| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08079093B2 |
Dual tip atomic force microscopy probe and method for producing such a probe
One inventive aspect is related to an atomic force microscopy probe. The probe comprises a tip configuration with two probe tips on one cantilever arm. The probe tips are electrically isolated from each other and of approximately the same height with respect to the cantilever arm. The outer surface of the tip configuration has the shape of a body with a base plane and an apex. The body is divided into two sub-parts by a gap located approximately symmetrically with respect to the apex and approximately perpendicular to the base plane. Another inventive aspect related to methods for producing such an AFM probe. |
| US08079089B2 |
Information usage control system and information usage control device
A system includes: first and second devices that each register, in response to a request from a user, control information for target information in a memory, and provide, upon receipt of a request for usage information concerning the target information from the user, the user with the usage information, based on the control information in the memory, wherein the first device includes a first unit that provides, in response to the request from the user, the user with a list of the control information for the second device, and upon receipt of selection of the information from the list, sends the selected information to the second device so as to be associated with target information, and the second device includes a second unit that receives the control information associated with the target information and registers the control information in the memory so as to be associated with the target information. |
| US08079075B2 |
Active reverse proxy system
A computer implemented method can include receiving a request from a user on an untrusted domain and forwarding the request to an application on a trusted domain. A response can be received from the application and modified based on rules. The modified response can then be provided to the user. |
| US08079074B2 |
Dynamic security shielding through a network resource
Architecture for facilitating access of remote system software functionality by a host machine for the redirection of incoming and/or outgoing host traffic through the remote system for protection services to the host machine. The host machine can gain the benefits of effective protection software such as firewall, intrusion protection software, and anti-malware services, of the remote machine. The host machine can choose to exercise traffic redirection when there is a risk of being compromised, and then revert back to direct communications when the risk has been averted. The host machine takes advantage of the resources available on the remote machine in substantially realtime with minimal disruption to the host and/or the remote machine operations. This facilitates widespread and temporary protection of network systems for a more secure working environment and improved customer experience. |
| US08079071B2 |
Methods for accessing content based on a session ticket
A method for accessing content stored on a memory device is provided. In this method, a request to access the content is transmitted and a session ticket is received. The session ticket includes a parameter used to decrypt the content and the session ticket is generated based on a variable that is configured to change at a session. The content may be accessed based on the session ticket. |
| US08079070B2 |
System and method for blocking unauthorized network log in using stolen password
When a user successfully logs in to an information server such as an online banking server, an e-commerce server, or a VPN server, for greater security communication is transferred transparently to the user to an authentication server for additional authentication. The additional authentication can include comparing elements of a previously deposited cookie on the user computer to test elements, and if the elements, match, granting access and transparently transferring the user computer back to the information server. If the secondary authentication fails, however, the user may be asked questions as tertiary authentication, or a PIN code can be sent to the user's cell phone, which PIN code can then be input on the user computer to gain access. |
| US08079068B2 |
Management of multiple connections to a security token access device
A system and method for automatically managing a connection between a user device and a security token access device. The access device is adapted to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of user devices and to be securely paired with at least one of the plurality of user devices, and is further adapted to maintain connection information relating to each of the plurality of user devices. The connection information comprises security information for each user device securely paired with the access device. The access device automatically manages a connection by maintaining a store of connection information comprising security information for each of a set of at least one securely paired user devices; determining whether one of the securely paired user devices is a stale device; and if it is determined that one of the securely paired user devices is a stale device, implementing a management protocol for handling the stale device. |
| US08079058B2 |
Broadcasting and processing multiple data formats
Various embodiments for broadcasting and processing multiple data formats are described. In one embodiment, a method includes sending scheduling information that identifies an encoding format of a data broadcast and a video viewer application capable of processing the data broadcast. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08079054B1 |
Location for secondary content based on data differential
Methods and apparatus provide for a Content Inserter to determine location(s) for secondary content in streaming video. The Content Inserter receives a set of video frames and analyzes data differential(s) occurring in the set of video frames to identify secondary content locations between adjacent video frames. The Content Inserter inserts secondary content at the location(s) for secondary content. A data differential can be a change in subtitle information between video frames, a change in audio data between video frames, a difference in content ratings between regions of video frames, and/or difference in activity levels between regions of video frames. Activity levels correspond to changes in pixel color data of video frames. Thus, the Content Inserter identifies secondary content locations based on characteristics of each video stream and ensures that inserted secondary content is placed in a video stream so that the secondary content will most likely be viewed. |
| US08079051B2 |
Wireless streaming media systems, devices and methods
A system includes one or more transmitter devices constructed and adapted to transmit wireless streaming media, the transmitter device connected to at least one video source, wherein the transmitter device is further constructed and adapted to automatically detect a type of active source signal from the at least one video source and automatically to convert that signal, if necessary, to an appropriate output signal; and one or more receiver devices constructed and adapted to receive wireless signals, the receiver connected to at least one video output device, wherein the at least one receiver device is further constructed and adapted to produce, automatically, a appropriate signal for the at least one video output device connected thereto. |
| US08079044B1 |
Systems and methods for providing parental control asset searching
Systems and methods for searching for available assets permitted by parental controls are disclosed. Search results may include assets similar to a reference asset, which may be an asset the user has requested, but which is locked by parental control settings in force on the user equipment. Assets may be ranked according to their similarity, or relevance, to the requested asset, and they may be accessed directly from the search results. Systems and methods for accessing edited or censored versions of the requested asset are also disclosed. An edited content source may store multiple versions of certain assets available in the media system. The appropriate version of the asset may be accessed and presented to the user automatically depending on the user's parental control settings. |
| US08079043B2 |
Service activation of set-top box functionality using broadcast conditional access system
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to activate functionality in a set-top box 500. A feature authorization message is received in a set-top box 500. The feature authorization message comprises one or more rules to be evaluated (wherein each of the rules comprises one or more tests for a status of one or more conditional access module 502 attributes), one or more event requirements for rule evaluation, and one or more features that are dependent by the rule evaluation result (wherein each of the one or more features represents a set of one or more abilities of hardware and/or software of the set-top box 500). When one or more of the event requirements have been met, the one or more rules are evaluated to obtain a result. The ability to use the one or more features are then set based on the result. |
| US08079041B2 |
Spindle motor and clamping apparatus
Disclosed is a clamping apparatus including a case having a side surface on which a plurality of arm holes are formed; an arm, which moves inside and outside the case through one of the arm holes while being restricted by the case and has an upper part and a lower part that are guided by the case; and an elastic member installed inside the case to elastically support the arm. |
| US08079038B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating, sending, and using self-descriptive objects as messages over a message queuing network
An invention for creating, sending, and using self-descriptive objects as messages over a network is disclosed. In an embodiment of the present invention, self-descriptive persistent dictionary objects are serialized and sent as messages across a message queuing network. The receiving messaging system unserializes the message object, and passes the object to the destination application. The application then queries or enumerates message elements from the instantiated persistent dictionary, and performs the programmed response. Using these self-descriptive objects as messages, the sending and receiving applications no longer rely on an a priori convention or a special-coding serialization scheme. Rather, messaging applications can communicate arbitrary objects in a standard way with no prior agreement as to the nature and semantics of message contents. |
| US08079036B2 |
Method and system for structured DMA transactions
Disclosed is a structured model for developing DMA code and for performing DMA transactions. This model of structured DMA transactions provides a framework with default behaviors. Developers need only provide a minimal amount of configuration information and can then characterize subsequent DMA transactions in terms of a profile, thus reducing the amount of detailed and often redundant information that developers need to provide for each DMA transaction. In some embodiments, the DMA transaction model is expressed in terms of object-oriented programming constructs. In one example, a DMA enabler object captures general DMA operational parameters and manages underlying operating system objects and behavior. When device manager software receives an input/output request that involves a DMA data transfer, the device manager constructs a DMA transaction object that represents the DMA work request. During the processing of the DMA transaction, the DMA transaction object maintains state and status information. |
| US08079028B2 |
Information processing device and method, recording medium and program
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for information processing, a recording medium, and a program that can provide newest functions in a plurality of applications. A PC 1 reads a UD information file 14 including functional generation information of a setup program 13 from a loaded optical disk 3, and obtains a UD information file 16 including functional generation information of a setup program 15 registered in a server 4 via a network 2. Then, the PC 1 compares the functional generation information of the UD information file 14 on the optical disk 3, the UD information file 16 of the server 4, and a UD information registry 12, and updates an application program 11 and the UD information registry 12 using the setup program corresponding to the newest functional generation. The present invention is applicable to an information providing system that provides music content distribution service having a copyright managing function via a network. |
| US08079022B2 |
Simulation of software
Systems and methods facilitate accurate and rapid simulation of software by periodically saving simulation states and design stimuli for use as a replay model. Divergences from the stored information may be detected during subsequent re-executions, which can in turn be run using the saved stimuli and states. |
| US08079021B2 |
Method and apparatus for display of windowing application programs on a terminal
A video display terminal capable of operating with a graphical user interface such as Windows provides windowing functionality to permit use of popular applications programs resident on a server, without requiring more than application data to be transmitted from the server, and keyboard and mouse information to be transmitted from a terminal to the server. A terminal for communicating with a server includes a network interface for communicating with a server and a processor coupled to the network interface for operating with the network interface and for accessing a windows application resident on the server without executing locally the windows application resident on the server. The processor provides windowing functionality to permit use of a windows application resident on the server without requiring more than windowing information of the windows application to be transmitted from the server, wherein the windowing information includes application data. The terminal further includes one or more memories coupled to the processor, wherein the total amount of the one or more memories in the terminal is less than the total amount of one or more memories in the server. The terminal does not include a hard disk, and the terminal is for providing an appearance that is essentially the same as an appearance provided by a personal computer. |
| US08079020B2 |
Preferential path profiling
This paper describes preferential path profiling, which enables profiling a specified subset of all possible program paths with very low overhead. Preferential path profiling compactly identifies paths of interest using an array. More specifically, PPP assigns a unique and compact path index identifier to all interesting paths that can be used to index into a path array. The path array contains a second path value identifier that is used to distinguish interesting paths from other program paths This path numbering allows the implementation of preferential path profiling to use array-based counters instead of hash table-based counters for identifying paths of interest and gathering path profiles, which significantly reduces execution time and computational resource overhead during profiling. |
| US08079009B1 |
Managing interrupt requests from IP cores
A system and method of managing interrupt requests from IP cores within an integrated circuit design can include capturing environmental constraints within constraint files for the integrated circuit design (where the constraints can include information regarding a board upon which an integrated circuit device is mounted, pin locations for interrupt signals, and the sensitivity of the interrupt signals), generating connections among interrupt sources, interrupt controllers, and interrupt request ports on microprocessor cores within a device environment, and automatically instantiating controller logic when interrupt controllers are lacking during compilation of the device design. The method and system can also identify within the design, processor and bus interconnections as well as each interrupt port on the IP cores and the sensitivity requirements for each port which can be stored within description files for a corresponding IP core instead of an HDL specification. |
| US08079007B2 |
Programmable analog tile programming tool
A programmable analog tile integrated circuit programming tool communicates a power management control characteristic query soliciting control requirement information for a novel power management integrated circuit (PMIC) tile in a multi-tile power management integrated circuit (MTPMIC). The programming tool receives a user response to the query indicating control requirements across a network. The novel PMIC tiles have a pre-defined physical structure including all memory structures required for configuration of each tile and a bus portion. When combined in a multi-tile power management integrated circuit (MTPMIC), the bus portions of the selected tiles automatically form a standardized bus that accommodates all signal communication required for a functioning MTPMIC. The memory structure of each tile is individually addressable via the standardized bus. Thus, in response to control requirements, the programming tool programs a PMIC tile that is part of a MTPMIC to meet the control requirements. |
| US08079004B2 |
Efficient exhaustive path-based static timing analysis using a fast estimation technique
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that performs an efficient path-based static timing analysis (STA) in a circuit design. During operation, the system identifies a set of paths within the circuit design, wherein each path includes one or more segments. For a path in the set of paths, the system determines if at least one segment in the path is shared with a different path which was previously computed by performing a path-based STA, wherein the at least one segment in the different path is associated with previously computed path-based timing information. If so, the system then performs an estimation of a path-based delay for the path based at least on the path-based timing information associated with the shared segment in the different path. Otherwise, the system computes a path-based delay for the path by performing a path-based STA on the path. |
| US08079002B1 |
Method and apparatus for evaluating paths in an integrated circuit design
An embodiment of the invention involves: providing a database that includes layout information representing a layout within an integrated circuit of an electrical circuit; identifying from the information in the database each conductive path of a selected type in the electrical circuit; extracting layout information from the database for each conductive path of the selected type; and calculating an electrical parameter for each conductive path of the selected type, as a function of the layout information obtained for that conductive path during the extracting. In addition, in a different configuration of the embodiment, a report can be generated containing information based on the electrical parameter calculated during the calculating for at least one of the conductive paths of the selected type. |
| US08078999B2 |
Structure for implementing speculative clock gating of digital logic circuits
A design structure embodied in a non-transitory machine readable medium used in a design process includes an apparatus for implementing speculative clock gating of digital logic circuits, including operation valid logic configured to generate, in a first pipeline stage n, a valid control signal input to a first register in a second pipeline stage n+1, the valid control signal indicative of when an operation is qualified to be performed by the second pipeline stage n+1; and speculative valid logic configured to generate, in the first pipeline stage, a speculative valid control signal used to gate a clock signal to a plurality of additional registers in the second pipeline stage, wherein the speculative valid control signal is generated using only a subset of a total number of control inputs used in generating the valid control signal, and wherein the clock signal is sent directly to the first register. The design structure includes a netlist describing the apparatus for implementing speculative clock gating of digital logic circuits included in a multiple stage pipeline design. |
| US08078998B2 |
Integrated circuits and methods of design and manufacture thereof
Integrated circuits and methods of manufacture and design thereof are disclosed. For example, a method of manufacturing includes using a first mask to pattern a gate material forming a plurality of first and second features. The first features form gate electrodes of the semiconductor devices, whereas the second features are dummy electrodes. Based on the location of these dummy electrodes, selected dummy electrodes are removed using a second mask. The use of the method provides greater flexibility in tailoring individual devices for different objectives. |
| US08078996B2 |
Method and system for correcting a mask pattern design
A pattern verification method includes preparing a desired pattern and a mask pattern forming the desired pattern on a substrate, defining at least one evaluation point on an edge of the desired pattern, defining at least one process parameter to compute the transferred/formed pattern, defining a reference value and a variable range for each of the process parameters, and computing a positional displacement for each first points corresponding to the evaluation point, first points computed using correction mask pattern and a plurality of combinations of parameter values obtained by varying the process parameters within the variable range or within the respective variable ranges. The positional displacement is a displacement between first point and the evaluation point. The method further includes computing a statistics of the positional displacements for each of the evaluation points, and outputting information modifying the mask pattern according to the statistics. |
| US08078994B2 |
Method of designing semiconductor device including density verification
A method of designing a semiconductor device includes density verification of layout data of the semiconductor device at a macro level. The method includes disposing virtual patterns each including a predetermined step width on a circumference of a verification frame; and moving the verification frame outside which the virtual patterns are disposed sequentially by the predetermined step width and performing the density verification of the layout data of the semiconductor device. |
| US08078991B2 |
Electric appliance, image display controlling method, and computer-controlled readable recording medium storing image display controlling program
An electric appliance according to an embodiment of the present comprises a graphical image generation unit generates a graphical image from frame data and pane images generated by a pane image generation unit, and allows the display unit to display the graphical image. A frame data storage unit stores the frame data used for the display on the display unit. A pane image storage unit stores the pane images used for the display on the display unit. When frame data to be used for subsequent display on the display unit is acquired, a display control unit compares this frame data with the frame data stored in the frame data storage unit to select one of pane data to be acquired from a data storage unit and pane images to be acquired by the graphical image generation unit from the pane image storage unit. |
| US08078989B2 |
Internet access GUI for mobile devices
An apparatus and system for transforming a web page for display on a mobile device is described. In one embodiment, a graphical representation of a document object model associated with a URL is displayed. Selections of at least one element of the document object model are stored as a content filter. A request for a resource associated with the content filter is processed by extracting portions of the resource according to the content filter. The extracted portions are provided to a client. |
| US08078987B2 |
Display screen generating apparatus
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a display screen having multiple functions is displayed by a computer that processes a screen part for displaying the display screen and for receiving an event from the user. The computer processes a functional part provided separately from the screen part and provided per content of an input event received via the screen part, and based on the content of the event input, passes a processing result to the screen part for reflecting the processing result on the screen display. |
| US08078980B2 |
User defined wire appearance indicating communication functionality in a graphical programming environment
System and method for configuring a wire appearance in a graphical programming environment. A first data type (or class), or communication functionality between nodes, e.g., timing, or data transfer, e.g., data transfer semantics, mechanism, or medium, in a graphical program is specified in response to user input. A first wire appearance denoting the first data type or specified functionality is created in response to user input, including, e.g., a specified wire pattern, thickness, shape, color(s), portion of the wire to be configured with the first wire appearance, wire label and/or wire icon to be displayed on or near the wire. A graphical program including a first icon and a second icon is created, including connecting the first icon to the second icon in response to user input, and displaying a wire between the first icon and the second icon in response, where the wire has the first wire appearance. |
| US08078973B1 |
Visual indication of a device connection speed
A method of providing visual indication of a device connection speed proceeds by determining a connection speed of the device and selecting a visual indicator representative of the connection speed. Once the appropriate indicator has been selected, the visual indicator is then displayed. |
| US08078971B2 |
System and method for scripting explorer for server configuration
The present invention provides provide GUI-type server scripting explorer that allows a user to browse, invoke, and update via its GUI all kinds of management objects available on a server. The explorer embeds a command interpreter through which the user can invoke server scripting commands directly from within the tool. All the actions that the user performed can be recorded to a file to build a server configuration script that can be used to repeat the same actions to config the server in the future. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims. |
| US08078970B1 |
Graphical user interface with user-selectable list-box
A graphical user interface for configuring a programmable integrated circuit is disclosed. More specifically, the graphical user interface may comprise a displayed graphical representation of the programmable integrated circuit, where the graphical representation includes one or more selectable portions which may represent actual circuitry or components of the programmable integrated circuit. A user-selectable list box may be displayed which comprises one or more selectable items for configuring a selected portion of the graphical representation of the programmable integrated circuit. The user-selectable list box may be displayed in response to a selection of a selectable portion of the programmable integrated circuit for configuration. Additionally, the user-selectable list box may disappear or no longer be displayed in response to a user interaction outside the user-selectable list box, in response to a selection of an item from the user-selectable list box, etc. |
| US08078969B2 |
User interface for creating image collage
A user interface for a computer device includes an image collage layout including a plurality of image receiving areas each configured to receive an image, a first control configured to select a number of the image receiving areas in the image collage layout, a second control configured to select tilt angles of one or more of the image receiving areas in the image collage layout, a third control configured to select an amount of padding between the image receiving areas in the image collage layout, and a fourth control configured to select a width of a canvas border for the image receiving areas in the image collage layout, wherein the first control, the second control, the third control, and the fourth control are configured to be actuated by a user. |
| US08078962B2 |
Apparatus and method for generating web site navigations
To generate a navigation closed around a particular group of pages in a web site, there are provided a site structure storage means for storing information on a tree structure of a web site, a navigation root setting means or setting a particular web page as a navigation root, a page storage means for storing information on web pages, a navigation tag insertion means for inserting a navigation tag including level designation in a web page, a page selection means for selecting a page to be included in a navigation on the basis of a navigation root and level designation, a structure information generation means for generating structure information about a selected page, a template storage means for storing a template of a navigation and, a navigation generation means for generating a navigation on the basis of structure information, and a template. |
| US08078961B2 |
SGML document validation using XML-based technologies
An SGML validation system comprises: an XML validation engine; a translator configured to convert an SGML document to a translated XML document; a set of XML schemas against which the XML validation engine validates the translated XML document, the XML schema set configured such that errors detected by the validation of the translated XML document correspond to SGML errors in the SGML document; and a report generator configured to generate an error report identifying SGML errors corresponding with errors detected by the validation and linking the identified SGML errors with corresponding locations in the SGML document. |
| US08078960B2 |
Rendering an HTML electronic form by applying XSLT to XML using a solution
Instructions are received to open an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document. The XML document is searched to locate a processing instruction (PI) containing an entity. The entity, by example, can be a href attribute, a URL, a name, or a character string identifying an application that created an HTML electronic form associated with the XML document. A solution is discovered using the entity. The XML document is opened with the solution. The solution includes an XSLT presentation application and an XML schema. The XML document can be inferred from the XML schema and portions of the XML document are logically coupled with fragments of the XML schema. The XSLT presentation application is executing to transform the coupled portions of the XML document into the HTML electronic form containing data-entry fields associated with the coupled portions. Data entered through the data-entry fields can be validated using the solution. |
| US08078954B2 |
System and method for page flow editor
The present invention enable a three-pane page flow editor optimized for viewing and editing a page flow. It centers around a selected focal node in the page flow, shows details and allows editing in the vicinity of the node. It provides a visual representation of nodes and the connections among them, enabling the ability to read and edit connections between nodes in a local area of the page flow without the overlaps between lines and crossovers once the page flow grows complex and cluttered in real applications. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims. |
| US08078953B2 |
Math calculation in word processors
Architecture for a word processing application that facilitates operating on mathematical symbols, expressions, and/or equations input to a word processing document, and returning results back to the document. User input to the document in the form of math symbols, expressions or equations is transformed into a format for processing by a math engine. The engine returns one or more operations to the user that can be performed on the input, including calculating mathematical solutions, graphing equations and viewing steps to solving math problems. A user interface allows the user choose from the possible operations and to interactively manipulate input and graphs in the word application. The results can be inserted directly into the document and also be graded automatically. |
| US08078952B2 |
Site redirection
A site redirection system and corresponding methods for redirecting a user from a requested site to a target site is provided. When a user navigates to a site on which the redirection system is implemented, the site downloads onto the user's machine client-side redirection logic. The client-side redirection logic collects the machine's configuration information and passes the collected configuration information to the site. On the site, server-side redirection logic uses the received configuration information to determine a target URL based on the configuration information passed by the client-side redirection logic. The server-side redirection logic then passes the target URL to the client-side redirection logic where the final redirection occurs. |
| US08078950B2 |
Delay measuring device and semiconductor device
A delay measuring device according to the present invention comprises a memory cell, a delay element and a selector. The memory cell is provided with a non-inversion output terminal and an inversion output terminal, and the memory cell fetches a data value inputted from outside in synchronization with a clock, retains the fetched data value and outputs the retained data value from the non-inversion output terminal and the inversion output terminal. The delay element is connected to the inversion output terminal. The selector selects one of the data value and a delayed data value outputted from the delay element and supplies the selected data value to the memory cell. In the present invention, a comparison result of making a comparison between a delay amount generated in the delayed data value and a time length defined based on the clock is outputted from the non-inversion output terminal. |
| US08078949B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes: a parity generating circuit for generating parity data corresponding to input data; a normal data latching section for latching the input data or data read out from the normal memory cell array; an input selection circuit for selectively outputting the input data or the parity data; a parity data latching section for latching and outputting the output from the input selection circuit or data read out from the parity memory cell array; and an error correction circuit for performing an error detection on the data latched by the normal data latching section by using the data latched by the parity data latching section, and performing an error correction if an error is detected, to output the obtained result. The parity data latching section outputs the data latched by itself externally of the semiconductor memory device. |
| US08078948B2 |
Two-phase data-transfer protocol
A data communication arrangement permits efficient data transfer between a controller module and multiple target modules using a two-phase protocol. The controller module and the target modules can each reside in separate clock domains. Consistent with one example embodiment, a data communication arrangement includes a plurality of target modules, and a first XOR tree arranged to provide a first data integrity-indicating signal and to respond to a respective second data integrity-indicating signal from each of the target modules. A second XOR tree is arranged to provide a first data bus and to respond to a respective second data bus from each of the target modules. Also, a controller module is used to determine availability of data on the first data bus in response to the first data integrity-indicating signal. |
| US08078933B2 |
Decoder for low-density parity-check convolutional codes
Decoder for low-density parity check convolutional codes. In at least some embodiments, a decoder (200) for arbitrary length blocks of low-density, parity-check codes includes a plurality of interconnected processors (202), which further include a plurality of interconnected nodes. A memory can be interconnected with the nodes to store intermediate log likelihood ratio (LLR) values based on channel LLR values. Thus, LLR values having successively improved accuracy relative to the channel LLR values can be output from each processor, and eventually used to decision information bits. In some embodiments, the memory is a random access memory (RAM) device that is adapted to store the intermediate LLR values in a circular buffer. Additionally, a storage device such as a read-only memory (ROM) device can be used to generate a predetermined plurality of addresses for reading and writing LLR values. |
| US08078925B1 |
Apparatus for scan testing of integrated circuits with scan registers
In one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for scan testing an integrated circuit is provided. The apparatus includes a combinational logic network; and a device for reducing gate switching in the combinational logic network to reduce power consumption during a scan test on the combinational logic network. The device for reducing gate switching in the combinational logic network includes a device for periodically isolating scan data from the combination logic network; and a device for periodically holding functional data coupled into the combinational network substantially steady. In one embodiment of the invention, the device for reducing gate switching in the combinational logic network is a plurality of serially coupled scan registers each having a pair of opposed controlled outputs with one controlled output providing scan output data and another controlled output providing functional data to the combinational logic network. |
| US08078921B2 |
System including a plurality of data storage devices connected via network and data storage device used therefor
Embodiments of the present invention help improve the process for updating parities accompanied by the writing process. According to one embodiment, a host controller transmits a write command and new data to a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD reads old data at a region where the new data are to be written. The HDD then XORs the new data and the old data to generate a pseudo-parity. The HDD sets the pseudo-parity in a data frame addressed to both of a horizontal parity disk drive HDD and a diagonal parity disk drive HDD and transmits it. The horizontal parity disk drive HDD and the diagonal parity disk drive HDD update the parities using the pseudo-parity. |
| US08078918B2 |
Solid state storage subsystem that maintains and provides access to data reflective of a failure risk
A storage subsystem is disclosed that maintains (a) statistics regarding errors detected via an ECC (error correction code) module of the storage subsystem; and/or (b) historical data regarding operating conditions experienced by the storage subsystem, such as temperature, altitude, humidity, shock, and/or input voltage level. The storage subsystem, and/or a host system to which the storage subsystem attaches, may analyze the stored data to assess a risk of a failure event such as an uncorrectable data error. The results of this analysis may be displayed via a user interface of the host system, and/or may be used to automatically take a precautionary action such as transmitting an alert message or changing a mode of operation of the storage subsystem. |
| US08078908B2 |
Data storage device and method
An apparatus includes a cache memory for storing user data and control information of the apparatus, a nonvolatile memory and a processor for executing a process including when the power failure occurs, saving the user data and the control information stored in the cache memory into the nonvolatile memory, when the power failure recovers, restoring the data stored in the nonvolatile memory into the cache memory, and erasing the data stored in the nonvolatile memory after restoring the data into the cache memory and when another power failure occurs during erasing the data stored in the nonvolatile memory, erasing the control information stored in the nonvolatile memory if the control information is remained in the nonvolatile memory and saving, into the nonvolatile memory, the updated control information stored in the cache memory and the user data which has been erased from the nonvolatile memory. |
| US08078905B1 |
Restoring configurations of data storage systems
A method is used in restoring configurations of data storage system. A captured configuration is produced from capturing a configuration of a data storage system. The configuration includes a mapping of hierarchical objects. The captured configuration is used to help ensure that the configuration is not corrupted. |
| US08078894B1 |
Power management architecture, method and configuration system
Power management architectures, methods and systems for programmable integrated circuit are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention pertains to a power management software architecture which comprises power management modules each associated with a respective driver. Each driver is associated with a component of a programmable integrated circuit and displayable as a graphic image within an on-screen display of an integrated circuit design tool for programming the programmable integrated circuit. In addition, each power management module is operable to report power consumption data customized to its respective driver. The power management software architecture also comprises a power source module associated with a power source for the programmable integrated circuit for reporting power supply characteristics. Furthermore, the power management software architecture comprises a global power management module operable to control a power state of the programmable integrated circuit based on communication with the power management modules and the power source module. |
| US08078892B2 |
Information-processing apparatus, packet processing method, and computer program product for communicating with an external network device and switching between a normal power mode and a power saving mode
A processor includes a communication control unit for communicating with an external network device via a connecting unit. A power control unit switches a power mode between a normal power mode and a power saving mode. A packet processing unit includes a first determining unit that determines whether a packet processing is needed for a packet received when the power saving mode is set and a second determining unit that determines, when it is determined that the packet processing is needed, whether the packet processing is available. The power control unit switches the power mode based on a result of determination by the second determining unit. |
| US08078887B2 |
Power supply voltage regulator circuit and microcomputer
A power supply voltage regulator circuit including a power supply circuit which switches to a first through a fourth state; the first state being the state wherein voltage is supplied to neither a normal circuit nor a backup system circuit based on the combination of logic for the normal circuit power control signal, the second state being the state wherein a primary power supply voltage is supplied to the normal circuit and a secondary power supply voltage is supplied to the backup system circuit, the third state being the state wherein voltage is not supplied to the normal circuit and the secondary power supply voltage is supplied to the backup system circuit, the fourth state being the state wherein the primary power supply voltage is supplied to both the normal circuit and the backup system circuit. |
| US08078882B2 |
Methods systems, and computer program products for entering sensitive and padding data using user-defined criteria
Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for identifying sensitive data from a user-entered input sequence based on user-defined criteria. According to one method, user-defined criteria for identifying sensitive data within user-entered input sequences that include sensitive data and padding data are received. A request for sensitive data from a requesting agent is presented. A user-entered input sequence that includes sensitive data and padding data is received in response to the request for sensitive data. Sensitive data is identified within the user-entered input sequence using the user-defined criteria. The identified sensitive data is provided to the requesting agent in response to the request for sensitive data. |
| US08078881B1 |
Password resetting method
A system and method for automatically selecting a procedure for resetting an authentication data, such as a password, a PIN, a secret key, or a private key, according to the value of the user data protected by the authentication data and/or the likelihood for the user to forget or otherwise lose the authentication data. The user's preference is also considered in selecting the procedure for resetting the authentication data. |
| US08078880B2 |
Portable personal identity information
A user interacts with a client containing personal identity information operable to identify the user to a relying party when the relying party is presented with claims comprising a portion of the personal identity information. The personal identity information includes one or more claims, metadata associated with the one or more claims, and backing data associated with the one or more claims. The user may initiate use of another client and seek to be identified by the relying party while interacting with the other client by first porting the personal identity information to the other client. Porting the personal identity information includes binding the personal identity information and sending the bound personal identity information to a receiving client. |
| US08078870B2 |
HTTP-based authentication
A system and method for authenticating an HTTP message. A relying party may respond to a request from a requester by sending an HTTP message with authentication specifications to the requester. The requester responds with a new request that adheres to a scheme specified by the relying party. A framework allows for a security token to be located in an HTTP header or a message body, with various options such as fragmenting the token available. An option allows for cryptographically binding the security token to the body of a message. An authentication framework provides for an implementation by an HTTP stack or by an application. |
| US08078869B2 |
System and method of protecting data on a communication device
A system and method of protecting data on a communication device are provided. Data received when the communication device is in a first operational state is encrypted using a first cryptographic key and algorithm. When the communication device is in a second operational state, received data is encrypted using a second cryptographic key and algorithm. Received data is stored on the communication device in encrypted form. |
| US08078867B2 |
System and method for authenticating streamed data
A system and method that facilitates the authentication of streamed data received at a device, where authentication information is not distributed over the data stream. One embodiment of a method of authenticating data comprises the steps of: receiving, at the device, data in a plurality of packets transmitted by a data server; submitting a request for a server-computed authentication value to a data authentication server, wherein the data authentication server is adapted to compute the server-computed authentication value based on a subset of the data transmitted by the data server; receiving, at the device, the server-computed authentication value from the data authentication server in response to the request; computing a device-computed authentication value based on a subset of the data received at the device corresponding to the subset of the data transmitted by the data server; and determining if the subset of the data received at the device is authentic by comparing the server-computed and device-computed authentication values. |
| US08078865B2 |
Systems and methods for configuring out-of-band bios settings
A method may for updating system configuration data is provided. A configuration change request may be received from a remote user at a local baseboard management controller (BMC) via a network while a processor associated with the BMC is offline. The configuration change request may be stored in a request log. After the processor comes online, the configuration data may be updated based on the configuration change request stored in the request log. A copy of the updated configuration data from the chipset may be stored in a storage device coupled to the BMC such that the copy of the updated configuration data is accessible when the processor is offline. The copy of the updated system configuration may be provided to a subsequent remote user for a subsequent system configuration update. |
