| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08107850B2 |
Developing device
A developing device is provided. The developing device includes a housing, a developing agent carrier, and a developing agent leakage prevention member. The developing agent leakage prevention member has a first layer that is configured to contact an outer circumferential surface of a longitudinal end of the developing agent carrier; a second layer that is superimposed on the first layer and is configured to contact a portion of the housing; and an adhesive layer that is interposed between the first layer and the second layer, the adhesive layer partially bonding a first opposing surface of the first layer opposing the second layer to a second opposing surface of the second layer opposing the first layer such that an unbonded area where the first opposing surface and the second opposing surface are not bonded together is produced. |
| US08107848B2 |
Image forming apparatus with contact/separation mechanism to/from intermediate transfer body
In a printer, three toner patches are primary-transferred successively to an intermediate transfer belt. Here, after the first toner patch passes through a belt cleaner and before the second toner patch reaches the belt cleaner, and after the second toner patch passes through the belt cleaner and before the third patch reaches the belt cleaner, the belt cleaner is operated to change the state of contact to the intermediate transfer belt to a different state. A density sensor detects density of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt, and presence/absence of the toner patch is detected. When presence/absence of the first to third patches is detected alternately, it is determined that the belt cleaner is performing the operation described above. |
| US08107847B2 |
Image exposure apparatus, cleaning device of image exposure apparatus, and image forming apparatus
An image exposure apparatus is provided and includes: an optical unit that emits light to form an exposure image on a photosensitive material; a casing that houses the optical unit and that has an image exposure window through which the light is allowed to pass for forming the exposure image; a transparent dustproof member at the image exposure window; and a shutter member switched between a shield position for covering a region above the dustproof member, which serves as a passage region of a cleaning member for cleaning a surface of the dustproof member, and an open position for allowing the light to pass through the dustproof member to form an exposure image on a surface of the photosensitive material. When the shutter member is located at the shield position, at least a part of the shutter member goes into the passage region of the cleaning member. |
| US08107840B2 |
Image forming apparatus
A supplying roller supplies toner to a developing roller which develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductive drum. The controller controls a power supply to output a first voltage to the developing roller and a second voltage to the supplying roller. A detector generates a detection signal indicative of the remaining amount of toner. The voltage controller performs voltage correction according to the detection signal either in a first mode or a second mode. In the first mode, the first voltage has a smaller value when the detection signal falls below a reference value than when the detection signal is above the reference value. In the second mode, the first voltage has a smaller value when the detection signal falls below the reference value than when the detection signal is above the reference value (as in the first mode), and also the difference between the first and second voltages has a larger value when the detection signal falls below the reference value than when the detection signal is above the reference value. |
| US08107838B2 |
Method and device for processing a measurement signal for detecting a property of a toner mark
In a method or system for processing a measurement signal for detecting a property of a toner mark, the toner mark is produced and detected. A measurement signal is output, a signal curve of the measurement signal being determined. A temporal measurement window is provided for detecting a property of the toner mark, the temporal measurement window having a beginning and an end. A plausibility check is carried out of the determined signal curve wherein a maximum value and a minimum value of the signal curve are determined, a first difference value between a maximum value and the minimum value is determined, a first temporal distance is determined between an occurrence of the maximum value and an occurrence of the minimum value, a second temporal distance is determined between at least one of the beginning and end of the measurement window and the occurrence of at least one of the maximum value and the minimum value, and a second difference value is determined between a first distance of the maximum value from a reference value and a second distance of the minimum value from the reference value, and the second determined difference value is compared to at least one of a defined minimum difference value and a defined maximum difference value. |
| US08107836B2 |
Image forming apparatus having density detecting unit for detecting density of patch
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units, a patch forming unit which actuates the respective image forming units to form density detection patches of the respective colors, a density detecting unit that detects a density of the density detecting patches, a condition correcting unit that controls the density detecting unit to detect the density of the density detecting patches of the respective colors, and corrects the image forming conditions based on respective deviations, a patch re-forming unit that, for each color for which the respective deviation is greater than a threshold value, generates a re-formed density detecting patch of the color using the respective image forming condition previously corrected by the condition correcting unit, and a condition re-correcting unit that controls the density detecting unit to detect a density of the re-formed density detecting patch and re-correct the respective image forming condition. |
| US08107834B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method for the same
An image forming apparatus that transfers a toner image from includes a transfer belt to a sheet via to carry a toner image, a transfer roller. The image forming apparatus transfers the toner image by applying a transfer bias voltage to either the transfer roller or to make contact with the transfer belt to transfer the toner image onto a sheet from the transfer belt, an opposite roller facing the transfer roller across the transfer belt. The transfer bias voltage is decided by adding a transfer roller correction voltage, based on a voltage detected by a voltage detection unit when a predetermined current is applied to either the transfer roller or the opposite roller by a current application unit when no sheet is present in a transfer position, and a sheet correction voltage, based on a sheet kind and an intra-apparatus humidity. |
| US08107832B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a belt, an image forming section, a displacement operation section and a displacement control section. The image forming section includes a color image forming unit and a monochrome image forming unit. The displacement operation section conducts a press-contact operation and a release operation. The press-contact operation brings into contact the image carrier and the belt. The release operation separates the image carrier from the belt. The displacement control section controls the displacement operation section to perform the press-contact operation when the cumulative number of color images is greater than the cumulative number of monochrome images after the image forming section forms a series of images. The displacement control section controls the displacement operation section to perform the release operation when the cumulative number of color images is less than the cumulative number of monochrome images after the image forming section forms a series of images. |
| US08107829B2 |
Image forming apparatus with a developer circulation mechanism
An image forming apparatus includes: at least one retaining member configured to temporarily retain remaining developer remaining on a photosensitive member; a belt arranged opposite to a plurality of photosensitive members; a cleaning device collecting developer on the belt; a remaining developer collecting unit configured to cause the remaining developer retained by the retaining member to be transferred onto the belt via the photosensitive member and thereafter collected by the cleaning device; a circulation mechanism configured to circulate developer between the development chamber and the developer storage chamber; a detector detecting the amount of developer in the developer storage chamber; a determination unit configured to determine if the amount of developer in the developer storage chamber is less than a predetermined amount; and a notifying unit notifying to replace a developer receptacle when the amount of developer stored in the developer storage chamber becomes less than the predetermined amount. |
| US08107827B2 |
Method and apparatus for reception of optical signals
An apparatus and method are provided for receiving an optical signal having an optical carrier component and at least one information-bearing optical sideband. In general, an optical filter arrangement (110) is used to separate the optical carrier component from the information-bearing optical sideband. First and second optical splitters (126, 128) divide the optical power in the optical carrier and the optical sideband, respectively, into corresponding sub-components. The sub-components of the optical carrier have substantially orthogonal polarisation states, which is an optional characteristic of the sideband sub-components. First and second optical coupling devices (142, 144) respectively each combine one of the optical carrier sub-components with a corresponding one of the optical sideband sub-components. Optical detectors (158, 160) detect the outputs of the combiners (142, 144). The arrangement is able to achieve a number of the benefits of coherent optical heterodyne receivers, particularly when used in combination with advanced coding and modulation methods, while avoiding the need, and associated complexity, of providing an optical oscillator at the receiver. |
| US08107825B2 |
Apparatus and method for support of dimming in visible light communication
A method and system for visible light communication (VLC) for use in a dimmable lighting environment is provided. The method includes transmitting data using light from at least one light source, a brightness of the light reduced below a maximum level. The method also includes compensating or accommodating for the reduced brightness of the light at a VLC circuitry to maintain communication. The method further includes transmitting data to at least one VLC receiver using the light from the at least one light source. |
| US08107824B2 |
Passive optical network system and communication method therefor
In a passive optical network system in which communication signals from a master station to a plurality of subsidiary stations are multiplexed by time division and transmitted, after converting (modulating) data with a high transmission speed to a low transmission speed, a base speed, in the master station, a header including an identifier destined for each subsidiary station is attached to the data with a low transmission speed and the converted data, respectively, the data and the header being multiplexed by time division inside a frame and transmitted to the subsidiary stations at the base speed. In the subsidiary station having received the concerned frame, only the data destined for the station itself is read, on the basis of the identifier included in the header, and by means of demodulation, the converted data are reconverted to the original high speed data and supplied to a user terminal. |
| US08107817B2 |
Method for receiving optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signal and receiver thereof
A method for receiving an optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal and a receiver thereof are applicable to an optical OFDM system. The receiving method includes the following steps. An optical signal is converted into a digital signal. A symbol boundary of the digital signal is estimated. A guard interval of the digital signal is removed according to the symbol boundary, so as to generate an electrical signal. The electrical signal is converted into a plurality of frequency domain sub-carriers in a fast Fourier transform (FFT) manner. A timing offset is estimated with pilot carriers and frequency domain sub-carriers corresponding to the same symbol period. The estimated symbol boundary is compensated with the timing offset. Each frequency domain sub-carrier includes a plurality of pilot carrier signals. Through the receiving method, the timing offset arisen from chromatic dispersion of an optical fiber is effectively estimated and adopted for compensation. |
| US08107816B2 |
Wavelength division multiplexing module
A telecommunications module includes an optical wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer configured to demultiplex a first optical signal input into the telecommunications module into a plurality of different wavelengths, a fiber optic splitter configured to split a second optical signal input into the telecommunication module into a plurality of optical signals, and a plurality of optical add/drop filters, each of the optical add/drop filters configured to combine one of the optical signals that has been split by the fiber optic splitter and one of the wavelengths that has been demultiplexed by the optical wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer into a combination output signal that is output from the telecommunications module. |
| US08107813B2 |
Drive circuit and optical switch
A drive circuit includes a first transistor that is controlled to be in on or off state in response to a control signal, and outputs, in on state, a positive current which is input from a first operational amplifier connected with a drain of the first transistor to a semiconductor optical amplifier; and a second transistor that is connected with a source of the first transistor, and is in inverse on or off state to the state of the first transistor. The drive circuit also includes a negative voltage circuit that is connected to a source of the second transistor, and outputs, when the second transistor is in on state, a negative current to the semiconductor optical amplifier. |
| US08107812B2 |
Dynamic range measurement and calculation of optical keyless entry sensor
An optical keyless entry sensor system and method includes an optical sensor in association with a mirror that reflects light transmitted from the optical sensor, wherein reflected light is detectable by the optical sensor. An attenuation filter can be located between the mirror and the optical sensor, wherein the attenuation filter is configured to simulate a contamination of the optical sensor in order to determine an exact level of attenuation representative of contamination that causes a performance failure of the optical sensor, thereby providing data which is indicative of a dynamic range of the optical sensor, such that the dynamic range is utilized to enhance the performance of the optical keyless entry sensor system. |
| US08107808B2 |
Combination dark field and bright field illuminator
Embodiments are disclosed of an apparatus including a curved reflector having an interior and an open end; a light module positioned around a perimeter of the open end of the reflector, the light module including a first side having one or more interior light sources thereon to direct light toward the interior of the reflector and a second side having one or more exterior light sources thereon to direct light away from the reflector; and a light pipe coupled to the light module and aligned so that light from the one or more exterior light sources is launched into the light pipe. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed. |
| US08107806B2 |
Focus adjustment apparatus and focus adjustment method
A focus adjustment apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to capture an object image input via a focus lens to output image data, a focus adjustment unit configured to perform focus adjustment by controlling a position of the focus lens based on the image data, a motion detection unit configured to detect a motion of the object image based on the image data, and a control unit configured to control the focus adjustment unit to perform a first focus adjustment operation if motion of the object image is not detected by the motion detection unit, and to control the focus adjustment unit to perform a second focus adjustment operation different from the first focus adjustment operation if motion of the object image is detected by the motion detection unit. |
| US08107803B1 |
Non-scaling flow through water heater
A water heating apparatus for a beverage brewing device. Water is heated to brew temperature without boiling or localized boiling, thereby minimizing the precipitating of scale. The heating elements each have a low watt density, thereby increasing safety. Multiple heating zones allow the use of a plurality of power relays, lowering the power per relay and thus improving the reliability of the relays. The heating elements cannot overheat due to a failure resulting in a lack of water in the apparatus since the temperature sensors are mounted directly on each heating element, allowing direct measurement and control of each heating element. Precise control of water temperature in the apparatus is provided by varying both the water flow rate through the heating apparatus, and by varying heating element temperatures. |
| US08107802B2 |
Tankless electric water heater with efficient thermal transfer
A tankless electric water heater is disclosed that optimizes energy efficiency while minimizing cost and size. A flow-through container surrounds an electric heating element having a surface that is everwhere in direct, unobstructed relationship with the container walls, forming therebetween a passage through which all of the water must pass in a laminar flow while in close proximity to the heater surface, preferably within one-quarter inch and more preferably within one-eighth inch. The entire heater surface is surrounded by water, and all emanated heat must pass into the water. Tubular embodiments can be straight, coiled, U-shaped, and/or S-shaped. Cup-shaped embodiments can direct the water in a counter-flow past inner and outer heating element surfaces. Electrical connectors can be positioned near to each other. Protruding fins can be included that increase heat contact with the water, and the fins can be aligned with the water flow to minimize turbulence. |
| US08107800B2 |
Method and structure to control thermal gradients in semiconductor wafers during rapid thermal processing
An article supports a workpiece during thermal processing. At least three elongated support members, e.g., support pins, extend upwardly from an element such as support arms for supporting the workpiece. Each of the support members includes a first portion adjacent to the workpiece. A second portion extends downwardly from the first portion. The first portion can have a thermal response faster than the thermal response of the workpiece and the second portion can have a slower thermal response. A removable element may be mounted to the support member for adjusting the thermal response of the support member. With removable elements, the support members can be adjusted to cause no net transfer of heat to or from the workpiece. |
| US08107799B2 |
Evaporator device for mobile anhydrous ammonia production, motor vehicle and method for producing such an evaporator device
An evaporator device for ammonia to be used in mobile exhaust gas systems includes a basic body encompassing at least one inlet line and at least one outlet line. At least one heating element and at least one duct for connecting the inlet line to the outlet line are disposed within the basic body. The at least one heating element is in heat-conducting contact with an evaporation section of the at least one duct, while the at least one duct has a meandering course in the evaporation section. A motor vehicle and a method for producing an evaporator device, are also provided. |
| US08107797B2 |
Reflection heating fan
The present invention discloses a reflection heating fan comprising at least one fan rotating over a main axle, at least one heating element and at least one reflector, said heating element and reflector are continuing from said main axle, wherein said heating element indirectly heats an air stream by reflecting heat produced by a heating element into the air stream produced by said fan. The present invention also discloses a method of indirectly heating a stream of air, comprising applying energy to a heat emitting element incorporated into a bi-functional rotation axle, reflecting said energy by means of a reflective surface into an air stream produced by applying rotation to a bladed fan structure, achieved by transferring the power from a motor through the bi-functional axle to at least one bladed fan structure. |
| US08107796B2 |
Data processing device, data processing method, program, program recording medium, data recording medium, and data structure
Video data and output data that need to be output in synchronization therewith are synchronized. When an output of video data is later than an output of output data synchronized with the video data, at step S273, a process for one access unit is caused to be skipped. At step S275, it is determined whether the video data are referenced when other video data are decoded according to au_ref_flag of video data of the access unit whose process has been caused to be skipped. When the video data of the access unit whose process has been caused to be skipped are not referenced when the other video data are decoded, at step S277, the access unit whose process has been caused to be skipped is skipped. The present invention can be applied to for example a game device that uses a DVD. |
| US08107794B2 |
Optical disk for high resolution and general video recording, optical disk reproduction apparatus, optical disk recording apparatus, and reproduction control information generation apparatus
The present invention has an objective of realizing compatibility of an optical disk having a high resolution video signal recorded thereon and a system for reproducing the optical disk, with a conventional system for producing a standard resolution video signal. A high resolution video signal is divided by video division means into a main signal and a sub signal, and the main signal and the sub signal are MPEG-encoded. The stream of the main signal and the stream of the sub signal are divided into 1 GOP or more of frames. First interleave blocks 54 each including 1 GOP or more of the stream of the main signal and second interleave blocks 55 each including 1 GOP or more of the stream of the sub signal are recorded on an optical disk 1. A high resolution reproduction apparatus reproduces both the first and second interleave blocks to obtain a high resolution video output. A non-high quality picture reproduction apparatus reproduces only the first or second interleave blocks to obtain a standard resolution video output. |
| US08107793B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling dispersion record and play of moving picture
An apparatus and method for controlling a dispersion recording and playback of a moving picture are provided. The apparatus which controls a dispersion record of a moving picture includes, a recording unit that generates a record schedule when a predetermined moving picture is reserved-recorded, generates a reserved-recording-object when it is a reserved-recording time, and dispersedly records the moving picture in another storage device if an error occurs due to insufficient storage space when the moving picture is recorded; a recording-device-selecting unit that selects a recording device based on the preferences of storage devices before the moving picture is reserved-recorded, and a CDS-managing unit that manages recording information of the recorded moving picture, information of moving picture that has been recorded and the recording device. |
| US08107792B2 |
Recording medium having a data structure for backing up management files and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
In one embodiment, the data structure includes original management data managing reproduction of stream data. The original management data includes at least one stream information file managing at least one stream file, which includes the stream data; at least one playlist file, which manages the stream information; and at least one general management file, which manages the playlist file. The data structure further includes back-up management data duplicating the original management data. The original management data is recorded at an inner radius portion of the recording medium, and the back-up management data is recorded at an outer radius portion of the recording medium. |
| US08107791B2 |
Display device, display program storage medium, and displaying method
A display device configured to display a list of programs stored in a storage device includes: a cutout image acquiring section which acquires a cutout image obtained by cutting out a scene in a program; a distribution date-time acquiring section which acquires distribution date and time when the program is distributed; and a three-dimensional display section which displays a three-dimensional space applying axes respectively of a time, a day of the week, and a week, and which arranges the cutout image acquired by the cutout image acquiring section in a position corresponding to the distribution date and time acquired by the distribution time-date acquiring section in the three-dimensional space. |
| US08107780B2 |
Display projectors
The present invention is directed to a display which presents an image along a line of sight of an observer, such that the image is overlaid on a real world scene has a first waveguide and an image source device to inject the image into the first waveguide. The first waveguide has a first grating to direct the image internally and to output the image from the first waveguide. A second waveguide has a coupling grating to receive the image from the first waveguide and to direct the image along the second waveguide. The second waveguide has an exit grating to diffract the received image out of the second waveguide towards the observer. The exit grating diffracts the image out of the second waveguide off axis to a normal axis of the second waveguide. |
| US08107779B2 |
Optical crossbar switch
An optical crossbar switch for optically coupling optic fibers comprising: at least one first fiber and a plurality of second fibers; a moveable fiber-end carriage coupled to an end of the at least one first fiber and having at least one latching hook and being constrained to move along a predetermined trajectory; at least one moveable slack-control carriage coupled to the body of the at least one first fiber and constrained to move along a predetermined trajectory; an array of sockets defined by walls, at least one of which walls of each sockets formed having a latch hole for receiving the latching hook; and at least one moving device controllable to move the carriages; wherein to optically couple a first fiber to a second fiber, the at least one moving device moves the fiber-end carriage of at least one of the first and second fibers to a socket and inserts the fiber's fiber end into the socket so that the at least one latching hook latches into the latch hole and secures the carriage to the socket array. |
| US08107778B2 |
Waveguide element and method of production thereof
There is provided a method of producing a waveguide element comprising steps of forming a lower cladding layer having a refractive index n1 on a substrate having a lower electrode; forming an active core layer having a refractive index n2 and exhibiting an electro-optical effect on a surface of the lower cladding layer; forming a protective layer having a reflective index n4 on a surface of the active core layer; forming a passive core layer having a reflective index n3 on a surface of the protective layer; exposing the passive core layer with a predetermined pattern to form an optical circuit; forming an upper cladding layer on a surface of the passive core layer; forming an upper electrode on a surface of the upper cladding layer; and performing a polarization orientation treatment in which the active core layer is softened or liquidized and cured while the electric field is applied. |
| US08107777B2 |
Polyimide substrate bonded to other substrate
Polyimide substrates are bonded to germanium wafers having an epitaxially grown III-V layer and a metal layer. The polyimide substrate and the Ge, wafer are subsequently thinned by grinding and etching to reach a final thickness of 25 μms Ge on 25 μms adhesive layer on 50 μms polyimide substrate. The choice of adhesive is of paramount importance. There are several requirements for the adhesive layer to act as a permanent carrier of the thin fragile multi junction solar cell. The adhesive must remain flexible after curing and have a low CTE. The use of an adhesive that cures without the addition of heat, preferably at room temperature. Furthermore, the adhesive layer has a uniform thickness preferably less than 25 ums (1 mil) and be void-free. A clear adhesive which does not contain any particles in order to obtain a smooth uniform void-free bond line. However, clear adhesives have CTE's that are larger than 80 ppm/°C. and which can be as high as 200 ppm/°C. or more above the glass transition temperature. |
| US08107775B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method, and electronic camera
An image processing apparatus obtains color image data by performing an interpolation processing for an image signal output from a color image pickup element having color filters arranged like a mosaic, by using a filter. The apparatus includes an interpolation processing unit which selectively modifies an interpolation processing according to a kind of layout pattern of a spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal included the image signal in an image area to be interpolated, so that the spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal after the interpolation processing becomes identical in any layout pattern, if there are a plurality of kinds of layout pattern of a spatial center position of gravity of each color component signal included the image signal in an image area to be interpolated. |
| US08107774B2 |
Image data processing method and image display apparatus
An image data processing method is provided. In this method, a plurality of original pixel values of an image is input. An interpolation position of a target pixel in the image is determined. Whether the interpolation position is in a central region of an object or in a marginal region of an object is determined. A pixel value interpolation with respect to the interpolation position is performed. When the interpolation position is in the central region of an object, the pixel value interpolation is performed in a first calculation mode, and when the interpolation position is in the marginal region of an object, the pixel value interpolation is performed in a second calculation mode, wherein the first calculation mode may be a low pass filtering interpolation mode, and the second calculation mode may be a linear interpolation mode. |
| US08107769B2 |
Image synthesis device, image synthesis method and memory medium storage image synthesis program
An image synthesis device selects frame images in an order stored in a DRAM, and calculates the characteristic amount of the selected frame image. The image synthesis device searches a block having the calculated characteristic amount in a next frame, and calculates a moving vector. The image synthesis device sets an extraction width which is a width of a partial image to be extracted based on the calculated moving vector, and extracts an image at the extraction width from the central line in a current frame image. The image synthesis device combines and synthesizes the extracted partial image with the end portion, opposite to the moving vector, of a panorama synthetic image synthesized at this point, i.e., the end portion of the moving direction of an electronic camera. |
| US08107766B2 |
Method and system for straightening out distorted text-lines on images
In one embodiment, a method for correcting distortions in a scanned image of a page is disclosed. The method comprises identifying at least one set of collinear elements in the scanned image; and generating a corrected image based on the scanned image including for at least some of the collinear elements in each set applying a spatial location correction to position all collinear elements in the set on a common horizontal rectilinear base line in the corrected image. |
| US08107765B2 |
Block-based image restoration system and method
A block-based image restoration system and method is provided. The image restoration system, including: an edge processing unit to perform a color shifting in an edge of an image and process the edge of the image; a restoration parameter extraction unit to segment the image into at least one domain and extract a restoration parameter for each block included in the segmented domain; and an image restoration unit to apply a block-based transform domain filtering according to the restoration parameter and perform an image restoration. |
| US08107762B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for exposure control
Systems, methods, and apparatus for image processing are described in which pixels of an image are classified according to color. In some systems, an exposure control operation is performed according to the pixel classifications. In some cases, the pixels are classified according to a color selected from among at least two colors. Systems, methods and apparatuses are also disclosed wherein luminance values are changed according to the exposure control operation. |
| US08107759B2 |
Method of detecting low luminance noise and image compression apparatus using the same
In a photograph and image compression system equipped with a camera, a low luminance noise cancellation algorithm is selectively applied to photographs and video images including a low luminance noise, by determining whether the low luminance noise is included in a portion of an input image, and if it is determined that low luminance noise is included, the low luminance noise cancellation algorithm is executed on the input image. |
| US08107758B2 |
Block based image processing
Block based image processing techniques are described in which one or more processing filters are applied to an image block by block. One or more filters are identified to process an image. Attributes are obtained that describe the one or more filters. Image data is loaded into multiple input blocks based upon the obtained attributes. The one or more filters are applied to the image block by block. The results of the processing may be stored as multiple processed blocks corresponding to the multiple input blocks. Then, the processed blocks are stitched together to form a processed image. |
| US08107757B2 |
Data correction method, apparatus and program
Natural images which are similar to each other contained in a page represented by page description data are corrected so that they have natural appearance to the eye. To achieve this object, an image recognizing unit recognizes images in a page represented by page description data, and a natural image determining unit determines whether or not each recognized image is a natural image. An image analyzing unit calculates a setup condition for image correction for each natural image. A second correction condition calculating unit calculates, for the similar natural images being similar to each other, a correction condition for making image qualities of the similar natural images substantially uniform. An image correcting unit applies image correction based on the setup condition and the correction condition to the similar natural images. |
| US08107752B2 |
Method and system for processing image at high speed
An image processing method and system that performs color space transformation on an image to be compressed and obtaining pixel values, performing intra-row differential pulse code modulation coding on the image pixel values to obtain numerical values, and determining whether each of the numerical values is within a preset range. Variable length coding is performed on the numerical value obtained by using a fixed code table if the numerical value is within the range, variable length and by using a dynamic code table if it is not. Low algorithm complexity and fast processing meets the requirement of real-time video transmission. The pixel components of the image can be processed in parallel and adjacent processing steps can be performed in the same clock frequency, thereby remarkably reducing difficulty and cost in FPGA or chip implementation. |
| US08107748B2 |
Adaptive motion search range
A technique for performing motion estimation using an adaptive motion search range includes calculating motion vectors for blocks of pixels in a target image, using the calculated motion vectors to generate a search range associated with a target block of pixels in the target image, and using the generated search range to estimate motion of the target block of pixels. |
| US08107743B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, and storage medium
The image processing device of the present invention includes: an image acquiring section (2) acquiring image data; an image data generating section (32) generating attribute data including each attribute value indicative of an attribute to which each of a plurality of pixels constituting an image indicated by the image data acquired by the image acquiring section (2) belongs among predetermined attributes; and image data reducing section (34) reducing the attribute data by converting, to one attribute value, at least two attribute values included in the attribute data generated by the attribute data generating section, according to a priority given to the each attribute value. Therefore, it becomes possible to realize an image processing device that can reduce the attribute data while keeping important information included in the attribute data, and further improve encoding efficiency of the attribute data. |
| US08107742B2 |
Encoder and decoder for encoding and decoding pixel data with low amount of transmitting data, encoding method, and decoding method thereof
An encoder encoding an Nth pixel data of 2×M pixel data and a decoder decoding an Nth encoded pixel data of 2×M encoded pixel data are provided. A first to an Mth pixel data are belonged to an (i−1)th data block. An (M+1)th to a (2×M)th pixel data are belonged to an ith data block. i>1. M |
| US08107741B2 |
Intra motion prediction for response time compensation
An apparatus for a response time compensation system includes a plurality of complexity modules and a motion vector module. The complexity modules determine a plurality of complexity values based on current image information and prior image information. The motion vector module determines a desired complexity value based on a lowest of complexity values. The motion vector determines a desired motion vector based on the lowest of the plurality of complexity values. The desired complexity value and the desired motion vector are used to compress the current image information into a compressed bitstream. The compressed bitstream is used by the response time compensation system to provide display element response time compensation information for a display. |
| US08107738B2 |
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, image reading apparatus and memory product
In storing of a document page index of a reference image in association with each hash value calculated for each reference image by the features calculating section, a storage processing section determines whether the number of document page indexes, which have already been stored in association with each hash value, is larger than or equal to a preliminarily setup upper limit value or not. The storage processing section stores the document page index of a reference image in a hash table in association with the hash value calculated by the features calculating section when the number of document page indexes, which have already been stored, is smaller than the upper limit value, or invalidates the hash value when the number of document page indexes, which have already been stored, is larger than or equal to the upper limit value. |
| US08107737B2 |
Shape evaluation method, shape evaluation device, and 3D inspection device
To appropriately evaluate a surface shape of an object to be inspected regardless of the relative positions of a light source and an image-taking device with respect to the object. When evaluating a surface shape, it includes a shape recognition step for recognizing the surface shape of the object to be evaluated, a representative point extraction step for extracting a representing point from the recognized surface shape of the object to be evaluated, a shape specifying step for specifying a shape for a predefined area around the extracted representing point, a vector defining step for defining a light source direction vector with respect to each of the representing points, a representing point select step for selecting, from among all of the representing points, only representing points for which imaginary reflection vectors corresponding to the light source direction vectors are contained within a predefined range from an imaginarily defined direction, and a highlight line creation step for creating a highlight line that is imaginarily generated on the surface of the object to be evaluated based on the highlight point group, i.e., a group of all of the selected representing points, wherein an evaluation of the surface shape of the object to be evaluated is performed based on the created highlight line. |
| US08107735B2 |
Three dimensional shape reconstitution device and estimation device
A face model providing portion provides an stored average face model to an estimation portion estimating an affine parameter for obtaining a head pose. An individual face model learning portion obtains a result of tracking feature points by the estimation portion and learns an individual face model. The individual face model learning portion terminates the learning when a free energy of the individual face model is over a free energy of the average face model, and switches a face model provided to the estimation portion from the average face model to the individual face model. While learning the individual face mode, an observation matrix is factorized using a reliability matrix showing reliability of each observation value forming the observation matrix with emphasis on the feature point having higher reliability. |
| US08107733B2 |
Method of imaging coding pattern comprising replicated and non-replicated coordinate data
A method of imaging a coding pattern disposed on a surface of a substrate. The method comprises the steps of: (a) operatively positioning an optical reader relative to the surface and capturing an image of a portion of the coding pattern; (b) sampling and decoding x-coordinate data and y-coordinate data within the imaged portion; and (c) determining a position of the pen. The coding is specially adapted to minimize space occupied by coordinate data. The imaged portion has a diameter of at least (l+q)√2 and less than (2 l)√2, where l is the length of a square tag in the coding pattern and q is the width of a central column or row of data within each tag. |
| US08107732B2 |
Method of imaging coding pattern comprising tags with divided x and y coordinate data
A method of imaging a coding pattern disposed on a surface of a substrate. The method comprises the steps of: (a) operatively positioning an optical reader relative to the surface and capturing an image of a portion of the coding pattern; (b) sampling and decoding x-coordinate data and y-coordinate data contained in the imaged portion; and (c) determining a position of the pen. The imaged portion has a diameter of at least one tag diameter and less than two tag diameters. The x-coordinate data and y-coordinate are each replicated in the tag. |
| US08107731B2 |
Text conversion apparatus capable of relieving inputting load and a method therefor
A text input device receives, in its information input circuit, a letter indicating a destination of transmission as information on the destination of transmission. The text input device stores, in its word-finder with learning function, an input text and an output text in a state correlated with the information on the destination of transmission or its attribute. The text input device in its text learning circuit controls a change in storage caused by correlating an input text matched to a text entered with the information on the destination of transmission or its attribute stored and coincident with the information on the destination of transmission or its attribute entered. When a text matched to the text entered is output, the text input device in its text converter takes out and outputs at least one output text stored. |
| US08107729B2 |
Method for improving character outlines using multiple alignment zones
A method aligns a character to a sampling grid of an image, where an outline of the character is specified by input pen commands. Points and contours of the input pen commands are determined. An orientation of each contour is determined. A first directed acyclic graph (DAG) is constructed indicating a hierarchical relationship of related contours. Radicals are determined using the first DAG. Simple segments of the contours are determined and merged independently for each radical. Segment pairs and their hinted coordinates are determined. The segment pairs are sorted and a second DAG is constructed for the sorted segment pairs. Collisions between the segment pairs are resolved using the second DAG. The segments pairs, x-free points, and y-free points are fitted to the sampling grid independently for each radical and a result of the fitting is stored in output pen commands. |
| US08107716B2 |
Defect detecting apparatus and method
A front side surface of a cover glass of a solid state imaging device is focused, and a front side image is captured. Next, a rear side surface of the cover glass is focused, and a rear side image is captured. The front side image and the rear side image are combined with each other to create a composite image. A first threshold value is set for each pixel in the composite image by dynamic thresholding. An image composed of pixels whose gray values exceed the first threshold value is identified as a defect candidate image. The maximum gray value of the defect candidate image is multiplied by a constant rate to set a second threshold value. An image composed of pixels whose gray value is less than the second threshold value is eliminated as a blurred image from the defect candidate image. |
| US08107715B2 |
Method and detection device for the imaging detection of a sample
The invention relates to a device for detecting a sample in a longitudinal sample container (10), comprising a sample container holder (30) for holding the sample container in a housing. Said sample container holder comprises a side viewing window in the region of at least one longitudinal side of the sample container, and a front viewing window (35) in the region at least one front side of the sample container. Said device also comprises a first illumination arrangement for illuminating the sample container through the front viewing window, a second illumination arrangement for illuminating the sample container through the side viewing window, and an imaging photodetector for detecting a first image of the sample illuminated by means of the first illumination arrangement, and a second image of the sample illuminated by means of the second illumination arrangement. Said detection takes place through the side viewing window. Said device further comprises a digital data processing unit for overlaying the first and second images and for representing the resulting overlay image on a display device connected to the data processing unit. |
| US08107707B2 |
Visualizing a vascular structure
A system (500) for visualizing a vascular structure represented by a three-dimensional angiography dataset is disclosed. Respective voxel values are associated with respective voxels. The dataset represents a vascular structure. The system comprises means (502) for establishing respective filling values; means (504) for identifying respective minimum filling values; means (506) for computing respective deficiency values; and an output (514) for providing a visualization in dependence on the deficiency values. A respective filling value is indicative of an amount of blood flow at the respective position in the vascular structure. A respective minimum filling value is a minimum of the filling values associated with the positions upstream of the respective position. A respective deficiency value is indicative of a difference between the filling value associated with the respective position and the minimum filling value associated with the respective position. |
| US08107704B2 |
Image processing device, image processing program and image processing method
An image processing device for processing time-series intraluminal images captured by an imaging device moving in an in-vivo lumen. The image processing device includes a structural area extracting unit that extracts a structural area from the intraluminal image; a corresponding area extracting unit that extracts a corresponding area corresponding to the structural area from the intraluminal image at a second time point different from a first time point at which the structural area is extracted; a lumen deep portion extracting unit that extracts a lumen deep portion, on which a deep portion in the lumen is captured, from the intraluminal image; and a movement amount estimating unit that estimates a movement amount of the imaging device based on positions of the structural area, the corresponding area and the lumen deep portion. |
