a sugar chain binding site accurately and rapidly using a mass spectrometer. |
| US07729866B2 |
Method of determining level of specified component in blood sample and apparatus for level determination
The present invention relates to a method for measuring the concentration of a particular component in a blood sample containing blood cells based on a variable correlated with the concentration of the particular component. In the present invention, a concentration (S) in blood plasma obtained by removing blood cell components from the blood sample, a concentration (DI) in the blood sample computed by a differential method and a concentration (EP) in the blood sample computed by an equilibrium point method are expressed by a relational expression which is unrelated to the proportion of the blood cell components in the blood sample, and the concentration of the particular component is computed by using the relational expression. |
| US07729863B2 |
Methods and materials for canine breed identification
In one aspect, the invention provides methods for determining the contributions of canid populations to a canid genome. The methods comprise the steps of: (a) obtaining the identity of one or both alleles in a test canid genome for each of a set of markers; and (b) determining the contributions of canid populations to the test canid genome by comparing the alleles in the test canid genome to a database comprising canid population profiles, wherein each canid population profile comprises genotype information for the set of markers in the canid populations. |
| US07729855B2 |
Using route narrative symbols
Techniques are provided for displaying a route symbol with narrative driving directions. A route symbol for a particular maneuver may be used to represent the road to which the maneuver relates. For example, one type of a route symbol that may be used to represent a road may be an interstate route symbol that has substantially the same appearance (e.g., substantially the same or similar shape, and/or substantially the same coloration) as an interstate route sign used to mark the interstate itself. Another example of a type of a route symbol that represents a road is an highway route symbol that looks substantially the same as a highway route sign used to mark a state highway. A route symbol used for the display of a maneuver also may include route symbols that are related to the type of maneuver, such as the type of a turn, described by the maneuver. |
| US07729854B2 |
System and method for navigation
A navigation system performs route guidance with map information, which is suited for use in navigating a vehicle or other movable object. The system includes a user interface in which starting point and destination are input to a service provider. A service provider determines the route between the starting point and destination and generates driving directions and map images for one or more turning points along the routes. Map images near the turning points are displayed to the user, along with the driving directions for each turning point. A mark indicating the position of the vehicle itself is superimposed on the map image that is displayed to the driver. |
| US07729853B2 |
Integrated guidance system
An integrated guidance system is disclosed. The integrated guidance system includes a position determination system adapted for determining a current position. Additionally, the integrated guidance system further includes a lightbar device adapted for providing a visual representation of the deviation of the current position from a desired path to guide movement along the desired path. Furthermore, the integrated guidance system has a data input device, and a display device for displaying text and graphics. Moreover, the integrated guidance system includes a user interface system adapted for facilitating user interaction by integrating operation of the position determination system, the lightbar device, the data input device, and the display device. In an embodiment, the user interface system comprises a processor and processor-executable instructions for implementing a user interface. |
| US07729852B2 |
Mapping in mobile data collection systems, such as for utility meter reading and related applications
A mobile data collection system may perform or facilitate monitoring and management of mobile automatic meter reading (MAMR) activities via out of route meter read identification and graphical route playback. In identifying out of route endpoints, the mobile data collection system receives an indication of each of the endpoints included in a predetermined meter reading route. The mobile data collection system executes the route detecting endpoints and collecting location information relating to out of route endpoints that are not included in the predetermined route. Location information identifying the out of route endpoints is then presented to a user. In facilitating graphical route playback, the mobile data collection system collects information as it progresses through the route. The collected information may then be used in a graphical playback of the route, which shows the mobile data collection system dynamically traveling through the route (e.g., on a map) and reading endpoints. |
| US07729850B1 |
System and method of providing real-time road construction information for vehicle trip planning
A business system that allows vehicle telematics and other trip planning systems to be updated with latest road construction information. This information can be periodically downloaded to the trip planning system in order to factor in possible road construction delays into trip planning. The information can be gathered by direct observation or by periodic reports from governmental agencies. A subscription fee could be charged for this service. |
| US07729849B2 |
Method for detecting the angular position of a knob for the gas of a motorcycle
A method for detecting the angular position of a gas knob of a motorcycle; the method presents the steps of: detecting simultaneously four mutually redundant measurements of the angular position of the gas knob by means of two mutually independent angular-position sensors forming part of an acquisition system; making a cross comparison two by two between the four measurements for diagnosing any possible malfunctioning of the angular-position sensors; and determining the angular position of the gas knob, using at least one measurement supplied by an angular-position sensor operating properly. |
| US07729847B2 |
Air-fuel ratio control device of internal combustion engine
The combustion air-fuel ratio is made leaner than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio at the time of engine startup and the combustion air-fuel ratio is made richer than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio and the exhaust downstream part of the three-way catalyst apparatus is raised in temperature when it is judged that just the exhaust upstream part of the three-way catalyst apparatus arranged in the engine exhaust system has been raised to the catalyst activation temperature. |
| US07729844B2 |
HCCI combustion moding state control for fuel economy and seamless transitions
A method and system for controlling an engine includes a spark ignition (SI) control module operating the engine in a spark ignition mode in a high lift valve state and a pre-HCCI control module entering a matching state when homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode conditions are met. When a matching condition is met, the pre-HCCI control module enters a pre-homogeneous charge compression ignition mode and performs spark retardation, stratified operation or lean operation and commands a low lift valve state. The system also includes an HCCI control module entering an HCCI mode and when in the low lift valve state. |
| US07729841B2 |
Method and device for predicting the travelling trajectories of a motor vehicle
In a method and a device for predicting movement trajectories of a vehicle to prevent or reduce the consequences of an imminent collision, in which for predicting the movement trajectories, only those trajectories are considered for which, because of a combination of steering intervention and braking intervention, the forces occurring at the wheels of the vehicle are within the range corresponding to the maximum force transferable from the wheel to the road. Particularly for systems which provide an automatic braking and/or steering intervention for avoiding a collision or reducing the severity of a crash with another object, an automatic braking and/or steering intervention is carried out as a function of the pre-calculated movement trajectories. |
| US07729840B2 |
Vehicle brake control system and method
A vehicle brake control system is provided with a preceding object detecting section, a running condition detection section, a steering actuation state detecting section, a braking force detecting section, a preceding object avoidability determining section and a braking force control section. The preceding object avoidability determining section determines a possibility of avoiding the preceding object by steering and reducing the current braking force acting on the host vehicle based on the position of the preceding object, the running condition of the host vehicle, the braking force applied to the host vehicle and the steering wheel actuation state that are detected. The braking force control section reduces the current braking force applied by the host vehicle braking system when the preceding object avoidability determining section determines that the preceding object can be avoided by steering and reducing the current braking force acting on the host vehicle. |
| US07729835B2 |
Method of controlling a working machine
A method is described of operating a working machine which includes a body, a ground engaging structure, and a working arm carrying a working implement, and an operator control for operating hydraulic actuators for effecting operating functions of the machine, the operator control mounting an additional control which is controllable to operate at least one selected actuator for effecting a selected operating function, the additional control providing inputs to a control device which responds proportionally to operate the selected actuator, the method including controlling the additional control to operate the selected actuator, and with the additional control being controlled to provide an input to the control device to achieve a desired operation of the actuator, activating a memory mode whereby the control device memorises the input and continues to operate the selected actuator in accordance with the memorised input. |
| US07729834B2 |
Method for creating reference driving tracks for agricultural working machines
A route planning system for agricultural working machines with a defined working width assigned to the agricultural working machine to generate driving routes in a territory includes a navigation module configured to generate the driving routes and having at least one automatic driving mode and at least one recording mode, such that said at least one automatic driving mode and the at least one recording mode are activatable independently of each other. |
| US07729833B2 |
Implement control system based on input position and velocity
A hydraulic control system for a machine having a work implement is disclosed. The hydraulic control system has a fluid actuator configured to move the work implement. The control system also has an operator interface device configured to generate at least one signal in response to a movement of the operator interface device. The control system further has a valve assembly for controllably providing hydraulic fluid flow to the fluid actuator to affect movement of the fluid actuator. The hydraulic control system has a controller configured to communicate with the valve assembly and the operator interface device. The controller is also configured to receive a signal, determine a velocity input associated with the movement of the operator interface device based on the received signal, and determine a desired fluid actuator velocity based on the determined velocity input. The controller is further configured to generate a command signal corresponding to the desired fluid actuator velocity and to direct the command signal to the valve assembly. |
| US07729831B2 |
Concrete placement vehicle control system and method
A concrete placement vehicle. The concrete placement vehicle includes a concrete mixing and placement system, at least one vehicle sensor configured to monitor a characteristic of the concrete placement vehicle and at least one concrete system sensor configured to monitor a characteristic of the system for mixing and placing concrete. The vehicle further includes a control system configured to control the operation of the concrete placement vehicle and the concrete mixing and placement system based on inputs received from the at least one vehicle sensor and the at least one concrete system sensor. |
| US07729818B2 |
Locomotive remote control system
A remote control system (10) for a locomotive (16) includes a sensor (e.g. 15) on-board the locomotive for providing locomotive information. The system also includes a transmitter (13) for transmitting the locomotive information from the locomotive to an operator control unit (OCU) (12) off-board the locomotive. A graphical display (24) is associated with the OCU for displaying the locomotive information in a graphical format to an operator of the OCU. A locomotive control unit (LCU) (14) in communication with the OCU is operable to control the locomotive in response to a manipulation of the OCU by the operator. |
| US07729817B2 |
Emergency flight plan
An emergency flight plan useable for an aircraft provided with a navigation system wherein the flight plan includes a pointer matrix including a number of cells. Each cell of the matrix has a unique identification and each cell corresponds to a geographical area, and wherein each cell of the matrix includes an identification of a cell corresponding to a next waypoint in an emergency route. |
| US07729816B1 |
System and method for correcting attitude estimation
A system includes an angular rate sensor disposed in a vehicle for providing angular rates of the vehicle, and an instrument disposed in the vehicle for providing line-of-sight control with respect to a line-of-sight reference. The instrument includes an integrator which is configured to integrate the angular rates of the vehicle to form non-compensated attitudes. Also included is a compensator coupled across the integrator, in a feed-forward loop, for receiving the angular rates of the vehicle and outputting compensated angular rates of the vehicle. A summer combines the non-compensated attitudes and the compensated angular rates of the to vehicle to form estimated vehicle attitudes for controlling the instrument with respect to the line-of-sight reference. The compensator is configured to provide error compensation to the instrument free-of any feedback loop that uses an error signal. The compensator may include a transfer function providing a fixed gain to the received angular rates of the vehicle. The compensator may, alternatively, include a is transfer function providing a variable gain as a function of frequency to operate on the received angular rates of the vehicle. |
| US07729815B2 |
Vehicle remote control apparatus and method
A vehicle remote control apparatus (100) for causing a vehicle (101) to perform a requested operation in response to a remote operation request from a vehicle user includes a location identifying unit (204) configured to identify a latest vehicle location where the vehicle is parked, and a decision unit configured to decide whether it is acceptable to cause the vehicle to perform an operation requested from the vehicle user at the latest vehicle location identified by the location identifying unit. |
| US07729804B2 |
Robot controller and robot control method for synchronous operation and adjusting robot movement based on two movement times
A controller calculates first movement times when moving each robot hand from a movement start position to a synchronous operation position in a shortest time and decides the longest first movement time as a second movement time. The controller generates, for each robot, a robot operation plan for moving each robot hand without stopping from the movement start position to the synchronous operation position in the second movement time. The robot hand of each robot moves from the movement start position to the synchronous operation position without stopping and simultaneously reach the synchronous operation positions. |
| US07729803B2 |
System and method for returning robot cleaner to charger
A system for returning a robot to a charger includes: a homing signal transmitter, including at least first, second, and third signal transmitters, each adapted to be provided at a front side of the charger and to respectively transmit signals which are different from each other in at least one of a code and a transmission distance, and a fourth signal transmitter, adapted to be provided on at least one lateral side of the charger and to transmit a signal which is different from the signals of the first, second, and third transmitters in code; a homing signal receiver provided at the robot and to receive at least one signal transmitted from the homing signal transmitter; and a controller adapted to identify the at least one signal and to control the robot to return to the charger based at least in part on the at least one signal. |
| US07729802B2 |
Automated support member installation station
Method and apparatus for installing a support member to support a flexible element, such as a shipping comb used to support a flexible suspension assembly of a head-stack assembly (HSA). A robotic end effector configured to insert the support member to bias the flexible element. Prior to said insertion, an inspection assembly verifies at least one physical parameter of the member while the member is supported by the end effector. One or more computerized video images along at least one axis are preferably obtained by the inspection assembly, and machine readable code on the member is preferably decoded from said image(s). The end effector preferably includes a pair of opposing gripper fingers which engage the support member with variable compressive force during insertion. A cleaning assembly preferably cleans the support member prior to insertion, and a subsequent video image is preferably obtained after insertion to verify installation of the member. |
| US07729801B2 |
Robot docking station and robot for use therewith
A docking station (20) and a robot (22) for docking therein, include corresponding transmission parts. These transmission parts are for the transmission of energy, such as electricity, for recharging the robot (22), and/or signals, for operating the robot (22), the energy and/or signals passing between the docking station and the robot (22). The docking station (20) and robot (22) are such that the docking of the robot (22) in the docking station (20) is at a horizontal orientation, as the transmission part on the robot (22) includes laterally protruding docking contacts that contact corresponding laterally oriented contact arms of the docking station (20). |
| US07729795B2 |
Method and apparatus for verifying a site-dependent wafer
The present invention includes a method of verifying a Site-Dependent (S-D) wafer that includes receiving a first set of S-D wafers by one or more S-D processing elements in one or more processing subsystems, creating a first set of unverified S-D wafers by performing a first S-D creation procedure, establishing S-D wafer state data for each unverified S-D wafer, establishing a first set of evaluation wafers comprising a first number of the unverified S-D wafers, establishing first operational states for a plurality of S-D evaluation elements, determining a first number of available evaluation elements, establishing a first S-D transfer sequence, transferring the first set of S-D evaluation wafers to the first number of available evaluation elements in one or more evaluation subsystems and applying a first corrective action when the number of S-D evaluation wafers is greater than the first number of available evaluation elements. |
| US07729794B2 |
Method for designing a connector
A method for designing a connector between a first and a second element of a dental restoration, such as a connector between coping and coping, or coping and pontic, or pontic and pontic of a bridge, which is characterized by the steps of computing a (first) model of the first element and a (second) model of the second element, defining a connecting straight line between the first model and the second model, computing edge curves (γ0, γ4) on the first model and the second model, whereby the edge curves are defined by origins of surface normal vectors of the models, which satisfy boundary conditions relative to the connecting line, computing offset curves (γ1, γ3) on the first model and the second model from the first edge curves, and connecting the first edge curves and the offset curves of the first model and of the second model and computing the connector on the basis of the course of the connection between the curves. |
| US07729793B2 |
System and method for organizing work pieces
A system and method provides computer-assisted organization of workpieces to be processed in a production process, wherein the workpiece in question is subjected to at least one processing, preferably to a plurality of different processings. A workpiece position is assigned to each workpiece, and at least one, preferably several, workpiece positions are combined in a magazine. Each workpiece position includes a device for status determination of the respective workpiece position. A control unit is provided for controlling the individual workpiece positions, and a data-processing unit is provided, which communicates with the control unit and in which the information queried from the individual workpiece positions is processed and status data is generated. |
| US07729789B2 |
Process plant monitoring based on multivariate statistical analysis and on-line process simulation
Disclosed are systems and methods for on-line monitoring of operation of a process in connection with process measurements indicative of the operation of the process. In some cases, the operation of the process is simulated to generate model data indicative of a simulated representation of the operation of the process and based on the process measurements. A multivariate statistical analysis of the operation of the process is implemented based on the model data and the process measurements. The output data from the multivariate statistical analysis may then be evaluated during the operation of the process to enable the on-line monitoring of the process involving, for instance, fault detection via classification analysis of the output data. |
| US07729788B2 |
Method and facility for positioning an element of a machine
There is described a method and a device for positioning an element of a machine. A setpoint position variable is generated, said setpoint position variable is reduced by means of a limiting variable and a modified setpoint position variable which is forwarded as a setpoint variable to a controller for positioning the element is formed in this manner. An expected setpoint position variable is determined from the modified setpoint position variable, the braking distance of the element is determined from the expected setpoint position variable, and a braking process of the element is initiated if the braking distance matches a target position which is reduced by the expected setpoint position variable. An element of a machine can so be positioned with accuracy. |
| US07729787B2 |
Event data reproducing apparatus and method, and program therefor
In sequence data composed of a plurality of event sets with their execution sequence predefined, each of the event sets includes event data indicative of an event to be executed and trigger data defining timing for executing the event. Once a user manually instructs progression instructing operation while the individual events are being executed in accordance with the timing defined by the corresponding trigger data, the next event is executed immediately even before arrival of the next event execution timing. According to another aspect, the trigger data include trigger data of a first type that defines the event execution timing the event by use of an absolute time and trigger data of a second type that defines the event execution timing by use of a relative time between the events, and the sequence data may mixedly include the trigger data of the first and second types. Any one of the two time information can be used appropriately in accordance with characteristics of the individual events. For example, for one event having close relevancy to another event to be executed earlier than the one event, the relative time information is used. |
| US07729782B2 |
Delivery catheter
A catheter used to deliver a medical electrical lead to a right atrium of a heart in close proximity to a His bundle. The catheter is adapted such that the distal tip confronts the His bundle generally perpendicularly. The catheter includes a proximal portion and a generally hook-shaped distal portion. The distal portion may include curves that direct the distal tip at an angle of over 180 degrees from the direction of the proximal portion. |
| US07729778B2 |
System, method and apparatus for evaluating tissue temperature
Method, system and apparatus for monitoring target tissue temperatures wherein temperature sensors are configured as passive resonant circuits each with a unique resonating signature at monitoring temperatures extending below a select temperature setpoint. The resonant circuits are configured with an inductor component formed of windings about a ferrite core having a Curie temperature characteristic corresponding with a desired temperature setpoint. By selecting inductor winding turns and capacitance values, unique resonant center frequencies are detectable. Temperature monitoring can be carried out with implants at lower threshold and upper limit temperature responses. Additionally, the lower threshold sensors may be combined with auto-regulated heater implants having Curie transitions at upper temperature limits. |
| US07729776B2 |
Implantable medical device with two or more telemetry systems
A telemetry system enabling radio frequency (RF) communications between an implantable medical device and an external device, or programmer, in which the RF circuitry is normally maintained in a powered down state in order to conserve power. At synchronized wakeup intervals, one of the devices designated as a master device powers up its RF transmitter to request a communications session, and the other device designated as a slave device powers up its RF transmitter to listen for the request. Telemetry is conducted using a far field or near field communication link. |
| US07729773B2 |
Neural stimulation and optical monitoring systems and methods