| US08078853B1 |
Explicit control of speculation
Described are methods and systems that allow partial speculation (e.g., speculation within constraints). With partial speculation, after a fault is detected for example, speculation remains enabled for processor registers and other memories private to a microprocessor, while speculation normally permitted for certain other operations is suspended. Accordingly, while the fault is dispatched, some speculation is permitted as opposed to suspending all speculation. As such, microcode that makes use of speculation can be written. |
| US08078850B2 |
Branch prediction technique using instruction for resetting result table pointer
Methods, apparatus, and products for branch prediction in a computer processor are disclosed that include: recording for a sequence of occurrences of a branch, in an algorithm in which the branch occurs more than once, each result of the branch, including maintaining a pointer to a location of a most recently recorded result; resetting the pointer to a location of the first recorded result upon completion of the algorithm; and predicting subsequent results of the branch, in subsequent occurrences of the branch, in dependence upon the recorded results. |
| US08078849B2 |
Fast execution of branch instruction with multiple conditional expressions using programmable branch offset table
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide a programmable table which allows software to define a plurality of branching functions, each of which maps a vector of condition codes to a branch offset. This technique allows for a flexible multi-way branching functionality, using a conditional branch outcome table that can be specified by a programmer. Any instruction can specify the evaluation of arbitrary conditional expressions to compute the values for the condition codes, and can choose a particular branching function. When the processor executes the instruction, the processor's arithmetic/logical functional units evaluate the conditional expressions and then the processor performs the branch operation, according to the specified branching function. |
| US08078848B2 |
Memory controller having front end and back end channels for modifying commands
The present disclosure includes methods, devices, modules, and systems for modifying commands. One device embodiment includes a memory controller including a channel, wherein the channel includes a command queue configured to hold commands, and circuitry configured to modify at least a number of commands in the queue and execute the modified commands. |
| US08078844B1 |
System, method, and computer program product for removing a register of a processor from an active state
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for removing a register of a processor from an active state. In operation, an aspect of a portion of a processor capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of threads is identified. Additionally, a register of the processor is conditionally removed from an active state, based on the aspect. |
| US08078831B2 |
Method and apparatus for affinity-guided speculative helper threads in chip multiprocessors
Apparatus, system and methods are provided for performing speculative data prefetching in a chip multiprocessor (CMP). Data is prefetched by a helper thread that runs on one core of the CMP while a main program runs concurrently on another core of the CMP. Data prefetched by the helper thread is provided to the helper core. For one embodiment, the data prefetched by the helper thread is pushed to the main core. It may or may not be provided to the helper core as well. A push of prefetched data to the main core may occur during a broadcast of the data to all cores of an affinity group. For at least one other embodiment, the data prefetched by a helper thread is provided, upon request from the main core, to the main core from the helper core's local cache. |
| US08078830B2 |
Processor array accessing data in memory array coupled to output processor with feedback path to input sequencer for storing data in different pattern
An integrated circuit arrangement has a processor array (2) with processor elements (4) and a memory (6) with memory elements (8) arranged in rows (32) and columns (30). The columns (30) of memory elements (8) are addressed by respective processor elements (4). An input sequencer (14) and feedback path (24) cooperate to reorder input data in the memory (6) to carry out both block and line based processing. |
| US08078827B2 |
Method and apparatus for caching of page translations for virtual machines
A method for caching of page translations for virtual machines includes managing a number of virtual machines using a guest page table of a guest operating system, which provides a first translation from a guest-virtual memory address to a first guest-physical memory address or an invalid entry, and a host page table of a host operating system, which provides a second translation from the first guest-physical memory address to a host-physical memory address or an invalid entry, and managing a cache page table, wherein the cache page table selectively provides a third translation from the guest-virtual memory address to the host-physical memory address, a second guest-physical memory address or an invalid entry. |
| US08078824B2 |
Method for dynamic load balancing on partitioned systems
Methods, systems and apparatuses to dynamically balance execution loads on a partitioned system among processor cores or among partitions. |
| US08078816B1 |
Transparent transfer of qtree and quota metadata in conjunction with logical replication of user data
A technique that provides the ability to copy or move a volume that includes one or more quota structures, by using logical replication, where the volume and any quota structures in it are immediately accessible upon completion of the copy/move operation, and where the quota structures' usage control functionality is immediately functional and reliable upon completion of the copy/move operation. A user does not have to reinitialize the quota mechanism or invoke a quota scanner at the destination. |
| US08078814B2 |
Method of improving efficiency of replication monitoring
Provided is a copy pair monitoring method which is for a storage system having at least one host computer, at least one storage subsystem, and a management computer, the storage subsystem including volumes storing data requested by the host computer to be written, the management computer being accessible to the host computer and the storage subsystem. The copy pair monitoring method is characterized by including the steps of: obtaining every piece of copy pair definition information that is stored in the host computer; removing duplicate copy pair definition information from the whole copy pair definition information obtained; and collecting the copy pair status based on the obtained copy pair definition information from which duplicate copy pair definition information has been removed. |
| US08078810B2 |
Storage system and operation method of storage system
The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device. |
| US08078808B2 |
Method and device for managing a memory for buffer-storing data blocks in ARQ transmission systems
A data block to be transmitted to a receiver is subjected to channel coding and puncturing in a transmitter. For the purpose of managing data block versions obtained from repeat transmissions of this data block in the receiver, a memory area is provided for storing received data block versions in punctured form. A decision is made regarding whether or not a received data block version for a data block whose decoding in the receiver has failed to date is stored in the memory area. |
| US08078804B2 |
Method and arrangement for cache memory management, related processor architecture
A data cache memory coupled to a processor including processor clusters are adapted to operate simultaneously on scalar and vectorial data by providing data locations in the data cache memory for storing data for processing. The data locations are accessed either in a scalar mode or in a vectorial mode. This is done by explicitly mapping the data locations that are scalar and the data locations that are vectorial. |
| US08078802B2 |
Method and system for file-system based caching
A method and system for file-system based caching can be used to improve efficiency and security at network sites. In one set of embodiments, the delivery of content and storing content component(s) formed during generation of the content may be performed by different software components. Content that changes at a relatively high frequency or is likely to be regenerated between requests may not have some or all of its corresponding files cached. Additionally, extra white space may be removed before storing to reduce the file size. File mapping may be performed to ensure that a directory within the cache will have an optimal number of files. Security at the network site may be increased by using an internally generated filename that is not used or seen by the client computer. Many variations may be used is achieving any one or more of the advantages described herein. |
| US08078801B2 |
Obscuring memory access patterns
For each memory location in a set of memory locations associated with a thread, setting an indication associated with the memory location to request a signal if data from the memory location is evicted from a cache; and in response to the signal, reloading the set of memory locations into the cache. |
| US08078796B2 |
Method for writing to and erasing a non-volatile memory
A method for writing to and erasing a non-volatile memory is described. The method includes determining the size of a command window for use in n write operations for the non-volatile memory, each write operation having the same time period. A long latency erase command is sliced by a factor of n to provide a plurality of erase slices, each erase slice having the same time period. The method further includes executing n commands to the non-volatile memory, each command composed of the combination of one of the n write operations and one of the erase slices. The total of the time period of one erase slice added to the time period of one write operation is less than or equal to the size of the command window. |
| US08078795B2 |
Methods and media for writing data to flash memory
A method for writing bytes to flash memory is disclosed herein whereby the method comprising includes counting bytes from a data source, the bytes associated with a first value and a second value and comparing a number of bytes associated with the first value with a number of bytes associated with the second value. The method may further include inverting the bytes in the case where the number of bytes associated with the first value is greater than the number of bytes associated with the second value and transferring the bytes not associated with the second value to the flash memory. |
| US08078786B2 |
Method and system for request accessing and scheduling
A request scheduling method is provided in a request accessing system having a processing unit, an upstream unit coupled to the processing unit, a downstream unit coupled to the processing unit and the upstream unit, and at least one endpoint device coupled to the upstream unit and the downstream unit, wherein the endpoint device asserts at least one request to the upstream unit. The request scheduling method includes: transmitting the request to a processing unit while the request is a non-peer-to-peer request, and transmitting the request to a downstream unit while the request is a peer-to-peer request; wherein if the request is a peer-to-peer and posted request and there is a previous asserted request which is peer-to-peer and non-posted request and the previous asserted request has a latency exceeds a predetermined time, transmitting the request earlier than the previous asserted request to the downstream unit. |
| US08078782B2 |
Slot interface access unit, method thereof, and program thereof, as well as redundancy configuration of main unit, and replacing method of the same
A single main unit manages information on hardware resources and the like of all main units connected to a network in an integrated fashion. A slot management module, a slot control module, and a physical slot/managed slot comparison table are provided between an input/output control module and a slot interface subordinate thereto. The input/output control module accesses the slot interface by using virtual slot identification information. The slot management module refers to the physical slot/managed slot comparison table, converts the virtual slot identification information into physical slot identification information, and accesses a slot control module corresponding to the physical slot identification information obtained by the conversion, thereby realizing a physical access of the input/output control module to the slot interface. |
| US08078778B2 |
Image processing apparatus for reading compressed data from and writing to memory via data bus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus includes a data bus provided to access a memory, a compressing unit which compresses an image data and outputs a compressed image data, a write unit which writes the compressed image data into the memory via the data bus, a read unit which reads a compressed image from the memory via the data bus, a decompression unit which decompresses the compressed data read by the read unit, and a control unit which controls operations of the write unit and the read unit, based on an amount per unit time of the compressed image data outputted from the compressing unit, an amount per unit time of the compressed image data read from the memory and a degree of congestion of the data bus. |
| US08078774B2 |
Method and system for tracking
A system for tracking using electronic addresses is disclosed. The system stores an identification code, an electronic address, and a counter. The electronic address is made up of either single values or pairs of single values. A pair of single values for at least one of value of the counter is made up of a pseudonumber and a unique address value. The pseudonumber is able to be disentangled to produce a second pair of single values for a different value of the counter, thereby producing a tracking history. |
| US08078773B2 |
Optimized transmission of signals between a disk drive controller and a motor controller using a serial port
Herein described are at least a method and a system for prioritizing the transmission of one or more types of signals through a serial port. Various aspects of the present invention may be implemented using a serial port interface module that facilitates communication between any two devices. In a representative embodiment, the two devices comprise a disk drive controller and a disk drive motor controller used in a hard disk drive. In a representative embodiment, the method and the system are used in the hard disk drive for prioritizing the transmission of multirate voice coil motor (VCM) updates and other asynchronous data signals between the disk drive controller and disk drive motor controller through the serial port. |
| US08078765B2 |
Computer system provided with hypervisor
A hypervisor acquires an I/O command that has been issued from a virtual computer. The hypervisor judges whether or not a target of an I/O that complies with the I/O command is an unassigned port associated device that is a device associated with an I/O port that is coupled to an I/O controller that is not assigned to a virtual computer that is an issuing source of the I/O command. In the case in which the result of the judgment is positive, the hypervisor does no execute an I/O to the unassigned port associated device, and returns a virtual execution result to the virtual computer that is an issuing source of the I/O command. |
| US08078762B2 |
Method for transmitting measured data, and sensor device
A method for transmitting measured data from a sensor device to a control device is disclosed. The method is distinguished in that synchronization messages sent by the control device can be received in the sensor device and, on the basis of the reception of synchronization messages, the sensor device is put into a synchronous mode (SM) in which the sensor device sends data messages comprising the measured data to the control device in sync with the reception of the synchronization messages.A sensor device is also disclosed which is suitable for carrying out the foregoing method. |
| US08078757B2 |
Rewritten URL static and dynamic content delivery
Systems and methods of the present invention provide for returning website content after being requested by a client. A dynamic component and a rewritten URL may be requested and a static component may be requested, which may be updated. The combination of static and dynamic website content may be returned to the client. |
| US08078756B2 |
Computing a path for an open ended uni-directional path protected switched ring
Methods and apparatus for enabling a protected circuit path to be created efficiently are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method for creating a protected circuit path within an optical network system includes identifying a first node, a second node, and a third node. Once the nodes are identified, a pseudo link or a virtual link may be created between the second node and the third node. A first circuit path is then routed between the first node and the second node, and a second circuit path which protects that first circuit path is routed between the first node and the third node using the pseudo link. |
| US08078754B2 |
Group access privatization in clustered computer system
An apparatus, clustered computer system, and program product rely on cluster-private group names to perform accesses to groups that are resident in a clustered computer system. Thus, for a cluster-accessible group, all nodes capable of participating in a cluster are configured to map to the same cluster-private group name for that group, so that any external user that has access to the clustered computer system can access the group name and utilize the group name to initiate operations by the group. |
| US08078750B2 |
Streaming media encoder with front panel control interface
A streaming media encoder for encoding and delivering media content is disclosed. The streaming media encoder has a media input interface for receiving a media stream, a media encoder for receiving the media stream from the input interface and encoding the media stream, thereby producing an encoded media stream. The media encoder has a first confidence monitor for displaying a video image from the received media stream, a second confidence monitor for displaying a video image from the encoded media stream, and a network interface for providing the encoded media stream to a network. |
| US08078745B2 |
Method and device for controlling the transmission and playback of digital signals
The transmission and playback of digitally coded signals is done by storing files of the digitally coded signals in a data source and sending profiles of the files from the data source to an interface at a remote user. The user interface sends to the data source a control command for preparing the signals and requesting at least one of the files. In response to the control command, the data source prepares the signals in the source by sequentially selecting the requested file, decomposing the selected file into individual data packets, digitally mixing the individual data packets into at least one new data packet, and coding the new data packet in a fixed time grid and transmitting it to the user interface in real time. Finally the received new data packet with is received and played back by the interface at the user. |
| US08078737B2 |
System and method for efficient storage of long-lived session state in a SIP server
A SIP server can be deployed in a two-tier architecture, including an engine tier for processing of SIP communications and a state tier for maintaining the state associated with these communications. The state tier can include RAM-based replicas that provide data to the engines. Some of the SIP session state can be moved to the database in order to reduce the memory requirements of the state tier. Upon determining that a transaction boundary has been reached where the session state is steady, the state replica can save the data to the database. A hint can be received from the engine tier by the state replica indicating that the state data is ready to be saved. Subsequently, the data can be removed from the state tier by nulling out the bytes of actual data, while preserving the primary key, locking and timer information so as not to impact latency. |
| US08078735B2 |
Information processing system, tunnel communication device, tunnel communication method, and program
Provided are an information processing system, a tunnel communication device, a tunnel communication method, and a program that can make a communication between plural information processing devices belonging to different LANs without a user's making a complex setup. In the information processing system, a first tunnel communication unit encapsulates a packet from a first information processing device, transmits the encapsulated packet through a path of a P2P communication, and decapsulates the packet transmitted from a second tunnel communication device through the path of the P2P communication. A second tunnel communication unit encapsulates the packet transmitted from the second information processing device, transmits the encapsulated packet through the path of the P2P communication, and decapsulates the packet transmitted from the first tunnel communication device through the path of the P2P communication. |
| US08078733B2 |
IMS-enabled control channel for IPTV
An IMS-enabled control channel for an IPTV service is provided by receiving at a Serving Call/State Control Function (S-CSCF) a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) REGISTER message, the SIP REGISTER message identifying the originating user, receiving at the originating user a response from the S-CSCF indicating that the originating user has been authorized, and sending a SIP INVITE message from the S-CSCF to establish an open channel connection with a selected IPTV Application Server (AS). This open channel connection can then be used for the transmission of control messages, such as for starting play, starting recording, stopping play, etc., between the STB and the IPTV applications server, as well as for the delivery of personalized content, such as advertisements, voting responses, personalized voting triggers and targeted interactive events. By maintaining an open control channel with the IPTV AS, this offers a substantial reduction in the setup delay times for different applications. |
| US08078731B1 |
User proxy server
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates interacting with a user through a user proxy server. During operation, the system receives a request to interact with the user, wherein the request is received at a user proxy server, which services requests for interactions with users. This request specifies data or data types involved in the user interaction, as well as the purpose of the user interaction, but does not specify details of how the user interaction takes place. In response to this request, the system interacts with the user in a manner which is consistent with context information associated with the user. |
| US08078727B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing mobile and other intermittent connectivity in a computing environment
A seamless solution transparently addresses the characteristics of nomadic systems, and enables existing network applications to run reliably in mobile environments. The solution extends the enterprise network, letting network managers provide mobile users with easy access to the same applications as stationary users without sacrificing reliability or centralized management. The solution combines advantages of existing wire-line network standards with emerging mobile standards to create a solution that works with existing network applications. A Mobility Management Server coupled to the mobile network maintains the state of each of any number of Mobile End Systems and handles the complex session management required to maintain persistent connections to the network and to other peer processes. If a Mobile End System becomes unreachable, suspends, or changes network address (e.g., due to roaming from one network interconnect to another), the Mobility Management Server maintains the connection to the associated peer task—allowing the Mobile End System to maintain a continuous connection even though it may temporarily lose contact with its network medium. In one example, Mobility Management Server communicates with Mobile End Systems using Remote Procedure Call and Internet Mobility Protocols. |
| US08078723B2 |
Dispatching method, dispatching apparatus and dispatching system
A dispatching method, a dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The dispatching method includes receiving a request initiated by a user terminal, where the request carries address information of the user terminal; obtaining the address information carried in the request and obtaining key information of an access server associated with the address information; searching for a corresponding node based on the key information of the access server and treating the node as a redirected serving node. A dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are also disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention may well solve the dispatching issue and has a more flexible application. |
| US08078715B2 |
Automatic hardware failure detection and recovery for distributed max sessions server
A Max Sessions Server (MSS) automatically detects hardware and communications failures. Upon detection, counters are adjusted accordingly to maintain an accurate count of users or groups of users on a system. A database of unique identifiers for each connection is maintained, where the unique identifier is a concatenation of a Network Access Server (NAS) and the connection's incoming NAS node number. If a user requests permission to log into the system, the MSS first checks the database to determine if the unique identifier is already logged in. If so, then a hardware or communications failure has occurred and the MSS must make the appropriate adjustments to the database and counter. |
| US08078714B2 |
System and method for managing registration of services for an electronic device
The present disclosure described herein relates to a device and method for managing access to a server. The method comprises: receiving a request from the device for access to servers in a network; generating and sending access requests to servers from an interface entity, where the access requests are produced from analyzing at least one capability of the device; monitoring for responses from the servers to the access requests; extracting access information from the responses; and generating and sending a response to the request for access to the device, the response including the access information from the responses from the servers. |
| US08078713B1 |
Delivering policy settings with virtualized applications
In an embodiment, a method includes receiving a group policy object from an active directory, combining the group policy object and logic for using the group policy object with a virtualized application to provide a virtualized group policy object and delivering the virtualized application and the virtualized group policy object to a targeted computer system. |
| US08078711B2 |
Front-end gateway unit for remote ecological environment monitoring system
A front-end gateway unit is designed for integration to a remote ecological environment monitoring system that is equipped with a wireless sensor network (WSN) system installed at a remote site, such as a farmland or a garden, for the purpose of allowing the WSN system to exchange data with a back-end host server via a wireless communication system. The front-end gateway unit is characterized by the capability of using either the WSN system or a built-in sensing module for collecting ecological data, and the capability of combining geographical location data in the ecological data. This feature allows the collection of a comprehensive set of ecological data (including geographical location, temperature, humidity, sunlight data, wind speed, and pest number) for transfer to the back-end host server, such that research/management personnel at the local site can conveniently browse these ecological data and learn the ecological conditions of the remotely monitored area. |
| US08078709B2 |
Methods and devices for gaming network management
Methods and devices are provided for managing gaming machine networks. A switch may report the gaming machines that are currently connected to the switch. The report may be made periodically, in response to a query and/or in response to an event (such as the connection of a new gaming machine). The report may be made to a network administrator, e.g., to a host device under the control of a network administrator, and/or may be used to automatically update a connectivity table. A display of the current connectivity of gaming machines and associated switches may be provided. The prior connectivity of the gaming machines and associated switches may be displayed. The display may be a graphical user interface (“GUI”) that allows a user to, e.g., resolve discrepancies between the current connectivity and the prior connectivity. |
| US08078707B1 |
Network management using hierarchical domains
A system manages a network that includes devices, administrators, and objects. The system forms a hierarchical tree of domains that semantically organize the network, where each of the domains includes logical groupings of the devices, the administrators, or the objects. The system manages the network based on the hierarchical tree of domains. |
| US08078704B2 |
Provisioning of a service environment using web services
To perform service provisioning in an infrastructure, a provisioning system receives a request to provision a service environment for an application. In response to the request, the provisioning system employs web services to configure resources of the infrastructure for the application. The provisioning system defines interactions between the web services, and provides the service environment based on the configuring performed by the web services. |
| US08078703B2 |
Efficient software download to configurable communication device
An efficient software download to a configurable communication device is disclosed herein. The method of efficiently downloading software begins with a step of receiving a request to configure a communication device to run a communication application. The communication device being configured has a plurality of function blocks with a fixed portion of hardware and a flexible portion of hardware, wherein the same plurality of function blocks is capable of operating a plurality of communication applications. In a next step, the capability of the fixed portion and the flexible portion of hardware of the communication device is evaluated for a capability of implementing the communication application. Next, configuration information only for the flexible portion of hardware of the communication device is transmitted to the communication device to enable it to operate the communication application. An identification of the communication application is also transmitted to the communication device for purposes of tracking its implementation. |
| US08078701B2 |
Network design and determination of the arrangement of optical transmission devices in respective network stations
A network design apparatus designs arrangement of various types of optical transmission devices in stations within a linear section in a network. An acquisition unit acquires information concerning the type of optical transmission device to be provided in the stations, and information concerning cost and transmission degradation for the optical transmission devices. The designing unit designs, based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, an arrangement for which transmission degradation between stations respectively including an optical transmission device applicable as an optical regenerative repeater, is less than or equal to a threshold, and also has the least cost. An output unit outputs information concerning the arrangement designed by the design unit. |
| US08078700B2 |
Transcoder
A transcoder includes transcoder modules 12 and 13 which convert the formats of contents stored in servers 2 and 3 into formats which can be supported by a renderer 4, respectively, and an internal controller 11 for comparing the format of each content stored in the servers 2 and 3 with the conversion functions of the transcoder modules 12 and 13 to create a transcoder content list in which contents which can be supported are described, and for transferring a content acquisition request to acquire a content to the servers 2 and 3, the content acquisition request being transmitted thereto on the basis of the created transcoder content list. |
| US08078696B2 |
Personal content server apparatus and methods
Personal content server apparatus and associated methods that allow a user (e.g., cable or satellite network subscriber) to access content, such as a video program, from a location outside the subscriber's network. In one embodiment, a personal content server streams the content to the subscriber over a network connection from the local e.g., (subscription) network to a remote network upon authorization by a content manager process. Various access, business or operational rules are applied depending on the content and delivery mode; e.g., to live video broadcast, video-on-demand (VOD), or archived content from the subscriber's digital video recorder (DVR) or networked PVR. Secondary content (e.g., promotions, advertisements, etc.) can also be selectively replaced if desired in order to make the remotely delivered content more appropriate to the remote user's context. |
| US08078679B2 |
Method and system for automating collateral configuration in a network
In one embodiment of the invention, a method for automating collateral configuration in a network is provided. A service is configured on a network device (termed as service providing device). The service providing device sends a Collateral Configuration Request Protocol (CCRP) message to other network devices (termed as service accessing devices). The service accessing devices process the CCRP message for their automatic collateral configuration in order to access the configured service on the service providing device. |
| US08078672B2 |
Bidirectional asynchronous data communication
In one aspect, method for bidirectional asynchronous data communication between a client and a server over the Internet via a hypertext transfer protocol based on a request/response paradigm is provided. With the aid of a single communication channel, a communication sequence is initiated by the client, such that the two partners are able to exchange data asynchronously and bidirectionally. After the client has established the connection via a request the client sends data to the server as a further request, while the server sends data to the client as a response to the last request. If the server has no data to send, then after a timeout time it sends a dummy response in order to keep the channel open. If the server receives a new request, then it terminates the old one and sends any data remaining to be sent as a response to the new request. |
| US08078671B2 |
System and method for dynamic web services descriptor generation using templates
A system and method for generating a Web services description file is described. In one embodiment, a visualizer process metadata from a configuration file and applies the metadata to a predefined template to generate a portion of a Web services description file. The configuration file stores metadata about a service provided by a Web service. The template file defines structure and syntax of a portion of a Web services description file. |
| US08078667B2 |
Method and system for data transfer, auxiliary server and examination device
A system for data transfer comprises a server of a patient data system and an auxiliary server, which has installation data associated with at least one accepted device identifier available. The auxiliary server receives the identifier determining an examination device and transmits the installation data associated with the examination device identifier to the server of the patient data system. The server of the patient data system installs the identifier determining the examination device automatically on the basis of the installation data on the server of the patient data system for data transfer. Data is transferred between the examination device and the server of the patient data system after the identifier has been installed. |
| US08078664B2 |
Evaluation of current capacity levels of resources in a distributed computing system
In general, this disclosure describes techniques of managing resources in a service-oriented distributed computing system. As described in this disclosure, a control node automatically manages the system such that the system has sufficient capacity to satisfy an agreement to provide a given level of a service. In order to automatically manage the system, the control node evaluates the current capacity levels of resources in the system. The current capacity levels are indicative the capacity of resources to perform certain acts. The capacity of the resources to perform these acts may be indicative of whether the system is able to provide the given level of the service. Because capacities provided by the resources change as the resources start, the control node uses a predicted pending capacity function to evaluate whether resources that are currently starting will be sufficient to satisfy the level of the service when completely started. |
| US08078660B2 |
Bridge fused multiply-adder circuit
A bridge fused multiply-adder is disclosed. The fused multiply-adder is for the single instruction execution of (A×B)+C. The bridge fused multiply-add unit adds this functionality to existing floating-point co-processor units by including a fused multiply-add hardware “bridge” between an existing floating-point adder and a floating-point multiplier unit. This fused multiply-add functionality is added to existing two-operand architecture designs without degrading the performance or parallel pipe execution of floating-point adder and floating-point multiplier instructions. |
| US08078659B2 |
Reduction of digital filter delay
An apparatus for reducing a digital filter delay includes means for determining the magnitude response of a desired filter. Means form the real cepstrum of this magnitude response. Means transform the real cepstrum into a complex cepstrum of a corresponding minimum-phase filter having the same magnitude response as the desired filter. A filter applies a smoothly decaying shaping window to the complex cepstrum. Means transform the shaped complex cepstrum into an estimated minimum-phase filter. |
| US08078657B2 |
Multi-source dual-port linked list purger
Disclosed is a circuit for simultaneously searching two ends of a vector. The circuit comprises at least one input for receiving a vector of head pointers. A first input of a memory latch receives the vector of head pointers. An input of a first priority decoder receives the vector of head pointers from the memory latch. The first priority decoder traverses the vector of head pointers from a first end of the vector for identifying one active bit in the vector. An input of a first reverse module also receives the vector of head pointers from the memory latch. An input of second priority decoder receives the vector of head pointers (in reverse order) from the first reverse module. The second priority decoder traverses the vector received from the first reverse module from a first end of the reversed vector for identifying one active bit in the vector. |
| US08078655B2 |
Generation of database deltas and restoration
A checkpoint system is provided to quickly identify differences or deltas between a baseline version and a modified version of a database and to quickly restore the database to the baseline version using the deltas. The checkpoint system identifies the deltas between versions of the database by a rapid comparison of the rows of each table within a baseline version and a modified version of the database. The checkpoint system can use the rapid comparison when testing to identify sets of deltas resulting from performing an old procedure on a test database and a new procedure on the test database. The rapid comparison can be applied to these sets of deltas to identify differences resulting from the new procedure. The deltas can also be used to rapidly restore a database from a modified version to a baseline version. |
| US08078654B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying image data acquired based on a string of characters
An information reproducing apparatus and method thereof. The information reproducing apparatus includes a storage unit, communication unit, controller, and display unit. The storage unit stores music data and at least one first string of characters corresponding to the music data. The reproducing unit reproduces the music data from the storage unit. The communication unit communicates with an image data storage unit, which stores a plurality of image data each corresponding to at least one second string of characters. The controller controls acquisition of one image data from the image data storage unit via the communication unit. The one image data is acquired based on a comparison between the at least one first string of characters and the plurality of the at least one second string of characters. Further, the display unit is configured to display the acquired image data when the reproducing unit is reproducing the music data. |
| US08078652B2 |
Virtual columns
Techniques are described herein for performing column functions on virtual columns in database tables. A virtual column is defined by the database to contain results of a defining expression. Statistics are collected and maintained for virtual columns. Indexing is performed on virtual columns. Referential integrity is maintained between two tables using virtual columns as keys. Join predicate push-down operations are also performed using virtual columns. |
| US08078650B2 |
Parsing unstructured resources
Systems and methods of processing an unstructured resource which contains one or more data portions are described. The method comprises reading the unstructured resource into memory and accessing a data structure associated with the unstructured resource. This data structure contains a number of elements, each element including position information for a data portion in the unstructured resource. Using this position information, data portions are located from the unstructured resource and processed and the locating and processing steps are repeated for each element in the data structure. |
| US08078642B1 |
Concurrent traversal of multiple binary trees
In one embodiment, a tree traversal sequentially processes every level of two or more binary trees until reaching a leaf node for each the binary trees. Processing each level of the binary trees comprises: determining whether each traversed node of the remaining binary trees at the level is a non-leaf node or a leaf node; for the traversed leaf nodes at the level, remove the binary trees to which the leaf nodes belong from the remaining binary trees; and iteratively evaluating the traversed non-leaf nodes at the level of every n remaining binary trees until the non-leaf nodes at the level of all of the remaining binary trees are evaluated, where n≧2 and evaluating the non-leaf nodes of each n binary trees comprises concurrently evaluating the n non-leaf nodes of the n binary trees to determine to which one of the two child nodes of each of the n non-leaf nodes to traverse. |
| US08078641B2 |
Adjusting spatial operations based on map density
A method of determining density of a map is described along with an apparatus and computer-readable medium comprising instructions therefore. The method comprises determining one or more nodes of a quad tree applied to a map with which a predetermined query region intersects, calculating a cumulative data size of the query region based on a data size of the one or more intersecting nodes, and determining an average density of the query region based on the query region area and the cumulative data size. |
| US08078639B2 |
File system filters and transactions
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to file system filters and transactions. In aspects, a filter may enlist to receive notification of events associated with a transaction. Afterwards, the filter may receive notification of a transaction event for which it has enlisted. In response to receiving notification of the transaction the filter may perform an action as appropriate. Aspects of the subject matter described herein may be applied to stacked and managed filters. |
| US08078632B1 |
Iterated related item discovery
The present invention provides methods and computer program products for identifying a set of related videos for a first video. An embodiment of the method comprises a video hosting website creating an ordered list containing a plurality of words from the metadata associated with the first video. The video hosting website uses a select number of words from the ordered list to form a search query. The search query is processed by the videos hosting website to obtain search results that contain a number of related videos. If the number of related videos in the search results is not within a set range, the search query is modified and the modified search query is processed. If the number of related videos in the search results is within a set range, the search results are provided as the set of related videos for the first video. |
| US08078626B1 |
Unified management of time related information
Unified management of time related information presents a user with a single interface by which the data in different ERP systems can be browsed and modified. Each of the ERP systems can contain data specific to a data group such as the address data group in a human resources ERP system, sales data in a sales ERP system, and project data in a project planning ERP system. A view management module obtains records from the ERP systems. The view manager also obtains journaling information that can be kept in the ERP systems or kept separately. The view manager creates a history view and data group views that can be presented to a user. The user interacts with the presentation to sort, browse, analyze, and edit the view and data. Data changed in a data group view can be forwarded to produce changes in the ERP and journaling systems. |
| US08078625B1 |
URL-based content categorization
Content may be categorized by accessing a URL associated with the content, determining a set of n-grams contained in the URL, and determining a category of the content based on the set of n-grams. |
| US08078620B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for identifying web pages
A system, method, and computer program product for accessing web pages on a network are provided. In use, different users are provided access to a plurality of sections of a web page selected by the different users based on a community value for at least one community dimension assigned to each section of the web page selected by the different users. In particular, a user is conditionally provided access to a section of a web page selected by the user, based on a comparison of a user value indicating a community with which the user is associated to the community value for the at least one community dimension assigned to the section of the web page selected by the first user. |
| US08078618B2 |
Automatic multimode system for organizing and retrieving content data files
A method for selecting a method for categorizing a collection of content data files from among a plurality of categorization methods, the method comprising the steps of identifying a collection of content data files, each content data file comprising image or audio data, determining a number of groups (G1) of content data files that will be generated when a first categorization method is applied to the collection of content data files; and designating a range of representations (R) that can be presented on the display, each representing a group of content data files. A first categorization method is selected when the number of groups G is within the range of representations (R); and a different categorization method is selected when the number of groups (G1) is not within range (R). |
| US08078617B1 |
Model based ad targeting