| US08107703B2 |
Quantitative real-time 4D stress test analysis
Stress test analysis is facilitated through the acquired and manipulated use of a sequence of volumetric data regarding the heart (and may particularly comprise the left ventricle) for the assessment of the health state of the heart. Several provided and illustrated examples specifically relate to ultrasound volumetric data, but the volumetric data may be obtained through the use of any imaging modality (e.g., CT, MRI, X-ray, PET, SPECT, etc.) or combination thereof, and may be used to compute one or more functional quantitative metrics (e.g., ejection fraction.) The volumetric data may also be used to render one or more views of the heart, and particularly of the left ventricle. This disclosure relates to these and other uses of such volumetric data, and to some various implementations thereof, such as methods, systems, and graphical user interfaces. |
| US08107696B2 |
Calibration apparatus and method for fluorescent imaging
A fluorescence standard for identifying variations in illumination during imaging has a composite fluorescent laminar structure, which fluoresces in response to light in the approximate wavelength range of 375 nm to 430 nm. The fluorescent object has at least two areas with different fluorescent response, e.g., a first made from a strongly luminescing material, such as GG420 filter glass. A portion of the GG420 glass is covered by filter glass having an attenuating effect on the fluorescent response. In accordance with a method of the present invention, variations in illumination during imaging with a camera are detected by placing the standard before the camera during imaging. Each captured image may contain the image of the standard and the fluorescent response of the standard in different images can be compared to identify any response changes due to variations in illumination. The variations in illumination can then be remediated by adjusting the source of illumination, the camera or ambient lighting. Alternatively, the images can be normalized through digital image processing. |
| US08107692B2 |
Fingerprinted circuits and methods of making and identifying the same
A circuit having a fingerprint for identification of a particular instantiation of the circuit is disclosed. The circuit may include a plurality of digital circuits or gates. Each of the digital circuits or gates is responsive to a configuration voltage applied to its analog input for controlling whether or not the digital circuit or gate performs its intended digital function and each of the digital circuits or gates transitioning between its functional state and its at least one other state when the configuration voltage equals a boundary voltage. The boundary voltage varies between different instantiations of the circuit for a majority of the digital circuits or gates and these differing boundary voltages serving to identify (or fingerprint) different instantiations of the same circuit. |
| US08107684B2 |
Method for geolocalization of one or more targets
The subject of the invention is a method for geolocalization of one or more stationary targets from an aircraft by means of a passive optronic sensor. The sensor acquires at least one image I1 containing the target P from a position C1 of the aircraft and an image I2 containing the target P from a position C2 of the aircraft. The images I1 and I2 have an area of overlap. The overlap area has at least one target P identified which is common to the two images I1 and I2. The position of each target P is determined in each of the two images. The distance d is calculated between each target P and a point C, situated for example in the vicinity of C1 and C2, as a function of the angle β1 between a reference direction and the line of sight of the image I1, the angle β2 between the same reference direction and the line of sight of the image I2, of the position of each target P in the image I1 and in the image I2. The positions of the targets are calculated relative to the projection of the aircraft on the ground when at C, as a function of the distances d in a terrestrial reference frame. |
| US08107683B2 |
Method and system for in-vehicle image processing
An image processing system and the like capable of improving recognition accuracy of a lane mark are provided. According to the image processing system of the present invention, a first processing unit (110) recognizes a lane mark candidate on the basis of the luminance of each pixel in a road image. Moreover, there are evaluated a first index which represents continuity of an edge of the lane mark candidate, a second index which represents conformance between the width of the lane mark candidate and a lane mark standard width, and a third index which represents uniformity of the luminance of pixels contained in the lane mark candidate. According to the first, second, and third indices, a second processing unit (120) recognizes a lane mark candidate most likely to be a true lane mark as a lane mark. |
| US08107674B2 |
Synchronizing rendering of multimedia content
Auxiliary data encoded in multimedia content signals synchronizes rendering of different media content types in multimedia content. This auxiliary data includes one or more digital watermarks that are used to synchronize playback of the different media content signals. The digital watermarks identify different media signals, identify rendering locations, such as temporal or spatial areas in a first signal where the media signal is to be rendered, or provide rendering control scripts for controlling playback. |
| US08107673B2 |
Use of powders for creating images on objects, webs or sheets
Monochromatic or multichromatic images may be created on surfaces. The surface is moved to first, second and third stations. The surface is electrically biased, and powder is transferred to the surface electrostatically at the first station. The powder is fused or sintered selectively on the surface at the second station. Unfused or unsintered portions of the powder are removed from the surface at the third station. |
| US08107671B2 |
Script detection service
Script detection service techniques are described. In an implementation, a determination is made as to which human writing system is associated with individual text characters in a string of one or more text characters based on values representing the individual text characters in the string. A particular human writing system is designated as associated with the string based on the values associated with the individual text characters in the string. |
| US08107668B2 |
Digital differential watermark and method
A digital differential steganographic system and method includes a master key that is generated from an unmarked media, a mark-point reservoir created from the unmarked media and containing a set of viable candidate mark points for the unmarked media, and a mark-point applicator to insert data into the unmarked media at selected mark-points chosen from the mark-point reservoir creating a digital watermark. The method includes using an original unmarked media, shaping and testing marks in the original media for predictable distortion, verifying embedded marks at point of insertion in the original media, minimizing mark energy and duration for least-perceptible change, and using non-distributed, unmarked media of the original media as a master key. |
| US08107662B2 |
Porting
A ported electroacoustical device uses the action of the port to provide cooling airflow across a heat producing device. The device includes a loudspeaker enclosure including a first acoustic port, and an acoustic driver, mounted in the loudspeaker enclosure. The device also includes a heat producing device. The acoustic driver and the acoustic port are constructed and arranged to coact to provide a cooling, substantially unidirectional airflow across the heat producing device, thereby transferring heat from the heat producing device. |
| US08107657B2 |
Hearing aid and a method for enhancing speech intelligibility
A hearing aid (22) having a microphone (1), a processor (53) and an output transducer (12), is adapted for obtaining an estimate of a sound environment, determining an estimate of the speech intelligibility according to the sound environment estimate, and for adapting the transfer function of the hearing aid processor in order to enhance the speech intelligibility estimate. The method according to the invention achieves an adaptation of the processor transfer function suitable for optimizing the speech intelligibility in a particular sound environment. Means for obtaining the sound environment estimate and for determining the speech intelligibility estimate may be incorporated in the hearing aid processor, or they may be wholly or partially implemented in an external processing means (56), adapted for communicating data to the hearing aid processor via an appropriate link. |
| US08107655B1 |
Expanding binaural hearing assistance device control
Provided herein is a system for adjusting parameters for binaural hearing assistance devices. A graphical user interface (GUI) control is provided for adjusting at least one parameter for at least one hearing assistance device. In various embodiments, the control is indicative of status of at least one parameter for at least one device. When a pointer, controlled by a mouse or other selecting device, is placed over the control, the control expands. In various applications the control expands to display options for adjusting at least one parameter for at least one device. In some applications, the control provides options to adjust at least one parameter of a left and a right device individually. |
| US08107649B2 |
Ribbon for ribbon microphone, manufacturing method of the same, and ribbon microphone
A ribbon for a ribbon microphone having a magnet forming a magnetic gap, the ribbon which is arranged in the magnetic gap and is vibrated by a sound wave, an electrode for outputting an electric signal which is generated when the ribbon vibrates in the magnetic gap, and a frame for holding the magnet and the electrode; the ribbon has patterns of a large waveform which are formed so as to progress in a longitudinal direction of the ribbon and are formed so that ridge lines face a direction which perpendicularly crosses the longitudinal direction of the ribbon, and small patterns which are smaller than the patterns of the waveform and are formed along the longitudinal direction of the ribbon. |
| US08107644B2 |
Amplifying element and manufacturing method thereof
An amplifier integrated circuit element or J-FET is used for impedance conversion and amplification of ECM. The amplifier integrated circuit element has advantages of allowing an appropriate gain to be set by adjusting a circuit constant, and of producing a higher gain than the J-FET; but also has a problem of having a complicated circuit configuration and requiring high costs. Using only the J-FET has also problems of outputting a voltage insufficiently amplified and producing a low gain. Against this background, provided is a discrete element in which: a J-FET and a bipolar transistor are integrated on one chip; a source region of the J-FET is connected to a base region of the bipolar transistor; and a drain region of the J-FET is connected to a collector region of the bipolar transistor. Accordingly, an ECM amplifying element with high input impedance and low output impedance can be achieved. |
| US08107640B2 |
Car-use extended device and setting method for operation interface of car-use control system
A car-use extended device is applied to electrically communicate to a car-use audio device to form a car-use control system, so as to simulate a user-to-machine operation interface for controlling an electronic computing device installed with an operation system to execute at least one preset assignment. The car-use audio device comprises an operation interface comprising a trigger element and at least one working signal input element. The extended device comprises a micro control unit comprising an interface-function setting program. When the trigger element is triggered, a triggering signal is generated and sent to the micro control unit, and the interface-function setting program is provided to define the preset assignment that the working signal input element represents. Hereafter, when the working signal input element is triggered, the micro control unit outputs a working signal to the electronic computing device, so as to make the electronic computing device execute the preset assignment. |
| US08107639B2 |
System and method for a sound masking system for networked workstations or offices
A sound masking system and method for providing sound masking in networked workstations or offices. The sound masking system comprises a communication network, a plurality of sound masking devices adapted to emit a sound masking signal, and a remote controller. One or more of the sound masking devices includes a controller, and the controller includes an interface for receiving information from the communication network and a component for controlling or adjusting output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal, such as volume. The controller includes a component responsive to a user input for setting or varying output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal. |
| US08107635B2 |
Auditory prosthesis, a method and a system for generation of a calibrated sound field
An auditory prosthesis (14, 14′) is adapted for compensation of hearing loss and for sound pressure determination. During calibration of the sound field to be used during fine-tuning of the auditory prosthesis, the auditory prosthesis is positioned at an observation point in the sound field, and the sound pressure at the auditory prosthesis is adjusted based on determinations of sound pressures performed with the auditory prosthesis. Thus, the need for dedicated calibrated sound pressure determining equipment is eliminated. The invention provides an auditory prosthesis, a method and a system for calibration of a sound field. |
| US08107634B2 |
High intensity calibration device
A calibration device for calibrating a dynamic pressure sensor includes a power/control box and a portable calibration head disposed in electrical communication with the power/control box. The portable calibration head may include a calibration head housing having a housing opening and a speaker provided in the calibration head housing and communicating with the housing opening. The power/control box may be configured to induce emission of an acoustic calibration signal from the speaker of the calibration head. |
| US08107632B2 |
Digital signal processing apparatus, method thereof and headphone apparatus
A digital signal processing apparatus in which a first digital filter reproduces that part of an impulse response that responds fast, and a decimation filter converts the output of a delay device of the first digital filter to a digital signal having a sampling rate of ½. The digital signal is supplied to the second digital filter that reproduces that part of the impulse response that responds slowly and outputs data representing the response characteristic of this part of the impulse response. An interpolation filter converts an input signal to a signal having the same sampling rate as the digital audio signal input to the digital signal processing apparatus, and the output signal of the interpolation filter is supplied to an adder circuit. |
| US08107631B2 |
Correlation-based method for ambience extraction from two-channel audio signals
A method of ambience extraction includes analyzing an input signal to determine the time-dependent and frequency-dependent amount of ambience in the input signal, wherein the amount of ambience is determined based on a signal model and correlation quantities computed from the input signals and wherein the ambience is extracted using a multiplicative time-frequency mask. Another method of ambience extraction includes compensating a bias in the estimation of a short-term cross-correlation coefficient. In addition, systems having various modules for implementing the above methods are disclosed. |
| US08107629B2 |
Method of providing security for relay station
A method of providing security of a relay station is disclosed, by which the security can he provided for the relay station in a broadband wireless access system having the relay station. In a mobile communication system to relay a signal transfer between a base station and a mobile station, the present invention includes the steps of performing a relay station authentication from an authentication server using an authentication protocol, receiving a master key from the authentication server, deriving an authentication key from the received master key, deriving a message authentication code (MAC) key using the derived authentication key, and relaying a signal exchanged between the mobile station and the base station using the derived message authentication code key. |
| US08107627B2 |
Temporal proximity to verify physical proximity
A security system assesses the response time to requests for information to determine whether the responding system is in physical proximity to the requesting system. Generally, physical proximity corresponds to temporal proximity. If the response time indicates a substantial or abnormal lag between request and response, the system assumes that the lag is caused by the request and response having to travel a substantial or abnormal physical distance, or caused by the request being processed to generate a response, rather than being answered by an existing response in the physical possession of a user. If a substantial or abnormal lag is detected, the system is configured to limit subsequent access to protected material by the current user, and/or to notify security personnel of the abnormal response lag. |
| US08107626B2 |
Method and system for enabling transfer of content between a storage device and a portable media player device
A method and system for storing a file on a portable device includes a central location 100 generating a seed in response to a unique portable device identifier, a storage device 32 having an interface wherein the storage device 32 stores the seed therein. A portable media player 36 is in communication with the storage device 32 through the interface. The storage device 32 transfers files to the portable media player 36 through the interface in response to the seed. |
| US08107625B2 |
IP phone intruder security monitoring system
A voice communications terminal is provided having a microphone to receive an audio stream and a voice activity detector to determine whether the audio stream comprises voice signals and when the audio stream comprises voice signals, notify a communications server and/or provide at least a portion of the audio stream to the communications server. |
| US08107623B2 |
Method for verifying a first identity and a second identity of an entity
A method for verifying a first identity and a second identity of an entity, said method comprising: receiving first identity information at a checking entity; sending second identity information from the entity to said checking entity; verifying that the first and second identities both belong to said entity; and generating a key using one of said first and second identity information. |
| US08107619B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for controlling a network interface device
According to embodiments of the present invention, a method, system and apparatus for controlling a network interface device is disclosed, the network interface device for enabling communication between a communications network and at least one customer device. A condition of the network interface device is determined. In response to the condition of the network interface device qualifying as a reset condition, a trigger is generated. The trigger is released to a power controller, the trigger having an ability to cause the power controller to cycle power to the network interface device. |
| US08107617B2 |
Audio processor
An audio processor of a loud speech communication system including a speaker and a microphone is provided. The audio processor includes: an adaptive filter wherein an amount of update in a learning event is set to an arbitrary value, and a filter coefficient is serially determined corresponding to the set amount of update; a semi-fixed filter adapted to an echo cancellation process of an audio input signal input from the microphone; adaptive filter assessment unit that calculates a length of an update vector based on the filter coefficient determined by the adaptive filter and a length of an update vector based on a filter coefficient set in the semi-fixed filter and that performs assessment of the filter coefficients in accordance with the update vectors; and coefficient specifying unit that sets an optimal filter coefficient among the filter coefficients into the semi-fixed filter in accordance with the result of the assessment of the filter coefficients performed by the adaptive filter assessment unit. |
| US08107615B2 |
Method and device for checking the function for inverting the polarity on a subscriber line comprising a plurality of wires
The invention relates to a method and to a device for testing the function for inverting the polarity on a subscriber connection line (TAL) comprising several wires (a, b), in order to connect at least one subscriber to a subscriber connection line (SLM), which comprises at least one inverting device (RG) and a current measuring device (MG) which is associated with the inverting device (RG). In a first step, the subscriber connection component (SLM) is separated from the inverting device (RG) and forces physical inversion on the wires (a, b) of the subscriber connection line (TAL). In a second step, the inverting function of the inverting device (RG) is activated. In a subsequent third step, the subscriber connection component (SLM) is separated from the device (DC) which forces the physical inversion and is connected to the inverting device (RG). The correct function of inversion is tested during all three steps by measuring the direction of the current flow. |
| US08107613B2 |
Context recovery for call center agents
A call center processes calls in such a way that a caller's matter is first handled by a first agent and is subsequently handled by a second agent. The call center creates a voice recording of at least part of that portion of the caller's matter handled by the first agent. Subsequently, the second agent is given an opportunity to play back the voice recording prior to the second agent handling the caller's matter. In this way, the caller is not required to repeat the same information to both the first and second agents. |
| US08107610B2 |
Callback processing of interactive voice response requests
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and devices for processing a call to a call distribution point. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving a request from a caller to the call distribution point; parsing the request for information included in the request indicating the nature of the request; assigning a call recipient to service the request based on the information obtained in the parsing step; and acknowledging receipt of the request to the caller and providing an estimate of time before the assigned call recipient will be able to service the call. Other methods and devices are also provided. |
| US08107608B2 |
System and method for providing routing, mapping, and relative position information to users of a communication network
The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing real-time position information of one party to another party by utilizing a conventional telecommunication network system such as the convention telephone network, a mobile telecommunications network, a computer network, or the Internet. More specifically, the preferred embodiments of the present invention allow a caller and a receiver of a telephone call to provide to and receive from each other position information related to the caller and/or receiver's physical location, including address information, GPS coordinates, nearby fixed locations such as a parking structure, etc. Additionally, the preferred embodiments of the present invention allow a caller and receiver to retrieve routing instructions or maps for traveling to or from each other. In another embodiment of the present invention, a party may locate the position of another party via the entry of the other party's unique identifier such as a phone number of the other party's mobile phone. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the position information of a party may be concurrently delivered to another party's computer terminal whereby the other party can process the information in further detail. |
| US08107604B2 |
Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus
A communication device for consecutively rendering one or more conversations. The device includes a receiver configured to receive at the communication device media associated with the one or more conversations over a network. The one or more conversations include a defined set of conversations to be consecutively rendered in accordance with a defined priority hierarchy. The device also includes a sequencing element, which sequences the received media associated with the defined set of conversations into a sequence order at least partially based on the defined priority hierarchy. A rendering element consecutively renders the received media associated with the defined set of conversations in the sequence order. |
| US08107602B2 |
Directory assistance with data processing station
The current invention is a system for providing directory assistance service in which a user sends a request to the system and the system will, based on the request, return advertisements, which may be in a visible or audible form. The advertisements are selected from a databank, which may include any number advertisements categorized within the category associated with the service, according to selection criteria. After the advertising announcement is completed, the directory assistance call is processed as usual. |
| US08107598B2 |
Voicemail filtering and transcription
Systems and methods for voicemail filtering and transcription are described herein. According to various embodiments, an integrated communication system performs filtering and transcription of voicemail messages (“voicemails”) and forwards the voicemails via email to a user's email-capable device. Filtering includes generating a priority flag based on a word search of the voicemail. The integrated communication system further performs a rough transcription of the voicemail, either automatically or on demand as specified by the user. According to embodiments, the rough transcription is entered as text in an email that is sent to the user. In an embodiment, a user may request a refined transcription of the voicemail by pressing a button on the user's device. In an embodiment, the rough transcription is replaced by the refined transcription in the original email and the original is marked “unread” in the user's email inbox on the user's device. |
| US08107596B1 |
Apparatus and method for providing on-hold information based on preference of user
A method and apparatus for providing on-hold information to a telecommunication terminal that has been placed on-hold during a telecommunication call by receiving a message designating that the telecommunication terminal is to be placed on-hold from a far-end of the telecommunication call, and transmitting an on-hold message to the user of the telecommunication terminal where the on-hold message is selected by the user and generated at a near-end of the telecommunication call. |
| US08107593B2 |
Method and apparatus for testing new copper connections during migration from analog network elements to next generation network (NGN) elements
This invention makes it possible to transparently test replacement functionality and optionally migrate subscribers on analog phone lines, served, for example, by PSTN Class 5 elements, to Next Generation Network (NGN) elements when copper co-termination is leveraged. The method and apparatus mechanizes replacement continuity verification to the NGN element from the analog dial tone port and the multi-element network changes required for real time per line per-migration, operational testing and optional migration to the NGN element. All of the network elements are accessible from a single device, the Control Computer used by this invention. Each line can be transparently tested and optionally migrated during a short time period when the subscriber is not using the analog line. In effect, this testing and optional migration is actually changing the state of the NGN element to operational for test purposes and if the tests pass, the analog port and associated DSLAM port can be optionally deactivated. This activity is accomplished in real time, with minimal service interruption to the subscriber. Support and routing databases may also be updated concurrently. |
| US08107592B2 |
Method of reconstructing computed tomography (CT) volumes suitable for execution on commodity central processing units (CPUS) and graphics processors, and apparatus operating in accord with those methods (rotational X-ray on GPUs)
The invention provides in one aspect methods and apparatus for use with C-arm and other CT systems, e.g., with non-rigid geometries. In such systems, by way of example, calibration can be performed to determine the exact position of the x-ray source and the exact orientation of the detector where each projection measurement is made. Next, a weighting coefficient can be determined for the voxels in each plane of a reconstruction volume at every possible projection. Finally, the order in which to process the voxels during image reconstruction can be determined. Following an actual CT scan procedure in which scans are obtained of a volume to be constructed, a system according to these and related aspects of the invention can use an optimal, pre-calculated processing method, while utilizing offsets and weighting coefficients determined during calibration, for performing backprojection image reconstruction. |
| US08107587B2 |
Digital logic circuit, shift register and active matrix device
A digital logic circuit includes a plurality of transistors of a same conduction type. In at least one embodiment, a first transistor has a source, gate and drain connected to a first circuit node, a second circuit node and a first power supply line, respectively. A second transistor has a source, gate and drain connected to the second node, the first node and the first supply line, respectively. A third transistor has a drain connected to the first node. A fourth transistor has a gate and drain connected to a third circuit node and the second circuit node, respectively. A fifth transistor has a gate and drain connected to the first and third nodes, respectively. Such a circuit may be used, for example, as a latch in a shift register of an active matrix addressing arrangement. |
| US08107583B2 |
Sealing means, transfer device comprising such a sealing means, arrangement comprising such a transfer device and a method for producing said sealing means
Sealing means comprising a seal carrier and a seal connected thereto, wherein the seal carrier is removably fixable between two areas insulated from each other, and a transfer device between two chambers, which are separated by a wall, wherein said transfer device comprises a transfer mechanism and at least one sealing means according to the invention which is positioned between the wall and the transfer mechanism. |
| US08107580B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating a phase dependent control signal
A phase detector generates a phase dependent control signal according to the phase relationship between a first and second clock signal. The phase detector includes first and second phase detector circuits receiving the first and second clock signals and generating select signals having duty cycles corresponding to the phase relationship between the clock edges of the first and second clock signals. The phase detector also includes a charge pump that receives select signals from the phase detector circuits and produces an increasing or decreasing control signal when the first and second clock signals do not have the predetermined phase relationship, and a non-varying control signal when the first and second clock signals do have the predetermined phase relationship. The control signal may be used to adjust the delay value of a voltage-controlled delay circuit in order to adjust the phase relationship between the first and second clock signals to have a predetermined phase relationship. |
| US08107578B2 |
System and method for frame synchronization
A method for identifying receipt of a sync word in a stream of signal data is provided. The method includes receiving a signal value representing an incoming bit in the stream of signal data. The method also includes inserting the signal value into a first shift register having the same length as the sync word. The method further includes calculating a bit value from the signal value. The method also includes storing the bit value into a second shift register having the same length as the sync word. The method further includes counting the number of matches between the bit values in the second shift register and the corresponding bits in the sync word. The method also includes computing a correlation of the signal data and the sync word by summing the product of each signal value in the first shift register and the corresponding bit in the sync word. The method further includes producing a normalized correlation by dividing the correlation by the energy. The method also includes outputting a signal indicating the presence of a sync word if the number of matches is at least equal to a predetermined hard correlation threshold and if the normalized correlation is at least equal to a predetermined soft correlation threshold. |
| US08107575B2 |
Method and circuit for changing modes without dedicated control pin
A system and process for eliminating a control wire between logic systems that communicate with each other. In one embodiment, a system sends to a receiver a frequency that indicates a first mode. In the first mode a first data type may be sent. When the frequency is changed a second mode is indicated wherein a second data type may be sent. The receiver detects the frequency change and assumes the first or second mode as indicated. |
| US08107572B1 |
Communications system using adaptive filter for interference reduction
A communications system receives a modulated signal that carries encoded communications data. An adaptive filter circuit has a plurality of adaptive filters each having a plurality of non-adaptive and adaptive filter taps with weighted coefficients. At a selected adaptive filter, an interference reduction circuit is responsive to one of at least a received state of a demodulator, the type of modulation used by communication system and the input and output power of adaptive filter for updating the adaptive gain of the adaptive filter, selecting the number and order of adaptive filter taps, separating the spacing of multipath introduced by adaptive filter, controlling input and output normalizing circuits to adaptive filter(s) and selecting if signal passed to demodulator is original received signal or signal output by adaptive filter. A demodulator and decoder receive the filtered output signal and demodulate and decode the signal to obtain the communications data. |
| US08107571B2 |
Parameterized filters and signaling techniques
Filter taps for filters are specified by filter coefficient parameters. The filter taps are greater in number than the coefficient parameters from which the filter taps are calculated. For example, two coefficient parameters are used to specify a four-tap filter. Filter information can be signaled in a bitstream, such as by signaling one or more family parameters for a filter family and, for each filter in a family, signaling one or more filter tap parameters from which filter taps can be derived. Family parameters can include a number of filters parameter, a resolution parameter, a scaling bits parameter, and/or a full integer position filter present parameter that indicates whether or not the filters include an integer position filter. Filter parameters can be signaled and used to determine coefficient parameters from which filter taps are calculated. |
| US08107570B2 |
Space time block coded transmit antenna diversity for WCDMA
A mobile communication system is designed with an input circuit coupled to receive a first plurality of signals (rj(i+τj), i=0−N−1) during a first time (T0-T1) from an external source and coupled to receive a second plurality of signals (rj (i+τj), i=N−2N−1) during a second time (T1-T2) from the external source. The input circuit receives each of the first and second plurality of signals along respective first and second paths (j). The input circuit produces a first input signal (Rj1) and a second input signal (Rj2) from the respective first and second plurality of signals. A correction circuit is coupled to receive a first estimate signal (αj1), a second estimate signal (αj2) and the first and second input signals. The correction circuit produces a first symbol estimate ({tilde over (S)}1) in response to the first and second estimate signals and the first and second input signals. The correction circuit produces a second symbol estimate ({tilde over (S)}2) in response to the first and second estimate signals and the first and second input signals. |
| US08107567B2 |
Method and system for SFBC/STBC in a diversity transmission system using Alamouti codes
Aspects of a system for SFBC and/or STBC in a diversity transmission system using a plurality of Alamouti codes may include a transmitting station that enables reception of signals via a wireless communication medium. The transmitting station may enable determination of a plurality of channel estimate values that are based on signal propagation characteristics of the wireless communication medium. A plurality of N weighting factor phase angles may be computed based on the plurality of channel estimate values, where N is an integer that is greater than 1. The transmitting station may enable transmission of a plurality of 2·N signals based on the plurality of N weighting factors. The plurality of 2·N signals may be encoded utilizing Alamouti coding. |
| US08107566B2 |
Noise estimation for wireless communication
Techniques for deriving and using noise estimate for data reception in a wireless communication system are described. A noise estimate may be derived for each packet received in a data transmission. Data detection may then be performed for each packet using the noise estimate for that packet. For noise estimation, a first sample sequence and a second sample sequence may be obtained from each receiver used for data reception. A phase offset between the first and second sample sequences may be determined and applied to the first sample sequence for each receiver to obtain a third sample sequence for that receiver. A noise estimate may then be derived based on the power of the differences between the second and third sample sequences for the at least one receiver. |
| US08107564B2 |
Device for detecting a frequency offset
A device detects a frequency offset by a frequency converter arranged to convert a received signal into a sideband and comprises a calculator arranged to calculate a characteristic quantity of the sideband which is a measure of the frequency offset. |
| US08107563B2 |
Receiving apparatus and method for MIMO system
Provided are a receiving apparatus for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system and a method thereof. The receiving apparatus includes a QR decomposing unit for calculating a single (Q) matrix vector and an upper triangle (R) matrix vector for a receiving signal vector; a first symbol estimation unit for estimating predetermined symbols using the calculated Q matrix vector and R matrix vector; a log likelihood ratio (LLR) calculating unit for calculating log likelihood ratios of unit bits for the estimated symbols; an interference removing unit for receiving a decoded signal that is decided using the calculated log likelihood ratios and removing interference from the receiving signal vector; and a second symbol estimation unit for linearly estimating remaining symbols for the interference removed signal. |
| US08107557B2 |
Reception system having a switching arrangement for suppressing change-over interference in the case of antenna diversity
A diversity processing system for providing interference masking signals in an interference suppression circuit. These interference masking signals are generated by an interference detector which through a coupling element couples in a signature signal into a reception signal. This reception signal is then passed to an amplifier, an optional frequency converter, an IF filter, a frequency demodulator and then on to an interference suppression circuit which provides a masking pulse to mask any distortion or interference associated with the diversity switching of antennas during operation. |
| US08107550B2 |
Methods for precoding signals for transmission in wireless MIMO system
Methods discussed herein provide more efficient precoding matrices for precoding signals prior to transmission. The methods discussed herein improve throughput in wireless MIMO systems. Methods discussed herein are applicable to frequency division duplexing (FDD) systems, time division duplexing (TDD) systems as well as other wireless communication systems. |
| US08107549B2 |
Multi-stage receiver for wireless communication
Techniques for receiving a MIMO transmission are described. A receiver processes received data from multiple receive antennas in multiple stages. A first stage performs front-end filtering/equalization on the received data with a front-end filter to process non on-time signal components in the multiple received signals. A second stage processes the filtered data with one or more combiner matrices to combine on-time signal components for multiple transmitted signals. For a MIMO-CDM transmission, a single front-end filter may be used for all channelization codes, and a different combiner matrix may be used for each channelization code. Partitioning the receiver processing into multiple stages simplifies derivation of the front-end filter and combiner matrices while achieving good performance. The front-end filter and combiner matrices may be updated separately at the same or different rates. |
| US08107547B2 |
Receivers for embedded ACK/NAK in CQI reference signals in wireless networks
Within a wireless network, uplink control information (UCI) transmitted by user equipment is received by a base station. The UCI includes a least two elements, a first set of symbols produced using a first information element and a second set of symbols produced using a second information element. At least a first metric is produced using the first set and the second set of received symbols. The first information element may then be detected using the first metric. |
| US08107545B2 |
Method and system for phase tracking in wireless communication systems
A method and system phase tracking in a wireless communication system is provided. Phase tracking involves receiving a first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and a second OFDM symbol which is a repetition of the first symbol, over a wireless channel, the symbols representing an incoming signal. A phase of the incoming signal is extracted by performing phase tracking across all subcarrier data tones and pilot tones of the symbols. |
| US08107539B2 |
Method for error concealment in video sequences
A method and device for error concealment in a video sequence. When there is a scene transition in the video sequence and an error occurs in a picture belonging to the scene transition, an error concealment procedure based on the type of scene transition is used to conceal the error. Information about the scene transition type is provided to a decoder in a supplemental enhancement information message. If the scene transition is a gradual scene transition, a spatio-temporal error concealment algorithm is used to conceal the picture. If the scene transition is a scene cut and only part of the picture is lost or corrupted, a spatial error concealment is used to conceal the lost or corrupted part of the picture. If a whole picture belonging to the scene cut is lost or corrupted and the picture starts a new scene, it is not concealed. |
| US08107538B2 |
Moving image distribution system and moving image distribution server
A moving image distribution system is capable of making phase adjustment of video data and audio data while preventing the cost of a display apparatus from increasing, by adjusting time information with a moving image distribution server. The moving image distribution server stores moving image data, reads the moving image data, changes information included therein as to decoding times or reproducing times of video data or audio data included in the moving image data based on a predetermined phase adjustment variable, and then distributes the moving image data. A reproducing apparatus receives the moving image data distributed from the moving image distribution server, decodes the moving image data according to the information included therein as to the decoding times and the reproducing times, and reproduces the moving image data. |
| US08107536B2 |
Video decoder
A video decoder including: an input module configured to receive a video stream that is coded based on macroblocks; a frame determination module configured to determine whether or not a decoding subject image in the video stream that is input to the input module is a non-reference frame image that is not referred to when decoding another image; a slice analyzing module configured to determine, for each slice being configured by arranging the macroblocks, whether or not skip macroblocks each of which has no coding information of its own exist in a predetermined number or more when the frame determination module determines that the decoding subject image is a non-reference frame image; and a slice editing module configured to set, as skip macroblocks, all macroblocks in a slice for which the slice analyzing module determines that skip macroblocks exist in the predetermined number or more. |
| US08107535B2 |
Method and apparatus for scalable motion vector coding
A method and apparatus for scalable coding of a motion vector generated during motion estimation, in which a generated motion vector field is separated into a base layer and an enhancement layer according to pixel accuracies to obtain a layered structure for a motion vector. In addition, the motion vector field has a layered structure including a base layer composed of motion vectors of blocks larger than or equal to a predetermined size and at least one enhancement layer composed of motion vectors of blocks smaller than a predetermined size. |
| US08107534B2 |
Moving-image reproducing apparatus and moving-image reproducing method
A moving-image reproducing apparatus determines whether one frame of a movie has the same image as that of the previous frame on the basis of the analysis of the movie, inputs compressed frame data about a frame that is not determined to have the same image as that of the previous frame into a decompressing unit, causes the image in the frame data decompressed by the decompressing unit to be displayed as at least one frame, and causes the compressed frame data about a frame that is determined to have the same image as that of the previous frame not to be input into the decompressing unit. |
| US08107531B2 |
Signaling and repeat padding for skip frames
A video codec efficiently signals that a frame is identical to its reference frame, such that separate coding of its picture content is skipped. Information that a frame is skipped is represented jointly in a coding table of a frame coding type element for bit rate efficiency in signaling. Further, the video codec signals the picture type (e.g., progressive or interlaced) of skipped frames, which permits different repeat padding methods to be applied according to the picture type. |
| US08107528B2 |
Picture processing apparatus, picture processing method, information processing apparatus, recording medium, and program
A reusable quantization value Qref included in history information or parameter information is obtained in step S21. In step S22, it is judged whether or not the quantization value Qref obtained in step S21 is smaller than a predetermined minimum quantization value Qmin. If it has been judged that the quantization value Qref is smaller than the predetermined minimum quantization value Qmin, the process proceeds to step S23, where the quantization value Q is set at Qmin, and then the process is completed. If it has been judged that the quantization value Qref is not smaller than the predetermined minimum quantization value Qmin, the process proceeds to step S24, where the quantization value Qref is reused and is set as the quantization value Q, and then the process is completed. The present invention can be applied to an SDTI CP-ASI converter or a long GOP encoder. |
| US08107527B1 |
Progressive block encoding using region analysis
The present invention provides a method of progressively encoding and transmitting visual data. First image information updates are acquired for a region of visual data. The region of visual data is defined by a plurality of blocks of pixel data, and individual blocks of the plurality are associated with individual change histories for their respective pixel data. Stored region information including a recent encoded state for each block in the plurality is retrieved. Available network bandwidth is determined, and then encoding parameters for each block in the region of visual data are determined from the retrieved region information and the available network bandwidth. The plurality of blocks is then encoded, the retrieved region information is updated in accordance with the determined encoding parameters; and the encoded blocks are transmitted across a computer network. |