Neural stimulation and optical monitoring systems and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus for treating a neural condition includes a signal delivery device configured to be implanted into a patient proximate to a skull of the patient and positioned to apply electromagnetic signals to one or more target sites within the patient. The apparatus also includes an implantable optical monitoring assembly configured to monitor optical properties at one or more optical monitoring sites within the patient. The apparatus further includes a controller configured to be implanted into the patient. The controller is operatively coupled to the signal delivery device and the optical monitoring assembly and programmed to control both the signal delivery device and the optical monitoring assembly. The controller also includes a power source to power both the signal delivery device and the optical monitoring assembly. |
| US07729772B2 |
Implantable neuromodulation system and method
An implantable neuromodulation system and method of treating a patient through neuromodulation of a patient's body tissue. The neuromodulation system includes a portable transmitter and an implantable receiver. The implantable receiver includes one or more electrodes disposed on the distal end of one or more elongated, flexible insulated leads. The transmitter is programmable with a treatment protocol to cause the transmitter to generate a pulsed, alternating magnetic field in accordance with the treatment protocol. When the transmitter is placed in close proximity to the receiver, the alternating magnetic field pulses generated by the transmitter cause the receiver to operably generate stimulating pulses delivered via the electrode(s) to the targeted tissue of the patient. |
| US07729770B2 |
Isolation circuitry and method for gradient field safety in an implantable medical device
An implantable medical device is provided for isolating an elongated medical lead from internal device circuitry in the presence of a gradient magnetic or electrical field. The device includes an isolation circuit adapted to operatively connect an internal circuit to the medical lead in a first operative state and to electrically isolate the medical lead from the internal circuit in a second operative state. |
| US07729769B1 |
Implantable medical device with improved back-fill member and methods of manufacture thereof
An implantable medical device and methods of manufacture are provided for implantation in a body. The device includes a device housing having an interior cavity and electronic circuitry located in the interior cavity of the device housing. The electronic circuitry detects a physiologic condition of the body and delivers a therapy to the body. The device further includes a feed-through assembly having a feed-through housing that is joined to the device housing. The feed-through assembly includes conductors held in the feed-through housing and electronically connected to the electronic circuitry. A back-fill member is joined to the feed-through housing. The back-fill member has an opening there through communicating with the interior cavity of the device housing. A sealing element is hermetically secured in the opening through the back-fill member. The sealing element and back-fill member are formed of different first and second materials, respectively. The second material is generally harder than the first material. For example, the sealing element may constitute a titanium ball configured to be deformed when pressed into the opening in the back-fill member, where the first and second materials constitute titanium and a titanium alloy, respectively. The back-fill member is dimensioned relative to a support tool to permit the back-fill member to self-align during an initial sealing operation by shifting and/or tilting relative to a support tool. |
| US07729767B2 |
Implantable generating system
An implantable generating system includes a generator assembly configured to be positioned within a living organism for converting mechanical motion into electrical energy. A linkage assembly is configured to be positioned within the living organism for mechanically coupling the generator assembly with one or more body parts displaceable during respiratory-based diaphragm motion. |
| US07729765B2 |
Pacemaker passive measurement testing system and method
A system and method for passively testing a cardiac pacemaker in which sensing signal amplitudes and lead impedance values are measured and stored while the pacemaker is functioning in its programmed mode. The amplitude and impedance data may be gotten and stored periodically at regular intervals to generate a historical record for diagnostic purposes. Sensing signal amplitudes may also be measured and stored from a sensing channel which is currently not programmed to be active as long as the pacemaker is physically configured to support the sensing channel. Such data can be useful in evaluating whether a switch in the pacemaker's operating mode is desirable. |
| US07729755B2 |
Questions and control paradigms for detecting deception by measuring brain activity
Methods for determining whether the brain activity of a human subject in response to a stimulus of interest or question of interest is characteristic of a state of interest, such as a deceptive state or a truthful state, are disclosed. Some methods include the use of control questions, including truthful control questions and deceptive control questions, to provide bases for comparison for responses to stimuli of interest or questions of interest. Some methods include the use of differences between two states, such as a deceptive state and a truthful state. In some methods, brain maps are generated and compared. Also disclosed are systems for detecting deception by measuring brain activity. |
| US07729751B2 |
Electronic endoscopic apparatus
A spectral image obtainment unit obtains spectral image data by receiving reflection light in different wavelength bands, into which light reflected by a living body mucous membrane has been separated, at a light receiving unit by causing a ratio of a light receiving level in a short wavelength band with respect to a light receiving level in a long wavelength band to be greater than a ratio of spectral reflectance in the short wavelength band at the living body mucous membrane with respect to spectral reflectance in the long wavelength band thereat. A spectral image data operation unit performs a spectral image estimation operation by correcting the value of the spectral image data to that of spectral image data obtained by receiving light without causing the ratio to increase. Accordingly, a diagnostic spectral image of the living body mucous membrane is obtained in an electronic endoscopic apparatus. |
| US07729746B2 |
Three-dimensional co-registration between intravascular and angiographic data
A method and appertaining system permit a co-registration between points in a three-dimensional model of a vessel and vascular images obtained by an imaging catheter within the vessel at the respective points. The three-dimensional model is created by utilizing information from at least two external two-dimensional images produced by, e.g., one or more x-ray devices. The three-dimensional model is displayed on an analysis workstation, and a user may view the vascular images at particular points by selecting the appertaining points on the three-dimensional model. |
| US07729740B2 |
Noise cancellation in magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography with isolated reference sensors
An apparatus measures electromagnetic signals from a weak signal source. A plurality of primary sensors is placed in functional proximity to the weak signal source with an electromagnetic field isolation surface arranged adjacent the primary sensors and between the weak signal source and sources of ambient noise. A plurality of reference sensors is placed adjacent the electromagnetic field isolation surface and arranged between the electromagnetic isolation surface and sources of ambient noise. |
| US07729739B2 |
Heat diffusion based detection of structures of interest in medical images
A method for detecting and identifying structures of interest such as colonic polyps or similar structures like lung nodules in volumetric (medical) images data is provided. The method includes obtaining a heat diffusion field (HDF) by applying a heat diffusion scheme to a volume of interest that includes structures. The obtained heat diffusion field is then used for identifying a structure of interest from the structures in the volume of interest using a geometrical analysis of the heat diffusion field. The heat diffusion scheme is, at least partly, governed by non-linear diffusion parameters. The identification includes two parts: (i) the computation of a spherical symmetry parameter, and (ii) the performance of a local analysis of the volume of interest and computation of a triangulization parameter. |
| US07729735B1 |
System and method for venous oximetry using a catheter
This invention provides a system and method for confirming the proper placement of a penetrating catheter into a vascular compartment without undesirable arterial cannulation using principles of oximetry in which blood from the penetrated region is subjected to light of a plurality of wavelengths and detected for absorption levels. The result is analyzed by a processor and the level of oxygen saturation of the blood is indicated. The characteristic level of saturation informs the practitioner whether oxygenated arterial blood is present due to an inadvertent puncture. The catheter is introduced using an introduction needle. Thereafter the needle is removed to allow blood to communicate with sensing elements that consist of a light-emitting LED array and opposed photodetector. Light in the infrared and visible red wavelengths can be provided by separate LED units. Aspiration of blood through the catheter by an attached syringe allows the processor to compute the level of oxygen saturation, based upon detected light absorption of passing blood, using the Beer-Lambert law. The sensing elements can be miniaturized so as to be located in the distal tip of the catheter, and can be operatively connected to an external connector via embedded leads that connects a base unit with the processor and a display of saturation level. The catheter allows subsequent insertion of a guidewire and, after catheter removal a CVC. |
| US07729732B2 |
Biological information measuring apparatus and method for controlling the apparatus
A biological information measuring apparatus includes a plurality of light emission sections, a plurality of light detection sections, and a control section. Each light emission section injects, into a living organism, a spectrum-modulated light beam having a specific wavelength. The control section acquires a spread code sequence employed by each of the light emission sections for spread spectrum modulation, and supplies the spread code sequence to the light detection sections. By use of the spread code sequence, each light detection section selectively receives a specific reflected light beam having the spread code sequence, which is selected from among the light beams which have been emitted from the light emission sections and reflected in the living organism. Subsequently, each light detection section despreads an electrical signal corresponding to the thus-received reflected light beam, and outputs a detection signal corresponding to the intensity of the reflected light beam. |
| US07729728B2 |
Forced beam switching in wireless communication systems having smart antennas
Methods and apparatuses are proved which allow a wireless communication system using a smart antenna(s) to selectively cause a receiving device to switch its operative association from one transmitted beam to another available transmitted beam. |
| US07729724B2 |
RF front-end and applications thereof
An RF front-end includes a receiver frequency band filter module, a low noise amplifier, a first power amplifier module, a second power amplifier module, and a transmit frequency band filter module. The receiver frequency band filter module filters a received RF signal and the low noise amplifier amplifies the signal in accordance with the first or the second RF front-end configuration signal. The first power amplifier module is enabled in accordance with the first RF front-end configuration signal to amplify the first outbound RF signal and the second power amplifier module is enabled in accordance with the second RF front-end configuration signal to amplify the second outbound RF signal. The transmitter frequency band filter module is enabled in accordance with the second RF front-end configuration signal to filter the second transmit RF signal. |
| US07729723B2 |
Call control method for dual-mode mobile terminals and a dual-mode mobile terminal using the same
A dual-mode mobile terminal, which can access synchronous and asynchronous mobile communication systems, includes a key input panel and a controller. The key input panel includes a call switching key for switching between calls from the two systems and a call end key for ending calls from the two systems. While the terminal performs communication of one call received from one of the two systems in a general communication mode over a communication channel currently established by the one system, the controller determines whether an incoming call is received from the other system. If the incoming call is received, the controller notifies the user of receipt of the incoming call. If the call switching key is pressed, the controller prepares a communication environment for communication of the incoming call, allowing the user to perform the communication of the incoming call while maintaining the currently established communication channel. |
| US07729720B2 |
Embedded camera apparatus and mobile phone including the same
A mobile phone including an embedded camera apparatus having a camera module that is projectable from a main body of the mobile phone and a flexible circuit board that provides a stable electrical connection between the camera module and a main board when the camera module is projected from or inserted in the main body of mobile phone. |
| US07729718B2 |
Outer loop power control for F-DPCH
A method and arrangement are described herein for power control for the F-DPCH (Fractional-Dedicated Physical Control Channel) for a 3rd generation mobile telecommunication system applying HSDPA, in particular for a user equipment in soft handover. |
| US07729714B2 |
Method and apparatus for reverse link transmit beam-forming
A method and system for reverse link transmit beam-forming. One method comprises using a plurality of antennas at an access terminal to wirelessly transmit signals to one or more base stations; receiving an input indicating a reverse link signal quality at the one or more base stations; and adjusting at least one of a gain and a phase of a signal to be transmitted on one or more antennas. The input may be a reverse power control (RPC) value sent from one or more base stations or a measurement of the closed-loop pilot transmit power. |
| US07729709B1 |
Location dependent commercial messaging
A system and method is disclosed for promoting offered products and services to a plurality of mobile device users. The method generally comprises the steps of generating at least one general broadcast message directed to commercial offers of at least one provider (i.e., retailer) of the offered products and services. The general broadcast message is preferably broadcast from a central server over a prescribed geographic area. Responses from end users to the broadcast message are monitored at the central server to create profile information of the responding users for use in qualifying business relationships with the providers of said products and services. The responses may be further utilized to construct a market directed to inducing the providers of the offered products and services to purchase broadcast message blocks for future promotions. Establishment of such a market includes the establishment of pricing criteria based on user response rate statistics. |
| US07729708B2 |
Method and system for interactive mapping to provide goal-oriented instructions
Provided is a computer system and methods for directing mobile peer devices. A method includes receiving an itinerary identifying one or more goals for the peer devices; receiving a priority associated with the itinerary, the priority identifying at least one goal of the one or more goals, the priority listing the at least one goal in order of importance; determining a routing in accordance with the itinerary and the priority; and broadcasting the routing. A computer system includes a routing module coupled to a memory configurable to determine a routing based on priorities and itinerary goals; a receiver coupled to a processor configurable to receive the priorities and the itinerary goals from at least two peer devices over a wireless connection; and a transmitter coupled to the processor configurable to broadcast the routing to the peer devices, the routing configurable to direct the peer devices. |
| US07729704B2 |
Power load balancing in cellular networks employing shadow prices of base stations
A wireless mobile device is configured to set up communications via wireless links with wireless base stations of a cellular communication system and to obtain information indicative of shadow prices of said wireless base stations via wireless transmissions. Each of the wireless base stations has a corresponding shadow price. The wireless mobile device is configured to make a select one of the wireless base stations for a wireless link with the wireless mobile device based on the information indicative of the shadow prices. |
| US07729703B2 |
Apparatus and method for reporting a channel quality indication to non-serving cells
A method in a wireless communication device and an apparatus, such as a wireless communication device, for reporting a channel quality indication to non-serving cells. The device can operate on a shared channel on a serving cell. The device can send a channel quality indicator message on a medium access control layer to multiple candidate cells in an active set of cells. The device can then switch from the serving cell to a new serving cell from the multiple candidate cells based on information in the channel quality indicator message. |
| US07729696B2 |
Method and apparatus for accessing a wireless communication network
A communication system is provided that minimizes access message collisions when multiple mobile stations attempt to access a network after updating configuration information and/or access parameters information via a same overhead message by providing for each such mobile station to determine whether, or when, to convey an access message based on a time period corresponding to a wait for the overhead message by the mobile station. |
| US07729695B2 |
Method and apparatus for handling roaming lists in a wireless communication system
Method and apparatus for updating roaming lists. An error handling message is provided when the roaming list protocols within the elements of a system are not compatible. A roaming list format identifier is provided to the remote user identifying the protocol version supported by the network. The roaming list format identifier acts to either request an old version of the protocol or request the current stored format at the remote user. In one embodiment, the old version is the Preferred Roaming List, and the new version is the Extended Preferred Roaming List. |
| US07729691B2 |
Information portal
A communication system for providing high-speed wireless access to mobile processing systems a stationary transceiver defining an information portal in its immediate vicinity. A local server in communication with this stationary transceiver is configured to respond to a mobile processing-system present within the information portal. |
| US07729690B1 |
Backup and restore of user data for mobile telephone
A mobile telephone includes an application processor, internal memory, an external memory card, a backup software module and a restore software module. User data is stored in the internal memory. The backup software module detects changes in the user data, resulting in modified user data. The modified user data is stored onto the external memory card. When the user data is erased from the internal drive or the wireless device needs to be reset the restore software module reads the modified user data from the external memory card and writes the modified user data back onto the internal memory. In this fashion, any modified user data is not lost when the wireless device is reset. |
| US07729681B2 |
Radio wave receiving apparatus, radio wave receiving circuit and radio wave timepiece
In the radio-wave receiving apparatus according to the invention, a signal received by a receiving antenna is amplified and the amplified received signal is input into a multi-stage frequency conversion circuit including a plurality of basic circuits connected in series. The multi-stage frequency conversion circuit converts the frequency of the received signal from the antenna into frequencies based on signals input from the frequency divider circuit sequentially, thereby to output a signal “a” which is obtained by conversions into gradually lower frequencies. Detection is performed by a detection circuit on the basis of the signal. Thereby, a radio-wave receiving apparatus which requires no local oscillating circuit nor a PLL circuit and is also stable in operation and high in accuracy is realized. |
| US07729678B2 |
Controllable power operational transconductance amplifier
Controllable operational transconductance power amplifier (controllable power OTA) including an input stage receiving a differential input signal (Ovin) and deriving therefrom first (i1) and second (i2) low power current signals being coupled to first (ccs1) and second (ccs2) current controlled output current sources being arranged in class B push pull configuration. To obtain an effective gain control while securing power efficiency and linearity, the overall gain of the power OTA is controlled by varying the gain or transconductance of the input stage (c15) and by the use of means for bi-directionally rectifying said first (i1) and second (io) low power current signals and providing in mutual alternation power amplification of said first (i1) and second (i2) low power current signals into first (I01) and second (Io2) mutually exclusive high power current output signals, which are supplied through a current summer to a current output (I0) of said linear power amplifier. |
| US07729677B2 |
Method of and device for antennae diversity switching
The invention relates to the field of wireless communications, more particularly to a method of and device for switching between antennae in communication with a diversity receiver, each of the antennae receiving signals transmitted from a single source. A packet from a transmitter is received by respective antenna communicating with a diversity receiver. The signal strength of the preamble of the packet received in a first antenna is sampled. If the signal strength is of sufficient magnitude to affect reliable reception, the associated antenna is selected for the duration of the packet transmission. If the signal strength is below a predetermined threshold the signal strength of the preamble of the packet received in a second antenna is sampled and compared to the sample associated with the first antenna. If the magnitude of the second sample is greater, the signal associated with the second antenna is selected. To determine the signal strength, the arithmetic average of the signal power over a given period of the preamble is used. |
| US07729673B2 |
Method and apparatus for multichannel signal limiting
A method and apparatus provide multichannel signal limiting to prevent any channel signal within a multichannel signal from exceeding defined limits, while still preserving the gain and/or amplitude relationships among the individual channel signals. A limiter is configured to calculate a limiting factor as the value needed to prevent a limit violation on the worst-case one of the channel signals, and then commonly apply that limiting factor to the gain control of all channel signals. Thus, the limiter may generate an actual gain value for each channel signal as the product of that channel signal's desired gain value and the current value of the limiting factor. Notably, in multichannel audio signal applications, coordinating gain control across the individual audio channels by use of the commonly applied limiting factor prevents undesirable spatial shifting of the soundstage, e.g., shifting of the stereo image. |
| US07729671B2 |
Method and system for enhancing efficiency by modulating power amplifier gain
Aspects of a method and system for enhancing efficiency by modulating power amplifier (PA) gain are presented. Aspects of the system may comprise a PA gain modulator that enables modification of an amplitude of a digital baseband signal. A baseband processor may enable computation of a first gain value based on the modification. The baseband processor may enable computation of a second gain value based on the first gain value. A PA may enable generation of an RF output signal based on the modified digital baseband signal and the second gain value. |
| US07729670B2 |
Method and system for minimizing power consumption in a communication system
A method and system for minimizing power consumption in a communication system is provided. The method may include adjusting the supply voltage of pre-driver for a power amplifier, which may be used for amplifying a RF signal, in proportion to the envelope of the baseband of the RF signal. The signals may correspond to a variety of communication protocols. For example, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUDPA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WiMAX, OFDM, UWB, ZigBee, and BlueTooth. The signal may be delayed by a number of samples before being input into the pre-driver. The envelope may be measured by evaluating a plurality of I and Q samples from the signal. The number of samples may be calculated by measuring the intermodulation distortion at the output of the amplifier. The supply voltage may be generated by a switching regulator. The method may also include adjusting a supply voltage and bias voltage for a power amplifier in proportion to said envelope of said signal. |
| US07729669B2 |
Processor controlled variable gain cellular network amplifier
A system and method for amplifying cellular signals and reducing interference introduced into a cellular network by the network amplifiers. The network amplifier includes an antenna configured to receive a downlink signal from a base station and a variable gain module for amplifying an uplink signal received from a handset. The variable gain module applies an amplification factor to the uplink signal to generate an adjusted uplink signal to be transmitted to the base station via the antenna. A processor is used for determining a value of the amplification factor, where the value of the amplification factor is a function of a level of the downlink signal. The amplification factor may be selected so that interference introduced into a cellular network by the transmission of the adjusted uplink signal is substantially eliminated. |
| US07729667B2 |
System and method for intermodulation distortion cancellation
A linearizer for reducing intermodulation distortion in a non-linear device. The novel linearizer includes an input port for receiving a signal from the device and a circuit for effecting gain expansion on the signal that counteracts a gain compression of the device. In an illustrative embodiment, the circuit includes a starved limiter in shunt with the device, implemented using a pair of biased diodes D1 and D2. The first diode D1 is connected to ground and the second diode D2 is coupled to the signal. In an alternate embodiment, the linearizer also includes a second pair of biased diodes D3 and D4, D3 connected to ground and D4 coupled to the signal, and a plurality of reactive elements for increasing the operational bandwidth of the linearizer. |