System and method for quickly selecting content items (e.g., documents) having highest ranking scores in response to a query for content items. Base scores for a plurality of content items are determined based on attributes of the content items. One or more attributes are extracted from the query, the base scores of at least some of the content items are adjusted based on relationships between the query attributes and the content item attributes. A subset of the plurality of content items having the highest adjusted scores are selected, and the selected subset of content items are output. |
| US08078615B2 |
Method and system for single-action personalized recommendation and display of internet content
A method and system for single-action personalized recommendation and display of content via the Internet. The recommendation is given by a server system and received by a client system. The content itself has been previously recommended to the server system by the users of the client system. Client system recommendations to the server system are also invoked with a single-action. Recommended content is referred to by a URL. Users can rate content to the server system using a single-action. The server system performs recommendation calculations using user-specific information such as user preferences, demographic data, content rating history, and content-specific information. The content rating history of other users may also influence these calculations. Client systems display recommended content directly to the user in response to only a single-action. |
| US08078613B2 |
Method for removing network effects from search engine results
A method and apparatus for ranking results from a search engine query is described. In one embodiment, the search engine provides results from a search query. The results contain a list of web pages where each web page has one or more inbound links. The search engine computes the growth of the number of inbound links of each web page over a predefined period of time. The search engine ranks each web page based on a function of its respective computed growth of the number of inbound links. |
| US08078611B2 |
Query modes for translation-enabled XML documents
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with providing query modes for translation-enabled XML documents are described. One method embodiment includes receiving an XPath query to an XML document that may store a translation for a data element. The method embodiment may also include automatically selecting a query mode for the XPath query. The method embodiment may also include querying the XML document using the XPath query and the selected query mode. The query mode may control, at least in part, the operation of an XML database logic. |
| US08078608B2 |
Method and system for promotion of a search service
A method and system for viral marketing is described. Using the method and system, recruiters may be associated with recruits. Recruiters may be compensated based on activities of recruits. The traceability of a recruit to a recruiter permits analysis of efficacy of the recruiter and recruitment techniques employed. The improved traceability is achieved due to the ability to trace any recruited user associated with an identifier of the recruiter. |
| US08078605B2 |
User-specific contact apparatus and method
An apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting online activity by a user and contacting the user in conjunction with a preferred response plan. |
| US08078603B1 |
Various methods and apparatuses for moving thumbnails
Various methods, apparatuses, and systems are described for a moving thumbnail generator. The moving thumbnail generator generates one or more moving thumbnails that are visually and aurally representative of the content that takes place in an associated original video file. Each of the moving thumbnails has two or more moving frames derived from its associated original video file. Each moving thumbnail is stored with a relational link back to the original video file in order so that the moving thumbnail can be used as a linkage back to the original video file. |
| US08078601B1 |
Determining unambiguous geographic references
A system receives a search query that includes a set of search terms, determines whether at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of a geographic area, and determines whether the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area when at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of the geographic area. The system performs a local search, based on one or more of the search terms, to identify documents associated with the geographic area when the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area. |
| US08078593B1 |
Dictionary architecture and methodology for revision-tolerant data de-duplication
Redundant data is removed from a volume of data by partitioning the volume of data into fixed-length input segments and, for each of the input segments, traversing nodes of a search tree in accordance with the value of a fixed-size portion of the input segment to determine if the search tree contains a pointer to a matching fixed-sized portion of a segment within a dictionary. If the search tree contains the pointer, the input segment is compared with the segment within the dictionary pointed to by the pointer, and a token representative of the segment within the dictionary is substituted for at least part of the input segment determined to match the segment within the dictionary. |
| US08078590B2 |
Data processing system
Embodiments consistent with the present invention relate to methods and computer systems for displaying customizing parameters of an application program, the customizing parameters being stored in database tables. In one embodiment, a method is provided that comprises: executing an application program, and acquiring trace data during execution of the application program, the trace data comprising a path for each of the results provided by the application program, each path being descriptive of a sequence of database table entries of the database tables holding a sub-set of the customizing parameters used for a calculation of the corresponding result. The method may further comprise displaying the results, interactively selecting one of the results for further analysis, and displaying the database table entries identified by the path of the selected one of the results. |
| US08078586B2 |
Accessing file data stored in non-volatile re-programmable semiconductor memories
File data for an operating system may be stored in a compressed format in a re-programmable semiconductor memory. The memory may be provided with a header and data for one or more file systems all stored in a compressed format. A device driver also stored in the memory may be utilized to decompress the data and to convert it to a format suitable for a particular file system or operating system. |
| US08078585B2 |
Reactive file recovery based on file naming and access information
A method and system for restoring a version of the data object from a continuous data protection (CDP) engine without being required to access the CDP engine via a separate CDP-specific interface. A data access request includes a data identifier and a metadata portion and is sent to a system layer, where the data identifier identifies a current version of a data object, and the metadata portion identifies a prior version of the data object to be retrieved specifically from the CDP engine. The prior version of the data object is retrieved from the CDP engine and returned for efficiently restoring the prior version of the data object. |
| US08078583B2 |
Systems and methods for performing storage operations using network attached storage
Systems and methods for performing hierarchical storage operations on electronic data in a computer network are provided. In one embodiment, the present invention may store electronic data from a network device to a network attached storage (NAS) device pursuant to certain storage criteria. The data stored on the NAS may be migrated to a secondary storage and a stub file having a pointer pointing to the secondary storage may be put at the location the data was previously stored on the NAS. The stub file may redirect the network device to the secondary storage if a read request for the data is received from the network device. |
| US08078581B2 |
Storage system and remote copy control method
A plurality of second groups respectively including one or more second volumes are configured in correspondence with each of the first groups of a remote copy source in a remote copy destination, journals are acquired from the first storage apparatus periodically and in the order the journals were created for each of the configured second groups, and the acquired journals are reflected in the corresponding second volume in the corresponding second group. In addition, the latest time stamp of each of the second groups containing the journals retained in the second volume in an unreflected state is compared, the time difference of the latest and oldest time stamps is detected, and prescribed control processing is executed for acquiring the journals regarding the second group with the oldest time stamp in preference to the journals regarding other second groups when the time difference exceeds a preset threshold value. |
| US08078579B2 |
Data source currency tracking and currency based execution
A method and system for determining currency of data in a data processing system. The processing steps along a dependency chain used to populate a data reporting program are back tracked recursively through each processing step until a first originating set of processing steps are reached. The currency of each data source for the programs is identified and it is determined whether the program has run since that time. If any one of the sources for the program of the processing step is more recent than a last run time of the program associated with the processing step, the program is re-run and outputs updated. The same process is executed moving forward along the dependency chain, to each other processing step. |
| US08078575B2 |
Disaster recovery
File system disaster recovery techniques provide automated monitoring, failure detection and multi-step failover from a primary designated target to one of a designated group of secondary designated targets. Secondary designated targets may be prioritized so that failover occurs in a prescribed sequence. Replication of information between the primary designated target and the secondary designated targets allows failover in a manner that maximizes continuity of operation. In addition, user-specified actions may be initiated on failure detection and/or on failover operations and/or on failback operations. |
| US08078573B2 |
Identifying the unifying subject of a set of facts
A method and system for identifying a subject of a document and facts included within are described. A source document that includes facts and linking documents that include hyperlinks to the source document are identified. The anchor texts of the hyperlinks are identified and candidate labels are generated based on the anchor texts. One of the candidate labels is selected based on first predefined criteria and associated with the source document and/or the facts included within the source document. |
| US08078570B2 |
Versioning data warehouses
A method, system, and computer program product are disclosed. Exemplary embodiments of the method, system, and computer program product may include hardware, process steps, and computer program instructions for supporting versioning in a data warehouse. The data warehouse may include a data warehouse engine for creating a data warehouse including a fact table and temporary tables. Updated or new data records may be transferred into the data warehouse and bulk loaded into the temporary tables. The updated or new data records may be evaluated for attributes matching existing data records. A version number may be assigned to data records and data records may be marked as being the most current version. Updated and new data records may be bulk loaded from the temporary tables into the fact table when a version number or a version status is calculated. |
| US08078569B2 |
Estimating transaction risk using sub-models characterizing cross-interaction among categorical and non-categorical variables
In one aspect, input data for a predictive model characterizing a level of risk for a data transaction is received that includes values for categorical variables and one or more of binary variables and continuous variables the predictive model. Thereafter, one or more of the categorical variables is associated with one of a plurality of keys. Each key having corresponding coefficients for at least a subset of the binary variables and the continuous variables and the coefficients being dependent on a value for the key. A composite value based on values for each of at least a subset of the binary variables and the continuous variables as calculated using the corresponding coefficients for each key can then be generated. Scoring of the data transaction using the binary variables, the continuous variables, and the composite variables can then be initiated by the predictive model. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described. |
| US08078567B1 |
System and method for condition based maintenance for electrical equipment
Provided are a system and method for condition based maintenance of electrical devices. In one example, the method includes receiving test data that represents an attribute of a tested electrical device. The received test data is classified as belonging to a client and added to a control set representing an aggregate of information from many clients. The received test data is processed using a sparse data process if the attribute is represented by two sets of test data, and is processed using an autoregressive process if the attribute is represented by three or more sets of test data. Both the sparse data process and the autoregressive process may use information from the client and the control set. A future value of the attribute is predicted based on the processing, and at least a representation of the future value is output. |
| US08078566B2 |
Methods and systems for constructing Bayesian belief networks
Methods and systems are described for simplifying a causal influence model that describes influence of parent nodes Xi (i=1, . . . , n) on possible states of the child node Y. The child node Y and each one of the parent nodes Xi (i=1, . . . , n) are assumed to be either a discrete Boolean node having states true and false, a discrete Ordinal node having a plurality of ordered states; and a Categorical node having a plurality of unordered states. The influence of each parent node Xi on the child node Y is assumed to be a promoting influence and an inhibiting influence. User interfaces are described that incorporate these specific node types. |
| US08078563B2 |
Method for locating road shapes using erroneous map data
When transmitting an on-road location on a digital map, an information provider transmits, as on-road location information, string of coordinates information representing the road shape of a road section including the on-road location having a predetermined length, additional information including at least one information item chosen from a group of the attribute information on the road including the road location and detailed information on the nodes in the road section, and relative information indicating the on-road location in the road section. Receiving party receiving this on-road location information performs shape matching to identify the road section on a digital map and uses relative data to identify the on-road location in this road section. The receiving party can identify the road shape with high accuracy even when only a small amount of string of coordinates data is available. This makes it possible to reduce the data transmission amount and identify an on-load location with high accuracy. |
| US08078560B2 |
Operation check information providing device and electronic device using the same
An apparatus is provided for, when the user makes an input manipulation, estimating a manipulation for which the user is likely to make an error, in accordance with the knowledge of the user, and providing a manipulation support such as, for example, automatically displaying a confirmation request for the manipulation for which the probability of the input being an error is high.A device (100) usable for an electronic apparatus (1) operating based on a manipulation of the user includes an input section (101) for receiving a manipulation of the user, a storage section (104) having a database including a plurality of manipulation error patterns stored therein, a determination section (107) for determining whether or not a manipulation confirmation request is necessary based on the manipulation error pattern corresponding to the user, which is determined by referring to the database based on manipulation information which indicates the received manipulation and correction information which indicates whether or not the manipulation needs to be corrected, and an output section (108) for outputting a signal for presenting a manipulation confirmation request message when the confirmation request is to be provided. Each manipulation error pattern is information on a manipulation error on each of functions of a manipulation target apparatus, the information being defined based on a manipulation experience of a plurality of users each having the manipulation experience with an apparatus other than the electronic apparatus (1) which is the manipulation target apparatus. |
| US08078559B2 |
System and method for the automated discovery of unknown unknowns
Systems and methods are provided for determining unknown unknowns for at least one assisted decision making system. An assisted decision making system has an associated set of at least one story of interest. The system further comprises a plurality of inferencing algorithms. A given inferencing algorithm is operative to generate story fragments from data stored within an associated knowledge base. A first arbitrator is associated with the first assisted decision making system. The arbitrator accepts a story fragment from the plurality of inferencing algorithms if the story fragment is sufficiently related to a story of interest from the set of at least one story of interest. |
| US08078551B2 |
Decision-support expert system and methods for real-time exploitation of documents in non-english languages
A method for real-time exploitation of documents in non-English languages includes processing an input document in into a processed input document, extracting ontology elements from the processed input document to obtain a document digest (DD), statistically scoring each DD to obtain a DD with category scores, refining the DD and the category scores to obtain a summary of each document in the form of a refined DD with refined category scores. The summary allows a user to estimate in real-time if the input document warrants added attention. |
| US08078550B2 |
Self learning to support navigation to correct an inconsistent property
Methods and systems for maintaining objects using computer self-learning to determine which user interface (UI) screen to navigate to for correcting an inconsistent property of an object are presented. In an embodiment, a data class module is used by the computer system for accessing an object's properties. When the data class is called to store/update an object's properties, the data class determines which UI screen is active, and which of the properties of the data class is being stored/updated. The data class uses the UI screen and property to maintain a screen relationship table between an object's properties and which UI screen writes the object's properties. In an embodiment, the data class module contains a method for performing a consistency check by applying consistency rules to an object. |
| US08078548B1 |
System and method for controlling postage usage independent of meter balance
A postage evidencing meter system is disclosed. The system comprises an authorization database for storing parameters for at least one user, wherein the parameters limit the at least one user's ability to evidence postage using the meter. The parameters include a maximum postage amount that the at least one user is allowed to use on the meter to evidence postage. The parameters may alternatively or also include a period of time during which the user is allowed to use the meter to evidence postage or a maximum amount of postage that can be used during a period of time. The postage evidencing meter further comprises a user interface, a printer, and a security module. In alternative embodiments, the authorization database is stored on a removable storage device and/or is coupled to the meter via a communication link to a remote postage information system. |
| US08078546B2 |
Method and process for employing a retired workforce
A method, system, and computer program product for assembling a project team is provided. In one embodiment potential team members, such as, for example, retirees from a company, with appropriate qualifications are notified of a project for which team members are needed. The potential team members are identified based on information contained in a database of potential team members. Along with the notification of the project, the potential team members receive a request for bids. The entity then receives a bid from a responding potential team member and compares the bid to bid acceptance criteria. If the bid meets bid acceptance criteria, a bid acceptance is sent to the responding potential team member and the responding potential team member is notified of other members of the project team. |
| US08078540B2 |
Gaming machine, gaming information authentication and acquisition device, and gaming information acquisition device
A gaming machine includes a gaming operation execution device, a loading device and a processing device. The gaming operation execution device executes gaming operations. The loading device includes a connector for connecting a storage medium, a first program memory part for storing a first authentication program, a second program memory part for storing a second authentication program, and a first processor for authenticating the first authentication program with the second authentication program. The processing device includes a memory, a reading unit for reading out the gaming information from the storage medium and for reading out the first authentication program authenticated by the first processor, a second processor for authenticating the gaming information with the authenticated first authentication program, a writing unit for writing the authenticated gaming information to the memory, and an operation control unit for controlling the gaming operation execution device. |
| US08078536B2 |
Method and system for cross-issuer registration of transaction cards
Disclosed herein is a method of providing one or more transaction card services to a holder of a transaction card, the method comprising receiving a registration code from the holder, wherein the registration code is associated with the issuer of the transaction card and with the transaction card, determining the issuer of the transaction card based on at least a portion of the registration code, transmitting the registration code to the issuer of the transaction card, receiving account information from the issuer, wherein the account information is associated with the registration code and with the transaction card, displaying at least a portion of the account information to the holder, receiving a verification value corresponding to the account information from the holder, and if the verification value is valid, permitting the holder to select one or more services in which to enroll. |
| US08078535B2 |
Value transfer systems and methods
One method involves the use of stored value account that may be used, for example, to make internet payments, and that can be credited using a variety of payment techniques. Such a method involves receiving money at a money transfer location from a potential purchaser. The money is then stored as an electronic record in a stored value account of the purchaser. This money is then available for transfer at the request of the purchaser. Upon such a request, the money may be electronically sent to a recipient and the stored value account may be debited. |
| US08078533B1 |
Systems and methods for monitoring remittances for reporting requirements
Financial transactions may be monitored for reporting requirements and regulatory compliance. A system provides for receipt of remittances, recognition of payment documents, storage of transaction information, and compliance verification by matching one or more cash equivalent transactions (CETs) made by an individual to determine if the aggregate of the transactions should be reported to meet compliance regulations. Images of the documents may be reviewed by an analyst to determine an account number and/or routing number associated with imaged document. If the information associated with the document reviewed has not been previously reviewed, it may be placed on a list of documents associated with CET transactions such that the document may be determined to be a CET in subsequent encounters with the document without human intervention. |
| US08078531B2 |
Auditing or determining reductions to card-issuer interchange fees
This document describes tools capable of auditing and/or determining reductions to card-issuer interchange fees charged for credit-card transactions. The tools may do so automatically and with user interaction for thousands or even millions of transactions. |
| US08078530B2 |
Consumer behaviors at lender level
The present disclosure generally relates to financial data processing, and in particular it relates to lender credit scoring, lender profiling, lender behavior analysis and modeling. More specifically, it relates to rating lenders based on data derived from their respective consumers. Also, the present disclosure relates to rating consumer lenders based on the predicted spend capacity of their consumers. |
| US08078528B1 |
System and method for providing borrowing schemes
The method according to exemplary embodiments comprises establishing an interest-free revolving amount or account, establishing a periodic payment for maintaining the interest-free revolving amount or account, and automatically revising the interest-free revolving amount or account or the periodic payment based upon at least one user performance metric over a predetermined period of time; wherein the interest-free revolving amount or account or the periodic payment for maintaining the interest-free revolving amount is determined by the user via a network. |
| US08078526B1 |
Principal first loan product
A principal first loan product that includes qualifying a borrower for a principal first loan, processing the principal first loan, and applying an entire amount of each payment from the borrower for the principal first loan to a principal of the principal first loan during a defined time period. The principal first loan may be a mortgage. The principal first loan may be re-amortized at a remaining loan principal balance and a remaining loan term after the defined time period. Each payment from the borrower received after the defined time period may be applied to the principal first loan in accordance with the re-amortization. |
| US08078523B2 |
System and method for monitoring trades outside of a no-bust range in an electronic trading system
An alert system that notifies an Exchange's staff of a trade that appears to be outside of an expected market range of prices includes an input device, determination logic, evaluation logic, and alert logic. The determination logic derives a theoretical no-bust range of prices based on data received from the input device. The theoretical no-bust range of prices are prices above and below a synthesized market price, within which an erroneous trade cannot be cancelled. The evaluation logic monitors trades and compares those trades to the theoretical no-bust range of prices. The alert logic notifies the Exchange's staff when the evaluation logic identifies a potentially erroneous trade that lies outside the theoretical no-bust range of prices. A method of notifying the Exchange of a trade that potentially lies outside of an expected range of prices includes monitoring an input range of prices and deriving the theoretical no-bust range of prices. The method then compares transactions prices to the theoretical no-bust range of prices and notifies the Exchange when a potentially erroneous trade can be cancelled. |
| US08078520B2 |
Educational tuition securities system
An educational tuition securities system is provided. An educational institution can securitize tuition or course credits into tuition shares. Tuition shares in an educational institution can be purchased for a student and redeemed for payment of tuition credits or education costs at the educational institution. Tuition shares for an educational institution can be traded for tuition shares of another institution. Redeemed tuition shares can be used to pay for undergraduate and graduate education costs, or could be redeemed for cash. The invention provides a mechanism for paying future education costs, as well as for investing in educational institutions. |
| US08078515B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating electronic transactions and deterring fraud
Systems and methods are described for providing fraud deterrents during e-commerce, e-transactions, and digital rights management and access. One or more fraud deterrents may be automatically selected by a client, seller, bank, or other 3rd party and may be implemented or presented to the client as a potential fraud deterrent option that may be chosen. Fraud deterrent options may be provided which are associated with particular aspects of the transaction including a client's profile, the value of an item, or the preferences of the seller. The fraud deterrent features can be provided as part of a digital shopping cart and may be highly customized by the client including allowing the client to customize conceptual passwords which are presented during subsequent transactions. |
| US08078504B2 |
Method and system for providing order status information using an update status flag
A method and system for providing order status information using an update status flag to receive status information pertaining to an order placed by a customer with a merchant. It is determined whether the received status information is new relative to further status information pertaining to the order stored within a status record. The status record is updated to include the received status information if the received status information is new. The updated message indicating the received status information is then composed and sent to the customer. |
| US08078501B2 |
Method and apparatus for facilitating user registration in an on-line auction environment
A method and apparatus for facilitating a transaction in a network-based transaction facility are described. According to one embodiment, a user associated with the transaction in the network-based transaction facility is identified, and a rating is assigned to the user based on the accuracy of information submitted by the user during the transaction. If the rating exceeds a predetermined threshold, the transaction is completed. |
| US08078499B1 |
Server-based processing for on-line viewing, purchasing and related analytics
An aspect of the disclosure is directed to an e-commerce data processing approach involving on-line viewing of a first article through a linking node for virtual merging on another structure. A particular application of the invention is directed to an application server linked to a web interface and configured to communicate the web accessible images of articles to the communicator device, the web communicator device displays the web accessible images of articles, and prompts an on-line shopper to select one or more articles from the displayed images of articles. Another aspect concerns storage of articles in a virtual closet, and allowing purchase of the stored articles by an on-line shopper using the communicator device, and tracking selected articles to provide demographic information about the sellers to the buyer. |
| US08078498B2 |
Virtual showroom system and method
The present invention provides a network server with enhanced graphics and improved methods for displaying articles offered for purchase, to allow a purchaser to fully evaluate the article while shopping “on-line.” In a particular embodiment, a virtual showroom associated with the network server may be provided, for displaying first and second articles. A first electronic image representing the first article and a second electronic image representing the second article may also be provided. The second article may be complementary to the first article, such that the second article may be worn in conjunction with the first article. In another embodiment, a user may have the option to overlay the first electronic image with the second electronic image. In a particular embodiment, the second electronic image may include an at least partially translucent depiction of a substantial portion of the second article. |
| US08078496B2 |
Method and system for implementing a search engine with reward components and payment components
A system and method for implementation of product searches via a search engine over a networked computer system such as the Internet. In particular, a user may execute a search for product offers that are accompanied with reward components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.) and/or those that allow payment in whole or in part with payment components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.). |
| US08078493B2 |
Method and system for pause ads
A system and method for displaying ads on a client-side video replay system during a pause mode. The method may comprise determining that the video replay system should enter a pause mode, obtaining an ad, and displaying the ad on a display of the video replay system during the pause mode. Determining that the system should enter pause mode may include detecting that a user has pressed a pause button located on a remote control or a display screen. The system may comprise a display, a processor, memory, and software applications configured to (i) determine that the system should enter a pause mode, (ii) obtain an ad, and (iii) display the ad on the display. |
| US08078491B1 |
System for card activity-based residential crediting
An electrical digital computer machine and a data processing system, methods of making and for using the machine, products produced thereby, as well as data structures and articles of manufacture pertaining thereto, and all necessary intermediates of that which is discussed herein, all in the field of computerized aspects of card crediting to mortgages and the like.More particularly, there is a method for card activity-based residential expense crediting, such as that for points, an external mortgage, or the like. The method includes the steps of: associating card activity with an external residential expense; crediting an amount to the residential expense responsive to the card activity; and generating output including the card activity-based residential expense crediting; wherein at least some of the steps are carried out by computer. |
| US08078489B1 |
Product configuration modeling and optimization
A computerized system and related methods of identifying an optimum set of product configurations from a plurality of possible product configurations, wherein each product configuration has a plurality of features and each feature has a plurality of options, includes the steps of representing each of the possible product configurations as an ordered set or array of at least n-dimensions, each dimension of the array representing a predetermined one of the features, identifying a subset of valid product configurations, identifying which valid configurations are captured by other configurations through upgrades, conversions, or acceptance of different options, defining and solving an optimization model to identify the optimum set of valid product configurations based on a desired objective, such as to maximize profit, minimize cost, or maximizing coverage of customer demand, and then presenting the optimum set of valid product configurations that satisfy the desired objective. |
| US08078485B1 |
Postal, freight, and logistics industry high performance capability assessment
A high performance capability assessment model helps a postal industry business meet the challenges of the global marketplace. As a result, the postal industry business can achieve the clarity, consistency, and well-defined execution of core processes that reduce inefficiencies and waste that result from unnecessary process complexity and exceptions. In addition, the high performance capability assessment model helps the postal industry business to identify specific areas in which improvements may be made and understand how to make the improvements, and establishes levels of capability along the way to reaching an ultimate capability goal. |
| US08078484B2 |
Loss preporting system and method with viewable performance based reports
A loss reporting system and method for tracking, monitoring and evaluating loss in an enterprise is provided. The system receives product data from enterprise facilities, stores the product data, calculates performance information from the product data, and compares the performance information to a predetermined performance standard. The system can generate a viewable report using the comparison between the performance information and the predetermined performance standard. |
| US08078481B2 |
Benefits administration system and methods of use and doing business
An automated benefit administration system and methods of use and doing business. The full system includes a wide range of features including application of business rules to enrollment, eligibility, and maintenance data input, making of business decisions based on the specific data entered, and issuing of notices based on business rule discrepancies including notices to third parties when deemed appropriate. The full system also is secure while providing remote access, including through the Internet, limits access based on user hierarchy, allows user customization of various features including communications vehicles (e-mail, letter correspondence, or facsimile) and of the format of certain communications, provides automatic enrollment in Cobra without re-entry of beneficiary data, accomplishes various types of financial reconciliation, accommodates differing organizational structures and groupings of entities, provides business rule over-ride capability for certain users, and provides robust information about carriers and their services. |
| US08078475B2 |
Audio signal encoder and audio signal decoder
A portable player or a multi-channel home player includes: a mixed signal decoding unit that extracts, from a first inputted coded stream, a second coded stream representing a downmix signal into which multi-channel audio signals are mixed and supplementary information for reverting the downmix signal back to the multi-channel audio signals before being downmixed, and that decodes the second coded stream representing the downmix signal; a signal separation processing unit that separates the downmix signal obtained by decoding based on the extracted supplementary information and that generates audio signals which are acoustically approximate to the multi-channel audio signals before being downmixed; and headphones or speakers that reproduce the decoded downmix signal or speakers that reproduce the multi-channel audio signals separated from the downmix signal. |
| US08078473B1 |
Adaptive advertising apparatus and methods
An adaptive advertising apparatus and associated methods. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a computer readable medium having at least one computer program disposed thereon, the at least one program being configured to adaptively present (e.g., display) advertising-related content (e.g., audio, video, images, etc.) that is contextually related to the topic of a conversation between a plurality of parties or individuals. In one variant, the at least one program comprises a speech recognition program that analyzes digitized speech, and identifies one or more words therein in order to determine the topic of conversation or context. Contextually related (or targeted) advertising is then selected based on its relationship to the determined context or topic. |
| US08078472B2 |
Voice-activated remote control service
A method of remotely controlling operation of a controlled device involves receiving a telephone call from an owner via a telephone network; authenticating the telephone call to establish that the owner is authorized to control the controlled device; interpreting a voice command from the owner that issues instructions to the controlled device based on a list of available commands stored in a database along with an Internet Protocol address or URL registry that associates the controlled device with the owner; identifying the controlled device based upon the authentication and identification by the owner of the controlled device; converting the voice command to one or more data packets capable of interpretation by the controlled device to execute the command; and delivering the one or more data packets to the controlled device via the Internet. |
| US08078469B2 |
Distributed voice user interface
A distributed voice user interface system includes a local device which receives speech input issued from a user. Such speech input may specify a command or a request by the user. The local device performs preliminary processing of the speech input and determines whether it is able to respond to the command or request by itself. If not, the local device initiates communication with a remote system for further processing of the speech input. |
| US08078463B2 |
Method and apparatus for speaker spotting
A method and apparatus for spotting a target speaker within a call interaction by generating speaker models based on one or more speaker's speech; and by searching for speaker models associated with one or more target speaker speech files. |
| US08078456B2 |
Audio time scale modification algorithm for dynamic playback speed control
A modified synchronized overlap add (SOLA) algorithm for performing high-quality, low-complexity audio time scale modification (TSM) is described. The algorithm produces good output audio quality with a very low complexity and without producing additional audible distortion during dynamic change of the audio playback speed. The algorithm may achieve complexity reduction by performing the maximization of normalized cross-correlation using decimated signals. By updating the input buffer and the output buffer in a precise sequence with careful checking of the appropriate array bounds, the algorithm may also achieve seamless audio playback during dynamic speed change with a minimal requirement on memory usage. |
| US08078454B2 |
Two-pass hash extraction of text strings
Data compression and key word recognition may be provided. A first pass may walk a text string, generate terms, and calculate a hash value for each generated term. For each hash value, a hash bucket may be created where an associated occurrence count may be maintained. The hash buckets may be sorted by occurrence count and a few top buckets may be kept. Once those top buckets are known, a second pass may walk the text string, generate terms, and calculate a hash value for each term. If the hash values of terms match hash values of one of the kept buckets, then the term may be considered a frequent term. Consequently, the term may be added to a dictionary along with a corresponding frequency count. Then, the dictionary may be examined to remove terms that may not be frequent, but appeared due to hash collisions. |
| US08078453B2 |
System and method for computerized psychological content analysis of computer and media generated communications to produce communications management support, indications and warnings of dangerous behavior, assessment of media images, and personnel selection support
At least one computer-mediated communication produced by or received by an author is collected and parsed to identify categories of information within it. The categories of information are processed with at least one analysis to quantify at least one type of information in each category. A first output communication is generated regarding the at least one computer-mediated communication, describing the psychological state, attitudes or characteristics of the author of the communication. A second output communication is generated when a difference between the quantification of at least one type of information for at least one category and a reference for the at least one category is detected involving a psychological state, attitude or characteristic of the author to which a responsive action should be taken. The content of the second output communication and the at least one category are programmable to define a psychological state, attitude or characteristic in response to which an action should be taken and the action that is to be taken in response. |
| US08078452B2 |
Lexical association metric for knowledge-free extraction of phrasal terms
A method and system for determining a lexical association of phrasal terms are described. A corpus having a plurality of words is received, and a plurality of contexts including one or more context words proximate to a word in the corpus is determined. An occurrence count for each context is determined, and a global rank is assigned based on the occurrence count. Similarly, a number of occurrences of a word being used in a context is determined, and a local rank is assigned to the word-context pair based on the number of occurrences. A rank ratio is then determined for each word-context pair. A rank ratio is equal to the global rank divided by the local rank for a word-context pair. A mutual rank ratio is determined by multiplying the rank ratios corresponding to a phrase. The mutual rank ratio is used to identify phrasal terms in the corpus. |
| US08078446B2 |
Linear time-invariant system modeling apparatus and method of generating a passive model
A linear time-invariant system modeling apparatus comprises a processing resource arranged to receive, when in use, model data constituting to a model of a linear time-invariant system. The model data includes residual value data and scattering data. The processing resource is arranged to perform, when in use, a single value decomposition in respect of the scattering data; the scattering data corresponds, when expressed in matrix form, to a scattering matrix in a state-space representation of the model. The processing resource is also arranged to use, when in use, a result of the single value decomposition in order to generate residual value modification data. The residual value modification data is applied to the residual value data, the residual value data corresponding, when expressed in the matrix form, to a residual value matrix in the state-space representation of the model. |
| US08078441B2 |
Systems and methods for designing a haul road
A method for designing a haul road based on machine performance comprises receiving one or more haul road parameters and identifying at least one type of machine to be operated on the haul road. The method also includes selecting at least one target operating parameter associated with the at least one type of machine and simulating performance of the at least one type of machine to predict an operating value corresponding with the at least one target operating parameter. If the predicted operating value is not within a threshold range of the corresponding target operating parameter, one or more haul road parameters are adjusted. |
| US08078440B2 |
Operatively tuning implants for increased performance
A method for preoperatively characterizing an individual patient's biomechanic function in preparation of implanting a prosthesis is provided. The method includes subjecting a patient to various activities, recording relative positions of anatomy during the various activities, measuring force environments responsive to the patient's anatomy and affected area during the various activities, characterizing the patient's biomechanic function from the relative positions and corresponding force environments, inputting the measured force environments, relative positions of knee anatomy, and patient's biomechanic function characterization into the one or more computer simulation models, inputting a computer model of the prosthesis into the one or more computer simulation models, and manipulating the placement of the prosthesis in the computer simulation using the patient's biomechanic function characterization and the computer model of the prosthesis to approximate a preferred biomechanical fit of the prosthesis. |
| US08078438B2 |
Method for simulating thermal resistance value of thermal test die
A method for simulating a thermal resistance value of a thermal test die is provided to estimate a relationship between the thermal resistance value of a heating block and the thermal resistance value of the thermal test die, and to find out a size of the heating block that matches an actual thermal situation of the thermal test die. In addition, after being tested by the heating block, the reliability of the testing result may be improved by verifying whether the relationship of a transient response of thermal resistance of the heating block and a steady-state response of thermal resistance of the thermal test die is within a range of a setting variation. |
