| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08171567B1 |
Authentication method and system
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the production and labeling of objects in a manner suitable for the prevention and detection of counterfeiting. Thus, the system incorporates a variety of features that make unauthorized reproduction difficult. In addition, the present invention provides a system and method for providing a dynamically reconfigurable watermark, and the use of the watermark to encode a stochastically variable property of the carrier medium for self-authentication purposes. |
| US08171563B2 |
Secure message system with remote decryption service
Systems and methods for secure messaging are provided. A sender may encrypt content and send the encrypted content to a recipient over a communications network. The encrypted content may be decrypted for the recipient using a remote decryption service. Encrypted message content may be placed into a markup language form. Encrypted content may be incorporated into the form as a hidden form element. Form elements for collecting recipient credential information such as username and password information may also be incorporated into the form. At the recipient, the recipient may use the form to provide recipient credential information to the remote decryption service. The recipient may also use the form to upload the encrypted content from the form to the decryption service. The decryption service may provide the recipient with access to a decrypted version of the uploaded content over the communications network. |
| US08171560B2 |
Secure content pre-distribution to designated systems
Described is a technology by which encrypted content is pre-distributed to recipients during a pre-distribution timeframe, for example to distribute protected content to many clients in a controlled manner. At a release moment, a key for decrypting the encrypted content is released. For example, a software update may be pre-distributed in this manner, whereby many clients may receive the updates over time but the update cannot be analyzed for hacking purposes, e.g., to use the update to figure out a prior vulnerability. By rapidly and widely disseminating the key at the release moment, the update is installed on a large percentage of client systems before those systems can be exploited. The content may be allowed to expire before the key is released, or may be canceled or replaced. The content may include a complete file, and/or a delta file that changes another file into a resultant piece of content. |
| US08171555B2 |
Determining technology-appropriate remediation for vulnerability
A machine-actionable memory comprises one or more machine-actionable records arranged according to a data structure. Such a data structure may include links that respectively map between: a RID field, the contents of which denote an identification (ID) of a remediation (RID); at least one TID field, the contents of which denotes an ID of at least two technologies (TIDs), respectively; and at least one ACTID field, the contents of which denotes an ID of an action (ACTID). A method, of selecting a remediation that is appropriate to a technology present on a machine to be remediated, may include: providing such a machine-actionable memory; and indexing into the memory using a given RID value and a given TID value to determine values of the at-least-one ACTID corresponding to the given RID value and appropriate to the given TID value. |
| US08171553B2 |
Heuristic based capture with replay to virtual machine
A suspicious activity capture system can comprise a tap configured to copy network data from a communication network, and a controller. The controller is coupled to the tap and is configured to receive the copy of the network data from the tap, analyze the copy of the network data with a heuristic to flag the network data as suspicious, and simulate transmission of the network data to a destination device. |
| US08171552B1 |
Simultaneous execution of multiple anti-virus programs
An anti-virus program executes simultaneously with another anti-virus program by accessing a function (target) driver in the driver model directly instead of traversing each filter driver in the driver model as is conventionally done. The filter driver component of the anti-virus program avoids deadlock and infinite execution loops by bypassing filter drivers of other executing anti-virus programs and other filter drivers and going straight to the driver that will be performing the specific function, such as opening a file for scanning. This is done by having the filter driver component of the anti-virus program obtain directly the handle of the function driver that will perform the function needed by the anti-virus program and thereby avoiding the filter drivers of other programs, specifically other anti-virus programs, that can prevent completion of the required function. |
| US08171550B2 |
System and method for defining and detecting pestware with function parameters
A system and method for defining and detecting pestware is described. In one embodiment, a pestware file is received and at least a portion of the pestware file is placed into a processor-readable memory. A plurality of execution paths within code of the pestware file are followed and for each of a plurality of selected function calls within the execution paths of the pestware file, at least one parameter from each of the function calls is retrieved so as to obtain a plurality of parameters. A representation of each of the parameters is then stored in a processor-readable pestware-definition file, which is sent to a plurality of client devices. |
| US08171549B2 |
Apparatus, methods and articles of manufacture for intercepting, examining and controlling code, data, files and their transfer
Apparatus, methods and articles of manufacture are disclosed for analyzing code. A valuation component, which provides a value for analyzed code is comprised of a tokenization component, hashing component and numerical valuation component. As code is transferred through the components, a numerical value for the code is generated. The valuation may occur through hashing, probability analysis and comparison against a proscribed code indicator. |
| US08171543B2 |
Electronic trip units with limited read/write access
A method of limiting read/write access of information stored on an electronic trip unit is disclosed. The method includes requesting a valid password on one of a communication port of the electronic trip unit and a display device of the electronic trip unit, receiving a password at a processor of the electronic trip unit in response to the request, determining if the received password is valid based on password information stored on a memory of the electronic trip unit, and limiting read/write access of information stored on the electronic trip unit based on the determination. |
| US08171542B2 |
Advanced encryption standard to provide hardware key interface
A system to control access to at least one protected device, the system comprising a test access port operable to mate with an external key device and an internal key device that is operable to receive synchronized cipher words during an idle state of the test access port from a removable external key device. The internal key device is also operable to receive test signals via the external key device and to input the received test signals to the protected device based on the synchronized cipher words. The protected device and the internal key device are one of located within a closed chassis, located under a protective security coating, located within a multi-chip-module, located within a closed integrated circuit package, and combinations thereof. |
| US08171541B2 |
Enabling provider network inter-working with mobile access
Various example embodiments are disclosed herein. In an example embodiment, a method may comprise authenticating a subscriber based upon one or more messages received from a subscriber equipment, via an Access Network Gateway (ANG); sending an access authorization message to the ANG authorizing the subscriber equipment; and wherein the access authorization message includes an address of a tunnel endpoint node and a tunnel method identifier (ID) to be used by the ANG to establish a tunnel between the ANG and the tunnel endpoint node for the subscriber equipment. |
| US08171540B2 |
Method and system for E-mail management of E-mail having embedded classification metadata
A method and system method for e-mail management of e-mails having embedded classification metadata. A query from an end user to access an e-mail account by an e-mail client is received. It is then determined whether the query has come from an insecure e-mail client, such as a web e-mail client. Access rules for defining classification access restrictions for the e-mail client to access e-mail in the e-mail account are retrieved when the e-mail client is determined to be insecure. The e-mail query can then be modified before sending to an e-mail server storing the email account. The query is modified based on the retrieved access rules to exclude retrieval of e-mails based upon the e-mail classification metadata. |
| US08171539B2 |
Methods and apparatus for implementing a search tree
Apparatus and methods are provided for implementing a firewall in a network infrastructure component. A method comprises generating a search tree for a plurality of rules. The search tree comprises a first node having a first field bounds and a first set of rules of the plurality of rules, and a plurality of child nodes for the first node. Each child node has child field bounds based on an intersection of the first field bounds and the first set of rules, and each child node is assigned a respective subset of the first set of rules based on the respective child field bounds. The method further comprises receiving a first packet, identifying a first child node of the plurality of child nodes based on values for one or more fields of the first packet, and applying the respective subset of rules assigned to the first child node to the first packet. |
| US08171536B2 |
Method and apparatus for authenticating users in a network
Methods, apparatuses, and techniques for authenticating users of a network are described. Once a user has been authenticated on a first network, authentication information from the first network can be used by the user to gain access to the user's accounts on other networks using the same or different network enabled devices or consoles. |
| US08171532B2 |
Management apparatus, management method and recording medium storing program
A management apparatus which includes: a receiving unit that receives first authorization information for a first document that is already issued and contains document identification information identifying at least one document for which it is possible to issue authorization information and an issuance request requesting that second authorization information for a second document be issued; a verifying unit that verifies authenticity of the first authorization information that is received by the receiving unit; a checking unit that, in a case where the authenticity of the first authorization information is verified, checks whether or not document identification information identifying the second document is included in the first authorization information; and an issuing unit that, in a case where the document identification information identifying the second document is included in the first authorization information, issues the second authorization information. |
| US08171528B1 |
Hybrid device having a personal digital key and receiver-decoder circuit and methods of use
A hybrid device includes a personal digital key (PDK) and a receiver-decoder circuit (RDC). The PDK and RDC of the hybrid device are coupled for communication with each other. In one embodiment, the hybrid device also provides a physical interconnect for connecting to other devices to send and receive control signals and data, and receive power. The hybrid device operates in one of several modes including, PDK only, RDC only, or PDK and RDC. This allows a variety of system configurations for mixed operation including: PDK/RDC, RDC/RDC or PDK/PDK. The present invention also includes a number of system configurations for use of the hybrid device including: use of the hybrid device in a cell phone; simultaneous use of the PDK and the RDC functionality of hybrid device; use of multiple links of hybrid device to generate an authorization signal, use of multiple PDK links to the hybrid device to generate an authorization signal; and use of the hybrid device for authorization inheritance. |
| US08171526B2 |
Service providing system, information processing apparatus, service providing server and service providing method
A service providing system is disclosed. The service providing system includes an information processing apparatus and a service providing server, each having an authentication mechanism, that are connected via a network, wherein the information processing apparatus and the service providing server provides a service in response to a request by an authenticated user. The information processing apparatus includes: an information obtaining part for obtaining authentication information for performing authentication in the service providing server wherein the authentication information is associated with a user authenticated in the information processing apparatus; and a process request part for sending a process request including the authentication information to the service providing server. |
| US08171522B2 |
Systems and processes for managing policy change in a distributed enterprise
A method for managing changes to policies in an enterprise includes receiving a systems policy change request to change a systems policy that implements a published enterprise policy, determining whether the requested systems policy change complies with the published enterprise policy, and updating the systems policy according to the requested systems policy change if the requested systems policy change complies with the published enterprise policy. A system for managing policies in an enterprise includes a policy management module configured for receiving published policies and generating corresponding systems policies having data for implementing the published policies, and a policy library storing the published policies and the systems policies. |
| US08171516B2 |
Methods, systems, and storage mediums for providing multi-viewpoint media sharing of proximity-centric content
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to methods, systems, and storage mediums for providing multi-viewpoint, media-sharing activities related to proximity-centric media content associated with an event whereby the media-sharing activities are performed via portable communications devices. The method includes identifying an alternate feed of media content by a first portable communications device that was captured by a second portable communications device at the event. The method also includes performing real-time auditioning of the media content by the first portable communications device for assessing a vantage point of the media content with respect to the event. The method further includes receiving the alternate feed of media content at the first portable communications device in response to a request transmitted by the first portable communications device. The first portable communications device and the second portable communications device are in geographic propinquity of the event. |
| US08171510B2 |
Method for using banner advertisements during commercial breaks
Apparatus is provided by which a television viewer can view other images e.g. during commercials or main program. For example, during a commercial, a viewer may channel surf or surf the internet. A banner is provided on a viewing screen while the viewer watches these other images. In this way the advertiser providing those commercials can still reach those viewers who are channel or internet surfing. Also, the banner will indicate to the viewer when the commercial is over and the normal programming has resumed. In another embodiment, during the main program user can activate one or more small commercial windows and position them on the screen based on his preference, e.g. using a remote device. Information is communicated to a broadcaster by the viewer's video system indicating the above-mentioned commercial windows are open on the viewer's screen. When each commercial window is positioned on the screen the viewer receives compensation based on the amount of time the commercial windows are displaying commercials to the viewer. All or part of commercial windows automatically close when a main commercial block starts. The commercial windows automatically open when the main commercial block finishes. In one embodiment, the viewer can turn the commercial windows ON/OFF on his discretion. |
| US08171507B2 |
Using network server to establish TV setting
TV settings such as brightness can be established by sending from a TV signals from an ambient light sensor to a network server, with the network server establishing settings such as brightness in response for a program being played on the TV. |
| US08171506B2 |
Optical-system driving device effecting switchover between objective lenses for achieving focal spots
An optical-system driving device is achieved that can switch over between objective lenses and is space-saving, lightweight, and simply-configured. An optical-system driving device for recording information onto or playing it back from an optical storage medium, includes a stationary unit having a rotation axis; a movable unit pivotable about the rotation axis; pivotal movement means for pivotally moving the movable unit about the rotation axis; and the movable unit includes a holder having a plurality of optical means that is able to focus a beam of light onto the optical storage medium, and a plurality of conductive elastic members for supporting the holder, wherein an optical axis of each of the plurality of optical means is located substantially equidistant from the rotation axis, and the optical means for focusing the beam of light onto the optical storage medium is selected by pivotally moving the movable unit with the rotation means. |
| US08171505B2 |
Disc drive device
To provide a disc drive device which does not spend a lot of money on components and requires the less number of components than the conventional technology and has a function to correctly dispose an inserted disc by a slot-in method at a place where the disc can be driven according to the size of the disc. The disc drive device comprises an abutment pad which receives the inserted disc in a different posture depending on the size of the disc, a coupling member which rotationally transfers by a different distance at a different position according to the posture of the abutment pad when it rotationally transfers along with the bring-in operation of the disc, and a spring which applies a predetermined energizing force to the coupling member. Due to the coupled operation of these components, etc., the inserted disc can be correctly disposed at a predetermined place where the disc can be driven according to the size of the disc. |
| US08171504B1 |
System and method for using virtual machine for driver installation sandbox
A method, system and computer program product for providing driver functionality in computing system includes installing an operating system on the computing system; forming a plurality of isolated sandboxes running on the computing system under control of the operating system; during an attempt to install a driver, installing driver stub in the operating system; installing the driver in one of the isolated sandboxes, wherein the driver directly uses at least part of system resources; using a gateway between the driver stub and the installed driver to provide an interface for transmitting requests from the driver stub to driver. |
| US08171501B2 |
Use of modes for computer cluster management
A system, method and computer program product for managing a plurality of applications in a computer cluster. Each application is able to run on a particular node in the cluster. In one embodiment, associations are maintained among a plurality of modes and the plurality of applications, with each application being associated with at least one mode. Responsive to designation of at least one mode as active for the cluster, each application that is associated with an active mode is flagged as eligible for activation, each inactive application that is not associated with any active mode is flagged as ineligible for activation, and each active application that is not associated with any active mode is flagged as ineligible for activation and inactivated. Flagging as eligible, flagging as ineligible and flagging as ineligible and inactivating may be performed in any order, and inactivating is sequenced according to dependencies among the applications. |
| US08171494B2 |
Providing identity to a portal with a redirect
In an example embodiment, a method is provided to receive a request message. A client that transmitted the request message then is identified. Here, the client is associated with a client identifier. The client identifier is inserted into a response message, and this response message includes a redirect to a portal. The response message then is transmitted. |
| US08171493B2 |
VXML browser control channel
A system to allow external applications to interact with an operating VXML browser include a VXML browser operating on a processor having a VXML interpreter. A control is operably interconnected between the external application and the VXML interpreter using a communication channel. The control inserts the commands into the VXML interpreter, which are processed by the VXML browser in a conventional manner to allow the external application to interact with the operating VXML browser. |
| US08171492B2 |
Systems and/or methods for end-to-end business process management, business event management, and/or business activity monitoring
The example embodiments disclosed herein relate to application integration techniques built around the publish-and-subscribe model (or one of its variants). In certain example embodiments, application integration techniques for managing and/or monitoring a business process comprising a plurality of activities, events, and/or objects located in at least one resource external to the application integration system and a process engine thereof are provided. During design time, by introspecting the business object types involved in the activities, events, and/or objects of the at least one resource, potential state changes may be identified, and an integrative linkage may be established, with the integrative linkage being managed and maintained by a process monitoring agent (PMA). During runtime, the PMA may “listen” to the business object state changes in the at least one external resource and notify the local process engine accordingly. |
| US08171490B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for deferred completion of multi-step user transaction applications
Disclosed are server features for allowing a client user to defer completion of multi-step user transaction applications (“MUTAs”) and later resume the MUTA. One disclosed feature is providing a selectable deferral action in a page implementing part of the MUTA, e.g., HTML, XML, JavaScript/ECMA Script document. If the client user selects to defer completion, a state object is created by the server and stores state information including information previously entered during the MUTA. The server provides a resumption object to the user including a resource for resuming the deferred MUTA. When the user selects the resource, state information stored in the state object is loaded and the use may complete the remainder of the MUTA. An additionally disclosed aspect is automatic state saving where sate information is stored automatically during multiple steps in the MUTA; the user then need not select deferral. |
| US08171489B2 |
Task switching with state preservation for programs running on an electronic device
A method and system providing switching between a plurality of installed programs in a computer system. Embodiments include a jump function comprising the steps: (1) determining a jump program that is to be the next program to be run, possibly from a plurality of possible choices; (2) creating input data for the jump program based on data in the current program; (3) storing the program state of the currently running program into a context packet and saving the context packet to memory; (4) releasing temporary memory that is used by the program, so as to allow other programs to use the memory; (5) calling the jump program with the created input data as input and terminating the currently running program. |
| US08171488B1 |
Alternating scheduling and descheduling of coscheduled contexts
Management of contexts that execute on a computer system is described. More specifically, context scheduling in a virtual machine environment is described. A set of coscheduled contexts, including at least a first context and a second context, are monitored. The first and second contexts are alternately scheduled and descheduled so that both the first context and the second context are not concurrently scheduled. |
| US08171487B2 |
Method for processing work items of a workflow system
A method for processing work items of a workflow system is done in the following manner. Information identifying work items from a server responsible for handling work items is retrieved based at least on a set of configuration rules. The information is stored in a cache. In response to a work item request form an application, matching work items are searched for in the cache, and a piece of information identifying the requested work item is delivered to the application in response to finding at least one work item matching the work item request from the application. Statistics on work item requests are maintained, and the set of configuration rules are modified according to the statistics. |
| US08171485B2 |
Method and system for managing virtual and real machines
Managing virtual and real machines through a provisioning system. The provisioning system allows a user to create and manage machines through a “self-service” approach. The provisioning system interacts with one or more agents that manage the lifecycle of a machine. The system may provide templates that enable a user to readily create a virtual machine. The system may also include interfaces for administrators to manage virtual and real machine resources. |
| US08171484B2 |
Resource management apparatus and radio network controller
A resource management apparatus includes a resource management part to manage an amount of resources used and an amount of virtual resources of each of a plurality of processing units, a selection and control part to select a processing unit having a smallest sum of the amount of resources used and the amount of virtual resources in response to an external process request, and to increase the amount of resources used by the selected processing unit and to decrease the amount of resources used by a processing unit corresponding to an external process release request in response to the process release request, a virtual resource control part to increase the amount of virtual resources of the processing unit corresponding to the process release request in response to the process release request, and a request sending part to send the external process request or process release request to the selected or corresponding processing unit. |
| US08171480B2 |
Method and apparatus for allocating shared resources to process domains according to current processor utilization in a shared resource processor
In a processing system which includes a physical processor that includes multiple logical processors, multiple domains are defined for multiple processes that can execute on the physical processor. Each of the processes is assigned to one of the domains. Processor utilization associated with the logical processors is measured, and each of the domains is allocated to a subset of the logical processors according to the processor utilization. |
| US08171479B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing an aggregate view of enumerated system resources from various isolation layers
A method for presenting an aggregate view of native resources includes the step of enumerating a plurality of system-scoped native resources provided by a system scope. A plurality of application-scoped native resources provided by an application isolation scope are enumerated, some of which correspond to some of the plurality of system-scoped resources. For one of the plurality of system-scoped resources, the existence of a corresponding one of the plurality of application-scoped resources is determined and the corresponding one of the plurality of application-scoped resources is included in an aggregate view of native resources. |
| US08171478B2 |
Method for packet flow control using credit parameters with a plurality of limits
The present invention relates to a processor (1) and a method for a processor comprising processing means (2), the method comprising the steps of—admitting a data packet (D1, D2, D3) to the processing means (2) based at least partly on a value (CS1) of a first credit, parameter and a first limit (L1S1) of the first credit parameter,—decreasing the value (CS1) of the first credit parameter if the data packet (D1, D2, D3) is admitted to the processing means (2), and—increasing the value (CS1) of the first credit parameter, in dependence on a value (CS2) of a second credit parameter, based on which a data packet (D1, D2, D3) is admitted to the processing means (2). |
| US08171476B2 |
Wake-and-go mechanism with prioritization of threads
A hardware private array is a thread state storage that is embedded within the processor or within logic associated with a bus or wake-and-go logic. The hardware private array and/or wake-and-go array may have a limited storage area. Therefore, each thread may have an associated priority. If there is insufficient space in the hardware private array, then the wake-and-go mechanism may compare the priority of the thread to the priorities of the threads already stored in the hardware private array and wake-and-go array. If the thread has a higher priority than at least one thread already stored in the hardware private array and wake-and-go array, then the wake-and-go mechanism may remove a lowest priority thread, meaning the thread is removed from hardware private array and wake-and-go array and converted to a flee model. |
| US08171468B2 |
Downloading and upgrading terminal software over the air of a wireless device
The technology downloads and upgrades terminal software of a communications device over-the-air in a efficient and fail-safe manner. The communication device is provided with radio software from a server via a wireless network including a number of access networks. A download is initiated of radio software designed for a first of two different radio access technologies of the communication device. One of the two radio access technologies of the communication device is selected for downloading the software. The radio software is downloaded via the selected available radio access technology. The radio software designed for the first radio access technology is stored in memory. |
| US08171466B2 |
Hitless application upgrade for SIP server architecture
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server can be comprised of an engine tier and a state tier distributed on a cluster network environment. The engine tier can send, receive and process various messages. The state tier can maintain in-memory state data associated with various SIP sessions. Various applications can be running on the engine tier. A new version of an application can be deployed alongside the old version, simultaneously running on the SIP server. Incoming messages for new calls can be directed by the SIP server to the new version of the application. Incoming messages for previously established calls can be directed to the old version of the application. Once the old version is finished processing calls, it can be undeployed. |
| US08171465B2 |
Applicable patch selection device and applicable patch selection method
An applicable patch selection device comprises a first extraction unit for extracting, on the basis of information on an application target system, information on all the patches unapplied to the application target system from among information on released patches, an input unit to which a user's policy is input, a second extraction unit for extracting, in accordance with the user's policy input into the input unit, information on an unapplied patch to be actually applied to the application target system from among the information on all the unapplied patches extracted by the first extraction unit, and an unapplied patch obtainment unit for obtaining an unapplied patch corresponding to the information, extracted by the second extraction unit, on the unapplied patch to be actually applied to the application target system. |
| US08171461B1 |
Primitive program compilation for flat attributes with provoking vertex independence
Systems and methods for compiling high-level primitive programs are used to generate primitive program micro-code for execution by a primitive processor. A compiler is configured to produce micro-code for a specific target primitive processor based on the target primitive processor's capabilities. The compiler supports features of the high-level primitive program by providing conversions for different applications programming interface conventions, determining output primitive types, initializing attribute arrays based on primitive input profile modifiers, and determining vertex set lengths from specified primitive input types. |
| US08171459B2 |
System and method for software performance testing and determining a frustration index
A system and method for determining a frustration index for a software suite based upon the measurements of the software's performance. The frustration index communicates the overall state of a customer's performance-related user experience as defined by a set of testing criteria and specified testing scenarios. Actual test measurements of one or more pre-specified criteria in one or more pre-specified testing scenarios or operating environments are first received, calculated or otherwise determined. Priority weights are provided for each of the pre-specified criteria in each of the pre-specified testing scenarios. Actual test measurements are then compared to target quantities, to provide a delta percentage between the actual measurements and the target quantities. The frustration index (or indices) is calculated as the result of a ratio of the delta percentage between the actual and the target to the priority weight of the criterion. |
| US08171458B2 |
Method for source-related risk detection and alert generation
A method and system for detecting a source-related risk and generating an alert concerning the source-related risk are disclosed. Criteria of the source-related risk are defined. Thresholds associated with the source-related risk are defined. Every operation on an object is detected. If an operation on an object satisfies a criterion among the criteria or if the operation causes to exceed a threshold among the thresholds, an alert is generated for the operation. |
| US08171457B2 |
Autonomic test case feedback using hardware assistance for data coverage
Illustrative embodiments disclose presenting coverage data relating to data access occurring during execution of code. The coverage data containing data access indicators associated with memory locations is obtained. The data access indicators that have been set by a processor in the data processing system in response to access of the memory locations during execution of the code by the processor are identified to form set data access indicators. Each set instruction access indicator is associated with a portion of the memory locations allocated for the code. A presentation for coverage data is generated, wherein the set data access indicators are identified in the presentation. |
| US08171455B2 |
Test sequencer and method for management and execution of sequence items
A test sequencer software application and method for management and execution of sequence items. The test sequencer software application includes a management module and an execution module. The management module has capabilities of obtaining multiple sequence items definitions, of obtaining configuration information, of creating multiple lists of ordered sequence items from the sequence items definitions, and of separately linking each list of sequence items to one of multiple sequence engines from the configuration information. The execution module includes a sequencer controller module and the multiple sequence engines. The sequence controller module activates each of the multiple sequence engines in a preselected order and each sequence engine executes the ordered sequence items in each list linked to that sequence engine. |
| US08171453B2 |
Explicit delimitation of semantic scope
Systems and methods are provided with respect to computer programming. Program behavior can be tuned to provide a seamless mixture of semantic behavior across a single program language syntax. Semantic behavior can be explicitly specified at arbitrary levels of syntactic granularity (e.g. expressions, members, types, compilation units . . . ), wherein semantic scope is commensurate with the specified level of granularity. |
| US08171452B2 |
Dynamic software enhancement
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for accepting user input defining a first modification at a first enhancement point of a first source code component, the first source code component not being modified. Creating a second source code component for the first enhancement point, the second source code component being separate from the first source code component. Incorporating into the second source code component the first source code component and an expression of the first modification. And creating a compiled program using the second source code component. |
| US08171448B2 |
Structure for a livelock resolution circuit
A design structure for a livelock resolution circuit is provided. When a bus unit detects a timeout condition, or potential timeout condition, the bus unit activates a livelock resolution request signal. A livelock resolution unit receives livelock resolution requests from the bus units and signals an attention to a control processor. The control processor performs actions to attempt to resolve the livelock condition. Once a bus unit that issued a livelock resolution request has managed to successfully issue its command, it deactivates its livelock resolution request. If all livelock resolution request signals are deactivated, then the control processor instructs the bus and all bus units to resume normal activity. On the other hand, if the control processor determines that a predetermined amount of time passes without any progress being made, it determines that a hang condition has occurred. |
| US08171446B2 |
Method for designing a semiconductor device by computing a number of vias, program therefor, and semiconductor device
A method for designing a semiconductor device includes computing a contact resistance value based on an allowable power supply voltage drop set for a second position corresponding to a given region of a second power supply line on a second wiring layer different from a first wiring layer, and computing a number of vias for the given region based on a result of a comparison between a resistance value of a via coupling a first power supply line and the second power supply line and the contact resistance value. |
| US08171443B1 |
Circuit design tools that support devices with real-time phase-locked loop reconfiguration capabilities
Computer-aided-design tools are provided that support real-time phase-locked loop reconfiguration with a single design compilation. Each design compilation may involve operations such as logic synthesis and place and route operations. A circuit designer who is designing an integrated circuit may supply circuit design data. The circuit design data may include design data for multiple configurations of a phase-locked loop. By using a phase-locked loop scan chain initialization file generator engine located in a CAD tool design input wizard, the computer-aided-design tools may produce multiple phase-locked loop initialization files without performing a design compilation. The CAD tools may process one or more initialization files and the circuit design data to produce output data. The output data may include configuration data to implement the circuit design. The output data may also include warning messages that indicate when phase-locked loop settings in an initialization file do not match settings in the circuit design. |
| US08171442B2 |
Method and system to at least partially isolate nets
A method to at least partially isolate a net of a circuit design is provided and includes testing a timing characteristic of a circuit design, identifying from a result of the testing a net of the circuit design to be at least partially isolated from an adjacent net and determining a percentage of the identified net to be partially isolated. |
| US08171438B2 |
Verification of a program partitioned according to the control flow information of the program
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for verification of a program partitioned according to the control flow information of the program. Properties are received indicating outcome states for a program. The program is processed to determine a control flow in the program and paths in the control flow. Enabled paths are determined in the control flow having states satisfying requirements of the outcome states. For each enabled path, a determination is made of inert variables not used along the control flow of the path and a representation of states and transitions for the enabled path is generated, wherein the represented states and transitions do not include the inert variables. The generated representation of the states and transitions for the enabled path are combined into a merged computation image. |
| US08171436B2 |
Converting portions of a software program executing on a processing system to hardware descriptions
System and method for developing an ASIC. A software program may be stored which includes program instructions which implement a function. The software program may be executed on a processing system at a desired system speed and may be validated based on the execution. A first hardware description of at least a portion of the processing system may be stored and may specify implementation of at least a portion of the processing system. A second hardware description may be generated that corresponds to a first portion of the first hardware description. The second hardware description may specify a dedicated hardware implementation of a first portion of the software program executing on the processing system. Generation of the second hardware description may be performed one or more times to fully specify the ASIC. An ASIC may be created which implements the function of the software program. |
| US08171434B2 |
Method for dimension conversion difference prediction, method for manufacturing photomask, method for manufacturing electronic component, and program for dimension conversion difference prediction
A method for dimension conversion difference prediction includes: determining an opening angle at a conversion difference prediction point on basis of a design pattern data; and predicting a dimension conversion difference on basis of correlation between the opening angle and an actual measurement value of the dimension conversion difference, or a method for dimension conversion difference prediction includes: determining an incident amount of incident objects at a conversion difference prediction point on basis of a design data; and predicting a dimension conversion difference on basis of correlation between the incident amount and an actual measurement value of the dimension conversion difference. |
| US08171429B2 |
Application navigation
A method for operating a user interface for switching between computer applications is provided. The method may include displaying first, second and third navigation controls. The first navigation control may include entity selectors, the second navigation control may include application selectors, and the third navigation control may include sub-application selectors. The application selectors may be associated with the entities in the first navigation control and the sub-application selectors may be associated with the application selectors. An application associated with sub-application selector may be launched upon selecting the sub-application selector. The state of an application may be stored and retrieved upon switching between applications so as to enable fast switching between applications. |
| US08171428B2 |
System and method for implementing data navigation interface
An interactive user interface (UI) to manage searching of data is disclosed. The UI includes a first display panel configured to display a parent context view and a child context view thereon and a second display panel configured to display a diagram of an enlarged portion of the child context view. |
| US08171427B2 |
Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof
A method for controlling a mobile terminal includes displaying icons within a region of a display of the mobile terminal, forming a group icon as being associated with a plurality of the icons, displaying the group icon within the region of the display to permit user access to the plurality of icons which are each associated with the group icon, ceasing the displaying of the plurality of icons which are each associated with the group icon, and generating a menu in response to selection of the group icon, the menu comprising selectable operations individually relating to at least one of the plurality of icons which are each associated with the group icon. |
| US08171425B2 |
User interface method of multi-tasking and computer readable recording medium storing program for executing the method
Provided are a user interface method of enabling a user to conveniently use a terminal allowing multi-tasking, and a computer readable recording medium storing the method. The user interface method includes classifying applications capable of being executed by the apparatus into groups, in such a manner as to classify one or more applications that perform similar functions into the same group; and displaying a window for executing a corresponding application, for each of the groups. |
| US08171423B2 |
Window broker architecture
Retrieving information from a display server. Information about all visible windows displayed on a display by the display server is retrieved. Descriptive information about visible windows displayed on the display, and windows on a shelf is retrieved from the display server or window broker. Notifications of changes to windows are received. Based on information retrieved from the display server or window broker and received notifications, a user interface displays windows displayed on the display and windows on the shelf. A user request is received at the user interface for a change to what is displayed by the display server. The user request is sent, directly or indirectly to the window broker. The window broker approves, denies or makes arbitrary changes to windows to accommodate the user request and sends a window broker request to the display server. The window broker notifies window managers of changes that have been made. |
| US08171420B2 |
Automatic management of the visual space while performing a task
A graphical user interface and method for displaying on an agent's desktop. The graphical user interface of the present invention being capable of automatically displaying, in a designated area, a managed application according to a workflow. The graphical user interface of the present invention also includes the ability to control the display of managed applications manually. Further, the graphical user interface and method of the present invention allows an Agent access to non-managed applications without restricting the agent's access to the managed applications. |
| US08171418B2 |
Method and system for presenting a visual representation of the portion of the sets of data that a query is expected to return
In an embodiment, a user is provided with a data representation covered by a relationship. For example, the data representation may include a collection of data objects representations. In an embodiment, the data object representations are arranged in a manner so as to indicate rows or records of different data objects that are associated with one another. In an embodiment, portions of the data objects in the collection are indicated as representing the data that is covered by the relationship. In an embodiment, a report representation that is expected to be generated by the report type defined by the user defined relationship is also provided. In an embodiment, a correspondence in indicated between elements of the report representation (e.g., columns in a thumbnail sketch of a report) and the data object representations (e.g., ovals in a Venn diagram). |
| US08171416B2 |
Confirmation system and method for instant messaging
A system and method for confirming messages being sent within an instant messaging environment. An instant messaging system is disclosed, comprising a confirmation enablement system that allows a user to selectively enable a requires confirmation option for a contact associated with the user; and a send message interface that displays a confirmation requirement for messages being sent to the contact if the requires confirmation option is enabled, wherein the confirmation requirement must be confirmed by the user before the message can be sent. |