| US07729659B2 |
Method for signaling quality of range estimates in UWB devices
A method signals a quality of range estimates in a UWB network. For each range estimate, a confidence level of a range estimate is signaled, a confidence interval for the range estimate is signaled, and a confidence interval scaling factor for the confidence interval is signaled. |
| US07729657B1 |
Noise reduction system and method thereof
The reduction of echo noise in satellite communications includes receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a transmit signal, whose bandwidth is in the range of 0.1 MHz to 66 MHz, is previously sent from a hub to the multiple receiving stations, computing a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal and using the replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise interference from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations. |
| US07729655B2 |
Methods for automated essay analysis
An essay is analyzed automatically by accepting the essay and determining whether each of a predetermined set of features is present or absent in each sentence of the essay. For each sentence in the essay a probability that the sentence is a member of a certain discourse element category is calculated. The probability is based on the determinations of whether each feature in the set of features is present or absent. Furthermore, based on the calculated probabilities, a sentence is chosen as the choice for the discourse element category. |
| US07729654B2 |
Cleaning apparatus and image forming apparatus
A cleaning device includes a cleaning blade for contacting to a rotatable image bearing member and removing toner from the image bearing member; an auxiliary cleaning member, disposed upstream of the cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member, for assisting cleaning operation of the cleaning blade; and a sheet contacted to the auxiliary cleaning member and to a surface of the cleaning blade which is remote from the image bearing member. |
| US07729651B2 |
Axially translating web cleaning system for a fuser
A web cleaning system for a fuser system includes a web which is biased into contact with a rotating cylindrical member, such as a fuser roll, as the fuser roll is rotated about its axis of rotation. A lateral displacement system displaces the web, relative to the cylindrical member, in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylindrical member. In this way, regions of the web which have become contaminated with collected toner are shifted laterally, thus avoiding oversaturation of the web. |
| US07729650B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a first image carrying member for carrying a first toner image; a second image carrying member for carrying a second toner image in a maximum amount, of the second toner image carried on the second image carrying member, larger than a maximum amount of the first image carried on the first image carrying member; a first transfer member for electrostatically transferring the first toner image onto a transfer medium in a first transfer nip formed by bringing the transfer medium into contact with the first image carrying member; and a second transfer member for electrostatically transferring the second toner image onto the transfer medium in a second transfer nip formed by bringing the transfer medium into contact with the second carrying member so that a length of the second transfer nip with respect to a movement direction of the second transfer member is longer than a length of the first transfer nip with respect to the movement direction. |
| US07729648B2 |
Developing roller having specific surface layer, developing device provided with the developing roller and image-forming apparatus provided with developing device equipped with the developing roller
A developing roller has a surface layer composed of a binder resin having an SP value in the range of 7.5 to 9.0, and roughness-imparting particles made from a resin having an SP value that has a difference from the SP value of the resin of 2 or less in the absolute value thereof. The roughness-imparting particles are dispersed in the binder resin. A developing device is provided with the developing roller. An image-forming apparatus is provided with the developing device equipped with the developing roller. |
| US07729643B2 |
Developer supplying cartridge, developer receiving cartridge, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
A developer supply cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, includes: a developer accommodator accommodating a developer; a discharging opening discharging the developer accommodated in the accommodator to a developer receiving opening of a developer receiving cartridge developing an electrostatic image formed on an image bearing member with the developer, and being detachably mountable to the image forming apparatus; a shutter movable between an opening position opening the discharging opening and a closing position closing the discharging opening; an engager engaging the developer receiving cartridge to receive, from the developer receiving cartridge, a force for moving the shutter from the closing to the opening position, in interrelation with a relative movement between the developer supply cartridge and the developer receiving cartridge toward each other in a mounting-and-demounting direction of the developer supply cartridge relative to the image forming apparatus. |
| US07729642B2 |
Stress-reduceable transport unit and image forming apparatus using the same
An agent transport unit for transporting an agent from a first container to a second container includes a transport route and a pump. The transport route connects the first container and second container, and includes at least one of a first route, a second route, and a third route. The first route extends in a substantially horizontal direction, the second route extends in a substantially vertical direction, and the third route extends in a substantially inclined direction with a repose angle equal to or less than that of the agent. The pump supplies a gas flow into the transport route to transport the agent in the transport route. |
| US07729635B2 |
Image forming apparatus including movement mechanism
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus body, a first unit detachably attached to the image forming apparatus body, a second unit detachably attached to the image forming apparatus body; and a movement mechanism that moves at least one of the first unit and the second unit to satisfy the condition that each of the first unit and the second unit is disposed not to hinder the other from being attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus body. |
| US07729633B2 |
Printer dynamically monitoring printer environment contamination
An printer, such as a state of the art a high performance, electro-photographic printer. The printer includes at least one smart material sensor enclosed in the printer enclosure that monitors for the presence of a contaminant (e.g., toner or developer) above a selected threshold. Each smart material sensor is coupled to a control unit by a sensor driver coupling. When a smart material sensor finds that a contaminant is present the control unit may indicate the finding on a printer display and/or change operating mode. |
| US07729632B2 |
High voltage power supply and a high voltage power control method thereof
A high voltage power supply and a high voltage power control method thereof. The high voltage power supply includes a high voltage generation part to generate a high voltage, and a pulse width modulation (PWM) generation part to generate a pulse width modulation signal according to an output control value and to control the high voltage generation part to generate the high voltage using the generated pulse width modulation signal, when a high voltage output setting signal having the output control value is received by the PWM generation part to indicate the high voltage to be generated. Therefore, it is possible to automatically output a high voltage as desired without requiring an offline setting. In addition, although a voltage set and/or an output load are changed, the changed voltage set and/or the output load are automatically compensated so that a constant high voltage output can be output with a variety of different devices having different loads and power requirements. |
| US07729628B2 |
Image heating apparatus including a transition temperature lower than a target low temperature
An image heating apparatus includes a heating rotatable member for heating, in a nip, an image on a recording material; a heater for heating the image heating member; a cooling device for cooling the image heating member, wherein when a target temperature of the image heating member is changed to a low temperature which is lower than the target temperature, the apparatus is operable in a mode wherein a temperature of the image heating member is lowered by the cooling device to a transition temperature which is lower than the low temperature, and then, the temperature of the image heating member is raised by the heater to the low temperature. |
| US07729622B2 |
Image forming apparatus for displaying a message when a remaining amount of consumable becomes less
To eliminate a possibility to induce a user's confusion on an image forming apparatus displaying a message prompting the user to supply consumables if a remaining amount of the consumables becomes less than a prescribed amount. Communication section receives an order defining information from an external device, storing section stores the order defining information thus received, and control section halts the message prompting the user to supply the consumables in accordance with the order defining information stored in storing section. |
| US07729620B2 |
Methods and systems for controlling optical power attenuation
Methods and systems for controlling optical power attenuation are provided. A method comprises periodically measuring an optical power of an optical signal received by an optical receiver and periodically measuring a first attenuation control signal voltage. When the optical power measurement is outside a target power range, the method continues with calculating a target voltage necessary to maintain the optical power measurements at a target power level; calculating a second attenuation control signal based on the target voltage, wherein the second attenuation control signal is calculated to provide an over-damped transient response that maintains the second attenuation control signal within a usable range of a variable optical power attenuator; applying a second attenuation control signal voltage based on the second attenuation control signal to the variable optical power attenuator; and adjusting attenuation of the optical signal based on the second attenuation control signal voltage. |
| US07729619B2 |
Dispersion compensation controlling apparatus and method for searching for amount of dispersion control
In order to enhance dispersion control, the apparatus includes a dispersion controller; a quality index generator generating a quality index representing a quality of an optical signal output from the dispersion controller; and a searching unit searching for an amount of dispersion control applying to the dispersion controller which amount optimizes the quality index, wherein the searching unit includes a splitting-half searching unit roughly searching, in a splitting half method, a range in which dispersion is controllable by the dispersion controller for an amount of dispersion control such that the quality index generated by the quality index generator becomes preferable, and a sweep searching unit thoroughly searching, by sweeping, a limited range based on the amount of dispersion searched by the splitting-half searching unit for an amount of dispersion control that optimizes the quality index generated by the quality index generator. |
| US07729618B2 |
Optical networks for consumer electronics
Digital optical networks for communication between digital consumer electronic devices are disclosed. A digital optical network can include an input interface configured to electrically couple to a DVI or HDMI receptacle of a source device. The input interface includes an optical transmitter for converting a TMDS signal into an optical signal. An input optical fiber optically coupled to the optical transmitter receives the optical signal. A coupler is coupled to the input optical fiber and couples the optical signal with at least one of multiple output optical fibers coupled to the coupler. Output interfaces each include an optical transmitter for converting the optical signal back into the electrical TMDS signal. The output interfaces are configured to electrically couple the TMDS signals with respective DVI or HDMI receptacles of DVI or HDMI sink devices. |
| US07729617B2 |
Flexible, dense line card architecture
The invention is relevant to optical fiber transmission systems, and in particular, pertains to the transceiver cards in an optical fiber transport system. In particular the invention teaches an improved transceiver card architecture that allows high density, flexibility and interchangeability of functionality. |
| US07729616B2 |
Phase chip frequency-bins optical code division multiple access
Apparatus and system for transmitting and receiving optical code division multiple access data over an optical network. The apparatus comprises a spectral phase decoder for decoding the encoded optical signal to produce a decoded signal, a time gate for temporally extracting a user signal from the decoded signal, and a demodulator that is operable to extract user data from the user signal. The system preferably comprises a source for generating a sequence of optical pulses, each optical pulse comprising a plurality of spectral lines uniformly spaced in frequency so as to define a frequency bin, a data modulator associated with a subscriber and operable to modulate the sequence of pulses using subscriber data to produce a modulated data signals and a Hadamard encoder associated with the data modulator and operable to spectrally encode the modulated data signal to produce an encoded data signal. |
| US07729611B2 |
Method of detecting position of printing medium performed in printing apparatus
In order to detect a position of an optical recording medium on which printing is performed, it is provided an optical sensor provided with include a photo emitter operable to emit light and a photo receiver operable to receive light and output a first signal in accordance with an amount of the received light. The optical sensor is transported to a position above a marker provided on the tray. Light is emitted from the photo emitter to irradiate the marker. Light reflected from the marker is received by the photo receiver. A reference value is determined based on a first value of the first signal outputted when the marker is irradiated. A predetermined calculation is executed with respect to the reference value to determine a threshold value. The optical sensor is transported above the tray, while emitting light from the photo emitter and comparing the first signal outputted from the photo receiver with the threshold value. A position of the marker is identified based on the comparison of the first signal and the threshold value. It is determined a position at which the printing begins based on the identified position of the marker. |
| US07729610B2 |
Imaging apparatus and light shielding member
There is provided an imaging apparatus having (a) an eyepiece type viewfinder formed on a predetermined plane of the imaging apparatus; (b) an operation member for diopter adjustment of said viewfinder; and (c) a light shielding member for suppressing entrance of external light into said viewfinder, the light shielding member protruding from the predetermined plane around the viewfinder by a constant height. In the apparatus, the operation member is disposed not to protrude from an outer border of the predetermined plane, and a recess is formed in the light shielding member above the operation member so that the operation member is substantially accommodated in the recess inner than an opening edge of the recess. |
| US07729608B2 |
Image processing method and image processing apparatus
An image processing method comprising a first step of displaying a moving image being captured on a display and a second step of displaying a still image captured in response to a still image capture instruction on the display simultaneously with the moving image being captured when receiving the still image capture instruction during display of the moving image on the display in the first step and an image processing apparatus using the same. |
| US07729606B2 |
Lens module and digital camera module using same
A digital camera module (100) includes a lens module (20) and a chip package (50) mounted in a light path of the lens module. The lens module includes a first lens assembly (21) and a second lens assembly (23). The first lens assembly includes a first fixture (211) having a through hole (212) defined therein and at least one lens (218) received in the through hole. The second assembly includes a second fixture (23) having a through hole (232) defined therein and at least one lens (238) attached therein. One of the first fixture and the second fixture has a slotted annular ring (213) protruding therefrom with an annular slot (214) defined therein. The other has a male annular ring (235) extending therefrom, and the slotted annular ring and the male annular ring matingly engage with each other to fix the first lens assembly and second assembly together. |
| US07729605B2 |
Auto-focusing camera
An auto-focusing camera includes a stator (20), a rotor (30) rotatably disposed in the stator, and a lens unit (40) received in the rotor. The stator includes a stator core (23) and coils (25) winding on the stator core. The rotor is a permanent magnet (32) securely mounted around the lens unit. The lens unit forms three ears (414) at a bottom thereof, and a wave-shaped surface (220) is formed on a top of an inner, bottom flange (22) of the stator. The ears abut the wave-shaped surface. The ears of the lens unit move along the wave-shaped surface during rotation of the rotor and the lens mount, and thus the lens unit moves telescopically along an axial direction thereof. |
| US07729603B2 |
Resolution adjustment for miniature camera
A method and system for enhancing the resolution of a camera are disclosed. For example, a single lens can be placed at a predetermined position and the position of a lens assembly can be adjusted so as to enhance the resolution of the camera. The single lens can then be moved so as to effect focusing of the camera while the position of the lens assembly tends to maintain enhanced resolution thereof. |
| US07729602B2 |
Camera using multiple lenses and image sensors operable in a default imaging mode
An electronic camera includes first and second imaging stages for capturing separate images of a scene, one of the stages being designated as a default imaging stage. A processor enables capture and display of the separate images, and further responds to an operator selection of one of the imaging stages as a primary capture unit which is to be primarily used for capturing an image of the scene that is stored by the digital camera. If the operator selection does not occur within a predetermined time period, or if the camera is actuated before the time has run out, the processor automatically selects the default imaging stage as the primary capture unit. |
| US07729600B2 |
Tilt-sensitive camera projected viewfinder
A tilt-sensitive viewfinder indicates the area of an object plane within view of the camera using a visible signal projected from the camera. A direction sensor determines the camera orientation and modifies the visible signal as the camera orientation changes. Changes in appearance of the visible signal reflect changes in the camera field of view. Data from the direction sensor describing camera orientation may be stored in a data storage device and may be associated with data describing the captured image. The stored camera orientation data improves processing of captured images by providing information about angular components of the captured images. |
| US07729596B2 |
Information recoding system
By packet speed setting device, setting is made so as to send out a cycle start packet at predetermined-times speed when image data is transferred from a DV apparatus to a DVD recorder, and by predetermined-times speed dubbing function determination device, it is determined whether or not the DV apparatus has a predetermined-times speed dubbing function when image data recorded on the DV apparatus is dubbed on the DVD recorder at predetermined-times speed. By notification device, the DV apparatus is notified to perform predetermined-times speed dubbing from the DVD recorder in the case of having the predetermined-times speed dubbing function, and by predetermined-times speed dubbing start device, predetermined-times speed dubbing is started by controlling components of the DV apparatus and the DVD recorder related to the predetermined-times speed dubbing by the notification. |
| US07729595B2 |
Recording medium having a data structure for managing reproduction of text subtitle data recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
In the data structure for managing reproduction of text subtitle data, a text subtitle information area stores at least one text subtitle information segment. The text subtitle information segment is represented by a single PES packet of transport packets. In one embodiment, the text subtitle information segment includes an identifier identifying the text subtitle information segment as a text subtitle information segment and includes style information for text subtitle data. |
| US07729594B2 |
Recording medium and method and apparatus for reproducing text subtitle stream including presentation segments encapsulated into PES packet
A buffer initially preloads a text subtitle stream recorded on a recording medium. The preloaded text subtitle stream includes a dialog style segment defining a group of region styles and a plurality of dialog presentation segments, each of which contains at least one region of dialog text. Each region of dialog text is linked to a selected one of the group of region styles defined in the dialog style segment. The dialog style segment and the plurality of dialog presentation segments are encapsulated in a plurality of PES packets, respectively. A text subtitle decoder decodes and presents each dialog presentation segment according to a continuous presentation flag included in each dialog presentation segment. The continuous presentation flag indicates whether continuous presentation is required for each dialog presentation segment with previous one. |
| US07729593B2 |
Image and sound output system, image and sound data output device, and recording medium
An image and sound output system includes an image and sound data output device, and an image display device that is connected to the image and sound data output device through a transmission path. Further, the image and sound data output device includes an image and sound data separating unit, an image data transmitting unit that transmits the separated image data to the image display device, a sound data output unit that outputs the separated sound data, an image data analyzing unit that analyzes image data transmitted to the image display device by the image data transmitting unit, a sound output adjusting time creating unit, and a sound output synchronization adjusting unit. Furthermore, the image display device includes an image data receiving unit that receives image data transmitted by the image and sound data output device, an image processing unit. |
| US07729592B2 |
Managing a recording device
A method for managing the recording capacity of a recording device, independently of user involvement, comprising receiving (104, 154) data representing a plurality of recording modes of the recording device; identifying (114) one or more recording modes which may be used to record an item using the prevailing unreserved recording capacity; and arranging (128, 162) for the recording of the item using a recording mode selected (122, 160) based on a preference, the arrangement including, where necessary, adapting (120, 170) one or more pending or previously recorded items. |
| US07729590B2 |
Digital video stream trick play
An example trick mode play process for digital video stores a plurality of most recent reference frames in a corresponding plurality of frame buffers; displaying a current frame during a current frame time interval; determining a next frame for display; inspecting the plurality of frame buffers to determine if the next frame is present in a frame buffers. If the next frame is present, designating the frame for display in the next frame time interval. If the next frame is not present: checking if the frame buffers contain any reference frames needed to decode the next frame; and decoding a next frame using all reference frames needed to decode the next frame which can be found in the frame. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract. |
| US07729586B2 |
Telecommunications patching systems with vertically-oriented patching modules
A telecommunications patching system includes: a carrier having a horizontally disposed member with longitudinal slots; and at least one patching module. The module includes: a generally vertically disposed main panel; a plurality of connectors mounted on the main panel, the connectors configured to receive and interconnect patch cords; and a guide member connected with the main panel and received in one of the longitudinal slots of the carrier. The module is slidable relative to the carrier along a path defined by the slot between an access position, in which a front portion of the main panel slides forward so that the plurality of connectors are accessible to a technician, and a non-access position, in which the plurality of connectors are not accessible to a technician. |
| US07729585B2 |
Light source apparatus with modulation function and its driving method
A light source apparatus with modulation function has a wavelength conversion module (75) composed of a nonlinear optical material with a structure having a nonlinear constant modulated periodically. It outputs a difference frequency or sum frequency produced by multiplexing pumping light from semiconductor laser light sources (71) and (72) with different wavelengths through a WDM coupler (74) and by launching the multiplexed light into the optical waveguide. The semiconductor laser light source (72) includes a diffraction grating. The semiconductor laser light source (71) includes a section for modulating output light emitted from its semiconductor laser, and is connected to an external FBG (73) which has a reflection band narrower than a resonance wavelength spacing determined by the device length of the semiconductor laser. The FBG (73) is supplied with the modulated output. |
| US07729584B2 |
Method of providing mid-span access to an optical fiber ribbon cable and the optical fiber ribbon cable