| US08078435B2 |
Method and apparatus for designing any-to-any optical signal-to-noise ratio in optical networks
Optical regeneration is expensive to implement and maintain. A method or corresponding apparatus in an example embodiment of the present invention enables a user to plan an optical regeneration in a network with a reduction of optical regeneration compared to unplanned deployment. An optical regeneration planning tool according to an example embodiment of the present invention can graphically display a representation of a network topology with optical regeneration sites and enable the user to plan optical regenerations at a subset of the sites as a function of characteristics of models of optical network elements and paths within the network topology. Through use of the optical regeneration planning tool, a service provider can save on network deployment and future servicing of optical regeneration equipment. |
| US08078433B2 |
Optimal estimation of transducer parameters
The invention relates to an arrangement and method for estimating the linear and nonlinear parameters of a model 11 describing a transducer 1 which converts input signals x(t) into output signals y(t) (e.g., electrical, mechanical or acoustical signals). Transducers of this kind are primarily actuators (loudspeakers) and sensors (microphones), but also electrical systems for storing, transmitting and converting signals. The model describes the internal states of the transducer and the transfer behavior between input and output both in the small-and large-signal domain. This information is the basis for measurement applications, quality assessment, failure diagnostics and for controlling the transducer actively. The identification of linear and nonlinear parameters Pl and Pn of the model without systematic error (bias) is the objective of the current invention. This is achieved by using a transformation system 55 to estimate the linear parameters Pl and the nonlinear parameters Pn with separate cost functions. |
| US08078431B2 |
Home power management system
Systems and methods for managing power usage are provided. The system includes a programmable microprocessor, at least one input mechanism, a memory having instructions and/or other information, a display, at least one power consuming power device and a remote server. The systems allows the user of a power consuming device to receive instructions or other information from the server. The method includes using stored program instructions to generate power device related information on a display, collecting power device data representative of the electrical current or power consumed, connecting to a remote computing facility having a server, and providing the data to a computer remotely located from the central server. |
| US08078429B2 |
Diagnosis agent for remote plant diagnosis
The present invention discloses a plant diagnostic system for diagnosing a problem with the plant. The plant diagnostic system can include an agent-based plant diagnostic network that has an adaptive global agent located in a central facility, a plant expert agent located at the plant and a plurality of subsystem resident agents. Each of the subsystem resident agents can be assigned to a subsystem of the plant. A diagnosis agent can also be included, the diagnosis agent operable to be instructed by the adaptive global agent, transmitted to the plant expert agent, be received by the plant expert agent, transmitted by the plant expert agent back to the adaptive global agent and be received by the adaptive global agent. |
| US08078424B2 |
Test apparatus
Provided is a test apparatus 10, which includes: a plurality of test modules 150, each of which is connected to any of the plurality of devices under test 100 to supply a test signal to the connected device under test 100; a plurality of site controllers 130 that control the plurality of test modules 150 to test the respective plurality of devices under test 100 simultaneously; a connection setting device 140 that sets a connection mode between the plurality of site controllers 130 and the plurality of test modules 150 so that each of the test modules 150 is connected to any of the plurality of site controllers 130; and a plurality of system controllers 110, each of which controls any of the plurality of site controllers 130, in which a predetermined system controller of the plurality of system controllers 110 assigns, in response to a request from another system controller of the system controllers, a site controller of the site controllers, which is to be controlled by the another system controller. |
| US08078423B2 |
Data generating method, connection checking system, and computer product
A computer terminal retrieves pin data related to respective pins of a plurality of Field Programmable Gate Array that are mounted on a board. The computer terminal retrieves setting data related to a connection check. Upon retrieving the pin data and the setting data, the computer terminal assigns, as data for the connection check to all the pins that can output data, unique data that is unique to each pin. The computer terminal generates input pin data and output pin data containing the unique data, stores therein the input pin data and the output pin data, and generates checking circuits that check connections between output pins and input pins. The computer terminal generates checking data based on the checking circuits. |
| US08078418B2 |
Intelligent electronic device and method thereof
An intelligent electronic device (IED) having a gain control unit adapted to selectively regulate operating ranges of output signals of a sensing circuit of the device is described. In one embodiment, the IED is a digital electric power and energy meter, which operating ranges for supply voltages and supply currents of electrical services may be adjusted to match pre-determined ranges for input signals of a data acquisition system or a data processing module of the meter. |
| US08078410B2 |
Sensing using polarization diversity and wavelength dependent backscatter
Provided herein are systems and methods capable of detecting and discriminating and/or classifying hazardous biological agents or other hazardous agents. In one aspect, a system measures electromagnetic energy scattered by a material at the different polarizations states and wavelengths. The system then combines the measured electromagnetic wavelengths at the different polarization states and wavelengths into different combinations to produce input parameters for a classifier. The input parameters include both depolarization and wavelength-dependent elastic backscatter measurements of the material illuminated by transmitted electromagnetic energy. The combination of wavelength dependent depolarization measurements and wavelength dependent backscatter measurements provides a unique capability to classify (or discriminate) based on size, shape, and refractive index. The combined measurements provided in the input parameters increases the information available to the classifier to classify materials, enabling the classifier to classify a wider range of materials. |
| US08078408B2 |
Bridged element for detection of a target substance
Physical changes resulting from an association between a template molecule and a target molecule are detected by monitoring changes in the template molecule. Exemplary changes include a change in a physical dimension or stiffness of the template molecule, a change in electrical conductivity of the template molecule and a change in the energy required to dissociate the target molecule and the template molecule. The magnitude of the change is indicative of the specific identity of the target molecule. |
| US08078405B2 |
Method of estimating the permeability of a fracture network from a connectivity analysis
A method for optimizing the development of a fractured hydrocarbon reservoir wherein the network permeability is determined using a reliable compromise between numerical and analytical methods which has application to oil reservoir development. The reservoir is discretized into a set of grid cells and a geometrical description of the fracture network in each cell is elaborated. A connectivity index is then deduced within each cell for the fractures. The permeability of the fracture network of the cells whose connectivity index is above a first threshold is determined and a zero permeability value is assigned in the other cells. Other thresholds can be determined so as to choose between a numerical method and an analytical method to determine the permeability. These permeabilities are exploited in a flow simulator so as to optimize the development of the reservoir. |
| US08078401B2 |
Method of personal navigation using stride vectoring
A method of error compensation for an inertial measurement unit is provided. The method comprises providing a first object including an inertial measurement unit, providing a second object proximal to the first object, and determining an initial position and orientation of the first object. A motion update is triggered for the inertial measurement unit when the second object is stationary with respect to a ground surface. At least one position vector is measured between the first object and the second object when the first object is in motion and the second object is stationary. A distance, direction, and orientation of the second object with respect to the first object are calculated using the at least one position vector. An error correction is then determined for the inertial measurement unit from the calculated distance, direction, and orientation of the second object with respect to the first object. |
| US08078399B2 |
Method and device for three-dimensional path planning to avoid obstacles using multiple planes
An obstacle-avoidance-processor chip for three-dimensional path planning comprises an analog processing circuit and at least two analog-resistive-grid networks. The analog processing circuit is communicatively coupled to receive data from an inertial measurement unit and from at least one obstacle-detection sensor. The analog processing circuit is configured to construct a three-dimensional obstacle map of an environment based on the received data. The at least two analog-resistive-grid networks are configured to map obstacles in at least two respective non-parallel planes in the constructed three-dimensional obstacle map. The at least two analog-resistive-grid networks form a quasi-three-dimensional representation of the environment. The obstacle-avoidance-processor chip generates information indicative of a three-dimensional unobstructed path in the environment based on the obstacle maps. |
| US08078391B2 |
Road traffic information communicating system and method
A control section (212) adds first time information from a clock (204) to road traffic information from a light beacon communication device to create road traffic information by first time for storing in a storage device (205). A time judging device (209) receives second time information from other mobile communication terminal and creates an information transmission instruction if the first time of the first time information is more up-to-date than the second time of the second time information. An information selecting section (211) selects and transmits a part of the road traffic information by first time based on other traveling direction information indicative of the traveling direction of other vehicle and traveling direction information from an azimuth finder (208). Upon receiving road traffic information by third time from other mobile communication terminal, the control section (212) overwrites the road traffic information by first time in the storage device (205). |
| US08078388B2 |
Faraday type wireless oxygen sensor
An oxygen sensor device and method for a motor vehicle having an electrode within an outer shell for measuring oxygen in exhaust gas exiting the vehicle. A communication device, powered by a capacitor, wirelessly transmits the measured amount of oxygen from the electrode to a powertrain control module. Vibration transmitting from the motor vehicle shakes a magnet, wound inside a coil, for generating the electrical current used by the capacitor. |
| US08078387B2 |
Control apparatus for spark-ignition engine
Disclosed herein is a control apparatus for a spark-ignition engine that is capable of avoiding knocking at the time of high-load operation. With this control apparatus, a residual-gas suction unit or the like is not used, an exhaust gas does not deteriorate due to injection in a compression stroke, and a thermal efficiency also does not decrease. An engine control apparatus (ECU) 20 is used for the control of a direct-injection type spark-ignition engine. During the high-load operation of the spark-ignition engine, the ECU 20 injects fuel a plurality of times. In addition, the ECU performs first fuel injection toward internal EGR that exists in a combustion chamber of the spark-ignition engine. |
| US08078377B2 |
Compressed air supply system and method for determining system parameters
A vehicle compressed air supply system includes a supply part with compressor, an air drying part and a consumer part including consumer circuits with brake circuits supplied with compressed air via a multi-circuit safety valve. The brake circuits, and optionally at least one other consumer circuit, include compressed air tanks. Pressure in the circuits is monitored by sensors and evaluated by an electronic control device. To determine system parameters in terms of tank size and compressor output, when filling circuits, the rate of pressure increase in a circuit is determined as a function of compressor speed, and air-drying regeneration is effected. The period of a pre-defined pressure drop or pre-defined pressure gradient is determined and air volume for completing regeneration is calculated from the magnitude of the pressure drop, regeneration time and throttle diameter. Tank volume is determined therefrom. Compressor output is calculated from tank volume and rate of pressure increase. |
| US08078376B2 |
System and method for verifying the availability of a level of a braking system in a powered system
A verification system is provided for verifying the availability of a first level of a braking system in a powered system. The powered system travels along a route. The verification system includes a controller coupled to an engine and a braking system of the powered system. The controller is configured to predetermine one of an activation level of the engine and/or an activation level of the braking system at a plurality of incremental locations along the route. The controller is further configured to activate the first level of the braking system at an incremental location having a predetermined activation level of the braking system which is lower than the first level of the braking system. A method is also provided for verifying the availability of the first level of a braking system in a powered system. |
| US08078375B2 |
Gravity based brake stroke sensor methods and systems
Methods and systems for measuring a brake stroke of an air brake assembly utilize a sensor, such as an accelerometer, mountable on a movable component, such as a brake cam shaft, of the air brake assembly that is external of the brake chamber of the air brake assembly for detecting an acceleration of the movable component during a braking event. The sensor generates an output signal that depends on a magnitude of the detected acceleration, which is sent to a microcontroller coupled to the sensor. The microcontroller translates the sensor output signal to a value corresponding to a displacement of the movable component of the brake assembly during the braking event and calculates a brake stroke distance based on said value. |
| US08078374B2 |
Control system for an at least temporarily four-wheel-driven motor vehicle
In the case of a control system for an at least temporarily four-wheel-driven motor vehicle having an electronic control unit, which determines at least the rotational speeds of all wheels and the vehicle speed, and by which the driving torque of a drive unit can be distributed in a variable manner by way of a controllable transfer clutch to primary driving wheels, which are permanently connected with the drive unit, and to secondary driving wheels which, can be connected with the drive unit as required, the control unit closes the transfer clutch when the slip of a rear wheel exceeds the slip of the front wheel of the same vehicle side by a value which is greater than a given first threshold and when, preferably, also the longitudinal deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a given second threshold or the lateral acceleration of the vehicle exceeds a given third threshold. |
| US08078372B2 |
Output control device for internal combustion engine
An electronic control unit 40 calculates a target output torque of an internal combustion engine 10 based on a manipulation amount of an accelerator pedal 60, a vehicle speed, and a state of a transmission gear ratio of an automatic continuously variable transmission 30, and calculates a target opening of a throttle valve 14 based on the calculated target output torque. If the current value of the transmission gear ratio of the automatic continuously variable transmission 30 is smaller than a predetermined value, the target opening of the throttle valve 14 calculated based on the target output torque is limited to be less than or equal to a preset upper limit. |
| US08078370B2 |
Hydraulic or pneumatic control of an automated shift transmission
A hydraulic or pneumatic control device for an automated shift transmission including actuating devices with actuating cylinders (15, 16) having pressure spaces (19a, 19b; 20a, 20b). The pressure spaces (19a, 19b; 20a, 20b) of the actuating cylinders (15, 16) can be connected by a respective control valve (22a, 22b; 32a, 32b) to a pressure line (26), which can be selectively connected to or cut off from a main pressure line (8) by a main shut-off valve (45a). At least one additional main shut-off valve (45b) is arranged in parallel with the first main shut-off valve (45a) between the main pressure line (8) and the pressure line (26) to improve the control characteristics and increase the operational reliability. |
| US08078369B2 |
Method and device for controlling a standstill circuit of an automatic transmission
The invention relates to a method and a device for controlling a standstill circuit of an automatic transmission of the vehicle, comprising a decision unit for selection of the target gear, a low-speed monitoring unit and a standstill circuit, which, when the vehicle is standing still or when its speed falls below a predetermined limit speed, brings about or prepares the activation of a starting gear.The method and the device are intended to enable a vehicle to start up safely even under the influence of considerable tractive resistance. Furthermore, they should be characterized by solutions which are as simple, inexpensive and easy to implement as possible by way of available methods and devices. To this end, the low-speed monitoring unit reads data concerning at least one state of the vehicle and, if necessary, additional data, and, on the basis thereof, as a function of decision rules, renders the standstill circuit ineffective. |
| US08078368B2 |
Lift truck safety system
A method of operating a lift truck, the method including the steps of actuating an override to move the lift truck from a safety configuration into a working configuration, positioning a load onto a front end assembly movably attached to the lift truck, disengaging the override, whereby the lift truck may move into the safety configuration once the load is removed from the front end assembly. The lift truck includes a motorized mover, a front end assembly movably coupled to the motorized mover, and a load sensor coupled to the front end assembly. The front end assembly is positionable between a safety configuration and a working configuration. The load sensor detects the presence of the load on the front end assembly. The front end assembly is moved into the safety configuration when the load sensor does not sense the load on the front end assembly. |
| US08078367B2 |
Planter monitor system and method
A planter monitor system and method that provides an operator with near real-time data concerning yield robbing events and the economic cost associated with such yield robbing events so as to motivate the operator to take prompt corrective action. |
| US08078366B2 |
Seat control device
A seat control device has an input unit for performing at least one of an operation to incline and move a first seat, and a drive control unit for at least one of inclining and moving the first seat based on an output of the input unit. The seat control device has an open/close detection unit for detecting an opened or closed state of a door for getting on and off to and from the first seat, an angle detection unit for detecting an angle of a backrest of the first seat; and a seating detection unit for detecting presence/absence of seating at a second seat positioned behind the first seat. When the open/close detection unit detects that the door is in the opened state, the angle detection unit detects an angle of a backrest of the first seat. When the detected angle is larger than a predetermined angle, the seating detection unit detects the presence or absence of seating at the second seat. The drive control unit is driven based on the detection of absence of seating to return the backrest of the first seat to an original orientation. |
| US08078358B2 |
Vehicle display unit
A vehicle display unit for a vehicle includes a display panel, a transmitting panel, a peripheral wall member, and a sounding body. The display panel faces a vehicle interior of the vehicle and displays visual information to a vehicle occupant of the vehicle. The transmitting panel is disposed on a vehicle interior side of the display panel. The visual information is transmitted to the vehicle occupant through the transmitting panel. The peripheral wall member surrounds a space between the display panel and the transmitting panel in a circumferential direction of the display panel. The sounding body is attached on an outer circumferential surface of the peripheral wall member and is configured to provide auditory information for the vehicle occupant by generating a sound wave. The peripheral wall member has a communicating hole, which opens toward the sounding body and communicates with the space. |
| US08078353B2 |
Self monitoring braking system for vehicles
A self monitoring vehicle braking system includes multiple sensors that gather data associated with the braking system. The data includes wheel speed, road inclination, moisture associated with a surface of the braking system, and audio associated with the road. A processor receives the data from the sensors and processes the data to determine whether a condition of the braking system falls within defined limits and provides to the driver of the vehicle an indication of the braking system condition. |
| US08078352B2 |
Electronic control unit for vehicle
An electronic control unit (ECU) for a vehicle is disclosed. The subject ECU stores: vehicle ID; and first cross-check information different from the vehicle ID. The subject ECU acquires second cross-check information different from the vehicle ID. The second cross-check information is stored in an external ECU that is mounted in a same vehicle as the subject ECU is mounted. The subject ECU determines whether the first cross-check information matches the second cross-check information. Upon receiving an instruction for changing the vehicle ID, the subject ECU prohibits a change the vehicle ID if the first cross-check information matches the second cross-check information, and the subject ECU changes the vehicle ID if the first cross-check information does not match the second cross-check information. |
| US08078343B2 |
Virtual control panel for aeronautics attitude reference units
The general field of the invention relates to devices for controlling the two attitude reference units of the AHRS type for aircraft, each AHRS comprising at least a first set of magnetometer measurements and at least a second set of gyroscopic measurements, each AHRS having two modes of operation, the first mode, called slave mode supplying the flight system with the information coming from the first set, the second mode, called DG mode supplying the flight system with the information coming from the second set. The device according to the invention comprises a display and means for displaying within this display a control window for these two attitude reference units, said window comprising three regions, the first region dedicated to the first AHRS unit, the second region dedicated to the second AHRS unit, the third region dedicated to the simultaneous control of the two AHRS units. |
| US08078334B2 |
Unobtrusive system and method for monitoring the physiological condition of a target user of a vehicle
An unobtrusive system for monitoring the physiological condition of a target user of a vehicle including a wearable device affixed to the target user. A measurement subsystem is releasably coupled to the wearable device configured to measure a concentration of at least one analyte in the blood of the target user at one or more time increments. A proximity sensor is configured to detect the location of the wearable device. A vehicle control subsystem is responsive to the proximity sensor and the measurement subsystem and is configured to determine if the wearable device is proximate a predetermined location in the vehicle and configured to determine if the measured concentration of the at least one analyte exceeds a predetermined threshold concentration level, and based on such a determination, initiate one or more predetermined actions. |
| US08078330B2 |
Automatic energy management and energy consumption reduction, especially in commercial and multi-building systems
Automatic energy management is provided, in even the most complex multi-building system. The necessity of a human operator for managing energy in a complex, multi-building system is reduced and even eliminated. Computer-based monitoring and computer-based recognition of adverse energy events (such as the approach of a new energy peak) is highly advantageous in energy management. Immediate automatic querying of energy users within a system of buildings for energy curtailment possibilities is provided. Such immediate, automatic querying may be answered by the energy users through artificial intelligence and/or neural network technology provided to or programmed into the energy users, and the queried energy users may respond in real-time. Those real-time computerized responses with energy curtailment possibilities may be received automatically by a data processing facility, and processed in real-time. Advantageously, the responses from queried energy users with energy curtailment possibilities may be automatically processed into a round-robin curtailment rotation which may be implemented by a computer-based control system. Thus, impact on occupants is minimized, and energy use and energy cost may be beneficially reduced in an intelligent, real-time manner. The invention also provides for early-recognition of impending adverse energy events, optimal response to a particular energy situation, real-time analysis of energy-related data, etc. |
| US08078326B2 |
HVAC system controller configuration
Control devices for configuring heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and cooling (HVAC) systems are provided. The control devices are designed to detect operational parameters of units within HVAC systems and present system configurations consistent with the detected parameters. In response to user selection of a system configuration, the control device may apply the system configuration to the HVAC system and may reconfigure settings of control circuits within system units. The system configurations presented by the control device may correspond to wiring diagrams that are familiar to service technicians. Methods of configuring HVAC systems with the control devices are also provided. |
| US08078323B2 |
Method for controlling the process of separating mixtures containing several substances
Method for controlling the process of separating mixtures containing several substances having close boiling points and with a known concentration, in a distillation column, wherein the concentration of at least one component is measured at a midpoint of the column, and said measurement, together with other parameters, is used to control the process. |
| US08078320B2 |
Method and a device for adjusting operating parameters of a robot, a program and a recording medium for the method
A method of adjusting operating parameters of a robot to move an effector tool along a given path in an optimum cycle time including a step of modifying operating parameter values to cause the cycle time to approach a optimal value wherein the parameters are modified so as to approach an extremum of a compromise function including at least first and second terms, the first term being a function of a cycle time and the second term being a function of at least one of temperature and degree of wear of an actuator. |
| US08078315B2 |
Control system for a load handling clamp
A control system for a load-handling clamp includes first and second load-engaging surfaces for selectively gripping and releasing a load disposed between said surfaces. At least one of said surfaces is selectively movable toward the other by a hydraulic actuator. At least one fluid valve assembly variably regulates a maximum hydraulic clamping pressure capable of causing the actuator to move one of the surfaces toward the other in a load clamping movement. Preferably, a load geometry sensor produces an electrical effect that varies as a function of the geometric profile of the load. A data receiver preferably also obtains load identification information related to at least one characteristic of the load, other than the load's geometry. A controller, in response to the data receiver and load geometry sensor, operates to control the valve assembly's regulation of the maximum hydraulic clamping pressure. In order to prepare for the load clamping movement, the controller is preferably also capable of enabling the actuator to move one of said surfaces toward the other in an initial clamp closing movement at a maximum hydraulic closing pressure greater than the maximum hydraulic clamping pressure. Thereafter the controller enables the load clamping movement at a pressure level substantially no greater than the maximum hydraulic clamping pressure. |
| US08078309B1 |
Method to create arbitrary sidewall geometries in 3-dimensions using liga with a stochastic optimization framework
Disclosed herein is a method of making a three dimensional mold comprising the steps of providing a mold substrate; exposing the substrate with an electromagnetic radiation source for a period of time sufficient to render the portion of the mold substrate susceptible to a developer to produce a modified mold substrate; and developing the modified mold with one or more developing reagents to remove the portion of the mold substrate rendered susceptible to the developer from the mold substrate, to produce the mold having a desired mold shape, wherein the electromagnetic radiation source has a fixed position, and wherein during the exposing step, the mold substrate is manipulated according to a manipulation algorithm in one or more dimensions relative to the electromagnetic radiation source; and wherein the manipulation algorithm is determined using stochastic optimization computations. |
| US08078307B2 |
Apparatus for testing defects of sheet-shaped product having optical film, apparatus for processing test data thereof, apparatus for cutting the same, and production thereof
A defect testing apparatus for testing defects of optical film sheet-shaped product of an optical displaying apparatus, which includes a defect detecting means for detecting defects of a monolayer body and/or a laminate body constituting the sheet-shaped product in a state in which a protective layer on a surface of the sheet-shaped product is not disposed and defect information preparing means for preparing defect information which is information related to the defects detected by the defect detecting means, and the defect information is used for producing the sheet-shaped product provided in a roll form or in separate sheets. |
| US08078300B2 |
Information processing device, squealing sound generation method in information processing device, and computer program product
A computer program product for causing a computer of an information processing device to execute processing for generating a sound that is generated by a mobile object with a plurality of tires, which moves on a predetermined surface within a virtual three-dimensional space, the computer being caused to execute the steps of: controlling the movement of the mobile object; calculating a load applied to at least one of the tires of the mobile object; controlling, on the basis of the load, a volume and a pitch of a squealing sound generated from the tires; and outputting the squealing sound. The computer is further caused to execute the steps of calculating a slip angle of at least one of the tires of the mobile object, and changing the tone of the squealing sound on the basis of the slip angle. |
| US08078299B2 |
Optical disk replay device
When a break in data is detected by a detection unit, an audio output stoppage command unit commands a digital audio processing device connected to an audio output unit to stop output of audio. A sampling frequency checking unit checks whether or not the sampling frequency of the audio data before the break, and the sampling frequency of the audio data after the break, are the same. When the sampling frequency checking unit detects that these sampling frequencies are the same, an audio output stoppage elimination command unit waits until a fixed time period has elapsed, and then returns the reading position upon the optical disk at which the reading unit reads in data to a position directly after the break, and also commands the digital audio processing device to eliminate the stoppage of output of audio. |
| US08078297B2 |
Interface for retrofitting a manually controlled machine for automatic control
An operator controllable machine is retrofitted to be operator controlled or to be automatically controlled. An electrical joystick output is provided by a manually actuated joystick control, including a joystick, to a machine control in the manually controlled machine. An interface is added between the joystick control and the machine control to permit an external source, such as a GPS receiver or a laser receiver, to apply an electrical automatic control output to the machine control, as well. The interface includes a number of optical isolation circuits and a microprocessor. The isolated microprocessor output is supplied to the machine control, which produces valve control signals to control the hydraulic valves of the machine. The application of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic cylinders of the machine is then controlled by either the joystick control output or the automatic control output. In an intermediate range of joystick movement, the hydraulic cylinders of the machine are controlled by both outputs, resulting in a smooth transition between manual and automatic operation. |
| US08078295B2 |
Accumulative method for estimating velocity limitation
A method for controlling acceleration and deceleration before interpolating is provided. The method includes steps of previewing and analyzing a processing program to estimate a limitation of a processing velocity and distributing a processing velocity according to the limitation. The step of previewing and analyzing a processing program includes sub-steps of providing the processing program including a pathway formed by plural blocks, unitizing the motion vector of each block into the unit vector ( N ^ i = N _ i N _ i ) , calculating a length (DVi=∥{right arrow over (DV)}i∥) of a vector difference in the unit vectors between each block and its next block ({right arrow over (DV)}i={circumflex over (N)}i−{circumflex over (N)}i+1), calculating a sum of the length of the vector difference in a distance from a starting block (S=ΣDVn), and calculating the limitation of the processing velocity for an end of each block (Vlim) according to an inverse ratio of the sum (1/S). |
| US08078290B2 |
System and methods for controlling embedded devices using device style sheets
Systems and methods for controlling ambiance devices, or an embedded device, using a device style sheet are disclosed. Ambiance devices include devices used to control an environment in a room or area, such as a lighting device or a heating/cooling system. A device style sheet declaration is received, in one embodiment, at an ambiance device controller. The declaration comprises a scope selector that identifies a scope of a style to be applied, a property identifier that identifies a style property to be altered, and a property value that identifies a style property value to be applied. At least one ambiance device, within the scope identified by the scope selector, that is in electronic communication with the ambiance device controller is identified. A control signal for the ambiance device is formulated based on the property identifier and property value. The control signal is then transmitted to the ambiance device. |
| US08078288B2 |
Electrode system for a physiological stimulator
A physiological power source is coupled to a signal coupler/decoupler through a conductive line. The signal coupler/decoupler includes a proximal signal port, connected to the physiological power source through the first conductive line, and separate distal signal ports. The signal coupler/decoupler combines signals flowing to the physiological power source through the distal signal ports and separates a signal flowing away from it through the proximal signal port. |
| US08078287B2 |
His bundle mapping, pacing, and injection lead
A cardiac rhythm management system includes a lead assembly for intracardiac mapping, pacing, and drug delivery. The lead assembly includes an implantable endocardial lead having a proximal end for connection to an implantable cardiac rhythm management device and a distal end for disposal in an intracardiac region. The lead includes a pacing-sensing electrode and a drug delivery device, both located at or near the distal end. A lumen is within and extends throughout the lead, with an opening at or near the proximal end and another opening at or near the distal end. The lumen provides for access to the intracardiac region by a steerable stylet and a hollow needle, one at a time. The steerable stylet allows for electrophysiological mapping of the intracardiac region. The hollow needle allows for delivery of chemical, biochemical, and/or biological substance to the intracardiac region. |
| US08078286B2 |
Techniques for minimizing radiofrequency-induced tissue heating
Methods and systems are provided for wirelessly powering a medical device in a living subject using external radiofrequency energy. A radiofrequency driving unit outside the subject irradiates the medical device. A passive antenna is positioned outside the subject, generally opposing the driving unit to redirect the field generally toward the device. The reradiating element increases uniformity of the electromagnetic field produced by the driving unit, which reduces local tissue heating in the subject and in personnel attending the subject. |
| US08078285B2 |
Reversible implantable acoustic sensor
An implantable medical device having an acoustic element includes a control module coupled to the acoustic element, an acoustic sensing module coupled to the control module, and a patient alert driver module coupled to the control circuit. The patient alert driver module generates a patient alert drive signal for activating the acoustic element to emit a patient alert signal. The control module includes an isolation circuit for isolating the acoustic sensing module from the acoustic element in response to the patient alert drive signal. |
| US08078281B2 |
Apparatus for treating neurological disorders by means of chronic adaptive brain stimulation as a function of local biopotentials
An apparatus and a related method for the deep brain stimulation have been invented wherein the parameters of the stimulation supplied at the human nervous system level are adjusted and optimized continuously by the analysis of the bioelectric signals coming from the tissue adjacent the stimulation electrode itself, adapting the therapy continuously and in line to the patient's clinical state. The apparatus is constituted at least by an electro-catheter (1) implantable in a patient's brain and equipped with four contacts (4, 5, 6, 7). Then, there is at least a stimulation module (9) which generates the stimulating signal (15) sent to the electro-catheter (1) and in particular to one of the contacts thereof (6). The electro-catheter (1) contemporarily sends a signal characterizing the brain activity coming from the tissue involved by the stimulating signal (15) to an acquisition module (8). The characterizing signal is used to determine the feedback of the stimulation parameters (15) and, consequently, to adapt the therapy continuously to the patient's clinical state. |
| US08078263B2 |
Projection of subsurface structure onto an object's surface
An imaging system illuminates an object with infrared light to enhance visibility of buried structure beneath the surface of the object, and projects a visible light image of the buried structure onto the surface of the object. The system may include an infrared light source for generating the infrared light and a structure for diffusing the infrared light. The diffusing structure may include one or more layers of diffusing material for diffusing the light. The system further includes a video imaging device for receiving the infrared light reflected from the object and for generating a video image of the buried structure based on the reflected infrared light. The buried structure may be a subcutaneous blood vessel. A calibration procedure is described as well as embodiments for ensuring that the object is maintained in focus at the correct distance. |
| US08078262B2 |
Method for imaging and spectroscopy of tumors and determination of the efficacy of anti-tumor drug therapies
The present invention relates to methods of passive infrared imaging and dynamic infrared imaging of a tumor or lesion (“DIR”) where multiple images are taken before, during and after heating or cooling the tumor or lesion. Patterns of intensity of infrared emission in the infrared image(s) are related to the level of vascularity or metabolic activity of the tumor or lesion, and are used to identify size and shape of the tumor or lesion. The patterns can also be used to determine whether Kaposi's sarcoma lesions, skin cancer lesions and melanomas are active or inactive. Changes in the patterns of infrared emission determined by comparing images taken before, during and after the onset of drug or radiation therapy, are used to assess efficacy of the therapy. The methods can also be used to study tissue affected by angiogenic diseases. |
| US08078261B2 |
Light-guided transluminal catheter
Generally, the present invention is directed to a light-guided catheter for direct visualization of placement through the skin. An embodiment of the invention includes a method for transcutaneous viewing and guiding of intracorporeal catheters into a body that comprises inserting a catheter into the body having at least one lumen and internally illuminating the catheter with light capable of propagating through the blood and tissue to an external viewer outside of the body. |
| US08078259B2 |
Method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging of arteries using a magnetic resonance contrast agent
Systems and methods for contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in which both arterial-phase image data and post-contrast image data is collected. |
| US08078256B2 |
Integrated multi-rail imaging system
The imaging system can comprise a plurality of elongated rails, a scanhead assembly, and a small animal mount assembly. The scanhead assembly is selectively mounted onto a first rail and is constructed and arranged for movement in a linear bi-directional manner along the longitudinal axis of the first rail. The small-animal mount assembly is selectively mounted onto a second rail and is constructed and arranged for movement in a linear bi-directional manner along the longitudinal axis of the second rail. The second rail being mounted relative to the first rail such that the longitudinal axis of the second rail is at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the first rail. The imaging system can also comprise a needle injection assembly that is selectively mounted onto the third rail and is constructed and arranged for movement in a linear bi-directional manner along the longitudinal axis of the third rail. The third rail being mounted relative to the second rail and the first rail such that the longitudinal axis of the third rail is substantially coaxial to the longitudinal axis of the first rail. Alternatively, the needle injection assembly is mounted onto the first rail, such that the second rail is positioned therebetween the needle injection assembly and the scanhead assembly. |
| US08078255B2 |
Virtual surgical systems and methods
Various embodiments of virtual surgical systems and methods are disclosed. |
| US08078247B2 |
Method and circuit for storing and providing historical physiological data
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods that relate to pulse oximetry. Specifically, one embodiment includes an oximeter sensor, comprising, a light emitting element configured to emit light, a light detector configured to receive the light, and a probe configured to contact a patient and provide an indication of whether the oximeter sensor is in contact with the patient based on an impedance measurement. |
| US08078241B2 |
Universal console for portable telephones
A universal console for portable telephones with electrical connection points is disclosed, where the connecting part in the console is arranged to adapt to the design of the telephone connections. |
| US08078239B2 |
Mobile phone with a plurality of speakers
A mobile phone includes a microphone and a plurality of speakers, the mobile phone changes its configuration state into at least two states, a closed state in which the microphone is covered, and an open state in which the microphone is not covered. The mobile phone further includes a determination unit configured to determine the configuration state; and an output control unit configured to, on the basis of the determination result by the determination unit, control on/off action of the plurality of speakers and the microphone. |
| US08078238B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device includes a main body, a display module, a first magnet, a second magnet and a third magnet. The display module rotatably positioned on the main body includes a first surface and a second surface. The first magnet and the second magnet are positioned on one of the main body and the display module, and the third magnet is positioned on the other of the main body and the display module. The third magnet is an electromagnet. The third magnet can selectably face one of the first magnet and the second magnet by changing the polarity of the third magnet, thereby, the display module can rotate relative to the main body and can be fixed at a different position. |
| US08078237B2 |
Mobile phone holder with lateral connections, especially for a mechanical vehicle
A mobile phone holder with lateral connectors, especially for a mechanical vehicle, provided with a base (1) and a cover (4) and a slide (3), which is mounted slideably in the base and into which a mobile phone is inserted, the holder is provided with an unlocking module (2) with lateral buttons (15), which are connected to an eccentric wheel (17) and which, when pressed, unlock the mobile phone, wherein its slide (3) is provided with a power plug (9), mounted slideably in it, and having a casing (39) and pins (34), which are concurrently guided both along the guides (8) of the base (1) and the cover (4), the guides inclined towards the axis of the holder and along the guide (30) of the flat protrusion (29) of the holder (3), that is perpendicular to the holder axis, thus making the power plug (9) move perpendicularly to the A-A axis of the holder. |
| US08078231B2 |
Device, methods, and user interface for providing optimized entry of alphanumeric text
The present invention includes a device, method, and user interface for providing optimized entry of alphanumeric text. In one form, a method for providing selectable characters within a user interface includes determining an operating mode of a communication device and receiving an input associated with a selected input key. The method determines a group of characters associated with the selected key based on the operating mode and displays the group of characters within the user interface. The user interface may display a first character of the group of characters within a first portion of the user interface and the group of characters proximal to the first character within a second portion of the user interface. |