| US08171413B2 |
System and method for displaying information about subnets
An interface for a database. The database contains information about subnets in a large network, such as the Internet. The interface displays the information in a hierarchical fashion. However, because all subnets cannot be displayed on a display at once, some subnets are displayed, and a user reaches other subnets by calling for subsets of the subnets displayed. |
| US08171411B1 |
System and method for delivering content in a movie trailer
A system and method for delivering content in a movie trailer and a system for implementing the same. The method includes receiving a request to deliver a shell application having a configuration dependent on a selected movie. Appropriate multi-media content and a scrubber bar are determined at a configuration server for the selected movie. Both the multi-media content and the scrubber bar are configured for the selected movie. The scrubber bar includes a timeline that is associated with the multi-media content from which progress through the multi-media content can be tracked. The scrubber bar includes at least one Q-point located within the time line. The shell application that is configured to include the multi-media content and the scrubber bar is then delivered to the client device. |
| US08171409B2 |
Interface for print control
In a printer driver 1, user interface UI-1 is displayed in the beginning and setup items are displayed in the respective display forms of the basic level on this user interface UI-1. In this state, basic explanations or detailed explanations are omitted. In addition, user interface UI-2 is displayed when the “Other Features” button is pressed in user interface UI-1 and setup items are displayed in the respective display forms of the applied level on this user interface UI-2. In this state, basic explanations or detailed explanations etc. concerning print control information entered via the setup items are displayed, which makes it possible to learn what type of information the print control information is. |
| US08171400B2 |
Image transmission apparatus for transmitting image to a plurality of image projection apparatuses and image display control method in image transmission apparatus
An image transmission apparatus includes a display device, a display image data generator, a storage device, a storage controller, a transmitter, and a display controller. The image transmission apparatus is connectable to a plurality of image projection apparatuses. The display image data generator is configured to generate display image data, the storage device is configured to store the display image data, and the transmitter is configured to transmit the display image data for display on each image transmission apparatus connected to the image transmission apparatus according to an overall layout display for the combination of potentially connected image transmission apparatuses. The display controller is configured to display an image on the display device using the display image data and to display a plurality of layout display images corresponding to the display image data transmitted to the image projection apparatuses in a layout display region on the display device. |
| US08171399B2 |
Using an alternate user interface to a drag and drop interface for rearranging configurable web page components
A user interface for repositioning Web page components that includes an HTML table. Each cell of the table can represents a Web page component that is able to be repositioned. Each cell can include an identifier and a user selectable position control. The identifier can identify the Web page component. The user selectable position control can accept user input designating a position of the component within the Web page. An activation control can accept input entered within the user selectable position control when selected. Activation of the activation control can result in the Web page being reconfigured so that the position of the Web page components corresponds to positions specified by the position controls. In one embodiment, the user interface can be an accessibility option for users having difficulty with a drag and drop interface. |
| US08171397B2 |
Data-type definition driven dynamic business component instantiation and execution framework and system and method for managing knowledge information
In a complex workflow environment, a data-type-definition (DTD) schema drives a dynamic business component instantiation and execution framework that integrates documents with data and information created by various applications, potentially operating on several different platforms, enabling complex workflow and collaboration to occur over a communication network such as the Internet. The DTD execution language is preferably an industry specific XML-based tag set that defines business component instantiation, execution, input and output parameters, workflow, user profile, and collaboration specifications for a given task or data in a complex workflow process. Business and data processing components available on systems both within and outside the complex workflow system are called upon to provide the processing, interpretation, and transformation functions for the complex workflow system. The results of such processing are then returned to the complex workflow system for integration within the workflow process. The system and method also contemplates the conversion of an extensible markup language (XML) file, such as a WellXML™ file, to data elements that are accessible by a server. |
| US08171395B2 |
Data reporting application programming interfaces in an XML parser generator for XML validation and deserialization
A method for interfacing with an XML (Extensible Markup Language) parser generator to generate deserialization information interleaved with XML parsing and validation, including: providing an XML parser generator with information about the schema which the instance data conforms to; providing a data reporting application programming interface (API) and a generator module; providing one or more implementations of the data reporting API; providing the XML parser generator with a selected data reporting API implementation module; generating an XML parser to parse and validate instance documents conforming to the specified input schema and deserializing the instance documents into the desired deserialization format during the parse. |
| US08171387B2 |
Method of and system for collaboration web-based publishing
A system and method directed to controlling work flow for a document is disclosed. The system comprises a document control module comprising a document engine and a document portion, a workflow control module for tracking and assigning work on the document portion, and a Web-based interface coupled to the document control module and the workflow control module. The system is configured to couple to a remote host over a network such as the Internet. Preferably, the document is automatically formatted to include XML tags, which allows the document to be searched and otherwise controlled more easily. Preferably, the system also comprises a search engine for searching through the document portion using a variety of search criteria. Preferably, the system is configured to import search results into the document. |
| US08171386B2 |
Single event upset error detection within sequential storage circuitry of an integrated circuit
Sequential storage circuitry for a integrated circuit is provided, comprising a first storage element, a second storage element and an additional storage element. The first storage element stores, during a first phase of a clock signal, a first indication of an input data value received by the sequential storage circuitry. The second storage element is coupled to an output of the first storage element, and stores a second indication of the input data value during a second phase of the clock signal. The additional storage element is driven by a pulse signal derived from the clock signal, and is arranged on occurrence of that pulse signal to store a third indication of the input data value. Error detection circuitry is then provided for detecting a single event upset error in either the first storage element or the second storage element. In particular, during the first phase of the clock signal, the error detection circuitry detects the single event upset error in the first storage element if there is a difference in the input data value as indicated by the first indication and the third indication. Further, during the second phase of the clock signal, the error detection circuitry detects a single event upset error in the second storage element if there is a difference in the input data value as indicated by the second indication and the third indication. Such an arrangement provides a simple mechanism for detecting soft errors in both the first storage element and the second storage element using only one additional storage element. |
| US08171383B2 |
Method and system for data-rate control by randomized bit-puncturing in communication systems
Method and system for data-rate control by randomized bit-puncturing in communication systems. An encoder encodes at least one information bit thereby generating a group of encoded bits or an encoded frame. The encoder may be any type of encoder including a turbo encoder, an LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) encoder, a RS (Reed-Solomon) encoder, or other type of encoder. Any sub-portion of an encoded frame generated by such an encoder can be viewed as being a group of encoded bits. If the encoded frame is sub-divided into multiple groups of bits, each group can under processing in accordance with the means presented herein to effectuate rate matching. Based on a number of bits to be punctured from the group or frame generated by the encoder, a set of pointers and random-generated displacements is used to generate addresses for bits in the group or frame to be transmitted or punctured. |
| US08171378B2 |
Flash memory system having encrypted error correction code and encryption method for flash memory system
A flash memory system includes a flash memory for storing input data, and a memory controller controlling the flash memory, wherein the memory controller generates a first error correction code corresponding to the input data, and encrypts the first error correction code, and the flash memory includes a main area for storing the input data and a spare area for storing the encrypted first error correction code. |
| US08171371B2 |
Inspection matrix generation method, encoding method, communication device, communication system, and encoder
A regular qc matrix is generated in which cyclic permutation matrices with specific regularity are arranged in row and column directions. A mask matrix supporting multiple encoding rates is generated for making the regular qc matrix into irregular. A specific cyclic permutation matrix in the regular qc matrix is converted into a zero-matrix using a mask matrix corresponding to a specific encoding rate to generate an irregular masking qc matrix. An irregular parity check matrix with a LDGM structure is generated, in which the masking qc matrix and a matrix in which the cyclic permutation matrices are arranged in a staircase manner are arranged in a predetermined location. |
| US08171369B2 |
DTV transmitting system and receiving system and method of processing broadcast data
A DTV transmitting system includes a frame encoder, a randomizer, a block processor, a group formatter, a deinterleaver, and a packet formatter. The frame encoder builds an enhanced data frame and encodes the frame two times for first and second error correction, respectively. It further permutes a plurality of encoded data frames. The randomizer randomizes the permuted enhanced data, and the block processor codes the randomized data at a rate of 1/N1. The group formatter forms a group of enhanced data having one or more data regions and inserts the data coded at the rate of 1/N1 into at least one of the data regions. The deinterleaver deinterleaves the group of enhanced data, and the packet formatter formats the deinterleaved data into enhanced data packets. |
| US08171367B2 |
Stopping criteria in iterative decoders
Methods and apparatus for reducing power consumption in an iterative decoder. A memory stores a decoded codeword for a current iteration and an iteration terminator compares the decoded codeword for the current iteration to the codeword from prior iterations, and further terminates the iterations when a confidence value is achieved. |
| US08171366B2 |
Method of retransmission control in wireless relay system, wireless relay station, and wireless base station
If a reception result from an MS for the previous transmission data is a reception failure, second allocation information for retransmitting the previous transmission data is generated by an RS based on allocation information on a wireless resource for transmission of new data. The second allocation information and the previous transmission data are transmitted to the MS, and the new data is buffered. |
| US08171363B2 |
Method and device for counting transmission times of data unit, transmission device, and computer program
A method for counting correctly substantial transmission times of a data unit such as an RLC-PDU even if the data unit is divided before being transmitted is provided. The method includes the steps of preparing a counter for the RLC-PDU (#503), making a storage portion store a pointer indicating a position of a division PDU of the RLC-PDU to be transmitted every time when the division PDU obtained by dividing the RLC-PDU is transmitted (#504), determining whether or not the transmission times should be counted along with a transmission of the division PDU to be transmitted based on the pointer of the division PDU to be transmitted and the pointer of a division PDU that was transmitted last time (#505, #506 and #507), and making the counter perform the count process when it is determined that the transmission times should be counted (#508). |
| US08171359B2 |
Linking module connected to select leads of plural TAPs
A TAP linking module (21, 51) permits plural TAPs (TAPs 1-4) to be controlled and accessed from a test bus (13) via a single TAP interface (20). |
| US08171358B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for driving the same
A semiconductor device and a method for driving the same rapidly detect failure of a through-semiconductor-chip via and effectively repairing the failure using a latching unit assigned to each through-semiconductor-chip via. The semiconductor device includes a plurality of semiconductor chips that are stacked, and a plurality of through-semiconductor-chip vias to commonly transfer a signal to the plurality of semiconductor chips, wherein each of the semiconductor chips includes a multiplicity of latching units assigned to the through-semiconductor-chip vias and the multiplicity of latching units of each of the semiconductor chips constructs a boundary scan path including the plurality of through-semiconductor-chip vias to sequentially transfer test data. |
| US08171357B2 |
Generating test sets for diagnosing scan chain failures
Embodiments of the disclosed technology comprise software-based techniques that can be used to improve scan chain test pattern generation and scan chain failure diagnosis resolution. For example, certain embodiments can be used to generate high quality chain diagnosis test patterns that are able to isolate a scan chain defect to a single scan cell. Such embodiments can be used to generate a “complete” test set—that is, a set of chain diagnosis test patterns that is able to isolate any scan chain defect in a faulty scan chain to a single scan cell. |
| US08171356B2 |
Reducing writes, and estimating and displaying estimated remaining lifetime of non-volatile memories
Techniques are taught for reducing writes, and estimating and displaying estimated remaining lifetime of non-volatile memories. The write reducing is optionally via determining a difference between write operation results and data stored in the non-volatile memories. The estimated remaining lifetime is optionally based at least in part on a previous lifetime. The displaying is optionally via a gauge. |
| US08171355B2 |
Data transferring method, and communication system and program applied with the method
Disclosed is a communication system that transmits data through a transmission path between a transmission side apparatus and a reception side apparatus, wherein the transmission side apparatus comprises a coding apparatus that creates redundantly-coded data from original data; a transmitting apparatus that sends the coded data coded by the coding unit to the transmission path; and a coding rate determining apparatus that sets and controls a coding rate in the coding unit, wherein the reception side apparatus comprises a receiving apparatus that receives the coded data sent through the transmission path; a decoding apparatus that decodes the original data from the coded data received; and a loss rate estimating apparatus that measures the loss rate on the path of the coded data sent, and wherein the coding rate determining apparatus of the transmission side apparatus varies and controls the coding rate in the coding apparatus based on the loss rate obtained. |
| US08171352B2 |
HVAC system, a method for determining a source of a reset and a HVAC controller configured for the same
An HVAC controller, a method for determining the source of a reset of a HVAC unit and a HVAC system are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the HVAC controller includes: (1) a power on reset (POR) register configured to indicate if a POR has occurred for said controller, (2) a non-volatile memory having a first reset code section and a second reset code section, wherein said first and second reset code sections are each configured to store a reset code and (3) a processor configured to deduce when a source of a reset for said controller is a watchdog reset based on content of said POR register, said first reset code section and said second reset code section. |
| US08171351B1 |
Collecting information from user devices
An information collection system may include a server and one or more user devices that are in electronic communication with each other. Information may be collected by the user devices. For example, a user device may collect information regarding an error that occurred on the device. A server may monitor the user devices and receive information reports from those devices. The server may also instruct the user devices to perform self-corrective actions based on information received from those devices. |
| US08171346B2 |
Client session based debugging
Debugging operations on individual client sessions for a remotely executed shared application are enabled to be performed as the client requests are processed on the executing server without disrupting execution of other client sessions. A remote debugging client may connect to a debugging engine executed on the server allowing the debugging client to view source code, set breakpoints, view client connections, and receive callbacks or notifications when a breakpoint is hit by the client session being debugged. The debugging client may also control execution by stepping through client code enabling debugging of multiple clients simultaneously. |
| US08171343B2 |
Techniques for determining models for performing diagnostics
Techniques for performing diagnostics are described. In one embodiment, in response to an alert or a request to perform diagnostics, a topological relationship is generated comprising a set of applications and a set of systems determined based upon information in the alert or request. The topological relationship encapsulates relationships between the set of applications and the set of systems. In one embodiment, a set of causal network models to be used for performing the diagnostics is determined based upon the applications and systems in the topological relationship. |
| US08171335B2 |
Clock timing calibration circuit and clock timing calibration method for calibrating phase difference between different clock signals and related analog-to-digital conversion system using the same
A clock timing calibration circuit includes a clock timing adjusting unit and a calibration control unit. The clock timing adjusting unit is for receiving an incoming reference clock signal and selectively adjusting the received reference clock signal to generate a first clock signal according to a calibration control signal. The incoming reference clock has a predetermined phase and a predetermined frequency, The calibration control unit is for checking if the phase difference between the first clock signal and a second clock signal satisfies a predetermined criterion, and for adjusting the calibration control signal when the phase difference between the first clock signal and the second clock signal does not satisfy the predetermined criterion. The predetermined criterion is to check if the phase difference falls within a specific range associated with a clock period of one of the first clock signal and the second clock signal. |
| US08171333B2 |
Sub-beam forming transmitter circuitry for ultrasound system
Multi-channel pulser driver circuitry for a sub-beam forming transmitter of an ultrasound system in which sub-beam signals are formed by delaying sub-beam pulse pattern data in accordance with sub-beam pulse delay data and multiple clock signals. |
| US08171331B2 |
Memory channel having deskew separate from redrive
A memory agent may have a redrive circuit having a plurality of redrive paths, and a deskew circuit separate from the plurality of redrive paths. A deskew circuit may be integral with or separate from a redrive circuit having the plurality of redrive paths. A deskew circuit may be coupled between a redrive circuit and a memory device or interface. |
| US08171328B2 |
State history storage for synchronizing redundant processors
Embodiments of an invention for synchronizing redundant processors using state history are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes two processors, state storage for each processor, and control logic. Each processor is to execute the same instructions. The state storage is to store compressed processor state information for each instruction executed by the processors. The control logic is to synchronize the two processors based on entries from the state storage. |
| US08171326B2 |
L1 flush mechanism to flush cache for power down and handle coherence during flush and/or after power down
In one embodiment, a processor comprises a data cache configured to store a plurality of cache blocks and a control unit coupled to the data cache. The control unit is configured to flush the plurality of cache blocks from the data cache responsive to an indication that the processor is to transition to a low power state in which one or more clocks for the processor are inhibited. |
| US08171322B2 |
Portable electronic devices with power management capabilities
An electronic device may operate in standby and active modes. A headset may be coupled to the electronic device. The electronic device may have audio codec circuitry. The audio codec circuitry may use general purpose input-output circuitry in handling button and headset activity during active mode. Processing circuitry may be used to reconfigure the audio codec in real time. When the electronic device is in the standby mode and activity is detected, the codec may be configured to provide an interrupt signal to a power management unit that wakes the device. When the electronic device is in active mode and no user inputs are received within a given period of time, the central processor in the electronic device may place the device in standby mode. |
| US08171315B2 |
Method and apparatus for changing power class for a powered device
A method and apparatus for changing power class for a powered device are provided. During operation, a powered device, such as an IP telephone, receives power from a power source via a PoE device. In the event that the powered device detects connection to a second powered device, such as an IP telephone module, the powered device transmits a classification signal to the power source. Based upon the classification signal, the power source performs a powered device classification procedure to reclassify the powered device, such as according to an IEEE 802.3af standard, and provide an increase amount of power to the powered device. The powered device, in turn, provides a portion of the power to the modular device. The modular powered device, therefore, receives power directly from the first powered device and does not require additional equipment in order to operate. |
| US08171314B2 |
System and method for information handling system hybrid system level and power supply cooling
Information handling system thermal conditions are controlled by hybrid interaction between a system thermal manager and a power supply thermal manager. The system thermal manager sets a speed for system cooling fans and for a power supply cooling fan. The power supply thermal manager determines a speed for the power supply cooling fan and also receives the speed for the power supply cooling fan determined by the system thermal manager. The power supply thermal manager commands the power supply fan to run at a selected of the determined speeds based upon one or predetermined conditions, such as by the selecting the greater of the determined speeds. |
| US08171313B2 |
Communication device and power supply method
Provided is a communication device capable of efficiently performing a power supply control when reducing power consumption by reducing the time during which the power is supplied. In the device, a CPU power saving control unit (301) switches between a normal mode in which the power is supplied to a CPU (302) and a low power consumption mode in which the power supply is stopped at predetermined timing. A session management table (321) stores transmission intervals before and after conversion. An information conversion section (322) converts the transmission intervals of session maintenance messages according to a predetermined rule so that the transmission intervals of the session maintenance messages of respective protocols are mutually synchronized between the protocols. A control unit (323) controls the CPU power saving control unit (301) so as to transmit an appropriate session maintenance message at the transmission timing of a session maintenance message and also controls it so as to switch between the normal mode and the low power consumption mode at the predetermined timing. |
| US08171312B2 |
Recording apparatus and method for controlling the recording apparatus
A recording apparatus can shift to power saving modes even when the recording apparatus is connected to the host PC, thus reducing power consumption. The recording apparatus can switch to a first power saving mode to supply power that enables detection of an inquiry from a host device and also switch to a second power saving mode to supply power that enables responding to an inquiry from the host device about information as to the memory card. Prior to switching to the first power saving mode, the recording apparatus stores information about a memory card attached to the card slot in a memory unit. In response to detection of an inquiry from the host device, the recording apparatus switches from the first power saving mode to the second power saving mode, and notifies information stored in the memory card controller to the host device. |
| US08171309B1 |
Secure memory controlled access
Secure memory controlled access is described. In embodiment(s), memory stores encrypted data and the memory includes a secure memory partition to store cryptographically sensitive data utilized to control access to the encrypted data stored on the memory. Controller firmware can access the encrypted data stored on the memory, but is precluded from access to the secure memory partition and the cryptographically sensitive data. Secure firmware can access the cryptographically sensitive data stored on the secure memory partition to control access by the controller firmware to the encrypted data stored on the memory. |
| US08171306B2 |
Universal secure token for obfuscation and tamper resistance
Program obfuscation is accomplished with tamper proof token including an embedded oracle. A public obfuscation function can be applied to any program/circuit to produce a new obfuscated program/circuit that makes calls to the corresponding oracle to facilitate program execution. A universal circuit representation can be employ with respect to obfuscation to hide circuit wiring and allow the whole circuit to be public. Furthermore, the token or embedded oracle can be universal and stateless to enable a single token to be employed with respect to many programs. |
| US08171298B2 |
Methods and apparatus for dynamic user authentication using customizable context-dependent interaction across multiple verification objects
An authentication framework is provided which enables dynamic user authentication that combines multiple authentication objects using a shared context and that permits customizable interaction design to suit varying user preferences and transaction/application requirements. Such a framework provides a high degree of flexibility, accuracy, convenience and robustness. In one illustrative aspect of the invention, an automated technique for user authentication comprises the following steps/operations. First, user input is obtained. At least a portion of the user input is associated with two or more verification objects. Then, the user is verified based on the two or more verification objects in accordance with at least one verification policy operating on a context shared across the two or more verification objects. The user authentication technique of the invention may preferably be implemented in a flexible, distributed architecture comprising at least one client device coupled to at least one verification server. The client device and the verification server may operate together to perform the user authentication techniques of the invention. |
| US08171296B2 |
System and method for producing and checking validation certificates
A system, method, and computer program product for computing a digest value of a document, one or more schemas, and a validation report. The validation report indicates a validation status of the document based on the schema or schemas. The digest value is encrypted to produce a digital signature of the document, the schema or schemas, and the validation report. |
| US08171295B2 |
Information processing apparatus, a server apparatus, a method of an information processing apparatus, a method of a server apparatus, and an apparatus executable process
To provide an information processing apparatus, a server apparatus, a method of an information processing apparatus, a method of a server apparatus, and an apparatus executable program.An information processing apparatus uses signed integrity values unique to software configuration and asserting integrity of initial codes of a networked server. The server apparatus generates keys used for certifying the server apparatus (S810, S820, S830). One of the keys are certified by a third party to generate a digital signature (S840). The digital signature is attached to the integrity values and the signed integrity values are transmitted to the information processing apparatus for allowing the information processing apparatus to have secure services through the network (S850, S860). |
| US08171291B2 |
Method for checking the integrity of data, system and mobile terminal
The invention relates to a method for checking the integrity of a message transmitted between a sender in a transmitting end and a recipient in a receiving end, in which method an authentication value is calculated for the first message and a random string is generated. According to a method in the transmitting end an authentication value is generated from a message to be sent and the random string. A check code is formed from the authentication value and the random sting. The first message is transferred from a sender to a recipient through a first channel, and the check code is transferred through a second secure channel. In the receiving end a message is received through a first channel and the check code is received through a second secure channel. In the receiving end an authentication check formed at least based of the received message. The integrity of the received message is checked by comparing the predetermined check values in the receiving end. |
| US08171287B2 |
Access control system for information services based on a hardware and software signature of a requesting device
A system and method for the authorization of access to a service by a computational device or devices. A software agent generates a digital signature for the device each time it attempts to access the service and send it to an authentication server, which compares the digital signature sent with one or more digital signatures on file to determine whether access to the service is permitted. The digital signature is generated by using hashes based on software and hardware configuration data collected from the device. The system may be used in conjunction with other authorization methods and devices. |
| US08171284B2 |
Encryption device, decryption device, encryption method, and decryption method
An encryption device, a decryption device, an encryption method, and a decryption method effectively perform encryption and decryption by using a packet type judgment result. An encryption/decryption device includes a packet reception unit that acquires a packet, a first encryption engine that is formed by hardware and encrypts or decrypts a packet; and a second encryption engine that encrypts or decrypts a packet by using software. The encryption/decyption device also includes a head data identification unit that judges the real time feature of the acquired packet according to the header information on the acquired packet, and an encryption/decryption process judgment unit that decides the acquired packet encryption destination or decryption destination in accordance with the real time feature from the first encryption engine and the second encryption engine. Since it is possible to separate the encryption by hardware from encryption by software according to the packet real time feature, it is possible to effectively perform encryption and decryption. |
| US08171283B2 |
Vehicle segment certificate management using short-lived, unlinked certificate schemes
The present invention advantageously provides a system and method for management of cryptographic keys and certificates for a plurality of vehicles. Each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles generates public/private key pairs, requests multiple time-distributed certificates, creates an encrypted identity, and surrenders expired certificates. An assigning authority receives the public/private key pairs, the request for multiple time-distributed certificates, the encrypted identity, and the expired certificates from said vehicle. The assigning authority authorizes the vehicle with an authorizing authority, validates the expired certificates, proves ownership, and distributes the requested time-distributed certificates to said vehicle. Validation can comprise checking expired certificates against misused, compromised and/or previously surrendered certificates. Time-distributed certificates can have lifetimes adjustable based on certificate misuse detection system algorithms, amount of malicious activity detected, and/or certificate authority capacity. |
| US08171282B2 |
Encryption data integrity check with dual parallel encryption engines
An encryption method encrypts a clear text twice using a first encryption engine to produce a first cipher text and a second encryption engine to produce a second cipher text. The method compares the first cipher text with the second cipher text, or compares a checksum of the first cipher text with a checksum of the second cipher text. If the comparison succeeds, the method transmits the data. In some embodiments, the method uses a first instance of an encryption key to produce the first cipher text and a second instance of the encryption key to produce the second cipher text. |
| US08171281B2 |
Microprocessor boot-up controller connected to a processor and NAND flash memory for controlling the boot-up of a computer device
An information processing apparatus has a multi-valued NAND nonvolatile memory including a plurality of word lines and a plurality of memory cells connected to the respective word lines. Each memory cell has a plurality of threshold voltages, and is divided into a first and a second storage area. A program code is stored in the first storage area, and user data is stored in the second storage area. The apparatus also includes a volatile memory to which the program code is transferred from the multi-valued NAND nonvolatile memory. The apparatus further includes a CPU connected to the volatile memory and configured to operate based on the program code transferred to the volatile memory. |
| US08171279B2 |
Multi processor system having direct access boot and direct access boot method thereof
A multiprocessor system having a direct access boot operation and a direct access boot method are provided to substantially reduce a boot error of processor that does not provide a memory link architecture in the multiprocessor system. In an embodiment of the invention, a multiprocessor system includes: a first processor configured to perform a first predetermined task; a second processor configured to perform a second predetermined task; a multiport semiconductor memory device coupled to the first processor and the second processor, the multiport semiconductor memory device including at least one shared memory area, the multiport semiconductor memory device configured to provide access to the at least one shared memory area by the first processor and the second processor; and a non-volatile memory device coupled to the first processor and the second processor, the non-volatile memory device storing a first boot code associated with the first processor and a second boot code associated with the second processor, the multiprocessor system configured to provide the first processor direct access to the non-volatile memory area during a boot operation and indirect access to the non-volatile memory area otherwise. |
| US08171277B2 |
Method and apparatus for booting from a flash memory without prior knowledge of flash parameter information
Techniques for booting a computing device with a flash memory without knowledge of parametric information of the flash memory are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, the computing device receives input requesting the computing device to begin operation and executes a set of one or more instructions stored in a non-volatile memory. The execution of the set of instructions configures a first read routine for accessing the flash memory based on a common denominator format of candidate flash memories, and the first read routine is not configured based on information located in a flash memory identification table. The computing device reads a bootstrapping code image based on the first read routine into a volatile memory and executes that first bootstrapping code image. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08171273B2 |
Method and apparatus for reconfiguring software in SDR terminal
A method and apparatus for reconfiguring software in a software-based wireless terminal when a new wireless communication service is to be carried out is provided. The method of reconfiguring software at a software defined radio (SDR) terminal including one or more reconfigurable elements, includes: indentifying program installation time and program startup time with respect to the respective reconfigurable elements, selecting a reconfigurable element from the one or more reconfigurable elements based on the program installation time and the program startup time, and placing a program on the selected reconfigurable element. Accordingly, time for installing a new wireless communication service can be reduced in the SDR mobile communication terminal. Thus, convenience can be provided to a user. |
| US08171268B2 |
Technique for context state management to reduce save and restore operations between a memory and a processor using in-use vectors
A technique for managing context state information enables a reduced number of save and restore operations. At least one embodiment includes a plurality of save area segments to store a plurality of machine context state information, which can be saved into the segments and restored to the machine state. One embodiment includes at least one in-use bit vector to indicate status of the plurality of machine context information stored in the segments, and another vector associated with the machine state. |
| US08171267B2 |
Method and apparatus for migrating task in multi-processor system
A method and apparatus for migrating a task in a multi-processor system. The method includes examining whether a second process has been allocated to a second processor, the second process having a same instruction to execute as a first process and having different data to process in response to the instruction from the first process, the instruction being to execute the task; selecting a method of migrating the first process or a method of migrating a thread included in the first process based on the examining and migrating the task from a first processor to the second processor using the selected method. Therefore, cost and power required for task migration can be minimized. Consequently, power consumption can be maintained in a low-power environment, such as an embedded system, which, in turn, optimizes the performance of the multi-processor system and prevents physical damage to the circuit of the multi-processor system. |
| US08171266B2 |
Look-ahead load pre-fetch in a processor
A method for look-ahead load pre-fetching that reduces the effects of instruction stalls caused by high latency instructions. Look-ahead load pre-fetching is accomplished by searching an instruction stream for load memory instructions while the instruction stream is stalled waiting for completion of a previous instruction in the instruction stream. A pre-fetch operation is issued for each load memory instruction found. The pre-fetch operations cause data for the corresponding load memory instructions to be copied to a cache, thereby avoiding long latencies in the subsequent execution of the load memory instructions. |
| US08171265B2 |
Accelerating traceback on a signal processor
A method executed by an instruction set on a processor is described. The method includes providing a tbbit instruction, inputting a first index for the tbbit instruction, loading a second value for the tbbit instruction, wherein the second value comprises at least 2b bits, using selected b bits of the first index to select at least one target bit in the loaded second value, shifting the target bit into the bottom of the first index, and computing a second index based on the shifting of the target bit into the bottom of the first index. Other methods and variations are also described. |
| US08171264B2 |
Control sub-unit and control main unit
A sub-unit judges whether an instruction received from an external unit is executable. If the instruction is judged to be executable, the sub-unit executes it. If, on the other hand, the instruction is judged to be unexecutable, the sub-unit notifies the external unit of an executable plan. |
| US08171263B2 |
Data processing apparatus comprising an array controller for separating an instruction stream processing instructions and data transfer instructions
A parallel data processing apparatus using a SIMD array of processing elements is disclosed. The apparatus makes use of a register in order to control issuance of instructions to the processing elements in the array. |
| US08171262B2 |
Method and apparatus for clearing hazards using jump instructions
A method and apparatus for overlaying hazard clearing with a jump instruction within a pipeline microprocessor is described. The apparatus includes hazard logic to detect when a jump instruction specifies that hazards are to be cleared as part of a jump operation. If hazards are to be cleared, the hazard logic disables branch prediction for the jump instruction, thereby causing the jump instruction to proceed down the pipeline until it is finally resolved, and flushing the pipeline behind the jump instruction. Disabling of branch prediction for the jump instruction effectively clears all execution and/or instruction hazards that preceded the jump instruction. Alternatively, hazard logic causes issue control logic to stall the jump instruction for n-cycles until all hazards are cleared. State tracking logic may be provided to determine whether any instructions are executing in the pipeline that create hazards. If so, hazard logic performs normally. If not, state tracking logic disables the effect of the hazard logic. |
| US08171261B2 |
Method and system for accessing memory in parallel computing using load fencing instructions
A system and method for fencing memory accesses. Memory loads can be fenced, or all memory access can be fenced. The system receives a fencing instruction that separates memory access instructions into older accesses and newer accesses. A buffer within the memory ordering unit is allocated to the instruction. The access instructions newer than the fencing instruction are stalled. The older access instructions are gradually retired. When all older memory accesses are retired, the fencing instruction is dispatched from the buffer. |
| US08171258B2 |
Address generation unit with pseudo sum to accelerate load/store operations
In an embodiment, an address generation unit (AGU) is configured to generate a pseudo sum from an index portion of two or more operands. The pseudo sum may equal the index if the carry-in of the actual sum to the least significant bit of the index is a selected value (e.g. zero). The AGU may also include circuitry coupled to receive the operands and to generate the actual carry-in to the least significant bit of the index. The AGU may transmit the pseudo sum and the carry-in to a decode block for a memory array. The decode block may decode the pseudo sum into one or more one-hot vectors. The one-hot vectors may be input to muxes, and the one-hot vectors rotated by one position may be the other input. The actual carry-in may be the selection control of the mux. |
| US08171256B1 |
Systems and methods for preventing subversion of address space layout randomization (ASLR)
A method for preventing subversion of address space layout randomization (ASLR) in a computing device is described. An unverified module attempting to load into an address space of memory of the computing device is intercepted. Attributes associated with the unverified module are analyzed. A determination is made, based on the analyzed attributes, whether a probability exists that the unverified module will be loaded into a number of address spaces that exceeds a threshold. The unverified module is prevented from loading into the address space if the probability exists that the unverified module will be loaded into a number of address spaces that exceeds the threshold. |
| US08171251B2 |
Data storage management method and device
A storage device includes a local memory, wherein data are locally stored, and a controller that is operative, in accordance with a reduction policy, to modify the data on the local memory, thereby freeing storage area on the local memory. |
| US08171250B2 |
Method and apparatus for delivering content based on receivers characteristics
Media distribution systems may include methods and apparatus to perform memory management on a wireless devices configured to receive non-real time portions of media services. Such methods and apparatus may be based upon an allowable capacity of presentations storable in device memory, as well as on a required memory associated with each presentation in a media service. Such methods and apparatus allow a device to subscribe to a media service based upon sufficient available memory in the device to support the service. |
| US08171246B2 |
Ranking and prioritizing point in time snapshots
A storage area network system having a data storage means for storing computer data, a storage manager routine running on a client, the storage manager routine having functional elements for directing snapshots to be taken of the computer data on the data storage means, and a snapshot ranking manager for determining characteristics of the snapshots, and for selectively deleting given ones of the snapshots based at least in part on the characteristics of the snapshots. The characteristics of the snapshots might include the type of application that uses the data in the logical volume from which the snapshots were taken, or mission critical aspects of the data. |
| US08171225B2 |
Cache for a multi thread and multi core system and methods thereof
A method includes storing a plurality of data RAM, holding information for all outstanding requests forwarded to a next-level memory subsystem, clearing information associated with a serviced request after the request has been fulfilled, determining if a subsequent request matches an address supplied to one or more requests already in-flight to the next-level memory subsystem, matching fulfilled requests serviced by the next-level memory subsystem to at least one requester who issued requests while an original request was in-flight to the next level memory subsystem, storing information specific to each request comprising a set attribute and a way attribute configured to identify where the returned data should be held in the data RAM once the data is returned, the information specific to each request further including at least one of thread ID, instruction queue position and color, and scheduling hit and miss data returns. |
| US08171222B2 |
Memory access system, memory control apparatus, memory control method and program