| US08107526B2 |
Method and system for scalable representation, storage, transmission and reconstruction of media streams
Methods and systems for defining a compression and reconstruction scheme of a media stream, for generating and transmitting a base media layer and enhancement data layers and for reconstructing compressed representations of the media stream from the base media layer and the enhancement data layers. |
| US08107523B2 |
Segmented equalizer
In one embodiment of the present invention, a segmented equalizer includes a plurality of feedforward equalizer segments, each feedforward equalizer segment responsive to delayed samples of an input signal {vn}, wherein n is the index of samples, and including a filter block for filtering the delayed samples by using coefficients which are updated based on a step size generated for each equalizer segment. |
| US08107521B2 |
Equalizer device
An equalizer device which enables tap coefficient correction accuracy to be improved to enable high-quality adaptive equalization. A tap coefficient filter corrects tap coefficients thereof in accordance with a control signal and equalizes a received signal in which a data signal is multiplexed with a pilot signal, which is a known signal for compensating for variation in reception of the data signal. A training signal setter sets both of the data signal and the pilot signal as a training signal, which indicates an ideal value of equalized output. A tap coefficient corrector obtains an error signal indicative of a differential value between the training signal and a filter output signal which is output from the tap coefficient filter after being equalized, performs an adaptive algorithm operation so as to decrease the error signal, and generates the control signal for correcting the tap coefficients. |
| US08107518B2 |
Stream weight estimation and compensation in SIMO/MIMO OFDM receivers
A process for equalizing streams of OFDM subcarrier data computes the noise variance for each stream, and forms a stream weighting coefficient by equalizing the noise variance, such that for a first stream having a noise variance σ1 and a second stream having a noise variance of σ2, the first stream is scaled by k 1 = 2 σ 2 σ 1 2 + σ 2 2 and the second stream is scaled by k 2 = 2 σ 1 σ 1 2 + σ 2 2 . |
| US08107516B2 |
Power line communications apparatus
Apparatus and system for communicating data via a power line. The apparatus comprises a transmitter comprising a modulator for generating a second digital signal based on input data; a digital buffer for amplifying the second digital signal to generate a third digital signal; a filter for filtering the third digital signal to generate an analog output waveform; and a coupler for coupling the analog output waveform to the power line. |
| US08107515B2 |
Burst processing modem
A burst processing modem. Implementations may include a receive side including a channelizer adapted to process a plurality of channels and write a plurality of frames to a receive RAM array. A receive frame state machine may be adapted to generate a timing signal using a burst time plan for the plurality of frames. A demodulator may be coupled with the receive RAM array and adapted to read from the receive RAM array only the one or more bursts from the plurality of frames indicated by the timing signal. A transmit side may include a modulator coupled with a transmit frame state machine, with a transmit RAM array, and a combiner bank. The combiner bank may read the modulated plurality of channels from the transmit RAM array and assemble a plurality of frames using a timing signal generated from a burst time plan by the transmit frame state machine. |
| US08107514B2 |
Decoding method for space-time encoding transmission scheme in with multiple input multiple output system and receiving apparatus for using the method
A receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention receives a transmitted signal, converts the signal to a predetermined symbol, and estimates channel information including a channel gain of a channel of the transmitted signal. In addition, the receiver generates an intermediate processing value for decoding the signal based on the estimated channel information and the symbol, and normalizes the intermediate processing value to the channel gain to generate a reference value. The generated reference value is used for a soft-decision value for decoding the signal. In addition, when the signal is decoded by using a hard-decision value, a constellation point value that is closest to the reference values is generated and set as the hard-decision value. |
| US08107512B2 |
Method and apparatus for robust automatic frequency control in CDMA systems with constant pilot signals
There is provided a method for generating an error signal for an automatic frequency control (AFC) loop in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system. Sign information relating to phase differences in received pilot signals is accumulated. In one embodiment, the accumulated sign information is compared against predetermined threshold levels. The error signal is generated when at least one of the predetermined threshold levels is satisfied. In a second embodiment, the accumulated sign information is decimated. An output of the decimating step is utilized as the error signal for the AFC loop. |
| US08107510B2 |
Method and apparatus for non-cooperative coexistence between wireless communication protocols
A method and apparatus of reducing interference between wireless communication protocols is disclosed. The method comprises reducing interference between a first wireless communication protocol operating in a first frequency band and a second wireless communication protocol operating in a second frequency band by generating noise to cause interference with one or more frequencies in the second frequency band and performing Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) in the second wireless communication protocol to avoid the one or more frequencies in the second frequency band in which interference is caused by the noise. |
| US08107507B2 |
Group III nitride semiconductor element and epitaxial wafer
A primary surface 23a of a supporting base 23 of a light-emitting diode 21a tilts by an off-angle of 10 degrees or more and less than 80 degrees from the c-plane. A semiconductor stack 25a includes an active layer having an emission peak in a wavelength range from 400 nm to 550 nm. The tilt angle “A” between the (0001) plane (the reference plane SR3 shown in FIG. 5) of the GaN supporting base and the (0001) plane of a buffer layer 33a is 0.05 degree or more and 2 degrees or less. The tilt angle “B” between the (0001) plane of the GaN supporting base (the reference plane SR4 shown in FIG. 5) and the (0001) plane of a well layer 37a is 0.05 degree or more and 2 degrees or less. The tilt angles “A” and “B” are formed in respective directions opposite to each other with reference to the c-plane of the GaN supporting base. |
| US08107503B2 |
Resuming a previously interrupted peer-to-peer synchronization operation
A method of synchronizing data between two devices can include starting, in a first device, a first synchronization operation comprising transmitting a first data set to be received by a second device, the first data set comprising changes to multiple different data elements in the first device that have occurred since a prior successful synchronization operation between the first device and the second device; receiving at least one of separate acknowledgements for each of the multiple different data elements, each such acknowledgement indicating that a change to one of the multiple different data elements in the first device has been applied to a corresponding data element in the second device; and when the first synchronization operation is interrupted, initiating a second synchronization operation to synchronize the changes of the first data set for which a separate acknowledgement was not received during the first synchronization operation. |
| US08107502B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring packet networks
A packet probe for a packet network accurately generates and monitors packets within the network. The packet probe supports packet generation and packet transmission. When a packet is ready for transmission, a hardware-based time stamp unit affixes a time stamp to the packet reflecting an actual transmission time. The packet probe also supports receiving, filtering, and time stamping received packets. When a packet is received, a packet filter determines whether the received packet should be stored in memory along with a time stamp reflecting an actual reception time. |
| US08107500B2 |
Communication control apparatus, communication control method, and computer program
A communication control apparatus includes a packetizing unit configured to generate packets based on coded data; a calculating unit configured to calculate, based on at least one of information regarding the amount of code of the coded data, reception state information indicating a reception state of a reception device serving as a transmission destination to which the packets are to be transmitted, information regarding the effective speed of a communication line to be used for transmission of the packets, and information regarding an available capacity of a communication channel that can be ensured for communication of the packets, the number of packets to be continuously transmitted; and a transmitting unit configured to continuously transmit, via the communication line to the reception device, packets corresponding to the number of packets calculated by the calculating unit. |
| US08107499B2 |
Speed negotiation for multi-speed communication devices
A method includes defining a pattern of time intervals, each time interval having a respective assigned communication speed, which alternates among multiple communication speeds supported by a first communication device. Synchronization requests are transmitted over a communication medium from the first communication device to a second communication device at the respective communication speed that is assigned in each interval in accordance with the pattern. While transmitting the synchronization requests, synchronization replies sent over the communication medium in response to the synchronization requests are received only at the respective communication speed that is assigned in each interval. Responsively to receiving the synchronization replies from the second communication device, one or more common communication speeds that are supported by both the first and the second communication devices are identified. Communication is established between the first and second communication devices over the communication medium using one of the common communication speeds. |
| US08107498B2 |
Network relay apparatus, data receiving apparatus, data transmitting apparatus, multipath MTU finding method and multipath MTU finding system
Disclosed is a technique in which, when a plurality of packet routing paths exist, a sender of the packet selects an optimum packet length so as to use network resources effectively. According to the technique, when a plurality of routing paths like a network A (104) and a network B (105) exist for a packet transmitted from a data transmitting apparatus (103) to a data receiving apparatus (102) via a network relay apparatus (101), the network relay apparatus or the data receiving apparatus searches path MTU information of each path, and notifies the data transmitting apparatus of multipath MTU information including each search result. The data transmitting apparatus refers to this multipath MTU information to compare the plurality of paths about their path MTU information to decide a packet length suitable for the packet transmitted to the data receiving apparatus. |
| US08107493B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving legacy format data in high throughput wireless network
A method and an apparatus are provided for enabling a legacy station to perform virtual carrier sensing when a plurality of stations with heterogeneous capabilities coexist in a wireless network. The method includes receiving first data compliant with a first protocol, and transmitting second data compliant with a second protocol, where the first protocol is downward compatible with the second protocol. |
| US08107492B2 |
Cooperative writes over the address channel of a bus
A processing system and method for communicating in a processing system over a bus is disclosed. The processing system includes a receiving device, a bus having first, second and third channels, and a sending device configured to address the receiving device on the first channel, and read a payload from the receiving device on the second channel, the sending device being further configured to write a first portion of a payload to the receiving device on the first channel and a second portion of the payload to the receiving device on the third channel. |
| US08107489B2 |
Turbo decoding module supporting state n metric value normalization operations
A baseband processing module for use within a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver includes a downlink/uplink interface, TX processing components, a processor, memory, RX processing components, and a turbo decoding module. The RX processing components receive a baseband RX signal from the RF front end, produce a set of IR samples from the baseband RX signal, and transfer the set of IR samples to the memory. The turbo decoding module receives at least one set of IR samples from the memory, forms a turbo code word from the at least one set of IR samples, turbo decodes the turbo code word to produce inbound data, and outputs the inbound data to the downlink/uplink interface. The turbo decoding module performs metric normalization based upon a chosen metric performs error detection operations, and extracts information from a MAC packet that it produces. |
| US08107487B2 |
Packet communication device for communicating packet to be transferred through packet communication which is time-managed in constant cycle and packet communication method thereof
A packet communication device for communicating a packet to be transferred in constant cycle, comprising one of a logic inversion section configured to invert a logical value with respect to at least one bit included in a first string of bits included in a first packet; and a register section configured to store another string of bits having a logical value different from a given logical value of the first string of bits; and a selector section configured to select one of the first string of bits and a second string of bits that is output from one of the logic inversion section and the register section to designate any one of a plurality of devices, wherein the packet communication is performed when a selected string of bits selected by the selector section conforms to a setting value of a receiving side. |
| US08107486B1 |
Flexible queue controller reserve list
A device and method of allocating pointers in a network switch includes allocating the first predetermined number of free pointers from a free list to a first in first out memory, allocating the second predetermined number of pointers to a linked list after the first predetermined number of pointers for the first in first out memory has been allocated, receiving a frame in the network switch, forwarding at least one pointer from the first in first out memory to an ingress module to buffer the frame, and forwarding pointers from the linked list to the first in first out memory to an ingress module to buffer the frame. |
| US08107484B2 |
Method and device for advertising routing information and method and system for implementing packet routing
The present disclosure discloses a method and device for advertising routing information and a method and system for implementing packet routing. The method for advertising routing information includes a routing information advertising device that obtains its address information; the routing information advertising device adds the address information to routing information to advertise; and the routing information advertising device advertises the routing information that carries the address information. With the technical solution of the present disclosure, the number of routing tables in a backbone network may be greatly reduced. This minimizes the rise of router costs and effectively avoids slower route convergence. In addition, a router in the backbone network can dynamically obtain address information of a core router that advertises an aggregate prefix, such that it may be easier to implement registration, update and query the mapping between a more detailed address prefix and a border router. |
| US08107476B2 |
System and method for switching packet traffic over an optical transport network
A system and method for switching packet traffic over an optical transport network comprises a network element having first and second mappers for mapping packet traffic to electrical streams. A network interface includes a packet switch that directs a first packet stream to the first mapper based on a destination of the packets in the first packet stream and a second packet stream to the second mapper based on a destination of the packets in the second packet stream. The first mapper produces a first stream of electrical signals from the first packet stream, and the second mapper produces a second stream of electrical signals from the second packet stream. Each electrical signal stream is allocated a portion of bandwidth of an optical interface. The optical interface produces an optical signal that includes the first and second electrical signal streams according to the bandwidth allocated to each electrical signal stream. |
| US08107468B2 |
Non-blocking multicast switching system and a method for designing thereof
A conventional technology does not show that the number of middle stage switches is minimized on a non-blocking condition of a multisource and possible multicast Clos type network, and it becomes a high cost system. Further, no addition or deletion of a connection can be done without a data loss. It is an object to provide, as a means for solving the problems, a multisource and multicast possible Clos type network based on such a technology that the number of middle stage switches is minimized on a non-blocking condition and that addition/deletion of a connection to a existing multicast tree can be carried out without a data loss, so that the network can be operated at low cost without a data loss. |
| US08107466B2 |
Flexible network switch fabric for clustering system
A network switch fabric is provided for a clustering system to facilitate flexibility of network-related interconnection selection and system scalability. The network switch fabric includes replaceable network switch(s) and network interface(s) selectively configured on a base board. Multiple types of interconnection protocols with similar characteristics will be able to implement on a common infrastructure of network switch fabric. A pass through card operating as a network interface is also applicable on the network switch fabric to directly connect with an external network. The pass through card allows the network switch fabric supporting the clustering system to be scalable, thereby capable of supporting a large-scale cluster computing. |
| US08107465B1 |
Slim bandwidth reservation protocol over an IP network
A media gateway is coupled to an Internet Protocol (IP) network through a router. The router and the media gateway communicate through a slim protocol that allows the media gateway to reserve connections over the IP network that have certain minimum bandwidth and latency attributes. The router handles the obtaining of the requested IP circuit for the client. The media gateways only need to execute a relatively simple client application and do not have to be independently capable of obtaining IP-QoS information from the IP network. |
| US08107462B2 |
System and method of routing telephone calls
A method of routing telephone calls is disclosed that includes receiving Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) packets at an integrated access device (IAD) from a VoIP remote worker feature server. The IAD communicates with a first private branch exchange (PBX) located at a first location. The VoIP packets are related to a VoIP call intended for a telephone number assigned by a second PBX at a second location. |
| US08107459B1 |
Method and apparatus for executing a call blocking function
A method and apparatus for executing a call blocking function in a communications network is described. In one embodiment, monitoring data is received from at least one network component in the communications network. The monitoring data is then analyzed to determine a fraudulent index that is associated with at least one endpoint device number. In the event the fraudulent index exceeds a predefined threshold level, a call blocking function is executed on the at least one endpoint device number. |
| US08107456B2 |
Method of performing uplink synchronization in wireless communication system
A method of performing uplink synchronization in a wireless communication system includes transmitting a random access preamble which is randomly selected from a set of random access preambles, receiving a random access response, the random access response comprising a random access preamble identifier corresponding to the random access preamble and a time alignment value for uplink synchronization, starting a time alignment timer after applying the time alignment value, starting a contention resolution timer after receiving the random access response, wherein contention resolution is not successful when the contention resolution timer is expired, and stopping the time alignment timer when the contention resolution timer is expired. |
| US08107450B2 |
Redirecting data flow of a secondary PDP to a primary PDP before establishing the secondary PDP context
A solution in a telecommunications infrastructure network for creating a secondary PDP context for a time critical application, ensuring that no packets are lost by masquerading a primary PDP context as the secondary PDP context. This may be achieved by for instance sending a fake TEID or including a filter in a PDP creation request for the secondary PDP context and updating the GGSN with a correct TEID or a new Traffic Flow Template (TFT) when the secondary PDP context is established. |
| US08107448B2 |
Apparatus for reducing signalling data bursts in mobile network
A technology is disclosed for reducing the burst of DAD messages which may be triggered due to the change of the network prefix when using the technique of the neighbor discovery proxy. According to this technology, in roaming from the access network link 101 to the access network link 102, MR 121 receives advertisement of a new prefix 172 from AR 112. MR 121 selects and informs, for example only MR 122, that it is necessary to change the prefix. Thus, MR 122 and VMN 132 configure new addresses, respectively. When address configuration is completed at the mobile network of MR 122, MR 121 informs another MR 123 that it is necessary to change the prefix, and then MR 123 and VMN 133 configure new addresses, respectively. This can prevent DAD messages generated along with the address configuration from flocking in a short period. |
| US08107441B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating control information for packet data
Systems and techniques for communications wherein a data packet is transmitted over at least one time slot from a transmission site, a value is computed from an initial value and information, the initial value being a function of the number of time slots of the data packet transmission, the value and the information is transmitted from the transmission site, the transmitted value and the information is received at a receiving site, the value from the received information is recalculated, and the number of time slots of the data packet transmission is determined from the calculated and recalculated values. |
| US08107433B2 |
Changing LTE specific anchor with simple tunnel switching
Embodiments of the invention may further provide a method for transferring an LTE anchor in an idle mode. The method includes an MME (control plane entity) initiating an LTE anchor change procedure, the MME first commands the selected new LTE anchor to set up a user plane tunnel towards the 3GPP anchor and then it updates this information towards the 3GPP anchor. Thereafter, the old tunnel is deleted from the old LTE anchor. |
| US08107432B2 |
Dual-mode mobile terminal and method for handover of packet service call between different communication networks
A dual-mode mobile terminal and method for performing PS call between different communication networks. In the mobile terminal, a second communication module which communicates with a second communication network, prepares for its operation and enters into a low power mode when it is requested for the PS call through a first communication module communicating with a first communication network. When the mobile terminal moves from the first communication network to the second communication network, the second communication module performs an initialization for the PS call to the second communication network. When the initialization is complete, the second communication module interrupts the PS call through the first communication network and performs a packet service communication through the first communication network. |
| US08107428B2 |
Method of ranging signal design and transmission for MIMO-OFDMA initial ranging process
A mobile communication system uses a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technology with an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) scheme. At network entry, an initial ranging method selects from multiple ranging signal designs to accomplish the initial ranging process. Three classes of ranging signal designs may be selected for use in generating ranging codes. The information on the ranging signal design to be used, which is selected by the base station based on the cell size of the communication system (i.e., the radio coverage area of the base station), is broadcast from the BS. The ranging signal designs are directly applicable to single-antenna systems, and they are applied to MIMO systems by using appropriate mapping across transmit antennas based on the adopted MIMO ranging transmission scheme. Optimum eigenmode and suboptimum eigenmode transmission schemes provide the best performance at high computational complexity and high power consumption. |
| US08107427B1 |
Wireless communication sharing in a common communication medium
Performing wireless communication using first and second wireless communication protocols. The first and second wireless communication protocols may operate in a common communication medium. The wireless communication may be performed using the protocols over the common communication medium, e.g., in a time sharing fashion. Properties of voice traffic on current frames of the second wireless communication protocol may be measured. The method may further include predicting whether one or more subsequent frames of the second wireless communication protocol will have voice traffic. If the prediction indicates that the one or more subsequent frames of the second wireless communication protocol will not have voice traffic data may be transmitted using the first wireless communication protocol on the common communication medium during a subsequent second wireless communication protocol time slot. |
| US08107424B2 |
Method for an random accesses in a local network
Random accesses are regulated in a radio-assisted local network having at least one access point, a reachable radio station located in the radio coverage area of the at least one access point, at least one remote radio station located outside the radio coverage area of the at least one access point and inside the radio coverage area of the reachable radio station. The at least one access point temporarily allocates radio resources, for sending information, to radio stations inside the radio coverage area. The reachable radio station sends a signal to the at least one remote radio station, containing information on the permissibility of random access by the at least one remote radio station to the radio resources of the at least one access point. |
| US08107423B2 |
Real-time positioning system, method therefor, and device containing computer software
A real-time positioning system, a real-time positioning method, and a device containing computer software are provided. The system includes a coordinator and at least one router. The coordinator carries out a signal interconnection with each router of a first layer via an omni-directional antenna, and calculates an initial distance according to the strength of the signal interconnection. Then, the coordinator carries out a signal interconnection with the router via a plurality of directional antennas respectively to analyze an initial direction of the router of the first layer according to the strength of the signal interconnection with each of the directional antennas and corrects the initial direction according to the slope angle of the coordinator, so as to position the router of the first layer according to the initial distance and the initial direction. Each router positions each router of the next layer in the same manner as the coordinator. |
| US08107422B2 |
Method and apparatus for uplink and downlink channel alignments for 3GPP continuous packet data connection (CPC) channels
An apparatus and method for implementing uplink and downlink channel fine time alignments for 3GPP continuous packet data connection (CPC) channels comprising determining if a HS-SCCH radio frame boundary is detected before a UL DPCCH radio frame boundary; aligning a transition of a UE_DTX_DRX_Enabled control signal from FALSE to TRUE to the HS-SCCH radio frame boundary or the UL DPCCH radio frame boundary, tagging a first DRX subframe to be 0, and tagging a first DTX subframe to be 0 depending on the determination; and monitoring configuration signals to determine alignments. In one aspect, the order of the tagging depends on the determination. |
| US08107420B2 |
Wireless communications system with cycling of unique cell bit sequences in station communications
A wireless communication system (10). The system comprises transmitter circuitry (BST1) comprising circuitry for transmitting a plurality of frames to a receiver in a first cell (Cell 1). Each of the plurality of frames comprises a bit group (22), and the bit group uniquely distinguishes the first cell from a second cell (Cell 2) adjacent the first cell. The transmitter circuitry further comprises circuitry (54) for inserting a bit sequence into the bit group. The bit sequence is selected from a plurality of bit sequences (S1-SK) such that successive transmissions by the transmitter circuitry comprise a cycle of successive ones of the plurality of bit sequences. |
| US08107419B2 |
Method and system for improving bandwidth utilization over a fixed network
Bandwidth utilization over bearers in a fixed cellular network is improved by reducing the amount of data required to be transported. At each side of the bearer, data blocks (such as Iub blocks) are received and, prior to transmitting them across the bearer, they are analyzed to determine if they can be modified in such a manner to decrease the amount of data. On the other end of the bearer, received blocks are analyzed to determine if they have been modified, and if so, the blocks are reconstructed to a format that may not be identical to the original format but, that is operationally equivalent from a user perspective. The modifications to the blocks can be based on the type of data being transmitted. For instance, if the data is for a video session or and audio session, the modifications can be different. Information regarding the reconstruction of the blocks can be sent to the other end of the bearer as a part of the data or through other channels. |
| US08107417B2 |
Method and mobile terminal for allocating IP address in wireless network
A method and mobile terminal for allocating an Internet protocol (IP) address in a wireless network. A method of allocating an IP address in a wireless network which is applied to a system including a mobile terminal and an access router (AR) storing IP addresses, which are used on a connected link, in an address cache, managing the IP addresses, and performing a duplicate address detection (DAD) based on the IP addresses, the method including confirming whether a notification message, transmitted from the AR, is received, and automatically configuring an IP address and requesting the AR to perform the DAD with respect to the automatically configured IP address, when the notification message is received. |
| US08107416B2 |
Method and apparatus for radio connection setup in a mobile communication system
Disclosed is an apparatus and a method for radio connection setup in a mobile communication system. In the method, a UE reports mobility information to a network, and the network performs according to the mobility information of the UE. Therefore, it is possible to reduce complexity of the UE and reduce the waste in power consumption thereof, and reduce the signaling overhead of the network, thereby achieving efficient use of resources. |
| US08107413B2 |
Method for allocating multiple radio communication periods
A method for allocating multiple radio communication periods to an MS supporting co-existence mode is disclosed. The method includes transmitting a co-existence mode request message to a BS by the MS, receiving information about the position of a start frame for the co-existence mode by a co-existence mode response message as a response to the co-existence mode request message from the BS by the MS, and receiving information about an allocated Wi-Fi beacon reception period by an unsolicited co-existence mode response message in the start frame from the BS by the MS. A frame allocation pattern for allocating periods for communications with a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi system using a frequency band adjacent to that of an IEEE 802.16m system can be provided according to an IEEE 802.16m frame structure, and an MS with multiple radio interfaces can communicate with each system reliably, while minimizing interference between systems. |
| US08107411B2 |
Mobile station capable of and a method for generating chip patterns for transmission
A mobile station for wirelessly transmitting to a base station by DS-CDMA a signal which is spread by multiplying a spreading code includes a high-precision transmission timing control unit configured to control transmitting timings of transmitting signals so that a time difference at the base station among timings of receiving from a plurality of mobile stations approaches zero. |
| US08107410B2 |
Map-triggered dump of packets in satellite communication system
Upstream information arriving through a user terminal in a satellite link is efficiently scheduled through a modified Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) algorithm such that data packets arriving at the user terminal are concatenated to form a larger frame for transmission and the concatenated packet is held in a first queue disposed ahead of a second queue, where the data in the second queue cannot be modified (typically a hardware queue), sufficient to allow the second queue to be emptied. In a specific embodiment, all packets arriving at the user terminal since a prior piggyback request are concatenated so that all currently known packets (up to a preselected limit) are accounted for by each succeeding piggyback request. Since it is desirable to concatenate all packets that arrive at the user terminal since the last piggyback request, the piggyback request according to the invention covers all currently known packets (up to the preselected limit) in the user terminal. The held-back packets are released or dumped to the second queue by a trigger operative according to a map, the map being a grant allocation schedule. This mechanism handles instances where the second queue is not able to handle all known packets. |
| US08107408B2 |
Route maintenance and update based on connection identifier in multi-hop relay systems
Connection ID (CID) assignment in multi-hop relay system can be used to perform routing. Using CID assignment as routing information in a multi-hop wireless relay system to maintain the routing structure is disclosed. In a CID cache scheme, a base station builds a CID cache based on the upstream packet and broadcasts the CID cache to a relay station. The CID cache comprises CIDs along with routing information. Based on CID cache the spanning tree of the routing can be reconstructed. A hierarchical CID assignment is disclosed wherein a base station assigns a range of CIDs to a relay station. A relay station can recognize its data packets and forward them to corresponding mobile stations. Maintaining routing automatically along with CID assignment is also disclosed. |
| US08107404B2 |
Wireless communication control apparatus and method
By using multiple channels at the same time to realize broadbanding of the frequency channels and suppressing increase in the waiting time before starting transmission of wireless signals, improvement of the practical throughput can be realized. A wireless communication apparatus AP1 is a wireless communication apparatus provided with a space division processing unit 40 for identifying which space area a radio wave has come from; a frequency division processing unit 30 for identifying which channel the radio wave has been carried through; a carrier sense unit 50 for judging the busy/idle state of the identified channel in the identified space area; a storage unit 60 for storing the judged busy/idle state in association with the space area and the channel; a determining unit 70 for, when a radio wave is transmitted to a first wireless communication apparatus, determining a channel to be used at the time of transmission according to the busy/idle state of each channel in the space area in which the first wireless terminal is located. |
| US08107403B2 |
Method and apparatus for unicast and multicast media processing
A method and apparatus for unicast and multicast media processing is provided. The method may comprise receiving multicast packets communicating a plurality of media streams from a plurality of communication endpoints. Each communication endpoint may have an associated individual media stream. The method inspects the multicast packets to identify each individual media stream with which the packet is associated and individually processes each individual media stream. At least one individual media stream is unicast from its associated buffer to a unicast communication endpoint of the plurality of communication endpoints. In an example embodiment, the method may identify media capabilities of the unicast communication endpoint. The plurality of media streams may form part of a virtual talk group (VTG) in an audio conference. |
| US08107402B1 |
Method and system for secure automated conference setup
A method and system are disclosed for secure automated conferencing between authorized conference participants. A conference server may schedule a conference between a plurality of authorized conference participants and assign each authorized conference participant a respective unique participant-ID. The conference server may send each participant a conference message containing an actionable link that the party may invoke to join the conference. The link may designate the party's unique participant-ID and the conference bridge number. When the link is invoked, the device of the conference participant may initiate communication with the conference server and provide the unique participant-ID to the conference server. When a given party initiates communication with the conference server, the conference server may verify that the given party is an authorized conference participant. The conference server may verify that the given party is authorized by verifying that the participant-ID provided to the conference server by the given party corresponds to the unique participant-ID assigned to the given party. |
| US08107395B2 |
Self-correcting adaptive tracking system (SATS)
A system and method for self and group location and tracking based on ultra wide band ranging among members of the group is presented. The system comprises an anchored station, a plurality of nodes, each node having at least knowledge of where the node is facing and heading, knowledge of all pair wise distances among all of the plurality of nodes, and ability to exchange information among the nodes and with the anchored station via relays. The system and method find a new position estimate of the group in accordance with an adaptive search process based on constraints of the ultra wide band ranging, and the search process enables extracting directional information and adaptively stabilizing orientation of the group. In one embodiment, adaptively stabilizing the orientation of the group is performed using an orientation-correcting polygon matching process. |
| US08107386B2 |
VPLS N-PE redundancy using pseudo wire fast failover
In one example embodiment, a system and method is provided that includes establishing a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW. Further, the method includes disabling the active PW when a failure of the active PW is detected. Additionally, the method may include selecting an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data may be transmitted from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region. Moreover, the method includes switching from the active PW to the new active PW. |
| US08107385B2 |
Evaluating quality of service in an IP network with cooperating relays
A technique is disclosed that evaluates a network path between (i) a first node in a first subnetwork of endpoint nodes, such as IP phones, and (ii) a second node in a second subnetwork. A “ricochet” node in the network path evaluates the path by probing one or both subnetworks, where the ricochet node acts as relay for traffic packets being transmitted between the two subnetworks. A given relay has only to probe a single, representative node within a subnetwork at any given time in order to obtain performance data that is representative of the subnetwork overall. By probing the representative node, the relay is able to acquire an assessment of network conditions that is valid for the path between the relay and any endpoint in the subnetwork. As a result, the disclosed technique reduces the probing overhead when many endpoint nodes on a given subnetwork are simultaneously active and experiencing adverse network conditions. |
| US08107384B2 |
Information communication system, transmitting apparatus, transmitting method, and computer program
Transmission of contents from a transmitting apparatus to a plurality of receiving apparatuses is performed, while putting restrictions on a communication area and the number of receiving apparatuses in conformity with a definition of DTCP.In a case of a need to distribute literary works such as movies and the music within a single home network, while preventing the transmission of the literary works to other home networks, a degree of freedom in communication is raised in a case where a communication delay time is short so that a high possibility exists that the communication delay time falls within a specific range. Conversely, in a case where the communication delay time is long so that a low possibility exists that the communication delay time falls within the specific range, the degree of freedom in communication is lowered. Thus, it is allowable to implement a system that ensures a high barrier to unauthorized content distributions, and also, does not have any remarkable restrictions on a rightful home use. |
| US08107383B2 |
Reducing traffic loss in an EAPS system
A ring network with an automatic protection switching domain includes a control VLAN and at least one data VLAN. A master node in the ring is connected to at least one transit node. Each node in the ring network is linked to an adjacent node by a primary port or a secondary port. The master node receives notification of a fault via the control VLAN, the fault indicating a failed link between adjacent nodes. In response, the master node unblocks its secondary port to traffic on the data VLAN(s). The forwarding database entries on the master node and on the transit node(s) are flushed. Data traffic is flooded to the ring network until forwarding database entries on the master node and on the transit node(s) have been reestablished. |
| US08107380B1 |
System and method for operating a communication system
A method for operating a communication system is provided. The method includes monitoring traffic within a communication network to determine a traffic volume, and determining a routing table update rate based on the traffic volume. The method also includes receiving a routing table update, and updating a routing table using the routing table update at a time based on the routing table update rate. |
| US08107376B2 |
Managing hierarchically organized subscriber profiles
Methods are provided for managing hierarchically organized subscriber profiles. According to one embodiment, a policy engine of a VR defines services available to subscribers in terms of profile identifiers. A scalable subscriber profile database is established having a memory requirement dependent upon the number of available service contexts by hierarchically organizing profile identifiers as leaf profile identifiers, which explicitly define services, and intermediate profile identifiers, which indirectly represent services. The policy engine receives a first-level profile identifier and determines whether it is among those stored in the database. If not, then it obtains service profile information associated with the first-level profile identifier. If the first-level profile identifier is an intermediate profile identifier having leaf profile identifiers, then it further obtains them and associated profile information and stores this information in the database. The first-level profile identifier and the associated service profile information are also stored in the database. |
| US08107371B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing QoS of AV streams
An apparatus and method for providing the QoS of AV streams is disclosed, in which a period for processing AV streams to provide the QoS of the AV streams is separately assigned at a predetermined time, and a plurality of AV streams are simultaneously processed. The apparatus includes a determination unit that identifies the type of input data, a TDMA scheduler that assigns time division periods for processing the AV streams and general data during a predetermined recurring time period in accordance with the identification result, a buffer that stores the AV streams and the general data in memory areas corresponding to the assigned time division periods, and an output port that extracts and outputs the AV streams and the general data stored in the buffer in a FIFO manner. |
| US08107370B2 |
Network access device with restricted and unrestricted input ports
Access devices and methods according to the invention interconnect digital devices and a network. Setting a parameter associated with each input port of an access device specifies whether the device connected with that port is restricted or unrestricted. When a particular input port is restricted, packet detectors examine the packets received on that port. In some embodiments, an exception handler handles restricted packets from restricted devices in an advantageously flexible manner. In other embodiments, a controller receives a configuration command and sets the restriction parameters accordingly. The invention provides a simple, abstract, easy to use, and flexible tool for network management, configuration, and reconfiguration. |
| US08107369B2 |
Congestion and delay handling in a packet data network
A method of managing a data packet queue in a buffer associated with the radio layers of a wireless network, the buffer storing packets prior to their transmission over the radio interface. The method comprises defining minimum and maximum threshold levels for the packet queue, and for a data packet received by the buffer 1) performing a congestion avoidance procedure if the buffer queue exceeds said maximum threshold level, or 2) not performing said procedure if the buffer queue is less than said minimum threshold level, or 3) if the buffer queue lies between said maximum and minimum thresholds, performing said congestion avoidance procedure for said packet, and not performing the procedure for at least one or more subsequent packets. |
| US08107364B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication apparatus having a temporary managing portion for controlling a temporary memory, a main managing portion for controlling a main memory and an operation control portion. The operation control portion is operative to cause the temporary managing portion and the main managing portion to determine the amount of reception at intervals of predetermined time and the amount of transmission at intervals of the determined time, to store comparative result data representing the result of comparison between the amount of reception and the amount of transmission in the temporary memory or the main memory, and to find an excessive input state, an excessive output state or a balanced input/output state on the basis of an excessive input communication signal reception state, an excessive output communication signal transmission state and a balanced input communication signal reception/output communication signal transmission state recognized based on the comparative result data, and operative to cause an input communication signal reception and an output communication signal transmission to be restrained in response to the found excessive input state, excessive output state or balanced input/output state. |
| US08107363B1 |
Method and apparatus for accelerating failover of VPN traffic in an MPLS provider network