| US08078227B2 |
Radio base station system, a node in a cellular mobile communications network, and a splitter device
The invention relates to a radio base station system for mobile communications, a node in a cellular mobile communications network, as well as a splitter device for use in a radio base system. The radio base station system comprises a first antenna and at least a first, a second and a third radio base station, the first radio base station being connected to the first antenna. The radio base station system comprises a first splitter device, which is connected to the first, the second and the third radio base station. |
| US08078226B2 |
Multiple interface card in a mobile phone
A multiple interface smart card adaptor is described for mobile phones to take advantage of at least wireless and contactless communications. |
| US08078222B2 |
Portable electronic device
A portable electronic device includes a first main body, an audio processor mounted in the main body, a camera module mounted in the main body, and an earphone signal connected with the first main body. A first input-output port disposed on the main body is coupled with the audio processor and the camera module. The earphone includes a second main body, and a second input-output port coupled to the second main body to facilitate audio signal transmissions between the audio processor and the earphone and output control signals from the earphone to the camera module. |
| US08078221B2 |
Tiered wireless, multi-modal access system and method
A wireless, multi-modal access device and system adapted to integrate a number of communications networks operating in differing communication modes to facilitate transfer of communication links during a communication session to promote efficient use of the communication networks. The system includes a plurality of Universal Multi-Modal Access Devices UMMAD that are capable of operating at different frequencies and different protocols (TDMA, AMPS, CDMA, GSM, PCS etc) to communicate with any one of a number of Wide Bandwidth Gateways (WBG), which are each capable of communication using one or more of the protocols. The communication links may be switched from one WBG to another or from one protocol to another during a communication session to continue the session under the control of a Universal System Traffic Controller. Numerous other applications of the UMMADs for unique identification and e-commerce are disclosed. |
| US08078213B2 |
Method of regulating the transmission power of a master station and a slave station for implementation of the method
A slave station and a method of regulating the transmission power a master station are described, which permit an estimate of the signal/interference ratio in a transmission system without sending a pilot sequence, the transmission power being regulated as a function of an estimate of the signal/interference ratio. In a transmission system, in particular a CDMA transmission system, useful signals assigned to different communicating subscribers are separated by orthogonal codes. A useful signal assigned to one communicating subscriber is derived by using one of the codes from a signal received at least in the slave station from the master station and is compared as a reference signal with the received signal to estimate the signal/interference ratio. |
| US08078210B2 |
Systems and methods for providing updated mobile station location estimates to emergency services providers
A wireless communication system, including apparatuses and methods, for handling emergency calls from wireless communication devices to emergency services providers and for automatically providing updated location estimates for the wireless communication devices to during such emergency calls absent any request therefor. The updated location estimates are generally provided in response to a detected occurrence of a triggering event within the wireless communication system. In the exemplary embodiments, such triggering events include the passage of a pre-determined threshold period of time and the handover of an emergency call between cells or sectors of the wireless communication system in response to movement of the wireless communication device from which the emergency call is being made. Further, according to at least one exemplary embodiment, the wireless communication system may selectively limit the provision of updated location estimates based on whether movement of a wireless communication device is substantial or insubstantial. |
| US08078209B2 |
Method and device for controlling access to a channel in a conventional multi-site communication system
A repeater receives and repeats, on a multi-site channel, a sequence of control and media transmissions included in a session, wherein the session has a plurality of participants. While repeating these transmissions, the repeater further detects, from at least one of the transmissions, a start of the session and a type of the session. Based on the type of the session, the repeater determines whether to perform an arbitration during the session to control access to the multi-site channel, and restricts each performed arbitration to only transmissions received from the participants to the session. In addition, after repeating at least one of the control transmissions, the repeater sets a hang time having a duration that is determined based on a type of the transmission preceding the setting of the hang time. |
| US08078201B2 |
Method and system for shunting short messages
A method for shunting short messages in a networking includes: receiving, by an FCC (Flow Control Center), short messages forwarded from a first device, when a second device can not receive the short messages from the first device; determining a flow path of the short messages; and forwarding the short messages via the flow path. Meanwhile, according to another embodiment of the present invention, there is disclosed a system for shunting short messages. According to the solution of the embodiments of the present invention, the shunting of short messages within the networking can be achieved, and further the shunting can be performed according to the operating information of each device in the networking. |
| US08078199B2 |
Method and system for accelerating page accessing in the wide band wireless system
An implementation method and system for accelerating the paging access of a mobile station in broadband wireless system are disclosed, and this system comprises base stations, mobile stations, an anchor access network gateway, an authenticator and a paging controller. The implementation method includes: (a) the anchor access network gateway sends to the base station a Paging Announce message including at least mobile station identifier and the authenticator identifier of the mobile station; (b) the base station keeps the corresponding relationship of the authenticator identifier and the mobile station, and sends a MOS-PAG-ADV message to the mobile station; (c) after the base station receives the RNG-REQ message from the mobile station, it interacts with the authenticator using the authenticator identifier to obtain the authentication key and perform the authentication; and acquire the information of mobile station from the paging controller; (d) before or after the base station requests the anchor access network gateway to establish a data channel, it sends a RNG-RES message to the mobile station; (e) after the anchor access network gateway receives the Data Channel Establishment Acknowledgement message, it informs the paging controller to delete the mobile station information thereon. The present invention can accelerate the process of paging access of the mobile station. |
| US08078197B2 |
Location-based search-result ranking for blog documents and the like
In one embodiment, a mobile communication device is adapted to provide geography-enhanced blog search results. In response to a blog-search query entered by a user, the mobile communication device is adapted to determine a current geographical location for the mobile communication device and a home location for the user. The mobile communication device is further adapted to provide the current location and home location information along with the search query parameters to a search engine. The search engine is adapted to provide results corresponding to blog posts that satisfy the parameters of the search query, wherein the search results are ranked based on at least one of (a) the geographic proximity of a blog post subject to the current location and (b) the geographic proximity of a blog post author's home location to the user's home location. |
| US08078195B2 |
Methods and apparatus for facilitating the determination of GPS location information for a mobile station without disrupting communications of voice call
Techniques for use in a mobile device for obtaining location information with use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) involve receiving, through a user interface of the mobile device, a voice call request for establishing a voice call; and in response to receiving the voice call request: comparing a selected telephone number of the voice call request with one or more predetermined telephone numbers stored in memory of the mobile device; if the selected telephone number matches one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory: prior to initiating the voice call, performing a GPS fix with the GPS system for obtaining the location information of the mobile device; if the selected telephone number fails to match one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory: refraining from performing the GPS fix for obtaining the location information of the mobile device prior to establishing the voice call; and initiating the voice call from the mobile device via a wireless network. |
| US08078193B2 |
Method and system for determining radio spectrum availability and quality
A method is provided for analyzing radio spectrum solutions of a wireless communication service. The method may include obtaining address information of two end points of a wireless communication path of the wireless communication service and performing a check on the address information based on a database system configured to store valid address information and associated geographical information. The method may also include obtaining location related information including a distance between the two end points and determining rain zone information based on the address information and associated geographical information, retrieving radio equipment information on a plurality of radio equipment, and determining a plurality of available wireless communication solutions based on the location related information and the radio equipment information. Each solution may include at least one of a radio spectrum availability and a throughput. Further, the method may include presenting the plurality of wireless communication solutions. |
| US08078191B2 |
System and method of updating presence information
A network node provides presence updates to mobile users. The node reduces the amount of network traffic by eliminating the need for explicit messaging used to inform a user of presence updates. Additionally, the node reduces network traffic by consolidating presence updates, and sending the user only changed portions of the presence information. |
| US08078186B2 |
Transmission rate control method and radio base station
A transmission rate control method according to the present invention includes: determining, at the radio base station NodeB, a maximum granted value that can be notified to the mobile station UE, in accordance with the happy bit notified from the mobile station UE; calculating, at the radio base station NodeB, as an allowable value to be notified to the mobile station UE, a granted value not more than the maximum granted value; notifying, from the radio base station NodeB to the mobile station UE, the granted value calculated at the radio base station NodeB, by using a transmission rate control channel; and transmitting, from the mobile station UE, the uplink user data, at a transmission rate corresponding to the granted value notified from the radio base station NodeB. |
| US08078185B2 |
User group-based adaptive soft frequency reuse method to mitigate downlink interference for wireless cellular networks
A novel soft fractional frequency reuse (FFR) technique is disclosed. The novel FFR technique includes reuse partition and power restriction, dynamic user grouping, channel quality indicator feedback based on reuse, and a user group-based interference aware scheduler. The FFR technique reduces co-channel interference for cell edge users. |
| US08078181B2 |
Method for planning cellular communication networks, corresponding network and computer program product therefor
In a method of planning cellular communication networks, at least one cost function indicative of the quality of service rendered by the network is defined which takes into account the quality of service of location-based services rendered by the network. That cost function is preferably based on the concept of dilution of precision and is indicative of the quality of service of voice services, data services and location based services jointly. A system is provided for measuring at least one actual network parameter. The measurements provided by the measurement system are compared with the corresponding parameters as planned with the purpose of locating at least one critical point in the network where inadequate quality of service is being provided. Information items indicative of counter measures to be carried out in the network in order to dispense with at least one critical point are provided. The cost function may be optimised by using as input data the location of at least one base station in the cellular communication network. |
| US08078180B2 |
Subscriber server system for a cellular communication system
A subscriber server system 200 for a cellular communication system 100 comprises a subscriber data storage 205 which stores public identities associated with subscribers of the cellular communication system. A request processor 207 receives an identity information request message, such as a SIP OPTIONS message, from a remote station 101. The identity information request message comprises a first public identity for a subscriber of the cellular communication system. A public identity processor 209 determines a first set of public identities which comprises a plurality of public identities associated with the subscriber in response to the public identity. A message generator 211 generates an identity response message, such as a SIP 200OK message, comprising the first set of public identities. The identity response message is then transmitted to the first remote station 101. |
| US08078179B2 |
Mobility supporting method of mobile terminal based on prefix binding and mobility supporting system using the method
A mobility supporting method and a mobility supporting system using the method are provided. The mobility supporting method includes a first access router for allocating a prefix to a mobile terminal, and registering the allocated prefix in an authentication server when the mobile terminal connects to the first access router. There is also the authentication server for verifying the mobile terminal based on the registered prefix, and reporting a result of the verifying of the mobile terminal to a second access router when the mobile terminal moves to connect to the second access router and the second access router for notifying the reported result of the verifying the mobile terminal to the first access router. |
| US08078178B2 |
Method and apparatus to restore always-on connectivity during network handover
A method and apparatus to restore always on connectivity to user equipment, the method having the steps of: monitoring whether the user equipment has transitioned to a network that supports concurrent voice and data; performing, upon the monitoring step detecting the transition, a routing area update; checking whether the user equipment was in a voice call at the time of the transition, and if yes, sending a data packet to the network. |
| US08078177B2 |
Derivation of optimal antenna weights during soft handover
Wireless communication method and system for improving optimal antenna weight derivation in transmit diversity mode during soft handover. The method and system use scale factors that depend on the reliability of the feedback information (FBI) detection on the uplink. Depending on FBI detections for each link, the scale factors are then applied to the downlink channel response estimates. FBI detection performance may be based on downlink antenna verification, downlink transmit power control command “up/down” ratio, or both. Poor antenna verification or a high number of “power up” commands on the uplink may indicate unreliable FBI detection. By applying higher scale factors to downlink channel responses corresponding to reliable FBI detection better closed transmit diversity performance during soft handovers may be achieved. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 CFR 1.72(b). |
| US08078176B2 |
Radio communication apparatus and radio communication method
A radio communication apparatus includes a battery voltage monitor configured to acquire a dropped amount of an output voltage in a case where a network connection unit is connected to at least one of radio communication networks used in a handover; and an operation controller configured to stop a handover controller from executing the handover to the other radio communication network when a predicted voltage obtained by subtracting the dropped amount from the output voltage is not more than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08078175B2 |
Method for facilitating a handover of a communication device, communication device, application server for facilitating a handover of a communication device, and communication system arrangement
A method for facilitating a handover of a communication device (202) active on a first radio access network (210) to a second radio access network (206) comprises while the communication device is active on the first radio access network (210), detecting (502) a target access node (216) in the second radio access network for communication with the communication device, deciding (540) to handover the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node, in response to a decision to handover and prior to handing over, initiating (506) by the communication device an access control process to authenticate and authorize the communication device for access to the second radio access network, including sending by the communication device a handover request message via the first radio access network to an application server (222) communicably coupled to the first and second radio access networks to initiate the access control process, and after the communication device is authenticated and authorized to access the second radio access network while the communication device is still active on the first radio access network, initiating (510) communication between the communication device and the detected target access node in the second radio access network and handing over the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node. |
| US08078174B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving mobile-terminated call set-up performance
An apparatus and method for improving mobile-terminated call set-up performance comprising triggering an inter-radio access technology (IRAT) transition from a source cell to a target cell, remembering the deterministic timing of a plurality of paging occasions in the source cell, and using the deterministic timing for checking at least one paging channel in the source cell during transition to the target cell and before starting to monitor at least one paging channel in the target cell. |
| US08078173B2 |
Data transfer system, approach notification system and data transfer method
A data transfer system includes a data conversion storage server (3) that generates data (MD1) having a size smaller than a size of data (MD0) received from a delivery server (5) by performing a specific process on the data (MD0). A base station control unit (2) is provided with a data transferring portion that transfers one of the data (MD0 and MD1) selectively to a mobile phone terminal (1), and an approaching mobile communication equipment sensing portion that senses a mobile phone terminal (1) that is receiving the data (MD0) and is approaching an HSDPA supporting wireless base station (4). Then, the data transferring portion stops sending the data (MD0) to the mobile phone terminal (1) sensed by the approaching mobile communication equipment sensing portion, and instead it starts transferring data (MD2) related to a part of the first data to be transferred. |
| US08078163B2 |
System for customizing electronic content for delivery to a passenger in an airborne wireless cellular network
The Customized Electronic Services Delivery System provides customized electronic services to passengers who are located onboard an aircraft by storing data indicative of a plurality of electronic services that are available to passengers who are located onboard an aircraft, as well as data indicative of preferences of passengers for the plurality of electronic services. Once a correspondence is made between the electronic services and an identified passenger, the Customized Electronic Services Delivery System advises the passenger of the availability of the customized services and establishes wireless communications between the passenger's electronic device and the selected electronic service. The electronic services include in-flight entertainment services as well as destination-based services which link the passenger's existing travel plans with offers for additional services that are available to the passenger at their nominal destination and their planned travel schedule. |
| US08078161B2 |
Millimeter wave communication system
A communication system includes a first communication module, and a second communication module. The first communication module may receive a first type of communication signal (e.g. a mobile telephone signal) and convert it into a second-type of communication signal (e.g., a millimeter wave radio signal). The first type of communication signal may be a mobile telephone signal from a first fire fighter's mobile telephone who is located outside of the building. The first communication module may transmit the second-type of communication signal to the second communication module. |
| US08078158B2 |
Provisioning applications for a mobile device
Methods and systems for provisioning an application for a mobile device are provided. A user may request an application. A request concerning the application is sent to a provisioning device. The request includes information concerning the mobile device and/or the user of the mobile device. The information is used to determine the requirements for operating the requested application on the mobile device. A hyperlink for downloading the requirements information is sent to the user of the mobile device via text messaging and/or email. The requirements information may be provided directly to the mobile device, to a personal computing device associated with the user of the mobile device, or a combination. |
| US08078156B2 |
Transfer back
A communication system includes logic to detect a second communication device in proximity to a first communication device engaged in a call, logic to provide substantially uninterrupted transfer of the call to the second communication device, and logic to transfer in a substantially uninterrupted fashion at least a portion of the call to the second communication device back to the first communication device upon indications that a user of the second communication device has shifted back to using the first communication device. |
| US08078146B2 |
Systems and methods for security and asset management
This invention relates to using consumer devices, such as mobile telephones, to identify, authenticate, locate and contact users of security and asset management systems. Such consumer devices can be used not only with the security systems but also for other uses. A device is initially registered with the security system. As needed, the device is presented to the system for authentication, enabling a person access to a secure area. In addition, the system can determine the person's location in the secure area and can send information messages to the person as well as notifying the person in case of emergency. |
| US08078145B2 |
Mobile communication system and mobile terminal having function of inactivating mobile communication viruses, and method thereof
The present invention provides a mobile communication system and method for inactivating or curing mobile communication viruses. The mobile communication system for inactivating a virus includes: a database associated with the mobile communication system, for storing at least one virus vaccine program; and a virus monitoring unit associated with the mobile communication system, for checking virus infection of received data, analyzing virus information, choosing one of virus vaccine programs that are stored in the database and inactivating the virus. Virus vaccine programs are timely updated over the air (OTA) whenever a new version of vaccine program is available. |
| US08078144B2 |
Apparatus and method for applying ciphering in universal mobile telecommunications system
Apparatus and a method for ciphering messages in mobile telecommunications system user equipment are disclosed. The apparatus is arranged to receive ciphering configuration parameters in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer; forward ciphering configuration parameters to a Radio Link Control (RLC) or Medium Access Control (MAC) layer; and, in response to subsequent receipt of a message from the network, which message indicates that the user equipment device is to start ciphering, configuring the user equipment device to start ciphering using the ciphering configuration parameters in the RLC/MAC layer. |
| US08078142B2 |
Prepaid charging in communication network
A method and apparatus for charging against prepaid credit in a communication network. When a first terminal requests establishment of a call to a second terminal, the network ascertains whether prepaid credit is involved. If so, accounting sessions are established between an accounting server and any accounting servers that will raise costs during the call. A session identifier is generated. Once the call is established, charging update data is sent from the accounting clients to the accounting server, where it is collated on the basis of the accounting session identifier, whereby enabling updating of the prepaid credit during the call. |
| US08078138B2 |
In-vehicle emergency call apparatus
A start trigger of an emergency call occurs. In this case, an in-vehicle emergency call apparatus mounted in a vehicle does not transmit all the positional data items presently stored in a memory unit to a service center. Alternatively, the in-vehicle emergency call apparatus transmits only the newest positional data item to the service center. Thus, even if a communication link with the service center has a low transmission speed, the positional data of the vehicle can be promptly notified to the service center. |
| US08078134B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal is provided including a display module, an acceleration sensor, and a controller. The display module is for displaying first content and second content. The acceleration sensor is for providing measurement data on a direction of gravitational acceleration. The controller is configured to display the first content and the second content in line vertically and to rotate the first content and the second content when the measurement data indicate that the mobile terminal has been rotated to a first position while uniformly maintaining a display direction of the display module. The controller is further configured to display the first content and the second content in line horizontally and to rotate the first content and the second content when the measurement data indicate that the mobile terminal has been rotated to a second position while uniformly maintaining the display direction of the display module. |
| US08078133B2 |
Reduction of gain switching induced phase jumps in high dynamic range downcoversion mixers
A system and method for minimizing phase jumps in an output signal. |
| US08078121B2 |
Component assembly cushioning device for mobile devices
A spacer for use in a mobile device fills the space between a component assembly and a housing. The spacer includes a layer of compressible material for insertion between the component assembly and the housing. A plurality of compressible features are provided on a face of the layer. Upon insertion of the component assembly and assembly of the housing, the compressible features are compressed to fill a gap between the component assembly and the housing without over-compressing the main body of the spacer, allowing the body of the spacer to cushion any subsequent impact to the mobile device. |
| US08078116B2 |
Method of analyzing the operation of a cellular mobile telecommunications network
The method analyzes the operation of a cellular mobile telecommunications network comprising a set of cells each associated with a base station adapted to communicate with a mobile station present in the cell.The method comprises: a) for each cell, collecting one or more variables characteristic of the operation of the network in said cell; and b) supplying the or each characteristic variable in association with the collection cell. The supply step comprises: b1) selecting on a map of the network based on said cells an observation line passing over the map across adjacent cells; and b2) making available a structured representation of the or each characteristic variable for only the adjacent cells crossed by said observation line, in the order in which they are encountered along said line. |
| US08078115B2 |
Radio network performance monitoring method, radio communication system, device, and its program
During a communication, the radio connection quality is measured so as to detect and store a generation time, an end time, and a continuation time of quality degradation. Upon a communication end, the end cause is judged. If the communication end is caused by a user operation, a causal connection between the communication end and the quality degradation is judged according to temporal relationship between the generation time of the quality degradation and the communication end time. That is, it is judged whether the communication end caused by the user operation is a phenomenon that the user has terminated the communication because of the communication quality degradation or other reason. Thus the communication end reasons are divided into at least two types and accumulated. |
| US08078109B1 |
Concurrently coordinated microwave paths in coordinated frequency bands
Methods, systems, and apparatus, for operation of concurrently coordinated microwave paths in coordinated frequency bands are described. In one aspect, a system includes a plurality of primary sites, each primary site including a transceiver portion configured to transmit to or receive from the transceiver portion of another primary site on a coordinated microwave path on a first frequency; a secondary site, the secondary site located in an optimized area, the secondary site including a transceiver portion, the transceiver portion of the secondary site configured to transmit to the transceiver portion of a primary site on a concurrently coordinated microwave path on the first frequency, where the optimized area is an area where interference caused by the secondary site to other transceivers that operate on a different coordinated microwave path on the first frequency is less than interference caused by a primary site to the other transceivers. |
| US08078103B2 |
Multi-element RFID coupler
An RFID communication system comprising a near field coupler that is capable of selectively communicating with a targeted transponder positioned among a group of multiple adjacent transponders. The coupler is configured to receive communication signals from a transceiver and transmit the signals to a targeted transponder in a transponder operating region. The coupler includes a number of radiating elements spaced apart and a switching element. The switching element selectively couples one or more of the radiating elements to the transceiver. The coupled elements transmit the signals into the transponder operating region by emanating a near field effect. The pattern of the near field effect may be adjusted by changing the combination of the coupled radiating elements. |
| US08078100B2 |
Physical layer repeater with discrete time filter for all-digital detection and delay generation
A discrete time bandpass filter element (103) having multiple stages (201, 202, 203, 204, 205) for use in a time division duplex radio protocol communications system including an automatic gain control. Discrete time bandpass filter is used to generate delay and can replace SAW filters in a wireless frequency translating repeater. |
| US08078099B2 |
System and method for identifying the path or devices on the path of a communication signal using (1+r(t)) amplitude modulation
A system and method of applying a known modification to a signal to enable a determination of a signal received by a first node is received directly from a second node or indirectly through a repeater. The repeater receives a primary signal and creates a secondary signal as a function of the primary signal and a known modification, wherein the known modification identifies the repeater. The primary signal is transmitted and injected with the secondary signal as the first signal to the primary receiver. |
| US08078098B2 |
Multi-path data dissemination method for magnetic diffusion wireless network and system thereof
A multi-path data dissemination method for a magnetic diffusion wireless network and a system thereof overcome environmental interferences in wireless data transmissions. Each node of the network is provided for figuring out its good neighbors by broadcasting a good-neighbor exploratory message in a bootstrap process. Each node keeps a good-neighbor table containing nodes with a RSSI higher than a threshold of the good-neighbor table. A magnetic field of a magnetic diffusion (MD) dissemination method capable of determining a data dissemination path is created according to the good-neighbor tables to ensure that the data can be forwarded to a data sink successfully. |
| US08078095B2 |
Data communication system and data communication method
A data communication system and a data communication method are provided. The data communication system comprises a bidirectional cable, an antenna, a receiving and a function circuit block. The bidirectional cable transfers data through a high and a low frequency band. The antenna is to receive and transfer the analog data signal through the high frequency band of the bidirectional cable. The receiving circuit block comprises a receiving module to receive the analog data signal from the high frequency band and converts the analog data signal into a digital data to a host and a first control signal processing module to couple a control signal to the low frequency band. The function circuit block comprises a second control signal processing module to decouple the control signal from the low frequency band and a function module to perform an adjustment on the data communication system according to the control signal. |
| US08078092B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling the axial rate of movement of a fusing belt in a printing apparatus
An apparatus (100) and method (400, 500) that controls the rate of movement of a fusing belt in a printing apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus can include a fusing belt (120) and at least one fusing belt support roller (131), where the fusing belt can be entrained on the fusing belt support roller. The fusing belt support roller can have an axis of rotation (135). The apparatus can include a pressure roller (132) that contacts the fusing belt to form a fusing nip (137). The pressure roller and the fusing belt can be configured to fuse an image on a media sheet (112) in the fusing nip. The apparatus can include a belt position changing mechanism (150) coupled to the fusing belt. The belt position changing mechanism can be configured to move the fusing belt axially relative to the fusing belt support roller axis of rotation. The apparatus can include a belt position changing control module (152) coupled to the belt position changing mechanism. The belt position changing control module can be configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt. |
| US08078090B2 |
Transfer device and image forming apparatus including the same
A transfer device includes: a first transfer belt; a first and second roller on which the first transfer belt is wound; a second transfer belt which makes contact with the first transfer belt; a third roller on which the second transfer belt is wound, and which makes contact with the first roller via the first transfer belt and the second transfer belt; a fourth roller on which the second transfer belt is wound, and which makes contact with the second roller via the first transfer belt and the second transfer belt; a first drive force transmission mechanism which transmits a drive force to the first roller; and a second drive force transmission mechanism which transmits a drive force to the third roller. |
| US08078089B2 |
Development apparatus with a development roller scraper and image forming apparatus including the same
One embodiment of a development apparatus includes a developer carrier that transports a two-component developer and a scraper that detaches the two-component developer transported by the developer carrier from a surface of the developer carrier. Also, a front end of the scraper is formed so as not to have an edge that is less than 90 degrees. Further, the development apparatus includes a scraper pedestal having rigidity, and the scraper is fixed on the scraper pedestal. |
| US08078086B2 |
Liquid developer transport device and image forming apparatus
A liquid developer transport device includes a channel switching part that dispenses liquid developer to a first channel or a second channel. A filtering part filters liquid developer flowing in the first channel, and a first storage part stores the filter liquid developer. A second storage part stores liquid developer flowing in the second channel. The channel switching part switches channels when a toner particle concentration is more than a predetermined concentration. |
| US08078085B2 |
Image forming apparatus
In an image forming apparatus, a support frame configured to support a plurality of cartridges each including a photoconductor is allowed to be pulled out from a casing of the apparatus. A plurality of light-emitting parts configured to expose a corresponding photoconductor to light is arranged in each exposure unit which is movable between an exposure position proximate to the corresponding photoconductor and a retreating position away from the photoconductor. A pair of side plates of the support frame, which extends in a direction perpendicular to a main direction in which the light-emitting parts are arranged, has guide slots formed therein, each of which is configured to guide movement of a corresponding exposure unit between its exposure and retreating positions. Each guide slot includes a positioning portion configured to position the exposure unit in position in a subordinate direction perpendicular to the main direction and to an exposure direction. |
| US08078081B2 |
Image-forming device having a belt cleaning unit
The present invention provides an image-forming device having a developer-carrying member, an image-carrying member, a belt, and a cleaning unit. The developer-carrying member has an outer surface including a thin layer forming region for carrying a thin layer of developer. The thin layer forming region has a first width in a widthwise direction. The thin layer forming region includes an effective image forming region used for forming an image on a recording medium. The image-carrying member has a surface on which an electrostatic latent image based on the image is formed and developed into a developer image by the developer carried on the effective image forming region. The belt is configured to circulate in a moving direction orthogonal to the widthwise direction and transfer the developer image onto the recording medium. The belt has an outer surface including a cleanable region having a second width in the widthwise direction. The cleaning unit cleans the developer on the cleanable region. The second width is greater than the first width. The cleanable region is placed with respect to the thin layer forming region so that each widthwise end of the second width is positioned outside of each widthwise end of the first width in the widthwise direction. |
| US08078076B2 |
Image forming apparatus that controls width of correction pattern
An image forming apparatus generates a color image on a transfer belt by superimposing toner images of respective colors generated by image forming units, and transfers the color image onto a transfer medium. The image forming apparatus includes a correction pattern forming unit configured to form a correction pattern for correcting color misalignment on the transfer belt, a detection sensor configured to detect the correction pattern formed on the transfer belt by the correction pattern forming unit, and a correction control unit configured to control a width of the correction pattern in response to an output of the detection sensor produced by detecting the correction pattern. |
| US08078072B2 |
Image forming apparatus with image fixing device including an induction heater and a shield located between two sections of a core of the induction heater
An image forming apparatus has an image forming station and a fixing unit. The fixing unit includes a coil for generating a magnetic field for induction heating the heating member. A first core made of a magnetic material is arranged fixedly around the coil. A second core made of a magnetic material is between the first core and the heating member in a generation direction of the magnetic field to form a magnetic path in cooperation with the first core and capable of changing a posture thereof. A shield made of a nonmagnetic metal is arranged along the outer surface of the second core to shield magnetism in the magnetic field and a magnetic shielding portion for changing the posture of the second core between a first posture where the shield shields the magnetism and a second posture where the shield does not shield the magnetism. |
| US08078068B2 |
Toner yield analysis for monitor and replacement of consumables within a print system
Systems and methods are described hereinto to provide a notification when a predetermined event occurs that is related to a consumable. A print engine outputs hard copies based on electronically received data. One or more toner cartridges that are utilized by the print engine to place toner onto a hard copy substrate. A meter monitors and provides a level of remaining toner for each of the one or more cartridges. A yield component receives level data from each meter to compare to an expected yield and an expected grams per impression, wherein if the expected yield and/or the expected grams per impression are outside of a predetermined threshold, a signal is output. |
| US08078067B2 |
Optical receiving apparatus
In an optical receiving apparatus for receiving an optical DQPSK signal, a phase difference between both arms of an optical interferometer is controlled to an optimum value. The optical DQPSK signal is incident on two optical interferometers in each which a delay-time difference between two arms is set to be equal to a 1-symbol time of the optical DQPSK signal and which are orthogonal to each other. The optical receiving apparatus converts the optical DQPSK signal into an intensity signal and receives it. A differential amplifier obtains a difference signal between outputs of a pre-amplifier and a discriminator connected thereto. The difference signal includes, as an amplitude, a phase shift in a phase section. A control circuit adjusts the phase of the phase section in the optical interferometers to reduce this difference signal, and changes the phase difference between the two arms to a desired phase difference. |
| US08078063B2 |
Monolithic power monitor and wavelength detector
Monolithic single and/or dual detector structures are fabricated on the emitting surface of a VCSEL and/or on a lens or glass substrate configured to be positioned along the axis of emission of an optical light source. Each monolithic detector structure includes one or two PIN detectors fabricated from amorphous silicon germanium with carbon doping or amorphous germanium with hydrogen doping. The monolithic detectors may additionally include various metallization layers, buffer layers, and/or anti-reflective coatings. The monolithic detectors can be grown on 1550 NM VCSELs used in optical transmitters, including lasers with managed chirp and TOSA modules, to reduce power and real estate requirements of the optical transmitters, enabling the optical transmitters to be implemented in long-reach SFP+ transceivers. |
| US08078059B2 |
Multimode optical transmission device
An optical transmitting circuit (2) modulates multimode oscillation light using an information signal, subjects at least one oscillation-mode light beam of the multimode oscillation light to a predetermined operation, and outputting the result to an optical transmission channel. An optical receiving circuit (8) receives an optical signal transmitted through the optical transmission channel, subjects the received optical signal to an operation reverse to the predetermined operation to recover an optical signal as it was before being subjected to the predetermined operation, and converting the recovered optical signal into an electrical signal, thereby reproducing the information signal. |
| US08078058B2 |
Ultra high-speed adaptive and all-optical method for data packet rate multiplication compatible with multiple data rates
The present invention relates to an adaptive and all-optical method for data packet rate multiplication compatible with multiple data rates and/or multiple communication protocols. By performing a real-time pulse width compression on an original electronic or optical packet from an end user or a network interface device, the method generates an optical packet having an identical rate with the original packet while the duration of each pulse being significantly reduced. Then, by eliminating any redundant idle time due to the pulse width compression, the method also shortens data period and thus makes the rate of packet multiplied. The present invention addresses the technical problem of limited data rate in EO/OE conversion as known in the prior art and solves fundamentally the interconnection and communication between networks or systems of different data rates and/or protocols. The method of the present invention thus enables the design of an ultrahigh rate all-optical communication system and network transparent in rate and protocol. |
| US08078055B1 |
Passive optical avionics network
The present disclosure is directed to a passive optical avionics network system and method.A passive avionics network may comprise: (a) an optical line terminal (OLT); (b) at least one optical network unit (ONU); (c) a fiber optic bus operably coupling the OLT and the ONU; and (d) an avionics module operably coupled to the ONU.An integrated modular avionics (IMA) system may comprise: (a) a line-replaceable unit (LRU), the LRU comprising: (i) a processing unit; and (ii) an optical line terminal (OLT); (b) at least one optical network unit (ONU); (c) a fiber optic bus operably coupling the LRU and the ONU; and (d) an avionics module operably coupled to the ONU.A method for avionics network communication may comprise: (a) providing avionics data; (b) transmitting the avionics data via a fiber optic network; (c) receiving the avionics data; and (d) controlling functionality of an avionics module according to the avionics data. |
| US08078053B1 |
Optical link characterization
Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to one example embodiment, a method may include transmitting a semiconductor laser-generated optical signal from a first end of a multi-mode fiber (MMF) optical link to a second end of the link. The optical signal may have a reference bandwidth at the first end of the link. The method may further include converting the optical signal to an electrical signal. The method may further include analyzing the electrical signal with an electronic dispersion compensator to determine an effective modal bandwidth (EMBW) of the received optical signal. The method may further include analyzing the electrical signal with an electronic dispersion compensator to determine an intersymbol interference (ISI) penalty of the optical link. The method may further include comparing the EMBW and the ISI penalty to predetermined threshold values of a tolerable EMBW and a tolerable ISI penalty, respectively, to characterize the optical link as acceptable or unacceptable for use as a communications link with a predetermined communications protocol. |