A memory control apparatus disposed in a memory access system having a bus, a single storage unit with a bank structure and a bus arbitrating unit, includes: an access-request accepting means for accepting sequential access requests for data located at sequential addresses in the storage unit, sequential access requests for data located at discrete addresses in the storage unit as sequential access requests, or access requests for data located at sequential addresses in the storage unit which cannot be made into a single access request as sequential access requests; and an access-request rearranging means for rearranging sequential access requests accepted by the access-request accepting means in an order of banks of the storage unit within a range of access requests relating to either a data write request output from one of data processing units or a data read request output therefrom to control an access control of the storage unit. |
| US08171216B2 |
System and method for managing devices in an information handling system
A method can include associating a bin access value with each data storage bin of a plurality of data storage bins after a current time window ends; mapping each data storage bin of the plurality of data storage bins to a storage tier of a hierarchy of storage tiers, based on the bin access value associated with the data storage bin, such that a bin access value associated with each data storage bin mapped to a storage tier is greater than or equal to a bin access value associated with each data storage bin mapped to a next highest-performing storage tier; causing data associated with each data storage bin of the plurality of data storage bins to be migrated to the storage tier to which the data storage bin is mapped; and, when a data storage bin was not mapped to a current storage tier after a previous time window ended, automatically determining a time weighting factor to be applied to an access frequency associated with a time window. |
| US08171202B2 |
Asynchronous distributed object uploading for replicated content addressable storage clusters
A method is performed by two or more devices of a group of devices in a distributed data replication system. The method includes receiving, at the two or more devices, a group of chunks having a same unique temporary identifier, where the group of chunks comprises an object to be uploaded; creating an entry for the object in a replicated index, where the entry is keyed by the unique temporary identifier, and where the replicated index is replicated at each of the two or more devices; and determining, by an initiating device of the two or more devices, that a union of the group of chunks contains all data of the object. The method also includes calculating a content-based identifier to the object; creating another entry for the object in the replicated index, where the other entry is keyed by the content-based identifier; and updating the replicated index to point from the unique temporary identifier to the content-based identifier. |
| US08171200B1 |
Serially indexing a cache memory
A method includes indexing a translation table stored in memory with a first index of a virtual address corresponding to a first memory region size by querying the translation table at first locations associated with the first index. Indexing the translation table with a second index of the virtual address corresponding to a second memory region size by querying the translation table at second locations associated with the second index. The translation table includes translations for mapping address tags of the virtual address to physical addresses. The first index is different than the second index, and the first memory region size is different than the second memory region size. |
| US08171199B2 |
Multiprocessor gateway
A multiprocessor gateway for multiple serial buses includes: multiple communication modules that are each provided for connection of one serial bus; multiple processors for processing data that are transferred in word-based fashion, via an internal system bus appurtenant to the respective processor, between the processor and the communication modules, the internal system buses of the multiprocessor gateway being connected to the communication modules, which have a respective appurtenant interface unit for each system bus, each processor exchanging data, via its appurtenant system bus and the interface unit, appurtenant to the system bus, of a communication module, with the serial bus connected to the communication module, independently of the other processors and without waiting time. |
| US08171195B2 |
Media player communication with an accessory using a display remote lingo
An interface and protocol allow a media player to communicate with external accessories over a transport link. The protocol includes a core protocol functionality and a number of accessory lingoes. Examples of accessory lingoes include a microphone lingo, a simple remote lingo, a display remote lingo, an RF transmitter lingo, and an extended interface lingo. |
| US08171194B2 |
Accessory communication with a media player using a display remote lingo
An interface and protocol allow a media player to communicate with external accessories over a transport link. The protocol includes a core protocol functionality and a number of accessory lingoes. Examples of accessory lingoes include a microphone lingo, a simple remote lingo, a display remote lingo, an RF transmitter lingo, and an extended interface lingo. |
| US08171193B2 |
Master communication circuit, slave communication circuit, and data communicating method
A master communication circuit communicatively connected to a slave communication circuit, comprises a timer circuit that can detect a first time; a first output circuit that outputs a first output signal of one logical level for starting a detecting operation of the first time in the timer circuit, when a value transmitted to the slave communication circuit is one logical level, and for starting a detecting operation of a second time longer than the first time in the slave communication circuit; and a second output circuit that outputs a second output signal of the other logical level when the timer circuit detects the first time, wherein if a value of one logical level is transmitted to the slave communication circuit, the value of one logical level is transmitted to the slave communication circuit by not detecting the second time with the slave communication circuit, detecting the first time with the timer circuit, and outputting the second output signal with the second output circuit, and wherein if a value of the other logical level is transmitted to the slave communication circuit, the value of the other logical level is transmitted to the slave communication circuit by not detecting the first time with the timer circuit and detecting the second time with the slave communication circuit. |
| US08171191B2 |
Bus interconnect device and a data processing apparatus including such a bus interconnect device
A bus interconnect device is provided comprising a parallel plate waveguide for coupling together a plurality of devices. This provides an efficient and flexible approach for providing interconnect functionality within a data processing apparatus. |
| US08171182B2 |
Method of indicating connectivity of peripheral device to computer operating system
This invention provides a method of connecting a network-connected image input device, to which a plug-and-play function cannot be applied to a computer installed with an OS (operating system) and using the image input device. To this end, when a control program of the image input device is activated, the program notifies the OS of information indicating that the peripheral device is connected, irrespective of connection/non-connection between the peripheral device and the computer. Upon reception of a command for activating the peripheral device, the control program confirms the connection/non-connection between the peripheral device and the computer. When the connection is confirmed, the control program controls the peripheral device to activate. |
| US08171180B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and recording medium
An information processing apparatus is disclosed that is connected to a device and generates data processable by the device based on device information about the device. The information processing apparatus includes a processing content setting unit that specifies, based on the device information, processing content to be executed by the device; a command retrieving unit that, if the processing content specified by the processing content setting unit contains unknown information, retrieves a command corresponding to the unknown information from the device information; and a data generating unit that generates, based on the command retrieved by the command retrieving unit and the processing content, data processable by the device. |
| US08171179B2 |
Apparatus supporting plurality of interfaces and method of setting up network connection of the same
A method of setting up a network connection of an image forming device connectable to a network via a first interface and a second interface, the method including setting up a network connection via the second interface, stopping operation of the first interface and initiating operation of the second interface after the setting up of the network connection via the second interface is completed, determining whether the second interface is connected to the network, and, stopping operation of the second interface and initiating operation of the first interface if determined that the second interface is connected to the network. |
| US08171178B2 |
Scaling of small computer system interface input output (SCSI I/O) referrals
A command is issued to a first data storage system for addressing a set of data and at least one of a first referral response including a referral to at least a second data storage system or at least a first subset of the set of data and the first referral response including the referral to the at least the second data storage system. The at least one of a first referral response is accessed. A command is issued to the second data storage system for addressing the set of data and a second referral response including a referral to at least one of the first data storage system and a third data storage system, the second data storage system including at least a second subset of the set of data. The second subset of the set of data and the second referral response including the referral to the at least one of the first data storage system or the third data storage system is accessed. |
| US08171177B2 |
Enhancements to data-driven media management within an electronic device
A centralized resource manager manages the routing of audio or visual information within a device, including a handheld device such as a smartphone. The resource manager evaluates data-driven policies to determine how to route audio or visual information to or from various input or output components connected to the device, including headphones, built-in speakers, microphones, bluetooth headsets, cameras, and so on. Among the data considered in the policies are connection status data, indicating if a device is connected, routing status data, indicating if a device is permitted to route information to or from a component, and grouping data, indicating logical relationships between various components. Components may be considered inherently routable, automatically routable, or optionally routable. Numerous other uses exist for such data, including providing simpler and more logical management interfaces. |
| US08171174B2 |
Out-of-band characterization of server utilization via remote access card virtual media for auto-enterprise scaling
A method for characterizing server utilization out-of-band via remote access card virtual media includes sending at least one preselected desired parameter comprising at least one of at least one performance parameter and at least one process parameter, and at least one preselected polling interval to a remote access card disposed in at least one preselected managed host server system, using a remote application running on a remote management client via at least one remote access card administrative command through an out-of-band dedicated remote access card network interface card. The method also includes connecting a plug-and-play virtual drive, having an auto-run data gathering executable, to the at least one preselected managed host server system at the at least one preselected polling interval via a plug-and-play virtual media interface between the remote access card and the at least one preselected managed host server system, using firmware of the remote access card. |
| US08171171B2 |
Data synchronization method and system between devices
A data synchronization method for more than three networked devices including at least one client and one server for efficiently synchronizing data among multiple devices supporting a Synchronization Markup Language (SyncML) protocol is provided. The data synchronization method includes determining whether a data item indicated by synchronization information contained in a synchronization request message exists in a change log table of the server, when a server receives the synchronization request message sent by a first client, and updating the change log table by adding the data item indicated by the synchronization information and transmitting a synchronization request message containing a data identifier and the change log of the data item to a second client, if a data item indicated by the synchronization information does not exist, otherwise, ending data synchronization by transmitting a synchronization response message containing status information to the first client. |
| US08171170B2 |
Storage switch task processing synchronization
Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments relate to a storage switch including task processing synchronization. In embodiments of the present invention, the packet processing units may generate and store Task Index and Generation Count information that prevents the processing of expired commands or responses. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of the present invention may further employ timeout sequences to prevent previous instances of a stale task resource from disrupting the current use of the task resource. |
| US08171169B2 |
Method and apparatus for updating a graphical display in a distributed processing environment
A system and method for updating a display unit remotely located from a computing system are described. The method includes copying display information from a video buffer of a computing device executing an application to generate a display update, calculating a size of the display update, and determining an amount of available bandwidth of a network connecting the computing device and the display unit. The method also includes calculating a time period required to communicate the display update from the computing device to the display unit, transmitting the display update to the display; and repeating the method after the time period has elapsed. |
| US08171167B2 |
Intelligent caching of media files
A method of receiving and forwarding a multimedia message is provided. The multimedia message is adapted with a first adaptation profile into a first adapted message to be received in a first device. The multimedia message and the first adapted message are stored in a media cache. The message may then be forwarded from the first device to a second device that has a second adaptation profile by retrieving the first adapted message from the media cache and sending it to the second device if the first and second adaptation profiles match, otherwise the multimedia message is retrieved from the media cache and adapted with the second adaptation profile into a second adapted message that is then sent to the second device. In addition, the second adapted message is stored in the media cache. |
| US08171163B2 |
Method for tracking transmission status of data to entities such as peers in a network
A method for tracking a transmission status of one or more data elements to one or more devices. In one example, the method includes providing a list including one or more devices and one or more data elements; processing the list to determine a data element of the one or more data elements to transmit to a device of one of the one or more devices; and upon successfully transmitting the data element to the device, adjusting the list so that the list indicates that the device has received the transmitted data element. In this manner, the status of whether a particular data element has been sent to a particular device can be easily derived from the list. |
| US08171162B2 |
Methods and apparatus for using both LDP and RSVP in a communications system
Methods and apparatus for allowing routers in an autonomous system to implement LDP and RSVP at the same time. RSVP can be used in the network core with LDP being used in network regions surrounding the core. LDP LSPs are tunneled through the RSVP network core using RSVP LSPs and label stacking techniques. During route selection LDP LSPs which use an RSVP LSP tunnel are preferred over alternative LDP LSPs having an equal cost associated with them to create a preference for traffic engineered routes. |
| US08171160B1 |
Multi-layer stack platform for cloud communications
A multi-layer stack platform is provided for cloud communication connections and services between devices. The system includes three or more layers, including a directory component, an applications component, and a peering component. An interconnection component may also be provided for communication between the applications component and the peering component. The components operate to provide communication services, such as sessions, according to the functionality of a selected application by adhering to device, user, and routing rules and preferences. The device, user, and routing rules and preferences are maintained in and processed by the directory component. The applications component receives communication session requests and accesses corresponding application scripts to perform the requested session. The peering component receives the device, user, and routing rules and preferences, and establishes connection between devices based on the rules and preferences as defined by the directory component. |
| US08171158B1 |
Browser system and method
A portable apparatus for viewing digital content received from a data communication network, includes: a non-volatile storage medium capable to store digital content received from a data communication network; a display communicatively coupled to the non-volatile storage medium and capable to display images of the digital content; a processor communicatively coupled to the non-volatile storage medium; and a content browsing engine executable by the processor and capable to select digital content stored in the non-volatile storage medium. An apparatus for receiving datacast transmission, includes: a base station including a receiver; a portable browser device capable to be coupled to the base station and including a non-volatile storage; and a filtering engine communicatively coupled to the non-volatile storage and capable to store into the non-volatile storage content bundles requested by a user, the content bundles being transmitted from a data cast transmission received by the receiver. |
| US08171144B2 |
AV server apparatus and connection management method
In connection management by a conventional server apparatus using IDs, a client apparatus cannot know an attribute of a connection corresponding to an ID. A server apparatus (10) is an AV server apparatus that distributes content to a client apparatus requesting content data. A communication unit (11) receives a logical connection establishment request or a physical connection establishment request from the client apparatus. A content data distribution unit (14) establishes a physical connection for distributing the content data to the client apparatus, when the physical connection establishment request is received. A connection information management unit (15) establishes a logical connection, when the logical connection establishment request is received or as a result of the establishment of the physical connection. The connection information management unit (15) further generates an ID (connection ID) that corresponds to the logical connection and belongs to a value range associated with a logical connection category (type). |
| US08171138B2 |
System and method for applying flexible attributes to execute asynchronous network requests
Flexible attributes are attached to network requests that may be executed asynchronously. Any number of criteria may be attached to network requests. The requests are queued until the associated criteria are satisfied. Once the criteria are satisfied, the request is executed. Applications that make the requests are provided with simple success and failure notifications that they can respond to with various logic. Any type of criteria may be attached to a request. The criteria may be associated with the requests at design time of the application using a graphical user interface. |
| US08171135B2 |
Accumulator for prefetch abort
The present invention relates to systems, apparatus, and methods of determining whether to abort a prefetch operation. Embodiments include accumulator functionality for accumulating object data prior to making an abort determination. Certain embodiments compress the accumulated data to more accurately reflect the cost of pushing the data to the client as part of the prefetch operation. Accumulation and/or compression of the data may provide sufficient data relating to the size of the object to make a useful prefetch abort determination, even where the size of the object cannot be otherwise determined (e.g., from the object data header). Other embodiments store accumulated data (e.g., in compressed or uncompressed form) for use in further optimizing prefetch operations. For example, if an accumulated prefetch is aborted before the object is forwarded to the client, and the client later requests the object, the object may be pushed to the client from server-side storage, rather than retrieving (e.g., and compressing) the object from the content server redundantly. |
| US08171133B2 |
Management apparatus and management method for computer system
A computer system according to the present invention is provided with a request classification tool generating a request classification log which describes a number of web requests handled by the computer system for each predetermined measurement period and for each type of the web requests; a system unification processing tool for generating a system log which describes a status of resources of the computer system for the each predetermined measurement period; and resource usage status analysis tool. The resource usage status analysis tool calculates a request handling resource usage amount per web request by using the request classification log and the system log for each type of the web requests, the request handling resource usage amount being a usage amount of resources used for handling the web requests per web request. |
| US08171131B2 |
Device for managing the insertion of complementary data into multimedia content streams
A device (D) is dedicated to managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals (T). This device (D) comprises management means (MM) tasked, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, with determining in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles. |
| US08171122B2 |
Visualization of web services distributed management (WSDM) resources
An apparatus and method provides visualization of IT resources that are exposed as WSDM resources. A management system with a console provides visibility and functionality for WSDM resources by employing a visualization mechanism that processes standardized visualization metadata that is sent from a WSDM resource. The visualization mechanism uses standardized information to enable the management system console to display a robust presentation of the resource without needing to update the management system and console code when new types of resources are added. |
| US08171120B1 |
Mobile IPv6 route optimization authorization
The invention consists of a new route optimization authorization enabling mechanism. The current Mobile IPv6 protocols do not allow for optional control over the use of route optimization. The present invention allows for system control over whether route optimization is allowed or not allowed. The conditional allowance of route optimization solves several billing and security issues by allowing the system to impose appropriate charges for the route optimization feature or prevent route optimization where traffic flow can be monitored by the home network. |
| US08171117B2 |
Workflow manager for a distributed system
A workflow manager handles the communication between a workflow-enabled provider and a workflow-enabled client. The workflow manager maintains a directory of clients, translates a transaction from a provider into multiple transactions suitable for the client, and handles security. In one embodiment, the workflow manager connects with the workflow-enabled client by registration and with the workflow-enabled provider by advertising and activation. Subsequent communications between the workflow manager and the workflow-enabled provider and the workflow-enabled client are with a request/response protocol. The workflow manager also comprises data storage for storing data for transmission to the workflow-enabled client or the workflow-enabled provider, and workflow storage for storing information related to registered clients. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including a method for a method for registering a client and a method for activating a provider. |
| US08171116B2 |
Configuring processing entities according to their roles in a data processing system with a distributed architecture
A mechanism is provided for configuring different computers of a network. Each computer plays a specific physic role (defined by an architecture of the network) and/or a specific logic role (defined by the applications running in the network). A reference model and a transition table are associated with each product to be installed in the network; the reference model specifies a target configuration for each role (defined by the components of the product to be installed), while the transition table specifies the actions required to reach each target configuration from each current configuration of the computers. A server identifies the role and the current configuration of each computer; the actions required to enforce the desired target configuration on the computer are then established and executed. |
| US08171113B2 |
Management of bandwidth allocation in a network server
A server is connected to a plurality of connected client devices, and is configured to transfer information between any selected one of the client devices and a memory for static storage of information. The method comprises increasing the defined delay period after each execution of a packet transfer cycle, thereby discouraging the transfer of unacceptably large files. The delay period may be initiated, and the amount of increase or other adjustment to the delay period during the transfer cycle may be controlled, by selected a predetermined value from a table, or by calculating a value based on variable input parameters such as the file size, server load, network response time, and number of transfer requests from the client device within a defined prior period. |
| US08171110B1 |
Tools enabling a preferred placement service for domain registration websites
The present inventions may be implemented by tools enabling preferred domain positioning on a registration website. An example may comprise a computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to receive a request (comprising a bid and the domain) seeking such preferred placement, generate a quality score for the domain, determine the preferred placement based upon the bid and the quality score, and transmit a response (comprising the preferred placement) to the request. |
| US08171105B2 |
Modification of information utility based upon context
A method of disseminating information in system having data sources and data recipients includes receiving a generic utility function at a data source for information to be delivered to a data recipient based upon an application for which the information is to be used. Data related to an environment in which the information is to be propagated is used to modify the generic utility function. |
| US08171103B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing access to content
Methods and apparatus are provided for providing access to content via messaging services, such as email, voicemail, instant messaging, text messaging, or other similar messaging services. A content server is provided that includes a user interface, a web server and a file. The web server includes a web page for accessing the file. A user provides user information associated with a messaging address via the user interface, and the content server then sends a message including the web address of the web page to the messaging address. The user may then retrieve the message at a client computer, and may then download the file to the client computer by entering the web address into a web browser on the client computer. |
| US08171102B2 |
Smart access to a dispersed data storage network
A method for reading data from a dispersed data storage network that includes a plurality of slice servers. The method begins by accessing a list of slice servers of the plurality of slice servers, wherein each slice server on the list stores at least one data slice associated with a data segment of the data. The method continues by transmitting read requests to at least some of the slice servers on the list. The method continues by receiving a data slice from a slice server on the list. The method continues by determining whether a threshold number of data slices has been received. The method continues, when the threshold number of data slices has been received, assembling the data segment from at least the threshold number of data slices. |
| US08171100B2 |
Reducing latency of access requests in distributed storage systems having a shared data set
Described are methods and apparatus for reducing latency of read and write requests for a set of storage system sites having a shared data set. An owner site may directly write to the shared data set and contains current data regarding the shared data set. The remote sites may experience substantial latency when accessing the shared data set stored at the owner site. Synchronizing and caching methods may reduce overall read latency experienced at remote sites by periodically transmitting images of the shared data set to the remote sites. Also, a migration method may be used to change ownership of the shared data set from a current owner site (that may be receiving a relatively low number of read/write requests) to a new owner site (that may be receiving a relatively high number of read/write requests) to reduce the overall read and write latency experienced in the sites. |
| US08171099B1 |
Network acceleration device having persistent in-memory cache
A network acceleration device includes a persistent, in-memory cache of network content. For example, the cache may store content in a manner that allows a software process to map virtual memory to specific, known regions of an underlying physical memory. Upon detecting a failure of a process executing within the network device, the network acceleration device may restart the software process and remap data structures of the cache to the known regions of the physical memory without necessarily requiring that the cache content be reloaded from a non-volatile memory, such as a hard drive. In this manner, the network acceleration device may accelerate download speeds by avoiding timely cache content restoration in the event of a software process failure. |
| US08171097B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method of processing printing operation on home network
An apparatus, a system, and a method of processing a printing operation on a home network that searches an available media storage device upon a request of a printing job of predetermined contents, transmits an address of the searched media storage device, and prints printing contents transmitted to the address are provided. The apparatus for processing a printing function on a home network includes a printing request management unit which processes a printing request transmitted from a printing controller on a home network; a media storage device processing unit which provides information on an available media storage device on the home network when printing job information is transmitted from the printing request management unit; and a printing management unit which downloads predetermined contents stored in the media storage device, and performs a printing job according to the printing request of the printing controller. |
| US08171094B2 |
System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
A device is provided for connecting a medical apparatus to a network. The device collects data from the medical apparatus and performs a variety of processing functions, such as trending, protocol translation, generating reports, etc. related to the collected data. The device then transmits the collected data over a network to interested parties. In some implementations, the device can transmit the collected data as an email message. |
| US08171092B2 |
Method for delivering CPM message and server thereof
Disclosed is a method for delivering a message in a converged IP messaging (CPM) server. The message delivery method may include determining whether to reject a CPM message based on the access policy if the CPM message is received; checking a user preference of a target terminal to determine processing of the CPM message if it is determined that the CPM message is not rejected; determining whether to reject, defer or store the CPM message based on the user preference if the target terminal is not registered or in an unreceivable state; storing the CPM message in a queue if it is determined that a transmission of the CPM message is deferred; determining whether to discard or store the CPM message based on the user preference if a timer for the CPM message is expired; requesting to store the message to a message storage server if it is determined to be stored; receiving a response message including information on the stored message from the message storage server; and transmitting a message including the information on the store message to the terminal. |
| US08171091B1 |
Systems and methods for filtering contents of a publication
A server is communicatively coupled to a content publisher and a client machine The server may register the publication by assigning a publication identification (ID) to the publication, and register the content by associating the content with the publication using the publication ID. In some example embodiments, the client machine may submit a request to the server to determine whether the content is associated with the publication. In some example embodiments, the server may provide the publication ID to the client based on the content being associated with the publication, and the publication ID may allow the client to determine whether the publication is on a subscribed list that is stored on the client machine. An example client machine may be configured to perform an action on the content, based on the user being subscribed to the publication. |
| US08171090B2 |
Method and apparatus for status notification
Transmission data is generated depending on the status change of a device according to a message indicating the status information about the device and the destination information about the message and is transmitted by electronic mail, and the user who manages the device can be notified of the status of the device at an appropriate timing by a data transfer process apparatus, a device, a network system, a data transfer method, and a storage medium. |
| US08171088B2 |
Facilitating correction of incorrect identities in propagated electronic communications
An electronic communication is sent from a first tier sender to a first tier of one or more recipients. A first tier recipient propagates the communication to a second tier of one or more recipients. The first tier sender determines that the communication includes an incorrect identity. The first tier sender notifies the first tier recipients of the error and of the corrected identity. Responsive thereto, the first tier recipients send corrections to selected second tier recipients. |
| US08171083B2 |
System for enhancing the transmission security of the e-mails in the internet network
System for enhancing the security of the e-mails transmitted from a sender (10) to a receiver (12) over a data transmission network such as Internet wherein a Message Transfer Agent (MTA) (14) associated with the sender is in charge of transmitting over the network an original e-mail sent by the sender. The MTA associated with the sender includes a message splitting means (16) adapted to divide the original e-mail into a plurality of chunks according to a predetermined algorithm and a predetermined list of relay MTAs (20, 22, 24) to which are forwarded the plurality of chunks. The system comprises a chunk assembly agent (28) for receiving from the relay MTAs the plurality of chunks and re-assembling them by using the predetermined algorithm in order to re-build the e-mail before sending it to the receiver. |
| US08171081B1 |
Internal electronic mail within a collaborative communication system
Techniques for exchanging internal electronic mail over an open data network within a collaborative communication system are disclosed. The exchanging of the internal electronic mail does not rely upon an email address commonly known to include an @ sign. Each of registered users in the collaborative communication platform is assigned an identifier. The identifier is used for delivering the internal mail so authored similarly to a traditional email, except that the internal mail is delivered without relying upon an email address or the domain name therein. The identifier of a recipient cannot be used as an email address for someone other than any of the registered users to send a message to a user in collaborative communication system. |
| US08171077B2 |
Adaptive media messaging, such as for rich media messages incorporating digital content
A facility for presenting an adaptive message is described. The facility receives a message in the computer system. Based upon the contents of the received message, the facility tests two or more digital content capabilities of the computer system. The facility then selects one of a number of different digital content elements based upon the results of the testing. The facility presents the selected digital content element. |
| US08171074B2 |
Web service system, schedule execution apparatus and control method thereof
A schedule execution unit accesses a storage unit for storing a call list registered in a database and determines whether or not there is a Web service call to be executed. If the presence of a Web service call to be executed is confirmed, the schedule execution unit reads out the Web service address and process details and calls the Web service. By so doing, the apparatus that provides the function and the apparatus that carries out the call can be separated, thus enabling a particular program to be executed simply and flexibly according to a schedule. |
| US08171071B2 |
Open component manipulation system
A messaging system and method for creating a messaging hierarchy in a computer network are described. The network is made up of multiple network entities, which include both publishing entities and subscribing entities, where the publishing entities have data of which the subscribing entities may have need. The messaging system and method for creating a messaging hierarchy also include a data hierarchy applied to the data exchanged between the publishing entities and subscribing entities. The data hierarchy determines the virtual connections formed between the network entities in response to publication and subscription requests exchanged between the entities, such that the virtual connections established between network entities form a hierarchy corresponding to the data hierarchy. |
| US08171067B2 |
Implementing an ephemeral file system backed by a NFS server
Provided is a method for implementing a file system that includes a combination of read-only and read/write parts. A file system located on a data server maintains an original copy of a data store. An “Ephemeral” file system (EFS) is created on a client computer. The data server is contacted only once for each file accessed and the copy is in an original state each time the system is mounted. Changes made to the file system by one client are not seen by other clients. The EFS maintains the file system state in memory and uses the NFS server as a backing stored for cached file data. File data for files created on the client are backed up by the client system's swapping space. |
| US08171062B2 |
File management system
Since both a physical storage place and a logical storage place in a storage system are separately managed as a directory structure, or a hierarchical structure, even in such a case that the physical storage place has been changed, the logical storage place which is displayed to the user is not changed, and thus, the user can use the file while the user need not become aware of the change of the file. When the contents of a file is displayed, a physical storage destination of the file is acquired based upon both a reference path and a relative path of the file, and then, the file is acquired from the physical storage destination. |
| US08171055B2 |
System and method for generating communication subscriber description information
A system for generating communication subscriber description information includes an information labeling unit adapted to label original information of a specific communication subscriber, and a subscriber information generating unit adapted to generate communication subscriber description information according to communication records. A method for generating communication subscriber description information applies Ontology in the communication field, so as to obtain subscriber demand information for generating communication subscriber description information by analyzing actual communication records of the subscriber. Moreover, the generated communication subscriber description information truly reflects characteristics and requirements of the communication subscriber, thus ensuring the accuracy of the generated communication subscriber description information. The present invention is applicable to communication behaviors such as voice communication, data communication, and short messages of a subscriber. |
| US08171052B2 |
Information search system, method and program
A system, method and computer program product for searching at high speed for documents matching a dependency pattern from document data containing a large volume of text documents. The system includes a storage device for storing, index storage means for storing in the storage device occurrence information, receiving means for receiving information, reading means for reading from the index storage means, and searching means for comparing occurrence information. The method and computer program product include the steps of storing in the storage device, receiving information, reading from the storage device, comparing occurrence information, and searching. The computer program product includes instructions to execute the steps of storing each of the plurality of document data in the storage device, storing in the storage device occurrence information. |
| US08171044B2 |
Methods, systems, and products for recommending social communities
Methods, devices, and products are disclosed for recommending a social community. A “social community” may be any individual(s), clubs, and/or organizations that have expressed some affinity to terms or subject matter, such as a media identifier. The media identifier identifies some media that is scheduled for recording. A community database is queried for the media identifier, and the community database associates social communities to media identifiers. The social community associated with the media identifier is retrieved. The social community is then sent to a user. |
| US08171035B2 |
Situation-aware recommendation using correlation
In one embodiment, data relating to usage patterns of the user is stored, wherein the data includes information as to items which were used and the context in which they were used. A correlation table is constructed. Correlation values between each item and each context are then stored in then correlation table, wherein the correlations are used to recommend one or more of the items. |
| US08171032B2 |
Providing customized electronic information
This invention relates to customized electronic identification of desirable objects, such as news articles, in an electronic media environment, and in particular to a system that automatically constructs both a “target profile” for each target object in the electronic media based, for example, on the frequency with which each word appears in an article relative to its overall frequency of use in all articles, as well as a “target profile interest summary” for each user, which target profile interest summary describes the user's interest level in various types of target objects. The system then evaluates the target profiles against the users' target profile interest summaries to generate a user-customized rank ordered listing of target objects most likely to be of interest to each user so that the user can select from among these potentially relevant target objects, which were automatically selected by this system from the plethora of target objects that are profiled on the electronic media. Users' target profile interest summaries can be used to efficiently organize the distribution of information in a large scale system consisting of many users interconnected by means of a communication network. Additionally, a cryptographically-based pseudonym proxy server is provided to ensure the privacy of a user's target profile interest summary, by giving the user control over the ability of third parties to access this summary and to identify or contact the user. |
| US08171030B2 |
Method and apparatus for multi-dimensional content search and video identification
A multi-dimensional database and indexes and operations on the multi-dimensional database are described which include video search applications or other similar sequence or structure searches. Traversal indexes utilize highly discriminative information about images and video sequences or about object shapes. Global and local signatures around keypoints are used for compact and robust retrieval and discriminative information content of images or video sequences of interest. For other objects or structures relevant signature of pattern or structure are used for traversal indexes. Traversal indexes are stored in leaf nodes along with distance measures and occurrence of similar images in the database. During a sequence query, correlation scores are calculated for single frame, for frame sequence, and video clips, or for other objects or structures. |
| US08171029B2 |
Automatic generation of ontologies using word affinities
In one embodiment, generating an ontology includes accessing an inverted index that comprises inverted index lists for words of a language. An inverted index list corresponding to a word indicates pages that include the word. A word pair comprises a first word and a second word. A first inverted index list and a second inverted index list are searched, where the first inverted index list corresponds to the first word and the second inverted index list corresponds to the second word. An affinity between the first word and the second word is calculated according to the first inverted index list and the second inverted index list. The affinity describes a quantitative relationship between the first word and the second word. The affinity is recorded in an affinity matrix, and the affinity matrix is reported. |
| US08171028B2 |
Dynamic membership management in a distributed system
Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information. |
| US08171024B2 |
Job log processing apparatus and computer-readable medium
A job log collection unit cooperates with job log management programs of copying machines to collect job logs held in the copying machines and store the collected job logs in a job log storage unit. A user change history creation unit refers to a human resource database to thereby determine whether a section which each user belongs to has been changed or not in a range of newly collected job logs. The user change history creation unit creates a user change history for each user who has encountered the change and stores the user change history in a user change history storage unit. A job log aggregation unit classifies the job logs of the job log storage unit into user sections by referring to the user change history of the user change history storage unit and aggregates the job logs in accordance with each section. |
| US08171020B1 |
Spam detection for user-generated multimedia items based on appearance in popular queries
A system, a method, and various software tools enable a video hosting website to automatically identify posted video items that contain spam in the metadata associated with a respective video item. A spam detection tool for user-generated video items based on appearance in popular queries is provided that facilitates the detection of spam in the metadata associated with a video item. |
| US08171017B2 |
Book of business mechanism