A method of facilitating mid-span access of an optical fiber ribbon cable, and the resulting cable, that provides for redeveloping and/or modifying excess ribbon length with the accessed cable structure. The method includes the use of a form placed within the cable structure that controls the excess ribbon length. The method may further include the reconstitution of severed strength members. |
| US07729583B2 |
Flexible optical closure and other flexible optical assemblies
Flexible closures and other flexible optical assemblies that are installed within a factory, or in the field, and then deployed using cable installation methods, wherein the flexible closures and assemblies have the ability to bend and twist without incurring physical damage to their structure, optical fibers and splices disposed within, and without significant attenuation in the optical fibers when exposed to conventional installation stresses. Flexible closures that replace conventional substantially rigid closures in order to facilitate pre-engineered and assembled distribution cable installation within an optical network, and the physical, bending and material properties of such closures, and methods of manufacturing and installing the same. |
| US07729582B2 |
Fibre optic cable and method for producing the same
The present technology relates generally to fibre optic cables their manufacture and uses in the field of optical measurements including biochemical laboratory instrumentation for measuring properties of samples on microtitration plates and corresponding sample supports. The technology has also applications in various laser technologies. A fibre optic cable has an active surface with a determined form provided at a first optical interface at the first end of the cable. The first end of the cable is fused into an exemplary circular form, the fused cable end including fibre ends both within the active surface and outside the active surface. At the opposite, second end of the cable, those fibres which have their first ends at the determined active surface area, are used for forming a second optical interface. It is possible to have high transmission efficiency in optical interfaces where other than circular cross section of the light beam exists. |
| US07729581B2 |
Optically-enabled integrated circuit package
An optically-enabled integrated circuit (IC) package for connecting an electrical circuit board to an optical fiber is presented. The IC package comprises an OSA having a laser which is pre-aligned with the optical fiber. The OSA further comprises a standard electrical interface for the connection to the microchip and a standard optical interface for the connection to the optical fiber. A set of mechanical concepts for connecting optical connectors and cables to integrated circuit packages is also presented and can be applied for any type of optical connector such as single optical fiber ferrules, MT-RJ type optical ferrules and 2-D MT-type optical ferrules. |
| US07729573B2 |
Single mode (SM) fiber optical reader system and method for interrogating resonant waveguide-grating sensor (S)
An optical reader system is described herein which has a single mode (SM) optical fiber launch/receive system that uses one or more SM optical fibers to interrogate a biosensor and does not use multimode (MM) optical fibers to interrogate the biosensor. The use of the SM optical fiber launch/receive system effectively reduces angular sensitivity, reduces unwanted system reflections, improves overall angular tolerance, and improves resonant peak reflectivity and resonant peak width. Two specific embodiments of the SM optical fiber launch/receive system are described herein which include: (1) a dual fiber collimator launch/receive system; and (2) a single fiber launch/receive system that interrogates the biosensor at a normal incidence. |
| US07729570B2 |
Photoelectric circuit board and device for optical communication
The photoelectric circuit board according to the present invention is a photoelectric circuit board, wherein a rigid portion where at least a conductor circuit and an insulating layer are formed and layered and one or more flex portions that are bendable are integrated, external connection portions for mounting an optical element and/or a package substrate on which an optical element is mounted are formed in above-described rigid portion, and an optical circuit is formed in at least one of above-described flex portions. |
| US07729563B2 |
Method and device for video image processing, calculating the similarity between video frames, and acquiring a synthesized frame by synthesizing a plurality of contiguous sampled frames
To acquire a high-resolution frame from a plurality of frames sampled from a video image, it is necessary to obtain a high-resolution frame with reduced picture quality degradation regardless of motion of a subject included in the frame. Because of this, between a plurality of contiguous frames FrN and FrN+1, there is estimated a correspondent relationship. Based on the correspondent relationship, the frames FrN+1 and FrN are interposed to obtain first and second interpolated frames FrH1 and FrH2. Based on the correspondent relationship, the coordinates of the frame FrN+1 are transformed, and from a correlation value with the frame FrN, there is obtained a weighting coefficient α(x°, y°) that makes the weight of the first interpolated frame FrH1 greater as a correlation becomes greater. With the weighting coefficient, the first and second interpolated frames are weighted and added to acquire a synthesized frame FrG. |
| US07729562B2 |
Method of detecting alignment error of lenses and compensating for image distortion in 3D lenticular display
A method of detecting the alignment error of lenses and reducing image distortion attributable to the alignment error in a lens-type 3-dimensional liquid crystal display monitor. A method of detecting the alignment error of lenses in a 3D display using a purpose-built test pattern image, which predicts the alignment error in such a way as to calculate variation in view indices of pixels in a lateral direction, observed by an eye of an observer, if there is alignment error in the lenses. A method of compensating for image distortion in a 3D monitor, including the steps of finding the relationship between the pixels of a Liquid Crystal Display (LDC) panel and the pixels of observed images, which are determined depending on the location of an observer; and compensating for image distortion attributable to the rotational and translational alignment error of the lenses based on the found relationship. |
| US07729559B2 |
System and method for optical section image line removal
An apparatus, system, and method for generating an image are disclosed. A processor may generate a first output image based on a plurality of input images and remove an artefact, if any, from the first output image to generate a second output image. For example, in an embodiment, the processor may calculate a contribution of the artefact to image intensity values and subtract the calculated contribution from the image intensity values. In another embodiment, the processor may delete a predetermined portion of a transform image representing transform data obtained by applying an image transform to the first output image, thereby modifying the transform data, and may generate a non-transform image based on the modified transform data. |
| US07729553B2 |
Vector quantizer based on N-dimensional spatial dichotomy
A method and system for quantizing a vector corresponding to an input signal is described. The vector has a plurality of components corresponding to an N-dimensional space. In one aspect, the method and system include recursively dividing the space into equal spaces having one dimension less than a previous recursion until end spaces are formed. Each end space is two-dimensional. The method and system also include asynchronously comparing the components in each end space to determine a sub-space of a particular end space having a closest match to the vector. In another aspect, the method and system include providing tree(s) including a plurality of nodes and asynchronously traversing the tree(s) to determine a closest match to the vector. The nodes correspond to ANDs of comparisons between the components. Each comparison determines whether a first component is greater than a second component. |
| US07729552B2 |
Apparatus and method for improving qualities of motion and still images to be output in a mobile communication terminal
An apparatus and method for improving qualities of motion and still images to be output in a mobile communication terminal. An error-reflected-value table is provided to reduce a computation amount while applying an error diffusion process. The table includes quantization-error-reflected values pre-computed according to maximum values of quantization errors and error-reflected ratios of neighboring pixels. When quantization errors of a specific pixel of an original image selected in a process procedure are computed, error-reflected values of neighboring pixels are determined. Pixel-by-pixel error values are stored by accumulating error-reflected values related to pixels. When error-reflected values of neighboring pixels around all the pixels of the original mage are completely computed, an image in which quantization errors are diffused is generated when the error-reflected values are added on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The error-diffused image is stored and displayed in place of the original image when a user makes a request. |
| US07729551B2 |
Method for controlling the amount of compressed data
A method is disclosed for controlling the amount of compressed data. One or more viewing condition parameters are specified, and a quantizer step size for each frequency subband is determined that minimizes an amount of data that must be encoded for a compressed representation of the image by using one or more viewing condition parameters and a model that characterizes the human visual system. The image is compressed using the quantizer step size for each frequency subband to produce an amount of compressed data. The presence of a pre-specified maximum amount of compression data is determined. The amount of compressed data is compared to the pre-specified maximum amount. Subsequent discarding of least visually relevant compressed data reduces the amount of compressed data. |
| US07729550B2 |
Method for image compression coding
A method for image compression coding is provided. According to the method, a plurality of codebooks is created according to the correlation between pixels, and the quantization value of each state is determined by dynamically looking up the codebooks. Therefore, the present invention not only enhances the image compression ratio but also improves the image compression quality. |
| US07729546B2 |
Document segmentation for mixed raster content representation
In an array of pixels, a method for segmenting a selected pixel of the array between at least two layers including identifying an N-by-N window centered upon the selected pixel, evaluating at least one pixel in the N-by-N window to determine whether the selected pixel is a potential text element, identifying an M-by-M window centered upon the selected pixel when the evaluation determines that the selected pixel is a potential text element, wherein the M-by-M window is smaller than the N-by-N window, and determining whether the potential text element includes text by comparing at least two pixels within the M-by-M window. |
| US07729541B2 |
Comparative and analytic apparatus method for converting two-dimensional bit map data into three-dimensional data
A method is provided for converting a two-dimensional image or bitmap of a handwritten manuscript into three-dimensional data The three-dimensional data can be used to automatically recognize features of the manuscript, such as characters or words. The method includes the steps of: converting the two-dimensional image into three-dimensional volumetric data; filtering the three-dimensional volumetric data; and processing the filtered three-dimensional volumetric data to resolve features of the two-dimensional image. The method can be used, for example, to differentiate between ascenders, descenders, loops, curls, and endpoints that define the overall letter forms in handwritten text, manuscripts or signatures. |
| US07729538B2 |
Spatial recognition and grouping of text and graphics
The present invention leverages spatial relationships to provide a systematic means to recognize text and/or graphics. This allows augmentation of a sketched shape with its symbolic meaning, enabling numerous features including smart editing, beautification, and interactive simulation of visual languages. The spatial recognition method obtains a search-based optimization over a large space of possible groupings from simultaneously grouped and recognized sketched shapes. The optimization utilizes a classifier that assigns a class label to a collection of strokes. The overall grouping optimization assumes the properties of the classifier so that if the classifier is scale and rotation invariant the optimization will be as well. Instances of the present invention employ a variant of AdaBoost to facilitate in recognizing/classifying symbols. Instances of the present invention employ dynamic programming and/or A-star search to perform optimization. The present invention applies to both hand-sketched shapes and printed handwritten text, and even heterogeneous mixtures of the two. |
| US07729533B2 |
Systems and methods for producing classifiers with individuality
The systems and methods of the invention described herein improve classification accuracy by producing classifiers with individuality, in which each classifier exhibits its own distinctive behavior. A method according to one exemplary embodiment produces each classifier with individuality by randomly selecting subsets of a feature vector and using the randomly selected subsets of the feature vector in the design of the classifier. Because different subsets of the feature vector are used for each classifier, each classifier exhibits its own distinctive behavior or individuality. The classifiers with individuality improve classification accuracy, for example, when used as classifiers in a classifier array. This is because the individuality among the classifiers in the array ensures that a misclassification committed by one of the classifiers will not be repeated by other classifiers in the array, thereby improving the overall accuracy of the classifier array. |
| US07729529B2 |
Computer-implemented methods for detecting and/or sorting defects in a design pattern of a reticle
Various computer-implemented methods are provided. One method for sorting defects in a design pattern of a reticle includes searching for defects of interest in inspection data using priority information associated with individual defects in combination with one or more characteristics of a region proximate the individual defects. The priority information corresponds to modulation levels associated with the individual defects. The inspection data is generated by comparing images of the reticle generated for different values of a lithographic variable. The images include at least one reference image and at least one modulated image. A composite reference image can be generated from two or more reference images. The method also includes assigning one or more identifiers to the defects of interest. The identifier(s) may include, for example, a defect classification and/or an indicator identifying if the defects of interest are to be used for further processing. |
| US07729525B2 |
Image evaluation method for two-dimensional projection images and items corresponding thereto
2-D projection images show the temporal course of the distribution of a contrast medium in an examination object containing a vascular system and the surroundings thereof. Each projection image has pixels with pixel values defined by the same areas of the examination object. A computer determines a 2-D evaluation image having pixels corresponding to those of the projection images and assigns each pixel in a sub-area to one of three types, vessel, perfused part of the surroundings or non-perfused part of the surroundings. The computer assigns an extent of a perfusion in the pixels of the evaluation image assigned the type of perfused part of the surroundings to the respective pixel. The type and extend are determined from the temporal course of the pixel values of the pixels of the projection image which is in a two-dimensional evaluation core defined by a respective pixel of the evaluation image. |
| US07729522B2 |
Methods, computer program products and devices for check of identity
A method for creating a representation of a fingerprint is disclosed. The method comprises creating unique pairs of minutiae points identified in the fingerprint, each pair of minutiae points being represented by a distance between the minutiae points and by angles associated with the respective minutiae points included in the pair. Moreover, methods are disclosed for use in checking a person's identity and in creating reference data for checking a person's identify. Moreover, computer program products and devices for carrying out the methods are disclosed. |
| US07729519B2 |
Electronic apparatus
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a housing, a pad button section and a switch board. The housing includes a cover member including an opening part. One of a first switch board on which a fingerprint authentication unit is mounted, and a second switch board on which no fingerprint authentication units are mounted is selectively adopted as the switch board. One of a first pad button section including a fingerprint authentication cover between buttons, and a second pad button section in which a pair of buttons are adjacent to each other is selectively adopted as the pad button section. The cover member is identical in shape between a case where the first pad button section is adopted and a case where the second pad button section is adopted. |
| US07729515B2 |
Optical navigation apparatus using fixed beacons and a centroid sensing device
The present invention relates to an optical navigation system for determining a pose, which includes the position and orientation of an object in an environment. The optical navigation system uses a number of beacons affixed at known locations in the environment to provide electromagnetic radiation in a sequenced pattern. An on-board optic images the radiation from the beacons onto an on-board centroid sensing device to obtain an imaged distribution of the radiation on the on-board centroid sensing device. The centroid sensing device determines the centroid of the imaged distribution and provides centroid information to a navigation unit for determining the pose of the object from the centroid. The navigation system is particularly well-suited for navigating hand-held objects. |
| US07729512B2 |
Stereo image processing to detect moving objects
A first image and a second image are obtained by sensing an image of a moving object from two different viewpoints using a first imaging device and a second imaging device. A plurality of feature points are detected from the first image. A disparity distribution representing a disparity for each feature point is obtained by performing stereo image processing using the first image and the second image. A threshold is determined for disparities in the disparity distribution. A feature point having a disparity exceeding the threshold in the disparity distribution is classified as an intra-moving-object feature point. An image area of the moving object in the first image is detected by using the intra-moving-object feature point. |
| US07729511B2 |
Method and device for safeguarding a hazardous area
In order to safeguard a hazardous area, in particular the hazardous area of an automatically operating machine, images of the hazardous area are recorded with at least a first and a second image recording unit that are arranged offset from one another. The images of the scene are subjected to three-dimensional scene analyses using different three-dimensional scene analysis methods, and the hazardous area is safeguarded when at least one of the scene analysis methods detects a foreign object. |
| US07729508B2 |
Modifying data
Embodiments of modifying data are disclosed. |
| US07729500B2 |
Microphone array with electromagnetic interference shielding means
A microphone array comprises a circuit board, a first microphone, and a second microphone. The circuit board comprises a first layer, a third layer, and a second layer sandwiched between the first and third layers. The first layer comprises a first shielding part with a fixed electric potential. The third layer comprises a second shielding part with the fixed electric potential. The second layer comprises an electrically conductive part running between the first and second shielding parts. The first microphone is attached to the first layer of the circuit board. The second microphone is attached to the first layer of the circuit board and electrically connected to the first microphone through the electrically conductive part of the second layer of the circuit board. |
| US07729497B2 |
Audio signal enhancement
An audio signal (A) is enhanced by dividing the signal into time segments of a selected frequency range and scaling the audio signal in each time segment. The time segments (S) are defined by zero crossings (Z) of the audio signal, thus avoiding the introduction of any undesired harmonics. The scaling may involve linear or non-linear scaling factors. When the selected frequency range comprises bass frequencies, a very effective and distortion-free bass enhancement is obtained. |
| US07729494B2 |
Squared Weil and Tate pairing techniques for use with elliptic curves
Methods and apparati are provided for use in determining “Squared Weil pairings” and/or “Squared Tate Pairing” based on an elliptic curve, for example, and which are then used to support cryptographic processing of selected information. Significant improvements are provided in computing efficiency over the conventional implementation of the Weil and Tate pairings. The resulting Squared Weil and/or Tate pairings can be substituted for conventional Weil or Tate pairings in a variety of applications. |
| US07729493B2 |
Cover for mobile computer
A handheld computer comprises a housing and a cover removably connected thereto by a universal hinge assembly. The universal hinge assembly includes a tubular member or arm having a proximal end fixedly (non-rotatably) secured to an edge of the cover and a distal end pivotally coupled to an edge of the cover. The pivotal coupling may comprise a ball and socket arrangement, a pin and slot arrangement, or any other type of coupling arrangement that enables universal pivoting movement and releasable attachment between the cover and the housing. The cover may include a cushion designed to abut a display screen mounted in the housing when the cover is in a closed position. A method of reconfiguring an encasement of a handheld computer having a cover releasably coupled thereto includes removing the first cover and replacing it with a second cover of a different type. |
| US07729489B2 |
Transferring a communications exchange
Methods and systems for transferring a communications exchange using a mobile handset are described. A radio frequency (RF) signal is transmitted from a mobile handset to a base station to provide a communications exchange. The communications exchange exists between the mobile handset and a first communications device. The mobile handset automatically detects a second communications device when it is in close proximity to the second communications device. The second communications device is capable of receiving a call handoff. If the mobile handset is in close proximity to the second communications device, then a transfer request including information associated with the second communications device is received from the second communications device. The transfer request is accepted and the communications exchange is seamlessly transferred to the second communications device form the mobile handset. |
| US07729486B2 |
Private branch exchange and telephone switching system
According to one embodiment, a private branch exchange includes a receiver which receives caller ID information divided into a plurality of packets, the caller ID information specifying a caller side telephone set, when receiving an incoming call, a measurement unit which measures an elapsed time after the receiver has received the packets, a reset unit which resets the elapsed time measured by the measurement unit when the receiver receives the packets, and a transmitter which transmits the packets received by the receiver to a private telephone set on an incoming call side, as caller ID information, when the elapsed time measured by the measurement unit exceeds a specified time. |
| US07729485B2 |
Telecommunications network having number portability
A system and method of monitoring number portability in a communication system, comprising transmitting ported-out information to a network element are disclosed. The system includes an originating network and a recipient network. The originating network includes a first network element for establishing a call to a ported-out subscriber and for transmitting ported-out information. |
| US07729483B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer programs for generating a billing statement from detailed usage file records
Methods, systems, and computer programs for constructing a billing statement from detailed usage file (DUF) records received from an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC). A master file contains routing information associating each of a plurality of telephone numbering plan addresses plus additional telephone number digits (NPA-NXX) with a corresponding local access transport area (LATA). Telephone operator services (TOPS) assignment files are downloaded and used to edit the master file, thereby generating an enhanced master file. DUF records are downloaded. A set of enhanced DUF records is generated by filtering the downloaded DUF records. A rate table of customer price plans is applied to the set of enhanced DUF records and the enhanced master file to construct a billing statement. |
| US07729481B2 |
User interface for integrating diverse methods of communication
An integrated communication interface is provided for composing and sending messages. The interface is multi-configurable to seamlessly switch between different communication methods, e.g., electronic mail, instant messaging, SMS, chat, voice, and the like, without loss of message content. The interface allows a user to begin composing a message to be sent using one communication method, such as electronic mail, and subsequently change the communication method and send the message via a second communication method, such as instant messaging. When the communication method is changed, the user interface may also change to include elements specific to a particular communication method. The integrated communication interface may display information about participants in the communication, such as the participants' presence, i.e., whether they are online and available for communication, and may automatically choose the best method of communication based on the preferences and online presence of the participants. |
| US07729480B1 |
Method and system for multi-modal interaction