| US08078048B2 |
Imaging device and video recording/reproducing system
An imaging device includes a photographing lens configured to focus light from a subject, a splitter configured to split the focused light to left and right in an area, in which light diffused from one point of the subject becomes parallel light, so as to respectively form different polarized lights, an imaging lens configured to respectively image the split different polarized lights, a transmission unit configured to receive the imaged different polarized lights on the same plane so as to transmit any one of the polarized lights in each area of the plane, an imaging element configured to convert the transmitted light on the plane into an image according to an electronic signal, and an image generating unit configured to extract and interpolate the converted image in each area so as to generate two different images. |
| US08078046B2 |
Image sensing apparatus, control method therefor, program, and storage medium
An image sensing apparatus includes a focus detection unit, determination unit, and selection unit. The focus detection unit includes a plurality of focus detection regions in a frame. The determination unit determines whether the focus detection unit has captured an object during servo autofocus in which the focus detection unit repeats focus detection even after obtaining an in-focus object image so that the focus follows motion of the object. The selection unit selects a focus detection region indicating the closest distance from the plurality of focus detection regions if the determination unit determines that the object has not been captured. The selection unit selects, as a focusing target, a focus detection region indicating a focus detection result nearest to the previous focus detection result from the plurality of focus detection regions if the determination unit determines that the object has been captured. |
| US08078045B2 |
Remote view and controller for a camera
A device operable with a camera is disclosed which includes a display screen, remote from the camera, and a processor for receiving an image signal of the field of view of the camera and for displaying an image of the field of view of the camera on the display screen. The device communicates with and controls certain camera functions to allow a photographic or video image to be framed and taken from a location remote from the camera. |
| US08078043B2 |
Image shake correction apparatus and image pickup apparatus
A third group barrel 3 holding a third lens group L3 is controlled to be driven by drivers in yaw and pitch directions orthogonal to an optical axis, respectively. The Y magnet and the Y yoke of the driver in the yaw direction are fixed on the third group barrel 3, and a Y electromagnetic coil is disposed at a Y guide base 24 surrounding the third group barrel 3. As a driver in the pitch direction, a P magnet and P yoke 29 are fixed to the Y guide base 24, and a P electromagnetic coil is fixed to a P guide base at an opposed position. A Y guide bar 25 and a P guide bar 30 are overlapped with projection regions onto planes orthogonal to the optical axis of the Y electromagnetic coil and the Y magnet, and the P electromagnetic coil and the P magnet, respectively. |
| US08078041B2 |
Shake correction unit and imaging apparatus
A shake correction unit comprises a first lens unit that holds a first lens and is movable in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the first lens during a shake correction operation and a second lens unit that holds a second lens and is attached to the first lens unit and moves in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis together with the first lens unit during the shake correction operation, at least one of a shutter and an iris diaphragm having a changeable opening diameter is disposed between the first lens unit and the second lens unit. |
| US08078035B2 |
Image data recording apparatus
An apparatus for generating reproduction list data which designates reproduction of modified image data generated using first image data recorded in a recording medium, in response to an instruction for stopping the recording of the first image data with respect to the recording medium, and for recording the reproduction list data and modified image data in the recording medium. |
| US08078032B1 |
Method and apparatus for information processing, and medium for storing information
In an information processor having a function to check out a content to a portable device (6) such as a portable disc player, a content is recorded to a content data base (114) under the control of a content management program (111), and it is set under the control of a display/operation instruction program (112) whether the recorded content has to be checked out to the portable device (6). If a content is recorded in case it has been set that the content has to be checked out, the content having been recorded in the content data base (114) is checked out to the portable device (6). |
| US08078031B2 |
Video tape indexing system and method
A video tape indexing system in which program broadcast identification information is entered into the system for use in recording the program. When the program is recorded, the system stores indexing information in an index memory. The system monitors a broadcast channel for electronic program guide information that includes titles and usually channel, date, time and length for the titles. The system matches the channel, date, time and length information from the broadcast channel with the identification information entered for the program to be recorded. The title in the broadcast channel associated with the channel, date, time and length information is then associated with the indexing information for the program. |
| US08078023B2 |
System and method for permanently writing a diffraction grating in a low phonon energy glass medium
A system and method for permanently writing diffraction gratings in low phonon energy glass waveguides are shown. Ultrashort light pulses are generated and made to form two beams synchronously superimposed in the waveguide, therefore forming an interference pattern corresponding to the desired grating. The light pulses are focussed so that the light intensity in the waveguide exceeds a filamentation threshold. The exposure of the waveguide to these light pulses is controlled temporally and spatially in order to limit detrimental thermal effects induced by the high-intensity pulses in the glass medium of the waveguide. |
| US08078020B2 |
Optical mode-converter structure
An apparatus comprising an optical-mode-converter structure. The optical-mode-converter structure includes a tapered optical core on a planar substrate, an optical cladding layer covering the tapered optical core and a mode-expanding layer. The mode-expanding layer covers the tapered optical core and is located in-between the tapered optical core and the optical cladding layer. The mode-expanding layer has a refractive index that is in-between a refractive index of the tapered optical core and a refractive index of the optical cladding layer. |
| US08078015B2 |
Optical modulator
In an optical modulator, lights that have been branched by an input optical branching section are input via curved waveguides to a plurality of optical modulation sections arranged in parallel on the same substrate. In the optical modulation sections, optical branching sections of an MZ type optical waveguide are arranged shifted to an output side in the longitudinal direction (x direction) of the substrate, corresponding to an arrangement of input ends of signal electrodes. As a result, even if the input ends of the signal electrodes of the respective optical modulation sections are arranged side by side with a predetermined spacing on one side face of the substrate, input light can be applied to the respective optical modulation sections at low loss, without incurring an increase in the drive voltage. |
| US08078014B1 |
High-speed electro-optical modulator
A method of amplitude electro-optic modulation. The method includes transmitting a narrowband laser light into an electro-optically active waveguide in a first direction. The electro-optically active waveguide has a grating for reflecting the narrowband laser light. The method also includes applying an electric signal to the electro-optically active waveguide and modifying the reflection of the grating in a wavelength region of the narrowband laser light by application of the electric signal. |
| US08078001B2 |
Methods, apparatuses and systems for piecewise generation of pixel correction values for image processing
Methods, apparatuses and systems providing pixel correction values for a captured image, where the correction values are determined based on a piecewise-quadratic correction function in a first direction. The parameters for the piecewise-quadratic correction function in the first direction are calculated based on a plurality of piecewise-quadratic correction functions in a second direction. The correction values may be positional gain adjustment values. |
| US08078000B2 |
Method for the improved display of co-registered 2D-3D images in medical imaging
The present invention relates to a method, which assists a doctor for instance in orientation in 2D fluoroscopy images. The present invention relates here to a method for displaying co-registered 2D-3D images in medical imaging, comprising the following steps: determine a 3D or 2D projection which is congruent with a 2D image from a 3D image data set, and overlaid display of the 2D image with the 3D or 2D projection on a monitor, characterized in that the two image parts of the two overlaid images can be adjusted and a shift in the two overlaid images which can be adjusted in at least one direction is enabled. |
| US08077987B2 |
Methods and apparatus for processing of a digital image
Edge information of an input digital image is obtained. Digital image data corresponding to the input digital image is transmitted to a receiver. The edge information is also transmitted to the receiver. An output digital image is obtained at the receiver by processing the digital image data received at the receiver using the edge information received at the receiver. In this way, because the edge information is transmitted separately, as side information, and does not have to be obtained at the receiver, the computational complexity requires of the receiver is low. This enables for example real-time edge-adaptive interpolation to be carried out at the receiver. |
| US08077975B2 |
Handwriting symbol recognition accuracy using speech input
Described is a bimodal data input technology by which handwriting recognition results are combined with speech recognition results to improve overall recognition accuracy. Handwriting data and speech data corresponding to mathematical symbols are received and processed (including being recognized) into respective graphs. A fusion mechanism uses the speech graph to enhance the handwriting graph, e.g., to better distinguish between similar handwritten symbols that are often misrecognized. The graphs include nodes representing symbols, and arcs between the nodes representing probability scores. When arcs in the first and second graphs are determined to match one another, such as aligned in time and associated with corresponding symbols, the probability score in the second graph for that arc is used to adjust the matching probability score in the first graph. Normalization and smoothing may be performed to correspond the graphs to one another and to control the influence of one graph on the other. |
| US08077973B2 |
Handwritten word recognition based on geometric decomposition
A method of recognizing a handwritten word of cursive script includes providing a template of previously classified words, and optically reading a handwritten word so as to form an image representation thereof comprising a bit map of pixels. The external pixel contour of the bit map is extracted and the vertical peak and minima pixel extrema on upper and lower zones respectively of this external contour are detected. Feature vectors of the vertical peak and minima pixel extrema are determined and compared to the template so as to generate a match between the handwritten word and a previously classified word. A method for classifying an image representation of a handwritten word of cursive script is also provided. Also provided is an apparatus for recognizing a handwritten word of cursive script. |
| US08077971B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program
This invention generates a digital document by applying character recognition to character images in a document image, and rendering the character recognition result on the document image in a transparent color. This digital document allows to specify a part corresponding to a search keyword on the document image upon conducting a search. When this digital document is generated, it includes a description required to use glyph data (font data) of a simple character shape commonly to a plurality of character types as font data used upon rendering the character recognition result. Therefore, even when the digital document needs to save font data, an increase in file size can be minimized. Also, by rendering using a simple character shape, the data size of the font data itself can be reduced. |
| US08077969B2 |
Contour finding in segmentation of video sequences
A method of image processing includes: receiving at least one video frame of a video sequence, the at least one video frame including at least one foreground subject and a background; and processing the at least one video frame so as to separate the at least one foreground subject from the background. The processing includes: generating a pixel mask containing information indicating, for each pixel of the at least one video frame, whether the pixel belongs to the foreground subject or to the background, and determining contours of the at least one foreground subject on the pixel mask. The determining of the contours includes for each pixel in the at least one video frame; based on the information included in the pixel mask, determining whether at least one pixel border belongs to a contour of the at least one foreground subject, the at least one pixel border separating the pixel from a respective at least one adjacent pixel. |
| US08077968B2 |
Image processing method
An image processing method for individually processing an image of each pixel unit is provided. A red-green-blue color space signal to be input to a pixel unit is transformed into a first brightness signal. The red-green-blue color space signal includes a first red signal, a first green signal and a first blue signal. The first brightness signal is transformed into a second brightness signal to obtain a contrast factor, wherein the contrast factor is a ratio of the second brightness signal and the first brightness signal. The first red signal, the first green signal and the first blue signal are multiplied by the contrast factor to obtain a second red signal, a second green signal and a second blue signal. The second red signal, the second green signal and the second blue signal are performed by color enhancement to obtain a high contrast and colorful image. |
| US08077962B2 |
Pattern generating apparatus and pattern shape evaluating apparatus
Although there has been a method for evaluating pattern shapes of electronic devices by using, as a reference pattern, design data or a non-defective pattern, the conventional method has a problem that the pattern shape cannot be evaluated with high accuracy because of the difficulty in defining an exact shape suitable for the manufacturing conditions of the electronic devices. The present invention provides a shape evaluation method for circuit patterns of electronic devices, the method including a means for generating contour distribution data of at least two circuit patterns from contour data sets on the circuit patterns; a means for generating a reference pattern used for the pattern shape evaluation, from the contour distribution data; and a means for evaluating the pattern shape by comparing each evaluation target pattern with the reference pattern. |
| US08077960B2 |
Methods for altering one or more parameters of a measurement system
Methods for altering one or more parameters of a measurement system are provided. One method includes analyzing a sample using the system to generate values from classification channels of the system for a population of particles in the sample. The method also includes identifying a region in a classification space in which the values for the populations are located. In addition, the method includes determining an optimized classification region for the population using one or more properties of the region. The optimized classification region contains a predetermined percentage of the values for the population. The optimized classification region is used for classification of particles in additional samples. |
| US08077952B2 |
Precomputed automatic pixel shift for review of digital subtracted angiography
Disclosed are method and apparatus for motion correction of Digital Subtracted Angiography (DSA) images. Prior to display of DSA image frames, a pixel shift vector is calculated for each fill frame. For a fill frame in which a pixel shift vector cannot be directly calculated, an approximate pixel shift vector is interpolated between, or extrapolated from, other pixel shift vectors. A mask frame is shifted by a pixel shift vector. The resulting shifted mask frame is subtracted from the corresponding fill frame to generate a motion-corrected subtracted frame, which is then displayed on a video display. Motion correction is performed prior to diagnostic review. |
| US08077949B2 |
Apparatus for caries detection
An apparatus for imaging a tooth having a light source with a first spectral range and a second spectral range. A polarizing beamsplitter (18) light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor (68), wherein the first and second polarization states are orthogonal. A first lens (22) in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth, through the polarizing beamsplitter (18), toward the sensor (68), and obtains image data from the redirected portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter (15) in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range. Control logic enables the sensor to obtain either the reflectance image or the fluorescence image. |
| US08077945B2 |
Method of analyzing cell or the like having linear shape, method of analyzing nerve cell and apparatus and program for performing these methods
It is intended to propose a technique whereby a nerve cell is morphologically analyzed automatically based on a three-dimensional image of the nerve cell. First, a dendritic projection is traced by using the scale space method. In this step, irregularities are reduced by using the σ-convolution smoothing method and thus the center line of the dendritic projection is identified. Next, a negative curvature is searched for by the Hess tensor method. The part corresponding to the negative curvature in all coordinate axes is judged as the area occupied by “heads”. The center of this area (heads) is referred to as the spine position. Approximation is made on the assumption that the spine head has an ellipsoidal shape. Thus, the minor diameter, medium diameter and major diameter of the ellipsoid are calculated. From the spine position, a perpendicular line is dropped toward the dendritic projection closest thereto and this perpendicular line is considered as the column part. By combining the dendritic projection with the spine head and column thus obtained, the final morphological shape of the nerve cell is obtained. |
| US08077943B2 |
Method and apparatus for aligning a multi-modality imaging system
A method of determining component misalignment in a multi-modality imaging system includes imaging a plurality of target objects with a first modality unit to generate a tomographic image data set and imaging the plurality of targets with a second modality unit to generate an emission image data set. The method also includes determining a location of the target objects in the emission image data set to produce emission target object location coordinates, calculating a positional alignment vector for each target object based on the emission target object location coordinates, and aligning the multi-modality imaging system based on the positional alignment vectors. |
| US08077928B2 |
Image mapping to provide visual geographic path
Provided is a computer system and method for mapping a visual path. The method includes receiving one or more images included in a predefined area; receiving one or more parameters associated with the image; and integrating the images and parameters into a map of the predefined area to enable mapping the visual path through the predefined area in response to one or more input path parameters. |
| US08077927B1 |
Updating a database with determined change identifiers
In various embodiments, old flood maps may be compared to new flood maps to determine which areas of the flood map have changed. These changed areas may be correlated against geographic area descriptions that are within changed areas of the flood map. The changed areas may also be analyzed to determine whether each area has had a change in status (e.g., from a high risk flood zone to a non-high risk flood zone or vice versa) or a change in zone within a status (e.g., from one flood zone to another flood zone). The information on type of change (or no change) may be used to populate a database that includes geographic area description identifiers. In some embodiments, detection of certain types of changes may initiate a manual comparison of the old and new flood maps to verify the change. |
| US08077924B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An edge map generator/edge weighting coefficient generator performs edge detection for respective blocks that compose a moving image frame Ft, and calculates correlations between the edges of the respective blocks and those of neighboring blocks as edge weighting coefficients. A predictive vector candidate determination unit calculates a plurality of motion vector candidates for each block based on this edge weighting coefficient. Of these candidates, a motion vector detector obtains a candidate with a small evaluation value based on prediction errors and motion vector cost as a motion vector, thereby generating an interpolation frame Ft−0.5. |
| US08077920B2 |
Detecting an object within an image by incrementally evaluating subwindows of the image in parallel
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for detecting an occurrence of an object in an image. During operation, the system selects a subwindow to be evaluated based upon a currently estimated likelihood of the object being detected within the subwindow. The system then performs an evaluation step on the subwindow to determine if the object exists in the subwindow, wherein performing the evaluation step involves updating the currently estimated likelihood of the object being detected in the subwindow. If evaluation of the subwindow is not complete after performing the evaluation step, the system stores information associated with the subwindow to facilitate subsequent evaluation of the subwindow. |
| US08077917B2 |
Systems and methods for enhancing images in a video recording of a sports event
A video signal representing rapid ball movement is produced from a series of source images. An initial image position for the moving ball is identified by, for each image, producing a difference image between sequential images. In the difference image, image elements representing a contents alteration below a threshold are allocated a first value, and those representing a contents alteration above or equal to the threshold are allocated a second value. A set of candidates is then identified, where each candidate is represented by a group of neighboring image elements that all contain the second value. The group must fulfill a ball size criterion. A ball selection algorithm selects an initial image position from the set of ball candidates. The ball is tracked, and a composite image sequence is generated wherein a synthetic trace representing the path of the moving ball is shown as successively added image data. |
| US08077916B2 |
Image processing system that detects an object by comparison of a difference between luminance of an illuminated and non-illuminated image
Using an on-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle to view the face of a driver as an imaging object, an image processing system judges the presence/absence of the imaging object in the image. An average luminance of an image when light of a particular wavelength is irradiated in an imaging direction is compared to an average luminance of an image imaged when no light is irradiated. When the difference between the average luminance values is equal to a reference value or less, it is judged that the imaging object is absent in the image by imaging. |
| US08077910B2 |
Digital watermark embedding and detection
Provided is a digital watermarking technology for embedding digital watermark information in text data thereby to generate a digitally watermarked image. The technology includes a digital watermarking program, a digital watermarking device and a digital watermarking method, in which digital watermark information can be embedded in document in such a way as not to be easily detected visually and be stably detected even after being printed out, copied or scanned by detecting the features of a character as data to be digitally watermarked, such as the direction and thickness of a line composing the character as the features thereof and embedding the digital watermark information in the character on the basis of the detected features. |
| US08077907B2 |
System and method for the generation of correlation-based digital watermarks
Disclosed are systems and methods directed to digital watermarks, and more particularly, the generation of invisible correlation-based digital watermarks embedded in halftone images. |
| US08077906B2 |
Apparatus for extracting camera motion, system and method for supporting augmented reality in ocean scene using the same
A system and method for supporting augmented reality in an ocean scene is provided. According to the system and method, camera rotation information is extracted from horizontal line information of a sea extracted from an original image including a focal length and at least two first natural feature point tracking data existing on a sea plane and a plane parallel to the sea plane, using long-distance background features; camera movement is sequentially calculated from the camera rotation information and at least two natural feature point tracking data existing on the sea plane of the original image; and a computer graphics object is placed on a ground plane by importing camera position data, and a rendering is performed as moving the camera. Accordingly, the camera rotation and the camera movement can be accurately calculated, assuming that the camera focal length information is known at the time of capturing a moving image with a sea image for a background, and thus the CG/real scene synthesis with the sea for a background can be accomplished more realistically and accurately during the production of videos such as movie and drama. |
| US08077902B2 |
Planar flexible voice coil suspension
A voice coil suspension system comprising a spider formed of flexible dielectric material defining a flexure portion configured to suspend a voice coil for axial displacement and an elongate connector portion for carrying flat electrical conductors for electrically connecting terminals of said voice coil to stationary electric contacts. |
| US08077901B2 |
Apparatus with a built-in loud speaker and LCD television receiver
A duct that includes a pair of rib walls which are formed unitarily with a rear cabinet in such a manner that the rib walls face with other in the up and down direction. The duct serves as an air flow passage that extends from a rear-open portion of a speaker box and through which air flow produced by vibration of a speaker body passes. A heat radiating portion of a heat sink is disposed in the duct. |
| US08077900B2 |
Microphone and method for fabricating the same
A microphone includes: a substrate including a tone hole and having a top surface on which a substrate electrode is provided; a converter provided on the top surface of the substrate and including a main body having a back space, a diaphragm provided at the bottom of the back space of the main body, and a converter electrode provided on a region of a bottom surface of the main body facing the substrate electrode; and a bump connecting the substrate electrode and the converter electrode to each other. The diaphragm vibrates in response to sound entering from the tone hole. The converter converts sound into a signal. |
| US08077898B2 |
Dual-frequency coaxial earphones
A dual-frequency coaxial earphone includes a frame, a shared yoke, a high frequency speaker part, and a low frequency speaker part. The high frequency speaker part and the low frequency speaker part are coaxially arranged at inside and outside of the shared yoke, and are coaxial with a central opening of the frame. Further, a permanent magnet of the higher frequency speaker part is contrary, in polarity, to an annular magnet of the low frequency speaker part. Therefore, acoustic frequency of the low frequency speaker part can be phase-countered by passing thereof through an acoustic annular recess, so that the acoustic frequency of the low frequency speaker part has the same phase as the acoustic frequency of the high frequency speaker part and both then are output synchronally. The high frequency speaker part and the low frequency speaker part can then be separated, in acoustic frequency, from each other. This will effectively solve the problem of intermodulation of distortion for the high and low acoustic frequencies, and reduce the size of the earphone to more compact. |
| US08077896B2 |
Laser inclinometer audio direction
Outputs of a laser and an inclinometer are used to figure adjustments to a sound producing device's position, where both the laser beam of the laser and an output from the inclinometer characterize a general direction of sound produced by the sound producing device. The laser beam can be one or more colors or patterns each characterizing the general direction of sound produced by the sound producing device. A stadium can have many speaker housings each including a speaker, the laser, and the inclinometer. Each speaker housing is mounted on, and remotely adjustable with respect to, an structural member as to general direction of sound emitted from the speaker housing into the area for stadium seating. The inclinometer's output can be rendered by a monitor seen by an audio engineer who also uses the laser beam's direction to make adjustments to the position of the speaker housing relative to its structural member. |
| US08077894B2 |
Feature protection for stereo lithographic manufacturing processes
To prevent stereo lithography (SLA) support structures for parts fabricated in an SLA apparatus from interfering with features in the parts, a structural shield such as a dome may be place around the feature and then discarded at the conclusion of the SLA process. |
| US08077889B2 |
Method to log data in a hearing device as well as a hearing device
The present invention relates to a method for recording information in a hearing device and/or in a recording unit at least temporally operationally connected to the hearing device. The method consists in that a point in time of the recording and/or a recording frequency as well as the information to be recorded, as data and/or parameters and/or adjustments of the hearing device are adjusted freely or are programmable, respectively. Furthermore, a hearing device is described that is suitable to use the method. By the present invention, a multitude of the parameters being adjustable in a hearing device can be checked or surveyed all together or selectively in real, i.e. actually existing acoustic environments in order to optimally adjust or adapt the hearing device afterwards, that means after the analysis by the fitter, for example. |
| US08077876B2 |
Delivery system, transmission apparatus, and delivery method
A delivery system is disclosed, which has a transmission apparatus and a plurality of reception terminals communicably connected through a network. The transmission apparatus includes a correction section which pre-obtains a plurality of types of correction coefficients according to acoustic characteristics of the plurality of reception terminals and forms a plurality of corrected audio signals based on an audio signal and the correction coefficients; a conversion section which converts the plurality of corrected audio signals into a plurality of pieces of delivery data; and a delivery server which delivers the delivery data to the reception terminals through the network. Each of the reception terminals includes a communication section which communicates with the transmission apparatus. The transmission apparatus delivers to the reception terminals the delivery data according to the acoustic characteristics thereof. |
| US08077874B2 |
Active noise reduction microphone placing
A method and apparatus for increasing phase margin in a feedback circuit of an active noise reduction headphone. The method includes providing an acoustic block comprising an acoustic driver comprising a voice coil mechanically coupled along an attachment line to an acoustic energy radiating diaphragm, the acoustic block further comprising a microphone positioned along a line parallel to an intended direction of vibration of the acoustic diaphragm and intersecting the attachment line, the acoustic block characterized by a magnitude frequency response compensating the magnitude frequency response by a compensation pattern that has a positive slope over at least one spectral range above 10 kHz. |
| US08077871B2 |
Content processing apparatus and encryption processing method
A content processing apparatus includes a read unit which reads encrypted key information from a recording medium, a decryption unit which decrypts the encrypted key information with a device key and dynamic information to obtain key information containing content keys, an update unit which updates the dynamic information, a key information processing unit which updates the key information by extracting a content key corresponding to a move target content from the key information, and removing the content key from the key information, a first encryption unit which encrypts the updated key information with the device key and the updated dynamic information, a second encryption unit which encrypts the content key with a shared key, and a write unit which overwrites the updated encrypted key information on the encrypted key information in the medium and writes the encrypted content key in the medium. |
| US08077866B2 |
Protecting against security attack
A communication device having a private key and configured to implement an elliptic curve security mechanism for successful operation of which it: (a) receives a first value from another device, (b) computes a second value as the scalar multiplication of the first value with its private key and (c) returns that second value for use by the other device; the mechanism being such that the first value defines a pair of coordinates representing a first point and the second value defines a pair of coordinates representing a second point and being such that the first value is valid only if it lies on an elliptic curve of predefined form; the device being configured to implement the mechanism by the steps of: receiving data as the first value; making a first evaluation as to whether the first value is a singular point with respect to the elliptic curve; computing the second value as the scalar multiplication of the first value with the private key; making a second evaluation as to whether the second value lies on the elliptic curve; and returning the second value only if the first evaluation is false and the second evaluation is true. |
| US08077862B2 |
Sharing a secret using polynomials
A method and system for distributing n shares of a secret to n computing systems, and a method and system for reconstructing the secret from k shares of the secret. In one embodiment, the method for distributing the secret comprises representing the secret as a first polynomial over GF(2). The method further comprises creating the n shares from the secret, each of the n shares including a polynomial over GF(2). The secret can be reconstructed, in one embodiment, by solving coefficients of an interpolating polynomial using k points in the k shares using modulo 2 arithmetic. |
| US08077860B2 |
Accessory structure for portable electronic devices
An accessory structure for portable electronic device includes a primary member and a resisting member. The primary member includes a seat and a supporting plate. The seat defines a recessed portion. The supporting plate includes a flexible portion allowing the seat to be bent relative to the supporting plate. The resisting member is received in the recessed portion. The resisting member is rotatably attached to the recessed portion. |
| US08077850B2 |
Customizing called number identification
Described herein are systems and methods that enable users to configure, customize, or personalize names for called number identification information. Accordingly, when such information is displayed for an incoming phone call, a user is able to quickly determine which line is being called based on a better user-created description of the CNI information. |
| US08077849B2 |
Systems and methods to block communication calls
Methods and apparatuses to block calls from reaching destinations. In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a call for a connection to an entity via a reference; based on the reference used for the call, determining a reference of the entity; determining whether the call is to be blocked; and responsive to a determination that the call is not to be blocked, establishing the connection to the entity using the reference of the entity. |
| US08077847B2 |
DTMF lockout utility using epoch time stamp
A method for converting a first time and a first date in a first format to a second time in a second format includes determining a number of seconds that have elapsed between a predetermined date and a beginning of a current year of the first date. The method further includes adding to the determined number of seconds, a calculated number of seconds calculated from the beginning of the current year to a current month and a current day of the first date to obtain a first sum. The first sum varies based on whether the current month is within a leap year and is subsequent to a leap day of the leap year. A number of seconds that have elapsed between a beginning of the current day of the first date and the first time is added to the first sum. Lastly, a predetermined number of seconds is added to the first sum when Daylight Savings Time is in effect to obtain the second time in the second format. |
| US08077843B2 |
System and method implementing an auction game using cellular, mobile, land, satellite, cable, and internet telephone numbers
A system and method effectively implement an auction game through telephones, which utilize cellular, mobile, land, satellite, cable, and Internet telephone numbers. Due to the fact of the impossibility of having one contact number for different mobile owners, the probability of confusion regarding the identity of the first winner or winners in the auction game becomes nearly nonexistent. The cellular user sends a short message to a specific telephone number to input a number to outbid or to offer more than a selected number which consists of one digit at a predetermined time beforehand and at a price which the user finds suitable. The selected number consists of one digit which is part of an operating mobile number. The auction game is managed through a specific telecommunication network or through a number of networks in agreement between the networks and the organizer of the auction game. |
| US08077838B2 |
Method and voice communicator to provide a voice communication
A method and voice communicator to provide a voice communication is described. The method may include identifying text to be communicated and automatically processing the text to generate an audio equivalent of the text. For example, the text may be scraped from a web page. The method may include identifying an intended recipient of the audio equivalent and thereafter communicating the audio equivalent as a telephone communication (e.g., a voice mail message in a voice mailbox). Thus, identifying the intended recipient may include requesting a telephone number of a sender (caller) of the voice communication. In an embodiment, the method comprises monitoring selection by a user of a contact list available on the voice communicator wherein the contact list includes a plurality of recipient names and their associated telephone numbers. The audio equivalent is communicated to the recipient device over, for example, PSTN or VoIP network. |
| US08077829B2 |
Electron emitter apparatus and method of assembly
An electron emitter assembly, and methods of assembly, is disclosed. The emitter assembly includes an electron emitter that is secured to a support device in a manner such that the emitter is substantially thermally isolated from the support device. |
| US08077823B2 |
Jet pump riser clamp
A clamp assembly for securing a thermal sleeve and an elbow in a pipe assembly in a nuclear reactor. The clamp assembly comprises a sleeve clamp adapted to be arranged surrounding the elbow at a first joint between the elbow and a thermal sleeve, and comprising a sleeve support adapted to extend across the first joint. The clamp assembly comprises at least one clamp arm with a first end arranged to rest against at least one of a core shroud and a core plate support ring, to provide support for the positioning of the sleeve clamp. |
| US08077821B2 |
Optimized timing recovery device and method using linear predictor
In accordance with a method and apparatus of the present invention, a timing recovery device is disclosed to include a timing correction module responsive to a sampled input signal and adapted to generate a time-corrected signal and to further include a linear predictor coupled to the timing correction module for filtering the time-corrected signal to generate a whitened output signal and to further include a timing update module responsive to the whitened output signal for updating at least one parameter in the timing correction module. |
| US08077816B2 |
Fast predictive automatic gain control for dynamic range reduction in wireless communication receiver
A method of fast predictive automatic gain control is disclosed including estimating channel gain applied to a received signal, predicting channel gain at a subsequent time by applying temporal correlation statistics to the estimated channel gain, determining a predicted receiver gain which reduces variance between the predicted channel gain and a predetermined target power level, and applying the predicted receiver gain to the received signal. The method may include applying linear minimum mean-squared error prediction to the estimated channel gain. The method may include predicting error variance at the subsequent time by applying the temporal correlation statistics to the estimated channel gain and combining the predicted channel gain and the predicted error variance. The method may include estimating channel gain of known pilot symbols, estimating a temporal correlation function using the estimated channel gain, and determining predicted channel gain using the estimated channel gain and the estimated temporal correlation function. |
| US08077813B2 |
Apparatus for decoding convolutional codes and associated method
A decoding device may include a sequential convolutional code decoder, and a parallel convolutional code decoder. The decoding device may further include a controller for selectively processing a convolutionally encoded input signal via at least one of the sequential convolutional code decoder and the parallel convolutional code decoder. The selection of decoder may be based upon a signal-to-noise ratio or the passage of time, for example. |
| US08077811B2 |
Receiving apparatus
For each of a plurality of control channels, a likelihood indicated by a state metric of each state at the last point which is obtained at the time of Viterbi decoding is obtained. This Viterbi decoding is not cut off and performed to convolutionally coded data of the corresponding control channel. The ranking of the likelihood is obtained as a possibility ranking SM0RANK indicating the possibility of the control channel to be a control channel for a particular receiving apparatus. From the plurality of control channels, the control channels with the possibility ranking SM0RANK more or equal to a predetermined threshold are selected as candidate channels. An output likelihood of each candidate channel which is obtained in the Viterbi decoding is normalized with a receiving intensity of the corresponding candidate channel to detect a candidate channel having the highest normalized output likelihood as the control channel for the receiving apparatus. |
| US08077810B2 |
Apparatus for high data throughput reception in a WLAN
An apparatus for high data throughput reception in a WLAN includes a receiving module, first and second determining modules, a generating module, and a producing module. The receiving module receives a symbol vector representing M streams of symbols transmitted via a wireless communication channel. The first determining module determines inner coded bits and extrinsic information of the inner coded bits based on the symbol vector, a channel matrix, and inner extrinsic information feedback. The second determining module determines outer coded bits and extrinsic information of the outer coded bits based on the extrinsic information of the inner coded bits, the inner coded bits, and a soft input soft output decoding process. The generating module generates the inner extrinsic information feedback based on the extrinsic information of the outer coded bits. The producing module produces decoded bits based on the outer coded bits. |
| US08077805B1 |
MIMO equalizer method and apparatus
A training signal is received, and a channel estimate matrix is determined based on the received training signal. The channel estimate matrix is partitioned into a plurality of block matrices, wherein at least one of the block matrices has at least one dimension greater than one. Additionally, a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) equalizer is calculated based on a block matrix inverse or pseudo-inverse of the partitioned channel estimate matrix, and the MIMO equalizer is applied to data signals. |
| US08077804B2 |
Transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus and transmitting/receiving system for digital data
A transmitting apparatus for transmitting digital data includes storage unit for storing a digital data delay due to digital processing inside the transmitting apparatus; and delay information transmitting unit for transmitting delay information indicating the delay stored in the storage unit. |
| US08077801B2 |
Pilot structure with multiplexed unicast and SFN transmissions
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate multiplexing unicast reference symbols and multicast transmissions in the same transmission time interval. In particular, mechanisms are provided that enable multiplexing unicast reference symbols to single frequency network transmissions that utilize a longer cyclic prefix duration. Unicast reference symbols are sent in a first symbol of a slot containing both unicast and single frequency network transmissions. The frequency utilized for the unicast reference symbols is staggered between the first symbol and a subsequent symbol in a sub-frame. |
| US08077791B2 |
Optimal TCM codec search method for dual stream systems, and encoder/decoder using the same
Provided is a method for searching for an optimal coder suitable to a dual stream transmission method of a DTV transceiving apparatus, and an encoder and a decoder employing the optimal coder searching method. The optimal coder searching method includes the steps of: a) determining a mixed pattern of normal stream and robust stream; b) determining a trellis structure of the robust stream which is applied to the mixed pattern based on how coders are connected; c) forming a dual stream trellis by mixing a trellis of the normal stream, which is a normal stream trellis, and a trellis of the robust stream, which is a robust stream trellis; d) computing a free distance at departing points of the dual stream trellis structure based on a dual stream free distance computation termination condition; and e) determining the optimal coder based on the free distance. |
| US08077790B2 |
Tiled-building-block trellis encoders