A “Book of Business” (or Book) is a set of business domain data of one or more book types. This set of data is identified by a “driving condition” or quality. A driving condition typically arises from a business practice, and may be further qualified by local conditions. Accordingly, data may be organized based on local activities or conditions that may not be explicitly stored in a database. In one embodiment, a method for querying the database includes identifying data in a database. The data is organized into one or more segments. A book of business associated with a segment in the one or more segments is then generated. The book of business includes a set of references to the data organized into the segment. A query plan may be determined based on the book of business. A set of results may then be generated based on the query plan. |
| US08171015B2 |
Optimizing, distributing, and tracking online content
The subject matter described herein relates to systems and techniques for optimizing, distributing, and tracking the use of content online in, for example, Internet search engines and other Internet distribution networks. |
| US08171013B2 |
Indexing and searching product identifiers
A system, method and computer program product for indexing a product identifier and logical parts thereof includes receiving a product identifier; splitting the product identifier into logical parts; indexing the product identifier and the individual logical parts in an index; and storing the index, wherein the index is created by encoding the product identifier and the individual logical parts of the product identifier into separate fields of a document, wherein different weights are assigned to separate fields based on the field types such as product identifier or logical parts of the product identifier field, wherein different weights are assigned to words based on the word types including bi-words, wherein the fields and weights are encoded to word positions in the document, wherein the weights affect a score generated upon performing a query using the index. A system, method and computer program product for processing a search query is also presented. |
| US08171012B2 |
Document management apparatus, method, system, medium storing a program thereof
A document management apparatus that searches at least one document group saved in advance for a document group having attributes that correspond to a search condition. The apparatus includes an updating unit configured to update the attributes of the document group in accordance with an operation performed by a user on a document in the document group, and a search unit configured to search for a document group having attributes that correspond to user information inputted from the exterior. |
| US08171011B2 |
Content identification expansion
Content of a first type, such as web pages, are identified in response to a query. One or more correlated entities are identified based on the content of the first type. Content of a second type, such as advertisements, are identified based on the one or more of the correlated entities. |
| US08171007B2 |
Creating business value by embedding domain tuned search on web-sites
Domain specific topics, and optionally uniform resource locators (URLs) can be received from a user, and from those domain specific topics and URLs, domain tuned search definitions are generated for a given domain. The domain tuned search definitions are saved and the user is provided with a definition of a domain tuned search interface that is embedded on a site specified by the user. When someone reviewing the user's web site performs a search using the domain tuned, embedded search interface, a search engine is invoked which performs a search on the user's input query, and then returns domain specific search results. The search engine searches for domain specific search results over web sites in addition to the web site that the user is currently reviewing, so the search is more precise than a general web search but broader than a specific site search. |
| US08171005B2 |
Database quiesce operations
A technique to quiesce a database without causing after-arriving access requests to abnormally terminate interrogates database management system control structures associated with the database. Specified modifications to these control structures can be made so that subsequent access requests to the database (i.e., during quiesce operations) are not abnormally terminated. Once quiesced, regular or special purpose maintenance or testing operations, the starting or stopping of log keeping operations or similar operations may be made to the database. Once these are complete, the database control structures may be updated again to permit pending/scheduled access requests to proceed. |
| US08171004B1 |
Use of hash values for identification and location of content
Surrogate hashing is described, including initializing one or more variables in a collection, evaluating an address associated with a host, comparing the address to the collection to determine if the address is stored in the collection, and processing the address to hash a file identified by the address if the address is not stored in the collection or determining if another address is indicated by the address if the address is stored in the collection. |
| US08171003B2 |
Method and apparatus for changing reference of database
Introduced is information that indicates a changing of “a reference that points a referenced record” to “another reference that points another record”. This information is named as “changing reference information (CRI)” and is registered to a referred record. When accessing a referencing record, there is a possibility to access referenced record by necessity of a program or an operator. At this time, CRI registered to originally referenced record is accessed. And the reference is changed to new record as indicated by the CRI. Thus, status of a DB in a device is changed by the invention. When PCs have reproduced DBs that are copy of the original and edit their own reproduced DBs so as to change a reference, these editorial contents with CRI will be propagated to other PCs. Other PCs change references of their reproduced DBs according to the CRIs. |
| US08171002B2 |
Matching engine with signature generation
A system and a method generates at least one signature associated with document. In one embodiment, a document comprised of text is received and parsed to generate a token set. The token set includes a plurality of tokens. Each token corresponds to the text in the document that is separated by a predefined character characteristic. A score is calculated for each token in the token set based on a frequency and distribution of the text in the document. Each token is then ranked based on the calculated score. A subset of the ranked tokes is selected and a signature is generated for each occurrence of the selected tokens. The selected list of signatures is then output. |
| US08170994B2 |
Techniques for virtual archiving
Techniques for virtual archiving are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for performing virtual archiving comprising applying archiving rules to a backup catalog, generating a virtual archive catalog based at least in part on a result of applying archiving rules to the backup catalog, determining a backup image associated with the virtual archive catalog becoming expired and converting the backup image into an archive image. |
| US08170993B2 |
Page grouping for site traffic analysis reports
Website administrators can specify page groups and/or single pages as checkpoint nodes for site analysis reporting purposes, and can configure the system of the invention to provide information as to a particular visitation path through the checkpoints. Any group of pages can be designed as a single checkpoint node for website traffic analysis and reporting purposes. Page groups can be used in place of or in addition to individual web pages in any context where site traffic analysis is being presented or performed. |
| US08170992B2 |
Method and system for batch processing form data
The input and batch processing of data for insertion in a database. In one aspect of the invention, processing input data includes receiving data for insertion into a database, the data including data fields holding data entries. At least one of the data fields is determined to be a standard field having a standard data entry, and at least one different data field is determined to have been designated a batch mode field, where each batch mode field has a plurality of associated batch mode data entries. A data record is created for each batch mode data entry of the batch mode field, where each data record includes a different batch mode data entry, and each data record includes a copy of the standard data entry. |
| US08170990B2 |
Integrated remote replication in hierarchical storage systems
Remote replication is implemented with hierarchical storage. In exemplary embodiments, a first storage site has a first storage system providing an upper tier of storage and a second storage system providing a lower tier of storage. A remote second storage site has third and fourth storage systems configured to receive remote replication from the first and second storage systems, respectively. When a file is migrated from the upper tier to the lower tier, a stub file is stored in place of the migrated file indicating a storage location of the migrated file on the second storage system. When copies of the migrated file and the stub file are replicated to the fourth and third storage systems, respectively, information is transmitted to the second storage site for linking the copy of the stub file at the third storage system to the copy of the migrated file at the fourth storage system. |
| US08170988B2 |
System and method for synchronizing databases
A method for synchronizing information shared by a subsystem on-board a mobile platform and a subsystem remote from the mobile platform. The method may involve designating one of the subsystems as a first system having a first database, and designating one of the subsystems as a second system having a second database. The first subsystem may be used to transmit a synchronization request to the second subsystem, with the synchronization request including a synchronization point to be used as a reference for future synchronization operations between the subsystems. The second subsystem may be used to receive the synchronization request and to check the second database for any records that have been created or modified since a previously performed synchronization operation. Information may then be transmitted back to the first subsystem that includes information concerning the new or modified records. |
| US08170984B2 |
System with a data aggregation module generating aggregated data for responding to OLAP analysis queries in a user transparent manner
A system for supporting OLAP analysis over a network. The system comprises an OLAP server for enabling an OLAP user to perform OLAP analysis via interaction with a client machine on the network. The system also includes a data aggregation module comprising a multi-dimensional datastore, an aggregation engine integrated with the multi-dimensional datastore, and a first interface for loading base data from a data source to the aggregation engine. The aggregation engine performs data aggregation operations on loaded base data, generates aggregated data from the base data, and stores the aggregated data in the multi-dimensional datastore. A second interface receives requests for OLAP analysis from the OLAP server, accesses the aggregation engine to retrieve from the multi-dimensional datastore, aggregated data corresponding to requests, and communicates the retrieved aggregated data to the OLAP server for query servicing, in a manner transparent to the OLAP user. |
| US08170982B2 |
Computer readable medium and information processing apparatus
A computer readable medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute information processing is provided, wherein plural pieces of management object information are stored in a storage device with unique identification information and non-unique name information, the information processing including: receiving a process request that specifies management object information of a process object by using location information which is represented by a sequence of name information assigned to respective pieces of management object information; selecting one piece of management object information corresponding to the location information with reference to history information which is registered with the location information and the management object information being associated with each other; and sending back a result of a process that is executed for the selected management object information of the process object in accordance with the process request. |
| US08170981B1 |
Computer method and system for combining OLTP database and OLAP database environments
A computer system provides access to both an online transaction processing (OLTP) database server and an online analytics processing (OLAP) database server. The computer system includes a client application adapted to receive a query. According to (a) mode of operation (e.g., read or update) of the client application and (b) synchronization status of the OLAP database server, the client application redirects the query to the OLTP database server or to the OLAP database server. The client application redirects the query to the OLTP database server when the mode of operation is other than a read-only operation or the synchronization status is “unsynchronized”. The client application redirects the query to the OLAP database server when the mode of operation is a read-only operation and the synchronization status is “synchronized”. The computer system further includes an OLTP application server (e.g., Enovia V6) comprising an OLTP adapter and an OLAP adapter. The OLAP adapter is formed of a mapping component adapted to map data between OLTP semantics and OLAP semantics. |
| US08170979B2 |
Systems and methods for calibrating user ratings
A website may allow users to rate content items displayed thereon. The user ratings associated with the content items may be weighted according to user rating weight. The rating weight of a particular user may be based, in whole or part, upon whether the user consistently rates content items similarly to one or more “expert” raters. The experts may be selected based on various factors including: professional training, experience, reputation on the website, or the like. If a particular user consistently rates content items similarly to the experts, the user may be given a high rating weight. Users whose ratings consistently diverge from the ratings assigned by the experts may be given a lower rating weight. The weights may be displayed in connection with a user profile, or may be hidden from the user community. The rating weights may be used in calculating an overall rating of a particular content item. |
| US08170973B2 |
Satisfying rules through a configuration of list processing methods
A method and system for satisfying rules through a configuration of list processing methods. A document received from a calling application includes items being processed. A procedure for satisfying rules is identified by matching, via a database, a combination of values to the procedure. The combination of values includes attributes of the calling application and the document. Steps included in the procedure are determined by matching, via the database, the procedure to the steps. The order for executing the steps is determined by identifying, via the database, predecessor and successor steps. Sets of one or more list processing methods are determined and associated with each step. The order for executing each set of list processing methods is determined. The steps are executed. A selection list of elements is displayed to facilitate a selection of an element to characterize an item included in the document. |
| US08170969B2 |
Automated computation of semantic similarity of pairs of named entity phrases using electronic document corpora as background knowledge
An overall semantic similarity score value between pairs of named entities in a text corpus is obtained by calculating for at least one pair of named entities a plurality of corresponding pair similarity score values according to a first and at least a second classifier using electronic information sources. Each pair similarity score value of the pair of named entities per classifier is normalized by calculating a rank list per classifier, for example, for each named entity. The rank list holds each pair of named entities of the text corpus, wherein a rank of each pair of named entities within the rank list reflects the respective pair similarity score value. Further an arithmetic mean of the normalized pair similarity score value of each pair of named entities is calculated to provide the overall semantic similarity score value. |
| US08170963B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing information, recording medium and computer program
An information processing apparatus includes a target problem acquisition unit for acquiring a target problem, a generation unit for generating a plurality of solution candidates to the target problem to solve the target problem, and a contribution ratio calculating unit for calculating a contribution ratio of each solution candidate to the target problem if the target problem is solved using all the plurality of solution candidates to the target problem acquired by the target problem acquisition unit. The generation unit generates a solution candidate to the target problem in a next generation in accordance with a genetic algorithm that uses an evaluation value that is calculated using at least the contribution ratio of each solution candidate to the target problem determined by the contribution ratio calculating unit. |
| US08170961B2 |
Text edit tracker that categorizes communications, determines distances between templates, codes templates in color, and uses a morphing score based on edits
A method for monitoring edits to a template for responding to an incoming communication includes categorizing the incoming communication into a category associated with the template for a response to the incoming communication. The method also includes determining distances between the template and each of a set of responses based on the template, at a predetermined level of granularity. The method also includes coding the template in accordance with the determined distances and displaying the coded template. A method for extracting a new template based on responses to an existing template includes selecting factors that affect quantitative measures for preparing a response to the incoming communication. The method includes using a mathematical model of the factors to cluster a set of responses created based on the existing template into two clusters. The method further includes restricting a first cluster centroid to be the existing template and searching for a second cluster centroid for a second cluster. |
| US08170959B2 |
Systems and methods for a label with postage API
A label and a method for providing a label to a user is described. The label may be a mailing label to be placed on letters or parcels. The label includes information such as postage, delivery address, return address, and a barcode for tracking delivery information. A user may request both a label and postage in what, to the user, appears to be a single computerized connection on a single internet web-page. A postage indicia is provided through a postage provider with whom the user has a deposit or credit. The label itself may be generated through a label-generating application hosted or generated by an entity separate from the postage provider. |
| US08170951B2 |
Method and apparatus for facilitating shipment of packages
A method and apparatus for facilitating the shipment of a package or packages, each package containing one or more items, from a Sender to a Recipient, via one of a number of shippers. The apparatus includes a database for storing shipper data, a processor for processing the data in the database, a Sender's terminal for selectively receiving and sending shipment information to and from the processing system, a first communications link for selectively enabling communication between the database/processor and the Sender's terminal, a second communications link for selectively communicating between the database/processor and the shipper of the package(s), and a third communications link for selectively communicating between the database/processor and customs facilitation entities such as customs brokers. The Internet may be used as at least one of the communication links, and the database may be made available through a Web site. |
| US08170945B2 |
System and method for providing security to a game controller device for electronic trading
A system for managing electronic trading, comprises an interface application including a mapping module that defines a plurality of controller signal relationships. Each controller signal relationship associates one or more of a plurality of game controller signals with one of a plurality of trading system commands associated with the electronic trading of financial instruments. The interface application receives a plurality of game controller signals generated by a game controller, and determines, based on the controller signal relationships, that one or more of the plurality of received game controller signals are erroneous. The interface application causes the communication of a command to lock the game controller based on the determination of the one or more erroneous game controller signals. |
| US08170944B1 |
Customized performance benchmarks for stable value funds
Embodiments calculate a customized performance benchmark for a stable value fund by incorporating client-specific factors and calculating an overall crediting rate, as if the assets underlying the wrap contracts and insurance separate account contracts were invested in the market indices to which the fund's portfolio strategies are benchmarked, rather than being invested in the actual underlying portfolios of the fund. The resulting benchmark translates market benchmark returns into book value returns and resulting market value to book value ratios, to compare to the actual stable value fund performance. The crediting rate process accounts for the yields, durations, and returns of the market value benchmarks in addition to client-specific cash flows and market value to book value ratios. |
| US08170943B2 |
Systems and methods for generating a metric of financial status relative to a financial goal
The present invention relates to, among other things, systems and methods for generating a metric of an entity's financial status relative to a financial goal. In generating the metric, the value of an entity's total assets is simulated over time based on data comprising historical rates of returns. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a computer system and method for generating a metric of an individual's probable present-day financial status relative to financial independence on a desired future date. In this embodiment, the metric is called a Financial Independence Score. The Financial Independence score is a single number that represents the individual's financial status relative to achieving financial independence by a desired date. |
| US08170942B2 |
Automated investment alerts from multiple data sources
A system and method provides investors with meaningful information extracted from large volumes of available data for a particular stock, mutual fund, bond, or other investment. The system includes one or more computers that receive and process multiple data feeds to extract information relating to each type of investment. The processed data is compared to “alert rules” each corresponding to a predefined condition, and a truth table is established that identifies alerts that are true for each particular investment. An investor logs onto a web site and enters a stock ticker symbol or similar investment identifier. Computer software displays a web page including “alerts” that are presently true for that particular investment. The alerts can be predefined by financial experts to make them useful to novice investors. When an investor selects a particular investment, a display is generated showing all of the alerts that are true for that investment and allowing the user to get more information concerning the significance of the alerts. The alerts can be grouped into different categories according to their content or time sensitivity. |
| US08170941B1 |
System and method for generating random vectors for estimating portfolio risk
A system and computer-implemented method for generating random vectors for estimating portfolio risk is provided. Historical financial variable data of financial assets is stored in a memory. Parameters of a copula are estimated. Random vectors are generated from the copula. Risk for the financial assets is calculated based on the random vectors. |
| US08170940B2 |
System and method for the automated brokerage of financial instruments
Disclosed herein in a preferred embodiment is an automated financial instrument brokerage system wherein a front end layer interacts with customers to generate activity requests for an intermediate layer. The intermediate layer preferably processes the activity requests and places financial instrument orders on a financial market if appropriate. A backend layer preferably provides data to the intermediate layer for processing activity requests. Multiple heterogeneous front end customer applications may be supported by the same intermediate layer. Further, multiple backend layer applications may interact with the intermediate layer in a manner transparent to the front end layer. Further, scalability can be achieved be partitioning various tasks of the intermediate layer onto separate servers, and more preferably on separate redundant servers. Load balancers may then be used in the intermediate layer to provide distributed access to these servers. Also disclosed herein is a caching technique whereby turnaround time for processing activity requests can be reduced by reducing the number of times that the intermediate layer needs to interact with the backend layer. |
| US08170939B2 |
Method and system for building and maintenance watch lists
A method and apparatus for monitoring a items such as stocks and other securities, suitable for use in portable devices, such as personal organizers, wherein instead of separate watch lists, a pool of items being watched is maintained, and the total number of items which can be contained in the pool is intentionally limited to a predefined number, and further wherein each of the items in the pool includes an associated tag which defines a watch list to which it belongs, and the pool of the items being watched can be viewed simultaneously as one coherent collection, or specific watch lists can be displayed. |
| US08170938B2 |
Using commercial share of wallet to rate business prospects
Commercial size of spending wallet (“CSoSW”) is the total business spend of a business including cash but excluding bartered items. Commercial share of wallet (“CSoW”) is the portion of the spending wallet that is captured by a particular financial company. A modeling approach utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a company's spend capacity. Research analysts can use CSoW/CSoSW to provide a comprehensive and robust indication of the business prospects of a rated company. |
| US08170937B1 |
System and method for an automated sales system with remote negotiation and post-sale verification
The present invention provides a system and method to process items for sale or bid, to transmit electronic negotiations between prospective buyer and seller, and to verify the condition of the item before delivery to the buyer. The invention facilitates autonomous and remote negotiation between sellers and prospective buyers while protecting buyers from fraud and item misrepresentation. With the present invention, items can be sold individually and are not treated as standardized items that are interchangeable with similar commodity goods. The present invention also provides a waitlisting function. In addition, the functionality of traditional auction systems may be integrated with the novel features of the present invention. Furthermore, the present invention provides a system and method for conducting a reverse auction by allowing prospective buyers to list desired items. |
| US08170936B2 |
Method and system for emulating a private label over an open network
According to one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method and a system for emulating a private label network over an open network where settlement occurs at varying discount rates with one or more merchants or providers. A computer implemented method and system for settling a transaction at a discount rate may include receiving an authorization record for the transaction initiated by a customer over an open payment network; identifying payment plan data associated with a transaction; creating a settlement record based at least in part on the authorization record and the payment plan data; determining a discount rate for the settlement record; and settling with a provider for the transaction at the discount rate. |
| US08170934B2 |
Systems and methods for trading actively managed funds
Systems and methods are provided to determine an estimated value of a traded fund whose assets are not publicly disclosed on a daily basis, where a computer system includes one or more computers and is programmed to determine an estimated value of the traded fund. Embodiments include operating the computer system to calculate an estimated value of the traded fund based on the value of a proxy portfolio, where the identities of the assets of the traded fund are not disclosed to an investor who trades shares of the traded fund on a secondary market, and publicly disclosing the estimated value of the traded fund periodically throughout a trading day. |
| US08170933B1 |
Method and system for providing a customized start-up budget for a new business
A method and system for providing a customized start-up budget for a new business leverages actual business start-up data associated with one or more actual businesses in one or more locations collected by various financial management systems to provide a customized start-up budget for a new business that includes a listing of the business start-up budget categories and/or business start-up budget sub-categories associated with starting up a proposed business in a particular area and the average, or otherwise weighted, amounts spent in each of the business start-up budget categories and/or business start-up budget. |
| US08170929B1 |
Transaction support system
A centralized database system for supporting transactions in property. The central database is accessed by system users over a public network such as the Internet. The central database forms a title registry recording the entitlements of the users, who are a defined group, to perform prescribed actions in relation to electronically created records. The electronically created records represent a strictly defined series of rights and obligations in relation to underlying property with one record being created for support of one transaction. The users become entitled by virtue of their designation to prescribed roles by a previously entitled user. Designation of a user to a prescribed role in a record takes place by means of a system user sending an electronic instruction to the database, these electronic instructions being referred to as registry instructions or title registry instructions. |
| US08170928B2 |
System and method of transferring data through transaction process
A transaction process system (10) provides for data transactions between parties. In a credit card transaction, the parties are the merchant (20), acquiring bank (24), card association (34), issuing bank (14), and cardholder (12). A transaction processing center (30) is positioned between the acquiring bank and the card association. The transaction processing center provides data processing channels for message-based processing (72) and filed-based processing (76). The file-based processing uses an incoming queue (80) and outgoing queue (84) to simplify the interface. The transaction processing center also provides for currency conversions and account reconciliation on a per transaction basis. The transaction processing center uses a scheduler (160) to efficiently manage the data processing resources. |
| US08170926B1 |
Method and system for instant redirection of an online consumer from a referring website to a vendor website
A system, method and computer program product for instant redirection of an online consumer from a referring website to a vendor website is disclosed. The method includes administering, via a single administrator, a plurality of referring websites in a plurality of goods and service provider categories and associating a single URL (uniform resource locator) for a client's website with at least one zip code as predetermined by the client. The method also includes automatically determining a zip code for the consumer visiting one of referring websites and comparing the zip code predetermined by the client with the consumer's zip code for a match. The method further includes instantly redirecting the consumer's browser to the client's website via the single URL when there is a match and otherwise directing the consumer's browser to a self-maintaining goods and service provider directory for a specific zip code. |
| US08170925B1 |
Computer-implemented methods and systems for automatic merchandising
One embodiment of the instant invention is a computer-implemented method for processing transaction-related data that includes at least the following steps of: receiving seller data about a seller; receiving buyer data about a buyer; generating a seller profile; generating a buyer profile; receiving transaction data about a current transaction between the seller and the buyer for an offering; generating a transaction composite for the current transaction; determining a classification rule for each transaction composite class; and classifying the transaction composite into a particular transaction composite class based on comparing the classification rule to: i) the generated seller profile, ii) the generated buyer profile, or iii) the current transaction. |
| US08170921B2 |
Dynamic hosted shopping cart
Systems and methods are provided for a Dynamic Hosted Shopping Cart. According to one embodiment, a method comprises configuring a Dynamic Hosted Shopping Cart (DHSC) at a remote server based on communications with a buyer device and at least one seller's server that hosts one or more seller websites. The method also comprises embedding in or floating a widget above the one or more seller websites in connection with the DHSC. The method further comprises dynamically updating contents of the DHSC implemented by the widget according to communicated transaction information. In addition, the method comprises offering checkout across all enabled pages of the one or more seller websites. |
| US08170918B2 |
Method and instruments for sale of personal care products
Disclosed in this specification is a system for selecting a desired personal care product from a database of such products. The system scans the target application to determine the digital color value of the target. The resulting color value is converted into a standardized color value for comparison to a list of products with reference digital color values. A suggested product is found by searching the list for products whose reference color value closely matches the standardized color value obtained from the scan. The system is further capable of tracking customer data, sales history, and a variety of similar functions. |
| US08170912B2 |
Database structure and front end
In one embodiment, a method of analyzing online advertising information includes the steps of receiving consumer data from client computers, creating a database based on the consumer data, receiving user selected values from a front end, and extracting data from the database based on the user selected values. The front end may have a selection area with user selectable values that change depending on an initially selected value. In one embodiment, the database comprises an online analytical processing (OLAP) database. |
| US08170905B2 |
System and method determining reference values of sensitivities and client strategies based on price optimization
A computer implemented method for determining the reference values of sensitivities and strategies for price optimization demand models from a profit function and current product price. A total profit objective is expressed as the maximization of profit and volume, where a strategy parameter represents the relationship between profit and volume. From the total profit objective, the bounds of the strategy parameter are expressed as conditional inequalities relating the bounds to functions of the unit profit at the current rate and average volume. The strategy parameter is then set to the average of these bounds. The reference elasticity is expressed as a function of the unit profit function and average volume. The resulting reference values can be used in a price optimization system to generate recommended prices that relate to an industry's current pricing scheme. |
| US08170901B2 |
Extensible framework for designing workflows
A user interface for building a componentized workflow model. Each step of the workflow is modeled as an activity that has metadata to describe design time aspects, compile time aspects, and runtime aspects of the workflow step. A user selects and arranges the activities to create the workflow via the user interface. The metadata associated with each of the activities in the workflow is collected to create a persistent representation of the workflow. Users extend the workflow model by authoring custom activities. |
| US08170900B2 |
Supply chain discovery services
A discovery server is provided for tracking an object in a supply chain in accordance with a plurality of predefined events. The object is identifiable by an object identifier. The discovery server comprises the following elements. A communication interface is configured to communicate with each of a plurality of partners in the supply chain using a predefined protocol. A data store is configured to store events for the object, the events being received from the plurality of partners. Each event stored in the data store an object identifier, a life cycle step, a partner identifier and an timing identifier. Also, a processor is configured to search the data store in response to an inquiry regarding the object. |
| US08170896B2 |
System and method for electronic business transaction reliability
A system and method for performing a business transaction including delivering a business message, comprising providing in a first transaction the business message to a first workflow process; transferring the business message from the first workflow process to a second process wherein the transfer is not part of the first transaction; wherein the business message is transferred to the second process using a protocol; and wherein transferring the business message to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates. |
| US08170895B1 |
System and method for probate prediction
A computer assisted method includes selecting a sample of accounts from a historical database of accounts corresponding to deceased debtors, The sample indicates whether or not an estate was found for each deceased debtor. A comprehensive set of credit related variables corresponding to the accounts is obtained from a first source. A comprehensive set of demographic related variables corresponding to the accounts is obtained from a second source. The variables are mapped to the accounts and a computer executable model is created by identifying a subset of variables from the sets of variables and using the subset of variables and sample of accounts such that the model provides a prediction of whether or not an estate exists for a given deceased debtor. |
| US08170893B1 |
Eliminating sources of maintenance losses
Processes and software are provided for eliminating sources of maintenance losses in machine intensive environments such as manufacturing, processing and assembly plants.The processes and software include creating financial and work order metrics to trend maintenance variables, a process for creating work orders, a process for using alarms for integrating measurement technologies and spare parts, a process for managing repair and replacing activities and projects by improving documenting and communicating processes while involving users such as executives and senior managers. |
| US08170892B1 |
System and method for establishing rates for an automobile insurance policy
Automobile insurance rates are established by performing calculations for defining a single tier placement dependent upon a combination of mutually exclusive factors based on applicant data. The factors include a household driving record gradient, a stability gradient and an operator driving record gradient. In the case of a new policy, the factors also include a named insured driving experience gradient and a prior insurance gradient. Alternately, in the case of a renewal policy, the factors also include a household claims record gradient, a member relationship gradient and an operator claims record gradient. No single factor is the sole determinant for placement in a tier. |
| US08170889B2 |
Methods and systems for evaluating interaction of medical products and dependence on demographic variables
A computer implemented method of evaluating interaction two or more medical products or conditions, in the context of a reference condition, based on a dataset of patient records includes developing a reference contingency lattice of lattice subsets from a subset of the patient records containing the reference condition, wherein the lattice subsets correspond to the number of patient records that contain each of the two or more medical products or conditions and combinations thereof. A plurality of comparison contingency lattices are developed, each of the comparison contingency lattices developed from a respective random subset of patient records not containing the reference condition, where each of the comparison contingency lattices include lattice subsets that correspond to the number of patient records that contain each of the two or more medical products or conditions and combinations thereof. The lattice subsets of the reference contingency lattice are compared to the corresponding lattice subsets of the comparison contingency lattices to determine whether a lattice subset is indicative of an interaction between the medical products or conditions with respect to the reference condition. |
| US08170885B2 |
Wideband audio signal coding/decoding device and method
Disclosed is a wideband audio signal coding/decoding device and method that may code a wideband audio signal while maintaining a low bit rate. The wideband audio signal coding device includes an enhancement layer that extracts a first spectrum parameter from an inputted wideband signal having a first bandwidth, quantizes the extracted first spectrum parameter, and converts the extracted first spectrum parameter into a second spectrum parameter; and a coding unit that extracts a narrowband signal from the inputted wideband signal and codes the narrowband signal based on the second spectrum parameter provided from the enhancement layer, wherein the narrowband signal has a second bandwidth smaller than the first bandwidth. The wideband audio signal coding/decoding device and method may code a wideband audio signal while maintaining a low bit rate. |
| US08170883B2 |
Method and apparatus for embedding spatial information and reproducing embedded signal for an audio signal
An apparatus for encoding and decoding an audio signal and method thereof are disclosed, by which compatibility with a player of a general mono or stereo audio signal can be provided in coding an audio signal and by which spatial information for a multi-channel audio signal can be stored or transmitted without a presence of an auxiliary data area. The present invention includes extracting side information embedded in non-recognizable component of audio signal components and decoding the audio signal using the extracted side information. |
| US08170875B2 |
Speech end-pointer
A rule-based end-pointer isolates spoken utterances contained within an audio stream from background noise and non-speech transients. The rule-based end-pointer includes a plurality of rules to determine the beginning and/or end of a spoken utterance based on various speech characteristics. The rules may analyze an audio stream or a portion of an audio stream based upon an event, a combination of events, the duration of an event, or a duration relative to an event. The rules may be manually or dynamically customized depending upon factors that may include characteristics of the audio stream itself, an expected response contained within the audio stream, or environmental conditions. |
| US08170871B2 |
Signal coding and decoding
An encoding device (1) and method convert a set of signals (l, r) into a dominant signal (m) containing most signal energy, a residual signal (s) containing a remainder of the signal energy, and signal parameters (IID, ICC) associated with the conversion. The dominant signal (m) and selected parts of the residual signal (s) are encoded. Selecting parts of the residual signal involves a residual signal (s′) passing perceptually relevant parts of the residual signal (s), attenuating perceptually less relevant parts of the residual signal and suppressing least relevant parts of the residual signal. An associated decoding device (2) and method decode the encoded dominant signal and the encoded residual signal so as to produce a decoded dominant signal (m′u) and a decoded residual signal (s′mod) respectively. A synthetic residual signal (s′syn) is derived from the decoded dominant signal (m′u) and is attenuated so as to produce an attenuated synthetic residual signal (s′syn,mod). The attenuated synthetic residual signal (s′syn,mod) and the decoded residual signal (s′mod) are combined to produce a reconstructed residual signal (s′). The decoded dominant signal (m′) and the reconstructed residual signal (s′) are then converted into a set of output signals (l′, r′). |
| US08170867B2 |
System for extracting information from a natural language text
In the method of extraction, the words of the text are encoded by comparing them with the contents of a lexicon of tool words (essentially articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and verbal auxiliaries), and nominal groups are then identified by searching subsets of the resulting succession of encoded words to look for groups of encoded words that comply with predefined syntactical rules. |
| US08170863B2 |
System, method and program product for portlet-based translation of web content
Under the present invention, the portlets of a portal page are individually configured for translation of the web content therein. In configuring a portlet, a set of specifications is designated. Once such specification is a translation paradigm that dictates whether translation of the web content within the portlet will be automatic, or viewer initiated. By individually configuring the portlets, the entire portal page is not translated as a whole, but rather the web content is translated on a portlet-by-portlet basis. |
| US08170853B2 |
Method of modeling the time gradient of the state of a steel volume by means of a computer and corresponding objects
A steel volume is modeled in a computer by means of a plurality of volume elements. The state of the steel volume at a given time comprises, for each volume element, characteristic quantities of an enthalpy existing at said time in the respective volume element and percentages, in which the steel is available in the respective volume element at the time in austenite, ferrite and cementite phases. For at least one volume element, the computer determines the time gradient of the characteristic quantities by resolving thermal conductivity and phase transition equations. One of the characteristic quantities is a locally invariable mean interstitial element concentration within the volume element in the austenite phase thereof. |
| US08170852B2 |
Data structures and methods for modeling Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolism
The invention provides an in silico model for determining a S. cerevisiae physiological function. The model includes a data structure relating a plurality of S. cerevisiae reactants to a plurality of S. cerevisiae reactions, a constraint set for the plurality of S. cerevisiae reactions, and commands for determining a distribution of flux through the reactions that is predictive of a S. cerevisiae physiological function. A model of the invention can further include a gene database containing information characterizing the associated gene or genes. The invention further provides methods for making an in silico S. cerevisiae model and methods for determining a S. cerevisiae physiological function using a model of the invention. |
| US08170846B2 |
Computation method of mechanical material constant of composite material and volume fraction of material component in composite material, and recording medium
In a method of computing the overall material constant of a composite material, a virtual composite material is defined as the one that a first material component is dispersed in a form of inner spherical particles in a matrix phase and each of the inner spherical particles is enveloped by the second material component, in a form of outer shell layers, as a coating layer. Based on this, a nonlinear equation is prepared, which has the material constant of the virtual composite material as an unknown. Next, the material constant of the virtual composite material is computed by solving the equation. In the equation, the material constant in each of the surrounding areas of the outer shell layers coating the inner spherical particles is defined as the overall material constant of the virtual composite material to be computed. The volume fractions of the material components in the composite material are computed using the equation. |