A method and system manages content delivery to a multi-modal client device. The system may include a session manager logically connected between a server and the client device. The session manager can maintain a record of the state of a user's session, and if the user or the client device switches from an initial presentation mode to a second presentation mode, the session manager can use the record to effect a seamless transfer from the initial presentation mode to the subsequent presentation mode. The session manager may also transcode content delivered to the client device so that the content is compatible with the presentation mode selected by the user. |
| US07729477B2 |
System and method for detecting continuity of network lines
The present disclosure provides a system and method for detecting faults related to lines linked to provide network services. The method includes storing a synthetic value for the performance of a line, receiving a measured value of a performance parameter of the line measured at a customer end and comparing the synthetic value with the measured value to determine if a fault condition exists. |
| US07729476B2 |
Line loss tester
An apparatus and method for testing integrity of a wired communication link includes receiving a plurality of signals, sent by at least one transmitter over the wired communications link, at corresponding multiple receivers. The signals have corresponding frequencies within a frequency range of the wired communication link, such that the frequencies are representative of the frequency range. A signal loss corresponding to each of the frequencies is measured, and an indication of whether each measured signal loss is within an acceptable range is provided. The wired communication link may be a coaxial cable. |
| US07729475B2 |
Radiation image capturing apparatus
A radiation image capturing apparatus that includes a radiation conversion panel comprises an input device for inputting a first distance from the position of the panel to a position serving as a reference position for a subject, a distance measuring unit for measuring a second distance from the radiation source to the panel, a first radiation field calculating unit for determining a radiation field at the position of the panel based on setting information of the radiation source and the second distance, a second radiation field calculating unit for determining a hypothetical radiation field at the reference position of the subject based on the setting information of the radiation source, the first distance, and the second distance, and a life-size correcting unit for correcting the radiation image information from the panel based on the information of the calculated radiation field and the information of the calculated hypothetical radiation field. |
| US07729471B2 |
Pre-filmed precision sample cell for x-ray analyzer
A sample cell for an analysis instrument, having an outer body forming a sample reservoir therein; a directional fill valve disposed in an upper end of the outer body and forming an upper end of the sample reservoir, the fill valve for accepting a sample during filling, and preventing sample leakage while providing venting after filling; and a film covering a lower end of the outer body, and forming a bottom end of the sample reservoir, the film for presenting the sample to an analysis focal spot of the analysis instrument. The disclosed sample cell is especially suited for an x-ray analysis engine having a focal spot requiring alignment with the sample in the sample cell. At least one x-ray optic may be disposed in an excitation and/or detection path, requiring alignment to the focal spot, in e.g., a WDXRF or EDXRF system. |
| US07729470B2 |
Medical device with radiation-heated subject-contacting component
A medical device has a compression plate for compression of a subject and/or a subject table for placement of a subject, and at least one radiation source that emits electromagnetic radiation. The compression plate and/or the subject table can be heated by the electromagnetic radiation radiated by the at least one radiation source. |
| US07729469B2 |
X-ray imaging apparatus
An X-ray imaging apparatus includes an X-ray imaging unit, rotating unit configured to rotate a subject about an axis of rotation relative to the X-ray imaging unit, supporting unit configured to support the subject, and a limiting unit configured to limit the range in which the X-ray imaging unit is moveable along the axis of rotation depending on the position of the supporting means relative to the axis of rotation. |
| US07729460B2 |
Method and device for providing timing information in a wireless communication system
A method and a device of providing timing information within a wireless communication system is described. The timing information is extracted from a received transmit signal. The inventive method comprises the steps of providing a training signal on the receiver side relating to a known signal portion of the transmit signal, scaling the training signal, quantizing the scaled training signal, correlating one or more parts of the received transmit signal with the scaled training signal to obtain one or more correlation results, and determining the timing information on the basis of the correlation results. |
| US07729458B2 |
Signal decoding apparatus, signal decoding method, program, and information record medium
Signal decoding apparatus, signal decoding method, program, and information record medium are provided and can accomplish not only high-speed and high-capacity communication, but high-accuracy decoding. An initial channel estimation section 31 estimates an initial channel with a pilot symbol added at the beginning of each packet. After a replica of a transmission symbol is generated, for a reception signal vector, CCI components for L transmission antennas are generated. A CCI canceller 33 removes the CCI components from the reception signal vector. After the reception symbol vector from which the CCI components had been removed has been obtained, a division device 34 obtains an instantaneous estimation value. An update condition determination section 35 detects deterioration of a channel response accuracy based on a threshold value. An instantaneous estimation value whose SNR has been determined to be insufficient is discarded. An averaging circuit 36 outputs a channel response estimation matrix at time t+1 obtained by an averaging process and supplies the matrix to a symbol decoding section 13. |
| US07729453B1 |
System and method for fast dynamic adjustment of slicing level for burst mode optical receivers
Systems and methods for determining a slicing level which is used as a threshold to determine whether timeslots of an incoming data signal contain ones or zeros. The method of one embodiment comprises receiving a data signal, identifying a maximum level of the data signal, identifying a minimum level of the data signal, determining an average of the minimum and maximum levels, and then using the average of the minimum and maximum levels as a slicing level to identify bits of a data packet embodied in the data signal. |
| US07729451B2 |
Calibration source for a receiver
A receiver having a circuit configurable to function as a low-noise amplifier or a calibration source and having at least one circuit element that is shared between these two circuit functions. Advantageously, the shared circuit element saves at least the amount of die area that would have been taken by a second instance of that circuit element. |
| US07729448B2 |
Frontend module having two inputs for the reception of transmitted signals
A frontend module includes a first and a second input for transmitted signals, an amplifier, a bypass line for bypassing the amplifier, an output and a switching unit. The switching unit either forms a signal path between the first input and the output, in which the amplifier or the bypass line is coupled, or forms a signal path between the second input and the output, in which the amplifier or the bypass line is coupled. |
| US07729447B2 |
Interleaver design with multiple encoders for more than two transmit antennas in high throughput WLAN communication systems
A MIMO communication system implements an interleaver design with multiple encoders for more than two transmit antennas for high throughput WLAN communication systems. Multiple encoders are utilized in the transmitter and multiple decoders are utilized in the receiver, wherein each encoder operates at lower clock speed than would be necessary with a single encoder. In conjunction with using multiple encoders, a modified interleaving function for each spatial stream processing allows fully exploring the diversity gains. The provided interleaving function is suitable for transmitter architectures with multiple encoders. Similarly, a modified de-interleaving function is provided that is suitable for receiver architectures with multiple decoders. |
| US07729446B2 |
System and method for digitally correcting a non-linear element using a multiply partitioned architecture for predistortion
Digital predistortion system, methods and circuitry for linearizing a non-linear element using a multiply partitioned architecture that first addresses long or “memory” effects, and separately addresses shorter duration effects. These blocks or circuits are operated with the non-linear element to provide a highly linear system. A first or long predistortion block receives a baseband signal input and includes a plurality of parallel memory blocks each including a programmable linearity, a digital filter, summers, multipliers and multiplexers with control signals for configuring the blocks to form filters of different types. A second or short predistortion block is coupled to the long predistortion block and comprises a generalized Nth order polynomial filter coupled to a programmable linear equalizer. The first predistorter block compensates for effects of a longer duration, and the second predistorter block compensates for effects of a shorter duration. Methods for initializing, parameterizing and adapting the system are disclosed. |
| US07729445B2 |
Digital outphasing transmitter architecture
Architectures including digital outphasing transmitters. Digital signal generation circuitry generates at least two base-band sinusoid signals. Bandpass modulation circuitry is coupled to receive the base-band sinusoid signals and generates at least two modulated digital signals. Power amplifiers are coupled to receive the modulated digital signals to amplify the modulated digital signals. The amplified modulated signals are combined and transmitted. |
| US07729444B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting data in a time division duplexed (TDD) communication system
Techniques to process data for transmission in a time division duplexed (TDD) communication system. In one aspect, the frequency response of a forward link is estimated at a base station based on reverse link transmissions (e.g., pilots) from a terminal. Prior to a data transmission on the forward link, the base station determines a reverse transfer function based on the pilots transmitted by the terminal, “calibrates” the reverse transfer function with a calibration function to derive an estimate of a forward transfer function, and preconditions modulation symbols based on weights derived from the forward transfer function. In another aspect, the terminal estimates the “quality” of the forward link and provides this information to the base station. The base station then uses the information to properly code and modulate data prior to transmission such that the transmitted data can be received by the terminal at the desired level of performance. |
| US07729442B2 |
Method and system for transmitting data in a communication system
A method and system are provided for transmitting data in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. A receiver sets the number of sub-streams of each column of a preceding matrix with respect to all precoding matrices of channels formed between the receiver and a transmitter and measures channel states with respect to sub-stream combinations whose number is equivalent to the number of set sub-streams. The receiver transmits data according to channel states to the transmitter after measuring the channel states with respect to the sub-stream combinations and antenna combinations representing sub-streams used upon data transmission of all the precoding matrices. |
| US07729441B2 |
Method and system for data transmission with decreased bit error rate
A method for generating a modulated carrier signal with reduced bit error rates based on a plurality of data symbols. A plurality of data symbols are received, and a digital input signal is generated based on the plurality of data symbols. The digital input signal are filtered to produce a digital output signal including a phase characteristic. The phase characteristic of the digital output signal remains close to the desired symbol phase for substantial portion of the symbol period. A carrier signal is modulated using the digital output signal to produce the modulated carrier signal. |
| US07729440B2 |
Frequency modulator for digital transmissions
The invention relates to a method of transmitting digital data exhibiting a rate T by means of a frequency modulator able to modulate as a function of the data, a central carrier frequency f0 at a first frequency value f0+¼T and/or a second frequency value f0−¼T. It comprises the step consisting in modulating the carrier frequency from one of the frequency values to the other during a time interval T, via successive frequency stages. |
| US07729438B2 |
Interleaver design for IEEE 802.11n standard
A MIMO wireless system includes a transmitter having a parser that parses a bit stream into multiple spatial data streams and multiple interleavers corresponding to the multiple spatial data streams, where each interleaver interleaves the bits in the corresponding spatial data stream by performing multiple column rotations and row rotation, to increase diversity of the wireless system. The MIMO wireless system also includes a receiver that has deinterleavers that deinterleaves spatial bit streams transmitted by the transmitter. |
| US07729433B2 |
Method and apparatus for hybrid CDM OFDMA wireless transmission
A method and apparatus for wireless transmission from a mobile unit to a base station includes multiplexing a pilot signal and a data signal, wherein the data signal operates at a data rate by splitting the data signal into a plurality of data streams; applying a pilot gain to the pilot channel, wherein the data gain and the pilot gain are a function of the data rate; and combining the plurality of data streams and the pilot signal into a subset of sub-carriers. The subset of sub-carriers are transmitted using Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDMA. |
| US07729428B2 |
Method and apparatus for recognizing a change-of-state in communication signals of electronic circuits
A method for recognizing a valid change of state in a communication signal including capacitively coupled signals received by an input contact includes maintaining the input contact in a first state and an impedance of the first contact input in a first impedance level, validating that the communication signal sent from to the input contact is a valid change of state, and changing the input contact to a second state and the impedance of the first input contact input to a second impedance level when the voltage signal is validated. An input contact circuit is also disclosed. |
| US07729424B2 |
Apparatus and method for judging lost block characteristic in video processing system
A method for judging a lost block characteristic in a video processing system including certifying whether a lost block exists among transmitted video blocks, calculating a temporal difference cost1 between neighborhood pixels of the lost block in a present frame and a previous frame, and calculating a motion vector distribution value cost2 of peripheral blocks of the lost video block. The method also includes comparing the temporal difference cost1 and the motion vector distribution value cost2 with preset threshold values, and determining a characteristic of the lost block based on a result of the comparison. The automatically judged characteristic of the lost block is utilized as information for recovering the lost block to thereby reproduce a recovery video close to the original video. |
| US07729421B2 |
Low latency video decoder with high-quality, variable scaling and minimal frame buffer memory
Loss of decoding time prior to the vertical synchronization signal when motion video is arbitrarily scaled and positioned by placing the frame switch point at the completion of frame decoding and synchronizing the bottom border of the scaled image therewith while maintaining low latency of decoded data. High latency operation is provided only when necessitated by minimal spill buffer capacity and in combination with fractional image size reduction in the decoding path in order to maintain image resolution without requiring additional memory. |
| US07729418B2 |
Testing circuit for measuring a frequency of signal output from clock generator
A testing circuit measures a center frequency of a clock signal outputted by a clock generator. The clock generator has a frequency modulator capable of (1) performing a frequency sampling accurately for the duration of modulation frequency and reducing the duration for frequency measurements, and (2) implementing proper testing of the down-spread controlling feature as one of the SSCG modulation functions by accurately determining the center frequency of the clock signal. The testing circuit measures a center frequency of a clock signal outputted by a clock generator by converting an analog modulation signal into a digital signal and outputting the digital signal, counting the period of the clock signal to obtain a count according to the digital signal outputted by the clock generator, and comparing the count with the predetermined specification values related to the center frequency of the clock signal to obtain and output a comparison result. |
| US07729417B2 |
Method of and a device for generating a signal having a predetermined quality criterion for use in or on a communication system
There is disclosed a signal having a predefined quality criterion for use with a communication systems, a method of and a system for generating such a signal, a method of testing the operation of a communication system using such a signal and a (tele)communication system arranged for operation such a method. The method for generating the signal having a predefined quality the steps of: —representing a first signal comprising a plurality of frequency components each having spectral amplitude phase properties, and—processing the represented signal by arranging its spectral amplitude properties, and—processing the represented signal by arranging its spectral amplitude properties in accordance with the predefined quality criterion. |
| US07729411B2 |
Joint detector in a code division multiple access radio receiver
A joint detector that improves the performance of receiving a downlink control channel signal for a near-end mobile terminal in the presence of a stronger control channel signal addressed to a far-end mobile terminal sharing the same OVSF, or channelization, code through the use of orthogonal signature sequences. Depending on the specific embodiment, the joint detector may produce the desired bits for the control signal of interest, or may produce detected bits for all control signals sharing the same OVSF code. The joint detector despreads and combines the received code-multiplexed signal, utilizing knowledge of the cross correlations of the set of signature sequences and time-varying channel coefficients to alleviate performance degradation caused by interference from other signals. In various embodiments, the joint detector may be implemented as a modified decorrelating detector, a modified MMSE detector, a modified LS estimator detector, a successive interference-canceling detector, or a jointly hypothesized detector. |
| US07729401B2 |
Semiconductor laser device and fabrication method for the same
The semiconductor laser device includes a cavity structure having a first clad layer, an active layer and a second clad layer formed on a substrate. The second clad layer has a stripe portion extending between the front end face from which laser light is extracted and the rear end face opposite to the front end face. The stripe portion has a first region located closer to the front end face, a second region located closer to the rear end face and a change region whose width changes located between the first and second regions. The effective refractive index difference between the inside and outside of the stripe portion in the change region is greater than that in the first region. |
| US07729396B2 |
Laser diode device
A laser diode device capable of obtaining high light efficiency and improving output by using an AlGaInN compound semiconductor as a material is provided. The laser diode device includes semiconductor layer which has an active layer and is made of a nitride Group III-V compound semiconductor containing at least one of aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga), and indium (In) among Group 3B elements and nitrogen (N) among Group 5B elements. The active layer has a strip-shaped light emitting region whose width W is from 5 μm to 30 μm, length L is from 300 μm to 800 μm, and output of laser light from the active layer is 200 mW or more. |
| US07729392B2 |
Monoblock laser with reflective substrate
In an internal OPO, a substrate comprising a thin film lies along an axis and a first mirror reflects first wavelength light. A gain medium lases and polarizes light entering therein and a Q-switch attenuates and transmits first wavelength light. An HR/HT mirror passes first wavelength light and reflects a second wavelength light, and an OPO rod converts a portion of the first wavelength light into second wavelength light. An output coupler (OC) reflects first wavelength light and passes a portion of second wavelength light, the first wavelength reflecting between the first mirror, the OC and through the gain medium and the Q-switch. The second wavelength light reflects between the HR/HT mirror and OC and through the OPO rod. The invention applies to external OPO as well.The thin film reflects the light towards the gain medium, permitting a lower power lightsource and increasing the efficiency of the gain medium. |
| US07729384B1 |
Multiple channel digital subscriber line framer/deframer system and method
The framer, also referred to as the scrambler/Reed-Solomon encoder (SRS), is a part of the transmitter and accepts user and control data in the form of one or more logical channels, partitions this data into frames, adds error correction codes, randomizes the data through a scrambler, and multiplexes logical channels into a single data stream. The multiplexed data is then passed to the constellation encoder as the next step in the formation of the VDSL symbol. The deframer, also referred as the descrambler/Reed-Solomon decoder (DRS), is part of the receiver and performs the inverse function of the framer. Disclosed is a highly configurable hardware framer/deframer that includes a digital signal processor interface configured to provide high level control, a FIFO coupled to data interfaces, a scrambler and CRC generator, a Reed-Solomon encoder, an interleaver, a data interface coupled to a constellation encoder, a data interface coupled to a constellation decoder, a deinterleaver, a Reed-Solomon decoder, descrambler and CRC check, an interface to external data sync, methods for control of configuration of data paths between hardware blocks, and methods for control and configuration of the individual hardware blocks in a manner that provides compliance with VDSL and many related standards. |
| US07729383B2 |
Multiplexer and multiplexing method
A multiplexer according to an embodiment of the present invention multiplexes a video ES and an audio ES to generate a transport stream TS, and includes a video buffer, an audio buffer, and a multiplexing unit. A multiplexing unit executes simulation of a buffer occupation necessary for a video ES upon decoding the TS, and controls multiplexing of the video ES not to cause overflow of a buffer based on the simulation result. In the simulation, a predetermined time Δt is divided by N ((main buffer leak rate/system clock frequency)×N (N is an integer)=integer), the remainder R is carried over to the next calculation, and a current main buffer leak data amount is calculated by integer arithmetic based on the integral quotient. |
| US07729379B2 |
Mapping of bit streams into MPEG frames
An architecture for providing high-speed access over frequency-division multiplexed (FDM) channels allows transmission of ethernet frames and/or other data across a cable transmission network or other form of FDM transport. The architecture involves downstream and upstream FDM multiplexing techniques to allow contemporaneous, parallel communications across a plurality of frequency channels. Each downstream data flow is fragmented into individual octets that are multiplexed into MPEG packets. An MPEG packet may carry the octets for a plurality of individual data flows. Furthermore, the MPEG packets may be frequency-division multiplexed across and may be contemporaneously communicated over a plurality of frequency channels. Also, the octets from a data flow do not necessarily have to use consecutive octets in an MPEG packet. Instead, consecutive octets in an MPEG packet may carry information for two different data flows. Thus, in an MPEG packet there may be intervening octets that might be allocated to other data flows between the octets of an ethernet frame or other type of data from one data flow. In addition, the data flows carried in MPEG packets may support one or a plurality of client devices. Therefore, an MPEG packet may be used to time-division multiplex multiple data flows to one or a plurality of client devices. |
| US07729378B2 |
Robust high-throughput frame for low-quality wireless channel conditions
A transceiver device for processing a frame in a wireless local area network, where the frame is one of several frame formats, which include a high throughput frame format. The transceiver device receives a frame having a training sequence, a signal field and a data payload, and processes the training sequence to detect which signal field length of a plurality of signal field lengths was used in the received frame. With the signal field length, the device processes the signal field based upon the detected signal field length to retrieve the data payload processing information. |
| US07729375B2 |
Power line communication apparatus and data relay method
The PLC 20 adaptor corresponding to a power line communication apparatus has four PLC bridges 30A to 30D, each of which is correspondingly connected to Ethernet communication connectors 26A to 26D, operation mode setting switches 27A to 27D, display units 28A to 28D. Each PLC bridge 30A to 30D includes a PLC modem unit 301, a bridge unit 302, an Ethernet IF unit 303, and a communication control unit 304. The communication control unit 304 obtains data type information on the basis of setting conditions of switches 27A to 27D corresponding to each communication port. Since the time slot required for the communication link corresponding to the communication port of the PLC network can be obtained on the basis of the data type information, the reservation request can be transmitted to the control terminal. |
| US07729373B2 |