A first convolutional coder (building-block trellis coder) is used to establish a minimum squared Euclidian distance (MSED) between signal points within a coded constellation building block. A second convolutional encoder (tiling encoder) is designed to ensure that the building block's MSED is maintained between building blocks once they are tiled onto an integer lattice. When this approach is applied to the trellis code of the WiMAX standard, a 3 dB coding is realized. Recall that Wei's 16-state 4D code suffered from a 1.36 dB due to constellation expansion, resulting in a net 4.66 dB coding gain. Our building block approach recovers 1.33 dB of this loss with only a minor increase in coding complexity. We then use the building block approach to derive simpler and more powerful higher dimensional codes that provide further gains still over the Wei family of multidimensional codes. |
| US08077789B2 |
Repetition-dependent mapping for higher order modulation schemes
A method and apparatus is disclosed, for digital data transmission using higher order modulation schemes, wherein a plurality of bits is mapped to bit positions of a symbol and the transmission has different error probabilities for at least two out of the bit positions. Bits are selected from a data stream of original bits for repetition and repeated. Repeated and unrepeated bits are mapped to modulation symbols, wherein the mapping of bits to bit positions depends on the error probabilities of the bit positions and on the selection result. |
| US08077787B2 |
Communication control method, receiving station apparatus, transmitting station apparatus, and communication system
A receiving station apparatus controls a number of null carriers included in a transmission signal transmitted by a transmitting station apparatus in a communication system adopting a multicarrier modulation system to suppress inter-carrier interference by using the null carrier. For example, a reception-quality measuring unit measures a reception quality of a subcarrier group forming the transmission signal, and a number-of-null carriers determining unit determines the number of null carriers included in a next transmission signal based on the reception quality. |
| US08077780B2 |
Power control in a multicarrier communications system
An improvement to multi-carrier communication, such as an OFDM and MC-CDMA system, where in a multipath or phase distorted channel, the received signal is flat with respect to frequency and linear with respect to phase. A first unit transmits a plurality of multi-carrier signals, which include unmodulated carrier signals. A second unit receives the plurality of multi-carrier signals, and determines the in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the unmodulated carrier signals of the received multi-carrier signal. The second unit compares the measured in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the unmodulated carrier signals to predetermined criteria, and generates adjusting data from the compared in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers. The first unit uses the adjusting data to pre-distort the next plurality of multi-carrier signals to be transmitted, the in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the plurality of multi-carrier signals. The first unit transmits, with the in-phase and quadrature phase adjusted per the adjusting data, the next plurality of multi-carrier signals, through the communications channel. |
| US08077778B2 |
Video display and decode utilizing off-chip processor and DRAM
A system, method, and apparatus for decoding and displaying images utilizing two processors and two memory units. The decode process receives images which are encoded according to a predetermined standard. Included with the encoded images are parameters which facilitate the decode and display processes. The decode process decodes the encoded images and the encoded parameters and stores each image in a separate image buffer, and each set of associated parameters in a buffer descriptor structure associated with the image buffer. The decode process is carried on by the first processor. The display process utilizes the parameters associated with the image to determine the appropriate display order for each image, and then display the image accordingly on a display device, based on the associated parameters. The first processor carries on the display of the image on the display device. The second processor determines the display order for the images. The second processor and the second memory can be off-chip. |
| US08077776B1 |
Motion estimation for video compression
Motion estimation is described. A first portion of a predicted frame is obtained. The first portion is for a first predicted value. A first subset of a reference frame is obtained. The first subset is for a first reference value. Twice the first predicted value is subtracted from the first reference value. The outcome of the subtracting is multiplied by the first reference value to produce a partial result. The partial result is used for indication of a degree of difference between the first portion and the first subset. |
| US08077775B2 |
System and method of adaptive rate control for a video encoder
A method of adaptively adjusting a QP of a video encoder to control output bit rate including estimating the QP based on a complexity of a previous frame and encoding bit rate information of a current frame to provide an estimated QP, determining a threshold value based on a video quality factor, a target bit rate and a complexity of a previous interval of the current frame or the same interval of the previous frame, and if the estimated QP is greater than the threshold value, adaptively adjusting the estimated QP using the threshold value, the target bit rate and the complexity of the previous interval. The method may include adaptively limiting a change of the QP between frame intervals based on a difference between the QP and the threshold value. Complexity information may be based on an average of minimum SAD values. |
| US08077773B2 |
Systems and methods for highly efficient video compression using selective retention of relevant visual detail
Systems and methods are presented for compressing digital video signals in a manner that prevents the creation of block artifacts and improves compression efficiency by the selective removal of data representing visually imperceptible or irrelevant detail. Bandwidth control is improved through prioritized removal of data exceeding permissible bandwidth limits. This provides a process by which a coupled compressor and de-compressor system can effect the transmission or storage of video at low bitrates with high perceptual quality of the decompressed video. In one embodiment, the low frequency components are removed from a video stream and either stored or transmitted in compressed format separate from the storage or transmission of the high frequency components of the video stream. Certain high frequency video stream details can be suppressed to further reduce bitrate. |
| US08077770B2 |
Methods and apparatus for reducing modulation signal bandwidth in polar modulation transmitters
Methods and apparatus for reducing the bandwidth of modulation signals in a phase path of a polar modulation transmitter. An exemplary method includes generating a phase difference modulation signal for a phase path of a polar modulation transmitter, and filtering the phase difference modulation signal using a linear-phase filter. Filtering the phase difference modulation signal may be performed by first detecting samples in the phase difference modulation signal that have phase difference values in excess of a phase difference threshold and then filtering samples in the vicinity of the threshold-violating samples to remove the threshold-violating events. Alternatively, all samples may be filtered, i.e., without regard as to whether any given sample exceeds a phase difference threshold, to remove large phase difference changes in the phase difference modulation signal, or a combination of linear-phase and nonlinear filters may be used to remove the large phase difference changes. |
| US08077763B2 |
Full-duplex radio frequency echo cancellation
A system comprising a transmitter element creating an interrogation signal and transmitting the interrogation signal and a receiver element receiving a reflection signal of the interrogation signal and combining the reflection signal and a feedback signal to cancel at least a portion of radio frequency echo signals in the reflection signal. |
| US08077756B2 |
Signal transmitting method, transmitting apparatus, and receiving apparatus used for the signal transmitting method
A disclosed signal transmitting method includes the steps of a) categorizing plural digital signals, obtained by performing A/D conversion on plural analog signals consecutively arranged in a time direction, into plural signal groups in an order starting from lower bits of the plural digital signals, b) performing code spreading on the plural digital signals by using a different spread frequency for each signal group and using different spread codes for each bit, c) multiplexing the spread digital signals, and d) transmitting the multiplexed plural digital signals. |
| US08077753B2 |
Semiconductor laser device
A semiconductor laser device capable of improving the reliability of the laser device is obtained. This semiconductor laser device (1000) includes a semiconductor element layer (20) having a light emitting layer (25), a first cavity facet (1) formed on an end portion on a light emitting side of a region of the semiconductor element layer including the light emitting layer, a first insulating film (40) in which a first nitride film (41), a first intermediate film including a first oxide film (42) and a second nitride film (43) are formed on the first cavity facet in this order from the side of the first cavity facet and a second insulating film (51), formed on the first insulating film, including a second oxide film (51). |
| US08077748B1 |
Hybrid waveguide laser with a fiber gain medium
A laser includes a gain stage and a pump stage. The gain stage includes a fiber link that terminates at a pair of ends and includes a doped fiber. The pump stage includes a glass volume, the glass volume having a pair of fiber interface ports at which the pair of ends of the fiber link are disposed, respectively, for attachment of the gain stage and the pump stage in a ring laser assembly. The pump stage includes a plurality of intrinsic waveguides defined in the glass volume and disposed along in-bulk propagation paths within the glass volume for light travel through the ring laser assembly. |
| US08077747B2 |
Phosphate glass based optical device and method
An optical device includes an optical fiber having a core including multicomponent phosphate glasses, and a cladding surrounding the core, and a first fiber Bragg grating formed in a first portion of the core of the optical fiber and having an index modulation amplitude greater than 2×10−5. |
| US08077745B2 |
Techniques for unidirectional disabling of audio-video synchronization
This disclosure describes techniques to allow for unidirectional disabling of audio-video synchronization. In particular, a synchronization command is defined for packet-based network protocols. The synchronization command can disable audio-video synchronization in a sending direction, a receiving direction, or both the sending and receiving direction. In this way, devices are given more control over audio-video synchronization, and can disable such synchronization in a unidirectional manner only, while maintaining synchronization in the opposite direction. |
| US08077738B2 |
Default internet traffic and transparent passthrough
A method for routing packets sent from a user to the internet is provided for systems in which the user is connected to a private network. The method includes: extracting a source network address from the packet; using said source network address to retrieve a user profile for the user; examining said user profile to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or to route the packet directly to the Internet; and routing said packet according to said profile. This allows a user or network provider to choose whether to route packets destined for the Internet directly to the Internet rather than through the private network, thus preventing excessive network traffic on the private network. |
| US08077734B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting characteristics of incoming data packets to enable speculative processing to reduce processor latency
A system for processing data packets in a data packet network has at least one input port for receiving data packets, at least one output port for sending out data packets, a processor for processing packet data, and a packet predictor for predicting a future packet based on a received packet, such that at least some processing for the predicted packet may be accomplished before the predicted packet actually arrives at the system. The system is used in preferred embodiments in Internet routers. |
| US08077732B2 |
Techniques for inserting internet protocol services in a broadband access network
Techniques for inserting a network service in an Ethernet access network operated by an access service provider include sending routing data to customer premises equipment. The access network is between a physical layer link with customer premises equipment and a remote packet switched network. The routing data indicates a logical network address for an access gateway for access to the remote packet switched network, and a logical network address for an ancillary gateway for an ancillary service different from access to the remote packet-switched network. A data packet is received from customer premises equipment and it is determined whether a layer 2 destination address indicates the ancillary gateway. If so the data packet is directed to the ancillary gateway instead of the access gateway. Thus, the ancillary service is provided topologically closer to the customer premises equipment. |
| US08077729B2 |
MPOA system and its shortcut communication control method, and shortcut communication control program
An MPOA system for establishing communication by using layer 3 protocol on an ATM network, in which data about the layer 3 address of a source of data packets is added to an address resolution request packet which is transmitted in order to establish a shortcut VCC toward a destination of the data packets in each communication node and hence transmitted to the destination, and in the case of accepting the address resolution request packets to be transmitted in order to establish the respective shortcut VCCs toward the destination of the data packets, as for the same communication, from a plurality of the communication nodes, a shortcut VCC is established only between the destination and the communication node remotest from the destination on the network. |
| US08077728B2 |
Substitution call control system in a communication network
A substitution call control system includes an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) subscriber network of an ATM communication network. The ATM subscriber network includes a plurality of network terminators respectively connected with a plurality of subscriber terminals, and an ATM subscriber line concentrator, which accommodates VCs (Virtual Connection) to the plurality of network terminators, and is connected with a ATM switching apparatus of the ATM network through a UNI (User-Network Interface). The ATM subscriber line concentrator includes a substitution call control function to substitute for the plurality of network terminators and the subscriber terminals for a call control. |
| US08077727B2 |
Processing of partial frames and partial superframes
A method may include determining a schedule of flush events for a queue and identifying whether the queue includes information associated with a partial data unit, the partial data unit being a data unit that is less than completely filled with data. The method may include identifying whether the queue should be flushed based on the schedule of flush events, and identifying that the queue includes the information associated with the partial data unit. The method may further include waiting for additional data to add to the queue, in response to identifying that the queue should not be flushed; and sending out the partial data unit, in response to identifying that the queue should be flushed. |
| US08077723B2 |
Packet processing in a multiple processor system
Packet processing is provided in a multiple processor system including a first processor to processing a packet and to create a tag associated with the packet. The tag includes information about the processing of the packet. A second processor receives the packet subsequent to the first processor and processes the packet using the tag information. |
| US08077720B2 |
Methods and devices for generating and forwarding translated MAC addresses
The number of MAC addresses and corresponding tables that need to be stored to forward messages in a network is substantially reduced. Conventional MAC addresses are converted to translated (sometimes called “virtual”) MAC addresses using a new hierarchical format which redefines the conventional 48-bit, MAC label. Though the MAC label is redefined the packet size remains the same. For example, the number of MAC address tables stored by a HUB node may be reduced from 60,000 to 8 while the number stored at a POP node may be reduced from 120,000 to 8 in a “flat” Ethernet design. |
| US08077718B2 |
Distributed network management
Hosts or end-systems residing at the edges of a network gather data about the traffic they transmit into and receive from the network. The network's routing protocol (typically a link-state protocol such as OSPF) is monitored and routing data or packets are used to recover the network's current status and topology. This data can be collected, fused, and maintained and a platform, preferably distributed, can be provided to query the data, thus enabling a variety of network management applications. |
| US08077717B2 |
Method and system for providing multicast services
The present disclosure discloses a method for providing multicast services, which includes receiving a multicast service request sent by a UE through an IMS network, obtaining the media transmission parameters of the multicast media streams, sending a response to the UE through the IMS network with the media transmission parameters carried in the response, and sending the multicast media streams corresponding to the media transmission parameters to the UE. Further, a system providing multicast services and a multicast service support system is disclosed. |
| US08077715B2 |
Content transmitting apparatus, content receiving apparatus, content transmitting method, and content receiving method
A content transmitting apparatus includes a content transmitting unit (111) that IP packetizes content to be transmitted through a communication network (101), and an encapsulating unit (112) that encapsulates the content IP packetized by the content transmitting unit (111) to generate a transmission packet to be transmitted through a broadcast network (102) for digital broadcast media. The content transmitting unit (111) and the encapsulating unit (112) transmit plural content items by IP multicast. The content transmitting unit (111) adds, to a header of the content to be IP packetized, information concerning a condition of a receiving side node of the content. |
| US08077711B2 |
Address converter for gateways interconnecting networks of different address formats
In a gateway, a packet received from a first network contains first address data conforming to the first network in the packet header and second address data conforming to a second network in an auxiliary header. The first address data of the packet is then rewritten with the second address data of the packet and transmitted from the gateway to the second network. |
| US08077710B2 |
Method and system for discovering vacant DTV channels using DHCP server location
A wireless client device (e.g. a WSD) discovers vacant DTV channels using location information acquired from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. In one aspect of the invention, a wireless client device discovers vacant DTV channels through direct communication with a local DHCP server and a remote primary user database server. In another aspect of the invention, a wireless client device discovers vacant DTV channels from an access device that communicates with a local DHCP server and a remote primary user database server. |
| US08077703B2 |
Induced answering method and system for circuit switching-based telephony
Induced answering method and system for CS-based telephony. A user terminal (5) for communication over a telecommunications network (3) includes at least a CS-telephony device (CSO) for processing CS-based telephony signals (CS1, CS2), the CS-based telephony signals being received and transmitted over a circuit switched bearer service. The user terminal is arranged for receiving an additional answer-related signal (PS1; CS3), the additional answer-related signal being associated with an incoming CS-alert signal (CS1) of an incoming call. Further, the user terminal is arranged for transmitting a response signal or CS-answer signal (CS2) over the circuit switched bearer service in response to information included in, or derived from, the additional answer-related signal. |
| US08077698B2 |
Method and device for frame and slot synchronization
A method slot and frame synchronization of in a wireless system, the method includes: processing samples and a pair of primary synchronization code forming sequences by a pair of serially coupled filters to provide primary results; finding, in response to the primary results, slots boundaries; processing selected samples and multiple pairs of secondary synchronization code forming sequences by at least a second filter of the pair of serially coupled filters to provide secondary results; wherein the selected samples correspond to the slots boundaries; and detecting secondary synchronization sequences included in a frame in response to the secondary results. |
| US08077692B2 |
Enhanced frequency division multiple access for wireless communication
Enhanced frequency division multiple access (EFDMA) is a multiplexing scheme that sends modulation symbols in the time domain and achieves a lower PAPR than OFDM. An EFDMA symbol occupies multiple subband groups that are spaced apart in a frequency band, with each subband group containing multiple adjacent subbands. To generate an EFDMA symbol, multiple modulation symbols are mapped onto a first sequence of symbols. A transform (e.g., a DFT) is performed on the first sequence to obtain a second sequence of values. The values in the second sequence corresponding to the subbands used for the EFDMA symbol are retained, and the remaining values are zeroed out to obtain a third sequence of values. An inverse transform (e.g., an IDFT) is performed on the third sequence to obtain a fourth sequence of samples. A phase ramp may be applied on the fourth sequence, and a cyclic prefix is appended to form the EFDMA symbol. |
| US08077687B2 |
Broadcast/multicast service method based on user location information
A method and device for providing a broadcast/multicast service are discussed. According to an embodiment, the invention provides a method comprising: receiving, by a client module, a service guide including contents information with respect to one or more contents from a broadcast/multicast server; transmitting, by the client module, a broadcast/multicast request message with respect to contents selected by a user of a specific terminal among the contents information included in the received service guide to the broadcast/multicast server; transmitting, by the client module, a location tracking request message with respect to the specific terminal to a network entity; receiving a response message with respect to the location tracking request message, the response message including a location tracking result from the network entity; transmitting, by the client module, location information of the specific terminal to the broadcast/multicast server. |
| US08077686B2 |
Multiple packet data network support over trusted access
A media access gateway comprises a wireless network interface, an authorization module, a filter information module, and a proxy mobility agent module. The wireless network interface selectively establishes a wireless link with a first interface of a wireless terminal that has a plurality of wireless interfaces. The authorization module determines a home agent corresponding to the wireless terminal. The filter information module receives filter information from one of the wireless terminal and a server and generates output filter information. The proxy mobility agent module transmits a binding update to the home agent. The binding update includes the output filter information. |
| US08077685B2 |
Method and system for avoiding hanging PDP contexts
A method and system for avoiding hanging Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts in a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network. A time-out period is included in a request message to create a PDP context. The request message is transmitted from a first GPRS Support Node (GSN) to a second GSN. The second GSN receives the request message and transmits a response message to the first GSN. If the second GSN is unable to create the PDP context within the time-out period, the response message informs the first GSN that creation of the PDP context has been aborted. A Network Service Access Point Identifier (NSAPI) may be included in the response message so that the first GSN may request the second GSN to delete the request for creating the PDP context after a N3-T3 timeout of the first GSN has expired. |
| US08077675B2 |
Performance management of mobile intelligent roaming using mobility detail records
Techniques are provided herein to improve the manageability of handover performance of multi-mode wireless client devices when roaming between a wireless local area network (WLAN) and at least one other network. Signals are received at a plurality of WLAN access points from multi-mode wireless client devices. The WLAN access points generate handover data associated with handover events of wireless Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication sessions for the multi-mode wireless client devices between the wireless local area network and at least one other network. The WLAN access points also generate link quality data representing status and quality of a wireless link with multi-mode wireless client devices during a VoIP communication session. A controller that is provided that is configured to receive the handover data and link quality data for multi-mode wireless client devices from the plurality of access points. The controller aggregates the handover data and link quality data for a VoIP communication session for a multi-mode wireless client device into a mobility detail record and stores the mobility detail record together with an identifier of an associated call detail record. |
| US08077672B2 |
Method and apparatus for media independent handover capability discovery
A first media independent handover function (MIHF) receives a media independent handover (MIH) capabilities discovery request from a second MIHF and generates a MIH capabilities discovery response message, including one or more parameters. Then the first MIHF then sends the MIH capabilities discovery response to the second MIHF. Based on the information contained in the MIH capabilities discovery response, the first MIHF may receive a handover request message from the second MIHF. The one or more parameters included within the discovery response message indicates the specific technologies for which the first MIHF supports a MMB handover. The one or more parameters may include a list of the technologies for which a make-before-break (MMB) handover is supported. For example, a parameter may use a specific bit structure wherein each bit is a Boolean representation of whether MMB handover is supported for a specific type of technology. |
| US08077669B2 |
Method and system for adaptive modulations and signal field for closed loop multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless local area network (WLAN) system
A method for communicating information is disclosed and includes, in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication system utilizing a plurality of modulation types and a plurality of spatial streams, determining an aggregate noise characteristic based upon a noise characteristic of each of the plurality of spatial streams. A receiver may be configured to receive subsequent data based on one or both of: a current modulation type for modulating a current spatial stream and at least one subsequent modulation type for modulating at least one subsequent spatial stream. The current modulation type and the at least one subsequent modulation type may be based on the determined aggregate noise characteristic. A constellation field may be encoded to uniquely identify a combination comprising the current modulation type, and the at least one subsequent modulation type. |
| US08077664B2 |
Precoding with reduced feedback for coordinated multipoint transmission on the downlink
Techniques for reducing the number of bits needed to specify the best precoding vector for each mobile station in a wireless communication network that employs multi-point transmission are disclosed. An exemplary method begins with the estimation of path loss between a mobile station and each of a plurality of geographically separated transmitter sites, each transmitter site having at least one transmitter antenna. Based on the estimated path losses, one of a plurality of pre-determined subsets (codebooks) of a pre-determined set of antenna precoding vectors is selected. A group index identifying the selected subset is then transmitted to the mobile station. Subsequently, a vector index is received from the mobile station, the vector index corresponding to a precoding vector in the selected subset, and data is transmitted to the mobile station, using the precoding vector applied to the transmitter antennas at the plurality of transmitter sites. |
| US08077663B2 |
Hierarchical mesh network for wireless access
A wireless mesh network is configured as a multiple-level hierarchical network, with each level of the hierarchy having a plurality of nodes. Several clusters of nodes each acting as access points may be organized in numerous first-level meshes, with each of the first-level meshes being coupled to a second-level mesh having nodes that act as gateways to the first-level meshes. The number of nodes in each of the first-level and second-level meshes may be limited to a predetermined number of nodes during configuration in order to improve the performance of the mesh network. |
| US08077659B2 |
Method and apparatus for locating mobile multimedia multicast system capable wireless devices
Estimating a current location of a receiver in a MediaFLO™ (Forward Link Only) mobile multimedia multicast system comprises receiving digital signals comprising a MediaFLO™ superframe comprising orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; performing slot 3 processing of each medium access control (MAC) time unit of a data channel to identify a transmitter identity (TxID) of each transmitter; identifying corresponding geographical coordinates of each TxID; regenerating the digital signals for each of the transmitters using a local-area differentiator (LID) and a wide-area differentiator (WID) of the transmitters; dividing the digital signals by the corresponding regenerated transmitted signal to obtain channel estimates between the receiver and the corresponding transmitters; detecting a first peak in the channel estimates to determine a distance between the receiver and the corresponding transmitters; calculating a time difference of arrival of the digital signals; and estimating a current location of the receiver. |
| US08077656B2 |
Front end module comprising an antenna switch
A front-end module is for use with at least three radio frequency bands. The front-end module includes at least five signal paths, and an antenna switch to electrically connect an antenna to one of the signal paths. At least one of the signal paths includes subpaths. A frequency separating network interfaces the at least one signal path to the subpaths. The subpaths are for use in passing different radio frequency bands. The different radio frequency bands have frequency ranges that do not overlap. |
| US08077655B2 |
Method and apparatus for high rate packet data transmission
In a data communication system capable of variable rate transmission, high rate packet data transmission improves utilization of the forward link and decreases the transmission delay. Data transmission on the forward link is time multiplexed and the base station transmits at the highest data rate supported by the forward link at each time slot to one mobile station. The data rate is determined by the largest C/I measurement of the forward link signals as measured at the mobile station. Upon determination of a data packet received in error, the mobile station transmits a NACK message back to the base station. The NACK message results in retransmission of the data packet received in error. The data packets can be transmitted out of sequence by the use of sequence number to identify each data unit within the data packets. |
| US08077653B2 |
Communication method, mobile terminal, and computer program
A communication method, a mobile terminal and a computer program are provided. According to the invention, data streaming communication is performed to the mobile terminal, a communication connection request message is received from the network infrastructure in the mobile terminal, the reception of the communication connection request is indicated to a user of the mobile terminal, a first mode change command generated by the user is received in the mobile terminal, suspension of the data streaming communication is requested for on the basis of the first mode change command, and the communication connection is accepted on the basis of the first mode change command. |
| US08077650B2 |
Methods of announcing a call and transmitting application data to an access terminal in a wireless communications system
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for announcing a call to an access terminal in a wireless communications system. Receiving, at an access network, a request to call a given access terminal and determining whether a cluster to which the given access terminal belongs is known at the access network by querying a location database. The location database includes a list of access terminals and clusters, which themselves include sectors of the wireless communications system. Thereafter, transmitting an announce message announcing the requested call to the given access terminal based on the determination of whether the cluster is known to the access network. |
| US08077648B2 |
VRM selection
There are provided a method, a network system, and a router capable of decreasing the chance of VRM or VLM changes so as to reduce signaling, and consequently contributing to better scalability. The method is applied to mobility management used in an IP-based network system, which contains a plurality of access routers (AR), location managers (LM) and routing managers (RM), through which a mobile node (MN) transmits and receives information. According to the method, a visited routing manager (VRM) where the MN is currently located monitors the MN, an AR currently communicating with the MN discriminates whether or not the MN is moving out of its connectivity range, and the VRM discriminates whether or not the MN is moving out of its control range. Then, the method switches mobility management over from the current AR to a new AR in accordance with the discrimination results, and switches mobility management over from the current VRM to a new VRM in accordance with the discrimination result. |
| US08077641B2 |
Echo cancellation for channels with unknown time-varying gain
After an initial training session, a “Dynamic Echo Canceller” (DEC) provides echo cancellation where only access to an input signal and a composite output signal are available, and the input signal is subjected to an unknown variable gain function. In one embodiment, the DEC uses echo cancellation to provide a “clean” copy of a second input signal where only a first input signal and a composite of the first and second input signal is available. An example is a “black box” amplifier coupled to a microphone and a phone line, with access to only the microphone input and a combined output signal where it is desired to retrieve a clean copy of a remote caller signal from the combined output. The DEC is applicable to many fields, including: signal separation; cancellation of echoes caused by impedance mismatches, periodic electrical noise, acoustic echoes caused by acoustic coupling, etc. |
| US08077637B2 |
Mobile communication apparatus
A mobile communication apparatus on the receiving side receives and stores data being transmitted over the period of a plurality of processing time units, from the mobile communication apparatus on the transmitting side. At the time of retransmission of the data concerned, the mobile communication apparatus includes a retransmission control function which performs composition processing of the stored data with the data retransmitted over the period of a plurality of processing time units. The mobile communication apparatus executes reception decision processing for deciding the presence or non-presence of reception error in the data on which composition processing is performed in each processing time unit, and notifies the transmitting-side apparatus of the reception decision result concerned, on the basis of each processing time unit. |
| US08077636B2 |
Transcoders and mixers for voice-over-IP conferencing
Transcoders and mixers having reduced algorithmic delay and processing complexity. An improved mixer for signals having encoded speech parameters wherein the parameters obtained through decoding are used by a parameter estimator to improve the encoding by providing a parameter estimate for the mixed signal. In the case of pitch parameters, the mixer uses the principle of strong-pitch-domination. The mixing of wideband signals is simplified by performing mixing of individual lower and upper sub-bands. A transcoder and a mixer that converts a wideband signal into a narrowband signal relies upon high frequency suppression. A transcoder and a mixer that converts a narrowband signal into a wideband signal relies upon filter combination. |
| US08077635B2 |
Method and system for reserving facility resources for a conference
A method for reserving conference resources includes communicating a conference notification to each of a plurality of conference invitees. The conference notification is associated with a multipoint conference. The method includes receiving, from each of a first number of the plurality of conference invitees, a response to the conference notification indicating that the invitee will participate on the multipoint conference. The first number of the plurality of invitees comprises participating invitees. The method includes automatically determining, based on the responses to the conference notifications, a sufficient amount of resources to allow the participating invitees to communicate on the multipoint conference. The method also includes automatically reserving the determined sufficient amount of resources and hosting the multipoint conference between the participating invitees using the reserved resources. |
| US08077633B2 |
Transient loop prevention in a hybrid layer-2 network
In one embodiment, a first switch at a border between a first network of a first protocol (P1 network) and a first network of a second protocol (P2 network) is interconnected via the first P1 network with a second switch between a second P1 network (interconnected with the first P1 network) and a second P2 network. In response to detecting a merge of the first and second P2 networks, the first switch may: i) block data packets from traversing P1 network boundary ports of the first switch; ii) allow protocol messages to flow between the first and second P1 networks through the P1 network boundary ports of the first switch; iii) allow the first and second P1 networks to discover each other through the protocol messages and to prevent loops; and in response, iv) unblock the P1 network boundary ports of the first switch to allow traversal of data packets. |
| US08077632B2 |
Automatic LAN/WAN port detection
A system is disclosed for which a network device with two or more ports determines which of its functions should be performed on which of its ports. A method is disclosed for monitoring the traffic on each port for characteristic traffic that indicates the function that said network device should perform on said port, optionally transmitting new traffic or altering or tagging existing traffic to elicit it, and mapping said network device's operations to its ports accordingly. Also disclosed is a system and method for auto inhibition and auto configuration. |
| US08077628B2 |
Mobile device peer volume polling
Performing local peer volume polling by a mobile device is provided. In response to determining that a polling function is enabled in a mobile device, a request is transmitted to each of the peer mobile devices using the polling function. The polling function requests audible operation level setting data from peer mobile devices within a predetermined distance of the mobile device. A map is computed of the peer mobile devices, along with their associated audible operation level settings, based on responses to the request for the audible operation level setting data. The map and audible operation level settings for the peer mobile devices are analyzed using rules to detect an inappropriate volume setting for the mobile device. In response to determining that a current audible operation level setting for the mobile device is inappropriate using the rules, a new audible operation level setting is applied to the mobile device. |
| US08077627B2 |
Receiving apparatus and method in broadband wireless access system
Provided is an apparatus and method for enhancing a demodulation performance of a receiver in a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system. A receiving apparatus in a broadband wireless communication system includes an estimator, a first calculator, and a second calculator. The estimator estimates a desired signal. The first calculator calculates a correlation matrix of a signal obtained by eliminating the estimated desired signal from a Received (RX) signal. The second calculator performs an interference elimination using the correlation matrix. |
| US08077617B2 |
Method and system for proxy A/V bridging on an ethernet switch
Aspects of a system for proxy A/V bridging on an Ethernet switch may include an AV switch enables reception of incoming PDUs from a legacy device via an AV block network, wherein each incoming PDU contains an AV stream identifier (which consists of a destination address and may also consist of a traffic class designation and/or higher level protocol identifiers). The destination address may identify a destination AV device within the AV block network. The AV switch may enable generation of outgoing PDUs by inserting or modifying a corresponding traffic class designation within each of the incoming PDUs. The AV switch may enable transmission using a specific traffic shaping process of each of the outgoing PDUs to a destination AV device within the AV block network based on the AV stream identifier and corresponding QoS parameters. |
| US08077616B2 |
Data transmission apparatus and data transmission method
In a data transmission apparatus, provisions are made to be able to trace the result of processing or discarding of a specific packet from outside the apparatus. More specifically, in a data transmission apparatus that receives data having a header and, based on information carried in the header, performs processing such as destination determination, discard processing, and priority transmission processing on the received data by using a plurality of processing blocks, a memory for storing the processing results supplied from the respective processing blocks in the data transmission apparatus is provided, wherein a flag is appended only to the data that needs tracing and only the processing result of the thus flagged data is stored in the memory, and wherein, after completing the processing, only the processing result of the flagged data is forcefully output outside the apparatus thus enabling the processing result to be retrieved. |
| US08077609B2 |
Method for providing quality-of-service based services in a packet network
The disclosure provides a system and method for providing a service in a packet-switched network at a selected Quality of Service (QoS) level. The method includes receiving a request for a service from a customer gateway at server connected to the packet-switched network; correlating the requested service to available network resources; and enabling the network to provide the requested service based on a result of the correlation. |
| US08077608B1 |
Quality of service marking techniques
A network device adapted to process data packet traffic over a telecommunication network. The network device includes an ingress pipeline adapted to receive a data packet at a port of the network device. According to embodiments of the present invention, the data packet is characterized by an external QoS attribute having M bits. The network device also includes a processor adapted to form an internal QoS Profile associated with the data packet. The internal QoS Profile includes a QoS Profile Index having M+N bits and M and N are internally assigned. The processor is also adapted to process the data packet through the network device. |
| US08077601B2 |
Method, device and software application for scheduling the transmission of data stream packets
The invention relates to a method for transmitting over a data communication network data packets of a data stream to a receiving device, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: selecting a data packet from a buffer memory containing data packets to be transmitted (301, 401); determining whether the playout time of the selected data packet at the receiving device allows a recovery of said selected data packet (303, 410); assigning a first priority level or a second priority level to the selected data packet based on the result of the determining step (306, 307, 411, 413); and transmitting the selected data packet with said assigned first or second priority level (308, 408). The invention relates also to a software application and a transmitting device implementing the transmission method. |
| US08077600B2 |
Mobile communication system
To provide a method and an apparatus for achieving a cell redundancy. Base stations, to which different frequency bands are assigned, have active base-station transmitter-receivers with a predetermined number of wireless zones repeated. Some base stations also have standby base-station transmitter-receivers at the rate of one in every predetermined number of sites that have the predetermined number of wireless zones. Under a normal condition, the different frequency bands, which are obtained by dividing a predetermined frequency bandwidth by the predetermined number of the wireless zones, are established at the respective base stations in the respective wireless zones. Under a troublesome condition, different frequency bands, which are obtained by dividing the predetermined frequency bandwidth by the predetermined number of the wireless zones plus the predetermined number of the sites, are assigned to base stations in the respective wireless zones and to base stations that are positioned on the periphery of a wireless zone where the trouble has occurred and that have the standby base-station transmitter-receivers. Further, the output powers of the standby base-station transmitter-receivers of the base stations, which are positioned on the periphery of the wireless zone where the trouble has occurred, are adjusted such that the output powers are overlaid on the wireless zone where the trouble has occurred. |
| US08077599B2 |
Adaptive time diversity and spatial diversity for OFDM
An adaptable orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system (OFDM) that uses a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) to having OFDM signals transmitted either in accordance with time diversity to reducing signal fading or in accordance with spatial diversity to increase the data rate. Sub-carriers are classified for spatial diversity transmission or for time diversity transmission based on the result of a comparison between threshold values and at least one of three criteria. The criteria includes a calculation of a smallest eigen value of a frequency channel response matrix and a smallest element of a diagonal of the matrix and a ratio of the largest and smallest eigen values of the matrix. |
| US08077598B2 |
Apparatus and method for radio transmission