| US08170845B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatic performance modeling with load dependent service times and overheads
A method for modeling performance of an information technology system having one or more servers for serving a number of types of transactions includes modeling a service time of each transaction type at each server and a processor overhead at each server as one of a polynomial, exponential, or logarithmic function of the average arrival rate of each transaction type at the corresponding server to generate service time and processor overhead functions and inferring optimal values of coefficients in the service time and processor overhead functions to generate a performance model of the information technology system. |
| US08170843B2 |
Generic hard/soft 3D spatial collision detection method
A method for resolving collisions for placement of objects in 3D models, including attributing a first state to each object having a hard spatial volume and a second state to each object having a soft spatial volume, predefining a first set of rules to determine whether multiple objects may occupy the same spatial volume based on the combination of the object states, the first set of rules covering all permutations of said first state and said second state, placing a first object in the 3D model, placing a second object in the 3D model, determining whether the first object has a collision with the second object in the 3D model, and resolving the collision based on said first predefined set of rules. Furthermore, there can be predefining a second set of rules that override the first set of rules, and where the resolving of the collision is based on said second set of rules. Further, the method includes finding “soft” and “hard” characters on all objects and defining the characters on all objects. |
| US08170838B2 |
Simulating two-dimensional periodic patterns using compressed fourier space
The process of modeling a complex two-dimensional periodic structure is improved by selectively truncating the Fourier expansion used in the calculation of resulting scatter signature from the model. The Fourier expansion is selectively truncated by determining the contribution for each harmonic order in the Fourier transform of the permittivity function and retaining the harmonic orders with a contribution that is above a threshold. The Fourier space may be compressed so that only the selected harmonic orders are used, thereby reducing the required memory and calculation times. The compressed Fourier space may be used in a real-time analysis of a sample or to generate a library that is used in the analysis of a sample. |
| US08170835B2 |
Data analysis applications
A system and method of monitoring equipment performance and predicting failures. The system can include a data historian that stores data for a piece of equipment and designates the data to tags. The tags can correspond to sensors that gather the data from the piece of equipment. A matrix model builder application can allow a user to generate regression models for various time spans to determine whether new data is within a normal operating range. |
| US08170834B2 |
Remote beverage equipment monitoring and control system and method
The present disclosure provides a system and method for monitoring and controlling modifications to beverage equipment. The system includes at least one beverage equipment which may include a controller. The controller communicates over a communications network with a data collection server which may be accessible to a central office or equipment provider. A method is also disclosed for first monitoring or querying beverage equipment for a setting or configuration modification. Next, the modification may be compared against a modification threshold to determine whether the modification warrants corrective action. A corrective action may include but is not limited to, resetting the equipment to original or default settings, notifying an end user, notifying the equipment providers, logging the action, or some combination of two or more of these actions. |
| US08170832B2 |
Measurement and endpointing of sample thickness
A method for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) sample creation. The use of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)—Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) detector in the dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB)/SEM allows a sample to be thinned using the FIB, while the STEM signal is used to monitor sample thickness. A preferred embodiment of the present invention can measure the thickness of or create TEM samples by using a precise endpoint detection method. Preferred embodiments also enable automatic endpointing during TEM lamella creation and provide users with direct feedback on sample thickness during manual thinning. Preferred embodiments of the present invention thus provide methods for endpointing sample thinning and methods to partially or fully automate endpointing. |
| US08170821B2 |
Automatic signal identifying method and automatic signal skew measurement method
In order to automatically measure a signal skew between a first test signal and a second test signal by using an oscilloscope, a method is provided by the present invention. The method includes: capturing a band center of the first test signal; capturing a first sampling point and a second sampling point of the second test signal; comparing a voltage difference between the first sampling point and the second sampling point of the second test signal with a threshold value so as to decide and capture a rising band center and a falling band center of the second test signal. By using the invented method, the signal skew between the first test signal and the second test signal can be calculated according to the band center of the first test signal, the rising band center and the falling band center of the second test signal. |
| US08170819B2 |
Systems and methods for measuring non-linear characteristics of a power amplifier
A method for measuring non-linear characteristics of a power amplifier is described. A calibration waveform is calculated during a testing procedure period. Amplitude characteristics of the calibration waveform at the output of the power amplifier are measured during the testing procedure period. Phase characteristics of the calibration waveform at the output of the power amplifier are measured during the testing procedure period. Pre-distortion techniques are configured based on the amplitude characteristics and the phase characteristics to be used during a normal operation period of a transmitter. |
| US08170813B2 |
Determining effects of turbine blades on fluid motion
Disclosed is a technique for simulating wind interaction with wind turbines. A turbine blade is divided into radial sections. The effect that each of these radial sections has on the velocities in Eulerian computational cells they overlap is determined. The effect is determined using Lagrangian techniques such that the calculations need not include wind components in the radial direction. A force on each radial section of turbine blade is determined. This force depends on the axial and azimuthal components of the fluid flow in the computational cell and the geometric properties of the turbine blade. The force on the turbine blade is fed back to effect the fluid flow in the computational cell for the next time step. |
| US08170809B2 |
Guided waves for nondestructive testing of pipes
A method for the nondestructive testing of pipeline, and internal or external coatings, using guided ultrasonic waves excited from the inside or outside diameter, wherein at least two transducers are employed to send and receive ultrasound, wherein a data normalization scheme is employed to account for transducer variability, and wherein the hardware arrangement has a number of pulser channels and a number of receiver channels for the collection and storage of signals. |
| US08170808B2 |
Methods and computer software for detecting splice variants
Methods and software products for analysis of alternative splicing are disclosed. In general the methods involve normalizing probe set or exon intensity to an expression level measurement of the gene. The methods may be used to identify tissue-specific alternative splicing events. |
| US08170806B2 |
Methods of populating data structures for use in evolutionary simulations
In particular, this invention provides novel methods of populating data structures for use in evolutionary modeling. In particular, this invention provides methods of populating a data structure with a plurality of character strings. The methods involve encoding two or more biological molecules into character strings to provide a collection of two or more different initial character strings; selecting at least two substrings from the pool of character strings; concatenating the substrings to form one or more product strings about the same length as one or more of the initial character strings; adding the product strings to a collection of strings; and optionally repeating this process using one or more of the product strings as an initial string in the collection of initial character strings. |
| US08170804B2 |
Determination of melting temperatures of DNA
Numerical determinations of the first derivatives of a melt curve data set are made. A model function, such as a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) function, with parameters determined using a Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) regression process is used to find an approximation to the first derivative curve. The maximum values of the numerically determined first derivative values are used as initial conditions for parameters of the model function. The determined parameters provide one or more fractional melting temperature values, which can be returned, for example, displayed or otherwise used for further processing. |
| US08170803B2 |
Transcutaneous analyte sensor
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring an analyte in a host. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for evaluating sensor data from a continuous analyte sensor including receiving first and second sensor data points from the continuous analyte sensor and comparing the first and second sensor data points to determine a presence or an absence of aberrant data. |
| US08170799B2 |
Method for determining in-situ relationships between physical properties of a porous medium from a sample thereof
A method for determining in-situ relationships between physical properties of a porous medium from a sample thereof includes acquiring a three-dimensional image of the sample and segmenting the image into pixels representing pore space and pixels representing rock grain. A plurality of sub-volumes are selected from the segmented image, and a porosity is calculated for each of the sub-volumes. A digital simulation is conducted on each of the sub-volumes to obtain a selected physical property for the sub-volume. A relationship is determined between porosity and the selected physical property using relationship data comprising the calculated porosity and the simulated physical property for each of the sub-volumes. The method includes at least one of storing and displaying the relationship. |
| US08170794B2 |
Navigation units having multiple operation modes for outputting a current position or a stored position, respectively, and methods and computer program product for operating the same
A navigation unit includes a position mode module that is operable to place the navigation unit in a first mode in which the navigation unit provides for output a current position of the navigation unit or a second mode in which the navigation unit provides for output at least one stored position. |
| US08170790B2 |
Apparatus for switching navigation device mode
A portable navigation device operable to present a plurality of operating modes. The device may include a display; a location determining component operable to determine a current geographic location of the navigation device; mount detection circuitry operable to determine a mounting status of the navigation device; and a processor coupled with the location determining component, the mount detection circuitry, and the display. The processor is operable to select one of a plurality of operating modes based on the determined mounting status and present information specific to the selected operating modes on the display. |
| US08170785B2 |
Method for creating a route plan for agricultural machine systems
For creating a route plan for a group of agricultural working machine systems for working a territory, the machine systems include route planning data determination devices and they exchange data with each other and, based on exchanged route planning data, one shared route plan is created for the particular territory. For controlling a group of agricultural working machine systems while it works a territory, one shared route plan—which has been created accordingly—is used, and a route planning system is provided for creating a route plan for a group of agricultural working machine systems to be used to work a territory. |
| US08170783B2 |
System and method for handling software activation in entitlement
A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for separating the purchase of digital assets from their fulfillment and activation. Digital assets purchase information comprising digital assets identifier information and activation key data, and system identifier information comprising system identifier data, is received. The purchase information and the system identifier information are processed to generate digital assets activation request data, which is then processed by the provider of the digital assets to generate digital assets activation data. Associated digital assets data is provided with the digital assets activation data and then processed with the purchase transaction data to generate digital assets entitlement data. A personalization agent associated with a target system automatically downloads the purchased digital assets and associated digital assets entitlement data, which is used to install the digital assets, thereby entitling the system to process the installed digital assets. |
| US08170782B2 |
Information processing system, information processing apparatus and method, recording medium, and program
An information processing apparatus and method is disclosed which navigation information conforming to the interest and the liking of a user can be produced readily. The information processing apparatus includes a first reception section for receiving a broadcast program transmitted from a broadcast station and including information relating to the broadcast program, an outputting section for outputting the received broadcast program, a marking instruction section for issuing an instruction to produce marking information corresponding to a scene of the outputted broadcast program, a marking information production section for producing marking information corresponding to the scene of the broadcast program being outputted when the instruction is issued, a transmission section for transmitting the marking information to a different information processing apparatus, and a second reception section for receiving navigation information transmitted from the different information processing apparatus based on the marking information. |
| US08170778B2 |
Internal combustion engine system, control method of internal combustion engine system, and vehicle
On incompletion of port learning, an auto stop-permitting water temperature is set to a temperature which is higher than a temperature set on completion of the port learning and is higher than a port injection temperature as an upper limit temperature that enables an engine to be driven in a port injection drive mode. This arrangement increases the opportunity of continuing the operation of the engine with fuel injection from a port fuel injection valve without an auto stop, thus increasing the opportunity of the port learning. |
| US08170776B2 |
Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine
In order to control an internal combustion engine with self-ignition of the air/fuel mixture, at least one injection parameter with respect to fuel metering is determined as a function of at least one operating variable, assuming a steady-state operating state. If a transient operating state is present, a target combustion chamber temperature is determined for the steady-state operating state as a function of at least one of the operating variables. An actual combustion chamber temperature is determined as a function of a physical model for the transient operation, depending on the target combustion chamber temperature and at least one of the operating variables. A correction value is determined for the at least one injection parameter as a function of the target and actual combustion chamber temperatures. The fuel valve is controlled as a function of the at least one injection parameter and the associated correction value. |
| US08170773B2 |
Method for the direct re-entry in the cai operating mode of an internal combustion engine following a pull fuel cut off phase as well as a pertinent control unit
For the direct re-entry in the CAI operating mode following a pull fuel cut off phase the CAI specific valve lift is maintained during its pull fuel cut off phase. Upon a request signal for the CAI re-entry after the closing time of the particular cylinder, an advance fuel injection quantity is injected in the combustion chamber and externally ignited and combusted in the following CAI interim compression phase of the exhaust stroke, as a result of which hot exhaust gas is formed in the combustion chamber, fresh air is drawn into the combustion chamber during the following intake stroke, a main fuel injection quantity is injected in a main compression phase during the following compression stroke, and the exhaust gas content brought about from the earlier auxiliary fuel injection, is mixed with the air-fuel mixture newly introduced for the main ignition to form a self-ignitable, homogenous fresh air-exhaust gas-fuel mixture. |
| US08170772B2 |
Method of reducing icing-related engine misfires
A method of reducing icing-related engine misfires during operation of a vehicle is provided. The vehicle can include an engine and an engine control unit operable for at least partially controlling operation of the engine. The vehicle can further include a plurality of sensors in electrical communication with the engine control unit. The engine can include an air intake system and an exhaust system, wherein the air intake system can include a positive crankcase ventilation valve. The method includes predicting the presence of ice within the air intake system based upon an input to the engine control unit from at least one of the sensors. |
| US08170767B2 |
Vehicle stability control system and method
A method and system for controlling vehicle stability may comprise determining whether a vehicle is oversteering or understeering and, if the vehicle is oversteering or understeering, determining an amount by which to reduce a speed of the vehicle to correct for understeering or oversteering and applying brake pressure to at least the rear brakes of the vehicle to reduce vehicle speed. The method and system also may comprise determining an engine torque reduction amount based on vehicle oversteer or understeer conditions, reducing engine torque by the determined amount or to zero if the determined amount of engine torque reduction is greater than an actual engine torque, and applying braking to at least the rear brakes of the vehicle if the determined amount of engine torque reduction is greater than the actual engine torque. |
| US08170764B2 |
Method and apparatus to reprofile input speed during speed during speed phase during constrained conditions for a hybrid powertrain system
A method to control a powertrain including a transmission, an engine, and an electric machine includes monitoring an input speed, monitoring an output speed, upon initiation of a transmission shift, determining a plurality of input acceleration profiles for controlling the engine and electric machine during the shift, identifying an input acceleration constraint affecting one of the input acceleration profiles, reprofiling the input acceleration profiles based upon the identified input acceleration constraint, and controlling operation of the engine and electric machine based upon the reprofiled input acceleration profiles. |
| US08170762B2 |
Method and apparatus to control operation of a hydraulic pump for an electro-mechanical transmission
A method for controlling a hydraulic flow within a powertrain comprising an electromechanical transmission mechanically-operatively coupled to an engine adapted to selectively transmit power to an output, wherein the transmission utilizes a hydraulic control system serving a number of hydraulic oil consuming functions includes monitoring minimum hydraulic pressure requirements for each of the functions, determining a requested hydraulic pressure based upon the monitoring minimum hydraulic pressure requirements and physical limits of the hydraulic control system including a maximum pressure, determining a desired flow utilizing a hydraulic control system flow model based upon the requested hydraulic pressure, and utilizing the desired flow to control an auxiliary hydraulic pump. |
| US08170754B2 |
Vehicle body drifting restraining device
A vehicle body drifting restraining device which restrains a drifting of a vehicle body, wherein: when a brake control device operation prohibition switch, which prohibits an operation of a brake control device, is in a state of prohibition, a control for restraining the drifting of the vehicle body is prohibited. |
| US08170753B2 |
Vehicle and method of determining whether or not to stop engine mounted in vehicle
A vehicle including an engine, a tilting sensor configured to detect that a vehicle body of the vehicle has been tilted a predetermined angle or larger, a driving state sensor configured to detect a driving state of the vehicle using a component other than the tilting sensor, and a determiner configured to determine whether or not to stop the engine, based on a signal received from the tilting sensor, and a signal received from the driving state sensor. |
| US08170745B1 |
Seat occupancy verification system for motor vehicles
A system and methodology utilizing seat sensors and an electronic card system that monitors the location of children on a bus as well as preventing children from being left behind, is herein disclosed. As the child enters the bus, the child would insert a personalized identification card, thereby recording the child's seat location and presence. Upon exiting, the child again inserts the identification card and following a prescribed time interval, a warning light and alarm would be activated if the seat remains occupied, thus alerting the bus driver to check the seat location. Every bus seat would have an integral weight sensor electrically connected to a main control panel. The system provides the bus driver, or assigned chaperone, a pushbutton selection array corresponding to each seat assignment. |
| US08170744B2 |
Front electronic equipment system with a LIN-subbus
A front electronic equipment system includes a load electrical parts provided at a front portion of a vehicle, a front electrical control unit which receives a control signal for controlling the drive of the load electrical parts through a main bus line of the vehicle, and a drive control unit connected to the front electrical control unit through a sub bus line, converting the control signal into a drive signal, and driving the load electrical parts based on the drive signal. The front electrical control unit converts a communication protocol of the control signal from a communication protocol of the main bus line into a communication protocol of the sub bus line, and transmits the converted control signal received through the main bus line to the drive control unit through the sub bus line. |
| US08170740B2 |
Adaptive vehicle control system with driving style recognition based on vehicle launching
An adaptive vehicle control system that classifies a drivers driving style based on vehicle launching maneuvers. A process determines whether the vehicle speed signal during a predetermined time window is greater than a speed threshold, whether the vehicle speed signal before the time window is less than the speed threshold and whether the average of the vehicle longitudinal acceleration during the time window is greater than a first longitudinal acceleration threshold and, if so, determines if the vehicle is in a vehicle launching maneuver. The process then determines that the vehicle launching maneuver has ended if the average of the vehicle longitudinal acceleration during a second time window is less than the longitudinal acceleration threshold. The style characterization processor can then classify the vehicle launching maneuver using selected discriminant features. |
| US08170738B2 |
Performance inspection method for autonomous mobile apparatus, and performance inspection sheet therefor
An autonomous mobile apparatus (R) at a reference position (1) is confronted to a subject (T) with a predefined distance. The autonomous mobile apparatus (R) is rotated at the reference position (1) to confront plural directions sequentially. The subject (T) is detected every time when the autonomous mobile apparatus (R) is rotated to confront each direction to determine whether or not it is functioning normally. |
| US08170733B2 |
Vehicle control system and method
A vehicle control system includes a first powertrain, a second powertrain, and a third powertrain. The first powertrain includes a first power source. The second powertrain includes a second power source. The third powertrain includes a third power source. The vehicle control system also includes an operator control interface. The operator control interface includes a first portion configured to receive a first operator input and a second portion configured to receive a second operator input. The first operator input and the second operator input are indicative of a desired speed and a desired direction. The vehicle control system additionally includes a controller configured to deliver a power control signal to at least one of the first powertrain, the second powertrain, and the third powertrain. The power control signal is a function of the first operator input and the second operator input. |
| US08170732B2 |
System and method for operating train in the presence of multiple alternate routes
A method is provided for operating a train or rail vehicle along a railway which is logically divided into segments, and includes at least one control point presenting at least two possible paths that are exclusive of each other, each path including one or more segments. The method includes: (a) controlling the rail vehicle as it travels along the railway by reference to a one-dimensional representation of the segments prior to the control point; (b) determining which segment located immediately past the control point is to be occupied by the rail vehicle; (c) after the rail vehicle has traveled past the at least one control point, verifying which segment was occupied; (d) interlocking the occupied segment; (e) passing segment information to the rail vehicle; and (f) controlling the rail vehicle as it travels along the railway in reference to a one-dimensional representation of the segments past the control point. |
| US08170731B2 |
System and method for detecting reflection with a mobile sensor platform
Systems and methods for planning and executing a search route by a mobile sensor platform for detecting reflection are disclosed. The search route of the mobile sensor platform is based on the angle of a radiation source relative to the ground in a search area. While executing the search route, a sensor on the mobile sensor platform is configured to detect the reflection of radiation from an object in the search area. |
| US08170729B2 |
Method and system for operating a display device on-board an aircraft
Methods and systems for operating a display device that is viewable by a user of an aircraft are provided. A first image is caused to be displayed on the display device. The first image is at least representative of a field of view from on-board the aircraft of an actual terrain. A second image is rendered over the first image on the display device. The second image includes a vertical position indicator indicating a vertical position of the aircraft relative to a selected flight path. The vertical position indicator is moved in a pitch direction on the display device in response to the aircraft moving relative to the actual terrain. The pitch direction corresponds to a change in the pitch of the aircraft. |
| US08170724B2 |
Systems and associated methods for controllably cooling computer components
Computer systems and associated methods for cooling computer components are disclosed herein. One embodiment of a computer system includes a computer cabinet having an air inlet spaced apart from an air outlet. The computer system also includes heat exchangers positioned in the computer cabinet, and a heat removal system in fluid communication with the heat exchangers. The computer system additionally includes at least one sensor for monitoring heat transfer between the computer cabinet and the room. The computer system further includes a control system operatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the control system including a computer-readable medium holding instructions for determining whether heat transfer between the computer cabinet and the room is balanced based on information from the sensor, and if not, adjusting a parameter to balance the heat transfer. |
| US08170719B2 |
Control apparatus and control method for robot arm, robot, control program for robot arm, and integrated electronic circuit for controlling robot arm
A control apparatus for a robot arm includes an operation information database in which pieces of information relating to operations of the robot arm are stored, a force detection unit that detects a force of a person, and an operation correction unit that corrects the operation information of the operation information database in accordance with the force of the person. |
| US08170718B2 |
Multiple priority operational space impedance control
A system and method for providing multiple priority impedance control for a robot manipulator where impedance laws are realized simultaneously and with a given order of priority. The method includes a control scheme for realizing a Cartesian space impedance objective as a first priority while also realizing a joint space impedance objective as a second priority. The method also includes a control scheme for realizing two Cartesian space impedance objectives with different levels of priority. The method includes instances of the control schemes that use feedback from force sensors mounted at an end-effector and other instances of the control schemes that do not use this feedback. |
| US08170716B2 |
Methods and apparatus for surgical planning
Methods and apparatus for enhancing surgical planning provide enhanced planning of entry port placement and/or robot position for laparoscopic, robotic, and other minimally invasive surgery. Various embodiments may be used in robotic surgery systems to identify advantageous entry ports for multiple robotic surgical tools into a patient to access a surgical site. Generally, data such as imaging data is processed and used to create a model of a surgical site, which can then be used to select advantageous entry port sites for two or more surgical tools based on multiple criteria. Advantageous robot positioning may also be determined, based on the entry port locations and other factors. Validation and simulation may then be provided to ensure feasibility of the selected port placements and/or robot positions. Such methods, apparatus and systems may also be used in non-surgical contexts, such as for robotic port placement in munitions diffusion or hazardous waste handling. |
| US08170715B1 |
Methods and devices for automated work in pipes based on impedance control
Methods and tools for automatically performing work within a pipe or pipe network based on sensed impedance information. A robot, which may be tethered or un-tethered, includes a computer controller and a work tool for performing work within the pipe. With or without impedance-based calibration, the robot senses environmental and tool-based impedance characteristics and determines, using said software, ways in which the current work performance can be altered or improved based on the impedance information. The operation of the work tool is then altered in line with the control software. Many different types of work related to the inspection, cleaning and rehabilitation of pipes can be accomplished with the present robots including reinstating laterals after lining, cutting or clearing debris, sealing pipe joints and/or other heretofore manual pipe-based processes. |
| US08170710B2 |
Method and arrangement for feeding, with yarn of constant absorbed length, a textile machine operating on a plurality of yarns
A method for feeding a plurality of yarns with constant values of fed length to a textile machine, each yarn unwinding from a spool and cooperating with a feed device, arranged to maintain the tension of the yarn at a predefined constant value before being directed to the textile machine. At least one control unit controls the feed to this machine such that an absorbed yarn length value to be maintained for each yarn fed to the textile machine is set or self-learnt. After measuring an actual value of the yarn length absorbed by this machine and comparing it with this predefined value, the control unit acts upon one or more feed devices and modifies the tension value of the corresponding yarn in order to make these absorbed yarn length values equal to the predefined value. A method for implementing this method is also claimed. |
| US08170708B2 |
Systems, methods and apparatus for embroidery thread management
Systems, methods, and apparatus for embroidery thread color management are disclosed. An example method comprises determining a first set of thread colors to be used in an embroidery design, determining a second set of thread colors assigned to a first embroidery machine, determining a third set of thread colors assigned to a second embroidery machine, determining a first difference of the number of thread colors in the first set of thread colors that are not in the second set of thread colors, determining a second difference of the number of thread colors in the first set of thread colors that are not in the third set of thread colors, and assigning the embroidery design to a queue for the first embroidery machine when the first difference is smaller than the second difference. |
| US08170706B2 |
Package generation system
A system for creating a package includes a processor, a memory, and computer-readable instructions that instruct the processor to receive a package description and generate content, formatting instructions, and a structural design features for a package. The system applies the content and structural design features to a substrate to convert a flat substrate into a three-dimensional package. |
| US08170704B2 |
Method and system for automatic generation of throughput models for semiconductor tools
The throughput of complex cluster tools of a semiconductor manufacturing environment may be determined for a desired manufacturing scenario on the basis of automatically generated throughput models. The throughput models may be established on the basis of rule messages with high statistical relevance. |
| US08170702B2 |
Method for classifying audio data
A method for classifying audio data. For a given piece of audio data a location or position for the given audio data within a mood space is generated and compared to a comparison mood space location. As a result of the comparison, comparison data are generated and provided as a classification result with respect to the given audio data. |
| US08170701B1 |
Methods and apparatus of running game and rendering game audio remotely over broadband network
A system and methods for running interactive applications (e.g., video game, computer game, console game) over broadband network (e.g., IPTV network, broadband mobile network, broadband Internet, cable network, etc.). In an embodiment, interactive applications can be hosted and executed remotely by an interactive application host either natively or using emulation (e.g., virtual machine, emulation of software platform, operating system, or hardware platform). Audio of the interactive application can be rendered by one or multiple audio rendering apparatuses, compressed, transmitted over the broadband network to one or multiple clients (e.g, set-top box, media player, game console, mobile device, personal computer), and presented by the client's audio display device. In additional embodiment, said audio rendering apparatus can render multiple streams of audio for multiple clients concurrently. An audio rendering apparatus can cache the audio data shared by multiple clients or multiple instances of an interactive application to reduce bandwidth consumption. Furthermore, during audio presentation, a client synchronizes audio and video display. |
| US08170697B2 |
System and method for repairing and re-aligning damaged vehicle body and frame structures
Systems and methods for evaluating damage to a vehicle and controlling a vehicle repair process to bring all aspects of the damaged vehicle back within manufacturer's specification during repair. Processes for evaluating, measuring and repairing specified reference points on a vehicle are described. The processes include an incremental examination and repair of affiliated reference points to bring them back into specified positions with respect to a datum, each other and the centerline of the vehicle. The processes also include the determinations of the three-dimensional dislocations of reference points from their specified positions and make a three-dimensional determination of a force vector to direct the application of force to return each reference point to its specified position. A computer system implementing the vehicle control processes provides automated or semi-automated systems of vehicle repair. |
| US08170696B2 |
Process control simulator and process control simulating method
This invention provides a process control simulator configured to efficiently debug a plant control system. A computer stores simulated data generated by a model executing part to a time-series memory area. A programmable controller stops input from the input-device interface when there is a virtual input/output request received. A virtual input/output processor sets simulated data from a time-series memory area of the computer to a time-series memory area of the programmable controller. A program executing part sets simulated data from the time-series memory area to a memory area at the same resolution as an arithmetic operation period of program execution and executes the program. Control output as a result of the execution is fed back to the model executing part of the computer, and the computer calculates simulated data as process value at this timing, and stores the data to its time-series memory area. |
| US08170691B2 |
Medical implantable lead
A medical implantable lead has a proximal end and a distal end, a biostable and biocompatible polymeric header, which is arranged at the distal end and has a first tubular portion, a helical fixation element located within the first tubular portion and being extendable from a distal end of the header, and a radiopaque ring. The header further has a second tubular portion, which is arranged coaxially of the first tubular portion and is attached to the first tubular portion at a distal end of the second tubular portion, while having a free proximal end. The tubular portions form a circumferential pocket, wherein the first tubular portion extends from the proximal end of the header at least to said distal end of the second tubular portion. The radiopaque ring is arranged around the first tubular portion and is received in the circumferential pocket. |
| US08170688B2 |
RF rejecting lead
A lead assembly for an implantable medical device includes a lead body having a first portion adapted for coupling to a pulse generator and a second portion adapted for implantation. First and second co-radial conductive coils are electrically isolated from each other and include a first and second number of coil turns. The first and second number of coil turns include a number of matched turns and a number of unmatched turns, and the number of unmatched turns is less than approximately 2.0% of the total number of unmatched and matched turns. First and second electrodes located at the second portion are respectively coupled to the first and second conductive coils. At least one capacitor element is connected in parallel with one or both of the first and second conductive coils and/or between the first and second conductive coils. |
| US08170687B2 |
Implantable medical device lead incorporating insulated coils formed as inductive bandstop filters to reduce lead heating during MRI
To provide radio-frequency (RF) bandstop filtering within an implantable lead, such as a pacemaker lead, one or more segments of the tip and ring conductors of the lead are formed as insulated coils to function as inductive band stop filters. By forming segments of the conductors into insulated coils, a separate set of discrete or distributed inductors is not required, yet RF filtering is achieved to, e.g., reduce lead heating during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures. To enhance the degree of bandstop filtering at the RF signal frequencies of MRIs, additional capacitive elements are added. In one example, the ring electrode of the lead is configured to provide capacitive shunting to the tip conductor. In another example, a capacitive transition is provided between the outer insulated coil and proximal portions of the ring conductor. In still other examples, conducting polymers are provided to enhance capacitive shunting. The insulated coils may be spaced at ¼ wavelength locations. |
| US08170686B2 |
Heatable sling support for an anatomical location
The invention provides, in various embodiments, systems, devices and methods relating to employing thermal treatment of tissue in combination with an implantable sling to treat urinary incontinence. |
| US08170681B2 |
Method of charging an implantable medical device
A rechargeable implantable medical device with a magnetic shield placed on the distal side of a secondary recharging coil to improve charging efficiency is disclosed. The rechargeable implantable medical device can be a wide variety of medical devices such as neuro stimulators, drug delivery pumps, pacemakers, defibrillators, diagnostic recorders, cochlear implants. The implantable medical device has a secondary recharging coil carried over a magnetic shield and coupled to electronics and a rechargeable power source carried inside the housing. The electronics are configured to perform a medical therapy. Additionally a method for enhancing electromagnetic coupling during recharging of an implantable medical device is disclosed, and a method for reducing temperature rise during recharging of an implantable medical device is disclosed. |
| US08170678B2 |
Synchronized diagnostic measurement for cochlear implants
Objective measurement of cochlear implant operation is described which coordinates the delivery to a patient of an acoustic signal and an electrical signal. The acoustic signal is developed as an acoustic stimulation input to the ear canal of a patient, and the electrical signal is developed as an electrical stimulation input to intracochlear electrodes of a cochlear implant. The evoked response in the patient to the delivered signals is then measured. |
| US08170676B2 |
Electrode array
The present invention is an electrode array for neural stimulation. In particular, the present invention provides electrode shapes and electrode coating advantageous in maximizing the charge dissipation without harming neural tissue. Neurotrophic factors are used to further improve electrode performance. |
| US08170675B2 |
Selective high frequency spinal cord modulation for inhibiting pain with reduced side effects, and associated systems and methods
Selective high-frequency spinal chord modulation for inhibiting pain with reduced side affects and associated systems and methods are disclosed. In particular embodiments, high-frequency modulation in the range of from about 1.5 KHz to about 50 KHz may be applied to the patient's spinal chord region to address low back pain without creating unwanted sensory and/or motor side affects. In other embodiments, modulation in accordance with similar parameters can be applied to other spinal or peripheral locations to address other indications. |
| US08170669B2 |
Method and apparatus for concurrent atrio-ventricular anti-tachycardia pacing
An implantable medical device delivers anti-tachyarrhythmia therapies including anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP). If a detected tachyarrhythmia is classified as a type suitable for treatment using ATP, the implantable medical device selects one of an atrial ATP (A-ATP) mode, a ventricular ATP (V-ATP) mode, and a concurrent atrio-ventricular ATP (concurrent AV-ATP) mode according to the characteristics of the detected tachyarrhythmia. The concurrent ATP mode is an ATP mode during which the atrial pacing pulses and the ventricular pacing pulses are delivered concurrently. In one embodiment, the concurrent AV-ATP mode includes a synchronized atrio-ventricular ATP (synchronized AV-ATP) mode during which atrial and ventricular pacing pulses are delivered synchronously and an independent atrio-ventricular ATP (independent AV-ATP) mode during which atrial and ventricular pacing pulses are delivered concurrently but timed independently. |
| US08170668B2 |
Baroreflex sensitivity monitoring and trending for tachyarrhythmia detection and therapy
A system comprising an implantable medical device (IMD) that includes a tachyarrhythmia detector, a baroreflex detector to obtain baroreflex information, and a processor in communication with the tachyarrhythmia detector and the baroreflex detector. The processor adjusts at least one of a tachyarrhythmia detection parameter of the IMD or a tachyarrhythmia therapy parameter of the IMD using the baroreflex information. |
| US08170666B2 |
Method for scheduling atrial-ventricular conduction checks in minimum ventricular pacing
A medical device and associated method deliver cardiac pacing in a dual chamber pacing mode and schedule an atrial-ventricular (AV) conduction check during the dual chamber pacing mode to detect the presence of AV conduction. If AV conduction is detected during the scheduled AV conduction check, the medical device switches to an atrial pacing mode and switches back to the dual chamber pacing mode in response to an absence of AV conduction during the atrial pacing mode. The detected AV conduction is identified as a false positive detection in response to the pacing mode switch to the dual chamber pacing mode occurring within a predetermined interval of time from detecting the AV conduction. |
| US08170660B2 |
System for thermal modulation of neural activity
Methods and related systems for modulating neural activity by blocking conduction in peripheral neural structures with thermal stimuli are disclosed. Methods and systems for reversing effects of thermal blocking stimuli and/or for producing substantially permanent conduction block are also disclosed. |
| US08170653B2 |
Baseline processing for the detection of cardiac events
A system for the detection of cardiac events occurring in a human patient is provided. At least two electrodes are included in the system for obtaining an electrical signal from a patient's heart. An electrical signal processor is electrically coupled to the electrodes for processing the electrical signal and a patient alarm means is further provided and electrically coupled to the electrical signal processor. The electrical signal is acquired in the form of electrogram segments, which are categorized according to heart rate, ST segment shift and type heart rhythm (normal or abnormal). Baseline electrogram segments are tracked over time. |
| US08170650B2 |
Implantable tissue perfusion sensing system and method
A medical device for sensing cardiac events that includes a plurality of light sources capable of emitting light at a plurality of wavelengths, and a detector to detect the emitted light. A processor generates an ambient light measurement in response to ambient light detected by the detector, generates a plurality of light measurements in response to the emitted light detected by the detector, and adjusts the plurality of light measurements in response to the ambient light measurement. |
| US08170649B2 |
Arrangement and method for assessing tissue qualities
An arrangement and method for imaging and/or measuring tissue qualities, such as tissue thickness, tissue surface roughness and degree of tissue fiber linearization. The arrangement includes at least one light generating element, at least one light detecting element, a probe with an extension, and possibly a control apparatus including a signal processor for processing the detected signals and/or images. The extension is designed to convey light from the light generating element to the tissue for visualization and/or measurement. The extension is also designed to convey light back-scattered from the tissue to the light detecting element. The detecting element is designed to measure the intensity and/or spatial distribution of light back-scattered from the tissue. |