Modified range requests enabling bandwidth requests and state of health reporting
A modified ranging request in a broadband communications system. The modified ranging request includes a header, a management message header attached to the header, a management message payload attached to the management message header, and a CRC attached to the management message payload. The management message header enables bandwidth requests to be made by subscriber equipment without contention. The management message header also includes state of health information on the status of a downstream transmission for enabling a central location to determine how to assign subscribers to queues in an adaptive modulation scheme. |
| US07729372B2 |
Communicating in a network that includes a medium having varying transmission characteristics
A method and corresponding system for operating in a network in which stations communicate over a shared medium are presented. The shared medium has at least one varying channel characteristic that varies approximately periodically. The method includes providing repeated beacon transmissions from a coordinator station for coordinating transmissions among a plurality of the stations, wherein at least some beacon transmissions are synchronized to the varying channel characteristic; and transmitting from a first station to at least one receiving station during a time slot determined based on at least one of the beacon transmissions received by the first station from the coordinator station. |
| US07729370B1 |
Apparatus for networking devices having fibre channel node functionality
This invention relates to data networks, and more particularly, to platforms, modules and systems for networking at least one device having Fibre Channel node functionality with another device. Networking of Fibre Channel-enabled devices is provided by an apparatus that includes a circuit board having a first set of signal paths; a first transceiver having a first optical I/O port, a first transceiver output and a first transceiver input; a first I/O connection for coupling to a first Fibre Channel port and for receiving signals transmitted by the first transceiver output via a subset of the first set of signal paths; and a second I/O connection for coupling to a second Fibre Channel port and for receiving signals from the first Fibre Channel Port. |
| US07729366B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for network mobility of a mobile communication device
A method, device and system for allowing a mobile communication device, such as a DLNA/UPnP device, to continue to communicate with its local network, even when the mobile device leaves or loses contact with the local network. The method includes providing information to a remote access server to create a virtual mobile device in a local network. The virtual device communicates with other devices within the local network as if it is the actual mobile device. The remote access server is configured to route data packets between the virtual device and the mobile device via a second network that does not rely on the mobile nodes connection to the local network. A public IP address of the remote access server provided to the mobile device before the device leaves the local network is used to communicate with the virtual device via an IP-based public network coupled to the local network. |
| US07729363B2 |
System and method for managing communication for component applications
An application gateway server is provided for managing communication between an application executing in a runtime environment on a device and at least one backend server. The application gateway server comprises a message listener, a connector subsystem, and a messaging subsystem. The message listener receives messages from the component applications. The connector subsystem comprises a plurality of connectors, each of the plurality of connectors for communicating with one or more associated backend servers. The messaging subsystem comprises a message broker for processing messages received from the message listener and transmitting them to an associated one of the plurality of connectors and a communication mapping for identifying which of the plurality of connectors is to be used for each message in accordance with an origin of the message. |
| US07729360B2 |
Switching network
A switching network forms part of a digital cross-connect for connecting data frames between requested inputs and outputs, and includes an input stage, an intermediate stage, and an output stage, each of which consists of a plurality of switching matrices. Each input stage switching matrix has a link to each intermediate stage switching matrix, and each intermediate stage switching matrix has a link to each output stage switching matrix. Individual time-slots of incoming data frames are independently routed through the switching matrices, reducing the possibility of blocking taking place. |
| US07729358B2 |
Transcoding apparatus, method and medium
A transcoding apparatus and associated methodology of transcoding a first video stream into a second video stream, is provided. A separator extracts a video transport stream packet including the first video stream, a non-video transport stream packet, and timing information from a first transport stream. The timing information indicates a time at which the non-video transport stream packet is formed and the first transport stream relative to the video transport stream packet. A memory is provided to store the timing information. A conversion unit generates the second video stream based on the first video stream. A multiplexer multiplexes a converted video transport stream packed including the second video stream and a converted non-video transport stream packet based on the stored timing information to generate a second transport stream, including the second video stream. |
| US07729355B2 |
Handling a request to establish a packet switched session
The invention relates to a method for handling a request by a first communication device 11 connected to a network of a communication system to establish a packet switched session with a second, wireless communication device 12, which session requires the second communication device 12 to be connected to a network which enables the establishment of the session. In order to enable an enhanced handling of such a request, it is proposed that it is first determined whether the second communication device 12 is currently connected to such a network. In case it is determined that the second device 12 is not connected to such a network, a corresponding indication is transmitted to the first device 11. The user of the first device 11 is then informed via the first device 11 that the requested session cannot be established. The invention relates equally to a communication system enabling such a method and to corresponding elements 11, 13 of such a system. |
| US07729352B1 |
System and method for handling flows in a network
A flow in a network is identified and handled by using a virtual host address. A packet is received at a switch with a first virtual host address as its destination address. If the packet is the first packet of a flow received by the switch, then a second virtual host address is determined by the switch. The first virtual host address is stored in a packet forwarding table correlated with the second virtual host address. A subsequently received packet of the same flow has the same first virtual host address as its destination address, and is forwarded to the second virtual host address in accordance with the packet forwarding table. |
| US07729351B2 |
Pipelined packet switching and queuing architecture
An architecture for a line card in a network routing device is provided. The line card architecture provides a bi-directional interface between the routing device and a network, both receiving packets from the network and transmitting the packets to the network through one or more connecting ports. In both the receive and transmit path, packets processing and routing in a multi-stage, parallel pipeline that can operate on several packets at the same time to determine each packet's routing destination is provided. The transmit path of the line card architecture further incorporates additional features for treatment and replication of multicast packets. These features can include a recycle path coupling a gather stage circuit and a fetch stage circuit and can include sequence number logic configured to associate sequence numbers with multicast packet headers. |
| US07729348B2 |
Efficiency improvement for shared communications networks
A technique for providing data unit concatenation in a shared communications network is disclosed. The technique establishes a distinction between a first address space and a second address space within one or more shared communications networks, such as a wireless local area network, in a telecommunications system. At a transmitter node, data units arriving from one or more source nodes are packaged together if they are intended a network accessible through a receiver and then are transmitted to the receiver node. During the transfer of data units across the telecommunications system, the addressing mechanism will use either source and destination nodes or transmitter and receiver nodes, depending on the address space relevant at the moment of transmission. The technique increases utilization efficiency, because overhead attributed to headers, acknowledgements and interframe gaps is reduced. |
| US07729344B2 |
Methods and apparatus for controlling signaling associated with a private branch exchange within a session over internet protocol network
A method includes receiving a media signal at an interface device in communication with and disposed between an Internet Protocol private branch exchange (IP-PBX) and a first endpoint. The media signal is associated with the first endpoint and is associated with a session established between the first endpoint and a second endpoint within a session over internet protocol network. The session is established at least in part by the IP-PBX based on a session control signal received at the interface device from the first endpoint and sent from the interface device to the IP-PBX. The method also includes modifying the media signal at the interface device based on a per-device service associated with at least one of the first endpoint or the second endpoint. |
| US07729341B2 |
IP telephone apparatus and system having automatic registration
A CPU of an IP telephone apparatus transmits, to an ENUM server, a message “Request the NAPTR record” corresponding to the destination terminal. The CPU also receives a message “Respond to the NAPTR information” in response to the message “Respond to the NAPTR record”. Further, the CPU automatically transmits, from a network I/F to the ENUM server, the request for the registration of information regarding the apparatus terminal when the switch is initially turned ON after the IP telephone apparatus is installed and connected to the IP network. The request for the registration is previously stored in a memory. The CPU also receives the message “Respond indicating completion of the registration” in response to the request for the registration. |
| US07729339B2 |
Audio watermarking for call identification in a telecommunications network
A method of processing half-calls each having opposing first and second ends is provided within a telecommunications network. Each of the half-calls is either an originating half-call terminated at the first end thereof by calling consumer premises equipment (CPE) or a terminating half-call terminated at the first end thereof by called CPE, wherein an associated pair of half-calls connected at their second ends including both an originating and terminating half-call completes a call connecting the CPE terminating the respective first ends of the half-calls that form the pair. The method includes: applying identifiers to originating half-calls such that the originating half-calls are distinctly identifiable thereby with respect to one another, the identifiers thereafter accompanying terminating half-calls that form associated pairs of half-calls together with the originating half-calls to which the identifiers were applied; and, examining terminating half-calls to detect the identifiers such that upon detection of the identifiers the terminating half-calls accompanying the detected identifiers and the originating half-calls to which the identifier were applied are recognized as associated pairs of half-calls. |
| US07729336B2 |
Synchronization and timing source priority in an ad-hoc network
A bandwidth efficient and robust timing synchronization approach in an ad-hoc network is provided by a mobile ad-hoc network including at least one group of mobile nodes having at least one timing reference (TR) node. Mobile nodes include a controller and a wireless communications device cooperating therewith to generate and transmit timing synchronization beacons having a respective hop count indicating a number of hops to the at least one timing reference node, receive timing synchronization beacons from neighboring nodes, and synchronize node communication timing with neighboring nodes based upon the number of hops to the at least one timing reference node. The timing reference node may cooperate with the other mobile nodes based upon a timing source priority tree including levels defined by hop counts. The timing reference node is at a starting level of the timing source priority tree. The other nodes are at a higher level of the timing source priority tree than the starting level and correspond to the number of hops to the at least one timing reference node. |
| US07729329B2 |
System, apparatus, method, and computer program for radio communication using a preamble part of a packet to determine a communication channel
A radio communication system includes a plurality of radio communication stations. Each radio communication station performs a random-access operation in a communication environment having a plurality of available communication channels, and assigns a communication channel on a per packet basis to transmit a packet. |
| US07729328B2 |
Real-time sessions for wireless mesh networks
A real-time data transport protocol directed to aggregating multiple packets of a real-time protocol session and transmitting redundant copies of the packets as defined by a sliding window. In particular implementations, a method comprising accessing a plurality of packets of a real-time protocol session; aggregating, over a sliding window, a contiguous sequence of packets in the plurality of packets into real-time data transport packets, and transmitting the real-time data transport packets to a receiving node. |
| US07729326B2 |
Wireless network system with wireless access ports
A communication system comprises a wireless switch, a plurality of wired access ports and a plurality of wireless access ports. The plurality of wired access ports are coupled to the wireless switch via a wired connection and are configured to receive data over the wired connection and over a wireless connection. The plurality of wireless access ports are configured to receive data over the wireless connection from the wireless access port and to send data over the wireless connection to the wired access port. The wireless access ports are further configured to receive and encapsulate first wireless data packets in to first wired data packets based on a wired transmission protocol and encapsulate the first wired data packets into second wireless data packets based on a wireless transmission protocol. |
| US07729325B2 |
Beamforming and distributed opportunistic scheduling in wireless networks
A system and method that addresses the issue of inducing and exploiting multi-user diversity in, e.g., a WLAN system in a fully distributed and opportunistic manner. In some embodiments, the system includes: an access point having a variable beamformer configured to fluctuate signal strength as perceived by stations within a range of the access point; and a plurality of stations having modified distributed-MAC protocol such as to be channel-aware and opportunistic. |
| US07729324B2 |
Method of limiting communication access between wireless LAN terminals
Different subnets are allocated to respective wireless LAN terminals. It is assumed that when the setting of IP addresses is completed, a packet is to be sent from wireless LAN terminal 1 to wireless LAN terminal 2. Since the different subnets are allocated to respective wireless LAN terminals 1, 2, wireless LAN terminals 1, 2 are unable to communicate directly with each other. Wireless LAN terminal 1 sends a packet destined for wireless LAN terminal 2 to a default gateway (=access limiter). Since the packet received by the access limiter is destined for wireless LAN terminal 2, the access limiter transfers the packet to wireless LAN terminal 2. |
| US07729322B2 |
HDLC hardware accelerator
An HDLC accelerator includes a deframer and framer to respectively accelerate the deframing and framing processes for PPP packets. The deframer includes an input interface unit, a detection unit, a conversion unit, and an output interface unit. The input interface unit receives a packet of data to be deframed. The detection unit evaluates each data byte to detect for special bytes (e.g., flag, escape, and invalid bytes). The conversion unit deframes the received data by removing flag and escape bytes, “un-escaping” the data byte following each escape byte, providing a header word for each flag byte, and checking each deframed packet based on a frame check sequence (FCS) value associated with the packet. The output interface unit provides deframed data and may further perform byte alignment in providing the deframed data. A state control unit provides control signals indicative of specific tasks to be performed for deframing. |
| US07729319B2 |
Radio LAN system and radio LAN system signal collision evading method
The present invention discloses a wireless LAN system and a signal collision avoidance method for the wireless LAN system, which can avoid the collision of signals between a wireless LAN system initiating communication at fixed intervals and a wireless LAN system initiating communication after waiting for the vacancy of a channel. According to the present invention, when it is recognized that there is a no signal section between a downlink phase and an uplink phase upon scheduling of a communication frame, a scheduler part 6 performs scheduling for putting a NAV setup signal, which covers the no signal section, behind the downlink phase in accordance with instructions from a NAV setup signal generating part 8, and transmits the same. It can prevent any station in an IEEE802.11a wireless LAN system from transmitting data in the no signal section, and hence avoid the collision of signals within the period of the uplink phase. |
| US07729314B2 |
Method for supporting mobility for dynamic windows clients in a wireless LAN network
Methods and apparatus for preventing an IP address from being assigned to a client implementing a protocol such as DHCP are disclosed. This is particularly useful in an environment such as a Mobile IP environment in which a network device (e.g., Access Point) performs proxy registration on behalf of the client. When the client transmits a detection packet to detect whether its IP address is still valid (e.g., whether it is on the same sub-network on which the IP address was allocated), a response is transmitted to the client that indicates that the client is still on its home network. This response is transmitted regardless of whether the client is still on its home network. Since the client believes it is still on its home network, a new IP address will not be assigned to the client. As a result, an existing Mobile IP session will not be interrupted. |
| US07729310B2 |
Method for allocating sub-channel in a mobile communication system using orthogonal frequency division multiple access scheme
A method is provided for allocating sub-channels in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) mobile communication system including a plurality of cells or a plurality of sectors. The method comprises dividing a time interval preset into a band Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) sub-channel region and a diversity sub-channel region, for each of the cells or sectors; and allocating band AMC sub-channels only in a preset frequency region of the full frequency band used in the OFDMA mobile communication system, in the band AMC sub-channel region. |
| US07729288B1 |
Zone management in a multi-module fibre channel switch
A method for changing zoning in a fiber channel fabric is provided. The method includes receiving zone date from a management module, wherein the zone data is received by a fiber channel switch; waiting for active Zone Set; and sending a merge request to neighboring switches. The method also includes: sending Zone Merge Data Start message to the management module; sending new zone data to management module; and comparing the new zone data with current zone data. The method also includes creating acceptance message for new zoning, wherein the management module creates the acceptance message. |
| US07729287B2 |
Methods of providing simulation for communications systems and related systems and computer program products
A method of simulating a telecommunications network may include providing a database including status information for a plurality of virtual network elements. More particularly, the status information for each of the plurality of virtual network elements may include a respective network element identifier. A communication including a received network element identifier may be received. If the received network element identifier does not correspond to a network element identifier included in the database, status information for a new virtual network element may be added to the database and the status information for the new virtual network element may include the received network element identifier. After adding the status information for the new virtual network element, a communication regarding the new virtual network element may be transmitted. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed. |
| US07729286B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for telecommunications service management
A method of processing service information relating to a plurality of user services available in a telecommunications system is disclosed. The method includes storing entities defining service components in a service information database, where each service component entity represents a distinct aspect of service functionality which can be provided by the telecommunications system. Entities defining implementation technologies are also stored, each implementation technology entity being associated with a service component entity and representing a technology that can be used for implementing the aspect of service functionality represented by the service component entity. The method further stores entities defining user services available to users of the telecommunications system, each user service entity being associated with one or more service component entities defining service functionality aspects of the user service. |
| US07729285B2 |
Energy-efficient network protocol and node device for sensor networks
An “on-demand” approach for a routing protocol for a wireless network that achieves balanced energy consumption among all participating nodes in the network. Synchronization messages transmitted by nodes associated with an upstream node include local node information (LNI) that a node can use to repair or bypass a lost upstream node in a real or virtual (temporary) manner depending upon the local node's battery level. Only if a repair process fails will a global re-organization (Re-Org) be initiated. The LNI also allows for nodes having lower power availability (battery level) not to transmit the LNI so that unaffiliated node(s) can select an upstream node having more power availability thereby extending network life. |
| US07729284B2 |
Discovery and configuration of devices across an Ethernet interface
The discovery and configuration of devices of interest connected to the Ethernet by an Ethernet port is disclosed. To perform discovery, Client software in a management interface transmits packets including the address of the management interface and a port identifier to a known broadcast address, requesting the MAC address for all devices of interest. Server software in the devices of interest parse the broadcast packets and broadcast a packet containing a MAC address that uniquely identifies the devices of interest back to the Client. Once the MAC addresses are returned to the Client, the Client can then broadcast protocol packets requesting the configuration of a specific device of interest such as a new IP address. Once a device of interest is configured with at least an IP address, the device of interest can communicate using TCP/IP, and it can thereafter be managed using higher level tools and firmware. |
| US07729283B2 |
Method and apparatus for configuring and establishing a secure credential-based network link between a client and a service over a data-packet-network
A system for establishing a direct network connection between a first and a second node over a data-packet-network includes a third network node having connection to the data-packet-network for providing an electronic interface accessible to the first node; a navigation agent directed by the third network node for navigating over the network to the second node to gather information; and at least one machine-readable instruction containing the instruction for directing and implementing the direct network connection. The electronic interface may be a Web page providing bill consolidation and payment services to a client operating the first node and wherein the connection established via the instruction enables transparent login payment of a bill at the second node, which may be a direct billing party interface of the client registered and listed on the Web page. |
| US07729282B2 |
Home network system and its configuration system
The present invention discloses a configuration apparatus thereof which can efficiently configure a new home appliance in the home network system comprised of various home appliances. The configuration method of a home network system, comprising of confirming whether a previously-stored logical address is an initial logical address, transmitting a master search packet to the home network system when the logical address previously stored in the storage means is an initial logical address, waiting for a response packet from the home network system, when the response packet is received from the home network system, changing the initial logical address into a predetermined logical address according to reception of the response packet; and when the response packet is not received from the home network system, changing the previously-stored initial logical address into a previously-stored basic logical address. |
| US07729281B2 |
Multicarrier packet communication method
Messages transmitted between a receiver and a transmitter are used to maximize a communication data rate. In particular, a multicarrier modulation system uses messages that are sent from the receiver to the transmitter to exchange one or more sets of optimized communication parameters. The transmitter then stores these communication parameters and when transmitting to that particular receiver, the transmitter utilizes the stored parameters in an effort to maximize the data rate to that receiver. Likewise, when the receiver receives packets from that particular transmitter, the receiver can utilize the stored communication parameters for reception. |