Failover of VPN traffic between MPLS tunnels may be accelerated by determining a main and a standby MPLS tunnel for each VPN and passing both the main and standby MPLS tunnel information to the forwarding plane of a network element configured to implement the VPN. In the event of failover of a main MPLS tunnel interface, the forwarding plane may be instructed to use the standby MPLS tunnel instead of the main MPLS tunnel. Since the standby MPLS tunnel has already been determined, and information associated with the standby MPLS tunnel has already been provided to the forwarding plane, it is not necessary to recompute a new MPLS tunnel or reprogram the forwarding plane using the new MPLS tunnel information. By removing control plane operations and control plane-forwarding plane interaction from the handling of failovers, the failover recovery time may be accelerated to under 50 ms, to thereby enable VPN connections to handle time sensitive traffic. |
| US08107358B2 |
Method, computer program product, and network node element for more quickly detecting faults on transmission paths and/or in nodes
A communication between network node elements (routers), according to which the routes communicate with one another using a link-state protocol, e.g. IS-IS or OSPF and the failure of a network node element can be identified more rapidly than by the evaluation of hello messages disclosed in prior art is provided. A link-state message is received by a first network node element from a neighboring second network node element, the link states that are contained in the link-state message are compared with at least one stored link state of a network node element that lies adjacent to the first network node element and the compared link states are evaluated as a criterion for a failure of a neighboring network node element. The topology is recalculated, taking into consideration the failure of the neighboring network node element, without waiting for a dead interval based on period link (hello) message to elapse. |
| US08107355B2 |
Detection and mitigation of temporary (bursts) impairments in channels using SCDMA
Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and mitigating temporary high-level impairments, in a communications channel, and subsequently, mitigating the deleterious effects of the dynamic impairments. The system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is adapted to transmit at least one set of modulated signals. The receiver is adapted to receive the at least one set of modulated signals and mitigate temporary high-level impairment in the at least one set of modulated signals using at least one error vector received during the temporary high-level impairment. |
| US08107353B2 |
Data storage device and method for operating a data storage system
A data storage device comprises a storage medium, at least one probe designed for creating indentation marks in the storage medium, a control unit designed for creating a control parameter (CTRL) acting on the probe resulting in the creation of one indentation mark. The control unit is further designed for modifying the control parameter (CTRL), if at least a given number of consecutive indentation marks with a given minimum distance between each other should be created. According to the method the control parameter (CTRL) is modified if at least a given number of consecutive marks with a given minimum distance between each other should be created. |
| US08107348B2 |
Optical pickup apparatus for use on a multi-layered optical information storage medium
An optical pickup apparatus for use on multi-layered optical information storage medium in which influences of reflected light, which result in crosstalk from adjacent layers in a multi-layered optical disk, are mitigated. In an astigmatic optical system of the optical pickup, a first composite segmented wave plate having a segmentation direction that is in the same direction as the focal line that is close to the astigmatic optical system, a second composite segmented wave plate of the same segmentation direction, and an analyzer are inserted. |
| US08107346B2 |
Optical head device and optical information processing device
An optical head device according to the present invention includes a splitting section for splitting a light beam having been reflected from an optical storage medium. The splitting section includes: a first main region transmitting a first interfering portion; a second main region transmitting a second interfering portion; and first and second sub-regions through which the first interfering portion is transmitted with a lower rate than in the first main region and through which the second interfering portion is transmitted with a lower rate than in the second main region. The splitting section splits the reflected light beam into: a first main light beam transmitted through the first main region; a second main light beam transmitted through the second main region; a first sub-light beam transmitted through the first sub-region; and a second sub-light beam transmitted through the second sub-region. The splitting section further includes a swapping section for swapping a portion of the first sub-light beam with a portion of the second sub-light beam. |
| US08107343B2 |
Optical information storage medium and optical information storage medium reproducing apparatus
An optical information storage medium includes a light transmitting layer, a first information storage layer, an intermediate layer mainly made of resin, a second information storage layer, and a substrate. The light transmitting layer, the first information storage layer, the intermediate layer, the second information storage layer, and the substrate are layered in this order from a reproduction light incident side. Each of the first information storage layer and the second information storage layer includes: a light absorbing film that absorbs reproduction light to generate heat; and a reproduction film that is heated by the heat generated by the light absorbing film so as to reproduce a signal shorter in mark length than a resolution limit of an optical system of a reproducing apparatus. |
| US08107342B2 |
Laser driving device, optical unit, and light device which can change the setting information for a sampling pulse
A laser driving device includes: a first pulse generating section; a second pulse generating section; a light emission waveform generating section; a light emission level pattern storing section; and a second storing section. The second storing section stores sampling pulse patterns. Therefore setting information of the sampling pulse can be selected without a control line. |
| US08107338B2 |
Power calibration in optical disc drives
A method for reducing overall power calibration time and increasing the number of power calibrations that can be done on an optical record carrier includes performing a first set of power calibration procedures on an optical record carrier at a first recording speed in a first set of calibration areas, and performing a further set of power calibration procedures on the optical record carrier at a recording speed different from the first recording speed. The further set of power calibration procedures partly uses information from the first set of calibration areas. |
| US08107337B2 |
Image processing apparatus and data erasing method
An image processing apparatus and data erasing method make it possible to unrecoverably erase encrypted data recorded in an auxiliary storage device at high speed while reducing the load put on the CPU. Upon reception of a data erase request from a data utilizing process, the data requested to be erased is registered in a predetermined storage unit. The data registered in the storage is unrecoverably erased by overwriting, and an area in the auxiliary storage device in which the erased data was stored is released after the overwriting erasure process. |
| US08107334B2 |
Laser power control method and optical information recording/reproducing device
Control powers of a first definition group corresponding to pulse trains to form recording marks, and levels of second definition groups corresponding to the control powers of the first definition group for respective states on a recording medium are set. The laser is driven with drive values corresponding to the control powers selected from the first definition group in the selected level of the second definition group, and emission power detection values are detected. The detection values are stored for respective levels of the second definition groups, and an occurrence of obtaining the detection value is counted for each level of the second definition groups. When any of counter values exceeds a predetermined value, using the detection values stored for one level of the second definition groups corresponding to the counter value, corrected drive values are determined collectively for all the levels of the second definition groups. |
| US08107333B2 |
Coding for optical storage systems with multiple reader heads and multiple optical disks
Provided are methods and systems of encoding and decoding techniques in an optical storage system having a multi-head detector. In one embodiment, source data may be encoded using error correction coding (e.g., turbo coding) techniques, and the encoded data may be interleaved and distributed to more than one detector head of the multi-head detector. Data recorded in an optical disc may be retrieved by the multi-head detector, and a read data from more than one detector head may be concurrently decoded to retrieve estimates of the original information in the source data. Further, more than one encoder/decoder may be used, and each encoder/decoder may encode or decode data from multiple data heads. Some embodiments also include replicating multiple discs. |
| US08107330B2 |
Information recording and reproducing apparatus
An information recording and reproducing apparatus for increasing a speed of tilt control, including a portion for storing reference data, a portion for storing sample values data, a portion for obtaining positional information, a stilt servo generator, a tilt adjuster. |
| US08107328B1 |
Method and apparatus for calibrating optical recording system
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for efficiently calibrating an optical recording device. The method can include receiving a first signal corresponding to a wobbled track of a memory medium, phase-locking a second signal to the first signal, the second signal being used to extract embedded information in the wobbled track, and determining an optimum setting of the optical recording device based on a locking quality of the first signal and the second signal. |
| US08107326B1 |
Slider with integrated thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head and integrated long laser diode
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) slider has an integrated TAR head and an integrated laser diode. The laser diode may be an external-cavity VCSEL that includes a semiconductor substrate with the VCSEL formed on one surface, an external cavity on the opposite surface, and an output third mirror on the output surface of the external cavity. The TAR head is integrated with the slider at the trailing end and includes an optical waveguide having a grating coupler oriented in a plane generally parallel to the slider trailing end, and a near-field transducer (NFT) at the slider air-bearing surface (ABS) and coupled to the waveguide. A carrier is attached to the slider and has a base portion that supports the external-cavity VCSEL so that the linear path of its output laser beam is aligned with and oriented orthogonal to the plane of the grating coupler. The grating coupler receives the laser radiation and turns it 90 degrees into the waveguide, which directs the laser radiation to the NFT at the ABS. |
| US08107325B2 |
Near-field light generating element comprising surface plasmon antenna with surface or edge opposed to waveguide
Provided is a near-field light generating element in which reduced is the propagation loss of excited surface plasmon that propagates to the near-field light generating end. The element comprises: a waveguide through which light for exciting surface plasmon propagates; and a plasmon antenna comprising a near-field light generating end and a propagation surface or edge. The propagation surface or edge extends to the near-field light generating end, and causes surface plasmon excited by the light to propagate thereon. Further, a portion of the side surface on the near-field light generating end side is opposed to the propagation surface or edge with a predetermined distance so as for the light to be coupled with the plasmon antenna in a surface plasmon mode. In this configuration, surface plasmon can propagates without significantly changing its wavenumber, which leads to a less propagation loss, and to an improved light use efficiency. |
| US08107323B1 |
Boomer for marine seismic survey
Provided is a boomer that is a type of a seismic source generator for marine seismic survey. In the boomer for marine seismic survey according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of transducer coupling parts capable of separating and coupling a transducer are disposed on a bottom of a board floating on a surface of water, the transducer coupling parts are disposed along a straight line L forming left and right center of gravity of the board, and a transducer coupling member for mounting a transducer is provided. Further, the support is mounted on the bottom of the board, the transducer coupling part is disposed on the support, and the support is formed to control a distance from a bottom point of the board to the transducer coupling part. |
| US08107314B2 |
Semiconductor storage device and method for producing semiconductor storage device
A semiconductor storage device comprises a timing control circuit that generates a signal for controlling at least one of a read operation and a write operation; an input-signal pad; a plurality of control-signal pads; and a switch circuit coupled to at least one of the plurality of control-signal pads. The switch circuit generates a first control signal to be supplied to the timing control circuit based on a signal from the input-signal pad in a first mode. |
| US08107298B2 |
Non-volatile memory with fast binary programming and reduced power consumption
In a non-volatile storage system, the time needed to perform a programming operation is reduced by minimizing data transfers between sense modules and a managing circuit. A sense module is associated with each storage element. Based on write data, a data node in the sense module is initialized to “0” for a storage element which is to remain in an erased state, and to “1” for a storage element which is to be programmed to a programmed state, then flipped to “0” when programmed is completed. The managing circuit is relieved of the need to access the write data to determine whether a “0” represents a storage element for which programming is completed. Power consumption can also be reduced by keeping a bit line voltage high between a verify phase of one program-verify iteration and a program phase of a next program-verify iteration. |
| US08107295B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and read method thereof
An object of the present inventive concept is providing a nonvolatile memory device having improved reliability by compensating a threshold voltage of a flash memory cell.A nonvolatile memory device according to the present inventive concept includes a memory cell array connected to a plurality of word lines; and a voltage generator for supplying a select read voltage to a select word line and an unselect read voltage to an unselect word line among the plurality of word lines when a read operation is performed. The voltage generator generates the unselect read voltage having a different level according to whether the unselect word line is adjacent to the select word line or not.A nonvolatile memory device according to the present inventive concept compensates a threshold voltage increased or decreased due to various causes. According to the present inventive concept, reliability of a nonvolatile memory device is improved. |
| US08107293B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device comprises a plurality of memory cells connected to a bit line; and a sense amplifier operative to sense the magnitude of cell current flowing via the bit line in a selected memory cell connected to the bit line to determine the value of data stored in the memory cell. The sense amplifier includes a first transistor for precharge operative to supply current in the bit line via a first and a second sense node, a second transistor for charge transfer interposed between the first and second sense nodes, and a third transistor for continuous current supply operative to supply current in the bit line not via the first and second sense nodes. |
| US08107290B2 |
Memory cell structure, a memory device employing such a memory cell structure, and an integrated circuit having such a memory device
A memory cell structure for a memory device includes a read transistor having a floating gate node, a tunnelling capacitor, and a coupling capacitor stack. The tunnelling capacitor is connected to the floating gate node and has a first programming terminal, and the coupling capacitor stack is connected to the floating gate node and has a second programming terminal. The coupling capacitor stack includes at least two coupling capacitors arranged in series between the floating gate node and the second programming terminal, with the coupling capacitor stack having a larger capacitance than the tunnelling capacitor. Such a memory cell structure is efficient in terms of area, and can be manufactured using standard CMOS logic manufacturing processes, thereby avoiding some of the complexities involved in the production of conventional EEPROM and Flash memory devices. |
| US08107287B2 |
Method of programming nonvolatile memory device
A method of programming a nonvolatile memory device includes sequentially programming first to (n−1)th logical pages of all the physical pages of a first memory block of the memory blocks in response to a first program command, a step of loading data of the first to (n−1)th logical pages stored in a first physical page of the first memory block and latching the loaded data in first to (n−1)th latches of each of the page buffers, respectively, when receiving a second program command after programming all the first to (n−1)th logical pages, and latching new program data, received along with the second program command, in an nth latch of the corresponding page buffer and programming the data, stored in the first to nth latches of the page buffer, into a first physical page of a second memory block of the memory blocks. |
| US08107282B2 |
Asymmetric write current compensation
An apparatus and method for compensating for asymmetric write current in a non-volatile unit cell. The unit cell comprises a switching device and an asymmetric resistive sense element (RSE), such as an asymmetric resistive random access memory (RRAM) element or an asymmetric spin-torque transfer random access memory (STRAM) element. The RSE is physically oriented within the unit cell relative to the switching device such that a hard direction for programming the RSE is aligned with an easy direction of programming the unit cell, and an easy direction for programming the RSE is aligned with a hard direction for programming the unit cell. |
| US08107281B2 |
Magnetoresistive element and magnetic memory
According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer with a variable magnetization and an easy-axis in a perpendicular direction to a film surface, a second magnetic layer with an invariable magnetization and an easy-axis in the perpendicular direction, and a first nonmagnetic layer between the first and second magnetic layers. The first magnetic layer comprises a ferromagnetic material including an alloy in which Co and Pd, or Co and Pt are alternately laminated on an atomically close-packed plane thereof. The first magnetic layer has C-axis directing the perpendicular direction. And a magnetization direction of the first magnetic layer is changed by a current flowing through the first magnetic layer, the first nonmagnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. |
| US08107280B2 |
Word line voltage control in STT-MRAM
Systems, circuits and methods for controlling the word line voltage applied to word line transistors in Spin Transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) are disclosed. One embodiment is directed to a STT-MRAM including a bit cell having a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) and a word line transistor. The bit cell is coupled to a bit line and a source line. A word line driver is coupled to a gate of the word line transistor. The word line driver is configured to provide a word line voltage greater than a supply voltage below a transition voltage of the supply voltage and to provide a voltage less than the supply voltage for supply voltages above the transition voltage. |
| US08107278B2 |
Semiconductor storage device
A semiconductor storage device includes a memory cell array having a plurality of SRAM cells arranged along a pair of bit lines that extend along a first direction. A read circuit is arranged for each column at one side of the memory cell array and detects a potential of any one of the pair of bit lines. A write circuit is arranged, separately from the read circuit, at the other side of the memory cell array. The write circuit provides written data to the pair of bit lines to write data to the SRAM cells. |
| US08107276B2 |
Resistive memory devices having a not-and (NAND) structure
Resistive memories having a not-and (NAND) structure including a resistive memory cell. The resistive memory cell includes a resistive memory element for storing a resistance value and a memory element access device for controlling access to the resistive memory element. The memory element access device is connected in parallel to the resistive memory element. |
| US08107275B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device using variable resistive element
A nonvolatile memory device using a variable resistive element is provided. The nonvolatile memory device includes first and second nonvolatile memory cells. Word lines are coupled to the first and second nonvolatile memory cells. First and second bit lines are coupled to the first and second nonvolatile memory cells, respectively. A read circuit reads resistance levels of the first and second nonvolatile memory cells by providing first and second read bias currents of different levels to the first and second bit lines, respectively. |
| US08107271B2 |
Termination circuits and semiconductor memory devices having the same
A termination circuit is connected to an input buffer receiving a data signal, and includes at least one termination resistor connected to the input buffer for impedance matching. At least one switch controls a connection between the input buffer and a corresponding one of the at least one termination resistors. A control signal generator generates a control signal for selectively enabling the termination circuit by controlling each of the at least one switches. The control signal has an input period less than or equal to an input period of a data signal. |
| US08107270B2 |
Three dimensional hexagonal matrix memory array
A nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in a substantially hexagonal pattern. The nonvolatile memory cells may be pillar shaped non-volatile memory cells which can be patterned using triple or quadruple exposure lithography or by using a self-assembling layer. |
| US08107264B2 |
Slope compensation method and circuit for a peak current control mode power converter circuit
A slope compensation method and circuit for a peak current control mode power converter circuit is provided. Since the power converter circuit has a synchronous signal of a driven signal of enabling the first primary switch and the second primary switch, a triangular wave signal is generated. The driven signals of the first and second primary switches determine the ramp up time of the triangular wave signal. The triangular wave signal is added to one of the output DC voltage feedback signal of the corresponding power converter circuit that are used to compare with a current peak value of the voltage feedback signals. Therefore, a high level triangular wave DC voltage feedback signal that is higher than the DC voltage feedback signal is formed, and the switching noises do not effect comparing result of a PWM controller of the power converter circuit. |
| US08107261B2 |
Powering unit with full bridge and wide adjusting range circuit
There is described a powering unit comprising at least one transformer, at least one full bridge circuit via which a primary winding of the transformer is connected to a direct current voltage input, a secondary winding for triggering an output circuit with an output direct current voltage via a bridge-type rectifier circuit as well as an output choke coil and an output capacitor, and a discharge circuit consisting a diode, for a capacitor and of a resistor for reducing the secondary-side peak voltages. The powering unit has another secondary winding, another bridge-type rectifier circuit and another discharge circuit operable to trigger the output circuit with part of the output direct current voltage via the output choke coil and the output capacitor. Thus, there are fewer losses in the resistors and the performance is enhanced. |
| US08107259B2 |
Portable electronic device
Provided is a portable electronic device wherein breakage due to stress concentration at a portion of a housing in a connecting part side is suppressed. A second housing 5 of a mobile phone 1 has a front case 29 and a rear case 37 which face each other in a direction that faces a first housing 3 in a closed state. The front case 29 and the rear case 37 are connected to each other at a plurality of hole parts 41 arranged at a plurality of positions within a facing surface. The front case 29 has a resin part 55 formed of a resin, and a sheet metal part 57 which is formed of a metal and is at least partially embedded in the resin part 55. The sheet metal part 57 has a main body part 59 surrounded by the hole parts 41; and an extending part 61 extending from the main body part 59 up to a position closer to the connecting part 7 than a hole part 41A, 41B arranged closer to the connecting part 7 than the main body part 59 and embedded in the resin part 55. |
| US08107256B1 |
Serviceable networking appliance chassis
A networking appliance includes a chassis, an off-the-shelf motherboard mounted on said chassis, said motherboard including at least one expansion bus, one or more separately removable expansion module mounted on said chassis, and a number of card slots in the expansion module for accommodating expansion cards. A connection arrangement provides a signal connection between the card slots in the expansion modules and the expansion buses. |
| US08107254B2 |
Integrating capacitors into vias of printed circuit boards
A printed circuit board (‘PCB’) with a capacitor integrated within a via of the PCB, the PCB including layers of laminate; a via that includes a via hole traversing layers of the PCB, the via hole characterized by a generally tubular inner surface; a capacitor integrated within the via, the capacitor including two capacitor plates, an inner plate and an outer plate, the two plates composed of electrically conductive material disposed upon the inner surface of the via hole, both plates traversing layers of the laminate, the inner plate traversing more layers of the laminate than are traversed by the outer plate; and a layer of dielectric material disposed between the two plates. |
| US08107250B2 |
Display screen and sensor module thereof
A display screen with a display area includes a frame and a sensor module. The frame surrounds the display area. The sensor module is mounted on the frame and includes a mount disposed on the frame and a slidable assembly slidably disposed on the mount and including an ambient light sensor and a screen light sensor, wherein the ambient light sensor and the screen light sensor are disposed on two opposite sides of the slidable assembly respectively. When a side of the slidable assembly on which the screen light sensor is disposed faces the display area, the screen light sensor detects brightness of the display area. When the side of the slidable assembly does not face the display area, the ambient light sensor detects brightness of an ambiance. |
| US08107244B2 |
Connecting a plurality of chassis using a rigid connection
Connecting a plurality of chassis using a rigid connection. A first coupling element of a first chassis may be mated with a first rigid connection. The first coupling element may be positioned on an exterior housing of the first chassis. A second coupling element of a second chassis may be mated with the first rigid connection. The second coupling element may be positioned on an exterior housing of the second chassis. Connecting the first chassis and the second chassis may allow the first and second chassis to communicate. |
| US08107235B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device comprises a first module, a second module, a flexible printed circuit board, a first protecting cover and a second protecting cover. The first module comprises a bottom plate. The second module is disposed below the first module and comprises a top plate. The flexible printed circuit board connects the first module and the second module. The first protecting cover is disposed below the top plate. The second protecting cover is disposed below the top plate, wherein an end of the second protecting cover is fixed on the bottom plate. When the first module slides relative to the second module from a first position to a second position, the bottom plate forces the second protecting cover to change from a closed state to an opened state to totally cover the flexible printed circuit board. |
| US08107233B2 |
Latching system for multiple nodes of a computer system
A method and system to support simultaneous unlatching from a rack of two or more adjacently mounted and vertically aligned hardware components. One interface bracket is secured to one vertical rail of the rack, and a second interface bracket is secured to a second vertical rail of the rack on an opposite side of the rack. A set of latches are provided in communication with each interface bracket, with the number of latches corresponding to the number of hardware components in communication with the interface bracket. Actuation of one of the latches releases fastening of at least one hardware components from the rack, and accommodates removal of the release component from the rack. |
| US08107232B2 |
External hard disk box
The present invention discloses an external hard disk box. An upper cover and a lower cover of the box are positioned and fixed by soft silicon rings or silicon covers, without requiring any screw. In addition, a data transmission line associated with the external hard disk box can be accommodated; therefore, a user needs not to carry another data transmission line when going out. A top of the soft silicon ring is provided with grooves and a bottom of the soft silicon ring is provided with pillars which can act as foot pads to connect with the grooves of another external hard disk. Therefore, the present invention is provided with functions of stacking and shock-proofing. |
| US08107229B2 |
Portable communication device having a printed circuit board slider hinge assembly
A portable communication device includes a base and a top portion that are operatively coupled by a slider hinge assembly that is configured to facilitate sliding motion between the base and the top portion. The slider hinge assembly includes a base hinge member and an upper hinge member, where the base hinge member and/or the upper hinge member are comprised of a printed circuit board material. |
| US08107228B2 |
Lap top cover display
A display assembly attachable to a lap top computer cover, having a front face, longitudinally extending laterally spaced edges, and a laterally extending upper edge, comprising a jacket into which a cover is receivable, the jacket having edges adapted to extend externally adjacent corresponding of the cover edges, and means carried by the jacket for visually displaying an image or images, proximate the front face. |
| US08107222B2 |
Supercapacitor and manufacturing method thereof
A supercapacitor and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. With manufacturing method of Supercapacitor including: arranging a plurality of filters to be spaced at a designated interval apart, forming a first plating layer connecting one end of the filter, forming a second plating layer lengthened along the filter from the first plating layer, polymerizing to form a conductive polymer layer between the second plating layer, and removing the filter, capacitance (C), power (kw) and energy (E) can be increased as the space for absorbing electrons is widened, by making the surface area of an electrode wider than the a general film. |
| US08107219B2 |
Dielectric ceramic and capacitor
The invention relates to a dielectric ceramic including crystal grains mainly composed of barium titanate. The dielectric ceramic contains 0.01 to 0.06 mole of magnesium in terms of MgO, 0.0007 to 0.03 mole of yttrium in terms of Y2O3 and 0.0002-0.03 mole of manganese in terms of MnO per 1 mole of barium constituting the barium titanate. The dielectric ceramic also contains 4.2 to 33.3 parts by mass of niobium in terms of Nb2O5 per 100 parts by mass of the barium titanate. Crystal grains of the dielectric ceramic have an average particle size of 0.05 to 0.25 μm. The invention also relates to a capacitor composed of a laminate having dielectric layer made of the dielectric ceramic and a conductive layer. |
| US08107215B2 |
Capacitor
A capacitor includes a first terminal having a first polarity, a second terminal having a second polarity opposed to the first polarity, and a plurality of columnar portions for connecting the first terminal to the second terminal. Each of the plurality of columnar portions includes a first conductor bar electrically connected to the first terminal, a second conductor bar electrically connected to the second terminal, and a dielectric layer between the first and second conductor bars. |
| US08107210B2 |
Magnetic actuator system and control method thereof
A control method of the magnetic actuator system includes the following steps. A first initial orientation step is to move a magnetic actuator to a first position in accordance with a first position signal, and generate a first position sense signal by a position sensor. A second initial orientation step is to move the magnetic actuator to a second position in accordance with a second position signal, and generate a second position sense signal by the position sensor. An orientation step is to perform an interpolation in accordance with the above signals and a target position signal to obtain a target position sense signal. A moving step is to move the magnetic actuator to an actual position in accordance with the target position signal, and output an actual position sense signal by the position sensor. An adjustment step is to move the magnetic actuator to a target position in accordance with the target position sense signal and the actual position sense signal. |
| US08107209B2 |
Protection circuit
A method and an arrangement to detect and protect an electrical device against short-circuiting due to a presence of a conductive subject are provided. The arrangement may include a first and second probe, the first probe connecting to an electrical ground and the second probe connecting to a detecting device, the detecting device being configured to detect a short-circuit between the first and second probes, and output a signal to interrupt power supply from a power source to electrical components of the electrical device. |
| US08107202B2 |
Magnetoresistive sensor with novel pinned layer structure
A magnetoresistive sensor having an antiparallel coupled pinned layer structure including an AP1 layer and an AP2 layer. The AP2 layer includes two ferromagnetic layers AP2(a) and AP2(b), and a separation layer sandwiched therebetween. The AP2(a) layer is significantly larger than the AP2(b) layer, which results in strong pinning, while the separation layer provides increased TMR and reduced RA. |
| US08107197B2 |
Slider with integrated writer and semiconductor heterostucture read sensor
A slider for magnetic data recording having a semiconductor based magnetoresistive sensor such as a Lorentz magnetoresistive sensor formed on an air bearing surface of the slider body. The slider is constructed of Si, which advantageously provides a needed physical robustness as well being compatible with the construction of a semiconductor based sensor thereon. A series of transition layers are provided between the surface of the Si slider body and the semiconductor based magnetoresistive sensor in order to provide a necessary grain structure for proper functioning of the sensor. The series of transition layers can be constructed of layers of SiGe each having a unique concentration of Ge. |
| US08107196B2 |
Systems having components coupled with electrostatic dissipative adhesive
A system in one embodiment includes a substrate; a thin film structure coupled to the substrate, the thin film structure comprising at least one of read transducers and write transducers; a closure; and an electrostatically dissipative adhesive coupling the closure to at least one of the thin film structure and the substrate. The adhesive comprises a mixture comprising: an adhesive material; and electrically conductive particles intermixed with the adhesive material, the electrically conductive particles being present in an amount between 0 and about 10% by weight of a total weight of the mixture. The closure defines at least a portion of a tape bearing surface. Additional systems and methods are also presented. |
| US08107192B2 |
Heat-assisted magnetic recording head with laser diode fixed to slider
A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a slider, an edge-emitting laser diode fixed to the slider, and an external mirror fixed to the laser diode. The laser diode has: an emitting end face that includes an emission part for emitting laser light; a mounting surface that lies at an end in a direction perpendicular to the plane of an active layer and faces the slider; and a rear surface opposite to the mounting surface. The external mirror includes: a first to-be-fixed part disposed along the emitting end face; a second to-be-fixed part disposed along the rear surface; and a coupling part that couples the first and second to-be-fixed parts to each other. The first to-be-fixed part has a reflecting surface that reflects the laser light emitted from the emission part toward the waveguide. |
| US08107190B2 |
Fluid bearing device, method of manufacturing the same, and disk drive device
Provided is a fluid bearing device with a hub part having high molding precision and dimensional stability and capable of being produced at low cost. An annular gate (14) is formed at a portion of a cavity (15) corresponding to an outer peripheral edge portion of a lower end surface (10c1) of a flange part (10c), and a molten resin (P) is filled into the cavity (15) through the annular gate (14) to form a hub part (10) made of resin. The hub part (10) molded by the injection molding exhibits a radial resin orientation through an entire periphery thereof. Further, an annular gate trace (16) is formed at the outer peripheral edge portion of the lower end surface (10c1) of the flange part (10c) of the hub part (10). |
| US08107188B2 |
Self servo writing disk controller and methods for use therewith
A self servo writing disk controller detects a plurality of spiral sync marks and a plurality of spiral bursts corresponding to one of a plurality of servo spirals from a read signal from the read/write head. A timing reference signal is generated based on timing of at least one of the plurality of the spiral sync marks. A position error signal is generated based on timing of at least one of the plurality of spiral sync marks and a magnitude of at least one of a plurality of spiral bursts. The timing reference signal and the position error signal are used by the disk drive for timing and positioning in self writing initial servo wedges to the disk. |
| US08107187B1 |
Transitioning between modes of control for motor of recording device
The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to control of recording devices, such as disk drives. Systems and techniques can include controlling a motor to actuate a head about a surface of a rotating recording medium, switching from a first mode to a second mode to control the motor based on a condition of operation with respect to the rotating recording medium, and synchronizing the switch from the first mode to the second mode based on a state of electric current associated with the motor. |
| US08107183B2 |
Method and device for hard drive shock event detection
A method and system for sensing the current applied to the motor of a data storage device and determining whether a shock event has occurred by processing the sensed current levels. |
| US08107171B2 |
Zoom lens system and image pickup apparatus including the same
A zoom lens system comprises, from an object to an image side: a first, a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth lens units, wherein all units move during zooming so that an interval between the first and second lens units is larger, an interval between the second and third lens units is smaller, an interval between the fourth and fifth lens units is larger, at a telephoto end than those at a wide angle end, and an interval between the third and fourth lens units varies; and a focal length of the second lens unit, a focal length of an entire system at the wide angle end, a movement amount of the fourth lens unit in zooming from wide angle end to telephoto end, and intervals between the third and fourth lens units at the wide angle end and at the telephoto end are set appropriately. |
| US08107165B2 |
Projector screen and display system
A translucent projector screen on which light from a display unit disposed obliquely forward of the screen is projected, said projector screen integrally includes: a sheet-shaped main body; a plurality of convex lenses integrally formed on a surface of the main body; and a plurality of reflective members disposed on the main body corresponding to the convex lenses and respectively reflecting the display light emitted to the convex lenses in a specific incident angle toward the convex lenses other than the convex lenses to which the display light is emitted. The convex lenses have spherical surfaces or aspheric surfaces so that respectively collect the display light to the reflective members, and emit the display light reflected by the reflective members in a specific output angle. |
| US08107152B2 |
Electro-optical tunable birefringent filter
An electrically tunable Lyot type filter is a Lyot that include one or more filter elements. Each filter element may have a planar, solid crystal comprised of a material that exhibits birefringence and is electro-optically active. Transparent electrodes may be coated on each face of the crystal. An input linear light polarizer may be located on one side of the crystal and oriented at 45 degrees to the optical axis of the birefringent crystal. An output linear light polarizer may be located on the other side of the crystal and oriented at −45 degrees with respect to the optical axis of the birefringent crystal. When an electric voltage is applied between the electrodes, the retardation of the crystal changes and so does the spectral transmission of the optical filter. |
| US08107145B2 |
Reproducing device and reproducing method
A reproducing device for performing reproduction regarding a hologram recording medium where a hologram page is recorded in accordance with signal light, by interference between the signal light where bit data is arrayed with the information of light intensity difference in pixel increments, and reference light, includes: a reference light generating unit to generate reference light irradiated when obtaining a reproduced image; a coherent light generating unit to generate coherent light of which the intensity is greater than the absolute value of the minimum amplitude of the reproduced image, with the same phase as the reference phase within the reproduced image; an image sensor to receive an input image in pixel increments; and an optical system to guide the reference light to the hologram recording medium, and also guide the obtained reproduced image according to the irradiation of the reference light, and the coherent light to the image sensor. |
| US08107142B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program product for executing the method
An image processing apparatus is disclosed. The image processing apparatus stores image data read by a document reading section and image data received from an external device. An image data synthesizing unit synthesizes first image data read by the document reading section and second image data read by the document reading section or received from the external device. An image correcting unit generates image distinctive data of the first and second image data. A synthesized image distinctive data generating unit synthesizes the image distinctive data of the first and second image data by referring to an LUT (lookup table) selected by a synthesized image distinctive generating rule selecting unit. A predetermined process is applied the synthesized image data based on the synthesized image distinctive data. |
| US08107132B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof are disclosed. The disclosed image forming apparatus includes a white reference sheet provided at one side of a flat bed, for scanning an object, an image sensor module including an image sensor to detect light reflected from the white reference sheet in a scanning operation for the white reference sheet and light reflected from an image on the object in a scanning operation for the object, and to output analog image signals respectively corresponding to the reflected lights, an analog front end (AFE) to convert each analog image signal output from the image sensor to a digital image signal, a shading memory to store shading data obtained in the scanning operation for the white reference sheet, and a controller to calculate differences among outputs from R, G, and B channels of the image sensor, using the stored shading data, to correct the stored shading data, based on the calculated output differences, and to correct image data outputs generated from the R, G, and B channels in the scanning operation for the object, based on the calculated output differences. The image forming apparatus can correct different physical offset values possibly present at different color channels in a color scanning operation. Accordingly, it is possible to adjust the color balance of a scanned image, and thus to achieve an enhancement in the color quality of the image. |
| US08107131B2 |
Scanner for optically and electrically scanning transponder-equipped document
In a scanner for optical and electrical scanning of a document having a transponder associated therewith a glass plate is provided for placement of the document. An optical scanning device scans the document via a mirror. At least one antenna for transmission of electromagnetic signals to the transponder and for reception of electromagnetic signals from the transponder is provided. |
| US08107128B2 |
Image forming apparatus and print control method thereof
An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is capable of executing printing processes for color images and monochromatic images and comprises a printer section capable of executing processes for color printing and monochromatic printing and a printing task management section for receiving a plurality of printing jobs including color printing jobs and monochromatic printing jobs as input, computationally determining the processing time required for each of the printing processes on the basis of the information indicating color printing or monochromatic printing and the information indicating the number of copies to be printed and outputting the data of the printing jobs of short processing time separately for monochromatic printing and color printing with priority to the printer section. |
| US08107126B2 |
Document management apparatus and method applying print settings responsive to dragging and dropping document icon
A document management apparatus includes a receiving unit configured to receive a notification indicating that an icon for a first document has been drag-and-dropped onto an icon for a second document via a display screen, and an application unit configured to apply a print setting stored in the first document to the second document in response to the receiving unit receiving the notification indicating that the icon for the first document has been drag-and-dropped onto the icon for the second document. |
| US08107125B2 |
Method of generating printing color profiles for color managed reproduction of color prints with transparent layer
The invention relates to a method of generating a printing color profile for printing a printing image with a digital color printing machine, in particular a multi-color printing machine, preferably an electrophotographically operating printing machine. A transparent layer on top of a multi colorant printed image is taken into consideration during the generation of the printing color profile such that a differential clear printing color profile for the clear material effect is determined, said clear printing color profile being added, as needed, to the printing ink color profile of the remaining printing colors for defined substrate classes and specific clear material and coverage levels. |
| US08107123B2 |
Tone correction apparatus, mobile terminal, image capturing apparatus, mobile phone, tone correction method and program for improve local contrast in bright and dark regions