| US08170648B2 |
Removable localizing wire
A localizing wire includes an anchor portion that can change shape from a collapsed shape to an expanded shape and thereby anchor within a tissue mass. The localizing wire has an exterior portion that can lie flat against the tissue mass. The localizing wire can be repositioned or withdrawn without the need for the reinsertion of an introducer. |
| US08170647B2 |
Fiduciary markers and method of use thereof
The invention provides devices and methods used to locate target areas within a patient for repeat therapeutic treatments. In the invention, fiduciary markers made of metal or metal alloys are placed within a patient near or at a target site as reference coordinates for particular body locations on the patient. Repeat treatments may then be given to the patient over a period of time based on the coordinates given by the fiduciary markers. The fiduciary markers are specially shaped or put into strand to improve marker attachment and prevent marker migration. |
| US08170641B2 |
Method of imaging an extremity of a patient
A method of imaging a body part of a patient can include acquiring a first, second and third sets of image data from a first, second and third anatomical reference areas. The first, second and third sets of image data can then be compiled to produce a legend of the body part. The legend can have positional information of the first, second and third anatomical reference areas. A fourth, fifth and sixth sets of image data of the first, second and anatomical reference areas can be acquired. The fourth, fifth and sixth sets of image data can have increased image information relative to the first, second and third sets of image data, respectively. The locations of the fourth, fifth and sixth sets of image data relative to the first, second and third sets of image data can be correlated using the legend to determine a characteristic of the body part. |
| US08170640B2 |
System and method for tree projection for detection of pulmonary embolism
A system and method for detecting an area of interest such as a pulmonary embolism in a structure of interest such as a vessel tree or airway tree are provided. The method comprises: segmenting image data of the structure of interest; and rendering two-dimensional images based on a function of the image data and the segmented image data within slabs defined by the segmented image data. |
| US08170638B2 |
MEMS flexible substrate neural probe and method of fabricating same
A method of fabricating a MEMS flexible substrate neural probe is provided. The method can include applying an insulation layer on a substrate, and depositing a plurality of metal traces on the insulation layer and electroplating each of the plurality of traces. The method also can include encapsulating the insulation layer and metal traces deposited thereon with an insulation layer. Additionally the method can include etching the insulation layer to form a plurality bond pad sites and probes to form a flexible ribbon cable having a plurality of bond pad sites disposed on a surface of the flexible cable and a plurality of neural probes extending from the flexible cable. The method further can include separating the substrate from the insulation layer and depositing insulation on each of the neural probes, each probe comprising insulated portion and exposed metallic tip. Moreover, the method can include cutting each of the exposed metallic tips, and plating each of the exposed metallic tips and each of the plurality of bond pad sites. |
| US08170637B2 |
Dry electrode device and method of assembly
An electrode set is disclosed that has two separable parts including an assembled base with printed circuit board basement, biasing member and top cover and an electrode. The basement and top cover may be made by metal or conductive material. |
| US08170635B2 |
Radio apparatus and antenna device for mobile radio system
A radio apparatus including a first housing section, a second housing section and a hinge section is provided. The second housing section is rotatably connected to the first housing section. The second housing section includes an antenna feed circuit and a ground circuit. The hinge section is constituted by an axis member fixed to the second housing section and a bearing member fixed to the first housing section. The axis member is put through the bearing member for forming an axis of rotation of the second housing section with respect to the first housing section. The axis member has a conductive portion connected to the antenna feed circuit at a feed point. |
| US08170630B2 |
Mobile terminal device
A mobile terminal device including a first housing, a second housing and a hinge foldably connecting the first housing and the second housing is provided. The mobile terminal device includes a hinge including a hinge mechanism which rotatably connects the first housing and the second housing. The device includes a flexible joint which liquid-tightly connects the first housing and the second housing and liquid-tightly contains the hinge mechanism. |
| US08170629B2 |
Filter having impedance matching circuits
A filter package is provided with a support structure, a filter device having terminals, impedance matching circuits formed on the support structure and electrically connected to at least some of the terminals of the filter device, and at least one electrical ground structure electrically connected to the impedance matching circuits. Moreover, the filter package has an outer housing to contain the support structure, filter device, impedance matching circuits, and at least one ground structure. |
| US08170625B2 |
Bias filtering module including MOS capacitors
A bias filtering module with at least two capacitive levels satisfies both a settle time requirement and a filtering requirement using a voltage dependent filter module whose capacitance is a function of a voltage potential on the filtering circuitry output terminal. The final capacitance level is approximately three times larger than the initial capacitance level. MOS capacitors having a voltage dependent charge capacity within the bias filtering module are coupled between a plurality of bias lines and circuit common. In an alternate embodiment, a selectable first group of capacitors are switched into connection within the bias filtering module as a second group of capacitors approximately reach a fully charged state within a specified settle time to provide improved filtering. |
| US08170622B2 |
Mobile communication network system and location registration method
The mobile communication network system having a plurality of mobile communication systems each including a base station performing wireless communications with a mobile station, comprises a storage unit storing location information of the mobile station, an acquisition unit acquiring, when receiving a location registering request from the mobile station, a communication-enabled mobile communication system in the mobile station as a sender of the location registering request, a specifying unit specifying a base station existing within the acquired communication-enabled mobile communication system and existing in the periphery of the base station receiving the location registering request, and a control unit storing the storage unit with information of the base station receiving the location registering request and information of the specified base station as location information about the sender mobile station of the location registering request. |
| US08170615B2 |
Method and device for storing and accessing personal information
Basic personal data of an individual is stored as different data files based on content or intended use. The selection of personal data for inclusion in a data file may be performed in accordance with service provider requests or by the end user, preferably with the assistance of templates. Each data file is assigned a unique identifier and is preferably stored in a network server (or, alternatively, in the user's mobile device). The data files may be organized into groups according to content or intended use. For each of the stored files, a graphical symbol is stored in the user's mobile device. When displayed to the user, the symbol preferably resembles a card. Moreover, each group of data files is preferably displayed as a pack of cards. In this manner, the organization of the cards is such that the user can easily select a card needed to obtain a service. |
| US08170614B2 |
Dual-SIM mobile terminal and operation method for the same
A dual-SIM mobile terminal and operation method for the same are disclosed. The dual-SIM mobile terminal checks the number of installed SIM cards during booting, and activates and deactivates the SIM switching mode according to the identified SIM card information. The operation method includes: detecting whether a first SIM card and second SIM card are installed in a first card socket and second card socket; storing SIM identification information regarding the detected SIM card; and performing a boot procedure on the basis of the detected SIM card. In particular, the SIM switching menu is displayed in an activated or deactivated state according to the identified SIM card information. Hence, the user can readily identify the number of installed SIM cards and the availability of SIM card switching through display status of the SIM switching menu. |
| US08170613B2 |
Electronic apparatus with SIM card and phone directory management method thereof
An electronic apparatus with a subscriber identity module (SIM) card and the phone directory management method thereof are provided. The electronic apparatus allows the user to store a group of phone numbers which belong to the same contact name in the SIM card using specially designed identity codes. |
| US08170610B2 |
Combination personal data assistant and personal computing system dynamic memory reclamation
In order to continually receive messages in a dual personal computer system (PC) and personal digital assistant system (PDA) computer architecture, the PC system is deactivated to conserve battery power while the PDA continues to receive messages. As PDA memory is filled with messages, messages that are synchronized and archived with the PC system are deleted and space is freed for incoming messages. When new and non-synchronized messages completely fill the PDA memory array, the PC system is reactivated or the user is informed. |
| US08170603B2 |
Differentiated access to a data item store
A portable electronic device includes an interface unit for connection to a removable storage medium; at least one data item store; a group of application handling units, at least one application handling unit in the group of application handling units providing an application handling user data; at least one access control module; and an access setup unit configured to receive a user identity from the removable storage medium via the interface unit, locate a user access control module associated with the received user identity, and force user data handling applications that view, read, or write data items to access data item stores in the portable electronic device via the user access control module. The user access control module restricts viewing, reading, and writing of data items to data areas provided for the user identity in data item stores in the portable electronic device. |
| US08170602B2 |
Information acquisition device, information providing device, and information providing system
An information acquisition device for acquiring digital Information includes: a first transmission unit (14) having directivity and transmitting by wireless an information request signal to be transmitted in a direction of the directivity; an information addition unit (13) adding at least one piece of address information to the information request signal to be transmitted; a reception unit (15) receiving a radio signal transmitted by wireless in response to the information request signal transmitted by the first transmission unit, and acquiring information contained in the signal; an information storage unit (16) which is built in the information acquisition device or attached to the device as removable from the device, and can store all or a part of information acquired by the reception unit; and an operation unit (11) issuing an instruction to start an information requesting operation. The reception unit (15) has no directivity or has broader directivity than the first transmission unit. |
| US08170601B2 |
Signal transmission parameter control using channel sounding
A base station (BTS) may instruct a client station (CS) to transmit sounding signals that the BTS may analyze to determine what adjustments, such as power, time, and/or frequency adjustment(s) should be made by the CS. The BTS may control when and how the sounding signals are sent by the CS. This helps reduce the possibility of adjustment signals transmitted by two or more CSs colliding. Thus, sounding signals transmitted by the CS in response to a request by the BTS can be received by the BTS with higher a probability of success. This permits the BTS to more accurately characterize the channel and to provide better adjustment of power level, frequency offset, and/or timing offset for more optimal communication. Such techniques can be used to reduce bit error rates and to improve the overall signal to noise ratio encountered by the system. |
| US08170598B2 |
Information sharing in a private access point network
This description relates to information sharing in a private access point network. |
| US08170594B1 |
Method and computer-readable medium for precedence group calling
A method and computer-readable medium for precedence group calling in a dispatch station is provided. The method includes: receiving a precedence order for each of a plurality of group call originators, based upon a group call identifier of each of the plurality of group call originators; receiving a new group call from one of the plurality of group call originators; and automatically switching the dispatch station from a current group call to the new group call, if the group call identifier of the originator of the new group call has a higher precedence than the group call identifier of the originator of the current group call. |
| US08170590B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for forking transmission of short message service
The present disclosure provides method, system, and apparatus for forking transmission of Short Message Service (SMS) messages in IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) networks. The method includes: receiving an SMS message, constructing a SIP message in which the SMS message is encapsulated or in which the SIP message carries the content of the SMS message and further includes a forking indication indicating whether forking shall be employed, sending the SIP message to a Service-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) in an IMS network, and determining by the S-CSCF whether forking shall be employed according to the forking indication. The method and system of the present disclosure enables the control over the SMS message from the Circuit Switched (CS) domain so that the SMS message can be sent through forking in the IMS domain to more than one user terminal. |
| US08170588B2 |
Contact information updating via SMS
A source mobile telephone detects that a telephone number of the telephone has changed to a new number, and in response, sends a text or short message service (SMS) notice message to contacts identified in the mobile telephone to indicate that the source mobile telephone has a new telephone number. In response to receiving the text or SMS notice message, a contact telephony device may update its contact list to reflect the new number. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08170585B2 |
Ranging in UMTS networks
A method and system for determining an approximate range from a location measurement unit to a mobile device. An uplink signal from the mobile device is received by the location measurement unit, and an uplink frame marker is determined from the uplink signal. A downlink signal is received at the location measurement unit from a base station serving the mobile device, and a downlink slot marker is determined from the downlink signal. A round trip propagation delay is determined based upon the uplink frame marker and the downlink slot marker, and an approximate range from the location measurement unit to the mobile device is determined as a function of the round trip propagation delay. |
| US08170583B2 |
Signal comparison-based location determining method
At least one portable RF communications device in conjunction with at least two fixed-location service-area antenna stations respectively capable of RF communication with the at least one device performs the steps of: (I) using a portable device at a selected location to measure RF communications signals from the plurality of local fixed-location service-area antenna stations and electronically storing at least two of the respective reception signal strength measurements; and (II) monitoring a portable device location by causing the device to measure reception signal strength associated with local fixed-location service-area antenna stations signals, and to electronically compare these measurements with the stored at least two measurements. |
| US08170581B2 |
Systems for tracking kidnapped hostage tracking systems, transmitters used in the same, sensor network gateways used in the same, and methods of tracking kidnapped hostage
A system for tracking location of person having signal transmitter includes at least one receiver for receiving unique ID signal transmitted by signal transmitter that transmits ID signal uniquely determined for respective mobile signal transmitter at at least one predetermined period. The receiver receives unique ID signal near circumference of the person having signal transmitter spaced apart from the receiver by given distance, and stores the received unique ID signal in ID store unit. The receiver, when search request for specific ID is received from external server, searches for the requested ID in ID store unit and transmits transmission information including ID corresponding to requested ID to external server. The person, such as abducted person, has only small signal transmitter, and thus the current location of the abducted person and path along which the abducted person moved can be tracked using the signal continually transmitted by the signal transmitter. |
| US08170577B2 |
Method and system enabling use of white space radio spectrum using digital broadcast signals
A system (10) and method (50 or 70) of dynamic allocation of spectrum for a communication device where a UHF band is currently unused for licensed television broadcasting involves determining (51) a location of a user device using GPS or other signals (such as television broadcast signals) received at the user device using signal strength or time distance of arrival of those signals. The method can determine (52) which UHF television broadcast channels are available for use by the user device and determine (53) a maximum allowed transmission power for a given channel based on signal strength for the given channel and on adjacent channels before transmitting (54) the maximum allowed transmission power and location by the user device to a remote server for sharing information. The method can receive (55) polygon endpoints from a television broadcast defining the location of usable reception of the television broadcast. |
| US08170569B2 |
Method for facilitate efficient multimedia broadcast/multicast service in a telecommunication system
A radio access network facilitates transmission of a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) to user equipments in plural cells served by a radio base station. A radio network controller includes in a first message of a transport channel setup request either an indication that transport sharing is allowed or an identification of a common transport bearer. The radio base station configures a new transport channel mapped to the common transport bearer such that it is stable with respect to other common transport channels. During operation, the radio network controller provides the MBMS data over the common transport bearer and the radio base station retransmits the MBMS data over the common transport channels to the plural cells. If the MBMS data over the common transport bearer arrives outside of time-of-arrival windows of any common transport bearer, then the radio network controller adjusts the transmission accordingly. |
| US08170568B2 |
Apparatus and method of setting multi-channels in network system
An apparatus of setting multi-channels in a network system includes a mobile station transmitting at least one piece of channel information on a request message, wherein the request message requests to set a connection identifier for a communication service; and a control station calculating a bandwidth according to number of channels using the request message received from the mobile station and setting the calculated bandwidth as a service bandwidth of the connection identifier. The control station such as an ACR supports multi-channels through one frame structure (i.e., a communication structure of a connection identifier) and thus radio resources (e.g., bandwidth) to be provided to the mobile station are reduced. |
| US08170566B2 |
Telecommunications network
A method of controlling selection of a data transmission network node, such as a base station, node B, eNodeB, GGSN or LTE PDN-GW, for a mobile device in a telecommunications network is disclosed. The mobile telecommunications network includes a plurality of mobility management nodes, such as SGSN and LTE MME. When the mobile terminal moves from a first one of the mobility management nodes to a second of the nodes, it is determined at the second node whether to cause the mobile terminal to re-select a data transmission network node. The determining step may be performed in response to a periodic routing area/periodic tracking area update request generated by the mobile terminal or in response to the mobile terminal being in an idle communication state. When the data transmission network node is re-selected, a data transmission network node that is relatively geographically near to the mobile terminal is selected. |
| US08170565B2 |
Method and apparatus of domain selection for routing control
A method of domain selection for routing control, applied to a communication system including a Circuit Switched (CS) network and an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) includes: obtaining call status(es) of a user in any one or both of the CS network and the IMS; selecting a domain via which an incoming call is to be delivered according to the call status(es) upon receiving a routing decision query request from a routing decision query entity, and indicating the routing decision query entity to deliver the incoming call via the CS network or the IMS selected. The method provided by embodiments of the present invention selects the domain according to the call status(es) of the user in any one or both of the CS network and the IMS. Therefore, the problem that two calls are respectively delivered via the CS network and the IMS at the same time may be avoided. |
| US08170564B2 |
Communication terminal apparatus, network system and handover method
A communication terminal apparatus wherein even if there occurs a dropout or overtaking of call control messages, the current service can be continued without increasing the load of an apparatus such as a server in the network. In this apparatus, a VoIP call control part (103) performs call controls including both a call establishment of a VoIP telephone conversation using a wireless LAN system and a call disconnection thereof. A line switching call control part (104) performs call controls including both a call establishment of a line switching telephone conversation using a mobile communication (cellular) system and a call disconnection thereof. A handover part (105) determines the reception quality of the wireless LAN system and that of the mobile communication (cellular) system and controls, based on the determination results, the handover between the wireless LAN system and the mobile communication (cellular) system. |
| US08170562B2 |
System and method for base station assisted mobility detection for mobile handsets
In this disclosure a technique of base station assisted mobility detection of handsets is described. More specifically by transmitting the subnet ID in the Beacon, a base station simplifies the process of network detection. This also leads to a significant reduction in handoff latency by giving the handset ample time to prepare for the impending handoff. |
| US08170559B1 |
Communication service handover processing system for femtocells and method thereof
A method for processing handover of a mobile communication device between femtocell base stations, includes: setting communication alert value and signal capture time period; detecting the signal strength of the femtocell base station currently serving the mobile communication device, and when the detected signal strength is less than the communication alert value, performing a timing operation to continuously capture the signal strength of the serving femtocell base station and other femtocell base stations that allow the mobile communication device to access thereto until the elapsed time measured through the timing operation reaches the signal capture time period, and creating a priority list according to the signal strength of said other femtocell base stations; and choosing the femtocell base station with highest priority as a handover target when the signal strength of the serving femtocell base station is less than that of the femtocell base station with highest priority. |
| US08170557B2 |
Reducing buffer overflow
A method of reducing buffer overflow in a cellular radio network caused by a transfer of data from a buffer in a first cell to a buffer in a second cell when a handover of mobile equipment from said first cell to said second cell occurs. The method comprises temporarily increasing an amount of temporary buffer space required to handle data transferred from the buffer of the first cell to the buffer of the second cell. In one embodiment of the method, prior to increasing the amount of temporary buffer space, the amount of temporary buffer space required is calculated. |
| US08170556B2 |
Method for initiating uplink signaling proactively by MBMS UE
A method for initiating uplink signaling proactively by the MBMS UE, comprising steps of: the UE moving to a new cell; listening to information on a MCCH; initiating an uplink signaling according to information on the MCCH; sending a response message to the UE by a RNC, or if no UE moving to the new cell, initiating the uplink signaling proactively by the UE if the information received from the MCCH includes an indication for UE counting; and sending a response message to the UE by the RNC. The UE in URA_PCH mode and IDLE mode can response to the MBMS Notification message sent by the RNC, and can initiate the Cell Update process or the RRC Connection process in order to obtain the MBMS parameters. The RNC sets different contents for the response message according to different reasons of message initiation. |
| US08170555B1 |
Method of selecting a new cell
A method for selecting a new cell for a station in a cellular telecommunications system, the station being associated with a current cell is provided. The method comprises the steps of measuring at the station the strength of a communication from the current cell, measuring at the station the strength of a communication from at least one other cell, modifying the result of the measuring step in which the strength of the communication from at least one other cell and/or the current cell is measured to take into account a condition of the current and/or said at least one other cell if the measured strength of the communication from the current cell and/or the measured strength of the communication from the at least one other cell satisfy a predetermined condition, if the modifying step is performed, comparing the measured strength of the communication from the current cell and the measured strength of the communication from the at least one other cell at least one of the measured strengths being modified in the modifying step and depending on the results of the comparison changing the current cell with which the station is associated. |
| US08170554B2 |
Complete message delivery to multi-mode communication method
A system and method for complete message delivery to a multi-mode communication device is presented. The communication device is adaptable to communicate with one or more carrier networks and one or more data networks. When a new message is received for the communication device, a message notification is sent to the device via a first network. The communication device parses the message notification and retrieves the complete message via a second network. Alternatively, the message notification may be delivered and the complete message may be retrieved via the same network. |
| US08170549B1 |
Use of physical location and application state information in routing preferences for electronic communications
Electronic communication messages are routed according to a user's current physical location and the physical locations of communication devices. A plurality of communication devices such as telephones and computers are associated with the user. The physical locations of the plurality of communication devices are tracked. The current physical location of the user is also tracked in real-time. Incoming communication messages to the user and outgoing communication messages from the user are routed according to routing preferences based on at least the current physical location of the user and physical locations of at least one of the communication devices. |
| US08170544B1 |
Method and system for integrated management of base transceiver station (BTS) with wireless backhaul
A base transceiver station (BTS) includes a radio access network (RAN) interface for communicating with mobile stations and a backhaul interface for communicating with a backhaul network. A RAN element management system generates RAN status information based on event notifications from the RAN interface. A backhaul element management system generates backhaul status information based on event notifications from the backhaul interface. A correlation engine generates correlated status information for the BTS based on the RAN status information and the backhaul status information. The correlated status information indicates performance of the RAN interface in combination with the backhaul interface. The correlated status information is monitored at a network management system (NMS). The NMS may be used to take corrective actions to address problems identified in the correlated status information. |
| US08170542B2 |
Mobile communication system for notifying subscriber identity identity code notification apparatus
A mobile communication system is provided such that multiple identity codes assigned to a terminal device are displayed on the terminal device, whereby such multiple identity codes are selectively and arbitrarily used without a specific provision, and an identity code is displayed according to an arrival of an appropriate notification chance. A subscriber identity code notification apparatus is also provided. A subscriber identity code holding device holds multiple identity codes such as telephone numbers, which are applicable to a single terminal device and which are different depending on the telecommunications carrier. A subscriber identity code notification apparatus is provide such that the subscriber identity code held by the subscriber identity code holding device notifies the terminal device of the corresponding subscriber identity code, in discrimination of an arrival of a given notification chance. |
| US08170541B2 |
Searching for mobile content
Methods and apparatus, including computer systems and program products, for searching for mobile content. A method includes receiving, via a user interface, at a computer system independent of the mobile device, information identifying the mobile device to receive computer data; receiving, at the computer system, information identifying the computer data to be downloaded to the mobile device; using the computer system to search computer data offerings from mobile device content providers for the computer data; and wirelessly transmitting to the mobile device data corresponding to a search result. Another method includes an application, on a mobile device, querying a computer system independent of the mobile device for a result of a search for the computer data, and causing the downloading of the computer data. |
| US08170536B2 |
Provisioning content formatting in a mobile device management system
The method is for provisioning content formatting in a device management system to facilitate provisioning of mobile devices of different capabilities with contents in a device management system in a mobile network infrastructure. The system has a device management application and repositories. The device management application in the device management system is initiated to perform provisioning content formatting. The device management application determines the applicable format for a mobile device to be provisioned on an analysis based on combining the capabilities of the mobile device identified by means of one or more of the repositories. |
| US08170533B2 |
Methods and apparatus of over-the-air programming of a wireless unit
Methods and apparatus for secure over-the-air (OTA) programming, and particularly, activation, of a wireless unit in a particular communications system. The unit stores a stored key having been generated by using a key algorithm (K-algorithm) with an identifier associated with the unit as an input to the K-algorithm. The unit may receive information such as parameters and a verification number from a communications system for the purpose of programming the unit. The verification number is generated by using an authorization algorithm (A-algorithm) having the parameters and a key as A-algorithm inputs. They key is generated by the K-algorithm having the identifier associated with the K-algorithm input. In response to the receipt of the parameters and the verification number, the wireless unit generates a trial verification number by using the A-algorithm with the parameters and the stored key as trial inputs. The unit compares the verification number to the trial verification number for a match. When finding the match, the unit uses the parameters for programming of the unit in the particular communications system. When failing to find the match, the unit fails to use the parameters for the programming. |
| US08170532B2 |
Method and system for identification using a portable wireless communication device of a person
A method for identification using a portable wireless communication device of a person, the method comprising: activating (62) an application installed on the device to enable wireless transmission of an identification code associated with the person; receiving (67) the identification code by a receiver; and performing (68) a predetermined operation by the receiver in response to the received identification code; wherein the identification code is transferable to another device and a privacy level is applied on the identification code to control the visibility of the identification code to other devices; and wherein the identification code is transmitted directly by a wireless transmitter of the portable wireless communication device to the receiver. |
| US08170526B2 |
Method and apparatus for remote vehicle communications and control
Long-range remote communication and control of a vehicle is achieved with primary and secondary cellular devices provided by the vehicle user. The primary cellular device is retained by the user, while the secondary cellular device is dedicated to the vehicle and placed in a docking station provided in the vehicle passenger compartment. The vehicle docking station is equipped with typical cell phone electrical interfaces to supply power and to establish a bi-directional data communication link between the secondary cellular device and an on-board vehicle computer. The secondary cellular device remains activated, and provides a low-cost remotely accessible communication link between the on-board vehicle computer and the primary cellular device or any other phone, provided that specified security conditions are satisfied. |
| US08170522B2 |
Multi-transformer architecture for an active RF circuit
A circuit features a balun having an unbalanced input and a balanced output, and a differential coupler having a symmetrical structure about a center axis. The differential coupler has a differential input and a differential output, the differential input being coupled to the balanced output of the balun. An impedance element is coupled to a circuit node of the differential coupler at a point along the center axis. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08170520B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device provided with FM receiving function
A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a clock generation unit, a signal processing unit, an FM receiving unit, a processor, and a bus. The signal processing unit, FM receiving unit, and processor operate in synchronization with the clock generated by the clock generation unit. The FM receiving unit includes an RF unit, a canceller and a wave detector. The RF unit performs frequency conversion of the received FM signal using the clock as a base signal. The canceller produces a replica of a noise using a signal as a reference signal to cancel the noise on the FM signal. The signal is obtained by performing frequency conversion of a signal in at least one of the signal processing unit and the bus using the clock as a base signal. The wave detector detects the FM signal in which the noise is cancelled. |
| US08170516B2 |
Method for the digital compensation of nonlinearities in a communication system and receiver device
A method for digital compensation of nonlinearities in a communication system that includes a transmitter, a transmission channel and a receiver, including: estimating the nonlinearities induced by the transmitter and/or the receiver, from at least one learning sequence received at the receiver and distorted by the nonlinearities, and compensating for the nonlinearities distorting a signal received at the receiver based on the estimating of the nonlinearities. |
| US08170512B2 |
Wireless transmitter
A wireless transmitter that includes a phase rotating unit which adds phase rotation to signals which are respectively input to antennas and adds first phase rotation for controlling the maximum delay time between the antennas and a second phase rotation for controlling the phases of arbitrary antennas among the antennas, wherein scheduling of users is performed on a per-chunk basis where a region defined in a frequency domain and in a time domain is divided into chunks in the frequency domain and in the time domain, and in the case in which the frequency bandwidth of the chunk is Fc, the phase rotating unit adds the first phase rotation so that the maximum delay time between the antennas is set to either a predetermined first value which is smaller than 1/Fc or a predetermined second value which is larger than 1/Fc. |
| US08170511B2 |
Equalizer system for emitting a quasi-constant power output RF signal in a frequency band
The invention refers to an equalizer system for emitting a quasi-constant power output RF signal in a first frequency band, the system comprising a programmable RF signal generator (10) for providing a modulated signal; a variable gain amplifier (40) for receiving the modulated signal and generating a RF signal to an antenna (70). The system further comprises a sensing devices (60, 61, 62) for providing a sensing signal which is either a signal proportional with the RF signal or a signal proportional with a supply current of the variable gain amplifier and a user interface (110) for determining an initial RF frequency signal and adjusting circuit (100) for providing a control signal to the variable gain amplifier (40) based on the initial RF frequency signal and the sensing signal, the adjusting circuit (100) comprising an arithmetic unit for calculating a value of the control signal. |
| US08170506B2 |
Direct current (DC) offset correction using analog-to-digital conversion
Techniques for reducing or eliminating DC (direct current) offset in transmitters are disclosed. An apparatus for DC offset reduction may include a converter, a digital engine, and a plurality of programmable current supplies. The converter is configured to provide digital representations of a plurality of DC currents associated, respectively, with a plurality of differential signal legs. The digital engine is configured to receive the digital representations and to produce instructions for generating compensating currents for the plurality of differential signal legs based on comparisons, respectively, between each of the digital representations and a calibration current. The programmable current supplies correspond, respectively, to the differential signal legs. The current supplies are configured to inject the compensating currents into the differential signal legs, respectively, to reduce DC offset between the differential signal legs, based upon the instructions. The instructions allow one-shot DC offset correction, instead of successive approximation for DC offset correction. |
| US08170505B2 |
Driver amplifier having a programmable output impedance adjustment circuit
A driver amplifier in an integrated circuit is suitable for driving a signal onto an output node and through an output terminal, and through a matching network to a power amplifier. A novel Programmable Output Impedance Adjustment Circuit (POIAC) within the integrated circuit is coupled to the output node and affects an output impedance looking into the output terminal. When the output impedance would otherwise change (for example, due to a driver amplifier power gain change), the POIAC adjusts how it loads the output node such that the output impedance remains substantially constant. The POIAC uses a series-connected inductor and capacitor L-C-R circuit to load the output node, thereby reducing the amount of capacitance and die area required to perform multi-band impedance matching with a power amplifier. Multi-band operation is accomplished by changing an effective capacitance in the L-C-R circuit depending on communication band information received by the POIAC. |
| US08170502B2 |
Phase pulse system and method for bandwidth and energy efficient continuous phase modulation
A new pulse shape for CPM is introduced which is obtained by a linear combination of well-known RC and REC pulse shapes. The new pulse shape addresses the tradeoff between the width of the PSD main lobe and the rate of decay of the side lobe to improve the coded performance of multi-carrier systems affected by ACI. Also, a methodology is proposed to design and evaluate the performance of the new pulse shape for multi-carrier, coded systems based on the modulation constrained capacity. Furthermore, a binary convolutional code and the CPM modulator are concatenated using an S-random bit interleaver to lower the error floor. Finally, Laurent representation of the new pulse shape is suggested such that by retaining only the principal pulses at the receiver, complexity of the receiver can be reduced. |
| US08170499B2 |
Mobile terminal and channel scanning method thereof
A mobile terminal is provided that includes a wireless communication unit configured to receive channel information and scan at least one channel, a controller configured to generate a channel database using the received channel information and generate a channel list according to a result of real time channel scanning using the channel database, and an output unit configured to display the channel list according to the result of the real time channel scanning under control of the controller. |
| US08170497B2 |
IC having an RF bus structure
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a die and a package substrate. The die includes circuit modules and an RF bus transceiver module and the package substrate includes a micro-electromechanical (MEM) area. The RF bus transceiver module includes a baseband processing module, a transmitter section, a receiver section, a transformer, an impedance matching circuit, and a transmission line. At least one of the transformer, the impedance matching circuit, and the transmission line is within the MEM area. |
| US08170491B2 |
System and method for real-time performance and load statistics of a communications system
A system and method for producing real-time results of performance data for wireless communications servers are disclosed. A plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a range, are maintained. When a measurable event is detected, the event is placed into the corresponding bin. When a performance metric is desired, it is calculated based on each bin, and the metric is returned, with an accuracy inversely proportional to the size. |
| US08170489B2 |
System and methods for determining radiated radio frequency (RF) receiver sensitivity
A test method is for determining RF sensitivity of an RF receiver for a plurality of channels extending over a frequency band(s) using an RF source coupled to the RF receiver by an RF communications link. The plurality of channels may include channels having a predictable RF sensitivity and a channel(s) having a non-predictable RF sensitivity. The test method may include measuring an RF sensitivity for one or more of the channels having the predictable RF sensitivity, and generating a partial RF sensitivity function for the channels having the predictable RF sensitivity based thereon. The method may further include measuring an RF sensitivity for the channel(s) having the non-predictable RF sensitivity. Additionally, an overall RF sensitivity function may be generated for the plurality of channels based upon the partial RF sensitivity function, and based upon the measured RF sensitivity for the channel(s) having the non-predictable RF sensitivity. |
| US08170485B2 |
System and method for using a single antenna for active and passive radio functions
A system and method for using a single antenna for active and passive radio functions. A wireless communication device includes a passive component that can be read using an antenna when the wireless communication device is in a low power sleep mode. When it is determined that a higher capacity is needed, the wireless communication device activates an active component. Activation of the active component includes a switching of a connection of the antenna from the passive component to the active component. |
| US08170483B2 |
Headset
A communication unit, e.g. a headset, constructed as a slave station which may be coupled to a plurality of master stations, e.g. a mobile telephone, via a short-ranged communications connection, such as of the Bluetooth type or the DECT type, and has a plurality of address fields in which one or more identification keys may be stored. At least one of the address fields has an associated electrical lock which may be unlocked only by an adapter master station having a unique indentification key. It is also possible to “lift” the receiver of the public switched telephone electrically or mechanically via the headset, so that a call and conversations from the public switched telephone may be made and take place via the headset. In an embodiment, the coupling box has a recess in which the headset may be placed and be charged via a charging unit in the coupling boy. The invention ensures that the public switched telephone is used as much as possible, which, in addition to a better sound reproduction, is favorable in terms of costs. |
| US08170480B1 |
Bypassing bluetooth discovery for devices in a special list
A method and apparatus for bypassing Bluetooth discovery for devices in a special list. A first Bluetooth device identification (ID) may be stored on a second device. A friendly name may be associated with the stored device ID. The first Bluetooth device ID may be accessed on the second device. An associated friendly name may be displayed as a representation of the first Bluetooth device id. A user of the second device may select to initiate Bluetooth communications with the first device. If so chosen, a Bluetooth communication session may be established between the two devices in a manner that bypasses the Bluetooth discovery process for these devices. In this novel manner, Bluetooth communication sessions may be established with trusted devices. Further, the time and power required for a Bluetooth discovery process may be conserved. In addition, the user interface may be improved over a user interface requiring Bluetooth discovery. |
| US08170478B2 |
Cell phone terminal, method for starting data processing, method for transferring data
The present invention provides a portable terminal which can easily start processing for data selected to be processed, a method for starting data processing, and a method for transferring data.A cell phone terminal 11 includes a sensor 22 detecting change in posture or physical movement of the present terminal. The cell phone terminal 11 includes an interface for selecting, by a user, arbitrary data from data stored beforehand in a memory 15. When the sensor 22 detects the change in posture or physical movement of the present terminal in a state that any data are selected by an interface, a predetermined operation is performed on the selected data as a target to be processed. |
| US08170477B2 |
Robust wireless communication device