A radio transmission apparatus performs communications with high transmission efficiency. In this apparatus, a modulator modulates data and outputs to a first spreader. A second modulator modulates data under a modulation scheme having a higher M-ary number than the first modulator and outputs the modulated data to a second spreader. The first spreader spreads the data and outputs the spread data to a frequency domain mapping section. The second spreader spreads the data and outputs the spread data to a time domain mapping section. A frequency domain mapping section maps chips with spread data on subcarriers in the frequency domain and outputs the data with chips mapped on subcarriers to an IFFT section. The time domain mapping section maps chips with spread data on subcarriers in the time domain and outputs the data with chips mapped on subcarriers to the IFFT section. |
| US08077594B2 |
Radio communication base station device and correlation setting method
Provided is a radio communication base station device which can suppress a use amount of an SRS communication resource. In this device, a correlation rule setting unit (102) sets a rule for correlating a preamble with an SRS transmission time interval so that the preamble transmission time band and the SRS transmission time band are in the same transmission time band. An SRS transmission band decision unit (103) decides a time interval of a transmission time band which can transmit the SRS according to the preamble transmission time interval inputted from a preamble transmission band decision unit (101) and the correlation rule setting unit (102). |
| US08077590B2 |
Information recording carrier and information reproducing apparatus for the same
Plural grooves or lands formed in an information recording carrier include at least a wobbling region and data is recorded wobblingly in this wobbling region by phase shift modulation while recorded digitally with a single or multiple waves as a channel bit. |
| US08077587B2 |
Laser attachment device and optical pick-up device using the same
A laser attachment device of the present invention is formed of a LD package and a LD holder housing it. A first inner wall of the LD holder to come into contact with a side surface of the LD package is an inclined surface. This allows the facing direction of the LD package to be corrected by the first inner wall being the inclined surface, even when a laser beam emitted from a light emitting chip housed in the LD holder is inclined with respect to an optical axis. Thus, the traveling direction of the laser beam is corrected to the optical axis side. |
| US08077583B2 |
Optical element, aberration correcting element, light converging element, objective optical system, optical pickup device, and optical information recording reproducing device
An optical system for use in an optical pickup apparatus comprises a first optical surface having a superposition type diffractive structure including a plurality of ring-shaped zones which are formed concentrically around an optical axis, wherein each ring-shaped zone is composed of a plurality of stepped sections stepwise, and a second optical surface having a diffractive structure including a plurality of ring-shaped zones which are formed concentrically around an optical axis, wherein each of the plurality of ring-shaped zones are divided by a stepped section to generate a diffractive light ray of diffractive order whose absolute value is not small than 1 for the light flux. |
| US08077581B2 |
Optical pickup and optical disc drive
An optical pickup has a semiconductor laser device that can emit laser beams with different wavelengths. A beam splitter and objective lens direct the emitted beam onto a rotating optical disc. Reflected light returns through the objective lens and beam splitter to a photodetector. A pair of liquid crystal elements on the optical path from the optical disc to the photodetector have controllable lens functions acting in different directions to produce an adjustable astigmatic effect that enables the photodetector to generate a focus error signal with a linear range appropriate for the type of optical disc, the number of signal layers in the optical disc, and the spacing between the layers. |
| US08077570B2 |
Error recovery method for video recording
An error recovery method for video recording is provided. The method is suitable for recovering data of a disk when an error occurs during video recording. The method includes following steps. First, a last writable address of the disk is obtained. Then, a file system last written onto the disk is located by searching forward from the last writable address. Next, a new file system is generated based on the file system and a data segment of the defected recording. Finally, the new file system is written onto the disk so as to recover the data on the disk. Therefore, the data currently written onto the disk and the existing data in the disk can be recovered. |
| US08077565B2 |
Optical disc device and lens tilt control method
With an optical disc apparatus of the present invention, the number of tracks of an optical disc crossed by a light spot when the tracking control is inactive is measured and stored in a memory for each passage of a predetermined rotation angle. When the tracking control is active, a lens tilt driving signal is generated by multiplying the value of a memory section corresponding to the disc rotation angle by a gain according to the disc rotation speed, thereby correcting the AC tilt occurring due to a lens shift. |
| US08077564B2 |
Method for improving readability of an optical disc, and associated optical storage apparatus
A method for improving readability of an optical disc includes: changing a first control parameter of an optical storage apparatus that accesses the optical disc and obtaining a plurality of associated values of an index corresponding to the readability of the optical disc for respective changed/unchanged values of the first control parameter; setting the first control parameter to be an optimal value out of the changed/unchanged values of the first control parameter according to the index; changing a second control parameter with the first parameter set to be the optimal value to obtaining a plurality of associated values of the index for respective changed/unchanged values of the second control parameter; and setting the second control parameter to be an optimal value according to the index. The control parameters having their individual optimal values are utilized for further control during decoding. In addition, an associated optical storage apparatus is further provided. |
| US08077558B1 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including plasmon generator
A plasmon generator has an outer surface including a plasmon exciting part that faces an evanescent light generating surface of a waveguide. The outer surface further includes first and second inclined surfaces that increase in distance from each other with increasing distance from the plasmon exciting part, and a front end face. The front end face has first and second portions that are connected to each other into a V-shape. The first portion includes a first side lying at an end of the first inclined surface. The second portion includes a second side lying at an end of the second inclined surface. An angle formed between a lower part of the first side and a lower part of the second side is smaller than that formed between an upper part of the first side and an upper part of the second side. |
| US08077557B1 |
Multiple aperture VCSEL EAMR heads
A magnetic recording device comprises a multi-aperture vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) operably coupled to a magnetic recording head and a plurality of waveguides disposed in the magnetic recording head. Each of the plurality of waveguides has a first end coupled to a different aperture of the multi-aperture VCSEL. The magnetic recording device further comprises a near field transducer disposed in the magnetic recording head. Each of the plurality of waveguides has a second end coupled to the near field transducer. |
| US08077555B1 |
Sponge replacement and reminder system and method
A method and system for identifying when a cleaning article, such as a sponge, should be replaced or disposed within a period of time is disclosed. A cleaning article such as a sponge is labeled with a time increment that will act as an expiration date or reminder for the user. The time increment may be in month increments that can be abbreviated or spelled. At the end of the time increment, the user will be reminded that he has used the sponge longer than the time increment by seeing the time increment on the sponge. The sponge will be replaced with a sponge having a new time increment. |
| US08077550B2 |
Electronic timepiece, time adjustment method for an electronic timepiece, and control program for an electronic timepiece
An electronic timepiece has a reception unit that can receive satellite signals transmitted from positioning information satellites and acquire time information and positioning information; a time zone data storage component that stores region data dividing geographical information for which time zone information is set into a plurality of regions, and time zone information for each region; a time zone information acquisition component that extracts a region containing positioning information acquired by the reception unit from the region data, and acquires the time zone information for that region; a time zone information display that displays the time zone information acquired by the time zone information acquisition component as a time zone candidate; an input device; a time zone information selection component that selects time zone information from the time zone candidates displayed on the display based on operation of the input device; a time calculation component that calculates the current time based on the time information acquired by the reception unit and the time zone information selected by the time zone information selection component; and a time display that displays the current time. |
| US08077548B2 |
Multibeam sounder
The sounder according to the invention comprises two transmit-receive antennas (1, 10) whose respective axes are off-target toward the front, in the direction of movement of the platform, these axes being symmetrical relative to a straight line (3) passing through their intersection and parallel to the axis of travel of the platform, the transmit frequency of the first antenna, equal to the receive frequency of the second being different from the transmit frequency of the second, the latter frequency being equal to the receive frequency of the first. |
| US08077546B2 |
Method for monitoring a multi-layered system
A method for monitoring a multi-layered system below a surface comprising a slow layer and a fast layer; the method comprising: transmitting one or more seismic waves from one or more seismic sources through the multi-layered system; receiving signals emanating from the multi-layered system in response to the one or more seismic waves with one or more receivers located a distance from the one or more seismic sources; identifying one or more critically refracted compressional (CRC) waves amongst the signals; and inferring information about a change in the slow layer based on the one or more CRC waves; wherein the CRC wave is a refracted wave which has traveled along an interface between the fast layer and an adjacent layer. |
| US08077545B2 |
Method for detecting gas influx in wellbores and its application to identifying gas bearing formations
A method for identifying gas in a wellbore includes imparting acoustic energy into the wellbore at a first selected position and detecting the acoustic energy at a second position in the wellbore spaced apart from the first position. Acoustic velocity of fluid in the wellbore from the detected acoustic energy. Presence of gas in the fluid is determined from the velocity. |
| US08077531B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit including column redundancy fuse block
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a semiconductor chip having an edge area and a bank area located an inner portion of the edge area, and a column redundancy fuse block disposed in the edge area. |
| US08077526B1 |
Low power SSTL memory controller
An integrated circuit device having configurable resources is configured as a memory controller that includes a plurality of bi-directional pins, an input buffer circuit that is operable to receive SSTL-compliant input and an output buffer that is operable to generate SSTL-compliant output. The input buffer circuit includes a first single-ended buffer coupled to a first voltage source and to a ground voltage. The first single-ended buffer has an input coupled to one of the bi-directional pins and has an output coupled to the control logic of the memory controller. |
| US08077523B2 |
Semiconductor memory device with a stacked gate including a charge storage layer and a control gate and method of controlling the same
A semiconductor memory device includes a transfer circuit and a control circuit. The transfer circuit which includes a p-type MOS transistor with a source to which is applied a first voltage and an n-type MOS transistor to whose gate the drain of the p-type MOS transistor is connected and the first voltage is transferred, to whose source a second voltage is applied, and whose drain is connected to a load. The control circuit which turns the p-type MOS transistor on and off and which turns the p-type MOS transistor on to make the p-type MOS transistor transfer the second voltage to the load and, during the transfer, turns the p-type MOS transistor off to make the gate of the n-type MOS transistor float at the first voltage. |
| US08077522B2 |
Memory and method operating the memory
A memory comprises a memory array, a sense unit, and a biasing and shielding circuit. The biasing and shielding circuit is coupled to the memory array and the sense unit, wherein the biasing and shielding circuit comprises a first transistor, a second transistor, and a capacitor. The first transistor has a gate coupled to a biasing voltage and a first terminal coupled to the sense unit. The second transistor has a gate coupled to the biasing voltage and a first terminal coupled to a first potential. The capacitor is coupled to the sense unit and the first transistor. |
| US08077511B2 |
Hybrid non-volatile memory
A non-volatile memory (NVM) circuit includes at least two types of NVM sub-circuits that share common support circuitry. Different types of NVM sub-circuits include ordinary NVM circuits that provide a logic output upon being addressed, programmable fuses that provide an output upon transitioning to a power-on state, NVM circuits that provide an ON/OFF state output, and the like. Some of the outputs are used to calibrate circuits within a device following power-on. Other outputs are used to store information to be employed by various circuits. |
| US08077509B2 |
Magnetic memory
A magnetic memory is provided with a memory cell. The memory cell includes a magnetic recording element, an interconnection to generate a radio-frequency current-induced magnetic field and a ground line. The magnetic recording element is provided with a first magnetic layer whose magnetization direction is substantially fixed, a magnetic recording layer whose magnetization direction is substantially reversed by spin-polarized electrons passing through the magnetic recording layer and a first nonmagnetic layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the magnetic recording layer. The interconnection is provided above the magnetic recording element to generate a radio-frequency current-induced magnetic field acting in a direction substantially perpendicular to a magnetization easy axis of the magnetic recording layer. The ground line is provided on a side opposite to the magnetic recording element with respect to the interconnection. |
| US08077505B2 |
Bipolar switching of phase change device
Memory devices and methods for operating such devices are described herein. A method as described herein includes applying a reset bias arrangement to a memory cell to change the resistance state from the lower resistance state to the higher resistance state. The reset bias arrangement comprises a first voltage pulse. The method further includes applying a set bias arrangement to the memory cell to change the resistance state from the higher resistance state to the lower resistance state. The set bias arrangement comprises a second voltage pulse, the second voltage pulse having a voltage polarity different from that of the first voltage pulse. |
| US08077504B2 |
Shallow trench type quadri-cell of phase-change random access memory (PRAM)
A method of forming a phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cell and PRAM arrangement, and embodiments of phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cells and PRAM arrangements are disclosed. A phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cell includes a bottom electrode, a heater resistor coupled to the bottom electrode, a phase change material (PCM) coupled to the heater resistor, and a top electrode coupled to the phase change material. An active region between the heater resistor and the phase change material is defined by a thickness of the heater resistor. |
| US08077502B2 |
Electronic devices utilizing spin torque transfer to flip magnetic orientation
Electronic devices that include (i) a magnetization controlling structure; (ii) a tunnel barrier structure; and (iii) a magnetization controllable structure including: a first polarizing layer; and a first stabilizing layer, wherein the tunnel barrier structure is between the magnetization controlling structure and the magnetization controlling structure and the first polarizing layer is between the first stabilizing layer and the tunnel barrier structure, wherein the electronic device has two stable overall magnetic configurations, and wherein a first unipolar current applied to the electronic device will cause the orientation of the magnetization controlling structure to reverse its orientation and a second unipolar current applied to the electronic device will cause the magnetization controllable structure to switch its magnetization in order to obtain one of the two stable overall magnetic configurations, wherein the second unipolar current has an amplitude that is less than the first unipolar current. |
| US08077494B2 |
Ferroelectric memory with sub bit-lines connected to each other and to fixed potentials
A memory capable of suppressing increase of a chip area thereof while preventing nonselected subarrays from disturbance is obtained. This memory comprises a first transistor for connecting respective sub bit lines with each other, and connects the sub bit lines of the nonselected subarrays with each other through the first transistor and connects the same to fixed potentials arranged on both ends of a memory cell array at least in a read operation. |
| US08077493B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array disposing a plurality of memory cells at each intersection of word lines and bit lines, the memory cell including one pair of cross-connected inverters including a transistor, a first dummy transistor having a threshold voltage which has a certain relationship with a threshold voltage of the transistor of the memory cell, a dummy bit line connected to one end of the first dummy transistor, and the dummy bit line charged so as to have a predetermined voltage, a dummy transistor control circuit configured to control conduction of the first dummy transistor, and a word line driver configured to supply a word line voltage to the word line connected to the selected memory cell, and the word line driver configured to change a rise time of the word line voltage in accordance with a change in a voltage of the dummy bit line. |
| US08077491B2 |
Inverter controller
A PWM operation unit includes a modulation-mode selecting unit selecting a two-phase modulation mode signal and a carrier-wave-synchronous-mode select command, a modulation-wave generating unit generating a modulation wave in response to the two-phase modulation mode signal, a carrier-wave generating unit generating a carrier wave in response to the carrier-wave-synchronous-mode select command, and a comparing unit comparing the modulation wave with the carrier wave. In a two-phase modulation mode, the PWM operation unit controls the carrier-wave generating unit such that a carrier wave frequency is set to an integral multiple of a modulation wave frequency. |
| US08077490B1 |
Limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) generation by altering a digital transfer function of a feedback loop element
Limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) generation by altering a digital transfer function of a feedback loop element provides a controllable method and apparatus for generating LCOs within a switch-mode power supply (SMPS). Measurements of the LCO characteristics can then be used to determine characteristics of the SMPS and/or determine proper compensation schemes. At least a zero error code of the feedback loop element is removed, causing the control value to oscillate between at least two values. Additional codes may be progressively removed until an LCO is detected, in order to ensure LCO generation with minimum disruption of SMPS operation. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts an output voltage or current to a control value may be used to generate an LCO by removing one or more output codes to alter its transfer function. Alternatively, a quantization step of the pulse-width modulator or other modulator may be increased to temporarily cause LCOs. |
| US08077484B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting a change in output voltage of an isolated power converter
A controller for use in a power converter to detect changes in output voltage. An example controller includes a drive circuit to generate a switching signal. The switching signal is coupled to be received by a power switch to be coupled to an energy transfer element and an input of the power converter to control a transfer of energy from the input of the power converter to an output of the power converter. An output voltage sensor is coupled to the drive circuit and coupled to receive a feedback signal representative of the output of the power converter. The output voltage sensor includes first and second pulse sampler circuits. The first pulse sampler circuit is coupled to capture a first peak voltage representative of a second peak of a ringing voltage of the feedback signal at a first time in the feedback signal. The second pulse sampler circuit is coupled to capture a second peak voltage representative of the second peak of the ringing voltage of the feedback signal at a second time in the feedback signal. The output voltage sensor is coupled to output a change signal to the drive circuit in response to the first and second peak voltages. |
| US08077483B2 |
Method and apparatus for sensing multiple voltage values from a single terminal of a power converter controller
An example controller for a power converter according to aspects of the present invention includes a switching control that switches a power switch to regulate an output of a power converter. The controller also includes a sensor coupled to receive a signal from a single terminal of the controller. The signal from the single terminal is representative of a line input voltage of the power converter during at least a portion of an on time of the power switch. The signal from the single terminal is also representative of an output voltage of the power converter during at least a portion of an off time of the power switch. The switching control is responsive to the sensor. |
| US08077482B2 |
DC-DC converter
Provided is a DC-DC converter that can reduce losses. Ein and C1 are serially connected. Q1 and Q2 are serially connected so that antiparallel diodes thereof face the same direction. A terminal of C1 that is not connected to Ein and a terminal of Q2 that is not connected to Q1 are connected. A terminal of Ein that is not connected to C1 and a terminal of Q1 that is not connected to Q2 are connected. A coil N1 of T is connected between a connection point of Ein and C1 and a connection point of Q1 and Q2. Among a pair of terminals of a coil N2, a terminal having the same polarity as a terminal the coil N1 that is connected to Ein is connected to the connection point of C1 and Q2 through D1 and the other terminal is connected to the connection point of Ein and C1. A coil N3 is connected to a smoothing circuit through a rectification circuit. The direction of D1 is set in such a manner that energy can be transferred to C1 from the coil N2 when Q1 is in a conduction state. The rectification circuit applies a voltage of the same polarity to the smoothing circuit in both case where $1 is in a conduction state and Q2 is in a conduction state. |
| US08077481B2 |
Primary sampling current controlled synchronous rectifying drive circuit
A primary winding current controlled synchronous rectifying drive circuit including a current sampling circuit that detects a current signal in a primary winding of a transformer and forwards it to a signal shaping and reset circuit, and a current compensation signal circuit that compensates a magnetizing current in the primary winding of the transformer, wherein the signal shaping and reset circuit converts a sample of the current signal into a voltage signal and shapes it into a pulse signal, and then forwards the current signal to a logic control and power drive circuit that converts the pulse signal into one or more drive signal(s) through logic control, then the drive signal(s) are amplified to drive a corresponding synchronous rectifier. |
| US08077479B2 |
Apparatus for reducing electromagnetic interference and spreading heat
A radio module for use in an electronic device is disclosed. The radio module has a shield for reducing electromagnetic interference on the radio module. The shield may include a heat-spreading layer made of a material including graphite. The heat-spreading layer may spread heat generated by the radio module. The shield may also include a reflective layer overlapping the heat-spreading layer and configured to reflect electromagnetic energy to the heat-spread layer. The heat-spreading layer is also configured to absorb at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy, thereby reducing the electromagnetic interference on the radio module. |
| US08077474B2 |
Variable equalizer apparatus
A variable equalizer apparatus for forward and/or reverse equalizers in an amplifier. The system can include a structure to allow continuous contact of the signal flow as an equalizer is removed; jumpers with fixed resistors and associated capacitors and inductors to produce a variable range over many different values; and/or variable resistance potentiometers with fixed resistors and associated capacitors and inductors to produce a variable range over separate value equalizers. |
| US08077469B2 |
Chip card assembling structure
A chip card holder, for securing a chip card in an electronic device, includes a housing, an elastic member and a strip member. The housing defines a receiving chamber. The elastic member is secured in the receiving chamber and has an elastic foldable resisting section. The strip member connects with the resisting section and an end of the strip exposes from the receiving chamber. A chip card is assembled in the receiving chamber, the resisting section of the elastic member resists against the chip card, the resisting section is folded elastically by pulling the strip member and the chip card is withdrawn by the pushing of the resisting section. |
| US08077466B2 |
Heat sink, semiconductor device, and method of manufacturing heat sink
A heat sink 109 is configured by a plate component having a combined structure composed of a recess and a projection formed thereon, wherein the recess is formed by allowing a part of the plate component to be set back from the surface level of the residual region, and the projection is formed on one surface of the plate component with the progress of formation of the recess, so as to be built up above the level of the residual region of the one surface. |
| US08077465B2 |
Heat sink assembly with fixing member
A heat sink includes a cooling member to dissipate heat, and a fixing member for mounting fasteners. The cooling member includes a base and a number of fins extending from the base. The cooling member and the fixing member are independently formed, and the fixing member is fixed to a bottom of the base of the cooling member via fixing means. |
| US08077461B2 |
Portable electronic device with maintenance capability
A portable electronic device includes a circuit board and at least one treatment element mounted adjacent to the circuit board and storing volatile maintaining matters therein. The circuit board generates heat when the portable electronic device is working to heat the treatment element, and then the maintaining matters volatilize to maintain the portable electronic device. |
| US08077460B1 |
Heat exchanger fluid distribution manifolds and power electronics modules incorporating the same
A heat exchanger fluid distribution manifold includes a manifold body defining a coolant fluid chamber, a single fluid inlet, and a plurality of fluid outlets. The single fluid inlet is configured to introduce a coolant fluid into the coolant fluid chamber. The plurality of fluid outlets are configured to remove the coolant fluid from the coolant fluid chamber. At least two of the plurality of fluid outlets are separated from the single fluid inlet by an unequal distance, and a coolant fluid flow rate at each fluid outlet is substantially uniform. The heat exchanger fluid distribution manifold may further include a plurality of serpentine walls along the coolant fluid chamber. Each serpentine wall comprises a spline feature located proximate to an individual fluid outlet. The spline features are optimized such that the coolant fluid flow rate is substantially uniform and a total pressure drop is less than about 2 kPa. |
| US08077449B2 |
Mounting apparatus for computer case
A mounting apparatus is provided for fixing a computer case to a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. The mounting apparatus includes a supporting bracket attached to a backside of the LCD monitor, and a latch mechanism movably mounted to the supporting bracket. The latch mechanism includes a locking member slidably engaging with the supporting bracket, and a driving member slidably engaging with the supporting bracket. The locking member may slides to a locking position to hold the computer case to the supporting bracket. The driving member is capable of being slid in a direction to push the locking member to an unlocking position, where the computer case is ready for being released from the supporting bracket. |
| US08077444B2 |
Multilayer capacitor
The invention relates to a multilayer capacitor capable of controlling ESR while maintaining the level of ESL low. A multilayer capacitor (10) includes a plurality of first and second internal capacitor electrodes (3, 4) which are formed inside a multilayer body (1) of rectangular parallelepiped shape constructed by stacking a plurality of rectangular dielectric layers (2) on top of one another in a stacking direction; first and second external relay electrodes (13, 14) which are disposed on left-hand and right-hand surfaces of the multilayer body (1); first and second internal relay electrodes (5, 6) which are disposed inside the multilayer body (1) and arranged so as to be opposed to each other with the dielectric layer (2) interposed therebetween; and first and second external terminal electrodes (15, 16) which are disposed on upper and lower surfaces of the multilayer body (1). |
| US08077431B2 |
Apparatus and method for reducing turbulence of airflow in a hard disk drive
A sickle-shaped disk drive spoiler for reducing turbulence of airflow in a hard disk drive is provided. The sickle-shaped spoiler is configured to direct airflow generated by a rotating disk and includes a tapered first end portion configured to direct the airflow toward the inner diameter of the disk and to reduce the airflow on the side of the disk opposing the spoiler. |
| US08077429B2 |
Magnetic disk vibration-suppressing mechanism having shroud-narrowing gap
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to greatly decreasing vibrations of a rotary disk at a portion where vibration on the disks is to be suppressed in a vibration-suppressing mechanism for rotary disks while enabling the rotary disks to be incorporated in the shroud surface. In one embodiment, the vibration-suppressing mechanism for rotary disks comprises at least one rotary disk and a shroud surface extending along and facing the outer circumferential edges of the disk. The shroud surface is so formed as to possess a portion where a gap between the outer circumferential edge of the disk and the shroud surface becomes small near a portion where the vibration of the disk is to be suppressed. |
| US08077425B2 |
Magnetic disk apparatus and information reproducing method
A magnetic disk apparatus includes a magnetic disk that includes a plurality of zones in which a plurality of tracks are arranged for each of circumferences of a spiral, and gaps that are arranged between the zones to have a width a predetermined number of times larger than a track width and that are regions without providing recording bits; and a reproducing element that simultaneously makes an access to the recording bits contained in the tracks, reading information stored in the recording bits, wherein the number of the tracks is one or larger and a sum of one and the predetermined number or smaller in one of the zones. |
| US08077424B2 |
Transducer design with a sensor close to write pole
A magnetic device includes a read sensor, a writer and a synchronization sensor. The magnetic device is configured for writing information to and reading information from a magnetic medium that includes a plurality of discrete magnetic bits. The writer includes a write element, a first return element magnetically coupled to the write element, and a second return element magnetically coupled to the write element. The write element is positioned in between the first and second return elements. The synchronization sensor is located adjacent to the write element of the writer in a closely spaced arrangement, and is configured to generate a signal as a function of a sensed magnetic bit. The signal is used to position the writer element relative to the sensed magnetic bit. |
| US08077423B1 |
Fly-height touchdown detection circuits and methods
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus that includes a circuit that generates control information that controls a height of a read head of a disk drive. The circuit comprises a filter circuit and a detector circuit. The filter circuit receives a read channel signal from the read head and generates a filtered signal. The filtered signal ranges between 1.0 kHz and 500 kHz. The detector circuit receives the filtered signal and generates the control information when the filtered signal exceeds a defined threshold. |
| US08077421B1 |
Pole mismatch compensation via feedback control approach
A system including an error signal generating module to generate an error signal based on (i) back electromotive force sensed from a motor and (ii) a predetermined speed of the motor. The error signal includes noise due to mismatched poles of the motor. A noise elimination module eliminates components of the noise having frequencies N times a frequency of rotation of the motor from the error signal and generates a corrected error signal, where N is an integer greater than or equal to zero. A control module generates a first control signal based on components of the corrected error signal, generates a second control signal based on components of the error signal, and rotates the motor at the predetermined speed based on (i) the first control signal and (ii) the second control signal. The components of the corrected error signal have higher frequencies than the components of the error signal. |
| US08077415B1 |
Preamp circuit including a loopback mode for data storage devices
A data storage device preamplifier circuit including (i) a write amplifier having an input and an output, and (ii) a read amplifier has an input and an output. The data storage device preamplifier circuit further includes a loopback circuit configured to selectively connect the output of the write amplifier to the input of the read amplifier. |
| US08077413B2 |
Adjustable pinhole for a laser scanning microscope
An adjustable pinhole, in particular for a beam path for illumination and/or detection in a laser-scanning microscope. The pinhole consists of at least two planar basic modules, which have frame-like joints, on which at least one blade is arranged in a displaceable manner in one direction, whereby the basic component advantageously contains at least one integrated, preferably optical or electromagnetic actuator. A device is provided at the blade, or connected with it, for preferably optical or electromagnetic detection of the position, and is provided, advantageously, with two asymmetric apertures, with mutually opposite orientation, for optical detection of the position, whereby in front of or behind the apertures, a slit is provided, oriented preferably at a right angle to the direction of displacement, and the quantity of light passing through the slit is detected separately for each aperture. |
| US08077410B2 |
Optical apparatus and image pickup apparatus provided with the optical apparatus
Provided is an optical apparatus including: two magnets which are constituent components of drive member for moving a lens holder (21); three balls (25); and two bias members (23) for applying biases such that hook portions disposed in one and the other ends of each of the two bias members are engaged with a base member (28) and the lens holder, respectively, and the three balls are held between the base member and the lens holder. Two magnets (22A and 22B), the three balls, and the two bias members are arranged so that a center of gravity within a plane of the base member, a lens, and the two magnets is positioned in a triangle formed by the three balls, and a line segment within a plane formed by the two bias members steps over two sides of the triangle. |
| US08077404B2 |
Optical unit
The present invention relates to an optical unit. The present invention further relates to the use of such an optical unit. Such an optical unit comprises, seen in a direction from the object side to the imaging surface, a first substrate, a first lens element, a flat, transparent intermediate layer, a second lens element and a second substrate, which intermediate layer has an optically correcting function near the imaging surface. |
| US08077400B2 |
Thin type optical lens system for taking image
An optical lens system for taking image comprises three lens elements with refractive power, from the object side to the image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power, a second lens element with negative refractive power having at least one aspheric surface, a third lens element with negative refractive power having at least one aspheric surface, and an aperture stop located between the first lens element and the second lens element. By such arrangements, it can effectively reduce the volume and the sensitivity of the lens system. |
| US08077397B2 |
Zoom lens and image projection apparatus including the same
A zoom lens includes, in order from an enlargement conjugate side to a reduction conjugate side, a first lens unit of negative refractive power; a second lens unit of positive refractive power; a third lens unit of positive refractive power, the third lens unit having at least three lens elements; a middle lens unit including at least one lens unit; and a last lens unit of positive refractive power. All the lens units, except the first lens unit and the last lens unit, move during zooming. The zoom lens satisfies appropriate conditions. |
| US08077396B2 |
Apparatus and system for providing a virtual display for a vehicle
A display unit for mounting in a vehicle is provided. The display unit includes an image generator. The display unit further includes a semi-reflective member. The semi-reflective member is configured to move from a non-operational position to an operation position. The semi-reflective member is positioned to reflect light from the image generator in an operational position. |
| US08077390B2 |
Method of producing an optical element that has spatial variation in refractive index
A method of producing an optical element that has spatial variation in refractive index includes providing a curable liquid crystal composition; applying a spatially varying electric field to the liquid crystal composition to induce a desired spatial variation in refractive index; and curing the liquid crystal composition while the electric field is still applied to fix the spatial variation in refractive index when the electric field is removed. |
| US08077388B2 |
Light polarization converter for converting linearly polarized light into radially polarized light and related methods
The conversion of linear polarized light into radial-polarized light is accomplished through a radial polarization generator containing multiple layers of polarizing film, or polarization converters, for converting the beam of light to a different orientation. Using the radial polarization generator, a quasi radial-polarized beam of light can be obtained quickly and easily by simply aligning the light at the center of the polarization generator. True radial-polarization can be obtained by passing the laser through a spatial filter. With such a radial polarization generator, a large frequency range of light may be converted from a linear orientation to a radial orientation. |
| US08077387B2 |
Optical microscope
An optical microscope, which has a light source, for observing a sample by illuminating light from the light source on the sample includes a second light source that is different from the light source and is insertable/removable in/from the optical path of the optical microscope. The second light source is configured to have the peak of an emission spectrum only in a wavelength range of 400 to 490 nm. |
| US08077385B2 |
Reconfigurable optical amplifier, reversible optical circulator, and optical signal transmission system
A reconfigurable optical amplifier including a first reversible optical circulator and an optical gain device is provided. The first reversible optical circulator has four I/O ports which are respectively referred to as a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, and a fourth terminal. The four I/O ports sequentially transmit an optical signal in a transmission direction of a forward circulation or a backward circulation according to a control signal. The first terminal is isolated from the adjacent fourth terminal. The optical gain device is connected between the first terminal and the adjacent fourth terminal. The second terminal and the third terminal are respectively connected to a first communication node and a second communication node. |
| US08077382B2 |
Gain-clamped optical amplifying apparatus using fiber Raman amplifier having Raman cavity
Provided is a gain-clamped (GC) optical amplifier using a fiber Raman amplifier (FRA) having a Raman cavity. The FRA having a Raman cavity comprises a Raman fiber module (RFM) amplifying and outputting an input optical signal and a resonant cavity generating a Raman laser and a gain clamping laser (GC laser), wherein the resonant cavity is formed as a feedback loop between an input terminal and an output terminal of the RFM. Accordingly, a gain of an optical signal propagating along a core of RFM keeps a constant value regardless of input signal intensity by generating the GC laser for gain clamping between a wavelength band of the Raman laser and a gain band of input signals. |
| US08077377B2 |
Spatial light modulator with structured mirror surfaces
The invention relates to methods to improve SLMs, in particular to reflecting micromechanical SLMs, for applications with simple system architecture, high precision, high power handling capability, high throughput, and/or high optical processing capability. Applications include optical data processing, image projection, lithography, image enhancement, holography, optical metrology, coherence and wavefront control, and adaptive optics. A particular aspect of the invention is the achromatization of diffractive SLMs so they can be used with multiple wavelengths sequentially, simultaneously or as a result of spectral broadening in very short pulses. |
| US08077374B2 |
Display devices using electrochromism and polymer dispersed liquid crystal and methods of driving the same
Provided are display devices using electrochromism and PDLC and methods of driving the display devices. A display device may include a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes; a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) layer between the first electrodes and the second electrodes; a plurality of third electrodes and a plurality of fourth electrodes; a plurality of electrochromic layers between the third electrodes and the fourth electrodes; and an electrolyte layer between the third electrodes and the fourth electrodes. |
| US08077371B2 |
Optical beam scanning apparatus, optical beam scanning method and image forming apparatus
An optical beam scanning apparatus according to the present invention includes a light source, a pre-deflection optical system, a light deflecting device, a post-deflection optical system configured to at least include one or plural first optical elements which act on the luminous fluxes for all color components, plural second optical elements which respectively act on the luminous fluxes for each of color components, and plural first reflection mirrors that are respectively provided on an upstream side of the plural second optical elements in optical paths and reflect luminous fluxes emitted from the first optical elements, and a position adjusting mechanism configured to adjust positions of the first reflection mirrors. |
| US08077370B1 |
Scanning optical apparatus
In a scanning optical apparatus including a single lens configured to convert a beam deflected by a polygon mirror into a spot-like image on a scanned surface, an angle β2 [deg] formed in a main scanning plane between the first optical axis and the second optical axis of the opposite lens surfaces of the lens satisfies the condition of −0.6<β2≦−0.1, and at least one of the conditions −0.5<β1<0 and −0.1 |
| US08077369B2 |
Optical scanning device, optical writing device, and image forming apparatus
An optical scanning device includes a first optical system for guiding light beams emitted from a plurality of light emitting units to an optical deflector, and a second optical system for focusing the light beams to optically scan a surface to be scanned. At least one of the first optical system and the second optical system includes a resin lens having a diffractive surface. The diffractive surface includes a diffractive portion and a refractive portion. A power of the diffractive portion and a power of the refractive portion cancel each other. |
| US08077368B2 |
Optical scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus
Synchronization detecting units detect synchronization signals by receiving the light beam deflected to one side of a light source on one side of an optical deflector and receiving the light beam deflected to an opposite side of an optical axis of a scanning optical system from the light source on the other side of the optical deflector. Photodetectors that detect the synchronization signals are arranged on the opposite side of an optical axis of a scanning optical system from the light sources and on a side closer to the scanning optical system that detects the synchronization signals by receiving the light beam deflected to the light source. |
| US08077364B2 |
Security system, particularly for valuable documents
The invention relates to a security system especially for security documents, wherein a security element is provided in a carrier plane, that under incident light holographically reconstructs a pattern outside the carrier plane, in which concealed information is stored and having a flat transparent verification element which on flat contact with the security element makes the information stored therein visible. The invention further relates to a security element and a verification element for use in the security system and a security document fitted with the security system. The invention additionally relates to an apparatus and a method for reading out the concealed information which is stored holographically in the pattern reconstructed on the security element under incident light. |
| US08077361B2 |
Optical scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus using same
An optical scanning apparatus is detachably mountable in an image forming apparatus. The optical scanning apparatus includes a light source unit to simultaneously emit a plurality of light beams; an optical element unit including an optical element to focus light beams deflected by the optical element onto a surface to be scanned, and hold the light source unit in a rotatively adjustable manner; and a rotation adjustment unit to adjust a position of the light source unit relative to the optical element unit in a rotation direction when an external force acts on the rotation adjustment unit. The rotation adjustment unit is disposed at a rear end of the optical scanning apparatus in an inserting direction to the image forming apparatus or at an adjustable position when the optical scanning apparatus is installed in the image forming apparatus. |