The present invention relates to a technique for correcting tones of a digitized image, for use in a mobile terminal or the like. The use of a conventional image tone correction technique to backlight correction imposes a limit on improvement in local contrast in a bright region or a dark region. According to the present invention, a block timing generation part (102) divides one image area into a plurality of blocks, an average luminance calculation part (103) calculates an average luminance level per block specified at the part 102, a correction-amount-per-block calculation part (104) calculates a direction of correction and a correction amount from an average luminance level per block, a correction-amount-per-pixel calculation part (105) interpolates the correction amount per block into the correction amount per pixel in that block, and a tone conversion part (107) reads out a final correction amount from a tone conversion table part (108), using the correction amount per pixel and luminance data of that pixel read out from a memory (106) as an address, to carry out tone conversion. |
| US08107122B2 |
Methods and apparatus for print job submission
Methods and apparatus are provided for submitting an electronic document to a printing system that includes a print controller having an input port and a print queue. Methods in accordance with this invention include coupling a portable media device to the input port, the portable media device including an electronic document and automatically copying the electronic document to the print queue. Apparatus in accordance with this invention include a portable media device that includes an electronic document. The portable media device is adapted to be coupled to the input port of the print controller, and the print controller is adapted to automatically copy the electronic document to the print queue. |
| US08107120B2 |
Image forming apparatus
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus which forms an image on a sheet including: an image forming section to form images on sheets according to a plurality of page image data divided in a plurality of chapters; a finisher section for forming a book with the sheets divided in chapters; and a control section to combine heading image data with the page image data with respect to chapters in a matter that positions of the heading image data to discern chapters are along a fore edge of the book and to allow the image forming section to form the images when the book is formed by the finisher section. |
| US08107117B2 |
Information processing device, information collection device, information collection system, and method for management of information related functions
An information processing device includes: a memory that stores function identifiers assigned to functions built into the information processing device, and function identifiers assigned to functions not built into the information processing device; a display controller that causes a display unit to display the function identifiers stored in the memory; a manipulation unit that accepts manipulation for specifying one of the function identifiers displayed by the display controller; and a transmission unit that transmits, if the one of the function identifiers which has been specified by the manipulation is assigned to one of the functions not built into the information processing device, the specified one of the information identifiers or an information item indicating one of the functions to which is assigned one of the information identifiers which has been specified by the manipulation, to a predetermined device. |
| US08107116B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image processing apparatus comprises a memory; a store control section to divide and store image data in plural vacant memory regions in the memory; and an image administrating information registering section to register each divided image data divided by the store control section by correlating position information of each divided image data in the image data before dividing the image data with storing position information of each divided image data indicating a storing memory region. |
| US08107114B2 |
Facsimile delivery through interaction with printed document
A method of delivering an electronically transmitted document is provided. The method starts by printing, by a printer, a document on a substrate. The document has printed thereon visible user information and invisible coded tags. The user information includes information indicative of a send instruction. Each tag encodes an identity of the document and a location of the tag on the substrate. A sensing device senses the printed coded tags when the sensing device is moved relative to the document by a user so as to compose a message. The message is electronically captured by the sensing device using the identity of the document and a sequence of the respective locations of tags sensed by the sensing device. Upon sensing coded tags coincident with the send instruction, the message is transmitted to a recipient address for electronically transmitted document delivery. |
| US08107111B2 |
Print processing system, information processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, control method therefor, and program
It is determined whether device information having an ID coincident with that of device information included in the print settings of received print data exists. If it is determined that the device information having the ID coincident with that of the device information included in the print settings exists, print processing is executed for the received print data in accordance with the ID-added device information and print settings. If it is determined that the device information having the ID coincident with that of the device information included in the print settings does not exist, paper type information set in the print settings is displayed. |
| US08107105B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus including: a generation section which generates time stamp data, an image forming section which forms an image on a sheet based on a synthetic image data which is synthesized of the time stamp data generated by the generation section and an image data of a job, a nonvolatile memory, an electric power switch for turning on and off a power supply, and a control section which controls execution of the job, wherein, in a case where the control section detects that the electric power switch is turned off while executing the job, the control section interrupts the execution of the job, memorizes the interrupted job including interrupted image data and time stamp data which were to be synthesized with the interrupted image data in the nonvolatile memory, and turns off the power supply. |
| US08107102B2 |
Printer controller and computer readable medium for use in authentication of printing by printer
A printer controller includes: a selecting unit that selects authentication information from among a plurality of authentication information; a first transmitting unit that transmits the authentication information selected by the selecting unit to a printer connected to the printer controller via a network; and a second transmitting unit that transmits print data to be printed to the printer. The authentication information selected by the selecting unit is used for authentication for allowing the printer to print an image based on the print data. |
| US08107096B2 |
Printer communicating using file sharing protocol
A printer may be connected with an information processing device in a communicable manner. The printer includes a first command receiving device, a job directory creating device, a storage device, and an address sending device. The first command receiving device receives a job creating command including first print data. The first print data includes a plurality of second print data. The job directory creating device creates a job directory address in the case where the job creating command is received by the first command receiving device, and creates a file address for each of the plurality of second print data included in the first print data. Each of the created file addresses includes the created job directory address as its superior address. The storage device stores the job directory address and the file addresses created by the job directory creating device. The address sending device is capable of sending the job directory address and the file addresses stored in the storage device to the information processing device by using a file sharing protocol. |
| US08107091B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method thereof
An image forming apparatus and an image forming method thereof store font information about a font of which a width of a dot line is less than a predetermined value; determine whether the width of the dot line of a text included in printing data is less than the predetermined value on the basis of the font information; and form an image by enlarging the width of the dot line that is less than the predetermined value among the dot lines of the text. |
| US08107089B2 |
Method and measuring device for measuring translation of surface
A surface (104) is detected repeatedly be a detector row (102) of at least one detector (100), the direction of the detector row (102) being the same as the surface's (104) primary direction of movement, and simultaneously a distance between the surface (104) and the detector (100) is detected to produce enlargement data and response rows. Successive response rows are arranged into a response matrix, and the direction of at least one curve in the matrix is determined. Translation of the surface (104) is determined in response matrices formed by means of the direction or directions of at least one curve or curve portion on the basis of enlargement data. |
| US08107088B2 |
Displacement sensor
This invention provides a displacement measurement device, a displacement measurement method, and a thickness measurement device capable of easily ensuring a conjugate relationship between the light source and the diaphragm and capable of accurately measuring the change in distance with the testing target. In the displacement measurement device, the light from the laser diode is collected towards the pin hole of the diaphragm plate at the collective lens, and then sent to the objective lens through the pin hole. The light is reflected at a surface of work, and detected by a photodiode through the objective lens, the pin hole, the collective lens, and the half mirror. That is, the pin hole becomes a substantial light source, and becomes a diaphragm with respect to the incident light on the work. The spot diameter collected on the pin hole by the collective lens is greater than the diameter of the pin hole. The light receiving quantity signal of the return light component on a diaphragm plate, shown with an outlined arrow, is removed by a high-pass filter. |
| US08107087B2 |
Dimple position detection device and dimple position detection method for disk drive suspension
A dimple position detection device for detecting a position of a dimple formed on a load beam is provided with an illumination device, imaging device, and image processing section. The illumination device directs illumination light toward the dimple. The imaging device receives reflected light from the dimple. The image processing section binarizes an image obtained by the imaging device. The image processing section maximizes a binarization level, binarizes the reflected light image, determines whether an area of a light spot region or on-region above the binarization level has a predetermined value, reduces the binarization level when the area of the light spot region is less than the predetermined value, and calculates the gravitational position of the light spot region with the predetermined value reached by the light spot region area. |
| US08107086B2 |
Three-dimensional imaging using absorption
The attenuation and other optical properties of a medium are exploited to measure a thickness of the medium between a sensor and a target surface. Disclosed herein are various mediums, arrangements of hardware, and processing techniques that can be used to capture these thickness measurements and obtain three-dimensional images of the target surface in a variety of imaging contexts. This includes general techniques for imaging interior/concave surfaces as well as exterior/convex surfaces, as well as specific adaptations of these techniques to imaging ear canals, human dentition, and so forth. |
| US08107081B2 |
Micro-cavity gas and vapor sensors and detection methods
Micro-cavity gas or vapor sensors and gas or vapor detection methods. Optical energy is introduced into a resonant micro-cavity having a deformable coating such as a polymer. The coating swells or expands when it is exposed to or absorbs a gas or vapor, thereby changing the resonant wavelength of optical energy circulating within the micro-cavity/coating. Expansion or swelling of the coating may be reversible such that it contracts when gas or vapor diffuses from the coating. The coating deformation and/or a change of one or more optical properties of the optical energy circulating within the micro-cavity are used to detect the presence of the gas or vapor or molecules or particulates thereof. |
| US08107080B2 |
Environmental control of fluid samples, calibration, and detection of concentration levels
According to example configurations herein, a system includes an inertial filter, a temperature controller, and analyzer. The inertial filter has multiple ports including a first port, a second port, and a third port. A sample gas flows between the first port and the third port of the inertial filter. The second port of the inertial filter outputs a portion of the gas flowing between the first port and the second port. The temperature controller controls a temperature of the inertial filter and/or the gas flowing through the inertial filter. The analyzer receives the portion of the gas flow outputted by the second port of the inertial filter and produces a value indicative of a concentration of sulfur trioxide in the portion of the gas flow. |
| US08107078B2 |
Detecting device and method for detecting unevenness of a glass substrate
A detecting device of unevenness of a glass substrate includes a light source emitting a light; a polarizer polarizing the light; a standard cell including opposing outer surfaces, the glass substrate attached to one of the opposing outer surfaces, the polarized light passing through the standard cell and the glass substrate; an analyzer detecting and analyzing the light passing through the standard cell and the glass substrate. |
| US08107077B2 |
Terahertz spectroscopic apparatus
A terahertz spectroscopic apparatus includes a polarization beam splitter transmitting or reflecting a linearly polarized terahertz wave, a quarter wave plate imparting a phase difference of 90° to a terahertz wave impinging thereon, and an optical member guiding a circularly polarized terahertz wave impinging thereon from the polarization beam splitter via the quarter wave plate to an irradiation surface. |
| US08107075B2 |
Optical characteristic measuring apparatus and optical characteristics measuring method
An optical characteristic measuring apparatus includes an optical system 10 including first and second carrier retarders 24 and 32 having the retardations being known and differing from each other. The optical characteristic measuring apparatus performs: a spectrum extraction process of extracting a plurality of spectral peaks from a frequency spectrum obtained by analyzing a light intensity signal detected by light-receiving/spectroscopic means; and an optical characteristic element calculation process of calculating an optical characteristic element representing optical characteristics of a measurement target based on the spectral peaks and the retardations of the first and second carrier retarders. |
| US08107072B2 |
Atomic absorption spectrophotometer
The present invention has been accomplished to provide an atomic absorption spectrophotometer capable of obtaining measurement data always in the state where the lowest detection limit performance is optimized, without depending on the frequency of the power supply. In a control program which runs on the microcomputer chip 42 mounted on the atomic absorption spectrophotometer 110, a plurality of lighting periods of the light sources 11 and 12 and extraction periods of the sampling data are memorized, whose lowest detection limit performance are optimized for the frequencies (50 Hz and 60 Hz) of the AC power source for driving the AC motor 22. In using the apparatus, by the control program, the frequency of the power source used in this apparatus is identified, the lighting period and sampling data extraction period corresponding to the identified frequency and the measurement mode that a user of the apparatus has previously set are selected from among a plurality of memorized values, and the appropriate lighting period is set to the hardware (PLD 43). Accordingly, without depending on the frequency, it is possible to obtain measurement data always in the state where the lowest detection limit performance is optimized. |
| US08107071B2 |
Method for detecting molecular analysis light, and apparatus and sample plate for use with the same
A molecular analysis light detection apparatus is formed by: a sample plate provided with an enhancing member which is disposed at a small predetermined area of a sample contact surface contacting with a sample containing a substance to be analyzed and which generates an enhancing field for enhancing light generated from the substance to be analyzed at the predetermined area relative to the light at other areas of the sample contact surface when predetermined excitation light is applied; an excitation-light applying optical system for applying the excitation light to an illumination area which contains the predetermined area of the sample contact surface provided with the enhancing member and which is larger than the predetermined area; and a signal detector unit for detecting fluctuation of the light, which is enhanced by the enhancing field, generated from the substance to be analyzed. |
| US08107069B2 |
Method and apparatus for conducting Raman spectroscopy
The apparatus disclosed herein features: (a) a handheld, portable spectrometer that includes a radiation source configured to direct incident radiation to a sample, a detector configured to receive signal radiation from the sample, and a housing enclosing the radiation source and the detector; (b) an extended member attachable to the housing and having an interior channel to define a path for directing radiation from the source to the sample and for receiving radiation from the sample at the detector; (c) and a vial receptacle configured to hold a different sample and positioned to receive radiation from the source, where the detector is positioned to receive radiation from the different sample and the housing is configured to support the vial receptacle and attach to the extended member at the same time. |
| US08107067B2 |
Opaque additive to block stray light in teflon AF light-guiding flowcells
The present invention is directed to the use of a light absorbing wall material to eliminate stray light paths in light-guiding structures, such as those used for HPLC absorbance detection. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of carbon-doped Teflon® AF, or “black Teflon® AF,” for all or part of the walls of a light-guiding flowcell adapted for use in HPLC absorbance detection. |
| US08107063B2 |
Transparent article
An inspection method of transparent articles wherein presence or absence of optical inhomogeneities within the transparent articles can be accurately inspected is provided. In an inspection method of transparent articles used in photolithography, for inspecting whether or not there are inhomogeneities within transparent articles formed of transparent material wherein optical properties regionally or locally change with regard to exposure light, inspection light having a wavelength of 200 nm or shorter is introduced to the transparent article, and light having a longer wavelength than the inspection light which is regionally or locally emitted is sensed on the optical path over which the inspection light is propagated within the transparent article, thereby detecting presence or absence of optical inhomogeneities within the transparent article. |
| US08107062B2 |
Non contact wheel alignment sensor and method
A sensor and method of determining the orientation of an object, such as the alignment characteristics of a tire and wheel assembly mounted on a vehicle, includes projecting a plurality of light planes from a first light projector onto a tire and wheel assembly to form a plurality of generally parallel illumination lines on a tire of the tire and wheel assembly, receiving a reflected image of at least some of the illumination lines with a photo electric device reflected from the tire at an angle relative to a projecting angle of the first light projector, and determining a plane defined by spatial coordinates from a selected point located on each illumination line imaged by the photo electric device, with the plane representing the orientation of the tire and wheel assembly. |
| US08107059B2 |
Non-invasive probe for measuring body components and a non-invasive body component measurement system including the non-invasive probe
A non-invasive probe for measuring body components, and a non-invasive body component measurement system including the non-invasive probe is provided. The non-invasive probe includes an input light transferring unit for transferring an input light emitted from a light source; a light splitting unit for splitting the input light into a plurality of living body incident lights; a light condensing unit for condensing the plurality of living body incident lights, so that the plurality of living body incident lights can be irradiated onto a plurality of measuring points, each measuring point corresponding to one of the plurality of living body incident lights; and an output light transferring unit for transferring a plurality of output lights, which each correspond to the one of the plurality of measuring points and, which are obtained by irradiating the plurality of living body incident lights, to a spectrometer that classifies the output lights by wavelength. |
| US08107051B2 |
Exposure apparatus with improved alignment mark position measurement condition setting feature, and device manufacturing method using the same
An exposure apparatus exposes each of a plurality of regions arranged on a substrate. The apparatus includes a processor configured to i) cause a measurement device to acquire an image signal of an alignment mark formed in each of plural regions which are at least a part of the plurality of regions and to measure a position of the alignment mark under a plurality of measurement conditions, ii) calculate a feature value of the signal acquired with respect to each of the plural regions under each of the plurality of measurement conditions, and iii) calculate, with respect to each of the plurality of measurement conditions, a coefficient of a transformation equation which transforms a coordinate of a designed position of the alignment mark to a value that approximate the feature value corresponding to the designed position, and a console configured to display information of the calculated coefficients. |
| US08107045B2 |
Color active matrix type vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display and driving method thereof
A large screen display suitable for displaying moving images has a high operational property and is realized at low cost. A vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display comprises a scan wiring, a video signal wiring, a pixel electrode, an alignment directional control electrode, and a thin film transistor element formed in a position where a scan wiring and a video signal wiring intersect with each other, and a common electrode formed in a color filter substrate side. An electric field distribution formed with three electrodes comprising an alignment directional control electrode, a pixel electrode, and a common electrode formed in an countering substrate side controls motion directions of vertically aligned anisotropic liquid crystal molecules having a negative dielectric constant. |
| US08107040B2 |
Transflective liquid crystal display panel, liquid crystal display module and liquid crystal display thereof
A transflective LCD panel includes scan lines, data lines, transmissive pixels and reflective pixels. Each transmissive pixel is configured to receive a transmissive pixel voltage transmitted from one of the data lines and displays a first gray level related to the transmissive pixel voltage. Each reflective pixel receives a reflective pixel voltage transmitted from one of the data lines and displays a second gray level related to the reflective pixel voltage. When the transmissive pixel and the reflective pixel are used to display a same gray level, the transmissive pixel voltage and the reflective pixel voltage are predetermined such that corresponding first and second gray levels substantially equal each other. |
| US08107039B2 |
Thin film transistor substrate and a fabricating method thereof
A display device including an insulating substrate, a signal line located on the insulating substrate, a dam and a first color filter pattern located on the insulating substrate, and a second color filter pattern located in a pixel region which has a border defined by the dam, wherein the dam and the first color filter pattern are part of the same layer. |
| US08107038B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with light-shielding color filter pattern and method for fabricating the same
A liquid crystal display device includes gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a first substrate. A first insulating layer covers the gate line and a gate electrode. A thin film transistor, formed at a crossing region of the gate and data lines, has the gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, a source electrode, and a drain electrode. A red, green or blue color filter is formed over the first insulating layer in the pixel region. A drain contact hole exposes the drain electrode. A light-shielding color filter pattern including at least two of red, green and blue resins is formed over the semiconductor layer. A pixel electrode is formed over the color filter in the pixel region and contacts the drain electrode. A common electrode is formed on a second substrate facing the first substrate with a liquid crystal layer interposed between the common and pixel electrodes. |
| US08107036B2 |
Backlight device, liquid crystal display apparatus, and light deflecting sheet
According to the present invention, by controlling the angular distribution of the light outputted from a light guide plate to enable the angular brightness distribution of the light emitted from a backlight device to be controlled, the thickness of a liquid crystal display apparatus having the backlight device is reduced as well as the brightness is improved due to the reduction in returned light amount. Furthermore, since light is sufficiently mixed in the light guide plate, light sources with comparative large unevenness are enabled to be used.A backlight device according to the present invention includes a hole or a projection formed on the light outgoing plane of a light guide plate or the back plane opposing the light-outgoing plane, and a side face of the hole or the projection is directed roughly perpendicularly to the light-outgoing plane. Furthermore, specular reflection plates are arranged on the bottom plane and the side faces of the light guide plate. The angular distribution of light from a light source is maintained due to the roughly perpendicular side face of the hole or the projection so that the light is led within the light guide plate and outputted outside. |
| US08107035B2 |
Laser backlighting for displays
Displays such as LCD panels are illuminated using frequency-doubled vertical extended cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) as efficient light sources. Visible light from the VECSELs are directed to an illuminating panel using optical fibers and/or optical gratings to provide substantially uniform illumination of the illuminating panel. Visible light from the illuminating panel, which can be provided at a particular number of primary wavelengths by the VECSELs, is then used to illuminate the display. |
| US08107034B2 |
Backlight module with light concentrating and scattering structure and liquid crystal display using same
A backlight module (20) includes a light guide plate (200) and a light source (210). The light guide plate includes a light incident surface (202). The light source includes light emitting diodes (LEDs) (211) and a light concentrating and scattering structure (214). The light concentrating and scattering structure is disposed between the LEDs and the light incident surface and is away from the light incident surface by a predetermined distance, light emitting from the LEDs is focused and then scattered into the light incident surface. |
| US08107030B2 |
Pixels using associated dot polarity for multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal displays
A multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal display that does not require physical features on the substrate (such as protrusions and ITO slits) is disclosed. Each pixel of the MVA LCD is subdivided into color components, which are further divided into color dots. The drive component areas, i.e. where switching elements and storage capacitors are located, are converted to associated dots by adding an electrode that can be electrically biased. The voltage polarity of the color dots and associated dots are arranged so that fringe fields in each color dot causes multiple liquid crystal domains in each color dot. Specifically, the color dots and associated dots of a pixel are arranged so that associated dots have opposite polarity as compared to neighboring color dots. |
| US08107029B2 |
Thin film transistor substrate
An exemplary TFT substrate includes a substrate, signal lines, a common electrode, and a pixel electrode. The signal lines are arranged on the substrate along two perpendicular directions. One of each two signal lines perpendicular to each other includes a plurality of segments. Every two adjacent segments are arranged on two opposite sides of the other signal line of the two signal lines. The TFT substrate further includes a connection line. The connection line interconnects the two adjacent segments. The common electrode is arranged in a same layer as the connection line, and overlaps the segmented signal line along a direction perpendicular to the substrate. |
| US08107023B2 |
Projection displays
A projection display which includes first and second waveguide elements, wherein the first waveguide element has a two input regions for injecting image bearing light into the first waveguide element. In this manner, the total field of view of the image to be displayed at the second waveguide element is divided into two sub-images prior to injection of one sub-image into one input region and the other sub-image into the other input region of the first waveguide element. This results in a smaller first waveguide element, thereby reducing obscuration of an observers view of a forward scene over which to the image to be displayed is overlaid. |
| US08107018B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing image-correction function in projector
Provided is an apparatus and method for providing image-correction function in a projector. The apparatus includes an image-inputting module which receives a photographed image of a surface on which an image is to be projected; an image-analyzing module which analyzes an input state of the surface and calculates a color difference as a correction amount; an image-correcting module which applies the correction amount to the image projected onto the surface; and an image-projecting module which projects the corrected image onto the surface. |
| US08107017B2 |
Combination display apparatus
A combination display is provided. The combination display includes a front projector and a direct-view screen having a shared video processing system. |
| US08107015B1 |
Key frame selection
A system and method that processes video to extract a keyframe-based adequate visual representation. The method utilizes a hierarchical processing technique. The first stage in the hierarchy extracts a chromatic difference metric from a pair of video frames. An initial set of frames is chosen based on the chromatic metric and a threshold. A structural difference measurement is extracted from this initial set of frames. A second threshold is used to select key frames from the initial set. The first and second thresholds are user selectable. The output of this process is the visual representation. The method is extensible to any number of metrics and any number of levels. |
| US08107011B2 |
Method and system for video evaluation in the presence of cross-chroma interference
Described herein is a method and system for video sequence evaluation in the presence of cross-chroma interference. When the luma and chroma components in an analog video sequence are separated, the luma component may add interference to the chroma component. This is called cross-chroma interference. In the evaluation of the video sequence, the cross-chroma interference may be interpreted as motion, noise, or other artifacts. By reducing the cross-chroma interference during the evaluation, motion and noise can be identified with greater probability. The proper identification can aid motion estimators used in video coding and motion compensated temporal filtering, and it can aid video filters that do not utilize motion compensation. |
| US08107009B2 |
Television connection state detecting device and image display device
The invention provides a television-connection-state detecting device that includes: a resistor element that outputs an analog video signal that is to be displayed on a television receiver; a reference voltage generation circuit that generates reference voltages for comparing a voltage signal level at the television-connection-terminal side end of the resistor element and a voltage signal level at the opposite-side end of the resistor element; a first clamping circuit that clamps a voltage signal level at the television-connection-terminal side end of the resistor element at the first reference voltage; a second clamping circuit that clamps a voltage signal level at the opposite-side end of the resistor element at the second reference voltage; a comparison circuit; and a judging unit that judges whether an analog video signal input device is connected to the television connection terminal or not on the basis of a voltage signal level outputted from the comparison circuit. |
| US08107007B2 |
Image processing apparatus
A technique for flexibly converting the number of frames of a displayed image on the basis of a motion in the image or information of an image signal such as a program genre is provided. An image processing apparatus includes an input unit to which an image signal having a predetermined frame rate is input, an information acquirer for acquiring information concerning the input image signal, and a frame rate converter for converting the frame rate of the input image signal and outputting a resultant signal. The frame rate converter conducts the frame rate conversion of the input image signal on the basis of the information (such as the motion in the image or the program genre) of the input image signal acquired by the information acquirer. |
| US08107006B2 |
Camera module and electronic device including the same
A camera module 1 of the present invention includes a moving magnet type mechanical shutter 2 and a lens unit 3 (lens drive section) for driving a lens by electromagnetic force. A magnetic field for driving the lens is set so that a light path is closed by a shutter fin while a magnetic field leaked from the lens unit 3 is acting on a drive mechanism of the mechanical shutter 2. With the configuration, the leak magnetic field leaked from the lens unit 3 causes the light path to be closed at a faster speed by the shutter fin of the mechanical shutter 2. Accordingly, generation of a smear can be prevented by the camera module including the lens drive section and the moving magnet type mechanical shutter, which are driven by the electromagnetic force. |
| US08107005B2 |
Method of manufacturing an image sensor module
Provided is an image sensor module including a lower substrate having a plurality of top pads formed on the top surface thereof; an upper substrate that is installed along the edge of the top surface of the lower substrate and has a plurality of connection grooves formed on the inner side surface thereof, each connection groove having a side pad corresponding to each of the top pads of the lower substrate; an image sensor installed on the top surface of the upper substrate; and a connection element that electrically connects the top pads and the side pads. |
| US08107004B2 |
Imaging device
An imaging device includes an imaging optical system including at least one movable optical element; an image sensor, an imaging surface of which lies on an image-forming plane of the imaging optical system; a circuit board on which the image sensor is mounted; and an image processing circuit for processing an image signal output from the image sensor and a drive circuit for the movable optical element, both of the image processing circuit and the drive circuit are mounted on the circuit board. The image processing circuit and the drive circuit are disposed on the circuit board in that order from a side closer to the image sensor. |
| US08106992B2 |
Automatic focusing system using a magnification or reduction optical system
A taking lens 10 of an automatic focusing system of an optical path length difference type is configured so that AF object light is branched from a main optical path that guides object light to a video imaging device 26 of a camera main body 14, and object images are formed on AF imaging devices 22A and 22B. A ⅔ type CCD is used as the video imaging device 26, and a ⅓ type CCD, that is easily available and cheap, is used as the AF imaging devices 22A and 22B. In view of that sizes of the AF imaging devices 22A and 22B are smaller than that of the video imaging device 26, the object images formed on the AF imaging devices 22A and 22B are reduced by a reduction optical system 17. |
| US08106989B2 |
Solid-state image capturing apparatus, driving method of the solid-state image capturing apparatus, and electronic information device
A solid-state image capturing apparatus includes a plurality of pixel sections, a vertical transfer section, and a horizontal transfer section, wherein the horizontal transfer section includes a plurality of transfer gates consecutively arranged in a horizontal direction and a signal wiring for supplying a driving signal to the transfer gates, and wherein a layout pattern of at least one layer of constituent members which constitute the horizontal transfer section is a pattern in which the transfer gates and the signal wiring are connected so that electric charge transfer directions become opposite from each other on both sides of a branching position in the horizontal transfer section. |
| US08106988B2 |
Solid imaging device
In a solid imaging device, a photoelectric converting section is configured to generate electric charges through photoelectric conversion, and a first charge transfer section is connected with the photoelectric converting section. A first read gate section is provided between the photoelectric converting section and the first charge transfer section, and is configured to transfer the electric charges from the photoelectric converting section to the first charge transfer section. A second charge transfer section operates independently from the first charge transfer section and configured to receive the electric charges transferred from the first charge transfer section. |
| US08106987B1 |
Correlated double sampling ping-pong architecture
A method and apparatus can be arranged with a correlated double sampler circuit (CDS) for processing an output signal from an imaging device such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor. The correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit is described that includes an amplifier and a reduced number of capacitors that are dynamically configured using a ping-pong architecture. The described ping-pong architecture has relaxed requirements for sampling points, minimized gain mismatch error, and offset mismatches can be easily managed. The ping-pong architecture is useful in digital imaging applications such as digital scanners, digital copiers, digital cameras, and digital camcorders, to name a few. |
| US08106984B2 |
Image capturing apparatus and electronic information device
A solid-state image capturing apparatus includes a pixel array in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix, where each of the pixels includes: a photodiode for obtaining a signal charge by a photoelectric conversion of an incident light; and an amplifying transistor for the signal charge obtained at the photodiode, and where the amplifying transistor is configured in such a manner that a gate area of the amplifying transistor is defined to be larger than a gate area of other transistors that configure the pixel. |
| US08106979B2 |
Camera module and array based thereon
The invention relates to the development of economical camera modules having objectives contained therein with a minimal constructional length and excellent optical properties. It is made possible as a result that camera modules of this type can be used in mobile telephones or minicomputers, such as PDAs (personal digital assistant). |
| US08106976B2 |
Peripheral light amount correction apparatus, peripheral light amount correction method, electronic information device, control program and readable recording medium
The present invention corrects the insufficient peripheral light amount due to the lens shading and correcting the non-uniformity of light amount at the periphery due to a distortion resulting from a precision of the lens or a poor mounting precision of the lens. A peripheral light amount correction circuit is structured by an image synchronization signal generation circuit, a coordinate conversion circuit and a luminance value correction computing circuit. An integrated value of luminance values is calculated at the coordinate conversion circuit to extract light amount information. Coordinate values to be input to the luminance value correction computing circuit are generated based on an integrated/averaged value of the light amount information. In the luminance value correction computing circuit, peripheral light amount correction functions are converted based on the input coordinate values from the coordinate conversion circuit to perform appropriate correction on the input image. |
| US08106974B2 |
Image processing device, imaging device, image processing method, imaging method, and image processing program
An image processing device comprising a synchronization unit (25) for generating a luminance (Y′) from the sum of pixel signals R, Gr, Gb, B, for subtracting the R pixel signal and the B pixel signal from the sum of the Gr pixel signal and Gb pixel signal so as to generate a first color difference (C1), and for calculating a difference between the R pixel signal and the B pixel signal to generate a second color difference (C2), a pseudo-color suppression unit (31) for performing pseudo-color suppression of the first color difference (C1) and/or the second color difference (C2), a color space conversion unit (37) for converting the luminance Y′, the first color difference (C1), the second color difference (C2), into a predetermined color space to generate YUV color information. |
| US08106973B2 |
Image processing method, image processing device, and image capturing device
There is provided an image processing method configured to process an image captured by using an optical system with a wide view angle and a large magnification chromatic aberration, wherein a magnification chromatic aberration correction is conducted by conducting no coordinate transformation for an image of a particular color component while conducting a coordinate transformation for only an image of a color component except the particular color component. There is also provided an image processing device configured to process an image captured by using an optical system with a wide view angle and a magnification chromatic aberration, including a magnification chromatic aberration correction device configured to conduct a magnification chromatic aberration correction by conducting no coordinate transformation for an image of a particular color component while conducting a coordinate transformation for only an image of a color component except the particular color component. |
| US08106968B1 |
System and method for pattern detection and camera calibration
Detecting a pattern in an image by receiving the image of a pattern and storing the image in a memory, where the pattern is composed of shapes that have geometrical properties that are invariant under near projective transforms. In some embodiments the process detects shapes in the image using the geometrical properties of the shapes, determines the alignment of the various shapes, and, corresponds or matches the shapes in the image with the shapes in the pattern. This pattern detection process may be used for calibration or distortion correction in optical devices. |
| US08106966B2 |
Digital image capture device and brightness correction method thereof
A digital image capture device and a brightness correction method thereof are described. The digital image capture device is adapted to correct the brightness value of a shot object in a digital image through the compensation of a strobe during shooting. The method includes setting a shooting magnification of the digital image capture device to the shot object; capturing a pre-shot image at least including the image of the shot object; triggering a strobe to emit a main flash onto the shot object, so as to shoot a digital image; setting a plurality of light measuring areas in the digital image; calculating a corresponding object distance of the shot object from each of the light measuring areas; establishing a shading table according to each of the object distances; and loading the shading table to adjust the brightness value of each of the light measuring areas in the digital image. |
| US08106964B2 |
Image reproduction apparatus and image reproduction method
An object of this invention is to simplify an operation of reproducing, on a single window, pieces of image information of different image capturing apparatuses or pieces of image information captured at different times. A display apparatus manages a camera apparatus (1) serving as the image capturing source of image information to be reproduced in each image region in association with a plurality of image regions on a single window. The display apparatus manages whether the image information to be reproduced in each image region is recorded image information or image information which is currently being captured. On the basis of the pieces of management information, the display apparatus acquires image information from a desired one of camera apparatuses and recording apparatuses and reproduces the pieces of acquired image information on the plurality of image regions. |
| US08106963B2 |
Flicker correcting device and flicker correcting method
Provided are a flicker correcting device and a flicker correcting method which are capable of reducing the frequency of occurrence of a flicker during detection of the flicker. A nonvolatile memory stores information on a power source frequency of illumination under an image pickup environment. A control unit performs a setting related to flicker correction of an image pickup unit based on the information stored in the nonvolatile memory. A signal processing circuit detects a flicker from image data acquired in the set state. The control unit writes the information on the power source frequency of illumination under the image pickup environment into the nonvolatile memory based on a result of flicker detection by the signal processing circuit. |
| US08106955B2 |
Solid-state image sensing device and image sensing system
A solid-state image sensing device comprises a first readout circuit configured to read out a signal from a pixel array including a plurality of pixels, a signal holding unit configured to hold the signal read out from the first readout circuit, a second readout circuit configured to read out the signal held in the signal holding unit, and a current control unit configured to control an electric current flowing through at least part of the first readout circuit while the first readout circuit reads out the signal. The current control unit controls an electric current flowing through the at least part of the first readout circuit in a moving image capturing mode to be smaller than an electric current flowing through the at least part of the first readout circuit in a still image capturing mode. |
| US08106953B2 |
Imaging apparatus including a cooled imaging element which is shifted to perform high-definition imaging
A highly thermal conductive member is filled in a gap between a base portion and a movable portion of a spring stage in an image shift type imaging apparatus. Heat from a heat generating surface of a cooling element is conducted from the movable portion to the base portion through the highly thermal conductive member, and it is further conducted to an inner lid and discharged to the outside of an imaging apparatus housing. |
| US08106951B2 |
Method for adjusting shooting condition of digital camera through motion detection
A method for adjusting a shooting condition of a digital camera through motion detection is applied to determine a shooting parameter of the digital camera. The adjusting method includes the following steps. At least two consecutive images, namely a first pre-capture image and a second pre-capture image, are selected. The first pre-capture image and the second pre-capture image are divided into a plurality of selection blocks. A motion vector of each selection block is calculated. The motion vector of each selection block is used to generate a background dominant motion vector of the camera sloshing and a self-movement vector of the shot object. The background dominant motion vector is subtracted from the self-movement vector of the shot object, so as to obtain a corrected foreground motion vector. According to the size of the corrected foreground motion vector, the corresponding shooting parameter is determined. |