A wireless communication device includes a first receiver section and a second receiver section. The first receiver section receives a first probe signal from a first transceiver at time t1. The second receiver section receives a second probe signal from a second transceiver at time t2, wherein the first and second probe signals have substantially similar carrier frequencies. The first receiver section then receives a first signal from the first transceiver and the second receiver section receives a second signal from the second transceiver in accordance with an adjusted delay. The first and second signals have similar content and have substantially similar carrier frequencies. The adjust delay corresponds to a delta time that is substantially equal to a difference between the time t1 and the time t2 when the difference between the time t1 and the time t2 compares unfavorably to a delay threshold. |
| US08170476B2 |
Emission power control for packet transmission
A method of transmitting data packets in a radio system between and emitter and a receiver. A nominal emission power for a data packet is determined according to a desired reception quality. The data packet is transmitted with an effective emission power. A new nominal emission power defined according to the reception quality for the transmission is calculated, taking into account the effectively applied emission power and the pre-determined nominal emission power. The data packet is retransmitted with the nominal emission power. |
| US08170471B2 |
Cooperative communication method for vehicular communication
A cooperative communication method for vehicular communication is provided. The method in which when one vehicle transmits a signal to another vehicle, a signal of a transmission vehicle passes through a roadside device or a plurality of vehicles and thereafter signals having a plurality of paths are transmitted to a reception vehicle, and the reception vehicle combines and demodulates the signals received through the plurality of paths. |
| US08170465B2 |
Teacher assignment based on student/teacher ratios
A system for assigning one or more teachers for teaching in one or more learning sessions comprises an online learning system having one or more nodes that creates one or more online learning sessions having corresponding student/teacher ratios. A scheduling node schedules the one or more teachers for teaching the one or more online learning sessions. A database stores teacher qualification parameters associated with the student/teacher ratio of one or more learning sessions. A processing node adjusts a teacher qualification parameter associated with a teacher based on the number of scheduled learning sessions and corresponding student/teacher ratio of such learning sessions associated with the teacher. The scheduling node schedules the teacher for one or more online learning sessions having a student/teacher ratio that corresponds to the adjusted qualification parameter of the teacher. |
| US08170464B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of preventing mismatching of punched hole position and binding direction
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a sheet media, including: a memory section which memorizes a position of holes previously punched on the sheet media; an operation section via which the sheet media to be used for image formation, a double-surface print operation and a binding direction are selected; and a control section which determines whether the position of the holes previously punched on the selected sheet media is the same as the binding direction selected via the operation section, after the sheet media carrying the holes and the double-surface print are selected via the operation section, wherein the control section interrupts starting operation of the image formation, if the position of the holes previously punched on the selected sheet media is not the same as the selected binding direction. |
| US08170459B2 |
Paper coloring apparatus and image forming system
An image forming system includes an electrophotographic image forming apparatus which forms an image on a sheet of paper, and a paper coloring apparatus which is connected to the electro-photographic image forming apparatus. The paper coloring apparatus includes a coating apparatus having two coating rollers which coat colored water on both faces of the paper sheet on which the image has been formed by the electro-photographic image forming apparatus. A supply section selectively supplies one of the colored water and a colorless water onto the two coating rollers of the coating apparatus. And a controller is provided for switching between a coloring process to color the paper sheet by supplying the colored water onto the two coating rollers, and a humidifying process to humidify the paper sheet by supplying the colorless water onto the two coating rollers. |
| US08170458B2 |
Image heating apparatus having stably positioned heating unit
The present invention relates to an image heating apparatus in which a nip portion is formed by a heating unit, which includes a flexible sleeve and a heater, and a pressure roller. The position of the heating unit is appropriately maintained by pressing the heating unit against the pressure roller using a pressure member so that the heating unit can contact two or more portions of a downstream side rim of a groove arranged on a frame that holds the heating unit, even when the pressure roller is rotated. |
| US08170454B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes: a latent image holder that holds on its surface an electrostatic latent image in which an image portion and a non-image portion have different potentials; a toner carrying roller that carries a toner layer including both contact toner which directly contacts a surface of the roller and non-contact toner which contacts the contact toner but does not contact the surface of the roller; and an electric field forming unit that forms an alternating electric field to cause an electric field strength exerted between the non-image portion on the surface of the latent image holder and the surface of the toner carrying roller to be lower than a contact toner fly start electric field strength and higher than a non-contact toner fly start electric field strength, between the latent image holder and the toner carrying roller, as a toner fly electric field. |
| US08170450B2 |
Color electrophotographic image forming apparatus that utilizes a rotatable rotary support member to support a plurality of developing devices
A color electrophotographic image forming apparatus to form an image on a recording medium may include a photosensitive member, a rotary support member, a first member, a second member, and a controlling unit. The photosensitive member forms an electrostatic latent image. The rotary support member moves a developing device to a developing position to develop the electrostatic latent image by rotation. The first member rotates multiple times of a natural number when the rotary support member rotates once and moves together with the rotary support member. The second member moves together with the rotary support member. A first sensor detects a rotation of the first member and a second sensor detects the rotary support member as positioned at a predetermined phase. The controlling unit detects a phase of the rotary support member by a first signal from the first sensor and a second signal from the second sensor. |
| US08170448B2 |
Developing cartridge having input gear and developer roller and supply roller gears
A developing cartridge includes an input gear which receives an external driving force; a developing roller which carries developer; a supply roller that is in contact with the developing roller and supplies the developer to the developing roller; a supply roller gear that is meshed with the input gear to drive the supply roller using a driving force transmitted from the input gear; and a developing roller gear that drives the developing roller with a driving force transmitted from the supply roller gear. The cartridge further includes a housing with a partition wall that partitions the housing into a first chamber that accommodates the developer and a second chamber that houses the developing roller and the supply roller, and an input gear shaft that supports the input gear. The input gear shaft and the partition wall overlap each other as viewed from a side of the developing cartridge. |
| US08170447B2 |
Image forming apparatus, developing apparatus and contact-retracting method
The image forming apparatus is provided with: an image carrier; an exposure member that exposes the image carrier and forms an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier; a developing member that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier; and a contact-retracting unit that rotates the developing member taking a predetermined position as the rotational center, and brings the developing member in contact with or proximity to the image carrier or retracts the developing member from the image carrier. |
| US08170443B2 |
Developing device and process cartridge
A developing device for developing with a developer a latent image formed on an image bearing member includes a container for containing the developer; a stirring member, rotatably supported by the container, for stirring the developer in the container; a magnetic member for forming a magnetic field in a gap between the container and a rotation shaft located at an end portion of the stirring member so as to magnetically confine magnetic particles in the gap; a seal member, provided outside the magnetic member with respect to a rotation shaft direction of the stirring member, contacting a peripheral surface of the rotation shaft of the stirring member; and a non-magnetic preventing portion, provided between the magnetic member and the seal member, for preventing the magnetic particles confined by the magnetic member from spreading toward the seal member. |
| US08170438B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on recording paper, a first control unit configured to control the image forming unit, a second control unit configured to control the image forming unit, and a power supplying unit configured to supply power, when the image forming apparatus is to operate in a normal power mode, such that the first control unit goes into a normal power state in which the first control unit can control the image forming unit, and supply power, when the image forming apparatus is to operate in a power saving mode, such that the first control unit goes into a power saving state in which the first control unit cannot control the image forming unit and the second control unit goes into a state in which the second control unit can control the image forming unit, wherein the second control unit controls the power supplying unit to supply power to the image forming unit and controls the image forming unit to perform a specific operation at predetermined timing when the image forming apparatus operates in the power saving mode. |
| US08170433B2 |
Image forming apparatus with rotation-speed-related adjustable photosensitive member charging bias
An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable photosensitive member chargeable by a charging member; an applying device for applying to the charging member a charging bias; an image forming device for forming a toner image on the photosensitive member; a setting device for setting a first frequency of a first charging bias in a first rotation speed mode and for setting a second frequency of a second charging bias in a second rotation speed mode; a detector for detecting current passing between the charging and the photosensitive members during application of a test bias to the charging member; and an adjusting device for adjusting the second charging bias based on an output of the detector when the photosensitive member is rotated at a first speed and a test bias having the second frequency is applied to the charging member when switching from the first to the second rotation speed modes. |
| US08170432B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member on which a toner image is to be formed; a transferring device for transferring the toner image onto a transfer material at a transfer position; a separating member, disposed downstream of the transfer position with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member so as to contact the image bearing member, for separating the transfer material from the image bearing member; a density detecting device, disposed downstream of the transfer position with respect to the rotational direction of the image bearing member, for detecting a density of an image for density detection formed on the image bearing member; and an air moving device for moving air in the image forming apparatus in a direction of a rotation shaft of the image bearing member; wherein the density detecting device is disposed upstream of the separating member with respect to a direction of air movement by the air moving device. |
| US08170431B2 |
Control apparatus, control method for control apparatus, and storage medium
A control method for a control apparatus includes obtaining an amount of a recording material applied on a first area of a sheet and an amount of a recording material applied on a second area of the sheet on the basis of image data recorded on the sheet stacked on a stacking unit; and performing control, in a case where a plurality of sheets are stacked on the stacking unit, so that a difference between a total amount of the recording material applied on the first area of the sheets and a total amount of the recording material applied on the second area of the sheets does not exceed a predetermined value on the basis of the obtained amount of the recording material. With this method, a limit of the number of stacked sheets is relieved while stability of the stacked sheets is maintained. |
| US08170429B2 |
Printer operable in toner saving and non-saving modes
In a printer, the image-forming unit performs an image-forming operation in one of a non-saving mode and a saving mode. An amount of the printing agent used in the saving mode is less than an amount of the printing agent used in the non-saving mode. The determining unit determines, based on the remaining amount of the printing agent in the accommodating unit and the remaining times the image-forming unit can perform the image-forming operation, whether the image-forming unit should perform the image-forming operation in the non-saving mode or the saving mode. The controlling unit controls the image-forming unit to perform the image-forming operation in the mode determined by the determining unit. |
| US08170427B2 |
Sheet conveying device
A sheet conveying device having conveyer rollers for conveying sheets one by one, a jam treater having a space and sheet guides for regulating a front side and a back side of a conveyed sheet. In the space of the jam treater, a sheet is guided, and the jam treater is rotatable and can be drawn out of a housing of the sheet conveying device. The sheet guides have curved portions to form a space in which the jam treater rotates. In order to remove a jammed sheet from a sheet path in the sheet conveying device, an operator rotates the jam treater to wind the jammed sheet around the jam treater and draws the jam treater together with the jammed sheet out of the housing. |
| US08170423B2 |
Data transmission optical device comprising a source emitting a laser beam
The present invention relates to a data transmission optical device including a source emitting a laser beam for transmitting the data toward an optical sensor. The device has means for collimating the beam. It may be implemented on board an aircraft for transmitting audio or video data to the passenger seats. The device has applications for on-demand video. |
| US08170422B2 |
Frequency shift keying demodulator
It is an object of the present invention to provide an FSK demodulator which can be used in the optical information and telecommunications and the like, and which can appropriately demodulate an FSK signal by compensating a delay of an optical FSK modulated signal due to dispersion and the like of an optical fiber.The above-mentioned problem is solved by a frequency shift keying (FSK) demodulator (1) composed of a branching filter (2) for branching an optical signal according to wavelengths thereof; a delay adjusting apparatus (3) for adjusting a delay time of two lights branched by the branching filter; a first photodetector (4) for detecting one optical signal branched by the branching filter; a second photodetector (5) for detecting a remaining optical signal branched by the branching filter; and a means (6) for calculating a difference between an output signal of the first photodetector and an output signal of the second photodetector. |
| US08170418B2 |
Protected light source for multiple wavelength division multiplexed passive optical networks (WDM-PONS)
A protected light source for generating seed light for at least two wavelength division multiplexed passive optical networks (WDM-PONs). The protected light source includes an optical coupler having N≧2 input ports and M≧2 output ports, each output port being optically connected to supply seed light to a respective set of one or more WDM-PONs. A respective multi-wavelength light source (MWLS) is optically coupled to supply seed light to each input port of the optical coupler. A controller unit controls operation of each multi-wavelength light source (MWLS). |
| US08170416B2 |
Optical switching device
An optical switching device the size and costs of which are reduced by decreasing the number of switching elements and which can flexibly accommodate the expansion of the number of ports. An optical demultiplexing section has 2n (n=1, 2, 3, . . . ) input ports and 2m (m>n) output ports and includes demultiplexing couplers for demultiplexing input optical packets. A switch fabric section includes optical gate elements for switching optical packets outputted from the optical demultiplexing section by switch drive control. An optical multiplexing section has 2m input ports and 2n output ports and includes multiplexing couplers for multiplexing the optical packets which pass through the optical gate elements. A scheduler exercises control over an entire optical packet switching process. |
| US08170413B2 |
Single seat-kill camera system
There is disclosed a single seat-kill camera system and method. The single seat-kill camera may include a camera head and an elevator configured to position the camera head in one of a down position and an up position. An obstruction detector may determine whether or not a field of view of the camera head is obstructed, at least in part, when the camera head is in the down position. A controller coupled to the elevator and the obstruction detector may automatically instruct the elevator to position the camera head in the up position when the obstruction detector determines that the field of view of the camera head in the down position is obstructed. |
| US08170411B2 |
System and method for inputting position information in captured image
A system and method for connecting a global positioning system (GPS) device with a digital image processing device and inputting position information into an image file captured by the digital image processing device. A system and method for inputting position information into a captured image employ a digital image processing device which generates an image file by capturing an image, and stores the image file, a GPS device which receives position information from a GPS satellite at regular time intervals; when the digital image processing device is connected with the GPS device, a GPS information storage unit which receives position information from the GPS device and stores the position information, and a GPS information input control unit which inputs position information excluding a timestamp, into an image file. |
| US08170404B2 |
Bubbler for constant vapor delivery of a solid chemical
A bubbler chamber assembly comprising one chamber or two or more chambers connected in series, all chambers being in substantially vertical orientation. A solid or liquid source of the compound is contained in the chamber or chambers. The ratio between the length of the chamber or combined length of chambers connected in series with respect to the direction of flow of the carrier gas through the chamber or chambers and the average diameter equivalent of the cross section of the chamber or chambers with respect to the direction of flow of the carrier gas through the chamber or chambers is not less than about 6:1. |
| US08170400B2 |
Information recording medium, and multiplexing device
The present invention provides an information recording medium in which an access unit including basic data and extension data is recorded, so as to allow a decoder that decodes only basic data to process the access unit which includes the basic data and the extension data for the next generation.The information recording medium is an information recording medium on which a stream including plural TS packets is recorded, and includes a first access unit which has a first packet that includes basic data as well as a second packet which includes extension data related to the basic data, the basic data being data that can be decoded in a completed state without using the extension data and the extension data being data for improving the quality of data generated from the basic data; wherein the first packet and the second packet are assigned with time stamps indicating relative times at which the first packet and the second packet are respectively inputted to buffers, so that a buffer model of a first decoder does not fail and a buffer model of a second decoder does not fail, the first decoder decoding only the basic data, and the second decoder decoding the basic data and the extension data. |
| US08170398B2 |
Information recording and reproducing device having recording reservation function
After judgment that timer reservation has been set, upon judgment that a channel, a scheduled broadcast date, broadcast start time, and broadcast end time included in the EPG information respectively agree with a channel, a recording reservation date, recording start time, and recording end time included in recording reservation information, agreement information is displayed on a display device. On the other hand, upon judgment that any of them do not agree with each other, disagreement information is displayed on the display device. After the agreement information is displayed on the display device, a replacement from recording reservation through timer reservation for the desired program to recording reservation based on electronic program guide information is made for the desired program. |
| US08170397B2 |
Device and method for recording multimedia data
The invention relates to a device and a method for recording multimedia data received in programme form. The device comprises temporary storage device designed to continuously record the multimedia data received in programme form and permanent storage device, capable of selectively transferring programmes from the temporary storage device to the permanent storage device. |
| US08170390B2 |
Cable glands
A cable gland for a cable includes a body, an insert located within the body, the insert having an internal axial bore, and an adaptor provided with positive location structure arranged in use within the bore of the insert. |
| US08170388B2 |
Method for effective refractive index trimming of optical waveguiding structures and optical waveguiding structures
A method for trimming an effective refractive index of optical waveguiding structures made for example in a high refractive index contrast material system. By compaction of cladding material in a compaction area next to patterns or ridges that are formed in the core material for realizing an optical waveguiding structure, the effective index of refraction of the optical waveguiding structure can be trimmed. Thus, the operating wavelength of an optical component comprising such an optical waveguiding structure can be trimmed. An optical waveguide structure thus obtained is also disclosed. |
| US08170383B2 |
Optical converter
An optical converter comprises: a first waveguide, a second waveguide, and a tapered waveguide arranged between both the waveguides, wherein heights of a core of the first waveguide and a core of the second waveguide are different; both ends in a direction of wave guiding of a core of the tapered waveguide are respectively connected to the core of the first waveguide and the core of the second waveguide; cross-sectional shapes and refractive indexes of cores of two waveguides that are connected change continuously or in a stepwise manner at each connection part; and a cross-sectional shape and refractive index of the core of the tapered waveguide change continuously or in a stepwise manner along a direction of wave guiding. |
| US08170378B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program
An image processing apparatus that generates an output image according to interpolation performed by using an input image includes a pixel-value calculating unit that calculates a pixel value of a pixel of the output image according to interpolation performed by using pixel values of pixels of the input image and an interpolation function, an edge determining unit that determines an edge direction, which is a direction of an edge in the pixel of the output image, using the input image, and an adjusting unit that adjusts the interpolation function such that a degree of pixels of the input image present in a direction along the edge direction contributing to the interpolation is large and a degree of pixels of the input image present in a direction orthogonal to the edge direction contributing to the interpolation is small. |
| US08170373B2 |
Image reconstruction method
An image reconstruction method includes: fetching at least two images; calculating a relative displacement between those adjacent images by utilizing a phase correlation algorithm; calculating an absolute displacement between any one of those images and the first image of those images; and computing a common area of those images by utilizing the relative displacement and the absolute displacement, then deleting remainder portions of the image excluding the common area; and accumulating the common area of every image. In the present invention, the phase correlation algorithm can be utilized to process numerous noise signals so as to get a higher precision of the image reconstruction. |
| US08170372B2 |
System and method to find the precise location of objects of interest in digital images
The present invention is a method and system to precisely locate objects of interest in any given image scene space, which finds the presence of objects based upon pattern matching geometric relationships to a master, known set. The method and system prepares images for feature and attribute detection and identifies the presence of potential objects of interest, then narrows down the objects based upon how well they match a pre designated master template. The method by which matching takes place is done through finding all objects, plotting its area, juxtaposing a sweet spot overlap of its area on master objects, which in turn forms a glyph shape. The glyph shape is recorded, along with all other formed glyphs in an image's scene space and then mapped to form sets using a classifier and finally a pattern matching algorithm. The resulting objects of interest matches are then refined to plot the contour boundaries of the object's grouped elements (arrangement of contiguous pixels of the given object called a Co-Glyph) and finally snapped to its component actual dimensions e.g., x, y of a character or individual living cell. |
| US08170370B2 |
Method and apparatus of processing interlaced video data to generate output frame by blending deinterlaced frames
A method of processing interlaced video data including a first interlaced field and a second interlaced field is provided. The method includes performing a deinterlacing operation upon the interlaced video data to generate a first deinterlaced frame corresponding to the first interlaced field and to generate a second deinterlaced frame corresponding to the second interlaced field; performing motion estimation according to video information derived from the interlaced video data to generate a motion estimation result; and performing a blending operation upon the first deinterlaced frame and the second deinterlaced frame to generate an output frame. The blending operation is based on the motion estimation result, and the output frame replaces the second deinterlaced frame. Specifically, the first interlaced field is immediately followed by the second interlaced field. |
| US08170369B2 |
Correlation between sets of data
The present invention relates to a method to perform an accurate correlation between a first set of data (1), collected from a first source (A1), and a second set of data (2), collected from a second source (A2), in the presence of noise in one or both of the first and second sets of data (1, 2). The present invention specifically teaches that a third set of data (3) is collected from the first source (A1) under the same conditions as the conditions of the collection of the first set of data (1), and that a fourth set of data (4) is collected from the second source (A2) under the same conditions as the conditions of the collection of the second set of data (2). A measured correlation value (rm) between data collected from the first source (A1) and the second source (A2) is taken as one of the correlation measurements out of the possible combinations of the first and second set of data (r12), the first and fourth set of data (r14), the third and second set of data (r32) and the third and fourth set of data (r34). A correction value (C12) is calculated based on a correlation measurement between the first and third set of data (r13) and a correlation measurement between the second and fourth set of data (r24) according to the expression: (Formula (I)). This correction value (C12) is applied to the measured correlation value (rm) resulting in a corrected correlation value rc=rm×C12. C 12 = 1 r 13 × r 24 ( I ) |
| US08170359B2 |
Encoding device and encoding method
An encoding device 100 includes a quantization parameter generating circuit 111 that generates a provisional quantization parameter, a quantizing circuit 121 that generates quantized data by quantizing a signal to be quantized on the basis of the provisional quantization parameter, a binarizing circuit 131 that binarizes the quantized data to output binary symbol data, an arithmetic coding circuit 141 that generates coded data by arithmetic-coding the binary symbol data, a quantization parameter calculating circuit 112 that generates a suitable quantization parameter on the basis of a symbol amount of the binary symbol data, a code amount of the coded data, an upper limit of the symbol amount, and an target code amount, a quantizing circuit 122 that quantizes the signal to be quantized on the basis of the suitable quantization parameter. |
| US08170355B2 |
Image encoding/decoding method and apparatus
An image encoding/decoding method and apparatus are provided, in which one of color component images forming an image is predicted from a different color component image using a correlation between the color component images. A first color component image selected from the color component images is encoded by intra prediction, and the other color component images are predicted using the reconstructed first color component image. Therefore, color distortion, which may occur when transforming an image color format to another color format, is prevented, thereby improving encoding efficiency. |
| US08170354B2 |
Systems and methods of inter-frame compression
A system and method for rendering images, and performing operations such as windowing and leveling, when the parameters of a client appliance are known and rendering images when the parameters of a client appliance are unknown. The invention also considers the rendering from the client appliance perspective and the server appliance perspective. |
| US08170351B2 |
Shape clustering in post optical character recognition processing
Systems, methods, and computer program products on storage devices for shape clustering and applications in processing various documents, including an output of an optical character recognition (OCR) process. The output of an OCR process is classified into a plurality of clusters of clip images and a representative image for each cluster is generated to identify clusters whose clip images were incorrectly assigned character codes by the OCR process. |
| US08170348B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, computer program for realizing functions thereof, and recording medium having the computer program recorded thereon
An image processing apparatus determines whether a reference image and an image of interest are different or the same. A determination unit determines whether a comparative image formed by a part or entirety of the image of interest and an image corresponding to the comparative image in the reference image are different or the same. A decision unit decides whether a next comparative image should be a part or entirety of the image of interest in accordance with the result of the determination. An acquisition unit acquires the comparative image from the image of interest in accordance with result of the decision. |
| US08170346B2 |
High-performance closed-form single-scan calculation of oblong-shape rotation angles from binary images of arbitrary size using running sums
A method for performing a high-performance closed-form single-scan calculation of oblong-shape rotation angles from binary images of arbitrary size on a processor using running sums is disclosed. Running sums are calculated and stored throughout each scan, and the results are obtained in closed form by simple post-scan computation. An algorithmic embodiment may execute on one or more hardware processors with limited or constrained computation power, available instruction cycles, available memory, etc. Exemplary hardware processors are found in one or more CPUs of a desktop, laptop, tablet, or handheld computing device, and may be an embedded processor or a signal processor chip. The resulting method may be used for touch or optical user interfaces, real-time image recognition, real-time machine vision, and other purposes. |
| US08170343B2 |
Method and system for searching images with figures and recording medium storing metadata of image
A method and a system for searching images with figures and a recording medium storing metadata of image are provided. The searching method is divided into an image analysis stage and an image search stage. In the image analysis stage, figures between images are compared with each other and assigned with an identity respectively. A representative image of each identity is then evaluated from the image collection. In the image search stage, the representative images are displayed for user to select some of them as a searching criterion, so as to search and display the images matching the searching criterion in the image collection. Accordingly, the images required by user can be found through intelligent analysis of figures, intuitive definition of searching criterion, and simple comparison of identities so that both time and effort of organization for searching images with figures can be substantially saved. |
| US08170342B2 |
Image recognition of content
Techniques are described to employ image recognition techniques to content. In an implementation, one or more images are identified in content using a signature derived from the one or more images. Metadata associated with the content is then supplemented based on the identified one or more images. |
| US08170341B2 |
Image signature extraction device
The image signature extraction device includes a first feature extraction means for extracting, from an image, first features corresponding to the respective dimensions of a feature vector; a second feature extraction means for extracting, from the image, second features which are different from the first features, corresponding to the respective dimensions of a feature vector; a feature type determination means for analyzing at least one of the image and the extracted first features as a subject for analysis to determine whether or not the feature vector constituted of the extracted first features has effectiveness in discriminating an image, and if the feature vector has the effectiveness, determining the first features to be the type of the features used for the respective dimensions, while if the feature vector does not have the effectiveness, determining the second feature to be the type of the features used for at least part of the dimensions and determining the first features to be the type of the features used for the remaining dimensions; and a feature vector generation means for generating a feature vector of the image from the extracted first features and the extracted second features, according to the determined type of the features used for the respective dimensions. |
| US08170340B2 |
Device, method and computer program for identifying a traffic sign in an image
A device for identifying a traffic sign in an image includes a Hough transformer implemented to identify a plurality of line sections running in different directions through the image in the image or in an edge image derived from same. The device further includes a shape detector implemented to detect a predefined shape in the image or in the edge image derived from same based on the identified line sections. The device apart from that includes a pattern identifier implemented to select an image section corresponding to the detected predefined shape based on the detected predefined shape and to identify a traffic sign based on the selected image section. |
| US08170326B2 |
Multi parallax exploitation for omni-directional imaging electronic eye
Techniques and systems are disclosed for electronic target recognition. In particular, techniques and systems are disclosed for performing electronic surveillance and target recognition using a multiple parallax exploitation (MPEX) electronic eye platform. Among other things, a MPEX system can include an imaging unit that includes multiple image capture devices spaced from one another to form an array to provide overlapping fields-of-view and to capture multiple overlapping stereo images of a scene. The MPEX system can also include a processing unit connected to the imaging unit to receive and process data representing the captured multiple overlapping stereo images from the imaging unit to characterize one or more objects of interest in the scene. |
| US08170325B2 |
Image inspecting device and method for a head-mounted display
An image inspecting device is adapted to inspect the difference value between the locations of first and second images. The image inspecting device includes an image catching unit and a light processing unit. The light processing unit is adapted to project the first and second images on the image catching unit. |
| US08170323B2 |
Card shoe with card block
A playing card delivery shoe is used in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat or blackjack or any game where cards are pulled one at a time from the shoe. The apparatus comprises a reader or an imager that scans lines bisecting the image at spaced intervals. The scanning occurs on playing cards in at least the region where suit and rank symbols are provided. The scanner output is a series of voltages that are converted to binary information. This binary information is compared to stored binary information to determine rank and suit. The upper surface of the output end of the shoe contains a partial barrier for cards being scanned. The partial barrier has an elevated surface and limits a size of a pathway so that only one card can be removed at a time. |
| US08170320B2 |
Mammography/tomosynthesis systems and methods automatically deriving breast characteristics from breast x-ray images and automatically adjusting image processing parameters accordingly
Methods and systems that automatically identify breast characteristics such as x-ray density and breast texture from initial x-ray images of the breast and automatically adjust process parameter setting of image processing algorithms that operate on the initial images to derive processing images suitable for display or further processing. |
| US08170312B2 |
Respiratory motion compensated cardiac wall motion determination system
A cardiac wall motion compensation system quantitatively compares images acquired at different phases of cardiac and respiratory movement and excludes motion contributed by respiratory movement. A system compensates for respiratory motion induced tissue displacement in cardiac wall motion determination. The system includes an imaging device for acquiring multiple sequential cardiac images of a patient and a data processor. The data processor processes data representing first and second images selected from the multiple sequential cardiac images, to determine heart wall respiratory motion representative displacement from a ventricle wall positional difference indicated between the first and second images, in response to a respiratory motion representative signal and a heart electrophysiological signal. The data processor subtracts heart wall respiratory motion representative displacement from a heart wall displacement measurement to provide a respiration compensated heart wall displacement value. |
| US08170311B2 |
Toeplitz random encoding for reduced acquisition in compressed sensing magnetic resonance imaging
A method and a system for generating a magnetic resonance image of a subject. The method and system include generating a first pulse having first random data having a first amplitude and a first linear phase; applying the first pulse to the subject as an radio frequency pulse; collecting a first signal from the subject; generating a second pulse having second random data having a second amplitude and a second linear phase, wherein the second amplitude is substantially equal to the first amplitude, and wherein the second phase has a different slope from the first phase; applying the second pulse to the subject as an radio frequency pulse; collecting a second signal from the subject; and reconstructing an image of the subject. |
| US08170306B2 |
Automatic partitioning and recognition of human body regions from an arbitrary scan coverage image
A recognition pipeline automatically partitions a 3D image of the human body into regions of interest (head, rib cage, pelvis, and legs) and correctly labels each region. The 3D image is projected onto a 2D image using volume rendering. The 3D image may contain the whole body region or any subset. In a learning phase, training datasets are manually partitioned and labeled, and a training database is computed. In a recognition phase, images are partitioned and labeled based on the knowledge from the training database. The recognition phase is computationally efficient and may operate under 2 seconds in current conventional computer systems. The recognition is robust to image variations, and does not require the user to provide any knowledge about the contained regions of interest within the image. |
| US08170304B2 |
Modeling cerebral aneurysms in medical images
Methods and systems for modeling cerebral aneurysm and their incoming and outgoing vessels from 3D image data are disclosed. Aneurysms and vessels are segmented from their background using a graph-cuts method. Begin and end of vessels are determined. Construction of a centerline of the incoming and outgoing vessels using a measure of vesselness in calculating a minimum cost path in a graph with nodes being representation of pixels is also disclosed. Vessel surface models are constructed from sub-voxel cross-sectional segmentation. The interpolation of vessels inside an aneurysm based on smooth continuity is disclosed. Selection of endo-vascular stents based on interpolation results is also provided. |
| US08170302B1 |
System and method for generating motion corrected tomographic images
A method and related system for generating motion corrected tomographic images includes the steps of illuminating a region of interest (ROI) to be imaged being part of an unrestrained live subject and having at least three spaced apart optical markers thereon. Simultaneous images are acquired from a first and a second camera of the markers from different angles. Motion data comprising 3D position and orientation of the markers relative to an initial reference position is then calculated. Motion corrected tomographic data obtained from the ROI using the motion data is then obtained, where motion corrected tomographic images obtained therefrom. |
| US08170300B2 |
Biometric image pickup apparatus
A biometric image pickup apparatus with a simple configuration capable of reducing light amount variations in a picked-up image. The biometric image pickup apparatus includes: a light source applying light to a living organism; a detection section for placing the living organism thereon; an image pickup lens section condensing light from the living organism; an image pickup device obtaining image pickup data on the basis of the light condensed by the image pickup lens section; and a transmittance distribution filter arranged between the detection section and the image pickup device, in which the transmittance distribution filter has a transmittance distribution in which the transmittance is higher in a region far from the light source than in a region near the light source. |
| US08170297B2 |
Face authentication system and face authentication method
A face authentication system includes: a data processing section for performing a predetermined data processing operation; a first data input section for inputting three-dimensional data on a face area of a subject to the data processing section; and a second data input section for inputting two-dimensional image data on the face area of the subject to the data processing section, the two-dimensional image data corresponding to the three-dimensional data to be inputted to the data processing section, wherein the data processing section includes: a quality rating section for rating the quality of the three-dimensional data based on the two-dimensional image data, and generating quality data, and an authentication processing section for executing a registration process or a verification process of authentication data based on the three-dimensional data, if the quality data satisfies a predetermined requirement. |
| US08170295B2 |
Personal authentication system and personal authentication method
A personal authentication system comprises an imaging section for capturing an image of a user's eye including the iris; pupil/iris region extraction section for extracting a pupil region and an iris region from the captured image; a three-dimensional polar coordinate image creation section for estimating the three-dimensional center position of the eyeball based on the extracted pupil region and iris region and for creating a three-dimensional polar coordinate image by converting the iris region into three-dimensional coordinates with reference to the center position of the eyeball; and a three-dimensional polar coordinate image coding section for creating a three-dimensional polar coordinate image code formed by extracting and coding a characteristic of the created three-dimensional polar coordinate image. The personal authentication system can create iris information highly accurately representing characteristics of a user's iris independent of the direction of line of sight of the user. |
| US08170294B2 |
Method of detecting redeye in a digital image
A method for detecting redeye in a digital image comprises initially examining the image to detect redeyes, examining the image to detect face regions and, from the results of the preceding examinations, identifying those detected face regions each including only one detected redeye. Next, the identified face regions are examined, using less stringent search criteria than the initial examination, to detect additional redeyes in the face regions. |
| US08170293B2 |
Multimodal ocular biometric system and methods
Biometric systems capture and combine biometric information from more than one modality, employing digital processing algorithms to process and evaluate captured images having data for a biometric characteristic. Such digital algorithms may include a pupil segmentation algorithm for determining a pupil image in the captured image, an iris segmentation algorithm for determining an iris image in the captured image, an eyelid/eyelash segmentation algorithm for determining an eyelid/eyelash image in the captured image, and an algorithm for measuring the focus on the iris. Some embodiments employ an auto-capture process which employs such algorithms, in part, to evaluate captured images and obtain the best possible images for biometric identification. |
| US08170292B2 |
Imaging apparatus, control method, and recording medium thereof
An imaging apparatus is provided including an imaging unit configured to obtain image data, a display unit, and a communication unit configured to communicate with a plurality of external apparatuses. The imaging apparatus further includes a storing unit configured to store person identification information including at least face image data while associating the person recognition information with information relating to the external apparatuses, a collation unit configured to collate a target in the image data with the person identification information, a detection unit configured to detect an external apparatus that is communicating with the imaging apparatus, and a display control unit configured to display a plurality of pieces of face image data on the display unit each as a candidate of a transmission destination of the image data in an order based on a result of collation by the collation unit and a result of detection by the detection unit. |
| US08170291B2 |