| US07729279B2 |
Traffic analysis on high-speed networks
The present invention provides a traffic analyzing system on a communications link having analyzer circuits connected to each other by a number of links, where each analyzer circuit has a data rate lower than the data rate of the communications link, and are adapted to perform respective different levels of analysis on packets. The information extracted from the packets analyzed at a first level of analysis by a first analyzer circuit is forwarded to a second level of analysis performed at a second analyzer circuit, where the additional analysis performed by the second analyzer circuit depends on the analysis performed by the first analyzer circuit. Such a system and associated method allows for an efficient, practical, and improved traffic flow analyses for computer networks to evaluate high-speed and heavy traffic flow, as well as for improved protocol analysis for emerging technologies. |
| US07729277B2 |
Use of intelligent directed broadcast in contact center solutions
In one embodiment, a method can include: (i) receiving a new contact in a contact center, where the new contact includes an expressed need; (ii) forming a resource set in response to the expressed need of the new contact, where the resource set includes one or more prospective resources; and (iii) sending a broadcast message to each of the prospective resources in the resource set. |
| US07729276B2 |
Method and system for tunneling MACSec packets through non-MACSec nodes
Aspects of a method and system for tunneling MACSec packets through non-MACSec-enabled nodes are provided. In this regard, aspects of the invention may be utilized for transmitting MACSec Ethernet packets over MACSec and/or non-MACSec-enabled network nodes. In one embodiment of the invention, additional header information may be inserted into a MACSec packet before transmitting the MACSec packet to a non-MACSec-enabled node. Accordingly, aspects of the invention may remove the additional header information from a packet received from a non-MACSec-enabled node to distinguish the packets comprising inserted additional header information, which may comprise a distinguishing Ethertype. |
| US07729272B2 |
Determining whether a transmission signal block was fully transmitted based on bit error probability
Methods, apparatuses, and systems to determine whether a transmission signal block was fully transmitted are described herein. The determination may be made at least in part by calculating one or more bit error probabilities for one or more to be transmitted bursts of the transmission signal block. |
| US07729269B1 |
Method for identifying and estimating mean traffic for high traffic origin-destination node pairs in a network
The present invention provides methods for identifying high traffic origin-destination node pairs in a packet based network and for estimating the mean traffic between the high traffic origin-destination node pairs. High traffic origin-destination node pairs may be identified in accordance with the present invention by modeling the variance of traffic in a static routing environment and identifying the origin-destination node pairs with a high variance as high traffic origin-destination node pairs. For estimating purposes, traffic between low traffic origin-destination node pairs may be assumed to be a predetermined value, such as zero, to reduce the number of variables to estimate. Routing changes necessary to create a full rank routing matrix may be identified and applied to the network, and link utilization information collected under each routing scenario may be used to estimate the mean traffic between the high traffic origin-destination node pairs. |
| US07729266B2 |
Network load detection system, method, apparatus, and program
A system includes a unit transmitting test packets to a to-be-measured communication link at a first time interval, a unit transmitting burst loads each including a series of load packets to the communication link at a second time interval, a unit performing measurement of delay time periods in a manner that a plurality of test packets transmitted by varying elapsed time periods each from an instance of transmission of the burst load to an instance of transmission of the test packet are received from the communication link in a fluctuating time interval, a unit generating delay distributions indicative of packet occurrence frequencies in relation to a delay time period of the communication link in accordance with the measured delay time periods, and a unit calculating a network load in accordance with occurrence frequencies in a specific section of the generated delay distributions. |
| US07729265B2 |
Test method for network relay apparatus and network relay apparatus
A transfer path in a router is set in a loop shape by a test processing unit. In a NP chip (network processor), decrement of a TTL value is inhibited by a test processing unit, and a routing table is set such that data are transmitted in order along the transfer path of the loop shape. Consequently, the test processing unit circulates a predetermined number of data on the transfer path of the loop shape, and inspects the data circulated. |
| US07729263B2 |
Aircraft data link network routing
A method for routing aircraft data link messages over a plurality of communications networks is disclosed. The method assigns at least one data link message routing service for an aircraft having a first message processing application based on prescribed criteria, the prescribed criteria comprising preferred networks of the plurality of communications networks. As a first preferred communications network becomes available, the method selects a first message route from the assigned routing service and transmits each of the data link messages on the first message route while the first message route satisfies the prescribed criteria. When the prescribed criteria changes over a plurality of flight phases of the aircraft, the method reassigns the at least one data link message route to continue data link message transmissions to and from the aircraft based on the latest prescribed criteria. |
| US07729262B2 |
Method and system for assigning channels in a wireless LAN
Described is a system and method for receiving traffic load information for a plurality of access points, each of the access points including at least two channels for communicating and neighboring at least one of the other access points. A throughput of each channel of each access point is determined based on the traffic load information for each access point and any neighboring access points. A channel with a maximum determined throughput is selected for each access point. Each access point then switches to the selected channel at a defined probability rate. |
| US07729253B1 |
Reduced available bandwidth updates
An embodiment of the invention provides a flexible bandwidth advertisement method that can reduce the number of routing updates that are sent in a network. In an embodiment of the invention, a method of reducing available bandwidth updates in a link in a communication system is provided. The method includes setting a range of threshold values. An actual available bandwidth in the link is then changed. If the actual available bandwidth changes from a first value within the range of threshold values to a second value within the range of threshold values, then a transmission of an available bandwidth update on the link is then prevented. |
| US07729250B2 |
Bandwidth control device and bandwidth control method
It is an object to increase a processing-enabled user count and traffic size by avoiding frames from being discarded without any increase in buffer size within a bandwidth control device. A bandwidth control device includes a response measuring module measuring a size of a response frame and calculating, based on the measured size, a predictive traffic size as a size of the traffic of the response frame predicted to be received as a response to a request frame, and a bandwidth control module controlling a traffic rate of the response frame corresponding to the request frame by controlling a traffic rate of the request frame on the basis of the calculated predictive traffic size. |
| US07729245B1 |
Method and system of monitoring the receipt of multicast traffic
A method and system for monitoring data packet traffic in a multicast network comprising determining a first packet count received at a receiver router, representing a quantity of data packets associated with a multicast group and source at a first time, determining a second packet count received at that receiver router representing a quantity of data packets associated with that multicast group and source, at a second time subsequent to the first time, comparing the second packet count to the first packet count, and indicating an alarm in response to the second packet count being less than a predetermined value greater than the first packet count. A status for multiple routers can be obtained, comprising a difference between the quantity of the first and second packet counts; and indicating a warning in response to at least one of the plurality of router status being less than the predetermined value. |
| US07729238B2 |
Method for adjusting FFT window positioning in MB-OFDM UWB system
Provided is a method for adjusting Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) window positioning in a Multi Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Ultra-Wideband (MB-OFDM UWB) system. The method includes the steps of acquiring an initial FFT window position and a frequency hopping position, demodulating a received signal by using the initial FFT window position and the frequency hopping position acquired in the acquiring step, transmitting received data information to a Media Access Control (MAC) layer with a reception frame (RX frame) structure and judging at the MAC layer whether or not a packet error is occurred based on Frame Check Sequences (FCSs), and if no packet error is occurred, returning to the demodulating step, and if the packet error is occurred, changing a register map by using a predetermined interface line in a MAC-physical layer (MAC-PHY) interface to thereby adjust the FFT window position and the frequency hopping position, and then returning to the demodulating step. |
| US07729236B2 |
Use of timing information for handling aggregated frames in a wireless network
Various embodiments are disclosed relating to the use of timing or timing-related information for handling aggregated frames in a wireless network. According to an example embodiment, a plurality of frames may be received. An aggregated frame may be generated based on the plurality of received frames. A transmission lifetime for the aggregated frame may be determined based on a transmission lifetime of one or more of the received frames. In another example embodiment, a transmit timer may be determined for the aggregated frame, for example, based on the transmit timer for one or more of the received frames. |
| US07729233B2 |
Dual mode communication systems and methods
Embodiments of dual mode communication systems and methods are disclosed. On system embodiment, among others, comprises logic configured to perform spatial multiplexing and expanded bandwidth signaling to data. |
| US07729231B2 |
Recording device with a porous heat barrier
This invention relates to a recording medium comprising: a substrate (21) made of a material, provided with pads, a layer of recording material (23) deposited on top of the pads, thermal insulation zones (22a) in at least one part of the pads and/or substrate. |
| US07729225B2 |
Optical information processing apparatus, optical information recording method, optical information reproducing method and optical information servo controlling method
An optical information processing apparatus is provided. The optical information processing apparatus includes: an optical system which irradiates a reference beam on an optical information recording medium having a plurality of recording regions adjacent to each other so that the reference beam is wider than each of the recording regions; a filter which filters readout beams reproduced from the optical information recording medium to pass a selected readout beam reproduced from a selected recording region and separates neighborhood readout beams reproduced from neighborhood of the selected recording regions; a readout beam detector which detects the selected readout beam passing through the filter; a neighborhood readout beam detector which detects the neighborhood readout beams separated by the filter; and a controller which compares the neighborhood readout beams detected by the neighborhood readout beam detector to control a reproduction condition of the selected readout beam. |
| US07729224B2 |
Optical information reproducing apparatus and optical information reproducing method using the same
An optical information reproducing apparatus and an optical information reproducing method using the same are provided. The optical information reproducing apparatus includes: a light source; a beam splitter which splits a beam emitted from the light source into a reference beam and a temporary beam; a temporary beam splitter which splits the temporary beam into a pair of assistant beams; an incident optical system which inputs the reference beam and the assistant beams to a recording medium in which optical information is recorded; a reproduction beam detector which detects reproduction beams reproduced in response to the reference beam, sets the position of the reproduction beam having the largest light intensity as a reference position, and sets a signal region on the basis of the reference beam; and an assistant beam detector which compares the light intensity of the assistant beams incident on the signal region with each other and sets an incident angle of the reference beam. Accordingly, it is possible to detect a tilt error and to correct the tilt error at the time of reproducing data from the recording medium. |
| US07729218B2 |
Method and apparatus for recording and reproducing signal on and from optical information recording medium
Test signals are recorded on a prescribed area in an optical disc. The prescribed area is scanned by a laser beam while the power of the laser beam is changed among different DC erasing values. The different DC erasing values are assigned to the recorded test signals, respectively. The recorded test signals are reproduced from the prescribed area to obtain reproduced signals. Parameter values of the respective reproduced signals are detected. The detected parameter values correspond to the different DC erasing values, respectively. Among the detected parameter values, a detected parameter value is decided which matches a target. One corresponding to the decided parameter value is selected from the different DC erasing values. A prescribed coefficient and the selected DC erasing value are multiplied to calculate an optimum level of an erasing power of the laser beam. |
| US07729215B2 |
Optical disc drive apparatus and servo control method for optical disc drive apparatus
An optical disc drive apparatus may include an optical pickup that moves along a transportation shaft provided along a radial direction of an optical disc and picks up reflected light after emitting an optical beam via an objective lens to the optical disc; a drive section that controls the objective lens to adjust an angle of the optical beam; an angular velocity detection section that detects an angular velocity around the transportation shaft; storage means for storing coefficients from which the skew of the optical disc around a virtual axis perpendicular to the transportation shaft is calculated using the angular velocity; a skew estimation section that calculates a skew estimate value by multiplying the coefficient by the angular velocity; and a drive signal generation section that generates a drive signal based on the skew estimate value to enable the drive section to adjust the angle of the optical beam. |
| US07729214B1 |
Method and apparatus applied in optical disc drive for obtaining push-pull signal via adjusting amplifying gain according to fluctuating signals generated from photo detector of pick-up head
An apparatus for obtaining a push-pull signal is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a first amplifier coupled to a first fluctuating signal for utilizing a first gain value to amplify the first fluctuating signal and then outputting a first amplified fluctuating signal; a second amplifier coupled to a second fluctuating signal for utilizing a second gain value to amplify the second fluctuating signal and then outputting a second amplified fluctuating signal; a subtractor electrically connected to the first and second amplifiers for subtracting the second amplified fluctuating signal from the first amplified fluctuating signal to generate the push-pull signal; and a level decision unit electrically connected to the first and second amplifiers for controlling the amplitudes of signals amplified by the first and second amplifiers when the optical disc drive is switched from a first operating mode to a second operating mode. |
| US07729209B2 |
Recording and playback apparatus using harddrive for ripping digital audio data
Audio data which are read out from a compact disc drive are written into a hard disk drive (6) at a rate that is higher than an audio playback rate. The written audio data are read out at a rate which is higher than the audio playback rate, and than output to audio output interfaces (buffer memories). The audio output interfaces read out the audio data at the playback rate and output the data. Since the hard disk drive (6) can perform reading/writing at a rate which is sufficiently higher than the playback rate of audio data, monitoring is enabled while performing ripping. |
| US07729207B2 |
Electronic timepiece with generator function
An electronic timepiece with a generator function, including a generator, a battery or the like that stores electrical energy produced by the generator, a timekeeping controller that is driven by the stored electrical energy, a time display that is controlled by the timekeeping controller and displays time, a generator output detector that detects peaks of an electrical characteristic of the power generated by the generator, a remaining operating time calculator that integrates the average values corresponding to detected peaks and calculates a remaining operating time, and a remaining operating time display that displays the remaining operating time calculated by the remaining operating time calculator. |
| US07729200B2 |
Memory device, memory controller and memory system
The memory device has: a plurality of banks, each of which has a memory cell array having a plurality of page areas that are selected by row addresses respectively, and each of which is selected by a bank address; a row controller that controls activation of the page areas within each of the banks in response to a first operation code; and a group of data input/output terminals. A memory unit area within each of the activated page areas is accessed based on the column address. The row controller generates bank activation signals for the plurality of banks in response to multi-bank information data and a supplied bank address that are supplied along with the first command, and generates the row address of each of the plurality of banks in response to the supplied bank address and a supplied row address. The plurality of banks activate the page areas in response to the bank activation signals and the row addresses generated by the row address calculator. |
| US07729199B2 |
External beam expander
The invention encompasses beam expanders and methods of using such beam expanders. A beam expander according to the present invention may advantageously be used with an interferometer. Beam expanders according to the present disclosure contain at least an input and an output lens, with the output lens having a plano-convex arrangement such that the surface of the output lens is optically flat and can be used as the reference surface in a Fizeau interferometer. The beam expander may also encompass a housing, a partially reflective coating and an anti-reflective coating. |
| US07729197B2 |
Memory device having a delay locked loop with frequency control
Some embodiments include a delay line configured to apply a delay to an input signal to provide an output signal; an input circuit configured to provide the input signal based on a first signal, such that the cycle time of the input signal is different from a cycle time of the first signal; an output circuit configured to provide a second signal based on the output signal, the second signal having a cycle time different from a cycle time of the output signal; and a controller configured to adjust the delay to control a timing relationship between the first signal and the second signal. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07729193B2 |
Backup for volatile state retention in the absence of primary circuit power
A backup volatile state retention circuit is provided with low leakage current for employment with a volatile memory circuit to store the value of the latter during power down of the volatile circuit or during power-down or inactivation of neighboring or peripheral circuits or due to the loss of power of any of these circuits. An example of such a volatile circuit is a memory circuit having volatile memory cells such as employed in dynamic memory core, in particular, a random access memory (RAM) in CMOS circuitry. |
| US07729187B2 |
Bit line precharge circuit having precharge elements outside sense amplifier
A bit line precharge circuit capable of improving bit line precharge operation includes a first precharge element for precharging a first bit line in response to a first precharge signal, a precharge unit for precharging second and third bit lines in response to a second precharge signal, and a second precharge element for precharging a fourth bit line in response to a third precharge signal. |
| US07729186B2 |
Method and system for testing an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit comprising: a) at least one integrated voltage generator for generating a low voltage for an associated integrated load; b) an integrated voltage generator test logic connected to the voltage generator which in a test operating mode which is the operating state of that integrated voltage generator between an active operating state and a standby operating state depending on an external control signal; c) an internal load switch for switching said generated load voltage to that integrated load said internal load switch being controllable by means of an internal control signal; d) wherein said voltage generator test logic in said test operating mode switches the operating state of said integrated voltage generator independently of the associated internal control switching signal for setting a temporal voltage profile of said load voltage applied to that load. |
| US07729185B2 |
Apparatus and method for detection of address decoder open faults
The apparatus comprises derived address generation circuitry, responsive to a base address portion of each base address, to generate an associated series of derived addresses. Each derived address is different from other derived addresses in that associated series and has a derived address portion that differs from the corresponding base address portion by a single address bit value. Read/write sequence generator circuitry is then responsive to each base address in turn, to write in said memory device a first data value at the base address and a second data value at each derived address in the associated series of derived addresses and is arranged to read a data value stored at the base address each time the second data value is written to one of the derived addresses, and to detect an address decoder open fault if the read data value is the second data value. |
| US07729183B2 |
Data sensing method for dynamic random access memory
A data sensing method for a dynamic random access memory including a storage capacitor configured to store data, a bit line, a transistor connecting the storage capacitor and the bit line, a reference bit line, and a sense amplifier connecting the bit line and the reference bit line. The data sensing method comprises the steps of turning off the transistor when the stored data is a predetermined value before enabling the sense amplifier to sense the voltage of the bit line and the reference bit line, and turning on the transistor when the stored data is opposite to the predetermined value such that a charge sharing process occurs between the storage capacitor and a parasitic capacitor of the bit line before enabling the sense amplifier to sense the voltage of the bit line and the reference bit line. |
| US07729175B2 |
Method of writing/reading data into/from memory cell and page buffer using different codes for writing and reading operations
Provided are a method of writing/reading data into/from a memory cell and a page buffer using different codes for the writing and reading operations. The method of writing/reading data into/from a memory cell that has a plurality of threshold voltage distributions includes a data writing operation and a data reading operation. In the data writing operation, data having a plurality of bits is written into the memory cell by using a plurality of writing codes corresponding to threshold voltage distributions. In the data reading operation, the data having a plurality of bits is read from the memory cell by using reading codes corresponding to the threshold voltage distributions from among the threshold voltage distributions. In the method of writing/reading data into/from a memory cell, a part of the writing codes is different from a corresponding part of the reading codes. |
| US07729174B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device having a bit line select voltage generator adapted to a temperature change
A bit line select voltage generator includes a first voltage generator, a second voltage generator, and a voltage transmission unit. The first voltage generator is configured to divide a reference voltage of a reference voltage generator, generate a control voltage, and generate a first voltage in response to the control voltage. In this case, the first voltage is raised according to an increase of a temperature and output. The second voltage generator is configured to divide the reference voltage and generate a second voltage of a level lower than that of the first voltage. The voltage transmission unit is configured to transmit the first voltage or the second voltage to an output terminal according to a voltage level of a first voltage transmit control signal or a second voltage transmit control signal. |
| US07729168B2 |
Reduced signal level support for memory devices
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for reduced signal level support for memory devices. In some embodiments, a host includes one or more additional electrical contacts to provide a controllable voltage reference to a memory device. The host may also include driver circuitry to provide a driver signal to the memory device. In some embodiments, the driver signal is substantially symmetrical around the controllable voltage reference. |
| US07729164B2 |