| US08106948B2 |
Mobile terminal device, computer-readable recording medium, and computer data signal
Even if an external output device like an earphone is disconnected during outputting of reproduced recorded contents, the recorded contents can be consecutively output at the time of subsequent reproduction. When an earphone connection detector detects that an earphone is disconnected during the reproduction operation of reproducing and outputting audio and image information in a recording section with the earphone being connected, a CPU performs control in such a manner as to stop the reproduction operation. When the earphone connection detector detects that the earphone is connected while the reproduction operation is stopped, the CPU resumes reproducing the audio and image information in the recording section at the stop position. |
| US08106944B2 |
Adaptive illumination for color-corrected underwater imaging
Described are a method and an apparatus for color-corrected underwater imaging. A range to an underwater object to be imaged is determined and control values are selected according to the range. Control values are predetermined for a number of ranges according to an optimization of a color quality factor for each range based on the spectra of the optical sources used for illumination and the wavelength-dependent optical transmission of the water for the range. The optical power of each optical source is controlled according to a respective one of the selected control values. Advantageously, an acquired image requires no color correction as the adaptive illumination compensates for the wavelength-dependent losses in the light propagation path from the optical sources to the object and from the object to the imaging device. |
| US08106943B2 |
Microscope image pickup system, microscope image pickup method and recording medium
A microscope image pickup system is one having a microscope apparatus enabled to change an observation state by driving one or more optical members, which comprises: an image pickup unit for picking up an image of an observation object; an image process unit for applying an image process to an image picked up by the image pickup unit; an input unit for inputting a process factor of the image process unit, wherein an observation state of the microscope apparatus and/or an image pickup condition of the image pickup unit are set up and an image is picked up so as to pick up an image of an image quality being equal to, or better than, that of an image to which an image process is applied on the basis of the process factor input from the input unit. |
| US08106942B2 |
Image acquiring apparatus, image acquiring method, and image acquiring program
An image acquiring apparatus is made up of a macro image acquiring unit 20 used to acquire a macro image of each of a plurality of samples S, and a control unit 60 including a macro image acquisition control unit used to control a macro image acquiring operation and an image pickup condition setting unit used to set an image pickup condition for a micro image of the sample S with reference to the macro image. The control unit 60 includes a session managing unit used to define a session in accordance with a sample group consisting of the samples S and to manage a data group including data of the macro image and the image pickup condition as session data associated with the sample group for each session. According to this structure, it is possible to realize an image acquiring apparatus, an image acquiring method, and an image acquiring program capable of suitably managing image acquisition processing performed to acquire an image of each of a plurality of samples. |
| US08106936B2 |
Panoramic video imaging and display system
A system for low-latency, high-resolution, continuous motion panoramic video imaging includes a plurality of high-resolution video cameras, each video camera generating about at least 500 kilopixel near-real time video. The cameras can be supported for positioning the plurality of cameras at predetermined angular locations to generate a full 360 degree field of view. The system can also include an image processor for processing video image signals in parallel and providing panoramic images. In one embodiment, the system can include a display to provide seamless panoramic images. |
| US08106931B2 |
Semiconductor device, print head and image forming apparatus
A semiconductor device, a print head comprising the semiconductor device and an image forming apparatus comprising the print head are supplied which are able to reduce cost through miniaturizing element size and minishing chip area. The semiconductor device comprises a plurality of light emitting elements; and a shift register circuit that has output terminals respectively corresponding to the plurality of light emitting elements and stores emitting-light instruction data of the light emitting elements, wherein each light emitting element has a first electrode and a second electrode to that lightening electricity of the light emitting element flows, and a third electrode for controlling the light emitting element whether to emit light, the output terminals of the shift register circuit are respectively connected with the third electrodes of the corresponding light emitting element. |
| US08106930B2 |
Image display system and method for eliminating mura defects
Image display techniques for eliminating mura defects, which collects reference data and adjusts the gray levels. The image display systems comprising a plurality of pixels, a memory, and an ASIC. Each of the pixels relates to a mura compensation coefficient set. The mura compensation coefficient sets of the pixels are generated by a coefficient generator. The memory stores the mura compensation coefficient sets of the pixels. The ASIC reads the mura compensation coefficient sets from the memory. With different mura compensation coefficient sets, the ASIC serves as different mura compensation function sets. Each mura compensation function set relates to one of the aforementioned pixels and is used for transforming an original gray level to a mura-eliminated gray level to drive the corresponding pixel. |
| US08106927B2 |
Graphical user interfaces and occlusion prevention for fisheye lenses with line segment foci
A method for generating a presentation of a region-of-interest in an original image for display on a display screen, comprising: establishing a lens for the region-of-interest, the lens having a magnified focal region for the region-of-interest at least partially surrounded by a shoulder region having diminishing magnification, the focal region having a perimeter defined by a radius r from a line segment; receiving one or more signals to adjust at least one of the radius r and a length len of the line segment to thereby adjust the perimeter; and, applying the lens to the original image to produce the presentation. |
| US08106926B2 |
Controlling a display device to display portions of an entire image in a display area
A computer-implemented method is for controlling display of an image, in a display area, by a display device. A plurality of elements of a sequence is determined based on operation of an input device. A position in the entire image is determined, associated with the determined one of the plurality of elements in the sequence. Based on the determined position in the entire image, a corresponding portion of the entire image is caused to be displayed in the display area. |
| US08106923B2 |
Flexible pixel hardware and method
A graphical display station of arbitrary shape such as channel letters or other shaped structures is populated with pixels which are components of flexible pixel strings which can be arranged to fit the arbitrary shape(s). The flexible pixel strings provide for straightforward and cost effective fabrication of channel letter or other shaped displays. The invention also includes pixel units which comprise lighting elements together with such control circuits as are needed to properly drive the lighting elements to form a graphical image. Addressing of the particular pixels is provided to accommodate the arbitrary arrangement of pixels of the flexible pixel strings. Methods of fabricating a channel letter display are also disclosed. |
| US08106920B2 |
Image data update apparatus
An image data update apparatus that can highlight a component with maintaining an appearance of an image to which anti-aliasing is applied and with suppressing increase in processing load is provided. When periodically changing a color arrangement of a traffic congestion line bordered using a color of black and displayed on a map image, only a central portion of the traffic congestion line is changed. Each time the color arrangement is changed, anti-aliasing is applied only to a boundary between the central portion and bordering portion but not to a boundary with a background map image. |
| US08106919B2 |
Method, system and software product for color image encoding
The present invention relates to the compression of color image data. A combination of hard decision pixel mapping and soft decision pixel mapping is used to jointly address both quantization distortion and compression rate while maintaining low computational complexity and compatibility with standard decoders, such as, for example, the GIF/PNG decoder. |
| US08106913B1 |
Graphical representation of load balancing and overlap
Circuits, methods, and apparatus for graphically displaying performance metrics of processors such as graphics processing units in multiple processor systems. Embodiments of the present invention may provide metric information regarding operations in alternate-frame rendering, split-frame rendering, or other modes of operation. One embodiment of the present invention provides data in split-frame rendering mode including load balancing, graphics processing unit utilization, frame rate, and other types of system information in a graphical manner. Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides graphical information regarding graphics processing unit utilization, frame rate, and other system information while operating in the alternate-frame rendering mode. |
| US08106912B2 |
Parallel image processing system control method and apparatus
To reduce the required amount of program codes when processing the whole image in a one-dimensional SIMD parallel image processing system having a smaller number of PEs than the number of pixels in the width direction of the image to be processed. A controller for controlling a PE array includes a command repetitive-execution part, which includes an operand converting part, a memory address converting part, and an operation code converting part. When a command fetching/decoding part reads and executes program codes stored in a program memory, the repetitive-execution part determines the program codes to cause the operand converting part, memory address converting part and operation code converting part to perform conversions in accordance with the command, thereby performing a repetitive execution of the one-command program description adaptive to a plurality of related pixels assigned to the PEs, whereby the program code amount can be reduced. |
| US08106911B2 |
Mobile motion capture cameras
Capturing motion, including: coupling at least one body marker on at least one body point of at least one actor; coupling at least one facial marker on at least one facial point of the at least one actor; arranging a plurality of motion capture cameras around a periphery of a motion capture volume, the plurality of motion capture cameras is arranged such that substantially all laterally exposed surfaces of the at least one actor while in motion within the motion capture volume are within a field of view of at least one of the plurality of motion capture cameras at substantially all times; attaching at least one wearable motion capture camera to the at least one actor, wherein substantially all of the at least one facial marker and the at least one body marker on the at least one actor are within a field of view of the at least one wearable motion capture camera. |
| US08106910B2 |
Method for correct reproduction of moving spatial images on a flat screen
A method for correct reproduction of moving three-dimensional (3D) scenes observed by a viewer on displays showing moving three-dimensional scenes relating to video games, animated cartoons, simulators for drivers or pilots, etc. The main concept of the invention is the reproduction of a moving scene that rotates around a selected center, which is the point of the viewer's gaze fixation. Thus, all objects that are stationary with respect to each other on the illustrated scene rotate at the same angular speed but move on the screen at different linear speeds, which are inversely proportional to preselected distances from the viewer to the respective objects. Movements of objects relative to each other are presented in a coordinate system rotating with the scene. For reproduction on the display, distances to the objects, number of objects, and other selected data are entered into a conventional 3D-animation computer program. |
| US08106906B1 |
Optical system effects for computer graphics
Users define the aperture shape and brightness characteristics of a virtual lens system to generate optical system effects in computer graphics images. An image sample point is associated with a aperture point within the aperture. The location of the aperture point may be based on the shape of the aperture. The image sample point value may be scaled based on a brightness value of an associated aperture point. Alternatively, the aperture point location may be based on brightness characteristics of the aperture. An optical system transmission function based on the brightness characteristics of the aperture specifies the density distribution of aperture positions within the aperture. The aperture points locations are distributed according to this optical system transmission function so that the out of focus regions or bokeh of images mimic the shape and brightness characteristics of the aperture. The aperture points, image sample points, and three-dimensional scene data are provided to a renderer to create images including optical system effects. |
| US08106905B2 |
Illustrating a three-dimensional nature of a data set on a two-dimensional display
A volume of a patient can be mapped with a system operable to identify a plurality of locations and save a plurality of locations of a mapping instrument. The mapping instrument can include one or more electrodes that can sense a voltage that can be correlated to a three dimensional location of the electrode at the time of the sensing or measurement. Therefore, a map of a volume can be determined based upon the sensing of the plurality of points without the use of other imaging devices. An implantable medical device can then be navigated relative to the mapping data. |
| US08106901B2 |
Power circuit and liquid crystal display device using same
A power circuit includes a PWM circuit for generating a pulse wave, a first control signal and a second control signal, a switching mode voltage stabilizer circuit, a first control circuit and a second control circuit. The PWM circuit includes a pulse wave pin, a first control pin and a second control pin. The switching mode voltage stabilizer circuit receives the pulse wave via the pulse wave output pin, and converts an external input voltage into a first direct voltage under control of the pulse wave. The first control circuit receives the first control signal via the first control pin. The second control circuit receives the second control signal via the second control pin and the first direct voltage, and converts the first direct voltage into a second direct voltage. |
| US08106900B2 |
Control method for information display device and an information display device
A method of controlling an electro-optical element that includes a memory type electro-optical layer between a pixel electrode and a common electrode is described. The method includes suspending supplying power to a display driving circuit and a latch circuit and subsequently resupplying power to the display driving circuit. The method includes subsequently applying a first voltage to the common electrode using the display driving circuit and subsequently applying a second voltage to the common electrode using the display driving circuit. The second voltage (i) is different from the first voltage and (ii) varies a potential of the pixel electrode according to a charge state of the memory type electro-optical layer. The method includes subsequently applying a third voltage to the common electrode using the display driving circuit, wherein the third voltage is between the first voltage and the second voltage. The method further includes subsequently resupplying power to the latch. |
| US08106886B2 |
Mouse with scanning module
A mouse includes a body, and a scanner. The body includes a first surface, an opposite second surface, and a recess defined in the second surface. The scanner received in the recess includes a housing defining a scanning window, an optical scanning unit received in the housing and an imaging sensor package. The optical scanning unit includes a light source for emitting light through the scanning window towards an object to be scanned, a reflector for reflecting light from the object, and a lens module for focusing the reflected light from the object. The imaging sensor package is received in the housing and is configured for receiving the focused light and generating image data associated with the object. |
| US08106878B2 |
Backlight modulation circuit and method thereof
An exemplary backlight modulation circuit (2) includes a first modulation section (220), a second modulation section (221), and a backlight modulation section (240). The first modulation section is configured to generate a first backlight modulation signal. The second modulation section is configured to generate a second backlight modulation signal. The backlight modulation section is configured to modulate illumination of an associated backlight module according to the first and second backlight modulation signals. |
| US08106877B2 |
Apparatus and method for driving liquid crystal display device
A driving apparatus of a liquid crystal display device for reducing or automatically restoring a driving current of a light source by being inversed or re-inversed a phase of a driving current with which a light source of a liquid crystal display device is supplied by the human body is disclosed.In the driving apparatus of the liquid crystal display device, a driving controller reduces or restores a duty ratio of a driving control signal which controls a generation of a driving current of a backlight assembly in accordance with whether a predetermined enable signal is applied or not. A master inverter reduces or restores a level of a driving current of the backlight assembly in accordance with a duty ratio of a driving control signal from the driving controller. A slave inverter reduces or restores a level of a driving current of the backlight assembly in accordance with a duty ratio of the driving control signal. And a current limiting circuit applies the predetermined enable signal to a ground or the driving controller in accordance with a phase of feedback currents of the master inverter and the slave inverter. |
| US08106875B2 |
Display device
A display device includes: two substrates sandwiching electro-optic material; source and gate lines on one substrate; switching elements coupled to the gate lines; a counter electrode coupled to pixel electrodes; gate dummy pixels including: gate dummy pixel electrodes applying an electric charge to the electro-optic material, and gate dummy switching elements switching between the gate lines and the gate dummy pixel electrodes; source dummy pixels including: source dummy pixel electrodes applying an electric charge to the electro-optic material, and source dummy switching elements switching between the source lines and the source dummy pixel electrodes; a test switch line transmitting a control signal controlling switching of the gate and source dummy switching elements; and test gate and source lines coupled to non-adjacent gate and source dummy pixel electrodes so that the gate and source lines provided with the gate and source dummy pixel electrodes are divided into two or more phases. |
| US08106871B2 |
Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof
A liquid crystal display (1) includes a liquid crystal panel (12) including a number of thin film transistors (123), a timing control circuit (16), a common voltage generating circuit (14) and a gamma circuit (13). The timing control circuit is configured for generating timing signals. The common voltage generating circuit is configured for generating a common voltage. The gamma circuit is configured for generating gray-scale voltages. When the liquid crystal panel is powered on, the common voltage is applied to the liquid crystal panel and reaches a predetermined value before the gray-scale voltages are applied to the liquid crystal panel and comes to predetermined values. And when liquid crystal panel is powered off the common voltage and the gray-scale voltages drops to 0V simultaneously by control of the common voltage generating circuit and the gamma circuit with the thin film transistors switched on. |
| US08106870B2 |
Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof
An exemplary liquid crystal display (300) includes a liquid crystal panel (301) receiving reference voltages; and a polarity resetting circuit (354) receiving display signals from external circuit and resetting the received display signals to attain resetted display signals, which makes the voltage difference between the resetted display signals and the previous frame display signals smaller than that between the corresponding received display signals and the previous frame display signals. |
| US08106869B2 |
Liquid crystal display with coupling line for adjusting common voltage and driving method thereof
An exemplary liquid crystal display includes parallel data lines, a data driver configured for driving the data lines, a coupling line crossing the data lines, a common electrode layer, and a common voltage generator configured for applying common voltages to the common electrode layer. The common voltage generator is connected to the coupling line. When data driver applies a plurality of data signals to the data lines, the data signals generate an influence signal at the coupling line. The common voltage generator adjusts common voltages applied to the common electrode layer according to the influence signal. A related method for driving the liquid crystal display is also provided. |
| US08106866B2 |
Method for establishing gamma correction table for liquid crystal display
An exemplary method for establishing a gamma correction table for a liquid crystal display includes: providing a liquid crystal display, a signal generator, and a color analyzer, the liquid crystal display comprising a predetermined gamma correction table; invalidating a predetermined gamma correction table of the liquid crystal display; initializing the liquid crystal display, the signal generator, and the color analyzer; measuring 2n (n is a natural number) reference gray scales of a single-colored image; obtaining a single-colored correction curve relating to luminance values corresponding the reference gray scales; obtaining an ideal single-colored gamma curve; storing 256 gray scales corresponding to the luminance values that most close to the luminance values of gray scale 0 to gray scale 255; and establishing a gamma correction table. |
| US08106865B2 |
Display device and driving method thereof
It is an object of the present invention to provide a display device in which problems such as an increase of power consumption and increase of a load of when light is emitted are reduced by using a method for realizing pseudo impulsive driving by inserting an dark image, and a driving method thereof. A display device which displays a gray scale by dividing one frame period into a plurality of subframe periods, where one frame period is divided into at least a first subframe period and a second subframe period; and when luminance in the first subframe period to display the maximum gray scale is Lmax1 and luminance in the second subframe period to display the maximum gray scale is Lmax2, (½) Lmax2 |
| US08106862B2 |
Liquid crystal display device for reducing influence of voltage drop in time-division driving, method for driving the same, liquid crystal television having the same and liquid crystal monitor having the same
A device is provided for setting a voltage applied to each of data signal lines so as to correct a voltage, applied to the pixel, which corresponds to a gradation data signal in each of sub-frames of a single frame. As such, voltage drop, caused by a combination of voltages of the gradation data signal in each of the sub-frames, may be partially or even fully compensated. On this account, it is possible to provide a liquid crystal display device which can lessen or even avoid an influence of the voltage drop caused by, for example, gate-drain capacitance of the thin film transistor in case of adopting time-division driving, and/or a method for driving the liquid crystal display device. |
| US08106860B2 |
Luminance balancing
A composite display may include a paddle configured to sweep out an area and a plurality of pixel elements mounted on the paddle. Selectively activating one or more of the plurality of pixel elements while the paddle sweeps the area may cause at least a portion of an image to be rendered. A characteristic of at least one pixel element of the plurality of pixel elements that is associated with balancing luminance across the composite display associated with the paddle may be based, at least in part, on a radial distance of the one pixel element from an axis of rotation of the paddle. |
| US08106856B2 |
Portable electronic device for photo management
A portable electronic device with a touch screen display for photo management is disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which the portable electronic device displays an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images. The device replaces the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array. The user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image. The portable device displays a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image in accordance with a scrolling gesture. The scrolling gesture comprises a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display. |
| US08106852B2 |
Display device and electronic device
A display device includes: a first display unit that provides a light emitting display by individually controlling a light emitting quantity for each pixel; and a second display unit that allows either a transmitting state for transmitting ambient light or a reflecting state for reflecting the ambient light to be selected in correspondence to each pixel and brings up a display by assuming a specific combination of a transmitting area and a reflecting area, and the second display unit is layered over the first display unit so that the first display unit can be viewed through the transmitting area at the second display unit. |
| US08106849B2 |
Planar antenna array and article of manufacture using same
A planar antenna array and articles of manufacture using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, close-packed antenna elements, disposed on a substrate, number N where N=3x and x is a positive integer. Each of the close-packed antenna elements includes a substantially continuous photonic transducer arranged as an outwardly expanding generally logarithmic spiral having six turns. Each of the outwardly expanding generally logarithmic spirals may be a golden spiral. As an article of manufacture, the planar antenna array may be incorporated into a chip, such as a cell phone, or an article of clothing, for example. |
| US08106847B2 |
Communication circuit, communication apparatus, impedance matching circuit and impedance matching circuit designing method
A communication circuit is provided with an antenna section, such as a nonresonant antenna, and a matching section which connects with the antenna section and adjusts impedance, for example. The matching section has a transmission line, and the electric length and characteristic impedance of the transmission line are determined based on the frequency or the frequency band in which the antenna section and the transmission line resonate. For example, since it is not necessary to unite resonance frequency with center frequency if it is a nonresonant antenna, it becomes possible to attain the miniaturization of an antenna. Wide band-ization is realizable by changing the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. |
| US08106840B2 |
Window glass for vehicle
A window glass of a vehicle having a roof antenna mounted on an upper rear portion of a roof of the vehicle, has a defogger formed, on the rear window glass, by a plurality of horizontal heating lines which are connected with each other at the respective both ends by busbars; a noise shield pattern provided at a head space of the defogger on the rear window glass and having at least three horizontal lines and at least one vertical line that cross each other; and at least three connecting lines that connect the noise shield pattern and the defogger. The noise shield pattern is formed in a symmetrical shape, and the connecting lines connect the noise shield pattern and the defogger symmetrically at center position and symmetrical positions about the center position in right-and-left direction of the noise shield pattern and the defogger. |
| US08106839B2 |
Multi-band antenna
A multi-band antenna has a strip-shaped first radiating portion disposed levelly. An end of a long side of the first radiating portion is extended downwardly to form a first grounding portion. A strip-shaped second radiating portion is disposed in alignment with and spaced from the first radiating portion. A long side of the second radiating portion is extended downwards to form a feeding portion at an end thereof away from the first radiating portion. A third radiating portion, which is stretched levelly and oppositely from an end of the second radiating portion adjacent to the feeding portion, is longer than the second radiating portion and has a long side extended downwardly to form a fixing portion adjacent to a free end thereof. The feeding portion and the fixing portion are located at the same side as the first grounding portion with respect to the first, second and third radiating portion. |
| US08106837B2 |
Equipment housing with integral antenna
A device comprises a housing and antenna elements. The housing has an outer surface portion and a plurality of projection portions. The projection portions dissipate heat and are disposed to extend to a first height from the outer surface portion. The antenna elements are disposed below the first height at a position of the outer surface portion and in between the projection portions. Accordingly, the antenna elements are protected by the projection portions. |
| US08106836B2 |
Hybrid antennas for electronic devices
A portable electronic device is provided that has a hybrid antenna. The hybrid antenna may include a slot antenna structure and an inverted-F antenna structure. The slot antenna portion of the hybrid antenna may be used to provide antenna coverage in a first communications band and the inverted-F antenna portion of the hybrid antenna may be used to provide antenna coverage in a second communications band. The second communications band need not be harmonically related to the first communications band. The electronic device may be formed from two portions. One portion may contain conductive structures that define the shape of the antenna slot. One or more dielectric-filled gaps in the slot may be bridged using conductive structures on another portion of the electronic device. A conductive trim member may be inserted into an antenna slot to trim the resonant frequency of the slot antenna portion of the hybrid antenna. |
| US08106835B2 |
Dual-band antenna
A dual-band antenna is disposed on a substrate having an antenna-mounted surface. The dual-band antenna includes a first radiating unit, a second radiating unit, and a feeding terminal. The first radiating unit is disposed opposite to the antenna-mounted surface of the substrate, and at least has a first side, a second side and, a third side. The first side is opposite to the third side, and the length of the first side is not equal to that of the third side. The second side is connected to the first side and the third side. The second radiating unit is connected to the first side of the first radiating unit. The feeding terminal is connected to the third side of the first radiating unit and the antenna-mounted surface of the substrate. |
| US08106834B2 |
Switchable patch antenna for RFID shelf reader system
A switchable patch antenna includes a ground plane, a metal patch, at least two feed lines and a switch. The metal patch is positioned adjacent, but not in contact with, the ground plane. Each feed line is electrically connected to the metal patch. Each feed line is substantially orthogonal to at least one other feed line. The switch is electrically connected to the at least two feed lines. The switch is operable to sequentially select between the at least two feed lines for exciting the switchable patch antenna. |
| US08106833B2 |
Miniature antenna
The present invention discloses a miniature antenna that has a simple structure, compact dimension and high efficiency. The miniature antenna is comprised of a dielectric element made of a dielectric material, having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a first electrode layer being laid on the first surface, and a second electrode layer being laid on the second surface. The first electrode layer connected to a signal feeding line and the second electrode layer, connected to a ground plane, are partially overlapped to form a region that functions as a capacitor. Thereby, the miniature antenna can transmit and receive signals. The capacitance and resonant frequency of the miniature antenna can be adjusted via varying the pattern of the electrode layers, varying the thickness or permittivity of the dielectric element or via varying the size of the overlapping areas of the two electrode layers. |
| US08106831B2 |
Circuit board and telephone apparatus
A circuit board is provided. The circuit board including a dielectric substrate; a ground electrode formed on the dielectric substrate; a radiation line formed on the dielectric substrate, at least a part of the radiation line including an open end and opposed to the ground electrode; a feeding line connected to the other end of the radiation line, the feeding line configured to feed high frequency signals to the radiation line or receive high frequency signals generated in the radiation line; a short-circuit line formed on the dielectric substrate and connected to the radiation line; a short-circuit element configured to short-circuit the short-circuit line and the ground electrode; and a connection terminal provided on the short-circuit line, wherein the connection terminal connects one end of the short-circuit element to the short-circuit line at a connection position and is configured so that the connection position is changeable. |
| US08106830B2 |
Antenna using electrically conductive ink and production method thereof
Disclosed is an antenna having an antenna radiator formed by printing electrically conductive ink on a substrate. An antenna radiator according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed to the same thickness as a skin depth with respect to an operation frequency of the antenna. Therefore, an antenna can be fabricated using a small amount of electrically conductive ink while not reducing the gain of the antenna. Further, an antenna radiator according to another embodiment of the present invention is formed to the same thickness as a skin depth with respect to a predetermined frequency at a corresponding hot spot with respect to the frequency. Accordingly, an amount of electrically conductive ink used can be further reduced while maintaining the gain of the antenna. |
| US08106828B1 |
Location identification using broadcast wireless signal signatures
An apparatus for location identification using broadcast wireless signal signatures includes a receiver to receive first measurements of a plurality of wireless television signals. The first measurements are made by a remote device receiving the plurality of wireless television signals. In addition, the apparatus includes a processor to select one or more of a plurality of possible locations of the remote device based on the first measurements and a plurality of associations each associating one of the possible locations with expected values. Moreover, the receiver receives second measurements of the wireless television signals made by one or more monitor units, and the processor generates the expected values for the first measurements and the associations based on the second measurements and the locations of the one or more monitor units. |
| US08106826B2 |
Antenna arrangement
An antenna has multiple antenna elements, with a beam forming Butler matrix, having antenna ports and input/output ports, with each of said antenna elements being connected to a respective port of the beam forming Butler matrix. Transceiver circuitry is connected to each of the input/output ports of the beam forming matrix by means of respective distinct transmit and receive paths and a respective duplexer. Individually controllable gain control elements are located in each of the transmit and receive paths. These can be controlled in response to signal strength measurements made by the antenna. |
| US08106825B1 |
Distributed receiver
A distributed receiver in signal communication with an active antenna array is described. The distributed receiver may include an exciter, a plurality of transmit/receive (“T/R”) modules, and a frequency source operable to provide a frequency reference signal to the T/R modules. |
| US08106824B2 |
Tracking satellite signal
Techniques, systems and apparatus are described for tracking a satellite signal. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a tracking module to generate a satellite-based measurement result by tracking a satellite signal received from a satellite. The tracking module includes sub-tracking modules with each sub-tracking module configured to generate the satellite-based measurement result by using a different integral time. |
| US08106821B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for use with mode-switchable navigation radio
Methods and apparatuses are provided for use with mode switchable navigation radios and the like. The methods and apparatuses may be implemented to selectively switch between certain operating modes based, at least in part, a mode-switching test that takes into consideration one or more non-timed test conditions to determine if mode-switching may be enabled. |
| US08106820B2 |
Personal locator and locating method
Disclosed are systems; apparatus and methods for tracking or locating a person that is lost or has an emergency. Personal locating apparatus is employed comprising a plurality of buttons, and/or a keypad and display, that define an on/off element, an OK element, a help element and a 911 emergency element, wherein the elements are used to select and deselect one of a predetermined number of operational modes. A global positioning system (GPS) receiver in the apparatus processes GPS signals received from GPS satellites to generate location data indicative of the location of the apparatus. A satellite transmitter is coupled to the processor that transmits the location data and a desired operational mode signal to a remotely located processing center via one or more communication satellites. A processor is coupled to the GPS receiver and the satellite transmitter that is programmed to respond to user selections to generate the desired operational mode signal, process the location signals from the GPS receiver, the desired operational mode signal, and optionally a user message, generate a signal for transmission to the processing center, and transmit the signal to the remotely located processing center via one or more communication satellites. The message is processed at the processing center and sent as an email message to one or more designated email addresses, as a short message service (SMS) message to one or more designated cell phones, or as a message to a 911 emergency center. |
| US08106817B2 |
Positioning system and positioning method
It is an object of the present invention to obtain a positioning result corresponding to the state of a receiver in less time. A positioning server 10 comprises a reception state information acquisition component 12 that acquires reception state information indicating the reception state of a radio wave at a cellular terminal 20, a base station positioning calculator 13 that estimates the approximate position of the cellular terminal 20 on the basis of reception state information and computes the precision of the approximate position, an end decision component 14 that decides whether or not to end the estimation of position on the basis of the precision of the approximate position, and, if it is decided to end the estimation, estimates the position of the cellular terminal 20 as the approximate position and ends the estimation of the position, an indoor/outdoor determination component 15 that determines whether the cellular terminal 20 is indoors or outdoors on the basis of the reception state information, and a positioning controller 16 that controls the execution of the GPS positioning of the cellular terminal 20 on the basis of the result of decision by the end decision component 14 and the result of determination by the indoor/outdoor determination component 15. |
| US08106816B2 |
Method of determining the position of a mobile device
A set of device parameters consisting of clock bias and position of a mobile device is determined without previous knowledge of the week number (WN) in that solutions of a set of equations derived from a least squares type weight function involving pseudoranges related to the device parameters via basic equations are attempted with a time of week (TOW) extracted from satellite signals and various week number candidates. A solution algorithm which iteratively solves the set of equations is used, each iteration step involving a linearization of the latter and resulting in corrections of the device parameters. After elimination of week numbers where the solution algorithm does not yield a solution a valid week number is selected from the remaining week numbers in that a deviation value is determined which reflects differential terms, i.e., differences between pseudorange values as measured and as derived from the set of device parameters according to the solution, e.g., by evaluation of the weight function. The week number yielding the smallest deviation value is selected. If the week number is confirmed by various checks the device parameters according to the corresponding solution are used, e.g., displayed, by the mobile device. |
| US08106814B2 |
Method of estimating the elevation of a ballistic projectile
The present invention relates to a method enabling precise determination of the elevation of a projectile following a ballistic trajectory by use of a conventional Doppler surveillance radar. The method includes calculating first the estimate {circumflex over (Γ)}ρ of the value of the radial component Γρ of the acceleration of the projectile from the quantities {dot over (d)} and {umlaut over (d)}, respectively representing the first derivative and the second derivative with respect to time of the Doppler velocity d of the projectile, then calculating the estimate {circumflex over (V)} of the speed V of the projectile from d, {dot over (d)} and {circumflex over (Γ)}ρ, and finally calculating the estimate Ê of its angle of elevation E from d and {circumflex over (V)}. The method according to the invention may apply to the protection of sensitive areas against the firing of ballistic projectiles. |
| US08106813B2 |
Multichannel constant envelope orthogonal waveforms using receiver design
An radar apparatus including a first transmitter, a second transmitter, a first receiver, a second receiver, and a control device. The control device is programmed to use both the characteristics of a first transmit signal from the first transmitter and a second transmit signal from the second transmitter to determine a first control signal for applying to the first receiver to determine its impulse response characteristics, and to determine a second control signal for applying to the second receiver to determine its impulse response characteristics which differ from the first receiver. These control signals have the ability to separate out the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal from their combined sum that appears at the input of the receiver. The procedure can be generalized to include any number of transmit signals and a corresponding number of control signals to separate out the transmit signals from their combined form. |
| US08106810B2 |
Millimeter wave filters
An electromagnetic radiation filter uses a plurality of dipole antennas to mitigate the transmission of electromagnetic radiation. The dipole antennas can form one or more arrays that scatter electromagnetic radiation. Examples of application include mitigating the reception of a difference frequency in non-linear radar, use in protective goggles, and use in a protective shield. |
| US08106808B1 |
Successive time-to-digital converter for a digital phase-locked loop
A successive time-to-digital converter (STDC) method is provided for supplying a digital word representing the ratio between a phase-locked loop PLL frequency synthesizer signal and a reference clock. The number of frequency synthesizer clock cycles per reference clock cycle is counted. A first difference is measured between a reference clock period and a corresponding frequency synthesizer clock period. In response to the first measurement, a second difference is measured between a delayed reference clock period and the corresponding frequency synthesizer clock period, where the second difference is less than the first difference. A third difference is measured as a time duration between the delayed reference clock period and the corresponding delayed frequency synthesizer clock period. The first and third difference measurements and the count of the number of frequency synthesizer clock cycles per reference clock cycle are used to calculate a digital error signal supplied to the frequency synthesizer. |
| US08106806B2 |
AD converter
Disclosed herein is an AD converter, including, a reference voltage generator, a plurality of amplifiers, a plurality of averaging resistance elements, and a plurality of first averaging auxiliary circuits each including a first amplifier and a first resistance element. |
| US08106804B2 |
Video decoder with reduced power consumption and method thereof
A video decoder (10) with reduced power consumption includes a power management controller (45) that is operative to select one of a plurality of different power consumption states for a video decoder (10), and, in response to the determination, vary power consumption of at least one operational portion of the video decoder (10). In addition, in one example, a method (200) for reducing power consumption for a video decoder (10) includes determining input stream encoding description data (34) to select one of a plurality of different power consumption states for a video decoder (10) and, in response to the determination, varying power consumption of at least one operational portion of the video decoder (10). |
| US08106800B2 |
Self-calibrating signal reconstruction system
An approach for calibrating a signal reconstruction system. A signal may be input to a low-pass filter. An output of the filter may be converted to a digital signal which goes to a processor which outputs a reconstruction of the signal to the filter. The reconstruction may be based on an expression that maintains the accuracy of the reconstruction. The expression may include information about samples of the input signal and a low value of the reconstruction. The expression may permit initial calibration and then maintenance of the calibration. The calibration may include compensating for inexpensive components of the filter which have values significantly different than indicated values and/or have large drifts over temperature changes. |
| US08106798B2 |
Circuit and method for parallel to serial conversion
A parallel to serial conversion circuit makes output data normally swing even in a high-speed operation. The parallel to serial conversion circuit includes a main selection block configured to drive an output node sequentially in response to data on a first line and data on a second line, and a subsequent selection block configured to drive the output node sequentially in response to data on a subsequent first line and data on a subsequent second line, wherein the output node is driven by inverted data of the data on the subsequent first line and inverted data of the data on the subsequent second line. |
| US08106794B2 |
Method and device for displaying forecasts on a navigation plan
The invention applies particularly to the method and device for displaying forecasts on the flight plan of an aircraft. The method includes representing the craft by a first symbol in its current position and by a second symbol in its future position, modifying the position of the second symbol on the navigation plan in order to change it to a future position, displaying on the viewing screen the first symbol and at the same time the second symbol representing the craft on the navigation plan in a future position and displaying on the viewing screen the navigation data at the instant of the future position of the craft. |