Methods and systems for analyzing the quality of digital signature confirmation images
Methods and systems for evaluating an imager that produces bi-chrome images from a scanner or a digital imaging device, the bi-chrome images having pixels of a first and second color. In one embodiment, a method includes generating an image with a hand-held imaging device, the image having pixels of a first color and a second color, analyzing the image to determine information about particles of the first and second color contained in the image, each particle comprising contiguous pixels of the same color, the particle information comprising information on first and second color particle size and count, and determining if the image is unacceptable based on predetermined objective criteria and the particle information. |
| US08170289B1 |
Hierarchical alignment of character sequences representing text of same source
Systems and methods for character-by-character alignment of two character sequences (such as OCR output from a scanned document and an electronic version of the same document) using a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) in a hierarchical fashion are disclosed. The method may include aligning two character sequences utilizing multiple hierarchical levels. For each hierarchical level above a final hierarchical level, the aligning may include parsing character subsequences from the two character sequences, performing an alignment of the character subsequences, and designating aligned character subsequences as the anchors, the parsing and performing the alignment being between the anchors generated from an immediately previous hierarchical level if the current hierarchical level is below the first hierarchical level. For the final hierarchical level, the aligning includes performing a character-by-character alignment of characters between anchors generated from the immediately previous hierarchical level. At each hierarchical level, an HMM may be constructed and Viterbi algorithm may be employed to solve for the alignment. |
| US08170288B2 |
Reducing noise in 3D seismic data while preserving structural details
A system and method perform structure-preserving smoothing (SPS) using a data adaptive method for smoothing 3D post-stacked seismic attributes which reduces random noise while preserving the structure without prior computation of its orientation. The data is smoothed within a neighborhood sub-window along a set of predefined orientations, and the best smoothing result is then selected for output. The orientation corresponding to the best result often approximates the true structure orientation embedded in the data, so that the embedded structure is thus preserved. The SPS method can also be combined with median, alpha-trim, symmetric near neighbor, or edge-preserving filters. The SPS method is an effective way to reduce random noise and eliminate noise footprints, and to enhance coherence and curvature attributes. |
| US08170279B2 |
Adaptive match metric selection for automatic target recognition
An automatic target recognition system with adaptive metric selection. The novel system includes an adaptive metric selector for selecting a match metric based on the presence or absence of a particular feature in an image and a matcher for identifying a target in the image using the selected match metric. In an illustrative embodiment, the adaptive metric selector is designed to detect a shadow in the image and select a first metric if a shadow is detected and not cut off, and select a second metric otherwise. The system may also include an automatic target cuer for detecting targets in a full-scene image and outputting one or more target chips, each chip containing one target. The adaptive metric selector adaptively selects the match metric for each chip separately, and may also adaptively select an appropriate chip size such that a shadow in the chip is not unnecessarily cut off. |
| US08170278B2 |
System and method for detecting and tracking an object of interest in spatio-temporal space
The present invention provides a system and method for detecting and tracking a moving object. First, robust change detection is applied to find initial candidate regions in consecutive frames. These initial detections in consecutive frames are stacked to produce space-time bands which are extracted by Hough transform and entropy minimization based band detection algorithm. |
| US08170276B2 |
Object detection system based on a pool of adaptive features
A method, system and computer program product for detecting presence of an object in an image are disclosed. According to an embodiment, a method for detecting a presence of an object in an image comprises: receiving multiple training image samples; determining a set of adaptive features for each training image sample, the set of adaptive features matching the local structure of each training image sample; integrating the sets of adaptive features of the multiple training image samples to generate an adaptive feature pool; determining a general feature based on the adaptive feature pool; and examining the image using a classifier determined based on the general feature to detect the presence of the object. |
| US08170275B2 |
Determining document authenticity in a closed-loop process
A document authentication method uses a watermark added in a printed document to detection possible alterations made to the document after it was printed. First, a visible watermark in the form of a dot pattern is overlapped with an original digital image. The watermarked image is printed out as a halftone image at a first resolution. The watermark in the printed document appears as a light gray shade. Later, the printed document is scanned back using a grayscale scan at a resolution higher than the first resolution. In the scanned image, altered areas would appear flat (lacking intensity variation) whereas unaltered areas will have relatively large density variations due to the watermark dots and the fact that the image was halftone printed at a lower resolution. Alternations are detected by identifying flat areas within the image using a combination of flat block detection and a multiple thresholds method. |
| US08170273B2 |
Encoding and decoding auxiliary signals
This disclosure describes apparatus and systems for encoding and decoding signals from a host signal such as audio, video or imagery. One claim recites an apparatus comprising: electronic memory for storing a media signal representing audio or video; and an electronic processor. The electronic processor is programmed for: extracting data representing at least some features of the media signal; using the extracted data as a key to select coefficients in a transform domain, the coefficients representing the media signal; and modifying selected coefficients to hide a steganographic signal in the media signal. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided as well. |
| US08170271B2 |
System and method for test tube and cap identification
A system for identifying test tube types and properties in a sample handling machine using visual information automatically obtained by an optical imager and then processed using vision processing methods. The system includes an optical imager positioned to capture images containing one or more test tubes in a rack and a microcontroller programmed to extract predetermined regions of interest and interpret the optical information in the image to decipher the dimension of the test tubes, determine the presence or absence of caps on the test tubes, decode any encoded data, and interpret custom symbologies. The system may then determine the nature of the test tubes or other containers presented before the image and provide that information to the sample handling machine to assist with processing of samples. |
| US08170270B2 |
Universal reader
A computer implemented method and computer usable program product for embedding rich content of a document in an image. In one embodiment, a static image of the document is generated. If the amount of memory associated with the rich content does not exceed a threshold amount, the rich content is encoded into a single content block according to an image format. If the rich content does exceed the threshold amount, the rich content is encoded into a plurality of content blocks. The content block or the plurality of content blocks are inserted into an arbitrary storage location of the image. The static image is displayed when the image is opened in an absence of an application associated with the rich content of the document. The rich content is displayed when the image is opened in a presence of the application associated with the rich content of the document. |
| US08170269B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus which may include scene change detection means, object detection means, and determining means. The scene change detection means may be configured to detect a scene change in a motion picture. The object detection means may be configured to detect a predefined object that is contained as a subject in still pictures constituting the motion picture. The determining means may be configured to determine, in accordance with the result of a detection operation that is performed by the object detection means in relation to still pictures constituting a predefined scene between a scene change detected by the scene change detection means and a chronologically adjacent scene change, whether the predefined scene contains a still picture containing the predefined object as a subject. |
| US08170268B2 |
Electro-dynamic transducer with a slim form factor
In one embodiment of the present invention, an electro-dynamic transducer is disclosed including a diaphragm, a first suspension suspending the diaphragm, a coil former attached to the diaphragm, the coil former having a first, inner portion, and a second, outer portion, arranged coaxially in relation to each other, a coil arranged around the outer coil former portion, a magnetic system, operable to magnetically cooperate with the coil, and a second suspension mounted between the inner coil former portion and the magnetic system. The new and improved way of placing the second suspension allows for a slim form factor, while stabilizing the system more than prior art designs. The transducer according to one embodiment of the present invention is less sensitive to rocking modes, and the gap in the magnet system can thus be made smaller. |
| US08170266B2 |
Portable computer speaker grill structures
Portable computer structures are provided. The portable computer structures may include speaker grill structures. A speaker grill structure may be formed by creating an array of small holes (perforations) in a portable computer housing structure such as a planar housing wall. A speaker may be mounted adjacent to the array of holes. The planar housing wall may be formed in a block of milled aluminum and may have a thickness of less than 1 mm. The speaker holes may have with small diameters without overly attenuating sound from a speaker. |
| US08170262B1 |
Wireless air tube headset
A wireless air tube headset that includes a wireless transceiver operating in a radio frequency band, which wireless receives audio signals. The headset includes an acoustic chamber with an acoustic port through to the exterior thereof, and an acoustic transducer that is electrically coupled to the transceiver, and that operates to generate acoustic signals. The acoustic transducer is aligned with the acoustic chamber to emit the acoustic signals through the acoustic port. There is an acoustic isolator disposed to attenuate extraneous acoustic signals emitted from the acoustic transducer and also to attenuate ambient noise entry into the acoustic chamber. An acoustic conduit is formed from an electrically non-conductive material, and has a first opening engaged with the acoustic port and a second opening engaged with an acoustic coupler, which has a first earpiece engagement means. An earpiece is engaged to the first earpiece engagement means, and thereby forms an electrically non-conductive acoustic path from the acoustic transducer to the earpiece. The acoustic path has a length to enable displacement of the transceiver and the acoustic transducer from the earpiece at a distance sufficient to yield at least a six decibel radio signal propagation power loss at the radio frequency band. |
| US08170261B2 |
Personal audio set with adjustable force mechanisms
A personal audio device including a flexible headband is disclosed. The flexible headband includes a left and right headband portion. The headband has a longitudinal centerline which occupies a substantially single plane. The personal audio device also includes a left earphone, which is secured to a first end of the left headband portion, and a right earphone, which is secured to a first end of the right headband portion. A connector portion connects a second end of the left headband portion with a second end of the right headband portion. The connector portion is linearly adjustable, which enables a distance between the left headband portion and right headband portion to be variable. A change in the distance causes an inversely proportional change in bent compression force applied by a left earphone and applied by the right earphone. |
| US08170258B1 |
Bass drum microphone device
A bass drum microphone device for securing a microphone inside a bass drum comprising a first support bar, a second support bar, and a cross support bar, and the bars connect to form an H-shaped structure. Attached to the cross support bar is a microphone attachment component for attaching a microphone to the bass drum microphone device. The microphone can be placed at various locations within the base drum. |
| US08170247B2 |
Hearing aid
This hearing aid comprises a microphone (101) and an external input terminal (102), a hearing aid processor (150) to which audio signals from the microphone (101) and the external input terminal (102) are inputted, and a receiver (113) to which audio signals that have undergone hearing aid processing by this hearing aid processor (150) are outputted. The hearing aid processor (150) has a mixer (112) that mixes audio signals from the microphone (101) with audio signals from the external input terminal (102) and outputs these audio signals to the receiver (113), a mix ratio determination unit (111) for determining the mix ratio between audio signals from the microphone (101) and audio signals from the external input terminal (102) in this mixer (112), and a facial movement detector (110) that is connected to this mix ratio determination unit (111). |
| US08170244B2 |
Microphone having multiple transducer elements
A microphone is provided. The microphone has a housing; an acoustic port located in the housing; a substrate coupled with the housing; an integrated circuit positioned onto the substrate; and two or more MEMS transducers mounted on the substrate wherein the transducers are connected in parallel. |
| US08170238B2 |
Integrated circuit attached to microphone
The invention provides an integrated circuit attached to a microphone. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit comprises a buffer, a gain stage, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a memory module. The buffer buffers a first signal generated by the microphone, and outputs the first signal as a second signal. The gain stage amplifies the second signal according to an adjustable gain to obtain a third signal. The analog-to-digital converter converts the third signal from analog to digital to obtain a fourth signal as an output of the integrated circuit. The memory module stores the adjustable gain and outputs the adjustable gain to the gain stage for controlling amplification of the gain stage. |
| US08170234B2 |
Deconvolution methods and systems for the mapping of acoustic sources from phased microphone arrays
Mapping coherent/incoherent acoustic sources as determined from a phased microphone array. A linear configuration of equations and unknowns are formed by accounting for a reciprocal influence of one or more cross-beamforming characteristics thereof at varying grid locations among the plurality of grid locations. An equation derived from the linear configuration of equations and unknowns can then be iteratively determined. The equation can be attained by the solution requirement of a constraint equivalent to the physical assumption that the coherent sources have only in phase coherence. The size of the problem may then be reduced using zoning methods. An optimized noise source distribution is then generated over an identified aeroacoustic source region associated with a phased microphone array (microphones arranged in an optimized grid pattern including a plurality of grid locations) in order to compile an output presentation thereof, thereby removing beamforming characteristics from the resulting output presentation. |
| US08170231B2 |
Adjustable accessory for a portable communication device
A user wearable accessory provides push-to-tall (PTT), microphone and adjustable electrical cord length features in a single device. First and second adjustable electrical cords couple a portable communication device to an earpiece. The accessory is formed of front and back housing portions coupled together to provide a spooling feature therebetween. The spooling feature accommodates the two electrical cords such that a user is able to wrap each cord to provide an overall desired length. Users of different heights can adjust the cord length as desired thereby minimizing tangling of the cords. |
| US08170230B1 |
Reducing audio masking
This specification describes technologies relating to reducing audio masking. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of receiving a primary audio signal and a secondary audio signal; for each audio signal, calculating an average perceived intensity over time for each of a plurality of frequency bands; comparing the average perceived intensity of the secondary audio signal with the average perceived intensity of the primary audio signal for each frequency band; and for each frequency band where the average perceived intensity of the secondary audio signal is greater than the average perceived intensity of the primary audio signal by a specified threshold amount, attenuating the secondary audio signal by a specified amount to form a modified secondary audio signal. |
| US08170229B2 |
Audio privacy apparatus and method
Apparatus and Method for canceling or reducing voice sounds produced during a conversation by the user of a cellular telephone or other communication device such that other persons close to the user cannot hear the users voice and is not disturbed by the conversation. |
| US08170227B2 |
Noise control device
A noise control device includes: four or more noise detectors each for detecting a plurality of noises arriving thereat, and outputting the noises as a noise signal; a control speaker for radiating, to a control point, a control sound based on each noise signal; and a filter section for signal-processing noise signals from the noise detectors by using filter coefficients which respectively correspond to the four or more noise detectors and which are set such that the control sound from the control speaker reduces the plurality of noises arriving at the control point, and for adding up all the signal-processed noise signals, and for outputting a resultant signal to the control speaker. The control point and the control speaker are provided within a polyhedral-shaped space whose apexes are placement positions of the noise detectors. |
| US08170225B2 |
Method for adapting a vibration isolation system
The invention relates to a method for adapting a vibration isolation system as well as to an arrangement with a vibration isolation system. By constructive measures in the environment of the vibration isolation system, particularly plane-parallel surfaces areas are avoided and thereby disturbing environmental influences are reduced. |
| US08170224B2 |
Wideband speakerphone
Processing requirements for acoustic echo cancellation in voice communications are significant and are even more so as the bandwidth of the communication increases. Whilst voice communication occupies a relatively narrow band of frequencies the processing requirements and so forth for wideband communication render acoustic echo cancellation difficult to achieve in a cost effective manner. The invention provides for acoustic echo cancellation within wideband communications by dividing the communications into sub-bands and applying acoustic echo cancellation to some sub-bands whilst processing other sub-bands according to the status of the communications. Additional sub-bands are transmitted at either full-duplex or half-duplex. |
| US08170222B2 |
Augmented reality enhanced audio
A device and method for providing augmented reality enhanced audio. The device is portable and may include a location processing module capable of receiving location information and determining a location of the device in an environment, an orientation processing module capable of determining an orientation of the device at the location, a processor capable of modifying audio content based on the location of the device in the environment and the orientation of the device at the location, and an audio output device capable of outputting the modified audio content. The orientation of the device includes an azimuth and an elevation of the device. |
| US08170221B2 |
Audio enhancement system and method
An audio enhancement system for compensating for ambient noise in a listening environment, comprises an audio system that produces an electrical sound signal and generates a sound output from the electrical sound signal. A sensor (e.g., a microphone) senses a total sound signal representative of the total sound level in the listening environment, including the sound output from the audio system and the ambient noise within the listening environment. A processing unit responsive to the total sound signal and the electrical sound signal extracts from the total sound signal an ambient noise signal representative of the ambient noise in the listening environment. A controller responsive to the ambient noise signal performs a linear predictive coding (LPC) analysis and generates a control signal, which is input to an equalizer to adjust the sound output of the audio system in order to compensate for the ambient noise level. |
| US08170214B2 |
QKD transmitter and transmission method
In order to facilitate alignment of a QKD transmitter and QKD receiver, the transmitter is provided with a retro-reflector for returning to the receiver a photon beam originating at the latter. The transmitter is arranged to polarization modulate the retro-reflected beam. The transmitter is provided both with an intensity detector for generating an indication of retro-reflected photon intensity, and an intensity-dependent controller for controlling the QKD transmitter in dependence on the detected photon intensity. In one embodiment, this control involves aborting operation of the QKD transmitter upon an unexpectedly high photon intensity being detected; in another embodiment, the intensity indication is used to control the attenuation of the retro-reflected beam so as stabilize the average retro-reflected photon count per unit time. |
| US08170213B1 |
Methodology for coordinating centralized key management and encryption keys cached through proxied elements
A method is provided for effectively managing encryption keys. A storage processor requests a key associated with a particular object ID associated with a particular device address range from a key server. The key server provides a unique key associated with the object ID. Old keys may be deleted either upon a determination by the storage processor that the key is no longer needed, or upon a signal from the key server indicating that the key is to be deleted. In either case, the storage processor deletes the key from all locations in memory and sends a confirmation signal to the key server. The key server then lists the key as disabled for possible future re-use. Embodiments are also directed to apparatus for use in practicing the method. |
| US08170208B2 |
Image decrypting apparatus, image encrypting apparatus, and image decrypting method
When a decrypting apparatus receives an encrypted image, the apparatus detects the state of the encrypted image and determines whether the encrypted image is an image passed through only a digital medium or an analog medium, according to the state of the encrypted image. When the encrypted image is determined to be the image passed through only the digital medium, the decrypting apparatus switches to perform a digital decryption process and, when the encrypted image is determined to be the image passed through the analog medium, the decrypting apparatus switches to perform an analog decryption process. |
| US08170207B2 |
Split-key key-agreement protocol
This invention relates to a method for generating a shared secret value between entities in a data communication system, one or more of the entities having a plurality of members for participation in the communication system, each member having a long term private key and a corresponding long term public key. The method comprises the steps of generating a short term private and a corresponding short term public key for each of the members; exchanging short term public keys of the members within an entity. For each member then computing an intra-entity shared key by mathematically combining the short term public keys of each the members computing an intra-entity public key by mathematically combining its short-term private key, the long term private key and the intra-entity shared key. Next, each entity combines intra-entity public keys to derive a group short-term Si public key; each entity transmitting its intra-entity shared key and its group short term public key to the other entities; and each entity computing a common shared key K by combining its group short term public key (Si), with the intra-entity shared key ( Xi), and a group short term public ( Si) key received from the other entities. |
| US08170198B2 |
Tone signal detector, tone signal detection method, and computer readable recording medium
Upon selection of the frequency of a tone signal, a local oscillator generates a frequency signal having a shift frequency corresponding to the frequency of this tone signal. A frequency shifter generates a frequency-converted signal by shifting a frequency of the tone signal by a shift frequency of the frequency signal generated by the local oscillator. A BPF removes an image signal from the frequency-converted signal which the frequency shifter generated, and a normalizer normalizes the amplitude of the signal output from the second BPF. By this, even if the amplitude of the tone signal is small, the amplitude thereof is unified to a suitable magnitude. For this reason, even if there is a difference in the amplitude of the tone signal, the tone signal can be detected reliably and an false detection can be prevented. |
| US08170196B2 |
Developing interactive call center agent personas
A method, software and system of developing personalities for interactive and/or automated call center applications are provided. According to teachings of the present invention, sample population questionnaires and interviews may be used to identify key personality traits. The impact of the identified key personality traits are then empirically determined. Based on the empirical determination of the key personality traits' impact on customer satisfaction, a plurality of personality profiles may be generated for evaluation. A plurality of application types and voice talents may then be employed to evaluate the impact of each personality profile on customer satisfaction, for different user populations and different types of automated systems. The personality traits for each automated system are preferably rated and reviewed to ensure a system accurately represents the identified key personality traits. The various voice talents may also be evaluated to identify those traits best at conveying a desired personality. |
| US08170194B2 |
Method and system for replicating ring back tones
The present invention, in one aspect, relates to a method for replicating ring back tone (RBT). In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of sending a Play and Collect request to a media resource server (MRS) by an application server (AS), playing an RBT subscribed by the called party to the calling party and obtaining a Replicate RBT request initiated by the calling party according to the Play and Collect request by the MRS, receiving the Replicate RBT request obtained and sent by the MRS, by the AS, and sending a Replicate RBT command to an RBT platform according to the received Replicate RBT request by the AS, the Replicate RBT command carrying RBT replication information and instructing the RBT platform to replicate the requested RBT to an information library of the calling party. The invention also relates to a system and apparatus for implementing same. |
| US08170186B2 |
Electronic device with motion controlled functions
An electronic device may be controlled with a remote control device. The remote control device may be moved in a first manner to cause the electronic device to scroll through an ordered sequence. The remote control device may be moved in a second manner to cause the electronic device to select an entry from the ordered list. During scrolling of the ordered sequence, audio feedback regarding the nature of an associated entry may be provided to the user. |
| US08170183B2 |
Systems and methods for providing a message service for a site
A method for providing a message service for a site is described. It is determined whether a service is provided at the site. If the service is provided at the site, a request is sent to a node at the site that provides the service. Determining if the service is provided at the site includes automatically determining if the service is provided at the site without user input. |
| US08170180B2 |
Rotating anode with hub connected via spokes
One example embodiment includes an anode. The anode comprises an anode hub, an annular target and a plurality of spokes. The spokes connect the anode hub to the annular target. The spokes are configured to substantially mechanically and/or thermally isolate the anode hub from the annular target. |
| US08170179B2 |
Debris reduction in electron-impact X-ray sources
A method for generating x-ray radiation, comprising the steps of forming a target jet by urging a liquid substance under pressure through an outlet opening, the target jet propagating through an area of interaction; and directing at least one electron beam onto the target jet in the area of interaction such that the electron beam interacts with the target jet to generate x-ray radiation; wherein the full width at half maximum of the electron beam in the transverse direction of the target jet is about 50% or less of the target jet transverse dimension. A system for carrying out the method is also disclosed. |
| US08170177B2 |
Multiple pass cargo inspection system
The present invention is a cargo inspection system, employing a radiation source, capable of scanning vehicles and/or cargo in a wide range of sizes, including conventional imaging areas as well as taller and bulkier enclosures at sufficiently optimal efficacy and overall throughput. In one embodiment, the present invention is a multiple pass inspection method for inspecting vehicles and their cargo, comprising a first pass scan, wherein said first pass scan includes moving a radiation source at a suitable scanning distance, rotating a radiation source at a suitable scanning angle, and moving said radiation source along an object under inspection. |
| US08170175B2 |
X-ray CT apparatus and a method for detecting magnetic pole position thereof
An X-ray CT apparatus includes a fixed gantry having a plurality of stator coils arranged in a circle and mounted on the fixed gantry. A ring-shaped rotation frame of the CT apparatus includes a plurality of rotor magnets facing the plurality of stator coils. The CT apparatus further has an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector situated on the rotation frame to face each other and a supporting unit configured to provide non-contact support of the rotation frame on the fixed gantry. A magnetic pole detection unit of the apparatus is configured to detect a magnetic pole position of the rotor magnet at a start-up time of the plurality of stator coils and a brake mechanism of the apparatus is configured to apply a brake load to the rotation frame when detecting the magnetic pole position and to remove the brake load after detecting the magnetic pole position. |
| US08170171B2 |
Communication semiconductor integrated circuit
A communication semiconductor integrated circuit, has: a first computing element which adds the count value and the phase difference value and outputs a first computed value as an addition result; a second computing element which adds set frequency data obtained by dividing a carrier frequency by a reference frequency of the reference signal and modulation frequency data obtained by dividing a modulation frequency by the reference frequency, and outputs a second computed value as an addition result; a third computing element which subtracts the second computed value from the first computed value and outputs a third computed value as a subtraction result, the third computed value being a phase error; and a fourth computing element which adds the carrier frequency control value and the modulation frequency control value, and outputs the oscillator tuning word as an addition result. |
| US08170170B2 |
Carrier synchronizing circuit and carrier synchronizing method
Disclosed herein is a carrier synchronizing circuit including at least frequency synchronizing means and phase synchronizing means. The phase synchronizing means includes residual frequency error detecting means for detecting a residual frequency error after a frequency synchronizing process by the frequency synchronizing means and supplying the residual frequency error to the frequency synchronizing means, and the frequency synchronizing means performs frequency pull-in for the residual frequency error supplied from the residual frequency error detecting means after first timing. |
| US08170166B2 |
Methods and systems for combining timing signals for transmission over a serial interface
Apparatus, systems, and methods are provided for transmitting messages over a serial interface. A method comprises receiving a first signal at a first time and receiving a second signal at a second time, the second time being after the first time. If a difference between the second time and the first time is less than a threshold time period, the method comprises generating a first message that is representative of the first signal and the second signal and transmitting the first message over the serial interface. In accordance with one embodiment, the threshold time period is equal to one half of an interface acquisition delay time period associated with the serial interface. |
| US08170165B2 |
Clock calibration in sleep mode
In one embodiment, an improvement is described for synchronization between devices in, e.g., a wireless network, wherein at least one device includes both a slow clock and a fast clock for different modes of operation. The fast clock for an active mode of operation is calibrated after a sleep mode of operation during which the slow clock is employed for device timing. Calibration employs a filter-based technique. Counts for the slow clock and for the fast clock are measured over a first interval, and the number of slow-clock counts is measured over a second interval. An estimate for the number of fast counts over the second interval is generated, filtered to reduce noise and error effects, and then employed to update the fast clock in the active mode of operation. |
| US08170164B2 |
Transfer clocks for a multi-channel architecture
A multi-channel architecture comprising a central facility that is under clock control of a central facility's clock signal, and a central transfer clock generator adapted for deriving a central transfer clock signal from the central facility's clock signal. The multi-channel architecture further comprises a set of n channels, with n being a natural number, wherein each channel is under clock control of one out of a plurality of clock signals. Each of the channels comprises a channel transfer clock generator adapted for deriving a channel transfer clock signal from a clock signal of the respective channel, wherein the central facility's clock signal and the clock signals of the channels comprise at least two different clock signals. The transfer clock period of the central transfer clock signal is substantially equal to each of the transfer clock periods of the channel transfer clock signals. |
| US08170163B2 |
Partial response receiver
A signaling system is described. The signaling system comprises a transmit device, a receive device including a partial response receive circuit, and a signaling path coupling the transmit device and the receive device. The receive device observes an equalized signal from the signaling path, and includes circuitry to use feedback from the most recent previously resolved symbol to sample a currently incoming symbol. The transmit device equalizes transmit data to transmit the equalized signal, by applying weighting based on one or more data values not associated with the most recent previously resolved symbol value. |
| US08170158B2 |
Digital cross-polar interference cancellation
Cross-polar interference cancellation in a dual-polarization system is described. A terminal in a satellite communication system may receive a first communication signal in a first polarization and a second communication signal in a second polarization substantially orthogonal to the first polarization. The terminal may correlate in-phase or quadrature components of the first communication signal with in-phase or quadrature components of the second communication signal to generate one or more correlation measurements. Correction terms may be generated, using the correlation measurements, to remove at least some of the cross-polar interference. |
| US08170150B2 |
Digitally controlled phase interpolator circuit
Digitally controlled phase interpolator circuit. A phase selection control word undergoes decoding to generate a switch control word. The phase selection control word includes 2 quadrant indicating bits and phase interpolating bits for a 4 clock scheme (e.g., 4 clocks having phases 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°). Such a phase selection control word could includes 3 sector indicating bits and phase interpolating bits for an 8 clock scheme (e.g., 8 clocks having phases 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, and 315°). The gates of a number of differential pairs of transistors receive the various clock signals. A number of switching circuits direct current from corresponding current sources/supplies to coupled sources of the differential pairs of transistors, and an output clock is taken from coupled drains of the differential pairs of transistors. One or more current sources/supplies can be implemented to provide continuous current (e.g., in an always on manner) to the differential pairs of transistors. |
| US08170149B2 |
OFDM receiver apparatus
An OFDM receiver apparatus receives an OFDM signal including a plurality of DBPSK signals transmitting identical information. An extraction unit extracts the plurality of DBPSK signals from the OFDM signal. A phase difference calculation unit calculates a phase difference between symbols of each of the plurality of extracted DBPSK signals. An accumulation unit accumulates the plurality of phase differences. A decision unit decides data transmitted by the DBPSK signals on the basis of an accumulation result. |
| US08170146B2 |
Radio frequency integrated circuit having frequency dependent noise mitigation with spectrum spreading
A plurality of baseband clock signals by detecting an interference condition associated with at least one of the plurality of baseband clock signals and by spreading the spectrum of the at least one of the plurality of baseband clock signals when the interference condition is detected. |
| US08170141B2 |
Transmitting device, transmitting/receiving device, transmitting method and transmitting/receiving method
A transmitting device according to the present invention comprises: a coding unit which encodes a transmission information bit string to a code bit string; a low-order modulating unit which conducts low-order modulation on the code bit string outputted from the encoding unit; a first frequency domain converting unit which converts the low-order modulated signal outputted from the low-order modulating unit to a frequency domain signal; a partial spectrum selecting unit which selects a central 1/M portion (M is an integer greater than or equal to two) of a spectrum from the frequency spectrum outputted from the first frequency domain converting unit; and a first time domain converting unit which converts the spectrum selected signal outputted from the partial spectrum selecting unit to a time domain signal. |
| US08170139B2 |
Strengthened frequency hopping communication method and device
The invention relates to a frequency hopping communication method in which the data travels over time-variable frequency bearers. A frequency bearer is defined as a subset pair of carriers in a channel of a set of frequency channels (RF). The choice of the frequency bearers is derived from a pseudo-random draw. |
| US08170136B2 |
Radio transmitting apparatus and radio transmitting method
Disclosed are a radio sending device and a radio sending method for improving a throughput while keeping a receiving quality. In this radio sending device, an MCS switching control unit (102) applies an MCS parameter having a lower quality required than that of the MCS parameter to be applied to send data arranged at other than the two end portions of a block, to send data arranged at the two end portions of the block, and a CP adding unit (105) adds such a CP to the leading end of the block as is created by copying the trailing end portion of the block composed of the send data, to which the MCS parameter is applied by the MCS switching control unit (102), with a length less than the delay time of the maximum delay wave. A send RF unit (106) sends the send data, in which the CP is added to the leading end of the block, from an antenna (107). |
| US08170133B2 |
Wireless transmission device and wireless transmission method
A wireless transmission device of the present invention includes n (where n is an integer of two or more) transmission antennas and a delay imparting section for delaying transmission signals supplied to the n transmission antennas by a maximum delay time (n−1)T or less based on a delay time T dependent upon a communication signal, which indicates whether to transmit the transmission signals by way of frequency diversity or multiuser diversity. |
| US08170130B2 |
Transmission method and transmission system
A transmission device includes a differential encoding section for differentially encoding transmission data, a first waveform generation section, a second waveform generation section, and two transmission antennas. A reception device includes a reception antenna, a delay detection section, and a data determination section for low-pass filtering a delay detection signal. The reception device receives modulated signals modulated by using two waveforms having low correlations with each other. Thus, regardless of the presence or absence of delay dispersion in a propagation path and even in a high-speed fading in which the propagation path varies at high speed, a transmission diversity effect can be achieved, thereby making it possible to improve transmission characteristics. |
| US08170128B2 |
Method and apparatus for joint decoding and equalization
The present invention is related to joint trellis decoding and equalization using a decision feedback equalizer. |
| US08170124B2 |
MPEG-4 streaming system with adaptive error concealment
An MPEG-4 system with error concealment is provided for video service under the network with packet loss. The MPEG-4 system includes an encoder and a decoder. The encoder uses an intra-refreshment technique is used to make coded bitstream more robust against noise in order to stop error propagation. The rate-distortion optimization criterion is also introduced to adaptively update in synchronization with intra-coded blocks adaptively based on the true network condition with minimal overhead. The Lagrange multiplier is modified to achieve the best rate-distortion balance. In addition, a decoder loop is used in the encoder and is synchronized with the true decoder to achieve the best performance and avoid mismatch with the decoder used in the MPEG-4 system. The decoder is able to achieve resilient decoding from any kind of noise and enhance the reconstructed image quality with spatial and temporal hybrid concealment method. The result shows that a 3.65-9.71 dB further improvement on peak-signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) can be achieved in comparison with the existing methods that adopt spatial copy and zero motion concealment in decoding. |
| US08170120B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing method
An information processing apparatus for encoding a baseband signal, the information processing apparatus includes: a data splitting block; an encoder; a control block; and a splicing block. The data splitting block is configured to acquire the baseband signal before splitting it into predetermined encoding sections. The encoder is configured to generate encoded streams by parallelly encoding a continuous plurality of the encoding sections acquired by the data splitting block from the baseband signal. The control block is configured to control the encoder to perform the parallel encoding in a manner subject to predetermined constraints. The splicing block is configured to splice the encoded streams generated by the encoder. |
| US08170116B2 |
Reference picture marking in scalable video encoding and decoding
A device, an encoding method, and a decoding method enable a separate marking of base representations and enhanced representations of key access units to save memory or to allow a better scalable video coding optimization. The encoding method of a sequence of original pictures to a sequence of access units includes, after encoding of one of the access units, storing a first decoded picture of the first encoded picture and a second decoded picture of the second encoded picture for inter prediction for encoding of others of the access units; and identifying the first decoded picture and the second decoded picture to be no longer used for inter prediction. The decoding method includes decoding the first access unit, where a first decoded picture is decoded from the first picture and a second decoded picture is decoded from the second picture; marking the first and second decoded pictures as used for inter prediction; decoding the second access unit; and marking one of the first and second decoded pictures as no longer used for inter prediction. |
| US08170112B2 |
Video compression and encoding method
Disclosed herein is a method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with a plurality of blocks including a current block, including generating, for at least a selected pixel in the current block, a predicted value for at least one pixel located in a row i and a column j of the current block using a processor and according to the following equation: Xij=Li+Aj−C; wherein Xij is the predicted value, Li is the value of a pixel to the left of the current block, Aj is the value of a pixel in a row above the current block and C is the value of a pixel in the row above and the column to the left of the current block and encoding the current block using the predicted value. |
| US08170105B2 |
Video decoder and video decoding method
A method and a video decoder for decoding an encoded bitstream of video data in a picture encoding and decoding system are disclosed. The video decoder includes a motion compensation unit for calculating a position for a sample image portion using an encoded bitstream of video data having a motion vector and rounding information. The calculated position of a sample image is rounded with the rounding information. The rounding information indicates the accuracy for rounding, and it is decoded from the bitstream. An image reconstruction unit reconstructs a decoded image portion of the video data from the sample image portion. |
| US08170104B2 |
Apparatus and method for motion vector prediction
A motion vector predicting method and apparatus for predicting motion vectors in image coding and decoding, including predicting a motion vector of each small block in a macro block divided into at least one small block. The method may include selecting at least one small block, where a motion vector can be estimated, using motion vector information of adjacent small blocks, and includes simultaneously performing a motion vector prediction of the selected small block. By reducing a 16-operation process, conventionally required for processing a macro block with 4×4 blocks, into an 11-operation process, the image coding and decoding processing times can be reduced without using a complicated motion vector predicting apparatus. |
| US08170102B2 |
Macroblock homogeneity analysis and inter mode prediction
An inter mode for encoding a video macroblock is selected. An initial analysis on the macroblock homogeneity is performed to quickly reduce the number of inter modes for which motion estimation and rate distortion calculation are to be performed. An inter mode is selected based on these calculations and sub-pixel motion estimation, at various sub-pixel interpolation granularities, is performed only on the selected inter mode. Sub-pixel motion estimation may be skipped for macroblocks that exhibit relatively low distortion at the integer pixel level. |