Non-volatile memory device, method of operating the same, and method of fabricating the same
A non-volatile memory device may include at least one semiconductor layer, a plurality of control gate electrodes, a plurality of charge storage layers, at least one first auxiliary electrode, and/or at least one second auxiliary electrode. The plurality of control gate electrodes may be recessed into the semiconductor layer. The plurality of charge storage layers may be between the plurality of control gate electrodes and the semiconductor layer. The first and second auxiliary electrodes may be arranged to face each other. The plurality of control gate electrodes may be between the first and second auxiliary electrodes and capacitively coupled with the semiconductor layer. |
| US07729163B2 |
Phase change memory
The present disclosure includes devices and methods for operating phase change memory cells. One or more embodiments include applying a programming signal to a phase change material of a memory cell, and decreasing a magnitude of a trailing portion of the applied programming signal successively according to a number of particular decrements. The magnitude and the duration of the number of particular decrements correspond to particular programmed values. |
| US07729160B2 |
Phase-change random access memory
A phase-change random access memory includes a memory block including a plurality of memory columns corresponding to the same column address and using different input/output paths; a redundancy memory block including a plurality of redundancy memory columns using different input/output paths; and an input/output controller repairing at least one of the plurality of memory columns using at least one of the plurality of redundancy memory columns, and controlling the number of memory columns simultaneously repaired using redundancy memory columns in response to an input/output repair mode control signal. |
| US07729159B2 |
Apparatus for improved SRAM device performance through double gate topology
A static random access memory (SRAM) device a pair of cross-coupled, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverters configured as a storage cell for a bit of data, a first pair of transfer gates configured to couple complementary internal nodes of the storage cell to a corresponding pair of bitlines during a read operation of the device; and a second pair of transfer gates configured to couple the storage cell nodes to the pair of bitlines during a write operation of the device, wherein impedance between the bitlines and the storage cell nodes during the write operation is less than that for the read operation, wherein impedance between the bitlines and the storage cell nodes during the write operation is less than that for the read operation. |
| US07729155B2 |
High speed, low power, low leakage read only memory
A read only memory (ROM) for providing a high operational speed with reduced leakage and low power consumption. The read only memory (ROM) includes multiple bit lines, multiple word lines, multiple column select lines and these lines are operatively coupled with multiple transistors. The arrangement of the ROM is such that the word line of a selected row is pulled down to a ground voltage (Vgnd). Non-selected word lines are kept at a supply voltage VDD to ensure that unwanted rows will not have any sub-threshold current (as Vds=0). So during read “1” operation (that is when bit line (BL) is high) load cells would not leak unnecessarily. Thus the ROM achieves a high operational speed with reduced leakage and low power consumption. |
| US07729154B2 |
Integrated circuit with buried control line structures
An integrated circuit with buried control line structures. In one embodiment, the control lines are subdivided into sections, wherein regions free of switching transistors are provided at intervals along the control lines. Connections for feeding the control potentials into the sections of the control lines are provided at least in a subset of the regions free of switching transistors. The isolations lines are connected to one another by an interconnect running transversely with respect to the control lines. |
| US07729153B2 |
276-pin buffered memory module with enhanced fault tolerance
A dual inline memory module (DIMM) includes a card having a length of about 151.2 to about 151.5 millimeters, a plurality of individual local memory devices attached to the card, and a buffer device attached to the card, the buffer device configured for converting a packetized memory interface. The card includes at least 276 pins configured thereon. |
| US07729152B2 |
Pin configuration changing circuit, base chip and system in package including the same
A pin configuration changing circuit of a base chip includes pin configuration changing register (PCCR) and a pin configuration changing logic unit (PCCLU). The PCCR stores and provides a pin connection assignment value indicating a first connection order of a plurality of pins included in a memory connected to the base chip, based on a type of the memory when the memory is changed. The PCCLU receives the pin connection assignment value and changes a second connection order of a plurality of inner pins of the base chip. Various memories can be connected to the base chip without extra wiring or a printed circuit board (PCB). |
| US07729151B2 |
System including a buffered memory module
A system includes a master device and a first memory module having a plurality of integrated circuit memory devices and a plurality of integrated circuit buffer devices that operate in first and second modes of operation (bypass mode). In a first mode of operation, a first memory module provides read data from the plurality of integrated circuit memory devices (via a integrated circuit buffer device) on a first signal path to the master and a second memory module simultaneously provides read data from its plurality of integrated circuit memory devices (via another integrated circuit buffer device on the second module) on a third signal path coupled to the master device. In a second mode of operation, the first memory module provides first read data from its plurality of integrated circuit memory devices (via the integrated circuit buffer device) on the first signal path and second read data from its plurality of integrated circuit memory devices (via the integrated circuit buffer device) on a second signal path that is coupled to a second memory module. An integrated circuit buffer device in the second memory module then bypasses the second read data from the second signal path and provides the second read data on a third signal path coupled to the master device. |
| US07729150B2 |
High-speed and low-power differential non-volatile content addressable memory cell and array
A differential non-volatile content addressable memory array has a differential non-volatile content addressable memory cell which uses a pair of non-volatile storage elements. Each of the non-volatile storage elements can be a split-gate floating gate transistor or a stack gate floating gate transistor having a first terminal, a second terminal, a channel therebetween and a floating gate over at least a portion of the channel to control the conduction of electrons in the channel, and a control gate. The floating gate storage transistor can be in one of two states: a first state, such as erase, in which current can flow between the first terminal and the second terminal, and a second state, such as programmed, in which substantially no current flows between the first terminal and the second terminal. A pair of differential compare data lines connects to the control gate of each of the pair of non-volatile floating gate transistors. A match line connects to the first terminal of each of the pair of non-volatile floating gate transistors to a first voltage. Finally, the second terminals of each storage element is connected to a second voltage, different from the first voltage. A current passing through the memory cell is indicative of a mis-match between the contents of the compare data lines and the contents of the storage elements. |
| US07729144B2 |
DC/DC power conversion device
A DC/DC power conversion device with smoothing capacitors including three column circuits share the smoothing capacitors to be connected in parallel, each column circuit have a plurality of circuits connected in series where two MOSFETs are connected in series between both ends of respective smoothing capacitors and LC serial bodies of capacitors and inductors with the same resonant cycle are disposed between the circuits at two middle terminals. Driving signals for the respective column circuits have the same driving cycle identical with the resonant cycle of the LC serial bodies, and are out of phase with each other by 2π/3(rad), and thus charge-discharge currents towards the smoothing capacitors are circulated among the column circuits and ripple currents flowing through the smoothing capacitors are reduced. |
| US07729143B2 |
Power supply having an extending hold-up time controlling unit
A hold-up time extension controlling device for a power supply, that has a power factor correction circuit, a hold-up time extension circuit, a hold-up time controlling circuit, a storage capacitor and a DC to DC converter. The hold-up time extension controlling device has a switch and an auxiliary capacitor. When an AC power source is normal, the switch is controlled to turn on according to the power factor correction circuit to make the auxiliary capacitor connecting to the storage capacitor in parallel to averagely have a ripple current. When the AC power source is interrupted, the switch is controlled to turn off. At the time, the hold-up time extension circuit obtains a storage power of the auxiliary capacitor and then output to the DC to DC converter to keep the voltage of the storage capacitor at a preset voltage for a long time. |
| US07729140B2 |
Sampling method with adjusting duty ratios
A sampling method with adjusting duty ratios is provided and includes the following steps. A first working pulse signal which has a pulse-width duty ratio D in a switching period Ts is provided. A first adjusting period comprising first N successive switching periods of the first working pulse signal is set, wherein N is a natural number larger than 1. A second working pulse signal which has second N successive switching periods with their corresponding pulse-width duty ratio D1, D2, . . . , DN to drive the switch in the converter circuit is provided and the measured signal is generated, wherein the sum of D1, D2, . . . , DN substantially equals to N·D and the second N successive switching periods constitute a second adjusting period. |
| US07729137B2 |
Switching power supply and regulation circuit
The present invention provides a switching power supply that enables a reduction in noise without the need for an anti-noise component such as a filter circuit. A secondary current on period detecting circuit detects a first period during which a secondary current flows, the secondary current starting to flow through a secondary winding after a switching element is turned off. A secondary current on duty control circuit oscillates a clock signal set turning on the switching element so as to maintain, at a constant value, an on duty ratio of the first period to a third period made up of the first period and a second period during which the secondary current does not flow. A secondary current on duty modulating circuit applies a modulation component to the on duty ratio to periodically modulate the on duty ratio and thus the oscillation frequency of the switching element. |
| US07729134B2 |
Power conversion circuit, driving method and drive unit thereof
A power conversion circuit capable of varying an output voltage within a range from a negative voltage lower than a ground voltage to a positive voltage higher than a supply voltage, and a driving method and a drive unit are provided. A power conversion circuit includes a transformer with a 1:1 ratio between the primary winding and secondary winding, a voltage outputting capacitor, and four switches. The power conversion circuit can be operated as a DC-DC converter of a step-up type, a step-up-and-down type, a step-down type, an inverted-output step-up-and-down type, or an inverted-output step-up type by selecting two switches used for control from among the four switches and alternately turning the two switches on. By switching the operating modes of the power conversion circuit, the output voltage can be varied within a range from a negative voltage to a positive voltage higher than a supply voltage. |
| US07729128B2 |
Electrically adaptive mechanical connection for electronic devices
An electronic device, like a mobile telephone, has a first section and a second section. The first section and second section are coupled together by a mechanical connection, for example a hinge, swivel or sliding connector. Electronic components in the first section are coupled to electronic components in the second section by conductors capable of transferring power between the first and second sections. A current detector is capable of detecting currents, like surface currents, while a controller is responsive to the current detector. A plurality of reactive elements, like capacitors for example, are coupled to a plurality of switches such that the controller may selectively couple any of the plurality of reactive elements to the conductors by actuating a corresponding switch. When the current detector detects a current in excess of a predetermined threshold, the controller alters the complex impedance between the first and second sections by actuating one or more of the switches, thereby coupling one or more of the reactive elements to the conductors. |
| US07729125B2 |
Electrical circuit module
A printed circuit board unit is configured so that, when a charged electrical circuit unit is electrically connected to the printed circuit board unit, first, the ground potential of the electrical circuit unit is dropped to the frame ground potential, and next, the ground potential of the electrical circuit unit is dropped to the ground potential of an electrical circuit on the printed circuit board unit. |
| US07729122B2 |
Fastener for heat sinks
A fastener includes a rod and a sleeve. The rod has a flat top for depression and a rod body extending downwardly from the flat top. The upper end of the rod body is provided with a circular groove. The sleeve is formed with a through hole and a flange close to its upper end. The inner side of the sleeve is provided above the flange with a first engaging section engageable with the circular groove of the rod. The sleeve is provided with a second engaging section below the flange and a third engaging section at the lower end thereof. By means of the engagement between the circular groove of the rod and the first engaging section of the sleeve, the rod will be prevented from detaching from the sleeve. The second and third engaging sections are used for preventing the fastener from disengaging from a workpiece. |
| US07729120B2 |
Heat sink apparatus
A heat sink apparatus for dissipating heat generated from a heat generating component includes a first heat dissipating assembly attached to one side of the heat generating component, a second heat dissipating assembly attached to another side of the heat generating component; and a connecting device connecting between the first heat dissipating assembly and the second heat dissipating assembly thereby forming a continuous heat dissipation passage between the first heat dissipating assembly and the second heat dissipating assembly. |
| US07729119B2 |
Heat dissipation device
A heat dissipation device includes a base, a heat-dissipation portion attached to the base, at least one heat pipe connecting the base and the heat-dissipation portion and a fan directly secured to the heat-dissipation portion. The heat-dissipation portion comprises a square, tubular housing having opposite front and rear end portions opening to surroundings and a plurality of fins extending inclinedly and inwardly from an inner circumferential periphery of the housing. The housing of the heat-dissipation portion is employed as a fan duct to guide an airflow generated by the fan through the fins; the inclined orientation of the fins facilitates the airflow to flow toward the inner circumferential periphery of the housing and lower parts of the fins adjacent the inner circumferential periphery, whereby the airflow can effectively take heat away from the heat-dissipation portion. |
| US07729118B2 |
Miniature liquid cooling device having an integral pump
A liquid cooling device includes a casing having an outer wall, a bottom base attached to a bottom end of the outer wall and a top cover attached to a top end of the outer wall. The casing defines a receiving space therein for receiving an impeller therein. A sealed chamber is defined in the casing and isolated from the receiving space. A motor driving unit is received in the sealed chamber and magnetically interacts with the impeller to drive the impeller to rotate. The motor driving unit comprises a motor having a stator and a printed circuit board electrically connecting with the stator. The top cover covers the motor driving unit and thermally contacts with electronic components on the printed circuit board for dissipating heat generated by the electronic components when the motor driving unit is operated. |
| US07729116B1 |
Reversible airflow fan tray for an electronic device
Reversible airflow in cooling systems of electronic devices is described. For example, an electronic device may include a reversible fan tray. The fan tray may include symmetric mounting features that allow the fan tray to be mounted in the electronic device in more than one orientation at the same location within the electronic device such that one or more fans in the fan tray either direct air into the electronic device or to pull air from electronic device. The fan tray may further include a symmetric arrangement of connectors that coincide with the symmetric arrangement of mounting features to allow the fan tray to be connected to a power source of the electronic device any of the more than one orientations. An arrangement of electronic devices including reversible fan trays may be configured so that inlet and outlet airflows are separated to increase cooling efficiency of the electronic devices. |
| US07729115B2 |
Electrical apparatus and cooling system
An electrical apparatus having a cooling system includes a first cover to cover a first part of the electrical apparatus to be cooled and a second cover substantially enclosing the first cover to define a surrounding space. A base plate on which the first cover is mounted defines an environmentally-sealed enclosure that houses the first part of electrical apparatus. A first circulation device causes air to circulate in the environmentally-sealed enclosure and a second circulation device causes a cooling fluid to circulate around the surrounding space. A heat transfer structure is positioned on each side of the first cover. A third cover is mounted to an opposite side of the base plate from the first cover to define a second enclosure that houses a second part of the electrical apparatus to be cooled. A heat exchange structure is positioned within the second enclosure. The second circulation device is arranged to drive cooling fluid both through the heat exchange structure and through the surrounding space. |
| US07729114B2 |
Keypad assembly and portable electronic device using the same
A keypad assembly (15) applied to a portable electronic device and mounted in a shell of the portable electronic device is provided. The keypad assembly comprises a keypad cover (151) and a printed circuit board (152). The keypad cover is provided with at least one contact portion (1516) thereon. The printed circuit board provided with a plurality of signal-sensing portions (1522) thereon. The shell is provided with at least one guide hole (116) corresponding to the plurality of signal-sensing portions. The shell is configured between the keypad cover and the printed circuit board, and the keypad cover is rotatably mounted in the shell. The signal-sensing portion is pressed by the contact portion through the guide hole. A portable electronic device using the keypad assembly is also disclosed. |
| US07729113B2 |
Hard disk drive bracket damping mechanism
A Hard Disk Drive (“HDD”) bracket has a HDD bracket lever having an open position and a closed position, a side bracket, and a HDD bracket damping mechanism. The HDD bracket damping mechanism has an actuation mechanism slidably disposed within the side bracket, and a compressible insert disposed within the side bracket. The compressible insert has a surface abutting the actuation mechanism. When the HDD bracket lever is in the closed position, the actuation mechanism exerts pressure on the compressible insert such that the compressible insert protrudes from the side bracket. |
| US07729111B2 |
External hard drive having integral stand
A hard drive includes an external hard drive and a stand integrally formed with the external hard drive. The external hard drive includes a housing maintaining a hard drive assembly configured to exchange data with a computer system, with the housing having opposing first and second major faces. The stand includes a first leg configured to project from the first major face of the housing and a second leg configured to project from the second major face of the housing. |
| US07729108B2 |
Information handling systems having coatings with porous particles and processes of forming the same
Particles having a relatively high porosity can be used in an information handling system or other information handling system. In one aspect, a portable information handling system can include an electrical circuit that can generate thermal energy during normal operation of the electrical circuit. The portable information handling system can also include a housing that includes a first material and particles having a porosity of at least 80%. In another aspect, an information handling system can include a housing that includes a material and a coating, wherein the coating includes a polymeric material and particles having a porosity of at least 80%. In another aspect, a process of forming an information handling system can include coating a surface of a housing, wherein the coating includes particles having a porosity of at least 80%, and placing an electrical circuit within the housing after coating the surface. |
| US07729107B2 |
Housings and devices for disk drives
A disk drive test apparatus has a plurality of bays each for receiving a respective disk drive to be tested. A plurality of card slots are provided each for receiving a test card via which a disk drive can be tested. Each of the test cards is either an environment test card or an interface test card. The card slots and the test cards are arranged such that each card slot (6) can selectively receive an environment test card or an interface test card. Other arrangements for disk drive test apparatus or disk drive mounting apparatus are disclosed. |
| US07729104B2 |
Tantalum powder and solid electrolyte capacitor including the same
In a hydrogen-containing tantalum powder of the present invention, a value obtained by dividing the hydrogen content (ppm) by the specific surface area (m2/g) is in the range of 10 to 100. This tantalum powder has a large specific surface area, and when the tantalum powder is used as an anode of a solid electrolyte capacitor, a solid electrolyte capacitor having a large capacitance and a low leakage current can be obtained. |
| US07729103B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor and method of producing the same
The present invention relates to a solid electrolytic capacitor provided with a anode made of a metal or an alloy having valve action, a dielectric layer formed on the anode, and an electrolyte layer consisting of a conductive polymer layer formed so as to have contact with a portion of the region on the dielectric layer surface and a manganese dioxide layer formed so as to have contact with the other portion of the region on the dielectric layer surface. |
| US07729098B2 |
Overload protection method
This invention relates to fault detection in electrical circuits. The invention provides a switch for a fault tolerant digital output module comprising: an output transistor pair for enabling and disabling an alternating output current; and a current limiter for clamping the output current to a predetermined maximum value. |
| US07729097B2 |
Over-voltage and under voltage protection circuit
There is provided an apparatus for protection against over voltages and/or under voltages. The apparatus includes a pass transistor through which an input voltage is applied, the input voltage varying between a low voltage and a high voltage, and means for selectively varying the gate voltage of the pass transistor when the input voltage is transitioning from the low voltage to the high voltage or from the high voltage to the low voltage. The pass transistor may include an NMOS or a PMOS transistor. |
| US07729096B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit having an ESD protection circuit enhancing a durability against thermal destruction is provided. The semiconductor integrated circuit configured by a plurality of MOSFETs each having an SOI structure formed on a silicon substrate includes a functional circuit having an external connection signal terminal, a pair of power terminals and at least one of the MOSFETs. The semiconductor integrated circuit also includes at least one ESD protection circuit having a first terminal and a second terminal connected to the signal terminal and the power terminals, respectively. The ESD protection circuit includes at least one first MOSFET of the MOSFETs formed on the silicon substrate. The first MOSFET has a drain connected to the first terminal, a gate connected to the second terminal, and a source connected to the second terminal. The at least one ESD protection circuit also includes at least one second MOSFET of the MOSFETs formed adjacent to the first MOSFET on the silicon substrate. The second MOSFET has a gate connected to the first terminal and the same conductivity type as the first MOSFET. |
| US07729091B1 |
Clip for mounting a flex cable within a head stack assembly
A method and system or mounting a flex cable within a head stack assembly is disclosed. The flex cable has a width. The method and system include providing a top portion and a bottom portion coupled to the top portion. The top portion includes a first top slot and a second top slot therein. The first top slot and the second top slot form a non-zero acute angle. The bottom portion includes a first bottom slot and a second bottom slot therein. The first bottom slot is substantially aligned with the first top slot. The second bottom slot is substantially aligned with the second top slot. A maximum first distance between the first top slot and the first bottom slot equals or exceeds the width. A second maximum distance between the second top slot and the second bottom slot equals or exceeds the width. |
| US07729084B2 |
Formation of low resistance damascene coils
In one embodiment and method of the present invention, a coil of a write head is created by forming a P1 pedestal layer and a back gap layer and further forming a coil pattern consistent with the coil to be formed and insulator spacers dispersed in the coil pattern, using a non-damascene process, thereafter the coil is formed by plating using a damascene process. |