| US08106793B2 |
System and method for collecting traffic violation data
A system and method for collecting traffic violation data sets at least one possible traffic violation item in the electronic device, selects a corresponding traffic violation item when a traffic violation occurs, and activates a CCD camera of an electronic device to capture an image of the traffic violation. The system and method further uses an assisted global position system (A-GPS) to obtain location information and time information of the traffic violation, verifies access of a user of the electronic device, and transmits the image, the location information, the time information and the digital certificate to a traffic management server to process the traffic violation. |
| US08106791B2 |
System and method for receiving and decoding electromagnetic transmissions within a well
Exemplary systems and methods are directed to transmission of electromagnetic (EM) pulses in a downhole environment, which is located below a surface of a landform. A sequence of EM energy pulses is generated from a signal generator located at the surface of the landform. The energy pulses are reflected at a ring frequency by one or more downhole transducers. The reflected energy pulse is received at a receiver, which is located at the surface, during a predetermined time interval. The receiver detects the received energy pulses through a time domain or frequency domain technique. The detected ring frequency is correlated to a parameter or condition of the downhole environment. |
| US08106790B2 |
Measuring device for the electromagnetic field emitted by an apparatus being tested
Measuring device (1) for the electromagnetic field emitted by an apparatus being tested (11, 14), including a support (3) being mobile in relation to the apparatus being tested, at least one electromagnetic sensor (8) fixed to the support and driving elements (5,6) capable of rotating the support around the apparatus being tested, characterized in that it includes at least one light source (9) adjacent to the electromagnetic sensor and capable of emitting light according to the electromagnetic field measured by the electromagnetic sensor. |
| US08106788B2 |
Sensor and method for obtaining data
A sensor for obtaining data is described, including at least one sensitive module for quantitatively detecting a parameter to be determined, at least one data transmitting unit for transmitting the obtained data, and at least one signal path between the sensitive module and the data transmitting unit, also including a control logic unit which defines at least one transmission parameter of the signal path and/or of the data transmitting unit, as a function of at least one output variable of the sensitive module, and an associated method. |
| US08106787B2 |
Warning system indicating excessive force on a touch screen or display
Disclosed herein are apparatus, method, and computer program whereby a signal generated by a touch screen device is received in response to a tactile input from a user on an input surface of the touch screen panel. In response, presenting information to a user, the information comprising a warning that the user is exerting an excessive amount of force on a surface of the touch screen panel. |
| US08106786B2 |
Terminal including light emitting device, method of notifying selection of item using the terminal, and method of notifying occurrence of event using the terminal
Disclosed herein is a method of notifying the selection of an item using a plurality of light emitting devices provided in a terminal, including: selecting an item of at least one item displayed on a display included in the terminal, and notifying the selection of the item using the plurality of light emitting devices. Disclosed herein is also a method of notifying the occurrence of an event using a plurality of light emitting devices provided in a terminal, including: notifying the occurrence of the event using the light emitting devices according to the detection of the occurrence of the event. |
| US08106784B2 |
Combination smoke and heat detector
A combination smoke and heat detector which allows, in spite of a simple structure, light emitted from an indication lamp to be visually confirmed from a wide range of directions. The combination smoke and heat detector (100) includes a body base (10), a printed circuit board (1), a thermosensitive element (2), a dark chamber (3), an indication lamp (4) mounted to the printed circuit board (1), a protective cover (30), and a bar-like light guide (5) for guiding light emitted from the indication lamp (4) to the outside of the protective cover (30). The light guide (5) passes through a light guide through-hole (35) formed in the protective cover (30) so as to be mounted therein, with one end surface thereof facing the indication lamp (4), and another end surface thereof protruding to the outside of the protective cover (30) by a height substantially equal to or larger than a protruding height of the dark chamber (3). Further, the light guide (5) is arranged opposite relative to the thermosensitive element (2), with the dark chamber (3) being sandwiched therebetween. |
| US08106781B2 |
Device for monitoring the condition of a human being
A device for continuously monitoring one or more indicators relating to the health or comfort of a person 12 includes one or more sensing means for measuring a value of one or more desired indicators and a communicating means 13 communicating an alarm signal when the measured value is above or below a predetermined value or range of values range, wherein the device 10 is adapted to be attached to an item of clothing 14 of the person 12. |
| US08106778B2 |
Tracking variable conditions using radio frequency identification
A method and system for tracking variable conditions using radio frequency identification (RFID) are disclosed. In embodiments of the present invention, an RFID sensor tag is used to measure a condition. The condition can be any measurable condition such as location, temperature, humidity, pressure, time, date, inertial measurements, etc. Variable data representing the measured condition is read from the RFID sensor tag in order to track the measured condition. The variable data can be read from RFID sensor tags in addition to reading tag identification data from RFID tags, so that the variable data can be associated with tag identification data. |
| US08106774B2 |
Automotive parts kit differentiation system
An automotive parts kit differentiation system and method includes a plurality of different types of parts kits, wherein each type of kit includes a base and a plurality of automotive parts removably contained by the base. The parts contained in each type of kit vary as compared to each other type of kit. Each base includes a unique identifier tag that identifies the base as being a base for one of the plurality of kit types. The unique identifier tag of each base includes a color zone defined by a color selected from a plurality of different colors that correspond respectively to the plurality of different kit types so that each kit type corresponds to one of the plurality of different colors. The unique identifier tag further includes a shape identifier selected from a plurality of different shape identifiers that correspond respectively to the plurality of different kit types so that each kit type corresponds to one of the plurality of different shapes. The color zone and shape identifier can be combined, and the color zone can comprise two different zones located respectively on two different surfaces of the base. The unique identifier tag also optionally includes a machine readable portion such as a bar-code or RFID module. |
| US08106769B1 |
Systems and methods for automated house damage detection and reporting
A system for automated house damage detection and reporting may comprise at least one subsystem configured for receiving a damage detection signal detecting potential damage to a building from at least one sensor operably connected to the building, and at least one subsystem configured for automatically communicating damage detection data using the received damage detection signal to a remote system outside the building for further analysis. |
| US08106767B2 |
Wireless tag communication system and image forming apparatus
An antenna outputs query signals to a wireless tag, and receives response signals output from the wireless tag. An intensity detection circuit detects the signal intensity of the response signals. A control portion judges the type of toner housed in a cartridge, or whether the toner is a certified product or a non-certified product, from the detected signal intensity. Further, the control portion outputs to an output setting circuit an instruction signal to change the signal intensity of the query signals, such that normal wireless communication can be performed with the wireless tag. |
| US08106764B2 |
System and a method for remote monitoring customer security systems
There is provided a system for remote monitoring a plurality of security systems connected to the Internet, the security systems being assigned dynamic IP addresses, each of the security systems comprising a remote monitoring server module, the system comprising a central alarm monitoring service connected to the Internet for periodically communicating with the plurality of security systems and determining a status thereof to generate an alarm signal as a function of the status, the alarm monitoring service storing a current IP address of the plurality of security systems in an IP address database, and a remote monitoring gateway providing authenticated or unauthenticated dynamic domain name service (DDNS) server functionality to connect a given remote monitoring client to a desired one of the security systems, the gateway being connected to the IP address database and to the Internet. There is further provided a method of remote monitoring a security system. |
| US08106763B2 |
Sensor system and method for sequential transmission of data
A sensor has a transmitter module for transferring data via a line, the sensor receiving power via the line. At a point in time in which the sensor receives a first power level, it transmits the data for a first time interval. A second sensor which is connected to the line in parallel to the first sensor then transmits its data for a second time interval after the first time interval. A timing sequence control system in the two sensors which is triggered by the point in time of reception of the power ensures the subsequent transmission by the first and second sensor. |
| US08106755B1 |
Triple-function vehicle safety sensor system
A vehicle safety sensor system (VSSS) includes driver-side and passenger-side sensor means. The VSSS implements multiple safety functions as forward collision warning (or avoidance) and side/rear object detection. Subsystems of both sensor means are placed in the location normally occupied by side-view mirrors providing the driver an unobstructed view of both sensor means. The VSSS includes: (1) driver-side and passenger-side three-dimensional forward radar sensor; driver-side and passenger-side forward two dimensional video sensor; (2) driver-side and passenger-side side/rear two-dimensional radar sensor; driver-side and passenger-side side/rear two-dimensional video sensor; (3) data processor combining four outputs from the radar sensor and video sensor on driver-side and the passenger-side using data fusion for forward hazardous obstacle detection and validation; data processor also combining two outputs from the radar sensor and video sensor on driver side and passenger side using data fusion for side/rear hazardous obstacle detection and validation on respective sides of the vehicle. |
| US08106739B2 |
Magnetic induction devices and methods for producing them
A magnetic induction device (MID) is disclosed. The MID includes a core, and at least one first winding including at least one conductive strip deposited on the core and including at least two turns which are substantially simultaneously shaped. Related apparatus and methods are also disclosed. |
| US08106737B2 |
Terminal structure of coil device
A terminal structure of a coil device includes a coil having a rectangular conductive wire covered with a dielectric film, and a terminal having a fusing part. An end portion of the wire from the coil has first and second flat surfaces, and the fusing part is electrically connected to these flat surfaces by fusing. The fusing part includes a planar portion surface-contacting a first flat surface, and a folded piece folded in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the planar portion. The end portion is clamped between the planar portion and the folded piece. The folded piece includes a contact surface portion contacting a second flat surface. The contact surface portion includes a stepped portion that increases a deformation amount of a contact area of the second flat surface contacting the stepped portion, compared to an adjacent area of the second flat surface adjacent to the contact area. |
| US08106735B2 |
Electromagnetic attachment apparatus
An electromagnetic attachment apparatus includes a power supply, an electromagnet module, and a rotatable module. The electromagnet module includes a coil and a core positioned in the coil. A mounting panel is attached to the core. A pair of electrically conductive blocks is attached to the mounting panel, and connected to the coil. The rotatable module is rotatably attached to the mounting panel, and includes a pair of electrically conductive pins connected to positive and negative electrodes of the power supply respectively. The rotatable module is rotatable to a first position in which the electrically conductive pins thereof contact the electrically conductive blocks for attaching a metal object, or a second position in which the electrically conductive pins thereof disengage from the electrically conductive blocks for releasing the metal object. |
| US08106732B2 |
Relay
A relay includes a base and a switch built into the base. A first terminal that is built into the base, is connected to one end of the switch, and is provided on a bottom of the base, a second terminal that is built into the base, is connected to the other end of the switch, and is provided on the bottom, and a third terminal that is connected to the first terminal in the base, is provided on a top of the base. No other terminal is provided on the top. |
| US08106729B2 |
Complementary-conducting-strip transmission line structure with plural stacked mesh ground planes
This invention discloses a complementary-conducting-strip transmission line (CCS TL) structure. The CCS TL structure includes a substrate, at least one first mesh ground plane, m second mesh ground planes having m first inter-media-dielectric (IMD) layers interlaced with and stacked among each other and the first mesh ground plane to form a stack structure on the substrate, a second IMD layer being on the stack structure, and a signal transmission line being on the second IMD layer. Wherein, each first IMD layer has a plurality of vias to correspondingly connect the first and the m second mesh ground planes, therein, m≧2 and m is a natural number, and the m second mesh ground planes under the signal transmission line have at least one slit structure. |
| US08106728B2 |
Circuit structure and design structure for an optionally switchable on-chip slow wave transmission line band-stop filter and a method of manufacture
The present invention generally relates to a circuit structure, design structure and method of manufacturing a circuit, and more specifically to a circuit structure and design structure for an on-chip slow wave transmission line band-stop filter and a method of manufacture. A structure includes an on-chip transmission line stub comprising a conditionally floating structure structured to provide increased capacitance to the on-chip transmission line stub when the conditionally floating structure is connected to ground. |
| US08106725B2 |
Acoustic wave filter device
An acoustic wave filter device includes longitudinally coupled resonator-acoustic wave filters having a balanced-unbalanced conversion function, and increases the amount of attenuation in an attenuation band and improves the isolation characteristics when the acoustic wave filter device is used as a reception filter of a duplexer. The acoustic wave filter device includes an unbalanced terminal, first and second balanced terminals, first and second longitudinally coupled resonator-acoustic wave filters that are connected between the unbalanced terminal and the first balanced terminal and between the unbalanced terminal and the second balanced terminal, respectively, a first parallel resonator connected between the first balanced terminal and a ground potential, and a second parallel resonator connected between the second balanced terminal and the ground potential. The electrostatic capacitance of the first parallel resonator is different from the electrostatic capacitance of the second parallel resonator. Among the first parallel resonator and the second parallel resonator, the wavelength of the first parallel resonator having a relatively small electrostatic capacitance is shorter than the wavelength of the second parallel resonator having a relatively large electrostatic capacitance. |
| US08106724B1 |
Thin-film bulk acoustic resonators having perforated resonator body supports that enhance quality factor
Micro-electromechanical acoustic resonators include a substrate having a cavity therein and a resonator body suspended over the cavity. The resonator body is anchored on opposing sides thereof (by support beams) to first and second portions of the substrate. These first and second portions of the substrate, which extend over the cavity as first and second ledges, respectively, each have at least one perforation therein disposed over the cavity. These perforations may be open or filled. The first and second ledges are formed of a first material (e.g., silicon) and the first and second ledges are filled with a second material having a relatively high acoustic impedance relative to the first material. This second material may include a material selected from a group consisting of tungsten (W), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo). |
| US08106722B2 |
Multi-layered device and electronic equipment using thereof
A multi-layered device includes an inductor electrode layer connected between one end of a first viahole inductor conductor and a side-surface ground electrode, and arranged substantially in parallel to a dielectric sheet, when the first and second viahole inductor conductors are arranged in such a positional relation that a distance between the first and second viahole inductor conductors is smaller than 1.5 times a length of the first viahole inductor conductor. |
| US08106718B2 |
GM-boosted differential drain-to-source feedback colpitts voltage controlled oscillator
A voltage controlled oscillator outputting a differential signal includes: an inductor connected to a first power supply supplying first voltage; first and second transistors for differential switching; first and second variable capacitors connected to the inductor in parallel; a third transistor of which a gate electrode is connected to a first node; and a fourth transistor of which a gate electrode is connected to a second node. When bias voltage is applied to the gate electrode of the first transistor to be turned on, negative resistance is generated by voltage applied to the first capacitor and the second capacitor through the first transistor. When voltage outputted through the first node is applied to the gate electrode of the third transistor to be turned on, the voltage is additionally applied to the first capacitor and the second capacitor by the third transistor to increase the negative resistance. |
| US08106716B2 |
Oscillator, oscillator implementations and method of generating an oscillating signal
One embodiment of the oscillator includes a first starved inverter and a second starved inverter. An inner inverter of the second starved inverter is cross-coupled to an inner inverter of the first starved inverter. The oscillator further includes a first inverter connected to output of the inner inverter of the first starved inverter, and a second inverter connected to output of the inner inverter of the second starved inverter. |
| US08106715B1 |
Low-power oscillator
In order to decrease the temperature sensitivity of an oscillator output, and obtain a frequency of oscillation that remains stable over variations in temperature, two oscillators may be configured with identical comparators and logic circuitry, but having different oscillation frequencies. The different oscillation frequencies may be achieved by configuring each oscillator with a respective resistor divider circuit configured to adjust the reference voltage at the reference input of the respective comparator. The difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators may therefore become independent of the comparator delay, and may only depend on temperature sensitivity of the resistor. The output of one oscillator may be used to calibrate/adjust the output of the other oscillator based on the difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators, due to the difference between the respective periods of oscillation of the two oscillators remaining substantially independent of variations in temperature. |
| US08106712B2 |
Systems and methods for self-mixing adaptive bias circuit for power amplifier
Systems and methods for providing a self-mixing adaptive bias circuit that may include a mixer, low-pass filter or a phase shifter, and a bias feeding block. The self-mixing adaptive bias circuit may generate an adaptive bias signal depending on input signal power level. As the input power level goes up, the adaptive bias circuit increases the bias voltage or bias current such that the amplifier will save current consumption at low power operation levels and obtain better linearity at high power operation levels compared to conventional biasing techniques. Moreover, the adaptive bias output signal can be used to cancel the third-order intermodulation terms (IM3) to further enhance the linearity as a secondary effect. |
| US08106710B2 |
Apparatus and method for variable gain transconductance
The present disclosure describes a variable gain transconductor having gain and/or linearity performance that are selectively controllable in operation. In one embodiment the gain and/or linearity performance are selectively controllable in response to the strength of an input signal, such as an incoming radio frequency (RF) signal to a radio receiver. In one embodiment, gain and/or linearity performance of the variable gain transconductor are selectively controllable by selecting or deselecting a number of operating bias cells. In one embodiment, gain and/or linearity performance of the variable gain transconductor are selectively controllable by selecting or deselecting a number of operating transconductance (gm) cells. In one embodiment, gain and/or linearity performance of the variable gain transconductor are selectively controllable by selecting or deselecting a combination of operating bias cells and gm cells. In one embodiment, the variable gain transconductor is configured to convert single-ended voltage input into a differential current output. In one embodiment, the variable gain transconductor is configured to convert differential voltage input into a differential current output. |
| US08106707B2 |
Curvature compensated bandgap voltage reference
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for generating a curvature compensated bandgap voltage reference. In an embodiment, a curvature compensated bandgap reference voltage is achieved by injecting a temperature dependent current at different points in the bandgap reference voltage circuit. In an embodiment, the temperature dependent current is injected in the proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) and complementary to absolute temperature (CTAT) current generation block of the bandgap circuit. Alternatively, or additionally, the temperature dependent current is injected at the output stage of the bandgap circuit. In an embodiment, the temperature dependent current is a linear piecewise continuous function of temperature. In another embodiment, the temperature dependent current has opposite dependence on temperature to that of the bandgap voltage reference before curvature compensation. |
| US08106705B2 |
Control circuit for PVT conditions of a module
The electronic circuit comprises a functional module (10), a condition signaling module (20), a reference module (30) and a control circuit (40). The condition signaling module (20) generates an indication signal (Imeas) indicative for PVT conditions local to the functional module. The PVT conditions comprise a set of conditions relevant for a module comprising at least one of a voltage supplied to said module, a temperature within an area occupied by said module and the process conditions relevant for said area The reference module (30) generates a reference signal (Iref) having a value that is substantially independent of said PVT-conditions. The control circuit (40) compares the indication signal (Imeas) and the reference signal (Iref), and for generating a control signal (pvt<1>, . . . , pvt |
| US08106699B2 |
High signal level compliant input/output circuits
A level shifter has at least one of either a pull up or a pull down circuit. The circuit is made of electronic components with reliability limits less than a maximum signal level output by the level shifter. The level shifter also has a timing circuit coupled to at least on of either the pull up or pull down circuit. The timing circuit controls a time of application of an input signal to at least one of either the pull up or pull down circuit preventing a terminal to terminal signal level experienced by the electronic components exceeding the reliability limits. |
| US08106695B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device which has a duty detection circuit that detects a duty error in an internal clock synchronized with an external clock and is capable of performing accurate duty measurement. A first capacitor is coupled to a first node and a first current source coupled to a second node. A first switch is coupled between the first and second nodes. A second switch is coupled between a voltage line and the first node and a third switch is coupled between the voltage line and the second node, the third switch being rendered conductive while the second switch is in a conductive state. A second current source is coupled to a third node, with a fourth switch coupled between the first and the third nodes. A fifth switch is coupled between the voltage line and the third node, the fifth switch being rendered conductive while the second switch is in the conductive state. |
| US08106692B2 |
Method for tracking delay locked loop clock
A method for tracking a delay locked loop (DLL) clock is described. An external clock signal is allowed to pass through delay cells of a DLL during a first period of the external clock signal when a transition edge of a track signal applied on the DLL occurs. Then, when a transition edge of a sensing signal applied on the DLL occurs at a start of a second period of the external clock signal, the external clock signal is inhibited to pass through the delay cells and the number of the delay cells through which the external signal pass during the first period of the external clock signal is counted. When a reset signal is asserted, a delay time of each delay cell is reset such that a ratio of the delay time to the period of the external clock signal is kept from 10% to 15%. |
| US08106690B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
To generate a highly accurate SSC while reducing the circuit area of a clock generation circuit that generates a normal clock and an SSC. A clock signal output from a voltage controlled oscillator is frequency-divided by a frequency divider, and is output as a first frequency-divided clock to a selector. The frequency divider outputs a plurality of second frequency-divided clocks each shifted in phase by 1/m of a period based on a control signal of a control circuit. The selector selects two frequency-divided clocks having the closest phase shift from among the first and second frequency-divided clocks. Based on a weighting data signal output from the control circuit, a phase interpolation circuit phase-shifts the frequency-divided clock by a phase shift obtained by dividing the phase difference between the two frequency-divided clocks, and outputs the resultant clock as an output clock. |
| US08106684B2 |
High-speed low-voltage differential signaling system
A system and a method for communicating data at a rate exceeding about a gigabit per second is described. The system may include circuitry and a current-sourcing module. The circuitry may include an output couplable to a load. The circuitry may output from the output a low voltage differential signal having a first current that drives the load from a first voltage at a first time to a second voltage at a second time. The current-sourcing module may apply a second current to the output at a third time, which occurs at about the first time. |
| US08106683B2 |
One phase logic
Circuits comprising asynchronous linear pipelines and one-phase pipelines, and methods of forming asynchronous linear pipeline circuits and converting them to one-phase pipeline circuits are provided. Additional circuits, systems and methods are disclosed. |
| US08106674B2 |
Automated liquid crystal analysis instrument
Provided is a method for measuring one or more properties of liquid crystals in an automated manner. Also provided is a liquid crystal analysis instrument (LCAS) that automatically measures one or more properties of liquid crystals. |
| US08106664B2 |
System and method for conducting accelerated soft error rate testing
An apparatus for a user to conduct an accelerated soft error test (ASER) on a semiconductor sample is provided. The apparatus comprises a first component for holding the radiation source, where the radiation source may be either an alpha-particle or neutron-particle source. The apparatus comprises a second component for holding the semiconductor sample, where the semiconductor sample may be either a silicon wafer or semiconductor chip. The apparatus comprises a connecting assembly for placing the first component and the second component relative to each other at a plurality of positions that subject the semiconductor sample to a radiation stress from the radiation source at a plurality of stress efficiencies. Among the benefits provided are improved repeatability and credibility of ASER tests and reduced radiation exposures to operators of ASER tests. |
| US08106663B2 |
Sensor product for electric field sensing
A sensor product web for electric field sensing. The sensor includes a substrate, sequential electrically conductive areas on a surface of the substrate, conductors, an output connected to one of the electrically conductive areas by one of the conductors, a dielectric layer arranged on top of the conductors, and an electrically conductive layer arranged on top of the dielectric layer on a same surface of the substrate as the electrically conductive areas, the dielectric layer being discontinuous at the conductor which is in contact with the electrically conductive area. |
| US08106660B1 |
Sonde array for use with buried line locators
A sonde array that is useful in locating buried utilities includes at least three substantially mutually orthogonal antennas. Each antenna includes a substantially cylindrical ferromagnetic core, an insulating layer surrounding the core, and a length of a conductor wrapped around the insulating layer to form a coil. The coils of the antennas are substantially identical. |
| US08106658B2 |
Identification code circuit for receiving coil in magnetic resonance imaging system
An identification code circuit for a receiving coil in a magnetic resonance imaging system, is embodied in a main coil. The circuit has a fixed resistance for generating the identification code of the main coil. The main coil has a socket for connecting a sub-coil, so that a coil plug of a sub-coil can be plugged into the socket for connecting to the main coil. The identification code circuit also has a regulating resistance and a sub-coil switch corresponding to the socket. The coil plug of the sub-coil is plugged into the socket to close the sub-coil switch, so that the values of the regulating resistance and said fixed resistance are added together to form a combined resistance value. After said main coil has been connected to a magnetic resonance imaging system, an identification code source voltage value across the combined resistance value is the identification code of the combined main coil and sub-coil. A receiving circuit identification code thus can be generated simply and with reduced cost. |
| US08106649B2 |
Angle detecting apparatus and angle detecting method
An angle detecting apparatus includes a rotor fixed to a rotating shaft, a pair of magnetic sensors arranged opposite each other so as to output a first detection signal and a second detection signal, respectively, each of which contains information on the angle of rotation of the rotor, a differential operational circuit performing differential operation on the first detection signal and the second detection signal, and an angle calculating circuit calculating the angle of rotation of the rotating shaft based on the result of the differential operation by the differential operational circuit. Here, the distance between two points where a straight line passing through the center of rotation of the rotor crosses the outer periphery of the rotor is constant. |
| US08106646B2 |
Sensor circuit
Provided is a sensor circuit that is small in circuit scale, but is capable of temperature compensation. A reference voltage circuit (BL1) which compensates a temperature includes only a voltage divider circuit, and hence the sensor circuit is small in circuit scale. The sensor circuit is also capable of temperature compensation because temperature changes of a reference voltage (VTH1) and a reference voltage (VTH2) match a temperature change of an output signal (OUTA) of an amplifier circuit (AMP1) which is caused by a temperature change of an output signal of a Hall element (HAL1). |
| US08106644B2 |
Reference circuit with start-up control, generator, device, system and method including same
A reference generator circuit generates a reference signal for use by a regulator in generating operational power for circuits and devices. A start-up circuit includes a self-biased voltage reference and a differential amplifier configured to generate a start-up signal to induce current flow in response to a voltage independent reference signal during a start-up phase of the circuit and cease inducing the current flow following the start-up phase of the circuit. The reference signal is generated by receiving a supply voltage and inducing current flow into a node of a bandgap reference circuit during a start-up phase of the bandgap reference circuit and ceasing inducing the current flow following the start-up phase of the bandgap reference circuit. |
| US08106643B2 |
Power supply apparatus
A power supply apparatus is provided. The power supply apparatus includes two power suppliers coupled in parallel so as to simultaneously supply the electric power required by an electronic product in operation. The power supply apparatus provided by the invention may stably/accurately output the desired DC output voltage to the electronic product, and may further in advance increase a main power generated inside the other power supplier when one of the power suppliers is over voltage, thereby avoiding an oversized voltage drop from occurring in the DC output voltage. |
| US08106642B2 |
Current mode buck converter with fixed PWM/PFM boundary
A current mode buck converter is disclosed. The buck converter operates in a pulse width modulation (PWM) mode or a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) mode. To prevent an output inductor with various probable magnitudes from varying a decision boundary between the PWM mode and the PFM mode, the buck converter adaptively adjusts a triggering condition for the pulse frequency modulation mode according to an average value of an inductor current of the output inductor or AC components of the inductor current and a slope compensation current. |
| US08106638B2 |
Power control circuit with coupling circuit for controlling output power sequence and liquid crystal display using same
An exemplary power control circuit (24) includes a scaler circuit (245) configured for outputting a control signal, a voltage converter (27) configured for converting a received voltage into a plurality of desired voltages, a first control unit (28), a second control unit (29), and a coupling circuit (26). The first control unit is configured for controlling whether a first voltage is applied to the voltage converter. The second control unit is configured for controlling whether to transmit a second voltage applied thereto. The coupling circuit is between the first and second control units. The coupling circuit enables the second control unit to function ahead of the voltage converter according to the control signal. |
| US08106632B2 |
Method for managing a bank of rechargeable batteries using the coup de fouet effect on charging
The batteries of at least one battery subset are partially and preferably simultaneously charged; during this partial charging, electrical parameters representative of a coup de fouet effect on charging are measured to enable the extent of discharge of each of the batteries of the subset to be analyzed; the batteries are then charged sequentially with an order of priority that depends on the extent of discharge of the different batteries; priority is preferably given to charging the most extensively discharged batteries. |
| US08106631B2 |
Charge control device for batteries
In a charge control device installable in a motor vehicle and designed to execute charge control for a battery based on an output power of a power generator, a nonvolatile memory stores therein data required to execute the charge control for the battery. A communication circuit is communicably connectable to first and second devices different from each other. The first device allows entrance of information required to rewrite the data stored in the nonvolatile memory. A rewriting unit rewrites the data stored in the nonvolatile memory based on the entered information only when the first device is communicably connected to the communication circuit. |
| US08106627B1 |
Method and system for co-operative charging of electric vehicles
A method and system provide for the cooperative charging of electric vehicles. By using power line communications, chargers of the electric vehicles who are serviced by the same distribution transformer can form self-contained local area networks due to the nature of power line communications. After the chargers of the electric vehicles are coupled to one another through power line communications, they can form a token ring network. According to this token ring network, a predetermined number of tokens can be assigned within the token ring network for permitting chargers with tokens to charge respective electric vehicles while chargers without tokens must wait until they receive a token to initiate charging. |
| US08106626B2 |
Robot for use with robot battery charging station
A battery charging station, for a robot, includes a base, two side-walls barriers, a stop, a supporting arm, a charging connector, and a transmitter. The side-walls barriers are separately mounted on the base. The stop is mounted on the back of the base to form a docking space together with the barriers and the base. The supporting arm is cantilever mounted on the stop by one free end thereof with the other end extending into the space over the docking space. The charging connector is mounted on the free end of the supporting arm and is configured for providing an electrical connection between the robot and a power source. The transmitter is positioned on the upper surface of the supporting arm and is configured for emitting signals for the robot to locate the re battery charging station. |
| US08106624B2 |
Battery pack, charging device, and electronic device and obtaining a charge state thereof
A charging device which enables the charged state and remaining capacity of the battery pack to be accurately grasped. In the charging device on which a battery pack including a nonvolatile memory and a secondary battery cell is mounted, a charge control microcomputer measures a charging current supplied to and a charging voltage applied to the battery pack. Charged state data indicative of the charged state of the battery pack is determined based on at least one of the measured charging current and the measured charging voltage. The charge control microcomputer writes the determined charged state data in the memory of the battery pack. |
| US08106623B2 |
Conservation of electrical energy and electro-magnetic power in battery charger with AC drive
The present disclosure is an energy-efficient rapid battery charger, using inductive windings rather than transformer to charge a battery. The apparatus operates with an AC power source rectifying a high voltage DC output or AC source transformed to a low DC voltage output. The control driver frequencies vary from several hundred Hz to thousand of Hz. A capacitor, inductor, and power line are arranged in a series parallel combination tank circuit that operates over the on and off time of a complete cycle. During on-time, the inductor is charged with electro-magnetic power. During off-time, the electro-magnetic power in the inductor discharges into the battery. |
| US08106621B2 |
Control device for induction motor
A control device includes a slip calculator that calculates a first slip frequency of an induction motor, a current detector that detects motor current that passes through the induction motor, an adder that calculates a primary frequency by adding a speed command and a second slip frequency that are given, a command voltage generation unit that generates first command voltage from the primary frequency, a voltage error observer unit that estimates a command voltage error from the first command voltage and the motor current, a slip correction unit that calculates a slip correction amount from the command voltage error, an adder that calculates the second slip frequency by adding the first slip frequency and the slip correction amount, and a voltage error correction unit that corrects the first command voltage using the command voltage error and outputs second command voltage. |
| US08106619B2 |
Position sensorless controller for permanent magnet motor
In a calculation for estimating axis error in a permanent magnet motor, a d-axis commanded voltage value is added to the product of three signals, which are a q-axis detected current value or commanded current value, an inductance value, and an estimated speed value, and then the resulting value is divided by the product of a commanded speed value ωr* and induced voltage constant Ke* or an arctangent calculation is performed in the same way, instead of using a resistance setting. |
| US08106618B2 |
Method and device for calibrating a position sensor placed on a shaft of a permanent magnet synchronous motor
In a method and apparatus for calibrating a position sensor mounted on the shaft of a permanent magnet synchronous motor, to control the position of a rotor of the permanent magnet synchronous motor relative to a magnetic field produced by a stator of the permanent magnet synchronous motor, a DC test current is supplied to stator windings of the permanent magnet synchronous motor to generate a definite magnetic field. The motor speed caused by the DC test current is adjusted to zero by modifying the rotor position; and the position measured by the position sensor at zero motor speed relative to the magnetic field is used to calibrate the position sensor. |
| US08106617B1 |
Motor power-management protection method and circuit
A power management protection circuit and method provides for a fast, real-time hardware logic control of the power control components of a motor, whereby the over-current condition is an integral of the over-current level and over-current time duration, and provides means for complete turn-off of motor voltage within a few microseconds when a specified energy level has been exceeded or an extended time for the user to take corrective actions if thermal conditions permit. Motor turn-off remains until a snubber diode current has reduced to a safe level even if the stall condition is no longer present. It allows the properties of load-dump current through the snubber diode to drive the protection control logic, and also provides for sensing the temperature of both the snubber diode and the power MOSFET switch. As temperature rises in these power devices, the trolling motor maximum voltage is reduced. Voltage control based on temperature feedback is a hardware function that operates concurrently and independently from the over-current sensing and voltage turn-off. |
| US08106615B2 |
Pump jack pump-off control method and pump jack control apparatus
It is an object of the invention to provide a pump jack pump-off control method and a pump jack control apparatus in which, even when the speed of a pump jack is reduced due to generation of a pump-off condition, the pump jack is not caused to stop due to the motor overload abnormality or the coagulated crude oil and, even when the pump-off condition is generated, the reduction of the production capacity of the pump jack can be prevented as much as possible. On detecting the pump-off condition, while the pump jack is in operation with the speed thereof being reduced, or while the pump jack is in operation at the lowest speed, according to the overload warning signal of an ac electric motor, the pump jack is switched over to its intermittent operation. Also, the pump jack can be operated in such a manner that the stroke speed of the pump jack in the up stroke operation can be switched from a sinusoidal wave form over to a rectangular wave form, or, in the operation of the pump jack by an inverter, the pump jack can be operated such that it can carry out its up stroke operation with a limit imposed on torque. |
| US08106613B2 |
Brushless motor drive
A drive circuit for a motor having a plurality of phases, comprising an input for a DC signal and a plurality of phase outputs, the circuit being arranged to provide at each of the phase outputs, in use, current to one phase of the motor, in which there is provided a converter for each phase output, each converter being arranged to take as an input a DC signal and output an signal having an AC component with a higher voltage magnitude than that of the DC signal input to the converter. Typically, the converters comprise Ćuk converters. |
| US08106606B2 |
Voltage multiple dimming control apparatus
The present invention discloses a control apparatus, which not only accepts multiple dimming control signals, but also combines the signals in analog manner. By means of this, an inevitable analog to digital converter in a conventional voltage multiple dimming control apparatus can be saved without hurting the performance of generation of pulse width modulation signals. Compared with the conventional arts, the present invention further exhibits reduction in view of chip size and power consumption. |
| US08106603B2 |
Backlight driving circuit
A backlight driving circuit includes a light driving unit, which includes a constant current unit, and a light source operated by the constant current unit. The light driving unit further includes a feedback control unit and a detection circuit. The detection circuit detects the light source and outputs at least a voltage feedback signal to the feedback control unit. The feedback control unit obtains a prestored power parameter corresponding to the voltage feedback signal and outputs an adjusting signal to the constant current unit to adjust the constant current of the light source. |
| US08106602B2 |
Backlight assembly, display apparatus having the backlight assembly and method of preventing a current controller of the backlight assembly from being shut down
A backlight assembly includes a light-emitting apparatus, a multi-channel current controller and a heat distributor. The light-emitting apparatus includes a plurality of light-emitting diode (“LED”) strings. The multi-channel current controller includes a plurality of current control circuits, each of which includes an input channel electrically connected an LED string of the plurality of LED strings and which controls a magnitude of a driving current flowing through the LED string. The heat distributor is electrically connected to the input channel and the LED string, and is disposed adjacent to the input channel. |
| US08106601B2 |
LED illuminant driving circuit and automatic brightness compensation method thereof
An LED illuminant driving circuit and an automatic brightness compensation method thereof are provided herein. The automatic brightness compensation method includes: providing a target value; detecting an operation period of a pulse of an output of the LED illuminant driving circuit, the pulse is adapted to an LED illuminant for making the light emitting; deciding a peak value according to the target value and the operation period; and setting a peak level of the pulse according to the peak value. The LED illuminant driving circuit and the automatic brightness compensation method thereof provides a stable average current/voltage to the LED illuminant and avoids brightness variations of the light emitting. |
| US08106599B2 |
Switched light element array and method of operation
A switched light element array includes first, second and third light emitting elements, and first and second switches. The first light emitting element includes first and second terminals, and the second light emitting element includes a first terminal, and a second terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first light emitting element. The third light emitting element includes a first terminal coupled to the first terminal of the first light emitting element and a second terminal. The first switch includes a first terminal coupled to each of the first terminals of the first and third light emitting elements and a second terminal coupled to the first terminal of the second light emitting element. The second switch includes a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the third light emitting element, and a second terminal coupled to each of the second terminals of the first and second light emitting elements. |
| US08106598B1 |
Method and apparatus for assuring compliance with high efficiency lighting standards
Method and apparatus for assuring use of a fluorescent or similar high efficiency lamp in a screw base socket, the invention provides a circuit containing a screw base socket and an associated thermal sensing unit capable of interrupting power to the circuit on sensing of heat such as is generated by an incandescent or similar low efficiency lamp when mounted in the screw base socket. Practice of the method permits use of only fluorescent or similar lamping such as is incapable of sufficient heat generation to interrupt power to the circuit, the methodology of the invention preventing use of incandescent or similar energy inefficient lamping. The method and apparatus are particularly useful in the lamping of recessed downlighting fixtures. |
| US08106597B2 |
High efficiency boost LED driver with output
A current driver for powering a string of LEDs has a boost converter coupled to an input voltage source. A voltage multiplier circuit is coupled to the boost converter and to the string of LEDs. A latch is provided having an output coupled to the boost converter. A current sense element is coupled to the boost converter. A current comparator is provided having an output coupled to a first input of the latch, a first input coupled to the current sense element, and a second input coupled to a reference current. A zero-volt detector circuit is provided having an output coupled to a second input of the latch and an input coupled to the boost converter and the voltage multiplier circuit. |
| US08106596B2 |
Light source driving circuit
A light source driving circuit includes a transformer, a switching circuit, a control circuit, a brightness adjusting circuit and an isolator circuit. The brightness adjusting circuit is connected to a secondary winding assembly of the transformer and the light-emitting element for detecting an output voltage and/or an output current and generating a control signal according to the brightness adjusting signal. The isolator circuit is used for isolating the primary winding assembly of the transformer from the brightness adjusting circuit. The isolator circuit generates a feedback current according to the control signal. According to the feedback current, the switching circuit is controlled by the control circuit. As a status of the brightness adjusting signal is changed, a status of the control signal is changed and a time period of changing the status of the control signal is longer than a time period of changing the status of the brightness adjusting signal. |
| US08106591B2 |
Lamp failure detector
An apparatus and method for detecting lamp failure is described for an array of lamps used in a rapid thermal processing system. The lamp failure detection system enables identification of a failed lamp among a plurality of lamps, and also provides identification of the failure type. The apparatus applies a lamp failure detection method to the voltage drop values measured across each lamp to determine if a lamp is in a failure state. In one embodiment, a field programmable gate array is used to apply a failure detection method to the lamp voltage values. |
| US08106586B1 |
Plasma discharge display with fluorescent conversion material
An AC or DC PDP containing a fluorescent conversion material (FCM) that produces IR when excited by a gas discharge. In one embodiment, the fluorescent conversion material is rare earth doped chalcogenide. The PDP may comprise a multiplicity of plasma-sells or plasma-tubes on a substrate, each plasma-shell or plasma-tube containing FCM. |
| US08106582B2 |
Organic electroluminescence display device
An organic electroluminescent display (1) including: a substrate (11); and a first organic electroluminescent device part (10) and a second organic electroluminescent device part (20) placed side by side on a surface of the substrate; the first organic electroluminescent device part (10) including at least a light reflective conductive layer (12), an organic luminescent medium layer (13), and a transparent electrode layer (15) in this order and including a light reflective layer (14) inside or outside of the organic luminescent medium layer (13) or the transparent electrode layer (15); the second organic electroluminescent device part (20) including at least a light reflective conductive layer (12), a first inorganic compound layer (21), an organic luminescent medium layer (13), and a transparent electrode layer (15) in this order and including a light reflective layer (14) inside or outside of the organic luminescent medium layer (13) or the transparent electrode layer (15); and an emission spectrum of light from the first organic electroluminescent device part (10) differing from an emission spectrum of light from the second organic electroluminescent device part (20). |
| US08106581B2 |
Organic electroluminescence element having concentration variation of hole transporting light-emitting material
An organic electroluminescence element including an organic layer including a light-emitting layer disposed between a pair of electrodes, wherein the light-emitting layer contains at least one hole transporting light-emitting material and at least one electron-transporting host material, and a concentration of the hole transporting light-emitting material in the light-emitting layer decreases from an anode side toward a cathode side. |
| US08106575B2 |
Electron beam apparatus having a recess formed in a surface of an insulating member
An electron emission device in an electron beam apparatus includes an insulating member having a recess on a surface thereof, a gate, and a cathode opposed to the gate via the recess. The recess has a depression formed in a surface of the recess. |
| US08106574B2 |
Electric bulb for use in a vehicle headlamp
A lamp can include a low-beam filament arranged in a horizontal reference plane containing an optical axis of a glass bulb, and facing in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis. A high-beam filament can be arranged in a plane normal to the horizontal reference plane and in parallel with the low-beam filament. A pair of inner leads for supporting the low-beam filament can be located in the horizontal reference plane. A pair of inner leads for supporting the high-beam filament can be located in a plane defined in parallel with the optical axis and normal to the horizontal reference plane. |
| US08106573B2 |
Platinum alloy for spark plug electrodes and spark plug having a platinum alloy electrode
A spark plug and an alloy for an electrode tip of a spark plug is disclosed herein. The spark plug having: an insulator shell; a center electrode inside the insulator shell such that one end of the center electrode protrudes from the insulator shell; a metal shell exterior to the insulator shell; a side ground electrode having one end coupled to the metal shell and the other end facing the protruding end of the center electrode to form a spark discharge gap between the center electrode and the side ground electrode; and an electrode tip secured to at least one of the side ground electrode or the center electrode, located at the spark discharge gap, the electrode tip comprising a platinum-based alloy comprising 20 to 35% by weight of palladium, from greater than 0 to 15% by weight iridium, and the balance of the alloy being platinum, all % by weight being based on the total weight of the alloy. |
| US08106570B2 |
Isotope production system and cyclotron having reduced magnetic stray fields
A cyclotron that includes a magnet yoke that has a yoke body that surrounds an acceleration chamber and a magnet assembly. The magnet assembly is configured to produce magnetic fields to direct charged particles along a desired path. The magnet assembly is located in the acceleration chamber. The magnetic fields propagate through the acceleration chamber and within the magnet yoke. A portion of the magnetic fields escape outside of the magnet yoke as stray fields. The magnet yoke is dimensioned such that the stray fields do not exceed 5 Gauss at a distance of 1 meter from an exterior boundary. |
| US08106569B2 |
LED retrofit for miniature bulbs
Methods and devices are provided for an improved light source. In one exemplary embodiment a light source includes a heat sink, a LED die, and a phosphor dome. A conductive material can be disposed in the heat sink, the LED die can be mounted to a top portion of the conductive material such that the LED die is in electrical contact with the heat sink, and the phosphor dome can be coupled to a top face of the heat sink. In another embodiment, a light source includes a heat sink, a sleeve, a LED package, and an optic. A conductive material can be disposed in the heat sink, the sleeve can be disposed around at least a portion of the heat sink and the conductive material, the LED package can be mounted above the conductive material, and the optic can be located above the LED package and coupled to the sleeve. The light sources disclosed herein can be used to replace existing miniature bulbs in a number of different devices, including medical devices such as otoscopes. |
| US08106564B2 |
Ultrasonic transducer
An ultrasonic transducer comprises an elongate horn, a counterpiece, two piezoelectric drives and a screw. The counterpiece is fastened to the horn by means of the screw and thus clamps the piezoelectric drives, which are arranged on either side of a longitudinal axis of the ultrasonic transducer, between the horn and the counterpiece. The ultrasonic transducer is designed in such a way that the tip of a capillary which is clamped in the horn can oscillate in two different directions. |
| US08106562B2 |
Slip ring assembly with shaft holder
The present invention relates to a slip ring assembly for providing electricity to a rotor which is able to rotate in relation to a stator in a generator or an electrical motor, the slip ring assembly being in connection with an encoder. The slip ring assembly includes a slip ring unit having at least one first slip ring, and an encoder shaft holder connected to the slip ring unit and in which holder an encoder shaft is situated. The encoder shaft holder is made from an electrically insulating material for providing an electrical insulation between the slip ring unit and the encoder. |
| US08106561B2 |
Laminated core and method for manufacturing the same
A laminated core 10 including a plurality of segment core sheets 13 spirally wound and laminated in layers while connecting portions 12 connecting the adjacent segment core sheets 13 are bent, ends of the segment core sheets 13 are aligned with each other and the connecting portions 12 in the adjacent layers are circumferentially displaced relative to each other, the connecting portions 12 located in outer peripheral areas 11 of the segment core sheets 13, the laminated core 10 comprising: a concave cutout 22 formed on a radially outward side of the connecting portion 12, the concave cutout 22 accommodating a radially expanded part 21 within an outer circle of the laminated core 10, the radially expanded part 21 formed in the connecting portion 12 radially outward at the bending of the connecting portion 12; an interior cutout 23 formed on a radially inward side of the connecting portion 12, the interior cutout 23 defining a bent position of the connecting portion 12; and depressed receptacles 16, 17 respectively formed on a top side and a bottom side of a radially outward area of the segment core sheet 13 except for the connecting portions 12, the depressed receptacles 16, 17 each receiving a thickness-direction expanded part 15 formed in the connecting portion 12 in a thickness direction thereof at the bending of the connecting portion 12. |
| US08106560B2 |
Stiffness of brushless motor including stator core and disk drive
A brushless motor is provided. A stator core has a plurality of teeth extending radially from an annular portion of the stator core. The number of the teeth is an integral multiple of the number of coil-drive phases. Coil relief holes for allowing coils to enter are formed on the motor base. The number of the coil relief holes is less than the number of the teeth by the number of the coil-drive phases multiplied by N (N is a natural number). The number of turns of the motor-drive coil wound around one of the teeth corresponding to a portion of the motor base where the coil relief hole is not formed is set to less than that corresponding to a portion of the motor base where the coil relief hole is formed. |
| US08106555B2 |
Spindle motor and apparatus for inhibiting oil leakage in spindle motor
An apparatus for inhibiting oil leakage is disclosed by which the oil leakage can be effectively inhibited with a simple structure, where the apparatus is extensively formed along an outer periphery of a rotation shaft at a position higher than at least an upper end of a bearing and is formed with an oil barrier that restrains oil rise. |
| US08106553B2 |
Spindle motor component of hard disk driver with composite coating layer and composite coating method thereof
A spindle motor component of hard disk with composite coating layer and a composite coating method hereof. The spindle motor component of hard disk includes a motor component base (1) and the composite coating layer which is coated on the base (1). The composite coating layer consists of an electrodepositing coating layer (2) and a spraying coating layer (3). The composite coating method includes a step of coating the electrodepositing coating layer (2) on the surface of the motor component base (1) and coating the spraying coating layer (3) on the electrodepositing coating layer (2), wherein the weight ratio of tin in the electrodepositing coating layer (2) is between 60 ppm to 300 ppm and the weight ratio of tin in the spraying coating layer (3) is no more than 50 ppm. |
| US08106552B2 |
Vibration motor
Disclosed herein is vibration motor. The vibration motor includes a bearing rotatably fitted over a support shaft which is installed to be perpendicular to a base. A hub is coupled to the bearing, with an eccentric member provided on the edge of the hub. A coil is mounted to the hub to form an electric field. A magnet having 2n poles is mounted on the base, and rotates the hub using electromagnetic force between the magnet and the coil. A detent magnet is mounted to the hub and stops the coil in the middle between the poles of the magnet. |
| US08106551B2 |
Direct drive motor for vehicle wiper system
A direct drive motor for a vehicle wiper system, which drives a wiper arm directly connected to a motor shaft may include a rotor for generating a rotational force, in which a sun gear connected to an upper portion of the rotor transmits the rotational force to a power transmission portion, a locking portion mounted on an upper inner surface of the rotor; and a clutch engaged with the locking portion and preventing the rotor from moving. |
| US08106549B2 |
Motor and endoscope probe equipped with motor
A motor which can be mounted in an endoscope probe without bending an electric power supply wire in an endoscope probe body, and an endoscope probe using the motor are provided. The motor includes a magnet, a field coil, a housing, an electric power supply wire, and a shaft. A lead wire from the field coil is connected to the electric power supply wire. A cutout is provided in a housing end, and the electric power supply wire is received along the cutout and led out to the outside of the motor in the direction in which a shaft projects. When the motor is mounted in the endoscope probe, the motor is placed in the endoscope probe body so that the shaft projects in the direction opposite to the direction of the front end of the endoscope probe, and the electric power supply wire, which is led out to the outside of the motor, is routed along the longitudinal direction of the endoscope probe. |
| US08106543B2 |
Solar generator and solar cell thereof distributively performing maximum power point tracking
A solar generator distributively performing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) has a plurality of solar cell modules formed by electrically connecting multiple solar cells, and a power conversion and transmission unit electrically connected with two power output terminals of the solar cell module. Each of the solar cells has a solar chip having two DC power output terminals and an MPPT unit having two power input terminals electrically connected with the two DC power output terminals, and two power output terminals. The solar generator performs MPPT associated with each solar cell, thereby ensuring the output power of the entire system a maximum power. When performing MPPT in a conventional inverter, maximum power of each solar cell is effectively acquired. |
| US08106540B2 |
Compensation system for power transmission
A system is provided for compensating a power transmission line having one or more non-conventional power generating sources connected to the power transmission line. At least one series compensation circuit is connected to a portion the power transmission line, and at least one damping circuit is connected in parallel with the series compensation circuit. The damping circuit reduces subsynchronous series resonance caused by the series compensation circuit on the power transmission line, and the series compensation circuit compensates the power transmission line. |
| US08106537B2 |
Photovoltaic DC/DC micro-converter
A photo-voltaic (PV) power generating system and a control system for PV array string-level control and PV modules serially-connected into strings of PV modules. The system includes plural parallel strings of serially-connected power-generating photovoltaic modules that form a PV array, DC/DC micro-converters that are coupled to a DC voltage buss and to the output of a corresponding photovoltaic module or to the output of a string of photovoltaic modules; a gating or central inverter; and a control system. The control system is structured and arranged to control and manage each string of photovoltaic modules, to ensure that power delivered by the photovoltaic power generating system is not affected by photovoltaic modules or strings of photovoltaic modules that are not operating at maximum power transfer efficiency. |
| US08106536B2 |
Universal power supply system
A universal power supply system is used for at least one electric consumer. The supply system comprises at least one AC source and a cable connection connecting said AC source to said electric consumer. The AC source has associated therewith an AC/DC converter for converting the AC voltage into DC voltage. The DC voltage generated in this way is adapted to be transmitted to the electric consumer via the cable connection. To improve such a universal power supply in such a way that it is possible to provide a high and stable voltage, even in the case of high power requirements in a reliable manner and at a reasonable price, without any additional components for e.g, heat dissipation being necessary, the AC/DC converter comprises as plurality of AC/DC converter components which, on the input side thereof, are connected in parallel with the AC source and which, on the output side thereof are connected serially to the electric consumer. |
| US08106534B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting end of battery life
A powering subassembly for a portable electronic device includes a main battery, a converter, a backup battery, and a controller. The main battery provides a main voltage and the backup battery can provide a backup voltage. The converter receives the main voltage and increases the main voltage to at least one operating voltage. The controller receives the operating voltage from the converter, monitors the voltage of the main battery, and compares the monitored main battery voltage to a main battery low voltage threshold. The controller transmits a disconnect signal to decouple the main battery from the converter if the monitored voltage from the main battery is less than the main battery low voltage threshold. The controller transmits a connection signal to couple the backup battery to the converter if the monitored voltage is less than the main battery low voltage threshold. The backup battery provides the power for a predetermined minimum amount of time. |
| US08106532B2 |
Illumination device of gradual dimming type after power interruption
This invention relates to an illumination device of gradual dimming after power interruption in which a built-in power storage unit and a gradual-dimming light intensity drive control unit are provided within the lamp body, the light emitting source of the illumination device being normally lightened by city power, the built-in power storage unit being charged by the city power simultaneously. When city power is interrupted, the power is switched to be supplied with the power coming from the built-in power storage unit and the gradual-dimming light intensity drive control unit is activated to control the gradual dimming of light intensity of the light emitting source. In this manner, the effect of energy saving and extension of illumination time can be obtained such that eyes of people can adapt to the light intensity change. In addition, the illumination device is safe and is convenient in use without any indoor wiring change or additional member added. |
| US08106524B2 |
Capacitor-compensation-type generator
In a capacitor-compensation-type generator having a rotor wound with a field winding, a stator wound with an output winding adapted to cross flux generated by the field winding to output AC power, and an internal combustion engine that drives the rotor to rotate relative to the stator, there are equipped with an actuator that changes the engine speed and an actuator controller that controls operation of the actuator in accordance with a constant voltage operation mode in which the engine speed is controlled to a desired speed such that a detected output voltage becomes a desired voltage, or a constant frequency operation mode in which the detected engine speed is controlled to a predetermined speed such that frequency of AC power outputted from the output winding becomes a desired frequency, thereby enabling to output AC power at constant voltage or frequency. |
| US08106519B2 |
Methods for pitch reduction
An integrated circuit described herein includes a substrate and a plurality of lines overlying the substrate. The lines define a plurality of first trenches and a plurality of second trenches. The plurality of first trenches extend into the substrate a distance different than that of the plurality of second trenches. Adjacent pairs of lines are separated by a first trench in the plurality of first trenches, and each pair of lines comprises a first line and a second line defining a corresponding second trench in the plurality of second trenches. |
| US08106518B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
In a semiconductor device in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are stacked, performance is enhanced without deteriorating productivity. The semiconductor device has a plurality of elements, an interlayer insulating film, a pad, and a bump electrode electrically connected with the pad sequentially formed on a main surface of a silicon substrate and has a back-surface electrode formed on a back surface of the silicon substrate and electrically connected with the bump electrode. The bump electrode has a protruding portion penetrating through the pad and protruding toward the silicon substrate side. The back-surface electrode is formed so as to reach the protruding portion of the bump electrode from the back surface side of the silicon substrate toward the main surface side and to cover the inside of a back-surface-electrode hole portion which does not reach the pad, so that the back-surface electrode is electrically connected with the bump electrode. |
| US08106517B2 |
Connecting and bonding adjacent layers with nanostructures
An apparatus, comprising two conductive surfaces or layers and a nanostructure assembly bonded to the two conductive surfaces or layers to create electrical or thermal connections between the two conductive surfaces or layers, and a method of making same. |
| US08106516B1 |
Wafer-level chip scale package
A chip scale package implements solder bars to form a connection between a chip and a trace, formed in a substrate, such as another chip or PCB. Solder bars are formed by depositing one or more solder layers into the socket, or optionally, depositing a base metal layer into the socket and applying the solder layer to the base metal layer. The geometry of a solder bars may be rectangular, square, or other regular or irregular geometry. Solder bars provide a greater utilization of the connectivity footprint and increase the electrical and thermal flow capacity. Solder bars also provide a robust connection. |
| US08106515B2 |
Local metallization and use thereof in semiconductor devices
An embodiment of the invention provides a method of creating local metallization in a semiconductor structure, and the use of local metallization so created in semiconductor structures. In one respect, the method includes forming an insulating layer on top of a semiconductor substrate; creating a plurality of voids inside the insulating layer, with the plurality of voids spanning across a predefined area and being substantially confined within a range of depth below a top surface of the insulating layer; creating at least one via hole in the insulating layer, with the via hole passing through the predefined area; and filling the via hole, and the plurality of voids inside the insulating layer through at least the via hole, with a conductive material to form a local metallization. A semiconductor structure having the local metallization is also provided. |
| US08106507B2 |
Semiconductor package having socket function, semiconductor module, electronic circuit module and circuit board with socket
Disclosed is a semiconductor package 3 including a socket 1 which is formed on the top surface 3a for enabling electrical conductivity and a connecting terminal 2 which is formed on the bottom surface 3b for enabling electrical conductivity. The socket 1a has a depressed shape, and a spiral contact 1 is formed in the depression 1c. An electronic circuit module is constructed by mounting and electrically connecting a semiconductor module wherein a plurality of semiconductor packages 3 is stacked on a circuit board. A circuit board with sockets is constructed by mounting a socket board on a circuit board. |
| US08106504B2 |
Stacking package structure with chip embedded inside and die having through silicon via and method of the same
The semiconductor device package structure includes a first die with a through silicon via (TSV) open from back side of the first die to expose bonding pads; a build up layer coupled between the bonding pads to terminal metal pads by the through silicon via (TSV); a substrate with a second die embedded inside and top circuit wiring and bottom circuit wiring on top and bottom side of the substrate respectively; and a conductive through hole structure coupled between the terminal metal pads to the top circuit wiring and the bottom circuit wiring. |
| US08106502B2 |
Integrated circuit packaging system with plated pad and method of manufacture thereof
A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: forming an external interconnect; forming a first planar terminal adjacent to the external interconnect and non-planar to a portion the external interconnect; mounting a first integrated circuit over the first planar terminal; connecting the first integrated circuit with the external interconnect; and forming an encapsulation over the first planar terminal covering the first integrated circuit and with the external interconnect extending from a non-horizontal side of the encapsulation and with the first planar terminal coplanar with the adjacent portion of the encapsulation exposing the first planar terminal. |
| US08106500B2 |
Stackable integrated circuit package system
A stackable integrated circuit package system includes: a substrate having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the substrate having a cavity provided therein; a first integrated circuit die in the cavity with a first interconnect extending out from the cavity without connection and a second interconnect connected to the first side; a first mold compound to cover the first integrated circuit die, the second interconnect, and a portion of the first interconnect; a second integrated circuit die mounted to the first integrated circuit die with a third interconnect connected to the second side; a second mold compound to cover the second integrated circuit die and the third interconnect; and external interconnects, not encapsulated by the second encapsulant, mounted on the second side. |
| US08106496B2 |
Semiconductor packaging system with stacking and method of manufacturing thereof
A semiconductor package comprises a semiconductor component (e.g., a die) and a via at least partially covered by an encapsulant. The encapsulant forms substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, with at least part of the via being exposed on the top surface. At least one conductive pad is exposed on the bottom surface, and the via can electrically couple the top and bottom surfaces, as well as couple the semiconductor component at the top and bottom surfaces. An additional semiconductor component can be coupled to the top surface with a circuit pattern formed on the top surface and coupled to the via. |
| US08106495B2 |
Semiconductor apparatus and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor apparatus includes a first wiring substrate, a second wiring substrate, a semiconductor chip, an adhesive layer and a molding resin. The second wiring substrate is stacked and connected on the first wiring substrate through a bump electrode. The semiconductor chip is mounted on the first wiring substrate by flip chip bonding and received between the first wiring substrate and the second wiring substrate. An upper surface of the semiconductor chip is subject to a mirror treatment. The adhesive layer is formed on the upper surface of the semiconductor chip. The molding resin is filled in a gap between the first wiring substrate and the second wiring substrate. |
| US08106493B2 |
Semiconductor device package having features formed by stamping
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the use of stamping to form features on a lead frame of a semiconductor device package. In one embodiment, portions of the lead frame such as pins are moved out of the horizontal plane of a diepad by stamping. In certain embodiments, indentations or a complex cross-sectional profile, such as chamfered, may be imparted to portions of the pins and/or diepad by stamping. The complexity offered by such a stamped cross-sectional profile serves to enhance mechanical interlocking of the lead frame within the plastic molding of the package body. Other techniques such as selective electroplating and/or formation of a brown oxide guard band to limit spreading of adhesive material during die attach, may be employed alone or in combination to facilitate fabrication of a package having such stamped features. |
| US08106491B2 |
Methods of forming stacked semiconductor devices with a leadframe and associated assemblies
A device is disclosed which includes a first packaged integrated circuit device, a second packaged integrated circuit device positioned above the first packaged integrated circuit device and a plurality of planar conductive members conductively coupling the first and second packaged integrated circuit devices to one another. A method is also disclosed which includes conductively coupling a plurality of extensions on a leadframe to each of a pair of stacked packaged integrated circuit devices and cutting the leadframe to singulate the extensions from one another. |
| US08106490B2 |
Semiconductor chip package
A semiconductor chip package comprises a lead frame having a chip carrier having a first surface and an opposite second surface. A first semiconductor chip is mounted on the first surface, having a plurality of bonding pads thereon, wherein the first semiconductor chip has an area larger that that of the chip carrier. A package substrate has a central region attached to the second surface of the chip carrier, having an area larger than that of the first semiconductor chip, wherein the package substrate comprises a plurality of fingers on a top surface thereof in a marginal region of the package substrate, which are arranged in an array with a row of inner fingers adjacent to the first semiconductor chip and a row of outer fingers adjacent to an edge of the package substrate, wherein the inner and outer fingers are electrically connected to the bonding pads of the first semiconductor chip and the lead frame respectively. |
| US08106487B2 |
Semiconductor device having an inorganic coating layer applied over a junction termination extension
A semiconductor device includes an inorganic coating layer to at least partially cover a junction termination extension. |
| US08106486B2 |
Electronic apparatus with an electrical conductor in the form of a liquid and an electrical insulator with a light-curing property
In a method of making an electronic apparatus, electronic devices and a mold are placed in a package such that pads of electronic devices are covered with the mold. An electrical insulator is poured into the package, in which the mold is placed, to fill the package. The mold is removed from the electrical insulator to form a space where the pads are exposed. An electrical conductor is placed in the space such that the pads are electrically connected together through the electrical conductor. The electrical conductor is in the form of a liquid or a solid having both fluidity and deformability. |
| US08106485B2 |
Chemical oxide removal of plasma damaged SiCOH low k dielectrics
A structure and method for removing damages of a dual damascene structure after plasma etching. The method includes the use of sublimation processes to deposit reactive material onto the damaged regions and conditions to achieve a controlled removal of the damaged region. Furthermore a semiconductor structure includes a dual damascene structure that has been treated by the method. |
| US08106481B2 |
Semiconductor devices with graded dopant regions
Most semiconductor devices manufactured today, have uniform dopant concentration, either in the lateral or vertical device active (and isolation) regions. By grading the dopant concentration, the performance in various semiconductor devices can be significantly improved. Performance improvements can be obtained in application specific areas like increase in frequency of operation for digital logic, various power MOSFET and IGBT ICS, improvement in refresh time for DRAM's, decrease in programming time for nonvolatile memory, better visual quality including pixel resolution and color sensitivity for imaging ICs, better sensitivity for varactors in tunable filters, higher drive capabilities for JFET's, and a host of other applications. |
| US08106475B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate formed with a plurality of first element isolation trenches having respective first opening widths and a plurality of second element isolation trenches having larger opening widths than the first opening widths, element isolation insulating films buried in the first element isolation trenches so that upper parts of the trenches have partial openings, respectively and buried in the second element isolation trenches respectively, and coating type oxide films formed so as to fill the openings of the first element isolation trenches, respectively. The coating-type oxide films are not buried in the second element isolation insulating trenches. |
| US08106470B2 |
Triple-axis MEMS accelerometer having a bottom capacitor
An integrated circuit structure includes a substrate having a top surface; a first conductive layer over and contacting the top surface of the substrate; a dielectric layer over and contacting the first conductive layer, wherein the dielectric layer includes an opening exposing a portion of the first conductive layer; and a proof-mass in the opening and including a second conductive layer at a bottom of the proof-mass. The second conductive layer is spaced apart from the portion of the first conductive layer by an air space. Springs anchor the proof-mass to portions of the dielectric layer encircling the opening. The springs are configured to allow the proof-mass to make three-dimensional movements. |
| US08106468B2 |
Process for fabricating silicon-on-nothing MOSFETs
A semiconductor device includes a gate stack; an air-gap under the gate stack; a semiconductor layer vertically between the gate stack and the air-gap; and a first dielectric layer underlying and adjoining the semiconductor layer. The first dielectric layer is exposed to the air-gap. |
| US08106460B2 |
Insulated gate semiconductor device
A protection diode group includes multiple protection diodes connected to each other in parallel. A total junction area average of the protection diode group is set to a value large enough to guarantee a desired electrostatic discharge tolerance. By setting the total junction area average to be equal to a junction area average of a conventional structure, the occupation area of the protection diode group on the chip is reduced while the ESD tolerance is made equal to a conventional ESD tolerance. |
| US08106459B2 |
FinFETs having dielectric punch-through stoppers
A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate; a planar transistor on a first portion of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first portion of the semiconductor substrate has a first top surface; and a multiple-gate transistor on a second portion of the semiconductor substrate. The second portion of the semiconductor substrate is recessed from the first top surface to form a fin of the multiple-gate transistor. The fin is electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate by an insulator. |
| US08106454B2 |
Power semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same
A vertical power semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type formed in both a cell section and a termination section, the termination section surrounding the cell section, a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type formed on the first semiconductor layer in the cell section, a third semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type formed in part on the second semiconductor layer, and a guard ring layer of the second conductivity type formed on the first semiconductor layer in the termination section. Net impurity concentration in the guard ring layer is generally sloped so as to be relatively high on its lower side and relatively low on its upper side. Alternatively, the net impurity concentration in the guard ring layer is constant. |
| US08106453B2 |
Semiconductor device having super junction structure
A semiconductor device having a super junction structure includes: multiple first columns extending in a current flowing direction; and multiple second columns extending in the current flowing direction. The first and second columns are alternately arranged in an alternating direction. Each first column provides a drift layer. The first and second columns have a boundary therebetween, from which a depletion layer expands in case of an off-state. At least one of the first columns and the second columns have an impurity dose, which is inhomogeneous by location with respect to the alternating direction. |
| US08106450B2 |
Semiconductor device having a saddle fin shaped gate and method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device having a saddle fin gate and a method for manufacturing the same are presented. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, an isolation structure, and gates. The semiconductor substrate is defined with first grooves in gate forming areas. The isolation structure is formed in the semiconductor substrate and is defined with second grooves which expose front and rear surfaces of the gate forming areas. The gates are formed within the first grooves in the gate forming areas. Gates are also formed in the second grooves of the isolation structure to cover the exposed front and rear surfaces of the gate forming areas. The second grooves are wider at the lower portions that at the upper portions. |
| US08106449B2 |
Semiconductor device
To achieve a stable reading operation in a memory cell having a gain-cell structure, a write transistor is configured, which has a source and a drain that are formed on the insulating layer, a channel formed on the insulating layer and between the source and the drain and made of a semiconductor, and a gate formed on an upper portion of the insulating layer and between the source and the drain and electrically insulated from the channel by a gate insulating film and controlling the potential of the channel. The channel electrically connects the source and the drain on the side surfaces of the source and the drain. |
| US08106447B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
Disclosed herein is a semiconductor device, including: a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type; a second semiconductor region having pairs of first pillar regions of the first conductivity type, and second pillar regions of a second conductivity type alternately provided; a third semiconductor region of the second conductivity type; a fourth semiconductor region of the first conductivity type; and control electrodes each provided within a trench through an insulating film, a sidewall of the trench being formed so as to contact each of the third semiconductor region and the fourth semiconductor region. |
| US08106446B2 |
Trench MOSFET with deposited oxide
A trench type power semiconductor device which includes deposited rather than grown oxide in the trenches for the electrical isolation of electrodes disposed inside the trenches from the semiconductor body. |
| US08106444B2 |
Semiconductor device
Provided is a semiconductor device including: source-drain regions formed on a silicon substrate with a channel forming region sandwiched therebetween; a word gate electrode formed on the channel forming region via a word gate insulating film not including a charge storage layer; a control gate formed on the silicon substrate on one side of the word gate electrode via a trap insulating film including a charge storage layer; and a control gate formed on the silicon substrate on the other side of the word gate electrode via a trap insulating film including a charge storage layer. A bottom of the word gate electrode is made to be higher than the control gate and a bottom of the control gate, and a level difference between the bottoms of the electrodes is made to be larger than a physical film thickness of the word gate insulating film. |
| US08106438B2 |
Stud capacitor device and fabrication method
The present teachings relate to a method of forming a container capacitor structure on a substrate. In one embodiment, the method comprises etching a recess in the substrate, depositing a first conductive layer on the substrate so as to overlie the substrate and the recess, depositing a filler layer so as to overlie the first conductive layer and fill the recess, and etching the first and second conductive layers so as to define a lower electrode within the recess. The method further comprises forming a cap layer on the lower electrode so as to overlie the first conductive layer and the filler layer and etching at least a portion of the substrate away from the lower electrode to thereby at least partially isolate the lower electrode. Subsequently, the remainder of the capacitor structure may be formed by depositing a dielectric layer on the lower electrode and depositing a second conductive layer on the dielectric layer so as to form an upper electrode. |
| US08106430B2 |
Preparation of thin film transistors (TFTs) or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags or other printable electronics using ink-jet printer and carbon nanotube inks
The invented ink-jet printing method for the construction of thin film transistors using all SWNTs on flexible plastic films is a new process. This method is more practical than all of existing printing methods in the construction TFT and RFID tags because SWNTs have superior properties of both electrical and mechanical over organic conducting oligomers and polymers which are often used for TFT. Furthermore, this method can be applied on thin films such as paper and plastic films while silicon based techniques cannot be used on such flexible films. These are superior to the traditional conducting polymers used in printable devices since they need no dopant and they are more stable. They could be used in conjunction with conducting polymers, or as stand-alone inks. |
| US08106429B2 |
Image sensor and manufacturing method thereof
Disclosed is an image sensor. The image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a lower interconnection, a plurality of upper interconnection sections protruding upward from the semiconductor substrate, a first trench disposed between the upper interconnection sections such that the upper interconnection sections are spaced apart from each other, a bottom electrode disposed on an outer peripheral surfaces of the upper interconnection sections, a first conductive layer disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the bottom electrode, an intrinsic layer disposed on the semiconductor substrate including the first conductive layer and the first trench, and having a second trench on the first trench, a second conductive layer disposed on the intrinsic layer and having a third trench on the second trench, a light blocking part disposed in the third trench, and a top electrode disposed on the light blocking part and the second conductive layer. |
| US08106428B2 |
Nano-scale bridge biosensors
Devices, systems, and methods for detecting nucleic acid hybridization, including single nucleic base mutations at low concentrations, are disclosed, using capture units having nanoparticles with attached single-stranded oligonucleotides that are capable of hybridizing target oligonucleotides and reporter molecules having nanoparticles with attached single-stranded oligonucleotides, without the use of labeling or target modification. |
| US08106418B2 |
Light emitting device
A light emitting device includes a first lead and a second lead. The first lead has a top surface which a light emitting element is mounted thereon and a bottom surface opposed to the top surface. The second lead has a lead peripheral region where a wire connected to an electrode of the light emitting element is bonded therewith. The first lead includes a lead middle region where the semiconductor light emitting element is mounted thereon to thermally conduct therewith. A bottom surface of the lead middle region is exposed from a package. The second lead has an outer lead region that is projected outwardly from the both side surfaces of the package. The bottom surface of the first lead middle region is substantially coplanar with a bottom surface of the outer lead region. |
| US08106413B2 |
Light emitting device with a porous alumina reflector made of aggregation of alumina particles
A light emitting device is provided which has a reflector having a reflection surface made of porous alumina having an apparent density of 2.5 to 3.3 g/cm3, and an LED disposed on the reflection surface or near the reflection surface. There are provided: a light emitting device equipped with an LED chip and a reflector having a high reflectivity relative to near infrared to ultraviolet rays irradiated from an LED chip and fluorescent material; and the reflector. |
| US08106411B2 |
Light emitting device
A light emitting device made in accordance with principles of the disclosed subject matter can provide countermeasures against static electricity and can be configured in a relatively small size. The lighting emitting device can include both a first conductor pattern and a second conductor pattern on an insulating board. In one example, a first LED chip having a high electrostatic breakdown voltage is electrically connected to the first conductor pattern and a second LED chip having a low electrostatic breakdown voltage is electrically connected to the second conductor pattern. The LED chips can be encapsulated with an encapsulating resin on the insulating board. At least part of the first conductor pattern is exposed at a farther position than a furthest portion of the second conductor pattern from a mounting surface so as to act as a lightning rod. Thus, the second LED chip having a low electrostatic breakdown voltage can be protected from static electricity by the first conductor pattern that is connected to the first LED chip. |
| US08106410B2 |
Method of manufacturing display device and display device
A method of manufacturing a display device including the steps of: forming drive elements on a substrate; forming a planarization film in a position corresponding to each of the drive elements; forming a bottom electrode corresponding to each of the plurality of organic light emitting elements; forming a pixel isolation insulating film in a region between the bottom electrodes; forming an organic layer including a light emission layer above the bottom electrode by evaporation using an evaporation mask; and forming a top electrode over the organic layer. In the step of forming the bottom electrode includes the steps of: forming a bottom electrode material film; forming a photoresist film on the bottom electrode material film; exposing the photoresist film using the evaporation mask and developing it; and selectively removing the bottom electrode material film by etching using the photoresist film as a mask. |